The Dolores star., 1919-01-24

find her unprepared-Alma Jones or
Jabez Lincoln and his wife, or Ben and
Mary Humphrics. or "Mr and Mrs.
Horace Dunkelberg." These We're the
people of whom she talked when the
neighbors came in and when she was
not talking of the Bayneses. l 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 l said to Mr.. Horace Dunkelberg,"
were phrases calculated to establish
our social standing. / supposed that
the world was peopled by JoneseS. Lin
coins, HumphreS 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 great trial to that woman of
forty unused to the pranks of chill
dren and the tender offices OF moth
er. Naturally | turned from her to
my Uncle Peabody us a refuge and a
help in time of trouble, with increasing
]
4 ing to do and when Uncle Peabody sat
in the house he gave all his time to
me and we weathered many storm
/ together as we sat silently in his IA
vorlte corner. of an evening, when l
4 always went to sleep in his arms.
| was seven years old when Uncle
/ Peabody gave ME the watermelon
/ seeds. l put one of them in my mouth
and bit it.
1T appears to me there's an awful
draft BLOWN down your throat" said
/ Uncle Peabody. You amt no busi-
ness eatin' a melon seed"
''Why?" was my query.
Cause 1t was made to put in the
] ground. Didn't you know it was aliveY
alive" l exclaimed.
/ "Alivc." said he. IN show ye."
He put number of the seeds in
'the ground and covered them, and
said that part of the garden should
be mine. l watched it every day and
by and by two vines came up. One
+ sickened and died in dry weather. Un-
I Gle Peabody said that I must water
the other every day. 1 did it faith
/ fully and the vine throve.
| 1t was hard work, 1 thought, to go
down into the garden, night and morn.
Ing, with my little pail full of water,
but uncle said that 1 should get my
pay when the melon was ripe. l had
also to keep the wood-box full and
feed the chickens. They were odious
tasks. When I asked Aunt Deel what
/ should get for doing them she an
swered quickly:
"Nospanks and bread and butter
ayes.'
When I asked what were "nospanks"
she told me that they We're part Of
the wages of a good child. l was
better paid for my care of the water
melon vine, for its growth was mea-
sured with string every day and kept
me interested. One morning l found
five blossoms on it. l picked one and
carried it to Aunt Deel. Another
destroyed in the tragedy of catching
a humblebee 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 l tasted and threw away as 1
ran to the pump for relief. The other
l hurled at a dog on. my way to
school.
So that last melon on the vine had
my undivided affection. 1t grew in
size and reputation. and soon l
learned that Il reputation is about the
worst thing that watermelon can
| n Itrn ,trIjl 10 fe
vited everybody that came to the
house to go and see my watermelon.
They looked 1t over and said pleas
ant things about it. When l was Il
boy people used to treat children and
waterrnelons with like sollcitude.
Both were a subject for jests and
produced similar reactions in the hu-
man countenance.
At last Uncle Peabody agreed with
me that it was about time to pick the
melon. l decided to pick 1t Immediate
ly after meeting on Sunday, so that
could give it to my aunt and uncle
at dinner-time. When we got home
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 1 got my little
wheelbarrow and ran with it to the
end of that path. There 1 found
nothing but broken vinesI The melon
had vanished. l ran back to the
house almost overcome by feeling
of alarm, for I had thought long of
that hour Of pride when l should
bring the melon and present it to my
aunt and uncle.
Uncle Peabody" 1 shouted. my
melon Is gone"
"Well, van!" said he, somebody
must "a stole it."
But it was my melon" said with
a trembling voice.
Eyes, and / yum it's too bad! But,