Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1908-04-02

a word to Mary about it.
Providence didn't wait long before
taking a hand in. December had
come. Instead of being married on
Christmas day, as the young coupla
had hoped for, they were as good a
estrangsd.
Between the house and the barn
was goose pond of considerable
depth, and though this bad been frog
en- over solid for two or three weeks a
recent south wind had gone far to
weaken the ice, and the hired man
had skirted the pond in going to and
fro.
On the forenoon of the very next
day after the story had been told
Deacon Bromley came walking toward
the widows house. He was taking =
short cut across the fields, and when
he reached the pond he stepped bold
ly on the ice. 1t began to crack, and
though q direct descendant of Lord
Bromley, and through him of William
the Conqusror, the deacon didn't con-
slider it dsrogatory to his dignity to
make a rush for the head of barrel
appearing above the ice. He dared
not 90 back and he dared not 60 for
ward, and he shouted for someone to
come and shove a plank out on the
ice to save his blue blood from being
chilled.
"My soul, but there's Deacon BrOm-
ley standing on that barrel in the
middle of the goose pond !" exclaimed
the widow as she heard the shouts and
looked out of the window.
"It's providence" answered Aunt
Salina, "snd you keep hands of.
Providence and me are going to run
this show. Get my hood and shawl
and mittens, for the conversation may
last some time"
Five minutes later she stood on the
bank of the pond, sizing the Deacon
up, and after bit she said:
II am Mary's Aunt salina, from
Michigan, and here on visit. Did
you want to see anyone in particu-
lar 7"
"Why-Why, as l was just going
by, you know, 1 thought would stop
and ask for any letters James might
have written"
"And did James know you were
going to ask 2"
mo, l can't say that he did. l
see l2.foot board there by the wood
shed. May I ask you to kindly bring
it here and shove it out on the ice ?"
What What |" exclaimed Aunt
Salina, as she glared at him. "Slr, 1
want you to know that was a
Thompson before married."
eyes p"
"And how dare you, sir-hOw dare
Bromley ask Thompson to drag
boards around ? It's an insult, sir-an
insult to our blood |"
"I didn't mean it so. l didn't
know never heard that the Thomp-
sons had-hsd"-
"Had any blood at all, you mean,
sir Another insult ! Who do you
think you are, Sir ?"
"You may have heard of Lord
Bromley, of England1 ?" queried the
Deacon, trying to look dignifsd, but
making failure of it, as any man
must have done, perched in the center
of goose pond.
eyes, sir, have, and with good
reason. he stole a horse from 9
Thompson and was hanged for it 7"
"You-YOu don't say i
"In the next generation two Brom-
leys were branded on the palms o.
their hands for cattle stealing. II
the third one of them went to prison
for arson. he sought to burn down
the castle Of Thompson. ,"
"Csn it be possible p
"And in the fourth, fifth and sixth
generations the Thompsons got to-
eether all their Ietsiners and droV'
all the Bromleys out Of the country
and the king rewarded them for 1t
Is it possible that you never heard
that Lord Grassy was Thompson
Doesn't history tell you that the Duk'
of York was a Thompson Why
man, there isn't noble in England
today that wasn't 8 Thompson hr't
he had to be.
"l-I have been told that l des
cended from William the COnqusrOr,
faltered the Deacon, as be felt that h'
had lost his case.
"But who was William the Con