Datasets:

NicholasSynovic
/

Modified-VEAA

Dataset card Data Studio Files Files and versions Community

Split (2)

train · 42.9k rows

text stringlengths 1.96k 5.76k	author int64 1 50
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 lane with the hot sun blazing on her main street and all for ho 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 she 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 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 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 truth when the first novelty and stir of spirit had subsided when the new between the forest border and the sea had become actually a little town its daily life must have onward with hardly anything to and it 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 ten to its main street has ever been most hateful to all other men since its very existence seems to threaten the of whatever else the ages have built up the gift of a new idea you can discern it in them their faces their whole 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	35
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 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 with 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 house 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 there came down a stroke that has drawn blood 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 on il goes wavering the main street but heaven grant that as the rain of so many has wept upon it time after time and washed it all away so there may have been a d to this 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 the 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 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 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 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	35
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 powerful there stand some school boys you observe in a little 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 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 ihe 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 and captain himself like the devil though a very tame one and on a most scale sir sir cries the persecuted losing all patience for indeed he had particularly himself on these figures of captain and his i see that there is no hope of pleasing you pray et do me the to take back your money and with draw 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 shot his brow the little rod with which he points out the of the scene but finally with the inevitable acquiescence of au 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 tiie 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 i 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 these 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 broken 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 com and all kinds of country produce how could such a ain 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 of who seemed to have led a true christian life and to be treading the little remnant of their earthly path it was this very pair yet have we heard it sworn to the satisfaction of the chief justice and all the court and jury that and his wife	35
have shown their withered faces at children s mocking making mouths and the poor little in the night time they or their appearances have stuck pins into the afflicted ones and thrown them into deadly fainting fits with a touch or but a look and while we supposed the old man to be reading the bible to his old wife she meanwhile knitting in the chimney comer the pair of have up the chimney both on one and flown away to a witch communion far into the depths of the chill dark forest how foolish were it only for fear of pains in their old bones they had better have stayed at home but away they went and the laughter of their decayed voices has been heard at midnight aloft in the air now in the sunny as they go tottering to the gallows it is the devil s turn to laugh behind these two who help another along and seem to be comforting and encouraging each other in a manner truly pitiful if it were not a sin to pity the old witch and behind them comes a woman witli main t a dark proud face that has been beautiful and a figure that is still majestic do you know her it is whom the devil found in a humble cottage and looked into her discontented heart and saw pride there and tempted her with his promise that she should be queen of hell and now with that lofty she is passing to her kingdom and by her pride this escort of shame into a procession that shall attend her to the gates of her infernal palace and seat her upon the fiery throne within this hour she shall assume her royal dignity last of the miserable train comes a man clad in black of small stature and a dark complexion with a band about his neck many a time in the years gone by that face has been uplifted from the pulpit of the east meeting house when the rev mr seemed to worship god what he the holy man the learned the wise how has the devil tempted him his fellow for the most part are creatures some of them scarcely half by nature and others greatly decayed in their through age they were an easy prey for the not so with this george as we judge by the inward light which through his dark countenance and we might almost say his figure in spite of the soil and of long imprisonment in spite of the heavy shadow that must fall on him while death is walking by his side what bribe could satan offer rich enough to tempt and overcome this man alas it may have been in the very strength of his high and searching intellect that the found the weakness which street him he for knowledge he went groping onward into a world of mystery at first as the witnesses have sworn he summoned up the ghosts of his two dead wives and talked with them of matters beyond the grave and when their failed to satisfy the intense and sinful craving of his spirit he called on satan and was heard ye to look at him who that had not known the proof could believe him guilty who would not say while we see him offering comfort to the weak and aged partners of his horrible crime while we hear his of prayer that seem to up out of the depths of his heart and fly unawares while we behold a radiance brightening on his features as from the other world which is but a few steps off who would not say that over the dusty track of the main street a christian saint is now going to a martyr s death may not the arch have been too subtle for the court and jury and betrayed them laughing in his sleeve the while into the awful error of pouring out blood as an acceptable sacrifice upon god s altar ah no for listen to wise cotton who as he sits there on his horse speaks comfortably to the perplexed multitude and tells them that all has been and justly done and that satan s power shall this day receive its death blow in new england heaven grant it be so the great scholar must be right so lead the poor creatures to their death do you see that group of children and half grown girls and among them an old like indian woman by name those are the afflicted ones behold at this very instant a proof of satan s power and malice main street mercy the minister s daughter has heen smitten by a flash of s eye and falls down in the street with horrible and foaming at the mouth like the possessed one spoken of in scripture hurry on the accursed to the gallows ere they do more mischief ere they fling out their withered arms and scatter by among the crowd ere as their parting they cast a over the land so that henceforth it may bear no fruit nor blade of grass and be fit for nothing but a for their so on they go and old george has stumbled by reason of his infirmity but and his wife lean on one another and walk at a reasonably steady pace considering their age mr seems to administer counsel to whose face and mien are and than they were among the multitude meanwhile there is horror fear and distrust and friend looks at friend and the husband at his wife and the wife at him and even the mother at her little child 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	35
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 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 main street should the nose of the reverend mr through which he has just been delivering the discourse glow like a ruddy coal of fire well well old friends 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 as 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 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 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 eye like an in a tale of magic even while 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 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 t i peace tke sports of children and the of age are living yet in spite of the frozen crust 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	35
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 firom the main street and show the trees in their full foliage the rose bushes in bloom and a border of green grass along the side walk there but what how the scene will not move a wire is broken the street continues buried the snow and the fate of h m and has its parallel in 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 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 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 main 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 evening s entertainment shall receive back the 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 turned out so hand over my quarter brand a an the lime a rough heavy looking man with sat watching his at 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 leaving 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 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 been the scene of brand s solitary and meditative life before he began his search for the s 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 a of earth heaped about the larger 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 to admit a man in a stooping posture and provided with a massive iron door with the smoke and of flame 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 them built years ago and long deserted with weeds growing in the vacant round of the interior which is open to the sky and grass and wild flowers themselves into the of the stones look already like relics of antiquity and may yet be with the of centuries to come others where the lime 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 marble 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 case 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 watched the fire was of a different order and troubled himself with no thoughts save the very few that were requisite to his business at	35
frequent intervals he flung back the weight of the iron door and turning his face from the glare thrust in huge logs of oak or stirred the immense with a long pole within the furnace were seen the curling and flames and the burning 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 a bright and ruddy little picture of the hut the spring beside its door the and coal figure of the lime and the half frightened child shrinking into the protection of his father s shadow and again the iron door was closed then reappeared die tender light of the half full moon which vainly strove to trace out the indistinct shapes of the neighboring mountains and in the upper sky there was a flitting congregation of clouds still tinged with the rosy brand 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 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 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 immediately 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 thin 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 father 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 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 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 have 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 his 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 le 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 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 jolly fellows there that brand brand has come back and he has found tke sin the boy darted away on his errand to which brand made no objection nor seemed hardly to notice it he sat on a log of wood	35
at the iron 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 on the rocky the lime began to regret his departure he felt that the little fellow s presence had been a between his guest and himself and that he must now deal heart to heart with a man who on his own confession had 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 tl at 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 ey 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 said had conversed with satan himself in the lurid of very the legend had been matter of mirth heretofore hat brand 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 the scope of heaven s else infinite mercy while the lime was struggling with the horror of these thoughts brand rose from the log 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 forth red hot from the raging furnace hold hold i cried he with a tremulous attempt to laugh 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 of 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 fire regardless of the fierce glow that upon his face the lime sat watching him and half 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 human 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 e footsteps of what seemed a pretty numerous party stumbling over the stones and rustling the soon appeared the whole lazy brand ill 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 brown 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 from a certain flavor of brandy and tobacco smoke which all his ideas and	35
aspect nothing but a sun burnt in plain garb and dusty shoes who sat looking into the fire as if he fancied pictures among the coals these young people speedily grew tired of observing him as it happened there was other amusement at hand an old 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 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 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 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 scenes of the conflict while its owner gave historical when with much merriment at its abominable deficiency of merit the exhibition was concluded the bade little joe put his head into the box viewed 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 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 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 la very fine upon my word brand gazed into the box for an instant and brand then starting back looked at tlie german what had he seen nothing apparently for a curious youth who had peeped in almost at the same moment beheld only a vacant space of canvas i remember you now muttered brand to the ah captain whispered the jew of 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 brand 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 that could not possibly be attained never was heard such a tremendous outbreak of growling barking and snapping as if one end of the ridiculous brute s body were at deadly and most enmity with the other faster and round about brand 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 the foolish old dog ceased his performance as suddenly as he had begun it the next moment he was as mild quiet sen and respectable in his as i he scraped acquaintance with the company as may be supposed the exhibition was 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 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 expressed the condition of his inward being from that moment the merriment of the party was at an end they stood aghast lest the should be around the horizon and that mountain would thunder it to mountain and so the horror be prolonged upon th ears then whispering one to another that it was late that the moon was 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 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	35
strewn soil 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 within his mind he was the gradual change that had been ht upon him by the search to which brand he had himself he how the night dew had fallen upon him how the dark forest 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 as it burned he 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 what 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 philosophers of the earth laden with the lore of might vainly strive to after hun 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 or the of our common nature by the key of holy sympathy which gave him a right to share in all its secrets he was now a cold observer looking on man brand 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 brand 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 innumerable blocks 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 would have and him up in a moment brand stood erect and raised his arms on high the flames played upon his face and imparted the brand wild and ghastly light which alone could have suited its it was that of a on the of plunging into his gulf of o mother earth cried he who art no more my mother and into whose this frame shall never he 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 dome deadly element of fire henceforth my familiar friend embrace me as i do thee that 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 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 t is gone at last and rather than pass such another i would watch my wide awake for a this bland with his of an sin has done me	35
tongue have startled his but he was not fated to be a subject of discussion among the of far posterity near the of the old french war a party of new axe men who preceded the march of colonel toward lake were building a bridge of logs through a swamp plunging down a stake one of these felt it against some hard smooth substance he called his comrades and by their united efforts the top of the bell was raised to the surface a rope made fast to it and thence passed over the limb of a tree up they hoisted their prize dripping with moisture and with water mess as the base of the bell emerged from the swamp the perceived that a skeleton was clinging with its bony fingers to the but immediately its grasp sank back into the water the bell then gave forth a sullen no wonder that he was in haste to speak after holding his tongue for such a length of time the bell to and fro thus ringing a loud and heavy peal which echoed widely a t forest and th of and his thousand men the paused on their march a feeling of religion mingled with home tenderness overpowered their rode hearts each seemed to hear the of the old bell which had been familiar to him from infancy and had at the of all his forefathers by magic had that holy sound strayed over the wide and become audible amid the of arms the loud of the oyer the rough wilderness path and the melancholy roar of the wind among the boughs the new hid their prize in a shadowy nook a large gray stone and the roots of an tree and when the campaign was ended they conveyed our friend to boston and put him up at on the side walk of street he was suspended for the by a block and tackle and being swung backward and forward gave such loud and clear testimony to his own merits that the had no need to say a word the highest was a rich old representative from our town who bestowed the on the meeting house where he had been a for half a century the good man had his reward by a strange coincidence the very first duty of the after the bell had been hoisted into the was to toll the funeral of the soon however those echoes were drowned by a triumphant peal for the surrender of ever since that period our hero has occupied the same elevated station and has put in his word on all matters of public importance civil military or religious a bell s on the day when independence was first in the street beneath he uttered a peal which many deemed ominous and fearful rather than triumphant but he has told the same story these sixty years and none mistake his meaning now when washington in the fulness of his glory rode through our flower strewn streets this was the tongue that bade the father of his country welcome again the same voice was heard when la came to gather in his half century s harvest of gratitude meantime vast changes have been going on below his voice which once floated over a little provincial is now between brick and strikes the ear amid the and tumult of a city on the of time the summons of the bell was obeyed by a picturesque and varied throng stately gentlemen in purple velvet coats embroidered white and gold heed hats stepping with grave courtesy beside ladies in satin gowns and of majestic while behind followed a slave or bearing the book and a stove for his mistress feet the clad in homely garb gave to their at the door of the meeting house as if admitting that there were distinctions between them even in the sight of god as their were borne one after another through the street the bell has a for all alike what mattered it whether or no there were a silver on the lid open thy bosom mother earth thus the bell another of thy children is coming to his long rest take him to thy bosom and let him slumber in pi ace thus the bell and mother a bell s biography earth received her child with the self same tones will the present generation be u to the embraces of their mother and mother earth will still receive her children is not thy tongue a weary mournful of two centuries o funeral bell wilt thou never be shattered with thine own melancholy strokes yea and a trumpet call shall arouse the whom thy heavy could awake no more again again thy voice reminding me that i am wasting the midnight oil in my lonely i can scarce believe that other mortals have caught the sound or that it elsewhere than in my secret soul but to many hast thou spoken anxious men have heard thee on their sleepless pillows and themselves anew of to morrow s care in a brief interval of the sons of toil have heard thee and say is so much of our quiet slumber spent is the morning so near at hand crime has heard thee and now is the very hour despair answers thee thus much of this weary life is gone the young mother on her bed of pain and ecstasy has counted thy echoing strokes and dates from them her first bom s share of life and immortality the bridegroom and the bride have listened and feel that their night of rapture like a dream away thine accents have fallen faintly on the ear of the dying man and warned him that ere thou again his spirit shall have passed whither no voice of time can ever reach alas for the departing traveller if thy voice the voice of fleeting time have taught him no lessons for	35
eternity on a bright 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 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 seemed to regard her as a creature completely within the scope of his influence the charm works said he in a low but emphatic whisper do you know edward since so yon 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 bid 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 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 picture is hut an imperfect copy thou her occupation excited so much interest in the two spectators she was merely gazing at a miniature she held in her hand in white satin and red nor did there aj to be any other cause for the smile of mockery malice with which regarded her the charm works muttered he again our pretty s scorn will have a dear at this moment the girl raised her eyes and instead of a life like semblance of the miniature beheld the shape of edward who now stepped forth from his concealment in the was an orphan girl who had spent her life till within a few months past under the and in the secluded dwelling of an old bachelor uncle while yet in her cradle she had been the destined bride of a cousin who was no less passive in the than herself their future union had been projected as the means of two rich estates and was rendered highly expedient if not indispensable by the dispositions of the parents on both sides the promised bridegroom had been bred infancy in europe and had never seen the beautiful girl whose heart was to claim as his inheritance but already for several years a correspondence had been kept up between the cousins and e had produced an intellectual though it could but imperfectly them with each other s was shy 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 thou ts had been connected she made a vision of and tinted it with stronger hues than a picture 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 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 manners 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 sh passed under the of mrs a lady e of wealth and fashion and s nearest relative though a distant one while an of mrs s family she still preserved somewhat of her of seclusion and shrank from a too familiar intercourse with those around her still too she was faithful to her cousin or to the shadow which 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 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 firom her as if a cloud had come her and the sunshine the simplicity of s rendered it easy for keen an observer as to detect her feelings whenever any slight	35
there my sweet he exclaimed it was 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 sir 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 for 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 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 world that b from france and under the assumed name of edward had won the affections of the lovely girl to whom he had heen in his hood the were to take place at an early date one evening before 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 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 s upon her through the window or in e 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 b 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 to seek the original of the miniature the thb 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 of water where no traveller 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 on 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 th t nature could not afford 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 the 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 sh by a little bonnet within which appeared the muslin of a cap her close long gown and indeed her whole attire might have been worn l some rustic beauty who had half a century before but that there 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 and 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 ce 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 e giving him a timid push with her maiden hand thee must sit further off on that other stone with the	35
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 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 a 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 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 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 what 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 su red 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 hair 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 understand 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 the and for fame as for air only to nd myself in a middle state between obscurity and but i have my revenge i could have given existence to a thousand bright i crush them into my heart and there let 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 her tc ther without looking at her had sent into the	35
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 that i am out at elbows and almost starved to death at any rate you have the advice and example of one individual to warn you back for i am come hither a disappointed man flinging aside the fragments of my hopes and the seeking shelter in the calm 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 bright then he saw the same sweet radiance dancing on the leafy trees which as if to shake it or sleeping on the high tops of hills or hovering down in distant valleys like the material of dreams he looked into the spring and there the light was mingling with the water in its crystal too beholding all heaven reflected there he found an emblem of a pure and tranquil breast he listened to that most ethereal of all sounds the song of coming in full 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 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 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 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 of three of my own ships entering the harbor from the east indies from and from up the straits and i would the not haye 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 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 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 concern 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 thee friend i see a sort of likeness the i can t justly say where it but and i can earn oar daily bread among the world s people as well as in the and do we want anything more	35
which might 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 affected 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 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 oar 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 news over our picture of this period nothing passes before our 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 overwhelming the roads along the sea coast with mountain 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 chimney 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 ther 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 hei ten 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 after above forty years it was thought 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 c es of ordinary death the seldom fails to notice that old the 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 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 their 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 con 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 h nothing as to the manners of the times can be old inferred from this of an individual there were no daily and continual opportunities of being merry bat sometimes the people rejoiced in their own peculiar fashion oftener with a calm religious smile than	35
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 a 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 bat 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 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 them to their lot that they saw white men and women imported from europe as they had been from africa and only for a of years yet as actual to die h slave labor being bat a part of die industry of the country it did not change die character of the people the latter on the modified and softened the it a and almost a peculiarity of die times ah we had forgotten the good old merchant over shoulder we were peeping he read the newspaper let ns now him patting on his three gold hat grasping his cane with a head of and mother of pearl and setting through the crooked streets of boston on various errands 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 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 and mine have lasted me some half score 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 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 endeavor as also the likely old new negro 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 strange beast from africa with two great to be seen near e 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 e volume 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 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 the lower end of milk then am i to speak with certain about the lot of stout old rich and which i have now lying in the cellar of the old south but a pipe or two of	35
the rich shall be reserved that it may grow mellow in mine own and my heart en 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 old news a stone as would best please him the man whose or that of his fellow was ultimately in demand by all the busy who have left a record of their earthly toil in these old time stained papers and now as we turn the volume we seem to be wandering among the stones of a burial ground 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 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 had long since been upon the page still the old book an impression that when the separate numbers were flying about town in 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 shoe 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 should haye fainter and inter the generations of their descendants who also had been by a continual accession of firom 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 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 of the for these rulers assumed a degree of state and which had never been practised by their who 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 thus while the colonies that which was soon to render them an independent republic it might have been supposed 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 were with the mob by the mere gathering of winds that preceded the storm of the revolution the of that storm were not yet visible in the air a true picture of society therefore would have e 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 large had been somewhat changed in character since the period of our last sketch by their great the conquest of after that event the new never settled into precisely the same quiet race which all the world had imagined them to be they had done a deed of history and were anxious to add new ones to the	35
record they had proved themselves powerful enough to influence the result of a war and were called upon and willingly consented to join their strength against enemies of england on those fields at least where victory would to peculiar advantage and now in the heat of the old french war they might well be termed a martial people every man was a soldier or the father or brother of a soldier and the whole land literally echoed with the roll of the drum either beating old news ap for among the towns and or the march towards the besides the provincial troops there were twenty three british in the northern colonies the country has never known a period of such excitement and warlike life except during the revolution perhaps scarcely then for that was a lingering war and this a stirring and one one would think that no very wonderful talent was requisite for an historical novel when the rough and hurried of these newspapers can recall the past so we seem to be waiting in the street for the arrival of the post rider who is seldom than twelve hours beyond his time with letters by way of from the various of the army or we may fancy ourselves in the circle of listeners all with necks stretched out towards an old gentleman in the centre who deliberately puts on his spectacles the wet newspaper and gives us the details of the broken and contradictory reports which have been flying from mouth to mouth ever since the alighted at secretary s office sometimes we have an account of the indian near lake george and how a party of were so closely pursued that they throw away their arms and their shoes stockings and breeches barely reaching the camp in their shirts which also were terribly tattered by the bushes then there is a journal of the siege of fort so minute that it almost numbers the cannon shot and and describes the of the latter on the french s stone mansion within the fortress in the letters of the provincial officers it is amusing to observe how of them old endeavor to catch the careless and jovial of old one gentleman tells us that he holds a glass in his hand intending to drink the health of his correspondent unless a cannon ball should dash the liquor from his lips in the midst of his letter he hears the bells of the french churches ringing in and that it is sunday whereupon like a good he to disturb the catholic by a few thirty two pound shot while this wicked man of war was thus making a jest of religion his pious mother had probably put up a note that very sabbath day desiring the prayers of the congregation for a son gone a we trust however that there were some stout old who were not ashamed to do as their fathers did but went to prayer with their soldiers before leading them to battle and doubtless fought none the worse for that if we had in the old french war it should have been under such a captain for we love to see a man keep the characteristics of his country these letters and other intelligence from the army are pleasant and lively reading and stir up the mind like the music of a drum and it is less agreeable to meet with accounts of women slain and and dashed against trees by the indians on the the contemptuous jealousy of the british army from the general downwards was very to the provincial troops in one of the newspapers there is an admirable letter of a new england man copied from the london chronicle defending the with an ability worthy of and somewhat in his style the letter is remarkable also because it takes up the cause of the whole range of colonies as if the writer looked upon them all as one country and that his own patriotism had not hitherto been so broad a sentiment li is a driven firom die woods by the uproar of armies in their accustomed haunts broke into the and great among children as well as and swine some of them where had never been for a century penetrating a mile or two of boston a ct that gives a strong and gloomy impression of something veiy terrific going on in tbe forest since these savage beasts fled to avoid it but it is to about such trifles when every newspaper contains tales of military enterprise and often a for victory as for instance the taking of long a place of awe to the and one of the spots in the present war nor is it unpleasant among whole pages of exultation to find a note of sorrow for the of some brave it comes wailing in like a funeral strain amidst a peal of triumph itself triumphant too such was die over somewhere in this volume of newspapers though we cannot now lay finger upon die passage we recollect a report that general was slain not by the enemy but by a shot from his own soldiers in the columns also we are continually reminded the country was in a state of war makes for the of soldiers and the to attend to die discipline of their r and the of every lawn to their stocks of the by the way was generally kept in the upper of the village meeting house the provincial ca 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 di on the service to in boston captain of province ship of war king 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	35
if not their or integrity 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 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 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 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 into the whole round of life during the winter of it was that about a thousand loads of country pr 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 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 poet however of whom mr has preserved 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 thb new en land 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 various 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 these 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 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 modem 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	35
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 in be in our quiet grave such an old man among new things are we who now hold at arm s length the rebel newspaper of the day u news the very for the time of where are the united heart and crown the loyal emblem tliat used to the sheet on which it vas impressed in our younger days in its stead we find a continental officer with the declaration of independence in one hand a sword in the other and above his head a bearing the motto appeal to 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 tliat 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 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 spanish whose wealth is the of l 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 everything 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 ed coat too the british coffee 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 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 likeness of george washington the upright rebel whom we most 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	35
have been handled by people once alive and bustling amid the scenes there recorded yet now in their graves beyond the memory of man so it is that in those elder volumes we seem to find the life of a past age preserved between the leaves like a dry specimen of foliage it is so difficult to discover what touches are really picturesque that we doubt whether our attempts have produced any similar the man of an in the old times of religious gloom and lived the and most of a stem brotherhood his plan of salvation was so narrow that like a plank in a sea it could avail no sinner but himself who it triumphantly and hurled against the wretches whom he saw ling with the of eternal death in his view of the matter it was a most abominable crime as indeed it is a great folly for men to trust to their own strength or even to to any other fragment of the wreck save this narrow plank which moreover he took special care to keep out of their reach in other words as his creed was like no man s else and being well pleased that providence had him alone of mortals with the treasure of a true faith richard determined to himself to the sole and constant enjoyment of his happy fortune and verily thought he i deem it a chief condition of heaven s mercy to myself that i hold no communion with those abominable which it hath cast off to perish were i to longer in the tents of the gracious boon would be and i also be swallowed up in the of wrath or consumed in the storm of fire and or involved in man of whatever new kind of ruin is ordained for the horrible of this generation so richard took an axe to space enough for a in the wilderness and some few other necessaries especially a sword and gun to and any intruder upon his seclusion and plunged into the depths of the forest on its verge however he paused a moment to shake off the dust of his feet against the village where he had dwelt and to a curse on the meeting house which he regarded as a temple of heathen he felt a curiosity also to see whether the fire and would not rush down from heaven at once now that the one righteous man had provided for his own safety but as the sunshine continued to fall peacefully on the cottages and fields and the labored and children played and as there were many tokens of present happiness and nothing ominous of a speedy judgment he turned away somewhat disappointed the further he went however and the he felt himself and the thicker the trees stood along his path and the darker the shadow overhead so much the more did richard he talked to himself as he strode onward he read his bible to himself as he sat beneath the trees and as the gloom of the forest hid the blessed sky i had almost added that at morning noon and he prayed to himself so congenial was this mode of life to his disposition that he often laughed to himself but was displeased when an echo tossed him back the long loud roar in this manner he onward three days and two nights and came on the third evening to the month the man of of a cave which at first sight him of s cave at though perhaps it more resembled ham s cave at it entered into the heart of a rocky hill there was so dense a veil of tangled foliage about it that none but a sworn lover of gloomy recesses would have discovered the low arch of its entrance or have dared to step within its chamber where the burning eyes of a might encounter him if t meant this remote and dismal for the use of man it could only be to bury in its gloom the victims of a and then to block up its mouth with stones and avoid the spot forever after there was nothing bright nor cheerful near it except a fountain some twenty paces off at which richard hardly threw away a glance but he thrust his head into the cave shivered and congratulated himself the of providence hath pointed my way cried he aloud while the tomb like den returned a strange echo as if some one within were mocking him here my soul will be at peace for the wicked will not find me here i can read the and be no more provoked with lying here i can offer up acceptable prayers because my voice will not be mingled with the sinful of the multitude of a truth the only way to heaven through the narrow entrance of this cave and i alone have found it in regard to this cave it was that the roof so far as the imperfect light permitted it to be seen was hung with resembling for the of unknown centuries dripping down continually im thb man op had become as hard as and wherever tiiat moisture fell it seemed to possess the power of ing what it bathed to stone the fallen leaves and of foliage which the wind had swept into the cave and the little shrubs rooted near the threshold were not wet with a dew but had been by this wondrous process and here i am put in mind that richard before he withdrew himself from the was supposed by skilful to have contracted a disease for which no remedy was written in their medical books it was a of within liis heart caused by an circulation of the blood and unless a miracle should be wrought for him there was danger that the malady might act on the entire substance of the organ and change his	35
heart to stone many indeed affirmed that the process was already near its richard however could never be convinced that any such work was going on within him nor when he saw the of marble foliage did his heart even throb the quicker at the suggested by these once tender it may be that this same was a symptom of the disease be that as it might richard was well contented with his cave so dearly did he love this congenial spot that instead of going a few paces to the spring for water he his thirst with now and then a drop of moisture from the roof which had it fallen anywhere but on his tongue would have been into a for a man to of the heart this surely was liquor ji t he dwelt for three days more eating the man of and roots drinking his own destruction sleeping i it were in a tomb and to the solitude of death yet this horrible mode of life as hardly inferior to celestial bliss perhaps superior for above the sky there would be angels to disturb him at the close of the third day he sat in the of his mansion reading the bible aloud because no other ear could profit by it and reading it amiss because the rays of the setting sun did not penetrate the dismal depth of shadow round about him nor fall upon the sacred page suddenly however a faint gleam of light was thrown over the volume and raising his eyes richard saw that a young woman stood before the mouth of the cave and that the bathed her white garment which thus seemed to possess a radiance of its own good evening richard said the girl i have come from afar to find thee the slender grace and gentle loveliness of this young woman were at once recognized by richard her name was mary she had been a convert to his preaching of the word in england before he yielded himself to that exclusive which now him with such an iron grasp that no other sentiment could reach his bosom when he came a pilgrim to america she had remained in her father s hall but now as it appeared had crossed the ocean after him impelled by the same faith that led other hither and perhaps by love almost as holy what else but faith and love united could have sustained so delicate a creature wandering thus far into the forest with her golden hair by the boughs and her feet wounded by the thorns yet weary and faint though she must have the op been and at the of ae cave she looked m the lonely man with a mild and pitying expression such as might beam from an angel s eyes towards an afflicted mortal bat the frowning sternly upon her and keeping his finger between the leaves of his half closed bible her away with hand cried he i am and thou art sinful away o richard said she earnestly i have come this weary way because i heard that a grievous had seized upon thy heart and a great physician hath given me the skill to cure it there is no other remedy than this which i have brought thee turn me not away therefore nor refuse my medicine for then must this dismal cave be thy away replied richard still with a dark frown my heart is in better condition than thine own leave me earthly one for die sun is almost set and when no light reaches the door of the cave then is my prayer time now great as was her need mary did not plead with this stony hearted man for shelter and protection nor ask anything whatever for her own sake all her zeal was for his welfare come back with me she exclaimed clasping her hands come back to thy fellow men for they need thee richard and thou hast ten fold need of them stay not in this evil den for the air is chill and the are fatal nor will any that perish within it ever find the path to heaven hasten hence i entreat thee for thine own soul s sake for either the roof will u the man ot upon thy head or some other speedy destruction is at hand perverse woman answered richard laughing aloud for he was moved to bitter mirth by her foolish vehemence i tell thee that the path to heaven straight through this narrow where i sit and moreover the destruction thou of is ordained not for this blessed cave but for all other of mankind throughout the earth get thee hence speedily that thou have thy share so saying he opened his bible again and fixed his intently on the page being resolved to withdraw his thoughts from this child of sin and wrath and to waste no more of his holy breath upon her the shadow had now grown so deep where he was sitting that he made continual mistakes in what he read all that was gracious and merciful to of vengeance and unutterable woe on every created being but himself mary meanwhile was leaning against a tree beside the cave very sad yet with something heavenly and ethereal in her unselfish 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 man of	35
