The Sins of the Father

e from the pile of papers that smothered his desk, glanced at his foreman w

t-'til I read

reman

manuscript twice and handed i

black-faced caps-black-t

usingly, his strong mouth clos

AGUE AND THE

ALL SECRET

k the manuscrip

nly got 'em gu

ho

ng until these editorials began t

es as he swung carelessly back to his desk and waved the

m think

across the narrow street caused

nday-doomsday for the conquered

the crowd of slouching loafers as they gathered around the auc

negro, as black as in

property I got ter sell hain't no property 'tall-hit's dese po' folks fum

men and women. Most of them were over seventy years old, and one with the quickest step and brightest eye, a little man of eighty-four with snow-white hair and b

ame the routine of a day's work. Yet no event of all that fierce and terrible struggle had stirred his soul as the scene he was now witnessing-not even the tragic end of his father, the editor of the Daily Eagle-who had been burned to death in the building when Sherman's army swept the land with fire and sword. The younger ma

uthoritative organ of the white race. In the midst of riot, revolution and counter revolution his voice had the clear ring of a bugle call to battle. There was never a note of hesitation, of uncertainty or of compromise. In the fie

nventional sense. His figure was too tall, his cheek bones too high, the nostrils too large and his eyebrows too heavy. His great height, six feet three, invariably made him appear gaunt and serious. Though he had served the entire four years in the Confederate army, entering a private

inous way as he folded his clenched fists behin

dese folks? 'Member, now, de lowes' bid gets 'em, not de highes'! 'Fore de war de

" shouted a

ight ter make 'em all work de Po' farm. Dey kin work, too, an' don' ye fergit it. Dese here ones I fotch out here ter show ye is all soun' in wind and limb. De bedridden ones ain't here. Dey ain't

ce lingered on this phrase an

ed back to his desk, sat down, fidgeted in his seat, r

r Abum Russ fer fo

the plow and made Abe seize the handles. This strange team worked the fields. No matter how hard the day's task the elder Russ never quite lost his humorous view of life. When the boy, tired and thirsty, would stop and go to the spring for water, a favorite trick of his was to place a piece of paper or a chunk of wood in the furrow a few yards ahead. When the boy returned and they approached t

d find for a wife and hitched her to the plow! And he permitted no pranks to enliven the tedium of wo

al Black League and was the successful bidde

from his painful reveri

an waiting in the ha

is

porter

Bob P

ld scoundrel want with me

bloated double chin lapped his collar. His legs were slightly bowed from his favorite mode of travel on horseback astride a huge stallion trapped with tin and brass bespa

of the court for a license to marry his mulatto housekeeper. It was common report that this woman was the mother of a beautiful octo

wheeled in his chair and

ler, I b

ghted with a maudlin

nd I'm shore glad to m

iskly, extending h

the offer by placing

seat, Mr

ure flopped i

a little secret matter"-he glanced toward

losed the door and

how can I

ket and drew out a crumpled piece o

et societies, major, and I like 'em-that's wh

a member of the Loyal B

swer. "I hain't got nothin' to do with no secret socie

iece of paper on which was

ur advice is to leave this country for

e Grand Cyclops

studied the scr

f schoolboys!" h

's all?" Peeler

their authority sent that to you. Their orders are sealed in red ink with a cross

minute, I'll show you something worse

the hallway, opened it, peered out and wave

oman was heard o

'll stay

r by the arm and

y, my housek

se and heavy. He saw instead a face of the clean-cut Aryan type with scarcely a trace of negroid chara

on a small bundle she carried. His voice w

thing and sh

owing two rows of perfect teeth, as she slowly drew the brow

he thing up, looked

f glass was fitted into the upper half of the lid and beneath the glass was pl

he perspiration

ink of that?" he ask

self-control, Norton brok

ok serious,

not only looks like death, but I'm damn

lifting the box and breathing the

" Peeler whispered,

ightly folded scrap of paper on wh

s you leave the country within forty-eight hours, this co

K.

frowned and

eeler," he sai

his whiskey-laden breath seemed to fill the room a

' frightful. Now, ye see, if they should be in this Ku Klux Klan-I ain't er skeered er their hell hereafter, but they sho' might give me a taste in this world of what they think's comin' to me in the next

orton l

's a joke, I

, at least it can't do no harm. I tell you, the Klan's no joke. If you think so, take a walk through that crowd in the Square to-day and see how quiet they are. Last court day every nigger that could holler was makin' a speech yellin' that old Thad Stevens was goin' to hang Andy Johnson, the Presi

smiling answer. "The Klan didn't send t

think

t's a forgery. A trick

atched his

ousand times obliged to you, sir. I'll

t with me, Peeler?" Norton asked, exami

nd more than welcome! It's a gift I don't crave

eeler had passed out, bowed her thanks, turned

street with a look of loathing, mu

what a problem-

called for the best that's in the strongest man. It was a man's work for men. When he struck

looked up, sprang to his feet and extended his hand in hearty

, MacA

a major long enough for me to get used to

sergeant that ever

as the hea

mrade in arms down into his chai

the wife an

nly and then looked up w

ve got me up a tree. These editorials in

n't lik

little

itor s

in you, Mac-that's what

to you

not and the French, you know, had a saving

lux Klan have had just one parade-and there hasn't been a barn burnt in this county o

n, Mac?" The question was as

looked up at the ceili

Black League, grinning and whispering its signs and passwords-you know that they've already begun to grip the

bad thing, Mac, and th

u've got to fight t

r said, while a queer smile p

u're against 'em. You're a leader. You're a soldier-the bravest that ever led his men into the jaws of death-I

d of lawless night

hat are we to do without

h you"-the young editor answere

ightened as though a bolt of li

at's that?

