Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1883-01-18

"Well, Aunt Antonia, what do you
think of her?n
Mr. Wayland had just 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 twi-
light like Il crimson jewel,
Somewhere in the room there was Il
daphne tree in full blossom. You
could smell its subtle sweetness, even
though you could not detect its where
abouts by means of the eye; and
bright-plumed bird whistlcd softly in
the half-light, as if it were soliloquiz-
to itself.
Rufus Wayland had not seen the old
aunt who had brought him up for q
year-a year to which to him had been
full of eventful interest, for within its
bright cycle of months he had woocd
and won the wife who was to him the
sweetest creature in all the world.
And now that Aunt Antonia had re-
turned from the south, he had looked
forward to her visit with q sense of
happy eXultation.
"She will take u mothers place to
my motherless Zoe" he thought, "and
she can not help admiring the dear
little thing
And so he lad hurried home from
his business upon this particular even
Ia, t, f,ngt hic ON Amt A,tAt,in1 1c
tribute Of delight and homage to Ioe's
charms.
Aunt Antonia was tall, rather
stil, elderly lady, in black silk, with
compact little punches Of gray curls
on either side of her face, gold spccta-
cles, and a mouth which seemed to
screw itself together, instead of closing
like other peoples lips.
She allowed herself to be kissed af-
fcctionatcly by her nephew, and then
Strengthened out her cap-ribbons with n
sigh.
IL think, Rufus" said she, sepul-
chrally, "that you have married n
child!n
"Well, she is young" admitted the
husband, laughing. "But she is such
Il darling'
"She can't be twenty" said Aunt
Antonia
"Just eighteen" said Rufus.
"And so unforme6m added the old
lady, who had way of heaving up
deep sighs from the lower regions Of
her lungs ut the end of every sentence,
which was, TO say the least of it, de-
pressing.
"YOu mean"
"No systcm!' said Aunt Antonia.
"No definite aim in life! No logic!'
But pleaded Rufus Wayland,
"what does she want of system, and
logic and all that sort of thing?"
"Sitting on the rug reading fairy
tales" said Aunt Antonia, 'likc n
baby! And then confessing out and
out, to me, without so much as blush
of shame, that she has never read Mil
toms Paradise Regained, and is quite
ignorant of Shakespeare! Any ten-year-
old child ought TO be ashamed to own
such flagrant ignorance! And when
asked her about the aid societies and
charitable clubs in the neighborhood,
she couldn't give me single item of
information, but kissed me, and wanted
me TO cat chocolate creams out of q
pink-satin boxW
Mr., Wayland laughed.
"That is just like Zoe" he said.
And the next instant Zoe herself
came into the room-a beautiful young
creature, with golden hair, bound care
lcssly with blue iillcts of ribbon Gin q
way which Aunt Antonia secretly pro-
nounccd "crazy fashion''), a pale blue
silk dress and the prettiest of high
heeled French slippers.
"Tca is ready, Rufus she said;
"and we've made q real Maryland
syllabub for Aunt Antonia.h
Could there be anything pretticr or
more lovable-the young husband
asked himself than this gold-tresscd
fairy who fitted about the room, SEEM
ing to create sweet home atmosphere
wherever she went-this dimpled little
plaything who knelt on the rug, play.
ing with the cat, and never attempted
to follow the thread of the conversation,
while Aunt Antonia and her nephew
discussed the Concord School of Philos-
ophy and criticised the last volume of
essays and the latest poemP
because, you know, I'm not liter
ary," confessed Zoe, as she drew a
rosebud about the carpet to attract the
antics ofpussy, and laughed peal of
sweet, girlish laughter, when the rose
bud was captured at last.
But Mr.. Wayland was n little graver
than usual that evening, after Aunt
Antonia and her candle had disap-
peared, with majesty not unworthy
of Lady Macbeth, into her own apart
ments, which Zoe had filed with ilow-
ers, old china, Turkey rugs, and all
manner of pretty trihes. Was Zoe
really frivolous! or was it that Aunt
Antonia's higher plane OF life dwarfed
her narrow circle of existencep
"Zoe," said he, "you must have a
great deal of timep"
"Oh, plentyp' said the bride inno-
Gently.
Don't you think you could go
through course of reading, which my
aunt will mark out for you. Every
lady reads nowadays"
"But read, too" said Zoe, with
wide-open blue eyes.
"Solid literature, mean," corrected
her husband. "The English classics
all that sort OF thing"