The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-05-09

The face of beauty fades Quickly through
presidential fever now quite common; and tn
exquisite daughter of one of the first familie
has been taken foran Indian squaw by reaso
/, OF the same. Freckles are paramount. Tn
| hair withers and falls out-the teeth hkewis
the same. Much as we hope to once more be
hold that darling face, we could not expos
you TO such certain ruin. Your mother faint
ed on reading your request to visit her.
fear in her present state of health a visi
from you would prove fatal. II you valu
your parents love, Danish this idea from
your mind. In a few years. probably, we vii
be able to once more clasp you in our arm
by the Atlantic shores.
Your AFFEcTIoNATE PARENTS.
Six weeks had elapsed and the dutifu
answer to the above, confidently looked
for by the guardians, was due. Never
theleSs, as the time approached som,
nervousness ON the part of Fleet wa.
manifested by that gentleman's un-
rest and his frequent visits 10 Capt
Rats, to whom all letters addressed tc
their deceased friend were delivered
+" Nothing from the young lady yet,
suppose" Fleet would say, indifferently
"No," the Captain would respond
quietly. {" reckon it'll take her about
two weeks to get over her disappoint-
ment. Then she'll write sassy-like as
turned pale, then red, and then bit his
moustache. I" You don't think, Cap
tain," he asked with an affected laugh,
"that we were a little-just little too
hard?'' "NOt too much for peace and
quietness, 4" replied the Captain, gravely 7;
"women don't take a halfway mo-;
they can't believe a man means it," he
added, "any more than hey do
Nevertheless, the Captain himself grew
a little anxious, and, having to visit Sac
ramento, left strict orders with his COM
rades that he was to be recalled prompt
ly on the arrival of Miss Fanny's reply.
But his visit was not interrupted, and
it was nearly three weeks later that he
mounted the box-seat of the Pioneer
stage coach to return to Lagrange. As
he settled himself beside the driver,
after the interchange of few compli-
mentary epithets, his eye glanced down
toward the wheels, and was attracted by
an open letter and part of a female
head obtruded from the window of the
coach The fair reader had evidently
thus sought to evade the gloom of the
coach's interior, and possibly the pry-
ing eyes of her fellow-passengers, while
she perused it. But why did the Cap
tain's withered cheeks instantly lose
color, and why did he convulsively
clasp the railing by his side? The let
ter was in his own handwriting, and had
been mailed to Miss Fanny six weeks
before.
1t was impossible, even by the utmost
craning, and at the risk of his life, to
see any thing more than bit of lace,
some artificial flowers, front of blond
hair, and the fatal letter. Yet his guilty
conscience instantly recognized in these
scant facts the formidable presentment
of the deceived orphan. Had she dis
covered the trick, and was she now on
their trail, with this terrible Indictment
in her hand? Or was she still in ig-
nOrance-an ignorance which single
chance question and answer now might
dispel, amid Paintings, shrieks, tears,
and wailingP Capt. Rats grew apo
plectic with bewilderment; he dared not
even ask question of the driver, who
was already beginning to survey him
with a sardonic leer, and had audibly
sought information if he, the Captain,
called this kind of conduct proper at
" his time o. life' "Let the gal alone,
Rats-don't you see it amt love letter
from you she's porting over?" he added
a statement that again covered the Cap
tain with guilty bushes. But sudden
jolt of the vehicle, little shrek, and
the fluttering of the letter to the road,
Jared from the readers fingers, gave
the Captain a providential opportunity
To jump from the box to the road and
seize the truant epistle was the work of
a moment. When he approached the
coach to restore it to its fair owner, an
other passenger had appropriated his
own seat on the box, and thus gave
color and reason for his exchange to the
"inside." The young lady thanked
him, the coach again started forward,
and Capt. Rats fell into the seat beside
her. Here was the supreme moment!
With q profuse apology, the Captain
drew his knees together, slipped into
respectfully diagonal position, so as to
oppose the narrowest point of contact
with her, and carefully busted his knees
and her dress softly with his handker-
chief. The shyest nymph would scarce
ly have been startled, the coolest and
most antiquated of duennas would not
have been discomposed by the submis-
sive respect of the Captain. The young
lady, who evidently was neither, turned
a pair Of calm, large gray eyes on her
neighbor, and sat expectant. But how
the Captain improved his chances |
must refer the reader to his own ac-
count of the interview delivered gravely
the same evening to his brother guard
ians:
"When l saw we was in for it, boys"
he said, rubbing his knees upward soft
ly, !" kinder measured the gal afore l
commenced, to see what sort of hand
she might hold. But you couldn't hev
told any thing by her looks. And short
of axing her a downright sassy ques-
ton, you couldn't get word out of her
about her own business, nor what she
war up to. And then-well," contin-
ued the Captain, with a languid smile of
conscious success, 81 calkilated that
this was one o. them peculiar cases that
wanted skill and science, and l jist ap-
all. Yes," said the Captain, with
yaWn OF Suueu nulIlerences IL all
right now, boys. Every things ex-
planned"
"But how?" queried the others Gag
erly.
"Well," said the Captain, lazily, 81
sorter slipped into gineral converse
ton about the opery, the fashions, and
po'try, and SIGH. Speakin' o. litiratoor,
told her of yarn I'd read t'other day
in magazine, and then, kinder keerless
and easy, jist up and told her the
whole story about her father and us and
herself, giving her the name o. Sera-
pima, calling you and Horton Oscar
and 'Roderigo,' and Fleet 'Gustavus,'
and myself 'Rodentio,' which is Latin
for Rats Well, if do say it myself,
it wasn't no SLOUGH of story, fur l was
kinder clipper and fresh, and the other
passengers was jist about as much in
terested as she was. Then | sorter
looked in her eye, you know, this way"
and Capt. Rats here achieved a pecu-
iarly Jesuitical leer, ''and said that
Ill - - - el1 Cd