The National tribune., 1890-12-11

respect in his tones. lis the Mascot of the
Muddy Creek hills, and the good fairy Of
Kildecr Ridge"
"A tolerable substantial style OF fairy" ]
vcutured. How comes she by these landable
4 tides, Tor such ] take them 90 heg"
Because she turned this whole country from
+ the desulation Of starvation into the garden OF
agriculture you see before you"
The mind Of the writer went back a quarter
4 of century. and remembered an that region
as @ vast eZpansg OF uuthrifty fields, inter
speTsed with thiclycts OF sumach, vast eXpanscs
of seGge grass and dense wildcrnesscs Of thorn,
briar and bTamblc, amid which the rabbit and
The partridge were the only available products,
except the sumach, which the children gath
cred in the Fall and sold 90 the tanueries. The
people We're poor in land, in pocket and in
symWthiys. The very ridge OF beautiful farm
land, with handsome buildings duttIng the
4 landscape for miles away on both sides, had
been known as Kiigores Ridge but had in de-
rlsion been dubbed hildccr Ridge upon the
allegation that tho land was SO poor that the
lCurls had TO be Jet down SO the kllliccrs
unable 20 fly might get from one field TO au-
. other.
The change has bccn great beyond doubt;
but what had this lady 10 do with bringing II
HbOuiy"
" To make You understand il ] will have 10
20 into a little ancient history. You see, Gabe
MILESTONE who lives ever by Castle Finn, was
ont in the - Pa Cav. and Hartman Martin,
whose village Of house and farm buildings you
sec oil wonder 10 the lott, was with him. Just
al the close OF the waf they came across poor,
little girl about dozen years old, who had lost
every relative and friend she had in the world,
except a coiOTed woman aud her son. BY some
means Gabo got the girl aud the two darkoys
sent up here TO his old folks, who were then
living. When she came here she was the poor
est, most forlorn thing ] ever saw, and i
would have declared she would not live over
Winter. Sbc did, however. She did not only
live but She thrOye ava grew rosy and stout,
and became just the apple Of old Mr. and Mrs.
Nhetstone's eye. She could do one thing bet
ter than any woman IN York County has ever
done ID before or since. Sire could ride horse
in a way that girls around here had never
dreamed Of She ran wild, pet Of everybody
IN the nuighbUrhuOd all the Summer of 1865,
and then they sent her 20 school to York, ana
we lost sight Of her for two years When she
came back we didn't know her. She was the
most beautiful girl i ever saw, and she was,
beside that, a lady all the way through. i
don't mean that she was a stuck-up cityfed
butterfly, all frills and fancy work. Nothing
Of the kind. She was a th0rUuPh-gOiu seusi-
Die young woman, with an the nice, quiet ways
she had about her as n child. She could ride
the widest horses in Lower Chanceford TO
| church on Sunday morning and then play the
Q
the keys after she got there. She could milk
the COWS, make butter or bang anything you
wanted out OF the piano the MILESTONE boys
brought lor her on the canal from Baltimore.
g She came home in the Fall and that Winter
she asked old man MILESTONE 10 let her have
an acre Of land on the hillside below the barn,
and lave the boys plow aud harrow il for her
early IN the Spring Then she hunted among
the little things she had brought from Virginia
and got out about tablespoonful Of little brown
seeds, something like mustard. She filled a
4 box with garden dirt, sowed her seed and set
/ the box beside the big fireplace in the kitchen.
- Goin' TO raise cabbage, Lolly2 inquired
old man milestone.
80 I'm going TO raise new furniture for the
parlor aud piazza around two sides Of the
house. was all the answer They got from her.
When the time came she demanded Aunt
i Alpine and Zeph, the darkeys that came with
] her, and she got them. Her box was full Of
queer looking little sprouts which she spread on
a plot in the garden, and in two weeks they
were thriving plants These she aud the
! darkeys set out all over that acre Of ground
/ The darkcys refused 10 tell what the plants
| were and the people around here had never
seen anything like them. They grew and
spread with tremendous leaves; Loly and her
darlzeys working with them all summer till
she was as brown as n berry. Then she de-
manded and got the wagon house, and with
some help from the boys cut and cured her
crop. BY this time il WAS known that she was
raising tobacco; hutnobody regarded il is any
thing more than a fad Of that Virginia daugh-
ter 81 old Hhctstupcs' untii one day there came
q man riding past tho place aud spiod the con-
/ tents Of the Wag0n-house. lie got Of his horse
and hailed old Milestone:
." How much for your toLacco?'
I" ] hain't got any tobacco. It's Lolly's.'
Lolly was called, and the same question
was put.
81 want 45 cents pound on the scales in
the she'd
"'That gals gone plumb looncy soliloquized
old Abe Milestone, as he gazod at her regret
fully.
49, The man inspected the lot, tried TO get her
TO come down, aud finally said he would be
after the ion on Monday. Bo.ly crop weighed
a little over 200 pounds, aud She very cOolly
pOclleted her $3.50.
Eou just ought to have l.ccn on the Ridge
here that Winter Of lsg5. Miss Lorella Coul-
st0n, old Abe Nhetstouc's daughter, had proved
1 that tobacco would grow Ia Lower ChaHceiord,
and the people went crazy over IT, There was
nothing talked Of but tobacco. Whctst1ne's
house was besieged with people asking her 10
| tell them all about tobacco culture She got
the farmers into the school house and told them
about All about il in q lecture. She had, young
RS she WAS, learned how 10 raise ii from her
father and what she did not know, Aunt Al
phic ard Zeph did know. She had saved about
quart Of seed. which was gone ia no time al
So for a tablespoonful
:" Well, our people went IN for tobacco grow
ing heltcr-skelter. OF course there were mis-.
takes and failures, but ia three years we had
IL down fuc, aud In five years the results be-
gan 70 show all over this country. The people
got out Of debt and had money To improve
their farms and build. aud to-day there Is not
a richer township Ia York County ;han Lower
LhaHcciOrd, all because Lorella COuistOn showed
people how 20 raise tobacco.
" hawicdf Of course she married She's
Mrs. Hart Martin, and has been for is years
and might have been long before, but She
would never leave the old folks while they
lived, though all the Milestone boys, one by
one asked her 20 marry them, and when she
said no. went OF and married other girls.
There's queer old fellow comes along here
once in every Two OF three years. One time
hg viii be dressed 10 kin aud drive out IN 4
carriage and pair from York another time hel
come here eli broken down aud on the tramp
He always goes 10 Hart Martins aud thcy
make much Of him. i asked the old fellow
about 10 years ago who he was and what hC
was driving at IN never forget the look d,
gave me as be said:
Stranger you know, OF course that iCi
none Of your business but my name Is Bill
Adds i was the oncTiest man in the Army o
the Potomac ] once cmpiied the wages Of sif
into an innocent. forlorn little girls lap ant
asked God 10 bless hcr, aud j have 30 com,
around once in awhile aud thank Him for do
ing the only thing i ever had the check {,
ask Of Him."