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? miss mmwa m MM and fj? ^nluam green mit W^H*ANCE$ BOYD CaLHOUN (Copy rieht, by lUiily A Brltt< n Co.) CHAPTER XVII. i <o lore him too." A Qrnr Eytd ?Illy. *"Hnvp tome candy?" said Miss Ce Sftta. offering a blf box of bonbona an- BUiy, who was visiting bar. "Wbaw'd yon git 'amf bo asked, as mm) bain** himself generously. "Maurice seat them to me this morn ?V Bllty part all bis candy bacc into the 1 dornt hellere I want noner yo' ha said, acowllng darkly. "I yen Ukee him better n me any don't you?" 1 kr?o yon dearly," she replied. Two ehfkl stood in front of her and [, tednoi bar squarely In the eye. His settle form waa drawn to Its full, proud asdsjbt, als soft, fahr cheeks were flush bis big. beautiful graj eyes looked yon to lore with raat red Maurice Richmond, an' lee" a f o* gsor be asked wren <lg A bright flash dyed crimson tbs i lady's pretty face, put bar arm around the childish, graceful figure and drew the little boy to the sofa beside her. "Now, honey, you mustn't be silly," j ssVe ssdd, gently. "yon are my own. Saw, ttttso sweetheart." "An* I reckon he's yo' own, dear, tag sweetheart.' said the Jealous Billy. ?Well, all I got to say is this here: if bo's a-gotn' te coma to see you er'y day then I ain't never com in' no mo'. tsVa been a-carryin" on bis foolishness 'Sdht 's long as I can stand It. Tou got to cbocoe 'tween us right this min? ute: be comes down bore moo' er'y slay, he's tuck you drlrin' more'u fifty times, an' bo's giro you all ? candy you can stun*." ?He te not the only one who comes saw me." she said smiling down at ga. "Jimmy comes ofteu and Len ner and Will Reld. Don't you want to come?" "Don't nobody pay no 'tentlon to y," be replied contemptuously; ain't nothtn' but a bsby, an' them m can come if you wsnts 'em but." said Billy, with a lover's un intuitjon. I sln't a-goln' to for thai long-legged, sorrel-top Richmond a trottln' his great carklss down here er'y minute. 1 Aunt Minerva d let me put on pants tomorrer so's we could git He caught sight of a new sparkling on her finger. "Who give you that ring?" bo ask I sharply. "A little bird brought It to me." she trying to speak gayly snd blush gag at:aln "A big red headed peckerwood," said Billy savagery. "Maurice loves you. too"?she hoped #S> cnocilists him; "he ssys you are She brightest kid In town " "Xld." was the scornful echo, ""souse bo's so big snd Uli. t e a got So eoll me a kid Well, he'd Jea' SBotin* bl'aelf lovln' me; I don't > him an' I sln't s-golo' to never like ?dsn. so' scon's I put on long pants got to get 'bout the worses' llcki'i' ewer did see. flay, does you kiss him like yiu tn*r be asked presently, loo.t up at her with serious, unsmiling bid her embarrassment in a "Don't be foolish. Billy." she replied. "Ill bet he's kissed you more'n gfty hundred tlmee." ??There's Jimmy whistling for you," Mise Cecilia. "How do you two make that peculiar whistle? I would recognise it anywhere." "la bo ever kiss you yet?" asked the solid. "I Leard that you snd Jimmy Whipped Kd Brown becsuse he imi? tated /our own particular whlatle. Did you?" "How many tlmee is he kiss you?" asked Billy. The young girl put her srm around aim snd tried to neatls his 11 ale body dgalnst her own. Tea too big. anywsy. for your real srsreetbeart." she said. "Why. by the you are Urge enough to marry 1 Sfconld bo sn old msld. You must have IFrancei or Lina for your sweetheart." ?An' let you have Maurice!'* he sneered. 0be stopped to lay her flushed [sooek sgnlnst his own. Honey." she softly said. Maurlc? [god I are going to be married m [1 love Mm reri murh and I * Mt fOU A eflsarer has been Issued to the H? pushed her roughly from him. "Aa' you Jes' 'ceived me all the time," he cried, "an* me a-lovtn* you better**! anybody T ever aee aence 1*1 born" An' you a Sunday-school teach? er? I ain't never a-goln' to trua' no? body no mo'. Oood-by, Mlaa Cecilia." She caught his band and held it faat. "I want you and Jimmy to be my little pages at the wedding, and wear deer little white aatin suits all trimmed with gold braid'*?ehe tried to be enthusiastic and arouse his In? terest: "and Linn and Frances can be little flower-girls and well have auch a beautiful wedding." "Jimmy an' Lina an' Frances can he all the pages an' flower-girls an' brides an' grooms they wants to, but you can't rope me in," he scornfully replied. 