Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1873-02-21

late 10 quarry them for professions which
would have been more suitable TO their ruin.
ed fortunes. The men did not murmur in
the end, as they had not revolted 10 the be.
ginning. They were not Of the stuff that
pioneers and founders Of families are made
Of they were rather of the refined, at.enu.
ated fibre which belongs to the last remnant
Of a stock that is prepared To die with dgni-
ty and resignation.
The two brothers never separated not even
during the short period Of the elders married
life-he had married a lady little below
him in descent, but quite his equal 10 pow
erty. The Cliffords continued to live at
Clifford Farm, in which they had thought to
take refuge temporarily while the lawsuit
was pending while Cousin Lucy, a remote
and somewhat homely cousin, as the most
aristocratic genealogical tree may have an
humble offshoot, came and played the part of
housekeeper to the two men and of mother
to Gena--the further business of Cousin Luz
cy's honest, credulous life being to revere
and walk in the footsteps of her patrons.
The farm had been no more than a supe-
rior old-fashioned farmhouse with square
windows and a stone porch, to begin with.
But in course Of time the house had gathered
round it many embellishments, such as the
roses AL Woodruff had quoted. for Mr..
Devil had pretty fancy for gardening, and
within the rooms were innumerable relics of
better days and vanished renown, in rusty
swords which had done sharp work at Barnet
and Bosworth, Naseby and Derby, tattered
fragments of tapestry, faded pictures, batter
ed plate, cracked china, moth.eaten parch-
ments. Altogether, Clifford Farm became
in time venerable, curious, and interesting
like its owners.
There the Cliffords dwelt like dethroned
princes, receiving much of the homage of
their former state from their faithful sub
jects among the simple country folks and
loyal county families. Mr. Clifford and Mr..
Devil had as many bows and courtesies dealt
to them as ever, aud still sat as equals at
rich mems boards in feasts to which the de-
cayed gentlemen could make no return; the
favor Of their company was ample reward,
both they and their hosts felt it so. No
doubt, had there been any sourness or suri-
ness generated in the victims, the protracted
honor, exhausted by the contention with cir
cumstances, would have died a natural death.
But it was not so, the Cliifords were truly
gentle; they not only accepted their situa-
ton, but in addition bore no grudge against
their successors in the Manor, and 10 broad
acres far and near.
Inevitably, in the looking back which had
made up so much of the interest and graft
fcation of the brothers lives, they had de.
veloped antiquarian and archaeological tastes
until the men had become mellow representa-.
tives OF rare local and historical knowledge
for which alone their society might have
been sought and their intimacy courte |
They were 6ne-looking men, retaining un
mIstakabe traces of centuries of supremacy
and cultivation. The presence which w
associate with coats Of mail and pumed he'll
NETS, or at the latest with velvet coats, lac,
ruffles, and cooked hats, was still TO be ioun
in the Cliffords, undestroyed by broadcloth
gray tweed, ehimney-pot hats, or wide
awakes.
Gena had inherited the presence All,
owed to air and gait great part of her per
sonal attraction, for she was but colorless
slim girl, only her neck curved like swan
her foot stepped as the exquisite hoof of a.
Arab horse PAGES the turf.
Mr. Clifford and Mr.. Devil lis there no
something pathetic in a midde-aged maj
continuing to be distinguished by his chris
tian name, as in his boyhood p were far fron
unhappy or disconnected men. Their mos
pressing care-for they were so cordial
and completely united that they shared tbi
as well as other cares-was for the future o
Gena
The principal source of the Clifiords' in
come was their interest in ground-rents an
leases which were apsing and passing t
other proprietors. The brothers were liter
ally poorer every year, and they had neve
known how to save or to do more in thei
rcverses than to make their expenses al
their receipts meet Enough might renal
to last the elders time, but for Gena ther
was likely to be no more than the old farm
house aud its acre or two Of pasture, 0
which a thrifty yeoman's daughter, manag
ing her own dairy, might subsist with diff
Guilty. This destitute future of Gena's bel
the secret Of Mr.. Clifford having 50 much q
lent an ear to the proposal OF Al Woodruff
J the wears son, himself curate in Bristo
/ as a sutton for Gena's hand.
. The Woolruffes were most respectable
t worthy people, and the vicar had some nan
Q for learning, as wcA as for much virtu
4 amiability aud piety, but they were nobodi,
/ after all, the vicar being the son Of form,
r apothecary who had served the Cliffords
$ Clifford Manor with camphor and licoric
r while he dispensed or they required the
e articles. So strong was the prejudice of
: ltetime-of generations-that Mr.. ClifIol
could not bring himself to do more than
: say, very politely and deprecatIngly, in a
n s4er to Ais question, Would he give hi
S his daughter that he Mr.. Clifford) had II
e highest opinion OF the young man as an ind
o vidual, but he could not approve of--of
e fusion of classes. There was much to
| thought of when an alliance with iami
J like theirs was to be considered-at lea
IT such used to be the way But certain
# times had changed Gena would be We
poor little girl; still her father land
: might add her uncle was one with him in |
II opinion) could not consent to rash step,
| compromise her and her friends by has
Ie decision. Miss Clifford was very your
There must be no engagement or correspon
y. ence in the mean while; but if Mr.. Al "
Of the same mind, aud Gena did him t
N grace of accepting his proposal year or t,
ID thence, the matter might be thought of aga
se and the parties interested might come to
Of conclusion upon it,
~ There was nothing left but submission
n AL and Gena.
BY the bye, all the parish who had kno,
ly him from his birth called DR.. Woodruff
e, son by the abbreviation of his name, viii
ne might stand for Algernon, or Alfred,
he Alexander, OF Alphonso, or even Alon
of Gena was Enthusiastically a corruption of In
IS, gen-which was one of the many histori,
u and poetic women's names to be met with
ed the long lists of her family calendar.
of deed, the Cliiiords were so we'll off in I