The Republican journal., 1874-04-30
The Pettibone Lineage.

~ " Ntll-DOlll. Ill tiluS COuHtCllHS lle
mention Of my name with positive state
ment, | am not unaware that a catastrophe
lies coiled up in the juxtaposition. But l
cannot help writing plainly that | am still
in favor of distinguished family-tree.
Esto pe,pctuo! To have had somebody
Tor great-grandtather that was somebody
is exciting To be able to look back on
long lines of ancestry that were rich, but
respectable, seems decorous and all right.
The present Earl OF Warwick, | think,
must have an idea that strict justice has
been done hlm in the way Of being
launched properly into the world | saw
the Duke of Newcastle once, and as the
farmer in Conway described Mount
Washington, | thought the Duke felt a
propensity to ''hunch up some" Some
how it is pleasant to look down on the
crowd and have a conscious right to do
so.
Left an orphan at the tender age'of four
years, having no brothers or sisters to
prop me round with young affections and
sympathles, fell into three pairs Of hands,
excellent in their way, but peculiar Pa
tience, Eunice, and Mary Ann Pettibone
were my aunts on my fathers side All
my mothers relations kept shady when
the lonely orphan looked about for protec-
ton; but Patience Pettibone, in her state
ly way, said,-.' The boy belongs to a
good family, and he shall never want
while his three aunts can support him "
So | Went to live with my plain, but be-
nignant protectors, in the State of New
Hampshire.
During my boyhood, the best-drilled
lesson that fell to my keeping was this
Respect yourself We come of more
than ordinary parentage. Superior blood
was probably concerned in getting up the
Pettibones Hold your head erect, and
some day you shall have proof of your
high lineage"
| remember once, on being told that
must not share my juvenile sports with
the butchers three little beings, | begged
to know why not Aunt Eunice looked
at Patience and Mary Ann knew what she
meant
MY child, slowly murmured the eld-
est sister, ''our family no doubt came of u
very old stock; perhaps we belong to the
nobility. Our ancestors, it is thought,
came over laden with honors and no
doubt We're embarrassed with riches.
though the latter importation has dwindled
in the lapse Of years. Respect yourself
and when you grow up you will not re-
gret that your old and careful aunt did not
wish you to play with butchers otf'springn
felt mortified that had ever had de
sire to ,'knuckle up with any but kings
sons o. sultans' little boys. longed to
be among my equals in the urchin-linc,
and fly my kite with only high-born
Youngsters
Thus lived in a constant scene Of self
enchantment on the part Of the sisters,
who assumed al the port and feeling that
properly belong to the ladies Of quality.
Patrimonial splendor to come danced be-
fore their dim eyes and handsome settle
mcntS, gay equipages, and q general
grandeur of some sort loomed up in the
future for the American branch of the
House of Pettibone
1t was Il life of opulent selt-deluson,
which my anntS We're never tired Of nurs-
ING AMI | was too young to doubt the
reality Of it, All the members Of our lit
tie household held up their heads, as if
each said. in SO many words, There is no
Original sin in ON composition, whatever
Of that commodity there may be MIXED
up with the common clay of Snow
borough
Aunt Patience was u star. and dwclt
apart. Aunt Eunicr looked ut her through
4 determined pain of spectacrs, and wor-
shipped while She gaHed. The Youngest
sister lived III Il dreamy state of honors to
come and had constant geological visions
of lions, %rillins, und unicorns, drawn and
quartercd in every possible style known to
the lIerald's College. The Reverend
Hebrew Bullet, who used to drop in quite
often and drink several compulsory glasses
of homemade Wine. encouraged his three
parishioncrs in their arstocratic notions,
and eXtolled them for what he called their
''stooping down 70 everyday life" He
differed with the ladies Of our house only
on one point He contended that the uni
corn of the Bible and the rhinoceros of
to-day were one and the same animal NV
aunts held a different opinion
In the sleeping-room of my Aunt Pa
tience reposed trunk Often during my
childish years longed to lift the lid and
spy among its contents the treasures my
young fancy conjured up as lying there in
state | dared not ask to have the cover
raised for my qualification, as | had often
been told | was "too little to estimate
Alright what that armorial box contained
'When you grow up, YOU shall see the in
side Of it, Aunt Mary Ann used to say to
me; and 50 | wondered, and wished, but
all in vain. | must have the virtue of
wears before | could view the treasures of
past magniticence so long entombed in
that wooden sarcophagus. Once ! saw
the faded sisters bending over the trunk
together, and, as | thought, embalming
something in camphor. Curiosity i'm
PEELED me to linger, but under some pre-
text, | was nodded out Of the room.
Although my kinsWomen $ means We're
far from ample, they determined that
Swiftmouth College should have the dis
tinction of calling me one of her sons,
and accordingly was in due time sent for
preparation to u neighborin@ academy.
Years of study and hard fare in country
boarding houses told upon my self-import-
ance as the descendant of a great English
man, Notwithstanding all my letters from
the honored three came freighted with
counsel to respect myself and keep up
the dignity OF the family" Growing-up
man forgets good counsel. The Arcadia
of responsibility is apt to give place to
the levity of football and other W-toned
accomplishments. The book Of life, at
tituo ,,,lio,l oi,-..3 e.eslily .o E .,4l 4. uli,
and the insignia Of greatness give the
school-boy no envious pangs.
| was nineteen when entered the hoary
halls of Swiftmouth | call them hoary,
because they had been built more than
fifty years To me they seemed uncom-
monty hoary, and | snutfed antiquity in
the dusty purlieus. now began to study,
in good earnest, the wisdom Of the past
saw clearly the value Of dead men and
moldy precepts, especially it the former
ha6 been entombed a thousand years, and
Il the latter were we'll done in sounding
Greek and Latin. | began to reverence
royal lines of deceased monarchs, and
longed to connect my own name, now
growing into college popularity, with
some tar-otf mighty one who had ruled in
pomp and luxury his obsequious people
The trunk in Scarborough troabled my
dreams. In that receptacle still slept the
proof of our family distinction. Il will
60" quoth |, Ito the home of my aunts
next vacation and there learn how we be-
oama niOhty and l;conva,. pracisolx <ybv