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VOL. XVIII.
ATLANTA* GA* TUESDAY MUKJJfINGr, MAY II, 1856*
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
A LEGEND OF THE SATILLA.
lly MAUBICE THOMPSON.
llopyrighled, ISSG, by s, 8. McClure.]
talk of dealing oat panishment upon tho-o
who had harmed his young mistress, the (air
maiden of the legend, Marie La Fleur.
The three-edged knife was the one bit of
cold real lam in. the story, albeit it was con
nected with the moat prepostoronaly pretar-
dta ever recorded In the ht
natmal exploits e
history
of superstition* or invented for the purposes
- y, it had a
of romance. This knife was ratty,
cress hilt (the cross hllted knife ran*
tbiongh all the eonthern legends] and it had
tling thnnderelsp tumbled across tho clonds
and I heard the rain rytbmlcaliy over thetops
of the distant trees.
I drove my canoe along, as if impelled by
' ' while going at bird " ’
the storm, and It was while going at bird flight
* past a low, decaying cabin
speed that 1 whisked ]
l like
I HE Satilla, or at it is sometimes
d, the Santflla river, is a dark
stream flowing with many
through the luxuriant woods and i
canebiakes oi southeastern Goorgia.
s the
Even now the country known as
1 Satiil* region it vary sparsely iuhab-
whom tho name “Cracker”
Hero and there, where the swamps giro place
to wide areas of pino forests, turpentine plan*
tatlons, so-called, have been made by notching
and pulling the bark from a space ou tho bole
of each tree, a process which has given a
r to the solemn monotony of
810 landscape. By far the laner part of’the
region, however, Is a Jangle-Ike maze of all
y glimmer t
sufficient to overcome almost insurmountable
obstacles, may And bear, deer, wild turkey
and small ' “
»w uisu an<11 f UPTI, wiiva lutnov
ne to the fall of his desire. Not
and small game to the fall of his dei
unfrcqucntly, too, a panther will cross his
path or cry with peculiar oflect in
path or cry with peculiar oflect in the dim,
cavorn-liko hollow of the matted tussock
growth.
Ono of the strangest features of all that wild
country is the abandoned plantation. Now
and again yon may And Ik especially alonj
the river, readily distinguishable by the ok
ridges, whereon the cotton long ago grew, bn
Which now bear largo trees. Tho remnant of
a cabin Is sometlmos seen and numerous other
traces of a long departed agriculture and
lehed domestic center.
naneu nomesuc censer, ,
ton’s Island,- near. Brunswick, there were hilled, rusty old wespon hat
plantations set at wide intervals’in the rich
boftora lands of tho Satilla. At what dato or
why they were abandoned Is not known car*
been much
' the present
century, and it
of any failure of tho soil’* fi
Nearly every one of these abandoned
not hare heenon account
fortuity.
plantations has its legend obscurely outlined
tradition, if on# can chanoe to And It, a
legend as bloody and as plctnrasqae as any of
medieval time*. What with the Indiana, the
outlaws and the feuds, there moat have been
wUd scenes along the BallUa. One’s closest
oids and moat patient chase of
■crutlny of recoi .
tradition, however, give* ns nothing more
than tantalising glimpses of horsemen in
knightly or rather brigandish
array, gallop.
t figures,
_ . gh the wood* or of skulking figures,
dark, saturnine, stealthy, in the deepest
meshes of the brakes, contemplating some
scheme of terrible reran go.
In tho course of three winters and four
summers spent in study lag tbe.natnrai his-
-- flon, 1 tried indnatrious-
tory of the Barilla rcgli
]y aud in vain to find onn of there legends suf
ficiently continuous In ontUne to ba made the
mhlcct of a sketch, until at last by manat
chant* I stumbled upon one which, although
• ‘ * ‘ nlutely
tho beat preserved of any, was abaolnl .
formless, and yet capable of being somewhat
felt at a who)*. It wat the legend of a three
bladed knife, a floating, varlablo legend, as
regarded such details as I con Id get hare- and
than, bnt constant as to It* general featare. I
panned it re n detective pursue* n clao to
some criminal myiteiy, getting a hint from
this or that ■ or another aourco,
and piecing with what-
patching
ever deftm
material w
nothing. In fact, but something approaching
fact, an elusive, amorphna nebula floating Just
beyond thn full grasp of my understanding.
The legend of the f
ha three-edged knife hovered
alien t a wild spot, on the north bank of the
Satilla, called the LaFIenr place, where long
ago had lived a family of French creole* who
had come horn Louisiana. The LaFIenr* must
havs been vary rich, for they opened a grand
cotton plantation stretching for miles along
thertver. They had many aUveS, and,although
THE CKEOr.X BE1CTT.
thl plantation house was no more, than a rough
raoMing, log cabin, they lived in print
There was the perfumed trace of a love re-
msnee appearing at Intervals in the broken
atrty. A beanti<U girl, two lovers, a deadly
feud between families, a terrible
wreaked by a rejected suitor, all there thrown
together in 1 ’
together in picturesque confusion.
