The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-03-15

Rabbit in that
it lay low. But nevertheless it boastcd
the proud possession of hotel, seven
churches. n wholesale store and small
steam fire engine of brilliant appear
ance and untried ability
Stay, there was also high school,
the Gumblctown Free academy rs it
was called. at which the youth of both
sexes applied their ruby lips TO the
Pierian spring with edifying results.
The school prospercd with large and
unctuous prosperity, and the number
of its scholars increased and multiplied
until it became necessary to engage an
additional professor. He came from
no matter wherc-it was over the hills
and far away. And he looked it.
He was Il wonderfully handsome
man, and his name was Bartholomew
Spunk. He was n chemist by profess
sion, and he had become SO fond Of
communing with nature in her secret
moods that it was wcll-nigh mposs-
bic to induce him to communicate
with anything else; especially if any
thing else had long hair and wore
skirts. Prof. Spunll had no fear of I'M
mentionable chlorides nor of ndescrib-
able oxides; but he was afraid Of
woman, lovely woman. She was not
afraid of him, however; but, SO far as
she was of Gumblctown extraction
she spent much of her time in endcav-
oring to get n good look at the pro-
fessor's eyes which were said to be
very beautiful
bartholomew Spunli took ND his
abode in moss-covered boarding
house, where the fried steaks and the
coffee grounds sang together us morn
ing stars. and the cold boiled ham came
out on the eastern horizon as the sun
slipped down the west The professor
came and went in silence, and he lived
his daily life i'll his own solitary
fashion. Every evening he went out
into the garden beside the house and
smoked his big briarwood pipe, a relic
of college days. The garden was pref
ty, and just on the other side of the
fence was another still prettier. The
professor frequently pecrcd through
the fence at this garden and wondered
who kept it in such exquisite order If
he had known that every time he
pecpcd through that fence lie was
watched closely and by young woman,
III,
if lie could.
In the next house lived the remnants
OF one of the primcval families Of Gum
blctown. Even that isolated village
had old families and blue blood. and
when old Jonathan Gumblcton, after
whom the town was named, had
died forty years before, he left two
young sons, who FASTENED to marry
and extend the family.
The widow of one of these sons lived
In the house to which belonged the
pretty garden. She had daughter,
and that daughters name was Alice
Mary Gumblcton. Blue blood fire.
qucntly declines to associate with
beauty, but in this case it did not.
Alice Mary Gumbl was rs beauti-
full creature rs one, or even two,
could wish to see. Her hair was as
black rs the shades of night; her large
eyes were deep, soft brown; her COM
pleXion was like the bloom on a lilv:
and her mouth-well, there is no way
TO describe her mouth except by saying
1T was one of the most enticing features
on earth Miss Alice Mary Gumblcton
rcscmblcd Prof. Bartholomew Spunk
in one thing: she was bashful Not all
the awl.wardly expressed admiration
which the swans of Gunbletown had
laid so generously at her feet had ever
been sufficient to inspire her with the
smallest portion of that sclf-coniidcnce
which usually animatcs IL belle. She
was hopclessly shy, and her convcrsa-
ton was terribly monosylla bic except
to her cat.
Alice Mary Gum blcton had Maltese
cat upon which she lavshed the treas
ures Of her heart and her intellect
Everyone who ever saw that cat said
1T was the wisest looking animal in the
world
few doors away from the home of
the fair Alice dwclt hideous youth
whose favorite companion was Il large
bulldog. This bulldog was like unto
the rest of his kind. lie loved not man
nor beast. His soul was filed with
perpetual gloom, and he went about
the world with depresscd-I might
say hangdog-lools which bodcd no one
good. One day Alice was aroused from
deep meditation by series of heart
rcnding shrieks followed by dire dis
cord of Kissing and splitting, which she
at once recognized as being the prod
net of tho energies of Jane. Rushing
TO her window she beheld the dear cat
mounting the fence with less dignity
than haste. AT the foot of the fence
stood the obnoxious bulldog, looking
very angry.
tOh, my beautiful Janet" screamed
Miss Alice. She rushed from the house
with n broom in her hand prepared to
meet death in the defense of her pet.
4 But when the dog wheeled round and
SAsarepared to resist her onslaught, she
Alsed and changed her tactics.