The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-08-05

| the praise Of the accomplished and.
| agreeable daughters of tho 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. I 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 26O0. And the worthy
rector was said to he worth ETC, 900 or
912,O0O. Bless him he ought to be
| worth that and great deal more, but
he never possessed SO much 4; the utmost
| of his private fortune was 81 500 in the
8 per cents. -
It 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 I first knew them.
actually engaged to young gentleman
who had just taken a wrangler's degree
at Cambridge, and had gained 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 cpigrams.
The farmers who had heard of Ills sue
cess used to stare at him for prodigy,
and almost wondered that he should
walk on two legs, and eat mutton, and
say Elbow do You do?" like the rest
Of the world. And everybody said
he was such nico man. He never
skipped irreyerently 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 s,litor of the second. The
third had many admirers; she
was what is called snowy young
woman, having little of the theatrical
in her style. She was eloquent, lively
and attit1dinizing: She had 4 most
beautiful voice, and her good papa used
tosay: my dear Anna, the sound OF
your voice is very delightful, and it
does ME good to hear you sing to your
own harpsichortl, but I wish 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 1 first saw them
that beheld a nest Of predestined old
maids but it was so, and the next time
that I saw them they were oil living
! together, spinsters. How I was occu-
! pied the next thirty years would be
tedious to relate, therefore I pass over
that period and come again to Littleton.
Time is like mischievous urchin that
plays sad tricks in OH absence, and 50
disarranges things and persons, too, that
| when We come back again we hardly
know where to find them. When made
my second visit to Littleton, the good
old rector had been several years in his
grave; and, when I asked after his
daughters, I WAS told that they were
living, and were together, and that they
occupied the white cottage. was rath-
CT pleased to hear that they were single,
though / was surprised at tho informa-
ton. knew that I should be we'll re-
ceived; that 1 should not find all their
old affections aienated by new ties. +
knew that should not have to encounter
the naughty and interrogatory eyes of
husbands; that should not be under
the necessity of accommodating myself
to new manners. I 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 ap-
pearance for Annals attitudinizing days
were over, and Elizabeth had ceased to
sigh. But, when the recognition had
taken place, we were exceedingly glad
to see each other, and VIC all talked to-
gether about everybody and everything
at once.
My call at the white cottage was at
the latter end of August. The weather
was fine, but there had recently been
much rain, and there were some very
heavy clouds, and some little growing
Of the wind, ikethe aspect and tone Of an
angry schoolmaster, who had just given
a boy sound thrashing, and looks as if
he were half inclined to give him some
more. The cottage was very small, very
neat, very light. There was one parlor,
ana that was very pretty one. A small
carpet covered the middle Of the room;
worked fire screen stood in one cor
her piece of needleworIz, represent
ing Abraham going to sacrifice Isaac,
hung opposite the door; shells, sea
weed and old china stood on the mnn-
tel-piece all old harpsichord in a black
mahogany case stretched its leviathan
length along one side Of the room six
exceedingly heavy and clumsily-caryed
mahogany chairs, with high backs, short
legs and broad, square, fat seats, any
one Of which might have accommodated
all four sisters at once, according to
their mode of sitting, stood around the
room: these chairs 1 recollect, had
been IN the dining room at the rectory,
but then there was great lubberly cub
Of G foot1nan to lug them about. The
fireplace was particularly neat. 1t had
an old brass fender, polished up to
the semblance of gold, delineating
i'll its pattern divers birds and
beasts, the like of which never entered
Noah's ark. but they had q right to go
in by sevens, for they were as clean as
a penny. The poker looked like Il
toothpick, the shovel like an old-fasll-
Toned salt spoon, and the tongs like
pair of tweezers. The little black
stove shone with IN icy GOODNESS, as if
the maid had been scrubbing it all the
morning to keep herself warm; and the
cut paper was arranged over the vacant
bars with cruel exactitude that gave
no hopes Of fire. The ladies themselves
looked as old as the fireplace; and I
could hardly help thinking that stove
without fire, at the cold end Of August,
looked something like an old maid.
The ladies, however, were very chatty;
they all spoke togethcr-or nearly so;
for when one began the others went on,
one after another, in the way and after
the manner of o catch, or, more acc,l-
rately speaking, perhaps somewhat in
the simiitude of fugue. They talked
very loud and sat very upright, which
last circumstance I should have thought