The eastern clarion. [volume] (Paulding, Miss.) 1837-1863, 1859-09-21

pestuous waves Of his despair. the three
cGrnered lighthouse of Faith, Hone. and
charity, than was this same delightful
New England village. The greenest of
green hills and marrow-fat peas the
| loyeIiest Of Landscapes and rosv-lipped
dairy-maids; the brightest of all
But what the use of rhapsodiziug? |
have story to tell.
One day, ! went tishing-rather an in
| significant fact to record, in itself, vet one
| attended with the weightiest consequence
to your humble servant, as YOU will pres
emily observe. Not being blessed with
the same degree of success which attended
those scriptural heroes, Simon Peter and
the sons of Zebedee, grew discouraged;
and throwing aside my fishing-rod in dis
gust, ! commenced gathering a bouquet
| OF daisies and butter-cups from the banks
| of the little stream where | was angling.
| Perhaps it was because | admired the
blossoms, and perhaps it was because !
! thought garland of them would look
well entwineG among the black braids of
Betty, the bright-eyed chamber-maid Of
the hotel where | was stopping. Betty
and were good friends. you know.
While thus employed, heard voice
singing:
"On J1Tdan'~ stormy banks ] stand,
And cast a wI>htul ,ye'
said a voice. | now add, such voice
| A high. cracked, squeaking, but decidedly
feminine out-gushing OF melody, impossi-
bic to describe. Judging by the direction
from which it came, the owner of it must.
! felt certain, be located due west of me.
in little grove of willows which fringed
! the edge of the stream not two Yards dis
tant. As ! was never noted for lack OF
! inquisitiveness. more especially about any
thing where a woman Is concerned, the
idea of exploring the ground round about.
Immediately presented itself to my mind.
| acted upon it. of course, and the re-
suit Of my investigations was, that | dis
! covered an antiquated and somewhat &c
centric-lookings spinster squatted in an at
titude Ia Iiuque upon the ground with
her head thrown back, her arms tossed in
the air, in a fashion more theatrical than
devotional-her eyes rolled in her head
like sick pig's-her mouth opened up
wide-the soles of her shoes would have
made a tolerable target for a wandering
huntsman, and her lungs rolling out a
volume of sound that might have turned
| Piccolomini green with Jealousy.
! As her charms were not sufficiently to
my taste to tempt me to an informal pre-
sentaton of myself, began softly to re-
treat from her vicinity, when was star
tied by a sharp:
Halo, there -
stopped and faced about, making bold
as did so. To scrutinize my companion
lwhose timidity charmed me-, more close
| " than ! had before done. quantity
| what mathematicians would call minus
| quantity, ! think-of thin, drab hair
twisted into wavy Tinglets behind her ears
"a pair of restless, small, gray eyes-a ca
| daverOus face-a neck so long and bony.
that II looked like the tines of a pitchfork
with piece of yellow parchment drawn
| tightly over them-a form that starving
vulture would have disdained to pick, and
a costume made up of faded relics, dirty
lace, and greasy ribbons-these were the
fascinating external charms which capti-
waited my gaze.
Who are you? And what is your
name, destination. and occupation?" was
the abrupt and rather unexpected query
which assailed me. while | was thus Occu-
pied with my observations.
Il am a man." | replied, with equal
terseness. MY name is Matthew Hen
derson-my destination is as yet uncer-
tain and as for occupation Il fear | spoke
little haughtily) | am a gentleman,
madam"
Matthew, Matthew" murmured my
lovely interrogator making the graceful
and eloquent gesticulation Of clasping her
claw-like hands across her knees. Il had
an admirer once who bore that name"
"OHcs, madam - | replied, bowling and
smiling, for had by no means left my gal
lantry behind me in New York. Please
| s,,, l,4 J l.
you have another"
She made me no reply in words, but
mOtiOned me to a seat beside her. OF
course, was too courteous to decline the
invitation.
And now may hope to be favored
with your name?" asked, suasively. as
seated myself.
Ruth Naomi Sapphira Jezebel Tomp-
kins, but am usually called Diana of the
! Ephesians.'
All! pet name bestowed on you by
some Of your friends, probably" | an
swered, at the same time proffering her
my little bouquet of flowers. Il didn't
wonder that they should call her by any
name besides her real one, though mer-
| cy knows Jezebel seemed appropriate
enough J You have beautiful village
| here"
She gave me no answer. save a long,
! doleful sigh. An embarrassing silence
followed, interspersed with sighs, each as
long and as doletul as the first Feeling
the necessity of saying something, and be-
ing naturally a sympathetic man, | ven
tured to ask her if she was not happy.
Happy" she asked, with a face Of ex-
preston that lifted my hat half an inch
from my bewildered head. Happy! the
victim of cruelty and oppression, with
the wealth of Crpsus rightly belonging
to me, vet do YOU think am happy, Job?"
Why she should address me as Job,
could not conjecture; but accounted for
it on the supposition that her memory
was little faulty. 1t seemed she was
wealthy, then. How much more luxu-
RANT her drab curls looked after became
aware of that. And how much softer
was the light of her gray eyes, and what
a difference it made in the length of
her neck and the lankness of her figure
| drew a little nearer to her side, insin-
uating in my delicate way that there was
a mystery in her words which | should he
glad to unravel, if she could put sufficient
confidence in a stranger etc, etc. that
wherever the wrongs of lovely woman
were to be righted, there was Matthew
Henderson devoted champion, etc. etc
that if there was any possible wav in
which | could serve her, she had but to
{ command, etc, etc
Upon that she told me her story
r knew she would 1t was a long and dis.
connected narrative which | could moi
write out if | should try. The only fact
f which | could grasp with any degree oi
| | accuracy was, that she was immensely
. wealthy, but owing to the mserly. ava
: ricious disposition of her elder brother
who had some control over her. and VIII,
, hoped, in the event of her death n
/, come in possession of her property, she
e was kept out OF the enjoyment of it,
f | hitched still nearer. What splendic
! eyes the woman had! And blind | bac
: been not to notice the silken abundonc,
f and beautiful lustre of her HART As fo
her figure, it was perfectly queenIv.
"Was her wealth mostly in landed es
Q tates ?" ventured to inquire.
n "Yes, Israel. But | have besides
d great deal of money in the bank"
: | priCked up my ears, and felt to-
= great degree of interest to make the pror
n er correction in regard to my name bein
e Matthew instead of Israel.
q She had no protector-that she was I'm
married? asked softly, at the same tim
o dropping my jewelled hand upon her,
l. and heaving little sigh-quite uninter
O tiOnally, assureyou. All! Cupid Wha
l. a strange boy thou art!
d No, she was not married; and thi
e time she called me Moses. | correcte
IS her, and she changed it to Sampson
d She evidently had too deep a respect fc
If me to call me by any other than a bibl
D. cal cognomen.
+ Well, while we sat there, we had Ion
n conversation, during which learned tbs
:, her bank money was subject to her ow
4 Independent control. if she so willed it.
70 Before we parted, had kissed her han
D. three times, asked for further acouain
p ance, talked OF my iourishing mercantil
j. business in New York, and begged wit
g fervent eloquence the honor of bein
v made of service to her.
r Then | went home to NV hotel 6gbte
le acigar, sat down deliberately and dream
" a dream. | dreamed that with n WIG
:; brown halr' set of false teeth. lit
"a rouge, and few pounds of cotton. MI
70 Ruth Naomi Sapphira Jezebel Tompki,
10 was transported into a very presentab
iS middle-aged lady-iust the one to strik
IS the fancy of discreet bachelor on III
e shady side of life. Then dreamed tn,
a she dropped the Tompkins from h,
n \