Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1899-09-21
Written for the Register.
GATHERINGS CoNQUERoR.
BY JAMES GEDDY TRAYLOR.
CHATTER !.

N4lA4 I'm 1.
ooh girls, I do hope therell be
somebody worth choosing on this boat.
I'm so tired of the same old
This impulsiye exclamation burst
from the youngest of a group Of three
girls, who, with the usual crowd Of
onlookers, had gathered on the wharf
at Knollton-on-the-P Potomac to await
the arrival of the Colonial Belle"
which, thrice a week, brought from
the city its cargo Of heat-worn passen-
gers to seek rest and recuperation in
the saline breezes that famed this
charming resort.
As this trio in general, and one
member OF it in particular, will play
an important part in the incidents here
sketched it is well topause long enough
to learn something OF these young la
dies, and Of the causes which led to
the words with which our story begins.
The oldest of the group, and the one
about whom our interest will mostly
center, was a handsome brunette Of
about twenty-five, whose perfect tea-
lures, with the glorious hazel eyes that
met yours frankly, and the broad fore
head, surmounted by a luxuriaut
growth of soft, dark hair, made a pic
ture fair indeed to look upon, while
induIgent Dame Nature had given her
so superbly fashioned a figure that it
truly
"yied with hers whom Cupid calls his mother"
Catherine Douglass, the subject of
this description, was tremendously
popular. She was TO stranger to
Knollton-on-the- Potomac, for her ia
ther, a retired general, had discovered
its charms when Catherine was but a
child, and she had passed from awk-
ward, conscious girlhood, to graceful,
well-poised womanhood since she first
played upon the beach there. For a
few years before she is here introduced
to the reader, and after her exquisite
beauty had unfurled itself, she had
been the despair Of the gentler sex,
and the alteration Of the sterner but
she bore her triumphs unafIectedly,
and seemed so untouched by them,
that she had been aiiectionately chns-
tened by her familiars, "The Uncon-
quered." "
Now, Catherine and her chums, Es-
ther Wright and Bess Edgerton, had
adopted many innocent devices during
the vacation days to prevent time
hanging heavily on their hands, if in
deed it ever did, and among them was
the plan of meeting the Belle" at al
most every stop she made at Knoll
tons, and Of tempting their fate by
"choosing" as their gallant knights and
champions the passengers that fled
down the gang-plank. 1t can easily
be imagined that their choice would
often fall upon the mostludicrous and
impossible individuals, which brought
the merriment they sought. However,
the results OF late had grown to be
rather monotonous in the rustics and
watermeu with which the section
abounded, and this caused Bess, the
most impulsive of the trio, to vent her
feelings in the opening words Of the
story.
"Fle, Bess, quoth Catherine, are
you so tickle as all that? Why, what $
to become of Dickey Stone, who has
been so devoted and in the face of
such Encouragement, too, poor boy ?"
Bess tossed her head and quickly re-
torted, ooh don't think you' re much
room to talk, Cathie. I should think
you had some compunctions about
those fellows, Crown and King, whom
you've reduced to abject slavery
Before Catherine could voice her
good-natured reply, Esther called to
them to get favorable place, as the
steamer was coming alongside the
wharf. They found a position Of ad-
vantage just as the gang-plank was
thrown out, and as the passengers dis
embarked, the girls took turns in max
ing their choice, amid much laughing
at the results. It was Cathenne's turn
again, when a handsome, athletic
young man came down the plank push
ing a bicycle before him. They all
gazed at him in admiration.
Isn't he just too lovely ?" gushed
Bess, signing that he had not fallen to
her lot.
And, indeed, the cyclist was worthy
of their favorable glances. He stood
about FIVE feet ten, his wheeling cos
tune showing to marked advantage