Charlevoix county herald., 1917-09-28
Fascinating Ruth

Its funny what ideas one gets!"
unused the bookkeeper. aloud.
Everything's funny II you look at
It the Night way" declared the little
stenograDher. philosophically. as she
brushed and sponged at several dozen
dull brown spots on her suit. II sup
pose the people in the automobile
that did this thought 1t was a huge
joke TO see the mud fly up! I'd think
1t was funny. too, If you'd got it,"
The bookkeeper listened without
hearing.
you see," he said, up there at
that summer resort we all were dead
In love. with that little old woman.
Why, she was a perfect peach! She
had white hair, and 1t was just as
soft and pretty as old women's hair
should be. and she dressed in simple
dresses, with little white things
around her neck and wrists-so
quaint and old-fashioned but so per-
fectly becoming!
"And her voice! Always so well
come and pleasant, and sounded as
tho you were the one person in all
the world that she was eagerly wait
ing to see!"
"Um! She must have known the
game right when she was young"
commented the little stenographer.
well. she certainly had us all, as l
said! We'd have done anything for
her, from reading aloud to her for
hours to taking her rowing for pond
lilies when the fish were aching to
| be caught, and tennis was in full
swing, even. She was sport, too.
She didn't object to entering into the
fun and doing things-and she was
the best one on the floor when 1t
came to a Virginia reel.
$50 when it leaked out that she had
daughter, all the fellows were par
ticularly inquisitive. When the little
| old mother, at her age, was such q
| peach, we all knew what to expect in
her daughter. She just couldn't help
| bringing up a marvel!
I'VE hated to ask outright what
sort of girl she was, but we all put
cut bait at every opportunity and
then compared notes. Actually, there
was betting as to who should be the
lucky man and feeling ran high when
| it came to deciding who should make
| the first call, for it wasn't in reason
for all of us to pile in at once!
1.-THE little old mother wasn't a bit
averse to speaking of her daughter,
and she always spoke of her so soft
ly-with such happy light in her
eyes! 1t surely was encouraging!
Her daughters name was Ruth, and
somehow the name seemed fitting and
appropriate!
Everything seemed just right!
Ruth was taller than her mother, we
| knew. She was dark, with brown
eves. She loved good time and was
a general favorite. She was some
what artistic, and had good deal OF
success with her paintings, but she
wasn't at all conceited or spoiled.
ooh, don't know exactly why, but
the picture grew more enhancing
every day!
Il know was counting up my
salary and trying to see whether with
careful stretching it could be made to
support TWO. did my best to find out
the circumstances of the little old
woman, to discover il Ruth was used
to more comforts than l could give
her. I could see that every other fell
low was doing likewise.
FINALLY the day came for Ruth to
arrive. We were all nervous and
fidgety and tried to pretend that we
weren't. The result was that we were
cross as lot of bears around the
place! We hadn't decided who
should call first.
Then there was a telephone mes
sage asking us all to come down that
evening to candy pull that the little
old peach was going to have. so we
could meet Ruth. Gee! Most of US
| got there at 1901"
"And RUTH" asked the little steno-
grapher.
"She was all that she had been
cracked up to be--but she had three
boys with her, the oldest Is, and they
were all her own!
WED been so fascinated by our
little old peach that We hadn't re-
fiected that she was as old as our
grandmothers and that naturally her
daughter would be our own mothers
age!
Ruth was a peach-but somehow
tho zest NJ IN did mt last"