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Show LEARNING TO SKATE. Eldorly Gentlemen Found the Purllma Not . Plms. tvnt f9 It Looked. , It waa Thuraday evening and Mr. Itnddleby waa calling on .Visa tlarmer. That had been Mr. Dnddleby'a Invariable Invari-able custom for at least four months and Mlsa llnrmer had begun to look upon Mr. poddleby In the light of a serious proposition. Mr. rtoddleby was no longer In youth's springtime, and. therefore, Mlua llarmer, who certainly certain-ly could be counted In that rlnea, bad made careful Inquiries about bla bank account, ascertaining thut his rating was AAI and had resigned herself to a pleasant fate, ssys the t'hlcngo Chronicle, (in this particular Thursday Thurs-day evening Mr. Doddleby bad made a remark shout the monotony of the winter season when there were no forms of diversion open lo loving heart and willing minds except the theater, and this be voted decidedly CeV Oh, Mr. Doddle-by," Doddle-by," gurgled Mlsa 'jzi r H llnrmer, "don't you f'!'- enjoy akatlngt I jjjTV Ifc Juat love to skate." 'vfS-? liv. Mr. Doddleby NT T gaaped a little. ...JW,,.. swallowed hard roveji t rw and managed to 1 say thnt skating was one of the accomplishments ac-complishments of boyhood he had fulled to arqulre. Inasmuch as he bad spent bla early years In a region where there waa no body of water larger than a cistern. "Oh, but you could learn ao easily." Insisted Mlsa ilarmer. "Why, 1 think I could show yon how myself." Mr. Doddleby gallantly declared that If any Inducement jtfl on earth could jTJ mova him to don a I Uw'j ,"1'r ' n' ttrKT make a public ex-Nf ex-Nf j'YJ hlbltlon of uimselt 1 Jr 11 WM ,h" 1 ftr7'Ik "a' ' IS ' I hni1 I""1 offered, 111 V' '"'' I and the end of It I ".n"- wss that Mr. IX"I- I rsu.iMs OfS A ce I , ' 1 uieby, fond, trust ing old mau. promised to lead his Inamorlta to the lea In Lincoln Park on toe next evening and there take his first lesson In skating. It wsa not without many doubts and misgivings thr- Mr. Doddleby sail lad forth the next evening with Ml tlarmer hanging on his arm and regaling re-galing lilm with many talca of her fancy skating dune In days of yore not ao very yore, of course, for no young woman will talk of anything further Itack than thre years unless It Is connected with the Infant class In the Bundav school. At the park Mr., i)od41'by ' ' ' " sought out the man ars f3i who rents skates to JT JrL all comers and VV timorously asked JMi VPi for a couple 01 bptLji. pair. They werr (Ttl slammed down on ii E?v the counter before ffrfrl ! him. be paid hi. J I "1 1" 1 deKtlt and looked -,f vu was helplessly at the mimihi iimot" shining skstes. "How do I put these thing on?" he asked Miss llarmer. "There seems to be as much machinery about them aa though tbey were submarine .torpedoes." .tor-pedoes." "Oh, that's eaay," said Mlaa llarmer. "Just adjust the lamps, set the screws, throw the lever, and there you are." Mi. Doddleby began on her pair, and after considerable ground and lofty tumbling got them adjusted. Then be slowly went at his own, and It wsa apparent that his own heart failed him whenever he looked over the smooth sheet gf jOt of Ice on which .jAi JLeVj thoiiaanda of young '1a TivXVf people were enjoy-iTwSyJr enjoy-iTwSyJr themeelvea. XT. -&iJl "' innt know i'MM nuw "'' ' '0'n r,JjVf to go." be said IPI nervously, aa be sjt it m.ks essayed to stand St TliT QiSMTHtM," "Oh. It will go all right," anld Miss lluriner rrasaurlngly, and at that mo- it It did. Mr. Hoddlchy'e feet went with It and he clutched the young woman desperately and saved himself "Come out on the Ice," uali! Mlve llnrmer. "Keep hold or my arm and you will be all right. No, then, Just