The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1873-02-06

quite catch" 1t was well that he had
money, poor young man; for Dame Ma
| ture had been unusually penurious when
she allotted to him his portion of brains.
He was the kind of man that every true
woman detests; who prided himself upon
his fast horses, his money, the curl of his
hair, and above all upon the silky mus
tache that adorned his upper lip-so
very faint that-as aunt Betty afterwards
remarked, You'd have to put on pair
of specks to see it, and then have to
sarch for it for some time" Now the
last person in the world that Conway
would have liked to have had meet his
wife's aunt and uncle, was Mrs. DR.. Bene-
dict. She was woman who had keen
sense of the ridiculous, and~often created
much merriment by her power of imitat-
ing the peculiarities of her acquaint-
ances. The moment they entered Con-
way mentally condemned the footman,
(who he supposed had admitted them
to endless torment.
Mrs. Dr. Benedict raised her eyebrows
slightly when presented to aunt Betty,
and surveyed Mr. Leonard with we'll
bred stare.
The latter wore the same suit as when
he first came. Conway had offered to
present him with better one, but the
old gentleman had refused with quiet
dignity to accept it.
"You have done enough for me, my
boy" he said; besides, am not so poor
but what could buy it myself if cared
to. am an old man now, and it can
make but little difference whether am
fixed out in the latest style or not.
Unfortunately for himself, Mr. Horace
took chair in aunt Betty's neighbor-
hood, who thought it her duty to "be per-
lite and chat with him" The pale, and
rather washed-out appearance of the
young gentleman, at once attracted her
attention, and she said;
II reckon you don't enjoy very good
health, Mister, as you look kinder slim
and sickly. Coin into decline mebby.
Now the best thing you could do would
be to take lots of exercise in the open
air, and work some on farm. l don't
mean plow. or any hard work, but when
summer comes, if you'd jest rake hay or
do some light work like that, you'd find
it would help you amazingly. There is a
young man that lives near US who's
studyin' to be lawyer or doctor, or for
some other confession, (when say young
don't mean single, for he was married
four year ago last May). Well he was
materially workin' himself to DEATH and
mental labor they say is harder than
! physical labor. Bertram told me so; l
! guess he follers it. As / was a sayin,
this young man looked like ghost, and
one day when l was spendin' the after
noon with his wife, l says to him, Mister
Larkin, why don't you try some exercise
! in the open air2 You're fixin' a power
full nice plan to make your wife widder.
perdict that if you continer on as you
are doin' you won't live six months
That kinder skeered him, and he took
my device. Last summer when l passed
/ there l saw him a hoein' pertaters like
mad singin' as gay as lark, with his
cheeks and nose too as red as beets.
Now you mustn't stay in bed all day, but
git up with the sum- and fill your lungs
with morning air. You're SO slim, it
won't take much to fill your lungs" she
| added, as if morning air was very ex-
pressive and hard to obtain. There's
kind of bitters that would do you world
of good. Take wild cherry-tree bark,
and yaller-poplar bark, and mix it with
whisky. 1 saw some kind of trees in the
park t'other day. Praps they was the
very kind 1 speak of. Mebby if you'd
take a hatchet you might chip off some
of the bark right away"
| As aunt Betty was very much interested
in her subject, she had delivered this
piece of friendly advice in tone an
octave higher than usual. Mrs. Benedict
had ceased talking to Conway, and lis
tened in astonishment.
! Mr.. Horace gazed at the old lady COM
pletely bewildered Never very quick to
comprehend a subject unless it related to
horses or dogs, he found himself at loss
to make the least sense out of what this
queer old lady was talking about. He
put on his gold eye-glass and gazed at her
in silence
Weak eyes tool" said aunt Betty.
MY! this is worse than thought. Been
afflicted long?'
LAS he made no reply she said in
loud whisper to the young mans mother
who sat some distance from her: II say
your son amt exactly right in the upper
story is he? Kinder lunatic in the head
Poor young feller! 1 thought somethin'
was wrong with him." and she surveyed
her victim with a look of the most pro-
found commiseration. The lady address
ed shrugged her velvet-clad shoulders,
and made no reply, while Kate called the
! youths attention to an engraving she
had purchased the day before, to save
him from any more questioning from her
aunt. With malicious desire to draw
the old lady out, Mrs Benedict presently
changed her seat near Conway for one at
aunt Betty's side. Delighted at this con-
descension, the latter chatted volubly
about all her domestic affairs How much
apple-butter she had made, and how
much fruit she had canned last fall
What fine scholar Kate was, and how
they liked Bertram very we'll, but thought
he was "leetle too highfalutin' in his
notions" That she hadn't at first thought