The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, April 18, 1907, Image 6
ISPRING
IS HERE I
? ?
? ?
*? and you want to freshen up your ij
^ home in keeping with the season. ^
J* See my new lines of .... . ^
t ed Room Suits, Felt Mattresses, Hammocks, . ?
? Rugs and Mattings and Refrigerators. ?
w ? J. - ^ 1 1 _ - .
J! I Keep constantly on nanu a turn- ^
plete line of : : : : ^
1 COFFINS and CASKETS !
and am prepared to render my < gj
J services day and night. I
I Im J. STACKLEY,-1
?? THE F(R\ITIRE MAY. g
? KINGSTREE, - - S. C. ?
"and j st0fe u
j f! *^8" t Public buildings g
X 7/Joderate Cost 8
8 Perfect dieting. |
f Gasoline Engines for any purpose,
& Sngman,Florence,S.C. wf
^ ?_?? ? ??^
, Ilk ParlorMarketf
?s fr
^ 5==????? ???i ^
? Dressed Meats. Fish, Game, Poultry ?
3 Oysters, Eggs and Full Line - . - g
?^suz^C37- O-xoceries ?
'" ?f HIDES MINTED HIGHES!TMARKET ?
J5 . >c3 c PRICES PAID, a toe ?
? Tli.e Parlor avstarjset,, ?
9 T. B. Arrowsmith, Agentv ?
J . KINGSTREE S. C. ?
i BUZZARD HARDWARE CO. IS THE HOUSE. ~
&:>. 0
mm . .isi .... ,.Q.. |I/E are headquarters for all
wjaw . 47-j lk*L WW kinds of Hardware, Guns,
.rt-^?I? JriJ- Cutlery, Pumps, Piping-, Steam
V^-- ^ l*j ^ If E^ting8, Belting, Pittsburg PerZZ
HI Hi HI ? j . h"T ?jr feet Fence, Baib Wire, Crockt|
~== = = =: j { | ery and Glassware, Cooking
ja__T ? L_a._i ' - ]-*ML stoves, Builders Material of all
kinds, N. C. Pine Shingles, Paroid Koofing, Sash, Doors,
Blinds, Lime, Cement, Paint. Farming Implements, Stalk Cutters
~ " ~ ' " ' T>, ^ ry ....
Cole Uorn ana motion f laniers, uuttuu i/isuiumuis
SEE US BEFORE PLACING YOUR ORDERS.
Yours very truly,
1 BLIZZARD HARDWARE CO.
LAKE CITY, S C.
[ "A dollar saved
is a dollar made"
&
There is no better way to save your dollars than by
dealing with - - J.
L. Stuckey, the old reliable live-stock
man.
I have a splendid line of
. Bits, Win ml Bbss,
1
that in view of the hard times am offering at 10 per cent
' above cost.
A nice bunch of HORSES and MULES always on hand
at prices to suit.
I J. L. StUCkey, Lake City, S C.
4
CONQUEST
By BOOTH 1
| Author of "Cherry,** "M
COPYRIGHT. 1905. BY
?J
(Continued from last week.)
<
rnAPTPn m
THE door which Ariel had entered
opened upon a narrow ball,
and down this she ran to her
own room, passing, with face
averted, the entrance to the broad, low
ceillnged chamber that bad served
Roger Tabor as a studio for almost
fifty years. He was sitting there now.
In a hopeless and disconsolate attitude,
with his back toward the double doors,
which were open, and had been open
since their binges had begun to give
way, when Ariel was a child. Hearing
her step, he called her name, but
did not turn, and, receiving no answer,
sighed faintly as be beard her own
door close upon her.
Then as his eyes wandered about the
many canvases which leaned against
the dingy walls be sighed again. Usually
they showed their brown backs,
but today he had turned them all to
face outward. Twilight, sunset moonlight
(the courthouse In moonlight),
dawn, morning, noon (Main street at
noon), high summer, first spring, red
autumn, midwinter, all were there, 11llmitably
detailed, worked to a smoothness
like a glaze and all lovingly done
with unthinkable labor.
After a time the old man got up,
went to his easel near a window and,
sighing again, began patiently to work
upon one of these failures?a portrait
In oil of a savage old lady, which he
was doing from a photograph. The
expression of the mouth and the shape
of the nose Jiad not pleased her descendants
afll the beneficiaries under ;
iub win, aua u was upon me images
of these features that Roger labored.
