The Portland daily press., 1892-03-08
THAT THERE BROWN.

The people who occupy the fiat imme
diately beneath ours are great diners
out: and as their dog is Of a sociable dis
position he commonly burrows under
the doorlnat 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. at the passage end.
Something must have happened to
Loosha We sprang from the dinner
table, and made one bound to the
kitchen door. With instructive delicacy
we listened a 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
I 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 a towel, was giving vent
to bursts OF emotion which might well
have aroused the envy Of the poodle
down stairs. With compassion, slightly
tempered with severity, we questioned
the girl. She took some time to coax
out of the chrysalis or pupa condition,
but finally emerged from the folds OF
the towel and explained. Mother-who
should have known better, having but
brief twelvemonth 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 a
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
down her back whenever she had en-
countered the designing Mr.. Brown for
/ some time past. It had been adjoining
in her MIL. 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. Hernmans, will not de-
ceive you, that it was just through you
dropping in in friendly way to 'elp at the
laying out of her as is gone (and her only
buried eleven months) that my attention
was in manner of speaking drawed to
you; and in honely way, putting the
thing plainly for your thinking over quiet
by yourself, will say you have three and
me similarly nine, and both being unin-
cumbijed, why not make one extra large
table out of your medium ana my full
sized?' Which table, Loosha parenthet-
ically observed, would ultimately prove
her deathbed.
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
a social dinner, the prospect before us
was overshadowed by Loosha's grief.
If matters came to a crisis she would as
like as not take to her bed and remain
there for two days. At the end of her
period OF sackcioth and ashes she would
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? tried to argue. reminded Loosha
that her mother was still young, active
and Industrious; and that one could not,
while deploring the act of Mr.. Brown,
revile him fer his choice of a successor
to the departed; that that successor
might be called, even now, a pretty
woman; and that men would be men,
no matter how foolish it was. I would
have continued in this strain, but that
Loosha became hysterical.
."She amt young" she screamed;
"with me twenty-three, how could she!
And she amt pretty; or if she is she
ought to be ashamed of herself! And
both my father an Emmeline and Ell
fred's father would say so if they were
here! And if she does (which at her
time Of life is disgrace-I shall drown
myself"
Then she went into Mysteries and
drummed 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
posure.
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 preteInaturally
bright, sharp, tight and brisk. AS she
goes about her work she sings. "Come
Buy My Colored ERIN is a favorite vo-
cal exercise with her. But it has been
superseded by "Take Back the Art. F"
And, from the piquantly expressive
meaning Loosha infuses into the opening
lines, it is plain that she applies them to