Ruth Hall: a domestic tale of the present time

Front matter

"PS-

CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

Preface

TO THE KEADER.

T PRESENT you with my first continuous story. I do not dignify it by the name of " A novel." I am aware that it is entirely at variance with all set rules for novel-writing. Thero is no intricate plot ; there are no startling developments, no hair-breadth escapes. I have compressed into one volume what I might have expanded into two or three. I have avoided long introductions and descriptions, and have entered unceremoniously and unannounced, into people's houses, without stopping to ring the bell. Whether you wUl fancy this primitive mode of calling, whether you will lite the company to which it introduces you, or — ^whether you will like the book at all, I

IV P E E F A C E .

cannot tell. Still, I cherisli tlie hope that, somewhere in the length and breadth of the land, it may fan into a flame, in some tried heart, the fading embers of hope, well-nigh extinguished by wintry fortune and summer friends.

I'ANTSrY FEEK

Chapter I

THE BTE BEFORE THE BEIDAL — KUTH'S LITTLE ROOM — A RETRO- BPEOTITE REVERIE . . ....

CHAPTER II. THE -WTSDIIING — A GLIMPSE OF THE CHARACTER OP RDTH'S BROTHER HTACmTH

CHAPTER ni.

IHE NEW HOME — SOLILOQUY OF THE MOTHER-IN-LAW .

CHAPTER IT.

THE FIRST INTEBTIEW WITH THE MOTHER-IN-LAW .

CHAPTER T. ruth's REFLECTIONS ON THE INTERVIEW ....

CHAPTER VI.

A BIT OP FAMILT HISTORY

CHAPTER VII.

THE FIRST-BORN

Tl CONTENTS.

CHAPTER Vin.

THE NUESE

CHAPTER IS.

TBE 44

CHAPTER X. kttth's countet home 41

CHAPTER XI.

EUTH AND DAISY 50

CHAPTER Xn.

■THE OLD POLKS FOLLOW THE TOnNff COUPLE — AN ENTEETAIN-

INO DIALOGUE 52

CHAPTER XIII.

THE OLD lady's SUEEEPTITIOUS VISIT TO EUTH'S, AND HEE EN-

COUNTEE WITH DINAH 55

CHAPTER XIT.

THE OLD LADY SEAEOHES THE HOUSE — WHAT SHE FINDS . 59

CHAPTER XV.

THE OLD DOOTOE MEDDLES WITH HAEET'S FAEMINff AERANG-E-

MENTS 63

CHAPTER XVI.

LITTLE daisy's REVERIE — HER STEANSE PLAYFELLOW . . 65

CHAPTER XVII.

" PAT " MUTINIES 67

CONTENTS. Vil

CHAPTER XVIII.

A UKOWL rROM THE OLD LADY 69

CHAPTER XIX.

DAIST'S glee at the FIEST SLEIGH-REDE .... 12

CHAPTER XX.

daisy's illness — THE OLD DOCTOB EErUBES TO COMB . . 74

CHAPTER XXI.

Dinah's "warning — harry goes again for the doctor . 78

CHAPTER XXII. the old doctor arrites too late 81

CHAPTER XXIII.

" THE glen" deserted — THE OLD DOCTOR'S AND HI3 WIFB'a VERSION 01? THE CAUSE OP DAISY'S DEATH — MRS. JONES GI7ES HER OPINION 85

CHAPTER XXIV.

ANNIVERSARY OF DAISY'S DEATH — RDTH'S REVERIE — LITTLE

katy's request 90

CHAPTER XXT.

HOTEL LIFE — A NEW FRIEND 93

CHAPTER XXTI.

THE FALL OF THE LEAF — HARRY'S ILLNESS — THE LONELY

CHAPTER XXVII.

ARRIVAL OF THE OLD DOCTOR AND HIS WIFE . . . 102

Viii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXVin.

THE OLD doctor's AJSTlTOnNOBMEUT — HAERY'S DEATH . . 105

CHAPTER XXIX. hyacinth's sensibilities shocked lit*

MISS SKItrLlN

CHAPTER XXX

CHAPTER XXSI.

HARBY'S FtTNERAL 120

CHAPTER XXXIII.

BICKBRINSS OF THE FATHER AND FATHER-IN-LAW — DISPUTE

ABOUT THE SUPPORT OF THE CHILDREN . . . 1-25

CHAPTER XXXIV.

