Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the originaldocument have been preserved.
THE ANNALS OF ANN
Ann
The Annals of Ann
By KATE TRIMBLE SHARBER
With Four Illustrations
By PAUL J. MEYLAN
A. L. BURT COMPANY
Publishers New York
Copyright 1910
The Bobbs-Merrill Company
THE ANNALS OF ANN
CHAPTER I
My Cousin Eunice is a grown young ladyand she keeps a diary, which put thenotion into my head of keeping one too.
There are two kinds of people that keep diaries,married ones and single ones. The singleones fill theirs full of poetry; the married onestell how much it costs to keep house.
Not being extra good in grammar andspelling, I thought I'd copy a few pages out ofCousin Eunice's diary this morning as a patternto keep mine by, but I was disappointed. Nearlyevery page I turned to in hers was filled full ofpoetry, which stuff never did make good sense2to me, besides the trouble it puts you to by havingto start every line with a fresh capital.
Cousin Eunice says nearly all famous peoplekeep a diary for folks to read after they'redead. I always did admire famous people, especiallyLord Byron and Columbus. And I've oftenthought I should like to be a famous personmyself when I get grown. I don't care so muchabout graduating in white mull, trimmed in lace,as some girls do, for the really famous nevergraduate. They get expelled from college forwriting little books saying there ain't any devil.But I should love to be a beautiful opera singer,with a jasmine flower at my throat, and a freshduke standing at the side door of the theaterevery night, begging me to marry him. OrI'd like to rescue a ship full of drowning people,then swim back to shore and calmly squeeze thesalt water out of my bathing suit, so the paperswould all be full of it the next morning.
Things don't turn out the way you expectthem to, though, and I needn't count too much3on these things. I might catch cold in myvoice, or cramps in the sea and never getfamous; but I'm going to keep this diary anyhow,and just hand it down to my grandchildren,for nearly every lady can count on them,whether she's famous or infamous.
Maybe some rainy day, a hundred years fromnow, a little girl will find this book in the attic,all covered with dust, and will sit down and readit, while the rain sounds soft and pattery on theoutside, and her mother calls and calls withoutgetting an answer. This is not at all the rightway to do, but what can they expect of youwhen your attic is such a very