Tbs boldest figure of the shadowy group of
Miaou hearing a part in the tragedy of thn
Fleny place, wre that of an old negro, who
took upoa himself; u it would appear, tho
monster whore deeds of assassination hid
tainted tho sir of the Satilla region ever since
the destruction of the La Floor place. Th*
wavering outline* of the legend will not ad
mit of any clearer statement, and yst I have
in my mind, just beyond the reach of descrip
tion, the moat touching, and at the same time
the most horrible picture ever conjured np by
floating suggestions and disconnected hints.
Sweet Mane La Fleur, I see hor face now
suing at me, with strange, sorrowful eyes,
from the gloomy, moes-huug, shadowy tangles
of those weird seml-tropie groves. A word,
a phrase, a sketchy bit of thn legend, let fall
by some of the many persons who had heard of
it. had now and again shaken Into my heart,
as it ware, a fragrance lingering, Indescribable,
like the bonqnet of forgotten bnt almost re-
numbered loves and joys and hopes and klsies
and, alaa! despairs.
Sweet Marie La Float! What was her fate ?
I know, bnt I cannot qnlto frame the knowl
edge In words. Her pitiful story just evades
my grasp. No Imagination ean realise the
hannling sense of failure (wbieh Is jnst.a lln
short of success) that worries my mind as
strive to find a way to express wliat elustvoly
Let it go. Foor Marie La C,cur, TKUiaUIXA 11KU
the “snows of hut year" tn the old French
refrain, bu left an influence as sweet as
it is subtle in all the baaky dimness of
the Satilla forest* and In all the melo*
dlons windings of the little river. I shenld be
glad to impress npon ths reader’s mind some
toocb, no matter how vugne, of tho peculiarly
ast have been led by the
Isolated life which most nave been „
dwellers at La Fleur place, of the many
danger* with which inch a life frag beset about
the beginning of thn present century. Still mot*
should I wish to Impart (bnt how ahenld IT)
ledge of - ' ‘ -
some dreamy knowledge of the freedom, the
healthfnlnese and the entnnelng charm of the
particular spot where still stands tho rotten
end mess-msnUrd rain of tha rambling,
picturesque cabin wherein Marie Lo Flenr
lived, loved and died. But I cannot. Every
thing slips away from me. it It like grasping
at (moke or trying to catch In a phial tha fra
of acme invisible flower. *
grant odor ofsemn invisible flower. I can
present, however, a faithful transcript of my
own experience In the mystery, haunted region
of tho Satilla, tho region presided over by tho
demon of the dilrty three-edged knife.
Over and over I had been told of the inex
plicable murders scattered through tho spare of
three-quarters of n century, that had made the
old IiajFlenr place the dread of ths belated
hunters and tho bewildered cattle-drlvcnC
Net a man has over tarried about the chiirorot
breath of answering. A bat-like
beyond the farthest reach of my ml
•Inin every faculty In vain, ss on# strains
one’s memory for a lost hot almost remembered
name. Indeed, every one who had anything
to say about this legend of the SattalUa ap
peared to fee) this peculiar effect of grazing, as
If with the finger-tip* of the mind, tha fullest
knowledge of tho subject.
Driven to the hilt in a victim, the crore-hlh
ted three-adged hntfe had bean found, re It
was said, by several persons at widely separat
ed time*, bnt In each instance It bad escaped
mysteriously from the possession of tha finder
tills. I tried in vsin
individuals who had scan tha weapon, bat
here again the elements of tantalising proxim
ity lo my desire took the place of sneceaa. Ho,
P“
too, th* exact situation of La Flenr plare s
informar
though they all spoke of it a
best established point on the Satilla, in fact.
.. ’ " “ “ ight direct
In the course of a leisurely canoe voyage
down tho river, I noted several places where
plantations had once oxistcdjbnt no future par
ticularly suggested the La Flenr place. It was
early in May and 1 was absorbed in botanical
dies; ... - - -
1; nevertheless the fascinating fragmenU
of the legend kept floating on myjthoaghts, re-
‘ Ilka snatches of a half
turning again and again
remembered song.
