Charles City intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa) 1864-1866, 1866-02-08
eff he asks you for my hand he sl,al
have it, eh 2" rfi

"0 0us'sS you III ny houu HC buos
have it, eh?" rn4
(" Yes" ... sas 1c
Then we sciA see.' .aE
Shortly after this, Maria left the sit
ting room and retired for the night.
/ :" I'm afraid there's no use in push
ing this matter any further" said Mrs
Lothrop. maria will never love him
and OF course you will not force he,
to marry him. am sorry, but dom
see how it is to be heipedn j "iF
/" know she is prejudiced," return
ed the husband, "and that prejudic,
results from mere whim but in thi,
case am not willing to give way Il
it. The trial shall be made" 7" z.
Mrs. Lothrop looked curiously int
her husbands face, but she made ns
further remark, for well she knew il
he had an object in view he would be
very likely to accomplish it. '~' 3
1t was towards the middle Of the af.
ternoon on the following day that the
stage stopped in front of Mr.. Lothrop's
dwelling, and two young men alighted
thcrefrom. Two trunks were taken
from the baggage-rack, and in mo.
ment afterwards Mr.. Lothrop met the
visitors in the yard. Maria stood at
the window and saw these proceedings,
and she knew that one of these young
men must be her quasi lover. The 9TH
er she supposed to be a young man by
the name of Brown whom her father
had also invited to visit them. A Gu
rious smile stole over her face as She
stood there and gazed, and when she
turned away she set about preparing
herself for the meeting. ses e..
Mr.. Sherman" said Lothrop, as the
fair girl entered the room where the
two young men were seated, allow
me to present my daughter, Maria, this
is Charles Sherman" & a#a
The young man arose, and in stiff,
uncouth manner Maria extended her
hand. She did not appear basllful, but
she seemed actually clownish.
This is William Brown, Maria, one
Of my young friends from the city,"
said Mr.. Lothrop, as he turned toward
the second visitor.
Maria extended her hand to Mr..
Brown with more frankness than she
had exercised in her greeting to Sher-
man but still she did not appear her.
self. She had resolved to make Sher-
man disgusted with her and thus fright
en- him off.
Both the young men were good look
ing, and both appeared to be gentle
men in every sense of the word. Per-
haps Brown might have been consid-
cred the most handsome at first sight,
but on acquaintance there could lave
been little to choose. Maria, however,
began TO discover defects in Sherman
at first sight. She had determined to
dislike him, and SO she went at work
to torture his appearance in her imagi-
nation. She thought he looked at her
too familiarly-that he seemed to re-
gard her as already his own property /;
and without any great stretch of her
efforts, she set him down at once as a
bore. Brown, on the other hand, she
thought to be wonderfully good look
ing man, and after she had seen him
FIVE minutes she made up her mind
that he would make very agreeable
companion.
Ere long Mr.. Lotlrop made some ex-
cuse for calling Brown out of the room,
and, as Mrs. Lothrop followed them,
Sherman and Maria were left alone.
The young man moved his chair near
er the girls side, and in familiar, So
cial way, remarked: J
This is very fine weather we are
having now, Miss Lothrop."
Well" drawled Maria, with an ex-
preston Of clownishness that outdid
her most ardent desires. al s'pose tits
kind 70 fine. Excellent weather for
growing 'taters.'
Sherman was for the moment com.
pletely nonplussed. He was, in fact,
thnnderstruck but he soon rallied
and then he looked into his companions
beautiful features to see if he could
not find some lurking jest there. He
was disappointed, however, for she
was as earnest in her look as she could
possibly be. He ventured another re-
mark
"Yon have a most beautiful garden
here" he said.
"Ye-e-es The sils is good. There's
old Willis that old curmudgeon what
lives right over there: you can see
the chimbleys Of his house through the
trees s-his garding jines ourn but
may ] be buttered il his sile is half SC
good. Last year we growed onions
more'n twice as big as be did"
al alluded to your flower garden,
gasped Sherman, turning away to hide
his face.
80, ah," uttered Maria, with the
most silly look imaginable, "yes, for
got all about that Ma'am takes care
Of them things. don't know much
about 'em, cause You see flowers ain
of no use only to look at"
/ Sherman began to examine his com
panion more closely, and he found shs
was not so beautiful as he had at frs,
taken her to be. Her features were
regular enough, but they had vacant
look and then he noticed that some
portions of her dress were soiled, ane
that her tout ensemble betokened the ut
most negligence.
The young man ventured few NOR
remarks for the sake of passing time
and SO well did Maria play the par
she had assumed, that at the end of fii
teen minutes Sherman was really dis
gusted at her ignorance and lack o
: common sense.
I 1t was a relief to both parties wheI
Mr.. Lothrop returned, and shortly at
terwards Maria took occasion to leave
the room.
"Well Maria," said Mr.. Lothrop ol
the following day, how do you hk'
Mr. Sherman
90, abominate him."
: "Why SO 2"
Because he looks SO impudent ant
: familiar. Syhy, one would think b.
7 the manner in which he stares at m,
that he was already jealous HUSBAND
: lrf nina -