Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1873-03-14

Diess MY SOUL, Auulel WHAT WAS ali
thatY Somebody at the door, What time
is It and how, and who can 1t bef So late
as this, toor'
at Is not very late, mother. Only lit
tie after eight I'll go and see who II is"
said Annie demurely, at the same time
taking the one candle from the table.
"Noi Here, Annie, you wind up my ball
and brush up the hearth while 1 go to the
door. Drat that cat p
For the old lady's feet were all this while
struggling in the perplexing meshes of the
unravelled yarn.
In her hurry Mrs. Moore forgot to take
the candle with her; and as she stepped
out into the small, unlighted front entry,
she unwittingly closed behind her the door
Of the room she had just left. Almost at
the same moment she put her hand on the
handle of the outer door, and opening II,
she found herself in the ardent embrace of
pair of stout arms. A whiskered face was
brought into close proximity with her own,
and before she could fully realize her posi-
tion, she received prolonged kiss-a hear
ty smack, given with a significant gusto
which indicated that the unknown was TAX
Ing his revenge for some past slight-pay-
ing off some old score; for it said as plain
ly as words could have done: "There, taNe
thatp And all this fell upon her unoffend-
ing, virtuous matron lips!
"Oh, Murder! Murder! 'Tant Joshua
neither ~
For she had by this time divested herself
OF the impression that it was her usually
sober spouse returned home in a strangely
exalted condition, thus to indulge in such
unwonted demonstrations of conjugai af-
fection. "Git out! Git out, I sayl Murder!
Fire! Thieves! Annie! Annie Do come
here! Here's a man kissing me like mad p
But the intruder had by this time discov-
cred his mistake, and it did not need the
indignant pummelling and pounding of
the old lady's respectable fists to make
him relinquish his hold and race off as If
pursued by some avenging fury.
Annie, nearly choked with smothered
| laughter, in spite of her trepidation now
| came to the rescue.
"Oh, / never was so took aback in all my
born days! The mean scampl Who could
| it have been? Annie, have you an idea ?"
But that dutiful daughter was to all ap-
! pearance as innocent and ignorant as an in
fantile dove. She tried to soothe the indg-
nant matron by representing that it might
have been ~ one of the neighbors who un-
der the potent influence of wee drop too
much, had mistaken the house and-the
housewife She searched the entry for the
missing spectacles, arranged the rumpled
cap ribbons, wound up the tangled yarn,
stirred the fire-all in the most amiable
manner possible-and at last had the salts
faction of seeing her mother suhside into
her rocking chair and her usual tranquility
of spirit.
| But Mrs. Moore was fully awake now.
She had got new idea into her head, and
instead of settling herself for another nap,
she pursued her train of thought and her
knitting both together, with wonderful
rapidity. At length, stopping and looking
keenly at Annie, over her spectacles she
said:
at may be queer notion of mine, An
ME, but I've fancy that man was David
Winthrop"
The suspicious symptoms did not escape
the eye of the skilful inquisitive, who
calmly continued:
"'Pears so to me cause them big whs-
kers put me in mind of his'n; and then
the awkward way he gripped me with his
big paws!
No answer. But Annie was wonderfully v
busy. She bent over her work and drew
her needle through so quickly, that the
thread snapped, and then she didn't have
time to talk, she was so taken up with try
ing to coax the thread through the eve
again
Inhexible Mrs. Moore went on: "I
don't believe that kiss was intended for
me after all. Do you, Annie? Well, OF
course, we know it wasn't. But then do
wonder who 1t was intended for2 And |
wonder If you don't know something more
about 1t than you seem tit to tell p
"Me, MotherP'
"Yes, me mother; you was mighty
anxious to get me an Pap Off to Aunt
Ruth's tonight; but 1 noticed you was
slicked up extraordinary for all you wern't
going"
Here Annie lost her needle, and went
down on the floor to find it.
snow, Annie, her mother went on, az m
gittin' old, know that, but haven't quite
lost my eyesight yet, nor my hearin' neith-
er. l have surmised a little somethn'
about these COINS on between you an Da-
vid afore now. What ar YOU a playin'
possum furf Out with 1t, / say. Taint
fair to be tryin to come it over your old
mother"
Thus adjured, our small feminine Mach
iavel made a clean breast of 1t, much re-
lieved to find that mother hadn't nuthin'
agin him." and "would give father a tall in
to about it. an bring him around"
"But, Annie," says Mrs. Moore, dryly
in conclusion, ~ want you to tell David
I'd rather he'd not make such mistake as
that again. l don't like the feel of his big
whiskers about my face, and moreover /
don't approve of promiskus kissin'P'
David never heard the last of that kiss in
the dark Old Squire Moore, of course,
heard Of it, and used to take great delight
In slyly alluding TO the circumstance when
all the parties concerned happened to be
present. He would shake his burly sides
with laughter at Davids evident discom.
future and his wife's tart replies, while An.
ME would side with her father and poke
sly fun at her sweetheart, and then both ol
them would laugh again at the other two
until the tears ran down their cheeks.
"Never mind, David, Mrs. Moore would
say consolingly to the abashed lover, "let
them laugh" He'd have been only toe
glad to have been in your place thirty years
ago. He had hard work TO get a kiss from
me then. 1 hope the occurrence will be q
lesson to you an Annie agln the un-policy
OF underhand doins' of all sorts, seein' al
how they're liable to end, in sich cases, In
| liaalIat Tho ranaz In h1 Ia