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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1932-01-28, Page 6THE SEAFORTfH NEWS. 0 John Uri Lloyd (Continued from last week.) "Jedge," said Mr. Hardman, at last, "I have got the best of the devil and the law too, and you -ail can go home artd'7 sleep. The village' ain't mine, law or no law; and ,I ain't a -going to help the law steal. I .gets drunk with my own money, which ain't no harm to the "mikes of me and don't hurt no other 'feller nor the Lord either, but 1 never intends to buy nothing for my- self with the money I'v'e squeezed out of widders and orphans, and li-don't intend to let the law make me a thief first and a wretch second. Folks, I have d'owned the devil, and the law, which taken together are mighty hard for a man to do. I don't intend to have Ito family disgrace, and I don't intend to steal nothing. Fellers, old man Nordman don't have to shoot the sheriff." opened the the stove door and thrust the dry document into the blaze. A fla'sh as of tinder, a puff, a twisting, blackening paper, and then —ashes. Those about drew back in amazement. "You can go home and sleep, folks." said the Corn Bug turning from the stove, "there .ain't no copy to disturb you -all, and there ain't no taverns, sardines, eggnog and julips for the likes of me. Come, Cupe, come, we, don't live in the hotel no more; it •are gettin' late, and it are raining, and the mud are deep betwixt hereand. the cabin." The Corn Bug opened the door, and together with old Cupe stalked out into the darkness, CHATTIER VIII. The Story of the Colonel. New Year's Eve, 1863, had been set apart by the Village Circle as .a spe- cial holiday, the intention of the members being "to see the old year out" and listen to the reading of 'a special paper by the 'pastor, Mr. Jones, which was to be replied to by Colon- el Lurids'on. The"Conn Bug had "tak- en sick," as the doctor expressed it, the morning after the meeting men- tioned in the preceding chapter, and his illness proved to be serious. Too obstinate to care for himself, the ec- centric fellow neglected medical aid, and acute pneumonia, a common fa- tality in many parts, of Kentucky, had followed, quickly succeeding an ord- inary cold. Thursday, December 31, 1863, dawned waren and sultry. The ther- mometer registered: seventy that morning, and about noon a heavy mist 'settled -Iver hill and valley. This was ` :followed in the afternoon by a drizzl- ing rain that sifted down in fine par- ticles, .which sopped ' the grass and stuck together 'the pendent dead leaves always clinging, during the soft weather in mid -winter, to the lower beech 'limbs. In the evening the members of the Stringtown. Circle met according to expectation, but owing to the storm many of them were detained and straggled to their place's. The Corn Bug alone was finally absent: as has been said, he lay dangerously ill in his hum'b'le cabin. The grocer's boxy sat, as usual, be'hind the counter, ready to take notes in shotrhand on a quire of white paper such as is used. for wrapping tea, and I sat on a stool beneath the hanging lamp, just, back of the favored members of the Circle. Silence fell upon the persons who first presented themselves: a shadow seemed to hang •over the Circle. The reserve was .finally broken by Chimney Bill Smith, .a bearded man, who vowed when Fort Sumter was bombarded, never to silt his hair or whiskers until the South ' waa free, This man regaled the Circle by relat- ing the story of 'the."mother of Sam Hill's wife's sister," the story 'teller being typicalof more thanone pert son well known and :popular in the commonwealth of Kentucky. This story was a monstrous exaggeration, quite humorous and yet threaded with satire and• irony.'Although a welcome diversion in its place the author be- lieves it better to exclude it fro'tn this narrative. From the . humorous sketch of Chimney Bill it was. apparently a long step to the dissertation 'which followed, an essay on storms, deliv- ered by Prof, Dtalce. Yet it was char- acteristic of the Circ'l'e t'hatit could pass with relish from one extreme to