Illinois News Index

Highland Park News-Letter (1904), 28 Jan 1905, p. 2

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l was neither sad nor glad when grandfather wrote a letter to my mother somewhat like this: “C harks oldest child (called after my wife, Doro- thy) has the grave misfortune to have been born with a boy’s brain. which is quite out of keeping There came in time to be other children in the home nest but it chanced-that my lady grand- mother (the Baronets daughter) cared alone [or ‘me. Perhaps this was fiausc I bore her nameâ€"â€" - Dorothyâ€"or mayhap she ncied I had mart of the looks and manners of the Bumburys or the Lees than I had of my mother’s race. But whatever it might chance to be, I alone of all the children was hidden to “Leecrbft..” I well recall that on my first visit Grannie told me how “my father had stooped low to wed my mother" and then related "what might haye been my station in life (impossible now) had father taken a gentlewoman to wife." They say that a devil possessed me; that I beat my grandmother with my little fists and kicked at her with my“ sturdy legs until she was Iain to cry for help. I have often wondered since whether what‘ I did to my grandmother when she abused my mother was attributed to my good or to my had blood. At all events she neyer again referred to mother, save to ask “if she were well” when I began a visit. and to send back “her compliments” to Mis- tress “Lee when I was returning home Fdr the most part I-enjoyea ‘hese visits to my grandfather’s beautiful house, but when they were over I rejoiced to go beck (another and theehil- -._ dren. .r Father, being a soldier, was little at home, and -when he came he seemed more like a stranger guest than one of our kin. He was kind and courteous to my mother and a good father to us childrenâ€" that is. he gave us a pleasant house to live in, suit- able garments to wear, and such manner of educa- Lien as he deemed proper. M) mother, when she gate her heart into father’s keeping, seemed to Banish self. and meek, gentle and to all outward ap- pearance, unenlbtional, she has fitted herself into "1" 9"” 4'9“" Prepared "f"r her. and makes an Commuters. and so must needs be stern, hard and unrelenting to one that had broken the command. men: which says, “Honor thy father and thy Q£__ ‘1‘???" . -A. Wm A _ fi___. # Wm W Oh. to hear father tell of that disastrous expe~ dition. makes one's flesh go all of I shiver! Father was one of the few officers that escaped with life, no hodily hurt and no sm’ircli upon his military repu- ution. And, I suppose, it was for these reasons that 'he was. enabled to purchase a company, for which he paid nine hundred pounds. Father re- mained in America under General Amherst, with the exception of the year #54, when he paid a visit to England and ran away with mother. Then back he. came to the Colonies and there he tarried until Of course father's peopie were angry fit his mar.- riage._ yet they were not half so angry as mother's people were, for they disowned their daughter, and she told me once (with a piteous quiver of the lips) “that she did not believe that they ever again mentioned iiJ’in their prayers. " You see, they were My father was gazetted into lu': father's ratio momâ€"as ensignâ€"when he was mm eleven years of age. end ho~was a mere lad when u lieutenant he went with the “44" to America with Braddock. lwuhomiufinngdEn‘flahpm'uy birth was' in the June time of I755. which melee! menowtmta few mortthsthiesideofmytwentieth year. A veritable old raid at‘ a period in which maids are wooed. won and' wedded to ml! duties long before they Ire eighteen.