of heaven and as thou not dwell in this tomb forever drink of this water he 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 au 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 and 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 ng church yard months before and either it was her i i th 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 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 an overhanging rock combined to make a twilight at and almost a midnight at all other seasons there the children hid themselves and shouted repeat ing 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 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 figure 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 to have been carved in the same gray stone that han of formed the w 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 idea suggested by this strange spectacle that the moisture of the cave possessed a quality which had thus awfully a 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 efforts 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 fabric 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 firom 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 residence of an intimate friend one of those gifted youths who cultivate poetry and the 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	35
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 the devil in 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 a 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 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 the devil in manuscript you cannot even pray for but we will be th last and only victims for this night i mean to bum the and commit the to his in the flames bum your tales repeated i startled at the desperation of the idea even so said the author you cannot conceive what an 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 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 devil in my book 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 themselves 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 sick ness of the stomach whenever i glance at them on the table i tell you there is a demon in them i a wild enjoyment in seeing them in the blaze such the devil in 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 pro 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	35
affection 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 devil m manuscript march till the of the wheels and the voices of my companions seemed like faint sounds of a dream and my visions a reality that page describes shadows which i summoned to ray 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 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 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 the devil in 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 surely you do not mean to bum them i claimed let me alone cried his eyes flashing fire will bum them not a syllable shall escape would you have me a damned author to undergo abuse and cold neglect and faint 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 in to ascend funeral pile his described objects which he appeared to discern in the fire fed by his own precious thoughts perhaps the thousand visions which th 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 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 one flame ha the i was somewhat 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 the devil ix among them the traces of the pen being now represented by white lines and the whole mass to and fro in the draughts	35
of air the knelt t 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 ha 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 aim less life a long repentance of this hour and at last an obscure grave where they will bury and forget me f 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 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 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 to many a neighboring town and e q 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 we are losing time i will cry out in the of ihe 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 has set the town on fire john s the 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 bis rough the husband bad 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 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 in 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 bis household had gone from him but not to the grave yet they 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 hand 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	35
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 i 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 happy again but we miss your mother sadly prudence sadly it seems as if she ought to be here now i now father or never replied prudence it was now tho 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 the 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 back 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 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 affections 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 of thk past the greatest attraction in this vicinity is the famous old fortress of the remains of which are visible 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 ruins i was favored with 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 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 of war now the young west with his lectures on angles and covered ways made it an 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	35
in america others not a few who lie sleeping round the fortress he might have them all and 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 win old and in all the of die 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 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 had so often the smoke over a circle of french or english soldiers i felt there was no other token of decay so as that bed of weeds in the place of the back log here i sat with those about me the clear sky over my head and the afternoon sunshine falling gently bright through the window and doorway i heard the of a cow bell the of birds and the pleasant hum of insects once g y 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 ofi 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 lonely lakes and 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 the breeze oyer 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 a through the woods with indians on his trail two stand up to and are on the point of coming to a plays a shrill accompaniment to a s song a strain 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 firom the chimney i merely glanced at the twenty years which 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 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	35
piece admirable to shoot ducks on the lake in the midst of the bustle when the fortress was all alive with its last scene the ringing of a bell on the lake made me suddenly 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 the wives of the dead the following story the simple and domestic incidents of which may he deemed scarcely worth relating 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 on the second floor of a small house plainly as the circumstances of its inhabitants yet decorated with little from 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 guests to the habitation of the sisters several among whom was the minister had remained till the 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 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 sm of th i led in one with equal to ihe and claiming privileges in two to it thither the ones d embers of their and facing a lighted lamp the hearth the of both chambers left open so that apart f the of each and the beds with their curtains were sleep did not steal upon the sisters at one and the same time mary experienced the effect c ten upon grief borne and soon sunk into ft while margaret became more and in proportion as the night with its deepest and hours she lay listening to the drops of rain that came down in monotonous by a breath of wind and a nervous impulse continually caused her to lift her head from the pillow and into mary s chamber and the apartment the cold light of the lamp threw the shadows oi the furniture up against the wall stamping them there except when they were shaken by a sudden of this flame two vacant arm chairs were in their old positions on opposite sides of the hearth where the had been wont to sit in young and laughing dignity as heads of two seats were tl r the true of that little empire where na herself had exercised in love a power that love mn the cheerful radiance of the fire had e happy circle and the dead glimmer of the lamp ai i their now while margaret in she heard a knock at the street the of how my heart at that cl but yesterday	35
thought she the anxiety with which she had long awaited tidings her husband i care not for it now let them for i will not but even while a sort of childish made heir 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 was now renewed in slow and regular strokes apparently given with the soft end of a doubled fist and was accompanied by words faintly heard through of wall margaret looked to her sister s chamber and beheld her still lying in the depths of sleep she arose placed 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 and melting its light in the neighboring while a of darkness overwhelmed every other object as the window on its a man in a hat and blanket oat stepped under the shelter of the projecting story and looked upward to thb op whom his knew him aa a friendly of the town what would you hare widow lack a day is it you mistress the i was it might be sister mary for i hate to woman in when i haven t a word of comfort to whisper her for heaven s sake what news do yon bring screamed margaret why there has been an express throng e town within this half hour said travelling from the eastern with letters from the governor and council he at my house to refresh 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 s he flew to the bedside of her sister she paused however at the door of the while a thought of pain broke in upon her thb wives of thb dead poor mary said she to herself shall i her to feel her sorrow sharpened by my 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 strange that the lighter sorrows are those from which dreams 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 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 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 the of thb appealed a thing in which she had no and lastly she became that it was a to be obeyed at the same moment the pang of recollection darted into her mind the pall of sleep was thrown back from the face oi 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 forth the storm was 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 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	35
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 own 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 tou me was the news about your husband so without saying a word to the old i on my hat and t b wi of the dead ran 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 for she was no whit inclined to imitate the first 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 die gen ous seaman he and three others saved on a when the m 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 im pulse 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 less bitter by their contrast with her own felicity she 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 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 dream 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 more 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 and constantly to his book he had no chance of a quiet moment in the school of mr toil this never do for me thought now the whole of s life had hitherto been passed with his dear mother who had a sweeter face than old mr toil and who had always been yery indulgent to her little boy no wonder therefore that poor it a change to be sent away from the good lady s side and put under the care of this ugly who 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 and at any rate i never find anybody half so disagreeable as this old mr toil so tbe very next morning off started poor and began his about the 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 morning 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 and had never been known to tell a lie in all his life nor did he tell	35
smart cap and feather on his head a pair of gold on his shoulders a coat on his back a purple round his waist and a long sword instead of a rod in his hand and though he held his head so high and like a turkey cock still he looked quite as ugly and as when he was hearing lessons in the school room this is certainly old mr toil said in a voice let us run away for fear he should make us in his company you are mistaken again my little friend replied the stranger very this is not mr toil the but a brother of his who has served in the army all his life people say he s a terribly severe fellow but you and i need not be afraid of him well well said little but if you please sir i don t want to see the soldiers any more so the child and the stranger resumed their journey and by and by they came to a house by the road side where a number of people were making merry young men and rosy girls with smiles on their faces were dancing to the sound of a fiddle it was the sight that had yet met with and it comforted him for all his disappointments o let us stop here cried he to his companion for mr toil will never dare to show his face where there is a and where people are dancing and making merry we shall be quite safe here but these last words died away upon s tongue for happening to cast his eyes on the whom should he behold again but the of mr toil holding a fiddle bow instead of a rod and flourishing it with as much ease and dexterity as if he had been a all his life he had somewhat the air of a frenchman but still looked like the old and even fancied that he nodded and winked at him and made signs for him to join in the dance o dear me whispered he pale it seems as if there was nobody but mr toil in the world who could have thought of his playing on a fiddle i this is not your old observed e stranger but another brother of his who was bred in france where he learned the profession of a he is ashamed of his family and generally calls himself le but his real name is toil and those who have known him best think him still more disagreeable than his brothers pray let us go a little further said i don t like the looks of this at all well thus the stranger and little went wandering along the highway and in shady lanes and through pleasant villages and they went behold there was the image of old mr toil he stood like a in the corn fields if they entered a house he sat in the if they peeped into the kitchen he was there he made himself at home in every cottage and under one disguise or another into the most splendid everywhere there was sure to be somebody wearing the likeness of mr toil and who as the stranger affirmed was on of the old s innumerable brethren little was almost tired to death when he perceived some people lazily in a shady place by the side of the road the poor child entreated his companion that they might sit down there and take some repose little old mr toil will never come here said he for he hates to see people taking their ease but even while he spoke s eyes fell upon a person who seemed the and heaviest and most of all those lazy and heavy and people who had lain down to sleep in the shade who should it be again but the very image of mr toil there is a large family of these toils remarked the stranger this is another of the old s brothers who was bred in italy where he acquired very idle habits and goes by the name of far he to lead an easy life but is really the most miserable fellow in the family o take me back take me back cried poor little bursting into tears if there is nothing but toil all the world over i may just as well go back to the yonder it is there is the said the stranger for though he and little had taken a great many steps they had travelled in a circle instead of a straight line come we will go back to school together there was something in his companion s voice that little now remembered and it is strange that he had not remembered it sooner looking up into his face behold there again was the likeness of old mr toil so that the poor child had been in company with toil all day even while he was doing his best to run away from him some people to whom i have told little s story are of opinion that old mr toil was a and possessed the power of himself into as many shapes as he saw fit be as it may little had learned a good lesson and from that time forward was at hia because he knew that diligence is not a than sport or idleness and when he better acquainted with mr toil he b an to thai his ways were not so disagreeable and die old s smile of made hit ce as pleasant as that of major the kings of great britain had assumed right of the the measures of the latter seldom met with die ready and general tion which had been paid to those of their under the original the people with most jealous scrutiny to the exercise of power which did not from themselves and they usually rewarded	35
their rulers with slender gratitude for the by which in softening their instructions from beyond the sea they had incurred the of those who gave them the annals of bay will inform us that of six in the space of about forty years from the surrender of the old under james two were imprisoned by a popular a third as to believe was driven from the province by the of a a fourth in the opinion of tiie same historian hastened to his grave by continual with the house of representatives and the remaining two as well as their till the revolution were favored with few and brief intervals of peaceful sway the inferior members of the court party in times of high political excitement led scarcely a more desirable life these remarks may serve as a preface to the following adventures which chanced upon a summer night not far mr major from a hundred years ago the reader in order to avoid a long and dry detail of is requested to dispense with an account of the train of circumstances that had caused much temporary of the popular mind it was near nine o clock of a moonlight when a boat crossed the with a single passenger o had obtained his conveyance at that unusual hour by the promise of an extra fare while he stood on the landing place searching in either pocket for the means of his agreement the lifted a lantern by the aid of which and the newly risen moon he took a very accurate survey of the stranger s figure he was a youth of barely eighteen years evidently country bred and now as it should seem upon his first visit to town he was clad in a coarse gray coat well worn but in excellent repair his under garments were constructed of leather and fitted light to a pair of serviceable and well shaped limbs his stockings of blue were the work of a mother or a sister and on his head was a three hat which in its better days had perhaps sheltered the graver brow of the lad s father under his left arm was a heavy formed of an oak and retaining a part of the hardened root and his was completed by a not so abundantly as to the vigorous shoulders on which it hung brown curly hair features and bright cheerful eyes were nature s gifts and worth all that art could have done for his the youth one of whose names was robin finally drew from his pocket the half of a little province bill of mt major five shillings which in the of that sort of did but satisfy the s demand with the of a piece of valued at three pence he then walked forward into the town with as light a step as if his day s journey had not already exceeded thirty miles and with as eager an eye as if he were entering london city instead of the little metropolis of a new england colony before robin had proceeded far however it occurred to him that he knew not whither to direct his steps so he paused and looked up and down the narrow street the small and mean wooden buildings that were scattered on either side this low cannot be my s dwelling thought he nor yonder old house where the moonlight enters at the broken and truly i see none that might be worthy of him it would have been wise to inquire my way of the and doubtless he would have gone with me and earned a shilling from the major for his pains but the next man i meet will do as well he resumed his walk and was glad to perceive that the street now became wider and the houses more respectable in their appearance he soon discerned a figure moving on in advance and hastened his steps to overtake it as robin drew nigh he saw that the passenger was a man in years with a full wig of gray hair a wide skirted coat of dark cloth and silk stockings rolled above his knees he carried a long and polished cane which he struck down before him at every step and at regular intervals he uttered two successive of a peculiarly solemn s mt major and having made these observations in laid hold of the skirt of the old man s coat just when the light from the open door and windows of a s shop fell upon both their figures good to you honored sir said he making a low bow and still retaining his hold of 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 respect you show for your your feet shall be l acquainted with the stocks by daylight to morrow morning robin released the old man s skirt and hastened away pursued by an ill 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 major door and the breeding to	35
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 a guide you be wiser in time friend n 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 buildings and e 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 my way to his dwelling my he entered the and was guided by the of voices and the of tobacco to the room it was a long and low apartment with walls grown dark in the smoke and a floor which was thickly bat of no 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 groups were as many of punch which th west india trade had long since made a familiar drink in the colony others who had the appearance of men who lived by r 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 felt a sort of brotherhood with these strangers his eyes were attracted from them to a person stood near the door holding whispered conversation with a group of ill dressed associates his features 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 in a cave while 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 of circumstances was ever known to change his voice from the one shrill note in which he now addressed robin the country i presume sir said he with a 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 eyes were now turned on the country lad standing at the door in his worn three hat gray coat leather breeches and blue stockings leaning on an and bearing a on his back robin replied to the courteous with such s my major an assumption of confidence as the major s relative my honest friend he said i shall make it a point to your house on some occasion when here he could not help lowering his voice when i may have more than a three pence in my pocket my present business continued he speaking with lofty confidence is merely to inquire my way to the dwelling of my major there was a sudden and general movement in the room which robin interpreted as expressing the eagerness of each individual to become his guide but the turned his eyes to a written paper on the wall which he read or seemed to read with occasional to the young man s figure what have we here said he breaking his speech into little dry fragments left the house o f the servant had on when he went away gray coat leather breeches master s third best hat one pound reward to shall lodge him in any jail of the province better boy better robin had begun to draw his hand towards the lighter end of the oak but a strange hostility in	35
every countenance induced him to his purpose of breaking the courteous s head as he turned to leave the room he encountered a glance from the bold personage whom he had before noticed and no sooner was he beyond the door than he heard a general laugh in which the s voice might be distinguished like the dropping of small stones into a kettle now is it not strange thought robin with his mt major usual is it not strange that the confession of an empty pocket should the name of my major o if i had one of those grinning in the woods where i and my oak grew up together i would teach him that my arm is heavy though my purse be light on turning the comer of the narrow lane robin found himself in a spacious street with an unbroken line of lofty houses on each side and a building at the upper end whence the ringing of a bell announced the hour of nine the light of the moon and the lamps from the numerous shop windows discovered people on the pavement and amongst them robin hoped to recognize his hitherto inscrutable relative the result of his former inquiries made him unwilling to hazard another in a scene of such and he determined to walk slowly and silently up the street thrusting his face close to that of elderly gentleman in search of the major s in his progress robin encountered many gay and gallant figures embroidered garments of colors gold hats and silver swords glided past him and dazzled his youths of the european fine gentlemen of the period trod along half dancing to the fashionable tunes which they and making poor robin ashamed of his quiet and natural gait at length after many pauses to examine the gorgeous display of goods in the shop windows and after suffering some for the impertinence of his scrutiny into people s faces the major s found himself near the building still unsuccessful in his search as yet how my major he had seen only one side of the thronged street crossed and continued the same sort of down the opposite pavement with stronger hopes than the philosopher seeking an honest man but with no better fortune he had arrived about towards the lower end from which his course began when he overheard the approach of some one who struck down a cane on the flag stones at every step uttering at regular two mercy on us robin the sound turning a comer which chanced to be close at his right hand he hastened to pursue his in some other part of the town his patience now was wearing low and he seemed to feel more fatigue from his since he crossed the than from his journey of several days on the other side hunger also pleaded loudly within him and robin began to balance the propriety of demanding violently and with lifted the necessary guidance from the first solitary passenger whom he should meet while a resolution to this effect was gaining strength he entered a street of mean appearance on either side of which a row of ill built houses was straggling the harbor the moonlight fell upon no passenger along the whole extent but in the third which robin passed there was a door and his keen glance detected a w s garment within my luck may be better here said he to himself accordingly he approached the door and beheld it shut closer as he did so yet an open space remained for the fair to observe the stranger without a corresponding display on her part au that mt major t t robin could discern was a strip of scarlet and the occasional sparkle of an eye as if the were trembling on some bright thing pretty mistress for i may call her so with a good conscience thought the shrewd youth since i know nothing to the contrary my sweet pretty mistress will you be kind enough to tell me whereabouts i must seek the dwelling of my major s voice was plaintive and winning and the female seeing no thing to be in the ha country youth thrust open the door and came forth into the moonlight she was a dainty little figure with a white neck round arms and a slender waist at the extremity of which her scarlet out over a as if she were standing in a moreover her face was oval and pretty her hair dark beneath the little cap and her bright eyes possessed a sly freedom which over those of robin major dwells here said this fair woman now her voice was the sweetest robin had heard that night the airy of a stream of melted silver yet he could not help doubting whether that sweet voice spoke gospel truth he looked up and down the mean street and then surveyed the house before which they stood it w s a small dark edifice of two stories the second of which projected over the lower floor and the front apartment had the aspect of a shop for petty now truly i am in luck replied robin and so indeed is my the major in having so pretty a housekeeper but i trouble him to step to the door i will deliver him a message from his friends ss my major in the country and then go to my lodgings at the inn nay the major has been a bed this hour or more said the lady of the scarlet and it be to little purpose to disturb him to night seeing his even ing draught was of the strongest but he is a man and it would be as much as my life s to let a of his turn away from the door you are the good old gentleman s very picture and i could wear that was his rainy weather hat also	35
he has garments very much resembling those leather but come in i pray for i bid you hearty come in his name so saying the fair and hospitable dame took our hero by the hand and the touch was light and the force was gentleness and though robin read in her eyes what he did not hear in her words yet the slender woman in the scarlet proved stronger than the country youth she had drawn his half willing footsteps nearly to the threshold when the opening of a door in the neighborhood startled the major s housekeeper and leaving the major s she vanished speedily into her own a heavy preceded the appearance of a man who like the of and carried a lantern his sister in the heavens as he walked up the street he turned his broad dull face on and displayed a long staff at the end home vagabond home said the in accents that seemed to fall asleep as soon as they were uttered home or wa u set you in the stocks by peep of day this is the hint ef the kind thought i wish they would end my difficulties by setting there to night nevertheless the youth felt an instinctive towards the guardian of midnight order which at prevented him from asking his usual question but just when the man was about to vanish behind the ner in resolved not to lose the opportunity and shouted after him i say friend will you guide me to the house of my major the made no reply but turned the comer and was gone yet robin seemed to hear the sound of drowsy laughter stealing along the solitary street at that moment also a pleasant saluted him from the open window above his head he looked up and caught the sparkle of a eye a round arm beckoned to him and next he heard light footsteps descending the staircase within but robin being of the household of a new england clergyman was a good youth as well as a shrewd one so he resisted temptation and fled away he now desperately and at random through the town almost ready to believe that a spell was on him like that by which a of his country had once kept three wandering a whole winter night within twenty paces of the cottage which they sought the streets lay before him strange and desolate and the lights were extinguished in almost every house twice however little parties of men among whom robin distinguished individuals in attire came hurrying along but though on both occasions they paused to my major address him did not at all bis perplexity they did but utter a few words in some language of which knew nothing and his inability to answer bestowed a curse upon him in and hastened away finally the lad determined to knock at the door of that appear worthy to be occupied by his that perseverance would overcome the that had hitherto him firm in this resolve he was passing beneath the walls of a church which formed the comer of two streets when as he turned into the shade of its he encountered a stranger muffled in a cloak the man was proceeding with the speed earnest business but robin planted himself full before him holding the oak with both hands across his body as a bar to further passage halt honest and answer me a question said he very resolutely tell me this instant whereabouts is the dwelling of my major keep your tongue between your teeth fool and let me pass said a deep voice which robin partly remembered let me pass i say or i strike you to the earth no no neighbor cried robin flourishing his and then thrusting its larger end close to the man s muffled face no no i m not the fool you take me for nor do you pass till i have an answer to my question whereabouts is the dwelling of my major the instead of attempting to force his passage stepped back into the moonlight his face and stared full into that of robin mt major watch here an hour and major will pass by said he robin gazed with dismay and astonishment on the of the speaker the forehead with its double the broad nose the shaggy eyebrows and fiery eyes were those which he had noticed at the inn but the man s complexion had undergone a or more properly a two fold change one side of the face blazed an intense red while the other was black as midnight the division 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 of 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 my of the houses some of i were broken into little peaks while others ascended steep and narrow into a single point and others again square the pore	35
snow white of of their the aged darkness of others and the reflected from bright in die 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 he to 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 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 ofi 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 bible had nature in that deep hour become a in the house which man had or 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 the 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 his 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 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 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 yet could not absolutely name as his s was looking towards him from the window 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 at 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	35
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 major the name is not altogether strange to me said the gentleman smiling have my 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 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 should profit by his s generous intentions especially as he s 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 gave 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 you describe the man who told you 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 ray ears an army of would never make head against such a multitude of there were major at least a voices went up to make that one shout may not a man have voices as well as two said his friend perhaps a man may bat heaven 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 several people seemed to be hastening surely some prodigious merry making is going on exclaimed he i have laughed very little since i home sir and should be sorry to lose an opportunity shall we step round the comer 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 gaze of whoever had leisure to observe them eager voices hailed each other from house to all demanding th explanation which not a soul could give half my m 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 comer 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 i ll 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	35
inmates it so happens and not for an adam and eve who are still in the costume that might better have it so happens that their first visit is to a fashionable dry goods store no courteous and attendants hasten to receive their orders no throng of ladies are tossing over the rich all is deserted trade is at a stand still and not even an echo of the national go ahead the quiet of the new custom from an old ers but specimens of the latest earthly fashions of every shade and whatever is most delicate or did for the of the human form lie scattered around as bright leaves in a forest adam looks at a few of the articles but throws them carelessly aside with whatever exclamation may correspond to or i in the new of nature eve however be it said without offence to her native modesty these treasures of her sex with somewhat interest a pair of chance to lie upon the counter she them curiously but knows not what to make of them then she handles a fashionable silk with dim thoughts that wander hither and thither instincts groping in the dark on the whole i do not like it she laying the glossy fabric upon the counter but adam it is very strange what can these things mean surely i ought to know yet they put me in a perfect my dear eve why trouble thy little head about such nonsense cries adam in a fit of impatience let us go somewhere else but stay how very beautiful my loveliest eve what a charm you have imparted to that robe by merely throwing it over your shoulders for eve with the taste that nature into tier composition has taken a remnant of exquisite silver and drawn it around her form with an effect that gives adam his first idea of the of dress he his in a new light and with renewed admiration yet is hardly reconciled to any other attire than her own golden locks however eve s the new adam and eve example he makes free with a mantle of blue velvet and puts it on so that it might seem to have fallen from heaven upon his stately figure they go in search of new discoveries they next wander into a church not to make a display of their fine clothes but attracted by its spire pointing upwards to the sky whither they have already to climb as they enter the a clock which it was the last earthly act of the to wind up the hour in deep tones for time has survived his former and with the iron tongue that man gave him is now speaking to his two they listen but understand him not nature would measure time by the succession of thoughts and acts which constitute real life and not by hours of they pass up the church aisle and raise their eyes to the ceiling had our adam and eve become mortal in some european city and strayed into the and of an old cathedral they might have recognized tlie purpose for which the deep reared it like the dim of an ancient forest its very atmosphere would have them to prayer within the snug walls of a church there can be no such influence yet some of religion is still lingering here the of pious souls who had grace to enjoy a of immortal life perchance they breathe a prophecy of a better world to their who have become to all their own cares and in the present one eve something me to look upward an old adam but it troubles m to see this roof between us the sky let us go forth and perhaps we shall discern a great face looking down upon us yes a great face with a beam of love brightening over it like sunshine eve surely we have seen a countenance somewhere they go out of the church and kneeling at its threshold give way to the spirit s natural instinct of towards a beneficent father but in truth their thus far has been a continual prayer purity and simplicity hold converse at every moment with their creator now observe them entering a court of justice but what remotest conception can they attain of the purposes of such an edifice how should the idea to that human brethren of like with and originally included in the same law of love which is their only rule of life should ever need an outward of the true voice within their souls and what a experience the dark result of many centuries could teach them the sad mysteries of crime o judgment seat not by the pure in heart thou established nor in the simplicity of nature but by hard and wrinkled men and upon the accumulated heap of earthly wrong thou art the very symbol of man s state on as fruitless an errand our next visit a hall of where adam places eve in the speaker s chair unconscious of the moral which he thus man s intellect by woman s tenderness and moral sense were such the of the world there would be no need of state the new adam and houses halls of parliament nor even of those little of beneath the shadowy trees by whom freedom was first interpreted to mankind on our native shores whither go they next a perverse destiny seems to them with one after another of the which mankind put forth to the wandering universe and left in their own destruction they enter an edifice of stem gray stone standing in the midst of others and gloomy even in the sunshine which it barely to penetrate through its iron windows it is a prison the has left his post at the summons of a stronger authority than the s but the prisoners did the messenger of fate when	35
he shook open all the doors respect the magistrate s warrant and the judge s sentence and leave the inmates of the to be delivered by due course of earthly law no a new trial has been granted in a higher court which may set judge jury and prisoner at its bar all in a row and perhaps find one no less guilty than another the jail like the whole earth is now a solitude and has thereby lost something of its dismal gloom but here are the narrow like only and because in these the immortal spirit was buried with the body appear on the walls with a pencil or scratched with a rusty nail brief words of agony perhaps or guilt s desperate defiance to the world or merely a record of a date by which the writer strove to keep up with the march of life there is not a living eye that could now these nor is it while so fresh from their creator s hand from an old that the new of earth no nor their descend for a thousand years could discover that this edifice was a hospital for the disease which could their its bore the outward marks of that with which all were more or less they were sick and so were the purest of their brethren with the plague of sin a sickness indeed feeling its symptoms within the breast men concealed it with fear and shame and were only the more cruel to those whose were to the common eye nothing save a rich garment could ever hide the plague spot in the course of the world s lifetime every remedy was tried for its cure and except the single one the flower that grew in heaven and was sovereign for all the miseries of earth man never had attempted to cure sin by love had he but once made the effort it might well have happened that there would have been no more need of the dark house into which adam and eve have wandered hasten forth with your native innocence lest the of these still conscious walls you likewise and thus another fallen race be passing from the interior of the prison into the space within its outward wall adam pauses beneath a structure of the simplest contrivance yet altogether unaccountable to him it consists merely of two upright posts supporting a beam from which a cord eve eve cries adam shuddering with a nameless horror what can this thing be i know not answers eve but adam my heart the new adam and eve is sick there seems to be no more sky no more sunshine well might adam shudder and poor eve be sick at heart for this mysterious object was the type of mankind s whole system in regard to the great difficulties which god had given to be solved a system of fear and vengeance never successful yet followed to the last here on the morning when the final summons came a criminal one criminal where none were had died upon the gallows had the world heard the of its own approaching doom it would have been no act thus to close the record of its deeds by one so characteristic the two now hurry from the prison had they known how the former inhabitants of earth were shut up in artificial error and cramped and chained by their they might have compared the whole moral world to a prison house and have deemed the removal of the race a general jail delivery they next enter but they might have rung at the door in vain a private mansion one of the in street a wild and plaintive strain of music is quivering through the house now rising like a solemn organ peal and now dying into the faintest murmur as if some spirit that had felt an interest in the departed family were itself in the solitude of hall and chamber perhaps a virgin the purest of mortal race has been left behind to perform a for the whole kindred of humanity not so these are the tones of an harp through which nature the harmony that lies concealed in her every breath whether of summer breeze or tempest an old adam and eve are lost in rapture un mingled with sur the passing wind that stirred the harp strings has been hushed before they can think of examining the splendid furniture the gorgeous carpets and the architecture of the rooms these things their eyes but appeal to nothing within their hearts even the pictures upon the walls scarcely excite a deeper interest for there is something artificial and in painting with which minds in the simplicity cannot the guests examine a row of family portraits but are too dull to recognize them as men and women beneath the disguise of a preposterous garb and with features and expression because inherited through ages of moral and physical decay chance however presents them with pictures of human beauty fresh from the hand of nature as they enter a magnificent apartment they are astonished but not to perceive two figures advancing to meet them is it not awful to imagine that any life save their own should remain in the wide world how is this adam my beautiful eve are you in two places at once and you adam answers eve doubtful yet delighted surely that noble and lovely form is yours et here you are by my side i am content with one there should not be two this miracle is wrought by a tall looking glass the mystery of which they soon because nature a mirror for the human face in every pool of water and for her own great features in lakes pleased and satisfied with gazing at themselves th y l new adam and bow discover the marble statue of	35
a child in a corner of the room so exquisitely that it is almost worthy to be the prophetic likeness of their first bom in its highest excellence is more genuine than painting and might seem to be from a n by the same law as a leaf or flower the statue of the child the solitary pair as if it were a companion it likewise hints at secrets both of the past and future my husband whispers eve what would you say dearest eve adam i wonder if we are alone in the world she continues with a sense of something like fear at the thought of other inhabitants this lovely little form i did it ever breathe or is it only the shadow of something real like our pictures in the mirror it is strange replies adam pressing his hand to his brow there are mysteries all around us an idea continually before me would that i could it eve ve are we treading in the footsteps of beings that bore a likeness to ourselves if so whither are they gone and why is their world so unfit for our dwelling place our great father only knows answers eve but something tells me that we shall not always be alone and how sweet if other beings were to visit u in the shape of this fair image then they wander through the house and every where find tokens of human life which now with the idea recently suggested excite a deeper curiosity in woman has here left traces of her delicacy vol ii from an old and refinement and of her gentle labors eve a work basket and instinctively the rosy tip of her finger into a she takes up a piece of glowing with flowers in one of which a fair of the departed race has left her needle pity that the day of doom should have anticipated the completion of such a useful task eve feels almost conscious of the skill to finish it a has been open she her hand carelessly over the keys and strikes out a sudden melody no less natural than the strains of the harp but joyous with the dance of her yet life passing through a dark entry they find a behind the door and eve who the whole nature of womanhood has a dim idea that it is an instrument proper for her hand in another apartment they behold a bed and all the of luxurious repose a heap of forest leaves would be more to the purpose they enter the nursery and are perplexed with the sight of little gowns and caps tiny shoes and a cradle amid the of which is still to be seen the impress of a baby s form adam slightly notices these trifles but eve becomes involved in a fit of mute reflection from which it is hardly possible to rouse her by a most unlucky arrangement there was to have been a grand dinner party in this mansion on the very day when the whole human family including the in guests were summoned to the unknown regions of space at the moment of fate the table was actually spread and the company on the point of sitting down adam and eve come to tlie tbe new adam and eve banquet it has now been some time cold but otherwise them with highly favorable specimens of the of their but it is difficult to imagine the perplexity of the couple in to find proper food for their first meal at a table where the cultivated of a fashionable party were to have been gratified will nature teach them the mystery of a plate of soup will she them to attack a of will she them into the merits of a imported by the last steamer that ever crossed the atlantic will she not rather bid them turn with disgust from fish fowl and which to their pure nostrils steam with a of death and corruption food the bill of fare contains nothing which they recognize as such fortunately however the is ready upon a neighboring table adam whose appetite and animal instincts are quicker than those of eve this fitting banquet here dearest eve he here is food well answered she with the of a stirring within her we have been so busy to day that a picked up dinner must serve so eve comes to the table and receives a red apple from her husband s hand in of her s fatal gift to our common grandfather she eats it without ain and let us with no disastrous consequences to her future they make a plentiful yet temperate meal of fruit which though not gathered in paradise is derived from the m from am old seeds that were planted there their appetite is satisfied what shall we drink eve adam eve among some bottles and which as they contain she naturally must be proper to thirst but never before did and of rich and rare perfume excite such disgust as now she smelling at various what stuff is here the beings who have gone before us could not have possessed the same nature that we do for neither their hunger nor thirst were like our own pray hand me yonder bottle says adam ii it be by any manner of mortal i mi st my throat with it some she takes up a champagne bottle but is frightened by the sudden explosion of the cork and drops it upon the floor there the liquor had they it they would have experienced that brief delirium whereby whether excited by moral or physical causes man sought to himself for the calm joys which he had lost by his revolt from nature at length in a eve finds a glass of water pure cold and bright as ever from a fountain among the hills both drink and such refreshment does	35
