Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1894-12-09
CHAPTER I
THE xARFEws AND THEIR HOME.

there; bis father was born there, and
when his infanteVes we're first permitted
70 look out or one OF the Old-fashioned
windows on the strong light OF day,
they beheld the wooded hills and the
wide, cultivated bottoms OF the estate,
aud be supposed that their NAL view
OF earth would be- the same as their
hrst, aud that he would be laid TO rest
In the peaceful solitude OF the place
beside the dust OF his fathers.
Ever since the earliest pioneer days
OF Western Virginia, Brook Falls nad
been the home OF the MarfeWs, ana 10
had never occurred to anyone thas IL
would ever be Ia the possession OF any
other family. IL was pre-empted Oy the
Colonels grandfather, VINO vas one OF
the first and fearless explorers 20 en-
counter the many dangers and priya-
tiOns incident TO pioneer Ire Ia me
boundless wilderness OF trans-Allegheny
Virginia, before them trodden by mons
save the beast and the savage.
Grandfather Marfew, II tradition can
be credited, being pleased with the coun-
try and deciding 10 locate therein, went
back 20 his old home beyond the noun
tains, returned with q horse, an axe ana
a hoe, and 10 a short time rude caOln
stood alone in the depth or the wider
ness. Then he went 20 Winchester TO
dispose Of his accumulation OF turs ana
10 obtain a wife aud a bushel OF SAT-.
Fortune favored him, for after a lengthy
absence he returned TO his little hut with
both. ready 20 begin pioneer life Ia real
earnest. And pioneer lie 10 real earn
est it was, for be cleared, cultivated
and fought the Indians, and TIE ludlans
fought him; on one occasion az FEAST
with partial success, for late one even
ing while be was cutting tree into hre'
wood and his wife was 10 the act OF
shouldering log 90 carry 20 the caOIn,
An ambushed savage fired from the edge
OF the little clearing aud Grandfather
Marfew rolled over with great bleed
ing hole in his side; then with Whoop
and brandish Of scalping-knite the
elated savage sprang from his covert
confident OF an easy triumph over the
woman. but not so, for she hastily seized
the axe and with one deXterous blow
with il felled her aSSaiiant with split
skull. She then assisted her husband
20 the cabin and with rifle at hand kept
vigilance over him throughout the ensu-
"
wives OF the Virginia pioneers,
But this sauguinary affair far from
daunting Marfew imbued him with
savage thirst for Indian blood, and AFTER
other bold settlers came into his section
and buiIded cabins that the willy savages
soon burned, and,brought into the word
toW-headed chiidred that said sayages
amused themselves tomahawking and
scalping, be was ever ready and anX-
lous 20 90 In pursuit Of the perpetrators;
and once on his return from an eXpsdi-
ton against them be found his hut In
ashes and his wife and children lying
lfeless aud scalDed near by; vet was
he inexOrable. A second cabin he soon
had on the site OF the first with a
second wife presiding over the duties
thereof, and some years later number
III lT7. semi-barOarOus urchins we're
both old enough and willing enough to
try their skill at the slaughter OF In
dams, a business they were expected 70
prosecute after their father had either
fallen a victim ltO savage butcbery or
died natural death, the former event
ualy being his fate as il also was or al
his sons excepting the cOoners father
who prOyideutiy escaped a general
massacre.
The military title with which the
name of Jasper =. MarieW was digni-
fed and not considered complete with
out, indicated the official rank that
this gentleman held 10 the Virginia
militia, a rank that rendered him par
ticularly cOuspiClOus on the famous
muster-day OF long ago when the
patriots Of his country assembled at the
struggling town Of SYIvanton for a
training in military tactics; and the
title OF bachelor had also been conferred
on him, which was quite misnomer
because be had just reached his
thirtieth year aud looked not a day
older. But it was more owing to his
manner OF living than 20 bis age that
he was regarded In the light OF bach
slor, for at the death Of his widowed
mother whose sole heir he was, be con-
tiuued TO live az Brook Falls In an en-
tirely too recluss q manner TO be con-
sidered compatible with his years, ever
attentive to his own affairs which con-
sisted OF the MANAGEMENT Of the estate,
An annual trip 90 Baltimare with herd
OF fat cattle, as often TO SylvantOn to
exercise the functions OF COlOnelcy and
mail aud 70 talk politics with his crOnies
at the old stage-tavern.
Gossip had declared that the hrst an
niversary OF his mothers death would
not find the colonel a single man, but
IL did; certainly the second would not,
but 10, too, did; the third impossible;
but it found him still the only occupant
OF the odd specimen Of architecture
erected Dy his father on the site Of the
ancestral cabins shortly after his mar
rage, the greater portion OF II con-
cealed By numerous stately elmS and
oaksand many years growth Of trumpet
vines and VirGinis-creeperS.
The lhanagement OF the household
was lett entirely 70 the fasthful slave
Mandy Whose only ambition was 20 COZ
duct it ~ a manner perfectly satistac-
tory 10 her master, and In no wise did
ber ef0Ets prove vain. In Msndy's
oniniop lher masters peer had never
existed. Nor him she possessed the most
rrofounb yeneration, who were even
copvepidpt 10 perform his biddings, re-
rarded Him. particularly when be was
pouipnek with the regimentals OF bis
Office. al being doubtiully temporal
From tbls hour OF his birth Mandy's
materpal interest in him had never
abated the least, She bestowed on his
oaoynod the deepest attention, even
suggesttag when he should wear this
aud than frOck, was the nrst 20 dignity
him with pants; and when OD his arri-
val at adolescence and had received all
tle in9tructiOn that the little country