Mark Hurdlestone | Page 5

and arranged all
the parties and pic-nics in the neighborhood; and showed such a
willingness to oblige, that he led people to imagine that he was
receiving, instead of conferring a favor. His cheerful temper, agreeable
person, and well-cultivated mind, rendered him the life and soul of the

Hall; nothing went on well without him. His occupations were
various--his tasks never ended; he read prayers--instructed the young
gentlemen--shot game for the larder, and supplied the cook with
fish--had the charge of the garden and poultry-yard, and was
inspector-general of the stables and kennels; he carved at
dinner--decanted the wine--mixed the punch, and manufactured puns
and jokes to amuse his saturnine brother. When the dessert was
removed he read the newspapers to the old Squire, until he dosed in his
easy chair; and when the sleepy fit was over, he played with him at
cribbage or back-gammon, until the tea equipage appeared.
Then, he was an admirable cook, and helped his sister-in-law, with
whom he was an especial favorite, to put up pickles and preserves, and
prided himself upon catsup and elderberry-wine. He had always some
useful receipt for the old ladies; some pretty pattern for embroidery, or
copy of amatory verses for the young, who never purchased a new
dress without duly consulting Mr. Alfred as to the fashion of the
material and the becomingness of the color. Besides all these useful
accomplishments, he visited the poor when they were sick,
occasionally acting as their medical and ghostly adviser, and would
take infinite pains in carrying about subscriptions for distressed
individuals, whom he was unable to assist out of his own scanty funds.
He sang Italian and French songs with great taste and execution, and
was a fine performer on the violin. Such was the careless being to
whom Mr. Hurdlestone, for the sake of saving a few pounds per annum,
entrusted the education of his sons.
As far as the mere technicalities of education went, they could not have
had a more conscientious or efficient teacher; but his morality and
theology were alike defective, and, instead of endeavoring to make
them good men, Uncle Alfred's grand aim was to make them fine
gentlemen. With Algernon, he succeeded beyond his most sanguine
expectations, for there was a strong family likeness between that young
gentleman and his uncle, and a great similarity in their tastes and
pursuits. Mark, however, proved a most dogged and refractory pupil,
and though he certainly owed the fine upright carriage, by which he
was distinguished, to Uncle Alfred's indefatigable drilling, yet, like

Lord Chesterfield's son, he profited very little by his lessons in
politeness.
When the time arrived for him to finish his studies, by going to college
and travelling abroad, the young heir of the Hurdlestones obstinately
refused to avail himself of these advantages. He declared that the
money, so uselessly bestowed, would add nothing to his present stock
of knowledge, but only serve to decrease his patrimony; that all the
learning that books could convey, could be better acquired in the quiet
and solitude of home; that he knew already as much of the dead
languages as he ever would have occasion for, as he did not mean to
enter the church or to plead at the bar; and there was no character he
held in greater abhorrence than a fashionable beau or a learned pedant.
His uncle had earned a right to both these characters; and, though a
clever man, he was dependent in his old age on the charity of his rich
relations. For his part, he was contented with his country and his home,
and had already seen as much of the world as he wished to see, without
travelling beyond the precincts of his native village.
Mr. Hurdlestone greatly applauded his son's resolution, which, he
declared, displayed a degree of prudence and sagacity remarkable at his
age. But his mother, who still retained a vivid recollection of the
pleasures and gaiety of a town life, from which she had long been
banished by her avaricious lord, listened to the sordid sentiments
expressed by her first-born with contempt, and transferred all her
maternal regard to his brother, whom she secretly determined should be
the gentleman of the family.
In her schemes for the aggrandizement of Algernon, she was greatly
assisted by Uncle Alfred, who loved the handsome, free-spirited boy
for his own sake, as well as for a certain degree of resemblance, which
he fancied existed between them in mental as well as personal
endowments. In this he was not mistaken; for Algernon was but an
improvement on his uncle, with less selfishness and more activity of
mind. He early imbibed all his notions, and entered with avidity into all
his pursuits and pleasures. In spite of the hard usage that Uncle Alfred