The Red Cloud chief., 1877-12-13
HOW l CAME TO MARRY.
BY NELLIE NJ. SANFORD.

'o os6blllth. 81 tsCt v
thing, in short, near perfection, and SC
different from myself? Not much of q
story. SO you needn't put on that self
satisfied look, and settle yourself back
so costly in your great armchair. I al.
ways feel like sticking needles into PEG
pies backs when l see the particular
look on their faces that yours wears this
very minute. Do stop"
And before could move, up jumped
the little witch and shook me till nv
teeth chartered.
There, Wilhelmina Martin" as she
gave me a final settlement. "I've shaken
that OUT of you; and now you look com
Portable, and | feel So"
And with face flushed and curls hy-
ing, down sat Mrs. Frederick Bond, to
give me an account Of her courtship
and marriage.
"You know, Mena, how / was dragged
about from pillar TO post every summer
making a living dust-heap Of myself,
converting my lungs and throat into a
receptacle for all the stray cinders and
smoke of cars, and at my journeys end
slowed away in some narrow hole call
ed a room and then the tortures of
dressing, and company, and flirting, and
eating-Oh, it was dreadful. To be sure
athe bathing was nice. / enjoyed New
port for that-the Orly thing in all our
Gurnfnar'g fnnrInn fhpf I did rnntIu .,l
heartily enjoy. How hard Aunt Mason
tried TO make me a belle! and didn't |
astOnlsh her one fine morning in June
by telling her that / was going to Clay
ton Hills instead of the usual route. /
had the plan all made, and was engaged
Den to teach the district school for five
dollars per week. No wonder you stare
only don't look &c much like a grass.
hopper with those long arms pointing
out that way. You didn't know what
Elite Forester was about that summer,
did you? Well, it was all my W 20
ton. | thought it would be SO nice to
teach the young idea and ali that, you
kiow. But dear me. Mena, theory and
practice are two different things, and
while the schoOl-house looked SO roman
tic five hundred miles away, and the
children were so sweet and cherubic,
and the spelling book possessed attrac-
tlons had never discerned in younger
days. the romance faded out, and left
me in a decided m~atter-Of-fact mood be-
fore the door OF the little red shanty
and the rows of snubby children i'm blue
checked aprons and bare feet. However,
/ suppose | shall astOnish you still more
by saying braved it out and taught my
five months, and was made a better girl
with that contact with the WORLDLY
those walks in solemn woods, among
tbs grand old pines; by-but mercy,
Mena, you needn't think Pm going to be
sentimental, for I'm no.! l had a nice
boarding place With a widow and her
two little girls. l WAS glad there was
no possibility of my having any one to
fllrt with. / Vas afraid | could not re-
sist t he temptation, if l had, and | was
heartily sick of it. Imagine my con-
sternatiOn when n morning at the
breakfast table l met Mr.. Bond. He had
come up TO see his Aunt Mary. What
under the sun he wanted to see her for
/ can't tell; for he hadn't hOnOred her
roof with his presence beneath it for
seven years; but there he was, eating
berries and cream as cOOlly as if he
owned the whole farm. Such dignity! /
was awed by his bow, and felt like
breathing an iceberg when he addressed
me. Then a reaction took place, and
action and reaction being equal in OPP
pOSite directiOnS'-aS our natural philoS-
Ophy used to tell us-I laughed in his
face at a remark he made concerning
the weather. Such an astonished look
as at first spread over his c~Ountenance!
ending with an amused look deep down
in his eye, and a slight culver under the
dark mOuStache. l thought there was
some fun in him. / wasn't mistaken,
either, but for weeks l labOred to get off
the frigidity, and dig down to where the
warmth and love OF frolic lay. In vain
were my attempts. Dignity forever
sesHied his motto; and wearied out, l |
hoped something would happen to him
to startle him out of that everlasting
state of prOpriety. l was IN despair; ]
wished a rattle-snake would chase him,
that he'd slip down in the awful mud
they have in those regions, and get up
covered with the yellow mixture; that
he would burn his mouth with the hot
coffee (and drop the cup-making a
s2lIrge in that way; anything, so that
L could see him unbend; for hadn't he
come in and criticised my school. ard
found me puzzling my brain over a hard
example in fractions? Hadn't / actual
ly been Obliged to ask his help in n of
those hard things in the back of the
8 arithmetic; and hadn't my very best
spelling class disgraced themselves and
me by their attrOcious numbering of
their native tongue? There was a beau.
tiful stream running throughthe village
and in the center of the river a little
island, not much larger than a good
si7Sd dining plate. with n graceful
willow dropping its long branches tothe
water. 1t was a perfect little arbor and
my favOrite resort. A boat fastens to
the shore the only means of conveyance
TO the island.
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