Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-03-05
CHAPTER TX.

CHAPTER TX.
Mammal shouted Hector, at the top
of his voice. dashing into the parlor in Il
state ofgreat excitement, followed close
ly By little Ran. please come over to
the quarters right straight. Cucie
Patrick is in the kitchen and he saws
that Mr.. Anthony is going to pull all
the cabins down and send all the colored
folks away. Uncle Patrick says he
hasn't got any place to go He's old aud
can't work any longer and nobody
wants to be bothered with him and Aunt
Kitty any more, because they amt any
use. He's crying, mamma awful hard
and he says they'll have to go to the
poorhouse if you don't help them. MIR
Anthony says they will"
HE don't want to go to the poorhouse.
mamma chimed in Ran eagerly
Don't let him go: it's drefful to see him
FRY, and he's so old. He says he cant
stand it to go; he would lever be dead!"
The boys eyes filled with tears. and his
little lips trembled as he pressed close to
his mothers side, trampling on her dress
with his dusty little shoes in his excite
ment and distress.
And. mamma. Mr. Anthony is going
to pull the houses all down" insisted
Hector He ought not to do that The
servants won't have any place to go, and
father always let them live there MIR
Anthony ought not to pull the houses
, down"
BY the exercise of considerable pa
hence and good deal of ability in cross
questioning, Mrs. Beverley finally ar
rived at clear comprehension of the
case The cabins. five in number, all
that We're left of the original row.
stood, as has been stated, just in front of
the overseer's house, and not stones
| throw from it. The site selected (at
Mary's suggestion, as she remembered
now for the handsome new residence
which the owner of Lower Repton pro-
posed to erect for himself was on the
crest of the hill, in fine grove of trees,
and commanding a most magnificent
view. The catstIs would be in full sight
of all the front windows and We're any
thing but an addition to the landscape.
! looking, in truth. rs their owner ex-
pressed it, like "a lot of miners shanties
| round an old shaft.
As the work cron the new house was
to commence Immediately, the material
all engaged and the architect actually
on lis way to Virginia, Mr.. Anthony
had decided not to wait about moving
the cabins until after its completion, as
] he had spoken of doing when he talked
/ the matter over with Mrs. Beverley, but
, 20 take them away at once. According
! ly, the work of demolition had been in
augurated that very morning, and the
cabins We're being taken TO pieces and
| carted 20 other parts of the estate for
re-erection. The negroes whom An
| thony wished to retain in his employ
had arrangements made for their ac-
commodation during the period of their
homelessness. while those of whom he
wished to rid himself simply had notice
given them to quit by a certain day.
Among these last was poor old Pat
rick and his equally old and still more
| infirm wife. They had never been house
! servants nor very intimately associated
with the family life, but they had been
! born and raised ON the Beverley estate,
and had occupied that particular cabin
ever since their welded life began,
nearly sixty years before, and had, not
! unnaturally. counted on being allowed
to die in it. They had long outlived
| their children, and their grandchildren
! had all drifted away to seek liveli-
hood in other places, leaving the ancient
couple still fixture on the old planta-
tation, firm in the conviction that the
white people would never see them come
to want. They We're so old that, beyond
their own few household matters, no
work was expected of the and they
lived on from year to year. their few
wants supplied and their comfort looked
after by the white family, just as it
would have been had they never been
emancipated.
When the sale of the lower part of the
estate put the cabin in which the old
people lived beyond her control, Mrs.
| Beverley had been anxious to move her
pensioners over to house in her own
| yard, where she could see that they were
properly attended to. But they were
loath to leave the cabin to which they