HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1923-04-13, Page 7i
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mien; 192
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Eninlnnunnnulnlliunlnnlllnluonll'
= ASTMA SUFFERERS
r. HA1ton W. Parke. Waterdowa, Out
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C you lett a bottle of Asthma Flamed).
with roe. I had relief from the first
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since: can 11e down et night and ret:
the hough bee entirely left mer I have
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= the bottle, which is now nearly finished.
E The good news •bee screed around this
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C 'BRIGGS' ASTHMA REMEDY'
e. $1.50 per bottle. Money back Id not —
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• Whitby, Ont. 2852-2d
,.:IIIIIIIIIIIiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiIIIIIIIIn111=
The Light
IN THE
Clearing
• By
TIMING BACHELLER
(Continued from bupt weep,)
"I do pot insist on your taking this
tack upon you," hq added. "I want
a -man of tact to go and talk with
these people and get theif point of
view. If you don't care to undertake
it I'll send another man."
"I think that I would enjoy this
task," I said in ignorance of that
hornet's nest back „in the hills.
"Take Purvis with you," he said.
"He can take care of the horses, and
as those back -country folk are a
little lawless it will be just as well
to have a witness with you. They
tell one that Purvis is a man of nerve
and vigor."
Thus very deftly and without a-
larming me he had given me a notion
of the delicate nature of my task.
He had great faith in me those days.
Well, I had had remarkably good
luck with every matter he had put in-
to my hands. He used to say that 1
would make a diplomat and playfully
called me "Lord Chesterfield"—per-
haps because I had unconsciously ac-
quired a dignity and courtesy of
manner beyond my years a little.
"Mr. Purvis" had been busy build-
ing up a conversational reputation for
frightfulness in the gardens. He
was held in awe by a number of the
simple-minded men with whom he
worked. For him life had grown
very pleasant again—a sweet, unin-
terrupted' dream of physical power
and fleeing enemies. I tremble to
think what might have happened if
his strength and courage had equaled
his ambition. I smiled when the judge
spoke of his nerve.and vigor. Still I
was glad of his company, for I en-
joyed Purvis.
I had drafted my letters for the
day and was about to close my desk
and start on my journey when Louis
Latour came in and announced that
he had brought the writs from the
judge and was going with me.
"You will need a sheriff's deputy
anyhow, and I have been appointed
for just this kind of work," he as-
sured me.
"I don't object to your going but
you must remember that I am in
command," I
said, a little taken back
for I had no good opinion either of
his prudence or his company.
He was four years older than I but
I had better judgment, poor as it
was, and our chief knew it.
"The judge told me that I could
go but that I should be under your
orders," he answered. "I'm not go-
ing to be a fool. I'm trying to es-
tablish a reputation for good sense
myself."
We got our dinners and set out
soon after one o'clock, Louis wore
a green velvet riding coat and hand-
some top boots and snug -fitting gray
trousers. He was a gallant figure
on the high -headed chestnut mare
which his father had sent to him.
Purvis and I, in our working suits,
were like a pair of orderlies follow-
ing a general. We rode two of the
best saddle horses in the judge's
stable and there were no better in
that region.
I had read the deeds of the men
we were to visit. They were bro-
thers and lived on adjoining farms
with leases which covered three hun-
dred and fifty acres of land. Their
great-grandfather had agreed to pay
a yearly rent forever of sixty-two
bushels of good, sweet merchantable,
winter wheat, eight yearling cattle
and four sheep in good flesh and six-
teen fat hens, all to be delivered in
the city of Albany on the first day of
January of each year. So, feeling
'that I was engaged in a just cause,
I bravely determined to serve the
writs if possible.
It was a delightful ride up into the
highlands through woody just turning
green. Full flowing noiay brooks cut
the road here and there on their way
to, the great river. Latour rode a-
long beside me for a few miles and
began to tell of his sentimental ad-
ventures and conguests. His talk
showed that he had the heart of a
stone. It made me hate him and the
more because he had told of meet-
ing Sally on the street in Albany
and that he was in love with her. It
was while he was telling me how
he had once fooled a country girl
that I balked. He thought it a fine
joke, for his father had cut his al-
lowance two hundred a year so that
the sum they had had to pay in dam-
ages had kept his nose "on the grind-
stone" for two years. Then I stopped
my ltdrae'tli eft egclatnation '*busts
would have datonished it.lord Chester+
field„I am Bore.
