The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-04-23

1.-THE Court Of Chancery.
nee upon a time In 11nglnnd n
81 HkNI man named Jarndycc, having
az made great fortune. died and
fQlQ&l left a great will. The persons
MI SR$4aD @ appointed to carry out Its pro-
Z visions could not agree; they fell to dis
putting among themselves and went to law
over II. # s.s8=
The court which In England decides
8 such suits is called tho Court OF! Chancery
4 Its action is slow and Its delays many,
s8 80 that men generally considersit a huge
misfortune to become entanglcd with its
operations. Sometimes 1t has kept cases
Il undecided for many years, TIL the heirs
3 concerned were dead and gone; and often
x wien the decision came at last there
vas no money left to be divided because
+ II lad all been eaten up by the costs u
thcHsuit. Lawyers inherited some cases
ii from their fathers, who themselves had
made n living by them and many suits
had become so twisted that nobody alive
could have told at last what they really
! /, meant. s s 81 s S si 85
. Such came to be the case Will .hca u arii-
+ dyce will It had been tried for so many.
III years That tho very name had become n
Joke Those who began 1t were long
rs since dead and their heirs either knew
nothing OF It or had given up hope OF
its ever being ended !. The only one who
~
5$S old woman named Miss Elite. whom de-
n lay and d espairin q suit OF her own had
= made crazy For many years she had
e attended the Chancery Court every day
and many thoughtless people made fun.
IN OF her. n 81
She wa s wretchedly poor and lived in a
I'll small room over. a rag and bottle shop
kept by a man named Krook. Here shc
had "a grea It number OF birds in little
x ca cs--larks and llnnets and gold finch
~ es. She had given them names to re-.
N present the different things which the,
" cruel Chancery Court had required to car
~ on these shameful suits. such as Hope
youth, Rest, Ashes. Ruin, Despair, Mad
AZ less. Folly, Words, Plumber and Jargon.
sSs She used to say that when the Jamdycci
ID case was decided she would open the
cages and let them all 60
5sS Tho last Jarndyce that was left had
ff5s 8 lycn up IN disgust all thought of the
famous law suit.san stcadfastly refused
y TO have anything to do wi tn IT. He lived
I quietly in the country INF q big. paie
Il building called Bleak House. He was
+ pastSmfdd le-age, and his hair was silver
4 gray, but 1he4 was straight and strong
ga and merry. He was rich. and yet was SO
and benevolent that all
who knew him loved him. Most Of his
good deeds he never told any one for he
4 had a great dislike to being thanked. 1t,
n done a particularly generous thing fora
NJ relative OF his, seeing her coming In the
/: front ga tc to thank him.. he escaped by
w the back door, and was not seen again
III for three months. He never spoke Ill OF
nv mis- neighbors, and whenever he was put.
d out he would pretend to look for a wealth
aercock and say:I"D Dear, dear The wind
must be coming from the east! know
IT." IA!
IA It happened finally, TINT all the other
81 Jarndyce heirs Ind died except two, n
4 young girl named Ada Clare and a young
f man named Richard Carstonc,and these
y two who were cousins, were left or
phans The master Of Bleak House.
therefore, in the goodness OF his heart.
offered them n home with him, and this
tScy thankfully accepted. Mr. Jarndyce
now wished to find a suitable companion
for Ada Glare. and this is how Esther,
Summerson comes into this story.
Esther was n sweet Cir, who had been
brought up by stern, hard hearted Voc
man whom she had always called Cod
3 mother"sin Ignorance Of her pnrentage..
& She had never known who were her
mother or father. for from earliest baby-
hood her godmother had forbidden her to
ask questions concerning them, and she
would have lived q sad and lonely youth
but for her sunny disposition.
It was not till her godmother died sud
& denly that she found she had n guardian,
4 and that this guardian was Mr. Jarndyce,
3s OF Bleak House. How he came to hold
this ationship was a mystery to her,
4. but she was glad to find herself not alto
gcthcr friepdess. Although he had taken
,q pains to see her more than once, and had
4 noticed with satisfaction what a cheerful
3 loving nature she had. yet Esther had
3 never to her knowledge seen him., so
Il that she received his Invitation to come
y and 1.-Two at Bleak House with joyful sur
\ prise. s I'll IS y H "a .i s 4,
(. don, and there she met Ada, whom she
4 be gan to love at once, and Richard, q,
y handsome, careless young fellow of nine.
teen, They all three spent the day to-
l9Eether and got we'll acquainted before
q they took the morrow's coach TO Bleak
3 House. At the Chnncery Court they met
Il Ioor, crazy little Miss Elite, who insisted
4 on taking them to her room above the
4 1ag-and- bottle shop 70 show them her her,
y Gagged birds. And that night Gas they
III had been directed they stayed at the.
4 house of Mrs Jellyby of Whom Mr..
+ Jarndyce had heard us n woman of great
n philanthropy. t f35 az +. 3s
.E3 Mrs. Jellyby was n woman with a mis-
slon, Which mission WAS the education OF
il the natives of I3orrloboola-G Cha, in Africa,
and the cultivation there OF the coffee
Y bean, 8 She thought of nothing else, and
!, phlets about IT.. But sho seemed unable
to see or think Of anything nearer than
h Africa. The house was unswept. tho,
i children dirty and always under foot and
Lilo meals half cooked She would sit
all day In slip-shod slippers and ~ dress
that did not meet In tho back, drinking
coffee and debating to her eldest dauglr
ter, caddie (who hate RIGA and all Its.
4 natiYes) letters about coffee cultivation,
and the uplifting Of tho natives of Borrio-
+ boolar q ha, "A very strange sort OF phian-i
tl.ropist both Esther and Ada thought
+ Mrs. Jellyby Perhaps. however, MI. Jarn-
dyce sent them there for a useful lesson,
for he afterward asked them what they
/ thought of her and seemed we'll pleased
to- learn they considered her ideas Of
4 doing good IN the world extremely odd.
Next day all three droyelto bleak House.
Not one Of them had over seen Mr.. Jnrn-
4 dyce, but they found him al they had
Imagined and nore--t he kindest. peasant