'Ta none with you an' I ain't never gotn' to have ma mo' aweet heart long I live." CHAPTER XV11V Cloeer Than a Brother. It was a bad, rainy day. Jimmy and Billy were playing in Sarah Jane's cabin, she, however, being in happy ignorance of the fact. Her large stays, worn to the preaching the night before, were hanging on the back of a chair. "Wit I glad I don't have to wear no corset when I puts on long pants?" remarked Billy, pointing to the article. "Ain't that a big one? It's twice 'a big 'a Aunt Minerva s." "My mamma wears a big co'set, too," said Jimmy; "1 like fat W?rn? ern 'nother eight better 'n lean onea. M as Minerva's 'bout the skinniest wi man they is; when I get marriefl I'm going to pick me out the fatteat wife I can find, ao when you aet In her lap at night for her to rock you ! to sleep you'll havo a soft place to put j your head while she sings ti you." "The major?he'a moa' plump enough for two," said Billy, taking down the atays and trying to hook them around him. "It aho' ia big," he said; "I berlleve It'a big nou<h to go 'round both of us." "Le'e see If't ain't," was the other boy'a ready suggestion. He stood behind Billy nod they put the stays around both little bodies, while, vith much squeeslng and gl" gling. 'Ully hooked them safely II) the fro.it. The boys got In front of Sarah Jane's one looking-?lass anu danced about laughing with glee. "We're Mke the twlnaes what wp* 1 growed together like mamma read me T>out," declared the younger child. Presently they began to feel un? comfortable, especially Jimmy, whose fat, round little middle was tightly compressed. "Here, unhook thla thing, Billy, and le'a take her off," he said. "I'm 'bout to pop open." "All right," agreed hla compnnion. Ha tugged and pulled, but could get only th<: top and bottom hooks un? clean* j; the middle onea refused to budge. "I can't get these-here hooks to , come loose," Billy said. j Jimmy put hla ahort, fat arms around Mm and tried hla hand, but with no better success. The stays were such a snug fit that the hooks seemed glued. "We sho' Is In a fix," said Billy gloomily; "look like Ood all time let tin' us git In trouble." "You think of more fool stunts to do, William Hill, than any boy they is," cried the other; "you all time want to get us hooked up In Sarah Jane's corset and you all time can t get nobody loose. What you want to get us hooked up In this thing for?" "You done It yo'self," defended the boy In front with rising passion. "Squeeze In. Jimmy; we Jes' boun' to git outer this 'fore somebody finds it out." He backed the other child close to the wall and pressed so hard against blm that Jimmy screamed aloud and began to pound him on the head with I'M cl ubby lists. Hilly would not submit tumoly to an. such treatment. Ho reached his I hand behind him and gave the smaller boy's cheek a merciless pinch. Tho tight was on. The two little boys, laced up tightly as they were In a stout pair of stays, pinched and scratched, and kicked and Jerk? d Suddenly Bflly,leaning heavily against Jimmy, throw him flat on his bach and f? II on lop of him. Hennl" hick, sitting on tho floor, Sumter Hulldlng Supply cctjm bad up to this time watched the pro? ceedings with an interested eye; now, thinking murder was being commit? ted, he opened his big, red mouth and emitted a howl that could be heard half a mile. It immediately brought his mother to the open door. When she saw the children squirming on the floor in her only corset, her indig ' nation knew no bounds. "You, Jimmy Garner, an' you, too, William Hill, yuh little imps o' Satan, what you doin* In my house? Didn't j yo' mammy tell you not to tamper , wld me no mo'? Git up an' come here an' lemme git my co'set off o' yuh." Angry as she was, she could not keep from laughing at the sight they presented, as, with no gentle hand, she unclasped the hooks and released their Imprisoned bodies. "Billy all time?" began Jimmy. "Billy all time nothin'," said Sarah Jane, "'taln't no use fo' to try to lay die-here co'set business onto Billy; both o' yuh Is ekally in it. An' me a-almtn' fo' to go to three fun'els dis week an' a baptizln* on Sunday. 