The wise old Ground Hog, so quick and | wary, Came out the second of February. He looked around him, all ready to run, For high in the heavens he saw the bright sun; “But what about a companion? “Bob Rea owns an island. He's with a 'ly, and speared a cold hot dog. for her aquatic skill, lending it to me-—complete Deora Wallon, ot S75 omc | when they went for a run “How lovely!” Miriam laughed. Ii wish that I could go?” | “No can do, of course,” Tommy At breakfast they were ravenous, wicker divan, and with a wave of ' shook his head. “Even the cow so the cook decided that he had her hand indicated a chair. Almost would object to such flaunting of been mistaken they weren't bride as if by magic, a Japanese in cool, | conventions. But, honestly | you really ought to get out of town Mim, for a time.” : “All right—I'll go along!” she ' casually informed him; and Tommy | stared at Miriam as though he had He saw his shadow cast black on the snow; Then the Ground Hog chuckled and said, *0, ho! We will have cold weather for six weeks more!" And he went in his hole and slammed the door. The mercury rose and the soft winds blew, And people rejoiced that winter was through, The ladies walked out in spring gar- ments dressed, Two poor little nest. sparrows began on a In his hole the Ground Hog shook with laughter, As he thought of the blizzards fast fol- lowing after. The north wind blew, oh, bitterly cold! And the people began to shiver and scold. But the Ground Hog turned in his soft warm bed, Stroked his chin whiskers and cheerfully said, “The grippe and the earache makes you complain— Perhaps you'll believe wmen I tell again!" you He rung off his telephone under the larch, Saying, “Don’t call me up till the mid- dle of March!" —Selected. PLATO GETS PROVOKED All day long, in her cozy little apartment, Miriam Gray had been pounding away at her faithful typ- ing-engine. Now, with a sight of supreme content, she folded the weary machine and tenderly put it to bed on the shelf in the living- room closet. “If you're as tired as I am,” she addressed the portable, “you're glad that they're safely married, never to be divorced!” And she turned to the sheets of manuscript piled on her writing desk, making a little moue at the memory of the apple- sauce her brain had perpetrated. For despite her piquant feutures and saucy Titian bob, the characters she conceived were prim and modest maidens, with very proper swains, whose philosophy was a contrast to Miriam's views of life. They passed through the dreary pages of the dullest and most in- and nocuous of romantic . would have blushed in crimson shame could they have but seen the allur- ing dishabille worn by the dainty creature whose brain had mothered them. Yet her sentimental gush and slush had won her a faithful follow- ing of simple, loyal souls who would have gasped with horror had the known the author. But even Mir- iam's closest friends failed to com- prehend her, especially those who understood the restlessness and in- tensity of her highly emotional nature. Dainty of hand and ankle, lithe and graceful of figure, and with a mouth that tantalized every male she met, Miriam seemed entirely de- void of the slightest sentiment, as applied to herself and the opposite sex. Now, in the restful twilight, she puffed at her cigarette and took up’ her fountain pen. But as she set to correcting her script, the tele- phone at her elbow rudely interrupt- ed. “There!” she exclaimed, taking it up, to learn, with a sense of re- lief, that Tommy Vance was A Any one else would have vexed her, but Tommy was never months. “Come up and I'll read you my manuscript,” she mischievously in. vited. “It's a perfectly lovely story of a poor but honest girl who was meanly persecuted, in the ar- ray of rags that she found to be virtue’s reward. Then, anxious to finish her manu- script, she quite forgot to dress, and expected long before she was ringing the bell. “Oh, she sighed. “What difference?” And opening the door for him, she made him solemnly promise not even to look if she should let him in. “Go out to the kitchenette and start to spread the feast,” Miriam suggested. “Take off your coat and be corafortable. Isn't it brutally hot? “Why doll up for me?” he asked as she into her tiny bedroom. “I'm not Mr. Grundy—" “Nor are you Adam—and I'm not Eve,” Miriam called in reply, as she rolled her shimmery s of nearly t “But I shan't get arrayed like a lily, since you're only you.” “Tired?” she asked solicitously, and seated herself at the table. “About done,” he confessed. “But Lord, you look ™m “I'm looking to be refreshed!” she rebuked