The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-09-15

1
was near cutoff to the settlement,
perhaps from some less practical reason,
Culpepper took this trail, and in few
moments stood among the rarely beau
tiful trees that gave their name to the
valley Even in that uncertain light
the weird beauty of these harlequin
masquerades was apparent; their red
TRUNKS blush in the moonlight q
deep blood-stain in the shadow-stood
out against the silvery green foliage. 1t
was as if nature IN some gracious mo-
ment had here caught and crystalized
the gypsy memories of the transplanted
! Spaniard, to cheer him in his lonely
exile.
As Culpepper entered the grove he
heard loud voices. AS he turned
toward clump of trees, a figure so
bizarre and characteristic that it night
have been a resident Daphne-a figure
overdressed in crimson silk and lace,
with bare brown arms and shoulders,
and wreath Of eysuckle-stepped
out of the shadow. 1t was followed by
a man. Culpepper started. To come
to the point briefly, he recognized in
the man the features Of his respected
ulClts ,OlOIitl tDldlO Ottlts III tIt iNiii'NiN'
lady who may be briefly described as
one possessing absolutely no claim to
an introduction to the polite reader.
To hurry over equally unpleasant de-
tails, both were evidently under the in
huence Of liquor.
From the excited conversation that
ensued, Culpepper gathered that some
insult had been put upon the lady at
public ball which she had attended that
evening; that the colonel, her escort,
had failed to resent it with the sanguin
airy completeness that she desired. |
regret that, even III liberal age, may
not record the exact and even pictur-
esque language in which this was con-
veyed to her hearers. Enough that at
the close of a fiery peroration, with
feminine inconsistency would have Wis
tied her delayed vengeance upon his
luckless head, but for the prompt in
reference Of Culpepper. Thwarted in
this, she threw herself upon the ground,
and then into unpicturesque Mysteries.
There was a fine moral lesson, not only
in this grotesque performance, but in
the ludicrous concern with which 1t in
splred the two men. Culpepper, TO
whom woman was more or less angelic,
was panied and sympathetic; the colo
nell to whom she was more or less inn
proper, was exceedingly terrified and
embarrasse d. Howbeit the storm was
soon over and after Mistress Dolores
had returned a little dagger to its
sheath her garter she quietly took
herself out of Madrono Hollow, and
happily out of these pages forever. The
two men, lett to themselves, conversed
in low tones. Dawn stole upon them
before they separated the colonel quite
sober and in full possession of his usual
jaunty self-assertion; Culpepper with a
baleful glow on his hollow cheek, and
in his dark eyes q rising fire.
The next morning the general ear of
Madrono Hollow was filed with rumors
of the colonels mishap. 1t was assert
ed that he had been invited to with.
draw his female companion from the
floor Of the assembly ball at the hide
pendence Hotel, and that failing to do
this both were expelled. 1t is to be re-
GREETED that in 1854 public opinion was
divided in regard to the propriety of
this step, and that there was some DIS
cussion as to the comparative virtue of
the ladies who were not expelled, but it
was generally conceded that the real
caSuS beM was political. ''Is this a
dashed Puritan meeting?" had asked
| the colonel, savagely ats no Pike
county shindig," had responded the
floor manager, cheerfully. You're a
Yank ~ had screamed the colonel pro-
fanely, qualifying the noun. "Get
you border ruthan,' was the reply.
Such at least was the substance OF the
reports. AS. at that sincere epoch, ex-
pressions like the above were usually
followed by prompt action, a tracas was
confidently looked for.
Nothing, however, occurred. Colonel
Starbottle made his appearance next
day upon the streets with somewhat of
his usual pomposity, little restrained
by the presence Of his nephew, who ac-
companied him, and who, as universal
favorite, also exercised some restraint
upon the curious and impertinent. But
Culpepper's face wore look of anxiety
quite at variance with his usual grave
repose. "The Don don't seem to take
the old mans setback kindly" ob-
served the sympathizing blacksmith.
"Pr'aps he was sweet on Dolores him.
self" suggested the skeptical express
man.
1t was a bright morning, week after
this occurrence, that Miss 10 Folinsbee
stepped from her garden into the road
This time the latch did not click as she
cautiously closed the gate behind her.
After q moments irresolution, which
would have been awkward but that it
was charmingly employed, after the
manner Of her sex, in adjusting bow
under dimpled but rather prominent
chin, and i'll pulling down the fingers of
a neatly fitting glove, she tripped toward
the settlement. Small wonder that
passing teamster drove his six mules
into the wayside ditch and imperiled
his load, to keep the dust from her spot
less garments small wonder that the
Lightning Express withheld its speed
and flash TO let her pass, and that the
expressman, who had never been known
to exchange more than rapid monosyl-
tables with his fellow-man, gazed after
her with breathless admiration. For
she was certainly attractive. In coun-
try where the ornamental sex followed