The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-06-01
The End Of
A Rivalry
By ESTHER VANDEVEER


cred either a boy or girl. Her most
intimate friends were boys, and they
always spoke of her as zone of us.
When Joe was fifteen a change came
over her-that is. she was passing from
childhood to womanhood. This transl-
tIon was in her case peculiar. \ glrl
of fifteen knows that she can't do those
things she did when child. For in
stance she can't climb trees with the
same freedom: she can't ride on horse
hack straddle without apparel htted
for the purpose; there is not the same
freedom in her friendships with boys.
Joe had not quite let go all these
Juvenile ways, and yet she was reach |
ing for young ladyhoOd One thing she
had not yet grasped, and that was
proper appreciation of being made love
to by young man. Boys had never
thought of making love to her. A boy
would no more have made love to her
than to another boy. For boy to
make love to her would have sounded
ridiculous, and, ten to one, she would
have laughed at him.
The first time that anything serious
in the way of a love matter occurred
TO Joe Sommers was when she was fiji
teen and half years old. Two boys,
Bob Atherton and Johnnie Myers, laid
longing eyes upon her. Neither OF
them made any mention of the fact to
her. If one walked home with her
from school the other kept out of the
way. If one engaged her for a game
of tennis the other amused himself in
some other way. Joe did not see the
rivalry, but the boys were conscious Of
it, and there was not a day that one
did not try to get ahead of the other.
OF course this constant effort was
bound in the end to make trouble be-
tween the two boys. Every time one
saw the other enjoying Joc's society to
the exclusion of the other the green
monster tapped his wings. An ex
plosion is sure to come in such cases
and this one was no exception.
All three of the parties to this tri
angular love affair-though the cir
had no sentimental part in it at all
were in the same class in the Filing
ham high school, When certain
baseball game was played between thu
Effingham and the Waterton higl
schools Bob AthertOn saw on TIT
grand stand Joe Sommers sitting will
vacant place beside her. He JOINED
her and asked if he might occupy ii
She gave him permission, saying tina
she expected another boy to sit wit
her, but there was room for him ol
the other side.
Now, the other boy was Johnnie My
ers. Before he reached the stand tn
place on the other side of Joe wa
occupied, and he saw Bob in his place
He didn't approach the two and max
scene, but there was consternatio
within him. He did not even clail
his right to sit by the girl. He wei
off to another part OF the field, nursin
his wrath not against Joe, who was
be blamed If any one was, but again'
Bob.
When the game was finished and til
multitude left the athletic ground
Johnnie saw his rival walking wit
Joe toward her home. His own rou
lay in this direction Indeed, he live
not far from her, and she could loo
from her window into his back var
When Bob left her Johnnie joined hi
and accused him of Intentionally o
cupying his place at the baseball gam
Bob was innocent of the charge, b
certain words used by Johnnie ril'
him.
Joe had laid aside her belonging
and was sitting by her window Wit
she saw Bob climb the fence in &
rear of Johnnies home and approa
Johnnie with apparent hostile intel
The next thing she saw was a battle
1t did not take Joe long to disco
the cause of this encounter. Realizi
that she had not properly protected t
boy she had promised to sit beside
the game, 1t was plain to her that Il
disgraceful fight between her t.
friends was her own fault. Runni
downstairs and out through ba
door, she vaulted all fences that sci
rated her from the complaints, tina
alighting in the yard where they We
fighting. But so engaged were I'll
with each other that they did not :
her.
What predominated in Joe's mi
was this: Through her neglect thu
two boys had been brought to pun
each other She was angry with h
self, but still more angry with tn
for making her fault more glari
The fact of their rivalry for her
not enter her head. Indeed, she did
know that there was rivalry.
1t happened that the gardener
been using hose to water some pla
and had left it on the ground.
seized 1t, and the first intimation of
presence to the competitors for her
yor was stream of water poured o
them. For a few moments, not
corning the cause of the interrupt
they continued to maui each OF
Then both turned and, seeing the
feet of their devotion directing
stream, they ceased to fight and ST
apart, whereupon Joe dropped
hose and stood looking at them
grily. She was trying to find word
express what was within her, but,
ing, she jumped the fence and
away.
That was the end of the rivalry
Toe Sommers' favor on the par
these two boys, for she turned the
shoulder on both of them.
Homeliness Explained.
- ulA.,oo,41a xuas asked the