Sink or Swim? , Volume I by Matilda Charlotte Houstoun

The approaching marriage of Mr. John Beacham, whose family had been time / out of mind one of the most respected and respectable in the entire / parish of Switcham, within the boundaries of which the Beachams had held / land to a large extent under many a successive lord of the manor of / Gillingham, was a very important event in that quiet locality. In his / way, John Beacham might almost be styled a _public_ character. Far and / near, whenever a certain highly interesting subject -- namely, that of / horses -- was upon the _tapis_, honest John's name was pretty certain to / be brought prominently forward. It was surprising -- in a country and on a / matter in which almost every young gentleman, probably, held a / first-rate opinion of his own merits as a judge of "cattle" -- what weight / the fiat of John Beacham, farmer and horse-breeder, was wont to carry / with it. The latter vocation -- and a highly lucrative one it was -- had not / been exercised for more than a dozen years or so by the lessees of / Shotover Farm, by which name, by the way, the hundreds of broad acres / rented by the Beacham family had, for generations past, been known. Some / six years before the death of John's father, the estate called Updown / Paddocks, and which consisted of many a broad and fertile meadow, / admirably adapted for breeding purposes, was announced to be for sale.

It lay in tempting proximity to Mr. Beacham's farm; the price in that / prudent individual's opinion was a reasonable one; he and his trusted / son John were agreed in the matter; so, in due course of time, the / tenants of Shotover progressed to the dignity of landowners. Meanwhile, / and pending the final arrangements for the purchase, John's mother, the / "old lady" of whom honourable mention has already been made, showed / herself anything but favourable to the new plan. Though a Yorkshire / woman born and bred, the love of horses and of horse-dealing was not / inherent in her septuagenarian breast. She was a tall, large-boned, but, / in spite of her seventy years, still a well-favoured woman. John was her / only surviving child, infantile complaints of various kinds having / carried away four others before they had had time to wind themselves too / closely round her heart; and in the said John, therefore -- in his present / comfort and his future fortunes -- all her best affections and her / keenest interests were concentrated. Many were the anxious moments / endured, and not a few the querulous remarks uttered, by the farmer's / cautious wife before the complete success of the undertaking, so / judiciously, and withal so conscientiously, carried on by her husband / and son, laid her fears to rest, and effectually put a stop to her / gloomy forebodings of loss and ruin.