Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-04-25

pay d good price for the luxury And
sc 1t came about that an eager wish
of my youth was fulfilled, for an
living now in the house that was,
Fropol ly speaking, the crd t." of The
F"Ttt :. You knew :hal We hail
from rhuringia?'
"NrS, nave known lhat from IL,
ch,ldhcod'
Do you know, too, the story Of oar
origin?"
No"
We'll, 1t was rather a long time
ago, TO be sure, and l may, perhaps
be the only person living who knows
the story; put it must not be wholly
lost. Remembrance is the only
gratitude we posterity can show
brave ueed, so you shall hear it ana
tell It further. About two hundred
years ago-you see we can trace back
our genealogical tree a good way; 1t
only a pity that we cannot say who
was our first mother; il, however.
you should ever be asked about her
by Baroness Lessen, Or any such per
son, you can Say with a good con-
science, that We suspect that it was,
If not exactly Gustel Won Blasewttz,
for the story began in the Thirty
Years War at least a file du reg1-
ment; she may have been a worthy
cody woman, too, who stood by her
husband in all the crises Of the war,
but I cannot forgive her for all that
well, then about two hundred years
ago the wife of the huntsman Ferber,
opening the door in the early morn
Ing the same door that now closes
upon my goods and chattels-fOund
calld lying upon the sill. Hastily
she slammed the door, for in those
days there were gypsies in plenty
about the forest, and she thought it
was some unclean being. But her
husband was more Christian; he took
the child in; it was scarcely day
old. On its breast lay a scrap of pa
per that bore a prayer to care for
the little boy who was born in we'd
lock, and baptized with the name of
Hans, and later would known
about it. And in the baby's cushions
there was a purse with some money
The huntsmans wife was a good wO.
man enough, and when she heard that
the boy came from Christian parents,
and was probably an honest soldiers
child that the parents had probably
left to her to avoid carrying it into
the dangers of war, she took it to
her heart and brought it up with he1
own little daughter, as though they
had been brother and sister. And
that was good fortune for him, for
no human soul of his relations ever
troubled himself about the child. His
foster father adopted him later, and
to complete his happiness, he led
home his beautiful foster sister as
his bride. ne and his son and his
grandson lived as huntsmen for the
GnadeWltzes in my present dwelling
and died there, too. My grand father
was the first to be transferred to the
estate Of Silesia | was always furl-
Gus, is a boy, because after all these
years no cOuntesSmOther turned up
recognized in the babe her wickedIy
stolen son, conducted him in state
to her castle. This lacking romantic
turn in the tate of our ancestors!
was the more willing to give up later
my appearance upon tho ~"one wOu.d
when | reflected that in that case
have been very doubtful, and my hon
est name pleased me too we'll for me
to wish to bear a different one But
it was in a wonderful frame of mind
that | first crossed this threshold up
on which the little founding passed
the most helpless moment of his life
His natural care-takerS had abandon
ed him, and pity had not yet replace /
them. That fOOtwOrn stone is beyond
double the same upon which the
child lay, and as long as | live in the
house, Or have aught to say about it,
it shall not re moved from it's place.
Suddenly the forester leaned for
ward and pointed through the twigs,
for the were already in the forest.
Do you see the white spot there?'
he asked.
The white spot was Sabine's cap.