Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1859-11-11

spoil their whiskey punch BY squeezing sor
row into it; 'sthe bowl before them" is lit
orally .sturned to tears" Augustus Head
long was not one Of this description; whis
key, or wine, or whatever potation he in
dulged in, affected him only 50 far as to af.
ford him new perception Of the Beautiful
and he always acted on his perceptions with
the greatest promptitude. Occasionally,
perhaps. he saw, as it were, through q
glass dark]y," which accounted for the "a
vorable reception he sometimes met with,
when the beauty he dreamed Of existed only
in his own imagination; but whether he
forgot the lady afterward-which now and
then happened or was sdriven from hel
presence'-which was Of more frequent &C.
currence--the end Of the adventure was al
ways the same, and, at the age of thirty
lfve, Augustus Hesdlong was still nnmar-
ried, and likely to remain so, for ne was
still junior clerk in the Treasury.
After this explanation, It is scarcely nee
essary to observe that Matilda Beddington,
]of whom Augustus soliloqulzed just now,
while in the act of.shaving, was the most
recent mistress Of his affections, and that be
had proposed to her the evening before
But, though he was perfectly aware Of the
fact, it made no difference in the state Of
his appetite. He had become kind of fa-
talist; he felt that he was not the master OF
his own actions, and that to propose to q
young lady after dining with her father was
as inevitable an act as wishing her good
oh II hood ~ fnr
the proposal had been made under circum-
stances which many people would consider
not only extraordinary, but impossible, if no
explanation were offered. It took place on
a tigers back
The circumstances were these:-
Mr.. Beddington, who had four exceed
| ingIy handsome daughters, was passionately
fond Of natural history, and his house was
crammed with preparations" His draw
! ing-roons glittered with the choicest groups
from Williams the library was lined with
cases Of butterflies and other brilliant in
sects; you made your, way into the hall
through forest Of skins and anters; and
| if you threaded the passages without driv-
| ing your boots or elbows into cabinets ell
| ed with horned owls, silver pheasants, and
scarlet ibises. you might consider yourself
very successful pilot. It was q pleasant
house, Notwithstanding, for it abounded in
hooks and corners, and where these are,
and four handsome daughters into the bar
gein, society has many charms. It is q
great mistake fsr marriageable family TO
! live IL a plain, square, regularly shaped,
! mathematicslly built nansion. FiiTtati "a
in such case is cat Of tie question. " here
| there are ne bay windows, daught ers never
60 c1-and without recesses declarations
are almost impossible.
| Mr.. Bedaiagton's mousse aboanded, we
have said. in tLese zacs d'anaour. There
was side tsnt room" Delightfully."- situated
oil "the inner drawing groom" with nice
little escape Of its own into s'the small con
sreryatery, and from thence into the gar
Cen beneath the blank windows. There
was ''the second library" where some Of
the Oldest books and rarest prints were kept,
of which Isabella or Matilda, or Charlotte
or Emily-as the case might e-always
took particular charge. Into this room no
one ever ventured save under the guidance
Of one Or other Of the young ladies'. It had
another recommendation from being sell
dom used, the hinges were stiff, and the
door creaked when anybody tried to open it
from the outside. Then there were passa-
ges which did not, as in many cases, ''lead
to nothing there was always a sortie to
be discovered in some unexpected angle
The House was large, and Mrs. Bedding
ton, thinking, with her accustomed kind
ness Of feeling, that people who wander
about much must occasionally tire them
selves, had considerably caused seats to be
placed wherever there was room. There
was no GLASTONBURY chairs" or solitary
devices Of that kind, ft only for mltred alb
bots to read their breyiaries in-but cholses
lougues that held exactly two, vauseuses
which deserved the name, and ottomans in
profusion.
But the most glorious Of all the upholste-
rer's contriyances was SPLENDID stuffed IT,
ger: whose broad and well-pressed back in :
vited rest where it stood, behind one Of the
discreetest and most useful portieres that
ever shut out observation. Nobody who
passed near the portiere would by any chance
have suspected that it served any other pur-
pose than that of keeping out q troublesome
draugh5 and making everything snug with
in. Indeed, it answered the latter object
capitally, for nothing could be snugger than
the individuals who ensconced themselves on
the right side Of it. In the daytime, when
its folds were partially drawn, you saw a
passage opening upon side-door, by which
you might enter the large conservatory
but it was not the usual mode ofaccess, and
therefore, when evening came, and the por-
there was closed, very small lamp, which
shed very dim ray, was hung up just to
prevent accident in case anybody incaatious-
~ Wer... lnau way.
IF that tiger could have related its ezpe-
rienccs since it first became a settee, its
revelations wculd have filed goodly vol
ume. It could have told every syllable Of
the Irritation between Miss Isabella Bed
dington and young Fitzarthur Of the Ian
GERS, which terminated SO unexpectedly in
his marriage with her dearest friend, Caro-
line Radfor1, with whom he ran away, and
about which she was ''wretched for life, :
till the same tiger heard the vows Of Mr.
Prettyman, the owner Of the Zephyr yach
and three thousand year, breathed over i
about a fortnight afterward, when another
Theseus consoled the fair Ariadne, who
not to run another risk, consented on tht
SPOT. It could have given the only true &C
: 4, ~, ~. ro1 botyuaan Mice ithar MI