Year: 1878

when the term closed, as was said before,
Jim felt that she was farther from him
than ever. He saw with the clearness of
vision that is characteristic of young
men in his state of mind, the hopeless
ness OF any attempt to make himself her
equal in any respect, and then acted as
u youth in his circumstances usually
does. He intended to remain with Mr..
Long until he was of age, for he knew he
could be of great service to the farmer
in the two years that intervened between
the present and that time. And he
wished to repay the latter for his kind
ness to him.


For the first few months of those two
years, he was apparently quite self-pos-
sessed in his association with Jennie.
But that is all that can be said to his
credit. He broke down-utterly sue
cumbed-before six months had passed,
proposed; and--told Jennie he did not
blame her for not caring for him, ond
hoped she would forgive him for offer
ing such poor creature as himself to
one like her; that he could not help it.;
that he felt he must know what he was
to her, and now he did know.
Jim had discovered Jennie The evening
when he asked that question, sitting ON
a bench under the great maple, back of
the house. There she left him, and
went into the house and there for a
long time he remained after she had
gone, sitting in her place, with sensa-
ton at his heart unlike anything he had
ever before experienced. Not contented
to let "well enough" alone, he had
gone from the negative comfort of con.
lecture into the positive pain of cer-
tainty.


The next morning he entered upon
his labors with less encouragement than
Jacob did upon his, after Laban's second
promise. Less by as much as a refusal
is less than promise.


And Jennie? If her nights rest had
been less sweet and refreshing than
usual, she showed no signs of it. She
appeared to be merrier than she had
been for some time. Early in the day
when she and her mother were engaged
in the labors of the household, she sur
prised the latter very much by " sea-
son" OF laughing - season of very
violent laughing.


Jennie " exclaimed Mrs. Long, at
last, dropping into chair, "What does
all youG"


"Why, mamma, it's the funniest
thing-Ive been proposed to-"


Proposed to! By whom? :"


"By jim"


"By our Jim, Jennie:"


Our Jim, mamma"


"The foolish boy i OF course you told
him, kindly, that you both were too
young to think of marriage. Your
father was twenty-six, and I was twenty
two when we were married. What did
you tell him, Jennie ?"


81 told him-no


"That was right only II hope you
did not hurt his feelings any more than
was necessary. trust he will forget
all about it soon -


What, mammal"


"I mean, Jennie, that 1 hope he will
see how foolish he has been, and forget
all about you before he goes away"


"Oh, certainly II hope he will
will forget-and-see how it is, before
then. He's poor, you know-very. I
told him so. wanted to-help-him
forget, as you say, and so said in case
married, in the course of twenty or
twenty five years, I should probably
wed very rich man then I shouldn't
be any trouble to my-hus-husband /;
but that shouldn't do for poor man
at ALL"


"Well, Jennie, / do sincerely wish
that he may soon care as little for you as
you do for him."


As the months passed away, Mrs.
Long, watching Jim, concluded that he
had not suffered much by the rejection
he had received. The kind-hearted wo-
man was glad to think it was 80. Con-
sideFing all things, the less attraction
her daughter had for the young fellow,
the better.


Jennie, also, hoping as we may sup
pose that Jim, for the sake of his peace
of mind, would Outgrow his affection for
her, after little while, decided that he
had. She was very glad of it. And yet
there was tinge of melancholy in the
discovery. She was glad for his sake,
because he had suffered 80; but it was
abstractly considered-a very solemn
thought that so strong an attachment
was 30 short lived. Not that she would
have had it last longer in this particular
case-oh, no; but there might come a
time when she should want to know that
the one who had so great regard for
her was to have it forever. But what
was she to expect? Was Jim a fair
sample of mankind in this respect?


If Farmer Long had been an observ-
ing man, during these days he could
have seen coming into Jim's face some
thing that could not have failed to re-
mind him of the time when the youth 8
mother and Mrs. Long were girls, and
the best-looking ones in the village.
The fathers strength had come into
Jim's body and limbs, but he was get
ting his mothers face by installments.
These were to be his possessions when
he was of age.