There lived in Ireland a long time ago a certain Lord Altham. The time
was about sixty years before our American Revolution. This Lord Altham
was a weak and foolish man. He quarreled with his wife, and sent her
away. He wasted his money in wicked living, and got into debt. He had
a little son named James Annesley. "Jemmy," as he was called, was sent
to a boarding school; but the father grew more wicked, and more
careless of his son. He sent the boy away, and pretended that he was
dead. He did this because he wanted to sell some property that he
could not sell if Jemmy were alive.
Jemmy found himself badly treated where he lived. When he complained,
he was told that his father did not pay his board: so he ran away. He
lived in the streets with rough boys. He ran on errands for pay, like
the other little street boys. But still the boys knew that Jemmy was
the son of a lord. Strangers were surprised to hear a little ragged
boy called "my lord" by his playmates.
When he was about thirteen years old, his father died. Then Jemmy
Annesley became Lord Altham in place of his father; but his uncle
Richard, who was a cruel man, took Jemmy's property, and called
himself Lord Altham.
The wicked uncle was afraid that people would find out that Jemmy was
alive, and he sent a man to see where the boy was. When the boy was
found, his uncle accused him of stealing a silver spoon. He hired
three policemen to arrest the boy and put him on a ship. Poor Jemmy
wept bitterly. He told the people he was afraid his uncle would kill
him. The ship took him to Philadelphia, where he was sold to a farmer
to serve until he should be of age.
[Illustration: Kidnapping a Lord.]
One day, when he was about seventeen years old, he came into his
master's house with a gun in one hand and a squirrel in the other.
There were two strangers sitting by the fire. They had found the door
open, and had walked in.