The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-02-15
EpeningS Story
Checkerberries.
BY RUBY DOUGLAS.

the Mohawk Trail and into the old
Vermont town in which they had de-
cided to spend few days. She had
stolen out of her room early in the
morning, begged the old cook in the
kitchen of the tea-house in which they
were staying for a cup of coffee and
a sandwich, an extra bite to take in
her pocket. and had escaped across
the river alone, on foot, into New
Hampshire.
She was so tired OF the small talk
of the others. She wanted to be alone
to enjoy the wonders and the beauty
of the Vermont and New Hampshire
hills. When she had spoken of climb
Ing the great mountain that over
hung the river dividing the two states
there had been no wild enthusiasm on
the part of the others. So she had
decided to climb the hills alone.
Snakes were the only things to be
feared, in Oolive's mind.
Enjoying every moment of the
morning, she had climbed up, up the
narrow trail and not encountered a
human soul. She had sung aloud, she
had gathered blueberries. she had sat
down on the soft, tufted soil of pine
needles. Her every nerve was alive;
she was happy-almost.
Olive always added, softly to her
self, the adverb. For she was not
altogether happy when, in her heart,
was the feeling that big thing had
passed her by. She had not won the
love of the man whom she had adored
since her schoolgirl days.
Now, as she climbed up the noun
tain trail, supported by the big stick
she had picked up on the way. she
thought of him. He seemed to be
very vividly before her here in the
silent places of the hills.
At last she sat down beneath three
friendly white birch trees and I'M
wrapped her meager lunch. How
often, back in her school days, she had
midday meal together with the girls
in her botany class and-the teacher.
|, George Darling had taught botany,
among other branches. in the pre-
paratory school in the middle west to
which Olive had been sent before
class had fancied herself in love with
the big, handsome, kindly professor,
but he had treated them all alike, as
little girls, and was interested in
teaching them of all the growing
things. There was not a blade of
grass that he seemed unfamiliar with,
and the girls enjoyed their hours with
him more than they would admit to
each other.
Olive had always been a student of
nature, and perhaps in her George
Darling found a particularly compan-
ionable mind. At least, Olive felt that
he liked her, tho she dared not be-
lieve that he thought of her in any way
save as a pupil among the others.
Today as she sat dreaming of him
for in perspective he had grown
more truly to be her ideal man-her
eye caught leaf growing near by that
seemed to recall memories of him. She
reached out to pick the little cluster
of shiny green leaves and found the
white berries, once so familiar to her,
growing on the stem.
"Checkerberries" she cried aloud.
1T have not gathered any for years"
She found a number of the tiny
plants and gathered them all into a
bunch and sat down again.
81 wonder if he would remember me
Tiff I should send him a specimen
and ask him for a description of it,"
she soliloquized.
What her decision was, she did not
admit then. But she tucked the leaves
into her pocket and climbed up the
mountain trail.
1t must have been the romance OF
the mountains that got into her blood,
for when she descended she was liter
ally walking on air, SO lightly did she
touch the paths. And in her pocket
were the carbohydrates with their
pungent fragrance, recalling those
happy schooldays. In her soul was
determination to see if these leaves,
gathered in this remote but wonderful
woods, could spell Romance for her.
She stopped al the poStofflce on her
way back to join the others that night
and when her friends scolded her
roundly for having taken the lonely
trail alone, she did not seem to mind.
at was wonderful" she told them.
you are mad they said.
"And-perhaps am" she admitted
ambiguously.
1t took only time for return post
to reach her before Olive had letter
in a hand once familiar to her.
Dear Olive" it ran, Il taste not
only the wintergreen as l bite into the
little cluster of leaves you have sent
me from your mountains. I sense our
Romance, dear in their fragrance.
have been wondering, day after day, II
YOU would ever recall me. When YOU
were in school, I dared not let you
know 1 loved you; it would not have
been fair to YOU 1 wanted you to see
the world, know other men. before
asking you to join your beautiful
young life to my old, moth-eaten, cob
Webbv existence. But-this little
cluster of leaves brings you back so
poignantly to my life that 1 must tell
you of my love. Have you remem-
bered? Do you care? May come
and tell you?"
There was more, but Olive could
read it with difficulty. Her hear.
was full to overflowing. The seven
years during which she had been out
of his presence had only made him
more dear, ard yet she had feared
that he had forgotten her. Now-to
know that she was all the world o
him was almost more than she could
understand.
When she wrote to him again it
was to tell him where he might find
her on her return to town.
She wore little cluster of checker
berries on her coat and he pulled a
pressed leaf from his pocket when
they met.
Such a little thing on which to
hang our Romance, dear" he said.
''Little-yes. George, but the frag-
rance of it will permeate the whole
sweet distance into which you and /
Copyright, 1871, by the Mcclure News