8*0080 y' all'd br?ck one o' de splints, how'd 1 look a-presidln' at a fun'el 'thout nare co'set on, an' me shape' like what I is?" , "Who's dead, Sarah Jane?" asked Jimmy, hoping to stem the torrent of her wrath. "Sis' Mary Ellen's las' husban', Brudder Littlejohn?dat' a-who," she replied, somewhat mollified at his in? terest "When did he die?"?Jimmy pursued his advantage. "He got 'way f'om here 'bout moon down las' night," she replied, losing sight of her grievance in his flatter? ing interrogations. "You know Sis' Littlejohn, she been married goin' on five times. Dis-here '11 make fo' gen tlemana she done buriet an' dey ain't nobody can manage a fun'el like she kin; 'pears like hit jes come natchel to her. She sho' is done a good part by eb'ry single husban' too, an' she 's flggerln' to outdo all the yuthers wld Brudder Littlejohn'a co'pse." Sarah Jane almost forgot her little au? dience In her Intense absorption of her subject. "She say to me dis morn in', she say, 'Marri'ge am a lott'ry, Sis Beddlnflel', but I sho' is drawed some han'aome prizes.* She got 'em all laid out aide by side in de buryln* groun' wld er little imlge on ebry grabe; an' Sis Mary Ellen, seeln' as she can't read de writin' on de tomb? stones, she got a dlff'unt little animal a-settln' on eb'ry head res' so's she kin tell which husban' am which. Her fua' husban' were all time a-hunt ln\ so she got a little white marble pa'tridge a-restln' on he* head, an' hit am a mighty consolement to a po' wldda 'oman fo' to know dat she can tell de very minute her eyes light on er grabe which haebrh1 hit am. Hei ' secon' man he got ir mieVv kttnk> I woolly head an- he ruig .i.c ... i she got a little white lamb a-settln' on he grabe; an' de nex' huaban' he did n't have nothln' much fo' to dis gueese hira fom de res' 'cep'ln' he so alow an' she might nigh rack her brain off, twell she happen to think 'bout him bein' a Hardshell liaptls' an' so powerful slow, so she jest got a little tarrapin an' sot it on him. Hit sho' am a pretty sight Jea' to go in dat buryin' groun' an' look at 'em all, side by side; an' now she got Brudder Lit tlejohn to add to de res'. He de onli est one what's got er patch o' whis? kers so she gwine to put a little white cat on he' grabe. Yes, Lord, ef any thlnk could pearten' a widda 'oman hit would be jes* to know dat yuh could go to de grabeyard any time yuh want to an' look at dat han'some c'llection an' tell 'zactly which am which." Sarah Jane stopped for breath and Billy hastened to inquire: "Who else is dead, Sarah Jane?" '"Tain't nobody else dead, ylt, as 1 knows on, but my two cousins is tur rible low; one 's got a hemrage on de lung an' de yuther 's got a congeetin' on do brain, an* I 'lows dey '11 bofe drap off 'twix* now an' sunup tomor ra." Her eyes rolled around and hap? pened to light on her corset. Sho at once returned to her grievance. "An' ?poBln* I had n't 'av' came in her<? when I did? I'd 'a' had to went to my own cousins' futt'tl 'thout nare co'set. Y' all gotta go right to y' all's mamas an' MIhs Minerva <lls very min? ute. I low dey '11 settle yo' hashes. Don't y' all know dat Lsrross ketch meddler*'"' Mrn. Hamilton god Mrs. mark were sitting on Miss Minerva'sYeranda talk? ing to her, and Llns and Prancep were in the swing with Billy, The at? traction proved too groat for Jimmy; he Impolitely left n disconsolate llttls visitor sitiinj on his own por< ii whjl with a capital stock <>f flO.Onn. T'm? CHAPTER XIX. Twins and a Sissy. ne Jumped Tue Tence and "Joined The other children. "Don't you all wish you could see