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the CARTERS VILLE COURANI|
VOLUME 1.
■n„. kIjDKU’S backslide
Him Trip to Macon and Wliat llcfoll Him
on the Journey.
Elder Brown told his wife good-bye at
the farm-house door as mechanically as
t hi- proposed trip to Macon, ten
miles away, was an every-day affair,
while, as si matter of fact, many years
hud elapsed since, unaccompanied, he
set foot in the city. lie did not kiss her.
Many very good men never ki-s tlieir
wives. But small blame attaches to the
elder for his omission on this occasion,
since his wife had long ago discouraged
all amorous demonstrations on the part
of her liege lord, and at this particular
moment was filling the parting moments
with a rattling list of directions concern
ing thread, buttons, hooks, ifeedles and
all the many etceteras of an industrious
housewife’s basket. The elder was la
boriously assorting these postscript com
missions in his memory, well knowing
that to return with any one of them neg
lected would cause trouble in the family
circle.
Elder Brown mounted his patient steed
that stood sleepily motionless in the
warm unlight, with his great pointed
ears displayed to the right and left, as
though their owner had grown tired of
the life burden their weight indicted
upon him, and was, old soldier fashion,
ready to forego the once rigid alertness
of early training for the pleasures of
frequent rest on arms.
“Aml, elder, don’t you forgit them
caliker scraps, or you’ll be wantin’ kiver
soon an’ no kiver will he a-comin’.”
Elder Brown did not turn his head,
hut merely let the whip hand, which
had been checked in its backward mo
tion, fall as he answered mechanically.
The beast he bestrode responded with a
rapid whisking of its tail and a great
show of effort, as it ambled oil down the
sandy road, the rider’s long legs seeming
now and then to touch the ground.
But as the zigzag panels of the rail
fence crept behind him, and he felt the
freedom of the morning beginning to act
upon his well-trained blood, the mechan
ical manner of the old man’s mind gave
place to a mild exuberance. A weight
seemed to be lifting from it ounce by
ounce as the fence panels, the weedy
corners, the persimmon sprouts ..and sas
safras bushes, crept away behind him, so
that by the time a mile lay between him
and the life partner of his joys and sor
rows he was in a reasonably contented
frame of mind, and still improving.
It was a queer figure that crept along
the road that cheery May morning. It
was tall and gaunt, and had been for
thirty years or more. The long head,
bald on top, covered behind with iron
gray hair, and in front with a short
tangled growth that curled and kinked
in every direction, was surmounted by
an old-fashioned stove-pipe hat, worn
and stained, but eminently impressive.
An old-fashioned Henry Clay cloth coat,
stained and threadbare, divided itself
impartially over the donkey’s back and
dangled on 1 1 is sides. This was all that
remained of the elder’s wedding suit of
forty years ago. Only constant carC,
and use of late years limited to extra oc
casions, had preserved it so long. The
trousers had soon parted company with
tlieir friends. Tlie substitutes were red
jeans, which, while they did not well
match his court costume, were better
able to withstand the old man’s übuse,
for if, in addition to his frequent reli
gious excursions astride his beast, there
ever was a man who was fond ot sitting
down with his feet higher than his head,
it was this self-same Elder Brown.
The morning expanded, and the old
man expanded with it; for while a vig
orous leader in his church, the elder at
home was, it must be admitted, an un
complaining slave. To the intense as
tonishment. of tin* beast be rode, there
came new vigor into the whacks
fell upon his tlanks; and the beast al
lowed astonishment to surprise him into
real life and decided motion. Some
where in the elder’s expanding soul a
tune had begun to ring. Possibly he
took up the far faint tune that came from
the stragglins gang of negroes away off
in the field, as they slowly chopped amid
the thread-like rows of cotton plants
which lined the level ground, for the
melody he hummed softly and then sang
strongly, in the quavering, catchy
tones of a good old country churchman,
was: “I’m glad salvation’s free.”
It was during the singing of this hymn
that Elder Brawn’s regular motion
inspiring strokes were for the first time
varied, lie began to hold his hickory
up at certain pauses in the melody, and
beat the changes upon the sides of his as
tonished steed. The chorus under this
arrangement was:
“I’m glad salvation’s free,
I’m glad salvation’s free ,
I’m glad salvation's free for all,
I'm glad salvation's .free.”
