Bricks Without Straw | Page 5

He married, it is
true, without enhancing his fortune; but he secured what was worth
almost as much for the promotion of his purposes as if he had doubled
his belongings. Aware of the ill-effects of so recent a bar sinister in his
armorial bearings, he sought in marriage Miss Bertha Bellamy, of
Belleville, in the State of Virginia, who united in her azure veins at
least a few drops of the blood of all the first families of that fine-bred
aristocracy, from Pocahontas's days until her own. The role of the
gentleman had been too much for the male line of the Bellamys to
sustain. Horses and hounds and cards and high living had gradually
eaten down their once magnificent patrimony, until pride and good
blood and poverty were the only dowry that the females could
command. Miss Bertha, having already arrived at the age of discretion,
found that to match this against the wealth of young Potestatem
Dedimus Smith was as well as she could hope to do, and accepted him

upon condition that the vulgar Smith should be changed to some less
democratic name.
The one paternal and two maternal ancestors had not made the very
common surname peculiarly sacred to the young man, so the point was
yielded; and by considerable persistency on the part of the young wife,
"P. D. SMITH" was transformed without much trouble into "P.
DESMIT," before the administrator had concluded the settlement of his
father's estate.
The vigor with which the young man devoted himself to affairs and the
remarkable success which soon began to attend his exertions diverted
attention from the name, and before he had reached middle life he was
known over almost half the State as "Colonel Desmit," "Old Desmit,"
or "Potem Desmit," according to the degree of familiarity or respect
desired to be displayed. Hardly anybody remembered and none alluded
to the fact that the millionaire of Horsford was only two removes from
old Sal Smith of Nubbin Ridge. On the other hand the rumor that he
was in some mysterious manner remotely akin to the Brutons was
industriously circulated by the younger members of that high-bred
house, and even "the Judge," who was of about the same age as Colonel
Desmit, had been heard more than once to call him "Cousin." These
things affected Colonel Desmit but little. He had set himself to improve
his father's teachings and grow rich. He seemed to have the true Midas
touch. He added acre to acre, slave to slave, business to business, until
his possessions were scattered from the mountains to the sea, and
especially extended on both sides the border line in the Piedmont
region where he had been bred. It embraced every form of business
known to the community of which he was a part, from the cattle ranges
of the extreme west to the fisheries of the farthest east. He made his
possessions a sort of self-supporting commonwealth in themselves. The
cotton which he grew on his eastern farms was manufactured at his
own factory, and distributed to his various plantations to be made into
clothing for his slaves. Wheat and corn and meat, raised upon some of
his plantations, supplied others devoted to non-edible staples. The
tobacco grown on the Hyco and other plantations in that belt was
manufactured at his own establishment, supplied his eastern laborers

and those which wrought in the pine woods to the southward at the
production of naval supplies. He had realized the dream of his own life
and the aspiration of his father, the overseer, and had become one of the
wealthiest men in the State. But he attended to all this himself. Every
overseer knew that he was liable any day or night to receive a visit
from the untiring owner of all this wealth, who would require an instant
accounting for every bit of the property under his charge. Not only the
presence and condition of every slave, mule, horse or other piece of
stock must be accounted for, but the manner of its employment stated.
He was an inflexible disciplinarian, who gave few orders, hated
instructions, and only asked results. It was his custom to place an agent
in charge of a business without directions, except to make it pay. His
only care was to see that his property did not depreciate, and that the
course adopted by the agent was one likely to produce good results. So
long as this was the case he was satisfied. He never interfered, made no
suggestions, found no fault. As soon as he became dissatisfied the
agent was removed and another substituted. This was done without
words or controversy, and it was a well-known rule that a man once
discharged from such a trust could never enter his employ again. For