The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1867-06-29
STONES LOVE AFFAIR.

STONES LOVE AFFAIR.
1t was agreed on all hands that Ned Stone
was very practical fellow By some this may
have been said of him disparagingly, though
others undoubtedly applied the words in COM
plimentary sense. Practically has its eulogists.
but it has also its censors. There are people
who will find fault with prose because it isn't
poetry the same sort of people consistently de-
nounce practically because Of its deficiency in
speculativeness. ro.. ..
If Ned Stone had ever heard fault found with
him on the score that he ,cds practical and that
he nasnt poetical, he might have answered with
Mistress Audrey-"I don't know what poetical
is; is it honest in deed and word Is it true
thing?" Certainly in both word and deed he
was himself honest and true For things that
were otherwise he was quite without sympathy
Indeed he was for the most part without know
ledge concerning them being simple, straight
forward gentleman, who went his own way
lived his own life, did what it fell his lot to do
in a curiously sober, steady, homely fashion. He
never swerved to the right or to the left. 1t did
not occur to him, apparently, to deviate from
compact plan OF consistent conduct. He never
seemed to say anything he did not mean or TO
mean anything he did not say then while his
openness had not about it that element Of often
siveness which characterizes the unreserve Of
some people, with whom speaking their minds"
as they phrase it, is rather a bad egg-an opera
ton better pretermitted than performed H
Ned Stones mind ran pure and clear as
brook. You were Of course at liberty, if such
was your humor, to deride it as being merely a
water-brook after all-preferring a fonnt of
strong claret, perhaps. Still the former, be it
remembered, is available at all times and delecta.
BILE ever i'll its own mild way; whereas the latter
is only for occasions of festivity at long inter-
walls, never running for any protracted PERIOD
nor always quite clear, and with all its charms,
capable, upon prevocation, of giving you o
headache or of throwing you into a fever.
that lis and @ h"d to do
with tea or sugar, or ships or stock, am not
certain. found it sufficient to know that he
was a broker of some kind. He had been very
poor at one time of his life, and had to work
very hard. His industry, however, had in the
end met with its due reward. Arrived at middle
age, he was very comfortably circumstanced !;
and he saw no reason to doubt that his prospect.
ty would continue. When he announced to his
friends, therefore, that he thought of taking to
himself wife, it was felt generally that the
step he meditated was prudent and proper
one, and only what might under all the circum-
stances Of the case have been reasonably expect
cd. And when he further stated that he had
made an offer of hi; hand to Miss Georgiana
Warren, the daughter of wealthy East India
merchant and that his offer had been accepted
by that lady, we of course fastened to tender
him our hearty congratulations on the happy
occasion. When ] say "we," I must not be
understood as employing the editorial first per-
son plural by way of yelling my own individ.
uality, but as speaking on behalf Of myself and
various other friends of Ned Stones, who were
also my friends. and who cordially agreed with
me in wishing Joy to our friend upon the pro
posed important change in his life.
Ned Stone spoke of the matter in his owl
simple, sober way. ,aa.-....., ......,
well, you know am getting on" he said
"and it am ever to marry, it's about time
should think Of setting about it. A few year
hence and il will be too late. I shall then b
settled down in bachelor kind of life, hav,
adopted bachelor views and habits, and bachelo
ways OF looking at things, which shouldn't b.
able to alter or get out of at any price. A few
years ago couldn't have afforded it, to put tn,
matter plainly, and 80 it was out of the question
But l always looked forward to getting married
when could afford it; and no now when ca,
afford it, am going to carry out the notion
You're very kind think shall be happy-il
fact have no doubt about it-as happy as an,
fellow has any right to expect to be-. One ough
not to expect too much, of course. But In
fond, in my way, of this Georgiana Warren
and think that she, in her way, is fond of mt
She is not too young nor too old; not too goo
looking nor too plain. She's sensible enough
and don't see why she shouldn't make me
VOW good kind Of wife; and, similarly, don
see why shouldn't make her a very good kin
of husband. know I'll do all can to NAL.
her happy and comfortable, and I've no dout
she'll do the same on her side. What moro i
there to be said? Perhaps I'm not YER, fond G
old Warren, the father, and perhaps also, oil
Warren, the father, isn't very fond of me- Blu
still don't see that that need matter much.
dare say we shall understand each other by an
by; meantime we must rub on as well as W
can and must try and make the best of til
old mans humors, and not run counter to hil
more than can avoid. We needn't be meetin
80 very often, you know. And it seems to IN
that the old fellow would be no fonder Of An
one else who might want 10 marry his daught,
than no is Of me. And if Georgiana likes M
land she says she does, and if like Georgian
land ] know ] do), that seems to me to be Il
chief part Of the business. / don't think nee
trouble myself about the old mans views on Il
subject You see, it's our atfair-Georgians
and mine-and not his though it's hard to NAL
him wee it in that light. But dare say it vi
come all right in the end That's what (,
C.eorgisna when she takes up, with rath
gloomy views her fathers temper. She b