St. Tammany farmer., 1922-02-11

have arrived if Ramsey had been able
to achieve a startling Importance in
any Of the various divergent yet
parallel lines of school endeavor"-one
of the phrases by means Of which
teachers and principal clogged the
minds Of their unarmed auditors. But
though he was far from being the
dumb driven beast Of misfortune that
he seemed in the schoolroom, and, in
fact, lived double life, exhibiting in
his out of-school hours a remarkable
example Of secondary personality
creature fearing nothing and capable
Of laughter; blue eyed, fairly robust,
and anything but dumb-he was never
theless without endowment or attain
ment great enough to get him distinc-
ton.
He tried for the high-school
eleven, and "tried for the nine, but
the experts were not long in elimi-
mating him from either Of these COM
petitions, and he had to content him
self with cheering instead of getting
cSeered. He was by no manner Of
means athletic or enough Of anything
else, to put Dora Yocum in her place,
and so he and the great opportunity
we're still waiting in May, at the end
Of the second year Of high school,
when the class, now the 40 A." revert
ed to an old fashion and decided to
entertain itself with a woodland pic
mic.
They gathered upon the sandy banks
Of a creek in the blue shade of big,
patchy-barked sycamores, with dane
ing sky on top of everything and gold
dust atwinkle over the water. Hither
The napkin-covered baskets were
brought from the wagons and assem-
bled in the shade, where they ap-
peared as an attractive little meadow
Of white napery, and gave both sur
prise and pleasure to communities Of
ants and to other original settlers Of
the neighborhood.
From this nucleus or headquarters
Of the picnic, various expeditions set
forth up and down the creek and
through the woods that bordered 1t.
Two envied boy fishermen established
themselves upon bank upstream,
with hooks and lines thoughtfully
brought with them, and poles which
they fashioned from young saplings.
They took musse1s from the shadows,
for bait, and having gone to all this
= a1i, Ac Oh, 1ryfft7 q
less energetic and provident the per-
quisites and pleasures secured to
themselves.
Albert Paxton was one person
who proved his enterprise. Having WIS.,
tied the spot some days before, he had
hired for his exclusive use throughout
the duration of the picnic an old row.
boat belonging to shanty squatter;
1t was the only roWboat within mile
or two and Albert had his own uses
for it. Albert was the class lover and,
after first taking the three chaperon
teachers "out for row." an excursion
concluded in about ten minutes, he dis
embarked them; Sadie Clews stepped
into the boat, a pocket camera in one
hand, q tennis racket in the other; and
the two spent the rest OF the day, ex-
cept for the luncheon interval, solemn
ly drifting along the banks Or ground
ed on a shoal. Now and then Albert
would row few strokes, and at al
most any time when the populated
shore glanced toward them, Sadie
would be seen photographing Albert,
or Albert would be seen photograph
ing Sadie, but the tennis racket re-
mained an enigma. They were six
teen, and had been engaged" more
than two years.
On the borders of the little meadow
Of baskets there had been deposited
two black shapes, which remained un-
disturbed throughout the day. closed