w y
I SPRING IS HERE I
? ==================== ?
4? and you want to freshen up your SJ
J- home in keeping with the season. ^
#1 See my new lines of .... .
I ed Roam Sails, Felt Miiires ses, Hammocks, ?
t Rugs and Mattings and Refrigerators. |
Jj I keep constantly on hand a com. ?
plete line of : : : :
1 COFFINS and CASKETS |
'J5 and am prepared to render my
2 services day and night. JJ
jj Li. J. STACKLETI
J5 THE FCRXITCRE MAX.
? KINGSTREE, - - S. C. j?
fwSerfl^^l
? AND (| S,ore 8.
ft i :?Lf J Ho,els , , 5
jn I J^5 ^ Public buildings 5
| Moderate Cost 5
8 Perfect jfet/ny. |
Gasoline Engines for any purpose J>
J c? c? Stiff man, Slorence, c?.Ci U
|Tk Parlor Market|
* SS - Jf
ft * ==?= . ==BHS==BH?i= fc*
? Dressed Meats* Fish, Game, Poultry ?
? Oysters, Eggs and Full Line * " ?
? JFojz^G-y G-roceries ?
? hides wanted hiqhestTmarket ?
? )o? t PRICES PAID, ) ta( ?
? Tla.e IFa-rlor 2v?ar3sret? ?
? ? ? _ ' ?
? T. ti. J^rrowsmiziu Agent., ?
? KINGSTREE S. C. &
Eft.'
"BUZZARD HARDWARE CO. IS THE HOUSE.
fj 11/E are headquarters for all
w& | Lj I WW kinds of Hardware, Guns,
H&jy ?1 j-Q-f" Cutlery, Pumps, Piping, Steam
l'"*! """ I ~~~ W Fittings, Belting, Pittsburg Per??feet
Pence, Baib Wire, Crock~
= = = =: " f- ery and -Glassware, Cooking
v l _L Stoves, Builders Material of all
kinds, X. C. Pine Shingles, Paroid Roofing, Sash, Doors,
Blinds, Lime, Cement, Paint. Farming Implements, Stalk Cutters
Cole Corn and Cotton Planters, Guano Distributors. : : :
SEE US BEFORE PLACING YOUR ORDERS.
Yours very truly,
BLIZZARD HARDWARE CO.
LAKE CITY, S C.
"A dollar saved
is a dollar made"
C >
There is no better way to save your dollars than b>
dealing with - - J.
L. Stuckey, the old reliable live-stock
man.
I have a splendid line of Biiii,
lips ill Bibs,
that in view of the hard times am offering at 10 per cenl
above cost.
A nice bunch of HORSES and MULES always on hand
at prices to suit.
J. L. StUCkey, LakeCity.S C.
j - ^
CONQUEST
| By BOOTH T
I Author of "Cherry,'* "M
1 COPYRIGHT. 190 5, BY
i J>
CHAPTER I.
A DRY snow had fallen steadily
throughout the still night, so
that when a cold, upper wind
? cleared the sky gloriously in
the morning the incongruous Indiana
town shone In a white harmony?roof,
ledge and earth as evenly covered as
by mcrtmlight There was no thaw.
Only where the line of factories followed
the big bend of the frozen river,
their distant chimneys like exclamation
points on a blank page, was there
a first threat against the supreme
whiteness. The wind passed quickly
and on high, the shouting of the school
children had ceased at 0 o'clock with
pitiful suddenness, ho sleigh bells
laughed out on the air, and the muffling
of the thoroughfares wrought an
unaccustomed peace like that of Sunday.
This was the phenomenon which
afforded the opening of the morning
5 *?a- -a au-. ! % tfMfl I r?_
I ueuaie vi iue sages iu mt n mv ?
dows of the National House.
Only sucb unfortunates ss have so
far failed to visit Canaan do not know
that the National House is on the
Main street side of the Courthouse
square and hps the advantage of being
within two minnte8' walk of the railroad
station, which Is In plain sight of
the windows, an inestimable benefit to
the conversation of the aged men who
occupied these windows on this white
morning even as they were wont in
summer to hold against all comers the
cane seated chairs on the pavement
outside.
