"IN MIDDLE AGE. A many of TE know of Mr. ve h rge Bulluy, if not by iE Why then at t by sight, arly if you have occasion to pass uently through that part of Madison street which lies between La Salle street and the bridge. You need not be re- minded, then, of the relation that “handsome George,” as he is known in boot and shoe circles, holds to the street at lurge, and you can recall, with- out any help from me, his general ap- now wd parsonality} Low he sits or ounges behind a particularly large and clear pane of plate glass, near a eertain | corner, whore it is an easy matlor to see and an easier one to be seen, with a vague and indefinite array of black-lottered cases of a backgronnd, und a little crowd of nervous or appreciative fellow -salesinen as foils and supports youths who ean put proper i 4 upon the set of his vest, the Lilt of his stenw hat, and the general air of self sufficiency, exporience and felicity that shows in lus sharp, good-natured bine eyes, his handsome, chestnut mustache and his whole pros. perous and well-kept being, and sets as a crown or halo upon his 28 years, Twonty-cight years! you ask; and pray do you call 28 “middle-aged?” Not at all. Then this prepossessing young man is not the hero of your romance, after alll Not in the least, he is only going to serve to start us on our wiy to have the first say.” It is on a certain Suturday afternoon in August, when an air of elegant leis. ure more marked than usual seems to rvade the establishment of BRoxtoe & nstep, when the attitudes of the group behind the great French glass widow are rather more negligent and insonei- ant than ordinary, and the cloud of cigar-smoke hovering above is ruther more dense and undisturbed than it will be when trade “braces up,” But for the first time in the history of his connection with the “house” Mr. George Bailey fails to altogether harmonize with his setting, there is a spark of irritation in his clever bine eye and a note of impa tience in the tattoo which his neat boot beats upon the ill kept floor. Sewe thing has occurred to annoy him, and he is on the point of “letting himself out’ about it. “That settles the business,”” he re marks. “I'll go at the end of the month. I can get along with lustep’s airs, and | can drudge on like a dray-horse on half say, and there's one or two other things don't hike bul can stand. However, there's one thing can't stand, and that's this. | don’t see how all you fellows can, either; you've had one girl time here already, and vou ought to remem ber what they're like. No sitting around comfortably in your shirt sleeves: no saying anything that begins with a D with. out a pair of startled blue eyes turned yous way with a how-can you-be-so-dread fal look in thew; no calling ‘Mamie,’ or Josie,! or whatever it is, without that shocked, grieved, why are you so-shame fully familiar glance that breaks a fol low all up: no anything exeept plenty of chains, und rings, and geraniums, and kittens with pink ribbons in their ears, and a young thing in montages saying to Tommy there, ‘I know I'm real ig porant and inexperienced, and 1 want you to be nice and patient with me and show me everything [ ought to know; now, won't you!” And Tommy blushing up to the roots of his hair, and passing out quarters for halves, or halves for quarters, and the dickens to pay gen- erally. That thing in the corner there, is it the machine she's going to perform on? And Mr. George Bailey shook himself together with a groan of disgust, while everybody around laughed mildly or vociferously, as bis temperament die- tated OF 84 hia recollection of the last young lacy prompted. “That's the PD answered the oashier, from his window just above their head, “and the machinist herself is going to be around Monday morning. | understand. It'll be time enough to fiy from your firic base then: better wait and sce what she’s like. Youdon't want to be down on all womankind solely on aecount of poor Susie Simpson. And 1 should say you ought to be the last man here to be down on Susie herself, any- way. Who was it said she didn't ject to seeing a well-made man in his shirtsloeves! Susie. Who said she didn't mind so very much hearing a handsome fellow swear a little now and then! Sasie. Who