A Tale from the Hills Read Online Free PDF

families perished before the disease had run its course.
    Every member of Tom’s family in Alleghany County, with the exception of a sister, Eunice, died during the epidemic. While her family was so deathly ill and the farm was quarantined, she never got sick. Eunice nursed her family as best as she could, but when everything was said and done, there was nothing much that she could do. She tried to keep them clean and dry. she wiped blood from the noses, and ears, and mouths, and she prayed for them every waking moment. A wagon moved slowly down the dirt road everyday, carrying the latest victims of the deadly plague. When the wagon left the Hill family farm for the last time, Eunice was all alone.
    As cruel as Tom’s father had been on that fateful day that he ordered Tom to leave, he probably saved his life. The isolation of Jewel Ridge Mountain protected Tom and his young wife from both the cruelty of the war and the great plague that followed.
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    Chapter Four  
    The last week of October ushered in high winds and heavy rains. The beautiful leaves were all but gone and the mountains had taken on a stark appearance. Except for an occasional patch of green from the pines, the trees appeared to be reaching for the sky with arthritic hands and bony fingers. The eerie atmosphere seemed appropriate for the week before Halloween. Night was approaching earliereach day, and ghostly shadows were forming in the hollows as the children were walking home from school.
    The Hill children were not familiar with the traditions of Halloween, when stories began circulating around Mountain School. The older students took great pleasure in taunting the younger kids about ghosts and goblins. Even kids without the knowledge of “All Hallows Eve”, have nightmares, so the stories seemed to validate their fears. Most of the stories were based upon a fear of strangers and other suspicious people who went creeping around at night, or wild animals that waited to pounce upon an unsuspecting child. The little girls and even some of the little boys dared not go to the outhouses by themselves. The week leading up to, and the weeks immediately after Halloween had more accidents involving bodily functions than any other time of the school year.
    In order to maintain some degree of control, Mrs. Boatwright and some of the teachers devised a Halloween diversion, in the form of a contest. Students could submit an essay on the Friday before Halloween, which happened to fall on Monday. Since the younger students were not prolific enough to write an essay, they could submit a drawing with a Halloween theme. Mrs. Boatwright would judge the entries over the weekend and the winners would be announced on Monday, Halloween day. There would be two first place winners in each category; essay and drawing. There would also be two second place winners with two honorable mentions. Since most of the students did not want other students to steal their ideas, the scary tactics practically stopped. As an added bonus, the teachers set aside thirty minutes each day after lunch in order for the students to work on their projects during a part of the school day. During that thirty minute break most of the younger students went to sleep. The older kids leafed through books and periodicals for any tidbits of information that might give them an edge over their competition.
    When the Hill children were old enough to be curious about the things around them, they asked their daddy how the Creeper Railroad got its name. He did not know any of the history of the area, so he did what most fathers do, he made up a story. He wanted the story to be somewhat scary, so that the children would not dare venture on to the deadly tracks. They lived so close to the tracks that every time the train whistle blew, a shiver went up his spine. One day the train hit something in front of their tiny house and he panicked before he discovered that it was a deer.
    As an answer to their question