The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1878-08-12

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terrupted by a sharp interjection from
Pickle or q genealogical gu stion from
good Mrs. Paffin, who was w d~lrous az
her hUsU"nu W boU AA.- sI-..4O.n5 lAy I".-4j
| tree.
At last I found my tobg ie and grew elo-
quent upon general toLi les. 1 believe l
Outdi myself, and Mary AIMS face gowed
with animation; but just as 1 began to take
vaIions of my impression upon Pat
ty saw she was dead asleep upon the
rug!
Deeply mortified took hurried leave;
but the ice WIS brok IL and l called agln.
In short, l fell into the habit of calling,
Mr.. Pufliu and Mad IN, becoming ex-
hausted by their res arches into my p~di-
gree, gradually withdrew from the room,
leaving ME converSing with Mary Ann,
who WAS always charming, and gazing ut
her sister who was generally asleep on the
rug.
began to find it was impossible to get
occasional brokrn sentence concerning
| Fractions. l remember she began with
| Decimals and worked backward into Re-
! ducton d scendiny. So l resolved to
write her letter. suppose it contained
enough 'achng vods' and ''dreary
deserts" to rend4r it genuine at any rate
it must have been intelligble to any one
who could read lpver's English. Accord
ingly l WIS greatly surprised when week
passed and he'd received no answer. I
must call at the house and discover the
cause of this mysterious silence.
Mary Ann was absent, and Patty met
me at the door with Nn air of childish i'm
portance Would l walk into the parlor
There was soms til ng she would like to say
to me, and papa and mamma Were i'll the
sitting room. She seemed 10 trelnble.
"Dear Miss Patty said l, seizing her
hand rapturouslE 80 you did receive my
letter after all Z"
YES oh yes! There, thought it was
yours, 1 knew it WAS yours!"
Certainly, dear girl, it was mine.
Could you donbt it?"
For answer she thrust into my hand the
fragments of written document 30 torn
as to be beyond recognition, / peered ut
it and detected the isolated words 'alfec-
tion," ''reciprocal," "Whippowill." Did
she mean to insult me?
PATTY, oh Patty! l murmured, as l
gazed at the mouse nest which lad ouce
been my eaborately written lett'r.
"Thats all there was left of it," whis-
pered the child. "Dou't scold, for twas
Pickle did it! You see Tommy took it
out the Office, twas such a shame And
Tommy hasn't any more sense than to .,st
Pickle carry things, though he always
cAews them up, and I've told him time aud
again that Pickle"
Never mind Pickle" sail I, for / saw
she was starting off on her favorite topic.
$50 you don't know yet what was i'll that
! letter."
"On, don't you tell" gasped she. "I'm
not inquisitive bit, don't wish to
know"
'Oh, Patty, Patty Pufin!" was morti-
fed, you may suppose.
you think me baby. You laugh at
me, sud she, rea ly to cry; "but | know it
was u love-letter just rs well as if l had
rend it,"
"Of course you do" stammered 7, and
was on the point of running away ingiori-
ously, but Remembered Tic words of the
sou of Sirach, "Wos to him that is Gaint-
hearted"
"And what answer would You give, in
case you had r.ad the letter, Miss Patty !?
Would you say Yes, Mr. Whippowill p"
"Oh no, no !" laughed she, da cling
across the floor. 'Pd great deal latuer
not!"
! pursued her into a corner.
"And why not, Miss Patty ?"
''Decause Pm not Muy Ann"
'To be sure your are not"
"And don't like houAely people,"
"Does she p
Patty cursed her little lips.
"You thought so, didn't you, Sir, or
YOU wouldn't have written her letter p
"Writtcn Mary Ann letter p
''There now, don't so and deny it !!
You look as you do wien you explain the
arithmetic, this way" making a grimace
intended as striking copy Of my facial ex-
preston.
"Why didn't you say 1t to her right
out ?" pursued the little hoyden. I'm
sure she's been ready in the sitting room
with her best delaine dress on. Eve gone
to sleep on purpos- and twice went
out"
"Now, Patty, DON'T" said I, blushine
violently.
"Wvll, know it isn't polite, Mr.. Whip
powill; but every body lets me say what