St. Landry democrat., 1881-12-03
THE YaERNEY ANCESTOR.

The Verney children were very proud
of their great-grandfathe 1t is not |,
every boy and girl who knows who his
or her great-grandfather was. The YER
new children knew all about the IN
diyidual who occupied this position IN
their family; and, as | said before, they
were very proud Of him. Mr.. Verney,
the children's father, took a great M
terest in his family history; and once,
when on visit to England traced
back his line of ancestors to the time
of the Norman Conquest. 10 be sure,
the family name was De Vernaye, but
it is well known that our forefathers
often spelt their names very differently
from the way in which we spell ours.
There was also a break in the line OF
ancestry from 1590to 1870, during when
period part Of the family was sup
posed to have emigrated to America;
A good many English tamllies did
emigrate to America about this time, anu
if the De Vernaye family were coming
at all, it is PROBABLY that they came
then. There was another break from
the period of this suppose emigration
down to the time of the great-grand-
father whom the Verney children knew
all about. But it was so evident IN the
mind of MIR. Verney that these gaps
could be satisfactorily filed up, if he
could only get hold of the proper
records. that the omissions in his line OF
ancestors did not trouble MIN at all.
While in England, he had visited the
old castle of the Guysers, into which
family the De Vernayes were said to
have married about the time Mr.. Yer
ney lost track Of them. In this castle
was a mailed figure, seated in chair,
which figure, Mr.. Verney was positive
from certain marks on the armor, was
intended to represent Sir Leopold De
Vernaye. who must have been his
ancestor.
Mr.. Verney would have been very
GLAD to buy this figure and set it up in
his library at home, because very lew,
or none, indeed, of his friends had
mailed figures of their ancestors. But
the idea OF having a mailed figure IN his
library was so attractive to Nh. verney
that he bought a suit OF old armor in
England and took it home with him.
1t was not such handsome armor as thai
worn by the proud Sir Leopold, but Il
would do very well, and was far better
in his. eyes than the old Continental
uniforms ofswhich some Of his neigh
bors were so proud.
This suit of mail he had properly Sc
up on a pedestal in his library, which
room was handsomely furnished witt
old-fashioned chairs, a high clock, ant
other furniture that looked as il 1t hat
belonged at some time to ancient fam'
lies.
The books had formerly been kept il
the library, but as the bookcases Oil
not suit the other furniture, they ha'
been removed to an upper room.
This figure he showed to his friend
as a specimen of the kind of armor hi
ancestors must have worn. "The brav
wearer of this MALL" he would say
sshad certainly done some hard fight
ing. and these dents and those break
in the mail were probably made Whe
he couched his lance or drew his swor
in the battles of Hastings and Marsto
Moor
Some of Mr.. Verney's visitors, VIII
remembered English history, knew ths
this individual must have lived a yer
long life indeed if he had fought in bot
the battles of Hastings and Marsto
Moor. but thew were too polite to SO
anything about it.
In course of time this suit of armo
and the armed figure OF the De Vernay
about which their father talked {
much, became so mixed up in the mine
Of tho Verney children, that they real
supposed that the figure of the MALE
knight in the library represented one
their ancestors, and before very lon
some Of the younger visitors to II