Newspapers / Polk County News and … / Nov. 21, 1919, edition 1 / Page 6
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POLK COUNTY ITET7S, TBYQ1T. II0STH OACOUITA wise fuii- Mond hair 1: 8hw :iek wime-not necklace un? arms, and the ?! A DARK-EYED LITTLE BEAUTY OF NINETEEN. Synopsis. Major Amberson had made a fortune in 1873 when other people were losing fortunes, and the magnificence of the Amberaons began then. Majox Amberson laid out a 200-acre ''development," with road and statuary, and in the center of a four-acre tract, on Amberson avenue, built for himself the most magnificent mansion Midland City had ever seen. When the major's daughter married young Wilbur Minafer the neighbors predicted that as Isabel could never really love Wilbur all her love would be bestowed upon the children. There is only one child, however, George Amberson Minafer, and his upbringing and his youthful accomplishments as a mischief maker are quite in keeping with the most pessimistic predictions. CHAPTER II Continued. "Your sister stole It for me !" George instantly replied, checking the pony. "She stole It off our clo'esllne an gave It to me." Ton go get your hair cut r said the stranger hotly. "Yah I I haven't got any sister P I know you haven't at home," Georgle responded. "I mean the one that's in jail." I dare you to get down off that pony!" - Georgle jumped to the ground, and the other boy descended from the Rev. Mr. Smith's gatepost but he descend ed Inside the gate. "I dare you out ride that-gate," said Georgle. "Yah! I dare you half way here. 1 dare you But these were luckless challenges, for Georgle Immediately vaulted the fence and four minutes later Mrs. Malloch Smitli, hearing strange noises, looked forth - from a window ; then screamed, and dashed for the pastor's study. Mr. Malloch Smith, that grim bearded preacher, came to the front yard and found his visiting nephew being rapidly prepared by Master Min afer to serve as a principal figure in a pageant of massacre. It was with great physical difficulty that Mr. Smith managed to give his nephew a chance to escape Into the house, for Georgle was hard and quick, and in jsmtSi matters remarkably intense; but ithe minister, after a grotesque tussle, ;got him separated from his opponent and shook him. . Ton stop that, you!" Georgle cried -fiercely, and wrenched himself away. MI guess you don't know who I ami" Yes, I, do know !" the angered Mr. SSxsfth retorted. "I know who you are, und you're a disgrace to your mother 1 Your mother ought to be ashamed of herself to allow " "Shut up about my mother beln ashamed of herself!" Mr. Smith, exasperated, was unable to close the dialogue with , dignity. She ought to be ashamed," he repeat ed. "A woman that lets a bad boy like you" ; - -. " But Georgie had reached his pony and mounted. Before setting off at his accustomed gallop he paused to inter rupt' the Rev. Malloch Smith again. "You pull down your vest, you ,ole blllygoat, you!" he shouted, distinctly. "Pull down your vest, wipe off your chin an' go to h !" Such precocity is less unusual, even in children of the Rich, than most grown people imagine. "However, It was a new experience for the Rev. Malloch Smith, and left him in a state of excitement. ' He at once wrote a note to George's mother, describing the crime "according to his nephew's testimony, and the note reached Mrs. Minafer before Georgle did. yhen he got home she read it to him sorrow fully. " Dear Madam: Your son has caused a painful distress in my household. He made an unprovoked attack upon a little nephew of mine who la visiting in my household, insulted him by calling him vicious names and falsehoods, stating that ladies of his family were in jail. He then tried to make his pony kick him, and when the child, who is only eleven years old, while your son Is much older and stronger, endeavored to avoid his indigni ties and- withdraw quietly, he pursued him Into the lnclosure of my property and ' brutally assaulted him. When I appeared upon this scene he deliberately called in sulting words to me, concluding with pro fanity, such as "go to h ," which was heard not only by myself but by my wife and the lady who lives next door. I trust such a state of undisciplined behavior may be remedied for the sake of the rep utation for propriety, if nothing higher, of the family to which this unruly child belongs. Georgie had muttered various Inter ruptions, and as she concluded the reading he said: "He's an ole liar!" "Georgie, you mustn't say liar.' Isn't this letter the truthr , "WeUV said Georgie, i'how old am It" ... Tea." - "Well, look how he says Tm older than a boy eleven years old. That's trueV said Isabel. "He does. But Isn't some of It true, Georgter Georgie felt himself to be in a dif ficulty here, and he was silent "George, did you say what he says you dldl, ' Which oner 'Did you tell him to to Did you Go to h TV" Georgie - looked iworrfed for a mo- catat longer,; then he brightened. "Lis tea here, tnsunafgrandpa wouldn't wipe his shoe- n that ole story teller, - "Georgle, you mustn't 7 I mean: none of the Axnbersons wouldn't bate anything to do with him, would they T - He doesn't even know you, does he, mamma?" That hasn't anything to dd with it" "Yes. it has! I mean: none of the Amberson family go to see him, and they never have him come in their house; they wouldn't ask him to, and prob'ly wouldn't even let him." That Isn't what we're talking about." "I bet," said Georgie "emphatically, "I bet If he wanted to see any of 'em, he'd haf to go around to the side door!" "No, dear, they " "Yes, they would, mamma ! So what does it matter if I say somep'm' to him he didn't like? That kind o people, I don't see why you can't say anything you want to to 'em!" "No, Georgle. And you haven't an swered me whether you said that dreadful thing he says you did." "Well " said Georgie. "Anyway, he said somep'm' to me that made me mad." And upon this point he offered no further details; he would not ex plain to his mother that what had made him "mad" was Mr. Smith's hasty condemnation of herself : "Your mother ought to be ashamed," and "A woman that lets a bad boy like you " Georgie did not even con sider excusing himself by quoting these Insolences. Isabel stroked hl3 head. 'They were terrible words for you to use, dear. From his letter he doesn't seiu a very tactful person, but " "He's Just riffraff," said Georgle. "You mustn't say so," his mother gently agreed. "Where did you learn those bad words he speaks of? Where did you hear anyone use them?" "Well, I've heard 'em serreval places. I guess Uncle George Amber son was the first I ever heard say 'em. Uncle George Amberson said 'em to papa once. Papa didn't like it, ' but Uncle George was just laughin' at papa, an then he said 'em while he was laughin.'" That was wrong of him," she said, but almost Instinctively he detected the lack of conviction In her tone. It was Isabel's great falling that what ever an Amberson did seemed right to her, especially if the Amberson was either her brother George or her son George. "You must promise me," she said feebly, "never to' use those bad words again." "I promise not to," he said prompt ly and he whispered an Immediate codicil under his breath : "Unless I get mad at somebody!" This satisfied a code according to which, In his own sincere belief, he never told lies. "That's a good boy," she said, and he ran out to the yard, his punishment over. As an Amberson he was already a public character, and the story of his adventure In the Rev. Malloch Smith's front yard became a. town topic. Many ably, as to mutter, "Riffraff 1" Pos sibly he would have shouted it; and certainly most people believed a story that went round the town Just after Mrs. Amberson's funeral, when Geor gia was eleven. Georgie was reported to have differed with the undertaker about the , seating of the family ; his Indignant voice had become audible : "Well, who is the most important per son at my own grandmothers fu neral?" And later he had projected his head from the window of the fore most mourners carriage, as -the under taker happened to pass. ; : ' , , "Riffraff!" -i'1.vKV-: ; iV. There were people- -grown people they were who expressed themselves longingly : they did hope to live to" see the day, they said, when that boy would get his come-upance! (They used that honest word, so much bet ter than "deserts," and not until many years later to be more clumsiiy ren dered as '"what Is coming to him.") Something was bound to take him down some day, and they only wanted to be there ! But Georgle heard noth ing of this, and the yearners for .his taking down . went unsatisfied, while their yearning grew the greater as the happy day of fulfillment was longer and longer postponed.'- . "Pull Down Your Vest, You OU Billy .. .. QoaV .. people glanced at him with great dis taste thereafter, when they, chanced to encounter him, which meant noth tneT to Georgie, because he innocently believed most grown people to be nec essarily cross looking as a normal phe nomenon resulting from" the ' adult state ; and he failed to comprehend that the distasteful glances had any personal bearing upon himself. If he had perceived such a bearing he would have been affected only so far, prob- CHAPTER III. Until he reached the age of twelve Georgle's education was a domestic process; tutors came to the house, and those citizens who yearned for his taking down often said : "Just wait till he has to go to public school ; then he'll get It!" But at twelve Georgie was sent to a private school In the town, and there came from this small and Independent institution no report, or even rumor, of Georgle's getting anything that he was thought to de serve ; therefore the yearning still per sisted, though growing gaunt , with feeding upon Itself. The yearners -were still yearning when Georgle at sixteen was sent away to a great "prep school. 