him abruptly. “And unless you are yourself, I'll read you my manuscript.” “Lady, lady, I'll be good!” my pretended panic. “Perhaps I'll write such stuff my- self when I'm senile enough,” Tom- my shrugged his shoulders. ‘Mean- while, I'm going to forget that there's such a thing as labor. I'm off tomorrow morning for two whole weeks in Maine.” “Really?” Miriam murmured as she munched a sandwich. ‘That's perfectly bully, Tom.” “Uh, huh!” h Tom- seen a ghost. | bore you,” she ~dded petulantly. Y hadn't thought of that!” might have done if they had been | his wife. | her prowess e grunted indifferent. | camaraderie “Unless you think I'd “Mightn’'t that prove awkward?" Tommy was dubious, and wondered why she had never seemed quiteso bewitching before. “I might even fall in love with you.” “Tell it to the flappers!” she ad- vised contemptuously. “I natural- ly wouldn't suggest anything quite so absurd if I hadn't known you long eonugh to know that I really know you. Besides, I know my- self. I'm perfectly amour-proof. When do we go from here?” Later that night, in his uptown flat, Tommy whistled softly as he packed his bags. Nevertheless, he told himself, he was far from satis- fied with Miriam's arrangement. “Hang it all!” he muttered. “She seems to think I'm a sort of cross between a St. Bernard and the late St. Anthony! And until tonight I suppose I was a kind of blend of the two. But in that lacy thing she wore she was utterly feminine ——and her lips, her eyes, her hair— I'm a fool!” That, unknown to Tommy, had also been Miriam's prayer when she had tucked herself away beneath her coveriet. And all of the way she was thoughtful as she rode in the train toward the little junction where they were to meet. Not that she'd any real regret at what she'd undertaken. In fact, it was the lack of which now began to intrigue her. Never before in all her life had she felt so nicely wicked! A spirit of diablerie held her in its spell. She feared and rather liked it Nor had she forgotten the sudden flame which had flared in Tommy's eyes, the look on his face when he'd gazed at her, back in her apartment, nor the rather surprising re-action it had stirred within her. Neverthe- less, she wondered if, in her desire to tease, she had not been too hasty and overstepped the bounds. But that, of course, was absurd! She was she and she knew it, and Tom- my was only Tommy. Just the same a desire to flirt persisted in her mind, and before she left the train she consulted her vanity case. And she quite agreed with the mirror that she was look- ing her best. Tommy apparently thought so, too, when he joined her a moment later, calling to a rustic guide to attend to Miriam's bags. And Miriam was elated at his ob- vious confusion. Seo in a spirit of roguishness she held out her arms to him, puckering irresistibly the red of her luscious lips. “Aren't you going to kiss me at all?” she pretended to be hurt, and almost giggled with glee when he stared at her in amazement. “Ch!” said Tommy confusedly. “1 And ther he made up for the lack with fierceness which left her breathless. But Miriam put him in his place when they reached the island and the two were standing alone on the porch of the picturesque old cabin. “You overdid it terribly!” she laugh- ingly reproved. “Men don't kiss their wives in any such fashion as that. If you can't behave more like an old married couple we'd bet- ter pretend to quarrer” So while they sat at supper, and later down by the sea, Miriam hel herself aloof, although she tried to be natural. Smoking in the silence of the slowly fading day, she chat- ted with him casually, just as she together in her tiny living room. And Tommy appeared to be quite Their understanding was py ng ‘content with mere companionship. she'd known him for months and s n vy c ei a Pr so far as she could . observe from careful observation. But after they had said good- nignt outside the little cabin, and Tommy was snugly rolled in his bunk, he had a haunting vision of a pair of enticing eyes behind long, curving lashes. And in his sleep he muttered, Miriam him Tom Know how a husband kisses?” But when Tommy awoke with the! dawn and slipped out of doors for a | plunge in the sea, he had quite for- gotten the problem which had plexed his dreams. In fact, as he frolicked in the surf his were with resentment than sen t. He'd been a to regret the kiss he'd planted Miriam's lips with never a thought of the harvest. And if she were! really angered at the ardor he'd displayed, why, she could remain that way! : It served her right, and he didn't’ intend to permit the incident to