Wherever there is an italic, the hicko
ry descended. It fell about as regularly
and after the fashion of the stick beating
upon the bass drum during a funeral
march. But the beast, although con
vinced that something serious was im
pending. did not consider a funeral
march appropriate for the. occasion. lie
protested, at first, with vigorous whisk
ings of his tail and a rapid shifting of his
ears. Finding these demonstrations un
f,V tiling, and convinced that some ur
gent cause for hurry had suddenly iti
vaded the elder's serenity, as it had his
ow n, be began to cover the ground with
frantic leaps that would have surprised
his owner could he have realized w hat
was going on. But Elder Brown's eyes
were half closed, and he was singing at
at the top of his voice. Lost in a trance
of divine exultation, for he felt the ef
fects of the invigorating motion, bent
only on making the air ring with the
lines which he dimly imagined were
drawing upon him the eyes of the whole
female congregation, he was supreme-
ly unconscious that hi- beast was hurry
ing.
And thus the excursion proceeded,
until suddenly a shote, surprised in his
calm search for roots in a fence corner,
darted into the road, and stood for an in
stmt gazing upon the new-comers with
that idiotic stare which only a pig can
imitate. The sudden appearance of this
unlooked-for apparition acted strongly
upon the donkey. With one supreme
effort he collected himself into a motion
less mass of matter, bracing bis front
legs wide apart; that is to say, he stop
ped short. There he stood, returning
the pig’s idiotic stare with an interest
which must have led to the presump
tion that never before in all bis varied
life had he seen such a singular little
creature. End over end went the man
of prayer, finally bringing up full length
in the sand, striking just as he should
have shouted “free” for the fourth time
in bis glorious chorus.
Fully convinced that his alarm had
been well-founded, the shote sped out
from under the gigantic missile hurled at
him by the donkey, and scampered
down the road, turning first one ear and
then the other to detect any sounds of
pursuit. The donkey, also convinced
that the object before which he had halt
ed was supernatural, started back vio
lently upon seeing it apparently turn to
a man. But seeing that it had turned to
nothing but a man, he wandered up into
the deserted fence corner, and began to
nibble refreshment from a scrub oak.
For a moment the elder gazed up into
the sky, half-impressed with the idea
that the camp-meeting platform had
given way. But the truth forced its way
to the front in his disordered understand
ing at last, and with painful dignity he
staggered into an upright position, and
regained his beaver. He was shocked
again. Never before in all the long
years it had served him had he seen it in
such shape. The truth is, Elder Brown
had never before tried to stand on his
head in it. Vs calmly as possible he be
gan to straighten it out, caring hut little
for the dust upon his garments. The
heaver was Ids special crown of dignity.
To lose it was to be reduced to a level
with the common wool-hat herd. lie
did his best, pulling, pressing and push
ing, but the hat did not look natural
when he had finished. It seemed to
have been laid off into counties, sections
and town lots. Like a well-cut jewel it
had a face for him, view it from whatev
er point he chose, a quality which so
impressed him that a lump gathered in
his throat, and his eyes winked vigor
ously.
Elder Brown was not, however, a man
for tears. He was a man of action. The
sudden vision which met his wandering
gaze, the donkey calmly chewing scrub,
buds, with tlie green juice already ooz
ing from the corners of his frothy mouth,
acted upon him like magic. He was,
after all, only human, and when lie got
hands upon a piece of brush, he thrashed
the poor beast until it seemed as though
its already lialf-tanned hide would be
eternally ruined. Thoroughly exhaust
ed at last, he wearily straddled his sad
dle, and with his chin upon his breast
resumed tlie early morning tenor of his
way.
11.
“Good-morniti’, sir.” s
Elder Brown leaned over the little
pine picket which divided the book
keepers’ department of a Macon ware
house from the room in general, and
surveyed the well-dressed back of a gen
tleman who was busily figuring at a
desk w ithin. The apartment was car
petless, and the dust of a decade lay
deep on the old books, shelves, and the
familiar advertisements of guano and
fertilizers which decorated the room.
An old stove, rusty w ith the nicotine
contributed by farmers during tiie pre
vious season while waiting by its glow
ing sides for tlieir cotton to be sold, stood
straight up in a bed of sand, and festoons
of cobwebs clung to the upper sashes of
the murky windows. The lower sash of
one window had been raised, and in the
yard without, nearly an acre in extent,
lay a few bales of cotton, with jagged
holes in tlieir ends, just as the sampler
had left them. Elder Blown had time to
notice all these familiar points, for the
figure at the desk kept serenely at his
task, and deigned no reply.
