New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1921-01-19
DE0S0NOSV0UNO NONONONONL
PINK ARBUTUS {
BY RACHEL e. FELch. &
seeeseseseeespa


in North Conway climbing the granite
studded sides of Kearsarge or toiling
laboriously up Moat mountain in search
of trailing arbutus. How beautiful
it was, the fragrant waxen blossoms
And the deep pink ones!
Package for you," called her land
lady, Mrs. Lemon, just outside her
door. tits marked North Conway"
Lillian flew to the door. ut must be
flowers" she said when she. saw the
package. Her busy fingers made short
work of the wrappings and soon dis
closed q. huge bunch of arbutus. ''My
little sister Ruth must have sent them.
You must have some, Mrs. Lemon" and
she chose some Of the large white clus-
tiers for her friend, who soon became
incoherent in her remonstrances con.
corning Lillian's generosity.
When she dressed, Lillian stood
looking at the flowers moment. 81
hate to leave you here with no one to
enjoy you, you little stars. I'm going
to take some Of you down to the office
and put on Mr. Hartford's desk. Per-
haps you'll cheer him up
For Mr.. Hartford was reported to be
suffering from misplaced affection,
so Office talk had it. At any rate he
had never smiled on any of his FEM
nine force, they knew he was unmar-
ried, and by the inductive method of
reasoning, the man who never takes
any Of his girls out. to dinner, hasn't
kind word for any Of them, never
even notices if q girl has done her hair
new way, must be in love. Since
he had never been seen anywhere with
girl, they reasoned that he had be-
come woman hater. Down at the
Office she found vase, and arranged
them SO that the fragile tints deepened
to rose, and right in the center of her
bouquet she placed dainty spray sof
the most .blushing pink Of all. Blush
Ing herself at her temerity, she placed
the beautiful blossoms upon his desk.
She hoped he would like them She
rather thought he would. Still men
were queer, and had strange proclivi-
ties for rising on the wrong side, of
the bed. She heard him coming, and
suddenly wished she had not put them
there, but the eyes Of the other girls
were upon her. and she dared not re-
move them. Kin came Mr.. Hartford
His customary good morning said. he
seated himself at his desk.
"Arbutus, and such lovely colors!
Where did they come from?"
He swung around in his chair. All
eyes were fixed upon him, except one
pair, whose owner was rivaling the
arbutus in her bushes. :
"Oh, see. Thank you very much,
Miss Lowell"
''They came from New Hampshire.
My sister sent them"
"And you shared them with me.
Thank you.''
81, too. have picked arbutus in New
Hampshire
Sin New Hampshire she repeated,
.where?"
I've picked bushels OF these" he
touched the flowers gently, "just below
the White Horse ledge. "Why, there's
one spot up there that used to go to
every year. never told any where it
was, but there they are all this deli
cious. pink"
white Horse ledger
"Why, yes. Odd name, isn't it? They
call It White Horse because you can
see a white horse on the side Of the
cliff. 1t really does look like horse.
Some people have found other things
OH the ledge. An Indian, canoe, a
dog, but those things require too
great strain on my Imagination. The
horse, though. can truly see
$50 can l." replied Lillian, though
it took me full half-hour the first
time dad showed him to me- But I
didn't know you. came from up there"
"But knew you did, and on the
strength of the fact that we both came
from one little town tucked away
among the White mountains, I'm going
to ask you to have dinner with me to-
night, and because we are both bit
lonely tonight for some Of the master
pieces that God scattered around so
freely up in the hills, you are going to
take pity on me"
eyes, Mr.. Hartford" she. said as de-
murely as he could wish.
"Ive been selfish brute and picked
out the very prettiest one for myself.
so you must wear alb the others"
So it was that the two young people
faced each other across dainty table
In one of the downtown restaurants
that night, and while the others dis
cussed the latest Jazz steps. or the
musical comedy Of the hour, these two
climbed their beloved mountains hand
In hand, In search OF the shy. elusive
arbutus. They drank together from
cool, messy springs, and plucked bush
els Of blueberries under the. blazing
July sun.
"But I thought that you didn't like
girls?" questioned Lillian.
ST don't" he returned casually, Eat
least I didn't till I found one exquisite
and lovely as this spray OF pink
arbutus.' He touched the dainty
flower, but his eyes sought Lillian's.