Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1884-01-16
TIE LITTLE PULSIFER.

of that Pulsifer girl, and now you saw!
Yes, you saw; and, on the whole, what
was il you saw AS pretty creature as
ever the sun shone upon, laughing, dimp-
led, hlushing innocent, but dragged; yes,
awfully draggled about the skirt the once
pink skirt of that once aesthetic dress; and
such shoes. Perhaps in the past they had
been high-heeled and dainty number twos
now they were simply clods of sticky
marsh mud. And how came they clods of
sticky marsh mud! All, there was the
whole story!
The house was very full when, one bright
July day, we saw carriage drive to the
gate with this pretty creature i'm IL and a
young man beside her, who might have
boen her brother or her lover, if she had
looked old enough to have lover. Mrs.
Colman herself stepped to the gate to
speak with thom.
"They lost their boardns-place over to
Bunson's Mills" said she, coming back.
"Something about the mails breaking
down, and the letters not being on time,
and they had Deacon Sponsors recommend
TO come here, and as | know Deacon Spcn-
ser reckon can oblige 'em."
We'll, what was she crying for" asked
Miss Evans.
"Oh, he's going away, the young man,
am she feels sort of womble-cropped about
it. He's bidding her goodbye now and
trying TO cheer her up--mighty hard work,
for hos ell down i'm tho mouth himself.
hNlilS 'DNH 10 AillDuU 10 lDbk ~ ulllltS
this month. Buy up all Calumet and
HeclG when come back says he. And
says she: pa rather be as poor as a church
mouse than go among those strangers all
alone so. And what ii should die while
you're gonen AM says he: what if |
should die while Pm gone? AM left
them laughing and crying and kissing like
two babies in the wood. There they De
DOW. Her traps III be along tonight. Miss
Evans, you must take her in hand I'll go
and get up bit OF something nice for
her. Bear We one another's burdens, that's
my motter."
Parting is such sweet SORROW" said
Miss Evans, lifting her glass.
well, it's over now. There she comes,
poor thing. She's paid in advance, two
Miss PulsiGcr, Miss Cooper; Miss Pulsifer,
ladies. Now, if you'll come this way, dear,
Ill show you your room. You don't need
20 be affecting this way-two months goes
like a sleep i'm the night, you know"
Miss Pulsifer wasn't "a-feelingthis way"
next morning. A transparent little crea-
ture, every mood showed through; and
when she was happy she was all in n
bubble, and when she was sad she was so
blue as 60 he black and blue.
Have you heard from your brother yet~
asked Miss Evans, smoothing down the rib
bons OF which she wore n swarm.
"My brotherW answered the Young
stranger. sob, | wondered which one you
meant. No, indeed. don't expect TO hear
from him for d, long while. felt cut off
from every one last might, but this morning
] feel better. Ben has telegraphed me that
Pinckney and Delaware are coming here to
camp with parcel of other gay young
artists"
"Pincllney and DelawareW
"Haven't you seen their pictures at the
Academy Not quite first-rate yet, you
know, but we think well of them-perhaps
because Pink and Del did them. That's
joke of ours. Sha'n't we have n merry
month of it! | always do when they are
around. One must do something. You
must see Del. He looks Just like Booth,
and Pink looks just like Del, and they al
ways have half-dozen others rs nice as
they are; and il is so fortunate that
there should be some pretty girls i'm the
house." Miss Evans was beaming on Miss
Pulsifer and quite bridling with pleasure.
"You are very fond ofyoung girls, ARE you
not, Miss EvansD asked Miss Pulsifer, I'M
Willingly picking this little bubble. "That
is so nice of you. Pm afraid when l get
old | shall hate them"
"The poor little Pusfer" whispered old
lady Browne. "That will finish her case"
And old lady Browne was right. 1t did.
And perhaps il should. But there was not
the faintest intention of olfense.
at may depend" said Miss Evans, cal
together on the young girl. A bold and
forward mink who twitS ON facts, and tells
al know" said Miss Pulsifer, with lit.
tie yawn, and her pretty plump hand over
her rosebud of n mouth. AREN'T they
hateful-that kind! But they can't twit
nc, for nobody knows I'm day over
thirty-live unless tell them" The sly lit
tie cat! | doubt if she was twenty.
"As If rose should shut, and be bud
again." said l.
"Are you really thirty-hve" asked Miss
speak, although she had plainly intended
TO drop Miss Pulsifer like hot coal.
And nobody knows how much more.
How old are your
That did finish it. Miss Evans did not
reply in kind, according to the adage, that
she was as old as her tongue and good
deal older than her teeth, but she looked
Miss Pulsifer over from head to foot.
81 wonder where you could have been
brought up" she said, with an accent of
utter disgust, and swept away.
There was very soon after that an Evans
party and Pulsiier party in the house.
To be sure, the youth and bloom of the
family were in the latter party, and so, to
tell the truth, was the absolute old age
But on the Evans side were the sticklers for
propriety. if may be allowed the term,
the critical, nothing il not critical, the dis
contended, and the loverless. Another party
occupied neutral territory. This party
thought it no disgrace and no sorrow to
have reached middle age, but had acquired
a placid contentment with life, and q
serenity of alchemized experience which
allowed enjoyment of the sight of the
playfulness of youth, and remembrance of
having once shared it, and of having yield
ed it only TO the better condition of this
period when the tide swings at the full, and
all the powers are at their height and one
looks back at youth as the time when one
gathered treasure, and forward to age as
the time when one shall expend il. Still,
this party had, If not sympathy, n certain
pity for the Evans party, being, it must be
confessed, dreadfully afraid of outraged
proprieties itself. Nothing at all, how.
ever, did the Pulsifer party care for the
Evans party; nothing at all did the Evans
party care for the neutral party; but the
Pulsifers used sometimes to come and
throw themselves down at the feet of the
neutral party, and we had n charming time
together. was the neutral party.
"Really," said Miss Evans, q week or two
from the declaration of war, stroking her
ribbons as a bird plumes and preens her.
self, "for the perfect paroxysm of griel
that this young person was i'm on the de
parture of her brother, she is consoled the
most quickly of anything ever saw. Light
doesn't travel half so fast as the change In
her emotions does. Any one of tie youths
/ i'm this young painters camp, or bear gar
den, can console her, and she will let them
Inever saw such manners-in and out al
IL she were one of them. l wonder Mrs
Colman doesn't put n stop TO IL. L dom
see how people who think anything Of
themselves can countenance this worse than
hoidenish girl. Such behavior will actually
ruin the house."
"What behavior, Miss EvansW
"This freedom and unconventionality
don't say it's anything wrong; but IL Ger
tainly looks anything but right, and fol
one have not been used"
"We all know that, Miss Evans" sale
old lady Browne. "If you had been uset
to have a half-dozen fine young fellows a
your feet, as the little Pulsifer has, yo'
would be less censorious now. And wan
you 20 understand that /, for one, think
good deal Of myself, and see nothing to dis
countenance--"
"Thon must say that her influence |
very injurious. Coarse herself, did no