Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-03-26
CHAPTER |.

SlO6S " luC SSlllSu DdChDOn0 VI LhO
Cumberland ridge through sky of
mountain clarity, the sun seemed hest
Eating before its descent to the hori-
2on. The sugar-loaf cone that tow
cred above a creek called Misery was
pointed and edged with emerald trac-
cry where the loftiest timber thrust
up its crest plumes into the sun. On
the hillsides it would be light for
more than an hour yet, but below,
where the waters tossed themselves
along in a chorus of tiny cascades, the
light was already thicken1ng into
cathedral gloom. Down there the fur
riner" would have seen only the rough
course of the creek between moss
yelveted and shaded powders of
titanic proportions. The native would
have recognized the country road in
these tortuous twistings. A great block
of sandstone, to whose summit man
standing in his saddle could scarcely
reach his fingertips, lowered above
the stream, with a gnarled scrub oak
clinging tenaciously to it's apex. Loft
sly on both sides climbed the noun
tains cloaked in laurel and timber.
Suddenly the LEAKAGE was thrust
aside from above by cautious hand,
and shy, half-wild girl appeared in
the opening. For an instant she halt
ed, with her brown fingers holding
back the brushwood, and raised her
face as though listening. AS she
stood with the toes of one bare foot
twisting in the gratefully cool moss
she laughed with the sheer exhilara-
ton of life and youth, and started out
on the table top of the huge rock.
But there she halted suddenly with a
startled exclamation and drew instinc
lively back. What she saw might well
have astonished her, for it was thing
she had never seen before and of
(which she had never heard. Finally,
treasured by the silence, she slipped
across the broad face of the fiat rock
for a distance of twenty-five feet and
paused again to listen.
At the far edge lay pair of saddle
bags, such as form the only practical
equipment for mountain travellers
Near them lay tin box, Uttered with
small and misunderstanding tubes of
soft metal, all grotesquely twisted and
stained, and beside the box was a
strangely shaped plaque of wood
smeared with dozen hues. That this
plaque was painters sketching pal
cite was thing which she could not
know, since the ways of artists had
to do with a world as remote from
her own as the life Of the moon OF
stars. 1t was one of those vague mys
teries that made up the wonderful life
of down below" Why had these
things been left here in such confu
sion? If there was man about who
owned them he would doubtless return
to claim them. She crept over, eyes
and ears alert, and slipped around t.
the front of the queer tripod, with al
her muscles poised in readiness fol-
flight.
half-rapturous and utterly aston
ished cry broke from her lips. Sh,
stared a moment, then dropped to tn,
moss-covered rock leaning back OF
her brown hands and gazing intently
Hits purty!" she approved, in
dow, musical murmur. Hits plumb
dead beautiful"
OF course it was not a finished pic
ture-merely a study of what lay be
fore her-but the hand that ha,
placed these brush strokes on tn
academy board was the sure, def
hand of master of landscape, VIII
had caught the splendid spirit of tn
thing and fixed it immutably in tru
and glowing appreciation. Who h
was; where he had gone; why hi
work stood there unfinished and abar
'doned were details which for the me
ment this half-savage child-woman fol
got to question. She was consciou
only of a sense of revelation and awe
Then she saw other boards, like tn
one upon the easel, piled near tn
paint box. These were dry, and rel
resented the work of other days; bu
they were all pictures Of her ow
mountains, and in each of them, a
In this one, was something that mad
her heart leap.
To her own people these steep hill
sides and "coves" and valleys were
matter of course. III their stony so
they labored by day, and in their shac
Ows slept when work was done. Ye
someone had discovered that they hel
g. picturesque and rugged beauty; tha
they were not merely steep field
where the pillow was useless and tn
hoe must be used. She must tell San
son-Samson, whom she held in a
Rrtless exaltation of hero worship
Samson, who was SO smart" that b
thought about things beyond her III
Outstanding; Samson, who could ne
only read and write, but speculate O
problematical matters.
Suddenly she came to her feet wit
swift-darting impulse of alarm. He
ear had caught a sound She cas-
searching Chances about her, but tn
tangle was empty of humanity. TIL
water still murmured over the roch
undisturbed. There was no sign {
human presence, other than hersel