Fern Leaves from Fanny's Port-folio. Second SeriesFern, Fanny
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Fern Leaves from Fanny's Port-folio. Second Series
Fern, Fanny
American essays -- 19th century; Short stories, American
What kind of a time would they have? Why, of course no grass would
grow under their slippers! The “Wars of the Roses,” the battles of
Waterloo and Bunker Hill would be a farce to it. Black eyes would be
the rage, and both caps and characters would be torn to tatters. I
imagine it would not be much of a millennium, either, to the moving
cause of the disturbance. He would be as crazy as a fly in a drum, or
as dizzy as a bee in a ten-acre lot of honeysuckles, uncertain where to
alight. He’d roll his bewildered eyes from one exquisite organization
to another, and frantically and diplomatically exclaim--“How happy
could I be with either, were t’other dear charmer away!”
“What kind of a time would the women have, were there only one man in
the world?”
What kind of a time would they have? What is that to _me_? They might
“take their own time,” every “Miss Lucy” of them, for all _I_ should
care; and so might the said man himself; for with me, the limited
supply would not increase the value of the article.
“ONLY A COUSIN.”
How the rain patters against the windows of your office! How sombre,
and gloomy, and cheerless, it looks there! Your little office-boy looks
more like an imp of darkness than anything else, as he sits crouched in
the corner, with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands.
You button your overcoat tight to your chin, (cut possible clients,)
and run over to see your cousin Kitty. Ah! that is worth while! A
bright, blazing fire; sofa wheeled up to it, and Kitty sitting there,
looking so charming in her pretty _neglige_. She looks up sweetly and
tranquilly, and says: “Now that’s a good Harry; sit down by me, and be
agreeable.”
Well, you “sit down,” (just as close as you like, too!) tell her all
the down-town male gossip; consult her confidentially about trimming
your whiskers; and desire her candid, unbiased opinion about the
propriety and feasibility, with the help of some Macassar, of _coaxing
out_ a moustache! Then you make a foray into her work-basket, tangling
spools most unmercifully, and reading over all the choice bits of
poetry that women are so fond of clipping from the newspapers. Then
you both go into the china closet, and she gets you a tempting little
luncheon; and you grow suddenly merry, and have a contest which shall
make the worst pun; you earn for yourself a boxed ear, and are obliged,
in self-defence, to imprison the offending hand; your aunt comes in;
let her come! are not you and Kitty cousins?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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