The young man drew rein and ask-
ed:
"What's the matter?"
"Only this. I shall have to try to
' lick you before_ we go any further.”
"How's that?"
I'dismot'nted and tightened the
girth of my saddle. My spirit was
taking swift counsel with itself at
the brink of the precipice. It was
then that I seemed to see the angry
face of old Kate—the Silent Woman
—at my elbow, and it counseled me
to speak out. Again her spirit was
leading me. Cahnly and slowly these 1
words'came from my lips. '
"Because I think you are a low -
lived, dirty-souled dog of a man and
if you can stand that without fight-
ing you are a coward to boot."
This was not the language of
diplomacy but at the time it seemed
to me rather kind and flattering.
Latour fiaahed red and jumped off
his horse and struck at me with his
crop. I caught it in my hand and
said :
"Hold on. Let's proceed decently
and in order. Purvis, you hold these
horses while we fight it out."
Purvis caught Latour's horse and
brought the others close to mine and
gathered the reins in his hand. I
shall never forget how pale ho look-
ed and how fast he was breathing
and how hit hands trembled.
1 jumped off and ran for my man.
He faced me bravely. I landed a
stunning blow squarely on his nose
and he fell to the ground. Long be-
fore, Racket had told me that a swift I Tears dimmed my eyes as I read
attack was half the battle and I have and re -read the message. More than
found it so more than once, for I , two of those four years had passed
have never been slow to fight for a and, as the weeks had dragged along
woman's honor or a friend's or my 1 had thought more and more of
own—never, thank God! Latour lay Sally and the day that was cbining.
so quietly for a moment that I was I had bought a suit of evening clothes
frightened. His face was covered
with blood. He came to and I helped
him up and he rushed at me like a
tiger. I reMember that we had a
long round then with bur fists. I
knew how to take sere of my face
and stomach and that I did while he
wore himself out in wild blows and
desperate lunges.
We had dismounted near the end
of a bridge. He fought me to the
middle of 'it and when his speed
slackened I took the offensive and
with such energy that he clinched. I
threw him on the planks and we went
down together, he under me, in a fall
so violent that it shook the bridge
and knocked_the breath out of him.
This seemed to convince Latour that
I was his master. His distress pas -s-
ed quickly and he got up and began
brushing the dust from his pretty
riding coat and trousers. I saw that
washe
winded and in no condition to
resume the contest.
I felt as fresh as if I had mowed
only once around the field, to quote a
saying of niy uncle.
"We'll have to fight it out some
other day," he said. "I'm weak from
the loss of blood, My nose feels as
if it was turned wrong side out."
"It ought to be used to the grind-
stone after two years of practise," I
remarked. "Come down to the brook
and let me wash the blood off you."
Without a word he followed me
and I washed his face as gently as I
could and did my best to clean his
shirt and waistcoat with my handker-
chief. His nose was badly swollen.
"Latour, women have been good to
me," I said. "I've been taught to
think that a man who treats them
badly is the basest of all men. I
can't help it. The feeling has gone
into my bones. I'll fight you as of-
ten as I hear you talk as you did."
He reeled with weakness as he
started toward his horse. I helped
him into the saddle.
"1 guess I'm not as bad as I talk,"
he remarked.
If it were so he must have revised
his view of that distinction which he
had been lying to achieve. It was a
curious type of vanity quite new to
me then.
Young Mr. Latour fell behind me-
as we rode on. The silence was
broken presently by "Mr. Purvis,"
who said:
"You can hit like the hind leg of a
horse. I never see more speed an'
gristle in a feller o' your age."
"Nobody could swing the scythe
and the ax as much as I have with-
out getting some gristle, and the
schoolmaster taught me how to use
it,'' I answered. "But there's one
thing that no man ought to be con-
ceited about."
"What's that?"
