s:

"See the gay balonza-man, the charming gay balonza-man; We'll do all
that ever we can, To cheat the gay balonza-man!"

The things he was to be cheated of seemed to be osculations.--G.v.d.M.

"The Needle's Eye" won, and we formed in a long line of couples--Wades,
Finsters, Flemings, Boyds and the rest of the roll of present-day
aristocrats, and marched, singing, between a boy and a girl standing on
chairs with their hands joined. Here is the song--I can sing the
tune to-day:

"The needle's eye,
Which doth supply
The thread which runs so true;
{And many a lass
{Have I let pass
or
{And many a beau
{Have I let go
Because I wanted you!"

At the word "you," the two on the chairs--they were Lizzie Finster and
Charley McKim at first--brought their arms down and caught a
couple--they caught Kittie and me--who were at that moment passing
through between the chairs--which were the needle's eye; and then they
sang, giving us room to execute:

"And they bow so neat!
And they kiss so sweet!
We do intend before we end, to have this couple meet!"

Crimson of face, awkward as a calf, I bowed to Kittie and she to me; and
then she threw her arms about me and kissed me on the lips. And then I
saw her wink slyly at Bob Wade. Then Kittie and I became the needle's
eye and she worked it so we caught Bob Wade and Virginia, even though it
was necessary to wait a moment after the word "you"--she meant to do it!
As Bob's lips met Virginia's I groaned, and turning my back on Kittie
Fleming, I rushed out of the room. Judge Stone tried to stop me.

5

"Jake, Jake!" Judge Stone whispered in my ear, looking anxiously around,
"have you seen the governor in the last half or three-quarters of
an hour?"

"He hain't been in here," I said, jerking away from him.

"Sure?" he persisted. "I've looked everywhere except in his office where
he put the money--and that's locked."

I broke away from him and went out. I had no desire to see Governor
Wade or any one else. I wanted to be alone. I had seen Virginia kissed
by Bob Wade--and they were still singing that sickish play in there.
They would be kissing and kissing all the rest of the night. She to be
kissed in this way, and I had been so careful of her, when I was all
alone with her for days, and would have given my right hand for a kiss!
It was terrible. I walked back and forth in the yard, and then came up
o