The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-05-06
THE REASON
Why Miss Janey Clings to the
Old Diney Piano.

Old Dingy Piano.
j suppose people are excusable for
wondering why Miss Janey clings to
such a battered old hulk as I, with my
muff1ed, reluctant tones and dingy,
yellow-tinged keys, but l could tell
them q reason if 1 chose.
Who butt, in the early twilights, re-
spending to the touch of her trembling
fingers, calls up with my faint, mourn
full tones, bitter-sweet memories of a
vanished youthP With whom else can
she commune over the long-buried
hopes, and fears, and loves of her early
blighted springtime, now that the au
tumn draws nearer and nearerp We un-
derstand one another, Janey and !, and
we have grown old, and yellow, and
querulous-toneda together. Is not
Janey's own voice becoming a tri1e
cracked of late, and have not the fresh
tints of her girlish complexion taken on
q hue that matches my yellow keysP
To be sure, / am something the elder,
but I am equally positive that l have
gone off in looks a bit more than
Miss Janey herself, although I don't
want to give myself airs because time
has favored me q little more than it has
my mistress. There is the difference of
wear and tear to be considered. Inever
had a lover, although ] can not deny
that | have on Numerous occasions sup
piled a needful physical support to
various Weakened, intensely yearning,
chaotic bundles of masculine emotion. 1
have, therefore, had opportunities of
observing the general method and par
ticular madness of young men in love,
and l should Judge them to be very
wearing upon the system; at
least ] have found some of them very
wearing upon mine. There was Almira's
entomologist, and had the habit charac-
teristic of his profession of dropping all
manner of small, creeping things in
various stages of activity u of his Ca
pacious pockets, made to order n u
ually large. / remember particularly
that on n occasion, while the pro-
lessor was abstractedly turning Almira's
musie--in the wrong place-a fine
specimen of polydesmus c~omplanatus
escaped from his pocket and disappeared
within my internal economy, causing
me great distress and the profe ssor much
anxiety, not on my account, 1 assure
you, but lest the polydesmus compla-
natus should be squeezed a little in
transit or lose a few of the locomotive
apparatus with which nature in a gener-
Gus mood had endowed it. 1 really
could not understand why the loss of a
few feet, more or less, where one has so
many more than necessary, should be
regarded as a domestic calamity, but
then l have not a scientific mind. I do
not think Almira bad, either, though
she did not spoil her prospects by saying
so. and bestirred herself most actively
to recover the pest with the long name.
Soon after this little episode Almira
and her entomologist were made one,
and removed to another State with all
their worldly goods, which consisted for
the most part of new dresses, wedding
presents. and a large and varied assort-
iment of native and foreign bugs.
Ada, the second daughter, being in
the thump and bang period of musical
transition. when young ladies do not
play for company but merely for their
W amusement, l enjoyed a short but
blessed respite from the passive super
vision of young men and maidens on
matrimonial tactics bent. Less than
two years this lasted, and followed the
most trying period of my whole exist
ence. Ada was considered the beauty
of the family. Almira had been well
enough In her way, but we had scarcely
considered ourselves fortunate in be
slowing her upon,alean young professor.
with speotacles and a very thin stand
of side-whiskers, and whose hearts best
affections were sealed up in small bot
ties of picked reptiles and m~anylegged
bugs .impaled upon pins. For Ada we
looked higher.
Ada had many admirers, considering
the quiet country town in which we
lived. but / well remember that she had
passed her twenty-first birthday having
received only n offer, and that from
q local sewing-machine agent, wher
Frederick Foster came to spend the
summer with his college chum, George
Marshall. A gentleman of leisure, ap
parentJy, who wore upon his little fin
ger an elegant diamond ring, was MIR
Fred Foster, but he was fortunate
enough to possess a physical develop
ment that rescued him from an appear
ance of dandyism in spite of certain out
ward tendencies in that direction. Al
his appurtenances, from the distin
guishcd little finger down to his %jointet
fishing-rod and gayly-caparisoned bu
delusive box of insects pertaining there
to, were all that the most fastidiou
could desire. Ada, whose mind, lik
the spare room bed, was always mad
up beforehand, said inwardly but EN-
phatically here was the man for her
She admitted there might be difficulties
He might object to the appropriation, o
there might be other lions in the path
but what were lions compared to a man
Mr.. Fred had evidently been hunted be
fore, and that in every conceivable man
ner known to modern matrimonial wood
craft; and it was very early in the chas
that Ada wisely concluded to feign pei
feet Indifference and await with wha
patience she could command the da
when he should discover that here wa
a remarkable pretty little girl-wonde
if she knows how to firt!
A mans curiosity will usually get tn
better of his discretion if you give hir
time. and SO it happened that when or
afternoon, as he was lounging along th
bank of a rapid little brook that ripple
noisily through the meadows of tn
Holt farm, he came upon Ada with
little willow-basket on her arm and
serene Inconsistencies on her din
pied face. he did not turn and flee
cover as the prudent man is understood
to do in such cases, but in a fool-hard
spirit passed on and was-well, you wi
discover what later IN.
The days drifted IN in that partic'
larry almless fashion that seems to spe
tators to largely prevail in countri6e
little towns, but which, nevertheless, al
days that TEEN with significant trifl'
and sufficiently important issues whe
one comes to be an actor in the quiz
pastoral drama. During these da,
Fred Foster had become q regulsr visitt
iAAa k.aNaA ..a an &ka .,raAsk.n