spoil his brief vacation. In any, event, what was a kiss between a couple of pals? Anyway, it had | been make-believe—a sop to Mir | i i cigaret iam’s foolish wish to masquerade as that it bore no platinum band. Not smile. | that he feared | “Hang it all!” He dived through a wave. “Women don't know the | meaning of being just a friend. The | minute a girl fancies a man, she sits up nights to think of ways to make a fool of him! They prate about in- | dependence, freedom and equal | rights, but when it comes to a show- down they want to hide behind some | pretense of convention!” And now she waved to him. “I'm | coming in!” she called, and the ‘curve of her dive was as graceful |as the contours of her Sgure. But | siren.like as she seemed, as she | swam with a graceful, sinuous stroke, in the water and her excited his admiration ‘jewel of a woman pal! | pocket flask was empty. d for you to step (of my own, you know, and perhaps and forget for the time how luring a mermaid Miriam beach and raced to the cabin he could not help but remark himself that she was remarkable! and groom. Yet in spite of the close attention he gave to dle cakes, Tommy didn't neglect to observe the ingenue effect of Mir- { : finished | gram was a hike about the island. He purposely didn't suggest that she accompany him, but after he'd strolled about for nearly half an hour, he found her at his side, con- scious, of course, that she'd been there since he started out. Well, treat her all the time. come along or stay behind, or do whatever she pieased. He wasn't going to seek or evade her com- pany. Yet he liked the way she'd entered into what he elected to do. That was true companionship of the sort that appealed to him. She didn't even attempt to talk--this But, al- though he speculated, Tommy couldn't fathom what was passing through her brain. “The thing's absurd!” he com- plained to himself, as he prepared for sleep. “I come up here to re- lax and have nothing on my mind. But because I brought this girl along, I'm tied down hand and foot. It's really worse than it would be if she really were my wife!” Yet somehow even the fish con- spired to mar the solitude he'd sought so eagerly, and Tommy hadn’t the slightest doubt that Mir- fam had bewitched them. In any event, they wouldn't bite, and his The day was hot and he was tired and total- ly out of temper. So what was the use of staying out when it wasn't any fun? No percentage, he told himself, and putting up the boat, he saunter- ed back disconsolately to the island (cabin. Apparently luscheon had been ‘served and the cook had disappear- ed, likewise Miriam, so Tommy stretched out disconsolately for a nap in the hammock. But even sleep declined to afford him restful solace; so, out of sorts, he lighted his Pre and sauntered off for a stroll. The afternoon was beautiful and the sea as still as a pond, but he wasn't enthused over nature when he finally sat down, having searched | quite unintentionally every possible spot where Miriam might have gone. But suddenly all moroseness p- peared from his mood, as he saw a brightly painted canoe glide around the bend in the narrow strip of wa-. ter which separated the island from the State of Maine. Removing his pipe from his mouth, Tommy straightened nis tie and scrambled to his feet. Resenting this intrusion of his privacy, he has- tened down to the beach to inter- cept the bark that even then was grating against his private sand. “I say,” he warned. “You can't, I mean you mustn't land—" And he gazed into the brownest eyes that had ever regarded him. : “Mustn't what, old thing?” inquir- | ed a sylphlike creature in a bathing suit of black, which made her arms and shoulders seem like chiseled marble. “Are you married or just a hermit; what's the big idea?” “There really isn't any,” Tommy answered lamely, wondering wheth- er Miriam observed him from afar. “But you see it wouldn't be r ashore.” prope “Oh, wouldn't it?” she countered with a mellifiuvous laugh which dis- concerted him. “Are you Robinson | Crusoe, or maybe Mr. Bluebeard? Do let me see dear Friday, or have a peep at your harem!” “My dear young woman,” Tommy tried to be severely reproving, “I assure you that you wrong me, but there are potent reasons why it would be better if you would go away.” She narrowed her eyes entrancing- ly and smiled at him through lashes that veiled their dan mirth. Then her arms with a tired little sigh, she asked for a cigarette. He lit it for her with a trembling hand, and thrilled at the touch of her cool one, as he seated himself ‘on the side of her fragile craft. “Since your island is