Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, November 20, 1908, Image 1
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i.m. GRIST'S SONS. Publishers, j % Jamilu Beirspaper: J[or the JBromotion of the political, Social. Agricultural and Commercial Interests of the jpeople. {iiiilLVAJ"!*
ESTABLISHED 1855. YORK VILLE, S. C'., Fill DAY, NOVEMBER'20, 1908. NO. 93.
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THE
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Copyrighted 1896, by Wm. H
By Permission of Lai
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L * CHAPTER IV.
^ At the end of the passage, facing the
ravine, I stood and talked to Guinea,
while Alf was hitching the mare to the
buckboard. The sun was well over to
the west, pouring upon us, and in the
strong light I noted the clear, healthhue
of her complexion. A guinea
- - j
chicken, swift and gracerui, ran rounu
the corner of the house, and nodding
toward the fowl, I said: "I am talking
to her namesake and she is jealous."
I thought that the shadow of a pout
crossed her lips, but she smiled and
replied: "If my real name were not
so ugly I'd insist upon people calling
me by it. I hate nicknames."
"But sometimes they are appropri*
ate," I rejoined.
"But when they are," she said, laughing.
"they never stick. It's the disagreeable
nickname that remains with
us."
"Is that the philosophy you learned
at Raleigh?" I asked.
(She shrugged her shapely shoulders,
laughed low in her throat and answered:
"I haven't learned philosophy at
all. It doesn't take much of a stock
of learning for a girl who lives away
out here."
"But she might strive to learn in order
to be fitted for a better life, believing
that it will surely come."
"How encouraging you are. Mr.
Hawes. After a while you may per
i ..-ooll,. alod that
suaue me mai i am .va..,. n
j you came."
"You have already made me glad." 1
replied.
"Have I? Then mind that I don't
P make you sorry. Alfs waiting for
you."
As we drove toward Perdue's I wondered
what could have caused old man
Jucklin's change of manner at the
time he had spoken of sending his
daughter away to be educated. Surely,
he could not deplore the grace and
refinement which this schooling had
given her. Would it be well to ask
Alf? No; he could but regard such a
question as a direct impertinence.
The mare trotted briskly and the
k rush of cool air was delicious. The
road was crooked, holding in its elbows
bits of scenery unsuspected until
we were upon them, moss growing
under great rocKs, nwpmg m ^
shade, a bit of water blazing in the
sun. a hickory bottom, where squirrels
were barking; and from everywhere
came the thrilling incense of spring.
A If. though a fanner, had not the
stoop of overwork, nor that sullenness
that often comes from a life-long and
close association with the soil; he was
chatty, talked to his mare, talked to
me and whistled to himself. He pointed
out a cave wherein British soldiers
V had been forced to take refuge to save
themselves from the pursuit of victorious
patriots, but what they had supposed
was a refuge was, indeed, a trap,
lor the patriots smoked them out and
^ took them to General Green's camp
We drove upon a hill top. and, looking
across a valley, 1 saw a large brick
house on a hill not far beyond. And 1
recognized it as a place that I had
""''Uof ?n thf? dnv. "It's where
Cleneral Lundsford lives," said A If, follow
ingr my eyes with his own. "We
go by there. He used to own a good
many negroes and some of them still
(hang about him. Most of his land is
poor, but enough of it is rich to make
him well off. And proud! He's proud
as a blooded horse. Most of the very
few old-timers that are left in this
part of the country. We are getting
somewhat Yankeefied, especially away
over to the east where so many northern
people come of a winter. But he
doesn't take much to it?still cuts his
wheat with a cradle."
We drove down into the valley,
crossed a rude stone bridge, and slowly
went up the other side. The mare,
brisk from having been pent up, showed
a disposition to quicken her pace,
but Alf held her back, searching with
* his strong eyes the yard, the summer
house in the garden hard by and the
orchard off to the left. I looked at him
and his face was eager and hard set,
but his eyes, though strained, were
orl/wintr T <jnnke to him. but
ho heeded me not, but just at th.'it moment
he drew himself straighter and
gazed toward the house. And I saw a
woman crossing the yard. The road
ran close to the low, rough stone wall,
and when we had come opposite the
gate Alf stopped the mare and got out
to buckle a strap. But I noticed that
he was looking more at the house than
at the strap. A broad porch, or gallery.
as we term it. ran nearly half way
r round the house, and out upon this a
girl stepped and stood looking over us
at the hills far away. I saw Alf blush
and the next moment he had sprung
upon the buck-board and was driving
I ^ off almost furiously. I wondered why
he should be afraid of her. He was
not overgrown, not awkward, but lithe,
and I knew that he loved her and that
his own emotion had frightened him.
Perdue lived but a short distance beyond
the general's place, and so?.n we
were there, talking to the old fellow
out at the fence. When I told him my
business he looked sharply at me, appea
ring to measure me from head to
foot; and he said I was, no doubt, the
man he had been longing to see. "And
now," said he. after we had talked for
a time, "if you are willing to take this
school and go ahead with it, all rl^ht.
^ I am determined that the boys and girls
of this community shall get an education
even if they choke the creek
with teachers. If I had full swing I'd
raise a lot of men and go around and
club the big boys. Oh. it hasn't been
this wav very long. We've had firstrate
schools here, but those devilish
Aimes boys are so full of the old Harry?but
we'll fix 'em. The ground will)
? be all right for plowin' tomorrow, and
the big bovs will have to work until the
corn is laid by, but I reckon you'll get
a prettv fair turn-out. There's enough
monev annronriated to have a rattlin'
Rood school, and If you'll stick by me
we'll have It."
