The Sins of the Father

e ominous than even Norton had feared. The blow struck was so daring,

Governor had issued a proclamation disarming every white military company and by wire had demanded the immediate surrender of their rifles to

nd an armed black guard of fifty thousand men

to the Vice-Presidency and meant to win the honor by a campaign of such brilli

attempt inspired by the radical fanatics in Congress to

by confiscating the property of the whites and giving it to the negroes. Their bill to do this, House Bill Number Twenty-nine, introduced by the government leader, Thaddeus Stevens, was already in the calendar and Mr. Stevens was pressing for its passage wi

on at Washington. He was going to stamp out "Rebellion" without the aid of Federal troops, reserving his right to ca

he courage of the old régime, could fall so low as to use this proclamation, struck Norton at first as impossible. He refused to believ

people had been reduced. It was his business as an editor to record the daily history of

e to believe it!" he exclaimed. "It's t

ss could only come through struggle. War was the struggle which had to be when two great moral forces clashed. One must die, the other live. A great issue had to be settled in the Civil War, an issue raised by the creation of th

ation or a loose aggregation of smaller sovereignties. Slavery made it necessary to decide this f

good. He had stood bareheaded in solemn court martials and sentenced deserters to death, led them out in the gray morning to be shot and ordered them dumped into shallow trenches without a doubt or a moment's hesitation. He had walked over battlefields at night and

ying, and their defenseless women-this enthronement of Savagery, Superstition, Cowardice and Brutality in high places where Courage and Honor and Chivalry had ruled-these vandals and camp followers

and cruel, possessed him. The desire to kill grip

loved ones the luxuries he had dreamed for them. The greater the turmoil the greater his profits would be. And yet this idea never once flashed through his mind. His people were of his heart's blood. He had no

to answer his telegrams. His hand wrote now with the eager, sure touch of a ma

and awai

ess in the thrill of life that meant each day a new adventure. He was living in an age whose simple record must

ppets cut who were strutting for a day in pomp and splendor. Their end was as sure as the sw

swift and surprising than his own. On the little man's reception of that counter stroke would

their arms to their negro successors something hap

n, armed and disguised, moved with the precision of clockwork at the command of one mind. At a given hour the armory of every neg

nce was futile. The attack was so sudden and so unexpected, the attacking party so overwhelming at the moment, each black m

of a maddened beast, and Schlitz, the Carpetbagger, was summoned for a second counc

the Klan. An endless stream of callers had poured through his modest little room and prevented any attempt at writing. He had turned the columns over

he quick. The editorial flashed with wit and stung with bitter epigram. And there was in his consciousnes

rs, and the wheels of Fate moved

red leadership. He knew that every paper in the state read by white men and women woul

the last paragraph when a deep, laugh

I com

stroked that night bowing and smiling. Her white, perfect teeth gleamed in the gath

me in?" she repe

pretty well in," Nort

. So I came right up. It's ge

rowned and m

e, aren't yo

all gone to sup

left. I watched from the

e asked

I reckon I was

t afraid of me

N

y n

e I kno

on s

sh to s

es

hing wrong at

for what you did and see if yo

Where

was awful. And, honest, it's worse than I expected

e it has," the

ep it dece

seems more hom

oking about the room and picking up

ctly. It was cut low and square at the neck and showed the fine lines of a beautiful throat. Her arms were round and finely shaped and bare to an inch above the elbows. The body above the waistline was slend

f dismissal. But when she laughed it was with such pleasant assura

aper and laid it on a table besid

p for you, anyhow, I brought you some

or and returned in a mome

she told me to thank you for coming that nig

n't have touched eith

odness-haven't you anythi

room, holding the roses up a

had often laid on his lounge at home, when tired, and watched a kitten play an hour with unflagging interest. Every movement of this girl's lithe young body suggested such a scene-especially the velvet tread of her light foot, and the delicate motions of her figure followed suddenly by a sinuous quic

room without permission looking for a vase,

ot into in my life. Gracious! Isn't

from his reveries,

m in the

pitcher!" she cried, rushi

of water in it-I'll go

the bowl, darted out the door and flew across t

instinct with vitality. She was alive to her finger tips. Her body swayed in perfect rhythmic unison with her round, bare arms as she tu

tensity, floated across the street through the gathering shadows. The voice had none of the light girlish quality of her age of eighteen, but rather the full pas

"The negro race will give the

n which he had met the aggressions of the negro and his allies with the fury, the scorn, the defiance, the unyielding ferocity with which the Anglo-Saxon conqueror has always treated his inferiors. And y

mates. He had romped and wrestled with them. Every servant in every home he had ever known had been a negro. The first human face he remembered bending over his cradle was a negro woman's. He had fallen asleep in her arms times without number. He had found refuge there against his mother's stern comman

e loss of a single life, he was at the same moment proving himself defenseless against the silent and deadly purpose that had already shaped itself in the soul of this sleek, sensu

she entered the room and arrange

lf at his desk again. She came close and loo

work in such a mess?"

thout looking up from the fi

hat you'v

reenish gray e

e talk to th

ler says you don't like th

the mischievous young

ou wouldn't u

the dimples in the reddish brown

ouldn't,"

he soft touch of her shoulder against his. She was staring at his pa

's that?" she crie

as

lly laughter echoe

d milk-I thought it was your su

etim

d up with a slig

t to work. And tell your mothe

going bac

y n

. I've come in town t

her when y

n this place up for

to-ni

s all I can do to thank you. I'll do it a month just to show you how pretty I

iled, hesitat

every morni

, major-go

shadows. She turned and tripped down the stairs, humming a