The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-07-10

now mad, that he enjoyed an a''
feet immunity from condemnation anu.
whatever his deeds, Rouen hao iea' A.
to say, with q chuckle, that 1t was on.
Crailey Gray again." But his ioi.o" NJ.
were not SO privileged. Thus "lien ~
Gray, who in his llbations soiie
developed the hurnor of an ulcn.,., 80
to the Pound at three IN the morning =.
New Years day, hung sleigh-pens 49, 49,
the necks OF the cattle and drove enoin
up and down the streets, htmseil niueous
~ blowing a bass horn from me plcA ~
big brown steer, those rouseu On ~
slumber ceased to rage and accepted the
exploit as a rare joke on learning .'lut
1t was "only Crailey Gray; BUT the un.
fortunate young Chenoweth was heavily
frowned upon and properly uporaloeu
because he had followed IN the "ake
of the bovine procession, mildly attenip'-
Ing to play upon a f1ageoet
Crailey never denied folly nor defeno-
ed an escapade. The latter was always
done for him. because he talked OF MS
"graceless misdoings" $50 he was "oh.'
smillngly, to call them, over cups OF Tea
In the afternoons with old ladies'. lament-
ing In his musical voice, the lack OF fe-
male relatives, to guide him. lie was
cha rmingly attentive to tho elderly wo-
men, not from policy, but because his
manner was uncontrollably chivalrous;
and, ever gallant listener, were the
speaker young, old great or humple, ne
never forgot to catch the last words or
sentence, nd seldom suffered TOT re-
ply, even when he had drowsed through
a question. Moreover, no one ever heard
him speak a sullen word, nor saw
him wear a brow Of depression. The SIM
gle creed to which he was constant was
that of good cheer; he was the very
apostle of gayety, preaching It IN parlor
and bar; and made merry friends with
battered tramps and homeless dogs IN
the streets at night.
Now and then he would spend several
days in the offices Of Gray & Vanrevel,
attorneys, and counselors- t-law, wear
ing an air Of unassailable virtue; though
he did not far overstate the case when
he said Tom does all the work and
gives me all the money not to bother him
when he's getting UP case"
The working member OF the flrm got
up cases to notable effect, and few law
yers in the State enjoyed having Tom
Vanrevel on tho other side. There was
nothing about him Of the foridity preva-
lent at that time; he withered "oratory"
before tho court: he was the foe of jury
pathos; and, desplsine noise and the hab-
itual voce-dip at the end Of a sentence,
was. nevertheless, at times an almost
fearfully effective orator. So, by degrees
the firm of Gray & Vanrevel, young as
1t was, and In spite OF the Idle apprentice,
had grown to be the most prosperous in
tho district.
For this eminence Crailey was never ac-
cused of assuming tho credit Nor did he
ever miss an opportunity OF making
known how much he owed to his partner.
What ho In hria Ut,
How we'll Vanrevel worked as demon
strated every day. but how hard he
worked, only Crailey knew. The latter had
grown to depend upon him for even his
political beliefs. and lightly followed his
partner into abolltionism; though that
was to risk unpopulaI1ty, bitter hatred,
and worse. Fortunately, on certain occa-
sions Vanrevel had made himself If
not his greedy respected, at least so far
that there was no longer danger OF mob
violence for an nboliuonist in Rouen.
He was cool-headed young man ordl-
narily and possesessed Of an elusive force
fulness not to be trifed with, though he
was quiet man, and had what they
called Zine" manner" And. not in the
latter, but in his dress, there was an
echo of the beau. which afforded Mr., Gray
point of attack for sallies of wit: there
was touch of the dandy about Vanrc-
vel; he had large and versatile ward
robe. and his clothes always fit him not
only In line, but in color; even women
saw how nobly they were fashioned.
Ihese two young men were members
OF cheerful band. who Toasted. laughed.
wrangled over politics. danced, made
love, and sang terrible chords on sum-
mer evenings together, as young men
WILL VIII Cummings, editor of the
Rouen Journal. was one Of these: a
tall. sallow man. very thin. very awk-
ward and very gentle. Mr.. Cummings
proved himself always ready with
loud and friendly laugh for tho poorest
Joke in the world. his countenance
shining with such Kindness that no one
ever had the heart to reproach him
with the evils of his journalistic per-
formances, or for the things he broke
when he danced. Another was Tapping
ham Marsh. an exceedingly handsome
person, somewhat languid in appearance,
dainty In manner with women offhand
with men; almost as reckless as Craiey.
and often the latter's companion and
assistant In dissipation Young Francis
Chenoweth never failed to follow both
into whatever they planned; he was short
and pink, and the uphill of his nose was
coherent with the appealing earnestness
which was habitual with him. Eugene
Mudrillon was the sixth of these init
mates; dark man, whose Latin eyes
and color advertised his French ances-
try as plainly as his emotionless mouth
and lack of gesture betrayed the mingling
OF another strain.
All these, and others of the town, were
wont to talk politics. great deal at
the little club on Main Street, and all
were apt to fall foul of Tom Vanrevel
or Crailey Gray before tho end Of any
discussion lror those We're the days
when they twisted the Lions tail In vehe-
ment and bitter earnest; when the eagle
screamed In mixed figures; when few
men knew how to talk, and many Grated;
when party strife was savagely personal;
when intolerance was called the pure
fire of patrlotism"; when criticism of the
existing order of things surely Incurred
fiery anathenaa and black invective: and
brave was he, indeed, who dared to hint
that his couatry. ms whole and poll
tically. did>iack some two or three par
ticular virtues and that the first step
toward obtaining them would be to help
1t to realize their absence.
This latter point OF view was that
of the firm Of Gray s Yanrevel which
was a unit in such matters. Crailey
did most OF the talklng-qute beauti-