The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1876-01-08

When she had been widow ST,
months, Tomlinson Perrybrook, an ole
bachelor of sixty-seven. utterly balc
and wOefully thin, sat over his solitar,
fire.
cit is queer how old Eancies hang on,
he said to himself. g L suppose could
have any beautiful young girl chose
to propose to-" Gan old bachelor, always
believes that, and the older he grows
and the uglier he gets the stronger this
strange hallucination becomes); "But
l am fonder of Priscilla than any of
them. She is changed, of course; not
pretty now, and L suppose other men
think her an old woman but she's a
darling yet, and if ] can get her to
marry third time, and come here and
live in the old house made ready for
her when she was seventeen, the end of
my life will be its happiest, and, God
bless her! I'll try my best to make her
happy too.
Then he went to his desk and looked
at a bit of ribbon she had dropped from
her hair the day she was first a bride,
and that he had saved all these years,
and kissed it and taking his cane Che
had already had twinge or two of
rheumatism, went to call upon his
cousin Priscilla.
Portly and rosy, she sat knitting at
her fire. neatly clad in widows weeds.
Opposite her sat stout gentleman,
perhaps some two or three years her
junior.
ssThis Is my next-dsor neighbor,
Mr.. Packer, Cousin Tomlinson,n she
said.
Tomlinson bowed-so did Mr.. P.
Any relative of Mrs. Wincher's |
I'm delighted to know, Pm sure" he
said, with great emphasis; but he did
not go.
1t is etiquette for one caller to leave
soon after the arrival of another.
Cousin Tomlinson knew this, but per-
haps Mr.. Packer did not. AT all
events he sat and sat, and talked and
talked, until Tomlinson, rising, said:
cousin Priscilla, will you see me to
he door? Pve'a word to say to you"
She smiled and went into the hall I
with him. He drew the door shut.
He pays long calls, see," he said,
Mr. Packer.
Something like a blush mounted to
oriscilla's face. T.
'Perhapshe thinks he has right to !
10 SC" she said. "Pm glad you called
o-night; for when a woman of my age
axes such step, she doesn't like to
freak it to her friends herself. You
must do it for me, cousin. You must
mention that l am engaged to Mr..
'acker. He is a worthy man, and !
aspects me very much, and has four
cen motherless children. and our !
states join, and l am lonesome-oh, ]
, lonesome! And when people at ,
ur time of life do this sort of thing, !
hat is the use of delay? l shall, of i
purse, not marry before the year is out V
ut then"
Poor TOmlinson, he sat dswn on a !;
all chair, and excused the act by !;
,eaking of his late attack of rheumat- |;
m. Then he added, dproros of her !
tie words: 8
Yes, yes. delays are dangerousl" q
Well, well! Goodbye, Cousin h
riscilla! Good-bye!'
And he held her hand longer than h
e had ever before, and for the last q
me in his life, and wont down the long j
ravel-path. She looked after him.
Hes an old man now, God bless =
im,' she said; "but how trim and
raight he is"
Then the thought that had haunted a
| her life flashed into her heart for an !
slant, and warmed it back to youth. =,
% All, no fool like an old fool" she - y
id, and went back to Mr.. Packer, who ie
I'd meanwhile refreshed himself with y
short nap, with his head against the :. =
per, and burst out of it with confused "
,ologies. =
Mr.. Packer outlived his wife, and =
r Tomlinson Perrybrook died before :. "a
q did. He never made up his mind ~
,out her any more; but / often won -
r how such things are fixed in the r. =.
her world.