Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1872-10-04
DOTS BABY.

| babv With her soft mink and white nretti.
tines. her crinklino Golden hair her smile.
/ and her dimrles and her bonnv innocent
/ heart what was Dot lint baiv herself,
| And vet. one day in the rosy ripeness Of
/ summer we had all cro,vde1 tbe marion. in
white Swiss frnols With rarpitnre ot the
/ IoveIiest blossoms and ouite nurremedit,tive.
/ l., but all in tears and with vearpinr, re-
,,rets and tender f,rebodinos and si,bi,c
/ iaoks backward +, tbe fanrv Girl ne
which had been a tbinc nf heoStv bnt
woull be a fair dream for eyermore. had
Given her av,v Z, n tall handsome fellow
/ Harry t.cott bv n,me Of whom We l-ne,r
nothing exceut that Dot loved him and he
loved Dot II was an arflllv opdociou.
Z tbin,, IN d, rluckipg Fate b, the sleeve rs II
were. and bidding her ..rye Is. ,,olors ro7eu<.
and when after fbe ,,L. and ice-cream had
baen .orved and everybody had kissed Dot
and everybody who dared had also kissed tbc
blpsbino bridecr,,n. and our DARLING treas
ure had clupg To lis all one dreadful mo-
,ue,t and cried in the psst beartrcndip,, r, -
sbion. and fsaid She never. never copld leave
us. and She was a wretch for thinking Of if
and when somebody had announced tie time
for the train. and Dot had slirped out Of
her white six and into bcr orav linen in n
rrinLlin,- and tlot cool vou1r rabLer ba,l
ouietlv sbut her mn in the carriaoe and we
Iad A,nc an old Sinner ofter them f,r Incl
and Horrv oU smiles and irk,- ,oo,.t,ab.
and D.t all blp-l..s and 81. and a,ttsrin,,
IirtIe rinrs If rol5 Eair had vanished in =
p,iet of taors won't .,ya,- ~, r,,v-elf r.. ,r,
chamber now deeol.te C,ravcr7nore and b,,l
a nrivote HtH. ,rea,, ,f INV own, and in
JIl,ed in tb. dismal l,vrr, of bo-r;J .,.re-
lojings
UoTrv p,;.,bt 1s.o b.,tc He r,;,lt rre,l,
bsr Lc,rt The, ni.,bt latb LctiIl.l ~,
tbe raiIyra, Uorry Ini,bt Lose all hi. none,
and Dot mi,bt have 10 come hack an afan,
Joned miserable little woman IN tle f1niI,.
rircle Rrt tbis last pic-nre had n IT;,j,-
s;1a drieJ n, te,ri f., I,,l A. If md
,,.,. ,.,,ss.,tI. in co,liti, n, +, t,te r',-.alf
in hand and ad,oinistcr , r,,J ..,Idi,,,
U,rr- ala mot t,rn amt a re,.r,I,ore wa.
,nadc oni. I'M, r'i..,-ile Iy NJ b.r,;.e.. @s
raas.+al in ber letter- Al tte-a ,.irr- ?
Uow conf,len+l,- win What r+tor b;l,rit,
ia tbo, dee rr5m tbo 5e,r ol5 Leortbstanc
hired AWAY bv tbe MIGHT or thar .tronga ma
tent perroma2cer wb7 bol5s ~ncb n marvel
an. lien 1r,,n all hunon hearts
By and br | had a letter from Dot ber-
gin,, me IN come IN her and lving Dsy,i, in
The little r,se-soente5 nor. was tb,, most er-
ouisite secret in the world went at once
and before had been many weeks in Dot
home oU the vorl5-our ,yvorld-Lne,y onr
secret. There was dav and a NIGHT Of aw-
fnl suspense. and the star in their courses
seemed to stand still. and all the great round
earth to tremble and ouiver in mute. breath
les expectation. Then. in the husb of the
morninr. a new life bagan. and we launched
and cried over each other. and praised Gods
Goodness. which we had dared io donbr only
a half hour earlier.
1t was funny to see Harry. lie had
been lifted in a moment from the valley
of despair To the sunlit heights of hope.
and the poor fellow was dazel. lie stood
leaning over her where she Law. like a
wilted lily. hut with heaven shining in her
ewes.
.-Oh. Harry. look at him l''
That was inst what Harry wa, doing with
all his might. Presently he touched the
baby, cheek with his finger. | think he
had suspicion that it was by no means
real flesh and blood. hut only waxen
hoax.
Hes little fellow" he said. contempll-
tiyelv.
All the mother avoke in Dot
+Iittlei WHY. Harry how can yoa2 lie
weigbs eight p51nds -
Harry did not recoil under this man.tro1s
fact. lie took It quite calmly.
Docs be9 Wen - still doubtfiUv 81
sunnose he will grow"
..iGro,r - cried Dor sobr,ipr and l,urb-
inr. Il should think he Will. H. only a
c,ie-t;,,, of limo Gire him tino or,l-,.,L
and he will he as bir as von arc OL
,-o, ,,rac;ons corceitai f.ll.w / d;J,,t
tnov yo1 tbourbt w, were harm ,,ray-n
mn :,
Dot b,bv did cr,w II ,ra- in q refined
s,itoIlo e,sbion after INV o,r, Le,rr ,,e,sr
canlJ understand tbe er:.tacies rsonls o., into
over vonr buge babv wbo only re,re.e,ts ~,
mncb ,dinose t;ssnc
LII at lis arms r,' rbev crr ..T,,,, s+
his le,s -
..Deor friends do Ioot at them and 7
don't like them Tbev remind me Of porl, ,
It, A dreadful tbonobf know. but I can't
belr it. snppose il betravs some horrible
c-,nnilal redirree. but | never see one of
these oyer-corpulent babies without thinking
how nice he would he cookei As f,r n soni
should despair of finding one in such a mas
Of ayoirdupois.''
You may think II Is only nepotism which
makes me declare that Dot's baby. as n
baby. was absolutely perfect. His exauisite
limbs would have DELIGHTED a sculpfor In
deed, they were modelled more than once.
and might have had quite museum Of
casts. only Dot declared She wouldn't have
pieces Of her bubv living round all over the
house
The little fellow had a name of his own-a
very pretty name. ton. but was ALWAYS spoken
of as Dots baby When he was three
wears old. went to spend the winter with
| Dot.
1T is really time vou We're married.
| Ruthv.'' said Dot. Il have forebodinc
that You viii be an old maid read the
other day that there seventy thousand more
women than men in Massachusetts. The
rapers didn't say that most Of EN- live in the
country towns. but know they do. You
shall STAY here this winter. Ruthy. and if YOU
don't get lover bv spring Harry and will
paw your fare to Colorado. Only you muStn I
make love to Harry or seduce the baby 5
Young affections
This was the week before Chrism
and our principal work Just then wasa 8,
! % shopping for presents. One day We had
been unusually busy. had lunched down
town, and didn't start for home till the
short winter afternoon was Just closing
in.
Il am wild TO see baby said Dot. as We