Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1873-06-19


Immediately enter into the welded
state, and let him know of it, or he
would never more be an uncle Of mine
Now, as my uncle lived in Vermont
and in Philadelphia, and I never
anticipated the old gentleman would
pay me visit and discover the false
hood, wrote and informed him that
I was not only married but the father
Of bouncing baby. This intelligence
so pleased my uncle that he sent gold
goblet and a silver pap-spoon, to be
presented to my child. I at fret sat
down and wrote very romantic letter
to my uncle, thanking him for, the
presents, and then visited the nearest
jewelry store and turned both the
goblet and spoon into cash, which l
pocketed.
l had received no further letters
from my uncle until the one Which
read in Mrs King ey's parlor The
postscript to this not only astonished,
but absolutely frightened me. read
as follows:
P. 81 have never visited Phila-
delphia, SO have decided to do SO at
once, and get look at you and your
wife and child. You may expect me
about the 10th Of the month.
"Good gracious! My uncle is coming
to visit me" I exclaimed; ''and its past
the 10th of the month nsw! I don't
know at what moment he may pop in.
What am I to do for wife and child. :"
At that moment there came terri
BILE pull at the door-bell as if the man
who pulled it imagined that he owned
the house and could make as much
noise as he pleased. A sickening
sensation took possession of me, for l
had a misgiving that it was my uncle.
Now as good fortune would have it,
Mrs. Kingsley had gone out to neigh
boring store for few moments, and
had requested me to have an eye on
Her child while she was gone, SO it
wouldn't fall out of the cradle and hurt
itself AS glanced at the cradle, and
thought of my uncle at the door
bright idea entered nay mind. I de-
termined, in case the visitor was my
uncle, to claim the youthly occupant as
my own.
The visitor proved to be my uncle I
knew him by the pictures OF him I had
seen, and he likewise knew me by nay
photograph. After mutual re-
oognition and hand-shaking ushered
my honored relative into the parlor and
introduced him to my newly claimed
offspring.
"There, uncle" said l. 'sis the first
pledge Of our married life. I assure you
[ take pleasure in presenting to you
my child"
st is Fat little youngster," said my
uncle, gazing at it adniringly. BY the
way, what is it, boy or girl %
That was a knotty story for me to
answer, for he was just as much &C
quainted with its gender as was. But
it would not do to show ignorance on
the subject, so answered at hap-hazard
that it was boy.
81 am sorry it is boy" said my
uncle; sthere are two many boys in the
family. Now, if you had only. pro-
duced little blue eyed girl, it would
have been more sensible"
I assured him I was sorry the gender
did not suit, but hoped in the future
his wishes would be granted.
So far l had succeeded in deceiving
my uncle, but the worst I feared was,
that when Mrs. Kingsley returned, she
might object to my claiming ownership
in her child. Besides, to carry out my
deception, must find wife as we'll as
an infant, and Mrs. Kingsley. was the
only one I could conveniently claim.
The only difficulty was to get her con-
sent to the deception, and this might
he done if could only secure a private
conversation with her before I intro
duced her to my uncle, then it would
be all right.
1 watched my opportunity, and
gained an interview with hei before
she entered the room. l told her in a
brief and hurried words the extent of
my difficulty, and how ! had taken the
liberty Of acting as papa to her little
one then told her I must find a
wife somewhere, and begged her to
allow me to introduce her in that ca
pacity. She laughed very heartily at
the suggestion, said she could compre-
hond my difficulty, and consented to my
proposal, and very roguishly warned
me not to presume upon the OCCUR
ence.
We then entered the parlor and l
introduced her as my better half. My
uncle was very much pleased with he r
and complimented me upon my choice
in the selection of wife. Mrs. Kings
Hey, of course colored most charmingly
at this compliment, and I coula plainly
see that she could scarcely refrain from