Of all things. As long as there's no one else, though, I don't mind so much.

APRIL 27--Received an order from Mayor Abner today to go down to the Jot 'Em Down Store and register my name. The place was simply packed when I got there--everyone in Pine Ridge had received the same instructions. It turned out that it was Abner's idea of making the money for the big race. When he got the folks in the store, he sold just about everything he had in stock. Lum, Abner, Cedric and Squire are leaving for Louisville, Kentucky in a truck tomorrow. Good luck to all of you.

MAY 1--May Day today--and I was chosen Queen. It wasn't so much fun as it might have been, though--Lum wasn't here to see me. I wonder how he's getting along in Louisville. The race is tomorrow, I believe.

MAY 4--A letter from Lum today--some good news and some bad. It seems that first their horse got lame from some glass in his hoof but was all right the day of the race. Then a Colonel Buckingham offered Lum a thousand dollars for it. Lum refused. Then on the big day he went and entered the horse in the wrong race; however, afterwards they sold him for $1,500--that old nag--and they're all coming home tomorrow.

MAY 6--I can't make it out--Lum hasn't been 'round to see me yet. Maybe getting all that money for the horse has gone to his head. but the least he could do is call me up on the party line.

MAY 8--So that's it--Lum's going to marry the Widow Abernathy. Oh Lum, how could you? It must be right, because the whole town's talking about it. But why the Widow Abernathy, of all people?

MAY 9--The wedding date's all set. Sister Simpson says they're going to be married May 21. Isn't there anything I can do--I'm positive Lum doesn't love her. He's being tricked in some way, that's what it is.

MAY 10--Wonderful news, diary. The wedding's off, the wedding's off! Willis Abernathy, the widder's former husband has come home and is going to marry her instead of Lum. Oh, I'm so glad I could cry!

MAY 15--I saw Lum today and he asked me to go to the party with him. I refused, of course, after what happened. I wouldn't think of accepting. And yet...I wonder, diary...did I do the right thing? I do love him...

MAY 18--Here's a chance to teach Lum a lesson. Abner called up today and told me that Lum had been hurt in an automobile accident. They can't fool me. I won't see him.

MAY 20--Abner called again yesterday, so I sent an ambulance to take Lum to the hospital at the county seat. Of course, they soon found out there was nothing wrong with him and the insurance company is going to sue him for fraud. Now it's my turn to laugh.

MAY 23--I told them the whole story at the county seat today, and they've agreed to let the matter drop. Poor Lum--he looks so woebegone, I almost wish I hadn't done it. But he did deserve it, didn't he?

JUNE 2--A terrific explosion almost shook Pine Ridge to pieces today, breaking nearly all the windows in the school. It turned out that when Lum was fixing his attic for a room for Robert, the McMillan boys found an old chest up there. Nobody knew who's it was (though of course Squire said it was his) so Abner and Grandpappy Spears decided to open it up with dynamite. Hence the awful explosion, which broke up nearly everything except the chest.

JUNE 5--They've opened the chest. Lum said there were some old clothes in it, and some letters and a box with a card saying that it shouldn't be opened except in the presence of the lawful Hempstead heirs. So Lum's going to advertise for them in the county paper.

JUNE 9--I wonder who this Professor Kobosky really is. He came here to help find the Hempstead heirs and he's figured out a geneology for just about everybody in Pine Ridge, proving that we're nearly all Hempstead heirs. Maybe I'm even related to Lum???

JUNE 15--Such excitement. Lum got all the Hempstead heirs together and opened up the mysterious box. There was a paper in it with some strange writing on it which no one could understand. I wonder what it all means.

JUNE 20--I always was suspicious of Professor Kobolsky and now I know I was right.