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THE ATHENS GEORIGAN: MAY 29, 1877.
THE WHITE LADY.
One night I sat alone, thinking and
thinking, and wondering whether
there was any truth in the story of
the White -Lady of the Hall, and
whether, if, there were, I had the
courage to meet her—for the story
went, that any one who dared to
meet her and to speak to her should
have what they asked, though if you
met her and were afraid to speak,
some great harm would come—some*
thi'ig worse than death itself—mad
ness or the palsy, or blindness, may
hap.
Long ago, before any living man’s
grandsire was born, they said the
White Lady was a fair woman and
no wraith—a fair, meek woman,
whom a king loved; and the hall
was the place where she dwelt; and
she wore jewels and fine garments,
3ind servants waited on her, and the
dring came often to the feast to praise
=and to kiss her.
And sometimes he would send a
message before he came, and bid her
meet him under a great oak that
stoo l at the hall gate; and she always
•did as lie bid her.
And one night a message was sent,
=and she went, as was her wont, to
•meet him, but ns she stood under the
•tree watching for him, one who had
•beguiled her to the spot with a false
■message, smote her with an arrow
•and she dropped down dead.
A jealous woman had hired the
murderer, it was said, and some say
the jealous woman became a queen.
Thu lady died, and the hall was
•left alone and mouldered into ruin;
ibut ever since, once in the year, on
the anniversary of the day on which
she went for the last time to meet
the king, the lady, all in white, walks
—s > the legend s.iys—thrice around
the tree.
And the night is called in our
neighborhood “White Lady’s Night”
for no other reason; and Thomas
Martingale, going home late from |
tha “Crown and Scepter,” once saw I
the lady under the tree—so lie said I
—at least the old folks told the story!
to the young, and we were bound to ]
believe it ..*•■ * \
No^v, upoij ' t Wli‘t ‘ Lady’s night,
~ 7, Mark Yardley, sat alone, wonder
ing and thinking.
I wanted something that I knew
not how to win.
It was not gold, nor was it silver,
rand house and lands and the where-
withal to live, I hoped to win with
my own strong arms; but what I
longed for, seemed to flit beyond my
reach
Try as I might, I never could
make sure of it.
It was a woman’s heart.
1 loved Alice Hunter as no man
o ver loved woman before, but she
smiled one day and frowned the
■next; and then, loo, she was above
line, and despised me, very likely.
How could I tell her what I felt
'that she might make a mock of me?
Yet, if I never told her, all my chance
was gone.
This White Lady’s night, thinking
of the story my grandmother often
told me beside the winter fire, I went
anad, as lovers do sometimes, and I
said to myself: “I will go to night
to the old oak, and if the While
Lady walks, I will seize her robe and
ask her to give me the wish of my
heart—if I die for it.”
One must do something. Those
that are in love ask old hags to telL
Jtheir fortunes, and take the settling
•of leaves, in a teacup for prophecy.
7 knew one who said to himself: “If
alio bird flying yonder lights on the
.apple l.onghs, my love will lie happy;
Ibut, if it flies to the hedge, all will
go wrongand when the little
’thing folded its wiugs among the
■apple blossoms, was glad all night.
Oh, yes, lovers are mad at times.
L must have been, then, •when I
opened my window and dropped
from it on the grass, and took my
way toward the ruined hall and the
•old oak on White Lady’s night to
ask my happiness of the White Lady;
but I did it.
Oh, how well I remember. The
moon shone overhead, round and
vwhite, and all was still. The lights
went out in the cottages in the hol
low, and the trees stood black against
the bright sky.
And down upon the night fell, one
after the other, twelve strokes from
the church clock; and I knew that it
was midnight, and the hour for the
White Lady to. walk, and made all
the speed I could, le.-t she should,
come and go, and I none the better
for her.
At last I stood before the hall, and
saw the tree with its great branches
spreading far and wide—a tree that
was more than two hundred years
old, they said, and strangely and
solemnly through the empty windows
of the ball the moon was shining, and
I looked and held my breath, for
there, under the great tree, stood
indeed a woman’s figure.
It wore some light garments, and
was wrapped and hidden so that I
could not sec the face, and it moved
a little as I came near, and, looking
over its shoulder, began to glide
away; and I knew that if gossips
told the truth, I must either win or
lose.
I sprang forward, grasped the
flowing robe, and held it close; and
I whispered, for indeed my heart
beat so last that my voice was gone:
“My lady, my lad ! I have come
here to night to ask you for a gift,
and I fear you not; f* r why aliould I
fear. And you who died for love
will he kind to a lover. May I ask ?
Will you listen, lady ?”
Then a voice, soft as a young b’rd’s
twitter, answered:
“ Speak!”
Just “Speak,’’ nothing more, nor
did the face turn toward me.
