Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1874-01-03

he had been for the last thirty year
4 man of ample means, he drew
large proportion of his income fro
| speculations in Western land, COZ
: Quoted under the management of h
brother-in-law, John Easton, an
made yearly trips TO the land of II
/ setting sun to leok after his inves
/. ments.
During this last visit he had bee
much pleased with his nephe
Charles, and had proposed to him
make trip to G., stopping /;
some of the large cities on the joul
ney eastward, where the young man
own native good sense and tact ha
taken note of city manners, and ha
replenished his trunk with garment
of the fashion of the season.
''By Jove !" was Mr.. Montague
expression, as he opened a daily pape
and ierked himself up from the cas-
posture he had assumed in the seat @
a car just crawling out of New Yor
depot.
''What is it ?'' Charles asked, look
ing down from his superior stature.
'It is the fourteenth, F" was the re
ply.
F'Well?"
All at once Mr.. Montague remem
beFed it was the day of the ball, as h,
said to Charles, (which your aunt /:
/ going TO give to her niece, Miss Clara
| West, to celebrate her coming of age,
and also coming into possession OF 9
neat hundred thousand dollars.
''And VIC won't be there. l should
be out of nv element altogether, ]
presume"
''Not bit, boy; not bit. Let me
see. This train is due at G. by
nine. Pll tell you what we will do.
We will 90 to the hotel, and put our
selves into dress-coats and white kids,
and go to the house when the later
guests arrive. You'll have an early
chance to air that new dress suit you
got at B-'s."
Mrs. Montague heard the mantel-
clock chime the half-hour between
ten and eleven, with sensation of
unbounded relief. The ball, upon
whose preparation she had spent
many days, and drawn heavily upon
Mr.. Montague's bank account, prom
ised to be n success. Already her
large rooms were filed with the cream
of G. society, and the three girls,
in stylish and becoming costumes,
were the bellies of the evening.
Clara West was smiling graciously
upon the son and heir of the Monta-
CUES, Walter, and raising his NAM
mas hopes of a match upon which
her heart was set and best of all,
there was no sign of the coming of the
Western savage.
'"Ihey could not have come on the
nine o'clock tnnin," thought the mat
ron, cor they would be here by this
time. Once get the ball over, do
not care so much about the back
woodsman. Indeed, / imagine he
will be a good foil for the elegance of
my Walter.p
As the thought passed through her
busy brain, my Walter" with his
cousin Clara upon his arm, left the
crowded room to find cooler air in the
wide hall, and encountered at the door
his father and a stranger, at whom the
dapper little dandy gazed in half envi,
Gus astonishment
Walter, small. dark and dainty,
dressed IN the extreme of fashion,
certainly presented a strong contrast
to the young giant looking down
upon him. Tall, fully two inches
above. the regulation six feet, broad
shouldered and perfectly proportion
ed, with large brown eyes, blonde hair
and whiskers, and clear complexion,
young Easton looked like some Morse
warrior newly sprung to life. His
tailor had possessed sufficient dis
to tone his garments down
to an easy fit of his grand proper
tions, and while they were handsome
and becoming they avoided the dandy
ism of extreme fashion.
r But 1t must be admitted the strang-
er was decidedly shy. Thrown sud
denly into n sea of beauty and fash
ion, finding himself towering above
the heads of the entire company, and
all eyes turned upon him, he felt his
face erimsoning with confusion; his
hands and feet seemed to swell to
twice their usual size, and he would
have given all he possessed for good
eXcusSSto run away.
The introduction to his aunt and
did not mend matters. They
but thinly disguised their reluctance
to welcome him, and after the merest
civilities of greeting left him to him
self. Mr.. Montague was surrounded
by old friends in a moment, and sup
posing his family would entertain his
nephew, had also deserted him.
Charles stood at one end of the
large rooms looking down the long
line of handsomely dressed guests
moving gracefully to one of the most
inspiriting waltzes of the band, feel
ing interested and amused, yet hurt
at hls chilling reception, when a low,
sweet voice spoke his name, and he
started and looked round, to see
Clara Vests beautiful face beside
him.
''You and 1 are both strangers here, "
she said, with a wish to put him at
his case, and if possible to make some
amends for the rudeness of her aunt
and cousins, "and 1 imagined you
felt lonesome as well as myself"
Scarcely lonesome" he answered,
smiling, "but very much out of place.
Our Minnesota balls have more of the
social element, I imagine, Miss West
or perhaps it is because l know every
face in the room there"
"Do you live at Minneapolis ?"
'No. We are country folks COM
pared to the people of Minneapolis or
st. Paul. Ny home is a large farm
house, nearly half mile from any
other habitation, and four miles from
the nearest village. But we cheerful
" drive four miles for a merry
making"
Questions sllllfully put soon rous-
ed the young farmers pride in his
Western home, and he gave eloquent
descriptions of the scenery, the hunt
ing, the bitter winters, when the snow
lay upon the ground, in an atmos-
phere so clear and dry that one could
walk miles in moccasins and not feel
any moisture under foot. He told
his listener of the hunting expeditions
the young men joined in, and Clara
found her own pulses qujckening as
he described some of the wild scenes
and hair-breadth escapes of his ad-
venturous life. Suddenly he pulled
himself up, with a short laugh.
81 am wearying you" he said.
"NO, you are not, she answered,
truly; you must tell me more anoth-
er time"
"Might I venture to ask you to
waltz ~ he said. II cannot see any
difference in this step and ours"
Without hesitation Clara put her
little hand upon his shoulder, and
with a graceful movement he led her
to the floor. She was surprised to
find the tall, grand figure could move
as easily as Walters own, while the
strong arm held her firmly yet deli
cately, giving her perfect support,
while allowing her graceful freedom
of motion.
"How beautifully you waltz - she
said, as the music ceased.
There was a German dancing mas
ter in Chicago when We spent a win
ter there some five years ago, and ]