The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1880-05-20

weicome, all bright flowers of Mayf
Bloc soming from day to day!
M d. Brine, in Iouth's Companion.
+ BASHFUL BODKINS.
Mr.. Van Buren Bodkins-familiarly
called 'Van," for short by his friends
was as painfully bashful a Young fellow
aseyer -trembled, blushed and turned
pale In the presence of a woman The
fiutter of ribbon or a dainty fan al
ways occasioned rival fluttering of
his timid young herrt. He was dread
fully afraid OF the whole sex, even of
superannuated danes old enough to
persQnate the great-grandmothe Of the
Goddess of Liberty, or to claim a Gov
ernment pension for having served at
Monmouth with Captain Moll Pitcher
But II a young lady-especially pretty
or coquettish one-spOke TO him his
face would change color as rapidly as a
chamefeon or those pretty Chinese re-
volying lights. He'd rub his palms to-
geeher until-if you were a believer in
the doctrine of transmigation of souls
you'd think he was possessed by some
defunct washerwoman. Then, when
Tired OF this, he would employ his rest
less hands by vigorously rubbing his
downy cheeks with his handkerchief.
Poor Van! He declared he'd rather
face regiment of healthy hungry ana
: sconfiasany day than woman!
,ss therefore, when he left the quiet old
farm and obtained a position as clerk
IN music store in a neighboring town,
his friends thought he had made an un-
wise move and predicted q speedy re-
turn to rural pursuits. But he said,
No, I'm heartily tired of humdrum
country existence; prefer the easy
life of selling songs and fiddles and
standing complacently behind the coun-
ter, twisting and twirling my nous
tache. True, L don't know much about
music, and am not familiar with the
names of any operas except, let's
see Yankee Doodle and-and =.
well, and that Hardly Ever concern;
but of course I can learn all that in
day or two"
But one hour behind the counter,
where, by the way. he didn't "stand
complacently," convinced him that he
had quite mistaken his vocation. 1t
was lovely day in spring, when all the
girls, and birds, and butterflies were
out enjoying the sunshine. However,
OF the birds and butterflies fitting
Van was ignorant-but the girls, oh,
the girls! Poor Van said he knew that
every lady in the town, old and young,
hideous and beautiful, had suddenly
been seized with wild desire to buy
music. His brain reeled and his hand
kerchief rubbed, and the Chinese re-
volying lights came upon his face as
sharp-eyed, middle-aged ladies called
for sonatas and theoretical works, and
old. old ladies asked for the battle
pieces of by-gone days.
But all that was nothing to the fiery
ordeal through which Van passed when
coquettish young ladies and sentimental
bread-and-butter school girls ordered
love songs, waltzes he'd never before
heard Of, and fearfully-named polkas
Mercy on me-" he exclaimed, in his
first brief moment of respite, AZ be-
lieve all the inhabitants in this wretched
town are women; and nearly all of them
terrifically beautiful And all in the
world they do from morning till night
is to keep coming, coming, coming,
eternally coming, sparkling their eyes
at me, and frightening me out of my
wits. asking for n million styles of music
l never heard of beforei One wanted
a work on thorough-something;
another asked for a book on counter
er-counterplot-or some such
name--ard when another asked for
somebody's studies in velocity, and 1
told her we didn't keep a bicycle in
structor, she gave me a little sup
pressed laugh that turned my head.
oh, it's awful! It's agonizingr'
And he groaned as he thought of the
life of torture before him, and wished
himself at the plow, the anvil or any
where, anywhere out of the world of
women and music. By night he was
he could scarcely sleep, and his dreams,
and siivery streams, were curious mix
tions, coral lips and fantasies. All the
composers, ancient and modern, real
and tabled, were hurled together in
"most admirable disorder" in his tired
brain, regardless of time or place. He
dreamed that st. Cecilia cut off his
cherished mustache with piano key
and gave it to viii Hays, who made
harp strings of it for Apollo. Then
Wagner, Euterpe, Captain Jinks, Little
Buttercup and the Barber of Seville
clipped his hair and left him as bald as
shorn Samson. Finally girl two miles
high. with three eyes like the head
lights of a locomotive, nose like
bugle, feet like banjoes, and arms like
trombones, came riding four prancing
violoncellos. As the strange e9uipage
approached Van the tall girl tapped
him on the head with drum-stick and
shrieked, ..Come with me. Bodkins,
me hearts idol! I am Lurline, the en-
chanting. Fly with me to the home of
song, the land of music, swee. Bod.
kins! Life shall be one perpetual gala
day of selling songs and fiddles.' Come
with me, my souls afiinityr'
With that she wound her long, spiral
arms around his neck, and began drag
ging him to the top of the piano-when,
with frantic screams, he awoke. "Ahr' |
he said, with a sigh of relief, "'twas
but dream, frightful dream, and Pm |
glad to be awake again. But, alas, is
the reality any bettera No, not if yes
terday is a fair specimen of life in a |
music store. I'd rather be one of the |
precious chaps whom the gods love-
than to bear such an existence longr'
To fortify himself for the days task he
read the lives of several of the martyrs,
until it seemed that, in comparison with
their fates. his was not quite so bad
after all. Then, after strengthening
l..