text
stringlengths 1.96k
5.76k
| author
int64 1
50
|
|---|---|
retain his sagacity if he live exclusively among and people without returning into the settled system of things to correct himself by a new observation from that old stand point it was now time for me therefore to go and hold a little talk with the the writers of the north american review the merchants the the cambridge men and all those respectable old who still in this and of affairs kept a death grip on one or two ideas which had not into since yesterday morning the brethren took leave of me with cordial kindness and as for the i had serious thoughts of kissing them all round but to do so because in all such general the penance is fully equal to the romance tne pleasure so i kissed none of them and nobody to say the truth seemed to expect it do you wish me i said to to announce in town and at the watering places your purpose to deliver a course of lectures on the rights of women women possess no rights said with a half melancholy smile or at all events only little girls and would have the force to exercise them she gave me her hand freely and kindly and looked at me i thought with a pitying expression in her eyes nor was there any settled light of joy in them on her own behalf but a troubled and passionate flame flickering and fitful i regret on the whole that you are leaving us she said and all the more since i feel that this phase of our life is finished and can never be lived over again do you know mr that i have been several times on the point of making you my for lack of a better and wiser one but you are too young to be my father and you would not thank me for treating you like one of those good little who share the bosom secrets of a tragedy queen i would at least be loyal and faithful answered i and would counsel you with an honest purpose if not wisely yes said you would be only too wise too honest honesty and wisdom are such a delightful at another person s expense ah i exclaimed if you would but let me speak by no means she replied especially when you leave have just resumed the whole series of social together with that straight coat i as open my heart to a lawyer or a clergyman no no mr if i choose a in the present aspect of my affairs it must be either an angel or a madman and i rather apprehend that the latter would be of the two to speak the fitting word it needs a wild when we voyage through chaos the anchor is up farewell as soon as dinner was over had herself into a comer and set to work on a little purse as i approached her she let her eyes rest on me with a calm serious look for with all her delicacy of nerves there was a singular self possession in and her seemed to lie sheltered from ordinary commotion like the water in a deep well will you give me that purse said i as a parting yes she answered if you will wait till it is finished i must not wait even for that i replied shall i find you here on my return i never wish to go away said she i have sometimes thought observed i smiling that you are a little or at least that you have spiritual respecting matters which are dark to us people if that be the case i should like to ask you what is about to happen for i am tormented with a strong that were i to return even so soon as to morrow morning i should find everything changed have you any impressions of this nature i the romance ah no said looking at me if any such misfortune is coming the shadow has not reached me yet heaven forbid i should be glad if there might never be any change but one summer follow another and all just like this no summer ever came back and no two ever were alike said i with a degree of wisdom that astonished myself times change and people change and if our hearts do not change as readily so much the worse for us good by i gave her hand a pressure which i think she neither resisted nor returned s heart was deep but of small compass it had room but for a very few dearest ones among whom she never reckoned me on the door step i met i had a momentary impulse to hold out my hand or at least to give a parting nod but resisted both when a real and strong affection has come to an end it is not well to mock the sacred past with any show of those commonplace that belong to ordinary intercourse being dead henceforth to him and he to me there could be no propriety in our one another with the touch of two corpse like hands or playing at looks of courtesy with eyes that were impenetrable beneath the and the we passed therefore as if invisible i can explain what sort of whim or it was that after all these leave induced me to go to the pig and take leave of the swine there they lay buried as deeply among the straw as they could four huge black the very of ease and comfort they leave were asleep drawing short and heavy which heaved their big sides up and down their eyes however at my approach they looked dimly forth at the outer world and simultaneously uttered a gentle not putting themselves to the trouble of an additional breath for that particular purpose but with their ordinary they were involved and almost stifled | 35 |
and buried alive in their own substance the very and oppression wherewith these greasy citizens gained breath enough to keep their life machinery in movement appeared to make them only the more sensible of the ponderous and fat satisfaction of their existence peeping me an instant out of their small red hardly ue eyes they asleep again yet not so far asleep bat that their bliss was still present to them dream and reality you must come back in season to eat part of a said foster giving my hand a mighty squeeze i shall have these fat fellows hanging up by the heels heads downward pretty soon i tell you o cruel what a horrible idea cried i all the rest of us men women and live stock save only these four are with one grief or another they alone are happy and you mean to cut their throats and eat them it would be more for the general comfort to let them eat us and bitter and sour we should be the hotel arriving in town where my bachelor rooms long before this time had received some other i established myself for a day or two in a certain respectable hotel it was situated somewhat aloof from my former track in life my present mood me to avoid most of my old companions from whom was now by other interests and who would have been likely enough to amuse themselves at the expense of the amateur working man the hotel keeper put me into a back room of the third story of his spacious establishment the day was lowering with occasional of rain and an ugly tempered east wind which seemed to come right off the chill and melancholy sea hardly by sweeping over the roofs and itself with the dusky element of city smoke all the of past days had returned upon me at once summer as it still was i ordered a coal fire in the rusty grate and was glad to find myself growing a little too warm with an artificial temperature my sensations were those of a traveller long in remote regions and at length sitting down again amid customs once familiar there was a and an oddly themselves into one impression it made me sensible how strange a piece of work had lately been wrought into my life the hotel true if you look at it in one way it had been only a summer in the country but considered in a relation it was part of another age a different state of society a of an existence peculiar in its aims and methods a leaf of some mysterious volume into the current history which time was writing off at one moment the very circumstances now surrounding me my coal fire and the dingy room in the bustling hotel appeared far off and the next instant looked vague as if it were at a distance both in time and space and so shadowy that a question might be raised whether the whole affair had been anything more than the thoughts of a man i had never before experienced a mood that so robbed the actual world of its it nevertheless involved a charm on which a devoted of my own emotions i resolved to pause and enjoy the moral until quite dissolved away whatever had been my taste for solitude and natural scenery yet the thick stifled element of cities die entangled life of many men together sordid as it was and empty of the beautiful took quite as a hold upon my mind i felt as if there could never be enough of it each characteristic sound was too suggestive to be passed over unnoticed beneath and me i heard the stir of the hotel the loud voices of guests landlord or bar keeper steps echoing on the stair case the ringing of a bell announcing or the porter past my door with baggage which he down upon the floors of neighboring chambers the lighter feet of chamber maids along the passages it is ridiculous to think the romance what an interest they had for me from the street came the tumult of the the whole house with a continual uproar so and deep that only an ear would dwell upon it a company of the city with a full military band marched in front of the hotel invisible to me but audible both by its foot tramp and the of its instruments once or twice all the city bells together announcing a fire which brought out the engine men and their machines like an army with its rushing to battle hour hy hour the in many responded one to another in some public hall not a great way off there seemed to be an exhibition of a mechanical for three times during the day occurred a repetition of music winding up with the rattle of cannon and and a huge final explosion then ensued the applause of the spectators with clap of hands and of sticks and the energetic of their heels all this was just as valuable in its way as the sighing of the breeze among the trees that s pulpit yet i felt a hesitation about plunging into this muddy tide of human activity and it suited me better for the present to linger on the brink or in the air above it so i spent the first day and the greater part of the second in the manner possible in a rocking chair the fragrance of a series of cigars with my legs and feet disposed and in my hand a novel purchased of a railroad the gradual waste of my cigar accomplished itself with an easy and gentle expenditure of breath my the hotel book was of the yet had a sort of flow like that of a stream in which your boat is as often as afloat had | 35 |
there been a more impetuous rash a more absorbing passion of the narrative i should the sooner have struggled out of its uneasy current and haye myself up to the swell and of my thoughts but as it was the life of the book served as an accompaniment to the life within me and about me at intervals however when its effect grew a little too not for my patience but for the possibility of keeping my eyes open i myself started from the rocking chair and looked out of the window a gray sky the of a that rose beyond the opposite range of buildings pointing from the eastward a of small looking on the window pane in that ebb tide of my energies had i thought of venturing abroad these tokens would have checked the purpose after several such visits to the window i found myself getting pretty well acquainted with that little portion of the of the universe which it presented to my view over against the hotel and its adjacent houses at the distance of forty or fifty yards was the rear of a range of buildings which appeared to be spacious modem and calculated for fashionable the interval between was into grass plots and here and there an apology for a garden to these dwellings there were apple trees and and trees too the fruit on which looked singularly large luxuriant and abundant as well it might in a situation so warm and sheltered i the romance and where the soil had doubtless been enriched to a more than natural in two or three places vines upon and bore clusters already purple and promising the richness of or in their the winds of our rigid climate could not these trees and vines the sunshine though descending late into this area and too early by the height of the surrounding houses yet lay there even when less than temperate in every other region dreary as was the day the scene was illuminated by not a few and other birds which spread their wings and flitted and fluttered and alighted now here now there and busily scratched their food out of the earth most of these winged people seemed to have their in a robust and healthy tree it upward high above the roof of the houses and spread a dense head of foliage half across the area there was a cat as there invariably is in such places who evidently thought herself entitled to all the privileges of forest life in this close heart of city i watched her creeping along the low flat roofs of the offices descending a flight of wooden steps gliding among the grass and the tree with purpose against its citizens but after all they were birds of city breeding and doubtless knew how to guard themselves against the peculiar perils of their position to my fancy are all those and where nature like a stray hides her head among the long established haunts of men it is likewise to be remarked as a general rule that there is far the hotel it more of the picturesque more truth to native and characteristic tendencies and vastly greater in the back view of a residence whether in town or country than in its front the latter is always artificial it is meant for the world s eye and is therefore a veil and a concealment realities keep in the rear and put forward an advance guard of show and the aspect of any old farm house behind which a railroad has unexpectedly been opened is so different from that looking upon the highway that the spectator gets new ideas of rural life and individuality in the puff or two of steam breath which shoots him past the premises in a city the distinction between what is offered to the public and what is kept for the family is certainly not less striking but to return to window at the back of the hotel together with a due contemplation of the fruit trees the vines the tree the cat the birds and many other particulars i failed not to study the row of fashionable dwellings to which all these here it must be confessed there was a general from the upper story to the first floor they were much alike that i could only conceive of the inhabitants as cut out on one identical pattern like little wooden toy people of german manufacture one long united roof with its thousands of glittering in the rain extended over the whole after the distinctness of separate characters to which i had recently been accustomed it perplexed and annoyed me not to be able to resolve this combination of human interests into elements it seemed hardly worth while for more than one of those families to be in existence since the romance they all had the same glimpse of the s y all looked into the same area all received just their equal share of sunshine through the front windows and all listened to precisely the same noises of the street on which they men are so much alike in their nature t they grow intolerable unless varied by their circumstances just about this time a waiter entered my room the truth was i had rung the bell and ordered a can you tell me i inquired what families reside in any of those houses opposite the one right opposite is a rather said the waiter two of the keep horses at the stable of our establishment they do things in very good style sir the people that live there i might have found out nearly as much for myself on examining the house a little more closely in one of the upper chambers i saw a young man in a standing before the glass and brushing his hair for a quarter of an hour together he then spent an equal space | 35 |
of time in the elaborate arrangement of his and finally made his appearance in a dress oat which i suspected to be newly come from the tailor s and now first put on for a dinner party at a window of the next story below two children prettily dressed were looking out by and by a middle aged gentleman came softly behind them kissed the little girl and pulled the little boy s ear it was a papa no doubt just come in from his counting room or office and anon appeared mamma stealing as softly behind the hotel papa as he had stolen the children and laying her hand on his shoulder to surprise him then followed a kiss papa and mamma but a noiseless one for the children did not turn their heads i bless god for these good folks thought i to myself i have not seen a prettier bit of nature in all my summer in the country than they have shown me here in a rather boarding house i will pay a little more attention by and by on the first floor an iron ran along in of the tall and spacious windows evidently belonging to a back drawing room and far into the interior the arch of the sliding doors i could discern a gleam from the windows of the front apartment there were no signs of present in this of rooms e curtains being enveloped in a covering allowed but a small portion of their crimson material to be seen but two were at work so that there was good prospect that the might not long suffer from the absence of its most expensive and profitable guests meanwhile until they should appear i cast my eyes downward to the lower there in the dusk that so early settles into such places i saw the red glow of the kitchen range the hot cook or one of her with a in her hand came to draw a cool breath at the back door as soon as she disappeared an irish man servant in a white jacket crept forth and threw away the fragments of a china dish which unquestionably he had just broken soon afterwards a lady dressed with a curling front of what must have been false hair and brown i suppose in hue though my i the romance allowed me only to guess at such this respectable mistress of the boarding house made a momentary across the kitchen window and appeared no more it was her final comprehensive glance in order to make sure that soup fish and flesh were in a proper state of readiness before the serving up of dinner there was nothing else worth noticing about the house unless it be that on the peak of one of the windows which opened out of the roof sat a dove looking very dreary and forlorn that i wondered why she chose to sit there in the chilly rain while her kindred were doubtless in a warm and comfortable dove all at once this dove spread her wings and herself in the air came so straight across the intervening space that i fully expected her to alight directly on my window sill in the latter part of her course however she aside flew upward and vanished as did likewise the slight fantastic pathos with which i had invested her xviii tbe boarding house the next day as soon as i thought of looking again towards the opposite house there sat the dove again on ihe peak of the same window it was by no means an early hour for the preceding evening i had ultimately enterprise enough to visit the theatre had gone late to bed and slept beyond all limit in my from foster s awakening horn dreams had tormented me the night the train of thoughts which for months past had worn a track through my mind and to escape was one of my chief objects in leaving kept treading to and fro in their old footsteps while slumber left me impotent to them it was not till i had quitted my three friends that they first began to upon my dreams in those of the last night and standing on either side of my bed had bent across it to exchange a kiss of passion beholding this for she seemed to be peeping in at the chamber window had melted gradually away and left only the sadness of her expression in my heart there it still lingered after awoke one of those unreasonable that you know not how to deal with because it nothing for common sense to clutch it was a gray and dripping gloomy enough the romance in town and still in the haunts to which my recollections persisted in me for in spite of my efforts to think of something else i thought how the rain was drifting over the slopes and valleys of our farm how wet must be the foliage that the pulpit rock how cheerless in such a day my the tree solitude of my owl like in the vine encircled heart of the tall pine it was a phase of home sickness i had myself too suddenly out of an accustomed sphere there was no choice now but to bear the pang of whatever were asunder and that torment like the ache of a limb long ago cut off by which a past mode of life itself into the succeeding one was full of idle and regrets the thought impressed itself upon me that i had left duties with the power perhaps to act in the place of destiny and misfortune from my friends i had resigned them to their fate that cold tendency between instinct and intellect which made me with a interest into people s passions and impulses appeared to have gone far towards my heart but a man cannot always decide for | 35 |
himself whether his own heart is cold or warm it now me that if i at all in regard to and it was through too much sympathy rather than too little to escape the of these meditations i resumed my post at the window at first sight there was nothing new to be noticed the general aspect of was the same as yesterday except that the more the boarding decided of to day had driven the to shelter and kept the cat within doors whence however she soon emerged pursued hy the cook and with what looked like the better half of a roast chicken in her mouth the young man in the dress coat was the two children in the story below seemed to be about the room under the of a nursery maid the curtains of the on the first floor were now fully displayed gracefully from top to bottom of the windows which extended from the ceiling to the carpet a window at the left of the drawing room gave light to what was probably a small within which i caught the faintest imaginable glimpse of a figure m airy her arm was in regular movement as if she were busy with her german or some other such pretty and while intent upon making out this girlish shape i became sensible that a figure had appeared at one of the windows of the drawing room there was a in my mind or perhaps my first glance imperfect and as it was had to convey subtle information of the truth at any rate it was with no positive surprise but as if i had all along expected the incident that directing my eyes i beheld like a full length picture in the space between the heavy of the window curtains no other than at the same instant my thoughts made sure of the identity of the figure in the it could only be was attired not in the almost rustic costume which she had heretofore worn but in a fashionable the morning dress there was nevertheless one familiar point she had as usual a flower in her hair and of a rare variety else it had not been after a brief pause at the window she turned away in the few steps that removed her out of sight that noble and beautiful motion which her as much as any other personal charm not one woman in a thousand could move so admirably as many women can sit gracefully some can stand gracefully and a few perhaps can assume a series of graceful positions but natural movement is the result and expression of the whole being and cannot be well and nobly performed unless to something in the character i often used to think that music light and airy wild and passionate or the full harmony of stately in accordance with her varying mood should have attended s footsteps i waited for her it was one peculiarity from most of her sex that she needed for her moral well being and never would forego a large amount of physical exercise at no of sky or of earth had ever her daily walks here in town she probably preferred to tread the extent of the two drawing rooms and measure out the miles by spaces of forty feet rather than her skirts over the accordingly in about the time requisite to pass through the arch of the sliding doors to the front window and to return upon her steps there she stood again between the of the crimson curtains but another personage was now added to the scene behind appeared that face which i had first encountered in the the b h use wood path the man who had passed side hy side with her in such mysterious familiarity and beneath my vine in the tall it was and though he was looking closely over her shoulder it still seemed to me as on the former occasion that him that perchance they each other by some of their this impression however might have been altogether e result of fancy and prejudice in me the distance was so great as to any play of feature by which i might otherwise have been made a of their counsels there now needed only and old to complete the knot of characters whom a real of events greatly assisted by my method of them from other relations had kept so long upon my mental stage as actors in a drama in itself perhaps it was no very remarkable event that they should thus come across me at the moment when i imagined myself free as i well knew had retained an establishment in town and had not withdrawn herself from during brief intervals on one of which occasions she had taken along with her nevertheless there seemed something fatal in the coincidence that had borne me to this one spot of all others in a great city and me there and compelled me again to waste my already wearied sympathies on which were none of mine and persons who cared little for me it irritated my nerves it affected me with a kind of heart sickness after the effort which it cost me to fling them off after my i thb romance escape as i thought from these of flesh and blood and pausing to revive myself with a breath or two of an atmosphere in which they should have no share it was a positive despair to find the same figures themselves before me and presenting their old problem in a shape that made it more than ever i began to long for a catastrophe if the noble temper of s soul were doomed to be utterly by the too powerful purpose which had grown out of what was noblest in him if the rich and generous qualities of s womanhood might not save her if | 35 |
must perish by her tenderness and faith so simple and so devout then be it so let it all come as for me i would look on as it seemed my part to do if my intellect could the meaning and the moral and at all events reverently and sadly the curtain fallen i would pass onward with my poor individual life which was now of much of its proper substance and diffused among many alien interests meanwhile and her companion had retreated from the window then followed an interval during which i directed my eyes towards the figure in the most certainly it was although dressed with a novel and fanciful elegance the vague perception of it as viewed so far oflf impressed me as if she had suddenly passed out of a state and put forth her hands were not now in motion she had her work and sat with her head thrown back in the same attitude that i had seen several times before thb boarding house when she seemed to be listening to an imperfectly sound again the two figures in the drawing room became they were now a little withdrawn from the window face to face and as i could see by s emphatic gestures were discussing some subject in which she at least felt a passionate concern by and by she away and vanished beyond my ken approached the window and leaned his forehead against a pane of glass displaying the sort of smile on his handsome features which when i before met him had let me into the secret of his gold bordered teeth every human being when given over to the devil is sure to have the mark upon him in one form or another i fancied that this smile with its peculiar revelation was the on the professor this man as i had soon reason to know was endowed with a cat like and though precisely the most quality in the world it was almost as effective as spiritual insight in making him acquainted with whatever it suited him to discover he now proved it considerably to my discomfiture by and me at my post of observation perhaps i ought to have blushed at being caught in such an evident scrutiny of professor and his affairs perhaps i did blush be that as it might i retained presence of mind enough not to make my position yet more irksome by the of drawing back looked into the depths of the drawing room and beckoned immediately afterwards appeared at the window with color much heightened eyes which as my conscience w t onr the ing bright arrows with scorn across the intervening space directed full at my as a gentleman if the truth must be told far as her flight shot was those arrows hit the mark she signified her recognition of me by a gesture with her head and hand at once a salutation and dismissal the next moment she administered one of those pitiless which a woman always has at hand ready for an offence and which she so seldom on due occasion by letting down a white linen curtain between the of the ones it fell like the of a theatre in the interval between the acts had disappeared from the but the dove still kept her desolate perch on the peak of the window xix s drawing room the remainder of the day so far as i was concerned was spent in meditating on these recent incidents i contrived and alternately rejected innumerable methods of for the presence of and and the connection of with both it must be owned too that i had a keen sense of the insult inflicted by s scornful recognition and more particularly by her letting down the curtain as if such were the proper barrier to be interposed between a character like hers and a faculty like mine for was mine a mere vulgar curiosity should have known me better than to suppose it she should have been able to appreciate that quality of the intellect and the heart which impelled me often against my own will and to the of my own comfort to live in other lives and to endeavor by generous sympathies by delicate by taking note of things too slight for record and by bringing my human spirit into manifold accordance with the companions whom god assigned me to learn the secret which was hidden even from themselves of all possible a woman like and a man like should have selected me and now when the event has long been past i retain the same opinion of my fitness for the the romance office true i might have condemned them had i been judge as well as witness my sentence might have been stern as that of destiny itself but still no trait of original nobility of character no struggle against temptation no iron necessity of will on the one hand nor circumstance to be derived from passion and despair on the other no remorse that might with error even if powerless to prevent it no proud repentance that should claim as a would go true again i might give my full assent to the punishment which was sure to follow but it would be given mournfully and with love and after all was finished i would come as if to gather up the white ashes of those who had perished at the stake and to tell the world the wrong being now for how much had perished there which it had never yet known how to praise i sat in my rocking chair too far withdrawn from the window to expose myself to another rebuke like that already inflicted my eyes still wandered towards the opposite house but without any new discoveries late in the afternoon the on the church spire indicated a change of wind the | 35 |
sun shone dimly out as if the golden wine of its beams were mingled half and half with water nevertheless they kindled up the whole range of threw a glow over the windows on the wet roofs and slowly withdrawing upward perched upon the chimney tops thence they took a higher flight and lingered an instant on the tip of the spire making it the final point of more cheerful light in the whole sombre scene the next moment it was all gone the twilight fell into th s drawing boom area like a shower of dusky snow and before it was quite dark the of the hotel summoned me to tea when i returned to my chamber the glow of an lamp was penetrating through the white curtain of s drawing room the shadow of a passing figure was now and then cast upon this medium but with too vague an outline for even my adventurous conjectures to read the that it presented all at once it occurred to me how very absurd was my behavior in thus myself with crazy as to what was going on within that when it was at my to be personally present there my relations with as yet unchanged as a familiar friend and associated in the same life long enterprise gave me the right and made it no more than kindly courtesy demanded to call on her nothing except our habitual independence of conventional rules at could have kept me from sooner this duty at all events it should now be performed in compliance with this sudden impulse i soon found myself actually within the house the rear of which for two days past i had been so watching a servant took my card and immediately returning ushered me up stairs on the way i heard a rich and as it were triumphant burst of music from a piano in which felt s character although heretofore i had known nothing of her skill upon the instrument two or three birds excited by this of sound sang and did their utmost to produce a kindred melody a bright illumination streamed die door of the front drawing room and va s i i thb across the threshold before came forward to meet me laughing and with an extended hand ah mr said she still smiling but as i thought with a good deal of scornful anger underneath it has gratified me to see the interest which you continue to take in my affairs i have long recognized you as a sort of yankee with all the native of your countrymen to investigate matters that come within their range but rendered almost poetical in your case by the refined methods which you adopt for its gratification after all it was an stroke on my part was it not to let down the window curtain i cannot call it a very wise one returned i with a secret bitterness which no doubt appreciated it is really impossible to hide anything in this world to say nothing of the next all that we ought to ask therefore is that the witnesses of our conduct and the on our motives should be capable of taking the highest view which the circumstances of the case may admit so much being secured i for one would be happy in feeling myself followed everywhere by an human sympathy we must trust for intelligent sympathy to our guardian angels if any there be said as long as the only spectator of my poor tragedy is a young man at the window of his hotel i must still claim the liberty to drop the curtain while this passed as s hand was extended i had applied the very slightest touch of my fingers to her own in spite of an external freedom her manner made me sensible that we stood upon no real terms of s room confidence the thought came sadly across me how great was the contrast this interview and our first meeting then in the warm light of the country fireside had greeted me cheerily and with a full grasp of the hand conveying as much kindness in it as other women could have evinced by the pressure of both arms around my neck or by yielding a cheek to the salute the difference was complete as between her appearance at that time so simply attired and with only the one superb flower in her hair and now when her beauty was set off by all that dress and ornament could do for it and they did much not indeed that they created or added anything to what nature had done for but those costly robes which she had on those flaming jewels on her neck served as lamps to display the personal advantages which required nothing less than such an illumination to be fully seen even her characteristic flower though it seemed to be still there had undergone a cold and bright it was a flower exquisitely in s work and the last touch that transformed into a work of art i scarcely feel i could not forbear saying as if we had ever met before how many years ago it seems since we last sat beneath s pulpit with extended on the fallen leaves and at his feet can it be that you ever really numbered yourself with our little band of earnest thoughtful those ideas have their time and place she answered coldly but i fancy it must be a very mind that can find room fox no the t her manner bewildered me literally moreover i was dazzled by tbe brilliancy of the room a hung down in the centre glowing with i know not how many lights there were separate lamps also on two or three tables and on marble adding their white radiance to that of the the furniture was exceedingly rich fresh from our old farm | 35 |
house with its homely board and benches in the dining room and a few chairs in the best parlor it struck me that here was the fulfilment of every of an imagination in various methods of costly self indulgence and splendid ease pictures in brief more shapes of luxury than there could be any object in except for an s advertisement and the whole repeated and doubled hy the reflection of a great mirror which showed me s proud figure likewise and my own it cost me i acknowledge a bitter sense of shame to perceive in myself a positive effort to bear up against the effect which sought to impose on me i reasoned against her in my secret mind and strove so to keep my footing in the with which she had surrounded herself in the of personal ornament which the of her physical nature and the rich of her beauty caused to seem so suitable i beheld the true character of the woman passionate luxurious lacking simplicity not refined incapable of pure and perfect taste but the next instant she was too powerful for all my opposing struggles i saw how fit it was that she should make herself as gorgeous as she pleased and should do a thousand things that would have been ridiculous in the poor thin weakly characters of other s women to this day however i hardly know whether i then beheld in her truest attitude or whether that were the truer one in which she had presented herself at in both there was something like illusion which a great around her have you given up forever i inquired why should you think so asked she i cannot tell answered i except that it appears all like a dream that we were ever there together it ia not so to me said i should think h a poor and meagre nature that is capable of but one set of forms and must convert all the past into a dream merely because the present happens to be unlike it why should we be content with our homely life of a few months past to the of all other modes it was good but there are other lives as good er better not you will understand that i condemn those who give themselves up to it more entirely than i for myself should deem it wise to do it irritated me this self complacent qualified a and criticism of a system to which many individuals perhaps as highly endowed as our gorgeous had contributed their all of earthly endeavor and their aspirations i determined to make proof if there were any spell that would her out of the part which she seemed to be acting she should be compelled to give me a glimpse of something true some nature some passion no matter whether light or wrong provided it were real your allusion to that class of characters who can live only in one mode of life remarked i reminds me of our poor friend possibly he was in your thoughts when you spoke thus th poor fellow it is a pity that by the fault of a narrow education he should have so completely himself to that one idea of his especially as the slightest of common sense would teach him its now that i have returned into the world and can look at his project from a distance it requires quite all my real regard for this respectable and well man to prevent me laughing at him as i find society at large does s eyes darted lightning her cheeks pushed the of her expression was like the effect of a powerful light flaming up suddenly within her my experiment had fully succeeded she had shown me the true flesh and blood of her heart by thus involuntarily my slight pitying half kind half scornful mention of the man who was all in all with her she herself probably felt this for it was hardly a moment before she her breath and seemed as proud and self possessed as ever i rather imagine said she quietly that your appreciation falls short of mr s just claims blind enthusiasm in one idea i grant is generally ridiculous and must be fat to the respectability of an ordinary man it requires a very high and powerful character to make it otherwise but a great man as perhaps you do not know his normal condition only through the inspiration of one great idea as a friend of mr and at the same time a calm observer i must tell you that he seems to me such a man but you are very for him ridiculous doubtless he is so to you there can be no truer test of the noble and heroic in any individual than the degree in which he s room possesses the faculty of heroism from i dared make no retort to s concluding in truth i admired her fidelity it gave me a new sense of s native power to discover that his influence was no less potent with this beautiful woman here in the midst of artificial life than it had been at the foot of the gray rock and among the wild trees of the wood path when she so passionately pressed his hand against her heart the great rude shaggy man and loved him did you bring with you i resumed do you know have sometimes fancied it not quite safe considering the of her temperament that she should be so constantly within the sphere of a man like such tender and delicate natures among your sex have often i believe a very adequate appreciation of the heroic element in men but then again i should suppose them as likely as any other women to make a impression could hardly give his affections to a person capable of taking | 35 |
an independent stand but only to one whom he might into himself he has certainly shown great tenderness for had turned aside but i caught the reflection of her face in the mirror and saw that it was very pale as pale in her rich attire as if a were round her is here said she her voice a little lower than usual have not you learnt as much from your chamber window would you like to see her she made a step or two into the back drawing room and called dear xx they vanish immediately answered the summons and made her appearance through the door of the i had conceived the idea which i now recognized as a very foolish one that would have taken to me from an interview with this girl between whom and herself there was so utter an of their dearest interests that on one part or the other a great grief if not likewise a great wrong seemed a matter of necessity but as was only a leaf floating on the dark current of events without them by her own choice or plan as she probably guessed not whither the stream was bearing her nor perhaps even felt its inevitable movement there could be no peril of her communicating to me any intelligence with regard to s purposes on perceiving me she came with great of manner and when i held out my hand her own moved slightly towards it as if attracted by a feeble degree of i am glad to see you my dear said i still holding her hand but everything that i meet with now a days makes me wonder whether i am awake you especially have always seemed like a figure in a dream and now more than ever o there is substance in these fingers of she they vanish answered giving my hand the faintest possible pressure and then taking away her own why do you call me a dream is much more like one than i she is so very very beautiful and i suppose added as if thinking aloud everybody sees it as i do but for my part it was s beauty not s of which i was thinking at that moment she was a person who could be quite so far as beauty went by anything in her attire her charm was not positive and material enough to bear up against a mistaken choice of color for instance or fashion it was safest in her case to attempt no art of dress for it demanded the most perfect taste or else the happiest accident in the world to give her precisely the which she needed she was now dressed in pure white set with some kind of a fabric which as i bring up her figure in my memory with a int gleam on her shadowy hair and her dark eyes bent on mine through all the vanished years seems to be floating about her like a mist i wondered what meant by so much loveliness out of this poor girl it was what few women could afford to do for as i looked from one to the other the and splendor of s presence took nothing from s softer spell if it might not rather be thought to add to it what do you think of her asked i could not understand the look of melancholy kindness with which regarded her she advanced a step and near her kissed her cheek then with a slight gesture of she moved to the other side of the room i followed the romance she is a wonderful creature said ever since she came among us i have been dimly sensible of just this charm which you have brought out but it was never absolutely visible till now she is as lovely as a flower well say so if you like answered you are a poet at least as poets go now a days and must be allowed to make an opera glass of your imagination when you look at women i wonder in such a freedom of falling in love as we have lately enjoyed it never occurred to you to fall in love with in society indeed a genuine american never dreams of stepping across the air line which one class from another but what was rank to the of there were other reasons i replied why i should have myself an ass had i fallen in love with by the by has ever seen her in this dress why do you bring up his name at every turn asked in an under tone and with a look which wandered from my face to s you know not what you do it is dangerous sir believe me to thus with earnest human passions out of your own mere idleness and for your sport i will endure it no longer take care that it does not happen again i warn you you partly wrong me if not wholly i responded it is an uncertain sense of some duty to perform that brings my thoughts and therefore my words continually to that one point this stale excuse of duty said in a th t vanish per so full of scorn that it penetrated me like the hiss of a serpent i have often heard it before from those who sought to interfere with me and i know precisely what it self conceit an insolent curiosity a temper a cold blooded criticism founded on a shallow interpretation of half a monstrous in regard to any conscience or any wisdom except one s own a most to thrust providence aside and substitute one s self in its awful place out of these and other motives as miserable as these comes your idea of duty but beware sir with all your fancied you step into these affairs for any mischief that | 35 |
may follow your interference i hold you responsible it was evident that with but a little further provocation the would turn to bay if indeed such were not her attitude already i bowed and not very well knowing what else to do was about to withdraw but glancing again towards who had retreated into a comer there fell upon my heart an intolerable of despondency the purport of which i could not tell but only felt it to bear reference to her i approached her and held out my hand a gesture however to which she made no response it was always one of her peculiarities that she seemed to shrink from even the most friendly touch unless it were s or s all this while stood watching us but with a careless expression as if it mattered very little what might pass i inquired lowering my voice when do you go back to whenever they please to take me said she the romance did you come away of your own free will i asked i am blown about like a leaf she replied i never have any free will does know that you are here said i he bade me come answered she looked at me i thought with an air of surprise as if the idea were incomprehensible that she should have taken this step without his agency what a this man has laid upon her being muttered i between my teeth well as so kindly i have no more business here i wash my hands of it all on s head be the consequences i added aloud i know not that ever we may meet again farewell as i spoke the word a carriage had along the street and before the house the door bell rang and steps were immediately afterwards heard on the staircase had thrown a shawl over her dress mr said she with cool courtesy you will perhaps excuse us we have an engagement and are going out whither i demanded is not that a little more than you are entitled to inquire said she with a smile at all events it does not suit me to tell you the door of the drawing room opened and appeared i observed that he was dressed as if for some grand entertainment my dislike for this man was infinite at that moment it amounted to nothing less than a creeping of the flesh as feeling about in a dark place one touches something vanish cold and and questions what the secret may be and still i could not but acknowledge that for personal beauty for polish of manner for all that a gentleman there was hardly another like him after bowing to and graciously in her comer he recognized me by a slight but courteous inclination come said it is time mr good evening as moved slowly forward i met her in the middle of the drawing room said i in the hearing of them all do you know whither you are going i do not know she answered is it wise to go and is it your choice to go i asked if not i am your friend and s friend tell me so at once possibly observed smiling sees in me an older friend than either mr or mr i shall willingly leave the matter at her while thus speaking he made a gesture of kindly invitation and passed me with the gliding movement of a and took his offered arm he offered the other to but she turned her proud and beautiful face upon him with a look which judging from what i caught of it in would undoubtedly have smitten the man dead had he possessed any heart or had this glance attained to it it seemed to however from his courteous like an arrow from polished steel they all three descended the stairs and when i likewise reached the street door the carriage was already rolling away xxi an old acquaintance thus excluded from everybody s confidence and no further by my most earnest study than to an uncertain sense of something hidden from me it would appear reasonable that i should have flung oflf all these alien obviously my best course was to myself to new scenes here i was only an intruder elsewhere there might be circumstances in which i could establish a personal interest and people who would respond with a portion of their sympathies for so much as i should bestow of mine nevertheless there occurred to me one other thing to be done remembering old and his with i determined to seek an interview for the purpose of whether the knot of affairs was as on that side as i found it on all others being tolerably well acquainted with the old man s haunts i went the next day to the saloon of a certain establishment about which he often it was a place enough good entertainment in the way of meat drink and and there in my young and idle days and nights when i was neither nice nor wise i had often amused myself with watching the staid and sober of the thirsty souls around me at my first entrance old was not there an old acquaintance more patiently to await him i lighted a cigar and establishing myself in a comer took a quiet and by sympathy a kind of pleasure in the customary life that was going forward the saloon was fitted up with a good deal of taste there were pictures on the walls and among them an oil painting of a beef with such an admirable show of tenderness that the sighed to think it merely visionary and incapable of ever being put upon a another work of high art was the life like representation of a noble another the hind quarters of a deer retaining the hoofs and fur another the head and shoulders of | 35 |
a salmon and still more exquisitely finished a brace of canvas back ducks in which the feathers were depicted with the accuracy of a some hungry painter i suppose had wrought these subjects of still life his imagination with his appetite and earning it is to be hoped the privilege of a daily dinner off whichever of his he best then there was a fine old cheese in which could almost discern the and some on a small plate very richly done and looking as if with the oil in which they had been smothered all these things were so perfectly that you seemed to have the genuine article before you and yet with an indescribable ideal charm it took away the from what was and and thus helped the life of man even in its relations to appear rich and noble as well as warm cheerful and substantial there were pictures too of gallant those of the old time apparently with and sleeves t s thb romance out of fantastic long glasses forever with laughter and song while the champagne against the r or the tide of ran down their throats but in an obscure comer of the saloon there was a little picture done moreover of a ragged new england stretched out on a bench in the heavy sleep of the death in life was too well you smelt the liquor that had brought on this your only comfort lay in the forced reflection that real as he looked the poor was but imaginary a bit of painted canvas whom no delirium nor so much as a headache awaited on the morrow by this time it being past eleven o clock the two of the saloon were in pretty constant activity one of these young men had a rare faculty in the of gin it was a spectacle to behold how with a in each hand he tossed the contents from one to the other never conveying it nor the least drop he compelled the liquor as it seemed to me to forth from one glass and descend into the other in a great curve as well defined and as a planet s he had a good forehead with a particularly large development just above the eyebrows fine intellectual gifts no doubt which he had educated to this profitable end being famous for nothing but gin and a fair salary by his one accomplishment these and other artificial of liquor of an old were at least a score though mostly i suspect in their differences were much in favor with the younger class of customers who at had only reached the second stage of life the old on the other hand men who if put on tap would have yielded a red liquor by way of blood usually confined themselves to plain brandy and water gin or west india rum and they their with some remark as to the and qualities of that particular drink two or three appeared to have bottles of their own behind the counter and one red eye to the he forthwith produced these and peculiar which it was a matter of great interest and favor among their acquaintances to obtain a of agreeably to the yankee habit under whatever circumstances the of all these good fellows old or young was and thoroughly correct they grew only the more sober in their cups there was no nor boisterous laughter they sucked in the joyous fire of the and kept it ing in their inmost recesses with a bliss known only to the heart which it warmed and comforted their eyes a little to be sure they hemmed vigorously after each glass and laid a hand upon the pit of the stomach as if the pleasant there what constituted the part of their enjoyment in that spot unquestionably and not in the brain was the of the whole affair but the true purpose of their drinking and one that will induce men to drink or do something equivalent as long as this weary world shall the romance endure was the renewed youth and vigor the brisk cheerful sense of things present and to come with which for about a quarter of an hour the their systems and when such quarters of an hour can be obtained in some mode less to the great sum of a man s life but nevertheless with a little of to give it a wild flavor we people may ring out our bells for victory the prettiest object in the saloon was a tiny fountain which threw up its jet through the counter and sparkled down again into an oval basin or containing several gold fishes there was a bed of bright sand at the bottom strewn with coral and rock work and the fishes went gleaming about now turning up the of a golden side and now vanishing into the shadows of the water like the fanciful thoughts that with a poet in his dream never before i imagine did a company of water remain so entirely by the bad example around them nor could i help wondering that it had not occurred to any to empty a glass of liquor into their what a delightful idea who would not be a fish if he could with the essential element of his existence i had began to despair of meeting old when all at once i recognized his hand and arm from behind a screen that was set up for the accommodation of as a matter of course he had one of s little and was quietly it under the notice of a person who stood near this was always old s way you hardly ever saw him advancing towards you but became aware of his an old acquaintance ity without being able to guess how he had come thither he glided about like a spirit | 35 |
assuming close to your elbow offering his petty trifles of remaining long enough for you to purchase if so disposed and then taking himself off between two while you happened to be thinking of something else by a sort of sympathetic impulse that often controlled me in those more days of my life i was induced to approach this old man in a mode as as his own thus when according to his custom he was probably just about to vanish he found me at his elbow ah said he with more emphasis than was usual with him it is mr yes mr your old acquaintance answered i it is some time now since we ate our luncheon together at and a good deal longer since our little talk together at the street comer that was a good while ago said the old man and he seemed inclined to say not a word more his existence looked so and so very on the canvas of reality that i was half afraid lest he should altogether disappear even while my eyes were fixed full upon his figure he was certainly the old ghost in the world with his crazy hat the dingy handkerchief about his throat his suit of gray and especially that patch over his right eye behind which he always seemed to be hiding himself there was one method however of bringing him out into somewhat stronger relief a glass of brandy would effect it perhaps the influence of a bottle of might do the same nor could i the romance think it a matter for the angel to write down against me if with my painful consciousness of the frost in this old man s blood and the positive ice that had about his heart should him out were it only for an hour with the summer warmth of a little wine what else could possibly be done for him how else could he be with energy enough to hope for a happier state hereafter how else be inspired to say his prayers for there are states of our spiritual system when the throb of the soul s life is too faint and weak to render us capable of religious mr said i shall we lunch tc ther and would you like to drink a glass of wine his one eye gleamed he bowed and it impressed me that he grew to be more of a man at once either in anticipation of the wine or as a g response to my good fellowship in offering it with pleasure he replied the at my request showed us into a private room and soon afterwards set some and a bottle of on the table and i saw the old man glance curiously at the of the bottle as if to the brand it should be good wine i remarked if it have any right to its you cannot suppose sir said with a sigh that a poor old fellow like me knows any difference in and yet in his way of handling the glass in his preliminary snuff at the in his first cautious of the wine and the skill with which he gave an old his the full advantage of it it was impossible not to recognize the i fancy mr said i you are a much better judge of than i have yet learned to be tell me fairly did you never drink it where the grows how should that have been mr answered old but then he took courage as it were and uttered a feeble little laugh the flavor of this wine added he and its perfume still more than its taste makes me remember that i was once a young man i wish mr suggested i not that i greatly cared about it however but was only anxious to draw him into some talk about and i wish while we sit over our wine you would favor me with a few of those youthful reminiscences ah said he shaking his head they might interest you more than you suppose but i had better be silent mr if this good wine though i suppose is not apt to play such a trick but if it should make my tongue run too freely i could never look you in the face again you never did look me in the face mr i replied until this very moment ah sighed old it was wonderful however what an effect the mild wrought upon him it was not in the wine but in the associations which it seemed to bring up instead of the mean painfully depressed air of an old city vagabond more like a gray rat than any other living thing he began to take the aspect of a the decayed gentleman even his garments after i had myself a glass or two looked less shabby than when we first sat down there was by and by a certain and of gesture and manner oddly in contrast with all that i had hitherto seen of him anon with hardly any impulse from me old began to talk his communications referred exclusively to a long past and more fortunate period of his life with only a few allusions to the circumstances that had reduced him to his present state but having once got the clue my subsequent acquainted me with the main facts of the following narrative although in writing it out my pen has perhaps allowed itself a trifle of romantic and license of a small poet than of a grave xxii five and years ago at the epoch of this story there dwelt in one of the middle states a man whom we shall call a man of wealth and magnificent tastes and prodigal expenditure his home might almost be a palace his habits in the ordinary sense his whole being seemed to have | 35 |
