Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-03-03

The country through which they passed was hung with the marvellous colors which a Virginian autumn lav- ishes so prodigally. There were the ma room of the wild rose stalk, the ripe brown seams of butternut bark and the shifting hnts the sun lends the frosted alder, the gray Hchen and bronze fir splotched with scarlet creeper and stip- pied mosses like saffron butterflies. Here and there showed the splash of a bluebird's wing or the vermilion crest of kingfisher.
 'It is very fair," he said, Gas it should be-"
 Again silence fell, while the road swung across forest stretches, under springing roofs through which the sky swan in dazzles.
 At last she spoke demurely:
 And of what else were you think ing, monsieur?"
 T was thinking what you are most like. Some ladies are like snow noun tains that stand very far off, white and beautiful, but cold-so cold you cannot warm them, and so high. Some are like blossoms, sweet and perfumed, made for only nosegay in the even- ing. When the sun is hot they wither. Some are like a song that one hears and thinks lovely-hums 1t awhile and forgets."
 "And which of these am I, sir?"
 You are like a sword-slim and shin ing and straight and yet delicate. It took centuries to make the sword, mademoiselle. It will bend, bend, but not break. 1t is sharp and cold to all the world save one-the one who wears 1t at his side. But to his touch it be- comes alive to ward him harm, to guard his life, to keep his honor"
 "An we were truly swords" she flashed, i've ladies of Virginia, there were less of bitterness in this fair colony of ours."
 "So the sword has the temper" he cried, his eyes kindling. "It is not for ornament alone! And these troubles of the colonies-they strike so deeply then? Do even the ladies of land such as this feel the sting?'
 She gazed out toward the low knob bed hills limned against the deepening sky, her elbow on the window, sill her chin in her gloved hand, silent. Above them in sun stained air shreds of torn clouds folded away like dreams. From near by came the startled futter of field larks and the rustic of ripening corn. < -
 The road curved quickly and lurched into pine forest, where the day filmed to twilight and the hoofs fell noiseless- ly into carpet of brown needles. It was a pleasant way, full of mingled odors, all strangely pure and agreeable, where clamorous wood things piped to a musical silence. '"
 .'Tis not all Virginia, after all, that one sees here, monsieur" she said slow Iy after time. Far to the west of us is vast region, raw, full veined and of scattered tenants. There are great mountain peaks and ravines, wastes waiting seed and hoe, plateaus and woodlands where the musket and the, ax are never silent. Deer run in the brake. Wolves race along the ridges. There strong men have lived and toiled and fought back the savages and cleared themselves homes. Their children have grown up unyielding like the granite in the mountains heart, un- trammeled like its torrents. And this life amid the silences has taught them a justice that may not be bought, a strength that knows neither fear nor favor. The region you see here. mon- sieur, to this great weave I speak of is but the raveled edge. A
 Here broad rivers run brackish with tidewater, and ships lie at the wharfs. They bring to our manor houses all Of luxury and refinement which Virginia tobacco can buy. And here the planters for Virginia was first settled by gen tlemen, monsieur choose to put on courtliness and dress in gold lace and make a bit of London for themselves on the edge of the wilderness. .l
 "Just beyond those hills to the south ward Is Williamsburg. the capital they nave built. Ir has college and court. There the cocks are ever fight ing, the horses are ever running, the fddles are ever playing, and there in his palace sits the royal governor his majesty is pleased to put over his colo nials, levying on their leaf and sneer- ing at their buckskins."
 ''The Earl of Dunmore?'
 Aye, my lord the earl. Think you he knows one whit more of this Virginia than does the king, thousand leagues away? He drinks in his palace and drives his white horses and bullies his burgesses, the representatives whom the people have elected. They must pleasure him or he dissolves them. The king has forgot that the Virginians are Englishmen and that Englishmen love freedom
 And Englishwomen, too," he said.
 'We can do little," she went on. we wear no swords. All we can do is to hope and to wait"
 "Littler' There was thrill in his tone. Little! You call such a hope, such a feeling, small? You think it val ueless or weak? An, mademoiselle, know you what makes a lady adorable to mans heart, what makes him worship her? It Is that she inspires him; that Is it--not to dress for her or bow or sing her little songs, but to toll, to struggle, to fight, to die maybe