Show fa ml 10 ION BETTER LATE by E EDWARD DWARD STEVENSON VENSON e boef W ELL im certainly glad youre not seasick asick when I 1 first saw Ine you loan leaning g over the rail I 1 said to myself that you must be seasick though I 1 see how anybody could get seasick with the water so calm the way it Is our room steward says that anybody that gets seasick in this kind of weather be sate safe 0 on n the lake in central park palk iles hes a regular comedian an and d that remi reminds nd s me how much d do 0 you think I 1 ought to tip him the room stew steward I 1 mean im no not one that dont have to count my pennies but still I 1 want to do the right thing as to tipping you see this Is the first time weve been on a boat my wife and me I 1 mean ot of course weve taken a trip up the hudson with the kids but I 1 guess you mention the Hudson river day line in the same game broat breath with the S S goliath would you the kids thought though it was grand though grown up and married now with kids of their own except judy that Is and she hardly had time not having been married quite a year yet but it dont seem more than yesterday that they were running about like a bun bunch c h of wild indians and getting into ial all 1 sorts sort of mischief time certainly flies files its getting hot it we must be coming into the tropics fir from om the way it feels ever been down here before mr I 1 dont t think hink you mentioned your name did you arthur well im glad to know you mr arthur my names bentham id like you to meet my wife some time too her laying in that deck chair do down wn at th the end ashes making believe ashes reading that book but sh ashes e a sound asleep the salt air seems beems to tucker her out As I 1 was saying time certainly flies files now you take me why it seems its only the other day that ellen and me were getting married and here we are grandparents of six already weve been married thirty five years it dont seem possible but what it Is all right why say I 1 can remember the wedding just as plain as if it happened last week it much of a wedding you know no fuss and feathers besides ellen and I 1 and the minister there was only the ministers wife and the church janitor tor for witness but I 1 can still see the five of us standing there in the chapel with the sun coming through a high window and falling all around us and turning everything golden I 1 remember ellen specially she was so pretty and little I 1 when I 1 look back I 1 think ellen and I 1 musts been crazy getting married the way we did my gosh I 1 have a cent to my name it was all I 1 could do to scrape up the money for the wedding ring engagement rings and honeymoons and all the fixings were out of reach as far as we were concerned I 1 felt pretty bad taking her right from church to a a week furnished room A wonderful girl like her deserved better and I 1 told her so BO A big wedding a reception at the tha waldorf the old waldorf you know and a honeymoon at niagara falls was little enough to her but she just laughed if J I 1 wanted such truck she says edve married mr astor aster end and not johnny bentham the way she Is I 1 mind so much not having a big church affair altair or a reception afterwards but gosh a wedding without a honeymoon I 1 mean it made me feel kind of low not being able to provide even that you know marrying ellen was tile the making of rne me I 1 was just a shipping clerk at the time but she made roe me study bookkeeping and w when hen an opening in the company well last year our company did pretty well and they gave all the old employed emp loyes a months pay for or a bonus at christmas arst farst bonus wed had in years so what did I 1 do well I 1 figured with all the kids married and no one to take care of but ourselves that we have any real need for the money so B I 1 breath a word about it to ellen you see id been seeing these cruise ad ads in the papers and I 1 thought to m myself self just the thing for ellen and I 1 twelve days nassau jamaica and C cuba iba and up I 1 say anything till about two weeks before we were to sall sail then I 1 broke the news well you knocked ellen over with a feather al AN 4 mo FIX WA 44 1 M T r Y first thing I 1 knew she threw her arms around me came along I 1 stepped right in im head bead bookkeeper now of course that so much theres only one other bookkeeper but being head of anything Is pretty good these days I 1 always say A couple ol of years back when id been with the company thirty five years they put on a dinner tor for me at jack demp and gave me a watch here it Is see what it says to john johl W bentham my full name for thirty five years ol of devoted service atlas paper supply co mr stover the president made a speech I 1 did too but I 1 was too choked up to say much you can bet id stuck around to get that watch if it been for ellen and the kids too of course when you get to be a family man you got to tend to business atit short for christopher was the first then roger cynthia anthony and judy the baby nice names name aint they ellen picked em out all grown up now toe fine young men and women it L I 1 do say so myself but there was waa times when you just wondered if they ever would it was just one thing after another sick or healthy they had you up to your neck in bills bill johnny bentham she says bays are you out of your mind no I 1 1 I 1 says and I 1 r robbed 0 ed a bank neither so I 1 to told id her a all U about the bonus well v she still thought I 1 was crazy az y spending all that money an on a little trip she says do you think were millionaires johnny ill never put foot on an that boat now a fine howdy dol I 1 says making out im insulted A woman refusing to goon a honeymoon with her hus husband bandl I 1 well she just looked at me and I 1 just looked at her and first thing you know she threw her arms around me and began kissing me and what did the two of us do but end up laughing and crying me like a couple ot of kids gosh mama I 1 says its it better late than never aint it say will you look at them porpoises |