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Importing An Ancestor

Importing An Ancestor image
Parent Issue
Day
17
Month
April
Year
1894
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

[Copyright, 1893, by American Press AbsocíivUonJ CHAPTER X. v1ctoriocs at last- "a bee" in my father's "bonnet." No sooner were our ancestors safely ieposited in their respective vaults than my father inclosed his burial lot with a fine iron fence and set up a number of huge Btone vases to contain hanging vines. To these he from time to time added sucli other ornaments and improvements as were suggested by Rev. Nantucket Spenu, Captain Shrimp and ethers. These works oceupied his days, and his nights were given to the study of the genealogy. Rev.Walter Mowbray created so favorable an impression that he was invited to become the pastor of a church in the neighboring village of Weenipsit. As he had now become reimbued with the spirit of the true and earnest Christian soldier and teacher, he feit ithis duty to makeafull andhumble confession to the bishop in authority and beg to be reinstated. In this ny father and I lent our assistance, and the story of Jepson was made known to only a few discreet persons. In his preaching he is said to be doing good work. The pictures he draws in his warnings to young men are so realistio that his hearers wonder how the good old man is able to so faithfolly portray the many evils of this wicked world, of none of which he can possibly have had any personal experience. My father's example caused many iron railings and handsome monuments to be erected by his neighbors, and the Pasonagessit cemetery is not only the prideof the village, but also is the model for all the neighboring villages, in nearly every one of which the work of improvement is in progress. Rev. Nantucket Sperm is always lond in his praise of my father for his inauguration of the good work which is now being carried on with se much pious enthusiasm. But that which gave my father the greatest pleasure was the following incident, which he was never tired of relating: One day as he was coming in from the cemetery he was stopped by a woman apparently about 90 years of age, who, cane in hand, stood before her cottage. "Mr. Johnson." said the venerable dame, "I want tew thank you. I've been a-holdin back lor years all I knew heow jist tokeep from bein stuck deown out there among the weeds and briers, but now Ym willin tew go whenever the Lord calis. The homes of the dead of the village are neow as bright as the homes of its living, and changin from one to the other don't seem dreadful like it used tew. I've always been tidy in my home among the livin, and I'd like to be tidy in my home among the dead." It is my father's delight to accompany my sisters when they go forth to strew f resh flowers on the tombs of our ancestors. ün such occasions he favors them with long extracta from the genealogy. He never tires of disconrsing of the career of the Johnsons of England, and in speaking of the trials and tribulations of Sir Archibald his face is at one moment flushed with righteous wrath, and at the next he becomes pathetic, and tears roll down his cheeks. He has now not only fully adopted our imported ancestors, but has also so fondly studied their history that he has come to firmly believe them of his own flesh and blood. I was made aware of this the day af ter our grand funeral ceremonies when I said to my father, "So ends the grimmest, most protracted and elabórate practical joke ever perpetrated on the soil of New England." "Joke, sir!" sternly cried my father, staring at me as though he thought me losing my wits. "Do you cali that which has been wrought by the hand of Providence a joke? Let me never again hear you speak in that light manner of what the Lord has brought about. I am as certain as that I live that Sir Archibald Johnson was my great-grandf ather. The proofs are so many and so strong that I cannot doubt them. Not a man in America doubts them. My son, what has been done inay have been commenced in a spirit less serious than was befitting a work of such great gravity and importance, but all the time unknown to us God was guiding us aright. By his hand you were led to the tombs of our ancestors, and in all we have since done we have had his aid. Thus has our work been made to prosper and bring forth good fruit. "How you can doubt that those whose remains we have so dutifully honored are our ancestors I cannot conceive, especially in the face of all the proofs you have brought home from the mother couiitry. In the Bible we read that the patriarchs of old experienced certain internal physical commotions termed 'yearning of the bowels' when brought into the presence of those to whom they were united by ties of consanguinity. Formerly I coald not understand the pnenomenon, but now I never approach tlie tomb of Sir Archibald that I do not experience similar internal sensations in the región of the diaphragin, which I accept as a sign given me f rom one now in the other world." My father, being thus curt and decided with me, his own son and fellow conspirator, convinced me that had any stranger dared to even so much as hint a suspicion that our imported ancestors were not all we claimed the old gentleman would have belabored the doubter with his cane. As I had no desire to detract from the family enjoymcnt, I ever thereafter kept whatever