Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-01-08
From the Belgrayia.
,TgNE's LOVE AFFAIR.


...s ,s-r PRACTICAL fellow By some this
r have been said of him diSpanginclv,
-E---l. ..fe-- undoubtedly applied the words
Iiututary sense. Practicality has
,.l -..-S. but it has also its ccnsors.
r.s-sa-. people who find fault with prose
i.5r.. isn't poetry. the same sort of pe)- /
~. ..-..een1y denouuce pacticality because
i-,.. deficiency in speculatiyene-s. For it il
common trm of criticism 10 condemn a
,5-r-n.--, much for being what it is as for
not being something else; desderated some
thing entirely antpodcan and irrelevant to
taeuri-iual and di>rclished thing
FNli Stone had ever iaultiound with him
on the score that he ,r1s practical and chat he
i-4saf ,,etieal. be might have answered with
Mistres. A1drey-su suppo7ing land it doubt
fll easel that be was informed of the exist
ence of that rustic. do not know what
r5etical IS is il honest in deed and WORD?
Is tia true thing? Certainly in both word
and deed De was himself homes, and true.
For things that were otherwise he was quite
without -ymrathy. Indeed he was for the
most part without knowledge concerning
them: being q simple, straightforward gen
tleman. who went his own way, lived he own
life. did what il fell to his lot TO do. in a Gu
riOusly sober. steady. hlmely fashion lie
never sWeryed To the right or to the left. Ii
did not occur do him. apparently, to deviate
from compact plan Of consistent conduct.
He never seemed o. say anything be did not
mean. OF t. mean ANYTHING he did not say
the while his opauue~- bad not about it that
element Of oiitnsiyene-> tIat chaucterizes the
unreserve of some people with whom speak
ing their minds as they phrase it. is rather
like cracking bad c-s-au operation better
pretermit-ed thau performed.
Ned Stone mind ran pure and clear as a
brook. 0u Were 0tclur-. atli1crty. If such
was your humor. To- deriie il as beng merely
water brook after ALL -rreicrrin.a tount of
strong carct perhaps. sill the former, DE
il cmhercd. is available al all times and
delecahle ever In its own mild way. whereas
the latter is only for occasions OF ies,iyity at
long intervals, never running for any pro-
tuctei period. nor always quite clear and
with all it, charms capable upon Irovocation
of giving vlu headache. or 1i throwing Won
INTO fever.
lie WAS ir.slril ,he yity-nltiing more
nor less than that Whether bis labor and
profits Dad o. DO with tea 1r sugar. or ships
VI stock. ann not certain. / found it suiii-
ceuf O. know That he was a broker of some
kiu4Ig tHaci-r. The fact c0nyeyeda certain
idea O. u~ mind. If bad sought 10 enlarge
the I-a. .- clarifying the fact, ] might have
found Hg-e less enlightened than further
conl- .0Iu- the natter for inquiry. | no.
tIcc, often .ewilier- as much as it iustructs.
lie had been very poor az one time Of his life
and had had to work very hard His indus
try, however, had in the end met with its due
reward Arrived at middle AGE, he was very
conf mt-rtably ycirtumstanced; and he saw no rea-
son % doubt his prosperity would continue.
W hen he announced 10 his friends therefore,
that he thought Of taking to himself wife,
1t was felt generally that the step he medita-
ted was a prudent and proper one. and only
what might under all the circumstances If
the case. have been reasonably expected
And when be further stated that be had made
an offer of his hand .o one Miss Ge1rgiua
Warren the daughter Of q wealthy East India
merchant. and that his offer had been accept
ed by the lady. wc ot course hastenel u ten
der him our heartfelt congratulations 1n the
happy occasion. When say eve. D." I must
not be understood ais employing the editorial
first person plural by way Of yelling my oNn
Individuality. butas srcakingou hehalfofmy-
selfand various other friends Ut Ned Stones
who were also Dly friends. and who cordially
agreed with me iu wishin. JOY u our friend
upon the proposed important change in his
life.
