American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-07-27
Miscellany.
UNCLE GEOFFREY'S TALL COPY OF
EsEA TERENCE. ~

UNCLE GEOFFREY'S TALL COPY Oh
sEA TERENCE.
MY UNCLE 6EOFFREY was as eccent ri
an old gentleman as you could desire t,
see. But, as he used to say, he wa
wealthy, and he could afford to be eccen
trio. And he was right; for people pu
up with bis. eccentxieities who would
not been for his money. At any rate
with AN @syeccentriciles,h he was gener
Gus and liberal though at times he die
kindnesses in g very odd way. sOnct
on time, for instance, he was applied to
for contribution to a certain charity. HI
always preferred being his own almoner;
for, he said, if you wanted to give five
way to Insure its -feachiue its object
through any charitable organization, was
to add two moresfves oft, ito oil the ma
chinery," as he called it, meaning to pay
the costs of distribution. l don't
~as very FAR ' wrong way WELL 'ni in th as
case alofal ,magnate was Fostering him
to subscribe, as they were walking up the
High Street My uncle knew that his
to subscribe than for his own donations;
and accordingly, just as the philanthro-
pist was urging that, ..it is every man s
duty to assist the struggling" my uncle's
eye CHANGED to light upon a small boy,
striving 10 push q heavy truck up the
hill. "Look here" said he; ''if you'll
practice what you preach, and help that
you twenty pounds for your charity" The
philanthropist went off in huff, and my
uncle quietly stepped into the road and
helped the boy to push his truck to the
top of the ascent sTrr
This is but one instance of his eccentric
ity; but it {ill serve tothrow light on
his Character, especially when add that
the subeUp&i0n1ist of the charity when
published contained the following
item:-
From one who earned it by pushing truck
My Uncle Godfrey was bachelor.
People did say something about a love-
disappointment in early life, but with
what truth, II know not. He had two sis
tiers. both of whom married professional
men; IN other words, did not make very
good matches NV father was an officer
in the navy, who died of fever while off
the African coast, cruising after slavers
My mother did not long survive him, and
left me, her only child, to the care of her
brother. Her sister had married clergy
man, Cnratein; a manufacturing. town.
One night terrible fire broke out in a
factory close to their lodgings and spread
so rapidly that, when assistance arrived,
all in the house had persisted, except my
cousin, a lad of abOut-ten, who at the first
alarm had rushed out into the street, leav-
ing his little brothers and sisters, who
slept in the next room to him, to their
My Uncle Godfrey adopted both his
nephews. We were brought up under
n w n va hvyu fr1fn N had haav
schOQlfellow OF. his, 81. exceedingly clever
scholar, who toulds hive taken Ieryhigh
honors at the university, but for serious
illness which had Frustrated him at the
time when he should have gone in for his
examination.
My cousin George. vasl my senior by
some three years, and was, therefore, al
ways held by my uncle to be his heir;
though he always added, when he men
toned the fact, that Dick-meaning me
should not want.
After time we were sent to college;
our ex-tutOr, who had taken orders and
acted as curate in the village few years
before we matriculated. being appointed
to living in my uncle's gift. AS ewere
now young men, and our tutor was gone,
oar uac3e heca1nes oa2r Meptor; and, as
might be expected, laid down very extra
ordinary rules for our conduct. One of
the chief of these was, that we were not
to fall in love or go Accounting; but that,
supposing such a misfortune as falling in |
love did ovcrtake us, he was to be imme- \
diately informed.
He made each of as a handsome allow
ance, and did not insist greatly in our dis |
AnkQinhing ourselves at college. As might |
be expected, we both took things easily, |
and lived well, though we were careful to |
pass our examinations; for Uncle Geoffrey |
had always set his face against a 'fellow's |
being plucked," as it used to be called in |
his time.
In the long vacation he allowed us, af- |
ter a months stay at the Manor House, |
placed syacht at our disposal entirely !
He used IL himself in the spring and sum-
mer, and declared that we youngsters |
didn't want to be bothered by an old man |
like him, and 50 should have the craft to
ourselves
In our yachting excursions George used |
always to take the command. He was "a |
headstrong, selfish fellow by nature, and |
the Indulgence shown to both of us by |
our uncle was in his case at least unfor- |
tunate, for it encouraged the growth of |
his failings. In my case l fear my uncle's |
kindness humored tendency to careless
ness in money matters, for l knew that |
his purse was always open.
After time I found George always |
took the yacht to small but pretsy sea-
port on the south coast, called GulstOne. |
Nor was l long in discovering the reason
of this choice of an anchorage, though at !
first it seemed hardly probable one The |.
fact was, George was paying attentions to \
q Miss POwsby. whose father, a retired
soap boiler, had purchased a villa near
Guktope. Now Mss Powsby was not
very pretty; on TIE contrary, she was alb
normally plain. She was not ugly, for
ugiiness has sort Of piquancy which alb
solute plainness entirely lacks.
But She had her attractions. She was
an only child, and Powsby peTe had not |
boiled soap for half his life to no purpose.
Mrs. Powsby had been a distant connec
ton of real live lord, and she had in !
stilled into her husband the necessity for |
giving Penelopc's hand to a genteel and |
well bred sutton. Consequently old T.
turned up his nose at all the young men |
in his own sphere of life, and looked
about for a husband for his child in a |
class i'm which he had no friends and few
When George, the heir
nresrmptive of Uncle Godfrey, and, there
fore. probable future lord of the Manor of
GilIandale, having been introduced to
PeneI0pe at the Bachelors Ball at Gull
stone. began to show her marked atten-
fion. you may be sure neither she nor her
SatbeI attempted to repulse his advances.
Rnt George was artful enough to con- ]