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50 Per Cent of the Cotton Brought to the Sum ter Market is Bought By the D eyvi BErcs. WHYa Because we are in touch with those who make advance con tracts, and who are able to put us in position to pay mor< for cotton than any other buyers in our city. But our cotton business is ~oni an addition to our|GEN ERAL MERCANIILE Business. We have by our dilli gence made ourselves leaders in trade, not by waiting for trade to come to us, but by our reaching out and coning in touch with the fariers of the country, and selling them Goods as cheap as the lowest. and giving to them for their products as much or more than the highest. These are facts that have been demonstrated by our con tinued increase of business. We want our friends to come to Sumter and look through our immense stock of c3y CcC1 arid Nc:ticrx, ClCth --inig, Shoc es, H-Iats' and thie best liec F EntEticn2L anrid Farniily Grocerie inI th-e City; To meat the demands of our trade everything is bought by us frora first hands, and our patrons get the profit which other dealers must pay middlemen. We can and will save you money, both in what you buy of us, and what'we buy ol vou. (>me to see us. LEVI BROS. Nex ToCourt House. eTA. b A COMMON. IIIIR COMPLAINT. Catarrh begins with a stubborn cold in the head, inflammation or sceu - ess of the membrane or lining of the nose, discharge of mucus matter, -headaches, neuralgia and difficult breathing, and even in this early stage is almost intolerable. But when the filthy secretions begin tp drop back into the throat and stomach, and the blood becomes polluted and the on, then the sufferer ?dsimekenin ad dauting ocr, and Iooghed begiusto realize what a j~dias.z'taking several blIwurd and disgusting and sicken- have never since had the slightest yptom of the ing~disease catarrh. is. dyoaAhweut cor. '7th and a'eMt., Boseh, ko. It ~affects the kidneys and stomachas well as otherpats ofthe body. It is aconstitutional dieae and as inhaling mixtures, salves, ointments, etc., are never more than palliative or helpful, even in the beginning of Catarrh, what can you expect from such treatment when it becomes chronic and the whole system affected ? Only such a remedy as S. S. S. can reach this obsti nate, deep-seated disease and purge the blood of the catarhal poison. S. S. S. purifies and builds up the diseased blood, and the inflamed membranes are healed and the excessive secretion of mucus ceases when new, rich blood is coming to the diseased iparts, and a permanent cure is the result. S. S. S. is guaranteed purely vegetable and a reliable remedy for Catarrh in all stages. Write if in need of medical advice; this will cost you noting' THE SWIT PECIFIC CO., ATL ANTA, 6A. Look to Your Interest. Hlere we are, still in the lead, and why suffer with your eyes when you can be suited with a pair of Spectacles with so little trouble? We carry the Celebrated KAWKES Spectacles and 6lasses, Which we are offering very cheap, from s5e to $2.50 and Gold Frames at $3 to $G. Call and be suited. W. M. BROCKINTON. Just Received ALot Of BUGGIES, WAGONS, HARNESS Competing Prices. COFFEY & RIOBY. L.AZA L. AI MARY HARTWEI (2ased Vpon the Mv.dtery DcaphM. .f.n of Lot -A Copyright, 1901, by the BO CHAPTER XXV. UT the chiefs and Skenedonk'S nursing and Indian remedies Fbrought me face earthward again, reviving the surgeonis hope. When blood and life mounted and my torn side sewed up its gap In a healthy scar, adding another to my collection, autumn was upon us. From the hunting lodges on Lake George and the Williamses of Longmeadow I went to the scorched capital of Wash ington. In the end the government helped me with my Indian plan, though when Skenedonk and I pushed out toward Illinois territory we had only my pay and a grant of land. Peace vas not formally made until December, but the war ended that summer. The Oneidas were ready 'o follow wherever I led them, and so wuec many families of the Iroquois fed.,ration. But the Mohawk tribe held back. However, I felt confident of material for an Indian state when the founda, tion shotild be laid. We started lightly equipped upon the horse paths. The long journey by water and shore brought us in Octo ber to the head of Green bay. Green Bay, or La Baye, as the fur hunters called it, was a little post al most like a New England village among its elms-one street and a few outlying houses beside the Fox river. The open world had been our tavern, or any -sod or log hut cast up like a burrow of human prairie dogs or moles. We did not expect to find a tavern in Green Bay. Yet such a place was pointed