Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-03
MRS. P%ILLSBURY'S WILL.

Inc atmosphere OF Deepgrove is
dense with old associations. The elms
that arch its single street seem with
their close canopies to have shut in the
feeting ghosts of the past, and old TO-
mances and tragedies lurk behind the
tiny-paned~, ssdeep-seated windows of the
ancient houses.
But although the place is haunted
with the love-stories Of a by-gone age,
its present is intensely practical; and
although the good old fashion of falling
in love will probably be followed by
young people everywhere so long as
time endures, and is the one earthly
thing of which we are surest that in
m spiritual modification it will out
last Death itself, still in Deepgrove one
sees so little of its outward manifesto
ton that one might fancy Cupid ban
ished from the world outright.
1t was in the shadow of the Doctors
house that 1 first CHANGED upon a mod
ern romance, which seemed in some
sort of a revival of one begun two gen
erations back, where it had met with
rather a pitiful ending; a romance
which had slept for seventy years to
And its fruition in our workaday world
and time.
was doing the honors of the old
mansion in a certain way to my friend
Charlotte Edwards, who had come to
New England to visit for the first time
the home of her ancestors. By good
right Charlotte should have been hostess
in the ancient house, for her grand
father, a nephew of the old Doctor, had
been brought up within its h~ospitable
walls and had inherited the estate after
the death of the worthy couple. But
he had emigrated early to Ohio, had
married and settled there, and had pre-
ferred to dispose of the property falling
10 him in New England. Charlotte was
the first of the family who manifested
the tastes of an antiquarian. She pos
sessed certain papers and beiNooms,
which had come down to her from her
grandfather, and she was eager to col
lect every scrap of information relative
to his early youth. We went over the
deserted building together, and she
listened with tears in her eyes to the
simple story of the Doctors life, and to
that Of the silent woman who had or
dered his home.
II know much of them already" she
said. ''for | have an old journal, writ
ten by the Doctors wife. 1t came out
10 grandfather with other matters after
ner death, but he never read it; and
perhaps it is we'll that he did not, for it
rejects scant credit on his graceless
youth, while it shows the doting tender
ness of two women in a very touching
Ilunt rLo,,1J 1;1-o 10 Ln-o 1.2,,1
Mrs, DR.. Pillsbury. There was strength
IN her character as we'll as affection,
and there are some rather mysterious
circumstances relative to the property
she left which have never been ex-
planned"
My great-aunt Debby," I replied,
lis very old. She remembers Mrs.
l]iiisbury we'll. and probably knew your
grandfather. You must visit her with
me, and l will set her to talking about
od times. Her memory is not to be
trusted on recent events. l have al
ways to explain that I am not my
Mother, but the affairs of the early hall
o. this century ARE perfectly clear to
We were leaving the house when
aotlced a figure standing in the angle
'oFmed by ono of the urn-topped gate
posts OF the old cemetery opposite. 1t
was John Burleigh, young lawyer in
:~nnelghboring town, the son of a poor
alll-country farmer, who had struggled
hard for his education, and was now
Engaged in a fiercer struggle for a live
MOOD. an He was leaning against the
tall gate-post with folded arms, his
S "a; fastened upon an upper window Of
lne Doctors house, just within which
rrnarlotte and 1 had been standing.
EVIDENTLY he had not noticed us at the
s'e-door, and was waiting for u re-
sppearance at the window. Charlotte
daw him almost as quickly as | had
Vone; and caught my arm excitedly.
y; There is that dreadful Mr.. Bur:
lSplsh!" she exclaimed. "Who would
Iave thought that l should find him
avae. He is my ghost-he follows me
s'erywhere."
But he lives here" I replied, ''just
~ me crest of the hill over yonder, and
o, Pifo!ably on his way home from his
]L a IN C.. He passes through this
sue every %evaninu did not kncSE