Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-01-09

Peabody used to call It asnaptious
look" Almost always he whscked the
bed with his slipper There were ex-
ceptions. however. and. by and by, ]
came to know In each case the desti-
nation of the slipper. for If | had deae
anything which really afflicted my eea-
science that strip Of leather seemed to
know the truth. and found its way to
my person.
Aunt Deel toiIed necessarily. Ske
washed and scrubbed and polished and
busted and sewed and knit from msra-
Ing until night She lived In msrtaI
fear that company would csne aaa
find her unprepared-Alms Jsaes ~
Jabez Lincsln and his wife. or Bca ana
Mary Humphries. or "Mr. aad Mrs.
Horace DuRkelberg." These were the
people of whom she talked whoa tAe
ncishbors came in and whe. she was
not talking of the Bayneses. observed
that she always said "Mr. and Mrs.
Horace Dunkelberg." They were the
conversational ornaments Of eur hsnas.
'As Mrs. Horace Dunkelberg says" or.
''as said to Mr.. Horace Duzkelberg,n
were phrases calculated to establish
our social standing. I supposed that
the world was peopled by Joneses, Lin
coins, Humphries and Dunkelbergs,
but mostly by DunkeIbergs. These lat
fer were very rich people who lived in
Canton village.
know. now, ho17 dearly Aunt Deel
loved her brother u i'd me. must have
been a great trial to that woman Of
forty unused to the pranks Of chill
dren and the tender offices Of moth
er. Naturally turned from Lsr ia
my Uncle Peabody as refuge and q
help in time OF ,ouble, with increasing
fondness. He lad no knitting or sew
ing TO do and when Uncle Peabody sat
in the house he gave all his time to
ne and we W athered many a STERN
together as we sat silently In his fa-
vorite corner. of an evening, when I
always went to sleep In his arms.
| was seven years old when Uncie
Peabody gave me the watermelon
seeds. / put one OF them in my mouth
and bit it.
ut appears to me there's an awful
draft blowin' down YOUR throat" said
Uncle Peabody. "You amt no busi-
ness eatin' melon seed"
"Why2" was my query.
"Cause it was made to put in the
ground. Didn't you know 1t was aliveY'
"Alivep l exclaimed.
Alive" said he. 'T'll show ye."
He put number of the seeds In
the ground and covered them, and
said that part Of the garden should
be mine. | watched 1t every day and
BY and by two vines came up. One
sickened and died in dry weather. Un-
Gle Peabody said that 1 must water
the other every day. I did 1t faith
fully and the vine throve.
It was hard work, l thought, to 20
down into the garden, night and morn
Ing, with my little pail full of water,
but uncle said that / 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 l asked Aunt Deel what
l should get for doing them she an
swered quickly:
"Nospanks and bread and butter
ayesw
When I asked what were "nospsnks"
she told me that they were 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 found
five blossoms on it. / picked one and
carried 1t to Aunt Deel. Another l
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 I picked two of them.
One / tasted and threw away as
ran to the pump for relief. The other
| hurled at dog on my way to
school.
SO that last melon on the vine had
my undivided affection. It grew In
size and reputation, and soon
learned that a reputation Is about the
worst thing that watermelon can
acquire while it is on the vine. IN
vited everybody that came to the I,
house to go and see my watermelon. |
They looked it over and said pleas |
ant things about 1t. When / was a
boy people used to treat children and
watermelons with a like sollcitude.
Both were subject for jests and |
produced similar reactions In the hui
man countenance.
AT last Uncle Peabody agreed with
me that 1t was about time to pick the
melon. ! decided to pick 1t Immediate
ly after meeting on Sunday, so that
| could give 1t to my aunt and uncle
at dlnner-time. When we got home
| ran for the garden. My feeE and
those of our friends and neighbors
had literally worn path to the mel
on. In eager haste l got my little
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
hauSp aln.nSt ovornnma hv a fo.linr