The news & observer., 1895-08-25

marble of oblivion erected for his tomb
stone, shall my person or my angel for
sake fair Lidie Meaks."
And again:
You have a tenderness about you,
my dear Lidie, and nobleness of heart
which have never heard expressed be-
fore. Your sweet words, dropping like
vocal roses from the gardens of language,
brighten, if possible, the joy of the
thought that you are soon to be mine.
Your silvery accents, to which the trickl-
ing streamlet beside us plays sweet ac-
compartment, tell me to rob life no
longer of the bliss for which / sigh: and
now, as you have no parents consent to
obtain, no sisters to invite, but only a
lone brother far in the West, I propose
that our nuptials be performed at the
great falls, tomorrow
"Lidie, remaining silent for time,
heaved a sigh, and then said: i fear
that Prudence would censure my accept
ance, for am in the far off mountains,
without wedding garment, or even
few friends 10 celebrate the occasion.
" The foaming falls, he replied, will
lend you from their white spray queen
ly rose, the benign woods will deck it
with flowers more gorgeous than the
artist can paint, and the harmonious
melody produced by the combined musi-
cal agents of food and and forest will do
honor to the occasion.
Is there any wonder that the school
ma'am consented Is there any wonder
that she should remark
"'What profusion of beautiful words
yov utter, Charlie r"
We should like to let Mr.. Dugger tell,
in his own simple mountain language,
how the infamous dude tried to make
Miss Meaks' horse run away with her,
and, failing in that, how he disappeared
amongsthe balsam trees (abJes FrGScrj).
Had not the coward fled, " said Clipper
steel, 81 would have tested the thick
ness of his Uranium" 81 have often
prayed God" remarked the good Mr..
Skiles, ''to gather His wild oats into the
garner of repentance We should like
to let Mr.. Dugger tell also how the dude
reappeared at the wedding ceremony
with a startling and Holmanesque II
objectl' apparently based on no sound
reason, except the wish to make the
bride faint away:
''Her chin dropped upon the flowers
that adorned her bosom; every nerve
and muscle of her frame lost its energy,
and she sank at the feet of the groom,
not in the fashion Of one who falls under
the influence Of excessive excitement,
but like pure woman borne down by
the weight of a calumny perpotrated up
on a warm life that no sin had ever
tarnished.
''But the groom quickly produced
from his pocket little bottle Of brandy,
which he carried as precaution in case
of accidents, and spreading portion OF
its contents over her pallid face, the
sign of restoration soon became appar
ent. y
The reader will be glad to know that
after the wedding Mr.. Clippersteel "set-
tied with his lovely wife in the city Of
Raleigh, where he had formerly resided,
and the murmGrs heard in that family
were like the voice of sunlit tide en-
bracing the tinted shells of the shore in
love-"
There is nothing in "Oorinne" more
intense than Dugger at his best When
you remember that this impassioned tale
of love and jealousy is interviewer with
all sorts of information useful to the
tourist, and that you learn in the same
book that Mulatto Mountain is 4,687
feet high, and Hominy Cave, at Sol
Davies, is exactly 2, SAC feet above the
sea level; that the Richmond and Dan
vile line runs solid Pullman trains, with
no extra charge for fast time; that Theo-
dore Franklin and others supply ccm
Portable board at twenty five cents a
meal; and, not least of all, that Mr..
Shepherd M Digger, our accomplished
author, himself keeps a tavern where
the feeding is good aud rates reasonable,
you are ready to admit that you are
getting your moneys worth in this book