The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-05-24
FATHERS HOLIDAY.
BY Edith NJ. Porter.
Copyright. 1921, by The Wheeler

Copyright, 1921, by The Wheeler
Syndicate, Inc.)
Perhaps it being mothers birth
day made Lydia Ann unusually
thoughtful or perhaps it lust hap
pened So" But if she had not pos.
sessed the seeing eyes that look be,
low and beyond the surface Of
things, father would never have
seen the dawn of his vacation.
Lydia Ann CHANGED to be looking
from the window when her father
came home>that night, trudgine
along YEARLY after his daily tash
was DER. He carried a bunch Of
beautiful white roses and small
package containing a birthday gift
both Of which he presented to
mother.
No one eyer mistrusted that he
had trudged long weary miles
through dust and heat, back and
forth many days, that the money
saved from carfares might be used
generously and gladly, for his con.
tribution to the little ceremonies
the family INDUCED in on mother
birthday.
The Morrison's old horse, head
bent down and a general air of de-
preston possessing him, stood be-
fore the door. Father O'Hara had
stopped, stroked the old creature
faternally, and said to his driver:
go easy on him, John. He's doing
his best. Hes old and tired, you
know"
Then, as the driver started with
out the usual slash of whip and jerk
at the mouth, father had added
sympathetically: Hes old and
tired and needs a vacation"
That night Lydia Ann, who had
been doing = lot of silent thinking
surprised her mother by asking her
when pa had had a vacation.
Vacation unused mother
well, really and truly, 1 doubt IL
he's had one since we've been mar
ried ana you'll find that was IS
years ago. He went back to his
old home once. when his mother
died. He was gone about q week
then;
"a sorrowful sort Of a vacation,
that" commented Lydia Ann.
well, you see," explained her
mother, "he never could seen = T.
ford a real good vacation"
A few evenings later Lydia Ann
managed to breach the subject to
her unsuspecting parent.
Tell me something, won't you,
dad, about your old home? It must
have been mighty interesting
home from the little I've heard
afnout it."
Dad frightened visibly and in
simultaneously. Usually one of the
most silent Of men, he became act
ually garrulous over the beauties
and attractions Of his boyhood home
and its SURROUNDINGS.
"You just ought to go there some
time, SIS" he said. ITO my mind.
there's no other place Just like it.
There's . brook rushing through
the meadow Just by our old house
and it Joins one Of the most beau
tifuf lakes ever set eyes on. Many's
the fine trout I've caught there. On
the margin Of the lake Is our Jolly
old camping ground.".
He paused . moment, smiling as
his mind roamed through the old
haunts, and Lydia Ann could scarce
ly believe this was her quiet. shv
father as he raved on-ot birds
and rabbits and squirrels, Of birds
shooting through the mountain
laurel; Of the secrecy and silence Of
the still woodland ways: Of the
wide meadows of buttercups. the
tangled masses Of Wild flowers-
violets, straworts, blusbells, purple
ground ivy and hyacinths.
He described q lake where birds
at evening dipped and circled and
haahed over the dark surface. He
recalled travels throash The pine
woods Az meetings snder great