The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1875-04-09
PARSON PHMSTICKLE'S DESK.

1t was an old desk, having belonged to
Parson Phimstickle's grandfather and
Parson Phimstickle himself was by no
means n young man ; SO, of course, it
was an old desk. And then, indeed,
nobody knows who had il before Parson
Phimstickle's grandfather came into pos
session. 1t might have been some still
more remote ancestor, or it might have
been the furniture dealer. ParsOn
Phimstickle's daughters were of the for
mer opinion. They were convinced that
it had belonged to some old English
family, who, during the persecution of
the Puritans, hed to America, and from
whom they, Hannah and Jerusha Phiul-
stickle, We're proud to believe themselves
descended.
1t WIS curious desk-so everybody
thought. In die lower part there were
three large drawers. You tGrned down
the upper, sloping front, and there was
writing-desk, which, when it was
closed, concealed very many drawers and
pigeon holes of various sizes. Some of
these drawers We're quite deep and long !;
others were very shallow and small. Al
though everybody thought it was n curl
Gus desk, nobody suspected how very
curious it really was.
For years before Parson Phimstickle
had this desk it stood in the low attic of
the old family mansion, which was full
OF curious relics of the Phimstickle
family.
Parson Phimstickle's two daughters
were of romantic turn of mind, and,
having read great many marvellous
stories of young ladies who unexpectedly
became heirs of immense fortunes, or
captivated and married beauty, culture,
riches, and fame, combined in one man,
who was only too happy to be allowed
feet of his adored enslaver, Hannah and
Jerusha lived i'll continual hope of some
similar good fortune. They were the
more inclined to indulge such hopes
from the fact that they had second or
third cousin (there was some dispute as
to the exact degree of relationship who
was known to be wealthy. When they
were little girls and he was young man
he had gone to California, and had not
been heard from for a great many years ;
but, according to latest information, he
was a bachelor with no nearer relatives
than themselves,
Hannah would sometimes say to
Jerusha, eve shall some day hear from
that second cousin of ours, you may de-
pend. Mamma used to say he was very
fond of me when / was little girl.
When he comes back how / shall rush
into his embrace, exclaiming, My long
lost second cousin !" Then Jerusha
would reply, " Hannah, will you never
remember that Cousin John is not our
second, but our third cousin. You
know he is our fathers cousins son.
But don't You remember mother told me
that when | was baby, riding i'll stage
with her, n gentleman gave me piece of
candy, which i held tight in my hand a
long time, and he said, THAT child is
! born to be rich ," "Who knows what
the future may bring Z" Hannah would
reply with the hopefulness of youth.
Hannah and Jerusha Phimstickle were
in the habit of making a yearly visit to
the old Phimsticlxle homestead, On one
of these occasions they came across Il
/ ponderors volume containing the
/ genealogy of the Phimstickle family
| throughout all its ramifications. This
volume they pored over till they had
traced their origin back to Sir William
Phimstickle, knight, and Alderman of
London.
"Jerusha, exclaimed Hannah, 81
always thought we had noble blood in
our veins, for water will flow under my
instep; and then" she added, holding
out a well-formed hand, "hdt is no
plebeian hand. And do you know, my
dear, don't think that Joe Jobstock is
exactly the person for a Phimstickle to
marry"
"Who ever said anything about
marrying Joe Jobstockl" replied
Jerusha, with toss of her head and q
rosy flush.
Z" / don't know that any person ever
said anything about it; but j should
! judge from what have seen that some
body had thought about it at least
"I'm sure j dent pretend to under