The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1893-02-24
MEETING A POET.

ter among Its inmates, when my cousin
Adelaide came dancing into the room
and commanded me to give up all
thoughts Of a journey for three months
at least
And why, pray?" l asked. "You
know | have to go ont west after reach
New York. Come what may, | must
see an Indian summer on the prairies."
Bother the prairies and the Indian
summer, too" cried Adelaide, taking a
letter from her apron pocket and waving
it in the air. Look at the signature"
l did look, and | might have been
looking to this day for all the informa-
ton got; but Adelaide grew impatient,
and snatching the letter from my hand
exclaimed:
"Listen, you goose" and read the let
ter aloud:
My DEAR FRIEND am coming into
the country for a month or two; my
doctor positively forbids my staying in
New York during the fall. Remember.
ing our old schoolboy league l have st
lected W as the place of my exile,
and shall bN there on the 2Oth-wind
and weather permitting"
"What do you think of that" asked
Adelaide, making large eyes at me over
the top of the letter.
81 have not heard anything yet IT,
make me postpone my journey"
"Wait a moment-I'll finish. 4 am,
as ever, yours faithfully
"Well, so on"
"James Quitman.'
"James Quitman! You are mad, Ad-
die-he can never be coming here"
"There is the letter-father has always
known him, lr seems; it is the poet, and
we are to have him stay here all the
time. Father is to meet him at the sta
ton tonight, and not let him go to the
hotel on any account. Won't people
stare when we walk into church next
Sunday
l closed the lid of my trunk in the
twinkling of an eye. The poet had so
often longed to see, the man over whose
tender verses had made myself Niobe
scores of timesz-was it possible that the
same roof was going to shelter us both?
Dinner was a thing unthought of in
the house that day, and my uncle lunched
meekly at one of the china closets off
cold meat and bread and preserved
Strawberries, while Addie and l actually
ate rose leaves and sugar and cream as
a suitable pendant to the work in which
we were engaged. Nothing less ethereal
would we partake while fitting up that
poets chamber.
BY o'clock that afternoon our labors
. were ended. The house was like bed
of roses; they blushed and bloomed
everywhere, and their fragrance was
delicious in the upper chamber. My
: favorite pictures had been unpacked
: and arranged upon the parlor walls.
3 Everything was perfect. The tea table
sparkled with silver and cut glass; flow.
+. ers wreathed the dishes of preserved
fruit, and cake and wine for the evening
: were ready on the sideboard, to say
nothing of some delicately tinted ice
cream which was still undergoing the
process of "freezation" in the cellar.
Of course the train was late that night
e Trains always are late when we are ex
pecting any one by them, and Addie ant
= l had time to work ourselves into fever
ish state that gave us some very becom
J. ing red cheeks. We heard the whist,
of the train, and five minutes afterwart
carriage stopped before the gate. Tit
poet had come!
He climbed out Of the carriage like 1
ab-sidewise-and, coming up tn,
IS graveled walk toward the front door
a presented to our admiring eyes the fgur,
3, of stoutish, middle aged man, will
e dark eyes and hair and very pleasan
( smile He did not wear Spanish cloal
II and sombrero-he was clad in linel
Is garments and matched with rougl
's looking straw hat that had evidentl,
e seen service. We heard him as he cam
ie up the walk
n every pretty house, Tom; very prett,
20 house. Those girls your daughters
y hey? l see they've got those horrid cit
~ 1aSQlOnS-lOW neck anu suOTL sleeNeS' L
he had a daughter I'd sew her dress t
5 her ears"
le Addie and l looked at each other i
a CONSERVATION and barely managed t
g give him civil greeting as he crosse
1t the threshold. Was this the man VIII
l. had raved about his Lydia
That bosom, white and fond and fair,
/ would were the enamOred air,
:. To faint and fall in passing there.
90 Low necks, indeedl sat beside him q
~ the tea table, as had been previously al
o. ranged, and saw that all things wer
y within his reach. Never did Hindo
70 idol tax his votary more severely. | ha
+ hardly time to snatch a mouthful my
"a self-though, for the matter of that, h
ar appetite quite took away my own. h
n was a regular DR.. johnson for tea
n. strawberry preserves pleased him, an
"a soda biscuits vanished before his attac
"a as green things before the march of
cloud of locusts. Heaven knows he ha
- one Qualifications stomach
Tea over, we adjourned TO the ro'