the other. At the conclusion of Professor Drake's essay,the evening being not far advanced, Judge Elford' address- ed Mr. Jones. "Pastor, it is your turn now. Let us have your promised essay on Death, to be answered by Co'lo'nel Luri.dson," The pastor arose, threw his long hair back from his forehead : and mildly remarked: "Before beginning to read I will say that the title does not always clearly define the contents of a hook; and while my paper deals with the subject of death, its caption, is 'The Life Line. " Then. in a slow, deliberate on; quite fn contrast to that of bald, spectacled Prof. Drake, the essayist read on untinterrupted and without pause until he reached the closing sentence:— "Let entence:"Let us think, then of the end point of this drama. Since sons can foresee 'jtist when the tread on the life line will falter, let us accept, that it mat- ters little wheher in the morning or the evening it be that we take the awful plunge. To -day, never, to- morrow, . loosens our holds of earth- ly problems." Then raising his eyes ' from the paper, he glanced first at Judge El- ford, who, immovable, made no re- sponse, then at Prof. Make, who, leaning his head on his hands, gazed intently on :the floor. Tiien h'fs ques- tioning look passed without response successively around the circle, from one to the other, and finally rested a- gain on the face of the colonel, whose part it was to answer the essay. Standing alone, gazing intently at the upright 'colonel, the parson . folded his arms across his chelstan'd deliber- ately said, looking directly into Lur- idson's eyes: "Do you know, my friend, you who are to reply to this essay, do you know when you ' or I will loosen our hold on the. life -line? Are you, prepared for the end of the game of life (What play of thought sped from man to 'than as the eyes of these two met cannot be told in words, but could be felt by those who caught the meeting of badse eyes. Tis not when steel meets steel, nor .when flint meets flint that the fire flies, but when steel Meets flint. Perhaps none present realized that such opposites were ,face to face. For a second neither mdve'd. 'T'he parson held theunfinished essay in his hand, while the colonel stoically chewed hiis quid of'tabaoco,,apparent- ly indifferent to surroundings. Sud- denly the latter, looking the tranquil parson in the ,eye replied as if impell- ed by a mental question exacted from him hyeleis oppotlent1 "You can put your paper away, Mr* Jones," he said, "I have 'heand enough end alt ready to say : my • speec'h. Pahson, no preacher ever. told the truth .betel' than you have told it. I look force,: they tell me, Mr. Jones, but I am very tendale hearted. 'I wouldn't, cause a shivah of pain to man, woinan or child, and I. wouldn't hahfn even a snail. You use ,words too big het me; I can't anwer you after. the seine style, "buto as old General Haydon, ,of Virginia, used to 'say: 'It don't' mattalhi much about the grommet' so' we get the ,sense.' I reck- on, i1'Ir. Jones, that I. can tell a story about as well as you can, but I can't talk in a general way as you do about unseen things. I must relate some- thing about what myeyes have look- ed at; I can't sling in• high-toned words either: but if any man under- takes .to beat me in stating' plain farcts about what' ' he knows, you can bet, soh, hehas got -to speak straight. Folks 'can understand Richard Lurid- son without a dictionary. "I agree with you, Reverend, when you say that noefellcw knows just vehen he is going to hand in his tick- ets, ,an'd to all of us that the thoughYt 5r of Heath is dlnnnaiily unpleasant ',h4y heart is tondah, I'1'1 swear to it gentle- men; I ain't fo blame if lily beard is stiff. Tlie• heart of a hard -shelled tur- tle is as soft to t'h'e touch•` as that of, a ntouse,-sun. Once when I:shot wild" pigeon, an innocent little bird, and picked the creattere up, it turned its little head to'wards me and 1'oolse;i me int the eye. What, cause : had 1 to take that small life? a life; saeidfced for a mout'h'ful! or -black meat? Pal= son, you may believe me or not, but that was a cruelty my tendon