The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1858-09-04
now Ho Carried tho aoup.


scarcely i've feet IN hsight,and is proportion
ally dimnuitiye In circumstances. hut men,
tally what difference lie Il one Of the
most selfcomplaeeEt men In existence. lie
eonoeiyes himself intellectually, a giant lie
throws his little form into oil possible poses
ot dignity, In order 20 give shape aud con
siatence 20 his own consciousness Of personal
Importance. lie knits his brows, and looks
as uuoulrnt as Hercules. ia order to convey
10 others full conception Of hi6 individual
/ consequence,
/ Iompkins, Of eouTse, married n very large
woman. Mrs, 4. IL At least foot taller
than her august husband. She IL rotund,
/ jolly plump, adipose, and the very picture
Of good humor. Her face il always robed IN
q smile and Notwithstanding her size, she l.
exceedingly timid, modest, selfsacriheing, un-
/ ohlrusive. She covers beneath the awful
glance Of her tiny spouse. Her mcrriest
laugh shrivcls up O. whimper beneath his
digniied frown. Tompkin' is jealous Of his
wife not that he has any substAntial reason,
for she frthe most correct little--l mean Big
woman in the world. But his selfish ma
turc, and his tremendous estimation of him
self, teach his blood TO boil at the bare idea
Of any other male human being daring to rev
cl Ia a smile that ho he coneeiVeH should bc
his own private property. Mrs. Tompkint,
To do her Justice, seldom does amile when
her "lord and master" is in the vicinity. She
trcmblrs too much To indulge In such a luHu-
~. She stands in awe Of the irritable little
controller Of her earthly destiny. How Mira
Iompkins ever ehnneed TO marry such an in
dnidual ia a mystery 20 some. Others khy
hs determined to have her increase his own
consequence. Man and wife being one in
law, their mingled proportions, he argued,
gave him bulk, height, and breadth-just
what he lacked 80 he called on her one |
day, said ho loved her dearly, and threatened |
her with dire and unremitting vengeance II |
she refused his hand. The poor woman we'd |
drd him TO get rid OF her fright!
Tompkins and got up quite party TO
visit the Crystal Palace one evening, when IL |
was yet in the zenith Df its glory. 1ompkins
could not leave his place of business until
dark so il was arranged that the remainder
Of us should 20 earlier and await his coming.
We engnsed Co meet him at six. either tt, IN I
the picture gallery, or down, under the dome,
beside the great fountain. ! really forgot
which was the meeting place, and this forget
tiiitf---. "A ~ In, seen, ted 20 rliarhirff
We went at live. We wandered all about
The building. We examined all the curios-
ties. We finally assembled the picture gale
~, and there in the crowd, Mrs. Tompkins
and got separated from the rest of the par.
y. For an hour or more we walked in the
gallery till i was quite weary, and so was
'hc, but no TompkinS was visible. At length
proposed that she and should go down TO ,
he main floor and witness a curious optical {
fleet had observed some time before, of the
Fresnel light. ] had noticed that, by stand .
ng on the fourth step of the leit-hand side I
# the aisle, and looking thence, for mo-
nent, steadily at the artificial light in ques- v
ion' everything you gazed at for several s
minutes afterwards appeared TO be corrugat v
d into wrinkles t
Mrs. Iompkins thought that this would he
chghtful, aud she laughed out joyously at
he idea of making everybody wrinkled in :,
he Crystal Palace, the young as we'll as the
Id. Away We went she and l-chatting u
loud in the liveliest, happiest manner imag- !,
labIc. Just as we reached the floor, and =,
OF to the door, beside the fountain, there
TODD Tompkins himself.
lie simply said, as we stopped short before 4
i'm 81 have waited here, by your appoint II
rent, for two hours ~ V
His voice wns hoarse with suppressed emo >
ON. His face was pallid with anger. lie "
lanccd first at me and then at his wife, as If II
e would transtx us both with the lightning :;
his Indignation. Poor Mrs. 4. thought 7
le would have swooned away! Had not :,
cen thunderstruck at the unexpected meet e.
x, i should have haw-hawed right out, and
ost immoderately. As it was, his look and
what Al
think of them. o,
That Tompkins was Jealous was palpnble h,
I'd solf-evident and had Mrs. T. been nc
iilty creature she could not have manifested al
ore apprehension and more remorse. That
were both perfectly innocent of even an de
iproper thought, knew and yet, il iods dC
'kward TO be encountered, by jealous man
ldcr circumstances so embarrassing. y,
but STILL 1t was not jealousy only that nf- cd
cted him at. this moment. What was ii en-
alousy chokcd his utterance. Jealousy
lde his eyes SO flash with the fiery CLEANS do
vengeance. Jealousy had coniured up ue t
at thunder-clound on his brown cloud e''
iioh, had he not been pigmy, might have s' s
en- alarming. But it was not jealousy that I o.
'de him stand in such an awkward position. "N' ."
was not jealousy, 1t was clear, that made Wv ~.
n forget his pose Of dignity-his assump- Wv
n IN grandiloquent attitude, Of supercilious :"
1t was not jealousy--it was
arly something else, beside jealousy, that VIII
pt him erect-almost motionless, as IL made vii
either turning his head TO the tive
ht nor to the left--his body only shrink
stifiiy within itself as the crowd passed
touch az sl =. r. ~ rIt oluif'Srlly Io,n Chi
arrange his limbs, or the faintest shock i''S
verize him on the spot. What could be 's''
matter with himP p
l nave peeh wn.'ing mere two hours, by roo
!, u "PPoln'nlen'' ne hoarsely repeated ing
nv iho''oh " MS neau-not gesture a di
ot step towards US, or. from the precise wor
he 30 rgidly occupied, did nc make. bril
completely bewildered by his singular pur
duct. Could he have gone insanee Or con,
he only gathering up the necessary quiet pas,
rgy TO kill me ON the spot for keeping his fol
, in good company till he should arrive prol
looked at him again. There he stood, MS unb