Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1894-07-20

of course, wife. He had alwaya
been too busy to full in love, it
seemed. AMI his ideas of women
wero very excellent, chivalrous ones,
derived from tho excellent English
fiction he had read.
AS no camo into his thirty-first
year it began to dawn upon him that
man should have u good wife and
settle down to family lifo some time
or other.
With this itlen in his head no came
East-it wns June-and went to stay
at delightful and fashionable water
ing place on the Jersey coast. Eligible
men were not plenty that year, and
Mr.. Woolburn-he always registered
rs MIR. 2. ID. Woodburn, for it seemed
to him that Peter was not exactly m
American name and that Pierce was
very much more musical and quito Us
easily written--and he had heard his
maiden name was Dclanater-Mr.
Woodburn was very much in demand.
Hc was tall, iinc-lookiny fellow and
reported very rich.
The girl that most attracted him,
and there were very many fine girls
there, was n Miss Ruth Brett, of Phila-
de'pbia. She was tall, slender, grace
full in dancing and swimming, charm
ingly well bred. according to Peters
notions-ncqmired from his novel read
inG-modcst and dutifuI, yet not sim
pering. Peter soon hal fnllcn head
over cars i'll love with Ruth Brett.
There WINS no opposition. Mrs. Brett
gave cordial verbal consent md bless
ing; Mr.. Brett wrote his approval
and Peter was in n sort of paradise.
And yet, underneath it all was n sort
of gnawing apprehension of the possi-
bility OF the Bretts Mt como time de-
manding the history of his ancestry.
We're they not Philadelphia folks? And
was that not the terriblc-thc crucial
test? Who was your grandfather I?
Was it not strange they Ind not nl-
ready insisted ON knowing?
The more he thought of it the moro
lie lay awake nights. At length he
could no longer endure the strain. He
must be prepared for any emergency.
The idea came to him ono night that
If one must make oneself, ono might
ms well make ones ancestry There
could he no great particular harm i'll
1T, seeing that it was only to be used
rs II matter of reference.
The next morning he took pencil
md paper and prepared book of
lineage. The only names he knew,
Clinton and Morris on his mothers
side, Woodburn md Delamater ON his
fof l. 4
know he told no lies about; what he
did not know might have been true MS
easy MS not-for NIL he knew. 70 be
sure he purposely forgot to mention
the great-grandfnthc shoemaker who
read his Bible constantly while cob
bling. His father, George Wnshburn,
he made descend gracefully from
Puritan gentlefolls through u gentle
manly line of New England farmers to
emerge "merchant'-he did not say
'groccr." His mother, also from
English stock, with just slight drop
of Huguenot blood, to account for
proferring the name Pierre.
When, after several mornings work,
Mr.. Woodburn had completed this an
cestry in pencil mnrls, he very nutur-
ally knew it pretty we'll by heart.
There were blank pages in his
family Bible-apnrt from those where
the entry of his parents marriage was
made and that of his birth nnl his
brothers. Upon these pages he copied
carefully in pale, old-fashioned ink
the precious lineage he hnd labored so
hard to construct
Days passed. AT the proper timo
the subject was brought mp of family,
and Mr.. Woodburn casually mentioned
his ancestral record in tho old Bible,
and after some persuasion gave it to
his betrotheI for pcrusal.
The effect WAS excellent The Bretts
regarded him With new veneration-
Mt least the parents did. Az for Ruth,
it seemed not to mike SO much differ
ence.
But some fow days later something
else TRANSFERRED. A letter, forwarded from
Denver, came to Peter Woodburn with
news that his fathers uncle, the one
his mother had once told him Of, had
discovered that his granddaughter was
fine, prosperous fellow. The old
man, Delamater, was coming East md
wanted to meet Peter. o. course Peter
was glad to hear from the old man,
who, it seemed, WAS an old bachelor
and we'll off.
In due time old Mr.. William Della.
mater came East and put up at the
snme seaside hotel and, of course, was
presented to the Bretts. Peter had
taken pains to meet him in New York
and SEQ what he was like i'll advance.
The old man had passed muster very
creditably. lie had lived in San Fran
cisco and had very good ways, dressed
well and was not unsrammaticnl by
any means.
He took n great fnncy to Ruth B ret
and they became great friends. The
old man was capital story teller and
used to entertain Ruth's mamma for
hours down at the beach while Ruth
bathed or prolnenaded. Ono might
almost have supposed that Potter would
take certain precautions in the matter