Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1875-08-05
MS. xoNTaoxERy's HEIR,

so you have refused my nephew !!
Mrs. Ambrose Montgomery looked
severely at the young girl who wa
calmly tying her bonnet strings be
fore her mirror. She was severe ole
lady, very wealthy, about whom Hut
tered poor relations innumelable. Edna
Sergeant might have been counted
az one Of these, being certainly yer,
poor, though people were apt to say o
her, ssProud as Lucifer himself.
Eyes, Aunt Lucille, refused to mar
~ Walter Templeton. Since he seems
to have told you, I suppose there is nc
Improperly in my doing the same"
MAY I ask you your reasons!"
'Certainly. I want my husband, il
l ever have one, to be man, filling
mans place in the world, doing a mans
duties. I will never be the wife Of 8
lazy dandy who dawdles through life
waiting for possible fortune.
aYour cous in is very useful TO me.
Doubtless. But ! do not need any
one yet to put my footstool for me,
fetch me shawl, feed my poodle, and
run my errands." t.-
"Oh!"
81 want my husband to work for me
at mans work of brain and hands.
.Upon my word! You had better
marry mechanic. But pray take him
away from here if you do. want no
low fellow claiming kinship with me. ]
should think when these plebeian ideat
come into yonr mind, Miss Sergeant
it would be we'll for you to remember
the fact that you can trace your descent
direct from the Pilgrim Fathers !"
II am not likely to forget that fact
Aunt Lucille, hearing it every day. BY
the way, Auntie, do you suppose thai
if our noble ancestors, the Pilgrim
Fathers mean, were to present them
selves in your drawing rooms that yot
| would recognize thems I imagine then
! in their common clothes, holding BY
| shabby wives with babies in their arm
homeless, exiled, coming suddenly upol
you. l can hear you now telling John
| to put those horrid low people out o.
the house"
"You are pleased to be sarcastic,
was the cool reply. Il can value m!
ancestors If you are incapable of doing
so. Hope your ideal husband ma.
appear. In the meantime l think yo'
are but one remove from an idiot to re
fuse Walter, perfect gentleman ant
my probable heirl
perhaps! / will come Tomorrow
and finish your Dress
| And so saying, Edna wrapped hel
shawl about her and departed. Flo
this girl, sharing with her mother al
exceedingly slender income, the legac!
of her long-dead father, utilized read.
needle and exquisite taste by sewing
for her relatives. Her mother woult
have tainted with horror had any ON
suggested to her that her daughter wa
| q dressmaker. But dear Edna, sh'
admitted, help her more prosperou
relatives with their sewing, emitting
| to add that said relatives put suffici
ently small pecuniary acknowledgment
into Ednas purse.
The girl herself, superbly hand
some brunette, rebelled mentally ever.
hour of her life against all this pre-
tense. Proud to her hearts core, sh'
had no mean shrinking from facing tn
truth that she was poor and obliged t.
work for money; but the prejudices o
her rich aunt, the affections OF he
helpless, fine lady mother must be re
spected, and SO she worked for hal
pay and secrecy when she might hav
| won an honest living as an acknowledg
dressmaker.
| When Walter Templeton asked he
70 be his wife some Of this long -pent-l,
i irritation at the false life forced upo
her found vent in her refusal of his sui
She half.regretted the sarcasms she ha
| poured out upon his position when sh
saw his detected face and the express
ion of hurt amazement there.
AFTER an, she thought, when he lie
. her, the poor fellow is not SO much
g blame. He has been under Aunt IL
Giles thumb ever since he was mel
/ boy, BIO ight W. under small doses
common sense and vast: ones of RI
grim Fathers, blue Blood and Il
y degradation of honest labor. b