The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-09-07
BURIED TREASURE
BY MOLLY MINISTER.

view battered old tin DoX David |
was projected back In his memory to |
the days of playing pirate and of |
buried treasure. The bold buccaneer |
who had hid this particular box had !
been female Captain Kidd. A sadly
mutilated doll, string of blue grass
beads and tiny leather purse were
the contents cf the concealed recep-
tacle. In time he managed to de-
cipher a name and date" Barbara
Folsom. 1900, August"
He put aside the box and proceeded
with his digging. The name Barbara
fingered in his mind, however. and,
in some vague way, it seemed to sug-
gest something familiar to him. 1t
even seemed as If he had seen the
name Barbara Folsom in print, but
he could not recall when or where.
"It looks as If romance were not
entirely extinct" he laughed. I'D
like to find that girl and send her the
box for birthday gift" This seemed
so utterly absurd that he laughed
still more decidedly. For aught he
knew, Barbara Folsom, formerly a
airy service in South Africa or the far
East. Surely not-heaven forbid!
Not girl who had once been pirate
and buried a cast-off doll and string
of blue beads!
"And it seems to me that it is only
recently and in some magazine or
other that | have seen that name" he
reflected.
When he had finished setting the
uprights he went in to dinner, still
bearing with him the ot-tobe-silenced
name of Barbara Folsom-who was
she? He found his answer sooner
than he expected 1t was the very
name itself under the title of the very
first piece of magazine fiction which
met his eye.
After all she's only well-known
woman" he sighed regretfully, for Da-
vid did not take kindly to literary
women.
Still, for some reason he could hard
ly fathom, he was prompted TO write
to the magazine office and ask Bar
bara Folsom for her address and the
| privilege of calling on. her.
Barbara Folsom not only replied by
mail, but intimated graciously that
| she should be glad to see him at her
| home on the following afternoon. In
| cidentally, she confessed that she was
| Mrs. John Fraser in private life.
| Still. he felt no slight degree Of I'M
| certainty as to the wisdom of his
| procedure as he stood before the en-
trance of a. modest apartment house
in the Washington square neighbor-
! hood. He carried a bag in which was
the pirates treasure and he wondered
what memories It would inspire in the
mind Of. the one to whom it had be
longed SO many years ago. He had
quite resigned himself to the existence
of Barbara Junior who would prob
ably regard the battered doll with
scornful disdain.
David was ushered into coy lit.
tie room by Mrs. Fraser herself She
proved to be a delightful little ma,
iron, but he could not find in her the
faintest resemblance to his conception
of what the child pirate of long age
should be like
Barbara Folsom is only a pen
name she explained. after she had
heard his story Il borrow the names
of my friends to lend dignity to my
work"
Then l have not found my pirate
after all" he sighed rather dis
tressedly.
'Lo-she comes!" laughed the little
matron, rising and taking into hel
motherly arms young woman who
had entered just in time to heal
David's wistful observation. '"Thi!
is Barbara Folsom. l use her nam,
f oftener than any other nowadays be
/ cause love her best Of all. Barbara
this is Mr. David Gordon of whom
told you
0 And almost before he had time t,
= recover his self-possession charmin,
young woman, with merry eyes and ;
most unpiratical expression. held GU
(. her hand in friendly greeting.
G And now | will see about som,
Il tea" hustled Mrs. Fraser. leavini
them together
Barbara was immensely fntereste
! in the recovered treasure. She we
!, coined the sorry-looking doll as If sh
n were long-lost relative and he
bright eyes moistened at sight of tn
little purse and its cabalistic slips Q
: paper. She Rugged the string @
j beads to her heart and then claspe
a it about her slender neck.
$50 you live in our old homestead.
+ she said. And l suppose you have
n crew of little pirates who are hidin
&C their treasure as l did so long ago?'
S 81 am not married man." he al
= swered simply, "but | do live In you
old home"
= She sighed-rather wistfully, Davi
- thought.
* This is all most romantic" Chi