'Now," they said brightly, "he'll get t! He'll find himself among boys Just as Important in their home town as he s, and they'll knock the stuffing out of him when he puts on his airs with them! Oh, but that would be worth something to see!" They were mis taken.; it appeared, for when Georgie returned a few months later he still seemed to have the same stuffing. He had been deported by the authorities, the offense being stated as "insolence and profanity;" In fact, he iiad given the principal of the school instruc tions almost Identical with those "for merly objected to by the Rev. Malloch Smith. But he hud not got his come-upance, and those wliOv counted upon it were embittered by his appearance upon the downtown streets driving a dog cart at a criminal speed, making pe destrians retreat from the crossings, and behaving himself as If he "owned the earth." When Mr. George Amberson Mina fer, came home for, the holidays at Chrlstraastlde In his sophomore year, probably no great change had taken place inside him, but his exterior Was visibly altered. Nothing about him encouraged any hope that he had re ceived his come-upance ; on the con trary, the yearners for that stroke of justice must yearn even more itch- Ingly: the gilded youth's manner had become polite, but his politeness was of." a kind which democratic people found hard to bear. Cards were out for a ball In his honor, and this pageant of the ten antry was held In the ballroom of the Amberson mansion the night after his arrival. It was, as Mrs. Henry Frank lin Foster said of Isabel's wedding, "a big Amberson-style thing." All "old citizens" recognized as gentry received cards, and of course so did their danc ing descendants. The orchestra and the caterer were brought from away, in the Amberson manner, though this was really a ges tureperhaps one more of habit than of ostentation for servitors of gayety as proficient as these importations were nowadays to be found In the town. It was the last of the great, long-remembered dances that "every body talked about" there were get ting to be so many people In town that no later than the next year there were too many for "everybody" to hear of even such a ball as the AmbersonsV George, white-gloved, with a garde nia In his buttonhole, stood with his mother and the Major, embowered In the big red-and-gold drawing room downstairs, to receive" the guests; and, standing thus t together, the trio offered a picturesque example of good ldbks persistent through 1 three : gene rations. The Major, his daughter and his grandson were of a type all 'Am berson : tali; straight and regular, with dark - eyes, , short noses, good chins; and the grandfather's expression,, no less than the grandson's,,, was one of faintly amused , condescension. There was a difference, however. The grand son's unlined young face had nothing to , offer except i this condescension ; the grandfather's had other things to say. It was a handsome, worldly old face, conscious of its importance,' but persuasive rather than arrogant, and not without tokens of sufferings with stood. ; The Major's short white hair was parted in the middle,5 like his grandson's, and in all ; he stood as briskly equipped to the fashion as the exquisite young -George. - - Isabel, standing between her father and her son, caused a vague amaze ment In the: mind of. the latter. Her ttge, Just under forty, was .foe .Qeorge a thought of something as remote as the moons of Jupiter : he could not possibly have conceived such an age ever coming to be his own: fire years was the limit of his thinking in time. Five years ago he had been, a child not yet fourteen; and those five years were an abyss. ,. Five years hence he would be almost twenty-four ; what the girls he knew called "one of the older men." He could Imagine himself at twenty-four, but beyond that hi9 powers staggered and refused the task. ,. He saw little essential differ ence between thirty-eight and eighty eight, and his mother was to him not a woman- but wholly a ; mother. The woman, Isabel,, was a stranger to hef son; as completely a stranger, as If he had never In his life seen her or heard her voice. '.And It was tonight, while he stood with her, "receiving," that be caught a disquieting glimpse of "this stranger whom, he thus fleet Ingly encountered for the first time. Youth cannot Imagine romance apart from youth. That Is why the roles of the heroes and heroines of plays are given by the managers to the most youthful actors they can find, among he competent. Both middle aged people and young, people enjoy a play about young lovers; but only middle-aged people will tolerate a play about middle-aged lovers r young people will not come to see such a play, because for them middle-aged lovers are a joke not a very funny one. Therefore, to bring both ' the middle-aged people and the young people Into his house the manager makes his romance as young as he con. Youth will Indeed be served, and its profound Instinct is to be not only scornfully amused but vaguely . an: gered by middle-aged romance. So, standing beside his mother, George was disturbed by a sudden impression, coming upon him out of nowhere, so far as he could detect, that her eyes were brilliant, that she was graceful and youthful In a word that she was romantically lovely. He had one of those curious moments that seem to have neither a cause nor any connection with actual things. There was nothing In either her looks or her manner to explain George's un comfortable feeling; and yet it In creased, becoming suddenly a