Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-05-05
JoE's ORPHAN.

1t was night for dreams-a rough
wild storm without-and an open fire,
table covered with books, cushioned chai
and slippers within. Atleast Joe Danfort
thought so. 4
i. s'What shall I do? ?' he soliloquized. =
"Here want to have quiet time dream
ing by own fire. Cozy, isn't it?"
| As he said this and looked at the com
Portable furnishings of his room, and thel
at the CHEEKY fire, his ear caught the
sound of the wind roaring down th,
chimney.
Chow the storm howls p' he now de
clared, stepping to the red curtains tina
fell in warm, thick folds to the floor. He
tried to look out.
Bah, it is wintry How the snow
gathers on the window-ledge. It looks likt
a bed of ily-blossoms, thought Joe.-
Then he tried to locate the different gas
lamps in the neighborhood. Only feeble
! recognition did these sentinels wink bacl
through the storm at Joe.
| 81 don'tswant to go out, I am sure, >
! thought Joe. Must. Let me read tha
note again."
He went back to the lamp-light, ant
taking up note, read:
! "DEAR JOE-Can't you come down Il
the house this evening? That individual will
be here, the orphan we told you about, ant
we sort Of want you to know her. Are
you aware, young man, that this the thir6
time have planned little company, in
Guiding you and this other friend (though
she doesn't know it p Charlie and l cal
our friend 'Joe's Orphan but if you DOM
come tonight you shall lose all claim upon
her, and we will be offended. We can't re-
serve orphans so long time and have il
amount to nothing. Now come. Cousin
Joe, do, or-or-you will miss it. Aztec
tlonately yours, Cousin FANNY"
''P. s. You understand me.''
eyes, understand you," soliloquized
Joe. sYou wonld like to get me into a
scrape. Joe's Orphan Pm not going
don't want to see her.
Here the old bachelor-he was not very
old, only thirty-settled back contentedly
in his chair to enjoy the sound of the WIND
blowing all sizes of trumpets down the
chimney.
| "Why is it?" Cousin Fanny said to her
husband, Charlie Waters, that very even.
ing at the supper table-"why is it Joe
does not care more for us females? lie is
a cynic, a savage, stone, and if he does
not accept my invitation, will max
him pay for it"
| And why did not Joe Danforth show
more susceptibility 1t is true he was fas.
tidious in his tastes, but there was another
reason. About six years ago, ne was away
on vacation in a manufacturing district,
and spent several weeks near river that
made most picturesque valleys as well as
turned very important millwheels. He was
leisurely walking along bushy country
road when he saw young woman step out
of little house that he had not discovered
before, 50 leafy was the nests in which it
was hiding. On the arm of this young wo.
man leaned an old man. She was OF
medium height, her complexion fair and
her features regular. Her beauty was in
her eyes. "Such eyes - Joe said to him
self at once. Certainly no young lady's
eyes had ever looked so far down into his
soul. There was clearness to them, a
bright, crystal purity. a pentrativeness,
that made Joe say second time, "Such
eyes !' As to color, whether blue, hazel,
brown, black, gray or even yellow, Joe
could give no account. Why is it that GER
tain looks from strangers are so magnetic
we remember them to our dying day-and
certainly will beyond-whereas other
glances make as little impression as the
raindrop gliding over a marble tombstone
| problem. Those eyes went through him
like electricity. Shock one from the
battery!
''Mercy p screamed the young lady,
lifting her head and looking in the direc-
ton of swift carriage wheels that almost
noiselessly had turned an abrupt corner
fifteen feet away. Another minute, horse
and carriage would have come rushing up
on the old man. Joe saw it. One of the
charges brought against him by superficial
acquaintances was, that he was ''a fellow
of impulses" A "freak," a ''whim, :"
might size him, and off he would CO." His
freaks, though, were generally in the right
direction, and it was in reality only his de-
cision and self-forgetfulness that made him
peculiar. The next moment Joe was
springing for the old man. Seizing him
quickly, he drew him away from his dan
gerous position.
''Oh, thank you, sir - said the young
lady, and then came Shock number two
from the battery of those eyes This time
Joe's soul was stirred to its very depths -
She turned away with her father, when a
scream was heard, "Joe! Joe r' This
came from second carriage that was pass
ing.
Joe looked up. The carriage had halted.
eff there isn't Cousin Fanny ?'' he said.
She was beckoning to him. Inwardly re-
solving that he would return and inquire
about the old man-and somebody else-he
accepted Fanny's invitation to ''ride bit. +"
She pieced out this ride with another
''bit," and when Joe did return to inquire
for the old man at the house nesting in the
woods, he was told that the young lady and
her companion we're strangers, only stop
| hriof yxho bov
had gone no one could say.
"Provoking p' exclaimed Joe. He did
not give up the search, though. Returning
to the city, he said to himself one day
''There was that old shoemaker in the vii
lage whom had occasion to see several
times, and it seems to me that one day
saw that young lady's father in his shop
Now the shoemaker may know about him,
and will inquire"
He sent a letter of inquiry about the
aged father, whose acquaintance Joe was SO
anxious to continue. The shoemaker re-
ceiyed the letter by the evening nail, and
took it to his shop to read. His light was
poor and SO were his eyes. He reached the
statement of Joe's wish, and he began to
read aloud, giving the letter his own pune
tuation: 'Want-to git-holt-of an ovid
man-who-' - The shoemaker halted
"W hats that % he asked, looking at the
word lived. "Oeh why don't people
write as they name an sure it's hired, if
it's iver anything. All, yis, and we'll be-
| gin again: 'An ovid man who hired about
a little-house-that had a-gardin'-I see
jist what he names"
Then Joe mentioned the location of this
house with garden, and the shoemaker
now shook his head triumphantly.
"Ah, yis, he names Michael Vazey, who
did work spell in that little spot among the
| trase; an this nice young captain, who must
have fine gardin, wants to hire Michael.
Yis, now see it, an wonder was SO
stupid as niver to see it before. Och,
have it now, sure, intirely. l will sind
Michael along to him, as there's nothin'
like goin' yersilf, and it may be that Ma.
dame Vazey would like to 60, too. Of
course she would"
| Who should arrive the next day bnt an
old gentleman accompanied by an old lady,
inquiring if Joe was the man who wanted
some one to take care Of his grounds, pre-
senting at the same time note from the
shoemaker, with his 'cemplimints p'
"WelI, this is scrape p' thought joe