The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-10-02
LADY COTTONBLOOM.
CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER I.
-stAn right, Miss Hennifn. If you
don't want to marry me you needn't,
that's all. I have been playing the
slave long enough. Ihave been caper-
ing to your whims until my Judgment
tells me"
4EYour Judgment, Mr. Ham?''
Eyes, my judgment p"
81 did not think that you had any
judgment, Mr.. Ham,"
t'Neither did the people who marked
my devotion to YOU"
'tOh, you are very complimentary
and so charming of manner. Why,
sir, your name alone is quite a
little social gathering, Bucksnort
Ham
''Quite as good name, THANK you,
as Puss Hennifin. am not ashamed
of my ancestors"
<tOh, you had ancestors, had you?
You are surprising as well as enter
tanning"
81 do not doubt surprised.
Ancestry inquest as strange
sound to yon."
+'What are you quarreling. about?"
asked an old lady entering the room
where the young woman and young
man sat glaring at each other.
<@Why, you are enough to make a
person believe that you are already
married"
Bsleksnort Ham was an Arkansaw
planter. He was all, if not more, than
his name implied. Once when he
was a member of the legislature, d
citizen told a newspaper correspondent
that one of the general assemblymen
4
.straightway the correspondent went
identical man. He did not seem SO
much to have fitted himself to the
name rs the uame seemed to have fit
ted itself to him. He had way of
blowing his nose-and it sounded like
the snort of buck-and his back, at
!. little distance, looked exactly like
E. canvassed ham. He seemed to have
been designed to create favorable
sensation in the legislature, for he
voted against every appropriation and
3labored hard to reduce the salaries of
state officers. He was shrewd dem
agogue, always keeping one eye on
a1is constituents and the other on his
per diem.
Miss Puss Hennifin was dim eyed.
She was languid, like a caterpiller
that has staid out all night in the dew.
She read American noveIists whose
plots are pitched IN foreign lands. She
was not handsome, but people said she
was good. The mourners' bench at
Mount Catnip church could have i'll
spared her. In the autumn she shed
tears at the altar; in the winter she
faced her ''podner" and shuff1ed to the
sound of a greasy old fiddle. She
wanted to marry duke. She might
have compromised on a lord, but an
. ordinary member of an ordinary legis-
. latnre was below the s.last chance'
mark.
Mrs Hennifin was said to he good
old soul. She was kind of eggs and
buttet mfser. Her late husband often
said that she would get up at night
and after gloating over her eggs in
numerous recounts, affectionately pat
her butter. She was kind old lady,
and every winter gave the circuit ri
der pair of home-knit socks.
81 say what are you two quarreling
=aboutg'7 continued the old lady.
Madam" replied Mr.. Bucksnort
Ham, 81 have asked your daughter to
be nv wife and she has refused"
Ivy, Puss, how can you be SO
srude?"
Miss Puss fiirted herself into pas
sion.
tsWhy should I marry him, mother?
What can he promise me?"
4tHe can promise to make you
good living, child. That's what he
can promise.
4.A gooa living" the young woman
.contemptuously repeated. "What do
Il care about good 1ivingP Think that
=an care about is to sit down and eatp
a dog can make a good living"
AI can promise you more than that, y
said Mr.. Ham. 81 am going to be a
candidate for the senate. A recent
amaendmeut to the constitution of the
United States though Idon't suppose
You ever read politics-says that each
state senator shall be a lord with the
privilege of selecting any name he may
see fit. BY marrying me you would
become lady so-and-so, according to
the name we might select. If l am
elected, shall name my farm Cotton
bloom. Then 1 shall be known as
f1owery name. Of course I'll not press
would like ito become Lady Cotton
wood : so if you persist in your refusal.
II will lay my title at the feet of some
other woman"
Claw, Puss, do you hear that?''
exclaimed the old lady.
..Of course hear it, maw," replied
the Young lady. Il have always re-
: spected Mr.. Ham, and have never
refused to listen to him. l knew that
the. law had passed, and l very well
knew that should Mr.. Ham desire
it, he could go up into the house OF
lords instead of remaining in the
house of commons"
..Well, ladies' SAID Mr.. Bucksnort
Ham, Il must go out and formally