The citizen., 1919-01-23

Peabody used TO call Il a "snaptlous
look" Almost always he whacked the
bed with his slipper. There were ex-
ceptions, however, and. by and by, I
came 20 know In each case the desti-
nation OF the slipper. for n I had done
anything which really afflicted my con-
science that strip Of leather seemed to
know the truth, and found its way to
my person.
Aunt Deel toiled incessantiy. She
washed and scrubbed and polished and
busted and sewed and knit from morn
Ing until night. She lived In mortal
fear that company would come and
md her unprepared-Alma Jones or
Jabez Lincoln and his wife, OF Ben and
| Mary Humphries, or "Mr. and Mrs.
Horace Dunkelberg." These were the
people OF whom she talked when the
nelghbors came In and when she was
not talking Of the Bayneses. observed
that she always said "Mr. and Mrs.
Horace Dunkelberg." They were the
conversational ornaments Of our home.
"As Mrs. Horace Dunkelberg says" or,
"as said 20 Mr.. Horace Dunkelberg,"
were phrases calculated TO establish
our social standing. I supposed that
the world was peopled by Joneses, Lin
coins, Humphrles and Dunkelbergs,
but mostly by Dunkelbergs. These lat
ter were very rich people who lived In
Canton village.
L know, now. how dearly Aunt Deel
loved her brother and me. I must have
been great trial to that woman Of
forty unused to the pranks Of chill
dren and the tender offices of a moth
err. Naturally l turned from her to
my Uncle Peabody as a refuge and a
help in time OF trouble, with increasing
fondness. He had no knitting or sew
ing to do and when Uncle Peabody sat
In the house he gave all his time to
me and we weathered many a storm
together as we sat silently In his IA
vorite corner, Of an evening, when 1
always went to sleep in his arms.
was seven years old when Uncle
Peabody gave me the watermelon
seeds. put one of them In my mouth
and bit 1t.
ut appears to me there's an awful
draft blowin' down your throat" said
Uncle Peabody. "You amt no busi-
ness eatin' a melon seed"
"Whyi" was my query.
"'Cause II was made to put In the
ground. Didn't you know it was aliveY'
"Alive" 1 exclaimed.
ALIVE" said he. "Tll show ye."
He put a number Of the seeds In
the ground and covered them, and
said that part of the garden should
be mine. l watched 1t every day and
by and by two vines came up. One
sickened and died In dry weather. Un-
Gle Peabody said that I must water
the other every day. I did 1t faith
fully and the vine throve.
II was hard work. / thought, to go
down into the garden, night and morn
Ing, with my little pail full of water,
but uncle said that i should get my
pay when the melon was ripe. / had
also to keep the wood-box full and
feed the chickens. They were odious
tasks. When asked Aunt Deel what
i should get for doing them she an
swered quickly:
"Nospanks and bread and butter
ayesr"
When 1 asked what were "nospanks"
she told me that they were part of
the wages of a good child. / was
better paid for my care of the water
melon vine, for its growth was mea-
sured with a string every day and kept
me interested. One morning found
five blossoms on it. i picked one and
carried II to Aunt Deel. Another l
destroyed in the tragedy of catching
a bumblebee which had crawled into
Its cup. In due time three small mel
ons appeared. When they were as
big as baseball picked two OF them.
One tasted and threw away as 1
ran to the pump for relief. The other
i hurled at a dog on my way to
school.
SO that last melon on the vine had
my undivided affection. IL grew in
size and reputation. and soon
learned that a reputation is about the
worst thing that watermelon can
acquire while IL is on the vine. I IN
vited everybody that came to the
house to go and see my watermelon.
They looked II over and said pleas
ant things about II. When l was a
boy people used to treat children and
watermelons with a like solicitude.
Both were a subject for jests and
produced similar reactions In the hu-
man countenance.
At last Uncle Peabody agreed with
me that IL was about time to pick the
melon. j decided to pick It Immediate
ly after meeting on Sunday. so that
1 could give II to my aunt and uncle
at dinner-tlme. When we got home
i ran for the garden. My feet and
those of our friends and neighbors
had literally worn a path to the mel
on. In eager haste / got my little
wheelbarrow and ran with It TO the
end OF that path. There l found
nothing but broken vinesl The melon
had vanished. l ran back to the
house almost overcome by a feeling
Of alarm. for l had thought long of
that hour of pride when l should