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Show A Freckled Cupid By Wilbur D. Nesbit It is not written in books of fate that the Fourth of July is any day to . propose to a girl. -Christmas day, Thanksgiving day, New Years day, or any other day will do, but -the Fourth is not romantic; It Is patriotic. On that day a man is supposed to love his native land. He Is to listen to speeches, or make them, about the indivisibility of our country. He is to watch the fireworks where they are permitted and not do any sparking on his own account. Every day is Fourth of July to some men. They have made up their minds that they hope to marry a certain girl, but when it comes to stating their decision de-cision the tongue cleaves to the roof of the mouth and the right arm seems to have lost its cunuing. Jim Hicks was such a man. When love making was concerned, all days were the Fourth for him. Otherwise his name would have been Armand Decourcey. As it was, he was just what you would expect of a man of that name. Jim had been "keeping company" off and on with Luella Miller for a matter of three years. This guaranteed guaran-teed him a certain standing as her "beau," hut what woman wants to go Dn forever that way? On Luella's mind was the one important im-portant thought which rests upon trie mind of every woman when she has found the right man. That was to make Jim propose. The romantic notion no-tion that a woman in love is a coy, blushing thing, timorous, trembling, afraid of the great masculine creature, may be justified in some cases. But with the Luellas and Jims of this world it does not obtain. Luella had exhibited to Jim her deftness as a cook; she had acquainted him with her cleverness as a needleworker, she had demonstrated over and over that she would make an ideal wife. But Jim hadn't proposed. Consequently, on the Fourth, when Luella saw Henry Nelson, the had boy "of the village, with a huge cannon cracker he had kept secreted since last year, and which he proposed to explode somewhere during the day or evening, she made war plans. "Henry," she said, "don't you know it's against the law to have such a firecracker?" "Aw," Henry muttered. "I don't know." "Well, It is. And if the marshal finds it out he will put you in the lockup as an example." "Aw! Somebody's always makin' a example o' me. I s'pose you're goin' to go an' blab on me now." "I won't, if you'll do something for me and it v. ill be a whole lot of fun for you, Henry." "Wet?" "Don't you want to play a good joks on Jim Hicks?" "Aw! He's your feller." "Well, anyhow, Henry, I'll tell yon how to play a good joke on him, and I'll help you to do it. You come urj by our house this evening, and Jim will be there. I'll get him to stand at the gae and talk to me, and you slip up and set off your big firecracker right behind him. That'll scare him half to death, and will bo just lots oi fun for you." "Aw! Wot d'ye want to scare him fer?" , "Well, you know how big and strong he is, and how brave he acts. Let's sde if we can't get a good one on him, Henry." "Aw! I was goin' to shoot this off behind the school teacher." But at last Luella managed to convince con-vince Henry that he could have more fun with the cannon cracker by exploding ex-ploding it behind Jim than if he set it off anywhere else. Jim never has understood why Luella Lu-ella was waiting at the gate for him that evening, nor why she kept him standing there, talking of -the weather and the crowd down town and this, that, and everything. It had always been her custom to greet him at the front door, and to express surprise at seeing him. This is one of the enjoyable enjoy-able fictions of courtship. "I think it is so lovely when the stars come out as they are coming out tonight, don't you?" Luella was asking Jim. Bang!! Luella shrieked and fainted dead away, apparently, but she fainted toward Jim in such a manner that the. gate swung open and she reposed limply against his manly bosom. Under the circumstances, there was but one thing Jim could do, and that was to keep her from falling to the ground. This is best accomplished in the case of a fainting lady by placing your arms about her and allowing her head to rest on your shoulder. This comes natural to most men. What else Jim did, and what he said to1 Luella to calm her fears and to revive re-vive her to consciousness may only be conjectured. Henry Nelson, however, kept up a derisive series of yells and howls of laughter, and Luella at last opened her eyes and asked dreamily; "Where am I?" Henry shouted: "Aw! He was a-huggin' a-huggin' you, an' he kissed you!" Then Henry turned and fled, Jim shaking a fist after him. "Luella," Jim said, "I I'm ashamed but Henry told the truth. When you fainted in my arms I just couldn't help kissin' you." "Why, Jim!" "An' now he'll tell it all over town, an' I don't want to have people talkin' about you without good reason, so so hadn't we better have 'em say we're engaged?" j And then it looked as though Lu I ella had fainted all over again. |