Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1910-09-30
CHAPTER v.

In Hargls' store, would rein In MS morse
at the Gordon gate and ask for a drink
of water from the Gordon well. At
such times Thomas Jefferson remarked
that his mother always fastened TO
serve the Major with her own hands;
this Notwithstanding her own and I'm
Gle Silas' oft-repeated asseveration
touching the Majors ~unenviable pre-
eminence as a Man Of Sin. Also, he re-
marked that the Majors manner at
such moments was a thing to dazzle
the eye, like the reflection of the sum-
mer sun on the surface Of FURNISHED
metal. But beneath the polished ex-
terror, the cropping perceptions OF the
boy would touch a thing repellart; a
thing to stir a slow current of resent
ment in his blood.
1t was Thomas Jefferson's first col
lision with the law of caste; a law
Draconian in the Old South. Before
the war, when Deer Trace Manor had
been a seigniory with its six score
black thralls, there had been no visit
Ing between the great house on the
inner knoll and the overgrown log
homestead at the iron furnace. Quar-
rel there was none, nor any shadow OF
enmity; but the Dabneys were lords of
the soil, and the Gordons were crafts
men.
Even in war the distinction was
maintained. The Dabneys, father and
son, were officers, having their COM
missions at the enrolment; while Ca
leb Gordon, whose name headed the list
of the Paradise volunteers, began and
ended a private in the ranks.
In the years Of heart-hardenings
which followed, a breach was opened,
narrow at first, and never very deep,
but wide enough to serve. Caleb Cor
don had accepted defeat openly and
honestly, and for this the unrecon-
structed Major had never fully forgiv-
en- him. 1t was an added proof that
there was no redeeming drop in the
Gordon veins-and Major Caspar was
as scrupulously polite to Caleb Cor
don't wife as he would have been, and
was, to the helpmate of like Bryerson,
mountaineer and distiller of Illicit
whisky.
Thomas Jefferson was vaguely indig-
nant when Pettigrass came to ask his
father to go forthwith to the manor
house. In the mouth Of the foreman
he Invitation took on something of the
flavor of a command. None the less, he
was eager for news when his father
came back, and though he got 1t only
from overhearing the answer to his
mothers question, 1t was satisfylngly
thrilling.
Its mighty near as we talked. Mar
tha. The Major Jumps the railroad IN
with all the other improvements, calls
'em Yankees, and h'ists his battle flag.
The engineer, that mart young fellow
with the peaked whiskers n the eye
glasses, went to see him this evenin'
about the right of way dow the val
ley, and got himself slung off the porch
Of the great house into a posy bed"
There is going to be trouble, Caleb;
now you mark my words. You mustn't
mix up in it" =.
81 don't allow to, If I can hep It
The railroads goin' to be a mighty
good thing for us If I can get Mr.
Downing to put in a side-track for thu
furnace"
Following this there were other con-
q. ferences, the Major unbending suffi'
GENTLY to come and sit on the Gordon
porch in the cool of the evening. Tit
~iron-master, as one still in touch witt
the moving world. gave good advice
Failing to buy, the railroad compan!
might possibly seek to bully a right o
way through the valley. But In tina
case, there would certainly be redres
in the courts for the property owners
In the meantime, nothing would b
gained by making the contest a per
sonal fight on individuals.
So counseled Caleb Gordon, sure, al
ways, of his own standing ground i
any conflict. But from the last of tn
conferences the Major had ridden HON
through the fields; and Thomas Jeffer
son, with an alert eye for windstraw
of conduct, had seen him dismoun
now and then to pull up and fling ava
the locating stakes driven by the rail
road engineers. o.
Giving the Major a second and
third chance to refuse to grant a
easement, the railroad company push
ed its grading and track-laying aroun
the mountain and up to the stone wa
marking the Dabney boundary, quietl
accumulated the necessary materia
and on a summer Sunday morning
Sunday by preference because no re
straining writ could be served for 6
least twenty-four hours-a construC
ton train, black with laborers, whiske
around the nose of the mountain an
dropped gently down the grade to tt
temporary end Of track.
1t was Thomas Jefferson who gay
the alarm. Little Zoar, unable to SUI
port a settled pastor, was closed II
the summer, but Martha Gordon kel
the fire spiritual alight by teaching h.
son at home. One of the boys Sundu
privileges, earned by a faultless rec
tation of a prescribed number of Bib
verses, was forest freedom for the r.
mainder of the forenoon. He heal
the low rumble of the coming trail
n 1t was only by resolutely ignorir
the sense OF hearing that hG uas sn'