I told him that I would stick to him.
ui iwiwufiu in inmmrm m nvm i
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: READ. !
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I. Lee?All Rights Reserved. fl
rd & Lee, Publishers. 9
"All right," said he, "see that you do.
Let me see. This is Friday. You hold
yourself in readiness to begin Monday
mornin', and tomorrow I will ride
around the neighborhood and spread
the news.'"
So that was settled. Briskly we drove
away, and again upon nearing the
house of the old general. Alf pulled the
mare back into a. walk. This time,
though, he did not stop, but as we
slowly passed he swept the house and
the yard with his eager glance. The
sun was down when we reached home.
How long the day had been, what a
stretch of time lay between the going
down of the sun now and its rising,
when I had shouldered my trunk at the
railroad station!
As I was getting down in front of
the door I heard Mr. Jucklin calling
me. and when I answered he cfwne forward
out of the passage and said that
he wanted to see me a moment. He
led the way and I followed him into the
dark shadow of a tree. "I forgot to
tell you not to say anything about
that." said he.
"About what?" I asked.
"About wallowin* him?the old general.
He requested me not to mention
it, bein' so proud, and I told him that I
wouldn't, and I don't know what made
me speak of it today, but I did."
"Oh. I won't mention it," I spoke up
rather sharply, for I was disappointed
that he had not told me something of
importance, i
"All right. And I am much obleeged
to you. He is one of the proudest men
'n the world and he don't want anybody
to suspect that any feller ever
wallowed him; but I want to tell you
right now that I have wallowed a gooi1
many of 'em in my time. Are you go!n'
to teach the school?"
"Yes, the arrangements have been
made, and I am to begin work Monday
morning."
"Good enough. Well, we'll go on in
now and eat a snack, for I reckon the
women folks have got it about ready."
We went early to bed. The bouse
was but a story and a half high, and
t was to room with Alf, up close to the
clap-board roof. I could not stand
straight, except in the middle of the
apartment but I was comfortable, for
T had a good bed, and there was plenty
)f air coming in through two large
windows, one on each side of the chimney
at the end. toward the south. While
the dawn was drowsiest, just at the
fine when it seems that one moment
of dreamy dozing is worth a whole
night of soundest sleep. Alf got up to
To afield to his plow, and as the joints
if the stairway were creaking under
him as he went down I turned over for
another nap, thankful that after all
he teaching of a school was not the
hardest lot in life. And I was deliriously
dreaming when Guinea called
me to breakfast.
I spent the most of the day in my
room, getting ready for my coming
work. Against the chimney I built a
shelf and put my books upon it: 1
turned a large box into a writing table,
and of a barrel I fashioned an easychair.
My surroundings were rude, but
I was phased with them: indeed, I had
never found myself so pleasantly
placed. And when Alf came up at
night he looked about him and with a
smile remarked: "You must own that
lamp that we read about. Wish you
would rub it a Rain and get my corn out
of the grass." He looked tired and I
wondered why he did not go to bed, but
he strode up and down the room, smoking
his pipe. He was silent and
thoughtful, refilling his pipe as soon as
the tobacco was burned out: but sometimes
he would talk, though what he
said I felt was aimless.
"I've some heavier tobacco than
that," I said.
"This will do. though it is pretty
light. Raised on an old hill."
He sat down and continued to pull
at his pipe, though the fire was out.
He leaned with his elbow on the table;
he moved as if his position were uncomfortable:
he got up. went to the
window, looked out. came back, resumed
his seat and after looking at the
fioor for a few moments said that he
thought that it must be going to rain.
"Perhaps so." I replied, "but that's
not what you wanted to say."
He gave me a sharp glance, looked
down and then asked: "How do you
know ?"
"I know because I can see and because
I'm not a fool."
"Anybody ever call you a fool?" he
asked, with a sad laugh. He leaned
far back and looked up at the clapboards.
"That has nothing to do with it. Alf
Pardon me. 'Mr. Jueklin. 1 should have
said. The truth is. it seems that I have
known you a long time."
"And when you feel that way about
a man." he quickly spoke up. "you make
no mistake in accepting him as a
friend. Call me Alf. What's your first
name?" I told him. and he added:
"And I'll call you Bill. No; tin- truth
is 1 didn't care to say that I thought it
was going to rain: I don't give a snap
for rain, except the rain that is pour*ng
on my heart. You remember that
girl that came out upon the gallery. 1
know you do, for no man could forget
her. You know that Guinea asked me
*f Millie was at home. Well, that was
t imilt-f,?r#l ?hr? old treneral's
daughter. We have lived close together
all our lives, but I have never known
her very well, and even now I wouldn't
to there on a dead-set visit. She and
Guinea went off to school together and
are good friends. Guinea tries to
nlague ine about her at times, not
knowing that I really love her. I
couldn't go off to school, didn't care
any too much for education, but since
that girl came home and I g"t better
acquainted with her I have felt that I
would give half my life to know hooks,
so that 1 could talk to her; and since
then I have been studying with Guinea
to help me. And you don't know how
glad 1 was when I heard that you had
come here to teach school, for 1 want
to study under you. Tint secretly," he
added. "I can't go to the school house;
; don't want her to know that I am sc
gnorant."