"His own gristle. I remember Mr.
Hacket told me once that the worst
kind of a fool was the man who was
smiles and we rode on in silence.
"I guess I've got somethia' here
that ie cocollated to please ye," he
said.
He took a letter from his pocket
and gave it to me. My heart beat
faster when I observed that the sup-
erscription on the envelope was in
li�tlly's handwriting. The letter,
Which bore neither signature nor date
line, contained these words:
"Will you please show this to Mr.
Barton Baynes? I hope it will con-
vince him that there is ori who still
tninks of the days of the past, and of
the days that are coming -especially
one day,"
and learned to dance and gone out to
parties and met many beautiful young
ladies but none of them had the Charm
of Sally. The memory of youth—
true-hearted, romantic wonder-work-
ing youth—had enthroned her in its
golden castle and was defending her
against the present commonplace
herd of mere human beings. No one
of them had played with me in tho
old, garden or stood by the wheat -
field with flying hair, as yellow as
the grain, and delighted me with the
sweetest words ever spoken. No one
of them had been glorified with the
light and color of a thousand dreams.
I rode in silence, thinking of her
and of those beautiful days now re-
ceding into the past and of my aunt
and uncle. I had written a letter to
them every week and one or the
ether had answered e ed it.e
B tween the
lines I hade r
d tected the note
of lone-
liness. They had told me the small
news of the countryside. flow nar-
row and monotonous it all seemed to
me then. Rodney Barnes had bought
a new farm; John Axtell had been
Burt in a runaway; my white mare
had got a spavin!
"Hello Mister!"
I startled out of my reverie with a
little jump of surprise. A big, rough
dressed, bearded man stood in the
middle of the road with a gun OA his
shoulder.
"Where ye goin'?"
"Up to the Van Heusen place."
"Where do ye hail from?"
"Cobleskill."
"On business for Judge Westbrook."
"Yes."
"Writs to serve?"
"Yes," I answered with no thought
of my imprudence.
"Say, young man, by hokey net -
tie! I advise you to turn right a-
round and go back!"
"Why?"
"'Cause if ye try to serve any
writs yell git into trouble."
"That's interesting," I answered.
"I am not seeking a quarrel, but I do
want to see how the people feel about
the payment of their rents."
"Say mister, look down into that
valley there," the stranger began.
"See all them houses—they're the
little houses o' the poor. See how
smooth the land is? Who built them
houses? Who cleaned that land? Was
it Mr. Livingston? By hokey nettie!
I guess not. The men who live there
built the houses an' cleaned the land.
We ain't got nothin' else—not a dol-
lar! It's all gone to the landlord. I
am for the men who made every rod
or that land an' who own not a single
rod of it. Years an' years ago a
king gave it to a man who never cut
one tree or laid one stone on another.
The deeds say that we must pay a
rent o' so many bushels o' wheat a
year but the land is no good for
wheat, an' ain't been for a hundred
years. Why, ye see, mister, a good
conceited over his fighting power and many things have happened in three
liked to talk about it. If I ever get hundred years. The land was willin'
that way I hope that I shall have it to give wheat then an' a -good many
licked out of me." folks was wii!in' to he slaves. By
"I never git conceited—not that I hokey nettie! they had got used to it.
&in't some reason to be," said Mr. kings an' magistrates an' slavery
Purvis with a highly serious counter- didn't look so bad to 'em as they do
ance. He' seemed to have been blind now. Our brains have changed—
to that disparity between his acts and that's what's the master—same as
sayings which had distinguished hirer the soil has changed. We want to he
in Lickitysplit. free like other folks in this county''.
I turned my head away to hide my America has growed up around us
but here we are livin' back in old
Holland three hundred years ago. It
don't set good. We ser lots o' peo-
I le that don't have to 1'- slaves. They
own their land an' they ain't worl:e.l
any harder than we have or been any
more Savin'. That's why I say we
can't pay the rents no more an' ye
mustn't try to make us. By hokey
nettle! You'll have trouble if ye do."