‘ _ My blather was the daughter of a well-to-do farmer. She ran away from her home at Iixteen to wet! my h1her._ Father is a gentlenim's Ion. His name is Charles Lee. His father was Colonel John Lee of Demhall- in Cheslure. My father's mother was a branch (laughter. and her name was Dorothy Burnlmry, and her father was Sir Henry Bumbury. HIGHLAND PARK NEWS-LETTER When I reached London I found father all en- grossed in the prepnntions for embarldng. Mamet are only hard for 'hose who stay behind. But toâ€" day I should ngoth to part with the memory of the tears and caresses and blessings that were show- and upon me then "“ I want to describe father a bit, for he is no every day man, and it is probable he will make a place for himself in the history of his time. As all the world knows, father is a brave soldier; but he is not popular because there runs through his actions and conversation a strain of childish petu- lance an over-abundance of suspicion, and saddest of all a desire for revenge for supposed slight: and insults When if was decided as to the ship we Were to take. an Jar time for sailing was set, I, like one in- a dream, bade adieu to the Vicarage and set out to rejoin my family in Londod: I do not think that I lLad any regret in going out of the life that had been mine so long. It occurs to me that good- byes Perhaps the loss of bath his father and mother decided father to emigrate .to Virginia, but then father had been at odds with the Home Government for a. long time. (can tth' oier so otten that Tfiovermo‘stilof what they contained in my memory to this day. I do not know what grandfather intended to .do with me after he had'made‘me learnedâ€"perhaps he did no; know himself. At all events, he was spared solving the manner... for he died suddenly, just _as I was rounding my seventeenth year, and grandmother lingered but a day aftér him. And no mention of me was made in my grandfather’s'wifl. - - 4. So to the [Clerxyman Iâ€"n smalhm-slender bit hi 1 lassâ€"was sent. and as it happened that I 'Tvas just the age .that my father had been when he entered the army. With this tutor I remained until after mv seventeenth year.f. As I look hack, 1 thlnk that I must have come like a blessing into his lonely life. ‘He had a poor, stmling flock of yokels, and the Earl. whose‘plaee was hard by, ahd the Squire. our nearest neighfior, were little better. The'wiie of It may seem strange to you that are to read this, when I say that in all those years of separa’ tion from my family, I nevtr once saw my mother, ‘my sisters or my brothers. As has been before set down, my tutor lived at a great distance from my homeâ€"a good seventy miles I should sayâ€"and the post roads were poorly kept (aboundlng much in holes and rats) And then there was always the chance of encountering those highwaymen that nat- urally frightened innocent women and children out of their wits. Then the expense of so long a jour- ney as. seventy odd miles was no small item, when 7."--- u... --v unmu Inn-II, wucu a body had a large family and but a' moderate purse. my master was a weak, shunning cruture. that all treated Ilké a puppet. It must have been her lack of even the simplest rudiments of knowledge (for all that she could do was to read her prayer Book and write her name) that made him so almost daft on the subject of a higher education for women. He warrdepmarfiaiiaafie Br‘éufiiiiihi’fiiéhl est mind treasures for my acceptance. His joy in my progress (now that it is hot a memory) has much of pathos in it, {or it was all so .lovingly (nee-and gentleness the had. beet get was eolid Identityâ€"though only God vote what the can ’do yith it when she lets it.” Then he went on to an that “I in to he forthwith gent. he; and heme. to I collegennee of his, a clergyman. that had a living in: gem; out at the Kingdom. I must do grandmother the credit t6 say she was “properly senndalized by the general's action." but she wrote that. “being an humble and obedient wife, she could do nothing in the mutter but submit to the mon- strous nonsense.” ‘ My grandparents game two or thrce .times Ito me, and _my father once. .I had a few letters any] “Jun 6 dala'n‘u‘yhn is devoid of all um Then he went on to lay/she seabed ,1 h um. In; uni haunt. always in her I clergyman, that Ind O her non! u c‘ [mg-Kingdom. 