Mail time had come to mean that
bright hour when they all got their
feet on the brass red which protected
the sills of the two big windows, with
the steam radiators sizzling like kettles
against the side wall. Mr. Jonas Tabor,
who had sold his hardware business
magnificently (not magnificently for
his nephew, the purchaser) some ten
years be lore, was usually, In spite of
the fact that ho remained a bachelor at
seventy-nine, the last to settle down
with the others, though often the first
to reach the hotel, which he always entered
by a side door, because he did
not believe in the treating system. And
It was Mr. Eskew Arp.only seventy-five,
but already a thoroughly capable cynic,
who almost invariably "opened the
argument," and It was he who discovered
the sinister intention behind the
weather of this particular morning.
The malevolence of his voice and
manner when he shook his finger at the
town beyond the windows and exclaimed,
with a bitter langh, "Look at it!"
was no surprise to his companions.
"Jest look at it! I tell you the devil
Is mighty smart! Ha. ha! Mighty
smart!"
Through custom It was the duty of
Bquire Bnckalew (Justice of the peace
in 1859) to be the first to take up Mr.
Arp. The others looked to him for it
Therefore he asked sharply:
"What's the devil got to do with
snow?"
"Everything to do with it sir," Mr.
Arp retorted. "It's plain as day to
anybody with eyes and sense."
"Then I wish you'd p'lnt It out"
said Buckalew, "if you've got either."
"By the Almighty, squire"?Mr. Arp
turned In his chair with sudden heat?
"If I'd lived as long as you"?
"You have," interrupted the other,
i stung. "Twelve years ago."
"If I'd lived as long as you," Mr. Arp
repeated unwinelngly in a loader voice,
"and bad follered Satan's trail as long
as you have and yet couldn't recognire
it when I see it I'd git converted and
vote Prohibitionist."
"I don't see it," interjected Uncle
i Joe Davey In his querulous voice. (He
; was the patriarch of them all.) "I can't
, find, no cloven hoof prints In the
' snow."
"All over it, sir!" cried the cynic.
"All over it! Old Satan loves tricks
like this. Here's a town that's Jest one
squirmin' mass of lies and envy and
vice and wickedness and corruption"?
"Hold on!" exclaimed Colonel Flitcroft.
"That's a slander upon our
hearths and our government Why,
when I was in the council"?
"It wasn't a bit worse then," Mr.
Arp returned unreasonably. "Jest you
look how the devil fools us. He drops
down this here virgin mantle on Canaan
and makes it look as good as you
pretend yon think it is?as good %a
the Sunday school room of a country
church, though that"?he went off on a
r tangent venomously ? "is generally
only another whited sepulcher, and the
superintendent's mighty apt to have a
bottle of whisky hid behind the organ
[ and"?
"Look here, Eskew," said Jonas Tabor,
"that's got nothin' to do with"?
"Why ain't it? Answer me: - cneu
Mr. Arp, continuing without paifte:
" Why ain't It? Can't you wait till I
git through? You listen to me, and
when I'm ready I'll listen to"?
"See here," began the colonel, making
himself heard over three others, "I
want to ask you"?
, "Xo, sir!" Mr. Arp pounded the
^ floor irascibly with his hickory stick.
"Don't you ask me anything. How can
| you tell that I'm not going to answer
your question without your asking it
tlli I've got through? You listen first.
I say, here's a town of nearly 30.000
inhabitants, every last one of 'em?
xiien, women and children?selfish and
CANAAN I
ARKINGTON, j
lonsicur Bcaucaire." Etc. J
HARPER ty BROTHERS |
t 4
cowardly and sinful if you could see
their innermost natures; a town of the
ugliest and worst built houses in the
world and governed by a lot of saloon
keepers, though I hope it'll never git
down to where the ministers cau run
It Ant| the devil comes along and In
one night?why, all you got to do is
look at it! You'd think we needn't
ever trouble to make it better. That's
what the devil wants us to do?wants
us to rest ea3y about it and paints it
up to look like a heaven of peace and
purity and sanctified spirits. Snowfall
like this would of made Lot turn the
angel out of doors and say that the old
home was good enough for him. Gomorrah
would of looked like a Puritan
village, though I'll bet my last dollar
that there was a lot, and a whole lot
that's never been told about Puritan
villages. A lot that"?
"What never was?" interrupted Mr.