heart t'hrobs over yet. But I ain't a cow- ard, lir. Julies; there is a "dictinetion between brut'ality :and 'bravery, : and when it comes to a figlvt I ant always on hand. I halve seen pious -like men of the church, more cruel than I am. I have known deacons who kneel in the `Amen', corner, hunt all day „Sat-. urdlay'wbth-a gun, seeking a covey of harmless quail, and shoot them down like flies,—take the lives of thele •help- less creatures that never insulted any man; .and the next Sabbath these same pious feltaws sit in church.' trying to look like angels while the preacher reads out of the Good Book, 'Thou shalt not kill!" I ani a consistent man Judge," con't'inued the colonel, "1 don't perten,d to be religious, but : I do claim that I am consistent; and while my heart is very' tend'ah, as I have admitted, yet no man dare insult rte." "While you'were reading your sob- er. rigmarole, P'ah'stn, I was thinkiag off and on o'f a case in which I was con'stru'ed itt ole V'r'ginia, and just when you stopped end looked up I had reached the uo;nt where I seized the gullet of the .critter; and as you lowered the paper and looked me in the eye, it seemed as though that. same young fellow's' face rose,up ael fore roe. - B'u't ,pshaml what's the use of thinking about things that have passed away?, That fellow brought his pun'ishment on nils own head." The colonel lapsed into silence and stared at the stove. "Tell us all about it, or let lir: Jones finish his essay," requested, the clerk. "Go. on with your story," urg- ed a chorus of voices. "I relinquish the field and beg you to oblige us," added t'heparson, in a slightly ironical tone. "Well, since 'that day I 'haven't talk- ed about the episode, for, as I have already told you, there ain't no use in worrying over the troubles of an- other fellow, ,especially if the other fellow is d'ea'd,' and it don't do : no good, either, to think about the mis- takes that other p'eop'le have made, and that there feilow made the mis- take of his life then and there. The blunders of dead people should be forgotten." Again the 'sipeaker. paused, The'eyes of the, judge and the teacher were fastened inquiringly upon the parson, who now seemed out of place, yet preternatura'l'ly calm. "Con'tin'ue your narrative, Colonel 1Luridson," he said coldly; "you havesaid that you are not a coward." "I have kindah gloomy feelings to- night and can't tell a story quite as well as I should," resumed Lurdson, casting a b'Iack look at the parson. "'Once, over 111 pie Virginia, I• .was walking. along a meadow path sinok- ing a cigar thinkingnothin,g, as most people do when they are smak:ng, when suddenly I stopped just. as I was about to step on a great black snake stretched in the walk. I raised my heel and stamped the head of that sarpen't into the earth. I.am such a soft hearted fool, that I can't look back at that display of bru'tai'1'ty with- out shuddering. Not for the snake; no, I heave .killed hundreds of such. varmints, but for a little baby snake that I then saw stretched beside the mother—a little innocent snake not longer than a peed'. That a night there was a rain -storm, and I'll swear, gen- tlemen, .that I lay awake an hour thinking of the poor critter perishing. I ant a very tender-hearted man and am not to blame if my cheek.. is rough." .Evidently the vain braggart was loth to describe the event of "honour". that he had unwittingly introduced. "The story, please," quietly insisted the parson, "Wald, it is not meth of a story af- ter all, and I can give it in a few words. I suppose you admit, P'a11'son, that back in ole Virginia there is more honah among gen'tle'men than 'there is it other places, and begging, pardon of the persons present, more gentle- men to the acre. Lt don't require book learning itt ole Virginia to make a ,gentleman, neither does book learT- ing make a, gentleman anywhere, though as a rule, it does no haran;,hut as you know, ole Virginia turns out gentlemen of both kin'd's,; gentlemen born ;and gentlemen learned. I be- long to the fist class of gents, which, begging pardon of some of the 'per- sons present, I coiis'id'ah