Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1859-09-16
MiistelIarreous.
From Blackwooi's Magazine.
TREV ANON.
CHAPTER I.

4 NaAf4Gh
Whoever has visited South Devon mus
often have found occasion 70 admire tn
picturesque beauty Of its cottages. Som'
one or other Of these must surely have Civ
en- rise to the adage, 'sLove in cottage,
for it is impossible to see them, with thei
tidy matched roof, jessamine covered walls
trim flower garden with its small sunny
grass-plot, beehive, and wooden porch red
olent of wild roses and honey -suckles, anc
within whose shelter an English Juliet may
sit unobscIyed, and murmur mclodious
nothings in the ear of her Romeo. while
blackbird in wicker cage sings with kindred
sweetness above her head !; it is impossible, ]
SAY, to see peaceful picturesque snuggeries
like thase, without instantly associatine
them in idea with that blissful and unso.
phisticated period, the honeymoon. In the
hamlet Of South Zeal these cottages are eel.
ebrated for their unassuming beauty, and
it was from one of the neatest and most at.
tractive IN the whole district-the dwelling
evidently of one above the peasant class
that, early on summer morning, young
girl issued with stealthy and trembling
steps, as if she feared that 1.-THE very
stones" would pirate of her "whereabout. !"
On reaching the garden gate. she just
halted an instant and looked timidly about
her, and then made an abrupt dart down
one Of those famous Devonshire lanes which
may vie in length with the longest story
ever told by a club-proser, till she reached
the moor, where she made second halt, as
though in momentary expectation Of some
ones arrival. But that some one" came
not. Far as the eye could reach, not liv-
ing thing was discernible nothing but a
bleak, interminable expanse Of desert, here
swelling up into gradual hills, round whose
heads the mists Of night still clung; and
there, dotted with gloomy granite tors, or q
few half starved, superannuated elms and
oaks, which looked, to use the forcible ex-
preston Of one Of our ablest diyines-as
though they were set up there by nature
for signals Of Distress
There is something very impressive in the
idea Of standing, the only living being, on
a vast desert like Dartmoor. To hear no
sound or stir that can remind you Of cheer
full, animated creation, no bird singing, no
cattle lowing, no sheep-bell tinkling; to
see nothing but dead masses of granite, or
the giant wrecks Of oak that speak Of life
gone by, and carry the mind back into the
solitude Of the past {; this far more affects
the imagination than standing alone in
some huge sleeping city, for there, though
it may be dormant, you still have humanity
at your elbow but on Dartmoor. hours may
elapse before you get sight Of the human
countenance !; it's like being severed for a
time from the social world, to which you,
and l, and all Of us, gentle reader, are but
too apt to fancy we should have no obiec-
ton, till we found ourselves really in soli-
tude, when we feel, with Robinson Crusoe,
that we are gregarious in our nature, and
that it is not good for us to be alone.
These, however, are reflections that oc-
cur only to the mind when it is at leisure !;
a pre-occupied fancy has no taste for such
abstract speculations, and our young vii
lage lass was evidently absorbed by thoughts
Of far more immediate interest, for she kept
walking to and fro a prescribed distance,
now looking before and now behind her,
with countenance expressive equally Of
fear and disappointment, till at length, as
she was preparing with reluctance to quit
the spot, low subdued voice called her by
name, and, turning round, she saw with
blush young man hurrying toward her.
In an instant he had reached her side, and
they advanced together in silence on the
moor, where for a brief season [ will leave
them, while I explain what were the imper-
alive circumstances which thus compelled
two young persons to leave their snug warm
beds, and 60 billing and cooling on the des-
ert, with the wind whistling about them,
sharp and searching enough to set the goose
skin roughening beneath the bristles of a
hedgehog.
John Trevanion-such was our hero's
name was the younger Of the two sons Of
Devonshire baronet of old descent, whose
ancestral seat bordered on the edge Of South
Zeal! His mother was also Of gentle
blood" but, unlike her husband, who was
rough, jolly, ignorant country gentleman
of the Squire BOBBY class, possessed mind
of superior order, and disposition remark
able for its evenness and good nature To
educate John seemed to be the sole business
Of this lady's life; he was her favorite son,
and exhibited from early youth quickness
of apprehension that well repaid his moth
er's solicitude, whose highest ambition it
was to see him holding as proud . station