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diff --git a/508-h/508-h.htm b/508-h/508-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..031a6f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/508-h/508-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11597 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en"> + +<head> + +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> + +<title> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Twice-Told Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +body { color: black; + background: white; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +p {text-indent: 4% } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 200%; + text-align: center } + +p.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center } + +p.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center } + +p.t3b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center } + +p.t4b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 60%; + text-align: center } + +h1 { text-align: center } +h2 { text-align: center } +h3 { text-align: center } +h4 { text-align: center } +h5 { text-align: center } + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +p.contents {text-indent: -3%; + margin-left: 5% } + +p.thought {text-indent: 0% ; + letter-spacing: 4em ; + text-align: center } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.transnote {text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.intro {font-size: 90% ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.quote {text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Twice-Told Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Twice-Told Tales + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Release Date: April 11, 2013 [EBook #508] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWICE-TOLD TALES *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1> +<br /><br /> +TWICE-TOLD TALES +</h1> + +<p class="t3"> +by +</p> + +<p class="t3b"> +Nathaniel Hawthorne +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t2"> +CONTENTS +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + <a href="#gray">The Gray Champion</a><br /> + <a href="#wedding">The Wedding Knell</a><br /> + <a href="#veil">The Minister's Black Veil</a><br /> + <a href="#maypole">The May-Pole of Merry Mount</a><br /> + <a href="#boy">The Gentle Boy</a><br /> + <a href="#catastrophe">Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe</a><br /> + <a href="#wakefield">Wakefield</a><br /> + <a href="#carbuncle">The Great Carbuncle</a><br /> + <a href="#david">David Swan</a><br /> + <a href="#hollow">The Hollow of the Three Hills</a><br /> + <a href="#experiment">Dr. Heidegger's Experiment</a><br /> + Legends of the Province House<br /> + I. <a href="#legends1">Howe's Masquerade</a><br /> + II. <a href="#legends2">Edward Randolph's Portrait</a><br /> + III. <a href="#legends3">Lady Eleanore's Mantle</a><br /> + IV. <a href="#legends4">Old Esther Dudley</a><br /> + <a href="#guest">The Ambitious Guest</a><br /> + <a href="#treasure">Peter Goldthwaite's Treasure</a><br /> + <a href="#shaker">The Shaker Bridal</a><br /> + <a href="#endicott">Endicott and the Red Cross</a><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h2> +FROM TWICE-TOLD TALES +</h2> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="gray"></a></p> + +<h3> +THE GRAY CHAMPION +</h3> + +<p> +There was once a time when New England groaned under the actual +pressure of heavier wrongs than those threatened ones which +brought on the Revolution. James II, the bigoted successor of +Charles the Voluptuous, had annulled the charters of all the +colonies, and sent a harsh and unprincipled soldier to take away +our liberties and endanger our religion. The administration of +Sir Edmund Andros lacked scarcely a single characteristic of +tyranny: a Governor and Council, holding office from the King, +and wholly independent of the country; laws made and taxes levied +without concurrence of the people immediate or by their +representatives; the rights of private citizens violated, and the +titles of all landed property declared void; the voice of +complaint stifled by restrictions on the press; and, finally, +disaffection overawed by the first band of mercenary troops that +ever marched on our free soil. For two years our ancestors were +kept in sullen submission by that filial love which had +invariably secured their allegiance to the mother country, +whether its head chanced to be a Parliament, Protector, or Popish +Monarch. Till these evil times, however, such allegiance had been +merely nominal, and the colonists had ruled themselves, enjoying +far more freedom than is even yet the privilege of the native +subjects of Great Britain. +</p> + +<p> +At length a rumor reached our shores that the Prince of Orange +had ventured on an enterprise, the success of which would be the +triumph of civil and religious rights and the salvation of New +England. It was but a doubtful whisper: it might be false, or the +attempt might fail; and, in either case, the man that stirred +against King James would lose his head. Still the intelligence +produced a marked effect. The people smiled mysteriously in the +streets, and threw bold glances at their oppressors; while far +and wide there was a subdued and silent agitation, as if the +slightest signal would rouse the whole land from its sluggish +despondency. Aware of their danger, the rulers resolved to avert +it by an imposing display of strength, and perhaps to confirm +their despotism by yet harsher measures. One afternoon in April, +1689, Sir Edmund Andros and his favorite councillors, being warm +with wine, assembled the red-coats of the Governor's Guard, and +made their appearance in the streets of Boston. The sun was near +setting when the march commenced. +</p> + +<p> +The roll of the drum at that unquiet crisis seemed to go through +the streets, less as the martial music of the soldiers, than as a +muster-call to the inhabitants themselves. A multitude, by +various avenues, assembled in King Street, which was destined to +be the scene, nearly a century afterwards, of another encounter +between the troops of Britain, and a people struggling against +her tyranny. Though more than sixty years had elapsed since the +pilgrims came, this crowd of their descendants still showed the +strong and sombre features of their character perhaps more +strikingly in such a stern emergency than on happier occasions. +There were the sober garb, the general severity of mien, the +gloomy but undismayed expression, the scriptural forms of speech, +and the confidence in Heaven's blessing on a righteous cause, +which would have marked a band of the original Puritans, when +threatened by some peril of the wilderness. Indeed, it was not +yet time for the old spirit to be extinct; since there were men +in the street that day who had worshipped there beneath the +trees, before a house was reared to the God for whom they had +become exiles. Old soldiers of the Parliament were here, too, +smiling grimly at the thought that their aged arms might strike +another blow against the house of Stuart. Here, also, were the +veterans of King Philip's war, who had burned villages and +slaughtered young and old, with pious fierceness, while the godly +souls throughout the land were helping them with prayer. Several +ministers were scattered among the crowd, which, unlike all other +mobs, regarded them with such reverence, as if there were +sanctity in their very garments. These holy men exerted their +influence to quiet the people, but not to disperse them. +Meantime, the purpose of the Governor, in disturbing the peace of +the town at a period when the slightest commotion might throw the +country into a ferment, was almost the universal subject of +inquiry, and variously explained. +</p> + +<p> +"Satan will strike his master-stroke presently," cried some, +"because he knoweth that his time is short. All our godly pastors +are to be dragged to prison! We shall see them at a Smithfield +fire in King Street!" +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon the people of each parish gathered closer round their +minister, who looked calmly upwards and assumed a more apostolic +dignity, as well befitted a candidate for the highest honor of +his profession, the crown of martyrdom. It was actually fancied, +at that period, that New England might have a John Rogers of her +own to take the place of that worthy in the Primer. +</p> + +<p> +"The Pope of Rome has given orders for a new St. Bartholomew!" +cried others. "We are to be massacred, man and male child!" +</p> + +<p> +Neither was this rumor wholly discredited, although the wiser +class believed the Governor's object somewhat less atrocious. His +predecessor under the old charter, Bradstreet, a venerable +companion of the first settlers, was known to be in town. There +were grounds for conjecturing, that Sir Edmund Andros intended at +once to strike terror by a parade of military force, and to +confound the opposite faction by possessing himself of their +chief. +</p> + +<p> +"Stand firm for the old charter Governor!" shouted the crowd, +seizing upon the idea. "The good old Governor Bradstreet!" +</p> + +<p> +While this cry was at the loudest, the people were surprised by +the well-known figure of Governor Bradstreet himself, a patriarch +of nearly ninety, who appeared on the elevated steps of a door, +and, with characteristic mildness, besought them to submit to the +constituted authorities. +</p> + +<p> +"My