, 1922-01-14

clear new cider; apples wers always
q certainty.
This evening vas glorious; there
were apples and cidor and cake and
walnuts, perfectly cracked. and y
large open-hearted box Of candy.
Naturally. these being the eircum-
stances, Herbert was among the
| guests; and. thc7gh -ather at a dis
advantages. so far rs the conversation
was concerned. no. troubled by the
handicap The reason he was At q
conversational disadvantage was
closely connected With tho unusual
supply OF refreshments; Uncle Joseph
and Aunt Carrie had ~foreseen the
| coming Of several more Atwaters than
usual, to talk over tho new afralrs Of
their t>autifui relative. Julia sei-
dom have any relatives new affairs
been more thoroughly talked over than
were Julis's hat evening. though all
the time by means OF various symbols.
since II was thought wiser that Her
bert and Florence should not yet be
told Of Julin's engagement and Flor
enee's parents were not present to
confess their i~ndlscreton. Julia was
referred to as "the traveller and other
m~akeshifts were employed with the
most knowing cnution; and al the
while Florence merely ate ~lnscTutnbly.
Tho more sincere Herbert was as
placid; such foods were enough for
him.
swell, all I say Is. the traveller bet
ter enjoy herself on her travels" said
Aunt Fanny finally. as the subject
appeared to be wearing toward ex-
hausticn. "she certainly Is In for II
when the voyaging Is over and she
arrives in the port she sailed from.
and has to show her papers ! agree
with the rest OF you; shell have n
great deal 70 answer for. and most
Of all about the shortest one Ny
own opinion is that the shortest one Is
going to burst Ike { balloon"
-The shortest one as the demure
Florence had understood from the
frst. was her Tdeai-nonc other thru
Noble Din. Now she looked up from
the stool where she sat with her back
against a plaster Of the mantelpiece.
'Uncie Joseph" she said-'T was Just
thinking. What is a persons rensonY'
The fat gentleman. rosy with nre-
light and cider, finished his fifth glass
before responding. "weu. there are
persons ! never could ind any reason
| for 'em at all. "A PERSONS reason =
What do you mean. "a persons rca-
son. FlorenceT'
II mean like when somebody says.
They'll lose their r~eason.'- 81, ex-
planned. "Has everybody got a rea-
son, and u they have, what Is II, and
how do they lose II. and what would
they do thenT-
-oh. I seei- be said. you needn't
worry. I suppose since you heard 1t,
you've been hunting all ove yourself
for your reason and looking 10 see n
there was one hanging out Of anybody
else, somewhere. No; it's something
you can't see orcinsvily. Florence
Losing your reason is Just anothe,
way Of saying going crnKyp-
"oh." she murmured. and appeared
TO be somewhat disturbed.
Al this. Herbert thought proper to
offer q witticism sor the pleasure OF
the company.
"You know, F1orence,- he said. at
only means acting like You most al.
ways do" He nppiauded himself with
n burst Of changing laughter which
ranged from q builfrog croak TO a
collapsing soprano; then he added
Especially when You come around
my and Henry's newspaper building
You certainly lose your reason every
time you come around that ole placer
swell, course I haf to act like the
people that's already there" Florence
retorted. not sharply, but In a musing
tone that should have warned him.
Il WINS not her wont TO use a quiet
voice for repartee. Thinking her hum
Bile, be laughed the moro raucously.
-oh. F~1orencei" he besought her.
Say not sol Say not sol"
children. ~chIldreni |" Uncle Joseph
demonstrated.
Herbert changed his tone; he be-
came seriously plaintive. well. she
does act that way. Uncle Joseph
wnen she comes around there you'd
think we were runnin' a iunatic
asylum the way she takes on. She
hollers and bellers and squalls and
EAuaN A& LILO AFdbL htAAt lIchg Lhlu6
she don't like about the way we run
our paper. she comes fapDiu' over
there and goes to screechin' around.
you could hear her out at ~poorhouse
farml"
"Now, now. Herbert his Aunt Fan
ny interposeds Poor little Florence
isn't saying anything impolite to you
not right now, at any rate. Why don't
you be a little sweet to her Just for
once?"
Her unfortunate expression revolted
all the cousinly manliness in Herbert's
BOSOM. " BE a little sweet to herr"
he echoed. with poignant tncredulIty,
and then In cnndor made plain how
poorly Aunt Fanny inspired him. II
Just exackly as soon be q little sweet
to an alligator" he assertedi ouch
was his bitterness on this subject
ooh. oh I" said Aunt Carrie.
NJ wouidi" Herbert insisted. "or
a mosnuito. Ia rnther. to either of