Daily globe., 1882-05-14
ssA PERFECT GENTLEMAN.v
BY REV. WILLIAM NJ. BAKER, ID.

We IL. De
"Here are the documents for $40 acres
of best bottom lands, Mr.. Morgan !;
would it be wholly convenient for you to
let me have one of your very best super
fine suits for that ?"
Mr.. Morgan was not merely the keeper
of ready-made clothing store, but a
vast deal more. He had opened his
warehouse near the mouth of that one
ofour Southwestern rivers which poured
its muddy waters through the richest
cotton and sugar lands on the continent,
and there was little known to men in
which he did not deal, from a paper of
needles, brand Of cattle, drove of
horses, cargo of corn, river steamer.
up to plantation with all its negroes
and other machinery for the making of
either sugar or tobacco. Never as yet
had he declined trade, whatever its
nature.
Certainly, Gen. Mcpherson, he re-
piled, and proceeded to heap his counter
with broadcloth suits. He Wouid have
done the same If his customer had not,
as was usually the case, a picayune to
offer him. For Inc General was power
in all that region, and yet no man could
say wherein that power lay. He was of
q commanding presence, but the reverse
Of handsome. That he had been thor
oughly educated, and had seen much of
the world, was as evident as that his
clothes were invariably of the shabbiest
description. People knew that he was
the best lawyer, the most interesting of
takers, seated upon the goods box or
mounted upon the stump, in the State.
For him to to go before a jury was to
win the case, however desperate but it
consoled the parties on the other side
to know that his fees, large as they
were, would be loaned Or given away in
advance. 1t may be that the alcohol in
which he saturated himself was as the
chemicals to battery, for there was o
species Of almost galvanic magnetism
about the man. He had but to speak to
you in his courtly fashion, but to call
you by your name, but to- lay his hand
upon your shoulder in his frank and
loving way, and you were his for life.
Although in wholly different way, you
could no more come in contact with Gen.
Mcpherson and resist his fascination
than if he had been, instead, an electric
eel. "The General is a perfect gentle
man" vas the invariable summing up
of even his manifold Weaknesses.
In an hour after entering Mr.. Nor
gan's store he was clothed from head to
foot, hat, new handkerchief, linen neck
tie, boots and all. "Do not mention
it," he said, with deprecating hands,
when the store-keeper suggested that
the acres he had paid were considerably
more than the outfit was worth. eff
you knew what I intend, you would
agree with me, he added, as he with
drew, and Mr.. Morgan, following him to
the door, saw him mount his horse aud
disappear up the river and into the pecan
forest.
ST wouldn't be surprised, Mr.. Nor
gan exclaimed, "if!"-and he slapped
himself upon the thigh, the surprise
increasing the admiration with which he
continued to gaze up the miry road.
"and, poor girl, she can no more refuse
than if she were cat-bird and he rat
tlesnake!" Plunging both hands into
his trousers pockets, MIR. Morgan re-
manned standing in his doorway, shaking
his head from time to time in sorrowful
reflection, until it was time to close the
store for the night
MIR. Morgan was exceedingly clear
headed in this as in many another mat
ter, for Gen. Mcpherson, after riding
six miles along its banks, deliberately
halted his horse where road ran down
to the water, Gsmounted, lied the ami
NAL securely to dogwood sapIlng and
gave loud halloa. He had to do so
again and again, but at last, as night
fell, canoe appeared from across the
river, padded by white-headed negro.
"Miss Adeline is at home, Uncle
Joe?"
"Yes, Mass General" 1t was said
somewhat crustily, for his young mis-
tress, the belle of the country, the
heiress OF the richest sugar plantation
ON the "bottom," had somewhat num-
erous train of sritors, and the old soul
was weary padding them over to her
place, and to and fro.