children," concluded this venerable person, "do nothing +rashly. Cry not aloud, but pray for the welfare of New England, +and expect patiently what the Lord will do in this matter!" +</p> + +<p> +The event was soon to be decided. All this time, the roll of the +drum had been approaching through Cornhill, louder and deeper, +till with reverberations from house to house, and the regular +tramp of martial footsteps, it burst into the street. A double +rank of soldiers made their appearance, occupying the whole +breadth of the passage, with shouldered matchlocks, and matches +burning, so as to present a row of fires in the dusk. Their +steady march was like the progress of a machine, that would roll +irresistibly over everything in its way. Next, moving slowly, +with a confused clatter of hoofs on the pavement, rode a party of +mounted gentlemen, the central figure being Sir Edmund Andros, +elderly, but erect and soldier-like. Those around him were his +favorite councillors, and the bitterest foes of New England. At +his right hand rode Edward Randolph, our arch-enemy, that +"blasted wretch," as Cotton Mather calls him, who achieved the +downfall of our ancient government, and was followed with a +sensible curse, through life and to his grave. On the other side +was Bullivant, scattering jests and mockery as he rode along. +Dudley came behind, with a downcast look, dreading, as well he +might, to meet the indignant gaze of the people, who beheld him, +their only countryman by birth, among the oppressors of his +native land. The captain of a frigate in the harbor, and two or +three civil officers under the Crown, were also there. But the +figure which most attracted the public eye, and stirred up the +deepest feeling, was the Episcopal clergyman of King's Chapel, +riding haughtily among the magistrates in his priestly vestments, +the fitting representatives of prelacy and persecution, the union +of church and state, and all those abominations which had driven +the Puritans to the wilderness. Another guard of soldiers, in +double rank, brought up the rear. +</p> + +<p> +The whole scene was a picture of the condition of New England, +and its moral, the deformity of any government that does not grow +out of the nature of things and the character of the people. On +one side the religious multitude, with their sad visages and dark +attire, and on the other, the group of despotic rulers, with the +high churchman in the midst, and here and there a crucifix at +their bosoms, all magnificently clad, flushed with wine, proud of +unjust authority, and scoffing at the universal groan. And the +mercenary soldiers, waiting but the word to deluge the street +with blood, showed the only means by which obedience could be +secured. +</p> + +<p> +"O Lord of Hosts," cried a voice among the crowd, "provide a +Champion for thy people!" +</p> + +<p> +This ejaculation was loudly uttered, and served as a herald's +cry, to introduce a remarkable personage. The crowd had rolled +back, and were now huddled together nearly at the extremity of +the street, while the soldiers had advanced no more than a third +of its length. The intervening space was empty--a paved solitude, +between lofty edifices, which threw almost a twilight shadow over +it. Suddenly, there was seen the figure of an ancient man, who +seemed to have emerged from among the people, and was walking by +himself along the centre of the street, to confront the armed +band. He wore the old Puritan dress, a dark cloak and a +steeplecrowned hat, in the fashion of at least fifty years +before, with a heavy sword upon his thigh, but a staff in his +hand to assist the tremulous gait of age. +</p> + +<p> +When at some distance from the multitude, the old man turned +slowly round, displaying a face of antique majesty, rendered +doubly venerable by the hoary beard that descended on his breast. +He made a gesture at once of encouragement and warning, then +turned again, and resumed his way. +</p> + +<p> +"Who is this gray patriarch?" asked the young men of their sires. +</p> + +<p> +"Who is this venerable brother?" asked the old men among +themselves. +</p> + +<p> +But none could make reply. The fathers of the people, those of +fourscore years and upwards, were disturbed, deeming it strange +that they should forget one of such evident authority, whom they +must have known in their early days, the associate of Winthrop, +and all the old councillors, giving laws, and making prayers, and +leading them against the savage. The elderly men ought to have +remembered him, too, with locks as gray in their youth, as their +own were now. And the young! How could he have passed so utterly +from their memories--that hoary sire, the relic of longdeparted +times, whose awful benediction had surely been bestowed on their +uncovered heads, in childhood? +</p> + +<p> +"Whence did he come? What is his purpose? Who can this old man +be?" whispered the wondering crowd. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, the venerable stranger, staff in hand, was pursuing +his solitary walk along the centre of the street. As he drew near +the advancing soldiers, and as the roll of their drum came full +upon his ears, the old man raised himself to a loftier mien, +while the decrepitude of age seemed to fall from his shoulders, +leaving him in gray but unbroken dignity. Now, he marched onward +with a warrior's step, keeping time to the military music. Thus +the aged form advanced on one side, and the whole parade of +soldiers and magistrates on the other, till, when scarcely twenty +yards remained between, the old man grasped his staff by the +middle, and held it before him like a leader's truncheon. +</p> + +<p> +"Stand!" cried he. +</p> + +<p> +The eye, the face, and attitude of command; the solemn, yet +warlike peal of that voice, fit either to rule a host in the +battle-field or be raised to God in prayer, were irresistible. At +the old man's word and outstretched arm, the roll of the drum was +hushed at once, and the advancing line stood still. A tremulous +enthusiasm seized upon the multitude. That stately form, +combining the leader and the saint, so gray, so dimly seen, in +such an ancient garb, could only belong to some old champion of +the righteous cause, whom the oppressor's drum had summoned from +his grave. They raised a shout of awe and exultation, and looked +for the deliverance of New England. +</p> + +<p> +The Governor, and the gentlemen of his party, perceiving +themselves brought to an unexpected stand, rode hastily forward, +as if they would have pressed their snorting and affrighted +horses right against the hoary apparition. He, however, blenched +not a step, but glancing his severe eye round the group, which +half encompassed him, at last bent it sternly on Sir Edmund +Andros. One would have thought that the dark old man was chief +ruler there, and that the Governor and Council, with soldiers at +their back, representing the whole power and authority of the +Crown, had no alternative but obedience. +</p> + +<p> +"What does this old fellow here?" cried Edward Randolph, +fiercely. "On, Sir Edmund! Bid the soldiers forward, and give the +dotard the same choice that you give all his countrymen--to stand +aside or be trampled on!" +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, nay, let us show respect to the good grandsire," said +Bullivant, laughing. "See you not, he is some old round-headed +dignitary, who hath lain asleep these thirty years, and knows +nothing o' the change of times? Doubtless, he thinks to put us +down with a proclamation in Old Noll's name!" +</p> + +<p> +"Are you mad, old man?" demanded Sir Edmund Andros, in loud and +harsh tones. "How dare you stay the march of King James's +Governor?" +</p> + +<p> +"I have stayed the march of a King himself, ere now," replied the +gray figure, with stern composure. "I am here, Sir Governor, +because the cry of an oppressed people hath disturbed me in my +secret place; and beseeching this favor earnestly of the Lord, it +was vouchsafed me to appear once again on earth, in the good old +cause of his saints. And what speak ye of James? There is no +longer a Popish tyrant on the throne of England, and by to-morrow +noon, his name shall be a byword in this very street, where ye +would make it a word of terror. Back, thou wast a Governor, back! +With this night thy power is ended--to-morrow, the prison!