Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-08-13
In the Mountain aWilderness y,
Virginia. '"

The Journey occupied day and
bali. They rode Indian file along q
trail which only Jerry's eyes could
follow; 1t crossed heaps OF rocks.
swamps, fallen trees; it led through mr.
! nnbrokon forest OF gigantic pines. oaks.
| birch. ASH. and sugar naples; even the
nut trees and black cherry bud had
time here 20 reach the height of a Lun.
dred and fifty feet. Everereens and
! dcciduous trees grew alike Leaflets and
branc.lcss side by side, spending
palm-likc at the top. The journey was
! i'll fact, passage through int rmina,
/ bic aisles Of huge black pillars under
fiat, leafy roof. The sides of the creeks
were banked with flaming collar; laurel
ANA rh ot,odcnIroIs heapcd 10 walls If
dark green, scarlet, uuu creamy white.
il tho sunaaine late a1Alea, Lifted wands
of shcll.llke rose. Sometimes the
horses literally broke : Il" pall, for miles
through waving forests OF fern, wbose
delicate leaves, Sarah fancied, touched
her hama. AS she passed, with q shy
cares5. The girls heart was fail. Her
lite had before Row been filed up with
sewing aud sweeping, and the petty
matters oi little village. 1t was The
first time that she had looked upon the
great solitary face Of nature. 1t seemed
to her that the sky and water AID trees
knew that 1t WAS tho first time. and
were glad tia. she hal come, and wL;s-
percd to her. Is did her Old home 10
Mignon, "Poor child. where hast tbou
staid so long,"
There was no sign that man had ever
! hnf
fallen century before lay in gigantic
round burrows on the ground; burrows
of deep moss, of fretted and fluted
lichen. gray and golden, bronze and
purple, and OF trailing myriads of pink
oxalis. PLAINLY fern nodded from the
sides. and thicket of young heallocks
pushed ambitiously up from the top of
the ridge; but when Jerry put his foot
on it, the whole furrow crumbled like
II puiiball into II cloud of red dust. 1t
was dead body, which, undisturbed
in the slow passage Of uuconnted wears.
had made all this false show OF life.
Very few song birds had made their
way into this solitude. There was none
of the multitudinous hum of life of
woods near towns. The absolute still
ness was strange and oppressive at
MONDAY. Nature dwelt alone here,
and kept silence. and there was some
thing savage in her mood, now that
they had come upon her unawares.
Even jaunty, self-sutlicient Mrs. Mu-
lock felt like an intruder, and rode
apart quietly. The Judge led Sarah's
horse, which could not keep its foot
ing. Sometimes he pointed with
bright. pleased eyes to stately tree or
. bed OF feathery moss, but he said
nothing, and never called on her to ad-
miro them. Mr.. Morley rode up once,
and said, in grave and patronizing
manner, that he must acknowledge
there was quality of freshness and
new born strength in this unexplored
wilderness which any scene must lose
after it had been tramped over by in
Vulnerable tourists. Miss Davidger
assented civilly. but pushed on. Human
voices were al impertinence in the
great and worthless meanings OF the
woods.
Monstrous fungous growths reared
themselves on every side AZ they began
to descend to the Blackwater. The
thickets grew more dense; red and
black spiders swung themselves inces
sanity across their faces from tree to
tree; they found traces of bears on
newly barked trees, and more than
once tho three iobed, clawless track OF
panther in the wet, black mold. The
thickets of laurel and scrub oak on the
banks Of the rivers give to these beasts
and to wolves an impervious shelter;
they have the best chance there, too, of
catching the deer as they come down
to water. Browning pointed out q dark
green shrub, which he said was elk
browse" and had been made by the
Good Man to grow just that high to
reach the muZzles OF the young elks.'
No elks had been seen in this region
for fifty years, though some might yet
be hiding back in Canaan.
The party camped the second night
on the bank of the Blackwater, stream
which emptios into the Cheat, making
huts of birch bark, and beds OF hcm-
lock bouSh set on end to give an elastlc
spring. The Doctor and Morley SET
out with their best white flies, reels, anu
lines to catch front for supper IN the
coffee coiored. gloomy creek. broWn'
ing took u few worms from rotten
tree trunk in his pocket, and his OLD
rod; the Judge built up the fire, and
Mrs. Mulock and Sarah cooked some
fitch, and secured the tin plates IL the
stream. Things won't tho usual way 10
such cases. Tho scientific fishermen
came home dripping wet, and swearing
that there was not tho Tin OF trout III
the river, to find Jerry placidly frying
forty in pan. They ate their supPe.
by the light of IL roaring ire. greas
horned owl hooting in the thlcKe'
Every man had hunting story to tell
-REBECcA HARDING DAVIS. III Harp
cr'S Xagazine.
The PorAro.-I is supposed that me
potato is indigenous. and conhned "
no particular part of the world. .tl.
Darwin, for instance. found it wild IN
the Chonos archipelago. "; =. h s;sn
er says that it is common at Valparaiso,
where it grows abundantly on the SANDY
hills near the sea. In Peru and sarl-
GUS other parts of South America II APP