Peter Bradbury, whose granddaughter
had lately announced her discovery
that the Bradburys were descended
from Miles Standish. "What wasn't
told about Puritan villages?"
"Can't you wait?" Mr. Arp's accents
were those of pain. "Haven't I
got any right |o present my side of the
ease? Ain't we restrained enough to
allow of free speech here? How can
we ever git anywhere in an argument
like this unless we let one man talk at
a time? How"?
"Go on with your statement" said
Uncle Joe Davey impatiently.
Mr. Arp's grievance was increased.
"Now, listen to you! How many more
interruptions are comin'? I'll listen to
the other 6ide, but I've got to state
mine first, haven't I? If I don't make
my point clear, what's the use of the
argument? Argumentation is only the
comparison of two sides of a question,
and you have to see what the first side
is before you can compare It with the
other one, don't you? Are you all
agreed to that?' v
"Yes, yes," said the colonel. "Go
ahea<f. We won't interrupt until you're
through."
The "argument" grew heated. Half
a dozen tidy quarrels arose. All the
sages went at It fiercely except Roger
Tabor, who stole quietly away. The
aged men were enjoying themselves
thoroughly, especially those who quarreled.
Naturally the frail bark of the
topic which had been launched was
whirled about by too many side currents
to remain long in sight and soon
became derelict, while the Intellectual
dolphins dove and tumbled In the
depths. At the end of twenty minutes
Mr. Arp emerged upon the surface, and
in his mouth was this:
"Tell toe, why ain't the church?why
ain't the church and the rest of the
belie vers In a future life looldn' for
I Immortality at the other end of life
too? If we're immortal we always
; have been. Then why don't they ever
speculate on wnai we were ueium we
were born? It's because they're too
blame selfish: don't care a flapdoodle
| about what was. All they want Is to go
i on Uvln' forever."
Mr. Arp's voice had risen to an acrid
trlumphancy, when It suddenly faltered,
relapsed to n murmur and then to a
stricken silence as a tall, fat man of
overpowering aspect threw open the
outer door near by and crossed the
lobby to the clerk's desk. An awe fell,
upon the sages with this advent They
were hushed and after a movement in
their chairs, with a strange effect of
huddling, sat disconcerted and atten
| tire, like schoolboys at the entrance or
I the master.
The personage had a big, fat, pink
face and a heavily undershot Jaw,
what whitish beard he wore following
his double chin somewhat after the
; manner displayed In the portraits of
Henry VIII. His eyes, very bright
under puffed*upper lids, were intolerant
and Insultingly penetrating despite
their small size. Their irritability held
a kind of hotness, and yet the personage
exuded frost, not of the weather,
; all about him. You could not Imagine
, man or angel daring to greet this be!
ing genially?sooner throw a kiss to
Mount Pilatus!
"Mr. Brown," he said, with ponderous
hostility, in a bull bass to the
j clerk?the kind of voice which would
i have made an express train leave the
! track and go round the other way?
"do yon hear me?"
"Oh, yes, judge!" the clerk replied
swiftly in tones as unlike those which
I he used for strange transients as a
! collector's voice In his ladylove's ear
i Is unlike that which he propels at dei
llnquents.
"Do you see that snow?" asked the
; personage threateningly.
"Yes, Judge." Mr. Brown essayed
a placating smile. "Yes, Indeed, Judge
1 Pike."
"Has your employer, the manager
of this hotel, seen that snow?" pursued
the personage, with a gesture of unspeakable
solemn menace,
j "Yes, sir. I think so. Yes, sir."
"Do you think he fully understands
i that I am the proprietor of this buildj
ing?"
"Certain. Jndge, cer"?
"You will Inform him that I do not
intend to be discommoded by his negligence
as I pass to my offices. Tell
him from me that unless he keeps the
sidewalks In front of this hotel clear
\
of snow I will cancel his lease. Their
present condition Is outrageous. Do
you understand me? Outrageous! Do
you hear?"
"Yes. judge, I do so," answered the 1
c?erk, hoarse with respect. "I'll see to j
it this minute, Judge Pike."
"You had better." The personage !
turned himself about and began a grim J
progress toward the door by which he j
had entered, his eyes fixing themselves
angrily upon the conclave at the windows.
