(Title) THE BATTLE-OMEN 00000100 The Latest Incident of this nature is said to have occurred on a cold, 00000200 bright evening, during the winter that preceded the first actual 00000300 hostilities in our great War. Two young men were returning from 00000400 one of those military meetings, which the aspect of the times had 00000500 rendered common throughout the country, and in which their education 00000600 and active talents had given each of them a degree of authority. 00000700 Their path lay over the frozen surface of a lake, extending two or 00000800 three miles between the northern and south-western shores. Behind 00000900 the travellers was the village from which they came,--a few dark 00001000 houses in distant visibility upon the snow, and the white spire of the 00001100 Church as strongly relieved against the sky; before them, and at still 00001200 a greater distance, appeared their own more solitary home; and around 00001300 all the remaining horizon stretched the forest, as desolate as if human 00001400 foot had never trod there. The frosty sky glittered as if with 00001500 diamonds above their heads; while the lake beneath them was scarcely 00001600 less brilliant, except where its snowy mantle had been blown aside, 00001700 so as to afford a glimpse of its black and inscrutable heart. The 00001800 young men pursued their way rapidly, inhaling fresh cheerfulness with 00001900 each draught of the elastic atmosphere. Merrily trod they over the 00002000 crumpling snow, or slid across the long intervals of glary ice, singing 00002100 and laughing till the sky and the far shores caught the spirit of their 00002200 lonely mirth and sent it back to them. At times, also, they spoke of 00002300 the 00002400 approaching contest, almost forgetting the threatened ruin of their 00002500 country, in the stirring prospects which were opened to youthful 00002600 ambition. 00002700 #"Is it not strange," said one of the young men, laughingly, "that these00002800 near commotions are foretold by none of the wild oracles, which our 00002900 fathers were wont to hear, on occasions of so much less interest? There00003000 petty warfare,--in which the utmost damage amounted to no more than the 00003100 burning of a few farm-houses, and here and there a husbandman slain in 00003200 his 00003300 corn field,--was invariably preceded by signs and omens, as if all 00003400 Nature were affrighted at the prospect of an Indian campaign. Now, here00003500 we stand on the verge of a war that may chance to separate two worlds, 00003600 and not so much as a trumpet in the air has sounded its approach." 00003700 #"True; the Pilgrims were a favored people," said his companion, 00003800 whose earlier life had not been spent in the vicinity where he now 00003900 found himself. "But if we had inherited the gloom of their religious 00004000 faith, the winds in the forest, and the meteors in the sky, would 00004100 have prophesied also to us." 00004200 #"You must not suppose," rejoined the other, "that these supernatural 00004300 warnings were witnessed only by persons of peculiar sanctity, or that 00004400 that they were wholly confined to the earliest days of the country. 00004500 Indeed, it was an instance to the contrary in both these respects, 00004600 (the scene of which is not far distant,) that drew from me my first 00004700 remark. Do you see yonder dark speck in the snow? Some fifty years 00004800 since, a fisherman made his boat fast to that rock;--intent either on 00004900 on his hook and line, or upon a brown jug, he tarried till late in the 00005000 summer evening; and when he landed, he had a strange story to astonish 00005100 his neighbors withal." 00005200 #"We will rest there awhile, and you shall tell me the legend on the 00005300 very spot," said his friend. 00005400 #The insulated rock rose two or three feet above the ice, and was 00005500 covered with rudely engraved characters attributed to the Indians, a 00005600 powerful tribe of whom have left the memorials of their existence and 00005700 annihilation round all the borders of that lake. The story which has 00005800 been alluded to was one of a numerous class, often to be met with in the00005900 traditions of New England, and sanctioned by the sober pages of her 00006000 old historians. A benighted fisherman had heard a sound of martial 00006100 music in the air above him, coming from the direction of the Canadas, 00006200 (whence both the savage and civilized enemies of the country might be 00006300 expected to advance,) and passing onward to the settlements on the sea 00006400 coast. Most of the apocryphal beliefs of the Puritans were the result 00006500 of strong, but not of elevated imagination, and what was terrible in 00006600 them has lost its effect upon modern minds, by the too frequent 00006700 admixture of the ludicrous and disgusting. But this remark is 00006800 inapplicable to all the signs and wonders by which they were warned of 00006900 approaching war. These superstitions (if it be consistent, just now, 00007000 to term them so) were the coinage of perilous and awful moments; 00007100 they imbibed a desolate romance from the circumstances which formed 00007200 them, and neither purification nor ornament could render them more 00007300 poetical than when they issued from the hearts of our forefathers. The 00007400 presage by the sound of drum and trumpet was peculiarly grand and 00007500 lofty, but it would have been too cold in its magnificence, if a most 00007600 singular opinion had not increased its power over human sympathies. 00007700 There was a dim and indefinite idea, that the shadowy tread of the 00007800 destined victims, the future slain of unfought battle-fields, might 00007900 be heard to accompany the prophetic music through the sky. 00008000 #In such subjects as these the young men became gradually engaged, till 00008100 their talk acquired the earnestness of deep belief. The wind, 00008200 as it howled over the snowy waste and buried itself in the forest, began00008300 to startle them by its resemblance to the spiritual minstrelsy, and the 00008400 ice-crack, thundering heavily from shore to shore, rang upon their ears 00008500 like the roar of cannon. And the Northern Lights--(Fancy's own 00008600 Watch-Fires now gleaming and quivering far towards the middle sky, so as00008700 to throw their mysterious radiance over the Milky Way)--might readily 00008800 have assumed the aspect of armed hosts and flaming towns, apparitions 00008900 not unknown to the men of olden time. After a silence, which had fallen00009000 on them they knew not how, one of the travellers laid his hand upon 00009100 his companion's arm. 00009200 #"Surely our comrades had separated long ago," whispered he, looking 00009300 towards the village--"why do they beat the drum at such an hour?" 00009400 #The church steeple, its attendant houses, and the snowy ascent upon 00009500 which they stood, were distinctly visible, but there was no token of 00009600 wakefulness anywhere about them. As the young men gazed, another 00009700 far off and uncertain swell, like the ghost of music, just grazed upon 00009800 their ears. 00009900 #"The sound came out from thence," said they both, shuddering as they 00010000 drew closer to each other. 00010100 #A third and nearer repetition of the same phenomenon now marked its 00010200 origin as in the east, where the wilderness lay dark and desolate for 00010300 many a mile, undisturbed from the creation till that hour by other 00010400 notes than those of an Indian War Song. Again they heard it, low 00010500 down towards the horizon, but ascending along the arch of the sky, 00010600 alternately pealing forth as with the full breath of many instruments, 00010700 and then dying away till the ear scarce caught its murmur--even in its 00010800 loudest tones there was such unreality, that the listeners doubted 00010900 whether all were not the echo of their own excited thoughts. The 00011000 clarion was there, the drum, the cymbal, and every instrument of 00011100 music that should quicken the soul to war; but the notes of all 00011200 were sad and solemn, like the evening wind that sighs over a field 00011300 of victory, or like the stately and mournful march with which a hero is 00011400 borne to his grave. As the sound kept onward in its airy course, 00011500 the stars still twinkled brightly, and there was neither substance nor 00011600 shadow, nor so much as a thought-like cloud, between them and the 00011700 earth. There was no echo from the shore and sky, but only that 00011800 mysterious music, passing on in solitude. And yet, for one brief 00011900 moment, the solitude seemed broken by the clash of arms, the rustle 00012000 and waving of garments, the undefinable hum of a viewless multitude, 00012100 journeying through the awful brightness of the night. Then came 00012200 familiar voices--there were two that spoke and replied--and the young 00012300 men gazed at each other, deeming that their own bloodless lips had 00012400 moved. A mighty peal of harmony broke forth, as the omen swept 00012500 above their heads; it died away in regular gradations till the western 00012600 woods received it into their bosom; and there its distant wail was 00012700 lost. 00012800 00000100 00000200 (Title)THE HAUNTED QUACK 00000300 #In the summer of 18--, I made an excursion to Niagara. At Schenectady,00000400 finding the roads nearly impassable, I took passage in a canal boat for 00000500 Utica. The weather was dull and lowering. There were but few 00000600 passengers on board; and of those few, none were sufficiently inviting 00000700 in appearance, to induce me to make any overtures to a travelling 00000800 acquaintance. A stupid answer, or a surly monosyllable, were all 00000900 that I got in return for the few simple questions I hazarded. An 00001000 occasional drizzling rain, and the wet and slippery condition of the tow00001100 path, along which the lazy beasts that dragged the vessel travelled, 00001200 rendered it impossible to vary the monotony of the scene by walking. I 00001300 had neglected to provide myself with books, and as we crept along at 00001400 the dull rate of four miles per hour, I soon felt the foul fiend Ennui 00001500 coming upon me with all her horrors. 00001600 #'Time and the hour,' however, 'runs through the roughest day,' and 00001700 night at length approached. By degrees the passengers, seemingly tired 00001800 of each other's company, began to creep slowly away to their berths; 00001900 most of them fortifying themselves with a potation, before resigning 00002000 themselves to the embrace of Morpheus. One called for a glass of 00002100 hot whiskey punch, because he felt cold; another took some brandy toddy 00002200 to prevent his taking cold; some took mint julaps; some gin-slings, and 00002300 some rum and water. One took his dram because he felt sick; another to 00002400 make him sleep well; and a third because he had nothing else to do. The00002500 last who retired from the cabin, was an old gentleman who had been 00002600 deeply engaged in a well thumbed volume all day, and whose mental 00002700 abstraction I had more than once envied. He now laid down his book, 00002800 and, 00002900 pulling out a red nightcap, called for a pint of beer, to take the 00003000 vapors out of his head. 00003100 #As soon as he had left the cabin, I took up the volume, and found it 00003200 to be Glanville's marvellous book, entitled the History of Witches, 00003300 or the Wonders of the Invisible World Displayed. I began to peruse it, 00003400 and soon got so deeply interested in some of his wonderful narrations, 00003500 that the hours slipped unconsciously away, and midnight found me 00003600 poring half asleep over the pages. From the dreamy state I was suddenly00003700 aroused by a muttering, as of a suppressed voice, broken by groans 00003800 and sounds of distress. Upon looking round, I saw that they proceeded 00003900 from the figure of a man enveloped in a cloak, who was lying asleep 00004000 upon one of the benches of the cabin, wh om I had not previously 00004100 noticed. I recognized him to be a young man, with whose singular 00004200 appearance and behaviour during the day, I had been struck. He was 00004300 tall and thin in person, rather shabbily dressed, with long, lank, 00004400 black hair, and large grey eyes, which gave a visionary character to 00004500 one of the most pallid, and cadaverous countenances I had ever 00004600 beheld. Since he had come on board, he had appeared restless 00004700 and unquiet, keeping away from the table at meal times, and seeming 00004800 averse from entering into conversation with the passengers. Once or 00004900 twice, on catching my eye, he had slunk away as if, conscience smitten 00005000 by the remembrance of some crime, he dreaded to meet the gaze of a 00005100 fellow mortal. From this behaviour I suspected that he was either a 00005200 fugitive from justice, or else a little disordered in mind; and had 00005300 resolved to keep my eye on him and observe what course he should take 00005400 when we reached Utica. 00005500 #Supposing that the poor fellow was now under the influence of 00005600 nightmare, I got up with the intention of giving him a shake to rouse 00005700 him, when the words, 'murder,' 'poison,' and others of extraordinary 00005800 import, dropping unconnectedly from his lips, induced me to stay my 00005900 hand. 'Go away, go away,' exclaimed he, as if conscious of my approach, 00006000 but mistaking me for another. 'Why do you continue to torment me? If I 00006100 did poison you, I didn't mean to do it, and they can't make that out 00006200 more than manslaughter. Besides, what's the use of haunting me now? 00006300 An't I going to give myself up, and tell all? Begone! I say, you 00006400 bloody old hag, begone!' Here the bands of slumber were broken by 00006500 the intensity of his feelings, and with a wild expression of countenance00006600 and a frame shaking with emotion, he started from the bench, and stood 00006700 trembling before me. 00006800 #Though convinced that he was a criminal, I could not help pitying 00006900 him from the forlorn appearance he now exhibited. As soon as he 00007000 had collected his wandering ideas, it seemed as if he read in my 00007100 countenance, the mingled sentiments of pity and abhorrence, with which I00007200 regarded him. Looking anxiously around, and seeing that we were 00007300 alone, he drew the corner of the bench towards me, and sitting 00007400 down, with an apparent effort to command his feelings, thus addressed 00007500 me. His tone of voice was calm, and distinct; and his countenance, 00007600 though deadly pale, was composed. 00007700 #'I see, Sir, that from what I am conscious of having uttered in my 00007800 disturbed sleep, you suspect me of some horrid crime. You are right. 00007900 My conscience convicts me, and an awful nightly visitation, worse than 00008000 the waking pangs of remorse, compels me to confess it. Yes, I am a 00008100 murderer. I have been the unhappy cause of blotting out the life of 00008200 a fellow being from the page of human existence. In these pallid 00008300 features, you may read enstamped, in the same characters which the 00008400 first murderer bore upon his brow, Guilt--guilt--guilt!' 00008500 #Here the poor young man paused, evidently agitated by strong internal 00008600 emotion. Collecting himself, however, in a few moments, he thus 00008700 continued. 00008800 #'Yet still, when you have heard my sad story, I think you will 00008900 bestow upon me your pity. I feel that there is no peace for me, until 00009000 I have disburthened my mind. Your countenance promises sympathy. 00009100 Will you listen to my unhappy narrative?' 00009200 #My curiosity being strongly excited by this strange exordium, I told 00009300 him I was ready to hear whatever he had to communicate. Upon this, 00009400 he proceeded as follows. 00009500 #'My name is Hippocrates Jenkins. I was born in Nantucket, but my 00009600 father emigrated to these parts when I was young. I grew up in one 00009700 of the most flourishing villages on the borders of the canal. My 00009800 father and mother both dying of the lake fever, I was bound 00009900 apprentice to an eminent operative in the boot and shoe making line, 00010000 who had lately come from New York. Would that I had remained content 00010100 with this simple and useful profession. Would that I had stuck to my 00010200 waxed ends and awl, and never undertaken to cobble up people's bodies. 00010300 But my legs grew tired of being trussed beneath my haunches; my elbows 00010400 wearied with their monotonous motion; my eyes became dim with gazing 00010500 forever upon the dull brick wall which faced our shop window; and 00010600 my whole heart was sick of my sedentary, and, as I foolishly deemed it, 00010700 particularly mean occupation. My time was nearly expired, and I had 00010800 long resolved, should any opportunity offer of getting into any other 00010900 employment, I would speedily embrace it. 00011000 #'I had always entertained a predilection for the study of medicine. 00011100 What had given my mind this bias, I know not. Perhaps it was the 00011200 perusal of an old volume of Doctor Buchan, over whose pages it was the 00011300 delight of my youthful fancy to pore. Perhaps it was the oddness of my 00011400 Christian cognomen, which surely was given me by my parents in a 00011500 prophetic hour. Be this as it may, the summit of my earthly happiness 00011600 was to be a doctor. Conceive then my delight and surprise, one 00011700 Saturday evening, after having carried home a pair of new white-topped 00011800 boots for Doctor Emphraim Ramshorne, who made the cure of bodies his 00011900 care, in the village, to hear him ask me, how I should like to be a 00012000 doctor. He then very generously offered to take me as a student. 00012100 From my earliest recollections, the person and character of Doctor 00012200 Ramshorne, had been regarded by me with the most profound and awful 00012300 admiration. Time out of mind the successful practitioner for many 00012400 miles around, I had looked upon him as the beau ideal of a doctor--a 00012500 very 00012600 Apollo in the healing art. When I speak of him, however, as the 00012700 successful practitioner, I mean it not to be inferred that death was 00012800 less busy in his doings, or funerals scarcer during his dynasty; but 00012900 only that he had, by some means or other, contrived to force all those 00013000 who had ventured to contest the palm with him, to quit the field. He 00013100 was large and robust in person, and his ruby visage showed that if 00013200 he grew fat upon drugs, it was not by swallowing them himself. It was 00013300 never exactly ascertained from what college the Doctor had received 00013400 his diploma; nor was he very forward to exhibit his credentials. 00013500 When hard pressed, however, he would produce a musty old roll of 00013600 parchment, with a red seal as broad as the palm of his hand, which 00013700 looked as if it might have been the identical diploma of the great 00013800 Boerhaave himself, and some cramp manuscript of a dozen pages, in 00013900 an unknown tongue, said by the Doctor to be his Greek thesis. These 00014000 documents were enough to satisfy the doubts of the most sceptical. 00014100 By the simple country people, far and near, the Doctor was regarded, 00014200 in point of occult knowledge and skill, as a second Faustus. It is 00014300 true the village lawyer, a rival in popularity, used to whisper, 00014400 that the Doctor's Greek thesis was nothing but a bundle of 00014500 prescriptions for the bots, wind-galls, spavins, and other veterinary 00014600 complaints, written in high Dutch by a Hessian horse doctor; that the 00014700 diploma was all a sham, and that Ephraim was no more a doctor than his 00014800 jack-ass. But these assertions were all put down to the score of envy 00014900 -16000 00015000 of two remarkable cures, which he was said to have performed, and by 00015100 dint of wheedling some and bullying others, it was certain that 00015200 Ramshorne had worked himself into very good practice. The Doctor united00015300 in his own person, the attributes of apothecary and physician; and as 00015400 he vended, as well as prescribed his own drugs, it was not his interest 00015500 to stint his patients in their enormous bolouses, or nauseaous draughts.00015600 His former medical student had been worried into a consumption over the 00015700 mortar and pestle; in consequence of which, he had pitched upon me for 00015800 his successor. 00015900 #'By the kindness of a few friends, I was fitted out with the necessary 00016000 requisitions for my metamorphosis. The Doctor required no fee, and, in 00016100 consideration of certain little services to be rendered him, such as 00016200 taking care of his horse, cleaning his boots, running errands, and 00016300 dong little jobs about the house, had promised to board and lodge me, 00016400 besides giving me my professional education. So with a rusty suit 00016500 of black, and an old plaid cloak, behold equipped the disciple of 00016600 Esculapius. 00016700 #'I cannot describe my elation of mind, when I found myself fairly 00016800 installed in the Doctor's office. Golden visions floated before my 00016900 eyes. I fancied my fortune already made, and blessed my happy star, 00017000 that had fallen under the benign influence of so munificent a patron. 00017100 #'The Doctor's office, as it was called par excellence, was a little 00017200 nook of a room, communicating with a larger apartment denominated 00017300 the shop. The paraphernalia of this latter place had gotten 00017400 somewhat into disorder since the last student had gone away, and I 00017500 soon learnt that it was to be my task to arrange the heterogeneous 00017600 mass of bottles, boxes, and gallipots, that were strewed about in 00017700 promiscuous confusion. In the office, there was a greater appearance 00017800 of order. A small regiment of musty looking books, were drawn up 00017900 in line upon a couple of shelves, where, to judge from the 00018000 superincumbent strata of dust, they appeared to have peacefully 00018100 reposed for many years. A ricketty wooden clock, which the Doctor 00018200 had taken in part payment from a pedlar, and the vital functions 00018300 of which, to use his own expression, had long since ceased to act, 00018400 stood in one corner. A mouldy plaster bust of some unknown worthy, 00018500 a few bottles of pickled, and one or two dried specimens of morbid 00018600 anatomy, a small chest of drawers, a table, and a couple of chairs, 00018700 completed the furniture of the sanctum. The single window commanded 00018800 a view of the church-yard, in which, it was said, many of the Doctor's 00018900 former patients were quietly slumbering. With a feeling of reverence 00019000 I ventured to dislodge one of the dusty tomes, and began to try to 00019100 puzzle out the hard words with which it abounded; when suddenly, as if 00019200 he 00019300 had been conjured back, like the evil one by Cornelius Agrippa's book, 00019400 the Doctor made his appearance. With a gruff air, he snatched the 00019500 volume from my hands, and telling me not to meddle with what I could not00019600 understand, bade me go and take care of his horse, and make haste back, 00019700 as he wanted me to spread a pitch plaster, and carry the same, with a 00019800 bottle of his patent catholicon, to farmer Van Pelt, who had the 00019900 rheumatism. On my return, I was ordered by Mrs. Ramshorne to split 00020000 some wood, and kindle a fire in the parlour, as she expected company; 00020100 after which Miss Euphemia Ramshorne, a sentimental young lady, who 00020200 was as crooked in person and crabbed in temper as her own name, 00020300 despatched me to the village circulating library, in quest of the 00020400 Mysteries of Udolpho. I soon found out that my place was no sinecure. 00020500 The greater part of my time was occupied in compounding certain quack 00020600 medicines of Ramshorn's own invention, from which he derived great 00020700 celebrity, and no inconsiderable profit. Besides his patent catholicon,00020800 and universal panacea, there was his anti-pertusso-balsamico drops, 00020900 his patent calorific refrigerating anodyne, and his golden restorative 00021000 of nature. Into the business of compounding these, and other articles 00021100 with similar high-sounding titles, I was gradually initiated, and soon 00021200 acquired so much skill in their manipulation, that my services became 00021300 indispensable to my master; so much so, that he was obliged to hire a 00021400 little negro to take care of his horse, and clean his boots. What 00021500 chiefly reconciled me to the drudgery of the shop, was the seeing how 00021600 well the Doctor got paid for his villainous compounds. A mixture of a 00021700 little brick dust, rosin and treacle, dignified with the title of the 00021800 anthelminthic amalgam, he sold for half a dollar; and a bottle of 00021900 vinegar and alum, with a little rose water to give it a flavor, 00022000 yclept the antiscrofulous abstergent lotion, brought twice that sum. 00022100 I longed for the day when I should dispense my own medicines and in 00022200 my hours of castle-building, looked forward to fortunes far beyond 00022300 those of the renowned Dr. Solomon. Alas! my fond hopes have been 00022400 blighted in their bud. I have drunk deeply of the nauseous draught 00022500 of adversity, and been forced to swallow many bitter pills of 00022600 disappointment. But I find I am beginning to smell of the shop. I 00022700 must return to my sad tale. The same accident, which not 00022800 unfrequently before had put a sudden stop to the Doctor's 00022900 patients' taking any more of his nostrums, at length prevented him 00023000 from reaping any longer their golden harvest. One afternoon, 00023100 after having dined with his friend, Squire Gobbledown, he came 00023200 home, and complained of not feeling very well. By his directions, 00023300 I prepared for him some of his elixir sanitatis, composed of brandy 00023400 and bitters, of which he took an inordinate dose. Shortly after, 00023500 he was seized with a fit of apoplexy, and before bedtime, in spite 00023600 of all the drugs in the shop, which I poured down with unsparing 00023700 hand, he had breathed his last. In three days, Ramshorne was quietly 00023800 deposited in the churchyard, in the midst of those he had sent there 00023900 before him. 00024000 #'Having resided with the Doctor for several years, I had become 00024100 pretty well known throughout the neighborhood, particularly among 00024200 the old ladies, whose good graces I had always sedulously cultivated. 00024300 I accordingly resolved to commence quacking--I mean practising--on my 00024400 own account. Having obtained my late master's stock of drugs from 00024500 his widow at an easy rate, and displaying my own name in golden 00024600 letters as his successor, to work I went, with the internal resolve 00024700 that where Ramshorne had given one dose, I would give six. 00024800 #'For a time, Fortune seemed to smile upon me, and everything went 00024900 on well. All the old women were loud in sounding my praises, far and 00025000 near. The medicaments of my master continued to be in demand, and 00025100 treacle, brick dust, and alum came to a good market. Some drawbacks, 00025200 however, I occasionally met with. Having purchased the patent right 00025300 of one of Thompson's steam baths, in my first experiment I came near 00025400 flaying alive a rheumatic tanner, who had submitted himself to the 00025500 operation. By an unfortunate mistake in regulating the steam, he 00025600 was nearly parboiled; and it was supposed that the thickness of his 00025700 hide alone preserved his vitals uninjured. I was myself threatened 00025800 with the fate of Marsyas, by the enraged sufferer; which he was happily 00025900 prevented from attempting to inflict, by a return of his malady, which 00026000 has never since left him. I, however, after this gave up steaming, 00026100 and confined myself to regular practice. At length, either the 00026200 charm of novelty wearing off, or people beginning to discover the 00026300 inefficacy of the old nostrums, I was obliged to exert my wit to 00026400 invent new ones. These I generally took the precaution to try 00026500 upon cats or dogs, before using them upon the human system. They 00026600 were, however, mostly of an innocent nature, and I satisfied my 00026700 conscience with the reflection, that if they did no good, they could 00026800 at least do no harm. Happy would it have been for me, could I always 00026900 have done thus. Meeting with success in my first efforts, I by degrees 00027000 ventured upon more active ingredients. At length, in an evil hour, I 00027100 invented a curious mixture, composed of forty-nine different articles. 00027200 This I dubbed in high flowing terms, "The Antidote to Death, or the 00027300 Eternal Elixir of Longevity;" knowing full well, that though 00027400 #"A rose might smell as sweet by any other name," 00027500 yet would not my drugs find as good a sale under a more humble title. 00027600 This cursed compound proved the antidote to all my hopes of success. 00027700 Besides forcing me to quit the village in a confounded hurry, it has 00027800 embittered my life ever since, and reduced me to the ragged and 00027900 and miserable plight in which you see me. 00028000 #'I dare say you have met with that species of old women, so frequent 00028100 in all country towns, who, seeming to have outlived the common 00028200 enjoyments of life, and outworn the ordinary sources of excitement, 00028300 seek fresh stimulus in scenes of distress, and appear to take a morbid 00028400 pleasure in beholding the varieties of human suffering, and misery. One00028500 of the most noted characters in the village was an old beldame of this 00028600 description. Granny Gordon, so she was familiarly denominated, was the 00028700 rib of the village Vulcan, and the din of her eternal tongue, was only 00028800 equalled by the ringing of her husband's anvil. Thin and withered 00028900 away in person and redolent with snuff, she bore no small resemblance 00029000 to a newly exhumed mummy, and to all appearance promised to last as 00029100 long as one of those ancient dames of Egypt. Not a death, a burial, 00029200 a fit of sickness, a casualty, nor any of the common calamities of 00029300 life ever occurred in the vicinity, but Granny Gordon made it her 00029400 especial business to be present. Wrapped in an old scarlet 00029500 cloak--that hideous! the thought of it makes me shudder--she might be 00029600 seen hovering about the dwelling of the sick. Watching her 00029700 opportunity, she would make her way into the patient's chamber, 00029800 and disturb his repose with long dismal stories and ill-boding 00029900 predictions; and if turned from the house, which was not unfrequently 00030000 the case, she would depart, muttering threats and abuse. 00030100 #'As the Indians propitiate the favor of the devil, so had I, in 00030200 my eagerness to acquire popularity, made a firm friend and ally, 00030300 though rather a troublesome one, of this old woman. She was 00030400 one of my best customers, and, provided it was something new, and 00030500 had a high-sounding name to recommend if, would take my most 00030600 nauseous compounds with the greatest relish. Indeed the more 00030700 disgusting was the dose, the greater in her opinion was its 00030800 virtue. 00030900 #'I had just corked the last bottle of my antidote, when a 00031000 message came to tell me, that Granny Gordon had one of her old 00031100 fits, and wanted some new doctor-stuff, as the old physic 00031200 didn't do her any more good. Not having yet given my 00031300 new pharmaceutic preparation a trial, I felt a little doubtful 00031400 about its effects; but trusting to the toughness of the old woman's 00031500 system, I ventured to send a potion, with directions to take it 00031600 cautiously. Not many minutes had elapsed, before the messenger 00031700 returned, in breathless haste, to say that Mrs. Gordon was much 00031800 worse, and that though she had taken all the stuff, they believed 00031900 she was dying. With a vague foreboding of evil, I seized my hat, 00032000 and hastened to the blacksmith's. On entering the chamber my eyes were 00032100 greeted with a sad spectacle. Granny Gordon, bolstered up in the bed, 00032200 holding in her hand the bottle I had sent her, drained of its contents, 00032300 sat grasping for breath, and occasionally agitated by strong 00032400 convulsions. A cold sweat rested on her forehead, her eyes seemed dim 00032500 and glazed, her nose, which was usually of a ruby hue, was purple 00032600 and peaked, and her whole appearance evidently betokened 00032700 approaching dissolution. 00032800 #'Around the bed were collected some half dozen withered beldames, who 00032900 scowled upon me, as I entered, with ill omened visages. Her husband, a 00033000 drunken brute, who used to beat his better half six times a week, 00033100 immediately began to load me with abuse, accusing me of having poisoned 00033200 his dear, dear wife, and threatening to be the death of me, if she died.00033300 #'My conscience smote me. I felt stupified and bewildered, and knew 00033400 not which way to turn. At this moment, the patient perceiving me, with 00033500 a hideous contortion of countenance, the expression of which I shall 00033600 carry to my dying hour, and a voice between a scream and a groan, held 00033700 up the empty bottle, and exclaimed, "This is your doing, you villainous00033800 quack you" (here she was seized with hiccup);--"you have poisoned me, 00033900 you have" (here fearful spasms shook her whole frame);--"but I'll be 00034000 revenged; day and night my ghost shall haunt"--here her voice became 00034100 inarticulate, and shaking her withered arm at me, she fell back, and, 00034200 to my extreme horror, gave up the ghost. This was too much for my 00034300 nerves. I rushed from the house, and ran home with the dying curse 00034400 ringing in my ears, fancying that I saw her hideous physiognomy, 00034500 grinning from every bush and tree that I passed. Knowing that as soon 00034600 as the noise of this affair should get abroad, the village would 00034700 be too hot to hold me, I resolved to decamp as silently as possible. 00034800 First throwing all my recently manufactured anodyne into the canal, 00034900 that it should not rise in judgment against me, I made up a little 00035000 bundle of clothes, and taking my seat in the mail stage, which was 00035100 passing at the time and fortunately empty, in a couple of days I found 00035200 myself in the great city of New York. Having a little money with me, 00035300 I hired a mean apartment in an obscure part of the city, in the hope 00035400 that I might remain concealed till all search after me should be over, 00035500 when I might find some opportunity of getting employment, or of resuming00035600 my old profession, under happier auspices. By degrees the few dollars I00035700 brought with me were expended, and after pawning my watch and some of 00035800 my clothes, I found myself reduced to the last shilling. But not the 00035900 fear of impending starvation, nor the dread of a jail, are to be 00036000 compared to the horrors I nightly suffer. Granny Gordon has been as 00036100 good as her word. Every night, at the solemn hour of twelve' (here 00036200 he looked fearfully around)--'her ghost appears to me, wrapped in a 00036300 red cloak, with her grey hair streaming from beneath an old nightcap 00036400 of the same color, brandishing the vial, and accusing me of having 00036500 poisoned her. These visitations have at length become so 00036600 insupportable, that I have resolved to return and give myself up to 00036700 justice; for I feel that hanging itself is better than this state of 00036800 torment.' 00036900 #Here the young man ceased. I plainly saw that he was a little 00037000 disordered in his intellect. To comfort him, however, I told 00037100 him, that if he had killed fifty old women, they could do nothing to 00037200 him, if he had done it professionally. And as for the ghost, we 00037300 would take means to have that put at rest, when we reached Utica. 00037400 #'About the grey of the morning, we arrived at the place of our 00037500 destination. My protege having unburthened his mind, seemed more at 00037600 ease, and taking a mint julap, prepared to accompany me on shore. 00037700 As we were leaving the boat, several persons in a wagon drove down 00037800 to the wharf. As soon as my companion observed the, he exclaimed 00037900 with a start of surprise, 'Hang me, if there isn't old Graham the 00038000 sheriff, with lawyer Dickson, and Bill Gordon come to take me.' 00038100 As he spoke, his foot slipping, he lost his balance, and fell 00038200 backwards into the canal. We drew him from the water, and as soon 00038300 as the persons in the wagon perceived him, they one and all sprang 00038400 out, and ran up with the greatest expressions of joyful surprise. 00038500 'Why Hippy, my lad,' exclaimed the sheriff, 'where have you been? 00038600 All our town has been in a snarl about you. We all supposed you 00038700 had been forcibly abducted. Judge Bates offered a reward of 00038800 twenty dollars for your corpse. We have dragged the canal for more 00038900 than a mile, and found a mess of bottles, which made us think you 00039000 had been spirited away. Betsey Wilkins made her affadavit, that she 00039100 heard Bill Gordon swear that he would take your life, and here you 00039200 see we have brought him down to have his trial. But come, come, 00039300 jump in the wagon, we'll take you up to the tavern, to get your duds 00039400 dried, and tell you all about it.' 00039500 #Here a brawny fellow with a smutty face, who I found was Gordon the 00039600 blacksmith, came up, and shaking Hippocrates by the hand, said, 'By 00039700 goles, Doctor, I am glad to see you. If you hadn't come back, I believe00039800 it would have gone hard with me. Come, man, you must forgive the hard 00039900 words I gave you. My old woman soon got well of her fit, after you 00040000 went away, and says she thinks the stuff did her a mortal sight 00040100 o'good.' 00040200 #It is impossible to describe the singular expression the countenance 00040300 of the young man now exhibited. For some time he stood in mute 00040400 amazement, shaking with cold, and gazing alternately at each of his 00040500 friends as they addressed him; and it required their reiterated 00040600 assurances to convince him, that Granny Gordon was still in the land 00040700 of the living, and that he had not been haunted by a veritable ghost. 00040800 #Wishing to obtain a further explanation of this strange scene, I 00040900 accompanied them to the tavern. A plain looking man in a farmer's 00041000 dress, who was of the party, confirmed what the blacksmith had said, 00041100 as to the supposed death of his wife, and her subsequent recovery. 00041200 'She was only in a swoon,' said her, 'but came to, soon after 00041300 the Doctor had left her.' He added that it was his private opinion, 00041400 that she would now last forever. He spoke of Hippocrates as a 00041500 'nation smart doctor, who had a power of larning, but gave severe 00041600 doses.' 00041700 #After discussing a good breakfast, my young friend thanked me for 00041800 the sympathy and interest I had taken in his behalf. He told me 00041900 he intended returning to the practice of his profession. I 00042000 admonished him to be more careful in the exhibition of his patent 00042100 medicines, telling him that all old women had not nine lives. 00042200 He shook hands with me, and, gaily jumping into the wagon, rode 00042300 off with his friends. 00042400 (Title) AN OLD WOMAN'S TALE 00000100 In the house where I was born, there used to be an old woman crouching 00000200 all day long over the kitchen fire, with her elbows on her knees and 00000300 her feet in the ashes. Once in a while she took a turn at the spit, 00000400 and she never lacked a coarse gray stocking in her lap, the foot 00000500 about half finished; it tapered away with her own waning life and 00000600 she knit the toe-stitch on the day of her death. She made it her 00000700 serious business and sole amusement to tell me stories at any time from 00000800 morning till night, in a mumbling, toothless voice, as I sat on 00000900 a log of wood, grasping her check-apron in both my hands. Her 00001000 personal memory included the better part of a hundred years, and she 00001100 had strangely jumbled her own experience and observation with those of 00001200 many old people who died in her young days; so that she might have 00001300 been taken for a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth, or of John Rogers 00001400 in the Primer. There are a thousand of her traditions lurking 00001500 in the corners and by-places of my mind, some more marvellous 00001600 than what is to follow, some less so, and a few not marvellous in the 00001700 least, all which I should like to repeat, if I were as happy as she 00001800 in having a listener. But I am humble enough to own, that I do not 00001900 deserve a listener half so well as that old toothless woman, whose 00002000 narratives possessed an excellence attributable neither to herself, nor 00002100 to any single individual. Her ground-plots, seldom within the widest 00002200 scope of probability, were filled up with homely and natural incidents, 00002300 the gradual accretions of a long course of years, and fiction hid 00002400 its grotesque extravagance in this garb of truth, like the devil (an 00002500 appropriate simile, for the old woman supplies it) disguising himself, 00002600 cloven-foot and all, in mortal attire. These tales generally referred 00002700 to her birth-place, a village in the Valley of the Connecticut, the 00002800 aspect of which she impressed with great vividness on my fancy. The 00002900 houses in that tract of country, long a wild and dangerous frontier, 00003000 were rendered defensible by a strength of architecture that has 00003100 preserved many of them till our own times, and I cannot describe the 00003200 sort of pleasure with which, two summers since, I rode through the 00003300 little town in question, while one object after another rose familiarly 00003400 to my eye, like successive portions of a dream becoming realized. 