The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-03-15

and removed to the Hall ltsel1, wnere
he not only occupied certain handsome
rooms, but was made general care-take1
and manager of the whole place. :!
wish / had time and space to tell all
that might be said about these curious
ly eccentric Mathers, of Latten-cover
the collateral descendants of that vine
gar-spirited historian of New England
who forbade the Pilgrim mothers to
kiss their children on q Sunday; but
have not. / can merely say, that the
present possessor, young Butler Mather
the great-nephew of the old Squire, was
apparently, no less, eccentric than his
predecessors. He was educated at Ox'
ford, but had never taken many honors
in fact, he cared little about mere
scholastic distinctions; and, leaving
the university some time before his
preat-uncle's death, proceeded to carry
ont his theory of educational develop
ment, the principle of which was tina,
every man ought to be able to do q
mans work, by hand as well as by head
and put himself to ship-building foI
three years; after which he visited the
United States, not only to make him
self thoroughly acquainted with the
government of that country. but to
take out a number of poor, industrious
men, with whom he had become ac-
auainted in the dockyard, and settle
them in one of the Western States.
A character of more strongly devel-
oped manhood than that of Butler
Mather, at seven and twenty, could not
bs conceived. He had known his great
uncle's bailiff from boyhood, and esteem
ed him so highly as to leave everything
in his hands.
Linacre, therefore, was now steward;
and lived at the Hall; and the young
Squire, being altogether unconvention-
al and simple in his habits
and tastes, greatly enjoyed the
society of him and his wife, and
lived familiarly with them when he
came there, which, however, was neces-
sarily very seldom.
1t was by no means unnatural, there
fore, that Jane Ibbotson, the Young
beauty of Miss Vanstrandin's, should
prefer spending her holidays with I'm
Gle and Aunt Linacre, rather than with
any of her school companions at their
shopkeeping homes; though must do
her the justice to say, that it was not
with reference to the Squire, whom she
scarcely ever saw, but simply because
1t was Latten cover; and, with all
her romantic notions, and love OF rank
and refinement, it was an unspeakable
pleasure to be able to range about the
whole place as if it were her own.
Another object of great interest to
her arose from the fact that the ad-
Joining estate of Saxonfeld, which for
many years had been subjected to a
claim of disputed inheritance, would,
it was hoped, be ultimately proved to
be the Iightful property of young Or
phan, Margaret st. Just, who, having
been originally one of Miss Vanstran-
din's parlor- boarders, was now remain
ing there, awaiting, year after year, the
of the weary lawsuit. OF
all the arlor-boarders, Margaret st.
Just had ever been Jane Ibbotson's in
tensest admiration. She was now up
wards of twenty; tall, and somewhat
ample of growth: not handsome, strict
ly speaking, but of frank countenance,
with buoyant, gracious manners. There
was, in short, an air Of nobility in all
she said and did, which supplied to the
youthful fancy Of her ardent admirer
the perfection of womanhood in the
character Of duchess. 1t was natural,
that Jane took great interest
i'm all the talk about the SaXontield law
suit at Lattencover, and that she. on
the other hand, should be invited by the
people there, and their friends, to relate
all that she could impart from her per-
sonal knowledge Of the heiress.
Uncle Linacre, in his pride as steward
of Lattencover, one of the best-man-
aged estates IN the country, looked
down, with sort of pitying regard, on
the long-neglected and sOrely run-out
property of Saxonfeld, and on one oc-
casion deplored to Jane that David
Ronald had been apprenticed to trade,
instead of studying farming or land
"But was only bailiff then," said he;
"and l thought your father could do
better for him."
From this she inferred that Uncle
Linacre looked down on shopkeeping
Jane was in her seventeenth year,
and her last halt year at school, when
the news came that Miss st. Just had
won the great Saxonfield cause. Oi
course there was to be festival at
the school in her honor; and Miss Van
strandin partly wrote. and partly trans
lated from the French, little play to
be acted on the occasion, in which Jane
was to perform the part of heroine. The
evening came; the various young per-
formers were standing with Palpitating
hearts awaiting the critical moment
when the curtain should draw up; when
Miss st. Just, beautifully dressed, pass
cd quickly along corridor which
opened on the little stage, and sweep,
ing her long muslin dress over the near.
est footlight, it instantly caught fire,
Jane, whose admiring eyes followed her
everywhere, was the only one who saw
the danger, and, rushing forward, she
threw herself upon the burning muslin,
and catching it in her own ample dress,
which fortunately was woOlen, extin-
guished the fire. The whole was the
work of q moment; 80 that when Jane,
overcome by her own feeling, burst into
o fit of historical weeping, those who
rushed forward to see what was amiss
were angry at her ill-timed excitement.
BY this circumstance Jane won the
regard and the gratitude Of the heires 8,
who left early the following morning,
but shortly afterwards sent her hand
some gold locket, containing her hair,
and an invitation to visit her at Saxon
field. s.s.r
In few weeks she herself left school,
and, coming home, found various pre-
parations to. welcome her. Her parents
had designed surprise for her, and
not an uncostly. one either. The sit
ting-room over the shop was new-pa-
pered, carpeted, and furnished for her
use. Aunt Ronald, who dearly loved
her beautiful neice, had almost
sewn her fingers to the bone in
her share of the labor Of love, for she
was great at upholstery work. The
young girl was not wanting in graft
tude, nor unappreciative Of kindness;
but the sense of beauty and refinement,
which she had perfected in her twelve
half-years at Twickenham, left her
shocked by the first view of red and
green carpet. rose-trellised walls, and
blue damask curtains. She might be
said to gasp for breath as her loving
aunt-anticipating the mother, who
was busy in the shOp--threw open the
room-door. and then. herself entering,