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THE FOLK COUNTY 173WS, SALUDA,, H. u. I h PL . mm -r- it tki m . - 14 , ' ; ' , SYNOPSIS. ;X HALLIE EPMINIC R ILLUSTRATIONS tir LAUREN STOUT Q OtO John Valiant," a rich poclety favorite, The trumpet again pealed its silvery proclamation. Judge Chalmers was on t ilia iCCL. f Uiy W ICU wu mo WIUUWU Rose" he cried. This time, however, there were no takers. He called again, but none heard him ; the last tilts were too absorbing. Where had John Valiant learned that trickxof the loose wrist and in flexible thrust, but at the fencing club? Where that subconscious management of the rein, that nice gage of speed and distance, but, on the polo field? The old sports stood him now in good stead. "Why, he has a seat line a centaur!" exclaimed the Judge praise indeed in a community where riding was a passion and horseflesh a fetish! Oh, dear!" mourned Nancy Chal mers. "I've bet six pairs or gloves on Quint Carter. Never mind; if it has to be anybody else, I'd rather it were Mr. Valiant It's about time Damory Court got something after Rip-Van-Winkling it for thirty years. Besides, he's giving us the dance, and I love him for that! Quint still has a chance. though. If he takes the next two, and Mr. Valiant misses ' Katharine looked at her with a lit tle smile. "He won't miss," she said. She had seen that look on his face before andread it aright John Va liant had striven in many contests, not only of skill but of strength and dar ing, before crowded grand stands. But never in all his life had he so desired to plucklhe prize. His grip was tense on the lance as the yellow doublet urMoniv iirrtvrs that th Valiant cor poration, which his father founded and which was the principal source of his wealth, has failed. He voluntarily turns over his private fortune to the receiver for the corporation. His entire remaining possessions consist of an old motor car, a white bull dog and Damory court, a neg lected estate in Virginia. On the way to Damory court he meets Shirley Dand rldge. an auburn-haired beauty, and de cides that he Is going to like Virginia Im mensely. Shirley's mother, Mrs. Dand ridge, and Major Bristow exchange rem iniscences during which it is revealed that the major. Valiant's father, and a man named Sassoon were rivals for the hand of Mrs. Dandridge In her youth. Bassoon and Valiant fought a duel on her account In which the former was killed. Valiant finds Damory court overgrown with weeds and creepers and decides to rehabilitate the place. Valiant saves Shirley from the bite of a snake, which bites him. Knowing the -deadllness of the bite; Shirley sucks the poison from the wound and saves his life. Valiant learns for the first time that his father left Vir ginia on account of a duel in which Doc tor Southall and Major Bristow acted as his father's seconds. Valiant and Shirley , become good friends. Mrs. Dandridge faints when she meets Valiant for the first time. Valiant discovers that he has a fortune in old walnut trees. The yearly tournament, a survival of the Jousting of feudal times. Is held at Damory court. At the last moment Valiant takes the place of one of the knights, who is sick, and enters the lists. . ' CHAPTER XXIII Continued. The twelve horsemen were now sit ting their restive mounts in a group at one end of the lists. Two mounted monitors had stationed themselves on either -side of the rope-barrier; a third BkUUU UCU1UU IUO uyilgUk 11 rt uisaw arm was suspended the silver ring. The herald blew a blast, calling the I and olive plume of Castlewood shot title of the first of the knights. In- away for a last time and failed. An stantly, with lance at rest, the latter galloped at full speed down the lists. There was a sharp musical clash, and as he dashed on, the ring flew the full length of its tether and swung back, whirling swiftly. It had been a close thrust, for the iron pike-point had smitten its rim. A cheer went up, under cover of which the rider looped back outside the lists to his former position. instant later the Knight of the Crim son Rose flashed down the lists with the last ring on his pike. And the tourney was won. In the shouting and hand-clapping Valiant took the rose from his hat band and bound it with a shred of his sash to his lance-point As he rode slowly toward the massed stand, the whole field was so