The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-01-22
MY hANBLADY'S STORY.

The lodgings that wOuIdn't suit.
Ny yIandlady was little, spare, neat,
cieanlooking old woman, With the kind
of superficial sharpness of the eye that
bespeaks q person whose mind has al
ways moved within the same small cir
Gle. Whom, or at what age, she began
the business of letting furnished apart
ments, or whether she was born in it,
and grew up of nature and necessity
landlady, do not know but there she
was, as intimate with her house and
everything that concerned it as an oys-
ter is with its shell, and as ignorant.
too, of the outside world as is that ex-
elusive biValve. Her connection with
that world was Of q peculiar kind. She
never visited it but when driven by the
force Of circumstances, and then it was
as a beleaguered garrison makes a sortie
against the enemy. Her natural foes
were the tradespeOple, who dealt IL
anything she wanted, and the result of
a conflict between them, if il involved
2 coin of the lowest denomination, col
Ored her the whole day.
1t was not frequently, however, that
she was driven to this aggressive war
fare, for my landlady was a great dealer
at the door and livzd in a state of per-
petual hostility with the venders of
g fresh white fish here y early cab
bage and similar of the tried Iuxuries.
Her house, or at least the parlor floor
which inhabited, bore q conspicuous re
semblance to herself, being a little,
spare, neat, clean looking old floor.
Jt consisted of a sitting-room and
bedroom in excellent preservation.
What the age Of the furniture may have
been it was impossible to say or even
make anything like a correct guest, but
for all practical pur, oses it was as good
as new. There was no polish on it, but
neither was there a particle OF dust
not grain. Though kept constantly
and scrupulously clean, it had never
been rubbed in its whole life; that, pos
slbly, was the secret of its longevity.
The carpet, though as whole as the
rest, was not in other respects so fortu
nate. It's color was so completely faded
that You could not tell, with any de-
gree Of accuracy, what it had originally
been the pattern might have been the
matter of endless controversy: and it
exhibited decided gangway from The
door to the fireplace. Its dimensions
might be thought somewhat scanty, for
it did not cover the entire floor: but
then it must be considered that this
carpet was intended for the comfort of
the lOdger's feet, not for those of the
the six cane e-bottomed chairs ranged, at
wide intervals, along the walla. On
the mantle there stood a lion of spar,
and fanking him on each side vase of
stoneware making up in size what it
lacked IN beauty, Iarrow, horizontal
mirror, divided into three compartments
with a black frame.
These apartments, for which I paid
four dollars a week, were not particu-
larry cheerful or delightful apartments.
They had, indeed, rather q cold. solitary.
lonesome look, anl sometimes in the
morning at breakfast time I would fain
have even prolonged the ministering OF
the dirty maid of all work by asking
any questions that might come into my
head-not for information at all, but
Just for the parPose Of having some
one to talk to. But Susan had, doubtless.
been ordered to hold no converse with
the dodgers, and therefore her replies
were unnecessarily short and by no
means encouraging. Slamming down
or whisking off the things, she abruptly
took her departure At length / had
recourse to the landlady herself, and
found her so much more communica-
tive that 1 suddenly conceived the wild
idea of being able to select from her rem
inisCeuces the materials for a story
with u hioh I had already resolved to
delight the public and make the fortune
of such periodical as should be so for
tunate as to secure the thrilling pro-
duction-if I could only think of g
plot. She was not at all disiuelined to
speak. Indeed, I believe she would |
have no scruple in telling mo the story
of each and every one Of her numerous |
dodgers, from the epoch when things |
began to settle down after the Norman |
conquest; for it was to some such pe-
riOi that referred in my own mind the
first appearance in heJ window of
" Lodgings to Let" But somehow her
dodgers had no history TO relate. Her
favorite hero was a gentleman, who,
every now and then brought her in news
from the political world to tie effect that
there was a movement on foot to me-
moriaiize congress to impose tax on
furnished lodgings. This was a very
exciting subject, and one upon which |
the little, spare. neat landIady always
worked In a great deal of enthusiasm
indeed, she did not hesitate to set the |
whole national government at defiance,
saying, in answer to my caution, that
eff she was took up in such cause she
would soon let them know they had got |
the wrong pig by the ear :"
But since my Iandlady had not story, |
why not tell it? There was in it a gen.
tleman-and a young lady and a
mother-and journey and a-legacy ;
all the requisite materials, in short
only not mixed. 1t would be some
thing new at any rate, wouldn't it, to !
give a love story without a word of |
love, without an incident and without q
announcement? Such was my land
Iady's story, and we will get it out OF
her.
"The lady and her daughter? said
she. "Well, 1 don't know as there is
anything in particular TO tell about |
them. They were respectable people |
and excellent Iodgers their rent was as
punctual in coming as the Saturday;
they stayed fourteen months, and they
went away"
" YOu have not mentioned their !
nane!"
w