The truth had flashed upon me out
of the words of this simple man. Un-
til then I had heard only one side of
the case. If I were to he the servant
of justice, as Mr. Wright had advised,
what was I to do? These tenants
had been Grimahawed and were being
Grimshawed out of the just fruits of
their toil by the feudal chief whose
remote ancestor had been a king's
favorite. For half a moment I watch-
ed the wavering needle of my com-
pass and then:
"If what you say is true I think
you are right," l said.
"I don't agree with you," said
young Latour. "The patroons have
a clear title to this land. If theen-
ants don't want to pay the rents they
ought to get out and make way for
others."
"Look here, young man, my name
001111111104
Fill the Children •��
• with Delight
Serve them
Morning Noon and Night
PERAIN's'
Sigh in Arrowroot Food
Value.
Give them to Baby
and See Him Grow.
ARROWROOT
a�i�Ie r�'i
IiiI1111111110���`t\
ui`a'i t ktYia dl.6
is Joalsb Curtis, said the gbltppge
"I live in the, first lunge
band side o' the road.. Xou, auty tell
the judge .that I won't Pay rent no
more ---not as long as I live—and I
won't git out, either."
"Mr, Latour, you and Purvis may
go slowly—I'll overtake you noon,"
said.
They went on and left me alone
with Curtin. He was getting excited
and I wished to allay his fears.
"Don't let him try to serve no writs
or there'll he hell to pay in this val-
ley." said Curtis. -
' In that case I shall not try to
serve the write. I don't want to stir
up the neighborhood, but I want to
know the facts. I shall try to see
other tenants and report what they
say. It may lead to a settlement."
We went on together to the top of
the hill near which we had been stand-
ing. Far ahead I saw a cloud of dust
but no other sign of Latour and Pur-
vis. They must have spurred. their
horses into a run. The fear came to
me that Latour would try to serve
the writs in spite of me. They were
in his pocket. What a fool I had
been not to call for them. My com-
panion saw the look of concern in my
face.
"I don't like that young feller,"
said Curtis. "He's in fer trouble."
He ran toward his house, which was
only a few rods beyond us, while 1
started on in pursuit of the two men
at top speed. Before my horse had
taken a dozen jumps I heard a horn
blowing behind me and its echo in
the hills. Within a half a moment a
dozen horns were sounding in the
valleys around me. What a contrast
to the quiet in which we had been
riding was this pandemoniubi which
had broken loose in -the countryside.
A little ahead I could see men run-
ning out of the fields. My horse had
begun to lather, for the sun was hot.
My companions were far ahead. I
could not see the dust of their heels
now. I gave up trying to catch them
and checked the speed of my horse
and went on at a walk. The horns
were still sounding. Some of them
seemed to be miles away. About
twenty rods ahead I saw three riders
in strange costumes come out of a
dooryard and take the road at a wild
gallop in pursuit of Latour and Pur-
vis. They had not discovered me. I
kept as calm as I could in the midst
of this excitement. I remember laugh-
ing when I thought of the mess in
which "Mr. Purvis" would shortly find
himself.
I passed,.•fhe house from which the
three rid s had just turned into the
road. / number of women and an
old ma and three or four children
stood n the porch. They looked at
me in silence as I was passing and
then -f e r
� ga 1 to hiss and jeer. It gave
nye a feeling I have never known
since that
day. i jogged aloe • over
'
o e
6
the brow of a hill when at a white,
frame house, I saw the center toward
which all the men of the country-
side were corning
(Continued next week.)
for '
Gr',
boo given Msi obti oo' U fit r,9
So Dolli olio►vis ! '• Jima 1'iirr
Buy your hardwood flooring by name and
Insist absolutely on Seaman -Kent "Beaver
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If you wish to lay your floor yourself,
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N. CLUFF & SONS, Seaforth.
Genuine tom, and Parts
For Sale Here
e Sell andliso
Only Genuine
Ford Path
FORD MOTOR
Under no circumstances
do we use any but
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Repair work performed
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Our work is handled on
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Always look for the blue
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COOK BROS., HENSALL, ONT.
J. F. DALY, SEAFORTH, ONT.
COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED, FORD, ONTARIO
2528
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