The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-29
CHAPTER l.
A WINTER FIREsIDE.


,,,,ritv. but the purity is not that of youth
and life, but of GOODNESS and death. The
heats of summer are forgotten; the royal
lines of autumn have turned brown and
,rithered; the tender verdure of spring
Seams distant aud problematical the blank
windlng-sheet of frozen white prevails over
all things. We know that the ground I'M
derneath is hard, impenetrable and brown.
THE lev air comes keenly to the nostrils, and
makes the flesh shrink and SILVER. We turn
our thoughts inward, and cease to court Ma
ture. She has left us, and we try to aIevi-
ate our loneliness by budding together
round our fireside. Winter is a selfish sea-
son. and it is we'll for our hearts that
Christmas comes in the midst of it-a new
life of the soul in the midst of a physical
death. 1t is easy to be generous when the
SIM is warm; but during these bleak and
bitter months the umegenerate mind in
stinctively thinks first of itself, and aban-
dons the hindmost to the devil.
In winter the city homes of our rich peo-
nIa are Injurious and splendid with all that
wealth can bestow; and life glOws with
sort of fierceness, as if in defiance of the re-
lentless chill out of doors. The people who
are not rich feel the pinch of poverty more
cruelly than ever and hesitate whether
10 extend their beggarly coppers in food or
in fuel. AS for the third estate-the crimi-
nals-their brains and fingers are stimulated
10 especial activity. Winter is the best
time for stealing; property is then heaped
together in greater masses than at other sea-
sons. and its owners sleep more sOundly.
Besides, a thief can manage to pull through
the summer somehow, but in winter he
must live in the city and to do that money
is Indispensable.
But the police are as active as the crimi-
mails. and the battle between the two is
fought uninterruptedly from November till
March. The courts are kept busy, and the
tails are well stocked: crime is Scotched
but not killed. That old serpent dies hard,
and is always thrusting up its ugly head in
p new place. Win it ever be conquered and
its seeds trodden outl Civilization only pol
isheS and sharpens it. Religion seems to
live side by side with it without embarrasS-
ment on either side; law inficts penalties
on it, but also defines its limitations so
acutelv that the criminal, now become
learned in the law, uses it as an effective
weapon for his own preservation. So the
great tragi-comedy rolls along, and the
planet, on It's endless journey through I'M
known space, carries with it from year to
year and from century to century an al
most unvarying proportion OF good and
evil We may lament that this evil is
mixed with the good but we must rejoice
that there are always some traces of good in
the evil
The snow, which lay white and smooth
outside the city, in the deserted fields and
country roads, was speedily befouled in the
great metropolis, until it wrought a filth
ness even Surprising that of the rainy sea-
sons. From brown it dsepened to black,
with something of the hheOusuess of a pol
luted corpse. 1t muddpd the feet of the
passers-by as well as chilled them. In the
10 yer part Of the city, where the traffic is
thckest, the nastiness was without mitiga
ton. On Fifth avene the condition of
things was not so bad. The sidewalks had
been cleaned and the STOW piled up i'll the
roadway, affording fair sleighing for the
graceful cutters that speeded up and down
the stately thoroughfare. The people on
the sidewalks were well and warmly clad,
and altogether the spectacle had a certain
brightness and cheerful vivacitv. Asnight
came on and the street lamps were Lighted,
the sleighs, with their juggling bells, disaD-
peared, and only few belated pedestrians
hurried along the pavement.
Our present business demands that we &C
company one of the latter.
When we first see him, he has Just passed
the Brunswick Hotel, and, hurrying on the
east side Of the avenue, is walking norta-
ward. His gait is swift and vigorous, be-
tokening powerful and healthy physical
organization, and concentrated and capa-
bic mind. He is evidently bound on some
affair Of importance; indeed, when we con-
template the expression of his strong, rud
dy, well-moulded face, we are inclined to
hazard tho opinion that only affairs of i'm
portance ever engage his attention He is
man whose life is full, earnest and active.
he has no time to throw away; and yet his
time is so ordered that he is never unduly
hurried or pexplexed. Every year he does
years work, and is fresh enough at the end
OF 1t to start on new twelvemonth with I'M
diminished energy.
lie leaves behind him as he goes the fra
GRANGE OF an excellent cigar. A thick over
coat IS buttoned across his broad chest, a
round-crowned hat is on his head, and his
hands are encased in warm gloves. HIS
eyes, without beng restless, are at once
penetrating and comprehensive in their
glance, and take in quietly and easily every
tnlng that lies within their range. He is a
man whose wits are always about him. He
has the air of good society, and yet there is
something about him that distinguishes him
from the ordinary society man. We feel that
ne must have raised himself in some way
above the common level, that his name, if
we knew it, is one with which we should be
!ainlar. Who is hes
IN street corner a few blocks above the
motel was standing a tall gentleman, some
what past the prime of life, but of upright
and military bearing, aud wearing long,
sweeping mOustache, slightly tinged with
fray. Ills dark eyes and aquiline nose gave
MS countenance an aristocratlc look. He
teened to be exploring his pockets for some
oning, put, as the pedestrian approached, he
stepped up to him and said cautiously:
cigarH
The other halted, took his cigar from his
mouth, and handed it to the speaker with r
DOW 3';, hen the latter handed it back with
Inank YOU" he remarked: ITS cold
evening, and passed on. Little did either
imagine how soon and how strangely fate
vas A., 10 bring them together again.
/, Inc image of the military looking gem
Ileman passed into the others memory, and
renamed there, never, so far as he knew, to
1e recalled. Continuing his brisk wrlk, he
rev rev near one of the large club houses that
recordVe the avenue, just as a couple Of
l ndeii descended the steps arm-in-arln. One
~ Vhem-a portly parsonage with broad
~ Leard-'he recognized, and exchanged
.ueilt salute with him; the other, younger
IN ~ Sienderly built mau, with small side
.'uiShera and a handsomely-cut mouth, was
stranger to him. 'That's clever fellow"
&c 9ild 70 himself, as he strobe onward. 81
r .|uluh IKE TO have any woman | had a
'e1pect for get IN his wayl"
IN lew minutes more, he turned down
Sou 1,ue street, ran up the steps Of hand