Evening star., 1899-03-11

fCrmance Of dUty-was only a fuffy-headed
girl. a Yankee. so-calied, whose father had
cCme south TO die of consumption and
leave his motherless daughter a stranger
among strangers
Rocky Ledge was no earthly paradise.
Or its l00 inhabitants. three-fourths were
black and the remainder, with the eXcep-
tiOn OF the railroad agent herself, were the
trashiest of white trash" The nearest
gentleman was az Col Singletons plan
tation three miles distant But if Amy
Carroll ever got lonely or sick at heart, or
ever pined for the smiling fields of Wis
cCrsin. no one heard of il. She might
grow weary of the eternal pine barrens
that crowded up close to the track and al
most invaded her back door; she might
fear that the agGe would in time rob her
Of her robust health. and dye her blooming
skin a sickly yellow; she might tremble at
times for her refinement among the unlet-
tered horde around her But her sunny
face never ClGuded. The dripping brake
men who bedra ggied her white, clean floor
on tempessuoUs nights never missed her
bcnny words and Barney Mccall, the
handsomest conductor on the DIVISION
sWore daily that one of the little y ank
smiles was q better bracer for him than
three fingers of whisky.
When Fan-Tan. a notorious COlOred out
law Of the neighborhOOd, was carried into
her office one night, with his body nearly
severed by the down freight and his llfe
blood fast ooZng away. she braTely sat by
him and SpOnged his brow until he mad
bTeatleu his last. Inc NIu~cySI DIdNH
group around her on that memorable night
afterward declared that Fan-Tan took Miss
Amy for an angel and fancied he was IN
heaven some time before he died He might
easily have done it, for her sweet, pitying
face that night as white as any piece
of sculptured marble. On that same night
Col. Singleton. in the comfortable sitting
room Of the big plantation home. declared
with an expression not found in dicuon-
aries that Amy Carroll, Yank or no Yank
was a girl after his own heart.
Not after your heart, papa" corrected
his daughter Charlotte, with sly play
upon his words, but after your dutlful son,
Rods heart.
.Roderick could hardly marry a girl in
her station. Charlotte, said the mother,
with a languor that evinced no apprehen~
..Rod could marry gypsy II she were
worthy of him answered Charlotte. spirit
voice and the colonel quietly chuckled to
himself behind the pages of his Atlanta
Constitution
About a month later one night IN early
June No IL. down freight for Savannah.
was wrecked at the sixty-sixth mile post,
one mile below Rocky Ledge A brakeman
lost his life a posse Of indignant planters.
assisted by the train crew secured the
swamp with dogs for the criminals and be-
fore sunrise a negro named Fillmore was
dangling from the arm Of telegraph pole.
The subsequent excitement among the
blacks in Rocky Ledge was intense. though
manifested in a way characteristic of the
negro. Their Gul. muddy eyes and sullen
movements were not to be misinterpreted.
With hangdCg looks they shifted about the
settlement in duSky groups. mainly oSCillat-
Ing between the two saloons and giving
Vent to their wrath IN rolling eyes pouting
lips ard mumbled threats and curses
childish manifestations. but such as, with
this race, may portend the most terrible
outrages-
The first violence was the stoning from
ambush of the nOrth-bonnd passenger from
raj he at
the division by telegraph. AT noon the con-
ductOr Of the down freight looked in at
the coy little office TO see how things stood
with Miss Amy. She told him with smile
that she guessed everything was all right
but she did II only because she fancied that
that what man would have done. AT
2 o'clock Barney McCall's handsome face,
with its rapier-like mustachiOs was thrust
In the ticket window. He got his usual
"bracer, but he imagined IL was a little
diluted.
you're lookin little peaked, Miss Yank
ain't your he demanded.
Maybe, but / don't feel that way" she
answered cheerily. II don't think there
they won't hurt me. i didn't hang Fill
more"
Honestly asked Barney quizzingly
81 imagined you would be just the girl 10
hang a niger" Then he added blithesome-
", holding out a heavy revolver Just
shove that in your pocket-or keep it some
where handy. You needn't get scared; I've
always said you ought TO have a pistol, you
know, and now you got one. All you got tc
do with that, girl, is to point her and pull
the trigger, and she'll do the rest Its