The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-23
A leap FOR LIFE
BY NUGENT ROBINSON.

BY NUGENT ROBINSON.
I was spending the summer in the
White mountains, and was lucky enough
TO secure bed and board at a genuine
farm house; 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
hest-from Mrs. Rosetint, my buxom
widow landlady, to the succulent green
neas-from the tender sirloin to the
toothsome squash.
Nv bedroom was neat enough for a
Rosiere and my wants were as eagerly
attended to by good -humored Irish girl
as though had been Mr.. Charles Stew
art Parnell himself. In fact, | was liter
ally, as we'll as metaphorically, in clo-
yer.
am an enthusiastic "walkist" Twen-
ty-ay, thirty !-miles do not give me
muscle ache.
l am six feet, built in proportion, and
the possessor of pair of legs-well they
are my only vanity-and l like to wear
kn;ckerbockers and Scotch heather
stockings.
My tramps in and out of the valleys,
aad up and down the sides of the White
mountains, were a source of exquisite de-
light. My seven O'Clock breakfast over
oh, those buckwhcat cakes. - my
mcerschaum pipe in my jaw, my Irish
Biddy's especial care-in
my fist, l was off, rain or shine, never
putting in an appearance at Farm Lod dge
until rosy eve; hard biscuit and some
cold tea carried with me being my sup
por;ers until seven o'clock dinner.
One evening after l had "tubbed, {"
and fresh as Dublin bay herring, de-
scended to the dining room, l 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,
Biddv?" asked, as l staked a roasted
fowl on a two pronged fork.
The new boarders is come. Misther
cal.ash.''
New boarders! Mrs. Rosetint never
mentioned them"
That's quare, sir. We've been
reid2in' the place for them the last tin
days no less
They won't interfere with me, hope,
Biddy"
''Sorra a fear O that, if can help it,
Sir; but I'm thiniin' 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 misery, Tie very thing of
ali others that rendered Farm Lodge so
delightful to me was the absence of the
''young lady" element. 1 was heart
whole at slx-and dtwenty. Tough
deuced tough as Major Bagstock has it
and the worry of having to be conven-
tonal, and polite, and shirt colIarv dur
ing my summer holiday was quite too
too utterly provoking.
Never mind" l half-muttered. as
worried the druInstick of the succulent
chicken, Il need not bother. i am up
before these people viii dream of stir
ring, and as l shall be away all day, it
cont make much difference. l shall
give them tolerably wide berth.
The next morning, as l thrust my body
half-out of my bedroom window, to see
what the day promised, my eyes encoun-
tered girl of exquisite figure, attired
in a tailor-made blue flannel, a soft felt
hat on her head, and looking as fresh as
honest. and if apple blossoms and roses
were on her cheeks, cherries were on
the deliciously carvcn lips, while in the
tered mine, there was light that actual
beautiful rosebuds in her hand, plucked
from my favorite tree,a Gloire de Dijon.
One of these buds had fallen. l
spotted" it, and before l attacked the
buckwheat cakes, it was in my posses
sion
''Who are these new boarders?" 1
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
ieodles is sweet crayturs, and the old
iady was down on Mrs. Rosetint for hav-
ing any strangers in the house, but the
mlsthress made her quite aisy, in regard
10 you sayin' We was decent say-noth-
n-to-nobody, harmless young man."
This was stupid description of char
acter enough l wondered did my girl
near Mrs. Rosetints description of me.
The two sisters we're in the garden as
passed through. My girl blushed the
foslest of reds as / doffed my hat en- pas
SAINT
felt inclined to blush, too, recollect-
ing the abominable appearance l must
nave presented at the little window that
morning
Somehow or other, could not Danish
ner eyes from my thoughts, and as
uamped over the mountains, the cleo
.rlcity of her glance seemed to light ur
everything around me.
ate brought us together in the gloam-
ing
o.:,was was speeding dinnerward, and was
s',li good three miles from the mutton,
', "hen at turn, not in the road, but in
III 1le rocks, [ encountered the Misses La
e anu Both were laden with mountain
nnoewers, and both were proceeding in the
'iIectlon of Farm Lodge
NOW, to pass them would have beer
poofish.. r. people living beneath the same
At 0i wi with me, SO with a little quiverins
ioenI ne heart-no, not palpitation-.
aaA w" my beaver. and asked if the,
were gOlno homayord