“ I love one dearly, lady,’’ I said,
“ and what I ask is her heart. Can
yon help me ?**
Agaia the whisper came, fainter
even than be Tore:
*• Her name ? How can I tell tin*,
less I know her name
“ Ii is Alice Hunter,” I said; and
oh! she is more dear to me than my
Mini.”
Then i it ami slow the answer
came:
“ He bold ; asked her for her lieai t
and she will give it to you; on the
' worp oftli^ White Lady. Non-go,
leave me.”
I dropped the white ro4»c.
The lady glided away, and I went
home as one might walk in a dream.
And the next day I almost believed
that I had dreamed—almost, but not
quite.
For I bad grown bolder, and that
day I told Alice Hunter of my love,
and she did not scoff at it.
We were married.
When I had been a happy husband
for a month we returned from
Boulogne, where we had gone to
spend our honeymoon, and gave a
party, to which we invited all our old
friends and neighbers.
In the course of the evening, the
legend of tho White Lady became a
topic with some, and, wh'le listening
to the conversation, I observed my
wife’s color change, and finally saw
her leave the room.
Believing that she had become
faint with the heat, I followed in a
few moments, and found her sitting
on the stair*, with a smile lighting up
her features.
“ I feared you were ill,” I said }
silting down just above her.
“ No, she said ; “ I am quite well.
I am glad you followed me, for I have
something to tell you.”
“ And I have something to tell
yon,” I said, bending over her.
“ Something about the White Lady
onr friends arc discussing.’’
“ Indeed,” she said, hanging down
her head and toying with her fan.
“ Well, tell me your story first and
then I will tell yon mine.’’
I told her what I had seen at the
tree and what the White Lady had
promised me; and then I asked her
for her story, which she told me in
the following words:
“ It was on While Lady’s n’glit,”
she said, “ that I went down to th"
old oak to ask a gift of the White
Lady, and as I stood waiting, half
hoping, half fearing to see her, one
caiue over the hill, and I knew that
it was you, and tried to run and
hide nneelf, but you caught inc by
m , ,
iny dress anl spoke, to. ine so that I
knew you believed me none other
than the White LadfPP Ahd so first
I learned that' you ~ ig^iid in**, and,
oh, I feared that yon shonld see my
face, but you did not^and ydVi let
me go whpn you had. vour promise.”
“ Aud so I was no^ost-seer after
all,” I said, “ and the White Lady
never spoke to me?‘‘-Bui what was
it you went to the ol^Hik to ask of
the fair ghost that nightijny Alice ?’*
Then she turned herrwft eyes away
from me aud hid her. U|jjd upon my
bosom aud whispered ;
“That* you should love "me, Mark,
for I already loved wel£and l could
not read your heart.’’ J > :
“Then God bless White Lady’s
night,’’ said I.
—There will be an excursion to • —The Turks have captured Sook-
Aud slio answer
she rose and took my j
back to our friends.
Tixa XTew
Amen,” as
fto lead her
State News.
po!
[Buffalo Cotnmei
In the days of the voiced
when he shall begin to sot
God should be finished, as Htffifeh declared to
His servants, tlio prophets.—Rip, 10., 7.
Trump of the Lord—1 hear it Mow;
Forward the Cross; the w^ffllshall know
Jehovah’s arm’s against the ftp
Down shall the cursed
To arms—to arms!
God wills it so.
God help the Knss! Godbf***- tlio Czar!
Shame on th; swords that trade can mar!
Shame on the laggards, faint*rod far.
That rise not to the holy war.
To arms—to arms!
The Cross, our Star/ <•
How long, O Lord!—for Thon art just;
Vengeance is Thine—in Thee we trust.
Wake, arm of God, and dash, to dust
Those hordes of rap'ne and of Inst.
To arms—to arms! ’
Wake, swords that rusJr
Forward tho Cross 1 Break clo*Js of ire!
Break with the thnnder aa^fefefiie!
To new Crusailss let I’ailh Inspire:
Down with the Crescent to Q^g mirc 1
To armR—to arms, i
To vengeance dire 1
Forward tho Cross! That night recall,
Of ravished maids and wives withul,
With hloe.ii that stained Sophs.’* wall,
When Christians saw the Cro-is down fall.
To arms—to arms,
•Ye nations all 1
To high Statnboul that Crow- rest on-1
Glitter its glories as of v»tel **
Down with the Turk. faMp^wh’s shore
Drive back the Paynir^W^jg^
ia «ns—to
\ To arms oncS »or
Forward the Cross I Uplift that sign!
Joy cometh with itsmornfiig thine,
Blossoms the rose and teems the viue;
The olive is its fruit benign.
To arms—to amis 1
Come Peace divine!