still that he could hear the hoofs of the file of knights In an dipper tier of the stand a spec- behind him. The people were on their tator made a eun rt his hands. "The I feet Knight of the Golden Spur against the field." he called. "What odds?" "Five to one, Spotteswood," a voice answered. V "Ten dollars," announced the first "Good.", And both made memoran dum on their cuffs: A second time the trumpet sounded, and the Knight of Castlewood flashed ingloriously down the roped aisle a miss. Again and again the clear note rang out and a mounted figure plunged by, The mounted herald blew his blast 'By the Majesties of St Michael and St George," he proclaimed, "I declare the Knight of the Crimson Rose the victor of this our turney, and do charge him now to choose his Queen of Beauty, that all may do her hom age!" " : "' - ; Shirley saw the horse coming down the line, its rider bareheaded now, and her heart began to race wildly. Beyond wanting him to take part, she had not thought , She looked about The car was not the smart Pan hard In which sfie had so often spun down the avenue or along the shell roads of the north shore, fit lacked those fln-de-siecle appurtenances wrhich marked the ne plus ultra of Its kind, as her observant eye recognized; but it ran staunch and true. - The powerful hands that gripped the steering-wheel were 4 brown with sun . and wind, and the handsome face above it had a look of keenness and energy she had never surprised before. They passed many Vehicles and there were, few whose oc cupants did not greet him. In fact, as he' presently . remarked, it was a saving of energy - to keep his hat off ; and he tossed the Panama into the rear seat. On the rim of the village a group raised a cheer to which he nodded laughingly, - and: further . on a little old lady on a timid vine-colored porch beside a church, waved a black- and presently, in a burst of cheering. I her, suddenly dismayed. People were the herald proclaimed "The Knight of the Black Eagleone!" and Chilly Lusk, in old-rose doublet and inky plume cantered back -with a silver ring upon his pike. . r No simple thing, approaching leis urely and afoot to send that tapering point straight to the tiny mark. But at headlong gallop, astride a blooded horse straining to take the bit, a deed requiring a nice eye, , a perfect seat and an unwavering arm and hand! Those knights who looped back with their pikes thus braceleted had spent long hours in practice and each rode as naturally as he breathed ; yet more than once a horse shied in mid-course and at the too-eager thrust of the spur bolted , through the ropes. Valiant made his first essay and missed with the blood singing in his ears. The ring flew from his pike, catching him a swinging blow on the temple In Where Had John Valiant' Learned That Trick of the Loose Wrist and Inflexible Thrust. , , its rebound, but he scarcely felt it. As he cantered back he heard the major's Mtu0 pibviu u&jjll agaiuot tile liiCl, i And then, suddenly, stand and field all vanished. He saw only the Ion level rope-lined lane with its twinkling mid-air point. An exhilaration caught ' him at the feel of the splendid horse flesh4 beneath him that sense of one ness with the creature he bestrode which the instinctive horsemanknows. He lifted his lance and hefted it.'seek- -ing its absolute balance, feeling its point as a fencer with his rapier. When . again . he blood-red sash streamed away the herald's " cry, "Knight of the Crimson Rose One! set the field hand-clapping. From the ' next Joust also. Valiant returned with the gage upon his lance. Two had gone to the Champion of Castlewood and two to : scattering riders. When Valiant won his fourth the grand stand thundered with appau'se. smiling at her and clapping their hands. From the other end of the stand she saw Nancy Chalmers throw ing her a kiss, and beside her a tall pale girl in champagne-color staring through a jeweled lorgnette. She was conscious all at once that the flanneled rider was very close that his pike-point, with its big red blossom, was stretching up to her. With the rose in her hand she curt sied to him, while the blurred throng cheered Itself hoarse, and the band struck up "You Great Big Beautiful Doll," with' extraordinary rapture, to the tune of which the noise finally sub sided to a battery of hilarious con gratulations