, 1886-07-17


the village, did not extend even its out
ermost circle to the old farmhouse. If
Jack returned home after a day or two
in town looking something the worse
for his visit, poor Anita took more than
usual pains i'll preparing delicacies TO
tempt his appetite, and insisted on his
taking three grains Of q%uinine every
morning to keep off the chils she was
sure he was going to have in the fall,
and the father was too much accustomed
to the Independent habits of his children
to suspect cause for anxiety on his eldest
son's account
During all his childhood and boyhood
Jacks fdus Achates had been n neigh
bor's son, Arthur Wylie by name. Atacit
alliance, growing out of proximity, kim
dred tastes and the common route of a
short cut through the woods, had bound
them together through all the rough
and tumble experiences of an old field
school, and when the time came that
Jack, as the eldest scion of the house of
Clemens, must HE away to college to ac-
quire that knowledge which should fit
him for the proper management of a
property, towardvvhose delving in classic
mines had contributed, he first inter
ruption of their almost daily intercourse
occurred. Arthur could not be spared
from home by a widowed mother and
three or four sisters, and his advantages
for culture were limited to a country
school; the use of q fine library collected
by his father, who had been q scholar
and a gentleman; the companioSship of
lovely and loving women, and the dig
nifty and responsibility of his position
no mean advantages, according to my
way of thinking.
That summer they were a good deal
together, bnt Wylie was making a crop,
working twenty or thirty negroes on his
mothers place, and could not get off
every time Jack wanted him. Occasion
ally they passed a day in town together,
and her Jack appeared at home in the
evening, bright and CHEEKY, and free
from the 'malarial headache that so dis
tressed his sister.
"The summer wore away and October
anne 1t was just one week from the
time fixed for Jack to set off for the law
school, when N fair Saturday morning
Arthur Wylie rode up to the gate and
called him. He had business in Belview
and wanted company. Jack gaily joined
him, and Anita, from her chamber win
dow, saw them ride away together.
They spent the day in town, and started
II in the early evening. 1t was lovely
weather. The atmosphere seemed full
of golden sparks thrown out in wanton
superabundance from the sun lolling on
a pile of yellow clouds. AS they passed
Judge Hughes house, Annie (who is
now my wife), with three or four other
girls, stood chatting at the gate. She
says they all remarked how handsome
the boys looked. They sat and managed
their horses with that easy grace only
acquired by the habit of horsemanship-
Jack, slender, graceful, his light-brown
hair and clear blue eyes making him ap
pear effeminate except for the nasceDt
mustache which Swallowed his lip, and a
certain air of masculine gallantry; Ar
thur, broader, taller, and darker, sun
burned and strengthened by his acquaint-
ance with wind and weather, but not
roughened and bearing himself like a
knight in beauty's presence.
About a mile out they overlook old
Flanagan in his cart, as drunk and as Jolly
as an Irish lord. When they came
alongside he lifted a jug and hiccoughed
out, Come now, take IL drop
Arthur was passihg e-,- h.t .racL'a
comic sense was -touched. Lifting the
ing 70 his r,s he said, Here's to Irish
inden ndence, Mickey. Bad luck to the
npeen!
1.-THE devil himself must have been in
that brown jug. for with one taste of it
from being full of fun and merry good
humor, Jack grew heady and boisterous,
would keep along by Micky Flanagan,
alternately teaging and humoring him
and taking many pulls at the wicked
Irish jug, in spite of all Arthur's urging
him to let it alone and come along with
him.
at was the vilest of vile stuffs, and
Jack was oon drunk and quarrelsome.
"When they were a little more than
half way home they overlook Hawkins,
a neighbor, a surly fellow, who made his
boast that he wouldn't stand foolishness
from anybody Some r~esentful memory
of this must have stirred in Jacks befog-
ged brain, but exactly how what oc-
Cured came about nobody knows-he
could never remember. Hawkins told
his lawyer the boy bullyragged and
abused him. that he would fight, and
struck him first-very likely; that Ar
thu took hold of him Hawkins) as he
was furnishing Jack, and that he acted
in sclf-defense. When those whe could
testify "a farmer and two of his mem
came up. Jack lay prone in the road. his
clothes torn and soiled, an unsightly
figure, in n drunken stupor, and n little
farther on Arthur Wylie, resting on his
elbow, blood gushing through the bosom
of his shirt and settling in a CHASTITY pooi
in the dusty road. Hawkins was riding
off. One of the men was dispatched for
a doctor, whose house was very near; tn,
other, an old negro, who had spent many
Saturday afternoon selling rabbit traps
and fishing with these-boys. With many
quaint CALCULATIONS of grief and horror
he lifted 'Marse Arthur out of the high
way and into a more comfortable posi-
ton. The doctor came, calm, cool, pro
fessional. By the dim light of a lantern
busy, with the appliances of his art. Ar
examination soon discovered Jacks in
juries to be superficial. and then impo-
tent skill exerted itself to stop the aw-
full torrent that was draining that other
life.
1.-The cool, deep stiffness of the autumn
evening was on the face of the woods
which closed in around the little valley.
Night settled down. 'Jack!' called the
dying boy. You don't want to see him,
do your the doctor asked. Yes he an
swered, smiling, 4 do
"But Jack was beyond the reach o.
ralla n = ohoLspo ond finding n innpnaoi