St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-10-17
HowP

Perhaps | am Il little too haStv. Il
little To" ready to light up ut Il mimute's
notice: but there are some words that
seem I" me to carry IN especial grain
ot gunpONdcr III them. and the above
is one % the sort. TO have Il person.
after you've been through IL long en-
planation. put his fingers to his mental
ears and query Nuu thus, or worse still.
"liaoW ,! Is too cNaSpcrating for hu-
man nature to bear. But that is what
john StIiugcr did To me. bending his
head Il little nearer. and speaking in
an absent" "gravatiug manner that tan
| taliZcd me beyond words.
lnu see. John StIingcr and | were
engaged: we'd been engaged for Il Ion"
time, and perhaps had got to he Il little
| too matter o course to each other
We were sitting there over the fire.
after the old folks had gone to bed. and
| fell to telling him all about Sophie.
MillS'S wedding her white silk dress.
her bridc-cakc and her bridesmaids
frosted all over to match it, and ended
this way:
But it don't make any difference.
John. to people that love each other ::
all that's % no more account than last
years >mowdrtt. Ihcg could hc mar
ricd III calico and homcspun. with
their feet on rag carpet like this and
love each other just as WELL
"llow p said John. ab>cntly. lie
was Watching the Goals flicker up and
die out again, and picking up IL stray
chip now and then to fling on the en-
beers Il fashion he had when he was
thinking.
Now had had the headache all day.
and | guess | WAS rather more tindcry
than usual, though didn't think 50
then: but when John bent his great
broad shoulders over. aS if he hadn't
heard Il word said. and in fact. had
something better to occupy his mind. |
just fined up. first. and then the blaze
died down into sulkS, and when we
parted that night John and | had had
our first and last qualIcl.
My heart did not miSgive me that
when SAW Johns great tall figure go
ing out of the door, it WAS the last time
he'd lift the latch for many IL wear: but
81 it WAS.
Y"u sec, held my head pretty high
in those days. and wouldn't show that
| WAS IL hit cut up about it. 50 paired
off with Mrs. Plumbers Jesse. IL likely.
spruce Young fellow enough. but no
more to he compared with John than IL
CoCklc->hcll to Il brigantinc.
oh. well. mother sighed. and tried to
bring lis hight again, but it wasn't to
he.
john was Il powerful. muscular man,
and used to see him go up the road
many Il time when | WAS out i'll the shed
milking. and pccpimgnut at him through
the chimkS. thought his broad shoul
ders stopped more than ever, and his
figure was growing more stalky like.
Such an awkward fellow as John was. !.
came near rushing out on him once,
in my sun bonnet and with my sleeves
rolled up. and tlinging my arms right
round his neck: but John liked to see
things tidy, and never did it.
Jesse Plumber was the bean o. the
villagc-dapper neat, and dainty as
you please and all the girls thought
had come to my senses when | ousted
'cm q jess. And by-and-by it was
jess that came sparkling "'nights, and
sat q winter evenings over the emberS,
and he was 50 soft spoken and pleasant
that even mother forgot her veNation.
(Shc always set store by John, mother
did.) Well. in the spring we were mar
ricd. jess and me. and had string q
pearls and il real silk bridal dress, and
| felt kind o lifted like when the girls
crowded round me and hoped I'd be
happy.-I hoped SO too: | wasn't sure
of 1t.
Remembering the days that came
after. can't recall one hard word l
ever heard from Jess. We weren't
near enough to each other to quarrel !;
we just laid apart like two old volumes:
there wasn't amy fire 'twiXt us, nor any
thing 'twixt us. either love or laughing,
whereas John and | had always been
bubblng over one way and another.
worked hard. for my silk dress and
necklace were all had of riches: and
| cut up the gown one day to make a
cloak for the baby. You see l couldn't
give up my pride, and was just as hlgh
spirited It's ever. But our farm did not
prosper. and jess didn't prosper; and
Mrs Plumber came to live with us, to
look after things. she said; and she got
to pitying him every now and then for
marrying poor wife, and-oh, well,
what's the use o talking P-sometlmes
| couldn't help wishing John StrIngers 5
strong shoulders were at the wheei,
when | was working myself to death
morning and night for nothing.