Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-10-24
MARGERY'S FORTUNE.
How a Dissatisfied Girl Learned
the Lesson Of Contentment.


the Lesson Of Contentment.
Whenever Margery told about it,
which she seldom did, she always said
it begun with the gypsy woman.
She, the gypsy. came to the farm
house door one October afternoon, and
easily persuaded Margery to have her
fortune told.
mot that believe there is anything
in it," Margers told her. "but just for
my own amusement"
.'Ah, little lady" said the gypsy.
with a serious air, taking her hand and
scrutinizing the lines on the palm,
You know not what you say. Hear
what l can tell You about your past,
and then you will be prepared to be-
lieve what say of your future. This
break in the life line tells me that you
have had a serious illness some time in
your life. Within the past five years a
relative of your family has died. You
are ambitious, but you are poor. One
of your intimate friends has turned
into an enemy. Now. are not all these
things true?'
Margery had been making running
commentary mentally on the woman's
statements:
"A SeTlOuS ilueSS-ieG me see. vi.
yes! Mother said 1 nearly died with
the measles when I was four years old
And she's right about the relative dy-
ing, for Old Mrs. Springer was mothers
second cousin. There's no mistake
about my poverty. An intimate friend
becomes an enemy-Delia Zane, of
course! It's wonderful how this wom-
on knows all these things"
You are right thus far" she said,
aloud, in answer to the gypsy's ques.
ton.
The fortune teller proceeded:
Your best times are to come. little
lady. 1t will not be long until you will
ride in a carriage and have many serv-
ants. You are to have gold and land
in abundance. A great fortune is to
come to you suddenly, and soon.''
How will it come to me, or how am
to get it?" asked Margery, eagerly.
81 know not, lady, save that it will
come suddenly and soon.''
Margery scarcely listened to the rest
of her fortune" All her interest CEN
tered in the wealth that was to come
from some unexpected source.
II am to have fortune-a fortune!"
she whispered to herself, as she went
back to the kitchen to help with the
supper after the gypsy had left.
She had been discontinued with her
home life ever since her return from
boarding school, but never had it
seemed more distasteful to her than it
did that evening at supper.
The table on the back porch; her
father in shirt sleeves; the hired man
seated at the table and performing
sword-swallowing feats with his knife,
which he regarded as carrying, in
stead of cutting tool; her mothers
tea poured into her saucer-how all
these things grated on what Margery
termed her aesthetic sensibilitics.'
1t was a relief when supper was over
and the dishes washed and put away.
She picked up the evening paper,
which Jabez had brought from town,
and glanced over it.
Usually she was not much interested
IN anything except the society col
umn. but tonight she read the papers
through, even to the advertisements
When she came to the personals" she
saw something which almost made her
heart stand still for a moment.
1.-The undersigned will be glad TO have sent
TO him the names and addresses of the descend.
ants OF Ephrain Taylor who came over from
England in 1910 and settled in what is now
Compton county.
IL K SINGLETON, 70 Pearl street"
Ephraim Taylor was her mothers
ancestor! For more than century
the old-fashioned ma me Ephraim had
been in the family.
The gipsys words flashed across her
mind-"a great fortune, suddenly and
soon"
Mother always said the Taylors
were a rich English family originally"
she thought Now I suppose the
English branch is extinct and they are
hunting up the American heirs"
Her first impulse was to show the
paragraph to her father, but on reflec-
ton she decided it would be better to
write a letter OF inquiry herself.
Father is so slow" she mentally
nrgued, ''and he does hate to write let
tiers. He would want to consult the
minister and the squire and the whole
neighborhood before he would move in
the matter, and maybe somebody else
would have the estate by that time
So she said nothing to her parents,
but wrote q letter that very night, stat
ing that her mother was a lineal de-
sccndant from Ephraim Taylor, giving
.heir address, and requesting the favor
Of an immediate reply.
When the day came on which she
thought she might reasonably expect
an answer Margery walked into the
post office. She was delighted to see a
big, blue, ofsicial-looking envelope in
No. AZ.
The one clerk in the little Office was
very busy and she had to wait some
time before she could get the precious
document.
While waiting. she was rather sur.
psissd to observe that nearly sdosen OF