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VOLUME I.
HIS WANDERING
OVER, PENITENT
RETURNS HOME
BERT ZABRISKIE WELCOMED
BY HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS
AT MONTVILLE, N. J.
Long Absence Seemingly Only
Had Made Hearts Grow Fond
er—Share of His Father’s Es
tate Waiting for Him, With a
Welcome From' the Grand
daughter He Had Never Seen.
M MONTVILLE, N. J.—The rov-
SmjffH ing fever had got into Bert
Ilwß Zabriskie's blood, and it made
fidset- He dreamed of
the wide-stretching prairies,
and the valleys lying snug and warm
at his home here, became pitifully nar
row; he thought of the lofty peaks of
the Rockies, and the wooded ridge
back of Boonton shrunk to an ant
hill; he pictured the distant great wa
ters reaching down a thousand miles
to the sea, and the prattle of the
Rockaway river winding In and out
among the swales above the old mill
sounded like childish mockery.
These were symptoms.
All the thirty-odd years of his life
Bert Zabriskie had lived in one neigh
borhood. There he had married.
There two daughters had been born.
But the fever reached its height, as
all fevers must, and he struck out.
He didn’t take his fainily with him.
Other men have struck out that way.
Boonton and Montville gossiped. Oth
er towns have done that, too.
And this ends chapter one, except
to say that some of our best doctors
have been trying for years to find
some sort of blood purifier that would
allay the roving fever in country bred
boys, and they haven’t hit the right
thing yet. Dosing doesn't seem to do
it any good.
Descendant of Patriots.
When George Washington, Father
of His-Country, and consequently of
New Jersey, was in camp at Morris
town Heights and his soldiers were
ull of patriotism but otherwise empty,
times being hard, a squad of Conti
nentals were sent down the Rockaway
river to pick up cupplies by fair means
if possible, but to get ’em.
Even at that early day a Zabriskie
kept the mill. He stood at the grain
hopper.
“You may tell General Washington,"
he said, as. the incident is handed
down, “that so long as water runs and
wheels turn and millstones grind I’ll
de all I can to relieve the distress of
the fighters for liberty.”
This shows the kind of people the
Zabriskies were, however.
One gray bearded Zabriskie after
another slipped into the flour-dusty
overalls. The last was Albert James
Zabriskie, father of the rover and of
two daughters, both married.
By hard work, long hours and inci
dental thrift this miller Zabriskie had
-Iready become well-to-do, as Jersey
oik measure savings, when an oppor
tunity came to him to make some big
easy money.
Deal That Meant Wealth.
Jersey City was down in the Rocka
way river country to establish a water
system and buil ’ a great reservoir. Za
briskie owned the water rights on the
river and Jersey City had to see him
first. There’s more money in water
rights than there is in grinding neigh
borhood corn. Zabriskie drove a
harp bargain and became rich at just
the time of his life when he wanted to
knock oft work for good. It looked
then as if he would live out his years
in contentment, but you never can tell
bout such things. Son Bert took the
ever and struck out. Months passed
and nothing was heard from him.
One day Lawyer Nelson S. Kitchell
was summoned opposite the mill. He
found the old man rather poorly and
anxious to have his worldly affairs
set in order, for he felt that his end
vas fast approaching.
A will had been drawn dividing th 3
estate into three parts, but as the
rover’s whereabouts was unknown, a
odicil was added providing that Bert’s
hare should be held in trust by the ad
ministrators until his young daugh
ter should reach the age of 24. If
tte absent son should return before
that time he could claim his share;
If not ,the two granddaughters were to
divide it
Done With Earthly Troubles.
This provision being set forth in
detail to his liking, the miller scratch
ed his name to the document and wit
nesses appended theirs.
There being no further call to the
grist bin, and enforced Idleness having
added its burden to the weight of his
four times twenty years, the miller
fell into a rapid decline and in wid-
NUMBER 2.
January, four years ago, crape flut
tered .at the door of the homestead
and the death hush was in the spare
room.
The rover did not return for the fu
neral. He sent no word. His where
abouts remained unknown to Mont
ville. Years had piled up since he had
struck out. The old man’s will be
came operative.
And this brings the second chapter
to Its conclusion.
The count up of the ihiller’s prop
erty showed that apart from the fruit
ful acreage, the homestead and the
century-old mill he had gilt-edged
holdings that put the estate in the
hundred thousand class, which is go
ing some for Montville, a town not
giving to money boasting.
Estate Duly Divided.
In the orderly way of probate law,
Mrs. Cora Van Duyne and Mrs. Eliza
beth Ball, the immediate women heirs
to the miller's estate, got their con
siderable shares, and the Court of
Chancery in and for Morris county,
upon application, directed the' execu
tors to apply the income of the rover’s
share of the estate to the mainte
nance of the stay-at-home wife and
mother and daughters, the latter now
having grown out of shoe-top frocks
and passed from the braid-down-the
back period 4 into the early stage of
young womanhood.
Upon the settlement of the estate
Mrs. Van Duyne and her husband, the
latter’s health requiring a change, re
moved from Montville straight across
the country to Pasadena. Cal., where
they settled.
