Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-01-26

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younger, but times were altered. The
peaceful, old.fashioned home in his
mind was probably obsolete, gone out of
fashion with pillions and spinning
wheels Certainly he had seen nothing
| like IL since his return to America. Miss
Brixham might be the next best per
haps even better, thing. Who knew
He had time for these reflections dur
ing few moments of solitude, Gertrude
having been called away by fresh in.
! 1ux of callers.
You are looking at my jar" said
Mrs. Brixham, following the direction of
his unseeing eyes. "Is it not beauty
Real dragon's.blood, and very hard to
get nowadays, even in China, | am told
You, with your opportunities, must have
seen quantities, however"
Well, no, not quantities." said Mr..
LOTUS, automatically. Mrs Brxham
moved away, and he fell to dreaming
again.
Was it the word dragon" which set
him thinking of that almost forgotten
time before he went to China9 1t was
at Dragon, the droll little seaside village
in Connecticut, that he spent the last
summer. He wondered If the place was
still named so, or was moderniZed into
something different; If thin.shellcd, fla
vorous clans and small, high. bred oysters
with taste all their own were still its
staples; If big, pink k-mottled, bell-wcther
apples still grew on the orchard trees,
and whether Grandmother Meyrck made
pics of them. Grandmother Meyrick
What was he thinking ofY This was
twenty years ago; her pie-making must
! long since be over. Then he thonght of
somebody younger than grandmother
of pretty Hope Meyrick, who had cut the
last pie for him on that last afternoon,
had mended the hole in his glove, and
| said good by with Il tear sandwiched be-
| tween two smiles and blush like n rose.
! Pretty Hope. What had become of herr
On that day it had seemed to the boy
Alick that coming home 10 her was the
best hope with which he went. Did he
whisper a word or two of this hope? He
could not quite remember. Three or
! four letters had passed between them,
he knew; he had the neat, crampcd, little
notes somewhere among his things still;
then, somehow, Hope and Dragon and
all things American began to grow dim
and strange, and till to-day nothing had
come up to remind him of them. A
plague on the dragon chinal Mr.. LOTUS
was unusually absent, Miss Brixham
thought, as he wished her good-by.
"a penny for your thoughts" said
Ernest, after repeating the same question
twice over without an answer.
Your offer is handsome; but my
thoughts are worth more," said his uncle,
rising from abstraction. Where next,
old fellow?"
"The factis," said Ernest, glancing at
his list, the next is one of my calls,
! which l must make now or never, to save
/ time and distance. It's Dickson, our
| junior partner, you know. He lost his
wife in the spring, and his sister has
come to keep house for him, just round
the corner in Fifty fifth street, and he
asked me to call. 1t is bore for you,
sir, but you can sit in the carriage ifyou
like. I'll not be five minutes"
Mr. Lotus did not like. The day was
cold, but that did not account, nor could
he, for the sudden impulse he expert
enced to enter the small house before
which they now drew up. 1t was mod
est dwelling enough in size and build
exactly like its neighbors; but with
the opening of the door sense of some
thing different and comfortable struck
his senses. Was it the snugness of the
little entry itself, whose walls were
tinted of clear warm red, the trails of
ground-pine which swung from the pict-
ure-frames and gas branch, the big white
owl which, from above pair of antlers,
turned solemn glass eyes down upon
them, or the unusual presence of a glass
of roses which sent fragrance after them
up the stairs? Mr.. LOTUS could not tell.
Upstairs they went, aud into a small
drawing. room. The same odd air of
country freshness was there which had
greeted them below. Nothing unusual,
nothing costly; good tints in chintZ and
paper; Il foor.coyering of plain gray
felt, with couple of gay rugs; photo
graphs, autumn leaves, growing plants
in sunny windows, whose curtains were
drawn back; and beside a fright fire two
little children, with litter of dolls and
dolls clothes, and lady, neither young
nor old, who welcomed them with quiet
friendliness, pushed away big work
basket, brought forward another chair,
and made them comfortable without fuss
or disquietude.
Ernest introduced himself; then,
"My uncle. Your brother promised to
be here to introduce me to YOU" he
said; "but, like the rest of the world, he
has been tempted out, see. Have you
had many calls to-day, Miss DicksonY"
Two--counting yourselves replied
his hostess, with pleasant smile. /" Let
me show my welcome with a cup of
1 coffee" She filled two cups from
cdfatiere which stood before the crate
on a genuine hob, and advanced tiny
sugar bowl and cream jug.
What delicious cotfeeT said Mr.
LOTUS.
Miss Dickson half started at the sound
of the voice, and looked straight at him
for "a second. Unconsciously he returned
the gaZe then, coloring, and half EN-.
barrassed, he leaned over the table to ex-
anime plate of green mosses in which
small ferns and vines and minute scarlet
berries were imbedded like a bit of
mosaic.
Straight from the woods" he OBJ
served. "One rarely secs anything so
Countrywide in the middle Of city in
winter"
They are all of the winter-growing
Sorts" said Miss Dickson. a" / dug them
up at Orchard Bay only little more
than month ago, so they have not had
time to lose their freshness"
"Orchard BayY That is one of the
new sea side places in Connecticut, isn't
it?" said Ernest. "The Pooles were
there last summer, l think. They liked
it,"
Yes, people like it, believe, There
is an excellent hotel now, and good fish.
ing and sailing. To me it is spoiled, for
l knew it in the old days when there was
no Otel and no summer people and no
fine lew name, and hardly anyone had
heard of it except the few families who
lived there. The place was delightful
then"
{" Is Orchard Bay a new nameP" asked
Ernest. What was the old oneY"
Dragon"
Whit a onaar nor,aI .NUaa IL ,,oVr