Milford chronicle., 1893-03-24
HER sAcKwooDs BEAU.
Mis- Intentions Were Excellent, bus Lar
c.rlnre FniIed Him.

guage Failed Him.
when I was young woman said tn
wife Of a we'll known New York lawyer, t
lived in country town in Pennsylvania
Like that of many other country girls, tn
height Of my ambition was to teach dis
t-ict school, passed my examination be
fore the rural school board and was as
signed to a backwoods district, where
/ had to follow the time honored custom
Of boarding roEnd.' was rather a sen
timental girl, l think, and after I had
/ been teaching few weeks in the district
I l was by no means displeased to discov
er that one of the well to do rustic swains
of chat ncighborhood, a good looking
wholesome young fellow, was inclined tc
( pay attention to NE. He was looked upon
by all the red checked backwoods girls as
great catch, and my natural feminine
vanity was in no manner made less by the
knowledge that all the girls were jealous
Of me, although the young man had as yet
given no positive indication of his prefer
ence for me. One evening he called at the
farmhouse where ] was then quartered,
and it was not until the family had one by
one retired, leaving me alone with him in
the big fireplace lighted sitting room, that
It broke upon me that / was actually keep
ing company with beau.
Il can feel row the blush that rushed to
my face when realized the situation, which,
must admit, was pleasing one. But how
embarrassing it wasl And the embarrass-
ment was made all the more painful when
I discovered that my company was most
annoyingly bashful. He sat on one side Of
the fireplace, on the other. His eyes were
fixed on the hearthstone, and he kept them
there, while he fdgeted on his chair and
twirled his thumbs nervously. / was nat
urally a self possessed girl and lively
talker, but as } sat there opposite that bash
ful youth I vas unable to find a word to
say e..,! s,.t ar awlswardly silent and nerv-
ous as lie was himself The old clock tickcd
loudly, aud, ! thought, impatiently, in the
corner, and its hands went around the dial
for one long hour without another sound
breaking the awful silence Of that room.
The suspense was simply frightful.
"'Ohn ] kept thinking TO myself, why
doesn't he say something or go homep
But still he sat there in the Pickering
light, iidCety ana nervous, his eyes never
moving from that one spot on the hearth
Another half hour dragged its way around
The clock. Then suddenly the bashful swain
raised his eyes and looked at me. There
vas an animated but Illustrated look on his
ace.
"'Thank heavenp | thought. He's going
% say something at lastP
"He looked at me moment, still twirling
lis thumbs, and then stammered out:
" Miss Paley-did you-ever-see-ao owls?
This was an unexpected and surprising
Iuery, and although it almost destroyed
What little conposure l had left it was a
elief. | welcomed it as a probable breaker
f the ice
"Oh, yes, Mr.. Craner replied enthusi-
stically Many and many a time
My rustic beau grinned in satisfied /
ray for n moment, and | was hopeful, but |
uddenly the solemn look came back to his
ace, ard he dropped his eyes to the hearth
gain and resumed his inspection of the
lscinating spot on the stone, twirling his
lumbs ard fdgeting as before PARALYSIS
aized my tongue again, too, and as the
lock licked away minute after minute
1T that ! must either soon scream or die.
mother hour passed. was on the point
springing from lny chair and rushing
ON the room when the bashful swain
iowed signs of another CLEAN of intelii-
snce. He raised his eyes and looked at
e rs If he had been seized with brilliant
ea and suffered out:
"Say! What cussed-big-eyes they got
hain't they?"
"Well, that was more than human ma
ire could stand. / screamed with laughter
the ludicrous situation, and think
led to think that 1 had been sitting all
at blessed evening with such stupid
impkin. Anyhow when / recovered
mewhat Of ny composure my bean was
me, and l went 20 bed and cried myself
sleep. The youth never honorcd me
it'll another call, but learned soon after
ard that one Of the backwoods girls was
asting that she had cut me out, and
at in speaking Of me the rustic gallant
d said, with much emphasis:
'''Why, gosh! she don't know nawthinr"
New York Sun.