was always snip- ping away at her iums and thin to make or for ‘hand- soe Georgel' Susie. who, if m memory serves me, once said that if open ir of Susie Simpson or any other girl.” “Girl” with a most scornful em “Yes, we're death on girls , and don’t you forget it,” chimed in a grin- youngster just emerging from ‘the “We'll be Seal on this one,” ig Mr. Bailey, majestically adopting t ve. nile formula. id one oy pod be pice of Amuseihont: present ina ph onge: and in come down lke a thousand of brick, and Miss Jennie, or Lule, or whatever her name is, will be ; tious cashier's ea." was around, and it was Mr. John Jom entering with his sun um- bretla and his palm-loaf fan wha imme- diately cooled the mounting ardor ot his staf. “Old John,” as thoy familiarly called Mm behind his back, never could be brought to a ve of jokes between 8 in the morning and 6 in the afternoon. Those wore the hours for business, But in truth business with old John had all hours and seasons for its own, He was business all through. He had never found time for amusemonts; he had never (to Mr, Instep's regrot) found time to cultivate soviety; he had never even found time to marry, and when interro- gated on this point frankly ncknowl edged that he never oxpected to find time to marry. lle had nover seen much of women, never cared very much about them, never found it necessary to in- clude them in his calculations, But after Afty years-.or forty-nine; that don’t seem quite so antiquated —of absence the feminine clomoent was about to obtrude itself upon Old John's life. He, in short, it is who nels nas here, if hero there be, in this simple middle-aged romance. The following Monday morning Bailey and his friend the cashier happened, 7 a coincidence that seldom repeated itself, to eross Boxtoe & Instep's threshold to- gether. A moment later Bailey had opened his pocketbook, placed a erisp, fresh V in the other's hend, and said in a voice whose every accent expressed the resignation which sometimes follows utter defeat: “Here, take it, Tommy; we won't wait till Wednesday.” Just inside the door of pid John's private office sat a little woman of about 43 or 35. Beside her stood a typewriter opened for work, in her lap lay a note. book, and her hands were just putting the finishing touches on three or four pencil-points. She was attired neatly and trimly in simple gray, with plain white linen at her throat and wrists, Not a curl, or frill, or furbelow. And as our two young men entered she lifted a pair of calm gray eyes and said, in a sor ne and matter-of-fact tone: “Good morning.’ “We won't wait till Wednesday,” ro peated handsome George in an awed whisper, while a fiendish chuckle came from the boy, whose head was popping up over a case of Congress gaiters not far away, The lady's name turned out to bx Katherine, She was introduced, how over, as Miss Grant, who bad under taken to shorthand and typewrite the firm's correspondence; and Miss Grant she was called, and nothing ti} Upon the arrival of old John she be gan work on the morning mail. She ‘took down’ from dictation between f and 11, and an hour of clickings fol lowed before she rose to po out lunch. During her brief absence one ot two venturesome Spirits took it upon themselves to investigate the progress of her work. Why not! they sad; it's a firm's matter, ain't it? Of course; and so they turned over with some awe the twenty odd pages of algebraieal, pre: technical, and cabalistic scrateihn which her notebook contained to trace some correspondence betweer ning snl te the first letter in the book and the lettes | at the bottom of ber little pile of printed sheets, Though they failed totally in this matter, still they tip-toed out with ; certain respect for shorthand and an ex pressed opinion that she seemed to be » pretty nice woman and that Old Johr would probably find her a considerable help. He did. He was a man upon whom precision, punctuality, and good genera capacity were never thrown away, and by the end of the first week he had come to wonder how he had ever got on x long without help of this sort and hac reached the firm conclusion that he never should be able to dispense with it in the future. Everybody else in the office, too, became