Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1915-02-25
m mi MI
iii Ill I'M

urse proud and lordly. these kindly
neilieineh established the Aged Sea
aeLS nome on Lords Point. a deed
~ pe!petu1ty guaranteeing the jewellers
chereln against eviction. Uuhaunih-
Tor the present generations in Cor.
nun, the heirs of the original pronot-
- WIN one or two exceptions. resid-
~ IN New York. Boston or Philadel-
pnla, and they, holding Corinth i'm some
uisualh s1ubbornly refused to entertain
q p5oposlnon to join in the effort to set
ao ,'ie llrst grant, with the provision
.nat tne nome be transferred to anoah-
er and less Imposing section of fine
GodSu, some distance removed from
Lords Point.
ana so 1T was that the Ancients re-
manned almost under the nose-or
inose properly speaking, under the eye.
OF Corlnth by the sea. secure in their
rights and far from clannish in 1heir
patronage 1t was but a step down
lie beach road from Todviile to the
water front bar rooms of Corinth.
LIKE migratory ants. the A~ncients
s"ar1ned down from the Point and
back again-pllysically un-
aole TO sWarm-each paying his 1.-THE
10 the municipality and taking away in
urn a copious share of grog, from the
elrects OF which he recovered with a
hlatutllal fortitude that annoyed his
more holy but less hardy %neighbors.
fartlcular attention is drawn to Hor-
ace in view CT the fact that his
own grandfather was one of the prime
movers In establishing the now obnox-
lous nome on Lords Point. Moreover.
Horace Blagdcn's home. the grey house
on the hill, was so close to the line
separating the Todville reservation
rom Corlnth that he could nave thrown
q stone from his stable yard we'll into
the preserve, provided, of course, that
ne was in the habit of throwing stone
put MI. Blasden never threw stones,
elmer literally or figuratively. He was
content to let other people do that,
relylng on his own aloofness to escape
without bruises to himself.
NO one could afford to throw stones
at MI. Blagden. He was the great
man Of Corinth.
After a single. Intellectual attempt on
his w part to get possession of the
Point for himself. he settled back and
looked the other way. Thereafter. the
town OF Corinth did all OF the talking,
and voiced all of the resentment to-
ward the loWly village of Todville. seat
ed, as it were, almost under the gates
Of Nineveh.
The venerable sea dogs from the
Point, In their libations, spoke freely of
Horace Blagden because they owed
nothing to him since he had tried to
take away from them that which his
grandfather had given. They We're
quite alone in their privileges. 1t may
be said, in explanation Of this rather
ambiguous remark, that nearly every
one else In Cornith owed something. in
one way or another, to the expansive
Mr.. Blagden-
He was the president of the private
bank1ng house of Blagden & Co, be.
sides being the head OF such ]instit1.
l tl0nC &C tho Sfrnnf ID we = -
the Short Coast Steamship company
the Building & Loan association the
Merchants Protective society, the Cor
NTH Brick & Lime works, the Country
club, the town board. and, last but b,
no means least, the Congregations
SUNDAY school. I almost forgot to in
clude the Cemetery a~ssocia.
ton. Only the most violent politics KEEP
him from ascending to the presidenc,
of the Sean.en's Home society.
I appreherd that no one who read.
these lines will undertake to disput,
my claim that Mr.. B%lagden was the
most influential person in Corinth.
think I have established the proof il
these brief sentences that he was 6
very superior sort of mortal. if. indeed
he was not a little more than that.
While Mr.. Blagden was very power
full and very good. and very proud o.
: it, he was not what one would cal
!, popular. He was not liked for the en-
emies he had made; although. If he haf
an enemy. he did not know it. Ever
the venerable sea dogs were somewha'
punctilious in this respect: they die
oil OF their talking in the bar rooms
t and were as close as clans when the,
!, got outside, guarding against the re
i mote possibility that he might. b,
5 chance, be in the slums collecting rents
. They would not put 1t above him. Still
they fell with common accord into tn,
habit of openly respecting Mr.. Blagden
/ reserving their private opinions TO
public houses Mr.. Blagden's BAN
cashed their pension vouchers withou
/, question and without charge.
9 l have said there were two small chill
4 dren in the SO called Giants Castle,
e and that the youngsters Of the uppe
social circles enjoyed acquaintanc
with them. I might have said Their
: wero three, except that a strange re
8 spect for the fitness Of things re
t strained me. 1t is necessary, however
to announce thai there were three
brother. sister md cousin, If that I
e not too involved. The brother and sis
ter were the wards of Horace Blagden
their cousin was his son. The small
v folk Of upper Corinth mentioned tn
e Midthorne children In one breath, an,
Chetwynd Blagden in another. Nor
: often thar otherwise. he was not men
L | llOOeQ Ll dil. was JOY StiSIitsS j
n tho breath that they gave to the Mid
: thorne children. and something akin t
reluctance in that which they devote
t to Chetwynd. If the playmates of Hoi
G ace Blagden's son We're slow to spea.
!. Of him, j feel that ! may be eXcuse
: for having neglected to mention him i
G the same sentence with his cousins.
e Chetwynd was older than they, b
several years. AS the only son O
Horace Blagden, he may have bee
t p%ardoned for the distinct air OF super
iority that he assumed. even as a Yer
g small boy. His attitude toward hi
e cousins was p~atronizing when it wa
r not inimical. He lorded it over them i
: the most high handed fashion n hi
: teaching justified him in that particl
lar. Perhaps it was not altogether hi
f fault. Chetwynd might nave been
9 better boy and a more generous OF
: had he not been the only son and hei
: Of Horace Blagden, the great man
: Corinth. The perfectly obvious fac
h tina other children loved his cousin