The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-02-22
HIGH OLD TIMES
b. oLAnA INEz DEACON.

HIGH OLD TIMES
by CLARA INEz DEACON.
Copyright. fsiLl
well. mother, It's time for me 10 DC
ON my way to the depot"
BE careful Bessie, and don't take the
wrong train"
.'oh, 1 shall ask at least fifty people
IL It's the right one
"And DO sure you are not carried past
Redfern."
II shall. be out on the platform ant
waiting"
The name Of the station is Redfern
Isn't it?"
1T surely is, mother, and don't yea
get IL mixed up with Red Hill or Red
Head
And Kitty ST. Clair win be there tC
meet your
Yes. unless she is laid up with
broken leg"
You may be KILLED in railroad wreck
before you get there"
IF I am I'll telephone you. I'm on.
.'Just another word, Bessie. Mrs 81
Clair is q sober. sedate woman. and you
and Kitty must not go 10 cutting up OF
she'll be shocked"
Not a cut-up. mother. There, now!
Z And about the same hour Mrs. st. Clair.
a; her country home, was saying TO her
daughter Kitty:
I This is the day when your friend Bes-
sic comes DOWN.
Yes. mother"
well, we must give her a good visit.
Didn't you say she was rather sedate?
She's almost as solemn as a grave
stone"
I'm glad of that, for she will act as
n check on you. You have spirit enough
for any three girls. I do hope that while
she is here you won't act quite so like
a boy"
II shall go around with tears in my
eyes and my hands tied behind met"
|, AN hour later there was a meeting at
the country station that was witnessed
small boy.
"Oh. Kitty"
"Oh. Bessie!'
hip. hurrah"'
"Whoop-lar'
I'm 80 glsd!'
I'm so happy"
And after kissing each other exactly
fifteen times they Joined hands and went
waltzing up and down the platform and
then drove away in the pony cart.
The old man and the boy looked after
them in establishment, and the boy ex-
claimed:
Gee. but did you ever seen anything
like it?'
My son." answered the man with a
sad shake of his head, that's what
you've got to come to-"
What? Turn into a gal?'
you've got to marry a gal like one
OF them. and she'll make 1t so blamed
rapid for you that you'll be a lunatic
in less than a year"
When the girls had arrived and the
stranger had been welcomed to her
room, Mrs. ST. Clair's face wore a trou-
bled look, and she said to herself:
II don't see anything as solemn as a
gravestone about that girl. on the con-
trary, she looks like a girl that would
turn a somersault on a haystack any
day in the week. / hope they won't get
to carrying on too high
And upstairs there was giggling and
tittering and jumping over chairs and
exclaiming:
''Oh, but won't we make Rome howl
when we get at II.
II was three or four days before there
was any bowling. Then one day the girls
got on their old skirts and set OF to
view the country. as they termed 1t. As
they were ready TO go Mrs st. Clair
felt il her motherly duty to say:
AT this season OF the year there arc
lots OF snakes. you know
we shall carry clubs to kill them
with"
You know there is a dangerous bull
in Blacks pasture?"
Yes, but he won't hurt a couple of de-
mure maidens."
''Tramps never were as numerous as
now"
We are each armed with a table knife.
Good-by and don't worry"
Half a mile down the road was Black s
bull pasture The bull was at home and
had a chip on his shoulder. The girls
sat on the fence and gave him a bad
half hour. They shouted at him and
tainted him and defied him until he broke
his way out and ran down the road and
chased a farmer to the roof OF his wagon
shed.
That was enough of the bull When
he had careered away they went to a
grove and climbed trees. II was jolly fun
until both had falls and bumps. When
they had eaten lunch a circus was sug-
gested. II would be betraying a conf
dence to say that they attempted cart
wheels. hand-springs, somersaults, and
standing on their heads. They probably
didn't do a thing of the kind. but sat
with their feet braced against each
others and pulled at a stick to see which
was the stronger.
The circus performance was out and
each had a tail-hold on a calf and was
running round when the small boy Of the
depot came trotting up with his eyes
bulging out.
Hello. bub. does your mother know
you're out?"
Yes. and somebody knows you're out
too"' he replied.
What do you mean?'
why, a guy with n kodak has been
follerin' you for the last hour and maxim
snapshots
''Oh. Kitty"
"Oh, Bessie
BOY. why didn't you come and tell u:
sooner"
II wanted to, but the Teller said he'd
knock my eyebrow OF If l did"
Where is he now?"
The last saw OF him he was going
down to them willers by the creek"
How many shots did he take?'
"More'n twenty! He began when yor
sat on the fence sassin' the bull"
Did he say what he was going to dc
with the photographs
81 guess they are for the movies
my stars, Kitty" walled Miss Bessie
but Just think Of it! My folks will surely
turn me out doors"'
81 am thinking of It Boy, do yoT
know what a hero is?''
"Yes'm. Buffalo Bill Is one"
"will you be a hero for 80 cents?'
Sure, Miker
Then lead the way down to the will
lows. II the man is there the three, o.
n