I was well armed, and had not tho slightest
fear, nordid I treat tho fanciful and disjointed
story with any degree of seriousness; but it had
and toyed with Itin that dreamy way
so dear to ns all, at timet. Th* nuty kulfo by
occnlt trick of fancy, performed all
torts of grotesques tarns for me, until at length
it emoted me to connect it with ovary sound
that broke tho alienee of the woods and esno
of a victim. Not that there rondos were up-
pt i most in my mind, they seemed indeed to ba
a part of the dreams always induced bygolden
May weather, juatu the sound of hamming
beet and toughing wind is a part of it. With
even more than my nanal activity and alert-
neu, I pursued my plant gathering andakateb-
leg ana note making, bnt not to the exelniion
of thn continually increasing interest in tha
legend of La Finer plan* and the mysterious
knife of the SatUla.
Toward evening one day, and what a giori-
riona day it had bean, I was palling my canon
along with’ “
leisurely paddle-itrekaa down the
low murmuring river between tha wall* of
dnsky, moss-mantled forest. The air was
still, hut not over-warm, or at least I noted no
special sultriness, although the sky glared and
tha son had shone all day with flares splaador.
For an hour or two I had not seen a plant or a
flower poreesalng any nsw interest aud had
iven myself over to nn ahaoiblng revery.
ba woods wbieh had lately been a* ebaorfally
noisy with tbs songs of birds sod th* rootle of
brecze-rtimd foihigr, were now absolutely
scnndleee, saving that the liquid ptevh of mr
pr ddle rant little echoes down the dim aisles,
tba very phantoms of swart sound*.
The first vague tbnll of something unusual
tun bed my nems ssa low, heavy indefinite
11111 d, like the striking of same sharp ieatra.
ei t into a non-refonant body, earns from
iren here in the forest. I started from ray
end of abstraction and observed at ranee that
_ storm was at baod. though as yet no cloud*
trere visible. The aky was intensely bine, th*
air srsa ominously sun ant, th* dnsky wit
red to bo
dernrss appeared to be waiting In breathless
dread. My first thought was of shelter,
end natnrally enough I began plying my
paddl* with all my skill and power; hot
the chance of my finding a plare of safety
dating a atom wu vary slander indeed.
Soon enough gnat rolling black ciooda cam*
roiling np the western iky, attended by a low,
gradually increasing
ly increasing roar, peculiarly solemn
s inspiring. Kosr* puff of wind, ladasi
at damp forecasts of the shower, an
with that damp foreoa^H
welcome at times and eonnsraieeaM at other
times,; rustled through the foliage, then a rat-
flash, but in thn low door way
nw an old negro man sitting
in a listless attitude. 1 cheeked
my flight at oncq and taming my
eancu about polled back and want ashore,
glad enough to nek shelter. 1 barely had
time to haul my canoe np high and dry on
tha bank and walk to the cabin door before
tbeio fell a heavy dash of rain. The old
negro had disappeared ftnm tho doorway, nor
wee he anywhere to bo seen when I went in,
about, expecting to And him
I looked
rat, expecting to And him crouch
ing in a corner, bnt he was gone. Indeed,
open a careful scrutiny the interior of tbs
been in it at auy time for yean past. The
floor was soft vegetable mold in which no foot
prints bnt my own sppeared, no fir* had barn-
cd in the rnde chimney plac* ainceaoms of the
upper slicks of the line had fkllen in and
slowly rattled upoa the hearth, nor wu there
irve for one, in the
any bed, or what could servo
sunken and musty place.
The room appesrod to bn a wing surviving
the wreck of a large,,low cabin, trace*of
whose other rooms cambered the ground hud
by. This single apartment had bean made of
what la called fat pine loft and covered with
board; of the same, hence Its superior longer-
moldy, evll-smclllng
lty. It wu a damp,
ptare but the roof fairly shod thn poortng rain
itoodth* bellowing wind.
and the walls withal
I wu so glad to find shelter that at flirt I
gave little thought to the strange disappear.
‘rat when presently.
anre of the old negro, but
despite the noise of the storm, I heard that
Indescribable stroke sound, my imagination
_ tmagj.
oghtup the legend-fragments again and
it led i tea" *
itself with tha myaterioua knife.
How that rain raved and - dashed over the
decrepit cabin! Soon, too toon, it wu night
dtnu and awful (
many more piece* from the wooden chli
and to kept up a blare near which I oreui
if not in fear, at
least In utter discomfort,
realized frilly the lonelineu of my situation
and the strange wilderness with which I wu
inmranded, nor could I refrain from running
of thn La Fleur* legend,
knew where I was. Wh;
not thought of_ it
ddonly
Why had
before? This
was La Flenr plare! The old negro pshaw!
I shook dyeelf and glanced at the ihultorlou
doorway in which the blackneu was wavering
llika a funeral curtain. Far and ncarH^
and throbbing Bounds formed a strango uni
tone to tho hideous noise of the storm.
