The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-02-07
aHaersa,4 yatelligsneer,.
a MATRIMONIAL CAMPAIGN.

A MATRIMONIAL CAMPAIGN.
The old village clock was striking
eight in its mumed, asshmatic way, when
Mr.. Blidge6eld came up the garden path
with paper of moist, brown sugar un-
der one arm, and half a pound OF
parafine candles under the other.
On each side of him rose up plump
heads Of cabbages, and blue.green
swamps of onions. A thrifty hop.vine
MAS waving its tsssels against the porch
pillars, and bed of parsley was growing
.rankly by the gate. For Mr.. Blidge-
field was a firm believer in the beauty OF
utility.
In the days of his deceased wife there
had been faint attempt at morning
glory vines, clove.pinks and Johnny
jumpers around the house, but Mr..
Blidge6eid had soon settled that matter.
J. .Fudgel" he had ruthlessly cried.
.They ain't good to neither stew for
cough,mixtnres, nor to boil up for greens.
Looks9 What do I care for looks :
Amt q squash bloom every BIT as pretty
as q marigold, I'd like to knowf MY
daughter must be brought up not 70 care
for empty showp
And SO all the wild, fantastic beauty
Of nature had been narrowed down into
!, vegetable berders and potato patches,
and thss souls 81 the idgefeld children
had bsan.nsrIoHed accordingly. 4 Z
Money! money! money! Thai was
/. the Siod Ga ZOE M Mr. Blidgefeld's idalatry.
He Hent. d. church on Sunday, and sat
out the service in his cushionless pew,
but EsSo him all that the choir sang and
the preacher preached 1as-mone5l
He attended the prayer,meetings punct-
uaIIy, for hawasa member Of the church,
/ but he never pnt more than copper
penny in the plate.
sIfsevery man takes care. OF number
one,n he said, With 9 hard compression OF
his Eiqsum viite lips, ''the whole world
will be took care of'p'
He rose up early to economise the
sunshine, and lay down late for fear OF
wasting time. He kept whole alma
mac full Of proyssbs on the tip of his
tongue, and denounced ''shiftlessness as
If .itwere one ofths seven cardinal sins, .
Dancing was an . instrument Of the Evil
One !; 4 novel reading, Was the opening
wedge TO Dante's Purgatorio. Anything
in the shape Of innocent recreation vas
q direct flying in the face of Providence.
And the Blidge6eld children grew up
sgaunt, careworn and prematurely old
! under this system of training. Z
Mr.. Blidgeaeld,s arst.wife had drop
ped quietly and obsclrely into her grave
before ans; one fairly comp prehended that
she, e,was mot jim high health. Hard work
and q relentless taskmaster had fairly
worried her out of the world. And all
the neighborhood maryeled whsn, ten
years afterward, Nancy Bloom rnarried
the widower.S u. ~ .is.s.&
Nancy MAS the village school, ,seacher
= q
bright.eyed, buxom young woman OF
twenty.eight or thirty. She had taken a
fancy!to the little Blidgefelds, and she
mas tired of teaching and wanted a
home.
You'll ind Ben Blidgeheid a hard
nut to cracE, 7. said -theneighbors, warn
ingly. s :
FIJI liz i, Nancy had cheerily re-
piled.
And 90 she married Mr.. Blidgefeld,
and went to tie farm house to live.
The six young Blidgefelds- had been
told that stepmpthe55 was q fearful
thing, butto their surprise, they found
Mrs, Blidge6eld Number Two 9 positive
revelation ofsdelight.
esshe showed me how to boil ,molasses
candy, with hickory. nuts chopped up in
it,n said Simeon, a weird child of eleven,
who Was popularly supposed to be ignor-
ant even Of the motion of humming-
top.
s''she gave me apple-sass on my bread" J"
whispered Marion, the next.
.We're to have pie every day."
chuckled Moses, WHO liked good things
to eat and drink.
aAnd Pm to lay up the berry money
for q blue muslin frock all Of my own"
added Adelina, who had never worn any
thing but her mothers faded old calico
gowns scantly cut over.
aaPm to have bran fred new tool. chest
if I-raise the red heifer calf" exulted
George, the -tallest boy.
And Leroy, the eldest, who had been
scolded, snubbed, and kept down all his
life, felt, with thrill of happiness, that
his new stepmother secretly sympathized
with his efforts to rise in the world.
aNov she's here" thought Leroy, 81
feel as if / could do most anything"
Mr.. Blidgefeld had scarcely been
married week, when. be c 4, home on
this raw rainy August night, with the
pack Of groceries under his arms, and a
dissatisfied frown between his brows.
servo condlesu he said. peepina