The Monmouth inquirer., 1924-10-16
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
At Crack of Dawn

from WoodlaWn resigned himself.
~ had thought" said the Hyde
Park man, 'that / had done about
everything once; but l seem to have
been mistaken. Imogene thought up
a brand-new style of expedition and
|. failing to exercise firmness and
common sense, was drawn into it.
Also the idiocy of the idea was en-
ticing beforehand"
what did she do this timer" asked
his friend.
ssWould the idea of having breakfast
at a quarter of 4 in the morning APP
peal to your" inquired the Hyde Park
man. would the notion of an alarm
clock exploding at a quarter past
3 strike you as an excellent diver
sion? Did you ever realize just how
attached you are to your bed when 1t
Is not even chilly dawn? That wife
of mine hypnotized, bamboozleds or
threatened four of our helpless
friends into Joining the party.
"She called it a crime and shame
that people should spend their lives
without seeing the sun rise when
they would pay good morey to watch
a fireworks exhibition or a stage dis
play. She said that none of us really
could tell bona fide sunrise from
dish of scrambled eggs and she in
tended to reform us. So everybody
was to come to our house for coffee
and toast and then we would start
out and drive toward the east to the
sand dunes.
She told us pityingly that this idea
of having to sleep till or o'clock
was merely matter of habit, any
how, and if we would go to bed at
decent hour the getting up would
be entirely simple. | took her at her
word and sought my pillow at 8
o'clock and never got wink of sleep
till midnight, because mogene fused
around till then doing things which
she had forgotten.
when that drafted alarm rang
Imogene sprang to her feet and
cracked Ter head against the wall.
W0cT6 AN IL she SdoDGus
"'You're at party ! told her
eoethingly as switched on the light,
for it was still pitch dark. "A nice,
clever, sunrise party, darling. Hear
the birds! / think it is the chickens
next door, but still they are birds.
Whit the glorious air! 1t seems
strangely damp and sooty, but it must
be fresh because 1t is so early in the
morning. Gee! Am l not glad I am
alivc!'
'Imogene told me GROSSLY not to be
simpleton and proceeded to get
dressed. From then on 1t was a
whirl of up and down stairs, out In
the kitchen, down cellar and up, and
when the four other sufferers ar
rived, stumbling up the steps sleeDily.
/ fell upon their necks with soDs.
They said, why, yes, it was perfectly
lovely, only wasn't it dreadfully dark
and then we ran into each other
carrying cups of coffee and toast and
things and still yawning. We started.
There were loud calls for the sun
rise at once, as 1t was remarkably
misty morning. Imogene said she
really couldn't understand it, but she
was sure 1t would be better soon, and
SO we spun thru Jackson Park, which
looked like vapoz bath, and felt our
way down around the end OF the
lake. / never knew there was so
much mist in the world. Everybody
has heard of the mists of the morning
and / guess the entire supply was
right there.
eve put on sweaters and heavy
coats and climbed under all the robes
and shivered and shook. Once in a
while one of the women, trying to
live up to the occasion, would exclaim
that it was perfectly lovely and how
glad she was not to miss it, and one
of the men would grunt in reply and
call for an extra robe.
"a great gloom settled down upon
us, broken only by the crack of some
jaw as one of the party yawned.
"At o'clock we were in Gary, and
life seemed more possible when break
fast with ham and eggs was suggested
but it developed that nobody was up
as yet in Gary, and they did not have
breakfast at the hotel until the
scandalously late hour of 1880. Much
chastened, we travelled on to the
dunes and clambered up big one.
The sun having at last emerged, we
bestowed ourselves variously upon
the sands and went to sleep.
I'VE slept for hours and, hours and
when at last we wakened in the af-
ternoon we thought we were dying,
but decided the strange feeling was
merely due to lack of food. We sat
and glared at one another, everybody
thinking vigorously how much he
hated all the rest And by the time
we finally did reach town and hui
man eats nobody was speaking to any
one else, and relations still are much
strained.
"Imogene says the sun did rise,
even If we didn't see it and that it
was wonderful experience. 1t was.
1t will last me a long lifetime. Ill