Year: 1873

From the Kansas Magazine.


We were making a visit to Miss Sa-
rah Bonn, three girls of us, not that
she was schoolmate or friend of our
own age for she was g an old maid of
ffty-six, " as she fearlessly announced
to all whom it might concern, but she
had never taken kindly to the orthodox
pets of the typical old maid. Cats were
abomination to her, parrots she abhor-
red, large dogs she barely tolerated,
but would have nothing to do with their
smaller brethren. Her large and COM
Portable heart was full of kindness for
young people, and never, think, until
her name appeared as above, was she
called anything but g Sally by her CO.
temporaries and elders, and " Aunt
Sail " by her juniors. The number Of
her adopted nephews and nieces was
alarming, and she had some of them
visiting her the year round, varying the
number from one to a dozen. Her
home was a vast and ancient farmhouse,
which, like the tomb of g PAsha Ben Ali
Achmet," ," seemed to contain Groom for
any number" and here, at Christmas,
in the midsummer holidays, and odd
days at many times in the year, might
be found orphans, the forlOrn children
of mistaken missionaries and children
of parents who did not "keep Christ
mas or made other holidays especially
exciting. And who can tell the number
of " boxes which left that door in the
express wagon, directed to boarding
schools east, west, north and south ?


Her three visitors of this present
writing were not boarding school girls,
although the time was not very long
past when they had been. 1 owed my
invitation to a recent fever, and the
fact that my family was obliged to re-
main in town that summer Ada War
ner owed hers to an exhaustive term of
teaching, through which she had just
passed, and Netty Ashburner owed hers
to love affair. Ada and [ were deeply
interested in Netty; we had never been
in the house with a love affair before,
which conveys a painful admission.
Netty's young man lived in the -four
ishing town just outside of which Aunt
Sally's farm was situated. Her home
home was many miles away, and al
though Aunt Sally had given some
fimsy reason or other for the invitation,
of an entirely foreign nature to the true
one, we knew her well enough to see



! through that. She was no match-mak
er, but nothing save her abundant com,
mon sense kept her from being one
aud for a person who was always con
sidered in the % bony light" of pre-
destinated and elected old maid, she
took a wonderful amount of pleasure IL
seeing other heads go into the moose
which her own had successfully avoid
ed. Everybody seemed to think that
she was " cut out for an old maid,
and yet I do not see why everybody
thought so. Perhaps they did no
perceive, what / always fancied, tha'
her sturdy independence and smal
particularities were an after-grOwth
of her character.


Everything was very pleasant, ex
cepting NettY, she mOoned more
than Ada and I considered reasonable
and was only animated by the somewha
frequent arrivals of the object. The!
were " engaged, /" parents had bestowe'
their consent and blessing, and TIN
wedding was to come off in fey
months; so we thought, perhaps un
reasonably, that Netty might have TAX


en- it lib1le more coolly, and havinl