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* 6 (126) THE P
Our Bovs
II - - THE
JOKE THEY PLAYED ON EVAN.
* *'Oli, Carl, I've thought of the best joke to
"play! Let's make Evan Connor think lie is
invited to a party?a party at a girl's house?
and make him go. It would be such fun to
see him togged up and to see how he'd act when
he found he wasn't invited at all."
"'Oh, Harry, we couldn't."
"Yes, we could. I'd borrow some of my sis
ier s uusi nutc paper?i>ess win jena mo anything?and
we'll write an invitation on that.
And I can make my writing look just iike a
girl's, if I cramp my fingers and make it small.
And we'll sign the Russell twins' names to it;
they are always giving parties.''
"But he'd find out that none of the other
boys were invited, and he'd think it was a
sell."
""Well, we'll write notes to ourselves, too,
and show. Then he wouldn't guess."
Evan Connor was the most bashful boy in
whnnl TTo (llisll.td ?i rlnon nnd naiiifnl rod
when the teacher spoke to him; and it was rumored
in room 6 that if a girl should say anything
to him he would die of fright. That was
why the joke seemed to the plotters so exceedingly
funny. Every boy in the room and a few
of the girls were told about it in strict confidence.
They all trooped into the postofficc to
watch Evan walk up to his father's box to get
the note. How they gloried in his flush and
1.? *U? .JJ?? J 1 it
okii l kiicii iic an w me uuuicss, nuu 11 u w nicy
winked openly at each other, when Evan, in
consequence of that start, dropped the whole
pile of books lie was carrying with a ciattcr.
"When he stooped, awkwardly, to pick them up,
he dropped them again. The note fell on the
floor and Carl picked it up and brought it to
him.
"I've got one just like it," he said. Harry
likewise exhibited his ostentatiously.
Evan Connor was a head taller than any oth
er boy in his room at school, and he seemed never
to know how to manage his long, thin arms
and legs. ITis hair was auburn red and stubborn?perhaps
he never brushed it enough.
His face and hands were not always as clean
as they ought to have been. He was always
outgrowing his clothes, and his arms stuck out
below his sleeves and his thin calves below his
trouser legs, most ridiculously.
It would have been different if there had
. been a mother at his home. It was going to be ,
j:/T_ i e? ? x i-i -?x -
\ uiiiereni iiuw, ior nn mini nnu jusi.comc 10
tnke the mother's place; but the boys and girls
did not know that.
Perhaps n part of the joke for Cnrl anil TTnrry
was Ihnt it would put the Russell twins in
an awkward place as well as poor Evan. The
Russell twins were the prettiest girls in school
and the sweetest. Their house was the pleasantcst
in town, and their parties the "dan
dicst"?bo the boys and girls said. Mischavions
Carl and ITnrry had not been invited
to the last one, and it had left rather a sore spot
in their memories.
Evan had never *?<?en invited to a party anywhere.
It was in kindness to him that he was
not included, for everyone know how agonizingly
shy he was. But ihey didn't know that
the new. Aunt had said that very day, "Evan,
I tfiink you ought to get out more among the
hoys ant! girls. It would be good for you. And
I shall speak to your father and have him get
some new clothes right away."
He wore the new clethes to school that afV'.
* , : , i
' <4 S a*
REBBYTBEI AH OT THE 801
and Girls ;
II
ternoon, and his face and hands were shining '
and his hair as carefully combed as that of 1
Elbert Jackson, the school dandy. The new 8
aunt had taken matters into her own hands. *
But to wear new clothes to room 6 was on ordcaL
'
As he entered the room, there was a great *
epidemic of coughing, and every cough said as ^
jnain as print, "un, do look at Evan (Jonnorl" '
The teacher stopped it, but she could not stop (
their looking. The more fliey looked, the more
awkward Evan felt. He seemed fairly glued to
the floor. He sat and wondered if lie ever could
get up. He tried his muscles, furtively silting
in the seat. Not one of them would respond. 1
When the teacher finally called upon him, he *
lin/1 t r> npnoti nriflt U n?? *1.? J ?a? ^
>v ]/ voo < 11.11 uuiii iinuua uu inu ui:sn iu ^
lift himself up at all, and, of course, lie bungled
over the recitation. He stammered, crimsoned,
stood awkwardly, as red as a beet, and the 1
dreadful coughing began again.
"If it's as bad as this to wear new clothes f
in school, what must it be to go to a party!"
thought Evan, despairingly.