opt to us near the fur company's block warehouse. Our host served us himself. His tap room was the fireplace cupboard, and it was visited while we ate our sup per by men in elkskin trousers and caps and hooded capotes of blue cloth. These Canadians mixed their own drink and made a cross mark on the Inside of the cupboard door, using a system of bookkeeping evidently agreed upon between themselves and the landlord. Nightfall was very clear and fair in this northwestern territory. A man felt nearer to the sunset. The region took hold upon me, particularly when one who was neitherea warehouseman nor a Canadian fur hunter hurried in and took me by the hand. "I am Pierre Grignon," he said. Indeed, if he had held his fiddle and tuned it upon an arm not quite so stout, I should have known without being told that he was the man who had played in the Saint-Michel cabin. We sat and talked until the light faded. The landlord brought a candle and yelled up the loft, where Skene donk had already stretched himself in his blanket: "Chambermaid, light up." "Never mind," said Pierre Grignon. "I'm going to take these. travelers home with me." "Now I know how a tavern ought to be kept," said the landlord. "But what's the use of my keeping one if Pierre Grignon carries off all the guests?" "He is mny old friend," I told the landlord. "He's old friend to everybody that comes to Green Bay. I'll never get so much as a sign painted to hang in front of the Palace tavern." I gave him twice his charges and he said: "What a loss it was to enterprise in the Bay when Pierre Grignon came here and built for the whole Ujnited States!" The Grignon house, whether built for the whole United .States or not, was the largest In Green Bay. A hall divided the house through the center, and here Mine. Grignon welcomed me as if I were a lo'ng expected guest, for this was her custom, and as soon as she clearly remembered me, led me In to a drawing room where a stately old lady sat making lace. This was the grandmother of the house. ,Such a house would have been incomplete without a grandmother at the hearth. Stools there were for children, and armhairs fo~r old people were not lacking. The small yellow spinning wheel of Mmne. Ursule, as I found afterward Mmne. Grignon was com monly called, stood ready to revolve its golden disk wherever she sat. The servants were Pawnee Indians, moving about their duties almost with stealth. The little Grignon, daughter who had stood lost in wonder at the dancing of Annabel de Chaumont was now a turner of heads herself, all flaxen white and contrasting with the dark ness of Katarina Tank. K~atarina was taken home to the Grignons after her mother's death. Both girls had been educated in Montreal. "Poor Mmne. Tank! She would have been so much more comfortable in her death If she had relieved her mind," Mmne. Ursule said the first evening. "She used to speak of you often, for seeing you made a great impression upon her and she never let us forget you. I am sure she knew more about you than she ever told me. 'I have an Important disclosure to make,' she says. 'Come around me; I want all of you to hear It!' Then' she fell back and died without telling it." ' A touch of mystery was not lacking to the house. Several times I saw the tail of a gray gown disappear through an open door. Some woman half en tered and drew back. "It's Madeleine Jordan," an inmate told me each time. "She avoids strangers." I asked if Madeleine Jordan was a relative. "Oh. no," Mmne. Ursule replied; "but the family who brought her here went back to Canada, and of course they left her with us." Of course, Madeleino Jordan, or any body else who lacked a roof, would be left with the Grignons, but in that huse a hermit seemed out of place, and I said so to Mmne. UJrsule. "Poor child'" she responded. "I think shie likes the bustle and noise. She Is not a hermit. WVhat difference can it make to her whether people are around her or not'" The subject of Madeleine Jordan was no doubt beyond a man's handling. I had other matters to think about, and directly plunged into them. First, the Menoinees and Winnebagoes must beC assembled in council. They held 9.11 the desirable land. "We don't like your Indian scheme LtR.E ,L CATHERWOOD Surrounding the Fate of the (V. and Marie Antoinette) WEN-MEKRAILL COMPANY "DPut if the tribes here are willing to sell their lands other settlers can't pre rent it." le went with me to meet the sav ages on the opposite side of the Fox near the stockade. There the talking and eating lasted two days. At the end of that time I had a footing for our Iroquois in the Wisconsin portion of