American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1919-01-03

fear that company would come and
find her unprepared-Alma Jones or
Jabez Lincoln and his wife, or Ben and
Mary HUMPHREYS. or mfr. and Mrs.
Horace Dunkelberg." These were the
people of whom she talked when the
neighbors came In and when she was
not talking Of the BnyDeses. i observed
that she always said "Mr. and Mrs.
Horace Dunkelberg." They were the
conversational ornaments os our home.
"As Mrs. Horace Dunkelberg says" or,
"as / said to Mr.. Horace Dunkelberg,"
were phrases calculated to establish
our social standing. / supposed that
the world was peopled by Joneses, Lin
coins, HUMPHREYS and Dunkelbergs.
but mostly by Dunkelbergs. These lat
ter were very rich people who lived in
Canton village.
| / know, now, how dearly Aunt Deel
loved her brother and me. l must have
been u great trial to that woman of
forty unused to he pranks of chill
! dren and the tender offices of a moth
or. Naturally / turned from her to
my Uncle Peabody as q refuge and a
nelp ia llllc VI lIDNDlt, WIN lhNItuNlhS
{ fondness. He had no knitting or sew
ing to do and when Uncle Peabody sat
y in the house he gave all his time to
me and we weathered many a storm
together as we sat silently In his ia
It vorlte corner, Of an evening, when !
" always went TO sleep in his arms.
/ was seven years old when Uncle
Peabody gave me the watermelon
a. seeds. j put one of them In my mouth
e and bit it.
% at appears to me there's an awful
ID draft BLOWN down your throat" said
D. Uncle Peabody. "You amt no bust
/: ness eatin' n melon seed"
"Why?" was my query.
H. "'Cause II was made to put In the
ie ground. Didn't you know it was allver
"Allver' l exclaimed.
rs "Aliye," said he. 'In show ye."
He put a number Of the seeds ir
the ground and covered them, ant
1 said that part Of the garden should
- be mine. 1 watched 1t every day anC
MS by and by two vines came up. Ont
hit sIckened and died In dry weather. Un
Gle Peabody said that / must waite
at the other every day. / did 1t faith
en- fully and the vine throve.
1t was hard work, / thought, to g
= down into the garden, night and morn
: Ing, with my little pail full of water
n but uncle said that / should get m
pay when the melon was ripe. ], ha
also to keep the wood-box full an
feed the chickens. They were odlou
81 IL. MI. n .aI..1 A,,pt Noel xuhp
/ should get for doing them she al
II swered quickly:
" "Nospanks and bread and butter
ayes"
- When | asked what were "nospanks
g she told me that they were part {
- the wages of n good child. l WI
q better paid for my care of the waite
melon vine, for its growth was me-
y sured with n string every day n keI
. me interested. One morning l foun
\ Ave blossoms on 1t, l picked one an
\ cnrgied II to Aunt Deel. Another
I'll destroyed in the tragedy of catchlr
q humblebee which had crawled In
JA Its cup, In due time three small mt
.H ons appeared. When they were
~ big as n baseball / picked two of thel
10 one | tnsted and threw away as
m ran to the pump for relief. The 9th
| hurled at a dog on my way
I'm school.
= So that last melon on the vine hi
- my undivided affection. 1t grew
,.n size and reputation, and soon
learned that n reputation Is about t
worst thing that a watermelon G
acquire while 1t Is on the vine. l
ow- vltod everybody that came to (
not house to go and see my watermelC
They looked 1t over and said Piles
)u'd ant things about It. Whep l was
Il O. boy people used to treat children a
watermelons with II like ~sollcituI
ling Both were a subject for jests n
md produced similar reactions in the l
not man countenance.
He At last Uncle Peabody agreed W
a In me that II was about time to pick I
the melon. l decided to pick 1t immedia
ly after meeting on Sunday, so Il
leg | could give II TO my aunt and un
4 lis at dlnner~time. When We got he
Duse | ran for the garden. My feet a
(. l those of our friends and neighhu
and had literally worn a path to the N
back ON. In eager haste / got my Iii
wheelbarrow and ran with II 20
the end of that path. There l fou
! by nothing but broken vines! The me
men had vanished. l ran back TO
tory house almost overcome by a feel
my Of alarm. for l had thought long
Deel that hour OF pride when l sho
aud bring the melon and present It TO
with aunt and uncle.
and "Uncle Peabody" l shouted, e
melon Is gone"
tious "Well. l van" said he. "someht
1 the must "a stole It."
e ex- 'But Il was my melon" 1 said v
4 A trnn,hlfnv votCp