National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1873-04-18
MISS DOLLY CORNERED.


a. shouldn't be surprised any day,
Dolly to see David Wiggin tying his
horse at your gate" said Mr.. Blount,
roguishly, gathering up the reins.
"Nonsense, brother any thing the
matter with his own hitching- post ?"
retorted Miss Dolly, turning into the
doorway.
Mr. Blount laughed. Every body felt
bound to laugh at Miss Dolly's crisp
sayings. She had kept her friends in
good humor these forty years.
"And when David does call on you,''
pursued Mr.. Blount, more seriously,
81 do hope, Dolly, you'll give him a
chance to do his errand. That II be no
more II fair, and the man won't be easy
till he has freed his mind.
"What mischief are You the fore
runner of now, James Blount q cried
Miss Dolly, facing about like soldier
in drill. What upon earth have l to
to with David's errands ?"
"Well, his wife's been dead year or
so, said Mr. Blount, suggestively, shut
ting one eye, and squirting with the
other down the length of his whip-stock,
land lately he's been asking about you.
You can put that and that together TO
suit yourself.
Fiddle-sticks p said Miss Dolly,
energetically.
81 sha'n't say have him. or don't
have him-but there isn't likelier man
living than David-but | do say, Dolly,
you ought to give him hearing And
having convinced himself beyond a
reasonable doubt that the whip was all
right, Mr. Blount tickled his sleepy
horse with it, and drove away.
"Oh, my sorrows y CALCULATED Miss
Dolly, closing the door with an afflicted
countenance, and sitting down so quiet
ly for once that photographer might
have copied her then and there.
Not that he could have done her JUS
tice, for her expression was too quick
and varied to be caught by any trick of
chemicals, and without it Miss Dolly's
physiognomy would have been rather
characteress but for her prominent
Roman nose. This organ gave tone to
her face. BY which | would not be
understood literally, rs saying that she
talked through it in nasal whine. |
mean simply that in a metaphorical
sense this bold feature spoke loudly of
energy. And Miss Dolly had always
had abundant need of energy--else why
the nose?
Every two years during her childhood
she had been tip-toed into the east bed
room to see new baby, till, at her
mothers death, five little brothers fell to
her charge to be coaxed and scolded IN
to manhood. you can't bring up them
boys" crooked dolorous aunt, "Theyll
run square over you, Dorothy AL
media"
Dorothy Almeda was Miss Dolly's
baptismal name, but it was so manifest
ly too big for her that most of her
friends would as soon have thought of
labelling tiny homeopathic vial with a
quack medicine advertisement as of
calling her by it,
Let EN- run over me so long as 1t
doesn't hurt 'em" laughed Miss Dolly,
skewerlng her haxen hair with goose
quill, and tying tow apron over her
calico ong-short, preparatory to bring
ing up" said youths.
From that day forward she went
cheerily on, making the best of every
thing, though it must be confessed she
often had odds and ends to work with,
as people usually do have who are born
with faculty Somehow she found
time for all her duties excepting matrl-
mony. If thi was a duty, it was one
she couldn't and wouldn't attend to
while her fath er and the children need
ed her. Divers young men thought
THIS M great pity, among them David
Wiggin.
Don't be silly, David y said Dolly,
when he limited as much to her, where
upon David went off straightway and
married Olive Searle, the plainest girl
IN the parish. This happened thirty
years ago, and now David was again
wifeless, and again the current of his
thoughts turned toward Miss Dolly,
who still lived at the old homestead
near the foot of Bryant's Falls. Her
father had died some months before.
or the boys, James and Ezekiel had set
tied on neighboring farms, and the re-
naming three were in the West. Da-
vid's benevolent heart warmed with
compassion as he remembered Dolly's
lonely condition, and he felt that 1t
would be exceedingly kind in him to
offer her home. especially as he owned
as good place as you'd find on the
river, while the Blount cottage was fast
falling to decay. He wouldn't let her
former refusal of him tell against her,
for, now he looked back, he really didn I
see how she could have married any
body at that period. She ought to be
rewarded for the devotion she had
shown to the family, and, for his part,
he felt magnanimous enough to give
her second chance to accept him:
Such was the worthy widower's state OF
mind when he asked James Blount, with