New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-03-05

thing it WAS that the woman wouldn't grow
old 1t must be wicked, if twas real
Mrs. Marrables never forgave Matilda fol
making her q grandmother. But Matild.
did not repeat the offcnse. Mr.. Wimbusl
died, leaving his widow q respectable main
tcnance for herself and child. The child
Carry Wimbush. had put short dresses Il
shame when she was twelve. She ran ur
like scarlet-runner. She ran right through
by express from Childhood to WomanhoOd
without stopping at the intermediate station
OF GirldOm. At seventeen she was grown
woman OF mature experience, who haC
given up flirting for love, along with he,
other playthings, and was ready calmly te
discuss an offer Of marriage Oh the basis OF
its affording a good strategical position in
the battle of life.
Here, therefore, we have Mrs. Wimbush
a comely widow, with daughter somewha,
prematurely developed, on the one hand
with a mother persistently juvenile and ever
green, on the other. Mrs. Wimbush and
her daughter Carry, living together in Whit
tington Lodge, Highgate; Mrs. Marrables
the ungrandmOtherly, dwelling by herself
at Taunton, and devOting her time to col
lecting subscriptions for different charitable
objects, not forgetting her own rents. Mrs
Wimbush seldom correspondent with hel
mother. They were on the best of terms
y
each pursued the even tenor of her way
very rarely interchanging extasies 10y post
In the spring Of 1868, Mrs. Wimbush sha,
up her house in Highgate, and came with
her daughter to BOurnemOuth, where she
hired villa. Many of her friends were
staying at BOurnemOuth; and through the
assistance of parties and jaunts, and picnics
and balls, she made a great many more
Among these, the Brookshanks must be
specially noticed as particularly involved
in this brief history.
Old BroOkshank $50 everybody called
him), a cheerful old person on the shady side
OF sixty, was very rich, but very unpresent-
able in the eyes of the rather rigid society
OF the place. He had made his money by
the invention of a patent medicine familiar
to lis all, by the name Of BrOokshank's In.
fal,ible Ointment. 1t brought him no end
Of money. But although he lived in a grand
house in a fashionable watering-place, he
was still sole proprietor Of the lntallible
Ointment. and his London mandatory and
depot was yet in full working with Brook.
shank over the door, and pictures of people
with sore limbs all over the windows. All
this society might have winked at-might
have admitted him within its doors upon
sutterance, and pretended never to wake to
the notion of a stranger present in the gal
lery.' But the worst of old BrOOksh;ink
was, that not content with living on ONT
ment, he talked ointment always, and
pulled it everywhere. TWAS not hypocrisy;
the man believed in it heart and soul. He
said he had a sacred mission to alleviate the
woes of mankind at thirteen pence half:
penny the box, and he meant it. He be-
ieved in all his Observation-Disclosures de-
voItly than the writers could have done
He was cOnscientiously Of opinion that his
ointment was. as he said, good for mortal
complaint, inside OF out" He carried bills
with him everywhere, and distributed them
as zealously as though they lad been
tracts. "Shall cease" said he "wlle a sin.
gle fellow creature suffers agony that. can
cure!' Society could not stand this: for the
man would have distributed his bills in
every ballroom and every sOiree, and
never rested till each guest was supplied
with picture Of bad legs and string of
testimonials. He believed in his mission as
much as Mohammed did. He said he had
committed many sins in his lifetime, but he
trusted the good his ointment had done to
suffering humanity might be taken into ac-
count when they were reckOned up. The
ointment was his credible ointment his
extreme JUNCTION.
BrOokshank's sister kept his house; a
little faded old maid, who believed in him
as much as he did in himself; who would
move softly in his presence, from a reverent
regard for the great healer Of the people;
who would place his last published testi-
monials in her hymn book, and read them
on Sundays with every appearance OF de-
NOTWITHSTANDING up thanks from her sim
pie heart for the good works he had been
enabled to do. Brookshank kad two sons,
both getting on toward middle age.
Thomas, the eldest, a surgeon with a CAPT
tai practice, used to declare that half his
MT 10
suffering from the effects of the Infallible
Ointment, though. of course, he only said
SO to tease his aunt. His brother Charles
was a lawyer. of good position and good
circumstances. Neither was married; peO-
pie said they were not marrying men,
What blunders people make, sometimes. on
this score.
CHAPTER III.
1t was strange what an impression Mrs
Wiinbush seemed to make on those two
men. She met them everywhere, and the
attentions they paid her were plainly
marked by some thing warmer than polite
ness. Presents, tOO-flowers and ot-hOuse
fruit-found their way from Mr.. Tom and
Mr.. Charles to the widows table. OF the
two, Mr.. Tom Was by far the most in
earnest. Yet she feared to encourage
either. and for some time preserved an at
titude of strict neutrality between the
rival powers, and could conscicntiously re-
port that she was on terms of the closest
friendship with each Of the belligerents;
the fact being that the key of her inn
partially was less a matter of sentiment
than desire to ascertain the relative stand
ing Of the two brothers in the eyes of their
father with regard to future contingencies.
1t was not long before she had an oppor-
tunity of satisfying herself on this point.
vat Ct md {nr
the lnfaliible Ointment made old Brook
shank's sister her sincere friend for life,
and Mrs. Wimbush became Il visitor at the
big house. She soon found that old Brook
shank had bad opinion of his eldest son,
Tom. Partly Jealousy of a man who pro-
fessed the art of healing as derived from
books, and expressed skepticism as to the
inspiration OF the ointment, and partly
distrust of man who might find out its
public derision, contributed to this bad
opinion. Tom was hereto. and an I'M
believer in the Brookshank creed-a scOffer
at the best authenticated testimonials-an
held the government stamp i'll open con-
tempt. Charles was not so. Hard man of
law though he was, he consumed quantities
Of the ointment, or prOfesscd to DO 40, and
always said it did him good. Mrs. Wimbush
would talk ointment by the hour with old
Brookshank, and consequently became a
great favorite besides getting the credit
for being most discriminating woman.
The old man would even go so far
as TO show her his unpublished testimoni-
ais, and produced great bundles of letters
i'll praise of himself and his medicine. These
the widow would peruse with an exhibition
OF rapt interest. which was certainly very
edlfying: Working on the confidence Oh
tanned, she gathered very clearly that the
younger son would most likely come in for