‘Good-mornin’, sir,’ said Elder Brown
again, in his most dignified tones. ‘‘ls
Mr. Thomas in?”
“Good-morning, sir,” said the figure.
“I'll wait on you in a minute.” The
minute passed, and four more joined it.
Then the desk man turned.
“Well, sir, what can I do for you?”
The elder was not in the best of humor
when he arrived, and his state of mind
had not improved. He waited full a
minute as he surveyed the man of busi
ness.
“I thought I mout be able to make
some arrangements with you to git some
money, but I reckon l was mistaken.”
The warehouse man came nearer.
“This is Mr. Brown, I believe. I did
not recognize you at once. Yon are not
in often to see us.”
“No; my wife usually 'tends to the
town biziness, while l run the church
and farm. Got ;* fall from my donkey
this morning,” he said, noticing a quiz
zical, interrogating look uj>on the face
before him. “and fell sqnar' on the hat.”
He made a pretense of smoothing it.
The man of business had already lost
interest.
“How much money will you want,
Mr. Brown?”
“Well, about seven hundred dollars,”
said the elder, replacing his hat. and
turning a furtive look upon the ware
house man. The other was tapping with
his pencil* upon the little shelf lying
across the rail.
“I can get you five hundred.”
“But 1 oughter have seven.”
CARTERSVILLE. GEORGIA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1885.
; ‘Can’t arrange for that amount. W ait
till later in the season, and come again.
Money is very tight now. How much
cotton will you raise?”
“Well, I count on a hundred bales.
An’ you can’t git the seven hundred dol
lars?”
“Like to oblige yen, but can't right
now; will fix it for you later on.”
“Well,” said the elder, slowly, “fix up
the papers for five, an’ I'll make it go as
far as possible,”
The papers were drawn. A note was
made out for $332.50, for the interest was
at one and a half per cent, for seven
months, and a mortgage on ten mules
belonging to the elder was drawn and
signed. The elder then promised to
send his cotton to the warehouse to be
sold in the fall, and with a curt “Any
thing else?” and a “Thankee, that’s
all,” the two parted.
Elder Brown now made an effort to re
call the supplemental commissions
shouted to him upon his departure, in
rending to execute them first, and then
take his written list item by item. Ilis
'dental resolves had just reached this
point when anew thought made itself
known. Passers-by were puzzled to see
the old man suddenly snatch his head
piece off and peer with an intent and
awe-struck air into its irregular caverns.
Some of them were shocked when he
suddenly and vigorously ejaculated :
“Hannah-Maria-Jeminy! goldarn an’
blue blazes!”
He had snddenly remembered having
placed bis memoranda in that hat, and a3
he studied its empty depths his mind pic
tured the important scrap fluttering along
the sandy scene of his early morning
tumble. It was this that caused him to
graze an oath with less margin than he
had allowed himself in twenty years.
What would’the old lady say ?
Alas! Elder Brown knew too well.
What she would not say was what puz
zled him. But as he stood bare-headed
in the sunlight a sense of utter desola
tion came and dwelt with him. His eye
rested upon sleeping Balaam anchored to
a post in the street, and so as he recalled
the treachery that lay at the base of all
his affliction, gloom was added to the
desolation.
T’o turn back and search for tlie lost
paper would have been worse than use
less. Only one course was open to him,
and at it went the leader of his people.
He called at the grocery; he invaded tlie
recesses ot tlie dry goods establishments;
he ransacked the hardware stores; and
wherever he went he mane life a burden
for the clerks, overhauling show-eases
and pulling down whole shelves of stock.
Occasionally an item of his memoranda
would come to light, and thrusting his
hand into his capacious pocket, where
lay tlie proceeds of his check, he would
pay for it upon tlie spot, and insist on
having it rolled up. To the suggestion
of the slave whom he had in charge for
the time being that the articles be laid
aside until he had finished, lie would not
listen.
“Now, you loook here, sonny,” he
said, in the dry goods store, “I’m con
ducting this revival, an’ I don’t need no
Help in my line. Just you tie them
stockin’s up an’ lemme have ’em. Then
I know I’ve got ’em.” As each purchase
was promptly paid for, and change had
to be secured, the clerk earned his salary
for that day at least.
So It was, when near the heat of the
day, the good old man arrived at the.
drug store, the last and only unvisited
division uf trade, he made his appearance
equipped with half a hundred packages,
which nestled in his arms and bulged
out about the sections of his clothing
that boasted of pockets. As lie deposited
his deck-load upon the counter, great
drops of perspiration rolled down his
face and over his water-logged collar to
the floor.
