The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-04-09
A Flower
Valentine
Il Was Grown In the
Sunny South
By eUNIC BLAke


Arnold Bates. having broken down
from overwork. was ordered to the
south to spend the winter. BE chose
st. Augustine, Fla. In which to spend
January and February. arriving there
In the latter part Of December.
The invalid wa accompanied BY his
mother, and they took 4 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 a flower garden. but since 1t
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 a very pretty girl. Bates no.
ticed her on the very day Of his ar.
rival in a tennis court to the rear Of
her home playing the game with a boy
OF twelve. whom Bates judged to be
her brother. The young lady was ap-
pa ChtIS " SIShICCA JCNlo VI u6Cs
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
ful for something to look at, for he was
not well enough to read and had no
desire tO look ut a book. He was con
| tnnf fn UOtnh tho uirl Aiffinu hnpt
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 n%eighborly. They
lived side by side for several weeks
without even learning each others
name. and only n 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
war " WV VI uU6 SA1SlCuSC. liz
was not 50. Tho girl had eyes for the
handsome invalid as we'll as be 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 be had been strong enough. the two
would AVE broken through the con
conditional ~ p;rv, Ahnk l.n-< hn~, ~,~
is a question which We need not ask.
On the 21st of December the SUE
starts nortbward and in Florida brings
the genial warmth Of the coming sum
mel 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 dig
ging up 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 i'm
proving and now walked ont every dai
On several occasions be and Miss
FarnSwOrth met. and both showed :,
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 turf up
to give him an acquaintance with bis
pretty neighbOr. About the lst of Feb
ruary he saw preparations for St. Val
entine's day. which was approaching
and he wished that he might make /,
serve for the coveted Introduction. But
unfortunately this anniversary has
been largely relegated tn children. Be.
sides. Bates did not see any way that
he could utilize it. After turning va.
ri0us schemes over in his mind be
abandoned the idea altogether.
But Bates saw that Bob F~arnsworth
st. Valentines day. One day. with a
little girl companion. be laid out bis
stock OF valentines on the veranda.
and the two children made ar inspec.
don. Bates was sitting at his window
watching them. but not a enough
to 1t to enable them to see him. Pres.
emily he saw the boy look up at the
window and say something which
caused his companion to look up at II
toO. There was evidently some dis.
cussion between them with which the
window was connected.
Then Bob went into the house and
returned with a bit Of writing paper
and a pencil. The paper be placed on
q table on the veranda. and the two
children busted themselves with the
pencil. After this Bob went to an U
house and brought a hoe and q rake.
with which he smootbed one Of the
flower beds. Next be went into the
house and returned With a paper bag.
With a stick be scratched something
on the bed that Arnold thought to be
$4,000 A.A 49, >~~DA - 80 -A>A 49,