Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1858-06-15
snisfrllanp.
THE WILL.
AN ENGLISH STORY.

No two persons were ever more unlike
each other than were old Gichard Sym
mons and his brother James. Richard
was the pattern of what We are accust nm I'd
to call 'true English heart" and his
looks bore out his character well. A riddy
count, n tnce, open as day, with locks al
most ,n,irely white, hanging around it
like snow around u Christmas rose, and an
c e It. firm knit frame, formed the material
c.,.t, in which was enclosed rs kind and
generous II spirit as ever existed.
Very different from the hale, hearty ap
pearance of his brother, was that of james
SUMMONS, and as different were his mind
and character. James was u hunk, a cur
mudgeon, miser; SO, at least. said the
whole village of Springwell, and .he viii
laye had known him long, and had formed
its Judgment from deeds as well as looks.
Shrivelled, shrunken, squalid in aspect,
James might be compared to p bottle of
thin beer that time had soured into vine
gar; whereas Richard, like more generous
liquor, had only been mellowed and inn
proved by age. James pinching parsi-
monv, it was said, had broken his wIfe's
heart, and had driven his son, his only
child, from the door, TO wander over the
earth, it may be, a homeless outcast.
But these latter matters were partially
forgotten at the time we write of, having
passed a good many years before. AS
time had run on, the peculiarities of James
Summons had not become softened, but,
on the contrary, increased in strength As
he grew older. Though he had amassed
considerable property, he lived in the
meanest and most wretched way. keeping
rnthor hnUnl alono anI
himself even the necessaries of life.
Most unlike this was Richards way oil
living, He had been in business, had
earned for himself a comfortable compe.
tency, and he enjoyed it in comfort. Rich.
ard had never been married, but he was
not, therefore, without family for ht
1. had taken to his home and heart wild
owed sister, who had been suddenl,
thrown destitute upon the world by he
> husbands death. And the sister had
daughter, who had became the apple O
!, old Richards eye. She had come TO hi
II care child, and each succeeding year, a
she shot up into comely womanhoOd, ha,
II bound her more firmly to the good man
y love. AS she tripped up and down hi
: dwelling, his aifectionate eye followed he
'' light and graceful motions with delight
anu IL WAS nIS CHlclcSI plcitSuTo 10 SeleC
:: for her with his own hands all those liLtl
y. adornments which he thought would be
pt come and CRAFTY her. Then would he say
as her pretty rosy lips thanked him wit
kiss on such occason,:
a. "Ah, Lucy! am just giving thee
10 staff to break my own head Thou look
'd so handsome now with that bonnet an
= those ribbons, that all the young sparl
must fall in love with thee. Aud VIII
lr' would thy poor uncle Dick do witho,
= theo, girl %
At other times he would aver, i'm II
cr, fulness of his heart, to his special cron
~. the schoolmaster, as he sat with mug
es, ale and the backgammon board before hiT
! that his {" Lucy was fit to be IL duches
op aud that she had repaid what he had do
for her a thousand times over and owe
- though he had done nothing but his dut
: by his poor sister and her child, either
ne But the worthy old man fell ill-b
,ss- came sick almos unto death. Illness W
lc, "a thing Richard had scarcely known in
- lifetime, and this attack reminded him f
- cibly Of what health too often makes m
All forger, namely: the necessity Of arrangi
,eI, his affairs SD that things might go onas
6 wished after his death. Ills properly