Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-08-28


She says that 1t may save many a
girl who is disposed to turn aside
warnings of those who are older than
she from yielding to a love which
they can see is not for her good and
may be for her ruin.
1t is an old fashioned story, for it
occurred in an Old fashioned time and
in an old fashioned country. The state
where l was born-Georgla-wa then
slave state, and conditions were
adapted to that institution. There We're
three distinct claSSeS-the planters, the
poor whites and the negroes My par
ents sprang from the poor white class,
/ but my father was very industrious
man for one living in an enervating
I climate and accumulated enough means
! to buy small plantation and few
negroes. Consequently l grew up be-
! tween two classes. We were above
/ the poor whites, but were not received
by the planters.
Ii was said that at seventeen l was
| beauty. Alas. no one would think ii
to see me now, a shriveled old woman
| with thin snow white hair. They did
not tell me so, and 1 was unconscious
of my good looks. Social life in those
days was very different from what 1t
is now. 1 suppose human nature is
always the same, but it seems to me
now that good persons-I refer to the
higher classes-were better than now
and the bad were worse. This was
especially so with our young men.
Many of them-moSt Of them. 1 should
say-were imbued with noble senti-
ments. With them to be a gentleman
was to be honorable. But there were
bad ones, who were especially I'M
scrupulous in their dealings with wo-
men-men who regarded it the part of
a gentleman to make a conquest even
to the ruin of the object of his atten-
tons. The atmosphere of that period
has completely passed away, the good
and the bad having been fused be-
tween the two. There are now few, IL
any. young men with the noble i'm
pulses of the typical gentleman Of that
day, nor are there any such evil char
acters as were portrayed by the novel
lists of that period.
1t fell to my lot to be caught between
two men who were representatives of
these two classes. They We're both
gentlemen, the one of a kindly nature,
who would consider that a mean or
dishonorable act would not only dis
grace him, but his family even back
to generations long dead: the other
without any conscience whatever
When l was fifteen years old my
father one day sent me with a note TO
Colonel Carroll, one of the wealthiest
and most respected planters of our re-
gion. On the veranda sat youth of
about twenty at a table with books
before him. He was Courtney Car
roll, a recent graduate of the Univer-
. sity OF Virginia. As l assembled the
steps he looked up at me and l saw
admiration i'll his eyes. He rose and
advanced to meet Inc, and 1 handed
him the note. He called a negro, told
him to take it to his father, and select.
ing a comfortable chair handed it tC
me. He refrained from his books while
l waited, seeming to consider it in
cumbent upon him to entertain me
while l waited for an answer to the
J note. Colonel Carroll brought it out tC
; me himself and apologized for moi
sending one of his negroes with it
cOurteously thanking me for consent
, ing to be its bearer.
Naturally !, a girl still in short dress
es, was much impressed with so much
consideration from such high grade
persons. How remarkable that one
3 whose father had but recently emerg
e ed from the poor white class Should
be an object of attention from those
who owned a thousand slaves.
When | was seventeen years old
met another Of the aristocrats of thai
day, who turned out to be the re
I verse of a Carroll. l was lea ming OF
@ the fence of my fathers plantation
G one day when gay party of hunters
@ came gallOping by. They disappeared
e down the road, and presently a young
q man, also in the scarlet coat of s
huntsman. came along and, refining
Z up before me. asked me if had seeI
d the others. l told him they had jus
3. passed and if he rode on he wOulC
e soon overtake them. But II was evi
. dent from the way his eyes We're fixe(
on me that he was disposed to turn
from the game he was pursuing to ;
different kind. | remember that IN!
q eyes dropped before his gaze and
. felt a warmth in my cheeks.
= This young man was Harry Du Bots
who had by the death Of his fathel
"a Just come into possession Of large
y, plantation He asked me a number o.
% questions, evidently for excuses to tall
with me instead of riding on, anC
presently, OH pretense of tightening hi
saddle girth he dismounted ard stoos
near me on the other side of the fence
u chatting glibly and paying me compli
ments. This was the first time any on
. had told me that ! was beautiful. an
It gave me thrill shall never forget
It WIS the second time / had notice,
~ admiration in a young gentleman
eyes, but young Carroll had not pai
me a single compliment
Since my visit to the Carroll planta
ton Courtney had dominated N
Thoughts. but now he was supersede
By Harry Du Bots The former seer.
ed cold beside the latter. Besides, Cal
roll did not seek me, while Du Bol
rode by our little plantation frequent
and. If ] was within hearing. Wonld O