The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1921-03-11
Hearts and Arts
By FREDERICK HART

The sight Of a young man striding
rapidly along the road toward her IA
theirs woodlot was not In itself enough
to make pretty Elsie Dean raise her
eyes to follow him; but when the par
ticuIar young man is dressed In fan
nels instead Of the "blue jeans" that
were the accepted weekday attire Of
her immediate environment, and when
he carries In one hand spindly look
ing arrangement Of rods and braces
and In the other black case that
| is too large to be doctors bag and
| toe small to be q suitcase; and when
he has on his back an oddly shaped
bundle; and in particular when he Is
handsome and care-free looking, It is
small wonder that Elsie looked after
him.
Indeed, she went to the front gate
to see him go down the road, which Is
why she saw him suddenly swing
aside from the beaten path and climb
over the fence that divided the wood
lot from the outer world
Now her fathers woodlot was ter
ra sanctissima, as she well knew. 1t
bristled with "No Trespassing" signs
and warnings limiting at the extremi-
ties OF legal pains and punishments
Cor the hardy soul who should set
foot within Its sacred glades; so Ell
sizes surprise soon turned to wrath,
Her father and his men were all In
the far field, haying, and there was no
immediate male to whom she could
look for assistance; but she did not
hesitate. Down the road she ran and
over the fence on the strangers trail.
She was up with him in almost a
moment; he had evidently not heard
her coming, and she was prepared to
blast his soul with scathing COM
mand to depart, when the oddly Of
his conduct struck her. He had un-
folded the spindly arrangement and
lol 1t was tripod with cross-piece;
and on the tripod rested square Of
snowy canvas; and out of the little
black bag many, many brushes and
lot of little tubes and heart
shaped piece of wood on which the
young man proceeded to squeeze the
contents of some of the tubes-the
brightest reds and green's and yellows
Elsie had ever seen. And then this
startling young man began to make
lines on the white canvas, i1umming
to himself as he did SO. Enthralled,
and totally forgetting her previous
vengeful ideas, Elsie drew nearer;
he heard her. and turned sharply.
"Ohw she gasped. And then, re-
membering his iniquIty, she went on
sharply '"Thls is my fathers wood
lot"
"ReailyT The young man did not
seem particularly impressed by the
statement.
"Yes, 1t is--and you're trespassing."
$50 ] am! I did notice some signs.
but l didn't pay much attention to
them. I don't believe in signs"
"Oh" Elsie was not quite sure she
was not being made fun of; the
stranger seemed so lrritatingly calm,
-. T. - av".'n ~ a..oa.o5
IL you stay here much longer
"I've never been arrested wonder
what it's like. Is the local calaboose
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