Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1875-01-09

had brought me to the "FehhSy
mia wilderness"
What we did in those happy days
/ could not half remember, even il
| l now cared to. JOY was brighter,
more like fairy in gossamer than
ever. The woods around were pres
emily noisy enough with our wild
shouts of laughter, and the bal
bling little brook where we fished
for trout-and caught them, too
seemed to echo our enjoyment and
keep measure with its music to the
songs we sang.
Then We went pony-riding up the
wild mountain road, startling the
squirrels and rabbits; or we gather.
cd roses and ferns fer our scrap.
books, and lunched luyuriantly he.
meath tic sha,lowy gloon of the
huge forest monsters. Sometimes
we astonished the neighboring town
10y canterng on the ponies through
the single, trce-embDwercd street on
our way to the 'Stolp,' while the
country beaux gosSiped and looked
askaEce ut us, as beingS frOm auoth
er world. | forgot that | was Il
homely little NewYork school teach.
er, as the reflection of Joys won
drOus beauty seemed to shine upon
me and render even my freckIed
phiz attractive.
OF course | wrote Charlie long
letters, describing our various do
ings, and equally of course-like
the witless thing [ was-I pictured
Joy in all her radiant beauty as
something it was daily delight to
be associated with. And Charles
letters We're quite as long as mine,
and made especially charming by
frequent mention Of Joy and an oc-
casional message to her, to which
she was nowise slow to respond, and
that 50 wittily that l could not but
forward them duly, as half.jestingly
desired. And so by the time Char
lie wrote that he was actually CON-
ing, these two people were as we'll
acquainted as two young folks wei!
could be who had never seen each
other.
And when the station.wagon drove
up. and Charlie leaped out of it and
shook me warmly by the nand-he
didn't kiss me--Joy received him as
an old acquaintance, and we were
pretty soon all as happy and friend,
ly as possible.
Now our rambles and mountain
rides obtained new zest, since we
had Il cavalier; and though Charlie
treated me kindly as ever, l could
see easily enough that Joy found
great satisfaction in his society, and
he in hers-which, after all, was not
wonderful.
In the evenings and on rainy days
we played BesiQue, or had music, or
played billiarIs-that is Joy and
Charlie did, for | couldn't play bill
Iiards we had facilities for all sorts
of indoor amusement, and time new.
er hung heavily on cur hands. On
Iy now and again had a lutte heart
twinge, when JOY seemed a bit more
teuder with Charlie than l thought
was quite necessary; but it did not
disturb me much.
One day, though, l did have a
real sharp pang, which might have
taught me lesson, if l had not
been such confident goose. What
sort of beauty was l, to retain such
a magnificent fellow as Charlie -
but this is nonsense.
That day l had felt little lila
headache, or something-and l lay
down after lunch, to try to sleep it
off. By-and-by woke upand start
ed 70 find Charlie and Cousin joy
but could see nothing of them about
the house or grounds. Finally SER
want told me in answer to my inqui-
ry, that she thought they were stroll,
ling up the road, so l followed in
that direction. About a quarter Of
a mile from the house l heard their
voices, little off the road, and
turning into the wood in the direc.
tion Of the sound came upon them
suddenly. They made pretty pic
ture-I will say that for them.
Charlie was lying lazily at the
foot of a great tree, reading Ow en-
Meredith aloud, and JOY, resting
one hand upon his shoulder, over
which she glanced, now at the book.
now at-{lis handsome eyes, seemed
hardy to be certain whether she
WIS most interested in the author
'or the reader. l gave a low "Hem !"