A dan I s Wife 307 



been in its prime. Nowhere such a spring as that 

 which is now called the "Pearl of the Park." 

 Clearer or cooler streams could nowhere steal from 

 the roots of the mountains, ever running and ever 

 singing, to the river in the valley. There were yet 

 remnants of the forest of chestnut and pine. The 

 clouds yet hung, of a spring morning, along the 

 mountain-sides. The blue haze was still there, 

 softening the distance. It was in this, then fresh, 

 paradise that the new little Eve was born, and in 

 which she was as free as a bird. Her father was 

 superintendent of new and extensive iron mines 

 then opened in the mountain. Among other duties 

 he looked after the wood-choppers and charcoal- 

 burners in the mountains, and thus was much on 

 horseback, often with his little Eve as his favorite 

 companion. Vacation days he went hunting or 

 fishing, always taking the little girl along. Thus 

 she came to know the country all about, and as 

 every one knew the superintendent's daughter — the 

 proprietors of the works, the miners, foresters, coal- 

 burners, teamsters, Sunday-school teachers, and all 

 — she received kindness wherever she went, and thus 

 was without fear. She did not even fear the rattle- 

 snakes — great shiny, mottled fellows which sounded 

 their alarm to warn her to keep out of danger. She 

 must have been quite young the day when she went 

 up the mountain to gather dewberries, and was 

 noticed by a passing teamster as she stood looking 

 at a great "rattler. " He led her out of danger, 



