Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1895-11-15
Tht Storg Tetter.
WIDOWS AND POKERS.
The Courtship of Will Woodh ouse.

MT. Wllllam WOOuuouSc was h"eo
rally very timid man. Not that he
was lacking in moral and physical
courage, but he was afraid of the
women. On all other occasions he
was usually equal to the emergency,
be it whatever it might, but place him
tete-a-tete with woman, and, to use
a vulgar but expressive phrase, he was
done for.
His mother had long ago settled
down to the uncomfortable conviction
that William would never marry and
the girls had arrived at the same con-
clusion. 1t had become quite the thing
to say, in making comparisons, GAS
great fool as Will Woodhouse !"
For-take note, bashful young gen.
tlemen-however much ladies may
admire modesty in the other sex, they
Invariably despise man who has not
heart enough TO say to the girl Of his
choice, ~ love you"
Will admired all the girls in his
way, bat he looked upon them very
much as sensible people do upon a
hornets nest, as q curious piece OF
architecture; but not safe to be famil-
lar with.
So he kept his distance, and in the
meantime arrived at the mature age of
%. Then he met, for the first time,
at a picnic party, Adelaide Browne.
We believe people with the stoniest
hearts fall in love at picnics, and from
that hour poor Will had no comfort in
his life. Sleeping or waking, his
dreams were full of the beautiful Miss
Browne. Surely there never was an.
other of the numerous Browne family
like her! Blue eyes, white muslin
dress, with knots of pink ribbon--brown
hair, red lips, pearly teeth, snowy
hands-all danced together in a mis-
cellaneous "all hands round" before
his distorted vision.
Adelaide, all unconscious of the
trouble she had caused, went her way,
breaking the hearts of most of the
young gentlemen in Highbridge, and
trying hard to fracture the few that
remained whole.
She was visiting her Aunt Hooper,
and it is an undeniable fact that ladies
always take best where they are not
known. This is no libel on the sex
no indeed for with gentlemen this
truth is still more applicable.
Mrs. Hooper was widow lady of
no small personal attractions, in her
own estimation, and if she was not so
young as she might have been, she
thought she was, and behaved accord
ingly, though some envious individuals
believed that she was anxious to sup
ply the place of her dear deceased as
soon as possible.
For week after meeting with AIDE
laide, Will bore up bravely. The
second meeting destroyed all the stock
of composure he had been boarding up.
He took desperately to the MUSES., and
walked the whole night away, to the
infinite destruction of shoe leather and
the infinite disgust of his practical
papa.
He met Adelaide now quite frequent
ly. Highbridge was very gay. There
were nightly gatherings Of the young
people, as we'll as excursions to the
surrounding hills-for it was early
autumn, and Nature was in her robes
of state.
There was an excursion to Mount
Giblo one fine day, and there Will had
the ecstatic pleasure of treading on
Adelaide's dress, thereby throwing her
headlong into pile of brush; and
while Laura Blake picked her up and
helped her repair damages, he stood
by, frightened clear out of his wits,
and momentarily expecting the noun
tain to open and swallow him up.
From that time he pined rapidly.
His appetite was thing of the past.
His mother thought him in quick de-
cline, and dosed him with hoarhound
and patent pacific pills. He grew
worse and worse.
At last, thinking himself near his
end, he confessed to his mother. She
was thunderstruck at first; but after
ward, like a sensible woman, she adj
vised him to put on his "other Clothes"
and 60 right over and lay the case
before Miss Browne. 1t couldn't kill
him, she said, and then if she refused
him-why, there was as good fish in
the sea, etc.
Will took three days to consider,
and at the end of that time his mind
was made up. He swallowed double
dose of blackberry cordial, donned his
best suit, brushed his hair till it shone
like ebony, and made the best of his
way to Mrs. Hooper's.
Not that he intended to ask Ade-
laide-but Mrs. Hooper. If he could
only get the aunt won over TO his cause,
and employ her to state the condition
of his heart to her niece, he should be
happy. He felt assured that be never
could live through confessing himself
to Adelaide; and if he did, and she
should say no, he was satisfied he
should faint right away on the spot.
As good fortune would have it, he
found Mrs. Hooper alone, in her best
gown and her best humor. She was
charmed to see him, and treated him
to nuts and cider, and a seat on the
sofa so near herself, that poor Will
was at his wits ends to frame the first
L :