Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-08-24
EVENING STORY
An AMBITIOUS MOTHER.
BY Donald Allen.
Copyright. 1911 by the Associated
Literary Press.)

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Up to the time the hair hanging
down her back was coiled up, and her
dresses lowered to her shoe-toes, MISS
Irene Nixon enjoyed life. She had
her childish diversions and her play
mates, and II she also had her dlsap-
polntments they were not bitter ones.
Her widowed mother belonged 10 the
middle class, and she had just fair
income.
Then things changed almost In
day. It was legacy to the mother that
did 1t. It disclosed side OF her char
acter that no one had suspected. Miss
Irene was at once forbidden to asso-
ciate with this one and that one, and
when the list had been culled out she
found herself standing almost alone.
She must hereafter act 80 and so, and
she must hereafter not act SO and SO.
Where she had chummed with q girl
she must now give her only distant
bow. Where she had walked home
from school with this or that boy, she
must now pass him as il unaware OF
his existence. That money was to|
make all the difference in the world.
The daughter understood that money
was a good thing to have. but she
could not understand why it should al
most outlaw her. in forming friend
ships she had never considered the
money side OF the question. She had
judged by character instead Of wealth.
None of the Widow Nixon's friends
had ever considered her ambitious in
a social way. Perhaps that feature
was lying dormant. At any rate, she
had scarcely counted the money left
her by rich sister when social am
bition came to the surface to work
great changes.
She decided almost at once that the
daughter could not be exclusive
enough at home to finish her educa-
ton. and the girl was sent to = board
ing school where exclusion was the
motto. Then came the family tree.
Mrs. Nixon had never been greatly
worried as to whether the Nixon fam
lily dated back to king or a pirate.
Her husband and her husbands father
had been business men Of good char
acter, and that had suficed her. Now
1t was different. She had the money,
and she sighed for lineage.
There are so-called genealogists
who make it their business to keep in
touch with the newly rich and furnish
them with pedigrees to match their
cash. 1t had scarcely become known
to the Widows circle that she had re-
ceived a legacy when a genealogist
called. He had the look Of profess
sor even to the dandruff on his coat
collar He had been IN the profession
thirty years. He had traced ancestors
of 5000 families and hauled them into
the light of day. He had never made
a mistake. His terms were the low
est of any responsible party. For the
sum of $500 he would trace the Mix
ons back to the cave jewellers Of Eng
land. a
The Widow Nixon agreed to the bar
gain so promptly that the fellow never
forgave himself for not asking thou
sand Yes, he was commissioned to
hunt and hunt he did, and in the
course Of ninety days he had turned
in his report and received his cash.
And from whom had the Nixons de-
seconded and Jacob Nixon never sus-
pected it through all his life? 1t did
not go back to the cave dwellers, but
started at Harry, king of the Morse
men. Right there was the beginning,
and it came down to- the widow as
straight and easy as streak OF mo-
lasses skating across kitchen floor.
Not single break in Lne whole chain.
The genealogist begged leave to doubt
if there was another family in the
state that could go back within q
hundred years Of Harry, and he was
graciously permitted to do SO.
Two years elapsed after the dis
cOvery of this fact when the proud
widow informed her daughter of the
need to be still more exclusive. With
their wealth and lineage the girl
could become duchess. Still another
auto must be purchased, and so on,
and so OH.
Meanwhile, Miss Irene, even though
almost prisoner at the school, and
having RESPONSIVENESS" dinged into her
ears every hour in the day, had fallen
in love. The young man was the son
Of lawyer who couldn't trace his an.
cestry back over two hundred years,
and didn't care copper cent II he
couldn't.
Young Bennett in time came to I'M
derstand the ambitions of the mothe..
If he had been the son of a merchant,
things might have ,nrned out differ
entity, but being the son of a lawyer
lie went at It 20 prepare his case for
jury. When 1t came time to 20 into
court, as one might say, there was no
weak joint to tc ,inkered Mp. What
does a girl Of eighteen in love with
a young man of twenty-one care for
What does she care for
dukes she has never met? What does
she care for the specialized old maid
who runs the boarding school? The
elopement would only add to the ro-
nance.
And there was an elopement and
marriage When the widowed mother
was telegraphed to she tainted away.
The Duke Of Hartford had left her
house that very afternoon. For the
first time since King Harry went
around, Nixon girl had
eloped to bring obloquy on the name!
1t was just awful-terrible!
The Widow Nixon first resolved that
she could never forgive her daughter,
ond fhon that fha law should he an.