Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1883-11-22
DOLLYS DESTINY.

Il shouldn't be surprised any day,
Dolly, to see David Wiggin tying his
horse at your gate, said Mr.. Blount,
roguishly, gathering up the reins.
Nonsense. brother! Anything the
matter with his own hitching post?'
retorted Miss Dolly turning in the
doorway.
Mr.. Blount laughed. Everybody
felt bound to laugh at Miss Dolly
crisp sayings that had kept her friend
in good humor these forty years.
"And when David does call on you, II
pursued Mr.. Blount more seriously, Il
do hope, Dolly, you'll give him his
chance to do his errand. That'll be
no more than fair, and the man won't t
be easy until he has freed his mind"
"W hat mischief are you the fore
runner of now, James Blount?' cried
Miss Dolly, facing about like a soldier
on drill. "What upon earth have l to
do with Davi1's errands?'
swell, his wife has been dead year
or more" said Mr. Blount, suggestive
ly, shutting one eye, and squirting
with the other down the length of his
whipstalk, "and lately lie has been
asking about you. You can put that
and that together to suit yourself"
"Flddlesticks!" exclaimed Miss Dol.
ly, energetically.
~ shan't say have him or don have
him-though there isn't likeller man
living than David-but l do say, Dol.
ly, you ought to give him a hearing"
and having convinced himself beyond
a reasonable doubt that the whip was
all right, Mr.. Blount tickled his horse
with it and drove away.
ooh, my sorrows" calculated Miss
Dolly, closing the door with an aff1ict-
ed countenance, and sitting down so
quietly for once that photographer
might have copied her then and
there.
Not that he could have done her
justice, for her expression was too
quick and varied to be caught by a
trick of chemicals, and without it Miss
Dolly's physiognomy would have been
rather characterless but for her prom.
inent Romon nose. This organ gave
tone to her face. By which | would
not be understood literally, as saying
that she talked through nasal whine.
! mean simply in metaphorlcal sense,
this bold feature spoke loudly of ener-
gy. And Miss Dolly had abundant
need of energy-else why the nose?
Every two years during her childhood
she had been tiptoed into the east bed
room to see new baby, till at her
mothers death, five little brothers fell
to her charge to be coaxed and scolded
into manhood.
"You can't bring up those boys"
groaned dolorous aunt. "Theyll
run square over you, Dorothy Alme-
d."
"Let them run over me so long as it
does not hurt 'em!' laughed Miss Dol.
ly, skewing her flaxen hair with a
goose-quill and tying a calico apron
over her calico longshort, preparatory
to "bringlng up" said youths.
From that day forward she went
cheerily on, making the best of every
thing, though 1t must be confessed she
often had odds and ends to work with,
as people usually do have who are
born with faculty. Somehow she
found time for all her duties except
matrimony. If that were a duty, it
was one she wouldn't and couldn't at
tend to while her father and children
needed her. Divers young men
thought this a great pity, among them
David Wiggin.
Don't be silly, David" said Dolly,
when he limited as much to her;
whereupon David went off and mar
ried Olive Searle, the plainest looking
girl in the parish.
This happened thirty years ago, and
David was again wifeless and again
the current of his thoughts turned
toward Dolly who still lived at the old
homestead at the foot of Bryant's Falls.
Her father had died some months be-
fore. Of the boys, James and Ezekiel
had settled on neighboring farms and
the remaining three had gone west
David's benevolent heart warmed with
compassion as he remembered Dolly's
lonely condition, and he felt that it
would be exceedingly kind in him to
offer her a home especially as he
owned as good place as you can find
on the river, while the Blount cottage
was falling into decay.
He wouldn't let her former refusal
tell against her for as he looked back
he couldn't really see how she could
have married any one at that period.
She ought to be rewarded for the de-
votion she had shown to the family.
and, for his part, he felt magnanimous
enough to give her second chance to
accept him. Such was the worthy
widower's state of mind when he asked |
James Blount with mock humility
whether it would be of any use Tor
him to try and make a bargain with
Dolly.