The Huron Signal, 1881-08-19, Page 21
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THE HURON SIGNAL, FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 1
"AN OLD NITISANCE."
Mud 1 quote thew three words. They
are none of mine only, thinking ever
throe or four appropriate titles, I chow
Use one 1 use as beteg the o ddest ; and I
always had • fancy fur odd things. And
now for my story
On what my suet (by marriage) and
her family founded thetr claims to aris-
tocracy I never ouuld discover. My
uncle had been s mercha , it u true,
land one of considerable *ruminence in
his day, I hare been told, and so had
been ►u father before him, and his fa-
ther's father before that That his bus-
iness in his most prosperous time was
intimately connected with Chine is im-
pressed upon my mind kI became an in-
mate of his house when I was about six
years of age, in consequence of the death
of both my parents within a week of
each other, leaving me with no means
.1 support, and no other relative) by the
fact that every first of June saw bright
new matting* laid on our floors, to re-
main there until cold weather came
again, and that our mantels and what-
nots were decorated with many pretty,
dainty little porcelain cups, thin as egg-
shells—rarities in those days, but in
these plenty and cheap enough.
Now, according to what I have learned
on the subject, real Simon Pure aristo-
costs look down upon trade even on the
grandest scale, and never have anything
to do with it further than once in a
while marrying one ,f its sons or daugh-
ters who have come into possession of
millions enough to offset the honor.
However, our family (I venture to in-
clude myself, none of my cousins being
within hearing) assumed all the airs of
the old country.
Eleanor, our second, wore a look of
deep indignation for several days after a
manly, clever. good -Laking fellow, the
brother of one of her old schoolmates,
with a comfortable income, but who was
junior partner of a firm keeping a retail
store on Sixth Avenue, proposed for her
hand.
"The presumption of the ratan!" she
exclaimed, raising her arched eyebrows
in astonishment, and curling her full
red, upper lip in scorn: "to imagine
+for a moment that because I honored
him with my company to the opera two
or three times, I would marry him! If
his business had been wholesale, it
would have been bad enough; fancy a
person -who sells pins and needles by the
paper, and lace by the yard! Never! I
would sooner die first."
Minerva, our fourth, was equally hor-
ror-stricken at the effrontery of te young
book-keeper whom her brother Laurence
had introduced into the family circle—a
rare thing for one of her brothers to do,
for, like all other men, as far as my lim-
ited experience goes, they scarcely ever
thought their companions to be good
enough to be the companions of -their
sisters—when he ventured to express his
admiratioe for her. The young man
soon after succeeded to a very handsome
property, and became a great swell—"a
perfect too -too," as I believe the fashion-
able way of expressing it now is --a kind
of being after Minerva's own heart; but.
she was never invited to ride behind hie
fast horses, and what was much worse,
never again asked to take the head of
his table.
And in like manner the graceful and
enthusiastic professor of music, the stout
good-natured proprietor of the extensive
iron- works("wholesale awl rohu!"! on
the next block, the young artist, who
hu risen to wealth and fame. and sun-
dry others, all falling short of the aria•
tocratic standard set up by our family,'
were snubbed by toy- lady causing. aided
by their brothers,and not wholy unassist-
ed by their mother. I never had, at the
time this story commences, being then
in my eighteenth year, a chance to snub
any one; for lacking the personal attrac-
tions of my relatives, as well as their
"high-toned" natures—truth to sell,
having decidedly,' democratic tendencies
—I was kept in the background on all
occasions.
Let it be remarked in passing that
Eleanor eventually married, when rather
an old girl, a widower in the rnilk busi-
ness—very wholesale, however—the
father of four children. At the same
time Miuerva, a few years younger, de-
cided to become the wife of an elderly
bachelor, something or other in a shoe
manufactory. But they held their heads
as high as ever, and declared they had
sacrificed themselves for the family,
uncle having failed fur the second time
—through no fault of his owe, dear old
man=aTi�glg before the double
wedding.
