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Show 102 nJ('JJ.\IlD 1\UfWIS. CHAPTER XIV. 'I'JIE SILLY JAi\'E. "She Jwclt nrnong the uult·oJJcn wnys, Besi<le the S]ll'ings of Dov(•, A mnitl, whom tl~t:re wet•e none to prni11e, And very few to love. A ·violet by n mossy stone, Hnlf hidLi en from tht.l eye, Fait• fll! n Sl!W when only one Is shiuiug in the sky."-WonnswonTH. -"And yet ltu::k !"-SHAKSPEilE. THE afternoon of tiLe day following that of Pickett's departme was one of the loveliest among the lovely days so frequent in the Alabama Kovcmbcr. The glances of the oblique sun rested with a benignant smile, like tltat of some venerable and singlc-ltcartcd si re, upon the groves of the forest, wl1iclt, by th is time, had put 0 11 all the colors of the rainbow. The cold airs of coming winter had been just severe enough to put n flu sh-like glow into the checks of the leaf, and to envelop the green, here and there, with a coating of purple and yellow, whiclt served it as some rich and becoming border, nntl made tlte brief remains of the gaudy garb of summer seem doubly rich, nnd f:u more valuable in such decorations. Dark brown and blooded berries lmng wantonly from bending branches, and trailing vines, that were smitten and torn asunder hy premature storms of cold, lay upon the path and depended from overhead, with life enough in them still, even wlten severed from the pnrent-stem, to nourish and maiutain the warm and grape-like clusters which they bore. Thousands of flowers, of all varieties of shape and color, came out upon tlte side of the path, aml, as it were, threw them~ selves along the thoroughfare only to be trodden upon; while TT-m SILLY JANE. 103 ltidden in the deeper recesses of the woodlaml, millions beside appeared to keep themselves in store only to supply the places of those which were momently doomed to suffer the consequences of exposure and to perish beneath the sudden gusts of the equally unheeding footsteps of the wayfarer. llidclen from sight only by the winter bloom, that absorbed all spnee, and seemed resolute to exclude from ::dl sigltt, thousands of trees, of more delicate nature, already stripj)ed of their foliage, stood like mourning ghosts or withered relics of the past-the melm1choly spicler, tlte only living decoration of t!teir gaunt and stretching arms, her web now completely expo~cd in the absence of the leaves, under whose ~lteltering volume, it had beeu begun in secret. At moments tlte breeze would gather itself up from the dead leaves that strewed the paths of the forest, and ruflle li glJtly, in rising, the pleasant bed where it ktd lnin. A kindred rufll er of le:wes and branches, was tho nimble squirrel, who skipped along the forests, making all objects subservient to his forward motion; and nO\\" and then the rabbit timidly st.eali11g out from the long yellow grass beside t!tc bay, would bound and crouch alternately; the sounds tkll shake the lighter leaves and broken branches, stirring her !teart with more keen and lasting sensations, and compelling her to pnusc in her progress, in constant dread of the pursuer. A fitting dweller in a scene of such innocence aud simplicity was the thoughtless and unendowed creature tl1at now enters it; her ltand filled with bnslt and berry and leaf, sougltt with care, ll\II'Snecl with avidity, gathered with fatiguC', aml thrown away without regard. A thousand half-formed plans in Iter mindif the idiot cltild of Ben rickett may be saiJ to possess one-a thousand crowd ing, yet incomplete, conceits, hurryiug her for~ wanl in a pursuit OJtly begun to be discarded for others more bright, yet not more emluriug; and from her lips a heartfelt Jaugh or cry of triumph pomed forth in the merriest tones of childhood, while the tears gather in Iter eyes, and she sits upon the grass, murmuring nml laughing and ·weeping, all by turns, and never long. From the roadside she has gathered the pale blue and yellow flowers, and these adorn her head and peep out from her bosom. Now she bounds away to hidden bushes after flaunting berries, and now she throws herself upon |