Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-02-18
SQUIRE SIMPSONS GOAT.
Literary Nidette.

| my Wultc IOSe Dusu o'cI tHo piShCts
again. If old Simpson don't sool
manage to keep that tarLa III critter in
the pasture I'll fix him rs sure's as
my names Sophronia Spriegins."
Elk who, auntic, Squire Simp'
son or the goat ?"
"Now, Louisa, don't want any
of your impertinence. You know
very we'll what 1 mean; you know
1 wouldn't dirty my hands n tixin
old Simpson if he fell to pieces fol
want of fixing. I'm perfectly willir
for that smart wife of his should C
his fxin'; but I'm goin' to fix tina,
goat, and whenIm done with him
1 don't think hell have ravin
appetite for rose buds.
Dear me, auntie, what are you
going to do to the poor creature
l thought you believed in kindness
and forbearance toward dumb ami
mails"
$50 DO, Louisa, SO do, and
nobody will takes sides with u poor
critter sooner than l will; but that
mean, sneokin' old goat of Simpsons
oh, pshaw! Louisa, you cant be
be expected to enter into my feelin's
unless you know'd the whole story"
"The whole story! oh, auntie! l
didn't know that Simpsons goat had
story; tell it to me, won't you
auntie dear?'
"No, l won't, SO you needn't
waste your time 'auntie dearin'
me. I've held my tongue and kept
my injuries to myself for morn three
years, and 1 amt goin' to make a
loony thing of myself now to please
you, and git laughed at for my
pains"
"Oh, Aunt Sophia! promise you
solemnly that won't laugh, nor even
smile, if you will only tell md-p!ease
do, nuntie.'
"Well now, Louisa, you do seem
like a good -natured, sympathizln'
sort of a girl, and if you're right
sure you won't laugh nor tell livin'
soul, why, I guess I'll have to tell
you; but it's painful episode in my
life and you mustn't never mention
it to me again. -. :,
"Never, auntie, SO long as l live. "
"Well, now, let me see; it was
Just four years ago this comm June
that Squire Simpson came into tins
neighborhood and bought the farm
ioinin' mine. He was a widowsr
then, and kept himself spry and
spruced up, l tell you, and WASH t
anv more like the old slouch he is
now than the moons like tie mea-
sles. .
"Well, bein' his nearest neighbor,
and seein' as he hadn'tany wife, and
nobody but cook and housekeeper
to make home pleasant for him, 1
sort O pitied him, and tried to be as
sociable and neishborly as ever l
could.
"Now, the Lord knows l was as
innocent as lamb, and never
dreamed of havin' any unmaidenly
designs on the squire or any other
man, and when l walked over to his
house in the June evenin's and car
ried him baskets of strawberres,
and pots of jam, and punches OF
flowers that my own hands had riz,
| done it all just because OF my
kind and neighborly
feelin's; but bless my soul Louisa,
fore | could say Jack Robinson,
that tender hearted man was dead IN
love with me"
ooh, auntie! how interesting
Did he propose
"Now, keep still, Louisa, and don
get impatient. l never believe IN
iumpin' to the tail end of a story
till I've given all the details.
Well, as was sayin', the squire
fell in love with me, and innocent
and unsophisticsted as 1 was, !
couldn't help seein' it; and though
l wasn't in love with him by any
means, yet 1 felt so sorry for HIM IN
his loneliness that / couldn't bear to
net discouragin'. Then he was Sc
mortal shy, and bashful too, that lie
needed lots of encouraging. That
shyness of his was the first sign that
told me that l was loved.
Il soon begun to notice that
when his front gate screaked on III
hinges to let me in, the back gate
would open without screakin' to lei
him out, and he wouldn't show him
self acin till l went home; and once
when I went clean around and came
in at the back gate, l caught
glimpse of his coat-tail as he scram
bled over a staked-and ridered fence
: and disappeared in the woods pas
ture. Yes, Louisa, you needn
smile; he was just as bashful as an,
school boy; but l liked him all th'
better for that. If there's anything
l hate, it's bold, brassy man, u