The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1877-08-21
For The Times
WRITING HIS AUNT.

Haste" reminds me of letter written
by friend of mine to his wife's aunt,
after much solicitation, and what came
of it.
Our friend, we informed you, is mar
ried and his wife had one blood relation
and expectations. These expectations
worth something in the future to draw
upon-a sort of fancy stock for Hope,
the generous banker) were chiefly based
on the good will and good deeds, duly re-
corded in the record-office of maiden
aunt. To this maiden, as in duty bound
the happy bride despatched an epistle, to
which the answer came in due course of
mail, formally complimentary, full of
good wishes and delightful confidence
that she should and must approve her
niece's choice, together with all the 9TH
er complimentary prettinesses with
which such a letter ought Of right and
of custom to be filled. In postscript
the maiden expressed her earnest desire
to know more of her new connection,
and trusted that, at no distant day, he
would himself write to her. The young
wife was not one who would let eXpecta-
ton grow cold for lack of nursing, or a
maiden aunt become Indifferent for want
Of attention. 1t seemed as if it was the
sole business of her life, (shopping ex-
cepted) to keep up her correspondence
with this Aunt Expectation. Herhus-
band wondered at her punctuality. To
think that person could write letters
except upon compulsion, and such long
letters, too! And that she could regu-
larly, once fortnight, receive and as
regularly answer them, and that, too,
without any conceivable topic that he
could devise. 1t was wonder to him.
The postscript of each letter from aunt
was regularly read to him. 1t always
desired remembrance to her nephew,
whom she had never seen, and express
ed regret at his silence, and apparent de-
termination that she should never know
him. These were the postscripts intend
ed for his ear; but in the body of the
letter Aunt Expectation did not scruple
to express her doubts whether the man
could write, whether he could spell cor
rectly; or, if he had accomplished that
part of his education, whether it had
been carried so far as to enable him to
express his feelings, Gf he had any feel
ings) in grammatical manner. She
wondered whether he could talk at all,
and began to have sad misgivings.
The niece was eloquent in rebutting
all these injurious aspersions, and pro-
tested that her chosen was paragon.
But Aunt Expectation declared that
one letter from him would do more to
give her a proper appreciation of the
man, whom she fully desired to love and
respect, than volumes from wife in her
honeymoon, who was either very fond
or great dissembler. But she was on
no account to tell him these things.
Now Aunt Expectation lived in what
used to be considered the far West. 1t
was some hundreds of miles away, and
those were the days when there were no
railroads. Write to friend now: and
desire his presence, and he will be
''yours, in haste" directly, answering
by wire the next moment, and present
ing himself by rail the next day at far
thest. Our fathers and their sisters, cid
elect, our aunts, in their slow habits,
knew nothing of the fast progress of
this generation. 1t was weary thing
to travel, and required some previous
thought and preparation. Such pack
ing of boxes, and labelling of trunks,
and counting of parcels, and overlook
ing of baggage, as used to be required,
made journey of hundred miles of
more moment than trip to England
now is. Therefore, Aunt Expectation
had not for many years visited her
friends in the east, and as "distance
lends enchantment to the view,'' per-
haps she saw them all in better light
all except our luckless friend who
would not trust his penmanship to her
scrutiny.
The young wife began to fear that
Aunt Expectation would become Aunt
Exasperation, and visit on herself the
wrath which her husband was daily in
creasing. So she told him positively he
must write. She painted the folly of
losing some great advantage by mere
negligence. The husband promised, and
that was all. She repeated her urgent
entreaties; and at last met him every
day with the inquiry, Have you writ
ten ~ Now it is easier to fib hypothet-
ically, by saying will, " than to falsi-
fly positively, by saying" have" when