The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1898-05-05
SMELLING PEAS.

A clever and wealthy man once told .
friend that the prettiest sight he ever saw
was a girl Smelling peas for the family din
ner. 1t was an odd remark, but the cir
cumstances that led to it were such IS
might happen any day.
Horace Twemlow was an only son, and
his old father was very anxious that he
should marry and bring home wife to
KEEP house and make it homelike for them
both as the mother had long been dead
and the father and son were too much at-
tached to one another to wish to live apart.
Horace was not actually in love with
any one, but there were three girls he
rather admired, so he tried an experiment.
He announced his intention of taking
holiday or, at all events, OF going over TO
the city for trip, saying be was not quite
sure when he would be able to return.
About II o'clock one morning he went to
the home of the girl he liked best, and
when the door opened asked for Miss Ellen
and told the maid to say that he had called
at that unusual hour just to say goodby,
as he was leaving suddenly and had very
little time at his disposal. He was shown
into a sitting room, separated from anoth-
er by folding doors, and distinctly heard
the voice of his charmer saying to her
mother:
"No, mamma, certainly will not be
with no tucker in it and my fringe not
curled."
In two or three minutes the maid re-
turned to the waiting Horace and said
Miss Ellen was very sorry not to see him,
but she was in bed with bad headache.
GA girl who puts on dirty dress in the
morning and tells fibs is not the wife for
me" thought the young man as he went
away, and, turning into the next row of
vii hn bn ha1l a
was on the chain and stood a little way
open, giving him view of the staircase.
On the half landing stood the girl he had
called to see, scolding some one up above
her SO vigorously that she evidently did
not notice the ring at the bell. Her voice
was SO shrill and her i'll temper so evident
that Horace instantly took a card out of
his case, soribbled ''P. 2. c." on it when
the servant answered his summons and
went his way.
The third girl he meant to call on lived
half a mile away. The house was small and
her parents had the reputation of not be-
ing very well off. He knocked and gave
the same message to the maid as be had
done at the first house. She was not an
accomplished housemaid and left him
standing at the open door while she went
| and spoke to her young mistress in back
room. Horace heard the quiet words,
"Ask Mr.. Twemlow to come in," and he
| was shown straight into the sunny back
parlor, where Miss Mary Jones sat in a
| low chair with a vegetable dish on her lap
| and a large basket of green peas on the
| floor beside her. She wore neat pink
| zephyr dress, white collar and black tie
and very large white apron pinned up
| quite high on her breast and her hair was
| just as nicely done as when he had last
| seen her at Cinderella dance.
She said not word about her occupa-
| ton. 1t was evidently quite a natural
! thing for her to shell peas in the morning,
| but she laughed and talked SO pleasantly
| that Horace staid till she had finished and
| rose to take her peas to the kitchen. Then
! he went, but the next day he made an ex-
cuse for coming again, and, though he
| still talked of going to the city there did
not seem to be any hurry about it.
| Mary Jones was quite as quick witted as
| other girls and soon understood what he
| meant, and got one of her brothers to con-
| vey to him in the most casual way in the
world that she was engaged to a curate in
I the north and they were to be married as
soon as he got living.
| Horace did not go to the city then, but
/ in few weeks he returned and lived with
| his father and middle aged housekeeper
! till the old man died. Even then he made
| no pretense of being a marrying man, and
| when chaffed about single blessedness by
| his friend told the story of the pea Smelling
and laughingly said he must wait for
| Mary's eldest daughte
'Wel1,'' said his friend, "but if she will
have you there will certainly be no need
| for her to shell peas. You can give wife
| quite fine establishment now and car
| riage into the BARGAIN
YES replied the elderly Horace, 81
| could do all that, but 1 should like my
wife to be the sweet, domestic, womanly
woman that money neither buys nor spoils
and, though / may joke about Mary s
! daughter, hear she is going to Girton,
| and don't suppose she even knows how
! to shell peas. But, for all that, believe
/ she is her mother over again in all essen
| tials.'
Mary the second had been at Girton for
| three terms when Horace Twemlow went
down to the north country vicarage for the
| little family festival her parents had plan
ned for her twenty-five birthday. The
! young folks called him 'tUncle Horace, -
and never considered high days and holt
| days and bonfire nights were complete
without him. He travelled all night and
walked up to the French window of the
modest dining room, where the table was
| laid for breakfast, though nobody was
| down yet except the Girton girl. She was
| so busy cutting delicate slices of bread and
J butter, which she put on her mother S
plaUes That she did not notice him and was
| beginning to put the chairs to the table
| when he stepped in.
| "Oh, Uncle Horace, what a SURPRISED
she exclaimed, blushing rosy red, and then
the others came trooping in, and they all
| talked SO much and were SO voluble in
their good wishes that it was a very noisy
! breakfast party indeed. Horace sat be-
/ tween the mother and daughter and asked
the younger one to cut him some bread
and butter just as she had done for her
| mother. While she did it he watched her
| quick, capable hands and whispered to her
| mother:
almost as graceful as Smelling peas"
The elder Mary smiled and exchanged
| glances with her husband. She had an
| idea of what was coming, and when, later
/ in the morning, she saw Horace and her
Girton girl strolling round and round the
| lawn she was sure of the wisdom of her
surmises. Presently they came together,
| and Horace said quietly:
Mary has allowed me to give her ring
| for her birthday present and promised to
wear it till I exchange it for plain gold
one.''
He was always trifle deliberate, and a
| girl graduate is not expected to be fiippant
| but they were both very happy for all that
| and one of the truest marriages on earth
might never have come to pass had it not
| been for that little long ago episode of a
lrxs,. Il