Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-10-01

be two opinions in the Haght family. Jack
remembered very opportunity before the
evening was over that his grandmother on
his mothers side was Haight, and at once
jumped to the pleasant conclusion that he
and Dolly were cousins but not In the pro-
hibited degree They we're cousins to an af-
fectionate and cosey extent but this could
be no bar to their marrying IL they should
ever think seriously of the matter.
BY means of this conveniently discovered
relationship and the eagerness he showed to
study Farmer Haights mode Of tillage, Jack
Derby contrved to obtain permission to re-
main at the farm for some time. Although
he occasionally rode of on pretended bust
ness days journey to some neighboring
town, his only affair on these excursions was
to compose endless verses to Dolly HaiRht.
He called himself Orlando, and Dolly Rosa.
lind, and even went the length of hanging
copies Of his little love poems on the trees
where Dolly would be sure to find them.
These illusions hsd q singular mixture Of the
ideal, the practical, and the rhapsodc, COM
bined with the honely details Of every day life
which verged on the absurd Like the great
Walt Whitman, Jack held to the theory that
there ia nothing so commonplace or trivial
that it cannot be Transmitted into the pure
gold Of poetry, especially when associated
with charming girl az witness the follow
the pantry window, where Dolly was making
a blackberry pie. Jack knelt down on one
knee on the grass, and scrubbed il of on the
spur OF the moment
To my Lady!
She is all courtesy,
Compact Of grace.
The very heavens
Catch Joy from her face
Her tender eyes like wet violets shine,
Aud oh her pies aud puddings are divine.
Dolly was not very much given to mirth.
She received Jack Derby's amatory nonsense
with an amused seriousness which he liked to
watch. She seldom laughed outright Her
mouth would culver, her eyes CLEAN, her
dimples ill with sunshine, and a thrill of hu-
NOR pass over her whole face She took the
tone of talking to Jack as il he we're ride
ulous, nonsensicsl boy who had come into
the country to idle away his tune. She de-
clared that be was dude out of employ
ment, "masher" who wished to amaze the
rustics and break the hearts Of simple maid
ems. Endless banter and teasing went on be-
tween the two, which Mrs. Haight, who had
taken an unaccountsble fancy to the young
man, did not seriously interfere with. Jack
wouldn't let Dolly alone. She declared he
bothered her in all her work and was an IN
mitgated nuisance, for in the spirit of love
and mischief he followed her all over the
house from garrett to cellar. II she we're in
TUG kaEucu hJHoIht III luo phtlOT
arranging aud busting, or on the back porch
pairing apples, there was Jack Derby literally
at her feet. He had offered her his hand and
heart twenty times in mock solemnity before
Dolly would pretend there was any serious
ness in his words. He had even drawn his
will and endowed her with all his worldly
goods and gear, Blldur included, but Dolly
tore the document in pieces and thrust it in
the fire. She sang TO him sometimes in the
parlor, a delightful room with two outside
doors framing the mountain views like great
pictures. Her voice was not strong but 1t
was sweet, and she infused sentiment and
feeling into her simple performance. She
had been singing one day Tennyson's "Wind
of the Western Sea, when an awed kind of
hush stole upon them BOTH and Dolly sud
denly jumped up from the piano with the
feeling that Jack might steal upon her and
try to kiss her-a thing he had Attemp pied on
ly once, but without success. From that day
Dolly grew little afraid OF Jack.
Farmer Haight and his wife at night talked
over the position Of things They we're glad
to see that Dolly was not carried away by the
devotion Of her pseudo cousin. She rose in
their opinion by her discretion and good
sense. They knew all about Jacks family
and connections, knew that there would prob
ably be oppo,i tion if Jack wished seriously
to marry plain farmers daughter, but they
felt in any event they could trust Dolly. They
did not know that Jack had already written
to his father with manly frankness that he
would marry Dolly Haight il he ever mar
ed at all. He added that he had fully de-
| termned to settle down on the stock farm
and become a solid man Of affairs to give up
poetry and devote his leisure to political
| economy, and perhaps go into politics.
One day, in the beautiful September wealth
| err, Dolly in her pink gown, the same she had
worn the first time Jack Derby saw her, had
| gone into the orchard, which covered pleas
ant hillside at the back of the house, to gath
or apples. She carried basket in her hand,
one side of which had been seized by Jack
Derby, and as she would not give it up they
thus carried and swung it between them like
two school-children. The orchard was car
peted with fine grass sown with bright vel
low leaves, which came spinning down from
the trees The apples lay thick on the ground
| and cleaned in parti-colored globes overhead.
| The sun came in bright splashes through the
thinning foliage. Below them lay the kitch-
en- garden, with its sunhowers still peering
over the wall, while great mass of golden
rod waved on the lower slope Of the hill. A
red squirrel frisked along the rail fence, and
| looking over the hill to the south lay old Sad
dleback, and fine blue undulating stretch of
hill and valley.
The orchard possessed one OF these hand.
some varieties of fruit known as the Maid
| ems Blush. 1t is beautiful apple, ivory
| white and hrm, mantled with a rich, dawn
like red They went to this tree, Jack and
Dolly and together they knelt down and be-
gan picking up Madens Bushes and putting
them into the basket which stood between
them. Dolly's hat had fallen of, and the
small blonde curls were floating all about her
head. Jacks hat too had fallen, and his
| WI half RlOsa1 with thOaa pnirihful
wrinkles which were a characteristic of his
face. Suddenly, as they were putting the ap-
Piles into the basket, their hands met and
clasped purely by accident, and in some way,
| | know not how, Jack for the first time kissed
Dolly, who blushed in a most tell,tae man
ner. think it was that day she promised to
marry Jack, Laughingly, she said after
wards that she did 1t because she found it
was impossible to get rid of him, know
not how Jack overcame the opposition OF bis
family, and the s5ruples Of Aunt Jane, who
had doomed him to marry one of her rich
nieoes. However. matters were presently
adjusted, and Jack and Dolly "were not cried
three times in meeting" but we're married in
the quietest manner. The Haights are moi
set up by the addition Of wealthy son-in.
law. They have too much self-respeot to
think that anybody can outrank them. After
all that is said and done, their Dolly is only
a farmers wife. She will never allow Jacl
Derby to live and die a nobody, il 1t is posi-
BILE to discover what he ia good for. She new
or could be made over into a fashionable
woman, for she still has "views," which
might be summed up in what her old teaohe
at the Lewiston seminary called "the m ora
culture aud the intellectual development o
woman" No amount of money could buy
Baldur, the lucky horse with one white foot
that carried Jack Derby to his Dolly-N y
EUeniHg Post.
Thnt,s Mha. re-. DoInr.