Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-08-05

/ must not omit g notice Of the stock,
which we saw under Mr.. Wney's guidance,
as We rode to the stables aud over the farm.
| There are very fac specimens OF horses,
foreign bred and native, two of which parti-
cularlY interested US; one an enormous
Scotch horse Of the Clydesdale breed Of
draught animals, clumsy build, and
enormous limbs sweeping name and tail,
and fetlocks touching the ground, the color
dappled BAY OF beauty almost impossi-
about two hundred horses on this
farm, and many hundreds Of cat
| tie. Durham, Devon and jersey
bulls-some Of monstrous size and weight
are kept chained in their stalls and regular
ly groomed. Most Of the fine cows were In
the pasture, which we could not visit, but
photographs Of the handsomest and most
valuable adorned the walls of the office.
Our visit OF three hours to Saltville more
than repaid US for our outlay, and we part.
ed from this beautiful valley and took leave
OF our kind host with regret. We returned
to Glade Springs to dinner, my young
friends leaving in the afternoon on their
route homeward. l concluded to accom-
panY them as far as Abingdon, thirteen
miles down the railroad, IN order to meet
DIR. Rufner, and visit the South Virginia
Normal Institute.which was that day organ
lied for months drill If the public school
teachers of this part of Virginia.
curious legal trial was going on, in
which your young lady readers may feel an
interest. witnessed only the winding up.
and heard the jurY's verdict, but had no
chance to hear the arguments. It was a
trial for the abduction of q girl seventeen
years old by her sutton and his confederates,
aud when l entered the court house the case
was just going to the jury. The youth, with
not uncommon Ill luck, having got the girls
consent to marriage, could not convince her
parents that he would make a good
son-in law; so they forbade him the house,
and rejected his suit. The chance for a
marriage then seemed very doubtful, for by
Virginia Law female under twenty one years
of sge cannot marry in the State without con-
sent of her parents. The Gretna Green
resource suggested itself, and so a trip to
Tennessee, fifteen miles distant, was plan
ned. The lover and two friends made mid
| night raid on the paternal mansion, and
raised ladder to the girls chamber in the
| second story-she Of course agreeing to be
thus abducted" Leaving father and
mother soundlY asleep, she came down the
ladder and Joined her lover. The railroad
soon took them to Bristol, and hack con-
veyed them to little village of the road,
and clergyman made them man and wife
Now in most other countries this would
have ended the contest. but the irate pa
rents remembered that Virginia has on her
act. It's being unpopular and having fall
len into neglect-for Abingdon has never
had such trial-was no obstacle to the
vfndictive father, who had the parties ar
rested, and the trial was just closing. It
was solemn moment to the young couple,
for a conviction would send the husband to
the penitentary. While a lawyer was ex-
planning the case to me the jury returned,
after short half hour, and In the presence
Of the bride and groom and two hundred
spectators, the verdict Of "not guilty" was
announced. A sympathetic shout of JOY
from the vast crowd echoed through the
room, and astested the unpopularity Of the
law. The suit against the two confederates
was then withdrawn.
Abingdon is a beautiful place, of 800 or
2 600 people and one of the oldest towns In
Southwest Virginia. 1t has two female col
leges, with handsome buildings and grounds,
and the United States Circuit Court for this
district meets here. The town found full
of teachers, with DIR. Ruffner, State school
superintendent, at their head. This gentle
man is well known as aa educationist, and
is probably the most experienced and sue
cessful State Superintendent in the South
At night heard an admirable lecture from
DR.. r. on the physical Geography of vir-
ginia," full of intruction to the hundreds of
teachers present. This normal institute will
last month, while a similar one is about
to open at Stanton for the teachers In that
part of the State.
l shall remain here a week longer, and
hope to visit the lead mine company's
works, twelve or fifteen miles from town,
and an account OF these old mines will close
my letters from Wytheville. W.s.B.
Hythevils, July 80.