Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-09-05
DIGGING A PIT.

1t would be difficult to find more
charming retreat from heat, noise and
fashion-those three essentials to a pop
ular summer resort-than Ashland
Among the-Hills. Its climate well
merits the encomium of "salubrious,
which the hotel prospectus originally
conferred upon it. And yet when young
Mrs. Dupont told Mason Welles of her
impending departure thither she de-
nounced the place as "poky" and it's
Eindwellers as ''frights. :" ,''Men are so
Selfish" Alice continued in half serious
complaint, "just because Paul delights
to burn the bridge Of his nose into
peel on that ridiculous lake trying to
catch fish, not there, in the first place,
and too wise to bite, in the second, I
must endure the chatter of mothers
about their babies and the gasps of in
valids over the ozone It's too provok-
ing! There are heirs and airs, but their
incessant discussion is not my ideal of
enjoyment.
'Supposing friend should attempt
the diversion of a new subject by ven
turing into this wilderness, suggested
the gallant Mason.
''Then friend would be welcomed
as friend indeed" F" replied Alice, with
a smile more coquettish than the mean
ing of her impulsive little heart.
For young Mrs. Dupont was not ac-
customed to weigh her words-on the
principle, likely, that such scant weight
would be an abomination. 1t was SO
much easier to utter them just as they
flashed over her mind. What becomes
of bubble when it bursts? Thank good
ness, sounds had not writings power
of manifolding and repetition. In GER
tain silent wakeful hours, however,
when she couldn't keep from medita-
tion, Alice would be ashamed of some
such idle speech and relieved that its
echoes had surely died away. She did
not realize that the memory of vain
man is a phonograph ever in readiness
and ever retentive.
Alice truly felt that she had griev-
ance against her husband, not that Paul
wasn't faithful and kind and generous
and all the rest of the orthodox virtues.
Sometimes she hated his amiable quail
ties, not only for being virtuous, but
also for their orthodoxy. But there was
too much assumption about his regard.
One did not quite like to be treated as
"a collectors specimen, to be eagerly
sought after, but when gained labeled
and placed on a shelf. Courtship had
been too pleasant to Alice to be dismiss
ed as an episode. From her view it
should remain as a precedent.
The very charm of Paul the lover
initiated against Paul the husband.
Then he had been jealous, ardent, III
tent only on her happiness; now he was
grave, abstracted, absorbed with the
editing of his Scientific Review, acced
ing to her wishes with eyes, my
DEAR" and Certainly, my love- but
regarding them and her, too, as Interrupt
tions. Would not brute with club
be preferable? There surely'was an ad-
vantage in being noticed
81 suppose those everlasting Mantell
twins will be there, - remarked Alice on
the train when she was wearied of
eliminating telegraph poles from the
scenery.
'Eh? All! What's that, my dear?"
queried Paul, not missing a line in a
frumpery contemporary critique. 'Oh,
yes, presume So"
81 believe" cried Alice, swinging
around her chair Indignantly, eff I said
Beelzebub would be there in full caudal
regalia you would say: 'Eh? Ahl pre-
sumo so. -
81 presume so, my DEAR" replied
Paul automatically.
Now, the everlasting Mantell twins,
Sophronia and Abigail, found the
mountains and woodlands roundabout
Ashland commensurate preserves for
their intellectual propensities Had they
been as intent on suitors as they were
after wisdom they might have been
deemed quite pretty, but devotion to
geology and botany had divested them
of all adorning superfiuities, and, be-
yond common expression of surprise
resultant from pinching eyeglasses and
faulty drawn hair, they lacked individu-
ality. A hammer or forked wand can
never become substitute for the girdle
of Venus Now, if these girls had ever
shared thought more coDgruous with
the latter than with either of the for
mer it was one of most respectful ad-
miration toward Paul Dupont.
A real editor, Minos and Rhada-
manthus combined, with the soul of
Draco stirred in, who passed unaltera-
BILE judgments ON trembling authors,
was very Jove to them. Why, perhaps
some day their aspirations, concentrated
through pen and ink and paper, might
be brought before him. Thus far this
Jove had retained the panoply of his
| glories for them, and they had worshiped
from afar, yet this humility had not
| prevented them from exchanging many
| shrewd coincidence over the incompati-
| bility and grossness Of his Juno, which
! Juno, with that unerring intuition that
makes many a giddy young woman dis
| dainful of reason, had not failed to per-
| ceive.
One glance over the dining room on
| their arrival assured Alice that all the
"frights" were present. The Mantell
sisters were at the same little table in
the corner, with hair and eyeglasses
straining out surprise, as if they were
just finishing the chicken begun the
summer before. Nor would that indu-
rated fowl suffer any wrong from such a
hypothesis.
'"There are your favorites, remarked
Alice.
''Eh? All! Oh, yes, 1 presume so, }"
muttered Paul
| He was not at all alarmed when his
wife hastily left the table. Her appetite
was too capricious for calculation. Its
curve would have furnished the most
fantastic wall paper design in the world.
1t was nibble here and a bite there; a
fruit now and a bonbon then; a macaroon
shortly and an ice after a little. One
might just as we'll set stated meals for
canary. When, therefore, after de-
liberate combination, he found her in
an easy chair at the angle of the piazza,
with novel open on her lap and her
toilet effectively arranged, Paul remem-
bered that there had been her favorite
seat the summer before and felt con-
vinced that she was having a good time
So he turned his attention to the subject
Of fishing. There was boat to be en-