Document text
Revision No. 17 A
SOUTH CAROLINA WRITER'S PROJECT
LIFE HISTORY
TITLE* MISTRESS OF EACVOLIA HALL
Date of First Writing
Name of Person Interviewed
Fictitious Nam*
Plaoe
Oeoupation
Name of Witer
Name of Reviser
Approximately 3,600 words
January 5, 1939
Mrs. Julia LaRoche, 82 (White)
Mrs. Devereux
Edisto Island, S. C.
Retired business manager of
Cotton Plantation
Chalmers S. Murray
State Off toe and Author.
Frojeet 1665
Chalmers N. Murray
Bdisto Wand, S. C.
MI6TRESS OF MAGR0LIA 6ALL
Lux HISTORY
Nverything was quiet when I drove up. A few Negroes were moving
listlessly stout the cotton arbor, and a aangy, nouse-eolored hound lay
like dead on the ground by the whitewashed barn. I took Ay eyes from the
creature lying there in the dust and looked instead at the tall pines, the
great laurel tr..e and the oTave of live oaks. Then my eyes, refreshed,
wandered in a seni.-oirole and rested on the plantatioa dwelling w a large
two and a half story structure* painted battle ship grey, rising sheerly
from the blaek dirt of the front yard.
The breeze died to a whisper. It was too tired even to rustle the
pine needles. The September sun was hot on my &leeks, and I walked toward
the dwelling, already piotyring forself seated in one of the porch chairs in
the deep shed*.
Sight bleak forms were dragiing theamelves along the path leading to
the platform where the cotton would soon be weighed, and later put out in the
sun to dry. The figures were bearing burlap sacks, stuffed with cotton, on
their head** No words *soaped fres their thiek lips. The last figure in the
procession a oopper colored boy of about ten, was followed by a little
bleak deg. I looked closely at the dog as it passed as, It seemed to have
purple eyes.
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Edisto Island, S. C.
MISTRESS OF MAGNOLIA HALL
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The boy walked within a foss feet of the spot where the hound was lying
and the black dog trailed along. Slowly the hound raised up on its spindly
legs and yawned. The black dog charged. In a twinkling the combatants were
obscured by a aloud of grey dust. Their yowls out sharply through the still
gir and the boy added his voioe to the racket. He kept palings
*Go get UK, Lion. Chew um up.'
Suddenly a window in the big house was thrown open and the angry was)*
of a woman was heard above the hubbubs "that's going on down there! Stop that
noise, stop it immodiately.'
The boy answered nothing. Al]. of his attention was oirtered on the fight.
Again the woman's voice rang outi 'You know full well I don't allow dogs
in my yard. Dogs can't pick cotton. Get them both out of here or I will tell
the magistrate.
The window was slammed shut.
I walked up the long stairway and rapped on tho porch door. Mrs. James
Devoreut, a little woman with four score years plainly written on her face,
admitted me. She made bird -like motions with her hands as if she was ready to
take flight. I waited in embarrassment, scarcely knowing if I wens welcome. The
sight of a half smile relieved my nervousness. She was sayings
'Come on in, won't you, Chalmers? I declare I am all worn out. I always
get this way during cotton picking season. Just don't seem to have any energy.
Project 1655
Chalmers S. Murray
Edisto Island, S. C.
MISTRESS OF U&GNOLIA HALL
Fags 3
All of this business she vexed her hand in the direction of the ootton
arbor "and the heat you know, and getting the children ready for co liege.
So many dresses to make."
She led me aorosa the porch into the sitting room and motioned me to
a chair by a frent window. It was a large rows even for an old plantation
house, with high soiling and wide baseboards. Pictures of saints, done on
wood, and an oil portrait of a handsome woman with jet black eyes and plump
arms, relieved the whiteness of the plastered walls. There was a horse -hair
sofa in one corner and a varied assortment of chairs and small tabloO. I
noticed three colonial pieoes a °hail.* longue and two mahogany chairs 4. and
a number of things belonging to the late Victorian period. The blaok marble
fireplace of exquisite lines was the dominating filature of the room. On the
mantleplooe were two ornate vases, a gift from the LaPayotto family of Franco.
Mrs. Devoreux sat on the edge of a straight chair. Again she seemed
poised for flight. Her eyes roved to the dining room and then to the window
on the porch side. She addressed as.
I hear you are looking for natories and old stories for the government.
