The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1910-06-16

hoNip1O prophecy, Ut do AAA~A - -
as related to the bringing Of the or
phaned Ardea to Deer Trace Manor
wrought itself out speedily. as mat
ter OF course. At the close OF the war;
Captain Louis, the Majors only son.
had become. like many another not
hearted young Confederate, a self-ex-
patrioted exile on the eve of his de-
parture for France he had married the
Virginia ma iden who had nursed nm
alive after charlottesville. Major
Caspar had given the bride away-the
war had spared no kinsman OF hers TO
stand in this breach-and when the
God-speeds were said, had himself
turned back to the weed-grown helds
of Deer Trace Manor. embittered and
hostile. swearing never to set foot out
side of his home acres again while the
Union should stand.
For more than twenty years he kept
this vow almost literally. a few of the
older negroes, n mere handful of the
six score slaves OF the old patriarchal
DAVIS. cast in their lot with their for
mer master. and with these the Major
made shift thrifty. farming "a little,
stock-raising a little. and, unlike most
Of the war-broken plantation owners,
clinging tenaciously to every rood OF
land covered by the original Dabney
title deeds.
In this cenobitic interval, II you
wanted a Dabney colt or DabneE
COW, you went. or sent, to Deer Iraec
Manor on your own initiative. and you.
or your deputy, never met the Major:
your business was transacted with
lean, lantern jawed Japheth Pettigrass.
the Majors stock-and-f farm foreman
And although the Dabney stock was
pedigreed. you kept your wits about
you: else Pettigrass got much the bet
ter of you In the trade, like the shrewd.
calculating Alabama Yankee that he
was.
Ardea was born in Paris In the
twelfth year of the exile; and the Vir-
ginia mother. pining always for the
home land, died in the fifteenth year.
Afterward Captain Louis fought q
long drawn. losing battle. figuring
bravely in his infrequent letters to his
father as a rising miniature painter.
He had his little girl back and forth
between his lodgings and the studio
where he painted pictures that nobody
would buy, and elxing out a miserable
existence by giving lessons in English
when lie was hoPPs ehOueH " huu q
pupil.
The brave letters imposed on the Ma
ior. as they were meant to do; and
Ardea, the loyal, happening on one OF
them in hel first Deer Trace summer
read II through with childish sobs AMI
never thereafter opened her lips on the
story of those distressful Paris days.
Later she understood her fathers mo-
Il I,
charge on an old man rich in nothing
but ruin; and the memory OF the
pinched childhood became a thing sa-
cred
| How the Major. a second Rip Van
Wrinkle, found his way to New York,
and to the pier of the incoming French
Line steamer. must always remain a
mystery. But he was there. with tho
fierce old eyes quenched and swim
ming and the passionate Dabney lips
trembling strangely under the great
moustaches, when the black frockcd
| little waif from the Old World ran
down the landing stage and into his
arms. Small wonder that they clunx
| to each other these two at the further
extremes OF three generations; or that
the child opened a door in the heart
of the fierce old partisan which was
| locked and doubly barred against all
| others.
1t was all new and very strange TO
a child whose only outlook on life had
been urban and banal She had never
seen a mountain, and nothing more
nearly approaching a forest than the
parked groves Of the Bots de Boulogne
Would 1t be permitted that she should
4
first Dabney, she asked. with the quaint
French twisting OF the phrases that
| she was never able fully to overcome.
II would certainly be permitted; more,
the Major would make her deed TO
as many OF the forest acres as she
would care to include In her PRONE
made.
| How the French born child fitted in
TO the haphazard household at Deer
Trace Manor. with what struggles she
Pcane through the inevitable attack Of
homesickness, and how Nanny Juliet
and every one else petted and indulg-
/ ed her, are matters which need not be
dwelt en-. But We shall gladly believe
that she was too sensible, even at the
early and tender age OF 10, to be easily
spoiled.
1 one never lOESOl u summer DAY soon
after her arrival when she first saw
her grandfather transformed into a
| frenzied mailman. He vas sitting on
| the wide portico directing Japheth
Pettigrass, who was training the great
crimson rambler rose that ran we'll up
to the caves. Ardea, herself, was on
the lawn. playing with her grandfath-
er's latest gift. a huge, solemn eyed
/ q No cIo 81
who had dismounted at the gate and
walked up the driveway until he was
| handing his card to her grandfather
When she did see him, she looked
tdwice at him; not because he WAS
| trigly clad in brown duck and tightly
/ buttoned service leggings, but because
he Wore his beard trimmed to a point.
after the manner OF the students in the
Latin Quarter. and so was reminiscent
of things freshly forsaken. Her grand
father was on his feet. towering above
the visitor as II he were about to fall
on and crush him.
Bring youh Yankee railroad through
my fields and pastchuhs, sub? Foul
/ the pure allah Of this peaceful Gyarden
OF Eden with you'll dust hingin'. smoke
pot locomotives? Not a rod, suhl not a
] 49, ~ ~ i4ASh ONNll tic OdDLcy
Do 1 make it plain to you. suh?"
But Major Dabney-one moment;
this Is purely a matter of business;
there is nothing personal about 1t. Our
company is able and willing to pay lib
orally for its right of way; and you
must remember that the coming OF the
railroad win treble and quadruple your
hand values. am only asking you TO
consider the matter in a business way.
and to name your own price
Not anotheh word, sub. or you'll
make me lose my tempahi You add
insult TO injury. sub, when you offeh
me you'll contcmptible Yankee gold.
When 1 desiah to sell my birthright
Tor youh beggahly mess Of pottage, TIL
send black boy in town to infawm
you, subj"
1t Is conceivable that the locating en-
gineer OF the Great Southwestern Rail
way Company was younger than he
looked; or. at all events, that his eX
A l.