The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1884-01-31

SS all the sententious wisdom o.
Is, N answer to some objectiontions
my mother had had seen fit to make
ON my engagement to William
Thorpe.
My mother was q widow, left
with a moderate income, and an
only child to grow up as willful a
girl as there was to De found in the
village in which we lived, and whose
only redeeming trait was loving
heart. William Thorpe was the
son of a neighboring farmer OF
large means, but whose peculiari-
ties were we'll known in the neigh
borhoOd. 1t was, therefore, with a
great deal Of anxiety that my moth
er saw the growing intimacy be-
tween the young man and myself.
Vainly had she sought to dissuade
me from the match; but what girl
of Is, in love with a handsome
young fellow, is willing to reject
him because his father has the gout
or other disagreeable ailments,
whether mental or physical, and ev
cry separate member of his family
clear back to the forty second cous-
in, some peculiarity that may clash
with her own temper OF course,
that was out of the question; so
mothers warnings were useless,
my refuge being the indisputable
fact that ] WAS not marrying the
family, Will being free from tault or
blemish.
"Figurattvely speaking, my dear
child, you may find you have mar
ried the largest part of it" replied
mother. "You are, no doubt, pre-
pared to yield obedience to one mas
ter, but how will it answer when
dozen will commando
"Will can never allow thatr /
exclaimed, Indignantly
81 am not so sure of that. Will
liam Thorpe loves you, no doubt,
but he is sensitive to ridicule, and,
l fear, lacks the moral courage to
shield you from the thousand and
one annoyances that will beset you,
and which, after all, make up the
sum total of happy or miserable
life. Great trials we grapple with,
and, by the very energy invoked, We
master them; but a mind IS superb
or indeed that can calmly withstand
the constant. never-ending drip,
drip of fault-finding and cowardly
inuendoes. Ii Mrs. Thrope were
living l should not feel so badly,
ror she was dear, sympathetic
woman, but she succumbed-anoth-
er victim to marry ing a family.
Some men can and do shield their
wives by bearing the brunt of the
battle themselves, but l fear VIII
liam Thorpe is not one of those
men,"
a girl less accustomed to her
own way might have hesitated to
AXE step traught with the dan
gers so dispassionately pointed out
by her mother, but l had too long
held my own gait to be frightened
by what 1 considered imaginary
troubles, and six months afterward |
was installed as the mistres of
pretty cottage, as happy bride as
ever sun shone upon. had urged |
mother to live with us, but she had |
remained inflexible TO pouting and |
coaxing alike, declaring she would |
at least save me that source OF !
trouble.
Ten years have slipped slowly by |
since then, and | discovered that |
had indeed married the family. 1t
is a many headed hydra, to which |
l have sacrificed my best feelings. |
First comes Father Thorpe. He
was a little, shriveled-up old man,
with a keen, black eye, cold and un-
merciful, and a sharp nose that
seemed eternally bent upon ferret
ing out some flaw in words or |
deed. Affection, he had none for
himself aud looked with suspicion
on all who approached him with
show of feeling. A perfect tyrant,
he allowed no opinion that clashed |
with his own, and the fear with |
which his children looked upon
him was the only Influence that
could hold the heterogeneous mass
under control.
Next came Aunt Tabitha Green,
tall, thin and angular, perfect ep-
itome of household virtues, whose !
fingers had forgotten how to relax,
so constant was their grip of broom
dust-pan, brush, or knitting needle.
and in whose OpiRion, rest or recre-
alton should have bt en- included as
one of the deadly sins. Having lit
t e scope for the exercise of her
powers at home, l was gocsend to
the old lady.
Then how shall 1 depict the quar-
tette, Belinda, the languishing;
Mary Ann, the domestic; Sophia,
he blue stocking, and Catherine,
the fast young woman, each a devo-
tee to her own peculiarities, and
unanimous only on one subject; viz
that l should have rpsembled each
to have been the suitable wife of
their hroJhsr; Tor | was given to no
speciality, being only a plan girl,
with fair share of faults and good |
gu 'lities, and who seemed what she
was.
There were two others in the fam
lily group; saucy, rollicking Tom,
who from the first was my cham
pion, and dear little Nell, to whom
my heart went out, as it did to no
other, and for whose dear sake,
long after the curly head was laid
under the violets. L forgave much,
and tried to be what each had re
quired.
l had been married just one week
when the first shock came. Tom
and Nell had been spending the
day with me, bringingswith them
the new feeling of having brothers
and sisters, which impaired a keep
pleasure to one so little used to
such ties. The dignity of wifehood
was too recent 10 weigh very heavi
ly upon me,and L had gone down on
the floor with the children to be