West-Jersey pioneer., 1884-01-03

llS MANNING eAOClcS anu DcuS VI uoWoio
with..the lofty porches and wide halls
behind it, the dimly-lit drawing rooms,
with its generous side board-all the
consciousness of ease and comfort and
delight of the senses about the plea
made visiting Miss Barnes a very
pleasant way of passing time; and then
moreover, as her father was proml-
nent man of affairs among the politi-
clans of the country. one met there
people who enlarged the mental hori-
zon and made man think for himself,
and think more of himself.
Tonight, however, as he went along,
his mothers words gave him little
thought, and it did occur to him that
! it was unwise to let himself become SO
used to all this luxury and splendor on
venture; for, after all, a girl of such
wealth and fascination as Miss Barnes
had her choice from crowd of lovers,
of whom he was but one, and the least
conspicuous.
Just as these salutary reflections
stole through his mind his ear was
caught by the crying of a child, and
he paused to look into the window of
the cottage that he was then passing,
and to see a woman hushing a little
child whose face was hidden in her
neck-a slender, darkly clad woman,
who moved there and there, with the
baby on her arm, and attended to the
wants of number of other children,
while man sat at the table, with his
arms thrust out before him and his
head fallen between them, in an atti-
tude of abject despair. The woman's
!, back was towards him all the time;
but something about her reminded
him of Miss Nina Prentice.
"Pretty much what might expect,
, suppose" groaned Harold, 'if l
obeyed my mother: BY George!' as
the woman half turned, sweet, sad
face, and delicate profile Of figure; Il
believe it is Nina"
But it's absurdity destroyed the
: ling a bar of the ''Wanderer,n and
would have very shortly been with
Miss Barnes, had he not been detained
by discussion with chance friend at
a corner, and had not then stepped
into pool of water, and been obliged
to hunt up bootblack, the little
wretch afterward keeping him waiting
sometime for trifle of change.
= II DECLARE" said he to Nina, when
at last he reached Miss Barnes parlors
! II thought / saw you married to a
= drunken laborer, as l came along to-
night, with gang of babies around
+ ''What made you think him drunk
. en?" asked Miss Nina, with her sweet
+ seriousness
ooh! his looks-the arms on the
table, the fallen head, unkempt, un-
shorn, you know, and the rest"
+ II suppose, said Nina that a poor
, man whose wife was lying dead in the
adjoining apartment. might look very
much that way"
II believe it was you!" rejoined
, Harold.
IO lOOh llhC IL! CilO eAohOA LS3 AAo-
ly. "And have l dual existence, to
/ be here, and there too?" And then as
g as Harold glanced at her in airy mus
q Inns and forget-me-nots, he smiled at
the idea; and she seemed all at once as
), different from that woman, and all
p other women, as if she had stepped out
of another star; yet for all that, man
o does not care to marry woman, diff
ferent from other women, simply to
# oblige his mother.
If ''What are you two talking about?''
e asked Miss Barnes, standing before
r. them just then, the picture of Bac-
# chante, with her head bound with cur
,s rant leaves and her clustering curls
d like grape punches about her dark and
laughing face. ''Are you promising
if Nina that you will come to Washing
% ton this Winter? Nina is to be with
It me there for the holidays, you know.
a If you should swell my list on New
o Years." And then she went dancing
down the room, for the misty night
had driven everybody within doors
}. and waiter was just then bringing in
e a tray of juleps.
v "When l was a little confirmed
e drunkard of the age of ten, signed
II the pledge" said Miss Barnes, con
z, veying the waiter to Harold. But
d didn't know how nice juleps were.
d Now l am totally depraved. Here
e Mr.. Hartley. Nina It's quite as i'm.
IS moral to drink lemonade with straws
as it is TO drink juleps. The sin lies
k altogether in the straws"
e ''It depends on the4ndividual wheth
II er there is any sin about it, think, u
e said Nina. But love lemonade. A
O lemon seems to me to carry GOODNESS
20 | inf "a tho trnnnicS y