The Portland daily press., 1880-02-23
[From Good Company.l
When Greek Meets Greek
A Story Founded on Fact.
BY MARY DESSEL.

The year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and twenty-five, and of the indie
pendence of the United States the forty
ninth.
There was great excitement in the village
of Sandyville, Maine, it having been noised
abroad, that by special invitation, the Mar
quis de Lafayette would presently visit the
leading university of the State which was
situated within the precincts of that flour
ishing town.
What ''free and equar' American was not
ready to welcome with enthusiasm the gal
liant Frenchman who, half a century before,
had 80 fallen in love with la ibdrt6 that he
had sailed the seas over to pour the life
blood from his aristocratic veins, If need be,
in behalf of his chosen mistress?
Sandyville not a ~hit behind the more
populous cities in its ardor, prepared to rise
en- masse and 90 homage to the guest who
had come back to America after long years
of absence.
Mills ceased their busy clatter, plough
shares stood idle in the furroS, while miller
and farmer leaned over fences to compare
notes on the all-absorbing topic.
"Fm give to understand that the college
lads will march mile out o. town to meet
the general. tSandyville, mindful of revo-
lutionary glory always spoke of Lafayette as
''general") There's to be consid' able
QumDer D speeches., Q1nner. ana, they say,
dance after sundown.'
Peltiah Oldham shook his head doubtfully
as he mentioned the last named festivity.
Many of the good folk of Sandyville shook
theirs also. There might perhaps have been
no gross immortality in the dignified minuets
of their fathers, but they we're more than
suspicious of the godliness of the flippant
jigs and contra dances then in vogue.
Still, as many argued, ''the general' was
French. The French as a nation danced.
1t is hardly for us of the present day to
throw stones at the SandyviIe worthless,
though they were fain to tamper a bit with
an old proverb and decide that courtesy de-
manded compliance with the customs OF
any metaphorical Roman, wherever and
whenever he might appear. Moreover, who
could hold out against the wills of fifty hot
headed students who vowed that the ball
should take place though the heavens should
fall?
So, in time all the to people yielded
Ali, did say? No. One stood firm.
Miss Silence Wigglesweight could by no
means be prevailed upon to countenance the
ball. This was direful, for Miss Wiggles-
wright was to certain extent, the Sandy
vile Deborah. Her social position was per-
haps the most exalted of any in the to @n.
Colonel Wiggleswright, her father, had dis
tinguished himself in the war of 1872, there
proving himself to be indeed the son of old
General Wiggleswright, of revolutionary
fame, one of the chief traditions of whose
career has been that OF the service he had
rendered to the young Lafayette, fighting
steadily by his side during the battle Of
Brandywine, and himself bearing the hero
from the field when he fell wounded from
his horse.
There were many in Sandyville who had
opined that Miss Silence would probably re-
ceive personal notice. from LAFAYETTE him.
self in regard to his advent.
Its no more than she has right to ex-
pect, seeing the general was under such
obligations to her grandfather. I've heard
that old General Wiggleswright had stacks
Of letters from Lafayette making mention of
his gratitude. 'Tisn't likely he'll fail to do
the polite thing by his benefactor's posteri-
ty."
Thus spoke gGileless Miss Diadema Downs
who was herself not without family preten-
sions, and her words were echoed by more
tban one simple, unworldly soul.
But when, as the days passed and no
notice came, other less kindly gossips
limited that emotions far strong r than ere
ligious scruples" nerved Miss Wiggleswrigbt
to set her face as a flint against the proposed
ball. Be this as it may, and although the
younger portion of the community declared
that they cared not a "centinental'' for Miss
Silence's notions, yet the result of woat they
termed her "perversity'' was intolerabe,
since under Miss Wiggleswright's eye, not to
mention her arbitrary control dwelt her
niece, Prissy Macarthur, who passionately
exhorted her aunt to slay her on the spot
rather than deprive hsr of the merrymaking;
and without the light of Prissy's eyes the
radiance of the ballroom candles would be
but dim to at least twenty of the aforesaid
students, above all to Randolph Henderson.
who played the somewhat paradoxical rele
OF tyrant and slave at one and the same time
to Mistress Prissy, leading her eighteen-year-
old heart captive and yet submissive to her
slightest beck or nod
Miss Wiggleswright by no means looked
with favor on Henderson, more especially
since never-to-be-forgotten rainy Sabbath
when, with pUnctilious gravity he had es-
corted her up the broad ais e, having ne
elected to remind her of her wide-open,
mammoth umbrella, thus permitting her to
move under full sail, as it were, to the very
door OF her pew near the pulpit, to the ediff-
cation OF on unusually large congregation
which had assembled to listen to a celebrated
discourse on ''Thc Compatibility of Predes-
tination and Free WILL
Not the most abject apologies had been
able to win pardon, and from that day Hen
derson had found it scarcely possible to
steal more than passing word with Prissy
Macarthur at huskings, quiting-bees or al
any CT the mild revels to ~hich Sandyville
occasionally treated itself
Prissy's mother would fain have had it
otherwise. Not only was she fond of the
gay young llow, with his cordial good-na-
ture and his chivalrous bearing toward her
self, but there were rumors about of certain
emeralds and mo onstones of fabulous anti
guilty which were always the marriage por-
ton of the bride of each successive Randolph
Henderson, and Mrs. Macarthur was BY
no means above coveting such outward and
visible signs of outward rank and wealth
for her daughte;. But meek little Mrs. Mac
Arthur's desires were lighter than vanity
when laid In the balance against the views
OF the strong-willed sister, under whose roof
she and her fatherless Prissy had found a
home.
To-day her daughters imploring eyes
nerved her to one feeble chirp of remon-
STRANGE which ended in the crushing of
Prissy's last hope.
Il am sure, Silence, speaking of this ball."
said she plaintively, ''our sister Miriam at
tends like gatherings in Boston and thinks 1t
no harm. And you know it was at ball
thirty years ago she first met our brother-in-
law, Judge Bartlett when he was only a
clerk in store and eur father thought him
no match for Miriam. But 1t was at ball,
all the same, that she was made acquainted,
Silence"
ave. cried Miss Wiggleswright, ''apd
full we'll do l remember the result of that
junketing. What did l see the next day,
with my own eyes, Maria, but Miriam stand
Ing under the apple-tree yonder, and in
broad daylight, not only permitting young
man to encircle her waist with his arm but
also to--to-in short to kiss her, Maria, I'm.
resisted and unrebuked presume you
would suffer Priscilla to be open to like
temptations If Providence gave you your own
way in the matter. But, thank Heaven, l
am here 10 save her."
"Indeed, indeed, Silence. there was no
harm done," pleaded Mrs. Macarthur, "Ml.
RAM married the man directly afterward "
THE only PREPARATION she could make to
outreeed society,"" answered Miss Wiggles-
wright, who regarded herself as its repre-
sentative on this occasion. Don't NEEDLE
with trap-springs aud you'll never be
caught
With which occult maxim Prssy's doom
was sealed.
1t was vexatiousenough for the poor little
soul to see the crisp, white muslins which
the neighbors' daughters were re-ruffling in
these days of preparation, and to know that
hidden In dark press hung certain dainty
rose-colored gown, shot all over with silver
sprays, which Judge Bartlett had brought to