on another score they that the strange gentleman was a and that he had taken advantage of s lack of earthly substance to subject her to himself as his familiar spirit through whose medium he gained of whatever happened in regions near or remote the boundaries of his power were defined by the verge of the pit of on the one hand and the third sphere of the celestial world on the other again they declared their suspicion that the with all his show of manly beauty was really an aged and figure or else that his semblance of a human body was only a or perhaps a mechanical contrivance in which a demon walked about in proof of it however they could merely instance a gold band around his upper teeth which had once been visible to several old women when he smiled at them from the top of the governor s staircase of course this was all absurdity or mostly so but after every possible there remained certain very mysterious points about the stranger s character as well as the connection that he established with its nature at that period was even less understood than now when miracles of this kind have grown so absolutely stale that i would gladly if the truth allowed dismiss the whole matter from my narrative we must now glance backward in quest of the beautiful daughter of s prosperity what had become of her s only brother a bachelor and with no other relative so near had adopted the forsaken child she grew up in with native graces about her in her triumphant progress towards womanhood she was adorned with every variety of feminine accomplishment but she lacked a mother s care with no adequate control on any hand for a man however stern however wise can never sway and guide a female child her character was left to shape itself there was good in it and evil passionate self willed and imperious she had a warm and generous nature showing the richness of the soil however chiefly by the weeds that flourished in it and choke tip the of grace in her her uncle died as was supposed to be likewise dead and no other heir was known to exist his wealth on the romance her although dying suddenly the uncle left no will after his death there were obscure passages in s history there were whispers of an attachment and even a secret marriage with a fascinating and accomplished but young man the incidents and appearances however which led to this soon passed away and were forgotten nor was her reputation seriously affected by the report in fact so great was her native power and influence and such seemed the careless purity of her nature that whatever did was generally acknowledged as right for her to do the world never her so harshly as it does most women who its rules it almost yielded its assent when it beheld her stepping out of the common path and asserting the more extensive privileges of her sex both and by her practice the sphere of ordinary womanhood was felt to be than her development required a portion of s more recent life is told in the foregoing pages partly in earnest and i imagine as was her disposition half in a proud jest or in a kind of that had grown upon her out of some hidden grief she had given her countenance and promised liberal pecuniary aid to our experiment of a better social state and followed her to the sole bliss of her life had been a dream of this beautiful sister who had never so much as known of her existence by this time too the poor girl was in an intolerable bondage from which she must either free herself or perish she deemed herself safest near into whose large heart she hoped to one evening months after s departure when or shall we call him was sitting alone in the state chamber of the old governor there came footsteps up the staircase there was a pause on the landing place a lady s musical yet haughty accents were heard making an inquiry from some of the house who had thrust a head out of a chamber there was then a knock at s door come in said he and entered the details of the interview that followed being unknown to me while notwithstanding it would be a pity quite to lose the of the situation i shall attempt to sketch it mainly from fancy although with some general grounds of in regard to the old man s feelings she gazed at the dismal chamber dismal to her who beheld it only for an instant and how much more so to him into whose brain each bare spot on the ceiling every of the paper and all the of the mantel piece seen wearily through long years had worn their several prints miserable is this familiarity with objects that have been from the first i have received a strange message said after a moment s silence or rather it upon me to come hither rather from curiosity than any other motive and because though a woman i have not all the timidity of one f have complied can it be you sir who thus summoned me it was answered and what was your purpose she continued you require charity perhaps in that case the the romance sage might have been more but you are old and poor and age and poverty should be allowed their privileges tell me therefore to what extent you need my aid put up your purse said the supposed with an inexplicable smile keep it keep all your wealth until i demand it all or none my message had no such end in view you are beautiful they tell me and i desired to look at vou | 35 |
deeply my connection with those three had affected all my being as it was already the epoch of space i might in the time i was away from t a hall snatched a glimpse at england and been back again but my wanderings were confined within a very limited sphere i and fluttered like a bird with a string about its leg round a small and keeping up a restless activity to no purpose thus it was still in our familiar in one of its white country villages that i must next an incident the scene was one of those halls of which almost every village has now its own to that sober and pallid or rather colored mode of entertainment the lecture of late years this has come strangely into when the natural tendency of things would seem to be to substitute for methods of addressing the public but in halls like this besides the winter course of lectures there is a rich and varied series of other hither comes the with all his mysterious tongues the too with his miraculous of plates and rings his smoking in your hat and his cellar of choice represented in one small bottle here also the professor separate classes of ladies and gentlemen in and his lessons by the aid of real and in wax from paris here is to be heard the choir of and to be seen the of or hill or the moving of the chinese wall here is displayed the museum of wax figures the wide of earthly renown by mixing up heroes and the pope and the prophet kings queens and beautiful ladies every sort of per the romance son in short except authors of whom i never beheld even the most famous done in wax and here in this many hall unless the of the village chance to have more than their share of the which however with later still gives its prevailing tint to new england character here the company of strolling players sets up its little stage and claims patronage for the legitimate drama but on the evening which i speak of a number of printed stuck up in the bar room and on the sign post of the hotel and on the porch and distributed largely through the village had promised the inhabitants an interview with that celebrated and hitherto inexplicable phenomenon the veiled lady the hall was fitted up with an descent of seats towards a platform on which stood a desk two lights a stool and a antique chair the audience was of a generally decent and respectable character old farmers in their sunday black coats with shrewd hard sun dried faces and a cynical humor oftener than any other expression in their eyes pretty girls in attire pretty young men the the lawyer or student at law the all looking rather than rural in these days there is absolutely no except when the actual labor of the soil leaves its earth mould on the person there was likewise a considerable proportion of young and middle aged women many of them stem in feature with marked and a very definite line of a type of womanhood in which a bold intellectual development seems to be keeping pace with the progress a village hall ive delicacy of the physical constitution of all these people i took note at first according to my custom but i ceased to do so the moment that my eyes fell on an individual who sat two or three seats below me immovable apparently deep in thought with his back of course towards me and his face turned upon the platform after sitting a while in contemplation of this person s was irresistibly moved to step over the intervening benches lay my hand on his shoulder put my mouth close to his ear and address him in a dramatic whisper where have you left his nerves however were proof against my attack he turned half around and looked me in the face with great sad eyes in which there was neither kindness nor resentment nor any perceptible surprise when i last saw her he answered was at he said no more but there was a great deal of talk going on near me among a knot of people who might be considered as representing the or rather the mystic of this singular age the nature of the exhibition that was about to take place had probably given the turn to their conversation i heard from a pale man in blue spectacles some stranger stories than ever were written in a romance told too with a simple which was terribly in compelling the to receive them into the of established facts he instances of the miraculous power of one human being over the will and passions of another that the romance settled grief was but a shadow beneath the influence of a man possessing this and the strong love of years melted away like a at the bidding of one of these the maiden with her lover s kiss still burning on her lips would turn from him with icy indifference the newly made widow would dig up her buried heart out of her young husband s grave before the had taken root upon it a mother with her babe s milk in her bosom would thrust away her child human character was but soft wax in his hands and guilt or virtue only the forms into which he should see fit to mould it the religious sentiment was a flame which he could blow up with his breath or a spark that he could utterly it is unutterable the horror and disgust with which i listened and saw that if these things were to be believed the individual soul was and all that is sweet and pure in our present life and that the idea of man s eternal responsibility was made | 35 |
ridiculous and immortality rendered at once impossible and not worth acceptance but i would have perished on the spot sooner than believe it the epoch of spirits and all the wonders that have followed in their train such as tables upset by invisible bells self at and ghostly music performed on je had not yet arrived alas my countrymen we have fallen on an evil age if these phenomena have not at the bottom so much the worse for us what can they indicate in a spiritual way except that the soul of man is descending to a lower point than it has ever before reached while we are pursuing a downward course in the eternal march and thus bring our a village hall selves into the same range with beings whom death in of their gross and evil lives has degraded below humanity to hold intercourse with spirits of this order we must stoop and in some element more lie than earthly dust these if they exist at all are but the shadows of past mere stuff unworthy of the eternal world and on the most favorable supposition gradually into the less we have to say to them the better lest we share their fate the audience now began to be impatient they signified their desire for the entertainment to commence by of sticks and stamp of boot heels nor was it a great while longer before in response to their call there appeared a bearded personage in oriental robes looking like one of the of the nights he came upon the platform from a side door saluted the spectators not with a but a bow took his station at the desk and first blowing his nose with a white handkerchief prepared to speak the of the homely village hall and the absence of many ingenious of stage effect with which the exhibition had heretofore been set off seemed to bring the of this character more openly upon the surface no sooner did i behold the bearded than laying my hand again on s shoulder i whispered in his ear do you know him i never saw the man before he muttered without turning his head but i had seen him three times already once on occasion of my first visit to the veiled lady a second the time in the wood path at and lastly in s drawing room it was a quick association of ideas made me shudder from head to foot and again like an evil spirit bringing up of a man s sins i whispered a question in s ear what have you done with he gave a start as if i had thrust a knife into him himself round on his seat glared fiercely into my eyes but answered not a word the professor began his discourse of the phenomena as he termed them which it was his purpose to exhibit to the spectators there remains no very distinct impression of it on my memory it was eloquent ingenious plausible with a show of yet really throughout with a cold and dead i shivered as at a current of air issuing out of a vault and bringing the smell of corruption along with it he spoke of a new era that was dawning upon the world an era that would link soul to soul and the present life to what we call with a that should finally convert both worlds into one great conscious brotherhood he described in a strange philosophical guise with terms of art as if it were a matter of discovery the agency by which this mighty result was to be effected nor would it have surprised had he pretended to hold up a portion of his universally as he affirmed it to be in a glass at the close of his the professor beckoned with his hand once twice thrice and a figure came gliding upon the platform enveloped in a long veil of silvery whiteness it fell about her like the texture a village hall of a summer cloud with a kind of so that the outline of the form it could not be accurately discerned but the movement of the veiled lady was graceful free and like that of a person accustomed to be the spectacle of thousands or possibly a prisoner within the sphere with which this dark earthly had surrounded her she was wholly unconscious of being the central object to all those straining eyes to his gesture which had even an courtesy but at the same time a remarkable the figure placed itself in the great chair sitting there in such visible obscurity it was perhaps as much like the actual presence of a spirit as anything that stage could devise the hushed breathing of the spectators proved how high wrought were their of the wonders to be performed through the medium of this incomprehensible creature i too was in breathless suspense but with a far different of some strange event at hand you see before you the veiled lady said the bearded professor advancing to the verge of the platform by the agency of which i have just spoken she is at this moment in communion with the spiritual world that silvery veil is in one sense an enchantment having been dipped as it were and essentially through the of my art with the medium of spirits slight and ethereal as it seems the of time and space have no existence within its folds this hall these hundreds of faces her within so narrow an are of thinner substance in her view than the that the clouds are made of she the absolute i the romance as preliminary to other and far more wonderful experiments the suggested that some of his should endeavor to make the veiled lady sensible of their presence by such methods provided only no touch were laid upon her person | 35 |
a town they glided before me as i walked sometimes in my solitude i laughed with the bitterness the of self scorn remembering how i had given up my heart and soul to interests that were not mine what had i ever had to do with them and why being now free should i take this on me once again it was both sad and dangerous i whispered to myself to be in too close with the passions the errors and the misfortunes of individuals who stood within a circle of their own into which if i at all it must be as an intruder and at a peril that i could not estimate drawing nearer to a sickness of the spirits kept with my flights of i indulged in a hundred odd and extravagant conjectures either there was no such place as nor ever had been nor any brotherhood of thoughtful like what i seemed to recollect there or else it was all changed during my absence it had been nothing but dream work and enchantment i should seek in vain for the old farm house and for the green the fields the root crops and acres of indian com and for all that of the land which i had imagined it would be another spot and an utter strangeness these were of the throng so apt to steal out of an heart they partly ceased to haunt me on my arriving at a point whence through the trees i began to catch glimpses of the farm that surely was something real there was hardly a square foot of all those acres on which i had not trodden heavily in one or another kind of toil the curse of adam s posterity and curse or blessing be it it gives substance to the life around us had first come the upon me there in the sweat of my brow i had there earned bread and eaten it and so established my claim to be on earth and my fellowship with all the sons of labor i could have knelt down and have laid my breast against that soil the red clay of which my frame was seemed nearer akin to those crumbling than to any other portion of the world s dust there was my home and there might be my grave i felt an invincible reluctance nevertheless at the idea of presenting myself before my old associates without first the state in which they were a nameless weighed upon me perhaps should i know all the circumstances that had occurred i might find it my wisest course to turn back unseen and never look at more had it been evening i would have stolen softly to some lighted window of the old farm house and peeped in to see all their well known faces round the supper board then were there a vacant seat i might noiselessly the door glide in and take my place among them without a word my entrance might be so quiet my aspect so familiar that they would forget how long i had been away and suffer me to melt into the scene as a wreath of into a larger cloud i dreaded a boisterous greeting beholding me at table as a matter of course would send me a cup of tea and fill my plate from the great dish of and in her quiet way would hand the cream and others help me to the bread and butter being one of them again the knowledge of what had happened would come to me without a shock for still at the romance every turn of my shifting the thought stared me in the face that some evil thing had befallen us or was ready to befall yielding to this ominous impression i now turned aside into the woods to spy out the posture of the community as as the wild indian before he makes his i would go wandering about the outskirts of the farm and perhaps catching sight cf a solitary acquaintance would approach him amid the brown shadows of the trees a kind of medium fit for spirits departed and like myself and entreat him to tell me how all things were the first living creature that i met was a which sprung up beneath my feet and away the next was a who angrily at me from an overhanging bough i trod along by the dark river and remember pausing on the bank above one of its and most placid pools the very spot with the stump of a tree over the water is itself to my fancy at this instant and wondering how deep it was and if any over laden soul had ever flung its weight of in thither and if it thus escaped the or only made it heavier and perhaps the skeleton of the drowned wretch still lay beneath the inscrutable depth clinging to some sunken log at the bottom with the of its old despair so slight however was the track of these gloomy ideas that i soon forgot them in the contemplation of a brood of wild ducks which were floating on the river and anon took flight leaving each a bright streak over the black surface by and by i came to my in the heart of the white pine tree and the up into it sat down to rest the grapes which i had watched throughout the summer now around me in abundant clusters of the deepest purple sweet to the taste and though wild yet free from that flavor which nearly all our native and grapes a wine might be pressed out of them possessing a passionate zest and endowed with a new kind of quality attended with such as the grapes of france and the are inadequate to produce and i longed to a great of it at that moment while devouring the grapes i looked | 35 |
on all sides out of the peep holes of my and saw the the fields and almost every part of our domain but not a single human figure in the landscape some of the windows of the house were open but with no more signs of life than in a dead man s eyes the barn door was and swinging in the breeze the big old dog he was a of the former of the farm that hardly ever stirred out of the yard was nowhere to be seen what then had become of all the and curious to ascertain this point i let myself down out of the tree and going to the edge of the wood was glad to perceive our herd of cows the or not far off i fancied by their manner that two or three of them recognized me as indeed they ought for i had them and been their times without number but after staring me in the face a little while they began and their again then i grew foolishly angry at so cold a reception and the some rotten fragments of an old stump at these cows further round the pasture i heard voices and much laughter proceeding from the interior of the wood voices male and feminine laughter not only of fresh young throats but the bass of grown people as if solemn organ pipes should pour out airs of merriment not a voice spoke but i knew it better than my own not a laugh but its were familiar the wood in this portion of it seemed as full of as if and his crew were holding their in one of its usually stealing onward as far as i without hazard of discovery i saw a of strange figures beneath the branches they appeared and vanished and came again with the streaks of sunlight glimmering down upon them among them was an indian chief with blanket feathers and war paint and uplifted and near him looking fit to be his bride the goddess with the on her head and attended by our big lazy dog in lack of any hound drawing an arrow from her quiver she let it fly at a venture and hit the very tree behind which i happened to be lurking another group consisted of a girl a negro of the jim crow order one or two of the middle ages a in his trimmed hunting shirt and and a elder quaint broad and square skirted of and figures from the queen were oddly mixed up with these arm in arm or otherwise huddled together in strange stood grim gay and the officers with three cocked hats and longer than their swords a bright dark haired little with a red shawl over her head went from one group to another telling fortunes by and the renowned old witch of in hand showed herself in the midst as if announcing all these to be the offspring of her art but foster who leaned against a tree near by in his customary blue frock and smoking a short pipe did more to the scene with his look of shrewd yankee observation than twenty and could have done in the way of rendering it weird and fantastic a little further off some old fashioned and drawers all with red noses were spreading a banquet on the leaf strewn earth while a and long gentleman in whom i recognized the seen by o his fiddle and summoned the whole to a dance before of the cheer so they joined hands in a circle whirling round so swiftly so madly and so merrily in time and tune with the music that their separate were blended all together and they became a kind of that went nigh to turn one s brain with merely looking at it anon they all of a sudden and staring at one another s figures set up a roar of laughter a shower of the september leaves which all day long had been hesitating whether to fall or no were shaken off by the movement of the air and came down upon the romance then for lack of breath ensued a silence at the deepest point of which by the of surprising my grave associates in this trim i could not possibly refrain from a burst of laughter on my own separate account hush i heard the pretty fortune say who is that laughing some profane intruder said the goddess i shall send an arrow through his heart or change him into a as i did if he from behind the trees me take his cried the indian chief his and cutting a great in the air i root him in the earth with a spell that i have at my tongue s end and the green moss shall grow all over him before he gets free again the voice was miles s said the with a of his tail and a toss of his horns my music has brought him hither he is always ready to dance to the devil s tune thus put on the right track they all recognized the voice at once and set up a shout miles miles miles where are you they cried queen here is one of your lurking in the wood command him to approach and pay his duty the whole fantastic forthwith streamed oflf in pursuit of me so that i was like a mad poet hunted by having fairly the start of them however i succeeded in making my escape and soon left merriment and riot at a good distance in the rear its the winter tones assumed a kind of and were finally lost in the hush and solemnity of the wood in my haste i stumbled over a heap of logs and sticks that had been cut for fire wood a great while ago by some former possessor of the soil and piled | 35 |
up square in order to be or away to the farm house but being forgotten they had lain there perhaps fifty years and possibly much longer until by the of moss and the leaves falling over them and there from autumn to autumn a green mound was formed in which the softened outline of the was still perceptible in the fitful mood that then swayed my mind i found something strangely affecting in this simple circumstance i imagined the long dead and his long dead wife and children coming out of their chill graves and to make a fire with this heap of fuel from this spot i strayed onward quite lost in reverie and neither knew nor cared whither i was going until a low soft well remembered voice spoke at a little distance there is mr miles said another voice and its tones were very stern let him come forward then yes mr cried a woman s voice clear and melodious but just then with something unnatural in its you are welcome but you come half an hour too late and have missed a scene which you would have enjoyed i looked up and found myself nigh s pulpit at the base of which sat with at his feet and standing before them xxv the three together in his ordinary working dress wore a pretty and simple gown with a about her neck and a which she had flung back from her head leaving it suspended by the strings but whose part among the as may be supposed was no inferior one appeared in a costume of fanciful magnificence with her flower as the central ornament of what resembled a leafy crown or she represented the oriental princess hy whose name we were accustomed to know her her attitude was free and noble yet if a queen s it was not that of a queen triumphant but on trial for her life or perchance condemned already the spirit of the conflict seemed nevertheless to be alive in her her eyes were on fire her cheeks had each a crimson spot so exceedingly vivid and marked with so definite an outline that i at first doubted whether it were not artificial in a very brief space however this idea was by the that ensued as the blood sunk suddenly away now looked like marble one always feels the fact in an instant when he has on those who love or those who hate at some of their passion that puts them into a sphere of their own where no other spirit can pretend to stand on equal ground with them i was confused the three together even with a species of terror r and wished myself away the of their feelings gave them the exclusive property of the soil and atmosphere and left me no right to be or breathe there worth i have just returned to said i and had no thought of finding you here we shall meet again at the house i will retire this place is free to you answered worth as free as to ourselves added this long while past you have been following up your game groping for human emotions in the dark corners the heart had you been here a little sooner you might have seen them dragged into the daylight i could even wish to have my trial over again with you standing by to see fair play do you know mr i have been on trial for my life she laughed while speaking thus but in truth as my eyes wandered from one of the group to another i saw in all that an artist could desire for the grim portrait of a magistrate holding of life and death in a case of in the herself not aged wrinkled and but fair enough to tempt satan with a force to his own and in the pale victim whose soul and body had been wasted by her had a pile of been heaped against the rock this hint of impending doom would have completed the suggestive picture it was too hard upon me continued addressing that judge jury and should all be comprehended in one man i as the i think the lawyers say ta the but let the learned judge seat himself on the top of the rock and you and me stand at its side by side pleading our cause before him there might at least be two instead of one you forced this on me replied looking her sternly in the face did i call you hither from among the yonder do i assume to be your judge no except so far as i have an right of judgment in order to settle my own line of behavior towards those with whom the events of life bring me in contact true i have already judged you but not on the world s part neither do i pretend to pass a sentence ah this is very good said with a smile what strange beings you men are mr i is it not so it is the simplest thing in the world with you to bring a woman before your secret and judge and condemn her unheard and then tell her to go free without a sentence the misfortune is that this same secret chances to be the only that a true woman stands in awe of and that any verdict short of is equivalent to a the more i looked at them and the more i heard the stronger grew my impression that a crisis had just come and gone on s brow it had left a stamp like that of doom of which his own will was the instrument in s whole person beholding her more closely i saw a agitation the almost of a great struggle at the close of which the one felt her strength and | 35 |
courage the three together still mighty within her and longed to renew the contest my sensations were as if i had come upon a battle field before the smoke was as yet cleared away and what subjects had been discussed here all no doubt that for so many months past had kept my heart and my imagination idly feverish s whole character and history the true nature of her mysterious connection with her later purposes towards and his in reference to her and finally the degree in which had been of the plot against and what at last had been the real object of that scheme on these points as before i was left to my own conjectures one thing only was certain and were friends no longer if their heart strings were ever the knot had been an and was now violently broken but seemed unable to rest content with the matter in the posture which it had assumed ah do we part so exclaimed she seeing about to retire and why not said he with almost rude what is there further to be said between us well perhaps nothing answered looking him in the face and smiling but we have come many times before to this gray rock and we have talked very softly among the of the trees they were pleasant hours i love to make the latest of them though not altogether so delightful away as slowly as may be and besides you have put many to me at this which you design to be our last interview and being driven as i must acknowledge the into a corner i have responded with but now with your free consent i desire privilege of asking a few questions in my turn i have no said we shall see answered i would inquire whether you have supposed me to be wealthy on that point observed i have had the opinion which the world holds and i held it likewise said had i not heaven is my witness the knowledge should have been as free to you as me it is only three days since i knew the strange fact that to make me poor and your own acquaintance with it i suspect is of at least as old a date i fancied myself you are aware too of the disposition which i making of the larger portion of my imaginary nay were it all i had not hesitated let me ask you did i ever propose or intimate any terms of compact on which depended this as the world would consider it so important sacrifice you certainly spoke of none said nor meant any she responded i was willing to realize your dream freely generously as some might think but at all events fully and heedless though it should prove the ruin of my fortune if in your own thoughts you have imposed any conditions of this expenditure it is you that must be held responsible for whatever is sordid and unworthy in them and now one other question do you love this girl o exclaimed shrinking back as if longing for the rock to over and hide her do you love her repeated the three together had you asked me that question a short time since replied after a pause during which it seemed to me even the trees held their whispering breath i should have told you no my feelings for differed little from those of an elder brother watching tenderly over the gentle sister whom god has given him to protect and what is your answer now persisted i do love her said uttering the words with a deep inward breath instead of speaking them outright as well declare it thus as in any other way i do love her now god be judge between us cried breaking into sudden passion which of us two has most offended him at least i am a woman with every fault it may be that a woman ever had weak vain like most of my sex for our virtues when we have any are merely impulsive and passionate too and pursuing my foolish and ends by and cunning though chosen means as an hereditary bond slave must false moreover to the whole circle of good in my reckless truth to the little good i saw before me but still a woman a creature whom only a little change of earthly fortune a little kinder smile of him who sent me hither and one true heart to encourage and direct ue might have made all that a woman can be but how is it with you are you a man no but a monster a cold heartless self beginning and piece of with what then do you charge me asked aghast and greatly disturbed by this attack the show me one selfish end in all i ever aimed at and you may cut it out of my bosom with a knife it is all self answered with still bitterness nothing else nothing but self self self the i doubt not has made his mirth of you these seven years past and especially in the mad summer which we have spent together i see it now i am awake self self self you have embodied yourself in a project you are a better than the and yonder for your disguise is a self deception see whither it has brought you first you aimed a and a treacherous one at this scheme of a purer and higher life which so many noble spirits had wrought out then because could not be quite slave you threw him away and you took me too into your plan as long as there was hope of my being available and now fling me aside again a broken tool but foremost and of your sins you stifled down your inmost consciousness you did a deadly | 35 |
wrong to your own heart you were ready to sacrifice this girl whom if god ever visibly showed a purpose he put into your charge and through whom he was striving to redeem you this is a woman s view said growing deadly pale a woman s whose whole sphere of action is in the heart and who can conceive of no higher nor wider one be silent cried you know neither man nor woman the utmost that can be said in your behalf and because i would not be wholly in my own eyes but would tub three together excuse my wasted feelings nor own it wholly a therefore i say it is that a great and rich heart been ruined in your breast leave me now you done with me and i with you farewell said worth come smiled possibly i did so too not often in human life has a sense of injury found a sweeter morsel of revenge than was conveyed in the tone with which spoke those two words it was the and tremulous tone of a man whose faith in himself was shaken and who sought at last to lean on an affection yes the strong man bowed himself and rested on this poor o could she have failed him what a triumph for the on and at first i half imagined that she was about to il him she rose up stood shivering like the that trembled over her head and then slowly rather than walked towards arriving at her feet she sank down there in the very same attitude which she had on their first meeting in the kitchen of the old farm house remembered it ah said she shaking her head how much is changed since then you kneel to a princess you the victorious one but he is waiting for you say what you wish and leave me we are sisters gasped i fancied that i understood the word and action it meant the offering of herself and all she had to be at s disposal but the latter would not take it thus the romance true we are sisters she replied and moved by the sweet word she stooped down and kissed but not lovingly for a sense of fatal harm received through her seemed to be lurking in s heart we had one father you knew it from the first i but a little while else some things that have chanced might have been spared you but i never wished you harm you stood between me and an end which i desired i wanted a clear path no matter what i meant it is over now do you forgive me o sobbed it is i that feel like the guilty one no no poor little thing said with a sort of contempt you have been my evil fate but there never was a babe with less strength or will to do an injury poor child you have but a melancholy lot before you sitting all alone in that wide cheerless heart where for aught you know and as i alas believe the fire which you have kindled may soon go out ah the thought makes me shiver for you what will you do when you find no spark among the ashes die she answered that was well said responded with an smile there is all a woman in your little compass my poor sister meanwhile go with and live she waved her away with a gesture and turned her own face to the rock i watched wondering what judgment she would pass between and worth how interpret his behavior so as to reconcile it with true faith both towards her the three together sister and herself how compel her love for him to keep any terms whatever with her affection but in truth there was no such difficulty as i imagined her love made it all clear worth could have no fault that was the one principle at the centre of the universe and the doubtful guilt or possible integrity of other people appearances self evident facts the testimony of her own senses even s self accusation had he volunteered it would have weighed not the value of a of down on the other side so secure was she of his right that she never thought of comparing it with another s wrong but left the latter to itself worth drew her arm within his and soon disappeared with her among the trees i cannot imagine how knew when they were out of sight she never glanced again towards them but retaining a proud attitude so long as they might have thrown back a retiring look they were no sooner departed utterly departed than she began slowly to sink down it was as if a great invisible irresistible weight were pressing her to the earth settling upon her knees she leaned her forehead against the rock and sobbed dry sobs they seemed to be such as have nothing to do with tears xxvi and had entirely forgotten me she fancied herself alone with her great grief and had it been only a common pity that i felt for her the pity that her proud nature would have as the one worst wrong which the world yet held in the and of the crisis might have impelled me to steal away silently so that not a dry leaf should rustle under my feet i would have left her to struggle in that solitude with only the eye of god upon her but so it happened i never once dreamed of questioning my right to be there now as i had questioned it just before when i so suddenly upon worth and herself in the passion of their recent debate it suits me not to explain what was the that i saw or imagined between s situation | 35 |
and nor i believe will the reader detect this one secret hidden beneath many a revelation which perhaps me less in simple truth however as leaned her forehead against the rock shaken with that agony it seemed to me that the self same with hardly torment leaped thrilling from her heart strings to my own was it wrong therefore if i felt myself consecrated to the by sympathy like this and called upon to minister to this woman s so far as co and but indeed what could mortal do for her nothing the attempt would he a mockery and an anguish time it is true would steal away her grief and bury it and the best of her heart in the same grave but des tiny itself in its mood could do no better for in the way of quick relief than to cause the impending rock to a little further and fall upon her head so i leaned against a tree and listened to her sobs in unbroken silence she was half prostrate half kneeling with her forehead still pressed against the rock her sobs were the only sound sh did not groan nor give any other utterance to her distress it was all involuntary at length she sat up put back her hair and stared about her with a bewildered aspect as if pot distinctly the scene through which she had passed nor of the situation in which it l ft her her ce and brow were almost purple with the rush of blood they however by and by and for some time retained this death like hue she put her hand to her forehead with a gesture that made me forcibly conscious of an intense and living pain there her glance wandering wildly to and fro passed over me several times without appearing to inform her of my presence but finally a look of recognition gleamed from her eyes into mine is it you miles said she smiling ah i perceive what you are about you are turning this whole into a ballad pray let me hear as many as you happen to have ready o hush i answered heaven knows what an ache i in my soul i the romance it is genuine tragedy is it not rejoined with a sharp light laugh and you are willing to allow perhaps that i have had hard measure but it is a woman s doom and i have deserved it like a woman so let there he no pity as on my part there shall be do complaint it is all right now or will shortly be so but mr by all means write this ballad and put your ache into it and turn your sympathy to good account as other poets do and as poets must unless they choose to give us glittering instead of lines of fire as for the moral it shall be into the final in a drop of bitter honey what shall it be i inquired to fall in with her mood o a very old one will serve the purpose she replied there are no new truths much as we have ourselves on finding some a moral why this that in the battle field of life the downright stroke that would fall only on a man s steel head piece is sure to light on a woman s heart over which she wears no and whose wisdom it is therefore to keep out of the conflict or this that the whole universe her own sex and yours and providence or destiny to boot make common cause against the woman who one hair s breadth out of the beaten track yes and add for i may as well own it now that with that one hair s breadth she goes all astray and never sees the world in its true aspect afterwards this last is too stem a moral i observed cannot we soften it a little do it if you like at your own peril not on my she ca and change of subject she went on after all he has flung away what would have served him better than the ik or pale flower he kept what can do for him put passionate warmth into his heart when it shall be chilled with frozen hopes strengthen his hands when they are weary with much doing and no performance no but only tend towards him with a blind instinctive love and hang her little weakness for a dog upon his arm she cannot even give him such sympathy as is worth the name for will he never in many an hour of darkness need that proud intellectual sympathy which he might have had from me the sympathy that would flash light along his course and guide as well as cheer him poor where will he find it now has a heart of ice said i bitterly a wretch do him no wrong interrupted turning upon me presume not to estimate a man like it was my fault all along and none of his i see it now he never sought me why should he seek me what had i to offer him a miserable bruised and battered heart spoilt long before he met me a life too hopelessly entangled with a villain s he did well to cast me off god be praised he did it and yet had he trusted me and borne with me a little longer i would have saved him all this trouble she was silent for a time and stood with her eyes fixed on the ground again raising them her look was more mild and calm miles said she the well i i do you any service very little she replied but it is my purpose as you may well imagine to remove from and most likely i may not see again a woman in my position you understand feels | 35 |
scarcely at her ease among former friends new faces looks those only can she she would pine among familiar scenes she would be apt to too under the eyes that knew her secret her heart might throb she would herself i suppose with foolish notions of having sacrificed the honor of her sex at the foot of proud man poor womanhood with its rights and wrongs here will be new matter for my course of lectures at the idea of which you smiled mr a month or two ago but as you have really a heart and as far as they go and as i shall depart without seeing i must entreat you to be a messenger between him and me willingly said i wondering at the strange way in which her mind seemed to from the deepest earnest to mere levity what is the message true what is it exclaimed after all i hardly know on better consideration i have no message tell him tell him something pretty and pathetic that will come nicely and sweetly into your ballad anything you please so it be tender and enough tell him he has murdered me tell him that i haunt him she spoke these words with the wildest ve him no give t us and thus saying she took the flower out of her hair and it struck me as the act of a queen when in a combat herself as if she found a sort of relief in all her pride bid her wear this for s sake she continued she is a pretty little creature and will make as soft and gentle a wife as the could desire pity that she must fade so soon these delicate and maidens always do ten years hence let look at my face and s and then choose them or if he pleases let him do it now how looked as she said this the of her beauty was even heightened by over consciousness and self recognition of it into which i suppose s scorn had driven her she understood the look of admiration in my face and to the last it gave her pleasure it is an endless pity said she that i had not myself of winning your heart mr instead of s i think i should have succeeded and many women would have deemed you the conquest of the two you are certainly much the man but there is a fate in these things and beauty in a man has been of little account with me since my earliest when for once it turned my head now farewell whither are you going i asked no matter where said she but i am weary of this place and sick to death of playing at and progress of all varieties of mock life into the very em j e t i k xv the romance to establish the one true system i have done with it and must find another woman to the and you mr another nurse to make your the next time you fell ill it was indeed a foolish dream yet it gave us some pleasant summer days and bright hopes while they lasted it can do no more nor will it avail us to shed tears over a broken here is my hand adieu she gave me her hand with the same free gesture as on the first afternoon of our acquaintance and being greatly moved i me of no better method of expressing my deep sympathy than to carry it to my lips in so doing i perceived that this white hand so warm when i first touched it five months since was now cold as a veritable piece of snow how very cold i exclaimed holding it between both my own with the vain idea of warming it what can be the reason it is really death like the die first they say answered laughing and so you kiss this poor despised rejected hand well my dear friend i thank you you have reserved your homage for the fallen lip of man will never touch my hand again i intend to become a catholic for the sake of going into a when you next hear of her face will be behind the black veil so look your last at it now for all is over once more farewell she withdrew her hand yet left a lingering pressure which i felt long afterwards so intimately connected as i had been with i and was ever truly interested looked on me as the representative of all the past and was conscious that in bidding me adieu she likewise took final leave of and of this whole epoch of her life never did her beauty shine out more than in the last glimpse that i had of her she departed and was soon hidden among the trees but whether it was the strong impression of the foregoing scene or whatever else the cause i was affected with a that had not actually gone but was still hovering about the spot and haunting it i seemed to feel her eyes upon me it was as if the vivid of her character had left a brilliant stain upon the air by degrees however the impression grew less distinct i myself upon the fallen leaves at the base of s pulpit the sunshine withdrew up the tree trunks and on the boughs gray twilight made the wood obscure the stars brightened out the boughs became wet with chill but i was worn out with emotion on my own behalf and sympathy for others and had no heart to leave my beneath the rock i must have fallen asleep and had a dream all the circumstances of which utterly vanished at the moment when they to some catastrophe and thus grew too powerful for the thin sphere | 35 |
of slumber that enveloped them starting from the ground i found the risen moon shining upon the rugged face of the rock and myself all in a tremble midnight it could not have been far from midnight when i came beneath s window and finding it open flung in a of grass with earth at the roots and heard it fall upon the floor he was either awake or sleeping very lightly for scarcely a moment had gone by before he looked out and discerned me standing in the moonlight is it you he asked what is the matter come down to me i answered i am anxious to speak with you the strange tone of my own voice startled me and him probably no less he lost no time and soon issued from the house door with his dress half arranged again what is the matter he asked impatiently have you seen said i since you parted from her at s pulpit no answered nor did i expect it his voice was deep but had a tremor in it hardly had he spoken when foster thrust his head done up in a cotton handkerchief out of another window and took what he called as it literally was a at us well folks w are y oo v v v midnight t are you there miles you have been turning night into day since you left us i reckon and so you find it quite natural to come the house at this time o night my old woman out of her wits and making her disturb a tired man out of his best nap in with you you vagabond and to bed dress yourself quietly foster said i we want your assistance i could not for the life of me keep that strange tone out of my voice foster as were his seemed to feel the ghastly earnestness that was conveyed in it as well as did he immediately withdrew his head and i heard him yawning muttering to his wife and again yawning heavily while he hurried on his clothes meanwhile i showed a delicate handkerchief marked with a well known and told where i had found it and other circumstances which had filled me with a suspicion so terrible that i left him if he dared to shape it out for himself by the time my brief explanation was finished we were joined by foster in his blue frock well boys cried he what is to pay now tell him said l shivered and drew in a hard breath his teeth he himself however and looking the matter more firmly m the face than i had done explained to foster my suspicions and the grounds of them with a distinctness from in spite of my utmost efforts my v the romance aside the tough in his comment put a finish on the business and brought out the hideous idea in its full terror as if he were removing the from the face of a corpse and so you think she s drowned herself he cried i turned away my face what on earth should the young woman do that for exclaimed his eyes half out of his head with mere surprise why she has more means than she can use or waste and nothing to make her comfortable but a husband and that s an article she could have any day there s some mistake about this i tell you come said i shuddering let us go and ascertain the truth well well answered foster just as you say we take the long pole with the hook at the end that serves to get the bucket out of the draw well when the rope is broken with that and a couple of long handled hay i answer for finding her if she s anywhere to be found strange enough drown herself no no i don t believe it she had too much sense and too much means and enjoyed life a great deal too well when our few preparations were completed we hastened by a shorter than the customary route through fields and pastures and across a portion of the meadow to the particular spot on the river bank which i had paused to contemplate in the course of my afternoon s a nameless had again me thither after leaving s pulpit i showed my companions where ci e i xl midnight to two or three footsteps impressed into the margin and tending towards the water beneath its low verge among the water weeds there were further traces as yet by the current which was there almost at a stand still foster thrust his face down close to these footsteps and picked up a shoe that had escaped my observation being half in the mud there s a kid shoe that never was made on a yankee last observed he i know enough of s craft to tell that french manufacture and see what a high and how she trod in it there never was a woman that in her shoes than did here he added addressing worth would you like to keep the shoe started back give it to me foster said i i it in the water to off the mud and have kept it ever since not far from this spot lay an old drawn up on the river side and generally half full of water it served the to go in quest of or the to pick up his wild ducks setting this crazy bark afloat i seated myself in the stern with the while sat in the bows with the pole and foster with a hay it puts me in mind of my young days remarked when i used to steal out of bed to go for horn and ho i well life and death together make sad work for us all then i was a boy for | 35 |
fish and now i am getting to be an old fellow and here i be groping for a ki l x so the what lads if i thought anything had really happened to i should feel kind o sorrowful i wish at least you would hold your tongue muttered i the moon that night though past the full was still large and oval and having risen between eight and nine o clock now shone over the river throwing the high opposite bank with its woods into deep shadow but lighting up the hither shore pretty effectually not a ray appeared to fall on the river itself it away a broad black inscrutable depth keeping its own secrets from the eye of man as as mid ocean could well miles said foster you are the how do you mean to manage this business i shall let the boat drift foremost past that stump i replied i know the bottom having sounded it in fishing the shore on this side after the first step or two goes off very abruptly and there is a pool just by the stump twelve or fifteen feet deep the current could not have force enough to sweep any sunken object even if partially out of that hollow come then said but i doubt whether can touch bottom with this hay if it s as deep as you say mr i think you ll be the lucky man to night such luck as it is we floated past the stump foster plied his it as far as he could into the water and the whole length of his arm besides at first sat motionless with the midnight elevated in the air but by and by with n nervous and movement he began to plunge it into the blackness that us setting his teeth and ing precisely such as if he at a deadly enemy i bent over the side of tho boat so obscure however so awfully mysterious was that dark stream that and the thought made me shiver like a leaf i might as well have tried to look into the of the eternal world to discover what had become of s soul as into the river s depths to find her body and there perhaps she lay with her face upward while the shadow of the boat and my own pale face peering downward passed slowly her and the sky once twice thrice i the boat up stream and again it to glide with the river s slow motion downward foster had up a large mass of which as it came towards the surface looked somewhat like a flowing garment but proved to be a monstrous of water weeds with a gigantic a sunken log when once free of the bottom it rose partly out of water all and a devilish looking object which the moon had not shone upon for half a hundred years then plunged again and sullenly returned to its old resting place for the remnant of the century that looked ugly i half thought it was the evil one on the same errand as ourselves searching for he shall never get her said i giving the boat a strong impulse that s not for you to say my boy retorted the the pray god he never has and never may slow work this however i should really be glad to find something what a notion that is when the only good luck would be to and drift and and till morning and have our labor for our pains for my part i should n t wonder if the creature had only lost her shoe in the mud and saved her soul alive after all my stars how she will laugh at us to morrow morning it is indescribable what an image of at the breakfast table full of warm and life this of foster s brought before my mind the terrible of her death was thrown by it into the remotest and back ground where it seemed to grow as improbable as a yes it may be as you say cried i the drift of the stream had again borne us a little below the stump when i felt yes felt for it was as if the iron hook had smote my breast felt s pole strike some object at the bottom of the river he started up and almost the boat hold on cried foster you have her putting a fury of strength into the effort heaved and up came a white to the surface of the river it was the flow of a woman s garments a little higher and we saw her dark hair streaming down the current black river of death thou had st yielded up thy victim was found foster laid hold of the body worth likewise with it and i towards the bank gazing all the while at whose limbs were midnight swaying in the current close at the boat s side arriving near the shore we all three into the water bore her out and laid her on the ground beneath a tree poor child said foster and his dry old heart i verily believe vouchsafed a tear i m sorry for her were i to describe the perfect horror of the spectacle the reader might justly reckon it to me for a sin and shame for more than twelve long years i have borne it in my memory and could now it as as if it were still before my eyes of all modes of death me thinks it is the her wet garments limbs of terrible she was the marble image of a death agony her arms had grown rigid in the act of struggling and were bent before her with clenched hands her knees too were bent and thank god for it in the attitude of | 35 |
and myself came next we all stood around the narrow in the cold earth all saw the coffin lowered in all heard the rattle of the soil upon its lid that final sound which on the utmost verge of sense as if in the vain hope of bringing an echo from the spiritual world i noticed a stranger a stranger to most of those present though known to me who after the coffin had descended took up a handful of earth and flung it first into the grave i had given up s arm and now found myself near this man it was an idle thing a foolish thing for to do said he she was the last woman in the world to whom death could have been necessary it was too absurd i have no patience with her why so i inquired my horror at his cold comment in my eager curiosity to discover some truth as to his relation with if any crisis could justify the sad wrong she to herself it was surely that in which she stood everything had failed her prosperity in the world s sense for her was gone the heart s prosperity in love and there was a secret on her the nature of which is best known to you young as she was she had tried life fully had no more to hope and something perhaps to fear had providence taken her away in its own holy hand i should have thought it the kindest that could he to one so wrecked you mistake the matter completely rejoined what then is your own view of it i asked her mind was active and various in its powers said he her heart had a manifold her constitution an infinite which had she possessed only a little patience to await the of her troubles would have borne her upward triumphantly for twenty years to come her beauty would not have or scarcely so and surely not beyond the reach of art to restore it in all that time she had life s summer all before her and a hundred varieties of brilliant success what an might have been it was one of her least valuable how forcibly she might have wrought upon the world either directly in her own person or by her influence upon some man or a series of men of genius every prize that could be worth a woman s having and many which other women are too timid to desire lay within s reach in all this i observed there would have been nothing to satisfy her heart her heart answered contemptuously that troublesome organ as she had hitherto found it would have been kept in its due place and degree and have had all the gratification it could fairly claim she would soon have established a control over it love had failed her you say had it never failed her before yet she survived it and loved again possibly thb not once alone nor twice either and now to drown herself for yonder dreamy who are you i exclaimed indignantly that dare to speak thus of the dead you seem to intend a yet leave out whatever was noblest in her and while you mean to praise i have long you as s evil fate your sentiments confirm me in the idea but leave me still ignorant as to the mode in which you have influenced her life the connection may have been except by death then indeed always in the hope of s mercy i cannot deem it a misfortune that she sleeps in yonder grave no matter what i was to her he answered gloomily yet without actual emotion she is now beyond my reach had she lived and to my counsels we might have served each other well but there lies in yonder pit with the dull earth over her twenty years of a brilliant lifetime thrown away for a mere woman s whim heaven deal with according to his nature and deserts that is to say him he was altogether worldly made for time and its gross objects and incapable except by a sort of dim reflection caught from other minds of so much as one spiritual idea whatever stain had was caught from him nor does it seldom happen that a character of admirable qualities loses its better life because the atmosphere that should sustain it is rendered poisonous by such breath as this man mingled with s his reflections possessed l ve t hare of truth it was a a ol ti s s capacity should have fancied herself defeated on the broad battle field of life and with no refuge save to fall on her own sword merely because love had gone against her it is nonsense and a miserable wrong the result like so many others of masculine that the success or failure of woman s existence should be made to depend wholly on the affections and on one species of affection while man has such a multitude of other chances that this seems but an incident for its own sake if it will do no more the world should throw open all its avenues to the of a woman s bleeding heart as we stood around the grave i looked often towards to see her wholly overcome with grief and deeply grieved in truth she was but a character so simply constituted as hers has room only for a single affection no other feeling can touch the heart s inmost core nor do it any deadly mischief thus while we see that such a being to every breeze with tremulous and imagine that she must be shattered by the first rude blast we find her retaining her amid that might have many a frame so with her one possible | 35 |
