Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1879-12-11
THE CURATE'S SWEETHEART.

A young woman with pleasing
face, who rarely smiles, and seems to
shun observation, and an old lady, who
comes out very little and always
yelled"
That was the description given to the
Rev. Charles .GrosvenOr of the new Oc-
cupants of the little cottage which lay
so close to his vicarage that he could
see the smoke from the chimney over
the tops of the trees that skirted his
avn,
The Rev. Charles Grosvenor had been
away from. the scene Of his labors at
Chumleigh for d month. Chumleigh
was countrifed enough and healthy
enough, but he had been ordered sea
air, and had taken the trip, leaving his
by no means extensive flock to the care
of a temporary shepherd.
The Rev. Charles Grosvenor was a
young man, and Chumleigh was his
first living He was quite new enough
to his work to take interest in it, and
he was on intimate terms with all his
parishioners.
Directly he heard of the new arrivals
in the village, he of course determined
to call upon them, but he thought he
would just inquire what sort of people
they were.
The result was the above description
"a description vague enough in all
conscience, and yet sufficient at once to
invest the heroines of it with a slight
halo of romance.
The Rev. Charles Grosvenor had not
so long left college life to bury himself
among the pumpkins but that he could
duly appreciate the piquancy which a
little mystery lends to our ordinary
humdrum existence.
Knowing that the young lady Stunned
observation, his curiosity was at once
aroused, and he looked forward to his
first meeting with her with more than
ordinary eagerness. AS to the old lady
well, he was a young bachelor, re-
member; and however deeply old ladies
may veil themselves, or however mys-
terious they may be, they cannot ex-
pect to command much attention when
there is a younger lady in the case.
The curate called at Laburnam cot
tage the day after his return from the
seaside. He found the Smiths very
quiet and unassuming people. Mrs.
Smith said very little and sighed good
deal, and Miss Smith, though a fluent
and agreeable speaker, as he could
Judge from the little she said, spoke
only in answer to his questions, and
kept her eyes fixed on the ground the
whole time that he was talking to her.
Something queer about these peO-
ple,' said the Rev. Charles GrosvenOr
to himself. "I wonder what it is. l
must draw them Out."
His notion of drawing them out was
to engage their services in his parish
work. The old lady sighed and con-
ssented. The young one colored, cast
down her eyes, and said that she was
not fit for such work. Not religious
enough, she meant. a,..
The Rev. Charles GrOsvenor was
much distressed to hear that Miss Smith
was not religious Here, at last, was
= task congenial to his soul. He was
quite willing TO convert farm laborers
and to reform market gardeners, but
when a demure looking young lady,
with an agreeable manner, offered her
self, he could not refrain from looking
forward to the prospect of higher and
nobler work.
he talked seriously to Miss Smith,
and Miss Smith listened seriously-so
seriously that the curate was taken by
surprise. BE was almost alarmed at
the terrible earnestness with which the
girl spoke of religious questions, asked
for spiritual consolation and argued
with him on the dread subject of the
sinners fate hereafter. The earnest
ness and the vehemence of his parish
ioner, however, only increased his
interest ia her.
Now, when Miss Smith called herself
a miserable sinner, the Rev. Charles
Grosvenor thoroughly believed shat she
was one. He accepted her confession
in the same sense that he would have
accepted it from the patron Of his living,
or his mother, or any Of his lady parish