Mrs. Brown's new twlnses?" was his greeting as he took his seat by Billy. "Where 'd she get 'em?" asked Frances. "Doctor Sanford tooken 'em to her j last night." j "He muster found 'em in a holler i stump," remarked Billy. "1 knows, j 'cause that 's where Doctor Shackle- j foot, finds aller ol' Aunt Blue-Gum | Tempy's Peruny Pearline's, an' me an' Wilkes Booth Lincoln been lookin' in ev'y holler stump we see ever Beste we's born, an' we ain't never fouh' no baby 't all, 'cause can't no? body but jes* doctors fin* 'em. I wish he 'd a-give 'em to Aunt Minerva 'stldder Mrs. Brown." "I wish he 'd brlnged 'em to my mama," said Frances. "I certainly do think he might have given them to us," declared Lina, 1 and I 'm going to tell him so, too. Aa much money as father has paid him for doctor's bills and as much old, mean medicine as I have taken just to 'commodate him; then he gives ba- i bles to everybody but us." "I *m awful glad he never give 'em to my mama," said Jimmy, '"cause I never could had no more fan; they'd be struck right under my noee all time, and all time put their mouth in everything you want to do, and all time meddling. Tou can't fool me 'bout twlnses. But I wish I could see 'em! They so weakly they got to be hatched in a nincubator." "What 's that?" questioned Frances. "That 's a someping what you { hatches chickens and babies In when they's delicate and ain't got 'nough breath and ain't got they eyes open and ain't got no feathers on," ex? plained Jimmy. | "Reckon we can aee 'em?" Bhe asked. "See nothing!" sniffed the little boy. "Ever sence Billy let Mr. Algernon ! Jones whack Miss Minerva's beau we can't do nothing at all 'thout grown folks V stuck right under your nose. I 'm jes' cramped to death." "When I 'm a muma," mused Fran? ces, "I hope Doctor Sanford '11 bring me three little twlnees, and two Mal? tese kittens, and a little Japanese, and a monkey, and a purrlt." "When I *m a papa," said Jimmy, "I don' want no babies at all, all they's good for is jus' to set 'round and yell." "Look like God 'd i'ho? be busy a-makln' so many habit s," remarked Billy. "Why, God don' have Lone 'a the I trouble," explained Jimmy. "He '8 j Just got him a bat:* factory In heaven i like the chair fnetory and the canning factory down by the .'ailroad, and Afl4e*a tui all time make they arms >:mi ie{ i ri do at the chair ! V ??. all Ci . tot to do is Jus' M T T". ..?-., i ! glue em together, and stick in their I souls. God got 'bout the easiest Job they is." "1 thought angels jes* clam' the golden stair and play they harps," said Billy. "Ain't we going to look sweet at Miss Cecilia's wedding?" said Frances, after a short silence. "I '11 betcher I 11 be the cutest kid in that church," boasted Jimmy con? ceitedly. "You coming, ain't you, Billy?" I "I gotter go," answered that Jilted swain, gloomily, "Aunt Minerva ain't got nobody to leave me with at home. 1 jes' wish she 'd git married." \ "Why would n't you be a page, Billy?" asked Lina. "'Cause I did n't hafto," was the snappish reply. "I bet my mama give her the finest present they is," bragged the smaller boy; "I reckon it cost 'bout a million dollars." "Mother gave her a handsome cut glass vase," said Lina. "It looks like Doctor Stanford would 've give Miss Cecilia those twinses for a wedding present," said Frances. "Who is that little boy sitting on your porch, Jimmy?" asked Lina, no? ticing for the first time a lonely-look? ing child. "That's Leon Tipton, Aunt Ella's lit , tie boy. He just come out from Mem? phis to spend the day witli mo und I'll bo awful glad when ho goes home; he's 'bout the stuck-up-est kid they is, ami skeery? He. 