The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1898-09-25
MISS WINNIE DAVIS.
Per.on.I RenrnI.e.nee. From . r,,..a


guest at the executive mansion.
My host, gentleman of most
pleasing culture and rare literary
attainments. was the son of dis
tinguished Mississippian, once a
governor of the state. and a life
long f.iend of Mr.. Davis. IL ante
bellum days the Davis family had
frequently been the guests of my
friends parents at their beautiful
country home near Jackson-a
place famed far and wide for its
lavish hospitality and elegance.
Several members of this family
were living in jackson at the time
of my visit, and of course gave
the much loved Daughter of the
Confederacy" a most cordial wei
come. 1t was at the home of one
of them that l had the pleasure of
being one of an informal family
dinner party given to Miss Davis.
On the way that evening my
friend remarked: Judge C. and
l want to find out how much Miss
Winnie Davis knows and we are
going to do some pumping. We
shall begin with Egypt and come
on down. VIII you help uss
was much sur rised and amused
to hear of sucl a daring conspira-
cy on the part of my friend, a man
who might have been Arthur S
ideal knight, of a retiring modesty
that almost amounted to diffidence.
l knew he would never be sus =
pected and l had some curiosity
myself.
had met Miss Davis before and
she greeted me with a smile of
ready recognition and a cordial
shake of the hand that was graft
flying to my vanity of course. In
that moment / felt the influence of
that wonderful magnetic quality
that had made the father leader
among men.
Miss Davis was a woman of ma
jestic mien and queenly bearing,
yet withal, she had a graciUusness
and womanly sweetness void of
pride" that won all hearts to her.
Tall, finely proportioned, stately
and graceful, she suggested the
goddess Juno. She had her fathers
fine eyes, and intellectual brow, a
clear, soft complexion and a crown
of dark bair.
In a little while we were all
grouped in a circle around this
charming young woman and my
inoffensive looking friend gradu-
ally led the conversation into the
land of the Pharoahs. She entered
into the subject with interest and
enthusiasm but without affectation
or pedantry.
You would have supposed that
she had spent a lifetime in the
study of Egyptology, so familiar
was She with the history of the an
cient civilization and religion of
the Egyptians. Then, unconscious
ly led on by my friend, she dis
cussed the ancient Aryan peoples
of Asia and Beahminism; thence
down to SchOpenhauer and the
modern school of pessimists, gen.
eral literature, and indeed, an al
most infinite variety of subjects
with all of which she was equally
az home.
Perhaps her greatest attraction
was a perfectly modulated voice.
The gentle rise and fall of its soft
cadenees wore a spell about all
who heard 1t.
At the table some one asked
question in regard to the reunion
at Richmond which turned the
conversation for few minutes to
that recent event. In that con-
nection she told an aneedote of
her meeting with an old, ignorant
country man who greatly admired
her father. The ease with which
she initiated the drawling tones
and mountain dialect of the old
soldier was charming. The gov
ernor, a gallant cavalier of the old
regime, said to her: If You
should rnn for congress and tell