He nodded to the only man of substance
among them. Jonas Tabor, and
shut the door behind him with majestic
insult He was Canaan's millionaire.
Naturally Jonas Tabor was the first
to speak. "Judge Pike's lookin' mighty
well." he said admiringly.
"Yes, he is," ventured Squire Buekalew,
with deference; "mighty well."
"There's a party at the judge's tonight"
said Mr. Bradbury?"kind of a
ball Mamie Pike's glvin* for the young
folks. Quite a doin's, I hear."
"That's another thing that's ruining
Canaan." Mr. Arp declared morosely?
"these entertainments they have nowadays.
Spend all the money out of
town?baud from Indianapolis, chicken
salad and darky waiters from Chicago!"
A decrepit hack or two, a couple of
old fashioned surreys and a few "cutunders"
drove Dy from the 10:45 train,
bearing the newly arrived and their
ika hntol nnwiihnfl dennsitine
f aiiocoi iuv uv?v? w~ K ?0
several commercial travelers at the
door. A solitary figure came from the
station on foot, and when it appeared
within fair range of the window, Uncle
Joe Davey, who had but hovered on
the flanks of the combat, first removed
his spectacles and wiped them, as
though distrusting the vision they offered
him, then, replacing them, scanned
anew the approaching figure and
uttered a smothered cry.
"My Lord A'mighty," he gasped,
"what's this? Look therer'
They looked. A truce came involuntarily,
and they sat in paralytic silence
as the figure made Its stately and sensational
progress along Main street.
It was that of a tall gentleman,
cheerfully, though somewhat with ennui,
enduring his nineteenth winter.
His long and slender face he wore
smiling, beneath an accurately cut
plaster of dark hair cornicing his forehead,
a fashion followed by many
youths of that year. This perfect bang
was shown under a round black hat
whose rim was so small as almost not
to t>e there at all, and the bead was
supported by a waxy white seawall of
collar, rising three inches above the
blue billows of a puffed cravat upon
which floated a large, hollow pearl.
His ulster, sporting a big cape at the
shoulders and a tasseled hood over the
cape, was of a rough Scotch cloth, patterned
In faint gray and white squares
the size of baggage checks, and it was
so long that the skirts trailed In the
snow. His legs were lost in the accurately
creased, voluminous garments
that were the tailors' canny reaction
from the tight trousers with which the
80'b bad begun?they were In color a
palish russet, broadly striped with
gray and in size surpassed the milder
spirit of fashion so far as they permitted
a liberal ktee action to take place
almost without superficial effort On
bis feet glistened long shoes, shaped,
Sim 4-Ka ^aa1? lllra oKerri Motnff
SflYC 1VI U1C un?i lias nuai|> msiug
shells. These were partially protected
bj tan colored low gaiters, with flat
shiny, brown buttons. In one band the
youth swung a bone bandied walking
stick perhaps an inch and a half In diameter;
the other carried a yellow
leather banjo case, upon the outside of
which glittered the-embossed silver
Initials "E. B." He was smoking, but
walked with his head up, making use.
however, of a gait at that time new to
Canaan, a seeming superbly irresponsible
lounge, engendering much motion
fen 1
"My Lord A'mighty,' he gasped, "what's
thist"
of the shoulders, producing an effect of
carelessness combined with Independence,
an effect which the Innocent
have been known to ball as an unconscious
one.
' With everything In sight he deigned
to be amused, especially with the old
fooea in tho National House windows.
To these he waved his stick with airy
graciousness.
"My soul," said Mr. Davey, "it seems
to know some of us!"
"Yes," agreed Mr. Arp, his voice recovered.
"and I know it. It's Fanny
Loudeu's boy Gene, come home for his
Christmas holidays."
"By George, you're right!" cried
Flitcroft. "I recognize him now."
"But what's the matter with him?"
asked Mr. Bradbury eagerly. "Has he
Joined some patent medicine troupe?"
?
* - *r *v _
- - - --1
"Not a bit," replied Eskew. "He
rent east to college last fall"
"Do they make the boys wear them V
clothes?' persisted Bradbury. "Is It **
some kind of uniform?" ^
"I don't care what it is," said Jonas-'
Tabor, "if I was Henry Louden I
wouldn't let him wear 'em around
here."
