For the second half of the first inning and first of the second, Tim poached on the efforts of Francis Huff, of _The Flower and Fruit Weekly_ and what he saw looked good enough to put in his own copy. “Johnny Everson dispatched an unmarried one to right just to show he had an eye for beauty. The captain pushed a clover kisser to Larry and reached first as Johnny faded at second. Talkington arched a rainbow to the outer gardens, but Twitchell was there and plucked the bags of gold from the other end. “Robb then shot a bunch of pepper at Hollins which the latter made a mess of, and Ty got to first. “Hans was invited to walk down to The Church but he preferred to stay where the posies wave in the breeze until he poked a blossom nipper out to Warcford’s daisy patch and Larke came home with the first bouquet for Lowell. “Ty was anxious to bring his bouquet home, too, and show it to Hughie, but his flowers were already in full bloom and wilted in the dust at the plate when Roger touched them. [Illustration: “Ty was anxious to bring his bouquet home.”] “Lowell now went into the garden and Mellen planted himself at the rubber. He looked ripe to Black who tried to pluck him. He nearly did it, too, and Mellen, weakened, dropped from the vine, and rolled to Miner who tossed him out of the garden to Hal. Black then alone got the Laird’s goat and sent him to the shed and with three swings cut down the young Beach that grew where the Laird had stood.” Then there was a fellow sitting in front of him whom nobody knew, who was writing busily. He must have been connected with some burglar sheet, for he was using the kind of talk that made Tim look to see if his pocketbook was still there, after he had dug up this sample, which was no doubt intended for, say, the _Second-Story Weekly_ or something like that. “In the second half of the deuce stanza Childe Harold got the combination of the safe and stole a maiden who danced on his left. Arthur came out of the coop to show what he had but his best was chicken which roosted finally in Roger’s mitt. “When Gibbie came up Hal turned robber and purloined the middle cushion and then the third also, in broad daylight, while Roger made two efforts to grab his gun. Gibbie lifted a high one that looked good to go over Warcford’s second story but Sam turned porch climber and arrested it. Black thrice got the scent but immediately lost it and was sent to the box to look for the other clews.” Abe Zeager, of _Pulpit Platform and Song_, sat right next to this second-story fellow so it averaged things up, thought Tim, as he copied what was said about the next full inning.