Evening star., 1902-08-02

fight with a gun eve'y time he got mad
BY gum heOw would a man fight cepen
with a gun an when he was riled?'
Brad showed back his shapeless slouch
hat and scratched his fiaxen head uneasily.
He felt that the community had wrong
appreciation of DR.. Hills, but for the life
OF him he could not tell why.
Il gotten it intew my craw tibet he has
grit. Them Yanks is different from u.s.
Lem. ben told theyan go tew law when
they have 'ruption stead o fghtin' like
we'uns-"
'.Shucks, I low folks shoot everywhere
when they git mad. lessen they be feared.
He air courtin' the co!onels gyurl, amt
he?'
Nav. him an Col. Dascomb done had a
fallin' out 'beout politics. NJ ria Jane war
in the kitchen an heerd it all. When they
had talked back an forth right smart
heap the colonel rose and SAYS mighty
quiet No man that holds views like youall
does can marry my daughter DR.. Hills .
Amt thet plumb like the colonel meow?
And what did the Yank say?'
He stood up pow'ful straight an SAID
IF / have to change my opinions to win
your consent I'll never get 1t, Col Das-
comb; but 1 give you fair warning that 1
shall marry her without il can.
We'll. I'm burned! But 1 reckon MISS
Julie will stand by her paw. The Das-
combs air mighty proud
Il reckon. An he amt a man tew change
his mind Turned of Emmet Wallace. his
own sisters son. fer jinin' the republicans
them Cyarpet baggers tew get the post or
fee. He always were slippery cuss' durn
his ornerv hide But Colonel Dascomb air
a man tew tie to. Dew You remember,
Rad heoy he led us in that charge deown
the streets of Helena with two bullets IN
him. by gum.
The Dascomb house sits well back from
the road, surrounded by large walnut trees
which moderate the heat of the Arkansas
summer sun. A large covered veranda
around the house, cut in two by the regula-
ton wide open gallery from 'front.' 10 rear.
The honeysuckle and English ivy vines ran
riot over the piazza. and at one corner
CIump Of rose bushes blOomed.
Robert Hills eyes swept the gallery
and the front windows. and were gladdened
by the glimpse Of a slim, graceful shape
and the swish of a white skirt. His hand
some face lighted for a few moments as he
rode gaily down the road, cutting at the
muscadine bushes and the pawpaws with
hts riding switch and humming an Old-time
slave song he had heard the negroes sing at
their work in the cotton fields:
'If you treat me right I 'druther work than
play,
But II you doan't treat me right Use
bound I run away"
He came across Uncle Ben Dascomb
"toling a shote" with an ear OF corn. Hill
lis flung him a careless greeting and the
old negro flashed back a broad smile that
revealed tOOthless gums. Nearly all the ne
groes liked DIR. Hills, partly because he
was a nOrtherner and partly because he
never bull!ed them. Uncle Ben followed
the political faith of his master. Colonel
Dascomb. and voted the democratic ticket
with faithful regularity, but even he con-
fessed that If all republicans" were like
Doctor Hills there might be something to
be said for them.
Since the Dascomb place had been for
bidden territory to young Hills he had
seen very little Of Julia Dascomb; much
less than ne would have liked to see. Mere
ly to think of his trouble with the colonel
made him fume with vexation at his own
indiscretIon. To him the whole quarrel ap-
peared ridiculously inadequate and insig-
nificant; certainly no sufficient reason why
he and Julia should not meet as usual
What had mans political opinions to dc
with his fitness as a good husband? The
colonel seemed to think that the war was
etin q living issue and he appeared to re-
Gard being a republican as species OF i'm
morality.
Hills forgot that the federal army had
swept over Dascomb's place. burned his
house and his cotton, and freed his slaves
He had gone to the war a RICH man and he
had come back poor; but Dascomb coulC
have forgiven that. What he could moi
forget was that the carpet -bagsers re
mained to despoil the south and to fill the
negroes with pernicious notions of equal
tty. Colonel Dascomb was a democrat q:
naturally as he was a Presbyterian; bott
had come to him by inheritance.
Hills told himself that the worst Of I!
was that he had allowed Dascomb to identI-
fy him with the spoilsmen who were lootins
the public treasury in the name of the re.
publican party, whereas he was in reality