Nv attic is majammed full of old books and letters and papers of all sorts* I
think I have a set of McCrady and Ramsey I am not sure and a letter from
Daniel Mobster. RV paternal grandfather kept open house in Philadelphia, you
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Chalmers S. Murray
Ldisto Island, S. C.
MISTRESS OF MAGNOLIA RAIL
Page 4
know, and entertained many celebrated people. Webster, Clay and Jerome
Bonaparte were among them. I hardly know what's in the attic myself. The
children are algal' rummaging around."
I told her I was interested in any history connected with Milian and
its families, but that I also wanted to talk with her about her lit, story,
"Your experiences should make very interesting memoirs", I commented.
"My memory is still good, Chalmers, *specially about the things that
happened in my childhood," she said. The words poured out in a steady etre**.
"The first thing I remember? Yes, it stands out very clearly. I. were
refugeeing in Abbeville near the close of the Civil likr. The sea islands were
not considered safe and we moved bag and baggage to the Up Country. I was
sitting on a porch playing with a dish, pretending that it was a hat trying it on,
taking it off again. W little spinning wheel, the delight of ey life, was
close by. They said that the Yankees were coming through. I had heard than
taliCng about Yankees before, it seemed. I did not know exactly what Yankees were,
but I did know they were some kind of beast animals certainly."
Mrs. Devereux paused for breath, got up and walked to the window, then
sat down again. She resumed her narrative.
"I had never seen a Yankee in a soo, but I always thought that I would
*one across one of them there. I was convinced that they were a teals with
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Chalmers S. Murray
Edisto Island, S. C.
MISTRESS DF MAGNOLIA dALL
rage
horns. Today I tell every iznkee I meet about my childhood fanoies thinking
they were animals with horns. It Beene to amuse them."
The last sentence was spoken through her nose. She chuckled. "That's
the way my relatives in Philadelphia talk," she said.
"The Yankees came marching through," she continued. "I was very much
surprised to learn that they were not beasts. One of them gave me a dime and
Iw as delighted. gy ideas changed about them. After that I thought Yankees
were fine. I wendered why my parents thought they were so awful.
"I can see that old house today. Years afterwards I visited Abbeville
but I could not locate the place. I was very sorry for I would have dearly loved
to have seen the old home where the Yankee gave me that dime. I treasured a dime
more than these children treasure a five dollar bill. Children these days don't
have any idea of the value of money."
I broke in with a question here for I know she w..uld vender further and
further away from the subjeet, and I would have a hard time bringing her back.
"Please tell me about the time your mother was ohristened and the ball
given in honor of General LaFeyette. How did the famous Frenchman happen to
visit Rtiwan anyhow?"
"People often ask me why my grandfather happened to ask General Wayette
to Stiwan,* Mrs. Devereuu, said, wiping the beads of perspiration from her
forehead. Nell, he thought it would be a good idea to ask the General over so
Project 1655
Chalmers S. Murray
&list° Island, S. C.
MISTRESS OF MAGNOLIA HALL
he could most the people of *he island. That was in 1825. Grandfather had
sent his own steamboat to Charleston for him. On the return trip the boat
landed in the creek right behind the house. Grandfather had prepared a ball
in the great Frenchman's honer and had invited all of the people of the island.
Be owned a large number of slaves and they were busy for days getting everything
ready. Before the boat landed, grandfather had a carpet laid frOm the wharf te
the house, a distanee of several hundred yards.*
"La layette stepped ashore and was warmly greeted by his host and the
island guests. About five hundr8d people were present. Everyone had a merry
time. Champagne flowed like water.
"After the ball, General Lafayette asked for my grandmother and was told
that she was upstairs with her three weeks old infant. 'Could you not have the
child brought down here?' Lafayette wanted to know. 'I would like to see her.'
Grandfather said it could be arranged. LaFayette then suggested that since a
clergymah was present, the child be christened the same evening. want the
privilege of naming her,' he said to my grandfather.
*The baby was brought into the room and my grandfather asked the General
what name he had chosen for the child. 'I will name her, if you will allow, after
the state and myself Carolina LaFayette,' he answered. And this is how my
mother got her name. Now if you will excuse me for a minute or two I will go
upstairs and finish off a little job I promised to do for one of my grand-
daughters."
korject 1655
Chalmers S. Murray
tdisto Island, S. C.