A. Cleveland Coxe.
The New York Sun, from which
we clip the above poem, makes there
upon a most just editorial criticism
of over a -column’s length, from
which we extract the following para
graphs :
“The Right Rev. Dr. Coxe, Bishop
of Western New York, has written a
poem, which onr readers will find in
another column. If we c 11 their at
tention to it, it is not on account of
any literary merit which it may pos
sess, but because wo desire to show
them what a leader of “ the church
militant here on earth” can do when
his blood is up. Were it the inspired
effusion of the Sheik ul Islam or a
Mohammedan moolah preaching a
jehad, with the crescent substituted
for the cross to which the Bishop
appeals, we should regret its intole
rant spirit and bloodthirsty tone, but
should accept it ns nil additional evi
dence of that ferocious religions
fanaticism with which tho. Moslem
has so oficn been charged, and for
which he has been so justly con
demned in years gone by. With the
progress of civilization, however, the
parts seem likely to be reversed.
We should treat this bombastic
effusion with the contempt which it
deserves ns a poem, if it were not
that we felt bound to protest against
a prominent teacher of men, who is
clothed with tho authority and dig
nity of a high Christian ofiice, prosti
tuting his sacred functions by a
rhapsody which we can only regard
as profane, and which, in the minds
of all serious and earnest Christians,
must bring discredit on that religion
of peace and love which it is the
Bishop’s duty to inculcate. What
right has lie to invoke Russians or
any one else to work “vengeance
dire” upon any nation or people sim
ply because he happens to differ with
them in religious belief ? The Master,
whom the Bishop is supposed to
serve, lias said, “Vengeance is mine;”
and wo can safely leave the retribu
tion which in the Divine Providence
will overtake those people who have
incurred it, to Him who holds the
nations in His band.
News in Brief.
Atlanta from Griffin on the 3d of
July, to witness the celebration of the
4th, in that city. v
—Two brothers living with Mr.
Elisha Aycock, in Cuthbert, gotipto
a difficulty, in which one was stubbed
eleven times with a knife.
—A lady in Wilke». county, the
other day, fed her young chickens on
salted dough, aud one hundred and
seventy-five of them died.
—Mr. Kenchon^O. Bass, a young
man of Champnerj**S Island, near
Darien, while guarding the peniten
tiary convicts on the islaud, acci
dently killed himself by the sudden
discharge of his gun.
—Cuban Vessels arc in the habit
of depositing ballast, taken from a
hospital mound in Havana, on the
coasts near Darien, Brunswick.
Yellow fever s believed to have re
sulted from this.
—The Sandersvillu Herald says a
widow residing in that county, with
the aid of her fifteen year old daugh-
ter, made last year without assist
ance, nine bal s of cotton, and did
considerable picking tor o’her par
ties. They also made and cribbed
two hundred bushels of corn.
—The Pierson Pioneer say*': “The
farmers are ail very busily ingnged
gathering their sheep and taking
advantage of the fair weather to k 11
the grass. From what we can learn
there is very little cotton planted,
most all being planted in corn and
sugar cane.’’
—A little boy named Cummings,
was badly man led in the gearing of
a mill in Harris comity last week.
The little fellow, for the purpose of
taking a ride, had caught around the
mill shaft and was drawn into the
gearing and .had both legs and one
arm broken, and the other arm badly
crushed. At last accounts he was
still alive.
—The Bniiibridgo Democrat says:
“Mr. E. M. Ilamton, the talented
editor of the Gainesville (Fla.) 1'imes,
we regret to state, is lying quite ill
at the house of his father, in this city.
We A> hope that he nAy speedily
be restored to health and usefulness.
A throat affection seeins X6 be the
cause of liis illness.’*
—Says the Crawfordville Demo
crat'. “Last week there were 401
bushels of corn turned into meal at
Rev. L. R. L. Jennings’ mill, situated
on tho Ogeecliec river, about two
and one half miles from town. There
arc six mills running in this county,
and if the above amount is an aver
age, our county uses 2,406 bushels of
corn per week, or 125,112 bushels
per year in bread.’’ ——
—Governor Colquitt was the guest
of the Scbuctzens at Augusta. At
four o’clock lie reached the Schuct-
zenplatz, ami was received with the
respect befitting the worthy Chief
Magistrate of a gieat State. The
Washington Artillery, tinder com
mand of Captain Pilchard, fired a
salute of seventeen guns in honor of
his arrival.
—A violent storm of wind ami
hail occurred a few days ago in the
northern portion of Bibb comity, do
ing great damage to growing crops,
fences, etc. Mr. Eugene Bowman,
who has a farm of one hundred and
sixty acres, near what is known as
the river road, about seven miles
from Macon, says there was not a
panel of rail fence left on his place,
while his young crops were so dam
aged that they had to be wholly re
planted.
