The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1879-06-03

SMCiNu
What length of time took to write
that first important letter / wasted
nearly the entire contents of box of
French note paper before the epistle was
completed to my satisfaction. / had
asked numberless questions, and request
ed my unknown Armand's photograph.
His letters to me were to be directed to
Barcourt; for Annie readily agreed to
take them from the post-of1ice and for
ward them to me at once. could never
have taken letters from the Stapleton of
flee directed to Pauline Irving" for
the postmistress was a great gossip and
knew me well, and the whole thing
would have been over Stapleton in half
an hour, and should never have heard
the last of it.
After the letter was at length sent, t,per-
fumed with heliotrope, grew impatient
and nervous for an answer from Armand.
No matter what was doing at the time
the daily mail came in, l would leave it,
and rush to the post-offlce.
OF course made mental picture of
Armand, and gave to him face and fig
ure suited to his aristocratic and melo-
dious name; and 1 endowed him with
every lovable and manly trait of char
acter. Indeed, so loose run did L give
my wild fancy that long before 1 receiv-
ed my first letter from him, l had i'm
agined myself Mrs. Trevor, and furnish
ed my future home-the earthly paradise
where L should reign as Armand's
bride.
Although pretty, l had but few lovers
and only one suitor-Hiram Bung. Sta
pleton was too small place to support
many young men, and those who did
manage to wiring a living from the ex-
hausted farm-lands, or from the small
stores, were not to my taste. Red hair
predominated in Stapleton, and freckles
were universal. Since the death of my
parents had lived with my sister Han
nah, who had married Jonas Gubbens,
the proprietor of the largest variety
store in the town. He was man of
fifty, with florid complexion, portly
form, and bald spot on the top of his
head. If Hannah had had spark of
romance in her composition she could
never have welded Jonas Gubbens. But
she was made of different mould from
her sister Judith, and thought more of a
comfortable home and filling her store
room shelves with preserves and pick
les, than of Romeos and Juliets, dark
eyed Apollos and loves young dream
She considered that had done very
unwise thing in refusing to become Mrs.
Bung, and expressed her wonder every
day that should expect to do any bet
| ter.
"There are so few young men in Sta
pleton, judy" she would say, that
you cannot very well afford to say no to
the best of 'em all. You'll live and die
an old maid, expect, and there is no
chance of your ever getting out of this
little village"
Hannah knew my aversion to having
my name corrupted into "Jude, F." but she
never took the trouble to pay any atten-
ton to it, much to my wrath and vexa-
ton. 1 was dependent upon my broth
er-in-law for my daily bread and the
coarse clothes he was so 10th to spare
from the stock in the store. This de-
pendence was CALLING to me, but saw
no way by which could free myself
save marriage. The advertisement in
the "Barcourt Register" had struck me
as means of escape from my despotic
brother-in-law, dull, gossiping Staple
ton, and the distasteful admiration of
Hiram.
Hiram came to call on me two days
after had written my answer to the ad-
vertisement. We sat in the prim, little,
stuffy parlor which was Hannah's pride,
and while ! crocheted very Industrious
ly, Hiram gazed out of the window into
the darkness of the garden.
Hannah and Jonas, under the mis-
taken belief that two would be company
and more crowd, remained in the
kitchen the entire evening, much to my
chagrin, for detested tete-o-tete inter-
view with Hiram.
He was tall, fair, slender young man
with STOPPING shoulders, thin limbs, and
sandy hair. His manner was nervous
and awkward, and his hands seemed al
ways in his way. At first they would
be sprawled out on his knees, then stuck
in his pockets, and then clasped above
his head
Hiram" said suddenly, this even.