Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1870-04-15
MISCELLANEOUS.
"COMPASSES." " i"


AUNT CLEPsY was tossing her last fan.
JACK from pan to plate, just in time to give
glance that caromed round the room.
'and pocketing itself in the open window,
iell upon the four of us-Fosco, Barkham
sne colonel and me-riding toward the
mouse. our horses tired and detected. and
ourselves fit comrades for them.
One would think almost as soon nj
bull ling hotel in cemetery, and wait.
ing for ghestly visitants, as Of settling
near Mud Springs, in the heart of a de.
serted country. But there the house
stooo-a straggling, one-storied inn. half
0dooe and half rough posts, like broken
spider the supports Of the shed standing
like gapnt legs, One almost expected to
see IL moving about the place.
W,lo' uncouth place "a ragged, un-
HNorn CIt OF nature, in her most dscordant
!nioo'1. A narrow valley, fringed, as TO
w. sides, with gnarlcd oaks, that crouched
In silence, and cottonwoods, whose leaves
seemed glad to be hidden by their dusty
coatlngs. Large boulders ran slow races
down the hills, or gathered in sober
groups around a stony chief; some gray,
ana smirched with brittle moss; others
broken, and trying to glisten in the sun.
Even the Dlrds deserted the canon, at the
Iont OF which stood the house and though
sometimes peoping around the outlet,
never ventured In. How the winter wind
snarled up the ravine, buffeting eyerv
III ng, and drawing cloud of dust in It's
JerRv train How the rains poured
doiSn, as If glad to wash out the land
marks, pelting and soaking, running new
channels, and following out the surface
only the little, thread-lke brook, that
twisted down from the spring, laughed in
Fhe sunlight, flashing hack upon the
cllnging weeds that courtesled to the
bright bubbles on their rapid course. At
she fence the brook crept under, and mois-
tened the flowers and vegetables that were
scattered about the garden-the pride and
care of Aunt Clepsy, and the solace of
her heart.
Hunting all day among the hills,
wearied with fruitless sport, we came un-
expectedly upon these signs of life, and,
urging our horses, pushed on to the
dwelling.
"Can we stay here tonight" inquired
Fosco, as the dame came to the door, and
stood, with arms akimbo, scanning eur
party with curious eye.
Ye can try" was the sapient reioinder
"a somewhat equivocal one-but be-
lated travellers are not wont to be over
nice.
We turned our animals into the yard
and bundled our traps into the front room
that served for sitting, dining and bar.
The hostess had preceded us, and gave
us greeting, leaning on the bar.rail She
coolly examined our baggage, such as it
was, and, with sign of relief, remarked {:
"Ye amt got no yaller vclise, / see,and
ye can stay. You may think it Gurus, but
no man which has yaller volise can tie
up here. I'll tell ye why this is. There
was peart-like chap onst came here.
prospecting around, which had sich a
baggage; and he KEEP on stayin' and stay
in, which we didn't see no money of
hisn' day after day. But as we had found
his volise hesvy-which me and Com
passes often hefted-we thought it was
all right. But one day, my man diInt
come back any more; and when we come
to open the volise, we found it was nailed
to the floor, empty and no man with sich
heavy thing hev we kept sence."
"You are right in being cautious when
such men are around. But where is your
husbands" asked the Colonel.
"Down in the field, yonder. They call
him Compasses, cause one of his legs is a
little irregular. But you mustn't keep me
with pslaverin', or you wont git moth
ing for proyender," and she hustled into
the kitchen.
A kindly faced old lady as ever looked
upon; and she had safely passed the age
when women are apt to become blotting-
papers, to absorb all the milk of human
kindness about them. Tall and spare, a
plain print-gown neatly put on, she had
all possible dignity of carriage and de-
meanOr.
A singular room we were occupying,
a..Nka 4 kln. ,aII
few shelves, on which was arranged row
OF bottles. There were seven cans
of oysters-always seven-haVing the
marks of a daily polishing. A small jar
was labelled Solace;H if you
rang it there came forth
an empty sound. A cigar box, of some
faded, medieval brand, hung close to this
for company An old Dutch pipe, hung
up by the neck, had been strangling slow
ly for years. There was remarkable
print of the Deluge upon one wall, where
purple ark navigated among pink
whales, that spouted raspberry soda
water; while Noah, with his select cempa
ny,clad in naval uniforms, and bearing um
brellas, seemed to chaff the struggling
creatures with all the effrontery OF mer
who had paid their fare. Two painting
swimmers =" pair of pants" as Bark
ham christened them -strove to climb thu
rudder, but were pushed off by the gold
laced hirelings. How do these scripture
prints get into such queer places A half
dozen well Whitfield chairs, and two
benches, that SHE'D up against the wall
completed the furniture.
We had hardly completed survey o
our surroundings, when we heard tn
blast Of horn, and close upon 1t, voic
shouting, "S.i-l-a.sl s-i-la-s T.
In answer thereto, there soon appeare'
at the door the lord of the manor, sur
named Compasses. He had an unmistak
ably stiff leg-not a loose appendage, bu
firm attachment to his body, like liml
TO the trunk of a tree-and the boot OF
his foot had all the close-fitting symmetr,
of the skin of a baked apple upon the pull
thereof The man, after gazing at US
somewhat in surprise, pivoted into tn
room, entered the bar, and said, "Wel
come, gentlemen. Take drink"
Though we were tolerably well aC
quainted with the spirits of the frontier
none of us were fully prepared for tn
pungency of the tipple, and had hardly n
covered our breath when the lady rear
peared, and hastily setting a table, iai
thereon our supper, Of bacon, eggs, an
flapiacks, to which we did summary ju
tice; and, when we had finished, filed Ou
pipes, and sat under the porch, in tn