The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-04-16
A Flower
Valentine
L Was Grown IN the
Sunny South
By OUNCE BLAKE

bOuNu " SpeuO Tue "iulcI. Ic SLOSc
st. Augustine. Fla. in which to spend
January and February, arriving there
In the latter part Ut December.
The invalid was accompanied by his
mother, and they took a cottage for
the season. Their domicile was one OF
two houses standing side by side and
about 100 yards apart. In the adjoin
Ing yard belonging to the other dwell.
ing WAS Il flower garden. but since 1t
was during the brief interval between
seasons III that climate there were no
flowers in bloom.
There was something else in bloom
that delighted the eye Of Arnold Bates.
This was Il very pretty girl. Bates no
ticed her on the very day of his ar
rival in n tennis court to the ga OF
her home playing the game with IA boy
OF twelve, whom Bates Judged to be
her brother. The young lady was ap
parently about eighteen years Of age,
and. though tennis is not always cal
culated to show grace. her movements
We're unusually graceful.
The invalid sat In the window of his
bedroom watching the game and thank
tul for something to OOk at, for he was
not well enough to read and had no
desire to look at a book. He was con
tent to watch the girl fitting about
ver the tennis court.
The family next door were also
strangers to the place, who had come
from the north to escape the rigorous
winter of their home. Both families
were city bred. and city persons are O
prone to make acquaintance Of neigh
bors. Consequently neither made any
movement to be %neighbOrly. They
lived side by side for several weeks
without wen learning each others
name. and only one member of each
family could tell anything about the
other.
These two persons were Arnold Bates
and Helen FarnswOrth. Bates suppos-
ed that he was admiring one who
was unconscious Of his existence. This
was not so The gfrl had yes for tn"
handsome invalid as well as he had
eyeS for her. indeed. she was sym.
pathiZing with him and wishing that
he was strong enough to cOme down
and play tennis with her. Whether.
II he had been strong enough. the two
would have broken through the CON
ventiOnaI barriers that kept them apart
is II question which we need not ask.
On the 21st of December the SUE
starts nOrthward and i'm Florida brings
thn rnn;ot ,rorrntl nP Tho <nrrirn ~
me far more rapidly than In the north
One morning Arnold Bates saw Miss
FarnswOrth and her little brother. Bot
In the garden. Bob had a spade and
under his sisters directions. was di.
ging mp the beds. Then the two did
some planting. and from that time on
the garden received a good share OF
their attention. Arnold Bates was in,
proving and now walked out every day
On several occasions he and Miss
FarnSwortb met. II both showed n
consciousness of the fact that they
were not entirely unknown to eacs'
other. though neither spoke. Tn.
young lady was usually accompanied
by her brother. Whose evident interest
in his next door neighbor Indicated
that he had seen MIR. Bates and that
the boy and the girl might have dis
cussed him together.
Bates was by this time in condition
to give him an acquaintance with his
pretty nei2hbor. About the Is, of Feb
rnary ne saw preparations for st. Val.
entine'S day. which was appointing
and he wished that he might make il
serve for the coveted Introduction. But
unfortunately this anniversary has
been largely relegated to children. Be
sides. Bates did not see any way that
he could utilize it. After turning va,
rious 81 hemes over in his mind be
abandoned the idea altogether.
But Bates saw that Bob Farnsworth
was making preparations to celebrate
st. Valentines day. One day. with a
little girl companion. re laid out his
stock OF valentines on the veranda,
and the two children made an inspec
ton. Bates was sitting at his window
watching them. but not near enough
to 1t to enable them to see him. Pres
entity he saw the boy look up at The
window and say something which
caused bis companion to look up at II
too. There was evidently some dis
cussiOn between them with which thu
window was connected.
Then Bob went into the house anC
returned with a bit of writing papel
and a pencil. The paper be placed or
a table on the veranda. and the twt
children busted themselves With th'
pencil. After this Bob went to an out
house and brought a hoe and q rake
with which he smoothed one Of thu
flower beds. Next be went into thu
house and returned With q paper bag
With a stick be scratched something
on the bed that Arnold thought to b.
letters, but he could not see what they
were. into these scratches the chill
dren sowed seeds from the paper bag.
This proceeding naturally excited
Mr.. Rates curiosity. BE waited pa