whjch left her flushed and a little breathless. Nancy Chalmers and Betty Page had burst upon her like petticoated whirlwinds and pres ently, when the crowd had lessened. the judge came to introduce his visitor. Mr. Fargo and his daughter are our guests at Gladden Hall," he told her. "Tney are okLfrtends of Valiant's, by the waV; thvj knew him in New York." Katharine's lighting her incense now, I guess, observed Silas Fargo. "See there!" He pointed across the stand, where stood a willowy; tan fig ure, one hand beckoning to the con course below, where Valiant stood, the center of a shifting group, round which the white bulldog, mad with recovered liberty, tore in eccentric circles. As they looked, she called softly, "John! John!" Shirley saw him ctart and face about, then come quickly toward her. amazement and welcome in his eyes. As Shirley turned away a little later with the major, that whispering voice seemed to sound in her ears "John!. Joh'n!" There smote her suddenly the thought that when he had chosen her his QUeen of Beauty, he had not seen the other had not known she ,was there. . r;.-,.. ..'- A few moments before the day had been' golden; she went home through a landscape that; somehow seemed to have lost its brightest glow " CHAPTER XXIV. - Katharine Decides. ' Katharine left the field of Runny mede with John -Valiani in the. dun N colored motor. . She sat in the driver's seat beside hinv while the bulldog ca pered, ecstatically barking, from side to side of the rear " cushions. Her father had declined the honor, remark ing that he .considered a professional cnauneur-a sumcient risK of his valua ble life and that the Chalmers' grays were good enough for him a decision which did not wholly displease Katha rinf ' x . . The Tournament Ball at Damory Court That Night Was More Than an Event mltted hand to him with a sweet old time gesture. Katharine noted that he bowed to her with extra care. "That's Miss Mattie Sue Mabry," he said, "the quaintest, dearest thing you ever saw. She taught my father his letters." Where the Red Road stretched level before them, he threw the throttle open for a long rush through the thymy-scented air. The light late afternoon breeze drew by them, sweep ing back Katharine's graceful sinuous veil and spraying them with odors' of clover and sunny fruit They passed orchard clumps bending with young apples, boundless aisles of green, young-tasseled corn and shadowy groves that smelled of fern and sassa fras, opening out into more sunlighted vistas overarched by the intense pene trable - of the June sky. John Valiant had never seemed to her so wholly good to see, with his waving hair ruffling in their flight and the westering sun shining redly on his face. Midway of this spurt he looked at her to say:. "Did you ever know a more beautiful countryside? See how the pink-and-yellow ot, those grain fields fades Into the purple of the hills. Very few painters have ever captured a tint like that It's like raspberries crushed in curdled milk." "I've quite lost rqy heart to it all, she said, her voice jolting with the speed of their course. Tts a perfect pastoral so' different from our terrific city pace. Of course it must be a trifle dull at times - rppItip th raid a rtennlA al ways and witnout tne tnea- ter and the opera and the whirl about one but the kind of life one reads about V in the nov els of the South, you know " I suppose one doesn't realize that it actually exists until one comes to a Southern place; like this. And the negro servants! How odd It must be to have a white-haired old darky in a brass-buttoned swallow-tail for a but ler! So picturesque! At Judge Chal mers' I have a feeling all the time that I'm walking tnrougn a stage re hearsal." . v y . The car slackened speed as it slid by a white-washed cabin at whose en trance sat a dusky gray-bearded I fig ure. Valiant pointed. "Do you see him?" he asked. : " ' "I see a very ordinary old colored man sitting on the door-step,"" Katha rine replied. - ' "That's Mad Anthony, our local Mother Shipton. He's a prophet and soothsayer. Uncle Jefferson that's my body-servant insists that he fore told my-coming to Damory Court. If wehad mftre time you could have yowr fortune told." "How thrilling!" .she commented with half-humorous Irony. He pointed to a great white house set In a grove of trees. "That is