00003500 Among other things equally probable, she was wont to assert that all 00003600 the inhabitants of this village (at certain intervals, but whether 00003700 of twenty-five or fifty years, or a whole century, remained a 00003800 disputable point) were subject to a simultaneous slumber, continuing 00003900 one hour's space. When that mysterious time arrived, the parson 00004000 snored over his half-written sermon, though it were Saturday night 00004100 and no provision made for the morrow,--the mother's eyelids closed 00004200 as she bent over her infant, and no childish cry awakened her,--the 00004300 watcher at the bed of mortal sickness slumbered upon the death 00004400 pillow,--and the dying man anticipated his sleep of ages by one as 00004500 deep and dreamless. To speak emphatically, there was a soporific 00004600 influence throughout the village, stronger than if every mother's son 00004700 and daughter were reading a dull story; notwithstanding which, the 00004800 old woman professed to hold the substance of the ensuing account from 00004900 one of those principally concerned in it. 00005000 #One moonlight summer evening, a young man and a girl 00005100 sat down together in the open air. They were distant relatives, 00005200 sprung from a stock once wealthy, but of late years so poverty 00005300 stricken, that David had not a penny to pay the marriage fee, if 00005400 Esther should consent to wed. The seat they had chosen was in an 00005500 open grove of elm and walnut trees, at a right angle of the road; a 00005600 spring of diamond water just bubbled into the moonlight beside them, and00005700 then whimpered away through the bushed and long grass, in search of a 00005800 neighboring mill-stream. The nearest house (situate within twenty yards00005900 of them, and the residence of their great-grandfather in his life time) 00006000 was a venerable old edifice, crowned with many high and narrow peaks, 00006100 and all overrun by innumberable creeping plants, which hung curling 00006200 about the roof like a nice young wig on an elderly gentleman's head. 00006300 Opposite to this establishment was a tavern, with a well and 00006400 horse-trough before it, and a low green bank running along the left 00006500 side of the door. Thence, the road went onward, curving scarce 00006600 perceptibly, through the village, divided in the midst by a narrow 00006700 lane of verdure, and bounded on each side by a grassy strip to twice 00006800 its own breadth. The houses had generally an odd look. Here, the 00006900 moonlight tried to get a glimpse of one, a rough old heap of ponderous 00007000 timber, which, ashamed of its dilapidated aspect, was hiding behind 00007100 a great thick tree; the lower story of the next had sunk almost under 00007200 ground, as if the poor little house were a-weary of the world, and 00007300 retiring into the seclusion of its own cellar; farther on, stood one 00007400 of the few recent structures, thrusting its painted face conspicuously 00007500 into the street, with an evident idea that it was the fairest thing 00007600 there. About midway in the village was a grist-mill partly concealed 00007700 by the descent of the ground towards the stream which turned its 00007800 wheel. At the southern extremity, just so far distant that 00007900 the window-panes dazzled into each other, rose the meeting-house, a 00008000 dingy old barnlike building, with an enormously disproportioned steeple 00008100 sticking up straight into Heaven, as high as the Tower of Babel, and the00008200 cause of nearly as much confusion in its day. This steeple, it must 00008300 be understood, was an afterthought, and its addition to the main 00008400 edifice, when the latter had already begun to decay, had excited a 00008500 vehement quarrel, and almost a schism in the church, some fifty years 00008600 before. Here the road wound down a hill and was seen no more, the 00008700 remotest object in view being the grave-yard gate, beyond the 00008800 meeting-house. The youthful pair sat hand in hand beneath the 00008900 trees, and for several moments they had not spoken, because the breeze 00009000 was hushed, the brook scarce tinkled, the leaves had ceased their 00009100 rustling, and every thing lay motionless and silent as if Nature were 00009200 composing herself to slumber. 00009300 #"What a beautiful night it is, Esther," remarked David, somewhat 00009400 drowsily. 00009500 #"Very beautiful," answered the girl, in the same tone. 00009600 #"But how still!" continued David. 00009700 #"Ah, too still!" said Esther, with a faint shudder, like a modest leaf 00009800 when the wind kisses it. 00009900 #Perhaps they fell asleep together, and, united as their spirits were 00010000 by close and tender sympathies, the same strange dream might have 00010100 wrapt them both in its shadowy arms. But they conceived, at the time, 00010200 thay they still remained wakeful by the spring of bubbling water, 00010300 looking down through the village, and all along the moonlighted 00010400 road, and at the queer old h ouses, and at the trees wh ich thrust their00010500 great twisted branches almost into the windows. There was only a sort 00010600 of mistiness over their minds, like the smoky air of an early Autumn 00010700 night. At length, without any vivid astonishment, they became 00010800 concious that a great many people were either entering the village or 00010900 already in the street, but whether they came from the meeting-house, or 00011000 from a little beyond it, or where the devil they came from, was more 00011100 than could be determined. Certainly, a crowd of people seemed to be 00011200 there, men, women, and children, all of whom were yawning, rubbing their00011300 eyes, stretching their limbs and staggering from side to side of the 00011400 road as if but partially awakened from a sound slumber. 00011500 Sometimes they stood stock-still, with their hands over their brows to 00011600 shade their sight from the moonbeams. As they drew near, most of their 00011700 countenances appeared familiar to Esther and David, possessing the 00011800 peculiar features of families in the village, and that general air and 00011900 aspect by which a person would recognize his own townsmen in the 00012000 remotest ends of the earth. But though the whole multitude might have 00012100 been taken, in the mass, for neighbors and acquaintances, there was not 00012200 a single indivuidual whose exact likeness they had ever before seen. It00012300 was a noticeable circumstance, also, that the newest fashioned garment 00012400 on the backs of these people might have been worn by the great-grand 00012500 parents of the existing generation. There was one figure behind all the00012600 rest, and not yet near enough to be perfectly distinguished. 00012700 #"Where on earth, David, do all these odd people come from?" said 00012800 Esther, with a lazy inclination to laugh. 00012900 "No where on earth, Esther," replied David, unknowing why he said so. 00013000 #As they spoke, the strangers showed some symptoms of disquietude, and 00013100 looked towards the fountain for an instant, but immediately appeared 00013200 to resume their own trains of thought and previous purposes. They 00013300 now separated to different parts of the village, with a readiness that 00013400 implied intimate local knowledge, and it may be worthy of remark, 00013500 that, though they were evidently loquacious amoung themselves, neither 00013600 their footsteps nor their voices reached the ears of the beholder. 00013700 Wherever there was a venerable old house, for fifty years standing and 00013800 upwards, surrounded by its elm or walnut trees, with its dark and 00013900 weather-beaten barn, its well, its orchard and stone-walls, 00014000 all ancient and in good repair around it, there a little group of 00014100 these people assembled. Such parties were mostly composed of an aged 00014200 man and woman, with the younger members of a family; their faces were 00014300 full of joy, so deep that it assumed the shade of melancholy; they 00014400 pointed to each other the minutest objects about the homesteads, things 00014500 in their hearts, and were now comparing them with the originals. 00014600 But where hollow places by the way-side, grass-grown and uneven, 00014700 with unsightly chimneys rising ruinous in the midst, gave indications 00014800 of a fallen dwelling and of hearths long cold, there did a few of the 00014900 strangers sit them down on the mouldering beams, and on the yellow 00015000 moss that had overspread the door-stone. The men folded their arms 00015100 sad and speechless; the women wrung their hands with a more vivid 00015200 expression of grief; and the little children tottered to their knees, 00015300 shrinking away from the open grave of domestic love. And wherever 00015400 a recent edifice reared its white and flashy front on the foundation 00015500 of an old one, there a gray-haired man might be seen to shake his 00015600 staff in anger at it, while his aged dame and their offspring 00015700 appeared to join in their maledictions, forming a fearful picture in 00015800 the ghostly moonlight. While these scenes were passing, the one figure 00015900 in the rear of all the rest was descending the hollow towards the mill, 00016000 and the eyes of David and Esther were drawn thence to a pair with 00016100 whom they could fully sympathize. It was a youth in a sailor's dress 00016200 and a pale slender maiden, who met each other with a sweet embrace in 00016300 the middle of the street. 00016400 #"How long it must be since they parted," observed David. 00016500 #"Fifty years at least," said Esther. 00016600 #They continued to gaze with unwondering calmness and quiet interest, 00016700 as the dream (if such it were) unrolled its quaint and motley 00016800 semblance before them, and their notice was now attracted by several 00016900 little knots of people, apparently engaged in conversation. Of these 00017000 one of the earliest collected and most characteristic was near the 00017100 tavern, the persons who composed it being seated on the low green bank 00017200 along the left side of the door. A conspicuous figure here was a fine 00017300 corpulent old fellow in his shirt sleeves and flame-coloured breeches, 00017400 and with a stained white apron over his paunch, beneath which he held 00017500 his hands and wherewith at times he wiped his ruddy face. The stately 00017600 decrepitude of one of his companions, the scar of an Indian tomahawk on 00017700 his crown, and especially his worn buff-coat, were appropriate marks 00017800 of a veteran belonging to an old Provincial garrison, now deaf to the 00017900 roll-call. Another showed his rough face under a tarry hat and wore 00018000 a pair of wide trowsers, like an ancient mariner who had tossed away 00018100 his youth upon the sea, and was returned, hoary and weather beaten, 00018200 to his inland home. There was also a thin young man, carelessly 00018300 dressed, who ever and anon cast a sad look towards the pale maiden 00018400 above mentioned. With these there sat a hunter, and one or two 00018500 others, and they were soon joined by a miller, who came upward 00018600 from the dusty mill, his coat as white as if besprinkled with 00018700 powdered starlight. All these (by the aid of jests, which might indeed 00018800 be old but had not been recently repeated) waxed very merry, and 00018900 it was rather strange, that just as their side shook with the heartiest 00019000 laughter, they appeared greatly like a group of shadows flickering 00019100 in the moonshine. Four personages, very different from these, stood 00019200 in front of the large house with its periwig of creeping plants. One 00019300 was a little elderly figure, distinguished by the gold on his 00019400 three-cornered hat and sky-blue coat, and by the seal of arms annexed 00019500 to his great gold watch-chain; his air and aspect befitted a Justice 00019600 of Peace and county Major, and all earth's pride and pomposity were 00019700 squeezed into this small gentleman of five foot high. The next in 00019800 importance was a grave person of sixty or seventy years, whose black 00019900 suit and band sufficiently indicated his character, and the polished 00020000 baldness of whose head was worthy of a famous preacher in the village, 00020100 half a century before, who had made wigs a subject of pulpit 00020200 denunciation. The two other figures, both clad in dark gray, showed 00020300 the sobriety of Deacons; one was ridiculously tall and thin, like a 00020400 man of ordinary bulk infinitely produced, as the mathematicians say; 00020500 while the brevity and thickness of his colleague seemed a compression 00020600 of the same man. These four talked with great earnestness, and their 00020700 gestures intimated that they had revived the ancient dispute about 00020800 the meeting-house steeple. The grave person in black spoke with 00020900 composed solemnity, as if he were addressing a Synod; the short 00021000 deacon grunted out occasional sentences, as brief as himself; his 00021100 tall brother drew the long thread of his argument through the whole 00021200 discussion, and (reasoning from analogy) his voice must indubitably 00021300 have been small and squeaking. But the little old man in gold-lace 00021400 was evidently scorched by his own red-hot eloquence; he bounced from 00021500 one to another, shook his cane at the steeple, at the two deacons, and 00021600 almost in the parson's face, stamping with his foot fiercely enough 00021700 to break a hole through the very earth; though, indeed, it could not 00021800 exactly be said that the green grass bent beneath h im. The figure, 00021900 noticed as coming behind all the rest, had now surmounted the ascent 00022000 from the mill, and proved to be an elderly lady with something in her 00022100 hand. 00022200 #"Why does she walk so slow?" asked David. 00022300 #"Don't you see she is lame?" said Esther. 00022400 #This gentlewoman, whose infirmity had kept her so far in the rear of 00022500 the crowd, now came hobbling on, glided unobserved by the polemic group 00022600 and paused on the left brink of the fountain, within a few feet of the 00022700 two spectators. She was a magnificent old dame, as ever mortal eye 00022800 beheld. Her spangled shoes and gold-clocked stockings shone gloriously 00022900 within the spacious circle of a red hoop-petticoat, which swelled to 00023000 the very point of explosion, and was bedecked all over with embroidery 00023100 a little tarnished. Above the petticoat, and parting in front so as to 00023200 display it to the best advantage, was a figured blue damask gown. A 00023300 wide and stiff ruff encircled her neck, a cap of the finest muslin, 00023400 though rather dingy, covered her head, and her nose was bestridden by 00023500 a pair of gold-bowed spectacles with enormous glasses. But the old 00023600 lady's face was pinched, sharp, and sallow, wearing a niggardly and 00023700 avaricious expression, and forming an odd contrast to the splendor of 00023800 her attire, as did likewise the implement which she held in her hand. 00023900 It was a sort of iron shovel (by housewives termed a "slice"), such 00024000 as is used in clearing the oven, and with this, selecting a spot between00024100 walnut tree and the fountain, the good dame made an earnest attempt to 00024200 dig. The tender sods, however, possessed a strange impenetrability. 00024300 They resisted her efforts like a quarry of living granite, and losing 00024400 her breath, she cast down the shovel and seemed to bemoan herself 00024500 most piteously, gnashing her teeth (what few she had) and wringing 00024600 her thin yellow hands. Then, apparently with new hopes, she resumed 00024700 her toil, which still had the same result,--a circumstance the less 00024800 surprising to David and Esther, because at times they would 00024900 catch the moonlight shining through the old woman, and dancing in 00025000 the fountain beyond. The little man in gold-lace now happened to see 00025100 her, and made his approch on tiptoe. 00025200 #"How hard this elderly lady works," remarked David. 00025300 #"Go and help her, David," said Esther, compassionately. 00025400 #As their drowsy voices spoke, both the old woman and the pompous little00025500 figure behind her lifted their eyes, and for a moment they regarded the 00025600 youth and damsel with something like kindness and affection; which, 00025700 however, were dim and uncertain, and passed away almost immediately. 00025800 The old woman again betook herself to the shovel, but was startled 00025900 by a hand suddenly laid upon her shoulder; she turned round in great 00026000 trepidation, and beheld the dignitary in the blue coat; then followed 00026100 an embrace, of such closeness as would indicate no remoter connexion 00026200 than matrimony between these two decorous persons. The gentleman next 00026300 pointed to the shovel, appearing to enquire the purpose of his lady's 00026400 occupation; while she as evidently parried his interrogatories, 00026500 maintaining a demure and sanctified visage as every good woman ought, in00026600 similar cases. Howbeit, she could not forbear looking askew, behind 00026700 her spectacles, towards the spot of stubborn turf. All the while, 00026800 their figures had a strangeness in them, and it seemed as if some 00026900 cunning jeweller had made their golden ornaments of the yellowest of the00027000 setting sun beams, and that the blue of their garments was brought 00027100 from the dark sky near the moon, and that the gentleman's silk waistcoat00027200 was the bright side of a fiery cloud, and the lady's scarlet petticoat 00027300 a remnant of the blush of morning,--and that they both were two 00027400 unrealities of colored air. But now there was a sudden movement 00027500 through-out the multitude. The Squire drew forth a watch as large as 00027600 the dial on the famous steeple, looked at the warning hands and gat him 00027700 gone, nor could his lady tarry; the party at the tavern door took to 00027800 their heels, headed by the fat man in the flaming breeches; the tall 00027900 deacon waddled after, making four steps to the yard; the mothers 00028000 called their children about them and set forth, with a gentle and 00028100 sad glance behind. Like cloudy fantasies that hurry by a viewless 00028200 impulse from the sky, they all were fled, and the wind rose up and 00028300 followed them with a strange moaning down the lonely street. Now 00028400 whither these people went, is more than may be told; only David and 00028500 Esther seemed to see the shadowy splendor of the ancient dame, as 00028600 she lingered in the moonshine at the grave-yard gate, gazing backward 00028700 to the fountain. 00028800 #"Oh, Esther! I have had such a dream!" cried David, starting up and 00028900 rubbing his eyes. 00029000 #"And I such another!" answered Esther, gaping till her pretty red 00029100 lips formed a circle. 00029200 #"About an old woman with gold-bowed spectacles," continued David. 00029300 #"And a scarlet hoop-petticoat," added Esther. 00029400 #They now stared in each other's eyes, with great astonishment and 00029500 some little fear. After a thoughtful moment or two, David drew a 00029600 long breath and stood upright. 00029700 #"If I live till to-morrow morning," said he, "I'll see what may 00029800 be buried between that tree and the spring of water." 00029900 #And why not to-night, David?" asked Esther; for she was a sensible 00030000 little girl, and bethought herself that the matter might as well be 00030100 done in secrecy. 00030200 #David felt the propriety of the remark and looked round for the means 00030300 of following her advice. The moon shone brightly on something that 00030400 rested against the side of the old house, and, on a nearer view, it 00030500 proved to be an iron shovel, bearing a singular resemblance to that 00030600 which they had seen in their dreams. He used it with better success 00030700 than the old woman, the soil giving way so freely to his efforts, 00030800 that he had soon scooped a hole as large as the basin of the spring. 00030900 Suddenly, he poked his head down to the very bottom of this cavity. 00031000 #"Oho!--What have we here!" cried David. 00031100 GRAVES AND GOBLINS 00000100 Now talk we of graves and goblins! Fit themes 00000200 --start not! gentle reader--fit for a ghost like me. 00000300 Yes; though an earth-clogged fancy is laboring with 00000400 these conceptions, and an earthly hand will write them down, 00000500 for mortal eyes to read, still their essence flows from as airy 00000600 a ghost as ever basked in the pale starlight, at twelve o'clock. 00000700 Judge them not by the gross and heavy form in which they 00000800 now appear. They may be gross, indeed, with the earthly 00000900 pollution contracted from the brain, through which they 00001000 pass--and heavy with the burthen of mortal language, that 00001100 crushes all the finer intelligences of the soul. This is no 00001200 fault of mine. But, should aught of ethereal spirit be 00001300 perceptible, yet scarcely so, glimmering along the dull train of 00001400 words--should a faint perfume breathe from the mass of 00001500 clay--then, gentle reader, thank the ghost, who thus embodies 00001600 himself for your sake! Will you believe me, if I say that all 00001700 true and noble thoughts, and elevated imaginations, are but 00001800 partly the offspring of the intellect, which seems to produce 00001900 them? Sprites, that were poets once, and are now all poetry, 00002000 hover round the dreaming bard, and become his inspiration; 00002100 buried statesmen lend their wisdom, gathered on earth and 00002200 mellowed in the grave, to the historian; and when the 00002300 preacher rises nearest to the level of his mighty subject, it is 00002350 because the prophets of old days have communed with him. 00002400 Who has not been conscious of mysteries within his mind, 00002500 mysteries of truth and reality, which will not wear the chains 00002600 of language? Mortal, then the dead were with you! And thus 00002700 shall the earth-dulled soul, whom I inspire, be conscious of 00002800 a misty brightness among his thoughts, and strive to make it 00002900 gleam upon the page--but all in vain. Poor author! How 00003000 will he despise what he can grasp, for the sake of the dim 00003100 glory that eludes him. 00003200 So talk we of graves and goblins. But, what have ghosts 00003300 to do with graves? Mortal man, wearing the dust which shall 00003400 require a sepulchre, might deem it more a home and 00003500 resting-place than a spirit can, whose earthly clod has returned to 00003600 earth. Thus, philosophers have reasoned. Yet, wiser they who 00003700 adhere to the ancient sentiment, that a phantom haunts and 00003800 hallows the marble tomb or grassy hillock, where its material 00003900 form was laid. Till purified from each stain of clay; till the 00004000 passions of the living world are all forgotten; till it have less 00004100 brotherhood with the wayfarers of earth, than with spirits 00004200 that never wore mortality--the ghost must linger round the 00004300 grave. Oh! it is a long and dreary watch, to some of us. 00004400 Even in early childhood, I had selected a sweet spot, of 00004500 shade and glimmering sunshine, for my grave. It was no 00004600 burial-ground, but a secluded nook of virgin earth, where I 00004700 used to sit, whole summer afternoons, dreaming about life 00004800 and death. My fancy ripened prematurely, and taught me 00004900 secrets, which I could not otherwise have known. I pictured 00005000 the coming years--they never came to me, indeed; but I 00005050 pictured them like life, and made this spot the scene of all 00005100 that should be brightest, in youth, manhood, and old age. 00005200 There, in a little while, it would be time for me to breathe 00005300 the bashful and burning vows of first-love; thither, after 00005400 gathering fame abroad, I would return to enjoy the loud 00005500 plaudit of the world, a vast but unobtrusive sound, like the 00005600 booming of a distant sea; and thither, at the far-off close 00005700 of life, an aged man would come, to dream, as the boy was 00005800 dreaming, and be as happy in the past as he was in futurity. 00005900 Finally, when all should be finished, in that spot so hallowed, 00006000 in that soil so impregnated with the most precious of my 00006100 bliss, there was to be my grave. Methought it would be the 00006200 sweetest grave, that ever a mortal frame reposed in, or an 00006300 ethereal spirit haunted. There, too, in future times, drawn 00006400 thither by the spell which I had breathed around the place, 00006500 boyhood would sport and dream, and youth would love, and 00006600 manhood would enjoy, and age would dream again, and 00006700 my ghost would watch but never frighten them. Alas, the 00006800 vanity of mortal projects--even when they centre in the 00006900 grave! I died in my first youth, before I had been a lover; 00007000 at a distance, also, from the grave which fancy had dug for 00007100 me; and they buried me in the thronged cemetery of a town, 00007200 where my marble slab stands unnoticed amid a hundred 00007300 others. And there are coffins on each side of mine! 00007400 'Alas, poor ghost!' will the reader say. Yet I am a happy 00007500 ghost enough, and disposed to be contented with my grave, 00007600 if the sexton will but let it be my own, and bring no other 00007700 dead man to dispute my title. Earth has left few stains upon 00007800 me, and it will be but a short time that I need haunt the 00007900 place. It is good to die in early youth. Had I lived out 00008000 three-score years and ten, or half of them, my spirit would have 00008100 been so earth-encrusted, that centuries might not have purified 00008200 it for a better home than the dark precincts of the grave. 00008300 Meantime, there is good choice of company amongst us. 00008400 From twilight till near sunrise, we are gliding, to-and-fro, 00008500 some in the grave-yard, others miles away; and would we 00008600 speak with any friend, we do but knock against his tomb-stone, 00008700 and pronounce the name engraved on it; in an instant, 00008800 there the shadow stands! 00008900 Some are ghosts of considerable antiquity. There is an 00009000 old man, hereabout; he never had a tomb-stone, and is often 00009100 puzzled to distinguish his own grave; but hereabouts he 00009200 haunts, and long is doomed to haunt. He was a miser in his 00009300 life-time, and buried a strong-box of ill-gotten gold, almost 00009400 fresh from the mint, in the coinage of William and Mary. 00009500 Scarcely was it safe, when the sexton buried the old man 00009600 and his secret with him. I could point out the place where 00009700 the treasure lies; it was at the bottom of the miser's garden; 00009800 but a paved thoroughfare now passes beside the spot, and 00009900 the corner-stone of a market-house presses right down upon it. 00010000 Had the workmen dug six inches deeper, they would have 00010100 found the hoard. Now thither must this poor old miser go, 00010200 whether in starlight, moonshine, or pitch-darkness, and 00010300 brood above his worthless treasure, recalling all the petty 00010400 crimes, by which he gained it. Not a coin must he fail to 00010500 reckon in his memory, nor forget a pennyworth of the sin 00010600 that made up the sum, though his agony is such as if the 00010700 pieces of gold, red-hot, were stamped into his naked soul. 00010800 Often, while he is in torment here, he hears the steps of 00010900 living men, who love the dross of earth as well as he did. 00011000 May they never groan over their miserable wealth, like him! 00011100 Night after night, for above a hundred years, hath he done 00011200 this penance, and still must he do it, till the iron box be 00011300 brought to light, and each separate coin be cleansed by the 00011400 grateful tears of a widow or an orphan. My spirit sighs for 00011500 his long vigil at the corner of the market-house! 00011600 There are ghosts whom I tremble to meet, and cannot think 00011700 of them without a shudder. One has the guilt of blood upon 00011800 him. The soul, which he thrust untimely forth, has long 00011900 since been summoned from our gloomy grave-yard, and 00012000 dwells among the stars of Heaven, too far and high for even 00012100 the recollection of mortal anguish to ascend thither. Not so 00012200 the murderer's ghost! It is his doom to spend all the hours 00012300 of darkness in the spot which he stained with innocent blood, 00012400 and to feel the hot steam--hot as when it first gushed upon 00012500 his hand--incorporating itself with his spiritual substance. 00012600 Thus, his horrible crime is ever fresh within him. Two other 00012700 wretches are condemned to walk arm in arm. They were 00012800 guilty lovers in their lives, and still, in death, must wear the 00012900 guise of love, though hatred and loathing have become their 00013000 very nature and existence. The pollution of their mutual sin 00013100 remains with them, and makes their souls sick continually. 00013300 Oh, that I might forget all the dark shadows which haunt 00013400 about these graves! This passing thought of them has left a 00013500 stain, and will weigh me down among dust and sorrow, 00013600 beyond the time that my own transgressions would have 00013700 kept me here. 00013800 There is one shade among us, whose high nature it is good 00013900 to meditate upon. He lived a patriot, and is a patriot still. 00014000 Posterity has forgotten him. The simple slab, of red free-stone, 00014100 that bore his name, was broken long ago, and is now 00014200 covered by the gradual accumulation of the soil. A tuft of 00014300 thistles is his only monument. This upright spirit came to 00014400 his grave, after a lengthened life, with so little stain of earth, 00014500 that he might, almost immediately, have trodden the pathway 00014600 of the sky. But his strong love of country chained him down, 00014700 to share its vicissitudes of weal or woe. With such deep 00014800 yearning in his soul, he was unfit for Heaven. That noblest 00014900 virtue has the effect of sin, and keeps his pure and lofty 00015000 spirit in a penance, which may not terminate till America 00015100 be again a wilderness. Not that there is no joy for the dead 00015200 patriot. Can he fail to experience it, while he contemplates 00015300 the mighty and increasing power of the land, which he pro- 00015400 tected in its infancy? No; there is much to gladden him. But 00015500 sometimes I dread to meet him, as he returns from the bed- 00015600 chambers of rulers and politicians, after diving into their 00015700 secret motives and searching out their aims. He looks round 00015800 him with a stern and awful sadness, and vanishes into his 00015900 neglected grave. Let nothing sordid or selfish defile your 00016000 deeds or thoughts, ye great men of the day lest ye grieve the 00016100 noble dead! 00016200 Few ghosts take such an enduring interest as this, even in 00016300 their own private affairs. It made me rather sad, at first, to 00016400 find how soon the flame of love expires, amid the chill damps 00016500 of the tomb; so much the sooner, the more fiercely it may 00016600 have burned. Forget your dead mistress, youth! She has 00016700 already forgotten you. Maiden, cease to weep for your buried 00016800 lover! He will know nothing of your tears, nor value them, 00016900 if he did. Yet, it were blasphemy to say that true love is other 00017000 than immortal. It is an earthly passion, of which I speak, 00017100 mingled with little that is spiritual, and must therefore perish 00017200 with the perishing clay. When souls have loved, there is no 00017300 falsehood or forgetfulness. Maternal affection, too, is strong 00017400 as adamant. There are mothers here, among us, who might 00017500 have been in Heaven fifty years ago, if they could forbear to 00017600 cherish earthly joy and sorrow, reflected from the bosoms of 00017700 their children. Husbands and wives have a comfortable gift 00017800 of oblivion, especially when secure of the faith of their living 00017900 halves. Jealousy, it is true, will play the devil with a ghost, 00018000 driving him to the bedside of secondary wedlock, there to 00018100 scowl, unseen, and gibber inaudible remonstrances. Dead 00018200 wives, however jealous in their life-time, seldom feel this 00018300 posthumous torment so acutely. 00018400 Many, many things, that appear most important while we 00018500 walk the busy street, lose all their interest the moment we 00018600 are borne into the quiet grave-yard, which borders it. For 00018700 my own part, my spirit had not become so mixed up with 00018800 earthly existence, as to be now held in an unnatural com- 00018900 bination, or tortured much with retrospective cares. I still 00019000 love my parents and a younger sister, who remain among 00019100 the living, and often grieve me by their patient sorrow for the 00019200 dead. Each separate tear of theirs is an added weight upon 00019300 my soul, and lengthens my stay among the graves. As to 00019400 other matters, it exceedingly rejoices me, that my summons 00019500 came before I had time to write a projected poem, which 00019600 was highly imaginative in conception, and could not have 00019700 failed to give me a triumphant rank in the choir of our 00019800 native bards. Nothing is so much to be deprecated as post- 00019900 humous renown. It keeps the immortal spirit from the proper 00020000 bliss of his celestial state, and causes him to feed upon the 00020100 impure breath of mortal men, till sometimes he forgets that 00020200 there are starry realms above him. Few poets--infatuated 00020300 that they are!--soar upward, while the least whisper of their 00020400 name is heard on earth. On Sabbath evenings, my sisters sit 00020500 by the fireside, between our father and mother, and repeat 00020600 some hymns of mine, which they have often heard from 00020700 my own lips, ere the tremulous voice left them forever. Little 00020800 do they think, those dear ones, that the dead stands listening 00020900 in the glimmer of the firelight, and is almost gifted with a 00021000 visible shape by the fond intensity of their remembrance! 00021100 Now shall the reader know a grief of the poor ghost that 00021200 speaks to him; a grief, but not a hopeless one. Since I have 00021300 dwelt among the graces, they bore the corpse of a young 00021400 maiden hither, and laid her in the old ancestral vault, which 00021500 is hollowed in the side of a grassy bank. It has a door of 00021600 stone, with rusty iron hinges, and above it, a rude sculpture 00021700 of the family-arms, and inscriptions of all their names who 00021800 have been buried there, including sire and son, mother and 00021900 daughter, of an ancient colonial race. All of her lineage had 00022000 gone before, and when the young maiden followed, the 00022100 portal was closed forever. The night after her burial, when 00022200 the other ghosts were flitting about their graves, forth came 00022300 the pale virgin's shadow, with the rest, but knew not whither 00022400 to go, nor whom to haunt, so lonesome had she been on earth. 00022500 She stood by the ancient sepulchre, looking upward to the 00022600 bright stars, as if she would, even then, begin her flight. 00022700 Her sadness made me sad. That night and the next, I stood 00022800 near her, in the moonshine, but dared not speak, because she 00022900 seemed purer than all the ghosts, and fitter to converse with 00023000 angels than with men. But the third bright eve, still gazing 00023100 upward to the glory of the Heavens, she sighed, and said, 00023200 'When will my mother come for me!' Her low, sweet voice 00023300 emboldened me to speak, and she was kind and gentle, 00023400 though so pure, and answered me again. From that time, 00023500 always at the ghostly hour, I sought the old tomb of her 00023600 fathers, and either found her standing by the door, or knocked 00023700 and she appeared. Blessed creature, that she was; her chaste 00023800 spirit hallowed mine, and imparted such a celestial buoyancy, 00023900 that I longed to grasp her hand, and fly--upward, aloft, aloft! 00024000 I thought, too, that she only lingered here, till my earthlier 00024100 soul should be purified for Heaven. One night, when the 00024200 stars threw down the light that shadows love, I stole forth 00024300 to the accustomed spot, and knocked, with my airy fingers, 00024400 at her door. She answered not. Again I knocked, and breathed 00024500 her name. Where was she? At once, the truth fell on my 00024600 miserable spirit, and crushed it to the earth, among dead 00024700 men's bones and mouldering dust, groaning in cold and 00024800 desolate agony. Her penance was over! She had taken her 00024900 trackless flight, and had found a home in the purest radiance 00025000 of the upper stars, leaving me to knock at the stone portal of 00025100 the darksome sepulchre. But I know--I know, that angels 00025200 hurried her away, or surely she would have whispered ere 00025300 she fled! 00025400 She is gone! How could the grave imprison that unspotted 00025500 one! But her pure, ethereal spirit will not quite forget me, 00025600 nor soar too high in bliss, till I ascend to join her. Soon, soon 00025700 be that hour! I am weary of the earth-damps; they burthen 00025800 me; they choke me! Already, I can float on the moonshine; 00025900 the faint starlight will almost bear up my footsteps; the 00026000 perfume of flowers, which grosser spirits love, is now too 00026100 earthly a luxury for me. Grave! Grave! thou art not my home. 00026200 I must flit a little longer in thy night-gloom, and then be 00026300 gone--far from the dust of the living and the dead--far 00026400 from the corruption that is around me, but no more within! 00026500 A few times, I have visited the chamber of one who walks, 00026600 obscure and lonely, on his mortal pilgrimage. He will leave 00026700 not many living friends, when he goes to join the dead, where 00026800 his thoughts often stray, and he might better be. I steal into 00026900 his sleep, and play my part among the figures of his dream. 00027000 I glide through the moonlight of his waking fancy, and 00027100 whisper conceptions, which, with a strange thrill of fear, 00027200 he writes down as his own. I stand beside him now, at 00027300 midnight, telling these dreamy truths, with a voice so dream- 00027400 like, that he mistakes them for fictions of a brain too prone 00027500 to such. Yet he glances behind him, and shivers, while the 00027600 lamp burns pale. Farewell, dreamer--waking or sleeping! 00027700 Your brightest dreams are fled; your mind grows too hard 00027800 and cold for a spiritual guest to enter; you are earthly, too, 00027900 and have all the sins of earth. The ghost will visit you 00028000 no more. 00028100 But where is the maiden, holy and pure, though wearing 00028200 a form of clay, that would have me bend over her pillow, 00028300 at midnight, and leave a blessing there? With a silent invoca- 00028400 tion, let her summon me. Shrink not, maiden, when I come! 00028500 In life, I was a high-souled youth, meditative, yet seldom 00028600 sad, full of chaste fancies, and stainless from all grosser sin. 00028700 And now, in death, I bring no loathsome smell of the grave, 00028800 nor ghastly terrors--but gentle, and soothing, and sweetly 00028900 pensive influences. Perhaps, just fluttering for the skies, my 00029000 visit may hallow the well-springs of thy thought, and make 00029100 thee heavenly here on earth. Then shall pure dreams and 00029200 holy meditations bless thy life; nor thy sainted spirit linger 00029300 round the grave, but seek the upper star, and meet me there! 00029400 A VISIT TO THE CLERK OF THE WEATHER 00000100 #I don't know--I have not yet spoken to the clerk 00000200 of the weather,"--said I, in common parlance to my 00000300 friend and kinsman, who had asked me the wise 00000400 question--"Do you think we shall have an early spring?" We 00000500 stood on the steps of the M---- hotel. The night was not 00000600 very dark, but sundry flakes of snow, that came wavering to 00000700 the ground, served to render the vision indistinct. 00000800 Nevertheless 00000850 I could plainly perceive that a little old woman in a 00000900 gray cloak, who was passing at the moment, had caught my 00001000 words; and her small black eyes rayed up through the mist 00001100 as I spoke, with an expression of intelligence rather 00001200 uncomfortable 00001250 to a sober citizen like myself. My friend, at the 00001300 same moment, turned on his heel with a slight shudder, and 00001400 sought a warmer climate within. The little old woman stood 00001500 at my side in a twinkling, and when I would have withdrawn 00001600 myself, I felt her bony hand encircling my arm as if I had 00001700 been in the grasp of a skeleton. 00001800 #"Unhand me, madam, or by Heaven----" 00001900 #"You have taken his name in vain," said she, in a hoarse 00002000 whisper, "often enough, and it is evident that you believe 00002100 not in his existence. Come with me. Nay, do not hesitate, or 00002200 I will weigh your manhood against the courage of an old 00002300 woman." 00002400 #"On, fool!" exclaimed I. 00002500 #Away scampered the old woman, and I followed--drawn 00002600 by an impulse which I could not resist. Streets, houses, woods, 00002700 fences, seemed running back as we progressed, so rapid was 00002800 our motion. At length I was lifted from my feet, and whirled 00002900 through the air at such a rate that I nearly lost my breath. 