American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-04-10
VOL. XIV.

so flerce was that her mother had peer
taking her to do for letting out some Sc
crets that had made mischief, and she
had held me up as pattern. Everybod.
knows that nothing makes some people
dislike you more than to have some othe
people always praising you. Well,
| went in and sat down to breakfast, anC
they had a buttermilk cake that Lyddy
Ann had made and baked on a board be
fore the fire on purpose for me, because
she knew liked them so much. There
are some folks that always like to have
you eat their victuals, even if they hate
you. l ate it and praised it, though
hadn't so much appetite as common, fol-
kept thinking about my great Ions
nose and of being called an old maid.
We sat pretty much without speaking
for spell, for the girls mistrusted thai
/ overheard them talk but before Ions
Betsy Jane gave little hem to clear hel
throat, and observed that they must be
middling busy down at Deacon Good
mans if Matildy was to be married in 8
week or two. l said, She isn't to be
married tiA Spring comes;' and l was
going on to tell the rest, but they didn',
give me time to finish.
"' Not till spring! What on earth coulc
that mean? Now what possessed me
couldn't tell. don't pretend to say tina,
l did right; but you must remember that
it was only half an hour since 1 had
heard myself nicknamed and called an
old maid, just because wouldn't tell all
knew. WELL says l. strange things
happen sometimes. You haven't heard
that the deacon and his wife have had a
disagreement and are talking of sepa-
ration Now, mind, didn't tell them
that I had heard so; only said that they
hadn't heard it. OF course they were
amazed beyond all account. They
couldn't say much but Did l everl' and
If that doesn't beat all ever did hear
in my born days!' Their mother wasn't
l didn't think there must be some mis-
take. / said time would show. But the
girls said they had noticed for some time
how red Mrs. GOodman's eyes had looked,
and now it was all explained.
1t wasn't long after, as / sat by a
window at work, 1 spied Lyddy Ann,
with a shawl over her head, Slipping
across from their side gate into Miss
Jones', and in another half hour l saw
one of the Jones girls, with shawl and
cape bonnet, going across the road; and
before dinner l counted half a dozen
cape bonnets going hither and yon. Well,
the long and short of it was. that by the
end of two days there wasn't a man or
woman in Shrewsbury that hadn't heard
that Deacon Goodman and his wife had
had a quarrel, that Mrs. Goodman had
cried her eyes out, and that the match
between Josiah and Matildy was all bro
ken Up.
sold Deacon Walker was greatly ex-
ercised in his mind when he found there
was no such thing as putting down the
rumOr, for he was a peaceable man, and
he and Deacon Goodman had served the
h 10, f0r
He couldn't bear to go to his brother
about such unpleasant business, though
he didn't believe the stories. After max
ing it.a subject of prayer he concluded
it was better that the minister should
take it in hand, and SO to the minister
he went. Parson Snowdon didn't believe
the stories. 1t wasn't long since he had
called at the deacOn's and all was pleas
ant enough at that time. Still, he hated
rumors and he hated misunderstanding,
and he would go and put stop to such
goings ON in his parish. So in the after
noon the parsons old yellow chaise went
jogging and teetering along the road to
Deacon Gondman's house. He hitched
his horse and then raped at the front
door, instead of going to the side porch
as usual, and Nancy that was their
hired girl-srpposing that he must have
come on some solemn business, took him
into the great solemn parlor, where, l
venture to say, not one of the family sat
down six times in year. The deacon
was out doing some fall planting. His
wife brought out his other coat and
helped him spruce up a little, and then
two. and feeling very stiff, into the great
stiff room. How dye do, Parson Snow
don? Glad to see you. And how is
your wifeg The parson and his wife
were both pretty smart, and how was the
deacon and his wife? Well, both ciev-
erly, except that the deacon's rheuma
tism held on in spite of his good wife's
great care of him, and she herself was
troubled with weak eyes. They looked
red and watered all the time, and panied
her considerable. The parson had no.
iiced along back that her eyes had
looked red, and he was afraid that she
was taking on, maybe, about losing Ma
tilda SO soon. We'll, no; it wasn't ex-
actly that, for Maiildy was going to wait
a while till her cousin Spring got home,
and then, very likely, his wife would go
to Boston to stay with her while
she set up housekeeping And he told
the rest, about her wishing him to go
with her, and about their never having
been separated since they were married.
and he repeated his little joke about their
disagreement
"The parsons face grew broader and
shorter, and presently, as the full light
broke in, he brought down his foot
with stamp, and threw back his head
and laughed SO long and loud that n ancy
declared if Parson Snowdon wasn't a
master-hand to laugh then she didn't
know; and Mrs. Goodman ventured to
show herself to ask him not to go home
without taking along few notions for his
wife. The chaise box was packed with
fall sweetings, pair of chickens, half a
peck of doughnuts, and cheese to go with
them; and soon the parson, in the best
of humOrs, went lettering homeward.
1.-The whole matter was soon explained
and the stories traced to the Snuffer girls.
They were dreadfully cut up and laid
the whole on my shoulders; but nobody
else blamed me; and as for Betsy Jane
and Lyddy Ann, they knew it wouldn't
do mite of good to keep put out with
me. 1t was only cutting off their own
noses, for they couldn't do without me,
anyway. The best of it was when Lyd-
dy Ann came to be getting ready all of a
sudden to marry widower with five
children, and didn't want soul to know
OF 1T till the last minute, especially as she
had always declared that she never would
marry wldower-no, not if she had to
live an old maid till the day of her death
and the girls would never be done hec.
toring her!
:" Now, girls, let me give you one piece
of advice: Never be telling beforehand
who you will or who you won't marry
According to my way of thinking, it is
more prudent and more modest to wal,
until you are asked.
LAS for Lyddy Ann, she owned that
was all right in keeping things to my
self, and that she had been ugly in run