Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-08-10
The CARPETBAGGER
Ry OpIE READ AND FRANK PLXLEY
CHAPTER XIV.
c,,v,gb,ed by Laird Lee PubshersAn Rights Reserved
By Permission of the Publishers

CHAPTER XIV.
The Governor Meets The bad Man"
Many a wise man has given him.
self over to the study Of his own con-
science, surprising himself with its
many phrases and unexpected COM
plexions. And he who Bullets the
world and has in turn been buffeted
by II, finds himself gazing into a ka-
leidoscope when he turns his eye in
ward; the colors may not be bright
but the shapes are many. 1t Is hard
for the honest man to find that ne
himself is disinterestedly honest. AT
one moment he may believe that he
is so, but the fragments that go to
make UP his conscience tumble apart,
readjust themselves and 10, there Is
complete change. Honesty has It's
degrees, its morning, noon and night
phases; but there is one quality In
man that undergoes no change, a
quality superior to conscience or hon
esty,-honor.
This train of thought was running
through the Governors mind as he
strolled slowly along a street in the
residential part of the town. He
argued that honor might stray on
like a deer, to feed upon rich pas
lures in a strange land, and still like
the deer, it might come back again
to nibble the short grass Of its native
hillside. He heard the talking OF
children; and halted to look at two
little girls, playing in the corner of
fence. On the fence sat a boy, COM
passionately. and yet with a contemp-
tuous sense of his superiority, look
ing down upon them. There were a
number Of dolls on diminutive chairs,
little things made bright with ribbons
and lace; and a short distance on, In
a sort of pen made Of bricks and
stone, there was a hideous monster OF
a rag doll, with great charcoal eyes
and a mouth of frightful width. 1t
was a "man-doll," with a bull neck,
an unsightly paunch and knock
knees. On his head he wore horns,
made of the long thorns from locust
tree. The Governor spoke kindly
and the girls looked up smilingly at
him.
You have a very pretty house and
are very neat housekeepers," he said.
1T would be nice, but everything
Is upside down, now," said the larger
of the girls. I'VE have so much trou-
ble"
with our young friend up here? ?"
said the Governor, nodding at the
boy.
"Oh, no, with the old Bad Man. !"
she replied.
THE Bad MANI"
Yes, there he is" and she pointed
to the doll in the pen.
Then the younger child spoke. Hes
all the time coming in and tryin' to
take the little ones away. See the
hair coming out of Lilies head"'
she added, pointing to a doll that was
losing it's yellow WOOL well, he did
that when we wasn't lookin.' He's
the meanest thing"
why don't you have him killed?'
the Governor asked, and the boy
snorted.
He can't be killed." replied the
larger girl. HE has been shot oh, so
many times; but it don't make no diff
ference to him. He don't mind 1t at
all Heb eats bullets and powder and
smacks his mouth and wants more
"Ho," said the boy. II could rip
him all to pieces in a minute"
This was a brutal piece of icono-
clasm, and the larger girl resented
it. Now what do you want to talk
that way for, Billie. You are al! the
time tryin' to break up everything. 1
wish you'd go home"
You call the old fellow over there
the Bad Man," said the Governor.
Hasn't he any other name?"
"Oh, yes" replied the child. His
other name is Governor Crance.'
The Carpetbagger winched. He not
only saw the adherence in which he
was held in the present, but saw HIM
self in the future, pictured as beast.
These children, in the years to come,
would tell their grandchildren of the
monster who once made his den in
the state house. The strong man may
defy the opinion held today, for he
can confront a charge and frown upon
it, but he may nevertheless be afraid
of the opinion forming, mist-like,
away off yonder in the unnamed days
to come. There he cannot defend
himself, and his helpless descendants
must bear the odium of his misdcHts.
The Governor, with his arms resting
on the fence, and with an occasional
look at the Bad Man" in the pen, the
thing now having a sort of fascina-
ton for him, unused over the little
girls. knowing them to be ignorant
that the namesake Of their rag-ruf-
fan was so near.
But is this Governor Crance such
a very bad man." he asked.
awful" said the larger girl. They
nave TO WatCn Illill all tiiS liiiiS' AhS
goes out when the nights are dark
and steals sheep, and he drags them
into his den and sucks their blood
out and then throws 'em away. And
one night when an old man sat count
ing his money, a hand came in at the
window and grabbed the money and
the old man grabbed the hand, for II
was all the money he had and he
didn't know where to get any more
but the hand wouldn't let go, and
neither would the old man, so he was
dragged away out in the woods. And
the next morning they found him in
a sink hole, with one Of his hands cut
off. and that day a man saw Govern
or Crance go to the window of the
awful place where he stays and throw
a hand out in the yard"
Yes" the younger girl spoke up,
"and when he blows his breath at a
COW she can't give any more milk;
and my uncle he had COW and Gov
ernOr Crance blowed his breath al
her. and she couldn't give drop of