Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-04-12

Never had the house and its furnish
ings seemed as shabby to me as now.
BEG pardon, Amos; but you know
everything is permitted between old
friends. You don't thrive well here"
.sNo," said my father, land l fear I
never shall. You remember something
about this old place; twenty acres out
of the thirty no better than stone
quarry. Bad luck has followed me;
I've had bad seasons, slim crops, sick
ness and debt. It's a hard struggle,
almost hopeless one"
'sI'm sorry for you, Amos; from the
bottom of my soul am. I don't know
of a fellow who deserved good fortune
ahead of you. If you'd struck out
when L did, you'd have succeeded any
where. New England is good place
to rear men, but no place at all for
them to spread, you know. 1 don't
brag, but I've got a right to point with
some pride to what I've done since I
saw these hills last
"You are at the south, infer" said
my father.
''I've one thousand acres of the best
cotton land in Mississippi below Vicks-
burg. 1 plant every acre of it; and
raise sugar in Louisiana
81 hope you're not a STAKEHOLDER,
sir" said my mother.
so, I've a few niggers-hard1y a
hundred. I've had to hire some the
last season.
At the Mortified looks of my mother
Mr.. Bostock wiped his mouth and
laughed.
''I'd like to have you come down and
h. - l.
pose upon me. But, dash it all. Amos,
1 haven't time to discuss the institu-
ton, and it wouldn'tNdo, either-we
abolitionist. 1 remember you in the
old days; you were cut out for one.
Let's talk about something else
you have a family, of course,
Pierce?"
my wife died few years ago. I've
one child, Coralie, little witch of
seven. I've a great house, which is
run by the servants. I know all about
the plantation, but I haven't much
control inside. Everything is lavish,
and it's wonder to me, sometimes,
that I'm not a poor man. But come
down, and you'll find hospitality
enough"
more IMAM an nOur ne talked, IN
terrupted only by an occasional ques-
ton or exclamation. did not observe
then-long afterward I had occasion
to recall the fact-that he parted sew
eral attempts of my parents to draw
him out about his deceased wife and
his daughter. He talked interesting
ly, almost eloquently, about the Guilt
walton of cotton, the scenes in the i'm
toll 1,a tol1
rived, the ginning, the ba1ing and the
shooting" down the long incline to
steamboat. To me it was all a new
revelation; 1 listened with all my
senses.
He turned to me briskly with the
question:
''We1, my lad, how would you like
to go down and see all this for your
self?"
I above all things, SIR
II say, Amos, why not send him
down to me, after a few years? I'll
put him in the way to be rich"
I sat with clasped hands, eagerly
looking from one to the other of my
parents. Their hearts were touched
by the thought of parting with me,
and by the generous interest of Mr..
Bostock.
81 mean it, Amos. I've taken no
ton to the boy, and I'd like to have
him with me. To be sure, I'm a slave
holder, but there's lots of more dan
| gerous animals in the woods than the
unfortunate man who has to feed and
clothe parcel of lazy niggers. You
needn't hurry; keep him a few years
yet; send him to school; and by and by
send him down to me, via Cincinnati,
Cairo and Vicksburg. I'll take care of
him, and give him such start in the
world as he'd never get up this way.
I won't forget what I'm saying, Amos,
neither. What do you say?"
"Your kindness quite overpowers
me, Pierce. I'll think seriously of it.,
and talk it over with the boy and his
| mother"
''All right, my old friend; the thing
is as good as done. Now my time is
about up. Don't get crazy over politics,
Amos, and don't take Dorr to your
abolition meetings. Let me have a
pen and ink and I'll put down my ad-
dress for you"
He took from his pocket a narrow
blank book, wrote rapidly upon leaf