The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1864-03-18

lhOte DOOks, WOnuellng NnaJ WOulu .
V the result.
+ Now | thought this mittening afrai
n was intended especially for me, bC
s cause / was really so indifferent abou
? her "cutting me out as she termet
r it. and she had so eagerly aceepte,
5 him only to triumph over me; an,
D now, as she had failed in that, sh
4 cared no more about him. and woul,
, take revenge in refusing the atten
= tions I had received by publicly Civ
ing him the "mittcn." I had n,
: thought or care for the matter, but
J felt sorry that Smith should he usec
; by her rs n tool to excite ridicul,
/ against himself, and l seriously tho
, of thwarting the malicious girl by sly
/ ly informing him of the whole plan,
/ but after moments rrdection ]
found my motive might be miscon.
strund hv doing, 50 I kept silent
and awaited the result.
Mary was so taken up in the antic-
ipated joke that she could scarcely
carry her part in the singing, and sew
eral times broke out in Il smothercd
laugh.
We were through at last, and the
girls gathered round the stove to put
on their ont. door wrappings. We
were soon all ready, and every girl
had to run the gauntlet Of two rows
of gentlemen, one each side Of the
aisle. clear to the door.
"Now. girls, Tn going first; lool,
out for the fun; and YOU, especially,
Sue Brown, see how he will take it -
And OF shc started, fairly sailing.
(maiesticallv presume shc tbought)
all the rest remaining, eager to see
the result
Smith was about half way TO the
door, and as Mary ea@e ,yS q qo4arsiittea ,GY
remember thinking at the time that
she must have given herself The men
tai orler "halt." She looked mex.
pressihly sweet Mt Smith. il [ might
judge from n side glance at her face.
and he looked at her without the
sweet; in fact, he wondcringlv sur
veycd her from head to foot, and cool
ly turned his head another way
Mary ran out the door--indeed, she
seemed almost to fiv-0nd oh, those
walls must have been startled by the
screams and laughter that arose from
around that stove, We stayed to see
the fun; and we had seen it, sure
enough. Of one impulse we all
started after her to congratulate her
on her joke. What the gentlemen
thought of cur strange conduct can.
not imagine, without it was that we
were crazcd, for they succeeded in
stopping the progress Of the most of
Us, and very kindly offered us their
protection home When | looked
round, as hand was placed on my
shoulder, there stood John Smith.
aud thus it came that I found myself.
quietly walking home, yet nearly
stranglcd for breath. Atlast laugh
ed outright. | could not help it; it
was too funny.
"Whas was all that fuss about, any
how, Miss Brown? Inever saw such
q set of girls in all my life"
I ouly laughed the moro; but he
still urged me to tell, till, finally, COM
pletely overcome 10y the ludicrous-
ness of the thing; and it being such a
good sell on her, 1 Just { I hope I'm
forgiven if didanvthing wrong) told |
him all about it. was sorry rs soon
as done; yet I never saw any one ell.
JOY Joke as he did that.
"Why,shc needn't have been alarm.
cd" he said, after he had laughed
awhile. Il had no intention Of stop
ping for her the other evening If she
had not come to the door and asked
to go TO the singing undermy umbrel-
la. But | shall not forget her"
"W ell, it came TO pass that | got
the credit, OF forewarning him, an |
thus securing him myself, Which was
one OF Mary's malicious speeches,
though nothing would qnict her soon
er than to ask her who she last init
tened Smith never troubled her
alterward; and after any amount of
flirting she finally coaxed up little
fellow, whom she had repeatedly cast
aside for more desirable chance,
and married him. (Pity him from
my sonl!) AS TO whether John Smith
ever "saw me home" again or not it
does not become me to saw. He is
in the army now, and,I verify hclevt,
If he should ever survey rebel from
head to foot rs coolly rs he did Ma
ry, that he would run instanter, rs
she did on that eventful evening when
she didn't "mitten" John Smith.
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