Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-06-03

as ever: but the ugly hair was always del
icately coiffured, and her simple dress a
marvel of exquisite art. She did not care |
in the least that everybody believed THAT |
she had sold herself for an establishment !
Why else should a girl of her age marry |
cynical, soured widower of fifty. with |
half dozen of hobble-de-hovs of sons? ''Dr |
Noyes," Mrs. Tanning said, "was an am
bilious man, thwarted in his aims, by the
drudgery of supporting family. He
should have chosen an intellectual woman
as his second wife, who could have helped
him to regain lost ground
The Doctors mistake was soon apparent
in his wife's course. The faded carpets
and hair-cloth sofas were swept out of the
dreary old house. The money spent in
making it bright and pretty, as Mrs. Fan
ming said. would have kept open a soup
house all winter: Noyes' old friends. in
stead of smoking their meerschaums in his
dusty office, came in now to coy dinners,
where each man found his f;tvorite dish
his wife had a fine taste in cookery, it ap
pears; in that as in every thing else she
took life with zest and joyously: the Noyes
boys, who had begun to hang around Va
riety theatres and engine-houses, gave a
series of dancing parties and private the
atricals at home, to which girls of their
own class came. Now all these things
bring in bills the Doctors long boarded
money was spent like water. 1t was an
inscrutable mystery to our society leaders
why he and his boys, and in fact, all other
men, clustered around Mrs. Dode, as they
called her. affectionately, like bees about
honey. She never said anything worth re-
membering for five minutes she made no
professions of love and friendship. Some
of us, who remembered how the whole
school used to pause to hear her read her
Bible verse, thought the charm lay in her
pleasant voice, or could there be any mag
ic in the clean, spicy scent of Burgundy
roses with which the house was always
filled? The men, when questioned, really
seemed to have no definite idea of the wo-
man. one liked her because she was
quiet" another because her hand-shake
was as firm as MANS" another for her
merry laugh In the meantime they all
carried their secrets to her; the very class
mates of the Moves boys wrote to her
about their college scrapes that she might
:" see father and mother about it, and beg
them Off She had queer following "
of women too, shabby widows and fash
ionable bellies and poor mpstresses-you
were Just as likely to find one at her table
as the other She had not the least per-
ception of class distinctions, owing perhaps
| to those Quaker grandfathers who measur-
ed the world and all in it by ideas. She
| had too, different rates of value from ours
with regard to other things. Mrs. Fan
ming unconsci, usly ranked herself high in
the scale of being because of her priceless
bric-a-b brac, and portfolio of proofs before
letters Mrs Dode also surrounded herself
with old china and pictures, but was
Indifferent about it; she did not carry her
little luxuries with the uneasy vanity of a
workman in his Sunday shirt. Art and
wealth had been ordinary appliances of
her mothers family for generations. She
took no more notice as to whether a man
was rich OF poor in such things than
whether he came to her gloved or unglov-
ed.
/ Somebody was sure to bring every for
eign traveller to the Doctors house; whcth-
er it was prince, novelist, or poet, Mrs.
Dode welcomed them to her ordinary table
and habits, not concerning herself to in
quire if they were used to a palace or how
ell; and they in turn forgot to notice wheth.
er the nakpins were folded in English
fashion or how she dealt with her e's.
4 wish you would judge of US by ou
representative women" Mrs. Tanning sale
to one of these tourists while they were
dining at the Doctors, and not by mega
tive characters.
But he could look at nobody but the
homelv little woman at the head of tn,
table - All, Madam" he cried, '' there
are so many repI esentative women, Bu
4 af shar
married the good fairy. and by her had
family of but few children, all of whom
were born in the light of the moon; and
meet one now and then in this country o
E that. When | find one of them, then
: look no further"
1t was quite natural that Mrs. bod
having lived in so negative a way, withou
making any mark or bruit in the worlC
should die in the same fashion. 1t appear
that while she seemed in health some Sc
e cret symptoms led her to consult a phys
e clan. She went to New York to do thi:
:, saving nothing to her husband, and ther
T learned that She had but a short time
d live. Whatever grief she may have fel
e she showed none and told nobody her S,
p cret. When she came back the home lii
l. went on in its usual merry fashion. Die
:, and Joe both brought their brides HON
5. that winter. DR.. Noyes, who had grow
r. Younger and more energetic every ye'
1t since his marriage. was busted with SON
v, experiments in electricity, which adde
E. greatly to his reputation. Mrs. Dode d
r not change her habits in the least. 81
n never had been a constant church-goer,
$, a member of anv charitable society, al
he she did not become one now. 1t was I
I'd membered afterwards that she RENAME
i, out longer in the mornings on her roun
n among the poor, and that she had pri
is which was in her chamber, re-hung so tn
IS. she could see it when she woke in Il
al morning. Ut was the Head crowned wi
OF thorns.)
e. In June her husband was invited to b;
IS. timore to an anniversary celebration,
he which he always took keen delight. 5
lie, clung to him and cried when he was goin
IS IF YOU need me, Dcde, l will stay wi
nd vou,h he said tenderly. She hesitated
er little, and then raised herself smiling, IN
m it will be pleasanter for you there" sa
ip she, only good by once more, dear" 5
or went to bed as usual that night. In
'e- morning they found her dead, her che
ty resting on her hand, a half smile on t
freckled face: her other hand, tightly eli
ITS ed, was lying ON her heart, and they fou
fat in it a bit of the hair of the little dead-bo
as baby that came to her years ago, whC
SIS, head had never rested on her bosom. L
nd morning sun shone brightly over her, a
1t the room was filled with the perfume
,ut fresh roses-Scribner' for May.
ith
ell
he THE ORIGIN OF" SIMON PURE. Sim
Of Pure is a character in Mrs. Centlivr
1ut comedy, "A Bold Stroke for Wife," I
ith nIot of this comedy consists of the trit