the Illinois territory, and the sav ages who granted it danced a war dance in our honor. Every brave shook over his head the scalps he had taken. I sat' one cap of soft long brown hair. "Eh!" said Pierre Grignon, sitting beside ine. "Their dirty trophies make you ghastly! Do your eastern tribes never dance war dances?" After the land was secured its boundaries had to be set. Then my lipi "Pmul! Paul!" own grant demanded attention, and, last, I was anxious to put my castle on it before snow flew. When we had laid the foundation, of the Indian settlement I built my house with the help of skilled men. It was a spacious one of hewn logs, chinked with cat and clay plaster, showing its white ribs ou the hill above the Fox. The men hewed a slab settle and stationed It beside the hearth, a thing of beauty in its rough and lichen tinted barks, though you 'may not believe it My floors I would have smooth and neatly joined, of hard woods which give forth a shining for wear and pol ish. Stools I had, easily made, and one large round of a tree for my table, like an eastern taboret. Before the river closed and winter shut in Skenedonk and I went badek to Green Bay. I did not know how to form my household and had it in mind to consult Mmne. Ursule. Pawnees could be had, and many French land holders in the territory owned black slaves. Pierre Grignon himself kept one little negro like a monkey among the stately -Indians. Dealing with acres and with people wild as flocks would have been worth while if nothing had resulted except I our welcome back to Pierre Grignon's open house. The grandmother hob bled on her stick across the floor to give me her hand. Mmne. Ursule re proached me with delaying, and Pierre said it was high time to seek winter 4 quarters. The girls recounted harvest I reels and even weddings, with dances 1 following, wvhich I had lost while away from the center of festivity. The little negro carried my saddle bags to the guest room. Skenedonk 1 was to sleep on the floor. Abundant preparations for ~the evening meal i were going forward in the kitchen. As I I mounted the stairway at Mine. U~r sue's direction I heard a tinkle of china. her very best, which adorned I racks and dr-essors. It was being set forth on the mahogany board. The upper floor of Pierre Grignon's house was divided by a hall similar to< the one below. I ran upstairs and I halted. Standing with her back to the fad- I ing light which came through one fanC window at the hall end was a woman's I figure in a gray dress. I gripped the I rail.I My first thought was, "How shall I tell her about Paul?" My next was, "What is the matter with her?" She rippled from head to foot in the shiver of rapture peculiar to her and stretched her arms to me, crying: "Paul! Paul!" CHAPTER XXVI. - "H, madame!" I said, bewil dered and sick as from af stab. It was no comfort that the high lady who sarcely allowed me to kiss her hand before we parted clung around my neck. She trembled against me. "Have you come back to your moth er, Paul?" "Eagle!" I pleaded. "Don't you a, know me? You surely know Lazarrel" She kissed me, pulling my head down r in her arms, the velvet mouth like a I baby's, and looked straight into my i; eyes. t "Madame, try to understand! I am Louis! If you forget Lazarre, try to s remember Louis!" I: She heard with attention and smiled. I The pressure of my arms spoke to her. g A man's passion addressed itself to a. little child. All other barriers which had' c stood between us were nothing to this- a I held her and she could never be mine. She was not ill in body-the contours of s her upturned face were round and a softened with much smiling-but mind 5 sickness robbed me of her in the mo- s ment of finding her. "She can't be insane!" I said aloud. t, "Oh, God, anything but that! She was s not a woman that could be so p wrecked." Like a fool I questioned and tried to .! get some explanation. c Eagle smoothed my arm and nestled her hand in my neck. - n "My little boy! IIe has .grown to be a man-while his mother has grown e down to be a child! Do you 'know b what I am now, Paul?" I choked a sob in my throat and told her I did not. "I am your cloud mother. I live in 1 a cloud. Do you love me while I am c in the cloud?" 