Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-10-03
MATCHMAKING.

AAAA A OAA 4AA "A AAAANNo
 A Plain Little Story with a Per spicuous Moral IT there was any one especial gift upon which Mrs. Ferguson prided herself, 1t was her talent for match-making. Her large, spacious house was full of cozy corEers and tiny hooks, curtained, carpeted and dalntily furnished, where tete-d-tete was luxury not to be despised. She had positive genius for effacing herself and all other su- perf1uous people when John and Jane were l to be brought to understand each other, and she was constantly on the watch for Johns and James to benefit.
 It can not be denied that Willstown, like the proverbial republics, often proved un- grateful, the wrong Johns being frequently being paired with the James of their special abhorrence, and 1t had been more than once whispered by disappointed wooers that they "wished Mrs. Ferguson would mind her own business"
 nevolent old lady that if marriages were started in Heaven, she was not a special agent upon earth to forward them. It may therefore be imagined what a | 'thorn in the flesh" it was to this scheming lady to have under her own roof, daily at her table, a nephew who, at the mature age l of twenty-eight, was, in spite of her cease less endeavors q had almost written perse- cution) still a bachelor.
 "Poor Charles !" his aunt would sigh, Che is so shy, so reserved! He will never have the courage to woo his wife, and it is my positive duty to help himr'
 But the more consistently she drove him into her coziest hooks and corners with the prettiest girls in Willstown, the more he avoided her parties, be they luncheons, teas or evening gatherings.
 It was not entirely the fault of the pretty girls either, for Charles Barker was man to whom women naturally incline, gentle, dreamy, poetic and exceptionally handsome Had he lived in the present rage for the Bsthetic, he might have been accused of afectations, of posing for admiration; but it was with him sincere adoration of art, dreaming poetic temperament, that could lift itself out of the commonplace surround ings of his life, and dwell in an ideal world apart.
 Wealthy. and not very strong physically, 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 possessing 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 Q sweet voice, the | light of fair womanly beauty, til, scarce | ly conscious of his own infatuation, he gave l to Bertha English the whole love of heart as yet untouched by woman's charms. | That she was an heiress, wooed by others, l the gentle belle of moro than one soclal circle, did not trouble him for a moment. He scarcely asked if she loved him, content to worship her. Thoroughly impractical, full of visionary, ideal dreams. he did not | try to plan a future; seeking his love in her | home when he was sure she was alone, join- ing her in woodland rambles, filling his port folio with sketches of her face, and writing poems to her out of the fullpess of his heart.
 And therein he erred, for Mrs. Ferguson, 'tclearing up his rubhish'' 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 endeav- l ors to capttvate Charles that she had fairly | trembled for him. 1t was true that he seemed to be serenely unconscious of that pretty, saucy damscrs endeavors to win him, but there were times when Mrs. Fer l guson feared his own absent ways might draw him into some avowal that his sensi- tive honor would compel him to repeat.
 Having made her discovery, Mrs. Yer gpson next attacked the victim. How he shrank and quiyered when his cherished secret was dragged cut and spread before him ! could never describe; how every nerve shuddered and recoiled as Mrs. Fer auson urged upon him the necessity of im- mediate action, can nevee be told. It was like tearing open the petals of a moss-rose- bud, and then bidding 1t to bloom to full beauty as if it 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 8 dozen adorers. Do you suppose they will all shilly- -shallY as you do1'
 She worried and badgered him until he actually wrote his proposal, which she un- dertook to deliver. It was as unlike the courting of which he had dreamed as moon. rays to gaslight, but he did ask to have bis love returned, and beg agad Bertha to be his wife. Only instead of "Bertha," being once started with a pen in his hand, he
 wrote ''darling," and dearest" and tmy own sweet love"
 Once poasessea ef this document Mra,
 Ferguson became poetic, resolving that 1t
 should not be delivered In commonplace
 envelope, but, as suited such natures as that of her nephew, in a basket of flowers, buried
 in roses and smothered in perfume.
 The basket was marvel of beauty when
 Mary, Miss English's :aaid, brought 1t te
 her room.
 aMrs. Ferguson left it, miss, and had not
 time t9 call, ehe did not get out Of her car
 riaGs.n
 Now, Bertha had her dreams, too, where o1
 the hero possessed Charles Barker's vel
 vety brown eyes, his waving brown hail
 and Vandyke beard, his classic features and low, musical voice, Aeiress as she was pure girAsh heart, full of romance and ten
 derness, and she had given 1t in its fira'
 sweetness to Charles Barker, Loving him
 sjae, too, had visions of day when he
 would whisper his hearts secret into hei
 ear, and in soft, tender accents woo her te
 be his own.
 She looked carelessly at the flowers
 To be contlnue..