Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1882-11-01


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MINGLING OF BLOOD,
The Van Nqea were present at Tue
ogealiou OF tho world, Some people say
they made, IT. bu. ono really knows
better than that. II II had not been for
their understandable belief that tho
builder OF tho ark that rested on Mt
Arnrat was Hebrew aud ther uuutter.
able contempt for the race OF SpinOza
and MendeIsaohn, OF Helm, Aueibaeh
aud DlSlaoli, they would not have hesi'
tated 10 conceive that the family name
OF the Patriarch Was Van More,
Al any rate, you may understand that
tho Van Nores were M immensely y
ancient family, NO old as to DO really
wom'eaten, In tho duft Of the Van
NoiGs there We're soldier, aud atalcsmcn,
aud oven u less rcgaric, author or two |;
In this contury there VIA nothing at oil
TO speak oi II, however, any one says
their family tree Wa Ike one OF those
old, wide and deep ro0t,d iir treoa some
times seen, with but single guarded and
lichened branch lett OF all it's forest
glory, tho boSt part OF II underground,
you can see that the person Ia no friend
OF the Van Norcs, but ono whose eyes
have been hurt hy the dazzle OF their
splendor, who has been forgotten at
their banquets, looked at with u stony
glare upon tho street or possibly knock.
cd down and bruised aud Ignored by one
OF their fast horses,
Being immensely ancient, Immensely
distinguished. and also immensely
wealthy, II goes without saying that tho
Van Nores thought immensely we'll o.
themselves. They never soiled their
garments by contact with tho crowd |;
thoy bought their pictures aud statues
straight from tho manufacturers before
they had boon proianed by tho vulgar
gaze; they would have liked the gold
they spent cast with Van More device
and the die broken. They could not
hope to keep all the knowledge ia the
universe 10 themselves; hut they did
not care 80 much for that there were
always tutors and chaplains and ell that
TO be had, after the custom Of certain OF
tho South Sea Island chiefs, who main.
tain n Fila. oma or Talking Man Of
knowledge. II, once in II while. thGy
allowed themselves to come before the
public in matter OF suffrage, II was not
altogether without the sensation of some
wicked scribe who has written the
Sacred Name with unwashed hands, and,
being usually defeated, they relapsed
into more profound contempt Of the
people than before, and talked glibly OF
the advantages Of monarchy, although
not without al undercuwent of u feeling
that in the event Of monarchy the Van
Nores would be monarchs. They inter.
married, ofcourse, only with families Of
a pedigree and assumption one degree
less than--it could not be more than,
and could hardly be equal to-tbe Van
Nores.
Judge, then, of the bewidered and
amazed wrath OF the Van More family,
when the son OF the house, the heir OF
the name, the last of the name, the only
male Van More left to 60 down the age !
with the weight of the family illustri.
BUSINESS upon his shoulders, married q
young girl in the West, unknown, OBJ
scure, poor, and Jewess
More Van More had n sister older
than himself, dark and imposing crea,
ture with the Van More nose he had u
sister younger than himself, pallid,
bloodless, with her mothers delicacy Of
feature, and with nothing about her but
her haughtiness to distinguish her from
tho common herd OF young women lie
had one Van More cousin, little apple
blossom hardly coming up to the family
requirements; lie had four Van More
splnster aunts, who, il they quareled
among themselves like birds in wood,
presented an unbroken phalanx of family
integrity to the public, and who, with
the idea that they had the manners OF
dushesses, really gave some reason to
believe them directly descended from
the Patriarch, they looked so extremely
like the wooden women in the children's
toy arks. His father embodied all the
dignity, pomposity and grandeur of all
the Van Nores before him, as il he were
the flame OF their ashes; he had but one
gift, and that was faculty for satirical
speech, which he exercised with i'm
punity upon his wife-his wife, the line
OF whose descent was so long that it had
worn to a colorless, attenuated thread in
her, thin, pale, languid woman. OF
whose condition it expressed little to
say she dared not call her soul her own,
because, in looking at her, or looking
through her, rather, it was not clear
that she had soul-a woman without
intellect, without individuality, and
almost without vitality. Into this as
semblage More Van More had dared to
introduce person absolutely without Il
grandfather, had she had one, would
have been named Shacabac!
Mr.. Van More and his household would
escheat this vile and vulgar intriguer,
who had thrust herself upon them, and
who had thought to lift herself by pull
ing them down, as she deserved. In
their heart Of hearts they had complete,
if inarticulate consciousness that NO one
could have married the bridegroom in
question for any other purpose. And
Van More received letter of reputation
from his father, disowning and casting
him forever into the outer darkness OF
the world OF people who were not Van
Nores.
And who was More Van More? He
WIS young man OF twenty-six years,
whose menta processes had mastered
rudiments of learning to such an extent
that he could read the newspaper and
could make change. All attempts to
cultivate those mental processes much
further had failed if he entered the
university at last, it was because tuters
and proctors and family influence, u
fortuitous chance. and perhaps money,
all wrought together. Entrance was ali,
however; before the first term closed
Mr.. Van More had private but nuthori.
tative information that unless he wanted
expulsion for stupidity approaching i'm
bccility, he had better withdraw his son.
Tn hot and sclf-rightcous fury MIR.
Van More turned the tables aud expell-
ed the university. He withdrew his son
with wild show of anger and scorn
for faculty, curriculum, endowment and
career. "Tbey hsye @ graduated no man
who comes to anything in the last
tventy,tivs ysarsIp shs said. Apd That
~ naater uieht bo W. 46ot8 5CtKoo-