Evening star., 1921-04-17
On a Trip to Rippon
Lod g e He Stop $
Among the Oaks and
Interviews a Specter.
And the CHASTITY Per-
son Tells Him a Few
Things of the Long
Ago The F a m o u S
Ghosts of History and
Their Peculiar Antics,
According to Famous
Writers.

form it costs very little to feed them
and the cold. material eyes of the neigh
bors do not see them. Therefore, the
neighbors are not apt to make any COM
ments on the cut of their clothes. their
table manners and their way of speak
ing. Ancestors invisible and intangible
are an asset to anybody. There is an
other advantage in having ancestors.
They cannot defend themselves against
the grossest and kindest misrepresenta-
ton. They can always be spoken of as
the largest landholders and the largest
Shareholders in Cockleburr county. An
ancestor can always be spoken of as
one of the richest men of his time.
A jovial. pleasant old spirit who is
now sitting on the edge of the Ramblers
ink bottle-ink bottle. that's all-whis-
pers to him that many rich people in
the good old days were as hard and
mercenary in their thoughts and had
just as many bristles on them as great
many wealthy men and women do to-
day. 1t seems to be the right and pre-
rogative of all ancestors to be. or to
have been. rich. distinguished. honored
and accomplished. There were no poor
and the poorhouse or poorfarm records
and the poor-house or poor-farm records
are all at fault, because they show that
a great many men and women, who
must have been ancestors, really had as
hard time to get along as you do to pay
your gasoline bill and keep up vain ap-
pearances.
NCESTORS were always distin-
guished. My old friend, the spirit
who sat on the edge of my ink bot
tie. laughed so merrily as 1 wrote
that line that he fell in and / have
just dropped the cork to him as a
life preserver. Ancestors were al
member Of the council. on the staff
of the governor, sheriff of the coun-
ty, the kings high jailer, or a colonel
in the state militia. Well, We have
all these kinds of men today. and to
some of them We do not attach un-
Honest SAM" q member OF the leg
islature from Skunk Wallow, is a
crook, and that Col. Four Flush Fall
stan of the governors stan never
smelled any stronger powder than
talcum. But two hundred years from
now, az ancestors. they will be a
mouthfu1! Their portraits will hang
in the parior and a sweet little
aristocratic lady, when she opens the
door to visitors. will say, Welcome to
the hall of my ancestors" Or 1t may
be that her husband is the member
of the family in whose pale blue
veins flows the proud blood. Per-
haps two hundred years from now.
when some reporter asks him II 1t
10 true that he gave an n. g. check
for his board bill. or when a bill
collector asks him to come across.
the little man may puff himself UP
to the explosion point and say. Sir!
How dare you. You do not know to
whom you speak! Let me tell you.
sir, that I am a descendant OF the
81
and of Col -Four Flush Falstaff. who
served on the governors staff"
The little old spirit perched on the
ink bottle puts another idea in the
Rambler's head. 1t is this. II an
cestors could have known how much
be conferred on their descendants by
buying a piece Of wild land at two
ehillings per acre, they would have
bid the price of that land up. To be
descended from Nicholas TightWad:
"the patentee or original grantee" Of
the tract Of land called ChinaQuapin
Thicket. or Briar Tangie, Is an honor
which sets q man far above that bit
Of common clay named Thomas Grub
ber. who bought Chinquapin Thicket
him . proiit on his speculation. chop
ping down the trees. building him.
self q one-room log cabin and work.
ing at the praiseworthy job Of raising
corn and tobacco.
Many Of the original proprietors"
took up land at two shillings the acre.
not to live on 1t and make 1t bloom
and bear fruit. but to hold it for sale
at a higher figure to some landless
man who felt within him the home
making urge. For ancestral purposes
Nicholas TiEhtwad Is much more or
namental than Tom Grubber. but
somehow the Rambler feels that IL
he were walking through that coun-
try ESQ years ago the sweet face of
old Toms daughter. Sallie Grubber.
than Miss Clarice Tiehtwad. in the
parlor of her home on the main street
of st. Mary's city or on the Duke Of
Gloucester street, or Boutetout street.
or Queen street or Palace street in
williamsburg But enough of idle
thoughts along that line. Most men
insist on measuring the Importance
Of ancestors by the lands and Of
fces they held. 1t is an unreasonable
standard. Millions of ancestors. with
out land and who never held a public
office-dog-ca catcher. coroner or sena-
ured by the great and just standard
which may be expressed as "charac-
ter" 1t is SO today. Suppose we
should assume that the worthiest
who scheme and plot for public office
THE Rambler has in mind to tell
q story about very old house
on the road, or rather of the road.
between Occoquan and Dumfries. and
where dwelt plain people. pious. un-
ostentatious people. in comfortable
circumstances. brought about by their
own industry and thrift. Many de-
scendants OF these people are living
In Virginia Kentucky and other parts
Of the world. and II they are good as
these ancestors of whom the Rambler
to take long walk with them and
eat lunch In the woods. These are
tests and trials Of compatibility.
But before the Rambler gets to
Rippon Lodge. the little old spirit
on the ink bottle grins at him and
he promised to tell his readers q
certain ghost story. Some of you
smile at ghosts-and run away from,
them-but the Rambler has seen many
ghosts. He has seen some of them
on the stage. for it would seem that
The most persistent and celebrated
Of these, as well as the most talka-
tive. was the ghost of Hamlets
father. royal Dane. who burst his
csrements to revisit the glimpses OF
the moon. You have seen the ghost
Of Banquo. You have seen him sit
in Macbeths place at table and have
seen him come and go. Macbeth saw
him, too. You know that Brutus told
Volumnius that the ghost Of Caesar
18th APPEARED to me two several
this laSt night here In Philippi'i
z1kk 1o,a Gloucester that he (York,