Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-07-02
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Is ILLUSTRATIONS 81 LAUREN STOUT

In the hall below he looked about
him with satisfaction. For the last
( three days he had labored tirelessly to
/ TT the place for the evenings event
/ The parlor now showed walls trimmed
with straight-back chairs and the
grand piano-long ago put in order
/ had been relegated to the library That
| instinct for the artistic, which had
made him a last resort in the Yexing
/ problems Of club entertainments, had
aided him in the Courts adoTnment.
/ Out of the kitchens Cassandra's
/ egg beating chatted like a watchmans
rattle, while Aunt Daphne put the fin
7 ishing touches to an array Of lighter
/ edibIes destined to grace the long ia
/ bic on the rear porch, now walled in
/ with snOw-white muslin and hung with
/ candIe-lusters. Under the trees Uncle
T Jefferson was even then experimenting
/ with various punch compounds, and
! delicious aroma of vanilla came to Va
Iiants nostriIs.
The Red Road, as VaIiants car
passed, was dotted with struggling pc
destrians: humble country folk who
/ trudged along the grassy foot-path
with no sullen regard for the swift
/ cars and comfortable carriage that
left them behind; sturdy barefooted
/ children who called shriIly after him,
and happy-go-lucky negro youths clad
in their best with Sunday shoes dan
! Cling over their shoulders, slouching
/ regardlessly in the dust-all bound for
/ the same Mecca, which presently rose
/ before him, a gateway of painted can
vas proclaiming the field to which it
/ opened Runnymede.
He halted his car at the end of the
/ held and snapped leash in the bull
dogs collar. 4 hate to do it, old
man" he said apoIogetically to Chum's
reproachful look, "but I've got to-
| There are to be some stunts, and in
such occasions you're apt to be con-
| WINGED you're the main one of the con-
| testants, which might cause a mix-up.
/ Never mind; III anchor you where you
won't miss anything"
With the excited dog Juggling be-
/ fore him, he threaded his way through
! the press with keen exhilaration Now
and then his gloved hard touched his
cap at a saIutation He was con-
scious of swift bird-Iike glances from
| pretty girls. Here was none of the
rigid straight-ahead gaze or vacant
stare Of the city boulevard; the eyes
that looked at him, frankly curious
and inquiring, were full of easy open
/ I Of ~3vI-
/ gowns ard hats that might that morn
ing have issued from the Rue de la
Paix; others were habited in cheap
materials But about the latter hung
no benumbing self-consciousness All
bore themselves alike. He was begin
ming to realize that there might really
exist straitened circumstances, even
actual poverty, which yet created no
sort of social difference.
Opposite the canvas-covered grand
stand sat twelve small mushroom,
tents, each with a staff and tiny flag.
Midway lines of faxen ropes stretched
between rows of slender peeled sap
lings from whose tops foated faDged
streamers of vivid bunting. : pavilion
of purple cloth, open ar the sides,
awaited for the committee, and near
the center negro ba541 was disposed
on camp-stools, the Erass of the wait
ing instruments winking in the sun
light The stand was a confused glow
of color, of light gauzy dresses of
young girls in pastel muslins with
flowers in their belts, picturesque hats
and slender articulate hands dartfng
in vivacious gestures like white swal-
lows the gentry from the big
houses"
The light athletic figure, towed by
the white bulldog, drew many glances
Valiant's eyes. however, as they swept
the seats, were looking for but one,
and at first vainly He felt a quick
pang of disappointment. Perhaps she
would not come! Perhaps her mother
was still i'll. PeThaps-but then sud
denly his heart beat high, for he saw
her in the lower tier, with a group of
young people. He could not have told
what she wore, save that it was of soft
Nurillo blue with hat whose down
curved brim was wound with a shaded
plume of the same tint. Her mother
was not with her. She was not look
ing his way as he passed-her arms
at the moment being held out in an
adorable gesture toward a little child
in smiling matron's lap-and but a
single glance was vouchsafed to him
before the major seized upon him and
bore him to the purple pavilion, for he
was one of the committee.
But for this distraction, he might
have seen, entering the stand with the
Chalmers just as the band struck up
a delicious whirl of Dixie, the two
strangers whom the doctor had OBJ
served an hour before as they whirled
by the Merryweather Mason house be
, hind the judges grays. Silas Fargo
{ might have passed in any gathering
for the unobtrusive city man. Katha-
| rine was noticeable anywhere, and
today her tall willowy figure in its
champaSne-color lingerie gown and hat
garRished with bronze and gold this
. ties, setting in relief her ivory
statuesque face, drew a wave of whis
: pered comment which left a sibiIant
< wake behind him The party made
: a picturesque group as they now dis
2 posed themselves, Katharine's color
! less loneliness contrasting with the
a eager sparkle of pretty Nancy ChaI
4 mers and the gipsy-Iike beauty Of
!. Betty Page,