The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-08-02
MISCHIEF MAKING.
BY LILY LEE.

IL
teach her TO be more prudent, too. I !
think she is rather coquettish; it will
give her good lesson. [ wish I could
see her when she reads it."
But, Ellen, we ought not to be so
cruel; l should be heartily ashamed to
have her know had anything to do with
Well, well, no one will ever know
who did it; so now write right away. I
will get cousin Edmund to copy it; so it
will go in gentleman's handwriting.
" 1t will be just to crafty you, then,
Ellen but an fearfuP'-
" Now give that selfconceited fop a
hLt-good Now for the puissant, mighty
Mr.. Allen, stroking his mustache as he
smiles upon the fair Kate
6 Let me see; here is the most obse-
quious Mr.. Browne paying his humble
devoir at the feet of Miss Lester; it is
delightful"
"Ellen, if the gentlemen should ever
see this. what would they think? How
would they feel to know they were 80
ridiculed P'
do not care a straw; it will teach
them better than to bestow all their at
tentions and admiration on Kate Lester.
hope they will see it,
" Here goes the last one on the list.
Now read it, and then we will commit it
To the flames; it will be safe from harm
then"
No, Caroline, not for the world it is
too precious for such fate. But look,
here scOmes Mr.. Edsall, whose likeness
we first drew"
Caricatured, you should say but
quick, put it ought of sight, for he is
coming here"
Ellen placed the sheet in her satcheI,
and was taking her leave just as Mr.
Edsall entered the drawing room of Mr.
Bowen, whose only daughter, Miss Caro-
line, we have already introduced. She
was beautiful girl of eighteen, who had
never Intentionally wrOnged any one by
word or deed, but was too easily influ-
enced by her gay, unthinking friend,
Miss Ellen Jackson.
In a few days the mischief began to
work. Kate Lester came to unbosom her
troubles to Caroline, knowing that she
would find sympathy in her warm heart
she read the letter; it was the same
she and Ella had jointly composed, and
still not the same; there was more ma
lightly and sIrca m expressed.
And new, Caroline, can you imagine
where the letter originated There can
be no doubt, from the writing, that it
was a gentleman; and how wounding
and notifying to be the unsuspecting
object of such Hbelous remarks "
Dear Kate, you take it too seriously;
there was, L dare say, no mischief in
tended. No one would wish to iniure
you; there is nothing against you :" but
her heart sank within her as she remem-
bered that she assisted in composing it..
But there must have been malice in
it; no heart could have dictated these
4 l.
mated with evil thoughts. And then the
paragraph concerning Mr.. Allen-to have
1T appear as if made improper advances;
it is too bad and the injured girl wept
in very bitterness of heart, and Caroline
felt deeply the injustice she had done,
and repented deeply; but it was of no
avail now. Oh how she wished she had
not yielded to Ellen's influences.
Kate, dearest, do not ever show the
letter"
''I wish had not but mentioned it
to one friend when l first received it, and
she told another; and now cannot stOT
it; the contents have been borne upon
the wings of the wind; and not one indi.
vidual that was ridiculed and ciiticjze ed
but long before this has heard of it.
wish, indeed do, that 1 had kept it tc
myself, then no one else would have been
wounded"
Surmises were ahoat as to the authen
ITCHY of the writer's of the anonymous
epistle, and as Caroline and Ellen were
distinguished for superior abilities, a,
well as wit and talent, it was not unfre
quently limited that they might be the
original emenators, but they always re
PEELED the insinuation; and those who
knew the kindness of Caroline's DISPOSE
ton conld never for a moment harbor the
Of hot gha hoH Il !,
deeply in the gall of bitterness as tc
wound the feelings of her friend.
& 1 wish, Ellen, they would drop the
subject of that abominable letter; / am
heartily wearied with parTying off the
Jokes leveled at me. l really dread to see
or meet any one, for some of those hideou.
lines are continually sounding in nv ears
How can you be so happy? l am miser.
able, and in constant fear of being found
out. Have you no dread of it ?''
" Indeed, L care not one iota, Caroline
tac<s-it is capital fun [ should like t.
write another
"Only think of those satirical lines
upon Mr.. Edsall How severe they were
and so perfectly undeserving and unpro
voked."
ooh, by the way, | hear he is making
his bow to nay friend Miss Bowen SURELY
you are not serious in encouraging the
report: it would be too ridiculous after
what you wrote"
Il esteem Mr.. Edsall highly Ellen ; Il,
is noble, right-minded man, and happy
indeed, will that person be whom he hon
ors with his choice
Fairly smitten, 1 do believe, by thc
incOrrigible gawky! But do not throw
yourself away But how nicely that let
ter did scatter Kate's obsequious lovers
she ought to thank the writer's of that
precious missive for putting them to the
test.
cit has injured Kate's feelings Sc
verely; she is deeply wounded"
It always makes me laugh to see the
lordly Mr.. Allen pass on the other side
when ne meets Kate; he is so lately all
bows and politeness; it is first rate
" But she feels it too severely / never
committed an act for which 1 was sc
heartily sorry and thoroughly ashamed
do wish it could die away"
" Fie upon such susceptibility It is
a capital Joke; do enjoy it."
Mr.. Edsall was one of the first that had
been mentioned in the letter, and the
Iashings Of an embittered pen has been
keenlv felt by Kim, for he was possessed
ofine and noble feelings and the thought
that his poverty and awkwaIdnesssh should
be brought forward as an opprubrious
stain stung him to the very soul, and
most severely did he censure the writer
of such malicious article. He had often
met Miss Bowen, and admired her for
the eentleness Of Der nature, the soitness
and delicacy of her manners, as well as
for her genuine and cultivated intellect !;
and he often looked into her sweet face
and dared wish that he might call the
treasure his, Caroline priced highly the