Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1880-05-06
@isffllantons. g
An April Story.

Miss hahItahle Parsons stood before the
kitchen window, preparing sausages and po-
ta;oes for breakfast, Her cat. Spice. sa, on
the sill. surveying her mistress proceeding
in serene anticipation; and the small ser,
want, who. with Spice. formed the whole Of
Miss Parsons limited establishment, was
vigorously sweeping the narrow passage.
with broom much too long for her. the
handle OF which kept up perpetual knock
| ing accompaniment against the walls.
| Il WAS a beautiful day. sunny and balmy.
with fresh. delicious perfume Of springing
grass and budding leaves on the soft aimos-
phere. 4 row OF crocuses under the win
! dow, thrust their yellow heads above their
spiky green leaves; and few opening bios
SONS were sprinkled like new fallen snow
fakes on the branches Of the old pear tree.
Miss Mahitable divided her attention be
tween these, the ssusages and potatoes. and
the contemplation Of the three speckled hens,
which she intended to "sc," tomorrow
/ She had jus, arrived at a close mental com
! pu,ation OF what would be the net proceed.
Of the Matching, when the small servan,
rushed in. wonder in hcreyes. and a letter in
her hand.
20, mum :" saws she holding up the mis-
sive. 'Jesi see ~hat found tucked in under
| the street door.
Mas Parsons correspondence vas no, an
extensive one. With the exception Of a
married sister in California. from " hom she
| heard once in SIX months. or a cousin IN 4
town some thirty miles distant, who wrote
10 her about twice in three years, she boasied
no regular correspondent She. therefore,
/ surveying v 9Th interest the brImsioue -coloEed
envelope. which the small servant held up.
and wiping her finger and thumb her
| apron. took it gingerly by one corner, and
examined il with microscopic scrutiny.
"'Niss .Mehitybl> PdrsoHE, Present, = No
stamp nor postmark. Nothin in il that
can feel Of Name spelled wrong too. Who
| could have sent 1T What can II be about,
/ uond.r' Put under the door, too. with
ou, knocking | du wonder " hat it, about.
I and who is from,
A. the mos, direct means Of nlightening
her mind upon these obscure points. Miss
| Parsons al length bethoughi herself Of open
| ing the letter. She "a; down. CAREFUL,
| opened the envelope. un:olded the enclos-
ure. and read aloud lis contents, written IN
an awkward, schoolboy hand, and embel-
ished with sundry blo,s and erasures;
Miss MEnITIYBLg PARsoSs-Madame
! take the liberty 10 inform YOU that ther.
is no peace or quiet in the neiborhood, nor
Is likely 10 be. so long a. yor cat trespas on
nv premersis and sei my dog a-barkin all
night and the neibors thro~in' bootjacks
and ihrea,enin 70 shut him. hereby inform
you that next time your cat trespas on nv
wood she'd ruif. or the garding fence. will
shut your ca, and GIT some pease and quite.
lors. respectfully,
"C.PIKN TELLER"
Miss Mahitable gave a gasp, and let her
hands drop ner, elessly in her lap.
The land Who ever heard o the like
Why. the man mus, be stick. stark crazy
Then her eyes flashed with just indigna-
ton.
10 think Of sich ASSURANCE and TO me-
the darter Of Deacon Parsons. In all the
forty FIVE years sense va. born in this very
house. I've never had such an outrageous
thing 10 happen to me-neyer!"
Her lip qui,ered-her eyes filed with
tears
If there Was a man Of any sort in the
house, he wouldn't dared 10 write that let
ter. II all comes o my being poor, lone.
unpur,ecied woman. And he wants 10 shoe,
my poor Spice ("
Here, suddenly arousing TO = sense Of
Spices danger, she hastily turned TO the
window but the cat had disappeared.
sally Sally run into the garden quick,
and bring in the cat, That dreadful man
ma be getting his gun a, this very minute.
Rum ~
PLEASE. m" saws Sally nervously, peep
ing through the window, as though tribe
Of Indians in war paint were ambuscading
behind the sage and gooseberry bushes
"please, IN, | don't see her nov here's"
Then go and look for her-quick He'll
: skeercely dare to shoot you, YOU little cow
adm
As Sally disappeared. her mistress turned
| TO the fzzling sausages and potatoes, which,
| having been neglected in her excitement,
were now giving out an odor Of burning
She had hardly time to turn them when
the small servant rushed in. pale. and with
wide-open eyes, bearing Spice in her arms,
carefully wrapped in her check apron.
"Oh, mum. Cap'n Tellers over in his
yard, and he do look orful -
Miss Mahitable peeped from her window.
There, indeed, was her next door neighbor,
bare headed, an axe in his hand, slowly roll
ing up his shirt sleeve, as he glared at Spice,
who had suddenly resumed her favorite seat
in the window.
"Ill go right out and speak to him :" said
Miss Mahitable, with a flushed face and
rather dangerous sparkle in her eye. "Ill
| let him know whether or not, I'm to be i'm
posed on. If am lone woman! I'll make
him understand that there's Law in the land :"
Ii was only three weeks since Captain
Teller had taken the little cottage next that
| Of Miss Mahitsble Parsons. He had form
erly lived at quite the opposite end of the
town, where his sister Patty had kept house
for him,
But Patty having taken it into her head to
marry and leave him, and the neighboss kay.
ing kept an incessant watch on the Captain,
to see how he would get along without
housekeeper-and the widows in special
having been extremely oficious in offers of
advice and assistance-Captain Teller. had,
in disgust, removed himself, his dog Pickle
and his few goods and chattels, to the op-
posite end of the town.
Here he had fondly hoped to live in peace
in the intervals Of his voyaging for the Cap
tain, be il known, was commander Of the
gallant barque Dauntless, on which he peri
odically breasted the turbid waves Of the
canal with cargoes of grain, timber, and
other such articles of commerce.
On his return from these expeditions, he
had been accustomed to find his house set in
order for his arrival his clothes vashsd and