I reached over and took hold of his
hand. "Alf, to teach you shall be one
if my duties. Rut don't put yourself
down as ignorant, for you are not."
He grasped my hand. and. looking
straight into my eyes, said; "I wish
I knew as much and was as good-looking
as you. Then I wouldn't be afraid
to go to her and ask her to let me win
her love, if I could. Tomorrow you go
over to the general's pretending that
you want to feet his advice about the
school, and I will go with you. Hang
it. Bill, you may be in love one of these
days."
"Why, Alf. I don't see why either of
lis should be afraid to go to the general's
house. Go? Of course, we will.
But you make me laugh when you say
that if you were only as good-looking
as I am. Let me tell you something."
I brielly told him the uneventful story
of my life, that ridicule had found me
while yet I was a toddler and had held
me up as its target. "You might have
grown too fast." he remarked when 1
had concluded, "but you have caught
up with yourself. To tell you the truth,
you would be picked out from among a
thousand men. Where did you get all
those books? I don't see how you
brought them with you in that trunk,
and with your other things."
"The other things didn't take up
much room." I answered, and. turning
to the books. I began to tell him something
about them, but I soon saw that
his mind was far away. "Yes. we will
go over there tomorrow." said I. and
his mind flew back. ,
"And walk right in as if we owned
half the earth." said he. but I knew that
he felt not this lordly courage, knew
that already he was quaking. "Oh, I'll
go right in with you," he said. "You
lead the way and I'll be with you."
When I had gone to bed a remark
that he had made was sweeping like a
wind through my mind: "Hang it.
Bill, you may be in love one of these
'lays." I was already in love?in love
with Guinea.
CHAPTER V.
Alf was still asleep when I arose
from my bed the next morning. I
stood at the head of the stairs and
looked back at his handsome, though
sun-browned face, and I felt a strange
and strong sympathy for him. but 1
had not begun to agonize in my love:
it was so new that I was dazzled. When
I went down stairs Guinea was feeding
the chickens from the kitchen window,
and the old man was walking about
tlie yard, with his slouch hat pulled
down to shut out the slanting glare of
the sun. But he saw me and, calling
me. said that he would now show me
his beauties. And just then I heard
Guinea's voice: "If he starts to make
them fight you come right away and
leave him, Mr. Hawes." she said. "We
don't allow4 him to fight them on Sunday."
"Miss Smartjacket," the old man
spoke up. "I hadn't said a word about
makin' 'em fight. Hawes, these women
folks don't want a man to have no
fun at all. As long as a man is at work
it's all right with the women: they can
stand to see him delve till he drops,
but the minit he wants to have a little
fun, why. they begin to mowl about
it. Of course, I'm not goin' to let 'em
fight on Sunday. But a preacher
would eat one of 'em on Sunday. All
days belong to 'em. It's die dog or eat
the hatchet when they come round.
And yet, as I tell you. I believe in the
' /-V Ht'or Qtfin nut
LSOOK imiii ivnn 1??
here, Hawes."
I thought that I received from Guinea
a smile of assent, ?and I followed
him. The enclosure wherein he kept
his chickens was almost as strong as
a "stockade." The old man unfastened
a padlock and bade me enter. I stepoed
inside, and when the master had
followed me he was greeted with many
a cluck and scratching, the welcome of
two game cocks in a wire coop, divided
into two apartments by a solid
board partition. "I jest wanted you to
look at 'em and size 'em merely for
vour own satisfaction," said the old
man. fondly looking upon his shimmering
pets. "This red one over here
is Sam. and that dominecker rascal is
Bob. Ah, Lord, you don't know what
comfort there is in a chicken, and how
a preacher can eat a game rooster is
beyond my understandin'. But I'm
with him, you understand, from kiver to
kiver. Keep quiet there, boys; no fight
today. Must have some respect, you
know."
He took a grain of corn from his
nocket. placed it between his teeth, and
with a grin on his face got down on
his knees and held his mouth near the
bars of Sam's cage. The rooster
ducked ?ut the grain of corn, and Bob.
watching the performance, began to
ranee about in jealous rage. "Never
vou mind. Bob." said the old man. getting
up and dusting his knees. "I know
vour tricks. Held one out to you that
way not long ago. and I wish I may
never stir agin if you didn't take a
crack at my eye, and if I hadn't duck?d
I'd be one-eyed right now. But
they are caliin' us to breakfast. Bound
to interfere with a man one way or
another."
It was with great care that Alf prepared
himself to go with me to the
general's house. Out under a tree in
the yard he placed a mirror on a chair
and there he sat and shaved himself.
Then lie went upstairs to put on a suit
if clothes which never had been worn,
and anon 1 heard him calling his mother
to help him find buttons and neckwear
that had been misplaced. And
he shouted to me not to be impatient,
that lie was doing the best lie could.
Impatient! I was sitting in the passage.
leaning back against the wall,
and near the steps Guinea stood, look
in>,r far out over the ravine. She had
donned a garb of bright calico, with
'ong. green-stemmed flowers stamped
upon it. and 1 thought that of all the
dresses I had ever beheld this was the
most beautiful and becoming. She
hummed a tune and looking" about pretended
to be surprised to see me sitMng
there, and for aught I know the
astonishment might have been real, for
I had made no noise in placing my
chair against the wall.
'"I ought not to be humming a dance
tune <tn Sunday," she said, stepping
back ai.d standing against the opposite
wall, with hei hand behind her.
"I don't see how the day can make
music harmful." I replied.
