Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1916-01-14

Tribulation. What manner O. lookin'
man air he,"
He don't look like nothin' much"
his wife morosely. Hes Jest
an ornery.lookin' old man."
Whittier did he sot out ter go when
he left hyar?"
The woman shook her head, then
a grim flash of latent wrath broke in
her eyes,
"Ill Jest let we hev the truth.
stranger. Some tritin' fellers done
sa'ntered past hyar with a Jug OF
ticker, an tibet fool Fetch hes Jest
done follered 'em off. Thet's all thar
is to hit. an he hain't got no license
ter ack thetaway nuther. | reckon
by now he's a.layin' drunk some
whars."
For a moment there was silence,
through which drifted the distant
tinkle of cowbells down the creek.
Beyond the crests fingered only a
lemon afterglow as relict of the dead
day. The brown, colorless man astride
his mule sat stupidity looking down at
the brown, colorless woman across the
stile. The waiting girl heard the
preacher inquiring which way the
master of the house had gone n
surmising that "mehby he'd better set
out in search of him." the words
seemed to come from q great dis
lance, and her head swan giddily.
Then, overcome with disgust and
WEAKNESS, Juanita Holland saw the
afterglow turn slowly to pale gray
and then to black, shot through with
orange spots. Then she grew sud
denly Indifferent to the situation.
swayed in her saddle. and slipped
Imply to the ground.
The young woman who had come to
conquer the mountains and carry a
torch Of enlightenment to their illit-
eracy had tainted from discourage
ment and WEAKNESS at the end Of the
first days march.
The WEAKNESS which caused the
fainting spell must have heightened
its duration, for when Juanita's lashes
fickered upward again and her brain
came gropingog back to consciousness
she was no longer by the stile.
She was lying in the smothering
softness of a feather bed. On her pal
ate and tongue fingered an unfamiliar.
sweetish taste, while through her
veins she felt the coursing of a warm
glow.
Over her stood the woman who had
been across the stile when she tainted,
her attitude a~nxiously watchful. In
one hand she held a stone Jug, and in
the other a gourd dipper. So that
accounted for the taste and. the glow,
and as Juanita took in the circum-
stance she heard the high, nasal voice.
pitched none the less In a tone OF
kindly reinsurance.
Yell be spry as a squirrel in a leetle
spell, honey. Don't fret yoreself none.
Ye war jest plumb tuckered out an
We swooned. I've been a rubin your
hands an a-pourin' a little white
Ticker down yore throat. Don't worrit
yoreself none. We're. pore folks an
we hain't got much, but | reckon we
kin make out ter enjoy we somehow
The four walls of the cabin might
have been the rocky confines of a
mountain tavern, SO formlessly did
they merge into the impalpable and
sooty murk that hung between them
obliterating all remoter outline. Only
things In a narrow circle grew visible
and at the center Of this lighted area
vas the slender figure of a girl hold
ing up a lard taper, its radius Of light
yellow and Pickering.
AS the mountain girl felt the eyes
of the strange and. to her. wonderful,
woman from the great, unknown
world on her, her own dark lashes
fell timidly and the hand that held
the taper trembled, while into heI
cheeks crept a carmine self-conscious
ness. Juanita, for her part. sensed IL
her veins a new and subtler glow thar
that which the moonshine whisky hat
quickened. The men and women o.
the hills had made her heartsick with
their stolid and animallike coarseness
Now she saw a slender figure in which
the lines were yet transitory between
the straightness OF the child and thu
budding curves Of womanhood
It was to such children OF the hill,
as this that Juanita Holland was t
bring the new teachings. But even a.
she smiled the child-for she seemed
to be only fifteen or sixteen-surren
dered to her shyness and, thrustin,
the taper into her mothers hand
shrank out of sight in some shad
owed corner Of the place.
Then Juanita's eyes occupied them
selves with what fragmentary detail
the faint light revealed. The barre
of a rifle caught the weak fare an,
glittered. The ~uncarpeted floor o
rude puncheon slabs lay a thing o
gaping cracks, and overhead there wa
a vague feeling Of low r%afters, from
which hung strings Of ancient an,
shriveled peppers and a few crinklet
hands of natural leaf"
Dawn" commanded the woman
take yore foot in your hand an ligh
out ter Their barn an see Of ye xii
find some aigs."
"A .Juanita watched fhe dnor ah