RUTH RECEIVES A VISIT FROM HER FATHER — ^HE INSISTS ON HER GIVINa UP HER CHILDREN TO THE OLD DOCTOR — ruth's REFUSAL 128

CHAPTER XXXT.

THE OLD LADY, ENRAGED, PROPOSES A COMPROMISE — MR. EL- LET IS FORCED TO ACCEDE 132

CHAPTER XXXVI.

RUTH'S NETV LODGINGS — SPECULATIONS OF THE BOARDERS . 339

CHAPTER XXXVII.

MR. DEVBLIN'S COUNTING-HOUSE — THE OLD DOCTOR'S LETTER 142

CONTENTS. IX

CHAPTER XXXVUI.

CHAPTER SXKIX

ME. DEVELIN DEMANDS HAEET'S CLOTHES OF EITTH — ^THB WED-

DINa TEST 148

CHAPTER XL.

CHAPTER XLI.

DISaUST OF EUTH'S FASHIONABLE FEIBNBS .... 155

CHAPTER XLU.

CHAPTER XLUI.

THE BOUQUET 161

CHAPTER XLIT.

MES. MILLET AND THE ■WOODEN MAN 164

CHAPTER XLT.

UTTIE KATT VISITS HEE SEANDPA AND MFJSTS WITH A OHAEAC-

TEEISIIO RECEPTION — THE STEANSE GENTLEMAN . . 166

CHAPTER XLYI.

CHAPTER XLVII.

BOAEDDTS-HOUSE EETOLUTION — ^MES. SKIDDY'S FLISHT — ME.

SKIDDT IN THE CAPACITY OF DEY NUESE . . . 1V6

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XLyni.

DELIOACT 184

CHAPTER XLIX.

EUTH RESOLVES TO BECOME A TEACHEE 189

CHAPTER L.

EtriH APPLIES rOE A PRIKAET SCHOOL .... 191

CHAPTER LI.

THE EXAMINATION BT THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE . . .192

CHAPTER LH.

CHAPTER LHI.

CHAPTER LIV.

tHE LUNATIC ASYLUM 209

CHAPTER LT.

aUTH'S NBTV LAiTDLABT 215

CHAPTER IVI.

tHE STEANGE LODSEE — RUTH RESOLTES TO RESORT TO HEE PEN TO OBTAIN A SUBSISTENCE — SHE APPLIES TO HER BROTHER HTACmTH FOR ADTIOE AND ASSISTANCE — HIS OHARAOTEE- ISTIO REPLY ........ 219

CHAPTER LVU.

THE OLD LADY RESORTS TO STEATASEM, AND CARRIES HEE

POINT 224

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER LYIII.

APMRS 228

CHAPTER LIX.

EUTH APPLIES POE EMPLOYMENT AT NEWSPAPEE OFFICES . 230

CHAPTER LX.

THE BEEAD OP LIFE 235

CHAPTER LXr.

A CHAPTBE WHICH MAT BE INSTEUOTIVE . . . .23^

CHAPTER LXn.

EUTH OBTAINS EMPLOYMENT — ILLNESS OF NETTIE — THE STEANGB

LODGEE PEOTES USEFUL . . ... 240

CHAPTER LXm.

A PEEP INTO THE OLD DOOTOE'S COTTAGE . '. . . 245

CHAPTER LXIT.

A SLIMPSE OF COMING SUCCESS 261

CHAPTER LXT.

CHAPTER LXVI.

KATT'S FmST DAT AT SCHOOL — THE TOWN-PUMP CONTEOVEEST

— OEUELTT OF KATT'S QEANDPAEENTS ... 262

CHAPTER LXVn.

ME. JOHN WALTEE 26t

Xll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER LXYin.

A LETTBE FROM MK. WALTER, AND ITS EFFECT ati

CHAPTER LXIX.

EUTH ENG-ASES TO ■WRITE SOLELY FOE THE HOUSEHOLD KES-

SENGEE ; . . . 2T8

CHAPTER LXX.

■WHAT ME. LESOOM SAID 282

CHAPTER LXKI.

A SHARP CORKBSPONDENOE 287

CHAPTER LXXn.

OFFERS OF MAEEIAQB AND OFFEES TO PUBLISH . . 292

CHAPTER LXXIII.

