The Pulaskian., 1916-05-05
WEEDS
By LOUISE OLIVER.

Sl6Idl ol COHSIucEdD1S A4StuEUdICS
 within.
 Gary osworth, fifty feet or so away
 on the links, seemingly intent upon
 addressing" a minute sphere of hard rubber with g siily-looking stick hay. ing an iron end, may have been just
 as absorbed as he looked, but then it ] is just likely that he wasn't ! Crack. The ball went far-and- wide Of the green, landing in a bunker
 which spelled disaster. Gary stood
 and watched it's descent, compressed
 his lips and picked up his bag.
 Eldred, on her diminutiEe porch,
 giggled. She couldn't help it in spite I of her "reminiscences.
 She was pretty, twenty-two. and ! drawing teacher in enough big brick
 city schools to scare her to death. ' Gary was homely, thirty and superin- ! tendent of those same schools. More
 over, 1t was the superintendent, not ] the schools. that scared EIdred. Not ] his ugliness me, mol
 But he ridicuIed art and laughed at
 Eldred's pictures on the blackboards. which stiff little fingers tried so hard ! to reproduce.
 Then. the last day in June, when the l thermometer was ninety-fve near the water cooler and his desk was stacked head high with papers to be disposed Of that day and the two telephones were ringing fendishly every other
 minute and his neuralgia started to dig out his right eye and everything went wrong and everybody was tor. ture, then EIdred Kenmore had ] breezed in and asked about some cray. i on supplies for the coming year ] Saints could have endured less-and Gary went to church only every other l Sunday. He told her several things he thought of. Her art was silly-her 1 work useless, her aim purposeless and her ambition not worthy Of her. He spoke of dicky birds, frog ponds, and l finally, in a fine frenzy of rage, he ] had mentioned something about the ] damned weeds she made the kids draw
 l Eldred drew a sharp breath. What could be more foolish" she asked her 1 self, than for a full-grown man to chase 8 little ball around for miles ] every day? And yet he says that my work is sillyl" Her eyes flashed. 1 Through tiny isinglass window she ! could see her enemy in the distance i trying to dig his ball out of a sand l ditch. The next shot landed him in 1 the water moat around the green.
 "Oh. how very. very funny" she ! cried. i've heard him talk golf in the { most awesome terms. If some Of those
 people in town could only see him
 now" She stopped, struck with 1 sudden idea.
 i Billy Hawkins, cartoonist for the
 Daily News, had made this remark be- ! fore he went away on his vacation:
 I'm of for two weeks. If you see any. i thing good, send it in. particularly If { you can get anything on anyone Somebody prominent, you know" i Eldred put the tea things away and l got out her sketch book.
 A week later Gary Osworth opened l his mail on the porch Of the club house before going out to play. On
 the front page of the Daily News he spied six sketches. and this legend in large type. Our Superintendent at 1 Golf"
 There he was, ridiculous in all sorts l of contortions.
 ] The line below the cartoon read thus: "Mr. Osworth dislikes anything 1 that is frivolous and useless and that
 does not strengthen the mind" He threw the paper down savagely. Then he went out to his game and
 vented his wroth on the turf, the air
 and the ball when he could hit it.
 And the ball. going wild upon one occasion, swerved to the left, out 1 through the leaves of an oak tree and I hit young lady who had stepped out i of her cottage to gather goldenrod. Gary Osworth didn't see the ball hit
 Eldred, but be went in search of it and found her lying unconscious on the
 ground, her arm still around g huge
 mass of yellow goldenrod. The ball l that had done the damage was lying
 near. His heart stood still | He carried her inside, laid her upon
 a couch and hunted for water. But she started to breathe, which was all ] that was necessa sary to start his own heart to pumping again He turned
 and his eye caught the open page of
 sketch book-a cartoon Of himself
 playing golf, And Eldred opened her
 eyes to see her enemy gazing blankly at 1t. How petty her revenge was.
 What mean thing she had done to l this big, wholesome man.
 She sat up instantly. I'm sorry!"
 she said simply.
 He turned and smiled. You needn't
 be. I'm glad you did it. I feel better
 some way. I ought to be shot for say
 ing what did that day and then try ing to murder you now"
 You might get my goidenrod." 1 He came in with his arms full
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