Bat in spite of all our efforts 14 mono -
my our inane (,roved vastly iatiequate
to our expenses, and this was the came
of so much bewailing and bemoaning
that our hulas seemed to be bereft of all
gladness and sunshine. And one even-
ing, after Ethel, our youngest daughter,
had bunt into tears because aunt had
declared it would be 'impossible to have
dos-oresm, meringues, wine jellies, and
similar dainties every day for desert,
for the two sufficient resorts that we
oouldnt afford them and our present
000k couldn't snake them, I ventured to
suggest to the weeping damsel that if she
found life positively unbearable without
the above-mentioned luxuries (all the
Egberts, by -the -bye, were extravagantly
fond of good things to eat), she might
knit and crochet some of the worsted
articles she was in the habit of making
so artistically for herself, and sell them
to"—Mr. Lee, uncle's employer, I was
about to say, when I was interrupted by
a shrill shriek.
"Work for a store !" she cried. '-I'd
starve first."
"You wretched girl !" added niy aunt.
"How dare you even think of such of
such a thing 1 Ethel, my darling, calm
yourself. "
"It is not enough that strangers
should presume upon our poverty,"
joined in Cleanthe, also frowning upon
me, "but one bound to us by ties of
blood, though it must be confessed more
alien than many a stranger would be,
must advance ides that shock and wound
ua. Imagine'—turning to her brother
Roland, who lay on the only lounge in
the room, complacently regarding him-
self in the mirror on the opposite wall—
"that impertinent Mrs. Bradshaw com-
ing here this morning, with the air of
doing a kindness, too, to offer me a po-
sition in jeer academy !"
Great heavens !" exclaimed Roland,
springing to his feet—and the cause
must be a mighty one that brings Roland
to his feet. "One of my sisters a teach-
er ! Great heavens !" and he went
stamping about the room in the new
suit of clothes aunt had just paid for by
parting with her handsome pearl ring.
"Whatever is done, ire can do noth-
ing," sobbed Ethel.
"Of course not," replied Roland,
grandly; "the women of our family never
work." i
I thought to myself, "Nor the men
neither, except poor old uncle, who is
fagging at a desk frotn morning until
night. "
"But our income must be increased,"
said Alethes, looking up from her novel,
and joining in the conversation for the
first time. Alethea was our eldest, and
still wore her hair in the fashion of her
youth, a loose curl dangling over each
cheek -bone, being fully persuaded that
no other fashion was half so graceful or
becoming.
Discharge the chamber -maid," pro-
posed Ethel, "and let Dorothea" i I am
Dorothea) "do her work. It is about all
she is fit for. She never had' a bit of
fine feeling or style about her...
That their "sacrifice' was for the gots
of the family i dont deny ;but there stil
were left at hoose t, be taken are o
after their departure three old maids,
young one, and two helpless young men,
who having been brought up to do no
thing, olid it to perfection.
After the failure, uncle got a situation
as superintendent of one of the many de-
partments in the large establishment .
the gentleman who sold "pins and need
lee by the paper. and lace by the yard'
the ws now head of the firm. and
had a pretty, lady like wife and two
pretty children), and we diamiate.l one
-.f our servants, and mowed info a meek
assailer h,nse
1
f
dings for dessert on weekdays and apple
tarts on Sundays, i was allowed to pre-
pare an advertisement for the morning's
- paper in winch was offered to "an elder-
ly gentleman, who must have excellent
references, a tine room in the house of a
family of refinement, who had never
polled to yiaid,inwardly iMtfinsad that
would wouno reply.
But it did. The very afternoon of the
morning it appeared, a carriage with a
trunk strapped on behind drove up to
our door. An old gentleman got out,
hobbled up our steps, and rang oar
dour -bell
Y
"You must see him, Dorothea," said
my aunt, leaving the parlor, followed by
a train of her children. "It is your
affair altogether. I will have nothing
to do with it."
"We none of us will have anything to
do with it," chimed in my cousins. "We
were not born with the souls of lodging -
house keepers;" and away they sailed as
I opened the door to the second- a little
louder than the first—ring of the caller.
He was a short, slightly formed old
gentleman, with big brigdtt black eyes,
bushy white eyebrows, and a long white
mustache and beard.
"You have a room to let r he asked.
"I have," I answered, ushering him
into the parlor, where he glanced keenly
around, and then as keenly into my face,
while he announced in a decisive tone:
"I have come to take it. My luggage
is at the door. Be so kind as to tell me
where to direct the man to carry it."
"But"—I began, in a hesitating way,
utterly oonfused by the strangers brus-
que, not to say high-handed, manner.
" 'But me no buts,' " quoted the old
gentleman. "I am Amoe Griffin, lately
from England, where I have been living
tor the last twenty years. Since I land-
ed in New York, a month ago to -day, I
have been boarding at the St. Nicholas.
