Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-07-29
4 TOUCHING STORY.
From Far-OG Dickinson County
Fought Ii out.

OOrresp Ondcnce or inc DISpalO"''
DWALE VA. July 27.-In the rugged
Cumberland mountains, which SKIRT
Dickenson county on the west, the
stranger IS pointed to a cliff or cave
where in the bleak month of December,
1860 a little boy who had only passed
his third milestone was frozen 10 death
The cliff is situated in sequestered
Mace. and looks as If it would aitoid
some shelter or protection from the rlgor
Of winter. The surrounding country sun
has the appearance | imagine IT had III
those primitive days when the "lid
beasts roamed tho forests unmolested by
non II is true some invasiOns nave
hoon made upon these wids and little
farm has been opened here ana there'
and rude log cabins are sighted by the
passer by. This story is very touchlhs
one. and will go straight 10 the heaI,s
of parents who have these Htlle pratt
tiers about their knees.
The mother was at a nelshpoilhs
house. weaving cloth upon a haHd loom, as
was then tho custom. when three OF her
children-the little boy OF Whom 1 WIl'e'
ond two older ones-folowcd her. When
she saw them, her motherly instincts SO
far forsook her that, in something oi
ing them to 20 back home, and strong
Iv removing the elder ones for
venturing out i'm the snow-storm which
was then prevailing AS they turned 10
retrace their steps homeward. the little
bow asked his mother for some bread
and milk. but she very impatentiy told
him TO 20 on home. (Alas! that a feel
ing like this should be in mothers
heart when such a fate is impendingJ
The children left: il was growing near
nightfall. the snow-storm became more
violent in fact. binding, and the emil
dren became separated, the TWO elder
ones reaching home without the younger
one. When the mother reached nome
and saw the terrible state OF aftalrs she
gave the alarm, and the few persons that
| could be collected in that sparsely peo-
pled neighborhood began search.
But all through that long, dreary night
their efforts to find the missing one were
fruitless. Morning at length dawned'
and the earth was covered with mantle
Of snow, while the angry winds
| chilled every heart when they thought or
the fate of the poor, lost child The
search was kept up for three or four
days. the men from all the surrounding
| country for miles turned out en- masse
to ioin in the search. but all to no pur-
nose. If the child had been carried from
| The face of the earth, every trace OF 1t
| could not have been more completely
! obliterated. The search was abandoned
as useless. and the heart-broken mother
| had TO bear her grief alone, Tor the
| father had been slain in the cruel war;
which had just then closed.
| Time passed on, some two years had
come and gone since the sad event which
| moved the people TO pity ana
| tears had occurred. when Mr.. SWindaH'
a farmer Of that vicinity. happened 10
| mass snder a cliff, and found piece
| Of a child's dress and some bones, whlch
he at once took to be all that remained
OF the little wanderer, who, all alone in
the darkness OF that bleak December
night sought shelter from the cruel,
binding snow under the overhanging
mass of rock. The man took the piece
of cloth to the mother. who recognized
IL at once as piece of her lost child's
| dress She had woven II herself upon
the old-fashioned loom in which she was
plying the shuttle when she so sternly
sent the little boy away to meet him
no more this side of the shores OF eter-
nifty.
The Angel Of Death called upon that
mother some years ago. and let as hope
| that she reioined her little one, and that
the bitter past is all forgotten.
l learn that two of Dickinson county
pueilists-Cyrus Young and James
| Meade-met by appointment on the top
OF Cumberland mountain, to settle a
difficulty. which they could not other
wise adjust. Young came off victorious.
Their object i'm meeting at this place was
10 evade the law as it is directly on the
borders of Virginia and Kentucky. Seve-
raj fights of this kind have taken place
there within the last year or two
Alexander Hill. a farmer OF near this
place. has sold his farm, and will soon
offer his personal effects for sale at pub
lie auction. He will move TO Wythe
county.
Mrs. Hulda Fleming, whose Illness was
noticed in this correspondence last week,
is improving.
The citizens of this community are dis
GUESSING the matter of erecting a new
! school building. The building heretofore
used for that purpose is becoming some
what dilapidated, and our people could
not do better than 10 erect new one.
\ great deal of rain has fallen here
lately, and some local storms are re-
| ported as doing damage to growing crops