The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1878-03-21

the stupid, uncontrollabie, contumacious
behavior Of that awful pollysyllable
Arabella.
Don't put it in at the end of line. !"
suggested Annie. Get over II at once,
and have il out of the way.
Capital !" said Mr.. M'Govern.
Gould you. Miss Annie, give me an
idea, a suggestion, a line or two per-
haps? ?"
"What style will you have it in ?"
Well, something a little like Tenny-
son, with dash of Shelley, Just a trihe
of Swinburne possibly" He had evil
IDENTIFY been reading mp.
How would this do?" suggested the
accommodating Annie, with twinkle IN
her eve that somehow made Mr.. MEOW
ern blush to the roots of his hair
"ArAbella, gaze upon me
With thy soft and gentle eye.
see the wrong that thou hast done me
All nv troubled spirit lies
Painting with its deep emotion.
Pulseless as trupie ocean.
And / seem As one who heth
Low uDon his couch and dieth.
Beautiful Gro on.
Now the result OF all this was that
within the next three weeks Miss Ara
bella received no less than nineteen love
poems, all signed " Claren e NJ Govern
in that gentleman best style, with n
flourish underneath at least four inches
long.
But somehow this partnership in
poetry did not seem 10 agree with An
ME, and before long she announced her
intention OF visiting a friend in the
country. She needed a change" she
said.
Curiously now, the holes in Mr..
M'Govern' 5 stocking began to re-appear;
the dust resumed its normal sway, and
the only line of poetry the young man
could remember was
Thou wilt come no more. gentle Annie. :"
which he whistled so lugubriously that
one morning, out Of pure sympathy,
Mrs. Gibson put her head inside his
door aud whispered, consolingly
"Lor' bless you, yes, she will, Mr..
M'Govern she's only gone for
month. F"
Then Clarence began 10 wonder where
his thoughts had been straying and rs
poetical illusions were no longer pos
sibility, he resolved TO see Arabella at
once, and put his fate to the touch, and
win or lose it all.
1t was a night Of wind and rain and
sleet as Mr.. M'Govern left the station
and approached the Lockwood mansion.
Miss Arabella would see him in few
moments, and in the meantime would he
wait in the hbrary2 Fancying himself
in solitude, he selected the easiest chair,
and was Just composing his address TO
the fair object of his affections, when
small voice appealed to him psthetically:
Pleathe, thir, thith ith too thick, it
won't twitht.
"What is il, my child?" inquired
Clarence, affectionately, seating the small
petitioner on his knee
18th maxim lamp hghterth. Thithter
Bella gave me all thlth white paper. /
wanted new, but she thaid it wath good
enough for me; there wath nothing on
il but some thilly vertheth that big fool
she thaid hith name, but iorget-had
written to her. Don't pinch me tho;
I'll thcream."
Oh agonies Of unrequited affection
There, curling gracefully around lamp
lighter, destined perhaps 10 light one OF
his rivals cigars, were the tender lines:
ArabellA gaze upon me
With thy soft and gentle eyes.
The rest we're gone, unless they might
be discovered on the vicious morsel Of
paper that wouldn't twitht.
In less than two minutes Mr.. M'Gov-
/ ern was in the street. Oh, the dismal,
dreary, sleeting iniquity Of that night !
/ Where was the station2 IL had disap-
peared. Down in torrents came the rain,
freezing as ii fell; slippery and more
slippery grew the pavement; only cat
or some animal with claws could have
maintained a systematic perpendicular.
Suddenly down went Mr.. M'Govern.
Perhaps it was blessing, for the sud-
den application of cold ice to the back
OF his head restored his Consciousness OF
where he was, and he turned toward the
railway station, having in his excitement
wandered half a mile in the opposite
direction.
Had that partial bath suddenly cooled
his passion? Clarence could not have
told, but somehow he did not feel as
miserable as he had expected, only very
wet, and the ride home seemed Intern
inably long.
Two or three days passed by, and ever
yet Mr.. M'Govern was in remarkably
serene frame Of mind for disappointed
lover. Aweek passed away, when sud
denly he began TO feel serious distress
in his left ankle. This struck him a
J once as peculiar, as, according to al
! precedent, the anguish should have pro
: ceeded direct from his heart.
| But pretty soon the invisible tweezer
OF most malignant imp began to wrench
him in the knee; before long the gril
J was upon his arm; thence it struck b
: his hip; and utterly in the power of tn
enemy, Mr.. M'Govern awoke one morn
|; ing and found himself, not like th
! Philistines dead, but unable to move
limb, and helpless before the eyes n