The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-04-05

Oh, Aunt Euphemiai you too hat
been a girl, and remembered it. 4
| little spark entered Madge's cool eye
"He's not SO very old, Aunty; fifty
isn't really old for a man"
"No, it's not decrepit, but it is some
thing more than nineteen; besides, Mr.
Schenck is only forty-fve. However
we can afford to drop him now, sine,
Miss Positive never will marry him. >
Madge laughed, but there was an un
certain ring in her laughter, and Mis-:
Phemy went on.
"Are you going to Boston, my
dearP"
81 don't quite know, Aunty. rsth.
er hate Boston; but love Polly"
"Then you'll have to take your choice
between the love and hate, mademoi.
selle, and that directly, for you know
Polly is clamorous for an answer"
"I believe 1 will go; perhaps Boston
may be nicer than think. 1t is awful
ly slow, am sure"
"Madge!
al can't help it, aunty; don't know
what else to call it. Shall 1 say
triste?"
"Foreign affectation is quite as bad
as slang, and not half as natural"
"Oh, aunty, what two-edged sword
you areI must go to Bosten to puri.
fly my English, 1 see"
"Hello, Madge!" and a small boy
burst into the room with bounce that
is native to small boys. "Oh, Miss Ro-
per, such lark! II you had heard
Madge give it to him! She was stun
ming, / tell you," and wicked Master
Jack began his liltof "Highland Nora"
again.
"You horrid little wretch Come
away directly" shrieked Madge, color
ing to the tips of her ears. "You'l
kill aunty's poor head"
"Oh, indeed!" feebly squeaked poor
Jack, as he was hustled smartly out of
the room, while Miss Euphemia laugh
ed till the tears stood in her eyes, and
said, softly, Children and fools speak
truth, truly"
Jack went home the next day; he
was only school-boy cousin come for
the holidays, and the luckless child had
abridged his own pleasure unawares;
but the rare delight of tormenting his
beautiful cousin was temptation too
enticing to resist. And Madge was
leased; she hated the sight of the boy,
and made her journey to Boston the
excuse for his radiance. But the thorn
he had left behind him was well plant
ed; the piquant ballad haunted Madge,
and flushed her face many a time when
its lifting measures returned to mock
her.
So to Boston she went, to her dear
friend Polly, and found that proper ana
intellectual city nightly agreeable.
Beaux she had by the dozen, but there
were none like Mr.. Schenck; none so
devoted, so elegant, so noble looking.
She missed the daily bunch of fragrant
violets on her dressing-table; she missed
the selection of new books that showed
always how well he OWNED her tastes,
the forestalling of her faintest caprices,
the devotion that was too delicate to
obtrude itself, the homage that was sin
cere yet courtly.
"How young all your gentlemen
friends are, Pollyi" she said to her
friend one day, after an evening at
which at least dozen sets of English
whiskers had vibrated about her and
been pulled before her, as if paying a
kind of mysterious kow-tow TO the latest
goddess.
"That's fault they will mend of,
Madge," laughed Polly. "Even in
dear old Boston we have to grow up,
and be hterati to boots
"But L do SO hate boys!" sighed
Madge.
"And boys do so adore you'll" mock
ed Polly.
Madge blushed, and sighed. Why
did she think of Mr.. SchenckP
In the mean time, there in New York,
Aunt Phemy had a visitor now and
then. Mr.. Schenck knew his friends,
and never neglected them; he was least
of all likely to set aside Miss Roper;
but she never alluded TO him in her let
tiers to Madge, and that young lady had
already decided in her own mind that
her sutton had taken himself off to parts
unknown to stiie his anguish by ab-
sence. If Madge had so good an opin-
ion of her own powers, can she be
blamed? So bewitching as she had
proved herself, should this man be the
exception to her rule?
One night there was to be great and
gay party, to which the friends could
not fail to go, and Madge took unusual
pains to render herself lovely for the
occasion. A new Paris robe was un-
folded from its boxes and wrappings
for the occasion; the delicate glittering
pale green silk, mingled and mixed with
equally delicate apricot and films of
Mahnes lace, was wonderfully adapted
to her peculiar coloring and style; and
in her red-brown hair, and here and
there about the dress, clusters of tea
rose buds perfumed the air as she NOV
ed, and harmonized with her dress in
every tint; besides these, her sole orna-
ment was a necklet of great opals set
in black enamel.
"Madge, you are miracle to be-
holdl" exclaimed Polly, as she beheld
her. "You have given your mind to it
as much as ever Mr.. Toots did. Woe
to the Boston boys tonight, my dear
Even Miss Dorr won't hold candle to
you"
Pretty Polly, fresh and sweet as
June rose in her white silk and pink