Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-08-21
p" heLeOD0rd6 Spots


In his tireless devotion to his work. he
had starved his wife's heart. He had no
ticed that she always called him DIR. Dur
ham" now, and that he had gradually fall
1 len into the habit of calling her Mrs.
4, Durham"
This had been fixed in their habits, per-
haps by the change from housekeeping
] to living at the hotel. Since old Aunt
Mary's DEATH Mrs. Durham had given up
her struggle with the modern negro SER
wants closed her house and they had
boarded for several years.
He saw that If he could entangle her
name with his in the ditry gossip of viii
| lage society, he could strike his enemy
mortal blow. He knew that she had
grown more and more jealous of the
4 crowds of silly women that always dog
the heels of a powerful minister with
hattery and open admiration. He determ-
ined to make the experiment.
Mrs. Durham, while nine years his
senior did not look 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 a 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-
| reconciled to 1t. While she was passing
/ through the anarchy of Legrees regime
| which followed the war, her unsatiSfied
| maternal instincts absorbed her in the
work Of relieving the poor and the broken.
4 But when the white race rose in its might
| and shook OFF this nightmare and order
j and measure of prosperity had come. she
| had fallen back into brooding pessimism.
She had reached the hour of 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 this long accepted as fixed and, eternal.
What was good right, truth? And what
made II good, right or true?
| And she beat the wings of her proud
womans heart against the bars that held
/ her, until tired, and bleeding she was ex-
| hausted but unconquered.
/ She was furious with Mcleod for his
open association with negro politicians.
| ''Allan, in my soul, I am ashamed for
you when 1 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"
| We'll, 1 knew you were vain, but that
/ caps the climax"
1 isn't my figure true, whether you say
| I'm dog-fennel or pink?'
! mo, you are not a flower. Will is the
| soul of man. The flower is ruled by
/ laws outside itself A mans will is Great
/ i've. You can make law. You can walk
with your head among the stars, and you
choose to crawl with your head in ditch.
I am out of patience with you"
But only for a purpose. You must
| judge by the end in view
There's no need to stoop so low"
| IT assure you 1t Is absolutely necessary
to my aims in life And they are high
| enough. appreciate your interest in me,
more than 1 dare tell you. You have al
ways been kind to me since was wild
red-headed brute Of a boy. And you have
| always been my supreme inspiration in
/ work. While others have cursed and scott
| ed you smiled at me and your smile has
warmed my heart in it's blacklist nights"
She looked at him with a mother-like
| tenderness.
What ends could be high enough to
justify such methodist
II hate poverty and squalor. It's been
my fate. I've sworn to climb out of 1t,
If have to fight or buy my way through
hell to do 1t. l dream of a palatial home,
of soft white beds, grand banquet halls,
| and music and wine, and the faces of
those l love near to me. BESIDES, the
work I am doing is the best for the state
and the nation"
But how can you walk arm in arm with
a big black negro, as they say you do, to
| get his voter"
Simply because they represent 800 900
votes need. You can't tell their color
when they get in the box. 1 use these
fools as so many worms. My political
| creed is for public consumption only. I
never allow anybody to impose on me-
don't allow even Allan Mcleod to deceive
| me with a paper platform or a lot of ar
1ofo n IND Tfv,aV not OH
She WINGED at that shot, blushed and
looked at him curiously for a moment.
mo. you are not a preacher. l wish
you were a better man."
$50 do l. when 1 am with you" he
answered in low serious voice.
But can't get over the sense of per-
sonal degradation involved in your asso-
citation with negroes as your equal" she
| persisted.
THE trouble is you're an unreconstruct-
ed rebel. Women never really forgive
social wrong"
Il am unreconstructed," she snapped
with pride.
and you thank God daily for it, don't
your"
Yes. I do. Human nature can't be re-
constructed by the fat of fools who tinker
with laws" she cried.
These thousands of black votes are
here They've got to be controlled. I'm
doing the job
you don't try to get rid of them"
| Get rid of them? Ye Gods, that would
be task! The negro is the sentimental
pet of the nation. Put him on a continent
alone, and he will sink like an iron wedge
| to the bottomless pit of barbarism. But
he is the ward of the Republicans only
| orphan, chronic, incapable. That ward
ship is a grip of steel on the throat of
| the south. Back of it is an ocean
| of maudlin sentimental fools. 1 am SIM
ply making the most of the situation. l
didn't make it to order. I'm just doing
the best can with the material in hand"
why don't you come out like a man
! and defy this horde of fools?"
| "Martyrdom has become too cheap. The
preachers have a hundred thousand mis-
sionaries now we are trying to support"
ALLAN, l thought you held below the
rough surface of your nature high ideals,
you don't mean this"
what could one man do against these
nillions?"
Dor she cried her face ablaze. THE
history of the world is made up of the in
| dividuality of a few men. A little Yankee
| woman wrote a crude book. The single
act of that womans will caused the war
killed a million men, desolated and ruined
the south, and changed the history of the
world. The single dauntless personality
| of George Washington three times saved
the colonies from surrender and created
the republic. 1 am surprised to hear a