The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1902-02-08
Seleet Stprp.
A COLONIAL EPISODE.

Four generations back Carroll Place was
one of those fine old Virginia manor-houses
that bore mute witness to the aristocratic
state and generous living of the Old Do
minion planter. Part of it was built of
bricks brought from England; it had been
added to and increased according to the
needs of an ever argumenting family of
CAROLS, till with its slave-quarters and its
ample buildings it resembled village
more than the residence of single house
hold. Great fires roared in its large chin
neys, and the guest chambers were always
tenanted. The Virginia gentleman Of the
eighteenth century prided himself upon
his hospitality. 1t was the Carroll boast
that the family never sat down to dine
alone; there was always guest to break
bread with them. Newspapers were few,
news travelled slowly, neighbors were miles
away, and the stranger needed only to be
personable and reasonably agreeable in
manner to be not only welcome, but made
free of his host 5 house and stables as long
as he elected to remain. He 'paid his
reckoning in geniality and good company,
and his host felt in his debt when he left.
During the early throes of the American
Revolution, before discomfort became
armed resistance to British tyranny, the
Carroll family consisted Of five members
father, mother, two sons and daughter.
Colonel Francis Carroll was an aristocrat
by birth and instincts. A king favor
had bestowed upon an ancestor the noble
acres that swept around the place; it was
his pride to keep the heritage intact and
his the creed that demands gratitude as
the return for benefits conferred. He es-
poused the Tory side, and King Georges
men were right welcome at Carroll Place
The ragged rebels who dare defy their
lawful ruler need expect no countenance
from Francis Carroll of Carroll Place.
Among all the danes and daughters of
those days there was none in all Virginia
who was prettier or more piquant, or whose
beauty and wit drew round her larger
following than Mistress Dorothy Carroll.
The swains for miles around roae to King s
Chapel and patiently sat thr ugh Domino
Travis droning service and interminable
sermons on the bare chance of a glance, a
smile, perhaps a'word from Mistress Dor
othy Happy he who was permitted to
assist her to dismount from the pillion be-
hind her father, or hand her by the tips
of his fingers from the numbering old
barouche that was their state carriage.
Thrice blessed he who CHANGED to be in
vited to ride back to Carroll place after ser
vice to dine and spend the afternoon with
the family on the broad verandas.
There was generally goodly mixture
of scarlet among soberer tints worn by the
yeomanry, for Dorothy's beauty and the
Colonel hospitality were very alluring to
the kings men, Thus it was often gay
little cavalcade that cantered back to the
plantation, where the Colonel ordered his
special brew of toddy and entertained the
young men with tales of his youth. The
Colonel had been "a sad dog in his
early days; it is to be feared his discouse
after Madam Carroll and Dorothy had dis
appeared, was not wholly edifying.
of course Mistress Dorothy had many
lovers-swains who sighed after her as the
moth aspires to the star, worshiping afar
off; those who singed their hearts in the
fires of her dark eyes and rode away to
offer the scorched remnant to some less
inaccessible maid, and bolder ones, and
those who loved too sincerely to give up
hope while even one chance remained.
Among these latter was Arthur Arun-
del, playmate of Dorothy's youth, heir
to neighboring plantation, good, sensi-
BILE, honest, manly fellow whose heart had
lain under Dorothy's feet ever since she
put up her hair with comb. The two
had been comrades and friends through
life. Love had burst into bloom in the
Young mans heart, and he reckoned her
as his.
And then had come Major Charlton, of
the Kings army, man of thirty five,
handsome in bold, dashing way, debo-
nair, gallant, with an estate in England
and interest at the court of St. James-of