The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1914-08-20

publication and one of its contributors,
AZalea Adair. r"
Adair there was no cIew to the per-
sonality except the handwriting had
sent in some essays tlost artD and
poems that had made the editors swear
approvingly over their o'clock lunch
con. So they had commissioned me to
round up said Adair and corner by
contract his or her output at cents a
word before some other publisher Of
fered her 10 or %.
AT 8 o'clock the next morning. after
my chicken livers en- brochette TRY
| them if you can find that hotel, /
strayed out into the drizzle, which was
still on for an unlimited run. At the
| first corner came upon Uncle Caesar
He was stalwart negro. older than
the pyramids. with gray wool and a
face that reminded me of Brutus and
second afterward of the late King
Cetewayo He wore the most remark
able coat that l ever had seen or eX-
pect to see. 1t reached to his ankles
and had once been Confederate gray
| in colors. But rain and sun and age
had so variegated it that Joseph's coat
beside it would have faded to a pale
monochrome.
Once it must have been the military
coat of an officer. The cape of 1t had
vanished. but all adown its front it had
been frogged and tasseled magnificent
/, ly. But now the frogs and tassels
were gone. In their stead had been
patiently stitched Il surmised by some
surviving "black mammy'D new frogs
made of cunningly twisted common
hempen Irvine. This Irvine was frayed
and disheveled.. 1t must have been
added to the coat as substitute for
vanished splendors. with tasteless but
painstaking devotion, for it followed
faithfully the curves of the long miss
ing frogs. And to complete the comedy
and pathos of the garment all its but
tons were gone save one. The second
button from the top alone remained.
The coat was fastened by other Irvine
strings tied through the buttonholes
and other holes rudely pierced in the
opposite side. There was never such a
weird garment so Enthusiastically bedeck-
ed and of SO many notified hues. The
lone button was the size of a half dol
lar, made of yellow horn and sewed on
with coarse Irvine.
This negro stood by carriage so old
that Ham himself might have started
hack line with it after he left the ark
with the two animals hitched to it.
AO hn fha
door. drew out a feather buster, waved
it without using it and said in deep.
rumbling tones:
"Step right in. sub; amt speck Of
dust in titus got back from a fu-
neral. subj"
II want to 60 to SCI Jessamine
street." ! said and was about to step
thick. long. gorilla-like arm Of the old
negro barred me. On his massive and
saturnine face look Of sudden sus-
picion and enmity flashed for a mo-
ment Then. with quickly returning
conviction, he asked blandishingly,
"What are you gwine there for, boss?"
"What is that to your asked, lit
tie sharply.
"Nothin. sub. JUS nothin'. Only it's
a lonesome kind OF part Of town. and
few folks ever has business out there
Step right in. The seats is clean-jes'
got back from a funeral. subj"
A mile and a half it must have been
to our journeys end. ] could hear
nothing but the fearful rattle Of the
ancient hack over the uneven brick
paving: could smell nothing but the
drizzle. now further favored with coal
smoke and something like mixture
Of tar and oleander blossoms. All
could see through the streaming win
dows We're two rows of dim houses.
The city has an area OF ten square
miles. ISL miles of streets. OF which l37
miles are paved: a system of waterworks
that cost s2.000.0OO. with seventy-seven
miles of mains.
Eight-sixty-one Jessamine street was
a decayed mansion. Thirty yards back
from the street it stood. outmerged in
a splendid grove Of trees and untrim-
med shrubbery. A row Of box bushes
overfOwed and almost hid the paling
fence from sight; the gate was kept
closed by rope moose that encircled
the gate post and the first paling of
the gate. But when you got inside you
saw that S61 was shell, a shadow, a
ghost Of former grandeur and excel
lence. But in the story / have not yet
got inside.
When the hack had ceased from rat
Ting and the weary quadrupeds came
to rest handed my jehu his so cents
with an additional quarter, feeling a
glow Of conscious generosity as did
SO. He refused it.
Its 50. subj" he said.
"How's that?" l asked. 81 plainly
heard you call out at the hotel, Fifty
cents to any part of the town."
Its 81, subj" he repeated obstinate
~. Its long ways from the hotel"
1T is within the city limits and well |
within Them" argued. Don't think |