As few of the family's mem-
bers had ever been known to live permanently
away from Blackburg, although most of them were
educated elsewhere and nearly all had travelled, there
was quite a number of them. The men held most of
the public offices, and the women were foremost in
all good works. Of these latter, Hetty was most be-
loved by reason of the sweetness of her disposition,
the purity of her character and her singular personal
beauty. She married in Boston a young scape-
grace named Parlow, and like a good Brownon
brought him to Blackburg forthwith and made a
man and a town councillor of him. They had a child
which they named Joseph and dearly loved, as was
then the fashion among parents in all that region.
Then they died of the mysterious disorder already
mentioned, and at the age of one whole year Joseph
set up as an orphan.
Unfortunately for Joseph the disease which had
cut off his parents did not stop at that; it went on
and extirpated nearly the whole Brownon contingent
and its allies by marriage; and those who fled did
not return. The tradition was broken, the Brownon
estates passed into alien hands, and the only
Brownons remaining in that place were underground
in Oak Hill Cemetery, where, indeed, was a colony
of them powerful enough to resist the encroachment
of surrounding tribes and hold the best part of the
grounds. But about the ghost:
One night, about three years after the death of
Hetty Parlow, a number of the young people of
Blackburg were passing Oak Hill Cemetery in a
wagon--if you have been there you will remember
that the road to Greenton runs alongside it on the
south.
Pages:
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140