so danger- ous,” she proposed to him, “you'd Years better act as chauffeur, and I'll tell you where to paddle, I've an island | you'd like to see it. For since we're neighbors, it's only polite for ; Once they i about this Covertly he glanced at artistic fingers daintily flecked te; and to ong, the gi her irate husband, but have hated to think of to some neglectful Yet, although her { i | Tommy plied the canoe, and made it fast to a tiny moss-grown | wharf on a sizable island invisible from his own. But as they went up a winding path, at her invita. tion, he realized that this island was | like some fairy vision, and his heart | grew heavy at the thought of the money it represented. There were | formal gardens and flowers in pro-| fusion everywhere; sunken pools and | fountains, bridges and pergolas; and | » | will 1 my arose with a bow. “This really ought to be drunk to you, but I don't know your name,” try ‘he stated inquiringly. “Wouldn't it spoil things if you did?” she gave him a sidelong glance. “Suppose you call me Car- men, and let it go at that. But mind your pints and quarts—for I may be dangerous. You know that song that Carmen sings—If I love thee, beware!" Not that I'm suggest- ing any such tragedy.” “‘Oh, death, where is thy sting?'"” Tommy murmured grinningly, justa little relieved that the masquerade she proposed would eliminate the need of further explanations con- cerning the inhapitants of his per- sonal domain. “What wonderful material for a super-feature film!” he observed sarcastically. “Robin- son Crusoe and Carmen combined with a hot-dog scene in the little old Plaza del Toros, wherein the faithful Friday gallantly slings the bull!” For a moment the girl's great dark eyes regarded him humorously. Then she burst out laughing and reached for a cigarette. “All right,” she announced in agreement with his facetious mood. “Sup ose we start the scenario. Later on we'll re- hearse it.” “I'm a competent director,” he offered a sly suggestion. «] oan work without a script-—and without any need of a camera.” “*‘Cut!"” she snapped good-humor- edly, and quickly bit her lip, but the familiar command of the lots had instantly betrayed her. ‘Now, don't ask any questions!” she warn- ed him seriously. “Sit down and let's try to figure out the craziest plot for a picture that could be! imagined. Did you ever really write one?” “My heavens, no!" Tommy dis- claimed. “I never saw a movie star; I never hope to see one. But, T'll tell the cock-eyed world—I'd rather see than be one!” And she gave him an enigmatic smile, pregnant with mischievous challenge-—a taunt which made him resolve that the plot he proposed to invent was going to be really “Is that moon your private stock ?" Tommy smilingly asked as he look- ed up at the square of sky above the open patio. “Somehow it seems so different from the moon I see at my place.” Then he looked across the table in- vitingly set for two, and reveled in the privacy of their intimate tete.a- ete. And in the hours, or was it years, that they had known each other, an unbelievable intimacy had blossom- ed between the two. The fiction of the scenario was discarded long ago, and now they were laughingly liv- ing the make-believe existence which she had only suggested to sweep away the barriers of their brief ac- quaintance, and put him at his ease. Yet he felt that his being there must be some sort of dream; the girl and the atmosphere, as well as curious background, were entirely too fastastic to possibly be real. For, walled in as they were, only the scent of the sea and the distant roar of the surf served to recall to Tommy the fact that this was Maine. Otherwise he might have believed that the two were the prin- cipal characters in a South Ameri- can romance. But surely the high red heel of her patrician slipper bore the weight of a foot that was human, arm about her, drew her close to ‘him and peering into the depths of ed pe her eyes, kissed her fervently. The perfume of her hair and the warmth of her cheek against his set his him away from her, she raised a him give her another cigarette. again | brightened. crisp white, puddh th ih a sifver | Seeded to decapitate a perfectly in- the grid- tra asses, nocent egg. a. appetizing array or “Oh!” said Miriam, at | and sandwiches. Then, without a what the cook had brought her. “I word, he promptly effaced himself. was we'd have fish. My “Well, here's to Robinson Crusoe!” mouth was all set for one.” The girl held up her glass and Tom-| “I'm sorry,” Tommy explained, flushing under his tan. “They weren't running well. I'm going to ." And his expression