It was a long, tedious ride, and though a strong arm was thrown

around her, and her head was pillowed upon the bosom of her husband,

who really tried to make her as comfortable as possible, Mrs.

Kennedy could scarcely refrain from tears as she thought how

different was this bridal tour from what she had anticipated.

She had fully expected to pass by daylight through the Empire State, and

she had thought with how much delight her eye would rest upon the

grassy meadows, the fertile plains, the winding Mohawk, the drone-

like boats on the canal, the beautiful Cayuga, and the silvery water

so famed in song; but, in contrast to all this, she was shut up in a

dingy car, whose one dim lamp sent forth a sickly ray and sicklier

smell, while without all was gloomy, dark, and drear.

No wonder, then, that when toward morning Maude, who missed her soft, nice bed,

began to cry for Janet and for home, the mother too burst forth in

tears and choking sobs, which could not be controlled.

"Hush, Matty--don't," and the disturbed doctor shook her very

gently; "it will soon be daylight, and 'tis a max--" Here he

stopped, for he had no maxim suited to that occasion; and, in a most

unenviable frame of mind, he frowned at the crying Maude, and tried

to soothe his weeping wife, until at last, as the face of the latter

was covered, and the former grew more noisy and unmanageable, he

administered a fatherly rebuke in the shape of a boxed ear, which

had no other effect than the eliciting from the child the outcry,

"Let me be, old doctor, you!" if, indeed, we except the long scratch

made upon his hand by the little sharp nail of his stepdaughter.

At that moment Matty lifted up her head, but as Maude was no tale-

bearer, and the doctor hardly dared to tell her that he had thus

early taken upon himself the government of her child, she never knew

exactly what it was which made Maude's ear so red or her liege

lord's face so dark.

It was nearly noon when they arrived at Canandaigua, where the first

object which caught Mrs. Kennedy's eye was an old-fashioned

carryall, which her husband honored with the appellation of

carriage, said carriage being drawn by two farm-horses, which looked

as if oats and corn were to them luxuries unknown.

"I must have a cup of tea," said Mrs. Kennedy, as she saw the black

man, John, arranging the baggage upon the rack of the carryall, and

heard her husband bid him hurry, as there was no time to lose. "I

must have a cup of tea, my head is aching dreadfully," and her white

lips quivered, while the tears rolled down her cheeks.




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