The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-02-11

will discover the cases where valen-
tines have been exchanged is,
where fellow sends valentine to
the girl who sends him one"
Bob paused and looked at me in
quiringly. He didn't feel very certain
of his plan and wondered if APP
proved
well" | said, what then?"
why. there are a number of ways
the thing might be followed up. One
is we might have a. mock marriage
between any couple who have made
an exchange of valentines. Another
is we might get the same persons to
gether the next St. Valentines day
and If anv of the exchangers have
been married they must pay forfeit
or something like that. Seer
Bob l exclaimed, chow in the
world does that skull of yours find
room for such gigantic inventive pow
ers? I'll tell you what to do to make
the affair success"
"What?"
"Just you let me make out the list Of
invitations
'I1l do IT,
He clapped his palm in mine; then
sitting down at desk, we took up
writing materials and | made the list
Bob approving in every instance. There
were only FIVE couples, for the Ed
wards country residence is not over
large; besides. arranged the persons
invited to suit my own ideas. They
were to arrive five days before the l4th
and to remain two days after
bob, old man." remark, after we
had carefully revised the list and made
all the changes we thought necessary,
"that party is going to be love feast. :"
"a regular Cupids frolic''
zone thing / don't UNDERSTANDABLE
you invite them FIVE days before St
Valentines day"
Its this way. They have five days
for preliminary lovemaking, one day
on which the announcements are to be
nade-that's six-and one day for
sort of honeymoon, you know"
by JoYe, you've hit it just right
But isn't the honeymoon rather short?''
"ShortI Not at all It's very long
in proportion to real honeymoon
The honeymoon Of couple that lives
to celebrate their golden wedding lasts
only one-twelfth of one-fiftieth of their
married life, and that's too long for
sorle of EN-"
what an old head you have on those
young shoulders of yours" said Bob
admiringiy
We assembled on the 9th of Febru
airy. most of US arriving just in time to
dress for dinner. Mr.. and Mrs Ed
wards. Bobs parents, were not present.
I had suggested widow, Mrs. Bar
stow, for chaperon. She presided at
one end of the table at dinner. Bob
sitting at the other No one present
knew her except myself, and | knew
all about her. She was twenty
years old and rather good looking.
And here will divulge a secret. One
reason had entered enthusiastically
into Bob's plan and had secured the
privilege OF naming the guests was
that 1 wished Mrs. Barstow to be Of
tuO DuALyy anu AuICuNACQ " oC140 LILY
valentine to her.
1t was funny to see the fellows avoid
ing or trying to appear to avoid the
GIRLS to whom they intended to send
their valentines. And most of the girls
did the same thing. Every one Of
them, boys and girls alike, supposed
that he or she was deceiving all the
rest Every one was happy and on the
tiptoe Of expectation. As for me, en-
1oyed it all immensely Indeed, Bob
and /, being the organizers Of the af-
fair, looked for something interesting.
Bob held the key to the identity of the
guests, while I-well, held the key to
the situation, though was the only
one who knew this.
Never In my life have seen such
skirmishing fellow for the girl
he wanted, every girl for the fellow
abe wanted and all trying to conceal
their preference. had suggested for
invitation those who would be likely
to produce just such a result, and |
was not disappointed. Every day pro-
duced a stronger undercurrent than the
preceding one. Usually there is more
chicanery in such matters among wo-s
men than among men, but in this case
the men out-Heroded Herod. Every
man was showing plainly the girl he
intended sending his valentine, only
he didn't intend any such thing. AS
for the girls. their diplomacy lay in
showing nothing as to what they
would do.
The evening before st, Valentines
day we all handed Bob. sealed envel-
ope containing our names and private
marks for our valentines and before
going to bed slipped our Cupid's mis-
siyes into box provided for the pur-