There was something exquisitely re
freshing in the great glasses of foaming
soda that a spruce young man was draw
ing from a marble fountain, above which
a half a dozen polar bears in an ambi
tious print were disporting themselves.
There came a break in the run of cus
tomers, and the spruce young man, hav
ing swept the foam from the marble,
dextrously lifted a glass from the revolv-
ing rack which had rinsed it with a
tierce little stream of water, and asked
mechanically, as he caught the intense
look of the perspiring elder, “What
schrup, sir?”
Nowq it had not occurred to the elder
to drink soda, but the suggestion, coming
as it did in his exhausted state, was over
powering. He drew near awkwardly,
put on his glasses, and examined the list
of syrups with great care. The young
man, being for that moment at leisure,
surveyed critically the gaunt figure, the
faded bandana, the antique claw-hammer
coat and the battered stoye-pipe hat,
with a gradually relaxing countenance.
He even called the prescription clerk’s at
tention by a cough and a quick jerk of
the thumb. The prescription clerk smil
ed freely, and continued his assaults
upon a piece of blue mass.
“1 reckon,” said the elder, resting his
hands upon his knees and bending down
to the list, “you may gimme sassprilla
an* a little strawberry. Sasspriila’s good
for the blood this time er year, an’ straw- j
berry's good any time.
The spruce young man let the syrup
stream into the glass as lie smiled affa
bly. Thinking, perhaps, to draw out
the odd character, he ventured upon a
jest himself, repeating a pun invented by
the man who made the first soda foun
tain. With a sweep of his arm he clear
j ed away the swarm of insects as he re
-1 marked: “People who like a fly in
tlieir’s are easily accommodated.”
It was from sheer good nature only
that Elder Brown replied, with his usual
broad social smile: “Well, a fly now an’
then don’t hurt nobody.”
ii Now if there is anybody in the world
who prides himself on knowing a thing
or two, it is the spruce young man who
presides over a soda fountain. This par
ticular young gentleman did not even
deem a reply necessary. He vanished
an instant, and when he returned a close
observer might have seen that tlie mix
ture in the glass lie bore had slightly
changed color and increased in quantity.
But the elder saw only the whizzing
stream of water dart into its center, and
the rosy foam rise and tremble on the
rim. The next instant he was holding
his breath and sipping the cooling drink.
As Elder Brown paid his small score
he was at peace with the world. I firm
ly believe that when he had finished his
trading, and the little blue-string pack
ages had been stored away, could the
poor donkey have made his appearance
at the door, and gazed with his meek,
fawn-like eyes into his master’s, he
would have obtained full and free for
giveness.
Elder Brown paused at the door as he
was about to leave. A rosy-cheeked
school-girl was just lilting a creamy
mixture to her lips before the fountain.
It was a pretty picture, and he turned
back, resolving to indulge in one more
glass of the delightful beverage before
beginning his long ride homeward.
“Fix it up again, sonny,” lie said, re
newing his broad, confiding smile, as tlie
spruce young man poised a glass inquir
ingly. The living automaton went
through the same motion as before, and
again Elder Brown quaffed the fatal
mixture.
What a singular power is habit! Up
to this time Elder Brown had been en
tirely innocent of transgression, but with
tlie old alcoholic fire in his veins, twen
ty years dropped from his shoulders, and
a feeling came over him familiar to every
man who has been “in his cups.” Asa
matter of fact, the'elder would have been
a confirmed drunkard twenty years be
fore had his wife been less strong-mind
ed. She took the reins Into her own
hands when she found that his business
and strong drink did not mix well, work
ed him into the church, and sustained
his resolutions by making it difficult and
dangerous for him to get to his toddy.
She became the business hoad of the
family, and lie the spiritual. Only at
rare intervals did he ever ‘backslide’
during the twenty years of tlie new era,
and Mrs. Brown herself used to say that
the ‘sugar In his’n turned to gall before
the backslide ended.’ People who knew
her never doubted it.
But Elder Brown’s sin during the re
mainer of the day contained an element
of responsibility. As he moved majes
tically down toward where Balaam slept
in the sunlight, he felt no fatigue. There
was a glow upon his cheek-bones, and a
faint tinge upon his prominent nose,
lie nodded familiarly to people as he met
them, and saw not the look of amusement
which succeeded astonishment upon the
various faces. When he reached the
neighborhood of Balaam it suddenly oc
curred to him that he might have forgot
ten some one of his numerous commis
sions, and he paused to think. Then a
brilliant idea rose in his mind. He
would forestall blame and disarm anger
with kindness—he would purchase Han
nah a bonnet.
