Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1881-07-22

while the youngsters were enjoying
themselves in parading their prof
cheney in terpsichorean amusements
The disappointed old bachelors, those
anomalies upon the dispensations Of 8
providence, that gave woman to man
in the garden Of Eden as his helpmate
and companion, who always are re.
counting their triumphs in resisting
the Establishments of the gentler sex,
and who. of course, never say ':sour
grapes were there; the unappreci-
ated old maids, who could if they
would, you know. were there in fact,
there was a mingling of all varieties Of
beauty and all grades of ages.
Loudoun, Of course, as the hero of
the occasian, AS the gallant Knight
that was to be crowned by the queen
of beauty, was the observed of all OBJ
servers. He had been sitting in Jim's
cabin, on the pretense of nursing him,
in order to avoid the curious gave of
the throng of ladies and gentlemen,
who were promenading on the piazza,
and lettering in the flower garden,
their merry aughter sounding on his
ears in qneer contrast to the broken
iargou of the grateful jim, who was
urging him to 60 and enjoy himself
with the other young gentlemen, when
Lester rushed to the cabin in hot
haste eXclaiming:
"Come on, Ned. Times up. The
circus is to begin right away. Col.
Spalding is looking for you, and has
requested the guests to assemble in
the parlor. Cheer up old fellow, and
take courage. | know you have your
speech by heart before this; as for me
| have been rehearsing mine for the
last hour out behind the barn, and
had two uper-annuated cows and IA
di!apidated blind horse for audience" ="
Il say, Charlie" laughingly replied
Loudoun, couldn't you do all the
talking for me to-day? | am per-
feet stranger and shall feel awkward
before such gathering of the elite of
old Charles county.
Not bit of it, dear boy. No
body can take Ned Loudoun's place
but Loudoun himself" responded
Lester. "As for your feeling awk-
ward, have nothing to say, but am
perfectly certain that you will never
manifest awkwardness, whatever may
be the situation in which you may be
placed. If we stop here any longer,
We shall have Il delegation of gens-d-
arms, headed by the Colonel looking
for us" and taking Loudoun by the
arm he escorted him across the yard
into the hall.
At the urgent solicitation of Les
ter, small platform had been erected
in one corner of the spacious parlor,
and near this platform were gathered
the Colonel's family with most of the
the guests. Us Lester and Loudoun en-
tered the room. All of the gentle
men aud u number Of the ladies had
seen Loudoun on horseback, in racing
costume, but few had ever met him in
social life, and none but Lester had
ever seen him at large party in a
drawing room.
Among the ladies there was curl
osity to see the stranger gentleman,
who could beat Mr.. Lester in horse
race, and who had, so rumor said, won
the regard, if not the affections, Of the
beautiful rose Of Rosedale among the
gentlemen there was a manifest desire
to see the man, who could out ride the
representative young men of Charles
county, could hold his own in a crowd
of roughs at horse race, and could
master and subdue such desperate,
as Jack Marsden was known to be.