Beechwood," he told her, ."the Beverly homestead. .Young Beverley was the Knight of the Silver Cross. A fine old place isn't it? It was- burned by the Indians during the French and Indian War! v My great-great-great-grandfath er " He broke off. ."But then, those old things won't interest you." : "They interest you- a great ; deal don't they?" she asked. ; "Yes," he admitted, "they do. You see,' my- ancestors are such new 1 ac quaintances, I find them absorbing. You know when I lived in New York" . , - . "Last month."' - . . ' ; He laughed ' a little not auita tlx laugh she had knqwn in the r pa. Yes, : but I can hardly believe it; seem to have been here half a lifetime. To think that a month ago I was a double-dyed New Yorker." It's ; been a strange experience lor you. vvnen you come DacK 10 xh ew York " . ;He looked at her, oddly she thought. Why( should I go back?" . '"Why? Because it's :your natural habitat- Ins't it?" ' - "That's the word," he said- smiling. It was my habitat. This is my home." She was silent a moment In: sheer surprise. She had thought of this Southern essay as a quickly passing ncident, a colorful chapter whose page might any day be turned. But it was impossible to mistake his mean ing. Clearly, he was deeply infatuated with this Arcadian experience and had no thought at present but to continue it Indefinitely. : They were passing the entrance of a cherry-bord'ered lane, and without tak ing his hands from the gear, he nodded .toward the low broad-eaved dwelling with its flowering arbors that showed in flashing glimpses of brown and red between the intervening. trees. "The palace of the queen!" he said "Rosewood,- by nanie." She looked in some curiosity. Clear ly, if not a refuge of genteel poverty, neither was It the abode of wealth; so, from her assured rampart of the Fargo millions, Katharine reflected complacently. The girl was a local favorite, of course he had been tact ful as to that. It was fortunate, in a way, that he had not seen he,r, Katha rine, in the grand standi until after ward. Feeling toward her as she be lieved he did, with his absurd direct ness, he would have been likely to drop the rose in her lap. never re flecting that, the tourney being a local function, the choice should not fall un on an outlander. The slowing of the car brought her back to the present, and she looked up to Bee before them the great gate of Gladden Hall. She did not speak till they had quite stopped. Then, as her hand lay In his for farewell, "You are right in your de cision," she said softly. "This is your place. You are a Valiant of Virginia. I didn't realize it before, but I am be ginning to see all it means to you.". Her voice held a lingering Indefin able quality that was almost sadness, and for that one slender instant, she opened on him the unmasked batteries of her glorious gray eyes. The tournament ball at Damory Court that night was more than an event The old mansion was an irre sistible magnet. The floor of its yel low parlor was known to be of delecta ble hugeness. Its gardens were a le gend. The whole place, moreover, was steeped in the very odor of old mys tery and new romance. Small wonder .that to this particular affair the elect the major was the high custodian of the rolls, his decisions being as the laws of the Medes and Persians came gaily from the farthest county line, and the big houses of the neighbor hood were crammed with over-night guests. . By half past nine o'clock the pha lanx of chaperons decreed by old cus tom had begun to arrive, and the great iron gate at the front .of . tjie drive erect and rustless now saw an impos ing processional of carriages. These passed up. a slope as radiant with the fairy light of paper lanterns as a Japa nese thoroughfare In festival season. The colored fculbs swung moon-like from tree and sirub, painting their rainbow lusters on -grass ; and drive way. Under the high gray columns of the porch and 'into the wide , door, framed in its small1 leaded panes that glowed wita the merry light within, poured a strer.m of loveliness: in car riage-wraps of light tints, collared and edged with fur or eider, or wide sleeved mandarin coats falling back from dazzling throats and arms, hair swathed with chiffon against the night dews, and gallantly cavaliered by mas culine'black and white. These from their tiring-rooms over flowed presently, garbed like dreams, to make obeisance to the dowagers and then to drift through flower-lined corridors, the. foam on recurrent waves of discovery.