What woman’s heart ever failed to
soften at sight of anew bonnet ?
As I have stated, the elder was a man
of action. lie entered a store near at
hand.
“Good morning,” said an affable gen
tleman with a Hebrew countenance, ap
proaching.
“Good-mornki’, good-mornin’,” said
the elder, piling his bundles on the
counter. “1 hope you are well.” El
der Brown extended bis baud fervently.
“Quite well, l thank you. What —”
“And the little wife?” said the Elder
Brown.
“Quite well, sir.”
“And the little ones—quite well, I
hope, too?”
“Yes, sir; all well, thank you. Some
thing I can do for you?”
The affable merchant was trying to re
call his customer’s name.
“Not now, not now, thankee. If you
please to let my bundles stay untell I
come back ”
“Can’t I show you something?” Hat,
coat ”
“Not now. Be back bitneby.”
Was it chance or fate that brought El
der Brown in front of a bar! The glass
es shone bright upon the shelves as the
swinging door flapped back to let out a
eoatlesa clerk, who passed him with a
rush, chewing upon a farewell mouthful
of brown-bread and bologna. Elder
Brown beheld for an instant the familiar
scene within. The screws of his resolu
tion had been loosened. At sight of the
glistening bar the whole moral structure
of twenty years came tumbling down.
Mechanically he entered the saloon, and
laid a silver quarter upon the bar as he
said:
“A little whisky an’ sugar.” The
arms of the bar-tender worked like a
fakir's in a side show as he set out the
glass with its little quota of “short
sweetening” and a cut-glass decanter,
and sent a half-tumbler of water spin
ning along from the upper end of the
bar with a dime in change.
“Whisky is higher’n it used to be,’’
said Elder Brown; but the bar-tender
was taking another order, and did not
hear him. Eider Brown stirred away
the sugar, and let a steady stream of red
liquor flow' into the glass. He swallow
ed the drink as unconcernedly as though
his morning tod had never been suspend
ed, and pocketed the ehange. “But it
ain’t any better than it wa,” he con
cluded, as he passed out. He did not
even seem to realize that he had di ne
anTthing extraordinary.
There was a millinery store up the
I street, and thither with uncertain step he
wended his way, feeling a little more
elate, and altogether sociable. A pret
ty, black-eyed girl, struggling to keep
down her mirth, came forward and faced
him behind the counter. Elder Brown
lifted liis faded hat with the politeness, if
not the grace, of a Castillian, and made a
sweeping bow. Again he was in his ele
ment. But he did not speak. A show
er of odds and ends, small packages,
thread, needles and buttons, released
from their prison, rattled down about
him.
The girl laughed. She could not help
it. And the ewer, leaning his hand on
the counter, laughed, too, until several
other girls came half-way to the front.
Then they, hiding behind counters and
suspended cloaks, laughed and snickered
until they reconvulsed the elder’s vis-a
vis, who had been making desperate
efforts to resume her demure appearance.
“Let me help you, sir,” she said, com
ing from behind the counter, upon see
ing Elder Brown beginning to adjust His
spectacles for a search. He waved her
back majestically. “No, my dear, no;
can’t allow it. You tnout sile them pur
ty fingers. No, ma’am. No genTman
’ll ’low er lady to do such a thing.”
The elder was gently forcing the girl
back to her place. “Leave it to me. I’ve
picked up bigger things’n them. Picked
myself up this mornin’. Balaam—you
don’t know Balaam; he’s my donkey—
he tumbled me over his head in the sand
this mornin’.” And Elder Brown had
to resume an upright position until his
paroxysm ot laughter had passed. “You
see this old hat?” extending it half full
of packages; “I fell clear inter it; jes’ as
clean inter it as them things thar fell
out’n it.” He laughed again, and so did
the girls. “But, my dear, I whaled half
the hide off’n him for it.
“O, sir! liow could you ! Indeed, sir, I
think you did wrong. The poor brute
did not know what ho was doing, I dare
say, and probably he has been a faithful
friend.” The girl cast her mischievous
eyes toward her companions, who snick
ered again. The old man was not con
scious of the sarcasm. lie only saw re
proach. His face straightened, and ho
regarded the girl soberly.
“Mebbe you’re right, ray dear; mebbe
I aughtn’t.”
