Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-01-31
A FLOOD, AND WHAT GAME OF IT.

name; she's changed IT now, IN an
case, and TO save everybody's feelings
Ill call her Mollie Muldoon-swee
Nellie Muldoon. Her own name wa
rather an Irish one, and wen stick t,
the nationality, because with it go tn,
Irish eyes, and the changing color, ant
the warm, tickle, tempestuous, loving
laundering, devoted heart Now
more delightful creature it would b,
hard to find, for she had that incom
parable nature that blends the chile
with the woman; and whereas sht
could romp and play like kitten il
seasons. of frivolity, you might in {
dire and serious extremity search thu
wide world over for wiser or maturel
Judgment. She had the most wonder
full knack of taking a shabby house
and going over it from top to bottom
with touch here and brush there
and little adornment over yonder, sc
that, when she was through, the meta
morphosis would be startling, and one
would declare that under the kilt pleatS
of her house dress she concealed the
wand of fairy.
but, obi mamma, it will get all
mussed up again; and it won't bear
many more goings over. I'm afraid to
sweep very hard for fear the carpets
will fall to rags; and the walls are aw-
fully cracked this year-the paper is
peeling off from sheer age; and when
the time comes that | can't patch up
and fix things, shall Just lie down and
die" Her mother looked at her with
placid expression of composure. Mol
lies eyes were shining like sapphires,
her cheeks were like the roses of June,
her dimpled elbows had burst through
the fashionable tight sleeves of her
house dress, and the line from her chin
to her throat lacked little of the artist
ic curve, so plump and round was
sweet Mollie Muldoon. I'D.
"rm not afraid of your diving just
yet, my dear,' said Mrs. Muldoon.
"Well, I'll do something desperate;
you see if l don'tr' said Mollie.
But nobody minded this threat. Not
but that we all felt sorry for her; it was
dreadful to be SO poor and so proud.
Everybody knows that poverty and
pride are like oil and wa er, and won t
go t0gether very well; and it could not
be denied that Mollie's beauty and
grace were sadly suited to the stinted
means of life doled out to the widow
Muldoon and her two children.
Poor little Mollie! Many a time I've
seen her beautiful eyes filed with tears
of rage and modification over an abor-
tive attempt at making dress with
puffs and frills out of small pattern;
but out she came presently with some
old underskirt of her mothers, or
aunt's, or grandmother and with
few touches of her magic fingers the
whole fabric would fall together, colors
and all, as gracefully as rainbow,
and then her eyes would shine again,
and her dimpled chin go up IN the air
with the true pride of genius.
"Just look at that Mollie Muldoon,"
said Fanny Sharp, as Mollie went by;
" she's running her mother, the way she
dresses"
"Pride goeth before fall" croaked
old Granny Sharp.
1t was only week or two after that /
heard from Mrs. Muldoon's own lips
the confirmation of rumor that had
been going about for months-that
Mollie was actually engaged to be mar
ried to young Adolphus Dacre. The
Dacres had been given over by our
whole little community long since.
They had treated the church scandal
ously, hiring the best pew, and never
paying penny on it; the grocer had
refused to give them any further credit;
the butchers cart drove right by their
door; and Mike Malony, the miIkman,
had been seen sitting upon the front
stoop of the Dacres', waiting, he said,
for one of two things-his money or the
liver of Mr.. Dacre.
"And of COURSE" said Mollie, $50
long as these miserable trades-people
held out, and treated the Dacres with
respect, the whole aristocraey of Bah
bleton followed suit; but now that the
butcher and baker and candlestick-
maker have given them up"
Its a case of the rotten potato"
said her seventeen-year-old-brother
Jack.
"Have you too turned against
Dolph?" said Mollie.
"In' replied the lad, with mock trag-
edy. Never! AS friend of mine he's
A l, and no mistake; but / don't take
much stock in Dolph as a brother-in-
law. It's all he can do to keep himself
in chuck"
Mamma, will you make Jack stop
talking slangP"
81 beg pardon" said Jack; "what
meant to say was that under existing
circumstances Mr.. Adolphus Dacre finds
it exceedingly difficult to supply his
own individual necessities, and positive
ly declines any inducement to take in
the matrimonial racket"
declines naeg' said Mollie, with
scornful emphasis.
declines the whole feminine gener-
ation," said Jack.
That very day, which was a freezing
one in December, MOllie was seen down
upon the skating pond executing with
marvellous grace and facility the intri-
cate evolutions of the outer edge, and
with her was Dolph Dacre. Whatever
might have been his inclination toward
the feminine generation in general, it
was plainly evident that TO Molliein
particular his whole heart and soul
went out in fond emotion. His face
was of the same mobile tendency as
Mollie's, and love, admiration, devo-
tion, idolatry, beamed in every line of
it.
"Its shame to part them," said
the romantic lookers-on.
"Its ruinOus to have them so much
said the prudent; but Mollie
and Dolph went gliding on, their hands
locked together, their glad hearts car.
ing no more for fate than for the freez-
ing wind an|
Dolph is a bang-up skater,' said
JACK, that night at supper. THAT
patch in his left boot loosened his
skate, or he'd have been the top of the
heap. If he could only get a pair of
Shoes
DO you mean TO say" said Mollie,
the morsel upon her fork suddenly be-
coming distasteful to her-"do you
mean to say Dolph Dacre can't get as
many shoes as he wantspn
"Why, sis, if it comes TO that, can Ip
Can youP Poverty is blamed uncom-
Portable thing, but hope it's no dis