Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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.