"The day can't make music harmful."
she rejoined. "Rut I can't sing.
Sometimes when I can't express what
I am thinking about I hum It. How
long are you and Alf going to be
iway ?"
"As long as it suits him," I answer?d.
"I have decided to have no voice
is to the length of our stay."
"Then you are simply going to accommodate
him. How kind of you.
\nd have you always so much consldoration
for others? If you have yoi
may find your patience strained if you
stay here." ,
"To stand any strain that may be
daced upon our patience is a virtue,"
I renjarked?sententious pedagogue?
and she lifted her hands, clasped them
behind her head, looked at me and
laughed, a music sweet and low. Just
then Alf came out upon the passage,
looking down at himself, first one side
and then the other; and it was with a
feeling of close kinship to envy that
I regarded his new clothes. He apol
ogized for having1 kept me waiting so
long, but In truth I could have told him
that I should have liked to wait there
for hours, looking at the graceful figare
of that girl, standing with her
hands clasped behind her brown head.
The distance was not great and we
had decided to walk, and across a
meadow, purpling with coming bloom
we took a nearer way. I said to Alf
that one might think that he was a
stranger at the general's house, and he
replied: "In one way I am. I have
been there many a time, it is true, but
always to help do something."
"Is the family so exclusive, then?"
I asked.
"Oh. they are as friendly as any people
you ever saw, but, of course, I naturally
place them high above me. The
old general doesn't appear to know that
I have grown to be a man; always
talks to me as if I were a boy?wants
ti know what father's doing and all
that sort of thing. He doesn't give a
snap what father's doing."
"And the girl. How does she talk to
vou?" It was several moments before
he answered me. .
"I was just trying to think," he said
'To tell you the truth, I don't know
how she talks to me. I can't recall
anything she has ever said to me. She
calls me Alf and I 'call her Miss Millie,
and we laugh at some fool thing and
that's about all there is to it. But I
know that the old man would never be
willing for me to marry her. He is
looking pretty high for her or he
wouldn't have spent so mucn money on
her education."
"But, of course, the girl will have
something to say." I suggested.
"I don't know as to that," he replied;
"but, of course, I hope so. You
can't tell about girls?at least, I can't.
The old general married rather late In
ife and has but two children. His wife
lied several years ago. Chydister, the
boy, or rather, the man?for he's about
my age?is off at a medical college.
He doesn't strike me as being so allfired
smart, but they say that he's got
learning away up in G. The old man
says that he Is going to make him the
best doctor in the whole country, if
colleges can do it, and I reckon they
can. He and I have always got along
pretty well; he used to stay at our
house a good deal."
We crossed the creek, by leaping from
me stone to another, and pursued a
course along a rotten rail fence, covered
with vines. And from over in
the low ground came the "sqush" of
the cows as they strode through the
rank and sappy clover. We crossed a
hill whereon stood a deserted negro
"quarter"?the moldering mark of a
life that is now dreamy and afar off?
l~~/l Arnooinir another Vflllev slow
mil unci viv/ocnif, Ui.vv?.-. . ... ?
ly ascended the rounding1 bulge of
ground, capped by the home of the
Teneral. Alf had begun to falter and
hang back, and when I sought gently
to encourage him he remarked: "But
vou must remember that this is the
first time that I have ever been here
with new clothes on. and I want to
tell you that this makes a big difference."
"It has been some time since I went
anywhere with new clothes on," I replied,
which set him laughing: but his
merriment was shut off when I opened
the gate. Behind the house, where the
ground sloped toward the orchard,
| there were a number of cabins, old,
but not deserted, for negro children
were playing about the doors and from
somewhere within came the low drone
of a half-religious, half-cornshucking
melody. An old dog got up from under
a tree, but, repenting of the exertion,
lay down again; a turkey loudly gobbled,
a peacock croaked, and a tall,
bulky, old man came out upon* the
porch.
"Walk right in," he called, and shouting
back into the hallway he commanded
some one to bring out three
chairs. And even before we had ascended
the stone steps the command
had been obeyed by a negro boy. "Glad
to meet you, sir," he said when Alf had
introduced me. "You have come to
teach the school. I believe. Old man
Perdue was over and told me about it.
Sit down. What's your father doing,
Alf?"
"Can't do anything today," Alf answered.
glancing at me.
"I suppose not. All the folks well?
Glad to hear it." he added before Alf
could answer. "It's been pretty wet.
but it's drying up all right."
He wore a dressing gown, beflgured
with purple gourds, was bare-headed
md 1 thought that he wore a wig, for
his hair was thick and was curled under
at the back of his neck. His face,
closely shaved, was full and red; his
lips were thick and his mouth was
large. I could see that ho was of immense
importance, a dominant spirit
>f the Old South, and my reading told
ne that his leading ancestor had conic
to America as the master of a Virginia
plantation.
"Henry!" the old general called.
"Ketch me my pipe, Henry!"
"Coinin'," a voice cried from within.
His pipe was brought and when It had
been lighted with a coal which Henry
carried in the palm of his hand, rolling
it about from side to side, the general
puffed for a few moments and
then looking at me, asked if I found
school teaching to be a very profitable
employment.
"The money part of it has been but
f minor consideration." I answered.
"My aim is to become a lawyer, and
1 am teaching school to help me toward
that end."
