Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1852-05-08

amused anu interested Oy MS edrneslneSs.
81 teach you Ia No. the curtseys
which captvated thousands in my youth
were more an inspiration than an art. The
very queen of ballet, in the present day,
cannot curtsey."
"Could my aunt" inquired Isabel, a
little saucily.
"Your aunt, Miss Mon,ford, was grace
itself. Ah there are no such women now
a-days"
And, after the not very fatterng obser-
vation, the General moved to the piano.
Isabel's brows contracted and her checks
tiushed however, she glanced at the look
ing-glass, was comiorted, and smiled. He
raised the cover, placed the seat with the
grave gallantry OF an old courtier, and in
vited the young lady to play. She obeyed,
TO do her justice, with prompt politeness
she was not without hope that there, at
least, the old gentleman would confess she
was triumphant. Her white hands, gem
med with jewels, flew over the keys like
winged Seraphs they bewldered the eye
by the rapidty of their movements. The
instrument thundered, but the thunder was
so continuous that there ,cas no echo "'rhe
contrast will come by-and-by," thought the
disciple OF the old school--''there must be
some shadow to throw up the lights"
Thunder--crash-thu -crash-.drum
-rattle-a confused, though eloquent, run
ming backward and forward of sounds, the
rings flashing like lightning Another
crash-louder-a great deal of crossing
hands-violent strides from one end of the
instrument TO the other-prodigiou dis
plays of strength on the part OF the fair per-
former-a terrific shake 'What desper-
ate exertions!" thought the General Sand
all to produce a soulless noise" Then fol-
lowed fearful banditti of octaves-anoth-
er crash, louder and more prolonged than
the rest, and she looked up with a trum-
phant smile-a smile conveying the same
idea as the pause Of an opera-dancer after a
most wonderful pirouette.
"Do you keep tuner in the house, my
dear young LADY," inquired the General.
If look could have annihilated, he
would have crurnbled into ashes but he
only returned it with admiration, thinking,
"How astonishingy like her auut, when
she refused me the second time !"
"And that is fashionable music, Miss
Montlord? | have lived so long out of
England, only hearing the music Of Beeth-
hoven, and Mozart, and MondelSsohn, ]
was not aware that noise was substituted iot
power, and that execution had banished eX-
preston. Dear me why the piano i:
Tlbrating at this moment Poor thing =
How long does piano last you, Miss Mont
ford 2"
Isabel was losing her temper, when for
tunately her aunt-stll Miss Vere-camt
TO the rescue. The lovers Of thirty year
past, would have met any where else a
strangers. The once rounded and queer
like form OF the elder Isabel was shorn o
! its grace and beauty; OF all her attributes
, of all her attractions, dignity only remain
t ed and it was that high-bred, innate dig
nifty which can never be acquired, and
never forgotten. She had not lost the eigh
c of an inch of her height, and her grey hai
was braided in full folds over her fair bu
wrinkled brow. Isabel Montford locke
! so exactly what Isabel We're had oeen, tina
a General Gordon was sorely perpeSed l:
q abel We're, if truth must be told, had take
6 extra Pains with her dress her niece ha
met the General the night before, and he
O likeness TO her aunt had SO recalled tn
past, that his promised visit TO his oil
r sweetheart las he still called her) had flu1
q tered and agitated her more than sh
: thought it possible an interview with an
man could do she quarrelled with he
beautiful gray hair, she cast of her blac
( velvet dress disdaniuly, and put on biz
: .Noire antique. She remembered how niue
} the Cap,ain-no, the General, once admi
ed blue.l She was not coquette eve
gray hair at fitty-fve does not cure coque
u ry where it has existed in all its strength
% but for the sake of her dear niece, she wsI
y ed TO look as we'll as possible. She wol
dered why she had so often refused ''po
' y, Gordon" She had been all her life Of tC
delicate mind to be husband hunter, t
y well satisfied with her position to calcula
- how it could be improved, and yet, she d
~ not hesitate to confess to herself that no'
eS in the commencement of old age, howev
10 verdant it might be, she would have be,
IL happier, of more consequence, of more VI
ue, as a married woman. She had 1
"a, much good sense, and good taste, to belo
eu to the class of diScontented females, consi
Is ing of huSbandlesS ana childless wome
as who seek 10 establish laws at war with I
h'' laws of the Almighty; so if her heart d
hs beat little sttily, and sundry passae
ILL., passed through her brain in connecti
,or with her old adorer, and what the futr
ne might be-she may be forgiven, and W
mi be by those not strong-minded women W
ms understand enough of human nature
me- know that, if young heads and old hea
, are sometimes found together, SO are you
rt. hearts and old heads. The young laugh
ell, scorn the idea of Cupid and a crutch,
o, Cupid has strange yagaries, and at any n
leo ment can barb his crutch with the point
ing an arrow.
ure "The old people," as Isabel Montford
I'll reverently called them that evening,
; "a not get on well together; they were i
ell great degree disappointed one with
an other. They stood up TO dance the min
art de la cour, and Isabel We're languished
= swan as she had never done before;
De- the General only wondered how stiff
nta- had grown, and hoped that he was not a
ired used by time as Mistress Isabel We're