The Tupelo journal., 1914-12-11
GETTING ACQUAINTED
BY ALLEN BROCK.

rails and started an after-dinner cigar.
Isn't it funny" he remarked. re-
fectively, after o. meditative puff or
two, what a difference a summer cot
tage makes?"
The little group on the veranda
looked at him lazily. awaiting further
exposition of his theme.
you know" continued Bob, i've
always been a little afraid of the Far
ringtons, especially of Nell"
That's because you're badly
nieked," said Sam, with b~rotherly can
dor. "a fellows always afraid of a
girl when he's really nicked."
mo such thing" said Bob. I've
never been one of the difident, self
effacing kind that thinks he's a worm
in the dust whenever he compares
himself with a girl he happens to
like"
mo, I'll say that for him." admitted
Sam. Excessive modesty has never
been n of his Affections"
"When you get through roasting"
said Bob. pleasantly. IN go ahead
and tell you some more about my
visit"
YES, let's hear about the Earring
tons" said Jessie.
We'll, what | meant by being afraid
of them was that l never felt quite as
though l could go to their house with
out making a kind of set piece OF. 1T
gloves and stick and visiting cards
and Is Mss harrington in? with my
politest accent. 1t wasn't that they
were stiff or ~ceremonious or anything
Of that sort. If they had been the
kind of people that sentence you to
one chair when you come to call /
should never have gone near their
house. They were always cordial and
informal enough, but somehow even
their informality always had such a
polite little finish to it that l used
to feel as though l never could be
quite so nice as they were, no matter
how hard | tried. Mrs. Harrington
would come in and put me at my ease
with just the correct little social
formula and Nell and / exchanged
amenities according to the precepts
she had learned at Miss Winters
finishing school. Mr.. Harrington was.
friendly in a dignified way that seemed
to call upon me to address him as
sir He would offer me cigars that
| never felt quite free to smoke until
Bert took me down to the billiard
room, though Nell and her mother al
ways insisted that they liked cigar
smoke. Somehow / used to feel that
they would all be corking people to
know when l really got to know them
well enough not to be SO polite, but
Pert was the only one with whom |
was on real comfortable scrapping
terms.
when they invited me to go up to
their cottage last week of course they
told me the usual story about their
informal, primitive way of living
back to nature and all that sort of
thing-but I've been bluffed like that
before and wasn't prepared for the
pleasant reality"
Was it a reality?" asked Jessie.
Il went up with Bert Saturday
night" narrated Bob. when We got
to the place Sunday morning the first
person | saw was Mr.. Harrington. He
was on the dock in a bathing suit in
dustrioUsly trying to untangle a fish
line. Hello, boys he said. Hello,
Haaton! Give me a hand with this
biankety. blank line. will you? Say.
I,o,-, osELo- ~ V-~ts foIfoVvC uNf 1r1u
makings? The only thing don't like
about life in Lonsomehurst is that
it's so confounded HARD to get a smoke
when you want one
Then he took me into the boat
house and showed me confidentially
from q boy that morning and that he
was going to catch after breakfast.
BY that time Nell came to the door Of
the cottage.
Hello, kids she called out. I'm
so glad you're here! Breakfast is
ready, and I'm starved.
Collars and stiff clothes were rig
idly barred. and it didn't take me long
to get into a sweater, where stayed.
after breakfast Mrs. Harrington
asked me III a m~atter-of-fact way to
turn the ice cream freezer, and as
Nell helped l didn't mind. Once,
when we were tasting the cream, we
bumped our heads together and after
that we felt a lot better acquainted.
Then we went in swimming and
dried in the sun on the dock, and Nell
and l stumped each other to hop over
the cracks on one foot. After that
| she showed me how she could ride on
the flying Dutchman, a continuance
that some children had rugged in the
back yard. 1t is a long board that
| spins around on a pivot, and you have
to straddle it, jockey fashion, to stick
on. When l asked Nell whether she
had learned that accomplishment at