Litchfield enquirer., 1875-04-15

but l knew better what was the strife of tongues m country town like Pekin, and l | took an odd pleasure in the trouble of
 the search; for was not all this zeal and l effort for her sake, whose lovely lips seem- ed to tremble into 8 smile whenever I l gazed on their likeness? Perhaps, had
 the weather been January instead of June,
 or the roads been sandy and shadeless in-
 stead of the tree-set tracks they were,
 sometimes running through orchards fair
 and fragrant with pinkest bloom, some
 times in woods full of summers delicate
 odors and the songs of all summer -cele- brating birds, while the track was fringed every where with violets blue as the sky
 above, crowded eyebrights. milky straw
 berry blooms; and the long budded gar-
 lands of the dew-berry tangled in and out among sunny frank-faced dandeions-
 perhaps but for this my enthusiasm might
 have failed; but to be a dreaming lover,
 driving along through country lanes and
 woods Tn early June, IS to be consciously
 OF unconsciouslY blissful man. know, for have tried it very often. Sometimes,
 I must confess, wondered to myself how
 many more times should do 1t. I had
 sailed on the bright waves so often, had
 no idea at all how it felt to be drowned. l Next day heard of another Widow Case
 in North Pekin. was half 8 day in find ing her, and then she asked me to stay to dinner. did not refuse. for was very
 hungry, and the fare at Rodgers Hotel
 was not enticing. This widow was young perhaps twenty-five-small, alert,
 smooth of tongue. and a very Jesuit at questioning. heard of her afterward in no complimentary fashion, and found she had French blood In her veins, which ac-
 counted for her celerity of mind and body, her airs and graces of sixteen, her suave
 insincere lips, her restless eyes, and we'll
 acted shrinking modesty. It took all my. legal acumen to avoid making a clean
 breast of it to the little wretch. I asked
 Smith when I got back where she lived, | with a sublime air of ignorance and indif- 1 ference
 "Oh, Widder Luman Case! We'll, see
 here, square. you ain't overly acquainted
 in these parts. Elf you hain't got any hef-
 ty business up that way. I'd kinder keep
 this side O that little crittur She's curus.
 don't want to say nothin. agin her; I
 hain't no call to say nothin' agin her; but
 I jest as good not to go nigh her as to go
 nigh her; but I'll tell ye whereabouts her
 place is eff ye've got ter go there"
 Next day it rained. A rainy day in Rodgers Hotel dampened my zeal much.
 think two would have dampened 1t of,
 as gardeners say, but luckily it was only l Q day. Sunshine and cheer returned with
 morning. But why should drag out my story? secured Pekin in vain. North
 Pekin, West Pekin. Pekin Street, Pekin Corners: even to the edges of Lovely Street and the outlying hamlets of Avon
 and Simsbury. found out nine Widow Cases, of every age, manner, and com plexien known to the female sex Tn Amer
 lea, believe. Hair of gray, black, blonde I and red; waved, curly. straight as tow; but none-oh, not one!-wlth the deep brown halr full of golden threads and the
 dark sweet eyes I had fully made up my mind belonged to ssLorainy." But if dld not find widow after my heartis desire,
 found friend; for one fine day, driving
 fast as the son of Nimshi, absorbed in
 vexation and disappointment. gave too
 much of the roadway to passing team,
 hit my wheel against log, and in less | time than can tell it found myself lying in the road with broken leg. The horse
 took himself of, and by-and-by had to pay damages; but that day of reckoning
 was not at hand, and thought of no dam ages but my own when was picked up and carried into Deacon Peters house,
 that fortunately was at hand, and deliver
 ed over to the tender mercies of Mrs. Pe-
 ters and the Parsonsville doctor r
 thought appreciated women before, but found I had only known girls -giggling, gloritied, evanescent angels, who would
 have been as useful in this emergency as
 castle of spun sugar or a swan 's-down tippet. Deacon Peters wife was a real
 woman: sensible, kindly, tender, and gen.
 erous; full of devices to soothe pain and trouble. She did her work in the world with serious ease and condescention that
 seemed. to make it matter of dignifed l amusement; and she enlivened it all with 1 8 fund of keen humor and quick appre- hension that was delightful to study. I was as restless, as cross, as inpatient, as men are apt to be under the circumstances, but she never lost her good nature or abat- ed her care; and, best of all, long before my six weeks of impatience and ache were | over, had found out from her all about my Widow Case, whose name was really Lorana, and who had gone to teach school
 near Canaan, and board with her aunt, Miss Tyler. It was exasperating to have found her now. when could not follow her, but 1t was much gained to know of her being fixture somewhere. At least
 thought so, till, having borne my bedrid- den state to the end, and then gone back
 to H H--- to settle some business that needed personal overlooking, I found my self, the last week in august, settled as | 'fcity boarder" in Canaan; and having
 hunted up the little red school-house, 1 some three miles away, where the Widow Case taught, l found 1t just closed for a 1 vacation l should have torn my hair | only it hurt so. I did few proper and frantic thlng@perhaps little profanity escaped me unawares: in excitement no
 man is fully responsible. I always felt great respect for the recording angel who lon good MT. Sterne's authority) plotted out Uncle Toby's oath with tear: it
 showed sense. But what to do now? I had engaged board for 2 month in a cheap farm house; was a little romantic for a man of thirty; wanted the Widow Case to love me and not my money, so dress ed Tn my oldest remaining clothes, lived frugally, and made inquiries about the schools in and around the little town, as If wanted place to teach. soon found ! that Mrs. Case was coming back to Ca naan to teach in the academy, and that a classical teacher also was wanted there; so offered myself to fill the place, and was accepted. sisl 7-t c-i.7l -sezez,ls sz'
 Itmay be said by kteralists and people who live in Litchfald County that there is
 no academy in Canaan. have said here | lnbefore that I am not G. Washington. and that I can tell a lie if 1t be necessary. When | say Canaan, I mean Canaan in a
 Pickwlckian sense. I do not wish to bring down on my devoted head the wrath of
 all the Canaanites if should happen to
 say anything derogatory about their de-
 hghefm village; much less do l. wish to
 have any maiden lady of sixty, with fierce auburn front, piercing gray eyes that had keen and dreadful way of look
 ing at one over a pair of silver-bowed
 spectacles. a-sharp voice, ianiba generally
 pointed manner. who may live in Canaan proper. descend on me miserable, and say reviled, or, in the vernacular, .ssass-!
 ed her, under the name of Miss Fyler;
 so I repeat the fact that I only cali the
 town where T did engage to teach in the
 academy. and where the red Miss Fyler,