Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1856-11-26
MISCELL l. A N Y
The Vision: Or ssTruth Stranger than Fic
tiOn.'

wi i - ~ II IL IL ~ IN
The Vision: Or ssTruth Stranger than Fic.
tion.''
During the early part of the reign of George
III. there lived in an obscure village of Ireland,
a family in tho middle walks of life, named Gun
ming. They were not richly endowed with this
worlds goods, but possessed sufficient for all the
comforts, if not the luxuries of life. Matthew
Cunning was farmer BY profession, Git so it
NAV be called,) and had he possessed that spirit
of frugality, which seems almost unknown to
the Irish nation, he might have been wealthy
man. rs it was. he generally followed the prin-
c;nls of "letting tomorrow take care of itself
His wife had been the village belle, and still re-
,s;ned traces of that extraordinary beauty which
had excited the admiration of all who beheld
her Two girls were the sole fruits Of their un-
ion who promised, even in infancy, to equal ii
not snrpass their mother in personal charms ;
and that mothers whole soul was bound up in
them Being near of an age, the children were
constantly together; and the sprightly Lizzie and
the fairy louisa were spoiled by both young and
old in the village of E.. Que summer sfter-
moon. fatirued with their sports, the infant Sis
ters threw themselves upon the grass beneath a
willow which enshadowed their parents cot
tsee. and with the fair round cheek OF Louisa
niilowed upon the treSSes of l4izze, and their
di,npled limits and snowy robes thrown into
strong relief by the rich wavv sward, they pres
ented a picture which Lawrence would have
longed to transfer to canvass. The mother as
she sat with her spnning-wheei in the deep EN-
brasure of the window watched them rs they
slept, and unconsciously her thoughts wandered
into the future and, with mother ,ond anx-
ietv speculated upon their future career.
AS she unused she, too fell into gentle SUM
Der. and the visions of her musings assumed, as
il were tangible shape, "A local haolIatlon ana
name" and like q phantasnagorla passed be
fore her. She fancied herself in London, thai
,,reat city of which she had heard so much, and
she seemed au invisible spectator OF a scene that
far surpassed her proudest hopes; size saw her
Iovslv daughters appearing in the perfected beau
tr nf wor,anhool, as actors on the busy arena
# the sristocratic world Peers and peeresses,
nralates and statesmen, even ROYALTY itself seem
Ell TO do homage to their unrivaled charms
Tbrongs of admirers worShipped at the shrine OF
their beauty aud distinguished from the rest oy
his naughty bearing and the gitternS star upon
his breast. Il duke kuelt at the feet OF her young
eat born, her bright haired Lizzie; and she
tboarht upon that regal brow the airy coronet,
formed of the ducal strawberry leaves, rested as
fit had founda fit abiding place. Delighted she
awoke, aud with the gttering vision still fllhng
hep imagination, she started to hnd hersei' IN
her own humble cottage and her children still
sleeping beneath the tree.
She mentioned her dream to none, but the
memory of it fingered for years, and with
mothers fond partiality she whispered, why
should not such things bes"
Time sped on, and our heroines increased IN
beauty and wears they received the best educa-
t;on the place could afford and the worthy cure,
seeing that their minds scared for above medic
cr;tv ss we'll as their persons, formed their due
tile powers to such degree that they were soon
fit to grace any circle.
When Louisa was about seventeen their moth
or died and on her death bed exaeted solemn
promise from her husband, that before the ex-
nirstion of six months he should take them TO
London then for the first time, relating her
dream, she begged him to remain there year
at least, and at the end of that time II they had
not attracted notice, he might return with them
10 his native village Had it been anywhere but
at the dying bed of his wife, Matthew cunning
might have smiled at the ascendency which the
imagination had been allowed to gain over the
Judgment; but, although he desired no higher
destiny for his children than to see them the
wives of respectable men in their own sphere OF
life still he would not refuse her last requestand
made the required promise. Could ne have fore
seen the future2
As soon As the daughters could become recon-
ced TO the thoughts of leaving the grave ot
,heir beloved mother, and the many endearing
associations of their childhood, for the vast city,
where they would be "unknowing and I'M
known" they started for the great metropolis.
They arrived there in June, that month whose
delights the tyrant Fashion has compelled the
aristocracy of Britains isles to torego and obll.
red them to remain in the city when they would
fain be repoSing beneath the shade OF those q.
gantic trees that wave proudly over the ancestral
homes Of England's naughty nobility
Matthew Cunning, willing to fulfill his wife's
wishes as mnch as possible, took lodgings in a
fashionable hotel, and ere many weeks had clap
sed London was in an uproar, Who We're those
angels that had suddenly appeared as from Par
adise? The ',farore," as Horace Naipole calls
it, was unparalleled, The young nohieS, whose
tastes were sa,iated with the usual London bellies
begged their stately mammas to leave their
cards upon our heroines, If they wished them ever
to assist at their monthly batls; and II The arSto-
cratic parent refused, upon the plea OF their be-
ing ''nobodieS" the youthful peers declared they
would repail to the clab whenever their mothers
duN o4SNSic Pth hNAStun'AS NSSil GU tiiVi SSNp'o'
And 50 it went; day after day, week after
week, the gate of the hotel was thronged with
England's proudest and noblest and the eyes of
the fair IrlandaiSes were almost dazz,ed by the
array Of brilliant names, whose cards were hour
! " send to them; and even Matthew began to
think that his wife was not SO foolish as he had
once deemed her. From the duchess to the ha-
ronet'S lady, from the peeresS, who boasred OF
descent from the Plantagenets, to the pa'yeau of
Yesterday, all alike strove to do them honor
and more than once has the proud duchess, in
whose veins flowed the blood of kings, found her
rooms deserted on the night Of her most magni-
ficent. tete because why she had neglected to
invite the Cummings and, to her modification,
she would hear that the rooms OF the rich bank
er's wife were crowded the same evening by the
elite of the nobility, ard the magnet of attrac-
lion was the fair sisters. These few solitary ex
ceptions at length gave way before the over
whelming tide OF excitement that was rushing
on like mighty torrent, and the usually invin-
chile aristocratie walls of Almack's fell without
II blow, before the irresistible power of beauty.
And now had their mother been alive, she might
indeed have thought her fairy dream fully rea-
Used.
No person who was not spectator can hard
ly conceive 0t the rage for the fair sisters that
was evnced by the fashionable world. Walpole
in his letters. speaks of it as the most extraor-
4b;,,o, tb bonnonad HNr oaptpr;as Cal