The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-01

western Virginia I bought large
tract of land, the greater part of which
lay upon the sloping side of one OF the
foothills of the Blue Ridge. the ex-
posure being. that most favorable to
the growth OF the vine. 1 am an en-
thusiastic lover of the country and of
country life, and believed that I should
derive more pleasure as well as profit
from the culture of my far-stretching
vineyard than I would from ordinary
farm operations.
I built myself a good house of mod
crate size upon a little plateau on the
higher part of my estate. Sitting in
my front porch, smoking my pipe after
the labors of the day, / could look
down over my vineyard into beau
tiful valley, with here and there little
curling smoke rising from some of the
few dwellings which were scattered
about among the groves and spreading
fields, and above this beauty l could
Imagine all my hillside clothed in green
and purple.
My family consisted of myself alone.
Tt is true that [ expected some day
that there would be others in my house
besides myself but L was not ready
for that yet.
During the summer I found it very
pleasant to live by myself. 1t was
novelty, and l could arrange and man
age everything in my own fashion,
which was a pleasure I had not en-
joyed when l lived in my fathers
house; but when winter came l found
il very lonely. Even my servants lived
in cabin at some little distance. and
there were many dark and stormy
evenings when the company, even of a
bore. would have been welcome TO me.
Sometimes 1 walked over to the town
and visited my friends there, but this
was not feasible on stormy nights, and
the winter seemed to me very long
one.
But spring came, outdoor operations
began, and for few weeks felt again
that I was all-suff1cient for my own
pleasure and comfort. Then came a
change. Ore of those seasons Of bad
and stormy weather which so fire.
quently follow an early spring settled
down upon my spirits and my hillside.
1t rained, il was cold, fierce winds
blew, and L became more anxious for
somebody to talk to than L had been
at any time during the winter.
One night, when a, very bad storm
was raging I went to bed early, and
as / lay awake l reVOlVed in NV 7
the scheme of which 1 had frequently
thought before. l would build q neat
little house on my grounds, not very
far away from my house, but not too
near, and / would ask Jack Brandiger
to come there and live. Jack was a
friend of mine, who was reading law
in the town, and it seemed to me that
it would be much more pleasant and
even more profitable to read law on
a pretty hillside overlooking charm
ing valley, with woods and mountains
behind and above him, where ne could
ramble to his hearts content.
1 had thought Of asking Jack to come
and live with me, but this idea 1 soon
III al = f1T n
person, and Jack is not; ne leaves his
pipes about in all sorts of places
sometimes when they are still lighted.
When he came 10 see me he was quite
as likely to put his hat over the ink
stand as to- put it anywhere else. But
if Jack lived at a little distance, and
we could go backwards and forwards
TO see each other whenever we pleased
that would be quite another thing. He
could co as he pleased in his own
house, and ! could do as l pleased in
mine, and we might have many pleas
ant evenings together. This was a
cheering idea. and I was planning how
we might arrange with the negro
woman who managed my household
affairs to attend also to those of Jack,
when 1 fell asleep.
I did not sleep long before I was
awakened by the increased violence of
the storm. The house shook with the
fury of the wind; the rain seemed 10
be pouring on the roof and northern
side as If there Wee q waterfall above
US, and every now and then l could
hear d shower of hailstones rafting
against the shutters. My bedroom was
one of the rooms on the lower floor,
and even there I cOulG hear the pound
ing of the deluge and the hailstones
upon the roof.
All this was very doleful, and had a
tendency to depTeSs the spirits of a
house; but / shook off this depression.
1t was not agreeable to be up here by
myself in such a terrible storm, but
there was nothing TO be afraid of, as
my house was new and very strongly
built. being constructed of logs, wealth
erbosrded outside and sealed witain.
It would require a hurricane to blow
off the roof. and I believed my shut
ters to be hailproof; so, as there was
no reason to stay awake, I turned over
and went to sleep.
I do not know how long il was before
I was awakened again, this time not
by the noise of the storm but by a
cupeus movement of my bedstead.
had once felt the slight shock of an
earthquake and it seemed to me that
this must be something of the kind:
certainly my bed moved under me. I
sat up; the room was Ditchy dark. In
a moment 7 felt another movement but
an earthquake shock; such notion I
think, IS genel ally in horizontal direc-
tons, while what 1 felt was more like
the shower movement of a snip upon
the water. The storm was at It's
height, the wind ragged and reared.
and the rain seemed to be pouring
down as he2vily as ever.
I was about TO get up and light the
lamp, fcf even the faintest candle
flame would be some sort Of company
at such a greusome moment, when
my bedstead gave another movement,
more shiplike than before. 1t actually
lurched forward as # it were descend
ing into the trough of the sea, but, IN
like a ship il did not rise again. but
remained in such a slanting position
thar began TO slide down towards the
foot I believe that if it had not been
a bedstead provided with a footboard.
l should have slipped out upon the
floor
/ did not jump out of bed, did NOT
do any tlaing; l tried 10 think. to under
stand the situation, 10 find out whether
I was asleep or awake when 1 became
aware Of noises in the room and all
over the house, which even through
the din of the storm made themselves
noticed by their popularity. Tables
chairs, everything in the room, seemed
to be grating and grinding on the
floor and in a moment there was a
crash. l knew what that was; it was
my lamp, which had slipped off the
fxl,Ie ANY dOuDt on that Doir;f UOl1ld