Los Angeles herald., 1890-11-13
AWAY DOWN SOUTH.

am happier now than when 1 last
went down south.
Why2
Because they are all home again.
You see, Fannie got homesick, and
got homesick-or rather sick of home
and went down after them.
j. 1t was a sweet old ride as we went
merrily dancing. dancing down the
Georgia Southern.
Autumn days and autumn dreams had
taken the place of drowsy scenes and
brazen skies of summer.
Cotton fields, where the last burrows
Of the 'laying by" were scarcely dried
when we went down, were growing
white for the harvest.
And the broad acres where then the
Georgia melons grew and fattened under
the genial influences of sun and dew and
summer rain looked grass grown and
desolate.
The bleaching remains of those that
were left by the harvesters dotted the
fields and reminded one of the buffalo
plains of Dakota. where the herds have
been slaughtered and their skulls left to
bleach on the broad expanse of grassy
prairie.
And there were many other changes
in field and forest. The dogwood had
begun to faunt it's red banners in the
thickets, and the hickory nuts were
getting large enough to furnish juicy
dessert to the brown squirrel after his
feast of savory pine mast.
And the long, undulating expanse of
wire grass levels were growing brown,
even as the pillows of the sea change
from emerald green to sober brown as
the sun sinks down in the western sky.
But when got down there-away
down south-they treated me like COM
pany folks.
There was where wanted to go, across
the river and over on the Ocopilco.
met a fair haired girl there years agone,
who put an end to good deal of my
foolishness. | had always been sus-
ceptible cuss. and had made love to
everything from the Okeefenokee to
Tampa bay, but when | met her that
settled it,
met her at one of those country af-
fairs which they call shindigs down
there. was one of the greatest shin
digers in the whole layout then. I'd jump
around by the hour with those jolly
young people and sing:
AL around the merry pole,
The merry pole, the merry pole,
All around the merry pole,
As merry as can be!
She was not like the rest of them.
She was very much different They
called her proud because she did not go
into these things with as much gusto as
they They had some kissing games
that night, and kissed along promiscu-
ously with the rest, until came to this
damsel, and 10! was taken aback.
She would not be kissed, and that put
me on my mettle.
talked to her great deal that night,
and somehow | did not romp around
and kick up as much as usual.
Oh, the golden days that followed
That was in the winter, and many
crisp evening have mounted my black
horse Pompey and galloped away over
the hills for the sole purpose of getting
a glimpse of those rosy cheeks and shy
glance of those blue eyes.
had to do all the courting, and with
very little encouragement at that She
would cut up with other fellows, make
me as jealous as old Dan Tucker, but
when tried to make any advance she
quietly withdrew and left me to my
own devices.
used to go there Sunday evenings
Gallop down the big road, up to the
gate and tie my horse to one of the
rings in the big oak at the front of the
gate. Her old, gray headed father, dear
old man, would meet me at the door
and welcome me. He knew l was his
meat for an hour or two He'd rather
argue Scripture than eat, and have
suffered martyrdom trying to listen to
him, when every tap Of light step on
the floor would make my heart jump
into my throat
He meant well, and no doubt he en-
joyed it, but it was perdition to me.
After a while she would put in an ap-
pearance. and would sit there and FUN
BILE with my hands, cross and recross my
xoKSy Luakc LOOllSA IOl1dI No nli0 oO uAi
that did not want to do for the balance
Of the evening.
But as the skies of winter threw off
their mantle of gray and spring began to
dawn upon the hills, and the whip-poor-
wills began to chant in the thickets, and
crickets chirped and woodsy musk arose
from leafy places life began to take on
deeper meaning for me.
She never missed an engagement. Ii
she promised to be at home on a certain
Sunday evening she was always there.
And, bless her sweet soul, she was there
most all of them, and so was l.
Pompey got SO he knew the way SO
well that all had to do was to drop the
bride reins and give a chirrup, and
straightway he was off in that direction
at gallop, and he would go right up to
the hitching place and stop
I'm not going to tell you how one
warm spring evening, when the twi-
light was falling, we stood up close to
the water shelf at the end of the lovely
piazza, and became very nervous, and
tried to say something, and don't