Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-03-13
The Fairfield Poet.

the most prosperous lives, contn'
ually trod upon the tenderest-
hearted woman in Fairfield. She
hated Fairfield as a background to
her existence, but there had fate
nailed her for life. 1t was the
forlornest Of Indiana railroad
stations, looking like an ugly scar
on the face of a beautifully wooded
country, peopled by the descend
ants of poor white CarOliuians
and Tennesseeans. The male por.
/ ton of the community sat on the
railroad platform, in yellow jeans,
sprawling their naked toes to the
sun, whiting and jetting like true
tobacco fountains upon the meer-
schaum colored boards. The wo-
men might have lived lives OF
primitive simplicity, digniied by
child bearing aud neighborly sym
patby with each other, but they
stained their human kindness with
SANDER. And this one among
them all felt the progress Of the
age tearing her heart-strings ont
while her circumstances kept her
at a standstill. / do not say her
life would have been more SYM
metrical or her experience richer If
she had lived in the whirl. She
was a plain, grOund-lOving woman
who enjoyed the cOmpanlonship of
her fruit trees and flowers, and
worked with her hands. Indeed,
crowds annoyed her, and she was
undecided what tollettes ought to
be made for q large public. The
striped silk dresses of her prosper
GUS days, the fringe Grape shawls
and gimp.edged mantillas, agreed
i'll with b0nnets Of the passing
season, and she had more respect
for what was rich and old than for
all your new inventions. But she
was fercely ambitious for her chill
dren, especially her eldest son, and
for him in spite of his misfortune
The younger boy and girl were
still leaping like colts upon then
few remaining acres, sound in lint
and wind, with hopes ola future
sheathed in their healthy present
when Willie was tall as n man, and
far up in his teens.
His mother had a picture of him
taken when he was going to schoo
! in Cincinnati under his uncle'i
care. At that time his auburI
curls were unshorn, and he wal
beautiful.
A few days before cottOns tool
their terrific rise during the war
Mr.. HARRISON had stocked il
thousands Of yards. Those were
FairGed's best days, and he kept
general store, making money s
rapidly that the lazy people aroun'
him felt helplessly injured. II
began his fine brick house buildin
on a generous and artistic plan, a
the edge of Fairfield, where h
could surround himself with frui
trees, and have fields for his cattle
Whetherit is a more distinct miser
to build the temple Of your HON
and see some one else inhabit it, @
to shelter yourself for years in
house you have not the power O
finishing, the latter fate was rese
we'd the HarbisOns. With a cras
thev came down from what ha
been Fairfeld's Opulence near to
level with Fairfeld's poverty. The
kent the house and grounds and
meadow, but under such weight q
mortgages that it was comparative
" no grief at all to see the orn'
mental cornices lying around th
partly plastered parlors, balu
trades, and newel.post standing o
end beside the skeleton stairway
and to find the bathroom usele'
except as a rubbish closet. Th
J man who had employed half
Fairfield was now obliged to becom
himself an emplOye ana the geher'
verdict of the world against thos
who fail was emphasized by con
Be- munistic envy.
But the habit of being a woma
of consideration is not easily fo
gotten. Mrs. HARRISON still mac
the village respect her. She ha
something to give to the pOOres
She was the wife of man who hs
made a fortune before he had 10
it. and sat in the State Senate
More than all, she bad her childre
the eldest of them continual su
prise to her. He seemed born
II stir her pride and tenderness
i their depths. He was tall, fai
and Roman-featured, shy as a gi
toward every one but his mothe
and so ravenous in mind that