San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1886-11-22
DREDGITT'S POOL.


Why DredgittS, and why pool, don't
know, for il is as ornamental a piece Of
water a. | know anywhere. 1t is beautiful
ly kept, and the swans on 1t are the talk of
the country round for their tameness and
beauty. The master is very proud of his
swans, and the lake. and indeed of all about
his park: and well he may be, for he has
made it as near perfection as can well be
under an English sky.
And the familyname isn't Dredgitt either,
but MOnkshOlme, and there's never been a
"Dredgit' that know of anywhere about
the place. But that's what the country peO-
pie call it, and have done for generations
My father, and he was an old man when he
died, sail he had never known it called any
thing else, and it is called the same in some
old family parchments that have seen up
at the house.
But all this has nothing to do with what /
am going to tell, only it is odd how queer
names will stick to things and places, that
no one knows the meaning of.
l have been in Squire MOnksholme's ser
vice man and boy for over fifty years, and
good service it has been, and married my
wife out of the house, and good wife she
has been, as any one might expect from her
village school, as | was, and she came to be
undertook at ! st, and then l stopped her
service indoors by marrying her. Some peO-
pie said she might have done better by stay
ing and taking the cOachman, who was
sweet upon her, and setting up in public
in London with him; but don't think she
would somehow, for he took to drink and
died Of the horrors, and Cherry would not
have been much the better of the match.
Her name was Charity, but they always
called her Cherry about the house. and l
called her so, too Of course.
When we grew old, Cherry and l, the
master put us into the north lodge, and gave
us the poultry yard as well, and my wife
makes capital hrnwife and sends more
fowls and eggs up to the house than anyone
they have ever had, the hOuSekeeper says.
But all this isn't what am coming to; it is
only just to show who we are and where we
live. 1t isn't about myself nor Cherry that
| am going to tell, except inasmuch as 1t
concerns us partly; ii is about our boy, our
Ralph, that we loved SO dearly.
Ralph was not our own boy; we never
reared a child; we had three, and they all
went away to the Good Shepherd before We
had had time to realize our great joy in pos
seSSng them. | suppose it was not good
for us to be too happy. We had everything
that heart could wish for except that, and
maybe it iSn'tright fOrpcOpie 10 have every
thing in this world at once.
But it was dreadful grief when they
came and went like that and after the last
one was laid in the grave, Cherry almost
gave up.
my heart will break Dick" she said, ut
is empty-sO empty"
And so was mine, but men don't say as
much about such things as women do; they
don't seem to grieye 50 much, but they get
short-tempercd and dOwnhearted; 1t must
come out somehow, you know. So when
the last of our little ones had been laid in
the grave, it seemed rs II Cherry would be
Ill, she grieved so; and then there came
story of how some poor creature had died In
the wOrkhOuse and left her little baby to be
brought up by the parish, or to die il 1t
couldn't stand the treatment; and it's rather
rough on tender babies; nothing would do
but Cherry must go and beg that child for
her own and bring it up as il 1t had been
the very one we had lost.
The parish made as much fuss about Civ
ing it up to us as II it was worth thou
sand-a-year TO them, and they went to the
master about II, and he talked TO me.
Can you afford to do this thing, Graves9"
he said, at means money, you know, as
well as Cherry's trouble"
1--WE could have afforded to keep our own,
sir" said, "if it had pleased Heaven to let
us have them, and we'll do it for this one,
never fear" And then / told him that
was afraid Cherry would go into bad way
II she didn't have it. She was that down
cast and grieying:
SO it was settled; and the master made
me quite uncomfortable with all the fine
things he said to the parish people about me,
and how good Cherry and me would be to
the Door little child He was proud to have