00003000 The gray cloak of the old woman could be discerned at some 00003100 distance before me--clouds sprang apart, and rolled them- 00003200 selves in ridges on either hand of her as she passed, making 00003300 a clear path for herself and follower. How far we travelled 00003400 thus I am unable to say. But suddenly we struck the land, 00003500 and I stood upon the green turf. The sun flamed full upon 00003600 my head, and I now, for the first time, felt travel-worn 00003700 and faint. 00003800 #"I can assist you no farther," said the old woman; and in 00003900 a moment she had disappeared. 00004000 #At a little distance from the spot where I stood, was a 00004100 pile of rocks of a singular form. About a dozen tall, 00004200 slate-colored rocks--each one of which was several acres in height-- 00004300 had been thrown together in a circle in the form of a 00004400 pyramid, the points meeting at the top. As I stood gazing at 00004500 this singular structure, I observed a light smoke rising up 00004600 through a small aperture on the very apex of this gigantic 00004700 cone. I determined to obtain ingress to this strange dwelling, 00004800 for that it was inhabited I no longer doubted. I walked 00004900 around the natural fabric several times before I discovered 00005000 an entrance; several rugged rocks had hidden it from my 00005100 view. But the opening was large enough to admit a dozen 00005200 horsemen abreast. Slowly and cautiously I entered the lofty 00005300 chamber. It was about five hundred yards in circumference. 00005400 Several singular objects immediately drew my attention; of 00005500 course the animated forms were honored with my first notice. 00005600 There were three gigantic beings lounging about in different 00005700 parts of the room, while a venerable, stately old man, with 00005800 long gray locks, sat at the farther side of the apartment busily 00005900 engaged in writing. Before advancing to speak to any of my 00006000 new acquaintances, I glanced around the rocky cavern. In 00006100 one corner was piled a heap of red-hot thunderbolts. Against 00006200 the wall hung several second-hand rainbows, covered with 00006300 dust and much faded. Several hundred cart loads of hail-stones, 00006400 two large sacks of wind, and a portable tempest, firmly 00006500 secured with iron bands, next engaged my attention. But 00006600 I saw that the venerable personage mentioned above had 00006700 become sensible of my presence, and as he had half risen 00006800 from his seat, I hastened to present myself. As I drew near 00006900 to him, I was struck by the size of his massive frame 00007000 the fierce expression of his eyes. He had stuck his pen behind 00007100 his ear--which pen was neither more nor less than the top 00007200 of a poplar tree, which some storm had rudely disengaged 00007300 from its trunk, and the butt of which he had hewed down 00007400 to a proper size for dipping into his inkhorn. He took my 00007500 hand into his broad palm, and squeezed it too cordially for 00007600 my bodily comfort, but greatly to the satisfaction of my 00007700 mind, which had experienced some painful misgivings from 00007800 my first entrance. I saluted him in the fashion of my country, 00007900 and he replied. 00008000 #"I am tolerably well, I thank you, for an old man of 00008100 threescore centuries--from whence come you?" 00008200 #"I am last from Boston, sir." 00008300 #"I do not recollect any planet of that name," said he. 00008400 #"I beg pardon--from the earth, I should have said." 00008500 #He thought a moment. "Yes, yes, I do recollect a little 00008600 mud-ball somewhere in this direction;"--he pointed with his 00008700 arm--"but, truly, I had almost forgotten it. Hum! we have 00008800 neglected you of late. It must be looked to. Our ally, Mr. 00008900 John Frost, has had some claims on us, which we have 00009000 liquidated by giving him permission to erect sundry ice-palaces 00009100 and throw up a few fortifications on your soil; but 00009200 I fear the rogue has made too much of his privilege. He 00009300 must be checked!" 00009400 #"Really, sir, not only my gratitude, but the gratitude of 00009500 all the world would be yours, if you would attend to us a 00009600 little more vigilantly than you have done." 00009700 #He looked grave a moment--shook his head, and rejoined 00009800 --"But, sir, I have, myself, some complaints to make with 00009900 regard to you. I have been somewhat slandered by your 00010000 fellows, and, in truth, that was one inducement that led me 00010100 to yield so readily to the request of my kinsman, Mr. Frost. 00010200 You probably know there are some persons on your little 00010300 planet who pretend to be of my council, and who send out 00010400 little printed missiles, pretending to great ingenuity, wherein 00010500 it is set forth that on such and such a day there shall be a 00010600 snow-storm--a tempest--thunder and lightning--or fervent 00010700 heat. Nay, some of them have carried it so far as to publish 00010800 caricatures and grotesque drawings--have prophesied that 00010900 there should be snow in August, and----" 00011000 #Here we were interrupted by a loud hissing noise, which 00011100 caused me to start and turn round. 00011200 #"You must have a care. You have scorched your garments, 00011300 I fear," cried my host to a squat figure, who came trudging 00011400 towards us, wrapped in sheets of ice and wearing a huge 00011500 wig powdered with snow. 00011600 "It is nothing, your Honor," answered the other, in a 00011700 hollow voice which chilled my blood--"I only trod upon 00011800 that cursed coil of chain lightning which your servant has 00011900 placed so near the door to be my bane as often as I visit you!" 00012000 #I was too much taken up with this uncouth visiter to 00012100 notice the entrance of another guest, who had placed herself 00012200 directly between me and the clerk of the weather before I 00012300 beheld her. She was a lovely young damsel, dressed in a 00012400 variegated gown, of the most beautiful colors, her head 00012500 surmounted by a green turban, and her feet shod with 00012600 moccasins of the same hue, bespangled with dew-drops. The 00012700 icy dwarf shrunk aside as she approached,and lowered at 00012800 her from under his thick brows. She cast a glance at him, 00012900 and pouted like a spoiled child. She then turned to me, and 00013000 said in a tone of ineffable sweetness, 00013100 #"You are the stranger from the Earth, I conclude?" 00013200 #"At your service, fair lady." 00013300 #"I heard of your arrival," continued she; "and hastened to 00013400 meet you. I wish to inquire after my good friends, the 00013500 inhabitants of your globe. My name is Spring." 00013600 #"My dear lady," said I, "your countenance would gladden 00013700 the hearts of us all; I assure you that your presence has been 00013800 desired and earnestly prayed for by all classes of my 00013900 fellow-sufferers." 00014000 #"It is too provoking!" cried she, dashing her green turban 00014100 upon the ground, and stamping with her little foot until I 00014200 was besprinkled with the dew-drops that it shed. "I suppose 00014300 that I am blamed--nay, execrated, for my tardiness by my 00014400 children of the earth--while heaven knows that I long to 00014500 bound over your valleys and hills, and linger by the side of 00014600 your running brooks as of yore. But that wretch--that mis- 00014700 shapen wretch--" and she pointed at Jack Frost, for he it 00014800 was, "that soulless, withering demon, holds me in his power. 00014900 I brought an action against him last year; but, unfortunately, 00015000 I was advised to put the case in Chancery, and summer 00015100 arrived before it was decided. But assure your fellows that 00015200 I will not neglect them in future. I shall be amongst them 00015300 early. Mr. Frost is obliged to take a journey to the north to 00015400 procure a polar bear for his wife, who has lingered amongst 00015500 you, with her husand, so long, that she affects some of your 00015600 customs, and must needs have a substitute for a lap-dog." 00015700 She then turned away and held communion with the clerk 00015800 of the weather, while I sauntered about the cavern to 00015900 examine its singular contents. A gigantic fellow was sweating 00016000 over the fire and cooking his master's breakfast. In a moment, 00016100 I saw him ascend by a sort of rope ladder, and pick a small 00016200 white cloud out of the heavens wherewith to settle the coffee. 00016300 I sauntered on until I came to a heap of granite, behind which 00016400 sat a dozen little black fellows, cross-legged, who were 00016500 laboring with all their might to weave a thunder gust. The 00016600 part of the business which seemed to puzzle them most was, 00016700 the working in of the bolts, which they were obliged to 00016800 handle with long pincers. Another important point was sew-ing 00016900 on the fringe, which was made of chain lightning. While 00017000 I stood surveying these apprentices, a strapping fellow came 00017100 reeling towards me, and inquired whether I had visited the 00017200 forge. I told him that I had not. He said that it was not 00017300 now in operation, as there was a sufficient quantity of 00017400 thunderbolts manufactured for present use, although there 00017500 might soon be a trifle of an earthquake to patch up. I 00017600 observed that his wrist was swathed with a crimson bandage, 00017700 and inquired if he was injured in that part. He said that he 00017800 had received a trifling scratch there, for that last year he had 00017900 been commissioned to discharge several thunderbolts upon 00018000 our earth, which he did to his satisfaction until he came 00018100 to the last, which, having been hurled like a rocket against 00018200 our globe, unfortunately alighted on the head of a certain 00018300 member of Congress, where it met with so much resistance 00018400 that it bounded back to the skies and grazed his wrist. 00018500 #At this moment somebody seized my arm from behind; I 00018600 turned my head and saw the little old woman in the gray 00018700 cloak. I was hurried from the massive hall, and conveyed, 00018800 with as much speed as before, back to the world from which 00018900 I had set out on this strange and wonderful adventure. 00019000 *The Bashful Man. by the author of 'The Vestal; or, a Tale of Pompeii.00000100 #Let him who has never suffered from the horrors of bashfulness, pass 00000200 by this article. He will find here nothing with which he can 00000300 sympathise. But he who knows the exquisite misery of a temperament, 00000400 whose very nature almost shuts him out from human sympathy, 00000500 while it opens upon him the full sluices of laughter and 00000600 ridicule, he only should read, for he only can understand, 00000700 this chapter of my sufferings. It is but a specimen of my life. Ex uno00000800 disce omnes. To all others it will be only a sealed fountain; and, 00000900 as they pass it by in the proud consciousness of the unspeakable 00001000 blessing of impudence, let them thank heaven that its waters can never 00001100 flow for them. 00001200 #As my object is but to give a specimen of the numerous contre-temps 00001300 that incessantly beset me, the moment I appear in ladies' society, 00001400 I shall merely speak of those that befel me at the only dinner in Paris,00001500 to which I was invited. Though laden with introductory letter, 00001600 I never delivered another. 00001700 #I pass by the various efforts I made, before I could muster 00001800 sufficient resolution to deliver to Madame O., the one that procured 00001900 for me, and a friend who came with me, the dinner in question. I pass 00002000 by, too, my trepidation at the everlasting peal with which the bell 00002100 responded to my timid touch. Scarcely could I distinguish the 00002200 Parlez au Suisse, over the porter's lodge, where probably Swiss 00002300 never stood since its erection. I pass by, too, several minor 00002400 blunders; such as asking the porter to direct us to 'la chambre 00002500 de Madame,' meaning her drawing-room. Suffice it to say, that me less 00002600 nervous companion, dictionary in hand, boldly led the way; that 00002700 having traversed a goodly number of courts and stairs, we at length 00002800 arrived safely at an ante-room, where stood a servant before a pair 00002900 of folding doors, which he threw wide open, and announced us by 00003000 a pair of names, that we should never have recognised 00003100 as our own, had we met them elsewhere. 00003200 #Already agitated, and perspiring with nervous trepidation, this 00003300 ostentatious mode of entrance, so different from the republican 00003400 simplicity to which I was accustomed, was a formidable trial to 00003500 me. My cheeks tingled, my knees trembled, and my heart beat 00003600 violently. I slunk silently behind my unabashed companion, 00003700 and endeavored to gather sufficient courage, to conceal the tremor 00003800 that shook me like an ague-fit. Madame O. rose to receive us; 00003900 and, as we approached her, it became necessary that I should 00004000 deploye from behind my friend. But in so doing, I did not 00004100 notice a large pet dog, who, comfortably stretched on a red velvet 00004200 cushion, lay napping beside his mistress, directly in my path. On I 00004300 went, anxious only to get through the introductory ceremonies as 00004400 soon as possible, and then to ensconce myself in some remote corner, 00004500 where, 'The world forgetting, by the world forgot,' I might 00004600 escape all notice or remark. But truly says the French proverb, 00004700 'L'homme se propose, mais c'est le bon Dieu qui dispose;' and very 00004800 unfortunate were his dispositions for my intention. As I hastened on, 00004900 all glowing with confusion, and quaking with fright, just as I 00005000 began my bow, I stumbled over the detested pet, and was suddenly 00005100 precipitated head foremost like an ancient battering ram, 00005200 into the lap of Miss P.; overturning episodically a countryman 00005300 of my own, who was seated mext her, balancing his chair on its 00005400 two hind legs. To save himself, he instinctively grasped the back of 00005500 her chair; and his weight at her rear, acting at the same moment 00005600 that I was hurled at her in front, decided all hesitation, and over 00005700 we all rolled together, the chairs uppermost. The vile cur, who 00005800 had been at the bottom of the whole mischief, seized me by the leg, 00005900 and, receiving a hearty kick in return, added his howling to the chorus 00006000 of dismay that now filled the apartment. Happily, the female sufferer 00006100 in this melee, engrossed all the sympathy and attention of the 00006200 company; but I well knew, that in the short minute that had elapsed 00006300 since I entered the aparment, I had made three mortal enemies, 00006400 of a man, a dog, and a lady. 00006500 #For my own part, as soon as I had extricated myself from the terrible 00006600 crash, covered with confusion and shame, I retreated into the most 00006700 obscure corner of the room, where I sought to hide myself and my 00006800 overwhelming mortification, behind the guests who were lounging about 00006900 there. 00007000 #The call to dinner served as a relief to my embarrassment, for I 00007100 hoped that that would engross every one's attention, which now, I 00007200 could not help feeling, must be occupied with my awkwardness. 00007300 Following the company into the dining-room, I saw that each plate 00007400 contained a card, on which was written the name of the guest 00007500 who was to occupy the place thus designated. Every one seemed 00007600 to find his own place by magic; but for me, four or five times 00007700 did I make the circuit of the table looking in vain for mine. Indeed, 00007800 I know not but I might have continued running about unnoticed 00007900 among the crowd of servants, all dinner-time had not Madame O.'s 00008000 eye at length detected me, as I circled round and round, with an 00008100 hysterically increasing rapidity, my eyes dim with confusion, and a 00008200 clammy perspiration bedewing every pore of my body; and I at length 00008300 sunk into my seat, when found, fairly exhausted with mortification 00008400 and shame. Here, again, I found myself embarrassed with my hat, which, 00008500 having observed that all retained in their hands in the drawing-room 00008600 I still grasped with nervous pertinacity. This I at length disposed of,00008700 as I thought at the time, with wonderful ingenuity; for I hung 00008800 it by the brim between my knees, spreading my handkerchief 00008900 over its open cavity. 00009000 #My seat was next to a young lady, whom of course I was expected 00009100 to entertain. I entertain! Wofully, already, had I entertained 00009200 the company; but I found myself infintely better adapted to 00009300 enterain a company en masse, than singulatim. 00009400 #The ordinary routine of a French dinner now commenced. Soup 00009500 and bouillie, fish, and fowl, and flesh; entremets and hors d'oeuvres, 00009600 while a regular series of servants appeared each instant at our elbows, 00009700 inviting us to partake of a thousand different dishes, and as many 00009800 different kinds of wine, all under strings of names which I no 00009900 more understood, than I understood their composition, or than 00010000 they did my gaucheries. Resolute to avoid all further opportunities 00010100 for displaying my predominant trait, I sat in the most obstinate 00010200 silence, saying 'oui' to everthing that was offered me, and eating 00010300 with most devoted application, till in an evil hour, my fair neighbor, 00010400 weary of my taciturnity and her own, at length herself began a 00010500 conversation, by inquiring how I was pleased with the opera. The 00010600 question was put at an unlucky moment. I was just raising a large 00010700 morsel of potato to my mouth; and in order to reply as quickly as 00010800 possible, I hastily thrust it in, intending to swallow it as 00010900 hastily. Heavens! It was hot as burning lava. What could I do? 00011000 The lady's eyes were fixed on me, waiting a reply to her 00011100 question. But my mouth was in flames. In vain I rolled 00011200 the burning morsel hither and thither, rocking my head from side 00011300 to side, while my eyes, which involutarily I had fixed on her, were 00011400 straining from their sockets. She regarded my grimaces, of the cause of00011500 which I believe she was ignorant, with an expression of amazement and 00011600 surprise, at which I can laugh now when I think of it. 00011700 #'Monsieur est malade?' at length she gently, and in an anxious 00011800 tone, inquired. I could bear no more. My mouth was flayed with 00011900 the burning mass, and smarting with intolerable pain; so, quietly 00012000 abandoning the point, I opened it to its utmost, and out dropped the 00012100 infernal firebrand upon my plate. Not the slightest tendency to 00012200 a smile, visibly ruffled the imperturbable politeness of the 00012300 lady. She soothingly condoled with me on my misfortune, then 00012400 gradually led the conversation to a variety of topics; till, 00012500 exerting the magic influence that true politeness always 00012600 exercises, I began to forget even my own blunders. Gradually, 00012700 my cheeks burned less painfully, and I could even join in the 00012800 conversation without the fear that every word I uttered shared the 00012900 fate of every action I attempted. I even ventured to hope, 00013000 nay, to congratulate myself, that the catalogue of my calamities 00013100 was completed for the day. 00013200 #'Let no one call himself happy before death,' said Solon; 00013300 and he said wisely. The ides of March were not yet over. Before us 00013400 stood a dish of cauliflower, nicely done in butter. This 00013500 I naturally enought took for a custard-pudding, which it sufficiently 00013600 resembled. Unfortunately, my vocabulary was not yet extensive 00013700 enough to embrace all the technicalities of the table; and when 00013800 my fair neighbor inquired if I were fond of chou-fleur, I verily 00013900 took it to be the French for custard-pudding; and so high was my 00014000 panegyric of it, that my plate was soon bountifully laden 00014100 with it. Alas! one single mouthful was enough to dispel my 00014200 illusion. Would to heaven that the chou-fleur had vanished along 00014300 with it. But that remained bodily; and, as I gazed despondingly at 00014400 the huge mass, that loomed up almost as large, and as burning, 00014500 as Vesuvius, my heart died within me. Ashamed to confess my 00014600 mistake, though I could almost as readily have swallowed an equal 00014700 quantity of soft soap, I struggled manfully on against the 00014800 diabolical compound. I endeavored to sap the mountainous heap 00014900 at its base; and shutting my eyes and opening my mouth, to 00015000 inhume as large masses as I could without stopping to taste it. 00015100 But my stomach soon began, intelligibly enough, to intimate 00015200 its intention to admit no more of this nauseous stranger 00015300 beneath its roof, if not even of expelling that which had already 00015400 gained unwelcome admittance. 00015500 #The seriousness of the task I had undertaken, and the resolution 00015600 necessary to execute it, had given an earnestness and rapidity 00015700 to my exertions, which appetite would not have inspired; when 00015800 my plate having somehow got over the edge of the table, upon 00015900 my leaning forward, tilted up, and down slid the disgusting 00016000 mass into my lap. My handkerchief, unable to bear so weighty 00016100 a load, bent under it in its turn; and a great proportion of it was thus00016200 safely deposited in my hat. 00016300 The plate instantly righted itself, as I raised my person; and 00016400 as I glanced my eye round the table, and saw that no one had noticed 00016500 my disaster, I inwardly congratulated myself 00016600 that the nauseous deception was so happily disposed of. Resolving 00016700 not to be detected, I instantly rolled my handkerchief together 00016800 with all its remaining contents, and whipped it into my pocket. 00016900 #The dinner table was at length deserted for the drawing room 00017000 where coffee and liquers were served round. Meantime, 00017100 I had sought out what I considered a safe hiding-place for my 00017200 hat, beneath a chair in the dining room, for I dared not carry 00017300 it longer in my hand; having first thrown a morsel of paper 00017400 into the crown, to hide the cauliflower from view, should any 00017500 one chance, in seeking for his own hat, to look into mine. 00017600 #On my return to the drawing room, I chanced to be again seated 00017700 by the lady, by whom I had sat at dinner. Out conversation was 00017800 naturally resumed; and we were in the midst of an animated 00017900 discussion, when a huge spider was seen running, like a race 00018000 horse, up her arm. 00018100 #'Take it off--take it off!' she ejaculated, in a terrified tone. 00018200 #I was always afraid of spiders; so to avoid touching him with my 00018300 hand, I caught my handkerchief from my pocket, and clapped it 00018400 at once upon the miscreant, who was already mounting over her 00018500 temple with rapid strides. Gracious Heaven! I had forgotten 00018600 the cauliflower; which now plastered over her face like an emollient 00018700 poultice, fairly killing the spider, and blinding an eye of the 00018800 lady; while little streamlets of soft butter, glided gently 00018900 down her beautiful neck and bosom. 00019000 #'Mon Dieu! mon Dieu!' exclaimed the astonished fair. 00019100 #'Mon Dieu!' was echoed from every mouth. 00019200 #'Have you cut your head?' inquired one. 00019300 #'Non! non!--L'araignee--l'araignee. Monsieur vient d'ecraser 00019400 l'araignee.' 00019500 #'Quelle quantite d'entrailles!' ejaculated an astonished 00019600 Frenchman, unconsciously to himself. 00019700 #Well might he be astonished. The spray of the execrable 00019800 vegetable, had spattered her dress from head to foot. For myself, 00019900 the moment the accident occurred, I had mechanically returned 00020000 my handkerchief to my pocket; but its contents remained. 00020100 #'What a monster it must have been;' observed a young lady, as she 00020400 helped to relieve my victim from her cruel situation. 'I declare I 00020500 should think he had been living on cauliflower.' 00020600 #At that moment, I felt some one touch me; and turning, I saw my 00020700 companion who had come with me. 00020800 #'Look at your pantaloons,' he whispered. 00020900 #Already half dead with confusion at the disaster I had 00021000 caused, I cast my eyes upon my once white dress, and saw at a 00021100 glance the horrible extent of my dilemma. I had been sitting upon 00021200 the fated pocket, and had crushed out the liquid butter, and 00021300 the soft paste-like vegetable, 00021400 which had daubed and dripped down them, till it seemed as if I 00021500 were actually dissolving in my pantallons. 00021600 #Darting from the spot, I sprang to the place where I had 00021700 left my hat; but before I could reach it, a sudden storm of 00021800 wrath was heard at the door. 00021900 #'Sacr-r-r-e! bete! Sacr-r-re Sac-r-r-r-re!' the r in the last 00022000 syllable being made to roll like a watchman's rattle, mingled 00022100 with another epithet and name, that an angry Frenchman never 00022200 spares, was heard rising like a fierce tempest without the door. 00022300 Suddenly there was a pause--a gurgling sound, as of one 00022400 swallowing involutarily--and the storm of wrath again broke out 00022500 with redoubled fury. I seized my hat, and opened the 00022600 door, and the whole matter was at once explained. We had exchanged 00022700 hats; and there he stood, the soft cauliflower gushing down his 00022800 cheeks, blinding his eyes, filling his mouth, hair, mustachios, ears, 00022900 and whiskers. Never shall I forget that spectacle. There he stood 00023000 astride, like the colossus, and stooping gently forward, 00023100 his eyes forcibly closed, his arms held drooping out from his 00023200 body, and dripping cauliflower and butter at every pore. 00023300 #I staid no longer; but, retaining his hat, I rushed from the house, 00023400 jumped into a fiacre, and arrived safely at home; heartily 00023500 resolving, that to my last hour, I would never again deliver a 00023600 letter of introduction. 00023700 (Title) MY VISIT TO NIAGARA 00000100 #Never did a pilgrim approach Niagara with deeper enthusiasm, than 00000200 mine. I had lingered away from it, and wandered to other scences, 00000300 because my treasury of anticipated enjoyments, comprising all the 00000400 wonders of the world, had nothing else so magnificent, and I was loth 00000500 to exchange the pleasures of hope for those of memory so soon. At 00000600 length, the day came. The stage-coach, with a Frenchman and myself on 00000700 the back seat, ahd already left Lewiston, and in less than an hour 00000800 would set us down in Manchester. I began to listen for the roar of the 00000900 cataract, and trembled with a sensation like fear, as the moment drew 00001000 nigh, when its voice of ages must roll, for the first time, on my ear. 00001100 The French gentleman stretched himself from the window, and expressed 00001200 loud admiration, while, by a sudden impulse, I threw myself back and 00001300 closed my eyes. When the scene shut in, I was glad to think, that for 00001400 me the whole burst of Niagara was yet in futurity. We rolled on, and 00001500 entered the village of Manchester, bordering on the falls. 00001600 #I am quite ashamed of myself here. Not that I ran, like a madman, to 00001700 the falls, and plunged into the thickest of the spray--never stopping 00001800 to breathe, till breathing was impossible; not that I committed this, 00001900 or any other suitable extravagance. On the contary, I alighted with 00002000 perfect decency and composure, gave my cloak to the black waiter, 00002100 pointed out my baggage, and inquired, not the nearest way to the 00002200 cataract, but about the dinner-hour. The interval was spent in 00002300 arranging my dress. Within the last fifteen minutes, my mind had grown 00002400 strangly benumbed, and my spirits apathetic, with a slight depression, 00002500 not decided enough to be termed sadness. My enthusiasm was in a 00002600 deathlike slumber. Without aspiring to immortality, as he did, I could 00002700 have imitated that English traveller, who turned back from the point 00002800 where he first heard the thunder of Niagara, after crossing the ocean 00002900 to behold it. Many a western trader, by-the-by, has performed a 00003000 similar act of heroism with more heroic simplicity, deeming it no such 00003100 wonderful feat to dine at the hotel and resume his route to Buffalo 00003200 or Lewiston, while the cataract was roaring unseen. 00003300 #Such has often been my apathy, when objects, long sought, and earnestly00003400 desired, were placed within my reach. After dinner--at which, an 00003500 unwonted and perverse epicurism detained me longer than usual--I lighted00003600 a cigar and paced the piazza, minutely attentive to the aspcet and 00003700 business of a very ordinary village. Finally, with reluctant step, and 00003800 the feeling of an intruder, I walked towards Goat Island. At the 00003900 toll-house, there were further excuses for delaying the inevitable 00004000 moment. My signature was required in a huge leger, containing similar 00004100 records innumerable, many of which I read. The skin of a great 00004200 sturgeon, and other fishes, beasts, and reptiles; a collection of 00004300 minerals, such as lie in heaps near the falls; some Indian moccasins, 00004400 and other trifles, made of deer-skin and embroidered with beads; 00004500 several newspapers from Montreal, New-York, and Boston; all attracted 00004600 me in turn. Out of a number of twisted sticks, the manufacture of a 00004700 Tuscarora Indian, I selected one of curled maple, curiously convoluted, 00004800 and adorned with the carved images of a snake and a fish. Using this as00004900 my pilgrim's staff, I crossed the bridge. Above and below me were the 00005000 rapids, a river of impetuous snow, with here and there a dark rock amid 00005100 its whiteness, resisting all the physical fury, as any cold spirit 00005200 did the moral influences of the scene. On reaching Goat Island, which 00005300 separates the two great segments of the falls, I chose the right-hand 00005400 path, and followed it to the edge of the American cascade. There, while 00005500 the falling sheet was yet invisible, I saw the vapor that never 00005600 vanished, and the Eternal Rainbow of Niagara. 00005700 #It was an afternoon of glorious sunshine, without a cloud, save those 00005800 of the cataracts. I gained an insulated rock, and beheld a broad sheet 00005900 of brilliant and unbroken foam, not shooting in a curved line from the 00006000 top of the precipice, but falling headlong down from height to depth. 00006100 A narrow stream diverged from the main branches and hurried over the 00006200 crag by a channel of its own, leaving a little pine-clad island 00006300 and a streak of precipice, between itself and the larger sheet. Below 00006400 arose the mist, on which was painted a dazzling sun-bow, with two 00006500 concentric shadows--one, almost as perfect as the original brightness; 00006600 and the other, drawn faintly round the broken edge of the cloud. 00006700 #Still, I had not half seen Niagara. Following the verge of the island,00006800 the path led me to the Horse-shoe, where the real, broad St. Lawrence, 00006900 rushing along on a level with its banks, pours its whole breadth over 00007000 a concave line of precipice, and thence pursues its course between 00007100 lofty crags towards Ontario. A sort of bridge, two or three feet wide, 00007200 stretches out along the edge of the descending sheet, and hangs upon 00007300 the rising mist, as if that were the foundation of the frail structure. 00007400 Here I stationed myself, in the blast of wind, which the rushing river 00007500 bore along with it. The bridge was tremulous beneath me, and marked the00007600 tremor of the solid earth. I looked along the whitening rapids, and 00007700 endeavored to distinguish a mass of water far above the falls, to follow00007800 it to their verge, and go down with it, in fancy, to the abyss of 00007900 clouds and storm. Casting my eyes across the river, and every side, 00008000 I took in the whole scene at a glance, and tried to comprehend it in 00008100 one vast idea. After an hour thus spent, I left the bridge, and, by 00008200 a staircase, winding almost interminably round a post, descended to 00008300 the base of the precipice. From that point, my path lay over slippery 00008400 stones, and among great fragments of the cliff, to the edge of the 00008500 cataract, where the wind at once enveloped me in spray, and perhaps 00008600 dashed the rainbow round me. Were my long desires fulfilled? And had 00008700 I seen Niagara? 00008800 #Oh, that I had never heard of Niagara till I beheld it! Blessed were 00008900 the wanderers of old, who heard its deep roar, sounding through the 00009000 woods, as the summons to an unknown wonder, and approached its awful 00009100 brink, in all the freshness of native feeling. Had its own mysterious 00009200 voice been the first to warn me of its existence, then, indeed, I might 00009300 have knelt down and worshipped. But I had come thither, haunted with a 00009400 vision of foam and fury, and dizzy cliffs, and an ocean tumbling down 00009500 out of the sky--a scene, in short, which Nature had too much good taste 00009600 and calm simplicity to realize. My mind had struggled to adapt these 00009700 false conceptions to the reality, and finding the effort vain, a 00009800 wretched sense of disappointment weighed me down. I climbed the 00009900 precipice, and threw myself on the earth--feeling that I was unworthy 00010000 to look at the Great Falls, and careless about beholding them again. 00010100 #All that night, as there has been and will be, for ages past and to 00010200 come, a rushing sound was heard, as if a great tempest were sweeping 00010300 through the air. It mingled with my dreams, and made them full of 00010400 storm and whirlwind. Whenever I awoke, and heard this dread sound 00010500 in the air, and the windows rattling as with a mighty blast, I could 00010600 not rest again, till, looking forth, I saw how bright the stars were, 00010700 and that every leaf in the garden was motionless. Never was a 00010800 summer-night more calm to the eye, nor a gale of autumn louder to 00010900 the ear. The rushing sound proceeds from the rapids, and the rattling 00011000 of the casements is but an effect of the vibration of the whole house, 00011100 shaken by the jar of the cataract. The noise of the rapids draws the 00011200 attention from the true voice of Niagara, which is a dull, muffled 00011300 thunder, resounding between the cliffs. I spent a wakeful hour at 00011400 midnight, in distinguishing its reverberations, and rejoiced to 00011500 find that my former awe and enthusiasm were reviving. 00011600 #Gradually, and after much contemplation, I came to know, by my 00011700 own feelings, that Niagara is indeed a wonder of the world, and not 00011800 the less wonderful, because time and thought must be employed in 00011900 comprehending it. Casting aside all pre-conceived notions, and 00012000 preparation to be direstruck or delighted, the beholder must stand 00012100 beside it in the simplicity of his heart, suffering the mighty scene 00012200 to work its own impression. Night after night, I dreamed of it, and 00012300 was gladdened every morning by the consciousness of a growing capacity 00012400 to enjoy it. Yet I will not pretend to the all absorbing enthusiasm of 00012500 some more fortunate spectators, nor deny, that very trifling causes 00012600 would draw my eyes and thoughts from the cataract. 00012700 #The last day that I was to spend at Niagara, before my departure 00012800 for the far west, I sat upon the Table Rock. This celebrated station 00012900 did not now, as of old, project fifty feet beyond the line of the 00013000 precipice, but was shattered by the fall of an immense fragment, 00013100 which lay distant on the shore below. Still, on the utmost verge of 00013200 the rock, with my feet hanging over it, I felt as if suspended in the 00013300 open air. Never before had my mind been in such perfect unison with 00013400 the scene. There were intervals, when I was conscious of nothing 00013500 but the great river, rolling calmly into the abyss, rather descending 00013600 than precipitating itself, and acquiring tenfold majesty from its 00013700 unhurried motion. It came like the march of Destiny. It was not 00013800 taken by surprise, but seemed to have anticipated, in all its 00013900 course through the broad lakes, that it must pour their collected 00014000 waters down this height. The perfect foam of the river, after its 00014100 descent, and the evervarying shapes of mist, rising up, to become 00014200 clouds in the sky, would be the very picture of confusion, were it 00014300 merely transient, like the rage of a tempest. But when the beholder 00014400 has stood awhile, and perceives no lull in the storm, and considers 00014500 that the vapor and the foam are as everlasting as the rocks which 00014600 produce them, all this turmoil assumes a sort of calmness. It soothes, 00014700 while it awes the mind. 00014800 #Leaning over the cliff, I saw the guide conducting two adventurers 00014900 behind the falls. It was pleasant, from that high seat in the sunshine,00015000 to observe them struggling against the eternal storm of the lower 00015100 regions, with heads bent down now faltering, now pressing forward, and 00015200 finally swallowed up in their victory. After their disappearance, 00015300 a blast rushed out with an old hat, which it had swept from one of 00015400 their heads. The rock, to which they were directing their unseen 00015500 course, is marked, at a fearful distance on the exterior of the sheet, 00015600 by a jet of foam. The attempt to reach it, appears both poetical 00015700 and perilous, to a looker-on, but may be accomplished without much 00015800 more difficulty or hazard, than in stemming a violent northeaster. 00015900 In a few moments, forth came the children of the mist. Dripping 00016000 and breathless, they crept along the base of the cliff, ascended to 00016100 the guide's cottage, and received, I presume, a certificate of their 00016200 achievement, with three verses of sublime poetry on the back. 00016300 #My contemplations were often interrupted by strangers, who came 00016400 down from Forsyth's to take their first view of the falls. A short, 00016500 ruddy, middle-aged gentleman, fresh from old England, peeped over 00016600 the rock, and evinced his approbation by a broad grin. His spouse, a 00016700 very robust lady, afforded a sweet example of maternal solicitude, 00016800 being so intent on the safety of her little boy that she did not 00016900 even glance at Niagara. As for the child, he gave himself wholly to 00017000 the enjoyment of a stick of candy. Another traveller, a native 00017100 American, and a rare character among us, produced a volume of Captain 00017200 Hall's tour, and labored earnestly to adjust Niagara to the captain's 00017300 description, departing, at last, without one new idea or sensation 00017400 of his own. The next corner was provided, not with a printed book, 00017500 but with a blank sheet of foolscap, from top to bottom of which, by 00017600 means of an ever-pointed pencil, the cataract was made to thunder. 00017700 In a little talk, which we had together, he awarded his approbation 00017800 to the general view, but censured the postion of Goat Island, observing 00017900 that it should have been thrown farther to the right, so as to widen the00018000 American falls, and contract those of the Horse-shoe. Next appeared 00018100 two traders of Michigan, who declared, that, upon the whole, the sight 00018200 was worth looking at; there certainly was an immense water-power here; 00018300 but that, after all, they would go twice as far to see the noble 00018400 stone-works of Lockport, where the Grand Canal is locked down a descent 00018500 of sixty feet. They were succeeded by a young fellow, in a home-spun 00018600 cotton dress, with a staff in his hand, and a pack over his shoulders. 00018700 He advanced close to the edge of the rock, where his attention, at 00018800 first wavering among the different components of the scene, finally 00018900 became fixed in the angle of the Horse-shoe falls, which is, indeed, 00019000 the central point of interest. His whole soul seemed to go forth and 00019100 be transported thither, till the staff slipped from his relaxed 00019200 grasp, and falling down--down--down--struck upon the fragment of the 00019300 Table Rock. 00019400 #In this manner, I spent some hours, watching the varied impression, 00019500 made by the cataract, on those who disturbed me, and returning to 00019600 unwearied contemplation, when left alone. At length, my time came to 00019700 depart. There is a grassy footpath, through the woods, along the 00019800 summit of the bank, to a point whence a causeway, hewn in the side of 00019900 the precipice, goes winding down to the ferry, about half a mile below 00020000 the Table Rock. The sun was near setting, when I emerged from 00020100 the shadow of the trees, and began the descent. The indirectness of 00020200 my downward road continually changed the point of view, and shewed me, 00020300 in rich and repeated succession--now, the whitening rapids and the 00020400 majestic leap of the main river, which appeared more deeply massive as 00020500 the light departed; now, the lovelier picture, yet still sublime, of 00020600 Goat Island, with its rocks and grove, and the lesser falls, tumbling 00020700 over the right bank of the St. Lawrence, like a tributary stream; now, 00020800 the long vista of the river, as it eddied and whirled between the 00020900 cliffs, to pass through Ontario towards the sea, and everywhere to be 00021000 wondered at, for this one unrivalled scene. The golden sunshine tinged 00021100 the sheet of the American cascade, and painted on its heaving spray the 00021200 broken semicircle of a rainbow, Heaven's own beauty crowning earth's 00021300 sublimity. My steps were slow, and I paused long at every turn of the 00021400 descent, as one lingers and pauses, who discerns a brighter and 00021500 brightening excellence in what he must soon behold no more. The 00021600 solitude of the old wilderness now reigned over the whole vicinity of 00021700 the falls. My enjoyment became the more rapturous, because no poet 00021800 shared it--nor wretch, devoid of poetry, profaned it: but the spot, so 00021900 famous through the world, was all my own! 00022000 QUITE TOO SUSCEPTIBLE by Charles Sherry. 