misfortune was s and that was destined never to befall her never yet at least for has not died but after all the evil that he did are we to leave him thus with the entire devotion of this one true heart and with wealth at his disposal to execute the long contemplated project that w him so astray what sa x the my mind being vexed with precisely this i made a journey some years since for the sole purpose of catching a last glimpse at and judging for myself whether he were a happy man or no i learned that he inhabited a small cottage that his way of life was exceedingly retired and that my only chance of him or was to meet them in a secluded lane where in the latter part of the afternoon they were accustomed to walk i did meet them accordingly as they approached me i observed in s face a depressed and melancholy look that seemed habitual the powerfully built man showed a self weakness and a or childish tendency to press close and closer still to the side of the slender woman whose arm was within his in s manner there a and watchful quality as if she felt herself the guardian of her companion but likewise a deep reverence and also a veiled happiness in her fair and quiet countenance drawing nearer recognized me and gave me a kind and friendly smile but with a slight gesture which i could not help as an entreaty not to make myself known to nevertheless an impulse took possession of me and compelled me to address him i have come said i to view your grand edifice for the of is it finished yet no nor begun answered he without raising his eyes a very small one answers all my purposes threw me an glance but i pasture spoke again with a bitter and emotion as if flinging a poisoned arrow at s heart up to this moment i inquired how many have you not one said with his eyes still fixed on the ground ever since we parted i have been busy with a single murderer then the tears into my eyes and i forgave him for i remembered the wild energy the passionate shriek with which had spoken those words tell him he has murdered me tell him that i haunt him and i knew what murderer he meant and whose shadow dogged the side where was not the moral which presents itself to my reflections as drawn from s character and errors is simply this that admitting what is called when adopted as a profession to be often useful by its energetic impulse to society at large it is perilous to the individual whose ruling passion in one exclusive channel it thus becomes it ruins or is fearfully apt to ruin the heart the rich of which god never meant should be pressed violently out and into liquor by an unnatural process but should render life sweet bland and gently beneficent and influence other hearts and other lives to the same blessed end i see in an of the most awful truth in s book of such from the very gate of heaven there is a by way to the pit but all this while we have been standing by s grave i have never since beheld it but make no s the romance tion that the grass grew all the better on that little of pasture land for the decay of the beautiful woman who slept beneath how much nature seems to love us and how readily nevertheless without a sigh or a complaint she us to a purpose when her highest one that of conscious intellectual life and sensibility has been while lived nature was proud of her and directed all eyes upon that radiant presence as her fairest perished will not nature shed a tear ah no she the calamity at once into her system and is just as well pleased for aught we can see with the of vegetation that grew out of s heart as with all the beauty which has us no earthly representative except in this crop of weeds it is because the spirit is that the lifeless body is so little valued miles s confession it remains only to say a few words about myself not the reader might be willing to spare me the trouble for i have made but a poor and dim figure in my own narrative establishing no separate interest and my life to take its hue from other lives but one still some little consideration for one s self so i keep these last two or three pages for my individual and sole but what after all have i to tell nothing nothing nothing i left within the week after s death and went back thither no more the whole soil of our farm for a long time afterwards seemed but the earth over her grave i could not toil there nor live upon its often however in these years that are darkening around me i remember our beautiful scheme of a noble and unselfish life and how fair in that first summer appeared the prospect that it might endure for generations and be as the ages rolled away into the system of a people and a world were my former associates now there were there only three or four of those true hearted men still laboring in the sun i sometimes fancy that i should direct my world weary footsteps and entreat the romance them to receive me for old friendship s sake more and more i feel that we had struck upon what ought to be a truth posterity may dig it up and profit by it the experiment so far as its original were concerned proved long ago a failure first | 35 |
into and dying as it well deserved for this to its own higher spirit where once we toiled with our whole hopeful hearts the town aged and creep a field alas what faith is requisite to bear up against such results of generous effort my subsequent life has passed i was going to say happily but at all events tolerably enough i am now at middle age well well a step or two beyond the point and i care not a fig who knows it a bachelor with no very decided purpose of ever being otherwise i have been twice to europe and spent a year or two rather agreeably at each visit being well to do in the world and having nobody but myself to care for i live very much at my ease and fare every day as for poetry i have given it up notwithstanding that doctor as the reader of course knows has placed me at a fair elevation among our minor on the strength of my pretty little volume published ten years ago as regards human progress in spite of my irrepressible over the reminiscences let them believe in it who can and aid in it who choose if i could earnestly do either it might be all the better for my comfort as once told me i lack a purpose how strange he was ruined by an of the very same the want of which i occasionally suspect has miles s confession rendered my own life all an i by no means wish to die yet were there any cause in this whole chaos of human struggle worth a sane man s dying for and which my death would benefit then provided however the effort did not involve an unreasonable amount of trouble i might be bold to offer up my life if for example would pitch the battle field of rights within an easy ride of my abode and choose a mild sunny morning after breakfast for the conflict miles would gladly be his man for one brave rush upon the further than that i should be loth to pledge myself i my own defects the reader must not take my own word for it nor believe me altogether changed from the young man who once hoped and struggled not so much amiss heads than mine have gained honor in the world hearts have new warmth and been newly happy life however it must be owned has come to rather an idle pass with me would my friends like to know what brought it thither there is one secret i have concealed it all along and never meant to let the least whisper of it escape one foolish little secret which possibly may have had something to do with these years of manhood with my with the that i fling back on life and my glance towards the future shall i reveal it it is an absurd thing for a man in his afternoon a man of the world moreover with these three white hairs in his brown and that deepening track of a crow s foot on each temple s the romance an absurd thing ever to have happened and quite the for an old bachelor like me to talk about but it rises in my throat so let it come i perceive moreover that the confession brief as it shall be will throw a gleam of light over my behavior throughout the foregoing incidents and is indeed essential to the full understanding of my story the reader therefore since i have disclosed so much is entitled to this one word more as i write it he will suppose me to blush and turn away my face i i myself was in love with the end ton washington new books and new published bt reed and fields thomas de writings of an english and with iu price cents essays price cents miscellaneous essays price cents the c a price cents literary reminiscences price narrative and miscellaneous papers price essays on the poets c vol mo cents historical and critical essays sketches vol price cents alfred s writings poetical works with portrait boards the princess boards price cents in cloth price cents s writings english songs and other small poems enlarged edition price essays and tales in prose price a list of books published henry w s writings thb golden legend a poem just published price l poetical works this edition contains the six mentioned below in two mo boards in volumes each cents voices or the and other poems spanish student a in three acts of and other poems a tale of the and the fireside the a collection of poems by the a collection of poems by mr s prose works a price a price a tale price cents illustrated of the poems and s writings twice told tales two volumes price the scarlet letter price cents the house of the seven price the snow image and other twice told tales price the romance price cents true stories from history and biography with four fine price cents a wonder book for girls and boys with seven fine price cents wood tale s wonder book with price b by heed and fields john o s writings old portraits and modern sketches cents margaret smith s journal price cents songs of labor and other poems b the chapel of the cloth cents james s writings complete poetical works with additions in two volumes mo cloth price sir new edition price cents the papers a new edition price cents p s writings essays and price lectures on subjects connected with lit and life price washington and the revolution price s writings poetical works with fine portrait boards fancy paper price cents grace s writings leaves st d series each poetical works with fine portrait price cents history | 35 |
ge i am bold to say is not a reasonable one in any view which we can fairly take of it there is no harm but on the contrary good in some of the ordinary facts of life in a slightly and artistic guise i have taken facts which relate to myself because they chance to be nearest at hand and likewise are my own property and for a who has been to his utmost ability into the depths of our common nature for the purposes of romance and who his in that dusky region as he needs must as well by the tact of sympathy as by the light of observation will smile at such an in virtue of a little preliminary talk about his external habits his abode his casual associates and other matters entirely upon the surface these things hide the man instead of displaying him ton must make quite another kind of and look through the whole range of his characters good and evil in order to detect any of his essential traits be all this as it may there can be no as to the propriety of my this volume of earlier and later sketches to you and pausing here a few moments to speak of them as friend speaks to friend still being however that the public and the critics shall nothing which we care on you if on no other person i am entitled to to the position of my if anybody i le my being at this day an author it is your f i ow not whence your faith came but while we together at a country college gathering blue ber rim hours under those tall pines or watching the great logs as they tumbled along the current of the or shooting and gray in the woods or bat in the summer twilight or catching in that shadowy little stream which i suppose is still wandering through the forest though you and i will never cast a line in it again two idle lads in short as we need not fear to acknowledge now doing a hundred things that the faculty never heard of or else it had been the worse for us still it was your of your friend s destiny that he was to be a writer of fiction and a fiction in due season he became but was there ever such a weary delay in obtaining the slightest recognition from the public as in my case i sat down by the way ride of life like a man under enchantment and a up around me and the grew to be and the became trees until no exit appeared through the depths of my obscurity and there perhaps i should be sitting at this moment with the moss on the tree trunks and the yellow leaves of more than a score of piled above me if it had not been for you for it was through your and that moreover unknown to himself that your early friend was brought before the public somewhat more than in the first volume of twice told tales not a in america i presume would have thought well enough of my forgotten or never noticed stories to risk the expense of print and paper nor do i say this with any purpose of casting on the respectable of book for their blindness to my wonderful merit to confess the truth i doubted of the public recognition quite as much as they could do so much the more generous was your confidence and knowing as i do that it was founded on old friendship rather than cold criticism i value it only the more for that so now when i turn back upon my path lighted by a gleam of public favor to pick up a few articles which were left out of my former i take pleasure in making them the memorial of our very long and unbroken connection some of these sketches were among the earliest that i wrote and after lying for years in manuscript they at last into the or magazines and have hidden themselves there ever since others were the productions of a later period others again were written recently the comparison of these various trifles the of intellectual condition at far separated me with a singular of regrets i am disposed to quarrel with the earlier sketches both because a mature judgment so many faults and still more because they come so nearly up to the standard of the best that i can achieve now the fruit tastes but little better than the early it indeed be to believe that the of life has away without any greater progress and than is indicated here but at least so i would hope these things are scarcely to be depended upon as measures of the intellectual and moral man in youth men are apt to write more wisely than they really know or feel and the remainder of life may be not idly spent in and convincing themselves of the wisdom which they uttered long ago the truth that was only in the fancy then may have since become a substance in the mind and heart i have nothing further i think to say unless it be that the public need not dread my again on its kindness with any more of these and mouse leaves of old transformed by the magic arts of my friendly into a new book these are the last or if a few still remain they are either such as no paternal partiality could induce the author to think worth preserving or else they have got into some very dark and dusty hiding place quite out of my own remembrance and whence no can avail to them so there let them rest very sincerely yours n h st | 35 |
contents the a thb a bell ou news i n the old french war in the old tory thb man of an devil in john b ou a or the fist the wives or the dead the snow image a afternoon of a cold winter s day when the sun shone forth with chilly brightness after a long storm two children asked leave of their mother to run out and play in the new fallen snow the elder child was a little girl whom because she was of a tender and modest disposition and was thought to be very beautiful her parents and other people who were familiar with her used to call violet but her brother was known by the style and title of on account of the of his broad and round little which made everybody think of sunshine and great scarlet flowers the father of these two children a certain mr it is important to say was an excellent but exceedingly matter of fact sort of man a dealer in and was accustomed to take what is called the common sense view of all matters that came under his consideration with a heart about as tender as other people s he had a head as hard and impenetrable and therefore perhaps as empty as one of the iron pots which it was a part of his business to sell the mother s character on the other hand had a strain of poetry in it a trait of beauty a the snow image delicate and flower as it were that had survived out of her imaginative youth and still kept itself alive amid the dusty realities of matrimony and so violet and as i began with saying their mother to let them run out and play in the new snow for though it had looked so dreary and dismal drifting downward out of the gray sky it had a very cheerful aspect now that the sun was shining on it the children dwelt in a city and had no wider play place than a little garden before the house divided by a white fence from the street and with a tree and two or three trees it and some rose bushes just in front of the parlor windows the trees and shrubs however were now and their twigs were enveloped in the light snow which thus made a kind of wintry foliage with here and there a for the fruit yes violet yes my little said their kind mother you may go out and play in the new snow accordingly the good lady up her in and and put round their necks and a pair of striped on each little pair of legs and on their hands and gave them a kiss apiece by way of a spell to keep away jack frost forth the two children with a hop and jump that carried them at once into the very heart of a huge snow drift whence violet emerged like a snow while little out with his round face in full bloom then what a merry time had they to look at them in the wintry garden you would have thought that the dark and a childish miracle pitiless had been sent for no other purpose but to provide a new for violet and and that they themselves had been created as the snow birds were to take delight only in the tempest and in he white mantle which it spread over the earth at last when they had one another all over with of snow violet after laughing heartily at little s figure was struck with a new idea you look exactly like a said she if your cheeks were not so red and that puts me in mind let us make an image out of snow an image of a little girl and it shall be our sister and shall run about and play with us all winter long won t it be nice o yes cried as plainly as he could speak for he was but a little boy that will be nice and mamma shall see it yes answered violet mamma shall see the new little girl but she must not make her come into the warm parlor for you know our little snow sister will not love the warmth and forthwith the children began this great business of making a snow image that should run about while their mother who was sitting at the window and overheard some of their talk could not help smiling at the gravity with which they set about it they really seemed to imagine that there would be no difficulty whatever in creating a live little girl out of the snow and to say the truth if miracles are ever to be wrought it will be by putting our hands to the work in precisely such a simple and frame of mind as that in which violet and now to perform one th snow image without so much as knowing that it was a miracle so thought the mother and thought likewise that the new snow just fallen from heaven would be excellent material to make new beings of if it were not so very cold she gazed at the children a moment longer to watch their little figures the girl tall for her age graceful and and so delicately colored that she looked like a cheerful thought more than a physical reality while expanded in breadth rather than height and rolled along on his short and sturdy legs as substantial as an elephant though not quite so big then the mother resumed her work what it was forget but she was either a silken bonnet for | 35 |
violet or a pair of stockings for little s short legs again however and again and yet other she could not help turning her head to the window to see how the children got on with their indeed it was an exceedingly pleasant sight those bright little souls at their tasks moreover it was really wonderful to observe how and they managed the matter violet assumed the chief direction and told what to do while with her own delicate fingers she shaped out all the parts of the snow figure it seemed in fact not so much to be made by the children as to grow up under their hands while they were playing and about it their mother was quite surprised at this and the longer she looked the more and more surprised she grew what remarkable children mine are thought she smiling with a mother s pride and smiling at herself too for being so proud of them what other a childish made anything so like a little girl s figure out of snow at the first trial well but now i must finish s new frock for his is coming to morrow and i want the little fellow to look handsome so she took up the frock and was soon as busily at work again with her needle as the two children with their snow image but still as the needle travelled hither and thither through the of the dress the mother made her toil light and happy by listening to the airy voices of violet and they kept talking to one another all the time their tongues being quite as active as their feet and hands except at intervals she could not distinctly hear what was said but had merely a sweet impression that they were in a most loving mood and were enjoying themselves highly and that the business of making the snow image went on now and then however when violet and happened to raise their voices the words were as audible as if they had been spoken in the very parlor where the mother sat o how delightfully those words echoed in her heart even though they meant nothing so very wise or wonderful after all but you must know a mother with her heart much more than with her ears and thus she is often delighted with the of music when other people can hear nothing of the kind cried violet to her brother who had gone to another part of the garden bring me some fresh snow from the very comer we have not been i want it to sha r the snow s our little snow sister s bosom with you know that part must be quite pure just as it came out of the sky here it is violet answered in his bluff tone but a very sweet tone too as he came through the half trodden here is the snow for her little bosom o violet how beau ti ful begins to look yes said violet thoughtfully and quietly our snow sister does look very lovely i did not quite know that we could make such a sweet little girl as this the mother as she listened thought how fit and delightful an incident it would be if or still better if angel children were to come from paradise and play with her own and help them to make their snow image giving it tlie features of celestial violet and would not be aware of their immortal only they would see that the image grew very beautiful while they worked at it and would think that they themselves had done it all my little girl and boy deserve such if mortal children ever did said the mother to herself then she smiled again at her own pride nevertheless the idea seized upon her imagination nd ever and anon she took a glimpse out of the window half dreaming that she might see the children of paradise sporting with her own golden haired violet and bright now for a few moments was a busy and earnest but indistinct hum of the two children s voices as violet and wrought together with one happy consent violet still seemed to be the guiding spirit a childish while acted rather as a and brought her the snow from far and near and yet the little evidently had a proper understanding of the matter too cried violet for her brother was again at the other side of the garden bring me those light wreaths of snow that have rested on the lower branches of the tree you can on the snow drift and reach them easily must have them to make some for our snow sister s head here they are violet answered the little boy take care you do not break them well done well done how pretty does she not look sweetly said violet with a very satisfied tone and now we must have some little shining bits of ice to make the brightness of her eyes she is not finished yet mamma will see how very beautiful she is but papa will say nonsense come in out of the cold let us call mamma to look out said and then he shouted mamma mamma mamma look out and see what a nice girl we are making the mother put down her work for an instant and looked out of the window but it so happened that the sun for this was one of the shortest days of the whole year had sunken so nearly to the edge of the world that his setting shine came into the lady s eyes so she was dazzled you must understand and could not very distinctly observe what was in the garden still however through all that bright blinding of the sun and the new snow she beheld a small white figure r the snow image | 35 |
she should even speak to her indeed she almost doubted whether it were a real child after all or only a light wreath of the new fallen snow blown hither and thither about the garden by the intensely cold west wind there was certainly something very singular in the aspect of the little stranger among all the children of the neighborhood the lady could remember no such face with its pure white and delicate rose color and the golden tossing about the forehead and cheeks and as for her dress which was entirely of white and fluttering in the breeze it was the snow image such as no reasonable woman would put upon a little girl when sending her out to play in the depth of winter it made this kind and careful mother shiver only to look at those small feet with nothing in the world cm them except a very thin pair of white slippers nevertheless as she was clad the child seemed to feel not the slightest inconvenience from the cold but danced lightly over the snow that the tips of her toes left hardly a print in its surface while violet could but just keep pace with her and s short legs compelled him to behind once in the course of their play the strange child placed herself between violet and and taking a hand of each merrily forward and they along with her almost immediately however pulled away his little fist and began to rub it as if the fingers were with cold while violet also released herself though with less gravely remarking tl t it was better not to take hold of hands the said not a word but danced about just as merrily as before if violet and did not choose to play with her she could make just as good a of the brisk and cold west wind which kept blowing her all about the garden and took such liberties with her that they seemed to have been friends for a long time all this while the mother stood on the wondering how a little girl could look so much like a flying snow drift or how a snow drift could look so very like a little girl she called violet and whispered to her violet my darling what is this child s name asked she does she live near us a childish miracle why dearest mamma answered violet laughing to think that her mother did not comprehend so very plain an affair this is our little whom we have just been making yes dear mamma cried running to his mother and looking up simply into her face this is our snow image is it not a nice child at this instant a flock of snow birds came flitting through the air as was very natural they avoided violet and but and this looked strange they flew at once to the white child fluttered eagerly about her head alighted on her shoulders and seemed to claim her as an old acquaintance she on her part was evidently as glad to see these little birds old winter s as they were to see her and welcomed them by holding out both her hands they each and all tried to alight on her two palms and ten small fingers and crowding one another off with an immense fluttering of their tiny dear little bird tenderly in her bosom another put its bill to her lips they were as joyous all the while and seemed as much in their element as you may have seen them when sporting with a snow storm violet and stood laughing at this pretty sight for they enjoyed the merry time which their new was having with these small winged almost as much as if they themselves took part in it violet said her mother greatly perplexed tell me the truth without any jest who is this little girl my darling mamma answered violet looking seriously into her mother s face and apparently surprised that she should need any further explanation i have ths snow fold you truly who she is it is our little snow image which and i have been making will tell you so as well as i yes mamma with much gravity in his crimson little this is httle snow child is not she a nice one but mamma her hand is oh so very cold while mamma still hesitated what to think and what to do the street gate was thrown open and the father of violet and appeared wrapped in a pilot cloth sack with a fur cap drawn down over his ears and the of gloves upon his hands mr was a middle aged man with a weary and yet a happy look in his wind flushed and frost pinched face as if he had been busy all the day long and was glad to get back to his quiet home his eyes brightened at the sight of his wife and children although he could not help uttering a word or two of surprise at finding the whole family in the open air on so bleak a day and after sunset too he soon perceived the little white stranger sporting to and fro in the garden like a dancing snow wreath and the flock of snow birds fluttering about her head pray what little girl may that be inquired this very sensible man surely her mother must be crazy to let her go out in such bitter weather as it has been to day with only that gown and those thin slippers my dear husband said his wife i know no more about the little thing than you do some neighbor s child i suppose our violet and she added laughing at herself for repeating so absurd a story insist that she is nothing but a snow image which they a hare been busy about in the garden almost | 35 |
all the afternoon as she said this the mother glanced her eyes toward the spot where the children s snow image had been made what was her surprise on perceiving that there was not the slightest trace of so much labor no image at all no piled up heap of snow nothing whatever save the prints of little footsteps around a vacant space this is very strange said she what is strange dear mother asked violet dear father do not you see how it is this is our snow image which and i have made because we wanted another did not we yes papa said crimson this be our snow sister is she not beau ti ful but she gave me such a cold kiss nonsense children cried their good honest father who as we have already intimated had an exceedingly common sensible way of looking at matters do not tell me of making live figures out of snow come wife this little stranger must not stay out in the bleak air a moment longer we will bring her into the parlor and you shall give her a supper of warm bread and milk and make her as comfortable as you can meanwhile i will inquire among the neighbors or if necessary send the city about the streets to give notice of a lost child so saying this honest and very kind hearted man was going toward the little white with the best intentions in the world but violet and each seizing their father by the hand earnestly him not to make her come in the snow b dear father cried violet putting herself him it is true what i have been telling you this is our little snow girl and she cannot live any longer than while she breathes the cold west wind do not make her come into the hot room yes father shouted stamping his little foot so was he in earnest this be nothing but our snow child she will not love the hot fire nonsense children nonsense nonsense cried the father half vexed half laughing at what he considered their foolish obstinacy run into the house this moment it is too late to play any longer now i must take care of this little girl immediately or she will catch her death a cold husband dear husband said his wife in a low voice for she had been looking narrowly at the and was more perplexed than ever there is something very singular in all this you will think me foolish but but may it not be that some invisible angel has been attracted by the simplicity and good faith with which our children set about their undertaking may he not have spent an hour of his immortality in playing with those dear little souls and so the result is what we call a miracle no no do not laugh at me i see what a foolish thought it is my dear wife replied the husband laughing heartily yo are as much a child as violet and and in one sense so she was for all through life she had kept her heart full of simplicity and faith which was as pure and clear as crystal and looking at au matters through this transparent medium she sometimes a childish miracle so profound that other people laughed at them as nonsense and absurdity but now kind mr had entered the garden breaking away from his two children who still sent their shrill voices after him him to let the stay and enjoy herself in the cold west wind as he approached the snow birds took to flight the little white also fled backward shaking her head as if to say pray do not touch me and as it appeared leading him through the deepest of the once the good man stumbled and down upon his face so that gathering himself up again the snow sticking to his rough pilot cloth sack he looked as white and wintry as a snow image of the largest size some of the neighbors meanwhile seeing him from their windows wondered what could possess poor mr to be running about his garden in pursuit of a snow drift which the west wind was driving hither and tl at length after a vast deal of trouble he chased the little stranger into a corner where she could not possibly escape him his wife had been looking on and it being nearly twilight was to observe how the snow child gleamed and sparkled and how she seemed to shed a glow all round about her and when driven into the comer she positively like a star it was a frosty kind of brightness too like that of an in the moonlight the wife thought it strange that good mr should see nothing remarkable in the snow child s appearance come you odd little thing cried the honest man her by the hand i have caught you at last end the snow image will make you comfortable in spite of yourself we will put a nice warm pair of stockings on your frozen little feet and you shall have a good thick shawl to wrap yourself in your poor white nose i am afraid is actually frost bitten but we will make it all right come along in and so with a most benevolent smile on his sagacious all purple as it was with the cold this very gentleman took the snow child by the hand and led her towards the house she followed him and reluctant for all the glow and sparkle was gone out of her figure and whereas just before she had resembled a bright frosty star evening with a crimson gleam on the cold horizon she now looked as dull and languid as a as kind mr led her up the steps of the door violet and looked into his face | 35 |
their eyes full of tears which before they could run down their cheeks and again entreated him not to bring their snow image into the house not bring her in exclaimed the kind hearted man why you are crazy my little violet quite crazy my small she is so cold already that her hand has almost frozen mine in spite of my thick gloves would you have her to death his wife as he came up the steps had been taking another long earnest almost awe stricken gaze at the little white stranger she hardly knew whether it was a dream or no but she could not help that she saw the delicate print of violet s fingers on the child s neck it looked just as if while violet was out the image she had given it a gentle pat with her hand a childish miracle and had neglected to smooth the impression quite away after all husband said the mother to her idea tliat the angels would be as much delighted to play w ith violet and as she herself was after all she does look strangely like a snow image i do believe she is made of snow a puff of the west wind blew against the snow child and again she sparkled like a star snow repeated good mr drawing the reluctant guest over his hospitable threshold no wonder she looks like snow she is half frozen poor little thing but a good fire will put everything to rights without further talk and always with tlie same best intentions this highly benevolent and common sensible individual led the little white drooping drooping drooping more and more out of the frosty air and into his comfortable parlor a stove filled to the brim with intensely burning was sending a bright through the of its iron door and causing the of water on its top to and with excitement a warm smell was diffused throughout the room a on the wall from the stove stood at eighty degrees the parlor was hung with red curtains and covered with a red carpet and looked just as warm as it felt the difference the atmosphere here and the cold wintry twilight out of doors was like stepping at once from to the part of india or from the north pole into an oven o this was a fine place for the little white stranger the snow image the common sensible man placed the snow child on the hearth rug right in front of the hissing and stove now she will be comfortable cried mr rubbing his hands and looking about him with the smile you ever saw make yourself at home my child sad sad and drooping looked the little white maiden as she stood on the hearth rug with the hot blast of the stove striking through her like a once she threw a glance wistfully toward the windows and caught a glimpse through its red curtains of the roofs and the stars glimmering and all the delicious intensity of the cold night the bleak wind rattled the window panes as if it were her to come forth but there stood the snow child drooping before the hot stove but the common sensible man saw nothing amiss come wife said he let her have a pair of thick stockings and a shawl or blanket directly and tell to give her some wa supper as soon as the milk you violet and amuse your little friend she is out of spirits you see at finding herself in a strange place for my part i will go among the neighbors and find out where she belongs the mother meanwhile had gone in search of the shawl and stockings for her own view of the matter however subtle and delicate had given as it always did to the stubborn of her husband without the of his two children who still kept murmuring that their little snow sister a i h miracle did not love the warmth good mr took his departure shutting the parlor door carefully behind him turning up the collar of his sack over his ears he emerged from the house and had barely reached the street gate when he was recalled by the screams of violet and and the of a finger against the parlor window husband husband cried his wife showing her horror stricken face the window panes there is no need of going for the child s parents we told you so father screamed violet and as he the parlor you would bring her in and now our poor dear beau ti ful little is and their own sweet little faces were already dissolved in tears so that their father seeing what strange things occasionally happen in this every day world felt not a little anxious lest his children might be going to too in the utmost perplexity he demanded an explanation of his wife she could only that being to the parlor by the cries of violet and she found no trace of the little white maiden unless it were the remains of a heap of snow which while she was gazing at it melted quite away upon the hearth rug and there you see all that is left of it added she pointing to a pool of water in front of the stove yes father said violet looking reproachfully at him through her tears there is all that is left of our dear little snow sister naughty father cried stamping his foot i shudder to say shaking his little fist at the s ow image man we told you how it would be what for did you bring her in and the stove through the of its door seemed to glare at good mr like a demon in the mischief which it had done this you will observe was one of those rare cases which yet will | 35 |
occasionally happen where finds itself at fault the remarkable story of the snow image though to that sagacious class of people to whom good mr belongs it may seem but a childish affair is nevertheless capable of being in various methods greatly for their one of its lessons for instance might be that it men and especially men of benevolence to consider well what they are about and before acting on their purposes to be quite sure that they comprehend the nature and all the relations of the business in hand what has been established as an element of good to one being may prove absolute mischief to another even as the warmth of the was proper enough for children of flesh and blood like violet and though by no means very wholesome even for them but involved nothing short of to the unfortunate snow image but after all there is no teaching anything to wise men of good mr s stamp they know everything oh to b sure everything that has been and everything that is and everything that by any future possibility can be an l should some phenomenon of or providence their system they will a childish miracle not recognize it even if it come to pass under their very noses wife said mr after a fit of silence see what a quantity of snow the children have in on their feet it has made quite s here before the stove pray tell to bring some and it up the great stone face one afternoon when the sun was going down a mother and her little boy sat at the door of their cottage talking about the great stone face they had but to lift their eyes and there it was plainly to be seen though away with the sunshine brightening all its features and what was the great stone face amongst a family of lofty mountains there was a valley so spacious that it contained many thousand inhabitants some of these good people dwelt in log huts with the black forest all around them on the steep and difficult hill sides others had their homes in comfortable farm houses and cultivated the rich soil on the gentle slopes or level of the valley others again were into villages where some wild tumbling down from its in the upper mountain region had been caught and tamed by human cunning arid compelled to turn the machinery of cotton the inhabitants of this valley in short were numerous and of many modes of life but all of them grown people and children had a kind of familiarity with the great stone face although some possessed the gift of this grand natural phenomenon more perfectly than many of their neighbors the great stone face the great stone face then was a work of nature in her mood of majestic formed on the perpendicular side of a mountain hy some immense rocks which had been thrown together in such a position as when viewed at a proper distance precisely to resemble the features of the human countenance it seemed as if an enormous giant or a had his own likeness on the precipice there was the broad arch of the forehead a hundred feet in height the nose with its long bridge and the vast lips which if they could have spoken would have rolled their thunder accents from one end of the valley to the other true it is that if the spectator approached too near he lost the outline of the gigantic and could discern only a heap of ponderous and gigantic rocks piled in ruin one upon another his steps however the wondrous features would again be seen and the further he withdrew from them the more like a human face with all its original divinity did they appear until as it grew dim in the distance with the clouds and of the mountains about it the great stone face seemed positively to be alive it was a happy lot for children to grow up to manhood or womanhood vith the great stone face before their eyes for all the features were noble and the expression was at once grand and sweet as if it were the glow of a vast warm heart that embraced all mankind in its affections and had room for more it was an education only to look at it according to the belief of many people the valley owed much of its to this aspect that was continually beaming over it thb great stone face the clouds and its tenderness into the sunshine as we began with saying a mother and her little boy sat at their cottage door gazing at the great stone face and talking about it the child s name was mother said he while the smiled on him i wish that it could speak for it looks so very kindly that its voice must needs be pleasant if i were to see a man with such a face i should love him dearly if an old prophecy should come to pass answered his mother we may see a man some time or other with exactly such a face as that what prophecy do you mean dear mother eagerly inquired pray tell me all about it so his mother told him a story that her own mother had told to her when she herself was younger than little a story not of things that were past but of what was yet to come a story nevertheless so very old that even the indians who formerly inhabited this valley had heard it from their forefathers to whom as they affirmed it had been murmured by the mountain streams and whispered by the wind among the tree tops the purport was that at some future day a child should be bom who was destined to become the greatest and noblest personage of his time and whose countenance in | 35 |
manhood should bear an exact resemblance to the great stone face not a few old fashioned people and young ones likewise in the of their hopes still cherished an enduring faith in this old prophecy but others who had seen more of the world had watched and waited till they were weary the great stone face and had beheld no man with such a face nor any man that proved to be much greater or nobler than his neighbors concluded it to be nothing but an idle tale at all events the great man of the prophecy had not yet appeared o mother dear mother cried clapping his hands above his head i do hope that i shall live to see him his mother was an affectionate and thoughtful woman and felt that it was wisest not to the generous hopes of her little boy so she only said to him perhaps you may nd never forgot the story that his mother told him it was always in his mind whenever he looked upon the great stone face he spent his childhood in the log cottage where he was bom and was dutiful to his mother and to her in many things assisting her much with his little hands and more with his loving heart in this manner from a happy yet often pensive child he grew up to be a mild quiet boy and sun with labor in the fields but with more intelligence brightening his aspect than is seen in many lads who have been taught at famous schools yet had had no teacher save only that the great stone face became one to him when the toil of the day was over he would gaze at it for hours until he began to imagine that those vast features recognized him and gave him a smile of kindness and encouragement to his own look of veneration we must not take upon us to affirm that this was a mistake although the face may have looked no more kindly at than at all the world besides but the secret ths great stone face was that the boy s tender and confiding simplicity discerned what other people could not see and thus the love which was meant for all became his peculiar portion about this time there went a the valley that the great man foretold from ages long ago who was to bear a resemblance to the great stone face had appeared at last it seems tliat many years before a young man had from the valley and settled at a distant where after getting together a little money he had set up as a his name but i could never learn whether it was his real one or a that had grown out of his habits and success in life was being shrewd and active and endowed by providence with that inscrutable faculty which itself in what the world calls luck he became an exceedingly rich merchant and owner of a whole fleet of ships all the countries of the globe appeared to join hands for the mere purpose of adding heap after heap to the of this one man s wealth the cold regions of the north almost within the gloom and shadow of the circle sent him their tribute in the shape of hot africa for him the golden sands of her rivers and gathered up the ivory of her great out of the forests the east came bringing him the rich and and and the of diamonds and the gleaming purity of large pearls the ocean not to be with the earth yielded up her mighty that mr might sell their oil and make a profit on it be the original what it might it was gold within his grasp it might the great stone face be said of him as of in the fable that he touched with his finger immediately and grew yellow and was changed at once into sterling metal or which suited him still better into piles of coin and when mr had become so very rich that it hare taken him a hundred years only to count his wealth he himself of his native valley and resolved to go back thither and end his days where he was bom with this purpose in view he sent a skilful to build him such a palace as should be fit for a man of his vast wealth to live in as i have said above it had already been in the valley that mr had turned out to be the personage so long and vainly looked for and that his was the perfect and of the stone face people were the more ready to believe that this must needs be the fact when they beheld the splendid edifice that rose as if by enchantment on the site of his father s old weather beaten house the exterior was of marble so white hat it seemed as though the whole melt away in the sunshine like those ones which mr in his young play days before his fingers were gifted with the touch of had been accustomed to build of snow it had a richly ornamented supported by tall pillars beneath which was a lofty door studded with silver and made of a kind of wood that had been brought from beyond the sea the windows from the floor to the ceiling of each stately apartment were composed of but one enormous pane of glass so pure that it was said to be a finer me the great stone face than even the vacant atmosphere hardly anybody had been permitted to see the interior of this palace but it was reported and with good semblance of truth to be far more gorgeous than the outside that whatever was iron or brass in other houses was silver or gold in this and mr s especially made such a glittering appearance that no | 35 |
ordinary man would have been able to close his eyes there but on the other hand mr was now so to wealth that perhaps he could not have closed his eyes unless where the gleam of it was certain to find its way beneath his eyelids in due time the mansion was finished next came the with magnificent furniture then a whole troop of black and white servants the of mr who in his own majestic person was expected to arrive at sunset our friend meanwhile had been deeply stirred by the idea that the great man the noble man the man of prophecy after so many ages of delay was at length to be made manifest to his native valley he knew boy as he was that there were a thousand ways in which mr with his vast wealth might himself into an angel of and assume a control over human affairs as wide and as the smile of the great stone face full of faith and hope doubted not that what the people said was true and that now he was to behold the living likeness of those wondrous features on the mountain side while the boy was still gazing up the valley and as he always did that the great stone face returned his gaze and looked kindly at him the the great stone face rambling of wheels was heard approaching swiftly along the winding road here he comes cried a group of people who were assembled to witness the arrival here comes the great mr a carriage drawn by four horses dashed round the turn of the road within it thrust partly out of the window appeared the of a little old man with a skin as yellow as if his own hand had it he had a low forehead small sharp eyes about with innumerable wrinkles and very thin lips which he made still thinner by pressing them forcibly together the very image of the great stone face shouted the people sure enough the old prophecy is true and here we have the great man come at last and what greatly perplexed they seemed actually to believe that here was the likeness which they spoke ot by the road side there chanced to be an old beggar woman and two little beggar children from some far off region who as the carriage rolled onward held out their hands and lifted up their voices most charity a yellow the very same that had together so much wealth itself out of the coach window and some copper upon the ground so that though the great man s name seems to have been he might just as have been still nevertheless with an earnest shout and evidently with as much good faith as ever the people he is the very image of the great stone face but turned sadly from the wrinkled shrewd the great stone face ness of that sordid and gazed up the valley where amid a gathering mist gilded by the last he could still distinguish those glorious features which had impressed themselves into his soul their aspect cheered him what did the lips seem to say he will come fear not the man will come v the years went on and ceased to be a boy he had grown to be a young man now he attracted little notice from the other inhabitants of the valley for they saw nothing remarkable in his of life save that when the labor of the day was over he still loved to go apart and gaze and upon the great stone face according to their idea of the matter it was a folly indeed but inasmuch as was industrious kind and and neglected no duty for the sake of indulging this idle habit they knew not that the great stone face had become a teacher to him and that the sentiment which was expressed in it would the young man s heart and fill it with wider and deeper sympathies than other hearts they knew not that thence would come a better wisdom than could be learned from books and a better life than could be on the example of other human lives neither did know that the thoughts and affections which came to him so naturally in the fields and at the fireside and wherever he with himself of a higher tone than those which all men shared with him a simple soul simple as when his mother first taught him the old prophecy he beheld the marvellous features beaming the valley and the great stone face wondered that their human was so long in making his appearance by this time poor mr was dead and buried and the part of the matter was that his wealth which was the body and spirit of his existence had disappeared before his death leaving nothing of him but a living skeleton covered over with a wrinkled yellow skin since the melting away of his gold it had been very generally that there was no such striking resemblance after all the features of the ruined merchant and that majestic face upon the mountain side so the people ceased to honor him during his lifetime and quietly consigned him to forgetfulness after his once in a while it is true his memory was brought up in connection with the magnificent palace which he had built and which had long ago been turned into a hotel for the accommodation of strangers multitudes of whom came every summer to visit that famous natural curiosity the great stone face thus mr being and thrown into the shade the man of prophecy was yet to come it so happened that a native bom son of the valley many years before had as a soldier and after a great deal of hard fighting had now become an illustrious commander whatever he may be called in history he was known in and | 35 |
on the battle field under the of old blood and thunder this war worn being now with age and wounds and weary of the turmoil of a military life and of the roll of the drum and the of the trumpet that had so been ringing in his ears had lately signified a the great stone face pose of returning to his native valley hoping to find repose where he remembered to have left it the inhabitants his old neighbors and their grown up children were resolved to welcome the renowned warrior with a salute of cannon and a public dinner and all the more it being that now at last the likeness of the great stone face had actually appeared an aid de camp of old blood and thunder travelling through the valley was said to have been struck with the resemblance moreover the and early acquaintances of the general were ready to testify on oath that to the best of their recollection the had been exceedingly like the majestic image even when a boy only that the idea had never occurred to them at that period great therefore was the excitement throughout valley and many people who had never once thought of glancing at the great stone face for years before now spent their time in gazing at it for the sake of knowing exactly how general blood and thunder looked on the day of the great festival with all the other people of the valley left their work and proceeded to the spot where the banquet was prepared as he approached the loud voice of the reverend doctor was heard a blessing on the good things set before them and on the distinguished friend of peace in whose honor they were assembled the tables were arranged in a cleared space of the woods shut in by the surrounding trees except where a vista opened eastward and afforded a distant view of the great stone face over the general s chair which was a from the home of washington there was an th great stone face arch of boughs with the laurel and surmounted by his country s banner beneath which he had won his our friend raised himself on his tip toes in hopes to get a glimpse of the celebrated guest but there was a mighty crowd about the tables anxious to hear the and speeches and to catch any word that might fall from the general in reply and a company doing duty as a guard pricked with their at any particularly quiet person among the throng so being of an character was thrust quite into the background where he could see no more of old blood and thunder s than if it had been still blazing on the battle field to console himself he turned towards the great stone face which like a faithful and long remembered friend looked back and smiled upon him through the vista of the forest meantime however he could the remarks of various individuals who were comparing the features of the hero with the face on the distant mountain side t is the same face to a hair cried one man cutting a for joy wonderfully like that s a fact responded another like why i call it old blood and thunder himself in a monstrous looking glass cried a third and why not he s the greatest man of this or any other age beyond a doubt and then all three of the gave a great shout which communicated to the crowd and called forth a roar from a thousand voices that went for miles among the mountains until you might have supposed that the great stone face had poured its b the great stone face thunder breath into the cry all these comments and this vast enthusiasm served the more to interest our friend nor did he think of questioning that now at length the mountain had found its human it is true had imagined that this for personage would appear in the character of a man of peace uttering wisdom and doing good and making people happy but taking an habitual breadth of view with all his simplicity he that providence should choose its own method of blessing mankind and could conceive that this end might be effected even by a warrior and a bloody sword should inscrutable wisdom see fit to order matters so the general the general was now the cry hush silence old blood and thunder s going to make a speech even so for the cloth being removed the general s health had been drunk amid shouts of applause and he now stood upon his feet to thank the company saw him there he was over the shoulders of the crowd from the two glittering and embroidered collar upward beneath the arch of green boughs with laurel and the banner drooping as if to shade his brow and there too visible in the same glance through the vista of the forest appeared the great stone face and was there indeed such a resemblance as the crowd had alas could not recognize it he beheld a war worn and weather beaten countenance full of energy and expressive of an iron will but the gentle wisdom the deep broad tender sympathies were altogether wanting in old blood and thunder s and even if the great thb t stone face stone face had assumed his look of stem command the traits would still have tempered it this is not the man of prophecy sighed to himself as he made his way out of the throng and must the world wait longer yet the mists had about the distant mountain side and there were seen the grand and awful features of the great stone face awful but as if a mighty angel were sitting among the hills and himself in a cloud of gold and purple as he looked could hardly believe but that a smile | 35 |
beamed over the whole with a radiance still brightening although without motion of the lips it was probably the effect of the western sunshine melting through the diffused that had swept between him and the object that he gazed at but as it always did the aspect of his marvellous friend made as hopeful as if he had never hoped in vain fear not said his heart even as if the great face were whispering him fear not he will come more years sped swiftly and away still dwelt in his native valley and was now a man of middle age by degrees he had become known among the people now as heretofore he labored for his bread and was the same simple hearted man that he had always been but he had thought and felt so much he had given so many of the best hours of his life to hopes for some great good to mankind that it seemed as though he had been talking with the angels and had a portion of their the great stone face wisdom unawares it was visible in the calm and of his daily life the quiet stream of which had made a wide green margin all along its course not a day passed by that the world was not the better because this man humble as he was had lived he never stepped aside from his own path yet would always reach a blessing to his neighbor almost involuntarily too he had become a preacher the pure and high simplicity of his thought which as one of its took shape in the good deeds that dropped silently from his hand also forth in speech he uttered truths that wrought upon and the lives of those who heard him his it may be never suspected that their own neighbor and familiar friend was more than an ordinary man least of all did himself suspect it but inevitably as the murmur of a came thoughts out of his mouth that no other human lips had spoken when the people s minds had had a little time to cool they were ready enough to acknowledge their mistake in imagining a between general blood and thunder s and the on the mountain side but now again there were reports and many in the newspapers that the likeness of the great stone face had appeared upon the broad shoulders of a certain eminent he like mr and old blood and thunder was a native of the valley but had left it in his early days and taken up the trades of law and politics instead of the rich man s wealth and the warrior s sword he liad but a tongue and it was than both together so wonderfully eloquent the great stone face was he that whatever he might choose to say hb had no choice but to believe him wrong looked like right and right like wrong for when it pleased him he could make a kind of illuminated fog with his mere breath and obscure the natural daylight with it his tongue indeed was a magic instrument sometimes it like the thunder sometimes it like the sweetest music it was the blast of war the song of peace and it seemed to have a heart in it when there was no such matter in good truth he was a wondrous man and when his tongue had acquired him all other imaginable success when it had been heard in halls of state and in the courts of princes and after it had made him known all over the world even as a voice crying from shore to shore it finally persuaded his to select him for the before this time indeed as soon as he began to grow celebrated his admirers had found out the resemblance between him and the great stone face and so much were they struck by it that throughout the country this distinguished gentleman was known by the name of old stony the phrase was considered as giving a highly favorable aspect to his political prospects for as is likewise the case with the nobody ever becomes president without taking a name other than his own while his friends were doing their best to make him president old stony as he was called set out on a visit to the valley where he was bom of course he had no other object than to shake hands with his and neither thought nor cared about any effect which his progress through the country might have upon the great stone face the election magnificent preparations were made to receive the illustrious a of set forth to meet him at the boundary line of the state and all the people left their business and gathered along the to see him pass among these was though more than once disappointed as we have seen he had such a hopeful and confiding nature that he was always ready to believe in whatever seemed beautiful and good he kept his heart continually open and thus was sure to catch the blessing from on high when it should come so now again as as ever he went forth to behold the likeness of the great stone face the came along the road with a great of hoofs and a mighty cloud of dust which rose up so dense and high that the of the mountain side was f hidden from s eyes all the great men of the neighborhood were there on horseback in uniform the member of the of the county the of newspapers and many a farmer too had mounted his patient with his sunday coat upon his back it really was a very brilliant spectacle especially as there were numerous over the on some of which were gorgeous portraits of the illustrious and the great stone face smiling familiarly at one another like two brothers if | 35 |
