Cleveland County herald., 1919-04-24
CHAPTER XV.
Use My Own Compass at Fork in
 the Road.

ing in July. My uncle and I took him | up the river.
 While we ate our luncheon he de scribed Jackson and spoke of the fa- | nous cheese which he had kept on table in the vestibule of the White | House for his callers. He described his fellow senators-Webster, Clay, Rives, Calhoun and Benton. I remem- Der that Webster was, in his view, the least of them, although at his best the greatest orator. We had a delightful day, and when drove back to the vil- | lage with him that night he told me that I could go into the office of Wright & Baldwin after harvesting.
 "It will do for a start" he said. "A little later I shall try to find better place for you"
 My life went on with little in it worth recording until the letter came. l speak of it as "the letter." because of it's effect upon my career. It was from Sally, and it said:
 Dear Bart: It's all over for a long time, perhaps forever-that will de- pend on you. I shall be true to you, | if you really love me, even if have to wait many, many years. Mother and father saw and read your letter. They say we are too young to be thinking | about love and that we have got to stop it. How can I stop it? I guess I would have to stop living. But we shall have to depend upon our mem- OrieS now. I hope that yours is as good as mine. Father says no more letters without his permission, and he stamped his foot so hard that I think he must have made a dent in the floor. Talk about slavery-what do you think of that? Mother says that we must wait-that it would make father a great deal of trouble if it were known that l allowed you to write. I guess the soul of old Grimshaw is still fol- lowing you. Well, we must stretch out that lovely day as far as we can. On the third of June, 1844, we shall both be twenty -one-and I suppose that we can do as we please then. The day is long way off, but I will agree to meet you that day at eleven in the morning under the old pine on the river where l met you that day and you told me that you loved me. If either or both should die our souls will know where to find each other. If you will solemnly promise, write these words and only these to my mother- Amour omnia vincit, but do not sign your name.
 SALLY"
 hot me thenl l remember that it gave Time rather slow foot. I wrote the words very neatly and plainly on sheet of paper and mailed it to Mrs. Dunkelberg. wondered if Sally would stand firm, and longed to know the secrets of the future. More than ever I was resolved to be the principal wit ness in some great matter, as my friend in fishery lane had put it.
 I was eight months with Wright & Baldwin when I was offered clerk ship in the office of Judge Westbrook, at Cobleskill, in Schoharie county, at two hundred year and my board. knew not then just how the offer had come, but knew that the senator must 1 have recommended me. I know now that he wanted a reliable witness of | the rent troubles which were growing acute in Schoharie, Delaware and Co., lumbia counties.
 It was trial to go so far from home, as Aunt Deel put it, but both my | aunt and uncle agreed that it was ''for | the best"
 How it wrung my heart, when Mir. | Purvis and I got into the stage at Can- ton, to see my aunt and uncle standing | by the front wheel looking up at me. | How old and lonely and forlorn they | looked! Aunt Deel had her purse in | her hand. l remember how she took a dollar out of it-I suppose it was the only dollar she had-and looked at it | moment and then handed it up to me.
 .'You better take it." she said. "I'm 'fraid you won't have enough"
 How her hand and lips trembled! I have always kept that dollar
 l couldn't see them as we drove away. |
 The judge received me kindly and | gave Purvis a job in his garden. I Il hand and spent most of my time in taking down contracts and correspond ence and drafting them into proper form, which I had the knack of doing rather neatly. l was impressed by the immensity of certain towns in the neighborhood, and there were some temptations in my way. Many people. and especially the prominent men, in- dulged in ardent spirits.
 We had near us there a little section of the old world which was trying, in half-hearted fashion, to maintain it. self in the midst of democracy. It [ was the manorial life of the patroOnS "a relic of ancient feudalism which had its beginning in 1929, when the West Indies company issued it's char ter of privileges and exemptions. That