Part 6 (1/2)

Rita came out as Dic rode up to the gate. He did not dismount, but handed her the ribbons across the fence, saying: ”Billy Little sends you these for to-night. He said they were from the knot to the sweetbrier.”

The girl's suppressed delight had been troubling her all day. Her first party, her first escort, and that escort Dic! What more could a girl desire? The ribbons were too much. And somebody was almost ready to weep for joy. She opened the little package and her eyes sparkled. When she felt that speech was entirely safe, she said:--

”The little package is as prim and neat as Billy Little himself. Dear, sweet, old Billy Little.”

Dic, whose heart was painfully inflamed, was almost jealous of Billy, and said:--

”I suppose you would not have accepted them from me?”

”Why not?” she responded. ”Of course I would.” Her eyes grew wide when she looked up to him and continued, ”Did you get them for me and tell me that Billy Little sent them?”

”No,” answered Dic, regretfully, as he began to see possibilities, even on Blue. One possibility, at least, he saw clearly--one that he had lost.

”It was more than a possibility,” he said to himself, as he rode homeward. ”It was a ready-made opportunity, and I did not see it. The sooner I go to New York or some place else and get my eyes opened, the better it will be for me.”

The church social opened with a long, sonorous prayer by the Baptist preacher, Mr. Wetmore. Then followed a psalm, which in turn was followed by a ”few words.” After the few words, Rev. Wetmore said in soft, conciliatory tones, ”Now, brethren, if Deacon Moore will be so kind as to pa.s.s the hat, we will receive the offering.”

Wetmore was not an ordained minister, nor was he recognized by the church to which he claimed to belong. He was one of the many itinerant vagabonds who foisted themselves upon isolated communities solely for the sake of the ”offering.”

Deacon Moore pa.s.sed his hat, and when he handed it to Wetmore that worthy soul counted out two large copper pennies. There were also in the hat two bra.s.s b.u.t.tons which Tom, much to Sukey's amus.e.m.e.nt, had torn from his clothing for the purpose of an offering. Sukey laughed so inordinately at Tom's extravagant philanthropy that she convinced De Triflin' he was a very funny fellow indeed; but she brought upon her pretty flaxen head a reprimand from Wetmore.

”Undue levity,” said he, ”ill becomes even frivolous youth at this moment. Later you will have ample opportunity to indulge your mirth; but for the present, the Lord's business--” at the word ”business” he received the hat from Deacon Moore, and looked eagerly into it for the offering. Disappointment, quite naturally, spread itself over his sallow face, and he continued: ”b.u.t.tons do not const.i.tute an acceptable offering to the Lord. He can have no use for them. I think that during the course of my life work in the vineyard I have received a million b.u.t.tons of which I--I mean the Lord--can have no possible use. If these b.u.t.tons had been dollars or s.h.i.+llings, or even pennies, think of the blessings they would have brought from above.”

The reverend man spoke several times with excusable asperity of ”b.u.t.tons,” and after another psalm and a sounding benediction the religious exercises were finished, and the real business of the evening, the spelling-bee and the kissing games, began.

At these socials many of the old folks took part in the spelling-bee, after which they usually went home--an event eagerly awaited by the young people.

There was but one incident in the spelling-bee that touched our friends, and I shall pa.s.s briefly over that part of the entertainment preceding it. The cla.s.s, ranging in years from those who lisped in youth to those who lisped in age, stood in line against the wall, and Wetmore, spelling-book in hand, stood in front of them to ”give out” the words.

It was not considered fair to give out a word not in the spelling-book until the spelling and ”syllabling” of sentences was commenced. All words were syllabled, but to spell and syllable a sentence was not an easy task, and by the time sentences were reached the cla.s.s usually had dwindled down to three or four of the best spellers. Of course, one who missed a word left the cla.s.s. Our friends--Billy Little, Dic, Rita, and Sukey Yates--were in the contest.

The first word given out was metropolitan, and it fell to Douglas of the Hill. He began: ”M-e-t--there's your met; r-o--there's your ro; there's your metro; p-o-l--there's your pol; there's your ro-pol; there's your met-ro-pol; i--there's your i; there's your pol-i; there's your ro-pol-i; there's your met-ro-pol-i; t-e-n--there's your--” ”t-a-n,”

cried the girl next to him, who happened to be Sukey Yates, and Douglas stepped down and out.

A score or more of words were then spelled without an error, until Constantinople fell to the lot of an elderly man who stood by Rita. He began: ”C-o-n--there's your Con; s-t-a-n--there's your stan; there's your Con-stan; t-i--there's your ti; there's your stan-ti; there's your Con-stan-ti; n-o--there's your no; there's your ti-no; there's your stan-ti-no; there's your Con-stan-ti-no; p-e-l--there's your pell; there's your no--”--”p-l-e--there's your pell” (so p.r.o.nounced); ”there's your Con-stan-ti-no-ple,” chimed Rita, and her elderly neighbor took a chair. Others of the cla.s.s dropped out, leaving only our four acquaintances,--Dic, Billy, Sukey, and Rita. Dic went out on ”a” in place of ”i” in collectible, Sukey turning him down. Rita had hoped he would win the contest and had determined, should it narrow down to herself and him, to miss intentionally, if need be. After Dic had taken a chair, judgment fell to and upon Sukey. She began ”j-u-d-g-e--there's your judge;” whereupon Billy Little said, ”Sink the e,” and Sukey sank, leaving Billy Little and Rita standing against the wall, as if they were about to be married. Billy, of course, was only awaiting a good opportunity to fail in order that the laurels of victory might rest upon Rita's brow.

