ALMOST A MAN.
By Mary Wood-Allen, M. D.
“Let me take your book of quotations, please.”
“Certainly, if I can find it. O, I remember. I let Susie Glenn take it. No doubt I can find it in her desk.”
As she spoke Miss Bell walked to the desk and, finding the desired book, took possession of it. An open note dropped from it and fell upon the floor. Picking it up Miss Bell read: “My darling little sweetheart,” and glancing at the close saw the signature, “Carl.” Sending of notes in school was forbidden, therefore Miss Bell had no compunction of conscience in taking possession of this one, and, on the impulse of the moment, read it aloud to Miss Lane, her fellow-teacher. It was not only sentimental in tone but there were mysterious phrases which seemed to hold a deep and sinful significance. The women looked at each other with sorrowful faces.
“What shall I do about it?” asked Miss Bell.
“What a depth of wickedness it reveals!” exclaimed Miss Lane. “Who would have imagined that such a nice appearing boy as Carl Woodford could be so base? And Susie Glenn too, such a shy, modest little creature as she seems.”
“Do you suppose it is really as bad as it seems to us? Those expressions which appear to indicate such––such almost criminal intimacy perhaps they do not understand fully.”