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1HE SOUTHERN WORLD, DECEMBER 1,1884.
her eyes resting with a fascinated gsze
upon the beautiful girl confronting her.
ThiB was the last set forming, and
had just taken their places when the
music struck up; and Jim, the darkey
prompter, mounted on a little stand,
called out, “Balance all. Turn part
ners. Swing de corners. Fus coupple
forerd an’ back agin. Lassis chum
shassa, etc.,” with negro gusto.
“Blood is thicker than water.” the
gallant Tatnall said truly, and despite
the mother’s unnaturai hatred, the
daughter felt a kindred thrill at the
touch of the strange hand, and involun
tarily clasped it with a gentle pressure
as she wistfully glanced in the kindly
beaming eyes.
After the set was concluded and her
cavalier turned to lead her back to the
seat by her mother, she whispered,
“ Please take me to Miss Feaster. I am
longing to know her.”
“Thank you, Miss Hortense, the wish
is creditable to your heart,” he answer
ed gladly as he turned.
“Do you think she will receive me?
“Oh, yes; she is sweetness itself.
She would not offend the meanest ne
gro on the place. But here we are.
Miss Feaster, Miss Middleton begs the
pleasure of your acquaintance.”
“ Of your love too,” offering a kiss.
“I am glad to meet you,” responded
her niece, accepting the kiss with
gentle grace.
“ Yes, we ought to have known each
other before. It was not my fault that
we have not,” she said, taking posses
sion of her hand and drawing her to the
window, the other delicately leaving
them alone.
“ You are very kind to say it.”
“ And your mother—my sister—would
she let me love her too?”
“Oh, I am sure she would. I know
her heart yearns for a kindred love,”
answered the girl.
“ And you—oh, it seems so s.range to
meet you. What must I call you ?”
“ Call me Mary. My name is Mary.”
“ Oh, and you will call me Hortense ?”
“Yes, if it pleases you.”
“ Tt will please me. But will you tell
me of my Bister? Is she really so beau
tiful as you?”
“ I think my mamma very beautiful.”
“ Yes, I know she is. We have her
portrait. I sometimes steal in, and
locking the doors, unveil and look at it.
It is a sweet picture and when I am in
my moments of sadness I look at it for
comfort. I am very sorry we are so far
apart. I fear papa in cruel, but I—do
you know—I feel in a little awe of papa,
and once when I wished to talk to him
about my unknown sister, he looked so
—so—well, terrible, that I could never
muster the courage to approach the sub
ject again."
“ You were very kind. I am so sorry
that I so unwittingly pained your father
this evening. I would not have done it
had I known. I should not have come
had Miss Druc'e told me that he was to
be here. Will you please tell him this
for me, MIbb Hortense?”
“ Yes, I will tell him. He is just and
will not blame you for wbat. others caused
you to unwittingly do. I believe if you
will excuse me I will run up and tell
him now.”
“ It might distress him still more to
hear my name now. He might be an
gry with you.”
“No, I think not; I shall go,” and
with a generous impulse she hurried up
to her father’s room. “ May I come in,
papa? It is I—Hortense,” she askec
with a pleading voice.
“Yes,come in, my child. What is
it?” he asked in a subdued tone
“ I came, papa, to tell you about her.”
“ Her—whom do you mean ?”
“The young lady—my sister’s child.
She is so sorry that her presence here
has pained you so. She did not know
we were here, papa. I know Bhe did
not. She is such a sweet girl. I met
her in the dance and I could not keep
from loving her. Oh, papa, do not be
angry with me, for I could not help it.
My heart went out to her with a strange
gladness the moment our hands touch
ed.”
softness in his glance that she had never
seen before.
“ Yes, yes,” with a glad cry, running
down. “Mary, dear, I have seen papa
and he is not angry, and he bid me come
tell you to go with me to him. He
wishes to see you and says you can talk
better together in his room than down
here among all these strangers. Will
you please go with me?”
“ Yes, I will go. Captain Evans, will
you please excuse me; I am sent for?
I will give you the next waltz.”
“ Certainly; on that condition I will
“ Well say on; lam not angry.”
