Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1859-07-01
VOL. XIII.
COUSIN JaHN.


"My gracious, Hannah, if you amt sight t
behold! Land sakes, child, where have yo
been all the morning? Here we've most don
dinner and there amt nothing fit to eat, don
believe. We've just ate up the last of then
berry pies. But, my sakes, child you look a
if you'd had berries enough for one spell-you
mouth and hands ie oil black with 'em now"
Aunt Myras tongue, if possible more un
firing member than even her ever-busy hands
might have run on in an uninterrupted flow fol
an hour longer, had not the current of her ideai
been checked by turn so startling and sudder
| that the conversational tide overfiowed its bank.
and in one bless my soul p of such ftllness
| and energy that it seemed to have exhausted
her wellsprings of language, and put tempo
rary stop to the torrent of words.
| Ine cause of the interruption was simply
this When aunt Myra first beheld me, mud
stained and berry-stained, heated, tired and hun
CRY, her mothery compassion for my condition
made her, for the moment, lorgetful of every
| thing but my wants; but following the dIrec-
| tion of my eyes, her own rested upon aPpari-
ton which filed me with dismay, and made my
checks blaze redder than the July sun had done
before, bluslling first at the thought of my ap-
| pearance, and then more and more with shame
t1.e should have blushed at all, till the tears
fairly started to my eyes from very yexation.-
And the source of all this disturbance was nci-
ther more nor less than rather handsome and
well dressed young man, who sat at the dinner
table calmly finishing the iast piece OF aunt
Myras lamented berry pie, anu between the
mouthfuls taking cool and impartia! survey
of myself, and if 1 might judge from the hall
smile that Iurked in the corner of his eyes,
forming not too favorable estimate of my
personal ATTRACTIONS! a-.e 7H
have no vanity, ]. feel sure Of that but no
girl could help feeling yexed to make her first
appearance before person whom she had heard
talked about for the last three, weeks as | had
Mr.. Hampton e knew. atthe,frst glance it was
he,) looking as i did then, my dress mtledya and
wet, and torn by the liiars, my hair half fal-
len down, my face heated, and, worst of al, my
lips and teeth blue as indigo, from the berries
[ had been eating al the morning. -.s- -
Cousin John stood looking on, silent as It's
| ual, but believe in his heart not sorry to see
me looking my ugliest before the stranger
However, L felt greatful to him for putting an
end to the embarrassing scene by carrying Mf.
| Hampton off with hun to the marshes.
| AS soon as they were gone, l ran up to my
own room and had good cry had been
such fool. / might have at least have ex-
planned how [ got my dress SO wet and dirty !;
/ that in trying to take d shorter way home, L
had crossed the brook, and, slipping off one of
/ the stepping stones, fell into the water. But
never think of anything at the right time and
any explanation afterward only makes one ap-
pear ridiculous. 1t was no indication of vanity
certainly, that I tried on that night to make
myself look as well as possible; aud if | did
spend more time than usual in persuading every
peryerse curl to stay in its proper place, it was
surely no More than was required to remove
the unfair impressions of the morning. dread
ed nfeetffsg them again, so waited till tea was
all ready, and then quietly slipping into the
| room was introduced as we sat down to the
table. There was nothing in Mr.. Hamptons
manner to revive my annoyance, but consin
! John gave me comieal look which made me
feel vexed all the evening. Some persons looks
speak SO plainly that they seem to have no need
| of words to express themselves, and cousin John
is evidently of that opinion, if one may Judge
from his sparing use of the organs of speech.
AT that time especially, remember for days
together, it would seem to me that he hardly
spoke ten words but would set there hearing
every word we said, and making his comments
in his own mind 1t is a very provoking way
and used to make me feel 50 constrained that
dare say ! must have appeared very silly and
awkward. But Mr.. Hampton never seemed to
be conscious of it at all, butrattled away, sense
or nonsense as it might happen to be, and GER
tainly made himself very Agreeable. I used to
wonder, when cousin John had said so much to
me of Mr.. Hampton being his friend in college,
and such good fellow, that he did not seem to
! enjoy his visit more 1t could not be envy; for
though Mr.. Hampton was certainly more ele-
CANT in dress and some little matters no one
| could ever be a more true gentleman than cous-
| in John, even in his o7eralls and fafm-boots !;
besides, of course, he must have been glad that
we all liked his friend Whatever might have
been the cause, the fact was that all the time
Mr.. Hampton staid at the farm cousin John
seemed to have taken VOW Of silence, and just
| from common civility was obliged TO exert my
self to supply his deficiencies as far as could,
/ ana do all in my power to entertain his guest,
which N-:as MOI by any means difficult task
for 1 never saw an;;f one more inclined 10 be
pleased, OF more willing to &c bis share in peas
| ing others. ..... ...-
/ One lovely morning as we sat at breakfast
| ian early meal at the farm,) aunt Myra propos-
ed to us to ride over to the old saw-mill-=a
! place which, digniled by some name worthy of
its beauties, might have led some romantic tour
lists many a mile ont OF their way, and have be
come center of attraction to all the seekers OF
the picturesque throughout the country. ,.L
Aunt Myra's proposal met a ready acceptance
from us all. 1t was one Of those bright, breezy
exhilerating mornings when it seems easier 10
do anything than to sit down quietly within
doors, SO We were soon mounted upon such
horses as the firm could furnish ard canterlng
| along, all three abreast; but soon we turned IN
to one of those lovely little wood-roads, where
the trees meet overhead, and our horses feet
make no sound on the soft carpet Of pine leaves
that lie thick on the ground. The rosd was too
narrow for three horses, and cousin john said
he would ride on in front to show us the way
but suppose he remembered that | already
knew it, as he was soon out of sight. ..
! We tried to overtake him but Mr.. Hamp-
tons horse either tired very lazy, for he
; could not make him 60 faster than walk
So it was a long time before we reached the
mill, and we had great deal of conl ersatior
by the way. Mr.. Hampton talked about coun
, try life he said he was tired of the city, ant
thought of buying himself farm somewhere
in the country, and interesting himself in agri
culture, I suggested that in neighborhooc
like ours he would find great lack of society
: but he said, surrounded by such beautiful ma
i ture, he should never want more society thai
: that Of one or two friends, and if he-wha
| more he was going to say, do not know; 70
J, just at that moment my horse gave sudde
! start, and continued to prance and jump 70