Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1875-02-03
A Sninsfer,s Chance.

young female is the more oiinculV
are both her parents and herself in
choice OF a husband, and the more
the offers they refuse. One is
too tall, another too short this
not wealthy, and that not respec-
table enough. Meanwhile one
spring passes after another, and
year after year carries away leaf
after leaf of the bloom Of youth
and opportunity.
Miss Harriet Selwood was the
richest heiress in her native
town., but she had already com
pleted her twenty-seventh year,
and beheld almost al her young
friends united to men whom she
had at one time and another dis
carded. Harriet began to he set
down for an old maid. Her par
ents became really uneasy, and she
herself lamented in private a pos
ition which is not a natural one,
and to which those to whom nature
and fortune have been niggard Of
those gifts are obliged to submit.
But Harriet, as we have said, was
handsome and very rich.
Such was the state of things
when her uncle, a wealthy mer-
chant in the north Of England,
came on visit to her parents. He
was a jovial, lively straightforward
man, accustomed to attack all diff
ficulties boldly and coolly.
"You Sec" said her father to him
one day. Harriet continues sin
gle. The girl is handsome /; what
she is to have for her fortune You
know even in this scandal loving
town not a creature can breath an
imputation against her."
"Truc," replied the uncle !; "but
look you, brother, the grand point
in every affair in this world is to
seize the right moment; this you
have not done. 1t is a misfortune,
but let the girl go along with me,
and before the end Of three months
will return her to you as the wife
of a man as young and as wealthy
as herself"
Away went the neice with her
uncle. On the way he thus adj
dressed her -
"Mind what l am going to say.
You are no longer Miss Selwood, !
my neice-,a young, wealthy child
ish widow; you had the misfortune
TO lose your husband, Colonel Lum-
ley after the happy union Of quar-
ter of a year, by a fall from his
horse while hunting"
"But uncle"
"Let me manage, if you please.
Mrs. Lumley. Your father has in
vested me with full powers. Here,
ook you, is the wedding ring given
you by your late husband. Jewels
and whatever else you need your
aunt will supply you with, and ac-
custom yourself to cast down your
eyes"
The keen-witted uncle introduce
ed his neice everywhere, and the
young widow excited a great sensa-
ton. The gentlemen thronged
about her, and she soon had her
choice of twenty suitors. Her un-
Gle advised her to accept the one
that was deepest in love with her,
and rare chance decreed that this
should be precisely the most amia-
BILE and oppulent. The match was
soon concluded, and one day the
uncle desired to say few words to
his future nephew in private.
"My dear sir" he began, eve
have told you an untrutb,"
GLOW SOL Are Mrs. Lumley's
affections"
"Nothing of the kind, my neice
is sincerely attached to you"
"Then her fortune / suppose is
not equal to what you have told
me 7"
"On the contrary, it is larger"
"Well, what is the matter then"
"a joke-an innocent joke,
which came into my head one day
when / was in good humor; we
could not well recall it after
ward. Ny niece is not a widow
"What ! Colonel Lumley living p
"No, no she is a spinster."
The lover protested that he was
, happier fellow than he had ever
himself, and the old
Maid was forthwith metamorphosed ,
nto young wife.