The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-09-01

paper III VIC nelSuDornS CITY, anu WIFI nlfn
he had brought blue-eyed, fair-haired little
person, whom he introduced as DIR. Nichols
Farmer Mitchell kept no servant man, and
not being at hand himself, was obliged TO in
form them that they must care for their horse
as they best could; upon which they protested
that 1t gave them pleasure to be their own
grOoms
While they were engaged in Embarrassing,
and giving the horse water and hay, | hastily
attended my toilet; Minnie WAS more particu-
lar, and the visitors had been returned to the
parlor fifteen minutes and we had talked Of
the lovely day, of how pleasant the orchards
were, and admired the beauty Of the common
dandelions, of which they had brought in their
hands fnll They had said we had beautiful
place, that they envied me and had said
yes, we had charming place, didn't blame
them II they did envy me, and good many
other common places that need not repeat,
when Minnie made her appearance, all smiles
and beauty. If Mr.. Haight and Dr. Nichols
had previously expressed themselves delighted,
they were now evidently so, and | felt moro
painfully, than | had previously done how
little interesting was The same things were
repeated about the pleasant weather, and the
charming place and the beauty of the dande-
spirit in it whereas it had all been words be-
fore.
remembered Dolly. and knowing that she
must be in new tribnlation, presently took oc-
casiOn to join her. She had put on the green's
to cook, and was sitting in the warm kitchen,
her thin, white hands in her lap and u wo-
| begone expression on her face, which seemed
to indicate that she was unequal to the task
before her, and no wonder. 1t was already
growing Hatcher husband would soon be in
for the sunshine slanted through the door
against the eleven o'clock mark-dinner must
be served at twelve-and aside from the
greens, she could think of nothing to set be
fore her guests
| told her worse things might chance thai
| thought we could contrive something after
all And having examined the knives and the
blue dishes, to see that they were in readiness
! tied on my bonnet, and went forth in search
of eggs leaving Minnie to entertain the visit.
ers, and Dolly to keep the fire bright; for il
was dull in the parlor, | felt that mi ht be
| useful in the kitchen, and certainly there was
need of all the housewifery abilities pos
sessed
| parted the lunches of weeds here and
there, and looked curiOusly in, but not nest
Nouiu uuu Htu L oICHCu Vic Duih uOoi
and peered into heaps of straw every moment
expecting a cross hen to fly into my face, and
get frightened; when one did so, and, with wings
| dropping and clucking noise, ran away, lea
wing to my mercy thirteen eggs, some snow
white, and others almost salmon color.
Carefully took one up--it was very hot
shook it Gghtly-found that it would not do,
and replacing it, renewed the search. Sud
denly, with a great cackle, flew down a little
speckled hen from the manger, where the
horses fed, and with beating heart piled up
bushels and pecks, and, half pecks, and climb
ing up, locked in the hay, and there, to my
Joy, were three eggs. took them up, and ran
to the house, as much pleased as you can ina
CINE.
Dolly was set to rolling sugar and bread
crumbs, and grating spice, while ] beat the
eggs and brought the milk so that in little
while we had nice bread pudding in the skill
let.
Next we attacked the ham, and though i
looked forbiddng enough in its coat of bluisl
green mould, IL was really well preserved an
sweet and the fragrance of the broiling slice
sharpened our appetites very considerably.
Precisely Mt one o'clock we had the table al
spread and no one would have suspected tn
| DONeTty Ol our IIiHltTldls D6 ClOJu WuS SiioWl
white, and the bread was snowy white, too
the butter was yellow and fresh, and the milk
sweet and rich, and the green's, and potatoes
and pudding and ALL obtained for US a good
many compliments from our guests, and q
hearty partakng of the same which was the
best compliment Of all.
Dolly's cheeks were red with the exercise
and | overheard Mr.. Haight say to Minnie
Al IL tt,uy ratt ,aul
woman he ever saw
After dinner it was proposed that we should
all walk to the woods, and gather wild flowers
and here came to me the severest trial of all
both the gentlemen would prefer to accompany
Minnie-tbat knew right well but could
not make myself into thin air, and 30 managed
to attach myself TO Mr. Haight, person Of
the dashing, flashing sort, who regarded him.
self at least as one of the pillars OF the State
| selected him, not that fancied him most, but
that thought my society wonld be lighter
infection 20 him than 10 the more modest and
shrinking Dr. Nichols.
We had not gone half way down the lane,
when became aware of n mistake--Minnie
evidently preferred Mr.. Haight and though
DR.. Nichols seemed more than willing to mo-
nopolize her. she would not be 30 monopolized,
Dut IOunu many ocCasionS 40 tuTu DnCk, cthci
TO point out some beauty in the landscape, to
bestow some flower upon Mr.. Haight, or for
some other excuse said little to one and
another, az conld, sometimes cliciting replies,
and sometimes none, but affecting as much de-
light az it was possible to affect under the cir
cumstances.
During our wanderings about the woods,
noticed that Minnie kept less and less near to
us, and at length she and the Doctor went over
the ridge to find sweet williams and for long
time VIC saw no more Of them. Mr.. Haight
several times proposed that we should 20 in
search of them, greatly to my annoyance; for
] knew that Minnie would find us IL she chose
But when we heard n sweet, clear voice ring
ing through the woods
Tn sitting on the stile, Mary"
could detain him no longer; and under the
pretence Of loving music, he hurried me in the
| direction Of the voice.
TO BE CONCLUDED IN OUR NEXT.