Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1889-10-18

Nj
~ "a and tiny hooks, cur
u VA tanned, carpeted and
- daintily furnished,
' where a tete -tete
was q luxury not to be despised. She
had positive genius for effacing her.
self and all other superfiuous people
when John and Jane were to be brought
to understand each other, and she was
constantly on the watch for Johns and
James to benefit.
It cannot be denied that Willstown,
like the proverbial republics, often
proved ungrateful, the wrong Johns be-
ing frequently paired with the James OF
their special adherence, and 1t had been
more than once whispered by disap-
pointed wooers, that they "wished Mrs.
Ferguson would mind her own business" "
But nothing would ever convince that
benevolent old lady that if marriages
we're started in Heaven, she was not a
special agent upon earth to forward
them.
1t may therefore be imagined what a
"thorn in tho flesh" it was to this schem-
ing lady, to have under her own roof,
daily at her table, nephew who, at the
mature age of 28, was, in spite of
her ceaseless endeavors II had almost
written persecution), still a bachelor.
"Poor Charles?" his aunt would sigh,
she is so shy, so reserved He viii
never have the courage to WOO his wife,
and it Is my positive duty to help him !!
But the more persistently she drove
him into her coziest hooks and corners
with the prettiest girls in Wlllstown, the
more he avoided her parties, be they
luncheons, teas, or evening gatherings.
1t was not entirely the fault of the
pretty girls either, for Charles Barker
was man to whom women naturally in
cline, gentle, dreamy, poetic and eX-
ceptionally handsome. Had he lived in
the present rage for the aesthetic, he
might have been accused of affectatious.
OF posing for admiration; but it wo7
VII h'~n 2 ctr core al Tor % ar :;
dreaming poetic temperament, that could
lift itself out of the commonplace sur
roundlngs of his life, and dwell in an
ideal world apart.
Wealthy, and not very strong physi-
cally, Charles Barker devoted his life to
his books, his pen and his pencil, never
attaining to the highest excellence in
poetry, music or painting, yet possessin;:
talent above the average amateurs. And
into his dream life there crept reality
that filled his heart and brain with new
visions and hopes, He fell in love .
Rather, he softly, tenderly floated along
upon the music of sweet voice, the light
OF fair, womanly beauty, till, scarcely
conscious of his own infatuation, he gave
to Bertha English the whole love of II
heart as yet untouched by a woman >
charms.
That she was an heiress, wooed by
others, the gentle belle of more than one
social circle, did not trouble him for a
moment. He scarcely asked IL she loved
him, content to worship her. Thor
oughly impractical, full OF visionary,
ideal dreams, he did not try to plan fu-
yure, seeking his love in her home when
ne was sure she was alone, Joining her
IN woodland rambles, filing his portfolio
with sketches of her face, and writing
poems to her out of the fullness of his
heart.
And therein he erred, for Mrs. Fer
guson, clearing up his rubbish" one
morning-a task she never trusted to a
servant - upset his portfolio, and
plunged into the very heart of his secret.
She was delighted Bertha English
would have been her own choice from all
the world of women. She had been so
afraid that Jennie Ralston would succeed
In her brazen-faced endeavors to capti-
yate Charles that she had fairly trembled
for him. 1t was true that he seemed to
be serenely unconscious of that pretty,
saucy damseps endeavors to win him,
bCt there were times when Mrs. Fergu-
son feared his own absent ways might
draw him into some avowal that his SEN
sitive honor would compel him to re-
peat.
Having made her discovery, Mrs. Fer
guson next attacked the victim. How
he shrank and qulvered when his cher
ished secret was dragged out and spread
before him could never describe; how
every nerve shuddered and recoiled as
Mrs. Ferguson urged upon him the ne
cessity of immediate action, can never
be told. 1t was like tearing open the
petals of a moss-rose bud, and then bid
ding it to bloom to full beauty as II 1t
had been suffered to softly unfold itself
In the sunlight.
"You must propose soon, or you will
lose her." Mrs. Ferguson had declared.
why, she has dozen adorers. Do you
suppose they will all shilly-shally as you
do?"
She worried and badgered him until he
actually wrote his proposal, which she
undertook TO QellVor. IL was as unlike
the counting OF which he had dreamed as
moon-rays to gaslight, but he did ask to
have his love returned, and begged Ber-
tina to be HE wife. Only insssad OF
Bertha" being once started with a pen
in his hand, he wrote 'darlng." and
dearest" and "my own sweet love-"
Once possessed Of this document Mrs.
Ferguson Lecame poetic, resolving that 1t
hould not hr delivered in common.
iiar" cnvrl 'I", ''u., rs sulIe1 su"t ht'
ares ~ that u H. nephew, IN u basket
p! Epwrr| htnt'd in Tobes and smothe'.d
Z "fhme.
The basket was marvel Of hen ".
Nhoh May, Miss Engli-h's maid. hruui
IL Ia ner room.
Mrs. i'"lt,' >on lett fl. mis-. and j.
Tot ,ltn ~ ca,i. II" Hid not set out
her 'Hrr -
Sow l% ''ha had her dreans, /,
Nhs co' Uhv hFrO posse. .Aed Cha"
EarR-rS vclvelj biewn eyes. his watH
;.nwn hnir aad Wand, H., heard. h
vIa,-Io features and low, musical VOC