MISTRESS OF MAGNOLIA HALL
Page 7
Nhile Mrs. Divereux was out of the room, I tried to recall what I
knew about her life history. She was born on Etiwan Island in this same house,
eightp.two years agoothe daughter of a Philadelphian and the girl whom La
Fayette named. Her mother had inherited Magnolia Hall Plantation, and after
she and her husband returned from an extensive tour of Europe, they settled
on Etiwan. The man from Philadelphia knew nothing about the culture of sea
island cotton, but he was willing to learn and with the assistance of an ezi.
perienced overseer, he soon became a planter in his own right. In a couple
of years he could 'talk sea island cotton" with the best of them.
Hard times followed the Civil War and the family's income was sharply
reduced. Mrs. Devereux's education was out short and the annual trips to
Europe discontinued. But her father was able to borrow on the strength of his
reputation as a cotton planter and by degrees recouped his fortune. Upon the
death of her parents, Mks. I/overrun was left Magnolia Hall end a tidy sum beside.
In her thirties she had married Junes Deversux or liando Island. Follow*
ing her mother's example she insisted that he make his home at Magnolia Hall
and plant sea island cotton. James Devereux, his neighbors spid, loved the
soil and the feeling of long staple fiber between hi fingers. He could make
two pounds grow where only one pound grew before. An authority on the subject
of cotton culture, he was sent with a commission to the Barbadoss to study
West Indian methods of production, near the turn of the century.
Projeet 1656
Chalmers S. Murray
Udisto Island, S. C.
MISTRESS OF MAGNOLIA HALL
tags
He had no liking for details. Mks. Devereux managed the business end
of the plantation. She kept the books, made the purchases and drew the checks.
James would have given away everything he owned had it not boon for his wife,
the island people declared.
In hid totter years he was often ill for months at a time and was forced
to undergo an operation that cost him a three thousand dollar hospital bill at
John Hopkins. He died about twenty-five years ago, leaving his wife and two
daughters.
Mrs. Devereux continued to live at Magnolia Hall. Importing a young
relative from another island, she made him her agent and the planting of sea
island cotton was resumed on the place. The young man fell in love with her
eldest daughter and married her. Then the youngest daughter married and moved
to the next plantation. The eldest daughter and her husband were given an
apartment in the Magnolia Hall dwelling. Of the union two girls were born. Almost
in hailing diatoms', across a salt creek, lives the other daughter, he husband
and two girls. A private telephone line conneets the places.. Thus the old lady
can keep in close touch with every member of her immediate family.
Magnolia Hall is a gathering plaoe for the clan. Nephews, nieces, aunts,
uncles and cousins, pay extended visits and sometimes every bed in the house is
occupied. Mrs. Devote= welcomes them all. She Says she likes the lively air
that the presence of half a dosen guests lends to her home.
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Chalmers S. Murray
Edisto Island, S. C.
MISTRESS OF MAGNOLIA HALL
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She is a great traveler. After a few months at Magnolia Hall she
becomes very restless and the daughters know what to expect. She complains about
being out of contest with the world and says that she longs for her old friends
in Philadelphia and New rork. She tells her family that she is homesick for
the theatres, the art galleries, museums, and the lights of the biuoity.
Finally her daughters succumb. They paok Mn. Devereux's bags, warn her about
her heart, and kiss her good-bye.
In a few hours she is on King Street in Charleston, making the rounds
of her favorite shops. The next week the people at home will get a letter
saying that she is having a glorious time in New York, Toronto or Miami. The
children sigh and says swear you can't do a thing with Mama. Traveling all
by herself at eighty-two with a weak heart. What if she should fall ill on the
train or bus?"
But they know that somehow "ii" always manages to reach her destina-
tion safely in spite of her advanced age and her weak heart.
Mts. Devereux never appears to to worried about her health. Speaking
of illness she says: "If you have an objective in life and keep busy, you
won't have time to be sick. Now, these young people are forever sick, it seems
to me. Flying to doctors every week, getting put to bed in hospitals, having
their teeth straightened, letting some surgeon out them up. I tell my doctor
'No use to find anything wrong with as because I just won't put my foot in
a hospital I hate the things.'
Project 1655
Ghalmero S. Murray
Edisto Island, S. C.
MISTRESS F MAGNOLIA HALL
Page 10
In recent years Mrs. Devereux hat paid enormous dental and hospital
bills for her children and grandchildren. She says that she does not believe
in handicapping your people with debts, that her money is there for them
to use as they think best. None of her daughters or granddaughters inherit
stron7 ooneAtutions. When a change of climate seems necessary she sends
them away on loflL trips to Canada in the summer, and to Florida in the
winter. "There's nothing like a trip to pick you up," she remarks.
