The Washington herald., 1912-11-10


Walter knew that the mountain folk
were afraid OF all well-dressed strangers
who came among them. prying into their
lives and affairs: he felt 1t was only
natural that the young mountaineer
Seudists should attribute a wrong mo-
mountain girl. ard the inteIest ne show.
ed in her by ha-ing he sent 70 the new
public school in the rapidly building
town in the Gap.
So for three weeks longer Walter
walked among the coves. while his secre-
tary spent the greater part of the time
sitting on pine stump and looking wist-
fully down the trail that led to civiliza-
ton and home comforts. All the letters
that came. all the pleading from his i'm
patient wife-who Is known as Charlotte
Walker-now plays the role Of June-did
not move the indomitable playwright; he
was there to find a raison d'etre for the
play, and he was determined to not only
discover a motif. but to finish his task
before he left the environment of the
hills.
One day while fishing in one Of the
lower reaches Of a mountain brook, Wal
ter met a Go.den-haired. blue-eyed maid
who was the image OF Fox's June. She
wss fishing also-fishing with her skirt
tied above her knees and wading knee
deep In a pool. She was. indeed, q priml-
tive maiden. and she was shy. but Wal
ter was determined to win her confidence
and he managed Il with a taIisman in
the shape of one Of those curious noun.
tain pebbes-a staurolite which h found
in the form 81 cross. All Virginia
mountain maidens are ambitious to pos
sess one of these natural crosses. They
love philtre which Is absorbed when worn
above the heart. and the fact that the
stranger-the ''furriner." Possessed one
made the primitive mountain girl all the
more eager to take II away from him.
And SO the mountain maid and Walter
became acquainted. And one day. after
a sudden rainstorm. which compelled the
mountain maid and the dramatist to seek
shelter under the same pine. they en-
gagged In conversation. which. by clever
casting in a lingual sense on Walters
part. led the bashful girl to tell in her
own simple way the story OF the fairy
stone.
In modern English. and begun in the
old-fashioned manner. the story is:
Once upon a time. there was a beauti-
full mountain madam Indian princess
up on the mountainside.. The fairies
loved her for she came every day to
watch the sun rise in the morning and
to set in the evening where the fairies
playground was. This princess dream
ed always-dreamed Of things SUPER
nal. Each morning the roseate hues Of
early dawn dressed the lonely pine in
glimpsing across the saffron tinted
mountain tops and chased the linger-
ing shadows OF the dawn beneath the
chariot wheels Of departing night, she
enjoyed the same thrills-the same ex.
ultation Of the sun worshiper Of the
East. And through the day. whether
beneath the pine, or beside the purling
brook the Indian princess reveled in
her idyllic paradise. and worshiped
the lonesome pine that some day
would beckon an Indian prince to
come from No -Man's-Land and lay one
Of the tiny crosses at her feet. This
lonely pine sang a song whenever the
breeze stirred the cones, but the prin-
cess ina xined 1t was the voice Of her
dead sister who returned at intervals
from the happy hunting grounds to
console her. So the princess dreamed
until one day a warrior from No-Man's
Land came to worship at her shrine,
and from behind q barrier Of fragrant
rhododendron she heard the stranger
cry out a welcome and lay on the moss
at the foot of the pine a small stone.
Then he went away, but not far of: he.
too. hid himself. and from behind
rock he saw the maiden come down
and take the stone. She cried with de-
light. for 1t was a fairy cross. and
when the warrior saw her kiss the
symbol Of love he came forward and
greeted her. The warrior told the
princess 1t was the symbol Of courage.
the symbol Of love, and he took the
princess away to the plains. where he
made her Queen Of his race. But that
was the old. old story. for many years
later another maiden sat at the foot
Of the old pine and she, too. wanted q
fairy cross and stranger came. . man
with rife and fishing rod. and he