The Sentinel. [volume] (Trenton, N.J.) 1880-1882, 1881-07-16
DOLLY'S DESTINY

Dolly, to see David Wiggin tying his
horse at your gate" said Mr.. Blount,
roguishly, gathering up the reins.
g Nonsense, brother! Anything the
matter with his own hitching post ?" re-
torted Miss Dolly, turning in the door
way.
Mr.. Blount laughed. Everybody felt
bound to laugh at Miss Dolly's crisp
sayings that had kept her friends in good
humor these forty years.
''And when David does call on you,"
pursued Mr.. Blount. more seriously,
" I do hope, Dolly, you'll give him
chance to do his errand. Thatll be no
more than fair, and the man won't be
easy until he has freed his mind"
"W hat mischief are you the forerun-
ner of now, James Blount? ?" cried Miss
Dolly, facing about like soldier on
drill. "What upon earth have to do
with David's errands ?"
"Well, his wife has been dead a year
or more" said Mr.. Blount, suggestively,
shutting one eye and squirting with
the other down the length of his whip
stalk, "and lately he has been asking
about you. You can put that and that
together to suit yourself"
"Fiddlestick !" said Miss Dolly, ener-
getically.
CT shan't say have him or don't have
him though there isn't a hkelier man
living than David-but I do say, Dolly,
you ought to give him hearing" and
having convinced himself beyond rea-
sonable doubt that the whip was right,
Mr.. Blount tickled his sleepy horse with
it and drove away.
"Oh, my sorrows !" calculated Miss
Dolly, closing the door with an afflicted
countenance, and sitting down so quiet
ly for once that photographer might
have copied her then and there. Not
that he could have done her justice, for
her expression was too quick and varied
to be caught by any trick Of chemicals,
and without it Miss Dolly's physiogno-
my would have been rather character
less but for her Roman nose. This
organ gave tone to her face. By which
I would not be understood literally as
saying that she talked through a nasal
whine I mean simply in metaphor
cal sense this bold feature spoke loudly
of energy. And Miss Dolly had album
dant need of energy - else why the
nose? Every two years during her
childhood she had been tiptoed into the
east bedroom to see new baby, till, at
her mothers death, five little brothers
fell to her charge to be coaxed and
scolded into manhood.
"You can't bring up those boys"
groaned dolorous aunt. "They'N run
square over you, Dorthy Almeda.'
"Let them run over me so long as it
does not hurt 'em |" laughed Miss Dolly,
skewing her faxen hair with a goose
quill and tying calico apron over her
calico longskirt, preparatory to "bring-
ing up" said youths.
From that day forward she went
cheerily on, making the best OF every
thing, though it must be confessed she
often had odds and ends to work with,
as those do have who are born with
faculty. Somehow she found time for
all her duties except matrimony. II
that we're duty, it was one she wouldn't
and couldn't attend to while her father
and the children needed her. Divers
young men thought this great pity,
among them Wiggin. "Don't be silly
David !' said Dolly, when he limited as
much to her; whereupon David went off
and married Olive Searle, the plainest
girl in the parish.
This happened twenty years ago, and
David was again wifeless, and again
the current of his thoughts turned to-
ward Dolly, who still lived at the old
homestead at the foot of Bryant's Falls.
Her father had died some months be-
fore. Of the boys James and Ezekie
had settled on neighboring farms, and
the remaining three had gone West.
David's benevolent heart warmed with
compassion as he remembered Dolly's
lonely condition, and he felt that it
would be exceedingly kind in him to
offer her home, especially as he owned
as good place as you'd find on the
river, while the Blount cottage was fall
ing into decay. He wouldn't let her
former refusal tell against her, for SIS he