Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-04-18
AN APRIL STORY.

sages and potatoes tor breakfast. Her
cat, Spice, sat on the sill, surveying
her mistress proceedings in serene an
tieipation; and the small servant, who,
with Spice, formed the whole of Miss
Parsons limited establishment, was
vigorously sweeping the narrow pas
sage, with broom much too long for
her, the handle of which kept up a per-
petual knocking accompanimentag against
the walls.
It was a beautiful day, sunny and
balmy, with a fresh, delicious per-
fume of springing grass and budding
leaves on the soft atmosphere. A row
of crocuses, under the window, thrusts
their yellow heads above their spiky
green leaves; and few opening bios
SONS were sprinkled like new fallen
snowflakes on the branches of the old
pear tree. Miss Mahitable divided her
attention between these, the sausages
and potatoes, and the contemplation of
the three speckled hens, which she in
tended to "set" tomorrow. She had
Just arrived at close mental compu-
tation of what would be the net pro-
ceeds of the Matching, when the small
servant rushed in, wonder in her eyes,
and letter in her hand.
30, mumr' says she holding up the
missive, "jest see what / found tucked
in under the street dool."
Miss Parsons correspondence was
not an extensive one. With the excep-
tion of married sister in California,
from whom she heard once in six
months, or COUSIN in a town some
thirty miles distant, who wrote to her
about twice in three years, she boasted
no regular correspondent. She, there
fore, surveying with interest the brims-
stone-colored envelope, which the
small servant held up, and wiping her
finger and thumb on her apron, took it
gingerly by one corner, and examined
it with microscopic scrutiny.
~ Mss Mehittyble Parsons, Present.
No stamp nor postmark. Nothin' in it
that can feel of. Name spelled wrong
too. Who could have sent itp What
can it be about, / wonderP Put under
the door, too, without knocking. du
wonder what its about, and who it's
fromP''
AS the most direct means of enlight-
ening her mind upon these obscure
points, Miss Parsons at length be-
thought herself ofopening the letter.
She sat down, carefully opened the
envelope, unfolded the enclosure, and
read aloud its contents, written in an
awkward, schoolboy hand, and embel-
lished with sundry blots and erasures:
"MIss MEHITTYBLE PARsoNs-Mad-
am: take the liberty to inform you
that as there is no peace nor quiet in
the neiborhood, nor is likely to be, so
long as yor cat trespas on my premer-
sis, and set my dog a-barkin' all night,
and the neibors throwin' bootjacks and
threatenin' to shut him, l hereby in
form you that next time your cat tres
pas on my wood-shed ruff, or the
garding-fcncey1 will shut your cat and
git some pease and quite.
"Yors, respectfully,
"CAPTEN TELLER"
Miss Mahitable gave gasp, and let
her hands drop nervelessly in her lap.
"The land! Who ever heard o. the
likep Why, the man must be stick,
stark crazy"
Then her eyes flashed with just in
dignation.
"To think of sich assurance-and to
me, the darter of Deacon Parsons! In
all the forty-five years sense was born
in this very house, I've never had such
an outrageous thing to happen to me
neverv'
Her lip quivered-her eyes filed with
tears.
elf there was a man of any sort in
the house, he wouldn't a-dared to write
that letter. 1t all comes o. my being a
poor, lone, unpurtected woman. And
he wants to shoot my poor Spicew
Here, suddenly arousing to a sense
of Spices danger, she hastily turned
to the window, but the cat had disap-
peared.
"Sally! Sally! run into the garden,
quick, and bring in the cat! That
dreadful man may be getting his gun
at this very minute. Runr'
"Please, 'm," says Sally nervously,
peeping through the window, as though
tribe of Indians in war-paint were
ambuscading behind the sage and
gooseberry bushes-".Please, IN, l
don't see her nowheres."
"Then go and look for her-quick!
He'll skeercely dare to shoot yOu, you
little cowardr'
AS Sally disappeared, her mistress
turned to the fizzling sausages and po-
tatoes, which, having been neglected
in her excitement, were now giving out
an odor of burning.
She had hardly time to turn them
when the small servant rushed in, pale,
and with wide-Open eyes, bearing Spice
in her arms, carefully wrapped in her
check apron.
"Oh, mum! Cap'n Teller's over in
his yard, and he do look orfulr'
Miss Mahitable peeped from her
window. There, indeed, was her next
door neighbor, bare-headed, an axe in
his hand, slowly rolling up his shirt
sleeves, as he glared at Spice, who had
suddenly resumed her faVorite seat in
the window
"Pll go right out and speak to himr'
said Miss Mahitable, with flushed
face and a rather dangerous sparkle in
her eye, "Ill let him know whether
or not I'm to be imposed on, if am a
lone woman! I'll make him under
stand that there's law in the landr'
1t was only three weeks since Cap
tain Teller had taken the little cottage
next that of Miss Mahitable Parsons.
He had formerly lived at quite the OPP
posite end of the town, where his sister
Patty had kept house for him.
But Patty having taken it into her
head to marry and leave him, and the
neighbors having kept an incessant
watch on, the Captain, TO see how he
would get along without hOusekeeper
and the widows in special having
been extremely offieious in offers of ad-
vice and ssistance-CaptaiD Teller
had, in disgust, removed himself, his
dog Pickle and his few goods and chat
tells, TO the opposite end of the town.
Here he had fondly hoped to live in
peace in the intervals of his voyaging;
for the Captain, be it known, was com
mander OF the gallant barque Daunt-
less, on which he periodically breasted