--back, +lest I foretell the scaffold!" +</p> + +<p> +The people had been drawing nearer and nearer, and drinking in +the words of their champion, who spoke in accents long disused, +like one unaccustomed to converse, except with the dead of many +years ago. But his voice stirred their souls. They confronted the +soldiers, not wholly without arms, and ready to convert the very +stones of the street into deadly weapons. Sir Edmund Andros +looked at the old man; then he cast his hard and cruel eye over +the multitude, and beheld them burning with that lurid wrath, so +difficult to kindle or to quench; and again he fixed his gaze on +the aged form, which stood obscurely in an open space, where +neither friend nor foe had thrust himself. What were his +thoughts, he uttered no word which might discover. But whether +the oppressor were overawed by the Gray Champion's look, or +perceived his peril in the threatening attitude of the people, it +is certain that he gave back, and ordered his soldiers to +commence a slow and guarded retreat. Before another sunset, the +Governor, and all that rode so proudly with him, were prisoners, +and long ere it was known that James had abdicated, King William +was proclaimed throughout New England. +</p> + +<p> +But where was the Gray Champion? Some reported that, when the +troops had gone from King Street, and the people were thronging +tumultuously in their rear, Bradstreet, the aged Governor, was +seen to embrace a form more aged than his own. Others soberly +affirmed, that while they marvelled at the venerable grandeur of +his aspect, the old man had faded from their eyes, melting slowly +into the hues of twilight, till, where he stood, there was an +empty space. But all agreed that the hoary shape was gone. The +men of that generation watched for his reappearance, in sunshine +and in twilight, but never saw him more, nor knew when his +funeral passed, nor where his gravestone was. +</p> + +<p> +And who was the Gray Champion? Perhaps his name might be found in +the records of that stern Court of Justice, which passed a +sentence, too mighty for the age, but glorious in all +after-times, for its humbling lesson to the monarch and its high +example to the subject. I have heard, that whenever the +descendants of the Puritans are to show the spirit of their +sires, the old man appears again. When eighty years had passed, +he walked once more in King Street. Five years later, in the +twilight of an April morning, he stood on the green, beside the +meeting-house, at Lexington, where now the obelisk of granite, +with a slab of slate inlaid, commemorates the first fallen of the +Revolutions. And when our fathers were toiling at the breastwork +on Bunker's Hill, all through that night the old warrior walked +his rounds. Long, long may it be, ere he comes again! His hour is +one of darkness, and adversity, and peril. But should domestic +tyranny oppress us, or the invader's step pollute our soil, still +may the Gray Champion come, for he is the type of New England's +hereditary spirit; and his shadowy march, on the eve of danger, +must ever be the pledge, that New England's sons will vindicate +their ancestry. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="wedding"></a></p> + +<h3> +THE WEDDING KNELL +</h3> + +<p> +There is a certain church in the city of New York which I have +always regarded with peculiar interest, on account of a marriage +there solemnized, under very singular circumstances, in my +grandmother's girlhood. That venerable lady chanced to be a +spectator of the scene, and ever after made it her favorite +narrative. Whether the edifice now standing on the same site be +the identical one to which she referred, I am not antiquarian +enough to know; nor would it be worth while to correct myself, +perhaps, of an agreeable error, by reading the date of its +erection on the tablet over the door. It is a stately church, +surrounded by an inclosure of the loveliest green, within which +appear urns, pillars, obelisks, and other forms of monumental +marble, the tributes of private affection, or more splendid +memorials of historic dust. With such a place, though the tumult +of the city rolls beneath its tower, one would be willing to +connect some legendary interest. +</p> + +<p> +The marriage might be considered as the result of an early +engagement, though there had been two intermediate weddings on +the lady's part, and forty years of celibacy on that of the +gentleman. At sixty-five, Mr. Ellenwood was a shy, but not quite +a secluded man; selfish, like all men who brood over their own +hearts, yet manifesting on rare occasions a vein of generous +sentiment; a scholar throughout life, though always an indolent +one, because his studies had no definite object, either of public +advantage or personal ambition; a gentleman, high bred and +fastidiously delicate, yet sometimes requiring a considerable +relaxation, in his behalf, of the common rules of society. In +truth, there were so many anomalies in his character, and though +shrinking with diseased sensibility from public notice, it had +been his fatality so often to become the topic of the day, by +some wild eccentricity of conduct, that people searched his +lineage for an hereditary taint of insanity. But there was no +need of this. His caprices had their origin in a mind that lacked +the support of an engrossing purpose, and in feelings that preyed +upon themselves for want of other food. If he were mad, it was +the consequence, and not the cause, of an aimless and abortive +life. +</p> + +<p> +The widow was as complete a contrast to her third bridegroom, in +everything but age, as can well be conceived. Compelled to +relinquish her first engagement, she had been united to a man of +twice her own years, to whom she became an exemplary wife, and by +whose death she was left in possession of a splendid fortune. A +southern gentleman, considerably younger than herself, succeeded +to her hand, and carried her to Charleston, where, after many +uncomfortable years, she found herself again a widow. It would +have been singular, if any uncommon delicacy of feeling had +survived through such a life as Mrs. Dabney's; it could not but +be crushed and killed by her early disappointment, the cold duty +of her first marriage, the dislocation of the heart's principles, +consequent on a second union, and the unkindness of her southern +husband, which had inevitably driven her to connect the idea of +his death with that of her comfort. To be brief, she was that +wisest, but unloveliest, variety of woman, a philosopher, bearing +troubles of the heart with equanimity, dispensing with all that +should have been her happiness, and making the best of what +remained. Sage in most matters, the widow was perhaps the more +amiable for the one frailty that made her ridiculous. Being +childless, she could not remain beautiful by proxy, in the person +of a daughter; she therefore refused to grow old and ugly, on any +consideration; she struggled with Time, and held fast her roses +in spite of him, till the venerable thief appeared to have +relinquished the spoil, as not worth the trouble of acquiring it. +</p> + +<p> +The approaching marriage of this woman of the world with such an +unworldly man as Mr. Ellenwood was announced soon after Mrs. +Dabney's return to her native city. Superficial observers, and +deeper ones, seemed to concur in supposing that the lady must +have borne no inactive part in arranging the affair; there were +considerations of expediency which she would be far more likely +to appreciate than Mr. Ellenwood; and there was just the specious +phantom of sentiment and romance in this late union of two early +lovers which sometimes makes a fool of a woman who has lost her +true feelings among the accidents of life. All the wonder was, +how the gentleman, with his lack of worldly wisdom and agonizing +consciousness of ridicule, could have been induced to take a +measure at once so prudent and so laughable. But while people +talked the wedding-day arrived. The ceremony was to be solemnized +according to the Episcopalian forms, and in open church, with a +degree of publicity that attracted many spectators, who occupied +the front seats of the galleries, and the pews near the altar and +along the broad aisle. It had been arranged, or possibly it was +the custom of the day, that the parties should proceed separately +to church. By some accident the bridegroom was a little less +punctual than the widow and her bridal attendants; with whose +arrival, after this tedious, but necessary preface, the action of +our tale may be said to commence. +</p> + +<p> +The clumsy wheels of several old-fashioned coaches were heard, +and the gentlemen and ladies composing the bridal party came +through the church door with the sudden and gladsome effect of a +burst of sunshine. The whole group, except the principal figure, +was made up of youth and gayety. As they streamed up the broad +aisle, while the pews and pillars seemed to brighten on either +side, their steps were as buoyant as if they mistook the church +for a ball-room, and were ready to dance hand in hand to the +altar. So brilliant was the spectacle that few took notice of a +singular phenomenon that had marked its entrance. At the moment +when the bride's foot touched the threshold the bell swung +heavily in the tower above her, and sent forth its deepest knell. +The vibrations died away and returned with prolonged solemnity, +as she entered the body of the church. +</p> + +<p> +"Good heavens! what an omen," whispered a young lady to her +lover. +</p> + +<p> +"On my honor," replied the gentleman, "I believe the bell has the +good taste to toll of its own accord. What has she to do with +weddings? If you, dearest Julia, were approaching the altar the +bell would ring out its merriest peal. It has only a funeral +knell for her." +</p> + +<p> +The bride and most of her company had been too much occupied with +the bustle of entrance to hear the first boding stroke of the +bell, or at least to reflect on the singularity of such a welcome +to the altar. They therefore continued to advance with +undiminished gayety. The gorgeous dresses of the time, the +crimson velvet coats, the gold-laced hats, the hoop petticoats, +the silk, satin, brocade, and embroidery, the buckles, canes, and +swords, all displayed to the best advantage on persons suited to +such finery, made the group appear more like a bright-colored +picture than anything real. But by what perversity of taste had +the artist represented his principal figure as so wrinkled and +decayed, while yet he had decked her out in the brightest +splendor of attire, as if the