The Lehi banner. [volume] (Lehi, Utah) 1891-1917, 1914-08-15

u Inc larger wrapper contained an III
= sealed envelope, across which wa
written In faded ink and in an unff
miliar dashing, slanting handwriting
his own name. The envelope cor
4 tained a creased yellow parchment
! from between whose folds Their
b dumped and nuttered down upon tn
3 floor long fattish object wrapped
in paper. newspaper clipping ant
, a letter.
Puzzled he unfolded the cracklin,
thing in his hands. Why" he sale
half aloud, "it's-it's a deed made ovei
to me-" He overran It swiftly. Par
OF an old Colony grant 9
plantation in Virginia, twelve hun
dred odd acres. given under the hand
OF vice-regal governor In the six
teenth century. had no idea titles
In the United States went back 80 far
as that!" His eye fed to the end.
1t was my father'sl What could he
have wanted OF an estate in Virginia /?
II must have come into his hands In
the course OF business"
He picked up the newspaper clip
ping. 1t was worn and broken In the
folds as II It had been carried for
months In pocketbook.
II VIII interest readers OF this sec.
ton OF Virginia (the paragraph be-
gam to learn. from a recent transfer
received for record at the County
Clerks office. that Damory Court has
passed to Mr.. John Valiant. minor"
lie turned the paper over and found
a date; 1t had been printed in the year
or the transfer to himself. when he
was six years old-the year his father
had died
john Valiant. minor. the son OF
the former owner.
There are few indeed who do not
recall the tragedy with which in the
public mind the estate is connected |
me fact, moreover, that this old home |
stead has been left In its present state |
tor. as Is well known, the house has
with all It's contents and fur.
untouched) to rest during SO
long term OF years unoccupied could
not. OF course. fail to be commented
On, and this circumstance alone has
perhaps tended to keep alive a melan-
,holy story which may well be for.
lie read the elaborate, rather stilted
in the twenty-year-old pa
per with wondering interest. An
Did house." he unused, with n bad
lame. Probably he couldn't sell 1t.
md maybe nobody would ever live In |
Il. That would explain why 1t re- |
NAMED so long unoccupied-why there
are no records OF rentals. Probably
the land was starved and run down.
ITS an Offset to the hall-bedroom
idea. at any rate" he said to himself
1T holds out an escape
from the noble army OF rent-payers.
When my twenty-eight hundred is
gone, I could live down there landed
proprietor, and by the same mark an
honorary colonel, and raise the cab
bages ! was talking about-eh, Chum?
while you stalk rabbits. How does
that strike your"
lie laugh sd whlmsically He, John
Valiant, OF -Sew York, first-nighter at
it's theaters, aail.fellow-well-met In its
club corridors and welcome diner at
any one OF hundred brilliant glass.
misunderstanding supper tables, en-
tombed on the wreck OF Virginia
plantation. a would-be country gentle
man, on TN automobile and next to
nothing year,
He bethought himself OF the fallen
letter and possessed himself CT It
| quickly. 1t lay with the superscrip-
ton side down. On It was written. in
the same hand which had addressed
the other envelope:
For my son, John Valiant,
When no reaches tho ago Of twenty
five.
That, then, had been written by his
father-and he had died nearly twenty
years ago lie broke the seal with q
strange feeling as II, walking In some
familiar thoroughfare. he had stun
BLEED on a lichened and sunken tomb
stone.
When you read this, my son, you
will have come to man estate. II is
curious to think that this black, black
ink may be faded to gray and this
white. white paper yellowed. just from
lying waiting 30 long But strangest
OF all is TO think that you yourself
whose brown head hardly tops this
desk, will be as tall Il hope as /!
How wonder what you will look like
then! And shall l-th' real, real |,
mean-be peering oy.~ your strong
broad shoulder as y'"l read2 Who
knows? Wise men haze dreamed such
thing possible-and | am not bit
wise,
John, you viii not have forgotten
that you are a Valiant But you are
also a Virginian. VIII you have dis
covered this for yourself2 Here is th'
deed to the land where ! and m.
father, and mis- father. and many, man.
more Valiants before them were born
Sometime, perhaps, you viii know VIII
you are John Valiant OF New York IN
ste4.d OF John Valiant OF Damon
Co,,rt. can not tell you myself, b'
cause It is too true a story, and hav
forgotten how to tell any but fair