impressed in the proper degree with the promptitude and capacity with which Miss Grant dis charged her daties, and she soon gained the complete respect and good-will of the house. Even Mr. George Bailes was carried along in the eral wave, and pct sin that he liked the new. comer none the less even after she had distinctly begun to discourage the ornate attentions with which he seemed rather disposed to favor ber. “Such treatment comes to me like something of a npovelty,” he modestly said one day; ‘but perhaps it will do me good. She's a nice little woman, all the same, and ought to have made some man a good wife long before this.” “She may yet,” said the eredit man, briefly; he happened to overhear. One morning two or three months later the cashier cast a knowing look in the direction of Mr. George Bailey, and in the course of the next half hour in- uired in a discreetly lowered voice if "Old John; that's who! old John, you understand? 1 haven't seen the top of that head every day for four years for nothing. And who--who-- who do, you think was with him?" O, that Dubuque man-—8hank, ot haut Dubuque, else, un | ling up to him and» juvenlle voice nsked: Pg ou know w he's been givin' herl hall 1 tell yout” “Who the deuce is ‘he’ and who the deuce is ‘her't severely asked the exas Bailey. “What ave you giving me, anyhow?’ “It's phir of canary birds ina gilt cage, and a fine thing all around I'm telling you, 1 know the fellow that took them up to her placo—on the north side, you know." “Aro you telling me! demanded Bailoy, torn by conflicting emotions, “that John Hoxtoo has been giving Miss Grant a eagoful of canary birds! Well, she won't want any parrot now.” Yes, old John had been taking Miss Grant to the play and had bestowed nu morous small gifts upon her, besides tos tifying his appreciation of her in numer ons ways that never became public; and Inte on a Docember afternoon he tho final step for which everything be fore had been merely preparatory. On this ocension he hastily entered his ewn private office with three or four letters | which had arrived by a late mail and | must be attended to, he sald, before the close of business hours. So Miss Grant immediately got out her books and her pencils and was soon deeply n a communication relating to a case of ovenshoes that had started for Peoria but had never got there, Then follow two or three others of general similar nature, They all related to matlers of vars simple character and were not especially differ. ent from many others that had left the establishment during the last month or two; but the two made very slow pro. gress, Old John's usual fluency seemed to have quiet deserted him; he hemmed and hawed, and stammered, and altered, and repeated, and made a very bad busi ness i very simplo and ordinary mat ter. “Well, that's all for now,” he said, after a long pause had followed the com pletion of the last answer of all. “Or, 10," he went on, as Miss Grant turned aside to uncover her machine, be just one more yet ready! My dear madam {| bave you got that madam i “This is for a lady, apparently,’ Now are you down! deat My said | smile, x "You it 1s," replied old John Ms | dear madam, | hope you will rot be | pot be disagreeably surprised ill { Poor old fellow! how be stumbled amd | blundered. How much he said, and un said, and resaid before he fairly under way! How he blushed, and figeted, and perspired, until in his des Retation he wa in two or three swift, compact sentences that were out of his mouth slmost be fore he knew it “Yours devotedly, John There cried Old John Boxto mopping his half of expectation “Name snd address Miss Grant in her usual | ness like way ' ‘Sure cnough, sure enough,” he i joined, with another wave of embarrass ment surging over his face, “This is Grant.” “Forme, is i177 she asked in the most simple and unsuspecting manner in th world, “Well, then, just let me through it and see what it is all about And, as she ran over ber hicroglyphics a bright spot began to burn in each please,” said neal and busi to play around her mouth, and some eye. What she was reading was a pro posal of marrisge. With admirabl presence of mind she turned to her iy writer She would y him in his own coin Bn dear sir,” she