The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1873-04-17

end of the chapter, reckon. so L had
chances enough to be married, in spite
of my tongue but dear me I'd sooner
have been choked and done with it,
than to have married one Of them, till
we'll we will call him George; per-
haps that was his name and perhaps it
was not till George came along. l
used to find myself talking to him as |
never talked to anybody else he
frightened me up till / hardly knew
myself, and we liked the same books
read more then than / do now-and
the same sort of music and both enjoy
cd good argument; and by and by
the evenings he didn't come began to
be stupid, and just about the time |
made discovery he seemed to make it
too, and after that had nothingto com
plain of ON that score. In fact, / used
to think sometimes I'd like to try an
evening or two without him, just to see
if | would miss him much for whether
! went out or stayed at home, a bird of
the air seemed to cary the matter to
him, and there he would be ! l had
my second wish gratitied in the course
of time, too, but several things hap
pened first. / knew he had high
temper, and didn't enjoy being contra
dicted, and though / was not any too
much given to determination, | had
sometimes suspected myself of being II
little bit like him in those respects
but if love doesn't mako man civil,
then nothing ever will, and perhaps it
toned me down little, too. AT any
rate you'd have thought to see us, that
neither one of lis knew what temper
was; everything went MS smooth as
glass, and we were engaged to be mar
ried before we knew it, almost. No,
I'm not going to tell you what he said,
you parcel Of geese, you. DO you sup
pose | remember, when it's thirty-six
years ago to-day Now gigglo, do; it's
ladylike / found an old letter to-
day that posted me as to the date, so /
hope you all feel better for that.
Well, the wedding day was fixed, and
father bought me house, not very
large, but pretty and convenient, and
near enough to Georges place of busi-
ness. One day, when father and | were
starting out together to choose some OF
the furniture, we met George near the
store, and father, poor dear man, asked
him to come along, and just than re-
membered that he had an engagement,
too, though it was different sort from
ours so Geor and | went into the fur
niture store together, laughing and
chatting, and he quite agreed with me
about everything I chose, until it came
to one unlucky bureau. 1t was just
what | wanted, and so, although l saw
it was little scratched, ! thought that
could be fixed, and said I'd take it.
Stop a minute, says George, very
wisely, you didn't see that scratch, my
dear child, did you?' Now, perhaps |
was unreasonable, but somehow that
provoked me. fanced saw the sales
man grin little to himself, though he
was as polite as a tish-hook, and triad
not to look as if he noticed. 10 be
sure, our engagement was well known,
and nothing to be ashamed of, but ! felt
as if George was putting on airs little
too soon. SO just said, very quietly,
yes saw it, but / like the bureau
better than any of the others, and |
think that can be fixed. 1t would
show through any amount OF fixing
said George, mimicking my tone ever
so little-he'd corrected me forty times,
if he had once, for saying fix instead
of some other word, 80 that didn't
soothe me but l managed to keep cool
outwardlv, and said, Even if it should
show, [ prefer this bureau to any of
the rest. I'll take this, added, turn
ing to the salesman, and then I pulled
ont my watch in great hurry, and
found had not time to choose anything
more that day, and walked out of the
store. George strutted after me, as
stiff as poker, and rs soon rs we were
fairly in tho street, he began: THAT
fellow must have been edited, should
think I'm afraid he was, | answer
ed coolly. You might at least have
pretended to yield, he went on, even
if you had fought it out afterward.
I'm not good at pretending, l said,
'and as to yielding, it's a matter of
opinion whose place it was to yield.
'There's a certain little form Of sound
words which will have to be altered at
one point before you can subscribe to
it, should imagine, he said, and then
he laughed. Now, when 1 thought it
over afterwards, it came into my head
that he saw he was unreasonable, and
was trying to make things pleasant
again without saying so-catch a man
apologizing, if he can help himself-but
/ was angry, and somehow his laugh
Jared, and before | thought what L
was saying, blurtsd out, You seem a
. great deal surer about my subscribing
to 1t, as you call it, than l do myself.
He looked straight in my face, and shut
his lips together tight, then he said !;
mo, am sure Of nothing; an hour
age, no earthly power could have made
me belieyo that you would act and