'y I told her I loved her with all my strength, in the cloud or out of It. 14 "Will you take care of me as I used to take care of yen?" I swore to the Almighty that she s ihduld be my inture care. "I need you sol I have watched for rou in the woods and on the water, Paul! You have been long coming >ack to me." I heard Mme. Ursule mounting the tairs to see if my room was in order. Who could understand the relation .n which Eagle and I now stood, and the claim she made upon me? She :lung to my arm when I took it away. [ led her by the hand. Even this sight 'nused Mine. Ursule a shock at the ead of the stairs. "M's'r Williams!" My hostess paused and looked at us. "Did she come to you of her own ac yord?" "Yes, madame." "I never knew her to notice a stran ;er before." "Madame, do you know who this is?" "Madeleine Jordan." "It is the Marquise de Ferrier." "The Marquise de Ferrier?" "Yes, madame." "Do you know her?" "I have known her ever since I can 'emember." "The Marquise do . Ferrier! But, ,I's'r Williams, did she know you?" "She knows me," I asserted. "But iot as my. 'if. I am sure she knows no! But s .e confuses me with th'e yhild she lost! I cannot explain to rou, madame, how positive I am that ;he recognizes me any more than I ,an explain why she will call me Paul. [ think I ought to tell you, so you will ;ee the position In which I am placed, hat this lady is the lady I once hoped :o marry." "Saints have pity, M's'r Williams!" "I want to ask you some questions." "Bring her down to the fire. Come, lear child," said M3me. Ursule, coaxing Eagle. "Nobody Is there. The bed ooms can never be so warm as the og fire, and this is a bitter evening." The family room was unlighted by andles, as often happened; for such in illumination In the chimney must Jave quenched any paler glare. We mad a few moments of brief privacy 'rom the swarming life which con ;tantly passed in and out. I placed Eagle by the fire and she ;at there obediently while I talked to 91me. Urule apart "Was her mind In this state when ;he came to you?" "She was even a littlo wilder than ;he is now. The girls have been a enefit to her." "They were not afraid of her?" "And who could be afraid of the lear child? She is a lady -that's plain. Ah, M's'r Williams, what she nust have gone through!" "Yet see how happy she looks!" "She always seemed happy enough. 5he would come to this house. So when .the Jordans went to Canada Pierre and I both said, 'Let her stay."' "Who were the Jordans?" "The only family that escaped with heir lives from the massacre when she ost her family. Mme. Jordan told me he whole story. They had friends imong the .Winnebagoes who protect xd them." "Did they give her their name?" "No, the people in La Baye did that. Ve knew she had another name. But :think it very likely her title was not ised in the settlement where they Ived. Titles are no help in pioneer "Did they call her Madeleine?" "She calls herself Madeleine." "How long has she been with your amily?" "Nearly a year." "Did the Jordans tell you when this hange came over her?" "Yes. It was during the attack when er child was taken from her. She aw other children killed. The In lans were afraid of her. They re pect demented people; not a bit of iarm was done to her. They let her tone and the Jordans took care of The daughter and adopted daughter f the house came in with a rush of >utdoor air and, seeing Eagle first, an to kiss her on the cheek one after he other. "Madeleine has come down!" said daie. "I thought we should coax her in ere some time," said IKatarina. Between thorn, standing slim and all, their equal in height, she was yet ike a little sister.. Though their faces ere unlined, hers held a divine youth. "Paul has come." Eagle told Kata ia and Marie. Holding their hands, he walked between them toward me and bade them notice my height. "I im his ecud moiter." she said. "How roll it is thait parents grow down ttle while their chikh-en grow up big!" Mmne. U-rsule s!:ook her head piti ully. But the girls really saw the troll side and laughed with my cloud nother. I left the room and was linging myself from the house to walk : the chill wind, but she caught me. "l will be good!" pleaded my cloud uother, her face in my breast. I1er son who had grown up big hiLeI she grew down little went back o the family room with her. Our singular reiationship was estab [shed in the house, where hospitality unde room and apology for all human reakness. Nobody of that region except the in irm stayed indoors to shiver by a fire. ~agle and the girls, in their warm apotes, breasted with me the coldest rinter days. She was as happy as hey were; her cheeks tingled as pink s theirs. Sometimes I thought her yes must answer me with her old elf command, their bright grayness cas so natural. I believed if her delusions wore hu iored they would unwvind from her ke the cloud which she felt them to . The family had long fallen Into 1e habit of treating her as a child, lying some imaginary character. ho seemed less demented than