The native Virginian. [volume] (Orange Court House, Va.) 1867-187?, 1868-09-04

y
kept up late every night by the RosE-
GRAMS business and constant success.
sion or visitors. lie Is fond of his pipe,
little one, which he pulls in peculiar
rapid manner, something like the skir-
mish-firing when an engagement is a.
bout to be brought en-. AS | write, he
is walking by my cottage on his way to
the spring, swinging his little cane, and
showing n step as elastic as almost any
man on the grounds. There he is bow
Ing to an old lady in white cap, and
now he has taken his seat by her on
bench
In this estimate of Mr.. STEPHENS, |
have given my honest convictions, sur
rendering frankly those preconceptions,
which l am no more willing to give up
than other men. / may err, but my be-
lief is that history will rank him fore.
most among the intellects Of the dead
Confederacy, and as sincere as the sim
eerest
1t was dark when the cars reached
Covington. had intended to go
straight through, but, at the suggestion
of DR.. CRocKwELL of the Valley Vir-
ginian, remained over all night at the
Ceghill House, close to the depot, where
we had as fine supper as heart could
wish, the most polite attendance, from
walters whose alacrity and humility re-
minded all of us of the days of slavery,
and an excellent, new, clean, wide bed.
| ate so abundantly of Sally Lunn,
yenison and raw tomatoes that l could
scarcely sleep. Nevertheless, l arose
easily in the morning and walked
through The town, in search of house
which has for me the saddest associa-
tions. found it dsmantled and almost
untenanted-a picture of such desola-
ton that l hurried away. Returning
TO the depot, discovered in the person
of the telegraph operator, Mr.. BURRUss,
an old acquaintance who had been with
me in the office of the Lynchburg
Courier, another little daily, which l
helped to bury many years ago. By in
dustry, study and attention 20 business,
he has risen from subordinate place
IN printing office to the position OF
chief operator at this end of the line,
and has won the esteem ofall who knew
him.
When the stage drove up empty, |
was forlorn. A break of twenty miles
ofstaging is a pleasant diversion from
railroad travel, but not when you have
the whole stage to yourself, My fears
were soon dismissed by the appearance
of Mr.. BALLARD ofhotel name and fame
| Major II. of Kentucky, Mr.. r. of Dan
vile and two very sweet young ladies.
| True to his promise not to overcrowd
his stages, Mr.. TRorTER bad given us
just company enough "a little squeeze
sometimes adds to the merriment) a
good team and careful driver. l will
not describe the ascent and descent of
the lesser and greater Alleghanies, so
familiar to every traveller. OF course
we talked. That's the great charm of
stage riding the world over. After dis
| cussing the fora of the mountains, with
| which Mr.. r. seemed quite conversant,
we subsidized from the heights of science
into the lowlier and pleasanter paths of
| aneedote. and in due time the inevita-
Bile "snake stories" came FORTH this
time from Major II. and they we're
trousers.
In Illustration of the vitality of SER
penis and snails, he said. zone day |
chased black snake into his hole under
the roots of tree. He was about Az
feet long. By the time reached HIM,
notning was to be seen but small part
of his tail. This l pulled with all my
might. He resisted, and at length
broke in two, leaving foot and a half
in my hand. Again pulled until an
other foot and half was broken off,
and even then the rascal had life enough
in him 10 get away from me. On an
other occasion, saw a naked snail and
about three inches long crawling slowly
upon the ground. To test his vitality,
cut off about an inch of him with bit
of thread, which happened to have a.
bout me. He crawled on as if n othing
had Happened. Then cut OFF another
inch. lie didn't mind it at all, but
crawled on. Finally, I cut him in two
just behind his horns on top of which,
you Know, are his eyes"
sand his horns walked Off with his
eyes?" l enqulred.
ono; not exactly. lie seemed at last
to comprehend that some accident had
occurred, butheld his ground manfully,
staring indignantly at me, and for aught
know is alive.to this day"
s'Talking about snakes, he continued.
.'reminds me of an incident which hap
pencd in Texas. Walking one morning
by the side ola lake, my attention was
arrested by series of fearful shrIeks. =
running up,I discovered very small
snake trying to swallow a very large
frog, and | watched the result, never
dreaming the snake could accomplish
the task. He did, though, after pro-
digous effort, the frog screaming all the
time. When the act of degutition was
complete, to my amazcment and eX-
IRENE regret, the snake made rapidly
for Che water and, before could recover
from my surprise, swan off into the lake
and disappeared. But as long as could
see him, could still hear the shrieks of
the frog. The piteous voice of that