The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1914-05-27

before the safe, tried tho numbers
carefully, first right, then left: IL
2S-94-0. The heavy door opened.
II was right" he eXulted. "Tt's the
plate" He drew it out, piece by piece
Each was bagged in dark.red Canton
flannel. He broke tho tape Of ono bag
and exposed great silver pitcher,
tarnished purple-blue like a ravens
wing-then tea.service. Each piece,
large and small. was marked with the
greyhound rampant and the motto.
and to think" he said, that my
greatgreat.grand buried you
With his own hands under tho stables
when Tarlcton's raiders swept the val
ley before the surrender ut Yorktown!
Only wait till Aunt Daphne gets you
polished UP, and on tho sideboard!
You're tho ono thing the place has
needed."
With the dog for Comrade he ira
versed the garden and plunged across
tho valley below, humming as he went.
Tho place was pathless and over
grown with pawpaw bushes and sassa-
fras. Great trees stood SO thicl1ly
In places as to make twilight and the
SUMMER spots were masses Of pink
laurel, poisonivy, flaming purple rho
dodendron and wine-red tendrils Of in
terbraided briers. This was the for
est land Of whose possibilities he had
thought. In the heart Of the woods he
came upon a great limb that had been
wrenched off by storm. The broken
wood was Of a deep rich brown, shading
to black He broke off his song, snap
ped twig and smelled It, It's sharp
acrid odor was unmistakable. He sud
denly remembered the walnut tree at
Rosewood and what Shirley had said:
II know girl who had two in her
yard, and she went to Europe on
them"
He looked about him; as far as he
could see the trees reared, hardy and
perfect, untouched for generation.
He selected one Of medium size and
pulling a creeper, measured its cir
cumfcrence and gaging this measure
with his eye, made a pcnclcd calcula-
ton on the back Of an envelope.
Great Scott" he said jubantly to
the dog; "that would cut enough to
and build twenty sideboards!"
He sat down on a mosscd boulder,
| breathless, his eyes sparkling. He had
thought himself almost a beggar, and
here in his hand was small fortune!
Talk about engagement rings!" he
/ muttercd. why, a dozen Of these
ought to buy whole uara!'
at length he rose and climbed on,
/ presently turning at d right-angle to
bscct the strip to its boundary before
ae paused to rest. I'm no timber
! cruiser" he said to himself as he
! wiped his brow, but calculate there
| are AL Of three hundred trees big
| enough 20 cut. Why, suppose they are
worth on an average only a hundred
aolece. That would make-Good
lord!" he muttercd, "and I've been
incoming about poverty"
| The growth was smaller and sparser
now and before long he came, on the
hills very crest, to the edge Of a
ragged clearing 1t held a squalld set
tlement, perhaps score of drt.daubed
cabins little better than novels, some
| or them mere mudwallcd lean-tos,
with sod roofs and window. panes Of
flour-sacking. Fences and outhouses
there was none. Uttered paths ram
bled aimlessly hither and thither from
chlp-strewn yards to starved patches
| OF corn, under-cultivated and blighted.
/ over the whole place hung an in6e-
scrlbable atmosphere Of disconsolate
filth, Of unredeemcd squalor and vie
! ness.
With one hand on the dogs collar,
hushlng him to silence, Valiant, un-
! seen, looked at the wrctched place
with shlver. He had glimpsed many
wrctched purlieus in the slums Of
great cities, but this, in the open sun
/ light, with tho clean woods about It
and the sweet clear blue above stood
| out with an unrelieved bodness and
/ contrast that was doubly sinister and
forbldding. He knew instantly that
| the taWdry corner was the community
known as Hell's-Half-Acre, tho place
| to which Shirley had made her night
ride to rescue Rickcy Snyder.
quick glad realization Of her cour-
age rushed through him. On it's heels
came a feeling Of shame that spot
| like this could exist, foul blot on
such landscape. 1t was on his own
land! It's denizens held place by
squatter sovereignty, but he was.
nevertheless, their landlord The
thought bred new sense Of RESPONSE
bility. Something should be done for
them, too.
AS he gazed, an uproar in q cabin
reached climax. A red bearded fig
IRE in nOndescrint parmonta ahot From,