- Behind the rose-bower in the hall, which shielded a dozen colored musicians violins, cello, gui tars and mandolins came premonitory chirks and shivers, which 3 presently wovj into the low and dreamy melody of "Carry Me Bad to Old Virginia," Promptly as the clock in the hail chimed ten, the music merged into a march. Doors on opposite sides of the upper hall swung wide and down the broad staircase came, with slow step, a stately procession: two heralds in fawn-colored doublets with scroll and trumpets wound with flowers, behind thexn the Queen of Beauty, her finger tips resting lightly in the hand of the Knight of the Crimson Rose, and these followed by as brave a concourse of lords and ladies as ever graced castle hall in the gallant days "when knight hood was in flower.' Shirley's gown was of pure white: her, arms were iiwathed in tulle, crossed with straps of seed-pearl, over which hung long semi-flowing sleeves of satin, and from her shoulders rose a stiff pointed medieval collar of Vene tian lace, against whose pale traceries her bronze hair glowed with rosy lights. The elge of the square-cut cor sage was powdered with the pearls and against their sheen her breast and neck had the soft creamy ivory of magnolia buds. Her straight plain train of satin, knotted with fresh white rose-buds (Nancy Chalmers had, la bored for a frantic half-hour in the dressing-room for this effect) was held by the seven-year-old Byloe twins, berlbboned knickerbockers, duly impressed with the grandeur of their privilege and grimly intent on acquit ting themselves with glory. Shirley's face was still touched with the surprise that had swept it as Valiant had stepped to her side. She had looked to see him in the conven tional panoply a sober-sided masculine mode decrees. What she had beheld was a figure that might have stepped out of an Elizabethan picture-frame. He was In deep purple slashed with gold. A cloak of thin crimson velvet narrowly edged with ermine . hung from his shoulders, lined with tissue like cloth-of-gold. From the rollirS brim of his hat swept a curling pa &t plume. He wore a slender dress-sworC and an order set with brilliants ' spar kled on his breast The costume had been one he had .worn at jbl fancy ball of the winter be fore. It had been made from a paint ing at Windsor of one of the dukes of Buckingham, and it made a perfect foil for Shirley's white. V The eleven knights of the tourney, each with his chosen lady, if lest splendid, were tracked out in sufficients ly gorgeous attire. Many an ancieat brocade had been awakened for tat nonce from its lavender bed, and ruffs and gold-braid were at no premium. (TO BE CONTINUED.) '-'mi and Amusements TEXT a ' , ' ' IMl r. . i "Will I. " him. Col "5 - The Chrisiiaa realize relation the i;ten work Pleasure ut one work, n roiuj most. uted not just ADDITION TO HIS EFFICIENCY Business Manager Would Do Well to ;'v. Remember That His Personality Counts for Much. ! v "He's really very agreeable outside of business hours." How often we hear this remark about a certain type of man at the head of a large enterprise. He is. the:man whose office demeanor is characterized by the coldness of a snowball and the indifference of a stone. ; ; vVY-:::y. " y- : -: In his desire to'become efficient and make every one about him the same he squeezes every bit of, human feel ing, out ; of his relations iwith his sub ordinates and becomes a part of a working system, " as dehumanized as his filing system or his adding .ma chine, or the typewriter which his stenographer manipulates. During of fice hours he is ' a machine which dic tates letters, looks over reports and develops' efficiency. But "he's really very agreeable outside - of business hours." , . f ' ; This man needs to know .that, his ability being efficient, he , becomes more efficient as he becomes more hu vman, just a a machine is mqre effi cient .the more machine-like 5 it be comes. He, needs to learn that the man at the head of a biz ' concern must have personality if he is to hold his business together, and that per sonality is a good thing to keep on top. -;v:;. The t man who subordinates his per sonality to his position is the man who' lets