Oregon Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1870-1872, 1870-10-29
A Legal Tender.

Saul Sereleaf was the paragon of
bachelors. His age was q puzzle in
chronology. If you judged, as jockeys
do, by the teeth. you would set him
down at thirty-for they were perfect
-as white "as pearl, ard not one mis-
sing. His glossy chestnut locks
granting it was not wig he wore
hore similar testimony, which was fur
'ther corroborated by figure whose
symmetry spoke well for that handi.
craft of nature, or of art, whichever
was entitled to it.
He boarded with Mrs Nothermann, a
respectable widow. who furnished ac-
commodations to few frst~class single
gentlemen, partly for the sake of soci>
ETY.. and partly-not.
Mr.. Sereleaf was a man of very
steady habits. He bad taken up his
abode with the widow on first coming
to the place, and had never since
Thought of changing. Indeed, neither
party had any reason to be dissatisfied
Mr. SIS room was always tidy. the
widow chatty, he affab'e, and his bills
never day in arrear. What more was
wanting to make things pleasant?
After time, Mr. S. got to be senior
'boarder. Others had come and gone,
but he remained "permanent To sit
facing the widow at the table, say
grace. carve the beefsteak, and lead the
conversation, were prerogatlves more
firmly HIS, by prescription, than they
had ever been of the dead and gone
Nothermann, by marital right
It was with Mr. Sereleaf whom the
widow counseled in her trials, and in
whom she reposed her condolences, He
converse | with her, read to her, and
accom- panied her To church on Sundays;
and any little difficulty in the sermon,
or knotty point in the trimming of
lady's bonnet, he would clear ny on the
way home, in manner. equally eharm-
ing 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 "single
gentlemen" as boarders, is one of those
questions always unsolvable, touching
what would have .happened,s had some-
thing else taken place that never did.
Enough to say, Mrs. Northermann,
yielding to infential references, and the
offer Of tempting price, let her best
suit of vacant rooms-they we're next
10 Mereleaf fs--to family composed Of
a gentleman and his wife and baby.
Babies were Mr.. Sereleaf's abomina-
ton. He looked upon-them rs toddling
monuments of original sim He had no
. patience with them, or with anybody
that had them. The sight Of one gave
hiaa turn, and the sound drove him
frantic.
In this particular baby, all Mr.. Sere-
1eafs objections to babyhood in the
abstract were summed up in the con-
crete. It was subject to Group; and
when it hadn't Group. it had collie and
mhea it had neither, IL was trobled
with teething.
The frst night Mr.. Sereleaf stuffed
the blanket in his ears. but he might
az well have attempted to stife thun>
DER. He tried to count himself to sleep,
but the squalls put him out, and when
he strove to count them, they became
confuent and undistinguishable.
The next night it was worse. He
couldn't even say his prayers---in fact,
didn'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 certain person drives.
Ill propose TO Mrs. Northermann"
--and ne smote his fist upon the table,