He leaned far forward, with his face
close to the canvas, holding tis brushes
after the Spencerian fashion, working
steadily through the afternoon and I
when the light grew dimmer, leaning
cioser to his canvas to see. When It
had become almost dark in the room
he lit a student lamp with a green
glass shade and, placing it upon a table
beside him. continued to paint
Ariel's voice Interrupted him at last.
"It's quitting time, grandfather," she
9alled gently from the1 doorway behind |
him. ' , He
sank back In his chair, conscious j
for the first time of how tired he had
grown.' "I suppose so." he said, "though
It seemed to me I was just getting my j
hand In." His eyes brightened for a
moment. "I declare, I believe I've 1
caught it a great deal better. Come j
and look, Ariel. Doesn't it seem to ;
you that I'm getting it? Those pearly \
shadows in tlje ?esh"? '
"I'm sure of It Those people ought j
to be very proud to have it." She came j
to him quietly, took the palette and ,
brushes from his hands and began to j
dean them, standing In the shadow be- i
hind him. "It's too good for them."
"No," he murmured in return. "You j
can do much better yourself. Your j
Batches sj^ow Jt."
"No. no!" she protested quickly.
"Yes, they do. and I wondered If It
was only because you were young. But !
those I did when I was young are al- j
most the same as the ones I paint now. ;
I haven't learned much. There hasn't ,
been any one to show me. And you
can't learn from print, never! Yet
I've grown in what I see?grown so ;
that the world Is full of beauty to me j
that I never dreamed of seeing when I i
began. But I can't paint it I can't !
get It on the canvas. AJh, I think I |
might have known how to if I hadn't
had to teach myself, if I could only
have seen how some of the other felloivs
dirt their work. If I'd ever saved
money to get away from Canaan?If I j
could have gone away from it and ;
come back knowing how to paint it?if :
I could have got to Paris for Just one
month! Paris for Just one month!"
"Perhaps we will You can't tell
what may happen." It was always her
reply to this cry of his.
"You're young, you're young." Hb
smiled indulgently. "What were you
doing all this afternoon, child?"
"In my room, trying to make over
mamma's wedding dress for tonight" j
"Tonight?"
"Mamie Pike invited me to a dance :
at their house."
"Very well. I'm glad you're going to
be gay," he said, not seeing the faintly
bitter smile that came to her face.
"I don't think I'll be very gay," she
nm.Tr/.i.n,l "T dnn't knnw whv I CO.
auo n vivu. a \*v? ? ?? ? w ,
Nobody ever asks me to dance."
"Why not?" he asked, with an old i
man's astonishment.
"I don't know. Perhaps it's because j
I don't dress very well." Then, as he '
made a sorrowful gesture, she cut him ,
off before he could speak. "Oh, it isn't
altogether because we're poor. It's
more I don't know how to wear what
I've got, the way some girls do. I
never cared much and?well, I'm not
worrying, Roger. And I think I've
done a good deal with mamma's dress.
It's a very grand dress. I wonder I
never thought of wearing it until today.
I may be"?she laughed and
blushed?"I may be the belle of the
ball?who knows!"
"You'll want me to walk over with
you and come for you afterward, I expect"
"Only to take me. It may be late
~ I
V CANAAN
ARKINGTON,
lonsieur Beaucaire." Etc.
HARPER I* BROTHERS
C
wtluTT '1 Tulle a ?u a gum_T mu^y
should ask me to dance for 0nce. 01
course \ ''ould come home alone. But
Joe Louden Is going to sort of hang
around outside, and he'll meet me at
the gate and see me safe home.".
"Oh!" be exclaimed blankly.
"Isn't it all right?"
' "I think I'd better come for you " he
| answered gently. "The truth is, I?I
I think you'd better not be with Joe
Louden a great deal."
"Why?"
"Well, he doesn't seem a vicious boy
to me, dui 1 m airaia ne s getting
rather a bad name, my dear."
