Judsonia weekly advance., 1904-12-14
ARide in the Swamp s@.@@@@..@@@@..@@:
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 BY 8. RHET ROMAN.

SR sE os8e,..8.ss..e THE result is what counts, and l the fnality striven for by every one is contentment, if not happiness. A sacrifice of personal ambition, in pursuit of some imperious call, which gives us eventually the content we crave for, is, therefore, the height oT human wisdom.
 This was my conclusion, reached while riding slowly along the planta- tion road which runs through the center of the canefelds, while 1 was abstractedly watching the gangs of la borers at work.
 When Jack died leaving Susan and her baby girl practically penniless, it was plain to me that 1 must give up my law practice and take hold of poor old Jacks tangled affairs, and, bring ing order out of chaos, get back his jeopardized sugar place into prosper ous condition for those two.
 Belleview is a glorious country home, for behind the stately old colo nial house stretch 5000 acres of fine cane and pasture lands, cut off by a rim of thick forest and swamp, where splendid timber has been growing for centuries.
 With reckless improyidence Jack had )heavily mortgaged the old place agaihst my advice.
 So, as in our school and college dayAs Jack and I had been more like brothers than cousins, I felt 1 must come ard and save his widow and ahiAdy 's.-' '.s,,sstsc.-s sss--s.z'S-.---~< {.
 gre w5sztssssA4y A4yyss9 yss95iination about Jack
 CTS which I for one could never
 Id gay light-heartedness, and for all ie was impulsively headstrong, yet l ould not remember anyone failing to fall under his influence, be quite ready : to condone his follies and declare his mistakes and blunders unkind cuts of fate.
 Poor old Jack! Vera is very much like him, but if possible even hand somer
 Jack was certainly the handsomest man I ever saw.
 It is now 15 years since 1 closed up my law office, packed away my books, and refused to run for the attorney generalship, although I knew l was practically elected.
 But there was something else, knew. It was that unless I devoted my entire attention and time and en- ergy to the task of redeeming Belle view, Jacks noble property would go under@ihe auctioneer's hammer
 Results have Nproved I was right. Each grinding season has netted a handsome amount, I have long since cleared off the mortgage, and one year will see 1000 acres planted in cane, besides diversified crops.
 The sawmill l put up as a venture, in the heart of the swamp, is bringing in big returns. and when Vera will reach her majority in few months time she may lay claim to being wealthy young woman in her own right. Then I will turn over my stew ardship, and go back to my law books, grown musty from disuse-like their weather-beaten and taciturn master.
 It means an arduous life to super wise, es l have done, an embarrassed estate, redeem it and make it's broad fields justify and answer to the call made upon them, and to bring wealth out of ruin. But it has it's rewards.
 One grows to love the rich, black lands, the glorious growth of the long stretch of cane, the straight run of the blow through the furrows, the smell of the upturned earth, the sight of cattle in the pasture, and the song of the laborers going home when their days work is done.
 And when the last slanting rays of the sun have left the fields to dim shades of purple, green and gray, while gliding the crest of the forest, and the katydids and nestling birds give their last sweet calls, the hour is pro pitious for self-communing.
 1 drop the rein on my sorrel's neck and let him crop a tuft of grass along the edge of the ditch, as we go slowly along, and 1 count up the cost of my ambition sacrificed to Vera's happi- ness and find the debt is in my favor.
 Poor Jacks baby girl crept into my heart that first night when I took her in my arms and sobbingly she went to sleep, her tangled nut-brown curls close to my cheek, while I explained to her mother that would provide and care for Jacks widow and child with tireless devotion.
 Vera, in those early years, was my constant companion. She would wait