The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1908-04-23

N.
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 a shor
cut across the fields. and when be
reached the pond he stepped boldly or
the Ice. 1t began to crack, and. though
a direct descendant of Lord Bromley
and through him of William the Con
! queror the deacon didn't consider II
derogatory TO his dignity to make 8
rush for the head of barrel appearing
i above the ice. He dared not go back
aud he dared not go forward and he
/ shouted for some one to come and
shove 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 mid
die of the goose pond" exclaimed the
widow as she heard the shouts and
looked out of the window"
ITS Providence" answered Aunt Sa
lima, "and now you keep hands off
Providence and are going to run
this show. Get my hood and shawl and
mttens, for the conversation may Inst
some time
Five minutes later SHE stood ON Tho
bank of the pond sizing the deacon M
aud after "a bit she said
Il am Marys Aunt Salna from Mich
igan aud here on visit Did You want
TO see any one in particularly"
WHY why, rs was Just going h
you know. thought would stop aud
ask for any letters James might have
written"
And did James know YOU wore o.
ing to ask"
40. | can't say that he did | see u
twelve foot boz ri there by the wood
she'd. My | ASK yon IL kindly bling T.
here and shove 1t ont on the lee"
What. What" exclaimed Annt 81
lima as she gIarcd Mt him Sir. VAN
You to know that ] WIS Thompson
before | married.
"Yes?"
And how dare you. sir-hOw dare n
Bromley ask Thompson to drag
boards around? It's an insult, sir-an
insult to our boodw
81 didn't mean it SO. didn't know
| never henrd that the Thompsons had
had
Had any blood at all, you mean, sir!
Another INSULT Who do you think you
are, sir?"
You may have heard of Lord Rrom-
ley Of EnglandY quericd the deacon
trying to look dignifed. but making a
failure of 1t, as any man must have
done. perched In the center of goose
pond
Yes. sir. | have and with good rea-
son. He stole Il horse from Thomp-
son and was hanged for It."
"YOu-you don't say"
I'm the next generation two Brom-
leys were branded on the palms of
their hands for cattle stealing In the
third one of them went 10 prison for
arson. He sought to burn down the
castle of Thompson"
"Can 1t be possible2'
"And in the fourth, fifth and sixth
generations the Thompsons got to-
gether all their retaincrs and drove all
the Bromleys out of the country, and
the king rewarded them for It. Is II
possible that you never heard that
Lord Grassy was Thompsonf Doesn't
history tell you that the Duke Of York
was Thompson? Why, man, there
isn't noble In England today that
wasn't Thompson first. He had to be. >
al have been told that descended
from William the Conqueror," faltered
the deacon, as he felt that he had lost
his case.
"But who was william the Con.
queror2 When he landed in England
1t WIS the Thompsons that lent him
money and paid his house rent until he
could strike Job. Deacon Bromley
do you want that board to get ashore
on?"
"If you please"
And is 1t to save an idiot or a sen.
slble MANI"
Gum! think would like to talk
with the widow little while. didn't
know. you know
mo" replied Aunt Selma as she
went after the board, "but you do now.
It's Thompson. It's Thompson with a
p It's the Thompson family, de-
scended directly from Adam and Eve,
that have been making and unmaklng
kings and emperors and dividing up
the earth for the last 5000 years and
are not through yet There's the plank,
and now you come In and have talk
and get over your foollshness."
The marriage took place month
later, and Deacon Bromley hasn't had
a chance yet to thrash the genealogist
who paid half cash for his board
The Age Of Artificial Beauty.