He cleared his throat with a loud
rasp. "I remember." said he. "that a
man came here once from the north
with pretty much the same idea. It
was before the war. We got him up
a school, and by the black ooze in the
veins of old Satan, it wasn't long before
he was trying to persuade the negroes
to run away from us. I had a
feather bed that wasn't in use at the
time, and old Mills over here had a
first-rate article of tar on hand, and
when we got through with the gentleman
he looked like an arctic explorer.
Where are you from, sir?"
I told him. and then he asked: "The
name is all right, .md the location is
jood. My oldest brother knew a Captain
Hawes in the Creek war."
"He was my grandfather," I replied..
He looked at me. still pulling at *his
pipe, and said. "Then, sir, I am, indeed
glad to see you. Alf, what's your
father doing?"
"Nothing, sir; it's Sunday." Alf answered.
blushing. The old general
looked at him, cleared his throat and
said: "Yes,- yes. Folks all well?"
I heard the door open and close and
I saw Alf move, even as his father had
moved when he came upon me in the
road. 1 heard light foot-falls in the
hall, and then out stepped a girl. She
smiled and nodded at Alf and the general
introduced me to her. Alf got up,
almost tumbled out of his chair and
asked her to sit down. "Oh, no, keep
your seat," she said. "I'm not going to
stay but a minute." She walked over
to a post and, leaning againsv it, turn
ed and looked back at us. She wore a
lower in her hair, and in her hand she
held a calacanthus bud. She was rather
small, with a petulant sort of beauty,
but I did not think that she could
be compared with Guinea, for all of
Alfs raving over her. Her cheeks were
dimpled, and well she knew Jt, for she
smiled whenever anything was said,
and when no word had been spoken
she smiled at the silence.
"Alf, what has become of Guinea?"
she asked. "It seems an age since I
saw her."
"She was over here last, I think," Alf
answered.
'"Ahem?m?" came from the general.
"You'll be counting meals on each
">ther, like the Yankees, after a while,"
he said. "Why don't you quit your
foolishness; and if you want to see
*>ach other, go and see. I don't know
what your feelings are in the matter.
Mr," he added, turning to me, "but 1
don't see much good in this so-called
nubile school system. And of all
worthless things under heaven it is a
negro that has caught up a smatterlne
nf education. God knows he's trifline
mough at best, hut teach him to read
ind he's utterly worthless. I sent a
negro to the postofflce some time ago.
and he came along back with mv
newspaper spread out before him. reading
it on the horse. And if it hadn't
been for Millie I would have ripped the
hide off him.'
"He didn't know any better." thegir'
spoke up. "Poor thing, you scared him
nearly to death."
"Yes. and I immediately gave him
Mie best coat I had to square myself
A ,.v. , ? u..i ?i.u ?
lOI Willi mm, UUl Willi myncn, ncvivi
he old man. "Rut I hold that If the
negro, or artvone else, for that matter
"si^o be a servant, let him be a servant
T don't want a man to plow for me simnly
because he can read. Confound
him. I don't care whether he can read
"?r not. I want him to plow. When T
choose my friends it is another matter.
Your father go to church today.
Mf?"
"I don't know, sir," Alf answered
moving about in his chair, and then in
his embarrassment he got up and stammeringly
begered the girl to sit down.
"Why, \yhat's all this trouble and
nonsense about." the general asked
'eoklng first at the girl and then at Alf
" 'Od zounds, there oughtn't to be anv
trouble about a chair. Fifty of them
back in there."
To be Continued
TRADING FOR A WIFE.
Armv Officer's Evnerience With an
Indian at Western Fort.
"He says he would like to trade with
"ou for your wife!"?it came out at
'ast. It was a startling proposition
'ndeed. For a moment we were both
*oo breathless to comment. Finally
my husband yielded to his Impulse for
amusement and smiling at me he renlied:
"Ask him what he will give for her."
"He says six ponies, lieutenant."
"Oh, tell him she Is worth lots more
than that."
"He will give you twelve ponies for
her."
My husband again replied that he
would not trade for anything like that;
so the Indian kept raising his bid. He
)ffered twenty ponies; then twenty
ponies and a squaw; and finally twenty
ponies, a squaw and a papoose. At
length, wearying of the nonsense, my
husband nodded his dismissal of the
subject. But the Indian seemed to
think that the apparent holding out for
x higher price constituted a trade
when the final offer was not rejected.
He appeared satisfied, but soon signified
he wished to finish the bargain.
Of course, my husband immediately objected.
My savage admirer continued
unaccountably insistent; and amicably
to rid himself of the Indian's importunity
my husband told him I was not
fit for more travel; that I needed to go
to rest at once. Accordingly I entered
our tent.
The Indian was not content, and
continued, with some of his companions,
to hang around the camp until
->ne of the men told them they must
now return to their camp, as wo were
all going to retire. When they had
reluctantly departed my husband
laughingly told the lieutenant, who had
not been present during the parleying,
of the Incident. The latter looked
grave, and expressed a fear that the
mdian, in the belief that he had made
a trade, might cause trouble when the
bargain was not kept. My husband
assured aim there was no agreement,
and that the buck had no basis for
such a claim. The lieutenant explained
that the failure to reject the last
hoi ?vwi ?ho nrpspnre of witnesses to
the price haggling was all that the
Indian considered necessary to make
a binding affair of heart and honor.
Of course, terms had to be reached,
and my husband, for the only time in
his experience with the red men, or as
far as I know with any man, agreed
to compromise. He bought them off,
and appeased their disappointment by
a gift of good, hard money and a lot of
tobacco.?Army and Navy Life.