'b 'bout tho 'fraidest young un ever you see. And look at him now! Wears long curls like a girl and don't want to never get his clean Olo'OS dirty." "1 think ho 's a beautiful little boy," ohamploned Lina. "Call him over here, Jimmy," "Naw, l don't want to. You all '11 like him i heap better over there; he's one o' these hero kids what tho lur .i< r you gei 'way from 'em, the bettor '? you like 'ein "_ officers are! J? Mi Harby, president; "He sho* do look lonesome," said Billy; "'vite him over, Jimmy." "Leon!" screamed his cousin, "you can come over here if you wantta." The lonesome-looking little boy promptly accepted the invitation, and came primly through the two gates. He walked proudly to the swing and stood, cap in hand, waiting for an in? troduction. "Why did n't you clam' the fence, 'stead of coming th'oo the gates?" growled Jimmy. "You T>out the prissi? est boy they is. Well, why don't you set down?" "Introduce me, please," said the elegant little city boy. "Interduce your grandma's pussy cats," mocked Jimmy. "Set down, I tell you." Frances and Lina made room for him between them and soon gave him their undivided attention, to the in? tense envy and disgust of the other two little boys. "I am Lina Hamilton," said the lit? tle girl on his right. "And I 'm Frances Black, and Jim? my ought to be 'shamed to treat you like he does." "I knows a turrible skeery t le," re? marked a malicious Billy, looking at Lina and Frances. "If y' all wa'n't girls I'd tell it to you." "We are n't any more scared 'n you, William Hill," cried Frances, her in? terest at once aroused; "I already know 'bout 'raw meat and bloody hones' and nothing's scarier 'n that." "And I know 'Fe, Fl, Fo, Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. Bo he alive or be he dead, I'll ground his bones to make me bread/ " said Lina. "This-here tale," continued Billy, glueing his big eyes to those of the little stranger, "is one Tabernicle learnt fer a speech at school. It *s all 'bout a 'oman what was buriet in a graveyard with a diaman ring on her finger, an' a robber come in the night?" The child's tones were gut? tural, thrilling and hair-raising as ho glared into the eyes of the effeminate Leon, "an' a robber come in the night an' try to cut it off, an' ha'nts was groanin' an' tho win' moan 'oo-oo' an'?" Leon could stand it no longer. "I am going right back," he cried rising with round, frightened eyes, "I am not going to sit here and listen to you, icarfhf little girls to death. You are a bad boy to scare Lina and Fran? ces and I am not going to associate with you;" and this champion 01 the fair sex stalked with dignity across the yard to the gate. "I *m no more scared 'n nothing," and indignant Frances hurled at his back. "You 're just scared yourself." Jimmy giggled happily. "What 'd I tell you all," he cried, gleefully. "Lina and Frances got to all time set littlo I 'fraid cats 'tween 'em," he snorted. | "It 's just like I tell you, he 's the stssyest boy they is; and bo dor't rare who kiss him neither; he'll Ui any woman kiss him what wants to. Can't no woman at all 'cepting my mama and Miss Cecilia kiss me. But Leon is 'bout the kissingest kid they is; why, he'd just as soon 's not let Frances and Lina kiss him; he ain't got no better sense. 'Course I gotta let Miss Cecilia kiss me 'cause she's 'bout the plumpest Sunday school teacher they is and the Bfble say 'If your Sunday school teacher kiss you on one cheek turn the other cheek and let her kiss you on that, too,' and I all time bound to do what tho Bible say. You 'd better call him back, Frances, and kiss him, you and Lina 're so stuck on him." "I would n't kiss him to save his life," declared Frances; "he 's got the spindliest legs 1 ever saw." CHAPTER XX. Rising in the World. The painter had just finished put? ting a bright green coat of paint upon the low, flat roof of Miss Minerva's long back porch. And he left his lad? der leaning against the ^ouse while he went inside to confi r With her in re? gard to some other work. Billy, Jimmy, Frances and Linu bad been playing "Fox j.nd Geese." Run? ning around the house they spied the ladder and saw no owner to deny them, "Le *a clam' UP and get on top the porch," suggested Jimmy. "Aunt Minerva '11 put mo to bed if I do." said Billy. "Mother 11 make me learn a whole page ?d tho catechism if 1 climb a lad? der," said Lina. "My mams 'll shut mo up in the closet, but cur mamas arc n't bound to know 'bout it,"?this from I rai "Come on, let 's climb un." a. u. Cuttinoi secretary and ti "I ain't never promise not to clam* no ladder but ?" Billy hesitated. "You-all 'bout the skeeriest folks they Is," sneered Jimmy. "Mama '11 whip me going and coming if she finds out "bout it, but I ain't skeered. I dare anybody to dare me to clam' up.'