The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1922-04-21
the agitation Of his shoulders be
$1,000 A....

the agitation Of his shoulders be
trayed him.
go on and taught Well, so we
stayed there quite a while, but before
we left she got kind Of more like every
day, you know, the way people do. It
was half-past nine when we walked
back to town, and was commencin'
to feel kind Of hungry, so asked her
if she wasn't, and she sort Of laughed
and seemed to be ashamed Of it, as IL
it was a disgrace or something, but
she said she guessed she was; so
left her by that hedge of lilacs near
the observatory and went on over to
the Terra and the fruit store, and got
some stuffed and olives and half
a-dozen peanut butter sandwiches and
a box O. strawberries-kind of girl
food, you know-and went on back
there, and we ate the stuff up. So
then she said she was afraid she'd
taken me away from my dinner and
made me lot of trouble, and so on,
and she was sorry, and she told me
goodnight"
"What did you say thenY
moth Oh, shut up! So then she
skipped out to her Dorm, and came
on home"
"When did you see her next, Ram
sey?"
81 haven't seen her next" said Ram
sey. II haven't seen her at all-not to
speak to. I saw her on Main street
twice since then, but both times she
was with some other girls, and they
were across the street, and couldn't
tell If she was lookin' at mel kind Of
thought not I thought it might look
sort O. nutty to bow to her If she
wasn't, so didn't"
"And you didn't tell her you wouldn't
be one of the ones to help her with her
pacifism and anti-war stuff and all
thatY
"No. I started to, but Shut up!"
Fred sat up, giggling. $50 she thinks
you will help her. You didn't say any,
thing at all, and she must think that
means she converted you. Why didn't
you speak up?"
swell, I wouldn't argue with her."
said Ramsey. Then. after silence, he
seemed to be in need of sympathetic
comprehension. "It was kind O. funny
though, wasn't it?" he said, appealing
ly.
"What WASP"
''The whole business"
"What whole bus"
ooh, get out Her stoppin' me, and
me goin' pokin' along with her, and
her-well, her crying and everything
and me being around with her while
she felt so upset, mean. 1t seems
well, it does seem all kind o. funny to
me-"
"Why does it?" Fred inquired, pre-
serving his gravity. "Why should it
seem funny to you?"
II don't mean funny like something's
funny you laugh at" Ramsey explained
laboriously. II mean funny like some
thing that's out of the way, and you
wonder how it ever happened to hap
pen. mean it seems funny I'd ever
be sirtin' there on bench with that
ole girl never spoke to in my life or
had anything to do with, and talkin'
about the United States goin' to war.
What we were talkin' about, why, that
seems just as funny as the rest of it.
Lookin' back to our class picnic, f'r
instance, second year of high school.
that day jumped in the creek after
Well, you know, it was when started
maxim a fool of myself over a girl
Thank goodness, got that out O. my
system; it makes me just sick to look
back on those days and think of the
about that girl. Why, She Well, I've
got old enough to see now she was
just about as ordinary girl as there
ever was, and if saw her now I
wouldn't even think she was pretty
I'd prob'ly think she was sort Of loud
lookin'. Well, what's passed is past,
and it isn't either here nor there.
What I started to say was this: that
the way it begins to look to me, 1t
looks as if nobody can tell in this life
a darn thing about what's goin' to hap
pen, and the things that do happen are
the very ones you'd swear were the
last that could. mean--you look back
to that day of the picnic-my! but /
was rube then-well, mean you look
back to that day, and what do you
suppose I'd have thought then If some
body'd told me the time would ever
come when I'd be way off here at col
lege sittin' on bench with Dora Yo-
cum-with Dora Yocum, in the first
place-and her crying and both of us
talking about the United States goin'
to war with Germany! Don't it seem
pretty funny to you, Fred, too?"
But as near as I can make out"
Fred said, shat isn't what happened"
"Why isn't it?"
"You say and both of us talking
and so on. AS near as can make out,
you didn't say anything at ALL"
swell, didn't-much," Ramsey ad-
mitted, and returned to his point with
almost pathetic persistence. "But
doesn't n spom kind ~ funny IN Won