The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-04-04
LADY coTToNBLooM.
CHAPTER I.

"All right, Miss Henni6n. If you don't want to marry me you needn't, that's all. Ihave been playing the slave long enough. have been capering to your whims until my judgment tells me-"
 "Your judgment, MT. Ham~
 "Yes, my judgment"
 "I did not think that you had any judgment, Mir. Ham,"
 "Neither did the people who marked my devotion to you"
 "Oh, you are very complimentary and % charming of manner. Why, sir, your name alone is quite little social gather ing, Bucksnort Ham,"
 "Quite as good name, thank you, as Fuss Henni6n. am not ashamed of my ancestors"
 "Oh, you had ancestors, had you ? You are surprising as well as entertain ing"
 "I do not doubt you are surprised. Ancestry unquestionably has strange sound to you"
 "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 person believe that you are already married"
 II vo o Avlx ', n, ,l ter. He was all, if not more, than his name implied. Once when he was a member of the legislature, citizen told a newspaper correspondent that one of the general assemblymen was named Buck snort Ham, and straightway the cores pondent went into the house and picked out the identical man. He did not seem so much to have fitted himself to the name as the name seemed to have fitted itself to him. He had way of blowing his nose-and it sounded like the snort of buck-and his back, at little dis tance, looked exactly like a canvassed ham. He seemed to have been designed to create favorable sensation in the leg islature, for he voted against every ap- propriation and labored hard to reduce the salaries of state officers. He was a shrewd demagogue, always keeping one eye on his constituents and the other on his per diem.
 Miss Fuss Henni6n was dim eyed. She was languid, like caterpiller that has staid out all night in the dew. She read American novelists 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 ill spared her. In the autumn she shed tears at the altar in the winter she faced her podner" and shuff1ed to the sound of greasy old fid- de. She wanted to marry duke. She might have compromised on lord, but an ordinary member of an ordinary legis- lature was below the "last chance" mark.
 Mrs. Henniin was said to be a good old soul. She was a kind of eggs and butter miser. Her late husband often said that she would get up at night and after gloating over her eggs in numerous recounts, afectionately pat her butter. She was kind old lady, and every win ter gave the circuit rider pair of home knit socks.
 "i say what are you two quarreling aboutl" continued the old lady.
 "Madam," replied Mir. Bucksnort Ham, "I have asked your daughter to be my wife and she has refused"
 "W'y, Puss, how can you be so rude ?"
 Miss Fuss fiirted herself into passion.
 Why should marry him, mother What can he promise mel"
 He can promise to make you good living, child. That's what he can prom. ise."
 IA good living," the young woman contemptuously repeated. aWhat do I care about good lving3 Think that all I care about is to sit down and eat2 A dog can make good living"
 @l can promise you more than that" 1" said MT. Ham. @I am going to be . candidate for the senate. A recent amendment to the constitution of the United States-thoush l don't suppose you ever read politics-says that each state senator shall be lord with the priv ilege of selecting any name he may see ht. By marrying me, you would become lady so-and-so, according to the name we might select. If am elected, shah name my farm Cottonbloom. Then I