Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-11-07
! Galts a1sb Sketfkts.
SED's wooIsG.
BIZ CYRIL MORTON.

08ys NCu, bdtu y NuCh thC saAi''
had withdrawn after my first dinner with
my friend since his marriage. Il say. Ned.
how the duce did you get so stunning a
woman to fall in love with such hulking
BOBBY ?"
"Well," said Ned. I'll tell you, with
ont examining to closely into your de-
scriptive epithets thought you knew
the story It's long one. So you'd
better draw up an easy chair. light your
cigar, and prepare for siege.
ssIt was shortly after the war ended that
was called South on bnsiness-such bus
mess as proverbially falls to the lot OF
Young LAWYER A friend. who sympa-
thized with my youth and desired to give
me shove on the high road to fame and
fortune, had reserved tor me a claim 10
an immense tract of land In Virginia. which
the close of hostilities now permitted him
TO recover.
There's money in it, for you. my boy,
said my generous patron, and my heart
leaped at the prospect Of a fee. But he
continued, to the detriment OF my golden
visions: Not until Won show me that
those COMPOUNDED rascals are put out Of
possession
..Howeyer, I still thought it worth
while TO visit the place in which my III
Dorado lay, and, accordingly, giving my
ofice-boy express injuuctions to tell the
long-expected but not yet-discovered
clients who might call. that | was South,
on business, and would return in two
weeks started for Virginia. A few
days examination convinced me tibet my
friends Fortunatus-cap was altogether too
large for his head and that he. nor his
ancestors, nor his descendants, either had
or could have any claim to any portion Of
Virginia land. discoverable under the
most powerful microscope.
"This matter thus dolorously settled, |
remembered (and | tried hard, but IN
successfully, TO convince myself that this
particular thought had not been in my
mind ever since the visit of inspection was
proposed)-I remembered. az il were by
chance. that was within few miles Of
George Bentham's place. You recollect
George big. slow fellow, with red
whiskers and mild blue eyes. and with so
many more ideas than words in his talk,
that his speeches were sort of CONVEX
sational shorthand? The death of his
father had left the son in possession of a
large plantation and a fine mansion, To
enjoy whose inequalities had been fire.
quently invited. However. George was
not the attraction of Riverside. He had.
by not an unusual combination ofcircun
stances, a sister, whom | had met u few
years before, when the beginning of the
war put an end to her Northern educa-
ton. Somehow or other, her pretty.
girlish face and winsome manners had
impressed themselves upon my memory,
and often her bright, laughing eyes had
fitted before the page instead of much
more desirable legal lore. | was pre-
pared for some change in her-the pass
ing of the boundary between the girl and
the woman, the stirring events of the re-
bellion, the disasters which had fallen
upon her family, and the possibility of her
being already married Though rejected
this last item as too painful to be proba-
ble), united to modify, in a degree, the
mental picture which | had long enter
tanned. But my widest calculations did
not include the radical transformation
which | saw. when, after Georges ELUSIVE
greeting, my eyes met the melancholy
features and the weary but restless figure
Of the sister. Beneath the exterior OF
sadness, and the changed demeanor.
could still detect the gladstone girl of a
few years before in the first surprised
glance of recognition, but after n few mo-
ments the Annie of former days faded
away, and new queen. who knew not
Joseph, reigned in her stead. The change.
so thorough and revolutionary, troubled
me. 1t was greater in quantity. and far
different in nature than could justly have
been expected. / began to feel as II
had been Mt too great pains to place an
unresponsive image on my heart. Nor did
the incidents after dinner serve to alleviate
my anxiety. What with my disappointment,
and the evident trouble that was harassing
George. the conversation Jagged Imade
many Herculean attempts TO put some
spirit in it. My efforts were useless. and
was longing for the slow minutes to
pass, until, in the privacy of my room. and
in strict confidence with nv cigar. | could
attempt solution OF the enigma, or. that
failing, beat n retreat. In this half stupe-
fled state, remarked. during an awkward
pause In the conversation, that from al
appearances. 1t would be a long time be-
fore the South recovered from the effects
of the war. II was as il had dropped a
burning brand into nitro-glycerine mag
azine. George lifted his hand with re-
straining, deprecatory gesture. his mother
cast an appealing look at her daughter,
Annie rose, with flashing eyes and dilated
figure. and with fiery eloquence that
made her seem sort of modern Cassan-
dra, said:
"'You may well say that. Mr.. Barker
From the ocean to the Mississippi. from
the Potomac to the Gulf. the land is one
great charnel- house. in which lie buried
the remains of liberty, of truth. of chival-
ry. When a great principle dies, sir. as
ours has done for the want of true de-
tenders, a just God does not look on un.
concerned. He sends his fiery blasts from
heaven; he rides in the smoke and tur-
MOL and carnage of battle. and desola
ton and barrenness mark his course. save
where the dank weeds show the graves oil
those who unworthy to live. were fer
more unworthy to die. Yes. the land is
desolate; the fields lie fallow; the widow
mourns, and the orphan cries. while the
oppressor sits in his seat of plenty, and
smiles that he has stifled the glorious
principle of equality. so too. a Nero might
smile in looking upon his downtrodden
subjects; but as for him came a bitter
day of reckoning, so for you there will
ret come time when a nobler race OF
men, taught at their mothers knees to
lisp of revenge, will take an eye for an
eye. q tooth for q tooth. life for a life.'
"All this, and more she said. and be.