Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1858-12-23
4rllgliual
For the Port Tobacco Times
STEALING HIS OWN DAUGHTER.

BY JUNIUs.
"Come Joe," cried half dozen at once,
as we sat smoking the 'spipe of peace" to-
gether one cold winters night, "come, tell
us how you managed to steal old Squire
Speer's pretty daughter Mary for Tom Lang
don; you know you promised us long since" :"
The above rcr1uIl k tptilreasod- M y
old and tried friend, Joe Davis, who was,
by-the-by ,one of the liveliest and most ''devil
may care" fellows in our class. Joe was
indeed one of the readiest fellows [ ever
knew, there was never piece Of mischief,
Gnnocent, [ mean, for Joe scorned to do
real mischief,) in Joes vicinity, in which
he was not a partner, if not leader of the
affair and often planner.
"Well," said Joe, ''as [ promised to tell
lit, boys, [ don't know but that we have as
good an opportunity as will offer soon, and
[ may as well make clean breast of it now
las any other time. You see, Tom Langdon
land [ were sincere friends, we had been in
many little scrape together in our time.
Oh! boys, many's the goose we have pop
ped and still greater the number Of turkeys
we have 'plucked,' but Tom was always a
little too shy, he stopped too often as if to
|enqulre into the morality of the thing, which
Tom and I, you know, were dear friends
and as such mutual confdants. No secret
had Tom which was not mine, and v'ce versa.
Now [ knew and had known for sometime,
that Tom was in love, and moreover knew
he loved Mary Spcer. The Squire was op-
posed to the match, hot that Tom was any
|other than hig gh-minded, noble fellow, and
worthy to lead to the Hymenial alter, Mary
Speer or any other girl in the county, but
Tom was guilty of that almost capital crime,
poverty. All! boys,' continued Joe with
a sigh, 'syou have no idea with what jeal-
Gus eye these rich old papas regard poor
young man if they think he is taking fancy
to certain calico of their household. They
like the fellow very much, sympathize with
him and wish him well, but he must never
think Of courting the daughter Or becoming
of the family The idea is preposterous
But to proceed, Tom loved Mary and what
is more Mary loved Tom, but upon Toms
making application for ratification of the
treaty he met a damper. The old Squire
would not refuse him outright, for then he
might feel called upon to assign reason
and this he never could do, he was too kind
hearted for this and yet his manner was such
that Tom knew he stood no chance, and ac-
Icordingly left him, and as was his wont on
such occasions, came at once to me for the
purpose of unbosoming himself; he told me
the whole story and in such pathetic Ian
guage and such plaintive style that [ felt
sorry for him, [ advised him to keep cooP
and [ would endeavor to see what could be
done. Now [ knew the Squire very well,
and was withal quite favorite, so the next
evening I donned my best attire and set out
to visit hinr; I found him at home and rath-
er melancholy, which was not at all usual !;
[ piled myself to the work at once, laughed
and told amusing stories, cracked jokes,
spun yarns, &C., until had the old gent in
rather fine spirits again. After while de-
voted my attention to Mary, to whom [
managed to make known my plans without
being suspicioned, and she acceded to
them"