useless things, such as reading, writing, spelling, and
arithmetic. Besides, word had come to him that persimmons were to be
had for the picking and chickens for the broiling in that country toward
which the troops were heading. And much also had he heard concerning
the beauty of Southern maidens, and of the striped watermelons in the
watermelon-patch. And so he was to be left behind, and God was not good.

Toward the end their talk got very serious.

"I'm going to turn over a new leaf," said Aladdin, "and be better
things, Margaret, and you must save up a lot of pride to have in me if I
do, and perhaps it will all come right in the end."

"You know how fond I am of you," said Margaret, "and because I am, and
because you're all the big things that are hard to be, I want you to be
all the little things that ought to be so easy to be. That doesn't seem
very plain, but I mean--"

"I know exactly what you mean," said Aladdin. "Don't you suppose I know
myself pretty well by this time, and how far I've got to climb before I
have a ghost of a right to tell you what I tell you every time I look at
you?"

Aladdin rose.

"Margaret," he said, "this time I'm going like an old friend. If I make
good and live steady, as I mean to do, I shall come back like a lover.
Meanwhile you shall think all things over, and if you think that you can
care for me, you shall tell me so when I come back. And if you conclude
that you can't, you shall tell me. I'm not going to ask you to marry me
now, because in no way am I in a position to. But if I come back and say
to you, 'Margaret, I have turned into a man at last,' you will know that
I am telling the truth and am in a position to ask anything I please.
For I shall come back without a cent, but with a character, and that's
everything. I shall not drink any more, and every night I shall pray
to God to help me believe in Him. But, Margaret, I may not come back at
all. If I don't it will be for one of two reasons. Either I shall fail
in becoming worthy to kiss the dust under your blessed feet, or I shall
be killed. In the first case, I beg that you will pray for me; but in
the second I pray that you will forget all that was bad in me and only
remember what was good. And so, darling--" his voice broke, "because I
am a little afraid of death and terribly afraid of myself--"

She came obediently into his arms, and knew what it was to be kissed by
the man she loved.

"Aladdin," she said, "promis