The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-12-23
tFrom Our Second Century.l
THE BLUE STONE.
BY NAY Il. MAO KENalR.

My grandmother was q Gypsy. Think
If It'll One of those miserable, wandering
ne'cr-do wccls that have infested the earth
for 30 many centuries. But since am in
no way responsible for my grandmothers
nativity any more than for my own, she
might huve been the prime tattoocd Belle
of the Cannibal Islands, or first heir to the
British throne, and have been equally in
different, ut least in respect to her birth
| was educated thorough Democrat, never
thclcss l had All maginatiUn--which was
not wonderful considering the fact which
prcliminarily announced. This imagina-
tion led nc to gaze very often upon a small
painting of my grandmother, taken when
my grandfather first met her and loved
her.
They told me rescmblcd her. / had no
dark hair or olive skin; I was slight and
very blond, with the faintcst color. How
then could | resemble her, I used to won
der. AS / grew older, and the repeated
comment led me to study myself, knew
why-l was naturally restless, and l had
dark, nervous eyes, the iris of which were
small compared with the large, full ball Of
white. In truth l had caught glmpscs of
myself in the mirror, while under some
strong feeling, when it would appear that
my eyes were small live creatures ready to
leap from their sockets.
l say l was given to dreaming over the
romance Of my grandmothcr's life, for my
grandfather met her under peculiar aus
pices Sitting by his favoritc trout ut-stream
fishing, the English boy suddenly heard an
alteration in the woods behind him. Turn
ing, lie saw a tall, dark man vchcmcntly
mcnacing forlorn, little, shrinking girl,
mserably clad, thin and wild looking She
held book, old and soilcd, in one hand by
her side. At last tho man struck her
violently, and left her.
The girl sank ut the foot of the tree and
wcpt. The young fisherman was over
powered with indignation at such treatment
and sympathy for the girl. lie knew they
were of a Gypsy tribe then haunting the
ncighborhodd. lie went to the girl who
was about thirteen years of age, and drew
from her this statement, timidly, wildly
given, that tho man was her father who
was always angry If lie found her Off with
this book, which was an old school spcller
she had found on the road, and which,
doubtless, one of tho school children had
dropped. "Why did she like the book ?"
She liked the pictures.
Tho young man was not then his own
master; but he there resolved to get the
girl away from her people and educate her.
lie prevailed with her, and shortly after
ward effected her clandestino departure.
In two years she was greatly civilized and
sobcrcd. Remarkably intelligent she had
accomplished wonderful results in that time
Innocent and pretty rs she was, the young
man at last fell deeply in love with her and
married her.
One thing besides tho painting puzzled
and interested me. A small block Of grcy-
blue stone, about four inches square, smooth
and ordinary looking enough, which my
grandmother had always kept with her, and
at her death gavo it 20 my mother, who
was also dead now, and in turn had given
it to me with my grandmothers words,
which were these: "My mother, tho Gyp-
sy, gave me this and bade me never resign
it till my death, then let 1t pass only into
the hands of my children. I'm one hun
drcd or one hundred and fifty years my
mother said, 1T will tell its own story.
The ono who steals destroys or loses it, will
have no peace thereafter, for my spirit will
haunt and torture him for the rest of his
life'" A mysterious thing, indeed, I
thought, rs held it in my hand--a home
ly, square-cut stone.
Ny father, after my mothers death, took
me with him to Europe. Business de-
tanned him in London for year. There
mingled in society, and at last mot Cecil
Castcnwell, q man who, despite his con-
nection with ono of England's best families,
carried himself with an unostertatiousncss
which at once attracted me. My regard
was reciprocated, and within two years my
ricd into the family Of Castenwcll, of
7Vnrl o1tro Epnlo,,1 woo r,,;t n
rs indifferent, however, to the fact that I
had made fine connection, as was to tho
alien birth of my maternal ancestor. I
loved my husband for himself.
One day, about year after our marriage,
opened tho box, which, with other valu-
able relics and trinkcts, contained my
grandmother's stone. had not looked at
1t since my marriage, had not even men
toned the fact Of their being any such pc
culiar article III my possession. bly, hus-
band stood by my side rs opened tho box,
and rs l lifted the stone / began al cx-
planation, but stopped midway with a
startled ejaculation. The stone had parted
horizontally, and tho upper half only was
in my hand. Cleanly, evenly 1t was halvcd
and In tho centre q hollow roughly hcwn,
In which was fitted rough ball of plaster.
i / hastily recounted tho story Of tho stone,
as took out the ball, which we now sur
missed must contain something within itself
still moro curious or valuable.
'fMy grcat-grandmother' prophecy de-
clared that the stone would tell it's own
story. Verify, 1t hath revealed itself But
Z we must not destroy 1t, Cecil, tho old Gyp-
sy forbade that, so after all we cannot open
the ball.n
i'Myword, the ball will open as the atonc
Y did. Allow me, !" and he took 1t from my
hand. but j had q superstitious dread,
end I stsyed him. 81 Will but tap Il