Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-11-21
She hesitated, laughed, and refused.

| She hesitated, laughed, and refused.
Tomorrow at four o'clock I'll cal
for you," he said firmly. "If there's nc
wind, we can drift with the tide"
Il will not have time to CO."
Promptly at four" he repeated as
he left.
Ben spent hours that night weighing
the question of how far he should dare
to speak his love. 1t had been such an
easy thing before. Now 1t seemed q
question of life and death. Twice the
magic words had been on his lips, and
each time something in her manner
chilled him into silence.
Was she cold and Incapable Of love?
No; this manner of the north was on
the surface. He knew that deep down
within her nature lay banked and
smouldering fires Of passion for the
one man whose breath could stir 1t into
flame. He felt this all the keener now
that the spell Of her companionship
and the sweet intimacy of her daily
ministry to him had been broken. The
memory of little movements Of her
petite figure, the glance of her warm
amber eyes, and the touch Of her hand
all had their tongues Of revelation to
his eager spirit.
You see l decided to go after all, T"
she said.
Yes, 1 knew you would" he answer
ed.
She was dressed in a simple suit of
navy-blue cloth cut V-shaped at the
throat, showing the graceful lines OF
her exquisite neck as 1t melted into the
plump shoulders. She had scorned
hoop skirts.
He admired her for this, and yet 1t
made him uneasy. A woman who
could defy an edict of fashion was a
new thing under the sun, and 1t scared
him.
They were seated In the little sail
boat now drifting out with the tide.
It was a perfect day in October, one Of
those matchless day Of Indian summer
In the Virginia climate when an in
finite peace and vast brooding silence
fill the earth and sky until one feels
that words are a sacrilege.
Neither Of them spoke for minutes,
and his heart grew bold In the stiffness.
No girl could be still who was un-
moved. O..
She was seated just in front of him
on the left, with her hand idly ripping
the surface of the silvery waters. gaz-
ing at the wooded cliff on the river
banks clothed now In their gorgeous
robes Of yellow, purple, scarlet, and
gold.
The soft strains of distant music
came from a band in the fort, and her
hand in the ripping water seemed Its
accompaniment.
Ben was conscious only Of her pres
ence. Every sight and sound Of nature
seemed to be blended in her presence.
Never In all his life had he seen any
thing so delicately beautiful as the
ripe rose color Of her cheeks, and all
the tints of autumn's glory seemed to
melt into the gold Of her hair.
And those eyes he felt that God had
never set in such face before-rich
candid, courageous and truthful.
Are you dead again" she asked,
demurely.
well, as the Irishman said In an
swer to his mates question when he
fell off the house, not dead-but
spacheless.'
He was quick to see the opening her
question with its memories had made
and took advantage Of 1t.
Look here, Miss Elsie, you're too
honest, independent, and candid to play
hide-and- seek with me. want to ask
you a plain question. You've been try
have done?"
Nothing. It has simply come to
me that our lives are far apart. The
gulf between us is real and very deep.
Your father was but yesterday slave
holder" ...r..-
Ben grinned:
Yes, your slave-trading grandfather
sold them to us the day before"
Elsie blushed and bristled for fight.
You won't mind If l give you a
few lessons in history, will you?" Ben
asked, softly.
mot in the least. didn't know
that southerners studied history" she
answered, with a toss Of her head.
I'VE made a specially of the history
of slavery, at least. / had dear old
teacher at home who fairly blazed with
light on this subject. He is one Of
the best-read men in America. He
happens to be in Jail just now. But /
haven't forgotten-I know 1t by heart
"I am wal ing for light" she in
terrupted, cynically.
1.-The south is no more to blame for
negro slavery than the north. Our
saves were stolen from Africa by
Yankee shippers. When a SLAYER ar
rived at Boston, your pious Puritan
clergyman offered public prayer Of
thanks that "A gracious and overruling
Providence had been pleased to bring
to this land Of freedom another cargo
IT benighted heather to enjoy the
blessings of a gospel dispensation-'"
She looked at him with angry in
credulity and he cried:
Twenty three times the legislature
Of Virginia passed acts against the i'm
portation of slaves, which the king We
toed on petition of the Massachusetts,
slave traders. Jefferson made these
acts of the king one Of the grievances
Of the Declaration Of independence,
but a Massachusetts member succeed
ed in striking 1t out. The southern
men in the convention which framed
the constitution put into 1t a clause
aboishing the slave trade, but the
Massachusetts men succeeded in add
ing a clause extending the trade twen-
ty years"
He smiled and paused.
go on" she said. with impatience.
In colonial days a negro woman
was publicly burned to death in Bos-
ton. The first Abolition paper was
published in Tennessee by Embree.
BENJAMIN Lundy, his successor. could
not find a single Abolitionist in Boston.
In 1928 over half the people Of Ten
nessee favored Abolition. At this time
there were one hundred and forty Abol-
ition Societies in America-one hum
dred and three in the south, and not
one in Massachusetts. 1t was not until
1886 that Massachusetts led in Aboli-
tion-not until all her slaves had been
sold to US at a profit and the slave
trade had been destroyed"
She looked at Ben with anger for a
moment and met his tantalising look of
good humor
Can you stand any more?"
Certainly, l enjoy It,"
I'm just breaking down the bar
riers-so to speak," he said, with the
laughter still lurking in his eyes, as he
looked steadily ahead.
by all means. go on" she said, So
berly. 81 thought at first you were try
ing to tease me. see that you are In
earnest"