Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1894-06-28
WOODBURY. N J, THURSDAY, JUNE o. 1894

ture, but, as it might have been ex-
pressed in an eastern village, liable to
be talked about '-one of the social pun
ishments not much dreaded, however,
in the region of Fort Concho There
was, fear, consciousness i'll her face
whenever she passed man in the road,
and it is equally to be feared that her
prudent chastity had but little sugges-
tion of snow or crystal in it, but as belle
of Slabtowr she reigned supreme, and Of
course the greater part of her female
friends cast aspersions upon her. She
kept all her admirers in state Of mind
which had in it much torment, with oc-
casional glimpses Of beatitude Charles
Hanks, Esq, stage driver, started out
upon his trip with large fortune of
happy thoughts and discussed the OBJ
ject nearest his heart with the box pas
senger for 20 miles at once But when
he returned Sary would no more speak to
him than if, as he complained, he s'had
been yaller dog" But Mr. Hanks had
no special cause of complaint, for he
Jared as all his rivals did
Father Grimes reputation was that
he was ''allus good to that gal O.
his'n. He was never known on any
occasion to use petulant expression to
any person or thing. The popularity
more often remarked in him than any
other was that he did not swear. 1t was
wonder he did not, for nobody doubt
ed that he had hard life of it. With
regard to Grimes, the half has not been
told. We have seen men who had sur
viyed some great disaster, some horrible
mangling, and went crawling through
life thereafter lame SCARED, deformed,
the hideous semblance Of a human
creature. Such was this poor, rich old
man. His limbs were drawn awry.
His shapeless hands almost refused to
grasp his staff, and every line of
his face denoted an experience of pain,
happily past for the time, but ever
leaving a grim promise to return and
wiring the distorted limbs anew until
the hour of his relief Yet Grimes
had not been the victim of any sudden
accident or great calamity. Fire, nor
falling walls, nor the rebellion of mans
gigantic servant against his master in
rushing steam and falling fragments
had been incidents in his hard life
And yet his fate had been little better
His days had been days of pain, and his
nights had been spent in torture and in
waiting and praying for daylight or
death. 1t is common enough, but Ariel,
bright spirit of enchanted air, suffered
and groaned no more in the cloven pine
than strong man may beneath rheu-
matte torture.
Thus it was that the old mans gen
tleness was a marvel to those who re-
viled him daily Worn and deformed
with his battle of years with his enemy,
he sat at his cabin door in the sun and
placidly nodded at those who passed by
and whispered to himself and smiled.
Sometimes he had been asked if it had
not hurt him while in slow torment his
limbs had been twisted and drawn
thus. "Oh, yesp' he said, 'sit did
hurt" But he smiled as he thus answer
ed question which would have been
both superfuous and cruel if the old
man had not seemed to possess some
panacea which enabled him to almost
defy pain.
This distorted figure, this pain writ
ten face and these strange ways Father
Grimes possessed alone. They were
strange in the land, for sturdy, bearded
manhood, reckless ways, loud words
and blood curdling blasphemy were
the rule with his associates and near
neighbors. While they knew that he
had within him something which they
neither possessed nor understood, they
only said ''cur'us creetur" and passed
on. Whatever it was, they had no res
pect for it They thought him a little
crazy. He had done strange things that
they knew Of Had he not once tried to
interfere with very promising horse
race on a Sunday? Did he not come
down to the traders store one night last
fall and lift up his quavering voice in
Methodist hymn and try to get up
prayer meeting right there among the
boys, ''and "a hundred dollars in the
pot, and me with three queens in my
hand?' 1t was Charles Hanks, Esq,
who described this scene and added:
'tHe's an old fool, with stavin purity
gal. Twas just that which saved his
meat-a-interferin that-a-way"
1t was not strange that with these
queer ways Father Grimes was alone
in such place, with only his heart to
keep him company. There was chap
lain at the post, but he seemed as yet to
have discovered no affinity for this &C.
centric old man. He preferred soldiers
of the cross of more robust tendencies
and in line. If being a Christian was
what was the matter with Grimes
dazed head, he had an entire monopoly
of the complaint. On bright Sunday
mornings there was formal service on
the parade ground, and plumed heads
bowed slightly in the etiquette of mill
tary devotion. But Father Grimes was
as much out Of place there as he was at
the suffers and stood afar off, failing
to understand perhaps what all this had
in common with camp meeting in far
western Virginia or with such piety
and worship as would have been accept
able to his fellow believers of the Unit
ed Brethren in Christ
Of course he had little control Of the
hoydenish Sary. That young woman
shared somewhat in the current be-
lief regarding her fathers mental con-
dition. Living in the same house, they
had no companionship, and while she
cared for his common wants and daily
meals that was the extent, to all ap-
pearance, of her interest in him. He
perhaps constituted the sober side of her
life. She would have been ready to do
battle for him with ready tongue, but
she also claimed the privilege of pri-
vately regarding him with as much care
lessness and half contempt as was pos
sible with her knowledge Of the fact
that he really was her father and she
could not help it.
The incident which placed Father
Grimes prominently before the public in
a new hght--an incident all the more
remarkable because it was the last in his
career-ca1ne about in this wise: There
wandered into Concho long haired and
ambrosial man, who claimed to have
Deen one OF those hard riders T0m Une
Lone Star State who figured SO extern
sively in the cavalry force Of the late