The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-03-07
THAT THERE BROWN.

The people VINO occupy tpc tl.4l AAaAAo-
diately beneath ours are great diners
ont; and as their dog is Of a sociable dis
position he commonly burrows under
the doorrnat and bowls until the return
! Of his proprietors. But the bowls now
heard by myself and my wife were dis
| tinctly human, and proceeded from our
culinary department ut the passage end.
Something must have happened to
Looshal We sprang from the dinner
table, and made one bound to the
kitchen door. With instructive delicacy
we listened q moment before bursting
in. The outcries never ceased, though
at times they sounded strangely muffled.
| Had burglar dropped in for late af-
| ternoon visit! Was he garroting the
too faithful creature who had refused to
reveal the whereabouts Of the plate
basket? Igrasped the soup ladle-which
had unconsciously retained - with
nervous determination. We rushed in
| quietly.
There was no burglar. Only Loosha
/ behind the scullery door, with her head
wrapped up in towel, was giving vent
| to bursts of emotion which might well
have aroused the envy Of the poodle
4 down stairs. With compassion, slightly
tempered with severity, we questioned
the girl. She took some time to coax
out Of the chrysaiis or pupa condition,
but finally emerged from the folds Of
the towel and explained. Mother-who
should have known better, having but a
brief twelyemonth since inferred her
Second--was now receiving the address
es Of potential Third, himself wild
over with nine membranes. In jus
tice to the aspirant, we may mention
that he was fairly well to do, being .
retired joiner by the name of Mr..
Brown. In Loosha's bitterest moments
| she deprived him Of the prefix, calling
him simply, and for short, THAT There
Brown"
The fell news had only just been
brought by Loosha's little stepsister En-
incline, though Loosha had had pre-
| monitory warning in the way of creeps
1 down her back whenever she had en-
countered the designing Mr.. Brown for
some time past. It had been adjoining
in her mind, she said, by degrees as
there was something up; and this very
afternoon he had upped and spoke, most
barefaced, on the identical doorstep.
Says he, MRS. Hemmans, will not de-
ceive you, that it was just through You
dropping in in a friendly way to 'elpat the
laying out Of her as is gone land her only
buried eleven months) that my attention
was in a manner of speaking drawed to
you; and in a homely way, putting the
thing plainly for your thinking over quiet
by yourself, viii say you have three and
me similarly nine, and both being unin-
cumbijed, why not make one extra large
table ont of your medium and my full
sizedg' Which table, Loosha parenthet-
ically observed, would ultimately prove
her doathbed.
We tried to soothe the aggrieved
handmade by every means in our power.
Being within three days of Christmas
day, and having proposed to entertain
the representative members of our re-
spective families-between whom, all
the year round. great enmity exists at
social dinner, the prospect before us
was overshadowed by Loosha's grief.
If matters came to q crisis she would as
like as not take to her bed and remain
there for two days. AT the end of her
we knew by previous experience, reap
pear as fresh as paint and quite recon
ciled to the dispositions of fate. But in |
the meanwhile what would become OF |
us? Itried to argue. Ireminded Loosha |
that her mother was still young, active |
and Industrious; and that one could moi, /
while deploring the act Of Mr.. Brown.
reyile him fer his choice Of successor |
to the departed; that that successor
might be called, even now, q pretty /
woman: and that men would be men,
no matter how foolish it was, l would
have continued in this strain, bus that /
Loosha became hysterical.
''She Amt youngr' she screamed;
with me twenty-three, how could she?I
And she amt pretty: or if she is she
ought to be ashamed of herselft And
both my father an Emmeline and FL
fred's father would say so if they were
here! And If she does (which at her |
time of life is u disgrace-I shall drown
myselfr'
Then she went into Mysteries and
drunmed the floor with her heels and /
the back of chair with her head in
quite an alarming manner; and / was
ordered out of the kitchen that she
might be unfastened and the inevitable |
remediats applied. 1t took whole gill |
Of Tarragon vinegar and the best part |
of the tail feathers of our Christmas tur-
key to bring her to anything like,com-
posture.
That was three days before Christmas.
We have got over the dinner and the |
meeting of the clans without any casual |
ties other than those we were bound to
expect. And Loosha is preternaturally
bright, sharp, tight and brisk. AS she
goes about her work she sings Come
Buy MY Colored ERIN" is favorite vo-
cal exercise with her. But it has been
superseded by Take Back the Art, .
Aud, from the piquantly expressive