The door openeo and in walked Sallie, one of the granddaughters.
She regarded me with round, cirl eyes behind horn -rimmed glasses an
intelli-
gent looking girl of about twenty. Sallie is now completing her senior year
at a state college, and expects *o teach school next season.
I 'card Granny tell you ci.out all of those old letters and diaries,
while I was in the dining room," ne said, running her words together like
so many of the islanders do. "I have munmaged through the attic many times,
but found nothing like that. I am quite sure my uncle Jake took the letters
back north with him lonL
"Thpt's a pity," I told her.
"They would have been valualle to
historians and collectors n.) doubt. i-ut right now I am trinc, t get something
more .bout your grandmother' life. T wonder if you could induce her to write
her memoirs. If she coul- write .the way she talks her story should make a
best seller thtt is if he book could be illustrated with moving pictures
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Chalmers S. Murray
Edisto Iiland, S. C.
MISTRESS OF MAGNOLIA HALL
Page Ii
so as to oatoh her gestures."
The girl smiled. "I am afraid she would never write anything. She
likes talking so much better. You oouldn't make her sit still long enough
to write."
The old lady re-entered the roost. She had a worried preoccupied leak
on her fags.
I am sorry to have kept you vatting so long," she said but you know
how these young people are never able 'to do anything for themselves. Only
a week before eolleg, opens and dresses to finish and trunks to pack. Clothes,
clothes, clothes. Their heads are full of everything but their studies."
Mrs. Devereux has told her friends that she is anxious for all of her
grandchildren to win college dflplomas. Tears ago, realising that the expense
was too heavy for their parents to bear without borrowing the money, she set
aside a certain sum for ti sir edycation.
Mre. Dement spends a considerable part of her inoome on charity, and
is a strong supporter of the Etiwan branch of the King's Daughters Society and
the Presbyterian church on the island. I remsebered her remarking ones. "We
must support the church whether we like the minister or not. It is our ohurohi
not his. The King's Daughters stand for praetioal Christianity. That is why
I want to give what I can spare to the society.... Yet the church must go on. Old
associations, old friends, you know. We can't afford to give up the old things."
Project 1655
Chalmers S. Murray
Edisto Islands S. C.
MISTRESS OF MAGNOLIA BALL
litge 12
She has befriended many a Negro on Btivian, especially those living
on her plantation. Her gifts are generally practical ones food, clothing,
medicine.
Before Mks. Devereux could start on the subject of the younger generation
again. I asked her to tell me about her experiences during the hurricanes of
1893 and 1911.
"I suppose you know that there have been no hurricanes on the island sines
1911, she began. "Oh, yes, minor blows gentle little breezes like the one
that knocked over a folir pine trees several summers ago, but nothing that would
hold a candle to the 1911 storm or the famous one of 1893.
How well I recall the storm of 1893. The instrument for measuring the
velocity of the wind I have forgotten what they call it was torn to pieces,
so they really didn't know haw hard it was blowing.
We were living on the Point then. Our house stood on palmetto posts,
six feet frost the ground, and the pilings were sunk three or four feet below the
surface. It made the house very steady.
The blow mole in August. The wind was behind the tide and it cams
rushing in tearing in. The water was soon lapping under the house and pounding
away at the sills. I believe it was a sort of tidal wave. The water rose sud•
den/y as if it had been poured from a big bucket. Naturally we were nervous.
Who wouldn't be with part of the Atlantic Ocean under them?
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Chalmers S. kurray
Edisto Island, S. C.
MISTRLSS OF LiGNOLIA ilALL
Page 13
"I remember that the horses were stables under the house at that
time. It was pitiful to hear them whinnying when the waves knocked them
off their feet. But they managed to keep from dromedas the Lord only knows
how. Me could hear them moving about all night long, trying to keep their
footing.
The house came through all right. It was firmly anchored. Of course,
some of the pilings worked loose but most of them held.
The next m:--rning we found a huge piece of timber in our front yard. It
must have come from a wreaked ship. If it had struok our house during the worse
of the storm there is no telling what would have happened. Mercifully the
timber was °aught by palmetto trees in the front yard and came no further.
During the night there was a lull. You could hear a pin drop. We
held our breath, knowing that the storm was not over, no sir it wasn't. The
wind had been blowing from the east for hours and hours. Before you could count
ten, it came smashing in from the west and blew even harder than it had done
before. When the storm finally died, the tail end of it was coming from due
west. That's the way those hurricanes behave."
