Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-03-14

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and some glasses, and with a pretty
blush on her cheeks.
] sat down and had real pleasant
evening, and it wasn't the last spent
there either for in course of time when
ever l spent the night in Chewboro.
which was every other night, you re-
member. spent the evening with Mol
lie.
One evening 1 got talking about Names
and4says I:
''Your names aqueer one-Stackpole
/ never met with it before except when
I was by. Down ii Maine where
l lived there were two boys who had
been left ca the poorhouse steps one
night, and y.lo were brought up there.
Tom and Bije their names were, re-
member, and we boys used to call them
'haystacks' for fun"
Mollie had given little cry of sympa-
thy for the orphans, supposed, but
ceased abruptly as her grandfather
glanced at her severely. He was a stern
man and disliked all display of soft
heartedness.
The name isn't uncommon in some
parts" said he, and that was all. Do
you know, after that the old man would
hardly speak to me and gave me to un-
derstand by his manner that I wasn't as
welcome as I used to be. 1t made me
mad. So at last I says to Mollie:
81 tell you, Mollie, l can't stand this.
l must see you as much Us have done.
and I can't do it with your grandfather
acting as if he owed me money. Now, 1
don't want to do anything underhand,
and I know your honest little heart
wouldn't let you either, so the only thing
for us to do is to get married right off,
and I'll go and ask your grandfather
now"
You see, we'd made it all up between
us some time before. but we'd agreed to
wait year, because Mollie was SO young.
Mollie said eyes," and eff I went to in
terview the old man. I didn't expect
very cordial reception, but I didn't ex-
pect anything nearly so warm as got.
was consigned to spot not fit to be
mentioned before ladies the minute I
made my proposition, and the old gen.
tleman used language that certainly
didn't belong to deacon. Then got
mad, and says I:
''Have you anything against my char
acter, Deacon Stackpole," says l, ''or my
prospects,"
''No," says he; 'I've looked them up
pretty carefully when guessed what you
were hanging round here for
''Then what is your objcetion?" says I.
But he wouldn't have anything to say
to me but ''No, no, no." and wouldn't
listen to anything said, SO off to find
Mollie crying under an apple tree, for
she'd heard our angry voices
didn't see her the next evening but
one, for found at my boarding house
long letter from her:
s'Sam, dear, grandfather is very de-
termined, and you'd better not come
over this week.
''It's all about those two little boys
you knew in Maine in the poorhouse.
You see, l had an Uncle Tom, who was
grandfather's oldest son. He turned out
to be very wild and great trial to
grandfather, and he nearly broke grand
fathers heart. After awhile he married
an actress, and they went away and nev-
er were heard of for years.
'sGrandfather is an awfully proud
man, and he was mortified to death at
the way Uncle Tom had acted. He had
been expelled from the church, and that
was great blow, and finally, when he
brought home his wife, that was the fin
ishing touch.
''She was black haired, and she red
dened her cheeks, and she was rather
handsome, but loud talking and not like
grandmother.
Grandmother tried to bear with her,
but one day she was impudent, and Un-
Gle Tom stood up for her against his
mother, and grandfather got angry and
turned them both out of doors.
SIN three or four years a letter came
to grandmother from Uncle Tom, writ
ten from Maine, saying that his wife had
died, and that he was very i'll himself
and didn't expect to live long, and that
he had two little boys whom he had
called Tom and Abijah, after himself
anu cIllu tudU bIcy u nave
to go to the poorhouse if something
wasn't done for them soon, and would
grandmother tell grandfather how mat
ters stood and how Uncle Tom repented
of what he had done.
Grandmother actually didn't dare to
tell grandfather, though her heart ached
for her boy, so she copied it all down and
sent it to him anonymously. He was as
angry as he could be and cursed Uncle
Toms wife for bringing the name of
Stackpole to the poorhouse, and Uncle
Tom for being not only bad, but weak
spirited.
4 disowned him when l sent him
from the house. he said, 'and his chill
dren and he may die in the poorhouse be-
fore I'll raise finger to help Them
''In about a week she saw i'll the news
paper the account of the man found
dead, and his name, Thomas Stackpole,
was found in his pocket.
"Grandm other plucked up courage
and pleaded to have the children brought
home, but grandfather wouldn't listen to
her and forbade any enc mentioning the
subject again.
''He seems to grow worse as time goes
on, so when you spoke of your knowing
two boys named Stackpole in the poor
house he began to hate you, and he hated
you ever since. That's the only reason
he has for not letting us marry.
81 exclaimed when you told me their
names, because 1 knew had somewhere
two cousins, Tom and Bile, but I didn't
know then all the story as have told it
to you.
''Sam, dear, grandfather is going to
send me to boarding school right away,
so can't see you"
Then came some tender words from
the dear little girls loving heart, and l
decided that something must be done
and that at once.
The next day that was in town re-
ceived a note from Mollie telling me the
particulars. She was to go to a boarding
school 100 miles away the next day on
the o'clock train, and her grandfather
was to 60 with her.
1 had been thinking all night over a
plan, and resolved to put it into execu-
tion, for as to Mollie's going away so
far from me it was utterly out of the
question.
First, I wrote a long letter to Mollie,