Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1883-10-08
An Unsuccessful Suit.

John loved Mary; but Mary was
not quite sure that she loved John.
Their parents being the nearest neigh
bors, their farms joined, they had
grown up together from childhood,
had. made each other penny presents,
and mutually agreed to return them
if they ever got mad for good.
Thus Mary came in possession of
an iron thimble, tin needle box and
brass ring for various needlework
performed on Johnny's sleeves or the
knees of his trousers, which saved
him many taste of the parental rod.
To the credit of their childhood it
must be said that Mary never had to
return those gifts, there being few
disagreements between them, and
ehese were quickly reconciled.
In their youth they had tramped
hand in hand to Sunday school, as
they now did to church. But no
longer to Mary's edification; being
too much annoyed at her companions
appearance to give due attention to
the sermon.
The annoyance was in Johns in
clination to dandyism. With the
first appearance of down on his upper
lip he had bought himself moustache
wax and high hat crowned his per
fumed locks long before he was
twenty.
Mary, practical, energetic girl,
was rather disgusted than fascinated
by superficial elegance. Her person
was always decked with that simplic-
ity which became her manner-quiet,
direct and decided.
To have a man beside her whom
everybody regarded as her lover
dressed in the height of fashion with
no income but the product of his farm
labor, spoilt Mary's Sunday temper
to such an extent that she resolved
to let John know her mind before
another Sunday could be spoilt.
Now John blissfully ignorant of
her feelings, was just stroking his
moustache and persuading himself of
the necessity of buying another suit
for the occasion that should make
Mary his wife.
After church John told Mary that
he was going to town next day to
buy something for her, and a new
suit for himself, in which he would
appear some evening with very i'm
portant question.
He looked in vain for the rosy tint
on Mary's face. She only said, with
faint sneer: "Do put some sense
t in the next suit you get, john"
"Then you don't think there is
much sense in this suit when I'm in
it, eh?" laughed John, with a faint
suspicion that her Indifference was
owing to his not appearing sooner il
some later style.
He resolved that the next one
should surpass anything he ever wore
"Gratify girls vanity, and she's
yours" he thought, without the
slightest suspicion that he was graf
flying his own and thereby fast los
ing his hold on the handsomest anC
most sensible girl there was in th'
neighborhood of sixty miles.
John, too, was considered no small
catch. Many girls heart was Sc
fluttering when she heard his stron;
baritone voice lowered to confiden
tial whisper. For John was not onl
dandy but fiirt. All his hear
$ ever dwelt on with constancy wa
e Mary and fashionable suits.
: Every year he went to town for
new rig from top to toe, of the lates
v cut. He felt himself a foot talle
when the salesman told him that hi
face and figure would do credit to th
o Broadway style.
J. Of course John wouldn't show h
{: ignorance of city life by ascertainin
the particulars of that style. He fe
= satisfied that purchases made frol
Y the same salesman every year woul
u i secure him the lauded style.
The new suit bought, John W:
,e giving it its first airing by visit
Iy Mary. He had made up his mind
IS propose formally and be formally a
l; cepted. The engagement ring WI
in his pocket, and the wedding su
< should be the one he had on. E
d didn't believe in long engagement
Or and thought he might allow himse
to appear once in his most oppres
er i've elegance on an occasion that w
IN as impressive as the wedding.
:, So rugged in the latest-long poin
ed pumps, pantaloons tight enous
:. to make sitting and bending /
ly knees feat dangerous to the seam
ill jacket just long enough to cover t
nd ends of his suspenders, and hat
's- wide and big as everything else W
narrow and little-he walked throu
- the lane that led to her fathers hou
ho with the air of one who knows hi
ne self in the possession of all t
as charms to conquer.
When John entered the front do'
be Mary was leaning out of the ba
III window reaching for cluster of
la' ses, one of which, he assured hi
,os self, was intended to adorn his N
,ed jacket.
Ha fhourbt tho onuOrtunjtV