Weekly Calaveras chronicle., 1868-03-21
A LOVERS QUARREL.

Nettie Brown was a bewildering lit
tie creature. A thousand little fascina-
tions surrounded her ike an atmosphere;
little glimmering sparks Of sunshine
fickered il and out Of her clustering
curls little Cupids laughed in the
depths Of her dark eyes, and nnyriads of
little dimpIes danced round the corners
Of her mouth and played bo-peep in
her cheeks. In short, she vas bewitch-
ing, because she could not help it, even
if she had tried, which, [ am happy to
say, she nev.r did. Nobody had any
very profound respect for her; nobody
spoke of her as one of "the queens Of
society,"" or named her defsrentislly, or
quoted her opinions, or sought her ad-
vice. If you CHANGED to ask who she
was, somebody would say, "Oh, that's
little Nettie Brown" in a sort of apollo
getic tone; but you noticed tender
expression in their eyes and a brighter
smile on their lips as they looked after
her.
Among Nettie's mort hopelessly en-
shaved adorers vas John Marshall-a
tall, grave fellow, considerably older
than his enchantress-a "simple frank
man, without any pretensions to an op-
pressive greatncss-of golden temper,
and steadfsst as an anchor" Nettie
was not the least bit Of hirt in fact
the young men Of her set pronounced
that you might as well try to firt with
baby but fortunately for John Mar
shall, he did not want to firt, and what
is more, did not know how. Having
fallen in love in a very earnest but
bluudering sort Of way with our Nettie,
he stammered cut 3 proposal, and was
accepted, having takea the little maid
ems heart By storm through the sheer
force of his own devotion.
His position once defined, Nettie held
back no reserves of affectionate artillery
for great occasions tried no petty
feminine tricks of coquettish coldness
one day, and extra sweetness the next ;
never attempted to bring On minute
quarrels for the pleasure of making
them up again, but was so afectionats
and caressing in her little ways that
John never missed the relish which the
above little stratagems are supposed to
inpart to the somewhat insipid dish of
domestic felicity.
One day, as ill-luck would have it,
entered Sophy Northam, the far-away
cousin and particular friend of Nettie
A most incon ngruous alliance it seemed,
made entirely by the brisk determina-
ton of Miss Sophy herself, who denom-
mated Nettie her, "particular friend" J"
and practically ordered firm and de
voted attachment to spring up between
them.
VIII being Destiny, and Sophy an
other name for will, Nettie became her
slave, and was petted, scolded and
laughed at by turns, as her companion s
varying impulses suggested.
Sophy was piquancy itself :; a brilliant
brunette, with the brightest eyes, and
neatest figure, and the prettiest foot
ever seen.
Well, one morning not long after
Nettie's engagement, down comes the
brilliant embodiment of feminine wiles
on her poor, unsuspicious friend and
slave. By-the-by, Sophy, too, was just
engaged, and all her unfortunate victim
could predict with certainty of her char
acter was, that she was sure not to be
in the same mood tomorrow in which
she appeared to-day. The unvaryiug
commonplace affection of John and
Nettie exasperated this volatile young
lady, and she resolved to show that
"poor little goose" how love affair
ought to be managed.
! "Now you don't mean to say, Nettie,