The Project Gutenberg EBook of Over Paradise Ridge, by Maria Thompson Daviess

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Title: Over Paradise Ridge
A Romance

Author: Maria Thompson Daviess

Release Date: March 3, 2005 [EBook #15243]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: "I GOT A CALL--A LAND CALL THAT I HAD TO ANSWER."]

PARADISE RIDGE

A ROMANCE

BY

MARIA THOMPSON DAVIESS

AUTHOR OF

"THE MELTING OF MOLLY" ETC.

ILLUSTRATED

TO

BERNICE LANIER DICKINSON

CONTENTS

CHAP.

I. THE BOOK OF FOOD

II. THE BOOK OF SHELTER

III. THE BOOK OF LAUGHTER

IV. THE BOOK OF LOVE

ILLUSTRATIONS

"I GOT A CALL--A LAND CALL THAT I HAD TO ANSWER"

THE BYRD WAS ATTIRED IN MINIATURES OF SAM'S OVERALLS

OVER PARADISE RIDGE

I

THE BOOK OF FOOD

Nobody knows what starts the sap along the twigs of a very young,
tender, and green woman's nature. In my case it was Samuel Foster
Crittenden, though how could he have counted on the amount of
Grandmother Nelson that was planted deep in my disposition, ready to
spring up and bear fruit as soon as I was brought in direct acquaintance
with a seed-basket and a garden hoe? Also why should Sam's return to a
primitive state have forced my ancestry up to the point of flowering on
the surface? I do hope Sam will not have to suffer consequences, but I
can't help it if he does. What's born in us is not our fault.

"Yes, Betty, I know I'm an awful shock to you as a farmer. I ought to
have impressed it on you more thoroughly before you--you saw me in the
act. I'm sorry, dear," Sam comforted me gently and tenderly as I wept
with dismay into the sleeve of his faded blue overalls.

"I can't understand it," I sniffed as I held on to his sustaining hand
while I balanced with him on the top of an old, moss-covered stone wall
he had begged me to climb to for a view of Harpeth Valley which he
thought might turn my attention from him. "Have y