"He's not getting one," she said
gravely. "He's already got one. He's
"Zf / could have dot to Paris for Just
one month I"
bad a bad name In Canaan for a long
while. It grew in the first place oat of
shabbiness and mischief, but it did
grow, and if people keep on giving him
a bad name the time will come when
he'll live up to it He's not any worse
than I am, and I guess my own name
isn't too good?for a girl. And yet bo
fart there's nothing against him except
his bad name."
"I'm afraid there Is." said Roger.
"It doesn't look very well for a young
man of his age to be doing no better
than delivering papers."
"It gives him time to study law,"
she answered quickly. "If he clerked
all day in a store he couldn't" ?
"I didn't know, he was studying now.
I thought I'd heard that be was in a
lawyer's office for a few weeks last
year and was turned out for setting
fire to It'with a pipe"?
"It was an accident" she interposed.
"But some pretty important papers
were burned, and after that none of
the other lawyers would have him."
"He's not in ah office," she admitted.
"I didn't mean that - But he
studies a great deal. He goes to the
courts all the time they're in session,
and he's bought some books of his
own."
"Well, perhaps," he assented, "but
they say he gambles and drinks and
that last week Judge Pike threatened
to have him arrested vfor throwing dice
with some neeroes behind the Judge's
stable."
. "What of It? I'm about the only
nice person In town that will have
anything to do with him?and nobody
except you thinks I'm very nice!"
"Ariel! Ariel!"
"I know all about bis gambling with
darkies," she continued excitedly, her
voice rising, "und I know that he goes
to saloons and that he's an Intimate
friend of half the riffrflff in town. And
I know the reason for It, too, because
he's told me. He wants to know them,
to understand them, and he says some
day they'll make him a power, and
then he can help them!"
The old man laughed helplessly.
"But I can't let him bHng you home,
my dear."
She came to him slowly and laid her
bands upon bis shoulders. Grandfather
and granddaughter were nearly
of the same height, and she looked
squarely Into his eyes. "Then you
must say it is because you want to
come for me, not because I mustn't
come with Joe."
"But I think it Is a little becatse you
mustn't come with Joe," he answered,
"especially from the Pikes'. Don't ypu
see that it mightn't be well for Joe
himself if the judge should happen to
coo him? I understand he warned the
boy to keep away from the neighborhood
entirely or he would have him
locked up for dice throwing. The
judge is a. very influential man, you
know, and as determined In matters
like this as he Is irritable."
"Oh, if you put It on that ground,"
the girl replied, her eyes softening, "I
think you'd better come for me your
self."
"Very well, I put It on that ground,"
he returned, smiling upon her.
"Then I'll send Joe word and get
supper," she said, kissing him.
It was the supper hour not only for
them, but everywhere in Canaan, and
the cold air of the streets bore up and
down and around corners the smell of
things frying. The dining room wlni
dows of all th$ bouses threw bright
patches on the suow of the side yards.
The windows of other rooms, except
those of the kitchens, were dark, for
the rule of the place was Puritanical
in thrift, as in all things, and the good
housekeepers disputed every record of
the meters with unhappy gas collectors.
There was no better housekeeper in
town than Mrs. Louden, nor a thriftier,
but hers was one of the few houses in
i Canaan that evening which showed
j bright lights in the front rooms while
! the family were at supper. It was
proof of the agitation caused by the
arrival of Eugene that she forgot to
turn out the gas in her parlor and in
the chamber she called a library on
her way to the evening meal.
; Joe escaped as soon as he could,
: though not before the count of his later
sins had been set before Eugene in
detail, in mass and in all of their depth, j
breadth and thickness. His father spoke (
but once after nodding beavily to confirm
all points of Mrs. Louden's re
cital.
"You better use any Influence you've
got with your brother," be said to Eugene,
"to make him come to time. I
can't do anything with him. If he
gets In trouble, he needn't come to me!
I'll never help him again. I'm tired
of It!"
Joe'e movements throughout the earlier
part of ?bat evening are of uncertain
report It is known that he made
a partial payment of 45 cents at a secondhand
book store for a number of
volumes, "Grindstaff on Torts" and
some others, which he bad negotiated
on the Installment system. It is also
believed that he won 28 cents playing
seven-up in the little room behind
Louie Firbach's bar, but these thlugs
are of little Import compared to the
established fact that at 11 o'clock he
?i* nno nf the hull emMtl at the Pike
mansion. He took no active part in
the festivities, nor was he one of the
dancers. His was, on the contrary/the
role of a quiet observer. He lay
stretched at full length upon the floor
of the Inclosed porch?one of the strips
of canvas was later found to have been
loosened?wedged between the outer
railing and a row of palms In green
tubs.
