The Romance of Rosy Ridge
Memories
of the brutal Civil War are being kept alive in Rosy Ridge by a recent
rash of mysterious barn-burnings in the area. One night, the Mac Bean
family takes in a passing young vagrant, named Henry Carson. The amiable
harmonicaplaying visitor is given food and shelter by the Mac Bean’s,
and it is only after the passing of many days that Gill discovers
that Henry is a Northerner.
The party, organized by storekeeper Cal Baggett, gets off to a bad
start when one of the guests refuses to dance to a Northern song.
Tension mounts when the guests divide into two groups, the Northerners
on one side, the Southerners on the other. Henry eventually chooses
to align himself with the Northerners, a move that shocks the Mac
Bean’s.
Henry tells the Mac Bean’s that Ben, who was fatally wounded
in a battle and died in his arms, made him promise that he would go
to Rosy Ridge and help his family work the farm. Gill, moved to tears
by Henry's confession, invites the young man to stay and gives his
blessing to marry Lissy Anne.