—The following is a count scene
in Columbus: “A day or two ago,
while Judge Crawford was engaged
in the investigation of a ca e, a tall,
jeans dressed man slided up to the
Judge’s stand and in a deferential
whispering tone asked: “Is this
theJedge?” Upon receiving a re
ply in the affirmative our country
friend said: “Well, Jedge, I has
lost a favorite beast, and I cum to
git you to ask this congregation if
any of them had heard or seed her.
She is a mighty nice bay filly. There
is a heap of folks here, and I want
you to ask the question now.”
PUIN AND FANCY
goom Kale and burned the town.
, —The Russians have been repulsed
at Kars
—The Russians have captured
Ardalian and’ now'bescige Kars
—Ex-President Grant is in Eu
rope. Just the whereabouts for one
whose chief qualifications are those of
a soldier.
—Immense preparati being
made by the Russians for crossing
the Danube. The Czar is present en
couraging bis quarter of a million of
soldiers and ready himself to give the
order to advance
—Brigham Young has buried
twenty-nine mothers-in-law in the
last ten years. Still lie talks about
an uprising against the United States,
Evidently the exacerbation of tem
per induced by too much connubiali-
ty still remains.
—The Russians are displaying
wonderful endurance in inarching.
Young infantry soldiers, notwith
standing the heavy weight they car
ry, and the thick mud through which
they tramp, are vindicating the
marching reputation of the Russian
peasant soldier.
—A splendid bronze fountain has
lately been inaugurated at Berlin.
Around the base are four allegorical
figures, representing the Rhine, Elbe,
Ober and Weser, eacli with its ap
propriate tribute, ami in the middle
of the basin arc four smaller figures
representing agriculture, trade, de
fensive warfare and art.
*—A correspondent writing from
Cario, exposes the humbug of tlie
Khedive in pretending to suppress
slavery, and says that at the very
time he sent an expedition for that
object down the Red Sea at the in
stance of the English 'Foreign Office,
he was selling four ^hundred females,
while everyone of his palaces over
flows with them, “to say nothing of
his cruelly oppressed, forced labor
ers.’’ There is no doubt that this is
perfectly true.
—It cannot be doubted that a
strong war feeling prevails in Lon-
So pronounced has this be
come that the question is discussed
here as to what general should com}
mand the British army contingent.
The most popular idea is that the
Prince of Wales should take the
nominal command on the German
plan, with General Sir Garnett Wol-
sey as chief of staff, as Von Moltke
was to the Kaiser in the Franco Prus
sian war.
—The Grand Duke Miehenl tele
graphs to St. Petersburg from
Tiflis, May 20, as follows: Along
the entir coast, from Cape Adler to
Cape Ptchentchyr, Turkish mcn-of-
war are bombarding and burning
undefended and peaceful settlements,
and landing Circassian emigrants at
various points, who seek to excite
the Abchasians to rebellion. Troops
have been dispatched to sup
press any rising. It will be remem
bered that this aggressive policy of
Turkey was outlined several days
ago.
—A London correspoucnt to the
New York Ilerald telegraphs: The
thunderbolt which lias fallen on
France came out of a clear sky.
Doubtless those who conspired in the
Elvsce to bring this trouble upon
France were tolerably certain of what
was about to come to pass, but to the
mass of the people and to the Minis
ters themselves the mad act of the
Marshall was, with possibly one ex
ception, totally unexpected. In the
n ost moderate circles the turning
out of the Ministry and the disasters
that it may bring to France are re
garded with deep sorrow, while
among the radicals, who were lulled
into moderation by the belief that
reaction was at an end, and that the
Republic would progress logically, if
slowly, to its goal of a genuine popu
lar government, a feeling of enraged
disappointment prevails. In all the
political vicissitudes through which
France has passed since 1848 I never
recollect to have seen such gloom as
i ow pervades the community, save
among the extremists of the legiti
mist aud clerical factions.
GREAT REDUCTION
IN PRICES.
HavingSmeothe Services of
-A. FIRST-CLASS
JOB PRINTER,
We are enabled to turn out as good
work as can be done
IN THE STATE.
We call the attention of sfl our citi
zens to the following
Price List:
Bill Heads, per Thousand,
Assorted, $5*
Ciftuiry Colored EiYfelCp^'
Furnished to Merchau** ami
Business Men, with their
cards printed on them,
At $3 PER THOUSAND.
LETTER HEADS,
$4 50 to $5 Per Thousand.
CaRDS,
Common 75cper Hundred,
—AND—
$4 50 to $5 per Thousand.
Fancy Work Proportionately Higher.
VISITING OAH33S,
BLANKS, NOTES,
Poters, Circulars,
Handbills, Pamphlets, etc.,
Printed in any color desired, and as
cheap as can be done in tho State.
GIVE US YOUR ORDERS,
SAVE MONEY,
And get good work, and sustain a
home institution. Call at the Alb
ENS GEORGIAN office, BioaJ
street, A thens, Ga.
