The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-06-11

not much that renamed Oh them!
There was hut little left OF them to
bury. The bearers had but little work.
1 wondered why they should have four
separate graves, and four distinct tomb |
stones. The sexton told me that 1T
was their particular desire, in order to
make the church-yard look respecta-
BILE; and they left behind them just
sufficient money to pay the under
takers bills and to erect four grave
stones 1 saw these ladies twice, and
that mt an interval of thirty years. l
made one more attempt to see them,
and was more grieved than could
have anticipated when the neighbors
showed me their newly-closed graves.
But no one long pities the dead,
and / was, utter while, glad
that they had not been long separated.
saw these ladies twice, said and the
first time that 1 saw them the only
doubt was which of the four would be
first married. / should have fallen in
love with one of them myself do not
know which-but / understood that
they were all four more or less engaged.
They were all pretty, they were all sensi-
BILE, they were all good-humored, and
they knew the world, for they had all
read Rollins "Ancient History" They
not only had admirers, but two of them
even then had serious suitors. The
whole village of Littleton and many
villages in the neighborhood rang with
the praise of the accomplished and
agreeable daughters of the rector nor
were the young ladies dependent for
their hopes of husbands merely on their
good qualities they had the reputation
of wealth, which reputation, L am con-
strained to say, was rather bubble.
The rectory of Littleton was said to be
worth FL 900 year-but it never pro-
duced more than f600 And the worthy
rector was said to be worth f10,0 or
1000. Bless him he ought to be
worth that and great deal more, but
he never possessed SO much the utmost
of his private fortune was 81, 500 in the
3 per cents.
1t is enough to designate the ladies
by their Christian names. Their good
father used to boast that his daughters
had really Christian names. The eldest
was Mary, the second Martha, the third
Anna and the youngest Elizabeth. The
eldest was, when L first knew them,
actually engaged to young gentleman
who had just taken wrangler's degree
Mt Cambridge, and had gained a prize
for Greek epigram. Such an effort of
genius seemed next to miraculous mt
Littleton, for the people of the village
never gain prizes for Greek epigrams.
The farmers who had heard of his sue
cess used to stare at him for prodigy,
and almost wondered that he should
| ra1 l. ttr1 of
say GLOW do you do?" like the rest
of the world. And everybody said
he was such nice man. He never
skipped irreverently over the river, as
some young men of his age would do,
but always went over the. bridge. 1t
was edifying to see how gracefully he
handed the young ladies over the said
bridge, Mary always the last, though
she was the eldest. The young Squire
of the parish was generally considered
as the suitor of the second. The
third had many admirers; she
was what is called SNOWY young
woman, having little of the theatrical
i'll her style. She was eloquent, lively
and attitudinizing. She had most
beautiful voice, and her good papa used
to say: "My dear Anna, the sound of
your voice is very delightful, and it
doe me good to hear you sing to your
own harpsichord, but L wish L could
hear you sing at church..
Poor man he did not consider that
there was no possibility of hearing any
other voice while that of the parish
clerk was dinging in his ears. Eliza
beth, the youngest, was decidedly the
prettiest of the four sentimentality was
her forte, or, more properly speaking,
her fOible. She sighed much herself,
and was the cause of signing to others.
/ little thought when L first saw them
that L beheld a nest of predestined old
maids but it was SO, and the next time
that L saw them they were all living
together, spinsters. How / was occu-
pied the next thirty years would be
tedious to relate, therefore 1 pass over
that period and come again to Littleton.
Time is like mischievous urchin that
plays sad tricks in our absence, and SO
disarranges things and persons, too, that
when we come back again we hardly
know where to find them. When l made
my second visit to Littleton, the good
old rector had been several years in his
grave; and, when L asked after his
udupnUeTS, l. WIS IOltt budJ tuey we're
living, and were together, and that they
occupied the white cottage. [ was rath-
er pleased to hear that they were single,
though l was surprised mt the informa.
ton. L knew that / should be well re-
ceived; that L should not find all their
old affections alienated by new ties.
knew that should not have to encounter
the naughty and interrogatory eyes of
husbands; that L should not be under
the necessity of accommodating myself
to new manners. / had, indeed, some
difficulty in making myself known, and
still more difficulty in distinguishing the
ladies, the one from the other, and con-
Meeting their present with their past APP
pearance for Annals attitudinizing days
were over, and Elizabeth had ceased to
sigh. But, whep the recognition had
taken place, we were exceedingly glad
to see each other, and we all talked to-
gether about everybody and everything
at once.
My call at the white cottage was Mt
| the latter end of August. The weather