The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1860-10-18

proW ciouucu lltlle, us ul'ucc narrated
her adventures, her conquests, and the
hearts she had broken, Perhaps she
thought of the school master. OF
course, they must make u party Tor
Grace, and let her get acquainted with
the young people Of the neighborhood /;
and so preparations began in earnest
at the old red house.
Annic's delicate hands were busy
from morning till night, compromising
the incest Of pics, the lightcst Of cakes,
! the most delicious creams and custardS :;
while her mother assisted in the more
solid preparations, and even Grace, be-
ing seized with Il desire to assist, beat
eggs all the morning, and trimmed up
the front room in the afternoon, urcat
punches Of gay autumn flowers were
scattered round the room, with back
grounds Of leathcry asparagus, and
wrcaths OF messy colorcd leaves were
drapcd round the curtains and the old
fashioned plcturcs in their wooden
frames. The preparations in the kitch-
en were ut last complete so were the
preparations in the paror--and notn-
ing was left hut for the girls to prepare
themselves Old Mrs Gray had drcs-
scd in her black silk gown and ut 1
o'clock in the afternoon she sat down in
the parlor to await the event.
Evening came; and Grace was radi.
ant in delicate silk, aud Annie lovely
in II spotted musin-cach with bunch
es OF flowers twisted in their hair. The
schoolmaster was introduced to Miss
Grace, and requested to see that she
enjoyed herself, rs Miss Annie had so
many things to attend to. And he tul-
filled his duty SO WELL that she not on
~ enjoyed herself, but he enjoyed him
selt--was almost dangerously haopy,
baskiny in the light Of her wicked
black eyes. And al parties seemed
very well satisfied with the arrange
mcnt except the one who had mad,
it; and Miss Annie could only bam,
herself for having sug- estcd it, an,
kept repeating to herself
81 did not ask him not to speak tc
any one else, nor let her do 50; dio
not say he should not speak to me at
al durin, the tvcnins. | should think
he would at least ASK me to dane,
once and various other complaints
such as amy girl would have made lc
herself
The evening closed, and the school
master went away with the rest, hold
ing Miss Graces hand in his Il Ions
time at the door, and parting with An
ME with only II careless, 'Good-ni- Int
Dame burden.
The girls cnt up to their room, anc
Annie sat down and untwistcd hen
dark brown hair, while the great
tears fell upon her hand'.
at will be just as | thought saiJ
she to herself. ale will love hcr--in
deed, how can he help it, when she i:
so beautiful; and he will never thinI
again of poor, homely Annie Gray
And | foolish enough to think that b,
liked me, too, before she came here
and he kissing me in the barn--thc
scamp. He was only making fun ot
me I'll let him know that Annie
urcv doesn't care Il rush for him. Let
him have Grace, fhc wants her; dc
not care.
But if she didn't care, why did the
warm tears continue to triclllc down
her checks, and the big Sighs to leave
her heart All, that was an innocent
little tib, Aunic Grey. You know yol
did care all the time hope such tib,
are not set down by the recording an
gel. Did you ever stand by, aud quiet
" see another woman steal away yOul
lover? Dd you ever watch them, day
by day, as they walked before you, arm
in-arm, and his head bent close to hers
What did you think Of, as you saw
them sitting together, at little dis,
tance, just out of hearing, and, nppa-
rently, engaged in the most interesting
conversation? Did you not sigh Il lit.
tie, us you saw them standing together
out under the moonlight, her hand III
his, and his voice whispering low and
soft in her ear? Dill you ever strike
your hand against your heart, aud al
most wish il would cease its bcatlngs,
as you saw them ridcoif together, look
ing so joyful and happy while you
were lett at home with your loneliness!
If YOU know anything about such
things, you can pity Annie Grey, for
what she endured in the next few
weeks. There were nutting.cxcur-
sions. and rides, and pic.nics, and troll
les, and to all Of these, George Brooks
attended Grace, and devoted himself to
her in manner which left him no time
tor anything but common civility to
any other. True, once in II while he
sat down by Annie, aud talked in the
old, careless, pleasant way, and made
her heart beat very quickly again but