Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-09-11
The Sturw Teller.
THE VENTRILOQUIST.

THE VENTRILOQUIST.
Myfriend and chum, Tim Jocelyn, possessed
to an astonishing degree the power of ventril.
oquism. We had entered college together;
was his roommate, and many were the times
that my friend, while we were sitting together
of an evening, after all had retired to rest, had
given me proofs of his astonishing faculty, by
filling the garret with the screams of turkeys,
the sGuealiDg of pigs, and with different imi.
tations of the human voice, which he would
convey away to some remote distance, and
then gradually bring it nearer, until it reached
the place where we were sitting. 1t was un.
known to any of the students except myself
that Tim possessed this power, and ne exer-
cised it only on few occasions while at col
lege, and in one instance made it subservlent
to the accomplishment of at least his own good,
and thwarted the purpose of villainy.
Tim was humorous, yet frank and noble
minded fellow, an excellent scholar, and much
beloved by his classmates. There was TEL
low in the sophomore class by the name OF
Benson, the son of a wealthy landholder, who
possessed but little talent, but who had that
superficial and insolent, contemptuous bearing
toward all the students whose circumstances
were inferior in wealth to his, that rendered
him deservedly unpopular among the class !;
yet Notwithstanding as he was the son of Ma
ior Benson, who was an aristocrat Of the old
school, and who was desirous that his son
should be placed in the highest rank Of acad-
emic honors, his tutors-as IN duty, or rather
in t-bound-made much Of David, and
did not scruple to exercise leniency and for
bearance toward him which they did not ex-
tend to others and although dozens of the
farmers sons, among whom was my friend
Tim, outstripped him in study and the attain
ment of science, still there was evidently de-
sire on the part of the tutors to put him ahead,
and to prophesy that he was destined to be-
come the greatest scholar of them all. This
misplaced favoritism, added to the insolent
and consequential demeanor of Benson, pro-
cured for him the unanimous dislike of all
the inmates of the school, and many were the
pranks that were played off upon him. Da-
vid affected sentimentality and romance,
which was in him perfectly ridiculous-and
he would sometimes perpetrate doggerel, which
he submitted to the criticisms of the tutors, and
sometimes to the students-de6cient in mean.
ing or measure, except where he had stolen
entire snatches from Byron's "Hours OF Idle
ness" and which never failed to gain him the
sneers of the school in the same proportion as
his verses we're commended by the teachers.
On one occasion he appeared at the adjoining
village with copy Of his latest effort tackled
to the skirt of his coat, which some. mischiev-
GUS student had pinned there during school
hours, and before Benson's departure.
During a summer vacation, a ball was given
at the neighboring village, and Benson and
Tim, among other students who remained du-
ring the vacation, were invited to attend.
Among the young ladies in attendance at the
ball was Eliza Ayres, beautiful girl of eigh-
teen, whom report said was great heiress.
She was an orphan, and under the guardian
ship of her uncle, miserly old fellow, whose
tyraunies, though often extended over his
household, had as yet been kept from his ward.
Benson was here introduced to Miss Ayres,
and exercised the whole of his powers to rem
der himself agreeable to her. Tim was also
introduced, and before the evening drew to a
close. it was quite easy to discover that the in
telligent and beautiful girl had, in her own
mind, drawn the difference between the two
young men. She seemed annoyed at the aped
tom m-fooleries of Benson, while she listened
with respectful attention and smile to the
conversation of Tim. Tim was standing by
Miss Ayres, who, after some remarks as to the
happy manner in which the evening had
passed away, concluded by inviting Tim to
call upon her, at her uncle's. Before she had
finished this sentence, Benson came up, and
politeness offered no other alternative than to
extend the invitation to him. He was about
to offer to accompany her home, but lin had
been too quick for him there. Tim accompa:
MED the lady home, and Benson returned
mortified to his room.
He, however, formed the determination OF
visiting Miss Ayres, feeling the assurance that
Tim would come off second best, when it was
known that he was but the son of farmer in
moderate circumstances, while he was the son
of Major Benson, with fortune at his com
mand. He accordingly often called on Miss
Ayres; and her uncle, for reasons that will
hereafter be explained, encouraged his visits
and exerted himself in his behalf, as suitol
to his niece. Benson was fairly in love, anc
as many lovers do, he assumed virtue ano
amiability of department which was but ILL
16lSQeQ, dIlu lis Iedl ldldCICl "OoAo oAsSA 81
pear in spite of himself. Tim had also avail
ed himself of Eliza's invitation, and otter
visited her. A mutual attachment was th'
consequence, which soon rpened into an aztec
ton between the two, and an exchange O.
VOWS and the promise Of her hand we're wor
from Eliza. Benson, under the encourage
ment of her uncle, still continued his suit
proposed and was rejected. He now grew
amazingly melancholy, or at least, affected tt
be so, and would wander in this mood to the
banks of the river and gaze upon the stream
probably contemplating an acquaintance with
suicide, and giving his body to the fishes to-
dissection. But Benson was not such foo
as that, either. His disappointment became
known at the college, and numerous were thu
jibes and taunts the poor fellow got from thos'
over whom he had so insolently domineered
This, of course, did not tend to add much tt
the amiability of his temper, and on one oc
casion he showed his magnanimity and cour
age by knocking down brig ght-eyedlad, SOM
five or six years his junior, for saying that 81
i'll l,oon hobit nf tok in(