Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-02-24
Boots Under the Bed.


: ers, tom Green and Will
f! Jones.
Both were good-looking, well
. to-do young mechanics, and boil
: loved her devotedly, if their owl
vehement assertions could be cred
tied. Lydia was in something of
! dilemma concerning them.
She had no particular preference
for either of them, but she wanted
to be married sometime, and Mr.
7 White was opposed to long court
ships, and Aunt Jane kept assur.
ing her that her bed and table lin.
en- would get yellow with being
) packed away in the bureau so long
and she alsO took frequent oppor-
tunities of remarking that none ct
her girls ever was single after
they had reached the age Of EIGHT
cen; not a minitp
And as Lydia counted her years
four more than eighteen, of coaEse
this latter insinuation of Aunt
James cut deeply.
Lydia turned the matter over seli-
ously in her mind, and argued it
with herself, pro and con, which
she shouldy ytakes Green or Jones?
W. Shewas in some degree 9srsman,
dtiCs ahd SIZE had INDUCED If 'gor-
geous dre2'4F of Marrying a Sec
;ohd Napoleon q IS to pQhrags ! in
ITfact, if there was any quality that
she especially admired in mans 1T
was bravery.
When she said anything about
this in the hearing of Tom or Will
lie, they begged her to put them to
the test-they would joyfulIy die
for her if she stood in need of any
such sacrifice, they assured her
over and over again.
One Sunday evening, as indeed
was frequently the case, Jones and
Green happened to call at Lydia's
about the same time.
Lydia went out of the room
about 9 o'clock on the pretence of
bringing book of engravings, but
she shortly returned ia great per-
turbation. .a..
"What is it? What is the mat
ter?" cried the two lovers in eager
chorus,
ooh dear me-" sighed Lydia,
"such a dreadful, dreadful thing III
Who would have thought it in our
peaceful community Oh, Mr. !
Jones, Mr.. Green! You can't |
think how glad-bow relieved l am
that you are here. l should be
frightened to death were it other
wise! !" and she clung first to one
and then to the other with a conf
dence perfectly lnfatuating.
"Tell us what it isl" cried |
Green.
"Enlighten us as TO the cause of
this emotion !" said Jones, who
had been to the Chicken Valley
Academy two quarters and used
some big words.
ooh, you are both so brave p
cried Lydia, admiringly-"I feel as
if l were protected by an army!"
Green drew himself up to his full
hight, which was inst five feats and
it must be confessed that beside
the Herculean Jones, he looked
like a bantam rooster beside a
Shanghae.
command mep' said Green,
"only let me do your bidding p
"Ask my assistance" said Jones,
"and it shall be given free as the
streams give to the sounding
ocean,"
"Hush " cried Lydia, don't speak
so loud He may hear you and
take the alarm and kill us all before
you have chance to capture
him"
CHE? who? what?" demanded
Jones in a tragic whisper.
"Hush! for PHYS sake" said
Lydia, "he's up stairs in the spare ,
room! Under the bed Father had
a hundred dollars paid him yester-
day for a COW, and this is a plan to
rob the house. saw his boot
out from under the coun- t
,
Good heavens p cried Green, !
getting behind Jones.
"And such big boots, too" said |
Lydia-"twelves, | am surel"
"Jupiter! what giant he must ,
be !' said Jones.
"Tom! Oh Willie! protect me !" :
cried Lydia pathetically, and they 8
both protested that they would 4
shield her with the last drop of their
blood.
"Then go up and seize the vii
lain" said Lydia. q
'FYou had better go first" said t
Jones. "I-don't know the way"
"Nor l." said Green, and you're Y
5he biggest; it belongs to you to
to lead on"
~ will show you the way" said c
Lydia.
And the two gallant young men t
followed her up stairs,
She opened the door of the spare v
chamber softly, and they saw the c
boots very distinctly; most ex
remely dirty pair of cowhides, c
which looked as though their owner
lad tramped through twenty
niles of swamp, and made no ac- b
luaintance with a rug or serapers s.
GA mighty big man he must h
,e, with such pair of feet" said d
Iones. Hadn't we better call your h
ather and Mr.. Berry, the hired
nan p
HT think we had" said Green, o