loveliest maiden had suddenly +withered into age, and become a moral to the beautiful around +her! On they went, however, and had glittered along about a third +of the aisle, when another stroke of the bell seemed to fill the +church with a visible gloom, dimming and obscuring the bright +pageant, till it shone forth again as from a mist. +</p> + +<p> +This time the party wavered, stopped, and huddled closer +together, while a slight scream was heard from some of the +ladies, and a confused whispering among the gentlemen. Thus +tossing to and fro, they might have been fancifully compared to a +splendid bunch of flowers, suddenly shaken by a puff of wind, +which threatened to scatter the leaves of an old, brown, withered +rose, on the same stalk with two dewy buds,--such being the +emblem of the widow between her fair young bridemaids. But her +heroism was admirable. She had started with an irrepressible +shudder, as if the stroke of the bell had fallen directly on her +heart; then, recovering herself, while her attendants were yet in +dismay, she took the lead, and paced calmly up the aisle. The +bell continued to swing, strike, and vibrate, with the same +doleful regularity as when a corpse is on its way to the tomb. +</p> + +<p> +"My young friends here have their nerves a little shaken," said +the widow, with a smile, to the clergyman at the altar. "But so +many weddings have been ushered in with the merriest peal of the +bells, and yet turned out unhappily, that I shall hope for better +fortune under such different auspices." +</p> + +<p> +"Madam," answered the rector, in great perplexity, "this strange +occurrence brings to my mind a marriage sermon of the famous +Bishop Taylor, wherein he mingles so many thoughts of mortality +and future woe, that, to speak somewhat after his own rich style, +he seems to hang the bridal chamber in black, and cut the wedding +garment out of a coffin pall. And it has been the custom of +divers nations to infuse something of sadness into their marriage +ceremonies, so to keep death in mind while contracting that +engagement which is life's chiefest business. Thus we may draw a +sad but profitable moral from this funeral knell." +</p> + +<p> +But, though the clergyman might have given his moral even a +keener point, he did not fail to dispatch an attendant to inquire +into the mystery, and stop those sounds, so dismally appropriate +to such a marriage. A brief space elapsed, during which the +silence was broken only by whispers, and a few suppressed +titterings, among the wedding party and the spectators, who, +after the first shock, were disposed to draw an ill-natured +merriment from the affair. The young have less charity for aged +follies than the old for those of youth. The widow's glance was +observed to wander, for an instant, towards a window of the +church, as if searching for the time-worn marble that she had +dedicated to her first husband; then her eyelids dropped over +their faded orbs, and her thoughts were drawn irresistibly to +another grave. Two buried men, with a voice at her ear, and a cry +afar off, were calling her to lie down beside them. Perhaps, with +momentary truth of feeling, she thought how much happier had been +her fate, if, after years of bliss, the bell were now tolling for +her funeral, and she were followed to the grave by the old +affection of her earliest lover, long her husband. But why had +she returned to him, when their cold hearts shrank from each +other's embrace? +</p> + +<p> +Still the death-bell tolled so mournfully, that the sunshine +seemed to fade in the air. A whisper, communicated from those who +stood nearest the windows, now spread through the church; a +hearse, with a train of several coaches, was creeping along the +street, conveying some dead man to the churchyard, while the +bride awaited a living one at the altar. Immediately after, the +footsteps of the bridegroom and his friends were heard at the +door. The widow looked down the aisle, and clinched the arm of +one of her bridemaids in her bony hand with such unconscious +violence, that the fair girl trembled. +</p> + +<p> +"You frighten me, my dear madam!" cried she. "For Heaven's sake, +what is the matter?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing, my dear, nothing," said the widow; then, whispering +close to her ear, "There is a foolish fancy that I cannot get rid +of. I am expecting my bridegroom to come into the church, with my +first two husbands for groomsmen!" +</p> + +<p> +"Look, look!" screamed the bridemaid. "What is here? The +funeral!" +</p> + +<p> +As she spoke, a dark procession paced into the church. First came +an old man and women, like chief mourners at a funeral, attired +from head to foot in the deepest black, all but their pale +features and hoary hair; he leaning on a staff, and supporting +her decrepit form with his nerveless arm. Behind appeared +another, and another pair, as aged, as black, and mournful as the +first. As they drew near, the widow recognized in every face some +trait of former friends, long forgotten, but now returning, as if +from their old graves, to warn her to prepare a shroud; or, with +purpose almost as unwelcome, to exhibit their wrinkles and +infirmity, and claim her as their companion by the tokens of her +own decay. Many a merry night had she danced with them, in youth. +And now, in joyless age, she felt that some withered partner +should request her hand, and all unite, in a dance of death, to +the music of the funeral bell. +</p> + +<p> +While these aged mourners were passing up the aisle, it was +observed that, from pew to pew, the spectators shuddered with +irrepressible awe, as some object, hitherto concealed by the +intervening figures, came full in sight. Many turned away their +faces; others kept a fixed and rigid stare; and a young girl +giggled hysterically, and fainted with the laughter on her lips. +When the spectral procession approached the altar, each couple +separated, and slowly diverged, till, in the centre, appeared a +form, that had been worthily ushered in with all this gloomy +pomp, the death knell, and the funeral. It was the bridegroom in +his shroud! +</p> + +<p> +No garb but that of the grave could have befitted such a +deathlike aspect; the eyes, indeed, had the wild gleam of a +sepulchral lamp; all else was fixed in the stern calmness which +old men wear in the coffin. The corpse stood motionless, but +addressed the widow in accents that seemed to melt into the clang +of the bell, which fell heavily on the air while he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +"Come, my bride!" said those pale lips, "the hearse is ready. The +sexton stands waiting for us at the door of the tomb. Let us be +married; and then to our coffins!" +</p> + +<p> +How shall the widow's horror be represented? It gave her the +ghastliness of a dead man's bride. Her youthful friends stood +apart, shuddering at the mourners, the shrouded bridegroom, and +herself; the whole scene expressed, by the strongest imagery, the +vain struggle of the gilded vanities of this world, when opposed +to age, infirmity, sorrow, and death. The awe-struck silence was +first broken by the clergyman. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Ellenwood," said he, soothingly, yet with somewhat of +authority, "you are not well. Your mind has been agitated by the +unusual circumstances in which you are placed. The ceremony must +be deferred. As an old friend, let me entreat you to return +home." +</p> + +<p> +"Home! yes, but not without my bride," answered he, in the same +hollow accents. "You deem this mockery; perhaps madness. Had I +bedizened my aged and broken frame with scarlet and +embroidery--had I forced my withered lips to smile at my dead +heart--that might have been mockery, or madness. But now, let +young and old declare, which of us has come hither without a +wedding garment, the bridegroom or the bride!" +</p> + +<p> +He stepped forward at a ghostly pace, and stood beside the widow, +contrasting the awful simplicity of his shroud with the glare and +glitter in which she had arrayed herself for this unhappy scene. +None, that beheld them, could deny the terrible strength of the +moral which his disordered intellect had contrived to draw. +</p> + +<p> +"Cruel! cruel!" groaned the heart-stricken bride. +</p> + +<p> +"Cruel!" repeated he; then, losing his deathlike composure in a +wild bitterness: "Heaven judge which of us has been cruel to the +other! In youth you deprived me of my happiness, my hopes, my +aims; you took away all the substance of my life, and made it a +dream without reality enough even to grieve at--with only a +pervading gloom, through which I walked wearily, and cared not +whither. But after forty years, when I have built my tomb, and +would not give up the thought of resting there--nor not for such +a life as we once pictured--you call me to the altar. At your +summons I am here. But other husbands have enjoyed your youth, +your beauty, your warmth of heart, and all that could be termed +your life. What is there for me but your decay and death? And +therefore I have bidden these funeral friends, and bespoken the +sexton's deepest knell, and am come, in my shroud, to wed you, as +with a burial service, that we may join our hands at the door of +the sepulchre, and enter it together." +</p> + +<p> +It was not frenzy; it was not merely the drunkenness of strong +emotion, in a heart unused to it, that now wrought upon the +bride. The stern lesson of the day had done its work; her +worldliness was gone. She seized the bridegroom's hand. