The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-11-05

PIE nlll-NOpS.
But Milly rarely went with us on
these trips. She would take her book
and her skipping-rOpe and haunt those
shaded and breezy spots in immediate
neighborhood of the house. Nor was
she always alone on these occasions.
There were a few quiet girls of about
her own age at ROllester's, who loved
to accompany her, leaving the noisier
bevies of both sexes to their rambles,
their crOquet, or their ball-plaving.
But most of all Milly loved to have
with her a little boy of about seven
years old, whom everybody used to
call ''Willy Winkie. He was the
only child of young widow, whose
tears for her husband were not yet
dried, l fancy, and who loved this boy
with the tenderest devotion. His full
name was William Van Wrinkle, but
when very young he had thus lisping-
ly pronounced it, and so the comic lit
tie nickname, suggestive of the pretty
nursery song, had chung to him ever
since.
Milly passiopately loved children,
but we had never seen her more
charmed by any child than by Willy
Winkie. And indeed he was the most
beautiful child / had ever known, and
though far from being q saint, he made
you recall, with his melting blue eyes
and his cloud of golden hair, the pic
lures you had seen of angels. Little
Willy Winkie had a cousin in the house,
named Leila Lindsay, who was of about
the same age as Milly, and this young
lady, whose scorn for timid people was
unreasonable, before long commenced
a series of sly but relentless persecu-
| ffnnG II nod Of oil ooo,rrffAoH ~
| self very creditably in this respect, but
| L recOllect now wishing that Leila
Lindsay was boy, so that l might
| coOlly force her to see that her annoy
ances must not be continued. At first
/ it was evident that my sister tried not
| to mind them much, and even to laugh
| or smile them of. But by degrees
! Milly grew hopeless of doing either.
| Leila, for example, had learned that
/ she felt a mortal disgust toward a bat.
1 can't tell how many times of an even
| ing, on piazza, in hall, or in parlor, a
| loose ball of dark worsted, or crumpled
black lace, or some such material
would come hurting from ambush
| straight at Milly's head. The crisp,
! dry crackle and solemn buzz made by
all night insects of the beetle sort gave
/ Milly involuntary shiveTs-a demon
stration which people older and
/ stronger than she not seldom make
under like incentive.
Consequently Leila Lindsay would
exert her ablest powers of ventriloquism
/ to initiate these detested sounds.
| Some times she would attach an invisi-
| bic thread to a bit of dark cloth or
wool, and arrange so as to draw the
latter fleetly across some portion of a
room near which Milly sat or walked
once, / recollect, when my sister was
searching for her beloved and mislaid
skipping rope, she suddenly discovered
1t wriggling like a snake at the en-
/ trance of a half-shut closet door.
This plot struck me as particularly
mean one in Leila, as l happened to
| know, from some of our outdoor eX-
cursions together, that she Cike nearly
| every member of her sex, old or Young,
whom l have ever metz entertained q
deep horror of the whole snaky tribe.
All this sort of things fretted and dis
! pleased mother, who wanted the sweet,
pure air of the hills to heal and fortify
Milly's impaired health.
She spoke to the mother of Leila
more than once, very gently and anna
bly,, as was always her wont, but Mrs.
Lindsay was one of those parents who
AlhC " AGDIllnGnu LuGlE CDlAufeu ONLY
for the faults which they themselves
have discovered in them, and she rare
" found any faults in Leila.
Il should think you would punish
your daughter for her lack of self-con-
troll, she at length said, little tartly,
to mother, while 1 chance to be pres
ent.
Il do not believe in punishment
where it will work harm instead OF
good, was the reply. Besides, nv
Milly's trouble is weakness of the body,
not wilfulness OF the mind" And
there the matter dropped.
! believe Mrs. Lindsay did after.
wards forbid further impiSh acts on the
part of Leila. But although Leila
partially Obeyed this mild parental en-
iOinder, other girls, and some of the
younger boys, despOiled of the fur
that their ringleader's pranks haC
afforded them, showed in various un
skilful ways the force of her evil eX
ample, like guerrilla skirmishers aftel
the surrender of their rebellious chief
Milly felt all this keenly, and said t.
me one day, with a rueful little tremO1
about her lips:
''Ned, don't think I'll go on tn,
picnic to Hemlock Glove tomorrow
The wagons will be full without me
and anyway l don't think my goin!
will make the party a bit pleasanter.
l knew well enough what she meant
and told her, in what l fear was
rough fashion, however we'll intended
that she must not make q little COOS
of herself; that Hemlock Glove wa
one of the loveliest spots in tn
, mountains; that we would have
, superb time; and that if any boy of IN,
! own age, or any thing approaching il
, should play the least trick upon her
he q have to account to me for his be
havior afterward. Later, mothe
! Joined her persuasions to mine; an,
! MiIly, when tomorrow came, mad
one of the large party which starte
a from Rollester's at about ten O'Clock
in three merry and cOpious wagon
T loads. There were girls, boys an
! ladies in plenty, but few gentlemen.
The drive was long one, but pictul
! esque and enjoyable. We reached tn
. Glove at about one o'clock, and fOun
/, it as exquisite a spot rs local renow
E had already painted it. The dusk
hemlocks thrOnged its deep vale
walled in by the sloping sides of tw
huge mountains. A splendid, Draw
ing, fOaming stream tnmbled thrOug
, it. making dark pools under some {
! the dark, black rocks. and at interval
dwindling to a mere shallow and glass
current
? There was a great deal of mirth an
fun both among the old and the yOun
= people, as we unloaded our hamper
a on an eNpanse of fresh green tur
l | which looked like a velvet table-clot
I wrought by nature herself, and mad
: it seem an insult almost to employ tn
= snowy fabrics which we spread Their,
r Even the appetites of one or two il
valids in our party were whetted {
! | lIeenness; and though Milly had nevt
: been considered in the light of a re;