Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-05-12
,rha Cotton snrine.

lne IOllONlnR loBcnu0tf POS' " W"
"Cotton Spring. a beautiful resort in
the romantic Little Fort Valley, opposite
to and onv a few miles from Woodstock.
was written by Capt. J. S. Trout, for
many years the well known editor and
proprietor of this paper, and justly con-
sdered one of the ahlest and most scholar
" writers OF Virginia. It vas dictated
to an amanuensis during the long and sad
hours of treatment for threatened blind
ness IN an Eye and Ear Infrmary in
Washington, d. c., where he has made
his home for some years
The humor and superstition so well
brought out in the little poem will be read
with pleasure by hundreds in this section
with whom the legend has been familiar
for years.
Oh, who has not heard OF Cotton spring
OF its legends in pathOs of story
Where the mountain wraith's song finds
weird ring
Md the rock 81 a, v IT'D lichenG grown
hoary;
There the pire tree mods its resinous
plume,
And ridges throw shadows far down the
mountain
All lovely and sweet with wild laurel
bloom,
Where sparkling flows the famous old
fountain.
The rude cabin still stands at the old
place
The brood of the bat has plas,ered its
walls;
Where huntsmtn once hung thci7 prizes
in chase
The Woodworking spider fearlessly
crawls.
The litter there strewn the sward all
around,
Are whOrtleberry gatherers' relics Of oll.
Where the chestnut trees bark was deftlS
unwoUnd,
And fashioned in "toOts" their harvest
to held.
High were the revels these hunters would
hold,
All free from the lowland moralists' eye;
Their vigils were late and wassai was
bold,
And braves to story hearty and high.
II "Stutts" was artist of song for the hour.
Then "Pelter" would rise to heights of
romance,
Al Ioor;,aW oop foos,u,. l. fntl1oc
d'amOur
"Kitie" would fiction 'boye credence
enhance.
Que rare Summer night, long, long years
ago,
When the moon vas throwing lances of
sheen
Der Massanutten on Shenandoah,
And Furnishing all the ridges between,
Echo of wassail grew droning and low,
And pledges undrunk for want of the
wine:
Wit cannot sparkle nor merriment flow
When nepenthes no longer the reason
cOnfine.
V.
"Ha, ba," one reveler cried in delight,
! When others awoke in maudlin abash,
"1here yet Is a jug we hid in the night
Down by the spring in a cool miry
cache"
"TO the search, to the search the maud
Inns cried,
And with stick aud stage to the spring
they reeled,
And delving in mud they everywhere
pried,
But found not the prize their care had
concealed.
All begrimmed with mud and weary and
sore
And some grew dIsmayed, and some to
descry
Where no longer was hid the presciOus
store
They surely would end some iugglery.
But they still dug and delved, and dug
and swOre,
Wherever in hope the treasure was
thought
Painting and weak, yet, they tolled as
Still faithful and true to this ius-or-
naught.
And ever the years in cycles come round
The cycles IN turn bear hunters away
The Jog that was sought but never was
found
Still eludes hopes of the delivers to-day.
The labor there spent all fruitless and
vain
Would have built a city down in the
vale:
But folly will brook no thought of con-
etran,
And duty must often neglected bewail.
Like ebb tides of years the seasons still
flow
In turn the mountain grows verdant
and scar,
And hunters still come, and hunters still &c,
And the spIing ever flows sparkling and
clear.
But out of the ridge in darkness of night
A red flame Of fire seems tapping the
sky,
Which lowland villagers watch in Alright,
Lest spectre of wrath come swoop-
ing by.
Twas the wehr wolf then that stealthily
came
And Tapped from the jug tho liquid OF
death:
Ills the wehr-wof tapping his tongue of
flame,
And bowling wild with his burning
breath
Like a flame bis tongue is tapping the
air
A b som Of fame that sweeps the
mountain,
Driving the wild deer out from its lair;
But ner does the wshr wolf lap the
fountain.
Death ofMr. Christopher Funk.
WINCHESTER, Va, May 8.-Mr Christ
opber Funk, highly respected citizen Of
this city, died last night after lingering
illness, aged eighty-two. Mr. Funk was
born and raised IN Shenandoah county