■WHAT MR. TIBBETTS SAID ABOUT EUTH'S WRITING FOE THE

HOUSEHOLD VeSSENGEB ....... 298

CHAPTER LXXrV.

SOLILOQUT OP A SUB-EDITOR 302

CHAPTER LZXV.

MR. WALTER'S ■VISIT 309

CHAPTER LXXTI.

THE PHEENOLOGIOAL EXAMINATION 318

CHAPTER LSXVIL

PUBLICATION DAT COMES AT LAST 330

CONTENTS. xm

CHAPTER LXXVin.

HYACINTH OOENEEED 334

CHAPTER LXXrX.

MB. LEWIS ENIiISHTENED 338

CHAPTER LXXX

HOKE LETTERS 342

CHAPTER LXXXI.

FRESHET m THE DOCTOR'S CELLAR — " HAMS" IN BANGER OF A TOTAL "WHEOB; — SUDDEN APPEARANCE OP BUTH — RBSOtlB OF LITTLE KATT 348

CHAPTER LXXSII.

ARRIVAL OP KATT WITH HER MOTHER, MR. WALTER, AND MR. SRET, AT NEW LODGINGS ; DINNER AND LETTERS — CONVER- SATIONS BETWEEN THE CHILDREN . . . . 354

CHAPTER LXXXin.

THE LITTLE FAMILY ALONE AT THEIR NEW QUARTERS — NETTIE

CHAPTER LXXXIT.

KATY AND NETTIE COMPARE NOTES — RUTH DREAMS — MIDNiaHT CONFLAGRATION — RESCUE OF THE LITTLE FAMILY BY JOHN- NT SALT 312

CHAPTER LXXXV.

TEA-TABLE TALK BETWEEN " THE WOODEN MAN" AND HIS

SPOUSE — ^LETTER PROM " OUB JOHN" .... 378

XIV CONTENTS.

CHAPTER LXXXVI.

THE OLD LADY EZTINGT7ISHED IN A OONVEESATION WITH HEE NEIGHBOES, WHO ANNOUNCE THE ASTONISmNG PACT THAT ' FIOT' is RUTH 383

CHAPTER LXXXVII.

CONTEESATION BETWEEN EUTH'S TATHBR AND ME. JONES EB-

CHAPTER LXXXVni. interview between the litbeaet booksellee and me.

waltee 391

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

ARRIVAL OF MB. WALTER — ^BANK STOCK AND BANK OBRTIH-

CATE 394

CHAPTER XO.

THE LAST VISIT TO HAEET'S GEAVB .... 398

CHAPTER I.

npHE old church clock rang solemnly out on the mid- -^ night air. Euth started. For hours she had sat there, leaning her cheek upon her hand, and gazing through the open space between the rows of brick walls, upon the sparkling waters of the bay, glancing and quivering 'neath the moon-beams. The city's busy hum had long since died away ; myriad restless eyes had closed in peaceful slumber ; Ruth could not sleep. This was the last time she would sit at that little window. The morrow would find her in a home of her own. On the morrow Ruth would be a bride.

Ruth was not sighing because she was about to leave her father's roof, (for her childhood had been anything but happy,) but she was vainly trying to look into a future, which God has mercifully veiled from curious eyes. Had that craving heart of her's at length found its ark of refuge'? Would clouds or sunshine, joy or sorrow, tears or smiles, predominate in her future 1 Who could tell ? The silent stars returned her no answer. Would a harsh word ever fall from lips which now breathed onlylove ■? Would the step whose lightest footfall now made her heart leap, ever sound in her ear like a death-knell ? As time, with its ceaseless changes, rolled on, would love flee affrighted from the bent form, and silver locks, and faltering footstep? Was there no talisman to keep him?

"Strange questions," were they, "for a young girl!" I Ah, but Euth could remember when she was no taUer than a rosebush, how cravingly her little heart cried out for love ! How a careless word, powerless to wound one less sensitive, would send her, weeping, to that little room for hours ; and, young as she was, life's pains seemed already more to her than life's pleasures. Would it always be so ? Would she find more thorns than roses in Iobt future pathway ?