00000050 #Frank Nelson had but one fault. He was a friend of mine, 00000100 and I intend taking the privilege of friendship, to expose his 00000200 frailties. They may be better shown by illustration, and if you have 00000300 nothing else to do, just give a glance at the kit-cat scenes that 00000400 I am going to shift before you. 00000500 I. 00000600 #`A dear creature, is n't she?' 00000700 #I was somewhat startled at the abruptness of the exclamation, 00000800 and turned my head to the half-soliloquist, half-querist who uttered 00000900 it. `Ah, Frank, at your old tricks?' was my involuntary comment, 00001000 as I followed the direction of his eye, and found where it 00001100 rested. 00001200 #Surely enough, she was a dear creature. Frank's thoughts 00001300 had evidently taken a fancy for the simple. Fanny Moselle was 00001400 playing the vestal, for that night only. A robe of pure white 00001500 flowed about her little figure so gracefully , and the Madonna style 00001600 in which she had arranged her locks was so becomingly bewitching, 00001700 and she flirted her fan with such an unconscious consciousness 00001800 of the admiration she was attracting; that even my own 00001900 philosophy was put to the blush, and an unusual flutter at my 00002000 heart told me that Frank for once was in the right. 00002100 #I turned to speak, but my bird had flown. In a moment after 00002200 I saw Mr. Nelson presented to Miss Moselle. He was all devotion. 00002300 Looking at him you would have been ready to make 00002400 oath that the thing was settled. Two quadrilles had passed, and 00002500 they were partners. A waltz followed, and whose arm but that 00002600 of the new inamorato should circle the waist of the white-robed 00002700 beauty? 00002800 #Supper-time came. The extempore flirtation was protracted. 00002900 As he drew her delicate arm in his own, he was the happiest of 00003000 men. They strayed about some of the less thronged apartments, 00003100 till the crowd had thinned in the supper room. 00003200 #`Shall I have the pleasure to give you some ice?' quoth an 00003300 intrusive gentleman, with a view of chilling the incipient flame. 00003400 Frank looked daggers. Fanny, less desperate, only looked 00003500 needles. The ice was declined: the mutual look of the parties 00003600 in question intimated that the ice was broken. 00003700 #`Allow me to give you an oyster?' said the lover gently. 00003800 #`I thank you,' replied the vestal, affectionately. 00003900 #Frank was in Elysium. He was very fond of oysters, and 00004000 delighted in the new sympathies, awakened by this singular 00004100 congeniality. The plate was delicately tendered, and delicately 00004200 accepted: though Fanny, in her soul, thought her lover unaware 00004300 of the degree to which a flirtation will excite the appetite. Half 00004400 a dozen oysters scalloped are a mere trifle, to a person properly 00004500 alive to the tender passion. 00004600 #Frank offered a glass of pink champagne, with a pretty 00004700 compliment, which I heard but indistinctly, and have since forgotten. 00004800 The couple touched glasses, smiled, blushed, and then got up a 00004900 very repectable sigh. The effect was electric. It was 00005000 obviously a case of love at first sight. 00005100 II. 00005200 #It was a starry eve of December. The snow had fallen long, 00005300 fast and evenly, and if I had time, you should hear the particulars 00005400 of the process by which nature had hung all the forest trees with 00005500 diamonds. Far away in the frosty and gemmed sky, the moon 00005600 was like a mirror of light, and the earth was brilliant as an 00005700 enchanter's palace. This moonlight is indispensable. It is rather 00005800 too common in a love scene; but the best authorities set it down 00005900 as a matter not to be laid aside. 00006000 #Loud and clear comes the music of the bells, and the vision 00006100 of a moving wonder, drawn by half a dozen white steeds that 00006200 would have figured in the old mythology -- if they had lived in 00006300 the time of it -- startles even the most rapid traveler, by the 00006400 speed with which it leaves him far in the rear. 00006500 #A merry group filled that buffalo-bound vehicle. Our business, 00006600 however, is with the trio on the back seat. Frank Nelson was 00006700 playing the dutiful there, to a couple that seemed very 00006800 interesting. On his right was Susan Pinkney; on his left was Mrs. 00006900 Middleton -- matronizing. And a prudent, discreet matron she 00007000 was; listening very attentively to the jingle of the bells, and the 00007100 peals of silver laughter that now and then rang out from the 00007200 animated party; and hearing no more of what was going on that 00007300 any polite person should hear. 00007400 #Susan was another of Frank's dear creatures. A sleigh-ride 00007500 is hazardous to young people. A hood is not always so frightful 00007600 as the unreflecting imagine. Susan knew it. Frank had discovered 00007700 it, by experience. His heart melted, in spite of the cold 00007800 weather. He had never found the lady so charming, though he 00007900 had known her a twelvemonth. It struck him so oddly, too, 00008000 that he had never before discovered Miss Pinkney to be an angel! 00008100 #`It is not possible!' was the general ejaculation, that startled 00008200 Frank, as he had almost finished a tender sentiment. 00008300 A common movement put a period to his half-declared passion; 00008400 and I thought that Miss Pinkney abandoned her seat with more 00008500 than needful alacrity. 00008600 #It was possible. They had reached the end of their journey, 00008700 and the next moment found them in one of the parlors of the 00008800 Spring Hotel. As Susan threw off her cloak, and boa, and that 00008900 hood with its face-circling cap, and cast half a glance in the mirror, 00009000 to make sure that her locks were becomingly disarranged -- 00009100 she hardly wondered that Frank had been so eloquent. And as 00009200 Frank gazed on her tall, and graceful form, dashily tricked in a 00009300 garment that would have made a bird of paradise jealous -- he 00009400 was surprised that he had not been more eloquent. 00009500 #Miss Pinkney threw back the curls from her face, and again 00009600 turned her eye innocently to the glass. Her dark orb rested 00009700 complacently on the reflected image. Frank came suddenly between 00009800 the lady and the object of her admiration, and intercepted one of 00009900 the glances. He thought it intended for himself. 00010000 #Mulled wine has a tendency to make us affectionate. A dance 00010100 was proposed. A fiddler had been very judiciously imported; 00010200 and a fire was made in the hall. There were just two sets of 00010300 quadrilles -- omitting the matron, and an odd couple. Frank of 00010400 course managed to be omitted. Miss Pinkney could not but 00010500 concede. 00010600 #I saw at once how it was with the poor fellow. He was 00010700 desperate fro the twentieth time, within hardly a score of weeks. 00010800 He looked from his expressive eyes -- for he was handsome -- 00010900 half a dozen folio volumes of soft sayings and tender speeches. 00011000 His silence talked like a book: and before he could make up his 00011100 mind to utter a verbal proposition, any one skilled in the dead 00011200 languages of love would have given him credit for a confession, 00011300 and explanation, a declaration, and all the other accompaniments 00011400 of a lawful tender of heart and hand. 00011500 #I should have been less observant of other people's business, 00011600 if I had not invested a considerable share of my own affection in 00011700 favor of Miss Pinkney. The whole of it stood in her name. 00011800 I was naturally anxious to watch the rise and fall of my stock. 00011900 #At length, I verily believe that Frank proposed. Miss 00012000 Pinkney's black eye flashed anger, and her red lip curled scorn. It 00012100 had escaped the impetuous lover that she was a particular friend 00012200 of Fanny Moselle, and was familiar with the whole course of the 00012300 old affair. She knew his habit. 00012400 #'How often, Mr. Nelson, have you said the same pretty 00012500 things within the last twenty-four hours?' 00012600 #Frank thought of the intercepted glance; he knew his own 00012700 way and air, and felt secure, in spite of the fervor of his 00012800 attachment. He remonstrated. He promised. He swore. Miss 00012900 Pinkney frowned. She pouted; ladies will pout sometimes. 00013000 At length she beat a retreat, and Frank was dull, dumpy and 00013100 dumb for the rest of the evening. Coming home, he was 00013200 remarkably attentive -- to the matron! 00013300 #I puffed a cigar with Frank, when our birds had all found the 00013400 way to their nests. He was despondent and desperate; contemplated 00013500 suicide; made his will; arranged all his earthly affairs; 00013600 bequeathed all his property to Susan -- and in memory of his old 00013700 attachment left a lock of hair to her friend Fanny. He did not 00013800 quit his chamber the next day. His despair was gradually 00013900 soothed. He determined on the whole to survive. He thought 00014000 a year in Europe might cure him of his ill-placed and unrequited 00014100 affection. Closing up his affairs, he booked for New-York in 00014200 season for the next Havre packet. 00014300 #'Good bye,' said Frank, sadly, as we separated on the night 00014400 before his departure. 'I will endeavor -- in the diversions and 00014500 dissipations of Paris -- for one winter at least -- to forget that 00014600 I have ever -- loved!' 00014700 #The idea was too amusing. Melancholy as we both were, or 00014800 properly should have been, I laughed outright. I was 00014900 indecorous -- very -- but the impulse was irresistible. Frank was so 00015000 serious! He absolutely thought himself one of the most loving 00015100 and injured of men. I explained as well as I could, and parted, 00015200 as Frank tenderly expressed himself, 'perhaps forever!' 00015300 III. 00015400 #'An awkward affair this!' 00015500 #'Extremely.' 00015600 #Frank was one of the coloquists in the above dialogue. He 00015700 had made up his mind to die at home. The thought of perishing of 00015800 love at such a distance was too much. 00015900 #'We had better discuss the matter with due deliberation,' said 00016000 Frank ringing for wine and cigars. The precise time of the scene 00016100 we will not undertake to state: it was since the building 00016200 of the Tremont. 00016300 #Harry Temple acquiesced. The wine sparkled. The weed 00016400 exhaled its perfume. Smoke is the mother of darkness, and 00016500 darkness is the first cousin of silence. Neither of the 00016600 tobacco-enjoyers spoke. 00016700 #'We must do something, and quickly -- ' at length ejaculated 00016800 Frank, throwing his half-consumed cigar vehemently into the fire, 00016900 tossing of his heel-tap with violence, and brimming his own glass 00017000 and that of his companion to the highest top-sparkle. Bringing 00017100 down his emptied glass a little too emphatically, to seal his last 00017200 assertion, he shivered it into a thousand pieces. Frank could not 00017300 but regard the broken goblet -- as a fit emblem of his own shivered 00017400 and scattered affections. But as he did not choose to moralize 00017500 about it, I know not that it can be expected of me. Frank 00017600 only lit a fresh cigar, and hummed the fag-end of an old air. 00017700 #'Ah, Frank, if the girl had only been pretty -- it would have 00017800 put another face on the matter. A man can't be blamed for falling 00017900 in love with a pretty woman -- that would be quite unreasonable. 00018000 But the creature is as plain --' 00018100 #'As your impertinence, my dear fellow, so just be quiet. There 00018200 is but one way in this matter. Lucilla is well enough -- 00018300 and right enough -- but I was a fool -- am a fool -- and always will 00018400 be a fool -- as far as a woman is concerned -- and it takes me 00018500 just about one half of my life to get out of scrapes, which I 00018600 pass the other half in falling into. This is the long and short of 00018700 the business.' 00018800 #'You have spoken the truth, Frank, for once in your life.' 00018900 #'Now Harry -- I pray you with the girl in the play 'Let not 00019000 your passion be my counsellor,' but tell me as one friend to 00019100 should tell another whether this duel 'can be shunned with honor?'' 00019200 #'But Frank, why shun it?' 00019300 #'Why Harry, I am told that skilly soup is very indifferent food 00019400 for a man who has been used to better living.' 00019500 #'That's a consideration.' 00019600 #'Standing up to be shot at is a trifle. But to be dogged by 00019700 a d -- d constable, and clapped within four stone walls, and fed 00019800 on skilly soup is enough to fighten the devil.' 00019900 #'They have an odd way of managing the matter in this part of 00020000 the country -- that's a fact. South of Mason and Dixon, now 00020100 a score or two of friends will go out to see a couple of clever 00020200 fellows blaze away at each other, and no harm done.' 00020300 #'Here, though, you must sneak away like a pair of pickpockets: 00020400 looking at every turn of the road for a sheriff's officer, with 00020500 a posse comitatus. These new arrangements have put a stop 00020600 to every thing like gentlemanly fighting.' 00020700 #'But why not manage it as our friend -- -- -proposed to the 00020800 Governor of Rhode-Island -- one stand one side of the state, and 00020900 one the other, and fire across?' 00021000 #'But we should in that way mortally offend three distinct 00021100 sovereignties: these little northern sections intend to be great 00021200 sticklers for State Rights.' 00021300 'Well, Frank, you must fight, notwithstanding your horror for 00021400 skilly soup. Just hurry across the lines quietly -- all snugly 00021500 packed in a carriage -- and make your way to the South as fast 00021600 as stages and steam can carry you.' 00021700 #Frank and Harry settled the preliminaries and slept soundly. 00021800 Lucilla's brother, and his second, strange as it may seem, left 00021900 their lodgings without directing their landlady to state to all 00022000 inquiring friends that they had gone out to fight a duel. They met 00022100 in a retired spot, and suffered no interruption from a single 00022200 constable. Frank thought of skilly soup and stone walls, and sighed; 00022300 he stood up and received his shot, with as much propriety, as if 00022400 he had been an old hand at it. Frnak's susceptibility this time 00022500 did not cost him even a wound in his coat-skirts; he escaped 00022600 utterly unscathed. He had only been a little too attentive to 00022700 Lucilla, without meaning any harm; and the brother thought it 00022800 would be the pretty thing to hold him responsible. The recontre 00022900 was sufficient. They had smelt gun-powder. Neither 00023000 had felt a ball. Both were declared men of honor. Three of 00023100 the party returned to Boston; Frank, still having the terror 00023200 of stone walls and skilly soup before his eyes, with an idea of the 00023300 pretty figure he should cut in the Municipal Court, took the next 00023400 boat from Providence, and was soon safe in pleasant lodgings in the 00023500 Quaker metropolis. 00023600 IV. 00023700 #Was not Frank 'quite too susceptible?' 00023800 #He had not yet, however, got to the end of his tether. It was 00023900 about a month after the above that I was strolling in one of the 00024000 broad squares of Philadelphia, when I met my friend Frank 00024100 with a pretty creature -- to be sure -- there is no denying 00024200 it -- dashily dressed, stepping off with a decided air, and with an eye 00024300 that beamed menace as well as command, on an emergency, I 00024400 doubt not. 00024500 #'Who is Frank Nelson in love with now?' I asked of my 00024600 companion, who happened to be a mutual friend. 00024700 #'His wife.' 00024800 #'Frank married! the d -- l!' was the involuntary ejaculation, 00024900 though it smaked a little of the irreverent. 00025000 #'No, not married the devil exactly -- though his friends would 00025100 as lieve he had gone into that family as any other.' 00025200 #'How was the catastrophe brought about?' 00025300 #'Oddly enough. Frank's habits have grown upon him so far, 00025400 poor fellow, that he was trapped before he knew it.' 00025500 #'Trapped! Fairly caught at last, Frank, and if you have 00025600 married a brimstone-beauty, why you have richly deserved it -- 00025700 and that's all the consolation I can give you.' 00025800 #'At a ball of his aunt's, last week, the old lady had picked up 00025900 a pretty girl somewhere or other, and had posted her in a cozy 00026000 little coffee-room to look after the coffee and chocolate. She 00026100 was a lively witch -- it is true -- and an interesting. Frank came. 00026200 Frank saw. Frank was conquered. He was shot through and 00026300 through, and he stalked sighing about the room like a crazy 00026400 creature. And then to see his jealously as she would now and then 00026500 half smile upon the gentlemen who were gallant enough to say a 00026600 pleasant word or so to her -- I watched the whole operation, and 00026700 laughed over it for the next four and twenty hours.' 00026800 #'But for the catastrophe.' 00026900 'Frank could not conceal from her that she had made an 00027000 impression. She managed very discreetly. The next day he 00027100 proposed in due form -- the day after he was accepted -- and within 00027200 forty-eight hours the knot was tied.' 00027300 #'And Frank, then, absolutely married the coffee-girl?' 00027400 #'Very absolutely I assure you; as absolutely as the service 00027500 could fix it.' 00027600 #'I've a good mind to moralize.' 00027700 #'Do n't put yourself to the trouble. I never listen to anything 00027800 of the kind.' 00027900 #'Then the rich, handsome, accomplished Frank Nelson, after having 00028000 been desperately in love with all the beauties and half the 00028100 fortunes in the United States -- has at length joined his luck to 00028200 the coffee girl's.' 00028300 #'You remember his stiff old aunt -- who first developed his 00028400 susceptibility -- as she called it, in the hope of tacking him on 00028500 to that Miss Million Cousin of his -- well the old lady has gone 00028600 mad -- absolutely mad -- of disappointment.' 00028700 #'But he is so well served, that I am perfectly charmed with 00028800 the denouement of his career. It's what I call poetical justice.' 00028900 #'Rather harshly administered, if all that I hear is true; the 00029000 scandalous say that she is a whirlwind of a scold.' 00029100 #'Better and better. Frank always pleaded native 00029200 susceptibility in bar to any accusations of fickleness or injustice; 00029300 if he get his deserts, he'll not escape whipping! 'I am quite too 00029400 susceptible,' was his standing reply to my reproaches. Here he 00029500 comes, however, and I will get the truth out of him.' 00029600 V. 00029700 #I have just come from a conversation with Frank. The honeymoon 00029800 is not over, and the poor fellow is most heartily tired of his 00029900 bargain. I saw how it was in a moment, though I thought it but 00030000 civil to tender my congratulations. Frank gave a sigh. It was 00030100 sincere, I could swear. It came from the very depths of his heart, 00030200 and if I were ever in the 'mingled-smile-and-tear' mood of 00030300 the old poet, it was when Frank shook me affectionately by the 00030400 hand, and exclaimed in the most pitiable accents -- 'My dear 00030500 boy, you know I was always QUITE TOO SUSCEPTIBLE!' 00030600 SKETCHES FROM MEMORY 00000100 The Inland Port 00000200 #It was a bright forenoon, when I set foot on the beach 00000400 at Burlington, and took leave of the two boatmen, in 00000500 whose little skiff I had voyaged since daylight from Peru. 00000600 Not that we had come that morning from South America, 00000700 but only from the New-York shore of Lake Champlain. The 00000800 highlands of the coast behind us stretched north and south, 00000900 in a double range of bold, blue peaks, gazing over each 00001000 other's shoulders at the Green Mountains of Vermont. The 00001100 latter are far the loftiest, and, from the opposite side of the 00001200 lake, had displayed a more striking outline. We were now 00001300 almost at their feet, and could see only a sandy beach, sweep- 00001400 ing beneath a woody bank, around the semi-circular bay of 00001500 Burlington. The painted light-house, on a small green island, 00001600 the wharves and warehouses, with sloops and schooners 00001700 moored alongside, or at anchor, or spreading their canvass 00001800 to the wind, and boats rowing from point to point, reminded 00001900 me of some fishing town on the sea-coast. 00002000 #But I had no need to tasting the water to convince myself 00002100 that Lake Champlain was not an arm of the sea; its quality 00002200 was evident, both by its silvery surface, when unruffled, and 00002300 a faint, but unpleasant and sickly smell, forever steaming up 00002400 in the sunshine. One breeze from the Atlantic, with its briny 00002500 fragrance,would be worth more to these inland people than 00002600 all the perfumes of Arabia. On closer inspection, the vessels 00002700 at the wharves looked hardly sea-worthy--there being a great 00002800 lack of tar about the seams and rigging, and perhaps other 00002900 deficiencies, quite as much to the purpose. I observed not a 00003000 single sailor in the port. There were men, indeed, in blue 00003100 jackets and trowsers, but not of the true nautical fashion, 00003200 such as dangle before slop-shops; others wore tight pantaloons 00003300 and coats preponderously long-tailed--cutting very queer 00003400 figures at the mast-head and, in short, these fresh-water 00003500 fellows had about the same analogy to the real 'old salt,' with 00003600 his tarpaulin, pea-jacket and sailor-cloth trowsers, as a lake 00003700 fish to a Newfoundland cod. 00003800 #Nothing struck me more, in Burlington, than the great 00003900 number of Irish emigrants. They have filled the British 00004000 provinces to the brim, and still continue to ascend the St. 00004100 Lawrence, in infinite tribes, overflowing by every outlet into 00004200 the States. At Burlington, they swarm in huts and mean 00004300 dwellings near the lake, lounge about the wharves, and 00004400 elbow the native citizens entirely out of competition in their 00004500 own line. Every species of mere bodily labor is the preroga- 00004600 tive of these Irish. Such is their multitude, in comparison 00004700 with any possible demand for their services, that it is difficult 00004800 to conceive how a third part of them should earn even a daily 00004900 glass of whiskey, which is doubtless their first necessary of 00005000 life--daily bread being only the second. Some were angling 00005100 in the lake, but had caught only a few perch, which little 00005200 fishes, without a miracle, would be nothing among so many. 00005300 A miracle there certainly must have been, and a daily one, 00005400 for the subsistence of these wandering hordes. The men 00005500 exhibit a lazy strength and careless merriment, as if they had 00005600 fed well hitherto, and meant to feed better hereafter; the 00005700 women strode about, uncovered in the open air,with far 00005800 plumper waists and brawnier limbs, as well as bolder faces, 00005900 than our shy and slender females; and their progeny, which 00006000 was innumerable, had the reddest and the roundest cheeks 00006100 of any children in America. 00006200 #While we stood at the wharf, the bell of a steamboat gave 00006300 two preliminary peals, and she dashed away for Plattsburgh, 00006400 leaving a trail of smoky breath behind, and breaking the 00006500 glassy surface of the lake before her. Our next movement 00006600 brought us into a handsome and busy sqaure, the sides of 00006700 which were filled up with white houses, brick stores, a 00006800 church, a court-house, and a bank. Some of these edifices 00006900 had roofs of tin,in the fashion of Montreal, and glittered in 00007000 the sun with cheerful splendor, imparting a lively effect to 00007100 the whole square. One brick building, designated in large 00007200 letters as the custom-house, reminded us that this inland 00007300 village is a port of entry, largely concerned in foreign trade, 00007400 and holding daily intercourse with the British empire. In 00007500 this border country, the Canadian bank-notes circulate as 00007600 freely as our own, and British and American coin are jumbled 00007700 into the same pocket, the effigies of the king of England being 00007800 made to kiss those of the goddess of liberty. Perhaps there 00007900 was an emblem in the involuntary contact. There was a 00008000 pleasant mixture of people in the square of Burlington, such 00008100 as cannot be seen elsewhere, at one view: merchants from 00008200 Montreal, British officers from the frontier garrisons, French 00008300 Canadians, wandering Irish, Scotchmen of a better class, 00008400 gentlemen of the south on a pleasure-tour, country 'squires 00008500 on business; and a great throng of Green Mountain boys, 00008600 with their horse-wagons and ox-teams, true Yankees in aspect, 00008700 and looking more superlatively so, by contrast with such a 00008800 variety of foreigners. 00008900 ROCHESTER 00009000 #The gray, but transparent evening, rather shaded than 00009100 obscured the scene--leaving its stronger features visible, and 00009200 even improved, by the medium through which I beheld 00009300 them. The volume of water is not very great, nor the roar 00009400 deep enough to be termed grand, though such praise might 00009500 have been appropriate before the good people of Rochester 00009600 had astracted a part of the unprofitable sublimity of the 00009700 cascade. The Genesee has contributed so bountifully to their 00009800 canals and mill-dams, that it approaches the precipice with 00009900 diminished pomp, and rushes over it in foamy streams of 00010000 various width, leaving a broad face of the rock insulated and 00010100 unwashed, between the two main branches of the falling 00010200 river. Still it was an impressive sight, to one who had not 00010300 seen Niagara. I confess, however, that my chief interest arose 00010400 from a legend, connected with these falls, which will become 00010500 poetical in the lapse of years, and was already so to me, as 00010600 I pictured the catastrophe out of dusk and solitude. It was 00010700 from a platform, raised over the naked island of the cliff, 00010800 in the middle of the cataract, that Sam Patch took his last 00010900 leap, and alighted in the other world. Strange as it may 00011000 appear--that any uncertainty should rest upon his fate, which 00011100 was consummated in the sight of thousands--many will tell 00011200 you that the illustrious Patch concealed himself in a cave 00011300 under the falls, and has continued to enjoy posthumous 00011400 renown, without foregoing the comforts of this present life. 00011500 But the poor fellow prized the shout of the multitude too 00011600 much not to have claimed it at the instant, had he survived. 00011700 He will not be seen again, unless his ghost, in such a twilight 00011800 as when I was there, should emerge from the foam, and 00011900 vanish aong the shadows that fall from cliff to cliff. How 00012000 stern a moral may be drawn from the story of poor Sam 00012100 Patch! Why do we call him a madman or a fool, when he 00012200 has left his memory around the falls of the Genesee, more 00012300 permanently than if the letters of his name had been hewn 00012400 into the forehead of the precipice? Was the leaper of cataracts 00012500 more mad or foolish than other men who throw away life, 00012600 or misspend it in pursuit of empty fame, and seldom so 00012700 triumphantly as he? That which he won is as invaluable as 00012800 any, except the unsought glory, spreading, like the rich 00012900 perfume of richer fruit, from virtuous and useful deeds. 00013000 #Thus, musing, wise in theory, but practically as great a fool 00013100 as Sam, I lifted my eyes and beheld the spires, warehouses, 00013200 and dwellings of Rochester, half a mile distant on both sides 00013300 of the river, indistinctly cheerful, with the twinkling of many 00013400 lights amid the fall of evening. 00013500 The town had sprung up like a mushroom, but no presage# 00013600 of decay could be drawn from its hasty growth. Its edifces 00013700 are of dusty brick, and of stone that will not be grayer in a 00013800 hundred years than now; its churhes are Gothic; it is im- 00013900 possible to look at its worn pavements, and conceive how 00014000 lately the forest-leaves have been swept away. The most 00014100 ancient town in Massachusetts appears quite like an affair 00014200 of yesterday, compared with Rochester. Its attributes of youth 00014300 are the activity and eager life with which it is redundant. 00014400 The whole street, sidewalks and centre, was crowded with 00014500 pedestrians, horsemen, stage-coaches, gigs, light wagons, and 00014600 heavy ox-teams, all hurrying, trotting, rattling, and rumbling, 00014700 in a throng that passed continually, but never passed away. 00014800 Here, a country wife was selecting a churn, from several 00014900 gaily-painted ones on the sunny sidewalk; there, a farmer 00015000 was bartering his produce; and, in two or three places, a 00015100 crowd of people were showering bids on a vociferous auc- 00015200 tioneer. I saw a great wagon and an ox-chain knocked off to 00015300 a very pretty woman. Numerous were the lottery-offices-- 00015400 those true temples of Mammon--where red and yellow bills 00015500 offered splendid fortunes to the world at large, and banners 00015600 of painted cloth gave notice that the 'lottery draws next 00015700 Wednesday.' At the ringing of a bell, judges, jurymen, 00015800 lawyers, and clients, elbowed each other to the court-house, 00015900 to busy themselves with cases that would doubtless illustrate 00016000 the state of society, had I the means of reporting them. The 00016100 number of public houses benefitted the flow of temporary 00016200 population; some were farmers' taverns--cheap, homely, and 00016300 comfortable; others were magnificent hotels, with negro 00016400 waiters, gentlemanly landlords in black broadcloth, and 00016500 foppish bar-keepers in Broadway coats, with chased gold 00016600 wathes in their waistcoat pockets. I caught one of these 00016700 fellows quizzing me through an eye-glass. The porters were 00016800 lumbering up the steps with baggage from the packet-boats, 00016900 while waiters plied the brush on dusty travellers, who, mean- 00017000 while, glanced over the innumerable advertisements in the 00017100 daily papers. 00017200 #In short, everybody seemed to be there, and all had some- 00017300 thing to do, and were doing it with all their might, except 00017400 a party of drunken recruits for the western military posts, 00017500 principally Irish and Scotch, though they wore uncle Sam's 00017600 gray jacket and trowsers. I noticed one other idle man. He 00017700 carried a rifle on his shoulder and a powder-horn across his 00017800 breast, and appeared to stare about him with confused 00017900 wonder, as if, while he was listening to the wind among the 00018000 forest boughs, the hum and bustle of an instantaneous city 00018100 had surrounded him. 00018200 A NIGHT SCENE 00018300 #The steamboat in which I was passenger for Detroit, had 00018400 put into the mouth of a small river, where the greater part of 00018500 of the night would be spent in repairing some damages of 00018600 the machinery. As the evening was warm, though cloudy 00018700 and very dark, I stood on deck, watching a scene that would 00018800 not have attracted a second glance in the day-time, but 00018900 became picturesque by the magic of strong light and deep 00019000 shade. Some wild Irishmen were replenishing our stock of 00019100 wood, and had kindled a great fire on the bank, to illuminate 00019200 their labors. It was composed of large logs and dry brushwood, 00019300 heaped together with careless profusion, blazing fiercely, 00019400 spouting showers of sparks into the darkness, and gleaming 00019500 wide over Lake Erie--a beacon for perplexed voyagers, 00019600 leagues from land. All around and above the furnace, there 00019700 was total obscurity. No trees, or other objects, caught and 00019800 reflected any portion of the brightness, which thus wasted 00019900 itself in the immense void of night, as if it quivered from 00020000 the expiring embers of the world, after the final conflagration. 00020100 But the Irishmen were continually emerging from the dense 00020200 gloom, passing through the lurid glow, and vanishing into 00020300 the gloom on the other side. Sometimes a whole figure would 00020400 be made visible, by the shirt-sleeves and light-colored dress; 00020500 others were but half seen, like imperfect creatures; many 00020600 flitted, shadow-like, along the skirts of darkness, tempting 00020700 fancy to a vain pursuit; and often, a face alone was reddened 00020800 by the fire, and stared strangely distinct, with no traces of a 00020900 body. In short, these wild Irish, distorted and exaggerated by 00021000 the blaze, now lost in deep shadow, now bursting into sudden 00021100 splendor, and now struggling between light and darkness, 00021200 formed a picture which might have been transferred, almost 00021300 unaltered, to a tale of the supernatural. As they all carried 00021400 lanterns of wood, and often flung sticks upon the fire, the 00021500 least imaginative spectator would at once compare them to 00021600 devils, condemned to keep alive the flame of their own 00021700 torment. 00021800 FRAGMENTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF A SOLITARY MAN 00000100 My poor friend "Oberon"--for let me be 00000200 allowed to distinguish him by so quaint a name-- 00000300 sleeps with the silent of ages. He died calmly. 00000400 Though his disease was pulmonary, his life did not flicker 00000500 out like a wasted lamp, sometimes shooting up into a strange 00000600 temporary brightness; but the tide of being ebbed away, and 00000700 the moon of his existence waned till, in the simple phraseology 00000800 of Scripture, "he was not." The last words he said to me 00000900 were, "Burn my papers--all that you can find in yonder 00001000 escritoire; for I fear there are some there which you may be 00001100 betrayed into publishing. I have published enough; as for 00001200 the old disconnected journal in your possession ----" But 00001300 here my poor friend was checked in his utterance by that 00001400 same hollow cough which would never let him alone. So he 00001500 coughed himself tired, and sunk to slumber. I watched from 00001600 that midnight hour till high noon on the morrow for his 00001700 waking. The chamber was dark; till, longing for light, I 00001800 opened the window-shutter, and the broad day looked in on 00001900 the marble features of the dead! 00002000 #I religiously obeyed his instructions with regard to the 00002100 papers in the escritoire, and burned them in a heap without 00002200 looking into one, though sorely tempted. But the old journal 00002300 I kept. Perhaps in strict conscience I ought also to have 00002400 burned that; but, casting my eye over some half-torn leaves 00002500 the other day, I could not resist an impulse to give some fragments 00002600 of it to the public. To do this satisfactorily, I am obliged 00002700 to twist this thread, so as to string together into a semblance 00002800 of order my Oberon's "random pearls." 00002900 #If any body that holds any commerce with his fellow-men 00003000 can be called solitary, Oberon was a "solitary man." He lived 00003100 in a small village at some distance from the metropolis, and 00003200 never came up to the city except once in three months for the 00003300 purpose of looking into a book-store, and of spending two 00003400 hours and a half with me. In that space of time I would tell 00003500 him all that I could remember of interest which had occurred 00003600 in the interim of his visits. He would join very heartily in the 00003700 conversation; but as soon as the time of his usual tarrying had 00003800 elapsed, he would take up his hat and depart. He was 00003900 unequivocally the most original person I ever knew. His style 00004000 of composition was very charming. No tales that have ever 00004100 appeared in our popular journals have been so generally admired 00004200 as his. But a sadness was on his spirit; and this, added 00004300 to the shrinking sensitiveness of his nature, rendered him not 00004400 misanthropic, but singularly averse to social intercourse. Of 00004500 the disease, which was slowly sapping te springs of his life, 00004600 he first became fully conscious after one of those long abstrac- 00004700 tions in which he was so wont to indulge. It is remarkable, 00004800 however, that his first idea of this sort, instead of deepening 00004900 his spirit with a more melancholy hue, restored him to a more 00005000 natural state of mind. 00005100 He had evidently cherished a secret hope that some impulse 00005200 would at length be given him, or that he would muster sufficient 00005300 energy of will to return into the world, and act a wiser 00005400 and happier part than his former one. But life never called 00005500 the dreamer forth; it was Death that whispered him. It is to 00005600 be regretted that this portion of his old journal contains so few 00005700 passages relative to this interesting period; since the little 00005800 which he has recorded, though melancholy enough, breathes 00005900 the gentleness of a spirit newly restored to communion with 00006000 it kind. If there be any thing bitter in the following 00006100 reflections, its source is in human sympathy, and its sole object 00006200 is himself. 00006300 #"It is hard to die without one's happiness; to none more so 00006400 than myself, whose early reolution it had been to partake 00006500 largely of the joys of life, but never to be burthened with its 00006600 cares. Vain philosophy! The ver hardships of the poorest 00006700 laborer, whose whole existence seems one long toil, has something 00006800 preferable to my best pleasures. 00006900 #Merely skimming the surface of life, I know nothing, by 00007000 my own experience, of its deep and warm realities. I have 00007100 achieved none of those objects which the instinct of mankind 00007200 especially prompts them to pursue, and the accomplishment of 00007300 which must therefore beget a native satisfaction. The truly 00007400 wise, after all their speculations, will be led into the common 00007500 path, and, in homage to the human nature that pervades 00007600 them, will gather gold, and till the earth, and set out trees, 00007800 But I have scorned such wisdom. I have 00007900 and build a house. But I have scorned such wisdom. I have 00008000 rejected, also, the settled, sober, careful gladness of a man 00008100 by his own fireside, with those around him whose welfare is 00008200 committed to his trust and their guidance to his fond 00008300 authority. Without influence among serious affairs, my footsteps 00008400 were not imprinted on the earth, but lost in air; and I shall 00008450 leave no son to inherit my share of life, with a better sense 00008500 of its privileges and duties, when his father should vanish like 00008600 a bubble; so that few mortals, even the humblest and the 00008700 weakest, have been such ineffectual shadows in the world, or 00008800 die so utterly as I must. Even a young man's bliss has not 00008900 been mine. With a thousand vagrant fantasies, I have never truly 00009000 loved, and perhaps shall be doomed to loneliness 00009100 throughout the eternal future, because, here on earth, my 00009200 soul has never married itself to the soul of woman. 00009300 #Such are the repinings of one who feels, too late, that the 00009400 sympathies of his nature have avenged themselves upon him. 00009500 They have frustrated, with a joyless life and the prospect of 00009600 a reluctant death, my selfish purpose to keep aloof from 00009700 mortal disquietudes, and be a pleasant idler among 00009800 care-stricken and laborious men. I have other regrets, too, savoring 00009900 more of my old spirit. The time has been when I meant to 00010000 visit every reion of the earth, except the Poles and central 00010100 Africa. I had a strange longing to see the Pyramids. To Persia 00010200 and Arabia, and all the gordous East, I owed a pilgrimage 00010300 for the sake of their magic tales. And England, the land of 00010400 my ancestors! Once I had fancied that my sleep would not be 00010500 quiet in the grave unless I should return, as it were, to my 00010700 home of past ages, and see the very cities, and castles, and 00010800 00010900 battle-fields of history, and stand within the holy gloom of its 00011000 cathedrals, and kneel at the shrines of its immortal poets, 00011100 there asserting myself their hereditary countryman. This feeling 00011200 lay among the deepest in my heart. Yet, with this homesickness 00011300 for the father-land, and all these plans of remote 00011400 travel,--which I yet believe that my peculiar instinct 00011500 impelled me to form, and upbraided me for not accomplishing-- 00011600 the utmost limit of my wanderings has been little more than 00011700 six hundred miles from my native village. Thus, in whatever 00011800 way I consider my life, or what must be termed such, I cannot 00011900 feel as if I have lived at all. 00012000 #I am possessed, also, with the thought that I have never yet 00012100 discovered the real secret of my powers; that there has been a 00012200 mighty treasure within my reach, a mine of gold beneath my 00012300 feet, worthless because I have never known how to seek for it; 00012400 and for want of perhaps one fortunate idea, I am to die 00012500 'Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.' 