Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1861-04-12
FRIDAY, APRIL l2. 1861.
MIS- Gel. Ian Y.
KISSED BY MISTAKE.

! "N you W ~ "'"" w '"'b"'' "V'y
and the speaker. = tall. muscular, we'll
looking farmer. reddened to tho roots Of hi
hair, q. though he bad committed some yer!
wicked act, instesd Of asking . simple ques
ton.
lie was bashful. extremely 90. vas 10
-iah llawlcy at least in the presence o
young ladies. most Of all In the presence o.
the girl he loved. NJ youp. farmer In all
tho country possessed better KEEP, farm
or talked with more confidence among hi'
comp.crs Of stock and crop. and on KIN
drcd subjects. But the glimpse OF som'
pretty face or FOO, coming In h's direction,
affected him like fash Of lightning. On
such occasions he never knew what 10 do
with his hand. and eyes. and hc always ieli
like scrcwing him.eli into mouse hole
How he ever con,rised 20 approach Hester
Thomas on the suhjec, of his preieren:c Tor
her. probably remains a. much mystery
10 himslf as It is 10 Others.
Bu, the young lady had quite an amour,
of tao, and clevernrss stowed away some.
where in her pretty little head. albei, !, was
SC, on the dimplcd inexperienced shoulders
o. scvet teen. Josiah va. worth. in q
worldly way moET than any OF her sui,ors |:
good looking and intelligent, enough 10 sat.
i.iy any one bot an over fa.,idiou'; uneI.
cspiinnabla in short. barring h. extreme
b,shfulnest which was a fruitful source Of
merrimen, TO the young people in their lit.
tie circle. And 50. when JOSIAH. in his
awkward. blunderine way, began 10 cihib
IL his preference for her IN various little
ways. such n. waiting on her TO and from
singing school. constituting himself her 60
pecial e.cor, when she rode on horseback to
the solitary church in the woods, aud sing
ling her out a, quilting piriic., lle,iy took
l, all in the ca.ie-, plca.ante', m'nuer po..
.iblc. The girl. laughed. and the young
men cracked Ely pkes a, the expense OF her
,imid sul,or; bu, Ilc,,y ..ood up Tor him
very ini, ,pend,ntly-encnuriscd him ou. OF
hi. .hyncs--nevsr noticed anv unfortunate
blundcr-and very likely helped him along
considerable when his feeling. reached" the
eliminating point" one moonlight, autumn
evening. as they were walking home iogeih-
er from prayer.mcetins.
That was a week ago. Iletiy had 'aid
" Ye,." and agreed to {" bring father and
mother round on the -ubiect." JOSIAH had
no, been 10 the house .ince-likcly feelin:
very much like dog senruring upon the
premises OF person whose .heepijld hs la.
plundertd. 4. yet neither bad had the
courage to speak To tho " re'gn'ng powers ."
on the subject and lefty. feeling a. II she
wished To put the ordeal OF a. long a' poe
-,blc. at any rate - have one more eonhden.
tial talk on the .nbi,ct. with him, said
Mother is going over to Aunt Ruth.
u spend the evening. and wants ms to go
but guess wont. I've bcen working
on fathers shirt. all day, besides doing the
dairy work. aud am a. tired ss I can tc-
50 | guess they will have q 60 withou, me.
DOn't come until eight o'clock. shall be
through pu,,ins things to rights then. and
and will let you IN"
OF cours, josiah was no, too ob,usc 20
understand that. and - far forgot hs bash.
iaIness as to petition fOr a good by ki-s.
which was peremp,orIly refused.
"No. shan't Do take yourself oa.
Think d'dn't see YOU 6isc,uns round
Sarah Jone. ut Deacon Bangor. yesterday
evening" I've no, forgotten that. sir
Nov. lle,,y-"
Bu, the appeal wa. broken oa by an's-
lining little laugh. and {. he 'prane for.
ward to ,okc plea.ans revenge on his tor
men,re-,, she slipped away and ran up the
path TO the house. where he saw her wave
her hand as she disappeared within the
kitchen porch; and then be turned from
the gate and took the road hopewari.
The tea things had been carried out, the
table %, back against the wall. the crumbs
brushed OF from the clean, house. made car.
pet. and !letty'. works,and drawn up in
front of the blazing FIRE. A beautiful piled
plate Of srca, red apples and plate Of
cracked walnut. were on il, IN close proI.
unity to lieuy's wors.basket.
On ono side Of the FIRE sat Mrs. Thomas,
fit and fair. at peace with all the world I;
rocking and knitting, ani refreshing her.
-eli at sundry intervals with bite from n
half eaten apple that lay on the corner oi
the table, and touching now and then, IN
a ,arrcssing manner, with her foot, sleek
lazy lookin; cat that purred and worked on
the other side. Iletty Was sewing and
thinking how she should tell her mother
she expected visitor. She would have civ.
en- the world to be able TO say. 10 an of.
hand manner. ,ha, she expected Mr.. Ilaw.
ley to drop in about eight. But sho recol.
lected with a twipgs Of conscience, how
hard she had tried to get the old lady to
accompany her husband to Aunt Ruth's,
spite her warning. Of spell Of neuralgia ;
how che had also plead headache a' an CT.
cuse for no, going herself And che knew
her mother VA. quite sharp enough to
draw her own inference from these facts,
and from her being dressed with UNUSUAL
care to spend an evening at home.
81 shall not dare 10 tell her now. She'll