The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1914-05-13
LAUREN STOUT


sundown."
Naliants lips now found utterance ~
saw you look at the portrait there"
he said to the major. (Which Of my
ancestors is it?"
The other got up and stood before
the mantel-piece in a Napoleonic atti.
Jude. That" he said, fixing his eye,
glasses, lis your great-grandfather
DevilJohn Valiant"
"Devil-John!" echoed his host. "Yes,
I've heard the name"
The doctor guffawed "He earned
it, reckon. | never realized what
sinister expression that missing optic
gives the old ruflian There was o
sliirmish during the war on the hill
side yonder and bullet cut 1t out
When we were boys we used to call
him Old One.Eyc.'
1T interests me enormously" John
Valiant spoke eXplosively.
THE stories Of Devil-John would fill
mighty big book" said the major.
"By all accounts he ought to have
lived in the middle ages" Crossing
the library, he looked into the dining
IOOIu. lhOuSnt uS
portrait over the console there Is his
wife. your great-grandm They
say he bet that when he brought Ills
bride home, she should walk into Da-
mOry Court between rows of candle
sticks worth twenty-thousand dollars.
He made the wager good, too, for
when she came up those steps out
there, there was a row Of ten candles
burning on either side Of the doorway.
each held by a young slave worth
thousand dollars in the market.
Some say he grew jealous Of his
wife's beauty There were any num-
Der of stories told Of his crueltias to
her that aren't worth repeating. She
died early poor lady - and your
grandfather was the only issue. Devil.
John himself lived to be past seventy,
and at that age, when most men were
stacking their sins and groaning with
the gout, he was dicing and foX-hunt.
ing with the youngest Of them. He
always swore he would die with his
boots on, and they say when the doc.
tor told him he ha1 only a few hours
leeway, he made his slaves dress him
completely and prop him on his horse.
They galloped out so, a negro on
either side OF him. 1t was a stormy
night, black as the Earl Of Hell's rid.
ing boots. with wind and lightning
and he rode cursing at both. There's
an old black-gum tree mile from
here that they still call Dnvil-John'a
tree. They were just passing under
1t when the lightning struck 1t. Light
ming has no effect on the black-gum,
you know. The bolt glanced from the
ereo and struck him between the two
slaves without harming either Of
them. 1t killed his horse, too. That's
tho story. To be cure at this date
nobody can separate fact from fic-
lion. Possibly he wasn't 80 much
worse than the rest Of his neighbors
not excepting the parsons. Other
Zines, other manners"
They weren't any worse than tho
present generation" said the doctor
maleyolently, Your four bottle men
then &enew only claret: now they pun
!sh whiskey- straight"
The major buried his nose in his
5ulep for a long moment before he
looked at the doctor blandy. 81 agree
with you, Bristow," he said: but it's
the first time I ever heard you admit
that much good of your ancestors"
Good" said the doctor belligerent-
w. Me? 4 don't! said people now
were no better. AS for the men Of
that time. they were cheap swagger-
ing lot OF bullies and swashJbucklers
When read history I'm ashamed to
be descended from them"
tI Inctrn n inc
the major, stung, that too am a de-
scendant Of those bullies and swaah-
tucklers. as you call them And I
wish from my heart thought we. now
adays, could hold tallow-dip to
them"
You refer, no doubt" said the COO
tor with sarcasm, ITO our friend Devil
John and his ideal treatment of his
wife!"
No. sah," replied the major warm
)y. I'm not referring to Devil.John.
There were exceptions, no doubt, but
Cor the most part they treated their
women folk as believe their Maker
made them to be treated! The man
who failed in his courtesy there, sab,
was called to account for It. He was
mighty apt to find himself standing in
the cool dawn at the butt-end Of "a"
He broke Off and coughed. There
was an awkward pause in which he
set down his glass noisly and rose
and stood before the open bookcase.
IT envy you this, sah," he said with
somewhat Of haste "A fine old col
lection. Bless my SOUL what a curious
volume"
AS he spoke, his hand jerked out q