Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-11-10
DON'T ROIHER.

place and. fifteen thousand q year: is q |
bit of luck for any man. OF course, i |
was my aunt's nearest living relative,
and it was only right that / should
have succeeded to this property on her
demise. Still, under my uncle's will,
she had an absolute power OF appoint
ment, and had she chosen to make the
whole estate over to q total stranger,
nobody could have prevented it, At
one time, in fact, there really was a
danger Of this occurring. Have you
heard the story? No? Then think 1t
will interest you, for some of its feat
ures are, / believe, quite unique.
You never saw my uncle and auntY
They were two nice old people,. ex-
trernely kind and good -natured, but
trifle eccentric. They we're not cut out
at all for country people--the position
in which they found themselves after
my uncle purchased this estate. My
uncle, as you have doubtless henrd, was
o self-made man. He amassed his for
tune at cotton spinning. My aunt,
before she married him, was a Diapers
assistant in Manchester; so naturally
| 1t was not to be expected that she
should have the hautton. Neverthe-
less, when they took up their residence
here, they went down better than you
might have supposed. This, I imagine,
was because neither Of them was in
any degree pretentious or vulgar. In
deed, two more simple, unaffected old
people l have seldom met. They
always remained just what they were
and never pretended to be anything
| else. And SO, being kindly, simple
and natural, they soon made themselves
liked by their neighbors of all classes.
I have said that my uncle and aunt
we're somewhat eccentric. But they
had, in their establishment, one who
was considerably more eccentric than
themselves. You really should have
seen John Simmonds, the butler, a dear,
delightful, faithful old creature, per-
fect1y devoted to the family, but one of
the oldest men you ever saw. He was
about the same age as my uncle, whom
he seemed to regard as a sort OF q
brother, and whose interests he watched
over with more than brotherly solicit
tude. To say that he was familiar in
his manner towards his master and
mistress would be to convey wrong
impression. For he never took q lib
erty or presumed on the affeotionate
regard with which he was treated by
them. Yet he often said to them
| bIlDRS WhlCnt II Spbhcn ny Oily oLhVi
servant or in any other manner than
his own, would have sounded inexcus-
able and oven outrageous That was
Just where it was. The old fellow had
way with him in this direction which
somehow robbed his plain-spoken ut
terances of every tinge of disrespect.
"Doan't thee be fule, masterp2 1
have often heard him say, in his broad
Lancashire, to my uncle, when the
latter was proposing some step of which
! his butler disapproved. And on one
occasion-a very memorable occasion
at big dinner party, when one Of the
! footmen, in handing round the fruit,
had dropped grape on the carpet, my
thrifty, keen eyed old aunt, with fears
! for her new Administer, in case the
, grape should be trodden into it, called
J the buffers attention thereto, as he
passed her, by saying very audibly: .
"John, there's a Creep on the fure"'
John, just then busy with other mat
tiers not to be postponed for tribe,
ignored the remark.
4 After little my aunt repeated it;
"John, there's Creep on the hure.
John was handing round the wine,
at this iuncture, and continued as il
} he had never heard her.
i Another pause, and then my aunt
, said it third time, in louder voice;
John, there's a ,greepon the tiure,
This was too much. BY affecting moi
, to hear her remark, although twice re
peated. the excellent John had done
/ his best to convey to my aunt, decor
, ously, that her business at such a tint
was out OF place. The third repetition
j went beyond his patience. The wor
. ried man, momentarily, got the better
$ Of the impassive butler. He said
] severely, to my aunt:
S Don't bother!"
No more and no less. 1t had thu
r requisite effect. My aunt made NJ
3 further illusions to the sgreep on thu
fure.'' But one, at least, of her guest
overheard the remark--a certain YER.
reverend Dean who sat on my aunt
|, right. He was keen hhmorist. ! say
= his eye twinkle. OF course, he was tot
: we'll bred to give any other Indication
= He did not forget, however, to tell tn
story, in his own inimiteble way, a
other tables. And Ill wager there
hardly resident in this neighborhoot
in whose repertory of local anecdote
e this is not included, to this day, a
one of the good things.
could tell you any number of furthe
/. anecdotes about John, only space pre-
t cludes. This, however, may give yol
r some sort of an idea of what the oil
: man was. When my uncle died--a
event that nearly broke Johns heart
= the faithful servant constituted him
i self more than ever a guardian of tn
9 family interests. He looked after M
t aunt almost as if she had been o child
i 1t gradually became evident that sh
/ needed some looking after, too. He
9 intellect had begun to fail q littl,
I since my uncle's death. Not that sh
j. sank exactly into state Of dotage
n But she became rather foolish AM
Q weak minded. And this weak minded
e ness of hers assumed a most absur
y and, for an old lady, most incongru
|, Gus form. 1t is bad enough when
! young lady develops foolish sentimer
It tally. When an old lady does 30 1t
y 50 times worse. This is what my aun
d did, She imagined herself still sus
g ceptible of the tender passion at u
II She discovered quite a decided per
l. chant for fiirtations. Really it wa
downright laughable-at first. But th
l: time was not long in arriving when tn
laughab1e aspect Of the matter gre
:, less pronounced. A serious, a disa.
y trous consequence began to threaten
" l will tell you how it was.
There had lately come into th
neighborhood certain retired maiol
" by name Mallaby, well-kept ind
& vidual who looked As, and was prob,
10 bly, 65-tall, handsome. and of ingrat
h ating manners and address. In du
o course, / called upon him, as ever,
u. III