The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1883-01-02
Selett Shrv.
HER BLUE BLOOD.
Odr Continent.


their uuaccouniable belief that the bull
der of the ark that rested on Noun
Ararat was a Jew, and their unutterahl
contempt for the race Of Spinoza ant
Mendelssohn, of Heine, Auerbach ant
Disraeli, they would not have hesiIate'
to conceive that the family name of th
| PatI iarch was Van More.
At any rate, you may understand tha
the Van Nores were an immensely an
cieut family, so old as to he reall'
worm eaten. In The dust of the Val
Nores there weresoldiers and statesmen
aud even a less regarded author or two
in this century there was nothing at al
I'd speak CT" IF, however, any one say
their tamilv tree was like one Of thos
of old, wide and deep-rooted fir tree
sometimes seen, with hu, q single gnarl
ed and linched branch left Of all it's tor
est glory, the hest part Oft underground
you can see that the person is no frient
OF the Van Nores, but one whose eye
| have heen hurt by the dazzle OF thei
splendor, who has been forgotten at thei
thsnqnets,. locked at with stony glar
upen the s'ree, or possibly knocked
down and bruised and ignored by lhei
fast horses. t.
Being Immensely ancient, immensel,
distinguished, and also immensel
wealthy, it goes without saying that til
Van Norcs thought immensely we'll o
themselves. They never soiled thei
garments by contact with the crowd
they bought their pictures and statue
straight from the manufacturers hefor,
they lad heen profaned bv the vulga
gaz"; they would have liked the col,
they epen, cast with Van More devie,
and The die broken They. could no
hope to keep all the knowledge in th,
universe to themselves but they did no
care 80 much for tbat-there were al
WAYS tutors and chaplains and all tha
to he had, after tue custom of certain o
the South Sea Island chiefs, who main
tain a F,la-oma or Talking Man o
Knowledge. IF, once in a while, they
allowed themselves to come before the
public in a m7tler OF suffrage. it was no'
altogether without the sensation Of snm,
wicked scribe who has written the Sa
cred Name with unwa she'd hands. and
heing unusually defeated, they relapsei
into more profound contempt Of the
people than before, and talked glibly oi
the advantages Of q monarchy, although
not without an unGercurrent of feeling
that in the event .of.a monarchy the Var
Nores would be monarcbs. They inter.
married. of course. only with families
of pedigree and assumption one de.
gree less than-it could not be mole
than, and could hardly be equal to-the
Van Nores
Judge, then. of the bevildered and
amazed wrath of the Van Nure family
when the son of the house, the heir OF
the name, The last of the name. the only
male Van More left 10 60 down tue ages
with the weight of the family illustrious-
ness upon his shoulders, married a young
girl in the West, unknown, obscure,
poor, and Jewess!
More Van More bad sister older than
himself, dark and imposing crcalur'
with The Van More nose he had sister
younger than himself, pallid, bloodless,
with her mothers delieacy Of feature,
and with nothing about her but her
haughtiness 10 distinguish her from the
herd OF young women; he had one Van
More cousin, little apple blossom hard
Iy coming up to the family require
menls; :, be had four Van More spinster
aunts, who. il they quarreled among
themselves like hirds'ln wood, presen-
ted an unbroken phalanX OF family in
tegrity to the public, and who. with the
iiea that they hal the manners of du'
chesses, really gave some reason to be-
,lieye them directly descended from tIlr
Patriarch, they looked SO extremely like
the wooden women in the children's tov
arks. His father embodied all the dig.
nifty, pomposity and grandeur of all the
Van Norcs before him, as if he1wefe the
fame of their ashes; he had but one
gift, and that was faculty for satirical
speech, which lie exercised with impunl-
ty upon his wife-hisl vile, the line al
whose descent was so long that il had
worn tosa eolorless, attenuated thread
in her, thin, pale, languid woman, oI
whose condition it expressed little tC
say she dared not call her soul her own
because, in looking at her, or looking
through her, rather, it was not clear lha
she had soul--a woman without incl
lect, without individuality, and almos
withou' vitslltv. Into this assemblagt
More Van More had dared introduce {
person absolutely without a grandfath
er, and whose grandfather, had she one
would have been named ShaGabac! Il
Mr.vVan More and his households
would entreat this vile and 7ulger 10
ltrigaer, who had thought to trust hersei
upon them, and had thought 10 lift her
self by pulling them down. as she de
served, In their heart. of hearts they
had a complete, il inarticulate, conscio IS
ness that no one ,cpnll have married ths
bridegroom in qaestien for any other
pu pose. And More Van More received
Ialetter'o of fepndia ion from his father
Iiisowniug and casting him forever intC
the outer darkness Of the world of peo
pie who waye moi Van Nores. !. '7'i.
And Who was More Van Nore2 Il
was d young nan OF twenty six ears
whose mental processes hal mastered
the rudiments of learning 10 snc'l an ex
E,en1 taa,. be could reai the newspape
and make change. All attempts to cul
tivate those mrntal processes much fur
ther had failed; if he entered the univer
sitv at last, it was because tutors an
proctors and family influence, forluil
nus chance, and perhaps money, a
arough. together Il trance wa al
however; before The first term close
Mr.. Van Nore hal private but su hor
tative in ormatinn that unless be warte
expulsion for stupidity approaching in
becililv, he had beter wilhirag his sor
In hot and Sc { righteous fnrV NJ
Van More turned the tables and expelle
4 the university. He withdrew his SO
with wild show of anger and scorn fo
aculty, curriculum, endowment and CT
lreer. "They have graduated no ma
! who comes to any thing in the last twel