Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-18
occa sions he would talk rapidly. but was
never able to confine his dignity mind to

\ the same Suc1esL Iofs tWo Coheesulfs HAh
4 utes.
Indeed Indeed, Mrs Jones' ne would
4 begin, this old ham Is fine, fine. fne: In
/ deed 1t Is Indeed It IS. Won't you give
me your recipe for curing? Mr. Jones
you should have been down at court las
Monday. WAS sdiudged lunatic ha
i1a! ha, ha! ha! adjudged lunatic
| Mrs Jones' could you cut me another
small bit of that turkey? fine bird! fn4
/ bird! Indeed 1t Is! indeed it Is! ah, me
! this is the most God forsaken country I'M
der heaven; takes two whip-poor-w Ills t.
/ make a shadow, and not enough raccooI
/ fat and hominy mush to knock down star
! vation Wish I'd never heard OF 1t. wist
! I'd never heard of 1t! Indeed do: Indeed
! I do, indeed dot
/ He had been repeating the same words
and sentences for years to anybody who
would lend him an ear for one moment
and he never failed to interest and amuse
strangers
..sVhat a prize he would have been for
/ Dickens" they would say. Gifted by ma
/ ture with princely generosity. he would
! accept a basket Of apples from one
reighbor and offer them In the most deli
/ cate manner as gift to another.
/ Having disposed Of every article IN his
possession. even the furniture of his
! house, for the necessities Of life, the poor
/ old fellow became the horror OF the COM
/ munity In which he lived The sight OF
! his gaunt figure approachin in the dis
lance would invariably elicit a groan OF
despair from the otherwise ..ospitable
| Inhabitants. They were moro than tired
of his incessant, monotonous talking. ana
| his oft-repeated phrases.
| When he heard that a daughter Of an
| old friend in the neighborhood was going
| TO be married. he was troubled for such
! announcements were Indefinitely associat-
| ed in his mind with bridal presents. He
| was wont to act on the impulse OF the
moment. It was 10 o'clock at night and
the moon shining brightly when he stole
softly out Of his back door, as If he had
| been thief, In search of a bridal present
He went into his garden, where In the
oldene time all manner of delicious
fruit might be found. but now,
tail, rank weeds stood out nockingly
In the moonlight, with here and there the
| knarled and kotted remains OF a peach
gnarled and knotted remains o. peach
feeling disappointed when q new thought
came to him In the form OF his tenant
garden, whittier he turned his steps. It
presented q very different appearance
from his own, and he did not hesitate
to help himself, while casting furtive
elances in every direction for fear Of
detection. He was very much pleased
when he had secured three heads of cab
bage and hat full of fine peaches The
next morning he was handing them over
the counter Of the small country Etore,
in exchange for two small, cotton towels
and a piece of cheaply perfuncd soap.
Well pleased with what seemed to him
a successful scheme, he was among the
first to arrive at the church on the day
Of the wedding. and selected convenient
seat at the end Of pew. AS the newly
married couple were passing down the
aisle, he half rose in his seat and thrust
his present into the very face Of the
bride. who grasoed 1t in her dsintily
gloved fingers with a look of questioning
surprise, and passed on. a suppressed
litter ran over the assembly, but the
donor of the gift wore look Of Intense
satisfaction, as if congratulating himself
that he had been able to do the handsome
thing. Nor did he even suspect the In
congruity Of the contrast made by ths
course brown. paper parcel against the
soft simmer of the wedding gown.
Somewhere IN the chaos of his distort-
ed brain, an impression had been re-
tanned OF snatches Of great speeches
by distinguished orators. and these
he would repeat in a stentorian
voice and With a far-away look. as If he
imagained himself standing before vast
multitude. and that the ideas were his
very own. Clay, Webster, and Calhoun
were prom.scuously inbedded In his
ueacherous brain without so much as a
comma to separate them
Yes" he would roar, when a suitable
audience presented itself. .'In the month
of nuary in the year of our Lord and
sayier. 1924. while all European Christen-
dom beheid with cold, unfeeling apathy
the uneXampled wrongs and ineXpressib,e
misery of Christian Greece. proposition
was made in the Congress of the United
states whose morning drum beat, follow
Ing the gun, and keeping company with
the hours. circles the EARTH daily with one
continuous and unbroken strain of the
MAJ ial airs OF England on this vague
ABSTRACTION, are you prepared to enforce
law, thout considering whether it be
JUS or unjust. constitutional, or uncon-
stitutiona %
Then he would settle back into his chair
Tor 1oment with look OF self-appro
patton. while the seams and ridges of his
worn fac lighted and broke up in
broad smile, throwing the steady sadness
OF his eyes into deeper shadow Few of his
old comrades who had known the stall
wart hroad-s:1ouldered man of means
clad in black cloth, and immaculate linen.
would recognize the shrunken form in
shabby, coarse, ill-fitting garments bowed
with age and poverty. about TO face the
terrible winter of %
The Rev. Thomas HoIlins was I'm at
an early hour the next morning.
foundering through great walls
or snow on his twe-naiIe Jour
ney across the mountain on foot. He felt,
what TO him was the almost unknown sen.
satlon OF fatigue as he slowly stumbled up
20 the front door of the attorneys home
Ihe utter absence OF life about the place
was oppressive. The barking Of a dog.
the cackie of rooster, or even the new
OF a cat would have been relief One
proken blinc sWayed and creaked on its
olnses: The bleek-lookins, leaden, sky
was sun threatening, and the merciless
VINO shrieked through the bare branches
mat oVerhung the iichen-covered roof 60
had fallen in. and the snow had drifted
qGlte SIX feet against the door
Inc brave minister plunged into tha
grit, and thrustlng his hand downward
lound me door knob, then stood for one
moment srresolUte-a great, broad -shoul-
Gsfed man, SIX feet two in his stockings,
though accustomed by the necessity OF
ms vocation TO look calmly upon death. he
experiences creepy feeling at the
thhouSht or crossing that lonely, cheerless
threshold; the Very uncertainty Of whaf
would be disclosed seeming to unrs1.1a |
him He Knocked nervous!s, and intends
ca 70 knock gently. but if his InucE1es
hEd oeen braSs-bound, and the door nneSs 4
or chiiled steel. it could not have sound 1
cd more harshly in his ears. He wsiIed
dozen heart beats. then with o,,;ciS
wrech Of his iron muscles. brought the
Stepping into the hall. he glanced any.
sorssy anout him. as il expecting to see