The Red Cloud chief., 1901-04-05

uGNEU the lowlands filled with the
~~ golden blaze OF the pOplars,
the hilltops crowned with the
scarlet and greens OF the oaks. Here and
there Dark belts OF pineand came down
To the edges Of abandoned fields where
the curving plumes of the golden rod
rose above the humber crests OF the yell
owing sedges. Long shadows lay on
th' CO" c-cropped grass Of the pastures
or l""red the steep red sides OF the
SCARED md denudcd hills, while the sun
light. Ion, since shorn OF Its summer
herceness. no fell softly In the open
fields or timidly ept, like half uncer-
tain guest. through the openings left by
the fallen leaves into the hidden recesses
OF the secretive woods.
Down by the river. In the fertile corn
land where the laden stalks were bend
Ing low and the wild morning glories
draped the ripening pumpkins with
leaves OF green and the royal purple of
half shut. sleeping blossoms. the negroes
were singing as they gathered the heavy
ears and cast them into heaps After
these came the creaking wagons that
presently issued forth from gaps In the
struggling unkempt hedgcrows and
Crawled away along the winding, dusty
roads to the barns and farm houses be-
yond. The day and the year we're al
most done gentle lassltude was In
the air; the cowbells tinked drowsily in
the hillside pastures. the sparrows
hushed their twittering In the leafy
bushes. and even the raucous cries OF the
crows seemed softencd into a sort OF dis
cordant melody.
The earth was going to sleep. The
negroes, the true earth children, felt 1t.
and In their long drawn swaying voices
was an unconscious cradle song. The
mules felt II, and called with rasplng
titan sighing for stalls. and managers
with yellow corn therein Even Middle
ton, the white man who stood by the
crooked rotting fence that skirted the
edge qf the broadcast road. felt II and
breathed a full breath OF relief, for Mid
dletons fight against the drought and
the grass was over for this year and Mid
dleton was thankful.
No one knew Of Middleton's trials
save Middleton himself, for he was ret
icent man. However the iron might
enter his soul, 1t was not In him to cry
out or whine.
Here on this old plantation his father
had lived and his grandfather before him
Men OF the soil they were, and. although
better educated perhaps, in other Things
like their farmer neighbors OF the Ke-
owee section. who directed the labor OF
their negroes. marketed their crops and
feared only the drought and the teach
ings of the Republican party.
Such man, 100. was Middleton. Had
he been of another mind he might have
turned his learning and knowledge of
men into account and have achieved In
some profession or In politics a success
larger In every way than that upon which
his heart was set But to Middleton the
knowledge Of this was as nothing Ho
knew every curve In these old hills, every
pool In the river yonder. and the broad
open fields and the stretches of dusky
forest, sometimes bright with the smile
of the sun. sometimes gray with the tears
OF the rain, were to him as the faces OF
old and time-tred friends. Above all,
back there where the garden and orchard
met, fenced in with rough-hewn stone,
covered with roses and the tangled
creepers of rioting vines. lay those other
Middletons from whom, generation to
generation. the land had descended. A
Middleton without the Iand-who did not
live upon his land-was no Middleton IL
was his; II had been his fathers: 1t would
-
creed, and he lived up to It. The prices
OF cotton went down and down, the ne
groes trained In the old free handed slay-
cry school were unthrifty, and the
droughts now that the forests were be-
ing cleared away came more and more
frequently; yet Middleton, with
shrewd foresight, with IA courage born OF
his faith. and In himself, strove on from
year to year, winning sometimes by mar
row and precarious margins. but winning
always
The one thing which stirred his deep.
est wrath was Interference with his la
borers, The margin was 50 close that In
little things dwelt the outcome OF success
or of failure His tenants must be In
good control. his orders obeyed prompt
ly and accurately. or else that which
might have borne n profit would prove Il
loss, thereby endangering the well be-
ing OF the whole OF the little common
wealth known far and wide among the
negroes as "de ole Middleton place" A
negro is not trained in "a month or a year.
1t takes many years OF tactful, patient
handling-and Middleton did not want
90 begin over again. Therefore when
men came TO entce his tenants away Mid
dleton objected-with a shotgun.
Eut for this year the danger was over,
1t had been a typical year In the early
spring an emigration agent from the
mississippi Bottoms" had put In his
appearance, and had but Just begun 20
charm the negroes with his imaginative
tales OF this land OF promise" when n
committee had waited upon him, and
with an unusual generosity, born OF the
fact that the daily train had already
passed, had given him twelve hours In
which to conclude his business and take
his departure. The agent. being an obllg-
tng man--under some circumstances
had gone. not. however, without some re-
gretful glances backward, and thus the
spring planting had proceeded without In
terruption.
Then the summer had come, and with
II the drought, blasting many fair hope
but afterward the south wind hat
brought the rain and nature, as II II
contrition for her hot displeasure haf
laden the cotton with top crop" o
bolls, and had filled the ears of the bot
tom" corn with full, we'll nourIshe'
grain,
Now, In the mellow light of the au
.uran afternoon, Middleton looked upc'