“ Oh, you are so good. And after tbe
dance I asked Colonel Lawson to take
me to her, and then she told me how
sorry she was that she offended you,
and! told her I would tell you, and she
begged me not to do so, and oh, papa,
she has such wondrously lovely eyes
and they looked so truthful and so hurt
that I could not reBiBt the impulse to
come to you and to ask you to forgive
her. Will you do it, papa? May I tell
her that you forgive the pain that others
caused her to inflict?”
“ Hortense, darling, will you go fetch
her to me? I had better tell her myself.
Let no one know. Tell her I am not
angry, but wish her to come to me. We
can talk about it best here away from
the others,” he said, looking up with a
release you.
“Thanks.”
“ Papa, this is Mary. I will come to
you after awhile. Go in, dear, I have
to dance with Colonel Lawson,” she
said, ushering the girl in with a little
shove and closing the door, shutting in
grandfather and granddaughter together.
The old man had risen to his feet and
turned facing tbe door as his daughter
knocked. He stood a moment looking
in the wondering eyes, so touchingly
lovely, and then he opened his arms ana
stepped forward.
“ Helen, my child,my long lost child I”
he cried, taking her to his heart and
holding her there in a long and tender
embrace, and then gently releasing her,
he sank in a chair, and pulling her down
upon his knee said, his voice trembling
with emotion: “ My heart has so longed
for this moment. I bave so longed io
see you again, my peerless daughter.”
“But I—I am not the Helen of your
love; I am only her child,” she said,
half dreading the disillusion.
“ Ah, but you are Helen’s self over—
the daughter of my heart, the daughter
of my house. It seems so long, long
ago since I saw you thus. Has it been
a troubled dream or is it all a strange
reality?” he said, holding back her face
to gaze in the wondering eyes.
“ It has been no dream. It is all a
reality. I am not the Helen you address.
She is living. She loves yon. I am
her child; oh, please do not despise me
for saying it. I am not Helen Middle-
ton.”
Ah, yes, I see it all now—I can re
call it. You are her child, my daugh
ter’s child. And she is living; ah,
where is she ? I must seek her and take
her back to my heart—my heart that is
getting so old and childish, and so longs
for her love again. Where is she? If
you are not she, where is Helen ?”
“My mamma lives near here. We
are living alone together. Wy father is
in the army, and we are all alone ”
“ Ah, your father. I once could curse
him for stealing my child’s love from
me, but that is all past now. Tell me
of your father.”
“ My father is in the army, oh, so far
away. He is in Missouri. You perhaps
have heard of him.”
“Ah, yes; the brave General Feaster
and he is the same. He is your father ? ’
“Yes; my brave father, my good
father.”
“Ah, I have been hard upon your
father—unjust and hard. 1 wonder if
he can ever forgive me?”
“Oh, yes, yes; he is good; he cher
ishes no resentment; he has no enmity.
He has always taught me to love you—
to pray for and to love you.”
“CanI see Helen to-night?” with a
sudden start.
'“ She is at home. I could go lor her. ”
“ No, no; you can go with me to her.
Will you go? I must hold her to my
heart before I can close my eyes in
sleep.”
“I will see. Yes, we will go. Mrs.
Coleman will send us in the carriage.
Shall I ask her?”
“Yes, go; I will come in a moment.
We must not lose an hour.”
The girl hastily sought Mrs. Coleman
and asked for the carriage.
“Certainly, my dear. Sally, tel!
Pleas to get out the carriage in a mo
ment. He must drive to Thornhill. I
will tell Drucie and Jonathan. Oh, I
am so glad!”
“ What is it you are doing? What is
it I hear that you have been tolling this
Feaster girl?’’ indignantly asked hie
wife, bursting in upon the old man in
his hasty preparations for the drive.
“ I am going to Helen P have found
my child and I am going to her. Jean
nette, you must not try to stand between
us any longer. She is my child and I
am going to take her home to my heart.
Jacob, come,” calling his negro man,
and leaning on his arm, he went down
to meet his granddaughter for the drive.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
It wat only a glad "good-morning,”
Aathe passed along the way;
But it spread the morning’s glory
Over the livelong day.
>»»♦«
The heaviest suspension yet—the
Brooklyn bridge.
Lookout for our next issue.
Editorial Correspondence Southkbn World.]
Motes of Travel — A Trip Into
South western Georgia — Cuth-
bert, Ellavllle and Bnena Vista
—The Bnena Vista Railroad.
