Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1884-09-10
CYNTHIA,S MISTAKE,

said Cynthia Copley, dolelully.
Good creation" retorted Uncle
Phineas (for shortness known as
"Fin"), "what did you expect? told
you, didn't /, that 1t was out on the
shores of Lake Umbagog, without
house for two miles around?'
ooh, yes, I know" said Cynthia.
with little shudder, "but didn't
know about the bald eagles screaming,
and the horrid mooses with their big
horns, and the lap-lap of the water on
the shore! | declare, sometimes it
seems as if l should 60 mad in this
horrible sOlitude"'
you'll get used to it arter awhile"
said Uncle Fin, who was cleaning his
gun-barrel with a piece of one of his
old shirts Il did,
"But you aren't woman, Uncle
Fin"
81 declare to goodness, l never
thought of that" said the old man.
with chuckle. at is pretty rough
on a woman to have nobody to talk to
now, isn't it? Wal, if you'll get into
the boat arter supper, Ill take you over
TO see Indian OscClita. It's only three
miles round the point, and she'll show
You how to stuff birds, and do fancy
work with their quilts, and play on the
mandolin, and all that sort of thing,
She's a right smart gal, Osce]ita is, and
pretty in the bargain. She's Pilot
Johns darter, and her mother was the
handsomest Indian woman hereabout.
"Thank you" said Miss Cynthia
drawing herself up, but am not YET
reduced so low as to seek the association
of an Indian squaw."
"Oh, go along" said good-naturet
Uncle Fin. "Ossy amt that Hel
mother was as white as most white
women, and her father is fne-lookin
old chap yet. He was Maine lumber.
man, till he took to runnin' the little
steamer through the lakes lust wisf
you could see the pretty little cabir
they live in, all covered with morning
glories.'
IL have no desire to see it," sale
Cynthia, pursing up her thin lips.
"Ossy is comm round here some day
to visit you, she says" hazarded Uncl'
Fin.
"She may as well save herself th
trouble" observed Miss Copley.
"Oh-h-h!' said Uncle Fin, with
prolonged whistle. you're too gentee
to scrape spoons with Indian Oscelita
eh? Well, l do declare there amt n
fndin' out the ways of women"
And he laughed at intervals all tn
evening, and chuckled between whiles
to the intense discontinue of his niece
Miss Cynthia Copley had been tn
village dressmaker at Weldon Falls, il
the state of Rhode Island. until newe
and more gentecl interpreter of tn
fashions crowded her out.
There were eleven of them in tn
household nest, and when Cynthi
came home, with racking cough an
nothing to do, it made little awk
wardness
But Just then arrived Uncle Fin
brown, beaming and uproariousl
good-natured.
"Eleven, eh ?" he said to his care
J worn brother. "Just the right nun
Der; not one too many. And i
Cynthia's delicate, just send her out t
spend a summer with me on the shore
of Lake Umbagog. That'll set he
right, If anything will. Why, bles
your heart, man, there's health in ever
, whiff Of the pine-woods, and red cheek
:: in every gale that comes across tn
waterl live there alone, like Rob l.
son Crusoe; but it amt bad place
and Cynthy'll be as W elcome as flower
n May"
So Cynthia Copley packed her ward
robe of frills, hounces, jerseys an
other feminine appurtenances, with
set of croquet and an cutGt of lawn
,, tennis, some shelving boards an
| botanical cases, and the last new novels
,, and came to Lake Umbagog.
"Of course there are plenty of tour
lists there, she thought, eXultantly, t
herself, dreaming vague visions of re
turning home with u hat trimmed wit
orange-blossoms, and an Apollo-visage
young man in her train.
But, alas, she had been a month a
Pine Point, and not a soul had com,
near the place, except two or thre
leather-faced old hunters, a croOke
. beldam gathering herbs and simple
and two showmcn, in search of a fin
specimen moose for their collect
Was it any wonder that the demo
homesickness took possession of he