Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-11-01

any mother will understand how a mother
would shrink from putting another in her
dead sons place. 1t almost seems like treach-
cry toward that other nearer and dearer one,
and Lady Vernon hesitated, asd indeed aban-
doned the idea more than once, only to recur
to it again. She strove hard not to love the
child, but her heart was beyond her control
Little Martin crept into it, though she
strove to Danish him by the thought of her
baby Roderick, whose grave was in the sea.
One day, to steel herself against this new
love by memories of her boy, Lady Vernon
took from the depths of one of her travelling
trunks box in which sho kept Roderici's
toys. She turned them over and her tears
fell upon them.
''No, my baby" she said, 81 will not have
another son to take your place. will not"
Then she cried out to Phoebe: "Ah, Phoebe,
here is the mandarin he loved SO! He had
the head in his hand when nurse left him on
the shore. Oh, Phobe'
''Dear heart, so he had" said Phoebe. "He
used to take the head out always"
At that moment little Martin ran into the
room He spied the box of toys and rushed
toward it.
you must not touch Them" said Phoebe
"They are dear little Master Roderick's, and
he is dead" And she drew him back.
For the first time the child showed the tenn
per the janitress credited him with.
"They are mine" he said.
He ran up to Lady Vernon again and
caught her arm.
'Say,' he cried, ''they are mne!" and sud-
denly he seized the mandarin in both hands
and dashed out of the room with it.
Lady Vernon stared in amazement. The
toy he had clutched was in her eyes sacred
relic of her dead son.
''Stop him, Phober' she gasped. "He is
bad child-a rude little creature, after all !"
Phoebe started in hot pursuit, but the child
was already back again. He had awaited
himself Of the elevator which was coming
up. He was radiant, smiling, his cheeks
aglow.
"See!" he cried to Lady Vernon, and pre-
sented her with the china mandarin no longer
headless, but wearing his round, smiling face,
his arched eyebrows, and his braided pigtail
again.
'That is just what he wanted, /" added little
Martin.
Lady Vernon had never tainted in her life
or she would have done so then. She was
bewildered, terrified.
She examined the mandarin closely. She
was positive that the head he wore had origi-
nally belonged to him. Besides, the toy was
not an ordinary one to be matched in every
shop.
This was the head that had been in her
child's hand when he was left by his nurse
upon the beach. She looked at Martin
again.
"Where did you get that?" she asked.
SIT is mine," said the child, land so are oil
those"
Lady Vernon was trembling from head to
foot. A moment more and she had sent for
the janitress.
The woman came at once.
"Where did your grandson get this?" the
lady asked, pointing to the mandarins head.
"Ihe chany heads He has always had it,"
said the old woman. cit fits the image; but
indeed l think he's no thief. Anyway, it's
been with him since had him."
"When did you get HING" asked Lady Yer
non. "Where2 Whose child is he? You call
him your grandchild-is he really 500"
The woman hestated. Then she answered,
slowly:
No, my lady, I've nothing to do with him
any way. He is nobody's child, I've always
thought. William and me never had any
children-we married late in life-and one
day gentleman William had been groom to
came to him. I'm going to be married, Will
Ham, said he, and there's boy I'd like to
have out of the way. I've been little wild,
and-you understand And William of
course thought he did. So he told William
that he'd give him sum of money to take
the child to America and call him his grand
child-and it was enough to open public
house with, and that was Williams ambition.
So he paid the money and we got the boy the
day we went aboard ship, five years ago this
autumn. He cried good deal and wanted
his mother-some light of love of the gentle
mans, 1 suppose. And he had that chany
head in his pocket; he's kept it ever since
He don't break anything, and-I hope moth
ing is wrong, ma'am?'
"No-go on!" gasped my lady. "Tell me
the gentleman's namel"
"The gentleman's name was Mr.. Alfred
Farnham," said the janitress "And my
poor husband failed in the public house, lost
ALL and left the child on my hands besides
when he died. Oh! my lady, what is it?"
SIT is this" cried Lady Vernon: "Mr. AL
fred Farnham is my husbands younger
brother. My child inherited the estates and
title. In order to gain them for himself he
abducted my child, and all this while have
believed him dead. 1t is he-it is the little
fellow therel l have loved him from the
first. My heart told me the truth, though ]
| come to mel am your mother!'
With a scream of joy the child flew into
her arms
Sand to Think that I should never have
known it," the mother sobbed, 'sbut for that
little mandarin's head! What blind worms
we poor mortals are'
| I fancy that Mr.. Alfred Farnham hated
his Yankee sister-in-law more than ever, and
| vet she was lenient to him
Il could punish you terribly she said
"But you were my husbands brother; |
shall keep the story to myself. The family
lawyers will maintain silence, and the world
need only know that my boy-the real Lord
Vernon-is restored to me. Only, as you
have place in Scotland, you will go to it
and never let me see your face again"
And Mr.. Alfred Farnham, though before
the lawyers he affected to believe that the
Yankee wife of his dead brother had tricked
them ALL was glad to take himself away in
safety.
"You are too merciful, Lady Vernon, y one
! of the legal gentlemen who kept the family
secret said to her, but she answered:
Alone there by the sea he might have
murdered him-cast his body into the waves
and left him there to drown. He spared my
boys life and that is why l spare him-fani-
lily pride has nothing to do with it.-Mary
| Kyle Dallas in The Fireside Companion,
Henry Shaw's Bequest.
st. Louis profits largely by the will of Mr..
Henry Shaw, its noted philanthropist, the
founder OF the Shaw botanical garden. His
estate is estimated to be worth nearly s., 00Q,-
600. The BOTANICAL garden and park he leaves
to the city, in care Of a we'll selected board of
trustees, and in addition to this he leaves
| property the income of which is to form a
fund for improving and adding to the gift.
Nearly all of Mr.. Shaw's estate is left for
this purpose. 1t is one Of the largest be-
quests Of the kind ever made in the United
States-Franiz Leslie's Newspaper.
Mrs Wray's Rose Wine.
Did you ever see any rose wine? Yes. rose
wine No alcohol in it, and yet it is fer
mented wine, and as delightful to taste as any
beverage that ever pleased the palate. Well,
we don't believe there is but one woman in
America that can make this wine, at least as
good as it appeared to us few days ago,