The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-11-29

Once upon time there lived In the
town OF Hazel Green, which is the me-
tropolis OF Rowan County. hedgling OF
the name Abner Tuthill.
Abner was what women OF maturity,
! with daughters Ito, spare, call a. perfectly
IRA nd pc! SON. That Ia. he had set ways,
worked !. IKE /; dog for living. saved
his wages. taught Bible class sang
| In the choir, Clipped In whenever the
foreign mission basket was passed around,
and did not use cuss words or tooa Geo
or listen to the men tell naughty stories.
To- reduce It to "a show down, Abner
was an out-and out -he-vtrgtn. Fact Is,
he was just the dear est. darllngtst:
gentlemanistf young gentleman that could
possibly DO imagined.
While Abner was perfectly good and
pure, he was not the least bit narrow
minded or unrea sonable. bNot at all 80.
He simply believed in drawing the line
at the proper place, That was ALL 81
Although he wassshitterly opposed. to
round dances. the hadn't the slightest OBJ
lection to quadrille. And while he. felt
In his heart that It was exceedingly WICK
ed to play cuchre. he was just that No.
eral-minded that he did not disapprove
OF game OF smut II It was not allowed
to last one minute after. 70. ~ played
on Saturday night. Neither dad he OBJ
ject to homemade Bla ckberry Cordial,
but, Of course. he knew that twas
great sin to even taste bought liquor, so.
he never did. He knew that'it was wrong
to rattle things off In stores or saloons
but he was broad enough to take a
chance on piece OF Fancy York II the
entire proceeds went to the church.
Abner was head clerk In the genera!
store run by Philpott, Hargis q snod-
body that the other clerk really had
nothing to do but sweep out the store,
trim the lamps, wipe mold off Of the
shoes and keep the dust Oft the counter
except during the Saturday rush, wien,
Of course. 1t was simply out OF the
question for Abner to walt on every one
even tho they did want him to.
Abner was very valuable man to his
Arm. a whole lot OF folks said II wouldn't
surprise them at all to see Philpott, Har-
gs & Snodgrass so '.thc walsif he ever
took the notion into his head to{qult them
But they argued that he wouldn't DO that,
for he had been with them ever Stree
Wise Gimanot shot Colonel Jet Cock
rill and they always gave him a tom.
dollar gold place for Christmas and let
him haYe whatever he wanted out OF
the stock at actual cost Furthermore,
when he was taken down with slow fever
and did not round-to for a whole month,
his salary went On just the same as II
he had earned every cent Of It, which was
mighty kind OF Phllpott Hargis & SDod.
grass, insomuch as they paid him cork
Ing big sum-sixty dollars month.
AS might naturally be supposed. Abner
in time fell In love, Beatrice souders
was her name. Beatlice was a most
adora BILE girl OF religious turn Of mind
and an excellent family. M
Her mother viii DO recalled as Leonlle
Gambril, a one,time belle OF the county.
and granada ughtar OF Major Llge Gam
brill who ran for Governor on the Pro-
bihIfior anH daft fra1
On her fathers side Beatrice was TO-
lated to the Souderses who owned the
CypressvieW II plantation In Henderson
County until the bank foreclosed the
mortgage, So 1t can readily be seen
that her connections were OF the very
best.
Abner was perfectly devoted to Be-
atrce. and showed 1t IN the incest kind
Of ways, Ed saved every blessed tobacco
tag and cigarette coupon that same 10
the store for her, gave her all the empty
glass-top handkerchief boxes, called upon
walking IN the cemetery on sunday AFTER
moons.
For birthday present he gave her
manicure set which he had to send all
the way to Bridgeport. Connecticut, for,
and which cauld not have cost o coz less
than six dollars, for each piece had a
real cellulo'd handle.
TO Aoner's way OF thinking there was
but one Girl In all the world who was
perfectly beautiful and really worth hav-
Ing. That girls name was Beatrice OF
course, he was wiling to admit that there
we're other nice young ladies'. but sone-
how there was a something or other
about Beatrice which made her ever 50
nwfully lovable. He didn't know himself
exactly what 1t was, but It was. aud that
was all he needed to know,
Well, to get to ttre point, Abner saved