if the human family had agreed by a visible symbol of age long endurance to offer some high sacrifice of or tion the solemn height of the monument its deep simplicity and the absence of any vulgar and j use all strengthen its effect upon adam and eve and leave them to interpret it by a purer sentiment than the thought of expressing eve it is a visible prayer observed adam and we will pray too she replies let us pardon these poor children of neither father nor mother for so the purport of the memorial which man founded and woman finished on far hill the idea of war is not native to their souls nor have they sympathies for the brave of liberty since oppression is one of their mysteries could they guess that the j adam and eve green on which they stand so peacefully was once strewn with human and purple their blood it would equally them that one generation of men should such and that a subsequent generation should triumphantly it a sense of delight they now stroll across green fields and along the margin of a quiet river not to track them too closely we next find the entering a edifice of gray stone where the by gone world has left whatever it deemed worthy of record in the rich library of university no student ever yet enjoyed such solitude and silence as now within its deep little do the present visitors understand what opportunities are thrown away upon them yet adam looks anxiously at the long rows of volumes those heights of human lore ascending one above another from floor to ceiling he takes up a it opens in his hands as if to impart the spirit of its author to the yet and intellect of the fresh created mortal he stands over the regular columns of mystic characters seemingly in mood for the unintelligible thought upon the page has a mysterious relation to his mind and makes itself felt as if it were a burden flung upon him he is even painfully perplexed and vainly at he knows not what o adam it is too soon too soon by at least five years to put on spectacles and bury yourself in the of a library what can this be he murmurs at last eve nothing is so desirable as to find out the m ab old t of this big and heavy object with its thousand divisions see it me in the face as if it were to speak i eve by a feminine instinct is dipping into a volume of fashionable poetry the production certainly the most fortunate of earthly since his lay continues in when all the great masters of the have passed into oblivion but let not his ghost be too i the world s one lady the book upon the floor and laughs at her husband s abstracted mien my dear adam cries she you look pensive and dismal do fling down that stupid thing for even if it should speak it would not be worth attending to let us talk with one another and with the sky and the green earth and its trees and flowers they will us better knowledge than we can find here well eve perhaps you are right replies adam with a sort of sigh still i cannot help that the interpretation of the amid which we have been wandering all day long might here be it may be better not to seek the interpretation eve for my part the air of this place does not suit me if you love me come away she and him from the mysterious perils of the library happy influence of woman had he lingered there long enough to obtain a clue to its treasures as was not impossible his intellect being of human structure indeed but with an vigor and had he then and there become a student the of our poor world would soon have recorded the of a second adam the fatal apple of another tree of knowledge have been eaten all the and and false so ing th true all the narrow truth so partial that it becomes te di than falsehood all the wrong principles a d worse practice the examples and rules of life all th theories turn earth into and men into shadows all the sad experience which it took mankind so many ages to and from which they never drew a moral foi their future guidance the whole heap pf thi disastrous lore would have tumbled at once upon adam s head there would have been nothing left for him but to take up the already experiment of life where we had dropped it and toil iv ith it a little further but blessed in his he may still enjoy a new world in our one he fall short of good as a we did he has at least th freedom no one to make errors and his literature when the progress of cent shall e it wiu be no ted echo of our own poetry and of the that were by our t fathers of a d but a melody never yet heard on earth aad forms upon by therefore l t the dust of ages gather upon the volumes of the and in due season the of th edifice down whole when tb e second adam s descendants have a much rubbish of their own it will be time enough to dig into om ruin and from an old compare the literary advancement of two independent races but we are looking forward too far it seems to be the vice of those who have a long past behind them we will return to the new adam and eve who having no reminiscences save dim and fleeting visions of a are content to live and be happy in the present	35
the day is near its close when these who derive their being from no dead reach the of mount with light hearts for earth and sky now each other with beauty they tread along the winding paths among marble pillars temples and sometimes pausing to contemplate these of human growth and sometimes to admire the flowers wherewith nature decay to loveliness can death in the midst of his old triumphs make them sensible that they have taken up the heavy burden of which a whole species had thrown down dust kindred to their own has never lain in the grave will they then recognize and so soon that time and the elements have an claim upon their bodies not they may there must have been shadows enough even amid the sunshine of their existence to suggest the thought of the soul s with its circumstances they have already learned that something is to be thrown aside the idea of death is in them or not far off but were they to choose a symbol for him it would be the butterfly soaring upward or the bright angel them the new adam and eve or tlie child asleep with soft dreams visible through her transparent purity such a child in marble they have found the monuments of mount sweetest eve adam while hand in hand they contemplate this beautiful object yonder sun has left us and the whole world is fading from our sight let us sleep as this lovely little figure is sleeping our father only knows whether what outward things we have possessed to day are to be snatched from us forever but should our earthly life be leaving us with the departing light we need not doubt that another will find us somewhere beneath the smile of god i feel that he has imparted the boon of existence never to be resumed and no matter where we exist replies eve for we shall always be together or the bosom serpent of the heart here he comes shouted the boys along the street here the man with a snake in his i this s ears as he was about to enter the iron gate of the e mansion made it as not without a shudder that he found himself on the point of meeting his former acquaintance whom he had known in the glory of youth and whom now after an interval of five years he was to find me victim either of a fancy or a horrible physical misfortune a snake in his bosom repeated the young to himself it must be he no second man on earth has such a bosom friend and now my poor heaven grant me wisdom to discharge my errand aright i woman s faith must be strong indeed since thine has not yet failed thus musing he took his stand at the entrance of the gate and waited until the personage so singularly announced should make his appearance after an the physical to which it is here attempted to give a moral has been known to occur in more than one instance n e oh the bosom serpent or two he beheld the figure of a lean man of look with glittering eyes and long black hair who seemed to imitate the motion of a snake for instead of walking straight forward with open front he along the pavement in a curved line it may be too fanciful to say that something either in his moral or material aspect suggested the idea that a miracle had been wrought by a serpent into a man but so imperfectly l hat the nature was yet hidden scarcely hidden under the mere outward guise of humanity remarked that his had a tinge over its sickly white reminding him of a species of le out of which he bad once ht a head of envy with her locks the wretched being approached the gate but instead of entering stopped short and fixed the glitter of his eye full upon the compassionate yet steady of the it tne i it me he exclaimed and then there was an audible hiss but whether ft came from the apparent s own lips or was the real hiss of a serpent might admit of a discussion at all events it made shudder to his heart s core do you know me george asked the snake possessed did know im but it demanded all the intimate and practical acquaintance with the human face acquired by actual in clay to recognize the features of in the that now met the s gaze yet it was he from an old it added nothing to the wonder to reflect that the e brilliant young man had undergone this odious and fearful change during the no more than five brief years of s abode at the possibility of such a being granted it was as easy to conceive it effected in a moment as in an age shocked and startled it was still the keenest pang when remembered that the fate of his cousin the ideal of gentle womanhood was with that of a being whom providence seemed to have cried he i had heard of this but my conception came far short of the truth what has befallen you why do i find you thus o tis a mere nothing a snake a snake the commonest thing in the world a snake in the bosom that s all answered but how is your own breast continued he looking the in the eye with the most acute and penetrating glance that it had ever been his fortune to encounter all pure and wholesome no there by my faith and conscience and by the devil within me here is a wonder a man without a serpent in his bosom i be calm whispered george laying his hand upon the shoulder of the snake possessed i have crossed the ocean to	35
meet you listen let us be private i bring a message from from your wife it me it me muttered with this exclamation the most frequent in his ob the bosom mouth the unfortunate man clutched both hands his breast as if an intolerable sting or torture impelled him to it open and let out the living mischief even should it be with his own life he then freed himself from s grasp by a subtle mo tion and gliding through the gate took refuge in his family residence the did not pursue him he saw that no available intercourse could be expected at such a moment and was desirous before another meeting to inquire closely into the nature of s disease and the circumstances that had reduced him to so lamentable a condition he succeeded in obtaining the necessary information from an eminent medical gentleman shortly after s separation from his wife now nearly years ago his associates had observed a singular gloom spreading over his daily life like those chill gray mists that sometimes steal away the sunshine from a s morning the symptoms caused them endless perplexity they knew not whether ill health were his spirits of or whether a of the mind was gradually eating as such do from his moral system into the physical frame which is but the shadow of the former they looked for the root of this trouble in his shattered schemes of domestic bliss shattered by himself but could not be satisfied of its existence there some thought that their once brilliant friend was in an stage of insanity of which his passionate impulses had perhaps been the others a general and gradual decline from s own lips they could learn vol ii tie s b m an td mai i fi nothing more than once it is true he had been heard to say his hands upon his breast it me it me but by a great of explanation was assigned to this ominous expression could it be that the breast of ro k was it sorrow was it merely the tooth of physical disease or in his reckless course often upon if not plunging into its depths had he been guilty of some deed which made his bosom a prey to the fa of remorse there plausible ground for each of these conjectures but it must not be concealed that more than one elderly gentleman the victim of good cheer and habits i pronounced the secret of the whole matter to be meanwhile seemed aware how generally he had become the subject of curiosity and conjecture and with a morbid to such notice or to any notice whatsoever himself from all companionship not merely the eye of man was a horror to him not merely the light of a friend s countenance but even the blessed sunshine likewise which in its universal the radiance of the creator s face expressing his love for all the creatures of his hand the dusky twilight was now too transparent i fer the midnight was his p chosen hour to steal abroad and if ever he were seen it was when the s gleamed upon his figure gliding along the street with his hands clutched upon his bosom still muttering it me it me what could it be that him or the bosom af er a time it became known that was in the habit of to all the noted that the city or whom money would tempt to journey thither from a distance by one of these persons in the exultation of a supposed cure it was proclaimed far and wide by dint of and little on dingy paper that a distinguished gentleman esq had been relieved of a snake in his stomach so here was the monstrous secret from its lurking place into public view in all its horrible the mystery was out but not so the bosom serpent he if it were any thing but a delusion still lay in his living den the s cure bad been a sham the effect it was supposed of some which more nearly caused the death of the patient than of the odious that possessed when regained entire sensibility it was to find his misfortune the town talk the more than nine days wonder and horror while at his bosom he felt the sickening motion of a thing alive and the of that restless which seemed to gratify at once a physical appetite and a spite he summoned the old black servant who had been bred up in his father s house and was a middle aged man while lay in his cradle he began and then paused with his arms folded over his heart what do people say of me sir my poor i that you had a serpent in bosom answered the servant with hesitation and what else asked with a ghastly look at the man from an old nothing else dear master replied only that the doctor gave yon a powder and that tlie snake leaped out upon the floor no no muttered to himself as be shook his head and pressed his hands with a more force upon his breast feel him still it me i it me from this time the miserable sufferer ceased to the world but rather and forced himself upon the notice of acquaintances and strangers it was partly the result of desperation on finding that the of his own bosom had not proved deep and dark enough to hide the secret even while it was so secure a fortress for the that had crept into it but still more this craving for was a symptom of the intense which now pervaded his nature all persons are whether the disease be of the mind or body whether it be sin sorrow or merely the more tolerable calamity of some endless pain or mischief among the of mortal	35
life such individuals are made conscious of a self by the torture in which it dwells self therefore grows to be so prominent an object with them that they cannot but present it to the face of every casual by there is a pleasure perhaps the greatest of which the sufferer is susceptible in displaying the wasted or limb or the in the breast and the the crime with so much the more difficulty does the prevent it from thrusting up its head to frighten the world for it is that or that crime which their respective individuality who or the bosom serpent a while before had held himself so scornfully e the common lot of men now paid full to this humiliating law the snake in his bosom seemed the symbol of a monstrous to which every thing was referred and which he night and day with a continual and exclusive sacrifice of devil worship he soon exhibited what most people considered tokens of insanity in some of his moods strange to say he and himself on being marked out from the ordinary experience of mankind by the possession of a double nature and a life within a life he appeared to imagine that the snake was a divinity not celestial it is true but darkly infernal and that he thence derived an eminence and a horrid indeed yet more desirable than whatever ambition aims at thus he drew his misery around him like a mantle and looked down triumphantly upon those whose nourished no deadly monster however his human nature asserted its empire over him in the shape of a yearning for fellowship it grew to be his custom to spend the whole day in wandering about the streets unless it might be called an aim to establish a species of brotherhood between himself and the world with j ity he sought out his own disease in every breast whether insane or not he showed so keen a perception of error and vice that many persons gave him credit for being possessed not merely with a serpent but with an actual fi d who imparted this evil faculty of whatever was in man s heart for instance he met an individual who for thirty years had cherished a hatred against his own brother lu st an old v amidst the throng of the street laid his hand on this man s chest and looking full into his forbidding face how is the snake to day he inquired with a mock expression of sympathy the snake exclaimed the brother what do you mean the snake the snake does he you persisted did you take counsel with him tliis morning when you should hav e been saying your prayers did he sting when you thought of your brother s health wealth and good did he for joy when you remembered the of his only son and whether he stung or whether he did you feel his poison throughout your body and soul every thing to and bitterness that is the way of such i have learned the whole nature of them from my own where is the police roared the object of s persecution at the same time giving an instinctive clutch to his breast why is this lunatic allowed to go at large ha ha chuckled his grasp of the man his bosom serpent has stung him then often it pleased the unfortunate young man to vex people with a lighter satire yet still bv somewhat of one day he encountered an ambitious and gravely inquired after the welfare of his for of that species affirmed this gentleman s serpent must needs be since its appetite was enormous enough to the whole country and constitution at or bosom serpent s tr time he stopped a close old fellow of great wealth but who about the city in ae guise of a with a patched blue brown hat and boots pence together and picking up rusty nails pretending to look earnestly at this respectable person s stomach assured him that his snake was a copper head and had been by the immense quantities of that base metal with which he daily his fingers again he a man of and told him that few bosom had more of the devil in them than those that breed in the of a the next whom honored with his attention was a distinguished clergyman who happened just then to be engaged in a where human wrath was more perceptible than divine inspiration you have swallowed a snake in a cup of wine he profane wretch exclaimed the divine but nevertheless his hand stole to his breast he met a person of sickly sensibility who on some early disappointment had retired from the and thereafter held no intercourse with his fellow men but sullenly or passionately over the past this man s very heart if might be believed had been changed into a serpent which would finally torment both him and itself to death observing a married couple whose domestic troubles were matter of he with both on having taken a house to their to an envious author who works which he could never equal he said that his snake was the and j m from an old of all the tribe but was fortunately without a sting a man of life and a brazen face asking if there were any serpent in his breast he told him that there was and of the same species that once tortured don the he took a fair young girl by the hand and gazing sadly into her eyes warned her that she cherished a serpent of the kind within her gentle breast and the world found the truth of those ominous words when a few months afterwards the poor girl died of love and shame two ladies rivals in fashionable life who tormented one another with a thousand little of	35
so long forgive forgive her happy tears his face the punishment has been severe observed the even justice might now forgive how much more a woman s tenderness whether the serpent was a physical or whether the of your nature suggested that symbol to your fancy the moral of the story is not the less true and strong a tremendous itself in your case in the form of jealousy is as fearful a as ever stole into the human heart can a breast where it has dwelt so long be o yes said with a heavenly smile the serpent was but a and what it was as shadowy as itself the past dismal as it seems shall fling no gloom upon the future to give it its due importance we must think of it but as an anecdote in our eternity i the christmas banquet from ike of the heart i have here attempted said a few sheets of manuscript as he sat with and the in the summer house i have attempted to seize hold of a personage who past me in walk through life my sad experience as you know has gifted me with some degree of insight into the gloomy mysteries of the heart through which i have wandered like one astray in a dark with his torch fast flickering to but this man this class of men is a hopeless puzzle well but him said the let us have an idea of him to begin why indeed replied he is such a being as i could conceive you to out of marble and some yet perfection of human science to with an exquisite mockery of intellect but still there the last touch of a divine creator he looks like a man and perchance like a better specimen of man than you ordinarily meet you might esteem him wise he is capable of cultivation and refinement and least an external conscience vol ii from an old but the demands that spirit makes upon spirit are precisely those to which he cannot respond when at last you come close to him you find him chill and a mere i believe said i have a glimmering idea of what you mean then be thankful answered her husband smiling but do not anticipate any further illumination from what i am about to read i have here imagined such a man to be what probably he never is conscious of the deficiency in his spiritual organization the result would be a sense of cold wherewith he would go shivering through the world longing to exchange his load of ice for any burden of real grief that fate could fling upon a human being himself with this preface began to read in a certain old gentleman s last will and testament there appeared a which as his final thought and deed was singularly in keeping with a long life of melancholy he devised a considerable sum for establishing a fund the interest of which was to be expended forever in preparing a christmas banquet for t n of the most miserable persons that could be found it seemed not to be the s purpose to make these half a score of sad hearts merry but to provide that the stem or fierce expression of human discontent should not be drowned even for that one holy and joyful day amid the of gratitude which all sends up and h desired likewise to his own thb christmas against the earthly course of providence and his sad and sour from those systems of religion or philosophy which either find sunshine in the world or draw it down from heaven the task of inviting the guests or of selecting among such as might advance their claims to partake of this dismal hospitality was confided to the two or of the fund these gentlemen like their deceased friend were sombre who made it their principal occupation to number the in the web of human life and drop all the golden ones out of the reckoning they performed their present office with integrity and judgment the aspect of the assembled company on the day of the first festival might not it is true have satisfied every that these were especially the individuals chosen forth from all the world whose were worthy to stand as of the mass of human yet after due consideration it could not be disputed that here was a variety of hopeless discomfort which if it sometimes arose from causes apparently inadequate was thereby only the against the nature and of the arrangements and of the banquet were probably intended to signify that death in life had been the s definition of the hall illuminated by was hung round with of deep and dusky purple and adorned with branches of and wreaths of artificial of such as used to be over the dead a of was laid by every plate the main of win was a um of silver whence the i an old liquor was distributed around the table in small accurately copied from those that held the tears of ancient neither had the if it were their taste that arranged these details forgotten the of the old who seated a skeleton at every board and their own merriment with the grin of a death s head such a fearful guest in a black mantle sat now at the head of the table it was whispered r know not with what truth that the himself had once walked the visible world with the machinery of that same skeleton and that it was one of the of his will that he sh thus be permitted to sit from year to year at the banquet which he had if so it was perhaps implied that he had cherished no hopes of bliss beyond the grave to for the evils which he felt or imagined here arid if in their	35
and bring it out upon the stage i o never mind him said the smiling he shall feast from yonder of soup and if there is a of on the table pray let him have his share of it for the he shall taste the apples of then if he like our christmas fare let him return again next year trouble him not murmured the melancholy man with gentleness what matters it whether the consciousness of misery come a few years sooner or later if this youth deem himself happy now yet let him sit with us for the sake of the wretchedness to come the poor idiot approached the young man with that mournful aspect of vacant inquiry which his face continually wore and which caused people to say that he was always in search of his missing wits after no little examination he touched the stranger s hand but immediately drew back his own shaking his head and shivering cold cold cold muttered the idiot the young man too and smiled gentlemen and you madam said one of the of the festival do not conceive so ill of our caution or judgment as to imagine that we have admitted this young stranger by name without a full investigation and thoughtful balance of his claims trust me not a guest at the table is better entitled to his seat the christmas t the steward s was satisfactory company therefore took their places and addressed themselves to the serious business of the feast but were soon disturbed hy the who thrust back his chair complaining that a dish of and was set before him and that there was green ditch water in his cup of wine this mistake being he quietly resumed his seat the wine as it flowed freely from the urn seemed to come with all gloomy so that its influence was not to cheer but either to sink the into a deeper melancholy or their spirits to an enthusiasm of wretchedness the conversation was various they told sad stories about people who might have been worthy guests at such a festival as the present they talked of incidents in human history of strange crimes which if truly considered were but of agony of some lives that had been altogether wretched and of others which wearing a general semblance of happiness had yet been sooner or later by misfortune as by the intrusion of a c e at a banquet of death bed scenes send what dark might be gathered from the words of dying men of suicide and whether the more eligible mode were by knife poison drowning gradual starvation or the ef the majority of the guests as is the custom with people and profoundly sick at heart were anxious to make their woes the theme of discussion and prove themselves most excellent in anguish the went deep into the philosophy of evil and wandered about in the darkness with now and then a gleam of from an old light hovering on ghastly shapes and horrid scenery many a miserable thought such as men have stumbled upon from age to age did he now up again and over it as an a diamond a treasure far to those bright spiritual revelations of a better world which are like precious stones from heaven s pavement and then amid his lore of wretchedness he hid his face and wept it was a festival at which the man of might have been a guest together with all in each succeeding age who have tasted deepest of the bitterness of life and be it said too that every son or daughter of however favored with happy fortune might at one sad moment or another have claimed the privilege of a stricken heart to sit down at this table but throughout the feast it was remarked that the young stranger was unsuccessful in his attempts to catch its spirit at any deep strong thought that found utterance and which was torn out as it were from the recesses of human consciousness he looked and bewildered even more than the poor idiot who seemed to grasp at such things with his earnest heart and thus occasionally to comprehend them the young man s conversation was of a colder and lighter kind often brilliant but lacking the powerful characteristics of a nature that had been developed by suffering sir said the in reply to some observation by pray do not address me again we have no right to talk together ou minds have nothing in common by what claim you appear at this banquet i cannot guess but the christmas to a man could say what you have just now said my companions and myself must seem no more than shadows flickering on the wall and precisely such a shadow are you to us the young man smiled and bowed but himself back in his chair he his coat over his breast as if the hall were growing chill again the idiot fixed his melancholy stare upon the youth and murmured cold cold cold the banquet drew to its conclusion and the guests departed scarcely had they stepped across the threshold of the hall when the scene that had there passed seemed like the vision of a sick fancy or an from a heart now and then however during the year that ensued these people caught glimpses of one another transient indeed but enough to prove that they walked the earth with the ordinary of reality sometimes a pair of them came face to face while stealing through the evening twilight enveloped in their sometimes they casually met in once also it happened that two of the dismal started at each other in the sunshine of a crowded street there like ghosts astray doubtless they wondered why the skeleton did not come abroad at too but whenever the necessity of their compelled these christmas guests into the bustling	35
his hand upon his heart and making himself as melancholy as he could for fear of a fatal explosion of laughter i know the lad well he has as fair prospects as any young man about town and has no more right among us miserable creatures than the child he never was miserable and probably never will be our honored guests interposed the pray have patience with us and believe at least that our deep veneration for the of this solemnity would any wilful of it receive this young man to your table it may not be too much to say that no guest here would exchange his own heart for the one that beats within that youthful bosom i d call it a bargain and gladly too muttered mr smith with a mixture of sadness and conceit a plague upon their nonsense my an old heart is the only really miserable one in the company it will certainly be the death of me at last nevertheless as on the former occasion the ment of the being without appeal the company sat down the guest made no more attempt to his conversation on those about him but appeared to listen to the table talk with r as if some secret other beyond his reach might be conveyed in a word and in truth to those who could understand and value it there was rich matter in the and of these souls to whom sorrow had been a admitting them into spiritual depths which no other spell can open sometimes out of the of gloom there flashed a momentary radiance pure as bright as the flame of stars a nd shedding such a glow upon the mysteries of life that the guests were ready to exclaim surely the riddle is on the point of being solved at such illuminated intervals the felt it to be revealed that mortal are but shadowy and external no more than the robes a certain divine reality and thus indicating what might otherwise be altogether invisible to mortal eye just now remarked the trembling old woman i seemed to see beyond the outside and then my everlasting tremor passed away would that i could dwell always in these momentary of light i said the man of stricken conscience then the blood stain in my heart would be washed clean away the banquet this strain of conversation appeared so absurd to good mr smith that he burst into precisely the fit of laughter which his had warned him against as likely to prove fatal in effect he fell back in his chair a corpse with a broad grin upon his face while his ghost perchance remained beside it l at its exit this catastrophe of course broke up the festival how is this you do not tremble observed the tremulous old woman to who was gazing at the dead man with singular is it not awful to see him so suddenly vanish out of the midst of life this man of flesh and blood whose earthly nature was so warm and strong there is a ending tremor in my soul but it afresh at this and you are calm would that he could teach me somewhat said drawing a long breath men pass before me like shadows on the wall their actions passions feelings are of the light and then they vanish neither the corpse nor yonder skeleton nor this old woman s everlasting tremor can give me what i seek and then the company departed we cannot linger to in such detail more cr of these singular which in accordance with the founder s will continued to be kept with the regularity of an established institution in process of time the adopted the custom of inviting from and near those individuals whose misfortunes were prominent above other men s and whose mental and vol ii from an old moral development might therefore be supposed to possess a corresponding interest the noble of the french revolution and the broken soldier of the empire were alike represented at the table fallen wandering about the earth have found places at that forlorn and miserable feast the when his party flung him off might if he chose it be once more a great man for the space of a single banquet s name appears on the record at a period when his ruin the and most striking with more of moral circumstance in it than thai of almost any other man was complete in his lonely age when his wealth weighed upon him like a mountain once sought of his own accord it is not probable however that these men had any lesson to teach in the lore of discontent and misery which might not equally well have been studied in the common walks of life illustrious attract a wider sympathy not because their are more intense but because being set on lofty they the better serve mankind as instances and of calamity it concerns our present purpose to say that at each successive festival so showed his face gradually changing from the smooth beauty of his youth to the thoughtful of manhood and thence to the bald impressive dignity of age he was the only invariably present yet on eveiy occasion there were murmurs both from those who knew his character and position and from them whose hearts shrank back as denying his companionship in their mystic the banquet who is this man had been asked a hundred times has he suffered has he there are no traces of either then wherefore is he here you must inquire of the or of himself was the constant reply we seem to know him well here in our city and know nothing of him but what is creditable and fortunate yet hither he comes year after year to this gloomy banquet and sits among the guests like a marble statue ask yonder skeleton perhaps that may solve the	35
riddle it was in truth a wonder the life of was not merely a prosperous but a brilliant one every thing had gone well with him he was far beyond the expenditure that was required by habits of magnificence a taste of rare purity and cultivation a love of travel a scholar s instinct to collect a splendid library and moreover what seemed a magnificent liberality to the distressed he had sought happiness and not vainly if a lovely and tender wife and children of fair promise could it he had besides ascended above the limit which the obscure from the distinguished and had won a reputation in affairs of the public importance not that he was a popular character or had within him the mysterious attributes which are essential to that of success to the public he was a cold abstraction wholly destitute of those rich hues of personality that living warmth and the peculiar faculty of stamping his own heart s impression on a multitude of hearts by which the people recognize their and it must be owned that after his most intimate from an old associates had done their to know him thoroughly and love him warmly they were to find bow little hold he had upon their affections they approved they admired but still in those moments when the bu man spirit most reality they as powerless to give them what they sought it was the feeling of regret with which we should draw hack the hand after extending it in an twilight to grasp the l nd of a shadow upon the wall as the superficial of youth decayed this peculiar effect of s character grew more perceptible his en when he extended his arms came coldly to his knees but never climbed them pf their own accord his wife wept secretly and herself a criminal because she shivered in the chill of his bosom he too occasionally appeared not unconscious of the of his moral atmosphere and willing if it might be so to warm himself at a kindly fire but age stole onward and him more and more as the began to gather on him his wife went to her grave and was doubtless warmer there his children either died or were scattered to different homes of their own and old by grief alone but no companionship continued his steady walk through life and still on every christmas day attended at the dismal banquet his privilege as a guest had become now had he claimed the head of the table even the skeleton would have been from its seat finally at the merry christmas tide when he had thb christmas banquet years complete this pale marble old man once more entered the hall with the aspect that had called forth so much dissatisfied remark at his time except in merely had s one nothing for him either of good or evil as he took his place he threw a calm inquiring glance around the table as if to ascertain whether any guest hail yet appeared after so many unsuccessful who might impart to him the mystery the deep warm secret the life within the which whether manifested in joy or sorrow is what gives substance to a world of shadows my friends said assuming a position which his long with the festival caused to appear natural you are welcome i i drink to you all in this cup of wine the guests replied courteously but still in a manner that proved m unable to receive the old man as a member of their sad it may be well to give the reader an idea of the present company at the banquet one was formerly a clergyman enthusiastic in his profession and apparently of the genuine ot those old whose faith in their calling and stern exercise of it had placed them among the mighty of the earth but yielding to the tendency of the age he had gone astray from the firm foundation of an faith and wandered into a cloud region where every thing was misty and ever mocking him with a semblance of reality but when he flung himself upon it for sup from an old port and rest his and early training demanded something steadfast but looking forward he beheld piled on and behind him an gulf between the man of yesterday and to day on the borders of which he paced to and fro sometimes ing his hands in agony and often his own i a theme of scornful merriment this surely was a miserable man next there was a one of a numerous tribe although he deemed himself unique since the creation a who had conceived a plan by which all the wretchedness of earth moral and physical might be done away and the bliss of the at once accomplished but the of mankind him from action he was smitten with as much grief as if the whole mass of woe which he was denied the opportunity to remedy were crowded into his own bosom a plain old man in black at much of the company s notice on the supposition that he was no other than father miller who it seemed had given himself up to despair at the tedious delay of the final then there was a man distinguished for native pride and obstinacy who a little while before had possessed immense wealth and held the control of a vast interest which he had in the same spirit as a monarch would the power of his empire carrying on a tremendous moral warfare the roar and tremor of which was felt at every fireside in the land at length came a crushing ruin a total overthrow of fortune power and character the effect of which on his im and in many respects noble and y nature christmas might have entitled him to a place not merely at out festival but	35
the of there was a modern who had become so deeply sensible of the of thousands and millions of his fellow creatures and of the of any general measures for their relief that he had no heart to do what little good lay immediately within his power but contented himself with being for sympathy near him sat a gentleman in a hitherto but of which the present epoch probably affords numerous examples ever since he was of capacity to read a newspaper this person had himself on his consistent to one political party but in the confusion of these latter days had got bewildered and knew not whereabouts his party was this wretched condition so morally desolate and to a man who has long accustomed himself to his individuality in the mass of a great body can only be conceived by such as have experienced it his next companion was a popular orator who had lost his voice and as it was pretty much all that he had to lose had fallen into a state of hopeless melancholy the table was likewise by two of the sex one a half starved the representative of thousands just as wretched the other a woman of energy who found herself in the world with nothing to achieve nothing to enjoy and nothing even to suffer she had therefore driven herself to the verge of mad n ss by dark over the wrongs of her sex and its from a proper field of action the from an old roll ot guests being thus complete a side table had been set for or four disappointed office with hearts as sick as death whom the had admitted partly because their really entitled them to entrance here and partly that they were in especial n ed of a good dinner there was likewise a dog with his tail between his legs up the and the fragments of the feast such a melancholy cur as one sometimes sees about the streets without a master and willing to follow the first that will accept his service in their own way these were as wretched a set of people as ever had assembled at the festival there they sat with the veiled skeleton of the founder holding aloft the wreath at one end of the table and at the other wrapped in the withered figure of stately calm and cold the company with awe yet so little interesting their sympathy that he might have vanished into thin air without their once exclaiming whither is he gone sir said the addressing old man you have been so long a guest at this annual festival and have thus been with so many varieties of human affliction that not you have thence derived great and important lessons how blessed were your lot could you reveal a secret by which all this mass of woe might be removed i know of but one misfortune answered quietly and that is my own your own rejoined the and thb w lo on your serene and life can you to be the sole of the race you will not it feebly and with a ar in d ie a e y of sometimes one another none have understood it even who experience the like it is a a want of earnestness a feeling as if should be my were a thing of a ai thus seeming to possess all that ot men have all that men aim at i have nothing joy nor all ar as was truly said to me at this table and long a have been like shadows oa the it was se with ray wife with those who seemed my ds it is so with whom i see now before me neither have i any real existence but am a shadow like the and how is it with your views of a future life inquired the clergyman worse than with you said the old man in q hollow and feeble tone for i cannot conceive it earnestly enough to feel either hope or fear mine mine is the wretchedness this cold heart this unreal life ah it grows colder still it so chanced that at this juncture the decayed of the skeleton gave way and the dry bones fell together in a heap thus causing the dusty wreath of to drop upon the table the attention of the company being thus diverted for a single instant from they perceived on turning again an old towards him that the old man had undergone a change his shadow had ceased to on the wall well what is your criticism asked as he rolled up the manuscript frankly your success is by no means complete replied she it is true i have an idea of the character you endeavor to describe but it is rather by dint of my own thought than your expression that is observed the because the characteristics are all negative if could have ed one human grief at the gloomy banquet the task of describing him would have been infinitely easier of such persons and we do meet with these moral monsters now and then it is difficult to conceive how they came to exist here or what there is in them capable of existence hereafter they seem to be on the outside of every thing ana nothing the soul more than an attempt to comprehend them within its grasp s wooden image one morning in the good old times of the town of boston a young in wood well known by the name of stood contemplating a large log which it was his purpose to convert into the figure head of a vessel and while he discussed within his own mind what sort of shape or it were well to bestow upon this excellent piece of timber there came into s a certain captain owner and commander	35
