224 Kate Oshorne. [May, 



'" Clinton," promptly replied Kate; ** Mr. Clinton." 



Poor Kate ! little had she dreamed that her aunt's letter had made 

 known to her father the name of this ' Mr. Clinton ' — this lazy Yankee 

 pettifogger.' 



Farmer Osborne started as that name was pronounced ; and, turning 

 his face full upon Kate, sternly asked, " This Clinton's a lawyer, is he 



not ? " 



It was now Kate's turn to start; and stammering with surprise, 



she answered that he was. 



" Well, now Kate," said her father deliberately, " mind now what I 

 tell you. You are becoming a young woman, and some day will think 

 of getting married — that's all right ; but you know I hate lawyers ; I've 

 good cause to hate 'em. Y^ou know, Kate, I have not had very much 

 education ; that was all given to my sister, your aunt Katy, for, you see, 

 in Virginny, they send the girls away to the best of schools, and keep the 

 boys at home on the plantations ; so our business has all to be done by 

 these rascally lawyers. Well, some runaway Y^ankee pettifogers cheated 

 and fleeced me down in Virginny, till I had to sell off every thing, land, 

 stock, old homestead, niggers, and all, to get out of their clutches. To 

 be sure, I've done well enougli here in Illinois ; got well off again — worth 

 more than I was in Virginny — that's all right; but, zangs, Kate, if any 

 slick-pated long-le.irged lawyer ever darkens these doors to pay attention 



to you, I'll " the Farmer hesitated, to determine on some condign 



punishment, that should be both desperate and terrifying, and at once 

 continued, " I'll wring his infernal neck, and throw him out of tho 

 winder thar, as I would an ill-favored, half-feathered 'shanghai!' 

 zano-s I will ! " And the Farmer's ponderous fist came down on his knee 

 with an emphatic assurance of the certainty of his premeditated punish- 

 ment. And he added, " so, now, just dismiss that Yankee pettifogger, 

 Clinton, or be no daughter of mine, Kate ; now, just mind that, will 



you! 



Astonished at her father's unwonted excitement, wherein he had 

 revealed a portion of his personal history, new to her, and stupefied with 

 wonder at her father's knowledge of her lover's name and profession, 

 and well knowing that tho ardent blood of the • Old Dominion ' made 

 her father's pvejudices impregnable and unyielding, Kate prudently 

 yemained silent; and this silence, the Farmer, not being expert nor 

 experienced in reading thought and character, construed into acquies- 

 cence to his injunctions ; and his good humor soon returned. But, some 

 of the same blood, derived from ' one of the first families of Virginia,* 

 was likewise flowing through the stout little heart of Kate Osborne ; and, 



