Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1914-04-15
CHAPTER Ix.-cnntinued

CHAPTER Discontinued
The Watermelon leaned back in the
deep soft cushions Of the big car and
smiled a smile of calm and peace and
comfort. The car ran smoothly, noise
lessly, little breezes laden with the
sweetness of the approaching night
wandered by, on each side of him was
a pretty girl. Tramping idealized! 1t
was living idealized And that morn
ing, hungry, shabby, unshaved, he had
been content to lie in the sweet lush
grasses of a chance meadow, under
butternut tree, with the convivial
James and the corpulent Mike! He
crossed one well-pressed silken leg
over the other and saw by the way
side, lounging in the shadows, waiting
for the car to pass, the two, James
and Mike-Mike fat, red-faced, dirty,
his frowsy hat pulled aslant over his
small, bleary eyes, shoulders bumped
from long habit in cold weather, toes
coming out of his boot ends; James,
clean shaver, but otherwise no better
dressed, no cleaner, both chewing to-
bacco with the thoughtful rumination
Of the cows watching over the pasture
bars at the end of the wooded lane.
Billy nudged the Watermelon to call
his attention to the two weary figures
by the wayside.
Poor fellows" said Henrietta soft
", lest they hear her.
The Watermelon glanced at them in
lofty disgust and catching James eye,
his own fickered the fraction Of an
inch and he raised his hands languid-
ly to adjust the brown silk tie at his
throat When they had passed, he
turned and waved a graceful farewell.
He explained to Billy as they swept on
Into the deepening dusk:
You might as well encourage the
poor fellows. They probably want to
ride as well as l." And Henrietta
fancied that possibly his father had
looked thus on a Sunday, in the pulpit
of q country church.
Yes" agreed Billy. They may be
perfectly dandy fellows"
"Assuredly," laughed Henrietta
THE stout one fairly radiated truth
and nobility, a manly, upright youth"
81 don't care" declared Billy warm
ly. You can't always tell from ap-
pearances. You ought to know that,
Henrietta Clothes don't make the
man"
Nor his Manners" laughingly re-
torted Henrietta.
Sure" said the Watermelon. "Fa-
ther used to say that manners didn't
count any more than the good apples
on the top of the box to hide the rot
ten ones beneath"
Il think your father was a cynic,"
said Henrietta sharply, into whose ears
Billy had been recounting tho sayings
of the absent divine.
Yes" admitted the Watermelon.
"he was"
"Cynicism is a sign of failure
quoted Henrietta Surely your father
wasn't cynic."
Yes, he was" declared the Water
melon, land you didn't make that up
yourself. You heard some failure say 1t.
Father used to say, and he's right, that
If a man reached forty without becom-
ing a cynic, he was a fool and might
better never have reached forty"
Your father was a philosopher"
laughed Henrietta 81 would like to
have met him"
Il thought the papers said" began
Billy, in her slow, anxious way to get
things right
Yes, they did," interrupted the Wa
termelon. and they were right"
1t was quite dark now. Bartlett
stopped moment while Alphonse lit
the lamps, and then they went on and
on, faster and faster. into the sum-
mer night. Once in a while they
passed lighted farmhouse and dog
rushed out and barked at them. Twice
they whirled through small villages
and the villagers, going home from
church, paused to watch thsm pass
and be swallowed up IN the dark
ahead.
The general had been worried foT
some time They were apparently get
ting nowhere. He felt that he should
have consulted the blue book He
was about to suggest that they STOP
and get the book from the rear car
whsr Bartlett waved toward the DARK