00012600 #Once, amid the troubled and tumultuous enjoyment of my 00012700 life, there was one dreary thought that haunted me,--the 00012800 terrible necessity imposed on mortals to grow old or die. I 00012900 could not bear the idea of losing one youthful grace. True: 00013000 I saw other men, who had once been young and now were 00013100 old, enduring their age with equanimity, because each year 00013200 reconciled them to its own added weight. But for myself, I 00013300 felt that age would be not less miserable, creeping upon me 00013400 slowly, than if it fell at once. I sometimes looked in the glass, 00013500 and endeavored to fancy my cheeks yellow and interlaced 00013600 with furrows, my forehead wrinkled deeply across, the top of 00013700 my head bald and polished, my eye-brows and side-locks 00013800 iron-gray, and grisly beard sprouting on my chin. Shuddering at 00013900 the picture, I changed it for the dead face of a young man, 00014000 with dark locks clustering heavily round its pale beauty, which 00014100 would decay, indeed, but not with years, nor in the sight of 00014200 men. The latter visage shocked me least. 00014300 #Such a repugnance to the hard conditions of long life is 00014400 common to all sensitive and thoughtful men, who minister 00014500 to the luxury, the refinements, the gaiety and lightsomeness, 00014600 to any thing, in short, but the real necessities of their 00014700 fellow-creatures. He who has a part in the serious business of life, 00014800 thought it be only as a shoemaker, feels himself equally respectable 00014900 in youth and age, and therefore is content to live, and 00015000 look forward to wrinkles and decrepitude in their due season. 00015100 It is far otherwise with the busy idlers of the world. I was 00015200 particularly liable to this torment, being a meditative person 00015300 in spite of my levity. The truth could not be concealed, nor 00015400 the contemplation of its avoided. With deep inquietude I 00015500 became aware that what was graceful now, and seemed 00015600 appropriate enough to my age of flowers, would be ridiculous 00015700 in middle life; and that the world, so indulgent to the 00015800 fantastic youth, would scorn the bearded man, still telling 00015900 love-tales, loftily ambitious of a maiden's tear, and squeezing out, 00016000 as it were, with his brawny strength, the essence of roses. 00016100 And in his old age the sweet lyrics of Anacreon made the girls 00016200 laugh at his white hairs the more. With such sentiments, 00016300 conscious that my part in the drama of life was fit only for 00016400 a youthful performer, I nourished a regretful desire to be 00016500 summoned early from the scene. I set a limit to myself, the 00016600 age of twenty-five, few years indeed, but too many to be 00016700 thrown away. scarcely had I thus fixed the term of my mortal 00016800 pilgrimage, than the thought grew into a presentiment that, 00016900 when the space should be completed, the world would have 00017000 one butterfly the less, by my far flight. 00017100 #Oh, how fond I was of life, even while allotting, as my 00017200 proper destiny, an early death! I loved the world, its cities, 00017300 its villages, its grassy roadsides, its wild forests, its quiet 00017400 scenes, its gay, warm, enlivening bustle; in every aspect, I loved 00017500 the world so long as I could behold it with young eyes 00017600 and dance through it with a young heart. The earth had been 00017700 made so beautiful, that I longed for no brighter sphere, but 00017800 only an ever youthful eternity in this. I clung to earth as if 00017900 my beginning and ending were to be there, unable to imagine 00018000 any but an earthly happiness, and choosing such, with all its 00018100 imperfections, rather than perfect bliss which might be alien 00018200 from it. Alas! I had not yet known that weariness by which 00018300 the soul proves itself ethereal." 00018400 #Turning over the old journal, I open, by chance, upon a 00018500 passage which affords a signal instance of the morbid fancies 00018600 to which Oberon frequently yielded himself. Dreams like the 00018700 following were probably engendered by the deep gloom sometimes 00018800 thrown over his mind by his reflections on death. 00018900 #"I dreamed that one bright forenoon I was walking through 00019000 Broadway, and seeking to cheer myself with the warm and 00019100 busy life of that far-famed promenade. Here a coach thundered 00019200 over the pavement, and there an unwieldy omnibus, with 00019300 spruce gigs rattling past, and horsemen prancing through 00019400 all the bustle. On the side-walk people were looking at the 00019500 rich display of goods, the plate and jewelry, or the latest 00019600 caricature in the booksellers' windows; while fair ladies and 00019700 whiskered gentlemen tripped gaily along, nodding mutual 00019800 recognitions, or shrinking from some rough countryman or 00019900 sturdy laborer whose contact might have ruffled their finery. 00020000 I found myself in this animated scene, with a dim and misty 00020100 idea that it was not mu proper place, or that I had ventured 00020200 into the crowd with some singularity of dress of aspect which 00020300 made me ridiculous. Walking in the sunshine, I was yet cold 00020400 as death. 00020450 By degrees, too, I perceived myself the object of 00020500 universal attention, and, as it seemed, of horror and affright. 00020700 Every face frew pale; the laugh was hushed, and the voices 00020800 died away in broken syllables; the people in the shops crowded 00020900 to the doors with a ghastly stare, and the passengers on all 00021000 sides fled as from an embodied pestilence. The horses reared 00021100 and snorted. An old beggar woman sat before St. Paul's 00021200 church, with her withered palm stretched out to all, but 00021300 drew it back from me, and pointed to the graves and monuments 00021400 in that populous church-yard. Three lovely girls, whom 00021500 I had formerly known, ran shrieking across the street. A personage 00021600 in black, whom I was about to overtake, suddenly turned his head, 00021700 and showed the features of a long-lost friend. 00021800 He gave me a look of horror and was gone. 00021900 #I passed not one step further, but threw my eyes on a looking-glass 00022100 which stood deep within the nearest shop. At 00022200 the first glimpse of my own figure I awoke, with a horrible 00022300 sensation of self-terror and self-loathing. No wonder that the 00022400 affrighted city fled! I had been promenading Broadway in my 00022500 shroud!" 00022600 #I should be doing injustice to my friend's memory, were I 00022700 to publish other extracts even nearer to insanity than this, 00022800 from the scarcely legible papers before me. I gather from 00022900 them,--for I do not remember that he ever related to me the 00023000 circumstances,--that he once made a journey, chiefly on foot, 00023100 to Niagara. Some conduct of the friends among whom he 00023200 resided in his native village was construed by him into 00023300 oppression. These were the friends to whose care he had been 00023400 committed by his parents, who died when Oberon was about 00023450 twelve years of age. Though he had always been treated by 00023500 them with the most uniform kindness, and though a farvourite 00023600 among the people of the village rather on account of the 00023700 sympathy which they felt in his situation than from an 00023800 merit of his own, such was the waywardness of his temper, 00023900 that on a slight provocation he ran away from the home that 00024000 sheltered him expressing openly his determination to die 00024100 sooner than return to the detested spot. A severe illness 00024200 overtook him after he had been absent about four months. While 00024300 ill, he felt how unsoothing were the kindest looks and tones 00024400 of strangers. He rose from his sick bed a better man, and 00024500 determined upon a speedy self-atonement by returning to his 00024600 native town. There he lived, solitary and sad, but forgiven 00024700 and cherished by his friends till the day he died. That part 00024800 of the journal which contained a description of this journey 00024900 is mostly destroyed. Here and there is a fragment. I cannot 00025000 select, for the pages of very scanty; but I do not withhold 00025100 the following fragments, because they indicate a better and 00025200 more cheerful frame of mind than the foregoing. 00025300 #"On reaching the ferry-house, a rude structure of boards at 00025400 the foot of the cliff, I found several of these wretches devoid 00025500 of poetry, and lost some of my own poetry by contact with 00025600 them. The hut was crowded by a party of provincials--a 00025700 simple and merry set, who had spent the afternoon fishing 00025800 near the Falls, and were bartering black and white bass and 00025900 eels for the ferryman's whiskey. A greyhound and three 00026000 spaniels, brutes of much more grace and decorous demeanor 00026100 than their masters, sat at the door. A few yards off, yet wholly 00026200 unnoticed by the dogs, was a beautiful fox, whose countenance 00026300 betokened all the sagacity attributed to him in ancient 00026400 fable. He had a comfortable bed of straw in an old barrel, 00026500 whither he retreated, flourishing his bushy tail as I made a 00026600 step towards him, but soon came forth and surveyed me with a keen 00026700 and intelligent eye. The Canadians bartered their fish 00026800 and drank their whiskey, and were loquacious on trifling 00026900 subjects, and merry at simple jests, with as little regard to the 00027200 scenery as they could have shown to the flattest part of 00027300 the Grand Canal. Nor was I entitled to despise them; for I 00027400 amused myself with all those foolish matters of fishermen, and 00027500 and dogs, and fox, just as if Sublimity and Beauty were not 00027600 married at that place and moment; as if their nuptial band 00027700 were not the brightest of all rainbows on the opposite shore; 00027800 as if the gray precipice were not frowning above my head and 00027900 Niagara thundering around me. 00028000 #The grim ferryman, a black-whiskered giant, half drunk 00028100 withal, now thrust the Canadians by main force out of his 00028200 door, launched a boat, and bade me sit down in the 00028300 stern-sheets. Where we corssed, the river was white with foam, yet 00028400 did not offer much resistance to a straight passage, which 00028500 brought us close to the outer edge of the American falls. The 00028600 rainbow vanished as we neared its misty base, and when I 00028700 leaped ashore, the sun had left all Niagara in shadow." 00028800 #"A sound of merriment, sweet voices and girlish laughter, 00028900 came dancing through the solemn roar of waters. In old 00029000 times, when the French and afterwards the English, held 00029100 garrisons near Niagara, it used to be deemed a feat worthy 00029200 of a soldier, a frontier man, or an Indian, to cross the rapids 00029300 to Goat Island. As the country became less rude and warlike, 00029400 a long space intervened, in which it was but half believed, by 00029500 a faint and doutful tradition, that mortal foot had ever trod 00029600 this wild spot of precipice and forest clinging between two 00029700 cataracts. This island is no longer a tangled forest, but a 00029800 grove of stately trees, with grassy intervals about their roots 00029900 and woodland paths among their trunks. There was neither 00030000 soldier nor Indian here now, but a vision of three lovely girls, 00030100 running brief raes through the broken sunshine of the grove, 00030200 hiding behind the trees, and pelting each other with the cones 00030300 of the pine. When their sport had brought them near me, it 00030400 so happened that one of the party ran up and shook me by 00030500 the hand--a greeting which I heartily returned, and would 00030600 have done the same had it been tenderer. I had known this 00030700 wild little black-eyed lass in my youth and her childhood, 00030800 before I had commenced my rambles. 00030900 #We met on terms of freedom and kindness, which elder 00031000 ladies might have thought unsuitable with a gentleman of 00031100 my description. When I alluded to the two fair strangers, she 00031200 shouted after them by their Christian names, at which summons, 00031300 with grave dignity, they drew near, and honored me 00031400 with a distant curtsey. They were from the upper part of 00031500 Vermont. Whether sisters, or cousins, or at all related to each 00031600 other, I cannot tell; but they are planted in my memory like 00031700 'tow twin roses on one stem,' with the fresh dew in both their 00031800 bosoms; and when I would have pure and pleasant thoughts, 00031900 I think of them. Neither of them could have seen seventeen 00032000 years. They both were of a height, and that a moderate one. 00032100 The rose-bloom of their cheeks could hardly be called bright 00032200 in her who was the rosiest, nor faint, though a shade less 00032300 deep, in her companion. Both had delicate eye-brows, not 00032400 strongly defined, yet somewhat darker than their hair; both 00032500 had small sweet mouths, maiden mouths, of not so warm and 00032600 deep a tint as ruby, but only red as the reddest rose; each 00032700 had those gems, the rarest, the most precious, a pair of clear, soft 00032800 bright blue eyes. Their style of dress was similar; one had on 00032900 a black silk gown, with a stomacher of velvet, and scalloped 00033000 cuffs of the same from the wrist to the elbow; the other wore 00033100 cuffs and stomacher of the like pattern and material, over a 00033200 gown of crimson silk. The dress was rather heavy for their 00033300 slight figures, but suited to September. They and the darker 00033400 beauty all carried their straw bonnets in their hands." 00033500 #I cannot better conclude these fragments than with poor 00033600 Oberon's description of his return to his native village after 00033700 his slow recovery from his illness. How beautifully does he 00033800 express his penitential emotions! A beautiful moral may be 00033900 indeed drawn from the early death of a sensitive recluse, who 00034000 had shunned the ordinary avenues to distinction, and with 00034100 splendid abilities sank into an early grave, almost unknown 00034200 to mankind, and without any record save what my pen hastily 00034300 leaves upon these tear-blotted pages. 00034400 MY HOME RETURN 00034500 #"When the stage-coach had gained the summit of the hill, 00034600 I alighted to perform the small remainder of my journey 00034700 on foot. There had not been a more delicious afternoon than this, 00034800 in all the train of summer--the air being a sunny perfume, 00034900 made up of balm, and warmth, and gentle brightness. The 00035000 oak and walnut-trees, over my head, retained their deep 00035100 masses of foliage, and the grass, though for months the 00035200 pasturage of stray cattle, had been revived with the freshness of 00035300 early June, by the autumnal rains of the preceding week. 00035400 The garb of Autumn, indeed, resembled that of Spring. 00035500 Dandelions and buttercups were sprinkled along the road-side, like 00035600 drops of brightest gold in greenest grass, and a star-shaped 00035700 little flower of blue, with a golden centre. In a rocky spot, and 00035800 rooted under the stone-wall, there was one wild rose-bush, 00035900 bearing three roses, very faintly tinted, but blessed with a 00036000 spicy fragrance. The same tokens would have announced that 00036100 the year was brightening into the glow of summer. There 00036200 were violets, too, though few and pale ones. But the breath of 00036300 September was diffused through the mild air, and became 00036400 perceptible, too thrillingly for my enfeebled frame, whenever 00036500 a little breeze shook out the latent coolness. 00036600 #I was standing on the hill at the entrance of my native 00036700 village, whence I had looked back to bid farewell, and forward 00036800 to the pale mist-bow that over-arched my path, and was the 00036900 omen of my fortunes. How had I misinterpreted that augury, the 00037000 ghost of hope, with none of hope's bright hues! Nor could 00037100 I deem that all its portents were yet accomplished, though 00037200 from the same western sky the declining sun shone brightly 00037300 in my face. But I was calm and not depressed. Turning to 00037400 the village, so dim and dream-like at my last view, I saw the 00037500 white houses and brick stores, the intermingled trees, 00037600 the foot-paths with their wide borders of grass, and the 00037700 dusty road between; all a picture of peaceful gladness in 00037800 the sunshine. 00037900 #'Why have I never loved my home before?' thought I, as 00038000 my spirit reposed itself on the quiet beauty of the scene. 00038100 #On the side of the opposite hill was the grave-yard, sloping 00038200 towards the farther extremity of the village. The sun shone 00038300 as cheerfully there as on the abodes of the living, and showed 00038400 all the little hillocks and the burial stones, white marble or 00038500 slate, and here and there a tomb, with the pleasant grass 00038600 about them all. A single tree was tinged with glory from 00038700 the west, and threw a pensive shade behind. Not far from 00038800 where it fell, was the tomb of my parents, whom I had 00038900 hardly thought of in bidding adieu to the village, but had 00039000 remembered them more faithfully among the feelings that 00039100 drew me homeward. At my departure their tomb had been 00039200 hidden in the morning mist. Beholding it in the sunshine 00039300 now, I felt a sensation through my frame as if a breeze had 00039400 thrown the coolness of September over me, though not a 00039500 leaf was stirred, nor did the thistle down take flight. Was I 00039600 to roam no more through this beautiful world, but only to 00039700 the other end of the village? Then let me lie down near my 00039800 parents, but not with them, because I love a green grave 00039900 better than a tomb. 00040000 #Moving slowly forward, I heard shouts and laughter, and 00040100 perceived a considerable throng of people, who came from 00040200 behind the meeting-house and made a stand in front of it. 00040300 Thither all the idlers of the village were congregated to 00040400 witness the exercises of the engine company, this being the 00040500 afternoon of their monthly practice. They deluged the roof 00040600 of the meeting-house, till the water fell from the eaves in a 00040700 broad cascade; then the stream beat against the dusty windows 00040800 like a thunder storm; and sometimes they flung it up 00040900 beside the steeple, sparkling in an ascending shower about 00041000 the weather-cock. for variety's sake, the engineer made it 00041100 undulate horizontally, like a great serpent flying over the earth. 00041200 As his last effort, being roguishly inclined, he seemed 00041300 to take aim at the sky, falling rather short of which, down 00041400 came the fluid, transformed to drops of silver, on the thickest 00041500 crowd of the spectators. Then ensued a prodigious rout and 00041600 mirthful uproar, with no little wrath of the surly ones, whom 00041700 this is an infallible method of distinguishing. The joke 00041800 afforded infinite amusement to the ladies at the windows 00041900 and some old people under the hay scales. I also laughed 00042000 at a distance, and was glad to find myself susceptible, as of old, 00042100 to the simple mirth of such a scene. 00042200 #But the thoughts that it exceited were not all mirthful. I 00042300 had witnessed hundreds of such spectacles in my youth, and 00042400 one precisely similar only a few days before my departure. 00042500 And now, the aspect of the village being the same, and the 00042600 crowd composed of my old acquaintances, I could hardly 00042700 realize that years had past, or even months, or that the very 00042800 drops of water were not falling at this moment which had 00042900 been flund up then. But I pressed the conviction home, that, 00043000 brief as the time appeared, it had been long enough for me 00043100 to wander away and return again, with my fate accomplished, 00043200 and little more hope in this world. The last throb 00043300 of an adventurous and wayward spirit kept me from repining. 00043400 I felt as if it were better, or not worse, to have compressed 00043500 my enjoyments and sufferings into a few wild years, and 00043600 then to rest myself in an early grave, than to have chosen the 00043700 untroubled and ungladdened course of the crowd before me, 00043800 whose days were all alike, and a long lifetime like each day. 00043900 But the sentiment startled me. For a moment I doubted 00044000 whether my dear-bought wisdom were any thing but the 00044100 incapacity to pursue fresh follies, and whether, if health and 00044200 strength could be restored that night, I should be found 00044300 in the village after to-morrow's dawn. 00044400 #Among other novelties, I noticed that the tavern was now 00044500 designated as a Temperance House, in letters extending 00044600 across the whole front, with a smaller sign promising Hot 00044700 Coffee at all hours, and Spruce Beer to lodgers gratis. There 00044800 were few new buildings, except a Methodist chapel and a 00044900 printing office, with a book store in the lower story. The 00045000 golden mortar still ornamented the apothecary's door, nor 00045100 had the Indian Chief, with his gilded tobacco stalk, been 00045200 relieved from doing centinel's duty before Dominicus Pike's 00045300 grocery. The gorgeous silks, though of later patterns, were 00045400 still glaunting like a banner in front of Mr. Nightingale's 00045500 dry goods store. Some of the signs introduced me to strangers, 00045600 whose predecessors had failed, or emigrated to the West, or 00045700 removed merely to the other end of the village, transferring 00045800 their names from the sign-boards to slabs of marble or slate. 00045900 But, on the whole, Death and Vicissitude had done very 00046000 little. There were old men, scattered about the street, who 00046100 had been old in my earliest reminiscences; and, as if their 00046200 venerable forms were permanent parts of the creation, they 00046300 appeared to be hale and hearty old men yet. The less elderly 00046400 were more altered, having generally contracted a stoop, with 00046500 hair woefully thinned and whitened. Some I could hardly 00046600 recognize; at my last glance they had been boys and girls, but 00046700 were young men and women when I looked again; and 00046800 there were happy little things too, rolling about on the grass, 00046900 whom God had made since my departure. 00047000 #But now, in my lingering course I had descended the hill, 00047100 and begain to consider, painfully enough, how I should meet 00047200 my townspeople, and what reception they would give me. Of 00047300 many an evil prophecy, doubltess, had I been the subject. 00047400 And would they salute me with a roar of triumph or a low 00047500 hiss of scorn, on beholding their worst anticipations more 00047600 than accomplished? 00047700 #'No,' said I, 'they will not triumph over me. And should 00047800 they ask the cause of my return, I will tell them that a man 00047900 may go far and tarry long away, if his health be good and 00048000 his hopes high; but that when flesh and spirit begin to fail, 00048100 he remembers his birthplace and the old burial-ground, and 00048200 hears a voice alling him to come home to his father and 00048300 mother. They will know, by my wasted frame and feeble 00048400 step, that I have heard the summons and obeyed. And, the first 00048500 greetings over, they will let me walk among them unnoticed, 00048600 and linger in the sunshine while I may, and steal into 00048700 my grave in peace.' 00048800 #With these reflections I looked kindly at the crowd, and 00048900 drew off my glove, ready to give my hand to the first that 00049000 should put forth his. It occurred to me, also, that some youth 00049100 among them, now at the crisis of his fate, might have felt 00049200 his bosom thrill at my example, and be emulous of my wild 00049300 life and worthless fame. But I would save him. 00049400 #'He shall be taught,' said I, 'by my life, and by my death, 00049500 that the world is a sad one for him who shrinks from its 00049600 sober duties. My experience shall warn him to adopt some 00049700 great and serious aim, such a manhood will cling to, that 00049800 he may not feel himself, too late, a cumberer of this 00049900 overladen earth, but a man among men. I will beseech him not 00050000 to follow an eccentric path, nor, by stepping aside from the 00050100 highway of human affairs, to relinquish his claim upon 00050200 human sympathy. And often, as a text of deep and varied 00050300 meaning, I will remind him that his is an American.' 00050400 #By this time I had drawn near the meeting-house, and 00050500 perceived that the crowd were beginning to recognize me." 00050600 #These are the last words traced by his hand. Has not so 00050700 chastened a spirit found true communion with the pure in 00050800 Heaven? 00050900 #"Until of late, I never could believe that I was seriously 00051000 ill: the past, I thought, could not extend its misery beyond 00051100 itself; life was restored to me, and should not be misused 00051200 again. I had day-dreams even of wedded happiness. Still, as 00051300 the days wear on a faintness creeps through my frame and 00051400 spirit, recalling the consciousness that a very old man might 00051500 as well nourish hope and young desire as I at twenty-four. 00051600 Yet the consciousness of my situation does not always make 00051700 me sad. Sometimes I look upon the world with a quiet 00051800 interest, because it cannot concern me personally, and a loving 00051900 one for the same reason, because nothing selfish can interfere 00052000 with the sense of brotherhood. Soon to be all spirit, I 00052100 have already a spiritual sense of human nature, and see 00052200 deeply into the hearts of mankind, discovering what is hidden 00052300 from the wisest. The loves of young men and virgins are 00052400 known to me, before the first kiss, before the whispered wor, 00052500 with the birth of the first sigh. My glance comprehends the 00052600 crowd, and penetrates the breast of the solitary man. I think 00052700 better of the world than formerly, more generously of its 00052800 virtues, more mercifully of its faults, with a higher estimate 00052900 of its present happiness, and brighter hopes of its destiny. 00053000 My mind has put ofrth a second crop of blossoms, as the 00053100 trees do in the Indian summer. No winter will destroy 00053200 their beauty, for they are fanned by the breeze and 00053300 freshened by the shower that breathes and falls in the gardens 00053400 of Paradise!" 00053500 (Title) THE BATTLE-OMEN 00000050 The Latest Incident of this nature is said to have occurred on a cold, 00000100 bright evening, during the winter that preceded the first actual 00000150 hostilities in our great War. Two young men were returning from 00000200 one of those military meetings, which the aspect of the times had 00000250 rendered common throughout the country, and in which their education 00000300 and active talents had given each of them a degree of authority. 00000350 Their path lay over the frozen surface of a lake, extending two or 00000400 three miles between the northern and south-western shores. Behind 00000450 the travellers was the village from which they came,--a few dark 00000500 houses in distant visibility upon the snow, and the white spire of the 00000550 Church as strongly relieved against the sky; before them, and at still 00000600 a greater distance, appeared their own more solitary home; and around 00000650 all the remaining horizon stretched the forest, as desolate as if human 00000700 foot had never trod there. The frosty sky glittered as if with 00000750 diamonds above their heads; while the lake beneath them was scarcely 00000800 less brilliant, except where its snowy mantle had been blown aside, 00000850 so as to afford a glimpse of its black and inscrutable heart. The 00000900 young men pursued their way rapidly, inhaling fresh cheerfulness with 00000950 each draught of the elastic atmosphere. Merrily trod they over the 00001000 crumpling snow, or slid across the long intervals of glary ice, singing 00001050 and laughing till the sky and the far shores caught the spirit of their 00001100 lonely mirth and sent it back to them. At times, also, they spoke of 00001150 the 00001174 approaching contest, almost forgetting the threatened ruin of their 00001200 country, in the stirring prospects which were opened to youthful 00001250 to ambition. 00001300 #"Is it not strange," said one of the young men, laughingly, "that these00001350 near commotions are foretold by none of the wild oracles, which our 00001400 fathers were wont to hear, on occasions of so much less interest? There00001450 petty warfare,--in which the utmost damage amounted to no more than the 00001500 burning of a few farm-houses, and here and there a husbandman slain in 00001550 his 00001551 corn field,--was invariably preceded by signs and omens, as if all 00001600 Nature were affrighted at the prospect of an Indian campaign. Now, here00001650 we stand on the verge of a war that may chance to separate two worlds, 00001700 and not so much as a trumpet in the air has sounded its approach." 00001750 #"True; the Pilgrims were a favored people," said his companion, 00001800 whose earlier life had not been spent in the vicinity where he now 00001850 found himself. "But if we had inherited the gloom of their religious 00001900 faith, the winds in the forest, and the meteors in the sky, would 00001950 have prophesied also to us." 00002000 #"You must not suppose," rejoined the other, "that these supernatural 00002050 warnings were witnessed only by persons of peculiar sanctity, or that 00002100 that they were wholly confined to the earliest days of the country. 00002150 Indeed, it was an instance to the contrary in both these respects, 00002200 (the scene of which is not far distant,) that drew from me my first 00002250 remark. Do you see yonder dark speck in the snow? Some fifty years 00002300 since, a fisherman made his boat fast to that rock;--intent either on 00002350 on his hook and line, or upon a brown jug, he tarried till late in the 00002400 summer evening; and when he landed, he had a strange story to astonish 00002450 his neighbors withal." 00002500 #"We will rest there awhile, and you shall tell me the legend on the 00002550 very spot," said his friend. 00002600 #The insulated rock rose two or three feet above the ice, and was 00002650 covered with rudely engraved characters attributed to the Indians, a 00002700 powerful tribe of whom have left the memorials of their existence and 00002750 annihilation round all the borders of that lake. The story which has 00002800 been alluded to was one of a numerous class, often to be met with in the00002850 traditions of New England, and sanctioned by the sober pages of her 00002900 old historians. A benighted fisherman had heard a sound of martial 00002950 music in the air above him, coming from the direction of the Canadas, 00003000 (whence both the savage and civilized enemies of the country might be 00003050 expected to advance,) and passing onward to the settlements on the sea 00003100 coast. Most of the apocryphal beliefs of the Puritans were the result 00003150 of strong, but not of elevated imagination, and what was terrible in 00003200 them has lost its effect upon modern minds, by the too frequent 00003250 admixture of the ludicrous and disgusting. But this remark is 00003300 inapplicable to all the signs and wonders by which they were warned of 00003350 approaching war. These superstitions (if it be consistent, just now, 00003400 to term them so) were the coinage of perilous and awful moments; 00003450 they imbibed a desolate romance from the circumstances which formed 00003500 them, and neither purification nor ornament could render them more 00003550 poetical than when they issued from the hearts of our forefathers. The 00003600 presage by the sound of drum and trumpet was peculiarly grand and 00003650 lofty, but it would have been too cold in its magnificence, if a most 00003700 singular opinion had not increased its power over human sympathies. 00003750 There was a dim and indefinite idea, that the shadowy tread of the 00003800 destined victims, the future slain of unfought battle-fields, might 00003850 be heard to accompany the prophetic music through the sky. 00003900 #In such subjects as these the young men became gradually engaged, till 00003950 their talk acquired the earnestness of deep belief. The wind, 00004000 as it howled over the snowy waste and buried itself in the forest, began00004050 to startle them by its resemblance to the spiritual minstrelsy, and the 00004100 ice-crack, thundering heavily from shore to shore, rang upon their ears 00004150 like the roar of cannon. And the Northern Lights--(Fancy's own 00004200 Watch-Fires now gleaming and quivering far towards the middle sky, so as00004250 to throw their mysterious radiance over the Milky Way)--might readily 00004300 have assumed the aspect of armed hosts and flaming towns, apparitions 00004350 not unknown to the men of olden time. After a silence, which had fallen00004400 on them they knew not how, one of the travellers laid his hand upon 00004450 his companion's arm. 00004500 #"Surely our comrades had separated long ago," whispered he, looking 00004550 towards the village--"why do they beat the drum at such an hour?" 00004600 #The church steeple, its attendant houses, and the snowy ascent upon 00004650 which they stood, were distinctly visible, but there was no token of 00004700 wakefulness anywhere about them. As the young men gazed, another 00004750 far off and uncertain swell, like the ghost of music, just grazed upon 00004800 their ears. 00004850 #"The sound came out from thence," said they both, shuddering as they 00004900 drew closer to each other. 00004950 #A third and nearer repetition of the same phenomenon now marked its 00005000 origin as in the east, where the wilderness lay dark and desolate for 00005050 many a mile, undisturbed from the creation till that hour by other 00005100 notes than those of an Indian War Song. Again they heard it, low 00005150 down towards the horizon, but ascending along the arch of the sky, 00005200 alternately pealing forth as with the full breath of many instruments, 00005250 and then dying away till the ear scarce caught its murmur--even in its 00005300 loudest tones there was such unreality, that the listeners doubted 00005350 whether all were not the echo of their own excited thoughts. The 00005400 clarion was there, the drum, the cymbal, and every instrument of 00005450 music that should quicken the soul to war; but the notes of all 00005500 were sad and solemn, like the evening wind that sighs over a field 00005550 of victory, or like the stately and mournful march with which a hero is 00005600 borne to his grave. As the sound kept onward in its airy course, 00005650 the stars still twinkled brightly, and there was neither substance nor 00005700 shadow, nor so much as a thought-like cloud, between them and the 00005750 earth. There was no echo from the shore and sky, but only that 00005800 mysterious music, passing on in solitude. And yet, for one brief 00005850 moment, the solitude seemed broken by the clash of arms, the rustle 00005900 and waving of garments, the undefinable hum of a viewless multitude, 00005950 journeying through the awful brightness of the night. Then came 00006000 familiar voices--there were two that spoke and replied--and the young 00006050 men gazed at each other, deeming that their own bloodless lips had 00006100 moved. A mighty peal of harmony broke forth, as the omen swept 00006150 above their heads; it died away in regular gradations till the western 00006200 woods received it into their bosom; and there its distant wail was 00006250 lost. 00006300 (Title) AN OLD WOMAN'S TALE 00006350 In the house where I was born, there used to be an old woman crouching 00006400 all day long over the kitchen fire, with her elbows on her knees and 00006450 her feet in the ashes. Once in a while she took a turn at the spit, 00006500 and she never lacked a coarse gray stocking in her lap, the foot 00006550 about half finished; it tapered away with her own waning life and 00006600 she knit the toe-stitch on the day of her death. She made it her 00006650 serious business and sole amusement to tell me stories at any time from 00006700 morning till night, in a mumbling, toothless voice, as I sat on 00006750 a log of wood, grasping her check-apron in both my hands. Her 00006800 personal memory included the better part of a hundred years, and she 00006850 had strangely jumbled her own experience and observation with those of 00006900 many old people who died in her young days; so that she might have 00006950 been taken for a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth, or of John Rogers 00007000 in the Primer. There are a thousand of her traditions lurking 00007050 in the corners and by-places of my mind, some more marvellous 00007100 than what is to follow, some less so, and a few not marvellous in the 00007150 least, all which I should like to repeat, if I were as happy as she 00007200 in having a listener. But I am humble enough to own, that I do not 00007250 deserve a listener half so well as that old toothless woman, whose 00007300 narratives possessed an excellence attributable neither to herself, nor 00007350 to any single individual. Her ground-plots, seldom within the widest 00007400 scope of probability, were filled up with homely and natural incidents, 00007450 the gradual accretions of a long course of years, and fiction hid 00007500 its grotesque extravagance in this garb of truth, like the devil (an 00007550 appropriate simile, for the old woman supplies it) disguising himself, 00007600 clooven-fot and all, in mortal attire. These tales generally referred 00007650 to her birth-place, a village in the Valley of the Connecticut, the 00007700 aspect of which she impressed with great vividness on my fancy. The 00007750 houses in that tract of country, long a wild and dangerous frontier, 00007800 were rendered defensible by a strength of architecture that has 00007850 preserved many of them till our own times, and I cannot describe the 00007900 sort of pleasure with which, two summers since, I rode through the 00007950 little town in question, while one object after another rose familiarly 00008000 to my eye, like successive portions of a dream becoming realized. 00008050 Among other things equally probable, she was wont to assert that all 00008100 the inhabitants of this village (at certain intervals, but whether 00008150 of twenty-five or fifty years, or a whole century, remained a 00008200 disputable point) were subject to a simultaneous slumber, continuing 00008250 one hour's space. When that mysterious time arrived, the parson 00008300 snored over his half-written sermon, though it were Saturday night 00008350 and no provision made for the morrow,--the mother's eyelids closed 00008400 as she bent over her infant, and no childish cry awakened her,--the 00008450 watcher at the bed of mortal sickness slumbered upon the death 00008500 pillow,--and the dying man anticipated his sleep of ages by one as 00008550 deep and dreamless. To speak emphatically, there was a soporific 00008600 influence throughout the village, stronger than if every mother's son 00008650 and daughter were reading a dull story; notwithstanding which, the 00008700 old woman professed to hold the substance of the ensuing account from 00008750 one of those principally concerned in it. 00008800 #One moonlight summer evening, a young man and a girl 00008850 sat down together in the open air. They were distant relatives, 00008900 sprung from a stock once wealthy, but of late years so poverty 00008950 stricken, that David had not a penny to pay the marriage fee, if 00009000 Esther should consent to wed. The seat they had chosen was in an 00009050 open grove of elm and walnut trees, at a right angle of the road; a 00009100 spring of diamond water just bubbled into the moonlight beside them, and00009150 then whimpered away through the bushed and long grass, in search of a 00009200 neighboring mill-stream. The nearest house (situate within twenty yards00009250 of them, and the residence of their great-grandfather in his life time) 00009300 was a venerable old edifice, crowned with many high and narrow peaks, 00009350 and all overrun by innumberable creeping plants, which hung curling 00009400 about the roof like a nice young wig on an elderly gentleman's head. 00009450 Opposite to this establishment was a tavern, with a well and 00009500 horse-trough before it, and a low green bank running along the left 00009550 side of the door. Thence, the road went onward, curving scarce 00009600 perceptibly, through the village, divided in the midst by a narrow 00009650 lane of verdure, and bounded on each side by a grassy strip to twice 00009700 its own breadth. The houses had generally an odd look. Here, the 00009750 moonlight tried to get a glimpse of one, a rough old heap of ponderous 00009800 timber, which, ashamed of its dilapidated aspect, was hiding behind 00009850 a great thick tree; the lower story of the next had sunk almost under 00009900 ground, as if the poor little house were a-weary of the world, and 00009950 retiring into the seclusion of its own cellar; farther on, stood one 00010000 of the few recent structures, thrusting its painted face conspicuously 00010050 into the street, with an evident idea that it was the fairest thing 00010100 there. About midway in the village was a grist-mill partly concealed 00010150 by the descent of the ground towards the stream which turned its 00010200 wheel. At the southern extremity, just so far distant that 00010250 the window-panes dazzled into each other, rose the meeting-house, a 00010251 dingy old barnlike building, with an enormously disproportioned steeple 00010300 sticking up straight into Heaven, as high as the Tower of Babel, and the00010350 cause of nearly as much confusion in its day. This steeple, it must 00010400 be understood, was an afterthought, and its addition to the main 00010450 edifice, when the latter had already begun to decay, had excited a 00010500 vehement quarrel, and almost a schism in the church, some fifty years 00010550 before. Here the road wound down a hill and was seen no more, the 00010600 remotest object in view being the grave-yard gate, beyond the 00010650 meeting-house. The youthful pair sat hand in hand beneath the 00010700 trees, and for several moments they had not spoken, because the breeze 00010750 was hushed, the brook scarce tinkled, the leaves had ceased their 00010800 rustling, and every thing lay motionless and silent as if Nature were 00010850 composing herself to slumber. 