Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Heart of the Blue Ridge The Illustrations Shown in this Edition are Reproductions of Scenes from the Photo-Play of "Heart of the Blue Ridge," with Clara Kimball Young as the Heroine, Under the Direction of Lewis J. Selznick, to whom The Publishers Desire to Express Their Thanks and Appreciation for Permission to Use the Pictures. [Illustration: _Clara Kimball Young under the direction of Lewis J. Selznick._ PLUTINA.] HEART OF THE BLUE RIDGE BY WALDRON BAILY ILLUSTRATED WITH SCENES FROM THE PHOTOPLAY, WITH CLARA KIMBALL YOUNG AS THE HEROINE, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF LEWIS J. SELZNICK [Illustration] NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1915, by W. J. WATT & COMPANY TO Irving Bacheller WITH THE APPRECIATION OF THE AUTHOR Heart of the Blue Ridge HEART OF THE BLUE RIDGE CHAPTER I Where the trail bent over a knoll, Zeke halted, and put down from his shoulder the hickory cudgel with its dangling valise of black oilcloth--total of baggage with which he was faring forth into the world. Then, he straightened himself, and looked back over the way he had come. There, to the east, the dusk of night still lay somberly, hardly touched by the coming dawn. Through the shadows, the mountain masses loomed formidable and mysterious, vaguely outlined against the deeper gloom of valleys. The melancholy of the scene seemed a fit setting for the cottage that rested invisible within the forest, a half-mile distant from him. In imagination, he saw the withered old woman, his mother, still standing on the threshold, looking toward him, even as he looked toward her, her heart warm with love, her every thought a prayer for his happiness. It was borne in on Zeke once again that she would be very lonely in her desolate home, where death had spared to her only this son.... And, now, he was gone from her! A poignant sorrow welled in him. Zeke thrust the emotion away, lest it unman him. He faced about, drearily enough, and stood with downcast, unseeing eyes, in anxious pondering. And then, presently, assuagement was granted him. He lifted his gaze, and behold! here was another world, all of soft splendors, of throbbing radiance.