The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1869-07-29

/ preacher too ~ But his musings were.
more in sorrow than anger.
! The disfgured countenance of Forgeron
was of course the subject of numerous ques-
tions that night among his friends, towhich
he replied with stern look they well un-
derstood, and the vague remark that he had
met with an accident. Of course they never
ldreamed of the true cause. Forgeron look
ed in the glass, and perhaps compared the
changing hue Of his ssblack eye froma re-
cent scufle,' to the rainbow in the ship
wreck scene offending every color into
one." Or perhaps he had never read that
story, and only muttered to himself: ''Ned
Forgeron whipped by a Methodist preach-
err, a 1.a s8ei
His dreams that night were of a confused
and disagreeable nature and waking in the
morning, he had an indistinct memory, of
something unpleasant having occurred. At
first he could not rccollect the cause of his
feelings; but the bruises ON his face and
| body soon called them to mind, as well as
the promise. He mounted his horse in ST.
lence and went to redeem it.
From that time his whole conduct mani
tested a change of feeling. The gossips of
the neighborhood observe it, and whisper
ed that Ned was silent, serious, and had
gone to meeting every Sunday since the ac-
cident. They wondered at his burning the
books he once read so much. Strange sto-
ries were circulated as to this metamorpho-
sis of the joyial blacksmith into a gloomy
and taclturn man. ~ fta,z
Some supposed, very sagely, that spir-
it had enticed him into mountains, sand af.
ter giving him a glimpse into the future,
had misled him to crag :. where he had
fallen and bruised his face" Others gave
the Prince Of Darkness the credit of the
change; but none suspected the Methodist
preacher, and as the latter had NO vanity
to crafty, the secret remained with Ned.
This gloomy state Of mind continued until
Forgeron visited a camp-meeting.5 Rev.
Mr.. Stubbleworth preached a sermon that
seemed to enter his soul, and relieve it Of
a burden, and the song aTaW 0aFa
elbow happy are they who their Savior obey"
was only half through when he felt like a
new man. Forgeron was from that time q
shouting Methodist" At love feast
some time subseqenthe gave his expert
ence, and revealed the mystery of his con-
viction and. conversion to his astonished
neighbors The Rev. Simon Stubbleworth
who had faithfully kept the secret until
that time, could contain himself no longer,
and gave vent, to his feelings in conclusive
peals of laughter, as the burning tears of
heartfelt JOY coursed their way down his
cheeks. 'ss
eyes, my bretbren," he said, ait's all
fact; did maui grace into his unbeliev-
ing soul, there's no doubt" sds
The blacksmith of the mountain pass be-
came a happy man and Methodist preach
cr.
A Fast Story. sn,e
An Englishman was braging of the speed
of English railroads to Yankee traveller
seated at his side in enc of the cars ola 'sfast
train" in England. The engiae bell had
rung as the cars nearcd a station. It suggest
ed to the Yankee aneoppertunity of stalking
down his companion a peg or two"
"What is that noise 2" innocently inquired
the Yankee. ~
a".We are approaching town. said the
Englishman; /" they have to commence ring
ing about ten miles before they get to sta
ton, or else the train would run by it before
the bell would be heard Wonderful, isn't
it? suppose they haven't invented bells in
America ~ ~ R5 f}s
aWhy, yes" replied the Yankee, "we've
got bells, but we can't use them on our rail-
roads. We run so fast that the trains always
keep ahead of the sound the sound never
reaches the village till after the train gets
BY" 7.se s
"Indeed!''' exclaimed the Englishman.
" Fact" said the Yankee. Had to give
up bells. Then we tried steam whistles, but
they wouldn't answer, either. [ was on
locomotive when a whistle was tried. We
were going at a tremendous rate-hurricanes
are nowhere, and Ihad to hold my hair on
We saw two horse wagon crossing the track
about FIVE miles ahead, and the engineer set
the whistle, screeching like a trooper. 1t
screamed awfully, but it wasn't no use. The
next thing knew I was picking myself out
of a hole BY the wayside, amid the fragments
of locomotive, dead horses, broken wagon
and dead engineer lying beside me. just
then the whistle came along, mixed up with
some frightful oaths that heard the engi-
neer use when he first saw the horses. h,
Poor fellow he was dead before his voice
got to him. After that we tried lights, sup.
posing they would travel faster than sound
We got one so powerful that the children
woke all along the road, surprising it to- be
morning, But the locomotive kept ahead of
it still, and was in the darkness with the light
close behind it. The Inhabitants petitioncd
against it, They couldn't sleep with SO much
light in the nighttime. Finally we had to
station electric telegraphs along the road,
| with signal men to telegraph when the train
| was in sight, end 7 have heard that some Of
the fast trains Beat the lightning fifteen min
utes every forty miles. But can't say as that
is trne--the rest / know to be So" al
! A ROMANCE OF THE LAW CouRTs.-M.
! Frere Orban, the Belgian Minister, who is
/ now on mission to Paris, is said to have &C.
! quired his double sirname in a very romantic
way. When NJ. Frere, he was about to pass
his examination for the bar when he met with
the hcress of one Of the most important COM
mcrcial houses of Brussels, with whom he
fell in love. Her hshcr M. Orban, rejected
his proposal of marriage in somewhat pc
remptory manner. The young lady, however,
was not to be SO easily disposed Of "You
are to pass your examination to-day; if you
succeed, cosneto our box at the opera to-night,
and in a month we shall be married" " But
your father p Leave him to me-" That
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