Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-03-10
STRONG HEREDITY.

| STRONG HEREDITY.
| Baby was just born. Her first act was
| to ring the bell 1t was promptly an
swered by the parlor man.
"My mother will need nourishment, +"
she said, acknowledging the seryant's s
Introductory bow with pleasant smile.
"You had better warm some milk and
water and get her bottle ready
While the parlor man went down to
give the necessary orders to the cook
Baby arranged her mothers pillows
more comfortably.
5000, cool" murmured Mrs. Corfield
inarticulately in appreciation of the in
crease of comfort.
"Hushl 1t shall have its bottle and
go to by by, whispered Baby, deftly
smoothing the coverlet.
A restless movement in the adjoining
room, followed by faint cry, distract
ed her attention. She slipped on lit
tie dressing gown that lay on chair
ready for her use and hurried in to see
what was the matter.
A man was tossing feverishly to and
fro in a large cot surmounted with high
rails. He had kicked off the bedclothes,
and the cold air had awakened him.
ST suppose you're papa," she NUT
tered. tugging at the blankets through
the bars "How tiresome you are,
naughty mani"
She tapped him menacingly on the
arm and shook threatening finger. He
commenced to whimper.
"Now, it's no use beginning to cry, :"
she exclaimed. ''I've got quite enough
to see to without any nonsense of that
sort. Be quiet, sir, will your"
Baby stamped her foot. 1t had the de-
sired effect, and Mr.. Corfield quieted
down. Then she returned to the other
room. In a few minutes the bottle was
brought up. and, having given it to her
mother and tucked her up comfortably,
Baby sat down on the edge of the bed to
think.
There was SO much to be done. And
in spite of her ready made stock Of in
tuitions and her rich inheritance of ex-
perience it was SO difficult to set about
it. In the first place, the parents must
be fed and looked after. Baby could not
leave them entirely to the servants !;
she must exercise great deal of super
vision over them herself. They were SO
helpless. But they had given her their
all, mental and physical, in accordance
with the universal law of heredity, and
she must prove herself worthy of the
gift by trying to bring them up in the
right way. Then there were domestic
matters to be attended to. And finally
Baby must think about starting her own
career, in which, Of course, she would
follow in her mothers footsteps
Feeling herself to be child Of ac-
tion, she did not sit musing for long.
Mrs. Corield was asleep The only sign
of life she gave was an occasional tug
at the bottle, followed by the gurgle Of
deglutition. Baby crept softly out of
the room and went down stairs Had
she been boy natural curiosity would
have prompted her to explore the house,
but being of the sterner sex she walked
straight into the library and sat down
at the writing desk.
Before doing anything else she must
put her birth in the papers. She wrote
out half a dozen notices, choosing her
name from book which she took down
from the shelves. The announcement
read as follows:
'tMiss Philippa Reginaldina Corfield
begs to announce her birth at 16 Will
loughby square on the 20th inst. Both
parents are doing we'll. .
1t was nearly o'clock. Having writ
ten personally to some Of her relatives
and dispatched her letters to the post,
Baby rang for tea. But she was not al
lowed to enjoy that meal altogether un-
disturbed. First, papa cried. She had to
go up stairs and soothe him off to sleep
again. Then the noise woke mother,
who became fretful and gave great
deal of trouble. In fact, Baby was
kept SO well employed between them
that she had no time to dress for dinner.
Two or three days passed in this man
ner. Then came letter, bearing the
stamp of government office, addressed
to Miss Corfeld. There had been other
correspondence - congratulatory notes
from relatives and SO forth. But this
was altogether different. On the face of
the envelope, in the left hand bottom
corner, were the letters 'tT. NJ. writ
ten in a bold hand. They were the ini-
tials of the prime minister.
With eager hands Baby tore open
the cover and drew out the contents.
The letter was couched in the following
terms:
DEAR Miss CoRF1ELD-The magistracy Of
the Fourth area is just vacant. Knowing
your mothers excellent qualifications for the
post, and having seen the notice of your birth
in the papers, have much pleasure in offer
ing you the appointment. Come and see me
before taking up your official duties. Yours,
etc., THEoDoRA MUNsTERLEIGH.
1t was the very thing Baby would
have chosen for herself. Her splendid
inheritance OF legal knowledge eminent
ly qualified her for the post. OF course
the work would fully occupy her time,
but she must get a competent nursery
tutor to look after Mrs. and Mr.. Cor
field. She wrote warm letter of thanks
to the premier accepting the magistra-
cy, and at the same time put an adyer-
tisement ia the paper for competent
man to take charge of her parents dur
ing their infancy.
Among other applicants for the latter