I bad brought in my blankets, my weapons
and my naturalist's outfit and heaped them lu
tbs dry cat corner of the room. Certain almost
to set my heavy pistol, a seven obamberad
revolver, and lay it close iraaide me. Ever and
anon the stabbing sound, u I may call it, fkiriy
•tattled mo frith. ita realism. Each bloir
wits a veritable assaaainatlcn, so far as
the sense of bearing can distinguish such a
fray, nor could 1 control my imagination: still,
10 far from being frightened or norvous, I actu
ally enjoyed the picturesque sombreness, not
tossy weirdness, of my predicament. Sudden
ly, for the merest point of .Uma, I nw a face
bee projected upon tho blacker background of
the night I shall never forget three eyes
rheumy with ego and yet burning with a dull
dimonli
lac lire. I snatched up my piitol aud
sat three watching for a return of tho evil
virago. My band wu,quite steady. I intended
to lira point-blank at one of thou a yea. In
fact I did, a few memento later, and the
roar of that shot seemed to All heaven and
earth. Away rolled tho echoes, breaking
through the night and the storm, In a series
of bounding crashes, dying on the farthest
circle of the horizon. 1 laughed outright, for
in an Instant I knew I bad flrred at a crea
ture of my own ftney. What a fool I wu to
give way to such Idle folly. I slipped a fresh
cartridge into tha empty "cylinder of my re-
to spread my blankets.
volrer and began to spread my blankets. I
would go to sleep ana 1st the three-edged
knife proceed with its work. So puttlag the
last piece of ftiel on th* spattering little Arc,
' lay down to court slumber. It wu not so
my mind, however.
sad fate of Marta
La Fleur, a story so Imported and yat *0 aug-
acative, haunted
insistent
my mind with a charm so
and yet so nameless that I could not
resist it. Then, too, always at tha moment
when not expected, that dull, murderous
•tabbing aonna!
I permitted my thonihta to dwell for s
while on the solitude in whou midst I lay.
For miles and miles nothing but thn hldeoni
swamps, tho suffocating can*.brake*, the moss-
hung woods, the flowery glad**, and ths wind
ing, low murronring river.
Slowly thn storm passed over and away,
ailing a light spray of desultory rain behind
trailing a light spray of desultory rain behind
it,. I heard it grow weaker and weaker and
finally vanish into silence, leaving the dark-
area "without even a breath to disturb it.
Then 1 fell uleep with my pistol lying on ay
breast,
I have no mean* of knowing how long
my slumber luted, bnt presently I awoke
to find that my little fir* bad tnrned to
ashes. No phrase to edeqnate to my need
u I attempt to describe how dark it wu
—tha blackness wu heavy, almost suffoca
ting.
Much to ray disgust I noon discovered that a
troop of flylufsqturrels bad taken possession
of the roof and walls of tho cabin and were
racing back and forth on a stout hown beam
that lay from wall to wall overhead at about
to grasp my pistol, hut Aar * had mastered me
so completely that I oonM not lift my bend,
sod I lay u if paralyzed. Strangely enough
all tho mot
my mind wu a
1 more aetivs, -it seemed,
thoughts flashed back over the
of the legend end dwelt with fluctuation on
the doing* of the knife. •»» -*■- ■ «
All at onco it smnll fragment of charred
wood in the ashes on-the hearth gave
BILL ARP.
HE FEELS iHAPPY BECAUSE MR,
DAVIS HAS BEEN HERE.
L Conversation wlta a
South Carolina Darky-noma a.nalbl*
Adric* to Oaberaatorisl Xsplraot*.
nr tuk door of th;: old cabin.
forth a mere point of flume wbieh faintly
.. — - —- - I looked all around.
lighted the room. 1 looked ail atom
There eat my gun,, there lay my leather
portfolio and other piecos of my outfit, there
“ “ frhlfs, the boom overhead, the
were the mrtljr
low dark doorway and nothing more. Ths
breathing bad ceased.
Wliy could I not move? I tried, but could
not bend a finger or stir a lip. It eeomod that
my eyes uw all over tho room without taming
in their dockets. X was not dreamlngor strug.
[ thought of how
gling with ni|
ightmaro,
dreams 1
I fori
sometlmos, and testified
matter by counting tho boards contained
In n row of lhc roof. 1 wondered if it could
be paralysis. The pistol wu mountain heavy
on my bicast.
the air! No sooner had the light vanished
than the breathing began again in a constrain
ed way, m If lhc parson were trying not to be
Wo ere even now end a llttlo nhoad. There's
nobody hurt on our *ido, and I hope wo
haven’t trod on anyl>ody's too*. Our brethren
up north'have had many a jubilee at our ex
pense, and we looked on with a ud good will
anfi nld nothing. In foot, aome of our pcoplo
Joined them in paying tribute to their heroes.
