Slippy McGee

Slippy McGee, Sometimes
Known as the Butterfly Man

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Title: Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man
Author: Marie Conway Oemler
Release Date: May 17, 2005 [EBook #15843]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MCGEE ***

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{~--- UTF-8 BOM ---~} SLIPPY McGEE
SOMETIMES KNOWN AS THE BUTTERFLY MAN
BY MARIE CONWAY OEMLER
NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1920
1917, by THE CENTURY CO.

Published, April, 1917. Reprinted, August, 1917; February, 1918;
August, 1918; March, 1919; August, 1919; November, 1919; February,
1920.
TO ELIZABETH AND ALAN OEMLER

FOREWORD
I have known life and love, I have known death and disaster;
Foregathered with fools, succumbed to sin, been not unacquainted with
shame; Doubted, and yet held fast to a faith no doubt could o'ermaster.
Won and lost:--and I know it was all a part of the Game.
Youth and the dreams of youth, hope, and the triumph of sorrow: I took
as they came, I played them all; and I trumped the trick when I could.
And now, O Mover of Men, let the end be to-day or to-morrow-- I have
staked and played for Myself, and You and the Game were good!

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I APPLEBORO 3 II THE COMING OF SLIPPY McGEE 19 III
NEIGHBORS 37 IV UNDERWINGS 48 V ENTER KERRY 65 VI
"THY SERVANT WILL GO AND FIGHT WITH THIS
PHILISTINE." 1 SAM. 17-32 94 VII THE GOING OF SLIPPY
McGEE 111 VIII THE BUTTERFLY MAN 131 IX NESTS 145 X
THE BLUEJAY 172 XI A LITTLE GIRL GROWN UP 189 XII JOHN
FLINT, GENTLEMAN 203 XIII "EACH IN HIS OWN COIN" 226
XIV THE WISHING CURL 258 XV IN THE MIDDLE OF THE
NIGHT 283 XVI "WILL YOU WALK INTO MY PARLOR" 302
XVII "--SAID THE SPIDER TO THE FLY--" 319 XVIII ST.
STANISLAUS CROOKS HIS ELBOW 343 XIX THE I O U OF
SLIPPY McGEE 364 XX BETWEEN A BUTTERFLY'S WINGS 382

SLIPPY McGEE

CHARACTERS

FATHER ARMAND JEAN DE RANCÉ, Catholic Priest of Appleboro,
South Carolina MADAME DE RANCÉ, his Mother CLÉLIE, their
Servant LAURENCE MAYNE, the Boy MARY VIRGINIA EUSTIS,
the Girl JAMES EUSTIS, Man of the New South MRS. EUSTIS, a
Lady DOCTOR WALTER WESTMORELAND, the Beloved
Physician JIM DABNEY, Editor of the Appleboro "Clarion" MAJOR
APPLEBY CARTWRIGHT } MISS SALLY RUTH DEXTER }
Neighbors JUDGE HAMMOND MAYNE } GEORGE INGLESBY,
the Boss of Appleboro J. HOWARD HUNTER, his Private Secretary
KERRY, an Irish Setter PITACHE, the Parish House Dog THE
MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES OF SOUTH CAROLINA THE
CHILDREN, THE MILL-HANDS, THE FACTORY FOLKS, and
SLIPPY MCGEE, sometimes known as the Butterfly Man

SLIPPY McGEE

CHAPTER I
APPLEBORO
"Now there was my cousin Eliza," Miss Sally Ruth Dexter once said to
me, "who was forced to make her home for thirty years in Vienna! She
married an attaché of the Austrian legation, you know; met him while
she was visiting in Washington, and she was such a pretty girl and he
was such a charming man that they fell in love with each other and got
married. Afterward his family procured him a very influential post at
court, and of course poor Cousin Eliza had to stay there with him. Dear
mama often said she considered it a most touching proof of woman's
willingness to sacrifice herself--for there's no doubt it must have been
very hard on poor Cousin Eliza. She was born and raised right here in
Appleboro, you see."
Do not think that Miss Sally Ruth was anything but most transparently
sincere in thus sympathizing with the sad fate of poor Cousin Eliza,
who was born and raised in Appleboro, South Carolina, and yet
sacrificed herself by dragging out thirty years of exile in the court
circles of Vienna! Any trueborn Appleboron would be equally sorry for

Cousin Eliza for the same reason that Miss Sally Ruth was. Get
yourself born in South Carolina and you will comprehend.
"What did you see in your travels that you liked most?" I was curious
to discover from an estimable citizen who had spent a summer abroad.
"Why, General Lee's standin' statue in the Capitol an' his recumbent
figure in Washington an' Lee chapel, of co'se!" said the colonel
promptly. "An' listen hyuh, Father De Rancé, I certainly needed him to
take the bad