The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-03-16

mere was no 0eCebblty. i sueo1
must been wrong" he muttered thickly.
"What about, Ramseyr"
"About it's bein' squirrel" With
infinite timidity he turned his head
and encountered a gaze so soft. 80 hal
lowed. that It Disconnected him, and
he dropped "drumstick" Of fried
well dotted with ants, from
his plate. Scarlet he picked 1t up, but
did not eat It. For the first time in
his life he felt that eating fried chick
en- held In the fingers was not to be
thought Of. He replaced the drum
stick" upon his plate and allowed 1t
to remain there untouched, In spite Of
a great hunger for It.
Having looked down, he now found
difficulty In looking up, but gazed
steadily at his plate, and into this
limited circle Of vision came Mlla's
delicate and rosy fingers, bearing
gift. There" she said In a motherly
little voice. 'It's a tomato may0nnaise
sandwich and l made 1t myself.
want you to eat it, Ramsey"
His own fingers approached tremu-
lousness as he accepted the thick sand
witch from her and conveyed 1t to his
mouth. A moment later his soul filed
with horror, for squirt Of mayonnaise
dressing had caused catastrophe the
scene of which occupied no inconsider-
able area Of his right cheek, which
was the cheek toward Milla. He
CROPPED wretchedly for his handker-
chief but could not find it; he had lost
1t. Sudden death would have been re-
lief; he was sure that after such gro
tesquerie Milla could never bear to
have anything more to do With him;
he was ruined.
In his anguish he felt paper nap
kin pressed gently into his hand;
soft voice said In his ear, "Wipe it off
with this, Ramsey. Nobody's MOTTO
Ing"
So this incredibly charitable creature
was still able to be his friend, even
after seeing him mayonnaised! Hum
bly, marveling, he did as she told him,
but avoided all further risks. He ate
nothing more.
He sighed his first sigh Of inexpress-
ibleness, had a chill or so along the
spine, and at intervals his brow was
believed.
Within his averted eyes there dwelt
not the Milla Rust who sat beside him,
but an iridescent, fragile creature who
had become angelic.
He spent the rest Of the day daw-
ding helplessly about her; wherever
she went he was near, as near as pos
sible, but Of no deliberate volition of
mis- own. Something seemed to tie him
to her, and Milla was nothing 10th.
He seldom looked at her directly, or
for longer than an instant, and more
rarely still did he speak to her except
as a reply. What few remarks he
ventured upon his own initiative near
" all concerned the landscape, which
he commended repeatedly in weak
voice, as "kind OF pretty" though once
he said he guessed there might be bugs
in the bark Of a log on which they sat;
and he became so immoderately per.
sonal as to declare that II the bugs
had to get on anybody he'd rather
they got on him than on Milla. She
said that was "just perfectly lovely"
OF him, asked where he got his sweet
nature, and in other ways encouraged
him to continue the revelation, but
Ramsey was unable to get forward
with it, though he opened and closed
his mouth great many times in the
effort to do SO.
At five o'clock everybody was sum-
moned again to the rendezvous for
ceremony preliminary to departure;
the class found itself in a large circle,
standing, and sang "The Star Spangled
Banner" Ordinarily, on such an open
air and out-of-school occasion, Ramsey
would have joined the chorus uproar-
iously with the utmost blatancy of
which his vocal apparatus was capa-
BILE; and most Of the other boys ex-
pressed their humor by drowning out
the serious efforts Of the girls; but
he sang feebly, not much more than
humming through his teeth. Standing
beside Milla, he was incapable Of his
former inelegancies and his voice was
in a selni-paralyzed condition, like the
rest Of him.
Opposite him, across the circle, Dora
Yocum stood little in advance Of
those near her, for Of course she led
the singing Her clear and earnest
voice was distinguishable from all
others, and though she did not glance
toward Ramsey he had queer feeling
that she was assuming more superior
ity than ever, and that she was icily
scornful Of him and Milla. The old
resentment rose-he'd "show" that girl
yet, some day! --..+~.. ...
When the song was over, cheers
/ were given for the class, "the good ole
class Of Nineteen Fourteen" the
school, the teachers, and for the pic
mic, thus officially concluded; and then
the picnickers, carrying their baskets
and faded wild flowers and other SOU
|,yepirs and burdens. moved toward the
big express wagons" which were to
take them back into the town. RAM
sey got his guitar case, and turned to
i Milla,