The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1880-07-27
Courting Under Difficulties.


filled with that natural and pure spirit
of cussedness without which a boy Is
never truly boy. Sam had sister ;
good.looking, intelligent young lady
of twenty, who bore the sweet name of
Mary. Sam loved her In his way, and
she certainly loved him indeed she
was about the only one upon the prem
ises who could do anything with him,or
for whose wishes he cared. Mary, like
every good-looking daughter of rich
farmer, had plenty of beaux Each of
these had to pass the scrutiny of Sans
eye, and the Judgment of Sans mind
as to his fitness to pay court to his sis
ter. If Sam set his face against the
wooer then woe be unto him for unre-
generate youth would find more ways to
make things generally uncomfortable
for the love lorn visitor than ever Mos
es discovered for the torment of Pharaoh.
Bill Sykes lived three miles across
the country from Mary's house. He
dwelt with his widowed mother upon
the 40 acres that had been set apart to
her as dover out of the estate of her
deceased husband. He had that angu-
lar, cofIin.shaped countensnce which
invariably accompanies self-conceit. -
His reddish yellow hair was oiled illim-
itably, and plastered carefully down
over his contracted forehead. His
moustache dyed with. acid and stiffened
with beeswax, was twisted in neat,
scratch.awl style. Now place upon his
vest huge brass chain and cock
"plug" hat over his ear, and you will
gain some idea of his appearance when
dressed for courting expedition.
Bills only possessions were skeleton
wagon and a nick-tailed nag, which lat
ter, he was always swearing could trot
call around" any horse in that part of
the state. 1t is perhaps needless to add
that his own asseverations constituted
the sole evidence of the animals
speed.
About four o'clock on Sunday after
noon, in the pleasant month of Septem-
ber, Bill reined up in front of farmer
Lewis gate, bent upon formal visit to
ed, and shown by the young lady into
pleasant parlors, through whose open
| windows the odors of orchards and
meadows came floating. The caller
seeming disposed to protract his visit,
the lady stepped into the the next room
requested Sam to please put Mr.
Sykes horse in the barn. Sam started
promptly to obey, for there were few
| things he would not do for his sister,
| AS he came where the pony and skele-
ton stood he was unfavorably impressed.
| He thought it looked like an upstart,
tricked out affair, which nobody of sem
sible and solid qualities would be likely
| to own. He performed his sisters bid
| ding, however, muttering to himself,
Sykes-Sykes-who is this Sykes
wonderp" AS he passed back into the
house, he contrived to get a fair view of
the visitor. He was disgusted, and in
wardly resolved to bring Sykes visits to
an untimely end. Perhaps Sans dis
pleasure might be justified upon other
grounds than mere personal pique, for
Sykes acquaintance with the Lewis
family, and especially with Miss Mary,
had been only the most limited and dis
tant character, and certainly could not
warrant the familiar and protracted Wis.
it he was now making. Sam character
ized the visit in his own emphatic style
as being "d--d impudent," and pro-
posed to treat it accordingly. 1t was
nine o'clock before Sykes announced his
readiness to depart and Sam was request
ed to bring his horse. He soon returned
from the barn with the announcement
that the bride to Mr.. Sykes harness
could not be found. Sykes went out to
assist in the search, lantern in hand but
the most careful examination of the
premises failed to reveal the wherea-
bouts of the missing article. Finally
Sam lent him one of his fathers brides
with the understanding that he was to
return 1t the next morning. Sam found
the bride before Sykes came back, and
as he exchanged it for the one returned
he WAS pleased to noticed that Sykes
looked "mad enough to fight" as he
said to Mary. For this reason he had
hoped that Sykes first and last visit
had been made.
But he was doomed to disappoint-
ment. The second Sunday at the same
hour as before, Sykes returned. The
horse was put in the barn by Sam as
before at his sisters request, When he
had completed his task he sat down up
on the woodpile TO mediate. What