The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1857-01-16
SAM brown.
BY CLARA VISTA.
(Concluded.)

d n " .
(Concluded.)
Early in the afternoon the company beg an
to arrive. Old, middle-aged. young; mar
ried, manageable, pdssee, and those swat.
ing for an Offer" Ringlets, bandeaux, fowry
heads, smooth heads, and heads savoring
strongly Of s'pork OIL"
|, (innocent soul y never dreaming Of the
furore | had created in the usually quiet
town of Littleton, stole into the parlor As
I peaceably Ms knew how TO-, and sat down in
corner with my CROCHET, expecting to have
. quiet afternoon Of it, all TO myself. Ex-
perience proved my calculations none Of the
most correct, however, for | had scarcely
seated myself, when my aunt commenced
leading up people and introducing them to
me, one by one. Full twenty there was in
all-all talking together me how de-
| lighted they were ut meeting me, Of whom
they had heard 30 much, etc., etc. On the
whole, was forcibly reminded Of my school
days, when long class of US, with "Porter's
Rhetorical Reader in hand, strained our
lungs, each one to outyie the other, in read
ing all together in concert-"Chargc, Ches-
ter, charge On Stanley, onl'
One old lady, who rejoiced in the eupho-
| NOUS cognomcn of KeIinh Slopbutton, and
whose very elaborate taste was displayed 10
her yellow calico dress and pewter bowed
spectaoes, on being presented to me drew
from canacous pocket a second pair OF
spectacles, and after adjusting them with
great care, she surveyed me some time with
out speaking.
sLaw you look jest like other gals, for
ANYTHING | see. | thought you was blue,
folks said so; but law you can't bleve moth
ing you hear now days For my part don't
see as you're bluer than my Sally Ann there |!
Wall, 'spose you could write newspaper
as big as the ssLitlston Luminnry" in a day,
couldn't you? Printing and all ? Why didn't
ye bring yer printing things with We? you
might ha got sight to do II you only had.
l'vc got the Life of John Rogers in prim-
err, but it's gettin' SIZED and ragged, and I'D
"a got yer to made new one. Then our BIZ
Bile, that my great grandfather gin me, has
lost sight Of the leaves, and I'd "a had you
put them in, too, you know" Here the
amiablc lady took breath and pinch Of
snuff.
nodded assent to everything she said, for
| saw it would be useless to put 10 dis
ciaimer. In fact, could not "get word in
edgewise."
II would be a Herculean task to attempt to
give any idea of the extraordinary requests
made of me by that circle Of ladies. One
had husband who was sick, and wanted me
TO write his eptaph, s'to be ready she said.
SIN case he died" Another wanted a recipe
to cure the measles; third had lost a grand
mother in n railway disaster, and required
an elegy Of FIVE hundred verses, for which, IL
would take upon myself the expense Of pub
fishing and forward to her address nineteen
copies for the nineteen afflicted grand chill
dren, she would agree to pay me the sum OF
two shillings and sixpenoel A pale faced,
)aundiced young lady took me aside and
begged me to compose for her four sslovc
verses" to be addressed to q young man
whose name was Limon, whose name she DC.
| sired "should be rhymed in somehow. p
These were but u 1.-THE Of the 'sfsyors'' asked
OF me. and to oil returned most polite but
perempsory refusal. Harry had exncted .
promise from me, when parting with me at
the depot. that would not touch pen, pen
Gil, or paper during my sojourn at Lttleton,
except to communicate with him; and this
promise was u blessed thing, for it excused
me from many disagreeable task.
SHUTDOWN brought the iniddle-aged men to
take tea, talk politics, the crops, price Of
-four, and the prospects Of a weekly lyceum
Sam Brown, too but he didn't come to talk
politics, for he talked only to me, who could
not, il it was to save my name from infamy,
tell the difference between "Loco'' and a
''Freemonter." But, nevertheless, we found
something to talk of--but what? that's our
business. Sufficient to say, that the ssBlue,,
and the ''bluc eyes" were we'll acquainted by
the time the other young men began to "drop
in," and in confidential teie-a-tete were
promenading the piazza.
The evening being fine, we sat down on a
bench which ran directly beneath the parlor
window, and without the slightest intention
OF playing caves choppers, listened to con-
versation carried on between two gentlemen,
who, evidently, had just come in.
"Wall, Ben, have you seen the gal that
writes ?.
mo, stree, not yet; she's gone out, they
sed, and will be back in minDit. wonder
what she looks likes''
"Ugly as sin no doubt I'll bet a bran
new TO pence agin an old red cent that she's
cross-eyed or wall-eyed; and il she hnins got
red hair aud turn up nose then nv name
amt John Pepperbottls! that's all. they're
all jest so from the Oldest to the Youngest
these litrurary folks! A darned homely pack.
make the best Of um!'
slow do you knowa' querricd the other
in doubling tone.
"hnow guess know well enough -
There's a picter Of one Of urn comes every
year on Leavitt's Almanac--Time, Va know.
he's one Of um! and I've seen the pro6les OF
good manv Of um in the a.aminarv.' IN
warrant this girl here is so homely that she's
gone OF summers TO hide herself. Lord, |
pity tho man that gifts her for wife!''
Poor Sam Brown He was actually pur-
Pile with suppressed mcrriment.
s.oh, Miss Somers Turn UP nose and red
hair. What hideous creaiure!'' And the
blue eyes laughed and "blue" laughed back
again, Ill. the long piazza rang with the uni
ted voices. The company came out en- masse.
to see what the disturbance meant. and Sum
Brown very composcdly informed them that
We were laughing about our own affairs, 10
they went back again and left US to finish our
conversation.
Well, the tea-party came to an end, like
all other sublunary things, the ssfolks" went
home, and the ssBlue'' went to bed and dream.
Oh very sweetly Of Sam Brown.
All through that rosy juno there were
pleasant interviews (mind, DON'T say whom