Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1858-02-20

senevslsnt u Florence Nightingale,
as-as-"
Rich as Kresus !" ventured Mrs.
Bracegirdle. s
"No," said I, laughing, 81 don't
care fig for money. ] want beauty
and goodness, loveliness Of face and
symmetry of figure but, = land here |
spoke with positiveness and decision
rs But above all, she must have little
foot"
Mrs. Bracegirdle slyly withdrew her
plump foot No. SIS out Of sight with
in the mysterious periphery of her black
silk. q vsss .s .e.a-.
ga pretty foot!"
/ ]" Too Of them, Mrs. Bracegirdle.
A pair Of pretty feet! could not love
Venus herself if she had big foot 1t
is impossible but that perfectly beau
tiful woman will have small and pretty
feet. I am willing to choose o wife BY
her foot, for I accept in this case the
aphorism that sAll's well that ends
we'll. >" .s...-F -
Mrs. Bracegirdle after taking o half
minute to think upon it, was vastly
pleased with this quotation used in such
relation, and laughed heartily.
Well, well, Doctor, you are droll
gentleman, to be sure! You have such
a pleasant temper, you'd make any wo-
man happy. But there's the BELL
Good morning, Doctor 20
Good morning, Mrs. Bracegir-
de-" I said and as she closed the
door, added, sub voce, +" If | thought
could make any woman happy, l
would try and find some one among the
sex to make happy! But this marry
ing-it is a lottery! A man might as
safely draw from wheel into which all
the pretty and virtuous women's names
in New York, written on slips of paper,
had been poured, as draw from them
by chance at a party, at church or in
the street! If it is my destiny to be
married, the right pair Of pretty feet
will by and-by catch my eye tripping
along and challenge me-!
Thus soliloquising I took my seat by
my window in huge leathern-back
arm chair, and drawing match across
the sole of my boot, I lighted cigar,
and gave myself up to reflection and
inspections Of the passers-by.
"Mrs. Bracegirdle is right" ejac-
ulated, at the end Of ten minutes
"she is undoubtedly quite right
ought to take wife. But whose wife
shall I take ?-as young Sheridan ask
ed his father
As the clouds Of azure smoke curled
above my head I conjured up, peeping
out of each curl, the face of some doz-
en- fair girls l had known or still knew.
As their features blended with the
wreaths, and passed in review before
the eyes Of my retrospection, l delibe-
rately rejected each-passing judgment
upon them as they assembled and melted
into the air beneath the ceiling Of my
room. One had nose too blunt, an
other nose retrousse so far as to turn
up; a third was too tall fourth had
too large foot a fifth had bad teeth
a sixth laughed too much seventh
talked too loud an eighth had too big
knuckles a ninth had hair on her lip j;
tenth-a sweet girl-couldn't bear the
smell Of assafetida, and of course was
out Of the question for a doctors wife;
an eleventh had bad breath; and the
twelfth wore spectacles-my abomina-
ton in young girl!
These feminine faces all assembled
above my head and disappeared slowly
into thin air evaporated with the
smoke which had produced them. Yet
somehow a sweet face seemed to linger
in the blue cloud that curled from the
fiery end of my cigar. Her blue eyes,
her pleasant smile, her graceful head
and shoulders, her exquisite hands and
Incompatible feet-all were once more
visible to me as had once before seen
them, and almost fallen in love with
their possessor. But alas she was my
cousin, and l had been informed by
Fanny's Puritan mother that it was a
mortal sin to marry cousins, for the
Bible said so. So I let this sweet face
also melt away toward the ceiling an
ascending angel! } and sighed, half re-
solving to turn Roman Catholic, that [
might get " dispensation - from the
Pope ito marry COUSINS" But her
mother and the Bible, how could 90
against them both? So I saw the fea-
lures Of my fair and merry cousin fade
away with sorrow.
"Not one Of these will do,'' I said
shaking my head, and also shaking the
ashes off my cigar. l then carelesssly
glanced out Of my window, preparatory
to reviewing another dozen Of my mar
rying acquaintance. AT the ms ant
a lovely girl was going by on the OPP
posite side of the street. I recognized
her at once as mysterious and gr.ce-
full girl who had often passed my win
dow. I had never seen her face, as it
was concealed. How, then, do you
know that she is lovely? you ask. Be-
cause her feet were the most captiva-
ting little members my critical eyes ev-
er rested upon. Such feet could belong
only to a lovely body, and lovely bo-
dy, to match in symmetry the faultless
feet, must be crowned by superb and
lovely head and face. From such a
cogent augmentation there can clearly
be no appeal. | hal often pointed her
out to some of my friends, and more
than once said would be willing to