Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-08-13

have lived in the village OF hampton as
child, boy and man for nearly years. If you
were to start from Exeter and travel north
ward say matter of SO miles, and were then
to look around, you would see circle of pleas
ant hills, afar the spires and the smoke OF a
city, and at hand large well-to-do village.
That village is Hampton, my native place.
Supposing the month July, and the time 10
o'clock of a sunshiny morning. you might
also see shabby genteel old fellow, with
white hair, a stoop, good strong shoulders,
five feet eight inches from the beginning to
the end Of him, leaning on sixpenny oak
stick, and altogether giving you the impress
sion of a man eking out not uncomfortable
existence on something like pound week.
You might be interested enough to ask some
passer-by who the old gentleman might be,
shutting along for his morning air and sun
shine. The answer would be, "Dr. Book"
The shabby genteel old fellow would be my
self
I kept a small chemists shop in Hampton
for many years, and the inhabitants called
me ''doctor." Doctor is that doctor does
and l have cured half the village, first and
last; but tell you plainly that never wrote
M. R. C. s. or F. C. P. or any such rubbish
after my plain John Book Ah, dear friends,
itmight surprise you were l to tell all that
has happened in Hampton during my time,
our population, you observe, being matter
of two thousand, more or less. There has
been deal of wickedness-many an aching
heart, many scalding tear, many cruel
deed-few and simple folk though we seem.
But why should recall anything of the sort,
when all my present concern is to describe
the way the story here following came to be
writtens Our squire's daughter, as pleasant
spoken a young lady as you could meet
writes novels, SO am told; and one day,
knowing her well, ventured to say to her:
''You don't spend much of the year in
Hampton, missF
'No; Hampton is dull, doctor. Besides"-
this she said with laugh and a bit of a
blush-''you see, l like to see life. There is
life in London, in Paris, in Madrid, but not
in Hampton"
'sNog' said
'sNot bit" she replied. "All is quiet and
regular here, and people sleep and wake as
quietly as butterfly opening and closing its
wings as it basks in the sunshine"
Now, well l knew what the young lady
meant by 'life," and why she wanted to see
"life"
''See here, miss" said I, pointing across to
Che churchyard; 'there is matter of two
or three acres of green grass there, thin as a
carpe- If you could just roll that green
coverl,v aside, and read the hearts that are
going back to dust there so quietly, you
would find enough life, as you call it, to
keep Mr.. Shakespeare busy for score of
years"
"Ah, DOCTOR" she said, pleasantly; "but
x,o,, ap6 7 dn,,ft roaan tho sarna thing yVhaIl
we talk about life."
'Perhaps not, miss,n said I.
For all that, when I told her had written
a sort of novel out of my own observation,
how pleased she was and how kind Of her to
read it, striking out one word, writing in
another, sometimes making sentence or two
out of her own head. How gay my dull old
parlor looked, with that young lady sitting
at the table, quill in hand, touching her lip
with the feather while she thought things
over!
''Now, that's pretty !" she exclaimed one
morning, as she had put in line of her own.
"Is it not pretty, doctorw
"Well, miss" I answered, "there's some
thing pretty about somewhere"
And SO the novel was made ready for
print. Fancy old DR.. Book in print-old DR..
Book, with corrections and additions by
beautiful young lady who talks French and
italian, and was not born for years after he
had marked his first gray hair!
So here is the whole story, from first to
last, by DR.. Book, revised and corrected by
Miss Millicent Hervey. Whatever in the
writing is plain, straightforward unadorned,
useful for the purpose, just like a gray home
spun sock that keeps a mans leg warm, by
Dr. Book; whatever is dainty, pretty, catch
ing, elegant, like silk stocking on pretty
foot, by Miss Millicent Hervey. If there's
any vulgarity, you observe, that's me. All
the fireside language and wayside language
by DR.. Book; the dictionary department un-
der the sole management of Miss Millicent
Hervey. But while ramble on like this the
story waits.