The Kanzas news., 1858-12-11
Cousin John.

"a .c.sssssafes Cousin John = z9f-a
! a4tMy gracious, Hannah, If you amt q
sight to behoid1a Land sakes! child, where
have you been all the moffning Here
we've most done dinner, and there ainst
nothing fit to eat, I don't believe We've
just ate up the last of them berry pies
But my sakes! child, you look as il you'd
had berries enough for one speIl.your
mouth and hands is all black with senn now -
- Aunt Myra's tongue, If possible amore
untiFine member than even her eyersbusy
hands, might have run on IN an uninter-
rupted flow for an hour longer had not the
current of her ideas been checked by q turn
so startling and sudden that the converse
tionai tide oyeFfloged its banks IN one
bless my soull" of such ftiIlhess and en-
efgy, that it seemed to have exhausted her
well;spsings of language. and put q tempo
rary stop to the torrent Of words. p. g
e The cause of the Interruption was sim
ply this, When aunt Ayra 6rst beheld me,
mud-stained. and berry-stained,3 heated,
tired. and hungry, her motherly compassion
for nay condition made her, for the moment,
forgetfnl Of everything but my wants; but
following the direction of my eyes, her own
rested upon an apparitionawhich filled me
with dismay, and made my cheeks blaze
redder than the July sun had done before,
blushing first at the thought of my appear
ance, and then more and more with shame
that should have blushed at all. till the
tears fairly started to my eyes from very
Yexation. And the source of all this dis
turbance was neither more nor less than a
rather handsome and very well dressed
young man, who sat at the diuneritable
calmly finishing the last piece of aunt Ny
Fa's lamented berry pie, and between the
mouthfuls taking a cool aud impartial sur
vey of myself and. if i might Judge from
the half-smile that luIked in the corners of
his eyes, forming a not too favorable esti-
mate of my personal attractions. 7aiS Z Z
!. I have no vanity, I feel sure of that; but
no girl could help feeling vexed to make her
had heard talked about for the last three
weeks, as had Mr.. Hampton, I knew at
the first glance it was be), looking as 1 did
then, my dress muddy and wet, and torn
by the briers, my hair half fallen down, my
face heated, and worst of all. my lips and
teeth blue as indigo, from the berries had
been eating all the morning. lzr
Cousin John stood looking on, silent as
usual, but / believe in his heart not sorry
to see me looking my ugliest before the
stranger. However, I felt grateful to him
for putting an end to the embarrassing scene
by carrying Mr.. Hampton off with him to
the marshes. r4- -k
AS soon as they were gone ran up to
my own room and had good cry-I had
been such fool. I might at least have
explained how ! got my dress so wetoand-
dirty; that in trying to take a shorter way
home. I crossed the brook, and, slipping off
one of the stepping stones. fell into the wa
ter. But 1 never think of anything at the
right time;=and4 any explanation afteEWard
only makes one appear ridiculous. 1t was
no indication of vanity, certainly, that
tried, on that night, to make myself look
as well as possible, and if did spend
more time than usual in persuading every
perverse curl to stay IN its proper place, it
was surely no more than was required to
remove the unfair impressions of the
morning. rs saa=s9oe l1f-7i -o slss,-7g
I dreaded meeting them again, so I wait
ed till tea was all ready, and then quietly
slipping into tbs room was introduced as
we sat down at the table. There was moth
ing in Mr.. Hampton's manner to revive my
annoyance: but cousin John gave me COM
ieal look which made me feel yexed all the
evening. Some PERSONS looks speak 80
plainly that they seem to have no need of
words to express themselves, and cousin
John is evidently of that opinion. if one
may iudge)from issparing use of the or
gans of speech. AT that time especially, I
remember, for days together, it would seem
to me that he hardly spoke ten words. but
would sit there hearing every word that we
said, and making his comments in lhisiown
mind. It is very provoking way, and
used to make me feel so constrained that I
dare say / must have appeared very silly
and awkward. But Mr. Hampton never
seemed to be conscious of it at all. but rat
tied away, sense or nonsense as it might
happen to. be, and certainly made himself
very agreeable. used to. wonder, when
cousin John had said so much to me of Mr..
Hampton being his friend in college. and
such a good fellow, that he did not seem
to enjoy bis visit more. It could not be en-
w; for though Mr.. Hampton was7certainly
more elegant in dress and some little mat
ters, no one could ever be mora true gen
tleman than cousin John, even in his over
alls and farm boots; besides, of course, he
must have been glad that we al liked his
friead.J Whatever might have been the
cause, the fact was that all the time Mr..
Hampton staid at the farm cousinJohn seem
ed to have taken a vow of silence; and just
from common eiyility 1 vas obliged 10 ex
ert myself to supply his DEFICIENCIES as far
as I could, and do all 10 nay power to en-
tertain, his guest which was not. by any
means difficult task. for never saw any
one more inclined to be pleased, or more
willing to do his share in pleasing others.
One lovely morning as we sat at break
fast Ian early meal at the farm, amt Myra
proposed to US to ride over to the old saw