Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1859-01-13

less 1afhD dluonS IateuooS. "ot'Soj S"N ~
pect that it will be uuinjured, as to send a
girl, pure and fresh from the family 6reside,
out into the cold, heartless world, and ex.
pect that her heart will be unchilled and
uncontaminated by its influence. But, say
the parents, we cannot keep our daughte'
always cooped up at home, We must prepare
them to ell those high positions in life, fol
which their mental and other qualities SO
emiueptly fit them. We answer; better that
they should never ell those stations in life
better that they should >"blush unseen, and
waste their sweetness on the desert air, &" than
that their sweetness should be crushednoat
and lost forever, by rude contact with the
world. But enough of this moraliziDg.
Mr.. Vernon, at the instigation of his
daughter, had resolved to spend the Christ
mas holidays at Woodlawn, and in orderthat
the Christmas should be as merry one as
possible, a party of young persons from l..
were invited to spend it with them; our
friend, Harry Wentworth, among the num-
Der. With what delight he received the
news, may be imagined, when we mention
the fact, that volume of Blackstone which
he was holding in his hand at the time, was
pitched into one corner of the room, his hat
sailed into another, and shouting at the top
Of his voice, he gave himself up to delight
full anticipations of a merry Christmas
What rendered the prospect of Christmas
at Woodlawn so agreeable to Harry, we leave
others to infer; wethink, however, that the
charge would not be entirely unfounded, that
it was the presence of certain blue-eyed
fairy by whom, of late, allhi thoughts were
shaped, and to whom, all his reasoning and
philosophy could not convince him that be
was Indifferent. ....
When the party had al! assembled at
Woodlawn, Wentworth found that there was
rival in the field. This rival was to be
found in the person of Mr.. Peel, who had
become acquainted with Alice when she was
at school, and who was now on visit to L.
for the avowed purpose Of prosecuting his
suit. Mr.. Peel had many recommendations,
in worldly pointof view; he ras Ueolthy;
in his personal appearance he was not alto
gether uuprepossessing, he was rather hand
some than otherwise; but he was vain, ar
rogant and self.important ; to sum up the
whole in few words, he stood much higher
in his own estimation than in the estimation
Of any one else, Alice Vernon not excepted
But disnissing Mr.. Peel for the present, let
Us attend to the rest of the party.
A council of the young folks was called
on the evening before Christmas, in which
Mr.. and Mrs. Vernon also had voice, in
order to decide upon "the order of exercises"
for the following day. After much discus
sion, and many differences of opinion, it was
finally decided that the programme should
read as follows: 1st: a ride on horseback for
several miles into the country by the whole
party; 2ndly: preparationsfo for dinner; 3rdly:
dinner; 4thly: preparations for the evening !;
5thly: amusemcnts of the evening, in which
were included music, dancing, supper, &C.,
&c. This arrangement was exactly what
Wentworth wanted; he had been seeking an
opportunity of showing up his rival in a
ridiculous light, and that opportunity now
presented itself. He had learned that Mr..
Peel was very poor rider, and be resolved
to take advantage of this knowledge when
the cavalcade was formed on the following
morning. Letting into the secret, some of
his young male friends who liked Mr.. Peel
no better than he did himself, they selected
the widest horse that Mr.. Vernon's stables
could afford, and ordered that he should be
saddled for Peel's especial benefit the next
morning. Satisfied on this point, they re-.
sumed with more than usual zest, the amuse-
ments of the evening. Never was nerrier
party assembled. 1t was Christmas after
the regular old English fashion, where life:
and hilarity were the order of the day
There was no stiffness, no restraint, no form
ality, all seemed to remember and act upon
the words of the old poem,
sLo, now is come our joyful feast!
Let every one be jolly,
Without the door let sorrow lie,
And if, for cold, it hap to die,
Well bury it in Christmas pie,
And eyermore be merry"
Christmas came at last. Breakfast over,
the horses were announced in readiness, and
the young folks sailed forth to commence
operations. Mr.. Peel, in order to sustain
his fashionable pretensions, was always a
little behiudhand in everything. When he
made his appearance, the rest were mounted,
and his horse, which was held by servant,
seemed to be awaiting his arrival very i'm
patiently. Peel regarded the horse with a
look of distrust, and at first, showed some
hesitation about mounting him, but the pre-
sence of the ladies acted as spur to his
courage, and he vaulted into the saddle. No
sooner had he mounted, than the animal be-
gan to kick and plunge furiously. Peel, to
whom nothing was more terrible than a wild
horse, Immediately lost all presence of mind,
and dropping the reins, he threw his arms
around the horses neck. The animal, fright.
ened by this maneuvre, dashed off at full
speed round and round the lawn he went
at tremendous pace, Peel holding on with
the tenscity of a drowning man, until, in
making short turn at one of the corners,
he lost his hold and was thrown to the ground.
Picking himself up, completely peeled OF
his "sheep's covering" of self-importance
and conceit, he vowed never to mount an