But where's your another 1"
I hastened to assure him that I was
empowered to negotiate with him.
"Ah, indeed' Well, then, I'll go on,
though it strikes u,e that you are rather
young for the business. You 'have
never taken a lodger before.' I am glad
of it, for reasons which it isnot necessary
to explain. You want a liberal equiva-
lent' for your tine room; I am prepared
to give it. That leaves only one thing
to be arranged. I should like my break-
faat at eight precisely every morning."
"But we did not propene to give
breakfast.
"I know you didn't; but I'll give you
another 'liberal equivalent' for it. You
can't be very well off, or you wouldn't
take a lodger; and the more liberal
equivalents you can get from him, the
better. Will you be kind enough to
show me to my room
"Yes, sir," I replied, meekly, com-
pletely succumbing to the big black eyes,
and strong will -power of the frail -look-
ing old ran, and totally forgetting to
ask for the "references" insisted upon in
the advertisement. Whereupon he
stepped to the front door, and beckoned
to the man outside, who,„ taking the
trunk upon his back, followed him. ash.
followed me, to the second story front
nem.
be might due here, said my aunt, who
had the utmost horror of death
"He's en old nwaauce, anyhow," pro-
claimed Ethel, "and always has been,
and I bluah that any relative of Mune
should have degraded herself so far as to
beeooe his errant maid "
Hero I will mention that my cousin
Roland, a muoth or w before this, had
married a young lady with a large for-
tune, and out of this fortune he gener-
ously proposed to snake the family a lib-
eral yearly allowance, Weide* which
came many gifts from the married sisters
whose husbands had prospered, and, and
thereupon been obliged by their wives t3
share their prosperity with w, that we
might live at least, as Minerva expressed
it, "with ries/ant economy." And so
we were nut entirely dependent upon
uur lodger fur desserts and several other
things.
But to go back. "He is not an old
nuisance," said I indignantly. "He is a
kind-hearted old man, and I'm very fond
of him."
"Good e-racious '"
"Yes, Miss Ethel," I went on, I re-
peat it, I am very fond of him. And if
sty aunt will allow rne—I am sure my
uncle will—I will take all the extra care
resulting from his sickness upon myself,
and no one shall be annoyed in the least.
After living beneath our roof for two
years, and contributing so bountifully to
our Wmforta—you needn't glare at me,
Cleanthe; he has, for I am quite certain
no ode else would have paid us w liber-
ally—it would be the basest ingratitude,
not to say cruelty, to send him among
strangers now that most needs care and
kindness. --
"Are you quite through, Miss Rey-
nolds 1" asked my aunt, sarcastically.
"I had no idea you were so eloquent,
never having heard you preach before.
But of one thing I am determined: you
shall not call in our doctor to your
patient. He is a perfect aristocrat, and
has no ides we keep a lodger, and I do
not wish him to know it."
"There's a young saw -bones • few
doors below," drawled my youngest
gentleman cousin, who resented niy
waiting upon any one but himself; "he'll
do for your fine old—nuisance.-
That very evening Mr. Griffin had a
bad turn, and I sent fur the "young saw-
bones a few doors below" in great haste.
He proved to be a doctor Rice, a frank -
looking, brown -haired, gray -eyed, brosd-
browed young man, with gentle voids
quick, light step. And the old gentle-
man, taking a great fancy to him, de-
cided on retaining him—a decision that
relieved me greatly, bearing in mind as
I did my aunt's embargo in regard to
our family physician.
And from that time for three months,
although very seldom confined to . his
bed, our lodger never had a well day.
At the end of the three months, how-
ever, he began to mend slowly, and at
the end of two more was on his feet
again. And then he told me he had
made up his mind to return t-, England.
"I am sorry, very sorry, to part with
you," I replied. •'But it is. right that
you should go."
"Well said, Little Honesty. And
now pet's begin to pack," sad he.
'No, she never had; she always. would
bite her bread," sighed my aunt, "and
she has seemed sadly out of place among
my children. She comes of a working
race, and her ideas and tastes all smack
of trade—trade—trade." I discovered
in after years that my aunt's grandmoth-
er on the maternal side made,a fortune
out of tobacco.
"But discharging the chamber -mind
won't help very much," said Alethes.
"It will not," agreed Roland. "What
is saved thereby will no more than find
mea in the little extras no society man
can do without."
