Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-02-23
A MEsALLIANCE-IN THREE LET
TIERS.

and confdant, the Rev. Daniel Delaney
-"I have happily broken my leg The
doctor assures me it is compound
fracture of rather serious and compli-
Gated nature, so that l may hope, despite
my inevitable drawbacks of youth and
vigor, to be laid up for some months.
But don't pull long face in my behalf;
rather rejoice and be exceedingly glad.
I'm the happiest man in the world. A
benign Providence threw me from the
back of vicious and untamed brute
over the relentless pickets, and into the
heart of hitherto inaccessible paradise,
peopled by only two women, one of them
pale, placid, peaceful, profound, pious,
the other capable, comfortable and
culinary. Mary and Martha Marks they
are called, and they live together half
way up the mountain. Their long, low
cottage can scarcely be seen at all from
the main road, so hidden is it by tan.
gled and beautiful mass of bloom, but
appears to the ascending traveller like
fresh, vivid, beckoning oasis in the desert
of Incorporating clay and rock up
which he has been toiling ] fell in love
with the spot before knew thad been
peopled and when saw the pretty nest,
with its irregular porches and gables, its
dormer- windows and quaint caves, its
jutting bits of wood, carved into artistic
shapes, / paused before it with delight,
and with my usual impudence went in
at once. All the people hereabouts keep
boarders, and although had an uncom-
Portable misgiving that here might be a
general exception to the plain, the greedy
and the prosaic, had the hardihood to
ask the little maid that came to the door
if such thing were possible. This lit
tie girl was well known to me, fortunate
ly. ], in fact, boarded at that time with
her people, who lived in amiserable hand
to-mouth way in an old dilapidated house
half dozen miles off,
&c Hetty,' whispered, as, with a sort
of prolonged hope, 1 pleaded thirst, and
we went together to the we'll, cant you
put it to these maiden ladies in the light
of a charityp You know how things are
at home. Tell them / shall only be
sketching up here for a few months at the
furthest, EE El k
&c l told them everything, SIR said
Hetty; how that pappy was drunk most
of the time, and the baby cried and cried,
and we had a sick sheep that bleated in
the cellar
"'And what did they say, Hettys'
Just nothing sir-only shuddered
and looked kind o. sorry like. Folks say
they hate men; but if they could only see
you, if l could only tell 'em how differ
ent you are from anybody hereabouts, if
they knew how much you looked like a
picture they've got of holyman over
the mantel-pieoe; but you bid me not to
chatter, sir
"'And do you mind everything say,
HettyY
90 EUerything, Sir A pause here,
Dana sunburned, sun-glorified face
lifted to mine; eyes which are as quick
to tears as smiles; baby mouth, fresh
and dewy as a violet, and as tremulously
sweet" All, well, Dan, let's 60 back
to the conversation again. s,-v., 81
''' Then it's hopeless case, Hetty.
I'd better go back to town..
"'Oh, please, no, not yet; something
may happen. They may be brought to
see you. If you go back TO town A
sob here, Dan, by way of punctuation.
60 Well, HettyS'
&C, ''' shall die
You see, Dan, / have to tell you
0erdGtin, so you'll get the whole gist of
~ AhiS hOtbJ DiiSpJ 10 loOllSu iJIlc
body, with an unmanageable crop of
hair that takes every shade of brown in
the sun, from pale yellow to deep
reddish ochre. To colorist these
things amount to study, you know.
Then one can see her pure soul through
the unfathomable depths of her eyes.
For the rest, she is freckled, thin and
crude in outline. happened to put her
in two or three of my sketches, paying
the old woman well for her time; but
Hetty, being child of nature, and
babbling innocentIy, like one of her
mountain brooks, the rapacious NAV of
village gossip got hold of it all. The
end of it was, they bundled her out here
to service. However, there's no law
against travelling the highway, and my
vicious brute, that ought to know the
road well enough, took fright at stump
by the way-side the other day, and
though Hetty was foolish enough to
cling to his bride, and did check him in
the main, he broke her arm and my leg,
and we were both brought in to be
mended. .s5
Hetty lies up over the kitchen some
where, poor child, and am in capa.
cious chamber at the front of the house,
the three windows of which command
the whole panorama of splendor in light
and shadow on yonder misty mountain
tops. Ny leg holds a high carnival OF
agony at times, by way of contrast, but
there's capital doctor here that knows
how TO manage this sort of revelry, and
afaculty for nursing close at hand. Any
how, Pm within here, and Pm glad, and
] am always your worthless
JACK LIVINGSTON"
my best Dan, wrote Jack Living
ston, later on, "do you remember Whit
tiers sweetest woman ever Fate, per
verse, denied household mate'S who
kept so long ; her genial mood aud sim,
pie faith of maidenhood'? Well, here
she is, and her sister, too. The first
time our excellent buffalo Of a doctor
helped me down into the sitting-room,
and into a stuffed chair that just fitted
my aching spine, and lifted to a magical
footstooi my demon Of a leg, and my eyes
fell upon Miss Mary, who sat opposite
me, drawing in and out her needle upon
some tasteful design for apulpit cushion,
/ recognized the gentle, gracious ele-
ment 80 heppily pictured in the poem
the pale, low forehead, from which was
drawn back her hair, without crinkle OF
curl; the mild beam Of her hazel eyes
the low monotone Of her voice; the per
feet curves Of berlips, which never vary,
or break into smiles, or draw themselves
out Of shape as other lips are prone to
do, with, agony or Joy or nasty sarcssm.
IT was tine, II was good, Dan. Then no
sooner had. i lain back and shut my eyes
70 digest this comfortable felicity for the
tired soul and the aching brain, than
found close TO my fainting lips mug,
tive poYer-a mug ofquaint device and
transparent texture, which afterward
admlred,i but not thsDs Dan. | drained
the delightful beverage to the dregs, and
opened my eyes upon the generous cup
bearer, and here, in plump, dimpled