Round Anvil Rock

Round Anvil Rock, by Nancy
Huston Banks

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Title: Round Anvil Rock A Romance
Author: Nancy Huston Banks
Release Date: February 29, 2004 [EBook #11379]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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ANVIL ROCK ***

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ROUND ANVIL ROCK
A ROMANCE
BY

NANCY HUSTON BANKS
AUTHOR OF "OLDFIELD"
1903
[Illustration: "The Angelus was pealing from the bell of the little log
chapel."]
TO MY FATHER
A PREFACE
In weaving a romance round a real rock and through actual events, this
tale has taken no great liberty with fact. It has, indeed, claimed the
freedom of fiction only in drawing certain localities and incidents
somewhat closer together than they were in reality. And it has done this
notably in but three instances: by allowing the Wilderness Road to
seem nearer the Ohio River than it really was; by anticipating the
establishment of the Sisters of Charity; and by disregarding the
tradition that Philip Alston had gone from the region of Cedar House
before the time of the story, and that he died elsewhere. These
deviations are all rather slight, yet they are, nevertheless, essential to
any faithful description of the country, the time, and the people, which
this tale tries to describe. The Wilderness Road--everywhere--came so
close to the life of the whole country that no true story of the time can
ever be told apart from it. The Sisters of Charity were established so
early and did so much in the making of Kentucky, that a few months
earlier in coming to one locality or a few years later in reaching another,
cannot make their noble work any less vitally a part of every tale of the
wilderness. The influence of Philip Alston over the country in which he
lived, lasted so much longer than his life, and the precise date and
manner of his death are go uncertain, that his romantic career must
always remain inseparably interwoven with all the romance of southern
Kentucky. And it is for these reasons that this story of nearly a hundred
years ago, has thus claimed a few of the many privileges of fiction.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.
THE GIRL AND THE BOY
II. THE HOUSE OF CEDAR
III. "PHILIP ALSTON, GENTLEMAN"
IV. THE NIGHT RIDE
V. ON THE WILDERNESS ROAD
VI. THE CAMP-MEETING
VII. A MORNING IN CEDAR HOUSE
VIII. THE LOG TEMPLE OF JUSTICE
IX. PAUL'S FIRST VISIT TO RUTH
X. FATHER ORIN AND TOBY MEET TOMMY DYE
XI. THE DANCE IN THE FOREST
XII. THE EVE OF ALL SOULS'
XIII. SEEING WITH DIFFERENT EYES
XIV. A SPIRITUAL CENTAUR
XV. THE WEB THAT SEEMED TO BE WOVEN
XVI. LOVE'S TOUCHSTONE
XVII. THE ONCOMING OF THE STORM

XVIII. THE GENTLEST ARE THE BRAVEST
XIX. UNDER THE HUNTER'S MOON
XX. BALANCING LIFE AND DEATH
XXI. THE EAGLE IN THE DOVE'S NEST
XXII. "A COMET'S GLARE FORETOLD THIS SAD EVENT"
XXIII. LOVE CLAIMS HIS OWN
XXIV. OLD LOVE'S STRIVING WITH YOUNG LOVE
XXV. THE PASSING OF PHILIP ALSTON

ILLUSTRATIONS
"The Angelus was pealing from the bell of the little log chapel"
"A dark, confused ... writhing mass of humanity"
"'I wanted to shake the hand of a man like you'"
Father Orin and Toby
"For she also was riding a great race"
"She was making an aeolian harp"

ROUND ANVIL ROCK

I
THE GIRL AND THE BOY

The Beautiful River grows very wide in making its great bend around
western Kentucky. On the other side, its shores are low for many miles,
but well guarded by giant cottonwoods. These spectral trees stand close
to its brink and stretch their phantom arms far over its broad waters, as
if perpetually warding off the vast floods that rush down from the
North.
But the floods are to be feared only in the winter or spring, never in the
summer or autumn. And nearly a hundred years ago, when the river's
shores were bound throughout their great length by primeval forests,
there was less reason to fear at any season. So that on a day of October
in the year eighteen hundred and eleven, the mighty stream lay safely
within its deep bounds flowing quietly on its way to join the Father of
Waters.
So gently it went that there was scarcely a ripple to break its silvery
surface. It seemed indeed hardly to move, reflecting the shadowy
cottonwoods like a long, clear, curving mirror which was