Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1880-03-18
A Con roVersy With Cupid.

Little wretch! | hate him. We
have never had moments peace since
he took possession of the house." de-
clared Folly Patten, with stamp of
her foot.
The she" referred to was not. as
might be supposed, a tramp OF a sheriff's-
officer, not even q poor relation. or an
Irish butler, OF a heather Chinee. Not
at all. The object of Polly's wrath was
a parsonage lifted up, as it would seem.
by virtue of his position, above human
criticism as above human rules. mytb.
an unknown entity-no other, in fact.
than the little god cupid himself. He
and his Vaccinations had of late
wrought chang s-woful ones, Pollv
thought-in the constitution OF the Pat
ten family; and to her imagination
represented ali manner of discomfort
and discontinue, the alteration of plans,
the blight of -hopes-innovations and
cross purposes without end. She felt
toward him good, honest, hearty hos
tility, as one may toward an opponent
OF flesh and blood, as she sat in her bed
room, inyeighing upon the subject to
her special friend Susan Gilmore, who
was perched beside her on the broad
window-sill.
''0h, it's all very well to laugh,n she
went on; . but just wait till YOU try il
yourself. All last year was given up,
you know, to marrying Helen. Her
troussean, and her presents, and her fur
nisn1ng-nOthing else was thought of or
spoken of for twelve long months. The
house was choked with her things. We
al worked our fingers to the bone.
Nobody could turn round without find
Ing woman and a sewing machine at
his back We never even pretended to
hear ourselves speak. Well, just as it
was all over. and Helen comfortably off
our minds, Lizzie must needs set up a
lover and a long engagement-John
Shaw, too, of all personsi Now I NAV
bo dull, but in the name of common
sense why John Shaw, of all men in the
worldpo
Lizzie knows, / presume
well, perhaps she does; still. it is
provoking. Every morning of his life
John Shaw looks in for half an hour on
his,Way down town. He and Lizzie
absorb the parlor, of course. That is
all right, no doubt; but. as it happens,
that particular half houris precisely the
one winch L used always to take to tidy
up the hoWers, water and trim, fill the
vases, and make the room nice for the
day, and the want of it puts me out
dreadfully. L sit and twirl my thumbs.
ana scoid to mother, and she never will
agree with me. Lovers are privileged
she says 49,
Of course they are Don't be a
spoii-sport, Polly. It's their turn now.
Yours will come.v
Never! But there's more behind.
w nat Go you say to Eunice's indulging
In an engagement too?n
8 Not reany?'' M
-" Very really indeed. John Norman
Is the happy man this time Two
Johns, you observe, by way of making
the confusion greater. So they sit in
the dining-room every evening, while
Lizzie and her John occupy the parlor."
And where do the rest of you sitp,
Echo answers. We sit wherever
we may. Mother takes her mending-
basket upstairs, and has student
lamp on The round table in the upper
entry. Papa shuts himself up in that
dreadful little close 'den' of his, or
goes to the Office. | observe that he
has business there Of evenings much
Oftener than merly-because there is
no comfortable place for him at
home, no doubt. Jim makes a point
" ueing out- As IOr Amy and me, we
sit on the back stairs, or in the but
ier's pantry, or any other odd corner
which nobody else wants." Polly
laughed, but there were tears in her
brown eyes, and a very mtltinous look
about the pretty mouth, which John
Norman, while in process of 'sampling
the family" to borrow Polly's own
phrase. had once likened to beautiful
Evelyn Hopes, of the true gcranium
8 As if all this wasn't enou9h,'' she
eat on presently with half giggle,
i'slf sob, here is letter come to o1day