Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-05-31
THAT VOICE a!

A day in June, 1903, and one of the
loveliest early summer days the world
ever beheld-a cloudless sky, golden
bright sunshine, soft fragrant air, JOY
ously sweet songs of birds, faint musical
murmurs of brooks and plashings of
fountains, delicately green grass, inger-
ing violets, and budding roses.
On the lawn in front of the elegant
mansion of Leon Fishback, Esq, a
party of young people are playing "Fol
observation-disclosures "a game some
what resembling $50 their mothers and
grandmothers tell them) an old game
called "puss in the corner" played a
quarter of century or more ago, only
in "Follow follow the players, instead
of beckoning to each other, beckon to q
group of metallic balls, around which
they stand in circle, and he or she who
proves to have most magnetic force the
balls follow with q rush, while the re-
mainder of the players rush as wildly in
their efforts to secure the place left
vacant by the flying one.
At this moment the balls are rolling
pell-mell, helter-skelter, knocking
against each other with pleasant ring
ing sound, after a pretty, fair-haired
maiden, whose little feet, clad in slip
pers all cleaning with silver and gold,
fash in the sunshine beneath her blue
satin Turkish trouserlets as she springs
lightly over the green ward amid the
exquisitely modulated laughter-no one
shouts loudly in this refined twentieth
century-of her merry companions.
In the back garden, on green clover
sweet grass plat, stands a broad, deep
basket of newly washed, snowy white
linen, and hanging-out machine,
planted firmly in the middle of the plat,
is industriously raising and lowering its
wooden arms, graspiDg the various
pieces in its wonderfully constructed
hands, and hanging them upon the stout
no-clothes-pins line, which is slowly
revolving around it, and to which they
adhere without further trouble.
In the dairy the rosy checked dairy
maid is reading love poem while the
automatic mixer is milking the beauti-
full white COW that stands just outside
the door; In the kitchen the cook is
indolently rocking to and fro in low
rocking-chair, watching the "magic
rolling, pin" roll out the paste for her
pies, ready to stop its pendulum like
movement the moment the crust is
smooth and thin enough; and a small
servant-boy, with his hands in his pock-
ets, lounges against the wall in one
corner near tall stool, whistling softly
to himself as he waits until the pair of
shoes the electric blacking- brush is pol
lshing thereon attain the proper degree
of brilliancy and mirrow- likeness.
This is prosperous place, this domain
of Leon Fishback, Esq, and Leon
Eishback himself is a tall, handsome,
energetic, positive man of one-and- thirty
"a bachelor, who gives a home to his
widowed sister and her four half orphan
ed children, and in return is taken care
of by her, with the assistance of the old
housekeeper-to tell the truth, with a
great deal of assistance from the old
housekeeper-as well as any brother was
taken care of by any sister.
Still, people, as people will-especially
people with grown-up single daughter 8
wonder that he has never married. 1t
was not for want of opportunity he had
done so-oh, no indeedi-for dozen
lovely girls, half a dozen more or less
charming widows, and several ladies of
neither class, had, since his coming into
the property of his uncle and godfather
Leon Fishback, Sen. (whose ashes in q
solid gold casket stood in sort of shrine,
made of hundred rare woods, in the
south drawing room), intimated to him,
In every way that the shrinking sensi-
tiveness of womanhood would allow,
their perfect willingness-nay, anxiety
to assume the role of mistress of the
Fishback mansion.
But Leon had walked calmly among
them, dispensing hospitality, kind words,
and gracious smiles with the strictest
impartiality, distinguishing none by the
slightest preference, until few weeks
before this beautiful June day when his
young guests merrily called, "Follow-
tollow-follow-me," to their highly pol.
ished admirers on the closely shaven
lawn.
Then came to visit his sister an old
school friend, Laura Beardsley by name,
who had been residing in a far distant
State, but with whom the sister had
kept up warm correspondence ever
since they parted at the college door the
day on which each was publicly hailed
with loud acclamations as Mistress of
Arts"
Miss Beardsley is lovely woman of
eightand-twenty summers, looking at
least five summers less, with an excep-
tionally sweet voice, an exceptionally
bright smile, an exceptionally graceful
figure, and exceptionally winning ways
And to this bewitching woman has Leon
Fishback, the hitherto apparently un-
impressible bachelor, devoted himself
since the moment he took her slender
little hand in his and bade her welcome