The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-07-21


suppose my mother was lonesome
"Oh! lonesome be hanged Want / there
her natural born brother--to keep her com.
pany! don't brag-but you know what CON-
pany I am, nephew
Yea" said Mark, suppressing emile.
Well, ! was there to take care of her, and
protect her, and keep her company, and cow
hide her niggers-although that last is very
laborious exertion, and always puts me in a
profuse perspiration, and gives me palpitation
of the heart--the thoughtless creatures, to put
me to the trouble of fatguing myself so. And
now, 1t you want to know what tempted your
mother to sell her home and leave all her
friends, Pll just tell you-vanity"
"Vanityp
Yes, 0aaity-the wish TO be thought gen.
erous, and disinterested, and eonfding," sheer
ed Uncle Billy.
Mark Sutherland Redeemed.
My dearest mother was all that in reality,
without wishing to be thought so!n
g tell you twas Udnity-uanity that tempt
ed her to sell her home-vanity that tempted
her to marry-uanity that tempted her first to
listen to a suitor--d sponaa of her age! Bot
| do think women are the most incorrigible--
the most provoking-she most hopeless-apd
Of all women, middle aged widows are the most
desperate fools!"
Uncle Billy, | suppose, as an old bachelor,
you have q license to rail at women in general,
and as an elder brother you have liberty to be
unjust to your sister My mother was hand
some woman, in her prime, and it appears to
me not unnatural that she should have married
But if you thought otherwise, you should have
told her SOD
"For what good! A cat mag release
mouse from its claws; rattle-snake q charm
ed bird from its jaws; the grave give up its
victim but never cat held mouse, or snake
bird, or grave victim, with such death grip
as middle-aged widow holds her last lover I"
Just now you told me that DR.. Wells tempt
ed my mother into this marriage-now, you
lay the responsibility upon her. That. is like
you, old, impartial justice, Mr.. Bothsides.'D
"All true. They tempted each other-she,
him, with her handsome property he, her, with
his handsome person! He was bent on having
her plantation !-she, on having him. And 80
they soldered an engagement that Satan him
SELF with his sledge hammer, could not have
shivered. I'll tell you all about it, Marx!
kept sharp lookout on that chap when he
first came providing about Silentshades was
tempted to shoot him, by mistake, for cata-
But twigged him Very little of
that palavering courtship that didn't hear !
Sure as ever they'd be on the piazza I'd be in
the parlor under the windows, listening"
But what did you think of yourself, Mr..
Boiling, for your eavesdropping
Thought was doing my duty by my sister,
to circumvent q gay deceiver!p
Mark laughed.
ooh, now you don't know how old pill-box
and blister plaster could court! You should
have heard him talk about that regal brow
that, that face!' las if there was no word good
enough to describe it, and those holy eyes >
and my darling oh, my darling land my
lovely Helen and it is too much, too much
to crave of Heaven (her love, you know, he
eant)-and 'oh my dearest and 8 this little
hand and all the rest of the lying balderdash,
which suppose was mighty sweet to a woman
who had not heard such words for twenty
years.
aAnd how do you know it was not perfectly
sincere?" exclaimed Mark, Indignantly rising
and walking ayARy vuony
Bffy, getting up and walking abuur5 dd'rdh-
ming himself, and sitting down again.
But Mr.. Sutherland was much too deeply
interested in his mothers fate to keep silence
He returned, and resumed his seat, and inqur'
ed
elias my mothers marriage turned out hap
py?"
"Don't know--can't say, Pm sure!0
"You have not told me yet why she sold he'
homeo
"Dr. Wells tempted her to do it for his sake
This was the way of it Lord bless your soul,
he was too old and cunning TO stop counting
her after the honey. moon, or at least until nc
had got his hands on the property; on the con-
trary, they sat on the bench on the piazza
against the parlor window blinds, and eourted
more than ever And laid on the lounge un-
der the same window in the parlor, and listen
ed more than ever And then he cooed to her,
and called her My boon,' My blessing and
NV bride;' and told her what noble woman
she was--how full of sensibility, benevoleuce,
and disinterestedness full of honor, truth,
and courage
"Well, sir, it was truth! can easily un-
ierstand how much truth should have burst
from the lips of any one intimately
with my dear mother 7" exclaimed
Mark, impatiently.
Uncle Billy shut his eyes, and bobbed up his
chin contemptuously, and then resumed:
"Truth, was it, Well, you shall hear the
rest of the truth. BY and by he began to take
the tone of wise, affectionate guide and bus-
have always noticed is very
charming to good women, especially when it
is mixed up with little appreciatiye admira-
he told her again what high -princi-
pied, noble woman she was and how she had
only to get rid of one foble-one little weak
ness--and she would be a glorious woman--a
perfect woman And she pressed to know what
II was, and she was willing to get rid Of any
fault he disapproved. 'Oh,' he told her. 1T WAS
a want Of trustfulasss-a want of that confid'nng
spirit so beautiful in woman-it was no fault
only but for that one small foible she would be
such glorious wOman' Well, Mark, to con-
vince him that she could exercise a conhding
spirit, and so become "a glorious woman all
out, she gives him the full possession and per-
feet control Of all her property real and per-
sonal; and the upshot Of it all is that Doctor
Wells has sold Silentshades, and they have
emigrated to Texss!D
"Was my mother willing 10 go?p
al don't know, Mark. After parting with
Silentshades, they remained here at Cashmere
about three months before getting of to Texas
and thought in that three months your moth.
or altered more than any one had ever seem
poor, dear mother"
aThere was another thing that gave her
trouble The Doctor certainly did neglect her
and then he took great fancy to purchase
beautiful maid servant from Clement Suther'
land---I dare say you remember the girl--she
was Mrs. Ashley's own maid, Oriole!"
eyes, know - =.
"Mrs Ashley--India--wished TO part with
her. too; and dare say the sale would have
been effected, only there was an execution, and
Oriole, with half a dozen of the likeliest Of thu
house servants, both men and maids, were seiz
cd, and put up at auction. Well, when Oriolt
was placed upon the block, there was pretty
high bidding, assure you. The three princi
pal bidders were New Orleans trader--wht
seemed determined to have the girl at any
price--and DR.. Wells, and Mr.. Ashley. Bu
Doctor Wells and Mr. Ashley out-bid the ira
der, and had the field ali to themselves; ant
the contest ran very high between them.