Then, Euth remembered how she used to wish she were beautiful, — ^not that she might be admired, but that she might be loved. But Euth was "very plain," — so her brother Hyacinth told her, and " awkward," too ; she had heard that ever since she could remember ; and the recollection of it dyed her cheek with blushes, whenever a stranger made his appearance m the home circle.

So, Euth was fonder of being alone by herself; and then, they called her " odd," and " queer," and wondered if she would " ever make anything ;" and Buth used to wonder, too ; and sometimes she asked herself why a sweet strain of music, or a iine passage in a poem, made her heart thrill, and her whole frame quiver with emotion 1

The world smiled on her brother Hyacinth. He was handsome, and gifted. He could win fame, and what was better, love. Euth wished he would love her a little. She often used to steal into his room and '■ right " his papers, when the stupid housemaid had displaced them ; and often she would prepare him a tempting little lunch, and carry it to his room, on his return from his morning walk ; but Hyacinth would only say, " Oh, it is you, Euth, is it ? I thought it was Bridget ;" and go on reading his newspaper.

Euth's mother was dead. Euth did not remember a great deal about her — only that she always looked uneasy about the time her father was expected home ; and when his step was heard in the hall, she would say in a whisper, to Hyacinth and herself, " Hush ! hush ! your father is coming ;" and then Hyacinth would immediately stop whistling, or humming, and Euth would run up into her little room, for fear she should, in some unexpected way, get into disgrace.

Euth, also, remembered when her father came home and found company to tea, how he frowned and complained of headache, although he always ate as heartily as

18 E U T II H A L L .

any of the company ; and how after tea he would stretch himself out upon the sofa and say, "I think I'll take a nap ;" and then, he would close his eyes, and if the company commenced talking, he would start up and say to Ruth, who was sitting very still in the corner, '■'■Ruth, don't make such a noise;" and when Euth's mother would whisper gently in his ear, " Would n't it be hetter, dear, if you laid down up stairs 1 it is quite comfortable and quiet there," her father would say, aloud, " Oh yes, oh yes, you want to get rid of me, do you '3" And then her mother would say, turning to the company, " How very fond Mr. Ellet is of a joke !" But Ruth remembered that her mother often blushed when she said so, and that her laugh did not sound natural.

After her mother's death, Ruth was sent to boarding-school, where she shared a room with four strange girls, who laid awake all night, telling the most extraordinary stories, and ridiculing Ruth for being such an old maid that she could not see '' where the laugh came in." Equally astonishing to the unsophisticated Ruth, was the demureness with which they woiild bend over their books when the pale, meek-eyed widow, employed as duenna, went the rounds after tea, to see if each inmate was preparing the next day's lessons, and the coolness with which they would jump up, on her departure, put on their bonnets and shawls, and slip out at the side-street door to meet expectant lovers ; and when the pale widow went the rounds again at nine o'clock, she would find them demurely seated, just where she left them, apparently busily conning their lessons ! Euth wondered if all girls were as mischievous, and if fathers and mothers ever stopped to think what companions their daughters would have for room-mates and bed-fellows, when they sent them away from home. As to the Principal, Madame Moreau, she contented herself with sweeping her flounces, once a day, through the recitation rooms ; so it was not a difficult matter, in so large an establishment, to pass muster with the sub-teachers at recitations.

Composition day was the general bugbear. Euth's madcap room-mates were struck with the most unqualified amazement and admiration at the fecllity with which " the old maid " executed this frightful task. They soon learned to put her services in requisition ; first, to help them out of this slough of despond ; next, to save them the necessity of wading in at all, by writing their compositions for them.

In the all-absorbing love affairs which were constantly going on between the young ladies of Madame Moreau's school and their respective admirers, Euth took no interest ; and on the occasion of the unexpected reception of a bouquet, from a smitten swain, accompanied by a copy of amatory verses, Euth crimsoned to her temples and burst into tears, that any one could he found so heartless as to burlesque the " awkward " Ruth. Simple child ! Sho was unconscious that, in the freedom of that atmosphere where a " prophet out of his own country is honored," her lithe form had rounded into symmetry and grace, her slow step had become light and elastic, her eye bright, her smUe winning, and her voice soft and melodious. Other bouquets, other notes, and glances of involunj tary admiration from passers-by, at length opened her |/'eyes to the fact, that she was "plain, awkward Ruth " no 1 longer. Eureka ! She had arrived at the first epoch in ) a young girl's life, — she had found out her power ! Her i manners became assured and self-possessed. She, Ruth, could inspire love ! Life became dear to her. There j was something worth living for — something to look forward to. She had a m.otive — an aim ; she should some j day make somebody's heart glad, — somebody's hearth-stone bright ; somebody should be proud of her ; and oh, how she could love that somebody ! History, astronomy, I mathematics, the languages, were all pastime now. Life ; wore a new aspect ; the skies were bluer, the earth greener, the flowers more fragrant; — ^her twin-soul existed somewhere.

