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A CHARLESTON

LOVE STORY&semi;

OR&comma;

HORTENSE VANROSS&comma;

BY

T&period; G&period; STEWARD&period;

F&period; TENNYSON NEELY&comma;

PUBLISHER&comma;

LONDON&period; NEW YORK&period;

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Copyright&comma; 1899&period;

by

F&period; TENNYSON NEELY

in

United States

and

Great Britain&period;

All Rights Reserved&period;

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A CHARLESTON LOVE STORY&period;

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CHAPTER I&period;

&quot;I don&apos;t think our Len will ever amount to much&comma;&quot; said Leonard Howell, senior, one day to his wife as he entered the house&period;

&quot;Why not&comma; father&quest;&quot; anxiously inquired Aunt Milly&period;

&quot;Oh&excl; well&comma; he&apos;s too careless and too trifling&period; He&apos;s smart enough&comma; got wit enough&comma; but it all runs the wrong way&period; I&apos;ve about gi&apos;n him up&period;&quot;

&quot;Oh&comma; no&comma; father&comma; don&apos;t say that&semi; don&apos;t get discouraged&period; Let&apos;s wait awhile longer&period; You and I and Bernice here ought to be able to bring up one boy&comma; even if we are getting old&period; I shall not give him up yet&period;

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He may come out a good man&comma; after all&comma;&quot; said Mrs&period; Howell kindly&period;

&quot;Ah&comma; mother&comma; what is bred in the bone can&apos;t be got out through the flesh&period; The boy is his mother right over&hyphen;&hyphen;&hyphen;&hyphen&quot;

&quot;There&comma; father&comma; don&apos;t let us talk about than7period; You know we agreed years ago to bury that matter forever&period;&quot;

This dialogue occurred in an old&hyphen;fashioned country house in a settlement not far from Philadelphia&comma; over fifty years ago&period; The house was built wholly of wood&comma; and consisted of two parts&hyphen;&hyphen;an old and a new&hyphen;although the new part gave evidence of having seen many summers&period; The old part was only one story high&comma; but the long rafters and consequently high peaked roof gave room for a large attic&period; It had its heavy&comma; projecting eaves&semi; its oaken door&comma; which had one day been red&semi; its genuine leather latchstring hanging outside&comma; and its

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heavy oaken latch within&period; There were also the large open fireplace&comma; the swinging crane with its pothooks of various lengths&comma; and the heavy wrought andirons&period; The furniture of this part of the house consisted of a solid table&semi; several chairs&comma; some with splint bottoms and others with bottoms of untanned skin&semi; a carved corner cupboard&semi; and a rude settee which served often as a bed&period;

The new part of the house was of two stories&comma; although the ceilings were low&semi; and the furniture of the <emph rend="italics">room</emph>&comma; as it was called&comma; differed from that in the older part of the house&period; Indeed&comma; two generations were represented in the furniture of this humble dwelling&period; In the &quot;room&quot; were a ten&hyphen;stove&semi; a wooden clock&comma; with its picture of two brothers clasped in loving embrace on its front&comma; and its pecularly musical stroke&semi; a black walnut table&comma; with

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its feet of dragon claws&comma; then more than a half&hyphen;century old&semi; and a well&hyphen;worn rocking chair&period;

The house within and the yard around were generally kept scrupulously neat and orderly&semi; and the small farm on which it stood showed signs of industry and thrift in all its details&period; The fences were clean and in good repair&semi; the wagons&comma; plows&comma; and barrows&comma; as well as the live stock&comma; all showed the effects of intelligent care&period;

Leonard Howell was no idler&comma; nor did he tolerate idleness in those around him&period; Brusque in manner&comma; diligent in business&comma; of good health and with good appetite, endowed with energy and a constant flow of good spirit&comma; he was a thorough master of his work and the strength and support of the home&period; Or&comma; at least&comma; he had been so for many yhears&semi; now&comma; however&comma; he was rapidly advancing toward old age&period; The estate

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upon which he lived had been left him by his father&comma; and he was at this time possessed of sufficient means to afford a plain but comfortable living&comma; and was free from debt&period; In his earlier days he had been successful both as a small farmer and as a dealer in cordwood and hoop&hyphen;poles&semi; and many of his ventures in this line had sailed out of the tortuous rivers of South Jersey to Philadelphia&comma; where the wood and the poles then found ready sale&period;

