Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-12-04


of oaks. He put out his hand.
wait moment" he said in a low
voice, and as the creaking conveyance
stopped, he turned and looked about
him.
Facing the entrance the land fell
away sharply to miniature valley
through which rambled a willow-bor-
dered brook. in whose shadows short
horned COWS stood lazily. Beyond.
alternating with fields Of young grain
and verdured pastures like crushed
velvet. rose succession Of tranquil
slopes crowned with trees that here
and there grouped about a white
colonial dwelling with its outbuildings
behind It. Beyond, whittier wound the
Red Road. he could see drowsy vii
lage with spire and cupolaed court
house: and farther yet yellow gorge
with wisp Of white smoke curling
above it marked the course OF crowl-
ing far-away railway. Over all the
dimming yellow sunshine, and girdhng
the farther horizon, in masses Of pur-
plsh blue. the tumbled battlements
of the Blue Ridge.
His conductor had laboriously de.
cended and now the complaining gates
wung open. Before them. as they
toiled UP the long ascent, the neglected
driveway was riot Of turbulent
growth: thistle, white-belled burdock
ragweed and dusty mullen stood waste
high.
cts err moughty fine OF place. sub
mid dat big revenue oh trees said
Uncle Jefferson. But All reck'n ct
ain got none oh de modern con-
nivances."
But Valiant did not answer: his
gaze was straight before him, fixed on
the noble old house they were APP
preaching. It's wide and columned
front peered between huge rugged oaks
and slender silver poplars which cast
cool long shadows across an unkempt
lawn laden with ragged mock-orange,
lilac and syringa bushes, It's stately
grandeur dimmed but not destroyed
by the shameful stains of the neglected
years.
As he jumped down he was pos
sessed by an odd sensation of old &C.
quaintance-as If he had seen those
tall white columns before-an illusory
half-vision into some shadoWy fourth
dimensional landscape that belonged to
his subconscious self. or that glimpsed
in some immaterial dream-picture. had
left faint-etched memory. Then, on
a sudden, the vista vibrated and
widened, the white columns expanded
and shot up into the clouds. and from
every bush seemed to peer friendly
black savage with woody white hair
wishing House, he whispered. He
looked about him, half expecting-so
vivid was the illusion-to see circle
of rough huts under the trees and
multitude of ebony ulps dancing in
the sunshine. So Virginia had been
that secret NeverNever Land, the
wonderous fairy demesne Of his child
hood, with it's amiable barbarians and
its thickets Of coursing grimall1ins!
The hidden country which his fathers
thoughts. sadly recurring. had painted
to the little child that once he was, in
the guise of an endless wonder-tale!
His eyes misted over. and it seemed
to him that moment that his father
was very near.
Leaving the negro to unload his be-
longings, he traversed an overgrown
path of messed gravel. between box.
rows frowsled like the names Of
lions gone mad and smothered in an
accumulation of matted roots and de-
bris of rottng foliage, and presently,
the bulldog at his heels. found him.
self in the rear Of the house.
The building with kitchen, STABLES
and negro quarters behind it. had been
set on the boss of the wooded knoll.
Along half it's side ran a wide porch
that had once been glass-enclosed, now
with panes gone and broken and putty
crumbling sashes. Below 1t lay the
piteous remnants Of formed garden,
grouped about an oval pool from
whose center reared the slender vel
lowed shaft of fountain in whose
shallow cup a robin was taking its rain
water bath. The pool was dry, the
priced apart with weeds: rabald wild
grape-vines ran amuck hither and
thither: and over all was drenching-
sweet scent of trailing honeysuckle.
John Valiant was looking at the big
key, for there were words which he
had not noted before. engraved in the
massive fange: Friends all hours. He
smiled. The sentiment sent warm
current Of pleasure to his finger-tips.
Here was the very text of hospitality!
A Lilliputian spider-web was
stretched over the preempted key
hole, and he fetched grass-stem and
poked out its tiny gray-striped deni-
zen before he inserted the key in the
rusted lock. He turned it with curl
GUS sense of timidity. All the strength
of his fingers was necessary before
the massive door swung open and the
|leveling sun sent it's late red rays into
the gloomy interior.
He stood in a spacious hall. his
|nostrils filled with curious but not
unpleasant aromatic odor with which
the place was strongly imnregnatod.
The hall ran the full length Of the
building. and in it's center wide,
|balustraded double staircase led to
upper darkness. The floor. where his
footprints had disturbed the even gray
film of dust, was of fine close par
nuetry and had been generously
strewn everywhere with a mica'lik Ike
powder He stopped and took up
pinch in his fingers, noting that it
gave forth the curious spicy scent.
Dim paintings in furnished frames
hung on the walls. From niche on
the break of the stairway looked down
4oI1 net oh, o1o ~