Here was a ex- cuse of which he would have need. “How's the story going?” “The outline's virtually finished,” she announced with" satisfaction. “But I'm rather in a quandary as to how to end it. Maybe you wouldn't mind if I ask your opinion?” “I'm not very good at invention,” he sidestepped awkwardly, and won- | dered al the little lines which form- ed about the corners of Miriam's eyes and mouth. I can help you,” he added generous- ly, willing to be a martyr if that would keep her quiet. But his offer was more than he'd bargained for, as it soon began to rain, coming down in buckets and lasting all day long. So, of course, tnere was nothing for them to do but remain indoors together, and as the hours slowly passed, Tommy's nerves were growing more and more on edge. What a perfect day it would have been to spend alone with Carmen; but what could be more stupid than spending it where he was? And now from the projection room of his fuddled brain there flashed upon memory's screen a close-up of languorous dark-brown eyes which mocked him maliciously. Then, to cap the climax, Miriam appeared with one of those infernal cross word puzzle books. “What five-letter word,” she asked him, “is a synonym for “lover'?” “Idiot!” he snapped. “How did you guess it?” Miriam asked. “That is the plot of my story! Wait till I get the manu- script and see if you can help me.” “Heaven help me!” he muttered as she went for itt But, to his amazement, the story which she be- gan to read was as different from her usual style as Miriam was her- self from the girl he thought he had known. And, darn it, being there with her in that coezy little room, with the raindrops beating rythmic- ally against the lead-paned win- dows, somehow soothed his tience and made him strangely con- tent. So gradually he edged his chair nearer and nearer to hers, and he began to listen with increasing fas- cination. This fiction web that she'd woven completely enmeshed his in- terest, and now it strc stirred his latent imagination. n, hard- ly knowing what he did, he slipped his arm about her and Miriam did not resist. Instead she glanced quietly up at him with a sort of eager, hungry look in the depths of ‘her jade-blue eyes. “Mim, it’s a wow—a masterpiece!” —he praised it honestly. “It gets one, girl-—it does. But you've got to make that poor darned fish wake up and appreciate the fact that he's been a nut!” “But would it be true to life?" she asked him anxiously. I've never tried to write a yarn like this before.” “I'll tell the world it would!” he told her fervently. And with sud- den understanding what had prompt- | ‘ed her plot, he enfolded her in his arms. But even as he kissed away the tears that stained her cheeks, he felt like an utter cad, and the dark- brown eyes he'd been mooing about seemed to mock him again. Then, as Miriam drew from his arms and looked at him in a way that was disconcerting, i strangely though : there came a. knock at the door— | - And just to make sure and in answer to Tommy's summons | school that he was awake, he slipped his the cook came into the room. “EX- time of which will be cuse my interruptin’,” he stammer- exedly. “But there's a yel- ‘low heathen in a launch down by the wharf. He says you a lady's canoe, an' can he have it heart a-pounding and proved that back. Her husband showed up this ‘she was real. Then, as she pushed morning and she's afraid hell miss 1 it." the moment, Tommy turned from “But, of course, if | impa- “You see, i and ' Divini | The degrees will | President Ralph D. Hetzel. | Twelve of the seniors to be grad- (uated at this time will have com- | pleted their courses in less than four years through attendance at Summer sessions of the college. | Sixteen, of those to be presented for | bachelor's degrees by the School of | Education have either taken a con. | siderable portion of their work in the summer sessions or have come to Penn State with advanced stand- ing from the State Teacher's col- leges. i Those of the class to be graduated who are from Centre county are the following: Miss Sylvia E. Mullin, 145 north Atherton street, State College, arts and letters, School of the Liberal |Arts. She is a member of Delta Gamma, social fraternity, Alpha Lambda Delta, women's honorary scholastic fraternity, and the Penn State Players. Hugo Bezdek, Jr. 208 Burrowes street, State College, arts and let- ters, School of the Liberal Arts. He was a member of the varsity golf team for three years and Phi Gam- a Delta, social fraternity. | Russell K. Fishburn, 241 south Barnard street, State College, animal husbandry, School of Agriculture He was a member of the Block and Bridle Club, the meat judging team and the live stock judging team while in college. William F. Strouse, R. F. D. 1 State College, mechanical engineer- ing, School of Engineering. