The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-10-05

huOWeu Nudt uS was <lOoo| SAii soeN"
he's sorry. Shucks. he never hurt me,
Mr.. Hillyer. Besides, I'd let that chap
maui me in the face as much as he
likes after the friend he's been to JEFF.
Eff he's done my boy one favor be has
a hundred. Ny wife feels jest like 1
do about George, an eff she was to hear
I'd got i'm in trouble over little thing
ike that last night she'd quit me-
so thar won't be no charge agin
i'm, then?" said Hillyer in relief.
Not a Bit" said the mountaineer, un-
consciously stroking the jaw George
Buckley had bruised the night before.
The marshal come to me jest now an
axe5 me eff I wanted to make q case.
an told i'm he was crazy, that me N
George was jest playin', an some O.
them dern niggers lowed we was fus-
sim
I'm glad you feel that way, Truitt, .
said Hillyer, and he went into the Of
fee, sat down at his desk and began
to read his mail.
Two citizens Of Darley made the
warehouse their business headquarters,
using the desks without pay. Henry
Hanks, tall, lank, married man about
ffty-fve years Of age, had a desk IN
one corner Of the Office. He Wore a
long brown beard, was dyspeptic, yel-
low skinned and nervous. He was a
~.ufo5 or,+o ,-o+a,on rvho boG after tha
war, developed surprising capacity
for making money out Of the unfortu-
nate section he had bravely fought Tor.
he was a we'll to do note shaver, and
sold farmers their yearly supplies at
an enormous profit. Anything from
cooking stove to yoke Of oxen was
considered good security when once de-
scribed in the Iron clad' mortgage
note Of which he was the inventor. He
never wore vest, and the pockets Of
his thin coat were always buiging with
notes and accounts which be carried on
his person to have them ready at mo-
ment's notice when he ran across a de-
Enquent The other citizen was Jim
Kenner, a jovial cotton buyer, bach
elor about forty-fve years Of age, VINO
was the very life Of the little circle.
When he had business to transact he
could be as long faced and serious as
any one else; but even then his humor
was apt to bubble up and burst at the
very moment no one was expecting it
His chief amusement was in teasing
Hanks, whom he sarcastically called
"Old LiberaEty," or Lib for short.
he spoke with whine that always
ended in rasping laugh that was very
infectious. Hanks had never been
known to smile, and yet close observ-
er would have seen that, in his own
way, he seemed to enjoy all his asso-
ciates lev1ty. It was chilly day and
there was good fire in the long wood
stove, and the two men bent over 1t.
George Buckley sat on his high stool
at his desk at work on his big ledger.
'.Say, George whined Kenner, as he
threw a cigar stump under the stove
and leaned back in his chair. did you
ever hear that tale Bill Cover is a-tsll-
in on Lib, about his burn out when he
used to be in the junk business"
George smiled indulgently and said,
without looking round, that he had
not.
Lib made his start in the junk busl-
ness down at the fur end o the street.
said Kenner. jest after the surrender
thar was a lots O scrap iron an the
like lynn around. an he made money
buyin' it up an shippin' it to iron
foundries. Then he added wheat an
peas an corn as a side line, ar one
fall when he had purity big stock of
everything his shack tuck fire. y wind
was a-blowin' an things looked shaky.
A line O. bucket passers was formed to
the highest well, an we was dom pur-
ty fair work when Lib come lopln
down the street, maxim noise like
hoss full o. water. When be seed what
we was doin' he got awful ratified an
yelled: for US to tote out the stuff. /
wasn't, nigh i'm, but Bill Cover says
when some O. the crowd laid hold O
the wheat sacks Lib yelled at 'enn, LET
the wheat alone, it's insured; toteeout
the scrap iron.''
George laughed at this recital, but
Hanks simply swung his foot backsano
forth and chewed the end: Of hissun-
lighted cigar. To all appearancesshe
had not heard word Of what had
been said.
I'VE put the shanty' out" said, Ken
ner, 'but Lib didn't tsheip q bit. He
was hoppin' about like chicken with
its head off dom it's :last dance. We
rally saved his life l believe shed
"a dropped dead in his tracks efshe'd
"a lost by that blaze:that night
''Ef thar's anybody that loves a
nickel more'n you do" grunted the
note shaver, I'D like to see i'm. I
never heard O anybody,sittin' anything
out'n you"
Kenner laughed. When I fust
started out III admit.I was purtytclose.
Lib. You.know my.daddy 'sold .little
farm O. MS when was twenty one an
set me up in the retail grocery bust
ness. He.talked tome so. much. about
the deadbeats lyin'sin wait fer suckers
that I suspicioneds even the preacher
whar I attended meetn'. He got be-
hind in his account. once, aan' l. hauled
'im,up an told 'im'the- reason .I'wasn't
attendin' church morearegslar was be-
case he wasn't totin' fair, an that l
couldn't"-kenner laughed impuaslve-
ly-"git. any spcrituak good :listemn' TO
a man,an' .wonderin' ef 1:dAeVer sitssmy