”We will now spell and syllable a few sentences,” said Wetmore. ”Mr.

Little, I give you the sentence, 'An abominable b.u.mblebee with his tail cut off.'”

It must be remembered that in spelling these words and sentences each syllable was p.r.o.nounced separately and roundly. B-o-m was a full grown, sonorous bom. B-u-m was a rolling b.u.m, and b-l-e was p.r.o.nounced bell with a strong, full, ringing, liquid sound. The following italics show the emphasis. Billy slowly repeated the sentence and began:--

”A-n--there's your an; a--there's your a; there's your an-a; b-o-m--there's your _bom_; there's your _a_-bom; there's your _an_-a-_bom_; i--there's your i; there's your _bom_-i; there's your _a_-bom-i; there's your _an_-a-bom-i; n-a--there's your na; there's your _i_-na; there's your _bom_-i-na; there's your _a_-bom-i-_na_; there's your _an_-a-_bom_-i-_na_; b-l-e--there's your bell; there's your _na_-bell; there's your _i_-na-bell; there's your _bom_-i-_na_-bell; there's your _a_-bom-i-_na_-bell; there's your _an_-a-_bom_-i-_na_-bell; b-u-m--there's your b.u.m; there's your _bell_-b.u.m; there's your _na_-bell-b.u.m; there's your _i_-na-_bell_-b.u.m; there's your _bom_-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_; there's your _a_-bom-i-_na_-_bell_-_b.u.m_; there's your _an_-a-_bom_-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_; b-l-e--there's your bell; there's your _b.u.m_-bell; there's your _bell_-b.u.m-_bell_; there's your _na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell; there's your _i_-na-bell-_b.u.m_-bell; there's your _bom_-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell; there's your _a_-bom-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell; there's your _an_-a-_bom_-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell; b-e-e--there's your bee; there's your _bell_-bee; there's your _b.u.m_-bell-bee; there's your _bell_-b.u.m-_bell_-bee; there's your _na_-bell-_b.u.m_-_bell_-bee; there's your _i_-na-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee; there's your _bom_-i-na-_bell_-_b.u.m_-bell-bee; there's your _a_-bom-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee; there's your_an_-a-bom-i-_na_ bell-_b.u.m_-_bell_-bee; w-i-t-h--h-i-s--there's your with-his; there's your _bee_-with-his; there's your _bell_-bee-with-his; there's your _b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his; there's your _bell_-b.u.m-_bell_-bee-with-his; there's your _na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his; there's your _i_-na-_bell_-_b.u.m_-bell-_bee_-with-his; there's your _bom_-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his; there's your _a_-_bom_-i-na-_bell_-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his; there's your _an_-a-_bom_-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his; t-a-l-e--there's your--” But Rita chimed in at once: ”T-a-i-l--there's your tail; there's your _with_-his-tail; there's your _bee_-with-his-tail; there's your _bell_-bee-with-his-_tail_; there's your _b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his-tail; there's your _bell_-b.u.m-bell-bee-with-his-tail; there's your _na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his-tail; there's your _i_-na-_bell_-b.u.m-_bell_-bee-with-his-tail; there's your _bom_-i-na-_bell_-b.u.m-_bell_-bee-with-his-tail; there's your _a_-bom-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his-tail; there's your _an_-a-_bom_-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his-tail; c-u-t--there's your cut; there's your _tail_-cut; there's your _with_-his-tail-cut; there's your _bee_-with-his-tail-cut; there's your _bell_-bee-with-his-tail-cut; there's your _b.u.m_-_bell_-bee-with-his-tail-cut; there's your _bell_-b.u.m-_bell_-bee-with-his-tail-cut; there's your _na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his-tail-cut; there's your _i_-na-_bell_-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his-_tail_-cut; there's your _bom_-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-_bee_-with-his -_tail_-cut; there's your _a_-bom-i-_na_-_bell_-b.u.m -_bell_-bee-with-his-tail-_cut_; there's your _an_-a-_bom_ -i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-_bell_-bee-with-his-tail-cut; o-f-f--there's your off; there's your _cut_-off; there's your _tail_-cut-off; there's your _with_-_his_-tail-cut-off; there's your _bee_-with -his-tail-cut-off; there's your _bell_-bee-with-his-tail-cut-off; there's your _b.u.m_-_bell_-bee-with-his-tail-cut-off; there's your _bell_-b.u.m-_bell_-bee-with-his-tail-cut-off; there's your _na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his-tail-cut-off; there's your _i_-na-_bell_-b.u.m-_bell_-bee-with-his-tail-cut-off; there's your _bom_-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his-tail-cut-off; there's your _a_-bom-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with-his-tail-cut-off; there's your _an_-a-_bom_-i-_na_-bell-_b.u.m_-bell-bee-with his-tail-cut-_off_,” and Rita took her seat, filled with triumph, save for the one regret that Dic had not won.

Many of the old folks, including Billy Little, departed when the bee closed, and a general clamor went up for the kissing games to begin.

Rita declined to take part in the kissing games, and sat against the wall with several other young ladies who had no partners. To Dic she gave the candid reason that she did not want to play, and he was glad.

Doug Hill, who, in common with every other young man on the premises, ardently desired Rita's presence in the game, said:--