of the good called the which had just returned from her first voyage to ah that will do hat will do cried the jolly captain tapping the log with his i this very piece of oak for the figure head of the she has shown herself the sweetest craft that ever floated and i mean to her with the image that the skill of man can cut out of timber and you are the fellow to execute it you give me more credit than i deserve captain said the modestly yet as one conscious of eminence in his art but for the sake of the good i stand ready to do my best and which of these designs do you prefer here from an old pointing to a staring half length figure in a white and scarlet coat here is an excellent model the likeness of our gracious king here is the admiral or if you prefer a female figure what say you to with the all very fine all very fine answered the but as nothing like the b ig ever swam the ocean so i am determined she shall have such a figure head as old never saw in his life and what is more as there is a secret in the you must pledge your credit not to betray it certainly said however what mystery there could be in reference to an affair so open of necessity to the inspection of all the world as the figure head of a you may depend captain on my being as secret as the nature of the case wilt captain then took by the button and communicated his wishes in so low a tone that it would be to repeat what was evidently intended for the s private ear we therefore take the opportunity to give the reader a few desirable particulars about himself he was the american who is known to have attempted in a very humble line it is true that art in which we can now reckon so many names already distinguished or rising to distinction from his earliest he had exhibited a for it w be too proud a word to it a therefore for the imitation of the human figure in whatever material came most readily to hand the of a new england had su him with a s species of marble as at least as tbe or the and if less yet so to correspond with any claims to existence possessed by boy s frozen statues yet they won admiration from judges than his and were indeed remarkably clever though destitute of the native warmth that might have made the snow melt beneath hand as he advanced in life the young man adopted pine and oak as eligible materials for the display of hie skill which now began to bring him a return of solid silver as well as the empty praise that had been an apt reward enough for his productions df snow he became noted for carving ornamental pump heads and wooden for gate posts and more grotesque than fanciful for no would have deemed himself in the way of obtaining custom without setting up a gilded mortar if not a head of or from the skilful hand of but the great scope of his business lay in the manufacture of figure heads for vessels whether it were the monarch himself oi some famous british admiral or general or the governor of the province or perchance the favorite daughter of the ship owner there the image stood above the in gorgeous colors gilded and staring the whole world cut countenance as if from an innate consciousness cf its own superiority these specimens of native ture had crossed the sea in all directions and been not noticed among the crowded shipping of the thames and wherever else the hardy of new from an old england had pushed their adventures it must be confessed that a family likeness pervaded these respectable of s skill that the countenance of the king resembled those of his subjects and that miss the merchant s daughter bore a remarkable to victory and other ladies of the and finally that they all had a kind of wooden aspect which proved an intimate relationship with the blocks of timber in the s but at least there was no skill of hand nor a deficiency of any attribute to render them really works of art except that deep quality be it of soul or intellect which life upon the lifeless and warmth upon the cold and which had it been present would have made s wooden image instinct with spirit the captain of the had now finished his instructions and said he you must lay aside all other business and set about this forthwith and as to the price only do the job in first rate style and you shall settle that point yourself very well captain answered the who looked grave and somewhat perplexed yet had a sort of smile upon his depend upon it do my utmost to satisfy you from that moment the men of taste about long wharf and the town dock who were wont to show their love for the arts by frequent visits to s and admiration of his wooden images began to be sensible of a mystery in the s conduct he was absent in the sometimes ai s wooden might be judged by of light from the shop windows he was at work until a late hour of the evening although neither knock nor voice on such occasions could gain for a visitor or any word of response nothing remarkable however was observed in the shop at those hours when it was thrown open a fine piece of timber indeed which was known to have reserved for some work of especial dignity was seen to be gradually assuming shape what shape it was destined ultimately	35
to take was a problem to his friends and a point on which the himself preserved a rigid silence but day after day though was seldom noticed in the act of working upon it this rude form began to be developed until it became evident to all that a female figure was growing into ic life at each new visit they beheld a larger pile of wooden and a nearer to something beautiful it seemed as if the of the oak had sheltered herself from the world within the heart of her native tree and that it was only necessary to remove the strange that had her and reveal the grace and loveliness of a divinity imperfect as the design the attitude the costume and especially the face of the image still remained there was already an effect that drew the eye from the wooden cleverness of s earlier productions and fixed it upon the mystery of this new project the celebrated painter then a young man and a resident of boston came one day to visit for he had recognized so much of moderate ability in the as to induce him in the of m an al to his op the the artist at the im ge of king dame and tbat sl on the best of which might bestowed the praise that it looked as if a map had here been changed to wood not the but the and spiritual part partook of the stolid but in a single instance did it seem as if the wood were the ethereal essence of humanity what a wide is here and how far would the slightest portion of the merit have the utmost of the former my friend said to but alluding to the mechanical and wooden that so distinguished the images you are a person i have seldom met a man in your line of that could do so one other touch might make this figure of for instance a breathing and intelligent human creature tou would have me think that you are me highly mr answered turning his s image in apparent disgust but there has come a light into my mind i know what you know as well that the one which you speak of as deficient is the only one that would be truly valuable and that without it these works of mine are no better than worthless there is the same difference between them and the works of an inspired artist as between a sign post and one of your s wooden is strange cried looking him in the face which now as the painter fancied had a singular of intelligence though hitherto it had not him greatly die advantage over his own family of wooden images what has come over you how is it that possessing the idea which you have now uttered you should produce only such works as these the smiled but made no reply again to the images that the sense of deficiency which had just expressed and which is so rare in a merely mechanical character surely imply a genius the tokens of which had been overlooked but no there was not a trace of it he was about to withdraw when his eyes chanced to fall upon a half developed figure which lay a corner of the surrounded by scattered of oak it arrested him at once what is here who has done this he broke out after contemplating it in speechless astonishment for an instant here is the divine the life giving touch what inspired hand is this wood to and live whose work is this t o man s work replied the figure lies within that block of oak and it is my business to find it said the true artist grasping the fervently by the hand you are a man of genius as departed happening to glance backward from the threshold he beheld bending over the half created shape and stretching forth his arms as if he would have embraced and drawn it to his heart while had such a miracle been possible his vol ii from an old expressed passion to communicate warmth and sensibility to the lifeless oak strange enough said the artist to himself would have looked for a modern in the person of a yankee as yet the image was but vague in its outward so that as in the cloud shapes around the western sun the observer rather felt or was led to imagine than really saw what was intended by it day by day however the work assumed greater precision and settled its irregular and misty outline into grace and beauty the general design was now obvious to the common eye it was a female figure in what appeared to be a foreign dress the gown being over the bosom and opening in front so as to disclose a skirt or the folds and of which were admirably represented in the substance she wore a hat of singular and abundantly laden with flowers such as never grew in the rude soil of new england but which with all their fanciful had a natural truth that it seemed impossible for the most fertile imagination to have attained without from real there were several little to this dress such as a fan a pair of a chain about the neck a watch in the bosom and a ring upon the finger all of which would have been deemed beneath the dignity of they were put on with as much taste as a lovely woman might have shown in ner attire and could therefore have shocked none but a judgment spoiled by artistic rules the face was still imperfect but gradually by a f s wooden image magic touch and sensibility brightened the features with all the effect of light gleaming forth from the solid oak the face became alive it was a beautiful though not precisely regular and somewhat	35
haughty aspect but with a about the eyes and mouth which of all expressions would have seemed the most impossible to throw over a wooden countenance and now so far as carving went this wonderful production was complete said who had hardly missed a single day in m visits to the s if this work were in marble it would make you famous at once nay i would almost affirm that it would make an era in the art it is as ideal as an antique statue and yet as real as any lovely woman whom one meets at a fireside or in the street but i trust you do not mean to this exquisite creature with paint like those staring kings and yonder not paint her exclaimed captain who stood by not paint the figure head of the and what sort of a figure should i cut in a foreign port with such an stick as this over my i she must and she shall be painted to the life from the flower in her hat down to the silver on her slippers mr said quietly i know nothing of marble and nothing of the s rules of art but of this wooden image this work of my hands this creature of my heart and here his voice faltered and choked in a very singular manner of this of her i may say that i know something h m an old la of inward wisdom within me am i upon the oak with my whole strength and soul and faith let others do what they may with marble and adopt what rules they choose if i can produce my desired effect by painted wood those rules are not for m e and i have a right to disregard them the spirit of genius muttered to himself how otherwise should this feel himself entitled to all rules and make me of quoting them he looked earnestly at and again saw that expression of human love which in m spiritual sense as the artist could not help imagining was the secret of the life that had been breathed into this block of wood the still in the same that marked all his operations upon this mysterious image proceeded to paint the in their proper colors and the countenance with nature s red and white when all was finished he threw open his and admitted the to behold what he had done most persons at their first entrance felt impelled to remove their hats and pay such reverence as was due to the richly dressed and beautiful young lady who seemed to stand in a comer of the room with and scattered at her feet then came a sensation of fear as if not being actually human yet so like humanity she must therefore be something there was in truth an air and expression that might reasonably induce the who and from what sphere this daughter of the oak should be the strange rich flowers of on her head the s wooden image s so much deeper and more brilliant than those of our native beauties the foreign as it seemed and fantastic garb yet not too fantastic to be worn in the street the delicately wrought of the skirt the broad gold chain about her neck the curious ring upon her finger the fan so exquisitely in open work and painted to resemble pearl and where could in his sober walk of life have beheld the vision here so i and then her face i in the dark eyes and around the mouth there played a look made up of pride and a gleam of which impressed with the idea that the image was secretly enjoying the admiration of himself and other and will you said he to the permit this to become the figure head of a el give the honest captain yonder figure of it will answer his purpose far better and send this fairy queen to england where for aught i know it may bring you a thousand pounds i have not wrought it for money said what sort of a fellow is this i thought a yankee and throw away the chance of making his fortune he has gone mad and thence has come this gleam of genius there was still further proof of s if credit were due to the that he had been seen kneeling at the feet of the lady and gazing with b lover s passionate into the face that his own hands had created the of the day hinted that it would be no matter of surprise if an evil spirit were an old allowed to enter this beautiful form and the to destruction the fame of the image spread far and wide the inhabitants visited it so universally that after a few days of exhibition there was hardly an old man or a child who had not become familiar with its aspect even had the story of s wooden image ended here its might have been prolonged f ir many years by the reminiscences of those who looked upon it in their childhood and saw nothing else so beautiful in after life but the town was now astounded by an event the narrative of which has formed itself into one of the most singular legends that are yet to be met with in the chimney comers of the new england metropolis where old men and women sit dreaming of the past and wag their heads at the of the present and the future one fine morning just before the departure of the on her second voyage to the commander of that gallant vessel was seen to issue from his residence in street he was dressed m a blue coat with gold lace at the and button holes an embroidered waistcoat a hat with a and broad binding oi gold and wore a silver	35
at bis side but the good captain might have been arrayed in the robes a prince or the rags of a beggar without in either case notice while obscured by such a companion as now leaned on his arm the people in the street started rubbed their eyes and either leaped aside from their path or stood as if to wood or marble in astonishment s wooden image do you see it do you see it cried one with tremulous eagerness it is the very same i the same answered another who had arrived in town only the night before who do you mean i see only a sea captain in his shore going clothes and a young lady in a foreign habit with a bunch of beautiful flowers in her hat on my word she is as fair and bright a as my eyes have looked on this many a day yes the same the very same repeated the other s wooden image has come to life i was a miracle indeed yet illuminated by the sunshine or darkened by the shade of the houses and with its garments lightly in the morning breeze there passed the image along the street it was exactly and the shape the garb and the face which the had so recently thronged to see and admire not a rich flower upon her head not a single leaf but had had its in s wooden although now their fragile grace had become and was shaken by every footstep that the made the broad gold chain upon the neck was identical with the one represented on the image and with the motion imparted by the rise and fall of the bosom which it decorated a real diamond sparkled on her finger in her right hand she bore a pearl and fan which she flourished with a fantastic and that was likewise expressed in all her movements as well as in the style of her beauty and the attire that so well with it the face with its brilliant depth of complexion had the same of mis an old chief that was fixed upon the countenance of the hut which was here varied and continually yet always essentially the same like the sunny gleam upon a fountain on the whole there was something so airy and yet so real in the figure and withal so perfectly did it represent s image that people knew not whether to suppose the magic wood ethereal into a spirit or warmed and softened into an actual woman one thing is certain muttered a of the old has sold to the devil and doubtless this gay captain is a party to the bargain and i said a young man who overheard bim would almost consent to be the third victim for the liberty of those lovely lips and so would i said the painter for the privilege of taking her picture the image or the apparition whichever it might be still escorted by the bold captain proceeded from street through some of the cross lanes that make this portion of the town so intricate to ann street thence into dock square and so downward to s shop which stood just on the water s edge the crowd still followed gathering volume as it rolled along never had a modern miracle occurred in such broad daylight nor in the presence of such a multitude of witnesses the airy image as if conscious that she was the object of the murmurs and disturbance that swelled behind her appeared slightly vexed and yet still in a manner consistent with the light vivacity and mischief that were written in her countenance she i s wo i i to flutter her fan with such vehement that the elaborate delicacy of its gave way and it remained in her arriving at s door while the captain threw il open tlie marvellous apparition paused an instant on the ld the very attitude of the image and casting over the crowd tbat glance of sunny which all remembered on the face of the lady she and her then disappeared ah ed the crowd drawing a deep breath as with one vast pair of lungs the world looks darker now that she has vanished said some of the young men but the aged whose recollections dated as far back is witch times shook their heads and hinted that our would have thought it a pious deed to bum the daughter of the oak with fire if he be other than a of the elements exclaimed i must look upon her face again he accordingly entered the shop and there in her usual comer stood the image gazing at him as it might seem with the very same expression of mischief that had been the farewell look of the apparition when but a moment before she turned her face towards the crowd the stood beside his creation mending the beautiful fan which by some accident was broken in her hand but there was no longer any motion m the image nor any real woman in the nor even the of a sunny shadow that might have people s eyes as il flitted along the street captain too had vanished his hoarse sea tones however were audible on the other side of a door that opened upon the water from an old sit down in the stern sheets my lady said the gallant captain come bear a hand you and set us on board in the turning of a minute glass and then was heard the stroke of oars said with a smile of intelligence you have been a truly fortunate man what painter or ever had such a subject no wonder that she inspired a genius into you and first created the artist who afterwards created her image looked at him with a that bore the traces of tears but from which the light of imagination and sensibility	35
so recently it had departed he was again the mechanical that he had been known to be all his lifetime i hardly understand what you mr said he putting his hand to his brow this image can it have been my work well i have wrought it in a kind of dream and now that i am broad awake i must set about finishing yonder figure of admiral and forthwith he employed himself on the stolid countenance of one of his wooden and completed it in his own mechanical style from which he was never known afterwards to he followed his business for many years acquired a and in the latter part of his life attained to a dignified station in the church being remembered in records and traditions as the one of his productions an indian chief gilded all over stood during the better part of a century on the of the province house the eyes of those looked upward like an angel of the sun another s wooden image work of the good s hand a reduced of his friend captain holding a and may be seen to this day at the comer of broad and state streets serving in the useful capacity of sign to the shop of a instrument maker we know not how to account for the inferiority of this quaint old figure as compared with the recorded excellence of the lady unless on the supposition that in every human spirit there is imagination sensibility power genius which according to circumstances may either be developed in this world or in a mask of until another state of being to our friend there came a brief season of excitement kindled by love it rendered him a genius for that one occasion but in disappointment him again the mechanical in wood without the power even of the work that his own hands had wrought yet who can doubt that the very highest state to which a human spirit can attain in its aspirations is its truest and most natural state and that was more consistent with himself when he wrought the admirable figure of the mysterious lady than when he a whole of there was a in boston about this period that a young lady of rank on some occasion of political or domestic had fled from her home m and put herself under the protection of captain on board of whose vessel and at whose residence she was sheltered until a change of affairs this fair stranger must have been the original of s wooden image the intelligence office a grave figure with a pair of mysterious spectacles od his nose and a pen behind his ear was seated at a desk in the corner of a office the apartment was fitted up wi a counter and furnished an cabinet and a chair or two in simple and business like style around the walls were stuck of articles or articles wanted or articles to be disposed of in one or another of which classes were comprehended nearly all the or otherwise that the imagination of man has contrived the interior of the room was thrown into shadow partly by the tall that rose on the opposite side of the street and partly by the immense show bills of blue and crimson paper that were expanded over each of the three windows undisturbed by the tramp of feet the rattle of wheels the hum of voices the shout of the city the scream of the news boys and other tokens of the life that along in front of the office the figure at the desk diligently over a volume of size and aspect he looked like the spirit of a record the soul of his own great volume made visible in mortal shape but scarcely an instant elapsed without the appearance at the door of some individual from the busy pop j the office whose vicinity was manifested by so much aad clatter and now it was a in q of a that should come within his moderate means of rent a ruddy irish girl from the banks of wandering from kitchen to kitchen of our land while her heart still hung in the smoke of her native cottage now a single gentleman looking out for economical board and now for this establishment offered an of worldly pursuits it was a faded beauty inquiring for her lost or peter for his lost shadow or an author of ten years standing for his vanished reputation or a moody man for yesterday s sunshine at the next lifting of the latch there entered a person with his hat upon his head his clothes ill suited to his form his eyes staring in directions opposite to their intelligence and a certain odd his whole figure wherever he might chance to be whether in palace or cottage church or market on land or sea or even at his own he have worn the characteristic expression of a man out of his right place this inquired he putting his question a the form of an assertion this is the central intelligence office even so answered the e at the desk turning another leaf of his volume ho looked the in the said briefly your business i want said the latter with tremulous earnestness a a place i and of what asked the there are many vacant or soon to be from old some of which will probably suit since they range from that of a footman up to a seat at the council board or in the cabinet or a throne or a chair the stranger stood pondering before the desk with an dissatisfied air a dull vague pain of heart expressed by a slight of the brow an earnestness of glance that asked and expected yet continually wavered as if in short he evidently wanted not in a physical or intellectual sense but with	35
an urgent moral necessity that is the hardest of all things to satisfy since it knows not its own object ah you mistake me said he at length with a gesture of nervous impatience either of the places you mention indeed might answer my purpose or more probably none of them i want my place my own place i my true place in the world my proper sphere my thing to do which nature intended me to perform when she fashioned me thus and which i have vainly sought all my lifetime whether it be a footman s duty or a king s is of consequence so it be naturally mine can you help me here i will enter your application answered the at the same time writing a few lines in his volume but to undertake such a business i tell you frankly is quite apart from the ground covered by my official duties ask for something specific and it may doubtless be for you on your compliance with the conditions but were i to go further i should have the whole population of the city upon my shoulders since far the greater proportion of them are more or less in your the intelligence office the sank into a fit of despondency passed out of the door without again lifting his eyes and if he died of the disappointment he was probably buried m the wrong tomb inasmuch as the of such people never deserts them and whether alive or dead they are invariably out of place almost immediately another foot was heard on the threshold a youth entered hastily and threw a glance around the office to ascertain whether the man of intelligence was alone he then approached close to the desk blushed like a maiden and seemed at a how to his business you come upon an affair of the heart said the official personage looking into him through his mysterious spectacles state it in as few words as may be you are right replied the youth have a heart to dispose of you seek an exchange said the foolish youth why not be contented with own because exclaimed the young man losing his embarrassment in a passionate glow because my heart me with an intolerable fire it me all day long with for i know not what and feverish and the pangs of a vague sorrow and it me in the night time with a when there is nothing to be feared i cannot endure it any longer it were wiser to throw away such a heart even if it brings me nothing in return very well said the man of office making an entry in his volume your affair will be easily acted this species of makes no from an old of my business and there is always a large of the article to select from here if i mistake not comes ao pretty fair as he spoke the door was gently and slowly thrust affording a glimpse of the slender fi ire of a young girl who as she timidly entered seemed to bring the light and cheerfulness of the outer atmosphere into the somewhat gloomy apartment we know not her errand there nor can we reveal whether the young man gave up his heart into her if so the arrangement was neither better nor worse than in ninety nine cases out of a hundred where the parallel of a similar age affections and the easy of characters not deeply conscious of themselves supply the place of any not always however was the agency of the passions and affections an office of so little trouble it happened rarely indeed in proportion to the cases came under an ordinary rule but still it did happen that a heart was occasionally brought hither of exquisite material so delicately and ao curiously wrought that no other heart could be found to match it it might almost be considered a tune in a worldly point of view to be the possessor of such a diamond of the purest water since in any probability it could only b exchanged for ail o or v bit of glass or at least a jewel of native richness but ill set or with fated or a vein ran through its central lustre to choose another i is which have thb k i the and sympathies ever be doomed to pour themselves into vessels and thus lavish their rich ob ihe strange that the deeper nature whether in man or woman while ever other delicate instinct should so often lack that most one of preserving itself from with what is of a kind sometimes it is true the fountain is kept pure by a wisdom within itself and into the light of heaven without slain from the through which it had upward and sometimes even here on e the with the pure and the inexhaustible is with the infinite but these miracles h he should claim the credit of them axe far beyond the scope of such a superficial agent in human affairs as the figure in the mysterious spectacles again the door was opened admitting the of the city with a fi into the office now entered a man of and downcast look it was such an aspect as if he had lost the veiy soul out of bis body and had traversed all the world over searching in the dust of the rs and along the shady and beneath the the forest and the sands of the sea shore in h pe to recover it again he had glance along the of the as he he also in the angle of the and upon the floor of the room da ly up to the man of intelligence he gazed the inscrutable spectacles which the latter wore as if the treasure might l e hidden within his vol an old i have lost he began and then	35
he paused yes said the i see that you have lost but what i have lost a precious jewel i replied the unfortunate person the like of which is not to be found among any prince s treasures while possessed it the contemplation of it was my sole and sufficient happiness no price should have purchased it of me but it has fallen from my bosom where i wore it in my careless wanderings about the city after causing the stranger to describe the marks of his lost jewel the opened a drawer of the cabinet which has been mentioned as forming a part of the furniture of the room here were deposited whatever articles had been picked up in the streets until the right owners should claim them it was a strange and collection not the least remarkable part of it was a great number of wedding rings each one of which had been upon the finger with holy vows and all the mystic that the most solemn rites could attain but had nevertheless proved too slippery for the s vigilance the gold of some was worn thin the of years of others glittering from the s shop must have been lost within the there were ivory the leaves over with sentiments that had been the deepest truths of the writer s earlier years but which were now quite from his memory so were articles preserved in this that not even withered flowers were rejected white roses and blush roses and moss roses fit of virgin purity and shame the intelligence office which had been lost or flung away and trampled into the of the streets locks of the golden and the glossy dark the long of woman and the crisp curls of man signified that lovers were now and then so heedless of the faith to them as to drop its symbol from the treasure place of the bosom many of these things were with and perhaps a sweet scent had departed from the lives of their former ever since they had so or lost them here were gold pencil cases little hearts golden arrows through them bosom pins pieces of coin and small articles of every description nearly all that have been lost since a long time ago most of them doubtless had a history and a meaning if there ere time to search it out and room to tell it whoever has missed any thing valuable whether out of his heart mind or pocket would do well to make inquiry at the central intelligence office and in the comer of one of the drawers of the cabinet af er considerable found a great pearl looking like the soul of celestial purity and polished there is my jewel my very pearl cried the stranger almost beside himself with rapture it is mine give it me this moment or i shall perish i perceive said the man of intelligence examining it more closely that this is the pearl of great price the very same answered the stranger judge then of my misery at losing it out of my bosom restore it to me i i must not live without it an instant longer in old pardon me rejoined the calmly you ask what is beyond my duty this pearl as you well know is held upon a peculiar and having once let it escape from your keeping you have no greater claim to it nay not so great as any other person i cannot give it back nor could the entreaties of the miserable man saw before bis e the jewel of his li without the power to it soften the heart of this stem being to human s though such an apparent over fortunes finally the of the pearl clutched bis hands among his hair and ran madly forth into the world which was at his desperate looks there passed t n the a gentleman whose business was to inquire for a the gift of his lady love which he had lost out of his button hole within an hour af er receiving it so various were the errands of those who visited this central office w all human wishes seemed to be made known and so far as destiny would allow to their fulfilment the next that entered was a man beyond the middle age bearing the look of one who knew the world his own course in it he had just alighted from a handsome private carriage which had orders to wait in the street while its owner his this person came up to the desk a t determined step and looked the in the face with a eye though at the same time some secret trouble gleamed from it in red and dusky light i have an estate to dispose of said he with a that seemed characteristic th li describe it said h the proceeded to give boundaries of his property its pasture and grounds in ample circuit with a house in the construction of which it had been his object to e a castle in the its shadowy walls into granite and rendering its visionary splendor e to the awakened eye judging from his description it was beautiful enough to vanish like a dream yet substantial enough to endure for centuries be spoke too of the gorgeous furniture oi and all the luxurious that combined to render this m residence where life might flow onward in a stream of golden days undisturbed by the which ue loves to into it i am a man of strong will said be in conclusion and at my first setting out in life aa a poor ed youth i resolved to make myself the possessor of such a mansion and estate as this together with the abundant necessary to it i have succeeded to the extent of my utmost wish and this ia the estate which i have now	35
concluded to dispose of and your terms asked the after taking down the particulars with which the stranger had supplied him easy abundantly easy answered the successful man smiling but with a stem and almost frightful of the brow as if to an inward pang i have been engaged in various sorts of business a a to africa an east india merchant a in the stocks and in the course c f from an old affairs have contracted an of a certain nature the of the estate shall merely be required to assume this burden to himself i understand you said the man of intelligence putting his pen behind his ear i fear that no bargain can be on these conditions very probably the next possessor may acquire the estate with a similar but it will be of his own and will not your burden in the least and am i to live on fiercely exclaimed the stranger with the dirt of these accursed acres and the granite of this infernal mansion crushing down my soul how if i should turn the edifice into an or a hospital or tear it down and build a church you can at least make the experiment said the but the whole matter is one which you must settle for yourself the man of deplorable success withdrew and got into his coach which rattled off lightly over the wooden though laden with the weight of much land a stately house and ponderous heaps of gold all compressed into an evil conscience there now appeared many for places among the most of whom was a small smoke dried figure who gave himself out to be one of the bad spirits that had waited upon doctor in his he pretended to show a of character which he had been given him by that famous and by several masters whom he had subsequently served i am afraid my good friend observed the the intelligence office that your chance of getting a service is but poor nowadays men act the evil spirit for themselves and their and play the part more effectually than ninety nine out of a hundred of your but just as the poor was assuming a being about to vanish through the floor in sad disappointment and the editor of a political newspaper chanced to enter the office in quest of a of party the former servant of doctor with some as to his of was allowed to try his hand in this capacity next appeared likewise seeking a service the mysterious man in bed who had aided in his ascent to imperial power he was examined as to his by an but finally rejected as lacking with the cunning of the present day people continued to succeed each other with as much as if every body turned aside out of the roar and tumult of the city to record here some want or or desire some had goods or possessions of which they wished to the sale a china merchant had lost his health by a long residence in that wasting climate he very liberally offered his disease and his wealth along with it to any physician who would rid him of both together a soldier offered his wreath of for as good a leg as that which it had cost him on the battle field one poor weary wretch desired nothing but to be with any creditable method of laying down his life for misfortune and pecuniary troubles had so subdued his spirits that he from an old could no linger conceive the possibility of happiness had the heart to it nevertheless happening to some conversation the intelligence office respecting to be rapidly by a certain mode of speculation he resolved to live ll one o er of better persons d to exchange their youthful vices for better i to the gravity of advancing age a few we are glad to say made earnest efforts to exchange vice for and hard as the bargain was succeeded in it but it was that what all were the least willing to give up even on the most terms were the habits the the characteristic traits the little ridiculous somewhere between faults and follies of which nobody but themselves could die the great in which man of intelligence recorded all these of idle hearts and aspirations of deep hearts and desperate of miserable hearts and evil prayers of hearts would be curious reading were it possible to obtain it for publication human character in its individual human nature in the mass may best be studied in its wishes and this was the record of them all there was an endless of mode and circumstance yet withal such a in the real that any one page of the volume whether written in the days before the flood or the yesterday that is just gone by or to lie written on the morrow that is close at hand or a thousand ages hence might serve as a specimen of the le not but that there were wild of that could scarcely occur to more than the man s brain whether reasonable or lunatic the strangest wishes yet most incident to men who had gone deep into scientific pursuits and attained a high intellectual stage though n t the were to contend with nature and her some secret or some power which she had seen fit to withhold from mortal grasp she loves to her students and mock them with mysteries that seem but just beyond their utmost reach to new to produce new forms of vegetable life to create an insect if nothing higher in the living scale is a sort of wish that has of en in the breast of a man of science an who lived far more among the distant worlds of space than in this lower sphere recorded a wish to behold the opposite side of	35
the moon which unless the system of the be reversed i e can never turn towards the earth on the same page of the volume was written the wish of a little child to have the stars for the most ordinary wish that was written down with wearisome was of course for wealth wealth wealth in sums from a few shillings up to thousands but in reality this often repeated expression covered as many different desires wealth is the golden essence of the outward world almost every thing that exists beyond the limits of the soul and therefore it is the natural yearning for the life in the midst of which we find ourselves and of which gold is the condition of enjoyment that men into this general wish here and there it is true the volume to some heart so as to desire gold for its own sake many wished for power from an old a strange desire indeed since it is but another form of slavery old people wished for the delights of youth a for a fashionable coat an idle reader for a new novel a for a rhyme to some stubborn word a painter for s secret of a prince for a cottage a republican for a kingdom and a palace a for his neighbor s wife a man of for green peas and a poor man for a crust of bread the ambitious desires of public men elsewhere so concealed were here expressed openly and boldly side by side with the unselfish wishes of the for the welfare of the race so beautiful so comforting in contrast with the that continually weighed self against the world into the darker secrets of the book of wishes we will not penetrate it would be an instructive employment for a student of mankind this volume carefully and comparing its records with men s designs as expressed in their deeds and daily life to ascertain how far the one accorded with the other undoubtedly in most cases the correspondence would be found remote the holy and generous wish that rises like incense from a pure heart towards heaven often its sweet perfume on the blast of evil times the foul selfish wish that forth from a heart often passes into the spiritual atmosphere without being into an earthly deed yet this volume is probably truer as a representation of the human heart than is the living drama of action as it around us there is more of good and more of evil in it more points of the bad and more errors of the virtuous higher and the intelligence office degradation of the soul in short a more of vice and virtue than we witness in the outward world decency and external conscience often produce a far fairer outside than is by the within and be it owned on the other hand that a man seldom to his nearest friend any more than he in act the purest wishes wh ch at some blessed time or other have arisen from the depths of his nature and witnessed for him in this volume yet there is enough on every leaf to make the good man shudder for his own wild and idle wishes as well as for the sinner whose whole life is the of a wicked desire but again the door is opened and we hear the tumultuous stir of the world a deep and awful sound expressing in another form some portion of what is written in the volume that lies before the man of intelligence a personage hastily into the office with such an earnestness in his alacrity that his white hair floated backward as he hurried up to the desk while his dim eyes caught a momentary lustre from his vehemence of purpose this venerable figure explained that he was in search of tomorrow i have spent all my life in pursuit of it added the sage old gentleman being assured that to morrow has some vast benefit or other in store for me but i am now getting a little in years and must make haste for unless i overtake to morrow soon i begin to be afraid it will finally escape me this fugitive to morrow my venerable friend said the man of intelligence is a stray child of time from an old and is flying from his father into the region of the in continue your pursuit and you will doubtless come up with him but as to the earthly which you expect he has scattered them all among a throng of obliged to content himself with this response the hastened forth with a quick clatter of his staff upon the floor and as he disappeared a little boy through the door in chase of a butterfly which had got astray amid the barren sunshine of the city had the old gentleman been he might have detected to morrow under the semblance of that gaudy insect the golden butterfly through the shadowy apartment brushed its wings against the book of wishes and fluttered forth again with the child in pursuit a man now entered in neglected attire with the aspect of a but somewhat too and for a scholar his face was full of sturdy vigor with some finer and attribute beneath though harsh at first it was tempered with the glow of a large warm heart which had force enough to heat his powerful intellect through and through he advanced to the and looked at him with a glance of such stem sincerity that perhaps few secrets were beyond its scope i seek for truth said he it is precisely the most rare pursuit that has ever come under my replied the as he made the new inscription in his volume most men seek to impose some cunning falsehood upon themselves for truth but i can lend no help to the intelligence you must achieve the for your at	35
the indian bullet was than i thought you are weary with our three days travel replied he youth and a little longer rest will re you sit ou here while i search the woods for the and that must be our and having eaten ou shall lean on me and we will turn our faces i doubt not that my help you can attain o some one of the there is not two days life in me said ae other calmly and i will no longer burden you witb my useless body when you can scarcely support vol ii from an old your own your wounds are deep and your strength is failing fast yet if you hasten onward alone you may be preserved for me there is no hope and will await death here if it must be so i will remain and watch by you said resolutely no my son no rejoined his companion let the wish of a dying man have weight w ith you give me one grasp of your hand and get you hence think you that my last moments will be by the thought that i leave you to die a more lingering death i have loved you like a father and at a time like this i should have something of a father s authority i charge you to be gone that i may die in peace and because you have been a father to me should i therefore leave you to perish and to lie in the wilderness exclaimed the youth no if your end be in truth approaching i will watch by you and receive your parting words i will dig a grave here by the rock in which if my weakness overcome me we will rest together or if heaven gives me strength i will seek my way home in the cities and wherever men dwell replied the other they bury their dead in the earth they hide them from the sight of the living but here where no step may pass perhaps for a hundred years wherefore i not rest beneath the open sky covered only by the oak leaves when the autumn winds shall them and for a monument here is this gray rock on which ny dying hand shall the name of and the traveller in days to come will know that here sleeps a hunter and a warrior s burial m then for a folly like this but hasten away if not for your own sake for hers who will else be desolate spoke the last few words in a faltering voice and their effect upon his companion was strongly visible they reminded him hat there were other and less questionable duties than that of sharing the fate of a man whom his death could not benefit nor can it be affirmed that no selfish feeling strove to enter s heart though the consciousness made him more earnestly resist his companion s entreaties how terrible to wait the slow approach of death in this solitude exclaimed he a brave man does not shrink in the battle and when friends stand round the bed even women may die but here i shall not shrink even hero interrupted i am a man of no weak heart and if i were there is a support than that of earthly friends you are young and life is dear to you your last moments will need comfort far more than mine and when you have laid me in the earth and are alone and night is settling on the forest you will feel all the bitterness of the death that may now be escaped but urge no selfish motive to your generous nature leave me for my sake that having said a prayer for your safety i may have space to settle my account undisturbed by worldly sorrows and your daughter how shall i dare to meet her eye exclaimed she will ask the fate of her father whose life i vowed to defend with my own must i tell her that he travelled three days march with me from the field of battle and that then i an old left him to perish in the wilderness were tl not better to lie down and die by your than to and say this to tell my daughter said that though yourself sore wounded and and weary you led tottering footsteps many a mile and left me only at my earnest entreaty because i would not have your blood upon my soul tell her that through pain and danger you were faithful and that if your could have saved me it would have flowed to its last drop tell her that you will be something dearer than a father and that my blessing is with you both and that my dying eyes can see a long and pleasant path in which you will journey together as spoke he almost raised himself the and the energy of his concluding words seemed to fin the wild and lonely forest with a vision of happiness but when he sank exhausted upon his bed of oak leaves the light which had kindled in s eye was he felt as if it were both sin and folly to think of happiness at such a moment his companion watched his changing countenance and sought vith generous art to him to his own good perhaps i deceive myself in regard to the time i have to live he resumed it may be that with speedy assistance i might recover of my wound the foremost must ere this have carried tidings of our fatal battle to the and parties will be out to those in like condition with ourselves should you meet one of these and guide them hither who can tell but that i may sit by my own fireside s burial a mournful smile strayed across the features of the dying man as	35
