Gilpin observer., 1919-01-02
THE VOICE
BY HELENA N. KINNEY,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


The train rolled slowly out of the
station. leaving q girl standing on the
platform. Nellie Windsor was fifteen
years old. Her mother and father were
. dead and she had no one but Uncle Jo
and Aunt Betty. Uncle 10 had written
her to come and live with him-and
here she was. 1t was fully ten minutes
before Uncle 10 came. and when he
did he gave her hearty kiss, and lift
ed her into the buggy aud 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
terflies. and. gathering an spson full
Of apples, she went down to the little
brook. 1t was nice and cool aud she
was enjoying herself when-"Hello." /"
said voice. She looked up, but saw no
one.
Il say. hullo." again came the voice !;
this time 1t seemed to come from the
tree that was across the brook.
"Hullo. yourself" replied Nellie
"Where are your"
"Up here In the tree" said the voice.
Come down." she said.
"Nope," answered the voice. No
amount Of teasing w0uld make the
voice come down. It was getting late,
SO Nellie said: IF come here tomor.
row will you let me see who you are?"
"Maybe." replied the voice. So Nellie
scampered up the bill end home. But
she was not to see the owner of the
voice tomorrow, for when she got up
the next morning, 1t 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 tho light In
mind she was soon ready, and Uncle
JO took her over to the Bfownn. She
was rather shy. being among stf,ngers
but Mrs. Brown soon put her a, ease.
Molly Brown was Nelltc's age, and
they took to each other right away.
While they were sitting. talking about
nothing In particular, the doorbell
rang and Molly's mother went and ad-
mltted five young people who had come
to spend the afternoon. Soon q boy
about a year older than hnrself came
in and was introduced as Billy Brown.
What good time she had. and what
nice girls and boys they werel But
Billy-where had she heard that voice?
The afternoon passed all toe quickly,
Brown shook hands with them oil, and
SO did Molly and Billy. When Nellie
arrived home she could not help think
Ing what nice boy Billy was, and
she blushed when she thought how he
had given her hand a tiny. unneces-
sary squeeze.
The days that followed were the
happiest ones she had ever had. Long
rambles with Molly and the Tucker
twins, picnics, and often she would
go for long walks with Billy. She
liked Billy very much and Billy liked
Nellie. But she did not forget the
voice. Every day she would 60 down
to the brook and talk and talk with 1t.
She would tell 1t of the nice times she
was having, and went so far as to tell
1t Of Billy. Thus two weeks passed
on and Nellie thought she was never
going to see the voice, when one day
the. voice told her thut she would see
1t tomorrow, sure. To be sure, Nellie
was there ut the appointed time, and
the voice said: III i come down, will
you promise to giss me one thingT
Wondering what 1t could be. but Gu
rious to see the voice, as she lad call
ed 1t. she readily said. "Yes." It slid
down the tree and there stoDd-Billy!
"You-you-f she gnsped. Billy
smiled and said, "Your promise" She
was so surprised she did not know
what to say. At length shc said, "What
do you want"
a kiss." he replied.
"Oh-hW and she turAcd tc Ace up
the. hill. but Billy like z 6ash caught
her. 1t was useless for her to try to
get away. even II she wanted to.
Copyright. 1918. by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate.)