The Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman PotterAdams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
General
The Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman Potter
Adams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
Political fiction
they would no doubt have carried out, but for the two newspapers and
four booksellers, who stood in so much need of his virgin goodness
that they refused to part with him even for a day.
After another pause, the voice of Bessie again struck up, and this
time she sung: "O, had I Ariadne's crown, At morning I would sing to
thee--Would sing of dew-drops on thy ringlets, Then my Apollo thou
should'st be." This, also, was by the learned Doctor Easley, and is
extracted from a poem published in his native village many years
ago. Having great confidence in its numerous beauties, which the
villagers, being humble people, failed to discover, the doctor
resolved to seek his fortune in New York, confident that first rate
poetic talent never was appreciated in the country.
The sweetness of Bessie's voice (not the words) so enchanted me,
that I arose, dressed myself, and hurried down stairs, and into the
reading room, where the little deformed man was premeditating the
ill fate of his lecture. He returned my salutation with great
earnestness of manner, told me he had walked three times around the
square, listening to the birds sing. And, too, he had been regarded
by young Barnstable as an object of curiosity. Impatient to engage
me in conversation, he drew forth his notes, which he as suddenly
shut up and returned to his pocket, on seeing the clerical looking
man enter the room, accompanied by his bride, her countenance the
very picture of innocence betrayed.
The little deformed man had evidently taken a dislike to the gray
haired and milky faced groom; for no sooner had he pocketed his
notes than he set to pacing the room rapidly, frisking his fingers
alternately behind and before him, and casting half angry glances
over his shoulder at him. I took advantage of this display of
irrascibility on the part of the lecturer, and passed into the hall,
where Bessie, having ceased her singing, was busily arranging the
furniture and attending to those little domestic duties which, in
towns where fashion rules, are left to untutored servants. She
received my salutation with a modest courtesy, but became so
confused and agitated as I pressed her hand, that, unable to resist
the temptation, I stole a kiss ere she was conscious of my
intention. "It is not kind of you, sir," she said, in a half chiding
whisper; "you must not do it again." And she set her black eye upon
me, inquiringly, and artlessly raised her apron, as if to wipe away
the blushes. Fain would I have pressed her to my bosom, and
beseeched her to regard me as a brother. But her face suddenly
became lighted up with a smile, and such was the perfection of its
beauty that to me it seemed created only for an angel. I asked
myself if there was on earth any thing I could aspire to with so
much gallantry as her love; nor could I suppress the thought, that
he who would betray it was unworthy even of the devil.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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