South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1878-09-27
Plain Peter Stubbs.
HI CONSTANCE srERLIN0.

''But, mother; lis tidnic Il enough TO
set dny girl against Him: Fancy my
being Mrs. Peter Stubbs r.
And laughed alotd - pronouhced
the fiar1e thodgiit 90 hitleous:
! "Cati lte help Ills na,nef" qdefisd ITO:
Their. ut Is q Bible name, a we'll l.
yours, Esther" -.
Stubbs Bible name! '' I k&siaiIed.
"Weil. confess that Is news to me. n
get the Bible. and look it up at once"
you know very we'll that mean the
name OF Peter, not Stubbs," said moth.
ct, growing just little angry.
Il might possibly put mp With the Pc.
ter, but the Stubbs Is just little too
much. What were his parents thinking
OF when they named him? They should
have given him handsome Christian.
name to compensate for his being obi.
ged to be Stubbs all his life long. But
plain Peter Stubbsl Ugh r.
IF you thought more of the farm that
he owns, his horses and cattle, barns and
stables, and less Of his name, you would
show more sense, Esther, said nv sister
Matilda. 81 think, myself, that it would
sound better II his name was Herbert or
Reginald; but since it is not, and your
chances for entering the blessed state Of
matrimony in Hooksville will be few and
FAR between in the future. Us they have
been in the past, and considering our
poor circumstances, l think the sooner
you consent to be Mrs. Peter Stubs,
the better it will be-
Sensible advice, as usual, Matilda"
said mother approvingly. There is no
\ vSl, -. 81
Their bad half your SENSE. or that Peter
had offered himself to you instead of
to her"
"You may both talk until doomsday,"
l said rather hotly; .'but you will never
get me to even think Of marrying plain
Peter Stubbs.
This ended the argument for the time
being: but neither mother nor Matilda
left stone unturned to convince me
how foolish was to reject the hand and
heart Of plain Peter Stubbs.
The man himself was not my ideal, by
any means; but still liked Peter very
much. lie had been my knight ever
since wore bib-aprons and short skirts |;
and though had, fguratively speaking.
trampled him under my feet on all &C.
casions. laughed at his. awkwardness,
and ridiculed his name, still liked Pc.
ter very much indeed. But liking is not
loving, as found out when one June
morning when l was eighteen, and Peter
twenty.hree, he proposed to marry me,
and make me mistress Of the large, hand
some farm he owned just four miles from
EIooksvilie. 1 rejected him fatty
though confess my heart did ache inst
l n n II Al. q
and grayish shade settle on his pleas
ant face.
| But he kept on coming to our house
10 see me; and now it was July, and I
had just received letter from him in
which he asked me, for the second
time. to become his wife. showed it
to Matilda, and that led to the argu.
ment with which hogan my story.
When went to bed that night, lay
awake, and thought it all over. imag.
med how Susan Lake and Annie Parker
would laugh at me. and recall oil 1 had
ever said about Peter Stubs to my
mind, and how they would ridicule anew
his name, il accepted him; and how
horrible it would be to me TO hear my
self called "Mrs. Peter Stubbs' wherey.
or | went. Then / had always in my
air-castles seen myself the wife of some
rich, dark-eyed youth, whose voice should
fall like music on my ear, whose hand
should be slender and marvelously white
(Peter's were fat and sunburned), and
who should be named Reginald de We're,
or Harold Fitz Laurence, or some thing
else just as high-sounding and aristo.
cratic. And how could I come down To
being Mrs. Peter Stubbs? No | wouldn't
marry Peter, no matter what argume nts
mother and Matilda might use to con-
vince me it was best.
1t wss quite true, what Matilda had
said about my chances of matrimony in
Hooksville. There were only about
twenty eligible young men in the whole
place and these Susan Lake, Annie
Parker, and used 70 laugh at, mimick.
ing John Carriers squint and David
IIopper's leer, and making fun OF all in,
Discriminatory. felt quite sure that
should never marry any one in Hooks
Vile, or meet my ideal within it's Dor
ders. Peter Stubs was really the fn.
est young man we knew; and, beside
being well off, was kiud.hearted, and pos.
sessed Of better education than most
young farmers receive. III rejected
Peter, rejected my last chance ia Hooks.
, Vile: but reject him did, and the poor
fellow came TO the house no more.
Mother and Matilda had little patience
with me after my second refusal, and. Il
we were ever "scrimped" in anything.
} took care 10 tell me that il I had MARI.
ed Peter could have bad every wish
gratided and so often did hear bis
name that hated IL more than ever,
and, when saw the owner in church.
turned my head away, and smiled when
| bowed 10 John Carter. or gave the rose
in my belt to David Hopper, in spite OF
knowing how reproachful Peters blue
eyes grew, for he knew as we'll "a did
that cared not jot for either Of those
sandy-haired, freckled faced young men.
| was very glad when in September
came n letter from my old grand mother