vague resentment, as If she had done some thing unmotherly to him. The fantastic moment passed; and even while It lasted he was doing his duty, greeting two pretty girls with whom he had grown up, as people say, and warmly assuring thera that he re membered them very well nn assur ance which might have surprised them "In anybody but Georgie Minafer!" It seemed unnecessary, since he had spent many hours with them no longer than the preceding August. They had with them their parents and an uncle from out of town; and George negli gently gave the parents the same as surance he had given the daughters, but murmured another form of greet ing to the outHDf -town uncle, whom he had never seen before. This per son George absently took note of as a "queer-looking duck." Undergradu ates had not yet adopted "bird." It was a perlprevious to that in which a sophomoivould, have .thought of the Sharon girls uncle as a "queer looking bird," or, perhaps, a "funny- face bird." In George's time every hu man male was to be defined at pleas ure as a "duck;" but "duck" was not spoken with admiring affection, as In its former feminine use to signify a "dear" on the contrary, "duck" Im plied the speaker's personal detach ment and humorous superiority. An Indifferent amusement was what George felt when his mother, with a gentle emphasis. Interrupted his In terchange of courtesies with the nieces; to present him to the queer looking duck, their uncle. This em phasis of Isabel's, though slight, en abled George to perceive that she con sidered -the queer-looking duck a per son of some Importance ; but It. was far from enabling him to understand why. The duck parted his thick and louglsh black hair on the side ; his tie was a forgetful-looking thing, and his coat, though It fitted a good enough middle-aged figure, no product of this year, or of last year either. Observing only his unfashionable hair, his preoccupied tie and his old coat, the Olympic George set him down as a. queer-looking duck, and having thus completed his portrait' took no. inter-' est .to him. ; :-"f 4 ;' 4:y; f The Sharon girls passed on, taking the queer-looking duck with them, and George 'became -pink with J mortifica tion as his mother called his attention to: a white-bearded guest waiting to shake hts hand. : This was, George's grcit-uncle, old John, Minafer: it was connection by marriage with . the Am bersons he never had worn and never would wear a swaller-tail coat Mem bers of his family had exerted their influence uselessly at eighty-nine conservative people seldom form rad ical new habits, and old John wore his "Sunday suit" of black broadcloth to the Amberson ball, The x coat was square, with skirts to the knees ; old John called it; a "Prinze Albert" and was well enough pleased with it, but his great-nephew, considered it the next thing to an insult. ; The large room had, filled, and so had the broad hall and the rooms on the other side of the hall, where there were tables , for whist. The imported orchestra waited In the - ballroom on the third floor, but a local harp, 'cello, violin and flute were playing airs from The Fencing Master" in the. hall, and people were shouting over the music. Old John Mlnaf ers voice was louder and more penetrating than any other, because he had been troubled with deafness for twenty-five years, heard his own voice but faintly, and liked to hear it "Smell o flowers like this al ways puts me In; mind o funerals," he kept telling his niece, Fanny Minafer, who was with him; and he seemed to get a great deal of satisfaction out of this reminder. His tremulous yet strl dent voice cut through the voluminous sound that filled the room, and he was heard everywhere. Presently George's mortification was Increased to hear this sawmill droning harshly from the midst of the thick eulng crowd: "Ain't the dancln broke out yet, Fanny? Hoopla! Le's push through and go see the young women folks crack their heels ! Start the cir cus! Hoopsey-dalsy !" Miss' Fanny Minafer, In charge of the lively vet eran, was. almost as distressed -as her nephew George but she did her duty and managed to get old John through the press and out to the broad stair way, which nunibers of young people were now ascending to the ballroom. George began to recover from the deg radatlon into which this relic of early settler days had . dragged him. What restored him completely was a dark eyed little beauty of nineteen, very knowing In lustrous blue and jet ; at sight of this dashing advent in the line of guests before him George was fully an Amberson again. Remember you very well Indeed !" he said, his graciousness. more earnest than any he had heretofore displayed. Isabel heard him and laughed. "But you don't, George!" she said. "You don't remember her yet, though of course you will ! Miss Morgan Is from out of town, and I'm afraid this is the first time you've ever seen her. You might take her up to the dancing ; I think you've pretty well done your auty nere." "Be d'lighted," George responded formally, and offered his arm, not with a flourish, certainly, but with an Impresslveness Inspired partly by the appearance of the person to