The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1919-01-10
THE VOICE
BY HELENA M. KENhEY.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlIIIIIIIIIIlIlIIIIllImILEIIIIIIl

The train rolled slowly ons Of the
station, leaving girl standing on the
platform. Nellie Windsor was fifteen
years old. Her mother and father were I
dead and she had no one but Uncle 10 4
and Aunt Betty. Uncle 10 had written
her to come and live with him-and 4
here she was. 1t was fully ten minutes 4
before Uncle 10 came, and when he l
did be gave her hearty kiss and lift l
ed her into the buggy and on they |
went. Arriving at the farm, she found |
Aunt Betty waiting on the porch for |
her, and such dear old lady she was. |
1t was then 3 80 o'clock. and the rest |
Of the afternoon was spent in unpack- |
ing her clothes and learning the rounds |
Of the house. After supper she went
directly to bed, because she was tired
from her long journey.
The next afternoon she wandered
around, picking flowers. chasing but
terfiies, and, gathering an apron fun
of apples, she went down to the little
brook. II was nice and cool and she
was enjoying herself when-"Hello
said voice. She looked up. but saw no
one.
Il say, hullo," again came the voice;
this time it seemed to come from the
tree that was across the brook.
"Hullo. yourself" replied Nellie.
Where are you?"
up here in the tree" said the voice.
"Come down." she said.
Nope answered the voice. No
amount of teasing would make the
voice come down. 1t was getting late,
so Nellie said: "If come here tomor~
row viii you let me see who you arer
Maybe" replied the voice. So Nellie
scampered up the hill and home. But
she was not to see the owner OF the
voice tomorrow, for when she got up
the next morning, it was raining.
Uncle 10 came in at dinner time
with an invitation for Nellie TO spend
the afternoon with the Browns, who
lived across the field. Slowly she went
upstairs to dress, sorry because she
could not go down to the brook, but
maybe 1t would be there some other
time; so with this happy thought in
mind she was soon ready. and Uncle
10 took her over to the Browns. She
was rather shy, being among strangers,
but Mrs. Brown soon put her at ease.
Molly Brown was Nellie's age. and
they took to each other right away.
! | While they were sitting, talking about
nothing in particular. the doorbeu
rang and MOlly's mother went and adj
mitted FIVE young people who had come
to spend the afternoon Soon boy
about a year older than herself came
in and was introduced as Billy Brown.
What a good time she had. and what
nice girls and boys they were! But
Billy-where had she heard that voicei
The afternoon passed all too quickly
and when the guests rose TO go. Mrs
Brown shook hands with them all, and
so did Molly and Billy. When Nellie
arrived home she could not help think
ing what a nice boy Billy was. and
she blushed when she thought how ht
had given her hand a tiny, unneces
sary squeeze.
+ The days that followed were tht
q happiest ones she had ever had. Ions
J, rambles with Molly and the Tuekel
twins, picnics, and often she woulC
e 90 for long walks with Billy. Sh'
r liked Billy very much and Billy like
?. Nellie. But she did not forget thu
voice. Every day she would go dow
it to the brook and talk and talk with il
' She would tell it of the nice times sh
was having, and went so far as to tel
= il of Billy. Thus two weeks paSse'
I on and Nellie thought she was neye
going to see the voice. when one da,
the voice told her that she would Sc
it tomorrow, sure. To be sure, Neiii
was there at the appointed time, an
the voice said: IF come down, vii
you promise TO give me one thingf"
l Wondering what it could be, but CT
| rious TO see the voice, as she had cal
| ed it, she readily said, Yes" 1t sill
| down the tree and there stood-Billy
I "You-you-T' she gasped. Bill
| smiled and said, "Your promise" Sh
| was so surprised she did not kno'
| what TO say. AT length she said, 'Wha
| do you want?"
Il "a kiss" he replied.
"Oh-h!" and she turned to fee u
1 the hill. but BillT like flash caugf
| her. Ii was useless for her TO try
get away, even if she wanted TO.
Copyright, 1915, by Mcclure Newspap'
Syndicate.)