The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-09-10
Notes from Myra's Portfolio.

NOCeS from Myfa'S FOrtfOIlO.
Exhi1aratfng Pleasures In the Mountains
A Sheep-Ra:sing RegiDn-An Elegant
English Home.
LAURELDESE, n. c., August, 1881.
DEAR AUNT CHAT:
The days speed away SO brightly and
rapidly, that ! feel a strong inclination
to catch fast hold Of old Father Times
skirts, and prevent his resistless fight.
Surely number of young people have
only to be thrown together in order to
devise all sorts Of pleasant amusements
and gather the rosebuds Of happiness;
and when they chance to meet in a
place prolific of interest and Astounding
in natural beauties, their enjoyment fol-
lows as an invariable sequence. So, we
have excursions, and social gatherings,
candy-pullings rides, games and ram
bles across country, till each day stamps
itself with a red-letter, and we tenderly
cherish the memory which fingers With
its sweet aroma long after the actual
pleasure has ceased to exist.
Last week we were very dissipated for
mountain folks attended a candy-pull
ing, dance here aud a large reception
at the lovely home of Mr. Grimshawe. 1t
was a genuine surprise to find in a noun
tain fastness, remote from great city,
so elegant a home, possessing every
mark of high culture, refinement and
finished beauty. think must mention
the dangerous drive we had that night
over roads bordering precipice. sup
pose you will consider that we paid rath-
er dearly for our whistle, but it seemed
such a pity to decline all alluring invita-
ton, and we had been sojonrning suffi-
GENTLY long here to be quite rid of all
inertia and possessed with a feverish de-
sire to be con the go" continually
"All1s well that ends WE'LL" and in spite
of most real danger, we escaped with
sound limbs and unfractured skulls. |
thought of you, my dear, and of your
terror of animated horses, and wondered
what your desperation would be if you
were i'll our predcament, riding that
dark night a distance Of eight or ten
miles so near the brink of a steep preci-
pice that single misstep would have
hurled us down at least a hundred feet.
To cap the climax and add to the hor-
rors of the situation, we had a very
near-sighted driver, but for all that we
We're not at all daunted and succeeded
in preserving a perfect equanimity to
the end. Luckily for our poor Devil
dered driver none Of us were subject to
trcmors. Is it not characteristic of the
young that they may stand on the
threshold Of a mighty calamity, even
face great danger, utterly without ter
Tor, however much of awe may be blen-
ded with an agreeable sense Of the mys-
terry Of the unforeseen7 A lady once re-
marked that she was afraid of nothing
when she was a girl, that with alyanc-
ing years came also increasing fears and
a painful timility il instances where
there was not the slightest ground for
alarm. Apropos Of this, are we more in
nocent in our youth, freer from faint and
guile, that we should be less apprehen-
sive Of evil, less fearful Of shuf1ling Off
this mortal coil r. Nay! refuse to adj
nit the affirmative! It is infinitely more
encouraging to believe that with years
cometh wisdom, and likewise, we will
improve with years. But am digress-
ing.
One Of the chief industries Of this part
of the country is sheep raising. and
families from other States lave estab-
lished themselves here, to engage in that
profitable business. Like the planters of
Louisiana, they are prone to rear very
exquisite chata'uc en- Espagne, only to
awaken to the discovery that the airy
structures are totally unfit for habita-
tions. For instance, one gentleman was
calculating recently that in q certain
number of years he would be indepen-
IDENTIFY wealthy from the profits of his
sheep and wool alone; but a disease
breaking out in his flock shortly after
ward proved a vertable sheep-scourge.
and carried away most of his lambs. So
he must now begin his reckoning on a
different. basis altogether and much
lower one:
The Grimshawes-at whose home we
attended the reeeption-are English gen.
tie folks, who, being filled with spirit
of adventure, sought, the New World
and to our surprise established them
selves here i'll veritable sheep rancho
How different the interior of their beau.
tiful home from the usual rancho, you
may imagine when tell you that they
have brought with them from aristo
cratic England all their elegance ant
every evidence of a highly bred family
The exterior of their abode quite
ranche-like- in appearance, a genuine
mountain house, built chiefly of logs
but when we entered the contrast Wa
so striking as TO seem aamost. sn. asac 81
gruity. Exquisite oilRssasssse walls; we
family pexl:sssssz1 of Persian rugs,
+ ftEods . III The apartments thrown open
4 to the guests were rare curiosities, orna-
ments, bric-a-brac, aud that nameless
something which more clearly and unmis-
takably than .aught else proclaims the
hish-born lady, the nobly born gentle
man. What struck me most particularly
was the splendidly carved oaken mantel
which seemed all the more remarkable
when we were told that it was executed
/ Of Io h