But he had to go. His aunt insisted. And at {
lialf-past seven o'clock, Evan, with just a lit- ^
+ ?e 11._ -i-.ee i ' ? ?
iiu ui inu siiiiuuHs oi nis new ciomcs worn on, ,
stumbled desperately toward the Russell house. ,
He had asked Carl and nenry to call for him, ,
but they both said they had to do something ,
before the party. The something was to gntli- ^
er in an alley, with all the other boys in tho ]
street, and run from street to street, to gloat- ^
ingly watch Evan go down it. 1
Now, Evan did not look half so bad as he i
felt. The new clothes were handsome and becoming,
and it adds to one's carriage to bo a i
head taller than the other boys, when you are ]
dressed as he was. The new aunt hml nppsnn.
ally examined him, and the most fastidious
person could not have found fault with his np- i
pcarancc. But Evan did not know this, and it
was in a spasm of terror that ho went np the ,
stone steps and rang the bell. All the boys had
lined up behind an adjacent stone wall, and
stood veady to jeer and taunt when Evan came
back. But Evan did not come back. Edun Russell
opened the door for l.im in her prettiest
dress, and said something that the boys did not
hear, but which must have been very pleasant,
as she led him in. Then the great house glowed
all over witli IJ/?!. ?. 1 *- ,l -
.... ?w~iv i.6.na, uuu uiruugn me
windows, where the curtains were only partly
drawn, wore to be seen?to the amazement of
the onlookers?ever so many boys nnd girls
in party clothes. There were only half a dozen
or so?two boy cousins of the Russell* and
their girl friends with their brothers?but to
the astonished watchers it seemed like a great
number. They flitted back and forth, and
laughed and talked, and seemed to be having
1he best of times. They played games ?delightful
games?such as were only to be played at
the Russell's And later they all filed into the
dining room and were served with ice cream and
cake and candy and nuts?the months nf tl??
hungry boys outside fairly watered to sec them.
And Evan bad forgotten all about himself
and his awkwardness. lie was having the best
time in his life, and was looking positively
handsome.
You see, the girls of room 6 had not kept
the secret; and the Russell twins, who were the
sweetest as well as the prettiest girls in school,
had resolved that Evan should not be put to
shame. But they had not imagined what a
a T H I February 12, 1918
plendid guest he could be when once the ice
>f his shyness was broken. After that, they
isked him to every party they gave.?What To
Do.
A HEROINE OF THE TROLLEY.
"Let Bobby go with me?please, mother,"
Iarrict pleaded. "It's such a pleasant day;
t*11 be just lovely on the trolley. Aunt Mary
tays I never bring Bobby now?she said that
he last time I was out there."
"You >11 take good care of him?" Mrs. Anderson
asked, as mothers do, though she knew
ler daughter was trustworthy.
"Bobby wants to go," the young hci* to
he house announced.
"Of course, lie does," Mrs. Anderson smiled,
'when didn't a small boy want to go? But will
3obby be n good boy, and mind sister?"
"Yes, mamma, I will," Bobby promised.
Every Saturday, if the weather was line, it
vas a settled thing that Harriet should go out
:o her aunt's who lived Ave miles in the coum
:ry, and on very rare occasions she took the
ittle four-year-old brother with her. Harriet
svould soon be ten, and she was really very
notherly, as a girl is apt to be who has a brothi
?r somewhat younger than herself. Evert
norning she washed his face, and brushed his
iair, and buttoned his clothing; "Mother's
Helper," Mrs. Andersen called her.
It was one of those charming days when the
jpen trolley car is a delight, and the children
took scats in high spirits. After a few minutes
:>f threading the intricate city tracks they were
jpeedng along through the wide country. What
i little, little while it took to go over the five
miles. Harriet was always tempted to wish
they wore ten. Then what a good time they
had at Aunt Mary's, with the barn to visit, the
dew bossy calf to stroke, and the wee chickens
co count, surely nobody in all the world made
such delicious cookies as Aunt Mary did.
At the end of the day Aunt Mary walked
down the slope with them, at the foot of which
ran the trolley line, and let Bobby himself signal
the motorman.
Going home, Bobby insisted on taking an outer
seat of the open car. He was a self-willed little
lad, and rather than make a scene, Harriet
ponRontnd.
"Hold on tight," she whispered. Then she
put her arms around him for protection, but
that didn't accord with Master Bobby's idea of
manliness and lie squirmed out of it. So they
whirled on and on, and were once more within
the city limits, where tracks crossed and became
tangled in what seemed confusion to the
uninstructcd.
Their car stopped to take on a passenger
then it started with a jerk, and Bobby who
had been so busy looking that lie forgot to hold
a I. l - 1 n? i - *
Au?t, luiuutca on, roiling on xo xne next irncK.
Ahd coming down the next track, full tilt,
was another car!
It hardly seemed that Harriet took time to
realize what had happened, for with a Hying
leap she went after her brother. She caught
his coat; she drew him to the narrow space between
the tracks, and threw herself down full
length on top of him, covering him with her
own body, and bugging her skirts close to her
side, as the threatening car passed over the
spot where Bobby had lighted, and came to a
standstill. Their own car stopped also.
"Women turned their faces away, fearing
what they might see. Men jumped off to help;
but, to the joyful surprise of all, the girl and
the boy rose to their feet, unharmed, except
that Bobby was crying from fright and the
nnin nf n f(?m onrotnKoo r\t ?? l:- 1 ?J
, ? - ? ov. |??VIIVD VA ? 1 OIC1 UU IIIM 1IHUUH.
"What presence of mind in a child!" "How
conld you do it?" "How came you to think of
it?" Such words as these were showered on
md. itt