Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-12-09

meanness and malice. If one believed
all he heard here he'd quit speaking
to his own grandmother"
you will admit suppose" said
Mrs. Clifford with some spirit, that the
name Valiant isn't what it used to be
I'm this neighborhood?"
II will, madam" responded the doc
tor when Valiant left this place
Ga mark of good taste, I've always con-
sidered it) he left it the worst, If pos.
sible, for his departure. Your re-
mark, however, would seem to imply
demerit on his part Was he the only
man who ever happened to be at the
lucky end of dueling- ground"
Then it isn't true that Valiant was
a dead shot and Sassoon intoXicated"'
Madam said the doctor, II have
no wish to discuss the details Of that
unhappy incident with you a. anybody
else. | was one of those present, but
the circumstances you mention have
never been descanted upon by me.
merely wish to point out that the peo-
lple whom you have been quoting, are
not only set Of ignoramuses with
cotton-back souls, but as full OF UNI
charitableness as an egg Is Of meat"
II see by the papers, said Mrs.
Clifford, with an air Of resignedly
changing the subject. they've been
investigating the failure Of the Valiant
corporation. The son seems to be get
ting the sharp end Of the stick. Per
haps he's coming down here because
they've made 1t so hot for him in New
York. Well, I'm afraid he'll find this
county disappointing"
He will that" agreed the doctor
savagely mo doubt he imagines he's
coming to a kindly countryside of
|gentle-born people with souls and
imaginations; he'll find he's lit in a
section that's entirely too ready to
hack at his fathers name and prepared
in advance to call him northern scum
and turn up its nose at his accent-a
community so full of dyed-in-the-wool
snobbery that it would make Boston
look like a poor-white barbecue. I'm
sorry for him."
Mrs. Clifford, having learned wis
dom from experience, resisted the
temptation to reply. She merely
rocked a trife faster and turned a
smile which she strove to make
amusedly deprecative upon her hostess'
Just then from the rear OF the house
came a strident voice:
"Yo', Raph'el! Take yo' hans outer
dem cherries! DON yo know eff yo'
swallahs dem ar pits, yo' gwineter hab
'pendegeetus en- lump up en- di?"
The sound of a slap and a shrill yelp
followed, and around the porch dashed
an infantile darby, as nude as black
Puck, with his hands full of cherries,
who came to sudden demoralized
|stop in the embarrassing foreground.
"Raph!' Numbered the doctor.
Didn't I tell you to go back to that
|!;,tohen?"
Eyes, subj" responded the imp. "But
yo' didn' tell me ter stay dar!"
"If see you out here again,
roared the DOCTOR "I'll tie your ears
back-and grease you-and swallow
you!" At which grisly threat, the ap'
partition, with a shrill shrek, turned
and ran desnerately for the corner OF
the house.
, "I hear" sail the doctor, resum;ng
that the young man who came to fix
the place up has haired Uncle Jeffer
|, son and his wife to help him. Who's
, responsible for that interesting In
} formation"
"Rirkety Snyder" said Mrs Mason
"She's got a spy-glass rugged UP in a
sugar-tree at Miss Matte Sues and
she saw them pottering around there
J this morning"
Little limb" exclaimed Mrs. Gif
ford, with emphasis. She's as
cheeky as town-hog. I can't imagine
what Shirley cambridge was thinking
: Of when she brought that low-born
child out Of her sphere"
Something like growl came froc
; the doctor as he struck open the
/ screen-door. "Limb' I'll bet ten
, dollers she's an angel in cedartrec
, at churcn fair compared with some
: better-born young ones I know OF who
are only fit to live when they've 20;
t 1.-The scarlet-fever and who ought to be
in the reformatory long ago. And rs
Tor Shirley Dandridge, it's my o. iniun
, she and her mother and few others
like her have got about the only drol s
Ct the milk Of human kindness in this
whole abandoned commtfhfiy''
dreadful RAM" said Mrs. Clifford
, soto voce. as the door banged vici
ously "To think Of his being born OF
Southall! Sometimes I can't believe
l it."
Mrs Mason shook her head and
? smiled. "Ah, but that isn't the rea'
Doctor Southall,' she said. "That's
, only his she'll"
1--WE heard that he has another
J side" responded the other with guard
ed grimness, "but If he has, I wish he'd
manage to show it sometimes"
} Mrs. Mason took off her glasses and
wiped them carefully. 81 saw it when
my husband died." she said softly
''That was before you came. They
l were old friends, you know. He was
3 sick almost year, and the doctor used
, to carry him out here on the porch
every day in his arms, like child
And then, when the typhus CAME that
, summer among the negroes, he quar-
antined himself with them--the only
; white man there-and treated and
nursed them and buried the dead with
his own hands, till it was stamped out
, That's the real Doctor Southall.'
The rockers vibrated in silence fol
7 moment. Then Mrs. Clifford said
." never knew before that he had any
thing to do with that duel. Was he