The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-06-23

DtN0s "a.
and has a banjo hung on his back,
jostling throngs, sits down on the
curbfng of the east front OF thu market
house, sings his banjo around to the
front, and begins to play. 1t is an in
telligent face, but white I pinched
with suffering. He has a gid touch"
and thrums his instrument in perfect
time: but, though now and again he
has a listener for a moment, there are
no pennies or nickels.
Just then one Of the young men, who
had been interviewing the ...long over
coat in the alley, strides acros the
square, with a little more red in his
face, a little more sparkle in his eye,
a little more vim in his swing. He
stops in front of the boy for a moment,
throws him a dime, and turns away.
Then, as if struck with a sudden idea,
be wheels about, steps close to the mu-
stefan, and whistles a tune. A smile
lights up the little fellows wan face,
he mods his head, and reels off the
tune without hesitation, while the
young country giant sings this silly
doggereI, but in a tenor voice as soft
as velvet and as sweet as sugar-cane:
Il went to the river, and / couldn't get
across;
| paid five dollars for an old blind
horse.
O Calline, 0 Calline,
You can't dance a Decline
Old Aunt Jemima poor Old SOUL"
One of his companions steps to his
side, and joins in with u rich. rolling
bass:
"Oh, that corn, that yellow, yellow
corn: .
Then l found u red ear, and kissed her,
sure's you're born!
O Calline, Calline," etc.
The crowd thickens and a%pplauds:
Chief of Police Flowers looks on in
diligently, but shakes his club threat
eningly at d news-bOy, who picks up a
brick as a well-groomed setter trots by,
with a silver collar ON it's neck; nick
els and dimes rain into the cripple's
cap, until his devil-may-care benefac-
tors stroll off to a pool and billiard
room on the next street.
Night hasn't come yet, but warming
shadows creep up the walls toward the
housetops, and the electric lights flash
up, n after another, in the interior
of the store around the square. Even
in their architecture they sustain the
interest of this quaint centre of the
city, for the stores follow the plaza
exactly, and every jamb of the four
sides has it's tenement. Many years
ago the late Alexander Johnson, .Jr.,
afterwards a prominent citizen of Will
mington, kept a dry goods store in the
northwest jamb. There was another
Alex. Johnson, who was a large man,
and as the first was a small man, he
was known as Little Sandy in the
Jamb"-nOt disrespectfully, but affec-
tiOnately, for he vas one Of the best
and most esteemed Of men.
The young fellows, who threw that
dash of color and that chord of melo-
dy over the crowd, have mounted their
horses, and gone galloping over Clar-
endon bridge; the cripple has slung his
banjo, and tied a package Of beefsteak
to the handle of his crutch. and is off
for his hovel of q home, munching a
stick of peanut candy; now the cleo
trio arcs glitter and twinkle down the
-four streets radiating from Market
Square like a setting of jewels about
an Opaque stone: the stars look down
indulgently on this ~presumptuOus riv-
airy, and Gods kindly hand casts a
mantle of rest and peace over the
earth. j. H. NJ.
Fayetteville, June 13.