and was departing his slow and faltering steps however had borne him but a little way before s voice recalled him said he faintly and returned and knelt down by the dying man raise me and let me lean against the rock was his last request my face will be turned towards and i shall see you a moment longer as you pass tbe s having made the desired alteration in his companion s posture again began his solitary pilgrimage he walked more hastily at first than was consistent with his strength for a sort of guilty feeling which sometimes men in their most acts caused him to seek concealment from s eyes but after he had trodden far upon the rustling forest leaves he crept back impelled by a wild and painful curiosity and sheltered by the roots of an tree gazed earnestly at the desolate man the morning sun was and the trees and shrubs the sweet air of the month of may yet there seemed a gloom on nature s face as if she with mortal pain and sorrow s hands were uplifted in a fervent prayer some of the words of which stole through the stillness of the woods and entered s heart it with an unutterable pang they were the broken accents of a petition for his own happiness and that of and as the youth listened conscience or something in its pleaded strongly with him to return and lie down again by the rock he felt how hard was the doom of the kind and generous being whom he had deserted in his extremity death would come like the slow approach of a corpse stealing gradually him through the forest and showing its ghastly and motionless features from behind a nearer and yet a nearer tree but such must have been s own fate had he another sunset and who shall to him if he shrink from so useless a sacrifice as he gave a parting look a breeze waved the an old uttle banner upon the oak and reminded ben of his vow y many circumstances contributed to the wounded traveller in his way to the on the second day the clouds gathering over the sky the possibility of his course by the position of the sun and he knew not but that every effort of his almost exhausted strength was removing him farther from the home he sought his scanty was supplied by the and other spontaneous of the forest herds of deer it is true sometimes bounded past him and frequently up before his footsteps but his bad been expended in the fight and he had no means of them his wounds irritated by the constant exertion in which lay the only hope of life wore away his strength and at intervals confused his reason but even in the wanderings of intellect s young heart clung strongly to existence and it was only through absolute of motion that he at last sank down beneath a tree compelled there to await death in this situation he was discovered by a party who upon the first intelligence of the fight had been despatched to the relief of the they conveyed him to the nearest settlement which chanced to be that cf his own residence in the simplicity of the time watched by the bedside o her wounded lover and administered all those comforts that are in the sole gift of woman s heart and hand during several days s recollection burial strayed among the perils and hardships through which he had passed and he was incapable of returning definite answers to the inquiries with which many were eager to him no particulars of the battle had yet been nor could mothers wives and children tell whether their loved ones were detained by or by the stronger chain of death nourished her apprehensions in silence till one when awoke from an sleep and seemed to recognize her more perfectly than at any previous time she saw that his intellect had become composed and she could no longer restrain her filial anxiety my father she began but the change in her lover s countenance ma je her pause the youth shrank as if with a bitter pain and the blood vividly into his wan and hollow cheeks his first impulse was to cover his face but apparently with a desperate effort he half raised himself and spoke vehemently defending against an imaginary accusation your father w is sore wounded in the battle and he bade me not burden myself with him but only to lead him to the that he might his thirst and die but i would not desert the old man in his extremity and though bleeding myself i sup him i gave him half my strength and led him away with me for three days we on together and your father was sustained beyond my hopes but at sunrise on the fourth day i found him faint and exhausted he was unable to proceed his life had away fast and from an old he died exclaimed faintly felt it impossible to acknowledge that hu selfish love of life had hurried him away before her father s fate was decided he spoke not he only bowed his head and between shame and exhaustion sank back and hid his face in the pillow wept when her fears were confirmed but the shock as it had been long anticipated was on that account the less violent you dug a grave for my poor father in the wilderness was the question by which her filial piety manifested itself my hands were weak but i did what i could replied the youth in a smothered tone there stands a noble above his head and i would to heaven i slept as soundly as he perceiving the of his latter words inquired no further at the time but her heart found ease in	35
the thought that had not lacked such funeral rites as it was possible to bestow the tale of s courage and fidelity lost nothing when she communicated it to her friends and the poor youth tottering from his sick chamber to breathe the s air experienced from every tongue the miserable and humiliating torture of praise all acknowledged that he might demand the hand of tne fair maiden to whose father he had been faithful unto death and as my tale is not of love it shall suffice to say that in the space of a few months became the husband of during the marriage ceremony the bride was covered with but the bridegroom s face was pale s burial was now in the breast of an thought something which he was to most heed fully from her whom he most loved and trusted he regretted deeply and bitterly the moral cowardice that had restrained his words when he was about to disclose the truth to but pride the fear of losing her affection the dread of universal scorn forbade him to this falsehood lie felt that for leaving he deserved no censure his presence the sacrifice of his own life would have added only another and a needless agony to the last moments of the dying man but concealment had imparted to a act of the secret effect of guilt and while reason told him that he had done right experienced in no small degree the mental horrors which punish the of crime by a certain association of ideas he at times almost imagined himself a murderer for years also a thought would occasionally which though he perceived all its folly and extravagance he had not power to banish from his mind it was a haunting and fancy that his father in law was yet sitting at the foot of the rock on the withered forest leaves alive and awaiting his assistance these mental however came and went nor did he ever mistake them for re but in the and moods of his mind he was conscious that he had a deep vow and that an corpse was calling to him out of the wilderness yet su h was the consequence of his that he could not obey the call it was now too to require the assistance of s friends an old in performing his long deferred and fears of which none were more susceptible than the people of the outward forbade to go alone neither did he know where in die and forest to seek that smooth and rock at the base of which the body lay his remembrance of every portion of his travel thence was indistinct and the latter part had left no impression upon his mind there was however a continual impulse a voice audible only to himself commanding him to go forth and redeem his vow and he had a strange impression t he to make the trial he would be led straight to ma viii bones but after year that but was dis obeyed his one secret thought became like a chain binding down his spirit and like a serpent into his heart and he was transformed into a sad and downcast yet irritable man in the course of a few years after marriage changes to be visible in the external prosperity of and the only riches of the had been his stout heart and strong arm but the latter her father s sole had made her husband master of a farm older cultivation larger and better than most of the frontier however was a and while the lands of the other became more fruitful his in the same proportion the to were greatly lessened by the t war during which men held the plough in one hand and the in the other and were fortunate if the of their v is dangerous labor were not destroyed either in the field of in the ham by the savage enemy but l not profit by the altered condition of the country nor can it be denied that his intervals of industrious to bis affairs were but rewarded with sue the by which he had recently become distinguished was another cause of his declining pro as it occasioned quarrels in his intercourse with the neighboring the results of these were innumerable for the people of new england in the earliest stages and wildest circumstances of the country adopted whenever the legal mode of deciding their to be brief the world did not go well with and though not till many years after his marriage he was finally a ruined man with but one remaining expedient against the evil fate that had pursued he was to throw into some deep recess of the forest and seek from the bosom of the the only child of and was a son now arrived at the age of fifteen years beautiful in youth and giving promise of a manhood he was peculiarly qualified for and already began to in the wild accomplishments of frontier life his foot was fleet his aim true his apprehension quick his glad and high and all who anticipated the return of indian war spoke of as a future leader in the land the boy was loved by his father with a deep and silent strength as if whatever was good and happy in his own nature had been transferred to his carrying his affections with it even s from am old though loving and beloved was far less dear to him for s secret thoughts and emotions had gradually made him a selfish man and he could no longer love deeply except where he saw or imagined some reflection or likeness of his own mind in he recognized what he had himself been in other days and at he seemed to of the boy s spirit and to be revived with a fresh and happy life was accompanied by his	35
son in the ex edition for the purpose of selecting a tract of land and and burning the timber which necessarily preceded the removal of the household gods two months of autumn were thus occupied af er which and his young hunter returned to spend their last winter in the it was early in the month of may that the little family snapped asunder whatever of affections had clung to objects and bade farewell to the few who in the of called themselves their friends the sadness of the parting moment had to each of the its peculiar a moody and because unhappy strode onward with his usual stern brow and downcast eye feeling few regrets and to acknowledge any while she wept abundantly o er the broken ties by which her simple and affectionate nature had bound itself to every thing felt that the inhabitants of her inmost heart moved on with her and that all else would be supplied wherever she might go and the boy dashed one from his eye and thought of the adventurous pleasures of the forest s burial o who in the enthusiasm of a has not wished that he were a wanderer in a world of summer wilderness with one fair and gentle being hanging lightly on his arm in youth his free and step would know no barrier but the rolling ocean or the snow mountains manhood would choose a home where nature had strewn a double wealth in the of some transparent stream and when age after long long years of that pure life stole on and found him there it would find him the father of a race the of a people the founder of a mighty nation yet to be when death like the sweet sleep which we welcome after a day of happiness came over him his far descendants would mourn over the dust enveloped by tradition in mysterious attributes the men of future generations would call him and remote posterity would see him standing dimly glorious far up the valley of a hundred centuries the tangled and gloomy forest through which the personages of my tale were wandering widely from the s land of yet there was something in their way of life that nature asserted as her own and the cares m went with them from the world were all that now their happiness one stout and shaggy the bearer of all their wealth did not shrink from the added weight of although her hardy breeding sustained her during the latter part of each day s journey by her s side and his son their on their shoulders and their behind them kept an pace each watching with a hunter s eye for th game that supplied their food when hunger vol ii an bade they halted and prepared their meal on the of some forest brook which as they knelt down witli thirsty lips to drink murmured a sweet like a maiden at s first kiss they slept beneath a hut of branches and awoke at peep of light refreshed for the toils of another day and the went on and even s spirit shone at intervals with an outward gladness but inwardly there was a cold cold sorrow he compared to the snow lying deep in the and hollows of the while the leaves were brightly green above was sufficiently skilled in the travel of the woods to observe that his father did not to the course they had pursued in their expedition of the preceding autumn they were now keeping to the north striking out more directly from the and into a region of which savage beasts and savage men were as yet the sole the boy sometimes hinted his opinions upon the subject and listened attentively and once or twice altered the direction of their march in accordance with his son s counsel but having so done he seemed ill at ease his quick and wandering glances were sent forward apparently in search of enemies lurking behind the tree trunks and seeing nothing there he would cast his eyes backwards as if in fear of some perceiving that his father gradually resumed the old to interfere nor though something to weigh upon his heart did his adventurous nature permit him to regret the increased length and mystery of their way s on the afternoon of the fifth day they halted and made simple nearly an hour before sunset the face of the country for the last few miles had been by of land resembling huge waves of a sea and in one of the corresponding hollows a wild and romantic spot had the family reared their hut and kindled their fire there is something and yet heart warming in the thought of these three united by strong bands of love and from all that breathe beside the dark and gloomy pines looked down upon them and as the wind swept through their tops a pitying sound was heard in the forest or did those old trees groan in fear that men were come to lay the axe to their roots at last and his son while made ready their meal proposed to wander out in search of game of which that day s march had afforded no supply the boy promising not to quit the vicinity of the i bounded off with a step as light and elastic as that of the deer he hoped to while his father feeling a transient happiness as he gazed after him was about to pursue an opposite direction in the meanwhile had seated herself near their fire of fallen branches upon the and trunk of a tree years before her employment by an occasional glance at the pot now beginning to over the blaze was the perusal of the current year s which with the exception of an old black letter bible the literary wealth of the family none pay	35
a greater regard to arbitrary divisions of time than those who are excluded from society and mentioned as if tlie from an old information were of importance that it was now the of may her husband started the twelfth of may i should remember it well muttered he while many thoughts occasioned a momentary confusion in his mind where am i am i wandering where did i leave him i too well accustomed to her husband s moods to note any peculiarity of now laid aside the and addressed him in that mournful tone which the tender hearted appropriate to long cold and dead it was near this time of the month eighteen years ago that my poor father left this world for a better he had a kind arm to hold his head and a kind voice to cheer him in his last moments and the thought of the faithful care you took of him has comforted me many a time since o death would have been awful to a solitary man in a wild place like this pray heaven said in a broken voice pray heaven that neither of us three dies solitary and lies in this howling wilderness and he hastened away leaving her to watch the fire beneath the gloomy pines s rapid pace gradually as the pang inflicted by the words of became less acute many strange reflections however thronged upon him and onward rather like a sleep than a hunter it was to no care of his own that his course kept him in the vicinity of the his steps were led almost in a circle nor did he observe s burial that he was on the verge of a tract of heavily but not with pine trees the place of the latter was here supplied by oaks and other of the harder woods and around their roots clustered a dense and leaving however barren spaces between the trees thick strewn with withered leaves whenever the rustling of the branches or the creaking of the trunks made a sound as if the forest were waking from slumber instinctively raised the that rested on his arm and cast a quick sharp glance on every side but convinced by a partial observation that no animal was near he would again give himself up to his thoughts he was musing on the strange influence that had led him away from his course and so far into the depths of the wilderness unable to penetrate to the secret place of his soul where his motives lay hidden he believed that a supernatural voice had called him onward and that a supernatural power had his retreat he trusted that it was heaven s intent to him an opportunity of his sin he hoped that he might find the bones so long and that having laid the earth over them peace would throw its sunlight into the of his heart from these thoughts he was aroused by a rustling in the forest at some distance from the spot to which he had wandered perceiving the motion of some object behind a thick veil of he fired with the instinct of a hunter and the aim of a practised a low moan which told his success and by which even animals can express their dying agony was by what were the recollections now breaking upon him an old the thicket into which had fired was near the summit of a swell of land and clustered base of a rock which in the shape and of one of its was not unlike a gigantic as if reflected in a mirror its likeness was in s memory he even recognized the veins which seemed to form an inscription in forgotten characters every thing remained the same except that a thick covert of bushes the lower part of the rock and would have hidden had he still been sitting there yet in the next moment js eye was caught by another change that time had since he last stood where he was now standing again behind the roots of the tree the to which he had bound the symbol of his vow had increased and strengthened into an oak far indeed from its maturity but with no mean spread of shadowy branches there was one m this tree which made tremble the middle and lower branches were in luxuriant life and an excess of vegetation had fringed the trunk almost to the ground but a had apparently stricken the upper part of the oak and the very bough was withered and utterly dead remembered how the banner had fluttered on that bough when it was green and lovely eighteen years before whose g had it after the departure of the two hunters continued her preparations for their evening her table was the moss covered trunk of a large fallen tree on the part of which she had spread a r s burial s l ow cloth and what were of the bright vessels that had been her pride in the it had a strange aspect that one little of comfort in the desolate heart of nature the ud yet lingered upon the higher branches of ihe trees that grew on rising ground but the shadows of evening had deepened into the hollow where the was made and the began to as it gleamed up the tall trunks of the pines or hovered ob the dense and obscure mass of foliage that round the spot the heart of was not sad for he felt that it was better to journey in the wilderness with two she loved than to be a lonely woman in a that cared not for her as she busied herself in arranging seats of wood covered with for and her son her voice danced the gloomy forest in the measure of a song that she had learned in youth the rude melody the production	35
of a bard who won no name was descriptive of a evening in a frontier cottage when secured savage by the high piled snow the fa rejoiced by their own fireside the whole song d the nameless charm peculiar to thought but four continually lines shone out from the rest like the blaze of the hearth whose joys they celebrated into them working magic with a few simple words the poet had the very essence of domestic love and household happiness and they were poetry and picture joined in one as sang the walls of her forsaken home seemed to her she no longer saw the gloomy pines nor heard the wind which as she began each verse sent a heavy breath from an old through the branches and died away in a hollow moan from the burden of the song she was aroused by the report of a gun in the vicinity of the and either the sudden sound or her loneliness by the glow ing caused her to tremble violently the t moment she laughed in the pride of a mother s heart my beautiful young hunter my boy has slain a deer i she exclaimed that in the direction whence the shot proceeded had gone to the chase she waited a reasonable time to hear her son s light step bounding over the rustling leaves to tell of his success but he did not immediately appear and she sent her cheerful voice among the trees in search of him his coming was still delayed and she determined as the report had apparently been very near to seek for him in person her assistance also might be necessary in bringing home the which she flattered herself he had obtained she therefore set forward directing her steps by the long past sound and singing as she went in order that the boy might be aware of her approach and run to meet her from behind the trunk of every tree and from every in the thick foliage of the she hoped to discover the countenance of her son laughing with the mischief that is born of affection the sun was now beneath the horizon and the light that came down among the trees was sufficiently dim to create many illusions in her expecting fancy several times she seemed to see his face gazing i ut from among the leaves and once she imagined s burial that he stood to her at the base of a rock keeping her eyes on this object however it proved to be no more than the trunk of an oak fringed to the very ground with little branches one of which thrust out farther than the rest was shaken by the breeze making her way round the foot of the rock she suddenly found herself close to her husband who had approached in another direction leaning upon the but of his gun the of which rested upon the withered leaves he was apparently absorbed in the contemplation of some object at his feet how is this have you slain the deer and fallen asleep over him exclaimed laughing cheerfully on her first slight observation of his posture and appearance he stirred not neither did he turn his eyes towards her and a cold shuddering fear indefinite in its source and object began to creep into her blood she now perceived that her husband s face was ghastly pale and his features were rigid as if incapable of assuming any other expression than the strong despair which had hardened upon them he gave not the slightest evidence that he was aware of her approach for the love of heaven speak to me cried and the strange sound of her own voice her even more than the dead silence her husband started stared into her face drew her to the front of the rock and pointed with his finger o there lay the boy asleep but upon the fallen forest leaves his cheek rested upon his arm his curled locks were thrown back from his brow his limbs were slightly relaxed had a an en weariness overcome the youthful hunter would bis mother s voice arouse him she knew that it was this rock the of your near kindred said her husband your tears will fall at once over your father and your son she heard him not with one wild shriek that seemed to force its way from the sufferer s inmost soul she sank insensible by the side of her dead boy at that moment the withered bough of the oak loosened itself in th air and fell in soft light fragments upon the rock upon the leaves upon upon his wife and child and upon s bones then s heart was stricken and the tears out like water from a rock the vow that the wounded youth had made the man had to redeem his sin wa the curse was gone from him and in the hour when he had shed blood dearer to him than his own a prayer the first for years went up to heaven from the lip of p s correspond my friend p has lost the thread of his life by the of long intervals of partially reason the past and present are together in his mind in a manner often productive of curious results and which will be better understood after the perusal of the following letter than from any description that i could give the poor fellow without once stirring from the little room to which he in his first paragraph is nevertheless a great traveller and meets in his wanderings a variety of personages who have long ceased to be visible to any eye save his own in my opinion all this is not so much a delusion as a partly wilful and partly involuntary sport of the imagination to which his disease has imparted such morbid energy that he these scenes	35
and characters with no less distinctness than a play upon the stage and witli somewhat more of many of letters are in my possession some based upon the same as the present one and others upon not a whit short of it in absurdity the whole form a series of correspondence which should fate remove my poor friend from what is to him a world of i promise myself a pious an old pleasure in for the public eye p had always a after literary reputation and has made more than one unsuccessful effort to achieve it it would not be a little odd if after missing his object while seeking it by the light of reason he should prove to have stumbled upon it in his misty excursions beyond the limits of london a mt dear old associations cling to the mind with astonishing daily custom grows up about us like a stone wall and itself into almost as material an as mankind s strongest architecture it is sometimes a serious question with me whether ideas be not really visible and and endowed with all the other qualities of matter sitting as i do at this moment in my hired apartment writing beside the hearth over which hangs a print of queen victoria listening to the muffled roar of the world s metropolis and with a window at but five paces distant through which whenever i please i can gaze out on actual london with all this positive certainty as to my whereabouts what kind of notion do you think is just now my brain why would you believe it that all this time i am still an of that wearisome little chamber that little chamber that little chamber with its one small window across which from some inscrutable reason of taste or convenience my landlord had placed a row of iron bars that same little chamber m short whither your kindness has so often brought you to visit me i will no length of time or breadth of p s correspondence me from that abode i travel but it seems to be like the with my house upon my head ah well i i am i suppose on that period of life when present scenes and events make but feeble impressions in comparison with these of so that i must reconcile myself to be more and more the prisoner of memory who merely lets me hop about a little with her chain around my leg my letters of introduction have been of the utmost service me to make the acquaintance of several distinguished characters who until now have seemed as remote from the sphere of my personal intercourse as the wits of queen anne s time or ben s at the one of the first of which i availed myself was the letter to lord i found his looking much older than i had anticipated although considering his former of life and the various wear and tear of his constitution not older than a man on the verge of sixty reasonably may look but i had invested his earthly frame in my imagination with the poet s spiritual immortality he wears a brown wig very curled and extending down over his forehead the expression of his eyes is concealed by spectacles his early tendency to having increased lord is now fat so fat as to give the impression of a person quite with his own flesh and without sufficient vigor to his personal life through the great mass of substance which upon him so cruelly you gaze at the mortal heap and while it fills your eye with what to be you murmur within yourself q from an old for heaven s sake where is he were i disposed to be i might consider this mass of earthly matter as the symbol in a material shape of those evil habits and vices which man s nature and up his avenues of communication with the better life but this would be too harsh and besides lord s morals have been improving while his outward man has swollen to such would that he were for though he did me the honor to present his hand yet it was so puffed out with alien substance that i could not feel as if i had touched the hand that wrote on my entrance his for not rising to receive me on the sufficient plea that the for several years past had taken up its constant residence in his right foot which accordingly was in many rolls of flannel and deposited upon a cushion the other foot was hidden in the of his chair do you recollect whether s right or led foot was the one the noble poet s reconciliation with lady is now as you are aware of ten years standing nor does it exhibit i am assured any symptom of breach or they are said to be if not a happy at least a contented or at all events a quiet couple descending the slope of life with that tolerable degree of mutual support which will enable them to come easily and comfortably to the bottom it is pleasant to reflect entirely the poet has his youthful errors in this particular her s influence it me to add has been productive of the happiest results p s lord in a religious point of view he now the most rigid of with tlie doctrines of the the former being perhaps due to the convictions wrought upon his mind by his noble while the latter are the and picturesque illumination demanded by his imaginative character much of whatever expenditure his increasing habits of continue to allow him is bestowed in the or of places of worship and this nobleman whose name was once considered a of the foul is now all but as a saint in many of the metropolis and elsewhere	35
in politics lord is an and loses no opportunity whether in the house of or in private circles of and r the mischievous and notions of his earlier day nor does he fail to visit similar sins in other people with the vengeance which his somewhat pen is capable of and he are on the most intimate terms you are aware that some little time before the death of caused that brilliant but man to be from his house took e insult so much to heart that it is said to have been one great cause of the fit of illness which brought him to the grave others pretend that the died in a very happy state of mind singing one of his own sacred and expressing his belief that if would be heard within the gate of paradise and gain him in and honorable i wish he may have foimd it so i failed not as you may suppose in the course of an old conversation with lord to pay the of homage due to a mighty poet hy allusions to passages in and and don which have made so large a portion of the music of my life my words whether apt or otherwise were at least warm with the enthusiasm of one worthy to discourse of immortal it was evident however that they did not go precisely to the right spot i could perceive that there was some mistake or other and was not a angry with myself and ashamed of my attempt to throw back from my own heart to the gifted author s ear the echo of those strains that have throughout the world but by and by the secret peeped quietly out i have the information from his own lips so that you need not hesitate to repeat it in literary circles is preparing a new edition of his complete works carefully corrected and in accordance with his present creed of taste morals politics and religion it so happened that the very passages of highest inspiration to which i had alluded were among the condemned and rejected rubbish which it is his purpose to cast into the gulf of oblivion to whisper you the truth it appears to me that his passions having burned out the of their vivid and flame has deprived lord of the illumination by which he not merely wrote but was enabled to feel and comprehend what he had written positively he no longer understands his own poetry this became very apparent on his me so far as to read a few specimens of don in the version whatever is whatever to the sacred mysteries of our faith what p s or whatever settled of government or systems of society whatever could wound the sensibility of any mortal except a a republican or a has been blotted out and its place supplied by verses in his s later style you may judge how much of the poem remains as hitherto published the result is not so good as might be wished in plain terms it is a very sad affair indeed for though the kindled in have been extinguished they leave an ill and are succeeded by no glimpses of fire it is to be hoped nevertheless that this attempt on lord s part to for his youthful errors will at length induce the dean of westminster or whatever is concerned to allow s statue of the poet its due in the grand old abbey his bones you know when brought from greece were denied among those of his brethren there what a vile slip of the pen was that how absurd in me to talk about burying the bones of whom i have just seen alive and in a big round bulk of flesh but to say the truth a fat man always me as a kind of in the very of his mortal system i find something akin to the of a ghost and then that ridiculous old story darted into my mind how that died of fever at above twenty years ago more and more i recognize that we dwell in a world of shadows and for my part i hold it hardly worth the trouble to attempt a distinction between vol ii old om in the mind and shadows out of it if there be difference the former are rather the more only ink of my good fortune the venerable robert now if i mistake not in his year happens to be making a visit to j as if on purpose to afford me an opportunity of grasping him by the hand for upwards of twenty years past he has hardly led his quiet cottage in for a single night and has only been drawn hither now by the irresistible of all the distinguished men in england they wish to the s birthday by a festival it will be the greatest literary triumph on record pray heaven the little spirit of life within the aged bard s bosom may not be extinguished in the lustre of that hour i have already had the honor of an introduction to him at the british museum where he was examining a collection of his own letters with songs which have escaped the notice of all his nonsense i what am i thinking of how should burns have been in biography when he is still a hearty old man the figure of the bard is tall and in the highest degree reverend nor the less so that it is much bent by the burden of time his white hair like a snow around his face in which are seen the of and passion like the channels of headlong torrents that have themselves away the old gentleman is in excellent preservation considering his time of life he has that sort of i mean s humor of for any cause or none which is perhaps the most	35
favorable mood s that befall extreme old age our pride us to desire it for ourselves although we perceive it to be a of nature in the case of others i was to ad it in it seems as if his ardent heart and brilliant imagination had both burned down to the last embers leaving only a little flickering flame in one comer keeps upward and laughing all by itself he is no longer capable of pathos at the request of he attempted to sing his own song to mary in heaven but it was evident that the feeling of those verses so profoundly true and so simply expressed was entirely beyond the scope of his sen and when a of it did partially awaken him the tears immediately into his and his voice broke into a tremulous and yet he but knew wherefore he was weeping ah he must not think again of mary in heaven until he off the dull o time and ascend to meet her there then began to repeat o but so with its wit and humor of which however i suspect he had but a sense that he soon burst into a fit of laughter succeeded b a cough which brought this not very agreeable exhibition to a close on the whole i rather not have witnessed it it is a idea however that the lai forty years of the peasant poet s life have been passed in and perfect comfort having been cured of his for many a day past and grown as attentive to tlie main chance as a should be he is now considered to be quite well as to pecuniary this i suppose is worth having lived so long for from an old i took occasion to inquire of some of the of in regard to the health of sir walter scott his condition i am to say remains the same as for ten years past it is that of a hopeless not more in body than in those nobler attributes of which the body is the instrument and thus he from day to day and from year to year at that splendid of which grew out of his brain and became a symbol of the great s tastes feelings studies prejudices and modes of intellect whether in verse prose or architecture he could achieve but one thing although that one in infinite variety there he on a couch in his library and is said to spend whole hours of every day in tales to an to an imaginary for it is not deemed worth any one s trouble now to take down what flows from that once brilliant fancy every image of which was formerly worth gold and capable of being yet who has lately seen him me that there is now and then a touch of the genius a striking combination of incident or a picturesque trait of character such as other man alive could have hit off a glimmer from that ruined mind as if the sun had suddenly flashed on a half in the gloom of an ancient hall but the plots of these become confused the characters melt into one and the tale loses itself like the course of a stream flowing through muddy and ground for my part i can hardly regret that sir walter scott had lost his consciousness of outward things before his works went out of it was good that lie p s correspondence should his fame rather than that fame should first have forgotten him were he still a writer and as brilliant a one as ever he could no longer maintain any thing like the same position in literature the world nowadays requires a more earnest purpose a deeper moral and a closer and truth than he was qualified to supply it with yet who can be to the present generation even what scott has been to the past i had expectations from a young man one who published a few magazine articles very rich in humor and not without symptoms of genuine pathos but the poor fellow died shortly after an odd series of sketches entitled i think the papers not the world has lost more than it dreams of by the death of this mr whom do you think i met in pall the other day you would not hit it in ten why no less a man than napoleon or all that is now left of him that is to say the skin bones and substance little cocked hat green coat white breeches and small sword which are still known by his name he was attended only by two who walked quietly behind the of the old ex emperor appearing to have no duty in regard to him except to see that none of the light d gentry should possess themselves of the star of the of honor nobody save myself so much as turned to look after him nor it me to could even i contrive to muster up any tolerable interest even by all that the warlike spirit formerly manifested within that now shape had wrought upon our globe there is no method of from an old the magic influence of a great renown than by e the of it in the decline the overthrow die utter degradation of his powers beneath his own and lacking even the qualities of that enable the most ordinary men to bear themselves decently in the eye of the world this is the state to which disease by long endurance of a tropical climate and assisted by old age for he is now above seventy has reduced the british government has acted in him from st to england they should now restore him to parts and there let him once review the relics of his armies his eye is dull and his lip	35
hung down upon his while i was observing him there chanced to be a little extra bustle in the street and he the brother of c and the great captain who had veiled the world in battle smoke and it with bloody footsteps was with a nervous trembling and claimed the protection of the two by a cracked and cry the fellows winked at one another laughed aside and patting napoleon on the back took each an arm and led him away death and fury i h villain how came you hither or i fling my at your head it is all a mistake pray my dear friend pardon this little outbreak the fact is the mention of those two and their of had called up the idea of that odious wretch you ber well who was pleased to take and impertinent care of my person before i quitted new england forthwith up rose my mind s j p s correspondence that same room with the window strange that it should have been iron where in too easy compliance with the absurd wishes of my relatives i have wasted several good years of my life positively it seemed to me that i was still sitting there and that the keeper not that he ever was my keeper but only a kind of devil oi a body servant had just peeped in at the door the rascal i owe him an old grudge and will find a time to pay it yet the mere thought of him has exceedingly me even now that hateful chamber the iron window which the blessed sunshine as it fell through the dusty panes and made it poison to my soul looks more distinct to my view than does this my comfortable apartment in the heart of london the reality that which i know to be such hangs like of tattered scenery over the prominent illusion let us think of it no more you will be anxious to hear of i need not say what is known to all the world that this celebrated poet has for many years past been reconciled to the church of england in his more recent works he has ed his fine powers to the of the christian fa h with an especial view to that particular as you may not have heard he has taken orders and been to a small country living in the gift of the lord just now luckily for m he has come to the metropolis to the publication of a volume of treating of the proofs of christianity on the basis of the thirty nine articles on my first introduction i felt an old no little embarrassment as to the manner of what i had to say to the author of queen the revolt of and with such as might be acceptable to a christian minister and zealous of the established church but soon placed me at my ease standing where he now does and all his successive productions from a higher point he me that there is a harmony an order a regular procession which him to lay his hand upon any one of the earlier poems and say this is my work with precisely the same complacency of conscience he the volume of above mentioned they are like the successive steps of a staircase the lowest of which in the depth of chaos is as essential to the support of the whole as the highest and one resting upon the threshold of the heavens i felt half inclined to ask him what would have been his fate had he perished on the lower steps of his staircase instead of building his way aloft into the celestial brightness how all this may be i neither pretend to understand nor greatly care so long as has really climbed as it seems he has from a lower region to a one without touching upon their religious merits i consider the productions of his maturity superior as poems to those of his youth they are warmer with human love which has served as an between his mind and the multitude the author has learned to his pen into his heart and has thereby avoided the faults into which a too exclusive use of and intellect are wont to betray him formerly his p s page was often little other than a arrangement of or even of as cold as they were brilliant now you take it to your heart and are conscious of a heart warmth to your own in his private character can hardly have grown more gentle kind and affectionate than his friends always represented him to be up to that disastrous night when he was drowned in the nonsense again sheer nonsense what am i about i was thinking of that old of his being lost in the bay of and washed ashore near and burned to ashes on a funeral with wine and and while stood on the beach and beheld a flame of marvellous beauty rise from the dead poet s heart and that his fire relics were finally buried near his child in roman earth if all this happened three and twenty years ago how could i have met the drowned and burned and buried man here in london only yesterday before the subject i may mention that dr heretofore bishop of but recently translated to a see in england called on while i was with him they appeared to be on terms of very cordial intimacy and are said to have a joint poem in contemplation what a strange dream is the life of man has at last finished his poem of it will be issued entire by old john in the course of the present season the poet i hear visited with a troublesome affection of the tongue which has put a period or some lesser stop	35
to the life an long discourse that has hitherto l en flowing from lips he will not survive it a th unless hi of i e s be off in some other way died m y a or two ago heaven rest his soul and grant that he may have completed the excursion i i am of every thing he wrote except his it is very sad of the mind to the poets whom it once worshipped is as hale as ever and writes with his usual diligence old is still alive in the extremity of age and with most pitiable decay of what little sharp and narrow t the devil had gifted him withal one hates to allow such a man the privilege of growing old and it takes away our license of kicking him no i have not seen him except across a crowded street with foot passengers and divers other intervening his and slender figure and ray eager glance i would fain have met him on the sea shore or beneath a natural arch of forest trees or the arch of an old cathedral or among ruins or at a glimmering fireside on the verge of evening or at the twilight entrance of a cave into the dreamy depths of which he would have led me by the hand any where in short save at temple bar where his presence was blotted out by the porter swollen of these gross englishmen i and watched him fading away fading away along the pavement and could hardly tell whether he were an actual man or a thought that had slipped out of my mind and clothed itself in human form and merely to me at one s moment he put his handkerchief to his lips and withdrew it i am almost certain stained with you never any thing so fragile as his person truth is has all his felt the effects of that terrible bleeding at the lungs caused by the article on his in the review and which so nearly brought him to the grave ever since he has glided about the world like a ghost sighing a melancholy tone in the ear of here and there a friend but never sending forth his voice to greet the multitude i hardly think him a great poet the burden of a mighty genius would never have been imposed upon shoulders so physically frail and a spirit so sensitive great poets should have iron yet though for so many years he has given nothing to the world is understood to have devoted himself to the composition of an poem some passages of it have been communicated to the inner circle of his admirers and impressed them as the strains that have been audible on earth since milton s days if i can obtain copies of these specimens i will ask you to present them to james who seems to be one of the poet s most fervent and the information took me by surprise i had supposed that all s poetic incense without being in human language floated up to heaven and mingled with the songs of the immortal who perhaps were conscious of an unknown voice among them and thought their melody the sweeter for it but it is not so he has positively written a poem on the subject of paradise regained though in another sense than that m presented itself from an old to the mind of milton in compliance it may be with the of those who pretend that all possibilities in the past history of the world are exhausted has thrown his poem forward into an remote he pictures mankind amid the closing circumstances of the warfare between good and evil our race is on the eve of its final triumph man is within the last stride of perfection woman from the against which our so powerful and so sad a remonstrance stands equal by his side or for herself with angels the earth with her children s happier state has clothed herself in such luxuriant and loving beauty as no eye ever witnessed since our first parents saw the sun rise over nor then indeed for this is the fulfilment of what was then but a golden promise but the picture has its shadows there remains to mankind another peril a last encounter with the evil principle should the battle go against us we sink back into the and misery of ages if we triumph but it demands a poet s eye to contemplate the splendor of such a and not to be dazzled to this great work is said to have brought so deep and tender a spirit of humanity that the poem has all the sweet and warm interest of a village tale no less than the grandeur which so high a th me such at least is the perhaps partial representation of his friends for i have not read or heard even a single line of the performance in i am told it from the press under an idea that the age has not enough of insight to receive it p s i do not like this distrust it makes me distrust the poet the universe is waiting to respond to the highest rd that the best child of time and immortality can utter if it refuse to listen it is because he and or things and foreign to the purpose i visited the house of lords the other day to hear who you know is now a peer with i forget what title he disappointed me time both point and edge and does great mischief to men of his order of intellect then i stepped into the lower house and listened to a few words from who looked as as a real or rather as if he had lain a dozen years beneath the the men whom i meet nowadays often impress me thus probably because my spirits	35
