St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-08-28
COUSIN LINN.

was tall, as | said and he did not kno'
what to do with his talDess His en-
barrassment at sight Of two grown ant
| may say, handsome young ladies wa
plain.
"What q gawkW we thought.
Dinner did not much improve on
opinion Of our relative, and it was wit
dismay that we heard, as we left tn
dining ROOM
"Girls, / leave your cousin Linn t
your devices this afternoon. / have n
doubt you can entertain him. The
father strobe out Of the door and bacl
to business.
The wretch-I mean our new relative
of course. That very afternoon we wer
to have paid number of neglected call
that could not longer be put off.
Entertain him! Oh, yes, we Womb
entertain him. And we did.
Ct Just wait said my sister Helen be
tween set teeth. "He shall show us how
himself
So when Cousin Linn had finished hi
cigar-he seemed to linger over it an
unreasonably long time-and entered
the parlor, his rather sheepish gaze met
batting Of four light brown eyes,
whose owners were prepared to make
out whatever mischief he invited.
The first few moments passed tamely
enough. Cousin Linn was a twig of O
branch Of the family tree that dourished
in a neighboring state, too far away for
us to know more than that we there
boosted also an Aunt Lucy and q Cousin
Kate. We put Cousin Linn down as an
ordinary farmer boy, with little more
than his share Of The farm and of the
boy about him.
Just as we expected Cousin Linn
himself gave us the first hint of how be
was best to be held up to the proper
ridicule and scorn. In despair at our
brief replies to his well meant conversa-
tional efforts, his eye fell upon the
piano, and he, III gratitude of spirit,
fell upon its neck. He asked us to play.
Poor man!
Sister Helen began. Now, if there
was one thing we girls prided ourselves
upon, il was our musical talent and ed
ucatlon, or, rather, we were proud of
the talents and father of the education,
which he had paid for with mingled
feelings of satisfied duty and outraged
pocket. But that day Sister Helen ap-
peared possessed. She played nothing
but the simplest tunes, jigs and reels
and even had the audacity to pick out
several good old hymns with one hand.
| followed her lead, and our Door old
piano was made to bring forth sounds
that no self respecting COW would have
died to.
Cant You play, Cousin Iinn?" asked
Sister Helen Law, that girls smile
was as innocent as q baby's, but it
meant mischief for our cousin. That in
dividual, who had applauded us loudly,
looked at his shoes and said yes, he
could play little. He would try, even
after our brilliant performance.
Cousin Linn's musical education had
our programme. He reeled off country
dances with the ease of a COW walking
a railroad trestle. If our selections were
rum -tumty, Cousin Linn's were rum
te-tumtier. And to watch him picking
out the tune, using one, two OF three
fingers of each hand, his long hair bob
bing about his ears as he ducked his
head at every note set us in fit of ST.
lent laughter
Let's take him with US, whispered
Helen as he neared the end of a mum
Der. " And of course | jumped at the
idea of more fun with Cousin Linn
I'm agreeable" said that young
man when we asked him.
He spake better than he knew.
So off we set. To every girl of our &C
quaintance we paid visit and at every
house we made new sport of Cousin
Linn and his piano playing.
First, we would play when asked,
and always the same rum te-tum tunes.
OF course, the girls took the cue from a
wink and did the same, while Cousin
Linn sat there, his great eyes staring at
his shoes, and saying never word ex-
cept "Yes'm' and Nom. "
Then, cousin Linn can play" one
of us would dGmurely say, and Cousin
Linn always toed the mark and the |
pedals,
So it went on. We left one household
after another in conN ulSons of laughter,
until we came to Miss Matilda Craig's
1t happened that Miss Craig played first
and we We're unable to give her the cue
Poor, good Christian soul. She played
the piano as she did everything else, as
her conscience babe her, just the best
she knew how, So after Miss Matilda
had given us the Turkish Retreat"
the Wellington Boots Quickstep, and
other carefully rendered selections,
Helen and | could do no less. We thun-
dered at Bach and trilled at Chopin in
the best conservatory style we had been
taught and snickered in our sleeves
(they were wide then, too, my dears
but at the bottom and not the top)
How Cousin Linn gaped. l actually
thought the mans eyes would pop out
of his head.
Then we made him play. He had to
be almost dragged to the piano this
time, but we were eager and curious to
see him go through with his little jigs
and reels again after our old masters.
So Cousin Linn took his seat at the
instrument. Somehow, as he sat there