Joseph and His Friend

nsations, and thus quite failed to recognize what it was that kept him apart from the society in which he should have freely moved. He felt the differe

ience. He may be so trained in the habits of goodness, and purity, and duty, that every contact with the world is like an abrasion upon the delicate surfac

the unrest of approaching manhood should have led him to severer studies and lustier sports. Her death transferred his guardianship to other hands, but did not change its character. Her sister Rachel was equally good and conscientious, possibly with an equal capacity for tenderness, but her barren life had restrained the habit of its expres

, and he was the sole owner of all. The work of his own hands was not needed, but it was a mechanical exhaustion of time,—an enforced occupation of body and mind, which he followed in the vague hope that some richer development of life might come afterwards. But there were times when the fields looked very dreary,—when the trees, rooted in their places, and

rves—an inability to use coarse and strong phrases, and a shrinking from all display of rude manners—were peculiarities which he could not overcome, and must endeavor to conceal. There were men of sturdy intellig

had known one for years, and the other was the partial acquaintance of an evening; yet the image of either one was swiftly followed by that of the other. When he thought of Lucy's eyes, Miss Julia's ha

ng hall. One lifted a fallen rose-branch on the lawn, the other snatched the reddest blossom from it. One leaned against the trunk of the old hemlock-tree, the other fluttered in and out amo

ad double chimneys, between which a railed walk, intended for a look-out, but rarely used for that or any other purpose, rested on the peak of the roof. A low portico paved with stone extended along the front, which was further shaded by two enormous sycamore-trees as old as the house itself. The evergreens and ornamental shrubs which occupied the remainder of the little lawn denoted the taste o

The people were satisfied, for they lived upon a bountiful soil; and if but few were notably rich, still fewer were absolutely poor. They had a sluggish sense of content, a half-conscious feeling that their lines were cast in pleasant places; they were orderly, moral, and generally honest, and their own types were so constantly reproduced and fixed, both by intermarriage and intercourse, that any variation therein was a thing to be suppressed if possible. Any sign of an unusual taste, or a differe

asis of new sensations, desires, and powers,—the region was a paradise of peaceful days. Even as a boy the probable map of his life was dra

nged to share in that life of the world, the least part of which was known to his native community; if, not content to accept the mechanical faith of passive min

ot to frighten him from the subject by warnings or reproaches. He was frank and communicative, and Rachel found, to her surprise, that the evening at Warriner's was much, and not wholly unpleasantly, in her thoughts during her knitting-hours.

ou'll fetch up. I suppose that town's girl won't stay much longer,—the farm-work of the ne

, "Elwood Withers first proposed

ugh they were,

mness than usual. "All of them. And there was no respect

udent to take no further notice; or it might be the beginning of a change in the ways of the young peo

ly and closely the question wo

rutinizing element, was again the life and soul of the company. It was astonishing how correctly she retained the names and characteristics of all those whom she had already met, and how intelligently she seemed to enjoy the gossip of the

vely talk, were always followed by a quick glance which said to him: "We have one feeling in common; I know that you understand me." He was fascinated, but the experience was so new that it was rather bewildering. He was d

ich had made her society so comfortable to him. She no longer turned her full face towards him while speaking, and he noticed that her eyes were wandering over the company with a peculiar e

essing, floating towards Joseph and

ner, following; "if it c

d Miss Blessing, assuming a mysterious air; "we will slip

next week. McNaughtons are building an addition (I believe you call it) to their barn, and a child has the measles at another place, and something else is wrong somewhere else. We cann

nity, clasping her hands, and looking into

ed on myself—

, it's unpardonable in me to propose such a thing. But isn't it p

ner, "I believe there's nothin

oring slightly, and ready to turn pale the next moment, as he endeavor

ld be asked," said Lucy. "It wou

glimpse of your lovely place the other day as we were driving up the vall

Lucy's words seemed to him blunt and unfriendly, al

sure; yet, if I thought y

your acquaintance," said Joseph, wit

y ignorance and inexperience. And I don't believe Lucy meant to frighten me. As for the party, we won't think of

her apparent rudeness. Yet she could not force herself to affe

he dared to show it, would fulfil her promise. Neither did he doubt that so much innocence and sweetness as she possess

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