Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-02-01
SnistelIann.
THE KISS BY MISTAKE.

THE KISS BY MISTAKE.
"Will you be at home tonight, Hct
typ" and the speaker, tall, muscula
well-looking young farmer, Redeemed t
the very roots of his hair, as though h
had committed some very wicked act in
stead of asking simple question.
He was bashful, extremely SO, was 10
siah Hawly; at least, in the presence 0
young ladies; most of. ALL in the pres
ence of the girl he loved. No youn
farmer in all the country possessed
better kept farm, or talked with NOR
j confidence among his compeers, of stocl
and crops, and on kindred subjects
But the glimpse of some pretty face, o
foot, coming in his direction, affecte,
him like fash Of lightning. On sucl
occasions he never knew what to do will
his hands and eyes; and always felt lik
screwing himself into a mouse hole
How he ever contrived to approach Hes
ter Thomas on the subject of his prefer
ence for her, probably remains to thi
day as much mystery to himself as i
is to others.
But that young lady had quite al
am punt of tact and cleverness stowet
away somewhere in her pretty little
head, albeit, it was set on the dimpled
inexperienced shoulders Of seventeen
Josiah was worth, in worldly way
much more than any of her other suit
ors good looking, and intelligen
enough to satisfy any but an over tas
tidious person = unexceptionable, IL
short, bearing his excessive bashfulness
which was fruitful source of merrl
ment among the young people III theil
little circle. And so when Josiah, II
his awkward, laundering way, began tc
| exhibit his preference for het III various
little ways, such as waiting on her tc
and from singing school, constituting
himself her escort when she rode OF
horseback to the solitary church IN the
woods, and singing her out at quilting
! parties, Hetty took it all in the easiest
pleasantest manner possible. The girls
laughed, and the young men cracked
sly jokes at the expense of her timid
suitor; but Hetty stood up for him very
independently-encouraged him out Of
his shyness-never noticed any unfor-
tuhate blunder; and very likely helped
him along considerably when his feel
ings reached the ''culminating point, -
one moon lighted autumn evening, as
they were walking home together from
prayer meeting.
That was just week ago Hettty
had said Yes and agreed to bring
father and mother around on the subject.
Josiah had not been to the house since
probably feeling very much ike dog
venturing upon the premises Of the per-
son whose sheep-fold he has just plum
&ered. AS yet neither had bad the
courage to speak to the ''reigning pow
ers'' on the subject; and Hetty feeling
as if she wished to put the ordeal of as
loRg as possible, at any rate to have one
more confidential talk with him on the
subject, said:
Mother is going ever to Aunt Ruth S
to spend the evening, and wants me to
go; but | guess | won't. I've been
working on fathers shirts all day, be-
sides doing the dairy work, and I'm as
tired as can be. SO I guess they'll have
to go without me. Don't come until
eight o'clock I shall be through put
ting things to rights then and will let
you ia,
Of course, Josiah was not too abtuse
to understand that, and forgot his bash
fulness SO far as to petition for good
by kiss, which was peremptorily refused,
of course.
"No, L shan't Do take yourself off.
Think I didn't see you idgeting around
Sarah ones at Deacon Badgers yester-
day evening? I've not forgotten that,
sir!'
SHOW, Hetty--"
But the appeal was broken off by a
tantalizing little laugh, and as he sprang
forward to take pleasant revenge on
his tormentress, she slipped away and
ran up the path to the house, where he
saw her wave her hand as she disap-
peared within the kitchen porch, and
then he turned from the gate and took
the road houeward.
The tea things had been carried out,
the table set back against the wall, the
crumbs brushed from the clean home
ma lie carpet, and Hetty's work stand
drawn up in front of the blazing fire
A bountifully piled waiter of great
red apples, and a plate of cracked wal
nuts were on it, in close proximity to
Hetty's work basket.
On one side of the fire sat Mrs.
Thomas, fat and fair, and at peace with
all the world; rocking and knitting, and
refreshing herself at sundry intervals
with bite from ha!f-eaten apple that
lay on the corner of the table, and touch
ing every now and then in caressing
manner with her foot sleek, lazy look
ing cat that purred and winked on the
rug before her Hetty sat on the other
side, sewing, and busy in thinking how
she should tell mother that she expected
visitor. She would have given the
world to be able to say, in an off-hand
manner, that she expected Mr.. Hawley
to drop in about eight. But sne recol-
lected with twinge of conscience, how
hard she had tried to get the old lady
to accompany her husband to Aunt
Ruth's, spite of her forewarnings of
spell of neuralgia; how she had also
plead headache as an excuse for not 60
ing herself. And she knew her mother
was quite sharp enough to draw her own
differences from these facts, and from her
hainp dressed with unucual coro to srorI
an evening at home.
II shall not dare to tell her no,o.-
She'll be sure to think l wanted to
get her out of the way so 1 might have
Josiah all TO myself, and l should never
hear the last of it." And like a wise
little n1,cc clio ,rar c;lont