yonder and majestic image r the great stone face and why asked he pointed to the volume are not those thoughts divine they have a strain of the divinity replied the poet you can in them the far oflf echo of a heavenly song but my life dear has not with my thought i have had grand dreams but they have been only dreams because i have lived and that too by my own choice among poor and mean realities sometimes even shall i dare to say it i lack faith in the grandeur the beauty and the goodness which my own works are said to have made more evident in nature and in human life why then pure of the good and true thou hope to find me in yonder image of the divine the poet spoke sadly and his eyes were dim with tears so likewise were those of at the hour of sunset as had long been his frequent custom was to discourse to an assemblage of the neighboring inhabitants in the open air he and the poet arm in arm still talking together as they went along proceeded to the spot it was a small nook among the hills with a gray precipice behind the stem front of which was relieved by the pleasant foliage of many creeping plants that made a for the naked rock by hanging their from all its angles at a small elevation above the ground set in a rich frame work of there appeared a spacious enough to admit a human figure with freedom for such gestures as accompany earnest thought and genuine emotion into this natural pulpit ascended and threw a look of familiar kindness around upon his audience they stood or sat or re great face upon the grass as seemed good to each with the departing sunshine falling over them and mingling its subdued cheerfulness with the solemnity of a grove of ancient trees beneath and amid the boughs of which the golden rays were constrained to pass in another direction was seen the great stone face with the same cheer combined with the same solemnity in its aspect began to speak giving to the people of what was in his heart and mind his words had power because they accorded with his thoughts and his thoughts had reality and depth because they with the life which he had always lived it was not mere that this preacher uttered they were the words of life because a life of good deeds and holy love was melted into them pearls pure and rich had been dissolved into this precious draught the poet as he listened felt that the being and character of were a nobler strain of poetry than he had ever written his glistening with tears he gazed at the venerable man and said within himself that never was there an aspect so worthy of a prophet and a sage as that mild sweet thoughtful countenance with the glory of white hair diffused about it at a distance but distinctly to be seen high up in the golden light of the setting sun appeared the great stone face with mists around it like the white hairs around the brow of its look of grand seemed to embrace the world at that moment in sympathy with a thought which he was about to utter the face of assumed a grandeur of expression so with benevolence that the stone face the poet by an irresistible impulse threw his aloft and shouted behold behold is himself the likeness of the great stone face then all the people looked and saw that what the poet said was true the prophecy was fulfilled but having finished what he had to say took the poet s arm and walked slowly homeward still hoping that some wiser and better man than himself would by and by appear bearing a resemblance to the great stone face main s a looking individual makes his bow and addresses the public in my daily walks along the principal street of ray native town it has often occurred to me that if its growth from infancy upward and the of characteristic scenes that have passed along this during the more than two centuries of its existence could be presented to the eye in a shifting it would be an exceedingly effective method of the march of time acting on this idea i have contrived a certain exhibition somewhat in the nature of a show by means of which i propose to call up the and many colored past before the spectator and show him the ghosts of his forefathers amid a succession of historic incidents with no greater trouble than the turning of a be pleased therefore my indulgent to walk into the show room and take your seats before yonder mysterious curtain the little wheels and springs of my machinery have been well a multitude of are dressed in character representing all varieties of fashion from the cloak and to the latest oak hall coat the lamps are trimmed and shall into sunshine or fade away in moonlight or their brilliancy in a november cloud as the nature of the scene may require and in the main street exhibition is just ready to commence unless something should go wrong as for instance the of a picture whereby the people and events of one century might be thrust into the middle of another or the breaking of a wire which would bring the course of time to a sudden period i say the to which such a complicated piece of is liable i flatter myself ladies and gentlemen that the performance will your generous approbation ting a ting ting goes the bell the curtain rises ai d we behold not indeed the main street but the track of leaf strewn forest land over which its dusty pavement is hereafter to | 35 |
extend you perceive at a glance that this is the ancient and primitive wood the ever youthful and old with new twigs yet as it were with the of innumerable years that have accumulated upon its branches the white man s axe has never smitten a single tree his footstep has never a single one of the withered leaves which all the since the flood have been beneath yet see along through the vista of impending boughs there is already a faintly traced path running nearly east and west as if a prophecy or of the future street had stolen into the heart of the old wood onward goes this hardly perceptible track now ascending over a natural swell of land now gently into a hollow traversed here by a little which like a snake through the gleam of sunshine and quickly hides itself among the in its quest for the neighboring and there by the corpse of a giant of the forest which had lived main out its term of life and been by mere old age and lies buried in the new vegetation that is bom of its decay what footsteps can have worn this half seen path hark do we not i ear them now rustling softly over the leaves we m an indian woman a majestic and woman or else her image does not at her truly for this is the great whose rule with that of her sons extends from mystic to that red chief who by her side is her second husband the priest and whose shall hereafter the pale faced with dancing and shrieking in the woods at midnight but greater would be the of the indian if in the pool of water at his feet he could catch a prophetic glimpse of the noon day which the white man is destined to achieve if he could see as in a dream the stone front of the stately hall which will cast its shadow over this very spot if he could be aware that the future edifice will contain a noble museum where among countless of earth and sea a few indian arrow heads shall be up as of a vanished race no such s disturb the and they pass on beneath the tangled shade holding high talk on matters of state and religion and imagine doubtless that their own system of affairs will endure forever meanwhile how full of its own proper life is the scene that lies around them the gray runs up the trees and among the upper branches was not that the leap of a deer and there is the of a too i catch the main cruel and stealthy eye of a wolf as he draws back into yonder of so there amid the murmur of boughs go the indian queen and the indian priest while the gloom of the broad wilderness over them and its sombre mystery them as with something and only momentary streaks of quivering sunlight once in a great while find their way down and glimmer among the feathers in their dusky hair can it be that the thronged street of a city will ever pass into this twilight solitude over those soft heaps of the tree trunks and through the places green with water moss and penetrate that hopeless of great trees which have been and tossed together by a it has been a wilderness from the creation must it not be a wilderness forever here an looking gentleman in blue glasses with bows of steel who has taken a seat at the extremity of the front row begins at this early stage of the exhibition to the whole affair is a manifest catch penny he scarcely under his breath the trees look more like weeds in a garden than a primitive forest the and are stiff in their joints and the the deer and the wolf move with all the grace of a child s wooden monkey up and down a stick i am obliged to you sir for the of your en replies the with a bow perhaps ey are just human art has its limits and we must flow and then ask a little aid from the spectator s imagination street you wiu get no such aid from mine the critic i make it a point to see things precisely as they are but come go ahead the stage is waiting the proceeds casting our eyes again over the scene we perceive that strangers have found their way into the solitary place in more than one spot among the trees an axe is glittering in the sunshine the first in has built his dwelling months ago on the border of the forest path and at this moment he comes eastward through the vista of woods with his gun over his shoulder bringing home the choice portions of a deer his figure clad in a and breeches of the same strides onward with such an air of physical force and energy that we might almost expect the very trees to stand aside and give him room to pass and so indeed they must for humble as is his name in history still is of that class of men who do not merely find but make their place in the system of human a man of thoughtful strength he has planted the of a city there stands his habitation showing in its rough architecture some features of the indian and some of the log cabin and somewhat too of the cottage in old england where this good had his birth and breeding the dwelling is surrounded by a cleared space of a few acres where indian com grows among the of the trees while the dark forest it in and seems to gaze silently and solemnly as if wondering at the breadth of sunshine which the white man around main street him an indian half hidden in | 35 |
the dusky shade is gazing and wondering too within the door of the cottage you discern the wife with her ruddy english cheek she is singing doubtless a tune at her household work or perhaps she sighs at the remembrance of the cheerful gossip and all the merry social life of her native village beyond the vast and melancholy sea yet the next moment she laughs with sympathetic glee at the sports of her little tribe of children and soon turns round with the in her face as her husband s foot is heard approaching the rough threshold how sweet must it be for those who have an in their hearts like and his wife to find a new world to project it into as they have instead of dwelling among old haunts of men where so many household fires have been kindled and burnt out that the very glow of happiness has something dreary in it not that this pair are alone in their wild for here comes the young of from her home hard by with an infant at her breast dame has another of like age and it shall hereafter be one of the disputed points of history which of these two babies was the first town bom child but see has other neighbors within view peter likewise has built himself a house and so has and and their dwellings indeed such is the ingenious contrivance of this piece of seem to have arisen at various points of the scene even while we have been looking at it the forest track trodden more and more by the nailed shoes of these sturdy and main ponderous englishmen has now a distinctness which it never could have acquired from the light tread of a hundred times as many indian it will be a street anon as we observe it now it goes onward from one clearing to another here plunging into a shadowy strip of woods there open to the sunshine but everywhere showing a decided line along which human interests have begun to hold their career over yonder spot two trees have been and laid side by side to make a in another place the axe has cleared away a confused of fallen trees and clustered boughs which had been tossed together by a so now the little children just beginning to run alone may trip along the path and not often over an unless they stray from it to gather wood beneath the trees and besides the feet of grown people and children there are the hoofs of a small herd of cows who seek their from the native and help to the track of the future also along it and at the twigs that thrust themselves across the way not seldom in its more secluded portions where the black shadow of the forest to hide the trace of human footsteps a gaunt wolf on the watch for a kid or a young calf or his hungry gaze on the group of children gathering and can hardly forbear to rush upon them and the indians coming from their distant to view the white man s settlement marvel at the deep track which he makes and perhaps are by a flitting that this heavy tread will find its way over all the land and that the wild woods the wild wolf street and the wild indian will alike be trampled beneath it even so shall it be the of the main street must be laid over the red man s grave behold here is a spectacle which should be ushered in by the peal of trumpets if had ever yet heard that cheery music and by the roar of cannon echoing among the woods a procession for by its dignity as marking an epoch in the history of the street it deserves that name a procession advances along the pathway the good ship has arrived from england bringing wares and for the comfort of the inhabitants and traffic with the indians bringing passengers too and more important than all a governor for the new settlement and peter with their companions have been to the shore to welcome him and now with such honor and triumph as their rude way of life are the sea flushed to their at the point where enters upon the scene two venerable trees unite their branches high above his head thus forming a arch of living beneath which he pauses with his wife leaning on his arm to catch the first impression of their new found home the old gaze not less earnestly at him than he at the woods and the rough surface of the they like his bearded face under the shadow of the broad and crowned hat a resolute grave and thoughtful yet apt to with that glow of a cheerful spirit by which men of strong character are enabled to go joyfully on their proper tasks his form too as you see it in a and of sad colored cloth is of a manly make fit for main foil and hardship and fit to the heavy sword that hangs from his his aspect is a better warrant for the ruler s office than the commission which he bears however fortified it may be with the broad seal of the london council peter to the court of have done wisely say they between themselves they have chosen for our governor a man out of a thousand then they toss up their hats they and all the uncouth figures of their company most of whom are clad in skins inasmuch as their old and garments have been torn and tattered by many a long month s wear they all toss up their hats and salute their new governor and captain with a hearty english shout of welcome we seem to hear it with our own ears so perfectly is the action represented in this | 35 |
life like this almost magic picture but have you observed the lady who upon the arm of a rose of beauty from an english garden now to be to a soil it may be that long years centuries indeed after this fair flower shall have decayed other flowers of the same race will appear in the same soil and other generations with hereditary beauty does not the vision haunt us yet has not nature kept the mould unbroken it a pity that the idea should vanish firom mortal sight forever after only once assuming earthly substance do we not recognize in that fair woman s face the model of features which still at happy moments on what was then the path way but has long since grown into a busy street this is too ridiculous positively main street the same critic who had before expressed his here is a figure such as a child would cut out of a card with a pair of very dull and the fellow modestly us to see in it the of hereditary beauty but sir you have not the proper point of view remarks the you sit altogether too near to get the best of my exhibition pray oblige me by removing to this other bench and i venture to assure you the proper light and shadow will the spectacle into quite another thing replies the critic i want no other light and shade i have already told you that it is my business to see things just as they are i would suggest to the author of this ingenious exhibition a gentlemanly person who has shown signs of being much interested i would suggest that the first wife of governor and who came with him from england left no posterity and that consequently we cannot be indebted to that honorable lady for any specimens of feminine loveliness now among us having nothing to against this objection the points again to the scene during this little interruption you perceive that the saxon energy as the phrase now goes has been at work in the spectacle before us so many chimneys now send up their smoke that it begins to have the aspect of a village street although everything is so and that it seems as if one returning wave of the wild nature might it all but the one edifice which gives the pledge of main street to this bold enterprise is seen at the central point of the picture there stands the meeting house a small structure low without a spire and built of rough timber newly with the sap still in the logs and here and there a strip of bark to them a temple was never consecrated to the worship of the deity with the alternative of kneeling beneath the awful vault of the it is strange that men should creep into this pent up nook and expect god s presence there such at least one would imagine might be the feeling of these forest accustomed as they had been to stand under the dim arches of vast and to offer up their hereditary worship in the old ivy covered churches of rural england around which lay the bones of many generations of their forefathers how could they dispense with the altar work how with the pictured windows where the light of common day was by being through the figures of saints how with the lofty roof as it must have been with the prayers that had gone upward for centuries how with the rich peal of the solemn organ rolling along thi the whole church and sweeping the soul away on a flood of audible religion they needed nothing of all this their house of worship like their was naked simple and severe but the zeal of a recovered faith burned like a lamp within their hearts everything around them with its radiance making of these new walls and this narrow compass its own cathedral and being in itself that spiritual mystery and experience of which sacred architecture pictured win main street and the organ s grand solemnity are remote and imperfect all was well so long as their lamps were kindled at the heavenly flame after a while however whether in their time or their children s these lamps began to bum more dimly or with a less genuine lustre and then it might be seen how hard cold and confined was their system how like an iron cage was that which they called liberty too much of this look again at the picture and observe how the saxon energy is now along the street and raising a positive cloud of dust beneath its sturdy footsteps for there the are building a new house the frame of which was and fitted in england of english oak and sent hither on and here a blacksmith makes huge and clatter on his out tools and weapons and yonder a who himself a london workman regularly bred to his is a set of wagon wheels the track of which shall soon be visible the wild forest is shrinking back the street has lost the of the pine trees and of the sweet that grew beneath them the tender and modest wild flowers those gentle children of savage nature that grew pale beneath the ever brooding shade have shrunk away and disappeared like stars that vanish in the breadth of light gardens are in and display beds and rows of and beans and though the governor and the minister both view them with a eye plants of tobacco which the are to use or not at all no wolf for a year past has been heard to bark or known to range among the dwell main except that single one whose head with a of blood beneath it is now to the of ae meeting house the has ceased to run across the | 35 |
too frequented path of all the wild life that used to throng here only the indians still come into the settlement bringing the skins of and bear and which they sell to for the wares of england and there is little john the son of and first bom of playing beside his father s threshold a child of six or seven years old which is the better grown infant the town or the boy the red men have become aware that the street is no longer free to them save by the and permission of the often to impress them with an awe of english power there is a muster and training of the town forces and a stately march of the mail clad band like this which we now see advancing up the street there they come fifty of them or more all with their iron and steel caps well and glimmering bravely against the sun their ponderous on their shoulders their about their their lighted matches in their hands and the drum and playing cheerily before them see do they not step like martial men do they not like soldiers who have seen stricken fields and well they may for this band is composed of precisely such materials as those with which is preparing to beat down the strength of a kingdom and his famous regiment of might be from just such men in everything at this period new england was the essential spirit and flower of which was about to become uppermost in the mother main street many a bold and wise man lost the fame which would have to him in english history by crossing the atlantic with our forefathers many a captain who might have been foremost at or exhausted his martial in the command of a log built fortress like that which you observe on the gently rising ground at the right of the pathway its banner fluttering in the breeze and the and showing their deadly over the a multitude of people were now to new england some because the ancient and ponderous frame work of church and state threatened to down upon their heads others because they of such a among those who came to were men of history and legend whose feet leave a track of brightness along any pathway which they have trodden you shall behold their life like images their if you choose so to call them passing with a familiar nod stopping to converse together praying bearing weapons laboring or resting from their labors in the main street here now comes an earnest restless man walking swiftly as being impelled by that fiery activity of nature which shall hereafter thrust him into the conflict of dangerous affairs make him the and of and finally bring him to a bloody end he pauses by the meeting house to exchange a greeting with whose face a spirit kinder and more than that of yet not less active for what he to be the will of god or the welfare of mankind and look here is a guest for coming forth out main of the forest through which he has been from boston and which with its rude branches has caught hold of his attire and has wet his feet with its and streams still there is something in his mild and venerable though not aged presence a propriety an in governor win s nature that causes the of his costume to be unnoticed and gives us the same impression as if he were clad in such grave and rich attire as we may suppose him to have worn in the council chamber of the colony is not this characteristic wonderfully perceptible in our representative of his person but what is this crossing from the other side to greet the governor a stately personage in a dark velvet cloak with a beard and a gold chain across his breast he has the port of one who has filled the highest station in the first of cities of all men in the world we should least expect to meet the lord mayor of london as sir richard has been once and again in a forest bordered settlement of the western wilderness further down the street we see a grave and worthy citizen with his son george a who has a career before him his shrewd and quick capacity and conscience shall not only him high but secure him from a here is another figure on whose characteristic make and expressive action i will stake the credit of my have you not already detected a quaint sly humor in that face an in the manner a certain indescribable all the marks in short of an original man impressed yet main street kept down by a sense of restraint that is ward the minister of but better remembered as the simple of he his sole so faithfully and his so well that the shoe is hardly yet worn out though thrown aside for some two centuries past and next among these and we observe the very model of a with the curling the trimmed beard the the ornamented the gilded dagger and all other that distinguished the wild who rode headlong to their overthrow in the cause of king charles this is of merry mount who has come hither to hold a council with but will shortly be his prisoner yonder pale figure of a white woman who slowly along the street is the lady looking for her own grave in the virgin soil that other female form who seems to be talking we might almost say preaching or in the centre of a group of profoundly attentive is ann and here comes but my dear sir the same gentleman who before questioned the s accuracy allow me to observe that these historical personages could not possibly have met together in | 35 |
the they might and probably did all visit our old town at one time or another but not simultaneously and you have fallen into that i positively shudder to think of the fellow adds the scarcely civil critic has learned a bead roll of historic names whom he into his show as he calls it without caring whether they were or not and sets them all by the ears together but was there ever such a fund of impudence to hear his running you would suppose that these miserable slips of painted with hardly the remotest outlines of the human figure had au the character and expression of michael s pictures well go on sir sir you break the illusion of the scene mildly the illusion what illusion the critic with a contemptuous on the word of a gentleman i see nothing in the sheet of canvas that forms your back ground or in these slips that and jerk along the front the only illusion permit me to say is in the s tongue and that but a wretched one into the bargain we public men replies the meekly must lay our account sometimes to meet an severity of criticism but merely for your own pleasure sir let me entreat you to take another point of view sit further back by that young lady in whose face i have watched the reflection of every changing scene only oblige me by sitting there and take my word for it the slips of shall assume spiritual life and the canvas become an airy and of what it to represent i know better the critic settling himself in his seat with sullen but self complacent i main street and as for my own pleasure i shall best it by remaining precisely where i am the bows and waves his hand and at the signal as if time and had been awaiting his to move onward the street becomes alive again years have rolled over our scene and converted the forest track into a dusty which being with lanes and cross paths may fairly be as the main street on the ground of many of the log built sheds into which the first crept for shelter houses of quaint architecture have now risen these later are built as you see in one generally style though with such subordinate variety as keeps the s curiosity excited and causes each structure like its owner s character to produce its own peculiar impression most of them have one huge chimney in the centre with so vast that it must have been easy for the to fly out of them as they were wont to do when bound on an visit to the black man in the forest around this great chimney the wooden house clusters itself in a whole community of ends each ascending into its own separate peak the second story with its windows projecting over the first and the door which is perhaps arched provided on the outside with an iron hammer wherewith the s hand may give a thundering the timber frame work of these houses as compared with those of recent date is like the skeleton of an old giant beside the frail bones of a modem man of fashion many of them by the vast strength and of their substance have been preserved main street through a length of time which would have tried the of brick and stone so that in all the decay and continual of the street down to our own days we shall still behold these old occupying their long accustomed for instance on the upper comer of that green lane which shall hereafter be north street we see the house newly built with the still at work on the roof down the last of on the lower comer stands another dwelling destined at some period of its existence to be the abode of an which shall likewise survive to our own generation and perhaps long it thus through the medium of these we have now established a sort of kindred and hereditary acquaintance with the main street great as is the produced by a short term of years each single day through the settlement enough it shall pass before your eyes into the space of a few moments the gray light of early morning is slowly itself over the scene and the whose office it is to cry the hour at the street corners rings the last peal upon his hand bell and goes wearily with the the and other creatures of the night are thrust back on their hinges as if the town were opening its eyes in the summer morning forth the still drowsy cow herd with his putting which to his lips it a impossible to be represented in the picture but which reaches the pricked up ears of every cow in the settlement and tells her that the pasture hour is come house after main street house and sends the smoke up curling from its chimney like frosty breath from living nostrils and as those white wreaths of smoke though with climb so from each dwelling does the morning worship its spiritual essence bearing up its human find its way to the heavenly father s throne the breakfast hour being passed the inhabitants do not as usual go to their fields or but remain within doors or perhaps walk the street with a grave yet a disengaged and aspect that belongs neither to a holiday nor a sabbath and indeed this passing day is neither nor is it a common week day although of all the three it is the thursday lecture an institution which new england has long ago and almost forgotten yet which it would have been better to retain as bearing relations to both the spiritual and ordinary life and bringing each acquainted with the other the tokens of its however which | 35 |
here meet our eyes are of rather a questionable cast it is in one sense a day of public shame the day on which who have made themselves liable to the minor of the law receive their reward of at this very moment the has bound an idle fellow to the post and is giving him his deserts with a cat o nine tails ever since sunrise daniel has been standing on the steps of the meeting house with a about his neck which he is condemned to wear visibly throughout his lifetime is chained to a post at the comer of prison lane with the hot sun blazing on her main street face and all for no other offence than lifting her hand against her husband while through the bars of that great wooden cage in the centre of the scene we discern either a human being or a wild beast or both in one whom this public causes to roar and his teeth and shake the strong bars as if he would break forth and tear in pieces the little children who have been peeping at him such are the profitable sights that serve the good people to while away the earlier part of lecture day in the a traveller the first traveller that has come this morning rides slowly into the street on his patient he seems a clergyman and as he draws near we recognize the minister of who was to lecture here and has been revolving his discourse as he rode through the wilderness behold now the whole town into the meeting house mostly with such sombre that the sunshine becomes little better than a shadow when it falls upon them there go the thirteen men grim rulers of a grim community there goes john the first town bom child now a youth of twenty whose eye with peculiar interest towards that who comes up the steps at the same instant there foster a sour and bitter old looking as if went to curse and not to pray and whom many of her neighbors suspect of taking an occasional on a there too in you observe that same poor do nothing and good for nothing whom we saw just now at the post last of all there goes the in a couple of small boys whom he has main street caught at play beneath god s blessed sunshine in a back lane what native of whose recollections go back more than thirty years does not still shudder at that dark of his infancy who perhaps had long ceased to have an actual existence but still lived in his childish belief in a horrible idea and in the nurse s threat as the tidy man it will be hardly worth our while to wait two or it may be three of the hour glass for the conclusion of the lecture therefore by my control over light and darkness i cause the dusk and then the night to brood over the street and summon forth again the with his lantern casting a gleam about his footsteps to pace wearily from comer to comer and shout the hour to drowsy or dreaming ears happy are we if for nothing else yet because we did not live in those days in when the first novelty and stir of spirit had subsided when the new between the forest border and the sea had become a little town its daily life must have onward with hardly anything to and t while also its could not fail to cause miserable of the moral nature such a life was sinister to the intellect and sinister to the heart especially when one generation had its religious gloom and the of its religious to the next for these characteristics as was inevitable assumed the form both of and exaggeration by being inherited from the example and of other human beings and not from an original and spiritual source the sons and of the first were a race of lower and souls than their main street had been the latter were stem severe but not superstitious not even and endowed if any men of that age were with a far seeing worldly sagacity but it was impossible for the succeeding race to grow up in heaven s freedom beneath the discipline which their gloomy energy of character had established nor it may be have we even yet thrown off all the influences which among many good ones were to us by our forefathers let us thank god for having given us such ancestors and let each successive generation thank him not less fervently for being one step further from them in the march of ages what is all this cries the critic a sermon if so it is not in the bill very true replies the and i ask pardon of the audience look now at the street and observe a strange people entering it their garments are torn and disordered their faces haggard their figures for they have made their way hither through deserts suffering hunger and hardship with no other shelter than a hollow tree the of a wild beast or an indian nor in the most and dangerous of such lodging places was there half the peril that them in this of christian men with those secure dwellings and warm on either side of it and yonder meeting house as the central object of the scene these have received from heaven a gift that in all of the world has brought with it the of mortal suffering and persecution scorn enmity and death itself a gift that thus terrible to its main street has ever been most hateful to all other men since its very existence seems to threaten the overthrow of whatever else the ages have built up the gift of a new idea you can discern it in them their faces their whole | 35 |
persons indeed however earthly and with a light that inevitably shines through and makes the startled community aware that these men are not as they themselves are not brethren nor neighbors of their thought forthwith it is as if an earthquake through the town making its felt at every and especially causing the spire of the meeting house to the have come we are in peril see they upon our wise and well established laws in the person of our chief magistrate for governor is passing now an aged man and dignified with long habits of authority and not one of the has moved his hat did you note the ominous frown of the white bearded governor as he turned himself about and in his anger half uplifted the staff that has become a needful support to his old age here comes old mr our venerable minister will they their hats and pay reverence to him no their hats stick fast to their heads as if they grew there and that they are and worse than the heathen indians they eye our reverend w th a peculiar scorn distrust and utter denial of his pretensions of which he himself immediately becomes conscious the more bitterly conscious as he never knew nor dreamed of the like before but look yonder can we believe our eyes a woman clad in and with ashes on her head has mounted the steps of the meeting house she addresses the people in a wild shrill voice wild and shrill it must be to suit such a figure which makes them tremble and turn pale although they crowd to hear her she is bold against established authority she the priest and his many of her hearers are appalled some weep and others listen with a attention as if a living truth had now for the first time forced its way through the crust of habit reached their hearts and awakened them to life this matter must be looked to else we have brought our faith across the seas with us in vain and it had been better that the old forest were still standing here waving its tangled boughs and murmuring to the sky out of its desolate recesses instead of this goodly street if such be spoken in it so thought the old what was their mode of action may be partly judged from the spectacles which now pass before your eyes is standing in the is led to prison and there a woman it is ann naked from the waist upward and bound to the tail of a cart is dragged through the main street at the pace of a brisk walk while the follows with a whip of knotted a strong armed fellow is that and each time that he his lash in the air you see a frown and twisting his brow and at the same instant a smile upon his lips he loves his business faithful officer that he is and puts his soul into every stroke zealous to fulfil the of major s warrant in the spirit and to the letter main street there came down a stroke that has drawn ten such are to be given in ten in boston and ten in and with those thirty of blood upon her she is to be driven into the forest the crimson trail goes wavering along the main street but heaven grant that as the rain of so many years has wept upon it time after time and washed it all away so there may have been a dew of mercy to cruel blood stain out of the record of the s life pass on thou and thee to thine own place of torment meanwhile by the silent operation of behind the scenes a considerable space of time would seem to have over the street the older dwellings now begin to look weather beaten through the effect of the many eastern storms that have their and for not less than forty years such is the age we would to the town judging by the aspect of john the first town bom child whom his neighbors now call and whom we see yonder a grave almost looking man with children of his own about him to the of the settlement no doubt the main street is still but an affair of yesterday hardly more antique even if destined to be more permanent than a path through the snow but to the middle aged and elderly men who came hither in childhood or early youth it presents the aspect of a long and well established work on which they have expended the strength and of their life and the younger people native to the street whose earliest recollections are of creeping over the paternal main street threshold and rolling on the grassy margin of the track look at it as one of the things of our mortal state as old as the hills of the great pasture or the at the harbor s mouth their fathers and tell them how within a few years past the forest stood here with but a lonely track beneath its tangled shade vain legend they cannot make it true and real to their with them moreover the main street is a street indeed worthy to hold its way with the thronged and stately avenues of cities beyond the sea the old tell them of the crowds that hurry along and fleet street and the strand and of the rush of tumultuous life at temple bar they describe london bridge itself a street with a row of houses on each side they speak of the vast structure of the tower and the solemn grandeur of westminster abbey the children listen and still inquire if the streets of london are longer and broader than the one before their father s door if the tower is bigger than the | 35 |
jail in prison lane if the old abbey will hold a larger congregation than our meeting house nothing them except their own experience it seems all a fable too that wolves have ever here and not less so that the and the her son once ruled over this region and treated as sovereign with the english then so few and storm beaten now so there stand some school boys you observe in a group around a drunken indian himself a prince of the s he brought hither some skins for sale and has already swallowed the larger portion of their price in deadly draughts of fire main street water is there not a touch of pathos in that picture and does it not go far towards telling the whole story of the vast growth and prosperity of one race and the fated decay of another the children of the stranger making game of the great s but the whole race of red men have not vanished with that wild princess and her posterity this march of soldiers along the street the breaking out of king philip s war and these young men the flower of are on their way to defend the villages on the where at bloody brook a terrible blow shall be smitten and hardly one of that gallant band be left alive and there at that stately mansion with its three peaks in front and its two little towers one on either side of the door we see brave captain issuing forth clad in his embroidered coat and his cap upon his head his sword in its steel strikes on the door step see how the people throng to their doors and windows as the rides past his so gallantly and looking so like the very soul and emblem of martial achievement destined too to meet a warrior s fate at the desperate assault on the fortress of the the looks like a pig the critic and captain himself like the devil a very tame one and on a most scare sir sir cries the persecuted losing all patience for indeed he had particularly himself on these figures of captain and his horse i see that there is no hope of pleasing you pray main street sir do me the favor to take back your money and withdraw i not i answers the critic i am just beginning to get interested in the matter come turn your and grind out a few more of these the his brow the little rod with which he points out the of the scene but finally with the inevitable acquiescence of all public servants his composure and goes on pass onward onward time build up new houses here and tear down thy works of yesterday that have already the rusty moss upon them summon forth the minister to the abode of the young maiden and bid him unite her to the joyful bridegroom let the youthful parents carry their first bom to the meeting house to receive the knock at the door whence the line of the funeral is next to issue provide other successive generations of men to trade talk quarrel or walk in friendly intercourse along the street as their fathers did before them do all thy daily and accustomed business father time in this which thy footsteps for so many years have now made dusty but here at last thou along a procession which once witnessed shall appear no more and be remembered only as a hideous dream of thine or a frenzy of thy old brain turn your i say the critic and grind it out whatever it be without further preface the it best to then here comes the captain main street of on horseback at the head of an armed guard a company of condemned prisoners from the jail to their place of execution on hill the there is no them the as they approach up prison lane and turn into the main street let us watch their faces as if we made a part of the pale crowd that presses so eagerly about them yet back with such shuddering dread leaving an open passage a dense throng on either side listen to what the people say there is old george known sixty years as a man whom we thought upright in all his way of life quiet a good husband before his pious wife was summoned from the evil to come and a good father to the children whom she left him ah but when that blessed woman went to heaven george heart was empty his hearth lonely his life bi up his children were married and themselves to of their own and satan in his wanderings up and down beheld this forlorn old man to whom life was a and a weariness and found the way to tempt him so the miserable sinner was prevailed with to mount into the air and career among the clouds and he is proved to have been present at a witch meeting as far off as on the very same night that his next neighbors saw him with his stoop going in at his own door there is john too an honest man we thought him and so shrewd and active in his business so practical so intent on every day affairs so constant at his little place of trade where he english goods for indian corn and all kinds of country produce i how could such a man find time or what could put it into his mind to leave his proper calling and become a it is a mystery unless the black man tempted him with great heaps of gold see that aged couple a sad sight truly john and his wife elizabeth if there were two old people in all the county who seemed to have led a true christian life ana to be treading e little | 35 |
as if in every creature that god has made they suspected a witch or dreaded an never never again whether in this or any other shape may universal madness riot in the main street i perceive in your eyes my indulgent spectators the criticism which you are too kind to utter these scenes you think are all too sombre so indeed they are but the blame must rest on the sombre spirit of our forefathers who their web of life with hardly a single thread of rose color or gold and not on me who have a love of sunshine and would gladly all the world with it if i knew where to find so much main street that you may believe me will exhibit one of the only class of scenes so far as my investigation has taught me in which our ancestors were wont to steep their tough old hearts in wine and strong drink and indulge an outbreak of here it comes out of the same house whence we saw brave captain go forth to the wars what a coffin borne on men s shoulders and six aged gentlemen as pall and a long train of with black gloves and black hat bands and everything black save a white handkerchief in each s hand to wipe away his tears withal now my kind you are angry with me you were to a and find yourselves walking in a funeral procession even so but look back through all the social customs of new england in the first century of her existence and read all her traits of character and if you find one occasion other than a funeral feast where was by universal practice i will set fire to my show without another word these are the of old governor the and of the first who having with the widow is now resting from his labors at the great age of ninety four the corpse which was his spirit s earthly now lies beneath yonder coffin lid many a of ale and is on tap and many a draught of wine and has been else why should the as they the coffin and the aged pall too as they strive to walk solemnly beside it and wherefore do the tread on one another s heels and why if we may ask r main street without offence should the nose of the reverend mr through which he has just been delivering the funeral discourse glow like a ruddy coal of fire well well old friends pass on with your of and lay it in the tomb with jolly hearts people should be permitted to enjoy themselves in their own fashion every man to his taste but new england must have been a dismal abode for the man of pleasure when the only boon companion was death under cover of a mist that has settled over the scene a few years by and escape our notice as the atmosphere becomes transparent we perceive a along the street do you recognize him we saw him first s the baby in s arms when the trees were flinging their shadow over s cabin we have seen him as the boy the youth the man bearing his humble part in all the successive scenes and forming the index figure whereby to note the age of his town and here he is old taking his last walk often pausing often leaning over his staff and calling to mind whose dwelling stood at such and such a spot and whose field or garden occupied the site of those more recent houses he can render a reason for all the and of the which in its and infancy was made to aside from a straight line in order to visit every s door the main street is still youthful the man is in his latest age soon he will be gone a of yet shall retain a sort of life in our local history as the first town bom child behold here a change wrought in the twinkling of an main eye like an incident in a tale of magic even your observation has been fixed upon the scene the has vanished out of sight in its stead appears a wintry waste of snow with the sun just peeping over it cold and bright and the white expanse with the faintest and most ethereal rose color this is the great snow of famous for the mountain in which it buried the whole country it would seem as if the street the growth of which we have noted so attentively following it from its first phase as an indian track until it reached the dignity of side walks were all at once and resolved into a than when the forest covered it the gigantic and of the snow have swept over each man s and bounds and all the visible distinctions of human property so that now the traces of former times and hitherto accomplished deeds being done away mankind should be at liberty to enter on new paths and guide themselves by other laws than heretofore if indeed the race be not extinct and it be worth our while to go on with the march of life over the cold and desolate expanse that lies before us it may be however that matters are not so desperate as they appear that vast glittering so in the sunshine must be the spire of the meeting house with frozen those great heaps too which we for are houses buried up to their and with their roofs rounded by the depth of snow upon them there now comes a of smoke from what i judge to be the chimney of the ship tavern and another another and another from the chimneys of other dwellings where fireside comfort peace the of and the of age living yet in spite of | 35 |
the frozen above them but it is time to change the scene its dreary monotony shall not test your fortitude like one of our actual new england which leaves so large a blank so melancholy a death spot in lives so brief that they ought to be all summer time here at least may claim to be ruler of the seasons one turn of the shall melt away the snow from the main street and show the trees in their full foliage tlie rose bushes in bloom and a border of green grass along the side walk there but what i how the scene will not move a wire is broken the street continues buried beneath the snow and the fate of and has its parallel in this catastrophe alas my kind and gentle audience you know not the extent of your misfortune the scenes to come were far better than the past the street itself would have been more worthy of exhibition the deeds of its inhabitants not less so and how would your interest have deepened as passing out of the cold shadow of antiquity in my long and weary course i should arrive within the limits of man s memory and leading you at last into the sunshine of the present should give a of the very life that is flitting past us your own beauty my fair would have beamed upon you out of my scene not a gentleman that walks the street but should have beheld his own face and figure his gait the peculiar swing of his arm and the coat that he put on yesterday then too and it is what i chiefly regret i had expended a vast street deal of light and brilliancy on a representation of the street in its whole length from s comer downward on the night of the grand illumination for general s triumph lastly i should have given the one other turn and have brought out the future showing you who shall walk the main street to morrow and perchance whose funeral shall pass through it but these like most other purposes lie and i have only further to say that any lady or gentleman who may feel dissatisfied with the s entertainment shall back the admission fee at the door then give me mine cries the critic stretching out his palm i said that your exhibition would prove a and so it has out so hand over my quarter brand a an the lime a rough heavy looking man with sat watching his at nightfall while his little son played at building houses with the scattered fragments of marble when on the hill side below them they heard a roar of laughter not but slow and even solemn like a wind shaking the boughs of the forest father what is that asked the little boy his play and pressing his father s knees o some drunken man i suppose answered the lime some merry fellow from the bar room in the village who dared not laugh loud enough within doors lest he should blow the roof of the house off so here he is shaking his jolly sides at the foot of but father said the child more sensitive than the middle aged he does not laugh like a man that is glad so the noise me don t be a fool child cried his father you will never make a man i do believe there is too much of your mother in you i have known the rustling of a leaf you hark here comes the brand merry fellow now you shall see that there is no harm in him and his little son while they were talking thus sat watching the same lime that had heen the scene of brand s solitary and meditative life before he his search for the sin many years as we have seen had now elapsed since that night when the idea was first developed the however on the mountain side stood and was in nothing changed since he had thrown his dark thoughts into the intense glow of its furnace and melted them as it were into the one thought that took possession of his life it was a rude round structure about twenty feet high heavily built of rough stones and with a of earth heaped about the lai r part of its so that the blocks and fragments of marble might be drawn by cart loads and thrown in at the top there was an opening at the bottom of the tower like an oven mouth but large enough admit a man in a stooping posture and provided with a massive iron door with the smoke and of issuing from the and of this door which seemed to give into the hill side it resembled nothing so much as the private entrance to the infernal regions which the of the mountains were accustomed to show to there are many such lime in that tract of country for the purpose of burning the white marble which a large part of the substance of the hills some of built years ago and long deserted with weeds growing in the vacant round of the interior which ib open to the sky and grass and wild flowers into the of the stones look like relics of antiquity and may yet be with the of centuries to come others where the still his daily and night long fire afford points of interest to the wanderer among the hills who seats himself on a log of wood or a fragment of to hold a chat with the solitary man it is a and when the character is inclined to thought may be an intensely thoughtful occupation as it proved in the of brand who had mused to such strange purpose in days gone by while the fire in this very was burning the man who now | 35 |
e fire was of a different and troubled himself with no thoughts save the very few that were requisite to his business at frequent intervals he back the weight of the iron door and turning his face from the glare thrust in huge logs of oak or stirred ike immense with a long pole within the furnace were seen the curling and and the marble almost with the intensity of heat while without the reflection of the fire quivered on the dark of the surrounding forest and showed in the bright and ruddy little picture of the hut the spring beside its door the and coal figure of the lime aad the half frightened child the protection of his father s shadow and when again the iron door was closed then the tender light of the half full moon which vainly strove to trace out the indistinct shapes of the neighboring and in the upper sky there w s a flitting congregation of clouds still faintly tinged wilt rosy b l though thus far down into the valley the sunshine had vanished long and long ago the little boy now crept still closer to his father as footsteps were heard ascending the hill side and a human form thrust aside the bushes that clustered beneath the trees who is it cried the lime vexed at his son s timidity yet half by it come forward and show yourself like a man or i fling this of marble at your head you offer me a rough welcome said a gloomy voice as the unknown man drew nigh yet i neither claim nor desire a kinder one even at my own fireside to obtain a view threw open the iron door of the whence issued a of fierce light that smote full upon the stranger s face and figure to a careless eye there appeared nothing very remarkable in his aspect which was that of a man in a coarse brown country made suit of clothes tall and with the staff and heavy shoes of a as he advanced he fixed his eyes which were very bright intently upon the brightness of the furnace as if he beheld or expected to behold some object worthy of note within it good evening stranger said the lime whence come you so late in the day i come from my search answered the for at last it is finished drunk or crazy muttered to himself i shall have trouble with the fellow the sooner i drive him away the better the little boy all in a tremble whispered to his brand and begged him to shut the door of the so that there might not be so much light for that there was something in the man s face which he was afraid to look at yet could not look away from and indeed even the lime s dull and sense began to be impressed by an indescribable something in that thin rugged thoughtful with the hair hanging wildly about it and those deeply sunken eyes which gleamed like fires within the entrance of a mysterious but as he closed the door the stranger turned towards him and spoke in a quiet familiar way that made feel as if he were a sane and sensible man after all your task draws to an end i see said he this marble has already been burning three days a few hours more will convert the stone to lime why who are you exclaimed the lime you seem as well acquainted with my business as i am myself and well i may be said the stranger for i followed the same craft many a long year and here too on this very spot but you are a new comer in these parts did you never hear of brand the man that went in search of the sin asked with a laugh the same answered the stranger he has found what he sought and therefore he comes back again what then you are brand himself cried the lime in amazement i am a new comer here as you say and they call it eighteen years since you left the foot of but i can tell you the brand good folks still talk about brand in the village yonder and what a strange errand took him away from his lime well and so you liave found the sin even so said the stranger calmly if the question is a fair one proceeded where might it be brand laid his finger on own heart here replied he and then without mirth in his countenance but as if moved by an involuntary recognition of the infinite absurdity of seeking throughout the world for what was the of all things to himself and looking into every heart save his own for what was hidden in no other breast he broke into a laugh of scorn it was the same slow heavy laugh that had almost appalled the lime when it the s approach the solitary mountain side was made dismal by it laughter when out of place or bursting forth from a disordered state of feeling may be the most terrible of the human voice the laughter of one asleep even if it be a little child the madman s laugh the wild screaming laugh of a bom idiot are sounds that we sometimes tremble to hear and would always willingly forget poets have imagined no utterance of or so fearfully appropriate as a laugh and even the lime felt his nerves shaken as this strange man looked inward at his own heart and burst into laughter that rolled away into the night and was among the hills joe said he to his little son down to the tavern in the village and tell the fellows there that brand brand has come back and that he has found the sin the boy darted away on his | 35 |