light thoughts I may have had to myself. Indeed it was to me always a great pleasure to observe my sister Eleanor strewing fresh flowers with piU8 care npon the tomb of Lady Eleajor, her great-great-grandmother - by anportatiou. lf there were any who were previously inclined to stand aloof from our family, the discourse of Rev. Walter Mowbray brought them into the fold of our 1 friends. Still old Amarían Bradford was liyno raeans ilisposecl to at onceaümit that I was worthy of alliance matrimonially with a family of the "truest blue8t New England blood." Charity Bfadford, the wife of old Amariah, was in f uil sympathy with her daughter and through her mother Prudence was able tolearnsomething of the state of her father'smind. She informed me that after he had listened attentively to the discourse of Rev. Mr. Mowbray her father had said in a conversation with her mother that, though a member of my family had landed at Salem ia 1630, still it was 10 years later than the pilgrims, and, besides, arriving in an ordinary trading vessel was very different from coming over in the Mayflower. However, as Lady Arbella Johnson seemed to have been of a very respectable Puritan family, her not coming to the country 10 years earlier might be overlooked. As her husband's name was Isaac, he was inclined to the belief that they were a genuinely God f earing pair. As for titles, they were all mere worldly vanities. He therefore pretended to care nothing at all for Sir Archibald and Lady Eleanor. He said they were probably persecutors of the righteous. Soon after this was reported to me I one day by chance f ound the Bradford of all the Bradfords at the cemetery contemplating with much satisfaction the tombs of Sir Archibald, Lady Eleanor and Lady Arbella. I remained aloof, being content with the knowledge that the learen was working. Upon consultation with Prudence we arrived at the conclusión that 1 might now safely "speak to her father." In a long time he had said nothing about Standish Bradford and had winked at my escorting Prudence to and from the "gatherings" of the young folks. When I bearded "the Bradford" in his den, he gave his consent to my making Prudence Mrs. Johnson, but almost in the same breath plainly gave me t understand that through Lady Arbella and her husband Isaac, as the earliest representatives of the Johnson family in New England, we need never expect to rank with the tnie blue Bradfords. As for Sir Archibald and Lady Eleanor, he said he looked upon them as mero vanities not to be taken into corsideratior.! for a moment in a country where titlesare unknown and despised. Captaiin Shrimp was delip;hted when the seal of secrecy was removed front his tongue and he was at liberty te speak openly of the important part he had played during the courtship. My father was takea completely by surprise. He had been so absorbed in the "grave" affairs to which he had long devoted his time that he had never thought of euch I a thing as my taking a wife in Pasonagessit. He did not go out to the cemetery for a week, but gave his whole time to the genealogical tree, making man y measurements for the new branches that must soon be added. My sisters were "not at all surprised." They "had had their eyes open." . On the occasion of my wedding I surprised Prudence with a number of articles of jewelry I had caused to be made in London. On a bracelet I had a beautifully engraved represen tation of theMayflower and the landing of the pilgrims. Then other articles were adorneA with the mayflower of old England (tht hawthorn blossom), and the blossom of the trailing arbutus, the mayflower of New England, composed of suitable precious stones. I think the placing of the mayflower in some shape on every article of jewelry that I gave Prudence had its effect upon the Bradford of all the Bradfords. as he warmed to me wonderfully after the wedding. One day when he had been particularly good I gave him one of the sil ver gilt buttons taken from the grave of my great-great-grandfather. He said it was "a thing of vanity," yet his eyes sparkled as he took it. My father, as time passes, devotas him - self more and more to his genealógica': records and almost daily regales some one with the exploits of old Geoffroi at the sacking of Thetfort by the Danés. Of late he has developed some new toms. In all aeriousness he one day said j to me: "Sam, my dear boy, I ain out of place here. Indeed we are all out of place. We should hein England. I aui really and truly Sir James ArchibaM. Johnson and your ïnother Lady Jane Johnson. I onght to take our genealogical record, go back to the mother country and claim my rights there. That would place us all in our proper poeition." Privately he sneers at the descendants of the pilgrim fathers as "persons of no blood," and publicly(in Pasonagessit) he scorns all who are not able to prove their descent from the pilgrim fathers as "persons withont ancestors." In carrying through to an efficacicms conclusión our scheine for curing the Pasonagessit people of their ailment, it is very evident tliat my father has absorbed a very malignant type of the yery disorder we sought to eradicate. So .E find that in all good works we must expect some drawbacks. Absolute perfection is almost unattainable, even in the most pure, noble and praiseworthy Tin dertakings in which we can embark. THE EXD.

Article

Subjects
Ann Arbor Argus
Old News