The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-04-09
Without Any Counting.
letter. PATTERSON vas IL

TEETER PATTERSON was i'll
at least he thought so, and de
| RsS pressed; he had headaches
kk91 and he hated the dusty street
IN which the summer heat burn
and the summer sun shone befor'
the green leaves had draped tn,
trees and plotted geraniuns which
have come to be so blessedly popu
lar in New York, lent their gumme
freshness.
''What shall do, doctOr?"he saiC
to the white-headed old physician
you say that nothing ails me, bu
1 can tell you what my feelings arr
better than you can. l know
shall be down with something soon
I rode in a car with a half dozer
dirty children the other day going
to a smallpox hospital, 1 haven't {
doubt-vely red and nasty looking
all Of them; and while | was buying
something in store down in Broad
way the other day, a hOrrid OLD wo-
man begged of me because her hGs-
band was sick with typhoid fever
No doubt I've caught both diseases
and it's the complication that puz
zles you. Couldn't relish my coffee
this morning; left my milk toast
untouched. Hateful life, that of a
bachelor st hotel. Oh dear me?'
''Why don't you marry, thenT'
said the doctor.
"They need so much courting,'
said Patterson. you spend six
months or so, at least, dangling at a
woman's apron strings. You must
go to the theatre and opera, if she
is gay, and to church meeting if she
is pious. At fifty a man likes his
slippers and dressing-reom and
chair of an evening. If it was just
stepping over to the clergyman's
and getting married, putting a ring
on her finger and saying or nodding
yes two or three times, why l would
not mind il, you know"
'Ah, well, counting is the fun OF
it all, in my opinion" said the doc
tor, "but every one to his taste.
And my advice to you is to get out
INTO the country.
"To another hotel and more mer-
cenary waitersr' ssid Mr.. Patter-
son.
"No." said the doctor, "go to a
nice private home. l know one-a
motherly widow lady who cooks a
dinner fit for king. River before
the house, woods behind it, orchard
to the left, kitchen and garden to
the right, no fever and ague, no
mosquitoes. Heavenly! 1 am going
up there tomorrow and I'll see if
she'll take you"
VERY WELL" said Mr.. Patterson,
Il think 1 will try il"
"And you must drink plenty OF
milk, and eat plenty of nice home
made bread"
eyes, 1 will" said Patterson, over
ioyed at least at hearing something
that sounded like prescription.
"And you will advise milk? ,
Quart OF it every day." said the
doctor.
OIL take a note of it," said Pat
terson, land if l should be very i'll
she'll nurse me?"
"Splendidly," said the doctor, and
went his way.
Mr.. Patterson thought the mat
ter over, and thought better of it
every day, and when the little note
informing him that the widow
would be willing to "take him in
and do for him" reached him, he
had his trunk and portmauteau al
ready packed, and was all ready to
start that afternoon. As for the
widow, the doctor had prepared her
for her boarder's pecuiarities thus:
mice fellow; social; plenty Of
money; thinks himself i'll; but isn't;
ought to be married; told him so,
| but he hates the idea of counting
marry of some day no doubt; Will
you have meY Yes Call in cler-
gyman. Over. Very peculiar old
bachelor; but then old bachelors are
peculiar generally"
The widow was what yankees call
an amazing smart woman. She had
married at sixteen and had never
failed to have washing over when
other people were hanging out
theirs. Her bread always rose, her
cake was always good and her but
ter always sweet. At forty five she
had married off all her daughters,
was well TODD, buxom and happy.
Her son and his wife boarded
with her, and she added to her plen-
tiful savings by taking a summer
bosrder or two, if any happened to
Offer.
Fifty and bachelor" said Mrs.
Muntle, looking In the glass. swell,
it seems a pity; but when elderly
gentlemen marry, it is to some hity-
tity girl that leads them a terrible
life, and likely it's for the best"
Then she looked in the glass
again, for the widow was but wo
man after all.
Mr.. Patterson came to the wild
ow's and ebeyed the doctors pre-
scription carefully. He ate bread
and milk, robbed the orchards like
a schOol-boy and declared over the
strawberry shortcake after a fash
ion that would have made his repU-
tation at the bar. Then, too, Mrs
Muntle did not smile at his aches
and pains, and insist that he must
be perpetually well because he mad
a fresh complexion and dimples in
his cheeks. She had savory herl
teas and potions, which she produc
| ed when he complained of feeling
miserable, and she had that bless
ing OF all hypochondriacs, homRo
pathic box in the house.
There was remedies in that boz
for everything; and it was pleasan
} to find that there was a crawling
sensation in your flesh, or a kind o
uneasy feeling in your legs, Their,
were daily little gIobules to be hac
just suited fer symptoms; that tt