The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-12-23
HE DIDN'T TELL.
BY MRS. DENISON.

''Never! Dicky dear-I couldn' t
bear it; you know I couldn't-so
mere1' tell me when you are going to
get married ;" cried pretty Mrs. Co
lionel Fisher to her tall son.
Poor little woman! less like q
mother bearing the burden of some
forty years, than a pleading child,
she looked, for she had The misfortune
to be SO extremely youthfulin appear
ance, that even well-bred people
smiled when she introduced "that
great, handsome Dick Fisher, you
know" as her SON And he often
threatened to put her in his pocket,
rs indeed it almost seemed he might
do, if he had the mind
The little lady loved her son idola-
tronsly, and eyed every pretty girl
who came in his vicinity with an alb
solute tigcrishness Of expression that
would have been most formidable in
a woman f more inches; but nobody
was afraid of her, and consequently
the butterflies and moths huttered
round her wonderful, -boned son,
utterly regardless Of consequences.
Now, if Dick had minded to boast,
he could have boasted of a noble,
manly beauty, such as is not often
seen among the sons of men. 1t was
hardly to be wondered at that his mo-
ther worshipped him. Think Of the
handsomest man you know, and then
imagine him ten times handsomer,
and you have what Mrs Fisher
thought Of her boy. Dicks eyes and
Dicks hair-Dick's complexion and
Dicks feet-Dick's nobleness and
Dick S sweetness Of disposition-how
Dick couM fight, Notwithstanding,
and had frightened her to death on
three distinct occasions, by thrashing
boys older if not bigger than himself
these were her themes.
And Dick loved his mother. 1t
was most touching to see the fatherly,
patient way in which he nursed her
when she was ill-bore with all her
little foibles-and declared that he
didn't care for the girls-not he
mother was worth them ali.
''Do yon know you spoil that boy
of your's?" said an over-busy matron
one day-'he'll never want n home
OF his own, while you pet and codale
him So
At which the little widow bridled,
and her eyes snapped
Indeed and I think nv Dick
don't need a home while he has his
naotbe''," and, like little ruffied
white hen, she shook her feathers in
dignantly.
''Ah /! but his mother isn't going
to live forever" suggested Wisdom,
whowasn't pretty, and hadn't scarcely
tooth in her head +; "and, when
you're gone, who's to look after his
comfort, [ should like to know?"
81 don't think Dick Worries" snap
ped little widow Fisher ''and, in
deed, | think it rather unkind for
you to throw up such things. Dick
suits himself, should hope, and
oon want any advisers on the sub
ieet"
So off went interloper, snubbed !;
and Dick, coming nome, found his
little mother in tears.
why what's the matter ?" hum
med Dick. bending his great BODY
down, and looking up for a moment
as II he was going to pick her up and
hoist her to the ceiling, as thought
less fathers do with their growing
babies sometimes. Who have I cot
to fight now ? Who has been over
here troubling my little mother ? Let
me know all about it
90 Dick" sobbed this nndigni-
he'd mother-''I-I wi-wish they'd
let us alone-I-w-wish they would
mind their own business.
They'd better said Dick, looking
herce and very much like his father