Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1860-06-21
8 pleasant gtory.
CID SWEETEEARTS.
BY ANDREW HALLIDAY.

When old Aunt Patterson used to tell me,
as We sat together by her parlor fire, that
she gas once very pretty girl, and that
all tie lads of the village were over head
and ears in love with her, 7 wondered very
muca. [ should mention that was very
small boy then. Looking up from the foot
stootson which l was accustomed to sit, at
aunty's wrinkled brow, her sunken cheeks
and iaosely-approximating nose and chin, l
could not realise to my imagination the pic
tufe-which she painted of herself "when she
was young" She was a pretty girl then,
she said, with blue eyes and bunch of
fax4sa curles hanging down her back for all
theWorld like blossom Of luxuriant laba-
rum4ree. There was picture Of just such
a gii1 III aunty's parlor, which aunty said
was . picture of herself at the age of seven.
1t n&ver occurred to me, or indeed to any
one sise who knew her, to doubt aunty' S
word. But how could [ believe that old
Auisy Patterson had ever been anything
like shat? The girl in the picture had rosy
cheeks, and over her shoulders flowed pro-
fusi IN of haxen curls, which were now re-
pressnted by brown wig with anaunnatur-
Z. e bite and well l-defned parting In,her
ls5d 1and, the ciifid iis.d an appis as rosy
as her own cheeks. Oft, as sat at aunty's
feet, would I look up at those dimples, and
wonderingly compare them with the blue
veins of the shriveed hand which I held in
mine. What evil genie wrinkled that da-
mask cheek, and dimmed those brilliant
eyes? All knew not then what potent
magician is Time. Aunty's story was like
fairy-tale to me.
Side by side with the picture of 'rosy
checks" there hung another; it was that of
a handsome young man with bright, dark,
piercing black eyes and curl y black hair
And thereby hung another Of aunty's tales.
That was picture of Robert Alison, who
went to South America fve-and thirty years
ago" Robert and were old sweethearts, :"
aunty used to tell me: che was poor, my
dear, and rather wild, and my father would
not consent to our marriage. It nearly
broke nay heart, for [ loved Robert very
dearly, and | am sure he loved me. He
took my fathers repeated denals so much
to heart that he resolved to leave the coun-
try. 81 will so to South America, Lizzy,"
ne said, make a fortune and come back and
marry you. Your father will not object to
my marrying you when am rich. [ cried
bitterly, you may be sure; for, as I said, I
loved Robert dearly. We'll, Robert carried
out his resolution. I got up one morning
before it was light, and met him at the old
bridge, to bid him goodbye. was so fur
ricd on leaving the house, for fear that my
father should awake and discover. my pur-
pose, that [ forgot to put on my bonnet :;
and | remember that, as ran, the wind
blew my curls about SO that if any person
had seen me they must have thought me
mad. But nobody was up SO. early. l
found Robert waiting for me on the old
bridge. After a few hurried words, we
parted but before he left me, he begged
lock of any hair remem brance against the
time when he should return and claim me
for his bride. | had plenty of hair to give
him, and was right willing to cut it off with
nothing but Roberts pen-knife But
Love laughs at scissors-malers my dear, as
well as a lockslniths; and Robert laid one
OF my curls upon his walking stick, and just
whitfield it off; and then L took off one of
Ai'' i'i VIZ ""iiiN H"J L ol't hob dO ~
SO neatly, and made Robert cry out little.
[ could have laughed if my heart had not
been so full. | stood on the bridge watch
ing him until he was out of sight among the
trees, and then [ went back home, crying
all the way"
[ dare say aunty told me this story score
of times, and always in the glooming Of the
evening, between the lights. But she never
carried her early history beyond the parting
on the bridge. All the romance ended there
What followed was prosaic enough. Aunty
waited several years for Robert without
hearing any news of him and, at length,
him dead, she married Mr.. Grain
ger, the iron-founder-porc | believe to
please her father than herself
At the end Of twenty years Mr.. Granger
died, and left aunty very well oH,-so well
of, indeed, that when the time for mourn
ing was out she was beseiged by dozens Of
suitors. Aunty resisted them all for long
time, and remained widow until she met
my Uncle Patterson: whom she took for bet