," she thought, as she wiped the tears from her eyes, and resumed
her sewing, "our men didn't hev all the strugglin's an' the trials; we
women fought our battles, too; an' ours, afteh all, wuz the hardest
parts."

CHAPTER VI.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

The household at Oaklands presented a singular admixture of diverse
elements working together harmoniously, and blending into a home life
that was thrifty, stirring, and, at the same time, genial and refined.

In Hiram Gilcrest, notwithstanding a certain air of Puritanical
bigotry, there was a strong leaven of integrity and sound sense which
won him much respect from his neighbors. Seeing him in the midst of his
family, one thought him like a tall, vigorous New England fir-tree,
standing sentinel over a garden of blooming children, and protecting
and sheltering the delicate, listless wife who seemed like a frail
hothouse flower which, too late in life, had been transplanted from the
artificial warmth of a greenhouse into an outdoor garden.

The sons, reared in the new and hardy soil of Kentucky, were like
sturdy young shrubs. Betsy, in her youthful bloom and piquancy, was the
type of the fragrant, spicy garden pink; and no one could look at Abby
Patterson without thinking of a June rose.

During the winter Abner Dudley was often at Oaklands. The
undemonstrative yet hearty interest of Hiram Gilcrest, the serene
cordiality of Miss Abby, and the boisterous greeting of the children
made the young Virginian feel himself a welcome guest. But, whether he
discussed affairs of church or school, state or nation with his host,
or listened to Mrs. Gilcrest's somewhat languid conversation, or
parried the sparkling quips and gay repartees of Betsy, he carried away
from these visits very little realizing sense of anything save the
presence and personality of Abby Patterson, whose serene gentleness and
blooming beauty had power to stir within him "all impulse of soul and
of sense."

Another frequent visitor at Oaklands was James Anson Drane, the young
lawyer and land agent of Lexington. In him Dudley at first feared a
formidable rival; but it soon became apparent that Betsy Gilcrest, not
Abby Patterson, was the magnet which drew the young lawyer to Oaklands.
Hiram Gilcrest and Drane's father had been close friends. For this
reason James was ever a welcome guest; and he ingratiated himself into
still greater favor with Major Gilcrest by agreeing with him on all
points, whene