The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-02-01
A Flower
Valentine
It Was Grown In the
Sunny South
BY OUNCE BLAKE

o p. - - = - !" -
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Arnold Rates. having broken down
from overwork. was ordered to the
south to spend the winter. He chose
st. Augustine. Fla. in which to spend
January and February. arriving there
In the latter part Of December.
The invalid was accompanied by bis
mother, and they took 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 flower garden. but since it
was during the brief interval between
Seasons in that climate there were no
flowers In bloom.
There was something else In bloom
that delighted the eye of Arnold Bates.
This was very pretty girl. Bates no.
ticed her en- the very day of his ar
rival IN n tennis court to the rear Of
her nome playing the game with 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
were unusually graceful
The Invalid sat in the window Of his
bedroom watching the game and thank
full for something to look at, for be was
not we'll enough to read and had no
/ desire to look at u book. he was con-
tent to watch the girl fitting about
over 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 not
prone to make acquaintance Of neigh
bors. Consequently neither made any
movement to be neighborly. They
lived side by side for several weeks
without even 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 80. The girl had eyes for the
handsome invalid as well as he had
eyes for her, Indeed. she was sym.
pathizing with him and wishing that
! be 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
ventional barriers that kept them apar1
u question which we need not ask.
On the 2lst of December the sur
starts northward and in Florida brings
the genial warmth OF the coming sum
mer far more rapidly than In the north
One morning Arnold Bates saw Mis-!
FarnswOrth and her little brother, Bob
in the garden. Bob had spade and
under his sisters directions. was dig
ging up the beds. Then the two dit
some planting. and from that time Of
the garden received good share O
their attention. Arnold Bates was i'm
proving and now walked out every day
; On several occasions be and Mis-
FarnswOrth met. and both showed s
consciousness of the fact that the,
were not entirely unknown to eacl
other. though neither spoke. Tn
yonng lady was usually accompanied
by her brother. whose evident interes
in his next door neighb0r indicate,
that he had seen Mr.. Bates and tina
the boy and the girl might have dis
cussed him together.
Bates was BY this time In condition
to wish that something might turn u
to give him an acquaintance with hi
pretty neighbor About the LIST Of Feb
ruary be saw preparations for St Va
entine's day. which was approaching
and be wished that be might make
serve for the coveted introduction Blu
unfortunately this anniversary ha
been largely relegated to children. Be
. sides. Bates did not see any way tina
! he could utilize 1t. After turning va
rious schemes over In his mind b
abandoned the idea altogether.
But Bates saw that Bob Farnswort
was making preparations to celebrat
: st. Valentines day. One day. with
little giri companion. he laid out hi
stock of valentines on the veranda
. and the two children made an inspet
ton. Bates was sitting ut his windO,
watching tuem. but not near enOug
! to II to enable them TO see him. Pres
I entity he saw the boy look up at th
. window and say something whic
caused his companion to look up ut
too. There was evidently some dis
cussion between them with which tn
window was connected.
Then Bob went into the house an
returned with a bit of writing pape
] and pencil. The paper he placed o
a table on the veranda. and the tw
children busted themselves with th
pencil. After this Bob went to an ou
house and brought hoe and a rak'
: with which he smoothed one Of th
flower beds Next be went into tn
house and returned with a paper ba:
With a stick be scratched somethfn
on the bed that Arnold thought to b
letters. but he could not see what the
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