Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-04-09
One Woman's Life.
A STORY OF TODAY.

iaNy NhaN ~ Nhtg u0oetti NuaN tucy VOulu
trace their pedigree in direct line from
one Of the passengers who crossed the At
lantic in the Mayhower on her first trip to
America. 1t might have been a task at
tended with some difficulty for the present
generation of ColliDsos to produce docu-
meptary evidence to support this assertion
but they could at least lay just claim to
quite a goodly array Of grandiathcrs, great
grandfathers, aud grcat-great-graudIathers
Not only did the faded pages Of the family
record, in several old Bibles, prove this
genealogical point, but sundry ancient fam
lily heir looma, TO Wit, dozen or two Of
battered old teaspoons, bruised aud long
suffering teapot an ugly-shaped little su-
gar bowl, and queer old taukard, all Of
silver though rather thin and quite decrcp-
it from age, sill existed as tangible proofs
that the Collnses Of the past had been re-
spectacle, that is, well-to.do-folks in their
time.
But the Collins family did not need to
look back altogether to prove their claims
to consideration. If they could boast Of
having among their forcfathers and near re-
latives doctors Of divinity, professors in
Yale college, attorney generals, one senator,
and one governor, the old judge was every
whit as good man, in his own and his
townsmens esteem, as the best of the race
and of his three sous, the eldest was law
yer aud a rising politician, who bade fair to
be senator himslf in time the second
was doctor in good practice, and the third
had recently graduated at West Point, and
was stationed on the western frontier
1t was tradition that the girls of the
family had always done their part by judi
cious marriages to build up the fortunes of
the Colinses and there was no reason why
Eleanor, the judges youngest child, should
not marry as well as the daughters Of her
house were wont to do. She was a slender
New England girl, whose forehead was too
high, whose nose was too large, aud whose
mouth was too wide for the strict canons
Of beauty but she had a transparent and
blooming complexion, large. soft, gray eyes,
such a wealth Of bright auburn hair aud
above all, so yivacious and changing an ex-
preston, which illumined and transformed
attractive and charming was indisputable,
She was intelligent and tolerably well edu-
Gated ; she could read little Virgil she
had been through algebra, though she new
er exactly knew how she did IL; she had
parsed Miltob's Paradise Lost she had
studied chemistry and natural philosophy
and "knew enough about them for all prac.
tical purposes, her father was wont to say
and did not dispute the statement, since she
could not, by the widest stretch of mag.
ination, conceive Of an emergency in her
everyday life, where she could be forced
to apply these sciences to actual use She
played the piano toerabfy well, and sang
the old songs her father loved, to please
him, and a few of the new to please herself
in a sweet, though unframed voice. She
was skilled in all matters pertaining to the
household. She could bake cake, sweep
dust, iron, and, as for sewing, with her that
was fne art Needlework was her delight
and her dcEt fingers were equally at home
in the shaping of the commonest Of gar.
ments, or the daintiest arrangements Of fue
laces and ribbons She was CHEEKY, sun
-, to,,,o.ol -; Il ,t,o ;IoI or tbo bourob,f Il
p ~ ~ ~ vi w "or.0'io.1 ~.
1nu ~. w. VIZ a.. WV 80 n W.
10y 'Iop'o.su s's". ',aIon ,Ii .V' Is' p
sul' ~ 80 ~ ~ III '"c,la1 M s ., r. ~,
brothers cadet classmates by the tim,
she was 90, the list Of her rejected suitori
was increased by clergyman, doctor
rt. ruu wv L l"e' euI e'.u"i M ue
,aSn'On' ne' i''ue. .h;. 4"u ao'ne' "au 80.
c o. iSa'nS H. ~ 49, h,S ros w.
~. wy rs, 49, !, ,raa, ~
.ei's-Is W Wv "o's :,
sn;tor in his tnrn Tbere was time epopcl
for Elaonor to set,le Inv and hv was tbei,
unsnoLon thou,ht and surelv thev were !,
No haste 10 lose bcr bright nresence frou
her cbildbood's home AZ % Eleanor wa
s,;I unmarried but that year hrougbt +,
nroot CHANGE into hor EGs Hsr g,tbcr and
mother die1 within three months of oacI
other and ot tbe aome t;me she lost norcnt,
and home
Tbe indcc had l;ved oeneropslv ,bcn,,
not evtrovs1antlv uis income had nevo,
been large. and the education and establish
ment nam Of Of bis cons had ahsorbed tbe create
nart of b;s small economies When the es
tate was settled and divided between the child
rem Eleanor,s norton was mere pittance
The chonro wos h;,,or 20 ho, uer hro,h
ara ,vbo ssoro ho,b norr;od o,Forod bor ,
home in their families but although sb,
I;Led her s;stors.;n.law verv we'll sbe wb,
had been used TO the INDEPENDENCE of AZ
onlv daughter in her fathers house coul,
not without an internal STRUGGLE. take IN,
new nlace of a sunernumerarv iS her sister,
honsab I'd
r. III, ho. e,,h =. a., ,,,,,o,, Ala h.,
aI,S ass ~ ia'nea ~, 'ae a5 "onoy aae @ 40,
'eeuoa , ,oi "1s eApousvs I hau 1eea,eu Sa,% Gus @
unu ua'uIa'' ou' " Ts aSN "e' p,o'ne', 1.r "4
sn'Ply in'o,eiAo'' iney "s'' pO." s''us
snas " Ic.,o,S ,usspInL's' Wv 40 ~
u;,"'s ,;. " .h sL'n. Wa LII 'iI1, an au' A. nn -"
u.,V IS % u'" e;I. as IT, III, H., % o. ~ aS;,,'.,
Put n'S o"u amy "i'aeuI ae ~, =" "1'I"a 1,'"''
/ III.