The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1919-01-02
Copyright by Irving Bachelor

fear that company would come and
find her unprepared-Alma Jones or
Jabez Lincoln and his wife, or Ben and
Mary HUMPHREYS, or "Mr. and Mrs.
Horace Dunkelberg." These were the
people of whom she talked when the
neighbors 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 TO Mr.. Horace Dunkelberg,"
were phrases calculated to establish
our social standing. l supposed that
the world was peopled by Joneses, Lin
coins, HUMPHREYS 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. | 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 as a refuge and
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 l
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 it.
1T appears to me there's an awful
draft BLOWN down your throat" said
Uncle Peabody. "You amt no bust
ness eatin' a melon seed"
"Why?" was my query.
"'Cause it was made to put In the
ground. Didn't you know it was aliveT
"Aiivc!" 7 exclaimed.
Alive" said lie. I'll 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 it every day and
by and by two vines came up. One
sickened and died in dry weather. I'm
Gle Peabody said that 1 must water
the other every day. I did it faith
fully and the vine throve.
1t 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 / should get my
pay when the melon was ripe. I mad
also to keep the wood-box full and
feed the chickens. They were odious
tasks. When asked Aunt Deel what
should get for doing them she an
swered quickly:
"Nospanks and bread and butter
ayesr'
When I asked what were "nospanks"
she told me that they were part Of
the wages Of good child. ! 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 /
destroyed in the tragedy Of catching
q 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 I tasted and threw away as /
ran to the pump for relief. The other
l hurled at 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 /
learned that reputation is about the
worst thing that a watermelon can
acquire while it is on the vine. / IN
vited everybody that came to the
house to go and see my watermelon.
They looked it over and said pleas
ant things about it. When I was a
boy people used to treat children and
watermelons with like solicitude.
Both were subject for jests and
produced similar reactions in the hu
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 dinner-time. When we got home
/ ran for the garden. My feet and
those of our friends and neighbors
had literally worn path to the mel
on. In euger haste got my little
wheelbarrow and ran with 1t to the
end of that path. There l found
nothing but broken vines! The melon
had vanished. / ran back to the
house almost overcome by feeling
Of alarm, for had thought long of
that hour of pride when / should
bring the melon and present 1t to my
aunt and uncle.
"Uncle Peabody" I shouted, my
melon is gone"
"Well, I vanl" said he, somebody
must "a stole It."