The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1894-06-12


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 a 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. ooh, yesp' he said, lit did
hurt. - But he smiled as he thus answer
ed question which would have been
both superfiuous 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 a 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 trader store one night last
fall and lift up his quavering voice in a
Methodist hymn and try to get up a
prayer meeting right there among the
boys, land 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:
"He's an old fool, with stavin purity
gal. Twas just that which saved his
-interferin hathaway.
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 lave 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 APP
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 a 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
new hght-an incident all the more
remarkable because it was the last in his
career-came about in this wise: There
wandered into Concho long haired and
ambrosial man, who claimed to have
been one of those hard riders from the
Lone Star State who figured so extern
sively in the cavalry force of the late
Confederate army He was broad shout
dered, tall, staggering, of a military
carriage and claimed to be 'still rebel
and a fighting man, sir. " Now, Hanks
was not just Yankee, but he and this
child of chivalry soon found means OF
upon another matter. The
Confederate used often to say that he
did not care a profane expletiye for Miss
Grimes, but he made it a point to allow
no man to stand before him in the graces
of a livin woman, sir. So in few
weeks Hanks aud he looked askance at
each other and finally refused to play
poker at the same table and avoided
a mutuality in bibulous exercises by
common consent. The wicked Sary,
gifted with peculiar insight into such
matters, hattered the new beau and
smiled upon him with beams particular
ly bright, albeit she divided her favors
and gave Hanks enough to keep him
alive to the stature and strength of his
rival, and the dangers arising from de-
lay and absence. These things did not
pass unnoticed by the others, and keen
lookout was maintained for the hour
when the difficulty should eliminate.
The patient sitters upon benches and the
industrious carvers of deal boxes kept
the two men in sight and watched them
with an eye to being present when the
time came. They discussed the chances
among themselves, much as they dis
oussed the projected race for 800 yards
between Hopkins bald face and the
spotted pony They knew Hanks, and
generally considered him the better
man. There was a slight inclination to
prejudice against the Confederate per-
haps. Hes full o brag, they remark
ed. "Hain't seen his grit yet. "
One night Father Grimes sat in the
inner room of his poor house. The cot
ton cloth which did duty as glass pulled
in and ont in the window frame, and
the "grease dip burned yellow and dim
on the edge of its broken cup. There
was the usual chatter and coarse laugh
ter in the outer room, and he knew that
the Confederate and Sary were there.
This gallant gentleman was in his best
mood that night, and the laughter of
the girl and the mans tone of light
raillery reached Grimes wakeful ears
with annoying distinctness, The old
man sat in his bent posture near the
light and studied out the words of "A big
worn volume upon his knee His griz-
zled hair lay In tangled confusion upon
his neck. and rs he stumbled through
the sentences he spelled and whispered
the words to himself The night was
his enemy and torment. He was passing
the dull time of age and affection, and,
withal, gathering comfort from the only
book he possessed or needed 1t was no
common book he pored over and spelled
It is said to have been the Bible.
Presently the outer door opened, and
with a gruff salutation Hanks entered.
HE =, .,;,ro1 From, bic lasf drive cOuld not