The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-01-29

Gu Ghu uts Wlle nau turned the cattle
out OF the first shed they had come
to in order to rest for the night.
and IN that shed they had now lived
Tor twenty-seyen years.
From years end to years end
they never saw white face except
one of the few planters in the val
ley, an official like myself, who
crossed the border for a holiday. or
a stray globe trotter. Here among
a people distinct in color and alien
in speech and thought the cultivat-
ed man and the delicately nurtured
worlan had lived out their life
alone.
In this fertile valley the earth
produced all that was necessary to
sustain life. The natives gave them
of their kind, and, like the natives,
they lived mostly upon grain, rice
and other vegetable products. Oc-
casionally a planter would send
them barrel of apples or case of
whisky. Spencer would accept such
presents as lie might have received
under happier circumstances. but
he never took money. The pride of
gentleman still burned in him,
though it had no respect for dak
bungalow curtains.
Spencer had lined the mud walls
OF the cowshed with planks and
made few rough tables and chairs.
Everything was scrupulously clean,
but the hut was almost as bare and
comfortless as it had been in its
original condition as barn. He
kept diary in which he would note
the date on which the cuckoo was
first heard in the valley, how one
season the pear trees all burst into
bloom for the second time, an un-
usual phenomenon, or how in an
other year the water channels on
the hillsides all dried up because
there was so little snow to melt,
drought ensucd and there was
scarcity in the land These were
now his life's interests.
Mrs. Spencer when I knew her
was little fat woman with round
cheeks which were now getting
weather beaten, but she had brave
gray eyes. It was only necessary
to see the two together to know
that through al the years Of trial
that had passed over them perfect
comradeshipr remained between them.
After all Spencer had his compen-
satiQn. Whatever troubles he may
have endured, he had the one great
blessing which SO many men lack
his life had not been left incom-
plete OF manned by an unsympa-
thetic helpmate.
Once I found myself looking at
my wife with alien eyes and won
dering if were thus outcast by So
ciety, and I deserved it, whether
she would cleave to me through
good report and through evil re-
port as this old woman stood by
her husband.
11y wife caught my eye and said:
"What is it, dear? What treason
are you thinking against me now ?"
l. CO1u llcIs
s@Traitorp she whispered as she
nestled her hand into mine, and
then she sighed: "Poor old things!
I wish we could do something to
brighten their lives for them. Next
Sunday is Michaelmas day. Let's
ask them both here to dinner. It's
not much, and even such as it is it
may only help to show them the
darkness of their ordinary lives to
remind them of things that it would
be better to forget"
The eventful day arrived and
brought with it Spencer in his sash
Of the tgrand old scarlet" while his
wife had complete gown of the
same material. The excitement and
the wine brought flush to the old
woman's cheeks which showed in
their red lines beneath the skin
like cracks in very old china.
The dinner was over, and the
pair insisted on giving us a song in
return for our hospitality. They
stood up hand in hand, and the
song that they sang was "Auld
Lang Syne."
I looked at my wife, and her eyes
were full of unshed tears.-Golden
Penny.