walk ig in a dream, her faculties asleep. twas somnambulism rather than idness. She had not the expression insane people, the shifty eyes, the canning and perverseness, the animal d torpid presence. If I called her Mmne. de Ferrier in ead of my cloud mother, a strained nd puzzled look replaced her usual itisfaction. I did not often use the ame, nor did I try to make her re eat my own. It was my daily effort fall in with her happiness, for if lie saw any anxiety she was quick to lead: "Don't you like me any more, Paul? .rc you tired of me because I am a loud mother?" "No," I would answer. "Lazarre will ver be tired of you." "Do you think I am growing small i? Will you love me if I shrink to a "I will love you." "I used to love you when you were tiny, Paul, before you knew how to sve ec back. If I forget how"-she lutched the lapels of my coat-"will ou leave me then?" "Eagle, say this: 'Lazarre cannot ave me.'" "Lazarre cannot leave me." I heard her repeating this at her n Shebastd to Marie Gri. gnon-"'Lazarre cannot leave meI; Paul taught me that." Iy cloud mother asked me to teh her the stories she used to tell me. She had forgotten them. "I am the child now," she would say. "Tell me the stories." I repeated mythical tribe legeids, gathered from Skenedonk on our long rides, making them as eloquent as I could. She listened, holding her breath or sighing with contentment. If any one In the household smiled when she led me about by the hand, there was a tear behind the smile. She kept herself in perfection, be stowing unceasing care upon her dress, which was always gray. "I have to wear gray. I am In a cloud," she had said to the family. "We have used fine gray stuff brought from Holland and wools that Mother Ursule got from Montreal," Katarina told me. "The Pawnees dye I with vegetable colors. But they can not make the pale gray she loves." Skenedonk was not often in the house. He took to the winter hunting and snowshoeing- with vigor. When ever he came indoors I used to see him watching Mme. de Ferrier with satur nine wistfulgess. She paid no atten tion to him. He would stand gazing at her while she sewed, being privileged as an educated Indian and my attend ant to enter the family room where the Pawnees came only to serve. They had the ample kitchen and its log fire to themselves. I wondered -what was working In Skenedonk's mind, and If he repented calling one so buffeted a sorceress. The more I thought about It the less endurable it became to have her de pendent upon the Grignons. My busi ness affairs with Pierre Grignon made it possible to transfer her obligations to my account The hospitable man hnd his wife objected, but when they .saw how I took it to heart gaye me ny way. I told them I wished her to be regarded as my wife, for I should never have another, and while It might 'remain Impossible for her to marry me, on my part I was bound to her. "You are young, M's'r Williams," 4 said Mme. Ursule. "You have a long life before you. A man. wants com fort in his house. And if he makes wealth he needs a hand that knows how to distribute and how to save. She could never go to your home as she Is." "I know It, madame." "You will change your mind about a wife." "Madame, I have not changed my 4 mind since r first wanted her. It is not a mind that changes." "Well, that's unusual. Young men are often fickle. You never made pro posals for her?" "I did, madame, after her husband died." * "But she was still a wife-the wife of an old man-in the Pigeon Roost settlement." "Her father married her to a cousin nearly as old as himself when she was a child. Her husband was reported dead while she was In hiding. She herself thought, and so did her friends, that he was dead." 4 "I see. Eh! These girls married to old men! Mine. Jordan told me Made leine's husband was very fretfuL. He kept himself like silk and scarcely let4 the wind blow upon him for~ fear of injuring his health. When other men were out tolling at the clearings he sat4 In his house to avoid getting chills and 4 fever In the sun. It was well for her that she had a faithful servant Made leine and the servant kept the family4 with their garden and cornfield. They never tasted wild meat unless the other settlers brought them venison. Mmne. Jordan said they always returned a present of herbs and vegetables from their garden. It grew for them better than any other garden In the settle ment. Once the old man did go out with a hunting party and, got lost. The men searched for him three days and found him curled up in a hollow tree, waiting to be brought In. They carried him home on a litter and he popped his head Into the door and said: 'Here I am, child! You can't kill mel'" "What did Mmne. de Ferrier say?" "Nothing. She made a child of him, as if he were her son. H~e was in his second childhood, no doubt. And Mmne. Jordan said she appeared to hold her self accountable for the losses and crosses that made him so fretful. The children of the emigration were brought up to hardship and accepted everything as their elders could not do." "I thought the Marquis de -Ferrier a courteouls gentleman." "Did you ever see him ?" >'Twice only." "He used to tell his wife he intended to live a hundred years. And I sup pose he would have done it, If he had no~ been tomahawked and scalped. 