The writer formed one of the joyous
crowd that overwhelmed every avenue
of exit from Macon on tbe morning af
ter the late Cleveland jubilation. Tbe
union depot was stocked like a pack of
cards with a breathing mass of human!
ty, all struggling to find the right train
and secure seats. Of course frequent
and ludicrous mistakes were made, and
many found out tco la'e that they had
started in the wrong direction. The
truth is not a few had celebrated too
“unanimously,” and were still obfus
cated intellectually, and riproariously
indifferent to time, place and surround
ings. As they gradually recovered and
realized the situation, it was funny to
hear them talk and sometimes, we are
grieved to say, swear. One old fellow,
when told that the train would not stop at
a certain “crossing,” vowed that he
would “ raise the whole concern if they
didn’t.” Another was bo overcome that
not all the guns at the siege of Sebas
topol could have aroused him. And yet
on the principle that “the hair of the
dog is good for his bite,” sundry ffasks
and black bottles were produced and
affectionately sampled, when a trucu
lent wag now and then mischievously
hurrahed for “Blaine,” the effect was
indescribable. It is but just to say,
however, that the best of humor pre
vailed throughout. The crowd seemed
too happy to quarrel.
Everywhere the drought and dust held
“high carnival,” and there was an ut
ter suspension of farming operations.
Not a plowshare stirred the earth, and
with here and there an exception, the
last cotton boll had been gathered.
Since then, thank God, tbe brazen
heavens have been opened, and gentle
showers descending “like tbe dews of
Hetmon,” have gladdened and refreshed
all animate and inanimate creation.
Our destination was Cuthbert, that
lovely and healthful oaBis in what is
generally, but not truthfully in many
instances, termed “malarial S >uth Geor
gia.”
At Smithville a capital dinner was
served by the veteran Johnson, who, the
public will be glad to learn, has reopen
ed his hotel. And then, with tbe relia
ble Dasher still in command of the train,
we sped rapidly onward over the smooth
track to our journey’s end.
CUT1IBBRT.
For the benefit of the readers of the
Southern World it should be stated
that this pleasant town, which is one of
the educational centres of Georgia, is
located'precisely upon the water shed
of the iiint and Chattahoochee rivers,
the rainfall passing oil each way through
both streams. The site iB an elevated
plateau, 'he highest point on the South
western Railroad, and 100 feet above the
city of Macon. It is noted for its salu
brity and entire freedom from malarial
diseases.
Randolph, of which Cuthbert is the
county seat, was laid off from Lee in
1828. With a population of 14,000 and
taxable property to the amount of $1,-
917,810, it is one of the moBt important
and influential counties of Southern
Georgia. Prominent among the first
settlers were Edward McDonald, Thom
as Coram, James Martin, Samuel A.
Greer, Ben Davis, Abel Bass, David
Rumph, Allen Moye, Martin Brown and
James P. Sharp. M. Gormely, the ven
erable Ordinary, haB grown gray in the
service, and both he and the efficient
Clerk of the Superior Court, H. 0. Beall,
deserve to have a lifetime tenure of their
offices.
Cuthbert was made the countv seat in
1831, and regnlarlv incorporated in 1834.
It contains 2,500 inhabitants, five
churches (three white end tw» colored),
three fire companies numbering 150
members, two colleges, five schools, a
cotton factory, wine factory, two ware
houses, thirty-one business houses and
one excellent newspaper. The cotton
receipts average about 8,000 bales per
annum and several stores, notably those
of Allison & Simpson, M. Pulaski A Co.,
J. McK. Gunn, P. Harris and T. 8.
Powell, will compare favorably with our
metropolitan establishments. Among
other prominent merchants should be
mentioned the names of J. W. Stanford
and J P. Toomba, drugs; W. D. B <ily,
shoes; R. J. Anthony, stoves and tin
ware; R. G. & W. R. Owen, dry goods;
A. W. Gillespie, P. M. Allison and J.
Heilbron, general merchandise; H. I.
Gortalowski, jeweler, and others.
ANDREW FEMALE COLLEGE,
under the able administration of Rev.
Howard W. Key, President, assisted by
a corps of seven competent instructors,
is enjoying a season of unusual pros
perity. The matriculates number about
120, and the course of study, discipline,
etc., closely resembles that of Wesleyan
College, in which the President was
once a popular professor.
