Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1840-05-07
THE VILLAGE WEDDING.
ny MISS MILFORD.

of her. AT sixteen, Hannah Wilson was, be-
vond doubt, the prettiest girl in the village,
and the best. Her beauty was quite in
different style from the country rose bud
far more choice and rare. Its chief charac-
teristic was modesty. A light, youthful hg-
ure, cxquisitely graceful and rapid in all MS
movements springy, elastic, and ouoyant as
q bird, and almost as shy; ialr, innocent
face, with downcast eyes, and smiles, and
bushes coming and going almost with her
thoughts low soft voice, sweet even in its
rnonosyIlables a dress remarkable for its
neatness and propriety, and borrowing from
her delicate beauty an air of superiority not
its own-such was the outward woman liam
nah Her mind was like her person mod
est, graceful, gentle, affectionate grateful and
generous above all.
The generosity of the poor is always We
nv real and fine thing; they give whgt they
want: and HANNAH was, Of all poor people
the most generous: She loved to give, it was
her pleasure, her luxury. Rosy-checked APP
ples plums with the bloom on them, nose
gays of clover and blossomed myrtle; these
were the offerings which Hannah delighted
TO bring to those whom she loved or those
who had shown her kindness; whilst to such
of her neighbors as needed attentions more
than fruit and flowers, she would give her
time. her assistance, her skill; for Hannah
inherited her mothers deXterity in feminine
employmcnts, with something of her fathers
versatile power.
Besides being an excellent laundress, she
was accomplished in all the arts of the needle,
millinery, dress making, and plain work
capital cutter out, an incompatible member,
and endowed with gift of altering, which
made old things better than new. AS dali
nv woman, and n rcarer of poultry, she was
equally successful: none of her ducks and
turkeys ever died of neglect or carclesSncSs !;
or, to use the phrase of the ponitry-yard on
such occasions, of "iil luck" Hannah's
fowls never dreamed of sliding out OF the
world in such an ignoble way; they all liv-
ed to DO killed, to make a noise at their
deaths, as chickens should do.
She was famous "scholar! J" kept &C.
coupts,wrote bills, read letters, and answered
them: was a trusty accomptant,& safe conf
dant. There was no end to Hannah's useful
ness.or Hannah kindness; and her prudence
was equal to eighty. Except to be kind oruse-
full, she never left her home; attended no fairs
or revels, or Mayings went no where but to
church, and seldom made nearer approach
TO rustic revelry than by standing at her own
garden gate on a Sunday evening, with her
little sister in hand, to look at the lads and
lasses on the green.
In short, our village beauty had fairly
reached her twentieth year without sweet
heart, without the slightest suspicion of her
having ever written love letter on her own
account: when, all on sudden, appearance
changed. She was missing at the "accus.
toned gate :" and one had seen young man
90 into Dame Wilson's; and another had
described trim, elastic figure walking, not
unaccompanied neither. Hannah had got
ten q lover; and when poor little Susan,
who, deserted by her sister, ventured to peep
rather nearer to the gay group, was laugh
ingly questioned on the subject, the hesita-
ting no, and the half yes, of the smiling
child were equally conclusive.
Since the new marriage act, we, who be-
long to country magistracy, having gained a
priority over the rest of the parish in matri-
monial news, we-the privileged-see on a
work days the names which the Sabbath an
ing, awkward pair hath our little lame clerk,
O sorry Cupid-ushered in between dark and
light to stammer and hacker, to bow and
courtesy, to sign or mark, as it pleases heav-
en-. One Saturday, at the usual hour, the
linping clerk made his appearance and
walking through our little hall, saw fine
athletic young man, the very image of health
and vigor, mental and bodily, holding the
hand Of a young woman, who, with her head
half buried in geraniun, in the window,
was turning bashful away, listening, and yet
not seeming to listen, to his tender whispers.
The shrinking grace of that bending figure
was not to be mistaken.
"Fannah I" and she went aside with me.
and rapid series of questions and answers
conveyed the story of the courtship.
"William was" said Hannah, "a halter in
B. He had walked over one evening to see
the cricketing, and then he came in. Her
mother liked him. Every body liked her
William-and she had promised-she was
going-was 1t wrongY
"Oh, no! and where are you to live :"
"Wiliam has got house in B. He lives
with Mr.. Smith, the rich halter in the mar.
ket place, and Mr.. Smith speaks of him-oh
so we'll But William will not tell me where
our house Is. I suppose in some narrow
street or land, which he is afraid shall not
like, as our common is so pleasant. He
thinks any where"
She stopped suddenly, but her blush and
her clasped hands finished the sentence
"any where with him 70
sand when is the happy day!"
con Monday fortnight, madam" said the
bridegroom elect, advancing with the little
clerk to summon Hannah to the parlor, "the
earliest day possible"
A1e QISW uSr arm uhTOuSn MS, ana we part
ed. The Monday fortnight was glorious
morning one Of those rare November days
when the sky and the air are soft and bright
as in April.
"What beautiful day for Hannah !" was
the first exclamation at the breakfast table,
"Did she tell you where they should dine!"
"No madam; forgot to ask"
81 can tell you, said the master of the
house, with somewhat of good humored i'm
portance in his air; somewhat of the look of
a man who having kept secret as long as it
was necessary, is not sorry to get rid of the
burthen. 81 can tell you-in London"