Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-01-06
CHAPTER XIV.
IN AFTER YEARS.

lhB clapteT, anu COnSeq uently slnce Tue
close of the war, and the political ami
| mostly and personal enmity engendered
by the long struggle have &c great ex-
tent disappeared. The x-Confederates
OF West Visginia, so long disfrancnised,
have long since had the rights OF citi-
| Zenship restored, aud can cast their bal
lots with as much sang froid as the ex
Federals or the lately emaacipated.
They can even bring suit without the
suitors' :est-oath, can practice law,
serve as jurors, teach school and col
lect an honest debt.
Since his return from the war Colonel
! Marfew bad followed various pursuits.
For = time he was dry goods clerk, a
country school teacher, an assistant ed
!tor, and finally groceryman. He has
sued for the recovery OF Brook Falls
and his attorneys have assured him that
be will eventually be in full and unds-
puted possession of this valuable estate.
Doctor Mariew, shortly after the war,
married a Jefferson county girl, and
practices in the Valley. A few years
later, Howard, as it is very natural TO
suppose, welded Alma Lapart and fol-
lows the business Of civil engineering
In his native county. Their aged pa
rents reside In little cottage In Syl-
vanton at convenient distance from
their fathers store, the household du-
ties being chiefly presided over by
Muda Marfew, the Doctors eldest
daughter, young lady Of seventeen.
Mandy, Moke and loop live few
miles out in the country, and whenever
Mandy ventures to town, which she
rarely does, she never fails to visit her
former master and mistress.
''Ef we wa all back at de OF place, ="
she freQently remarked, "den, mastah
an mist'ess, | could die 10 peace. kin
nevah leave dis void content less |
leaves IL from dab. l amt got long t.
live now, but wat leetle time | has got
| | wants Z spen' dab whah | wa bon
an raised, an whah de Mayfews TO-
glnratious wa BON an raised. I'll soon
be bundled, mastah and mist'ess, an'
mus die soon, an wen l does | wants
yuh all Z see dat Is buahed in
de conan o. de white folks buahYin-
grOun' 'loRg wifi my mastahs and mis-
tesses, an not Oh de hill side whah de
! colo'ed folks is buahsd."
Muda Marfew is an especial favorite
of her grandisther's. She shall live
with him always, he AYERS. She always
volunteers TO assist him on busy days at
| the store, does most of his writing and
usually accom- panieS him on his Sunday
| afternoon drives into the country.
| While driving the grandfather gener-
ally insists that Brook Falls shall, In
| going or returning, be passed, declaring
| that a view of the old estate, despite
! the fact that it had at last parted from
| the Marfews, stimulates aud cheers him
] by the many pleasant memories OF the
! long ago that it revives. He delights
/ in pointing out the many objects as
| ISOLATED with his early childhood
"a period OF life that ne has
entered into the second time He To-
! Gates with interest, the spot where the
! foot-log, over which be passed TO aRd
/ from the little log school-house In the
woods, spanned the run; points to the
! hills covered, in his youth, with the
primeval forest, over which he had
] many times roamed AZ nights with the
| slaves hunting the coon and postum.
| In wonder lot, soma seventy years be-
! fore, stood a negro cabin, before whose
! yawning fireplace heaped with glow ne
and cracking logs he had often sat, all
! in trembling, in the long, dreary win
| ter nights listening TO the hair-ralslng,
| though fascinating ghost stories OF the
negroes; and when the time arrived
! for him TO return to the house
he was usually too nervous
| 10 90 unattended, fancying that he
] would surely see the subject oil the
| tales, such as the witches that had one
/ Christmas eve ridden Uncle Jupe' s
| mare TO death, for she was found dead
! the next morning far from home be-
| shattered with mud unlike that OF any
| OF the roads in the country, and her
name q tangled mass of witches stir
rms. or encounter the two skeletons
that old Aunt Sukey had, one dreary
| night seen arise from their graves ana
| engage in a pOst-mortem duel with shin-
| homes, fighting desperately and making
| each others bones rattle, until the rls'
| ing moon caused them TO retreat into
| their tombs. the earth closing volun-
tarilv over them. But often when the
night was of a character fit for all sorts
OF COLLINS TO venture from their lurking
| uac8n hand go abroad, and tue
| stories were of a blood-curdling nature,
| be was compelled TO reach the mouse
alone, for no negro could be Induced TO
venture rod from the cabin.
Having exhausted these and kindred
! subjects, the Colonel usually referred 10
events Of more recent date, and to the
various changes that the place had I'M
dercone since he rode away from II
that bright May morning so many
wears in the past TO cast his fortunes
| with the ConfederacY.
"fhaye grown very, very old, child, "
he once remarked to his granddaug hter,
! with the melancholy aud loquacity OF
cottage. when the hills of the estate
arose TO view, land cannot be here
mpch longer. 1t saddens me, child, TO
| think that shall never again call the
Mace nv own aud live there once
more; 1t saddens me very much. How
high are these hills, how broad and fer
tile those fields! just 10 live there a
little while-that would be all. On,
the war--if it had never BEEN"
Everyone is of the opinion that the
suit will soon terminate in your favor. p"
repned Muda, moved by the garrulity
| and the moiStened eyes Of her grand
! sire. Il am confident that you will
live there again, grandfather, and soon,
too"
The girls remark was made just as
they reached the identical high ground
where the Colonel had turned and taken
A farewell view of his house the morn
ing that he rode of TO join the Confed-
crates, and apparently unmindfnl OF
what his granddaughter had said, he
looked at it as intentlY as he had done
that memorable day, but scarcely more
so than the girl who never failed to nix
| \ - nunr IN IL the nnnmpnt thai the ton