Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-01-04
The various misfortunes which had

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 the
only one of the descendants of Sir Archi-
bald who lad 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 reinterment in the soil of free
America was bequeathed as a sacred
duty by father to son till at last we were
witnessing the fulillrnent of that duty
in most notable and honorable way.
eyes," 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 I could sec 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 so
far exceeded the strict terms of the dy-
ing request as to bring over the remains
of Lady Eleanor. He carried in his breast
heart that respected the mandate,
"Whom God hath united let no man
separate"
Here l observed one of my fathers
eyes slyly peering out at me from be-
meath the handkerchief that covered his
face.
Our orator greatly extolled my father
for the deep reverence he bore for his
ancestors as exempGfed in the mourn
full task in which the people of Pasona-
gessit had seen him so long ami earnest
ly engaged. also came in for my full
share of this praise, during which l eau
tiously turned my head SO far as to see
that Prudence was slyly peering at me
from behind her fan. Even old Anna
riah threw an eye in my direction.
In speaking Of the evil days when the
Johnson family in England fell into Pc
cuniary embarrassment Rev. Walter
Mowbray said that so honorable was
their course and name that they still
formed matrimonial connections with
the highest families in the land. "Lady
Eleanor" said the orator, twas a How.
ard, the proudest name in Norfolk, and
Norfolk gives the title of premier, duke
and peer of England to the Howard
family as descendants of the Now
brays."
At this my father gave me nudge
and whispered: "There he got in neat
little stroke of work on his own account.
AS though by mere slip of the tongue
he sets the Mowbrays above the How
ards, the Johnsons and all others in
Norfolk. The Mowbrays indeed But,
Sam, we can't help it. We must be sat
isfed with that which we can fairly and
honestly claim as our own-ancestral
rights which no one can gainsay."
The speaker did well with Lady Ar
bella. AS she arrived at Salem only 10
years later than the landing of the May
flower pilgrims at Plymouth, he made
quite feature of her. In this part of
his discourse he took occasion to highly
compliment the Puritans. This of
course earned him the good opinion of
his hearers, nearly every one among
whom claimed to be descended from the
pilgrim fathers. While working for our
family, Rev. Walter Mowbray was not
forgetful of his own interests. I was
glad to observe this sign of reawakened
ambition.