The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-08-18
EVENING STORY
Pony's Soldier.
(By Ellis Graham.


The little white nurse. weary but
wide eyed, sat silently tanning a
wounded soldier.
He had been brought in during the
day with a shattered arm and bullet
wound in the side. and now he tossed
feverish and delirious on his mattress
bed, one of two dozen in the ruins of
the old mission. The heat was almost
unbearable, not a breath of air stirring
in that desert region. The little nurse
was thinking as she famed. and this
was what it was all about:
1t was cherry time and a girl and a
man were out under the crimson-heart
tree. There were a ladder and a bas-
ket, too, and some buckets, but the
June afternoon passed so quickly for
these two that, strangely enough,
when the shadows were getting long
and it was time to go home the basket
wasn't nearly half full. and the tree
hung as heavy as ever with the GRIM
son fruit. But the girl had a color in
her cheeks almost as rich as that of
the cherries the young man had hung
| over each of her ears. and her lips
juice stained, were too tempting to re-
sist-
Il love you, Polly!" he declared. i'm
petuously seizing her in his arms. Tell
me all over again"
II love you, WIFI" she obeyed hap
PLY, smuggling up close to his breast.
And you'll never. never forget!
Promisei'
And no matter what anybody ever
says, you'll never go back on me.
Cross your heart, Pollyi'
| And Polly solemnly crossed her
| heart.
Dear girl" And he kissed her
again. well, it's getting late and 1
suppose we'll have to go. Goodness,
what will your mother say? We have
hardly any cherries. Let's hurry. We
can fill this thing in fifteen minutes -
| And so, working for dear life thew
had proudly taken their burden home.
That evening at dinner Polly S
father said: 1T looks as though we
are going to have war. The militia
has been ordered out"
| Too bad." exclaimed her mother
II was hoping things would be
smooth over
But poor white Polly had dropped
her fork and the cheeks that had
matched the cherries had gone white
as the tablecloth. For Will was cap
tain in the local guard and that meant
oh, what?
| Are you sure, daddy?''
true"
What's wrong. Polly?' exclaimed
Nothing" she answered with dry
lips. except that I was thinking that
some of the boys we know will have
to co.
Il suppose so. Will Fielding has
Why, Polly" For the girl, unable
to endure it any longer, had rushed
from the table to her room. She knew
her parents were discussing her be-
havior and that her conduct had been
as good as a confession, but what of
it? She loved Will Fielding and there
wasn't any reason why they shouldn't
know.
| But, later, her mother came to her
and kindly but firmly told her that
besides, that although personally she
liked Will well enough. the family
was new and she couldn't consent to
a daughter of hers marrying into a
| family no one knew anything about
! 1t was just as well that the young
man was going away.
And SO things went on for three
days. Then something occurred,
something dreadful Polly had never
learned the exact truth, for no one
would tell her. 1t was something
about the diamond ring her mother
lost.
She had dressed for a party and
gone to the kitchen before leaving to
tell Nora about dinner. Finding that
her rings interfered with her gloves,
she had drawn them off and laid
them on the table in the kitchen, in
tending to drop them into her bag.
But she was half way to the car be-
fore she remembered them and re-
turned. Norah, in the meantime, had
taken a basket and gone out for cher
ries for pies, leaving the doors open.
That was all they would tell her, ex-
cept that when her mother returned
the two carat diamond was gone, and
that night her parents made her
promise never to see Will again. And.
| on the other hand, the company
marched away with never a goodbye
from Will, nor SO much as a salute
| from him as he had passed.
| The sick man moaned and muttered