I couldeut do that. .1 reckon I lnrkod
philosophy or policy or something. When a
rooster fights and gets whipped
and •’ has tn' run. ho is not
going to crow for the bird that whipped him,
but if ho crows at all he will getovortbo fooco
and flap his wings and crow for himself on the
•ly. Just after the war onr people were terri
bly hacked, and went about whispering and
wondering what wu to como next. Wo wore
a used up community for wo had fought out of
Tittle* and clothes and everything, and had
nothing to got nothing with. Onr land wu
desolate, onr women were nd and onr children
hungry, and the prospect before uaw»* gloomy,
indeed. Confiscation sad expatriation and
lopl domination brooded ovor us, and
•0 ban day when I couldn't stand
It any longer, I ventured
and wrote b letter of doflanco to Artcmua
fa
Ward, and told lilm I wu Just obliged to uy
something or boat. Well, I felt batter after I
had given them follows a pieco of my mind,
and just so tho south feels better now that sbo
ho* had her Jubilee, and 1 think wo will all
behave ourselves, and Ira calm and sorona for
the next five years. We Jnat wanted n chsncn
to.flap.our wlnga and crow onco jnoro, and wo
havo done it. The sight of Jeff Darts wu
enough to mako any old rebel crow, and ths
•Igbt of Miss Winnie enough to mako all tbs
young rebel* crow, and so wo* all crowml to
gether. I thought that onr old boys bad for
gotten tba rebel yell, but they havon't. I
never uw an many big mouths open at ono
time iu my lift g* I uw In Atlanta. Dr. Hit-
ycr told me that the southern boys lied bigger
windpipes than tho northerners, and they
learned lo yell from hollering at ths dogs
whou they ware bunting coons and posiums.
Maybsao. Bnt I do know that they can mako
an awful itaas when they ore cxcltod.
These demonstrations coma so suddenly
upon ns that nobody had time to think ahont
what wonld bO a becoming behavior for a sub-
Jugated people, and so they just lot tbs spirit
move them. When wo hoard that Mr. Davis
and said ho drove 'em about aafl
about so much he could tall
whar they como from without axing.
Said he, Boss, if a drummer come from away
ueiu. ut*| nw, gg m uiuuiiuoi (.unity gium EWE/
up jimder he hardly ever *ivo me. a aim*—
most gineraly a nickle. ' I save one from get-
tin drownd ono time when tho creek was up
and tho baggy turn over and he glr mo a
quarter. But aeso hero drummon from Soaf
Calllna and Georgy dey always gives mo*
quarter and sometimes a half a dollar. Boas
J ou Is from Georgy, ain't you? The old rat.
nevnreryjfell that I wu and wu feeding me
ou taffy. But ho waa mistaken about some oi
tho northern druinraors. for that very
day threo very nice and manly drummers in
troduced thomsolvcs to mo on tho car and said
they had read about tho poor boy at Fairbar*
who wanted a roller chair, and so they handed
mo threo dollars for a start. That was good,.
wuaent (It Oho of therfi was from Cincinnati^ 4
and one’from South Carolina, and ono front,
Georgia. Whon I got homo 1 found live dol
lars tlicro from a good man > lu Atlauta. X,
never! felt moro loving to a stranger tha* .
I did to that northoru genii cmaa
who . csrortod that poor woman .
to Dr*.Calhoun's ofBco In AtUnU that Til*
Constitution told about. Ho was one of r
DAtnre's noblemen, I don't care whero ho,
uvtsr
speech, the other day, an enthualaatic friend ,
fuld to mo: "What would Atlanta do without »
Grady and Howell and HomnhlU? Can’t
they beat tbo world on doing up a
Mg thing tbo way It ought to be donef
What would Georgia do withont- themf ,
I hear folks abuse them sometimes for run- * *
slot every thing their own way, but sir, a set
of men who can ran the machine as well as
they run It, ought to be allowed to run It.
And now the next big thing on hand is ft*
mrboa governor, and I find myself in my
usual dilemma. I wish all three of the caadf*
dates could have tho office, and some of tho
darx horses too. I fear there U going to be a
hitter contest that will alienate friends, and
mto a sting behind. Paul said h*
wcmldcnt eat meat If it offended a brother, .
arid Ham Jones quit chewing tobacco to please
the Chicago women; and jnst so I won (dent *
If it was gains to get up fan*
among friends. Uontiemoa,
Ing and tig
one and all. irii us room vo iu Mbwaa to onr onn*
uses In a kind nnd considerate way and bring
P9 shame upon our state or onrsel v/w.
Bill Amp.
