Evening star., 1927-04-25
THE EVENING STORY
Butterfly Hollow.

~ ONE people are born entomolo-
~ gists, some achieve entomology
and some have that interesting
- branch Of science thrust upon
them. To this last class Alice
belongd. Doctors orders and case OF
spring flu did the thrusting. The
doctor prescribed a pine forest. Alice
told him fatty she could not afford
such luxury; that she taught draw
ing in the high school; and that the
salary was never designed for exten-
siye and eXpesive vacations. To
which he replied with equal fatness
that being the case she could still
less afford to be out of employment
for a year. So medical counsel pre-
vailed and her ill-prepared rainy day
fund had to suffer the consequences.
Fisically and financially unable to
keep up with the CAV, golfing, dane
ing, flirting, playing crowd AZ
The inn, weak and respondent and
lonely, Alice would creep out a little
way into the woods and lie down under
the softly talkative trees and watch
the birds and squirrels and the insects
clad in ghttering cuira sses darting
hither and thither on gauze wings.
She was Alice in Wonderland. Nursed
by the yitaIizing air, diverted and shy
ly befriended by the peeping inhabi.
t1nts Of the forest, she was beguiled
into conTaIescence.
Day by day she would penetrate
little deeper into the beckoning
mystery of the woods But she felt
like Columbus discovering the Amerl
can continent when, one day a the
foot Of steep slope, she came sud,
denly upon Butterfly Hollow, kept
like a secret between two heavily
wooded hills.
Its surface. scaling and cracked
by the sun into patterns as intricate,
if not as regular, as those Of a cross
word puzzle, was fairly covered with
butterflies With their rich and varie
gated coloring it was like looking down
on a Persian rug. The discovery
caught her breath for Joy, and lying
face downward on the warm stone
watched them until noon.
Being an artist. Alice decided tc
paint their portraits-as many yarie
ties as possible. Early next morning
she hurried there with color box apC
brushes. They were still there and
every morning afterward fn ductuat
ing number and beWilderiug varieties
For some obscure reason this was
their favorite stamping ground. II
she only knew their names that they
might he properly labeledi
At last she wrote off for a book or
butterflies. The very evening her let
ter was posted a new man anpeareG
in the dining room. Being young
with an unmarried look and a pleasan nt
appearance, naturally it caused all this
customary excitement incident to such
appartions at a Summer resort.
Later out on the yerenda Gladys
Waters, belle OF that SYLVAN glade
remarked to Alice in passing:
'See that new man? I looked him
up in the register His name is
Ralph Hammond. They say he is a
professor of zoology or ento-or some.
thing of the sort at the State uni
yersity. Ordinarily I don't go in heav.
lily for professors Of bugolOgy, but this
one is so good looking 1 think l shall
make an exception in his favor. He
looks more like a fot ball player than
a school teacher"
Next morning Alice kept tryst as
usual at the rendezvous Of the painted
insects and her eyes was at once
arrested by one that alighted on a clod
near her feet, She knew she had
never seen him before. He was a
coppery brown, with black spots and
a broad orange band on the outer mar
gin Of the hind wings, and as he airly
closed and unclosed them she saw th Il