The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1898-02-23
BL IAN.
By S. 3. CROCKETT.

By 5. 4. UkUUkEfT.
scscc=-seht 1897, by the Author.l
& No, father, % said Bi1lialn, with de-
ciaen, ST an not half good enough to
make aparson of. Ycu must give the
livang to Harry He will make a first
fatsr. He is all the time mousing about
among books. =
Biniam and his father were standing
together in the rectory garden, which
looked over the beautiful vale Of st.
John Helye1lyn slept above them,
stretched out like a:Iion with his head
low between his paws. The lake gEm-
mered beneath all dreamy in the light
midsummer haze. Bees hummed IN the
old garden, and the flowers ON which
they made themselves drunk reeled and
shock with the press of the jewellers.
IS The old rector Of Applethwaite was
dead. This day cf midsummer had been
his funeral day. An old man full to the
]. him Of years and dignities, hehad lived
all his life, under the wing Of his broth
er, the squire, rooted safely in the fam
ny living, dining every Sunday and
Thursday at the hall and reading his
100 sermons IN rotation as settled and
regular as that of the crops But Eow
the old order was changed, and, accord
ing To the squire's providential arrange
nent, the new order was to be-B1i-
lam
His real name was William, with
something very distinguished after it
Yet nobody thought of calling him any
thing but Billiam - except only the
squire, when, as at present, Billlam and
hs differed in opinion. Then he said,
william Reginald Setoun Or1nl-
hwaite, viii you dare to disobey your
athere'' And Biliiam hung his head, for
he knew that 3 day was coming when
: he would
AZ school he had been called Billiam
for the reason that a Yorker is called
8 Yorker, because it was obvious
that he could be called nothing else.
Ine boy whose Latin verses he did SAID
te him: Now, goon, old Billiam hurry
up. Z want to go out to the playing
helds to snaite that young toad Scott
miner for making faces at me end max
ing me laugh in chapel" :" So to save
time BiIiam gave him his own copy OF
verses and saw the plagiarlst pass to the
head of the form next day on the
strength Of Bil1am's iambics. Yet that
! boy never even thought of thanking the
author and origin Of his distinction.
Why should ke2 It was only old Biz
liam. =
Billiam failed also III gaining the love
and respect of his masters to the extent
which, upon his merits, was his due.
For one thing, he was forever bringing
an mannerof broken down sparrows,
manned rabbits and three legged dogs 4
INTO the school and, If possible, even
into the dormitory. Then smells ofsdl-
versa kinds arose and bred quarrelsome
dissension Of q very positive kind. The
house master came up one night to find
Biliam with an open knife in his hand,
driving fercely into q throng OF boys
armed with cricket bats and wickets,
Whereupon he promptly dashed at the
young desperate and wresIed the knife
out Of his hands.
Do yo1 wish to murder somebody
cried the house master, shaking him.
Yes, said Billiam stoutlJ, sif
I.owther throws my white nice out OF
! the window y
No further proceedings were taken,
because upon examination Bllllam
proved to be scored black and blue with
the wickets of his adyersaries- He was,
however, from this time forth given
bedroom upon the ground floor, with
little ceart in front which looked UPON
the Laundry, and hero 3illis,n, still
uurepentant, was allowed to tend his
managerie in peace, provided always
that it did not entirely destroy the sani-
tatIon Of the school. But when the gov
erning committee came to inspect the
premises the head master carefully pi-
loted them past theentrance of the court
wherein dwelt Billiam,. keeping well to
windward Of it.
Anybody else would have been
promptly expelled, but Billiana's father
was q very important person indeed, and
the head master had known him init
mately at college. Besides. no one could
possibly have expelled Billiam. The
very rufians who whacked him with
cricket bats would straightway have
risen in mutiny.
By and By Billiam's father tried him
at Oxford, but, though Billiam staid
his terms, he would have none Of it. So
when the rectory fell vacant it seemed
all that could be done was to make ar
rangements by which Billiam would sue
ceed his uncle. The Right Honorable
Reginald Sstoun Crraithwaite, Billiam's
spater," saw no difficulty in the mat
ter. He had been at Etcn and Christ
church with the bishop of Lakeland,
and the matter lent itself naturally to
this arrangement. Every one felt this to