The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1871-03-14
MESMERISM AND MATRIMONY.
A BACHELORS STORY.

IN hlhIlN DI IIlID huO DuCuCluIs
NI- He had backed and filed, and
hesitated and doubted about entering
upon blissful state" of matrimony, until
the fire of youthful passion was all spent,
and matrimony had become problem to
him as dry and formal to him as one in
old Walsh's Arithmetic to be ciphered
out for an answer, as much as that prop
osition about carrying the fox, goose and
bag Of corn across the creek, that every
body problemly" remembers Being
phrenologist, he left the province of
hearts, altogether, and went to examining
heads, to ascertain the genealogical de-
velopments of woman's fitness for the
position Of wife to Martin Speed, Esq,
as letters came addressed to him at the
Speedwell post-office. Speedwoll was
named for an ancestor Of his, and boasted
of several thousands of inhabitants; and,
as it was factory place it had goodly
share of good looking marriageable girls.
Martin studied Combe and Spurzeheim
and Gall, and grew bitter as disappoint-
ment saw him enter his forty-frst year
bachelor. He looked back on the past,
and saw the chances he had neglected,
and the happiness of those who had start
ed with him, and were now portly people
the heads and fronts Of families and the
delicate damsels he had slighted, respec-
ted mothers in Israel, and exemplary and
amiable wives. He sought every oppor-
tunity for examining the heads Of such as
would submit themselves to his hand
with hope of catching the bachelor; for
they knew his weakness, and he was we'll
to-do and an eligible match. But. in vain
he looked for perfection. The bumps
would not be arranged as he wished them.
If he took liking to a pretty face, phre-
nology Immediately gaveit the lie straight,
and he at once avoided it.
1t was at this juncture that biological
lecturer-and grave professor in that
science-came to Speedwell, and gave a
series Of exhibitions. These Martin at
tended, and biology at once became an
"intensity" with him, "new emotion" f"
He attended all the exhibitions; and saw
men personate roosters and crow; hens
and scratch shiver with cold or burn
with heat, at the will Of the operator saw
miser endeavor to clutch an eagle held
out to him while under the influence of
the wonderful spell, and the tongue of a
woman stilled who for twenty years had
been the pest of Speedwell by her loquaci-
ty.
This put the mind of Martin on a new
track. He sold his old chronological
works and devoted himself to the study OF
the wonderful science through which such
marvels were performed. The professor
was fine teacher, and Martin placed him.
self under his tuition He succeeded ad-
mirably. In short time he surpassed
his instructor, and had more than his
powers in influencing the susceptible
among his weak brethren and sisters.
He formed resolution to himself, that
through this means he would gain wife
Could he find one that his science could
trans6x like the man who was stopped by
the mesmerizer halfway down, as he was
falling from the roof of house-he
would marry her ; for the reason, dear
reader, that Martin had not married, was
that he had heard of wives wearing the
authority over their looks, and he was a
timid man.
In this new science he saw security,
and sedulously sought for one of the
right description. AT every party where
he was invited, at every sewing circle, at
every knot of factory girls in which he
mingled in the summer evenings, he tried
his art, but without success. At last
when on the point Of despairing, accident
gave what he had failed of obtaining by
earnest seeking.
A widow-dangerous to bacheloric
peace as edge tools are to the careless
hands of the inexperienced-came to the
village on visit. The weeds had not
been removed that marked her bereave-
ment, and the merest touch of melancholy
rested on her brow, but her eye was
laughing, and sweet curl strayed away
and lay like chseled eddy upon the
marble of her cheek. She had a Jewel
on her hand, and the black dress she wore
was cut judiciously-the milliner that
cut it had been widow herself, and knew
how to manage such matters-showing o
beautiful white shoulder, and revealing
n bust of rare loveliness Martin met the
widow at the residence of friend, and
liked her. He had never seen so prepos
sessing a woman, he thought But she
had buried one husband, and that was
rather a drawback. One visit led tc
another, the liking still increasing, until
he broached the subject of biology, with
a wish, fervently felt, that this might be
the woman he sought. She was fully