Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1879-11-13

liSol u SouNubSN l'COpiO Sd liiic
of her, and I've smiled at theil
Ignorance. Ignorant! Why,she
knew every tree that grows, and
every herb that springs out of
the ground. She could tell where
coolest water ran and sweetest
flowers grew. There wasn't q
healing herb or leaf in all the
woods that she hadn't learned tc
understand and use. She WAS as
familiar with names of flowers as
[ am with my own. There was
no eye like hers for flowers, and
she knew them all. Her only
books were the forest and the
sky, but out of these she could
put to shame the greatest philos-
opher. Down there at that old
oak tree she used to meet me ev-
cry day. Sometimes l think ]
see her still, but l know it is only
fancy
He paused here, and his eyes
looked far out beneath the green
glades as though he saw some
sight that filled his soul with the
unutterable longing of sorrow.
Stranger, you think she was
rude and rough like me; that be-
cause she was a moonshiner's
daughter and loved man like
me, her ways must have been like
my ways; but | tell you, no. 1t
is not iii me to learn things from
the sky, and herb and tree. Ev-
cry little leaftoId her some secret,
and the stars, as they looked
down on her, breathed into her
soul such heavenly thoughts Of
love that my heart would stop
beating as l listened to her. |
do not know whether she was
beautiful. Her face was not like
any face | have heard called
beautiful in towns, but / saw a
face once in picture like hers.
1t was the face of an angel"
"-And her name?"
"Was Nellie. I've made the
woods ring many a time in the
old, happy days, and since Pve
whispered it to myself in such
bitterness as few men know.
You would not think, sir, that
she was girl whom wicked
man could love i'll wicked way.
And yet that was the case. If
you were on the top of that green
knoll yonder you could sec to the
westward the place where he liv-
ed. | never go there now. The
sight of the house would drive
me mad. He was the son of a
wealthy farmer, and was as vile
and cruel as wolf; but smart,so
the schoolmaster said, and rich
as everybody knew. He crept
into the woods and came upon
her in lonely places, and forced
his hot words of passion upon her
unwilling ears. He stole upon
her unawares, as she sat at work
under the trees; he threatened and
frightened her, and gained only
her quiet scorn and untold loath-
ing. She hated and dreaded him
as she would the vilest reptile in
the mountains, and one day in
our wanderings she told me she
thought he would kill her. l
laughed at this, and told her that
he dared not lift his hand against
her; that l would kill him if he
dared to touch her. Indeed /
would have rid her path of him
long before but for her prayers
and tears"
lie paused here for a few mo-
mcnts, his hands clutched. and
his piercing eyes flashing fire at
the trees in front of us. Pres
emily he laid his hand upon my
arm and said:
stranger, look down that deep,
narrow pathway, where the trees
arch overhead SO closely that the
sunlight can scarcely enter. Do
you see that tall tree to the right?
There the foulest murder that ev-
er was committed was perpetra-
ted. There is not a lonelier spot
among the mountains than the lit
tie glade that lies beneath that
tree. Through its midst there
runs a little brook, trickling mu-
sic. all the day. Lilies, forget
me-nots and wild roses edge the
stream.
Nellie knew them all and she
often went there in the summer
time to Gull and dry them in the
sun. Except for that tall, solita-
ry tree, the glade is open to the
sky; and, although it is so small
that a man can almost jump a
cross it, yet here he seems to
breathe a freer, fresher air, as
looking upward no shadow falls
between the face and the blue
heavens. Think of the loneliness
of this spot, where stone flung
into the stream startles the ear,
and the sound of a football comes
like a wonder. fla cry Of help
went up to heaven from that lone
place no human ear would hear it.
If some dreadful deed were done
no human eye would witness it