Mr. H. B. Elder and his excellent
wife have charge of the housekeeping
department and furnish good board to
the pupils at the low rate of $10 per
month. And here in passing the writer
would say that a sacred obligation rests
upon the patrons of this college and the
citizens of Cuthbert, to erect a suitable
monument to the memory of the late
Dr. A. L. Hamilton. To^him is the
community mainly indebted for the res
urrection and rehabilitation of this use
ful institution after the war. In life he
worked faithfully and laboriously in its
behalf and died nobly at the post of
duty. Shall such services be forgotten?
Here too is located tbe
SOUTHWEST GEORGIA AGRICULTURAL COL-
LEGE,
a branch of tbe University of Georgia.
This institution is a priceless blessing
to this whole section of country. The
officers are Benjamin T. Hunter, Presi
dent and Professor of English and An
cient Languages; Professor Wilcox, a
distinguished graduate of Athens, Com
mandant and having charge of the chair
of “Natural Science. French and Mili
tary Tactics,” and Miss Sailie Reynolds,
Principal in the Primary Department.
The college numbers over 100 students,
who are subjected to the most rigid dis
cipline and carefully and systemaatical-
ly taught.
President Hunter is one of the most
experienced and accomplished educators
at the South and a perfect gentleman
and Christian. His method of instruc
tion combine much that is practical and
unique, and he possesses a singular
hold upon the respect and affections of
his pupils. Mr. Wilcox, a son of the
Professor of Modern Languages at the
State University, graduated when the
writer was a member of the “ Board of
Visitors” and bore away the hishest.
honors of his class. Under their able
management this branch of the Univer
sity will prove a most valuable auxiliary
to the parent foundation.
The cotton factory, unlike most simi
lar establishments, is doing a safe and
properous business. Yarns, rope and
twine are the only articles manufactured,
and they find ready sale at paying
prices.
The Wine Company have several
thousand gallons of wine in their vaults,
and as the vines increase iivage and-are*- 4
multiplied from year to?year, this must*
become one of the leading industries of
Southern Georgia. Already there are
several hundreds of acres in vineyards
around Cuthbert, and it is a notable fact
that the scuppernong grape, albeit vary
ing in production in some unfavorable
seasons, rarely fails to make a satisfac
tory yield.
Mrs. Douglass, the venerable mother
of Mrs. Susan Gunn, the respected relict
of the late J. McK. Gunn, is in her
ninetieth year and still hale and hearty.
She scans the daily papers critically and
takes a keen interest in current eyents
and all the leading topics of the day.
Few women are better read in our past •
history, and not one is more worthy o
admiration in all the relations of life
than iliis “ mother in Israel.”
Still another remarkable individual
is classed among the citizens of Cuth-f
bert. Mr. J. Heilbron, now 91 years of
age, has resided here for many years
and is able to read without spectacles,
and may be seen at any time on the
streets as sprightly as a kitten. He was
a soldier in the army of the first Napo
leon and delights to fight the battles
over again of the “Little Corporal.”
Cuthbert haB contributed nearly all
the Judges of the Pataula Circuit for a
long term of years. Among the first
was Hon. Da rid Kiddoo, a big hearted
Christian gentleman, full of bonhomie
and the milk of human kindnesB, and
thp foremost man in his church (the
Presbyterian) and county. In latter
days his mantle haB descended upon
worthy shoulders in the person of a son,
Hon. W. D. Kiddoo, who filled the fame
exalted position most acceptably anil is
now a leading practitioner at tbe bar.
Then we have Hon. John T. Clarke,
who was so mercilessly decapitated by
General Mead, Hon. Arthur Hood and
Judge Clarke again, the present incum
bent. Among her noted citizens should
alBO be mentioned J. McK. Gunn, Ed
ward McDonald, Joshua Key, Thomas
S Powell, A. J. Moye and Rev. A. L.
Hamilton, D. D. The present Mayor,
George McDonald, is a rising young
man loo, of great promise, and the sit
ting member of the Legislature, Hon.
T. J. Perry, is a citizen of Cuthbert and
an ex-State Senator.
Besides the old reliable “ Southwest
ern,” there is a flattering prospect that
in the near future a road will be con
structed from Baiubridge to Columbus,
f assing through this pleasant little city,
t would be premature to enter into par-