The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-11-24
was gOin' to ask you

Its strange" he murmured. :"
don't see how people can enjoy visit
that long. l should think they'd ge
anxious about what might happen a
home"
"Oh, grandpa's all right; he says h
kind of likes to have the house nic'
and quite to himself; and anywa,
Aunt Julia enjoys visiting" Florence
assured him Aunt Fanny saw /
newspaper from one of the place:
where Aunt Julia's visiting her schoo
roommate, that had her picture in il
and called her the famous Northern
Beauty it was down South some
where. Well, Mr.. Dill, | was just say.
in | believed I'd ask you,
But Il sectional rancor eelled TO af-
feet the young MAJ all at once "Oh
yes. | heard about that, he said,
Your Aunt Fanny lent my mother the
newspaper. Those people III that part
of the country-well-" He paused,
remembering that it was only Florence
he addressed and he withheld from
utterance his opinion that the Civil
war ought to be fought all owe again.
"lour father said your grandfather
hadn't heard from her for several days,
and even then she hadn't said when
she was coming home"
mo, | expect she didn't" said Flor
ence. MIR. Dill, | was goin' to ask
you somep'n-it's kind of a queer kind
of question for me to ask, | guess"
.hA ra,,.Nl .Llflx ,o+ ,ata.
rupt her, seeming ~preoccupied with
gloom whereupon Florence permitted
herself a deprecatory laugh and con-
tinued 1T might be you'd answer yes,
or it might be you'd answer no; but
anyway l was goin' to ask you-it's
kind of a funny question for me to ask,
| expect-but do you like poetry"
"What?"
We'll, as things have turned out
lately | guess it's kind of a funny
question, Mr.. Dill; but do you like
poetry?"
Mobiles expression o on a cold
ness; for the word brought to his
mind a thought of Newland Saunders.
This was a poet of Mobiles age, who
wrote verses to Julia-that %too-lovely,
absent aunt of Fl%orence's. ID | like
poetry?" said Noble. mo, don't"
Florence vas ~momentarily discour-
aged but at her g people usually
possess an invaluable faculty which
they lose later in life and it is a pity
they do lose it. At thirteen-especial-
ly the earlier months of thirteen
they are still able to set aside and
dismiss from their minds almost any
facts, no matter how audibly those
facts have asked for recognition. 4
dren superbly allow themselves to be-
come deaf, so to speak, to undesirable
circumstances; most frequently, of
course, to undesirable circumstances
in the way of parental direction; SO
that fathers, mothers, nurses, or gov
ernesses, not comprehending that this
mental deafness is for the time being
entirely genuine, are liable to hoarSe-
ness both of throat and temper. Thir-
zen is an age when the fading of this
gift or talent-one of the most beau
tiful of childhood-beginS to impair
it's helpfulness, under the mistaken
stress of discipline; but Florence re-
tanned something of it. In a moment
or two Noble Dill's ~disaffection toward
poetry was altogether as If it did not
exist.
She coughed,. inclined her head a
to one side, in her mothers
manner of politeness to callers, and,
repeating her d~eprecatory laugh, re-
marked, well, of course it's kind Of
a funny question for me to ask, OF
course
what is, F~lorence7" Noble inquired
absently.
"WeIl-what | was saying was that
course it's sort of queer me askin'
f you liked poetry, of course, on ac-
of my writing poetry the way |
10 now"
She looked up at him with a bright
badness to respond modestly to
whatever exclamation his wonder
should dictate; but Mobiles attention
lad struggled again. He failed to
comprehend what she had set before
lin.
HAS she written your mother late I
W he asked.
Florence's expression denoted a
mental condition slightly disturbed.
No she said. TITS goin' to be
in the North End Daily ORR {
de-"
"What?"
MY poem. It's about q vast amen l
anyhow that's prob1y the best thing G
a It, | guess-and they're goin to Il
ave 1t tomorrow, or else they'll have
D settle with me-; that's n thing
/T1l bring n over to you- 3
and leave it at the o for c
on, Mr.. DIN" t
Noble had but q confused notion :
what she thus generally promised. u
he said, THANK you" and b
odded vaguely. 8
"Of course, / don't know as it's so n
wful good" Florence admitted insin- a
"The family all seem to think 0
e SOmpfhino pratty much huf | don't o