The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-13

3 heIu mines and carefully tended cottoI acres they go, snd,at length the bayins TOT hounds and thelglimpse of red bricl chlmneys showing through the trees tel
 Ihat the haven Is near. The hoof beat: on the hard, piney- woods road tha' '"lhos round back of the orchard givt warning of their approach, and by the tune the front gate Is reached q black midget Is there to open 1t, smiling from ear to ear and bent on doing the honors
 m so far as he may.
 ' Dey's all home!" he announced " oheerily' swinging the gate back to its
 utmost and ordering off a leaping dog UT two that threaten to impede pro-
 sress' Miss Anna beep ride off a
 'plece but she Jist now git back"
 The master comes out on the front I!steps to meet his visitors, the light fall uhs luli on his uncovered head, his face
 tdndIlhS With expectant pleasure. His
 glad to See you" does not need the l'hearty hand.grasp and words of salu-
 tatlon to make the welcome felt. The
 merest stranger feels in a flash that he
 IS siau Ill return to see this boyish I'hearted cotton planter who, while he I'Wouid be taken for a couutryman any
 where and everywhere, would seldom
 
 Ito him. His linen trousers and thin Isummer coat are, rumpled, his neclktie
 arWy his shoes lWstreless; but there is "a sort of unconscious Individuality rabout him Gan Individuality not of his iDWn makins) andia free born ease of
 bearing that rises superior to conven- l'tlon, and makes the beholder feel that
 here is man who ehas never drawn a Iysubordinate breath in his life (except,
 perhaps, bit of army discipline) and lis utterly unaware that anything he Is
 in the habit of doing couM possibly give
 oifense or savor of'lack iof punctllious-
 ness His manner. and, flor that mat
 ter, his principles, are like his linen suit unworidEy In cut and finish, but clean, or only so far tainted that the jtsoil will easily wash off
 | His wife is near, in neat print gown, ttler glossy side calrls (wprn in the fash 'ion Of forty years ago) ibobbing an &C., accompaniment to her greeting. Just in time,for tea," she says lead Ming the way into the shaded guest 'chamber, that|eils and hats may be re- moved. We alWays have tea between ten and eleven, because we breakfact early on accountsof the hands There is Ia foreman, of course, but If MT. c. Is 'not Up early nothing goes exactly right.
 T came straight from the pantry to meet you" she adds, with a glance at ther apron andlthe flour on 1t frankly in evidence. T always work my light fbread myself, and the sponge had just risen; but the,girls will take care of you luntil my retuwn."
 The girls" prove of varying ages. all If nn from x,1o lis also spending the day." to the spins- ter sister-in-law and the visiting cousin There Is always "a visiting young per- son. sometimes two or three of them of both sexes. In southern country house, and there Is generally good-slze con- tingent of women folks. relatives or rel and not infact. whom the head of the house takes under his pro- lection for one reason or another In this particular household there are four such. One Is frankly devoted to four footed beasts, and thereby gets close to the masters heart. going to no end of | trouble to raise his puppies for him and | tide them over the ticklish time when | first taken away iron, the mother, miles | distant. Another helps with the flowers and takes critical interest in the | plants that the head Of the household 1 Mixes to experiment with.
 Everything Dora has anything to do with grows. She's my right -hand girl" he says, although weA do have a 'set-to' sometimes about the quantity of | water the things require. She takes Boston. that little coon there, In the af- and waters them all regular ly."
 Boston, the nirnbleIfooted midget who opened the gate, and who Is lurking in a nearby recess so as to be within call, outright at hearing himself | named in public
 At later stage,of talk. when the ] men folk are gathered in some bare foored bare walled room especially de- voted to them and their guns and fish Ing tackle or such, and the company has got warmed up," socially speak Ing, mention may be made of some youthful attache of the household whose name, coupled with the prefix Miss" suggests that the particular re- fattonship In that direction IS not a close one
 Miss Hanckle Is my wife's second cousins daughter" explains the host. Poor Hanckle was not much account, you know; he's living somewhere, but when his wife died the four girls were hmply left out of doors. Their own fm- mediate aunts or uncles could not take hem, but, of course, 1t would never do Or them to go to strangers, and so my wife and the other cousins just put heir heads together and agreed to 'hare the girls out among them We lever had seen this one till she came rom the station, but there's look in Ter facelike her mother, and we took to ler. hope she'll find a good steady husband some day. The four orphans they are as good as orphans) meet at me or the other of the cousins houses 'nce a year. Blood Is thicker than wa i CT. You can't see your women kinfolks urned out In the world, you know"
 The country may have just passed nto the hands of new party. Con- ,ress may have been tampering with is- ues of grave moment; the price of or anything may be up or town, but the talk after the tea lunch- . on Is over, seats have been placed in he main hall Gin the middle, to avoid he glare at either end) is of small mat