The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1919-08-30
CHAPTER ~.

process; tutors came 70 the house,
and those citizens who yearned for MS
taking down often said: Just wait I'LL
he has to go 10 public school; then
he'll get it," But at twelve George
was sent to q private school IN the
town, and there came from this small
and independent institution no report,
or even rumOr, of Georges getting
anything that he was thought 10 de-
serve; therefore the yearning still per-
sisted, though growing gaunt with
feeding upon itself.
The yearners were still yearning
when George at sixteen was sent
away TO great prep school.
Now" they said brightly, hell get
II! He'll find himself among boys just
as important u their home town as he
is, and they Il knock the stuffing out
of him whsn he puts on his airs with
them! oh, but that would be worth
something TO see. They were mis-
taken, it appeared. for when George
returned few months later he still
seemed to have the same stutfing. He
had been deported by the authorities.
the Ofrense being stated as ''insolence
and profanity" in fact, he had given
| the principal Of the school instruc-
tons almost Identical with those for
merly objected TO by the Rev. Malloch
| Smith.
But he had not got his come-upance,
and those who counted upon ii were
embittered by his appearance upon
the downtown streets driving dog
cart at a criminal speed. making pc
destrians retreat from the crossings,
and behaving himself as if he "owned
the EARTH"
When Mr.. George Anderson Nina
fer came home for the holidays at
Christmastide i'm his sophomore year
probably no great change had taken
place inside him, but his exterior was
visibly altered. Nothing about him
encouraged any hope that he had re-
ceived his cOme-upance; on the con
trary, the yearners for that stroke OF
justice must yearn even more itch
ingly: the gllded youths manner haC
become polite, but his poIiteness wa:
of a kind which democratic people
found hard to bear.
Cards were out for a ball in hi:
honor, and this pageant of the ten
antry was held In the ballroom Of tn.
Anderson mansion the night after hi!
arrival. 1t was, as Mrs. Henry Frank
lin Foster said of Isabel's wedding, e,
big Amberson-style thing" All "oIC
citizens" recognized as gentry received
cards, and of course so did their dane
ing descendants.
The orchestra and the caterer wer,
brought from away. in the Anderson
manner. though this was really q ges
ture-perhaps one more of habit thai
of ostentation-for servitors Of gayet,
as proficient as these importation
were nowadays TO be found in tn,
town. 1t was the last of the great
long-remembered dances that "every
body talked about"-there were get
ting to be so many people in town tina
no later than the next year there wer
too many for everybody" TO hear o
even such a ball as the Ambersons'.
George, white-gloved, with a garde
MIA in his buttonhole. stood with hi
mother and the Major. EMPOWERED II
the big red-and-gold drawing room
downstairs, to receive" the guests
and. standing thus together, the tri
offered a picturesque example of goo,
looks persistent through three gene
rations. The Major, his daughter an,
his grandson were of q type all Am
berson: tall. straight and regular, wit
dark eyes, short noses, good chins
and the grandfather's expression, n
less than the grandson's, was one o
family amused condescension. Their
was a difference, however. The grand
sons unlined young face had nothin
to offer except this condescension
the grandfather's had other things t
say. 1t was a handsome, worldly oil
face. conscious Of its Importance, bu
persuasive rather than arrogant, an
not without tokens of sufferings with
stood. The Majors short white hal
was parted in the middle, like hi
grandson's, and In all he stood q
briskly equipped to the fashion as tn
| exquisite young George.
Isabel. standing between her fathe
and her son, caused a vague amaze
ment in the mind Of the latter. He
age, just under forty, was for Georg
. a thought Of something as remote a
the moons Of Jupiter: he could no
possibly have conceived such an ag
ever coming to be his own: five year
was the limit of his thinking in time
Five years ago he had been a chill
. not yet fourteen; and those five year
were an abyss. Five years hence h
would be almost twenty-four; wha
. the girls he knew called zone Of tn
older men," He could imagine himsel
at twenty-four, but beyond that hi
; powers staggered and refused tn
!, task. He saw little essential differ
ence between thirty-eight and eight,
eight, and his mother was to him No
woman but wholly q mother. tn
woman, Isabel. was stranger TO he
son; as completely 4 stranger rs
he had never in his life seen her @
heard her voice. And il was tOnigh
while he stood with her, receiving.
, that he caught disquieting giimpS
; of this stranger whom he thus fee
, ingly encountered for the first time.