The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1869-05-15
"sbe is very clever, 1 am quite sure"

"She is very clever, l am quite sure"
said he.
80 yes,-she's a genius. You must
not doubt that on the peril of making
every American in Italy your enemy"
"She is a poet,-is she not %
"Mr. GlsscOckp
"Have / said anything wrongf" he
asked.
"Do you mean.to look me in the face
and tell me that you are not acquainted
with her works,-that you don't know
pages of them by heart,-that you don't
sleep with them under your pillow, don't
travel about with them in your dressing
bagf Pm afraid we have mistaken
you, Mr.. Glascock."
us it SO great q sin 2"
"lf you'll own up honestly, I'll tell
you something,-in whisper. lou
have not read a word of her poems T.
mot a word" =,
Neither have /. Isn't 1T hoIrioie
But, perhaps, if heard TennyS0n talh-
ing every day, I shouldn't read lehhy-
son. Familiarity does breed contempt
doesn't itH And then poor dear WalIa-
CHA is such bore Isometimes won
der. when English people are listening
to her, whether they think that Aunerl-
can girls generally talk like that.
"Not all, perhaps, with that perieo'eu
eloQuence." or-.
II dare say you do" continued Olivia,
craftily. "That is just the way III
which people form their opinions about
foreigners. Some specially self-ssserting
American speaks his mind louder than
other people, and then you say that all
Americans are self-aSserting."
"But you are little that way given,
Miss Spalding."
Because we are always called upon
to answer accusations against us,
expressed or unexpressed. We don't
think ourselves bic better than you;
or. if the truth were known, half as
good. We are always struggling to be
as polished and easy as the French, or
as sensible and dignified as the English;
but when orr defects are thrown 10 our
teeth"
"Who threws them in your teeth, Miss
spaldingP
-"You look it,-all of you'll you do
not speak it out. You do assume a
superiority, Mr.. Glascock; and that we
cannot endure"
lido not feel that assume anything"
said Mr.. Glascock, meekly.
"If three gentlemen be together, an
Englishman, a Frenchman, and an
American, is not the American obliged
to be on his mettlc to prove that he is
somebody among the threei l admit
that he is always claiming to be the
first; but ne does so only that he may
not be too evidently the last. If you
knew us, Mr.. Glascock, you would find
us to be very mild, and humble, and
nico, and good, and clever, and kind,
and charitable, and beautiful, in short,
the finest people that have rs yet been
created on the broad face of Gods
smiling earth" These last words she
pronounced with nasal twang, and in
a tone of voice which almost seemed to
aim to be a direct mimicry of the
American Minister. The upshot of the,
conversation, however, was that the
disgust against Americans which, to a
certain degree, had been excited in Mr..
Glascock's mind by the united efforts of
Mr.. Spalding and the poetess, had been
almost entirely dispelled. From all of
which the reader ought to understand
that Miss Olivia Spalding was q very
clever young woman.
Bat, nevertheless, Mr.. Glascoek had
not quite made up his mind to ask the
elder sister to, be his wife. He was one
of those men to whom lovs-making does
not come very easy, although he was
never so much at his ease as when he was
in company with ladies. He was sOrely
in want of wife, but he was aware that
at different periods during the last
fifteen years he had been angled for az
a fish. Mothers in England had tried
to catch him, and of such mothers he
had come to have the strongest possible
detestation. He had seen the hooks
or perhaps had fancied that he saw
them when they were not there. Lady
James and Lady Saras had been hard
upon him, till he learned to buckle him
self into triple armor when he went
amongst them, and yet he wanted a
wifU;-no man more sorely wanted one.
The reader will perhaps remember how
he went down to SuncOmbe Putney in
quest of wife, but all in vain. The
lady in that case had been so explicit
with him that he could not hope for q
more favorable answer; and, indeed, he
would not have cared to marry girl
who had told him that she preferred
another man 10 himself, even if it had
been possible for him to do so. Now he
had met lady very different from those
with whom he had hitherto associated,
but not the less manifestly a lady.
Caroline Spaldiug was bright, pleasant,
attractive, very easy to talk to, aud yet
quite able to hold her own. But the
American minister was--a bore; and
Miss Petrie was-unbearahle. He had
often told himself that in this matter
of marrying wife he would please
himself altogether, that he would him
self to be tied down by no consideration
of family pridc,-that he would consult
nothing but his own heart and feelings.
As for rank, he could give that to his
wife. As for money, he had plenty of
that also. He wanted woman that was
not bldSee with the world, that was not
n fool, and who would respect him. The
more he thought of it, the more sure he
was that he had seen mono who pleased
him so we'll as Caroline Spalding; and
yet he was little afraid of taking a
step that would be irrevoCable. Per-
hapS the American Minister might
express wish TO end his days at Monk
hams, and might think it desirable to
have Miss Petrie always with him rs a
private secretary IN poetry!
To BE- Continued.
ANNOUNCEMENT.