Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1877-01-25
seItft storn.
Prom Belgrayia
An Aunt by Marriage.
BI JAMES FAlS.

abroad for pleasure and detest IL. than who
affect TO admire Paradise Lost. When one
considers the packing and the crossing the
Channel. and The jabber on the other side
of il, which not one In ten OF us understands.
aud the tenth only imperfectly; the discom-
forts and DELAYS OF travel,the impertinence
Of the officials. the expense, and, above all,
the growing sense OF exlle-for many men
drag a lengthening chain behind them with
every inch of distance they place between
themselves and home-l say, putting all
these things together, the Continent j. pur-
gstory or worse. tn hundreds OF good peO-
pie who pretend that they find heaven.
This Is especially the case with men of ma
ture years. who have not been used 10 for
eign travel. but take Il up because their
hardly acquired wealth has given them a
position which seems 70 demand IL. Their
wives aud daughters compel them 10 60
over TO Boulogne. or to see Paris. or 10
tour In Switzerland, or 10 visit ltaly-ac-
coriinc as their means enable them 10 be
miserable on an increasing scale. | have
met honest British citizens wandering
about the home OF the Crssrs, who have
confessed to me with tears in their eyes
that the Colosseum in the Regents Park
was quite lonely, drearv. and ruinous
enough for their taste. without their being
dragged over mountain passes to behold
by moonlig ht its Roman rival. They have
told me in moments OF confidence how
they have been flea-bitten, and bug-bitten.
and mosquito-bitten how their long hours
OF weary travel By day have been followed
BY wearler nights; how they have swclter-
ed In the sunny South without draught
Of their fayorite liquor to cool their
tongues though they have offered ten times
its proper price Tor II; how they have been
] = 10 tal
where and how ever in their iaded ears
there whispers q monotonous voice, saying,
What an enormous fool am
know one good soul-'a bulwhk OF his
native city'-who has visited the EDgs-
dine and the Dolomites' without being
| aware OF IT, His wife took him thither
assuring him in each case II was the cor
rect tour 10 take, but when he reached
| them. or when he left them, or what they
were. he could not tell you to save his life.
What he knows, and for which he thanks
heaven every night he lays his head upon
| his pillow. is, that he has somehow got
home again, and that his holiday time is
| over for the next nine months.
/ OF all the honest souls that ever crossed
| the silver streak and heard without
catchng) the accents OF the ,pdriez-r0us'
/ (ss he always called the French folks } my
/ uIliC AsOhNS " - AHN iHC7t NfoiNuohay
/ ish.
! Il once took French leave at school. Sir,
/ (and was logged for it, and that he was
/ wont TO say. was the only association
ever had with anything French, or ever
mean TO have But man preposes-and II
SO happened. thanks TO the irony of tate,
that my uncle proposed 10 Frenchwo-
man.
The circumstances were very curious.
and. think interesting; at all events they
interested me when they took place, ex-
| ceedingly for |, his nephew had up TO
| that time been his heir and his marriage
dsinherited me: though he always said
that il was my marriage and not his, that
did the mischief. The fact is, | chose my
wife myself, instead of submitting to Uncle
Nsthaniers views on the matter, and he
never forgave it. If you marry Clara,
said he, as sure as your name is Charles,
I'll marry myself, before the wear is out.
Now, whenever II was possible, l knew
Uncle Nathaniel always kept his word !;
but vet { Id not believe that. at the age Of
| sixty, and having been a coofrmed bache-
lor all his life. he could. just to spite me.
commis such an act OF folly. had also
| had fond and foolish hope that nobody
| would have him.
So Clara and married.
/ should have thought would have touched
any heart and l am bound to say his was a
very tender one } but he sent il back to us
| with the date Git was the first OF May) un-
derlined, ard a footnote in his own hand
writing when this comes round again.
yoI will have an aunt-ln law.
We had been such fast friends, my uncle
and |, that | could not believe but that he
would forgive me; and my Clara was such
q sweet angel, that If he would but give
her the opportunity. fel. she must win
him over But he would never SO much
as see her. Ii was always his fixed idea
tina: | was to marry money and bring it
into the wine trade in which we were both
engaged; and she was the orphan daughter
of a country clergyman without q shilling
In vain told him she was the dearest girl
In the world; he replied that / should
doubtless find her so, since she would cost
me all his fortune, which would otherwise
have one day been mine. was to have
been bis partner, but since had chosen TO
attach myself to another firm, must take
the consequences (howevsr many there
might be of them) on my own. shoulders.
He was jocose in his manner; it was natur-
al to him to be so; but he was none the
less determined. Determination was also
my forfeit was hereditary in the Nokes
family, which unfortunately the money
wasn't; but in my case he called II by an
other word-infernal obstinacy. Ny union
with Clara quite separated us from him
saw nothing of him, and heard nothing IN
til long afterwsrd, when the circumstances
came to my knowledge which ! am abou,
TO relate. In the meantime Clara and
we're living on our means-namely, on the
simple thousand pounds of which was
possessed.
had said Uncle Nathaniel Was soft.
hearted except where his prej0dices AND
self-will were concerned; may 20 q steI
further, and say he was as tender as . spring
chicken-or q green goose; and he made
more bad debts than any other man In the
| wine trade In conseQusnce. he had. also