the higher "The, nader class," remarked the parson drily, "know something about your type of gen'tlemen., Bet we are all impat'ien't to hear., your episode, as you call it, 'We 'knowyou are a gentle - 'man, but are waiting for the story:" suh,'a gentlem'an of old Vir- glrlia,''cf thefirst. class can't be list stilted. If a fellow attempts to insult Mill, either the )fellow dies or the -,gen- tletnandies. In either case no dirt sticks' to the gentleman, for hiphoots are on. You see, pahsou, there is an- other -phase of the matter when it comes to ,the :question of honah, a phase that common people, low -horn peo'ple1 cannot raise theinselve's into. The higher 'strung the gentleman, the etasier;it is to affect his bona , and to a high-strung man the smnaller'the-re- flection the greater is the insult. Only persons of the higher ordercan. com- prehend this fact. Now, tip North," 'and Ltnrid'son turned :directly upon 01r, Jones, "where the finer qualities do not alppeai, where a'gentle'man is never horn a genttesnlan, insults are taken that• in ole Virginia would be remembered to the *ied generation. Colonel Clough of trey county lined the granldson of the .man who insulted, his grai)dfathe'r. Not that the col- onel's grandlflather did not kill his man .('for he did), not that the col'onel's father did not kill the Man's son, (for he did), not that the son of diet anon the colonel's father killed had:, done anything pe'rs'onally to injure the col- onel (for he had not), but because every `killing of that family done by his, descendants raised the honah of the ole colonel. There ]have • been twelve men shot with their boots: on by the descen'dan'ts ofColonel Clough,, and I saw four of thein bite the lush. You bet that family proposes to keep untarnished the honah of the great colonel." I IOn'oe more the equivocating speak- er faditered, anal once more Mr. Jones, as though determined to co'm'pel' the delivery of the promised narrative, Said in a.loiw, insistent voice: "Your awn story, colonel, yowl• own story." "Well, it ain't a long story, and it ain't the only episode of the kind I have eanperienced. I c'an't see why I think of this one just now, either, for I have' been engaged in others more' exciting, but you ,seem to drive me to it. There was, for example, just After I becameof age, a disturbing charac- ter in our ,parts who 'went around in- sulting persons generally by ask'ng questions about their affairs, but he knew well enough ''who not to insult. IHe never but once touched one of t'he born gentlemen of our county, and never again did his tongue- wag about any one. This, is ho'w it was; one day he met one of our niggers, and in an impudent sort of way asked a ques- tion: concerning our family. Now Pah- son, our .fancily affairs are not the pub- lic's property, and when that nigger told me of the impudence of the in- quisitive person, it meant pistols,: and it was pistol's. It wasn't my fault that he wouldn't shoot, and stood like a crummy with his pistol in his hand looking at me Wen ole 'Tim Warman counted three; and I guess as he felt the sting of the btillet.that' let out his heart's 'blood that he wished he !hadn't asked the nigger of a born gentlemlan whether his young master had reach- ed ihome eached'home ,safely 'the night he drank too much .nicker and raised hell in the vil- lage. It ain't safe to question' nig- gers about their ma'ster's affairs, !The Virginian here turned' his eyes away from the parson, who now stood as if 'he were an antagonist, determin- ed not to let hien .escape. "Why do you evade your duty?" he asked lowering his voice, "Are you a cowcard Mr. Luridson, Your last epi- sode,' not your first." 'Fire flashed from the colonel's eye; he cast a quick, glance at the parson, who with folded arms stood facing him, and then, as if resperti g the cloth of the man of God, or subdued by thlat placid_ gaze, he turned his eyes toward the ceiling, "The last affair to this date you mean, Pahison, pot ,necessarily .the :last one. 