Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1856-01-25
llISU UELLANI.
from Puluam's Magazine
How Came to be Married.

how | came to be married, and, as it was
rather an odd way, perhaps it will amusc
the public so here goes My name is
Thomas Petition Stevens | was born and
bred in Connecticut taught my letters, and
the three RS, Readin' 'Ritin'. and 'Rith-
matte in district school house ; learned
Latin, Greek, and Algebra of old Parson
Field and grew tobacco enough on my faith
cr's farm, before | was twenty, to help me
squeeze through the College course at old
Yale
There found myself one Commencement
day, having delivered the third grafton to
blooming audience in the galleries, and
grim crowd below, the happy posscsaor Of
.hcop-skin, n blue ribbon. wooden spoon.
two dollsrs and fifty cents, aud two suits Of
clothes one very shabby, and one pe-now.
The world was all before nc whero to
choose, as it says in the primer aud de
. cldcd to 60 up INTO Colehruok, and see il my
maternal uncle. Seth Downs, wanted a man
/ to help got in his rowan. ] raid two dollars
and fifty cents to get there and landed on the
doorstep with nothing but my own personal
attractions to recommend me. However, Uncle
/ Downes was as glad to see me as if had SIX
1 dollars instead Of six cents in my left hand
I waist coat pocket, and ui-el me for the late
haying on the spot, and set up a singing
school in the red school house the next Sat
uIddy night When the haying was over,
ct ,id few weeks to see what | could turn
my hand to, and ncle Downes being on the
school committee, through his influence
was made principal Of Colebrook Academy
when the Winter term began, and having a
very pretty set Of gills to teach made my
self and my services so acceptable to parents
and guardians, that hold the place 10 this
day, three years from then.
One day last Spring | sat on the stoop Of
Uncle Downe' S house, thinking OF nothing in
very resolute way, with discursive seasons
/ of listening to A brown thrush that was hid
I in some neighboring tioe, thence giving out
all manner of comic illustrations of every
other birds musical powers hitting of
with gay sarcasm, the robin, oriole. and
whip-roor-"ill even giving the faint peep
OF dew wet chicken lost III the grass, the
warning cry Of hawk, or the Lowell trill
Of a song-sparrow, with here and there a
pewit, blackbird, or the liquid frolic of a
boboIink's souc, mimlcked, exaggerated, and
intersrerscd with his own dcirious warbc,
Z full OF spring and it, sweet exutation. |
was larsinc out ol tho thrush concert into
hothingness again, when quick, light pat
Ter, Ike hallstOrm coming down stairs
woke me up, aud at my elbow stood the 1.-the
shape Of liley Downos my special cousin
and peculiar little bit Of womanhuod as
one might see in lifetime. Get up Tom,
quoth the green sun-honnct. Il want YOU
to take a walk with me was rather in
quletlst state just then, bat who ever
Thought OF resisting that clear voice. with
such a decisive tone and nnwless ring
Where are you going, Llzzy ! said |, at
ter we had travelled silently and swiftly like
people in fairy stories, half through Uncle
DoNne's farm. Oh - said she, recollectiug
herself or rather me, I'm going to Asa
Burt 5 lot, after some coIumhinc.plants, and
you may carry the basket Gracious prin-
cess = r"torted |. accept my de,oirs, ard
put your foot upon my necS if it please you.
1t doesn't, said the princess only
want you to behave like a man, and not wait
next time for lddy's request before YOU Of
fer to help her At this | whistled slightly.
and rubbed my hands Iizzy had way of
speaking truth that was-wcll-pllin but
she knew it, and turned her rosy face round
to me with the diyiuest smile of intelligence
and sweetness. Don't mind it, Tom it is
all for your good, and YOU can't get angry
with me, you know OF course ! couldn t,
such "A face as that was talismnnc besides,
she was my cousin and ii is singular fact
in the natural history Of man, that though
there are no people On earth one gets so en-
tircly and utterly disguised and out of tenn
per with as disagreeahle and intrusive cous-
ins, it is quito out Of the nature Of things to
be disturbed by young, pretty, smiling
cousin, however saucy. 1t demonstrates
most convlncingly the old Scotch proverb,
Bluid's thicker than water All the atm
tiles of ancestry, all the tender associations
OF childhood, all the nameless sympathies
that are only existent between relatives,
spring up to harmonile cousins and our
blood beats more warmly toward its severed
tide IN the pulse OF relation-except, as |
said before, the disagreeable ones. So not
only refrained from getting vexed at Lizzys
reproof,, but submitted with sweet humil.
| ity, and would have kissed the rod, had it
been permitted or required.
Do you hear that thrush Tom - broke in
the lady, upon nv meditation Yes
ma am, have been listening to it this hour,
from the East stoop.' What lazy crra
ture you are spending whole hour in NOR.
tai idlenefe, this lovely day not bit Of
It, mademoiselle ny meditations IN that
stoor were of the most useful character
nothing less than skillful analysis, fmen-
tai, of course, } OF the vbrAtory power of
air and its probable capabilities in meohan-
1 les. Oh lon, Tom can t you let school
mastering alone, on Saturdays and such a
I celestial Saturday as this look there, if you
want better meditation than your analysis.
! did look IN tbroupb tbe dim. rrov bran-
ches of the wood We wor, skiTtinc. and
! there. on the lea rlass hon,b of n tsu bickor7
tree. sat two wild nigeons or;n, -, ,r;tb
soft, shy glances, stoopine their graceful
shining necks, and driwi1c tbemselves mn
again, with a native rrido not unlike tbat
Of my companion, though acouit her Of be
ing anything dove like a few steps on the
dead leaves startled the nretty GREATNESS rr,'-,
their perch, tn, doll bIdiG liumcs shot sud, I'd,
denly into white, and black, and gray, and