Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-09-22

bachelors, His age was . puzzle In caro-
nology. 1fyou judged. as jockeys do, by
the teeth, you would set him down at
about thirty--for they were perfect, as
white as pearl, and not one missing. His
glossy chestnut locks-granting it was not
a wig he wore-bore similar testimony,
which was further corroborated by fig-
ure whose symmetry spoke well for the
handicraft of nature, or OF art, whichever
was entitled to it. II rr
respectable widow, who furnished &C
commodations to a few first class single
gentlemen, partly for the sake OF society,
and partly utrafts
Mr. Sereleaf was . man of steady hab
its. He had taken up his abode with the
widow on first coming I'd the place, and
had never since thought of changing. In
deed, neither party had any reason to be
dissatisfied. Dir. S.'s room was always
tidy, the widow chatty, he affable, and his
bills never cay in arrear. What more
was wanting TO make things pleasant?
After time Mr.. s go. TO be the senior
boarder. Others had come and gone, but
he remained permanent" To sit facing
the widow at the table, say grace, carve
the beefsteaE, and lead the conversation,
were prerogatives more firmly his, by pre-
scription, than they had ever been of the
dead and gone Nothermann, by marital
right.
it was Mr.. sereleaf with whom the
widow counseled in her trials, and in
whom che reposed her condolences. He
conversed with her, read to her, and &C.
companied her to church on Sundays, and
any little difficulty in the sermon, or
knotty point in the trimming of lsdy's
bonnet, he would clear up on the way
home, in manner equally charming and
attractive.
Whether the twain, in time, would
have been more-or less-to each other,
had the widow adhered strictly to her
rule to receive none but "sipgIe gentle
men" as boarders, is one of those ques-
tions always unsolvable, touching what
could have happen ed, had something else
taken place that never did.
Enough TO say, Mrs Nothermann,
yielding to influential references and the
offer of tempting price, let her best
suite Of vacan, rooms they were nextto
Mr.. Sereleaf's-to family composed of a
gentleman and his wife and baby.
Babies were Mr.. Sereleaf's abomina-
ton. He looked upon them as toddling
monuments Of original sin. He had no
patience with them, or with anybody that
had them The sight OF one gave him a
turn, and the sound drove him frantic.
In this particular baby, all Mr.. Sere-
leafs objections to babyhood in. the alb
strsct were summed up in the concrete.
1t was subject TO Group; and when it
hadn't Group, it had collie; and when it
had neither, it was troubled with teeth
ing.
The first night Mr.. Sereleaf stuffed the
blanket in his ears, but he might as we'll
have attempted to stifle thunder. He tried
to count himself to sleep, but the squalls
put him out and when he strove to
count them, they became continent and
undistinguishable.
The next night it was worse. He
couldn't even say his prayers-in fact
didd't feel like it. He paced the room in
sleepless agony. Something had to be
done. He had been boarder in the
house for five years, and had never yet
uttered complaint. He was very 10th
to do it now but needs must, when a
certain person drives. a
"I,l propose to Mrs. Nothermann -
aud be smote his fist upon the table, by
way Of emphssis-"Ill propose to Mrs
Nothermann," he exclaimed, "to put me
IN another room, come what willr'
The air of moody melancholy with
which Mr.. Sereleaf moped through the
following day caused the widow much
concern. Nor was her trepidation abated
when, after tea, he intimated desire TO
see her alone.
cit is with much hesitation" he began
in an agitated voice when they mad
reached Mrs. Nothermann's back parlor
cit is with much hesitation that ven.
ture TO speak" Here he quite broke
down, and the widow turned very red and
trembled violently.
81 am sure, Madame" Mr.. Sereleaf re-
sumed, "if you only knew how much
have suffered"
Mrs. Nothe-napnp said Saul, max
ing desperate effort TO come to the point,
81 have come to propose"
But before be could explain what it ,cas
he had come to PROPOSE" the lady gave
little scream, and started to fall. He
caught her, Of course, and shouted for
help. The first to appear was the mother
of the execrable baby.
whats the natter" she exclaimed,
bursting into the room as If discharged
from catapult.
81 was only proposing" Saul com.
menced.
And pretty mess you've made If i,e'
the lady cut him short, at the same time
relieving him OF his burden, and advising
him TO leave the room-acvice which he
gladly followed
Mortified and COMPOUNDED, Saul packed
his trunk, called q porter, and sneaked
from the house, like a thief in the night.
From the hotel at which he took up tenn
porary quarters, he dispatched note in
closing the balance due to his landlady,
and something over, in lieu of notice,
but making no aliusion to his sudden de-
parture, or the circumstances that led
to it,
1t was some weeks lster that Saul pre-
sented himself at my Office and requested
private interview. We at once withdrew
TO an inner room, where, with much hest
tation and many bushes, the story Of the
proposal was told substantially as the
reader has already heard it; after which
Mr.. Sereleaf placed in my hands the
following billet, which he had just re-
ceived:
BTDDLEsvrLLE, May 10th, 49,
IS. SERgLEAr, Esq: Str-Uur client, Mrs.
Cleopatra NothsTmaDn, wishes TO be apprieed
through rs, at your earliest convenience OF Jour