The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1907-05-23

Of it. The aged men were having q
busy morning.
The conclave was not what 1t had
been. (See Arp and all his works.)
There had come as the years went by
q few recruits, but faces were missing,
The two Tabors had gone, and Uncle
Joe Davey. could no longer lay claim
to the patriarchship. He had laid 1t
down, with half sigh, and gone his
way. Eskew himself was now the
oldest of the conscript fathers, the
colonel and Squire Buckalew pressing
him closely, with Peter Bradbury no
great time behind.
Today they did not plant their feet
upon the brass rail inside the hotel
windows, but courted the genial wealth
er outdoors and, as their summer Gus
tom was, tilted back their chairs in the
shade Of the western wall Of the build
ing.
"And who could Of dreamed" Mr..
Bradbury was saying, with side
glance Of expectancy at Eskew, 'that
Jonas Tabor would ever turn out to
! have q niece like that"'
Mr.. Arp ceased to fan himself with
his wide straw hat and said grimly:
II don't see as Jonas has turned
out'-not In particular! II he's turned
at all lately l reckon it's in his grave,
and I'll bet he has II he had any way
Of hearin' how much she must Of spent
! for clothes!"
II believe" Squire Buckalew began,
that young folks memories are short"
They're luckyr' interjected Eskew.
THE shorter your memory the less
neanness you know"
II meant young folks don't remem.
ber as we'll as older people do.' con-
tinued the squire. 81 don't see what's
so remarkable In her comm back and
walkin' up street with Joe LoLden.
! She used to 60 kitin' round with him
all the time before she left here. And
yet everybody talks as II they never
heard Of sech thing"
1T seems to me-" said Colonel Fit.
croft hesitatingly. that she did right
/ know 1t sounds kind Of a queer thing
10 say, and l stirred up good deal Of
opposition at home yesterday evening
by sort Of mentioning something OF
the kind. Nobody seemed to agree
with me except Norbert. and be didn't
say much, but
He was interrupted by an uncontrol-
liable cackle which issued from the
mouth Of Mr.. Arp. The colonel turned
upon him, with frown. inquiring the
cause Of his mirth.
"It put me In mind" Mr.. Arp began
promptly, "of something that happen
ed last night" -.
what was lt?'
Eskew's mouth was open to tell. but
he remembered just in time that the
grandfather Of Norbert was not the
audience properly to be selected for
this recital, choked a half born word.
coughed loudly, realizing that he must
withhold the story Of the Telling OF
Martin Pike until the colonel had tax
en- his departure, and replied:
"Nothin' to speak Of. Go on with
your argument"
"I've finished" said the colonel. Il
only wanted to say that it seems to
me a good action for young lady like
that to come back here and stick to
| her old friend and playmate"
"Stick to himw echoed Mr.. ARP.
"She walked up Main street with him
yesterday. Do you call that stickin'
to him? She's been away a good
while; she's forgotten what Canaan ts.
You wait till she sees for herself Jest
what his standing In this COM
II agree with Eskew for once" In.
terrupted Peter Bradbury. II agree
because
Then you better wait" cried Es-
kew, allowing him to proceed no fur
ther, IT'LL you hear what you're agree
in to! I say you take a young lady
like that-pretty and rich and all cul-
tured up, and it stands to reason that
she WON'T
mo; it DON'T exclaimed BuckaieW
impatiently. Nothing Of tfe sort! l
tell you
Eskew rose to his feet and pounded
the pavement with his stick. 1T
stands to reason that she won't stick
TO a man no otlter decent woman Will
speak to, feler that's been the mark
for every stone throwed in the town
ever since he was boy. an outcast