'You'll never get De Chaumont,' he used to say to her. Il see that he never gets you!' I remember the name very well, because it was the name of that pretty creature who danced for us in the cabin o; Lake George." -- "Do Chaumont was her father," I said.' "He would have married Mine. de Ferrier and restored hei- estate if she had accepted him and the marquis had not come back." "Saints have pity!" said Mine. Ur sule. "And the poor old man must make everybody and himself so un comfortable!" "Butgow could he help living?" "True enough. God's times are not ours. But see what he has' made of er!" I thought of my cloud mother walk rg inclosed from the world upon a height of changeless youth. She could iot feel another shock. She was past both ambition and poverty. If she had ver felt the sweet anguish of love oh, she must have understood when she kissed me and said, "I will come to you some time!"-the anguish, the oping, waiting, expecting, receiving othing, all were gone by. Even moth r cares no longer touched her. Paul as grown. She could not be made anything that was base. Unseen forces had worked with her and wonld. work with her still. "You told me," I said to Mime. Ur sl, "the Indians were afraid of her hen they burned the settlement. Was the change so sudden?" "Mine. Jordan's story was like this: t happened In broad daylight Two ne went into the woods hunting bee trees. The Indians caught, and killed them within two miles of the clearing -some of those very Winnebagoes you treated with for your land. It was a unshiny day in September. You could hear the poultry crowiglg and the chil rn playing in the dooryards. Made eine's little Paul was never far away from her. The Indians rushed in withi yells and finished the settlement In a few minutes. Mine. Jordan and her family were protected, but she saw children dashed against trees and her. neighbors struck down and scalped before she could plead for them. Andi ittle good pleading would have done. n Indian seized Paul. His father [rrNTrn N NET PaE. 1 About spending money economically. Nobet ter place to have them demonstrated that at THE MINOR STORE, 7 Where the purchasing power of YOUR DOLLAR is always vastly increased, and in many instances doubled We mention a few of the many items that you can find here, there's some-nanv more. Dress Goods and Trimmings, Laces and Embroideries, ' Hosiery and Underwear, Shoes for Men, Women and Children. Hats for Men and Women, Corsets and Gloves, Notions and Toilet Articles, Stationery and Purses. Linens and Drapers, Rugs and Mattings, Men's and Boys' Furnishing Goods. Ready Made Shirts, Jackets'and Shirt Waists. 4$$$$++++++++ 4444# ++++4+++ 4. 4 4 # 4 4 * All of these are priced- in keeping with our way of doing business. Not marked as highas they would sell but for as little as we can sell them for and live. When. you are in Sumter. we'll make it interest ing for you. Phone or write for samples. S. L. KRASNOFF'S I'he largest Furniture~ Store in Clarendon - County, for, your ,Willow Rockers, Cane Rocker's, Cobler Rockers, Satddle Rockers, - Wood Rockers, - DDining Chairs, Sitting Chairs, Bed Louniges, Couches, Side1ards, Dressers, Chiiffoniers, -Wash Stands, Wardrobes, Center Tables. Dining Tables. Table Cove*rs, Children's Rockers, Baby Carriages, Bedroom Suits, Cradles, Cribs, Mattresses, Springs, Pillows, Comforts, Blankets, Pictures, Picture Frames, Easels, Screens, Window Shades, Lace Curtains, Portiers, Crockery, Clocks, etc. 5. L. KRASNOFF, The Furniture Dieksoni Hardware Company Would have you bear in mind that their stock of G uns and Ammunition is still complete. ~oats, Vests, Leggins and Boots. Everything to meet your wants for the holidays. Fou should see our line of Vandyke Ware, Porcelain Lined, Milk, Cake and Pudding Pans, Coffee Pots and Sancepans. Sbeautiful assortment of Carving Knives and Forks, Pocket Knives, Razors and Scissors. When you need that Stove come to see us. )ICKSON HARDWARE COMPANY,