“I am sure of it,” said the girl. “But
now don’t you want to buy a bonnet or a
cloak to carry koine to your wife?”
“Well, you’re whistlin’ now, birdie;
that’s my intention; set ’em all out.”
Again the elder’s face shone with delight.
“An’ I don’t want no onc-hoss bonnet
neither.”
“Of course not. Now here is one;
pink silk, with delicate pale blue feathers.
Just the thing for the season. We have
nothing more elegant; in stock.” Elder
Brawn held ir out, upside down,:it arm’s
length. f
“Well, now, that’s suthin’ like. Will
it soot a sorter red-lieaded ’ooman?”
A perfectly sober man would have said
the girl’s corsets must have undeigmie a
terrible strain, but the elder did not notice
her dumb convulsion. She answered
heroically:
“Perfectly, sir. It is an exquisite
match.”
“I think you’re whistlin’again. Nan
cy’s head’s red, red as a wood peck’s.
Sorrel’s only half-way to the color of her
top-knot, an’ it do seem like red oughter
to soot red. Nancy’s red, an’ the hat’s
red; like goes with like, an’ birds ol a
feather flock together.” The old man
laughed until his cheeks were wet.
The girl, beginning to ieel a little un
easy, on seeing a customer entering, ra
pidly fixed up the bonnet, took iit'teen
dollars out of a twenty-dollar bill, and
calmly asked the elder if he wanted any
thing else. He thrust his change some
where into his clothes, and beat a retreat.
It had eccurred to him that he was nearly
drunk.
Elder Brown’s step began to lose its
bouyauey. lie found himself utterly un
able to walk straight. There was an un
certain straddle in his gait that carried
him from one side of the walk to the
other, and caused people whom he met
to cheerfully yield him plenty of room.
Balaam saw him coming. Poor Ba
laam. lie had made an early start that
day, and for hours he stood in the sun
awaiting relief. When he opened his
sleepy eyes and raised his expressive ears
to a position of attention, the old familiar
coat and battered hat of the elder were
before him. He lifted up his honest
yoice and cried aloud for joy.
The effect was electrical for the instant,
Elder Brown surveyed the beast with
horror, but again in his understanding
there rang out the trumpet words:
“Drunk, drunk, <lrunk, drcr-unc,-
erunc, -unc, -unc.”
He stooped instinctively for a missile
with which to smite his accuser, but
brought up suddenly with a jerk and a
handful of sand. Straightening himself
up with a majestic dignity, he extended
his right hand impressively.
“You’re a goldarn liar, Balaam, and,
blast your old buttons, you kin walk home
by yourself, for I’m danged if you sh’ll
rido me er step.”
Surely Coriolanus never turned his
back upon Rome with a grander dignity
than sat upon the old man’s form as he
faced about and left the brute to survey
with anxious eyes the new departure of
his master.
He saw the elder zigzag along the
street, and beheld him about to turn a
friendly corner. Once more he lifted up
his mighty voice:
“Druntv, drunk, drunk, drer-unc, and rer
une,-erunc,-uno,-unc.”
Once more the elder turned with lifted
hand, and shouted back:
“You’re a liar Balaam, goldarn you!
You’re er iffumous liar.” Then he passed
from view.
in.
Mrs. Brown stood upon the steps anx-
iously awaiting the return of her liege
lord. She knew he had with him a large
sum of money, or should have, and she
knew also that he was a man without
business methods. She had long since
repented of the decision which sent him
to town. When the old battered hat and
flour-covered coat loomed up in tlie gloam
ing and confronted her, she stared with
terror. The next instant she had seized
him.
“For the Lord sakes, Elder Brown,
what ails you? As 1 live, if the man ain’t
drunk! Elder Brown! Elder Brown !
for the life of me can’t 1 make you hear?
Y T ou crazy old hypocrite! you desavin’
old sinner! you black-hearted wretch!
where have yon ben?”
The elder made an effort to wave her
off.
“Woman,” he said, with grand dignity,
“you forgit yussef; slm know ware I’ve
ben ’swell’s I do. Ben to town, wife, an’
see yer wat I’ve brought—tlie lines’ hat,
ole woman, l could git. Look’t the
color. Like goes ’ith like; it’s red an’
you’re red, an’ it’s a dead match. What
yer mean ? Iley ! hole on ! ole woman !
you! Hannah!—you.” She literally
shook him into silence.
“You miserable wretch ! you low-down
drunken sot! what do you mean by com
ing home and insulting your wife?”
Hannah ceased shaking him from pure
exhaustion.
