Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-06-16
DOlly's Destiny.

al shouldn't be surprised any day, Dolly,
to see David Wiggin tying his horse at your
gate" said Mr.. Blount, roguishly, gath ering
up the reins.
Nonsense, brother Anything the mat
ter with his own hitching post p retorted
Miss Dolly, turning in the doorway.
Mr.. Blount laughed. Everybody felt bound
to laugh at Miss Dolly's crisp sayings that
had kept her friends in good humor these
forty years.
"And when David does call on you," pur-
sued Mr. Blount, more seriously, al do
hope, Dolly, you'll give him chance to do
his errand. That'll be no moren fair, and
the man won't be easy till he has freed his
mind"
"What mischief are you the forerunner of
now, James Blount ?" cried Miss Dolly,
facing about like soldier on drill. "What
upon earth have | to do with David's er-
rands 2"
"Well, his wife's been dead a year or So"
said Mr.. Blount, suggestively, shutting one
eye, and squirting with the other down the
length of his whipstalk, "and lately he's
been asking about you" You can put that
and that together to suit yourself"
Fiddlesticksl" !" said Miss Dolly, ener-
getically.
al shant say have him, or don't have
him-though there isn't likelier man liv-
ing than David-but do say, Dolly, you
ought to give him bearing and hav-
ing convinced himself beyond reasonable
doubt that the whip was all right, Mr..
Blount tickled his sleepy horse with it, and
drove away.
go, my sorrows - calculated Miss Dolly,
closing the door with an afflicted counte-
nance, and sitting down so quietly for once
that photographer might have copied her
then and there. Not that he could have
done her justice, for her expression was too
quick and varied to be caught by any trick
of chemicals, and without it Miss Dollys
physiognomy would have been rather char.
acterless but for her prominent Roman nose.
This organ gave tone to her face. BY which
| would not be understood, literally, as say
ing that she talked through it in nasal
whine. mean simply that, in metaphor
ical sense, this bold feature spoke loudly of
energy. And Miss Dolly had always had
abundant need of energy-else why the
nose Every two years during her child
hood she had been tipped into the east
bedroom to see new baby, till, at her
mothers death, five little brothers fell to
her charge TO be coaxed and scolded into
manhood.
"You can't bring up them boys" croaked
dolorous aunt. They'll run square over
you, Dorothy Almeda"
| "Let 'em run over me, so long as it doesn't
hurt 'em !" laughed Miss Dolly, skewing her
faxen hair with goose-quill, and tying a
calico apron over her calico long-short, pre-
paratory to " bringing up" said youths.
| From that day forward she went cheerily
on, making the best of everything, though
it must be confessed she often had odds and
end to work with, as people usually do have
who are born with faculty. Somehow she
found time for all her duties except matri.
mony. If that were a duty, it was one she
couldn't and wouldn't attend to while her
father and the children needed her. Divers
young men thought this great pity, among
them David Wiggin. "D1nt be silly, Da.
vid - said Dolly, when he hinted as much to
way married Olive Searle, the plainest girl
in the parish.
This happened thirty years ago, and now
David was again wifeless, and again the cur
rent of his thoughts turned toward Dolly
who still lived at the old homestead at the
foot of Bryant's Falls. Her father had died
some months before. OF the boys, james
Ezekiel had settled on neighboring farms
and the remaining three had gone west. Da
vid's benevolent heart warmed with com
passion as he remembered Dolly's lonely
condition, and he felt that it would be ex
ceedingly kind in him to offer her a home
especially as he owned as good place az
you'd find on the river, while the Blount
cottage was falling to decay. He wouldn't
let her former refusal tell against her, for
now he looked back, he couldn't really see
how she could have married anybody at that
period. She ought to be rewarded for the
devotion she had shown to the family, and
for his part, he felt magnanimous enough tC
give her a second chance TO accept him
Such was the worthy widowers state OF
mind when he asked James Blount with
mock humility whether it would be of any
use for him to try and make bargain with
Dolly.
"That's more'n l can tell" Mr. Blount
had answered. "Dollys puzzle you'll have
to find out for yourself"
Mr. Wiggin smiled, in complacent antici
patton of acceptance. Indeed, il it might
not seem like a reproach to the memory OF
his lost Olive, | should say that the kind
hearted man rejoiced in this opportunity OF
making Miss DolIy's happiness. Benevo
lence was in his face, benevolence was in his
spirit, as he sailed forth at an early day tc
acquaint her with her good fortune. The
broken harrow which he had strapped int
the wagon to give the neighbors plausible
reason for his trip to the Falls was by nc
means typical of mental laceration to it.
owner. His feelings as he approached Miss
Dolly's moss-grown cottage was purely one
of thankfulness that it was all in his power
to provide her better home, Not that he
was grateful to his dead wife for leaving q
vacancy there. Mr.. Wiggin had mourned
faithfully for Olive year and day,
Miss Dolly was out in the garden gathering
catnip. She had built a chip fire under the
tea-kettle, and then whisked off TO pick an
apronful of the pungent leaves while the
water was boiling. There she was, STOPPING
beneath the caves of log-cabin sun-bonnet
and humming a lively fugue tune, when Mr.
Wiggin drove up.
"Come my beloved, haste away"
piped Miss Dolly. cheerily, swapping briskly
at the stalks.
"Cut short the hours Of thy delay;
al