The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-09-02

- OAN NADAO S1G o AUlE
Certainly there was stime when those yel
ling, screeching engines did not rush on q
, u end Of the place at all unseemly hoar
Of the day and night, wind themsalve
: about it. rushing of at the other, after
!. horrifying coil, and roaring over tn
bridge like 9 great serpent, such as we hav
read of in legend, seeming TO say, " Vel
I've spared you this time-Only swallow
ed a few of your people. The next tim,
l come III take the whole Of your tiny vii
lsge."
Yes, there was 3 time when the littl,
place was still smaller than now. No
very long ago either. We can all remem
Der it-Al who can see the little lines o
silver stresking through their hair. They
can remember how, when they were young
this spot was q fsVorite on sleigh rides
about q halfway house in the progress
where q fiddler (since become q V~iolinist
wal always 70 be had at a moments notice
where they he'd u way Of knocking up the
incest little suppers while hot punches (oh
whisper it loWD was being discussed, snd
where there was just room enough for 6
psrty to dance, Rnd no more, no matter
how large the party.
"WhAtl in the village z"
Nonsensei / am speaking now of the
little white house that stands about mid.
way as you pass through. That is The
Village Tavern" always has been the vii
lage tavern for more than half q century,
until within ten years the last word was
painted out and that of Railway Hotel +"
substituted.
There was 8 time when, es I said, this
"Village Tavern" was the great place for
riding, driving and fishing parties to stop
at for dinner and supper. 1t was q spot,
too, for travellers, when they did not scud
over the land and arrive at the places Of
their destination in less time than they
could stay at home. Many q traveller who
came only for 8 nights rest, for his supper
and breakfast, stayed over 8 day or two,
perhaps for q week. There were trout and
pickerel in those days that could be caught
in the clear bright waters Of the mill-stream
which ran steslthily by the foot of the
garden, less than a stones throw from the
back garden, and WIS not banged and
Whirled and beaten by q thousand mill
wheels, and rumblsd over by half q hun
dred steam trains daily. There was wood.
cock, too, five minutes walk away, and q
partridge; OF, if you liked little longer
W0AAf "a AoAkOA AASNhA WO4bAI
of all your Pc Rder and shot.
John Gordon kept the "Villsge Tavern"
Gordon was 8 hHrd-headed, stout bodied,
red-fsced, jolly, humorous Scotchman. He
wss liberal, with an eye 10 the main chance.
He was proud Of bis position as landlord,
proud that his house should be known and
spoken of in the great city Of London, and
particularly proud that so many esHnoisseur
thought it well worthy their while to drive
out to 1.-THE Villege Tavern" that they
might drink his inimitable punch, made
from the peculiar whisky Of which the land
lord had trace from the moment it came
from the still, just close by the foot of Ben
Nevis, to the hour it went gurgling down
the drinkers throat.
Of all these things was John Gordon
proud This was the pride of his profes-
sion but there is q Lling more of which
he was proud, and to which all other things
were but as accessories. This wss his
daughter Lefty. Lefty Gordon was the
landlords only child. He had married an
English wife, and ten years after his mar
riage there came to John Gordon this n
child. On the day that little Lefty could
count eight years, Mrs. Lefty Gordon, SEN
ior, was called to another and g better
world, leaving little Lefty heiress of all the
goods, chsttels, and real estate Of which
she died possessed, the last item being
THE Village Tavern with its furniture
and belongings; q comfortable little SET
ting out which, with true Scotch thrift, her
good father had settled upon her the day
she was married, and from which John
Gordon had gathered some solid wealth,
which lay stretched out in various farms in
the country rouno.
Lefty Gordon had great blue eyes, very
blue, very large, and sparkling with sup
pressed mischief Lefty Gordon had light
brown hair that danced about her head,
laughing all combs to scorn, and almost
repudiating q ribbon. She had the whitest
skin, Sndthe Whitest teeth, and the -Ohl
this sounds too much like IN ~auctioneer's
summary. 1 shall end it by saying that
she was Just the merriest, sweetest, and
most entIciDg little fairy l had ever seen,
and I am not alone in 80 believing. There
we're q few of the favored guests of 1.-THE
Village Tavern" who could occasionally
see Lefty Gordon; but to the MACS who
csme and went like shadows, Lefty was
herself q shadow. They had heard of
the landlords beautiful daughter; once
in q long while some one more for
tunate than the rest would catch a
glimpses of the little maiden; but from
whence she came, or whittier she went, the
glimpser could never tell. They drank the
health quietly Of the mysterious beauty of
whom they heard so much, of whom they
knew that she breathed the same almos-
phere as themselves, and yet 70 them was
8 sealed book. This wss the treasure that
John Gordon watched and guRIded-she
who, already an heiress in her own right,
was to inherit all the acres that he had
been adding year by year from the over
flow of "The Village Tavern" Lefty was
not only the admiration Of the gay groups
who came from the city, but she vas the
ambition Of every rustic beau, who looked
with ~covetous eyes upon the fair face and
the broad acres of the landlords daughter.
They looked, but they looked in vain for
john Gordon had long resolved that who.
ever came Wooing to his Lefty should be
no common man, but should out-double
her in wealth.
Lefty Gordon was not the only fair at
traction that brought the gallants the
"Tbe Village Tavern" There was an
Jther bright face, another comedy shape, in
the person of Martha Field. Martha and
Lefty were Of an sge-both eighteen.
Martha was IN orphan, and had been
taken when q child by the late Mrs. Lefty
Gordon to "csre for" Martha was the
right hand Of "The Village Tavern" she
was here, there, and everywhere, as Gordon
expressed it. If extra company came, and
aid was wanted In the kitchen, Martha was
able and willing. Whether Msrths's
hand was wanted in the bedrooms, in
the pArlors 10 wait on the guests,
to attend in the bar, it was al
wsys the ssme-she was there. What
ever she did was well done. Many q smart
farmers SOD, who came as suitor to the
mistress, made q desperate effort to amend
the hopelessness of the case by falling in
love with the maid, only TO find out that
his fate WIS., the same in either quarter.
Martha Field had already disposed Of the
little beating heart that lay beneath her
trim, well fitting bodice. She had given
it, subject to certain conditions, into the
keeping Of David Bigelow, q smart and
promising carpenter, who, by some special
art lurking under his tongue, had managed
to secure the little girl to himself in the
face of the most startling opposition. Un-
der these circumstances there can be no
wonder that Martha should be given to
reading romsnces, and s~ympathizlng gen.
orally with lovers, particularly with those
II distress. There were some who said
that when Martha Field married, John
| Gordon would come down HWarmn with a