When Ruth had been a year at school, her elegant brother Hyacinth came to see her. Ruth dashed down her books, and bounded down three stairs at a time, to meet him ; for she loved him, poor chUd, just as well as if he were worth loving. Hyacinth drew languidly back a dozen paces, and holding up his

R0THHALL. 21

hands, drawled out imploringly,, " kiss me if you insist on it, Euth, but for heaven's sake, don't tumble my dickey." He also remarked, tha,t her shoes were too large for her feet, and that her little French apron was " slightly askew ;" and told her, whatever else she omitted, to be sure to learn " to waltz." He was then introduced to Madame Moreau, who remarked to Madame Chicohi, her Italian teacher, what a very distingue looking person he was ; after which he yawned several times, then touched his hat gracefully, praised " the very superior air of the establishment," brushed an imperceptible atom of dust from his beaver, kissed the tips of his fingers to his demonstrative sister, and tiptoed Terpsichoreally over the academic threshold.

In addition to this, Ruth's father wrote occasionally when a term-bill became due, or when his tradesmen's bills came in, on the first of January ; on which occa^ sion an annual fit of poverty seized him, an almshouse loomed up in perspective, he reduced the wages of his cook two shillings, and advised Ruth either to get married or teach school.

Three years had passed under Madame Moreau's roof; 'Kuth's schoolmates wondering the while why she took ^0 much pains to bother her head with those stupid 'ftooks, when she was every day grovring prettier, and all the world knew that it was quite unnecessary for a ' pretty woman to be clever. When Ruth once more crossed the paternal threshold, Hyacinth levelled his eye-glass at her, and exclaimed, " 'Pen honor, Ruth, you 've positively had a narrow escape from being handsome." Whether old Mr. EUet was satisfied with her physical and mental progress, Ruth had no means of knowing.

And now, as we have said before, it is the night before Ruth's bridal ; and there she sits, though the old church beU has long since chimed the midnight hour, gazing at the moon, as she cuts a shining path through the waters ; and trembling, while she questions the dim, uncertain fiiture. Tears, Ruth ? Have phantom shapes of terror glided before those gentle prophet eyes ? Has death's dark wing even now fanned those girlish temples?

CHAPTER II.

TT was so odd in Ruth to have no one but the family -^ at the wedding. It was just one of her queer freaks ! Where was the use of her white satin dress and orange wreath ? what the use of her looliing handsomer than she ever did before, -when there was nobody there to see her V

"Nobody to Sf.e hei"]" Mark t/iat manly form at her side ; see hl^ daik eye gliste'.i, and his chiselled lip quiver, as he ben'is an eames'., ga,w on her who realizes all his boyhood dreams. Misiaken ones ! it is not admiration which that young beating heart craves ; it is love.

" A very fine-looking, presentable fellow," said Hya^ cinth, as the carriage rolled away with his new brother-in-law. " Really, love is a great beautifier. Ruth looked quite handsome to-night. Lord bless me ! how immensely tiresome it must be to sit opposite the same face three times a day, three hundred and sixty-five

24 RUIHHALL.

days in a year !' I should weary of Venus herself. I 'm glad my handsome brother-in-law is in such good circumstances. Duns are a bore. I must keep on the right side of him. Tom, was that tailor here again yesterday ? Did you tell him I was out of town ? Right, Tom,"

Chapter III

" TTTELL, I hope Harry will be happy," said Euth's ' ' mother-in-law, old Mrs. Hall, as she untied her cap-strings, and seated herself in the newly-furnished parlor, to await the coming of the bride and bridegroom. " I can't say, though, that I see the need of his being married. I always mended his socks. He has * sixteen bran new shirts, eight linen and eight cotton. I made them myself out of the Hamilton long-cloth. Hamilton long-cloth is good cotton, too ; strong, firm, and wears well. Eight cotton and eight linen shirts ! Can anybody tell what he got married for ? / don't know. If he tired of his boarding-house, of course he could always come home. As to Euth, I don't know anything about her. Of course she is perfect in his eyes. I remember the time when he used to think me perfect. I suppose I shall be laid on the shelf now. Well, what beauty he can find in that pale, golden

