The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1889-01-19
STORY OF A LIFE.
The Quiet Comfort Miss Denny
Derived from Her Telescope.

There come unsocial periods to the
lives of every one of US; days ani
weeks when our own moods and EN-
Payments and thoughts are of para
mount and engrossing Importance aud
other people lose their interest for u.
and recede into temporary distance. L
is not that we love man less, bu
ourselves, for the moment, more; some
instinct of self-preservation prompts
US to be isolated and left alone foI
awhile.
Such period came to me summer be-
fore last, when, after nearly year Of
enforced idleness, shut myself in the
third story corner-room of Mrs. Merry.
weather's quaint old boarding house,
to make up for lost time, by short
spell of continuous work. Day after
day / wrote, and read and took notes,
sitting beside a delightful west win
dow, which, from beneath the pensile
boughs, of an immense willow. looked
over green meadows and copses to
where a distant chain of hill outlines
stood against the sky. With that
vague, unseeing gaze which does not
see, l watched the cloud-shadows blow
across the distance and dapple the face
OF the blue ranges, the crows rising
and falling in the meadow with hoarse,
jargoning cries, the doves on the
neighboring boughs but not the vii
iage houses, which formed the fore
ground Of the picture, and the men
and women who walked the sleepy
streets among them. This was easy,
for am unobservant, both by nature
and training, and. for the moment, by
intention, 1 shrank from idea the of in
terruption, from the danger of becoming
Interested in man or woman till my
work was done. elected not to see,
30 l did not see. Happily it rained a
good deal just then, so there were
fewer people and less temptation.
But by the end of the third week,
when the weather had cleared and my
work was well along, my dormant OBJ
servation quickened, and, among other
things, / began to wonder idly what
could be the purpose of strange
structure on a neighboring roof. 1t
was spherical in form, and seemed
altogether too big and ponderous for
the very small house which it sur
mounted. resolved to inquire of
Mrs. Merryweather about it, but forgot
my intention from time to time, until
one day, when returning from n walk,
found her placidly knitting stockings
on her own doorstep. with book on
her lap. and suddenly recollected to
ask the question.
THAT" she replied, s'indicating
with wave of her needle the object
which had excited my curiosity; don't
tell that you never noticed it before?
That's curious, for it's queer enough to
look at. Most folks pick it out at
once. It's where Miss Denny's tele-
scope is"
IAN observatory! 1 never thought of
that. The house is so very small"
$50 it Is. It always was a small
house. They had great times getting
the roof fixed to hold it, and bricking
up the sides to make it strong. But
nothing else would satisfy Miss Denny,
90 they managed it at last / guess
the whole thing would come down to-
gether If they tried to move it away
now"
but who was this Miss Denny and
what did she want of telescopep
Was she 80 very fond Of astronomy"
l asked. seating myself on the steps
beside her.
you're one for stories, guess" OBJ
served my landlady, shrewdly. This
isn't much Of a story to tell about, tho
1t always makes me feel little bad to
think about Marianne Denny. She
was one of the Kennybunkport Dennys.
lnever knew what made them come
here In the first place, but here they
were as far back as 1 remember. There
was an old mother who was feeble,
and sister who was always sort of
aiiing and complaining, and Marianne.
That was all. except Sarah Denny, and
she died young. Marianne taught the
district school when was a mite of a
child, 80 you can see there was good
deal of difference between us, as much
- seventeen or eighteen years guess;
but we was always friends somehow,
from the fist"
twas she 50 attractive thenp"
well. / can't say for everybody. 1
always pitied her and liked her some
how. She was little and thin and
timid-like, She bad big eyes, which