The Kevin review., 1926-12-02

think a nearsighted one would be best for
Miss Mary. And either an acrobat or
man in a wheel chair to circumnayigate
Abigail Linda's bird houses with least risk
to life and limb"
Ssh" said my mother.
l tried to think just as fast as l possibly
could.
"Of course, there are the three Bennett
boys" 1 said.
@Sure enoughr' said our Uncle Hubert.
But Alec, you see, is only nine, and Harry
seventeen, and Jack nineteen, which added
up altogether only makes 40 as opposed to
1.-The figures $50 already referred to in re-
gard to our most estimable friends. Besides,
boys eat so much, and are almost fnvari-
co. 1 said 81 hadn't thought about
that
II warned you" said our, Uncle Hubert,
''that there would be a greatly many things
to think about"
1 thought about as many of them as
could before I spoke again.
80, goodie 70 ! spoke. ''There's Quong FOO
and his two 1aundrymen! I'm almost sure
they're brothers! When you're watching
them iron, you can't possibly tell one from
the other! They're as neat as napkins
Everything they touch bubbles up in soap
sudsI Even the lilly bulbs in their win
dow And they-why they eat bird houses
So it wouldn't be any trouble at all to feed
them And
our Uncle Hubert shook his head.
"N-o," he said "N-o. Even to bring
our good ladies the fortunes that they SO
well deserve 1 couldn't countenance their
marriage to a Chinese laundry. We shall
have to make our search farther afield I'm
afraid
MY fathers eyes began to twinkle again.
'Well, how about the three Davis
brothers over at the foot of the mountain Z!
he said. "AIr. Henry has already begun to
lose his hearing, / understandings ne
wouldn't have to suffer overlOng about the
travel talks And Mr.. Jasper certainly
doesn't seem anywhere near as well as he
fo NJ Mr Rncc--1
- said nv mother. "You seem to
forget entirely that Mr.. Ross IS alreauy
married.
20 dear-O dear" said my father. He
looked pretty downcast.
90 but Mr.. Rossly Davis wife isn't very
wellI' l explained hopefully Truly, when
saw her at the p0stoffice last week she
was looking pretty pale!
MY mother left the fireplace suddenly and
came over to our Uncle Hubert's lap, and
slid us gently to the floor.
"Come-come, little people she sara;
''this game has gone quite far enough, ana
it's quite time that tucked you away into
your prayers and your beds say ,goon
night to fatherl Say good night to Uncle
Hubertw
Very slowly we dragged ourselves away
to our pleasant beds. Everything looked
just as it always looked, everything smeil. |
ed just as it always smelled, candle hgnt
and blue puffy quilts, sweet scented laVen- |
der. and the faint scorch of birch bark on
the smouldering hearth. But our motner
made up a brand new prayer to go to bed
God grant us ALL" she prayed, "a for
tune of dreams just large enough to yield
us living wage of reality. So that neitner
boarding the one nor squanuerIng s Lhs |
other, we yet may live life seasonaily ana
in ali reasonable fullness, ere time IN lts
passing despoil both the desire ana tne
desired"
think there was more, but | went 20
sleep instead and dreamed ! was coa, sa
II III hlUp ewes ana /
golden toes. stalking across all the shlnl5ng
sands of the world to beat my porrloge
spoon upon the moon!
1t was almost a week before we tnougnI
about Miss Hortense and Miss Mary and
Miss Abigail Linda again .,,ou .oo,,s
Some weeks are fuller than oIner weeks
are. his week was full OF Dapy rappl.s Anr ear
of pine cones that had to be gathered TOT
my mothers little stovel And great craze grale
of new tulip bulbs that came from Holland
for my father And school
We were coming home from schooi "nsn
we met Miss Abigail Linda. Very little sne
looked and frail and foaty hke a,,a q ienn I'll
leaf in October. She had little smlls llss on
her face, but you couldnt tell os su1u her ewes
that were smiling and sometimes you
thought it was her mouth. But whenever
you looked again it wasn't .s
"Good afternoon, children she salu.
We felt a little frightened suddenly ana |
ran off into the old lilac hedge to hide ana
watch her. ..,us ~
She was carrying great paste,oo9ara 9 pIa sIa
in her arms. and every now and then sne
put it down on the brown pine needle pain
and sat down beside it to rest little OF
4 1ittle crack in one side of the box.
we stood it as long as we could and
then we came out of the old lilac hedge ana
her go
She waved her arms She stamped her 1oot.
ssNo-no-nov she said. "This is TOO
much! And besides it always makes me
feel nervous in the back OF my neels -