errand to which brand made no objection nor seemed hardly to notice it he sat on a log of wood looking at the iron door of the when the child was out of sight and his swift and light footsteps ceased to be heard treading first on the fallen leaves and then on the rocky the lime began to regret his departure he felt that the little fellow s presence had been a barrier between his guest and himself and that he must now deal heart to heart with a man who on his own confession had committed the one only crime for which heaven could afford no mercy that crime in its indistinct blackness seemed to him the s own sins rose up within him and made his memory with a throng of evil shapes that asserted their kindred with the master sin whatever it might be which it was within the scope of man s nature to conceive and cherish they were all of one family they went to and fro between his breast and brand s and carried dark greetings from one to the other then remembered the stories which had grown in reference to this strange man who had come upon him like a shadow of the night and was making himself at home in his old place after so long absence that the dead people dead and for years would have had more right to be at home in any familiar spot than he brand it was had conversed with satan himself in the lurid blaze of very the legend had been matter of mirth heretofore but brand looked now according to this tale before brand departed on his search he had been accustomed to a from the hot furnace of the lime night after night in order to confer with him about the sin the man and the each laboring to frame the image of some mode of guilt which could neither be for nor forgiven and with the first gleam of light upon the mountain top the crept in at the iron door there to abide the element of fire until again summoned forth to share in the dreadful task of extending man s possible guilt beyond scope of heaven s else infinite mercy while the lime was struggling with the horror of these thoughts brand rose from the ic and flung open the door of the the action was in such accordance with the idea in s mind that he almost expected to see the evil one issue red hot from the raging furnace hold hold cried he with a tremulous attempt to for he was ashamed of his fears although they him don t for mercy s sake bring out your devil now man sternly replied brand what need have i oi the devil i have left him behind me on my track it is with such half way as you that he himself fear not because i open the door i do but act by old custom and am going to trim your fire like a lime as i was once he stirred the vast coals thrust in more wood and bent forward to gaze into the hollow prison house of the regardless of the fierce glow tiiat upon his sat watching him and brand suspected his strange guest of a purpose if not to a at least to plunge bodily into the flames and thus vanish from the sight of man brand however drew quietly back and closed the door of the i have looked said he into many a heart that was seven times with sinful passions than yonder furnace is with fire but i found not there what i sought no not the sin what is the sin asked the and then he shrank further from his companion trembling lest his question should be answered it is a sin that grew within my own breast replied brand standing erect with a pride that all of his stamp a sin that grew nowhere else the sin of an intellect that over the sense of brotherhood with man and reverence for god and sacrificed everything to its own mighty claims the only sin that deserves a of immortal agony freely were it to do again would i the guilt i accept the the man s head is turned muttered the lime to himself he may be a sinner like the rest of us nothing more likely but i be sworn he is a madman too nevertheless he felt uncomfortable at his situation alone with brand on the wild mountain side and was right glad to hear the rough murmur of tongues and the footsteps of what seemed a pretty numerous party stumbling over the stones and rustling through the soon appeared the whole lazy brand regiment that was wont to the village tavern three or four individuals who had drunk beside the bar room fire through all the and smoked their pipes beneath the stoop through all the since brand s departure laughing and mingling all their voices together in talk they now burst into the and narrow streaks of fire light that illuminated the open space before the lime set the door again the spot with light that the whole company might get a fair view of brand and he of them there among other old acquaintances was a once man now almost extinct but whom we were formerly sure to encounter at the hotel of every village throughout the country it was the the present specimen of the was a and smoke dried man wrinkled and red in a cut bob coat with brass buttons who for a length of time unknown had kept his desk and comer in the bar room and was still what seemed to be the same cigar that he had lighted twenty years before he had great fame as a dry though perhaps less on account of any humor than | 35 |
from a certain flavor of brandy and tobacco smoke which all his ideas and expressions as well as his person another well remembered though strangely altered face was that of lawyer as people still called him in courtesy an elderly in his soiled shirt sleeves and tow cloth trousers this poor fellow had been an attorney in what he called his better days a sharp and in great brand among the and and and at all hours morning noon and night had caused him to slide from intellectual to various kinds and degrees of bodily labor till at last to adopt his own phrase he slid into a soap in other words was now a soap in a small way he had come to be but the fragment of a human being a part of one foot having been off by an axe and an entire hand torn away by the devilish grip of a steam engine yet though the hand was gone a spiritual member remained for stretching forth the stump that he felt an invisible thumb and fingers with as vivid a sensation as before the real ones were a and miserable wretch he was but one nevertheless wh the world could not on and had no right to scorn either in this or any previous stage of his misfortunes since he had still kept up the courage and spirit of a man asked nothing in charity and with his one hand and that the left one fought a stem battle against want and hostile circumstances among the throng too another personage who with certain points of to lawyer had many more of it was the village doctor a man of some fifty years whom at an earlier period of his life we introduced as paying a professional to brand during the latter s supposed insanity he was now a purple rude and brutal yet figure something wild ruined and desperate in his talk and in all the details of his gesture and brandy possessed this man like an evil spirit and made him as and savage as a wild b and w mi as a lost soul but was supposed to be in him such wonderful skill such native gifts of healing beyond any which medical science could impart that society caught hold of him and would not let him out of its reach so swaying to and fro upon his horse and grumbling thick accents at the bedside he visited all the sick chambers for miles about among the mountain towns and sometimes raised a dying man as it were by miracle or quite as often no doubt sent his patient to a grave that was dug many a year too soon the doctor had an everlasting pipe in his mouth and as somebody said in allusion to his habit of it was always alight with hell fire these three pressed forward and greeted brand each after his own fashion earnestly inviting him to partake of the contents of a certain black bottle in which as they he would find something far better worth seeking for than the sin no mind which has wrought itself by intense and solitary meditation into a high state of can endure the kind of contact with low and vulgar modes of thought and to which brand was now subjected it made him doubt and to say it was a painful doubt whether he had indeed found the sin and found it within himself the whole question on which he had exhausted life and more than life looked like a delusion leave me he said bitterly ye brute beasts that have made yourselves so up your souls with i have done with you years and years brand ago i into your hearts and found nothing there for my purpose get ye gone why you scoundrel cried the fierce doctor is that the way you respond to the kindness of your best friends then let me tell you the truth you have no more found the sin than yonder boy joe has you are but a crazy fellow i told you twenty years ago neither better nor worse than a crazy fellow and the fit companion of old here he pointed to an old man dressed with long white hair thin and unsteady eyes for some years past this aged person had been wandering about among the hills inquiring of all travellers whom he met for his daughter the girl it seemed had gone ofi with a company of and occasionally tidings of her came to the village and fine stories were told of her glittering appearance as she rode on horseback in the ring or performed marvellous on the tight rope the white haired father now approached brand and gazed into his face they tell me you have been all over the earth said he wringing his hands with earnestness you must have seen my daughter for she makes a grand figure in the world and everybody goes to see her did she send any word to her old father or say when she was coming back brand s eye beneath the old man s that daughter from whom he so earnestly desired a word of greeting was the of our tale the very girl whom with such cold and purpose brand brand had made the subject of a experiment and wasted absorbed and her soul in the process yes murmured he turning away from the wanderer it is no delusion there is an sin while these things were passing a merry scene was going forward in the area of cheerful light beside the spring and before the door of the hut a number of the youth of the village young men and girls had hurried up the hill side impelled by curiosity to see brand the hero of so many a legend familiar to their childhood finding nothing however very remarkable in his aspect | 35 |
nothing but a sun burnt in plain garb and dusty shoes who sat looking into the fire as if he fancied pictures among the these young people speedily grew tired of observing him as it happened there was other amusement at hand an old german jew travelling with a on his back was passing down the mountain road towards the village just as the party turned aside from it and in hopes of out the profits of the day the had kept them company to the lime come old cried one of the young men let us see your pictures if you can swear they are worth looking at o yes captain answered the jew whether as a matter of courtesy or craft he everybody captain i shall show you indeed some very superb pictures so placing his box in a proper position he invited the young men and girls to look through the glass of the machine and proceeded to exhibit a series of the most outrageous and as specimens of the fine arts that ever an had the face to impose upon his circle of spectators the pictures were worn out moreover tattered full of cracks and wrinkles dingy with tobacco smoke and otherwise in a most pitiable condition some to be cities public and ruined castles in europe others represented napoleon s battles and s sea fights and in the midst of these would be seen a gigantic brown hairy hand which might have been mistaken for the hand of destiny though in truth it was only the s pointing its forefinger to various scenes of the conflict while its owner gave historical illustrations when with much merriment at its abominable deficiency of merit the exhibition was concluded the german bade little joe put his head into the box viewed through the glasses the boy s round rosy assumed the strangest imaginable aspect of an immense child the mouth grinning and the eyes and every other feature overflowing with fun at the joke suddenly however that merry face turned pale and its expression changed to horror for this easily impressed and child had become sensible that the eye of brand was fixed upon him through the glass you make the little man to be afraid captain said the german jew turning up the dark and strong outline of his from his stooping posture but look again and by chance i shall cause you to see somewhat that is very fine upon my word brand gazed into the box for an instant and starting back looked at the what had he seen nothing apparently for a youth had peeped in at the same moment beheld only a vacant space of i remember you now muttered brand to the ah captain whispered the jew of g with a dark smile i find it to be a heavy matter in my show box this sin by my faith captain it has wearied my shoulders this long day to carry it over the mountain peace answered sternly or get thee into the furnace yonder the jew s exhibition had scarcely concluded when a great elderly dog who seemed to be his own master as no person in the company laid claim to him saw fit to render himself the object of public notice hitherto he had shown himself a very quiet well disposed old dog going round from one to another and by way of being offering his rough head to be patted by any kindly hand that would take so much trouble but now all of a sudden this grave and venerable of his own mere motion and without the slightest suggestion from anybody else began to run round after his tail which to the absurdity of the proceeding was a great deal shorter than it should have been never was seen such headlong eagerness in pursuit of an object t could not possibly be attained never was such a tremendous outbreak of growling barking and snapping as if one end of the ridiculous s body were at deadly and most enmity the other faster and faster round went the cur and faster and still faster fled the of his tail and louder and grew his of rage and until utterly exhausted and as far from the goal as ever the foolish old dog ceased his performance as suddenly as he had begun it the next moment he as mild quiet and respectable in his as when he first scraped acquaintance with the company as may be supposed the exhibition greeted with universal laughter clapping of hands and shouts of to which the responded by all that there was to wag of his tail but appeared totally unable to repeat his very successful effort to amuse the spectators meanwhile brand had resumed his seat upon the log and moved it might be by a perception of some remote between his own case and that of this self pursuing cur he broke into the awful laugh which more than any other token expressed the condition of his inward being from that moment the merriment of the party was at an end they stood aghast lest the sound should be around the horizon and that mountain would thunder it to mountain and so the horror be prolonged upon their ears then whispering one to another that it was late that the moon almost down that the august night was growing chill they hurried leaving the lime and little joe to deal as they might with their unwelcome guest save for these three human beings the open space on the hill side was a solitude set in a vast gloom of forest beyond that verge the fire light on the stately brand trunks and almost black foliage of pines with the lighter of oaks and while here and there lay the gigantic of dead trees on the leaf strewn soil | 35 |
and it seemed to little joe a and imaginative child that the silent forest was holding its breath until some fearful thing should happen brand thrust more wood into the fire and closed the door of the then looking over his shoulder at the lime and his son he bade rather than advised them to retire to rest for myself i cannot sleep said he i have matters that it concerns me to upon i will watch the fire as i used to do in the old time and call the devil out of the furnace to keep you company i suppose muttered who had been making intimate acquaintance with the black bottle above mentioned but watch if you like and call as many devils as you like for my part i shall be all the better for a come joe as the boy followed his father into the hut he looked back at the and the tears came into his eyes for his tender spirit had an of the bleak and terrible loneliness in which this man had enveloped himself when they had gone brand sat listening to the of the kindled wood and looking at the little of fire that issued through the of the door these trifles however once so familiar had but the slightest hold of his attention while deep mind he w the gradual but marvellous that had been wrought upon him by the search to he had devoted himself he night dew had men npon him the had whispered to him how the stars had gleamed upon him a simple and loving man watching his fire in the years gone by and ever musing as it burned hfe remembered with what tenderness with what love and sympathy for mankind and what pity for human guilt and woe he had first begun to contemplate those ideas which afterwards became the inspiration of his life with reverence he had then looked into the heart of man it as a temple originally divine and however still to be held sacred by a brother with what awful fear he had the success of his pursuit and prayed that the sin might never be revealed to him then ensued that vast intellectual development which in its progress disturbed the between his mind and heart the idea that possessed his life had as a means of education it had gone on his powers to the highest point of which they were susceptible it had raised him from the level of an to stand on a star lit eminence whither the of the earth laden with the lore of might vainly strive to chamber after him so much for the intellect but where was the heart that indeed had withered had contracted had hardened had perished it had ceased to partake of the universal throb he had lost his hold of the chain of humanity he was no longer a brother man opening the chambers the of our common nature by the key of holy s which gave him a t to share in all its secrets he was now a cold observer looking on kind as the subject of his experiment and at length man and woman to be his and pulling the wires that moved them to such degrees of crime as were demanded for his study thus brand became a he began to be so from the moment that his moral nature had ceased to keep the pace of improvement with his intellect and now as his highest effort and inevitable development as the bright and gorgeous flower and rich delicious fruit of his life s labor he had produced the sin what more have i to seek what more to achieve said to himself my task is done and well done starting from the log with a certain alacrity in his gait and ascending the of earth that was raised against the stone of the lime he thus reached the top of the structure it was a space of perhaps ten feet across from edge to edge presenting a view of the upper surface of the immense mass of broken marble with which the was heaped all these and fragments of marble were red hot and vividly on fire sending up great of blue flame which quivered aloft and danced madly as within a magic circle and sank and rose again with continual and activity as the lonely man bent forward over this terrible body of fire the heat smote up against his person with a breath that it might be supposed have and him up in a moment brand stood erect and his arms on h the flames played upon his ce and imparted brand wild and ghastly light which alone could have suited its expression it was that of a on the verge of plunge ing into his gulf of torment o mother earth cried he who art no more my mother and into whose bosom this frame shall never be resolved o mankind whose brotherhood i have cast off and trampled thy great heart beneath my feet o stars of heaven that shone on me of old as if to light me onward and upward farewell all and forever come deadly element of fire henceforth my familiar friend embrace me as i do thee tbat night the sound of a fearful peal of laughter rolled heavily through the sleep of the lime and his little son dim shapes of horror and anguish haunted their dreams and seemed still present in the rude when they opened their eyes to the daylight up boy up cried the lime staring about him thank heaven the night is gone at last and rather than pass such another i would watch my wide awake for a this brand with his of an sin has done me no such mighty favor in taking my place he issued from | 35 |
the hut followed by little joe who kept fast hold of his father s hand the early sunshine was already pouring its gold upon the mountain tops and though the valleys were still in shadow they smiled cheerfully in the promise of the bright day that was hastening onward the village completely shut in by hills which swelled away gently about it looked as if it had rested peacefully in the hollow of the great hand of providence every dwelling was distinctly visible the little of the two churches pointed upwards and caught a fore glimmering of brightness from the sun gilt skies upon their gilded weather the tavern was and the figure of the old smoke dried stage agent cigar in mouth was seen beneath the stoop old was with a golden cloud upon his head scattered likewise over the breasts of the surrounding mountains there were heaps of mist in fantastic shapes some of them far down into the valley others high up towards the and still others of the same of mist or cloud hovering in the gold radiance of the upper atmosphere stepping from one to another of the clouds that rested on the hills and thence to the brotherhood that sailed in air it seemed almost as if a mortal man might thus ascend into the heavenly regions earth was so mingled with sky that it was a day dream to look at it to supply that charm of the familiar and homely which nature so readily into a scene like this the stage coach was rattling down the mountain road and the driver sounded his horn while echo caught up the notes and them into a rich and varied and elaborate harmony of which the original could lay claim to little share the great hills played a concert among themselves each a strain of airy sweetness little joe s face brightened at once dear father cried he cheerily to and fro that strange man is gone and the sky and the mountains all seem glad of it yes growled the lime with an oath but he has let the fire go down and no thanks to him if five hundred of lime are not spoiled if i catch the brand fellow again i shall feel like tossing him into the furnace with his long pole in his hand he ascended to the top of the after a moment s pause he called to his son up here joe said he so little joe ran up the and stood by his other s side the marble was all burnt into perfect snow white lime but on its surface in the midst of the circle snow white too and thoroughly converted into lime lay a human skeleton in the attitude of a person who after long toil lies down to long repose within the ribs strange to say was the shape of a human heart was the fellow s heart made of marble cried in some perplexity at this phenomenon at any rate it is burnt into what looks like special good lime and taking all the bones together my is half a the richer for him so saying the rude lime lifted his pole and letting it fall upon the skeleton the relics of brand were into fragments a bell s biography to our neighbor with the iron tongue while i sit musing over my sheet of he emphatically tells the hour in tones loud enough for all the town to hear though doubtless intended only as a gentle hint to myself that may begin his biography before the evening shall be further wasted unquestionably a personage in such an elevated position and making so great a noise in the world has a fair claim to the services of a he is the representative and most illustrious member of that innumerable class whose characteristic feature is the tongue and whose sole business to for the public good if of his noisy brethren in our tongue governed be envious of the superiority which i have assigned him they have my free consent to hang themselves as high as he and for his history let not the reader apprehend an empty repetition of bell he has been the passive hero of wonderful with which i have chanced to become acquainted possibly from his own mouth while the careless multitude supposed him to be talking merely of the time of day or calling them to dinner or to church or bidding people go or the dead to their graves many a revolution has it been his fate to go through and a bell s biography with a prodigious uproar and whether or no he have told me his reminiscences this at least is true that the more i study his deep toned language the more sense and sentiment and soul do i discover in it this bell for we may as well drop our quaint is of antique french manufacture and the symbol of the cross that it was meant to be suspended in the of a place of worship the old people have a tradition that a considerable part of the metal was supplied by a brass cannon captured in one of the of louis the over the and that a princess threw her golden into the mass it is said likewise that a bishop and blessed the bell and prayed that a heavenly influence might mingle with its tones when all due ceremonies had been performed the grand bestowed the gift than which none could his more loudly on the who were then the american indians to the spiritual dominion of the pope so the bell our self same bell whose familiar voice we may hear at all hours in the streets this very bell sent forth its first bom accents from the tower of a chapel westward of lake and near the mighty stream of | 35 |
the saint it was called our lady s chapel of the forest the peal went forth as if to redeem and the heathen wilderness the wolf growled at the sound as he stealthily through the the grim bear turned his back and stalked sullenly away the startled leaped up and led her into a deeper solitude the red men wondered what awful voice was speaking amid a s the wind that roared through the tree tops and following its summons the dark fathers blessed them as they drew near the cross crowned chapel in a little time there was a on every dusky bosom the indians knelt beneath the lowly roof in the same forms that were observed under the vast dome of saint peter s when the pope performed high mass in the presence of kneeling princes all the religious that awoke the bells of lofty called forth a peal from our lady s chapel of the forest loudly rang the bell of the wilderness while the streets of paris echoed with for the birth day of the or whenever france had on some european battle field and the solemn woods were with a melancholy as often as the thick strewn leaves were swept away from the virgin soil for the burial of an indian chief meantime the bells of a hostile people and a hostile faith were ringing on and lecture days at boston and other towns their echoes died away hundreds of miles south eastward of our lady s chapel but had the desert that lay between and from behind the huge tree trunks perceived the indians at the summons of the bell some bore haired at their as if to lay those bloody on our lady s altar it was reported and believed all through new england that the pope of rome and the king of france had established this little chapel in the forest for the purpose of stirring up the red men to a against the english the latter took energetic measures to q a bell s their r and their lives on the eve of an especial fast of the church while the bell and the priests were a a band of new england rushed from the woods fierce shouts and the report of suddenly the chapel the priests threw themselves before the altar and were slain even on its steps if as antique traditions tell us no grass will grow where tj e blood of has been shed there should be a barren spot to this very day on the site of that altar while the blood was still from step to step the leader of the seized a torch and applied it to the of the shrine the flame and smoke arose as from a burnt sacrifice at once and the whole interior of the chapel now hiding the dead priests in a now revealing them and their in one terrific glare some already wished that the altar smoke could cover the deed from the sight of heaven but one of the a man of aspect though his hands were approached the captain sir said he our village meeting house a bell and hitherto we have been fain to summon the good people to worship by beat of drum give me i pray you the bell of this chapel for the sake of the mr who doubtless hath remembered us in the prayers of the congregation ever since we began our march who can tell what share of this night s good success we owe to that holy man s with th lord nay then answered the captain if good mr a bell s bt hath our enterprise it is right that he share the spoil take the hell and welcome if you will be at the trouble of carrying it home hitherto it hath nothing but and that too in the french or indian but i warrant me if mr it anew it will talk like a good english and bell so and half a score of his took down the bell suspended it on a pole and bore it away on their sturdy shoulders meaning to carry it to the shore of lake and thence homeward by water far through the woods gleamed the flames of our lady s chapel flinging shadows from the clustered foliage and glancing on that had never caught the sunlight as the traversed the midnight forest staggering under their heavy burden the tongue of the bell gave many a tremendous stroke a most sound as if it were for the slaughter of the priests and the ruin of the chapel little dreamed and his that it was their own funeral a of indians had heard the report of and seen the blaze of the chapel and now were on the track of the summoned to vengeance by the bell s dismal in the midst of a deep swamp they made a sudden on the retreating foe good stoutly but had his skull by a and sank into the depths of the with the ponderous bell above him and for many a year thereafter our hero s voice was heard no more on earth neither at the hour of worship nor at iso a s biography and is he still buried in that unknown grave scarcely so dear reader hark how plainly we hear him at this moment the of time that it is nine o clock at night we may therefore safely conclude that some happy chance has restored him to upper air but there lay the bell for many silent years and the wonder is that he did not lie silent there a century or perhaps a dozen centuries till the world should have forgotten not only his voice but the voices of the whole brotherhood of bells how would the first accent of his iron tongue have startled his but he was not fated to be a subject | 35 |
evening two persons stood among the of a garden stealthily watching a young girl who sat in the window seat of a neighboring mansion one of these unseen a gentleman was youthful and had an air of high breeding and refinement and a face marked with intellect though otherwise of aspect his features wore even an ominous though somewhat expression while he pointed his long forefinger at the girl and to regard her as a creature completely wi in the scope of his influence the charm works said he in a low but em whisper do you know edward since so you choose to be named do you know said the lady beside him that i have almost a mind to break the spell at once what if the lesson should prove too severe true if my ward could be thus laughed out of her fantastic nonsense she might be the better for it through life but then she is such a delicate creature and besides are you not your own chance by putting forward this shadow of a rival but will he not vanish into thin air at my bidding rejoined edward let the charm work the girl s slender and like figure tinged with radiance from the sunset clouds and with the rich of the silken curtains and set within the deep frame of the window was a perfect picture or rather it was like the original loveliness in a painter s fancy from which the most finished is but an imperfect copy though her occupation so much interest in the two spectators she was merely gazing at a miniature which she held in her hand in white satin and red nor did there appear to be any other cause for the smile of mockery malice with which i regarded her the charm muttered he again our pretty s scorn will have a dear at this moment the girl raised her eyes and instead of a life ike semblance of the miniature beheld the shape of edward who now stepped from his concealment in the was an orphan girl who had i nt her life till within a few months past under the and in the secluded dwelling of an old while yet in her cradle she had been the bride of a cousin who was no less passive in the than herself their future union had been as means of two rich estates and was rendered highly expedient if not indispensable by dispositions of the parents on both sides the promised bridegroom had been bred from infancy in europe and had never seen the beautiful girl whose heart he was to claim as his inheritance but already for several years a had been kept up between the cousins and th b had produced an intellectual intimacy though it could but imperfectly them with each other s character was shy sensitive and and her guardian s secluded habits had shut her out from even so much of the world as is generally open to maidens of her age she had been left to seek associates and friends for herself in the haunts of imagination and to converse with them sometimes in the language of dead poets oftener in the poetry of her own mind the companion whom she chiefly summoned up was the cousin with whose idea her earliest thoughts had been connected she made a vision of and tinted it with stronger hues than a mere yet it with so many bright and delicate that her cousin could nowhere have encountered so dangerous a rival to this shadow she cherished a romantic fidelity with its airy presence sitting by her side or gliding along her favorite paths the loneliness of her young life was her heart was satisfied with love while yet its virgin purity was by the that the touch of a real lover would have left there seemed to be conscious of her character for in his letters he gave her a name that was happily appropriate to the of her disposition the delicate peculiarity of her and the ethereal beauty both of her mind and person instead of he called her with the of a cousin and a lover his dear when was seventeen her guardian died and she passed under the care of mrs a lady wealth and fashion and s nearest relative though a distant one while an of mrs s family she still preserved somewhat of her habits of seclusion and shrank from a too familiar with those around her still too she was to her cousin or to the shadow which bore his name the time now drew near when whose education had been completed by an extensive range of travel was to the soil of his edward a young gentleman who had been s companion both in his studies and had already the atlantic bringing letters to mrs and these him an earnest welcome which however on s part was not followed by personal partiality or even the regard that seemed due to her cousin s most intimate friend as she herself could have assigned no cause for her it might be termed instinctive s person it is true was the reverse of attractive especially when beheld for the first time yet in the eyes of the most fastidious judges the defect of natural grace was by the polish of his manners and by the intellect which so often gleamed through his dark features mrs with whom he immediately became a prodigious favorite exerted herself to overcome s dislike but in this matter her ward could neither be reasoned with nor persuaded the presence of edward was sure to render her cold shy and distant all the vivacity from her as if a cloud had come her and the sunshine ni the simplicity of s rendered it easy for so keen an observer as to detect her feel whenever any slight circumstance | 35 |
made him of them a smile might be seen to over the man s sallow none that had once beheld this smile were in any danger of forgetting it whenever they recalled to memory the features of edward they were always illuminated by this expression mockery and malice in a few weeks after s arrival he presented to a miniature of her cousin as he informed her would have been delivered but was detained with a portion of his baggage this was the miniature in the contemplation of which we beheld so absorbed at the commencement of our story such in truth was too often the habit of the shy and musing girl the beauty of the pictured was almost too perfect to represent a creature that had been bom of a fallen and world worn race and had lived to manhood amid ordinary troubles and and must become wrinkled with age and care it seemed too t for a thing formed of dust and doomed to into dust again feared that such a being would be too refined and delicate to love a simple girl like her yet even while her spirit drooped with that apprehension the picture was but the masculine of s like beauty there was that resemblance between her own face and the miniature which is said often to exist between lovers whom heaven has destined for each other and which in this instance might be owing to the kindred blood of the two parties felt indeed that there was something familiar in the countenance so like a friend did the eyes smile upon her and seem to imply a knowledge of her thoughts she could account for this impression only by supposing that in some of her day dreams imagination had up the true of her distant and unseen lover but now could give a brighter semblance of reality to those day dreams clasping the miniature to her heart she could summon forth from that haunted cell of pure and the life like shadow to with her in the moonlight garden even at it sat with her in the when the sunshine threw its broken of gold into the shade the effect upon her mind was hardly less powerful than if she had listened to and the vows of for though the illusion never quite deceived her yet the remembrance was as distinct as of a remembered interview those heavenly eyes gazed forever into her soul which drank at them as at a fountain and was if reality threw a momentary cloud between she heard the melody of a voice breathing sentiments with which her own in like music o happy yet girl thus to create the being whom she loves to him with all the attributes that were most fascinating to her heart and then to with the airy creature into the realm of and moonlight where dwelt his dreamy kindred for her lover away from earth which seemed strange and dull and and her to a country where her spirit in peaceful rapture that it had found its home many in their youth have visited that land of dreams and wandered so long in its enchanted groves that when banished thence they feel like everywhere the dark edward like the villain of a tale would often glide through the romance wherein poor walked sometimes at the most moment of her ecstasy when the features of the miniature were pictured brightest in the air they would suddenly change and and be transformed into his and always when such change occurred the wore that peculiar smile with which had glanced at before the close of summer it was told that had arrived from france and that she would meet him would meet for the first time the loved of years that very evening we will not tell how often and how earnestly she gazed upon the miniature thus to prepare herself for the approaching interview lest the throbbing of her heart should the words of welcome while the twilight grew deeper and she sat with mrs in an inner apartment lighted only by the softened gleam from an lamp which was burning at a distance on the centre table of the drawing room never before had looked so like she had with a creature of imagination till her own loveliness seemed but e creation of a delicate and dreamy fancy every of her spirit was visible in her frame as she to the rattling of wheels and the tramp upon the pavement and deemed that even the breeze bore the sound of her lover s footsteps as if he upon the air mrs too while she watched the tremulous flow of s feelings was deeply moved she looked uneasily at the agitated girl and was about to speak when the opening of the street door arrested the words upon her lips footsteps ascended the staircase with a confident and familiar tread and some one entered the room from the sofa where they sat in the inner apartment mrs and could not discern the cried a voice dearest where you sweet here is your but instead of answering or rising to meet her lover who had greeted her by the sweet and fanciful name appropriate as it was to her character was known only to him grasped mrs s arm while her whole frame shook with the throbbing of her heart who is it gasped she who calls me before mrs could reply the stranger entered the room bearing the lamp in his hand approaching the sofa he displayed to the features of edward by that evil smile from which his face derived so marked an individuality is not the miniature an admirable likeness inquired he shuddered but had not power to turn away her white face from his gaze the miniature which she had been holding in her hand fell down upon the floor where or set his foot upon | 35 |
it and the ivory to fragments t there my sweet he it i that created your phantom lover and now i him your dream is rudely broken awake awake to truth i am the only we have gone too far said mrs catching in her arms the which s wounded vanity had suggested had been by this lady in the hope of of her romantic notions and her to the truths and realities of life look at the poor child she continued i protest i tremble fan the consequences indeed madam replied as he threw the light of the lamp on s closed eyes and marble features well my conscience is clear i did but look into this delicate creature s heart and with the pure that i found there i made what seemed a man and the shadow has her away to shadow land and vanished there it is no new tale many a sweet maid has shared the lot of poor and now said mrs as s heart began faintly to throb again now try in good earnest to win back her love from the phantom which you up if you succeed she will be the better her whole life long for the lesson we have given her whether the result of the lesson with mrs s hopes may be gathered from the closing scene of our story it had been made known to the fashionable world that s from and under the assumed name of edward had won the affections of the lovely girl to whom he had heen in his the were to take place at an early date one evening the day of anticipated bliss arrived entered mrs s draw ing room where he found that lady and only that makes no complaint remarked mrs i should apprehend that the town air is ill suited to her constitution she was always indeed a delicate creature but now she is a mere do but look at her did you ever imagine anything so fragile was already attentively observing his mistress who sat in a shadowy and recess of the room with her dreamy eyes fixed upon his own the bough of a tree was waving before the window and sometimes enveloped her in the gloom of its shadow into which she seemed to vanish yes he said to mrs i can scarcely deem her of the earth no wonder that i call her she will fade into the moonlight which falls upon her through the window or in the open air she might away upon the breeze like a wreath of mist s eyes grew yet brighter she waved her hand to with a gesture of ethereal triumph farewell she said i will neither fade into the moonlight nor away upon the breeze yet you cannot keep me here there was something in s look and tones that i startled mrs with a terrible apprehension but as she was rushing towards the girl held her back stay cried he with a strange smile of mockery and anguish can our sweet be going to heaven to seek the original of the miniature the the summer moon which shines in so many a tale was beaming over a broad extent of country some of its brightest rays were flung into a spring of water where no toiling as the writer has up the road beside which it ever failed to his thirst the work of neat hands and considerate art was visible about this blessed fountain an open and out of solid stone was placed above the waters which filled it to the brim but by some invisible outlet were conveyed away without dripping down its sides though the basin had not room for another drop and the continual of water made a tremor oil the surface there was a secret charm that forbade it to i remember that when i had my summer thirst and sat panting by the it was my fanciful theory that nature could not to lavish so pure a liquid as she does the waters of all fountains while the moon was hanging almost over this spot two figures appeared on the summit of the hill and came with noiseless footsteps down towards the spring they were then in the first freshness of youth nor is there a now on either of their brows and yet they wore a strange old fashioned garb one a young man with ruddy cheeks walked beneath the thb of a broad gray hat he seemed to have inherited his great s square skirted coat and a waistcoat that extended its immense to his knees his brown locks also hung down behind in a mode unknown to our times by his side was a sweet young her fair features sheltered by a little bonnet within which appeared the muslin of a cap her close long gown and indeed ber whole attire might have been worn by some rustic beauty who had faded half a century before but that there wm something too warm and life like in them i would have compared this couple to the ghosts of two young lovers who had died long since in the glow of passion and now were out of their graves to renew the old vows and shadow forth the kiss of their earthly lips beside the spring thee and i will rest here a moment said the young man as they drew near the stone for there is no fear that the elders know what we have done and this may be the last time we shall ever taste this water thus speaking with a little sadness in his face which was also visible in that of his companion he made her sit down on a stone and was about to place himself very close to her side she however him though not nay said she giving him a timid push with her maiden hand thee must sit | 35 |
further off on that other stone with the spring between us what would the sisters say if thee were to sit so close to me but we are of the world s people now answered thb the girl persisted in her nor did the youth in fact seem altogether free from a similar sort of shyness so they sat apart from each other gazing up the hill where the moonlight discovered the tops of a group of buildings while their attention was thus occupied a party of travellers who had come wearily up the long ascent made a halt to refresh themselves at the spring there were three men a woman and a little girl and boy their attire was mean covered with the dust of the summer s day and damp with the night dew they all looked woe as if the cares and sorrows of the world had made their steps heavier as they climbed the hill even the two little children appeared older in evil days than the young man and maiden who had first approached the spring good evening to you young folks was the salutation of the travellers and good evening friends replied the youth and is that white building the meeting house asked one of the strangers and are those the red roofs of the village friend it is the village answered after some hesitation the travellers who from the first had looked suspiciously at the garb of these young people now them with an intention which all the circumstances indeed rendered too obvious to be mistaken it is true friends replied the young man up his courage and i have a gift to love each other and we are going among the world s people to live after their fashion and ye know that we do not thb the law of the land and neither ye nor the elders themselves have a right to hinder us yet you think it expedient to depart without remarked one of the travellers yea ye a said reluctantly because job is a very awful man to speak with and being aged himself he has but little charity for what he calls the of the flesh well said the stranger we will neither use force to bring you back to the village nor will we betray you to the elders but sit you here a while and when you have heard v at we shall tell you of the world which we have left and into which you are going perhaps you will turn back with us of your own accord what say you added he turning to his companions we have travelled thus far without becoming known to each other shall we tell our stories here by this pleasant spring for our own and the benefit of these young lovers in accordance with this proposal the whole party stationed themselves round the stone the two children being very weary fell asleep upon the damp earth and the pretty girl whose feelings were those of a or a lady crept as close as possible to the female traveller and as far as she well could from the unknown men the same person who had hitherto been the chief now stood up waving his hat in his hand and suffered the moonlight to fall full upon his front in me said he with a certain majesty of utterance in me you behold a poet though a print of this gentleman is the it may be well to notice that he was now nearly forty a thin and stooping figure in a black coat out at elbows notwithstanding the ill condition of his attire there were about him several tokens of a peculiar sort of unworthy of a mature man particularly in the arrangement of his ir which was so disposed as to give all possible and breadth to his forehead however he had an intelligent eye and on the whole a marked countenance a poet repeated the young a little puzzled how to such a seldom heard in the community where he had spent his life o ay he means a maker thee must know this remark upon the susceptible nerves of the poet nor could he help wondering what strange had put into this young man s mouth an epithet which ill natured people had affirmed to be more proper to his merit than the one assumed by himself true i am a verse maker he resumed but my verse is no more than the material body into which i breathe the celestial soul of thought alas how many a pang has it cost me this same to the ethereal essence of poetry with which you have here tortured me again at the moment when i am to my profession forever o fate why hast thou with nature turning all her higher and more perfect gifts to the ruin of me their possessor what is the voice of song when the world the ear of taste how can i rejoice in my strength and delicacy of feeling when they have but made great sorrows out of little ones have i dreaded scorn like death thb and for fame as others for vital air only to find myself in a middle state between obscurity and but i have my revenge i could have given to a thousand bright i crush them into my heart and there let them i shake off the dust of my feet against my countrymen but posterity tracing my footsteps up this weary hill will cry shame upon the unworthy age that drove one of the fathers of american song to end his days in a village during this the speaker with great energy and as poetry is the natural language of passion there appeared reason to apprehend his final explosion into an the reader must understand that for all these bitter words he was a kind gentle harmless poor fellow enough whom nature tossing | 35 |
her together without looking at her had sent into the world with too much of one sort of brain and hardly any of another friend said the young in some perplexity thee to have met with great troubles and doubtless i should pity them if if i could but understand what they were happy in your ignorance replied the poet with an air of sublime superiority to your mind perhaps i may seem to speak of more important when i add what i had well nigh forgotten tliat i am out at elbows and almost starved to death at any rate have the advice and example of one individual to warn you back for i am come hither a disappointed man aside the fragments of my hopes and the seeking shelter in the retreat which you are so anxious to leave i thank thee friend rejoined the youth but i do not mean to be a poet nor heaven be praised do i think ever made a in her life so we need not fear thy disappointments but he added with real concern thee that the elders admit nobody that has not a gift to be useful now what under the sun can they do with this poor maker nay do not thee the poor man said the girl in all simplicity and kindness our hymns are very rough and perhaps they may trust him to smooth them without noticing this hint of professional employment the poet turned away and gave himself up to a sort of vague reverie which he called thought sometimes he watched the moon pouring a silvery liquid on the clouds through which it slowly melted till they became all then he saw the same sweet radiance dancing on the leafy trees which as if to shake it off or sleeping on the high tops of hills or hovering down in distant valleys like the material of dreams lastly he looked into the spring and there the light was mingling with the water in its crystal bosom too beholding all heaven reflected there he found an emblem of ft pure and tranquil breast he listened to that most ethereal of all sounds the song of coming in choir upon the wind and fancied that if moonlight could be heard it would sound just like that finally he took a draught at the spring and as if it were the true was forthwith moved to compose a a farewell to his harp which he swore the should be its closing strain the last verse that an ungrateful world should have from him this with two or three other little pieces subsequently written he took the first opportunity to send by one of the brethren to where they were published in the new meantime another of the one so different from the poet that the delicate fancy of the latter could hardly have conceived of him began to relate his sad experience he was a small man of quick and gestures about fifty years old with a narrow forehead all wrinkled and drawn together he held in his hand a pencil and a card of some commission merchant in foreign parts on the back of which for there was light enough to read or write by he seemed ready to figure out a calculation young man said he abruptly what quantity of land do the own here in that is more than i can tell thee friend answered but it is a very rich establishment and for a long way by the road side thee may guess the land to be ours by the neatness of the fences and what may be the value of the whole continued the stranger with all the buildings and improvements pretty nearly in round numbers o a monstrous sum more than i can reckon replied the young well sir said the pilgrim there was a day and not very long ago neither when i stood at my window and watched the signal flags of three of my own ships entering the harbor from the east indies from liverpool and from up the straits and i would the not have given the of the least of them for the title deeds of this whole settlement you stare perhaps now you won t believe that i could have put more value on a little piece of paper no bigger than the palm of your hand than all these solid acres of grain grass and pasture land would sell for i won t dispute it friend answered but i know i had rather have fifty acres of this good land than a whole sheet of thy paper you may say so now said the ruined merchant bitterly for my name would not be worth the paper i should write it on of course you must have heard of my failure and the stranger mentioned his name which however mighty it might have been in the commercial world the young had never heard of among the hills not heard of my failure exclaimed the merchant considerably why it was spoken of on change in london and from boston to new men trembled in their shoes at all events i did fail and you see me here on my road to the village where doubtless for the are a shrewd they will have a due respect for my experience and give me the management of the trading part of the in which case i think i can pledge myself to double their capital in four or five years turn back with me young man for though you will never meet with my good luck you can hardly escape my bad i will not turn back for this replied calmly any more than for the advice of the maker between whom and thee friend i see a sort of likeness the though i can t justly say where it lies but and i can earn | 35 |
s eyes they had but stepped across the threshold of their homes when lo the dark array of cares and sorrows that rose up to warn them back the varied of the strangers had arranged themselves into a they seemed not merely instances of fate that had befallen others but shadowy of disappointed hope and toil domestic grief and that would cloud the onward path of these poor but after one instant s hesitation they opened their arms and sealed their resolve with as pure and fond an embrace as ever youthful love had we will not go back said they the world thb never can be dark to us for we will always love another then the went up the hill while the poet a and desperate of the farewell to his harp fitting music for that melancholy band they sought a home where all former ties of nature or society would be and all old distinctions and a cold and security be fo hope and fear as in that other refuge of the world s weary the grave the lovers drank at the spring and then with hopes but more confiding affections went on to mingle m an life old news is a volume of what were once each on a small half sheet yellow and time stained of a coarse fabric and with a rude old type their aspect a singular impression of antiquity in a species of literature which we are accustomed to consider as connected only with the present moment as they were intended and supposed to be they have long the and his whole list and have proved more as to their physical existence than most of the timber bricks and stone of the town where they were issued these are bat the least of their triumphs the government the interests the opinions in short all the moral circumstances that were contemporary with their publication have passed away and left no better record of what they were than may be found in these frail leaves happy are the of newspapers their productions all others in immediate popularity and are certain to acquire another sort of value with the lapse of time they scatter their leaves to the wind as the did and posterity them to be up among the best materials of its wisdom with hasty pens they write for immortality old news it is pleasant to take one of these little dingy between the thumb and finger and picture forth the personage who above ninety years ago held it wet from the press and steaming before the fire many of the numbers bear the name of an old there he sits a major a member of the council and a merchant in his high backed arm chair ing a solemn wig and grave attire such as his imposing of mien and displaying but little finery except a huge pair of silver shoe curiously carved observe the awful reverence of his as he reads his majesty s most gracious speech and the deliberate wisdom with which he over some paragraph of provincial politics and the intelligence with which he glances at the ship news and commercial observe and smile he may have been a wise man in his day but to us the wisdom of the appears like folly because we can compare its with actual results and the old merchant seems to have busied himself about because we know that the expected ships have been lost at sea or at the that his imported were long ago worn to and his of wine to the and that the most precious leaves of his have become yet his were not so vain as our philosophic in this world we are the things of a moment and are made to pursue momentary things with here and there a thought that stretches towards eternity and perhaps may endure as long all philosophy that would abstract mankind from the present is no more than words old news the first pages of most of these old papers are as as a of here we have an clergyman or perhaps a cambridge professor occupying several successive weeks with a criticism on and as compared with the new england version of the of course the preference is given to the native article here are doctors about the treatment of a fever then and each other with a characteristic that renders the not altogether here are president and the rev dr to raise a fund for the support of among the indians of bay easy would be the duties of such a mission now here for there is nothing new under the sun are frequent complaints of the disordered state of the and the project of a bank with a capital of five hundred thousand pounds secured on lands here are literary essays from the gentleman s magazine and against the from the london newspapers and here occasionally are specimens of new england humor laboriously light and as if some very sober person in his zeal to be merry were dancing a to the tune of a funeral all this is wearisome and we must turn the leaf there is a good deal of amusement and some profit in the perusal of those little which the manners and circumstances of the country new england was then in a state more picturesque than at present or than it has been within the memory of man there being as yet only a narrow strip of civilization along the edge of a vast forest i old news with of its original lace to contrast the savage life with the old customs of another world the white population also was by the of all sorts of and by the continual of bond servants from ireland and elsewhere so that there was a wild and unsettled multitude forming a strong to the sober descendants of the then there were the slaves their dark shade | 35 |
to the picture of society the consequence of all this was a great variety and of action and incident many instances of which t be selected from these columns where they are told with a simplicity and of style that bring the striking points into very strong relief it is natural to suppose too that these circumstances the body of the people and made their course of life generally less regular than that of their descendants there is no evidence that the moral standard was higher then than now or indeed that morality was so well defined as it has since become there seem to have been quite as many and in proportion to the number of honest deeds there were in hot blood and in malice and bloody quarrels over liquor some of our fathers also appear to have been to wives if we may trust the frequent notices of from bed and board the the the prison and the gallows each had their use in those old times and in short as often as our imagination lives in the past we find it a and age than our own with hardly any perceptible advantages and much that gave life a tinge in vain we endeavor to throw a sunny and joyous air old our picture of this period nothing passes before our fancy but a crowd of sad people moving through a dull gray atmosphere it is certain that winter rushed upon them with storms than now up the narrow forest paths and the roads along the sea coast with snow so that weeks elapsed before the newspaper announce how many travellers had perished or what had strewn the shore the cold was more piercing then and lingered further into the spring making the corner a comfortable seat till long past may day by the number of such accidents on record we might suppose that the thunder stone as they termed it fell oftener and on dwellings and wretches in fine our fathers bore the of more raging and pitiless elements than we there were also of a more fearful tempest than those of the elements at two or three dates we have stories of drums trumpets and all sorts of martial music passing the midnight sky accompanied with the roar of cannon and rattle of prophetic echoes of the sounds that were soon to shake the land besides these airy there were of french on the coast and of the march of french and indians through the wilderness along the borders of the the country was moreover with grievous sickness the small raged in many of the towns and seems though so familiar a to have been regarded with as much as that which drove the throng from wall street at the approach of a new were too and a and old news throat diseases in medical books the dark superstition of former days had not yet been so far as not to the gloom of the present times there is an advertisement indeed by a committee of the calling for information as to the circumstances of in the late calamity of with a view to for their losses and misfortunes but the tenderness with which above forty years it was thought expedient to allude to the delusion a good deal of lingering error as well as the advance of more enlightened opinions the rigid hand of might yet be felt upon the reins of government while some of the intimate a spirit on the part of the people the after a that great have been committed by persons entering town and leaving it in and other wheel carriages on the evening before the sabbath give notice that a watch will hereafter be set at the gate to prevent these it is amusing to see boston assuming the aspect of a walled city guarded probably by a of church members with a at their head makes against certain loose and people who have been wont to stop passengers in the streets on the fifth of november otherwise called pope s day and for the building of in this instance the are more than the magistrate the elaborate of were in accordance with the sombre character of the times in cases of ordinary death the seldom fails to notice that old news the corpse was very decently but when some mortal has yielded to his fate the of the such a one is announced with all his titles of justice and colonel then follows an sketch of his honorable ancestors and lastly an account of the black pomp of his funeral and the liberal expenditure of gloves and mourning rings the burial train slowly before us as we have seen it represented in the wood cuts of that day the coffin and the and the lamentable friends trailing th ir long black garments while grim death a most skeleton with all kinds of in front there was a at this period one john who seems to have gained the chief of his living by letting out a coach to it would not be fair however to leave quite so dismal an impression on the reader s mind nor should it be forgotten that happiness may walk in dark attire as well as dance in a dress and this reminds us that there is an notice of the dancing school near the orange tree whence we may infer that the art was occasionally practised though perhaps into a characteristic gravity of movement this was probably confined to the aristocratic circle of which the royal governor was the centre but we are at the attempt of to introduce a more amusement he the whole country to match his black in a race for a hundred pounds to be decided on common or beach nothing as to the manners of the times can be old news inferred from this of an individual there were no daily and continual opportunities of | 35 |