are not very good and lead me to think much about graves with the long grass upon them and weather worn and dry bones of people who made noise enough in their day but now can only clatter clatter clatter when the s them were it only possible to find out who are alive and who dead it would contribute infinitely to my peace of mind every day of my life somebody comes and me in the face wh m i had quietly blotted out of the of men and trusted to be with the sight or sound of him for instance going to lane theatre a few evenings since up rose before me m the ghost of s father the bodily presence of the elder who did die or ought to have died in some drunken fit or other so long ago that his fame ia k m as old scarcely now his powers are quite gone was rather the ghost of himself than the ghost of tlie king in the stage box sat several elderly and people and among them a stately ruin of a woman on a large scale with a for i did not see her front face that stamped itself into my brain as a seal hot wax by the tragic gesture vith which she took a pinch of snuff i was sure it must be mrs her brother john sat behind a broken down figure but still with a majesty about him in of all former achievements nature him to look the part of far better than ia the of his genius charles was likewise there but a affection has distorted his once countenance into a most disagreeable from which he could no more it into proper form than he could the face of the great globe itself it looks as if for the sake the poor man had twisted his features into an expression at once the most ludicrous and horrible that he could contrive and at that very moment as a judgment for making himself so hideous an providence had seen fit to him since it is out of his own power i would gladly assist him to change for his ugly haunts me both at and some other players of the past generation were present but none that greatly interested it actors more than all other men of to vanish from the scene being at best but painted shadows flickering on the wall and empty j s that echo another s thought it is a sad when the colors to fade and the voice to with age what is there new in the literary way on your side of the water nothing of the kind has come under my inspection except a volume of poems published above a year ago by dr i did not before know that this eminent writer is a poet nor does the volume alluded to exhibit any of the characteristics of the author s mind as displayed in his prose works although some of the poems have a richness that is not merely of the surface but still the brighter the deeper and more faithfully you look into them they seem carelessly wrought however like those rings and ornaments of the very purest gold but of rude native manufacture which are found among the gold dust from africa i doubt whether the american public will accept them it looks less to the of metal than to the neat and cunning manufacture how slowly our literature grows up i most of our writers of promise have come to ends there was that wild fellow john who almost turned my boyish brain with his he surely has long been dead else he never could keep himself so quiet has gone to his last sleep with the gleaming over him like a marble by moonlight who us i to write queer verses in the newspapers and published a don poem called is as a poet though to be the as a man of business somewhat later there was a fiery youth to whom the muse from an old had assigned a battle trumpet and who got himself ten years in south i remember too a lad just from college by name who scattered some delicate verses to the winds and went to germany and perished i think of intense application at the university of what a pity was lost if i recollect rightly in on his voyage to europe whither he was going to give us sketches of the world s sunny face if these had lived they might one or all of them have grown to be famous men and yet there is no telling it may be as well that they have died i was myself a young man of promise o shattered brain o broken spirit where is the fulfilment of that promise the sad truth is that when fate would disappoint the world it takes away the mortals in their youth when it would laugh the world s hopes to scorn it lets them live let me die upon this for i shall never make a truer one what a strange substance is the human brain i or rather for there is no need of the remark what an odd brain is mine would you believe it daily and nightly there come scraps of poetry humming in my intellectual ear some as airy as bird notes and some as delicately neat as parlor music and a few as grand as organ that seem just such verses as those departed poets would have written had not an inexorable destiny snatched them from their they visit me in spirit perhaps desiring to engage my services as the of i p s correspondence productions and thus secure the endless renown that they have hy going hence too early but i have my own business to attend to	35
and besides a medical gentleman who interests himself in some little of mine me not to make too free use of pen and ink there are clerks enough out of employment who would be glad of such a job good by are you alive or dead and what are you about still for the and do those infernal and proof readers your unfortunate productions as as ever it is too bad let every man manufacture his own nonsense say i expect me home soon and to whisper you a secret in company with the poet who purposes to visit and enjoy the shadow of the that he planted there is now an old man he calls himself well better than ever in his life but looks strangely pale and so shadow like that one might almost a finger through his material i tell him by way of joke that he is as dim and forlorn as memory though as as hope your true friend p p s pray present my most respectful regards to our venerable and friend mr brown it me to learn that a complete edition of his works in a double volume is shortly to issue from the press at philadelphia tell him american writer a more classic reputation on this side of the water is old yet alive man why he must have nearly ful vol ii old filled his and he an on the war between and with machinery contrived on the principle of the steam engine as being the nearest to celestial agency that our epoch can boast how can he expect ever to rise again if while just sinking into his grave he in himself with such a of leaden verses i earth s once upon a time but whether in the time past or to come ia a matter of little or no moment this wide world had become so with an of that the inhabitants to rid themselves of it by a general the site fixed upon at the representation of the companies and as being as central a spot as any other on the globe was one of the of the west where no human habitation would be by the flames and where a vast assemblage of spectators might admire the show hav ing a taste for sights of this kind and imagining likewise that the illumination of the might reveal some of moral truth heretofore hidden in mist or darkness i made it convenient to journey thither and be present at my arrival although the heap of condemned rubbish was as yet comparatively small the torch had already been applied amid that boundless plain in the dusk of the evening like a far off star alone in the there was merely visible one tn gleam whence none could have anticipated so fierce a blaze as was destined to with every moment however there came foot travellers women holding up their men on horseback from an old rows baggage and other great and small and from far and near laden with articles that were judged fit for nothing but to be burned what materials have been used to the flame inquired i of a for i was desirous of knowing the whole process of the affair from begin to end the person whom i addressed was a grave man years old or who had evidently come thither as a on he struck me immediately as having weighed for himself the true value of life and its circumstances and therefore as feeling little personal in in whatever judgment the world might form of them before answering my question he looked me in the face by the light of the fire o some very dry replied he and extremely suitable to the purpose no other in fact than yesterday s newspapers last month s magazines and last year s withered leaves here now comes some that will take fire like a handful of as he spoke some rough looking men advanced to the verge of the and threw in as it appeared all the rubbish of the herald s office the of coat the and devices of illustrious families that extended back like lines of light into the mist of the dark ages together with stars and embroidered each of which as paltry a as it might appear to the eye had once possessed vast significance and was still in truth reckoned among the most precious of moral or material facts by the of the gorgeous s mingled with this confused heap which was tossed into the flames by at once were innumerable of those of all the european and napoleon s of the of honor the ribbons of which were entangled with those of the ancient order of st louis there too were the of our own society of by means of which as history tells us an order of hereditary knights came near being constituted out of the king of the revolution and besides there were the of nobility of german counts and spanish and english from the instruments signed by william the conqueror down to the new of the latest lord who has received his honors from the fair hand of victoria at sight of the dense volumes of smoke mingled with vivid of flame that and forth from this immense pile of earthly distinctions the multitude of spectators set up a joyous shout and clapped their hands with an emphasis that made the echo that was their moment of triumph achieved af er long ages over creatures of the same clay and the same spiritual who had dared to assume the privileges due only to heaven s better but now there rushed towards the blazing heap a man of stately presence wearing a coat from the breast of which a star or other of rank seemed to have been forcibly away he had not the tokens of intellectual power in his	35
face but still there was the the habit and almost native dignity of one who had been im from bom to the idea of his own social superiority and had never felt it questioned till that moment people cried he gazing at the o what was dearest to his eyes with grief and wonder but nevertheless with a degree of people what have you done this fire is all that marked your advance from or that could have pre your we the men of the privileged orders were those who kept alive from age t age the old spirit the gentle and ous thought the higher the purer the more refined and delicate life witb e too you cast off the poet the painter all the beautiful arts for we were their and created the atmosphere in which they flourish im the ma distinctions of rank society loses not only grace but its more he would doubtless have spoken but here there arose an contemptuous and indignant that altogether drowned the appeal of the nobleman that casting one look of despair at his own half burned he shrunk back into the crowd glad to shelter himself under his new found let him thank stars that we have not flung him into the same fire i shouted a rude figure the embers with his foot and henceforth let no n au dare to show a piece of as his war for it over his fellows if he have strength of arm well and good it is one species of superiority if he have wit wisdom courage force of character let these attributes do for him what they may i k d o from this day forward no mortal must hope for place and by reckoning up the bones of his ancestors that nonsense is done away and in good time remarked the grave observer by my side in a low however if no worse nonsense comes in its place but at all events thia species of nonsense has fairly lived out its life there was little space to muse or over the embers of this time honored rubbish for before it was half burned out there came another multitude from beyond the sea bearing the purple robes of and the and of and kings ah these had been condemned as useless at best fit only for the infancy of the world or rods to govern and it in its hat with which universal manhood at its full grown stature could no longer brook to be insulted into such contempt had these now that the gilded crown and robes of the player king from lane theatre had been thrown in among the doubtless as a mockery of his brother on the great stage of the world it was a strange sight to discern the crown jewels of england glowing and flashing in the midst of the fire some of them had been delivered down from the time of the saxon prince i others were purchased with vast or the dead brows of the native of an and the whole now blazed with a dazzling lustre as if a star had fallen in that spot and been shattered into the splendor of the ruined had no reflection save in those stones bat enough on an old subject it were but tedious to describe how the emperor of s mantle was converted to and how the posts and pillars of the french throne became a heap of coals which it was impossible to distinguish from those of any other wood let me add however that i noticed one of the poles stirring up the with the of russia s which he afterwards flung into the flames the smell of garments is quite intolerable here observed my new acquaintance as the breeze enveloped us in the smoke of a royal wardrobe let us get to and see what they are doing on the other side of the we accordingly passed around and were just in time to witness the arrival of a vast procession of as the of call themselves nowadays accompanied by thousands of the irish of father with that great at their head they brought a rich contribution to the being nothing less than all the and barrels of liquor in the world which they rolled before them across the now my children cried father when they reached the verge of the fire one more and the work is done and now let us stand off ah see satan deal with his own liquor accordingly having placed their wooden vessels within reach of the flames the procession stood off at a safe distance and soon beheld them burst into a blaze that reached the clouds and threatened to set the sky itself on fire and well it might for here was the whole world s stock of which earth s instead of a light in the eyes of as of upwards with a bewildering gleam that startled all mankind it was the of that fierce fire which would otherwise the hearts of millions meantime bottles of precious wine were flung into the blaze which up the contents as if it loved them and grew like other the and for what it never again will the thirst of the fire be so here were the treasures of famous bon that had been tossed on ocean and in the sun and long in the recesses of the earth the pale the gold the ruddy of whatever were most delicate the entire of all mingling in one stream with the vile of the common and to the blaze and while it rose in a gigantic spire that seemed to wave against the arch of the and combine itself with the light of stars the multitude gave a shout as if the broad earth were in its from the curse of ages but the joy was not universal	35
many deemed tliat human life would be than ever when that brief illumination should sink down while the were at work i overheard muttered from several respectable gentlemen with red noses and wearing shoes v and a ragged worthy whose face looked like a hearth where the fire is burned out now expressed his discontent more openly and boldly what is this world good for said the last now that we can never be jolly any more what is fo c the poor man in and perplexity how is he to keep his heart the cold winds df cheerless earth and do you propose to give him in for the that you take away how are old friends to sit together by the without a cheerful glass between them a plague upon your it is a sad world a cold world a selfish world a low world not worth an honest fellow living in now that good fellowship is gone forever this excited at mirth among the but preposterous as was the sentiment i could not help the forlorn condition of the last whose boon companions had away from his side leaving the poor fellow without a soul to countenance him in his liquor nor indeed any liquor to not that this was quite the state of the case for i had observed him at a critical a bottle of fourth proof brandy that fell beside the and hide it in his pocket the and being thus disposed of the zeal of the next induced them to the fire with all the boxes of tea and bags of coffee in the world and now came the of virginia bringing their crops of tobacco these being cast upon the heap of it to the size of a mountain and the atmosphere with such potent fragrance that we should never draw pure breath again the present sacrifice seemed to the lovers of the weed more than any that they had hitherto witnessed well they ve put my pipe out said an old gentleman flinging it into the flames in a pet what i to every thing rich and all the f ice of life is to be condemned as useless now that they have kindled the if these would fling themselves into it all would be well i patient responded a it will come to that in the end they will first fling ua in and finally themselves from the general and measures of reform to consider the individual to this in many in these were of a very character one poor fellow threw in his empty purse and another a bundle of counter or bank notes fashionable ladies threw m last season s together with of yellow lace and much other half worn all of which proved even more in the e than it had been in the fashion a multitude of lovers of both sexes discarded maids or and weary of one another tossed in bundles of and a hack b ing deprived of bread by the loss of office threw in his teeth which happened to be false ones the rev smith having across the atlantic for that sole purpose came up to the with a bitter grin and threw in fortified though they were with the broad seal of a sovereign state a little of five years old in the premature of the present threw in his a college his an ruined by the spread of ho his whole of and a from an old physician his library a parson his old sermons and a gentleman of the old school his code of manners which he had formerly written down for the benefit of tlie next generation a widow on a second marriage threw in her dead husband s miniature a young man by his mistress would willingly have flung his own desperate heart into tiie flames but could find no means to it out of his bosom an american author whose works were neglected by the public threw his pen and paper into the and himself to some less occupation it somewhat startled me to a number of ladies highly respectable in appearance proposing to fling their gowns and into the flames and assume the garb together with the manners duties and of the opposite sex what favor was accorded to this scheme i am unable to say my attention being suddenly drawn to a poor deceived and half girl who exclaiming that she was the most worthless thing alive or dead attempted to cast herself into the fire amid all that wrecked and broken of the world a good man however ran to her rescue patience my poor girl said he as he drew her back from the fierce embrace of the destroying angel be patient and abide heaven s will so long as you possess a living soul all may be restored to its first freshness these things of matter and of human are fit for nothing but to be burned when once they have had their day but your day is yes said the wretched girl whose frenzy seemed s now to have sunk down into deep despondency and the sunshine is blotted out of it i it was now among the spectators that all the weapons and of war were to be thrown into the with the exception of the world s stock of which as the safest mode of of it had already been drowned in the sea this intelligence seemed to awaken great of opinion the hopeful esteemed it a token that the was already come while persons of another stamp in whose view mankind was a breed of that all the old generosity and of the race would disappear these qualities as they affirmed requiring blood for their nourishment they comforted themselves however in the belief that the proposed of war was for any length of time together be that as it	35
observer who was still at my side well done if the world be good enough for the measure death however is an that cannot easily be with in any condition between the innocence and that other purity and perfection which perchance we are destined to attain after travelling round the full circle but at all events it is well that the experiment should now be tried too cold too cold impatiently exclaimed the young and ardent leader in this triumph let the heart have its voice here as well as the intellect and as for and as for progress let mankind always do the highest kindest noblest thing that at any given period it has attained the perception of and surely that thing cannot be wrong nor timed i know not whether it were the excitement of the scene or whether the good people around the were really growing more enlightened every instant but they now proceeded to measures in the full length vol ii from an old of which i was prepared to k for some threw their m into the flames and declared for a higher and more union than that which had from the of under the form of the tie others hastened lo the of banks to the of the all of which were open to the comer this fated occasion and brought entire of paper money to the blaze and tons of coin to be melted down by its intensity henceforth they said benevolence and was to be the golden of the world at this intelligence the and in the stocks grew pale and a who had a rich harvest among the crowd fell down in a deadly fainting fit a men of business burned their day books and the notes and obligations of their and all other evidences of debts due to themselves while perhaps a somewhat larger number satisfied their zeal for reform with the sacrifice of any uncomfortable recollection of their own there was then a cry that the period was arrived when the title deeds of landed property should be given to the and the whole soil of the earth to the public from whom it had been abstracted and most distributed among individuals another party demanded that all written set forms of acts books and every thing else on which human invention had endeavored to stamp its arbitrary laws should at once be destroyed leaving the w as free as the man first created ea s t whether any ultimate action was taken with regard to these is beyond my knowledge for just then some matters were i progress that concerned my sympathies more nearly see see what heaps of books an cried a fellow who did not seem to be a lover of literature now we shall have a glorious blaze that s just the thing i said a modern philosopher now we shall get rid of the weight of dead men s thought which has hitherto pressed o heavily on the living intellect that t h been to any ef self exertion well done my lads i into the fire with them now you c re the world indeed but what is to become of the a frantic o by all means let accompany their i coolly observed an author it will be a noble funeral pile i the truth was that the human race had reached a stage of progress far beyond what the wisest and men of former ages he d ever dreamed of that it would have been a manifest absurdity to allow the earth to be any longer with their poor achievements in the literary line accordingly a thorough and searching investigation had swept the shops l stands public and private and even the little book shelf by the country fireside s nd had brought tlie world s entire mass of printed paper bound or in sheets to swell the already mountain bulk of our illustrious thick heavy containing the labors of com from an old and were flung in and falling among the embers with a leaden away to ashes like rotten wood the small richly gilt french of the last age with the hundred volumes of among them went off in a brilliant shower of and little of flame while the current literature of the same nation burned red and blue and threw an infernal light over the of the spectators them all to the aspect of a collection of german stories a scent of the english standard authors made excellent fuel generally exhibiting the properties of sound oak logs milton s works in particular sent up a powerful blaze gradually into a coal which to endure longer than almost any other material of the pile from there a flame of such marvellous splendor that men shaded their eyes as against the sun s glory nor even when the works of his own were flung upon him did he cease to flash forth a dazzling radiance from beneath the ponderous heap it is my belief that he is still blazing as as ever could a poet but light a lamp at that glorious flame remarked i he might then the midnight oil to some good purpose that is the very thing which modern poets have been too apt to do or at least to attempt answered a critic the chief benefit to be expected from this of past literature undoubtedly is that writers will henceforth be compelled to light their lamps at the sun or stars if they can reach so high said i but that task earth s requires a giant who may afterwards the light among inferior men it is not every one that can steal he fire from heaven like but when once he had done the deed a thousand were kindled by it it amazed me much to observe how indefinite was the proportion between the physical mass of any given author and the property	35
of brilliant and long continued for instance was not a volume of the last century nor indeed of the present that could in that particular with a child s httle gilt covered book containing mother goose s the life and death of tom thumb the biography of an indeed a dozen of them was converted to white ashes before the single sheet of an old ballad was half consumed in more than one case too when volumes of applauded verse proved incapable of any thing better than a stifling smoke an of some nameless bard perchance in the corner of a newspaper up among the stars with a flame as brilliant as their own speaking of the properties of flame s poetry a purer light than almost any other productions of his day beautifully with the fitful and and of black that flashed and from the volumes of lord as for tom some of his songs an like a burning i felt particular interest in watching the of american authors and noted by my watch the precise number of moments that changed most of them from printed books to from an old ashes it would be however if perilous to betray these awful secrets so that shall content myself with that it was not invariably tl e writer most fi in the public mouth that made the most splendid appearance in the i especially remember that a great de l of excellent was exhibited ip a thin volume of poems by although to speak the truth there were certain portions thi and in a very disagreeable fashion a curious phenomenon occurred in reference to several writers native as well as foreign their books though of highly respectable figure instead of bursting into a blaze or even out their substance in smoke suddenly melted away in a manner that proved them to be ice if it be no lack of modesty to mention my own works it must here be confessed that looked for them with interest but in vain too probably they were changed to by the first action of the heat at best i can only hope that in their quiet way they contributed a glimmering spark or two to the splendor of the evening alas and woe is me thus himself a heavy looking gentleman in green spectacles the world is utterly r and there is nothing tp live for any longer the business of my life is snatched from me not a volume to be had for love or money this remarked the observer beside me is a one of those men who are born to dead thoughts his clothes see are covered with the dust of he has no inward fountain of ideas and in good earnest now that the old stock s is i do not see what is to become of the poor fellow have you no word of comfort for him my dear sir said i to the desperate is not nature better than a book is not the human heart deeper than any system of philosophy is not life with more instruction than past have found it possible to write down in be of good cheer the great book of time is still spread wide open before us and if we read it aright it will be to us a volume of eternal truth o my books my books my precious printed books the forlorn my only reality wa s a bound volume and now they will not leave me even a shadowy i in fact the last remnant of the literature of all the ages was now descending upon the blazing heap in the shape of a cloud of from the press of the new world these likewise were consumed in the twinkling of an eye leaving the earth for the first time since the days of free from the plague of letters an field for the authors of the next generation well and does any thing remain to be done inquired i somewhat anxiously unless we set fire to the earth itself and then leap boldly off into infinite space i know not that we can carry reform to any farther point you are vastly mistaken my good friend said the observer believe me the fire will not be allowed to settle down without the addition of fuel that will many persons who have lent a willing hand thus fer nevertheless there appeared to be a of from an old for a little time during which probably the leaders of the movement were considering what should be done next in the interval a philosopher threw his theory into the flames a sacrifice which by those who knew how to estimate it was pronounced the most remarkable that had yet been made the however was by no means brilliant some people to take a moment s ease now employed in collecting all the withered leaves and fallen boughs of the forest and thereby the to a greater height than ever but this was mere by play here comes the fresh fuel that i spoke of said my companion to my astonishment the persons who now advanced into the vacant space around the mountain fire bore and other garments and a confusion of and with which it seemed their purpose to the great act of faith crosses from the of old were cast upon the heap with as little remorse as if the reverence of centuries passing in long array beneath the lofty towers had not looked up to them as the of the in which were consecrated to god the vessels whence piety received the draught were given to the same destruction perhaps it most nearly touched my heart to see among these devoted relics fragments of the humble communion tables and which i recognized as having been torn from the meeting houses of new england those simple might have been permitted to	35
we have finished the last drop of liquor i help you my three friends to a comfortable end upon the nearest tree and then hang myself on the same bough this is no world for us any longer my good fellows i said a dark personage who now joined the group his complexion was indeed fearfully dark and his eyes glowed with a light than that of the be not earth s cast down my dear friends you shall see good days yet there is one thing that these have for gotten to throw into the fire and without which all the rest of the is just nothing at all yes though they had burned the earth itself to a and what may that be eagerly demanded the murderer what but the human heart itself said the stranger with a grin and unless they hit upon some method of that foul forth from it will all the shapes of wrong and misery the same old shapes or worse ones which they have taken such a vast deal of trouble to to ashes i have stood by this night and laughed in my sleeve at the whole business o take my word for it it will be the old world yet i this brief conversation supplied me with a theme for lengthened thought how sad a truth if true it were that man s endeavor for perfection had only to render him the mockery of the evil principle from the fatal circumstance of an error at the very root of the matter the heart the heart was the little yet boundless sphere wherein existed the original wrong of which the crime and misery of this outward world were merely types that inward sphere and the many shapes of evil that haunt the outward and which now seem almost our only realities will to shadowy and vanish of their own accord but if we go no deeper than the intellect and strive with merely that feeble instrument to discern and what is wrong our whole from am old will be a dream so that it matters little whether the which i have so faithfully were what we choose to call a real event and a flame that would the finger or only a radiance and a of my own passages from a work at from infancy i was under thb of a parson who made me the subject of daily prayer and the sufferer of innumerable using no distinction as to these marks of love between myself and his own three boys the result it must be owned has been very in their cases and mine they being all respectable men and well settled in life the eldest as the successor to his father s pulpit the second as a physician and the third as a partner in a shoe store while i with better prospects than either ef them have run the course which this volume will describe yet there is room for doubt whether i should have been any better contented with such success as theirs than with my own misfortunes at least till after my of the latter had made it too late for another trial my guardian had a name of considerable eminence and for the place it in history than for so frivolous a page as mine in his own vicinity among the lighter part of his hearers he called parson from die very forcible from an old gestures with which he illustrated his doctrines if his powers as a preacher were to be estimated by the damage done to his pulpit furniture none of his living brethren and but few dead ones would have been worthy even to pronounce a after him such and the moment he began to grow warm such with his open palm with his closed fist and with the whole weight of the great bible convinced me that he held in imagination either the old nick or some at bay and his unhappy cushion as for those abominable nothing but this exercise of the body while delivering his sermons could have supported the good parson s health under the mental toil which they cost him in composition though parson had an upright heart and some called it a warm one he was invariably stern and severe on principle i suppose to me with late justice though early enough even now to be with generosity i acknowledge him to have been a good and wise man after his own fashion if his management failed as to myself it succeeded with his three sons nor i must frankly say could any mode of education with which it was possible for him to be acquainted have made me much better than what i was or led me to a happier fortune than the present he could neither change the nature that god gave me nor his own mind to my peculiar perhaps it was my chief misfortune that i had neither father nor mother alive for parents have an instinctive sagacity in regard to the welfare of their passages a children and the child feels a confidence both in the wisdom and affection of his parents which he cannot transfer to any of their duties however conscientious an orphan s fate is hard be he rich or poor as for parson whenever i see the old gentleman in my dreams he looks kindly and sorrowfully at me holding out his hand as if each had something to forgive with such kindness and such forgiveness but without the sorrow may our next meeting be i was a youth of gay and happy temperament with an levity of spirit of no vicious sensible enough but and fanciful what a character was this to be brought in contact with the stern old pilgrim spirit of my guardian we were at on a thousand points but our chief and final dispute arose from the	35
with which he insisted on my a particular profession while i being heir to a moderate had my purpose of keeping aloof from the regular business of life this would have been a dangerous resolution any where in the world it was fatal in new england there is a in the of my countrymen they will not be convinced that any good thing may consist with what they call idleness they can anticipate nothing but evil of a young man who neither studies law nor gospel nor opens a store nor to farming but an incomprehensible disposition to be satisfied with what his father led him the principle is excellent in its general influence but most miserable in its effect on the few that it i had a quick to public opinion and felt vol ii bs from am old i it me with the tavern and town with the drunken poet who his own fourth of july and the broken soldier who had been good for nothing since last war the of all this was a piece of i do not over estimate my when i take it for granted that many of my readers must have heard of me in tlie wild way of life which i adopted the idea of becoming a wandering story had been suggested a year or two before by an encounter with several merry in a s wagon where they and i had sheltered ourselves during a summer shower the project was not more extravagant most which a young man forms stranger ones are executed every day and not to mention my types in the east and the wandering and poets whom my own ears have heard i had the example of one illustrious in the other of who planned and performed his travels through france and italy on a less promising scheme than mine i took credit to myself for various mental and personal suited to the besides my mind had tormented me for em men t keeping up an irregular activity even in sleep and making me conscious that i must toil if it were but in catching but my chief were discontent with home and a bitter grudge against parson who would rather have laid me in my father s tomb than seen me either a or an actor two characters which i thus hit upon a method of after all it was not half se passages a foolish as if i instead of them the pages will contain a picture of my life with specimens generally brief and slight of that great mass of fiction to which i gave existence and which has vanished like cloud shapes besides the occasions when i sought a pecuniary reward i was accustomed to exercise my narrative faculty wherever chance had a little audience idle enough to listen these were useful in the strong points of my stories and indeed the flow of fancy soon came upon me so abundantly that its indulgence was its own reward though the hope of praise also became a powerful since i shall never feel the warm of new thought as i did then let me the reader to believe that my tales were not always so col as he may find now with each specimen will be given a sketch of the circumstances in which the story was told thus my pictures will be set in frames perhaps more valuable than the pictures themselves since they will be with groups of characteristic is amid the lake and mountain scenery the villages and fertile fields of our native land but i write the book for the sake of its moral which many a dreaming youth may profit by though it is the experience cf a wandering story a fu ht in fog i set out on my one morning in june about sunrise the day promised to be fair though at that from an old early hour a heavy mist lay along the earth and settled in minute on the folds of my clothes so that i looked precisely as if touched with a the sky was quite obscured and the trees and houses till they grew out of the fog as i came close upon them there is a hill towards the west whence the road goes abruptly down holding a level course through the village and ascending an eminence on the other side behind which it the whole view an extent of half a mile here i paused and while gazing through the misty veil it partially rose and swept away with so sudden an effect that a gray cloud seemed to have taken the aspect of a small white town a thin being still diffused through the atmosphere the wreaths and pillars of fog whether hung in air or based on earth appeared not less substantial than the and gave their own to the whole it was singular that such an un romantic scene should look so visionary half of the parson s dwelling was a dingy white house and half of it was a cloud but squire moody s mansion the in the village was wholly visible even the work of the balcony under the front window while in another place only two red chimneys were seen above the mist to my own paternal residence then by strangers i could not remember those with whom i had dwelt there not even my mother the brick edifice of the bank was in the clouds the foundations of what was to be a great block of buildings had vanished as it proved the dry goods store of mr seemed a doubtful concern and tobacco passages a an affair of smoke except the splendid image of an indian chief in front the white spire of the meeting house ascended out of the heap of as if that base were its only support or to give a truer interpretation the was the emblem of religion	35
applause that greeted the good people of the town knowing that the world contained innumerable persons of of by them took it for granted that i was one and that their roar of welcome was but a feeble echo of those which had thundered around me in lofty theatres such an enthusiastic uproar was never heard each person seemed a clapping a hundred hands besides keeping his feet and several in play with stamping and on the floor while the ladies flourished their white handkerchiefs with yellow and red like the flags of different nations after such a salutation the celebrated story felt almost ashamed to produce so humble an affair as mr s catastrophe this story was originally more dramatic than as there presented and afforded good scope for and neither of which to my shame did spare i never knew the magic of a name till i used that of mr often as i repeated it there were louder bursts of merriment than those which responded to what in my opinion were more legitimate strokes of humor the success of the piece was heightened by a stiff cue of horse hair which little in the spirit of that character had fastened to my collar where unknown to me it kept making the gestures passages from a of its own in correspondence with all mine the audience supposing that some enormous joke was to this long tail behind were delighted and gave way to such a tumult of approbation that just as the story closed the benches broke beneath and one whole row of my admirers on the floor even in that they continued their applause in after times when i had grown a bitter j took this scene for an example how much of fame is how much the of what our better nature at how much an accident how much bestowed op mistaken principles and how small and poor the remnant from pit and boxes there was dow a universal call for the story that celebrated personage came not when they did call to him as i left the stage the landlord being also the had given me a letter with the of my native village and directed to my assumed name in the stiff old handwriting of parson doubtless he had heard of the rising renown of the story and at once that such a could be no other than his lost ward his though i never read it affected me most painfully i seemed to see the figure of my guardian standing among the of the theatre and pointing to the players the fantastic and men the painted women the giddy girl in boy s clothes than modest pointing to these with solemn ridicule and me with stern rebuke his image was a type of the austere duty and they of th e of life i hastened with the letter to my chamber and held ii vol ii v m old in my hand while the applause of my yet sounded through the theatre another train of thought came over me the stern old man appeared again but now with the gentleness of sorrow softening his authority with love as a father might and even bending his venerable head as if to say that my errors had an apology in his own mistaken discipline i strode twice across the chamber then held the letter in the flame of the candle and beheld it it ia in my mind and was so at the time that he had addressed me in a style of paternal wisdom and love and reconciliation which i could not have resisted had i but risked the trial the thought still haunts me that then i made my choice between good and evil fate meanwhile as this occurrence had disturbed my mind and me to the present exercise of my profession i left the town in spite of a in the newspaper and by the liberal offers of the manager as we walked onward following the same road on two such different errands groaned in spirit and labored with tears to con me of the guilt and madness of my life sketches from memory the op the white mountains it was now the middle of september we bad since sunrise from passing up the valley of the which extends between walls sometimes with a steep ascent but as level as a church aisle all that day and two preceding ones we had been towards the heart of the white mountains those old crystal hills whose mysterious brilliancy had gleamed upon our distant wanderings before we thought of visiting them height after height had risen and one above another till the clouds began to hang below the peaks down their slopes were the red of the those af earth stones and trees which descend into the hollows leaving of their track hardly to be by the vegetation of ages we had mountains behind us and mountains on each side and a group of ones ahead still our road went up along the right towards the centre of that group as if to climb above the clouds in its passage to tlie farther region in old times the used be astounded by the of the northern indians coming down upon from an old them from this mountain through some known only to themselves it is indeed a wondrous path a demon it might be fancied or one of the was travelling up the valley the heights carelessly aside as he passed till at length a great mountain took its stand directly across his intended road he not for such an obstacle but it asunder a thousand feet from peak to base its treasures of hidden its waters all the secrets of the mountain s inmost heart with a mighty of rugged on each side this is the of the white hills shame on me that i have attempted to describe	35
it by so mean an image feeling as i do that it is one of those scenes which lead the mind to the sentiment though not to the conception of we had now reached a narrow passage which showed almost the appearance of having been cut by human strength and in the solid rock there was a wall of granite on each side high and especially on our right and so smooth that a few could hardly find enough to grow there this is the entrance or in the direction we were going the extremity of the romantic of the before emerging from it the rattling of wheels approached behind us and a stage coach out of the mountain with seats on top and trunks behind and a smart driver in a touching the wheel horses with the whip stock and in the leaders to my mind there was a sort of poetry in such an incident hardly inferior to sketches from what would have accompanied the painted array of an indian war party gliding forth from the same wild chasm all the passengers except a very fat lady on the back seat had alighted one was a a scientific green figure in black bearing a heavy hammer with which he did great damage to the and put the fragments in his pocket another was a well dressed young man who carried an opera glass set in gold and seemed to be making a quotation from some of s on mountain scenery there was also a returning from to the upper part of and a fair young girl with a very faint like one of those pale and delicate flowers which sometimes occur among cliffs they disappeared and we followed them passing through a deep pine forest which for some miles allowed us to see nothing but its own dismal shade towards nightfall we reached a level surrounded by a great of hills which shut out the sunshine long before it the external world it was here that we obtained our first view except at a distance of the principal group of mountains they are majestic and even awful when contemplated in a proper mood yet by their breadth of base and the long which support them give the idea of immense bulk rather than of towering height mount washington indeed looked near to heaven he was white with snow a mile downward and had caught the only cloud that was sailing through the atmosphere to veil his head let us forget the other names of american that have been stamped upon these hills an old but still call the washington mountains are earth s monuments they must stand while she and never should be consecrated ta the mere great men of their own age and country but to the mighty ones alone whose glory is universal and whom all time will render illustrious v the air not often ia this elevated region nearly two thousand feet above the sea was now sharp and cold like that of a clear november evening in tiie by morning probably there would be a frost if not a on the grass and and an icy surface over the standing water l was glad to perceive a prospect of quarters in a house which we were approaching and of pleasant company in the guests who were assembled at the door our evening among the mountains we stood in front of a good substantial farm house of old date in that wild country a sign over the door it to be the white mountain post office an establishment which letters and newspapers to perhaps a score of persons the population of two or three among the hills the broad and of a deer a of ten were fastened at the corner of the house a fox s tail was nailed beneath them and a huge black lay on the ground newly severed and still bleeding the of a bear hunt among several persons collected about the the most remarkable a sturdy of six feet two and corresponding bulk with a heavy set of features such af sketches from might be on his own blacksmith s but yet of mother wit and rough humor as we appeared he uplifted a tin trumpet four or five feet long and blew a tremendous blast either in honor of our arrival or to awaken an echo from the opposite hill s guests were of such a description as to form quite a picturesque group seen together except at some place like this at once the pleasure house of fashionable and the homely inn of country travellers among the company at the door were the and the owner of the gold opera glass whom we had encountered in the two gentlemen who had chilled their southern blood that morning on the top of mount washington a physician and his wife from a of and an old squire of the green mountains and two young married couples all the way from on the matrimonial besides these strangers the county of in which we were was represented by half a dozen who had slain a bear in the forest and smitten off his i had joined the party and had a moment s leisure to examine them before the echo of s blast returned from the hill not one but many echoes had caught up the harsh and sound its complicated threads and found a thousand in one stem trumpet tone it was a distinct yet distant and of melodious as if an airy band had been hidden on the and made faint music at the summons no from an old subsequent trial produced so clear delicate and a concert as the first a was then discharged from the top of a neighboring hill and gave birth to one long which ran round the circle of mountains in an unbroken chain of sound and rolled away without a	35