“Where is it, I say ? where is it?”
By this time she was turning his pock
ets wrong side out. From one she got
pills, from another change, from another
packages.
“The Lord be praised, and this is better
luck than I hoped !O, elder! elder! elder!
what did you do it for? Why, man, where
is Balaam?”
Thought of the beast choked off tho
threatened hysterics.
“Balaam? Balaam?” said the elder,
groggily. “He’s in town. The infernal
ole fool ’suited me, an’ I lef’ him to walk
home.”
Ilis wife surveyed Him. Really at that
moment she did think his mind was gone;
but the leer upon tho old man’s face en
raged her beyond enduranoe.
“You did, did you? Well, now, I
reckon you’ll laugh for some cause, you
will. Back you go, 6ir —straight back;
an’don’t you come home ’thout that don
key, or you’ll rue it, sure as my name is
Hannah Brown. Aleck! you Aleck-k-k !”
A black boy darted round the corner,
from behind which, with several others,
he had beheld the brief but stirring
scene.
“Put a saddle on er mule. The elder’s
gwine back to town. And don’t you be
long about it, neither.”
“Yessum.” Aleck’s ivories gleamed
in the darkness as he disappeared.
Elder Brown wasloberer at that mo
ment than he had been for hours.
“Hannah, you don’t meant it?”
“Ye3, sir, I do. Back you go to town
assure my name is Hannah Brown.”
The elder was silent. He had never
known his wife to relent on any occasion
after she had aflirmed her intention, sup
plemented with “as sure as my name is
Hannah Brown.” It was her way of
swearing. No affidavit would have had
half the claim upon her as that simple
enunciation.
So back to town went Elder Brown,
not in the order of the early morn, but
silently, moodily, despairingly, surround
ed by mental and actual gloom.
The old man had turned a last appeal
ing glance upon the angry woman, as be
mounted, with Aleck’s assistance, and
sat in the light that streamed from out
the kitchen window. .She met the glance
without a waver.
“She means it, as sure as my name is
Elder Brown,” he said, thickly. Then
he rode on.
IV.
To say that Elder Brown suffered on
this long Journey back to Macon would
only mildly outline his experience. His
early morning’s fall had begun to make
itseit felt. He was sore and uncomfort
able. Besides, his stomach was empty,
and called for two meals it had missed
for the first time in years.
When, sore and weary, the elder enter
ed the city, the electric lights shone above
it like jewels in a crown. The city slept;
that is, the better portion of it did. Here
and there, however, the lower lights
Hashed out into the niedit. Moodily the
elder pursued his journey, and as he
rode, far off in the night there rose and
quivered a plaintive cry. Eider Brown
smiled wearily; it was Balaam’s appeal,
and he recognized it. The animal he rode
also recognized it, and replied, until the
silence of the city was destroyed. The
odd clamor and confusion drew from a
saloon near by a group of noisy younsters,
who had been making a night of it.
They surrounded Elder Brown as he be
gan to transfer himself to the hungry
beast to whose motion he was more accus
tomed, and in the “hail fellow well met”
style of the day began to bandy jests upon
his appearance. Now Elder Brown was
not in a jesting humor. Positivelv he
was in the worst humor possible. The
result was that before many minutes pas -
ed the old man was swinging several of
the crowd by their collars, and breaking
the peace of the cijpy. A policeman ap
proached and but for the good-humored
party, upon whom the Elder’s pluck had
made a favorable impression, would have
run the old man into the barracks. The
crowd, however, drew him laughingly
into the saloon and to the bar. The re
action was too much for his half-rallied
senses. He yielded again. The reviving
liquor passed his lips. Gloom vanished.
He became one of the boys.
The company into which Elder Brown
had fallen was what is known as “ffrst
class.” To such nothing is so captivat
ing as an adventure out of the common
run of accidents. The gaunt country
man, with his battered hat and claw-
NUMBER 36.
hammer coat, was a prize of an extraord
inary nature. They drew him into a
rear rooift, whose gilded frames and pol
ished tables botra haracter and
purpose of .* . plied h ; *nt
with wine unti J lights danc
ed about him. rrosed. One
youngster made a .i speech from
the top of the table, .mother impersonat
ed Hamlet; and finally Elder Brown
was lifted into a chair and sang a camp
meeting song. This was rendered by
him with startling effect. He stood up
right, with his hat jauntily knocked to
one side, and his coat tails ornamented
with a couple of show-bills, kindly pin
ned on by his admirers. In his left hand
he waved the stub of a cigar, and on his
back was an admirable representation of
Balaam’s head, executed by some artist
with billiard chalk.
