The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-07-01
MISS PATIENCE'S DISCOV-
ERY.

MISS PATIENCES DISCOV.
ERY.
Engaged is she?" said Miss Patience
SnedecOr, with vicious toss of her Ro.
man nose, "Grace Tyler engagedf
Well, don't know what this worlds
comm to, when men prefer little doll.
faced chit, with hair jest for all the
world like tangle O. tow, and silly
blue eyes, to mature female tina,
knows somethin' outside the nursery
walls. Why, she amt a day more'n
seventeen, and don't think she knows
any more about house-keepin' than
yonder white kitten. only hope Walt
er Dayton won't get tired of his bargain,
that's air.
And Miss Patience thought, with a
forlorn sinking at her maiden heart.
how vain had been all her smiles and
mods, and little impromptu tea-parties. to
win the young lawyers affections-the
affections which pretty Grace Tyler had
already taken, as it were, by storm.
Miss Patience was thirty-nine years
old, and the crows feet were gathering
round her eyes, and the gray hairs be-
ginning to gleam suspiciously here and
there through her auburn-red tresses.
She felt that she had not much time to
lose, and Grace Tyler was a perpetual
thorn in her side.
Walter Dayton would have been the
very husband imaged forth in her
brightest and most sanguine dreams
a tall. nobly-formed man. scarcely
twenty-five, with mischievous hazel
brown eyes, curly masses of bright hair,
and such mustache as the Apollo Bel
yidere might have worn, if it had been
in his day and generation.
I'm be revenged on him see if
don'tr' muttered Miss Patience Snede-
cor to herself. What for she did not
particularize-probably for the signal
crime and sin of not asking her to be-
come Mrs. Dayton. He's a male CO.
quette. Didn't he give me his arm
home from church one rainy night. be-
sides asking me if danced the polka at
Squire Martindale's party? only hops
he'll play the snub-nosed little Grace
Tyler false yet"
Grace Tyler, sitting in the self-same
twilight. with her lover by her side, was
anything in the world but conscious OF
the unamiable feelings with which she
was regarded by her elderly rival.
She was a marvellously pretty little
Grace, with eyes soft and blue as the
velvety petals of a fcur-de-lis, gold.
cleaning curls, and dimplcd red dot
of a mouth that seemed made expressly
to smile. To be sure her nose was a
trifle retrO4SSe, but then it gave an arch
ness to her face that made it more be-
witching than ever, and her forehead
was perhaps quarter of an inch lower
than the acknowledged models.
Nevertheless Walter Dayton would
not have had her one shade different
from what nature had made her, no,
not for all the wealth of the Indies.
..Are you sure you love me, Graciep''
demanded Mr.. Dayton, STOPPING until
his cheek almost touched her shining
curls-oh, the sweet silly formula OF
love. ever new, and yet, to outsiders,
older than the Hebraic genealogies.
And Oracle laughed at him with q
happy thrill and trcmble in her laugh
ter, and called him "a silly goose "
He, Walter Dayton. Esquire, Attorney
and Counsellor at-lawn Miss Patience
Snedecor's hair would in good truth
have stood on end, could she have
listened to this shocking familiarity on
the part of seventeen-year-old lassie.
The spinster's cold eyes CLEANED
balefully in upon them, through the
overhanging draperies of vine-leayes
as she passed by in the early evening
en- route to take tea with Mrs. Priscilla
Bookstaver, a parsonage after her OWL
stamp, whom nature had intended fol
an old maid, but whom fate had con
stituted a widow.
Anything but a pair OF lovers!
thought Patience with a scornful sniff
"and besides, l don't half believe it
proper for her to be sitting with hel
hand in his before they are married.
mean to see what Priscilla Bookstavel
says about it!
And the shortcomings of poor little
Gracie Tyler furnished fertile theme
for the two ascetic females to shak'
their heads over all the evening long.
Things amt as they was when
kept company with Mr.. Bookstaver.
croaked the widow.
Its a regular Sodom and Gomorral
world" sighed the old maid; .'and
don't see what we're all a-cOmin' tOr'
The old kitchen clock had struck min
before Miss Patience rolled up her orna
mental knitting and announced, 'tha
it was high time a lone female like he
was gettin' home.
Perhaps she was right, for it wa
growing quite dark when she crosses
the tree-shaded lane, and struck int
A. AID cho ta,.aH fh
fragrant shadows, she gave little hys
terical start. for man was standing a
the stile.
She shrank back into the darknes
like a gliding snake. for in one secon'
she had recognized a familiar voice
that of Walter Dayton-talking in loN
accents to woman wrapped in dar
mantle, so that her face, and even he
figure, were quite invisible.
ut is all nonsense!" he said littl
impetuously, Il have been only amusin
myself with her vanity; you ought t
know that it is you, and you alone, tina
love-"
And they passed on, and disappeare
from Miss Snedecor's eager gaze, leay
ing her bewildered. yet elated.
"Clls ohO CJoSoiohSos NNS@
breath, Il always did say he was dt
ceiver, and Pm morally sartain OF it nov
Poor, deluded Grace Tyler! But it's m
duty to let her know right off what Sol
of man it is she's engaged to MARI.
Oh, the sinful duplicity of this wicke
world of ours! And he church men
Der, too! What will Elder Simmer
say?- wonder who that other gi
could have been? wish I'd had th
presence of mind to follow them alon
by the old fence. I could just as we
as not, if I'd only had my wits abol
me. Poor Grace! Well, Pm glad no
l didn't encourage his attention
Lawyers always were deceitful rae
and warned Grace Tyler that he Wi
only making fun of her."
Miss Patience stood a moment, hesit
ting whether she should go that nigl
to break the awful tidings to Mr. Da
toms wronged fancee, or wait until Il
morrow. On sober second thought
however, she concluded to postpone Il
delicious morsel of retaliation.
There's time enough" thought Mi