The Normal Record. June 1905

              8
THE NORMAL RECORD.
best stories I ever heard, and another golden
virtue of his was that he always answered my
questions. In short, Uncle Parks knew everything that was worth knowing, and he was a
young man, too.
Strange, one never meets any perfect people
after she is twelve. I guess people must have
degenerated  since uncle's time.
It is not my nature to be quiet long, so I
slipped out of the chair and went nearer to the
sleeper in the hammock. "Uncle Parks, you
are not asleep, are you?" I said in a loud,
clear voice.
"I was asleep, but I am not now; I am kind of
glad that you woke me up. I have a 'crick' in
my neck already."
Now, wasn't that nice of him. If it had been
my older sister, she would have said, "Oh, you
are the most provoking child; why can't you.
let one rest?"
"It is pretty lonesome in the country, don't
you think? I sat still for hours when you were
asleep, and it seemed as if I were the only person in the world. Don't you suppose you could
tell a story; I haven't heard a decent one since
you were here Christmas?"
He rolled over and gave a big yawn; then
a little funny wrinkle crept about the corner of
his eye, and he said, "Little girl, there is something upstairs that I want pretty badly."
"Yes, Uncle Parks," I answered  demurely.
"It's a couple of cigars; you'll find them on
the bureau;" and, feeling in his pocket, "bring
me some matches, too. Then we'll see about
the other."
I stopped just a minute to look at the photographs in uncle's room. He usually had pictures of the prettiest ladies—ladies who
dressed their hair in wonderful ways, and wore
such beautiful dresses. These dresses were all
trimmed with lace and ribbons, and were cut
so that they showed plump, full necks and
lovely white arms. Why didn't my sister and
the school teacher and the rest of the ladies
around Long Bar wear dresses like that? Today, however, there was only one picture on
the mantle—a woman with a pretty face, but
such a dress! It was a dark thing, with white
collars and cuffs, and a white apron. Her hair
was covered with a white cap. Uncle Parks
must be losing his love for the beautiful, I
thought.
*    *    *    *
"Well," began uncle, as he leaned back in
the  hammock,  and  soft blue wreathes  com
menced to float in the air, "I am going to tell
you a little story about San Francisco.
"Last Christmas, when I went back to college, the train was pretty well crowded, but I
managed to find a fourth of a seat beside a
sleeping German and his pipe. I was thankful
to find even that small fraction of a seat, for
I had spent the night in dancing and then
driven twenty miles to the station." (I had
heard the school teacher say that my uncle
was an "adorable" dancer, and had meant to
look the word up in the dictionary.) "To help
matters out, a fat man had trampled on my toe
in his rush for a seat. I had just begun to be
comfortable, when in came the sweetest girl
you ever saw. She carried a dress suit case,
and of course she was looking for a seat. I
forgot all about my aching bones and crushed
toe the minute I saw her. Soon she was sitting in my seat.
" 'If you don't mind, I'll leave my suit case
here,' I said.
" 'Certainly, leave it,' she replied, with a
smile.
"I stood in the rear of the car, looking at
the back of the girl's head. She wore a little
gray walking hat, and her golden hair was
beautiful in contrast. Her hair was the color
of ripe wheat stalks in the sunshine." (Uncle
Parks did use some of the most beautiful
figures of speech. Sometimes he reminded me
of Longfellow.)
"The girl was not very well dressed, and
there was a shyness about her that told me
she came from the country.
"I pulled out a letter and read it. It was
an invitation to be best man. Jack was always
a queer stick; Jack had chosen the best man,
and his bride had chosen the bridesmaid secretly. Jack nor I did not know whom the
bridesmaid would be, and the bride did not
know that I was to be honored.
"The wedding day was to be that evening
at 8:30 o'clock. Even the thoughts of the
music, the wedding supper and the honor conferred upon me were not so alluring to me as
my bed; I was very tired, but you see, little
girl, when you grow up and get into society,
you'll have to do many things that the flesh
rebels against.
"I was thinking still of the wedding when
the train lurched and stood still. We had
reached my destination. I saw the girl in gray
carry her suit case down the steps and disappear in the crowd.   I took mine from under the