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Vernon Austin Williams, 133 soutt Sparks street, State College, nature ‘education, School of Education. He attended Juniata College for fow years before enrolling at Penn State Miss Emma B. Budinger, Snow Shoe, education, School of Education James David Burke, H dairy production, School of Agriculture ‘He is a member of the | American Dairy Science Club anc Penn State Poultry Club. He alsc competed on the dairy judging team LOCAL SCHOOLS WILL HUNUK WASHINGTON The George Wasnington bi-centen nial commission is asking the school: and the school caniidren taro the United States to join in cele !brating the two nundredth anniver | Sary or the birth of George Wash ‘ington. The commission will fur < i | Wahu rageants of differen lengths, cantatas, playlets, dances ana games are available. Motio | pictures showing the inside and out | side of Mount Vernon and, also, col ored slides, can be had. In th ‘motion pictures original costume and uniforms worn by George Wash ington and the one dress extant o ‘Martha Washington will be seer The school children are also urge plant trees in memory of Georg £832,50 very attractiv “George Washing The music is an appealing. ee ol will give the program |ic that Washington Knew," The public is cordially invited activities, the exa« announce | E gE vi . have | work ly 3 i i . later. HIGH SCHOOL GLEE CLUB i MAKES PREMIER TODA This morning the glee club of ti Bellefonte High school will give i er performance before the a i (warning finger, and reprovingly bade Crimson, and unable to answer for | sembly and will render three or foi attractive choruses in thr very “I really believe you must be Rob- | the cook with a gesture to Miriam. and four parts. The soloists of ti inson Crusoe!” she said. least you are a cavemen who's been on a desert island for years and and years. And you old dear, I warned you to beware of me! I haven't told a e thing about my terrible past—and, honestly, you'd never suspect even the half of it!” “You're wonderful!” he breathed, looked at him quizzically. perhaps you'll come again, but now, although I'm sorry, I must ask you He was like a chastened schoolboy in his disappointment, but a glance at his watch advised him that it was 11 o'clock. “I suppose I'd better start,” he managed to summon a g ficult, and I am only human.” “Granted!” she admitted with a twinkle in her eys. “But I'll lend you the cance. You can send it back in the m pn “But when am I to see you?” he urged impetuously, and caught her “The evening after tomorrow,” she promised after a moment, and evading his arms, fled up the stair which led to the balcony. “Good- night, dear Robinson Crusoe!" she called to him over the rail. “Yoshi ight you down to the dock. Then she disappeared and Tommy felt like a husband who had for- gotten to phone that he would be detained. know, | lon the level with you,” he said ina ‘sheepish tone. “Oh, you needn't smiled through | “But suppose give the Chink his canoe. Then, when the servant them, she stood on the tips of toes i ‘poor 'didn’t quite know how, and even so sure that he wanted awakened—" “You mean—?” he gasped as it “The walking may be dif- dawned upon him what Miriam had | went to the done. “YT mean that I was lonely, thatl wanted you, and you never seemed to know it, back there in New York. So I thought that if we came up here we'd both find out the truth, but I saw that wouldn't work. |to him again as both of them arose. Then, on the morning that you went off with your bait and tackle, I saw la girl that T knew paddling her | canoe—"" | “Oh, I see!” said Tommy stiffly. | “So I was right in the first place. | From start to finish you set out to | make a monkey of me!” | “T didn't, Tom,” she pleaded. “You | don’t get me at all. T only wanted to prove that Darwin was perfectly ‘right, that a monkey is the makings “Or at “I might as well own up, and begin morning will be Annette Decker ar ‘Merrill Alexander. Veronica Rid EE Bok ex sobbing on all you needed tion, that while he | 2 “I'll say Tommy declared with a grin. I must have been an awful dub need such a strenuous course. Wi Mim, little pal, I might ha: known—"' “That will do!” She stopped hi “Spiritual affection is a very bee tiful thing, but let me tell you, To my Vance, there eventually comes time when Plato gets provoked! Copyright by Public Ledger. —Subscribe for the Watchman.