Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-06-22
The Daily Story
The End of Duel-By Ruth Graham.
Copyrighted. 1914 by Associated Literary Bureau

l
tury. when the old plantation systef
was an institution In the souther
states. there were customs which haV
/ now become a thing OF the pas
Among the most notable Of these wa
settling disputes according to the COD
duello.
In the north at the opening OF tn
century the sacrifice Of one OF tn
most gifted of American statesmen
Alexander Hamilton, gave dueling it
ouietus. In the south 1t listed muci
longer. In Tennessee long after tn'
Hamilton-Burr tragedy Andrew Jack
son fought under the code. 1t remain
ed for a girl to show the people Of tina
state by a few caustic words how fal
the world had gone beyond a custom
advocated by one no less notable thar
a president of the United States
1t was shortly after the Mexican wal
that Miss Belle Conway went to Ten
nessee from Ohio to take the position
of coverness in the family Of Colonel
Rathbone, a retired planter. That was
| before it became customary Tor young
| ladies' to earn their own living. Miss
| Conway had been educated in Connect
| northwestern girls and boys usually
went east in those days for an educa-
| tion-and had evinced superior mind.
She had not long returned from school
when her father died, leaving his fam
ily without an income. There was
then a field in the south for teachers,
and northern graduates were sought
after.
Miss Conway was comely, but not
beautiful She possessed character.
and it showed itself in her personnel.
Character In her was allied with good
sense. She was more self reliant than
most of the southern girls of that day.
whose intellectual and practical facul-
ties were not readily developed under
a system wherein their slightest re-
Quirements were attended to by their
servants.
Miss Conway was treated as MEM
Der of the Rathbone family, and where
they were invited she was invited. She
did not capture those she met as some
dazzling southern beauty would have
done in the north, but from the first
there was a steady growth in her IA
vor. Girls of her own age were not
jealous of her; they rather admired
which they did not possess themselves,
for with them beauty and coquetry
were more in keeping with their sur
roundings than intellect. As for the
young men, they saw in her something |
different from that to which they had |
been accustomed and were gradually |
attracted to it
Fortunately there was no son of |
Colonel Rathbone of an age to fall in |
love with the governess. The man
who was most thrown with her was
Archibald Dabney, who had recently
from the University Of Vir-
ginia, where he had studied law, rather
with a view to using it In political life
than as a profession. Mr.. Dabney
was just the man to be attracted to
such a girl as Miss Conway. While
she was northern born and bred, he
was representative of the best there
vas in the south.
Mr.. Dabney found Miss Conway
He loved to talk with
his opinions to her and
get hers. While he die not realize 1t
The was magnifying his views on
many subjects, and this is doubtless a
eason why he found her interesting,
or he had that caliber of brain which
S capable Of development and could
better position than one he
leld and step up on to It Neverthe-
ess, as a typical southerner born and
red under the peculiar systems then
n vogue in the south, he could not
tep over that gulf of ideas which |
eparated him from a progressive
orth.
Mr.. Dabney's pleasant Intellectual
with Miss Conway re-
eived sudden shock. A planter,
falkland Carr, a few years older than
'abney. widower who was looking
'r wife, saw her and. benefiting by
lie experience OF married man, was
-ruck with the idea that Miss Conway
as exactly the woman he wanted to
reside over his household. He straight.
ay began a courtship as a widower
ould naturally conduct such an affair. Y
e did not daily, and he did not make
1due haste; he planted bis foot firmly
each step and, when he considered e
advisable, took another step. ?
The moment Mr.. Dabney realized @
r. Carr's intentions a great revolution r
rang up within him. 1t had suddenly
ZEN revealed to him that he could not
are Miss Conway. His manner to
ard her changed at once. From an in a.
llectual companionship he stepped =,
to friendliness. and from friendIiness =
came tender. Indeed, considering the y
tie at which his rival was proceeding,
felt that he had no time to lose.
Both suitors were prevented from q
liking declaration by the fact that G.
ey met with no definite encourage
mt from the lady. Mr.. Dabney was e.
certain: Mr. Carr did not recognize bt
'ign indicating an invitation to speak.
oh suspected the others intentions be
each supposed that the reason he SC
not get the requisite announcement in
IS that the other had the preference re
LII this made the usual bad blood
1t exists between rivals. Unfortu- -
tely, Mr.. Dabney was just entering
M