Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-10-14


black resses very decidedly, maxim.
ewes at Enoch, Aunt Dorset thought ius
as Lucy Parkes used to do; and the mex
moment, in one of her capricious fit
she embraced old Job with her chubb,
smack. From that time her firtatio1
with Enoch may be said to have begun
''Who IS that spruce-loolzing young
fellow who helped you out of the stage
Lucy?'' inquired aunt Dorset, gazing
through her honest old specs. rs ht
an acquaintance of yours p The young
man had mounted to the drivers sea
while the operation Of getting the trunl
off was in progress, and appeared to be
watching the group in the front yard un.
/ der the locust trees with considerable in,
| terest.
"Oh, believe he has got busines.
somewhere around here, returned Lu-
cy, with an Indifferent toss of her head
''He was very civil to me on the jour
ney."
ii am afraid you are a bit of a hirt
child, said Aunt Dorset. And then
she thought to herself: "Her mother
was before her; pity if she shouldn' be. u
''Me a firt o, Auntie p and Lucy's
black eyes rolled up. and her mouth
puckered itself into-a dewy, rosy excla-
nation point
They were in the house now; and
Aunt Dorset had shown her neice up to
the best room, shut up as rooms are apt
to be in the country, and rather heavy
with old mahogany furniture, and a
high-post bedstead, with its dimity-teas-
ter and mountain of feathers. The mo-
ment the little dumping of a lady had
trotted out of the room to fetch some
thing that had been forgotten, Lucy
skipped to the window, pushed back the
blinds, and let her handkerchief futter
out in the breeze. Strange to say, there
was an answering signal from the top of
the stage. Enoch, who was lingering
below in the yard, saw the maneuver,
and said to himself: "She's a regular
case. believe she knows more about
that fellow than she pretends.
Lucy had been brought up in town
of considerable size, where French fash
ions prevailed and she had brought all
her little gauds and fIrbelows to Stock
burn, with the hope of electrifying the
natives, for her soul was by no means
above such feminine triumphs. She op-
ened her trunk, and hung some trinkets
about her little person, and nestled some
bows of cherry ribbon among her glossy
black curls. She went down stairs Just
before tea.
elbow nice tits here = said Lucy, look
ing out through the sitting-room window
at the sunny old garden. 81 have al
ways been cooped up in town, Uncle
Dorset and now you must teach me to
be a country girl.
81 s'pose you think, don't you, in
quired the old gentleman, that some
cows give buttermilll, Just as Dr. Hill
yer's niece did when she came up here
on a visit from York p
Perhaps l do, returned Lucy, arch
ly, bursting into merry laugh "and
then you know l solemnly believe that
potatoes grow on bushes
do see Lucy snuggled up to your
father, and he looks as pleased as cuff
fy," said Aunt Dorset to Job, as she put
a drawing of tea in the pot. There's a
good deal of cat about that girl. The
Parkeses have all got it, every one of
them"
81 wouldn't mind having her purr
round me, responded lob, in his dry
way.
they were seated at a pleasant tea
table now. Enoch had come in, and
Lucy was the cesssT Of everybody's at
tentions. In spite of Lord Byron s chur-
lish opinion, she was perfectly charming
while engaged with her knife and fork
Tell me, Enoch, y inquired she, ARE
there any nice girls in this neighbor-
hood I don't care a fig for young
men there was a sly twinkle in her eye)
they are horrid conceited creatures :;
but | should like to get acquainted with
nice girl.
Nancy Raynor is our next neighbors S
daughter, " said Uncle Dorset land she
IS as likely a girl as ever was raised here
in Stockburn.
''She has got what call prettya man
ners,'' put in Aunt Dorset, dishing out
the stewed ounces. Most of the girls
are too brazen to suit my old
fashioned notion.
''Ask Enoch about her." said Job,
with droll wink.
20, yes, struck in Uncle Dorset,
"Enoch and Nancy used to be very
thick; and 1 can't say whether it's her
fault or his'n that they don'thitch horses
any more.
Enoch colored as he bent over his
plate, and Lucy cast mischievous little
glance at him.
Nancy don't come here near as Of
ten as she used to, said Aunt Dorset,
pouring out the old gentleman's second
cup of tea and putting in what she call
a "Iong sweetening." 'She amt the
kind of girl to let any young man think
she's going to break her heart about
him. She's an independent little piece,
if she does look as if butter wouldn't
melt in her mouth. All the Raynor's
are hard-bitted.
Enoch looked really annoyed now,
and kept his eyes fixed on his plate, to
avoid Lucy's wicked little glances.
Suddenly he looked up, and SAID to
her: "If you get acquainted with Nancy,
you can wave your pocket-handkerchi
out of the window. l believe you like
that sort of thing. Now It was Lucy's
turn to cast down her eyes.
The house was full of fun and music,
just as Uncle Dorset had predicted. Lu-
cy kept things pretty well stirred up, and
plotted against Aunt Dorset's steady,
jog-trot, old-fashioned ideas. She want
ed to have her finger in everbody's pie.
She meddled with the cooking, and
made little, Notwithstanding cakes, that
nobody could eat.
'Pears to me these biscuits have got
the measles" said Uncle Dorset, one
morning, as he broke one open decora1-
ed with number of yellow eyes.
II made them, dear" said Lucy,
looking so penitent. You know I've
been brought up in dreadful ignorance;
but now am learning to cook, for I ex-
pect to marry poor man-perhaps a
farmer" And she cast such a glance at
Enoch that Aunt Dorset took the alarm.
That same forenoon while Enoch was
kown in the Evans lot, mending a piece
of fence, to keep Squire Bridgam's cattle
out, his mother appeared, with her apron
over her head.
Look here, Enoch. said she; "the
neighbors have got it round that you
are a going to make a match with Lucy
Malcolm. I wouldn't be quite so per
tickerler toward her, if was you, 1t new
.er turns out well for first cousins to mar
ry."
"The neighbors may just mind their
own business, said Enoch, angrily, as
he hammered away at board
'Tut, tut returned his mother, who