While Mrs. Devereux was finishinE her story, Gerard Scarborough entered.
Be walked with short energetic strides, his small body held erect. This was
the son-in-law who had married t,e eldest dauehter frid who ran the plantation
for Mrs. Devereux. Wisps of cotton were clinging to his coat and trousers. He
was wearing a lightandight summer suit. flanters of Etiman scorn overalls. Be
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Chalmers S. Murray
Edisto Island, S. C.
MISTRESS OF MAGNOLIA HALL
Page 14
greeted me cordially and asked me about the fishing in Seaside, and then
sunk into an arm-ohair.
Mrs. Devereux asked' "Did you get through, Gerard?"
"Tee, we managed to pick in the heaviest blow, but there are still
two fields to finish. Start on them tomorrow, I suppose, if the weather holds
good," he answered. With a twinkle in his eye he said: I suppose you have been
telling some of your tall stories."
I was telling about the 1893 storm, and you were too young to remember
much about it, so you can't check up on me," his *other...in-law replied in a
tart tone. "Talking about storms you Letter hurry and get that cotton in. The
season
hurricane/Is right at hand."
"Don't get nerbous, Old Lady, I will get it in by the end of the week."
I can't help being nervous,Gerard." She was speaking in a serious
voice now. "Remember what the 1911 storm did for us. No factor to borrow
from these days." Turning to me she said: "Those were the good old days,
Chalmers, lea island cotton bringing from sixty cents to one dollar a pound.
If a storm came, you could always borrow enough money to start over again. We
didn't have all of these comforts and conveniences then, but we were just as
happy pnd it seemed that we could save more."
"Go on, Old Lady," said Gerard grinning. "We were always in debt in
those days if I remember right. I am glad that the factor system died out."
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Chalmers S. Murray
Edisto Island, S. C.
MI6TRESS OF MAGNOLIA HALL
Page 15
Gerard Scarborough is a hard worker. Ao arises early and spends long,
hot days in the field with the hands,
machinery to be repaired, fences to be
to be kept. In his spare time he acts
year he takes a vacation on one of the
There is much to do on
a large plantation
kept in order, animals to feed, accounts
as the magistrate's constable. Ones a
island beaches where he ind'a few cronies
pass the entire time fishing for channel bass.
Mrs. Devereux was talking again, relating a story about Recohstruction
days. Gerard broke mb "Can't you just let m* say a few words?" he asked.
This time he winked broadly at me.
"Everybody in this house thinks I talk too muoh," Mts. Devereux remarked.
"Well, God gave me a tongue And I expect to use it."
Sh. was interruAed by groans and squeaks from the radio. She put her
hands to her ears and said: "That plagued thing. Nobody can talk against it.
Gerard I wish you would speak to Miry." Miry is the youngest granddaughter.
"hire, Miry stop that," Gerard yelled.
At this junoture Mrs. Scarborough burst into the room. She has sharp
but pleasing features, and small bright brown eyes like her mother. Her bluirw
blaok hair was coiled in a kind of pompadour and pulled back from her ears. She
said "Hello" to me and passed in a flash,, Soon I heard her arguing with Mary
about making so much noise with the radio.
Scarborough has the reputation of being a fins manager. She runs the
Project 1655
Chalmers S. Murray
kdisto Island, S. C.
MISTRESS OF MAGNOLIA HALL
Page 16
big house on a strict schedule, looks after her mother's comfort, prepares
school breakfasts and a sunrise meal for her husband, bosses the cook, sits
on the board of trustees for the local school, assists the postmastor during
rush periods, and coaches her daughters in Latin .and French.
She is numbered among the famous talkers of the island
"These children, these young people," I heard Mrs. Dovereux saying,
declarer I don't knew what is to beams of than. All they think about is
RI
playing the radio, seeing moving pictures in Charleston and riding around in
automobiles. It was different in my day. NO were fond of books and good con•
vorsation. 'hen I go north I hear grand opera and see the best plays on Broadway.
I was brought up to appreciate such things.
"Have you been to New York lately?"
"last year. I WA going again this winter. Early winter will never
catch me on Etiwan. Its too dead here. I love to travel to see something
now, to broaden my mind. My great grandfather, Joseph Hopkinson designed
the American flag, you
directions. I inherit my anomktor's
galleries, spend hours roaming around
friends. No hotel for me, thank you.
at me, then added: I an very fond
haw to make them in Now York."
know. Betsy Ross, (snort) was only a seamstress following
taste for the arts. I love to visit art
in thee. When I am up North I stop with
We do the town up brown." She winkod
of Manhattan cocktails. They know exactly
Project WA
Chalmers S. Marray
Edisto Island, S. C.