As the Elder sang his favorite hymn,
“I’m glad salvation’s free,” his stentorian
voice awoke the echoes. Most of the
company rolled upon the floor in convul
sions of laughter.
The exhibition came to a close by the
chair overturning. Again Elder Brown
fell into his beloved hat. 11c arose and
sflouted: “Whoa, Balaam!” Again he
seized the nearest weapon, and sought
satisfaction. The young gentleman with
political sentiments was knocked under
the table, and Hamlet only escaped in
jury by beating the infuriated elder into
the street.
What next? Well, I hardly know.
llcw the older found Balaam is a mystery
yet; not that Balaam was hard to find,
but that the old man was in no condition
to find anything. Still he did, and climb
ing laboriously into the saddle, he 1 old
on stupidly while the hungry beast struck
out for home.
v.
Hannah Brown did not slue p that night.
Sleep would not come. Hour after hour
passed, and her wrath refused to he
quelled. She tried every conceivable
method, but time hung heavily. It was
not quite peep of day, however, when
she laid her well-worn family Bible aside.
It had been her mother’s, and amid all
the anxieties and tribulations incident to
the life of a woman who had free negroes
and a miserable husband to manage, it
had been her mainstay and comfort. She
had frequently read it in anger, page
after page, without knowing what was
contained in the lines. But eventually
the words became intelligible and took
meaning. She wrested consolation from
it by mere force of will.
And so on this occasion when she clos
ed the book the fierce auger was gone.
She was not a hard woman naturally.
Fate had brought her conditions which
covered up the woman heart within her.
but though it lay deep, it was there still.
As she sat with folded hands her eyes tell
upon—what?
The pink bonnet with the blue plume!
It may appear strange to those who do
not understand such natures, but to me
her next action was perfectly natural.
She burst into a convulsive laugh ; then
seizing the queer object, bent her face
upon it and sobbed hysterically. When
the storm was over, vei y tenderly she
laid the gift aside, and bare-headed passed
out into the night.
For a half hour she stood at the end of
the lane, and then hungry Balaam and
his master hove in sight. Reaching out
her hand she checked the beast.
“William,” said she, very gently,
“where is the mule?”
The elder had been asleep. He woke
and gazed upon her blankly.
“What mule, Hannah?”
“The mule you rode to town.”
For one full minute the elder studied
her face. Then it burst from his lips:
“Well, bless me! if I didn’t bring Ba
laam and forgit the mule!”
The woman laughed till her eyes ran
water.
“William,” said she, “you’re drunk.”
“Hannah,” said he, meekly, “I know
it. The truth is, Hannah, I ”
“Never mind now, William,” she said,
gently. “You are tired and hungry.
Come into the house, husband.”
Leading Balaam, she disappeared down
the lane; and when, a few minute later,
Hannah Brown and her husband entered
through the light that streamed out of
the open door, her arms were around
him, and her face upturned to his. —11.
S. Edwards, in Harper’s Magazine.
FELTON ANI) INDEPENDENT!S>I.
Whenever I)r. Felton delivers an ex
cellent speech, in tlie house, those who
disagree with him in their comments,
throw out a hint of the possibilities of his
being an independent gubernatorial car
didate. Give the doctor an honest show
ing. Conclusions should lie reached from
the merits of the questions, and not from
what may be the policy of one’s future
politics.—Albany News anti Advertiser.
Felton’s speech on the state road sale
has saved the state four millions already,
and it remains to be seen if he is not the
most practical of all our statetnen. He
may not have struck the true key note of
the whisky traffic, and we are of those
who think he has not; but he has surely
done mueh to open the eyes of the people
to the enormities of the chain-gang sys
tem that is a disgrace to our civilization.
We do not know Dr. Felton personally,
but judged by his public career as a legis
lator, the people would be fortunate in
! securing bis services in almost any capa
| city whatever. Besides Dr. Felton has
announced he has entered the Democratic
fold, there to remain unless the chain
gang, railroad ring shall force him ou’.
Why then forever prate of his irtdepend
entisin, when even Bullock has confessed
that even as an independent congress
-1 man, he alway - fed at the Democratic
i <;i lb? We cordially endorse all independ
| entism that leads a public man to do bis
| own thinking, and to denounce that
which is wrong wherever found. Let ui
I have more independentism ot this sort. —
Brunswick Herald.