Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1856-02-22


by the occurrences OF the morning wae not
particularly favorable, filled up the interval
with praises of his daughters, lludiug tho
excellence OF their hearts, and pointing ont
how much better it WAS that they should
have been suffered tn grow up halt wild in
the country than that they should have been
exposed, without the guidance and protec-
tion of a mother, to the corrupt atmosphere
and dangerous refaements Of the town.
When upon this thcmc Fragor was inex-
haustihle. | never saw man - much in
love with his own children At lust he do
clared he would wait nn longer for the g'r7
and we began supper. We had boon at Table
about quarter Of an hour, when the door
opened, and Oxen, long expected, came at
last Very different was the impression she
made upon me to that produced Ivy her sis
tors. She was quite rs pretty. but gentle
and amab!o in cOuntenluc1 ana manner
She did not run past mo, like Nimrol and
Dieffenbach, as if had been part Of the
furniture. but bowed her head gracefully and
courteously, apologized fer her tlrlv arri"ll
and added that had she known lwas at Niesen-
thai, the most interesting researches in n,-
tural history should not have withhcl her
from returning home to welcome me. was
delighted to find her so pleasing a contrast to
her sisters, and, but for thoughts Of Minnie,
| should at once have admitted myself van
quished by her charms. She was ttstciuliy
dressed-her hair iust a little blown about
by the evening breeze In her hand she car
ried covered basket, which she placed upon
chair beside her when she sat down. The
conversation turned on natural history. OIt
of complaisance, and to win her good
opinion, | feigned lively interest in the
science, about which had never in the least
troubled my head. We were most harmo-
al, trt.. Ill
seventh heaven. 1t was clear to the worthy
man that Ern stine and | were born for each
other. For my part, | forgot the disasters
of the morning, and basked in the smiles Of
the lovely naturalist, who by this time was
deep in the latest discoveries respecting am
phibla. Concerning these | neither knew
nor cared anything hut pretended profound
attention, and gazcd with delight on the
lovely mouth that spoke 50 lcarnclly 1t
was quite Il little lecture on reptiles. Pre-
sently Ernestine opened the basket beside
her, and the next moment an extraordinary
object writhed and danced within few in
ches OF my face. Its appearance was 50 sud-
den that did notat the instant recogna3 its
nature, but when | did thought should
have fallen from my chair with terror y
living and very lively snake stretched out
towards me its horrible head and forkcd
tongue.
Here you have most beautiful specimen
OF the =. She wound up the sentence with
some Latin name of a snake. was almost
beside myself. From my infancy upwards
had held scrpents Of every kind in eXtrlor-
dinary respect. Oxen detected my discpm-
posure. what! she exclaimed, laughing
scorniully, you would pass for naturalist,
and are afraid of IA snake Impossible
And the accursed head with its quiycring
hrt,,l 4,
and nearer, Oxen seeming to enjoy my mln-
ifest uneasiness.
'for Heavens sake - cried. take away
that horrible creaturr'
Il see nothing horrible it, quietly replied
Ernestinc. observe how gracefully its body
undulltes And again the reptile writhcd
Itself Just before my nose. | jumped up anl
retrcatcd. ErncStine followed me. snake in
hand
i have never been able to understand be-
gan the idiotlc counsellor. in do:torai tone
whence arose the peculiar aversion with
which men regard all kinds Of reptiles.
The deuce you have not ' crtt |, still re-
treating from Oxen and her oli,us pet The
aversion is not very dilrut to account f,r
For my part, abhor the crnlture-
'PsEaw y said Ernc~tin.. augrily, you arc
but counterfeit naturalist. And thcrcupnn
she slapped me across the face with the snake.
| could not restrain a cry Of horror and dis
gust. Then she returned to her seat. and put
the vcrmin into its basket
In my estimation the counsellor's third
daughter had now fallen into the same cate
CORY with her sisters. Frdger, who saw that
was unable to cong Ior my inuatc horror Of
snakes had ordered his daughter to discln-
tinue her unseemly Jest; but the poor old
gentleman $ authority was evidently at a dis
IaV ;tb
mallgnity, had continued to torture me until
the pcrspiration rolled off my forehead.
Now may old Nick fly away with all three
OF you, sand to myself, as | passed my
handkerchief across my dank brow. You
nave seen the last OF me at Wiessenthal At
day-break | pack up my traps and leave this
place OF torment, worse than cell of the IN
quisition or dungeon in Front De Bouts
castle. nice place to come a-wooing -
snakes, bullets and tooth-drawing '-peasln mt
welcome to suitor :,
The evening wore wcarily away. Miss
Oxen having ascertaincd that was no natu-
ralist' adopted her sisters system, and trout
ed me with profound contempt: in fact, she
hardly seemed aware Of my presence. For
my part, the sympathy with which she
had at first inspired me, had completely van
ished frager was quite put out by the
chahee III ms daughter deneanor. and Of
course cast the Diame OF 1t ON me. 4 should
never nave tnouSht' ne Slld, that you would
nave ceen 30 alarmed oy little harmless
shike
,c ra"I;,r tor G -, TI'e' Irnes.,
d;fsrdn, snr, Of mcanio c, ,'p' hnrS "o'uS are
III l. ;,nnossirro r. ,bnn,,o ,,,o,- ..o...... =,
rc,,IioJ 0''''''a' 'i' "''u'''
!Votnror ro,,o,+ol r.,,..;
Won knn,,. oIont ratnro1' "','' Io