Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1882-03-08
MY DEMON.

when l forsook the college wall.
of W-,so years ago, was possesse,
ef-of-"
"Ot immense knowledge?'
mo such thing, my friend"
'.Learning-iore-old as musty?"
Nothing of the kind, do assure
you
Acquaintance. thorough, vast, vari
ed, with men and things?"
Far from it. If anything, rathe,
the reverse of all this"
Shades of the Campusl You but
joke. nv dear fellow. Possessed-ando OF
what, pray?
"Of demonr'
My friend interested me; his story
was making NE curious; but l exhib-
tied a calm exterior, and unperturbed
countenance. He was dealing III eng
mas; l would show him the virtue OF
laconics. | simply said:
s'Indeedl''
Yes" said he, II WAS possessed of
IT continually. Ii haunted me all the
night and all the day. Istrove with 1t,
but puissant effort and superhuman ex-
ertion were alike puerile and ineffi-
eient."
1 smiled little, partly to encour-
age my friend, and partly to cover the
growing interest l felt III his story. Il
consider that no person ought ever to
get excited
Proceed said l.
"The demon, l said. was a desireI
Tina: desire: to encounter a cequette; to
humble her naughty spirit, and subdue
her obdurate heart"
1 nodded three times. Each nod was
given with dellberation. l eyed him at
tentively as he continued:
Look at that person; not tail, to be
sure, but well knit, full of grace, and
Adonis like"
As he said this, he rose from his
chair, and, drawing his coat tight about
him, stood erect and turned quite
around.
''And those eyesi note them-large,
dark, luminous. just imagine how
they shone and sparkled on tkat night
on the occasionl'
L imagined.
Il was the heir of my rich, bachelor
uncle; and scarcely had L entered upon
the possession of the wealth his demise
had lett for my sole enjoyment, and had
time to arrange some business
matters in the little village which was
honored by his name, before the in
telligence was conveyed to me that one
of the ost beautiful girls, yet one OF
the mCst arrant and tickle of eoquettes.
was a resident of the white house Just
across the way.
II can't begin TO tell you how this
news delighted nc. L was superlative-
ly edited.
'She appeared to be the theme of
every tongue. No one spoke of the
society of the town without giving her
name the preference of first mention.
Her beauty, her voice, her eloquence.
her education and accomplishments. her
standing. and, above all, her desperate
fiirtations, her audacious conquests,
her cruelty, her
stop a lpoment-taBe breath, said
/, interrupting what was like to be an
endless chain of substantives:
According to rumor," said my
friend, mo such tyrant was ever before
seen. No man ever approached her
but he went away with deadly arrow
cfeaving to his side, and she laughing
at his anguish.
This was quite enough. / desired
t, know no more. 1t was bliss to me
ecstatlc bliss. 1t sank down into the
well of my heart, and then. gushing
up, it meandered through every VEN,
nerve, fibre, muscle. 1t permeated my
whole being. L felt nice!
Then / drew myself up, every fea-
tule beaming with the one thought
vnst, illimitable it seemed-and swore,
by the ashes of my sires and my de-
missed bachelor uncle, and by that guar
dian genius which never deserted me III
any emergency, that would teach this
naughty and cruel tyrant what it Is to
maltreat my sex-what it Is to tiout my
kind-what it Is to make hermits and
mIsanthropes of my fellow men, and
what, consequently. 1t Is to cheat the
census roll of its legitimate increase.
The night of the fete came. drew
on nv low, patent feathers, over a pan
of Ia macul..ts silk stockings, shook
aul DTOSliu ltdc,leiSC fheo ny SH>" y
kerehief, and was off to meet and sub
due the all dangerous siren.
..As L passed along the way l thought
of nothing save the coquette. and ihe
triumph / had in anticipation / argued
to myself!
"a parcel of illiterate country
du.ces have been swelling her triumpni
with list of unmeaning and dlshonora
BILE ctleptives, and hence her fame
Doubles she is some Ii tie, smooth
faced airs some pert, forward miss
full of and and smelling of boarding
school cd b read and butter. Proud ol
a bright complexion and little money
spoiled by fiattery and the want ol
competition, ? crt ature that would be
eclipsed, burned up, III the blaze OF
city soiree.
'And YOU resolved to have revenge
for the wrongs done her victims; to at
tack her and teach her a Iesson!'
Right. And as l rang the bell a,
my friends door, 1 murmured: Rural
bellies ought not TO be too confident
too saucy.
"A few moments more found me SIT
ting by a sweet modest girl, to whom,
in the confusion of crowd much more
numerous and dazzling than l had ex-
pected, some one had introduced me IL
SO hurried q manner as to leave eacll
,,o,n ;onorapoa of the others name.