The National tribune., 1891-12-24

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The SoUAw's MALEDICTI0N.
paint the landscape as in rugged New Eng
land; bat the type of this fora is more
beautiful in the mountains and their season
greatly prolonged.
There, in an unfrequented fastness Of the
teternal hills" surrounded by natures gor-
Fe0us embodiment OF her architecture, lived,
solitary and secluded, more than a genera
tion ago, Dick Curtis and Clariss, his young
wife
"Tle world forgetting, by the world forgot"
III was years before trans continental
rAilroad was believed 30 be possibility, and
all the commerce Of the Great Plains was by
that broad path through the Desert and over
the blue hills guarding the portals of ultra
montane New Mexico, the old Santa Fe
trail now = mere memory.
DICK CURTIS WAS A KENTUCKIAE,
tall, bFaWny broad shouldered and wiry.
true physical characteristics of his imme-
diate ancestors; for his parents had emf
grated from Virginia at the period Of the
Great Exodus in 1850 into the region Of
Kan-tnck-kee, the Bloody Ground, sO-called
because OF the sanguinary opposition Of the
aborigines 10 its iuvasion by the whites
Bis father bad been a leader Of mon n those
perlous times Of the Border, and was naturally
an Indian Fighter and hater of the race, as was
his wife who sHw her husband butchnrcd al the
threshold uf her cabin by the savages! so
Dicks HmfpthY 20 the cussed breed. as he
termed the Indians, had been imbibed at ms
mothers breast, aud was the direct result OF
ante-natal lishnenees. Tor he was not vet born
az the time oi ihe tragedy which preciuded the
possibility 81 has ever knowing his sire. His
lmpiacable detestHti0n Of the Indian, therefore
was part OF has nature by the inexOrable Law OF
hered3ty; ho did not try 10 eliminate It. nor
would hs hgEe succeeded had he essayed 10
do SO.
Clariss, Curtis's young wife, was one OF those
sweet woodland beauties who may OCCASION
ally be discovered la such bHTbHrous regions as
the Ozark Hills Of Missouri. the pine-barrens
OF Arkansas OF the mountains OF the Appa-
lschian chain south OF the Ohio.
She was ignorant illiiefate. aud dialectic IN
expression 81 thought, il is true the normal
reflex OF Hn uncultYated aud provincial enVi-
ronmeitt, tut she was liiy among weeds
pnre ar the breeze that sanghed through the
pines surrounding her chidh0od's home. She
possessed "a scfupulOus conscieutiOusness and
innOcence superior 90 that
THE MOST CAREFUL CULTURE
can evolve, and was the very impersonation OF
Eraos-a yeritabe exponent Of what cnpricious
Nature permits sometimes IN the incOrp0real
a. size does often in the cOp0r6Rl world
Dick hrst saw Clnriss az her rude mountain
heaEihsione, in the Cumberland Range, which
marks tie eastern boundary of his native
State, one night when a fearful storm had
oFeriEtHu flm near heT fathers cabin and he
was driven by itE violence 60 seek its friendly
shelter. he was Rt once dazsd by her excep-
tionH beauiy y and supcrbly pr0p0rtioned figure
as she handed linn gourdfui OF wateT she had
just dipped from spring neEf the door, M be
was about 10 enter. Hon was a type OF beauty
as ioreign 70 that region. and 10 which he was
accustomed az ID the graceful palm Of the
tE0ploG
Has strunpsly magnificent physique too. cap-
EFaled the imaginative young girl Immediate
lyi Tor she. as Ia woman generally was susceu-
libie 10 those attractions Of the opposite sex
strong arms, broad shoulders, and manly mus
cular symmetry. all Of which Dick could claim
ln remarkable degree. No wonder, then
that the sympathetic Ciariss should admire
bhhl giant amouR race OF giants as nearly all
The men were in the region whore she WAS
reared.
Dick was born hunter; be inherited his
proves ~ the chase from q remote ancestry
the llne having come down 10 aim without a
single breik through seven generations. the
record 81 which, ln rude. legendary form, was
current in the neighbOrhOOd. His whole lile
from bOyhoGd had been passed IN the forests OF
the bloody ground" aud the most familiar
bee 20 his siaiwart form was the lichen- covered
rocks Of tae mountain gorges, or pine need les
piled up under stately trees la fact, until
Clariss
KIN 'CBOss HIS TRAIL"
be almost lived in the woods rarely coming IN
the "settleHilnt except to barter for mis- t,,ts
then remaining only long enough 10 accom-.
plish hls erraRd. But game hepan 10 pet
acurse a. immigration sncroached anon tic
fertile valleys and Dick talked seriously O,
puuln out Tor some new place. me matter
Nhar, Of thar war vRrmiuts 4 plenty" So
viii indifferent luck for IL months after bs
iusl sol eyes on Clariss," be hunted the rang,
near her homei but his wauderings after thai
vision OF beauty were never SO prolonged A,
previously. Once @ week az least ofteneI
twice, and always on Sunday. lac war bouu
Ter fetch up at old Tom PolorklE" Claris,i,
father, where, la the rough but hearty mHnueI
OF the simple mountaineer. be Was warm )
welcomed, sad there Was already a tact untor,
standing he WAT Ter marry the gyr."
IL wHs there one night when a yonng attor
ney irom ioWn IN the valley on tie Ten.
nessoe SIDE OF the divide, who had been on !
hshinR eEpediti0u Ia tie range war lost. sepa
rated from hit companions. aud, beiHtsd n0m
PEELED % seek shelter la Tom Polloekls hum bl,
cabin, thai Dick Curtis first heard of such ,
region Es the Rocky Mountains
That .as in October. l64s. after the ratif
cation ~ lhe treaty which csded New Neyiet
20 The bbited states, and the supposed wonder
iul country we had Just acquired was the priu
oipal topic Of discussion wherever newspaper
were read. The latter essentiEl, however pre
elnded the poss bility OF the fact ever reacbip,
The knowledge OF the inmates OF Tom Pollock
oabih Through such media, but the sut,sc
wns introduced there by the lawyer that even
lnf' ~ a CONFORMATION naturally provoked
when Dick complained In a mild wav of an,
trurbity of game in them parts" in answer 1.
liitlc chatting about his coming home from
Children CPv for