Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-08-20
A TRAMP'S ROMANCE.

- ANAAAAA - WIN nv ~ ~
About four years ago Miss EN-.
ma Roland, of Galveston, visited
an aunt in Warren county, Ky. It
was summer, the season was, and
one evening the girl sat in the yard,
half reading and half regarding the
enormous humble bees buzzing
around. A Warren county bumble-
bee will attract attention anywhere.
He can make you thing he is tang
ling himself in your hair, and, look.
ing around, you see him ten feet
away chnging to a thistle bloom.
That's enough about the bee. A
footstep didn't arouse the young
lady. II was a voice that said, Can
| get driuk of water?" Two arms
aud the chin of a tramp leaned on
the fence. He was dressed in the
tramp's garb, a wardrobe at once so
describable aud indescri6able. "I
say, can / get some waterP"
eyes" said the girl.
"Must | go round to the gate or
climb over the fenceP"
"Both, if you choose"
"That's the way like to hear peo.
pie talk" said the tramp, climbing
over and approaching.
"Now, where's the water?"
am bring it,"
"You had better bring the well,
for I'm dryer than a barrel of bro.
mophite."
The girl went to the house and
returned with a bucket of water.
When the man had finished drinking
she did not think that he had exag-
gerated his thirst. In fact, she did
not thing that his comparison had
been adequate.
"What book are you readingP"
"Mill on the Floss"
"Overrated. l never liked IT,.
All depth or no depth, don't know
which. The novelist has tried to
write a story without we'll defined
plot. And has failed. Goldsmith's
success as a plotless and charming
writer was bad example"
"You shouldn't tear my favorite
book TO pieces. l like George Eliot
and all'her works"
"You don't like Mill on the Floss.
You have been nodding over it for
the last half hour. You only pre-
tend to read il, because you imagine
that in doing so, you develop literary
taste"
81 think, sir, you are impudent."
"But truthful. Here's a book
you should read" and the tramp
took from his ragged coat a tattered
copy of Burton's Anatomy of Melan-
cholly. CDR. johnson said that this
book was the only work that could
induce him to get out of bed morn
ings, sooner than his regular time of
rising"
"And that's why you like it," re-
marked the girl, taking the book.
"If Dr. Johnson had made that re.
mark you would not find the work
80 charming"
"That's all right. Give me some
more water"
The conversation was persued un.
til the tramp accepted an invitation
to supper. His ideas of Burton and
johnson were soon covered up with
batter cakes. The tramp, Mr.. Pres
ton, remained all night. Next morn.
ing, when he announced his inten.
tion of leaving, the girl accompani.
ed him TO the spot where she sat
when he hailed her.
"Why do you tramp around, have
you no homep"
"Yes, as TO the home. Don't
know as to the tramping."
"Whiskey?"
"Whiskey."
"Why dent you quit?"
81 will"
"When2"
"Now, on one condition, that you
will consent TO be my wife. Meet
me under this tree four years from
10 day."
'I will"
"Good bye" and he climbed the
fence and was gone. No CORES
pondenoe was carried on between
them. The manly handsome face of
the tramp hung before the girl Ikea
portrait. Deem, earnest eyes, q mer-
ry laugh accompanied the tramp.
Several weeks ago she visited her
aunt, One evening last week she
sat under a tree in the yard where
four years ago she nodded over
book. Bees buzzed around-the
same bees seemingly. On her lap
lay Mill on the Floss; near her a
tatlered copy Of Burton's Anatomy
of Melancholy. Abuggy drove mp.
A man alighted and climbed the