The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-12-24
THE COLONIES CHRISTMAS.
Bv JAMES HENRY RICE. JR., in Columbia State.

berer light and that nothing added a
supremer joy 10 Sauterne and port
than the gathering gloom Of evenude.
when as the last glass WAS drained the
first stars would be visible In the east
Then ID was tina conversation became
inspired and philosophy fit like q gar
ment Drinking was never INDUCED
TO excess at the table. His
rule was rigid and never relaxed Inc
guest might violate it. but II he did
he sat for the last time at the COLO
nefs board. He despised a drunkard
as much as he did q teetotaler and his
contempt for both was part Of his ma
ture.
The colonel was. in short. such a
plant as now and then grew out or
Southern civilization. He wa5 not a
type but rather a blend. for he pos
sessed the fire OF the South Carolinian
and the balance OF the Virginian, to
gether with the reflective turn OF the
high class Englishman.
With the late Lord Salisbury, the
luke of Argyll, Aubrey de We're, and
the present Lord Rosebrry he would
have been perfectly congenial. He
loved Hampton, but had been bored
by Mr.. Calhoun and amused by Caro-
linians Of the fire-eatings type
amused at them but not amused at
the tragic consequence of their ill-ad-
yised actions.
lie NdG fallen w the lNO Il
ders-the waning chivalry of the
South, among whom he had passed
the best Of his days.&and the new or
der of pushing and aggressive bust
ness men who are making the South
anew.
Somehow the colonel was stirred
himself-hc always was at this sea-
son, and if John could have known
how much love he was losing that he
would never again find in this sordld
world ne would have thrown down
cares of state and come home. 80 the
colonel arose and went to the family,
where decanters centuries old glisten-
ed in the freight and made himself
a teddy. He needed it now, for his
hand was strangely weak, as old Nose
had noticed out of the corner of his
eye while he was bringing in the WOOD.
His wife busted herself with the du-
ties never absent from a WeIl-regulat-
ed household, making another inspec-
ton non other things of the great
turkey lying in state for the morroW's
dinner.
They had all grown old together
and the world lost a great picture be-
cause some painter failed to stroll IN
and catch the Gene.
The colonel had hardly finished stir
ring his glass and the coloneIs wife
had just closed the pantry door on the
turkey, when the piazza outside trem-
bled to a mans tread, along with
which came the quick pit-a-pat of a
boys feet. The door was flung open
and there stood in the doorway two
figures in the evening light-the one,
q strong man, deep Of chest and broad
of girth, Il picture of Southern NAN
hood: the other as a laughing boy.
The pause was only for the second,
for the boy cried aloud: Don't you
nov me. grandpa" and he was in
the c~oIonels arms before he could get
out another syllable. The colonel had
arms enough for both and it was
sweet to his soul, ahi God, how
sweet, to feel that giant grasp sup
porting his form and the small arms
that chung to him with a lingering ca
ress. Johns mother flew with winged
feet to her boy an dlittle John was
hers oo-he own lost boy come back
with his youth IN him untarnished by
the years. SO fragrant it was. this
lOng-loSt memory, that she was. thank
ing God even while embracing her
own.
To the colonel young John was a
study, a dream of delight growing
into shapes new and strange as he
watched him. Old Dinah and Nose
had beer brought in by the stir and
they cried over them both, Dinah hug
ging her chile" as she had always
called hec young master, and only
stopping to gaze in speech1ess delight
at the heir, the man-chile of her mas
ter.
Young NAUSEA? heself now" she
was thinking in her heart, as she pat
ted little Johns head.
There was great dOings in the house
that night, and little John was a tired
man, worn to a frazle with all he
saw and all he had eaten and drunk
since his arrival. When he was safe
~ put to bed there was a stocking
hung by the old chimney-side that had
not known such treatment for 40
years and Santa Claus did not forget
to fill it
OLD Ponto stretched by the fire, Sc
renely content; the cat dozed unmo-
Tested on the rug, and the colonel and
John were going over some of the
boarded experience that the long
years had garnered.
Next morning when it was vet night
little John was abroad, exploring, re-
joicing, having the time of MS life,
where everything had a flavor he had
never known. Old Nose took him to
see h 'possums; Dinah brought out