26 EUTHH.ILL.

hair, and those blue-gray eyes, I don't know. I can't say I fancy the family either. Proud as Lucifer, all of 'em. Nothing to be proud of, either. The fether next to nothing when he began life. The son, a conceited jackanapes, who divides his time between writing rhymes and inventing new ties for his cravat. Well, well, we shall see ; but I doubt if this bride is anything but a well-dressed doll. I've been peeping into her bureau drawers to-day. What is the use of all those ruffles on her under-dothes, I 'd like to know ? Who 's going to wash and iron them ? Presents to her ! Well, why don't people make sensible presents, — a dozen of dish towels, some crash rollers, a ball of wick-yam, or the like of that?"

" 0-o-oh d-e-a-r ! there 's the carriage ! Now, for one month to come, to say the least, I shall be made perfectly sick with their billing and cooing. I should n'l be surprised if Harry did n't speak to me oftener thai once a day. Had he married a practical woman 1 would n't have cared — somebody who looked as if God made her for something; but that little yeUow-haired simpleton — ^umph !"

Poor Ruth, in happy ignorance of the state of her new mother-in-law's feelings, moved about her apartments in a sort of blissful dream. How odd it seemed, !this new freedom, this being one's own mistress. How ' odd to see that shaving-brush and those razors lying on her toilet tatle! then that saucy looking smoking-cap, those slippers and that dressing-gown, those fancy neck-ties, too, and vests and coats, in unrebuked proximity to her muslins, laces, silks and de laines ! Euth liked it.

CHAPTER IT.

" f^ OOD morning, Euth ; Mrs. Mall I suppose I should ^ call you, only that I can't get used to being shoved one side quite so suddenly," said the old lady, with a faint attempt at a laugh.

" Oh, pray don't say Mrs. Hall to me," said Ruth, handing her a chair ; " call me any name that best pleases you ; I shall be quite satisfied."

"I suppose you feel quite lonesome when Harry is away, attending to business, and as if you hardly knew what to do with yourself; don't you?"

" Oh, no,'' said Ruth, with a glad smile, '' not at all. I was just thinking whether I was not glad to have him gone a little while, so that I could sit 'down and think how much I love him."

The old lady moved uneasily in her chair. " I suppose you understand all about housekeeping, Ruth?"

R U T H H A L L . i'j

Ruth blushed. "No," said she, "I have but just returned from boarding-school. I asked Harry to wait till I had learned house-keeping matters, but he was not willing."

The old lady untied her cap-strings, and patted the floor restlessly with her foot.

" It is a great pity you were not brought up properly," said she. " I learned all that a girl should learn, before I married. Harry has his fortune yet to make, you know. Young people, now-a^days, seem to think that money conies in showers, whenever it is wanted ; that's a mistake; a penny at a time — that's the way we got ours ; that 's the way Harry and you wUl have to get yours. Harry has been brought up sensibly. He has been taught economy ; he is, like me, naturally of a very generous turn ; he will occasionally offer you pin-money. In those cases, it will be best for you to pass it over to me to keep ; of course you can always have it again, by telling me how you wish to spend it. I would advise you, too, to lay by all your handsome clothes. As to the silk stockings you were married in, of course you will never be so extravagant as to wear them again. I never had a pair of silk stockings in my life; they have a very silly, frivolous look. Do you know how to iron, Ruth ?"

"Yes," said Ruth; "I have sometimes clear-starched my own muslins and laces."

no BtTTHHALL.

'• erlad t > hear it ; did you ever seat a pair of pantaloons 1"

" No," said Euth, repressing a laugh, and yet half inclined to cry; ''you forget that I am just home from boarding-school. "

"Can you make tread? When I say bread I mean bread — old fashioned, yeast riz bread ; none of your salsoda, salseratus, sal-yolatile poisonous mixtures, that must be eaten as quick as baked, lest it should dry up ; yeagt bread — do you know how to make it 1"

" No," said Ruth, with a growing sense of her utter good-for-nothingness ; "people in the city always buy baker's bread; my father did."

