The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-04-03
GEORGIA SCENES
THE CHARACTER OF A NATIVE GEORGIAN

of everybody. Ned interrupted their de- l Alterations with, Gentlemen, if you have satisfied yourselves with that paper, I'll
 thank you for it." It is easy to imagine but impossible to describe, the looks and actions of the company under their sur prise and modification. They dropped off and left the barkeeper to his appropriate | duty of handing the paper to Ned. He reached 1t forth, but Ned moved not a hand to receive 1t for about the space | Of three seconds, during which time he | kept his eyes fixed upon the arch-offender l in awfully solemn rebuke. He then took | 1t gravely and put 1t in his pocket and l left the barkeeper with a shaking ague I upon him. From this moment he became Neds most obsequious and willing slave. Supper was announced: Mrs. Blank, the
 andlady, took the head of the table, and
 Ned seated himself next to her. Her
 looks denoted some alarm at finding him
 so near to her, and plainly showed that
 he had been fully described to her by her l husband or some one else.
 Will you take tea or coffee, sir?" said | she.
 Why, madam said Ned, in tone as
 courteous as Chesterfield himself could | have used, T am really ashamed to ac- | Knowledge and to expose my very singu- lar appetite, but habitual indulgence of
 1t has made it necessary to my comfort, | If not to my health, that I should still
 favor it when l can. If you will pardon
 me, will take both at the same time" 1 This respectful reply (which, by the
 way, she alone was permitted to hear) | had it's natural effect. It won for him
 her unqualified indulgence, raised doubts
 whether he could be the suspicious char
 acter which had been described to her, and begat in her a desire to cultivate a
 further acquaintance with him. She
 handed to him the two cups, and ac- | companied them with some remarks,
 drawn from her own observation in the
 line of her business, calculated to recon I cie him to his whimsical appetite; but
 she could extract from Ned nothing but I monosyllables, and sometimes not even
 that much. Consequently the good lady | began very soon to relapse into her | former feelings.
 1 Ned placed a cup on either side of him, | and commenced stirring both at the
 same time very deliberately This done | he slipped a little tea, and asked Mrs. B. 1 for a drop more milk in it. Then he | tasted his coffee and desired little more l sugar in 1t. Then he tasted his tea again, and requested a small lump more sugar | in it. Lastly, he tasted his coffee, and desired a few drops more milk in that 1 It was easy to discover that before he | BOl Sultcu, the ldnulAuy ndu SOiemnly resolved never to offer any more en-
 couragments to such an appetite. She
 waxed exceedingly petulant and having | nothing else to scold, she scolded the ser | wants, of course.
 | Waffles were handed to Ned and he | took one; batter-cakes were handed, and | he took one: and so on of mullins, rolls
 and corn bread. Having laid in these l provisions, he turned into his plate, upon hat 1xa of ba | crumbs of several kinds of bread which | he had taken, in different proportions
 and commenced mashing all together
 with his knife During this operation the
 landlady frowned and pouted, the ser
 wants giggled and the boarders were va- | riously affected.
 | Having reduced his mess to the con
 sistency of hard poultice, he packed it | all up to one side of his plate in the form | of a terrapin. and smoothed 1t all over
 nicely with his knife. Nearly opposite I to Ned, but a little below him, sat a I waspish little gentleman, who had been watching him with increasing torments I from the first to the last movement of | Ned's knife. His tortures were visible to
 binder eyes than Ned's, and, doubtless,
 had been seen by him in their earliest | paroxysms. This gentleman occupied a
 seat nearest to dish of steak. and was l in the act of muttering something about
 ''brutes" to his next neighbor, when Ned l beckoned a servant to him, and requested I him to 'ask that gentleman for a small | bit of steak The servant obeyed, and,
 planting Neds plate directly between the gentleman's and the steak-dsh, delivered | his message. The testy gentleman turned 1 his head, and the first thing he saw | was Ned's parti-colored terrapin right
 under his nose. He started as if he had been struck by snapping turtle, red dened to scarlet, looked at Ned (who ap- | peared as innocent as a lamb), looked at the servant (who appeared as innocent | as NedD and then fell to work on the steak as if he were amputating all Ned's | limbs at once.
 | Ned now commenced his repast He ate his meat and breads in the usual way,
 but he drank his liquids in all ways. First a sip of tea then of coffee; then two of the first and one of the last; then three of the last and one of the first and so on.
 | His steak was soon consumed, and his plate was second time returned to the mettesome gentleman flor another very
 small bit of steak The plate paid its second visit precisely as 1t had its first :; and as soon as the fiery gentleman saw the half demolished terrapin again under his nose he seized a fork, drove it into
 the largest slice of steak in the dish, dashed it into Ned's plate, rose from the table and left the room, cursing Ned from the very inmost chamber of his soul. Every person at the table, except Ned, laughed outright at the little mans fury; but Ned did not even smile; nay. he looked for all the world as If he thought the laugh was at him.
 The boarders one after another retired, until Ned and the landlady were left alone at the table.
 Twill you have another cup of tea and coffee, sir?' said she, by way of con- vincing him that he ought to retire, see- ing that he had finished his supper.
 No, thank you, madam" returned Ned.
 Twill you have a glass of milk and a cup of tea or coffee, or all three to- gether?"
 No, ma a'am.' said Ned. 'I am not blind, madam continued he, ito the eff fects which my unfortunate eccentricities have produced upon yourself and your company; nor have I witnessed them without those feelings which they are well calculated to inspire in a man of ordinary sensibilities. I am aware, too, that I am prolonging and aggravating your uneasiness by detaining you be- yond the hour which demands your pres ence at the table; but I could not permit you to retire without again bespeaking your indulgence of the strange, unnatural