Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1875-05-01

day church members thought dan
cling sinful / can well remem-
Der with what conflicting emotions
that dear good woman, Mrs Brown
r'Mother Brown, / have always
called herr used to adjust my neck
ribbon and pump-strings,in order
to get me in trim for the sinful
indulgence as sheidid not hesitate
to designate it, saying, "Joseph. |
Adon't like to see you go to that
wicked school, but ] want you TO
look nice, you mast so according
to the wish Of your parents, who
have put you under my care /" |
plainly recall her venerated form
STOPPING to her reluctant duty,in a
frame house standing next to
where Holmes Conrad kept his
law Office, the last time ! noticed
his whereabouts.She has long since
crossed over TO the other side. And
if ever mortal deserved the bliss
promised as in store there for the
righteous, it was "M0ther Brown"
of blessed memory. Nor was my
estimate of her character merely
that of an urchin to whom few
sugar-plums might be suspected to
have been the deceptive guage. /
encountered her as the same kind
ly hostess twenty years later, when
/ was a student of medicine at Will
Transport, Md, under DIR. Finley,
and her husband, james M. Brown
had charge OF the hotel there. i do
not remember its name But that
is not necessary for identity. j be-
believe that Van Wrinkle village,
such it has emphatically been ever
since Gov. Frank Thomas's " Big
Ditch" the canal, was finished
never hadbut one hotel, which was
more than there was custom for,
even including the runaway SEEK
ers of a free hymenial altar at that
old Gretna Green.
In connection with Enuch G.
Breeden's dancing school there is
sad memory, which | pause to
revive. Among the Misses in at
tendance there was a daughter OF
Major Bryarly-Elizabeth l think
was her given name. She was a
little older than the writer of this
tribute to her memory-perhaps
as much az two years, which would
have made her age about fourteen
She was beautiful in form and fea-
ture, and of a carriage and temper
ament that could not have failed
TO make her Il favorite parner in
the dance, whether of the school
proper or the cotillien parties given
according to custom. She was an
elegant dancer, as well as decided
belle in the social circle. Such
young girls are always in peril un-
der such circumstances, because of
being liable to be kept too con-
stantly on thefloor, for their health.
The consequence was severe cold,
resulting in an acute attack oflung
disease, which baffied the skill of
the oldest and best physicians at
the day (Drs. Harrison and Nc
Sherry and caused her speedy
transfer from the attractive asso-
Citations of the gay and festive
dancing hall to those ofthe gloomy
and saddening grave. Well do l
remember the sensation her spec
dy death created, especially in our
young circle. Unfailingly did the
officiating minister apply the les
son of the early sdeath of our la
mented schoolmdte under such cir
cumstances. "Mother Brown" was
satre she then had a conclusive
point against teaching dancing to
young people at the instance, too,
of parents, who wee themselves
members of the church.
Many a time, in after years, as |
passed through Bucklestown to and
from the Winchester Academy, /
glanced at the birth place of the
departed dancing-school belle with
saddening Thought of the change
for she was all this and more to my
young, susceptible heart, as she
very likely was to others, seeing
that there are such things as reign
ing bellies in the empire OF Young
Love, as well as in that of Old
Love, and among school-boys
scarcely less often than among
children OLA larger growth.
j. + ;.
WASHINGTON, ID. Z.