The Canadian government is expending
great sums of money in new
railroad construction, in improvements
, of waterways, in industrial bounties,
j subsidies to steamboats and in various
| other ways to develop the country.
?ftisrcllancoM5 grading.
DUELIST VS. ASSASSIN.
Old System Not 3o Cowardly as That
Now In Vogue.
Charlotte Observer.
Discussing- the Cooper-Carmack affair,'the
Richmond News Leader hits
the nail squarely and hard. "Under
the old code duello," It observes, "such
a tragedy would have been impossible.
Friends would have had opportunity to
Interpose and bring about a peaceful
settlement. If the parties had Insisted
on hostility and fight the combat
would have been in seclusion and under
such conditions as to give both
men an equal chance and would not
have occurred before the horrified eyes
of a woman. Our legislatures have
made fair and equal fighting a felony,
and our juries make assassination and
unfair homicide a safe and pleasant
pastime. Perhaps we have reformed
mo much."
If grievances, real or imagined, are
to be avenged without fear of the law,
by all means let us have the duel back
again. The duel as an institution had
'n it much that was judicial. Developing
from the old "trial by battaile,"
which had for its basis the belief that
the Almighty when solemnly invoked
will not permit the triumph of the
wrong and that, besides, there is in
conscious right an inherently superior
Tuality insuring its triumph where
terms are measurably equal, the duel
during the Middle Ages held placf
among the recognized religio-civil "orleals."
Of these it was by far the
most reasonable, and it survived all thf
others, persisting, in modified forms
even unto this day. For a long time
however, it has stood quite outside the
judicial system. Wherever duelling
customs survived into the modern er?
they were winked at by law to a greater
or less extent, but never given express
sanction. It was universally felt
fhat armed encounter as a means of
adjusting grievances could not be reconciled
with real civilization, and yet
there lingered a strong feeling that
"or certain intimately personal grievances
no other means of adjustment
could be deemed altogether manly or
adequate. Out of these conflicting
sentiments arose the code duello, exfra-legal
but essentially judicial in
spirit no less than in historical origin
rt was true "unwritten law" as distinguished
from the anarchy and assassination
in one?every man killing his
?nemy at will?to which this title has
'ately been wrested amonp southern
* merlcans.
Under the code duello, whose general
acceptance was furthered by the
Improvement of the pistol, putting all
men so nearly on an equality that as a
rule only women need fight by chamilon.
the causes of dispute were carefully
weighed by third parties and it
vas required that justice between the
disputants be sought to the utmost
possible disregard of their respective
personalities. If-tras particularly retired
that every honorable effort be
made to avert an actual encounter.
'Sach disputant must name as his second
or seconds men of unquestioned
honor and standing, and these seconds
alone could declare when an encounter
had become inevitable. These seconds
?very often mutual friends?might
find the dispute the result simply of
misapprehension or mistake, requiring
inly a little explanation; they might
agree that one disputant was in the
wrong and should frankly apologize,
lease the conduct complained of, or
make other due amends; they might
divide the blame and call for mutual
expressions of regrets: they might,
'astly, refer the whole matter to arbitration.
It is unquestionable that under
this plan of procedure scarcely one
n ten challenges eventuated In an encounter
and even an encounter
most frequently did not go to
a deadly conclusion for either principal?the
two, hurt or unhurt, often
shaking hands in heightened regard
toward each other at the close. The
choice of weapons lay with the person
challenged. Where fatalities took
place between Americans under this
system it was almost invariably be-j
case one or both harbored such surelyxrounded
and mortal resentment toward
the other that In any event noth'ng?except,
perhaps, the certainty of
hanging, which exists in the south
now not more but much less than it
lid then?could have prevented a fatal
termination. The code duello, of course,
was liable to be abused. Its worst
product was the bully, but with the
pistol In use he could not escape endangering
his own life, and, for this
reason and for the further reason that
public opinion would not tolerate him
he was a very rarely occasional product.
Many lives were saved where
>ne was sacrifled. Not the least virtue
of the duel was that It placed a
premium upon courage. Not the least
vice of the licensed assassination which
claims to be its successor is that a premium
is placed upon cowardice. They
were brave men who, bred where the
duel held place, fought the civil war:
they held honor dearer, not merely
than other men's lives but than their
iwn as well.
The merits of the set duel as compared
with the sudden onfall upon an
'ntended victim?an intended victim
who may or may not be given any
chance for his life?are illustrated by
'lie career of the very man who was
slain in Nashville last Monday. Fifteen
years ago Mr. Carmack had an
acutely personal controversy with Col.
W. A. Collier of Memphis, and was
challenged to fight a duel across the
Mississippi line. As previously notetf
in these columns while reviewing Mr.
Carmack's life, that duel never took
olace. Through the management of
friends?doing by round-about means
what would have been done by slmnle
negotiation and at an earlier stage
'f the incident had occurred during
the days of the regular code duello?
-vieh warrior visited and left the dueling
ground without finding the other
there. The 'danger of armed conflict
once averted. It was an easy matter to
reconcile the two men. Carmack and
Collier became warm friends. Had
Collier followed the plan, since popular
and pursued by the Coopers, of
waylaying his man with deadly intent,
a tragedy like that of Monday In Nashville
would have been enacted In Memphis
fifteen years ago.