'Neo man knows'' when he may strike a quarrel, any more than he knows jest when he may stip off the tight -rope y'ou were preaching df," he replied, leering in a sinister way at the parson. "You want my episode and you seem to want it bad. Now yon s'h'all have it, and I .call • these gentlemen to witness that you forced me to relate it. II'm not ashamed of my record, nor afr'a'id to ,make a clean breast of it, but. I hey done all a gentleman can d10 to save trouble, and if trouble cone's it ain't my fault. "'This is the way it happened: I hain't much schooling, but :I hey enough to ansah ail the use a bon.i' gentleman has fer hook lean iing,, ,I went to school' until I could read the news'papah and:, write a fair leiter, and then I found'it'uselessto spend more time with books. II didn't -intend to write a novel or edit a dictionary, end I didn't prolp'ose to fool away my time on matters that were .of no particular value to a -gen't'leman of, leisure, so I dropped school and turned my atten- tion to foxes and dogs. "Wall, that ole schoolhlou'se s until this .war came,lt'oneralble asoa schoolhouse' should s'tan'd'bt our forces retired and It d the Yankee a lines were advanced, beyond us, the house web disgraced by this Freed- man's .Bureaus You wo•uldii't: believe it if a gentleman. like 'myself didn't certilfy to the fact, but a Yankee wah THURSDAY, JANUARY ,:28, 1932, sent to oursection and' Ie'iggalt school wah started in the very house where I had carred toy name on the bench.. Gelptlelnen, a' iiiggah' school." '"Well," said a bit. Janes, "te'Ii es about the 'niggalli school," • "'There aiu'•t much , to tell, fer it didn''t las'' long, A meeting 91 neigli- bnairltood gen 'tlemen followed, and I wah delegated to direct that-Ysnkee to. close the doors and' leave the co.unitry." "Wel]?" "I laid the case befoalt the yotulg man who taught the school, .and one Word led to anolhalc,nntil, finding that he wean determined to persist in Itis offensive course, I ,told hint that he most either close that school or fight." "Aced be fought you?„. '"No, The long-haired varmint hadn't sputilk enough to fight; be turne'd his . bade, said, insolently: "Scene me, please, but I hew this duty to perform,' ,acrd shat_ the doah in my face:" PROFESSIONAL CARDS. ' Medical DR. H. ouipI3 BIOSIS, Physician, and Surgeon, Late of London, Hos- pital, ospital, London, England. Special attention to diseases of the -eye, ear, nose and throat. Office and nevi - deuce behind Dominion Bank: Office Phone No, 5; Residence Phone; 184. ` DR. F. J. BURROWS, -Seaforth. Office and residence,' Goderich street,•,, east of the United Church.' Coroner for the County of Huron. Telephone' No. 46. 'DIR.. C: • - MIAIOI(IA'Y.—C. 'Mackay. honor graduate'. of ,Trinity University and gold medallist of Trinity Medical College; member of the College of Physicians; and Surgeons, of Ontario. "And you-” "Kiclked, the doalt dawn, sized the striplin'g by the throat and `squeezed Nis rlilfe' otit,.. II didn't intend to Icill the boy, fer he wahn't moh'n half grovtnt; but, aftah I' got my- clutches on his throat and :thought Of the insult he had given me and saw a nigga'In's face. 'beh'ind my ole de,ak, I grew desperate, and vehen I threw him onto the floor his face was, as black as the slein olf: the n'iggahs around him," "And then—" "Njothfn." •I wiped myhands•I o t my, kerc'hief, galled my clogs and left the fool n'i,ggahs and their cowardly teach - ah,, fahad ' done my duty, 'I had given the Yankee and the niggahs a lesson; and I doti''t hey no s'quea'ni's now' over the episode. 111 he had 'been a -bohn gentleman I would hey shot hint in his tracks; but as k wan, I choked him as I would' a varmint. Nothin' but a coward is ever ohoked to death. Perish rte, if any long-haired Yankee sh'all insult Colone'l Lurisdon," "What was the loan's name?" 