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Show I HAD PLENTY OF TIME H By CHARLE8 PLEIN8. H i "Don't waste any pity on us for bo H lng up hero In tho woods at this soa- H son of the year," wrote the girl to H her best friend In town, who had H been sympathizing with hor by letter. H "We are having a perfect time, and H I'm beginning to find out what leisure H la at least I should bo finding out H If I weren't busy every minute. That H sounds contradictory, I know, but the JPL truth Is that I am reveling In tho 35 kind of leisure that gives me oceans TH' of time to do all the things that I've H alwaysbeen wanting to do. H "Just fancy tho delight of having H four solid houra of reading every H night and then being In bed at 10:301 H You see, wo have an early dlnnor and H the evening begins promptly at 6, H and mother and I sit with our noodle- H work In hand while Brother Will H reads us chapter after chapter. Don't H you wish you had a chance to get ao H qualntcd with Little Nell, Colonel H Newcomo and Magglo Tulllver again J H "While mother la working on her H silk quilt In tho mornings I take an H hour or two for magazines and mod- H era novels and I've actually found H that I have a taste for poetry. H "You mustn't, think, fiowovor, that H reading furnishes1 Bur only amuse- H ment. We have a great deal of other H entertainment. Tho bird banquet H which wo have set outsldo our dining H room window Is a constant source of Hj Interest. We have a piece. of salt pork H tied to a cedar bough and every morn- H lng as we oat our eggs and bacon a H black and whlto woodpecker with a m dash of scarlet In his topknot comes M and pokes his beak Into this brand m of breakfast food, which appears Just HJ to suit him. Ho Is usually followed H by two bluejays that, not being adept Hj at pecking, content themselves with Hj the crumbs which mother keeps un- M der the cedar trco for them. HJ "We feed tho squirrels also. They HJ flash back and forth In front of our Hj windows all day long. Jumping from Hj roof to bough and scampering across H the snowy lawn with their tails high HI In tho air, liko graceful red plumes H nrothcr Will declares that mother and H I are pauperizing these little neigh- H bors of ours, but wo Insist that our Hj donations will not Interfere with their H self-reliance H "Hut tho recreation that Ilrother H Will and I enjoy most Is mother's H talkl Think of It, In nil tho years H that I'vo been her daughter I nover H realized until this autumn what a H brllll" talker mother Is. Until now H we have always been too busy with H the cury-day aflaiis of llfo to con- H verse about anything more Important H than clothes, housekeeping, entertain- JL lng, lists of guests and all tho other "B never ending details of existence. If we hadn't stayed In tho country this H autumn I might never lmvo known H what a wealth of reminiscence and H nnecdoto Is stored up In mother's H memory. Sho remembers the stirring H days of tho Civil .ur, the passed H through the great Chicago fire and H sho pioneered in Alaska before tho H gold rush Brother Will and I have heard some thrilling ftoilea theso aft-H aft-H ornoons when the snow or rain has H kept up close to thu wood fire. H "You mustn't think of us as entirely H cut off from thu outsldo uorld. Kvery H once In a whllo we tee somo one from H the village. It wau only night before H last that a man went by with n Ian- H tern! Hrother Will and I had a heat- U ed argument as to whether It was the H hired man from tho nearest farmhouso H or .the village clerk who Is said to be H 'watting on' the farmei's daughter. H "This morning Brother Will called H me from my book to look out of tho H wlnd'f.' to soo how congested tho traf- H flo was on tho highway with the rural H free delivery mari'a cart and a wagon H load cf hogs, both In sight at onco. H "So, you see, life Is far from dull. H "Brother Will hao Just Interrupted H my writing to tell mo that his morn- H lng mall has decided him to movo H Into town early next week. I "Of course I've enjoyed every mln- uto of this long autumn hero, but now H that I know I ehnll he back In tho I midst of things ao soon I can hardly H wait. Why, I haven't oven decided on U a winter suit yet, and as for a hat, I or, dear! I supposo tho shops are crowded to distraction with Christmas H buyers, but I shall not mind that In tho least. I shall enjoy mingling and H mixing with my kind. "Tho country is nil right, but H woll, it Booms a century since I'vo been to tho thentor." Chicago Dally B News, I Had Forgotten About Excuse. Bobblo and little Wllllo had been given orders by mother not to go I swimming alono. Onco In a whllo, howover, they Indulged In their secret W pleasure without telling their fond mother. I One day they worn returning from a swim nnd both hud entirely forgot ten about tho necessary oxcuse. I.it-?2 I.it-?2 do Wllllo brnvoly entored the house, but Bobblo prudently turned tho corner cor-ner and waited outside on tho cellar door. The first question mother put to Mtla Wllllo took tho llttlo ono unaware. un-aware. "Whoro have you been, Willie?" Wil-lie?" ssknd mother sternly. Wllllo hoBttafed, looked nt the door longingly longing-ly and finally replied, "Walt till I go end n"!: Dob." Nationnl Monthly, |