e even answer, as Norton touched the rig

ly ran three trembling fingers of his left h

afrai

have been an accident. The rugged face was a study of eager intensity as he put his friend to the test that would

ered in the same wa

commander for a moment and his own filled with tears.

you couldn't be against us! And so I came to

ped his arm around his o

screaming, drums beating and the banners waving. You and I have something harder to do-we've got to live-our watchword, 'The cunning of

ob!" MacArthur

know when th

rmer s

cotchman-

good on

rugged face aflame with patri

urage of the lion!-And by the livi

irs. Gazing again from his window at the black clouds o

time!-but twenty year

coffin and smiled at the p

gentleman who made that an

y possible, of course, that he had gone to the galleries of the Capitol to hear the long-expected message of the Governor against the Klan. The galleries had been packed for the past two sessions in anticipation of thi

h the echoing corridor the rotund figure of Schlitz, the Carpetbagger, l

nemy of the Eagle and Phoenix. He tried to smile and nodded to No

outhern state and controlled its black, ignorant members with a snap of his bloated fingers. There was but one man Norton loathed with greater intensity and that was th

corner of the crowded galleries from which he could se

overn the children of the men who had created the Republic-watched them through fetid smoke, the vapors of stale whi

he big veins on his slender swarthy neck

thinning crowds, and paused before a vacant lot on the opposite side of the street. A doze

art home before sundown, and it's

s true. The young dare-devil who had sent that message to old Peeler had planned an unauthorized raid. Only a crowd of youngsters bent on a night's fun, he knew; and yet the act at this moment meant certain anarchy unless he nipped it in the bud. The Klan was a dangerous institution. Its only salvation lay in the absolute obedience of its members to the order

shed his day's work. There was ample time to head these boys off before they reached old Peeler's house. Th

me and drank for a moment the perfume of the roses on the lawn. The light from the window of his wife's room poured a mellow flood of welcome through the shado

him twenty odd years ago. He could hear the soft crooning of her dear old voice singing the child to sleep. The heart of the young father swelled with pride. H

mocking bird in a magnolia beside the porch and he was answering her plaintive wail with a thrilling love son

and revolutions, if God only brings with

to the stable, saddled his horse and slowly rode through the quiet streets of the town. O

pened from Peeler's farm on the main road. The boys wou

e. The chirp of crickets, the song of katydids and the flash of fireflies became the martial music and the flaming torches of triumphant hosts he saw

He had faced odds before. He loved a battle when the enemy outnumbered him two to one. It stirred his blood. He had ridden with Forrest one night at the head of four hundred daring, ragged veterans, surrounded a crack Union regiment at two o'cl

dared to ride so early that they had reached the house before his arrival? He must k

orse neighed in the woods, and the piercing shriek of a woman left noth

ging trees. They were dragging old Peeler across the yard toward the roadwa

doubt. They dragged their panting, perspiring victim into the edge of the woods, tied him to a sapling and bared his back. The leader

"for your many sins and blasphemies against God and man the preacher

e fat neck twisted in an effort to see how man

hell-are you a

emn echo from each

ner-that coffi

ng left when we get through-Sel

an't we compromise this thing? I'll repent and join the church. And how'll a

ce had melted in

ded by a shrouded figure and without a word began

o the crowd. There was a wild scramble to cover and most of the boys lea

?" Norton sternly demanded of th

n, major," was th

us piece o

nly waking from the spell of fear. "They've got me, sir-and

s horse and faced the

ommand of t

r from a stalwart masquerader who

g cabinet-maker's voice, a

are you using these

e of your

iffened, stepped close and peered

-night or must I call ou

ion and the eyes b

a boyish frolic," muttered

uiet drawl. "If I catch you fellows on a raid like this agai

horses' hoofs along the narrow

ed the steps the younger man paused at a sound from behind and before he could turn a gi

they'll beat me to death-don't let

as a deep rich red with the slightest tendency to c

o speak for a moment an

urse-it's Lucy's gal! She's just home from school

esperate grip, pressing her tremblin

skin was a delicate creamy yellow, almost white, and her cheeks were tinged with the brownish red of ripe apple. As he looked in to her

s that stood out forever in his memory of

led red hair, smoothing it back from her forehead with a movement instinctive,

he turned without a wo

y stood out with increasing vividness-the curious and irresistible impulse that caused him to stroke her hair. Personally he had always loathed the Southern

h

e faced it the angrier he became at his stupid folly. For hours