* "I dare you to climb this ladder," responded an accommodating- Frances. "I ain't never tooken a dare yet," boasted the little boy proudly, his foot on the bottom rung. "Who 's going to foller me?" "Don't we have fun?" cri*d a Jubi? lant Frances. "Yes," answered Jimmy; "if grown folks don't all time be watching you and sticking thelrselfs in your way." "If people would let us alone," re? marked Lina, "we could eijoy our? selves every day." "But grown folks got to bo so per ticlar with you all time," cried Jimmy, "they don't never want ua to play to? gether." He led the way up the ladder, fol? lowed by Frances and Billy; und Lina brought up the rear. The children ran the long length of the porch leaving their footprints on the fresh, sticky paint. "Win it wash off?" asked Frances, looking gloomily down at her feet, which seemed to be encased in green moccasins. At that moment she slipped and fell sprawling on top of the roof. When the others helped her to her feet, she was a sight to behold, her white dress splotched with vivid green from top to bottom. "If that ain't jus' like you, Fran? ces," Jimmy exclaimed; "you all time 1 got to fall down and get paint on your dress so we can't 'celve nobody. Now I our mamas bound to know 'bout us clamming up here." "Tney would know it anyhow," mourned Lina; "we '11 never get this paint off of our feet. We had better get right down and see if we can't wash some of it off." While they were talking the owner of the ladder, who had not noticed them?and was deaf in the bargain? had quietly removed it from the back porch and carried it around to the front of ihe house, j The children locked at each other In consternation when they perceived their loss. "What we goin' to do now?" asked Billy. ? If this ain't just like T:illy, all time got to perpote to clam' a ladder and ill time got to let the ladder pet loose from him,' .urowled Jimmy. "We done cooked a goose te,'. this time. You got as up here, Billy, ujff you ^iing to get u<* down?'' "I dt< 't. neither " "V'?? ? *s Miss Minerva's house inn your aunt and w? 'a your vo sot tobe 'spoil- le." "T csn clam' down thls-here post,** mid tb responsible party. ' can climb down it, too," Me> sd 'ranees, oi au't clam' down nothing at b ' i d Jimmy contemptuously. at you can clam' down a P< >uu 'd fall and bust yourself v an; vou 'bout the clumsiest gl * re i; sides, your legs 're too fa cai nolla," was Line's sugges? tion. "And have grown folks laughing fit to pop their sides open? I 'm 'shame' to go anywheres now 'cause folks all time telling me when I 'm going to dye some more Easter eggs! Naw, we better not holler," said Jimmy. "Ain't you going to do nothing, Billy?" "I 11 jest slide down thls-here post end git the painter man to bring hla ladder back. Y* all wait up here." Billy's solution of the difficulty sc d the safest, and they were soon reh . sod from their elevated prison. "I might as well go home and be learning be catechism," groaned Line.. "I'm going to get right in the closet soon 's I get to my house," said Fran? ces. "Go on and put on your night? shirt, Billy." Billy took himself to the bathroom and t-crubbed and scrubbed; but the pnlnl refused to come off. He tiptoed by the kitchen where his aunt was cooking dinner and ran into his own room. He found tho shoes and stockings which w< re reeerved for Sunday wear, and soon had them upon his little feet Miss Minerva rang the dinner-bell nnd be walked quietly into the dining r > m trj Ing to make as little noise Bttd to attract SS Utile attention from Iiis aunl aa poeaible; but she fastened her eyes at once upon hla feet. "What uro you doing with your shoes on, William?" she aaked. Ul i r. *a -