Litchfield enquirer., 1875-08-19

Sunday nights to see the "Widder Ger man." and finally proposed to share her troubles and carry on the bakery in a mat rimOnial partnership, Mrs. German said she s'guessed she would" and announced to DelY on Monday morning that she was going to have 8 step father. Dely was astonished and indignant, but to no pur- pose. Mrs. German cried and rocked, and rocked and cried again, rather more saliently than when her husband died but for all that she did not retract; and in due time she got into the stage with her elder | ly lover and went to Meriden, where they | got married and came home next day to carry OF the bakery.
 Joe German had been foolish enough to leave all his property to his wife, ,and Dely had no resource but to stay at home and endure her disagreeable position as we'll ! as she could, for Tom Kenyon swore and chewed and smoked besides; moreover. he drank,-nOt to real drunkenness, but enough to make him cross and intractable; worse than all. he had a son, the only child of his first marriage, and it soon be- came unpleasantly evident to Dely that Steve Kenyon had mind to marry her, and his father had mind he should. Now 1t IS all very well to marry a person one likes, but to go through that ceremony with one you dislike is more than anybody has a right to require, in my opinion, as we'll as Delys; so when her mother urged upon her the various advantages of the match, Steve Kenyon being the present master and prospective owner of his fatf- CTS tavern, a great resort for horse-iock- eys. cattle-dealers, and frequenters of State and County fairs, Dely still objected to marry him. But the more she objected, the more her mother talked, her step-fath- CT swore, and the swagering lover persist ed in his attentions at all times, so that tine poor gIrl had scarce a half-hour to herself. She grew thin and pale and un- happy enough; and one day George Adams. stepping in unexpectedly, found her with her apron to her eyes, crying most bitterly. It took some persuasion, and some more daring caresses than he had yet ventured upon, to get Dely's se- cret trouble to light. am inclined to think George kissed her at least once be- l ing about; but Dely naturally came to the conclusion, that, if he loved her enough to kiss her, and she loved him we'll enough to like it, she might as well share her trou- bles, and the consequence, was, George | asked her then and there to share his. Not that either of them thought there would be trouble under that copartnership, for the day was sufficient for them; and it did not daunt Dely in the least to know that Georges only possessions were a heifer cali, suit of clothes, and twenty | dollars.
 About month after this eventful day, Dely went into Hanerford on an errand, she said; so did George Adams. They stepped into the minister's together and were married; 30 Dely's errand was done, and she rode ont on the front seat of Georges empty wagon, stopping at the bakery to tell her mother and get her trunk: having wisely chosen day for her errand when her step-father had gone away after load of flour down to Haner- ford wharves. Mrs. Kenyon went at once into wild mysteries, and called Dely jade hopper, and an ungrateful child; but not understanding the Opprobrium of the one term. and not deserving the other, the poor girl only cried little, and helped George with her trunk, which held all she could call her own in the world,-her | clothes, two or three cheap trinkets, and a few books. She kissed the cats all round. hugged the dog, was glad her robin had died. and then said good-by to her mother ACAuSC0 6O AlSo dI1u SdIu NTcOTGe | Adams was a snake Ill the grass This was too much for Dely; she wiped her ] eyes, and clambered over the wagon-wheeI and took her place beside George with a smile so much like crying that he began | to whistle, and never stopped for two miles. By that time they were ill a piece of thick pine woods, when, looking both before and behind to be certain no one was coming, he put his arm round his wife and kissed her, which seemed to have a consoliDg effect. and by the time they reached his mothers little house, Dely was as bright as ever.
 A little bit of house 1t was to bring a wife to, but it suited Dely. It stood on the edge of 8 pine-wOod, where the fra grance of the resinous boughs kept the air sweet and pure, and their leaves thrill | ed responsive to every breeze. The house was very small and very red, it had two rooms below and one above, but it was heater than many a fve-story mansion, and far more cheerful; and when Dely went in at the door, she thought there could be no prettier sight than the exquis- itely neat old woman sitting in her arm chair on one side of the fireplace, and her beautiful cat on the other, purring and winking, while the teakettle sang and sput- tered over the bright fire of pine-cones, and the tea-table at the other side of the room, was spread with such clean linen and such shining crockery tLat it made one hungry even to look at the brown bread and butter and pink radishes that were Dely's wedding supper.
 It is very odd how happy people can be, | when they are as poor as poverty, and | don't know where to look for their living but to the work of their own hands. Gen. teel poverty IS horrible; it is impossible for one to be poor, and elegant and com fOrtable; but downright, simple unblush- ing poverty may be the most blessed of states; and though it was somewhat of 8 descent in the social. scale for Dely. to marry farmland, foreman though he might be, she loved her George so devout- | ly and healthily that she was as happy as a woman could be. Georges mother, the | sweetest and tenderest mother to him, took his wife to place besides his in her heart, and the two women loved each oth- CT the more for this mans sake: he was a bond between them, not division; hard work left them no thought of ranking | jealousy to make the1r lives bitter, and Dely was happier than ever she had | thought she should be away from her mother. Nor did the hard work hurt her: | for she took to her own share all of it that was out of doors and troublesome to the infirmities of the old lady. She tend- ed the calf in it's little log hut, shook down the coarse hay for its bed, made it's gruel till 1t got beyond gruel. and then drove it daily to the pasture where 1t fed, gave it extra -ations of bread and apple pear ings and carrot tops, till the creature knew her voice and ran to her call like a pet kitten, rubbing its soft, wet nose against her red cheek, and showing in a dozen blundering, catfish ways that it both knew and loved her. ..l1aE. | There are two sorts of people in the lworId, those who love animals, and those who do not I have seen them both. I have known both; and if sick or oppress cd, or bourne down with dreadful sympa- thies for a grooming nation Tn mortal struggle, I should go for aid, for pity, or the relief of kindred feeling, to those l ' had kouahoI w1kh ~r1oI-