Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-10-23
By Mrs. CLARA DARGAN MAcLEAN

A.AsAInsA sAnaA.NAA "a AAAAAkAA kAAAl
do try to do what he wants an mebbe
he'll pay you money an"
She glanced wistfully at the big, awe
inspiring figure waiting near.
Yes, yes" Strengthening himself with
the pitiful vanity of a besotted Great
ura, "Jeems Ross, esquire, kin do any
thing that any gentleman kin do"
Well" the engineer said with decis-
ion, II don't want you in the capacity
of a gentleman. 1 wish you to show
me round the headwaters of this river.
Come brace up, and tell me if you
can start in the morning at o'clock
sharp I've got no time to fool away"
The fresh air had cleared some of
the whisky fumes from his brain, and
Jim Ross caught eagerly at the offer.
Thriftlessness, aimlessness and idleness
were the demons dragging him down
with many companions, to an earthly
hell of despair lighted only by the lurid
glare of alcohol Each soul in some
hour of clear judgment saw the end,
but no. friendly hand was stretched out
to rescue. Barren fields, blighted or
chards, burnt homes-to these they had
returned after four years Of fighting,
and with one voice they seemed to say,
"An these things are against us. We
will lie down and die"
Jim Ross had been a good son, a
good soldier, and a good citizen, but he
and house holder. circumstances he
said, were too powerful agin him."
The weak will succumb in the day
of adversely, and little Tita, named in
an outburst of romanticism left ovsr
from a few seasons at an old-feid
school, knew but the pale shadow Of
the strong, brave, honest mountaineer
who had marched off when the bugles
blew in 81.
Some memory Of that pristine period
stirred the torpid energies now. He
Strengthened himself till he looked like
tall pine of his own breezy land, and
slapped his shrunken chest, I'm your
man, sir!" he exclaimed. Five o'clock
it is Wherell meet you?"
Weir gave the details Of the eScur-
sion precisely, and then turning o go,
added. II advise you to take your
daughter home at once. This is no
place for her"
The frown on his brow softened as
he took the child-face in his two warm
hands.
See that your father does not for
get his appointment" he said kindly
as one friend speaks to another, and
went out into the darkness, leaving a
strange sense of happiness in the heart
that had never known its meaning.
Ross did not linger at the store. He
announced his engagement with the
gentleman" in a pompous voice to the
admiring. but not envious group, re-
ceived the congratulations of the pro-
prietor who saw in this arrangement a
probable settlement of old scores AMI
a brisker trade subsequently; and hav-
ing found his tattered hat, started off,
holding Titas hand in truly fatheriy
clasp. The night was very dark and
the old man was very drunk. He stag
gered and stumbled along in a dazed
way over the first few hundred yards
or so of the broken road, and then stop
ped short.
I'm all tired out" he said. Il must
set down and rest"
"Oh, pappy," the child cried in
fright, do don't! II you set down.
you can't get up again. You know you
was a soldier once. Come on! I'll
hold you up. Lean on me-"
She lifted the shaking hand and laid
it upon her shoulder. Thus supported
he managed to get on till they reach
ed the foot of the hill, not however,
without protesting from time to time
against the unnecessary exertion.
Il can't go no furder," he groaned.
I'm bound to lay down and rest"
In vain the plaintive voice pleaded
and urged. She tried to push him for
length he sank down in heap and de-
liberately went to sleep.
The night wind howled and shrieked
across hilltop and yawning canyon, but
he needed it not The long limbs were
lax: the features seen in the ghastly
moonlight fiickering through the flying
scud were pallid and damp with death
dew
The shrill, frantic calls Of the child
re- ECHOED over the bleak heights. but
no answering cry replied. In her hun
ger haunted sleep the wife of the dying
man was conscious of nothing but
want and cold There was neither past
nor future for her And so the tragedy
of a human life drew to its close.
Badly acted as the part had been. Jim
Ross had at last reached its conclu-
sion, and has to die as he had lived,
a superb hero to one appalled, and
shuddering spectator.