The Press., 1886-05-06

So MANY of our recent presidents have boasted of Holland County ancestry that it is not unnatural that President Cleveland, lack ing such honorable lineage, should pick out
 bride who has it, and 30 the following, a
 'sWashington Special' to the Omaha Bee,
 which that paper puts under the head of tat least pretty story, may be true:
 Just at present the most interesting gossip
 in this city is that connected in sOne way with the rumored bride-elect of the white
 house. Paragraphs about Miss Folsom are
 floating about as thick as the budding leaves
 on the trees here, but I was told to-day most
 romantic story about the great-grand- aunt of
 this Miss Folsom, who was the first Lady
 Sterling, of England. She, too, was Miss
 Folsom before she became My Lady" St6r-
 ling She lived in the quaint New England
 town of Stafford, in Connecticut, and was the
 daughter of the village blacksmith. She was
 the beauty of the hamlet, and so pretty was
 she that her face was famous in the state. l She was just budding into womanhOod when
 it happened that Lord Sterling passed through
 the little village on his way to Boston. The
 arrival of such nob.eman in the colonial
 town was an event of much importance, and
 of course every one had glimpse of his lord ship. My narrator says history does not
 mention exactly how my lord first caught 8 | RllmpS0 or MISS FOlSOms put tue LkAO1GkOu | is extant that he fell in love at first sight. Her sweet, pure and innocent face won him at
 once. Instead of going direct to Boston he
 stayed in Stafford for some days and met the
 village beauty. Very probably he took his
 horse to her fathers blacksmith shop to be shod and then got solid with the old man. He went to Boston, but returned and made quick work of his courtship He popped the question in matter-cf fact manner, was ac-
 R,aan1 1o$k
 saying he would come back and carry her oh : to his English home. Months passed and no word came from his lordship Ii was long f before the days of fast ocean steamers, penny
 posts and telegraphs, but still be had time to
 communicate with his bride, but he did not The gossips in the village laughed and shook
 their heads at the beauty, and said she had
 been fooled, but still she believed in her no
 ble lord. Time flew by. A son was born tC 3 her. Gossip then grew loud and harsh
 Even the b acksmith and his wife began tc , look seriously at the affair but at the end oi
 the first year & retinue of noblemen arrived t in the town and asked for Lady Sterling g They informed her that her husband haG
 sent ship over from England to bear her tc i, her manor, and it was waiting in the New York harbor to set sail for merry England
 with the bride. Still there were evil tongues
 that wagged and warned the bride to stay anC
 not be lured away to foreign shore to be come the mistress of an English lord. Bu 8 the lady believed in her lord, and went witl his messengers. The ship she found awaiting = her was indeed a royal one. It was fitted ul with every comfort known in those days for e pleasure ocean voyage. The mother and sol D spent many happy days in their floating pal g ace. On their arrival in England they found | Lord Ster ing awaiting her. She was re u ceived with great distinction. He acknowl g edged her as his wife, and his family weIcom :. ed her as such, and their married life i known to have been most happy. Now fh great-grand niece is about to sail from Eng ' land, not on special ship, but on a magnif , cent ocean ste mer. The lord picked out fo .- her will probably not be waiting her arriva
 at the New York quarantine, but he will b
 here and soon after her arrival, if gossip i - true, she will come hither and become tn
 first lady in the United States. ..- ..5 7.