The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1860-05-05
YrsE Tie As,ak.ie xcnskiy
rHE PURSUIT OF KN0wLEpGs UNDER
DIFFICULTIES
"Mr. Geer %

a -
~ warm appreciation Of Mrs. Gers social
charms; bus the enormi,y Of the dfence will
bs greatly modified by . brief rsvew Of the
attending circumstances. II 70, will but
consider that the cracking Of bur,iDg wood
in 3 huge Franklin stove is ssrosyy scporiic
in its tendsncies,-that the CUSHION Of ca
pacious arm chair, constructed and adjusted
as il with . single eye to . delicious dose,
nay, TO long succession Of doses, is a pow
| erfu! temptation 10 q sleepy soui.-tbat the
regular, and, il must be confessed, some
what monosonous click, click, click d Mrs.
Geer's knitting. needles only serv ed to meas
ure, vithou, disturbing the silence, - and,
lastly, tha. they had been husband and wife
for thirty years,-you will not cease to won
der that Mr. Geer
o'a all the lis Of lie vissesious."
To mos, men, an interruption At such
| si.s ~esId hayA been particularly annazr
/ ing; bu. when Mrs. Gser spoke IN that way,
I Mr. Geer, asl.ep or awake, always made
point Of hearing; so hs reused simself, and
turned his round, honest faos ana placid
bius syss on the partner OF bis bosom, who
"Mr. G..r, our Ivy viii bs seventeen,
come fall"
"Possible9" replied Mr. Gsr. "Who'd
"a thunk it 7"
Mr. Geer, as you may infer, vas eminently
free thinker, or rather a free actor, in
respect to irregular verbs. Ia fact, he tyr
annized over all parts Of speech: wrested
nouns and verbs from their original shape,
sill You could hardly recognize their distort-
ed faces; and committed that next worst
sin to numbering ones mother, namely
numbering ones mother. tongue, with an
abandon that was absolutely fascinating.
Having delivered his opinion thus senten-
| tiously, hs at once subsided. closed his pla-
! cid eyes, and retired into his inner world of
thought, perhaps. s
! "Mr. Gser :"
This time he fairly jumped from his seat,
and cast about him scared, blinking eyes.
| 'Mr. Geer, how can you sleep away your
! precious time SO p"
! Sleepp liam sure, l was never
wider awake in my life."
swell, then, tell me what said"
"Said? Eh,-eh,-someshing about Ivy,
wasn't i,f"
And Mr.. Geer nervously twisched up the
skirts Of his coat, and replaced his awry
cushion, and began to think that perhaps,
after all, he had been asleep. But Mrs.
/ Geer was too much interested in the subject
Of her own cogita,ons to pursue her VIC
| tory farther; so che answered.
"Yes, and what IS a.going to become OK
! her 20 ~
"Lud, lud What's the matterf' asked
Mr.. Geer, wildly.
/ "MIatter? WHY, she'll be seventeen, come
fall and doesn's know thing"
| 80 Lud that all? That amt nothin'."
| And Mr.. Geer settled comfortably down
/ into his arm-c chair once more. He felt de-
cidediy relieved. Visions Of smallpox,
cholera, and throat dis.emper, the worst
evils that he could think Of and dread for
his darling, had been conjured up by his
| wife's words; and when he found the reai
state of the case, a great burden, which had
suddenly fallen on his heart, was Us sud
denly lifted.
"Bu, tell you it is something" contn-
ued Mrs. Geer, energetically. ''lvy is 'most
woman, and has never been ten miles from
fhoms in her life, and to 40 school but our
little district''-----
"And she's as park a gall" interrupted
| Mr.. Gcer, "as any you'll find in all the ten
miles round be the other who she will"
| "She's we'll enough in her way" replied
Mrs. Geer, in all the humility of motherly
pride; "and 40 much the more reason why
/ she shouldn't be let 60 so. There's MIR.
| bingham sending his great logy girls to
Miss Porter's seminary. | wonder II he
| expects they'll ever turn out anything.)
! And here's our Ivy, bright as button, and
/ you full well able to maintain her Ike
/ lady. and have done nothing for her but
| turn her out to grass all her life, till she's
/ fairly run wild. declare it's shame. She
ought to be sent to school to- morrow"
/ " Nonsense, Sally! nonsensel | ant
"a goiu' TO have no such doin's. Sha'nt 60
/ of to school. Whnt's the use havin' her, II
she can't stay at home with US? Let Mr..
bingham send his gals to Chlny, il he wants
! to. All the book -larnin' in the world won't
make 'em equal to our Ivy with only her
head. don't want her 60 60 to ge'tln' up
. high falutin' notions. She's all gold now.
/ Sha'n't bulge an inch. Sha'nt STIR
step"
! '.Bus do consider, Mr.. Geer. the child has
rot to leave us some time. We cant have
/ her always"
"why can't we?" exclaimed Mr.. Gser,
almost fereely. z
"Sure enouShl Why can't we9 There
ant nobody besides you and me, SUPPOSE,
+ that thinks she's park. What's John Her
rieks and Dan Norris hangin' round Tor al
/ the timer"
"And they may hang round ill shs COW.
come homel Nary hair Of fvyss head shall
| they touch, nary one on 'em !"
| Just at this iuncture OF affairs, the dsmsei
| in question bounded into the rsom. .4r
"Came here, Ivy" said the old man;
"your mothers been q s.anasrin' you; says
Won anrst knox nhehjrff -
! lvy knelt before him, rested her Arms on
his knees, and turned upon him PAIR OF
pslpshly roguish eyes.
/ /" Father. il /, an awful SANDER. l do
know a sight" 5E7@s
"Lud. child, yes knew ycu did. No
more you don't wan, 10 marry John Her
rrcks. do youg" as
i "Oh, DADDY Gesr o-h-h'
! "Nor Dan Norris? nor meme Of 'sm -
"Nsver a one, father"
"Nog don't you eycr think Of gestin' mar
RED aud .lsvin' yourself out for nobody.
( I'm plenty vel! able 10 take care OF you, as
/ leug as live. You'il never live so happy
y. you do at home; aud you'll break my
4 heart 20 90 away, Ivy"
an never 20. papa" (Shs pronounced
it With the accent on the first sylisole.l
{ "lndecd. never will. Iii never be mar
ried as long a, ii~e."
"No more you shan't, good child, scod
child ~
And again Farmer Gesy besook himself
TO the depths Of his arm chair, with sne
camrlaeeut consciousness Of having fatn-
fully discharged his rass-ras duties. "sss
should no, 20 to school. SAe would rot es
married. She had sid she would not, ana
Of course she would not" .s-zs
"ot course shall not" rnused iVr, -
she las in her white bed. "Wha' ecnh rus
is into poor papa. heaa7 Marry Jean Her
riek., With his everlasting suasrS. and DIS
d;ddling walk, aud take care Of al the ter .
ricSs' SISTERS aud mothers and aaass. ana
shs HeTricks' cows and horses and rSgs-
ana--heus us-aai--ans. -
Bot Ivy bad kept her ,hoagass on her
marriage ienser than ever before 10 hss
ETA .ri ere shs lad srfshsd ths inge1scry