LOVE FOR THE OLD FLAG.
hod consented to go to Montgomery,wo thought
caidT' i‘,*ni» rrwl relief to me iha at that there would be nothing unoaoal and that tbe country Dclore trie war, and v
down a chip or bit of wood or bark. X cannot
find words suiteMo to suggest the effect of my
predicament. Tha dismal, murky night, thn
musty cabin, tho black, darkness, the silence,
my Helplessness, tha pretence of
some visible being and the utter isola
tion of the not, an ail ha Im
i degree of fc
•fined with soma degree c
but the nn-
I put the effect into
word* nr phrases? I remember trying to hast
hack my unaginatlon and to bring my reason
to bear os tha situation, but what cotild rea
son do with the elements hovering around
met
1 must have lain there an hoar, perhaps
.. • —..and white
the
vague,
lathing draw closer and closer to mi
|ibut^ light Ailed tha nnm.
that disclosed no oUcot, a mere gh-
light, UanonSL spectral, horrible. The
odor Mcama almost unbearable.
as
ghost of a
moldy
About this time a dark, wide-winged object
began to whirl silently around tn tho room,
wiib n mini, bat-Iika motion. I could not sen
"i, but at tho tamo time it ws* not invisible; It
las sa If I felt It with my ryes.
Slowly a dimly dtfint.l Id.ick fare, wrinkled
with gnat aga and distorted with criminal
Every nerve was strung to tba point of
ing, when nil at once the little flame flashed
.again out of tba smouldering fragment ou
• hearth, lighting the room quit* clearly; at
the same Instant a winged shadow pamad over
head and with a sharp clang soma heavy thing
struck me on tho breast.
sprang to my feet glaring wildly aronm
tho room. A big horned owl was cowaring
and flattering against tba roof trying to break
his way out, I called involuntarily at tha top
of my v^re: It waa the only vent ter my pant
up horror. The owl mado a desperate Iungo
•nd crashed through the rotten roof. Again
the flams want out, this tirao forever, tearing
ma to paas tha rest of that momorabto night in
darkness.
crouched in a comer
place and waited for tho long delayed sun
light to coma, I need not describe how with
my pistol clutched in my hand and
mr eyre fixed npon the blackneu I
trimly dotted ail tha goblins of thn Sstilla
until at last, with a chorus of mocking birds
'* " rough thn dusky woods, day
[fled away and a flu bine aky
rough tbo bote that tha big
owl bad mad* in tha root
bilking upon it tumbled
down Into my ftre aud over my blanket. They
" id fought like lllf.
squeaked aaf scrambled an 4 fought like
~ ' help IMS
came and sat on the roof comb and hiMted
thmaily. It may havo basn tho bird * mate,
or tba cebo of its booting, but s horrible
hooting,
ppreued guffaw, I
and again from the surrounding woo
I went to Bleep again, at length, hat started -
a short nap. with
some strange sound had diitai
awake, after a
The
flying aqulrrela were not so noisy now, in fart
I heard them scrambling
_ oat of the cabin by
I wu aware that a pate phot-
•very opening,
pborescent light bad jut faded from the room
and I felt a vagna chill in my blood and a
scarcely definite consciousness of tear, si if I
bad come mar seeing aomrthnig sup .rnatural.
low, fluttering way,trying to find out what
happened. Hnddenly it turned n great
both bad fkllen on the woods. I oonld hear
nothing but tba doll beating of my heart and
nothing Ira.
the bubbling of tbo litlla river. I listened
•nd wondered. I could almost andsntand
a bat It wu had startled my sleep and
yet It wu a profound mystery. Presently I
became aware of a low, regular breathing
and then some infinitely slight
rot betrayed the pretence of another
peftomtn thn tom, near the doorway, luted
I groped a boot tho floor where my bed of
b Ian kata Uy and found what I sought, a heavy,
maty, creas-hllted, threo-edged knife. I wu
‘ surprised to find this weapon. Inland I
old havo 1
cn puzzled beyond endurance
if I had not found It, for I knew U had struck
at my 1
pistol «
havo tl
which Uy on my breast at tba
tbo kntfa still, a rads one it to, mad*
out of a three-cornered fll* ground very sharp
and furnished with a croasroilt of bnckhoru..
Jiy opinion is that it had Men lying on tha
Crossbeam ever since tbo time whan tha cabin
wat inhabited and that the owl, iu flying
around the room, knocked it off and it foil
down upon uy breast, its point striking my
pistol,
I voider that I did not die that night, for
daylight disclosed the fact that man never
slept in a fooler place. 'No need for auy
•pactal explanation of my smothering aonaa-
tir.n or of the frightful vision* that appured
to me. The knife, instead of killing ma no
doubt saved my life, for the shock of Ita smart
blow started my half paralyzed nerve* into
action, aud caused ma to lift
my head abovo
tbo lira lorn of foul air that lay clow to tba
moldy ground.