Leonard Howell was fairly shrewd at driving a bargain&comma; and was possessed of an exterior which on first sight would indicate rather a hard nature&semi; but those who knew him well could bear testimony to his benevolence of heart&comma;l and also to a keen sense of humor which he at times manifested&period; Like most men of his time and vicinity&comma; he occasionally drank apple whiskey&comma; or apple &quot;Jack&comma;&quot; as it was called&semi;

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but he was never known to become the worse for liquor&period; He was a member of the church&comma; and was thoroughly sound in the faith&comma; and a good contributor&semi; but religious matters with him were to a large extent turned over to his brother&comma; who was a deacon in the church&comma; and to his wife&comma; who was better read than himself&comma; and who was thoughtful and pious&period; Leonard Howell&comma; evidently&comma; leaned more upon his wife&apos;s prayers and his brother&apos;s counsels than upon any devotions of his own&period; He had his &quot;principles&comma;&quot; and was ever ready to do what he called &quot;the right thing&comma;&quot; but as for services of devotion and the like&hyphen;&hyphen;well&hyphen;&hyphen;he submitted to them but never gave evidence that he enjoyed them&period;

Aunt Milly Howell was in many respects the very opposite of her husband both in outward and inward character&period; She was spare and delicate of form&comma; and quite gen&hyphen;

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erally in poor health&period; Her manners were soft and refined&comma; and she was far above the average woman of her neighborhood in point of intelligence&period; She had read much&comma; considering her opportunities&comma; and her memory was well stored with Bible facts and texts and with many gems of old English literature&period;

Although usually unwell herself&comma; she was nevertheless filled with the tenderest sympathy for others&comma; and was the special friend of the children of the community&period; Her resignation and patience&comma; and here quiet&comma; pleasant manner filled the old home with a soothing influence&comma; making all who dwelt there happier&comma; if not indeed better because of it&period; The restraint which her presence imposed upon the boisterous was by no means burdensome&comma; because it was always accompanied by her own subdued example&comma; and by her instructive and elevat&hyphen;

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ing conversation&period; I can see here now as I write&comma; sitting in her high&hyphen;backed chair&comma; with her neat&hyphen;fitting house dress on&comma; the clean handkerchief folded over her shoulders with its lower ends concealed beneath her apron&comma; her spectacles&comma; her white cap with its frills&comma; her gray hair and smooth brow&comma; her softly treading slippers&period; Yes&comma; I see her now in that old homestead&comma; with the light of heaven falling in its gentle fullness upon her paid&hyphen;worn face&comma; and my soul warms with the vision&period; She was one of God&apos;s angels sent to bless the earth&period;

In this quiet home lived also the maiden daughter&comma; Bernice&comma; the youngest of a family of seven sons and daughters who had passed their childhood there&period; She was&comma; at the time of the dialogue above mentioned&comma; about twenty&hyphen;five years of age&semi; rather large and stalwart in form&comma; inheriting her father&apos;s energy and self&hyphen;reliance&comma; coupled

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with much of her mother&apos;s reserve and kindness&period; She had the will&comma; the nerve&comma; and the cool courage fitting her to fill a more important sphere&period; Her dignity of manner was sublime&comma; here scorn terrible&period; She could freeze or flay with less than a word&period; Her look was enough&period; She lived long beyong the time of my story&comma; but she never married&period; Her&apos;s was the helping hand of the community ever ready to do good&period;

No home is complete without the boy&period; Leonard C&period; Howell&comma; junior&comma; was a grandson&comma; and was at this time about thirteen years old&period; He was bright&comma; but it could not be said that he was industrious&semi; and he seemed to have imbibed a dislike to everything about the farm except the fruit that grew on the trees and the food that came to his place at table&period; The fowls&comma; calves&comma; colts&comma; horses&comma; and dogs&hyphen;&hyphen;all seemed to hate or fear him&period; He was inclined to be

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cruel as well as &quot;careless&period;&quot; His chief pastime was to blow outlandish airs upon a small fife&comma; the notes of which were as much out of place in that orderly home as were his manners and temper&period;

Leonard&comma; however&comma; always had a faithful and powerful friend and apologist in his Aunt Bernice&semi; and hence when Grandfather Howell expressed himself as being about worn out with little &quot;Len&comma;&quot; Bernice waited until her mother had finished&comma; and then with her black eyes fairly snapping fire&comma; she added&colon;