If men must take their grievances
Into their own hands by all means let
us have the duel back. It were, far
best, of course, that law and order hold
unchallenged sway, but If we are quite
losing that deep reverence for law
which pre-eminently distinguishes
Anglo-Saxon civilization ? having
brought law Into contempt In most of
the south by making of It chiefly an
engine for petty warfare on the ordinary
liberties of the Individual?we can
still adjust serious difficulties among
white men In thousand times better
fashion thah by turning loose such assassination
and free murder as cost the
'Ife of the lamented Carmack.
GREATEST AMERICAN GENERAL.
British Army Officer Reviews Some of
General Lee's Wonderful Feats.
"Robert E. Lee was the greatest general
America has ever known and one
of the foremost in the world," said
Capt. R. L. Gross of London, an officer
of the Twenty-fourth regiment, South
Wales Borderers, British army, at the
Arlington. Captain Gross has been In
this country since October making a
study of the battlefields of the civil war
from a strategical point of view. He
spent several days at Gettysburg,
which, he says, affords the greatest
panoramic view of a battlefield in this
jr any other country.
"Lee is regarded In Europe as great
a strategist as any European army officer
in history, ranking with Napoleon,"
continued Captain Gross: "1
have no prejudice in favor of either
army in the civil war, and have studied
the topographical conditions of
the battlefields from the viewpoint of
an army officer, solely to determine the
points of vantage both sides had and
the manner in which they utilized
them. I have no hesitancy in saying
that had the Confederate forces had
the same number of men that the Fedaral
army had the south would have
been victorious.
"At Gettysburg the southern army
would have won had Lee been able to
make a bold stroke on either the first
>r second day, but with no food for his
men on the third day he had to give
way. Lee's genius was demonstrated
more strikingly, perhaps, in the peninsular
campaign against McClellan, in
which he divided his army and reunited
it on the field of battle. Again,
In Pope's campaign, in the same year,
August, 1862, he again separated his
forces. In the face of a superior oppos'ng
army, and reunited it on the Manassas
battlefield, winning a victory.
He did It again before Antletam.
"But the boldest, the greatest, battle
Lee ever fought was at Chancellors-1
ville, In May, 1863, when he sent Jack^j
son around Hooker's right. That wgu
the stroke of a genius. Beyond all agl
Tument, Lee was the greatest gene?|
\merica ever produced, and I do nolijU
any sense desire to detract from tBes
Tenius of Grant, who was a great general.
His wonderful fighting qualities
displayed by both armies in the
civil war mak^ the American soldier
one of the foremost in the world, and
here Is nothing to fear from the Jaoanese
or any other nation If the
Vmericans shon?v the a&me pluck they
displayed In the civil war. England's
army Is more akin to that of the United
ctates than any other European nation
because we have to depend largely upon
volunteers. I have the greatest admiration
for the American people and
the American soldier In particular, and
as I have suggested, the battlefields of
the civil war provide a study for army
officers the world over that they can
oroflt by immeasurably."?\Vashington
Post.
COTTON GAMBLING.
Matter That the South Proposes to
Haug Conaress Consider.
"Congress Is going to be called upon
strongly at its next session to look into
the perniciousness of the gambling in
cotton," said Rev. Dr. Henry S. Mason
of Georgia, to a Washington Herald
reporter.
"The cotton exchanges of all cotton
producing states are merely gambling
houses, where the entire business consists
of gambling on futures. The men
who operate these exchanges do not
have to produce a pound of cotton.
They do not even have to buy it, any
more than the operator of a bucketshop
has to buy the industrial stocks
in which he gambles.
"They absolutely control the selling
price, although it is likely they never
see a bale of cotton from one year's
end to another. There is no way of
putting a stop to this vicious practice,
unless the United States will come
down with one well-aimed blow and
put the whole system out of business.
The states are apparently powerless to
remedy conditions, because, for instance.
the closing down of these establishments
in Georgia would merely
double the business in the surrounding
cotton producing states.
"The United States government will
| be asked to prevent the trading in fuj
tures through the mails, the telegraphs,
| the telephones and all public transportation
companies. This would destroy
the present gambling in futures, Just
as it destroyed the lotteries in New
Orleans. Then the real supply of cotton
would regulate the price of the
commodity at ail seasons of the year.
Radical "measures should and wi.ll be
adopted before many years. We hope
to have the death knell of the exchanges
sounded before the close of
the next session of congress."
Rio Fertiliser Trtst.?It is reoorted
that the biggest deal in the
history of the fertilizer trade is being
arranged, says a New York dispatch,
and it is expected an official announcement
will be made shortly by the bank
* "-UUIa ova n-nrl/ {n cr nut tVlP
inif I1UUSCS HIIH.1I WW |
details. The new company, which will
be capitalized at $75,000,000. will take
over the fertilizer business of the Armour
and Swift packing companies.
The Armour company has two large
plants in Baltimore, while the Swift
works are located in Wilmington, Del.,
and Atlanta, (la.
Details of the proposed merger are
very meagre, but it is understood that
some of the larger interests have already
signed up, and that others have
promised to join the combination later.
The new company, it is added, has
entered into a contract with the Tennessee
Copper company for the purchase
of several hundred thousand tons
of sulphuric acid, one of the properties
which enter into the manufacture
of fertilizer.
It Is understood that as soon as the
promoters corral the larger independent
fertilizer manufactures of the
countrv. it will enter into negotiations
with the smaller concerns, either to
buy them outright or induce them to
join the new combination on mutually
satisfactory terms
LONDON GAMING DENS.
