The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-02

Away long time ago there lived a man
whom you all may know. His coming you
did not know though, neither did l. He
lust seemed to drop down into New
Castle and there he remained, as perfect
" contented to all outside appearance as
ever man gets in this life. People would
saw "let him go"-"He does nobody
harm"-"Poor old vagabond," and the
like. Old Justin, as he was Familiarity
called, jostled against these personal al
Iusions wherever he shambled from the
time we first knew him until the good
hour when we buried him.
The old man was a rag peddler.
He collected rags and straw and stray
bits Of paper falling from wagons and
from cars and from piles of rubbish
swept from the shop doors early of morn
ings He carefully stuffed these down into
his great bag and when he filled 1t he
baled them into one big bundle and dis
posed of them to the paper mills. People
said that they were afraid that the old
fellow eked out slender living at this
sort Of livelihood, but nobody was ever
ton more fitting for him.
Rags and Justin merged into one The
thought of rags carried with 1t the form
of Justin, and the name Of Justin, meant,
to even the smallest of us, rags, pure and
simple Many is the time the old man
refused charity Of the good ladies, and
waved the good men aside with the curt
-
not intend to become one. This caused some
to think that the Old fellow was boarding
his earnings, but the paper mills said
that the amounts paid the man would
not permit Canary to live extravagantly.
And so it went He lived in a squalid
cottage down a narrow lane shut in by
trees and shaded by a hustling whiz-
zing, numbering wagon factory. Nobody
ever remembers to have explored this
cottage. Whether they had no inclination
10 do so or whether they were not in
vited, nobody seemed to know. And the
truth is, nobody seemed to care.
Few people knew that old Justin was
a married fellow citizen, and blessed, or
no, as you choose. with a house full of
grown up youngsters. Justin never re-
ferred to his family, andhow this informal
ton slipped out nobody ever knew. Mrs.
Justin, with whom nobody seems to have
been acquainted, it is said, resided in
another part of the world with the house.
hold The report to be in keeping with
the rest of the story was, that Mrs.
Justin was endowed with plenty of brain,
but a violent temper. And what peace
of mind she had in being absent from
her easy-going better half, was continu-
ally upset by the singular fact that every
one of the children inherited the DISPOSE
ton of the father. Processing ones had
long ago settled the question of the old
mans breeding They said that it was
good I always thought that this was
the contribution of those charitably in
cIned persons whose aims the old man
had persistently declined. The fact that
he was good stock so conflicted with the
conditions surrounding his every day life,
and what some contended was the truth,
was so contrary to what we met in his
daily walk, that a sort of mystery sur
rounded the Old rag peddler's existence in
the world, and so the reports, never veri-
fed, grew to be old among even young
people and all illusions to his past be-
came a matter about which only new
corners gossiped, and strangers inquired.
Justin was the character of New Castle.
And some worthy ones walked about in
hope that old Justin would change his
way of living and be a better man and
earn more. They contended that while he
was not cut out for il, if he took a notion
70 mend shoes, and go about it as indus
triously as he did at picking up rags, he
would make an independent fortune be-
fore he died.
Old Justin, like the sun, was constant,
ever ready, always willing and waiting,
to gather rags. rags, rags He was con-
RI dn thing alGa aXCant TO
read the writings of David Garrity
Every man has his hobby. No matter
how poor he is. or how unlearned he Is.
He has his hobby. Some have noble hob
oies, some bad ones. Justin'S was not
bad one. It was a simple one. A harm
less one. To read the writings of Clarity
was certainly not a sin. Now Garrity as
you know was a sensational novelists,
who turned the social world topsy turvey,
up side down, wrong side out He was
one of those who laughed at the hypoc-
r1sy Of the multitude of the people VINO
went about processing to do a world OF
good. Clarity handled the weaknesses of
poor human beings with rudeness and
directness unequaled in his day. People
said that he was genius.
Gar1ty hailed from the County Kerry.
His books emanated from the press OF
Cork. Justin read him and defended him,
itueeu dpouL the meat pest '"iHe -
gathering rags was reading book oy
Clarity
The polite world abused the novelist
today and praised him tomorrow. 1t was
IN New Castle just as it was everywhere.
Inc drawing rooms and clubs held brill
hent assemblages when these new books
We're to be discussed. But nobody, let
tnem come from where they might, en-
!oyed these books more than old Justin.
IL was his prayer book and all alone in
MS queer little home he read and read
ana re-read them. And among shopkeep-
srs who ever and anon detained the old
Fellow to hear him discuss the great
winter with a dignity and understanding.
justin became a figure of interest and