e horrible
'fevers,' into whose hands we are about to commit ourselves, 'Aunt
Sally,' _may_ say it is a just 'dispensation of Providence' that has
removed me; and that old Juliet Baker _might_ take it into her head to
write my veritable history, under the title of 'The Coquette,' and so
be published in one of the magazines as a warning for all who shall
come after me--an immortality to which I assure you I do not aspire.
Or Tom Harding might be tempted to discourse more eloquently than ever
on my respective demerits--drawing some of his sage conclusions
therefrom. So, dear, if such things _should_ happen, remember to stand
up valiantly for 'woman's rights,' and _me_! As I have mentioned Tom
Harding's name, I may as well, in these 'confessions,' have done with
him as speedily as possible. I know very well what all the gossips
said when it was rumored that I had 'cut him dead,' after encouraging
the poor fellow, who was really 'too good for me!' But, as it happened
in _this_ case, they were all wrong--as doth unfortunately sometimes
happen even with gossipers. Tom, since time immemorial, (you will bear
me out in the truth of this statement,) has been one of the most
_active beaux_ in our village; attaching himself, with all his
_canine_ characteristics, to every lady who was favored with the least
pretensions to beauty, and making himself vastly useful in the way of
getting up all sorts of 'parties of pleasure' in summer, and in the
winter also. It was very needful, was it not, that we should be always
on good terms with _him_, which, as a body, we managed very well to
do. As he had been _in love with_, and offered himself to at least a
dozen girls of our acquaintance, I don't yet know why he should have
thought that _I_ would take up with him at last. Now was it not
presumption, Carry? To be sure, he came to our house night after
night, and sat often with us in church on Sundays--and it _was_
rumored we were engaged; but that, I fancy, did not make the case a
clear one."
_Ladies_ may be attentive and agreeable, even over the verge of
intimacy with one another, and yet not be suspected of _designs
matrimonial_; but boys and girls, who have from early childhood grown
up with the most fraternal feelings, as soon as childhood has passed,
must be expected to give up what was a very delightful kind of
friendship, indeed; is that wise?
"The fact is, I never for a moment thought of marrying Tom Harding;
but I _did_ think hi
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