Slippy McGee

Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man

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Butterfly Man, by Marie Conway Oemler This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
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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{~--- 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 RANC��, Catholic Priest of Appleboro, South Carolina MADAME DE RANC��, his Mother CL��LIE, 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 attach�� 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 Ranc��, I certainly needed him to take the bad taste out of my mouth an' the red out of my eye after viewin' Bill Sherman on a brass hawse in New York, with an angel that'd lost the grace of God prancin' on ahead of him!" He added