The Litchfield County post., 1829-01-15

Lefty; so that she was quite taken bv surprise when having placed her father. now very inirm, in comfortable chair, she sate down by his side on hillock of turf. and saw her recreant lover standing among group of cricketers very near, and eyi- dently gazing on her-iusl as he used ,o gaze three years before.
 Perhaps Letty had never looked so uret- ty in her life as at that moment. She was simply drcSt, as became her fallen fortunes Tier complexion was still coloured like
 the apple blossom, with vivid red and white
 hut there was more of SanSibility, more of
 the heart, in its quivrrng mutabllirv,its al-
 teratiOn of paleneSs and b!uSIles the blue eyes were still as bright, but they were o(- tcner cast down; the smile was still as
 splendid, but far more rare the eirlisl gai-
 ety was gone, but il was replaced by wo-
 manly sweetness; SweeteeSS and modestv formed now the chief expression of that
 lovel face, lovelier, far lovlier than ever. So apparently thought Paul Holton, for he gazed and gazed with his whole soul in his
 eyes, in complete oblivion of cricket and
 cricketcr, and the whole world. At last, he recollected himself, blushed, and bow ed, and advanced a few steps, as if to ad-
 dress her; but, timid and irresolute, he
 turned away without speaking, joined the
 party who had now assembled around the
 wickets, the umpires called "Play !'' and
 the game began.
 East Woodhay gained the toss and went in, and all eyes were fixed on the Sussex
 bowler.
 The ball was placed in his hands; and
 instantly the wicket was down, and the striker out-no other than Tom Tavlor, the boast ofhis parish, and the best bats
 man in the country. Accident, mere ac- cident ! of course cried East Woodhay-
 but another, and another followed: few could stand against the fatal bowling, and none could get notches. A panick seized the whole side; and then as loosers will, they began to exclaim against the system; called it toss, a throw, trick, any thing but bowling, any thing but cricket; railed at it as destroying the grace of the attitude and the balance of the game: pro esod a. gainst being considered as beaten by such jugglery, and finally appealed to the um-
 pires as to the fairness of the play. The
 umpires, men of conscience, and old crick. eters, hemmed and hawed, and sea-sawed; quoted contending precedents and jostlng authorities; looked grave and wise, whilst even their little sticks of office seemed vi- brating in puzzled importance Never were judges more sorely perplexed. At last they did, as the sages of the bench of- ten do in such cases-reserve the point of law, ,and desired them to play out the play.' Accordingly the match was resumed, and twenty-seven notches being gained by the East Woodhayians in th@r first innings, & they entirely from the balls of the Hazelbv bowler, James White.
 During the quarter of an hours pause, which the laws allow, the victorious man of Sussex went up to John Dale, who had watched him with a strange mixture of feeling, delighted to hear the stumps rat tie, and to see opponent after opponent throw down his bat, and walk of, and vet much annoyed at the new method by which the object was achieved. We should not have called this cricket in my day. said he, 'and yet it knocks down the wick cts gloriously, too.' Lefty, on her part, had watched the game with unmingled in- terest and admiration. "He knew how I liked to see a good cricketer,' thought she, yet still when that identical good c.ickecr approached, she was seized with such fit of shynoss--call it modesty--that she left her seat and joined group of young wo- men at distance.
 Paul looked earnestly after her, but re- mained standing by her father, inquiring with affec ctionate interest after his health, and talking over the game and the bowling. At length he said, T hope have not dri- ven away Miss Letitia.'
 Call her Lefty, Mr. Holton,' interrupt ed the old man; 'plain Lctty. We are poor folks now, and have no right to any other title than our own proper names, old John Dale and his daughter Lefty. A good daughter she has been to me- con,in- ued the fond father; for when losses coz sumed all that we had; for we paid the ut- termOst farthing, MT Paul Hoaton: we owe no man shilling when all my savings and earnings were gone, and the house ov- CT our head---the house I was born in, the house she was born in---I loved it the bet ter for that; taken away from us, then she gave up the few hundreds she was entitled to in right of her blessed mother to pur- IL f