Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1910-12-30
CHATTER V.


70 or from the crossroads post office
In Hargis' store, would rein in his horse
at the Gordon gate and ask for a drink
Of water from the Gordon well. Al
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 Man of Sin. Also, he re-
marked that the Majors manner al
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 repellant; a
thing to stir slow current of resent
ment in his blood
1t was Thomas Jeffersons first coll
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 it's 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 private in the ranks.
In the years of heart hardenings
which followed, 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 q 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 satisfyingly
thrilling.
TITS mighty near as we talked, Mar
tina. The Major Jumps the railroad in
with all the other improvements, calls
'em Yankees, and h'ists his battle-flag.
The engineer, that smart young fellow
with the peaked whiskers and the eye
glasses, went to see him this evenin'
about the right Of way down the val
ley, and got himself slung off the porch
Of the great house into posy bed"
There is going to be trouble, Caleb;
now you mark my words. You mustn't
mix up in it."
Il don't allow to, If 1 can hep It.
The railroads goin' to be a mighty
good thing for us If can get Mr..
Downing to put in a side-track for the
furnace"
Following this there were other con-
ferences, the Major unbending sufn-
GENTLY to come and sit on the Gordon
porch in the cool Of the evening. The
IRON master, as one still in touch with
the moving world, gave good advice.
Failing to buy, the railroad company
might possibly seek to bully q right of
way through the valley But in that
case. there would certainly be redress
in the courts for the property owners
In the meantime, nothing would be
gained by making the contest a per-
sonal fight on individuals.
So counseled Caleb Gordon, sure, al
ways, of his own standing ground In
any conflict But from the last of the |
conferences the Major had ridden home
through the fields; and Thomas Jeffer-
son, with an alert eye for windstraws
of conduct. had seen him dismount
now and then to pull up and fling away
the locating stakes driven by tho rail-
road engineers.
Giving the Major a second and q
third chance to refuse to grant an
easement. the railroad company push |
ed its grading and track-laying around
the mountain and up to the stone wall
marking the Dabney boundary, quietly
the necessary material
and on a summer Sunday morning
by preference because no re-
straining writ could be served for at
least twenty four hours-a construc-
ton train, black with laborers, whisked
dropped gently down the grade to the
temporary end of track.
1t was Thomas Jefferson who gave
the alarm. Little Zoar, unable to sup
port q settled pastor, was closed for
.ks summer. but Martha Gordon kept
he fire spiritual altght by teaching her
son at home. One of the boys Sunday |
earned by a faultless reci-
-ation of a prescribed number of Bible |
verses, was forest freedom for the re- |
nainder of the forenoon. He heard |
he low rumble Of the coming train, |
md it was only by resolutely ignoring
he sense of hearing that he was ena-
,led to get through, letter-perfect.
Blessed are we, when men shall re-
Tile you and prosecute you,'" he chant
ID monotonously, with rowing eyes bent
N finding his cap with the loss of the
ewest possible seconds" and shall |
ay all manner of evil against you
alsely, for my sake'-and that's all"
Ind he was on like a shot.
Mind. now, Thomas Jefferson; you
re net to go near that railroad!" his
lother called to him as he raced down
be path to the gate.
oh. no; he would not go near the
atlroadi He would only run up the