being merry but sometimes the people rejoiced in their own peculiar fashion oftener with a calm religious smile than with a broad laugh as when they like one great family at time or indulged a mirth throughout the pleasant days of election week this latter was the true holiday season of new england military were too seriously important in that warlike time to be among amusements but they stirred up and the public mind and were occasions of solemn festival to the governor and great men of the province at the expense of the field officers the revolution blotted a feast day out of our for the of the king s birth appears to have been celebrated with most imposing pomp by from castle william a military parade a grand dinner at the town house and a brilliant illumination in the evening there was nothing forced nor feigned in these of loyalty to george the second so long as they dreaded the of a the people were fervent for the house of and besides the immediate of the country was a barrier between the monarch and the occasional of the colonies the waves of sometimes reached the governor s chair but never swelled against the throne thus until oppression was felt to proceed from the king s own hand new england rejoiced with her whole heart on his majesty s birth day but the slaves we suspect were the part of the population since it was their gift to be merry in the old worst of circumstances and they endured comparatively few hardships under the domestic sway of our fathers there seems to have been a great trade in these human no are more frequent than those of a negro fellow fit for almost any household work a negro woman honest healthy and capable a young negro of many desirable qualities a negro man very fit for a we know not in what this natural fitness for a tailor consisted unless it were some peculiarity of that enabled him to sit cross legged when the slaves of a family were it being not quite to drown the superfluous like a litter of notice was of a negro child to be given away sometimes the slaves assumed the property of their own persons and made their escape among many such instances the governor raises a cry after his negro but without venturing a word in of the general system we confess our opinion that caesar and all such great roman would have been better advised had they staid at home the cattle cleaning dishes in fine performing their moderate share of the labors of life without being harassed by its cares the inmates of the mansion were not excluded from the domestic affections in families of rank they had their places at the board and when the circle closed round the evening hearth its blaze glowed on their dark shining faces familiarly with their master s children it must have contributed to reconcile to their lot that they saw white men and women imported from europe as they had been from africa i old m w and sold though only for a term of years yet as actual slaves to the highest slave labor being but a small part of the industry of the country it did not change the character of the people the latter on the contrary modified and softened the institution making it a and almost a beautiful peculiarity of the times ah we had forgotten the good old merchant over whose shoulder we were peeping while he read the newspaper let us now suppose him putting on his three gold hat grasping his dine with a head of and of pearl and setting forth through the crooked streets of boston on various errands suggested by the of the day thus he with himself i must be says he to call at captain s in creek lane and examine his rich velvet whether it be fit for my apparel on election day that i may wear a stately aspect in presence of the governor and my brethren of the council i will look in also at the shop of michael the he has silver of a new fashion and mine have lasted me some half years my fair daughter shall have an apron of gold and a velvet mask though it would be a pity the should hide her comely and also a french cap from robert on the north side of the he hath beads too and ear rings and of all sorts these are but nevertheless they would please the silly maiden well my dame another female in the kitchen wherefore i must inspect the lot of irish for sale by samuel aboard the as also the likely old news id at captain s it were not amiss that i took my daughter to see the royal near the town dock that she may learn to honor our most gracious king and queen and their royal even in their images not that i would approve of image worship the too that strange beast from africa with two great to be seen near the common i would fain go thither and see how the old were wont to ride i will a while in queen street at the book store of my good friends green and purchase doctor s new sermon and the of by mr henry and look over the on between the reverend peter and an unknown adversary and see whether this george be as great in print as he is to be in the pulpit by that time the will have commenced at the royal exchange in king street moreover i must look to the disposal of my last cargo of west india rum and sugar and also the lot of choice cheese lest it grow it were well that i ordered a of good english beer at | 35 |
the lower end of milk street then am i to speak with certain about the lot of stout old rich and which i have now in the cellar of the old south but a pipe or two of the rich shall be reserved that it may grow mellow in mine own and my heart when it begins to with old age old gentleman but was he of his did he him to call at the of in cold lane and select such i old news a grave stone as would best please him there wrought the man whose or that of his fellow was ultimately in demand by all the busy multitude who have left a record of their earthly toil in these old time stained papers and now as we turn over the we seem to be wandering among the stones of a burial ground n the old french was at a period about twenty years subsequent to that of our former sketch we again attempt a of some of the characteristics of life and manners in new england our text book as before is a file of antique newspapers the volume which serves us for a is a of larger dimensions than the one before described and the papers are generally printed on a whole sheet sometimes with a leaf of news and they have a venerable appearance being with the of more than seventy years and here and there with the deeper of some liquid as if the contents of a wine glass had long since been upon the page still the old book an impression that when the separate numbers were flying about town jn the first day or two of their respective they might have been fit reading for very people such newspapers could have been issued nowhere but in a metropolis the centre not only of public and private but of fashion and old news without any to the press these might have been and probably were spread out on the tables of the british coffee house in king street for the perusal of the throng of officers who then drank their wine at that celebrated establishment to interest these military gentlemen there were of the war between and between england and france on the old battle plains of and between the same in the fields of the east indies and in our own woods where white men never trod until they came to fight there or the travelled american the of the colonies the of london as the newspaper was the semblance of the london journals he with his gray powdered his embroidered coat lace and glossy silk stockings golden his of glittering at knee band and his scented handkerchief and beneath his arm even such a dainty figure need not have to glance at these old yellow pages while they were the mirror of passing times for his amusement there were essays of wit and humor the light literature of the day which for breadth and license might have proceeded from the pen of or while in other columns he would delight his imagination with the of all sorts of finery and with the rival of half a dozen makers in short manners and customs had almost entirely those of the even in their own city of refuge it was natural that with the lapse of time and increase of wealth and population the peculiarities of the early old news should have fainter and fainter through the generations of their descendants who also had been by a continual accession of from many countries and of all characters it tended to the manners to those of the mother country that the commercial intercourse was great and that the merchants often went thither in their own ships indeed almost every man of adequate fortune felt a yearning desire and even judged it a filial duty at least once in his life to visit the home of his ancestors they still called it their own home as if new england were to them what many of the old had considered it not a permanent abiding place but merely a lodge in the wilderness until the trouble of the times should be passed the example of the royal must have had much influence on the manners of the for these rulers assumed a degree of state and splendor which had never been practised by their who differed in nothing from republican chief under the old the officers of the crown the public characters in the interest of the administration and the gentlemen of wealth and good descent generally noted for their loyalty would constitute a dignified circle with the governor in the centre bearing a very resemblance to a court their ideas their habits their code of courtesy and their dress would have all the fresh glitter of fashions immediately derived from the fountain head in england to prevent their modes of life from becoming the standard with all who had the ability to imitate them there was no longer an undue severity of religion nor as yet any to british nor prejudices against pomp old news thus while the colonies were that strength which was soon to render them an independent republic it might have been supposed that the classes were growing into an aristocracy and for hereditary rank while the poor were to be stationary in their and the country perhaps to be a sister with england such doubtless were the plausible conjectures from the superficial phenomena of our connection with a government until the nobility were with the mob by the mere gathering of winds that preceded the storm of the the of that storm were not yet visible in the air a true picture of society therefore would have the rich effect produced by distinctions of rank that seemed permanent and by appropriate habits of splendor on the part of the gentry the people at | 35 |
village meeting house the provincial captains are up for soldiers in every newspaper old news sir for men to be employed on the lakes and gives notice to the officers of seven british dispersed on the service to in boston captain of the province ship of war king george able to serve his majesty for fifteen pounds old tenor per month by the rewards offered there would appear to have been frequent from the new england forces we their wisdom if not their or integrity cannon of all and balls pistols swords and were common articles of daniel jones at the sign of the hat and offers to supply officers with scarlet gold lace for hats and and other military allowing credit until the shall be made up this advertisement gives us quite a gorgeous idea of a provincial captain in full dress at the commencement of the campaign of the british general the farmers of new england that a regular market will be established at lake george whither they are invited to bring provisions and of all sorts for the use of the army hence we may form a singular picture of petty traffic far away from any permanent among the hills which border that romantic lake with the solemn woods the scene of and fat are placed upright against the huge trunks of the trees fowls hang from the lower branches against the heads of those beneath butter great and brown of household bread baked in distant are collected under temporary of old news pine boughs with and perhaps and other barrels of and beer are running freely into the wooden of the soldiers imagine such a scene beneath the dark forest with here and there a few struggling to the gloom see the shrewd with their scarlet customers somewhat in their prices but still dealing at monstrous profit and then complete the picture with circumstances that war and danger a cannon shall be seen to its smoke from among the trees against some distant on the lake the shall pause and seem to at intervals as if they heard the rattle of or the shout of indians a party shall be driven in with two or three faint and bloody men among them and in spite of these business goes on briskly in the market of the wilderness it must not be supposed that the martial character of the times interrupted all pursuits except those connected with war on the contrary there appears to have been a general vigor and vivacity diffused into the whole round of life during the winter of it was that about a thousand loads of country produce were daily brought into boston market it was a symptom of an irregular and course of affairs that innumerable were projected for the purpose of public improvements such as roads and bridges many females seized the opportunity to engage in business as among others quick who dealt in and next door to s mary who sold butter at the old news brazen head in who taught ornamental work near the orange tree where also were to be seen the king and queen in wax work an in glass painting drawing and mary salmon who shod horses at the pain at the buck and glove and mrs maria at the golden fan both fashionable who and and scarlet opposite the old brick meeting house besides a lady at the head of a wine and spirit establishment little did these good expect to before the public so long after they had made their last behind the counter our great were a stirring and seem not to have been utterly despised by the gentlemen at the british coffee house at least some gracious bachelor there resident gives public notice of his to take a wife provided she be not above twenty three and possess brown hair regular features a brisk eye and a fortune now this was great condescension towards the ladies of bay in a lieutenant of foot polite literature was beginning to make its appearance few native works were advertised it is true except sermons and of divinity nor were the english authors of the day much known on this side of the atlantic but were frequently offered at or private sale the standard english books history essays and poetry of queen anne s age and the preceding century we see nothing in the nature of a novel unless it be the two mothers price four there was an american old news poet however of whom mr has no specimen the author of war an heroic poem he by and to his for not taking their books we have discovered a also and one that has a peculiar claim to be recorded here since it bore the title of the new england magazine a forgotten for which we should have a filial respect and take its excellence on trust the fine arts too were into existence at the old glass and picture shop in maps plates and views are advertised and among them a prospect of boston a copper plate of and the of all the new england ministers ever done in all must have been very articles other ornamental wares were to be found at the same shop such as musical books english and dutch toys and london babies about this period mr gives notice of a concert of and music there had already been an attempt at theatrical there are tokens in every newspaper of a style of luxury and magnificence which we do not usually associate with our ideas of the times when the property of a deceased person was to be sold we find among the household furniture silk beds and table turkey carpets pictures pier glasses massive plate and all things proper for a noble mansion wine was more generally drunk than now though by no means to the neglect of ardent spirits for the apparel of both sexes the | 35 |
and imported good store of fine especially scarlet crimson old news and sky blue and gold and gold and silver lace and silver and silver until shone and sparkled with their the dress by taste into a like compared with the deep rich glowing splendor of our ancestors such figures were almost too fine to go about town on foot accordingly carriages were so numerous as to require a tax and it is recorded that when governor came to the province he was met between and boston by a multitude of gentlemen in their and take my arm gentle reader and come with me into some street perhaps trodden by your daily footsteps but which now has such an aspect of half familiar strangeness that you suspect yourself to be walking abroad in a dream true there are some brick which you remember from childhood and which your father and grandfather remembered as well but you are perplexed by the absence of many that were here only an hour or two since and still more amazing is the presence of whole rows of wooden and houses projecting over the side walks and bearing iron figures on their fronts which prove them to have stood on the same above a century where have your eyes been that you never saw them before along the ghostly street for at length you conclude that all is though it be so good a mockery of an antique town along the ghostly street there are ghostly people too every gentleman has his three hat either on his head or under his arm and all wear in infinite variety the tie the the the the i old news major the the grave full bottom or the giddy feather top look at the elaborate lace and the square skirted coats of gorgeous hues with silver and gold make way for the phantom ladies whose require such breadth of passage as they pace along in silken gowns blue green or yellow brilliantly embroidered and with small satin hats their powdered hair make way for the whole show will vanish if your earthly garments brush against their robes now that the scene is brightest and the whole street with imaginary sunshine now hark to the bells of the old south and the old north ringing out with a sudden and merry peal while the cannon of castle william thunder below the town and those of the repeat the sound and the reply with a nearer roar you see the crowd toss up their hats in visionary joy you hear of and fire works and of built on raised several stories above the ground that are to blaze all night in king street and on hill and here come the trumpets and and the hoofs of the boston troop of horse guards the governor to king s chapel where he is to return solemn thanks for the surrender of march on thou shadowy troop and vanish ghostly crowd and change again old street for those stirring times are gone for the conclusion of our sketch a fire broke out on the twentieth of march at the brazen in and consumed nearly four hundred buildings similar have always been in the of boston that of had old news hitherto been termed the great fire but now resigned its dignity to one which has ever since retained it did we desire to move the reader s sympathies on this subject we would hot be about the sea of flame the glowing and crumbling streets the broad black of smoke and the blast of wind that sprang up with the and roared behind it it would be more effective to mark out a single family at the moment when the flames caught upon an angle of their dwelling then would the removal of the ridden grandmother the cradle with the sleeping infant and most dismal of all the dying man just at the extremity of a lingering disease do but imagine the confused agony of one thus awfully disturbed in his last hour his fearful glance behind at the fire raging after him from house to house as its devoted victim and finally the almost eagerness with which he would seize some calmer interval to die the great fire must have realized many such a scene doubtless posterity has acquired a better city by the calamity of that generation none will be inclined to lament it at this late day except the lover of antiquity who would have been glad to walk among those streets of venerable houses the old inhabitants still there that he might with their shadows and paint a more vivid picture of their times old news m the old we take a leap of about twenty years and alight in the midst of the revolution indeed having just closed a volume of newspapers which represented the period when and aristocratic sentiments were at the highest and now opening another volume printed in the same metropolis after such sentiments had long been deemed a sin and shame we feel as if the leap were more than our late course of reading has us for the moment with antique prejudices and we shrink from the strangely contrasted times into which we like one of those old who acknowledge no oppression in the stamp act it may be the most effective method of going through the present file of papers to follow out this idea and perchance from a modem tory into such a sturdy king man as once wore that well then here we sit an old gray withered sort of gentleman erect enough here in our solitude but marked out by a depressed and mien abroad as one conscious of a upon his forehead though for no crime we were already in the decline of life when the first of the earthquake that has the continent were felt our mind had grown too rigid | 35 |
to change any of its opinions when the voice of the people demanded that all should be changed we are an and sat under the high church doctrines of doctor we have been a captain of the provincial forces and love our king old n the better for the blood that we shed in his cause on the plains of m among all the there is not one more loyal to the back bone than we still we lingered behind when the british army boston sweeping in its train most of those with whom we held communion the old loyal gentlemen the aristocracy of the colonies the hereditary englishman with more than native zeal and admiration for the glorious island and its monarch because the far intervening ocean threw a dim reverence around them when our brethren departed we could not tear our aged roots out of the soil we have remained therefore enduring to be outwardly a but king george in secrecy and silence one true old heart amongst a host of enemies we watch with a weary hope for the moment when all this turmoil shall and the novelty that has distracted our latter years like a wild dream give place to the blessed of royal sway with the king s name in every his prayer in the church his health at the board and his love in the people s heart meantime our old age finds little honor have we been till driven from town meetings dirty water has been cast upon our by a john s coachman every opportunity to us with mud daily are we by the rebel and narrowly once did our gray hairs escape the of tar and feathers alas only that we cannot bear to die till the next royal governor comes over we would fain be in our quiet grave such an old man among new things are we who now h d at arm s length the rebel newspaper of the day old news the very figure head for the time a groan of where are the united heart and crown the loyal emblem that used to the sheet on it was impressed in our younger days in its stead we find a continental officer with the declaration of independence in one hand a drawn sword in the other and above his head a bearing the motto we appeal to heaven then say we with a triumph let heaven judge in its own good time the material of the sheet our scorn it is a fair specimen of rebel manufacture thick and coarse like paper all with little and of such a deep dingy blue color that we wipe our spectacles thrice before we can distinguish a letter of the wretched print thus in all points the newspaper is a type of the times far more fit for the rough hands of a mob than for our own delicate though bony fingers nay we will not handle it without our gloves glancing down the page our eyes are greeted everywhere by the offer of lands at for sale or to be not by the owners but a rebel committee notices of the town that he is to receive the taxes on such an estate in of which that also is to be knocked down to the highest and of complaints filed by the attorney general against certain and of that are to and who are these our own best friends names as old once as honored as any in the land where they are no longer to have a nor to be remembered as good men who have passed away we are old news ashamed of not our little property too but comfort ourselves because we still keep our principles without gratifying the with our plunder plunder indeed they are seizing everywhere by the strong hand at sea as well as by legal forms on shore here are prize vessels for sale no french nor spanish whose wealth is the of british subjects but of british oak from liverpool and the thames laden with the king s own stores for his army in new york and what a fleet of say we are fitting out for new with rebellion in their very names the free yankee the general green the the and the grand monarch yes the grand monarch so is a french king by the sons of englishmen and here we have an from the court of with the s own signature as if new england were already a french province everything is french french soldiers french sailors french and french diseases too i besides french dancing masters and french to our daughters with french fashions every in america is french except the the loyal which we helped to from france and to that old french province the englishman of the colonies must go to find his country o the misery of seeing the whole system of things changed in my old days when i would be loth to change even a pair of the british coffee house where oft we sat of wine and loyalty with the gallant gentlemen of s army when we wore a coat too the british house must old now be the american with a golden eagle instead of the royal arms above the door even the street it stands in is no longer king street nothing is the king s except this heavy heart in my old bosom wherever i glance my eyes they meet something that them like a needle this soap maker for instance this robert he has against my peace by that his shop is situated near liberty stump but when will their liberty have its true emblem in that stump down by british steel where shall we buy our next year s not this of s certainly for it contains a like ness of george washington the upright rebel whom we most | 35 |
hate though as a fallen angel with his heavenly brightness pure fame in an cause and here is a new book for my evening s a history of the war till the close of the year with the heads of thirteen distinguished officers engraved on copper plate a plague upon their heads we desire not to see them till they grin at us from the balcony before the fixed on as the heads of how bloody minded the make a old man what next an on the horrid of when that blood was shed the first that the british soldier ever drew from the of our countrymen we turned sick at heart and do so still as often as they make it anew from among the stones in king street the pool that we saw that night has swelled into a lake english blood and american no all british all blood of my brethren and here come old down tears shame on me since half of them are shed for who are not now even the women are thrusting their white hands into the war and come out in this very paper with proposals to form a society the lady of washington at their head for clothing the continental they will strip off their stiff to cover the ragged and then in the ranks themselves what have we here s turned into rhyme and here some verses against the king in which the leaves a blank for the name of george as if his might yet him to the such after years of rebellion is the heart s reverence for the lord s in the next column we have scripture in a against his sacred majesty what would our great have said to that they never laughed at god s word though they cut off a king s head yes it was for us to prove how goes hand in hand with and all other vices come in the train now a days men commit robbery and for the mere luxury of wickedness as this advertisement three hundred pounds reward for the detection of the who stole and destroyed the cushions and pulpit of the street and old south churches was it a crime i can scarcely think our temples since the king ceased to be prayed for but it is not temples only that they rob here a man offers a thousand dollars a thousand dollars in continental rags for the recovery of his stolen and other articles of clothing horse are old news innumerable now is the day when every beggar on horse back and is not the whole land like a beggar on horse back riding post to the devil ha here is a murder too a woman slain at midnight by an unknown and found cold stiff and bloody in her bed let the hue and cry follow hard after the man in the uniform of blue and who last went by that way my life on it he is the these whom we see proclaimed in every column proof that the are as false to their stars and as to the holy they bring the crimes of a rebel camp into a soil well suited to them the bosom of a people without the heart that kept them virtuous their king here down a whole column with official seal and here comes a by whose authority ah the united states these thirteen little assembled in that one grand their and what the import a general fast by heaven for once the have wisely yea let a people kneel down in and ashes from end to end from border to border of their wasted country well may they fast where there is no food and cry aloud for whatever remnant of god s mercy their sins may not have exhausted we too will fast even at a rebel summons pray others as they will there shall be at least an old man kneeling for the righteous cause lord put down the god save the king peace to the good old tory one of our objects has been to without softening a single prejudice proper to the character which we assumed that the old news americans who clung to the losing side in the revolution were men greatly to be pitied and often worthy of our sympathy it would be difficult to say whose lot was most lamentable that of the active who gave up their for a from the british roll and their native land for a cold reception in their home or the passive ones who remained behind to endure the coldness of former friends and the public as despised citizens under a government which they in justice to the old gentleman who has favored us with his discontented we must remark that the state of the country so far as can be gathered from these papers was of dismal for the tendencies of rule it was in the of that day to mistake the temporary evils of a change for permanent diseases of the system which that change was to establish a revolution or anything that social order may opportunities for the individual display of eminent virtues but its effects are to general morality most people are so constituted that they can be virtuous only in a certain routine and an irregular course of public them one great source of disorder was the multitude of troops who were continually returning home after terms of service just long enough to give them a to occupations neither citizens nor soldiers they were very liable to become almost all our impressions in regard to this period are unpleasant whether referring to the state of civil society or to the character of the contest which especially where native americans were opposed to each other was with the deadly hatred old news of enemies it is | 35 |
sorrow the light from the setting sun still her form and was reflected a little way within the den discovering so terrible a gloom that the maiden shuddered for its self doomed the bright fountain near at hand she hastened thither and up a portion of its water in a cup of bark a few tears mingled with the draught and perhaps gave it all its she then returned to the mouth of the cave and knelt down at richard s feet richard she said with passionate yet a gentleness in all her passion i pray thee by thy hope the of of heaven and as thou not dwell i this tomb forever drink of this water be it but a single drop then make room for me by thy side and let us read together one page of that blessed volume and lastly kneel down with me and pray do this and thy stony heart shall become softer than a babe s and all be weu but richard in utter of the proposal cast the bible at his feet and eyed her with such a fixed and evil frown that he looked less like a living man than a marble statue wrought by some dark imagined to express the most repulsive mood that human features could assume and as his look grew even devilish so with an equal change did mary become more sad more mild more pitiful more like a angel but the more heavenly she was the more hateful did she seem to richard who at length raised his hand nd smote down the cup of water upon the threshold of the cave thus the only medicine that could have cured his stony heart a sweet perfume lingered in the air for a moment and then was gone tempt me no more accursed woman exclaimed he still with his marble frown lest i thee down also what hast thou to do with my bible what with my prayers what with my heaven no sooner had he spoken these dreadful words than richard s s heart ceased to beat while so the legend says the form of mary melted into the last and returned from the cave to heaven for mary had been buried in an english church yard months before and either it was her the man of ghost that haunted the wild forest or else a spirit pure religion above a century afterwards when the forest of richard s day had long been with the children of a neighboring farmer were playing at the foot of a hill the trees on account of the rude and broken surface of this had never been and were crowded so together as to hide all but a few rocky wherever their roots could with the soil a little boy and girl to conceal themselves from their had crept into the deepest shade where not only the pines but a thick veil of creeping plants suspended from an overhanging rock combined to make a twilight at and almost a midnight at all other seasons there the children hid themselves and shouted repeating the cry at intervals till the whole party of were drawn thither and pulling aside the foliage let in a doubtful glimpse of daylight but scarcely was this accomplished when the little group uttered a shriek and tumbled headlong down the hill making the best of their way homeward without a second glance into the gloomy recess their father unable to comprehend what had so startled them took his axe and by one or two trees and tearing away the creeping plants laid the mystery open to the day he had discovered the entrance of a cave closely resembling the mouth of a within which sat the of a man whose gesture and attitude warned the father and children to stand back while his wore a most forbidding frown this repulsive personage seemed to have been carved in the same gray stone that the man of formed the walls and of the cave on inspection indeed such were observed as made it doubtful whether the figure were really a statue by human art and somewhat worn and by the lapse of ages or a of nature who might have chosen to imitate in stone her usual of flesh perhaps it was the least unreasonable idea suggested by this strange spectacle that the moisture of the cave possessed a quality which had thus awfully a human corpse there was something so frightful in the aspect of this man of that the farmer the moment that he recovered from the fascination of his first gaze began to heap stones into the mouth of the his wife who had followed him to the hill assisted her husband s the children also approached as near as they with their little hands full of pebbles and cast them on the pile earth was then thrown into the and the whole with thus all traces of the discovery were leaving only a marvellous legend which grew from one generation to another as the children told it to their and they to their posterity till few believed that there had ever been a or a statue where now they saw but a grassy patch on the shadowy hill side yet grown people avoid the spot nor do children play there friendship and love and piety all human and celestial sympathies should keep aloof from that hidden cave for there still sits and unless an earthquake down the roof upon his head shall sit forever the shape of richard in the attitude of the whole race of mortals not from heaven but from the horrible loneliness of his dark cold the devil in manuscript on a bitter evening of december i arrived by mail in a large town which was then the residence of an intimate friend one of those gifted youths who cultivate poetry and the | 35 |
and call themselves students at law my first business after supper was to visit him at the office of his distinguished as i have said it was a bitter night clear but cold as the shop windows along the street being so as almost to hide the lights while the wheels of thundered equally loud over frozen earth and of stone there was no snow either on the ground or the roofs of the houses the wind blew so violently that i had but to spread my cloak like a and along the street at the rate of ten knots greatly envied by other who were beating slowly up with the gale right in their teeth one of these i but was gone on the wings of the wind before he could even an oath after this picture of an night behold us seated by a great blazing fire which looked so comfortable and delicious that i felt inclined to lie down and roll among the hot coals the usual furniture of a lawyer s office was around us rows of volumes in sheep skin and a multitude of and other legal papers scattered over the and tables but there were certain objects which seemed to intimate tht devil ui manuscript that we had little dread of the intrusion of or of the learned himself who indeed was attending court in a distant town a tall shaped bottle stood on the table between two and beside a pile of blotted altogether to any law documents recognized in our courts my friend whom i shall call it was a name of fancy and friendship between him and me my friend looked at these papers with a peculiar expression of i do believe said he or at least i could believe if i chose that there is a devil in this pile of blotted papers you have read them and know what i mean that conception in which i endeavored to the character of a as represented in our traditions and the written records of o i have n horror of what was created in my own brain and shudder at the in which i gave that dark idea a sort of material existence would they were out of my sight and of mine too thought i you remember continued how the thing used to away the happiness of those who by a simple concession that seemed almost innocent subjected themselves to his power just so my peace is gone and all by these accursed have you felt nothing of the same influence nothing replied i unless the spell be hid in a desire to turn after reading your delightful tales exclaimed half seriously then indeed my devil has his on you you are gone thb devil in manuscript yon cannot even pray for but we will be the last and only victims for this night i mean to burn the and commit the to his in the flames bum your tales repeated i startled at the desperation of the idea even so said tiie author you cannot conceive what an effect the composition of these tales has had on me i have become ambitious of a and careless of solid reputation i am surrounding myself with shadows which me by the realities of life they have drawn me aside from the beaten path of the world and led me into a strange sort of solitude a solitude in the midst of men where nobody wishes for what i do nor thinks nor feels as i do the tales have done all this when they are ashes perhaps i shall be as i was before they had existence moreover the sacrifice is less than you may suppose since nobody will publish them that does make a difference indeed said i they have been offered by letter continued with vexation to some seventeen it would make you stare to read their answers and read them you should only that i burnt them as fast as they arrived one man nothing but another has five novels already under examination what a mass the literature of america must be cried i o the were nothing to it said my friend well another gentleman is just giving up business on purpose i verily believe to escape thb in manuscript my book several however would not decline the agency on my advancing half the cost of an edition and giving bonds for the remainder besides a high to whether the book or not another a the villain exclaimed i a fact said in short of all the seventeen only one has vouchsafed even to read my tales and he a literary himself i should judge has the impertinence to them proposing what he calls vast improvements and concluding after a general sentence of condemnation with the assurance that he will not be concerned on any terms it might not be amiss to pull that fellow s nose remarked i if the whole trade had one common nose there would be some satisfaction in pulling it answered the author but there does seem to be one honest man among these seventeen ones and he tells me fairly that no american will with an american work seldom if by a known writer and never if by a new one unless at the writer s risk the paltry cried i will they live by literature and yet risk nothing for its sake but after all you might publish on your own account and so i might replied but the devil of the business is this these people have put me so out of conceit with the tales that i the very thought of them and actually experience a physical sickness of the stomach whenever i glance at them on the table i tell you there is a demon in them i anticipate a wild enjoyment in seeing them in | 35 |
the blaze such thb devil as should feel in taking vengeance on an enemy or destroying something did not very oppose this determination being privately of opinion in spite of my partiality for the author that his tales would make a more brilliant appearance in the fire than anywhere else before proceeding to execution we the bottle of champagne which had provided for keeping up his spirits in this business we swallowed each a in sparkling commotion it went down our throats and brightened my eyes at once but left my friend sad and heavy as before he drew the tales towards him with a mixture of natural and natural disgust like a father taking a infant into his arms exclaimed he holding them at arm s length it was gray s idea of heaven to on a sofa and read new novels now what more appropriate torture would himself have contrived for the sinner who a bad book than to be continually turning over the manuscript it would fail of effect said i because a bad author is always his own great admirer i lack that one characteristic of my tribe the only desirable one observed but how many recollections throng upon me as i turn over these leaves this scene came into my fancy as i walked along a road on a october evening in the pure and air i became all soul and felt as if i could climb the sky and run a race along the way here is another tale in which i myself during a dark and dreary night ride in the month of the in march till the rattling of the wheels and the voices of my companions seemed like faint sounds of a dream and my visions a bright reality that page describes shadows which i summoned to my bedside at midnight they would not depart when i bade them the gray dawn came and found me wide awake and feverish the victim of my own there must have been a sort of happiness in all this said i smitten with a strange longing to make proof of it there may be happiness in a fever fit replied the author and then the various moods in which i wrote sometimes my ideas were like precious stones under the earth requiring toil to dig them up and care to polish and them but often a delicious stream of thought would out upon the page at once like water sparkling up suddenly in the desert and when it had passed i my pen hopelessly or on with cold and miserable toil as if there were a wall of ice between me and my subject do you now perceive a corresponding difference inquired i between the passages which you wrote so coldly and those flashes of the mind no said tossing the on the table i find no traces of the golden pen with which i wrote in characters of fire my treasure of fairy coin is changed to worthless my picture painted in what seemed the loveliest hues presents nothing but a faded and surface i have been eloquent and poetical and humorous in a dream and behold it is all nonsense now that i am awake my friend now threw sticks of wood and dry thb devil in manuscript upon the fire and seeing it blaze like s seized the champagne bottle and drank two or three the liquor combined with his agitation to throw him into a species of rage he laid violent hands on the tales in one instant more their faults and beauties would alike have vanished in a glowing but all at once i remembered passages of high imagination deep pathos original thoughts and points of such varied excellence that the of the sacrifice struck me most forcibly i caught his arm surely you do not mean to bum them i exclaimed let me alone cried his eyes flashing fire i will bum them not a syllable shall escape would you have me a damned author to undergo abuse and cold neglect and faint praise bestowed for pity s sake against the s conscience a hissing and a laughing stock to my own thoughts an from the protection of the grave one whose ashes every careless foot might in life and remembered scornfully in death am i to bear all this when yonder fire will me from the whole no there go the tales may my hand when it would write another the deed was done he had thrown the into the of the fire which at first seemed to shrink away but soon curled around them and made them a part of its own fervent brightness stood gazing at the and shortly began to in the wildest strain as if fancy resisted and became at the moment when he would have compelled the devil in to ascend that funeral pile his words described which he appeared to discern in the fire fed by his own precious thoughts perhaps the thousand visions which the writer s magic had with these pages became visible to him in the heat brightening forth ere they vanished forever while the smoke the vivid sheets of flame the ruddy and coals caught the aspect of a varied scenery they blaze said he as if i had stepped them in the spirit of genius there i see my lovers clasped in each other s arms how pure the flame that bursts from their glowing hearts and yonder the features of a villain in the fire that shall torment him to eternity my holy men my pious and women stand like amid the flames their mild eyes lifted ring out the bells a city is on fire see destruction through my dark forests while the lakes boil up in steaming and the mountains are and the sky with a lurid brightness all elements are but flame ha the i was somewhat | 35 |
startled by this latter exclamation the tales were almost consumed but just then threw forth a broad sheet of fire which as with laughter making the whole room dance in its brightness and then roared up the chimney you saw him you must have seen him cried how he glared at me and laughed in that last sheet of flame with just the features that i imagined for him well the tales are gone the papers were indeed reduced to a heap of black with a multitude of sparks hurrying i the devil in among them the traces of the pen now represented by white lines and the whole mass fluttering to and fro in the draughts of air the knelt down to look at them what is more potent than fire said he in his tone even thought invisible and as it is cannot escape it in this little time it has the of long nights and days which i could no more in their first glow and freshness than cause ashes and bones to rise up and live there too i sacrificed the children of my mind all that i had accomplished all that i planned for future years has perished by one common ruin and left only this heap of embers the deed has been my fate and what remains a weary and life a long repentance of this hour and at last an obscure grave where they will bury and forget me as the author concluded his moan the extinguished embers arose and settled down and arose again and finally flew up the chimney like a demon with wings just as they disappeared there was a loud and solitary cry in the street below us fire fire other voices caught up that terrible word and it speedily became the shout of a multitude started to his feet in fresh excitement a fire on such a night cried he the wind blows a gale and wherever it the flames the roofs will flash up like every pump is frozen up and boiling water would turn to ice the moment it was flung from the engine in an hour this wooden town will be one great what a glorious scene for my next the devil in manuscript the street was now all alive with footsteps and the air full of voices we heard one engine thundering round a comer and another rattling from a distance over the the bells of three out at once spreading the alarm to many a neighboring town and expressing hurry confusion and terror so that i could almost distinguish in their peal the of the universal cry fire fire fire what is so eloquent as their iron tongues exclaimed my heart leaps and but not with fear and that other sound too deep and awful as a mighty organ the roar and thunder of the multitude on the pavement below come we are losing time i will cry out in the of the uproar and mingle my spirit with the wildest of the confusion and be a on the top of the from the first my had warned me of the true object and centre of alarm there was nothing now but uproar above beneath and around us footsteps stumbling up the public staircase eager shouts and heavy at the door the and dash of water from the engines and the crash of furniture thrown upon the pavement at once the truth flashed upon my friend his frenzy took the hue of joy and with a wild gesture of exultation he leaped almost to the ceiling of the chamber my tales cried the chimney the roof the has gone forth by night and startled thousands in fear and wonder from their beds here i stand a triumphant author i my brain has set the town on fire john s on the evening of day john the blacksmith sat in his elbow chair among those who had been keeping festival at his board being the central figure of the domestic circle the fire threw its strongest light on his massive and sturdy frame his rough so that it looked like the head of an iron statue all a glow from his own and with its features rudely fashioned on his own at john s right hand was an empty chair the other places round the hearth were filled by the members of the family who all sat quietly while with a semblance of fantastic merriment their shadows danced on the wall behind them one of the group was john s son who had been bred at college and was now a student of at there was also a daughter of sixteen whom nobody could look at without thinking of a rose bud almost the only other person at the fireside was robert formerly an of the blacksmith but now his and who seemed more like an own son of john than did the pale and slender student only these four had kept new england s festival beneath that roof the vacant chair at john s right hand was in memory of his wife whom death had snatched from him since the previous with a feeling that few would have looked for john s in his rough nature the husband had himself set the chair in its place next his own and often did his eye glance as if he deemed it possible that the cold grave might send back its tenant to the cheerful fireside at least for that one evening thus did he cherish the grief that was dear to him but there was another grief which he would fain have torn from his heart or since that could never be have buried it too deep for others to behold or for his own remembrance within the past year another member of his household had gone from him but not to the grave yet they | 35 |
kept no vacant chair for her while john and his family were sitting round the hearth with the shadows dancing behind them on the wall the outer door was opened and a light footstep came along the passage the latch of the inner door was lifted by some familiar hand and a young girl came in wearing a cloak and hood which she took off and laid on the table beneath the looking glass then after gazing a moment at the fireside circle she approached and took the seat at john s right as if it had been reserved on purpose for her here i am at last father said she you ate your dinner without me but i have come back to spend the evening with you yes it was prudence she wore the same neat and attire which she had been accustomed to put on when the household work was over for the day and her hair was parted from her brow in the simple and modest fashion that became her best of all if her cheek might otherwise have been pale yet the glow of the fire it with a bloom john s if she had spent the many months of her absence in guilt and yet they seemed to have left no traces on her gentle aspect she could not have looked less altered had she merely stepped away from her father s fireside for half an hour and returned while the blaze was quivering upwards from the same that were burning at her departure and to john she was the very image of his buried wife such as he remembered her on the first which they had passed under their own roof therefore though naturally a stem and rugged man he could not speak to his sinful child nor yet could he take her to his bosom you are welcome home prudence said he glancing sideways at her and his voice faltered your mother would have rejoiced to see you but she has been gone from us these four months i know it father i know it replied prudence quickly and yet when i first came in my eyes were so dazzled by the fire light that she seemed to be sitting in this very chair by this time the other members of the family had begun to recover from their surprise and became sensible that it was no ghost from the grave nor vision of their vivid recollections but prudence her own self her brother was the next that greeted her he advanced and held out his hand affectionately as a brother should yet not entirely like a brother for with all his kindness he was still a clergyman and speaking to a child of sin sister prudence said he earnestly i rejoice that a merciful providence hath turned your steps homeward john s in time for me to bid you a last farewell in a fe weeks sister i am to sail as a missionary to the far islands of the pacific there is not one of these beloved faces that i shall ever hope to behold again on this earth o may i see all of them yours and all beyond the grave a shadow flitted across the countenance the grave is very dark brother answered she withdrawing her hand somewhat hastily from his grasp you must look your last at me by the light of this fire while this was passing the twin girl the rose bud that had grown on the same stem with the cast away stood gazing at her sister longing to fling herself upon her bosom so that the of their hearts might again at first she was restrained by mingled grief and shame and by a dread that prudence was too much changed to respond to her affection or that her own purity would be felt as a reproach by the lost one but as she listened to the familiar voice while the face grew more and more familiar she forgot everything save that prudence had come back springing forward she would have clasped her in a close embrace at that very instant however prudence started from her chair and held out both her hands with a warning gesture no mary no my sister cried she do not you touch me your bosom must not be pressed to mine mary shuddered and stood still for she felt that something darker than the grave was between prudence and herself though they seemed so near each other in the john s light of their father s hearth where they had grown up together meanwhile prudence threw her eyes around the room in search of one who had not yet her welcome he had withdrawn from his seat by the fireside and was standing near the door with his face averted so that his features could be discerned only by the flickering shadow of the upon the wall but prudence called to him in a cheerful and kindly tone come robert said she won t you shake hands with your old friend robert held back for a moment but affection struggled powerfully and overcame his pride and resentment he rushed towards prudence seized her hand and pressed it to his bosom there there robert said she smiling sadly as she withdrew her hand you must not give me too warm a welcome and now having exchanged greetings with each member of the family prudence again seated herself in the chair at john s right hand she was naturally a girl of quick and tender in her general mood but with at pathos among her words and deeds it was remarked of her too that she had a faculty even from childhood of throwing her own feelings like a spell over her companions such as she had been in her days of innocence so did she appear this evening her friends in the surprise | 35 |
and bewilderment of her return almost forgot that she had ever left them or that she had any of her claims to their in the morning perhaps they might have looked at her with altered john s eyes but by the fireside they felt only t their own prudence had come back to them and were thankful john s brightened with the glow of his heart as it grew warm and merry within him once or twice even he laughed till the room rang again yet seemed startled by the echo of his own mirth the grave young minister became as as a school boy mary too the rose bud forgot that her twin blossom had ever been torn from the stem and trampled in the dust and as for robert he gazed at prudence with the earnestness of love new bom while she with sweet maiden half smiled upon and half discouraged him in short it was one of those intervals when sorrow in its own depth of shadow and joy starts forth in brightness when the clock struck eight prudence poured out her father s customary draught of tea which had been by the fire side ever since twilight god bless you child said john as he took the cup from her hand you have made your old father again but we miss your mother sadly prudence sadly it seems as if she ought to be here now now father or never replied prudence it was now the hour for domestic worship but while the family were making preparations for this duty they suddenly perceived that prudence had put on her cloak and hood and was lifting the latch of door john s prudence prudence where are you going cried they all with one voice as prudence passed out of the door she turned towards them and flung hack her hand with a gesture of farewell but her face was so changed that they hardly recognized it sin and evil passions glowed through its and wrought a horrible a smile gleamed in her eyes as of triumphant mockery at their surprise and grief daughter cried john between wrath and sorrow stay and be your father s blessing or take his curse with you i for an instant prudence lingered and looked back into the fire lighted room while her countenance wore almost the expression as if she were struggling with a who had power to seize his victim even within the of her father s hearth the prevailed and prudence vanished into the outer darkness when the family rushed to the door they could see nothing but heard the sound of wheels rattling over the frozen ground that same night among the painted beauties at the theatre of a neighboring city there was one whose mirth seemed inconsistent with any sympathy for pure and for the joys and which are by them yet this was prudence her visit to the fireside was the of one of those waking dreams in which the guilty soul will sometimes stray back to its innocence but sin alas is careful of her bond slaves they hear her voice perhaps at the moment and are constrained to go whither she summons them the same john s dark power that drew prudence from her s hearth the same in its nature though heightened then to a dread necessity would snatch a guilty soul from the gate of heaven and make its sin and its punishment alike eternal old a picture of the past the greatest attraction in this vicinity is the famous old fortress of the remains of which are from the of the tavern on a swell of land that in the prospect of the lake those celebrated heights mount defiance and mount independence familiar to all americans in history stand too prominent not to be recognized though neither of them precisely correspond to the images excited by their names in truth the whole scene except the interior of the fortress disappointed me mount defiance which one pictures as a steep lofty and rugged hill of most formidable aspect frowning down with the grim of a precipice on old is merely a long and wooded ridge and bore at some former period the gentle name of sugar hill the brow is certainly difficult to climb and high enough to look into every corner of the fortress st s most probable reason however for to occupy it was the deficiency of troops to man the works already constructed rather than the supposed of mount defiance it is singular that the french never fortified this height standing as it does in the quarter whence they must have looked for the advance of a british army in my first view of the i was favored witli the old scientific guidance of a young lieutenant of recently from west point where he had gained credit for great military genius i saw nothing hut confusion in what chiefly interested him straight lines and defence within defence wall opposed to wall and ditch ditch squares of below the surface of the earth and huge or turf covered hills of stone above it on one of these artificial a pine tree has rooted itself and grown tall and strong since the banner staff was but where my glance could trace no regularity the young lieutenant was perfectly at home he the meaning of every ditch and formed an entire plan of the fortress from its half lines his description of would be as accurate as a and as barren of the poetry that has clustered round its decay i viewed as a place of ancient strength in ruins for half a century where the flags of three nations had waved and none waved now where armies had struggled so long ago that the bones of the slain were where peace had found a in the forsaken haunts of war now the young west with his lectures on angles | 35 |