separate echo after these experiments the cold atmosphere drove us all into the house with the keenest for supper it did one s heart good to see the great fires that were kindled in the parlor and bar room especially the latter where the fireplace was built of rough stone and might have contained the trunk of an old tree for a a man keeps a comfortable hearth when his own forest is at his very door in the parlor when the evening was fairly set in we held our hands before our eyes to shield them from the ruddy glow and began a pleasant variety of conversation the and tlie physician talked about the qualities of the mountain air and its excellent effect on s father an old man of seventy five with the unbroken frame of middle life the two and the doctor s wife held a whispered discussion which by their frequent and a blush or two seemed to have reference to the trials or of the matrimonial state the sat together in a comer rigidly silent like whom the spirit not being still in the odd of towards their own young wives the mountain squire me for his companion and described the difficulties he had met with half a century ago in travelling from the river through the to now a single day sly it ha d him eighteen the held the between them favored tn with the few specimens of its they considered ridiculous to be worth hearing one extract met with deserved a it was to the snow on mount washington and h d been contributed that very a bearing a si of great distinction in magazines and the lines were and full of fancy but too from familiar sentiment and cold as their sub resembling those curious specimens of which i observed next day on the mountain top poet was understood to be the young gentleman ef the gold opera glass who heard our le with he composure of a such was our party and such their wa rs of ment but on a winter evening another set of guest assembled at the hearth where these summer were now sitting i once had it in contemplation to spend a month in e for the sake of studying the of new england then elbow each other through the by hundreds on their way to there could be no better k l for such a purpose than s inn let the go thither ih december sit dow with the at their meals share their evening with them at night when every ho its three and bar room and kitchen are strewn with around ti e then let him rise button his up his ears and stride with h departing a er two to se how a h mi an old against the blast a treasure of characteristic traits will repay all even should a nose be of the number the conversation of our party soon became more animated and sincere and we some traditions of the indians who believed that the father and mother of their race were saved from a by ascending the peak of mount washington the children of that pair have been overwhelmed and found no such refuge in the of the savage these mountains were afterwards considered sacred and inaccessible full of wonders illuminated at lofty by the blaze of precious stones and inhabited by who sometimes themselves in the snow storm and came down on the lower world there are few legends more poetical than that of the great of the white mountains the belief was communicated to the english and is hardly yet extinct that a of such immense size as to be seen shining miles away hangs from a rock over a clear deep lake high up among the hills they who had once beheld its splendor were with an unutterable yearning to possess it but a spirit guarded that jewel and bewildered the adventurer with a dark mist from the enchanted lake thus life was worn away in tlie vain search for an treasure till at length the went up the mountain still sanguine as in youth but returned no more on this theme i could frame a tale with a deep moral the hearts of the would not thrill to these of the red men though we spoke of them s from tn the centre of their haunted region the habits and of that departed people were too distinct those of their to find much real it has often been a matter of regret to me that i was shut out from the most peculiar field of american fiction by an inability to see any romance or poetry or grandeur or beauty in the indian character at least till such traits were pointed out by others i do an indian story yet no writer can be more secure of a permanent place in our literature than the of the indian chiefs his subject as referring to tribes which have mostly vanished from the earth gives him a right to be placed on a classic shelf apart from the merits which will sustain him there i made inquiries whether in his about these parts our had found the three silver hills which an indian sold to an englishman nearly two hundred years ago and the treasure of which the posterity of the have been looking for ever since but the man of science had every hill along the and knew nothing of these prodigious piles of wealth by this time as usual with men on the eve of great adventure we had prolonged our deep into the night considering how early we were to set out on our six miles ride to the foot of mount washington there w i row a general breaking up i the faces of the two and saw but little probability of their leaving the bosom of earthly	35
bliss in the first week of the and at the frosty hour of three to climb above the clouds nor when an old i felt how sharp die wind was as it rushed a broken pane and between the of my chamber did i anticipate much alacrity n my own part though we were to seek for the gi eat the canal boat i was inclined to be poetical about the grand canal in my imagination de was an who had waved his magic f m the to lake and united them by a watery highway crowded the ce of two worlds till then inaccessible to each other tliis simple and mighty conception had conferred on spots which nature seemed to have thrown carelessly into the great body of the earth without that they could ever attain importance i pictured the surprise of die sleepy when the new river first glittered by their doors bringing them hard cash or foreign in exchange for their hitherto le produce surely the water of this canal must be the most of all for it causes towns with their masses of brick and stone their churches and theatres their business and their luxury and refinement their gay and polished citizen to spring up till in time the wondrous stream may how between two lines of buildings through one thronged street from to i embarked about thirty miles below to voyage along the whole extent of the canal at least twice in the course of the summer behold us then fairly afloat with three s to our vessel like tlie of to a shell in ok pictures bound to a distant port we had neither nor compass nor care about the wind nor felt tbe of a nor dreaded however fierce the tempest ia our adventurous of an in mud for a it seemed and as dark and as if every in the land paid to it with an current it holds its drowsy way through all the dismal and scenery tl t could be found between the great lakes and the sea coast yet there is variety enough both oa ihe surface of the canal along its banks to amuse the traveller if an did not his sometimes we met a black and rusty looking vessel laden with lumber salt from or flour and shaped at both ends like a square boot as if it had two stems aad were fated to ad backward oo its deck would be a square hut and a woman seen through the window at her household work with a little tribe of children who perhaps had been bom in this strange dwelling and knew no other home thus while the husband smoked his pipe at the and the eldest son rode one of the horses on went the family travelling hundreds of miles in their own house and carrying their fireside with them the most frequent species of craft were the line boats which had a cabin at each end and a great bulk of barrels and box s in the midst or light like our own all over with a row of windows from stem to stem and a drowsy face at every from an old one once we encountered a boat of rude construction painted in gloomy black and by three indians who gazed at us in silence and with a singular of eye perhaps these three alone among tlie ancient of the land had attempted to derive benefit from the white man s mighty projects and float along the current of his enterprise not long after in the midst of a swamp and beneath a sky we overtook a vessel that seemed full of mirth and sunshine it contained a little colony of on their way to clad in garments of strange fashion and gay colors scarlet yellow and bright blue singing laughing and making merry in odd tones and a of words one pretty with a beautiful pair of naked white arms addressed a remark to me she spoke in her native tongue and i retorted in good english both of us laughing heartily at each other s unintelligible wit i cannot describe how pleasantly this incident affected me these honest were an community of jest and fun through a gloomy land and among a dull race of money getting meeting none to understand their mirth and only one to with it yet still retaining the happy lightness of their own spirit had i been on my feet at the time instead of sailing slowly along in a dirty canal boat i should of en have paused to contemplate the along tlie banks of the canal sometimes the scene was a forest dark dense and breaking away occasionally and receding from a lonely tract covered with dismal black where on the verge of the canal might be seen a log cottage and a sallow faced sketches memory woman at the window lean and she looked poverty half clothed half fed and dwelling in a desert while a tide of wealth was sweeping by her door two or three miles farther would bring us to a lock where the slight to had created a little of trade here would be found of all sorts in yellow letters on the window shutters of a small store the of which had set his soul to the gathering of and small change buying and selling through the week and counting his gains on the blessed sabbath the next scene might be the dwelling houses and stores of a village built of wood or small gray stones a church spire rising in the midst and generally two bearing over their the titles of hotel exchange or coffee house passing on we glide now into the heart of an inland city of for instance and find ourselves amid piles of brick crowded and i rich and a busy population we feel the eager and hurrying spirit of	35
the place like a stream and whirling us along with it through the of the tumult goes the canal flowing between lofty rows of buildings and arched bridges of stone onward also go we till the hum and bustle of struggling enterprise die away behind us and we are an avenue of the ancient woods again this sounds not amiss in description but was so tiresome in reality that we were driven to the most childish for am an english traveller the deck with a rifle in his walking stick and s an war on and sometimes an unsuccessful bullet a flocks of tame ducks and ge se which abound in the dirty water of the i these birds with apples and at the ridiculous earn of their the prize th apple about like a of life several little accidents afforded us diversion at the moment of changing horses the tow rope caught a farmer by the leg i nd threw him down in a very indescribable posture leaving a purple m k around his sturdy limb a n passenger f u flat on his back in attempting to step on deck as the boat emerged from under a bridge another in his sunday clothes as good luck would have it b ing told to leap aboard from the bank forthwith up to his third t button in the and was out in a very pitiable plight not at all by our three rounds of applause anon too intent on a pocket to heed the s warning bridge bridge was d by the said bridge on his knowledge box i had myself like a pagan before his idol the dull leaden sound of the contact and expected to see the treasures of the poor man s sc about the deck however as was no harm done except a large on the and probably a corresponding in the bridge the rest of us exchanged glances and laughed quietly o how pitiless are idle people the table being now lengthened through the cabin spread for supper the next twenty minutes were sketches memory tlie i had spent on the canal the same space at dinner at the close of the meal it had become dusky enough for the rain on the deck and sometimes came with a sullen rush against the windows driven hy the wind as it stirred through an opening of the forest the intolerable of the an evil spirit in me perceiving that the englishman was taking notes in a book with occasional round the cabin i presumed that we were all to figure in a future volume of travels and amused my iu humor by falling into the probable vein of his re marks he would hold up an imaginary mirror wherein our reflected faces would appear ugly and ridiculous yet still retain an likeness to the then with more sweeping malice he would make these the representatives of great classes of my countrymen he glanced at the virginia a yankee l birth who to himself was examining a college iu the of a greek him the englishman would as the scholar of america and compare his w a s latin theme mad up of scraps ill selected and worse put together next the looked at the who was delivering a on the of sunday here was the far of new england his religion writes the englishman is gloom on the sabbath long prayers every morning and and at all times his boasted information is merely an abstract and l of newspaper vol ii from an old and the argument and judge s charge in his own tho cast his eye at a merchant and began faster than ever in this man this lean man of wrinkled brow we see daring enterprise and close combined here is the of at here is the three richer after every ruin here in one word o wicked englishman to say it here is the american he lifted his to inspect a western lady who at once became aware of the glance and retired deeper into the female part of the cabin here was the pure modest sensitive and shrinking woman of america shrinking when no evil is intended and sensitive like flesh that if you but point at it and strangely modest without confidence in the modesty of other people and admirably pure with such a quick apprehension of all in this manner i went all through the cabin every body as hard a lash as i could and laying the whole blame on the infernal englishman at length i caught the eyes of my own image in the where a number of the party were likewise and among them the englishman who at that moment was intently observing i he crimson curtain being let down between the and gentlemen the cabin became a bed chamber for twenty persons who were laid on shelves one above another for a long time our various kept us all awake except five or six who were sketches to sleep nightly amid the uproar of their own and had little to dread from any other species of disturbance it is a curious fact that these had been the most quiet people in the boat while awake and became only when others cease to be so breathing tumult out of their repose would it were possible to a wind instrument to the nose and thus make melody of a so that a sleeping lover might his mistress or a congregation a tune other though fainter sounds than these contributed to my restlessness my head was close to the crimson curtain the division of the boat behind which i continually heard whispers and stealthy footsteps the noise of a comb laid on the table or a dropped on the floor the like a broken caused by a tight belt the rustling of a	35
gown in its descent and the of a pair of stays my ear seemed to have the properties of an eye a visible image my fancy in the darkness the curtain was withdrawn between me and the western lady yet herself without a blush finally all was hushed in that quarter still i was more broad awake than through the whole preceding day and felt a feverish impulse to toss my limbs miles apart and the of mind by that of matter forgetting that my berth was hardly so wide as a i turned suddenly over and fell like an on the floor to the disturbance of the whole community of as there were no bones broken i blessed the accident and went on deck a lantern was burning at each end of the boat and one from an old of the was at the bows keeping manners do on the ocean though the rain had ceased the sky was all one cloud and the darkness so intense that there seemed to be no world except the little space on which our yet it was an scene we were the long level a dead flat be and where the canal has not rise or fall enough to require a lock for nearly seventy miles there hardly be a more tract of country the forest which covers it consisting chiefly of black ash and other trees that live ia moisture is now decayed and by of the swamp into the great ditch of the canal sometimes indeed our lights w e reflected from pools of water which stretched far in the trunks of the trees beneath dense masses of dark foliage but generally the tall stems and branches were naked and brought into strong relief amid the surrounding gloom by the whiteness of their decay we beheld the prostrate form of some old giant which had fallen and crushed down smaller trees under its immense ruin in where destruction had been the perhaps a hundred trunks erect half extended along the ground resting cm their shattered limbs or tossing them desperately into the darkness but all of one white all naked together in desolate confusion thus growing out of the night as we drew nigh and vanishing as we glided on based o and and bounded by it the was the very land of things sketches from whither dreams might themselves when they quit the s brain my fancy found another emblem the wild nature of america had been driven to this desert place by the of civilized man and even here where the savage queen was on the ruins of her empire did we penetrate a vulgar and worldly throng on her latest solitude in other lands decay sits among fallen palaces but here her home is in the forests looking ahead i discerned a distant light announcing the approach of another boat which soon passed us and proved to be a rusty old just such a craft as the flying would on the canal perhaps it was that celebrated personage himself whom i imperfectly distinguished at the in a glazed cap and rough with a pipe in his mouth leaving the of tobacco a hundred yards behind shortly after our blew a horn sending a long and melancholy note through the forest avenue as a signal for some in the wilderness to he ready with a change of horses wc had proceeded a mile or two with our fresh team when the tow rope entangled in a fallen branch on the edge of the canal and caused a momentary delay which i went to examine the light of an old tree a little within the forest it was not the first radiance that i had followed the tree lay along the ground and was wholly converted into a mass of splendor which threw a around being full of that night called it a fire a funeral light an old and death an emblem of fame that around the dead man without warming him or of genius when it owes its brilliancy to moral and was thinking that such were just fit to light up this dead forest or to blaze coldly in when starting from my abstraction i looked up the canal i recollected myself and discovered the glimmering far away boat shouted i making a trumpet of my closed fists though the cry must have rung for miles along that hollow passage of the woods it produced no effect these packet boats make up for their pace by never day nor night especially for those who have paid their fare indeed the captain had an interest in getting rid of me for i was his for a breakfast they are gone heaven be praised ejaculated i for i cannot possibly overtake them here am i on the long level at midnight with the comfortable prospect of a walk to where my baggage will be left and now to find a house or shed wherein to pass the night so thinking aloud i took a from the old tree burning but not to light my steps withal and like a jack o the set out on nay midnight tour k v the old apple dealer the lover of the moral picturesque may sometimes find what he seeks in a character which is nevertheless of too negative a description to be seized upon and represented to the imaginative vision by word painting as an instance i remember an old man who carries on a little trade of and apples at the of one of our while awaiting the departure of the cars my observation flitting to and fro among the characteristics of the scene has often settled upon this almost object thus unconsciously to myself and by him i have studied the old apple dealer until he has become a citizen of my inner world how little would he imagine poor neglected and with little that demands	35
appreciation that the mental eye of an utter stranger has so often to his figure many a noble form many a beautiful face has flitted before me and vanished like a shadow it is a strange whereby this faded and old apple dealer has gained a settlement in my memory he is a small man with gray hair and gray beard and is invariably clad in a shabby of snuff color closely and half concealing a pair an old of gray the whole dress though clean and entire being evidently with much wear his face thin withered and with features which even age has failed to render impressive has a aspect it is a moral frost which no physical warmth or could the summer may fling its white heat upon him or tlie good fire of the room may make him the of its blaze on a winter a day but all in v n for still the old man looks as if he were in a frosty with scarcely warmth enough to keep life in the region about his heart it is a patient long suffering quiet hopeless shivering aspect he is not desperate that though its no more would be too positive an expression but merely devoid of hope as all his past life probably offers no spots of bright ness to his memory so he takes his present poverty and discomfort as entirely a matter of course he thinks it the definition of existence so far as himself is concerned to be poor cold and uncomfortable it may be added that time has not thrown dignity as a mantle over the old man s figure there is nothing venerable about him you pity him without a scruple he sits on a bench in the room and before him on the floor are deposited two baskets of a capacity to contain his whole stock in across from one basket to the other extends a board on which is displayed a plate of cakes and some and apples and a box containing ed sticks of together with that known by children as rock neatly done up in white paper there is likewise a half ths old aj tht dealer of era and two or three tin half or filled with the nut ready for rs such are the small with which our old friend daily before the world to its petty needs little of appetite and seeking thence the so i so far as he may of his life a slight observer would speak of the old man but on closer you discover that there is a continual within him re the action of the nerves in a corpse from which life has recently departed though he any violent action and might aj to be sitting quite still yet you perceive his peculiarities begin to be detected that he is always making some little movement or other he looks at his plate of cakes or of apples and slightly their arrangement with an evident idea that a great deal depends on their being disposed exactly thus and so then for a moment he put of the window then he quietly and folds his arms across his breast as if to draw himself closer within himself and thus keep a of warmth in his heart now he turns again to his of cakes apples and and that this cake or that apple or yonder stick of red and white has somehow got out of its proper position and is there not a too many or too few in one of those small tin measures again the whole arrangement appears to be settled to his mind but in the course of a minute or two there will assuredly b to set right at times by an from an old shadow upon his features too quiet however to be noticed until you are familiar with his the expression of patient despondency becomes yery touching it seems as if just at that instant the suspicion occurred to him that in his decline of life earning scanty bread by selling cakes apples and he is a very miserable old fellow but if he think so it is a mistake he can never the extreme of misery because the tone of his whole being is too much subdued for him to feel any thing occasionally one of the passengers to while away a tedious interval approaches the old man the articles upon his board and even curiously into the two baskets another to and fro along the room throws a look at the apples and at every turn a third it may be of a more sensitive and delicate texture of being glances cautious not to excite expectations of a while yet whether to buy but there appears to be no need of such a scrupulous regard to our old friend s feelings true he is conscious of the remote possibility to sell a cake or an apple but innumerable disappointments have rendered him so far a philosopher that even if the purchased article should be returned he will consider it altogether in the ordinary train of events he speaks to none and makes no sign of offering his wa es to the public not that he is by pride but by the certain conviction that such not increase his custom besides his activity in business would require an energy that the old apple dealer could have been a characteristic of his almost passive disposition even in youth whenever an actual customer appears the old man looks up with a pa eye if the price and the article are approved he is ready to make change otherwise his eyelids again sadly enough but with no heavier despondency before he perhaps folds his lean arms around his lean body and the frozen patience in which consists his strength once in a while a comes hastily up places a cent or two upon	35
the board and takes up a cake or stick of or a measure of or an apple as ted as himself there are no words as to price that being as well known to the as to the the old apple dealer never speaks an unnecessary word not that he is sullen and but there is none of the and in him that up people to talk not seldom he is greeted by some old neighbor a well to do in the world who makes a civil patron observation about the weather and then by way of performing a charitable deed begins to for an apple our friend not on any past acquaintance he makes the possible response to all general remarks and quietly into himself again after every of his stock he takes care to produce from the basket another cake another stick of another apple or another measure of to supply the ce of the article sold two or three attempts or perchance half a dozen are requisite before the board can be to his satisfaction if he have received a silver coin he waits till m al old is out of sight it and tries to bend it with his finger and thumb finally he puts it into his waistcoat pocket with seemingly gentle sigh this sigh so faint as to be hardly and not expressive of any definite emotion i the accompaniment and conclusion of all his actions it is the symbol of the and melancholy ot his old age which only make themselves felt sen when his repose is slightly disturbed our man of and apples is not a men of the man who has seen better days doubtless there have been better and brighter days in the far off time of his youth but none with so sunshine of prosperity in them that the chill the depression the of means in his declining years can have come upon him by surprise his life all been of a piece his subdued and boyhood his prime which likewise contained within itself the prophecy and image of his lean and age he was perhaps a who never came to be a master in his craft or a petty trades man rubbing onward between to do and poverty possibly he may look back to some brilliant epoch of his career when there were a hundred or two of dollars to his credit in the bank such must been the extent of his better fortune his little measure of this world s triumphs all that he has known of success a meek downcast humble he probably has r felt himself entitled to more than so much of the s of providence is it not still something that he has never held out his hand for nor has yet been driven to that sad old apple dealer household of earth s and broken spirited children the he no quarrel therefore with his destiny nor with the author of it all is s it should be if indeed he have been of a son a bold energetic vigorous young man on whom the father s feeble nature leaned on a staff of strength in that ease he may have felt a bitterness that could not otherwise have been in his heart but the joy of possessing such a son and the agony of losing him would have developed the old man s moral and intellectual nature to a much greater degree than we now find it intense grief appears to be as much out of keeping with his life as happiness to confess the truth it is not the easiest matter in the world to define and a like this which we are now handling the portrait must be so generally negative that the most delicate pencil is likely to spoil it by introducing some too positive tint every touch must be kept down or else you destroy the subdued tone which is absolutely essential to the whole perhaps more may be done by contrast than by direct description for this purpose i make use of another cake and merchant who likewise the railroad this latter worthy is a very smart and well dressed boy of ten years old ot who briskly hither and thither addressing the passengers in a voice yet with somewhat of good in his tone and now he has caught my eye and across the room with a pretty which i should like to correct with a box n the ear sir any from old no none for me my lad i did but glance at your brisk figure in order to catch a reflected light and throw it upon your old rival yonder again in order to invest my conception of the old man with a more decided sense of reality i look at him in the very moment of bustle on the arrival of the cars the shriek of the engine as it rushes into the car house is the utterance of the steam whom man has subdued by magic and to serve as a beast of burden he has rivers in his headlong rush dashed through forests plunged into the hearts of mountains and glanced from the city to the desert p ace and again to a far off city with a progress seen and out of sight while his roar still fills the ear the travellers swarm forth from the cars all are full of the which they have caught from their mode of conveyance it seems as if the whole world both morally and physically were detached from its old and set in rapid motion and in the midst of this terrible activity there sits the old man of so subdued so hopeless so without a stake in life and yet not positively miserable there he sits the forlorn old creature one chill and sombre day af er another gathering scanty for his cakes apples	35
and fit for nothing else yet too poor to at his ease so i say once again give me main strength for my money and then how it takes the nonsense out of a man did you ever hear of a blacksmith being such a fool as yonder well said uncle shouted robert from the in a full deep merry voice that made the roof and what says miss the artist of the beautiful to that doctrine she i suppose will think it a business to up a lady s watch than to a or make a drew her father onward without giving him time for reply but we must return to s shop and spend more meditation upon his history and character than either peter or probably his daughter or s old robert would have thought due to so slight a subject from the time that his little fingers could grasp a had been remarkable for a delicate ingenuity which sometimes produced pretty shapes in wood principally figures of flowers and birds and sometimes seemed to aim at the hidden mysteries of but it was always for purposes of grace and never with any mockery of the useful he did not like the crowd of little on the angle of a barn or across the neighboring brook those who discovered such peculiarity in the boy as to think it worth their while to observe him closely sometimes saw reason to suppose that he was attempting to imitate the beautiful movements of nature as in the flight of birds or the activity of little animals it seemed in fact a new development of the love of the beautiful such as might have made him a poet a painter or a and which was as completely refined from all as it could have been in either of the fine arts he looked with at the and regular processes of ordinary machinery being once carried to see a steam engine in the expectation that from an old his comprehension of mechanical principles would be gratified he turned pale and grew sick as if something monstrous and unnatural had been presented to him this horror was partly owing to the size and terrible energy of the iron for the character of s mind was and tended naturally to the minute in accordance with his frame and the marvellous and delicate power of his fingers not that his sense of beauty was thereby diminished into a sense of the beautiful idea has no relation to size and may be as perfectly developed in a space too minute for any but investigation as the ample verge that is measured by tlie arc of the rainbow but at ail events this characteristic in his objects and accomplishments made the world even more incapable than it might otherwise have been of s genius the boy s relatives s w nothing better to be done as perhaps there was not than to bind him to a hoping that his strange ingenuity might thus be regulated and put to purposes peter s opinion of his has already been expressed he could make nothing of the lad s apprehension of the professional mysteries it is true was quick but he altogether forgot or despised the grand object of a s business and cared no more for the of time than if it had been into eternity so long however as he remained under his old cr s care s lack of made it possible by strict and sharp to restrain his the artist of the beautiful within bounds but was served out and he had taken little hop which peter s failing compelled him to then did people recognize now unfit a person was to lead old blind time along his daily course one ol his most rational projects was to connect a musical operation with the machinery of his watches so that all the harsh of life might be rendered and each moment fall into the abyss of the past in golden drops of if a family clock was to for repair one of those tall ancient that have grown nearly allied to human nature by measuring out the lifetime of many generations he would take upon himself to arrange a dance or funeral procession of figures across its venerable face representing twelve or melancholy hours several of this kind quite destroyed the s credit with that steady and matter of fact class of people who hold the opinion that time is not to be with whether considered as the medium of advance ment and prosperity in this world or preparation for the next his custom rapidly diminished a misfortune however that was probably reckoned among his better accidents by who was becoming more and more absorbed in a secret occupation hich drew all his science and manual dexterity into itself and likewise gave full employment to the characteristic tendencies of his genius this pursuit had already consumed many months after the old and his pretty daughter had gazed at him out of the obscurity of the street s from an old was seized with a fluttering of the nerves which made his hand tremble too violently to proceed with such delicate labor as he was now en upon it was herself murmured he i should have known it by this throbbing of my heart before i heard her father s voice ah how it i i shall scarcely be able to work again on this exquisite to night dearest thou give firmness to my heart and hand and not shake them thus for if i strive to put the very spirit of beauty into form and give it motion it is for thy sake alone o throbbing heart be quiet if my labor be thus there will come vague and dreams which will leave me to morrow as he was to settle himself again to his task the shop door opened and	35
gave to no other than the figure which peter had paused to admire as seen amid the light and shadow of the blacksmith s shop robert had brought a little of his own manufacture and peculiarly constructed which the young artist had recently examined the article and pronounced it fashioned according to his wish why yes said robert his strong voice filling the shop as with the sound of a bass i consider myself equal to any thing in the way of my own trade though i should have made but a poor figure at yours with such a fist as this added he laughing as he laid his vast hand beside the delicate one of but what then i put more main strength into one blow of my hammer than all that you have the artist of the expended since you were a is not that the truth very probably answered the low and slender voice of strength is an earthly monster i make no pretensions to it my force whatever there be of it is altogether spiritual well but what are you about asked hia old still in such a hearty volume of tone that it made the artist shrink especially as the question related to a subject so sacred as the absorbing dream of bis imagination folks do say that you are trying to discover the perpetual motion the perpetual motion nonsense replied with a movement of disgust for he was full of little it can never be discovered it is a dream that may men whose brains are with matter but not me besides if such a discovery were possible it would not be worth my while to make it only to have the secret turned to such purposes as are now effected by steam and water power i am not ambitious to be honored with the of a new kind of cotton machine that would be droll enough cried the blacksmith breaking out into such an uproar of laughter that himself and the bell glasses on his quivered in no no no child of yours will have iron joints and well i won t you any more good night and success and if you need any assistance so far as a downright blow of hammer upon will answer the purpose i m your man and v ith another laugh the man of main strength left the shop b an how it is whispered t himself leaning his head upon his hand that all my my purposes my passion for the my of power to create it a finer more power of which this earthly giant can have no conception all all look so and idle whenever my path is crossed by robert i he drive me mad were i to meet him his hard brute force and the spiritual element within me but i too will be strong in my own way i will not yield to him he took from beneath a glass a piece of minute ma which he set in the light of his lamp and looking intently at it through a glass proceeded to operate with a delicate instrument of in an instant however he fell back in his aiid clasped hands with a look of horror on that made its small features as impressive as of a giant would have been heaven what have done exclaimed ha the the influence of that brute force i has bewildered me and obscured my perception i have made the very stroke the fatal stroke that f have dreaded from the first it is all over the toil of months the object of my life i am ruined and there he sat in strange despair until his lamp in the and left the artist of the beautiful in darkness thus it grow up within the and appear so lovely to it and of a value beyond whatever men call valuable are exposed to be and hy contact with the practical the of the beautiful it is requisite for the ideal artist to possess a force of character that seems hardly with its delicacy he must keep his faith in himself while the incredulous world him with its utter he must stand up against mankind and be his own both as respects his genius and the objects to which it is directed for a time to this severe but inevitable test he spent a few weeks with his head so continually resting in his hands that the had scarcely an opportunity to see his countenance when at last it was again uplifted to the light of day a cold dull nameless change was perceptible upon it in the opinion of peter however and that order of sagacious who think that life should be regulated like with leaden the alteration was entirely for the better now indeed applied himself to business with dogged industry it was marvellous to witness the gravity with which he would inspect the wheels of a great old silver watch thereby the owner in whose it had been worn till he deemed it a portion of his own life and was accordingly jealous of its treatment in consequence of the good report thus acquired was invited by the proper authorities to the clock in the church he succeeded so in this matter of public interest that the merchants acknowledged his merits on change the nurse whispered his praises as she gave the in the sick chamber the blessed him at the hour of appointed interview and the town in general thanked for the from an old of dinner time in a word the heavy weight upon his spirits kept every thing in order not merely within his own system but the iron accents of the church clock were audible it was a circumstance though minute yet characteristic of his present state that when employed to names or on silver he now wrote	35
the requisite letters in the possible style a variety of fanciful that had heretofore distinguished his work in this kind one day during the era of this happy old peter came to visit his former well said he i am glad to hear such good accounts of you from all quarters and especially from the town clock yonder which speaks in your every hour of the twenty four only get rid altogether of your about the beautiful which i nor nobody else nor yourself to boot could ever understand only free yourself of that and your success in life is as sure as daylight why if you go on in this way i should even venture to let you doctor this precious old watch of mine though except my daughter i have nothing else so valuable in the world i should hardly dare touch it sir replied in a depressed tone for he weighed down by his old master s presence in time said the latter in time you will be capable of it the old with the freedom naturally consequent on his former authority went on the artist of the beautiful work which had in hand at the moment together with other matters that were in progress the artist meanwhile could scarcely lift his head there was nothing so to his nature as this man s cold v by contact with which every thing was converted into a dream except the matter of the physical world groaned in spirit and prayed fervently to be delivered from him but what is this cried peter abruptly taking up a dusty bell glass beneath which appeared a mechanical something as delicate and minute as the system of a butterfly s what have we here there is in these little chains and wheels and see with one pinch of my finger and thumb i am going to deliver you from all future peril for heaven s sake screamed springing up with wonderful energy as you would not drive me mad do not touch it the slightest pressure of your finger would ruin me forever young man and is it so said the old looking at him with just enough of penetration to torture s soul with the bitterness of worldly criticism well take your own course but i warn you again that in this small piece of lives your evil spirit shall i him you are my evil spirit answered much excited you and the hard coarse world the leaden thoughts and the despondency that you fling upon mo are my else should long ago have achieved the task that was created for b from an old p ter shook his head with the mixture of contempt and indignation which mankind of whom he was partly a representative deem themselves entitled to feel towards all who seek other than the dusty one along the highway he then took bis leave with an uplifted finger and a sneer upon his face that haunted the dreams for many a night afterwards at the time of his old master s visit was on the point of up the task but by this sinister event he was thrown back into the state whence he had been slowly emerging but the innate tendency of his soul had only been fresh vigor during its apparent as the summer advanced he almost totally his business and permitted father time so far as the old was represented by the and watches under his control to stray at random through human life making infinite confusion among the train of bewildered hours he wasted the sunshine as people said in wandering through the woods and fields and along the banks of streams there like a child he found amusement in chasing or watching the motions of water insects there was something truly mysterious in the with which he contemplated these living as they on the breeze or examined the structure of an imperial insect whom he had imprisoned the chase of was an apt emblem of the ideal pursuit in which he had spent so many golden hours but would the idea ever be yielded to his hand like the butterfly that it sweet doubtless were these and congenial to the soul they were the artist of the full of bright which gleamed through his intellectual world as the gleamed through the outward atmosphere and were real to him for the instant without the toil and perplexity and many disappointments of attempting to make them visible to the eye alas that the artist whether in poetry or whatever other material may not content himself with inward enjoyment of the beautiful but must chase the flitting mystery beyond the verge of his ethereal domain and crush its frail being in seizing it with a material grasp felt the impulse to give external reality to his ideas as irresistibly as any of the poets or painters who have arrayed the world in a and fainter beauty imperfectly copied from the richness of their visions the night was now his time for the slow progress of re creating the one idea to which all his intellectual activity referred itself always at the approach of dusk he stole into the town locked himself within his shop and wrought with patient delicacy of touch for many hours sometimes he was startled by the rap of the who when all the world should be asleep had caught the gleam of through the of s shutters daylight to the morbid sensibility of his mind seemed to have an that interfered with his pursuits on cloudy and days therefore he sat with his head upon his hands as it were his sensitive brain in a mist of indefinite for it was a relief to escape from the sharp distinctness with which he was compelled to shape out his thoughts during his nightly toil from one of these fits of he was aroused by from an old the entrance	35
