The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-29

further proof of this, it was given in the
courteous bow which seemed to dismiss
him.
When he reached his home the family tea
was progressing; meal which in this
most conservative of towns sturdily holds
Its own against the late dinner of the rest
or the world. His mother looked up at
hum from the head of the table with pity
ing eyes, and a habitual nervous touch of
her thin hands to the widows cap she wore.
AT work until now, my poor boy! How
tired you must be! / suppose it is too much
TO expect of a Mr.. Steele that he should
have any softness for Others This with
the restrained contempt she showed, in his
absence, for her sons employer. 1t seemed
to her a cruel injustice of fate that this
nobody from nowaere," as she had de-
scribed him to an intimate, mere capital
lst, an English mechanic originally, should
hold in thrall, for a consideration, the son
OF Col. Longwood. the grandson of Judge
Longwood
my dear Sue" she had said that very
day to the same intimate, who was Hud-
sons godmother, II never fully realized
the contrast between former days and
these until l went once into the place where
Hudson works There 1 found my poor
boy"-her voice breaking aud large tears
suffuSing her eyes-"my son, Hudson, on
his knees before an iron machine, rubbing
livery slowly and solemnly-"with an
oiled cloth Can you imagine it, Suesn
Maria, can imagine it" replied Sue,
divided between sympathy and a desire to
laugh. but henry has better place, you
said?'
Henry has just obtained one of the city
offices. 1t seems too bad when those places
go to people one never heard of before the
war. Our own people. who have nothing
now, ought TO be provided for.''
II would not say so. if l were you," dryly
commented Sue, otherwise Mrs. Willard
She had not an exalted opinion of Heury's
parts aud she had lived now for some wears
in metropolis, where life is viewed from a
broader plane than in her girlhood's home
Zone must not even talk freely these
days, it seems,n sighed Mrs. Longwood
I'VE did not care, nor even know, before the
war;
my dear Maria" interrupted Sue,
briskly, "you remember l was here for
some time after the close of the war, and
can bear witness to much herosm in
endurance. But, after all, the present is
the present. 1 am told" with laugh.
''that Sarah Hawkins remarked the other
day that she had had nothing to eat since
the war, and you know she is very, very
Stout
Echoes of this dialogue may have been
sill sounding in Mrs. Longwood's ears: for
she said, absently, as she handed Hudson
his second cup of tea:
II am sure l have never had cause to
doubt the existence of Proyidence: for
never has Longwood, no, nor a Hudson.
wanted for breadr'
The interential humor of this, that the
mere commonplace starvation of Smith or
Jones should never tempt one to agnostic-
ism, was unpercsived by her sons. who,
after reverential pause of adhesion to her
sentiment, went on with their discussion of
country sports. Henry's animated account
of recent visit t. an uncles small river
plantation, the ouly one left in the family,
was heard with the interest common to men
who have spent much of their boyhood in
the country. The elder brother was. in
contrast to Hudson, very rapid talker,
running his words together; which, with
local peculiarities of pronunciation, such as
II wantn for Twas not" "witen for
white" "cyart;" "yarden," and sgyirl,"
made it sometimes difficult for a stranger
to follow him. Presently he went out: mis-
mother moved away about some household
task, and Hudson was left alone.
He walked restlessy in and out through the
high-ceilinged, bare-looking rooms. The
house, large and old, was built in the
colonial style, wide hallway through the
middle, broad piaZzas to the south. The
outer surroundings looked better by night
than by day; the street, once fashionable.
being very narrow and dark, and all around
having sprung up dingy shantieS aud corner
barrooms; from the water-side, not far off,
coming often loud, quarreling voices and
odors of fish. Indoors, though carefully
neat, the household gods were few in num-
Der, and noticeably ancient and forlorn.
There was some handsome oak paneling IN
the parlor, which held further a few we'll
worn pieces of horse-hair covered furniture:
a pair of heavy silver candlesticks. and
some bits of finely carved ivory, overlooked
probably by an invading army when col
lecting souvenirs of its southern trip. A
mahogany armchair, in which Lafayette
once sat when visiting an ancestor, was still
in evidence; as we'll as several family por-
traits, one with a bayonet-thrust in the
corner and some fine miniatures smiling,
Indifferent to the family vicissitudes There
had been trying times when, though deem
ing it sacrilege, Mrs. Longwood would al
most have treated these last in Charles
Surfaces reckless fashion, but here they
were still; and here were the old Judges
books, unopened now by any one. Hudson
thought, in an undecided way of countless
relatives whom it was his won't to visit
evenings and then, bringing paper-cov-
cred volume from a table, sat down beside
the student-lamp. 1t was some tale, per-
haps by the Duchess" or "Ouida" as those
ladies shared between them what admira-
tion very practical mind had TO bestow on
literature. He presently leaned back.
thinking idly of his mothers remark about
Providence. AS far as he was concerned,
the past glories of his house were merely
fairy tale, having come to an end before he
was born. He did not remember his dis
tinguished grandfather, nor his less distin-
guished father. or, indeed, any one belong
ing to him, whose name might be used to
coniurs by. Since mis- birth, shortly before
his fathers death, black Care, before a
clandestine visitor, had become an open and
permanent dweller in the house. TIE hand
slaves, plate and china, had long ago trotted
away into nothingness So had-strangs,
or possibly not strange, to relate-all taste,
ambition, or culture beyond the ordinary.
But he had kept through a long term of
hard work and self-denial a fine simplicity,
q single-minded honesty, a truthful direct
ness. far more than ordinary. He took his
square, sturdy form and pleasant, homely
face across the naoonlit piazza, down the
steps leading into the garden. Here was
contained all the poetry he knew or cared
for in life. This blooming, luxuriant, old
fashioned southern garden was his care,
and his alone. 1t was he who dug and
weeded. planted and watered, and reserved
to himself the right of giving. He care
fully cut now glowing red rose, the first
on the tree; then called across the low fence
to negro passing:
THAT you, AbramW
"Das me. Mass Hudson. sab; l jess
comm. praise Cord! from de class