00010900 #"What a beautiful night it is, Esther," remarked David, somewhat 00010950 drowsily. 00011000 #"Very beautiful," answered the girl, in the same tone. 00011050 #"But how still!" continued David. 00011100 #"Ah, too still!" said Esther, with a faint shudder, like a modest leaf 00011150 when the wind kisses it. 00011200 #Perhaps they fell asleep together, and, united as their spirits were 00011250 by close and tender sympathies, the same strange dream might have 00011300 wrapt them both in its shadowy arms. But they conceived, at the time, 00011350 thay they still remained wakeful by the spring of bubbling water, 00011400 looking down through the village, and all along the moonlighted 00011450 road, and at the queer old h ouses, and at the trees wh ich thrust their00011500 great twisted branches almost into the windows. There was only a sort 00011550 of mistiness over their minds, like the smoky air of an early Autumn 00011600 night. At length, without any vivid astonishment, they became 00011650 concious that a great many people were either entering the village or 00011700 already in the street, but whether they came from the meeting-house, or 00011750 from a little beyond it, or where the devil they came from, was more 00011800 than could be determined. Certainly, a crowd of people seemed to be 00011850 there, men, women, and children, all of whom were yawning, rubbing their00011900 eyes, stretching their limbs and staggering from side to side of the 00011950 road as if but partially awakened from a sound slumber. 00011951 Sometimes they stood stock-still, with their hands over their brows to 00012000 shade their sight from the moonbeams. As they drew near, most of their 00012050 countenances appeared familiar to Esther and David, possessing the 00012100 peculiar features of families in the village, and that general air and 00012150 aspect by which a person would recognize his own townsmen in the 00012200 remotest ends of the earth. But though the whole multitude might have 00012250 been taken, in the mass, for neighbors and acquaintances, there was not 00012300 a single indivuidual whose exact likeness they had ever before seen. It00012350 was a noticeable circumstance, also, that the newest fashioned garment 00012400 on the backs of these people might have been worn by the great-grand 00012450 parents of the existing generation. There was one figure behind all the00012500 rest, and not yet near enough to be perfectly distinguished. 00012550 #"Where on earth, David, do all these odd people come from?" said 00012600 Esther, with a lazy inclination to laugh. 00012650 "No where on earth, Esther," replied David, unknowing why he said so. 00012700 #As they spoke, the strangers showed some symptoms of disquietude, and 00012750 looked towards the fountain for an instant, but immediately appeared 00012800 to resume their own trains of thought and previous purposes. They 00012850 now separated to different parts of the village, with a readiness that 00012900 implied intimate local knowledge, and it may be worthy of remark, 00012950 that, though they were evidently loquacious amoung themselves, neither 00013000 their footsteps nor their voices reached the ears of the beholder. 00013050 Wherever there was a venerable old house, for fifty years standing and 00013100 upwards, surrounded by its elm or walnut trees, with its dark and 00013150 weather-beaten barn, its well, its orchard and stone-walls, 00013200 all ancient and in good repair around it, there a little group of 00013250 these people assembled. Such parties were mostly composed of an aged 00013300 man and woman, with the younger members of a family; their faces were 00013350 full of joy, so deep that it assumed the shade of melancholy; they 00013400 pointed to each other the minutest objects about the homesteads, things 00013450 in their hearts, and were now comparing them with the originals. 00013500 But where hollow places by the way-side, grass-grown and uneven, 00013550 with unsightly chimneys rising ruinous in the midst, gave indications 00013600 of a fallen dwelling and of hearths long cold, there did a few of the 00013650 strangers sit them down on the mouldering beams, and on the yellow 00013700 moss that had overspread the door-stone. The men folded their arms 00013750 sad and speechless; the women wrung their hands with a more vivid 00013800 expression of grief; and the little children tottered to their knees, 00013850 shrinking away from the open grave of domestic love. And wherever 00013900 a recent edifice reared its white and flashy front on the foundation 00013950 of an old one, there a gray-haired man might be seen to shake his 00014000 staff in anger at it, while his aged dame and their offspring 00014050 appeared to join in their maledictions, forming a fearful picture in 00014100 the ghostly moonlight. While these scenes were passing, the one figure 00014150 in the rear of all the rest was descending the hollow towards the mill, 00014200 and the eyes of David and Esther were drawn thence to a pair with 00014250 whom they could fully sympathize. It was a youth in a sailor's dress 00014300 and a pale slender maiden, who met each other with a sweet embrace in 00014350 the middle of the street. 00014400 #"How long it must be since they parted," observed David. 00014450 #"Fifty years at least," said Esther. 00014550 #They continued to gaze with unwondering calmness and quiet interest, 00014650 as the dream (if such it were) unrolled its quaint and motley 00014750 semblance before them, and their notice was now attracted by several 00014850 little knots of people, apparently engaged in conversation. Of these 00014950 one of the earliest collected and most characteristic was near the 00015050 tavern, the persons who composed it being seated on the low green bank 00015150 along the left side of the door. A conspicuous figure here was a fine 00015250 corpulent old fellow in his shirt sleeves and flame-coloured breeches, 00015350 and with a stained white apron over his paunch, beneath which he held 00015450 his hands and wherewith at times he wiped his ruddy face. The stately 00015550 decrepitude of one of his companions, the scar of an Indian tomahawk on 00015650 his crown, and especially his worn buff-coat, were appropriate marks 00015750 of a veteran belonging to an old Provincial garrison, now deaf to the 00015850 roll-call. Another showed his rough face under a tarry hat and wore 00015950 a pair of wide trowsers, like an ancient mariner who had tossed away 00016050 his youth upon the sea, and was returned, hoary and weather beaten, 00016150 to his inland home. There was also a thin young man, carelessly 00016250 dressed, who ever and anon cast a sad look towards the pale maiden 00016350 above mentioned. With these there sat a hunter, and one or two 00016450 others, and they were soon joined by a miller, who came upward 00016550 from the dusty mill, his coat as white as if besprinkled with 00016650 powdered starlight. All these (by the aid of jests, which might indeed 00016750 be old but had not been recently repeated) waxed very merry, and 00016850 it was rather strange, that just as their side shook with the heartiest 00016950 laughter, they appeared greatly like a group of shadows flickering 00017050 in the moonshine. Four personages, very different from these, stood 00017150 in front of the large house with its periwig of creeping plants. One 00017250 was a little elderly figure, distinguished by the gold on his 00017350 three-cornered hat and sky-blue coat, and by the seal of arms annexed 00017450 to his great gold watch-chain; his air and aspect befitted a Justice 00017550 of Peace and county Major, and all earth's pride and pomposity were 00017650 squeezed into this small gentleman of five foot high. The next in 00017750 importance was a grave person of sixty or seventy years, whose black 00017850 suit and band sufficiently indicated his character, and the polished 00017950 baldness of whose head was worthy of a famous preacher in the village, 00018050 half a century before, who had made wigs a subject of pulpit 00018150 denunciation. The two other figures, both clad in dark gray, showed 00018250 the sobriety of Deacons; one was ridiculously tall and thin, like a 00018350 man of ordinary bulk infinitely produced, as the mathematicians say; 00018450 while the brevity and thickness of his colleague seemed a compression 00018550 of the same man. These four talked with great earnestness, and their 00018650 gestures intimated that they had revived the ancient dispute about 00018750 the meeting-house steeple. The grave person in black spoke with 00018850 composed solemnity, as if he were addressing a Synod; the short 00018950 deacon grunted out occasional sentences, as brief as himself; his 00019050 tall brother drew the long thread of his argument through the whole 00019150 discussion, and (reasoning from analogy) his voice must indubitably 00019250 have been small and squeaking. But the little old man in gold-lace 00019350 was evidently scorched by his own red-hot eloquence; he bounced from 00019450 one to another, shook his cane at the steeple, at the two deacons, and 00019550 almost in the parson's face, stamping with his foot fiercely enough 00019650 to break a hole through the very earth; though, indeed, it could not 00019750 exactly be said that the green grass bent beneath h im. The figure, 00019850 noticed as coming behind all the rest, had now surmounted the ascent 00019950 from the mill, and proved to be an elderly lady with something in her 00020050 hand. 00020150 #"Why does she walk so slow?" asked David. 00020250 #"Don't you see she is lame?" said Esther. 00020350 #This gentlewoman, whose infirmity had kept her so far in the rear of 00020450 the crowd, now came hobbling on, glided unobserved by the polemic group 00020550 and paused on the left brink of the fountain, within a few feet of the 00020650 two spectators. She was a magnificent old dame, as ever mortal eye 00020750 beheld. Her spangled shoes and gold-clocked stockings shone gloriously 00020850 within the spacious circle of a red hoop-petticoat, which swelled to 00020950 the very point of explosion, and was bedecked all over with embroidery 00021050 a little tarnished. Above the petticoat, and parting in front so as to 00021150 display it to the best advantage, was a figured blue damask gown. A 00021250 wide and stiff ruff encircled her neck, a cap of the finest muslin, 00021350 though rather dingy, covered her head, and her nose was bestridden by 00021400 a pair of gold-bowed spectacles with enormous glasses. But the old 00021450 lady's face was pinched, sharp, and sallow, wearing a niggardly and 00021500 avaricious expression, and forming an odd contrast to the splendor of 00021550 her attire, as did likewise the implement which she held in her hand. 00021600 It was a sort of iron shovel (by housewives termed a "slice"), such 00021650 as is used in clearing the oven, and with this, selecting a spot between00021700 walnut tree and the fountain, the good dame made an earnest attempt to 00021750 dig. The tender sods, however, possessed a strange impenetrability. 00021800 They resisted her efforts like a quarry of living granite, and losing 00021850 her breath, she cast down the shovel and seemed to bemoan herself 00021900 most piteously, gnashing her teeth (what few she had) and wringing 00021950 her thin yellow hands. Then, apparently with new hopes, she resumed 00022000 her toil, which still had the same result,--a circumstance the less 00022050 surprising to David and Esther, because at times they would 00022100 catch the moonlight shining through the old woman, and dancing in 00022150 the fountain beyond. The little man in gold-lace now happened to see 00022200 her, and made his approch on tiptoe. 00022250 #"How hard this elderly lady works," remarked David. 00022300 #"Go and help her, David," said Esther, compassionately. 00022350 #As their drowsy voices spoke, both the old woman and the pompous little00022400 figure behind her lifted their eyes, and for a moment they regarded the 00022450 youth and damsel with something like kindness and affection; which, 00022500 however, were dim and uncertain, and passed away almost immediately. 00022550 The old woman again betook herself to the shovel, but was startled 00022600 by a hand suddenly laid upon her shoulder; she turned round in great 00022650 trepidation, and beheld the dignitary in the blue coat; then followed 00022700 an embrace, of such closeness as would indicate no remoter connexion 00022750 than matrimony between these two decorous persons. The gentleman next 00022800 pointed to the shovel, appearing to enquire the purpose of his lady's 00022850 occupation; while she as evidently parried his interrogatories, 00022900 maintaining a demure and sanctified visage as every good woman ought, in00022950 similar cases. Howbeit, she could not forbear looking askew, behind 00023000 her spectacles, towards the spot of stubborn turf. All the while, 00023050 their figures had a strangeness in them, and it seemed as if some 00023100 cunning jeweller had made their golden ornaments of the yellowest of the00023150 setting sun beams, and that the blue of their garments was brought 00023200 from the dark sky near the moon, and that the gentleman's silk waistcoat00023250 was the bright side of a fiery cloud, and the lady's scarlet petticoat 00023300 a remnant of the blush of morning,--and that they both were two 00023350 unrealities of colored air. But now there was a sudden movement 00023400 through-out the multitude. The Squire drew forth a watch as large as 00023450 the dial on the famous steeple, looked at the warning hands and gat him 00023500 gone, nor could his lady tarry; the party at the tavern door took to 00023550 their heels, headed by the fat man in the flaming breeches; the tall 00023600 deacon waddled after, making four steps to the yard; the mothers 00023650 called their children about them and set forth, with a gentle and 00023700 sad glance behind. Like cloudy fantasies that hurry by a viewless 00023750 impulse from the sky, they all were fled, and the wind rose up and 00023800 followed them with a strange moaning down the lonely street. Now 00023850 whither these people went, is more than may be told; only David and 00023900 Esther seemed to see the shadowy splendor of the ancient dame, as 00023950 she lingered in the moonshine at the grave-yard gate, gazing backward 00024000 to the fountain. 00024050 #"Oh, Esther! I have had such a dream!" cried David, starting up and 00024100 rubbing his eyes. 00024150 #"And I such another!" answered Esther, gaping till her pretty red 00024200 lips formed a circle. 00024250 #"About an old woman with gold-bowed spectacles," continued David. 00024300 #"And a scarlet hoop-petticoat," added Esther. 00024350 #They now stared in each other's eyes, with great astonishment and 00024400 some little fear. After a thoughtful moment or two, David drew a 00024450 long breath and stood upright. 00024500 #"If I live till to-morrow morning," said he, "I'll see what may 00024550 be buried between that tree and the spring of water." 00024600 #And why not to-night, David?" asked Esther; for she was a sensible 00024650 little girl, and bethought herself that the matter might as well be 00024700 done in secrecy. 00024750 #David felt the propriety of the remark and looked round for the means 00024800 of following her advice. The moon shone brightly on something that 00024850 rested against the side of the old house, and, on a nearer view, it 00024900 proved to be an iron shovel, bearing a singular resemblance to that 00024950 which they had seen in their dreams. He used it with better success 00025000 than the old woman, the soil giving way so freely to his efforts, 00025050 that he had soon scooped a hole as large as the basin of the spring. 00025100 Suddenly, he poked his head down to the very bottom of this cavity. 00025150 #"Oho!--What have we here!" cried David. 00025200 (Title)THE HAUNTED QUACK 00025250 #In the summer of 18--, I made an excursion to Niagara. At Schenectady,00025300 finding the roads nearly impassable, I took passage in a canal boat for 00025350 Utica. The weather was dull and lowering. There were but few 00025400 passengers on board; and of those few, none were sufficiently inviting 00025450 in appearance, to induce me to make any overtures to a travelling 00025500 acquaintance. A stupid answer, or a surly monosyllable, were all 00025550 that I got in return for the few simple questions I hazarded. An 00025600 occasional drizzling rain, and the wet and slippery condition of the tow00025650 path, along which the lazy beasts that dragged the vessel travelled, 00025700 rendered it impossible to vary the monotony of the scene by walking. I 00025750 had neglected to provide myself with books, and as we crept along at 00025800 the dull rate of four miles per hour, I soon felt the foul fiend Ennui 00025850 coming upon me with all her horrors. 00025900 #'Time and the hour,' however, 'runs through the roughest day,' and 00025950 night at length approached. By degrees the passengers, seemingly tired 00026000 of each other's company, began to creep slowly away to their berths; 00026050 most of them fortifying themselves with a potation, before resigning 00026100 themselves to the embrace of Morpheus. One called for a glass of 00026150 hot whiskey punch, because he felt cold; another took some brandy toddy 00026200 to prevent his taking cold; some took mint julaps; some gin-slings, and 00026250 some rum and water. One took his dram because he felt sick; another to 00026300 make him sleep well; and a third because he had nothing else to do. The00026350 last who retired from the cabin, was an old gentleman who had been 00026400 deeply engaged in a well thumbed volume all day, and whose mental 00026450 abstraction I had more than once envied. He now laid down his book, 00026500 and, 00026501 pulling out a red nightcap, called for a pint of beer, to take the 00026550 vapors out of his head. 00026600 #As soon as he had left the cabin, I took up the volume, and found it 00026650 to be Glanville's marvellous book, entitled the History of Witches, 00026700 or the Wonders of the Invisible World Displayed. I began to peruse it, 00026750 and soon got so deeply interested in some of his wonderful narrations, 00026800 that the hours slipped unconsciously away, and midnight found me 00026850 poring half asleep over the pages. From the dreamy state I was suddenly00026900 aroused by a muttering, as of a suppressed voice, broken by groans 00026950 and sounds of distress. Upon looking round, I saw that they proceeded 00027000 from the figure of a man enveloped in a cloak, who was lying asleep 00027050 upon one of the benches of the cabin, wh om I had not previously 00027100 noticed. I recognized him to be a young man, with whose singular 00027150 appearance and behaviour during the day, I had been struck. He was 00027200 tall and thin in person, rather shabbily dressed, with long, lank, 00027250 black hair, and large grey eyes, which gave a visionary character to 00027300 one of the most pallid, and cadaverous countenances I had ever 00027350 beheld. Since he had come on board, he had appeared restless 00027400 and unquiet, keeping away from the table at meal times, and seeming 00027450 averse from entering into conversation with the passengers. Once or 00027500 twice, on catching my eye, he had slunk away as if, conscience smitten 00027550 by the remembrance of some crime, he dreaded to meet the gaze of a 00027600 fellow mortal. From this behaviour I suspected that he was either a 00027650 fugitive from justice, or else a little disordered in mind; and had 00027700 resolved to keep my eye on him and observe what course he should take 00027750 when we reached Utica. 00027800 #Supposing that the poor fellow was now under the influence of 00027850 nightmare, I got up with the intention of giving him a shake to rouse 00027900 him, when the words, 'murder,' 'poison,' and others of extraordinary 00027950 import, dropping unconnectedly from his lips, induced me to stay my 00028000 hand. 'Go away, go away,' exclaimed he, as if conscious of my approach, 00028050 but mistaking me for another. 'Why do you continue to torment me? If I 00028100 did poison you, I didn't mean to do it, and they can't make that out 00028150 more than manslaughter. Besides, what's the use of haunting me now? 00028200 An't I going to give myself up, and tell all? Begone! I say, you 00028250 bloody old hag, begone!' Here the bands of slumber were broken by 00028300 the intensity of his feelings, and with a wild expression of countenance00028350 and a frame shaking with emotion, he started from the bench, and stood 00028400 trembling before me. 00028450 #Though convinced that he was a criminal, I could not help pitying 00028500 him from the forlorn appearance he now exhibited. As soon as he 00028550 had collected his wandering ideas, it seemed as if he read in my 00028600 countenance, the mingled sentiments of pity and abhorrence, with which I00028650 regarded him. Looking anxiously around, and seeing that we were 00028700 alone, he drew the corner of the bench towards me, and sitting 00028750 down, with an apparent effort to command his feelings, thus addressed 00028800 me. His tone of voice was calm, and distinct; and his countenance, 00028850 though deadly pale, was composed. 00028900 #'I see, Sir, that from what I am conscious of having uttered in my 00028950 disturbed sleep, you suspect me of some horrid crime. You are right. 00029000 My conscience convicts me, and an awful nightly visitation, worse than 00029050 the waking pangs of remorse, compels me to confess it. Yes, I am a 00029100 murderer. I have been the unhappy cause of blotting out the life of 00029150 a fellow being from the page of human existence. In these pallid 00029200 features, you may read enstamped, in the same characters which the 00029250 first murderer bore upon his brow, Guilt--guilt--guilt!' 00029300 #Here the poor young man paused, evidently agitated by strong internal 00029350 emotion. Collecting himself, however, in a few moments, he thus 00029400 continued. 00029450 #'Yet still, when you have heard my sad story, I think you will 00029500 bestow upon me your pity. I feel that there is no peace for me, until 00029550 I have disburthened my mind. Your countenance promises sympathy. 00029600 Will you listen to my unhappy narrative?' 00029650 #My curiosity being strongly excited by this strange exordium, I told 00029700 him I was ready to hear whatever he had to communicate. Upon this, 00029750 he proceeded as follows. 00029800 #'My name is Hippocrates Jenkins. I was born in Nantucket, but my 00029850 father emigrated to these parts when I was young. I grew up in one 00029900 of the most flourishing villages on the borders of the canal. My 00029950 father and mother both dying of the lake fever, I was bound 00030000 apprentice to an eminent operative in the boot and shoe making line, 00030050 who had lately come from New York. Would that I had remained content 00030100 with this simple and useful profession. Would that I had stuck to my 00030150 waxed ends and awl, and never undertaken to cobble up people's bodies. 00030200 But my legs grew tired of being trussed beneath my haunches; my elbows 00030250 wearied with their monotonous motion; my eyes became dim with gazing 00030300 forever upon the dull brick wall which faced our shop window; and 00030350 my whole heart was sick of my sedentary, and, as I foolishly deemed it, 00030400 particularly mean occupation. My time was nearly expired, and I had 00030450 long resolved, should any opportunity offer of getting into any other 00030500 employment, I would speedily embrace it. 00030550 #'I had always entertained a predilection for the study of medicine. 00030600 What had given my mind this bias, I know not. Perhaps it was the 00030650 perusal of an old volume of Doctor Buchan, over whose pages it was the 00030700 delight of my youthful fancy to pore. Perhaps it was the oddness of my 00030750 Christian cognomen, which surely was given me by my parents in a 00030800 prophetic hour. Be this as it may, the summit of my earthly happiness 00030850 was to be a doctor. Conceive then my delight and surprise, one 00030900 Saturday evening, after having carried home a pair of new white-topped 00030950 boots for Doctor Emphraim Ramshorne, who made the cure of bodies his 00031000 care, in the village, to hear him ask me, how I should like to be a 00031050 doctor. He then very generously offered to take me as a student. 00031100 From my earliest recollections, the person and character of Doctor 00031150 Ramshorne, had been regarded by me with the most profound and awful 00031200 admiration. Time out of mind the successful practitioner for many 00031250 miles around, I had looked upon him as the beau ideal of a doctor--a 00031300 very 00031301 Apollo in the healing art. When I speak of him, however, as the 00031350 successful practitioner, I mean it not to be inferred that death was 00031400 less busy in his doings, or funerals scarcer during his dynasty; but 00031450 only that he had, by some means or other, contrived to force all those 00031500 who had ventured to contest the palm with him, to quit the field. He 00031550 was large and robust in person, and his ruby visage showed that if 00031600 he grew fat upon drugs, it was not by swallowing them himself. It was 00031650 never exactly ascertained from what college the Doctor had received 00031700 his diploma; nor was he very forward to exhibit his credentials. 00031750 When hard pressed, however, he would produce a musty old roll of 00031800 parchment, with a red seal as broad as the palm of his hand, which 00031850 looked as if it might have been the identical diploma of the great 00031900 Boerhaave himself, and some cramp manuscript of a dozen pages, in 00031950 an unknown tongue, said by the Doctor to be his Greek thesis. These 00032000 documents were enough to satisfy the doubts of the most sceptical. 00032050 By the simple country people, far and near, the Doctor was regarded, 00032100 in point of occult knowledge and skill, as a second Faustus. It is 00032150 true the village lawyer, a rival in popularity, used to whisper, 00032200 that the Doctor's Greek thesis was nothing but a bundle of 00032250 prescriptions for the bots, wind-galls, spavins, and other veterinary 00032300 complaints, written in high Dutch by a Hessian horse doctor; that the 00032350 diploma was all a sham, and that Ephraim was no more a doctor than his 00032400 jack-ass. But these assertions were all put down to the score of envy 00032450 on the part of the lawyer. Be this as it may, on the strength of one 00032500 of two remarkable cures, which he was said to have performed, and by 00032550 dint of wheedling some and bullying others, it was certain that 00032600 Ramshorne had worked himself into very good practice. The Doctor united00032650 in his own person, the attributes of apothecary and physician; and as 00032700 he vended, as well as prescribed his own drugs, it was not his interest 00032750 to stint his patients in their enormous bolouses, or nauseaous draughts.00032800 His former medical student had been worried into a consumption over the 00032850 mortar and pestle; in consequence of which, he had pitched upon me for 00032900 his successor. 00032950 #'By the kindness of a few friends, I was fitted out with the necessary 00033000 requisitions for my metamorphosis. The Doctor required no fee, and, in 00033050 consideration of certain little services to be rendered him, such as 00033100 taking care of his horse, cleaning his boots, running errands, and 00033150 dong little jobs about the house, had promised to board and lodge me, 00033200 besides giving me my professional education. So with a rusty suit 00033250 of black, and an old plaid cloak, behold equipped the disciple of 00033300 Esculapius. 00033350 #'I cannot describe my elation of mind, when I found myself fairly 00033400 installed in the Doctor's office. Golden visions floated before my 00033450 eyes. I fancied my fortune already made, and blessed my happy star, 00033500 that had fallen under the benign influence of so munificent a patron. 00033550 #'The Doctor's office, as it was called par excellence, was a little 00033600 nook of a room, communicating with a larger apartment denominated 00033650 the shop. The paraphernalia of this latter place had gotten 00033700 somewhat into disorder since the last student had gone away, and I 00033750 soon learnt that it was to be my task to arrange the heterogeneous 00033800 mass of bottles, boxes, and gallipots, that were strewed about in 00033850 promiscuous confusion. In the office, there was a greater appearance 00033900 of order. A small regiment of musty looking books, were drawn up 00033950 in line upon a couple of shelves, where, to judge from the 00034000 superincumbent strata of dust, they appeared to have peacefully 00034050 reposed for many years. A ricketty wooden clock, which the Doctor 00034100 had taken in part payment from a pedlar, and the vital functions 00034150 of which, to use his own expression, had long since ceased to act, 00034200 stood in one corner. A mouldy plaster bust of some unknown worthy, 00034250 a few bottles of pickled, and one or two dried specimens of morbid 00034300 anatomy, a small chest of drawers, a table, and a couple of chairs, 00034350 completed the furniture of the sanctum. The single window commanded 00034400 a view of the church-yard, in which, it was said, many of the Doctor's 00034450 former patients were quietly slumbering. With a feeling of reverence 00034500 I ventured to dislodge one of the dusty tomes, and began to try to 00034550 puzzle out the hard words with which it abounded; when suddenly, as if 00034600 he 00034601 had been conjured back, like the evil one by Cornelius Agrippa's book, 00034650 the Doctor made his appearance. With a gruff air, he snatched the 00034700 volume from my hands, and telling me not to meddle with what I could not00034750 understand, bade me go and take care of his horse, and make haste back, 00034800 as he wanted me to spread a pitch plaster, and carry the same, with a 00034850 bottle of his patent catholicon, to farmer Van Pelt, who had the 00034900 rheumatism. On my return, I was ordered by Mrs. Ramshorne to split 00034950 some wood, and kindle a fire in the parlour, as she expected company; 00035000 after which Miss Euphemia Ramshorne, a sentimental young lady, who 00035050 was as crooked in person and crabbed in temper as her own name, 00035100 despatched me to the village circulating library, in quest of the 00035150 Mysteries of Udolpho. I soon found out that my place was no sinecure. 00035200 The greater part of my time was occupied in compounding certain quack 00035250 medicines of Ramshorn's own invention, from which he derived great 00035300 celebrity, and no inconsiderable profit. Besides his patent catholicon,00035350 and universal panacea, there was his anti-pertusso-balsamico drops, 00035400 his patent calorific refrigerating anodyne, and his golden restorative 00035450 of nature. Into the business of compounding these, and other articles 00035500 with similar high-sounding titles, I was gradually initiated, and soon 00035550 acquired so much skill in their manipulation, that my services became 00035600 indispensable to my master; so much so, that he was obliged to hire a 00035650 little negro to take care of his horse, and clean his boots. What 00035700 chiefly reconciled me to the drudgery of the shop, was the seeing how 00035750 well the Doctor got paid for his villainous compounds. A mixture of a 00035800 little brick dust, rosin and treacle, dignified with the title of the 00035850 anthelminthic amalgam, he sold for half a dollar; and a bottle of 00035900 vinegar and alum, with a little rose water to give it a flavor, 00035950 yclept the antiscrofulous abstergent lotion, brought twice that sum. 00036000 I longed for the day when I should dispense my own medicines and in 00036050 my hours of castle-building, looked forward to fortunes far beyond 00036100 those of the renowned Dr. Solomon. Alas! my fond hopes have been 00036150 blighted in their bud. I have drunk deeply of the nauseous draught 00036200 of adversity, and been forced to swallow many bitter pills of 00036250 disappointment. But I find I am beginning to smell of the shop. I 00036300 must return to my sad tale. The same accident, which not 00036350 unfrequently before had put a sudden stop to the Doctor's 00036400 patients' taking any more of his nostrums, at length prevented him 00036450 from reaping any longer their golden harvest. One afternoon, 00036500 after having dined with his friend, Squire Gobbledown, he came 00036550 home, and complained of not feeling very well. By his directions, 00036600 I prepared for him some of his elixir sanitatis, composed of brandy 00036650 and bitters, of which he took an inordinate dose. Shortly after, 00036700 he was seized with a fit of apoplexy, and before bedtime, in spite 00036750 of all the drugs in the shop, which I poured down with unsparing 00036800 hand, he had breathed his last. In three days, Ramshorne was quietly 00036850 deposited in the churchyard, in the midst of those he had sent there 00036900 before him. 00036950 #'Having resided with the Doctor for several years, I had become 00037000 pretty well known throughout the neighborhood, particularly among 00037050 the old ladies, whose good graces I had always sedulously cultivated. 00037100 I accordingly resolved to commence quacking--I mean practising--on my 00037150 own account. Having obtained my late master's stock of drugs from 00037200 his widow at an easy rate, and displaying my own name in golden 00037250 letters as his successor, to work I went, with the internal resolve 00037300 that where Ramshorne had given one dose, I would give six. 00037350 #'For a time, Fortune seemed to smile upon me, and everything went 00037400 on well. All the old women were loud in sounding my praises, far and 00037450 near. The medicaments of my master continued to be in demand, and 00037500 treacle, brick dust, and alum came to a good market. Some drawbacks, 00037550 however, I occasionally met with. Having purchased the patent right 00037600 of one of Thompson's steam baths, in my first experiment I came near 00037650 flaying alive a rheumatic tanner, who had submitted himself to the 00037700 operation. By an unfortunate mistake in regulating the steam, he 00037750 was nearly parboiled; and it was supposed that the thickness of his 00037800 hide alone preserved his vitals uninjured. I was myself threatened 00037850 with the fate of Marsyas, by the enraged sufferer; which he was happily 00037900 prevented from attempting to inflict, by a return of his malady, which 00037950 has never since left him. I, however, after this gave up steaming, 00038000 and confined myself to regular practice. At length, either the 00038050 charm of novelty wearing off, or people beginning to discover the 00038100 inefficacy of the old nostrums, I was obliged to exert my wit to 00038150 invent new ones. These I generally took the precaution to try 00038200 upon cats or dogs, before using them upon the human system. They 00038250 were, however, mostly of an innocent nature, and I satisfied my 00038300 conscience with the reflection, that if they did no good, they could 00038350 at least do no harm. Happy would it have been for me, could I always 00038400 have done thus. Meeting with success in my first efforts, I by degrees 00038450 ventured upon more active ingredients. At length, in an evil hour, I 00038500 invented a curious mixture, composed of forty-nine different articles. 00038550 This I dubbed in high flowing terms, "The Antidote to Death, or the 00038600 Eternal Elixir of Longevity;" knowing full well, that though 00038650 #"A rose might smell as sweet by any other name," 00038700 yet would not my drugs find as good a sale under a more humble title. 00038750 This cursed compound proved the antidote to all my hopes of success. 00038800 Besides forcing me to quit the village in a confounded hurry, it has 00038850 embittered my life ever since, and reduced me to the ragged and 00038900 and miserable plight in which you see me. 00038950 #'I dare say you have met with that species of old women, so frequent 00039000 in all country towns, who, seeming to have outlived the common 00039050 enjoyments of life, and outworn the ordinary sources of excitement, 00039100 seek fresh stimulus in scenes of distress, and appear to take a morbid 00039150 pleasure in beholding the varieties of human suffering, and misery. One00039200 of the most noted characters in the village was an old beldame of this 00039250 description. Granny Gordon, so she was familiarly denominated, was the 00039300 rib of the village Vulcan, and the din of her eternal tongue, was only 00039350 equalled by the ringing of her husband's anvil. Thin and withered 00039400 away in person and redolent with snuff, she bore no small resemblance 00039450 to a newly exhumed mummy, and to all appearance promised to last as 00039500 long as one of those ancient dames of Egypt. Not a death, a burial, 00039550 a fit of sickness, a casualty, nor any of the common calamities of 00039600 life ever occurred in the vicinity, but Granny Gordon made it her 00039650 especial business to be present. Wrapped in an old scarlet 00039700 cloak--that hideous! the thought of it makes me shudder--she might be 00039750 seen hovering about the dwelling of the sick. Watching her 00039800 opportunity, she would make her way into the patient's chamber, 00039850 and disturb his repose with long dismal stories and ill-boding 00039900 predictions; and if turned from the house, which was not unfrequently 00039950 the case, she would depart, muttering threats and abuse. 00040000 #'As the Indians propitiate the favor of the devil, so had I, in 00040050 my eagerness to acquire popularity, made a firm friend and ally, 00040100 though rather a troublesome one, of this old woman. She was 00040150 one of my best customers, and, provided it was something new, and 00040200 had a high-sounding name to recommend if, would take my most 00040250 nauseous compounds with the greatest relish. Indeed the more 00040300 disgusting was the dose, the greater in her opinion was its 00040350 virtue. 00040400 #'I had just corked the last bottle of my antidote, when a 00040450 message came to tell me, that Granny Gordon had one of her old 00040500 fits, and wanted some new doctor-stuff, as the old physic 00040550 didn't do her any more good. Not having yet given my 00040600 new pharmaceutic preparation a trial, I felt a little doubtful 00040650 about its effects; but trusting to the toughness of the old woman's 00040700 system, I ventured to send a potion, with directions to take it 00040750 cautiously. Not many minutes had elapsed, before the messenger 00040800 returned, in breathless haste, to say that Mrs. Gordon was much 00040850 worse, and that though she had taken all the stuff, they believed 00040900 she was dying. With a vague foreboding of evil, I seized my hat, 00040950 and hastened to the blacksmith's. On entering the chamber my eyes were 00041000 greeted with a sad spectacle. Granny Gordon, bolstered up in the bed, 00041050 holding in her hand the bottle I had sent her, drained of its contents, 00041100 sat grasping for breath, and occasionally agitated by strong 00041150 convulsions. A cold sweat rested on her forehead, her eyes seemed dim 00041200 and glazed, her nose, which was usually of a ruby hue, was purple 00041250 and peaked, and her whole appearance evidently betokened 00041251 approaching dissolution. 00041300 #'Around the bed were collected some half dozen withered beldames, who 00041350 scowled upon me, as I entered, with ill omened visages. Her husband, a 00041400 drunken brute, who used to beat his better half six times a week, 00041450 immediately began to load me with abuse, accusing me of having poisoned 00041500 his dear, dear wife, and threatening to be the death of me, if she died.00041550 #'My conscience smote me. I felt stupified and bewildered, and knew 00041600 not which way to turn. At this moment, the patient perceiving me, with 00041650 a hideous contortion of countenance, the expression of which I shall 00041700 carry to my dying hour, and a voice between a scream and a groan, held 00041750 up the empty bottle, and exclaimed, "This is your doing, you villainous00041800 quack you" (here she was seized with hiccup);--"you have poisoned me, 00041850 you have" (here fearful spasms shook her whole frame);--"but I'll be 00041900 revenged; day and night my ghost shall haunt"--here her voice became 00041950 inarticulate, and shaking her withered arm at me, she fell back, and, 00042000 to my extreme horror, gave up the ghost. This was too much for my 00042050 nerves. I rushed from the house, and ran home with the dying curse 00042100 ringing in my ears, fancying that I saw her hideous physiognomy, 00042150 grinning from every bush and tree that I passed. Knowing that as soon 00042200 as the noise of this affair should get abroad, the village would 00042250 be too hot to hold me, I resolved to decamp as silently as possible. 