Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1922-05-13
Puppy Love

Before my father married my
mother he told her the whole
story of his first love; and she,
blessed woman that she is. offer
ed to share with him the burden
of caring for the child.
She wanted to bring the child
home after they were married but
he would not allow that. He said
it was quite enough for her to
share his income with the ghost |
of his past and that he could not
have her heartstrings torn as they
would be by the care of the unfor
tunate bit of humanity that the
child had become, You'll remem
Der it was mentally unsound.
My mother, in telling me all
this years afterward when the
child was dead, said that she had
never seen it but the affair had
completely changed my fathers
life and character. 1t had stunted
his ambition, for the child lived
long enough for my father to form
habits too strong for him to break
in later years. And SO, dear Jim,
we see the tremendous influence
of events upon character. | did
not know all this, however, till
myself had been married some
years.
My mother and father determin-
ed that their children should have
an education and my mother es
pecially took great pride in me be
cause I seemed always to have a
liking for good books. l used to
read a great deal and often she
compelled me to tear myself away
from something l would read to
join in the childish sports of my
boy companions.
| remember distinctly the first
time l ever took any interest in
a girl.
Up until that day girls had
seemed to me absolutely nuisance
! They could not play ball; they
yelled and shuddered at the harm
less little worms we carried about
in tin cans for bait. They turned
up their noses il you showed up
at school with dirty hands and
otherwise made themselves OBJ
noxious
One day when 1 was about
called up and scolded roundly by
the teacher before the whole class
felt 1t was not fair as 1 knew
that one of the boys was more
to blame than she. He had been
annoying her all the morning-of
course | realized now it was the
lordly way of the male to attract
the attention of the female-and
finally when he started throwing
paper wads at her she had return
ed the compliment and the teach
er caught her. | could not help ad
mire her courage in taking her
punishment and ont telling on
the boy. 1t was the first time
| realized that girls had any cour-
age and / felt that the boy was a
yellow dog for not taking the
blame himself. The whole school
room was hushed. The girl look
ed about like a small hunted ami
NAL brought to bay and sudden
ly her eyes looked straight into
mine. | will never forget that
thrill. The blood rushed to my
heart and from my heart it SEEM
ed to pour out all over my body.
For the first time | seemed to
know that that little girl was a
lovely and precious thing. want
ed to put my arms around her
and comfort her and | grew hap
py because through her tears she
smiled her gratitude to me. Per-
haps you will remember, Jim, that
r after school she asked you to
bring me to her party. / accept
ed with alacrity and thoroughly
disguised the boys l had promised
r to play ball with also surpris-
f.; ed my mother beyond measure by
;, voluntarily taking a bath before
q I asked permission to wear my
Sunday clothes to the party that
Saturday afternoon. Sometimes,
Jim, one finds certain memories of
, childhood growing brighter as the
years pass.
believe that even after all
these years l can account for every
moment of that afternoon.
The girls name, as you will
remember, was Alice. In spite of
her mothers commands, she seem