The Washington herald., 1920-05-03

ht with the play. Il Love You,
A school Teachers Glove You"
The "I Love You" Editor,
Washington Herald:
Dame Fortune counled a COM
plete capture by the little bow
and-arrow god with a narrow
escape from the watery clutches
of the runaway Ohio River in
my case. You remember the
last big flood at Dayton and
points south of IT? Well, for
the summer and winter imme-
diately preceding that flood. I
taught school at ogilvie, a lit
tie town not far from Dayton,
situated in a kind of pocket In
the hills. A branch of the Ohio
ran right by its door. so near
that when any OF my boy-stu-
dents played hockey and ran
away to go swimming, they
didn't have a long run. han
died the English. the geos-
raphy and history classes. A
young man with a serious but
easy-to-look at face and a win.
ming. honest manner taught the
arithmetic and algebra classes
In the Same room with me. L
liked him from the first. T
think he liked me too, but he
never said so out-and-out; hst
mad a way of looking at me ana
caressing my hair. when we
were out in the green fields and
woods. a-Maying tnat carry
spring. and of lingering around
nights when he walked home
with me from the little wooden
structure that was our school
But think we understood
things all right, only we never
ielt impelled to say so in those
! three famous words.
g Then the flood came. It rain
ed all day in sheets ana for
rents and tons. The skies wero
ever SO black and ominous, and
now then they roared tremen-
dously, like the capricious
swollen stream that was al
ready far over its normal
banks. We sent the children
nome at noon. for we could
scent tragedy in the air. We
knew something would break
before that day was over. We
stood in the doorway of our
school, he and i, waiting for II
and wondering what we would
40 when II came. At 4 in the
afternoon a white-faced man
came dashing along on a beat
en- horse. and he had shocking
news. Get some heavy clothes
and beat IL as fast as you can"
he shouted. And for Gods
sake make it snappy. The
dam at Kilwan is out and hell's
to pay now. Hurry" Then he
was away like the wind to the
village to tell the folk there.
Walt looked at me and tight
ened the lines around his
mouth. You know what that
means, DEAR? / sobbed a little
and told him to take care of
me. I felt so helpless in the
face of death. He said he
would, and took me In his arms.
Then the long-slumbering pas
sion within him found sudden
voice for the first time. Not a
long speech, nor bubbling over:
but. oh, how eloquently briefI
'1 love you. love you" He
kissed me, caught me up in his
arms and fled up the hill to
the woods. We never reached
II. Walt could run like a deer.
but the river sent its tentacles
OF dirty waves up and after him
faster than he could run, and
these waves caught US. I
tainted.
1t must have been half an
hour afterward that I awoke.
My first thought was not of the
flood, or of the tragedy it must
be bringing to all about US, but
of Walt and his 'T love you"
Then 1 loked around. Walt sat
near me and we were on a raft
which had once been a house
top. This raft was carrying us
down the river and we We're 60
ing swiftly as the current. Many
other things were floating down
with us, chicken-coops and
barns and logs and houses and
trees and people. These people
were wet and shivering with the
cold and must have been hun
cry and miserable. but they
smiled when they saw us. They
even sent up a wistfuI hurrah
a little later. This was when
Walt came over to me and took
me again in his arms and smiled
into my eyes. l smiled back at
him, for ] was very happy to
have him near. He said, what
do We care. dearest? We're
bound to land some place, and
when we do, wen start life over
again, as II there never had
been flood. We love each other
and wen always be happy.
won't we?" ! told him we did
and We would be. And the truth
- ~ L.