The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-03-06


Arcadian business. They seemed very
happy together, these two persons, who
asked no odds whatever of the commu-
nifty in which they had settled them
selves.
There was q queerness, q sort of mys-
terry, about this couple, which l admit
piqued my curiosity, though, as rule,
have no morbid interest In the affairs
of my neighbors. They had behaved
like pair of lovers who had run of and
got married clsndestinely. l willingly
acquitted them, the one and the other,
of bsving no legal right TO do 50; for. to
change word in the lines of the poet !:
It.ajoy to think the BEST
| We msY Of human kind.
Admitting the hypothesis of elope-
ment, there was no mystery In their
neither sending nor receiving letters.
But where did they get their groceries 2
1 do not mean the money to pay for
them-thst is an enigma spsrt-but the
groceries themselves. No express wagon,
no butchers cart, no vehicle of any
description, was ever observed to stop at
their domicile. Yet they did not order
family stores at the sole establishment in
the village--an inexhaustible little bottle
of shop which (I advertise it gratis)
can turn out anything in the way of
groceries, from handsaw to a pocket.
handkerchief. l confess that 1 allowed
this unimportsnt detail of their houses
keeping to occupy more of my specula-
tion than was creditable to me.
In several respects our neighbors re-
minded me of those inexplics BILE persons
we sometimes come across in great cities,
though seldom or never in suburban
places, where the field may be supposed
too restricted for their operations-per>
sons who have no perceptible means of
subsistence, and manage to live royalty
on nothing a yea. They hold no gov
eminent bonds, they possess no real es-
tate four neighboss did own their house,,
they toll not, neither do they spin; yet
they reap all the numerous soft advsn>
tsges that usually result from honest toll
and skillful spinning. How do they do
itf But this is depression, and 1 am
quite of the opinion of the old lady in
David Copperfeld, who says, "Let us
have no mesndering
Though my wife had declined to risk
ceremonious call on our neighbers as
family, ! saw no reason why should
not speak to the husband as an individual
when 1 happened to encounter him by
the wsyside. 1 made several approaches
TO do 80, when 1t occurred to my pene.
.fation that my neighbor had the air of
trying to avoid me. I resolved 10 put
the suspicion to the test, and one fore
noon, when he was sauntering along on
the opposite side of the road, in the
vicinity of Fishers saw mill, I deliber>
stely crossed over to address him. The
brusque manner In which he hurried
away was not to be misunderstood. OF
course 1 was not going to force myself
upon him.
1t was at this time that 1 began to
form unchsritsble suggestions touching
our neighbors, and W, Id have been as
well pleased if some of my choicest fruit
trees had not overhung their wall. /
determined to keep my eyes open later
in the sesson, when the fruit should be
ripe to pluck. In some folks, sense of
the delicate shade Of difference between
Dsesns ct tuum does not seem to be very
strongly developed in the Moon of
Cherries, to use the old Indian phrase.
1 was sufficiently magnanimeus not to
impsrt any of these sinister impressions
to the families with whom we were on
visiting terms; for I despise gossip. l
would say nothing against the persons up
the road until had something definite
to ssy. My interest in them wss-well,
not exactly extinguished. but burning
low. l met the gentleman at intervals,
and passed him without recognition at
rarer intervals 1 saw the lady.
After a while not only missed my
occasional glimpsee of her pretty, slim
figure, always draped in some soft black
stuff with bit Of scarlet at the throat,
but l inferred that she did not 20 about
the house singing in her light hearted
manner as formerly. What had hap>
penedf Had the honeymoon suffered
eclipse already7 Was she illf I fancied
she was i'll and that detected certain
anxiety in the husband, who spent the
mornings digging solidarity in the garden,
and seemed to have relinquished those
long jaunts to the brow OF Blue hill,
where there is a superb view combined
with sundry venerable mathematics with
twelve rattles.
AS the days went by it became certain
that the lady was confined to the house
perhaps seriously i'll, possibly confirmed
invalid. Whether she was attended by
q physician from Canton or Milton / was
unable to say; but neither the gig with
the large white sllopathic horse, nor the
gig with the homeopathic sorrel mare,
was ever seen hitched at the gate during
the day. If physician had charge OF
the case, he visited his patient only at