strike, off llko thla." She dropped Mr. Doddlehy's arm and struck off. llefore she had gone ten fet Mr. Doddleby became aware thut his feet were slowly but Hiuely parting company. One of them seemed bent upon Joining the gay throng and the other evinced a desire to slide along the shore. Mr. Dodillrby felt certain that thla sort nf thing eotiH not laat very long. i . tile did not know t Just how It would , wind OP, but that v i - there was a finish ahead of him '., seemed oarta'n. He looked down narv- e , tualy at hl mor- S -two Ing feet and notloJ j . waa winning the t race. It waa six Inches farther from 1 where It should have been than ths V other one was. He mad a desperata L' effort to haul It In and the move wag latal. The off foot, which ha waa not I paying any attention to, continued It I trip along the shore, greatly accelerated J aa lo speed, and he went with It. just aa he waa scrambling up the Imnk and shaking the cold, wet snow out of his hand Mlsa llarmer came up r with a rush, executed a wide sweep on both skates and atopped before him. flushed and panting. "Come on " aha said gayly, "Ita glorious." h "V m.,. h" Mid Mr. Doddle- I by weakly, as h j brushed th snow iC J) from his overcoat- JVr2iJM ",n,t'k on na Mr- 'sJUrJeVf 4 Doddleby did th ifM I I lutat he could. Aa ,JftNlf J tha young woman fAlfV ' lrnn and (5f5wtci' J 1 husky, she i-artied ItlV- him forty feet av mlkisw, across the Ice bs-t,w bs-t,w kiwxv sl-c: I fut9 ht managed to gat his feet wrapped around easli other, and when he .was on hnt way down ha heroically grasped two or three skateral near by and brought them with him. Luckily the Ire waa Arm and th shock did no msterlal damage to the Ice. The Indignant skaters who had Joined Mr. Doddleby Doddle-by scrambled to yj-)- their feel, bunded ap ' him a few oplnlom J rX of their own and 75 skated on. Miss llnrmer was sweet- ' ly waiting when It 'J ' "Don't you think l'" A M,mm you could try It aloue now?" she) asked. Mr. Doddleby had decided! a to Indignantly retire from the lc and! hid Miss llarmer a rutting good-night, but when alio looked at blm thi.-t wav he weakened. 1 "I don't know bill I could." he fal-; ', tared. Miss llarmer tno ix tged hlxu . . witn a bright smile. o. 'Til wait hsrn (( you, ' she said.! and Mr. Doddleby struck out to- him-1 aidf. The first four or live strokes! were not so bad. but when be let him-, self go across the Ire he discovered to hi alarm that he waa Ilk a runaaayj automobile. II could neither stop himself nor ateer. Dead ahead of him' a fancy skater was rutting doves and' bleeding hearts on the lc befor an admiring circle of apectators am sir.' Doddleby discovered that he waa go-Ing go-Ing lo become on of th priy. He plunged Into the ring of onlookw like a wild engine and crashed heal-on' against the fancy kaler. That gen-lleman gen-lleman was Juat sTVawrTrTTe' putting the fiulsh- "if touches on a XCSJh-,l, humming bird, and f"? J V hst he aald to Mr., 1st., jnarr'v 'oddleby need not '.(jLl'i i io set down her. ma asmia. Two kind strang-wxat. strang-wxat. or Jsaiia 'rs picked up the I d 1 1 a pldated Mr. Doddleby and started him towank the spot whence he had coin, but again hla feet provod treaclteroua, ae.l Mr. Doddleby went careening Into the arm ot Miss llarmer. They both eat down and when they had rested a Ut-tle Ut-tle while they slowly sroso. "Perhaps we hsd better not skatts . any more," said Miss llurmer, wills soma dinirulty. "I'erhnps?" echoed Mr. Doddleby. "Huh!" The grunt was so very expressive ex-pressive that Mlas llurmer, thinking t ash-t vsa rets? 1 ietww vet Covu gHATg is reopMLf TSttaA, of the bunk account and the AAI rating, rat-ing, led the way In silence lo the shore. |