The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-04-04
LOVE AND LEARNING.

/ tfSt IIitlC W IlC III the VI OI1t.
Arthur Pemberton had lust come
| home from business, and met his aunt
| in the snug little drawing-room, where
the red plush curtains hung in such
vivid folds, and the fire glowed in the
twilight like n crimson Jewel
Somewhere in the room there was a
| daphne-tree in full blossom You could
smell its sweetness, even though you
could not detect its whereabouts by
means of the eye; and a bright-plumed
bird Whistled softly in the half-light as
| if it were soliloquzing to itself
Arthur Pemberton had not seen the
old aunt who had brought him up for
a Vcar'-a year which, to him, had been
full OF cVent;ul interest, for within its
bright circle of months he had wooed
and won the wife who was to him the
sweetest creature in all the world
And now, that his aunt had returned
from Edinburgh, where she had been
spending Il long holiday with an old
friend who was the wife of learned
professor filling chair at the high
school there, he had looked forward to
her visit with a sense of happy exuIta-
ton
"She will take mother $ place to my
motherless darling" he thought; land
she cannot help admiring the dear little
thing
And so he had hurried home from his
business upon this particular evening,
to feast his ears on Miss PembertOn's
tribute of delight and homage to Amy's
charmS.
Aunt Milicent was a tall, rather stiff,
elderly lady, in black silk, with compact
little lunches of grey curls on either
side of her face, gold spectacles. and a
mouth which seemed to screw itself to-
gether, instead of closing like other
peoples lips.
She allowed herself to be kissed at
fectienately by her nephew, and then
Strengthened out her cap-ribbOns with
sigh.
Il think, Arthur" said she sepu.-
chrally, ''that you have married
childr'
We'll. she is young" admitted the
husband, laughing ''But she is such a
darlingt'
"She can't be twenty" said Aunt
Milliccnt.
just twenty said Arthur.
And SO unformedr' added the old
lady. who had way OF heaving up deep
si@hs from the lower regions of her
lungs at the end of every entence,
which was. to say the least of it, dc
pressing
you mean---"
"No SYSTEM" said Aunt MilIicent.
mo definite aim i'm life! No logicr'
But, pleaded her nephew, "what
does she want with system. and logic,
and all that sort of thing?'
Sitting on the rug reading fairy
tales, " said Aunt Millicent, with n sniff
of contemptuous scorn. like baby!
And then confessing out and out, to me
without so much rs u blush of shame,
that she has never read Milton 5 Para
disc Regained. and is quite ignorant of
Shakespeare! Any ten-year old child
ouola to be ashamed to own such fla
grant ignorancei And when | asked
her about the lecture classes and sclen-
life gatherings in the nelghborhood, she
couldn't give me a single item OF infor-
nation. but kissed me, and wanted me
to eat acknowledgements out of a pink
satin boXt"
Mr.. Pemberton laughed.
And the next instant Amy herself
came into the room-a beautiful young
creature, with golden hair, bound care
Iesslv with blue fillets of ribbon, in a
wav which Aunt AIillicent secretly pro-
nounced '.crazy fashion," a pale-blue
silk dress. and the prettiest of high
heeled French slippers.
Tea is ready, Arthur she said;
land I've got some Dundee marmalade
and real Scotch scenes on purpose for
YOU, Aunt Millicent.
Could there he anything prettier or
more lovable, the Young husband asked
himself, than this gold-tressed fairy who
fitted about the room, seeming to ere
ate a sweet home atmosphere wherever
she went-this dimpled little plaything.
who knelt on the rug, playing with
the cat, and never attempted to follow
the thread of the conversation, while
Aunt Millicent and her nephew discuss
ed shakespeare and the musical
glasses, and criticised the last volume
of essays and the latest poem.
because, you know, I'm not liter
ary,' confessed Amy, as she drew a
rosebud about the carpet to attract the
antics of pussy, and laughed a peal
of sweet, girlish laughter, when the
rosebud was captured at last
But Mr. PembertOn was little oraver
than usual that evening, after Aunt
Millicent and her candle had disappear
ed, with a majesty not unworthy of Lady
Macbeth, into her apartment, which
Amy had filled with flowers, old china,
| Turkey rugs, and all manner of pretty
trif1es. Was Amy really frivolous? or
was it that Aunt Millicent's higher
plane of life dwarfed her narrow circle
of existenceP
amy" said he, ''you must have a
great deal of time?"
..0h, plenty!'' said the bride, limo
Gently.
Don't you think you could go
through a course of reading, which my
aunt will mark out for you? Every
lady reads nowadays. f"
but read, too, y said Amy with wide
open blue eyes.
..Solid literature, ! mean, corrected
her husband. The old poets and
PHILOSOPHERS that sort of thing.
Amy dropped her head.
.I.suppose so, said she, slowly
.sOf course, know that your are
dear little housekeeper, went on
Arthur: ..but my aunt reminds me that
we ought not to confine our sympathles
within the narrow range of our own
daily existence.
i don't understand, said Amy,
family.