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes!" cried she. "Let us wed, even at the door of the sepulchre! +My life is gone in vanity and emptiness. But at its close there +is one true feeling. It has made me what I was in youth; it makes +me worthy of you. Time is no more for both of us. Let us wed for +Eternity!" +</p> + +<p> +With a long and deep regard, the bridegroom looked into her eyes, +while a tear was gathering in his own. How strange that gush of +human feeling from the frozen bosom of a corpse! He wiped away +the tears even with his shroud. +</p> + +<p> +"Beloved of my youth," said he, "I have been wild. The despair of +my whole lifetime had returned at once, and maddened me. Forgive; +and be forgiven. Yes; it is evening with us now; and we have +realized none of our morning dreams of happiness. But let us join +our hands before the altar as lovers whom adverse circumstances +have separated through life, yet who meet again as they are +leaving it, and find their earthly affection changed into +something holy as religion. And what is Time, to the married of +Eternity?" +</p> + +<p> +Amid the tears of many, and a swell of exalted sentiment, in +those who felt aright, was solemnized the union of two immortal +souls. The train of withered mourners, the hoary bridegroom in +his shroud, the pale features of the aged bride, and the +death-bell tolling through the whole, till its deep voice +overpowered the marriage words, all marked the funeral of earthly +hopes. But as the ceremony proceeded, the organ, as if stirred by +the sympathies of this impressive scene, poured forth an anthem, +first mingling with the dismal knell, then rising to a loftier +strain, till the soul looked down upon its woe. And when the +awful rite was finished, and with cold hand in cold hand, the +Married of Eternity withdrew, the organ's peal of solemn triumph +drowned the Wedding Knell. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="veil"></a></p> + +<h3> +THE MINISTER'S BLACK VEIL A PARABLE[1] +</h3> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Another clergyman in New England, Mr. Joseph Moody, of York, +Maine, who died about eighty years since, made himself remarkable +by the same eccentricity that is here related of the Reverend Mr. +Hooper. In his case, however, the symbol had a different import. +In early life he had accidentally killed a beloved friend, and +from that day till the hour of his own death, he hid his face +from men. +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p> +The sexton stood in the porch of Milford meeting-house, pulling +busily at the bell-rope. The old people of the village came +stooping along the street. Children, with bright faces, tripped +merrily beside their parents, or mimicked a graver gait, in the +conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes. Spruce bachelors +looked sidelong at the pretty maidens, and fancied that the +Sabbath sunshine made them prettier than on week days. When the +throng had mostly streamed into the porch, the sexton began to +toll the bell, keeping his eye on the Reverend Mr. Hooper's door. +The first glimpse of the clergyman's figure was the signal for +the bell to cease its summons. +</p> + +<p> +"But what has good Parson Hooper got upon his face?" cried the +sexton in astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +All within hearing immediately turned about, and beheld the +semblance of Mr. Hooper, pacing slowly his meditative way towards +the meetinghouse. With one accord they started, expressing more +wonder than if some strange minister were coming to dust the +cushions of Mr. Hooper's pulpit. +</p> + +<p> +"Are you sure it is our parson?" inquired Goodman Gray of the +sexton. +</p> + +<p> +"Of a certainty it is good Mr. Hooper," replied the sexton. "He +was to have exchanged pulpits with Parson Shute, of Westbury; but +Parson Shute sent to excuse himself yesterday, being to preach a +funeral sermon." +</p> + +<p> +The cause of so much amazement may appear sufficiently slight. +Mr. Hooper, a gentlemanly person, of about thirty, though still a +bachelor, was dressed with due clerical neatness, as if a careful +wife had starched his band, and brushed the weekly dust from his +Sunday's garb. There was but one thing remarkable in his +appearance. Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his +face, so low as to be shaken by his breath, Mr. Hooper had on a +black veil. On a nearer view it seemed to consist of two folds of +crape, which entirely concealed his features, except the mouth +and chin, but probably did not intercept his sight, further than +to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things. +With this gloomy shade before him, good Mr. Hooper walked onward, +at a slow and quiet pace, stooping somewhat, and looking on the +ground, as is customary with abstracted men, yet nodding kindly +to those of his parishioners who still waited on the +meeting-house steps. But so wonder-struck were they that his +greeting hardly met with a return. +</p> + +<p> +"I can't really feel as if good Mr. Hooper's face was behind that +piece of crape," said the sexton. +</p> + +<p> +"I don't like it," muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the +meeting-house. "He has changed himself into something awful, only +by hiding his face." +</p> + +<p> +"Our parson has gone mad!" cried Goodman Gray, following him +across the threshold. +</p> + +<p> +A rumor of some unaccountable phenomenon had preceded Mr. Hooper +into the meeting-house, and set all the congregation astir. Few +could refrain from twisting their heads towards the door; many +stood upright, and turned directly about; while several little +boys clambered upon the seats, and came down again with a +terrible racket. There was a general bustle, a rustling of the +women's gowns and shuffling of the men's feet, greatly at +variance with that hushed repose which should attend the entrance +of the minister. But Mr. Hooper appeared not to notice the +perturbation of his people. He entered with an almost noiseless +step, bent his head mildly to the pews on each side, and bowed as +he passed his oldest parishioner, a white-haired great grandsire, +who occupied an arm-chair in the centre of the aisle. It was +strange to observe how slowly this venerable man became conscious +of something singular in the appearance of his pastor. He seemed +not fully to partake of the prevailing wonder, till Mr. Hooper +had ascended the stairs, and showed himself in the pulpit, face +to face with his congregation, except for the black veil. That +mysterious emblem was never once withdrawn. It shook with his +measured breath, as he gave out the psalm; it threw its obscurity +between him and the holy page, as he read the Scriptures; and +while he prayed, the veil lay heavily on his uplifted +countenance. Did he seek to hide it from the dread Being whom he +was addressing? +</p> + +<p> +Such was the effect of this simple piece of crape, that more than +one woman of delicate nerves was forced to leave the +meeting-house. Yet perhaps the pale-faced congregation was almost +as fearful a sight to the minister, as his black veil to them. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Hooper had the reputation of a good preacher, but not an +energetic one: he strove to win his people heavenward by mild, +persuasive influences, rather than to drive them thither by the +thunders of the Word. The sermon which he now delivered was +marked by the same characteristics of style and manner as the +general series of his pulpit oratory. But there was something, +either in the sentiment of the discourse itself, or in the +imagination of the auditors, which made it greatly the most +powerful effort that they had ever heard from their pastor's +lips. It was tinged, rather more darkly than usual, with the +gentle gloom of Mr. Hooper's temperament. The subject had +reference to secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide +from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own +consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect +them. A subtle power was breathed into his words. Each member of +the congregation, the most innocent girl, and the man of hardened +breast, felt as if the preacher had crept upon them, behind his +awful veil, and discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or +thought. Many spread their clasped hands on their bosoms. There +was nothing terrible in what Mr. Hooper said, at least, no +violence; and yet, with every tremor of his melancholy voice, the +hearers quaked. An unsought pathos came hand in hand with awe. So +sensible were the audience of some unwonted attribute in their +minister, that they longed for a breath of wind to blow aside the +veil, almost believing that a stranger's visage would be +discovered, though the form, gesture, and voice were those of Mr. +Hooper. +</p> + +<p> +At the close of the services, the people hurried out with +indecorous confusion, eager to communicate their pent-up +amazement, and conscious of lighter spirits the moment they lost +sight of the black veil. Some gathered in little circles, huddled +closely together, with their mouths all whispering in the centre; +some went homeward alone, wrapt in silent meditation; some talked +loudly, and profaned the Sabbath day with ostentatious laughter. +A few shook their sagacious heads, intimating that they could +penetrate the mystery; while one or two affirmed that there was +no mystery