Long-Lost Brother Found.
One day last winter, while motoring
about in the new. country, Mrs. Van
Duyne visited Los Angeles. She was
driving her car along one ot the ave
nues toward the suburbs when a trol
ley crossing at an angle halted her.
The motorman. capped and coated
in blue, turned his head in her direc
tion. She recognized him at once.
The motorman was her long-misstag
brother.
As soon as possible she arranged
to meet him. It was a reunion with
out formality.
And what a lot of things there was
to tell —the death of the good old fath
er just as he had rounded out his
eightieth year, and of how up to the
very last he had had only the kindest
thoughts for the absent son; of the
will and the codicil thereto, which
safeguarded the one-third share; of
his own loyal wife and the daughters,
and of the marriage of one to as likely
a chap as there is in the valley, and
or the new baby with eyes like its
mother's, and just learning to toddle;
of the fire which had reduced the old
homestead to ashes —all these things
and more there were to tell in a rec
ord of the years that had come and
gone since he had struck out.
Rover Arranges to Go Home.
There was some telegraphing and
some letter writing on the part of the
sister, and some hesitation on the
part of the rover, all of which was
quite natural, and as matters of the
sort are bound to be settled if only
they are helped along in the right
way, Bert Zabriskie finally decided to
return.
©be fhlkth
IRWINTON, WILKINSON COUNTY, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1912.
Bronzed from life in the open, with
hair just a little thin at the temples,
but otherwise looking much as he did
when the fever attacked him, Bert
Zabriskie arrived back Im Montville —
back to the valley which was no long
er pitifully narrow; to the sight of
the wooded ridge which has resumed
its normal, and to the river, which
now prattles a welcome.
How quickly the news jumped from
farm to farm and from town to town!
Why, in less than a week everybody
for miles around knew about it, and
pretty everybody said he was mighty
glad Bert’d got back, for he was a
lot better than some folks that had
talked about him.
Old friends drove around to see him
and say hello a'nd get a line on what
the far west was like as far as he had
been. Some acted just as if they were
on the verge of the fidgets, too, for
when a rover returns to his native
soil others begin to dream of the far
away.
All Glad to See Him.
The welcome that was Bert Zabris
kie’s was as sincere as he could wish.
When he reached the turn In the road
where the river sings its way down to
the mill they were all out to meet him
—wife and daughter and t*ie baby, too
—and he was passed from one to the
other and there were smiles of joy
and tears of joy, for they go together
on such occasions, and handshakings
and embraces.
And of course there was a reconcili
ation, the details of which need not
be gone into, that matter being no
body’s business outside of the family,
and some stories of adventure and a
good dinner.
After a period which did not sug
gest overhaste, there was a consul
tation with the lawyers.
And the terms of the codicil to
Father Zabriskie’s will providing that
the son should inherit his share If he
returned before the younger daughter
reached her twenty-fourth birthday,
everything is all fine and dandy.
Daughter’s birthday is some weeks
oft.
“Folks around here had a lot of
things to say when I went away that
were not true,” said Zabriskie to a
caller —“a lot of things that were just
made up.”
That Is as true as Gospel. Gossips
never keep strictly to facts anywhere,
and Jersey gossips are no exceptions.
Badly Frightened Fish.
“It was never so known before.”
gays Rankin Dunfre, a Carlisle (Pa.)
angler, who wasn’t angling on the oc
casion in point. “I was crossing the
bridge near home swinging my lan
tern. for the night was dark. I heard
a great splash, got down on the bank
with my lantern to see the cause, and
lo and behold! a 16-lnch fish lay
floundering tn the weeds. The lantern
must have scared him out of the wa
ter —don’t you think?”
Tribute to Givere of Joy.
The sweetest music in the world is
the laugh of a child. Every child
ought once a week to have a birth
day.—Exchange.
THE BEGINNING OF
A GREATER CAREER
The Yesterday, Today and
Tomorrow of Our Career
During the yesterday ot our busi
ness career, we anticipated the desire
of the people of this section of the
State, for an up-to-date store, with
modern ideas and modern business
principles. To this end we have
worked, we have spared neither mon
ey nor labor.
On July Ist, the old firm, under the
laws of Georgia, was formed into a
corporation, with Mr. W. S. Myrick,
who has been with the old firm since
its organization, as President and
Manager. Mr. T. H. Caraker, the
capable manager of the Shoe Depart
ment, Vice President, and Mr. J. W.
Daniels, former Manager of the
Clothing Department, as Secretary and
Treasurer.
This is a step forward. It has been done
that we might better serve you, that we might
make shopping more pleasant and congenial
for you in the future than it has been in the
past, also that the men who have worked to
help build up this great business, might be
identified with the firm.
Today we open the doors ot a great depart
ment Store to you thit is at your service and
is up-to-date and progressive in every respect.
The tomorrow of our business career shall
keep pace with the strides of the most mod
ern and Progressive Stores in the Country.
The W. S. Myrick Co
(Incorporated)
Milledgeville, Georgia
Everything For Everyone to
Wear
SI.OO A YEAB.