Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1881-10-25

She had the toveliest enamel belt buckle
she can wear one the size of q spreal
eagle" Then his mother looked at hin
with twinkle that could hardly hell
being contagious. "Ah! ah I" she said
what q thing 1t Is to be Lawrence
Houns1ow's mother! I hear all tn,
pretty girls declaring me the most de-
| lightful old woman! But suppose
must leave choice"
When marry, mother" Lawrence
Indignantly began.
"You will suit yourself-and me too
Dear me !rehe went on, II had almost
forgotten. Your cousin Fanny is COM
I ing, poor thing, and 1 am inviting al
these girls to come and make it cheer
full for her. She loves young people, fol
all her crabbedness. And as Lawrence
acquiesced, no one but his mother knew
how his heart was beating all the time
Poor Mrs. Hounslow Lightly as she
spoke then, it was not without tragic
scene in her room, with her husbands
portrait for sole spectator, that she had
come to the conclusion to try her ex-
pertinent; not because of the expert
ment, but because of its reason. All
there was the bitterness-that her idol
was broken; that Lawrence, whose
father was an angel in Heaven, was
himself, after all, nothing but clay =
She wiped her syes only for another
burst of tears, another blaze of indigna
| ton, to think that her marvel of man
was SO small as to be tricked out of his
| will by such subterfuge as her con
| temptible experiment.
AS they lived few miles from town,
Mrs. Hounslow had some excuse for he1
company. She had often heard that you
never know persons till you live with
them Lawrence was to have a chance
to know Flora Furlong. What if il
should end by his pursuing better ac.
quaintanoe with Louise MandelI! She
began her operations by confiding in
Cousin Fanny-a maiden lady of an un.
certain age and temper.
''Quite right," responded Cousin Fan
ny. II suppose men are necessary in
the scheme; but if had been making q
world, 1 could have dispensed with that
element.
"Fanny! I" cried Mrs. Hounslow, re.
garding this as derogatory to her de
fenceless husband, and outrageous to
her living son.
"Oh, indeed" said Cousin Fanny,
"the best ofthem is only stomach. They
are all simple elevations of the jelly fish,
their great prototype, and he is nothing
else. You can reach their feelings, their
affections, their passions, their intellect,
through the stomach. How many q
man has married his cook! The whole
secret of domestic quiet is just to keep
that stomach we'll filed"
Mrs. Hounslow could not say word.
1t was on exactly that theory that she
was proceeding.
Three days of the visit had not passed
before an easterly storm gave her oppor-
tunity. Mrs. Hounslow had been scar
cely able to conceal her disgust over
Lawrence's devotion to Miss Furlong.
There is something animal about that
girl J" she exclaimed once, as Flora left
the room.
"Very," echoed Cousin Fanny
"When she eats-I declare, when she
eats, expect to see her put down her
face like a dog and lap the gravy"
Lawrence's banging door shOok the
house. Lawrence was doubly kind to
Flora that night. He sang with her,
and then he took her into the little con-
servatory. "You should always wear
those rich stripes" he said, as she
wound al Oriental scarf rouna her, step
ping in. "It 80 recalls that serpent OF
old Nile.'"
"The sea serpent, do you mean?"
And then, seeing Cleopatra a stranger
to Miss Furlong, Lawrence thought OF
the delight of moulding the neglected
intellect belonging to such beauty. AS
for the young lady, it never entered her
lovely head that it does not contain all
there was to know, except some dry
facts and figures that had defied it
such as the multiplication table. He
was looking back at the group of girls
around Mrs. Hounslow, telling their
fortunes.
"Fiies round honey" she said, "all
eager for a mother-in-l law :" and she
looked up at him, and laughed. II hate
a mother-in. law ~ she added, present
ly. "I'm so glad my mother died when
1 was born-my husband will never
have that to complain off" They were
sweet lips for such brutal sentiments
Lawrence, in his historical parallels, did
not think that possibly Lucretia Borgia's
were so sweet.
"How it rains!" she said, as she sleet
struck the panes.
"And suppose every variation of the
weather affects a person sensitively
strung as you are"
ION, yes" said Flora, lifting her great
eyes. "And it does SO spoil your boots "
It was only beauty that filled the gaps
of such conversation. Presently some
one was calling.
"Flora! Where is she? Such capi.
tai idea! What do you think We are
each of us to get up a dinner!" cried
Kate Farley, looking in. "Come and
hear about it = only stipulate that mine
shall be last"
II protest." said Lawrence, as they
joined the group, "against the pratcict
of any such mysteries, Wilder and me-
excluded"
"That's right" chimed in Wilder, the
young millionaire. who had been added
to the party for the sake of equipoise.
"Mr, Wilder" said Cousin Fanny
sepulchrally, ''some day when you arr
cast away on a desert island, and you
wife cannot even make a johnny
| cake"
"Does that desert island mean matri
mony ?" asked Louise. slyly, of Cousir
Fanny.
"And when cast away on it," sale
Mrs. Hounslow, "is 1t that the cook ant
house maids have struck hands ant
struck work ?"
"Well, if this is to be-" said Lawrence
| "you will at any rate intersperse pud'
dings with picnics, rOasts with rides
marmalades with moonlights-are Their
any more alliteratives. Miss Louise ?"
| "As much" srid his mother, "as yo,
can intersperse in a weeks gale"
''It's Ridiculous" said Flora turnin,
away now with young Wilder. II wisi
there wasn't any such thing as kitch
en-"
"And yet," said Mrs. Hounslow, look
ing after her reflectively, II shoul,
think she would have genius for cook
cry she has a cooks build-the typica
cooks"
Lawrence's eyes were blazing, but hi
mother went calmly on. "Well it's al
experiment" said she. 1--WE shall hav
to suffer for it-nous outres. What
farce Kate's dinner will be!-salt Il
whipped cream, and sugar In the may
onaise-but Flora's will be good"