The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-01-23
MY LANDLADY's STORY.

MY LANDLADY'S STORY.
The Lodgings that wouldn't suit.
Ny landlady was q little, spare, neat
clean-looking old woman, with the kim
of superficial sharpness of the eye tina
bespeaks q person whose mind has al
ways moved within the same small cir
Gle. When, 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 6
landlady, I 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 Is 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 beleaguered garrison makes sortie
against the enemy. Her natural foes
were the tradespeople, who dealt in
anything she wanted, and the result Of
q conflict between them, if it involved
coin of the lowest denomination, col.
ored her the whole day.
1t was not frequently, however, thai
she was driven to this aggressive war.
fare. for my landlady was great dealer
at the door and iv. d in state of per-
petual hostility with the vendors of
fresh white f-is-h herel" early cab
bage and similar of the tried Injuries.
Her house. or at least the parlor floor
which I inhabited, bore conspicuous re
semblance to herself, being a little,
spare. neat, clean looking old floor.
It consisted of sitting-room and
bed room in excellent preservation.
What the age of tho furniture may have
been it was impossible to say or even
make anything like correct guest, but
for all practical PURPOSES it was as good
as new. There vas 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 it's whole life that, pos
sibly, was the secret of its longevity.
The carpet, though as whole as the
rest, was not in other respects so fortu
nate. Its color was 30 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 scanry, for
it did not cover the entire floor; but
then it must be considered that this
carpet was intended for the comfort of
the dodgers feet, no. for those of the
the six cane-bottomed chairs ranged, at
wide intervals, along the walls. On
the mantle there stood lion of spar,
and fanking him on each side ware of
stoneware making up in size what it
lacked in beauty, narrow, horizontal
mirror, divided into three compartments
with black frame.
These apartments, for which I paid
four dollars q week, were not particu-
larry cheerful or delightful apartments.
They had, indeed, rather cold, solitary,
lonesome look, AMI sometimes in the
morning at breakfast time 1 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
inst for the purpose of having some
one to talk to. But Susan had, doubtless,
been ordered to hold no converse with
tho 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 I had
recourse to the landlady herself, and
found her so much more communica-
tive that suddenly conceived the wild
idea of being able to select from her rem
iniscences the materials for q story
with which 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 a
plot. She was not at all disinclined to
speak. Indeed, I believe she would
have no scrupIe in telling me 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 pc
Rod that referred in my own mind the
first appearance in het 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 the effect that
there was q movement on foot to me-
morialize congress to impose tax on
furnished lodgings. This was Q 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
elf she was took up in such cause she
would soon let them know they had got
the wrong pig by the ear y
But since my landlady had not story,
why not tell it? There was in it gen.
tleman-snd young lady and q
mother-and a 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 word of
love, without an incident and without a