Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1895-04-05
THE FAMILY TREE.

in the war Of 1912, as his father had In
tho Revolution and his grandfather in
the ''Old French war''-all captains
who had never received n scratch or
onco encountered the vulgar smell Of
gunpowder.
That none Of his name had ever risen
above the rank Of captain was a circum-
stance no not a little plumed himself
upon. Generals aud commanders-in-
chief, he was accustomed to say, were
for the most part parveuus, promoted
through luck or for accidental reasons.
But a ~captaincy running in q family
for three generations was quite another
affair.
Family pride was the captains spe-
cialty. How far back he could trace his
kindred nobody exactly knew, but It
was popularity believed he could, il so
minded, produce satisfactory proof that
tho Craiks had cruised through the food
in their own private yacht.
The captain hated the new and wor-
SHIPPED tho old. When no went about it
was in au ancient family gig drawn by
an old horse Of approved extraction,
now a nero pedigree in harness. but l II
whose spavins and windgalls the cap
tain took almost as much pride as no
did in the family govt.
Captain Craik was rich, moreover.
limo and the natural riso Of property
had made him so. lilo wOuld have scorn-
cd the acquisition of wealth by any less
respectable mode. Trade no look .
upon as plcbeian and vulgar. Spccula-
80. ..-ofuwNtgb uV,1 49, FA. HnFrenawr ~
-faughi
His daughter and only child he had left
70 die unforgiven and almost in want
for having married a man without q
grandfather. The poor girl had besought
his forgiveness while her husband lived,
but ceased to do so after his death.
seeming to look upon such an act as a
sort Of treason TO his memory. Her in
FAINT son. however, soon left mothcrless
as well as fatherless, was taken into ia
vor at last for the sake Of tho blood that
was in him, and thus it came that Will
lard Spence was brought up in his
grandfather s house in a way beftting
the heir apparent TO the handsomest for
tuno within 90 miles.
Captain Craik would have greatly
preferred that his grandson, after fin
ishing at college. should nave sat down
in gentlemanly idleness and quietly
awaited his turn at the family success
sion. But Willard Spence had other
views. He was far from sharing his
grandfather's notions on the value Of
ancestry, and though too discreet to
openly laugh at them he felt he was
1900 kInva lba1u 20 49, .nnuvknr ~ fIoVn
some day, ay his poor mother had done,
when his XVI time to marry came. 1t
was for this reason partly and partly be-
cause he had an ambition to be some
thing in his own right that Willard
prevailed uron his grandfather to enter
him as a student in the Office of Mr..
Stiles, tho leading lawyer Of the county.
1t was with some reluctance that the
old gentleman yielded. He entertained
a not very exalted opinion of the bar.
But then it was a stepping stone TO the
bench, and though the family could
boast Of throe successive captains there
had never been a chief justice in it. 1t
was this consideration that determined
the captain.
II John Stiles was the driest Of law
yers, his daughter Mary was tho pref
tiest and most fascinating of girls, and
Willard Spence was not the man to be
slow Ia finding it out. It would be the
old story over 20 recount the steps Of
their falling in love and how deeply
they fell in.
Willard ventured to hint to his grand.
father one day, not at the state Of his
feelings, but what a nice, Intelligent
young lady Miss Stiles was. The old
gentleman caught like g%unpowder. HC
had no excuse for putting a summary
end to his grandson's legal studies ant
packing him of ON a foreign tour, FOL
the young man had said nothing TO jus
tify a suspicion Of his being in love
But the captain scented danger afal
and proceeded 70 read such n homily OF
the sir Of marrying into families with
ont lineage and put such a disinheritinl
look on that Willard was fain to drol
the subject
If tho reader has ever read Blackston
he will remember, and if he hasn't "
will tell him, that in the second boo
there is a folding leaf called q ''Tabl
OF Doscants, " whereon the author illus
trates the mode Of computing kindre
by a tabular view Of tho ancestors an
collateral relatives for ten or a doze
generations Of a certain fictitious job
Stiles. The names are inolosed in littl
circles, with lines uniting those SUI
posed 70 have intermarried, whose name
are further united by other lines {
those OF their offspring.
81 have itl' was Willard Spence
exclamation as his eye fell on this les
lying loso in the volume he was readin
one day.
That evening II was accidentally drol
pod In bis grandfather's way.
What's this!" asked the old gcrtl,
man, pisking Il up and putting ON "a
f9ecs.
- paper l found in n Of Mr.. stile
books. was the innocent reply.
"HuDphl A copy Of the Stiles fan