The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-01-12

II tell you young people, I'm 1aillng
in love with Tilfield," he said. Fine
crops. Fine soil. Fine girls. Fine,
sociable crowd. Yes, sir, I'm going
to build here and set out an orchard,
with elms and naples, in the old
fashioned way. I'm going to be New
Highlander again"
Everybody was pretty glum by now,
for grandpa looked good for dozen
years or more. And then came the
day of the state fair.
BY this time, in spite Of our disap-
pointment, we couldn't help liking
grandpa. He had told us that he was
worth a hundred thousand dollars, and
was going to divide it up among us
equally or, if we didn't outlive him,
among our heirs. But, as | was say
ing, the state fair came along, and
Howson, in his new aeroplane, the
new sort that turns somersaults IN
the air without upsetting. or course
grandpa had to so with grandma, in
the automobile, and as there wasn't
room for all of us, and nobody was
willing to let the others get ahead Of
him, we decided to walk and meet
them there. We got there just as
Howson was going up for the second
time. We saw grandpa's auto all right,
but it was empty. That seemed
strange. Grandpa couldn't have wan
dered into any blind tiger, because we
knew he was a temperance man, and
he wasn't the kind to be in a tent
with grandma, trying his hand at
spotting the pea under the thimble.
where's grandpa?" I asked one OF
the assistants who had charge OF the
aeroplane fixtures.
! what, the old gent with the wood
en- leg?" he answered. "Why, he's up
in the machine"
What, up there?" cried Cousin
Jasper, pointing to the aeroplane,
which was doing the dip of death
about mile over our heads. "And
where's grandma"
What, the old lady? Why-she's
there tool"
! heard a scream behind me. Cousin
Maria was having Mysteries. And then
the cry was drowned in the delighted
yells of the crowd as the machine, like
a great bird, righted itself and came
floating gracefully down and lit with
in twelve feet of where we stood. And
out stepped grandpa.
He turned and gave grandma his
hand, and she came out too, and the
first thing she did was to box How
sons ears.
"There! Thatll teach you to be
more careful, young man," she said
you've got that filthy gasoline al
over my new lavender gown"
Then the crowd went wild. The!
took grandpa on their shoulders
wooden leg and all, and carried hin
round the grounds, and grandma fol
lowed, looking as proud as Punch.
Boys" said grandpa, when the!
set him down, that was foolhard!
thing to do. l amt as young as
was--I'm going on for lightweight
and I'm family man with response
bilities. No more aeroplanes for me
l stick to the good old-fashioned aut'
now and henceforward."
heard sob. Lucy ran out iron
the crowd and fell on grandpa's neck
and in a minute Cousin Maria fel
upon grandma's, and Cousin Saman
tina followed suit and in minute tn
whole crowd of women were Weeplni
and bowling and begging grandma
never to let grandpa risk his VALUABLE
life again. AS for we men, we didn'
know what to do, so we just shool
grandpa's hand Until CIR ar'Hs ached
Now, the strange thing about 1t Is
grandpa was such good sport that
instead o. wishing him dead, from
that minute we beya to think gu
lans for prolonging his life. And tn
things he did to Titled! Why, al
the reporters in the state were out t
see him, and we found out he was /;
famous manufactures, and he wa
planning to carry nower to Tiltielt
from Colne stream and erect factories
and put up model houses and
Well, grandpa is ninety-three now
and he bought new auto last week
because grandma's getting prett.
feeble and the old one looked out o
date. AS for Titled, what with thu
increasing value of real estate and thu
life Of the town, we're going to hans
on as long as we can do SO.
Oh, yes, about that hundred thou
sand. What grandpa meant was tina
he had that to give away, besides &
cool half-million invested. He divided
up among US, and Paul and Lucy hat
their third baby last week.
Here's hoping he'll round out the
century!
Copyright. 1913, by W. G. Chapman.)