&quotLen is not so bad&period; He is mischievour&comma; and careless and troublesome&semi; but he is only a boy yet&period; He&apos;ll be all right when he gets older&period;&quot;

This was said with an emphasis that meant much more than the words themselves expressed&semi; and as Bernice wielded great influence over her father&comma; and as she

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was pleading for his namesake and grandson&comma; the case was soon won&comma; and the old gentleman dismissed the matter by saying&colon; &quot;God grant he may&pereiod;&quot;

The father of young Leonard&comma; the oldest son of Leonard Howell&comma; senior&comma; had married greatly against the judgment of his parents&semi; and although the aged couple had long ago forgiven him and had freely received his wife as their daughter&hyphen;in&hyphen;law&comma; yet they had never really changed their opinion&period; It was to this wife&comma; of course&comma; and not to his own son&comma; that Grandpa Howell referred when he said&comma; &quot;What is bred in the bone&comma; can&apos;t be got out through the flesh&period;&quot; He may have been right&comma; but it is just as probable that he was wrong&period; He believed he was right&comma; however&comma; and his beliefs were always quite positive&period; Bernice shared none of this feeling&comma; and to her Leonard was simply a nephew to be warmly loved and kindly treated&period;

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Leonard did not stay long on the farm after this conversation&semi; although the treatment he continued to receive was kind even to indulgence&period; He became more and more discontented&comma; and&comma; early one bright morning in May&comma; was missing&period; A brief search revealed the fact that he had run away&period; He took the natural course of runaway boys&comma; which was to the city&semi; and thence made his way by sailing vessel to Boston&period; He had hired himself to the shipmaster as cabin boy&comma; but Leonard grew heartily tired of the sea and of the discipline on shipboard long before he reached Boston&semi; and as soon as the vessel was snugly at her wharf&comma; he slipped away from her&comma; forfeiting what little pay was due him&period;

Out in the streets of this strange city&comma; with scarcely a penny in his pocket&comma; without a friend or acquaintance to whom he could look&comma; and altogether unacquainted

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with city life&comma; Leonard for the first time repented his rashness&period; The seat of his repentance was&comma; however&comma; rather in his stomach than in his heart&semi; and his feelings came and went according as he happened to be hungry or fed&period; When want pinched him&comma; his thoughts would turn toward the smoking dinners of coarse but wholesome food that he had so often sat down to in the old home&comma; and he would then reproach himself for running away&semi; but when chance threw a good meal in his way&comma; all these reflections departed and his evil courage returned&period;

Thus he wandered up and down the crooked streets of Boston for a number of days&comma; catching odd jobs&comma; and living around the markets&semi; until one day it was his good fortune to meet with a farmer who was needing help and who offered him a temporary home&period;

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A bargain was soon made&comma; and it was with a glad heart that Leonard leaped into the farmer&apos;s wagon to enter upon the same sort of life as that from which he had run away&period; His short experience however had taught him the importance of having a home&comma; and he entered upon his contract with a full resolution to fulfill it&comma; by staying until the haying season was over&period; With such feelings he began his work on the Kingsley farm&period;

Although he had been bred to farm work in South Jeresey&comma; he soon found that being a hired boy on a farm in Massachusetts&comma; differed very much from the life he had lived upon his grandfather&apos;s farm in New Jersey&period; The land was rough and stony&semi; the hills quite steep and high&comma; and the people were accustomed to long days and hard work&period; Up in the morning by the time it was light&comma; they did half a Jersey

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day&apos;s work before breakfast&comma; and supplemented the day with the other half after supper&period; Poor Leonard had indeed fallen into a trying situation&period; He was earning his bread by the sweat of his brow&comma; and was becoming so lean and hollow&hyphen;eyed that it did not seem that even the poor privilege of sweating would be long allowed him&period; His voice became thin and piping&comma; and his spirits sank within him&period; He was tired every moment&comma; and saw no prospect of relief until the end of the terrible haying season&period; This came at last&comma; and with it the promised lull in the incessant rage of labor that for weeks had been sweeping over the sultry hills and valleys of the commonwealth&period;

Leonard had succeeded so well during the few weeks that Farmer Kingsley now offered him a permanent home&comma; agreeing to pay him regular wages until the autumn&apos;s

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work should be over&comma; and to board him during the winter&comma; he doing the chores&comma; and in the meantime going to school&period; This was accepted&comma; and by the latter part of November the work was well over and Leonard ready to enter the district school&period;