The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-05-09
THE STORY OF A BAD BOY.
ny T. b. ALDRICHl
CHAPTER Nv.

CHAPTER Nv.
Meanwhile the world had shot
ahead of Dame Jocelyn. The chan
ges that had taken under her very
nose were unknown to this faded,
grooming old gentlewoman, whom
the eighteenth century had neg
lected to take away with the rest
of its odd traps. She had no pa
tience with new-fangled notions.
The old ways and the old times
were good enough for her. She
had never seen steam engine,
though she had heard "the drafted
thing" screech in the distance. In
her day, when gentlefolks travel
ed, they went in their own coaches.
She didn't see how respectable
people could bring themselves
down to "riding in car with re G.
tag and bob-tail and Lord knows
who" Poor old aristOcrat! the
landlord charged her no rent for
the room, and the neighbors took
turns in supplying her with meals.
Toward the close of her life,-she
lived to be ninety-nine,-she grew
very fretful and capricious about
her food. If she didn't chance to
fancy what was sent her, she had
no hesitation in sending it back to
the giver with "NTiss Jocelyn's re-
spectful compliments"
But / have been gossiping too
long,-and yet not too long if l
have impressed upon the reader
an idea of what rusty, delightful
old town it was to which l had
come to spend the next three or
four years of my boyhood.
a drive Of twenty minutes from
the station brought us to the door
step of Grandfather Nutter's house.
What kind of house it was, and
what sort of people lived in it,
shall be told in another chapter
CHAPTER V.
THE NUTTER HOUSE AND THE
NUTTER FAMILY.
The Nutter House,-all the more
prominent dwellings in River
mouth are named after somebody's;
for instance, there is the Walford
House, the Venuer House, the
Trefethern House, etc, though it
by no means follows that they are
inhabited by the people whose
names they bear,-the Nutter
House, to resume, has been in our
family nearly hundred years,
and is an honor to the builder Gan
ancestor of ours, l believe), sup
posing durability to be a merit. LfI
our ancestor was a carpenter, he
knew his trade. l wish | knew
mine as well. Such timber and
such Workmanship don't often
come together in houses built
nowadays.
Imagine Il low studded structure,
with a vile hall running through
the middle. at your right hand,
as you enter, stands a tall black
mahogany clock, looking like an
Egyptian mummy set up on end.
On each side of the nall are doors
(whose knobs, it must be confessed.
do not turn very easily), opening
into large rooms wainscOted and
rich in wood carvings about the
mantel-pieces and cornices. The
walls are covered with pictured
paper, representing landscapes
and sea views. In the parlor, for
example, this enlivening figure is
repeated all over the rOom:-A
group of English peasants, wear
ing Italian hats, are dancing on a
lawn that abruptly resolve its elf
IL sea beach, upon which stands a
tlabby fisherman Nationality un-
known, quietly hauling in what
appears to be small whale, and
totally regardless of the dreadful
naval combat going on just beyond
the end of his fishing rod. On the
other side of the ships in the main
land again, with the same peasants
dancing. Our ancestors were very
worthy people, but their wall-pa-
pers are abominabe.
There are neither CRATES nor
stoves in these quaint chambers,
but splendid open chimney-places,
with room enough for the corpu.
lent back log to turn over comfort
ably on the polished andirons. A
wide staircase leads from the hall
to the second story, which is arrang-
ed much like the first. Over this
is the garret. / needn't tell Il New
England boy what a museum of
curiosities is the garret of well
regulated New England house of
n