The Republican journal., 1879-02-27

y Story OF the Plague,

Story OF the Plague
Some time in the tirst twenty years Of
this century one ot the Van Horns of New
York with an Irish gentleman named
DAILY made a tour of the Southern states.
The men were friends, Young. shrewd,
and energetic they had each moderate
capital to invest IN manufacturing pur-
poses. and were strongly tempted To try
the South as an unbroken field for their
enterprise They We're SO Hospitality well
coined every where as to make their i0ur-
ney kind OF triumphal progress. Beng
young, they drank, diced llirtel, and
went with equal lest alternately to camp
meetings and TO races. but, being shrewd.
they brought their money home again t.
invest.
At will never do, Daly." sad Van
Horn. "lt IS the wagons 1or these Very
plantations which we mean to make.
Here is the lumber the water power,
cheap fuel, and cheap labor but, tor All
that Wt must 20 thousand miles away
to make the wagons"
Daly nodded and laughed. The end Of
the matter, as lar as he was concerned,
was that he invested his money III the
Northern wagon factory. but that he
married and settled in Alabama. There
was something that reminded the Irish
man of home u the establishments ot these
lavish land princes of the Guli States, IN
the great wooden cabins IN which they
Iired,With the ram dripping through leaky
roofs upon magnlnceut hcautttS heaped
with silver plate, where dogs, naked he
gro babies, amt leas ran riot over the
bare floors, and beautiful women with ll-
hitting gowns and rivers Of diamonds
about their shapely throats looked laIily
on. Back OF this dirt and splenIor was
the negro back ground hundreds of half
worked slaves, ana a nature tropical,
rank, sensuous. Ddil rellshei with keen
appreciation every feature OF TINS lie
the gambling. durllln-. laNlSi generosity,
dcEout rhurch- gong. passionate love oI
iamhy. To Van Horn 1t VAS all alien
and dlstastelHl.
- tell you. Ing saId, Nehcmtntly, one
day as they discussed II, "thcre is a stu
por III the moral atmosphere, like mala-
RIA IN a sunny air. It IS rather aIreea-
big, confess, IN the rich planter. 1t Is
\htue when i shows tScit IN ms pWnce-
ly hospitality and good hunor. But see
what II does Tor these poor whites in
towns l.le same class that with uS would
be mechanics, shreWd tradesmeN, or ~
>hre"dtr thieves suggested DalN-
IheY We're walking, as they talked on
the wharf q a border town on the Ohio
a town WhIch mas since been converted
by Northern capitalists into a mass OF
IRON loundries, bat which was then
droWsI village. The PIGS tramped lels-
urely through its one long muddy street.
or rooted nnder the porches draped with
roses and red honeySuckle black pulls ot
smoke from the low stern-WAeeled boats
at the wharf, drltted lazllN up against
the hills that walled ID the town with
ramparts OF splendid autumnal coloE.
ne WIND, blowing from OIL the river,
was cold and braclng; there was a smell
OF bltumen ID It, The red brick of the
houses was Streahed. With sooty shadows.
The same bltumen c0Iored the clouds un-
til they lay in masses OF intense crimson
and emerald up higher and hi CHER against
the blue roof overhead.
Van Horn glanced critically about him.
Just look, DAILY = he said. "Nowhere
IS nature more pTodigaL These hllls are
luil ol co"I ana minerals the Soll IS rch
as Ina u tne Vest lhuleS YET nowhere
"lI you ., See such coiiIehled poverty. see
ileIe Iouchlil9 llSntlF WIN MS 1901
ldAf Idt louI VINO iay stretched on PIE
ol Lo9SHeadS' "lhats 1alr specimen
VI 'iiG VldSs- i9HoIdllt, ragged, ana pru-
tdl' J. II wager an!Ih you choose that
lio VIII 20 olI SleePiii@ III lhe sun until the
eHq' anu uIe aS inucil OF brute as ever
DoiE 7l"n0o" ~ lIe poE' ana ne gen
eIouS op!ol Io9e 70 lli9 cheeks. "Nothih9
Vi tIe hI"u' nc adi't- IdSIHt' MS lau
iidS DIS 8ood sun III MN dS you or l. ana
nc lledns 70 pe man come On II IS
nearly tllne lor lne Doat TO start. You
ought 10 De careful van horn" he SAID,
when they had passed up the wharf.
| nat noN was not asleep, and you cut
nun TO the quick.
roohlh5 pack' lney sa" tnat he was
standing watchlng them. a few minutes
ldteI, they came Gown from the MOTEL to
~ On ooall the niue steamer winch lay
Puiilh8 anu snoI1ihS at lhe landlng, ara
Ddly caught SI9ht OF ule boy, again
Stdliuili8 apart from lhe crowd, looking
eagerly al hllh'
He was Zack Nealy, a "bOund boy"
who drove dray for Petit and CLAY, a
forwarding house upon the wharf He
wanted to see this gentleman again who
had said he had the stuff in him of which
gentlemen are made. Zacll probably had
never thought OF himself before as any
thlng but the driver OF a dray lie was
Keen, eager, and, like DAILY himself, he
had drop OF Irish blood in him. There
was not point in this good prophets
face, figure, or bearing which he did not
note-the gallant carriage, the steady
eye, controlled voice, even the set of the