The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-11-19

! Of sacrifice could wiring from her en-
! treaty or complaint in the hearing Of
: her sons. That was for other ears and
, for the silent hours Of the night. And
/ next morning, when she came down to
meet us, her face was wan and weary,
! but it wore the peace Of victory and
glory rot Of earth. Her greeting was
| full Of dignity, sweet and gentle, but
when she came to Gracme she fingered
over him and kissed him twice, and
that was all that any Of US ever saw
Of that sore fight.
| at the end OF the week took leave
Of them and last of all OF the mother.
She hesitated just moment, then
suddenly put her hands upon my Shout
ders and kissed me, saying softly:
you are his friend. You will some
| times come to me?'
GLADLY, if may,".I fastened to an
swer, for the sweet, brave face was
too much to bear, and till she left US
for that world Of which she was q
part kept my word, to my own great
and lasting good.
When Graeme met ME in the city at
the end Of the summer, he brought me
her love and then burst forth:
"Connor, do you know, l have just
discovered M mother. have never
known her till this summer"
More fool you," l answered, for Of
ten had l. who had never known
mother. envied him his.
Yes; that is true" hes answered
shortly, but you cannot see until you
have eyes"
Before he set out again for the west
I gave him a supper, asking the men
who had been with US in the old var
sity days. I was doubtful as to the
wisdom Of this and was persuaded
only by Graeme's eager assent to my
proposal.
Certainly; let's have them," he said.
81 shall be awfully glad to see them
Great stuff they were"
But don't know, Graeme. You see
well, hang it-you know-you're diff
ferent, you know
| He looked at me curlOuSly.
81 hope can still stand good sup
per, and if the boys can't stand me,
why, l can't help it. III do anything
but roar, and don't you begin to work
off your menagerte act Now, you hear
mew
"Well, it is rather hard lines that
when l have been talking up my lion
for year and then finally seeureshim
he will not roar"
"Serves you right" he replied quite
heartlessly. But III tell you what
III do-Tll feed! Don't you worry"
be added soothingly. 'The supper will
co."
And go it did. The supper was Of the
best, the wines first class. had asked
Graeme about the wines.
,"Do as you hike, old man," was his
answer. Its your supper. But" he
added, "are tie men all straight"
ran them over in my mind.
Yes, think So"
'If not, don't you help them down,
and anyway you can't be too careful.
But don't mind me. Lam quit Of the
whole business from tins out"
So I ventured wines, for the last
time, as it happened.
We were quaint combinations
Beetles" whose nickname was pro-
phetic Of his future fame as q bugman.
| as the fellows irreverently said; Stun
py" Smith. demon bowler; Polly"
Lindsay, slow as ever and as sure as
when be held the halfback line with
Graeme and used to make my heart
stand still at his cool deliberation. But
he was never known to tumble or funk,
and somehow he always got US out safe
enough. Then there were Rattray-
"Rat" for short-who, from a swell,
had developed into cynic with q
snecr, awfully clever and a good
enough fellow at heart; little wig
Martin. the sharpest quarter ever seen,
and Barney Lundy, center scrimmage,
whose terrific roar and rush had often
struck terror to the enemy's heart and
who was Graeme's slave. Such was
the party.
AS the supper went on my fears be-
can to vanish, for If Graeme did not
roar he did the next best thing-ate and
talked Quite up to his old form. Now
i we played our matches over again, bit
terly larnenting the Ifs" that had lost
US the championships and wildly ap-
proving the tackles that had saved and
the runs that had made the varsity
crowd 90 mad with delight and had
won for us, and as their names came
up in talk we learned how life had
gone with those who had been our
comrades Of ten years ago. Some sue
cess had lifted to high places, some
| failure had left upon the rocks, and a
few lay in their graves.
But as the evening wore on began
to wish that had left out the wines,
for the men began to drop an occasion
al oath, though I had let them know
during the summer that Graeme was
not the man be had been. But Graeme
smoked and talked and needed not TILL
Rattray swore by that name most sa-
| croO OF iii ever UOI1IS Wy AoAA. @~1>N
Graeme opened upon him In COOL
slow way:
"What an awful fool a man is to
damn things as you do, Rat! Things
are not damned. 1t is men who are,
and that is too bad to be talked much
about. But when man tings out Of
his foul mouth the name Of Jesus
Christ'-here he lowered his voice
cts shame; it's more-it's a crime"
There was dead silence. Then Rat
tray replied:
81 suppose you're right enough. 1t is
bad form. But crime is rather strong,
I think"
Not If you consider who it is" said
Graeme, with emphasis.
ooh, come noww broke in Beetles.
"Religion is all right It is q good
thing and, believe, necessary thing
for the race But no one takes serious