The Entailed Hat; Or, Patty Cannon's Times

inning with King Charles II. and his tavern credits in Rotterdam, ended in endowing Colonel George Washington with a widow's mite. The Judge at Princess Anne wa

of productions, the ocean and the loam alone contributing to man,

und his furnace a considerable town, his own residence as proprietor conspicuous in the midst. There he spent a large part of the time, and not always in the company of his family, entertaini

Princess Anne he was more discriminating, rising in that society to his family stature, and surrounded by alliances which demanded what is called "bearing." In shor

sta, placing the rose in Meshach Milburn's mysterious h

He owes something to this community. I'll go down to his kennel, unde

el street. There were, as usually, some negroes around Milburn's small, weather-stained store, and Sam

y gentleman over, "you'se a good man yet. But d

tis, "there's one old fell

ight him, sho! Dat's a fack! But I'

's boy, the class-l

ed Samson, kindling up. "I'll walk

the counter, and Meshach was measuring whiskey out to them by the cheap dram in exchange for coonskins and

orn

f universal acquaintance. It was not hostility, nor welcome, nor indifference. It was not exactly spirit. As nearly as the Judge could formulate

s, "when you are at leisure let

poor folks in his little are

me back in

ommand. Milburn closed the door. Th

that you charge well for it. I am a borrower sometimes, and I believe in keeping i

replied

smiling, "you'll put m

you go, and the inconvenience of going will cost something too. If you add your expenses as liberall

ome reason for a heavy discount, but my property will en

on that kind of risk. I must read upon it! They say manufa

e tho

upon the

es

and the Judge, with easy curiosity,

seemed to have a mind and function of its own. Looking at his hands only, one would have said: "There is here a pianist, a penman, a woman of definite skill, or a

ch Milburn, if more r

like an Indian, and expressed a stolid power and swarthiness. Below, there dropped a large face, in proportion, with nothing noticeable about it except the nose, which was so straight, prominent, and complete, and its nostrils so sensitive, that only

is conditi

es," said the town-bre

and," added some f

ever shake

the loan. Judge Custis was surprised at the moderation of Meshach, and he looked up

security," said Meshach, "I

and hooted Shylock intimate that their relations could be more than a prince's to

"our town is not so large that we don't all see each othe

wear the n

inherit

nherited

the Judge could tell whether it was an angr

in Princess Anne. Where did you get authority to questio

han curiosity made me suggest it. And I may also remark to you, sir, that

burn, "and if I ever enter your d

when you have another fight and make yourself a barbarian again, rememb

families on the Peninsula; and these perceived, as the annual summers brought their fulness, what portion of their beauty remained with Vesta Custis. She was like Helen of Troy, a subject of homage and dispute in childhood, and became a woman, in men's consider

one common opportunity to see her and to hear her-when she

A divine bird seemed hidden in the old church when this noble yet tender voice broke forth;

up the first splendor of the peach; a head of vital and spiritual beauty, where purity and luxuriance, woman and mind, dwelt in harmony and joy. As she seemed ever to be ripening, so she seemed never to have been a child, but, with faculties and sense clear and unintimidated, she was never wanting in modesty, nor accused of wa

ome with me! I want

ft, spirited command; "Come, sir! you can't stay here any more," dismisse

ss and length, released from the crown into which she wound it, might have spun her garments. Her eyes were of a steel-blue, in whi

worthiness, of unimpaired health, honor, and descent, which made her kind and thoughtful to a degree only less than piety. Grateful for her social rank and parentage, she adorned but did not forget them. The sui

one occasion. "When I get the furnace in such shape that it will run it

arked was still an experiment, and he was subject to the knowledge and judgment of his manager, being himself rather the patron than the manufacturer at the works. Many days, when he was supposed to be testing the percentage and mixture of his ores, he was gunning off on the ocean bars, crabbing on Whollop's Beach, or hunt

ng, and she fancied that his large, coarse ears were turned to receive the music she was making, and she faintly remembered that once she had held in her hands that wonderful hat with its copper buckle in the band, and stiff, wide brim, flowing in a wave. More than that she knew nothing, except that the wearer was an humble-born, grasping creature-a fores

the surrounding farms, and rumors came across the bay that he was a holder of stocks and mortgages on the Western Shore, and in Baltimore and Pennsylvan

wongo, within a few days of each other. Now, I wear two bell-crowns a year. I come out every Fourth of July and

hension on the possible time when her daughter would marry and leave her; for Judge Custis had long ceased to have the full confidence of his lady, whose fortune he had embark