The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-11-10

cheerful, SO improvident ut they, The
despair of the thrifty, and the prey oe
the interruptions, they require the con.
slant guardianship of an honest, prac.
teal man.
The rider Is the modern overseer He
goes with advice; the overseer enforced
his decision with the whip: tho rider
tlogs the stomach rather than the back.
He cuts down the raions when ten
ant refuses TO work as he directs. No
one excelled Bud Seagle in the part cf
getting the most work out of his peo-
pie, and the most profit out Of plan
tarion. Who could plan and order aud
drive better than he: Why his was
the cleanest cotton in the country. Yet
the negroes loved him and trusted him
to man. He never wronged or
cheated them. He was SO honest, "he
leaned jess backward on it, as his
brother once said. with wry smile.
Last year he rode for Bud Seagle; this
year he had pledged himself to ride
for the negroes themselves, and teach
them how to buy and pay for their own
homes!
How the world had whirled In It's or
bit! It's the same pipe, but differ
ent smoke. that's ail,n he explained to
himself. as he filled his corn-cob for
the SECOND time in his new reverie.
Then his fancy fed from farms to
Florence. In vague, masculine wsy
he felt that the plummet OF his com.
prehension had not yet sounded her
depths. He also knew that there
would be bitter war between his old
friends and himself as soon as they
found out that he was rider for tho
school. He knew them we'll They
would jeer at his face, and cut under
him behind his back. The store
keeper would try to debaueh the ne.
groes, advance to them, charge them,
mortgage them, and run them OFF the
| place IL he could. The only limit to his
virulence would be his incapacity for
running the work Bud had undertake
en- to perform. For the first time IN
his life 1t occurred to the rider that he
had better carry gun. For, foremost
among his enemies and prosecutors
was the father of the girl he loved
went, and negroes trembled With
the exception Of himself, every white
was either Col Fingers rider or de-
pendent. The Colonel was the post
master. the storekeeper, the owner II
| the only cotton-gin. and ten thousand
acres of land, and his word was writ
| ten law within a radius OF tveAty
miles. He had feudal power OF Hfo
/ and death that few In this country en-
easily understand. Would Florenes,
! in the final smoke of victory or defeat,
follow her father and the instincts OF
her race, or follow her lover along the
/ new highway? In all ages women
have been inscrutable to the men they
! love.
The spring burned into summer. The
/ roads were caked. The swamp was
dry. Nature was fulfilling her carrier
promises with rank prodigality. Il
was the season of blind thunder
/ storms, when the cotton had received
its second hoeing. 1t was glittering,
vibrant June. The wild plums and
tblackberr!es, commonly known as
/ "nigger's bread" were ripe, and the
black man could only be driven to ths
field by the sternest measures.
And the school was nearly a month
Eclosed, although Paul Mason was put
ttering around. alone, happy In the con-
seriousness that at last he was gu.
ipremely important. But as precau-
tionary measure Laura had insisted on
putting the school property as well az
1.-THE land in Bud Seagle's charge when
she left on her collecting tour In the
North. So Bud was the administrator
as well as the rider. He was the
hardest driven white man in the coun-
tty, for he worked on honor.
| Exhausted, "frazzled,' worried. lone
lily. and almost discouraged, the rider
YEARLY climbed his horse to go down