Ned Stone spoke 4 the matter IN his own
simple sober way.
Well vou know, 'm getting on, be sand,
.and If I'm ever TO marry, it.. about time
should think of setting abIutit. \ few years .
hence II viii be TOO late. / shall be settled
down then in bachelor kind Of life have
adopted bachelor views and habits and bach
elor WAYS of booking az things. which !
shouldn' be able % alter 0r get ont oiat any
price. 4 few years ago ! couldn't have ai-
torded 1t, TO put the matter plainly, and SO it
was cut of the question. But | always look
ed forward % getting married when ! could
afford it, and 50 now, when | 01A afford it,
I'm going o. carry out the notion. You're
very kind. | think shall DE happy-in fact
I've no doubt about it-as happy as a fellow
has right To expect To be. One ought not
10 expect too much. Of course. But IN fond
in my way. Of this Ge3rgina arTen; and |
think that She, in her way, is fond ofme. She
is not too young, nor too old, not too good
looking, nor too plain. She's sensible enough
and accomplished enough: and don't see
why she shouldn't make a very good kind of
wife and. similarly. / don't see why !
shouldn' make her a very good kind of hus-
band. / know I'll do all can % make her
happy and comfortable, and I've no doubt
she u do the same on her side. What more
is there to be said ? Perhaps m not very
fond OF old Warren, the father and perhaps
also Warren. the father, isn't very fond Of
me. But still don't see that that need
matter very much. ] dare>ay we shall I'M
derstand each other better bv-and-hy: mean
time we must rub on as well as we can and
| must try and make the best Of the old gen
tleman's humOrs, and not run counter to him
more than can avoid. We needn he meet
ing 50 very often, You know And it seems
TO me that the old fellow would be no londer
of anybody else who might want 70 marry his
daughter than he is Of me. And il Ge0rgina
likes me land she says she d0es) and if like
Georgina (and know do). that seems to
me the chief part Of the business. | don't
think | need trouble myself much about the
old mans views on the SUBJECT. You see its /
oar atiair-Ge3rgina and mine-and not
hiS, though it's hard to make him see it in
that light. But 1 daresay il will all come
right IN the end. That's what | tell Ge1rgina
when she takes up with rather gloomy views
ABOUT her iather's temper. She's very GOOD
sense, and think she looks at the mafter
very much as | do-only Of course She can
help feeling that he IS her father where's
thank goodness, he is not mine am much
obliged toyou all for your good wishes. ! saw
again"
1t viii be seen that Ned Stone WIS not
lover to ''sigh like a furnace" As for writ
ing woeful ballad 10 bis mistress eyebrows,
| don't fancy he could have accomplished
such feat. even if his life depended on his
doing 50. Ills pulse beat ever steadily and
punctually. The thermometer of his love
stood at temperate. with no tendency to-
wards rise Let Cupid do all be could. it
did not seem that he was able TO work very
vital changes in these respects Stone it was
evident. persisted in contemplating love and
marriage from the prosaic and practical point
of view. Notions Of poetry and sentiment on
those or any other subjects were not possible .
to him. His constitutional serenity refused
to be disturbed at all by ''the quotidian Of .
love There was nothing about him demon .
strating "a careless desolation." The 'marks .
Ofl0ye, as they are ordinarily understood,
were not discernibe upon him. He was, in
deed, great disappointment to conventional
ideas in relation to the lover. Many, perhaps,
would be inclined to think that he was not
to be regarded as a lover at all-that he was
simply man going to be married-which
character does not necessarily involve the for
mer more attractive and snowy role Ger
taIhiy he did not attitudinise, or speechifv, or
,i pen4'e IN the eccentric way which Is popu
IIiy expected Of a lover He affected no
particular i.l raptures as to the proposed change
IN ms ine' though he looked forward to it
Win sort Of calm satisfaction. He never
Said "ora as to the agitated state of his
breast OF the excitement Of his feelings. He
did not regard Miss Warren as an angel or a
goddess probably he would have been the
hrst to contradict any allegation that might