at all, but only that Mr. Hooper's eyes were so +weakened by the midnight lamp, as to require a shade. After a +brief interval, forth came good Mr. Hooper also, in the rear of +his flock. Turning his veiled face from one group to another, he +paid due reverence to the hoary heads, saluted the middle aged +with kind dignity as their friend and spiritual guide, greeted +the young with mingled authority and love, and laid his hands on +the little children's heads to bless them. Such was always his +custom on the Sabbath day. Strange and bewildered looks repaid +him for his courtesy. None, as on former occasions, aspired to +the honor of walking by their pastor's side. Old Squire Saunders, +doubtless by an accidental lapse of memory, neglected to invite +Mr. Hooper to his table, where the good clergyman had been wont +to bless the food, almost every Sunday since his settlement. He +returned, therefore, to the parsonage, and, at the moment of +closing the door, was observed to look back upon the people, all +of whom had their eyes fixed upon the minister. A sad smile +gleamed faintly from beneath the black veil, and flickered about +his mouth, glimmering as he disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +"How strange," said a lady, "that a simple black veil, such as +any woman might wear on her bonnet, should become such a terrible +thing on Mr. Hooper's face!" +</p> + +<p> +"Something must surely be amiss with Mr. Hooper's intellects," +observed her husband, the physician of the village. "But the +strangest part of the affair is the effect of this vagary, even +on a sober-minded man like myself. The black veil, though it +covers only our pastor's face, throws its influence over his +whole person, and makes him ghostlike from head to foot. Do you +not feel it so?" +</p> + +<p> +"Truly do I," replied the lady; "and I would not be alone with +him for the world. I wonder he is not afraid to be alone with +himself!" +</p> + +<p> +"Men sometimes are so," said her husband. +</p> + +<p> +The afternoon service was attended with similar circumstances. At +its conclusion, the bell tolled for the funeral of a young lady. +The relatives and friends were assembled in the house, and the +more distant acquaintances stood about the door, speaking of the +good qualities of the deceased, when their talk was interrupted +by the appearance of Mr. Hooper, still covered with his black +veil. It was now an appropriate emblem. The clergyman stepped +into the room where the corpse was laid, and bent over the +coffin, to take a last farewell of his deceased parishioner. As +he stooped, the veil hung straight down from his forehead, so +that, if her eyelids had not been closed forever, the dead maiden +might have seen his face. Could Mr. Hooper be fearful of her +glance, that he so hastily caught back the black veil? A person +who watched the interview between the dead and living, scrupled +not to affirm, that, at the instant when the clergyman's features +were disclosed, the corpse had slightly shuddered, rustling the +shroud and muslin cap, though the countenance retained the +composure of death. A superstitious old woman was the only +witness of this prodigy. From the coffin Mr. Hooper passed into +the chamber of the mourners, and thence to the head of the +staircase, to make the funeral prayer. It was a tender and +heart-dissolving prayer, full of sorrow, yet so imbued with +celestial hopes, that the music of a heavenly harp, swept by the +fingers of the dead, seemed faintly to be heard among the saddest +accents of the minister. The people trembled, though they but +darkly understood him when he prayed that they, and himself, and +all of mortal race, might be ready, as he trusted this young +maiden had been, for the dreadful hour that should snatch the +veil from their faces. The bearers went heavily forth, and the +mourners followed, saddening all the street, with the dead before +them, and Mr. Hooper in his black veil behind. +</p> + +<p> +"Why do you look back?" said one in the procession to his +partner. +</p> + +<p> +"I had a fancy," replied she, "that the minister and the maiden's +spirit were walking hand in hand." +</p> + +<p> +"And so had I, at the same moment," said the other. +</p> + +<p> +That night, the handsomest couple in Milford village were to be +joined in wedlock. Though reckoned a melancholy man, Mr. Hooper +had a placid cheerfulness for such occasions, which often excited +a sympathetic smile where livelier merriment would have been +thrown away. There was no quality of his disposition which made +him more beloved than this. The company at the wedding awaited +his arrival with impatience, trusting that the strange awe, which +had gathered over him throughout the day, would now be dispelled. +But such was not the result. When Mr. Hooper came, the first +thing that their eyes rested on was the same horrible black veil, +which had added deeper gloom to the funeral, and could portend +nothing but evil to the wedding. Such was its immediate effect on +the guests that a cloud seemed to have rolled duskily from +beneath the black crape, and dimmed the light of the candles. The +bridal pair stood up before the minister. But the bride's cold +fingers quivered in the tremulous hand of the bridegroom, and her +deathlike paleness caused a whisper that the maiden who had been +buried a few hours before was come from her grave to be married. +If ever another wedding were so dismal, it was that famous one +where they tolled the wedding knell. After performing the +ceremony, Mr. Hooper raised a glass of wine to his lips, wishing +happiness to the newmarried couple in a strain of mild pleasantry +that ought to have brightened the features of the guests, like a +cheerful gleam from the hearth. At that instant, catching a +glimpse of his figure in the looking-glass, the black veil +involved his own spirit in the horror with which it overwhelmed +all others. His frame shuddered, his lips grew white, he spilt +the untasted wine upon the carpet, and rushed forth into the +darkness. For the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil. +</p> + +<p> +The next day, the whole village of Milford talked of little else +than Parson Hooper's black veil. That, and the mystery concealed +behind it, supplied a topic for discussion between acquaintances +meeting in the street, and good women gossiping at their open +windows. It was the first item of news that the tavern-keeper +told to his guests. The children babbled of it on their way to +school. One imitative little imp covered his face with an old +black handkerchief, thereby so affrighting his playmates that the +panic seized himself, and he well-nigh lost his wits by his own +waggery. +</p> + +<p> +It was remarkable that all of the busybodies and impertinent +people in the parish, not one ventured to put the plain question +to Mr. Hooper, wherefore he did this thing. Hitherto, whenever +there appeared the slightest call for such interference, he had +never lacked advisers, nor shown himself averse to be guided by +their judgment. If he erred at all, it was by so painful a degree +of self-distrust, that even the mildest censure would lead him to +consider an indifferent action as a crime. Yet, though so well +acquainted with this amiable weakness, no individual among his +parishioners chose to make the black veil a subject of friendly +remonstrance. There was a feeling of dread, neither plainly +confessed nor carefully concealed, which caused each to shift the +responsibility upon another, till at length it was found +expedient to send a deputation of the church, in order to deal +with Mr. Hooper about the mystery, before it should grow into a +scandal. Never did an embassy so ill discharge its duties. The +minister received then with friendly courtesy, but became silent, +after they were seated, leaving to his visitors the whole burden +of introducing their important business. The topic, it might be +supposed, was obvious enough. There was the black veil swathed +round Mr. Hooper's forehead, and concealing every feature above +his placid mouth, on which, at times, they could perceive the +glimmering of a melancholy smile. But that piece of crape, to +their imagination, seemed to hang down before his heart, the +symbol of a fearful secret between him and them. Were the veil +but cast aside, they might speak freely of it, but not till then. +Thus they sat a considerable time, speechless, confused, and +shrinking uneasily from Mr. Hooper's eye, which they felt to be +fixed upon them with an invisible glance. Finally, the deputies +returned abashed to their constituents, pronouncing the matter +too weighty to be handled, except by a council of the churches, +if, indeed, it might not require a general synod. +</p> + +<p> +But there was one person in the village unappalled by the awe +with which the black veil had impressed all beside herself. When +the deputies returned without an explanation, or even venturing +to demand one, she, with the calm energy of her character, +determined to chase away the strange cloud that appeared to be +settling round Mr. Hooper, every moment more darkly than before. +As his plighted wife, it should be her privilege to know what the +black veil concealed. At the minister's first visit, therefore, +she entered upon the subject with a direct simplicity, which made +the task easier both for him and her. After he had seated +himself, she fixed her eyes steadfastly upon the veil, but could +discern nothing of the dreadful gloom that had so overawed