Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1881-11-23
pUEL OR wEDDING.:

.pUEL OR WEDDING:
lam an ardent admirer of female
h.,u.v and ought to have been an art
;tm a sculptor, but 1 am neither. ]
r,s book-keeper for Brown & Co.,
rbolessle dealers in hides and tallow.
Henry Bower, young man of very
lively disposition, was employed in the
.,ms office. We boarded and roomed
together.
One night Henry and l attended one
II the lyceum lectures III ". We had
hardly been in the hall five minutes be-
lore NV attention was fixed upon one of
.bs ladies' in the front seat. She was a
ittle to the right of ME, but as she was
talking very earnestly to the lady
ps,t TO her, her face was turned towards
Is. and. susceptible rs / am. j could
moi but be impressed by the beauty of
il.
Indeed. could not withdraw my gaze
from the beautiful young lady before
me. She had golden hair, and her bluest
oteyes swan full of love and sweetness.
Her nose was small and straight, and
she had Just the prettiest dimple among
tbe bushes on either cheek. And then,
.uch mouth, What red lips, teeth of
psarl, flashing between the roses Her
fJrehead was smooth and broad, and her
neck. l saw, as the fur cape dropped low
on her shoulders, was as white as alabas-
ter and smooth as marble In brief, /
did hear word of the lecture.
A month passed without my seeing
anything of NY beautiful stranger. But
about that time received an invitation
to visit nv friend, Mrs. Segard. in NJ.
She is a widow of forty, and is the mo-
ther Of certain Miss Segard, famiharly
called Clara. | knew that Mrs. Segard
had tried to bring about a marriage be-
tween Clara and myself, and believe /
was not much opposed to the match.
Glars was a good girl everybody said a
very pretty brunette, with flashing black
hair and ewes, but her form was short,
thick and dowdyish. L admire a hand
some form quite as much as a hand
some face. l might have married her
Ireally think L should, but for a little
affair that hIppened at Z.
The morning l started for N Bowers
accompanied me to the depot. While L
Was buying my ticket, / noticed another
gentleman come into the waiting-room.
N! first thoughts was that it was my
shadow that | saw before me. He was
about my height, had light complex
ion ike mine, and eyes of grizzly-gray,
and one of them turned in Just like
mine. He had on tall silk hat, tipped
on one side of his sandy locks, and so
did | ; and furthermore, he carried in
ms hand carpet-bag, with tag marked
j. Ned" tied to the straps. So did l.
looked at him, and he returned the
compliment.
Il say, sir, said the stranger, look
ING down at the carpet-bag held, and
examining the tag, care you John Nc
DOuSal, or am II"
'My name is McDougal. L hope You
are an honest man, for, you see, if yoI
should happen to rob bank, forge a
note, pick pocket, or cut somebody S
lugular. l might have to suffer, perhaps
swing for it. 1 can give you reference
as to my character" 1 answered.
''Yes, that's very good. But Mr.. Nc
DOagal, which way are you going to go?'
Down. L have just bought my
ticket"
"Ihen I'm going up. L don't think
we'd best travel together. There's the
tram starting now, Good bye, Mr.. Nc
DouSal, l wish you success, and for my
sake don't spoil your character.
10 get to NJ, which, by the way, is a
father out-of-the-way place, a small,
one-horse town, with one tavern, two
churches and a poor-house, had to
leave the cars at T., and then take pri.
Vate conveyance to NJ. five miles dis
tant. could have gone by the stage,
Out that only leaves e., once a day, al
hTe o'clock in the morning.
80 when the cars stopped at o.,
look my carpet-bag in my hand, and go
out upon the platform.
There was quite large number o
people at the station, bnt I took no no
ice OF any of them, except tall, Draw
ny man, III brown overcoat and slouch
ed hat, who started for me as soon as
stepped off the cars.
was about to move away when tn
siouched hat laid his land heavily ol
my shoulder.
You are villain -
''Sir?"
repeat it. You're a villain ~
A miserable scamp" said corpu
lent gentleman, coming forward an
scrowling fiercely.
Now, felt that l was match for tn
latter, but as to the other one, ! di
nAs
not doubt but he might work me u
into shoe-strings in less than three min
utes.