Litchfield enquirer., 1878-01-31
WHOLE NO. 2'696

see how competent was for the task |: besides, every now and then I fluttered up to him, and could see by the brightening of his eye that he liked it. He was too unenterpriZing tO make new acquaintances, apd already began to look upon me as an old friend, so felt pret- ty safe, and was amused to see how little sue cess one or two other girls had with him, 10 whym introduced him. They pronounced utterly stupid, and declared they could get nothing out of him-dear old Chowder That was because they didn't know how. English mothers and their daughters may wonder how it is that though they have tried to catch Chowder and Huckleberrv with untiring ener- gy for the last seven or eight seasons, we American girls found so little difficulty. l can explain it quite easily. It is because in Eng land the mothers don't allow their daughters to manage their own affairs and, even if they did, the latter are hampered with all sorts of restrictions of so-called propriety, which seem to us unnecessary. There appears to be ten dency of late to introduce European notions in these matters but it will utterly spoil the mar ket. The more American girls give up their own manners and customs for those of the for eign aristocrats they covet, the less likely are
 they to succeed in attracting them. In the cases of Chowder and Huckleberry, for in-
 stance, those young noblemen were overcome
 with the novelty of the thing. Neither Flora
 nor let day pass without having quiet
 hour or SO with them. What with nice solta- " drives pleasant little dinners, theatres and
 balls, we managed this easily enough. The
 ''German," as danced with us, is most useful
 as a means of securing your prey for whole
 evening he has no means of escape. Thus young women with us are not afraid of being
 talked about in connection with yonng men. or
 cice Uersd, as in England? while the young men, on the other hand, are not haunted by the dread that stern parent will ask them
 their intentions, or big brother intlict condign
 punishment on them for not behaving honour
 ably. Such accidents have, it is true, been
 known, but only in very extreme cases; but
 they are not frequent enough to operate as checks upon 'the course of true love" In
 London the young men devote themselves to
 the young married women, with whom the
 poor girls get no chance to compete, because
 they have so much less liberty, and are 50 closely guarded by chaperons; the consequence is that they lack the necessary experience and practice. We are as much superior to them
 in tlirtation considered as a fine art, as an ex-
 pert hy-fisher is to one who has never used
 anything but worm and pin.
 AS for Flora and Huckleberry, if she had had twenty pound salmon on a single gut she
 could not have had harder work to play him. The way he dashed down the rapids and she
 after him was something frightful to behold.
 Just as she had reeled him up to the bank, SO
 to speak, and she began to breathe, he would
 make dash or jump madly in the air, and nothing but the mOst cOnsummate cOolness, in-
 trepidity and skill prevented his breaking
 away altogether At such moment interfer- ence would have been fatal, and those most
 interested in her success wisely refrained from offering her either reprOval, assistance, or ad-
 vice. With Chowder it was a very different
 matter he was like sluggish old catfish 1lxy ho oHo attar tO
 loose, but never Slackened my line for an in
 stant, and soon found had only to be watch full and patient to make sure of him. Matters
 came to crisis dnring trip which we made to Niagara under the following circumstances: Our parry consisted of the IIardpans, IIuckle-
 berry ald Flora, Prince Schamovitch and Lau-
 ra Berstup, Edith Persimmon and Charlie,
 Chowder and myself. And by this time Char
 lie was becoming devoted to Fanny Hardpan,
 and Harry had long been rather favourite of Edith's. Of course we followed our devices in visiting in pairs the spots which we consid-
 cred to possess the greatest amount of natural
 intesest and beauty and Chowder and 1, who
 were of an enterprslng and exploratory turn
 of mind, determined to try to push our way
 under the Falls to the point reached by Pro lessor Tyndall. EnCased in voluminous suits of tarpaulin waterproof, and led by a guide,
 we descended the stairs and crept along the
 
 Chowder would not let the guide hold me, but took my hand and told him to lead the way and at last we came to point where we had to wade and where the spray was. SD dense that though the the guide was only few pa- ces ahead he was invisible, At this point l slipped, and the noise of the rushing waters was so bewildering the difficulty of breathing was so great, that lost my presence of mind and clutched my companion wildly l don't know whether he mistoak my alarm for more tender sentiment, but he responded by inlme- ateIy clasping me in his arms-I should cer- tainly have fallen if he hadn't-and then in vaice of thunder he suddenly beloved
 s Dearest Irene, l love you"
 He was obliged to roar, otherwise I should not have heard him on account of the noise of the water and he could not say more at one time, for it was SO extremely difficult to breathe. It was so unexpected and was SO utterly unprepared, that could only respond by sort of inane scream
 ''You don't tell me-
 Apart from being an Americanism, have often thought since what perfectly absurd re- ply this was; but he seemed quite satisfied with it, and apparently regarded it in the light of consent, and 1 was too confused to know wheth- CT it was or not. Luckily slipped again, and escaped the dripping caress .s, which, like some huge Newfoundland dog, he seemed de- ternlined to lavish upon me. l could just pant breathlessly, back back!" when fortunate ly the guide came, and finding Twas complete ly exhausted, extricated me from Chowders embrace-.justa a moment before that nobleman, unable to keep his own footing fell flat on his back on the rocks and carried me out of the rushing waters. l was quite afraid that Chow der had been swept into the river and sent the guide back for him; poor fellow he was so much bruised that he required all my sym pathy for some days afterwards; but as 1 had become his .fGncee in this accidental way. this was duty as we'll as pleasure.
 -Thefrst thing Chowder did after straighten- ing himself up and putting on dry-clOthes, WAS to make me promise not to tell. He said that the Duke and Duchess of Gumbo would be vio- lently opposed to his marrying me. Consider ing that papa had promised to settle million of dollars upon me as soon as I was engaged to him, felt myself quite as good as they. were, and could not conceive why they should object. He muttered something about my un- fortunate name; but told him that my fath- CT had been at some trouble to trace his pedi- gree to the celebrated 'sMacgillicuddy of the Breeks," Highland chieftain of clan which has now become extinct, but that we in Amer ica attach no importance either to rank or fam fly, and that loved him for his own sake Then he wanted to kiss me again, and said that for reasons which were inexpresslble, if my ancestor had been aHighland chieftain, he could not have been Macgllicuddy of the Breeks and there must be some mistake, and was originally descended from the Irish Mac gillouddies of the Reeka. This doubt thrown over my pedigree made me feel very uncon- fortable for although we pretend not to care about such things, papa is very proud of his Highland ancestor, and, as 1 told Chowder, had even got his coat of arms Chowder laugh- ed in ridiculous way, and said something about his trowsers of arms, which l did not understand; but he often like so many of his countrymea, made silly remarks. From the way Chowdsr spoke, saw that the whole af- fair would have to be managed with the great est care on account of his parents, and did not even confde it to Flora, who had by no means succeeded with Huckleberry. In spite of the extremely intimate relations which exist, ed between them she could not get him tocom- init himself f-so privately enjoyed my little triumph over her. -.........Ir