The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1913-12-26
PERPETUATINC
A FAMILY NAME
The Rather Sad Case of A.
gern0n Cecil Leicester.

lave OeeH prOuU vi our name. l.elceS-
ter. claiming descent from the Leices-
ter family whose best known repre-
sentative was the favOrite Of Queen
Elizabeth. l was baptized Algernon
Cecil. and my name Of AlgernOn Cecil
Leicester was when I was twenty-five
the only thing l possessed that ! val
ued. l had no fortune then. Now I
have q fortune. but | ha vent the name
Of Leicester.
I was introduced 10 u girl whose
name I did not catch. II | had caught
It l doubt that l should NO readily
have fallen In love with her. When I
learned that It WAS the singular and to
her entirely inappropriate name OF
Crosspatch I left her for a week. at
the end Of which time I called on her
again. for l found it Impossible to
drive her out Of my mind.
"How did 1t happen" ! asked her,
''that you. the perfection Of amiability,
were horn under such q name?"
ut In a corruption" she said. "of
Grossebach. The change came many
generations ago. and my grandfather.
who studied the family history. pro-
fessed to have discovered that 1t was
made on account Of the bravery Of one
Of our ancestors. Il common soldier Of
Cr0mwell's army. who In face Of q
CALLING fire crossed a field or patch OF
ground. carrying ammunition to a force
belpaguered by the Cavaliers. His
comrades dubbed him Crosspatch. and
be. proud 0f his deed. retained It."
Despite the name. l loved Miss Cross
patch ~ dearly that I could not give
her up. and. IA my love was returned.
We became engaged. Resides my love,
there was another eason for my mar.
riage-I longed to regain some Of tho
social prominence for myself and my
descendants IT the ancient I~-eicpsters,
and Miss Crosspatch was possessed Of
an enormous fortune left her by this
same grandfather who had discovered
the origin Of the name. After all. what
difference would It make? The wife as
sume~ the husbands name. and she
and our children would be Leicesters.
I had a fancy that the Oldest son
should have for his surname his moth
er's family name. hut In this case I
resolved that no son Of mine should be
christened Crosspatch Leicester. He
should he named for me. Algernon
Cecil. I would ace that he Inherited
the hulk Of his mothers fortune. and
In this way 1 would re-eetablish the
Leicester family.
There was a brilliant wedding. at
which / boosted that. az ~ of our
family had once been the favOrite Of q
queen. now it would become the favor
ite Of the upper ten thousand Of the
United States. W. departed on our
wedding trip amid the usual shower
Of rice. and on our return settled my
self down to enjoy my newly acquired
fortune. had been at home but q
few days before the solicitor for the
CrOsspatch millions wrote me saying
that he would like to see me In the
city. went to him and was shown
into his private Office.
II have sent for you." be said. that
q very important matter may be set-
tled-the ownership Of the Crosspatch
property"
my dear SIR" I replied. 1.-THE prop
erty belongs to my wife,"
''Thpre ia a condition attached to her
grandfather's will"
"a condition: What Ia itf'
THAT her husband assume the name
~ Crusspatch and the children II any
resulting from the marriage only in
herft under that name. Simon Cr0ss-
patch. having no children except your
: wife's father. and he dying during her
infancy with no other issue. left the
property to her with the above named
condition. He was very proud Of the
manner in which the name originated
ana desired to perpetuate the family
under it."
"And l." said I, IAN DESTROYS Of per-
petuating the family under the name
Of Leicester"
1.-THE family can only inherit by as
Stunning the name Of C~rosspatch. In
case you decline to do &c the will
states that the property In to go to the
endowment OF az institution to be
known an the Crususpat.h university"
my wife never told me this"
"F0r the very guDd resxon that her
grandfather stipulated In hix will that
abe wan not to BE- informed OF Il ex-
cept through her husband. He desired
not to stand In the way Of her mar.
Rage. he preferred to leave It to her
husband to accept the terms or resign
the fortune. But in case you decline
there In an annuity settled on her Of
e1,t0O a year to keep her from want"
! asked for the time allowed me BY
the will In which to make my decision
and was informed that It was q month.
! was tho much disgrSntled to return
20 my wife for n week. hut by that
dime had decided to accept the name
and the fortune. MY wife. who was
and In amiahility itself. h,re with my
irritation and Disappointment. Finally
my grumblings died away, and I
peaceably tOok r~oHseasi0n nf my wifs's
fortune.
And now I am known m old CnnaG.