00042300 First throwing all my recently manufactured anodyne into the canal, 00042350 that it should not rise in judgment against me, I made up a little 00042400 bundle of clothes, and taking my seat in the mail stage, which was 00042450 passing at the time and fortunately empty, in a couple of days I found 00042500 myself in the great city of New York. Having a little money with me, 00042550 I hired a mean apartment in an obscure part of the city, in the hope 00042600 that I might remain concealed till all search after me should be over, 00042650 when I might find some opportunity of getting employment, or of resuming00042700 my old profession, under happier auspices. By degrees the few dollars I00042750 brought with me were expended, and after pawning my watch and some of 00042800 my clothes, I found myself reduced to the last shilling. But not the 00042850 fear of impending starvation, nor the dread of a jail, are to be 00042900 compared to the horrors I nightly suffer. Granny Gordon has been as 00042950 good as her word. Every night, at the solemn hour of twelve' (here 00043000 he looked fearfully around)--'her ghost appears to me, wrapped in a 00043050 red cloak, with her grey hair streaming from beneath an old nightcap 00043100 of the same color, brandishing the vial, and accusing me of having 00043150 poisoned her. These visitations have at length become so 00043200 insupportable, that I have resolved to return and give myself up to 00043250 justice; for I feel that hanging itself is better than this state of 00043300 torment.' 00043350 #Here the young man ceased. I plainly saw that he was a little 00043400 disordered in his intellect. To comfort him, however, I told 00043450 him, that if he had killed fifty old women, they could do nothing to 00043500 him, if he had done it professionally. And as for the ghost, we 00043550 would take means to have that put at rest, when we reached Utica. 00043600 #'About the grey of the morning, we arrived at the place of our 00043650 destination. My protege having unburthened his mind, seemed more at 00043750 ease, and taking a mint julap, prepared to accompany me on shore. 00043850 As we were leaving the boat, several persons in a wagon drove down 00043950 to the wharf. As soon as my companion observed the, he exclaimed 00044050 with a start of surprise, 'Hang me, if there isn't old Graham the 00044150 sheriff, with lawyer Dickson, and Bill Gordon come to take me.' 00044250 As he spoke, his foot slipping, he lost his balance, and fell 00044350 backwards into the canal. We drew him from the water, and as soon 00044400 as the persons in the wagon perceived him, they one and all sprang 00044450 out, and ran up with the greatest expressions of joyful surprise. 00044500 'Why Hippy, my lad,' exclaimed the sheriff, 'where have you been? 00044550 All our town has been in a snarl about you. We all supposed you 00044600 had been forcibly abducted. Judge Bates offered a reward of 00044650 twenty dollars for your corpse. We have dragged the canal for more 00044700 than a mile, and found a mess of bottles, which made us think you 00044750 had been spirited away. Betsey Wilkins made her affadavit, that she 00044800 heard Bill Gordon swear that he would take your life, and here you 00044850 see we have brought him down to have his trial. But come, come, 00044900 jump in the wagon, we'll take you up to the tavern, to get your duds 00044950 dried, and tell you all about it.' 00045000 #Here a brawny fellow with a smutty face, who I found was Gordon the 00045100 blacksmith, came up, and shaking Hippocrates by the hand, said, 'By 00045200 goles, Doctor, I am glad to see you. If you hadn't come back, I believe00045300 it would have gone hard with me. Come, man, you must forgive the hard 00045400 words I gave you. My old woman soon got well of her fit, after you 00045500 went away, and says she thinks the stuff did her a mortal sight 00045600 o'good.' 00045700 #It is impossible to describe the singular expression the countenance 00045800 of the young man now exhibited. For some time he stood in mute 00045900 amazement, shaking with cold, and gazing alternately at each of his 00046000 friends as they addressed him; and it required their reiterated 00046100 assurances to convince him, that Granny Gordon was still in the land 00046200 of the living, and that he had not been haunted by a veritable ghost. 00046300 #Wishing to obtain a further explanation of this strange scene, I 00046400 accompanied them to the tavern. A plain looking man in a farmer's 00046500 dress, who was of the party, confirmed what the blacksmith had said, 00046600 as to the supposed death of his wife, and her subsequent recovery. 00046700 'She was only in a swoon,' said her, 'but came to, soon after 00046800 the Doctor had left her.' He added that it was his private opinion, 00046900 that she would now last forever. He spoke of Hippocrates as a 00047000 'nation smart doctor, who had a power of larning, but gave severe 00047100 doses.' 00047200 #After discussing a good breakfast, my young friend thanked me for 00047300 the sympathy and interest I had taken in his behalf. He told me 00047400 he intended returning to the practice of his profession. I 00047500 admonished him to be more careful in the exhibition of his patent 00047600 medicines, telling him that all old women had not nine lives. 00047700 He shook hands with me, and, gaily jumping into the wagon, rode 00047800 off with his friends. 00047900 (Title) ALICE DOANE'S APPEAL; 00048000 #On a pleasant afternoon of June, it was my good fortune to be the 00048100 companion of two young ladies in a walk. The direction of our course 00048200 being left to me, I led them neither to Legge's Hill, nor to the 00048300 Cold Spring, nor to the rude shores and old batteries of the Neck, 00048400 nor yet to Paradise; though if the latter place were rightly named, 00048500 my fair friends would have been at home there. We reached the 00048600 ourtskirts of the town, and turning aside from a street of tanners and 00048700 curriers, began to ascend a hill, which at a distance, by its dark 00048800 slope and the even line of its summit, resembled a green rampart along 00048900 the road. It was less steep than its aspect threatened. The eminence 00049000 formed part of an extensive tract of pasture land, and was traversed 00049100 by cow paths in various directions; but, strange to tell, though the 00049200 whole slope and summit were of a peculiarly deep green, scarce a 00049300 blade of grass was visible from the base upward. This deceitful 00049400 verdure was occasioned by a plentiful crop of 'wood-wax,' which wears 00049500 the same dark and glossy green throughout the summer, except at one 00049600 short period, when it puts forth a profusion of yellow blossoms. At 00049700 that season to a distant spectator, the hill appears absolutely 00049800 overlaid with gold, or covered with a glory of sunshine, even beneath 00049900 a clouded sky. But the curious wanderer on the hill will perceive 00050000 that all the grass, and every thing that should nourish man or 00050100 beast, has been destroyed by this vile and ineradicable weed: its 00050200 tufted roots make the soil their own, and permit nothing else to 00050300 vegetate among them; so that a physical curse may be said to 00050400 have blasted the spot, where guilt and phrenzy consummated the 00050500 most execrable scene, that our history blushes to record. For this was 00050600 the field where superstition won her darkest triumph; the high place 00050700 where our fathers set up their shame, to the mournful gaze of 00050800 generations far remote. The dust of martyrs was beneath our feet. 00050900 We stood on Gallows Hill. 00051000 #For my own part, I have often courted the historic influence of the 00051100 spot. But it is singular, how few come on pilgrimage to this famous 00051200 hill; how many spend their lives almost at its base, and never once 00051300 obey the summons of the shadowy past, as it beckons them to the summit. 00051400 Till a year or two since, this portion of our history had been very 00051500 imperfectly written, and, as we are not a people of legend or 00051600 tradition, it was not every citizen of our ancient town that could tell,00051700 within half a century, so much as the date of the witchcraft delusion. 00051800 Recently, indeed, an historian has treated the subject in a manner 00051900 that will keep his name alive, in the only desirable connection 00052000 with the errors of our ancestry, by converting the hill of their 00052100 disgrace into an honorable monument of his own antiquarian lore, and 00052200 of that better wisdom, which draws the moral while it tells the tale. 00052300 But we are a people of the present and have no heartfelt interest 00052400 in the olden time. Every fifth of November, in commemoration of 00052500 they know not what, or rather without an idea beyond the momentary 00052600 blaze, the young men scare the town with bonfires on this haunted 00052700 height, but never dream of paying funeral honors to those who died 00052800 so wrongfully, and without a coffin or a prayer, were buried here. 00052900 #Though with feminine susceptibility, my companions caught all the 00053000 melancholy associations of the scene, yet these could but 00053100 imperfectly overcome the gayety of girlish spirts. Their emotions 00053200 came and went with quick vicissitude, and sometimes combined to form 00053300 a peculiar and delicious excitement, the mirth brightening the gloom 00053400 into a sunny shower of feeling, and a rainbow in the mind. My own 00053500 more sombre mood was tinged by theirs. With now a merry word and next 00053600 a sad one, we trod among the tangled weeds, and almost hoped that 00053700 our feet would sink into the hollow of a witch's grave. Such vestiges 00053800 were to be found within the memory of man, but have vanished now, and 00053900 with them, I believe, all traces of the precise spot of the executions. 00054000 On the long and broad ridge of the eminence, there is no very decided 00054100 elevation of any one point, nor other prominent marks, except the 00054200 decayed stumps of two trees, standing near each other, and here and 00054300 there the rocky substance of the hill, peeping just above the 00054400 wood-wax. 00054500 #There are few such prospects of town and village, woodland and 00054600 cultivated field, steeples and country seats, as we beheld from 00054700 this unhappy spot. No blight had fallen on old Essex; all was 00054800 prosperity and riches, healthfully distributed. Before us lay 00054900 our native town, extending from the foot of the hill to the harbor, 00055000 level as a chess board, embraced by two arms of the sea, and filling 00055100 the whole peninsula with a close assemblage of wooden roofs, overtopt 00055200 by many a spire, and intermixed with frequent heaps of verdure, where 00055300 trees threw up their shade from unseen trunks. Beyond, was the bay 00055400 and its islands, almost the only objects, in a country unmarked by 00055500 strong natural features, on which time and human toil had produced no 00055600 change. Retaining these portions of the scene, and also the peaceful 00055700 glory and tender gloom of the declining sun, we threw, in imagination, 00055800 a veil of deep forest over the land, and pictured a few scattered 00055900 villages, and this old town itself a village, as when the prince of 00056000 hell bore sway there. The idea thus gained, of its former aspect, 00056100 its quaint edifices standing far apart, with peaked roofs and 00056200 projecting stories, and its single meeting house pointing up a 00056300 tall spire in the midst; the vision, in short, of the town in 1692, 00056400 served to introduce a wondrous tale of those old times. 00056500 #I had brought the manuscript in my pocket. It was one of a series 00056600 written years ago, when my pen, now sluggish and perhaps feeble, 00056700 because I have not much to hope or fear, was driven by stronger 00056800 external motives, and a more passionate impulse within, than I am 00056900 fated to feel again. Three or four of these tales had appeared 00057000 in the Token, after a long time and various adventures, but had 00057100 incumbered me with no troublesome notoriety, even in my birth place. 00057200 One great heap had met a brighter destiny: they had fed the flames; 00057300 thoughts meant to delight the world and endure for ages, had perished 00057400 in a moment, and stirred not a single heart but mine. The story now 00057500 to be introduced, and another, chanced to be in kinder custody at 00057600 the time, and thus by no conspicuous merits of their own, escaped 00057700 destruction. 00057800 #The ladies, in consideration that I had never before intruded my 00057850 performances on them, by any but the legitimate medium, through the 00057900 press, consented to hear me read. I made them sit down on a moss-grown 00057950 rock, close by the spot where we chose to believe that the death-tree 00058000 had stood. After a little hesitation on my part, caused by a dread of 00058050 renewing my acquaintance with fantasies that had lost their charm, in 00058100 the ceaseless flux of mind, I began the tale, which opened darkly with 00058150 the discovery of a murder. 00058200 #A hundred years, and nearly half that time, elapsed since the body 00058250 of a murdered man was found, at about the distance of three miles, 00058300 on the old road to Boston. He lay in a solitary spot, on the bank of a 00058350 small lake, which the severe frost of December had covered with a sheet 00058400 of ice. Beneath this, it seemed to have been the intention of the 00058450 murderer to conceal his victim in a chill and watery grave, the ice 00058500 being deeply hacked, perhaps with the weapon that had slain him, 00058550 though its solidity was too stubborn for the patience of a man with 00058600 blood upon his hand. The corpse therefore reclined on the earth, 00058650 but was separated from the road by a thick growth of dwarf pines. 00058700 There had been a slight fall of snow during the night, and as if 00058750 Nature were shocked at the deed, and strove to hide it with her frozen 00058800 tears, a little drifted heap had partly buried the body, and lay 00058850 deepest over the pale dead face. An early traveller, whose dog had 00058900 led him to the spot, ventured to uncover the features, but was 00058950 affrighted by their expression. A look of evil and scornful triumph 00059000 had hardened on them, and made death so life-like and so terrible, that 00059050 the beholder at once took flight, as swiftly as if the stiffened 00059100 corpse would rise up and follow. 00059150 #I read on, and identified the body as that of a young man, a stranger 00059200 in the country, but resident during several preceding months in the 00059250 town which lay at our feet. The story described, at some length, the 00059300 excitement caused by the murder, the unavailing quest after the 00059350 perpetrator, the funeral ceremonies, and other common place matters, 00059400 in the course of which, I brought forward the personages who were to 00059450 move among the succeeding events. They were but three. A young man 00059500 and his sister; the former characterized by a diseased imagination and 00059550 morbid feelings; the latter, beautiful and virtuous, and instilling 00059600 something of her own excellence into the wild heart of her brother, 00059650 but not enough to cure the deep taint of his nature. The third person 00059700 was a wizard; a small, gray, withered man, with fiendish ingenuity 00059750 in devising evil, and superhuman power to execute it, but senseless 00059800 as an idiot and feebler than a child, to all better purposes. The 00059850 central scene of the story was an interview between this wretch and 00059900 Leonard Doane, in the wizard's hut, situated beneath a range of rocks 00059950 at some distance from the town. They sat beside a 00059951 mouldering fire, while a tempest of wintry rain was beating on the roof.00060000 The young man spoke of the closeness of the tie which united him and 00060050 Alice, the concentrated fervor of their affection from childhood 00060100 upwards, their sense of lonely sufficiency to each other, because they 00060150 only of their race had escaped death, in a night attack by the Indians. 00060200 He related his discovery, or suspicion of a secret sympathy between his 00060250 sister and Walter Brome, and told how a distempered jealousy had 00060300 maddened him. In the following passage, I threw a glimmering light 00060350 on the mystery of the tale. 00060400 #'Seaching,' continued Leonard, 'into the breast of Walter Brome, I at 00060450 length found a cause why Alice must inevitably love him. For he was my 00060550 very counterpart! I compared his mind by each individual portion, and 00060650 as a whole, with mine. There was a resemblance from which I shrank with00060750 sickness, and loathing, and horror, as if my own features had come and 00060850 stared upon me in a solitary place, or had met me in struggling through 00060950 a crowd. Nay! the very same thoughts would often express themselves in 00061050 the same words from our lips, proving a hateful sympathy in our secret 00061150 souls. His education, indeed, in the cities of the old world, and mine 00061250 in this rude wilderness, had wrought a superficial difference. The evil00061350 of his character, also, had been strengthened and rendered prominent by 00061450 a reckless and ungoverned life, while mine had been softened and 00061550 purified by the gentle and holy nature of Alice. But my soul had been 00061600 conscious of the germ of all the fierce and deep passions, and of all 00061650 the many varieties of wickedness, which accident had brought to their 00061700 full maturity in him. Nor will I deny, that in the accursed one, I 00061750 could see the withered blossom of every virtue, which by a happier 00061800 culture, had been made to bring forth fruit in me. Now, here was 00061850 a man, whom Alice might love with all the strength of sisterly 00061851 affection, added to that impure passion which alone engrosses all the 00061900 heart. The stranger would have more than the love which had been 00061950 gathered to me from the many graves of our household--and I be 00062000 desolate!' 00062001 #Leonard Doane went on to describe the insane hatred that had kindled 00062050 his heart into a volume of hellish flame. It appeared, that his 00062100 jealousy had grounds, so far as that Walter Brome had actually sought 00062150 the love of Alice, who also had betrayed an undefinable, but powerful 00062200 interest in the unknown youth. The latter, in spite of his passion for 00062250 Alice, seemed to returned the loathful antipathy of her brother; the 00062300 similarity of their dispositions made them like joint possessors of an 00062350 individual nature, which could not become wholly the property of one, 00062400 unless by the extinction of the other. At last, with the same devil 00062450 in each bosom, they chanced to meet, they two on a lonely road. While 00062500 Leonard spoke, the wizard had sat listening to what he already knew, 00062550 yet with tokens of pleasurable interst, manifested by flashes of 00062600 expression across his vacant features, by grisly smiles and by a word 00062650 here and there, mysteriously filling up some void in the narrative. 00062700 But when the young man told, how Walter Brome had taunted him with 00062750 indubitable proofs of the shame of Alice, and before the triumphant 00062800 sneer could vanish from his face, had died by her brother's hand, the 00062850 wizard laughed aloud. Leonard started, but just then a gust of wind 00062900 came down the chimney, forming itself into a close resemblance of the 00062950 slow, unvaried laughter, by which he had been interrupted. 'I was 00063000 deceived,' thought he; and thus pursued his fearful story. 00063050 #'I trod out his accursed soul, and knew that he was dead; for my 00063100 spirit bounded as if a chain had fallen from it and left me free. 00063150 But the burst of exulting certainty soon fled, and was succeeded by 00063200 a torpor over my brain and a dimness before my eyes, with the sensation 00063250 of one who struggles through a dream. So I bent down over the body of 00063300 Walter Brome, gazing into his face, and striving to make my soul glad 00063350 with the thought, that he, in very truth, lay dead before me. I know 00063400 not what space of time I had thus stood, nor how the vision came. 00063450 But it seemed to me that the irrevocable years, since childhood had 00063500 rolled back, and a scene, that had long been confused and broken in 00063550 my memory, arrayed itself with all its first distinctness. Methought 00063600 I stood a weeping infant by my father's hearth; by the cold and 00063650 blood-stained hearth where he lay dead. I heard the childish wail of 00063700 Alice, and my own cry arose with hers, as we beheld the features of 00063750 our parent, fierce with the strife and distorted with the pain, in 00063800 which his spirit has passed away. As I gazed, a cold wind whistled 00063850 by, and waved my father's hair. Immediately, I stood again 00063851 in the lonesome road, no more a sinless child, but a man of blood, 00063900 whose tears were falling fast over the face of his dead enemy. But the 00063950 delusion was not wholly gone; that face still wore a likeness of my 00064000 father; and because my soul shrank from the fixed glare of the eyes, 00064050 I bore the body to the lake, and would have buried it there. But 00064100 before his icy sepulchre was hewn, I heard the voices of two 00064150 travellers and fled.' 00064200 #Such was the dreadful confession of Leonard Doane. And now tortured 00064250 by the idea of his sister's guilt, yet sometimes yielding to a 00064300 conviction of her purtity; stung with remorse for the death of Walter 00064350 Brome, and shuddering with a deeper sense of some unutterable crime, 00064400 perpetrated, as he imagined, in madness or a dream; moved also by dark 00064450 impulses, as if a fiend were whispering him to meditate violence 00064500 against the life of Alice; he had sought this interview with the wizard,00064550 who, on certain conditions, had no power to withhold his aid in 00064600 unravelling the mystery. The tale drew near its close. 00064650 #The moon was bright on high; the blue firmament appeared to glow with 00064700 an inherent brightness; the greater stars were burning in their spheres;00064750 the nothern lights threw their mysterious glare far over the horizon; 00064800 the few small clouds aloft were burtherned with radiance; but the sky 00064850 with all its variety of light, was scarcely so brilliant as the earth. 00064900 The rain of the preceding night had frozen as it fell, and, by that 00064950 simple magic, had wrought wonders. The trees were hung with diamonds 00065000 and many-colored gems; the houses were overlaid with silver, and the 00065050 streets paved with slippery brightness; a frigid glory was flung over 00065100 all familiar things, from the cottage chimney to the steeple of the 00065150 meeting house, that gleamed upward to the sky. This living world, where00065200 we sit by our firesides, or go forth to meet beings like ourselves, 00065250 seemed rather the creation of wizard power, with so much of resemblance 00065300 to known objects, that a man might shudder at the ghostly shape of his 00065350 old beloved dwelling, and the shadow of a ghostly tree before his door. 00065400 One looked to behold inhabitants suited to such a town, glittering in 00065450 icy garments, with motionless features, cold, sparkling eyes, and just 00065500 sensation enough in their frozen hearts to shiver at each other's 00065550 presence. 00065600 #By this fantastic piece of description, and more in the same style, I 00065650 intended to throw a ghostly glimmer round the reader, so that his 00065700 imagination might view the town through a medium that should take off 00065750 its every day aspect, and make it a proper theatre for so wild a scene 00065800 as the final one. Amid this unearthly show, the wretched brother and 00065850 sister were represented as setting forth, at midnight, through the 00065900 gleaming streets, and directing their steps to a grave yard, where all 00065950 the dead had been laid, from the first corpse in that ancient town, to 00066000 the murdered man who was buried three days before. As they went, they 00066050 seemed to see the wizard gliding by their sides, or walking dimly on the00066100 path before them. But here I paused, and gazed into the faces of my 00066150 two fair auditors, to judge whether, even on the hill where so many had 00066200 been brought to death by wilder tales than this, I might venture to 00066250 proceed. Their bright eyes were fixed on me; their lips apart. 00066300 I took courage, and led the fated pair to a new made grave, where for 00066350 a few moments, in the bright and silent midnight, they stood alone. 00066400 But suddenly, there was a multitude of people among the graves. 00066450 #Each family tomb had given up its inhabitants, who, one by one, 00066500 through distinct years, had been borne to its dark chamber, but now 00066550 came forth and stood in a pale group together. There was the gray 00066600 ancestor, the aged mother, and all their descendants, some withered and 00066650 full of years, like themselves, and others in their prime; there, too, 00066700 were the children who went prattling to the tomb, and there the maiden 00066750 who yielded her early beauty to death's embrace, before passion had 00066800 polluted it. Husbands and wives arose, who had lain many years side 00066850 by side, and young mothers who had forgotten to kiss their first babes, 00066900 though pillowed so long on their bosoms. Many had been buried in the 00066950 habiliments of life, and still wore their ancient garb; some were old 00067000 defenders of the infant colony, and gleamed forth in their steel caps 00067050 and bright breast-plates, as if starting up at an Indian war-cry; other 00067100 venerable shapes had been pastors of the church, famous amoung the 00067150 New England clergy, and now leaned with hands clasped over their grave 00067200 stones, ready to call the congregation to prayer. There stood the 00067250 early settlers, those old illustrious ones, the heroes of tradition 00067300 and fireside legends, the men of history whose features had been 00067350 so long beneath the sod, that few alive could have remembered them. 00067400 There, too, were faces of former townspeople, dimly recollected from 00067450 childhood, and others, whom Leonard and Alice had wept in later years, 00067500 but now were most terrible of all, by their ghastly smile of 00067550 recognition. All, in short, were there; the dead of other generations, 00067600 whose moss-grown names could scarce be read upon their tomb stone, and 00067650 their successors, whose graves were not yet green; all whom black 00067700 funerals had followed slowly thither, now re-appeared where the mourners00067750 left them. Yet none but souls accursed were there, and fiends 00067800 counterfeiting the likeness of departed saints. 00067850 #The countenances of those venerable men, whose very features had been 00067900 hallowed by lives of piety, were contorted now by intolerable pain or 00067950 hellish passion, and now by an unearthly and derisive merriment. Had 00068000 the pastors prayed, all saintlike as they seemed, it had been blasphemy.00068050 The chaste matrons, too, and the maidens with untasted lips, who had 00068100 slept in their virgin graves apart from all other dust, now wore a look 00068150 from which the two trembling mortals shrank, as if the unimaginable sin 00068200 of twenty worlds were collected there. The faces of fond lovers, even 00068250 of such as had pined into the tomb, because there their treasure was, 00068300 were bent on one another with glances of hatred and smiles of bitter 00068350 scorn, passions that are to devils, what love is to the blest. At 00068400 times, the features of those, who had passed from a holy life to 00068450 heaven, would vary to and fro, between their assumed aspect and the 00068500 fiendish lineaments whence they had been transformed. The whole 00068550 miserable multitude, both sinful souls and false spectres of good men, 00068600 groaned horribly and gnashed their teeth, as they looked upward to the 00068650 calm loveliness of the midnight sky, and beheld those homes of bliss 00068700 where they must never dwell. Such was the apparition, though too 00068750 shadowy for language to portray; for here would be the moonbeams 00068800 on the ice, glittering through a warrior's breast-plate, and there 00068850 the letters of a tomb stone, on the form that stood before it; 00068900 and whenever a breeze went by, it swept the old men's hoary heads, 00068950 the women's fearful beauty, and all the unreal throng, into 00069000 one indistinguishable cloud together. 00069050 #I dare not give the remainder of the sence, except in a very brief 00069100 epitome. This company of devils and condemned souls had come on 00069150 a holiday, to revel in the discovery of a complicated crime; as foul 00069200 a one as ever was imagined in their dreadful abode. In the course 00069250 of the tale, the reader had been permitted to discover, that all the 00069300 incidents were results of the machinations of the wizard, who had 00069350 cunningly devised that Walter Brome should tempt his unknown sister 00069400 to guilt and shame, and himself perish by the hand of his twin-brother. 00069450 I described the glee of the fiends, at this hideous conception, and 00069500 their eagerness to know if it were consummated. The story concluded 00069550 with the Appeal of Alice to the spectre of Walter Brome; his reply, 00069600 absolving her from every stain; and the trembling awe with which ghost 00069650 and devil fled, as from the sinless presence of an angel. 00069700 #The sun had gone down. While I held my page of wonders in the fading 00069750 light, and read how Alice and her brother were left alone among the 00069800 graves, my voice mingled with the sigh of a summer wind, which passed 00069850 over the hill top with the broad and hollow sound, as of the flight of 00069900 unseen spirits. Not a word was spoken, till I added, that the 00069950 wizard's grave was close beside us, and that the wood-wax had sprouted 00070000 originally from his unhallowed bones. The ladies started; perhaps 00070050 their cheeks might have grown pale, had not the crimson west been 00070100 blushing on them; but after a moment they began to laugh, while the 00070150 breeze took a livelier motion, as if responsive to their mirth. I 00070200 kept an awful solemnity of visage, being indeed a little piqued, 00070250 that a narrative which had good authority in our ancient superstitions, 00070300 and would have brought even a church deacon to Gallows Hill, in old 00070350 witch times, should now be considered too grotesque and extravagant, for00070400 timid maids to tremble at. Though it was past supper time, I detained 00070450 them a while longer on the hill, and made a trial whether truth were 00070500 more powerful than fiction. 00070550 #We looked again towards the town, no longer arrayed in the icy splendor00070600 of earth, tree and edifice, beneath the glow of a wintry midnight, 00070650 which, shining afar through the gloom of a century, had made it appear 00070700 the very home of visions in visionary streets. An indistinctness had 00070750 begun to creep over the mass of buildings and blend them with the 00070800 intermingled tree tops, except where the roof of a statelier mansion, 00070850 and the steeples and brick towers of churches, caught the brightness 00070900 of some cloud that yet floated in the sunshine. Twilight over the 00070950 landscape was congenial to the obscurity of time. With such eloquence 00071000 as my share of feeling and fancy could supply, I called back hoar 00071050 antiquity, and bade my companions imagine an ancient multitude of 00071100 people, congregated on the hill side, spreading far below, clustering 00071150 on the steep old roofs, and climbing the adjacent height, wherever 00071200 a glimpse of this spot might be obtained. I strove to realize 00071250 and faintly communicate, the deep unutterable loathing and horror, 00071300 the indignation, the affrighted wonder, that wrinkled on every brow, 00071350 and filled the universal heart. See! the whole crowd turns pale and 00071400 shrinks within itself, as the virtuous emerge from yonder street. 00071450 Keeping pace with that devoted company I described them one by one; 00071500 here tottered a woman in her dotage, knowing neither the crime imputed 00071550 her, nor its punishment; there another, distracted by the universal 00071600 madness, till feverish dreams were remembered as realities, and she 00071650 almost believed her guilt. One, a proud man once, was so broken down 00071700 by the intolerable hatred heaped upon him, that he seemed to hasten his 00071750 steps, eager to hide himself in the grave hastily dug, at the foot of 00071800 the gallows. As they went slowly on, a mother looked behind, and beheld00071850 her peaceful dwelling; she cast her eyes elsewhere, and growned 00071900 inwardly, yet with bitterest anguish; for there was her little son among00071950 the accusers. I watched the face of an ordained pastor, who walked 00072000 onward to the same death; his lips moved in prayer, no narrow petition 00072050 for himself alone, but embracing all, his fellow sufferers and the 00072100 frenzied multitude; he looked to heaven and trod lightly up the hill. 00072150 #Behind their victims came the afflicted, a guilty and miserable band; 00072200 villains who had thus avenged themselves on their enemies, and viler 00072250 wretches, whose cowardice had destroyed their friends; lunatics 00072300 whose ravings had chimed in with the madness of the land; and 00072301 children, who had played a game that the imps of darkness might have 00072350 envied them, since it disgraced an age, and dipped a people's hands in 00072400 blood. In the rear of the procession rode a figure on horseback, so 00072450 darkly conspicuous, so sternly triumphant, that my hearers mistook him 00072500 for the visible presence of the fiend himself; but it was only his good 00072550 friend, Cotton Mather, proud of his well won dignity, as the 00072600 representative of all the hateful features of his time; the one 00072650 blood-thirsty man, in whom were concentrated those vices of spirit and 00072700 errors of opinion, that sufficed to madden the whole surrounding 00072750 multitude. And thus I marshalled them onward, the innocent who were to 00072800 die, and the guilty who were to grow old in long remorse--tracing their 00072850 every step, by rock, and shrub, and broken track, till their shadowy 00072900 visages had circled round the hill-top, where we stood. I plunged 00072950 into my imagination for a blacker horror, and a deeper woe, and pictured00073000 the scaffold---- 00073050 #But here my companions seized an arm on each side; their nerves were 00073100 trembling; and sweeter victory still, I had reached the seldom trodden 00073150 places of their hearts, and found the wellspring of their tears. And 00073200 now the past had done all it could. We slowly descended, watching 00073250 the lights as they twinkled gradually through the town, and listening 00073300 to the distant mirth of boys at play, and to the voice of a young girl, 00073350 warbling somewhere in the dusk, a pleasant sound to wanderers from 00073400 old witch times. Yet ere we left the hill, we could not but regret, 00073450 that there is nothing on its barren summit, no relic of old, nor 00073500 lettered stone of later days, to assist the imagination in appealing to 00073550 the heart. We build the memorial column on the height which our fathers00073600 made sacred with their blood poured out in a holy cause. And here in 00073650 dark, funereal stone, should rise another monument, sadly commemorative 00073700 of the errors of an earlier race, and not to be cast down, while the 00073750 human heart has one infirmity that may result in crime. 00073800 (Title) MY VISIT TO NIAGARA 00073850 #Never did a pilgrim approach Niagara with deeper enthusiasm, than 00073900 mine. I had lingered away from it, and wandered to other scences, 00073950 because my treasury of anticipated enjoyments, comprising all the 00074000 wonders of the world, had nothing else so magnificent, and I was loth 00074050 to exchange the pleasures of hope for those of memory so soon. At 00074100 length, the day came. The stage-coach, with a Frenchman and myself on 00074150 the back seat, ahd already left Lewiston, and in less than an hour 00074200 would set us down in Manchester. I began to listen for the roar of the 00074250 cataract, and trembled with a sensation like fear, as the moment drew 00074300 nigh, when its voice of ages must roll, for the first time, on my ear. 00074350 The French gentleman stretched himself from the window, and expressed 00074400 loud admiration, while, by a sudden impulse, I threw myself back and 00074450 closed my eyes. When the scene shut in, I was glad to think, that for 00074500 me the whole burst of Niagara was yet in futurity. We rolled on, and 00074550 entered the village of Manchester, bordering on the falls. 00074600 #I am quite ashamed of myself here. Not that I ran, like a madman, to 00074650 the falls, and plunged into the thickest of the spray--never stopping 00074700 to breathe, till breathing was impossible; not that I committed this, 00074750 or any other suitable extravagance. On the contary, I alighted with 00074800 perfect decency and composure, gave my cloak to the black waiter, 00074850 pointed out my baggage, and inquired, not the nearest way to the 00074900 cataract, but about the dinner-hour. The interval was spent in 00074950 arranging my dress. Within the last fifteen minutes, my mind had grown 00075000 strangly benumbed, and my spirits apathetic, with a slight depression, 00075050 not decided enough to be termed sadness. My enthusiasm was in a 00075100 deathlike slumber. Without aspiring to immortality, as he did, I could 00075150 have imitated that English traveller, who turned back from the point 00075200 where he first heard the thunder of Niagara, after crossing the ocean 00075250 to behold it. Many a western trader, by-the-by, has performed a 00075300 similar act of heroism with more heroic simplicity, deeming it no such 00075350 wonderful feat to dine at the hotel and resume his route to Buffalo 00075400 or Lewiston, while the cataract was roaring unseen. 00075450 #Such has often been my apathy, when objects, long sought, and earnestly00075500 desired, were placed within my reach. After dinner--at which, an 00075550 unwonted and perverse epicurism detained me longer than usual--I lighted00075600 a cigar and paced the piazza, minutely attentive to the aspcet and 00075650 business of a very ordinary village. Finally, with reluctant step, and 00075700 the feeling of an intruder, I walked towards Goat Island. At the 00075750 toll-house, there were further excuses for delaying the inevitable 00075800 moment. My signature was required in a huge leger, containing similar 00075850 records innumerable, many of which I read. The skin of a great 00075900 sturgeon, and other fishes, beasts, and reptiles; a collection of 00075950 minerals, such as lie in heaps near the falls; some Indian moccasins, 00076000 and other trifles, made of deer-skin and embroidered with beads; 00076050 several newspapers from Montreal, New-York, and Boston; all attracted 00076100 me in turn. Out of a number of twisted sticks, the manufacture of a 00076150 Tuscarora Indian, I selected one of curled maple, curiously convoluted, 00076200 and adorned with the carved images of a snake and a fish. Using this as00076250 my pilgrim's staff, I crossed the bridge. Above and below me were the 00076300 rapids, a river of impetuous snow, with here and there a dark rock amid 00076350 its whiteness, resisting all the physical fury, as any cold spirit 00076400 did the moral influences of the scene. On reaching Goat Island, which 00076450 separates the two great segments of the falls, I chose the right-hand 00076500 path, and followed it to the edge of the American cascade. There, while 00076550 the falling sheet was yet invisible, I saw the vapor that never 00076600 vanished, and the Eternal Rainbow of Niagara. 00076650 #It was an afternoon of glorious sunshine, without a cloud, save those 00076700 of the cataracts. I gained an insulated rock, and beheld a broad sheet 00076750 of brilliant and unbroken foam, not shooting in a curved line from the 00076800 top of the precipice, but falling headlong down from height to depth. 00076850 A narrow stream diverged from the main branches and hurried over the 00076899 crag by a channel of its own, leaving a little pine-clad island 00076900 and a streak of precipice, between itself and the larger sheet. Below 00076950 arose the mist, on which was painted a dazzling sun-bow, with two 00077000 concentric shadows--one, almost as perfect as the original brightness; 00077050 and the other, drawn faintly round the broken edge of the cloud. 