The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1889-07-11


sidc, and was carefully smoothing and
cane he had cut neai by.
He held i; up as he spoke, and let his
his eye run along ITS length a. if 10
discover its irregularities; but his gaze
wandered quite beyond the stick 10
the valley and river below, where
stood the great mill with itsstall, black
encd chimneys and massive walls.
No, sir, you can't always tell BY
the looks oil bundle what's inside
of it," he repeated. more emphatically:
"And if fohls would only understand
it, and stop tryin', 'twould save g.
deal of trouble. New there's the Oar
lin'"-
DARLING" the visitor repeated un-
certainly.
The keen eyes under the old mans
shaggy brows twinkled, and his gray
mustache twitched.
''Oh, 'tain't the name OF any kind
of workman, like puddler, or mailer,
or such; it's just q name that's his.
We give il when he first come here,
twelve years and more ago. Things
had been going pretty bad at the mill
then-stops and hitches of one kind
or 'nother-and times gettin' worse for
the men all the while.
'Mismanagement most OF it was, OF,
leastways, we thought SO. Old Kes-
wick-he was the overseer here-waS
one OF the short sighted, savin' kind,
that would lose a dollar in tryin' to
keep penny He'd pinch and screw
and 'conomize, as he called it, and let
things go that ought to be tended to,
till at last some big break would sweep
off in a day all his stinginess had
saved IN year. Then he'd think eX-
penses was SO high that wages ought
to be cut little lower.
II don't need to tell you that there
wasn't any love wasted between him
and the men They'd got discouraged
and bitter, and sort of reckless like,
when all of q sudden one day Kes
wick dropped down in dead faint In
the mill, and had to be carried home
+, That was the beginnin' of long sick
| ness that ended his work at the mill.
THE rest of the company bought
out his interest, and he went off tc
Europe. We didn't know who would
be sent to take charge then, but We
sort of hoped 'twould be left in jim
Bryce's hands. He'd been here The
longest of any of the men, and knew
a deal about the business in practi
cal kind of way.
There wasn't much reason to ex
pect it, of course, but he was the mar
we wanted. Naturally, after the wa,
things had been goin', we thought on
of ourselves, who'd feel some interes
in his old mates, would be an improve
ment. Then, one day, down in tn
mornin' train comes one of the com
pany, bringin' with him young fel
| fer-looled younger than he was. witt
his white skin, blue eyes, and ligh
curly hair like a girls; that kind al
ways does-that be. said was the ne7
superintendent.
Superintendent! says Tom Clark
son, as they passed by where we wa
workin'. That chap never superb
tended nothin' heftier than ban
! box in his born days.
} well, he didn't look like it, that
, fact. But the company owned th
mill, YOU see, and this feller was or
, of their sort, and SO into the place h
} goes, fine clo'es, curly hair, whit
I1dIluS anu jill. " liSNS tALClil "liA
hands made the boys madder tina
anything else They was stron
enough lookin' too, but white as
lady's.
look at emP says Tom, holdin' U
5 his own rough, black paws to show Il
difference. If the company's bour
to give him somethin' to do. wh
don't they buy him pretty lit
pianner, and set him to playin'
' That's all he's fit for He ought to
, safe at home, mammy's darlin'!
f so that was the name we got
: calm him-'The Darlin'.' Not
his face, bless you, no! Them biz
: eyes could turn steel blue now al
S then, and flash out sharp of suddt
. like a knife blade.
Q after a while we found there W
' some experiments to be Inade-son
s inventions of his-and that was o.
9 reason why he'd come here. We didl
: like him any better after we hea
that, I can tell you. for we thoug
the company'd sink lot more mon
in such nonsense. Twasn't our mono
and so we hadn' no reason to grumb
You says Well, there's two sides
/ that. There's two sides to most thin:
It lif body'Il only take the trouble
r look for 'em.
"Did you ever think how you'd +
q to look down at your hands, b
r strong and willin'. but helpless
Is provide for them dependin' on ye
I. and then see a pair OF soft, wh
IS hands carelessly wastin' what wor
3 be life to you and yoursa
. That's how it looked TO us. /
n times had been hard with us, and,
a. l told you, Old Keswick had alwi
ze calculated that the losses must
st eyened up on wages somehow.
IN "'And this feller-I'if be bound b
re never invented nothin' more use
or than a new tie to his cravatP says }
It. Bryce-'he'll fool away no end
OF money, and then either the mill
SO have to go down or wages viii.
be mine has got about to the foot OF
ladder now ... - .--
"'Oh, there's no doubt we'll
down. unless some OF his experIne
a blows him up. Wish they would
lr- swers Tom, only he put it rather ug
he than that
to ssOf course twas only talk, but
ks feelin' was under it, and after avn
a
Ter from hopin' somethin' would happ
nd the boys went a little farther, and
Dr. to plannin' how to make il happen
wo 81 amt goin' to tell much about
re. plot. took care not to know E1
Ter about il for fear I'd run across so
he thin I'd feel bound to try to hen'
in and / didn't want TO hender moth
nd that's the fact. Only there was
too murder nor nothin' like that in it;
,on men wasn't that kind-leastways, 4
cts of 'em wasn't.
ow NO, we ain't a-goin' TO hurt m
my's darlin'-bless his pretty L
!. heart mot 'less he gifts H. the Y