OCR Text |
Show 'n0WSmTORS OF y J'KENNETT o n MELISSA DOES NOT CARE FOR CALLOW YOUTH. "You needn't tell Die!" said Mn. Merrlwld's maternal maiden aunt Jane, Indignantly. Mra. Merrlwld held back the loose sleeve of' ber tea gown with one hand while the poured with the other, a movement which displayed the beau-Uea beau-Uea of her arm and band, literally, to admiration. It was a pity that no one but Aunt Jane waa present At the tame time, Mrs. Merrlwld's eyes sparkled mischievously and she giggled gig-gled ao that she spilled the tea. "Very well, dearie," she said, "I won't tell you." "lie needs spanking," declared Aunt Jane, rubbing ber nose, as she had a habit of doing when vexed, "and you do too," she added. "Why, he's an infant! in-fant! And you, you axe "Count on your fingers." suggested Mrs. Merrlwld. "You won't have to j wrinkle up your forehead so much. Or I'll ten you, to save trouble. I'm twenty-eight If I'm a day." "You're thirty," snapped Aunt Jane, "and lie Isn't much over twenty." "Hut he's large for his age," said lire. Merrlwld, dimpling. "Six feet ind over. And you must admit that f am remarkably well preserved, so that the disparity Isn't really so great as it might seem at the first blush. Borne of the happiest marriages " "Fiddle!" Aunt Jane interrupted. "You know better." , "And hes seen a great deal of the world.! Mrs. Merrlwld continued, disregarding dis-regarding the interruption.1 "He says o, himself. He has been, in fact, a bit of a devil, but. of course, that waa ( before he came under my ennobling and refining influence. He finds himself will be fairly decent If a woman treats them decently. That means feeding them properly and keeping up a lifelike life-like appearance of cheerfulness. I practiced that cm poor dear Henry Merrlwld ao long that I'm letter perfect." "That may be," conceded Aunt Jane. "Hut If you want a child to raise, why not go to an orphan asylum?" "I thought we were going to consider consid-er this matter seriously," aald Mrs. Merrlwld. "And from a matrimonial point of view, dearie, I wouldn't have to wipe Teddies little notypoty or see that he washed his neck and around his ears, or worry about his habits of climbing trees and going swimming. I might have worries, but not that kind. I'm considering the ad-Vantage ad-Vantage of marrying a young man. Well, be wouldn't have any murky past, to bctrln w ith, and I think I could take cire that he wouldn't have any objectionable future, if I undertook rte management Then be would have generous Impulses and large enthusiasms. enthusi-asms. TeddJe has. All the freshness and kindness hasn't been knocked out of him. He has One Ideals and ambitions ambi-tions and I think It would be awfully interesting to direct them. Life doesn't menn money grubbing to him. It means poetry and philanthropy and romance and righteousness and music and moontthlne and auch. He isn't bald and blase. He hasn't any rheumatic rheu-matic tendencies or ntomach trouble, and as I Intimated, he thinks I am something wonderful." "How do you think it would be In ten years' time when you were going on for fifty and he waa hardly more than thirty?" Inquired Aunt Jane. "Auntie!" remonstrated Mrs. Merrt- 1 lb! ! ,- .Y ft -t-, I I Hsld Back the Sleeve ef Her Tea Gown While She Poured. a changed man since that Waring hop. Really, auntie, dear." "You ought to be aabamed of your-lelf," your-lelf," said Aunt Jane. "No. I don't want any more sugnr in my tea. You're taking advantage of his youth snd Inexperience to make the poor boy unhappy." v. "I make htm unhappy!" exclaimed ? Mrs. Merrlwld. "Why, sweetheart, he never knew what happiness was before be-fore he met me. It's the delirium of festacy or the ecstacy of delirium I forget which he said Juht to be near Die. And the touch of my band I rsn't recall at this moment exactly what the touch of my hand is, but ibe effect Is something fierce, as we ased to say In tlio.ufTire. And when rou ttik of Inexperience, well, that is to snigger. He knows women up tnd down and all around, all the lame like a book. He's wise to us, tuntle. There srent any of our little tricks and manners that he Isn't to spesk. bep to. It's poidtlvcly un-snny. un-snny. bis penetration where women ire concerned. That's without any reference to me, of rourie. I'm not so ordinary woman; I'm an enigma, ven to him. He admits that. Hear Teddte!" 1 "I call it wicked." observed Aunt Isne. "If you vere serious, It would ae different. It would be bad enough :heo, but ss It Is, It's wicked." Mrs. Merrlwld set down the cup of :ea she bad been sipping and leaned back In her chair and alghed. "1 wonder If I'm not serious?" she said. 'Why shouldn't I be? Look at It in a reasonable light, auntie. Would It be any disadvantage to him to have a wife who was old enough to have some aense? Suppose he marries some half fledged broiler, as he probably prob-ably will In the course of time If I let him go. Wll. she'll mske him miserable by expecting too much of him, and shell be miserable herself because be Isn't all her fancy painted, and then bell be more miserable. Now I wouldn't expect anything unreasonably un-reasonably angelic, because I've seen too many men, young and old. to ts lortala any Ulusioae. Most of tbaa wtd. "How very cstty! If he were hardly thirty, I should be barely forty, but waiving that. I think It would be perfectly lovely. I don't expect to find my faculties falling when I'm going go-ing on for fifty, even, and I shall only give up my masseuse and my few simple sim-ple toilet preparatlora with the breath of life. Teddle'a youth will be an additional Incentive to me to keep beautiful. Most women, when their husbands begin to show signs of the sore and yellow, allow themselves to get sloppy and dowdy. That's where I shall have what Is vulgarly termed the edge on them." "Oh, we!!." sighed Aunt Jane. "If you've derided to mske a fool of yourself, your-self, I suppose there's no use talking. When is the interesting event to take place. If one may ask?" "Don't worry, dearie," aald Mra Merrlwld. "I'm rot going to marry poor Teddie. He's a sweet boy and he's the only one ever told me that my eyes were pools of limpid light but he's such an everlasting callow little lit-tle Idiot." "Then why" began Aunt Jane In bewilderment "Well, dearie, he'll be wiser when I get through with him." said Mrs. Mer-rlald. Mer-rlald. "I'm doing him a real kindness." kind-ness." (Copyright, 111 tr W. a. Chapman.) The Modocs. The Modoc luUlaus there were only a few hundred of them were removed re-moved from their old habitat In the Oregon country by the government Not liking the change, they returned to tbetr old borne, and under their able leader, "Captain Jack," defeated the troops sent to expel them In 1173. During the negotiations for a settlement settle-ment they decoyed the United States commissioners Into an ambush (April 11) and massacred General Can by and some forty others. Fighting followed, fol-lowed, and the Indians retreated to aa almost Impregnable position. They were finally surrounded and after a brave reslstsnce surrendered. "Captain "Cap-tain Jack" wss captured, tried In June. 1172, and executed October 2. |