Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-12-27

hoct-owl with : lark. One OF VIC y :
brothers had jus: been barber'ng n'm
cut behind the house--su operation .ns'
emphasized those physica! SHORTCOMINGS
that made Melindy Allen eau ~"
:. whitc.liyered, sickly-lookin," lie
went about tho room shaking limp hands
with thu ladies, aud answering their
soft How a ye, Lums with an inarticuiate
mutter.
Mr.. Cberry's prospective mother-in.
law followed him into the room, and
directing him to draw up. proceeded to
serve out plateful Of supper to him.
The appearance Of these two important
personsges heartened up the wicked old
cossips pleasant anticipations Of the
unusual event were expressed IN home
ly Jokes and solemn representations
for the benefit Of the next to the CHIEF
actor.
And Cic'ly-Cic'ly was off in the
woods somewhere "walkin' down her
wonderment," she told herself. How
often in her girlhood, when her strange
impotent enthusiasts possessed her,
had she taken to the woods to walk it
down! Is girlhood less mysterious and
tender because it can neither read nor
writer Are its thoughts less holy be-
cause they are voiceless and choked for
utterance? Is love less meet and fruit
full because Of rude clothes and an hum
bic shrine? Cic'ly, speeding through
the frosty woods, not mindipg how the
galberry bushes scratched at her new
fIock, walked like a young David with
the wide, tender dusks Of her solemn
eyes upturned to the skies.
II know what it all means now" she
said to herself. every time used to
git restless fits on me it was because |
was a waitin' for Lum. When | used
to slip out to the stile to look this way
and that way to see if anybody was
comm, when there wasn't anybody to
come at all, it was JUS Lum. And when
! got low-spirited and felt as if the
world was comm to an end, it was Lum
agin and when was always waitin'
for som'fen to happen, twas nothing
but Lum." What fine young lady. the
flower of culture and grace, could bet
ter have summed up the varying, per-
picking emotions of being in love, than
did Cic'ly walking down her wonder
ment of joy in the lonesome depths Of
the piny forests ? The dark skies
seemed to part overhead, and in her
halo of happiness she could see her
castle-her one-roomed loblolly log
cabin-that tomorrow would be hers
and Lum's. She could hear how the
birds sang in the sweet-gum trees, how
the pines crooned. Often she had
asked herself if the ceaseless soughing
in the forest, the deep-toned baying of
the winds, was not the noise Of the
outside world, like at Orleans, drib-
bling in through the swamp; but now
that everything was happiness to her
lover, wedding, a husband.
home-she would never again care
what the grooming sound might mean.
Oh, the torch of love was lighted
and Cic'ly meant to bear herself to
that cabin home Of hers, to tend its
faithful fire and keep it trimmed and
burning.
The next day after the eloquent
preaching-after the mitigated excite
ment OF the mourners' bench where,
Notwithstanding the pretending finale
of wedding, two were up to be prayed
for, after the christening Of Melinda
Aliens last baby, preaching being too
scarce to admit of any curtailment of
the usual interesting routine Of reli-
gious observances-Cic'ly Ruggles and
Lum Cherry were made man and wife.
and that same evening, after a great
feasting, Lysander Ruggles jumped his
daughter up on to the pony hind Lum,
and clasping his waist Cic'ly disap-
peared through the woods and was car
ried off to her new home on the other
side Of Snaky Swamp.