The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-08-07

mako 'buckle and tongue meet" as The
phrase goes. In fact he did not make them
meet. He farmed on the old lavish plan, He
borrowed money, and he bought provisssnss
mules and fertilizers on credit. paying asssislon
as two hundred per cent interest on his d. btss
Strange to say, his chief creditor was Mr..
Washington Jones, his former oycrseer. Some
how or other Mr.. Jones had thriVed. He had
saved money as an oyerseer, being a mani of
simple tastes and habits, and when the crash
came he was comparatively rich man, When
affairs settled down somewhat, Mr.. Jones
blossomed out as commission merchant and
he soon established large and proftablebusi-
ness. He sold provisions and commercial
fertilizers he bought cotton, and he was rot
above any transaction, however small,
that promised to bring him q
dime where he had invested a
"Trip. He was very thrifty man indeed In
addition to his other business he shaved rotes
and bought mortgages, and in this way the
factcam to be recognized, as early as SIS,
that he was what is known MS "a leading eiti-
zen." He did not hesitate to grind q man
when he had him in his clutches, and OIL this
account he made enemies but as his worldly
possessions grew and assumed tangible pro,
tons, it is not to be denied that he had IAote
friends than enemies. {
For awhile Mr.. Washington Jones's most
prominent patron was Colonel Benjamin
Elewclen. The colonel, it should
be said, was rot only patron of Jones, but
he patronized him. He made his purchases
chiefly on credit, in lordly, superior way, as
became gentleman whose hireling Jones Lad
been. When the colonel had money he was
glad TO pay cash for his supplies, but it har-
pened somehow that he rarely had money
Jones, it must be confessed, was very accent
modating. He was anxious to sell TO the colonel
on the easiest terms, so far as payment
was concerned, and he often, in sly way,
tlattered the colonel into making larger bills
than he otherwise would have made.
There eoaldb be but one result, and though that
result was inevitable, everybody about Rock
vile seemed to be surprised. The colonel had
disposed OF his newspaper long before, and one
day there appearGdin the columns which be
had once edited with such care q legal notice
to the efleet5hat he had applied to the ordi-
nary of the county, in proper form, to set aside
homestead and personally. This meant that
the colonel, with his old-fashioned ways and
methods. had succumbed TO the inevitable.
He had house and lotin town and this was set
apart as his homestead by the judge of ordinary.
Mr.. Washington Jones, you may be sure, lost
no time in foreclosing his mortgages, and the
fact soon came to be known that he was row
the proprietor OF the Flewellen Place.
just at this point the colonel first began to
face the real problems of fife, and he found
them to be very knotty ones. lie must live
but how? He knew no law, and was acquaints
ed with no business. He was a gentleman and
a scholar, but these accomplishments would
not serve him; indeed, they stood III Ills way.
he had been brought up to no business, and it
fifty or nore-to begin to learn. lie
might have entered upon political ca
reer, and this would have been greatly to his
taste, but all the local offices were filled by
competent men, and just at that time scptl-
efner to the manner born had little Il sage.a,ea
gam admission TO congress. The republican
Observation-Disclosures, headed by Thaddeus
Stevens, barred the way. The outlook was
gloomy indeed.
Nelly Flewellen, who had grown TO be
q bpanfIfBi nc
accomplished as she was beautiful, gave
music lessons; but in Rockville at that
time there was not much to be made by teach
ing music. 1t is due to the colonel to say that
he was bitterly opposed to this project, and he
was glad when his daughter gave it up in de-
spair. Then she took in sewing surreptitiously
and did other things that a girl of tact and
common sense would be likely to do when put
to the test.
The colonel and his daughter managed to
get along somehow, but it was a miserable
existence compared to their former
estate of luxury. just how they man
aged, only one person in the wide world knew,
and that person was Ananias Everybody
around Rockville said it was very queer how
the colonel, with no money and little credit,
could afford to keep a servant, and a man
servant at that But there was nothing queer
about it. Ananias received no wages of anysort;
he asked for none The expected none. A child of
misfortune himself, he was glad to share the
misiortunes of his former master, He washed.
he ironed, he cooked, he MIXED, and he did
more. lie found time to do little odd jobs
around town, and with the money thus earned
he was able to supply things that
ing from Colonel Flewellen's table.
He was as ugly and as mean-looking as ever
and as unpopular. Even the colonel mistrust-
ed him, but he managed to tolerate him. The
daughter often had words OF praise for the
shabby and forlorn-looking negro, and these, if
anything, served to tighten his tasks.
But in spite OF everything that his daughter
or Ananias could do, the colonel continued to
grow poorer. To all appearances-and he
managed to keen up appearances to the last
he was richer than many of his neighbors, for
he had comfortable house, and he still had
credit in the town Among the shopkeepers
there were few that did not respect and
admire the colonel for what he had been
But the colonel, since his experience with Mr.
Washington Jones' looked with suspicion on
the credit business. The result was that he
and his daughter and Ananias lived in the
midst Of the ghastliest poverty.
AS for Analias he could stand it well
enough so, perhaps, could the colonel, he being
a man, and pretty stout one but how about
the young lady? This was the question that
Ananias was continually asking himself, aud
circumstances finally drove him TO answering it
i'll his own way. There was this much to be
said about Ananias; when lie made up his
mind, nothing could turn him, humble as he
was; and then came period in the career Of
the family to which he had attached himself
when he was compelled to make up his mind
or see them starye.
III.
1T this late day there Is no particular
reason for concealing facts. Ananias
took the responsibility on his shoulders
and thereafter the colonels harder was always
comparatively full. Al night Ananias would
sit and nod before a fire in the kitchen, and
after everybody else had gone to bed he would
sneak out into the darkness, and be gone for
many hours but whether the hours Of his alb
sence were many or few, he never returned
empty-hauded. Sometimes he would bring "a
turn" Of wood sometimes n bag Of meal or
potatoes, sometimes side Of meat or ham,
and sometimes he would be compelled TO STOP
while Yet some distance from tie house, 10
choke chicken that betrayed a tendency b.
squall Ia the small still hours between midnight
and morning. The colonel and his daugh-
ter never knew whence their supplies came.
They only knew that Ananias suddenly devel-
oped into "A wonderfully good cook for ii is a
yerg good cook indeed that can 90 on month
after month providing excellent meals with
out calling for new supplies.
But Ananias had always been peculiar and
il lie grew q irite more uncOnmunica0ye
tlau usual, neither the colonel nor the colonel's
daughter was expected 10 take notice OF tho
fact. Anan.as was a sullen negro at best, but
his sullenness was not AT all important, and no
ltrrts cared fritaflnV 1ffe dryagnrtfp lVossa