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Show rrmrLnjirmrurnruxnr El GABRIEL : NoI?N I Reconstruction TOLLIVER By Joel Chandler Harris 3 g (Copyright. 1902. by Joel Chandler Harris.) . A cruvtnnnnuxruuuvuuirinjv (CHAPTER VH.-Contlnued.) longer cheerful. Their child-like gayety had vanished. In place of their loud laughter, their boisterous play, and their songs welling forth and filling the twilight twi-light places with sweet melodies, there was silence. Gabriel had no reason to regard this silence as ominous, but it was so regarded by his elders. lie thought that the restless and uneasy un-easy movements of the negroes were perfectly natural. They had suddenly come to the knowledge that they were free, and they were testing the nature and the limits of their freedom. So much was clear to Gabriel, but was not clear to his elders. And what a pity that It was not! How many mistakes mis-takes would have been avoided! What a dreadful tangle and turmoil , would have been prevented. For the boy's Interpretation In-terpretation of the restlessness and uneasiness un-easiness of the blacks was-the correct one. What he scored himself for ln the days to come was that his Interest ln the matter never rose above the Idle curiosity of a boy. When the Clopton negroes were told that they were free, a larjre number of I ruvinrinjvinuvinjuux all through the war. His consistency won for him the respect of his neighbors, neigh-bors, but when the carpet-baggers made their appearance and Mahlon Butts began to fraternize with them, he was ostracised along with the rest. It soon became necessary for the whites to take counsel together, and Shady Dale became, as it had been before be-fore the war, the Mecca of the various leaders. , Then It was that Gabriel had an opportunity op-portunity to see Toombs and Stephens and Hill and Herschel V. Johnson he who -was on the national ticket with Douglas in 1860 and other men who were to become prominent later. There were some differences of opinion, to be settled. A few of the leaders had advised ad-vised the white voters to take nospart in the political farce which Congress had arranged, but to leave it all to the negroes and the aliens. Others, on the contrary, advised the white voters to qualify as rapidly as possible. It was this difference of opinion that remained to be settled, so far as - Georgia was concerned. It was Gabriel's acquaintance with Mr. Stephens that first fired his ambition. ambi-tion. Here was a frail, weak man, hardly hard-ly able to stand alone, who had been I an invalid all his life, and yet had won renown, and by his wisdom and conservatism conser-vatism had gained the confidence and esteem of men of all parties and of all shades of opinion. His will power and his energy lifted him above his bodily weakness and Ills, and, watching him closely and noting his wonderful vivacity vivac-ity and cheerfulness, Gabriel Tolliver came to the conclusion that If an Invalid In-valid could win fame a strong, healthy lad should be able to make his mark. It fell out that Gabriel attracted the attention of Mrs. Stephens, who was always al-ways partial to young men. At the suggestion sug-gestion of Mrs. Stephens, the lad was permitted to attend the conferences, which were all informal, and the kindly statesman took pains to Introduce the awkward, blushing youngster to all the prominent men who came. As might be supposed,. no definite policy pol-icy was hit upon. The conditions were so new to those who had to deal with them that, ofter an exchange of views, the company separated, feeling .that the policy proper to be pursued would naturally nat-urally arise out of the Immediate necessities neces-sities of the occasion. This was the view of Mr. Stephens, who, as he was still suffering from his confinement In them Joined the restless, migratory throng that passed to and fro along the public highway, but all moved by the same irresistible impulse to test their freedom to see if they really could come and go without let or hindrance. Uncle Plato and his family, with a dozen others remained in their places and. fared better than the rest. For a time Shady Dale rested peacefully peace-fully in its seclusion; but behind this appearance of repose there was a good deal of restlessness and uneasiness. Sometimes Its bosom (so to speak) was Inflamed with anger, and sometimes it would be sunk ln despair. One of the events that brought Shady Dale closer to the troubles that the newspapers were full of, was a circular letter issued by MaJ. Tomlin Perdue of Halcyondale. MaJ. Perdue had returned home thoroughly thor-oughly reconstructed. He was full of admiration for Gen. Grant's attitude toward Gen. Lee, and he indorsed with all his heart the tonic and spirit of Lee's address to his old soldiers; but when he saw the unexpected turn that the politicians .had been able to give to events, he found it hard to hold his peace. Finally, he incited his friends to hoid a meeting and propose his name as a .candidate for Congress. This was done, and the Major seized the opportunity oppor-tunity to issue a circular letter declining declin-ing the nomination, and giving his reasons rea-sons therefor. 'This letter remains to this day the most scathing arraignment of carpet-baggery, bayonet rule, and the Republican party generally that has ever been put ln print. MaJ. Perdue did not intend it so, but the effect of this scorching document was to bring a company of Federal troops to Halcyondale and ln the course of a few weeks a detachment was stationed sta-tioned at Shady Dale. This was taken as a signal by the carpet-baggers and forthwith they began operations, receiving re-ceiving occasional accessions ln the person per-son of a number of scalawags, the most respectable and conscientious of these being Mr. Mahlon Butts, who had been a vigorous and consistent Union man prison, accepted the Invitation of Meriwether Meri-wether Clopton to remain at Sandy Dale for a week or more, and during that week there Was hardly a day that Gabriel did not go to Clopton place. Moreover, Gabriel came tai closer contact con-tact with Francis Bethune. That young gentleman seized the opportunity to Invite In-vite Gabriel to his room, where they had several familiar and pleasant talks. Bethune told Gabriel much that was Interesting In-teresting about the war and about the men he had met In Richmond and In Washington. He also related many interesting in-teresting Incidents and stories of adventure ad-venture ln which he had taken part. But he never once put himself forward as the hero of an exploit. Gabriel had never suspected this proud-looking young man of modesty, (Continued tomorrow.) |