his position run him and who is a jobholder before he Is a man. A pitia ble state, Indeed, fuv anybody to? find himself in. . Being a man with a per sonality as well as an executive with a high degree of efficiency is an idea! which. every business man might well hold before himself, inside of businesi hours or otherwise. Milwaukee Joru nal. Japanese Thrater. ' .To a foreigner, stage management In Japan would appear somewhat ec centric. When an actor is killed dux ing the play a man in hlack wishes On the stage and holds a large clock b fore the supposed; coi pse, who s6oa rises and runs off the stage. : The scenes are never shifted; but the whole stage revolves on wheel, whller between f the acts the chUdreo among the audienct. rush: behind the curtain and play un:tfl the drum ieali for another act. The performance gins at 10 a. m., and the wjdlence pr vision themselves for 24 hoars, curlfef up on mau and siaoUas t whci -v t . , . taiulyi8notul all one Pleasure. chief y man- Let,; miss this i ; 1 . " vTK, nnt ment. is the hnsin t .... uyuu every man the 10 PVPfV mor, I.:. . j man uiS 0rv , in mis f'nnncotM- ., " may be justified in finding the professional Sport the ml gives up his wt0le life to When the main thing in f,l university life is athletics are ! justified in protesting that life's purpose is being lost sight of J and amusement is but a side isU life; when it becomes the Jf thing, then it is harmful andsiiiMt matter whether the amusement fc question be in the forbidden catew, uui, iucu cvtu innocent anniseffiec becomes morally bad. Amusemeiti to work what whetting the ecythetite harvesting; he who never stops tc create an edge toils hard and little, while he who whets the scjft all day' cuts none. If the mother joys amusements more than she dog her children, the wife more think domestic duties, the husband aes than his home, the man more that!! labor, and the student more thai books, then amusements are hara&l and wrong. 2. The true Christian will see that his amusements are really rets ative, and not dissipative A man may lie so long in ik; that he comes out of it all exhaust or he can take a piunge or shower come out all the better prepared I the duties -of life. So isftwithwdl ments; it may be just the oppocl The : amusements of the Christie' should build up lo6t tissue, rest l! urea uoay ana rejuveiidie we jj mind, they must build up the man physically, mentally, moalj: and spiritually. I . 1. The Christian's pleasures r3 recreate physically. The body dtte Christian is the temple of the W ghost. It is incumbent up & therefore that he keep his body good, clean, pure, and healthy i se dition as possible. The boay pj relaxation; it needs rest fmmW strain and tension of life; it nj new blood, new nerve tissues; it Mt by means of recreation, to oe wj fitted for the real tasks tnaue '-i in its sphere of labor. Th tPt. t.hp Christian must a his pleasures is this: dotheyrectfj and restore the waste tissue body? Excess in athletics is not, reation. Young men over-strain in running; pr y been ruined for life by e'S jumping. Many pleasures the powers of the body instead "J creating them. Apply such a i certain forms of popular tmM j prevalent today: thetheai dance, the card party. Do nr An thev dissipate? J violate me iavo ui their late hours, their impnjJJ a nf rtress pnere. tneir mvu, - duct or are they perfectly the observance oi , d hygiene: . amusements health, then with ennrt health an ... .l,a vioiaie f untu &ulu can -he brought within the r. recreative pleasure . must place thrm on the W 2. The pleasures should recreate mental!.. ff. cal must not be deveic pense of th. mental G; j by no means sur 3 Mind is stone and Bismarck ..,Cr than uuu-" .v are b, John L. Sullivan or Th0 Christian fore, "What e Jo m my . thought, my inaDCtiy UU1IU "i'l do they debas E more ures In which All things are the eye ; Shakespeare hath a body t gets him tu tre.ssful brec judge his a ard ture. What iinKing a-" r,f rat ' ecause engage? Ot to ind ligl of tW alt The -1 Appl) tl"&,..y we this books tne jurist""- - V 1 hat01: ncT 'If' .-nip" ti' "What reade . - n T rc? y- . hvtbe res come disease -and trashy literature.
Polk County News and The Tryon Bee (Tryon, N.C.)
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Oct. 23, 1914, edition 1
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