Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-10-12
MISS DOLLY CORNERED.

~ SHOULDN'T be surprised any
day, Dolly, to see David Wiggln
tying his horse at your gate" said
Nr. Rlount, rOuglshly, gathering up the
reins
Nonsense. brother. Anything the
matter with his own hltching-pOst?
retOrted Miss Dolly, turning In the
doorway
Mr.. Blount laughed. Everybody felt
bound to laugh at Miss DOlly's crisp
sayings. She had kept her friends In
good humor these 40 years.
And when David does call on you"
pursued Mr. Blount. more seriously. II
do hope. Dolly. you'll give him a
chance to do his errand. That'll be no
moren fair, and the man won't be easy
Oil he has freed his mind"
What mischief are you the fore
runner Of now. James BlOunt?" cried
Miss Dolly. facing about like II soldier
on drill What upon earth have | to
do with David's errands:"
We'll, his wfe's been dead year or
No." said Mr.. Blount. suggestively. shut
ting one eye, aud squirting with the
other down the length OF his whip
stock. and lately he's been asking
about you. You can put that and that
together to suit yourself"
"Fddlesticks." said Miss Dolly. en-
ergetically.
II shan't say have him, nor don't
have him-though there isn't likelier
man living than David-but do say,
Dolly, you ought to give him hear
Ing" And having convinced himself
beyond reasonable doubt that the
whip was all right. Mr.. Blount tickled
his sleepy horse with it. and drove
away.
"Oh, my sorrows" calculated Miss
Dolly. closing the door with an af-
dicted cOuntenance, and sitting down
70 quietly for once that phOtOgra pher
might have copied her then and there.
Not that he could have done her JUS
tice, for her expression was too quick
and varied to be caught 10y any trick
Of chemicals. and without it Miss Dol
ly's physlOgnony would have been
rather characterless but for her promi-
nent Roman nose. This organ gave
tOna to her face. BY which | would
not be understood literally as saying
that she talked through it in a ma sal
whine. mean simply that in meta
phOrical sense this bold feature spoke
loudly OF energy. And Miss Dolly had
always had abundant need of energy
else why the nose? Every two years
during her childhood she had been tip
toed into the east bedroom to see new
baby, till, at her mothers death. five
little brothers fell to her charge to be
coaxed and scolded into manhood.
You can't bring up them boys"
croaked "A dolorous aunt "They'll run
square over you, Dorothy Almeda."
Dorothy Ameda was Miss Dolly's
baptismal name, but 1T was so mani
testify too big for her that most of her
friends would rs soon have thought of
labelling tiny homeopathic vial with
quack medicine advertisement as Of
calling her by 1t.
Let EN- run over me, as long as il
doesn't hurt EN-" laughed Miss Dolly.
skewerng her tlaxen hair with n goose
quill, and tying Il tow apron over her
calico long-short, preparatory to
''bringing up" said youths.
From that day forward she went
cheerily on, making the best OF every
thing, though It must he confessed she
often had odds and ends to work with,
as people usually do have who are
born with a faculty. Somehow she
found time for all her duties excepting
matrimOny. II that were duty 1t
was one she couldn't and wouldn't at
tend to while her father and the chill
dren needed her. Divers young men
thought this great pity, among them
David Wiggin.
Don't be silly, David" said Dolly.
when he limited as much to her, where
upon David went Off straightway and
married Olive Searle. the plainest girl
In the parish. This happened 80 years
ago, and now David was again wife
less, and again the current Of his
thoughts turned toward Miss Dolly
still lived at the old homestead near
the foot Of Bryant's Falls. Her father
had died some months before. OF the
boys, James and Ezekiel had settled OH
neighboring farms and the remaining
three We're in the West David's be
nevolent heart warmed with compass
sion as he remembered Do!y's lonely
condition. aud he felt that ii would be-
exceedingly kind in him to offer her {