bright butterfly which had come so spirit like into the window as sat with the rude was indeed a spirit to recall him to the pure ideal life that hai so ethereal him among men it might be that he went forth to seek this spirit in its sunny haunts for still as in the summer time gone by he was seen to steal gently up wherever a butterfly had alighted vol ii from old and lose himself in contemplation of it when it took his eyes followed the winged vision as if its airy track would show the path to heaven but what could be the purpose of the toil which was again resumed as the knew by the lines of through the of s shutters the had one comprehensive explanation of all these had gone mad how universally how satisfactory too and soothing to the injured sensibility of and is this easy method of for whatever lies beyond the world s most ordinary scope from st days down to our poor little artist of the beautiful the same had been applied to the of all mysteries in the words or deeds of men who spoke or acted too wisely or too well in s case the judgment of his may have been correct perhaps he was mad the lack of sympathy that contrast between himself and his neighbors which took away the restraint of example was enough to make him so or possibly he had caught just so much of ethereal radiance as served to him in an earthly sense by its with the common daylight one evening when the artist had returned from a customary and had just thrown the lustre of his lamp on the delicate piece of work so often interrupted but still taken up again as if his fate were in its he was surprised by the entrance of old peter never met this man without a shrinking of the heart of all the world he was most the artist of the beautiful terrible by reason of a keen understanding which saw so distinctly what it did see and so in what it could not see on this occasion the old had merely a gracious word or two to say my lad said he we must see you at my house to morrow night the artist to some excuse o but it must be so peter for the sake of the days when you were one of the household what my boy don t you know that my daughter is engaged to robert we are making an entertainment in our humble way to the event ah said that little was all he uttered its tone seemed cold and to an ear like peter s and yet there was in it the stifled of the poor artist s heart which he compressed within him like a man holding down an evil spirit one slight outbreak however to the old he allowed himself the instrument with which he was about to begin his work he let it fall upon the little system of machinery that had anew cost him months of thought and toil it was shattered by the stroke i s story would have been no tolerable r of the troubled life of those who strive t create the beautiful if amid all other n love had not interposed to steal the cunning from his hand outwardly he had been no ardent or lover the career of his passion had con an old its and so entirely within tiie artist s imagination that herself had scarcely more than a woman s perception of it hut in s view it covered the whole field of his life forgetful of the time when she had shown herself incapable of any deep response he had persisted in connecting all his dreams of success with s image she was the visible shape in which the spiritual power that he worshipped and on whose altar he hoped to lay a not unworthy offering was made manifest to him of course he had deceived himself there were no such attributes in as his imagination had endowed her with she in the aspect which she wore to his inward vision was as much a creature of his own as the mysterious piece of would be were it ever realized had he become convinced of his mistake through the medium of successful love had he won to his bosom and there beheld her fade from angel into ordinary woman the disappointment might have driven him back with concentrated energy upon his sole remaining object on the other hand had he found what he fancied his lot would have been so rich in beauty that out of its mere he might have wrought the beautiful into many a type than he had toiled for the guise in which his sorrow came to him the sense that the angel of his life had been snatched away and given to a rude man of earth and iron who could neither need appreciate her this was the very of fate that makes human existence appear too absurd and contradictory to be the scene of one other hope or one other fear was nothing the of the beautiful for but to sit down like a man that had stunned he went through a fit of illness after his recovery his small and slender frame assumed an of flesh than it had ever before worn his thin cheeks became round his delicate little hand so fashioned to achieve fairy grew than the hand of a infant his aspect had a such as might have induced a stranger to pat him on the head pausing however in the act to wonder what manner of child was here it was as if the spirit had gone out of him leaving the body to flourish in a sort of vegetable existence not	35
that was he could talk and not somewhat of a indeed did people begin to think him for he was apt to discourse at wearisome length of of that he had read about in books but which he had learned to consider as absolutely among them he the man of brass constructed by and the brazen head of bacon and coming down to later times the of a little coach and horses which it was pretended had been for the of france together with an insect that about the ear like a living fly and yet was but a of minute steel springs there was ft story too of a duck that and and ate though had any honest citizen purchased it for dinner he would have found himself cheated with the mere mechanical apparition of a duck but all these accounts said am now satisfied are mere from an old then in a mysterious way he would confess that he once thought differently in his idle and dreamy days he had considered it possible ia a certain sense to machinery and to combine with the new species of life and motion thus produced a beauty that should attain to the ideal which nature has proposed to herself in all her creatures but has never taken pains to realize he seemed however to retain no very dis perception either of the process of this object or of the design itself i have thrown it all aside now he would say ii was a dream such as young men are always themselves with now that i have acquired a little common sense it makes me laugh to think of it poor poor and fallen these were the symptoms that he had ceased to be an of the better sphere that lies unseen around us ho had lost his faith in the invisible and now himself as such invariably do in the wisdom which rejected much that even his eye could see and trusted confidently in nothing but what his hand could touch this is the calamity of men whose spiritual part dies out of them and leaves the understanding to them more and more to the things of which alone it can take but in war land the spirit was not dead nor passed away it only slept how it awoke again is not recorded perhaps the slumber was broken by a pain perhaps as in a former instance the butterfly came and hovered about his head and him as deed this creature of the sunshine had always a the of the beautiful mission for the artist him with the former purpose of his life whether it were pain or happiness that thrilled through his veins his first impulse was to thank heaven for rendering him again the being of thought imagination and keenest sensibility that he had long ceased to be now for my task said he never did i feel such strength for it as now yet strong as he felt himself he was to toil the more diligently by an anxiety lest death should surprise him in the midst of his labors this anxiety perhaps is common to all men who set their hearts upon any thing so high in their own view of it that life becomes of importance only as to its accomplishment so long as we love life for itself we seldom dread the losing it when we desire life for the of an object we recognize the of its texture but side by side with this sense of there is a vital faith in our to the shaft of death while engaged in any task that seems assigned by providence as our proper thing to do and which the world would have cause to mourn for should we leave it can the philosopher big with the inspiration of an idea that is to reform mankind believe that he is to be beckoned from this sensible e at the very instant when he is his breath to speak the word of light should he perish so the weary ages may pass away the world s whole life sand may fall drop by drop before another intellect is prepared to develop the truth that might have been uttered then but history affords many an example where the most precious spirit at any particular from an old epoch manifested in human shape has gone hence without space allowed him so far as mortal judgment could discern to perform his mission on the earth the prophet dies and the man of heart and brain lives on the poet leaves his song half sung or it beyond the scope of mortal ears in a celestial choir the painter as did leaves half his conception on the canvas to us with its imperfect beauty and goes to picture forth the whole if it be no to say so in the hues of heaven but rather such designs of this life will be nowhere this so frequent of man s dearest projects must be taken as a proof that the deeds of earth however by piety or genius are without value except as exercises and of the spirit in heaven all ordinary thought is higher and more melodious than milton s song then would he add another verse to any strain that he had left unfinished here but to return to it was his fortune good or ill to achieve the purpose of his life pass we over a long space of intense thought yearning effort minute toil and wasting anxiety succeeded by an instant of solitary triumph let all this be imagined and then behold the artist on a winter evening seeking to robert s fireside circle there he found the man of iron with his massive substance thoroughly warmed and by domestic influences and there was too now transformed into a matron with much of her husband s plain and sturdy nature but	35
as still believed with a finer that might enable her to be op the beautiful the between strength and beauty it happened likewise that old peter was a guest this evening at his daughter s fireside and it was his well remembered expression of keen cold criticism that first encountered the artist s glance my old friend cried robert starting up and the artist s delicate fingers within a hand that was accustomed to bars of iron this is kind and to come to us at last i was afraid your perpetual motion had you out of the remembrance of old we are glad to see you said while a blush her cheek it was not like a friend to stay from us so long well inquired the old as his first greeting how comes on the beautiful have you created it at last the artist did not immediately reply being startled by the apparition of a young child of strength that was tumbling about on the carpet a little personage who had come mysteriously out of the infinite but with something so sturdy and real in his composition that he seemed out of the substance which earth could supply this hopeful infant crawled towards the new comer and setting himself on end as robert expressed the posture stared at with a look of such sagacious observation that the mother could not help exchanging a proud glance with her husband but the artist was disturbed by the child s look as imagining a resemblance between it and peter s habitual expression he could have fancied that the old was compressed i m as into this baby shape and looking out of those baby ye and repeating as he now did the malicious question the beautiful how comes on the have you succeeded in creating the beautiful i have succeeded replied the artist with a light of triumph in his eyes and a smile of sunshine yet in such depth of thought that k was almost sadness yes my friends it is the truth i have succeeded indeed i cried a look of maiden peeping out of her face again and is it lawful now to inquire what the secret is surely it is to disclose it that i have come you shall know and see and touch and possess the secret i for if by that name i may still address the friend of my boyish years it is for your gift that have wrought this this harmony of motion this mystery of beauty it comes late indeed but it is as we go onward in life when objects begin to lose their freshness of hue and our souls their delicacy of perception that the spirit of beauty is most needed if forgive me if y know how to value this gift it can never come too late he produced as he spoke what seemed a jewel box it was carved richly out of by his own hand and with a fanciful of pearl representing a boy in pursuit of a butterfly which elsewhere had become a winged spirit and was flying while the boy or youth had found such in his strong desire that he ascended from earth to cloud and the from to atmosphere to win die beautiful this ome of l e artist opened and place her finger on its she did so hut almost screamed as a butterfly forth and on her finger s tip sat waving the ample magnificence of its purple and gold wings as if in to a flight st is impossible to by words the glory the splendor the delicate which were into the beauty of this object nature s ideal butterfly here realized in all its perfection not in the pattern of such faded insects as among earthly but of those which across the of paradise for and the spirits of departed to themselves with the rich down was visible upon its wings the lustre of its eyes seemed instinct with spirit the around this wonder the candles gleamed upon it but it apparently by its own radiance and il the finger and outstretched hand on which it rested a white gleam like that of precious stones in its perfect beauty the consideration of size was entirely lost had its the the mind could not have been filled or satisfied beautiful beautiful is it alive is it alive alive to be sure it is answered her husband do you suppose any mortal has skill enough to make a butterfly or would put himself to the trouble of making one when any child may catch a score of them in a summer s alive certainly but this pretty box is undoubtedly of our friend s and really it does him credit b an old at this moment the butterfly waved its wings anew with a motion so absolutely that was startled and even for in spite of her husband s opinion she could not satisfy herself whether it was indeed a living creature or a piece of wondrous is it alive she repeated more earnestly than before judge for yourself said who stood gazing in her face with fixed the butterfly now flung itself upon the air fluttered round s head and into a distant region of the parlor still making itself perceptible to sight by the gleam in which the motion of its wings enveloped it the infant on the floor followed its course with his sagacious little eyes after flying about the room it returned in a curve and settled again on s finger but is it alive exclaimed she again and the finger on which the gorgeous mystery had alighted was so tremulous that the butterfly was forced to balance himself with his wings tell me if it be alive or whether you created it wherefore ask who created it so it be	35
beautiful replied alive yes it may well be said to possess life for it has absorbed my own into itself and in the secret of that butterfly and in its beauty which is not merely outward but deep as its whole system is represented the intellect the imagination the sensibility the soul of an artist of the beautiful yes i created it but and here his countenance somewhat changed this butterfly the artist of the beautiful is not now to me what it was when i beheld it afar off in the of my youth be it what it may it is a pretty said the blacksmith grinning with delight i wonder whether it would condescend to alight on such a great clumsy finger as mine hold it hither by the artist s direction touched her finger s tip to that of her husband and after a momentary delay the butterfly fluttered from one to the other it a second flight by a similar yet not precisely the same waving of wings as in the first experiment then ascending from the blacksmith s finger it rose in a gradually curve to the ceiling made one wide sweep around the room and returned with an movement to the point whence it had started well that does beat all nature i cried robert dan forth the praise that he could find expression for and indeed had he paused there a man of finer words and perception could not easily have said more that goes beyond me i confess but what then there is more real use in one downright blow of my hammer than in the whole five years labor that our friend has wasted on this butterfly here the child clapped his hands and made a great of indistinct utterance apparently demanding that the butterfly should be given him for a meanwhile glanced at to discover whether she in her husband s estimate of the comparative value of the beautiful and the practical there was amid all her kindness from an old towards himself amid all the wonder and admiration with which she contemplated the marvellous work of his hands and of his idea a secret scorn too secret perhaps for her own consciousness and perceptible only to such as that of the artist but in the latter stages of his pursuit had risen out of the region in which such a discovery might have been torture he knew that the world and as the representative of the whatever praise might be bestowed could never say the fitting word nor feel the fitting sentiment which should be the perfect of an artist who a lofty by a material what was earthly to spiritual gold had won the beautiful into his not at this latest moment he to learn that the reward of all high performance must be sought within itself or sought vain there was however a view of the matter which and her husband and even peter might fully have understood and which would have satisfied them that the toil of years had here been bestowed might have told them that this butterfly this this gift of a poor to a blacksmith s wife was in truth a of art that a monarch would have purchased with honors and abundant wealth and have it among the jewels of his kingdom as the most unique and wondrous of them it but the artist smiled and kept the secret to himself father said thinking that a word of praise from the old might gratify his former do come and admire this pretty butterfly the artist of beautiful s let us sec said peter rising from his chair with a sneer upon his face that always made pie as he himself did in every thing but a material existence here is my finger for it to alight upon i shall understand it better when i have touched it but to the increased astonishment of when the tip of her father s finger was pressed against that of her husband on which the butterfly still rested the insect drooped its wings and seemed on the point of ing to the floor even the bright spots of gold upon its wings and body unless her eyes deceived her grew dim and the glowing purple took a dusky hue and the lustre that gleamed around the blacksmith s hand became and vanished it is dying it is dying i cried in alarm it has been delicately wrought said the artist calmly as i told you it has a spiritual essence call it or what you will in an atmosphere of doubt and mockery its e suffers torture as does the soul of him who his own life into it it has already lost its beauty in a few moments more its would be injured take away your hand father entreated pale here is my child let it rest on his innocent hand there perhaps its life will revive and its colors grow brighter than ever her father with an smile withdrew his finger the butterfly then appeared to recover the power of voluntary motion while its hues assumed much of their original lustre and the gleam of which from an old was its most ethereal attribute again formed a round about it at first when transferred from s hand to the small finger of the child this radiance grew so powerful that it positively threw the little fellow s shadow back against the wall he meanwhile extended his plump hand as he had seen his father and mother do and watched the waving of the insect s wings with delight nevertheless was a certain odd expression of sagacity that made feel as if here were old peter partially and but partially from his hard into childish faith how wise the little monkey looks whispered robert to his wife i never saw such a look on a child answered	35
admiring her own infant and with good reason far more than the artistic butterfly the darling knows more of the mystery than we do as if the butterfly like the artist were conscious of something not entirely congenial in the child s nature it alternately sparkled and grew dim at length it arose from the small hand of the infant with an airy motion that seemed to bear it upward without an effort as if the ethereal instincts with which its master s spirit had endowed it impelled this fair vision involuntarily to a higher sphere had there been no it might have into the sky and grown immortal but its lustre gleamed upon the ceiling the exquisite texture of its wings brushed against that earthly medium and a sparkle or two as of floated downward and lay glimmering on the carpet then the butterfly came fluttering down and instead of the artist of the turning to the infant was apparently attracted towards the hand not so not so murmured as if his could have understood him thou gone forth out of thy master s heart there is no return for thee with a wavering movement and a tremulous radiance the butterfly struggled as it were towards the infant and was about to alight upon his finger but while it still hovered in the air the little child of strength with his s sharp and shrewd expression in his face made a snatch at the marvellous insect and compressed it in his hand screamed old peter burst into a cold and scornful laugh the blacksmith by main force the infant s hand and found within the palm a small heap of glittering fragments whence the mystery of beauty had fled forever and as for he looked placidly at what seemed the ruin of his life s labor and which was yet no ruin he had caught a far other butterfly than this when the artist rose high enough to achieve the beautiful by he made it to i became of little value in fly a i ii itself iu tho enjoy ef vol ii a s collection the other day having a leisure hour at my disposal i stepped into a new museum to which my notice was casually drawn by a small and sign to be seen here a s collection such was the simple yet not altogether announcement that turned my steps aside for a little while from the sunny of our principal mounting a sombre staircase i pushed open a door at its summit and found myself in the presence of a person who mentioned the moderate sum that would me to three shillings tenor said he no i mean half a dollar as you reckon in these days while searching my pocket for the coin i glanced at the the marked character and individuality of whose aspect encouraged me to expect something not quite in the way he wore an old fashioned much faded within which his meagre person was so completely enveloped that the rest of his attire was but his was remarkably wind flushed and weather worn and had a most nervous and apprehensive expression it seemed as if this man had some all object in view some point of deepest interest to be decided a s momentous question to ask might he but hope for a reply as it was evident however that i could have nothing to do with his private affairs i passed through an open doorway which admitted me into the extensive hall of the museum directly in front of the was the bronze statue of a youth with winged feet he was represented in the act of flitting away from earth yet wore such a look of earnest invitation that it impressed me like a summons to enter the hall it is the original statue of opportunity by the ancient said a gentleman who now approached me i place it at the entrance of my museum because it is not at all times that one can gain to such a collection the speaker was a middle aged person of whom it was not easy to determine whether he had spent his life as a scholar or as a man of action in truth all outward and obvious peculiarities had been worn away by an extensive and intercourse with the world there was no mark about him of profession individual habits or scarcely of country although his dark complexion and high features made me conjecture that he was a native of some southern of europe at all events he was he in person with your permission said he as we have no descriptive catalogue i will accompany you through the museum and point out whatever may be most worthy of attention in the first place here is a choice collection of stuffed animals nearest the door stood the outward semblance of a wolf exquisitely prepared it is true and showing a from an old in the large glass eyes which were inserted into its wild and head still it was merely the skin of a wolf with nothing to distinguish it from other individuals of that does this animal deserve a place in your collection inquired it is the wolf that devoured little red riding hood answered the and by his side with a and more look as you perceive stands the she wolf that and ah indeed exclaimed i and what lovely lamb is this with the snow white which seems to be of as delicate a texture as innocence itself you have but carelessly read replied my guide or you would at once recognize the milk white lamb which led but i set no great value upon the lamb the next specimen is better worth our notice what cried i this strange animal with the black head of an ox upon the body of a white horse f were it possible to suppose it i	35
should say that this was alexander s the same said the and can you likewise give a name tj e famous that stands beside him next to the renowned stood the mere skeleton of a horse with the white bones peeping through his ill hide but if my heart had not warmed towards that pitiful i might as well have quitted the museum at once its had not been collected with pain and toil from the four a s collection quarters of the earth and from the depths of the sea and the palaces and of ages for those who could mistake this illustrious it is i exclaimed i with enthusiasm and so it proved my admiration for the noble and gallant horse caused me to glance with less interest at the other animals although many of them might have deserved the notice of himself there was the donkey which peter bell so soundly and a brother of the same species who had suffered a similar from the ancient prophet some doubts were entertained however as to the of the latter beast my guide pointed out the venerable that faithful dog of and also another dog for so the skin it which though imperfectly preserved seemed once to have had three heads it was i was considerably amused at in an obscure corner the fox that became so famous by the loss of his tail there were several stuffed cats which as a dear lover of that comfortable beast attracted my affectionate regards one was dr johnson s eat and in the same row stood the favorite cats of gray and walter scott together with in boots and a cat of very noble aspect who had once been a deity of egypt s tame bear came next i must not forget to mention the the skin of st george s and that of the serpent and another skin with beautifully hues supposed to have been the garment of the spirited sly snake which tempted eve against the walls were suspended the horns of the that shot and on the floor lay the ponderous an old shell of the which fell upon the head of in one row as natural as life stood the sacred bull the cow with the horn and a very wild l x king young which i guessed to be the cow that jumped over the moon she was probably killed by the rapidity of her descent as i turned away my eyes fell upon an indescribable monster which proved to be a i look in vain observed i for the skin of an animal which might well deserve the study of a the winged horse he is not yet dead replied the but he is so hard ridden by many young gentlemen of the day that i hope soon to add his skin and skeleton to my collection we now passed to the next of the hall in which was a multitude of stuffed birds they were very prettily arranged some upon the branches of trees others brooding upon nests and others suspended by wires so that they seemed in the very act of flight among them was a white dove with a withered brand of olive leaves in her mouth can this be the very dove inquired i that brought the message of peace and hope to the passengers of the ark even so said my companion and this i suppose continued i is the that fed in the wilderness the no said the it is a bird of modern date he belonged to one and many people fancied that the devil himself was disguised under his but poor grip has a s collection drawn his last cork and has been forced to say die t last this other hardly less curious is that in which the soul of king george i his lady love th of my guide next pointed out s owl and the that upon the liver of there was likewise the sacred of egypt and one of the which shot in his sixth labor s s water fowl and a pigeon from the of the old south church preserved by n p were placed on the same perch i could not but shudder on beholding s with the ancient s shaft beside this bird of awful stood a gray goose of very ordinary aspect stuffed goose is no such observed i why do you preserve such a specimen in your museum it is one of the flock whose saved the roman answered the many have and both before and since but none like those have themselves into immortality there seemed to be little else that demanded notice in this department of the museum unless we except robinson s a live a bird of paradise and a splendid supposed to be the same that once contained the soul of i therefore passed to the next the shelves of which were covered with a miscellaneous collection of such as are usually found in similar one of the first things that took my eye was a strange looking cap woven of substance that appeared to be neither cotton nor linen from an old is this a s cap i asked no replied the it is merely dr s cap of but here is one which perhaps may suit you better it is the wishing cap of will you try it on by no means answered i putting it aside with my hand the day of wild wishes is past with me i desire nothing that may not come in the ordinary course of providence then probably returned the you will not be tempted to rub this lamp while speaking he took from the shelf an antique brass lamp curiously wrought with figures but so covered with that the was almost eaten away it is a thousand years said he since the genius of this lamp constructed s palace in a single	35
night but he still his power and the man who s lamp has but to desire either a palace or a cottage i might desire a cottage replied i but i would have it founded on sure and stable truth not on dreams and i have learned to look for the real and the true my guide next showed me s magic broken into three fragments by the hand of its mighty master on the same shelf lay the gold ring of ancient which enabled the to walk invisible on the other side of the was a tall looking glass in a frame of but veiled with a curtain of through the rents of which the gleam of the mirror was perceptible a s collection u this is s magic glass observed the draw aside the curtain and picture any human form within your mind and it will be reflected in the mirror it is enough if i can it within my mind answered i why should i wish it to be repeated in the mirror but indeed these works of magic have grown wearisome to me there are so many greater wonders in the world to those who keep their eyes open and their sight by custom that all the of the old seem flat and stale unless you can show me something really curious i care not to look farther into your museum ah well then said the perhaps you may deem some of my deserving of a glance he pointed out the iron mask now with and my heart grew sick at the sight of this dreadful which had shut out a human being from sympathy with his race there was nothing half so terrible in the axe that king charles nor in the dagger that henry of nor in the arrow that pierced the heart of william all of which were shown to me many of the articles derived their interest such as it was from having been formerly in the possession of for instance here was s cloak the flowing wig of louis the spinning wheel of and king s famous breeches which cost him but a crown the heart of the bloody mary with the word worn into its substance was preserved in a bottle of spirits and near it lay the an old golden case in which the queen of up that hero s heart among these relics and of kings i must not forget the long hairy ears of and piece of bread which had been changed to gold b he touch of that unlucky monarch and as was a queen it may here be mentioned that i was permitted to take into my hand a lock of her golden hair and the bowl which a from the curve of her perfect breast here likewise was the robe that smothered s fiddle the peter s brandy bottle the crown of and s which he extended over the sea that my own land may not deem itself neglected let me add that i was favored with a sight of the skull of king philip the famous indian chief whose head the smote off and exhibited upon a pole show me something else said i to the kings are in such an artificial position that people in the ordinary walks of life cannot feel an interest in their relics if you could show me the straw hat of sweet little i would far rather see it than a king s golden crown there it is said my guide pointing carelessly with his staff to the straw hat in question but indeed you are hard to please here are the seven league boots will you try them on our modern have their use answered i and as to these boots i could show you quite as curious a pair at the community in we next examined a collection of swords and other a s collection weapons belonging to different but thrown together without much attempt at arrangement here was arthur s sword and that of the and sword of with caesar s blood and his own and the sword of of arc and that of and that with which his daughter and the one which suspended over the head of here also was s word which she plunged her own breast in order to taste of death before her husband the crooked blade of s next attracted my notice i know not by what chance but so it happened that the sword of one of our own was suspended between don s lance and the brown blade of my heart high at the sight of the of and the spear that was broken in the breast of i recognized the of by its resemblance to the admirable cast in the possession of professor nothing in this apartment interested me more than major s pistol the discharge of which at began the war of the revolution and was in thunder around the land for seven long years the bow of though for ages was placed against the wall together with a of robin hood s arrows and the rifle of daniel enough of weapons said i at length although i would gladly have seen the sacred shield which fell from heaven in the time of and surely you should obtain the sword which washington at cambridge but the collection does you much t it let us pass on an old ill the next we saw the golden of which had so divine a meaning and by one of the queer to which the seemed to be this ancient emblem lay on the same shelf with peter s wooden leg that was to be of silver here was a remnant of the golden and a of yellow leaves that resembled the foliage of a elm but was duly as a portion of the golden branch by which gained to the realm of s golden apple and	35
which was the origin of all that was bright and glorious in the soul of man and in the midst of it behold a little sporting with evident enjoyment of the heat i it was a what a cried i with disgust can you find no better use for this ethereal fire than to cherish a in it yet there are men who abuse the sacred fire of their own souls to as foul and guilty a purpose the made no answer except by a dry laugh and an assurance that the was the very same which had seen in his father s household fire he then proceeded to show me other for this closet appeared to be the of what he considered most valuable in his collection there said he is the great of the white mountains i gazed with no little interest at this mighty which it had been one of the wild projects of my youth to discover possibly it might have looked brighter to me in those days than now at all events it had not such brilliancy as to detain me long from the other of the museum the pointed to woe a stone which hy ft gold i the s stone said he and have you th which it inquired i so this urn is filled with it he replied a draught would refresh you here is s cup will you a health from it my heart thrilled within me at the idea of such a draught for i had great need of it travelling so far on the dusty road of life but i know not whether it were a peculiar glance in the s eye or the that this most precious liquid was in an antique um that made me pause then came many a thought with the calmer and better hours of life i had strengthened myself to feel that death is the very friend whom in bis due even the happiest be willing to embrace no i desire not an earthly immortality i were man to live longer on the earth the spiritual would die out of him the spark of ethereal fire would be choked by the material the there is a celestial something within us that requires after a certain tim the atmosphere of heaven to preserve it from decay and ruin i will have none of this liquid you do well to keep it in a urn for it would produce death while the shadow of life all this is unintelligible to me responded with life earthly life is ii an old the only good but you refuse the draught well i is not likely to be offered twice within one man s probably you have which you seek to forget in death i can enable you to forget them in life will you take a draught of as he spoke the took from the shelf a crystal containing a liquor which caught no reflected image from the objects around not for the world exclaimed i shrinking back i can spare none of my recollections not even those of error or sorrow they are all alike the food of my spirit as well never to have lived as to lose them now without further we passed to the next the shelves of which were with ancient volumes and with those rolls of in which was up the eldest wisdom of the earth perhaps the most valuable work in the collection to a was the book of for my part however i would have given a higher price for those six of the books which refused to purchase and which the informed me he had himself found in the cave of doubtless these old volumes contain of the fate of rome both as respects the decline and fall of her empire and the rise of her spiritual one not without value likewise was the work of on nature hitherto supposed to be lost and the missing of by which modem criticism might profit and those books of for which the classic student has so long hope among these precious i observed the a s collection original manuscript of the and also that of the bible in joe alexander s copy of the was also there enclosed in the of still fragrant of the which the kept in it opening an iron clasped volume bound in black leather i discovered it to be s book of magic and it was rendered still more interesting by the that many flowers ancient and modern were pressed between its leaves here was a rose from eve s bower and all those red and white roses which were plucked in the garden of the temple by the of york and here was s wild rose of had contributed a sensitive plant and an and burns a mountain and white a star of and a of with its yellow flowers james had given a pressed flower but fragrant still which had been in the there was also a from s tree one of the most beautiful specimens was a fringed which had been plucked and preserved for immortality by from jones very a poet whose voice is scarcely heard among us by reason of its depth there was a wind flower and a as i closed s magic volume an old letter fell upon the floor it proved to be an from the flying to his wife i could linger no longer among books for the afternoon was and there was yet much to see the bare mention of a few more must s an old the skull of by the hollow in the of f m head where had the s ef the tub of s and p y e of beauty were placed one t s box without the lid stood next but the which had been carelessly flung into it a bundle of rods which had	35
her sketches with which in a somewhat form than i have given them here my journal was filled were intended for the side scenes and and exterior of a work of fiction of which the plan had imperfectly developed itself in my mind and into which i proposed to convey more of various modes of truth than i could have grasped by a direct effort of course i should not mention this project only that it has been utterly thrown aside and will never now be accomplished the present the the actual has proved too potent for me it takes away not only scanty faculty but even my desire for imaginative composition and leaves me sadly content to scatter a thousand peaceful upon the that is sweeping us all along with it possibly into a where our nation and its may be as literally the fragments of a shattered dream as my but i have far better hopes for our dear country and for my individual share of the catastrophe i myself little or not at all and shall easily find room for the work on a certain ideal shelf where are many other shadowy volumes of mine more in number and very much superior in quality to those which i have succeeded in rendering actual to return to these poor sketches some of my friends have told me that they an of sentiment towards the english people which i ought to a not to feel and which it is highly to express the charge surprises me because if it be true i have written from a mood than i supposed i seldom came into personal relations with an englishman without beginning to like him and feeling my favourable impression wax stronger with the progress of the acquaintance i never stood in an english crowd without being conscious of hereditary sympathies nevertheless it is that an american is continually thrown upon his national by some quality in the moral atmosphere of england these people think so of themselves and so contemptuously of everybody else that it requires more generosity than i possess to keep always in perfectly good humour with them down the little of the moment in my journal and them thence when they happened to be tolerably well expressed to these pages it is very possible that i may have said things which a profound observer of national character would hesitate to sanction though never any i verily believe that had not more or less of truth if they be true there is no reason in the world why they should not be said not an englishman of them all ever spared america for courtesy s sake or kindness nor in my opinion would it contribute in the least to our mutual advantage and comfort if we were to one another all over with butter and honey at any rate we must not judge of an englishman s by our own which likewise i trust are of a far less sensitive texture than formerly vm to a and now farewell my dear friend and excuse if you think it needs any excuse the freedom with which i thus assert a personal friendship between a private individual and a who has filled what was then the most august position in the world but i my book to the friend and shall a with the till some calmer and hour only this let me say that with the record of your life in my memory and with a sense of your character in my deeper consciousness as among the few things that time has left as it found them i need no assurance that you continue faithful for ever to that grand idea of an union which as you once told me was the earliest that your brave father taught you for other men there may be a choice of paths for you but one and it rests among my that no man s loyalty is more steadfast no man s hopes or apprehensions on behalf of our national existence more deeply or more closely with his possibilities of personal happiness than those of our old home the of the united states in my day was in buildings a shabby and smoke stained edifice of four stories high thus named in honour of our national establishment at the lower comer of street to the and in the neighbourhood of some of the oldest this was by no means a polite or elegant portion of england s great commercial city nor were the apartments of the american official so splendid as to indicate the assumption of much pomp on his part a narrow and ill lighted staircase gave access to an equally narrow and ill lighted passage way on the first floor at the extremity of which a door frame appeared an exceedingly stiff representation of the goose and according to the english idea of those ever to the staircase and passage way were often thronged of a morning with a set of and i do no wrong to our own countrymen in them so for not one in twenty was a genuine american to belong to our marine and chiefly composed of liverpool and the of every nation on earth such being the by whose old home assistance we then disputed the of the world with england these specimens of a most unfortunate class of people were in quest of bed board and clothing asking for the hospital bruised and bloody wretches complaining of ill treatment by their officers and with an uncertain proportion of reasonably honest men am of them save here and there a poor devil of a in his shore going rags wore red flannel shirts in which they had or shivered throughout the voyage and all required assistance in one form or another any respectable visitor if he could make up his mind to elbow a passage among these sea monsters was admitted into an	35
outer office where he found more of the same species explaining their respective wants or to the and clerks while their awaited their turn outside the door passing through this exterior court the stranger was ushered into an inner privacy where sat the himself ready to give personal attention to such peculiarly difficult and more important cases as might demand the exercise of what we will courteously suppose to be his own higher or sagacity it was an apartment of very moderate size painted in imitation of oak and lighted by two windows looking across a by street at the rough brick side of an immense cotton a and structure than ever was built in america on the walls of the room hung a large map of the united states as they were twenty years ago but seem little likely to be twenty years hence and a similar one of great britain with its territory so compact that we may expect it to sink sooner than further were some rude of our naval in the war of together with the state house and a steamer and a coloured life size of general with an honest of aspect occupying the place of honour above the mantel piece on experiences the top of a book case stood a fierce and terrible bust of general in a military collar which rose above his ears and frowning forth at any englishman who might happen to cross the threshold i am afraid however that the of the old general s expression was utterly thrown away on this stolid and race of men for when they occasionally inquired whom this work of art represented i was to find that the younger ones had never heard of the battle of new and that their elders had either forgotten it altogether or contrived to and twist it wrong end foremost into something like an english victory they have caught from the old whom they resemble in so many other characteristics this excellent method of keeping the national glory by sweeping all and clean out of their memory nevertheless my patriotism forbade me to take down either the bust or the pictures both because it seemed no more than right that an american being a little patch of our into the soil and institutions of england should fairly represent the american taste in the fine s and because these reminded me so delightfully of an old fashioned american s shop one truly english object was a hanging on the wall generally indicating one or another degree of disagreeable weather and so seldom pointing to fair that i began to consider that portion of its circle as made the deep chimney with its grate of coal was english too as was also the chill temperature that sometimes called for a fire at and the or smoky atmosphere which often between november and march compelled me to set the gas at i am not aware of anything important in the above descriptive unless it be some book shelves filled with volumes of the american and a good many pigeon holes stuffed with dusty communications from former of state and other official documents of similar value part of the of the which i might have done my old home successor a by flinging into the coal grate yes there was one other article demanding prominent notice the copy of the new testament bound in black and greasy i fear with a daily succession of kisses at least i can hardly hope that all the ten thousand oaths administered by me between two to all sorts of people and on all manner of worldly business were reckoned by the as if taken at his soul s peril such in short was the dusky and stifled chamber in which i spent wearily a considerable portion of more than four good years of my existence at to be quite frank with the reader i looked upon it as not altogether fit to be by the commercial representative of so great and prosperous a country as the united states then were and i should speedily have transferred my head quarters to and apartments except for the prudent consideration that my government would have left me thus to support its dignity at my own personal expense besides a long line of distinguished of whom the latest is now a gallant general under the union banner had found the locality good enough for them it might certainly be therefore by an individual so little ambitious of external magnificence as myself so i settled quietly down striking some of my roots into such soil as i could find myself to circumstances and with so much success that though from first to last i hated the very sight of the little room i should yet have felt a singular kind of reluctance in changing it for a better hither in the course of my came a great variety of visitors americans but including almost every other on earth especially the distressed and ones like those of and italian for so they looked from old spain spanish americans who professed to have stood by and narrowly escaped his fate french soldiers of the second republic in a word all or pretended ones in the cause of liberty all people in e sense those who never had a country or had lost it those whom their native land had impatiently flung off for planning a system of things than they were horn to a multitude of these and an equal of jail outwardly of the same feather sought the american in hopes of at least a hit of bread and perhaps to beg a passage to the blessed shores of freedom in most cases there was nothing and in any case little to be done for them neither was i of a disposition nor desired to make my a for the of other lands and yet it was	35

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.