It tras not to play eavesdropper that
the uninvited Joe bad come. He was
not there to listen, and It Is possible
that had the curtains of other windows
afforded blm the chance to behold the
dance be might not have risked the
dangers of his present position. He
bad not the slightest Interest In the
whispered coquetries that he heard.
He watched only to catch now and
then over the shoulders of the dancers
a fitful glimpse of a pretty head that
flitted across the window?the amber
hair of Mamie Pike. He shivered In
the drafts, and the floor of the porch
was cement, painful to elbow and
knee, the space where he lay cramped
and narrow, but the golden bubbles of
her hair, the shimmer of her dainty
pink dress and the fluffy wave of her
lace scarf as she crossed and recrossed
in a waltz left him apparently In no '
discontent He watched with parted
Hps, his pale cheeks reddening when- '
ever those fair glimpses were his. At I
last she came out to the veranda with i
riurpnA nnd sat unon a little divan, so !
close to Joe that, daring wildly In the !
shadow, be reached oat a trembling
band and let bis fingers rest upon the
end of her scarf, which had fallen
from her shoulders and touched the
floor. She sat with her back to him,
as did Eugene.
"You have changed, I think, since
last summer," be beard her say reflectively.
*
"For the worse, ma cherie?" Joe's
expression might have been worth seeing
when Eugene said "ma cherie," for
it was known in the Louden household
that Mr. Bantry bad failed to pass his
examination in the French language.
"No," she answered. "But you have
seen so much and accomplished so
much since then. You have become so
polished and so"? She paused and
then continued: "But perhaps I'd better
not say it You might be offended."
"No. I want you to say It" be returned
confidently, and his confidence
was fully Justified, for she said:
"Well, then, I mean that you have
become so thoroughly a man of the
world. Now I've said it! You are offended,
aren't you?"
"Not at all; not at all," replied Mr.
Bantry, preventing by a masterful effort
his pleasure from showing In his
face.
"Then I'm?glad," she whispered, and
Joe saw his stepbrother touch her
hand, but she rose quickly. 'There's
the music," she cried happily. "It's a j
waltz, and it's yours."
Joe heard her little high heels tapping
gayly toward the window, followed
by the heavier tread of Eugene, but
he did not watch them go.
He lay on his back, with the hand
that had touched Mamie's scarf pressed
across his closed eyes.
The music of the waltz was of the
old fashioned swingingly sorrowful
enf+ anrl It Trnnl<t h*? hflr/t to KJ1V hOW
long'It was after that before he could
hear the air played without a recurrence
of the bitterness of that moment. The
rhythmical pathos of the violins was
in such accord with a faint sound of
weeping which he heard near him
presently that for a little while he believed
this sound to be part of the music
and part of himself. Then it became
more distinct, and he raised himself
on one elbow to look about
Very close to him, sitting upon the
divan In the shadow, was a girl wearing
a dress of beautiful silk. She was
crying softly, her face in her hands.
CHAPTER IV.
* RIEL had worked all the after/\
noon over her mother's wed/
\ ding gown, and two hours
A ^ were required by her toilet for
the dance. She curled her hair frizzily,
burning it here and there, with a slate
* 2V<
_____
pencil boated over a lamp Cbinu?eyrA?I,. (J (
she placed above one ear tbree or four
large artificial rosea, taken from an old i
hat of her mother's, which she had
found in a trunk in the storeroom.
Possessing no slippers, she carefully
blacked and polished her shoes, which
had been clumsily resoled, and fastened
into the strings of each small
rosettes of red ribbon, after which she
practiced swinging the train of her
skirt until she was proud of her manipulation
of it She bad no powdyr,
but found in her grandfathers room a,J
lump of magnesia that he was in the
habit of taking for heartburn and passed
it over and over her brown face and
hands. Then a lingering gaze into her
small mirror gave her joy at last. She
yearned so hard to see herself charming
that she did see herself so. Admiration
came, and she told herself
that she was more attractive to look at
than she had ever been in her life and
that perhaps at last she might begin to
t be sought for like other girls.
