The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-03-09

credit, many OF them true. He nad an
| instinct for finding their weak spots and
holding them up to ridicule. He bought
| every book of militant nfidelity he could
find and memorized the bitterest of it.
He took special pride in scoffing at re-
| ligion before the young converts of Dur
| hams church.
| He was endowed with a personal mag
| netism that fascinated the young as the
hiss of a snake holds bird. Nothing could
| be sweeter to him than to destroy the i'm
pressions of religion made by Durham.
| His serious work was politics and SEN
sualism. In politics he was at his best.
Here he was cunning, plausible, careful,
| brilliant and daring. He never lost his
head in defeat or victory. He never for
got a friend, or forgave an enemy. OF
! his foe he asked no quarter and gave
! none.
| A boy of fifteen asked him one day when
he was mellow with liquor,
| Mcleod, which would you rather be,
President of the United States or a big
| millionaire?'
| Boys" he replied, smaeking his lips,
and running, his tongue around his cheeks
inside and softly caressing them with one
band, while he half closed his eyes, "they
| say old Simon Legree is worth two mill
| lions of dollars, and that his actual in
come is twenty Per cent on that. They
say he stole most of it, and that every
| dollar represents broken life, and every
| cent of it could be painted red with the
blood of his victims. Even so, would
rather be in Legree's shoes and have
those thousands a year than to be AL
mighty God with hosts of angels singing
psalms to me through all eternity
| And the shallow-pated satellites cheer
ed this blasphemy with open-eyed wonder.
He had the intellectual forehead of his
| Scotch father-large, handsomely model
led features, nostrils that dilated and
contracted widely, and the thick sensuous
| lips of his mother. His eyebrows were
straight, thick, and suggested undoubted
| force of intellect His hair was deep
red, thick and coarse. but his moustache
was finer and it was his special pride to
point its delicately curved tips.
His vanity was being stimulated just
now by two opposite forces. He was in
love, as deeply as such nature could
| love, with Sallie Worth. Her continued
rejection of his suit had wounded his
vanity, but had reused all the pugnacity
of his nature to strengthen this apparent
| weakness.
| He had discovered recently that he
exercised a potent influence over Mrs.
Durham. The moment he was repulsed
/ his vanity turned for renewed strength
! toward her. He saw instantly the i'm
mense power even the slightest indiscre-
ton on her part would give him over the
| preachers life. He knew that while he
was not a demonstrative man, he loved
| his wife with intense devotion. He knew
| too, that there was the preachers weak
est spot. In his tireless devotion to his
work, he had starved his wife's heart. He
| had noticed that she always called him
'Dr. Durham" now, and that he had grad
ually fallen into the habit of calling her
| Mrs. Durham
| He saw that if he could entangle her
name with his in the dirty gossip of viii
| lage society, he could strike his enemy a
mortal blow. He knew that she had grown
| more and more jealous of the crowds of
silly women that always dog the heels
| OF a powerful minister with hattery and
open admiration. He determined to make
the experiment.
Mrs Durham, while nine years his Sc
| nior. did not look a day over thirty. Her
/ face was as smooth and soft and round
as a girls, her figure as straight and full,
and her every movement instinct with
stored vital powers that had never been
| drawn upon.
| She was in dangerous period of her
mental development. She had been Bit
| terly disappointed in life. Her loss of
| slaves and the ancestral prestige of great
wealth had sent the steel shaft of pois-
oned dagger into her soul She was un-
l
/, through the anarchy of Legree's regime
which followed the war her unsatisfied
maternal instincts absorbed her in the
i work of relieving the poor and the bro
ken. But when the white race rose in
| its might and shook off this nightmare
| and order and a measure of prosperity
had come she had fallen back to her
brooding pessimism.
| She had reached the hour cf that soul
crisis when she felt life would almost
| in a moment slip from her grasp and
| she asked herself the question Have |
| lived?" And she could not answer.
| She found herself asking the reasons
! for things long accepted as fixed and eter-
nal What was good. right, truth And
what made it good right or true?
| And she beat the wings of her proud
| woman's heart against the bars tnat neid
her until tired and bleeding she was
| exhausted but unconquered.
| She was furious with Mcleod now for
his open association with negro politi-
| clans.
| ALLAN, in my coul, I am ashamed for
you when I see you thus degrade your
manhood
Nonsense, Mrs. Durham" he replied.
| 1.-The most beautiful flower grows in dirt,
| but the flower is not dirt"
| There's no need to stoop so low"
81 assure you it is absolutely neces-
sary to my aims in life. And they are
high enough. | appreciate your interest
| in me, more than | dare to tell you You
| have always been kind to me since l was
| wild red headed brute of boy. And
you have always been my supreme inspi-
| ration in work. While others have cursed
and scoffed you smiled at me and your
smile has warmed my heart in its black
est nights
She looked at him with a mother like
tenderness.
What ends could be high enough to
Justify such methods
al hate poyerty and SQualor. It's been