Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-08-30
pressing them forcibly together.

| Facei' shouted the people. sure
enough, the old prophecy is true: and
here we have the great man come, at
| last"
And. what greatly perplexed Ernest,
| they seemed actually to believe that
| here was the likeness which they spoke
| of. BY the roadside there chanced to
be an old beggar woman and two beg
gar children, stragglers from some far
off region, who, as the carriage rolled
onward, held out their hands and lifted
up their doleful voices, most piteously
, beseeching charity. A yellow claw
the very same that had clawed togeth-
er so much wealth--poked itself out
of the coach window, and dropped
some copper coins upon the ground: so
that, though the great mans name
seems to have been Gathergold, he
might just as suitably have been nick
named Scattercopper. stu, neverthe-
less, with an earnest shout. and evil
IDENTIFY with as much good as ever, the
people bellowed,-
He is the very image of the Great
Stone Facet"
But Ernest turned sadly from the
wrinkled shrewdness of that sordid
visage, and gazed up the valley. where,
amid a gathering mist. gilded by the
last sunbeams, he could still distin-
guish those glorious features which
had impressed themselves into his
soul. Their aspect cheered him. What
did the benign lips seem to say?
He will come! Fear not, Ernest;
the man will comet"
The years went on, and Ernest
ceased to be a boy. He had grown to
be a young man now. He attracted
little notice from the other inhabitants
of the valley; for they saw nothing re-
markable in his way of life, save that,
when the labor of the day was over,
he still loved to go apart and gaze and
mediate upon the Great Stone Face.
According to their idea of the matter,
it was a folly, indeed, but pardonable,
inasmuch as Ernest was industrious,
kind, and neighborly, and neglected no
duty for the sake of indulging this idle
habit. They knew not that the Great
Stone Face had become a teacher to
him, and that the sentiment which was
expressed i'm it would enlarge the
young mans heart, and fill it with
,t,il nd
other hearts. They knew not that
thence would come a better wisdom
than could be learned from books, and
a better life than could be moulded on
the defaced example of other human
lives. Neither did Ernest know that
the thoughts and affection which
came to him so naturally, in the fields
and at the fireside, and wherever he
communed with himself, were of a
higher tone than those which all men
shared with him. simple soul-sim-
pie as when his mother first taught
him the old prophecy,-and beheld the
marvellous features beaming adown the
valley, and still wondered that their
human counterpart was so long in
making his appearance.
BY this time poor Mr.. Gathergold
was dead and buried; and the oldest
part of the matter was, that his wealth,
which was the body and spirit of his
existence, had disappeared before his
death, leaving nothing for him but a
living skeleton, covered over with a
wrinkled, yellow skin. Since the melt
ing away of his gold, it had been very
generally conceded that there was no
such striking resemblance, after all,
betwXt the ignoble features Of the
ruined merchant and that majestic face
upon the mountain side. So the people
ceased to honor him during his life
time, and quietly consigned him to
forgetfulness after his decease. Once
in a while, it is true, his memory was
brought up in connection with the
magnificent palace which he had built,
and which had long ago been turned
into a hotel for the accommodation of
strangers, multitudes of whom came,
every summer, to visit that famous
natural curiosity, the Great Stone Face,
Thus, Mr. Gathergold being discredited
and thrown into the shade, the man OF
prophecy was yet to come.
1t so happened that a native born
son of the valley, many years before
aFtA
great deal of hard fighting, had now
| become an illustrious commander
Whatever he may be called i'm history
he was known i'm camps and on the
battlefield under the nickname of Old
| Blood and d-Thunder. This war worn
veteran, being now infirm with age
and wounds, and weary of the turmoil
of a military life, and of the roll of
the drum and the clangor of the
| trumpet, that had SO long been ringing
| in his ears, had lately signifed o pur-
pose of returning to his native valley
| hoping to find repose where he remem-
bercd to have left it. The inhabitants
| his old neighbors and their grown-up
children, were resolved to welcome the
renowned warrior with salute of cam
non and a public dinner: and all the
more enthusiastically it being affirm
ed that now. at last, the likeness of the
| Great Stone Face had actually appear
| ed. An aid dc-camp of Old Blood
and Thunder, travelling through the
| valley. was said To have been struck
with the resemblance. Moreover the
schoolmatcs and early acquaintances
of the general were ready To testify, on
| oath, that To the best of their recol-
lection, the aforesaid general had been
| exceedingly like the majestic image
| even when a boy, only that the idea
had never occurred To them at that
period. Great, therefore, was the eX-
citement throughout the valley: and
many people, who had never once
thought of gancing at the Great Stone
Face for years before, now spent their
| time in gazing at it, for the sake of
knowing exactly how General Blood
| and Thunder looked