Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-17
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One morning started on a pilgrimage
which my conscience told me ought to
have been made long ago. AS | trudged
along alone my thoughts reverted to my
childhood, until / almost forgot the pres
ent in the past. My memory carried me
back to my fathers house, wherein few
steps led from the corridor to an isolated
chamber, which had been built out into
the garden. Even at this great distance
Of time / never see that room in my
dreams otherwise than bathed in sun
shine and bright in the radiance of flow
ers. Its occupant was Ene ana gentle
oi1 NANNY mothers father-who. after
a stormy anu adventurous life, had come
here to end his days in peace. How often
had he told me stories of his native town,
which he had not seen since his boyhoOdl
His descriptions were so minute that l
was soon familiar with the arrangement
of the house, its stGircases and passages,
and one day, to please him, made plan
of it.
''If ever you are in these parts" said
he, placing his hand on my head, ''d0 not
fail to visit that house."
Then he suddenly rose and opened a
cabinet, where he kept his treasures.
''LOok!" he said, holding up a minia-
ture mounted in silver, 'sthat was my
playmate; she lived next door to US.
From the gable of her house hung a dried
sharks skin. Her father was a sea Cap
tain"
As gazed at the miniature my face lit
up with genuine admiration. l saw be-
fore me the semblance of young girl of
rare beauty, and was struck by its simple
charm and the sweet expression which
beamed from those wOndrous eyes.
'D0es it please your" asked my grand
father. ''Here she is painted in her bri-
dial attire. All you should have seen her
that little brown head!-when she was
your age"
And he told me many things about his
pretty playmate which interested me eX-
ceedingly.
"Her father was often absent on his
voyages. When he came from across the
seas he would bring her quantities of
toys, ornaments, bright scarfs and other
things. He was very good to her. She
had quite a formidable collection of
strange gold and silver pieces, of which
she was very proud. In the garden we
passed the long summer days on the steps
of a quaint summer house, which her
father had constructed for her out of an
old boat; we built castles in the air, and
here she would spread out her rich col
lection of coins for me to see and admire.
All! my poor little brown mouse! That
was the name her father gave her. And
vet" continued the old man, following up
his thoughts, ''when she was clothed in
her Greek robe, with cOlOred feathers in
her hair, she looked more like bird of
paradise than a mouse, and one almost
expected to see her fly away. / re-
member that there was figure of For
tune over the door of that summer house;
it was a figure-head of a ship. Behind
that figure was her favOrite place. She
would climb up somehow and spend hours
there, with a Chinese parasOl over her
head.D
While l thought over these things l
began to realize my supineness in hayinA
passed so many months in my grand
fathers native town without attempting
to find the scenes of his bOyhOOd. l
searched various quarters OF the town IN
vain, and was about to Tetrace my steps,
when suddenly l saw through an open
doorway at the far end Of a courtyard a
sharks skin suspended in air.
The house seemed to have passed just
as it was from the hands of its former
proprietor to its present one. On its roof
Yeered a weathercOck in the form Of d ship,
which suggested the vocation of its quon-
dam owner, and / knew that the house of
my grandfather should have been beside
1t. Alasl there was no house there now;
nothing but disorder, caused by the debris
of walls and the gaping ruins Of cellars
and easements. My heart sank at the
thought that after all had arrived too
late. My eyes wandered aImlessly over
this desOlate place, where once little
world had existed for my fOrefathers. |
entered the courtyard. Before me stood
the well where my grandfather told me
he had been let down in one OF the
buckets. / then climbed to the top of a
heap of rubbish, from whence l could see
into the neighbOTing garden. In the CEN
tire was little summer hOuse-the same
Of which l had so often heard-and the
wooden figure of Fortune was still stand
ing, her cheeks red as pOppies, and a
string of blue beads twisted around he
yellow hair. The tangled wealth Of ivy,
which covered the walls of that summer
house, must have been there in those hal
cyOn days when the little maGcap mount
ed by its tendrils to the Fortunes back,
and silently watched her companion
the garden for her in vain!
AS | gazed at this relic of the past, l
the words with which my
grandfather ended his story.
t'Even then she was pitiless," he muir
INJURED, with sigh; seven then without
pity"
When in due course the precious minia-
ture came once more into my hands, my
father told me that this fair girl had not
only been my grandfather's playmate
a child, but the engrossing love Of hi
manhood. In after years, when he ha.
established himself as a merchant q
Antwerp, they met once more. Alas
they Quarreled. With hopes shattered
and pride humbled, my grandfather ac-
cepted a situation in an American firm,
and did not return to Europe until he
was middle-aged. More than this my
father could not tell me.
Slowly l turned homewards, my fancy
picturing a bright face adorned by long
brown curls, and methought saw the
child seated at the back Of that figure OF
Fortune playing with her golden coins.
AS / walked along the scene changed,
and 1 saw her in the full glow of beauty,
clothed as a bride, driving my poor
grandfather to seek his fortune in the
wide world.
Winter had come. The cold north
wind swept bowling over the ice-bOund
earth. 1 had just heaped an armful Of
wood on the fire, when my friend, the
BurgOmaster, was announced. he told
me that our neighbOr, Madame Jansen,
had Just been found, more dead than alive,
upon the staircase of her house,,
.'The old miser only warns herself with
the green sticks from her orchard" said
the Burgomaster, ''and at night, when
honest folk are asleep, she crawls down
to her cellar to count her gold"
$50 they say" l murmured.
Certainly, it must be SOP he contin-
ued, ''for there she was, crOuching down
in a corner of the stairs, grasping dark
lanthOrn in her bOny hand. The worst of
it is that she is come to life again; but,
according to the COmmlssaire de Police,
her reason is quite gone"
swell, my dear sir, and what can
either YOU or do in the matter?'
'sDon't you see that in her present state
she might do herself some mischief. l
shall have to nominate guardian over
her and the money which she has been
boarding. You are just the man for that;
l shall appoint gOu."
1 did not like the duty. ''She has no
money. All her legacies have been ar
ranged under the Will Of her late hus-
band.D
s'That is the question:" interrupted the
''that point is not very
clear. She may yet make some absurd