Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1895-01-30

single room over BARRIERS shop, one
would have expected the significance
of the saying to wane with the 1nskip
fortunes. But t'proud as au Inskip"
was still whispered beneath ones
breath as Miss Lavinia swept up the
aisleof old Christ Church to the family
pew.
Though, passed into that indefinite
period, middle age, her step had not
lost the sprightly stateliness, the grace
full yet insolent abandon so significant
of her character as girl; character
entirely given to impulse, yet using
its 1Eskip pride as an impenetrable
armor from which to witness the re.
suits of it's own indifference to conse.
quences. Miss Lavinia's career was q
thing of public reminiscence; q
thing sto be brought up and
aired and told of for the
astonishment and edi6cation of the
present generation; talked of with
that keen relish with which things
helping to make history are always re.
lated.
OF her insolence? They will tell
you how, when Richly, that Midas OF
the North, pressing her for an answer
as they stood together at the bow of
q great Mississippi steamboat, made
mention of his. enormous wealth.
they will tell you how Miss Inskip,
gazing abstractedly into the blue dis
tance, drew from the purse at her belt
banknote, numbering at least three
figures Then, letting the wind catch
it from her white fingers and carry it
huttering over the rivers yellow ex-
panse, she turned and left old Richly,
red with anger, to digest his answer
as best he might.
Daring? Another story is OF q
wretched youth whose alteration was
so mixed with fear that, at her COM
mand, he meekly descended from his
horse, that fugitive slave might
mount in his place; and while she
rode on some twenty miles to
aid the poor wretch's escape,
the young man walked the
wooded roadside half the night
in mental anguish, dreading to dis.
obey her command to await her re.
turn. And be it said, it was not he
who finally told of the story. Oh,
yes, certainly she owned slaves her
self! Her excuse? The fugitive,
driven from his hiding place by
hunger, had appealed to her from the
roadside, throwing himself on her
mercy.
And for wit, that mask of ugliness,
old Colonel Cognac is still known as
"Apollinaris Belvidere"-a instance
of Miss Lavinia's satire.
Was she beautiful? Ask this
generations fathers. Indeed, it is
whispered that not one of our mothers
but accepted her lords heart and hand
after those articles had been laid in
vain at the feet of Miss Lavinia In
skip. In her time she slew her thou.
sands and her tens of thousands.
Tradition says the present owner Of
old Inskip mansion, Judge Richard
Alexander, whom every Sunday sees
in his place at old Christ Church, has
never looked at woman since.
This last is one of the stories often,
est told, perhaps because of the op-
portunity it affords to describe the
famous ball at the Inskip mansion.
Three thousand dollars in roses on
the ball room walls alone, they soy
while in the dining room, the center
piece of fruits, flowers, and spun sugar
mounted to the dangling prisms oi
the chandelier, and the elaborate sup.
per surrounding it costs as many more
thousands.
On that night Richard Alexander,
younger then by some thirty years,
handsome, poor, fresh from the coun.
try, full of faith in everything, Lavinio
included, seemed to have been chosen
to be her especial victim and diver
sion. With her eyes she would sum-
mon him, that her red lips might
mock him. Did heleave her IN anger,
her handkerchief was dropped at his
feet, as if by accident, as she waltzed
by; or, catching his moody eye, he1
sweetest smile would float back, to lure
him to hor again. Were he her part
ner--and full half her card was his
it was to dance single turn, her per
fumed hair intoxicatingly near his
face, then to tire, that she might
bestow the remainder of the
dance on some other of her atten.
dant throng, until, between hope and
doubt, young Alexander's passionate
heart beat beyond control.
1t was il the yard-the beautiful
old yard about the mansion, where
she had led him, the wild south wind
blowing her yellow gauzes from her
arms, her throat-that he, having
torn thorny length of bloom from O
climbing yellow brier, with sudden
daring caught it's two ends and held
it, crown-like, about her head. With
insolent consciousness of her beauty,
she threw her head back, bringing
her mocking, upturned face near to
his. Then, seeing the wild look oi
daring that sprang to his eyes, she
laughed lightly and hipped him in the
face, with the gloves she held, as one
might correct ones dog.
Tainted beyond endurance, they
say, he seized her in his arms and
kissed her. With moments pause,
while the Inskip pride gathered its
force, she snatched the thorny switch
of brier and struck him across the
face, not once, but many times--h he
standing white and motionless, after
the first stroke, until her passion
spent itself.
After that, young Alexander passed
out of the social life of the place, and
the career of Miss Lavinia Inskip be-
came more than ever celebrated.
Stories without number are told Oi