Litchfield enquirer., 1861-07-25
4tlisfcila,lp.
JOHNS WIFE.

was sitting the other evening with ny friend John Ht his owil dinnpr-talli. His vile had just left u: to our cu!,tc--ritiler ot Us dllni, m,l;.!! wine-and We Were both muslng luas,nt- ly ,ts men are apt to do ;itcra good dE"er. All at once 1 thought of Johns wiic-a right pleas ant srl,iect-wi.. n- ,..;L hf.~ i-i jtt i~f. us. l suppose she wento hush the uproar ot her hieSsnh baby.
 /. most lu,able woniaii is Johns wife with d pretty name-- \ ely, and an eye "s clear is a trout-hruok and d face su full of beautiful hrn or and truth that 1 never tire of looking at it, and find some new charm every time l lock and yet dare not look save with honest thoughts. had known her but a short time, and Was curl- ous about her history so l said to John quite suddenly:
 "John, where did you get your wife,"
 "What ?' said John, starting from his reverie.
 My dear fellow, do not wish to pllfer any of your heart but really would like to know something of the wooing and winning of such a noble spouse as your own. l hope l don't in trude "
 My friend John is methodical young fellow. With a heart as tender as girls he unites an intellect as keen and certain as a Damascus blade; while he has dreams of purple poesy, he is very exact and straightforward in action. He is therefore, very successful business lawyer Tn Wall-street whereas some of his friends, who knew only the romantic side of his character, thought him promising recruit for enlistment in the shoe back-seraph army of poor-devil authors. In reply to my last question, John pulled out his watch, looked at it carefully, put it back in his pocket and said
 "We have half an hour to spare. l will tell you something of my courtship. You will ex- cuse me if the story sounds egotstical, for you and I Will are one in feelinr
 l was seventeen when l entered college, so that had grown to be quite man, in feeling at least, when my class reached the dignity of Junior year. used to try desperately to be a great student, for my sisters sake more espe- cially but some how could never make myself Q satisfactory book worm. Don't you think book-worms are great humbugs? l know that if you ransack an old library, you will find many ot the more ancient volumes sadly gnawed by u sort of worms from which 1 suppose our literary grubs get their name. Now good honest peo- pie have thought these worms were a sort of lit erary ghouls crawling and digging among thought-sepulchres, and gorgng themselves with the exhumed literary remains, long after their cousins, the skn-worms, have devoured the poor authors bodies But modern entomologists, have, am told, discovered that these worms know nor care very little about etymology, syn tax or prosody; that they are not the literary gourmands they have been reckoned i; that they do not dine off mathematics and history, peck at poetry for dessert, and take a snug siesta in the corner of treatise on metaphysics. It seems that they eat only the covers of books, and that for the sake of the leather, for which they have fondness inordinate, much prefer ring calf, sheep, or turkey binding to the intel lectual bill-of-fare aforesaid 1 think the same mistake has been in vogue with respect to book worms, metaphorically so called. Honest folks have thought that they really gormandize books that their life is an intellectual dinner, with each course course of reading. This, my dear friend, take to be mistake. Like their n!raamesakes, !ra they only gnaw the covers of books .ney gorge themselves with husks and leave the sing. 'f'''' f'''
 One line day in October of my ,Jun;or vear I was lying stretched out in one of the cnsI;on,ad windows of the college-library, pharisacallv thanking Heaven that was not a hooL |n".nS9 and reading Coleridges 'Biographia Iiterer;a n
 q thought then that understood that Gtaran, work,) when of sudden the door onened anS in trooped small battalion of beles and hoo did not notice them especially, for it was on;tf common for parties of visitors to come on CoI lege- Hill to view the libraries and cabinets and as we sometimes fattered ourselves, to see tn, students. So read on for few moments when, as the party approached where was seat ed, looked up to see whether the girls wer pretty (for hold it as proper and instructive t, look at and admire every pretty woman on meets, as to study every. fine landscape one ma chance to see. Why should we go stare at cat aracts, and sun-rises and paintings, and neye