The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-11-08

of hay. However, it is none the less
infuriating for that.
Mark you, though, / would be guilty
of no wrong to Eaton, nor establish
him on too low level in your esteem.
He was in the Senate from Tennessee
at the time, and of solid repute among
his fellows. He was a brave, dull,
gOod-humored sort, who thought bet
ter, perhaps, of a bottle than or
book-not to excess, you are to no
tice-and as a statesman, if he put
out no fires, he kindled none; though
he did no good, at worst, he did
no harm; and that, let me tell
you, is record somewhat bet
ter than the average. 1 have been at
tackled and charged with distaste OF
Eaton. There are two words to go
| with that, and no one-and challenge
those who knew us both-can put his
| finger on any i'll of word or deed or
| thought | ever aimed against him.
| Truly, l hunted not his company with
horn and horse and hound; but what
then? 1 take it, I'm as free TO PICK
and choose for my intimates as any
other And still declare what was in
my thoughts in those hours / tell of,
that Eaton, sluggish and something of
| a clod-head, and with a blurred, gray
| tone of fancy, was unworthy such
woman, whose love for him, be 1t SAID
| was when l met her as boundleSs at the
/ QlHlCulIy OIL lot It's Ca
| istence. I say again, and the last time,
1 hold no dislike for Eaton, and more
than once have done him good favors
| i'll days gone. That I shall grant him
no extensive mention in these pages
means no more than that he was but
| supernumerary in the drama where
of the General and Peg carried the
| great parts. Eaton came on and on;
| but his lines were few and brief and
| burned with no interest. There is lit
| tie reason for prodigious clamor over
Eaton, and little there will be. But
\ am not to be accused of unfairness to
the man for that he dwelt with an
angel and was too thick to find it out.
| Peg at last recalled herself from the
| dead Undertake. She brushed away
her tears.
These are all of them you are to
see," laughed Peg, stuotly, referring to
her tears. Il promise to shed no more.
However, you may quiet alarm
woman's tears are no such mighty mat
ter" l showed perturbation, l sup
| pose, and she would diSSipate it.
Peg told me of her wedding with
| Eaton. She dwelt a deal on her love
for him; but since one consents to it
as a sentiment, even though its cause
defy ones search, there comes no call
to extend the details in this place.
1t stood open to my eyes, however,
| loved than Eaton. And when l looked
upon the ardent girl and considered,
withal, the dull stolidity of the other,
there would rise up pictures from my
| rowing past to be as allegories of Pegs
| love. I would recall how once I saw
| a vine, blossom flecked and beautiful,
| flinging its green tenderness across
hard insensate wall; and that was like
| Pegs love- Or it would come before
| me how had known a mountain, ster-
| lie, scanned unlovely, where it heaved
| itself against the heaven, a repellant
| harsh shoulder of stone. The June day,
| fresh and new and beautiful, would
| blush in the east, and her first kiss
was for that cold gray, rude, old rock.
That day at noon in her warm ripe
| ness would rest upon it, Her latest
| glance, as our day died in the west,
| was for it; and when the valley and
| all about were dark, her last rays
| crowned it. And the vivid day, with
| her love for that unregardlful noun
| tain, the rich day wasting herself on
the desert peak that would neither re-
| spond nor understand, was as the mar
vel of Pegs love.
1t is all the mystery that never ends;
| woman in her love-reasons is not to be
fathomed nor made plain. The cry of
| her soul is of love rather than to be
loved; her happiness lives in what she
| gives, not what she gets. This turns
| for the good fortunes of men; also, it
| offers the frequent spectacle of a wom-
an squandering herself-for squander-
| ing it is-on one so unworthy that only
the sorrow of it may serve to smother
| the laughter that else might be evok-
ed. However, l am not one to discuss
| these things, being no analyst, but only
| a creature of bluff wits, too clumsy for
| theories as subtle, not to say as brit
| tie, as spun glass. Wherefore, let US
put aside Pegs love and break off
| pressing. The more, since l may other
| wise give some value to jest of the
| GeneraPs-made on that same day
who would have it 1 was at first sight
half in love with Peg myself. This
was the Generals conception of hui
! NOR and owned no other currency-I,
being twice Pegs age, and in the mid
die forties, and not a trifle battered of
| feature by my years in the field. I
was old enough to be Pegs father
| but when it comes to that, Eaton was
| quite as old.
1t was time to seek the General, 1
| said. Peg and had arrived at frank
acquaintance, and we went together
to the Generals room in good opinion
| of ourselves, she the better by a new
| staunch friend, and I prosperous with
thoughts for her of coming elevation
| consistent with her graces of mind and
| person, and which should atone as
much as might be for what she had
| suffered heretofore. We decided that
| Peg should wear a gay look, and har-
row the General with no tears.
AS we went along I was given to
quite novel enthusiasm, 1 recollect;
| and it was the more strange since,
while no pessmist, l never had found
celebration as one whose hope was
won't to wander with the stars. I
| could see the white days ahead for
| Peg and albiet / fear their glory shone
| not to her apprehension as it did to
mine, and while they came slowly as
| days shod with lead, dawn they did,
as he shall witness who goes with this
| story to the end.
My servant Jim was sent with a
message to the General to give him
the word of Pegs coming. During our
talk in the parlor, Jim, be it said, was
never far to call. Obviously. linn
| proposed for me no dangers of bright
eyes so far as remained with him to
be my shield. He lodged in and out
of the room, now with this pretext and
now with that, and when 1 babe him
repair to the General to say that Peg
and 1 would visit him, the gray old
| rogue was fair irresolute, and hung
in the wind as though he had but to
| turn his back on US and bring down
every evil. 1 drove him forth at last,
and when Peg and / would tap on the
| Generals door our black courier was
| just coming away.
While the General was greeting Peg
rather effusively for him, so thought
Jim, OBTAINING me at the door, took