"Oh, you wouldn't, wouldn't you,
Jonas?" Mr. Arp employed the accemta
of sarcasm. "I'd like to see Helf^
Louden try to interfere with Gene
Bantry. Fanny'd lock the old fool up
in the cellar."
The lofty vision lurched out of view.
"I reckon," said the colonel, leaning
forward to see the last of it?"I reckon
It was that oj a tall gentleman enduring
his nineteenth winter. '
Henry Louden's about the saddest
case of abused stepfather I ever saw."
"It's his own fault" said Mr. Aip?
"twice not havln' sense enough not to
marry. Him with a son of his ^wn
too!"
ifes," assented the colonel, "marryln'
a widow with a son of her own,
and that widow Fanny!"
"Wasn't It just the same with her
first husband, Bantry?" Mr. Davey
asked, not for Information, as he im-' :
mediately answered himself. "You M
bet it was! Didn't she always rule
the roost? Yes. she did. She made a
god of Gene from the day he was
born. Bantry'g house was run for him.
like Louden's is now." *
"And look," exclaimed Mr. Arp, with j ?
satisfaction, "at the way he's turned Jl
out!" ' \i
"He ain't turned out at all yet He's '
too young," said Buckalew. "Besides, 7 .
clothes don't make the man."
"Wasn't he smokln' a clgareet!" cried *
Eskew triumphantly. This was final
"It's a pity Henry Louden can't do
something for his own son," said Mr.
Bradbury. "^Thy don't be send him
away to college?'
"Fanny won't let blm," chuckled Mr.
Arp malevolently. "Takes all their
spare change to keep Gene there
style. I don't blame her. Gene certainly
acts the fool, but that Joe Louden
is the orneriest boy I ever saw in
an ornery world full."
"He always was kind of miscfceevous,"
admitted Buckalew. "I <!lon't
think he's mean, though, and it does
seem kind of not just right that Joe's
father's money?Bantry didn't leave
anything to speak of?has to go to
keepin' Gene on the fat of the land,
with Joe glttln' up at half past 4 to
carry papers, and him goln' cm nineteen
years old."
"It's all he's fit for?' exclaimed Eskew.
"He's low down, I tell ye. Ain't
it only last week Judge Pike caught
him shootln' craps with Pike's nigger
driver and some otner nigger nirea
men in the alley back of Pike's barn."
"You ever hear that boy Joe talk polities?"
asked Uncle Joe Davey. crossing
a cough with a chuckle. "His
head's so full of schemes fer running
this town, and state, too, It's a wonder
it don't bust. Henry Louden told me
he's see Joe set around and study by
the hour how to save $3,000,000 for the
state In two years."
"And the best be can do for himself,"
added Eskew, "is dellverln' the Dally
Tocsin on a second hand Star bicycle '
and gamblln' with niggers and riffraff!
None of the nice young folks invite
him to their doln's any more."
"That's because he's got so shabby
he's quit goin' with 'em," said Buckalew.
"No, It ain't," snapped Mr. Arp. "It's
because he's so low down. lie's no
more 'n a town outcast There ain't
ary one of the girls 'il have a thing to
do with him, except tha!t rlp-rarln' tomboy
next door to Louden's, and the othnra
Hnn't harp m nr?h fn Ha rrlth han
neither, I can tell ye. That Arle Tabor"?
Colonel Flitcroft caught hlra surreptitiously
by the arm. "Sh. Eskew!" he
whispered. "Look out what you're
sayln'."
"You needn't mind me," Jonas Tabor
spoke up crisply. "I washed my hands
of all responsibility for Roger's branch
of the family long ago. Never was one
of 'em had the energy or brains to
make a decent Hvln', beginning with
Roger?not one worth his salt. I set
ttogers son up in Dusinesa, ana ail me
return he ever made me .was to go
into bankruptcy and take to drink, till
he died a sot, like his wife dtff of
shame. I done all I cottld when I
handed him over my store, and I never *
expect to lift a finger for 'em again.
Ariel Tabor's my grandnlece, but she *
didn't act like it, and you can say anything
you like about her for what I
care. The last time I spoke to her was jfl
a year and a half ago. and I don't
reckon I'll ever trouble to again." '
"IIow was that. Jonas?" quickly in-'^Hjj
~ i