The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-01-11
FEB P o S E Y.
q Quaint Character sketch From the
Banks Of the Mississippi
az Fl. S. KNEEDLER.
eopvsioht-ali Rights Keserved.0

Whlcn Curuf,ls lac t-loQgAt reF0iVed.
Whether this was from innate religious
impulse or because she owned no other
book must remain unknown. But at
any rate it was the theme of constant
thought and the subject of much ques-
tioning and meditation. A peculiarly
warm bond existed between Cordla and
Zeb. They saw SO much Of each other
and SO little of anyone else that perhaps
that was the reason their lives were SO
intimately interviewer. To Zeb Cordia
was the personiication of grace and the
ideal of all that was beautiful and pure.
while to Cordia zeb united the virtues
of strength and gentleness and good
ness. Sometimes when at home they
would lie under the trees on the sum-
rner afternoons, and mayhap Cordia
would say. wistfully:
ssZeb, ded 20 ever hev dream like
that a. one O JacobY'
..How'd l know but did? What d
he uns dream bout"
'sWhy, he went to sleep out in the
clearin' onct an dreamed he saw a lad
der clear up to the sky, with angels go
in up an down ont. "
Nope; ! never he'd no dream like
thet.y
One day after Cordia had been slowly
reading out chapter from the New
Testament she turned to Zeb and said:
Il banker to know why we don't hev
no miracles now|
Zeb smoked his pipe in silence for a
long time and then be slowly replied:
II reckon them miracles ez goin' on
jist the same now, only we kant see 'em-
Don't it seem lmiddlin' strange to yo',
Cordia, tibet this here old sand raises
corn an taters an May pops? Isn't it
quare thet Some seeds grows up into cot
tonwood trees an some jist into grass3
An if We go way back Their over the
leyee theirs cotton growed up side of
corn. 'Taint no difference when they's
in the groun', 'cept a little black seed
and little yaller seed, and they git the
same wet an the same dry an the same
hoein', but the corn never Gums up cot
ton an the cotton never Gums up Germ
An when the cotton blossoms sum ov
the blossoms be white and sum red an
sum blue, but nobody paints EN- that a
way, an We kant tell by lookin' ct tn
seeds which'n be blue an which'n be
red"
'sBut they don't hev nothin' like the
swine thet ruined down an was drowned
in the sea lzase they he'd the devil in EN-"
"Sho, Cordia, the devil gifts inter men
now an don't hev no time to fool with
hogs. But them hogs wuzen't no smarter
than the wild geeze ez cum down the
river for winter sots in an go back
when it gifts warm. Hain't ye hearn
how the OF IN at night goes shonk, honk,'
to see eff they's all Their, an the ones on
tother ends say .honk, honk.' to show
that none hez struggled off in the darkf"
But, Zeb, does you spose God Eel take
eny count of we uns here in the woods,
same's he did so long ergo with they
unss"
81 dun no, but pears to me he must
be jest as peart now ez he wuz long .
them times, an reckon he cud find us
Jess ez easy on the river here ez he cud
in Providence OF Vicksburg or Memphis,
where there's 80 many to keep track ov."
"zeb. does You s'pose they's got any
shills in heavenY"
.sNot ez reckon on, Cordia, cause eff
they uns he'd chills an shook an shook,
like they'd shake all tn pieces, does yo'
s'pose they cud sing an joy theyselves
lik' tn book sez"
One day after Zeb had paid visit to
Providence he brought the news that the
government was going to ''riprap' the
upper side of Point Lookout, and that
already hundreds of men were at work
on it, facing the clay bank that the river
was rapidly eating into with mattresses
made of willow bound together with wire
and covered with rock. And in the days
and weeks which followed they found
how undesirable were these new neigh
bors- roughs from the great cities,
tramps whoshad resorted to work when
all other avenues for gaining livelihood
failed, many thieves and desperadoes
mingiing with the few honest, earnest
workingmen. Saloons had been opened
on the point, and shanty town had
grown up which, while it lasted, rivaled
the frontier dens of early Cheyenne or
Jewelsburg. Stragglers had even pene-
trated to Zeb's shanty and forced an un-
pleasant acquaintanceship with the mod
est fisherman. But Zeb bore it all until
one day he came home and found that
Cordia was not there. The mother said
she had gone out to get wood hours be-
fore and had not returned.
s'She's gittin' too shuckless fer eny
thing, the mother said ENORMOUSLY. You
larned her ia be un'careless, an she don't
tex hop of wuk ez she mote"
1t was growing dark and ZeD took a
sudden alarm. He had an intuition that
some harm had befallen Cordia. He re-
1nembered that Of late men from the
camp had been lettering about more than
was their wont, and he remembered, too,
how they had sought to talk to the shy
girl. Zeb went down TO the waters edge
and followed it to the right for hundred
/ yards, till the beach ran into the river,
then retraced his steps and went about