00077100 #Still, I had not half seen Niagara. Following the verge of the island,00077150 the path led me to the Horse-shoe, where the real, broad St. Lawrence, 00077200 rushing along on a level with its banks, pours its whole breadth over 00077250 a concave line of precipice, and thence pursues its course between 00077300 lofty crags towards Ontario. A sort of bridge, two or three feet wide, 00077350 stretches out along the edge of the descending sheet, and hangs upon 00077400 the rising mist, as if that were the foundation of the frail structure. 00077450 Here I stationed myself, in the blast of wind, which the rushing river 00077500 bore along with it. The bridge was tremulous beneath me, and marked the00077550 tremor of the solid earth. I looked along the whitening rapids, and 00077600 endeavored to distinguish a mass of water far above the falls, to follow00077650 it to their verge, and go down with it, in fancy, to the abyss of 00077700 clouds and storm. Casting my eyes across the river, and every side, 00077750 I took in the whole scene at a glance, and tried to comprehend it in 00077800 one vast idea. After an hour thus spent, I left the bridge, and, by 00077850 a staircase, winding almost interminably round a post, descended to 00077900 the base of the precipice. From that point, my path lay over slippery 00077950 stones, and among great fragments of the cliff, to the edge of the 00078000 cataract, where the wind at once enveloped me in spray, and perhaps 00078050 dashed the rainbow round me. Were my long desires fulfilled? And had 00078100 I seen Niagara? 00078150 #Oh, that I had never heard of Niagara till I beheld it! Blessed were 00078200 the wanderers of old, who heard its deep roar, sounding through the 00078250 woods, as the summons to an unknown wonder, and approached its awful 00078300 brink, in all the freshness of native feeling. Had its own mysterious 00078350 voice been the first to warn me of its existence, then, indeed, I might 00078400 have knelt down and worshipped. But I had come thither, haunted with a 00078450 vision of foam and fury, and dizzy cliffs, and an ocean tumbling down 00078500 out of the sky--a scene, in short, which Nature had too much good taste 00078550 and calm simplicity to realize. My mind had struggled to adapt these 00078600 false conceptions to the reality, and finding the effort vain, a 00078650 wretched sense of disappointment weighed me down. I climbed the 00078700 precipice, and threw myself on the earth--feeling that I was unworthy 00078750 to look at the Great Falls, and careless about beholding them again. 00078800 #All that night, as there has been and will be, for ages past and to 00078850 come, a rushing sound was heard, as if a great tempest were sweeping 00078900 through the air. It mingled with my dreams, and made them full of 00078950 storm and whirlwind. Whenever I awoke, and heard this dread sound 00079000 in the air, and the windows rattling as with a mighty blast, I could 00079050 not rest again, till, looking forth, I saw how bright the stars were, 00079100 and that every leaf in the garden was motionless. Never was a 00079150 summer-night more calm to the eye, nor a gale of autumn louder to 00079200 the ear. The rushing sound proceeds from the rapids, and the rattling 00079250 of the casements is but an effect of the vibration of the whole house, 00079300 shaken by the jar of the cataract. The noise of the rapids draws the 00079350 attention from the true voice of Niagara, which is a dull, muffled 00079400 thunder, resounding between the cliffs. I spent a wakeful hour at 00079450 midnight, in distinguishing its reverberations, and rejoiced to 00079500 find that my former awe and enthusiasm were reviving. 00079550 #Gradually, and after much contemplation, I came to know, by my 00079600 own feelings, that Niagara is indeed a wonder of the world, and not 00079650 the less wonderful, because time and thought must be employed in 00079700 comprehending it. Casting aside all pre-conceived notions, and 00079750 preparation to be direstruck or delighted, the beholder must stand 00079800 beside it in the simplicity of his heart, suffering the mighty scene 00079850 to work its own impression. Night after night, I dreamed of it, and 00079900 was gladdened every morning by the consciousness of a growing capacity 00079950 to enjoy it. Yet I will not pretend to the all absorbing enthusiasm of 00080000 some more fortunate spectators, nor deny, that very trifling causes 00080050 would draw my eyes and thoughts from the cataract. 00080100 #The last day that I was to spend at Niagara, before my departure 00080150 for the far west, I sat upon the Table Rock. This celebrated station 00080200 did not now, as of old, project fifty feet beyond the line of the 00080250 precipice, but was shattered by the fall of an immense fragment, 00080300 which lay distant on the shore below. Still, on the utmost verge of 00080350 the rock, with my feet hanging over it, I felt as if suspended in the 00080400 open air. Never before had my mind been in such perfect unison with 00080450 the scene. There were intervals, when I was conscious of nothing 00080500 but the great river, rolling calmly into the abyss, rather descending 00080550 than precipitating itself, and acquiring tenfold majesty from its 00080600 unhurried motion. It came like the march of Destiny. It was not 00080650 taken by surprise, but seemed to have anticipated, in all its 00080700 course through the broad lakes, that it must pour their collected 00080750 waters down this height. The perfect foam of the river, after its 00080800 descent, and the evervarying shapes of mist, rising up, to become 00080850 clouds in the sky, would be the very picture of confusion, were it 00080900 merely transient, like the rage of a tempest. But when the beholder 00080950 has stood awhile, and perceives no lull in the storm, and considers 00081000 that the vapor and the foam are as everlasting as the rocks which 00081050 produce them, all this turmoil assumes a sort of calmness. It soothes, 00081100 while it awes the mind. 00081150 #Leaning over the cliff, I saw the guide conducting two adventurers 00081200 behind the falls. It was pleasant, from that high seat in the sunshine,00081250 to observe them struggling against the eternal storm of the lower 00081300 regions, with heads bent down now faltering, now pressing forward, and 00081350 finally swallowed up in their victory. After their disappearance, 00081400 a blast rushed out with an old hat, which it had swept from one of 00081450 their heads. The rock, to which they were directing their unseen 00081500 course, is marked, at a fearful distance on the exterior of the sheet, 00081550 by a jet of foam. The attempt to reach it, appears both poetical 00081600 and perilous, to a looker-on, but may be accomplished without much 00081650 more difficulty or hazard, than in stemming a violent northeaster. 00081700 In a few moments, forth came the children of the mist. Dripping 00081750 and breathless, they crept along the base of the cliff, ascended to 00081800 the guide's cottage, and received, I presume, a certificate of their 00081850 achievement, with three verses of sublime poetry on the back. 00081900 #My contemplations were often interrupted by strangers, who came 00081950 down from Forsyth's to take their first view of the falls. A short, 00082000 ruddy, middle-aged gentleman, fresh from old England, peeped over 00082050 the rock, and evinced his approbation by a broad grin. His spouse, a 00082100 very robust lady, afforded a sweet example of maternal solicitude, 00082150 being so intent on the safety of her little boy that she did not 00082200 even glance at Niagara. As for the child, he gave himself wholly to 00082250 the enjoyment of a stick of candy. Another traveller, a native 00082300 American, and a rare character among us, produced a volume of Captain 00082350 Hall's tour, and labored earnestly to adjust Niagara to the captain's 00082400 description, departing, at last, without one new idea or sensation 00082450 of his own. The next corner was provided, not with a printed book, 00082500 but with a blank sheet of foolscap, from top to bottom of which, by 00082550 means of an ever-pointed pencil, the cataract was made to thunder. 00082600 In a little talk, which we had together, he awarded his approbation 00082650 to the general view, but censured the postion of Goat Island, observing 00082700 that it should have been thrown farther to the right, so as to widen the00082750 American falls, and contract those of the Horse-shoe. Next appeared 00082800 two traders of Michigan, who declared, that, upon the whole, the sight 00082850 was worth looking at; there certainly was an immense water-power here; 00082900 but that, after all, they would go twice as far to see the noble 00082950 stone-works of Lockport, where the Grand Canal is locked down a descent 00083000 of sixty feet. They were succeeded by a young fellow, in a home-spun 00083050 cotton dress, with a staff in his hand, and a pack over his shoulders. 00083100 He advanced close to the edge of the rock, where his attention, at 00083150 first wavering among the different components of the scene, finally 00083200 became fixed in the angle of the Horse-shoe falls, which is, indeed, 00083250 the central point of interest. His whole soul seemed to go forth and 00083300 be transported thither, till the staff slipped from his relaxed 00083350 grasp, and falling down--down--down--struck upon the fragment of the 00083400 Table Rock. 00083450 #In this manner, I spent some hours, watching the varied impression, 00083500 made by the cataract, on those who disturbed me, and returning to 00083550 unwearied contemplation, when left alone. At length, my time came to 00083600 depart. There is a grassy footpath, through the woods, along the 00083650 summit of the bank, to a point whence a causeway, hewn in the side of 00083700 the precipice, goes winding down to the ferry, about half a mile below 00083750 the Table Rock. The sun was near setting, when I emerged from 00083800 the shadow of the trees, and began the descent. The indirectness of 00083850 my downward road continually changed the point of view, and shewed me, 00083900 in rich and repeated succession--now, the whitening rapids and the 00083950 majestic leap of the main river, which appeared more deeply massive as 00084000 the light departed; now, the lovelier picture, yet still sublime, of 00084050 Goat Island, with its rocks and grove, and the lesser falls, tumbling 00084100 over the right bank of the St. Lawrence, like a tributary stream; now, 00084150 the long vista of the river, as it eddied and whirled between the 00084200 cliffs, to pass through Ontario towards the sea, and everywhere to be 00084250 wondered at, for this one unrivalled scene. The golden sunshine tinged 00084300 the sheet of the American cascade, and painted on its heaving spray the 00084350 broken semicircle of a rainbow, Heaven's own beauty crowning earth's 00084400 sublimity. My steps were slow, and I paused long at every turn of the 00084450 descent, as one lingers and pauses, who discerns a brighter and 00084500 brightening excellence in what he must soon behold no more. The 00084550 solitude of the old wilderness now reigned over the whole vicinity of 00084600 the falls. My enjoyment became the more rapturous, because no poet 00084650 shared it--nor wretch, devoid of poetry, profaned it: but the spot, so 00084700 famous through the world, was all my own! 00084750 00000100 00000200 (Title) ALICE DOANE'S APPEAL; 00000300 #On a pleasant afternoon of June, it was my good fortune to be the 00000400 companion of two young ladies in a walk. The direction of our course 00000500 being left to me, I led them neither to Legge's Hill, nor to the 00000600 Cold Spring, nor to the rude shores and old batteries of the Neck, 00000700 nor yet to Paradise; though if the latter place were rightly named, 00000800 my fair friends would have been at home there. We reached the 00000900 ourtskirts of the town, and turning aside from a street of tanners and 00001000 curriers, began to ascend a hill, which at a distance, by its dark 00001100 slope and the even line of its summit, resembled a green rampart along 00001200 the road. It was less steep than its aspect threatened. The eminence 00001300 formed part of an extensive tract of pasture land, and was traversed 00001400 by cow paths in various directions; but, strange to tell, though the 00001500 whole slope and summit were of a peculiarly deep green, scarce a 00001600 blade of grass was visible from the base upward. This deceitful 00001700 verdure was occasioned by a plentiful crop of 'wood-wax,' which wears 00001800 the same dark and glossy green throughout the summer, except at one 00001900 short period, when it puts forth a profusion of yellow blossoms. At 00002000 that season to a distant spectator, the hill appears absolutely 00002100 overlaid with gold, or covered with a glory of sunshine, even beneath 00002200 a clouded sky. But the curious wanderer on the hill will perceive 00002300 that all the grass, and every thing that should nourish man or 00002400 beast, has been destroyed by this vile and ineradicable weed: its 00002500 tufted roots make the soil their own, and permit nothing else to 00002600 vegetate among them; so that a physical curse may be said to 00002700 have blasted the spot, where guilt and phrenzy consummated the 00002800 most execrable scene, that our history blushes to record. For this was 00002900 the field where superstition won her darkest triumph; the high place 00003000 where our fathers set up their shame, to the mournful gaze of 00003100 generations far remote. The dust of martyrs was beneath our feet. 00003200 We stood on Gallows Hill. 00003300 #For my own part, I have often courted the historic influence of the 00003400 spot. But it is singular, how few come on pilgrimage to this famous 00003500 hill; how many spend their lives almost at its base, and never once 00003600 obey the summons of the shadowy past, as it beckons them to the summit. 00003700 Till a year or two since, this portion of our history had been very 00003800 imperfectly written, and, as we are not a people of legend or 00003900 tradition, it was not every citizen of our ancient town that could tell,00004000 within half a century, so much as the date of the witchcraft delusion. 00004100 Recently, indeed, an historian has treated the subject in a manner 00004200 that will keep his name alive, in the only desirable connection 00004300 with the errors of our ancestry, by converting the hill of their 00004400 disgrace into an honorable monument of his own antiquarian lore, and 00004500 of that better wisdom, which draws the moral while it tells the tale. 00004600 But we are a people of the present and have no heartfelt interest 00004700 in the olden time. Every fifth of November, in commemoration of 00004800 they know not what, or rather without an idea beyond the momentary 00004900 blaze, the young men scare the town with bonfires on this haunted 00005000 height, but never dream of paying funeral honors to those who died 00005100 so wrongfully, and without a coffin or a prayer, were buried here. 00005200 #Though with feminine susceptibility, my companions caught all the 00005300 melancholy associations of the scene, yet these could but 00005400 imperfectly overcome the gayety of girlish spirts. Their emotions 00005500 came and went with quick vicissitude, and sometimes combined to form 00005600 a peculiar and delicious excitement, the mirth brightening the gloom 00005700 into a sunny shower of feeling, and a rainbow in the mind. My own 00005800 more sombre mood was tinged by theirs. With now a merry word and next 00005900 a sad one, we trod among the tangled weeds, and almost hoped that 00006000 our feet would sink into the hollow of a witch's grave. Such vestiges 00006100 were to be found within the memory of man, but have vanished now, and 00006200 with them, I believe, all traces of the precise spot of the executions. 00006300 On the long and broad ridge of the eminence, there is no very decided 00006400 elevation of any one point, nor other prominent marks, except the 00006500 decayed stumps of two trees, standing near each other, and here and 00006600 there the rocky substance of the hill, peeping just above the 00006700 wood-wax. 00006800 #There are few such prospects of town and village, woodland and 00006900 cultivated field, steeples and country seats, as we beheld from 00007000 this unhappy spot. No blight had fallen on old Essex; all was 00007100 prosperity and riches, healthfully distributed. Before us lay 00007200 our native town, extending from the foot of the hill to the harbor, 00007300 level as a chess board, embraced by two arms of the sea, and filling 00007400 the whole peninsula with a close assemblage of wooden roofs, overtopt 00007500 by many a spire, and intermixed with frequent heaps of verdure, where 00007600 trees threw up their shade from unseen trunks. Beyond, was the bay 00007700 and its islands, almost the only objects, in a country unmarked by 00007800 strong natural features, on which time and human toil had produced no 00007900 change. Retaining these portions of the scene, and also the peaceful 00008000 glory and tender gloom of the declining sun, we threw, in imagination, 00008100 a veil of deep forest over the land, and pictured a few scattered 00008200 villages, and this old town itself a village, as when the prince of 00008300 hell bore sway there. The idea thus gained, of its former aspect, 00008400 its quaint edifices standing far apart, with peaked roofs and 00008500 projecting stories, and its single meeting house pointing up a 00008600 tall spire in the midst; the vision, in short, of the town in 1692, 00008700 served to introduce a wondrous tale of those old times. 00008800 #I had brought the manuscript in my pocket. It was one of a series 00008900 written years ago, when my pen, now sluggish and perhaps feeble, 00009000 because I have not much to hope or fear, was driven by stronger 00009100 external motives, and a more passionate impulse within, than I am 00009200 fated to feel again. Three or four of these tales had appeared 00009300 in the Token, after a long time and various adventures, but had 00009400 incumbered me with no troublesome notoriety, even in my birth place. 00009500 One great heap had met a brighter destiny: they had fed the flames; 00009600 thoughts meant to delight the world and endure for ages, had perished 00009700 in a moment, and stirred not a single heart but mine. The story now 00009800 to be introduced, and another, chanced to be in kinder custody at 00009900 the time, and thus by no conspicuous merits of their own, escaped 00010000 destruction. 00010100 #The ladies, in consideration that I had never before intruded my 00010200 performances on them, by any but the legitimate medium, through the 00010300 press, consented to hear me read. I made them sit down on a moss-grown 00010400 rock, close by the spot where we chose to believe that the death-tree 00010500 had stood. After a little hesitation on my part, caused by a dread of 00010600 renewing my acquaintance with fantasies that had lost their charm, in 00010700 the ceaseless flux of mind, I began the tale, which opened darkly with 00010800 the discovery of a murder. 00010900 #A hundred years, and nearly half that time, elapsed since the body 00011000 of a murdered man was found, at about the distance of three miles, 00011100 on the old road to Boston. He lay in a solitary spot, on the bank of a 00011200 small lake, which the severe frost of December had covered with a sheet 00011300 of ice. Beneath this, it seemed to have been the intention of the 00011400 murderer to conceal his victim in a chill and watery grave, the ice 00011500 being deeply hacked, perhaps with the weapon that had slain him, 00011600 though its solidity was too stubborn for the patience of a man with 00011700 blood upon his hand. The corpse therefore reclined on the earth, 00011800 but was separated from the road by a thick growth of dwarf pines. 00011900 There had been a slight fall of snow during the night, and as if 00012000 Nature were shocked at the deed, and strove to hide it with her frozen 00012100 tears, a little drifted heap had partly buried the body, and lay 00012200 deepest over the pale dead face. An early traveller, whose dog had 00012300 led him to the spot, ventured to uncover the features, but was 00012400 affrighted by their expression. A look of evil and scornful triumph 00012500 had hardened on them, and made death so life-like and so terrible, that 00012600 the beholder at once took flight, as swiftly as if the stiffened 00012700 corpse would rise up and follow. 00012800 #I read on, and identified the body as that of a young man, a stranger 00012900 in the country, but resident during several preceding months in the 00013000 town which lay at our feet. The story described, at some length, the 00013100 excitement caused by the murder, the unavailing quest after the 00013200 perpetrator, the funeral ceremonies, and other common place matters, 00013300 in the course of which, I brought forward the personages who were to 00013400 move among the succeeding events. They were but three. A young man 00013500 and his sister; the former characterized by a diseased imagination and 00013600 morbid feelings; the latter, beautiful and virtuous, and instilling 00013700 something of her own excellence into the wild heart of her brother, 00013800 but not enough to cure the deep taint of his nature. The third person 00013900 was a wizard; a small, gray, withered man, with fiendish ingenuity 00014000 in devising evil, and superhuman power to execute it, but senseless 00014100 as an idiot and feebler than a child, to all better purposes. The 00014200 central scene of the story was an interview between this wretch and 00014300 Leonard Doane, in the wizard's hut, situated beneath a range of rocks 00014400 at some distance from the town. They sat beside a 00014500 mouldering fire, while a tempest of wintry rain was beating on the roof.00014600 The young man spoke of the closeness of the tie which united him and 00014700 Alice, the concentrated fervor of their affection from childhood 00014800 upwards, their sense of lonely sufficiency to each other, because they 00014900 only of their race had escaped death, in a night attack by the Indians. 00015000 He related his discovery, or suspicion of a secret sympathy between his 00015100 sister and Walter Brome, and told how a distempered jealousy had 00015200 maddened him. In the following passage, I threw a glimmering light 00015300 on the mystery of the tale. 00015400 #'Seaching,' continued Leonard, 'into the breast of Walter Brome, I at 00015500 length found a cause why Alice must inevitably love him. For he was my 00015600 very counterpart! I compared his mind by each individual portion, and 00015700 as a whole, with mine. There was a resemblance from which I shrank with00015800 sickness, and loathing, and horror, as if my own features had come and 00015900 stared upon me in a solitary place, or had met me in struggling through 00016000 a crowd. Nay! the very same thoughts would often express themselves in 00016100 the same words from our lips, proving a hateful sympathy in our secret 00016200 souls. His education, indeed, in the cities of the old world, and mine 00016300 in this rude wilderness, had wrought a superficial difference. The evil00016400 of his character, also, had been strengthened and rendered prominent by 00016500 a reckless and ungoverned life, while mine had been softened and 00016600 purified by the gentle and holy nature of Alice. But my soul had been 00016700 conscious of the germ of all the fierce and deep passions, and of all 00016800 the many varieties of wickedness, which accident had brought to their 00016900 full maturity in him. Nor will I deny, that in the accursed one, I 00017000 could see the withered blossom of every virtue, which by a happier 00017100 culture, had been made to bring forth fruit in me. Now, here was 00017200 a man, whom Alice might love with all the strength of sisterly 00017300 affection, added to that impure passion which alone engrosses all the 00017400 heart. The stranger would have more than the love which had been 00017500 gathered to me from the many graves of our household--and I be 00017600 desolate!' 00017700 #Leonard Doane went on to describe the insane hatred that had kindled 00017800 his heart into a volume of hellish flame. It appeared, that his 00017900 jealousy had grounds, so far as that Walter Brome had actually sought 00018000 the love of Alice, who also had betrayed an undefinable, but powerful 00018100 interest in the unknown youth. The latter, in spite of his passion for 00018200 Alice, seemed to returned the loathful antipathy of her brother; the 00018300 similarity of their dispositions made them like joint possessors of an 00018400 individual nature, which could not become wholly the property of one, 00018500 unless by the extinction of the other. At last, with the same devil 00018600 in each bosom, they chanced to meet, they two on a lonely road. While 00018700 Leonard spoke, the wizard had sat listening to what he already knew, 00018800 yet with tokens of pleasurable interst, manifested by flashes of 00018900 expression across his vacant features, by grisly smiles and by a word 00019000 here and there, mysteriously filling up some void in the narrative. 00019100 But when the young man told, how Walter Brome had taunted him with 00019200 indubitable proofs of the shame of Alice, and before the triumphant 00019300 sneer could vanish from his face, had died by her brother's hand, the 00019400 wizard laughed aloud. Leonard started, but just then a gust of wind 00019500 came down the chimney, forming itself into a close resemblance of the 00019600 slow, unvaried laughter, by which he had been interrupted. 'I was 00019700 deceived,' thought he; and thus pursued his fearful story. 00019800 #'I trod out his accursed soul, and knew that he was dead; for my 00019900 spirit bounded as if a chain had fallen from it and left me free. 00020000 But the burst of exulting certainty soon fled, and was succeeded by 00020100 a torpor over my brain and a dimness before my eyes, with the sensation 00020200 of one who struggles through a dream. So I bent down over the body of 00020300 Walter Brome, gazing into his face, and striving to make my soul glad 00020400 with the thought, that he, in very truth, lay dead before me. I know 00020500 not what space of time I had thus stood, nor how the vision came. 00020600 But it seemed to me that the irrevocable years, since childhood had 00020700 rolled back, and a scene, that had long been confused and broken in 00020800 my memory, arrayed itself with all its first distinctness. Methought 00020900 I stood a weeping infant by my father's hearth; by the cold and 00021000 blood-stained hearth where he lay dead. I heard the childish wail of 00021100 Alice, and my own cry arose with hers, as we beheld the features of 00021200 our parent, fierce with the strife and distorted with the pain, in 00021300 which his spirit has passed away. As I gazed, a cold wind whistled 00021400 by, and waved my father's hair. Immediately, I stood again 00021500 in the lonesome road, no more a sinless child, but a man of blood, 00021600 whose tears were falling fast over the face of his dead enemy. But the 00021700 delusion was not wholly gone; that face still wore a likeness of my 00021800 father; and because my soul shrank from the fixed glare of the eyes, 00021900 I bore the body to the lake, and would have buried it there. But 00022000 before his icy sepulchre was hewn, I heard the voices of two 00022100 travellers and fled.' 00022200 #Such was the dreadful confession of Leonard Doane. And now tortured 00022300 by the idea of his sister's guilt, yet sometimes yielding to a 00022400 conviction of her purtity; stung with remorse for the death of Walter 00022500 Brome, and shuddering with a deeper sense of some unutterable crime, 00022600 perpetrated, as he imagined, in madness or a dream; moved also by dark 00022700 impulses, as if a fiend were whispering him to meditate violence 00022800 against the life of Alice; he had sought this interview with the wizard,00022900 who, on certain conditions, had no power to withhold his aid in 00023000 unravelling the mystery. The tale drew near its close. 00023100 #The moon was bright on high; the blue firmament appeared to glow with 00023200 an inherent brightness; the greater stars were burning in their spheres;00023300 the nothern lights threw their mysterious glare far over the horizon; 00023400 the few small clouds aloft were burtherned with radiance; but the sky 00023500 with all its variety of light, was scarcely so brilliant as the earth. 00023600 The rain of the preceding night had frozen as it fell, and, by that 00023700 simple magic, had wrought wonders. The trees were hung with diamonds 00023800 and many-colored gems; the houses were overlaid with silver, and the 00023900 streets paved with slippery brightness; a frigid glory was flung over 00024000 all familiar things, from the cottage chimney to the steeple of the 00024100 meeting house, that gleamed upward to the sky. This living world, where00024200 we sit by our firesides, or go forth to meet beings like ourselves, 00024300 seemed rather the creation of wizard power, with so much of resemblance 00024400 to known objects, that a man might shudder at the ghostly shape of his 00024500 old beloved dwelling, and the shadow of a ghostly tree before his door. 00024600 One looked to behold inhabitants suited to such a town, glittering in 00024700 icy garments, with motionless features, cold, sparkling eyes, and just 00024800 sensation enough in their frozen hearts to shiver at each other's 00024900 presence. 00025000 #By this fantastic piece of description, and more in the same style, I 00025100 intended to throw a ghostly glimmer round the reader, so that his 00025200 imagination might view the town through a medium that should take off 00025300 its every day aspect, and make it a proper theatre for so wild a scene 00025400 as the final one. Amid this unearthly show, the wretched brother and 00025500 sister were represented as setting forth, at midnight, through the 00025600 gleaming streets, and directing their steps to a grave yard, where all 00025700 the dead had been laid, from the first corpse in that ancient town, to 00025800 the murdered man who was buried three days before. As they went, they 00025900 seemed to see the wizard gliding by their sides, or walking dimly on the00026000 path before them. But here I paused, and gazed into the faces of my 00026100 two fair auditors, to judge whether, even on the hill where so many had 00026200 been brought to death by wilder tales than this, I might venture to 00026300 proceed. Their bright eyes were fixed on me; their lips apart. 00026400 I took courage, and led the fated pair to a new made grave, where for 00026500 a few moments, in the bright and silent midnight, they stood alone. 00026600 But suddenly, there was a multitude of people among the graves. 00026700 #Each family tomb had given up its inhabitants, who, one by one, 00026800 through distinct years, had been borne to its dark chamber, but now 00026900 came forth and stood in a pale group together. There was the gray 00027000 ancestor, the aged mother, and all their descendants, some withered and 00027100 full of years, like themselves, and others in their prime; there, too, 00027200 were the children who went prattling to the tomb, and there the maiden 00027300 who yielded her early beauty to death's embrace, before passion had 00027400 polluted it. Husbands and wives arose, who had lain many years side 00027500 by side, and young mothers who had forgotten to kiss their first babes, 00027600 though pillowed so long on their bosoms. Many had been buried in the 00027700 habiliments of life, and still wore their ancient garb; some were old 00027800 defenders of the infant colony, and gleamed forth in their steel caps 00027900 and bright breast-plates, as if starting up at an Indian war-cry; other 00028000 venerable shapes had been pastors of the church, famous amoung the 00028100 New England clergy, and now leaned with hands clasped over their grave 00028200 stones, ready to call the congregation to prayer. There stood the 00028300 early settlers, those old illustrious ones, the heroes of tradition 00028400 and fireside legends, the men of history whose features had been 00028500 so long beneath the sod, that few alive could have remembered them. 00028600 There, too, were faces of former townspeople, dimly recollected from 00028700 childhood, and others, whom Leonard and Alice had wept in later years, 00028800 but now were most terrible of all, by their ghastly smile of 00028900 recognition. All, in short, were there; the dead of other generations, 00029000 whose moss-grown names could scarce be read upon their tomb stone, and 00029100 their successors, whose graves were not yet green; all whom black 00029200 funerals had followed slowly thither, now re-appeared where the mourners00029300 left them. Yet none but souls accursed were there, and fiends 00029400 counterfeiting the likeness of departed saints. 00029500 #The countenances of those venerable men, whose very features had been 00029600 hallowed by lives of piety, were contorted now by intolerable pain or 00029700 hellish passion, and now by an unearthly and derisive merriment. Had 00029800 the pastors prayed, all saintlike as they seemed, it had been blasphemy.00029900 The chaste matrons, too, and the maidens with untasted lips, who had 00030000 slept in their virgin graves apart from all other dust, now wore a look 00030100 from which the two trembling mortals shrank, as if the unimaginable sin 00030200 of twenty worlds were collected there. The faces of fond lovers, even 00030300 of such as had pined into the tomb, because there their treasure was, 00030400 were bent on one another with glances of hatred and smiles of bitter 00030500 scorn, passions that are to devils, what love is to the blest. At 00030600 times, the features of those, who had passed from a holy life to 00030700 heaven, would vary to and fro, between their assumed aspect and the 00030800 fiendish lineaments whence they had been transformed. The whole 00030900 miserable multitude, both sinful souls and false spectres of good men, 00031000 groaned horribly and gnashed their teeth, as they looked upward to the 00031100 calm loveliness of the midnight sky, and beheld those homes of bliss 00031200 where they must never dwell. Such was the apparition, though too 00031300 shadowy for language to portray; for here would be the moonbeams 00031400 on the ice, glittering through a warrior's breast-plate, and there 00031500 the letters of a tomb stone, on the form that stood before it; 00031600 and whenever a breeze went by, it swept the old men's hoary heads, 00031700 the women's fearful beauty, and all the unreal throng, into 00031800 one indistinguishable cloud together. 00031900 #I dare not give the remainder of the sence, except in a very brief 00032000 epitome. This company of devils and condemned souls had come on 00032100 a holiday, to revel in the discovery of a complicated crime; as foul 00032200 a one as ever was imagined in their dreadful abode. In the course 00032300 of the tale, the reader had been permitted to discover, that all the 00032400 incidents were results of the machinations of the wizard, who had 00032500 cunningly devised that Walter Brome should tempt his unknown sister 00032600 to guilt and shame, and himself perish by the hand of his twin-brother. 00032700 I described the glee of the fiends, at this hideous conception, and 00032800 their eagerness to know if it were consummated. The story concluded 00032900 with the Appeal of Alice to the spectre of Walter Brome; his reply, 00033000 absolving her from every stain; and the trembling awe with which ghost 00033100 and devil fled, as from the sinless presence of an angel. 00033200 #The sun had gone down. While I held my page of wonders in the fading 00033300 light, and read how Alice and her brother were left alone among the 00033400 graves, my voice mingled with the sigh of a summer wind, which passed 00033500 over the hill top with the broad and hollow sound, as of the flight of 00033600 unseen spirits. Not a word was spoken, till I added, that the 00033700 wizard's grave was close beside us, and that the wood-wax had sprouted 00033800 originally from his unhallowed bones. The ladies started; perhaps 00033900 their cheeks might have grown pale, had not the crimson west been 00034000 blushing on them; but after a moment they began to laugh, while the 00034100 breeze took a livelier motion, as if responsive to their mirth. I 00034200 kept an awful solemnity of visage, being indeed a little piqued, 00034300 that a narrative which had good authority in our ancient superstitions, 00034400 and would have brought even a church deacon to Gallows Hill, in old 00034500 witch times, should now be considered too grotesque and extravagant, for00034600 timid maids to tremble at. Though it was past supper time, I detained 00034700 them a while longer on the hill, and made a trial whether truth were 00034800 more powerful than fiction. 00034900 #We looked again towards the town, no longer arrayed in the icy splendor00035000 of earth, tree and edifice, beneath the glow of a wintry midnight, 00035100 which, shining afar through the gloom of a century, had made it appear 00035200 the very home of visions in visionary streets. An indistinctness had 00035300 begun to creep over the mass of buildings and blend them with the 00035400 intermingled tree tops, except where the roof of a statelier mansion, 00035500 and the steeples and brick towers of churches, caught the brightness 00035600 of some cloud that yet floated in the sunshine. Twilight over the 00035700 landscape was congenial to the obscurity of time. With such eloquence 00035800 as my share of feeling and fancy could supply, I called back hoar 00035900 antiquity, and bade my companions imagine an ancient multitude of 00036000 people, congregated on the hill side, spreading far below, clustering 00036100 on the steep old roofs, and climbing the adjacent height, wherever 00036200 a glimpse of this spot might be obtained. I strove to realize 00036300 and faintly communicate, the deep unutterable loathing and horror, 00036400 the indignation, the affrighted wonder, that wrinkled on every brow, 00036500 and filled the universal heart. See! the whole crowd turns pale and 00036600 shrinks within itself, as the virtuous emerge from yonder street. 00036700 Keeping pace with that devoted company I described them one by one; 00036800 here tottered a woman in her dotage, knowing neither the crime imputed 00036900 her, nor its punishment; there another, distracted by the universal 00037000 madness, till feverish dreams were remembered as realities, and she 00037100 almost believed her guilt. One, a proud man once, was so broken down 00037200 by the intolerable hatred heaped upon him, that he seemed to hasten his 00037300 steps, eager to hide himself in the grave hastily dug, at the foot of 00037400 the gallows. As they went slowly on, a mother looked behind, and beheld00037500 her peaceful dwelling; she cast her eyes elsewhere, and growned 00037600 inwardly, yet with bitterest anguish; for there was her little son among00037700 the accusers. I watched the face of an ordained pastor, who walked 00037800 onward to the same death; his lips moved in prayer, no narrow petition 00037900 for himself alone, but embracing all, his fellow sufferers and the 00038000 frenzied multitude; he looked to heaven and trod lightly up the hill. 00038100 #Behind their victims came the afflicted, a guilty and miserable band; 00038200 villains who had thus avenged themselves on their enemies, and viler 00038300 wretches, whose cowardice had destroyed their friends; lunatics 00038400 whose ravings had chimed in with the madness of the land; and 00038500 children, who had played a game that the imps of darkness might have 00038600 envied them, since it disgraced an age, and dipped a people's hands in 00038700 blood. In the rear of the procession rode a figure on horseback, so 00038800 darkly conspicuous, so sternly triumphant, that my hearers mistook him 00038900 for the visible presence of the fiend himself; but it was only his good 00039000 friend, Cotton Mather, proud of his well won dignity, as the 00039100 representative of all the hateful features of his time; the one 00039200 blood-thirsty man, in whom were concentrated those vices of spirit and 00039300 errors of opinion, that sufficed to madden the whole surrounding 00039400 multitude. And thus I marshalled them onward, the innocent who were to 00039500 die, and the guilty who were to grow old in long remorse--tracing their 00039600 every step, by rock, and shrub, and broken track, till their shadowy 00039700 visages had circled round the hill-top, where we stood. I plunged 00039800 into my imagination for a blacker horror, and a deeper woe, and pictured00039900 the scaffold---- 00040000 #But here my companions seized an arm on each side; their nerves were 00040100 trembling; and sweeter victory still, I had reached the seldom trodden 00040200 places of their hearts, and found the wellspring of their tears. And 00040300 now the past had done all it could. We slowly descended, watching 00040400 the lights as they twinkled gradually through the town, and listening 00040500 to the distant mirth of boys at play, and to the voice of a young girl, 00040600 warbling somewhere in the dusk, a pleasant sound to wanderers from 00040700 old witch times. Yet ere we left the hill, we could not but regret, 00040800 that there is nothing on its barren summit, no relic of old, nor 00040900 lettered stone of later days, to assist the imagination in appealing to 00041000 the heart. We build the memorial column on the height which our fathers00041100 made sacred with their blood poured out in a holy cause. And here in 00041200 dark, funereal stone, should rise another monument, sadly commemorative 00041300 of the errors of an earlier race, and not to be cast down, while the 00041400 human heart has one infirmity that may result in crime. 00041500