1m oialiakehi eti’and children out . Mother thought that Mister Leytown bid "'1 :‘of so long a jour-, beautiful face. Ideals of beauty are individual;'and l0 small item, when what pleased. mother's fancy might displease séme ad, but 3' moderate other. so I had best describe his looks, as he is-to * _ ‘ play some part in this, my journalâ€"and only Gdd or three .times to Wots whether it shall be a sad or a merry one. ' I had a few letters, William Leytown. is slight and of kauelv:_hw- _ mm. . Maw-“M .. ,. -., -‘ ..,V J. "4 1‘ . .. .4 . . ~~ .-. .l â€" . V ;W_ , ,. .V. e V _ ;~M. W. ~ _ __,. .,_. _. w, 71mm»: -MÂ¥Mm ”SWâ€"- M . ‘ - A Cynic’s Sayings ‘ '- ‘ LITTLE cynicism is not a dangerous'thing A -but much of it is. The followinfi‘nph’orâ€" isms are taken from "The Cynic’s Calendar,” which .has' given many a laugh to the fortunau: op- timists whd know hop? i0 smile. They ‘are reprinted in the hope gh'at they my help to show up some of. on; _own foibles . . Eat your steak or you’ll have new; Stays make whisk. i plexion. He has large blue eyes, with thc'child light 's'till shining-in them, find he has atashion, when he is not holding no to them his gold quizzing glasses, to let his eyelids lower a trifle, thus giving to his broad, white’brow the suggestion of a frown. His face is thin and his mouth delicately shéped. Mother says it is a handsome, cruel mouth, and that his smile, revealing as it does” ’11:: even white-teeth. has no warmth‘in it. After mother’s comment I studied» this featurehandr I, have ‘long since cone-to the conclusion that soine ancestor of William Ley- ton’sâ€"many generations backâ€"ewes a lyiclted person- and committed a crimeâ€"a crime so attain its blpt- ting, so merciless in its execution, that a body would prefer not talk: informed as to its details; but it seems to fine that since then some woman (a Woman only a little lower than the fingels) has come into this strain of! humanity, and by her worth and. ex- cellence has succeeded in nearly blotting out, the stain of. the race. or pean through which herflinfant‘s soul had passed to he with God." 0n the same ship there journeyed with us a number of families. and many individuals intending to makehomes for themselves in the New World. Among the passengers were Mister William Leytown and his man servant. Before‘ we sailed the captain told father (in great confidence) that Mister-Leytown was a cousin of My Lord 8â€"â€" (I will not write down the full name. lest some one should he like “Peeping Tom.” and chance to look into my book before this generation of folk are all conveniently dead and buried); and father, not lllSll‘!“IW-9!Q.-H:. .mquldoatcfirstk.my no heedrto Mister known,» of a surety mother dared not be more than civil. But when I saw that he was crippled, helpless to move about, save when he had a pair of crutch sticks under his arms, I made hold to tell father that. it evinced no_hroadness of mind to vent sgitc on a helpless cripple hecause'the crip- p_le's cousin pnd father were at odds. Father rated the soundly for what he called my “unfeminine pres sumption,"_ but £91.41! that he took ‘wine with Mister Leytown at 'dihncr. and from..theme en mi!” voyage was ended, ,it seemed to fall to my lot to entertain the forms man, and as he was no mean. scholar, he 'was not‘ only nniinte'resting' hnt ail-ink" . . . t. structivc companion. . y. . w . - -,'_ _-.._,~" _ “wi- oi a link ellild. ‘ * ' ' Atlutusetuil. Itwunmand‘tedious voyage, ninety (by: of twin on the Atlantic, fly: of storm and day: upon day: of calm: My'youngeat sisterâ€"n babeâ€"died We buried her in mid-occur and under. a clpudleu sunset. I never saw so hit an aiding to a day. Homer aid that “it seemed to her that she could see the am of pearl through which herjnfunt‘s soul had nursed seemed mic! and not! peaceful (if that“: pom‘ble) thn'vbenllud lefthevsixyunbdom. She had notâ€"like tamer-grown older looking, (gt. in u'pitg of some silvet threads in her flown lair. :dmutome. Imihepnttlen; :hcr nnntmd about her knees. had kept us chi-n "rent of worldly fixings u dug (1b be co'nclldded‘nm'wuk) ofil plum; for all In a an i: mm of a expe: New have Iisti pria Inst It Unl

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