Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-10-31

Tom was horribly in love. Katharine
was the dearest of girls, and she had
nobody in the wide world to look to but
himself for protection and care; and
now he would marry her at once. No
wonder If his eyes filed with unac-
customed tears and his heart glowed
when he thought of his inheritance and
all 1t meant! Good, worthy, excellent
Uncle Joseph! What had he done for
nephew who for his part regarded
him with perhaps less affection than
was due to so near relation! Alas!
do any of us young men love our uncles
as we should? Let this example be
lesson to us.
Already Tom had heard the bans put
up at the parish church for the first
time of asking If any man know just
cause or impediment'-cause or i'm
pediment indeed! When no two young
people ever loved each other more
truly, and when they had thousand a
year and house in Russell Square!
impeachment? when Providence, work.
ng through Uncle Joseph, had actually
prepared the way, carpeted the STAIR
Ease, so to speak. and arranged that the
course of true love should run smooth
~, sweetly swiftly between the most
lovely banks of honeysuckle, rose and
sweetbrier. Happy Tom! happy Kath-
arine! They lived only to fix the day,
and to buy few pretty dresses, and to
arrange for simple wedding where
there would be no breakfast. because
the bride had no cousins to ask-this
you will Immediately Understandable
to arrange, in Difference to each other,
where they would 60 for the honey
moon. Should 1t be Paris, with gayety
and theatres, or should 1t be the sea-
side. where they could wander hand in
hand over the sands, and listen to the
quiet waves tapping the shore, and
watch the soft moonlight lying over
been Paris, because the season was
what we humorously call early spring,
when asparagus is exhibited in tho
shops, and by the seaside the east wind
burrows the moonlighted waters, and
causeth goose-fiesh to those who wan
der along the sands.
Katharine followed the romantic call
ing Of daily governess. Owing to GER
tain defects in her education, which
had been fragmentary and subject to
Interruptions, she was quite the old
fashioned daily governess, and not in
the least like the young lady of Girton.
In fact am afraid she knew nothing
that a Girton girl calls knowledge. She
therefore gave lessons in those families
which can not afford the High School
they call 1t mixed; you may mix al
most everything but girls--and are far,
far above the Board school in gentility,
but cannot afford the modern certificat-
ed governess.
She was the daughter of gentleman.
Mr.. Willoughby Capel never allowed
the world to forget that he was gen.
tleman; there was no mistake possible
about the fact. Indeed, 1t was more
than an accident of birth; it was pro-
fession. He dressed, spoke, and played
up to that sacred calling; he did moth
ing; he despised all men who work. I
wish indeed that 1t were possible to
dwell upon the life Of this eminent
gentleman. 1t must suffice, however,
that he rose at II, and took his cup Of
tea and his finger of toast in his bed
room while he dressed; he performed
this function slowly and thoughtfully,
attired in a magnificent dressing gown;
he sailed forth, when his toilet was
complete, ut about noon, and returned
at midnight regularly.
There was no difficulty about money.
The weekly bills were always paid,
but Katharine very well understood
that II she wanted any money for her
self she must get 1t without asking
her father, who wanted all there was
for himself. Consequently, while he
took his simple dinner of slice Of sal
mon and the joint with pint of st.
Estephe at the club, and played his
whist for shilling points, his daughter
went out every day teaching the re-
spectacle Emptage family, and In the
evening studied at the Blrkbeck Insti-
tute, or worked at home, trying TO fill
up some of the cracks and gaps and
holes in her education. One regrets to
note that after her engagement to Tom
there came sad falling off in her
thirst for knowledge. History ceased
to have attractions for her. she was 10
longer haunted by the Rule of Three.
and she troubled herself no longer as
to the boundaries of Tibet. IT'S ever
thus. When love the conqueror shows
his rosy cheeks and his dimpled chin,
the muses. suddenly lose their good
looks. 1t is most surprising to see the
change which then comes over the poor
things. They become wan and bag
gard; they put on spectacles; their hair
falls off; they are fain to hide their
once lovely figures with boys jackets
or anything; Apollo smiles, they rush
away shrieking, and nobody misses
them.
"Sir," said Mr.. Willoughby Capei,
when Tom sought his consent, "as my
daughter has no fortune, I have no
right to object, though l should have
preferred for my son-in-law, I con-
fess, an independent gentleman, such
as myself, or at least one who was
making a livelihood by a recognized
profession, such as the bar or the
church. l am glad, however. to think
that when am gone my child will be
in good hands," --.-