"Deer ! dear !" aunt took up the bur-
den again, "could I have foreseen that
your father would have come down in
this way,' I never would' have married
him. I really don't know what is to be
done, unless we emigrate to some coun-
try place where we are unknown, and
where it don't matter how we live."
"The country !" screamed her children
in chorus. "But death at once."
I can't imagine where I got the cour-
age to do so after my late sharp rebuffs,
but at this moment I blurted out some-
thing that had been in my mind for
several weeks: "Why could not Ale-
piea and Ethel room together, and Ale -
theft's ram, which is the pleasantest in
the house, be let to a lodger ! one who
would
But here I paused abruptly. Alethea
had fainted in the arms of niy aunt,who,
glancing at me ever the top of her eldest
daughter's heart, commanded me in her
deepest tone ,aunt hs rather a bus
voice) to "leave the ream—iaufaatly."
But in a short time, during which
things had been getting worse and worse,
and we had been reduced to roe pad.
before taken a ledger, for the privilege
-
of «ecopying which he would he eipect-
el i. pay a liberal roma/suit.-
i disapproved highly of the wording
of this call for help, but my aunt and
remains maimed upon its being (s,urhed
in the eery terms. and s., 1 was c,m
"Ah," said our lodger, as he entered
it, "this is not bad—not at all bad.-
And
ad. •And it wasn't. As I have said befogs,
it was the pleasantest room in the house,
and I had arranged it as prettily as I
could with the means at my - com-
mand. Fortunately these included a
number of nice engravings and vases,
and a capacious bamboo chair with a Dr. Rice and I went with the old
gentleman to the steamer that was to
carry him away, and waved a last fare-
well ti him—an the midst of a crowd
also waving last farewells—from the pier,'
as the vessel slowly moved out into the
stream; and then we returned to our,re-
spective homes with his final good -by.
AFTER TRE FIRE.
JOHN STORY
The Tinsmith Is still to the front.
I have 'pleasure to state tbat despite the inocuserdeDce I was put to is sir imenieas by
the recent ire ia my premises, that 1 am new In full blast twain, prepared to give tits greatest
hareems in Guiana in
STOVES, TINWARE, LAMP GOODS,
yry aid every other line in the business
I would also return my thanks to the 11 ire Brigade mina people of Dederick for the sae
awful efforts in saving my property in my absence tram house, at the late fire.
crimson cushion, and footstool of like
color. And the fragrance ..f the honey-
suckles that stole in at the window from
the balcony, and the two or three sun-
beams that had found their way through
the half-closed blinds, and dancid in
triumph on the wall, and the half-dozen
gaily bound books mine) on the mantel,
and the ivy growing from a red pot on
the bracket in one corner, all combined
to make the room a pleasant place in-
deed.
Mr. Griffin had been our leakier ex-
actly two years, during wlhich I had pre-
pared and superintended the serving of
hie breakfasts, and taken entire charge
of his room, "aa well as though I had
been brought up to that sort of thing,"
as my cousin Cleanthe remarked, and
the rest of the family, with the exception
of uncle, who became quite friendly with
him, had only met him some dozen times
—at which times they assumed their
most dignified dignity—when he was
taken sick.
"It's an old complaint, which will
carry me off some time." said he to me;
"but i hope not this time. Anyhow,
Little Honesty" (a name he had give[,
me from the first --I hope I deserved it),
"live or die, I intend to remain here.
Nowhere else could I be as comfortable.
You must engage an extra servant, and
you and she together must nurse me.
I should certainly die of a professional.
By the bye, who is your family physici-
an r..
I told him.
John, Story.
AllBEIS' VIIIIETY STORE.
NEW GOODS.
5,000 "LIS WALL PAPER
tifr•FRESH STOCK. •4NE\t' STYLES.
WINDOW SHADES, TRAVELLING BAGS,
BASKETS, BABY CARRIAGES.
A FINE STOCK, STYLISH AND CHEAP
Note the Stand. "The Cheapest House Under the Sun."
atrNext dour to the lost Office.
Mine I read in the privacy of my own
Toren at first; and when I had partly re-
covered from my astonishment and de-
light, I flew down stairs, called the fame
ily together, and read it to them. It
was as follows:
"DEAR LITTLE HONasrY,—Had I Bled
which Itedidn't, thanks under God to you
and Dr. Rice—I shoul.l have left each of
my dear young friends ten thousand
dollars in my will. But having lived, I
am going to do a much pleasanter thing
—I am going to give them the ten
thousand at once. My lawyer will see
you both to -morrow.
