Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-11-14

eyes dS he arose in the pitlpt.
 Thetford by the Danes and passed over the exploits of old Geoffroi with a mere glance at his several victorious hand to hand contests with the foreign foe"
 My father thought he should have con- siderably enlarged upon the puissance of this old thane, seeing that he consti- tuted the very taproot of the Johnson family tree.
 After tracing the history of the John sons during the days of their wealth and power, the orator came to where they were overtaken by misfortunes through being involved in costly litigation, in augurated by needy lawyers and greedy neighbors. This brought him to Sir Ar chibald Johnson, my great-great-grand- father-by importation. He said that, harassed by litigious neighbors and re- duced to comparative poverty, Sir Ar chibald at last in his old age determined to seek a home in the new world. He would bid an eternal farewell to a coun- try wherein he had suffered so much at the hands of avaricious and unprincipled persons. With what could be saved from the wreck of his fortune he sent his only son, Walter Johnson, to Amer ica. intending to follow as soon as a place of shelter was found for him in one of the New England settlements. But misfortune attended the family in the new world as well as in the old.
 Before Walter was able to permanent ly establish himself and send for his par ents Lady Eleanor died. Soon after Sir Archibald fell i'll. When informed that his sickness was likely to terminate fa- tally, he dictated a letter to his son Wal ter in which he made it his dying request that as soon as possible his remains should be taken to America for perma- nent burial. He could not endure that even his bones should lie i'll country where he had suffered so much and among people who had so persecuted him.
 The various misfortuneS which had prevented my great-grandfather and my grandfather from fulfilling this sacred trust were then touched upon, and it was shown that my father was tine only one of the descendants of Sir Archi- bald who had ever been in position pc cuniarily to bear the great cost of com plying with the dying request made so long ago. But the dying request had never for moment been forgotten. The removal of the remains of Sir Archibald and their rcinterment in the soil of free America was bequeathed as a sacred duty by father to son till at last we were witnessing the fulfllment of that duty in a most notable and honorable way. Yes said the reverend gentleman, ''in another hour the dying request made nearly 100 years ago will have been com piled with, and the bones of Sir Archi- bald will repose in American soil.
 Here my father buried his face in his handkerchief, and could see by the con- vulsive shaking of his frame that his feelings were almost too much for him.
 My father was highly complimented by the speaker for the pious manner in which he had fulfilled the sacred trust bequeathed to him. He had indeed SC 1 far exceeded the strict terms of the dy- | ing request as to bring over the remains of Lady Eleanor. He carried in his breast i heart that respected the mandate i "Whom God hath united let no man separate"
 Here I observed one of my fathers l eyes slyly peering out at me from be heath the handkerchief that covered hi: face.
 Our orator greatly extolled my father l for the deep reverence he bore for his ancestors as exemplifed in the mourn | ful task in which the people of Pasona gessit had seen him SD long and earnest 1 ly engaged. 1 also came in for my ful i share of this praise, during which eau tiously tuTned my head so far as to set that Prudence was slyly peering at m' | from behind her fan. Even old Anna riah threw an eye in my direction.
 In speaking of the evil days when tn, { Johnson family in England fell into pc cuniary embarrassment Rev. Waite, Mowbray said that so honorable wa their course and name that they stil formed matrimonial connections witt the highest families in the land. Lad, Eleanor" said the orator. was How ard, the proudest name in Norfolk, ant Norfolk gives the title of premier, duk and peer of England to the Howart family as descendants of the Now brays."
 At this my father gave me a nudg and whispered: There he got in a nea little stroke of work on his own account As though by mere slip of the tongu he sets the Mowbrays above the How ards, the Johnsons and all others Il Norfolk. The Mowbrays indeed. But Sam, we can't help it. We must be sat isfied with that which we can fairly an
 honestly claim as our own-ancestra rights which no one can gainsay."
 The speaker did well with Lady AT
 bella. As she arrived at Salem only years later than the landing of the May
 flower pilgrims at Plymouth, he mad
 quite feature of her. In this part c
 his discourse he took occasion to highl
 compliment the Puritans. This c
 course earned him the good opinion c his hearers, nearly every one anon
 whom claimed to be descended from tn
 pilgrim fathers. While working for ou family, Rev. Walter Mowbray was nc
 forgetful of his own interests. 1 wa l glad to observe this sign of reawakene , ambition.