It wa* Inexpressibly delightful to go forth into
the balmy morning air of May and reeautamy
voyage down the sweet Hatllls, attended by a
light breeze tad ehoand by a far-reaching
medley of bisdeong; bat a shadow got into my
mind that night wbieh I have never bun akin
to drive ont. lt I
hovers on tba outer conflnu of
my cocselonsnesn, so to speak, ilka something
nearly forgotten or something I am Just shout
tv fully understand, . -
ble, patriotic face, but nobody anticipated
such an ovation, such a lore
feast, such a campmeeting revi
val, It swelled and expounded all
along tho lino and filled the air and onthnsed
tho people everywhere, and by tho timo it got
to Atlanta tbo magnetism wna Irresistible, and
I aay now with all sincerely that If onr wont
Ita Thrilling Effect After the War Upon n
Noted Confederate General. . i
From tbo Dotton Olobo, .1 , - .. -.
The war of the rebellion Is now twenty yean
away, and with tho lapse of time nearfy all
tbo asperities culminating In that long sad
bloody struggle have softened and disap
peared, One of tbo most prominent loaders of
tho aoutb, who had held tho highest offices of
the country before the war, and who has loag
enemies at tha north had been thoro they
would have caught the wild enthusiasm that
wu in the atmosphere and opened ono side of
their months If not the other. I wish that
Wbltclaw Held and Mont Halstead had been
Christians of them for that day certain. Some
times when I read tha lies in their papal
I wish that I wu array off on an unlnbabli
ed island with them one at a time. I wonld
hu aim aud bU slanders and hlannbcllef for
•bout two hoars, and then if ho didn’t recant
» a nuui us im n mm is rusun, mam irm
trace into his unbelieving soul and send him
home a reformed man.
Weil, the pcoplo of Georgia hava got a great
an In their midst. Thayhavc many great
men, bnt Mr, Black, tbo orator of that day, hu
lifted hlmwlf np higher than ever before, and
stands today the pccrleu orator, thn
nobla Christian gentloman, How our heart*
did barn witbln us u ws listened to his great
thoughts, hi* wonderful eloquence. It waa all
truth, majestic truth, and it will prevail, I
rejoice that bis great apcech hu gone forth to
cur young men, and I have proud hopoof
every yonng man who will lit down and read
it and ponder it. No lemon equal to it hu
... acquit
been published alnco the wu. Bead it young
men and feel proud of year country
and the record of your people. Ths love of
country that dwells in ths heart* of a homo
geneous pcoplo is a beautiful and wonderful
thing. It to to bo nourished and encouraged
•nd never scorned. It is founded upon tbs
love ef borne, Ita uendnesa, ita shelter and ita
charms. I wish evanbody had a borne, not
•Imply a habitation, but a borne. I bellevo
that it would bo the strongest site-guard of
liberty and tho bulwark of law and Justice
irty ai
In the land, “This is my hams, my
foitnsa, my castle,” wonld he the
talisman that would make patriots. But when
a poor man is kncckad about from place to
place and his humble wife bu no flowers or
vinu or frulta that she can call her own, and
tbo Ufa of tha family la bnt one monotonous
struggle from day to day and year to year tout
bread and meat and clothing,bow can wa upset
thtm to feel an Intaraitin ooroountry or Ita
laws. The government hu done a great
wrong to onr people. There wore lands,
millions of acres, that wonld bare
been borne* for the millions, bnt they hare
— hava enriched t
been squandered.
* They ha:
already rich, and avan foreigner* ycWurc
[people
foreign
nobility, hava bean permitted
millions of acrea in the wart and now they
bold them for • peculation.
General Irangstrut wu an actor in tha
great drama that hujart named. With pride
and gratification onr pcoplo looked npon tbo
old veteran u ba cat Ilka n martial ehiaftaln
npon his bona, I heard many an old Midler
uy: “God bleu him; I .wish I could taka him
by tha band.” I havo never ceaead to honor
but no—his heart wu ail
peoplt, and it is with them now. Tho watery
gluten ’ “
Boms yum subsequent to th# aloes of tho
war, the writer wu in business in a southern
city where his duties brought him in close
contact with many who had been prominent
In cabinet nnd field under the flag of the con -
full-racy. It happened ono evening that tho
u rltcr mill a linlf dozen or moro of the** mini
were engaged In conversation, and, aftor a
while, from general matters tbs talk drifted
round to tbo rendition of tbo country. Grow
ing excited u tbo conversation progress
ed, one denounced tba givcrnmont at
Washington u a perfect dcipotlsin, as
serting with vehemoneo that ho would soonor.
If he could, live under tho king of Dahomey.
