The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1899-07-26
A LUCKY FELLOW

A LUCKY FELLOW.
A lucky fellow! Well, yes, no doubt
anl. To have come into this fine
place and SIS 600 year is bit of luck
for any man. OF course, / was my
aunt's nearest living relative, and II
was only right that should have sue
ceeded TO this property on her demise.
Still, under my uncle's will she had an
absolute power of appointment, and
had she chosen to make the whole es-
tate over to total stranger, nobody
could have prevented il. AT one time,
in fact, there really was a danger oi
this occurring. Have you heard the
story? No? Then think it will inter
est you, for some of its features are, /
believe, quite unique.
You never saw my uncle and aunt ?
They were two nice old people, ex-
tremely kind and good-natured, but a
trifie eccentric. They were 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 heard, was
a self-made man. He amassed bis for
tune in eotton-spinniDg. My aunt, be-
fore she married him, was draper's
assistant in Manchester; so, naturally,
it was not to be expected that she
should have the haut ton. NeverIhe-
less, when they took up their residence
here, they went down better than you
might have supposed. This, imagine,
was because neither of them was in any
degree pretentious or vulgar. Indeed,
two more simple, unaffected old people
1 have seldom met. They always re-
mained 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.
l have said that my uncle and aunt
were somewhat eccentric. Bot they
had, in their establishment, one who
was considerably more eccentric thau
themselves. You really shonld have
seen John Simmonds, the butler, a dear,
delightful, faithful old creature, per-
fectly 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 sort of broth
er, and whose interests he watched
over with more than brotherly solici-
tude. To say that he was familiar in
| his manner toward his master and mis-
tress would be to convey a wrong inn
preston. For he never took a liberty
or presumed on the affectionate regard
with which he was treated by them.
Yet he often said to them things which,
if spoken by any other servant, or in
any other manner than his own, would
have sounded inexcusable and even out
rageOus. That was just where it was.
The old fellow had way with him in
this direction which somehow robbed
his plain spoken utterances of every
tinge of disrespect.
''DOn't thee be fnle, master" have
often heard him say, in his broad Ian
cashire, to my uncle, when the latter
was proposing some step of which his
butler disapproved. And on one ocea-
siOn-a very memorable occasional q
big dinner party, when one of the foot
men, in handing around the fruit, had
dropped a 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
the buffers attention thereto rs he
passed her, by saying very audibly;
"John, there's creep on the hure." "
John, just then busy with other mat
tiers not to be postponed for a trifie, ig-
nored the remark.
After little my aunt repeated it:
"John, there's creep on the fure. "
John was handing around wine, at
that juneture, and continued as if he
had never heard her.
Another pause, and then my aunt
said it third time, in louder voice:
"John, there's creep on the fiure."
This was too much. BY affecting not
to lear her remark, although twice re-
peated, the excellent John had done
his best 10 convey to my aunt, decor
ously, that her fnssiness at such time
was out of place. The third repetition
went beyond his patience. The wor-
ried man, momentarily, got the better
of the impassive butler. He said, Sc
vereIy, to my aunt:
''Don't botherr'
No more and no less. 1t had the re-
euisite effect My aunt made no further
allusions to the "greep on the fiure. I"
But one, at least, of her guests over
heard the remark-a certain very rever-
end dean who sat on my aunt's right
He was a keen humorist. / saw his
eve twinkle. OF course, he was too
we'll bred to give any other indication.
He did not forget, however, to tell his
story in his own inimitable way at 9TH
er tables And III wager there's hardly
a resident in their neighborhood in
whose repertory Of local anecdotes this
is not included to this day as one of the
good things
4 could tell you any number of fur
fher anecdotes about John, only space
precludes. This, however, may give
you some idea Of what the old man was.
When my uncle died--an event that
nearly broke Johns heart-the faithful
servant constituted himself more than
ever s guardian Of the family interests.
He looked after my aunt almost as il
she had been child. Il gradually be-
come evident that she needed some
looking after, too. Her intellect had
begun to fail little since my uncle's
death. Not that she sank exactly into
a slate OF dotage. But she became rath-
er foolish and weak-minded. Aud this