St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1922-03-11
CHAPTER x.

Ramsey kept very few things from
Fred Mitchell, and usually his conf.
dences were immediate upon the occa.
sion OF them; but allowed several
weeks to elapse before sketching for
his roommate the outlines Of this ad-
venture.
Zone thing that was kind O funny
about 1t, Fred" he said, II didn't
know what to call her."
Mr.. Mitchell, stretched upon the
window seat in their Study" and look
ing out over the town street below
ard the campus beyond the street, had
| already thought it tactful to ambush
his profound amusement by turning
| upon his sfde,. so that his face was
toward the window and away from his
companion. "What did you want to
call herr" he inquired in a serious
voice. "Names7
mo. You know what I mean.
mean had to keep calling her you !;
and that gets kind of freaky when
you're talllin' to anybody a good while
like that. When she'd be lookin' away
from me, for instance, or down at the
river, or somewhere, and I'd want to
start sayin' something to her, you
know, why, wouldn't know how to
get started exactly, without CALM her
something. A person doesn't want to
be always startin' off with See here
or things like that"
Il don't see why you let it trouble
YOU" said Fred. From how you've
always talked about her, you had
perfectly handy way to start off with
anything you wanted to say to herr
"What within"
"Why didn't you just say, oh, You
Teachers Petv That would"
"Get out! What mean Is, she
called me Ramsey without any both
er; 1t seems funny got stumped every
time I started to say Dora Some way
l couldn't land it, and it certainly
/ would "a sounded crazy to call her
Miss Yocum' after sittin' in the same
room with her every day from the
baby class clear on up through the end
Of high school. That would a. made
me out an idiot!"
"What did you call herr" Fred
asked.
Gust nothin' at all. started to call
her something or other a hundred
times, guess, and then I'd balk. I'd
get all ready, and kind Of make sort
Of sound, and then I'd have to quit"
"she may have thought you had a
cold" said Fred, still keeping his back
turned.
II expect maybe she did-though
don't know; most the time she didn't |
seem to notice me much, kind Of"
"She didn't7"
"No. She was too upset, guess, by
what she was thinkin' about"
"But If 1t hadn't been for that"
Fred suggested, "you mean she'd have
certainly paid more attention to who
was sitting on the bench with herr"
"Get out! You know how it was.
Everybody those few days thought we
were goin' to have war, and she was
just sure Of it, and 1t upset her. OF
course most people were lot more
upset by what those Dutchmen did to
the Lusitania than by the idea Of war;
and she seemed to feel as broken up as
could be about the Lusitania,
but what got her the worst was the
notion Of her country wantin' to fight,
she said. She really was upset, too,
Fred; there wasn't no putin on
about it. I guess that ole girl GER
tainly must have a good deal Of feel
Ing, because, doggoned, after we'd
been sittin' there while If she didn't
have to get out her handkerchief She
kept her face turned away from me
Just the same as you're doin' now to
keep from laughin'-but honestly, she
cried like somebody at funeral.
felt like the darndest fool~
I'm not laughing" said Fred, but
lie did not prove it by turning so that
lis face could be seen. "What did she
,ayy'
1"Oh, she didn't say such an awful
OF. She said one kind O. funny thing
hough: she said she was sorry she
couldn't quite control herself but ii
anybody had to see her cry she minded
t less because it was an old school
nate. What struck me so kind O.
unny about that is-why, it looks as
I she never knew the way I always
rated her So"
EYES," said Fred. 1T wasn't flat
ering!" |!
"Well, sir, it isn't, kind off, Ram
icy agreed, musingly. at certainly
sn't when you lco!s at 1t that way"
"W1iat did you say when she said
hat?' Fred asked.
"Eotl,in' / steal 70 hut ! sort Of
,a1ked again. Well, we kept on sitting
here, and afterwhile she began to
ak again and got kind Of excited
bout how no war could do anything
" anybody any good, and all war was
wicked, no matter what it was about,
ind nothin' could be good that was
ounded on fear and hate, and every