The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-09-14

Minnie, sir; Minnie Clegg. Please,
sir, I've finished my work. Mrs.
Gramper sent ME out to get a breath
of fresh air."
Mr.. B~romsgrove clasped his hands
behind him.
Fresh air." he said, "is one Of our
most precious h%eritages. Why not
pop on a bonnet and shawl and run
over to see your mother?"
I'm afraid 1 couldn't find her, sir.
Mothers dead, six months" Minnie
sighed, "and fathers working at
Mainwaring. He's in the gardens
there"
Mr.. Bromsgrove frowned.
I'm my Sunday schools" said he,
'the first thing I teach the young
women is to refrain from answering
back
William, the keeper, here burst into
a sudden rude laugh, and choked
with the effort to smother it. I don't
think Mr.. Bromsgrove heard him
murmur that they'd learn a deal OF
Scripture at that rate" I hope he
didn't.
do not handy words with me-" he
said. Run back to the house and
ask Mrs. Gramper to send you upon
an errand into the town. Some woods
to match for her excellent knitting, or
an order for buns at the confection-
er's, but not-not this idle wandering
in the byways and hedges"
Minnie, poor child, had given a
frightened look at her sweetheart and
fed.
At first Mr.. Bromsgrove had found
a helpful friend in this bailif, who
had his own good for regard
ing the natives with a deeply disap-
proving eye. But they did not, I am.
sorry to say, agree for long. You see,
when it was a matter of their back
wardness in paying their rents, MI.
Bromsgrove remembered suddenly his
Christian charity and interviewed
mildly on behalf Of his sheep as a
shepherd should. To Go him JUS
tice-
Poor SOULS" said he, "give them
time, Mr.. Grimes. Let us not turn
these lambs roofess to the cruel
world. Let us rather succor them in
their hour of need"
"Rot!" said Mr.. Grimes briefly, for
he knew the habits of the lambs in
question only too we'll. Wages are
good enough. Too good, 1 call 'em.
Why, I ask you-why should they
blue half of 'em in in beer?"
"Blue 'em?" asked the vicar. I'm
beer? Blue 'em, Mr.. Grimes?"
Spend fifty per cent. in malt
liquor" MI. Grimes explained lucid
ly, "if you'd rather put it that way.
And there's that fool Pransom, at the
Mallows Farm. Makes me grind my
teeth to think Of him. He's running
his land. Never puts a bit Of any
thing on it from one years end to
another. Farming to leave all the
time, he is. Criminal, I call it. I'm
going to put up his rent now, and
make him leave"
ooh. my dear Mr.. Grimes!" the
vicar murmured in shocked tones.
"a most Christian family! Mrs.
Pransom Is the most helpful Of all
the farmers wives with the schools
and the mothers meetings. Let me
beg Of you to deal gently with your
weaker brethren-'
Here Mr.. Grimes, who was q decent
fellow enough, left him in some
haste, and asked Of the sympathetic
hedges as he rode along was he
bailiff of the estate, OF was Broms-
grove. And the vicar with a sigh
went home, knowing we'll how diff
cult the path of the good man is al
ways made for him.
One more name for hts black list.
So Grimes was grinding down these
Wretched creatures and turning them
out from their happy homes like
shorn lambs into the cold and cruel
world, as his idle prejudices and
heated fancies prompted. The Earl
should know the way his tenants
were being treated.
But T~ormentilla, who was also
possessed with a passion for good
works, knew first.
1t was q glorious afternoon a week
later that the vicar took his soft hat
and his ebony stick with the silver
top, and set out for G walk. A glimpse
Of poor Minnie hanging about Cherry
Lane cheered him up. Minnie's soil
tude at this hour vas only n OF the
fruits Of his zeal.
When he met Groves later on at
the turning into the Malinder road.
he stopped and waved his stick in a
friendly salute. Mr.. Groves lifted
his hat. .
81 am gratified to note" said the
vicar, that you have altered the
the beat, if I may call it so, OF our
young friend William. That IS very
we'll done, Mr.. Groves"