American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-10-24
ALL A MISTAKE.
BY L. II. FOOTE.

BY L. II. FOoTE.
Mrs. AIvoRD said at was a shame
Mrs Denton wondered how she daret
thus to impose upon people, while
score of mesdamcs and half score o
Mr.. DANES, gratified at somebody's yer
sion of something that did not happen
rolled the tit-bit under and off thei
tongues with the gusto of gourmands.
1t all happened in the quiet little tow
of Carlton, where the people mean to be
and are. good and kind as the worlt
gees; but somehow mistakes will occur
and human nature is prone to accept thu
wrong version of things, and then it is $,
pleasant to
Put horns on the heads of our friends,
Put intrigucs in the heads OF their wives.
''To think" said Mrs. Denton, tina,
Fanny Howard, the daughter of a con
victed fe' on, should come here to teach
our children and put on such airsI
never liked the girl; always thought
there was something wrong about her
The brand of shame is plainly to be seer
behind her smiling face"
Mrs. Denton's ideas of right and wrong
hinged entirely upon what Mrs. Smith
Mrs. Tracy and Mrs. Williams Nigh,
think, and that social conclave had al
ready convened and decided.
LAS for me-" said Mrs. Smith, L shall
never speak to her again. l shall take
Benny from the school at once, and
think we should ignore her entirely"
Mrs Smith was the wife of that very
important functionary, the village justice.
The counterpart of her phlegmatic hus-
band, she was tall and angular, sharp in
feature and sharp in tongue. Her house
in the outskirts of the city was the rem
devious of that female-1 had almost
said feline-inquest which seems to per-
tain to small communities. God, in His
1xu1 I,ar oh t,n
aforesaid Benny-as if thereby to soften
the asperitIes of her nature. What she
might have been without the gift we can
only conjecture. 1t is therefore impossi-
BILE to estimate just what part Benny had
played in the softening process.
Twelve months prior to the matters re-
lated Fanny Howard had come to the
village of Carlton, in answer to an adver-
tisement for q schOOl-teacher, bringing
letters and Communications which had
secured for her the place sought. For
one year Fanny had taught the school
with much satisfaction; her sweet face
and gentle ways had won the hearts of
the children, while her zeal and con-
scientious discharge of duties had won
the appreciation of the parents As the
last quarter was drawing to a close, a
stranger, staying for night at the inn,
had seen the schoOl-mistress on the street,
and upon being informed who she was
had replied: Il thought l was not mis-
taken; l have seen her before; her
father is in the States prison at NJ
Upon all the invisible wires of social
intercourse the news flew; the very birds
of the air seemed to whisper it; that con
centrated battery of pent-up country life
expended its force in circulating the fact
As Fanny passed, inquisitive groups
gathered at the street corners, the women
watched her from the windows, the
children even, silent and shy, seemed to
avoid her
what can all this mean?" said Fanny,
her eyes filling with unshed tears, and
the specter of pain haunting her face.
"Oh, that Mrs. Carlton was here; she
would not desert me-"
Mrs. Carlton was the widow of the late
Col. Henry Carlton, after whom the town
had been named. The Carlton estate
extended for ten miles in every direction !;
it's broad acres stretched from mountain
to mountain, embracing the entire val
ley; its fiocks and herds fed upon a
hundred hills The family mansion was
situated two miles from the town, in the
midst of charming grounds, beautifully
planted and laid out. 1t was a plain,
substantial, comfortable home, with broad
pOrches, wide halls and ample rooms,
wonderfully suggestive of hospitality.
From the first Mrs. Carlton had taken
to Fanny; frequent invitations had been
extended for her to pass the weekly holt
days at g The Grange"-as the place was
called-while Harry, the only son and
twenty-five, helped amazingly to make
the hours pass pleasantly; there were
walks and drives and dinners and croquet
parties under the trees and music and
dancing in the moonlight. Now, ALAS
Mrs. Carlton and Harry were absent and
our heroine, depressed by the weight of
an intangible something, wearily bore
the new burden.
1t was the last day of the term; on the
following Monday, the list of May, was
to be held the annual picnic, an old cOun-
try fete revived by Col. Carlton for his
people, as he was wont to call them. De-
lightful grounds in the hills, two miles
away, had been set apart for this pur-
pose; there were groves of trees, plats of
greensward and charming bits of seen
cry; a mountain stream came tumbling
down from the hills in succession of
waterfalls, forming at their base tiny
lake, where the ferns and the flowers
seemed most to luxuriate.
The May-day sun broke bright and
clear, it always does in this Arcadia,
tinging the mountain peaks with Grim
son and filing the valley with yellow am
Der. There was an early and unwonted
stir in the village and farm-houses;
troops of merry children were congre-
gated in the streets and lanes, happy as
the birds which gave them greeting
Vehicles of all descriptions were to be
seen vending Their way to the grounds.
Tables had been spread, booths had been
constructed, May-pole garlanded with
flowers had been erected. There was to
be Il dinner, poem, songs and dancing,
and some one was to be crowned" Queen
of the May"
The farmers for miles around the coun-
tryside had come with their wives and
their little ones the parson and the dca-
con, the lawyer and the doctor, were
there; there was Steve, the blacksmith,
his face washed white for the occasion !;
Briggs, the landlord of the Golden
Swan" with the proverbial rotundity
Tony, the shoemaker, with his half
dozen children out at the toes, as usual :;
Uncle Billy Rogers, who had crossed
the plains with Col Carlton in '46, and
as he said, twas raised in the same town
and knOw'd all the Colonel's kinsfolk !"
Uncle Billy's talk always opened or
closed with some allusion to his departed
friend
Tom Brown, the stage-driver, had
taken day off to be present With Just
the proper amount of dash he drove six
horses on TO the grounds, dressed in
characteristic garb-Mexican somJ,eyo,
immaculate shirt, red sash, high hceled,
close-fitting boots drawn over his panta-
looms. After slight excess of anxiety
in the proper disposition of his team,
with the indescribable insoucinnt air of
his calling he lOunged over to where mine
host of the Golden Swan was standing
i