"Your father! land's sake, chUd, you mustn't quote your father now you 're married; you have n't any father."

I never had, thought Ruth.

"To be sure; what does the Bible say? 'Forsaking father and mother, cleave to your wife,' (or husband, which amounts to the same thing, I take it ;) and speaking of that, I hope you won't be always rumiing home, or running anywhere in fact. Wives should be keepers at home. Ruth," continued the old lady after a short pause, " do you know I should like your looks better, if you did n't curl your hair ?"

"I don't curl it," said Ruth, "it curls naturally."

"That's a pity," said the old lady, "you should avoid everything that looks frivolous ; you must try and pomatum it down. And Euth, if you should feel the need of exercise, don't gad in the streets. Remember there is nothing like a broom and a dust-pan to make the blood circulate."

" You keep a rag bag, I suppose," said the old lady ; " many 's the glass dish I 've peddled away my scissorsclippings for. ' Waste not, want not.' I 've got that framed somewhere. I '11 hunt it up, and put it on your wall. It won't do you any harm to read it now and then."

"I hope," continued the old lady, "that you don't read novels and such trash. I have a very select little library, when you feel Inclined to read, consisting of a treatise on ' The Complaints of Women,' an excellent sermon on Predestination, by our old minister. Dr. Diggs, and Seven Reasons why John Rogers, the martyr, must have had ten children instead of nine (as is generally supposed) ; any time that you stand in need of rational reading come to me ;" and the old lady, smoothing a wrinkle in her black silk apron, took a dignified leave.

Chapter V

■pOOR RUTH ! her sky so soon overcast ! As the door closed on the prim, retreating figure of her mother-in-law, she burst into tears. But she was too sensible a girl to weep long. She wiped her eyes, and began to consider what was to be done. It would never do to complain to Harry — dear Harry. He would have to take sides ; oh no, that would never do ; she could never complain to him of his own mother. But why did he bring them together? knowing, as he must have known, how little likely they were to assimilate. This thought she smothered c[uickly, but not before it had given birth to a sigh, close upon the heels of which love framed this apology: It was so long since Harry had lived under the same roof with his mother he had probably forgotten her eccentricities; and then she was so dotingly fond of him, that pi'obably no points of collision ever came up befween the two.

In the course of an hour, what with cold bathing and philosophy, Euth's eyes and eq[uanimity were placed beyond the suspicion even of a newly-made husband, and when she held up her lips to him so temptingly, on his return, he little dreamed of the self conquest she had so tearfully achieved for his sake. 2*

Chapter VI

TTAEEY'S father began life on a farm in Vermont. Between handling ploughs, hoes, and harrows, he had managed to pick up sufficient knowledge to establish himself as a country doctor; well contented to ride six miles on horseback of a stormy night, to extract a tooth for some distracted wretch, for twenty-five cents. Naturally loc[uacious, and equally fond of administering jalap and gossip, he soon became a great favorite with the " women folks," which every aspiring Esoulapius, who reads this, knows to be half -the battle. They soon began to trust him, not only in drawing teeth, but in cases involving the increase of the village census. Several successes in this line, which he took no pains to conceal, put him behind a gig of his own, and enabled his practice to overtake his &me as far as the next village.

Like many other persons, who revolve all their life in a peck measure, the doctor's views of the world in general, and its denizens in particular, were somewhat circumscribed. Added to this, he was as persevering as a fly in the dog-days, and as immovable as the old rusty weather-cock on the village meeting-house, which for twenty 'years had never been blown about by any whisking wind of doctrine. " When he opened his mouth, no dog must bark ;" and any dissent from his opinion, however circumspectly worded, he considered a personal insult. As his wife entertained the same liberal views, occasional conjugal collisions, on this narrow track, were the consequence ; the interest of which was intensified by each reminding the other of their Calvinistio church obligations to keep the peace. They had, however, one common ground of undisputed territory — their " Son Harry," who was as infallible as the Pope, and (until he got married) never did a foolish thing since he was bom. On this last point, their " Son Harry " did not exactly agree with them, as he considered it decidedly the most delightful negotiation he had ever made, and one which he could not even think of without a sudden acceleration of pulse.