Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-06-21
A Short Visit.


"What /" said Mrs. Haven, almost in
shrek.
I" 1t is true" said her husband. They
are coming to visit us--every one of 'em.
My sister Zeleima, because the Saratoga
hotels are too intolerably hot for endurance.
Cousin Herbert, because he is an aesthetic
and wants to study nature from level hith-
erto untrodden. Mrs. johnson, because the
children don't recuperate after the whooping
cough. Aunt Sadie, on account of diff
Guilty with her landlady on the subject of
poodle dogs. Uncle Jenks because he has
my wife is like"
"Dear me What am | to do 2" family
gasped Mary Haven, looking around her
pretty sitting room, drapped in pink chintz,
fragrant with fresh flowers, and decorated
with gilt bird cages, water color sketches
and Kensington embroidery.
"Do2" repeated her husband, who was
intent in clipping off the end Of cigar
so that it should L" draw" satisfactorily.
There is but one thing to do-.let 'em
come"
"All at once ?"
Eyes, all at once"
"And l with only one girl and the ther-
mometer at ninety in the shade, and the
painters in possession of the third story"
And the lady sobbed Historically.
"Couldn't be better combination of cir
cumstances, my dear"
al don't believe these people care straw
about me-"
"Neither do !" said her husband.
It's only on account Of their convenience,
the hot weather, and the high prices at the
hotels" added Mrs. Haven. "Hugh, I've
great mind to commit suicide"
Don't do that my DEAR" said Mr.. Haven,
"I can suggest a better plan. 1 was just
thinking, do you know"
"Of telegraphing to the city for new
force of servants, box of provisions from
Minard's and half dozen cots, with hair
mattresses and bedding to match ?" eagerly
interrupted Mrs. Haven.
Nothing of the Sort" said Mr.. Haven,
serenely cycling the distant landscape
through the amethyst of cigar smoke. "Of
moving"
showing, Hugh ?"
"To the little cottage by the lake." Mr..
Haven explained. "Only a few days, merely
on account of the repairs at the house.
Paint upsets my digestion, and the sound
Of the carpenters hammer sets my teeth
on edge. Besides, Hodge, the contractor,
can work deal faster if we're all out of the
way"
But Hugh, the cottage is nothing but
camping-out place, with boardhoors and not
particle of plaster or paint about it," re-
monstrated Mary.
"what of that, my love ?" said the imper-
turbable husband. "Our friends don't come,
as take it, to admire fresco or gliding, but
they come to enjoy our society"
g Thav'll think W Gva thara alwa - 70
piled Mrs. Haven with corrugated brow.
"That is precisely what l wish them to
think, my dear"
"Oh !" said Mrs. Haven.
"You follow my meaning ?"
I-think-1-begin-t said she, with
an amused light sparkling in her eyes. "Yes,
dear perhaps it would be good plan to
move-just while the repairs are in pro-
gress."
The cottage by Wiscome Lake was not
an imposing edifice There was plenty of
room, such as it was, but the floors were of
rude pine boards, the windows were un-
| draped, and the furniture was such as was
adapted merely to the wants of camping
parties who were prepared to "rough it ="
after the most primitive fashion; and when
| Mrs. Zeleima Montague Prout drove up to
| the door in a wagon heavily laden with
trunks, she stared through her gold eye
| glasses in a most ridiculous manner at the
rude porch of shingles supported by rude
posts mantled in their native bark the
shutterless windows and unpainted wooden
settees on the grass.
"This isn't the Solitude" said she,
drive on, man. You have made mistake" +"
"This ere's where Lawyer Haven's folks
live" said the man, leisurely chewing a
straw. "Guess it's enough of solitude
to suit anybody"
al thought it was picturesque cottage" :"
said Mrs. Prout, in accents of the keenest
disappointment
But at this moment Mrs. Haven herself
hurried to the door, saying graciously'
al think you must be my husbands sister
Zeleima. Do come in"
"But where are my trunks to go ?" asked
the fashionable widow, who had dazzled the
eyes of the Saratoga world with numerous
changes of toilet during the past fortnight.
"You can put them in the shed at the
back of the barn." said Mrs. Haven. "I
don't think they will quite go up the stair
way"
Mr.. Haller arrived later in the day; a
long-haired, sallow-complexioned young man
in a violet velveteen suit, followed by a
countryman carrying his portable easel,
color cases, travelling library and writing
desk He knocked loudly at the door Of
the cottage with the ivory knob of his cane.
"Can you tell me where Mr.. Haven
lives 2"
"This is the place." answered the hostess.
"This !" echoed Mr.. Haller.
"You are Cousin Herbert, | suppose.
Walk in. My husband will come in the
evening train. Allow me to show you to
your room. 1t is rather small but we are
expecting a good deal of company, and
dare say you won't mind little incon-
venience."
And she left him in seven.by-nine apart
ment under the caves, where he couldn't
stand upright except Just in the middle of
the room, and where the three-paned win
dow was built close to the floor.
Humphl" !" soliloquized the aesthetic
looking ruefully around him, "this isn't
what | expected"
Mary Haven had scarcely got down stairs
and resumed the manufacture of raspberry
pies, when shouts and cries in various keys
announced the coming of Mrs. johnson and
her four children on the buck board wagon -
from the nearest stage station.
Is this cousin Hugh's house, mar" in
quired Adelaide, the eldest, discontentedly
| III AIM nOtnln DuI Snanty loudly
proclaimed Alexander Gustavus, the second
hope of the family.
"There amt no paint on it," said Helen
Louise.
"Lemme get out " shrieked Julietta,
and play in that lovely black mud where
that frog-toad is sitting"
Mrs. johnson sailed in with a scarlet face
and perturbed look on it, saying;
"I'm afraid, cousin Mary, that we shall
inconvenience you. There don't seem to be
much accommodation here"
"Oh, there is plenty of room up in the
garret, such as it is," said the hostess
smilingly. "Of course one expects TO lead
a gypsy life in place like this, and the
lake will be so nice for the little dears to
play in, If only they are careful, for it is
very deep and it is 80 lucky you are here,
cousin johnson, to help me with the pies
and bread, for | am not very experienced
housekeeper, and"
al though you kept two or three servants, "
interrupted Mrs. johnson, frigidly.
81 have only one young girl Just at pres