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"A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill" by Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice is a novel likely written in the early 20th century. The story unfolds in a Southern Kentucky setting, particularly focusing on the lives of the Carsey family and their interactions with the surrounding community, as well as the budding romance between Miss Lady Carsey and the newcomer, Don Morley. At the start of the narrative, we are introduced to the picturesque yet somewhat decaying Thornwood mansion, symbolizing a blend of nostalgia and the passage of time. Colonel Bob Carsey, the affectionate yet gruff father, and his spirited daughter, Miss Lady, engage in playful banter that reveals their close relationship. Their discussion shifts between the Colonel's desire for Miss Lady to avoid the charms of the city-bred Don Morley and Miss Lady's enthusiasm for their budding friendship. The opening establishes a rich backdrop of themes related to love, personal ambitions, societal expectations, and the enchanting yet turbulent

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It was springtime in Kentucky, gay, irresponsible, Southern springtime,
that comes bursting impetuously through highways and byways, heedless of
possible frosts and impossible fruitions. A glamour of tender new green
enveloped the world, and the air was sweet with the odor of young and
growing things. The brown river, streaked with green where the fresher
currents of the creeks poured in, circled the base of a long hill that
dominated the landscape from every direction.

In spite of the fact that impertinent railroads were beginning to crawl
about its feet, and the flotsam and jetsam of the adjacent city were
gradually being deposited at its base, it nevertheless reared its
granite shoulders proudly and defiantly against the sky.

From the early days when the hill and rich surrounding farm lands
had been granted to the old pioneer William Carsey, one generation of
Carseys after another had lived in the stately old mansion that now
stood like the last remaining fortress against the city's invasion.
Sagging cornices and discolored walls had not dispelled the atmosphere
of contentment that enveloped the place, an effect heightened by the
wide front porch which ran straight across the face of it, like a
broad, complacent smile. Some old houses, like old gallants, bear
an unmistakable air of past prosperity, of past affairs. Romance has
trailed her garments near them and the fragrance lingers.

Thornwood, shabby and neglected, could still afford to drowse in the
sunshine and smile over the past. It remembered the time when its
hospitality was the boast of the countryside, when its stables held the
best string of horses in the State; when its smokehouse, now groaning
under a pile of lumber, sheltered shoulders of pork, and sides of bacon,
and long lines of juicy, sugar-cured

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