The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-06-22

he led the way; out into the hall, and
up the broad staircase, through a
long passage, which terminated at the
oaken door of a large old-fashioned
room, into which Mr., McSpilter was
ushered. silsc.,- ......-
Here the host of the Golden Lion
7 the lamp on the mantel, gave a hasty
glance around the room to see that all
was rights, and then bidding his guest
goodnight. departed, closing the door
behind him. p.a. 80. ia =
i There was a wood fire cracking
and blazing on the hearth, and right
In front of it was an old fashioned
oaken armchair, turned all over with
rings and knobs, with great claws for
legs, and pair of open-mouthed IL
ons for arms, and in this chair Mr..
McSpilter seated himself and began a
survey Of the room. ;.r r.
The apartment was about twenty
feet square, but so very low that a
man of ordinary stature could reach
the ceiling with his hand, and in the
centre was large iron hook, placed
there, no doubt, for the accommoda-
ton of any unfortunate 1odger who
should desire to hang himself. The
windows we're small but not small
enough for the sash, which had
shrunk so much in the last seventy
five summers, that, as they ratified in
the storm, it seemed as if every blast
would blow them in, but luckily for
Mr.. McSpilter they only ratified. In
one corner of the room was the bed, a
heavy, numbering "four poster" and
at its head stood an ancient bureau,
with a small guilt framed mirror
hanging over it, in the upper half of
which was painting, representing a
remarkably short wasted young lady,
very rosy in thesfaee, very plump in
the cheeks who wore an immense
bonnet and a very scanty skirt
Around the room, as rigid and
straight as if they had been brought
up in quaker meeting, were ranged
half dozen chairs. An antiquated
table, with damaged and shabbily
repaired leg, stood next the door, and
upon 1t were few old books with
board covers, and leaves yellow and
torn. ~ -
Mr.. McSpilter's eyes saw all these
things and a great many more, which
I havn't time to enumerate, but he
made no remarks. He was debating
with himself whether he had better
60 to bed, or keep his seat and enjoy
the fire while it lasted 3oli ifs
-.s1t's toe. bad to leave such a jolly
blaze especially after being frosted
inside and out 'as / was this evening !;
but-whew!" what a handsome wo-
man u '.-iN'' .i'. .i=.7.''; q; 49, Ia ,r
The cause of this exclamation was
a portrait which hung over the man.
tile. 1t was a. face7-only the face
ofa very beautiful young woman =
Strange that Mr.. McSpilter hadn't
noticed this portrait before. He got
up from his chair to examine it more
closely, and the longer he looked at it
the more he admired it. RI. ...--.
'Such ,eyes!" exclaimed Mr.. Nc
Splitter.
He was fond of handsome eyes,
and he had seen quite number (his
father made glass eyes), but among
them all (glass ones not excepted) he
was very certain that he had never
seen pair that could at all compare
with the blue ones of the lady in the
portrait, And as Of her eyes, so. of
every feature of her perfect face
MI. McSpilter fell in love with tn e
portrait, and made vow to himself
that if he could find out the original
he would either marry her himself or
hire somebody else to.
"But. pshaw !" said he, "the pic-
ture is fifty years old. The original
of it may be mine host grandmother" :"
or great grandmother perhaps" :"
: But that didn't detract any from
the angelic beauty of the pictured face
before him, and, and SO being an ad-
miter of female beauty, he continued
TO feast his eyes upon it.. until the
clock in a neighboring steeple talled
one, when, arousing himself, he pre-
pared to get into bed, first replenish-
ing the fire from the box of wood that
sat ON one side of the hearth. -. -.
a Mr.. MeSpilter having undressed,
blew out the candle and got into bed,
drawing the clothes close up under
his nose. He shut his eyes, and re-
marked to himself, that he was going
10 sleep. But just as he made this
remark, both eyes popped open again
sN71 fixed themselves on the portrait
of the beautiful woman over the man
tel. He could only get a dim and
indistinct view of the face through the
gloom, except when the fire shot up
suddenly in u broad blaze. and then
the Pickering light gave an unusual
aud startlingly lifelike expression to
the face In one of those sudden
CLEANS of light; McSpilter was sure
that the portrait winked at him. In
the next CLEAN he was satisfied that
it smiled upon him very bewitching,
| ly too, and then she winked thesother
eye. .'-' scr 80
"Egad !" muttered McSpilter, '.this
won't do, you know" and SO he clos
ed his eyes again and tried to go to
sleep. II ,s,-ls..l. y hgs IL :..i
q But it was a terrible night, you
must remember, and the storm. beat
against the old house, rafting the
windows, slamming shutters outside,
and doors inside, bowling around the
CORNERS and shrieking down the chfm-
ney; until you would have thought
that all the dis in--well, no, mat
ter where-had broke loose. .'7-.:. :.
. (coNeLUDEp IN OUR NEXT IssuE.)
iles iiiiIIlIIiiIiiisi1s@ ;",'
., 1fIlf II niia ei zIaay {, 80 {
Dickens as 0 Man and an Author.
- 5UGit laut --rl ~,.tt---- ~.