murmured, and Le gan to run her fingers over the keys o the instrument. But there was no sheet in place, and she was obliged to look around for pen and paper. “My dea: sir,” she repeated again, and then di yl her pen into the ink. But it was useless quite, for she had wet the handle of tin penholder itself. “My dear sir,” sin said once more, casting about for a final resouros. Old John began to langh heartily, “You are writing to a gentleman, ap pacently,” he said. “If 1 am the gentle man a verbal answer will do as well as any other. Come!" And them she gave him her reply in regular fashion. of moquaintances, t his foot down on that took | foreed to boldly take the | ‘ iI by the horns and finally say | yi am UL DY Lhe Horns and Bnally say bis say | displayed a larger | ONIRICHON _ {8 CONEDICUOUR mm already crimson | for Miss Katharine | ni TUN | corner. and so situated that she {not by | erates without leaving her prom ites cheek, and something like a smile began | honor of having waved a flag on , ing wavy g on | : there'll | § | ales marched dear madam; | | are some interesting f A CREAT POET'S MISTAKE. a ——— have you heard the latest! 10 ¥he Real Neorcine of Whittiors “Barbara Freftehe” Poem, (Washington Cor, Baltimore Ameriosn.) Much has been written about the al leged mistake of Whittier in making a heroine out of Barbara Freitche for wav- ing the Union colors in the face of Stone- wall Jackson and his followers as they Frederick, Md. ore however, con- nected with this conspicuous blunder which have never before been published, These have been furnished to your eor- respondent by Mr. Joseph Walker, the son-in-law of Mrs. Quantrell, who was the real heroine on that occasion. Mr. Walker is connected with the paper house of Morrison & Co., on D street in this city, and is perfectly familiar with the dramatic scene in which Dame Bar- bara, ‘bowed with her’ four-score years marched through | and ten,” is Supposed to have flaunted the silken scarf of patriotism from the windowsill and exclaimed: “Shoot, if you must, this old, gray head, but spare your country's flag!” she said. “I'll tell you the exact particulars,” said Mr. Walker, “and they have never before been corrcetly given. I have never given my sccount of that affair, None of the versions heretofore pub. lished are accurate. In the first 8 dar there was none of the poetic incidents mentioned by Whittier, There was no | windowsill, and there was no old woman about it. Mrs. Mary A. Quantrell was | at that time a woman of 82, biack haired, and, though she did become my mother: in-law afterward, 1 must say that she was very pretty. Her husband was then at work as a compositor on The National Intelligencer in this city, and Mrs. Quantrell was living in Frederick with her children. On the day that Jackson and his army passed throngh Frederick she and her little daughter, Virgie Quantrell, who is now the wife of Mr. Perry Brown, at present an employe of the government printing office, were standing at the gate They had severs! small Union flags which they brought there to wave as the Confeder- by, Mrs Quantrell was enthusiastically loval and she, woman | like, simply took advantage of the oo : { Miss Grant, looking up with an amused | the line of march | with on patriotie | reds] her devotion to the wil within a few feet of Virgo was waving a children play Many of called out ‘Throw fo show They st« easion Union very small flag, such as days. had soldiers | down that flag” but the little girl kept | waving it had even got | | girl { tinoed | house, . : | jonst § ith test 13 rp f relly 3 4 g brow, with a gesture half of relief and | men treated her with marked stall in two, the The little small flag and turn, was Mrs. Quantrell and waved it in This she con stonewall his sword and cul the flag falling to the ground. then took another and thia, in Then fag Aanner, out waved it, her hand, i to doa until and bis men had Khe was In fact not molested many of the olllcers and COU riasy | Some of the officers raised their hats and | saad “To you, madam; not 10 Your flag.” | showing that Barbara 1 154 + Jive on Jackson's line of mar | Mr. Walker expressed his indignation | that his mother-in | robbed of the ereddit of this patriotic per He