Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1876-07-20

John Roach ana are alike Ill many
respects. We have both good gardens,
excellent wine.cellers, larders we'll
stocked at all times, curious libraries
with all the shelves full of companion
able books. We are both bachelors
under the guardianship of sunny.tem-
pered hOusekeepers, so that we ripen
and grow mellower daily, sdo peaches
upon southern wall in Autumn-time,
We have both warm incomes too,
enough for all the wants of the fancy
and the wants of the heart, nothing
over. We could neither of us take to
building or picture.buying on large
scale but we can purchase all the re.
spect we require for common use, we
never haggle over figures, and let our
tradesmen, work.people and servants
make such gains as please them with
out demanding strict accounts from
any one. At Christmas and at Easter
we have always something to give
away, and we keep the birthdays of
old folk and children that we may en-
Joy the perpetual sight of happy faces;
so that whenever a big fish or blade
Of strange grass is heard Of within
miles of our abode, John Roach and !
are sure to have the first news piping
hot, because our bread and cheese and
ale are good, and he loves angling, and
it's we'll known that am searching
for the four-leaved shamrock, which
is said sometimes to reward 4 patient
and intelligent-looking into the secrets
of Nature.
"Yes, was 4 fisherman, and Philip
was not. or he might have better
understood the origin Of happiness"
continued my neighbor, with quaint,
demure smile playing over his features
in the soft hazy light of an English
Spring in early evening.
nodded as arranged al unusually
fine specimen of parasite which grows
upon the water-lily, and which then
fancied had myself discovered,
though now find it was known to my
Scotch gardener. and is not uncommon
in Perthshire, his native county. AS
l nodded, also remarked with sound
discretion that fishing and botany
might account for many things.
':Ah!'' returned Mr.. John Roach,
with more readiness, if with less pro.
fundity, than had characterized my
observation ''fishing has an advantage
over botany, because it is less absorb
ing. When you go a.hunting for flora
you are as a student who diligently
pores over a book, large and open
book indeed, but one of which the
characters are often hard to decipher,
and your attention can never wander
from the subject. A fisherman has on
ly to keep all eye upon his float, and
may leave his thoughts 1T liberty to
roam over all creation. Fishing is
rather an aid to contemplation than a
hindrance to it.
had nothing to say in answer to
this statement, and if had been able
to controvert it should not have done
so, for we must have lived and thought
to small advantage if we do not evade
discussion whenever it is possible to
do 80 honestly. 1 like botanizing bet.
ter than angling that is no reason
why my friend should be enamored by
my pastime, and it is a delicate sort of
charity which consists in yielding up
the small triumphs of conversation to
all who talk with us. We are not
bound to converse with anybody, but
when we consent to hold intercourse
even with curmudgeon we are bound
in conscience and in kindness to use
none but sweet words whenever the
thing can be fairly managed.
Besides, Mr.. John Roach looked in
such good case chat evening, his broad,
sunburnt face tanned by wind and
weather, was so comedy, and my friend
was altogether such pleasant type
Of strength, manliness and robust
health, that I felt it would not he ra-
tional to deny that there must be
great virtues in fishing, for he was a
living example of them. The story he
had told me, too, as we rested together
on the bridge, was by no means calcu-
lated to diminish that affectiOnate re.
gard which had been gradually grow.
ing up between us any time these last
twenty years; and when lie had
brought it to an end with the terse
reflection above mentioned, wonder
ed how it had come about that we had
known each other so long and that our
hearts had never gone wholly out in
revelations of our past lives till this
day, and then-sO naturally reticent
are Englishmen of their private con.
cerns-that the inner life of my most
intimate associate had only been made
known to me by chance, if there be
such thing us chance. OF what my
neighbOr said as he stood fishing for
perch, and was watching him, this is
the sum:
81 was, as you know, the younger of
the two sons of Sir Everard Roach, of
Bellairs and .Fontenay. Our family is
one of tho oldest in Sussex, and for
centuries we have held some very
large estates there. A legend says we
are descended from Guy de la Roche,
a hard.fisted seaman of St. Valery,
probably pirate who came to Britain
with Norman William on buccaneer-
ing expedition on his own account,
but seeing how things went, had at
tached himself to Od0, Bishop of Bay.
eux, and had been rewarded with the
substance of SaxOns. never quite
believed that romantic account of our
antecedents, because Yseult de la Roche
sole heiress Of Band0in, Last male heir
of Guy, had died unmarried, and her
lands having lapsed to the Crown,
were incontestably sold to an alder
imam of Hastings either by Wolsey or
Burleigh, for the date is less certain
than the fact.
It was, however, heresy to allude 10
it in presence of my father, who
stanchly held by the tradition which
made us all the offspring Of . robber.
He never quite forgave my brother for
expressing doubts about his lineage
after reading the county history when
we were quite boys; and as we grew
up there were only too many reasons
which kept his resentment against
Philip alive. Rich men seldom like