Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1917-09-25


girl to be sure that she was pretty
What else she was he did not know
and did not care to know. He had at
tracted her attention, though he had
been obliged to sprinkle her to do %
She had brought the sprinkfng OF
herself by giving him q stage snow
storm, and as for the face she had
made at him he did not mind that
bit
The next day when Billy was going
up the steps, getting out bis latchkey
! who should come out OF the front dool
Of the next house but the girl. She
passed him with her nose In the air
but she had scarcely reached the side
! walk when Billy heard q giggle. Ht
turned and tried to get up his courage
to follow and join her, but he had not
been introduced to her, and should she
scorn him he would never recover from
the blow. She had Toured him and he
, had lowered her, but this did not con
stitute an introduction. He would nc
more dare speak to her without the
formal introduction required In social
life than he would return to his knick
erbockers.
Such was the condition between these
two next door neighbou when Billy
was invited to his first formal dance
He began to array himself at 9 O'Clock
for q function that was supposed tc
begin at half past g. Much time was
required He put three sets OF studs
In his shirt before he was satisfied
with a set of tiny mosaics. he had
inserted gold links in his cuffs, and
this necessitated further change, fol
had he worn mosaic studs with gold
sleeve buttons he would expect to be
ordered out Of the house by the host
The tying Of bis neckwear was anoth'
er delay requiring some twenty-five
minutes. He succeeded in placing Il
above the collar button. but was In
terror lest It slip down.
He was informed by his mother, who
stood by him nobly in this critical
period Of his Life, that he would surely
| be late, and at last he put the finishing
touches to his makeup and, going
downstairs and out. entered limou.
sine that had been summoned to trans
port him to the scene Of hoped for con.
quests. As he was driving away 9
car stopped next door. He wondered
n the Girl who lived there was going
anywhere.
Billy on reaching his destination
spent half an hour In the dressing
room. Whether it was. for further
arrangement Of his apparel or stage
fright at appearing at his first function
there is no record. Nevertheless he
held on to the banister on his way
down. He made bis bow to the
hostess and was at once taken on by
q member of the family to be present.
ed to some Of the young ladies he did
not know.
Those invited were all supposed to
be between fifteen and seventeen,
though some of the girls had barely
turned fourteen. Billy was introduced
to several girls In succession and was
landed for similar purpose before
another when he stood stock still She
was the girl next door.
Miss Betty Hinsdale, this b Mr..
Athertonw
Why all the retiring qualities are at.
tributed to the softer sex It Is difficult
to explain. Billy. as he expressed 1t
afterward, was taken "flat aback.
Miss Hinsdale was as cool as a cucum-
ber. Billy stammered something like
pleasure of q dance" whereupon she
threw back her head with all the air
of a society belle, at the same time
thrusting out q dance card with not Q
vacancy on 1t. But Billy soon caught
up with her. He erased several names
and boldly wrote his own name In
their place.
Minute accounts Of love affairs may
be pleasingly realistic, but they 70.
quire much space. But It doesn't re-
quire much time for boy Of sixteen
| to fall in love. Billy did the falling
like a house painter from a scaffold-
very suddenly. But he was q dead
man, so far as his heart was concern
ed, long before the evening was over.
He had not only been made acquaint-
ed with the girl next door, but had
fallen madly in love with her.
The Touring, the Towering and the
sprinkling, and all that, were over,
and another phase Of the affair was
begun.
But that phase has been so often por-
trayed that we will leave these young
sters at the end Of the beginning OF
their affair by merely stating that the
love spats were SO numerous one would
suppose that they were bitter enemies
| instead Of lovers. Billy was at one
moment in the clouds, the next In the
slough of despair. This up and down
condition lasted till he went to college,
when he succeeded In getting admit
| ted to the university baseball team,
and from this moment he forgot the
girl next door. But 1t Is only fair to
her to say that before she married
she had been engaged six times.