Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1843-08-25

, looked at her, then another; first one gen
teman eyed her, and then another; and one
of the Oldest and one ofthc youngest, the for
mcr because he wished to retain the reputa.
ton Of a man of gallantry, and the latter be.
/ cause nc desired to assume it, thought of RI
sing from table and making some sort of 9
stir for her accommodation, but were deter
red by prudent doubt as to the condition
ableness and prcsentabcncss of the article
before them; SO they doubted and waited
till they should see how matters would turn
out, and the Poor Relation was left still
standing until every eye but that of the will
fully blind Mrs. Mackillop was turned upon
her. Now, reader mind, if YOU happen to
be poor,and by consequence shabby, you will
have felt how disagrecable It is to be mark
ed, and hacked, and cut by a parcel of peo-
pies parcel of eyes, which are, indeed, Just
like parcel of carving-knives; but if you
chance to be rich, you will, on the contrary,
discover it to be mighty agreeable for every
body to be looking at you, since, in that case
everybody is admiring. The Poor Relation
must, we suppose, have felt herself in the
first OF these positions, for she looked very
much as if she were like snow before fire,
momontarily melting away. Howbct, some
chemical change seemed to come over her
mental process. She recovered the motion
OF her limbs and tho use of her voice, and
walking up to the head of the table, address
sed herself, in slightly husky but still in a
somewhat determined voice, to Mrs. Mac
killop.
Il have done myself the honor, madam,
OF accepting your invitation, and since per-
celve that you are ignorant both of my per-
son and my presence, beg to introduce to
you your own relation, Esther Granger
Mrs. Mackiop looked unu,tcrable things !;
coloured fifty crimsons, mumbled and NUT
tered something as unintclligiblc to herself as
to every body else, pointed to a servant to
make room for clair at the lower end of
the table, waived the Poor Relation away,
perceived that she had made bad worse, tried
to look indifferent but could not manage it,
attempted to talk sense but Only reached sill
illness, and felt that the wlole fault of the
matter rested with the Poor Relation.
1t was rather fortunate circumstance that
the appetite of our heroine had been rather
cooled by the heat she Ilat been IN, for by
most remarkable concentration of coninc-
dcnces, she found her dinner plate doomed
to be filled with disappointment, rather than
palatablcncss,- some frigmentary relics of
fish, the drumstick of a fowl, accompanied
by some ham parings, ard burnt tart, COM
plctcd her rcpast: the servants forgot her
bread, neglected to brig her water, no salt
was within her reach, nobody asked her to
wine with them, and he gentleman who was
her next nelghbor mot politely gave her the
benefit OF the full breath of his shoulder and
three quarters of his Jack, Not a creature
exchanged word wifi cr,}and if she coulJ
only have forgotten hescIf, she might have
been supposed to have passed into utter OBJ
livion.
AT length, howcverthe dinner, like Pal
myra, had passed intoa splendid ruin; ba-
rons OF beef had lost thir honors, and pvra-
nlds of pies had moullorcd away, lakes of
soup had been swallowed up, and mountains
OF ice melted into invisbility; ii goodIy troop
OF empty bottles had he'd the last drops Of
their vitality, and if thy contained no more
oil the liquid ruby, tn. red light had only
transposcd its shining b certain cheeks. and
chins, and noses, and ftrebeads. sittino some.
what lamp-like round the table. But at
length Mrs. MackiIlop, with sort of sigh or
regret, so intense as u seem like the con-
centrated emptiness of all those glass vacui-
lies, together with the antcipative void of all
inture to-6e-unburlhcncd ones when the wine
should be left to the tender mercies of the
Gentlemen, gave the signal for retirement
he male agreeabes trnd with all their MIGHT
10 look dolorous, and stood up to offer all hon
ors; Inc ladies' passed ot in file, and as soon
as they were fairly overthe threshold the de-
caniors began to rcceiv. their lessons in dam
eng, pelng put at oncoin a gaiopc.
The Poor Relation being last in the train
OF icmlnlnes that filed out of the dining
room, lound herself like loose tassel or an
odd glove, or any something for which no
oouy could had use, and after an involun-
iary pause of irresoution, as to how she had
pest appropriate herself sic found that her
deliheraton had left her Wholly alone, so she
ADJOURNED herself up to the little nook of
apology Tor ed-chamber, into which she
had been first installed, and having sat down
on the one wicker chair, began to deliberate
upon her prospects.
Shall cry! asked the Poor Relation
to herself. 'ShalI be sentimental Shall
P"S''N"i' Eldll L make my ewes red
and my face long, and 90 as lack-a-daisi
cal as some Rosa Matilda, or some Clemen-
tina Clarisa? Well, l could be sorry and l
could fetch up a few sgIs from the deep
drawweli OF my heart, ard liquefy few
pearls out of the corners of nv ewes: but
what good would it do! Did | expect any.
!h,ng better, or any thing different! Could
nope that any body would attach them
selves to one whose whole aspect shows her
attached to poverty! Why that would be
uniting themselves in the same connection.
Wei then, what did want7 Why only to
see II 1t were possible for my own relations
to feel any natural affection for me for nv
own sake. Well, but simpeton, did YOU ex-
pect love at first sightl That Mrs. MackiI-
| iG2 is indeed dainty whose heart do not
desire ic pcrforate: but be patient, there
may be others here sho are worth loving
BE content to be bystander. and by-and-
by you may be invited in the game"
The Poor Relation went to look at her
| self in the littlo cra cl ,I Iool.... L.. ..l.i