the +multitude: it was but a double fold of crape, hanging down from +his forehead to his mouth, and slightly stirring with his breath. +</p> + +<p> +"No," said she aloud, and smiling, "there is nothing terrible in +this piece of crape, except that it hides a face which I am +always glad to look upon. Come, good sir, let the sun shine from +behind the cloud. First lay aside your black veil: then tell me +why you put it on." +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Hooper's smile glimmered faintly. +</p> + +<p> +"There is an hour to come," said he, "when all of us shall cast +aside our veils. Take it not amiss, beloved friend, if I wear +this piece of crape till then." +</p> + +<p> +"Your words are a mystery, too," returned the young lady. "Take +away the veil from them, at least." +</p> + +<p> +"Elizabeth, I will," said he, "so far as my vow may suffer me. +Know, then, this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to +wear it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before +the gaze of multitudes, and as with strangers, so with my +familiar friends. No mortal eye will see it withdrawn. This +dismal shade must separate me from the world: even you, +Elizabeth, can never come behind it!" +</p> + +<p> +"What grievous affliction hath befallen you," she earnestly +inquired, "that you should thus darken your eyes forever?" +</p> + +<p> +"If it be a sign of mourning," replied Mr. Hooper, "I, perhaps, +like most other mortals, have sorrows dark enough to be typified +by a black veil." +</p> + +<p> +"But what if the world will not believe that it is the type of an +innocent sorrow?" urged Elizabeth. "Beloved and respected as you +are, there may be whispers that you hide your face under the +consciousness of secret sin. For the sake of your holy office, do +away this scandal!" +</p> + +<p> +The color rose into her cheeks as she intimated the nature of the +rumors that were already abroad in the village. But Mr. Hooper's +mildness did not forsake him. He even smiled again--that same sad +smile, which always appeared like a faint glimmering of light, +proceeding from the obscurity beneath the veil. +</p> + +<p> +"If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough," he merely +replied; "and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not +do the same?" +</p> + +<p> +And with this gentle, but unconquerable obstinacy did he resist +all her entreaties. At length Elizabeth sat silent. For a few +moments she appeared lost in thought, considering, probably, what +new methods might be tried to withdraw her lover from so dark a +fantasy, which, if it had no other meaning, was perhaps a symptom +of mental disease. Though of a firmer character than his own, the +tears rolled down her cheeks. But, in an instant, as it were, a +new feeling took the place of sorrow: her eyes were fixed +insensibly on the black veil, when, like a sudden twilight in the +air, its terrors fell around her. She arose, and stood trembling +before him. +</p> + +<p> +"And do you feel it then, at last?" said he mournfully. +</p> + +<p> +She made no reply, but covered her eyes with her hand, and turned +to leave the room. He rushed forward and caught her arm. +</p> + +<p> +"Have patience with me, Elizabeth!" cried he, passionately. "Do +not desert me, though this veil must be between us here on earth. +Be mine, and hereafter there shall be no veil over my face, no +darkness between our souls! It is but a mortal veil--it is not +for eternity! O! you know not how lonely I am, and how +frightened, to be alone behind my black veil. Do not leave me in +this miserable obscurity forever!" +</p> + +<p> +"Lift the veil but once, and look me in the face," said she. +</p> + +<p> +"Never! It cannot be!" replied Mr. Hooper. +</p> + +<p> +"Then farewell!" said Elizabeth. +</p> + +<p> +She withdrew her arm from his grasp, and slowly departed, pausing +at the door, to give one long shuddering gaze, that seemed almost +to penetrate the mystery of the black veil. But, even amid his +grief, Mr. Hooper smiled to think that only a material emblem had +separated him from happiness, though the horrors, which it +shadowed forth, must be drawn darkly between the fondest of +lovers. +</p> + +<p> +From that time no attempts were made to remove Mr. Hooper's black +veil, or, by a direct appeal, to discover the secret which it was +supposed to hide. By persons who claimed a superiority to popular +prejudice, it was reckoned merely an eccentric whim, such as +often mingles with the sober actions of men otherwise rational, +and tinges them all with its own semblance of insanity. But with +the multitude, good Mr. Hooper was irreparably a bugbear. He could +not walk the street with any peace of mind, so conscious was he +that the gentle and timid would turn aside to avoid him, and that +others would make it a point of hardihood to throw themselves in +his way. The impertinence of the latter class compelled him to +give up his customary walk at sunset to the burial ground; for +when he leaned pensively over the gate, there would always be +faces behind the gravestones, peeping at his black veil. A fable +went the rounds that the stare of the dead people drove him +thence. It grieved him, to the very depth of his kind heart, to +observe how the children fled from his approach, breaking up +their merriest sports, while his melancholy figure was yet afar +off. Their instinctive dread caused him to feel more strongly +than aught else, that a preternatural horror was interwoven with +the threads of the black crape. In truth, his own antipathy to +the veil was known to be so great, that he never willingly passed +before a mirror, nor stooped to drink at a still fountain, lest, +in its peaceful bosom, he should be affrighted by himself. This +was what gave plausibility to the whispers, that Mr. Hooper's +conscience tortured him for some great crime too horrible to be +entirely concealed, or otherwise than so obscurely intimated. +Thus, from beneath the black veil, there rolled a cloud into the +sunshine, an ambiguity of sin or sorrow, which enveloped the poor +minister, so that love or sympathy could never reach him. It was +said that ghost and fiend consorted with him there. With +self-shudderings and outward terrors, he walked continually in +its shadow, groping darkly within his own soul, or gazing through +a medium that saddened the whole world. Even the lawless wind, it +was believed, respected his dreadful secret, and never blew aside +the veil. But still good Mr. Hooper sadly smiled at the pale +visages of the worldly throng as he passed by. +</p> + +<p> +Among all its bad influences, the black veil had the one +desirable effect, of making its wearer a very efficient +clergyman. By the aid of his mysterious emblem--for there was no +other apparent cause--he became a man of awful power over souls +that were in agony for sin. His converts always regarded him with +a dread peculiar to themselves, affirming, though but +figuratively, that, before he brought them to celestial light, +they had been with him behind the black veil. Its gloom, indeed, +enabled him to sympathize with all dark affections. Dying sinners +cried aloud for Mr. Hooper, and would not yield their breath till +he appeared; though ever, as he stooped to whisper consolation, +they shuddered at the veiled face so near their own. Such were +the terrors of the black veil, even when Death had bared his +visage! Strangers came long distances to attend service at his +church, with the mere idle purpose of gazing at his figure, +because it was forbidden them to behold his face. But many were +made to quake ere they departed! Once, during Governor Belcher's +administration, Mr. Hooper was appointed to preach the election +sermon. Covered with his black veil, he stood before the chief +magistrate, the council, and the representatives, and wrought so +deep an impression, that the legislative measures of that year +were characterized by all the gloom and piety of our earliest +ancestral sway. +</p> + +<p> +In this manner Mr. Hooper spent a long life, irreproachable in +outward act, yet shrouded in dismal suspicions; kind and loving, +though unloved, and dimly feared; a man apart from men, shunned +in their health and joy, but ever summoned to their aid in mortal +anguish. As years wore on, shedding their snows above his sable +veil, he acquired a name throughout the New England churches, and +they called him Father Hooper. Nearly all his parishioners, who +were of mature age when he was settled, had been borne away by +many a funeral: he had one congregation in the church, and a more +crowded one in the churchyard; and having wrought so late into +the evening, and done his work so well, it was now good Father +Hooper's turn to rest. +</p> + +<p> +Several persons were visible by the shaded candlelight, in the +death chamber of the old clergyman. Natural connections he had +none. But there was the decorously grave, though unmoved +physician, seeking only to mitigate the last pangs of the patient +whom he could not save. There were the deacons, and other +eminently pious members of his church. There, also, was the +Reverend Mr. Clark, of Westbury, a young and zealous divine, who +had ridden in haste to pray by the bedside of the expiring +minister. There was the nurse, no hired handmaiden of death, but +one whose calm affection had endured thus long in secrecy, in +solitude, amid the chill of age, and would not perish, even at +the dying hour. Who, but Elizabeth! And there lay the hoary head +of