Westover of Wanalah: A story of love and life in Old Virginia

A STORY OF LOVE AND LIFE IN OLD VIRGINIA
GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON
ILLUSTRATED BY EMIL POLLAK OTTENDORFF
BOSTON LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
Published, August, 1910 Copyright, 1910, By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. All rights reserved WESTOVER OF WANALAH Norwood Press Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U. S. A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS
Westover of Wanalah
One midsummer morning in the late eighteen-fifties, Boyd Westover of Wanalah was riding along a Virginia plantation road, accompanied by half a dozen hounds, for whose discipline and restraint he carried a long, flexible black-snake whip. The weapon played the part of sceptre rather than that of sword. The young man had no intention of striking the dogs with it, but whenever their exuberance broke bounds he cracked the lash in air, making a report like that of a pistol shot, and the reminder of his authority was quite sufficient for purposes of canine discipline.
He was not hunting. He was merely riding to a distant part of the plantation he controlled, to inspect the work of the negroes there and to give directions for its proper doing. But he liked the company of his dogs and enjoyed their mad relish of the morning.