One after snotbergavo expression tnhli fuel
ing*; nono going to the **mo extent, but all in
the lam* vein, and I, a northern man, waa
•boat to make somo fitting reply to tho tlrado
of abuM when General turned to lilm of
whom 1 am writing, nnd resting hi* band 01
hi* shoulder, said: "Whntdo yon say ahou
It, Jobny
fe Tha parson addressed had sat for many mo
ments with bowed bead, taking no part in the
around a moment, ho replied, in a tone l
nevrt forget ud a feeling I cannot hope to
portray: “X have this to /eiy: Xxit the repnli-
llcan pasty do the worst it can; lot the reptile
llrana do fifty time* worea then they are do
ing, and then we aball ba the host government
any people In tlio world ever hod. Wo wont
ita ilia in common, but when it
ended onr ways parted. You
remained and tools np tho bnrdons
•nd duties of peaceful Illo In your old homos.
still found comfort in them. I took a differ
ent coarse and endured that yon were not call
ed upon to free. When all wu over, you alt
lion to travel, ana lor sour year* i warn
over Kuropo. Then one morning I wi
Alexandria, and rising early IstroUcd.don
wards tba quays, and looking out oror
London, when I found I
tton to travel, mid for four yeara I war dored
was at
. wnto-
X . ... Over tiro
Imy, there, gentlemen (tba teats running down
bla eherks u ba apoka), I uw Ihrtlug In Ilia
sunshine the handsomest flag that ever floated,
tho old stars and stripes, and I thought tn an
testacy 1 never before felt, there Is ay flag. I
bad followed it up the halgbta of Chspnlupec:
it bad wavtd over my home; my children hod
played among Ita folds; it had been raised la
my bonor. and in th* momentary rash of
feelings it wu again my flag, and thn
dearest and moat beautiful thing npon tbs
earth. Bat all wu gone as soon u it cxtne.tnd
for the first time I realized, in all ita terrible
force, the foot that I bod no flag, no country,
bnt wu an outcast and a wanderer over tbo
rartb, I could endure It no longer. I cam*
back over tbs sem I bad no nut in this brood
domain, no right to set my foot on any part of
the soil of the United Htates, bnt I . said tha
rest of my life shall bo lived in
even if I may never more have
sight of it
right in it.
Ho I came to’Cliftoo, jut over th*
border, where I eoold ae* It.
■ wu in bte oye when I met him at lb*
ant to read anything now
inleM a friendly pen bar
t to feel calm and serene.
igly well.’’
Wall. I dont want
about cur jubilee unless
written it. I want to fe„
Why, even onr negro«t bad to exalt and ahont,
and wave tbelr bat* and handkerchief*. They
know who are tha frienda. They dident
know—that is, they dident feel sure—bat they
do now nnd an hni
other day, at an old
ma from Abbeville to Du* Waal,
lioA 1 encouraged him to talk ana nn Mixed.
He Mid It took him about ten years to And
ant tUt them yank***1 waa foolin’ him ahont
thf-i forty, sem of land and dU male, and dat
ever since dan U had looked to do white folks
for friendship. “No, sir,” (aid ba, “I tail yon
what bcaf, I will taks a white man before a
“ n.” Ha complimented tha
poMunbnUtel the .ooanlry,
rey ament reel aura—nut tuey
happy. I wu amused, tha
old dingy darkey, who drove
le to Dae West, la Booth Caro-
uvruui, - over the river
which I might not cross, and there, the flrrt
thing in tba morning and tbo tart thine at
night, I watched It and longed for it tvi’.b a
hunger few men may comprehend. At last,
hot, ah, how long in 00mlog to me, now tbs
amnesty act, a
got over the rivor and trek
ho mlnatos that inter-
uy again, ’it ta my Qag
It, bcaredgfag avan tha minutes that inter
vened before I oonld
and my country.’ ”
ne ended, and for minntes not a per* >n
present ventured a word, bnt moistened eye
sod labored breath silently attested that more
thanonepresentconld in heart, at taut, find
warrant for the long' " ' ”
Igingsuf John Ci. Breckin
ridge, for be it wu of wham I hava written.
whose longing* I have attempted to portray,
lint whose langnaga is beyond my ability to
reproduce.
A Printer geared to Dentb,
•CBiceau, Hay 8,—William J. Blew died »t
the county hospital Wednesday, In tho opinion
of competent pbyilcisn* bis death ws* hut.-aed.
If not directly caused by tho fright hu received
while undergoing the mock initiation ceremonies
of bla entrance to a local court of foresters. Blew
wa* a compoultor of lb* Chicago Times, sad nan
induced to apply for member-alp to a nsw court
Oeteg termed m We»t aide, lie ns* regarded In
Era office aa eccentric. -
INDISTINCT print ^
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