and covered ways made it an affair of brick and mortar and stone arranged on certain regular principles having a good deal to do with but nothing at all with poetry i should have been glad of a to by my side and tell me perhaps of the french and their indian of lord and of s triumph and st s surrender the old soldier and the old fortress old would be of each other his reminiscences though vivid as the image of in the lake would with the gray influence of the scene a of the long though but a private soldier might have his dead chiefs and comrades some from westminster abbey and english church yards and battle fields in europe others from their graves here in america others not a few who lie sleeping round the fortress he might have them all nd bid them march through the ruined turning their old historic faces on me as they passed next to such a companion the best is one s own fancy at another visit was alone and after rambling all over the sat down to rest myself in one of the these are old french and appear to have occupied three sides of a large area now overgrown with grass and the one in which i sat was long and narrow as all the rest had been with the exterior walls were nearly entire constructed of gray flat stones the aged strength of which promised long to resist the elements if no other violence should their fall the roof floors and the rest of the wood work had probably been burnt except some bars of old oak which were blackened with fire but still remained into the window and over the doors there were a few of near the chimney scratched with rude figures perhaps by a soldier s hand a most luxuriant crop of weeds had sprung up within the edifice and hid the scattered fragments of the wall grass and weeds grew in the s old a and in all the of the stone climbing step by step till a of yellow flowers was waving on the highest peak of the some diffused a pleasant through the ruin a heap of vegetation had covered the hearth of the second floor on the very spot where the huge logs had to glowing coals and flourished beneath the broad which liad so often the smoke over a circle of french or english soldiers i felt that there was no other token of decay so impressive as that bed of weeds in the place of the back log here i sat with those walls about me the clear sky over my head and the afternoon sunshine falling gently bright through the window frames and doorway i heard the of a cow bell the of birds and the pleasant hum of insects once a gay butterfly with four gold wings came and fluttered about my head then flew up and lighted on the highest of yellow flowers and at last took wing across the lake next a bee through the sunshine and found much sweetness among the weeds after watching him till he went ofl to his distant hive i closed my eyes on in ruins and cast a dream like glance over pictures of the past and scenes of which this spot had been the theatre at first my fancy saw only the stem hills lonely lakes and venerable woods not a tree since their seeds were first scattered over the infant soil had felt the axe but had grown up and flourished through its long generation had fallen beneath the weight of years been buried in green moss and nourished the roots of others as gigantic hark a light into old the lake a round the point and an indian chief has passed painted and feather armed with a bow of a stone and flint headed arrows but the ripple had hardly vanished from the water when a white flag caught tlie breeze over a castle in the wilderness with frowning and a hundred cannon there stood a french of the fortress paying court to a lady the princess of the land and winning her wild love by the arts which had been successful with a war party of french and indians were issuing from the gate to lay waste some village of new england near the fortress there was a group of dancers the merry soldiers footing it with the savage maids deeper in the wood some red men were growing frantic around a of the fire water and elsewhere a preached the faith of high beneath a of forest boughs and distributed to be worn beside english i tried to make a series of pictures from the old french war when were on the lake and armies in the woods and especially of s disastrous where thousands of lives were utterly thrown away but being at a loss how to order the battle i chose an evening scene in the after the fortress had surrendered to sir what an immense fire on that hearth gleaming on swords and barrels and with the hue of the scarlet coats till the whole room is quivering with ruddy light one soldier has thrown himself down to rest after a deer hunt or perhaps a long run old through the woods with indians on his trail two stand up to and are on the point of coming to blows a plays a shrill accompaniment to a s song a of light love and bloody war with a chorus thundered forth by twenty voices meantime a in the corner is about and and relates camp traditions of s battles till his pipe having been charged with makes a terrible explosion under his nose and now they all vanish in a puff of smoke from the chimney i merely glanced at the twenty years which | 35 |
glided peacefully over the frontier fortress till s shout was heard it to surrender in the name of the great and of the continental strange thought the british captain next came the hurried muster of the soldiers of liberty when the cannon of pointing down upon their from the brow of mount defiance announced a new conqueror of no virgin fortress this forth rushed the throng from the one man wearing the blue and of the union another the red coat of britain a third a s jacket and a fourth a cotton frock here was a pair of leather breeches and striped trousers there a s cap on one head and a broad hat with a tall feather on the next this fellow a king s arm that might throw a bullet to crown point and his comrade a long piece admirable to shoot ducks on the lake in the midst of the bustle when the fortress was all alive with its last warlike scene the ringing of a bell on the lake made me my eyes and behold old only the gray and weed grown ruins they were as peaceful in the sun as a warrior s grave hastening to the i perceived that the signal had been given by the which landed a passenger from at the tavern and resumed its progress northward to reach canada the next morning a was pursuing the same track a little had just crossed the while a laden with lumber spread its huge square sail and went up the lake the whole country was a cultivated farm within shot of the lay the neat villa of mr who since the revolution has become proprietor of a spot for which france england and america have so often struggled how forcibly the lapse of time and change of circumstances came home to my apprehension banner would never wave again nor cannon roar nor blood be shed nor trumpet stir up a soldier s heart in this old fort of tall trees had grown upon its since the last garrison marched out to return no more or only at some s summons gliding from the twilight past to vanish among realities the wives of the dead the story the simple and domestic incidents of which may be deemed scarcely worth relating after such a lapse of time awakened some degree of interest a hundred years ago in a principal of the bay province the rainy twilight of an autumn day a parlor on the second floor of a small house plainly as the circumstances of its inhabitants yet decorated with little from beyond the sea and a few delicate specimens of indian manufacture these are the only particulars to be in regard to scene and season two young and comely women sat together by the fireside nursing their mutual and peculiar sorrows they were the recent of two brothers a sailor and a and two successive days had brought tidings of the death of each by the chances of warfare and the atlantic the universal sympathy excited by this drew numerous guests to the habitation of the sisters several among whom was the minister had remained till the verge of evening when one by one whispering many comfortable passages of scripture that were answered by more abundant tears they took their leave and departed to their own happier homes the though not insensible to the kindness of their friends had to be left alone united as they had been by the the wives of the dead relationship of the living and now more closely so by that of the dead each felt as if whatever consolation her grief admitted were to be found in the bosom of the other they joined their hearts and wept together silently but after an hour of such indulgence one of the sisters all of whose emotions were influenced by her mild quiet yet not feeble character began to recollect the of resignation and endurance which piety had taught her when she did not think to need them her misfortune besides as earliest known should earliest cease to interfere with her regular course of duties accordingly having placed the table before the fire and arranged a meal she took the hand of her companion come dearest sister you have eaten not a morsel to day she said arise i pray you and let us ask a blessing on that which is provided for us her sister in law was of a lively and irritable temperament and the first pangs of her sorrow had been expressed by shrieks and passionate she now shrunk from mary s words like a wounded sufferer from a hand that the throb there is no blessing left for me neither will i ask it cried margaret with a fresh burst of tears would it were his will that i might never taste food more yet she trembled at these rebellious expressions almost as soon as they were uttered and by degrees mary succeeded in bringing her sister s mind nearer to the situation of her own time went on and their usual hour of repose arrived the brothers and their entering the married state with no more than the slender means which then such a step had the wives of the themselves in one household with equal rights to the parlor and claiming exclusive privileges in two sleeping rooms to it thither the ones retired after ashes upon the dying embers of their fire and placing a lighted lamp upon the hearth the doors of both chambers were left open so that a part of the interior of each and the beds with their curtains were visible sleep did not steal upon the sisters at one and the same time mary experienced the often consequent upon grief quietly borne and soon sunk into temporary forgetfulness while margaret became more disturbed and feverish in proportion as the night advanced with its deepest and hours | 35 |
she lay listening to the drops of rain that came down in monotonous succession by a breath of wind and a nervous impulse continually caused her to lift her head from the pillow and gaze mary s chamber and the apartment the cold light of the lamp threw the shadows of the furniture up against the wall stamping them there except when they were shaken by a sudden of the flame two vacant arm chairs were in their old positions on opposite sides of the hearth where the brothers had been wont to sit in young and laughing dignity as heads of families two seats were near them the true of that little empire where mary and herself had exercised in love a power that love had won the cheerful radiance of the fire had shone upon the happy circle and the dead glimmer of the lamp might have their now while margaret groaned in bitterness she heard a knock at the w y op l how would my heart have at that sound hut yesterday thought she the anxiety with which she had long awaited tidings from her husband i care not for it now let them for i will not arise but even while a sort of childish made thus resolve she was breathing hurriedly and straining her ears to catch a repetition of the summons it is difficult to be convinced of the death of one whom we have deemed another self the knocking was now renewed in slow and regular strokes apparently given with ihe soft end of a doubled fist and was accompanied by words faintly heard through several of wall margaret looked to her sister s chamber and beheld her still lying in the depths of sleep she arose her foot upon the floor and slightly arrayed herself trembling between fear and eagerness as she did so heaven help me sighed she i have nothing left to fear and i am ten times more a coward than ever seizing the lamp from the hearth she hastened to the window that overlooked the street door it was a turning upon hinges and having thrown it back she stretched her head a little way into the moist atmosphere a lantern was the front of the house and melting its light in the neighboring while a of darkness overwhelmed every other object as the window on its hinges a man in a hat and blanket coat stepped from under the shelter of the projecting story and looked upward to thb of thb dead discover whom his had aroused margaret knew him as a friendly of the town what would you have cried the widow lack a day is it you mistress margaret replied the i was afraid it might he your sister mary for i hate to see a young woman in trouble when i haven t a word of comfort to whisper her for heaven s sake what news do you bring screamed margaret why there has been an express through the town within this half hour said travelling from the eastern with letters from the and council he at my house to himself with a drop and a morsel and i asked him what tidings on the he tells me we had the better in the you of and that thirteen men reported slain are well and sound and your husband among them besides he is appointed of the escort to bring the and indians home to the province jail i judged you would n t mind being broke of your rest and so i stepped over to tell you night so saying the honest man departed and his lantern gleamed along the street bringing to view indistinct shapes of things and the fragments of a world like order glimmering through chaos or memory over the past but margaret staid not to watch these picturesque effects joy flashed into her heart and lighted it up at once and breathless and with winged steps she flew to the bedside of her sister she paused however at the door of the chamber while a thought of pain broke in upon her thb of ths dead poor mary said she to herself shall i her to feel her sorrow sharpened by ray happiness no i will keep it within my own bosom till the morrow she approached the bed to discover if mary s sleep were peaceful her face was turned partly inward to the pillow and had been hidden there to weep but a look of motionless contentment was now visible upon it as if her heart like a deep lake had grown calm because its dead had sunk down so far within happy is it and that the lighter sorrows are those from which are chiefly margaret shrunk from disturbing her sister in law and felt as if her own better fortune had rendered her involuntarily and as if altered and diminished affection must be the consequence of the disclosure she had to make with a sudden step she turned away but joy could not long be repressed even by circumstances that would have excited heavy grief at another moment her mind was thronged with delightful thoughts till sleep stole on and transformed them to visions more delightful and more wild like the breath of winter but what a cold comparison working fantastic upon a window when the night was far advanced mary awoke with a sudden start a vivid dream had involved her in its unreal life of which however she could only remember that it had been broken in upon at the most interesting point for a little time slumber hung about her like a morning mist her from perceiving the distinct outline of her situation she listened with imperfect consciousness to two or three of a rapid and eager knocking and first she deemed the noise a matter of course like the breath she drew next it wives op a thing m which | 35 |
she had no concern and lastly she became aware at it was a necessary to be obeyed at ihe the pang of recollection darted into her mind the pall of sleep was thrown back from the face of grief the dim light of the chamber and the objects therein revealed had retained all her suspended ideas and restored them as soon as she her eyes again there was a quick peal upon the street door fearing that her sister would also be disturbed mary wrapped herself in a cloak and hood took the lamp from the hearth and hastened to the window by some accident it had been left and yielded easily to her hand who s there asked mary trembling as she looked forth the storm was over and the moon was up it shone upon broken clouds above and below upon houses black with moisture and upon little lakes of the fallen rain curling into silver beneath the quick enchantment of a breeze a young man in a sailor s dress wet as if he had come out of the depths of the sea stood alone under the window mary recognized him as one whose was gained by short voyages along the coast nor did she forget that previous to her marriage he had been an unsuccessful of her what do you seek here said she cheer up mary for i seek to comfort you answered the rejected lover you must know i got home not ten minutes ago and the first thing my good mother told me was the news about your husband so v saying a word to the old woman i clapped on my hat and of the dead out of the house i could n t have slept a wink before speaking to you mary for the sake of old times i thought better of you exclaimed the widow with tears and preparing to close the for she was no whit inclined to imitate the wife of but stop and hear my story out cried the young sailor i tell you we spoke a yesterday afternoon bound in from old england and who do you think i saw standing on deck well and hearty only a bit thinner than he was five months ago mary leaned from the window but could not speak why it was your husband himself continued the generous seaman he and three others saved themselves on a when the blessing turned bottom upwards the will beat into the bay by daylight with this wind and you ll see him here to morrow there s the comfort i bring you mary and so he hurried away while mary watched him with a doubt of waking reality that seemed stronger or weaker as he alternately entered the shade of the houses or emerged into the broad streaks of moonlight gradually however a blessed flood of conviction swelled into her heart in strength enough to her had its increase been more abrupt her first impulse was to rouse her sister in law and communicate the new bom gladness she opened the chamber door which had been closed in the course of the night though not advanced to the bedside and was about to lay her hand upon the s shoulder but then she remembered that margaret would awake to thoughts of death the wives of the dead and woe rendered not the less bitter by their contrast with her own felicity she suffered the rays of the lamp to fall upon the unconscious form of the one margaret lay in sleep and the was around her her young cheek was rosy tinted and her lips half opened in a vivid smile an expression of joy its passage by her sealed eyelids struggled forth like incense from the whole countenance my poor sister you will too soon from that happy thought mary before retiring she set down the lamp and endeavored to arrange the bed clothes so that the chill air might not do harm to the feverish but her hand trembled against margaret s neck a tear also fell upon her cheek and she suddenly awoke little was so called because in his nature he resembled a flower and loved to do only what was beautiful and agreeable and took no delight in labor of any kind but while was yet a little boy his mother sent him away from his pleasant home and put him under the care of a very strict who went by the name of mr toil those who knew him best affirmed that this mr toil was a very worthy character and that he had done pore good both to children and grown people than anybody else in the world certainly he had lived long enough to do a great deal of good for if all stories be true he had dwelt upon earth ever since adam was driven from the garden of nevertheless mr toil had a severe and ugly countenance especially for such little boys or big men as were inclined to be idle his voice too was harsh and all his ways and customs seemed very disagreeable to our friend the whole day long this terrible old sat at his desk overlooking the scholars or stalked about the school room with a certain awful rod in his hand now came a rap over the shoulders of a boy whom mr toil had caught at play now he punished a whole class who were with their lessons and in short unless a lad chose to attend little quietly and constantly to his book had no chance of enjoying a quiet moment in the school room of mr toil this will never do for me thought now the whole of s life had hitherto been passed with his dear mother who had a much sweeter face than old mr toil and who had always been very indulgent to her little boy no wonder therefore that poor found | 35 |
it a change to be sent away from the good lady s side and put under the care of this ugly who never gave him any apples or cakes and seemed to think that little boys were created only to get lessons i can t bear it any longer said to himself when he had been at school about a week i run away and try to find my dear mother and at any rate i shall never find anybody half so disagreeable as this old mr toil so the very next morning off started poor and began his about the world with only some bread and cheese for his breakfast and very little pocket money to pay his expenses but he had gone only a short distance when he overtook a man of grave and appearance who was at a moderate pace along the road good my fine lad said the stranger and his voice seemed hard and severe but yet had a sort of kindness in it whence do you come so early and whither are you going little was a boy of very little disposition and had never been known to tell a lie in all his life nor did he tell one now he hesitated a moment or two but finally confessed that he had run away from school on account of his great dislike to mr toil and that he was resolved to find some place in the world where he should never see or hear of the old again o very well my little friend answered the stranger then we will go together for i likewise have had a good deal to do with mr toil and should be glad to find some place where he was never heard of our friend would have been better pleased with a companion of his own age with whom he might have gathered flowers along the roadside or have chased or have done many other things to make the journey pleasant but he had wisdom enough to understand that he should get along through the world much easier by having a man of experience to show him the way so he accepted the stranger s proposal and they walked on very together they had not gone far when the road passed by a field where some were at work down the tall grass and spreading it out in the sun to dry was delighted with the sweet smell of the new grass and thought how much pleasanter it must be to make hay in the sunshine under the blue sky and with the birds singing in the neighboring trees and bushes than to be shut up in a dismal school room learning lessons all day long and continually by old mr toil but in the midst of these thoughts while he was stopping to peep over uttle the stone wall he started back and caught hold of his companion s hand quick quick cried he let us ran away or he will catch us who will catch us asked the stranger mr toil the old answered don t you see him amongst the and pointed to an elderly man who seemed to be the owner of the field and the employer of the men at work there he had stripped off his coat and waistcoat and was busily at work in his the drops of sweat stood upon his brow but he gave himself not a moment s rest and kept crying out to the to make hay while the sun shone now strange to say the figure and features of this old farmer were precisely the same as those of old mr toil who at that very moment must have been just entering his school room don t be afraid said the stranger this is not mr toil the but a brother of his who was bred a farmer and people say he is the most disagreeable man of the two however he won t trouble you unless you become a on the farm little believed what his companion said but was very glad nevertheless when they were out of sight of the old farmer who bore such a singular e to mr toil the two travellers had gone but little further when they came to a spot where some were a house begged his companion to stop a moment for it was a very pretty sight to see how neatly the did their work with their broad and and and ont the doors and putting in the window and on the and he could not help thinking that he should like to take a broad axe a saw a plane and a hammer and build a little house for himself and then when he should have a house of his own old mr toil would never dare to him but just while he was himself with this idea little beheld something that made him catch hold of his companion s hand all in a fright make haste quick quick cried he there he is again who asked the stranger very quietly old mr toil said trembling there he that is the t is my old as sure as i m alive the stranger cast his eyes where pointed his finger and he saw an elderly man with a carpenter s rule and in bis hand this person went to and fro about the unfinished house measuring pieces of timber and marking out the work that was to be done and continually the other to be and wherever he turned his hard and wrinkled the men seemed to feel that they had a task master over them and and and as if for dear life o no this is not mr toil the said the stranger it is another brother of his who follows the trade of carpenter i am very glad to hear it little but if you please sir i should like | 35 |
the skirt i pray you tell me whereabouts is the dwelling of my major the youth s question was uttered very loudly and one of the whose was descending on a well chin and another who was dressing a wig left their occupations and came to the door the citizen in the mean time turned a long favored countenance upon robin and answered him in a tone of excessive anger and annoyance his two however broke into the very centre of his rebuke with most singular effect like a thought of the cold grave among passions let go my garment fellow i tell you i know not the man you speak of what i have authority i have hem hem authority and if this be the you show for your your feet shall be brought acquainted with the stocks by daylight to morrow morning robin released the old man s skirt and hastened away pursued by an ill roar of laughter from the s shop he was at first considerably surprised by the result of his question but being a shrewd youth soon thought himself able to account for the mystery this is some country representative was his conclusion who has never seen the inside of my s mr major door and the breeding to answer a stranger the man is old or verily i might be tempted to turn back and him on the nose ah robin robin even the s boys laugh at you for choosing such a guide you will be wiser in time friend robin he now became entangled in a succession of crooked and narrow streets which crossed each other and at no great distance from the water side the smell of tar was obvious to his nostrils the of vessels pierced the moonlight above the tops of the and the numerous signs which robin paused to read informed him that he was near the centre of business but the streets were empty the shops were closed and lights were visible only in the second stories of a few dwelling houses at length on the comer of a narrow lane through which he was passing he beheld the broad countenance of a british hero swinging before the door of an inn whence proceeded the voices of many guests the of one of the lower windows was thrown back and a very thin curtain permitted robin to distinguish a party at supper round a well furnished table the fragrance of the good cheer forth into the outer air and the youth could not fail to recollect that the last remnant of his travelling stock of provision had yielded to his morning appetite and that noon had found and left him o that a three penny might give me a right to sit down at yonder table said robin with a sigh but the major will make me welcome to the best of his so i will even step boldly in and inquire my way to his dwelling d s major he entered the tavern and was guided by the murmur of voices and the of tobacco to the public room it was a long and low apartment with walls grown dark in the continual smoke and a floor which was thickly but of no purity a number of persons the larger part of whom appeared to be or in some way connected with the sea occupied the wooden benches or leather chairs conversing on various matters and occasionally their attention to some topic of general interest three or four little groups were as many of punch which the west india trade had long since made a familiar drink in the colony others who had the appearance of men who lived by regular and laborious preferred the bliss of an and became more under its influence nearly all in short evinced a for the good creature in some of its various shapes for this is a vice to which as fast day sermons of a hundred years ago will testify we have a long hereditary claim the only guests to whom robin s sympathies inclined him were two or three countrymen who were using the inn somewhat after the fashion of a they had gotten themselves into the darkest comer of the room and heedless of the atmosphere were on the bread of their own and the bacon cured in their own chimney smoke but though robin felt a sort of brotherhood with these strangers his eyes were attracted from them to a person who stood near the door holding whispered conversation with a group of ill dressed associates his features mr major were separately striking almost to and the whole face left a deep impression on the memory the forehead out into a double with a between the nose came boldly forth in an irregular curve and its bridge was of more than a finger s breadth the eyebrows were deep and shaggy and the eyes glowed beneath them like fire in a cave while robin of whom to inquire respecting his s dwelling he was by the a little man in a stained white apron who had come to pay his professional welcome to the stranger being in the second generation from a french he seemed to have inherited the courtesy of his parent nation but no variety of circumstances was ever known to change his voice from the one shrill note in which he now addressed robin from the country i presume sir said he with a profound bow beg leave to congratulate you on your arrival and trust you intend a long stay with us fine town here sir beautiful buildings and much that may interest a stranger may i hope for the honor of your commands in respect to supper the man sees a family likeness the rogue has guessed that i am related to the major thought robin who had hitherto experienced little superfluous civility all | 35 |
a two fold change one side of the face blazed an intense red while the other was black as midnight the di line being in the broad bridge of the nose and a mouth which seemed to extend from ear to ear was black or red in contrast to the color ot the cheek the effect was as if two individual devils a of fire and a of darkness had united themselves to form this infernal the stranger grinned in robin s face muffled his colored features and was out of sight in a moment strange things we travellers see ejaculated robin he seated himself however upon the steps of the church door to wait the appointed time for his a few moments were consumed in philosophical speculations upon the species of man who had just left him but having settled this point and satisfactorily he was compelled to look elsewhere for his amusement and first he threw his eyes along the street it was of more respectable appearance than most of those into which he had wandered and the moon creating like the imaginative power a beautiful strangeness in familiar objects gave something of romance to a scene that might not have possessed it in the light of day the irregular and often quaint mt major lecture of the houses some of whose roofs were broken into numerous little peaks while others ascended steep and narrow into a single point and others again were square the pure snow white of some of their the aged darkness of others and the thousand reflected from bright in the walls of many these matters engaged robin s attention for a while and then began to grow wearisome next he endeavored to define the forms of distant objects starting away with almost ghostly just as his eye appeared to grasp them and finally he took a minute survey of an edifice which stood on the opposite side of the street directly in front of the church door where he was stationed it was a large square mansion distinguished from its neighbors by a balcony which rested on tall pillars and by an elaborate window communicating perhaps this is the very house i have been seeking thought robin then he strove to speed away the time by listening to a murmur which swept continually along the street yet was scarcely audible except to an ear like his it was a low dull dreamy sound of many noises each of which was at too great a distance to be separately heard robin at this of a sleeping town and more whenever its was broken by now and then a distant shout apparently loud where it originated but altogether it was a sleep inspiring sound and to shake off its drowsy influence robin arose and climbed a that he might view the interior of the church there the came trembling in and fell down my major upon the deserted and extended along the quiet a fainter yet more awful radiance was hovering around the pulpit and one solitary ray had dared to rest upon the opened page of the great had nature in that deep hour become a in the house which man had r was that heavenly light the visible of the place visible because no earthly and feet were within the walls the scene made robin s heart shiver with a sensation of loneliness stronger than he had ever felt in the remotest depths of his native woods so he turned away and sat down again before tie door there were graves around the church and now an uneasy thought into robin s breast what if the object of his search which had been so often and so strangely were all the time in his what if his should glide through yonder gate and nod and smile to him in dimly passing by o that any breathing thing were here with me said robin recalling his thoughts from this uncomfortable track he sent them over forest hill and stream and attempted to imagine how that evening of and weariness had been spent by his father s household he pictured them assembled at the door beneath the tree the great old tree which had been spared for its huge twisted trunk and venerable shade when a thousand leafy brethren fell there at the going down of the summer sun it was his father s custom to perform domestic worship that the neighbors might come and join with him like brothers of the family and that the man might pause to drink at that fountain mt major and keep his heart pure by the memory of home robin distinguished the seat of every individual of the little audience he saw the good man in the midst holding the in the golden light that fell from the western clouds he beheld him close the book and all rise up to pray he heard the old for daily the old for their continuance to which he had so often listened in weariness but which were now among his dear he perceived the slight of liis father s voice when he came to speak of the absent one he noted how his mother turned her face to the broad and knotted trunk how his elder brother scorned because the beard was rough upon his upper lip to permit his features to be moved how the younger sister drew down a low hanging branch before her eyes and how the little one of all whose sports had hitherto broken the decorum of the scene understood the prayer for her and burst into grief then he saw them go in at the door and when robin would have entered also the latch into its place and he was excluded from his home am i here or there cried robin starting for all at once when his thoughts had become visible and audible in a dream the long wide solitary street | 35 |
shone out before him he aroused himself and endeavored to fix his attention steadily upon the large edifice which he had surveyed before but still his mind kept between fancy and reality by turns the pillars of the balcony lengthened into the tall bare stems of pines down to human figures settled again into their true shape and my y major size and then commenced a new succession of changes for a single moment when he deemed himself awake he could have sworn that a one which he seemed to remember yet could not absolutely name as his s was looking towards him from the win dow a deeper sleep with and nearly overcame him but fled at the sound of footsteps along the opposite pavement robin rubbed his eyes discerned a man passing the foot of the balcony and addressed him in a loud and lamentable cry friend must i wait here all night for my major the sleeping echoes awoke and answered the voice and the passenger barely able to discern a figure sitting in the shade of the traversed the street to obtain a nearer view he was himself a gentleman in his prime of open intelligent cheerful and altogether countenance perceiving a country youth apparently and without friends he him in a tone of real kindness which had become strange to robin s ears well my good lad why are you sitting here inquired he can i be of service to you in any way i am afraid not sir replied robin yet i shall take it kindly if you answer me a single question i ve been searching half the night for one major now sir is there really such a person in these parts or am i dreaming major the name is not altogether strange to me said the gentleman smiling have mt major you any objection to telling me the nature of your business with him then robin briefly related that his father was a clergyman settled on a small salary at a long distance back in the country and that he and major were brothers children the major having inherited riches and acquired civil and military rank had visited his cousin in great pomp a year or two before had manifested much interest in robin and an elder brother and being himself had thrown out hints respecting the future establishment of one of them in life the elder brother was destined to succeed to the farm which his father cultivated in the interval of sacred duties it was therefore determined that robin should profit by bis s generous intentions especially as he seemed to be rather the favorite and was thought to possess other necessary for i have the name of being a shrewd youth observed robin in this part of his story i doubt not you deserve it replied his new friend good but pray proceed well sir being nearly eighteen years old and as you see continued robin drawing himself up to his full height i thought it high time to begin the world so my mother and sister put me in handsome trim and my father give me half the remnant of his last year s salary and five days ago i started for this place to pay the major a visit but would you believe it sir i crossed the a little after dark and have yet found nobody that would show me the way to his dwelling only an hour or two since i was told to wait here and major would pass by mt major can you describe the man who told you this inquired the gentleman o he was a very ill favored fellow sir replied robin with two great on his forehead a hook nose fiery eyes and what struck me as the strangest his face was of two different colors do you happen to know such a man sir not intimately answered the stranger but i chanced to meet him a little time previous to your stopping me i believe you may trust his word and that the major will very shortly pass through this street in the mean time as i have a singular curiosity to witness your meeting i will sit down here upon the steps and bear you company he seated himself accordingly and soon engaged his companion in animated discourse it was but of brief continuance however for a noise of shouting which had long been audible drew so much nearer that robin inquired its cause what may be the meaning of this uproar asked he truly if your town be always as noisy i shall find little sleep while i am an why indeed friend robin there do appear to be three or four fellows abroad to night replied the gentleman you must not expect all the stillness of your native woods here in our streets but the watch will shortly be at the heels of these lads and ay and set them in the stocks by peep of day interrupted robin his own encounter with the drowsy lantern bearer but dear sir if i may trust my ears an army of would never make head against such a multitude of there were c at least a thousand voices went up to make that one shout may not a man have several voices as well as two said his friend perhaps a man may but heaven forbid that a woman should responded the shrewd youth thinking of the tones of the major s housekeeper the sounds of a trumpet in some neighboring street now became so evident and continual that robin s curiosity was strongly excited in addition to the shouts he heard frequent bursts from many instruments of discord and a wild and confused laughter filled up the intervals robin rose from the steps and looked wistfully towards a point whither people seemed to be hastening surely some prodigious merry making | 35 |
is going on exclaimed he i have laughed very little since i left home sir and should be sorry to lose an opportunity shall we step round the corner by that house and take our share of the fun sit down again sit down good robin replied the gentleman laying his hand on the skirt of the gray coat you forget that we must wait here for your and there is reason to believe that he will pass by in the course of a very few moments the near approach of the uproar had now disturbed the neighborhood windows flew open on all sides and many heads in the attire of the pillow and confused by sleep suddenly broken were to the e of whoever had leisure to observe them eager voices hailed each other from house to house all demanding the explanation which not a soul could give half major m x dressed men hurried towards the unknown commotion stumbling as they went over the stone steps that thrust themselves into the narrow foot walk the shouts the laughter and the the of music came with increasing din till scattered individuals and then bodies began to appear round a corner at the distance of a hundred yards will you recognize your if he passes in this crowd inquired the gentleman indeed i can t warrant it sir but take my stand here and keep a bright look out answered robin descending to the outer edge of the pavement a mighty stream of people now emptied into the street and came rolling slowly towards the church a single wheeled the corner in the midst of them and close behind him came a band of fearful wind instruments sending forth a discord now that no intervening buildings kept it from the ear then a light disturbed the and a dense multitude of shone along the street concealing by their glare whatever object they illuminated the single clad in a military dress and bearing a drawn sword rode onward as the leader and by his fierce and countenance appeared like war the red of one cheek was an emblem of fire and sword the blackness of the other the mourning that them in his train were wild figures in the indian dress and many fantastic shapes without a model giving the whole march a visionary air as if a dream had broken forth from some feverish brain and were sweeping visibly through the midnight streets a mass of people except as mt major spectators hemmed the procession in and several women ran along the side walk piercing the confusion of heavier sounds with their shrill voices of mirth or terror the double faced fellow has his eye upon me muttered robin with an indefinite but an uncomfortable idea that he was himself to bear a part in the the leader turned himself in the saddle and fixed his glance full upon the country youth as the went slowly by when robin had freed his eyes from those fiery ones the were passing before him and the were close at hand but the unsteady brightness of the latter formed a veil which he could not penetrate the rattling of wheels over the stones sometimes found its way to his ear and confused traces of a human form appeared at intervals and then melted into the vivid light a moment more and the leader thundered a command to halt the trumpets a horrid breath and then held their peace the shouts and laughter of the people died away and there remained only a universal hum allied to silence right before robin s eyes was an uncovered cart there the blazed the brightest there the moon shone out like day and there in tar and dignity sat his major he was an elderly man of large and majestic person and strong square features a steady soul but steady as it was his enemies had found means to shake it his face was pale as death and far more ghastly the broad forehead was contracted in his agony so that his eyebrows formed one line his eyes were red and wild and the foam hung white upon his quiver ht ing lip his whole frame was agitated by a quick and continual tremor which his pride strove to even in those circumstances of overwhelming humiliation but perhaps the bitterest pang of all was when his eyes met those of robin for he evidently knew him on the instant as the youth stood witnessing the foul disgrace of a head grown gray in honor they stared at each other in silence and robin s knees shook and his hair with a mixture of pity and terror soon however a bewildering excitement began to seize upon his mind the preceding adventures of the night the unexpected appearance of the crowd the the confused din and the hush that followed the of his by that great multitude all this and more than all a perception of tremendous ridicule in the whole scene affected him with a sort of mental at that moment a voice of merriment saluted robin s ears he turned instinctively and just behind the comer of the church stood the lantern bearer rubbing his eyes and enjoying the lad s amazement then he heard a peal of laughter like the ringing of silvery bells n woman his arm a eye met his and he saw the lady of the scarlet a sharp dry appealed to his memory and standing on in the crowd with his white apron over his head he beheld the courteous little and lastly there sailed over the heads of the multitude a great broad laugh broken in the midst by two thus hem hem the sound proceeded from the balcony of the opposite edifice and thither robin turned his eyes in front of mt major the window stood the old citizen wrapped in a wide gown his gray | 35 |
he ordinary facts of life in a slightly and artistic guise i have taken facts which relate to myself because they chance to be nearest at hand and likewise are my own property and as s preface for a person who has been to his ability into the depths of our common nature for the purposes of romance and who his in that dusky region as he needs must as well by the tact of sympathy as by the light of observation wiu smile at such an in of a little preliminary talk about his external habits his abode his casual associates and other matters en rely upon the surface these things hide the man instead of displaying him you must make quite another kind of and look through the whole range of his characters good and evil in order to detect any of his essential traits be all this as it may there can be no question as to the propriety of my this of earlier and later to you and pausing here a few moments to speak of them as friend speaks to friend still being that the public and the critics shall nothing which we care about concealing on you if on no other person i am entitled to rely to sustain the position of my if anybody is responsible for my being at this day an author it is yourself i know not whence your faith came but while we were lads together at a country college gathering blue in study hours under those tall pines or watching the great logs as they tumbled along the current of the or shooting and gray in the woods or bat fi in the summer twilight or catching in that shadowy little stream which i suppose is still wandering through the forest though yon and i will never cast a line in it again two idle lads in short as we need not fear to acknowledge now doing a hundred things that the faculty never heard of or else it had been the worse for us still it was your of your friend s destiny that he was to be a writer of fiction and a fiction in due season he became but was there ever such a weary delay in obtaining the slightest recognition from the public as in my case t i sat down by the way side of life like a man under enchantment and a sprung up around me and the bushes grew to be and the became trees until no exit appeared possible through the depths of my obscurity and there perhaps i should be sitting at this moment with the moss on the tree trunks and the yellow of more than a score of piled above me if it had not been for you for it was through your and that moreover unknown to himself that your early friend was brought before the public somewhat more than in the first volume of twice told tales not a in america i presume would have thought well enough of my forgotten or never noticed stories to risk the expense of print and paper nor do i say this with any purpose of casting on the respectable of book for their blindness to my wonderful merit to confess the truth i doubted of the public recognition quite as much as they could do so much the more generous was your confidence and knowing as i do that it was founded on old friendship rather than cold criticism i value it only the more for that so now when i turn back upon my path lighted by a gleam of public favor to pick up a few articles which were left out of my former i take pleasure in making them the memorial of our very long and unbroken connection some of these sketches were among the earliest that i wrote and lying for years in manuscript they at last into the or magazines and have hidden themselves there ever since others were the productions of a later period others again were written recently the comparison of these various trifles the of intellectual condition at far separated affects me with a singular of regrets i am disposed to quarrel with the earlier sketches both because a mature judgment so many and still more because they come so nearly up to the standard of the best that i can achieve now the fruit tastes but little better than the early it indeed be to believe that the of life passed away without any greater progress and than is indicated here bnt at least so i would hope these things are scarcely to be depended upon as measures of the intellectual and moral man in men are apt to write more wisely than they really know or feel and the remainder of life may be not idly spent in and convincing themselves of the wisdom which they uttered long ago the that was only in the fancy then may have since become a substance in the mind and heart i have nothing further i think to say unless it be that the public need not dread my again on its kindness with any more of these and mouse leaves of old transformed by the magic arts of my friendly into a new book these are the last or if a few still remain they are either such as no paternal partiality could induce the author to think worth preserving or else they have got into some very dark and dusty hiding place quite out of my own remembrance and whence no can avail to them so there let them rest very sincerely n h st contents the a ik main a s thb old news | 35 |
i n m the old tory of as the devil in john s old a ot past the wives ot the bead j major the snow image a childish afternoon of a cold winter s day when the sun shone forth with chilly brightness after a long two children asked leave of their mother to run out and play in the new fallen snow the elder child was a little girl whom because she was of a tender and modest disposition and was thought to be very beautiful her parents and other people who were familiar with her used to call violet but her brother was known by the style and title of on account of the of his broad and round little which made everybody think of sunshine and great scarlet flowers the father of these two children a certain mr it is important to say was an excellent but exceedingly matter of fact sort of man a dealer in and was accustomed to take what is called the common sense view of all matters that came under his consideration with a heart about as tender as other people s he had a head as hard and impenetrable and therefore perhaps as empty as one of the iron pots which it was a part of his business o sell the mother s character on the other hand had a strain of poetry in it a trait of beauty a the snow delicate and flower as it were tbat had survived out of her imaginative youth and still kept itself alive amid the dusty realities of matrimony and so violet and as i began with saying their mother to let them run out and play in the new snow for though it had looked so dreary and dismal drifting downward out of the gray sky it had a very cheerful aspect now that the sun was shining on it the children dwelt in a city and had no wider play place than a little garden before the house divided by a white fence from the street and with a tree and two or three trees it and some rose bushes just in front of the parlor windows the trees and shrubs however were now and their twigs were enveloped in the light snow which thus made a kind of wintry foliage with here and there a for the fruit yes violet yes my little said their kind mother you may go out and play in the new snow accordingly the good lady up her in and and put round their necks and a pair of striped on each little pair of legs and on their hands and gave them a kiss apiece by way of a spell to keep away jack frost forth the two children with a hop and jump that carried them at once into the very heart of a huge snow drift whence violet emerged like a snow while little out vith his round face in full bloom then what a merry time had they to look at thorn in the wintry garden you would have thought that the dark and a childish miracle pitiless storm had been sent for no other purpose but to provide a new for violet and and that they themselves had been created as the snow birds were to take delight only in the tempest and in the white which it spread over the earth at last when they had one another all over with of snow violet after laughing heartily at little s figure was struck with a new idea you look exactly like a snow image said she if your cheeks were not so red and that puts me in mind let us make an image out of snow an image of a little girl and it shall be our sister and shall run about and play with us all winter long won t it be nice o yes cried as plainly as he could speak for he was but a little boy that will be nice and mamma shall see it yes answered violet mamma shall see the new little girl but she must not make her come into the warm parlor for you know our little snow sister wiu not love the warmth and forthwith the children began this great business of making a snow image that should run about while their mother who was sitting at the window and overheard some of their talk could not help smiling at the gravity with which they set about it they really seemed to imagine that there would be no difficulty whatever in creating a live little girl out of the snow and to say the truth if miracles are ever to be wrought it will be by putting our hands to the work in precisely such a simple and frame of mind as that in which violet and now undertook to perform one the snow image without so much as knowing that it was a s thought the mother and thought likewise that the snow just from heaven would he excellent mate to make new of if it were not so very cold she gazed at the children a moment longer to watch their little figures the girl tall for her age graceful and and so delicately colored that she looked like a cheerful thought more than a physical reality while expanded in rather than height and rolled along on his short and sturdy legs as substantial as an elephant though not quite so big then the mother resumed her work what it was forget but she was either a silken bonnet for violet or a pair of stockings for little s short legs again however and again and yet other she could not help turning her head to the window to see how | 35 |
the children got on with their indeed it was an exceedingly pleasant sight those bright little souls at their tasks moreover it was really to observe how and they managed the matter violet assumed the chief direction and told what to do while with her own delicate fingers she shaped out all the parts of the snow figure it seemed in fact not so much to be made by the children as to grow up under their hands while they were playing and about it their mother was quite surprised at this and the longer she looked the more and more surprised she grew what remarkable children mine are thought she smiling with a mother s pride and smiling at herself too for being so proud of them what other children a childish could hate made anything so like a little girl s out of snow at the first trial well but now i finish s new for his grandfather is coming to morrow and i want the little fellow to look handsome so she took up the and was soon as busily at work again with her needle as the two children with their snow image but still as the needle travelled hither and thither through the of the dress the mother made her toil light and happy by listening to the airy voices of violet and they kept talking to one another all the time their tongues being quite as active as their feet and hands except at intervals she could not distinctly hear what was said but had merely a sweet impression that they were in a most loving mood and were enjoying themselves highly and that the business of making the snow image went on now and then however when violet and happened to raise their voices the words were as audible as if they had been spoken in the very parlor where the mother sat o how delightfully those words echoed in her heart even though they meant nothing so very wise or wonderful after all but you must know mother with her heart much more than with her ears and thus she is often delighted with the of celestial music when other people can hear nothing of the kind cried violet to her brother who had gone to another part of the garden bring me some of that fresh snow from the very comer where we have not been i want it to sha the our little snow sister s bosom with you know that p must be quite pure just as it came out of the sky here it is violet answered in his bin tone but a very sweet tone too as he came through the half trodden here is tj snow for her little bosom o violet how beau ti she begins to look yes said violet thoughtfully and quietly oi snow sister does look very lovely i did not quite that we could make such a sweet little girl t this the mother as she listened thought how fit an delightful an incident it would be if or better if angel children were to come from paradise an play with her own and help them t make their snow image giving it the features of violet and would not be of their immortal only they would see tha the image grew very beautiful while they worked at it and would think that they themselves had done it all my little girl and boy deserve such if mortal children ever did said the to herself then she smiled again at her own pride nevertheless the idea seized upon her imagination ind ever and anon she took a glimpse out of the window half dreaming that she might see the golden children of paradise sporting with her own golden haired violet and bright now for a few moments there was a busy and earnest but indistinct hum of the two children s voices as violet and wrought together with one happy consent violet still seemed to be the guiding spirit a childish miracle while acted rather as a and brought her the snow from far and near and yet the little evidently had a proper understanding of the matter too cried violet for her brother was again at the other side of the garden bring me those light wreaths of snow that have rested on the lower branches of the tree you can on the snow drift and reach them easily must have them to make some for our snow sister s head here they are violet answered the little boy take care you do not break them well done well done how pretty does she not look sweetly said violet with a very satisfied tone and now we must have some little shining bits of ice to make the brightness of her eyes she is not finished yet mamma will see how very beautiful she is but papa will say nonsense come in out of the cold let us call mamma to look out said and then he shouted mamma mamma mamma look out and see what a nice girl we are making the mother put her work for an instant and looked out of the window but it so happened that the sun for this was one of the shortest days of the whole year had sunken so nearly to the edge of the world that his setting shine came into the lady s eyes so she was dazzled you must understand and could not very distinctly observe what was in the garden still however through all that bright blinding of the sun and the new snow she beheld a small white figure in the garden that seemed to have a deal of human likeness about it and e saw violet and indeed she looked more at them than at the image e saw the two children still at work | 35 |
wind there was certainly something very singular in the aspect of the little stranger among all the children of the neighborhood the lady could remember no such face with its pure white and delicate rose color and the golden tossing about the forehead and cheeks and as for her dress which was entirely of white and fluttering in the breeze it was th snow such as no reasonable woman would pat upon a little girl when sending her out to play in the depth of win ter it made this kind and careful mother shiver only to look at those small feet with nothing in the world on them except a very thin pair of white slippers nevertheless as she was clad the child seemed to feel not the slightest inconvenience firom the cold but danced so lightly over the snow that the tips of her toes left hardly a print in its sur ce while violet could but just keep pace with her and s short legs compelled him to behind once in the course of their play the strange child placed herself between violet and and taking a hand of each merrily forward and they along with her almost immediately however pulled away his little fist and began to rub it as if the fingers were with cold while violet also released herself though with less gravely remarking that it was better not to take hold of hands the said not a word but danced about just as merrily as before if violet and did not choose to play with her she could make just as good a of the brisk and cold west wind which kept blowing her all about the garden and took such liberties with her that they seemed to have been friends for a long time all this while the mother stood on the threshold wondering how a little girl could look so much like a flying snow drift or how a snow drift could look so very uke a little girl she called violet and whispered to her violet my darling what is this child s name asked she does she live near us a childish miracle s why dearest mamma answered violet laughing to think that her mother did not comprehend so very plain an this is our little snow sister whom we have just heen making yes dear mamma cried running to his mother and looking up simply into her face this is our snow image is it not a nice child at this instant a flock of snow came flitting through the air as was very natural they avoided violet and but and this looked strange they flew at once to the white child fluttered eagerly her head alighted on her shoulders and seemed to claim her as an old acquaintance she on her part was evidently as glad to see these little birds old winter s as they were to see her and welcomed them by holding out both her hands they each and all tried to alight on her two palms and ten small and crowding one another ff with an immense fluttering of their tiny wings one dear little bird tenderly in her bosom another put its bill to her lips they were as joyous all the while and seemed as much in their element as you may have seen them when sporting with a snow storm violet and stood laughing at this pretty sight for they enjoyed the merry time which their new was having with these small winged almost as much as if they themselves took part in it violet said her mother greatly perplexed tell me the truth without any jest who is this little girl my darling mamma answered violet looking seriously into her mother s face and apparently surprised that she should need ny further explanation i have the snow image told you truly who she is it is our little snow image which and i have been making will tell you so as well as i yes mamma with much gravity in his crimson little this is snow child is not she a nice one but mamma her hand is oh so very cold while mamma still hesitated what to think and what to do the street gate was thrown open and the father of violet and appeared wrapped in a pilot cloth sack with a fur cap drawn down over his ears and the of gloves upon his hands mr was a middle aged man with a weary and yet a happy look in his wind flushed and frost pinched face as if he had been busy all the day long and was glad to get back to his quiet home his eyes brightened at the sight of his wife and children although he could not help uttering a word or two of surprise at finding the whole family in the open air on so bleak a day and after sunset too he soon perceived the little white stranger sporting to and fro in the garden like a dancing snow wreath and the flock of snow birds fluttering about her head pray what little girl may that be inquired this very sensible man surely her mother must be crazy to let her go out in such bitter weather as it has been to day with only that whit gown and those thin my dear husband said his wife i know no more about the little thing than you do some neighbor s child i suppose our violet and she added laughing at herself for repeating so absurd a story insist that she is nothing but a snow image which they a childish have been busy about in the garden almost all the afternoon as she said this the mother glanced her eyes toward the spot the children s snow image had been made what was her surprise on perceiving that there was not the slightest trace of | 35 |
