Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-04-08

with more cheerful readiness than had beel
her wont. And in another direction sh,
was improving wonderfully. Her mind wa
healthfully expanding. She was becoming
a sweet and entertaining reader. and wa
able to understand what she read.
Giles surprising boy" said Peter, Al
he and his master were conversing oi
Alonzo. "He not only teaches Isabel. but
he teaches me. He teaches me about books
and I teach him about fruits and flowers
And he is SO good ~
The merchant related this to his wife, anc
it was finally concluded that the boy should
spend part of the evenings of the coming
winter in the library of the mansion.
And SO it came to pass; and a great thing
it vas for Alonzo Wightman when he found
Tree access to the richly stored library of his
guardian.
Ehehsfhe boy was twelve years old, Mr.
Glover had a talk with his wife and it was
concluded that Alonzo should be sent to
school until he was sixteen; that he should
remain an inmate OF the gardeners cottage,
where he was happy and contented; that he
should make himself useful as he pleased
aud that at sixteen he should, if he wished,
be takenlinto the store, there to make his
way upward as rapidly as he could.
Two years later, when the lad was four
teen the merchant said to him.
'.Alonzo, during your vacations, would
you like to spend your time in the store, SO
as to be making yourself acquainted with
the business.
The boy answered that he would do what
ever his guardian thought best. So far as
his own tastes were concerned, he would
prefer to help Peter in the garden and in
the greenhouses.
"Don't take him away, sir" begged Pc
ter. "You've no idea how much he does.
The new fower-beds, that your wife and
Isabel set such store by, are all his own
He made them, and trained the flowers, and
takes the whole care of them"
Alonzo was allowed to spend his spare
time in the garden; and on pleasant days,
in the time of bloom, Isabel spent much of
her spare time there also.
There was college in the town-one of
the very best in the country-and one of the
professors thereof had been playmate and
a schoolmate, and always dear friend Of
Lewis Wightman, and he found out Lewis
Wightman' s son, and invited him to visit
him at the college. This man was Profes-
sor of Natural History. Alonzo not only
visited his new friend very often, but he
became SO deeply interested in the study of
that department., and SO apt at grasping and
understanding, that he very soon came to
be of assistance in preparing and classify
ing specimens. Other professors noticed
him and took an interest in him. The Pro-
fessor of Modern Languages was surprised
to find him able to read French and Ger
man-of course, not fuently, but yet un-
derstandingly. The boy explained that his
father had been thoroughly versed in those
languages, and that he had his fathers books
to study from. He had been able to talk a
little French with his father before he was
ten years old.
About this time Stephen Glover was elec-
ed to Congress, where he served with mark
ed distinction, and where he was known for
bold, fearless and honest man.
The summer was passing away, and with
the falling of the autumn leaves Alonzo
Wightman would be sixteen. During this
summer new visitor came to the mansion.
He was youth, two years older than Alon-
20, named Christopher Brett. He was an
orphan, as was our hero, but unlike the lat
ter, he had been left heir to fortune. His
father had been S heavy manufacturer, and
the possessor of great wealth. The elder
Brett and Stephen Glover had been boys to-
gether, in play, and men together in busi
ness, and as they were associated in the lay
ing of the foundations of their fortunes, the
thought was often expressed between them,
after the birth of Isabel, that the two
fortunes might some time be united by a
union of the children. No compact was
made, but the contamination was desired;
or it was most earnestly desired that the
children should SO grow up to maturity that
union would be blessed.
Christopher had just returned from Eu-
rope, having been at school in Heidelberg,
and it had been arranged that at the COM
meneement of the approaching term he
should enter college. He was proud of his
heirship to wealth, and he was proud of the
distinguished position in the fashionable
world Civ. him through the golden chan
mel. He had found Isabel Glover far more
beautiful than he had anticipated, and he
was not slow to perceive that she was ed
ucated and accomplished beyond most girls
of her age. And this gave him additional
pride, for he regarded the beauty as his own
property, never deeming it possible that
she could prefer any one above himself
He spoke of her among his companions as
his intended, and when the fumes of wine
had mounted to his head, he proposed toasts,
and drank bumpers in her honor.
"Isabei," he said, one day, ''who is that
fellow that works sometimes in the gar
den?''
''Do you mean old Peter?''
''No; that young fellow"
''That is Alopzo Wightman, the son of
papa's old book-keeper, who died six year s
ago."
''Well, he is decidedly impertinent. Do
you ever speak with him9''
ooh, yes, often"
s'Then wish you would tell him not to
be quite so free and familiar when he
meets me in the garden. Confound the
puppy! He holds to me as though was
on his level"
'Wby don't you speak to him yourself,
Mr.. Brettp''
"Because don't want to have any words
with him. The ending might not be
pleasant. Will you speak with him on the
subject?'
EtT do not tb;nlr mill