12 Conservative *
Iii a. wild new
A JFA11LK OF
EXPANSION.reg1011' OUCO ft
youug man started
oat in life , poor as a bird , but with a
large estate , to which by hard strug
gling ho had got a title ho could hold.
For a while the chances seemed against
him ; but ho was able and resolute ; and
he had married a splendid wife , so often
the making of a man. She was young
and poor in the world like himself , but
of even a more ancient and honored
family ; he had known her since he
knew anything , and never cared for
another. Many along the way had
shaken their heads at the impulsive
match ; they said ho could never main
tain her , and both would sink to poverty
and ruin ; but holy love and hard sense
knew better , and well was their wisdom
justified of its children. She proved the
very help he most needed from the first ,
and afterward , mother of a mighty race.
Our hero did not long continue poor.
By tireless energy and brain , he soon
improved the estate he set out with , and
then began rapidly adding to it. Deal
ing skillfully with his landed neighbors ,
he took in hero a field and there a forest ,
now a stream and then a cabin , ever
building greater and finer , till in a mere
trice , while still in the prime of his
years , he was known for one of the big
gest landlords in all the territory.
Everybody wondered at his growth , and
congratulated his prosperity ; perhaps
those the most who sneered at it. He
was generally respected , and especially
sought after by the poor , from his
known liberality. He was not univer
sally popular among the higher classes ,
and it was partly his own fault. A
bumptious way of talking and behaving ,
no doubt born of his well-earned success ,
went against him ; and they disliked his
habit of even-handed and all-round
tobacco squirting , kept up from rough
pioneer times , when he had hardly any
thing but tobacco to keep him company.
But it is to be said , that those who knew
him well seemed nearly always to like
him , and some of his warmest friends
were the more intelligent of the circles
who had been his severest critics. At
least that noble wife was true to him ,
up to all record ; her tongue did grow a
little sharp at times , but the "old man"
only said that it never hurt him , and it
seemed to do her such a sight of good.
Once in a while this airy confidence
did lead him into some questionable
proceedings. He grew so used to taking
in land , that on one or two occasions he
seemed a little unscrupulous as to the
methods. Over and above a perpetual
fracas with some gypsies who had
simply occupied without improving the
soil , with whom there was some buy ing ,
some driving and a great deal of cheat
ing , the right and wrong of the general
matter standing in a good deal of doubt
he hod once been known to eject a
poorer neighbor from many a broad
acre by sheer violence , though after
ward pretending to pay him something
for the seizure. He put forth many
high claims of justice , but everybody
know he took the laud because he was
ablt > , and no one could call him. to
account. That is , from without ; his
best friends , and many among his own
now flourishing household , protested
loudly against the act and loudest of
all , it is said , that very wife of his youth ,
to whom ho owed almost everything ,
and whoso principles were most ex
pressly outraged by this act. It is
related also , that a terrible retribution
overtook him shortly after , for neglect
ing her counsels , in the shape of an
intestine spasm indigestion from too
much laud-gulping seemed the im
mediate cause which threatened his
very existence for years ; but that is a
family matter.
He recovered , and his growth went on
apace. Acquisition , and increase of
splendor , continued as of old. But
after a time , one day when he seemed
to have been taking a little too much ,
internally at least his utterance at the
period sounded very much like it he
once more assaulted a weak old neigh
bor , some of whose proceedings had
indeed been a nuisance , and to the same
old purpose : "A little more land , if
you please sir my hand is well on your
throat , my pistol right at your temple ,
and my heart is magnanimous ; I will
pay you a consideration. " As before ,
his true friends had been remonstrating.
And now arose a curious discussion. An
agent , who had acted and was under
stood to speak for our hero , stood before
the family and enumerated every one
of those extensions in their order , giv
ing date , location and area to the square
foot in each case , exhibiting the great
ness they had led to , and recalling that
in almost every instance there had been
some of the household who opposed , for
one reason or another ; to the very clear
conclusion , that all was right now , as
all had been before. Some of the
listeners did not indeed find anything
very extraordinary in what was de
livered , as they could remember hearing
it many times before ; but the oration
did seem to them a little remarkable for
what it omitted. They found no men
tion or suggestion of the vital fact , that
every ono of these absorptions from the
neighbors had been by the way of peace
ful purchase and bargain good for both
sides , with the single exception of that
one aggression fifty years before , now
for the first time repeated ; that this in
vasion had been felt as a brand of
indelible disgrace upon the record ; that
those who opposed it then were now
regarded as the conscience and intelli
gence of the family , and those who now
opposed the violence were doing exactly
as these did then ; above all , their sacred
mother , who had made them all they
were , gave counsel now as before.
Parallels , it would seem , if they exist
in the actual world at all , and are not a
fiction of the mind are decidedly re
versible ; they extend in opposite wayt
alike.
*
A BENEFACTOR. ' . ,
Smith , the Chicago
millionaire who died recently in London ,
became a benefactor by dying. His
estate has contributed $2,000,000 to the
treasury of New York as its share of
the iuheritanco tax , in addition to the
sum of $5,000,000 deposited in the ex
chequer of England. The fee of the
comptroller for making the collection
was $20,000. Including the share of the
United States government , amounting
to about $5,000,000 , which has not yet
been apportioned , the total amount re
alized from the estate under the inherit
ance tax will be about $12,000,000.
We are tired of hearing of Mrs. Pot
ter Palmer. How do you feel about her ?
Mrs. Potter Palmer's husband has con
siderable money , a large part of which
she seems to devote to advertising her
self. We are also tired of hearing of
Bishop Potter of New York. He rushes
into print very frequently , and is never
interesting. Atchison Globe.
H.W.dft HNS'
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-K *
