Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-12-24
BLACK EYES AND GRAY.


Miss Middleton was flushed anl
gave other evidences of mental agita
ton as she passed through the parlol
to the little closet which was called
by courtesy her room.
The pl4in fact of the matter i.
that she had quarrelled with
her lover five minutes before, and
the gentleman had dignifiedly taken
his leave.
do not mean to hint that the loss
of a lover is a matter Of any moment
IN young gentle-woman's personal
history, or that one lover more or
less counts for much; but there were
two facts that made the present one
serious.
In the first place Miss Middleton
was poor, and now that her engage
ment was peremptorily ended, her
prospects in life were really very
alarming. She had not always been
poor, and she had little skill in any
art that promised to yield her and her
mother support They owned a
great rice plantation on the coast, it is
true. but it's dikes had been broken,
its tiood-gates rotted away, its bitches
filled up during the war, and, until
reftted at great cost, it was worse
than worthless. Tax bills had ac-
cumulated against it, and finally it
had been advertised for sale by the
Sheriff. The little unpleasant sum
mer cottage in which they were now
living, consisting chiefly of piazza,
together with It's two acres of white
sand, constituted the whole sum of
their possessions.
But her poverty and the barren
prospects before her were not in Miss
Middleton's mind at all. There was
another and more serious trouble in
the case. Miss Middleton loved the
quiet, patient man whom she had Just
sent away with bowed head and de-
jected countenance, and, for some
reason which she was not psycholo-
gist enough to discover, sending him
away had not in the least cured her
of the infatuation. The worst of it
all was that she had been in a pas
sion, and stamped her pretty little
foot angrily, and SAID wicked things,
in her final conversation with him,
and the memory of all her naughti-
ness, now that he was gone, was
sorely disquieting.
Not that she blamed herself in the
least for the rupture or the quarrel
that had accompanied it, by any
means. Have l not said that she was
a woman?
No. 1t was all Mr. Fred Brccse's
fault. He ought to have known sew
eral things that he could not possibly
have found out in any way, and from
his masculine stupidity in not know
ing these things the quarrel had
come about, naturally and logic
ally-teminine nature and feminine
logic being meant of course
Mr.. Breese was a native Of New
England, ard Miss Middleton was a
South Carolinian. Mr. Breese had
served in the army of the Union,
while Miss Meddleton's only brother
had. been buried in u suit of the
gray. When Mr.. Brccse first came
to South Carolina, therefore, and be.
came winter hoarder in Mrs. Mid
dleton's house, prudence and COM
mon courtesy forbade the introduc-
ton Of political topics in conversa-
ton; and when, little by little, Mr..
Brecsc became the intimate friend of
the family, good feeling prompted
both him and them to continue the
silence; so that, while there was no
dissilnulation on either side, there
had never been any discussion of the
painful topic between them. When
Mr.. Breese retu ned to pass second
winter in the family, Miss Middleton
had entirely ceased to think Of him
as a "Yankee" at all; and when, a
few weeks later, his relation to the
family changed from that of a friend
and boarder to that Of Miss Middle
tons accepted suitor, the two bad
pleasanter things than political diff.
terences to talk about; ard so they
forgot to remember that there was
or ever had been war between them.
\ On the morning of the quarrel Mr..
Beese had brought his New York
newspaper with him from the post
office, and in his absent minded way,
read it AS he walked.
This was the origin of all the
trouble, and if this story has any
moral at all, it Is that one should
never read newspaper except sit
ting in chair.
The newspaper in question con-
tanned, among other things, the Pres
ident's proclamation appointing the
last Thursday in November for
Thanksgiving.
AS Mr.. Breese had never seen Miss
Middleton's early home, and as he
had reason to believe that that
young gentlewoman longed to re-
visit the scenes of her childhood, 1t
had occurred to him to suggest
journey thither; and in order that he
might the more gracefully assume
the cost OF carriage-hire, he proposed
to make the excursion family re.
union al the old mansion-Mrs. Mid
dleton, her daughter and himself to
constitute the family. He therefore
suggested Thanksgiving day-as a
proper occasion for the reunion, and
this was what produced the rupture.
1--WE Cont keep Thanksgiving at
the South" replied Miss Middleton,
when he had explained his plan to
her
''True," he answered, I forgot that;
but it will be good time to begin.
The custom OF observing this feast
has out grown New England and be-
come national now."
eyes, in your nation, but not in
mine."
His gray eyes looked inquirlngly
into her black ones.
II had never thought of geography
in connection with you, Ruth" he
said. Then after pause, he resum-
ed:
"It you cannot 60 to Middleton
Hall in honor of THANKSGIVING. Ruth