The Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1861-1862, 1861-11-09
DON'T PRoPosB IN THE DARK..7,

DON'T PRoPOsE m THE DARK
The pretty square farm house, standing al
the corner near Kilbes lane (for the first
phrase, although giving by far the closest pic.
TUE Of the place, does, it must be confessed
look rather Irish) and where the brook winds
away by another land, until it spreads into
river-like dignity, as it meanders through the
sunny plain of Hartly common, and finally
disappears amidst the green recesses of Peree
wood-that square farm house, half hidden
by the tall elms in the flower court before it,
with the spacious garden and orchard behind,
and the extensive barn, yards and outbuild-
ings, so completely occupies one of the angles
formed by the crossing of the lane and the
stream--that pretty farm house contains one
Of the ,happiest and most prosperous families
lin Aberleigh-the large and thrying family
lpf Farmer Eyans.$ 49, u tx e
Whether from skill or from good fortune
or, as is most probable, from a very lucky
mixture of both--everything goes right on his
great farm. His crops are the best in the par
ish; his hay is never spoiled ; his cattle never
die; his servants never thieve; his children
are never ill. He buys cheap and sells dear
monsy gathers upon him like snow ball.
and yet, in spite Of all this provoking and in
tolerable prosperity, everybody loves Farmer
Evans. He Is so hospitable, so good natured
so generous and so homely
There, after, all, lies the charm. Riches
have not only not spoilt the man, but they
have not altered him. He is Just the
same in look, and word and way, that he
irkx xuha g.
with two sorry horses, a COW and three
pigs, began the world at Dean Gate,
little bargain of twenty miles of. Ay, and
his wife is the same woman THE same fru-
gal, tidy, industrious, good natured Mrs. Evans
so noted for her activity in tongue and limb,
her good looks and her plain dressing as
frugal, as good natured, as plain dressing is
Mrs. Evans at forty-fve as she was at nine
teen, and in a different way, almost as good
looking.
The children six boys as Farmer Evans
promiscuously calls them, whose ages vary
from eight to twenty, and three girls, two
grown up, and one the youngestof the family
are Just what we might expect from pa
rents who are SO simple and so good. The
young men, intelligent and we'll conduct
ed; the boys, docile and promising and
the little girl as pretty a little curly headed,
rosy-cheeked roppet as ever was the pet and
plaything of large family. 1t is however,
with the eldest daughters we have to do. 81
Jane and Patty Evans were as much alike
as hath ever befalleu any two sisters not born
at one time for, in the matter of twin chill
dren there has been a series of puzzles ever
since the days of the Dromois. Nearly of
an age, q believe at this moment both are
turned nineteen, and neither has reached
twenty,) exactly of a stature, ESQ high that
Friedrich the Great would have coveted them
for his tall regiment with hazel eyes, large
mouths, full lips white teeth, brown hair,
clear, healthy complexion, and that sort of
nose which is neither Greek nor Roman, nor
aqualine, nor ce petit nez set,ousse that some
persons prefer to them all, but nose which,
moderately prominent, and sufficiently well
shaped, is yet as far as | know, anonymous,
although it be perhaps as common and as well
looking a feature as is to be seen on an Eng
lish face Altogether, they were pair Of
tall and comely maidens, and being constantly
attired in garments of the same color and
fashion, looked at all times so much alike,
that no stranger ever dreamed OF knowing
them apart and even their acquaintance were
rBther accustomed to speak and think of them
generally as the Eva1lses,' than as the sepa-
rate individuals Jane and Patty. Even those
who did pretend to distinguish the one from
the other, were not exempt from mistakes,
which the sisters-Patty especially delighted
in the fun so often produced by the unusual
resemblance-were apt to favor by changing
places in a walk, or slipping from one side to
the other at q country tea-party, or playing a
hundred innocent tricks, to occasion at once a
grave blunder and merry laugh. '''r#
Old Dinah Goodwin, for instance--who,
being rather purblind, was Jealous of being
suspected of seeing less clearly than her
neighbors, and had deied even the Evanses to
puzzle her discenn1eat- in vain on
Patty's hand the cut finger which she had
dressed on James, ascribed the incredible cure
to her own Incompatible salve; and could
hardly be undeceived, even by the pulling off
of James glove and the exhibition of the lac
Grated digital sewed round by her own band
age. Young George Kelly, too, the greatest
beau in the parish, having bet at a Christmas
party that he would dance with every pretty
girl in the room, lost his wager, which Patty
into her sisters place, and persuading her to
join her own unconscious partner; SO that
George danced twice with Patty and not at all
with Jane. A bantering piece ofmalice which
proved, as the young gentleman "a rustic OK
quisite of the first water)' was pleased to as
sert, that Miss ,Patty}w not displeased with
her partner. How little does vain man
know of womankind.G If she had liked him,
she would not have played the trick for the
mines Of Golconda. In short, from their
school days, when Jane was chidden for Pats
ty's bad work, and Patty slapped for, James
bad spinning, down to onthis their prime of
womanhood, there had been no end to the
confusion produced by this remarkable in
stance of family likeness.
And yet nature--who sets some mark of
individuality upon even her ineanest pfoduc-
tons, making some .unneted difference be-
tween the lambs dropped from one eve the
robins bred in one nest, the flowers growing
on one stalk, and the leaves hanging on one
tree-hath not left these maidens without one
great and permanent distinction--a natural
and striking dissimilarity of temper. Equak
ly,industrious, affectionate, happy and kind;
eachewas kind, happy, affectionate, and indus
trious,iin a. different way. Jane was grave,
Patty was, gay. 4 IF H3you heard laugh or a
song, be suretitswas Patty; she who jumped
the sile, when Gherb sister opened the gate,
was FATTY; she who ichased the pigs from the
garden, as merrily as if she were running Ia
race, so that the tpigsqdid not mind her, was
Patty. On the other hand, she that so cares
fully was making, with its own 9rayelled
threads, an invisible darn in hersmother'g
handkerchief and was hearing her sister read
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