Port-Gibson herald., 1843-01-26

Ii arrived; and having established myself
lin a comfortable chamber, I salIied out to
see somewhat Of the city, and enQuired al
the post Office for letters from my friend.
/ / received two letters, one from Harry, Of
Il somewhat mysterious quality the other
from stranger, and Of a character still
more inexpiicahe; both of them written
from Baltimore. Harry informed me that
he was on the way with his party, and
hoped 20 be in Philadelphia the following
day and he added (and this was the mys-
serious part Of his letter. that his alore-
said handsome cousin was about TO be
snatched away from me By particular
fatality; yet he did not dispair, he said,
Of my winning her, provided he could im-
mediately find me, upon reaching Phiia-
delphia, and find me with meitlc sufficient
to undertake most formidable, but splen-
did adventure. nConfonnd his handsome
eousin!n said { 'swhom never heard Of
before, except in his last letter; and con-
found his adventures And with that,
with the greatest equanimity, banished
the memory of both, to examine and pom
dcr.oyer The second letter from my un-
known correspondent. It was as follows.
1fy ear boy Shall be il Philadelphia
Friday evening, with b., TO sign, seal,
kiss and squabble, according to compact:
/ place afore mentioned. Shall expect you
! rings, posies, bushes and mysteries. AL
ways promised your dad ! would, and !
eiil Yours resolutely, i. b.
This letter was formally directrd to
James !. Smith, ESQ., Poste Testantc, Phi
ladelphia; was manilestly written in an
old mans hand and as far as / could ga
ther any sense from its old and bTokenex
pressions, alluded to a marriage which was
in progress, doubtless, between E. (who
was she? on the one part, and Mr.. James
] Smith on the other. But who was Mr..
James J. Smith? Not mysclf, certainly;
who had never dreamed of marriage, ex-
cept as a future contingency, and had ne
yer made serious love or proposals 10 any
human being. No; it was apparent-and
this was. confirmed by the allusion to the
aforementioned place. we'll known, Of
course, TO the person written to, but not to
me,--tl1u there prae soma other James j.
Smith, besides myself, in the world, ano
in Philadelphia, for whom this letter was
designed, and to whom, It was manifest
from the terms of it, its loss might prove
Extremely inconvenient.
Under these circumstances, / perceived
had nothing TO do but to return it to the
post Office, that it might reach my name
sake, and | was retracing my steps for that
purpose, when was interrupted by q gen.
tleman, or a person dressed like gentle
man, but thought there was something
unpleasing in and sinister in his looks
who stepped up 70 me, and with low bow
and a grinning smile. told me s'he beliey-
ed he bad the pleasure of addressing MIR
James J. Slnith2'
"That is certainly my name," said /
nBut-'' "You haYn't the honor of my
acquaintance ''interruptedthe gentleman.
Exactly so; but have the pleasure ol
producing my note of introduction"
/ And with that, the fellow elapping one
hand on my shoulder, in a very impudent,
familiar way, displaying under my nose,
not a note of introduction, but note ol
hand for some seventeen or eighteen hun.
drod dollars, drawn in favor of Simon some
.Ibody, forget who, and signed, plainly
and strongly enough, James ] Smith:
Il CAL this, my friend" said ], removing
] his hand from my shoulder, ''is, doubtless,
GOOD and fair enough. The uificulty is,
i that it concerns some otherJames ]. Smith
and not me; for / never wrote that note
nor, indeed, any other. You have made
mistake"
] aVery facetIons. sir, said the person
IsI should inform you. sir, that poor Simon
being in difficulty, was under The necessi.
.ltv Of parting with that little note, TO me,
sir; and paid hin. a very fair price for i.
i sir. because ii was a debtof honor; and
i debt of honor, sir; here the rascal looked
4 as if he meant to impress me with an aw'
4 lfuI sense Of his courage and determlna-
d lion. ga debt Of honor, sir, never find any
difficulty in collecting. !.
sThe deuce take you and your debt Of
Il honor said /, waxing impatient. q tell
a yotl, sir, But the cgentleman Interrupt
ted me again.
s1Vo occasion to swear, my dear fellow
il il don't intend to trouble you Just nor.
4 know what brings You 70 town here:
B know Old Rusty is coming, ifhe has not
come already, and the rich young lady
s. with him. Thc letter, SIR, that you Just
received, sir. Here the fellow burst into
la laugh at the look of amazement / put on
Eat finding him so familiar with The myste.
5, rious epistle; and added, somewhat con
temptuoasly. s.I did not think Mr. James
Il j. Smith such sf0oney, as to gIYe tne
public ihe benefit Of reading his letters
J. over his shoulders III the street! IN short
! Sir. as / said, don't intend 70 trouble yop
/ lust nov, nor to be gammoned hereafter
81 shall wait, sir, tlli lbe happy louI Is over