The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-09-17
lFrom The Greenpaie Mountatneer.
LEGENDS.
BY PROP. y. nuENoH, Pm. D.

II
BY PROF. y. MUENoH, Pm. D..
The Legend of white Horse Road.
They had their charms, those golden days
OF stage oach-travel and relays,
or drivers, horses, stables,
OF hostelries and, jolly hosts,
or boards of cheer and merry toasts
AT bounteous dInner-tables,-
or heartier intercourse and ways,
OF kindlier speech than nowadays,
OF telling, old-time' stories;
And still all, all went to decay
And waned, died out and passed away
With their delights and glorfes,-
Since when the iron horse was born,
Its whistle drowned the drivers horn,
Its cars replaced the stages,
Its trains left far aside the inns,
Or passed them by with hooking dins,
Fast as u tempest RACES.
Now such a famous wayside-inn
Was ut this ccntury's begin
Upon a cross-road standing,
Not far from the Saluda bridge,
Upon the ummit of n ridge.
"A beauteous view commanding.
A large White Horse as sign it bore,
And by that name was known all DER
AS travellers genuine Mecca:
BY none surpassed by way of cheer,
Since to the kitchen tended here
The hostess self, Rebccca.
And while she saw to food and fare,
Her husband had the inn in care,
OF Scotch d%escentand clever;
From morn till night upon his post,
There never was a better host
And OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES!
For boundlcss funds of tales he had
At his command, both blithe and sad,
And none by fiction tainted
Yet best he liked and best he told
OF that White Horse, that, large and bold,
Upon his sign stood painted.
"~Perchance, you think, my friends" he'd
say.
THAT picture an invention Nay!
That horse hath once been living!
Yea more, from danger and from fall,
she saved us, suffered for us all,
Her life as martyr giving!
ut was in seventeen seventy-four,-
Ten years L counted them, no more
When horsc-thicvcs swarmcd this region,
who, two years after, changed their name
FOR tories, still remained the same,
And numbcred-well. II legion,
"Of course. we all were on our watch,
Ana Kept u horses in the patch
Close by and under tcther; >
save that II horse she was SO tame,
so smart, so wide-awakc and game,
We left her OH the heather!
Yet she was stolen after all;
For, not responding to our call
One morn in May, we started
To seek her and discovered then
From footprints, how Il bund of men
Had caught her and departed.
We gricvcd DER her with tenderness
And fondly hoped we should White Ress
Yet find and yet recover;
But when the dismal war came on
We knew she was forever gone,
And every hope was over.
Then came the time of drcary fright
When British power was at it's height
And Tories meath its banner
From settlement to scttlemenl
Would roam and rob and kill and vent
Their rage In savage manner.
one night in Seventeen Scvcnty-Ninc
we were aroused from sleep benign
10y violent stamping, ncighing:
we rushed without there stood the mar,
Bcdcckcd with foam her nostril's flare.
Her trembling limbs conveying
The news that peril nigh aud sore
lmpcndcd DER us, yet before
We led her to the manager.
She turned and flew to every farm
There by her ncighing to alarm
The ~ncighbors to their danger.
And then the river road along
we heard n troop, full hundred strong
Come on with furious tearing
But when the Tories saw our mon
housed by the mare from slumbcr then
And for defense preparing,
They fired but one shot and wheeled
Back to the forest that concealed
Their movements by its shelter.
Ihcn without we found
White Bessie lying on the ground
And in her life blood wcltcr.
1t was the mare, for whom was meant
That shot, 'gainst her their ire to vent
For her escape and flying,
To warn her friends, from cot to cot.
And an too well was aimed that shot:
For Bessie, she lay dying.
: once more she ncighcd, as if to Il V
""Twns not my fault / stayed away
Dear friends l Away cherished.
struggled hard, to set me free,
So,-kindly, friends, remember mel"
Thcn hrcathcd her last and persisted.
And so i'm gratitude, well due
Fen to Il beast. when brave and trlc.
had this Inn denoted
AS White Horse Inn by sign and name
Her deed of valor to proclaim,
Ina. EniIL e. ...L ~.