It was in the Pike dressing room that
the change began to come. There was
a big cheval glass at one end of the
room, and she faced it when her turn
came?for the mirror was popular?
with a sinking spirit. There was the
contrast, like a picture painted and
framed- The other girls all wore their
hair after the fashion introduced rrto
Canaan by Mamie Pike the week before
on her return from a visit to Chicago.
None of them had "crimped"
and none had bedecked their tresses
with artificial flowers. Her alterations
of the wedding dress had not been successful;
the skirt was too short In front
and higher on one side than on the other,
showing too plainly the heavy soled
shoes, which had lost their polish In the
walk through the snow. The ribbon rosettes
were fully revealed, and as she
glanced at their reflection she beard
the words, "Lool^ at that train and
those rosettes!" whispered behind her
and saw In the mirror two pretty
young women turn away with their
handkerchiefs over their mouths and
retreat hurriedly to an alcove. All the
feet In the room except Ariel's were in
dainty kid or satin slippers of the color
of the dresses from which they glimmered
out, and only Ariel wore a train,
She went away from the mirror and
pretended to be busy with a hanging
thread In her sleeve.
Ariel sat in one of the chairs against
the wall and watched the dancers with
a smile of eager and benevolent Interest
In Canaan no parents, no guardians,
no aunts were haled forth o'
nights to duenna the Junketings of
youth.. Ariel sat conspicuously alone.
There was nothing else for her to do.
It was not an easy matter.
Once or twice between the dances
she saw Miss Pike speak. appeallngly
to one of the superfluous, glancing at
the same time in her own direction,
and Ariel could see, too, that the appeal
proved unsuccessful, until at last Mamie
approached her leading Norbert
Flitcroft partly by the hand, partly by
will power. Norbert was an excessively
fat boy and at the present moment
looked as patient as the blind. But he
asked Ariel If she was "engaged for
the next dance" and, Mamie having
flitted away, stood disconsolately be
side her waiting for tbe music to begin.
Ariel was grateful for him.
Tbe orchestra flourished into "La
Paloma;" he put his arm mournfully
about her and, taking ber right hand ^
with his left, carried her arm out to a
rigid right angle, beginning to pump
and balance for time. They madethree
false starts and then got away.
Ariel danced badly; she bopped and
lost the step, but they persevered,
bumping against other couples continually.
She caught ber partner making a
burlesque face of suffering over her
shoulder and, turning her head quickly,
saw for whose benefit he had constructed
It Eugene Bantry, flying expertly
by with Mamie, was bestowing
upon Mr. Flitcroft a condescendingly V
commiserative wink. The next instant
she tripped In her train and fell
to the floor at Eugene's feet carrying
her partner with her.
There was a shout of laughter. The
young hostess stopped Eugene, who
would have gone on, and he had no
choice but to stoop to Ariel's assistance.
"It seems to be a habit of mine,"
she said, laughing loudly.
She did not appear to see the hand
he offered, but got to her feet withmit
V>^ln onH walked nnlcklv awav
with Norbert, who proceeded to live
up to the character be had given himself.
"Perhaps we had better not try It
again," she laughed.
"Well, I should think not," he returned,
with the frankest gloom.
With the air of conducting her home
he took her to the chair against the
wall whence he had brought her.
There hi 3 responsibility for her seemed
to cease. "Will you excuse me?"
he asked, and there was no doubt that \
he felt that he had been given more
than bis share that evening, even
though he was fat.
Ariel sat through more dances, Interminable
dances and intermissions, In
that same chair, in which, It began to
seem, she was to live out the rest of
her life. Now and then If she thought
people were looking at her as they
passed she broke into a laugh and nodded
slightly, as if still amused over her
mishap.
After a lone time she rose and, laugh
lug cheerfully to Mr. Flitcroft, who
was standing In the doorway and repied
with a wan smile, stepped out
quickly Into the hall, where she almost
n.n Into her greatuncle, Jonas fTabor^
He was going toward the big' front V
doors with Jndge Pike, having just
come ont of the tetter's library, down
the hall.
Jonas was breathing heavily and was
shockingly pale, though his eyes were
vtry bright. He turned his back upon ,
bis grandniece sharply and went out i
of the door. Ariel turned from him
f Continued on page 7.) . [
\
L