If You Want Good
GROCERIES,
PROVISIONS,
CROCKERY, or
GLASSWARE,
—GO TO -
1
D. FERGUSON'S ,
Hamilton Street, Opposite Bailey's Hotel.
In addition to the ordinary lines of the Grocery and Crockery Trade. I carry • to stock of
Flog, Meals, Pork ai8llOf Provisions
MY MOTTO I
"Fair Dealing and Moderate Prices."
D. Ferguson.
Coalbail .alsajsold. See my Stock and get my prices.
MI Goods delivered to any part of the
Daniel Gordon,
Cabe1—Mer Unfler1er.
Oldest Howse in the (mint y, and Largest aleck fi,u rook of London!
PaaLoa SciTis,
BET.-Itini t SUITES,
Slui-Bo.ti<t,a,
Ease Owns,
Loecoa.,tire'. , rm.
Cash Buyers w;11 flni it to their advantage to see my stock it they need a good_article.at
close pt Ire.
Il. GORDON, Tref Street, rear Pod (Tee, Goderidt.
j
NOTICE_
Owing to the state of his health- the undersigned has decided to gine up his present busi-
ness, and now offers to dispose of the same on
LIBERAL TERMS.
Appacation can be made to h.mself personalty. The ata -'t a omists. (beide, good .fade I)r
Foods, Imported direct 1 of a complete and well Deb coed sseetment of GROCIRIbtl,
NEW, FRESH AN:b O -00D;
and the stand being on Kingston St.. and only Vie lot from the Sgdare is one of the VKRY BET
in the town of Goderich for a good
GROCERY or GENERAL BUSINESS
'1 he prOprietor is willing to enlarge the premt,ies if required. Meantime lite hn.' .ii. w 11 11.
carried on as hitherto and the piesent Moe', which win be 1 ept up by add.Gons when regalrsd.
w.11 be sol.l at reduced ,rices.
Goderich. 17th May 1881.
JAMES WATSON.
17117.
AMCa GRir'Pte.
"P. S.—I have ala, left a slight be- ICINTAIL
quest to Miss Ethel Egbert. She will
find it on the lower shelf of the closet in
the room I occupied when 1 was her C a r r i a g e V‘Torks!
cousin Dorothei s lodger.-
Ethel
odger. "
Eingl for once forget her graceful,for the $ POi..LV T=R
gliding step. She started hastily for the •
stun, but her youngest brother was be- having leased the shop of Mr. P. iia i-ne, is now engaged in thm
e snu1aotore o
fore her, and she was fain to turn back frit class
again as he slid down the baluster, and
landed in our midst with something in
his arm►
it was a large framed photograph of,
Arnos Griffin, 'with a card attached bear-
ing thew words, "An excellent picture
"if I am not better, send for hint to- of 'An Old Nuisance.•
morrow. i am going out now—only a i married r» Rice.
a few steps," meeting my look of sur-
prise. "1 want to see my lawyer, and
i shan't take to my be.l for several days
yet...
That afternoon,
taking care not to re -
pest the old gentleman's exact words but
potting his remarks in the form of a re.
pleat to he allowed to remain, i stated
the cue to the family.
"Going to he all 1" exclaimed Alethea.
'Dear me ' how disagreeable
sure T don't want him
10 stay
Wonky of Praise.
As a rule we do not recommend Patent ,
Medicines, but when we know of one
that really is a public benefactor, and
does p esitively cure, thee we eonsidew it
our duty to impart that information to
all. Electric Bitten are truly s moat
valuable medicine, and will surely cure
Bdiousnees. Fever and Agut. Stomach,
Liver and Kidney Complamto, even
where all other remedies fail We know
whereof we speak, and oars freely recom-
mend them to all (Esch Sold at fifty
mints • beetle. by all druggist*
CARRIAGES, BUGGIES, WAGGONS, etc.
Aha so a soil, thud I will give you prices that cannot be •.tUg. r Ila
-may.
RSP A.IRIN0- 8C JOBBINC3 DO201B
KINTAIL CARRIAGE WORKS,
B. POINTMR
—AMP
GET YOUR
AUCTION SALE BILLS
PRINTED at the otaee of THE HURON SIGNAL,
Nn,tl. Street, Godewiek