The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1866-04-06
Thr alaaeatk atffersuaian
STAPLEFORD GRANGE.

about five miles from the place where
the events referred to occurred, and
it was related TO me by the chief &C.
tress in it,-a pretty, lady.like girl
of twenty, the daughter of the rector
of the parish in which Stapleford
Grange is situated / had sprained
my ankle in the morning, and instead
OF going into dinner with the rest of
the party, was made to lie on the sofa
in the drawing room; and il was of.
the ladies came in from the dinner
room that the pretty Cissy Miles, at
her hostess urgent request, related IL
to me. l give it, as nearly as l can
romnmber, in. Ter own words.
II was on Saturday afternoon be-
fore Christmas day, nearly two years
ago, when my six brothers, all young
er than myself, and / were skating
on our squire's fish.pond. We had
been skating since dinner, and it was
not till the wintry daylight was be-
ginning to wane that the recollection
rushed across me that / had entirely
forgotten to do commission that
my mother had given me in the morn
ing. This commission was to walk
to the Grange, big farmhouse, and
bespeak some geese for dinner on
New Years day. My mother had
said decidedly, "Those geese must
be ordered to-day, Cissy," so l knew
that / should have to go; although
Grange was mile off, although it
was very cold, and darkness was
coming on, and although | was ter
ribly afraid of big black dog which
was chained just in front of The Grange
back door.
"Who'll go with me TO the Granger
/ called out, quickly, as this remem-
brance occurred to me, sitting down
and beginning to unstrap my skates
ave forgotten all about the geese,
and mamma said was TO order them
o-day."
No one answered. The next day
was Sunday, and it might thaw he
fore Monday, Every boy, big or lit
tie, seemed laudably desirous of ma
king the most of present opportuni
ties.
Il darcn't go by myself" I calle(
out in pathetic tone; it would b.
quite dark before | got home again.
"Tell the truth, Cis," called on
Charlie, quick, good-natured DO.
of fifteen, "and say you are afraid o
; Jip. Never mind, I'll come witt
you, ifyou must go" And he joine'
me on the bank and proceeded to talk
Off his skates.
"What'll you bet, Jin," he calle
out, during this operation, "that W
amt at home by a quarter to five
It's exactly four now"
"a bob" was the answer, and jim
whirled by.
"Done; and you remember you du
! up. Now, Cis, come along, and
can tell you you'll have to run"
Thanks to my brothers, ! was
pretty good runner, and we spe
across the squire's fields, and throug
the narrow lane towards the Grang,
as fast as possible. When we got {
the last field, which joined the farm
yard, we slackcned pace little, an
when We got into the big court-yar
itself, We were walking almost SLOW
ly.
GLOW dreadfully lonely it look
Charlie" ] said, almost with shi'
cr at the desolate aspect OF the plac
which had been q grand gentleman
house forty years ago, but had bee
suffered to fall almost into ruins
81 am glad am not Mrs. johnson
particularly as she has no childrel
nor any body to keep her compan
when Mr.. Johnson is away"
' "Well, don't you stop and prose
30 her for ever such time, Cis, do yC
hear?" returned Charlie, good HI
moredly; | want that bob Of Jim
and we've only twenty five minutes
: do the job, and get home in"
- "All right" i said, and we we
up to the back door.
/ must try and describe little
the geography Of the Grange now.
The court yard was big squa
place, much bigger than farm yar'
usually are, and itmust have been {
imposing entrance in the old by-day
There were two entrances 10 1t, Il
one we had come in by, leading to o
ia village, the other exactly opposite {
the other side of the court, leadil
over quarter Of mile of fields in
the road to. our market town of
To the left hand of the court va
was long straight line OF what h
once been stables, but were now iaI
. buildings; and to the right, the mol
side-a long, straight line also
the house itself.
The front door, which was exact
Y in the middle OF the straight line, a
which was tlanked on either side
several windows, was now ney
opened; but the back door, which W
the entry to little bit of buildi
standing back from the line of houl
and which looked almost as if it h
5. been stuck on TO the big square mi
sion as an afterthought, was on Il
Saturday afternoon standing lit
ED ajar.
Jip did not greet us with his usl
act noisy welcome, and there was
W" noise of any sort about the place {
,, cept the gabbling of some turkeys
ILL., the rear or the iarm- buildings.
, in. don't know that / felt any particu
fac. fear, but rs we followed the path I
der the shadow of the OLD elm-tr