Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-01-23
BOGGLEBERRY'S WOOING.
IRON T,ns'ey's Mayazn..l

men of his time, especially in his native pa
IRISH, st. Patrick the Veriant. and the infiu-
ence he possessed was enormous. The exer-
lions of Nicholas Boggleberry ought to have
left an indelible mark upon the calender OF
time, and that they have not done so is only
another proof of the mutability of human
greatness.
By trade he was an oil-and- color man, but
by inclination and practice a veStryman; one
of the very first water too. Not that his du-
ties a. member of the assessment, the sewers,
and paving committee engrossed the whole
of his attention. no, he had a finger in nearly
all the parish pies. He was a churChwarden,
he was on the Board of Guardians. he was a
Trustee of the penny clothing fund. he was
the Secretary Hon. of cOursel of the society
for supplying the benight-d female natives of
Fiji with tooth brushes and chignonS; he was
an auditor of the district coal club; he was
one OF the borough champions Of Liberalism,
and aS such found q good deal of work TO do
for 1.-The party" he was a Past Grand Master
of the Hearts-Are-Trumps Lodge of Old Eel
lows; he was ranger of the Nothing Like
Leather Court of Forest rS; he was Chairman
of the Bricks-and- Mortar Building Society;
in short. il would be easier to set down the
prominent offices BOggl cherry did not hold in
the parish than those he did. The claims
upon his time and attention were as varied
a. they were numerous; but he seemed born
for parish work, and, throwing his whole soul
into his duties. beca me one OF the most cele-
bTated men in the vcStry.
remarkable as 1t may appear. the worthy
oli-man's labOrS did not meet with general
approval. a section of those who pretended
To know him well averred that Nick BOggle-
berry was a buSybOiy, and as such ought to
be put down; another section said the man
must be a fool to neglect his business az he
did; whilst third (and. perhaps, more far
seeing) set asserted that BOgglebcrry's eXer-
ttons were not quite so disinterested as they
appeared; inaSmuch as he had cOntrivti to
attain few nice little contracts for supply
ing the district wOrkhoUSc wi tn the best mot
Tied soap, rice, starch, and candles. and was
anxious $50 rumOr said to get some more
These statements were of course dictated
solely by Jealous envy; but when the great
vestryman had attained the height of his am
bition, you might as well have tried to pull
down the Monument with a wiSp OF straw
or attempt to blow up the Royal Exchange
with halfpenny cracker, or reduce him to
the level of his detractorS. BOggleberry had
fought hard for his position, and meant to
keep il; he had studied parish law until he
knew (and could almost quotel every clause
and section of the more recent acts. He had
the sanitary laws at his fingers ends; in
union chargeability he was well verSed, and
the complex questions OF local taxation he
had thoroughly mastered. II there was a
deputation to wait upon the Chancellor of the
ENchcquer, the Home Secretary. or the First
Commissioner of Works, Boggleberry was
invariably one of its leaders; and such inn
pOrtance had he acquired in a certain matter
relating to right of way across the cow
yard of refractory dairyman, that he had
been made the subject of leading articles in
the Friday Frying pan and SuWidy Settler. He
often ignored Lindiey Murray, but generally
contrlved TO crush for time those who CON
Splred against him; some people said his ora
tDTlCdl victories were gained by abuse.
cOmpanied by q liberal admiNture ofBillings-
gate,-Of which tongue the Gilman was GER
tainly an accomplished master: but, b, this
as IL may, the result was the same as though
he had used the choicest flowers of rhetoric,
and BOggleberry was man who looked at
results.
Happily his business was an exceedingly
prosperous one. In his fathers time the
shop had been so carefully looked after that
now it needed but little supervision; and
from his early youth the aspiring Nicholas
had felt that higher destiny than the mere
vending of turpS, dips. soaps, and pickles lay
before him. Accordingly. when at the tender
age of fyc-and-fOrty, he became an orphan,
he advertised for managing man. and was
fortunate in meeting with Thomas FerrarS, a
goOd-loOking, active young fellow, who had a
couple of years previously been bitten by
taking business i'm a new ncighbOrhOOd,
where inhabitants were at premium and
waste land at discount. He was single,
had no membranes in the shape of de-
pendent mother or sister; and. furthermore,
had still remaining in the bank a small re-
serve fund. SO, accepting the limited salary
offered (fOr BOggleberry, when his own
pocket was concerned, had, like Mrs. Gilpin,
"a frugal mind), Mr.. Ferrars forthwith be-
came installed in his new situation. He
lived upon the premises, was found to he
trustworthy, seemed to have a proper appre-
citation of his masters parochial importance
and moral and intellectual attachments, aud
altogether proved source of satisfaction to
that local functiOnary.
In this world there are few things without
alloy. and in the Overlooking cup of the
great BOggleberry there was one drop of bit
terneSS that seemed TO faint all the rest; his
appearance was not prepOSScSSing, and he
Knew il. Boggleberry was extremely small
of stature, but exceedingly StOut,-the latter
being one result of the many veStry jollifica-
tons provided at the expense of the parish.
so vulgar critics maintained. His head
would have been entirely destitute of hair
but for the few stray locks which sprOutcd
just above and in rear of his ears; his fea-
lures were as Irregular as features
could be. and his nose was ac-
quiring a rich mellowness of hue that
suffered no diminutiOn In tint by the daily
iibations OF fruity port which he was com
PEELED To take, ii need scarcely be said by his
might bear up against the heavy demands
upon it, His legs. too, were out of all COM
parison with his huge body; they were short,
spindly, and, about the region of the calves
Ofodd shapes; so that this Shining light of the
parish, to an irreverent eye, might be said to
bear resemblance to battered and decayei
pumpkin, into an extremity of which a cOu-
pie of twigs had been thrust.
Now Nicholas Boggleberry, like many
another wise man before him, had the mis-
fortune to fall in love. Once he had thought
himself superior to such folly; but in fatal
moment Annie Bond, the Diapers da lighter,
came, saw, and conquered His enslaver
was about the last person one would have
thought capable of seizing his matured af-
Eleanor, Catherine de Medicis, Margaret of
AnjOu, Mrs. Manning, or any other lady of
reputed uncomfortable WILL had pOtnced
upon poor BOggleberry, his captivity would
have been less surprising. But to think that
fair-haired, blue-eyed, frOlicSOme lass, who
had but just passed her Dist year. shnnld so
completely shear the locks of the local Sam
son, was a circumstance almost unparalleled
in its absuriity. BOggleberry felt his weak
ness; but, as he remarked to Mr.. Ferrars in
the privacy of the little parlOr at the rear of
the shop, 1T was not every one who could rea-
lie the extent of Helen's influence in that
memorable affair at Troy; neither could an
unimpressiOnable world feel the power which
Cleopatra, that serpent of old Nile" eXer-
clsed over the vacilating and misguided
Mare Antony. History supplied many ex-
amples of BOggleberry's consolation, and 1T
was but natural he should select those most
calculated to shed reflected lustre upon
himself
The enamoured vestryman did not, how
ever, allow the passion of love to overcome
the claims of his parish, and oft had the com
PLEASANT assistant to bear his masters apo
lOgies to the fair Annie. Highly pleased
with his factOtum, Nicholas treated him as q
personal friend, and poured into his ear all
his eager aspirations, and the various mo-
tives which had induced him to seek the
hand of the charmer In addition to her good
looks, Annie Bond had several recommended
tions. Old Nick considered that, nOtwith-
standing she had for two years past
served behind her fathers counter. she was
not m the least irph upd with q folIas of the