The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1875-04-01
ANYTHING FOR A CHANGE.

Nellie Tvrrel was very pretty girl ;
b1,t very whimsical and impatient. She
read novels all day, and felt deeply the
gross Injustice of fate, III not making her
fife Ike the lives of the heroines of fc-
ton. Chestnut farm was miserable
place. in Neilie's view, and not a bit like
a manor. or q grange, or a castle. Moth
ING mysterious or tragic could ever hap
pen on such prosaic ground, nor could
anything extraordinary occur to any OF
the people who lived there.
Dly after day TIE same monotonous
drama was enacted. The A--traln
passed up in the morning and passed
down again IN the afternoon but the
passengers seemed to be always the same
people. and certainly it was invariably
the same locomotive and train OF cars.
Here was breakfast, dinner, and supper
twice week John Mortimer paid visit;
occasionally some one else dropped III,
and in this set of incidents was comprised
the entire history of life.
Nellie was ennuied to death. This
lovely Autumn afternoon she sat IN the
doorway other uncie's pretty farmhouse,
book in her lap and rebellion IN her
heart. The wind was sweeping the red
leaves from the trees, and the long, ted
ious Summer was fast coming to an end.
GLOW much all this reminds me of my
life % unused Nellie. 81 am growing old
without even having been young From
the instant we are born we begin to die;
but some of us more rapidly than others.
Good Heaven, will there never be
change -
Nellie" said little boy, making
sudden appearance from the interior of
the house ''Aunt Mary says you
mustn't sit here, because It's too chilly.
You will catch cold"
81 hope not, answered the young lady,
with infinite scorn. II may come IN
presently"
''But she wants you to come in nOaC."
persisted little Frank, her mlschevous
brother.
st shall come in when it pleases me-. y
''rha5's rude, Nellie, and [ daren't
tell auntie that. There's company in the
parlor, and she told me not to tell you, and
she wanted to surprise you, and they Will
be gone away soon if you don't come IN.
said Frank, with that defiance of gram
NAUTICAL proprieties which is the pleasant
privilege of childhood.
Company Some bore. I dare say !;
but anything for a change. Nothing
could be duller than sitting here"
So Miss Nellie went In. She found
Aunt Mary conversing with the hand
soonest young man possible to imagine
tall, dark, slender" rather piratical-look-
ing, but on that account only the more
attractive He might have sat for Lord
Byron's 'sCorsair'' or ''Lara''-in fact,
for anybody very wicked and very splen
did IL appearance Aunt Mary rather
stiffly introduced him as Mr. Lionel
Chelmont. Nellie could hardly speak
for embarrassment. Here was her beau
ideal at last.
1t presently appeared that Mr.. Chel-
mont was an author. He was even now
engarged upon book, and, being desir
Gus of rural solitude until he could
finish 1t, he had called upon Aunt Mary
to obtain board and lodging with her,
if possible, for month or SO, or, II
impossible, to obtain information where
such accommodation in the vicinity could
be had.
sit is so quiet here" he said, in
thrillingly modulated voice f'andquiet
is what [ seek. / have lived In snch
whirl of excitement during the Summer
that am bent on trying tiie opposite
extreme. ''Sick with pleasure, he
almost longed for Woe as the poet says,
and really the sentiment expresses my
own feeling exactly"
1T is very dull in Winter said Aunt
Mary.
''The duller the better" laughed Mr..
Chelmont. 81 don't have time for any
thing but my book. [ should be under
a load of obligation if you could accom-
modate me, and shan't be in the way at
all; and as for price, anything you like
to ask will meet my views exactly.
He had such careless, scornful way
of speaking, that Nellie already half low
ed him. This indifference about what be
was to pay was so romantic, and In such
contrast with Aunt Mary's penurious
ideas, and John Mortimer sgreedy count
ings up of the shiilings and pence And
how admirably he We 5 dressed-at Chest
nut Farm he looked out of place. His
proper sphere would be mighty castle
of some kind-one OF those amazing
structures described In stories-with
slaves around hum and all that sort of
thing.
Aunt Mary finally decided to take him
for fortnight at least-his sojourn after
that time 10 be longer, if mutually agree
able-s'and payment, she coughed, rath-
ed grimly. Gin advance" At this Mel