The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-03-13
A Flower
Valentine
1t Was Grown In the
Sunny South
By OUNCE BLAKE

A'oo'd Bates. having broken down
nom overwork. was ordered .o ~.
soutn to spend the winter. as choss
81 augustine, Fla. in which to spend
january and February, arriving there
N the latter part of December
Inc invalid was accompanied nv his
motner. and they took cottage for
!ne season. Their domicile was one NJ
TWO houses standing side by side and
sDout lOo yards apart. In the udioin.
.ns yard belonging to the ether dwell.
lug was flower garden, but since n
was during the brief interval betwaon
seasons in that climate there were no
lowers In bloom.
ihere was something else in bloom
mat delighted the eye of Arnold Bates
Inis was very pretty girl. Bates no.
uced her en- the very day of his ar.
.i'ai W n tennis court to the rear of
ner nome playing the game with bow
OF Twelve. whom Bates judged to be
ner brother The young lady was an.
parently about eighteen years Of age,
ana. though tennis is not always cal
cuiated to show grace. her movements
were unusually graceful.
The Invalid sat in the window of his
bedroom watching the game and thank
Iui Tor something to look at, for he was
not well enough to read and had no
desire to look at 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
Dors. 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
I'd that he was admiring one who
WAS unconscious of his existence. This
was not SD. The girl had eyes for the
handsome invalid as we'll as he had
eyes for her indeed. she was sym.
patlizing with him and wishing that
III WAS strong enough to come down
and play tennis with her Whether.
If ne had been strong enough. the two
vrntinnaI barriers that kept them apart
II n question which We need not ask.
On the 2lSt of December the sun
starts northward and in Florida brings
mrr far more rapidly than In the north
One morning Arnold Bates saw Miss
Farn>worth 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 did
some planting. and from that time on
the garden received good share of
their attention. Arnold Bates was i'm
On several occasions he and Miss
FarnswOrtb met and both showed Il
consciousness Of the fact that they
were not entirely unknown to each
other, though neither spoke. The
young lady was usually accompanied
by her brother. whose evident interest
In his next door neighbOr indicated
that he had seen Mr.. Bates and that
the boy and the girl might have dis
cussed him together.
Bates was by this time In condition
to wish that something might turn up
to give him an acquaintance with his
pretty neighbor. About the LIST of Feb
ruary he saw preparations for st. Val
entine's day. which was approaching.
and he wished that he might make II
serve for the coveted introduction. But
unfortunately this anniversary has
been largely relegated to children. Be
sides, Bates did not see any way that
be could utilize It. After turning va
rious schemes over In his mind he
aba pdoned the idea altogether.
But Bates saw that Bob Farnsworth
was making preparations to celebrate
St. Valentines day. One day. with Q
little girl companion. be laid out his
stock Of valentines on the veranda'
and the two children made an inspec-
lion. Bates was sitting at his window
watching them. but not near enough
IN n to enable them 10 see him. Pres-
emily be saw the boy look up at tne
window and say something winch
caused his companion TO look up at IL
too Their, was evidently some DIS
cussion between them with which the
window was connected.
Then Bob went into the house ana
returned with bit of writing paper
and a pencil The paper be placed on
a t,ble ON the veranda. and the TWO
on;,dran nusied themselves with the
mcneil. After this Bob went TO an QUIZ
house and brought hoe ana rake
With which he smoothed one or the
eou.r beds Next he went into the
house and returned with paper Dag.
with stick be scratched something
nm rhe bed that Arnold thought to De
,a,,ers but he could not see what they
uo,o info these scratches the chill
aron sowed seeds from the paper Dag.
This proceeding naturally excited
Mr. Bates curiosity. He waited pa
tisntIy till light came on and the M
80, ~ the house next door was light
n np. showing that the family were
.ndoors Then. taking an electric lamp.
W. ION, down and into the adjoining