The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-03-19
A Flower
Valentine
1t Was Grown In the
Sunny South
By OUNCE BLAKE


irom oVerworE. WAS ordered To the
south to spend the winter. He enus,.
81. Augustine. Fla. in which to spend
January and February. arriving there.
in the latter part Of December.
The invalid was accompanied by his
mother, and they took Il cottage for
the season. Their domicile was one uI
TWO houses standing side BY side ana
about 100 yards apart. In the adjoi,,-
ing yard belonging to the ether dwra
ing was flower garden. bur since IL
was during the brief interval betw.ei.
seasons in that climate there We're No
towers In bloom.
, There was something else in bloom,
that delighted the eye Of Arnold Rates.
Tnis was very pretty girl. Bates uo,
uced her On the very day Of his AZ
rival in n tennis court to the rear or
ner home playing the game with q boy
OF twelve. whom Bates judged to b..
ner brother. The young lady was an,
parently about eighteen years Of age.
ana, though tennis is not always car
culated to show grace. her movement,
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 NJ
desire to look at a book. He was con-
tent to watch the girl fitting abOnt
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-
Ell that ne was admirine one who
was unconscious Of his existence. This
was not 80. The girl had eyes for the
handsome invelid as well as he had
eyes for her. Indeed. she was sym
pathizing with him and wishing that
he w;is 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 apart
Ia a question which we need not ask.
On the 2lst of December the sun
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 Miss
Farnsworth and her little brother. Bob,
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 OIL
the garden received good share of
their attention. Arnold Bates was i'm.
proving and now walked out every day
On several occasions he and Miss
Farnsworth met. and both showed a
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 be saw preparations for st. Val.
eDtine'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 1t. After turning va.
rious schemes 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 q
little girl companion. he laid out his
stock Of valentines on the veranda.
and the two children made an inspec-
ton. Bates was sitting at his window
watching tnem. but not near enough
to II 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 1t
too. Their 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 pencil. The paper he placed on
a table on the veranda. and the two
ousied themselves with the
pencil After this Bob went to an out
house and brought hoe and rake.
with which he smoothed one OF the
flower beds. Next he went into the
house and returned with a paper bag.
With stick he scratched something
On the bed that Arnold thought to be
letters. but he could not see what they
were Into these scratches the chill
iren sowed seeds from the paper bag.
This proceeding naturally excited
Mr. Bates curiosity. He waited pa ,
tientiy till light came on and the In ,
.erior of the house next door was light ,
ID up. showing that the family were
INDOORS. Then. taking an electric lamp.
Do went down and into the adjoining