The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-03-15
Jane Ibbotson's Warning.
BY MARY HOwITT.


of shop.keepers, and their place OF
business was in London Wall. 1t was
their own property; and this naturally
brings to mind two notable facts, ap-
pertaining to the last generation, which
are worthy of record: first, that they
lived in such open communion with
their children, as to discuss in their
presence the most delicate circum-
stances of their worldly condition; and
secondly, that some embarrassment or
monetary pressure had caused their
house to be mortgaged: These lbbot-
sons had two sons, Nlchodemus ana Cy-
rus, who, like all their male predeces-
sors, were educated at st. PauPs school.
One day, therefore, in play-hours, the
boys, whether from the city or the sub.
urbs, began to boast of the especial
signs of grandeur which belonged to
their respective homes. One, for in
stance, told that q real golden fleece
hung over their door; a second, that a
gilded vape stood on their house roof;
and a third, that they had stables on
which was a cupola and a clock: on
this, Nichodemus, not to be behind the
best of them, put in his boast by say
ing
"But we have a mortgage on our
house," .5...,
Most of the boys were wiser than
poor Nichodemus, and peal of laughter
followed his boast. Cyrus, though
younger than his brother, no sooner
heard him utter the words, than a sense
of what o mortgage was flashed upon
his mind, as by instinct. 1t was money
borrowed; and that, he knew, was not
quite the thing. With bravado, there
fore, equal to his brothers simplicity,
he denied the fact, and declared him
self ready to fight any boy who dared
to repeat the words of NichOdemus, and
say that they had a mortgage OH their
lhouse. Fortunately Cyrus's prowess
was we'll known in the school, and not
a boy accepted the challenge; yet, for
all that, it was never forgotten that lb-
botsons had mortgage on their prem
ises.
Poor Nichodemus went to sea, where
\ he perished by falling overheard in
storm, off the Cape of Good Hope. Thus,
the shop and the mortgage became the
inheritance ofCyrus; and he, marrying
a woman with money, paid of the
mortgage with her fortune.
Mrs. 1bbotson had twin sister, mar
red to Mr.. Linacre, the bailitf of
Sduire Mather, of Lattencoyer, in Glon-
cestershire; also u half-sister ten years
her senior, the daughter of her mother
by an earlier marriage. These women
were deyotedly attached to each other;
nor was the bond of their affection
loosened by the Ibbotson marriage. AT
that time the half-sister, Mrs. Ronald, o
widow in Strengthened circumstances,
with one son, found her home with the
bailiff7s wife at LattencOyer; henceforth
it was almost entirely Mt London Wall,
whittier the good shopkeeper invited
her and her son, on the generous plea OF
the boy, who was very clever, receiving
q better education at st. PauPs School
than he could do in Worcestershire,
with an eye, moreover, to his ultimately
becoming his apprentice; whilst the
wife reioiced to have the lOng-tried ser
vices Of her half-sister all to herself,
she having a far greater taste for MAX
ing money with her husband in the
shop, than for mending his stockings
and making his shirts, all of which
would now fall to the share of "Sister
Ronald"
The earliest recollections of little
Jane Ibbotson, the only child of this
shopkeeping pair, were connected with
her half-cousin, David Ronald, the in
dustrious school-bOy of st. PauPs,-I
where, however, the tradition of Mich
odemus and the mortgage still existed.
But Ronald, Scotch by his fathers side,
steady. thoughtful boy, was never
likely to commit himself in that style.
He was clear-headed, practical fellow,
who seemed to have faculty for every
thing. Whether it were learning or
play. he went into it with his whole
heart, and was at the top of the school.
There was nothing he could not and
did not learn; and "Uncle lbbotson''
had the greatest satisfaction in him.
Some of the masters, however, thought
it q shame to apprentice him merely to
an ordinary business, when his abili-
ties would fit him for much higher
walk in life. This was the lads own
opinion of himself Uncle Linacre also
put in his word on the subject; but then
he was only bailiff at Lattencover, and
could not take him as an apprentice
and insure him a money making trade.
Therefore, sorely against the grain,
poor David was apprenticed for seven
years to the provision business in Lon
don Wall.
Little Miss Ibbotson was an elegant
young lady from her very cradle; and
, this reminds me of the many curious
things there are in life; none more so
than the law of reaction,-a law which
runs through creation, and, for any
thing l know, through the whole uni
verse.
Hence it happened that this daughter
of shopkeeping parents-people who
had no ambition beyond their own call
ing, and who would have thought it a
mortal sin to undervalue that condition
of life to which it pleased God to call
them.-entertained, as soon as she had
any ideas of her own, an utter repug-
nance to all retail business whatever,
and felt it derogatory, long before she
was ten years old, to enter the house by
the shop instead of the private door,
which her parents used only on Sum
days. But this was according to the
great law of reaction, and totally be-
yond her power of resistance. In pro-
portion as the pendulum, 80 to speak,
had swung for several generations to-
wards the pretty details Of o retail
trade, SO now, in her case, it swung
I back in tho utmost rejection of them.
In short, the shop was her bete noir, a
daily modification and shame. The
parents outwardly smiled at, and in.
wardly admired, the dainty ways and
the refined propensities of the little Ia
dy, and placed her early in boarding
school Of high reputation at Twicken-
ham, where also were educated many
other young lady daughters of rich
tradesmen, principally from the West
End.
At fifteen, Jane 1bbotson was tall and
slender, with fair complexion, regular
features, and hair the color Of ripe corn.
She was certainly the prettiest in the
school, and greatly admired. David
Ronald, in his day, had worked hard,
aud taken high place in the regular
examinations Of the city school; but he
had not worked harder, nor made better
use of his opportunities, than did Jane
Ibbotson at Miss Vanstrandin's estab-
lishment for young ladies. 1t is aston
ishing, too, how deeply she studied one