Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 May 1901 — A PATRIOTIC PIC-NIC [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A PATRIOTIC PIC-NIC

■A. JutJenile Story for Memorial • "Day. There was a regular houseful of Dawsons in the little, low, red house’ which stood all by itself on the edge of the village; there were six children Who called the little house their home, and six noisier, happier, heartier children were never known. There were the twins, Fred and Frank, who.headed the list, ancj then there were Grace and Nellie and Harry, and last of all came Minnie, the baby, the tiniest and noisiest of them all. ~—— There were great plans afoot today in the curly heads of the merry crowd. Tomorrow would be Decoration Day, and were not z the four oldest of the young Dawsons to march in the long procession of school children and carry garlands and bouquets of flowers to strew on the graves of our soldier heroes? There were the flowers to hunt in the woods, for the Dawson flower garden showed only two flaming red and yellow tulips„and a few fragrant lilacs as its‘offering to the chilthat fact troubled them not at all; they were only too glad pf an excuse for spending a long, delightful day in the woods. There would be the garlands to make and bouquets to arrange and “pieces” to rehearse and a thousand and one other things to do; so it was no wonder that alb the little Dawsons were up and flying around as busy as bees at an exceedingly early hour. Even the baby was interested, and toddled around tipping over everything she could and getting into everyone’s way. So much hustle and bustle made them a little bit cross, perhaps, and so it turned out that there was a slight disagreement between Grace and Nellie and the twins early in the morning, and as each side added fuel to the flames, in the shape of sharp words and angry frowns, by the time they were ready to start for the woods the quarrel had grown to be something serious, The boys had been very provoking, and the girls were so angry with them that they decided to take the lunch basket" and hurry away when the boys were not looking, and thus take revenge upon them for all the mean things they had said and done that morning. Their plan worked to perfection and they got safely away without being seen by anyone; but, someway, they did not look very happy in their triumph, as they trucked silently along. “They walked quite slowly as soon as they once were out of sight of the house, instead of

skipping gaily along, as they always did upon such happy occasions. At last Grace stopped suddenly and said: "Nellie, I don’t feel good one bit. I guess we’d better go back. I don’t care if the boys were mean, we ought not to be mean, too, and ’tis awful mean to run away like this. The lunch is as much theirs as ours, and it’s niost as bad as stealing for us to take it all. Come on. I’m going back." And away she went on a run, with Nellie following as fast as she could at her heels. The boys had not missed them yet, and so they knew nothing of the girls’ intended treachery. They seemed to have recovered their usual goodhumor; and it was a very merry little party that started a few moments later for the woods. What good times they did have that day! What treasures of woodland wealth they found! How good the lunch did taste, and what fun it was to eat it out there under the green trees all alone. Yes, it was a long, glad, beautiful day. They enjoyed every moment of it, and stayed just as long as they dared. But at last they decided that they must start for hofhe, for there were the flowers to arrange yet, and there would be but little time to spare if they noped to finish their tasks that night. It was even later than they aa<J/" thought, they found, when they came to the edge of the woods and saw how low the sun had sunK. So they hurried along as fast as they could. When they came to the fallen tree upon which they had crossed the noisy little creek in the morning, pernaps they were a little careless, and when it came Nellie’s turn she slipped, and, with a little frightened cry, down she went into the water. The creek was high with the spring rains, and. the water was over Nellie’s nead; so it was no wonder that- it was a frightened, as well as a shivering little girl that Frank dragged out upon the bank, a moment later. = “Oh—oh, dear!” she cried; “I ant so wet and cold, and all my flowers are lost,” and she pointed a trembling finger at the basket which held all her pretty blossoms and was sailing gaily away with them to some unknown port. “Never mind,” said Frank, cheerily, “JHI get it for you. I can’t get any wetter than I am now,” and in he plunged again, and in a twinkling the flowers were rescued, and they were on their way home; but Nellie’s wet clothes were very hen teeth fairly chattered before she had taken many steps. Suddenly Fred stopped and said: . “Here, sis; why didn’t I think before? You take my coat, and then Frank and I will take hold of your hands and run, and we’ll be home in a jiffy. There, that’s right—one, two, three, and away we go.” A few hours later, Nellie and Grace, who had returned before the others, were sitting alone, finishing the last of the ganonds, wnen Nellie said, suddenly: Oh, Grace, how glad I am that we diun’t run away from the boys this morning. I am sure I would .rave been drowned, if we had,” and sue shivered again at the thought of her icy bath. “Yes, I am glad, too,” returned Grace. “And, Nellie, I was all day. I am sure we had a much nicer time than we would if we had gone alone,-and we would have felt so mean if we had taken the boys’ lunch away from them.” “Yes, so we would. And, Grace, do you know, after this when the boys are

cross, I don’t mean to take any notice and see what effect that will have upon their tempers.” This plan Grace and Nellie carried out and it worked so well uiat harmony has reigned in the little red house ever since. Only in a world of sincere men is unity possible, and there, in the long run, it is as good as certain.—Carlyle. Scholars are frequently to be met with who are ignorant of nothing saving their own ignorance.—‘Zimmerman. A loss of $2,000 was sustained by the burning of David Ralston’s home near Wabash. Insurance, SBOO.

“ALL MY FLOWERS ARE LOST.”