The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-08-13
Select Storg,
A HILLSIDE STORY.
H. G. in Richmond Wa.) Dispatch.
This is all true, as it is strange
-ShaEsDeare

1t was called quiet neighborhood-the
stretch of country lying at the foot OF
lovely range of mountains in Virginia
and yet, with all its seeming peace, more
than one tragedy had been enacted there;
and the loves and losses, joys and sorrows
of the great world were not unknown. The
sun rose on the evil and on the good as
elsewhere, and the just and the unjust
gathered in the harvest.
On the southern slope of the mountain
in the month of October, 1S-, the moon
looked down on gatheringof mountaineers
who wed with each other amid much
laughing and shouting in the rapidity with
which they sent the cleaning ears of corn
spinning to the pile.
"Bill Sprouse is late a-comin', " said jim
Carver, fine specimen of the animal man.
"Now, fyou want here, Tidy, we mought
known what KEEP him, bein as you is sweet
on one mother.
Tidy giggled.
"Ain't everybody like you and Nancy.
Pear like folks can't have comp'ny to Tin
kiln Spring onct or twice of Sunday but
folks must have it they is goin' to get
married"
"Hi but that amt all he DONE, cried
Tom Tinker, the blacksmith. "Didn't |
see you goin' through the corn-feld holdin
hands? 1t mought been you, Tidy, and
then ag'in it moughtn't. The sun was
settin' as I come home from work acrost
the fields, and it mought been the sun a.
shinin' an the gals ha'r what make it look
red like yourn; but thar aint no doubt
bout the man bein' Bill SprOuse. I'd
know him mile of"
This showing-up of Tidy and her swain
by Tom was followed by shouts of laugh
ter from the twenty men and women pres
ent with the cries of "go it, Tidy" from
the men, and ~ bet my money on the red
hard gal, and the like, while Tidy in
her confusion shook down her 'gory locks,
and, like Miss Pleasant Riderhood and the
women on her street, had to suspend bust
ness and put them up again.
As the echoes of the laughter died away
among the hills Bill Sprouse himself stepp-
ed into the circle He was large man,
dressed in the workingman's costume of
blue-cotton shirt and yellow-brown, loose
trousers. The moon was obscured as he
came forward with slouching gait, an d
in the momentary darkness that followed
his foot turned upon an ear of corn, and he
fell heavily against the white pile in the
centre of the circle He rose with an oath
and limped towards the place where Tidy
sat, but stopped short of the advantage of
vacant place beside her and sat down by
stont, elderly woman who was comfort
ably enscoReed upon-a pile Of "shucks"
which almost enveloped her.
~ spose Jack amt got back from town
yet, observed the stout woman, who was
as loquacious as she was fat and good -hu-
mored.
"No," Bill Sprouse answered gruffiy.
'sNow, that lef the old woman at home
by herself, but she ain't feared o nothin';
thar amt nothin' goin to poster her" con-
tinued talkatiye Mrs. Scruggs, unchecked
by the surliness of her neighbor "Was
she setting up for Jack when you come
away?"
eyes. Go | don't know nothin' bout
it. l amt been home" replied Bill, look
ing not at the lady as courtesy might have
required, but at the ear of corn from which
he was tearing the shuck.
81 always sets up for my boys when they
don't come home in time, and | shouldn't
wonder eff your ma will be up for you and
Jack when you git back
Was it the moonlight that made surly
Bills face grow ashen pale as Mrs. Scruggs
chattered on? Mr.. Scruggs from across
the pile called out: "Has Jack got back,
Bill, and what did he say bout Kenneys
trial You amt hered ? Well, l do say,
eff Kenney's let go I'll be in fur lynch-law.
He's guilty man to my thinkin' and ought
to have halter round his neck this min
ute"
Mr.. Scruggs had risen, and moving
around the corn, began walking up and
down in front of his wife, Bill, Tidy, and
the others on that side. He was man of
medium size, with iron-gray hair, and was