The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-04-09
ALosTLoVE.

time, and as he was not the kind of a
man to waste much time in counting
he chose this way of proposing.
Priscilla wore a gown of muslin, and
at the belt hung two scarlet pockets, as
was the custom in those olden times.
Ruben, having penned a declaration
one afternoon, took the opportunity
tor he was a timid MANI of slipping
the note into n of these pockets when
she was not looking.
Then he took his leave and waited
patiently for an answer. But none
ever came.
Poor Ruben was not one to risk his
fate q second time, and he ceased his
visits to the home of the JAMS. After
awhile he went away to England, and
Newport knew him no more. He be-
came rather celebrated as q scientific
man. The bashfulness of youth gone
by, he became a grave, gallant gentle
man of the old school, and he had his
admirers even among our sex, but he
never fell in love, and he never mar
ried.
At 70 years of age he took it into his
head to see Newport before he died.
In those years it had become a fashion
able watering place. There we're one
or two great hotels and plenty of cot
tages. The sea view was rs fine, the
sea air as bracing, the girls AS pretty
as of yore, but they did not wear
painted muslins with peoples on them
nor outside pockets of embroidered
silk.
Ruben Van Note strolle1 along the
beach and looked at the old tower and
sighed over the past a little. Then he
strolled up the street to the house of
the Jan family. 1t looked very much
as formerly, only the trees were large,
and the ivy vine quite covered the
brick stable with the pigeon houses on
the roof. ALI it's windows we're open,
and a woman was busting the shutters.
When she came out upon the porch to
shake a cloth, he spoke to her.
docs the Jan family live here yet7"
he asked.
The woman gave a long, slow shake
of the head and said:
1.-The lastof the Jan family died three
days ago, Miss Priscilla Jan. 1 was
her maid. She was getting on in life
so years old-and a delicate body al
ways, but I think she would have
lived a long while yet if she hadn't had
an accident. Her carriage was upset
by a tipsy coachman, and she was hurt
and shaken. The shock to her nerves
killed her, the doctor said. That's her
miniature when she was a girl over the
mantel, if you'd step in and look"
Ruben stepped in and saw Priscilla,
in white and red, smiling at him from
the chimneypiece. 1t was a good like
ness. Chould she really be deadG He
staggered back and STATED himself on
the sofa.
"And she never married4" he said,
speaking aloud unconsciously.
mo, sir" said the maid, believing
herself addressed. "She never mar
ried. Such a pretty girl, you'd never
believe it. She had offers, but they
did not suit her. Once she told me,
sitting just there, sir, where you sit,
the Christmas after her parents died,
why they did not. She was fond of a
young gentleman once, but he came
and went and never said a word, and,
as she believed, 70 cared for her.
She cried and cried of nights, but told
no one, and she lived single until she
was 40. Then one day, when she was
up in the garrett, she found a pair of
red silk pockets in an old box. She
had missed the pockets. They used to
wear 'em outside, sir, which seems
funny now. She had missed Them and
never guessed where they'd gone, but
somehow they'd been dropped into the
box that was carried up in the garrett
that very night. She'd not seen them
for 90 years, and she took them out
and turned them over, and a letter fell
into her lap.
TT was sealed, and it had her name
on it and when she read it she found it
was an offer from this young gentle
man, an offer, sir, that she would
have said yes to, and thankful.
She knew then that, being bashful,
he had slipped it into her pocket, and
it had been lost with it, of course.
81 cried at first, Martha she said,
but afterward I was glad, for I knew