so much labor no image at all no piled up heap of snow nothing whatever save the prints of little footsteps around a vacant space this is very strange said she what is strange dear mother asked violet dear father do not you see how it is this is our snow image which and i have made because ve wanted another did not we yes papa said crimson this be our snow sister is she not beau ti ful but she gave me such a cold kiss nonsense children cried their good honest father who as we have already intimated had an exceedingly common sensible way of looking at matters do not tell me of making live figures out of snow come wife this little stranger must not stay out in the bleak air a moment longer we will bring her into the parlor and you shall give her a supper of warm bread and milk and make her as comfortable as you can meanwhile i will inquire among the neighbors or if necessary send the city about the streets to give notice of a lost child so saying this honest and very kind hearted man was going toward the little white with the best intentions in the world but violet and each seizing their father by the hand earnestly him not to make her come in the snow dear father cried violet putting herself before him it is true what i have been telling you this is our little snow girl and she cannot live any longer than while she breathes the cold west wind do not make her come into the hot room yes father shouted stamping his little foot was he in earnest this be nothing but our snow child she will not love the hot fire children nonsense nonsense cried the father half vexed half laughing at what he considered their foolish obstinacy run into the house this moment it is too late to play any longer now i must take care of this little girl immediately or she will catch her death a cold husband dear husband said his wife in a low voice for she had been looking narrowly at the and was more perplexed than ever there is something very singular in all this you will think me foolish but but may it not be that some invisible angel has been attracted by the simplicity and good faith with which our children set about their undertaking may he not have spent an hour of his immortality in playing with those dear little souls and so the result is what we call a miracle no no do not laugh at me i see what a foolish thought it is my dear wife replied the husband laughing heartily you are as much a child as violet and and in one sense so she was for all life she had kept her heart full of simplicity and faith which was as pure and clear as crystal and at all matters through this medium she sometimes a childish miracle saw truths so profound that other people laughed at them as nonsense and but now kind mr had entered the garden breaking away from his two children who still sent their shrill voices after him him to let the stay and enjoy herself in the cold west wind as he approached the snow birds took to flight the little white also fled backward shaking her head as if to say pray do not touch me and as it appeared leading him through the deepest of the once the good man stumbled and down upon his face so that gathering himself up again with the snow sticking to his rough pilot cloth sack he as white and wintry as a snow image of the largest size some of the neighbors meanwhile seeing him from their windows wondered what could possess poor mr to be running about his garden in pursuit of a snow drift which the west wind was driving hither and thither at length after a vast deal of trouble he chased the little stranger into a comer where she could not possibly escape him his wife had been looking on and it nearly twilight was to observe how the snow child gleamed and sparkled and how she seemed to shed a glow all round about her and when driven into the comer she positively like a star it was a frosty kind of brightness too like that of an in the the wife thought it strange that good mr should see nothing remarkable in the snow child s appearance come you odd little thing cried the honest man her by the hand i have caught you at last end the snow image will make you comfortable in spite of yourself we will put a nice warm pair of stockings on your frozen little feet and you shall have a good thick shawl to wrap yourself in your poor white nose i am afraid is actually frost bitten but we will make it all right come along in and so with a most benevolent smile on his sagacious all purple as it was with the cold this very gentleman took the snow child by the hand and led her towards the house she followed him and reluctant for all the glow and sparkle was gone out of her figure and whereas just before she had resembled a bright frosty star evening with a crimson gleam on the cold horizon she now looked as dull and languid as a mr led her up the steps of the door violet and looked into his face their eyes fuu of tears which before they run down their cheeks and a in entreated him not to bring their snow image into the house not bring her in exclaimed the kind hearted man why you are crazy my little violet | 35 |
more of the world had watched and waited till they were weary the great stone face and had beheld no man with ch a face nor any man that proved to be much greater or nobler than his neighbors concluded it to be nothing but an idle tale at all events the great man of the prophecy had not yet appeared o mother dear mother cried his hands above his head i do hope that i shall live to see him his mother was an affectionate and thoughtful woman and felt that it was wisest not to the generous hopes of her little boy so she only said to him perhaps you may and never forgot the story that his mother told him it was always in his mind whenever he looked upon the great stone face he spent his childhood in the log cottage where he was bom and was dutiful to his mother and to her in many things assisting her much with his little hands and more with his loving heart in this manner from a happy yet often pensive child he grew up to be a mild quiet boy and sim with labor in the fields but with more intelligence brightening his aspect than is seen in many lads who have been taught at famous schools yet had had no teacher save only that the great stone face became one to him when the toil of the day was over he would gaze at it for hours until he began to imagine that those vast features recognized him and gave him a smile of kindness and encouragement to his own look of veneration we must not take upon us to affirm that this was a mistake although the face may have looked no more kindly at than at all the world besides but the secret the great stone face was that the boy s tender and confiding simplicity discerned what other people could not see and thus the love which was meant for all became his peculiar portion about this time there went a throughout the valley that the great man foretold from ages long ago who was to bear a resemblance to the great stone face had appeared at last it seems that many years before a young man had from the valley and settled at a distant where after getting together a little money he had set up as a his name but i could never learn whether it was his real one or a that had grown out of his habits and success in life was being shrewd and active and endowed by providence with that inscrutable faculty k which itself in what the world calls luck he became an exceedingly rich merchant and owner of a whole fleet of ships all the countries j of the globe appeared to join hands for the mere purpose of adding heap after heap to the of this one man s wealth the cold regions of the north almost within the gloom and shadow of the circle sent him their tribute in the shape of hot africa for him the golden sands of her rivers and gathered up the ivory of her great out of the forests the east came bringing him the rich and and and the of diamonds and the gleaming purity of large pearls the ocean not to be with the earth yielded up her mighty that mr might sell their oil and make a profit on it be the original what it might it was gold within his grasp it might i l th great stone face be said of him as of in the fable that whatever he touched with his finger immediately and grew yellow and was changed at once into sterling metal or which suited him still better into piles of coin and when mr had become so very rich that it would have taken him a hundred years al to count his wealth he himself of his native valley and resolved to go back and end his days where he was born with this purpose in view he sent a skilful to build him such a palace as should be fit for a man of his vast wealth to live in as i have said above it had already been in the valley that mr had turned out to be the prophetic personage so long and vainly looked for and that his was the perfect and of the great stone face people were the more ready to believe that this must needs be the fact when they beheld the splendid edifice that rose as if by enchantment on the site of his father s old weather beaten farm house the exterior was of marble so white that it seemed as though the whole structure might melt away in the sunshine like those ones which mr in his young play days before his fingers were gifted with the touch of had been accustomed to build of snow it had a richly ornamented supported by tall pillars beneath which was a lofty door studded with and made of a kind of wood that had been brought from beyond the sea the windows from the floor to the ceiling of each stately apartment were composed of but one enormous pane of glass so pure that it as said to be a finer me the beat stone face than even the vacant atmosphere hardly anybody had been permitted to see the interior of this palace but it w s reported and with good semblance of truth to be far more gorgeous than the outside that whatever was iron or brass in other houses was silver or gold in this and mr s especially made such a glittering appearance that no ordinary man would have been able to close his eyes there but on the other hand mr was now so to wealth that perhaps he could | 35 |
not have closed his eyes unless where the gleam of it was certain to find its way beneath his eyelids in due time the mansion was finished next came the with magnificent furniture then a whole troop of black and white servants the of mr who in his own majestic person was expected to arrive at sunset our friend meanwhile had been deeply stirred by the idea that the great man the noble man the man of prophecy after so many ages of delay was at length to be made manifest to his native valley he knew boy as he was that there were a thousand ways in which mr with his vast wealth might himself into an angel of and assume a control over human affairs as wide and as the smile of the great stone face full of faith and hope doubted not that what the people said was true and that now he was to behold the living likeness of those wondrous features on the mountain side while the boy was still gazing up the valley and as he always did that the great stone face returned his gaze and looked kindly at him the the great stone face rambling of wheels was heard approaching swiftly along the winding road here he comes cried a group of people who were assembled to witness the arrival here comes the great mr a carriage drawn by four horses dashed round the turn of the road within it thrust partly out of the window appeared the of a little old man with a skin as yellow as if his own hand had it he had a low forehead small sharp eyes about with innumerable wrinkles and very thin lips which he made still thinner by pressing them forcibly together the very image of the great stone face shouted the people sure enough the old prophecy is true and here we have the great man come at last and what greatly perplexed they seemed actually to believe that here was the likeness which they spoke of by the road side there chanced to be an old beggar woman and two little beggar children from some far off region who as the carriage rolled onward held out their hands and lifted up their voices most charity a yellow the very same that had together so much wealth itself out of the coach window and some copper upon the ground so that though the great man s name seems to have been he might just as have been still nevertheless with an earnest shout and evidently with as much good faith as ever the people he is the very image of the great stone face but turned sadly from the wrinkled shrewd the stone face ness of that sordid and gazed up the valley where amid a gathering mist gilded by the last he could still distinguish those glorious features which had impressed themselves into his soul their aspect cheered him what did the lips seem to say he come fear not the man will come the years went on and ceased to be a boy he had grown to be a young man now he attracted little notice from the other inhabitants of the valley for they saw nothing remarkable in his way of life save that when the labor of the day was over he still loved to go apart and gaze and upon the great stone face according to th ir idea of the matter it was a folly indeed but inasmuch as was industrious kind and and neglected no duty for the sake of indulging this idle habit they knew not that the great stone face had become a teacher to him and that the sentiment which was expressed in it would the young man s heart and fill it with wider and deeper sympathies than other hearts they knew not that thence would come k better wisdom than could be learned from books and a better life than could be on the example of other human lives neither did know that the thoughts and which came to him so naturally in the fields and at tlie fireside and wherever he with himself were of a higher tone than those which all men shared with him a simple soul simple as when his mother first taught him the old prophecy he beheld the features beaming the valley and still the great stone face wondered that their human was so long in making his appearance by this time poor mr was dead and buried and the part of the matter was that his wealth which was the body and spirit of his existence had disappeared before his death leaving of him but a living skeleton covered over with a wrinkled yellow skin since the melting away of his gold it had been very generally that there was no such striking resemblance after all the features of the ruined merchant and that majestic face upon the mountain side so the people ceased to honor him during his lifetime and quietly consigned him to forgetfulness after his once in a while it is true his memory was brought up in connection with the magnificent palace which he had built and which had long ago been turned into a hotel for the accommodation of strangers multitudes of whom came every summer jl visit that famous natural curiosity the great stone face thus mr being and thrown into the shade the man of prophecy was yet to come it so happened that a native bom son of the valley many years before had as a soldier and after a great deal of hard fighting had now become an illustrious commander whatever he may be called in history he was known in and on the battle field under the of o iy j x b this war worn being now with age and wounds and weary of the turmoil of | 35 |
a military life and of the roll of the drum and the of the trumpet that had so long been ringing in his ears had lately signified a the great stone face pose of returning to his native valley hoping to find repose where he remembered to have left it the inhabitants his old neighbors and their grown up children were resolved to welcome the renowned warrior with a salute of cannon and a public dinner and all the more it being affirmed that now at last the likeness of the great stone face had actually appeared an aid de camp of old blood and thunder travelling through the valley was said to have been struck with the resemblance moreover the and early acquaintances of the general were ready to testify on oath that to the best of their recollection the general had been exceedingly like the majestic image even when a boy only that the idea had never occurred to them at that period great therefore was the excitement throughout the valley and many people who had never once thought of glancing at the great stone face for years before now spent their time in gazing at it for the sake of knowing exactly how general blood and thunder looked on the day of the great festival with all the other people of the valley left their work and proceeded to the spot where the banquet was prepared as he approached the loud voice of the reverend doctor was heard a blessing on the good things set before them and on the distinguished friend of peace in whose honor they were assembled the tables were arranged in a cleared space of the w shut in by the surrounding trees except where a vista opened eastward and afforded a distant view of the great face over the general s chair which was a from the home of washington there was an the great stone face arch of boughs with the laurel and surmounted by his country s banner beneath which he had won his our friend raised himself on his tip toes in hopes to get a glimpse of the celebrated guest but there was a mighty crowd about the tables anxious to hear the and speeches and to catch any word that might fall from the general in reply and a company doing duty as a guard pricked with their at any particularly quiet person among the throng so being of an character was thrust quite into the background where he could see no more of old blood and thunder s than if it had been still blazing on the battle field to console himself he turned towards the great stone face which like a faithful and long remembered friend looked back and smiled upon him through the vista of the forest meantime however he could the remarks of various individuals who were comparing the features of the hero with the face on the distant mountain side t is the same face to a hair cried one man cutting a for joy wonderfully like that s a fact responded another like why i call it old blood and thunder himself in a monstrous looking glass cried a third and why not he s the greatest man of this or any other age beyond a doubt and then all three of the gave a great shout which communicated to the crowd and called forth a roar from a thousand voices that went for miles among the mountains until you might have supposed that the great stone face had poured its the stone face thunder into the cry all these comments and this vast enthusiasm served the more to interest our friend nor did he think of questioning that now at length the mountain had found its human it is true had imagined that this for personage would appear in the character of a man of peace uttering wisdom and doing good and making people happy but taking an habitual breadth of view with all his simplicity he that providence should choose its own method of blessing mankind and could conceive that this great end might be effected even by a warrior and a bloody sword should inscrutable wisdom see fit to order matters so the general the general was now the cry hush silence old blood and thunder s going to make a speech even so for the cloth being removed the general s health had been drunk amid shouts of applause and he now stood upon his feet to thank the company saw him there he was over the shoulders of the crowd from the two glittering and embroidered collar upward beneath the arch of green boughs with laurel and the banner drooping as if to shade his brow and there too visible in the same glance through the vista of the forest appeared the great stone face and was there indeed such a resemblance as the crowd had alas could not recognize it he beheld a war worn and weather beaten countenance full of and expressive of an iron will but the gentle wisdom the deep broad tender sympathies were altogether wanting in old blood and thunder s and even if the great the stone face stone face had assumed his look of stem command the traits would still have tempered it this is not the man of prophecy sighed to himself as he made his way out of the throng and must the world wait longer yet the mists had the distant mountain side and there were seen the grand and awful features of the great stone face awful but as if a mighty angel were sitting among the hills and himself in a cloud of gold and purple as he looked could hardly believe but that a smile beamed over whole with a radiance still brightening although without motion of the lips it was probably the effect of the western sunshine melting through the diffused that | 35 |
had swept between him and the object that he gazed at but as it always did the aspect of his marvellous friend made as hopeful as if he had never hoped in vain fear not said his heart even as if the great face were whispering him fear not he will come more years sped swiftly and away still dwelt in his native valley and was now a man of middle age by degrees he had become known among the people now as heretofore he labored for his bread and was the same simple hearted man that he had always been but he had thought and felt so much he had given so many of the best hours of his life to hopes for some great good to mankind that it seemed as though he had been talking with the angels and had a portion of their the great stone face wisdom unawares it was visible in the calm and of his daily life the quiet stream of which had made a wide green margin all along its course not a day passed by that the world was not the better because this man humble as he was had lived he never stepped aside from his own path yet would always reach a blessing to his neighbor almost involuntarily too he had become a preacher the pure and high simplicity of his thought which as one of its took shape in the good deeds that dropped silently from his hand flowed also forth in speech he uttered truths that wrought upon and the lives of those who heard him his it may be never suspected that their own neighbor and familiar friend was more than an ordinary man least of all did himself suspect it but inevitably as the murmur of a came thoughts out of his mouth that no other human lips had spoken when the people s minds had had a little time to cool they were ready enough to acknowledge their mistake in imagining a between general blood and thunder s and the on the mountain side but now again there were reports and many in the newspapers that the likeness of the great stone face had appeared upon the broad shoulders of a certain eminent he like mr and old blood and thunder was a native of the valley but had left it in his early days and taken up the trades of law and politics instead of the rich man s wealth and the warrior s sword he had but a tongue and it was than both together so wonderfully eloquent the great stone face was he that whatever he might choose to say his had no choice hut to him wrong looked like right and right like wrong for when it pleased him he could make a kind of illuminated fog with his mere and the natural daylight with it his tongue indeed was a magic instrument sometimes it like the thunder sometimes it like the sweetest music it was the blast of war the song of peace and it seemed to have a heart in it when there was no such matter in good truth he was a wondrous man and when his tongue had acquired him all other imaginable success when it had been heard in halls of state and in the courts of princes and after it had made him known all over the world even as a voice crying from shore to shore it finally persuaded his countrymen to select him for the before this time indeed as soon as he began to grow celebrated his admirers had found out the resemblance between him and the great stone face and so much were they struck by it that throughout the country this distinguished gentleman was known by tlie name of old stony the phrase was considered as giving a highly favorable aspect to his political prospects for as is likewise the case with the nobody ever becomes president without taking a name other than his own while his friends were doing their best to make him president old stony as he was called set out on a visit to the valley where he was bom of course he had no other object than to shake hands with his and neither nor cared about any effect which his progress through the country might have upon the great stone face the election magnificent preparations were made to receive the illustrious a of set forth to meet him at the boundary line of the state and all the people left their business and gathered along the to see him pass among these was though more than once disappointed as we have seen he had such a hopeful and confiding nature that he was always ready to believe in whatever seemed beautiful and good he kept his heart continually open and thus was sure to catch the blessing from on high when it should come so now again as as ever he went forth to behold the likeness of the great stone face the came along the road with a great of hoofs and a mighty cloud of dust which rose up so dense and high that the of the mountain side was completely hidden from s eyes all the great men of the neighborhood were there on horseback officers in uniform the member of the of the county the of newspapers and many a farmer too had mounted his patient with his sunday coat upon his back it really was a very brilliant spectacle especially as there were numerous over the on some of which were gorgeous portraits of the illustrious and the great stone face smiling familiarly at one another like two brothers if the pictures were to be trusted the mutual resemblance it must be confessed was marvellous we must not forget to mention that there was a band of music which made | 35 |
the echoes of the mountains ring and with the loud triumph of its strains so that airy and soul thrilling broke out among all the heights and hollows the great stone face as if every nook of his native valley had found a voice to welcome the distinguished guest but the effect was when the far off mountain precipice flung back the music for then the great stone face itself seemed to be swelling the triumphant chorus in acknowledgment that at length the man of prophecy was come all this while the people were throwing up their hats and shouting with enthusiasm so that the heart of kindled up and he likewise threw up his hat and shouted as loudly as the for the great man for old stony but as yet he had not seen him here he is now cried those who stood near there there look at old stony and then at the old man of the mountain and see if they are not as like as two twin brothers in the midst of all this gallant array came an open drawn by four white horses and in the with his massive head uncovered sat the illustrious old stony himself confess it said one of s neighbors to him the great stone face has met its match at last now it must be owned that at his first glimpse of the countenance which was bowing and smiling from the did fancy that there was a resemblance between it and the old familiar face upon the mountain side the brow with its massive depth and l and all the other features indeed were boldly and as if in of a more than heroic of a model but the and the grand expression of a divine sympathy that illuminated the great stone face the mountain and its ponderous granite substance into spirit might here be sought in vain something left out or had ted and therefore the lifted had always a weary gloom in the deep of his eyes as of a child that has its or a man of mighty faculties and little aims whose life with all its high performances was vague and empty because no high purpose had endowed it with reality still s neighbor was thrusting his elbow into his side and pressing him for an answer confess confess is not he the very picture of your old man of the mountain no said i see little or no likeness then so much the worse for the great stone face answered his neighbor and again he set up a shout for old stony but turned away melancholy and almost for this was the of his disappointments to behold a man ho might have fulfilled prophecy and had not willed to do so meantime the the the and the swept past him with the crowd in the rear leaving the dust to settle down and the great stone face to be revealed again with the grandeur that it had worn for centuries l here i am the lips seemed to say i have waited longer than thou and am not yet weary fear not the man will come the years hurried onward treading in their haste on one another s heels and now they began to bring white the great stone face hairs and scatter them over the head of they made reverend wrinkles across his forehead and in his cheeks he was an aged man but not in vain had he grown old more than the white hairs on his head were the sage thoughts in his mind his wrinkles and were that time had and in which he had written legends of wisdom that had been tested by the tenor of a life and had ceased to be obscure for had come the fame which so many seek and made him known in the great world beyond the limits of the valley in which he had dwelt so quietly college professors and even the active men of cities came from far to see and converse with for the report had gone abroad that this simple had ideas unlike those of other men not gained from books but of a higher tone a tranquil and familiar majesty as if he had been talking with the angels as his daily friends whether it were sage or received these with the gentle sincerity that had him from boyhood and spoke freely with them of whatever came uppermost or lay deepest in his heart or their own while they talked together his face would unawares and shine upon them as with a mild evening light pensive with the fulness of such discourse his guests took leave and went their way and passing up the valley paused to look at the great stone face imagining that they had seen its likeness in a human countenance but could not remember where while had been growing up and growing old a providence had granted a new poet to this earth he likewise was a native of the valley but had the t ne face spent the greater part of his life at a distance from that romantic region pouring out his sweet music amid the bustle and din of cities often however did the mountains which had been familiar to him in his childhood lift their snowy peaks into the clear atmosphere of his poetry neither was the great stone face forgotten for the poet had celebrated it in an which was grand enough to have been uttered by its own majestic lips this man of genius we may say had come down from heaven with wonderful if he sang of a mountain the eyes of all mankind beheld a grandeur on its breast or soaring to its summit than had before been seen there if his theme were a lovely lake a celestial smile had now been thrown over it to gleam forever on its surface if it | 35 |
were the vast old sea even the deep of its dread bosom seemed to swell the higher as if by the emotions of the song thus the world assumed another and a better aspect from the hour that the poet blessed it with his happy eyes the creator had bestowed him as the last best touch to his own creation was i not finished till the poet came to interpret and so com it the was no less high and beautiful when his human brethren were the subject of his verse the man or woman sordid with the common dust of life who crossed his daily path and the little child who played in it were if he beheld them in his mood of poetic faith he showed the golden links of the great chain that them with an kindred he brought out the hidden traits of a celestial birth that made them worthy of such kin some indeed there the great stone face were who thought to show the of their judgment by that all the beauty and dignity of the natural world existed only in the poet s fancy let such men speak for themselves who undoubtedly appear to have been forth by nature with a contemptuous bitterness she h them up out of her refuse stuff after all the swine were made as respects all things else the poet s ideal was the truest truth the songs of this poet found their way to he read them after his customary toil seated on the bench before his cottage door where for such a length of time he had filled his repose with thought by gazing at the great stone face and now as he read that caused the soul to thrill within him he lifted his eyes to the vast countenance beaming on him so o majestic friend he murmured addressing the great stone face is not this man worthy to resemble thee the face seemed to smile but answered not a word now it happened that the poet though he dwelt so far away had not only heard of but had meditated much upon his character until he deemed nothing so desirable as to meet this man whose wisdom walked hand in hand with the noble simplicity of his life one summer morning therefore he took passage by the railroad and in the decline of the afternoon alighted from the cars at no great distance from s cottage the great hotel which had formerly been the palace of mr was close at hand but the poet with his carpet bag on his arm inquired at once the great stone face where dwelt and was resolved to be accepted as his guest approaching the door he there found the good old man holding a volume in his hand which alternately he read and then with a finger between the leaves looked lovingly at the great stone face good evening said the poet can you give a traveller a night s lodging willingly answered and then he added smiling i never saw the great stone face look so at a stranger the poet sat down on the bench beside him and he and talked together often had the poet held intercourse with the and the wisest but never before with a man like whose thoughts and feelings up with such a natural freedom and who made great truths so familiar by his simple utterance of them angels as had been so often said seemed to have wrought with him at his labor in the fields angels seemed to have sat with him by the fireside and dwelling with angels as friend with friends he had the of their ideas and it with the sweet and lowly charm of household words so thought the poet and on the other hand was moved and agitated by the living images which the poet flung out of his mind and which peopled all the air about the cottage door with shapes of beauty both gay and pensive the sympathies of these two men instructed them with a sense than either could have attained alone their minds accorded into one strain and made delightful music which neither of them could have claimed as all his own nor distinguished his own share stone face from the other s they led one another as it were into a high of their thoughts so remote and hitherto so dim that they had never entered it before and so beautiful that they desired to be there always as listened to the poet he imagined that the great stone face was bending forward to listen too he gazed earnestly into the poet s glowing eyes who are you my strangely gifted guest he said the poet laid his finger on the volume that had been reading you have read these poems said he you know me then for i wrote them again and still more earnestly than before examined the poet s features then turned towards the great stone face then back with an uncertain aspect to his guest but his countenance fell he shook his head and sighed wherefore are you sad inquired the poet because replied all through life i have awaited the fulfilment of a prophecy and when i read these poems i hoped that it might be fulfilled in you you hoped answered the poet faintly smiling to find in me the likeness of the great stone face and you are disappointed as formerly with mr and old blood and thunder and old stony yes it is my doom you must add my name to the illustrious three and record another failure of your hopes for in shame and sadness do i speak it i am not worthy to be by yonder and majestic image the at face and why asked he pointed to the volume are not those thoughts divine they have a strain of the divinity | 35 |
replied the poet you can hear in them the far off echo of a heavenly song but my life dear has not with my thought i have had grand dreams but they have been only dreams because i have lived and that too by my own choice among poor and mean realities sometimes even shall i dare to say it i lack faith in the grandeur the beauty and the goodness which my own works are said to have made more evident in nature and in human life why then pure of the good and true thou hope to find me in yonder image of the divine the poet spoke sadly and his eyes were dim with tears so likewise were those of at the hour of sunset as had long been his frequent custom was to discourse to an assemblage of the neighboring inhabitants in the open air he and the poet arm in arm still talking together as they went along proceeded to the spot it was a small nook among the hills with a gray precipice behind the stem front of which was relieved by the pleasant foliage of many creeping plants that made a for the naked rock by hanging their from all its ragged angles at a small elevation above the ground set in a rich frame work of there appeared a spacious enough to admit a human figure with freedom for such gestures as accompany earnest thought and genuine emotion into this natural pulpit ascended and threw a look of familiar kindness around upon his audience they stood or sat or re the great stone face upon the grass as seemed good to each with the departing sunshine falling over them and mingling its subdued cheerfulness with the solemnity of a grove of ancient trees beneath and amid the boughs of which the golden rays were constrained to pass in another direction was seen the great stone face with the same cheer combined with the same solemnity in its aspect began to speak giving to the people of what was in his heart and mind his words had power because they accorded with his thoughts and his thoughts had reality and depth because they with the life which he had always lived it was not mere breath that this preacher uttered they were the words of life because a life of good deeds and holy love was melted into them pearls pure and rich had been dissolved into this precious draught the poet as he listened felt that the being and character of were a nobler strain of poetry than he had ever written his eyes glistening with tears he gazed at the venerable man and said within himself that never was there an aspect so worthy of a prophet and a sage as that mild sweet thoughtful countenance with the glory of white hair diffused about it at a distance but distinctly to be seen high up in the golden light of the setting sun appeared the great stone face with mists around it like the white hairs around the brow of its look of grand seemed to embrace the world at tliat moment in sympathy with a thought which he was about to utter the face of assumed a grandeur of expression so with benevolence that w the stone face the poet by an irresistible impulse threw his arms aloft and shouted behold behold is himself the likeness of the great stone face then all the people looked and saw that what the poet said was true the prophecy was fulfilled but having finished what he had to say took the poet s arm and walked slowly homeward still hoping that some wiser and better man than himself would by i and by appear bearing a resemblance to the great stone face main street a looking individual makes his bow and addresses the public in my daily walks along the principal street of ray native town it has often occurred to me that if its growth from infancy upward and the of characteristic scenes that have passed along this during the more than two centuries of its existence could be presented to the eye in a shifting it would be an exceedingly effective method of the march of time acting on this idea i have contrived a certain exhibition somewhat in the nature of a show by means of which i propose to call up the and many colored past before the spectator and show him the of his forefathers amid a succession of historic incidents with no greater trouble than the turning of a be pleased therefore my indulgent to walk into the show room and take your seats before yonder mysterious curtain the little wheels and springs of my machinery have been well a multitude of are dressed in character l all varieties of fashion from the cloak and to the latest oak hall coat the lamps are trimmed and shall into sunshine or fade away in moonlight or their brilliancy in a november cloud as the nature of the scene may require and in short the main exhibition is just ready to commence unless some thing should go wrong as for instance the of a picture whereby the people and events of one century might be thrust into the middle of another or the breaking of a wire which would bring the course of time to a sudden period i say the to which such a complicated piece of is liable i flatter myself ladies and gentlemen that the performance will your generous approbation ting a ting ting goes the bell the curtain rises and we behold not indeed the main street but the track of leaf strewn forest land over which its dusty pavement is hereafter to extend you perceive at a glance that this is the ancient and primitive wood the ever youthful and | 35 |
old with new twigs yet as it were with the of innumerable years that have accumulated upon its branches the white man s axe has never smitten a single tree his footstep has never a single one of the withered leaves which all the since the flood have been beneath yet see along through the vista of impending boughs there is already a faintly traced path running nearly east and west as if a prophecy or of the future street had stolen into the heart of the solemn old wood onward goes this hardly perceptible track now ascending over a natural swell of land now gently into a hollow traversed here by a little which like a snake through the gleam of sunshine and quickly hides itself among the in its quest for the neighboring and there by the corpse of a giant of the forest which had lived main street out its term of life and been by mere old age and lies buried in the new vegetation that is bom of its decay what footsteps can have worn this half seen path hark do we not ear them now rustling softly over the leaves we m an indian woman a majestic and woman or else her image does not represent her truly for this is the great whose rule with that of her sons extends from mystic to that red chief who by her side is her second husband the priest and whose shall hereafter the pale faced with dancing and shrieking in the woods at midnight but greater would be the of the indian if in the pool of water at his feet he could catch a prophetic glimpse of the noon day which the white man is destined to achieve if he could see as in a dream the stone front of the stately hall which will cast its shadow over this very spot if he could be aware that the future edifice will contain a noble museum where among countless of earth and sea a few indian arrow heads shall be up as of a vanished race no such disturb the and they pass on beneath the tangled shade holding high talk on matters of state and religion and imagine doubtless that their own system of affairs will endure forever meanwhile how full of its own proper life is the scene that lies around them the gray runs up the trees and among the upper branches was not that the leap of a deer and there is the of a too i catch the cruel and stealthy eye of a wolf as he draws back into yonder of so there amid the murmur of boughs go the indian queen and the indian priest while the gloom of the broad wilderness over them and its sombre mystery them as with something and only momentary streaks of quivering sunlight once in a great while find their way down and glimmer among the feathers in their dusky hair can it be that the thronged street of a city will ever pass into this twilight solitude over those soft heaps of the tree trunks and through the places green with water moss and penetrate that hopeless of great trees which have been and tossed together by a it has been a wilderness from the creation must it not be a wilderness forever here an looking gentleman in blue glasses with bows of steel who has taken a seat at the extremity of the front row begins at this early stage of the exhibition to the whole affair is a manifest catch penny he scarcely under his breath the trees look more like weeds in a garden than a primitive forest the and are stiff in their joints and the the deer and the wolf move with all the grace of a child s wooden monkey up and down a stick i am obliged to you sir for the of your replies the with a bow perhaps are just human art has its limits and we must and then ask a little aid from the spectator s imagination main you will get no such aid from the critic i make it a point to see things precisely as key are but come go ahead the stage is waiting the proceeds casting our eyes again over the scene we perceive that strangers have found their way into the solitary place in more than one spot among the trees an axe is glittering in the sunshine the first in has built his dwelling months ago on the border of the forest path and at this moment he comes eastward through the vista of woods with his gun over his shoulder bringing home the choice portions of a deer his figure clad in a and breeches of the same strides onward with such an air of physical force and energy that we might almost expect the very trees to stand aside and give him room to pass and so indeed they must for humble as is his name in history still is of that class of men who do not merely find but make their place in the system of affairs a man of thoughtful strength he has planted the of a city there stands his habitation showing in its rough architecture some features of the indian and some of the log cabin and somewhat too of the straw cottage in old england where this i good had his birth and breeding the dwelling if is surrounded by a cleared space of a few acres where indian com grows among the of the trees while the dark forest it in and seems to gaze silently and solemnly as if wondering at the breadth of sunshine which the white man around main street him an indian half hidden in the dusky shade is gazing and wondering too within the door of the cottage you discern the wife with her ruddy | 35 |
to a soil it may be that long years centuries indeed after this fair flower shall have decayed other flowers of the same race will appear in the same soil and other generations with hereditary beauty does not the vision haunt us yet has not nature kept the mould unbroken it a pity that the idea should vanish om mortal sight forever after only once assuming earthly substance do we not recognize in that fair woman s face the model of features which still beam at happy moments on what was then the pathway but has long since grown into a busy street this is too ridiculous positively i i main street the same critic who had before expressed his here is a figure such as a child would cut out of a card with a pair of very dull and the fellow modestly us to see in it the of hereditary beauty but sir you have not the proper point of view remarks the you sit altogether too near to get the best effect of my exhibition pray oblige me by removing to this other bench and i venture to assure you the proper light and shadow will the spectacle into quite another thing replies the critic i want no other light and shade i have already told you that it is my business to see things just as they are i would suggest to the author of this ingenious exhibition a gentlemanly person who has shown signs of being much interested i would suggest that the first wife of governor and who came with him from england left no posterity and that consequently we cannot be indebted to that honorable lady for any specimens of feminine loveliness now among us having nothing to against this objection the points again to the scene during this little interruption you perceive that the saxon energy as the phrase now goes has been at work in the spectacle before us so many chimneys now send up their smoke that it begins to have the aspect of a village street although everything is so and that it seems as if one returning wave of the wild nature might it all but the one edifice which gives the pledge of main street to this bold enterprise is seen at the central point of the picture there stands the meeting house a small structure low without a spire and built of rough timber newly with the sap still in the logs and here and there a strip of bark to them a temple was never consecrated to the worship of the deity with the alternative of kneeling beneath the awful vault of the it is strange that men should creep into this pent up nook and expect god s presence there such at least one would imagine might be the feeling of these forest accustomed as they had been to stand under the dim arches of vast and to offer up their hereditary worship in the old ivy covered churches of rural england around which lay the bones of many generations of their forefathers how could they dispense with the carved altar work how with the pictured windows where the light of common day was by being through the figures of saints how with the lofty roof as it must have been with the prayers that had gone upward for centuries how with the rich peal of the solemn organ rolling along the the whole church and sweeping the soul away on a flood of audible religion they needed nothing of all this their house of worship like their was naked simple and severe but the zeal of a recovered faith burned like a lamp within their hearts everything around them with its radiance making of these new walls and this narrow compass its own cathedral and being in itself that spiritual mystery and of which sacred architecture pictured win main street and the organ s grand solemnity are remote and imperfect all was well so long as their lamps were kindled at the heavenly flame after a while however whether in their time or their children s these lamps began to bum more dimly or with a less genuine lustre and then it might be seen how hard cold and confined was their system how like an iron cage was that which they called liberty too much of this look again at the picture and observe how the saxon energy is now along the street and raising a positive cloud of dust beneath its sturdy footsteps for there the are building a new house the frame of which was and fitted in england of english oak and sent hither on and here a blacksmith makes huge and clatter on his out tools and weapons and yonder a who himself a london workman regularly bred to his is a set of wagon wheels the track of which shall soon be visible the wild forest is shrinking back the street has lost the of the pine trees and of the sweet that beneath them the tender and modest wild flowers those gentle children of savage nature that grew pale beneath the ever brooding shade have shrunk away and disappeared like that vanish in the breadth of light gardens are in and display beds and rows of and beans and though the governor and the minister both view them with a eye plants of tobacco which the are to use or not at all no wolf for a year past has been heard to bark or known to range among the dwell main street except that single one whose head with a of beneath it is now to the of the meeting house the has ceased to run across the too frequented path of all the wild life that used to throng here only the indians still come into the settlement bringing the skins of and bear and | 35 |
which they sell to for the wares of england and there is little john the son of ey and first bom of playing beside his father s threshold a child of six or seven years old which is the better grown infant the town or the boy the red men have become aware that the street is no longer free to them save by the and permission of the often to impress them with an awe of english power there is a muster and training of the town forces and a stately march of the mail clad band like this which we now see advancing up the street there they come fifty of them or more all with their iron and steel caps well and glimmering bravely against the sun their ponderous on their shoulders their about their their lighted matches in their hands and the drum and playing cheerily before them see do they not step like martial men do they not like soldiers who have seen stricken fields and well they may for this band is composed of precisely such materials as those with which is preparing to beat down the strength of a kingdom and his famous regiment of might be from just such men in everything at this period new england was the essential spirit and flower of that which was about to become uppermost in the mother country main many a bold and wise man lost the fame which would have to him in english history by crossing the atlantic with our forefathers many a captain who might have been foremost at or exhausted his martial in the command of a log built fortress like that which you observe on the gently rising at the right of the its banner fluttering in the breeze and the and showing their deadly over the a multitude of people were now to new england some because the ancient and ponderous frame work of church and state threatened to down upon their heads others because they of such a among those who came to were men of history and legend whose feet leave a track of brightness along any pathway which they have trodden you shall behold their like images their if you choose so to call them passing with a familiar nod stopping to converse together praying bearing weapons laboring or resting from their labors in the main street here now comes an earnest restless man walking swiftly as being impelled by that fiery activity of nature which shall hereafter thrust him into the conflict of dangerous make him the and of and finally bring him to a bloody end he pauses by the meeting house to exchange a greeting with whose face a spirit kinder and more than that of yet not less active for what he to be the will of god or the ire of and look here is a guest for coming forth out main street of the forest through which he has heen from boston and which with its rude branches has caught hold of his attire and has wet his feet with its and streams still there is something in his mild and venerable though not aged presence a propriety an in governor s nature that causes the of his costume to be unnoticed and gives us the same impression as if he were clad in such grave and rich attire as we may suppose him to have worn in the council chamber of the colony is not this characteristic wonderfully perceptible in our representative of his person but what is this crossing from the other side to greet the governor a stately personage in a dark velvet cloak with a beard and a gold chain across his breast he has the port of one who has filled the highest station in the first of cities of all men in the world we should least expect to meet the lord mayor of london as sir richard has been once and again in a forest bordered settlement of the western wilderness further down the street we see a grave and worthy citizen with his son george a who has a career before him his shrewd and quick capacity and conscience shall not only him high but secure him from a here is another figure on whose characteristic make and expressive action i will stake the credit of my have you not already detected a quaint sly humor in that face an in the manner a certain indescribable all the marks in short of an original man impressed yet main street kept down by a sense of restraint that is ward the minister of but better remembered as the simple of he his sole so faithfully and his so well that the shoe is hardly yet worn out though thrown aside for some two centuries past and next among these and we observe the very model of a with the curling the trimmed beard the the ornamented the gilded dagger and all other that distinguished the wild who rode headlong to their overthrow in the cause of king charles this is of merry mount who has come hither to hold a council with but will shortly be his prisoner yonder pale figure of a white woman who slowly along the street is the lady looking for her own grave in the virgin soil that other female form who seems to be talking we might almost say preaching or in the centre of a group of profoundly attentive is ann and here comes but my dear sir the same gentleman who before questioned the s accuracy allow me to observe that these historical person ages could not possibly have met together in the they might and probably did all visit our old town at one time or another but not simultaneously and you have fallen into that i positively shudder to think | 35 |
of the fellow adds the scarcely civil critic has learned a bead roll of historic names whom he into main his show as he calls it without caring whether they were or not and sets them all by the ears together but was there ever such a fund of impudence to hear his running you would suppose that these miserable slips of painted with hardly the remotest outlines of the human figure had all the character and expression of michael s pictures well go on sir sir you break the illusion of the scene mildly the illusion what illusion the critic with a contemptuous on the word of a gentleman i see nothing in the sheet of canvas that forms your back ground or in these slips that and jerk along the front the only illusion permit me to say is in the s tongue and that but a wretched one into the bargain we public men replies the meekly must lay our account sometimes to meet an severity of criticism but merely for your own pleasure sir let me entreat you to take another point of view sit further back by that young lady in whose face i have watched the reflection of every changing scene only oblige me by sitting there and take my word for it the slips of shall assume spiritual life and the canvas become an airy and of what it to represent i know better the critic settling himself in his seat with sullen but self complacent main street and as for my own pleasure i shall best consult it by remaining precisely where i am the bows and waves his hand and at the signal as if time and had been awaiting his permission to move onward the street becomes alive again years have rolled over our scene and converted the forest track into a dusty which being with lanes and cross paths may fairly be as the main street on the ground of many of the log built sheds into which the first crept for shelter houses of quaint architecture have now risen these later are built as you see in one generally style though with such subordinate variety as keeps the s curiosity excited and causes each structure like its owner s character to produce its own peculiar impression most of them have one huge chimney in the centre with so vast that it must have been easy for the to fly out of them as they were wont to do when bound on an visit to the black man in the forest around this great chimney the wooden house clusters itself in a whole community of ends each ascending into its own separate peak the second story with its windows projecting over the first and the door which is perhaps arched provided on the outside with an iron hammer wherewith the s hand may give a thundering the timber frame work of these houses as compared with those of recent date is like the skeleton of an old giant beside the frail bones of a modem man of fashion many of them by the vast strength and pf their substance have been preserved main street through a length of time which would have tried the of brick and stone so that in all the decay and continual of the street down to our own days we shall still behold these old occupying their long accustomed for instance on the upper comer of that green lane which shall hereafter be north street we see the house newly built with the still at work on the roof down the last of on the lower comer stands another dwelling destined at some period of its existence to be the abode of an unsuccessful which shall likewise survive to our own generation and perhaps long it thus through the medium of these we have now d a sort of d and v o f i acquaintance with the main street great as is tne produced by a short term of years each single day through the settlement enough it shall pass before your eyes into the space of a few moments the gray light of early morning is slowly itself over the scene and the whose ofl ice it is to cry the hour at the street corners rings the last peal upon his hand bell and goes wearily with the the and other creatures of the night are thrust back on their hinges as if the town were opening its eyes in the summer morning forth the still drowsy cow herd with his putting which to his lips it a impossible to be represented in the picture but which reaches the pricked up ears of every cow in the settlement and tells her that the pasture hour is come house after main house and sends the smoke up curling from its chimney like frosty breath from living nostrils and as those white wreaths of smoke though with climb so from each dwelling does the morning worship its spiritual essence bearing up its human find its way to the heavenly father s throne the breakfast hour being passed the inhabitants do not as usual go to their fields or but remain within doors or perhaps walk the street with a grave yet a disengaged and aspect that belongs neither to a holiday nor a sabbath and indeed this passing day is neither nor is it a common week day although of all the three it is the thursday lecture an institution which new england has long ago and almost forgotten yet which it would have been better to retain as bearing relations to both the spiritual and ordinary life and bringing each with the other the tokens of its however which here meet our eyes are of rather a questionable cast it is in one sense a day of public shame the day on which who | 35 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.