Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-08-12
THE VALIANTS OF VIRGINIA

things-yo' o'ny gotter courage EN-
en- dey jes' grows
Valiant ate his dessert with
thoughtful smile wrinkling his brow.
AS he pushed back his chair he
smote his hands together and laughed
aloud. Back to the soill" he said.
John Valiant, farmer! The miracle
of it is that it sounds good to me
want to raise my own grub and till
my own soil. | want to be my own
mani And I'm beginning to see my
way. Crops will have to walt for an
other season, but there's water and
pasture for cattle now. There's tim
ber-lots Of ton that hillside, too,
| must look into that"
He filled his pipe and climbed the
staircase to the upper floor. Here
the lower hall was duplicated. He
proceeded slowly and carefully with
the dusty task of window opening.
There were many bedrooms with
great four-posted, canopied beds and
fashioned carved furniture of ma
hogany and curly maple, and in one
he found a great cedar-lined chest
filled with bed linen and napery. In
these rooms were more evidences Of
decay. They showed in faded hues,
streaked and discolored finishings,
yellow mildew beneath the glass of
framed engravings and unsightly
stains on walls and floors from leaks
in the roof. On a dainty dressing
table had been left a pin-cushion.
its stuffing was strewn in a tiny
trickling trail to a mouse hole in the
Dashboard. The bedroom he mentally
chose for his own was the plainest
of all, and was above the library.
fronting the vagabond garden. II had
oo1r orIr
knobbed drawers and a book rack.
The volumes this contained were
mostly of the historical sort: a his
tory of the middle Plantation"
"Meades Old Churches" and at the
end a parchment-bound tome in
scribed "The Valiants of Virginia"
He fingered longest in a room over
whose door was painted "The Hi
larium." 1t had evidently been
nursery and schoolroom. Here on the
walls were many shelves wound over
with networks of cobwebs, and piled
with the oldest assemblage of TOYS;
wooden and splintered soldiers that
had once been bravely painted. dolls
in various states of worn-outness-
one rag doll in a calico dress with
shoe-button eyes and a string of
bright glass beads round her neck
a wooden box of marbles, a tattered
boxing glove. There were school
books, too, thumbed and dog-eared
from First Reader to Caesars Gallo
Wars, with names of small Valiantq
scrawled on their f1y-leaves. He care.
fully relocked the door of this room.
he wanted to dust those toys and
books with his own hands.
In the upper hall again he leaned
from the window, shifting the far
Ilung scent or orchards and peach
blown fence-rows. The soft whirring
sound of birds wing went past AZ
most brushing his startled face, and
the old oaks seemed to stretch their
bent limbs with a faithful brute-Iike
yawn of pleasure. In the room below
he could hear the vigorous sound of
Aunt Daphne's hard-driven broom
and the sound flooded the echoing
space with a comfortable commotion,
The present task was one after
Aunt Daphne's own heart. A small
mountain of dust was growing on the
terrace, and as beneath brush and
rag the eolors of wall and paruuetrv
stood forth, her face became one shiny
expanse of ebony satisfaction. When
the bulldog, returning from his haunt
outstripping Uncle Jefferson, bounced
in to prance against her, she smote
him Justify with her scrubbing- brush
Git outer heah, yo' good fo-nuthin
wife rapscallyun! Gwne trapse yo'
muddy feet all ovah dis yeah floor
whut All ies scrubbed tell yo' mars
tan kin eat of'n et?' She broke off to
listen to Uncle Jefferson's voice out
side, directed toward the upper win
dow.
Dat yo'. sub? Vas, sub, dis me-
Well, sub, All take OF Sul<ey out de
Red road, en- All hitch huh ter yO'
machine-thing, en- she done bali
Won't go nohow. u whut, sub?
Beat huh ovah de haid?' Vas, sub,
done hit huh in de haid six times wild
de whip-han'l, en- she look me in de
eye en- ain said er word.
'TWis' huh tail?' Me, sub? No-suh-
rec, sub. Mars Quarles' boy one
ter de horspit'l. 'Daid' sub? No,
sub, am daid, but ct mos bust him
wide open. Set fab undah
huh? Vas, sub, done set fab undah
huh. Mos burn up de harness, en-
ain done no good. Well sub,
All jes' gwineter say no use waitin'
TO Sukey ter change huh min, 50 An
put some fence-rails undah huh en-
jock hun up en- come home. En- Abs
gwine out arter suppah EN- Sulley be
all right den, sub, All reck'n. Vas,
suh.''
Aunt Daphne plunged out with fire
in her eye but the laugh that came
from above was reassuring. "Never
mind, Uncle Jefferson, Miss Sukey's
whims shall be regarded
Chum, bouncing up the stairs like
an animated bundle of springs, met
his master coming down. "Old man."
said the latter, 81 don't mind telling
you that I'm beginning to be taken
with this place. But it's in a bad
way, and it's going to be put in shape.
It's large order, and we'll have to
work like horses. Don't you bother
Aunt Daph! You just come with
your Uncle Dudley. He's going to
take look over the grounds
ITO BE Continued Tomorrow