Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-11-28

the railway and the din of traffic, yet with
neighboring plantations that provided a
wealth Of sociabikty, and adjacent forests
and streams that tempted the fox hunter and
sportsman, there reigned throughout sense
Of peacefu1ness and content that well COM
ported with the brave and gentle character
Of the men and women who, generation after
generation, had gone forth from the old
family to grace with their influence the out
side world
Just before lie war, the members of the
household consisted of Col. cambridge, his
son VIII, cadet in the naval academy at
Annapolis, and three daughters, Dorothy, the
elder, upon whoI by reason of the death Of
her mother devolved the care Of the family,
Margery and Clara-all of them bellies of the
neIghborhood Like most Virginia homes,
this did not escape he Affections Of the time.
Death laid upon it heavy hand. Col. Balm
bridge was killed in the valley while leading
one of the regiments of Stonewall Jackson.
Margery was left widow at twenty-five,
but had never laid aside her mourning, and
always spoke of her husband as if he had
died within the past year, her only censola-
ton being that, instead of dying of his wounds
amid the agonies of a battle field, be had been
taken prisoner and tenderly cared for by
some Federal officer, she knew not whom.
Dorothy likewise was not without her grief
Before the breaking out of hostilities, she had
found among the officers stationed at Fort
ress Monroe one who had promised to brighten
her life, and to him had. .plighted her heart
and hand. At the call of his state he went to
the front, and monument, around which
Dorothy in her grave way every Sunday
strews flowers, tells the story of his gallant
death at Manassas. Clara, the youngest Sis
ter, after the close Of the war, while visiting
friends in the north was wooed and won by
Col. Hartley, formerly of the Federal army,
and at the time at which this story opens
was living in New York among the surround
ings of wealth, a daughter, Kate, being the
only fruit of the union. VIII was still fol
lowing the sea and was the captain of n
steamship on the Pacific.
To her aunts Kate was a comparative
stranger, for they had not seen her since early
childhood, and of her father they knew less.
The wounds of the strife had not yet healed.
Yet Dorothy had written time and again for
her handsome northern niece TO come down
and spend winter on the plantation only TO
be met with an excuse, for a visit to Old Roam
oke and the two ancient relatives was sug-
gestive of anything but pleasure to young
city girl who counted the figures on her dial
plate chiefly as they scored the change from
one scene of gayety to another. SO, in her
own words, 1.-The evil day was put off as far
as possible
Finally, however, Miss Dorothy made such
point of it-Kate being, after her mother,
next of kin"-that further resistance be-
came an offenSe, and t journey was made.
At the outset it seeme, ike retirement into
rural seclusion. Yves see.
Nm. ,.,,- e ,.Nf,l No. ,1o, fIot-
ed little town that marked the end of her
travel by rail, Kate found awaiting her
Daddy Hercules with the old fashioned Gin
namon colored coach, swinging high up on
its springs, the family coat of arms emblaz-
oned on both door panels-an ancestral ark
that had been a figure head in Roanoke for
nigh on to a century-and il was with no
little amusement that she assembled the flight
of steps let down with an air of immense i'm
portance by Tony the footman, while Her
cules informed her that de basket on de
front seat wur filled Wiz good tings by Miss
Doroty 20 keep young missis compny while
he fotches her home" Then the old coach
man went back to his perch on 1.-THE dickey
seat" Tony mounted the trunk rest behind,
seized the straps whereby he preserved per-
peudicuiar, and they started for Beverly
Farms.
And right royal company did Kate find in
that basket of fried chicken, hard boiled eggs,
"beat biscuit and hom, made cake. for she
was generously hungry d the bouncing Of
the coach had sr,eeded her appetite. It was
a ride novel 10 the young city giri II other
respects Tie scenery was such as she rad
never looked uHon or dre4med OF. The road
run oyer lovely landscape, smooth unduia-
lions among wind mills, corn and grass, Beau
tiful fields and wild flowers, where the birds
poured out their songs and the shadows or
the branches interlaced and made q trembling
carpet on the road, while the overhanging
trees formed aisles and arches dimmed with
the scftened light that crept through the
leaves
And the cid mansion, as the big white gates
swung open at the entrance of the broad, oak
lined avenue at the end of which il stood,
how inviting It lookedl Dorothy and Msrge- |
r. were waiting on the porch, and such Q |
warm Virginia welcome as they gave TO their |
handsome niece!
1t did not take Kate long to find herself |