whom he offered It, partly by his being the hero of this fete, and partly by his youth fulness for when" manners are new they are apt to be "elaborate. The little beauty intrusted her gloved .fin gers to his coatsleeve, and they moved away together. , As - he conducted Miss Morgan through the hall toward the stairway they passed the open double doors of a cardroom, where some squadrons of older people were preparing for ac tion, and, leaning gracefully upon the mantelpiece of this room, a tall man, handsome, high-mannered and spjfr kllngly point-device, held laughing converse with that queer-looking due the Sharon girls' uncle. The tall gen tleman waved a gracious salutation to George, and Miss Morgan's curiosity was stirred. ?Who is that?" "I didn't catch his name when my mother ( presented hlra to me," said George. "You mean the queer-looking duck." - "I mean the , aristocratic duck." "That's my Uncle George. Honor able George Amberson. I thought ev erybody knew hlra." i , . "He looks as though everybody ought to know Kim," she said. "It seems to run in your family." If she had any sly Intention it skipped over George harmlessly. "Well, of course, I suppose most : ev erybody does," he admitted "out (n this part of the country especially. Besides Uncle George Is In congress; the family like to " have someone there." - : ""Why?"- V' - Well, It's sort of a good thing In one way. For Instance, Uncle- Sydney Amberson and his wife. Aunt Amelia, they haven't ; much - of anything to do with themselves get bored to death around here, of course. Well; prob ably Uncle Georgell have Uncle Syd ney appointed minister or ambassador or something like that, to Russia or Italy or somewhere, and that'll make It pleasant when any of the rest of the family go traveling, or things like that I expect to do a good deal of traveling, myself when I get out of col lege." :J&& -V-r I Sydney was an Amberson exag geratedmore pompous than gracious ; too portly, flushed, starched to a shine. V . "roaa stairwv . lg aSc;j the aunt a,ynl pleased to point. outVft "e V? of town.,ashtaBi way of relatives PPe N the grandeur 0f ot was instantly c, "1" nent thing : H ZT a8 2? that the AmbPrLbletn their noM t7U Jr k polished and tftteZ !?! were as solid aa thv 7 ana would last. ere bnitJJ CHAPTER ,V. The hero of the fete . eyed little beauty - v... me iup Or tha " k stairs; and landing, where two l.n?.. W tended a crystalline Z 1 wme archways in a ros, framed elidina r08e-ne hZ already smoothly at it to T WS of "La Paloma" Old 14.1 M... . ia John irir1 CTtUCUttjr Huneitea, was In QO I- ,. leaving these delights eZ middle-aged man of coSS?! pearance. The escort had .? face upon which, not ol?1 but as a matter of course a. uusmess man s short there nis thin neck showed an a rr mustach an Adam'. but not i-uuuaiy. Tai u. notnmg conspicuous about him ish, dim, quiet, he w as au George Danced Well and Miss Morgai Seemed to Float able part of this festival, and there were a dozen or more middle aged men present, not casually to In distinguished from him in general pect, he was probably the last persoi in the big house at whom a stranger would have glanced twice. It did nd enter George's mind to mention te Miss Morgan that this was his father. or to say anything whatever abod him. Mr. Minafer shook his son's hand unobtrusively in passing. 'Til take Uncle John home," to said In a low voice. "Then I gnen I'll go on home myself I'm not i great hand at parties, yon toot. Godd night, George." George murmured a friendly enougl good night wthout pausing. Ordi narily he was not ashamed of the Mi af ers ; he seldokn thought about then at all, for he belonged, as most Amet lean children do, to the mother's ft lly but he1 was anxious not to lings with Miss Morgan in tne viuuu, old John, whom he felt to be a a ace. . ,t. :e pushed brusquely through w 1 an trptt fringe of calculating youins - gathered In the arches, waw chances to dance only with girw would soon be taken off their hiiJJ, and led his stranger lady out upon t floor. They caught the time instantly, and were away in the waltz. George danced well, and I ID- J gan seemed to float Prt"V sic. the very dove ltseu vl. - ma." George lnn oi became cod..- AM--i .,.sthin him; a" strange 'ieeaiigs finitft tation of soul, tender but iJJ and seemingly located in tne part of his diaphragm. . . r hj music Tne stopping ui 7 jurffl upon him like the waking to an rf clock; for-instantly six or the calculating persons abom tryways bore down upon Miss to secure dances. , , . tf i with one already established belle. It seemed. au "Old times starting over again! My Lord! (TO DB One for lnt0 tW sent my small daughter A, anme dOSUUfc rront room w r7 stepped die hearing her around. I stepw old Johni boast that in. spite of hUi his stately Jowl furnished with an Ed- j Exchange. Into the room and i" work Idly by the window wu unfinished. I said to her -. m you know" Satan finds J hands. to dor Sbf fjcuy He must be sowci
Polk County News and The Tryon Bee (Tryon, N.C.)
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Nov. 21, 1919, edition 1
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