Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1893-04-21
MY UNCLE'S WILL.

:; ~ n'ou "Ao' Ike myself mas
spent the best years of his life on an
American ranch great everywhere in
rural England seems the power of re-
! spectability; but nowhere is respecta-
h'ity so staid as in a cathedral city.
anil the smaller the city the more con.
sc,ous is its air of steady decorum.
| My birthplace the little city of
! Muncaster: seemed to Inc. fresh from
the plains the most sel:-centered Of
them all As sat in the coffee room
OF the Lion discussing a steak, thor
oughly English in its red toughness,
the head waiter, family episcopal
parsonage "A glossy black broadcloth
and glisx'n.as liren. bent over my
chair coIidentially. and said. with
truly episcopal composure: The
cathedral service is at four. SIR"
He could not conceive of any other
motive bringing a stranger to Num-
caster than the desire to see it's an
Gent cathedral. 80 carefully defaced
by its citizens under the plea of
artistic restoration. 1t was with a.
glow OF savage satisfaction that I
abruptly replied:
Il am going to the dentist, Mr..
Harcourt in Wylie street.
Even this did not d!scompose the
walters heavy serenity. He merely
remarked. as he removed my plate.
| and put huge 'Cheddar" in front of
me-'l've heard the dean say Mr..
Harcourt is clever; but he's new, sir:
For my part just go to the chemists.
MIR. Longdale's in West street-been
here. sir ever since l was a boy, and
very near the cathedral"
TO the old stagers here. Muncaster
is the world and the cathedral it's GEN.
ter: l muttered to myself. The old
irrltated feeling at the narrowness of
the little provincial city. which had
driven me across the seas when I was
but a raw lad of nineteen. was still
very strong in me. I surveyed the
dentists tall house in Wylie street
| with more interest than one usually
gives to such abodes of torture.
The gloomy stone pile with it's mar
row windows and high flight of steps,
had been for thirty years the dwelling
place OF the grim old uncle who had
brought me up. and whose death was
the occasion of my return to Nun
caster Many a night when his early
household was fast asleep 1 had
clambered out of my attic window on
to the grlmy old parapet and let N.Y.
self down by the water-butt into the
cobble-paved passage that ran by the
side of the house.
had been the staid solicitors favor
ite nephew. and he forgave me rum
ming away to the states. He even
congratulated me- later when
earned a share in a ranch, and showed
no sign of needing his help.
People had begun to say that /,
John Murray. was to be his heir.
when he heard l was paying marked
attention to a young American lady.
and wrote furiously to me to give her
! up. My uncle had the narrow in
sular pride Of a provincial Britisher
in fine state of development and
loathed the very name of Yankee.
It was as the oAtwitter of American
'cuteness that I had won my way to
his heart. I resisted the old mans
decree with all the force of young
idiots first passion; reasoned, per-
suaded and st0rmed.
John Murray, the elder, was obdu-
rate. If I preferred this girl to
him. very we'll. He was dependent
on no man." We seemed hopelessky
estranged. and I returned to America
to find the girl for whose sake had
quarrelled with my uncle married to
my partner in the ranch.
Yankee 'cuteness had outwitted the
Britisher. As sat duped. looking
out over the prairie young Pete
Smith brought me a thumbed news
paper:
In its greasy announcements of
death was the name of John Murray.
He had died less than month after
I left Liverpool
Pete was content to be left as my
representative at the ranch. and in 8
few weeks I was in England.
rang the bell Justify. remarkine to
myself rather dryly how soon the
bright doorplate of my cousin, Will
Harcourt the dentist, had replaced
the great square Of brass that used to
bear the inscription: Mr.: John MUIR
ray. Solicitor. 49,. III
Wills patients room" as SUM-
pose he would call it seemed a prim
square place to me. The light oak
and brown leather that have taken
the place of the shiny horsehair and
heavy mahogany my aunt used ia
delight il. give it a little of the an
pearance of an entomologists insect
box. IL. =,
But it is in my uncle's Office down
stairs that the dentist pins on his M
tients. Several depressed LOOKING
persons were sitting about the room
waiting more or less patiently for he
process; but could not account for
the presence of young girl bv the
window.
| She was fair and rosy; aud. IA she
turned over the pages Of an old comic
paper. she broke every nov and than
into q laugh so fresh and merry th.f
it made me want to laugh too. ma
take by force the cracking nevsn. q,
4 fr1,,,, %I,a - .,nr :rod.facn17