gave a diagram of the | law chould have lun formance, streets in that portion of Fritchie did net hi. that her | honse wax a block and a half around the thing Ike a tear began to start in each | ve pollen a the good old dame that day, and that all Frederick know that it was Mrs. Mary A. and not Rartara Freitchie. who should have heen immonalized in verse by the wmntrell, (Quaker poet The Quantrell family is now in pos session of the letters from Whittier ac- knowledging his mistake and the injus. tice that had been done the real heroine, or rather the two heroines, as it would seem nat the little \irgle was as much entitled to a niche in the temple of fame as her patriotic mother. These letters Mr. Walker offered to show your ocorespond ent if he would accompany him to his home, says that be derived his information as to Barbara Freitche from Mrs. EE. D.E N, Southworth, the manufacturer of sens tional literature, who wrote him a letter detailing the imeident, and suggesting that it afforded matbrial for » masterful poem. Wheren he sat down and evolved the thrilling story of the nonage narian dame who had floated the stars and stripes in the face ef the rebel in vaders. Mr Whittier admits that Mrs. the force of My. Whit as they are unable to sec how it is too late to correct such an blunder under. It fsa little sinzu'sar that a family which furnished such an exponent of the loyal sentiment of the country should also have supplied nephew of A the husband of Mary A., whom Whittier should have immertalized, but did not. Moxicanm Market Seeno. [Exchange | From dawn till dusk in a Mexican the cake. vendor shout. “Fat litle onkes! Pat the | Suddenly a lieutenant drew | ER. ITCH SORES. PIMPLES. PELAS WORM MEE By iaptome are molstare, stinging, itching, worse st night ; seems as if pin-worme we, e oraw ing about the rectuso; the private paris ure often afiected, Avs Samat, economical and positive curs, Swarywe's WYMENT i pupsrior to any article in the market. Sold by or send 50 ota. fu Dot, Stamps 3 druggists, Boxes. 51.25. Address Dn Swavwg & Row wid gn The oldest and best appointed Institution lor obtaini Fes s Business Education. addres. P. DUFY & BONR, To impart a Practionl Business Eduostion has, for many years and with great success Leon the sim of Dufl’y College, No, 43 Fifth Avénue, The faith | student bas bere facilition for suck » training ns will Gutiee in any sphere of life. Por circulars address P. Duff & Some, Pitteburgh, Pa. Duffs Bookkeeping, poblished by Marper & Bro, printed in colors, $60 page. Ths largest workon the science published, A work for bankers raliroads, business men snd practi. onl seocuntants. Price. $1.00 GREAT INDUCEMENTS AT THE Bellefonte Marble Works i lialian, Rutland, Sutherland Falls, French Blue and Dorset Monvwments Tot i stones and Burial Vaults; EL GRANITE WORK A SPECIALITY “68 Frederick, | could | sight of the Confed- | that | never claimed the | | DO YOU In ome of them Mr. Whittier | Futhor'and Palle Filling with Isls La Motte Mar bie for Border. Toluler Galvanised Wrought ros | Fenolug for Cemetery Lote and Private Yards i Grave Guards, Iron Ssttees Jackson i all marched past her | in the | Chairs and Vases. ENAMELED SLATE TELS, MARBLEIZED AND DECORATED FURNI TURE AND WASH STAND TOPS HEARTHS, FIRE GRATES. Fx. Also, MAN. : i | i Guatify him for an immediate satrance vpon practionl | | All Work Guaranteed to Give Satisfaction | | and at the Lowest Price. 5. A. STOVER, Proprietor . | Hak Street, Bellefonte Pa, 6.29.1 y. WANT A NICE, COMFORTABLE BOOT or IF 80, CALL AT MICHAEL COONEY’S | Well known Boot and Shoe Stand, McCafferty’e Bwild- ing, opp. Deped. ELLEPONTE, = - Union Business. College. 8. W. Cor, Penn Ave, and Bixth St. The Lads Nermal School od earon os® " ear veroms, ‘ous ase STUDENTS LAST Course of Study luctodm all ie Common School yo Mathamation, ar Ao weiss of Pane awd iniormation, HARMON B WILLIAMS, or JAR OLARK WitLI anes. “ ah Privcipat. HAVING OPENED A NEW COACH REPAIR SHOP ON LOGANSTREET, We would respectfully invite the public to give us a call when in want of say work in our line. We are pre pared to do ALL kinds of a A —— SHOE | : : : : : Reserved For C. U. HOFFER & CO.
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