The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1879-01-09

SIR"
MAT. there must be no nonsense about
tn wedding"
"As you please, sill"
'Just marry her off and take her home.
Short reckonings make long friends.
"Thrus for you, sir.
say?'"
my blessin' only, sir"
well, you must throw in tia; butther.
Nat. and take the farthin' off. -
Its yours, sir, said Mat. delighted,
loading Flanagan with .1Good-byes" and
| God save yous," until they should meet
the next morning at breakfast.
Mat rode home in great glee at the pros
pect of providing so well for one Of the
girls, and told them a man would be
there the next morning TO make choice
Of one of them for his wife. The girls
very naturally inquired who the man was,
to which Mat, in the plentitude of patri-
archal power, replied, that was nothing
to them" and his daughters had sufficient
experience in his temper to know there
was no use in asking more questions after
such an answer. He only added, ..she
would he well off that would get him."
Now, their father being such a curmud-
geon. it is no wonder the girls were will
ing TO tke the chance of a good humored
husband instead Of an iron-handed father;
so they set to work to make themselves as
smart as possible for the approaching trial
Of the charms, and battle royal ensued
between the sisters as to the right and
title to certain pieces Of dress which were
hitherto considered sort of common prop
erty among them, and of which the occa-
SION OF fair or pattern or a market day
was enough to establish the possession by
whichever of the girls went to the public
place; but now, when husband was to
be won, privilege Of all sorts was pleaded.
in which discussion there was more noise
than sound reason, and so many violent
measures to secure the envied m0rceaur,
that some destruction Of finery took place
where there was none to spare, and, at
last, seniority was agreed upon to decide
the question; SO that when Nance had the
first plumber of the chest which held all
their clothes in common, and Biddy made
the second grab, poor Kitty had little left
but her ordinary rags to appear In. But,
as in the famous judgment On Ida s Mount,
it is limited that Venus carried the day by
her scarcity OF drapery, 50 did Kitty, con-
quer by want of clothes; not that Love sat
in judgment; it was Plutus turned the
scale. Bat to leave metaphor and classic
illustration and go back to Mat RIley's
cabin-the girls were washing. and starch
ing, and ironing all night, and the morn
ing saw them arrayed for conquest. Flana-
gan came and breakfasted and saw the
the three girls. A hashy silk handker-
chief, which Nancy wore put her hors du
combat very soon; she was set down at
once, IN his mind as extravagant. Biddy
might have had chance if she had made
anything like a fair division with her
youngest sister; but Kitty had been so
plundered that her shabbiness won an
easy victory over the niggard's heart: he
saw IN her .'the making OF thrifty wife,"
beside which, she was possibly the best
looking, and certainly the youngest of the
three; and there is no knowing how far
old Flanagan might have been influenced
by those considerations.
He spoke very little to any of the girls;
but. when he was leaving the house, he
said to the father, as he was shaking
hands with him, MAT. I'll do it" and
pointing to Kitty, ne added. That's the
one I'll have.
Great was the rage Of the elder sisters.
III Was IL WEALTHY
man; and, when he quilted the house,
Kitty sent mp such a shout of laughter
that her father and sisters told her several
times mot to make fool of herself" Still
she laughed, and throughout the day
sometimes broke out into sudden roars;
and, while her sides shook with merriment.
she would throw herself into chair or
lean against the wall to rest herself after
the fatigue of her uproarious mirth. Now,
Kitty. while she laughed at the discomft-
ure Of her greedy sisters, also laughed at
the mistake into which Flanagan had fall |
EN-, for, as her father said Of her, she was
cute, and she more than suspected the |
cause of Flanagan choice and enjoyed the |
of his disappointment. for she |
was fonder of dress than either Nancy or
Biddy, and revelled in the notion of aston |
ishing ''the old niggard," as she called |
him; and this she did many a time and |
oft " In vain did Flanagan try to keep
her extravaganza within bounds.
She would either wheedle, reason, bully |
DR. shame him into doing what she said |
was right and proper for snug man like
him" His house was soon well furnished; |
she made him get jauntinQ car She |
would go t. parties, and no one |
was better dressed than the woman ne
those Cor her rags. He got enraged now
md then, but Kitty pacitied him by soft |
words and daring inventions of her fertile |
'ancy. Once when he caught her in the
vet Of wearing costly crimson silk gown.
md stormed. she soothed HIM by telling |
him it was her old black one she had dyed,
md this bouncer, to the great amusement |
If her female friends, he loved to repeat.
Is proof of what careful coniaing crea-
ure he had in Kitty. She was naturally
,uick-witted. She managed him admir-
IDLY, deceived him into being more COM
ortable than he ever had been be-
ore. and had the laudable ambition Of
to improve both his and her
'wn condition in every way. She set
bout educating herself, too, as far as her
notions Of education went; and in a few
ears after her marriage. by judiciously
lsing the means which her husbands
wealth afforded her of advancing her posi-
ION in society, no one could have recog-
lized in the lively. well-dressed Mrs.
flanagan, the gawking daughter Of a
farmer. She was very good
latured. too, toward her sisters, whose
she took care to improve with
ler own; and very fair match for the
ldest was made through her means. The
ounger one was often staying in her
louse, dividing her time nearly between
he town and her fathers farm, and no
'arty which Mrs. Flanagan gave or ap-
cared atiwent off without giving Biddy a
nance ITO settle herself in the world
his was not done without battle nov
nd then with old Flanagan. whose stinei-
Jess would exhibit itself upon occasion;
tut. at last. all let and hindrance to the
berry lady ceased by the sudden death of
Ter old husband. who left her the whole
{ his property. so that, for the first time,
lis will was her pleasure.
At the funeral of the old man, the dis
onsoiate widow was withdrawn from her
wn house by her brother and sister to the