MISTRESS OF MAGNOLIA NAIL
Page 19
"You were talking awhile ago about the ohildren's fondness for riding
in automobiles. I get awfully tired of them sometimes," remarked,
"Don't talk to me aboutsoutomobiless Chalmers," she said. "We Southerners
are a fool rase of people working to support automobile rectories. Automobiles
caused the depression. I wish we had our horses and buggies back. We had time
to be sociableathen. Now we get into these ears and rush around like we arc
crazy. We never spend a day with a friend anymore. Just pay a pop call and
rush home azein for what?"
"You ride in automobiles sometimes?" I asked pretending innocence.
"Of coupes," she replied in an aggravated tone. "I have to ride in
them or I would never get off of Silvan."
Her daughters have often asked her why she is willing to forsake her
sort bed and the home cooked meals for the hardship of travel by bus and train.
At Magnolia Hell she has everything to make her comfortable. Modern plumbing
has been installed iltrecent years, and the house is adequately heated by
fireplases and oil stoves, and the porches screened. She has a large room to
herself, filled with souvAnirs and other treasures. From her window she can
see the broad reaches of the Etiwan River, glittering in the sun, the bottle..
green marshes, the woodlands and fields of hereon domain.
Mrs. Divereuz answers her daughters. "Can't you -all understand? I must
step out once in a while or I'll got rusty.'
Projeet 1666
Chalmers S. Jimmy
Edisto Island, St C.
MISTRESS OF MAGNOLIA HALL
Page 18
Mile Mrs. Devereux was in the dining room. helping Mrs. Scarborough
set the table for luneh, I talked with Gerard about the crops. Ne told me
that he would come very nearly making a bale of cotton to the sore in spite
of the bo61.weevil, but that ths prospects for a fair pries w9§0 poor. The
oabbage erop had been a failure; Irish potatoes had brought him out even.
Yes, he supposed he would try his hand with tomatoes again next season.
The conversation drifted back to the sea island cotton day'. Gerard
recalled how much bother the staple had been. The average hand could pick about
seventy pounds a day and the harvest season extended from early September to
Christmas. The cotton must be thoroughly dried and sorted and sent to roller gins
without visable blemish. Now long staple cotton was dead as indigo and rice,
and short staple was barely bringing eleven cents a pound. Yet, a well
equipped farmer could still come out ahead, even at that pries, if he was
careful and had a decent break of luck with the weather, Gerard observed.
When Mrs. Devereux returned to the room. I asked her how she liked the
new roads that they were building on the island.
"Don't like than at all," she said. "After a while there will be nothing
to Etiwan but roads I never saw such a thing. The world has gone °rimy on the
subjeet of road building. Of course, Etiwan has to follow the fashion." (She
was talking through her nose). "Roads never bring in a desirable class of
people. I can't see what is to be gained by paving the roads. More automobiles,
Project 1655
Chalmers S. Surrey
Edisto Island, S. C.
MISTRESS OF uarmai BALL
Page 19
more smashes, more people killed just for speed's sake."
"Chalmers, we used to have a quiet, peaoeful island. Where is it
today?"
The question seemed to be a rhetorical one and I did not answer it.
Besides there was hardly any use making a try. Eery was in the room, pulling
at her grandmother's skirt, telling her something in a loud whisper. The
radio was going full blast. From the next roan oams the sound of Mrs.
Soaborough's vole*. She was talking with her sister who had just driven up.
talk eddied and flowed around as.
I was bidding Mrs. Devereux good•bye. "I hope I can have another
interview with you before long," I said, Er foot on the top step.
Yes, I always enjoy talking about old times," she replied, extending
her hand. "Mary, lot me alone a second won't you? but you had better
make it soon. I may leave the island next week. I have a very urgent
invitation from relatives in Philadelphia."
I walked down the steps into the yard. The breese had died completely
during my absence and the silenoe was us heaves before. No sounds came from
Projeot 1655
Chalmers S. 4".iurray
Edisto Island, 8. C.
MISTRESS OF MAJNOLIA BALL
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the °often arbor. The eight blaok figures had left and with them the blask
dog with the sightless, purple eyes. In the dust lay the mangy mouseescolored
hound, fast asleep.