Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1885-04-16
a LEAP FOB LIFE.
By NUeENT ROBINSON.


By NUGENT ROBINSON.
I was spending the summer in the
White mountains, and was lucky enough
to secure bed and board at genuine
farmhouse no imitation establishment,
no cruel mockeries regarding fresh eggs,
no dismal delusions in respect to milk
from the COW!
At Farm Lodge everything was Of the
best-from Mrs. Rosetint, my buxom
widow landlady, to the succulent green
peas-from the tender sirloin to the
toothsome squash.
MY bedroom was neat enough for a
Rosiere, and my wants were as eagerly
attended to by good -humored Irish girl
as though I had been Mr.. Charles Stew
art Parnell himself. In fact, was liter
ally, as well as metaphorically, In clo-
yer.
am an enthusiastic 'swalkist. !" Twen-
ty-ay, thirty miles do not give me
a muscle ache.
I am six feet, built in proportion, and
the possessor of a pair of legs well they
are my only vanity--and like to wear
knickerbockers and Scotch heather
stockings.
My tramps in and out of the valleys,
and up and down the sides Of the White
mountains, were source of exquisite de-
light. My seven o'clock breakfast over
oh, those buckwheat cakesi - my
meerschaum pipe in my jaw, my Irish
blackthorn- -Biddy's especial care-in
my fist, / was off, rain or shine, never
putting in an appearance at Farm Lodge
until rosy eve; hard biscuit and some
cold tea carried with me being my sup
porters until seven o'clock dinner.
One evening after I had " "tubbed, >
and fresh as Dublin bay herring, de-
scended to the dining-room, found my
self stumbling over not one, but half a
dozen, Saratoga trunks, blocking the
hall, and cutting off the stairs.
"What the deuce is the matter,
Biddy?" l asked, as 1 staked a roasted
fowl on a two -pronged fork.
"The new boarders is come, Misther
Saltash.'
"New boardersl Mrs. Rosetint never
mentioned them"
"That's quare, sir. We've been
reddyin' the place for them the last tin
days, no less
"They won't interfere with me, Ihope,
Biddy.n
"Sorra fear O. that, if | can help it,
sir; but I'm thinkin' that if yer not be-
spoke, there's wan Of the young leddies
that will spoil yer long walks if ye don't
take her along"
Here was miseryl TIE very thing of
all others that rendered Farm Lodge SO
delightful to me was the absence of the
'syoung lady, element. I was heart
whole at six-and-twenty. Tough
deuced tough as Major Bagstock has #
and the worry Of having to be conven-
tional, and polite, and shirt collary dur
ing my summer holiday was quite too
too utterly provoking.
"Never mind" l half-muttered, as
worried the drumstick of the succulent
chicken, 7 need not bother. am up
before these people will dream OF stir
ring, and as ! shall be away all day, it
don't make much difference. shall
give them tolerably wide berth.
The next morning, as thrust my body
half-out of my bedroom window, to see
what the day promised, my eyes encoun-
tered a girl of exquisite figure, attired
in tailor made blue flannel, soft felt
hat on her head, and looking as fresh as
Aurora herself Her face was open and
honest, and if apple blossoms and roses
were on her cheeks, cherries were on
the deliciously carven lips, while in the
startled eyes that for second encoun
tered mine, there was light that actual
Iy electrified me- She had bunch of
beautiful rosebuds in her hand, plucked
from my favorite tree,a Gloire de Dion.
One of these buds had fallen. /
''spotted" it, and before attacked the
buckwheat cakes, it was in my posses
sion.
ssWho are these new boardersa' /
asked of my fair Land Lacquer.
They're from Boston, sir. La Fanu
be name. The father is counselor.
Mrs. Rosetint was their cook wanst, and
they never lost sight of her. The young
1eddies is sweet crayturs, and the old
lady was down on Mrs. Rosetint for hay
ing any strangers in the house, but the
misthress made her quite aisy, in regard
to you, sayin' ye was decent say-noth-
in'-to-nobody, harmless young man.
This was stupid description of char
.acter enough. I wondered did my girl
hear Mrs. Rosetint's description of me.
The two sisters were in the garden as !
passed through. My girl blushed the
rosiest Of reds as doffed my hat en- pas
SAINT.
I felt inclined to blush, too, recollect-
ing the abominable appearance must
have presented at the little window that
Dsofning.
Somehow Or other, could not Danish
her eyes from ny thoughts, aud as