The Marrow of Tradition

Marrow of Tradition, by Charles
W. Chesnutt

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Title: The Marrow of Tradition
Author: Charles W. Chesnutt
Release Date: February 22, 2004 [EBook #11228]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE MARROW OF TRADITION
by Charles W. Chestnutt 1901

CONTENTS
I. At Break of Day II. The Christening Party III. The Editor at Work IV.
Theodore Felix V. A Journey Southward VI. Janet VII. The Operation
VIII. The Campaign drags IX. A White Man's "Nigger" X. Delamere
Plays a Trump XI. The Baby and the Bird XII. Another Southern
Product XIII. The Cakewalk XIV. The Maunderings of Old Mrs.
Ochiltree XV. Mrs. Carteret Seeks an Explanation XVI. Ellis Takes a
Trick XVII. The Social Aspirations of Captain McBane XVIII. Sandy
Sees His Own Ha'nt XIX. A Midnight Walk XX. A Shocking Crime
XXI. The Necessity of an Example XXII. How Not to Prevent a
Lynching XXIII. Belleview XXIV. Two Southern Gentlemen XXV.
The Honor of a Family XXVI. The Discomfort of Ellis XXVII. The
Vagaries of the Higher Law XXVIII. In Season and Out XXIX.
Mutterings of the Storm XXX. The Missing Papers XXXI. The Shadow
of a Dream XXXII. The Storm breaks XXXIII. Into the Lion's Jaws
XXXIV. The Valley of the Shadow XXXV. "Mine Enemy, O Mine
Enemy!" XXXVI. Fiat Justitia XXXVII. The Sisters

The Marrow of Tradition
I like you and your book, ingenious Hone! In whose capacious
all-embracing leaves The very marrow of tradition's shown.
--CHARLES LAMB To the Editor of the Every-Day Book

I
AT BREAK OF DAY
"Stay here beside her, major. I shall not he needed for an hour yet.
Meanwhile I'll go downstairs and snatch a bit of sleep, or talk to old
Jane."

The night was hot and sultry. Though the windows of the chamber
were wide open, and the muslin curtains looped back, not a breath of
air was stirring. Only the shrill chirp of the cicada and the muffled
croaking of the frogs in some distant marsh broke the night silence. The
heavy scent of magnolias, overpowering even the strong smell of drugs
in the sickroom, suggested death and funeral wreaths, sorrow and tears,
the long home, the last sleep. The major shivered with apprehension as
the slender hand which he held in his own contracted nervously and in
a spasm of pain clutched his fingers with a viselike grip.
Major Carteret, though dressed in brown linen, had thrown off his coat
for greater comfort. The stifling heat, in spite of the palm-leaf fan
which he plied mechanically, was scarcely less oppressive than his own
thoughts. Long ago, while yet a mere boy in years, he had come back
from Appomattox to find his family, one of the oldest and proudest in
the state, hopelessly impoverished by the war,--even their ancestral
home swallowed up in the common ruin. His elder brother had
sacrificed his life on the bloody altar of the lost cause, and his father,
broken and chagrined, died not many years later, leaving the major the
last of his line. He had tried in various pursuits to gain a foothold in the
new life, but with indifferent success until he won the hand of Olivia
Merkell, whom he had seen grow from a small girl to glorious
womanhood. With her money he had founded the Morning Chronicle,
which he had made the leading organ of his party and the most
influential paper in the State. The fine old house in which they lived
was hers. In this very room she had first drawn the breath of life; it had
been their nuptial chamber; and here, too, within a few hours, she
might die, for it seemed impossible that one could long endure such
frightful agony and live.
One cloud alone had marred the otherwise perfect serenity of their
happiness. Olivia was childless. To have children to perpetuate the
name of which he was so proud, to write it still higher on the roll of
honor, had been his dearest hope. His disappointment had been
proportionately keen. A few months ago this dead hope had revived,
and altered the whole aspect of their lives. But as time went on, his
wife's age had begun to tell upon her, until even Dr. Price, the most

cheerful and optimistic of physicians, had warned him, while hoping
for the best, to be prepared for