'J'ones, sash, Jones, Same name as youhself, Babson, .a very cenrnion name," he said with a ,sneer, "anda very ordinary moo, sun," Mr, Tones stood for a incitement as if unconcerned: no change ` of facial expnession, no. movement bespeaking unusual' in'terest in the subject so pbrulptly .ended. Then he spoke in a soft, low' tone, so sweet and meld that it is strange his voice could be 'heard through the roaring of the storm that eso:w suddenly flared up -as if the clos- ing of the story head been the signal 'for its tumultuous onslaugh't. "See," he said, "the clodc poins to twelve. The New.Y;ear is upon -us:" and as we turned our gaze upon the face pd the clock, one by one the husky gong struck, each .notethe as- thmatic cry 'quivering hoarsely until the next' peal came: 'At the last.'stroke the 'parson d'rop'ped upon his knees. "Let us 'pray," ' he murmured. The building trembled in the temlpest, the hanging sign squeaked and cried as:it' flapped back and forth, the wind,. moaned and sung through the stove' pipe, the, shutter banged to and fro, but all were unheard ''by those who unexpectedly were called to listen to the sweet, solemn' prayer of the tnan IHe,,prayed for his :suffering coun- try, now in' the throes of civil war; fo'r the p'edple .cif the colonel in Vir- ginia; and .'his brave countrymen' • in the Southern arn'ly;..he asked b.less- ings on the community in which he, a man of the North, then chau'ced to dwell; also on his own peolpie at home, and prayed for his own .:breth- ren in the trenches. Before closing Ile asked God to forgive the last speaker, who, a self-confessed murderer,' stood,' unrepen'tan't and finally he murmur- ed a player for t'he soul of the ' un- suspecting boy -teacher who, in cold. blood, had lost Itis life by the hand of the murderous colonel. To be continued. Persian Balm appeals instantly' to the dainty woman. S'ti'mulating, the skin, making it velvety s'o'ft in texture, it creates and preserves coimplexion•'s of exquisite charms. Delicately� frag- rant. Cool and delightful to use..Es- pec'ia1'ly recommended to soothe and dispel roughness or chafing.' _'Stim:ul- ating and ' invigorating, Imparts a youthlful loveliness and protects and en'han'ces the most delicately -textured skin, Persian Balm is the unrivalled toilet requisite. IDE, F. J.,R.'FOIRISITER—Eye, Ear Nose and. Throat. Graduate in Medi - eine, University of Toronto 1897. Late Als'sistant New York Ophthal-: mic anid'Aural Institute, Moorefield's Eye, and Golden Square throat hospi- bela, Lo•nd'on, England: At Comm- ercial Hotel, Seaforth, 3rd, Monday ia, each month, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.nr. DIR. W. C, SIBROAT.—Graduate of Faculty of Medicine, University of Western Ontario, London. Member of College of Physicians and Sur- geon's of Ontario. Office in rear o€ Aberhart's_ drug store, • Se-aforth. Phone 90, . Hours 1.30-4 p.m., 7,3® -9 p.m. Other hours by appointment.' Dental DIR. J. A. MIU'NIN, Successor to Dr. R. R. Ross, g; aduate -of North- western University, Chicago, IIL •Li - centiate Royal College of Dental Sur- geons, Toronto. Office over ,'lino• hardware, Main St., Seaforth, Phone 151. DR. F. J. .BIEOHIELY,• graduate Royal College of Dental- Surgeons. Toronto, Office over W. R. Smith's. grocery, Main St., Seaforth,' Phones, office 185W, residence 1654. .Auctioneer. GEORGE ELLIOTT, L•icensel Auctioneer for the County of Huron. Arnanrgemenks can be made for Sale Date ab The Seaforth News. Charges m'od'erate and satisfaction gtiranteed_ WATSON ' AND REID'S REAL ESTATE AND IN'SIPR•ANCE AGENCY (Succssors to James' Watson) MAIIN ST., SiEA,i10'RTH,' ONT. All kinds of Insurance risks effect- ed at lowest rates in First -Class Companies. THE McKILLOP Mutual. Fire Insu Insurance C. FARM AiNID ISOLATED'; TOWN PiRIOPERTY, ON -1,Y, ' INISUR1 1F Of'ficers —.Jahn 'Ben'mewies, 'Brod. hagen, President; Jas. `Connolly,'G db- erich, Vice -(Pres.; ID. P. 'McGrew:1r,. Seaforth 'No. 4, Seca-Treas. - 1D'ireotors-IGeo, . M'c1Gartn'ey, Sea.. 'forth` No. 3; ,Alex,, Broadfoot, Sea - forth No. 3; "Dames Evans, ;Seafoetfi' No, 15; IRobt. ;Ferris, Blyth INlo. 1; Jas. - Shol'dioe, Walton No. 4; John Tepper, jBrucefiel'd:; 'W'illiam Knox, :Landes -' borough. Agents -alas. Watt,;Rsyth No. 1;,W E. 1-Iinchley., ISea'forth; J. ,'A. Murray .> tSe'aforblt !Na. 3; W. 'J, Yeo, 'Olindonr' No..3; R. IG.lfianmuth, Bornholm. Auditor's — Jas. 'Kerr, lSea'forrlb; ;'Phos.' Moylan, ISeIa'forth NO. 5. 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