Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1922-10-26

| De dreaded by the learned ear, but
| Braces ear was not learned; Shottle's
| was as an oyster-shell clapped to his
head; and in music the General could
| not distinguish intention from accom-
"Hast Thou No Feeling to See Me
| Kneelingw and when its last note had
! found a dark corner wherein to die,
| BRACE requested her to sing 1t again.
| She gave him a grateful look the Cen
eral smiled at him; and as the song be-
gan again to mourn Its way, Shottle
said to himself:
IF Providence will lend virtue to a
scheme, that will cost you money, vir-
| gil. Came here to rest after going
through more than Stonewall Jackson
| could stand, and this is what / get i
Oh, it's respectable and ought to be
| endured, and so is casket lined with
satin, but 1t doesn't suit me. Lord
but this atmosphere is unsympathet-
lei"
If you have patience to wait, bed
time always comes; history is strewn
with bedtime. 1t came slow-footed for
Shottle, but quickly enough for BRACE,
with his nerves of steel wire. And
| how delighted he was with his room,
| museum of antiquity, a great four
poster bedstead with a canopy heavy
| enough to have served as deadfall to
some medieval giant. A chair that
| looked like the 0aken throne Of an an
cient Briton, wardrobe wherein Blue
beard might have hanged his wives
| a rough-hewn mantelpiece remindful of
| beetling ciff-these were featured
in the light of hanging lamp big
! enough to turn the ashes of ere
mated dragon.
The night was warm, and through
the windows the air came cool and
lulling from the Gulf; but BRACE lay
| until daybreak before he slept, and
| when he awoke the noOntime bell was
| ringing A negro knocked to tell him
| that dinner was ready. The General
| and Tycie were seated, but Shottle
| was not at the table with them; and
| following Braces look of inquiry, came
explanation from the General:
81 gave him the five hundred dollars
that he was to put, in with the five
hundred furnished by you to be in
vested initiatively in that cotton-bag-
| ging factory at Vicksburg, and he took
an early boat for that city, think it
is fortunate thing for the South
| that they discovered wild plant,
sort Of jute, really better for making
ropes and bagging than either flax or
hemp. / had seen nothing about the
discovery, but am not very close
reader of the newspapers. But Shottle
assures me that this wild jute can be
| grown on the poorest land and that 1t
needs no tending. | am naturally eau
tious, Virgil, and / did not myself in
| vest, but backing your judgment In
| the matter, I loaned Liberty five hum
| dred. When do you expect active Op-
erations toward building the factory?"
| Tycie forestalled Braces answer:
"Oh, am sure it will succeed, and
1t will be great thing, especially for
| Liberty. He has tried so hard, but
somehow his energies haven't been
properly directed And he is so cap
ablel"
She was so confident, and so hopeful
| for, her luckless kinsman, that brace
| played protecting villain to Shottle's
purposes.
| swell, l don't know exactly when
they are to begin work, but soon,
| trust"
She gave him grateful look for his
trust, now perfectly assured of Shot
| ties useful future. But the General
did not appear to be easy in his mind,
! and little later when he and brace
were walking about the yard, beneath
the trees, he referred again to the in
vestment. BRACE would have shut
fed away from it, but the old gentle
man cornered him with a question:
81 want the truth. Did Liberty lie
| to me?'
| Eyes, sir, he did"
Il began to think so the moment he
left me. Well, it is a singular thing,
that when he is with me, 1 believe in
him, but the moment he is gone my
faith has gone with him. / have had
muchsexperience with men, Mr.. Drace,
in the army and elsewhere, but my
| wife's nephew is. the most-I don't
know alewS TO define him. Let me
thai 8oTf for protecting him in the
lSsprese nf essof my wife, and regret that
i :ISmay have seemed in doubt. But
BRACE that fellow makes me angry
I wifi myself. Confound him, he almost
convinces me, atsti4ass- that F.have no
stability Of character And yet am
fond of him. Il am always glad to see
him come. And let. me- say that he IL
Illustrates one truth very clearly-that
ability consists mostly in the fervor
with which we go at a thing. Isup-
pose he-has cost you considerable"
j II Monsieur, how foolish to