Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1884-09-19
CYNTHIA'S MISTAKE,

CYNTH[A'S MISTAKE,
It's such lonesome place here"
said Cynthia Copley, dolefully.
Good creation retorted Uncle
Phineas (for shortness known as
Fin, "what did you expect? told
Z you, didn't ], that it was out on the
shores of Lake Umbagog. without a
house for two miles around?"
"Oh, yes, l know" said Cynthia.
with little shudder, but l 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 shorel | declare, sometimes it
seems as if | should 90 mad in this
horrible solituder'
You'll get used to it arter awhile
said Uncle Fin, who was cleaning his
gun-barrel with piece of one of his
old shirts. 81 did"
"But you aren't woman Trnc,o
Fin"
81 declare to goodness. I never
thought of that" said the old man
with chuckle. at is pretty rough
ON woman to have nobody to talk to
now, isn't it? Wal. if you'n get into
the boat arter supper, I'll take you over
to see Indian Oscelita It's only three
miles round the point, and she'll show
you how to stuff birds, and do fancy
work with their quills, and plav on the
mandolin, and all that sort of thino.
She's right smart gal, Oscelita is. and
pretty in the blrgain. She's Pilot
Johns darter, and her mother was the
handsomest Indian woman hereabout."
..sI'l.assi< s.e.., said Mics Cynthia
drawing herself up. but I am not yet
reduced so low as to seek the association
of an Indian squaw."
"Oh, go along" said good-natured
Uncle Fin. "Ossy amt that. Her
mother was as white as most white
women, and her father is a fine-lookin'
old chap yet. He was Maine lumber
man, till he took to runnin' the little
steamer through the lakes. just wish
you could see the pretty little cabin
they live in, all covered with morning
glories.
II have no desire to see it," said
Cynthia, pursuing up her thin lips.
"Ossy is comm round here some day
to visit you, she says" hazarded Uncle
Fin.
"She may as well save herself the
trouble" observed Miss Copley.
"Oh-h-h!' sad Uncle Fin, with
prolonged whistle. you're too genteel
to scrape spoons with Indian Oscelita,
eh? Well, do declare there amt no
findin' out the ways of womenp'
And he laughed at intervals all the
evening, and chuckled between whiles,
to the intense discontinue of his niece.
Miss Cynthia Copley had been the
village dressmaker at Weldon Falls, in
the state of Rhode Island until newer
and more genteel interpreter of the
1,-l:o,,,, ,,rOu-1a1 bo, ont
There were eleven of them in the
household nest, and when Cynthia
came home, with racking cough and
nothing to do, it made a little awk-
wardness.
But just then arrived Uncle Fin,
brown, beaming and uproariously
good-natured.
eleven, eh?" he said to his care
worn brother "Just the right num-
ber; not one too many And if
Cynthia's delicate, just send her out to
spend a summer with me on the shores
of Lake Umbagog. That'l set her
right, if anything will. Why, bless
your heart, man. there's health in every
whiff of the pine woods, and red cheeks
in every gale that comes across the
waterl live there alone, like Ilob.I-
son Crusoe; but it amt bad place,
and Cynthy'll be as elceme as flowers
in May
So Cynthia Copley packed her ward
robe of frills, flounces, jerseys and
other feminine appurtenances, with a
set Of croquet and an outfit of lawn
tennis, some shelving boards and
botanical cases. and the last new novels,
and came to Lake Umbagog.
"Of course there are plenty of tour
lists there, she thought. exultantly, to
herself, dreaming vague visions of re-
turning home with hat trimmed with
orange blossoms, and an Apollo-visaged
young man in her train.
But, alas, she had been a month at
Pine Point. and not a soul had come
near the place, except two or three
leather-faced old hunters. crooked
beldam, gathering herbs and simples
and two sbowmen. in search of fine
snecimen moose Tor their collection.
Was it any wonder that the demon
homesickness took possession of her
hear