Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1888-03-23
CYNTHIA'S MISTAKE.

its such a lonesome place here"
said Cynthia Copley. dolefully.
Good creation!' retorted Uncle
Phineds (for shortness known as
Gin, "what did you expectt told
you, didn't !, that it was out on the
shores Of Lake Umbagoy without d
house for two miles arouaI?"
"Oh, yes, know" said Cynthia.
with a little .shudder "but l didn't
know about the bald eagles screaming,
and the horrld mooses with their blg
horns and the lap-lap Of the water on
the shore! declalc, sometimes it
seems as if should 60 mad in this
horrible solituder
you'll get used to it arter awhile, "
said Uncle Fin, who was cleaning his
gun-barrel with piece of one of his
old shirts. 81 did!"
"But you aren't a woman, Uncle
Fin
81 declare to goodness, l never
thought of that!' said the old man,
with chuckle at is pretty rough
on woman to have nobody to talk to
now, isn't it? Wal, if you'll get into
the boat arter supper, Ill take you over
TO see Indian Oscelita It's only three
miles round the point, and she'll show
| you how to stuff birds, and do fancy.
work with their quilts, and play on the
mandolin, and all that sort of thing
She's a right smart gal, Oscelita is, anC
pretty in the bIrgain. She's Pilot
Johns darter, and her mother was tn,
handsomest Indian woman hereele-s-4.' :
"Thank your said Miss Cynthia
drawing herself up, but am not YET
reduced so low as to seek the association
of an Indian squaw."
"Oh, go along" said good-natured
Uncle Fin. "Ossy ain'J that. Her
mother was as white as most white
women, and her father is a fne-lookn'
old chap yet. He was a Maine lumber
man, till he took to runnin' the little
steamer through the lakes. l just wish
you could see the pretty little cabin
they live in, all covered with morning
glories."
81 have no desire to see it," said
Cynthia, pursuing up her thin lips.
"Ossy is comm round here some day
to visit you, she says" hazarded Uncle
Fin.
"She may as well save herself the
trouble observed Miss Copley.
"Oh-h-h" sad Uncle Fin, with a
prolonged whistle you're too genteei
to scrape spoons with Indian Oscelita,
eh? Well, do declare there amt no
fndin' out the ways of women!
And he laughed at intervals all the
evening, and chuckled between whiles,
to the Intense discontinue of his niece.
Miss Cynthia Copley had been the
village dressmaker at Weldon Falls, in
the state of Rhode Island, until newer
and more genteel interpreter of the
fashions crowded her out.
There were eleven of them in the
household nest, and when Cynthia
came home, with a racling cough and
nothing to do, it made little awk-
wardness.
But just then arrived Uncle Fin,
brown, bpaming and uproariously
good-naturcd.
ELEVEN, ch p he said to his care
worn brother. "Just the right num-
Der; not one too many. And if
Cynthias delicate, inst send her out to
spend a summer with me on the shores
Of Lake Umbagog. Thatll set her
right, if anything will. Why, bless
your heart, man, there's health in every
whiff of the pine woods, and red cheeks
n every gale that comes across the
water. live there alone, like Rob l.
son Crusoe; but it amt a bad place,
and Cynthy'll be as W elcome as flowers
n May"
So Cynthia Copley packed her ward
'obe of frills, founces, jerseys and
o;her feminine appurtenances, with a
set Of croquet and an cutGt of lawn.
ennis, some shelving boards and
botanical cases. and the last new novels,
md came TO Lake Umbagog.
"0f course there are plenty Of tour
SITS there, she thought, exultantly, to
lerself, dreaming vague visions of re-
.urning home with hat trimmed with
nge-blossoms, and an Apollo-visaged
7oung man in her train.
But, alas, she had been month az
Pine Point, and not soul had come
lear the place, except two or three
old hunters. a crooked
Oeldsm, gathering herbs and simples
md two showmen, in search of a fine
specimen moose for their collection.
Was it any wonder that the demon
lomesickness took possession. of her
heart?