The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-12-28


Well, I'll lust run over to old Nick's and
get a fresh yank. think I'll just tell him
about the hull thing. Men gin'rally
know what to do in such cases." and
with these words on went the quilted
| black bonnet, the big double shawl and
| the thick wooden mittens.
Nicholas Newcomb, bachelor, sat upon
flour barrel in a warm corner of his
shop awaiting customers. When he first
came into the district, years and years
ago, the grocer was respectfully ad-
dressed as Mr.. Newcomb; then, as time
passed, and the stalwart figure grew IA
miliar, people called him Nicholas New
comb; and as the gray crept to his tenn
Piles he began to be known as ''old"
Nicholas Newcomb; then, at subse-
quent period, as ''old Nicholas" which
appelation degenerated, after lapse of
time, into ''old Nick" and so widely
spread and usual was the application of
this very irreverent cognomen that it
had long ceased to offend the ear even
of its possessor himself.
Nicholas Newcomb, say, sat upon a
flour barrel IN warm corner of his shop
awaiting customers. And as he waited
he dozed, and, doing, dreamed that a
wonderful change had come to him; that
| the empty rooms above stairs were hab-
liable and warm and snug-that curtains
graced the now dusty windows, carpets
covered the dustier floor; that love and
life had entered therein, and that he,
Nicholas Newcomb, was lord of all! But
whose face was that opposite him at the
| visionary fireside? He was never to
know; for as he looked the dream burst
| like beautiful bubble-and he got
down from his perch on the barrel to
match the Widow Pimlott's ''yank" of
gray yarn.
Three blocks only lay between the
grocery store and the widows house,
where it's proprietor lodged, and during
her short walk to the mental vision of
this victim of Curiosity had great and
glorious dissolving views come and gone.
AS she tried the ice that bridged one
wide gutter she thought only of Miss
Num- and her dazzling prospects-daz-
zling despite the plainness and humble
ness of the little sewing woman; in the
HdIIOW ldlt SIlONt1Cu DeUWteH SHOW
banks at the next crossing she saw old
Nick-good, clever, matter-of-fact, hon
est, self-sutficient, old Nick-saw him in
her minds eye, and grew to wondering
why he hadn't married years and years
ago-at which wonderment Miss Num-
unaccountably popped into her head
again. and, on the last curbStone, in the
large vistas of her vivid imagination the
two minated souls had Joined hearts
and hands, the wedding was over, and
housekeeping on luXuriant scale had
just begun, when Fresh Celery and
Cranberries" stared chalkily white at
her from leaning black board at the
entrance of the grocery.
1t took not many minutes to impart
the news that had been shown to her
by Curiosity and blown to her by the
wind; and as she labored through the
brief telling and climbed the dizzy
heights that led to the airy castles she
had so recently been building for him,
his thoughts, as the startling climax
reached him, leaped far and further
ahead of hers.
At times, it is said, one may live a
lifetime in a moment-now it was that
ages seemed passing with every second,
capital invested, houses built, stores en-
larged, stock bought, luXuries enjoyed,
and home and joy and light and cheer
mess all flashed before him like the
sunlit prisms of faceted glass!
His dream should come true-Miss
Num-, the niece of the Argentine mill
ionaire, should sit at the head of his
table dispensing is-their-hospi tali-
ty. He thought not once of herself-of
her pale little face and her slender little
body-they were put out mucn the
same as weak candle-fame is outshone
by golden sun rays at noontime; but
she represented his great ambitions, and
he must make her all his own before
she knew of the news of her relatives
death-decidedly before; there would
be plenty of time in which to disclose
that fact afterward; and
"Mrs Pimlott," he said, ''your plans
for my happiness and advantage are
kindly received. Twill givei it my serious
attention. Do you please keep the
postal until New Years Day, when, |
hope, you will be able to place it in the
hands of my rife"
'La, man, how hasty and nice you air!
l never reckoned you'd be so willin' all
at once like. New Years Day is only
three days from now, and"
"You will leave that to me, Mrs. PIN
lott, as entirely as shall leave the fix
ing up of the two rooms upstairs to you.
Do you think that if should buy all the
necessary furnishings immediately-to-
day-that you could put the rooms in Or
der by day after tomorrow"
''Sakes alive, sir, but you air brisk! I
spect 1 could. There's Martin Allen
dom abslootly nothin', ye might say,
and she's powerful cleaner, is Martin;
she could help. And could get William
Penn to whitewash and do the heavy,
lifty work-he's a purity spry sort o.
darky-and, we'll, yes O. course we could
put it all purity ship-shape by Choosdy.
When air you thinkin' o."
81 said that you were to leave that to
me-"
And she did.
Out at Farmer Wheatfield's the snow
lay deep and white and billowy over the
rolling pasture and meadow lands. Not
a blemiSh or track of any kind MARRIED its