The Way the Police Descend Upon
Them In a Raid.
The police have recently carried out
some sensational raids on big gamin*
clubs, and it may be interesting to
learn how these raids are effected. This
is how it Is done in London: As soon
as the detectives' suspicions have been
confirmed they apply to the commissioner
of police for a warrant to enter.
The warrant authorizes certain officers
mentioned by name to enter the
club In the name of the king1. Ordinary'
policemen are not permitted to canyout
a raid, but the detectives can call
upon them for assistance at the crltcal
moment.
Absolute secrecy Is enforced right
up to the moment of entry. There Is
no excitement at the station on that
day, and the men on duty have no suspicion
of what Is In the wind. Plans
of the house are drawn und carefully
studied by the raiding officers, for the
doorkeeper of the club is prepared at
the slightest alarm to send a warning
to his customers, and every vestige of
gambling apparatus will mysteriously
disappear and the raid fall. A carefully
planned ruse, therefore, has to be
evolved which will disarm suspicion.
During the day a body of "reserve"
policemen will receive a communication
from the station that they will be
required to parade at a certain hour,
and they meet with no Idea of what Is
expected of them. They are drawn up
In line, and after names have been
called over they are dismissed from the
station one by one, with the injunction
to be In the Immediate neighborhood
af a certain street In a couple of hours
and not to get near the spot before the
prearranged moment.
The first officer to appear on the
scene Is the one in charge of the raid.
He Is always disguised and usually
'ooks like a well dressed man about
town. He passes the club carelessly,
but It Is sufficient for him to learn
from a confederate Inside that gaming
has commenced. A policeman then
saunters to the corner of the street
and stays there as though he were on
"point" duty. Then, not till then, is
th? foftfftha tion of the precise club to
be raided secretly conveyed to the attackn.
force in their hiding places.
WhN^Hhe club, unconscious of its lmVffiding
fate, pursues its gambling.
The first difficulty to surmount is to
-tet'past the burly doorkeeper. If this
Is not successfully done the raid will
and in failure. Presently the sound of
ft drunken song is heard in the dlsIe,
and two apparently rough lookteen
come staggering along. As
Iter the entrance to the club they
ft disputing and soon come to
i. The doorkeeper peeps through
the wicket and orders the men away.
One of the men rushes at tne wicket
and challenges the doorkeeper to "come
outside like a man" and at. the same
* * ?*U1 nVx/Mit f VtA
unit? SI1UU19 uui auiiicuiiiift avvui, m?v
character of the house. The combatmts
continue fighting, and the officer
at the_corner comes aloa*~and order^
them away. Th? men return, however,
to "have it out with the doorkeeper."
The noise increases, attracting homeward
bound gentlemen in evening
dress, who gather round and urge the
men on.
The doorkeeper by this time beqpmes
ilarmed, for the rowdy crowd will
frighten away his clients. Perhaps
just at this moment a member of the
club arrives and seeks admission. The
door is opened with the utmost caution
to admit him. Before he has time to
fasten it the two officers hastily secure
-?- " ?? J iinatnlra r I' Vl D
me memuer emu iumi u^suuio.
two combatants were disguised policemen
and the onlookers detectives.
As soon as an entrance into the club
has been effected the constable at the
corner sounds his whistle, and before
the sound has died away the whole
neighborhood is alive with police. If
the house boasts of a trapdoor on the
roof, the flash of lanterns will be seen
up there, the men having been concealed
among the chimney pots since
it was dark. The front door is secured,
and the police form a guard around
the house, so that escape is impossible.
Meantime the scene upstairs is one
>f the wildest excitement. The gamblers,
intent on business, had not noticed
the scuffle in the passage, and
the first Intimation they get of the
state of affairs is when the door is
thrown open and the officer in charge
calls on them to regard themselves as
his prisoners. Then they realize their
position. The tables are overturned,
and card counters and money roll all
over the floor as the members endeavor
to escape. They make for the street
door, but, balked In this direction, hurry
to all parts of the house to hide.
The crestfallen members of the club
are conveyed to the station, each in
the custody of two officers. Then the
house is searched for the gaming apparatus.
Every inch of the place is
examined, for gamblers have remarkable
contrivances whereby they can
hide their apparatus in the event of
being raided. Tops of tables are ,
knocked off, flooring taken up and
walls searched for secret cupboards.
Yards of chalked string are regarded
as prizes, and with these and more apparent
proofs the case is ready for the
magistrate. The evidence is laid before
him, and the proprietor and members
are charged and the sentence
passed or a heavy fine imposed on the
prisoners.?London Tit-Bits.
Wnurv iv Finland.?In Finland the
meetings of suffragettes are unknown,
for already women are students in the
university, clerks in the banks, in the
postofflces and In business houses, and
they not only have their vote, but can
be elected members of the Diet. Yet.
according to Paul Waineman, in her
"Summer Tour in Finland," they are
"not in the least overbearing, but are
for the greater part exceedingly modest
and womanlike."
As she landed one of the recently
elected members of the Diet was pointed
out to her. She was "well dressed
and young looking, with keen, deep-set
eyes and a pleasant smile, and In no
way resembled the grotesque caricatures
of the woman members of the
Finnish Diet in some English Journals."
Even the paths of Helsingfors are
scrupulously brushed every morning
by a regiment of barefooted women,
and in this work they are employed all
over the Grand Duchy; in fact, a mere
man may well pause and wonder for
what purpose he was created In Finland.
i