Litchfield enquirer., 1876-03-02
WHOLE &; ::


 p in, their costumes, ina.yfdefaSt to. compare I the ideal with the, actual when they should be really old. .1Agatuoa ssi iaaa4SR os ,saast-eg 4 ,'.It isn't much trouble, and the,oid folks I will enjoy it some day. \ We onght to con- sider them little, Henry had sad, mean ing by s'the old folks" their future selves. ,-t ft had been agreed that, iin prsper. def | erence to the pFobabil ilitiea, one, ct least, of the girls ought to illustfAtes the fas old 1lady., But they found, 1t imposaible to [agree which should sacrifice herself, for no one of the three could, in, her, histrior- ic enthusiasm, quite forget her personal fappearance. Nelly fatly refused to be made up fat, and Jessie as fatly, while both the girls had too much reverence for the sweet dignity of Mary Fellows beauty to consent to her taking the part. and so the idea was given up. ss4. ss
 It had been happy thought of sMarys to get her two younger sisters, girls of eleven and sixteen, to be present, to en- nance the venerable appearance of the party by the contrast of their bloom and freshness. .st. .rss1 s,s54s.a raaszs1 vyses
 "Are these your little granddaugh inquired Henry, beneyolently inspecting them over the tops of his spectacles as he patted the elder of the two on the head, 8 liberty she would by no means have al- lowed him in his proper character, but which she now seemed puzzled whether to resent or not.
 ''Yes. replied Mary, with an indulgent smile. '.rhey wanted to see what an old folks party was like, though told them they wouldn't enjoy it much. I remember l thought old people rather dull when I was their age." .-...-....4..
 Henry made little conversation with the girls, asking them the list of fatuons questions by which adults seem fated to illustrate the gulf between them and childhood in the effort to bridge it.
 "Annie, dear, just put that ottoman at Mrs: Hyde.s feet, " said Mary, to- one of the little girls. 1, I'm so glad yog felt Iaunderstood you had not enjoyed good health this summer,"i sit 1. a,,r
 II have scarcely been out of my, room since spring, until recently" replied. "phank you, my dear" (to the little girl, "but, Dh Sanford has done wonders for me. How is your health now, Mrs. Eel lows ?"
 "1 have not been so we'll an entire sum- mer in ten years. My daughter, Mrs. Tarbox, was saying the other day that she wished she had my strengh. You know she is quite delicate," said Mary.
 ''Spenking of Dr. Sanford. i" said Henry, looking at Jessie, ''he is really a remark able man, My son has such confidence in him that he seemed quite relieved when had passed my grand climacteric and could get on his list. You know he takes no one under sixty y-three. By the way. Gov ernor," he added. turning around with l some ado, so as to face George, II heard l he had been treating your rheumatism lately, Has he seemed to reach the difi- 1 culty ?'' Esi4 slsR ea"E7G 5"2'' ao'e Remarkably" ?" replied George, tender l ly. stroking his right knee in m absent manner. "Why. don't you think I walked half the way homo from my office the other day when my carriage was late P '1 wonder you dared venture, it. sad Jessie with shocked air. What if you had met with some accident i"' 9HiT '''e .. ! That's what my son said, "'sansEsred l George, He made me promise never to 1 try such thing again; but L like to show them occasionally that I'm good for some thing yet."g nj suai.aea7.. ".sa' .H7-.
 He said this with Che, he," of senile complacency, ending in an asthmatlc cough, which cansed some con1motion in the company. Frank got up and slapped on the back. and Mary sent Annie for a glass of water.
 George being relieved, and quiet once more restored, Henry said to Frank 2
 By the way, Doctor,I want to congrat- ulate you on your sons last book. You must have helped him to the material for so truthful picture of American manners in the days when we were young I fear we have not improued mucn since then. There was simplicity, 2 naturalnesS in society fifty years ago, that one looks in vain for now. There was, it seems to me, much less regard pad to money. and less l oR Il think so Mrs, Tyrrelf ?''' ,-...'..'-... Its just what was saying only the other day." replied Nellie I'm sure I tdont know what we're coming to nOwa- days. Girls had some modesty when I was young" and she shook her head with it's rows of white cufls with an air of min gled reproduction and dsspair. tHe "Did you attend Prof. 'Merryweather lecture last evening, Mrs. Hyde ?" asked Frank, adjusting his eye glasses and fix ing Jessie with that intensity of look by which old persons have to make up for their failing eye.sight. ''The hall was so near your house, I didn't know but you would feel like venturing out."
 'My daughters insisted on my taking advantage of the opportunity, it is so sell dom go anywhere of an evening, "replied Jessie, ''and was very much interested, though lost good deal owing to the car rying on of young couple in front of me. When Iwas girl, young folks didn't do their courting in public" e ,'f .hf Mary had not heard of the leeture,' and Frank explained that it was one of the ter-semi- centennial course on American society and politics fifty years ago.
 By the way, remarked George, '"did | you, observe what difficulty they are hav- l ing in finding enough survivors of the civil var to make a respectable squad. The papers say that not over dozeu of both armies can probably be secured, and some of the cases are thought doubtful at that" ~ -....-s ..t ' ''fs it possible r'' aaini Henry. And yet, tooy it must be so ;; but it sounds strangely to one who remembers as if it were yesterday, seeing the grand review | of the Federal armies at Washington, just after the war. What host of strong men was that; and now scarcely a. dozen left. My friends, we are getting to be old Peo- pie. We are almost through with it"
 Henry sat gazing into vacancy over the tops of his spectacles, while the old ladies wiped theirs and snifed and sighed lit. tie.
 Finally, Jessie said :YaUF'1H tzsaT t7 "Thpse were heroic days. My little 1 granddaughters never tire of hearing sto- ries about them. They are ,strongs Tparti- ] sans, too Jessie is a fierce rebel, and l SamCis unComp promising Unionist,s only l they. both agree in denOnncing1 slavery. "a That reminds me, said Frank, smiling ''that our little Frankie came to me uyes7 terday with black eye he got for telling tJudge Benson's little boy that people of his complexion were once slaves He had ' read it in hls history. and appealed to ma @ to know if it wasn't true" ...s,,,-, ..,,l .,.,ol
 ''Pm not bit surprised that the little Benson boy resented the importation, "Said George 9t' II really don't believe that more than half the people would be certain that slavery ever existed here, and I'm sure that it rarely occurs to those who do know it. NOsdonbt that company of old slaves at the ecentennial-that is. hthey can Hnd