The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-04-26
PrsA Chamber JsuFaHi.
The Principal BearAeF.

thought she was serving her country, but
think she believes herself somehow enti-
tied to public gratitude for condescending
to remove to Barnsbury and take in board.
ers, when my uncle died, after buying Q
West.end practice, and left her q discon.
solate widow, with two maiden sisters and
his orphan niece.
Each Of the sisters-their names were
Miss Charlotte and Sophia Singleton-had
q few hundreds vested in the Five Per
Cents, on the interest Of which they lived,
and exerted themselves to get of. The
niece, little Bessy SOmers, should have had
. lew hundreds too; but the late doctor
being her guardian, had thought proper to
invest them in his West.end practice, with
solemn vows &Nd promises made to him
self that they should be gathered out Of
il, and laid up against her wedding day.
Death had given him no time for the fulfil.
ment of these good intentions, but heSa&
on his wife q stringent obligation, in re-
turn for his making her his sole heiress,
that she would take care Of and provide
for Bessy.
My respected aunt always declared that
the legacy consisted Of nothing but old
furniture and cracked china. She kept
fast hold OF it, however, and made great
efforts to roll the annexed responsibility
off her own shoulders, and on those of the
doctors relations but having tried his
brothers, his sisters, his uncles, his aunts,
his first and second cousins, without sue.
cess 10y the way, she and the whole tribe
were sworn enemies ever after), Mrs. So.
mers took the advice Of her friends, re-
moved to. Barnsbury with her encumbered
estate, l&seA x hNSHse'i IN NnoUnlloro Place,
and took under her boardings wings a Sc
lect constituency, who were to form one
family, and enjoy the comforts of a happy
home.
They consisted, first, Of myself-oDe
likes to begin with the person highest in
ones esteem. was an apprentice then
with certain city Optician; and my father
and mother, honest people, thought my
morals and manners would be safe in my
aunt's house. Secondly, there were the
Misses Singleton; thirdly, the widow Of a
cOaSt-guard lieutenant, who called herself
Mrs. Captain Browne and fOurthly, Mr..
Simington, an East India merchant, who
was believed to have made his fortune long
ago. and to keep business in Leadenhall
Street, by way Of occupying his spare
time.
The boarders being select, were not nu-
merous; moreover, they had the advantage
of being, every soul, more or less related
to the mistress Of the establishment; for
Mrs. Captain Browne was third cousin
of her father; and the East India merchant
counted kindred somewhere at a remote
distance on the maternal side. We all sat
at the same table, and could have talked
through the partitions Of our rooms, yet
my aunt's boarding house was complete
hierarchy. The scale ascended inversely
to my summary. | was its lowest note ;
appointed to the seat in the draught, lodg-
ed in the attic room, expected never to be
helped twice to anything, nor poke the fire
unless specially requested. The Misses
Singleton occupied the position immedi-
ately above me. The second floor back
was sacred to them. They might'be help
ed the second time to anything that was
plenty, and had a limited license to use
the poker in cold weather. Still higher
stood Mrs. aptain Browne. She rejoiced
in the second floor front, made her de-
mands boldly at dinner, and turned up the
Goals without fear. But the al Ichbishop,
the cardinal, the pope of our establishment
in short, the principal boarder. was Mr..
Simington, the East India merchant. He
was a stout, rosy man. about forty five,
good.humored, and well disposed to make
himself comfortable, and keep friends
with everybody.
Mr.. SiIningtou was a bachelor, too: .bis
two married sisters in PimlicO, his three
brothers in the city, his nieces in Worces.
tershire, and his rephews in Kent, all
agreed--it was said to be the only agree.
ment among them-that Mr.. Simington
never would marry. Mrs. Somers and
her maiden sisters declared themselves oi
the same opinion, whenever occasion serv.
ed. He was too fond Of his comforts, toe
confirmed in his bachelor ways, ever to
change them. And why should Mr.. Sin.
ington think of marrying at all ? 1t was
not pretty face that would beguile him
he was great deal too sensible for that;
it was not fortune nor family-he had
money enough, and did not care for high
connections; it was not to have q comfort
able home-where could he be better
cared for and more studied than in Mount
ford Place?
Such was the published confession ol
the fair trio. To it Mrs. Captain Browne
gave her adhesion now and then; but, like
many manifeStoes, its true reading was to
be made out by contraries, for, to my GER
tain knowledge, the four ladies had, every
one, private and deeply laid designs on
Mr.. Simington. He was one Of those gen
tiemen given to pay attention. think
most men between forty and fifty get into
that line. As principal boarder, with
four ladies studying him, the East India
merchant could scarcely do otherwise; SC
he paid attentions to each of the four ac'
cording to her standing in the house, Civ.
ing the largest share to my respected aunt
the next to Mrs. Captain Browne, and the
third to the maiden sisters, whose claims
he balanced with such even handed jus
tice, that both were equally sure Of his
heart.
1t is candor and not spite which com
pels me to declare that there was not q
pretty face in the quartette. NY youth
full judgment may have been biassed. for
| was the nephew. of f:all-work, blamed foI
everything that went wrong out Of doors,
lectured on my own misdoings as we'll as
those Of my acquaintances and main
tain that no man knows what snubbing
is, who has not had an aunt with two
maiden sisters and a coaSt.guard lieuten.
ants widow to hold command over him
in his youth.
There was one comfort, however, had
an inferior in the shape of Bessy, the or.
phan niece. Bessy was sixteen; but il
would have been high treason against my
aunt's crown and dignity, and brought
down lightningS and thunderc from the
three next in command, to have called
Bessy anything but child. In fact, she
did double d0ty in our establishment, Gil.
ing at once the Offices Of drudge and little
girl.