, 1922-01-07

and called her Ihe fhmo1s Horfe5-1
Be1ufyf ft was down 2oufh some
where Wen. 1fr. DIN. I wps f1st say-
IN ! beiis-ed I'd ask you1
But q sectional nncor sesned 10 af-
feet the young man all at once -0h.
res I heard about that be said
-xcur Aunt Fanny lent my mother the
Devspzp>r. Thoss people In that part
Of the coumtry-xell~ BE paused.
remembering that Il was only Florence
he addressed; and be withheld from
utterancs his opinion that the Civil
war ought to b fought all over again
your 14ther Eaid Jour grandfather
hadn't h<~rd from hsr for sevrri days,
and svsn then she hadn't afd when
she was coming honer
ma I expect zhs cfdnf.- aid Flor
ence -1fr. Dill I was go;n' to ask
you sousp,n-1rs kind q q onecr kind
Of question for ma to AK ] cuessS
she paused However. he did not inter
rupt her. seeming r~recccupied with
gloom; whsruupon Florence permitted
herself q deprecatory Laugh Ind con-
timed: TT might be you'd answer yea
or IL might Be you'd answer no; but
yW1 WYE ttA- ~ A41 wv
kind Of = funny question for me to ask.
I erpect-but DO you Ike pcetryf"
-what7-
wei. as tninu have turned out
lately I guess It's kind Of n fuhzy
question Mr.. pm1 but DO you Ike
poetyr
Mobiles expression took on = cold
mesa; fer tie word brought to his
mind n thought Of Newiand SRunderA
This was 4 poet Of Mobiles age. who
wrots verses to Julia-thaf t~ooioveiy.
absent aunt OF Florence'G do / like
poetryr said Noble mo. I don't"
Florence was momentnrtiy discour-
aged but at her age people usually
possess an Invaluable faculty which
they lose later In Life; and.it Is q pity
they DO Lore II. AT thirteen-especiai-
~ the earlier months OF thirteea-
they nre stfii able to set aside and
dismiss nom their minds almost any
facts. no matter how andibly those
facts have asked for recognition Chill
dren superbiy allow themselves to BE-
come denf. so TO speak. to undesirable
circumstances; most frequently, of
course. to undesirable circumstances
In the WY Of parental direction; 30
that fathers. mothers. nurseS or gov
ernesses. lot com~prehending that this
mental deafness Is for the time being
entirely genuine, are liable to hoarse-
ness both OF threat and temper. Thir-
teen Is an age when the fading Of this
gift or talent-ore OF the most beau.
tiful Of o..SNood-begins to impair
It's h~eipfulness under the mistaken
stress Of discipline; but Florence re
tained something Of II. In a moment
or two Noble Dili's d~isaffecuon toward
| poetry was altogether as II It did not
exist
She couEhed. inclined her head q
little &c n sids. in her mothers
manner of politeness to callers. and
| repeating her ~deprecatory laugh. re
marked, Well. OF course It's kind OF
a funny question for me to ask, Of
course"
what is F1orencef" Noble inquired
absently.
-well-what ! was saying was tina,
course It's sort Of queer me askin
II you liked poetry. or course. on &C
Jul Of my whiting poetry the way
do now"
She looked up at him with a bright
readiness to respond modestly to
whatever exclamation his wonder
should dictate; but Mobiles attention
had struggled agnin. He failed to
comprehend what she had set before
him.
HAS she written your mother late.
iyT" he asked.
Forence's expression denoted o
mental condition slightly disturbed.
No." she said. Its goin' to be
printed In the Moth End Daily ORR
ole.r
-whntr
'My poem IT'S about d vac amen
anyhow that's prob1y the best thing
In 1t. I guess-znd they're goin' to
have II tomorrcw. or else they'll have
to settle with me; that's one thing
certaini IN bring one over I your
house and leave 1t al the door for
you. Mr.. Dill"
Noble had but a confused notfol
Of what she thus generally promised
However, he said, Thank you" ant
nodded vaguely.
"Of course. / don't know as It's 81
awful good Florence admitted insin
cereiy. The family all seem to thinl
it's something pretty much but l dom
know II 1t Is or not Really. 1 don'ti'
"No." said Noble, still confused e.
suppose not"
I'm half way through another on
1 think myself'n be a good deal better
I'm not goin' as fast with It as I dit
with the other one, and I expect It'll b
quite a ways ahead Of this ONE" Sh,
again employed the d~eprecatory littl'
laugh &c" don't know how I do II
myself. The family all think it's sor
OF funny; I don't know how I do 1
myself; but that's the way It Is The.
ell say II they could do It they're sur
they'd know how they did It; but
guess they're wrong. I presume I
u~- -. 49, ~ u~S ~,-~- -