Part 74 (1/2)
THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE.
Ill.u.s.trated by F. C. Yohn.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The ”lonesome pine” from which the story takes its name was a tall tree that stood in solitary splendor on a mountain top. The fame of the pine lured a young engineer through Kentucky to catch the trail, and when he finally climbed to its shelter he found not only the pine but the _foot-prints of a girl_. And the girl proved to be lovely, piquant, and the trail of these girlish foot-prints led the young engineer a madder chase than ”the trail of the lonesome pine.”
THE LITTLE SHEPHERD OF KINGDOM COME.
Ill.u.s.trated by F. C. Yohn.
This is a story of Kentucky, in a settlement known as ”Kingdom Come.” It is a life rude, semi-barbarous; but natural and honest, from which often springs the flower of civilization.
”Chad,” the ”little shepherd” did not know who he was nor whence he came--he had just wandered from door to door since early childhood, seeking shelter with kindly mountaineers who gladly fathered and mothered this waif about whom there was such a mystery--a charming waif, by the way, who could play the banjo better that anyone else in the mountains.
A KNIGHT OF THE c.u.mBERLAND.
Ill.u.s.trated by F. C. Yohn.
The scenes are laid along the waters of the c.u.mberland, the lair of moons.h.i.+ner and feudsman. The knight is a moons.h.i.+ner's son, and the heroine a beautiful girl perversely christened ”The Blight.” Two impetuous young Southerners' fall under the spell of ”The Blight's” charms and she learns what a large part jealousy and pistols have in the love making of the mountaineers.
Included in this volume is ”h.e.l.l fer-Sartain” and other stories, some of Mr. Fox's most entertaining c.u.mberland valley narratives.
STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY GENE STRATTON-PORTER
THE HARVESTER
Ill.u.s.trated by W. L. Jacobs
[Ill.u.s.tration]
”The Harvester,” David Langston, is a man of the woods and fields, who draws his living from the prodigal hand of Mother Nature herself. If the book had nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man, with his sure grip on life, his superb optimism, and his almost miraculous knowledge of nature secrets, it would be notable. But when the Girl comes to his ”Medicine Woods,” and the Harvester's whole sound, healthy, large outdoor being realizes that this is the highest point of life which has come to him--there begins a romance, troubled and interrupted, yet of the rarest idyllic quality.
FRECKLES.
Decorations by E. Stetson Crawford
Freckles is a nameless waif when the tale opens, but the way in which he takes hold of life; the nature friends.h.i.+ps he forms in the great Limberlost Swamp; the manner in which everyone who meets him succ.u.mbs to the charm of his engaging personality; and his love-story with ”The Angel”
are full of real sentiment.