Show r 0 Jr r r i a al l 1 I ti b Dear So you want Rant to know how I spent P the Glorious Fourth Was WasI I 1 sane and sedate comporting comporting comport comport- ing myself in a manner befitting befitting be be- fitting a b now brand college graduate or did I 1 run off and romp with Brother Drother Toms Tom's kiddies as DS usual forgetting all my recently acquired dignity Alas my dear I 1 must confess that my Fourth was far far tar from sane and that instead of my sanity Ive I've But ve But there my studies In prose style should me better than to lump at the conclusion of my story like that Ill I'll begin at the beginning It was Independence day dar The sun was shining in newly awakened splendor splendor dor when the casual asual observer might have bave discerned a a. solitary female form gracefully scaling the stone ston wall between between be be- tween the luxuriant back gardens of the Hendersons and the ditto ditto of the Bartletts Tom Bartletts-Tom Tom and his family are staying with her mother you know next door This feat accomplished our heroine that's me proceeded up the Dart Bart r 1 e 0 r oa se American flag and her raven rayen curls were were surmounted by a fillet t of silver stars This Goddess of Liberty effect was the result of ot a promise to dress up up for the two adoring and adorable nephews Bert and Bob Arrived beneath beneath beneath be be- neath t the e window of the room usually usually ally occupied by the nephews the Goddess of ot Libor v T r ro P the boys are oversleeping and she bursts Into song sone rendering the Star span Dan Dan- Banner Daner er with dramatic efte effect t marred only by a breathless s squeak squeak 1 27 m Walland Wall Gracefully Scaling the Stone Still the tree free final Land and of the on shies and Bert Our heroine no Bob window with a at the a bit of turf lazybones s and andas andas Wake up command begins to creak as the windoW sash begins to carol responsivelY she of Freedom Battle Cry Shouting the lungs healthy of her ber very at the top foolish dig dig- has no for Aunt Peggy of amusing question its it's a kiddies when At last the windoW opens the she sees sees- up wide wido and looking think Instead stead o of Polly PollY- w what at do you and two tw two little white there was a a man man heads beads curly tousled man my dear young A strange lm immaculate In a ai eyed blue blonde and gazing at mem me suit i beautiful duck to be mild horror seemed what I with though J as a m mixed with lunatiC I felt like an anone escaped all bOI bO- bO I were all the more so on ono one I assure assUr awfully y you good goo loo king and I cause causo ho be was and Jt I I d I well couldn't imagine who he ho boo bo However it seemed to be up to me rue to todo todo todo II do something so BO I 1 drew myself to my commanding height of five feet four tour mY-I mY Inches and begged his pardon for tor disturbing disturbing dis disk him explaining that my lIlt little nephews usually occupied that room and that they were expecting me over overt to celebrate c the Fourth liO with them them j but It all ll sounded like perfect non nonsense noni sense Just then to my mingled relied and Annoyance Tom appeared at the window too with a a. fiendish grin as ashe aslie aslie lie he sized up the situation and my cos COSo tume Been Deen serenading you has she Archie he asked affably while I boiled with helpless rage You mustn't mind it old man its it's the day we celebrate celebrate celebrate cele cele- brate you know and our patriotism sU still 1 runs so high that even the girls seek out peaceable English visitors and taunt them with our independence Quite Quito tho the usual thing Then as Archie and I preserved a helpless silence Tom sobered down and introduced intro intro- introduced us in proper style and as soon as I 1 heard the name I remembered that Archie Vane was Toms Tom's chum in London when he was ov over r there set setS setting ting up some machinery He had just landed and Tom running across him himin himin himin in New York the night before had insisted insisted in in- on his coming corning home with him to spend the Fourth Fourth all all natural enough when Tom explained it So there Id I'd been bearding the British lion in his den with militant American noises on the anniversary of a day Ignored Ig nored by all aU good Englishmen and here was the British lion looking at atme atmo mo me with his his' ingenuous blue eyes as If it ithe he was trying to decide whether Id I'd bite or notI notI notI not I warn warn you Tom added in his tactful little way that Peggy Is a I rabidly patriotic person so I wouldn't advise you to start any discussions on international Issues This Columbia getup Is quite in in- character so beware beware beware be be- ware Alice and the boys came out outon outon outon on the porch just then and wanted me meto meto meto to stay to breakfast but of course l declined with dignity and went homo home via the front gate however instead oi of the garden wall When I turned tc latch It that Englishman was still looking look ing lag at me In a dazed sort of ot way Tho The plot thickens After Atter breakfast my beloved kiddies rushed over to be beme beme bej me to go with with them on the usual tam fam family fly ily picnic to the pine grove and 1 l hadn't the heart t to disappoint them 1 wore wore my my most sensible clothes and 1 tried hard to be haughty and distant to Mr Vane but he be kept developing such nice qualities that somehow l couldn't keep it up especially as he Ig Ignored ignored nored my crazy performance of the morning so successfully He was a aTom abd ai bd I IA Iw Iy y w A J r i 0 l i Jt Tom Appeared at the Window Too positive genius when It came to chasing chas ing cows fixing hammocks unpacking luncheon and all th the regular picnic stunts The boys bos adored him and hewaT he waT yay angelic to the old folks and by t the we went home honie l couldn't scare up up feeling Yes Polly I know you nee needn't l i re re- mind me of all the hateful things Ive I've said about Englishmen and the times Umee Ive I've vowed I 1 couldn't and wouldn't care for tor one not if It he asked me on hh his bended beaded knees Yes and Ive I've demonstrated demonstrated demon often that no one but but an aD American man was a fit companion fox for foran an American Americal girl girt Ive I've said heaps oi of perfectly ferocious things and I suppose sup Sll- pose I meant every everyone one of them But that was before Archie Archie- Polly dear do you know he lie says It was all over with him from the first moment he saw me and me-and and In that parade circus rig ilg Isn't it absurd and absurd and lovely And just think its it's only only- a week since we me met though we wo both agree that it seems like years And you should see my ring ring ring-a. a quaint old old one that belonged belonged be be- longed to his great great grandmother great grandmother And his people live In a n lovely old Elizabethan house In a regular Cranford Cranford Cranford Cran Cran- 1 ford town and his mothers mother's a dear little tittle old fashioned soul with side curls and idolizes him Please dont don't remind me of anything I ever said about effete tradition will you Polly Im I'm not going to England yet awhile a though for Archies Archie's here indefinitely to learn American business methods In Toms Tom's Tomaline line of at work I really have a little spark of ot American pride I 1 guess for I J Iam Iam Jam am glad hes he's only a younger son with title within reach though I 1 d dont don't nt no suppose Id I'd mind that or anything else Because Polly PoUy dear Im I'm not shouting the tho battle cry of freedom nowadays Somehow it gets all mixed up w with tb Rule Iulo Britannia Do come up with me soon and discuss the new Anglo Anglo- alliance with your bewildered Saxon PEGGY but blissful |