The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-11-15
joe [ZlQl0@0

The pilot was leaning on his wheel,
smoking his pipe and singing softly. We
had ceased to talk. The night had set
tied down, dark and starless, fun OF mys-
terry and calm. The wooded hills on either
shore were but dimly outlined against the
sky-a base of purple against held %
grayish black A buoy light, low on the
horizon, marked the rivers channel, and
the shifting surface Of the inky waters
shuffied the lights reelection like golden
cords A flock of ducks swished through
the darkness like spectral fowl. From
some wooded Hill came the dismal howl
of a dog, or the soft, mellow halloo of
human voice, like a whisper from no
where, gathering melancholy through
the distance. The boat seemed not to
move. 1t was anchored in black space,
and the visionary hills passed IN slow
and silent procession, now approaching
ominously. now receding into dim dis
lance. Transforming and issolving. One
great purple mass came slowly on until
If seemed about to overwhelm the boat
when / was aroused by the Changing Of
the engine bells, and the pilot said: We
coal up, here"
When the boat was made fast TO the
bank the pilot knocked the ashes out of
his pipe refilled it and sat down, resting
an elbow on a spoke Of the wheel
Il wish it was daylight" he said, so
You could see the house on top Of the
hill, here Finest house on the river
/ marble pillars hand-painted inside gravel
paths and flower beds, and all that sort
of thing. Curious story about that house,
too. 1t was built by old Joe Butler. the
man who owned the coal mine here
Built it for his daughter, Ella, and as
sort Of monument to his mule Mary. 1t
was toss-up which he loved best, and
the majority Of opinion along the river
| is that Mary had the call The old man
and his sweetheart, the mule are dead
and gone, but the daughter still lives in
the house, and they say she loves her IA
theirs memory enough not to alter any
of his plans.
II never knew much of old Joe's early
history. He was here, / guess, when the
! first steamboat came down the river
He owned a patch of ground back there.
and farmed it, His wife died when the
girl was little thing, so little that he
couldn't take care of her. and he sent her
back to some relative in Maryland
STRUCK COAL.
| THE time came when be struck the
/ coal vein on his land, by some accident or
/ another-digging for d woodehuck, I ex-
pect. He didn't know for d long time
what good thing he had struck. for this
| is the only coal on the river for 100 miles.
and there is a good market for every
pound of it. He opened the vein right in
the face of the bank there, and worked it
| until the first high water drowned him
/ ont, and when he drifted ii from higher
up.
Just how long the mule figures in the
story. / don't know, but for years Joe dug
all the coal and Mary hauled it up to the
dump. The boats took it as fast as he
could mine it. and he made q lot of mon
ey, in a small way. He sent most of it
back to the girl, and whoever was taking
care of her spent il on her, for she went
TO ahigh-school and had every advantage
"0ld Joe was no fool but he was not
a man of very large ideas, so he branched
out in the coal business slowly After d
while he hired some diggers, opened up
some rooms in his mine. and got a bigger
output, but he and Mary continued to
/ haul it all mp TO the dump The cabin he
had first built in the clearing. where his
wife died, was good enough for him. and
while Mary got as good oats and hay to
eat as a race horse, she continued to eat
j 1t under the lean-to shed that FIRST shell
tered her.
With the growing mp Of the country
and the increase Of river traffic, az q
railroad paralleling the river that cut
right through Joe's land aud close to the
mine. the property became more valua-
BILE. Joe had many a tempting offer for
the Nine but he was cautious and didn't
know what it was worth. and held on to
il. Finally some syndicate or big firm
represented by a smart young fellow.
got 1t. The young man who was an
engineer went at Joe right. He showed
him how the mine could be deyeloped
into something big told him honestly the
money there was in it. offered him a bic
price for it and royalty on the output
Old Joe was Greatly taken with the youno
engineer, put the whole matter in his
hands and sold out He and Mary re-
tired. and took a rest for the first time m
twenty-five years. On the engineers al.
vice, old Joe took d pleasure Trim To
went ny Iaf as Chicago, and came back
WIN new ideas. And what do Won sup
pose was the first thing he did when he
came baekE Wei, sir. he built a stable
for Mary Tat was the wonder Of the
couItrg. The people came to see it for
hfty miles around, and it was one Of the
sights of river travel for the boat passen-
gers to climb up the bank aud look ut it,
He, had the plans made IN Chicago.
and the material and men to build it came
from there. 1t wasn't very big, but /
| tell you it was a beauty! looked like lit
tie church. Why, John Root the man
who built the first tall office building and
who planned the Worlds Fair buildings,
drew the design for that stable. Outside
it looked like n Swiss chapel and the walls
were OF glazed tile. Inside it was finish
ed In natural wood. oiled, with big rafters
like you see in church roofs. The floor
was the Mosaic work, like the offices OF
the big hotels. The box stall was rallied
off in brass. like a hundred dollar bed
stead, and Mary ate her hay out of a
brass basket in the corner, and her oats
out of porcelain feed box, like a high
n. k..E on. -