good Father Hooper upon the death pillow, with the black veil +still swathed about his brow, and reaching down over his face, so +that each more difficult gasp of his faint breath caused it to +stir. All through life that piece of crape had hung between him +and the world: it had separated him from cheerful brotherhood and +woman's love, and kept him in that saddest of all prisons, his +own heart; and still it lay upon his face, as if to deepen the +gloom of his darksome chamber, and shade him from the sunshine of +eternity. +</p> + +<p> +For some time previous, his mind had been confused, wavering +doubtfully between the past and the present, and hovering +forward, as it were, at intervals, into the indistinctness of the +world to come. There had been feverish turns, which tossed him +from side to side, and wore away what little strength he had. But +in his most convulsive struggles, and in the wildest vagaries of +his intellect, when no other thought retained its sober +influence, he still showed an awful solicitude lest the black +veil should slip aside. Even if his bewildered soul could have +forgotten, there was a faithful woman at this pillow, who, with +averted eyes, would have covered that aged face, which she had +last beheld in the comeliness of manhood. At length the +death-stricken old man lay quietly in the torpor of mental and +bodily exhaustion, with an imperceptible pulse, and breath that +grew fainter and fainter, except when a long, deep, and irregular +inspiration seemed to prelude the flight of his spirit. +</p> + +<p> +The minister of Westbury approached the bedside. +</p> + +<p> +"Venerable Father Hooper," said he, "the moment of your release +is at hand. Are you ready for the lifting of the veil that shuts +in time from eternity?" +</p> + +<p> +Father Hooper at first replied merely by a feeble motion of his +head; then, apprehensive, perhaps, that his meaning might be +doubted, he exerted himself to speak. +</p> + +<p> +"Yea," said he, in faint accents, "my soul hath a patient +weariness until that veil be lifted." +</p> + +<p> +"And is it fitting," resumed the Reverend Mr. Clark, "that a man +so given to prayer, of such a blameless example, holy in deed and +thought, so far as mortal judgment may pronounce; is it fitting +that a father in the church should leave a shadow on his memory, +that may seem to blacken a life so pure? I pray you, my venerable +brother, let not this thing be! Suffer us to be gladdened by your +triumphant aspect as you go to your reward. Before the veil of +eternity be lifted, let me cast aside this black veil from your +face!" +</p> + +<p> +And thus speaking, the Reverend Mr. Clark bent forward to reveal +the mystery of so many years. But, exerting a sudden energy, that +made all the beholders stand aghast, Father Hooper snatched both +his hands from beneath the bedclothes, and pressed them strongly +on the black veil, resolute to struggle, if the minister of +Westbury would contend with a dying man. +</p> + +<p> +"Never!" cried the veiled clergyman. "On earth, never!" +</p> + +<p> +"Dark old man!" exclaimed the affrighted minister, "with what +horrible crime upon your soul are you now passing to the +judgment?" +</p> + +<p> +Father Hooper's breath heaved; it rattled in his throat; but, +with a mighty effort, grasping forward with his hands, he caught +hold of life, and held it back till he should speak. He even +raised himself in bed; and there he sat, shivering with the arms +of death around him, while the black veil hung down, awful, at +that last moment, in the gathered terrors of a lifetime. And yet +the faint, sad smile, so often there, now seemed to glimmer from +its obscurity, and linger on Father Hooper's lips. +</p> + +<p> +"Why do you tremble at me alone?" cried he, turning his veiled +face round the circle of pale spectators. "Tremble also at each +other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children +screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery +which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so +awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the +lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from +the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of +his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I +have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a +Black Veil!" +</p> + +<p> +While his auditors shrank from one another, in mutual affright, +Father Hooper fell back upon his pillow, a veiled corpse, with a +faint smile lingering on the lips. Still veiled, they laid him in +his coffin, and a veiled corpse they bore him to the grave. The +grass of many years has sprung up and withered on that grave, the +burial stone is moss-grown, and good Mr. Hooper's face is dust; +but awful is still the thought that it mouldered beneath the +Black Veil! +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="maypole"></a></p> + +<h3> +THE MAYPOLE OF MERRY MOUNT +</h3> + +<p> +There is an admirable foundation for a philosophic romance in the +curious history of the early settlement of Mount Wollaston, or +Merry Mount. In the slight sketch here attempted, the facts, +recorded on the grave pages of our New England annalists, have +wrought themselves, almost spontaneously, into a sort of +allegory. The masques, mummeries, and festive customs, described +in the text, are in accordance with the manners of the age. +Authority on these points may be found in Strutt's Book of +English Sports and Pastimes. +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +Bright were the days at Merry Mount, when the Maypole was the +banner staff of that gay colony! They who reared it, should their +banner be triumphant, were to pour sunshine over New England's +rugged hills, and scatter flower seeds throughout the soil. +Jollity and gloom were contending for an empire. Midsummer eve +had come, bringing deep verdure to the forest, and roses in her +lap, of a more vivid hue than the tender buds of Spring. But May, +or her mirthful spirit, dwelt all the year round at Merry Mount, +sporting with the Summer months, and revelling with Autumn, and +basking in the glow of Winter's fireside. Through a world of toil +and care she flitted with a dreamlike smile, and came hither to +find a home among the lightsome hearts of Merry Mount. +</p> + +<p> +Never had the Maypole been so gayly decked as at sunset on +midsummer eve. This venerated emblem was a pine-tree, which had +preserved the slender grace of youth, while it equalled the +loftiest height of the old wood monarchs. From its top streamed a +silken banner, colored like the rainbow. Down nearly to the +ground the pole was dressed with birchen boughs, and others of +the liveliest green, and some with silvery leaves, fastened by +ribbons that fluttered in fantastic knots of twenty different +colors, but no sad ones. Garden flowers, and blossoms of the +wilderness, laughed gladly forth amid the verdure, so fresh and +dewy that they must have grown by magic on that happy pine-tree. +Where this green and flowery splendor terminated, the shaft of +the Maypole was stained with the seven brilliant hues of the +banner at its top. On the lowest green bough hung an abundant +wreath of roses, some that had been gathered in the sunniest +spots of the forest, and others, of still richer blush, which the +colonists had reared from English seed. O, people of the Golden +Age, the chief of your husbandry was to raise flowers! +</p> + +<p> +But what was the wild throng that stood hand in hand about the +Maypole? It could not be that the fauns and nymphs, when driven +from their classic groves and homes of ancient fable, had sought +refuge, as all the persecuted did, in the fresh woods of the +West. These were Gothic monsters, though perhaps of Grecian +ancestry. On the shoulders of a comely youth uprose the head and +branching antlers of a stag; a second, human in all other points, +had the grim visage of a wolf; a third, still with the trunk and +limbs of a mortal man, showed the beard and horns of a venerable +he-goat. There was the likeness of a bear erect, brute in all but +his hind legs, which were adorned with pink silk stockings. And +here again, almost as wondrous, stood a real bear of the dark +forest, lending each of his fore paws to the grasp of a human +hand, and as ready for the dance as any in that circle. His +inferior nature rose half way, to meet his companions as they +stooped. Other faces wore the similitude of man or woman, but +distorted or extravagant, with red noses pendulous before their +mouths, which seemed of awful depth, and stretched from ear to +ear in an eternal fit of laughter. Here might be seen the Savage +Man, well known in heraldry, hairy as a baboon, and girdled with +green leaves. By his side a noble figure, but still a +counterfeit, appeared an Indian hunter, with feathery crest and +wampum belt. Many of this strange company wore foolscaps, and had +little bells appended to their garments, tinkling with a silvery +sound, responsive to the inaudible music of their gleesome +spirits. Some youths and maidens were of soberer garb, yet well +maintained their places in the irregular throng by the expression +of wild revelry upon their features. Such were the colonists of +Merry Mount, as they stood in the broad smile of sunset round +their venerated Maypole. +</p> + +<p> +Had a wanderer, bewildered in the melancholy forest, heard their +mirth, and stolen a half-affrighted glance, he might have fancied +them the crew of Comus, some already transformed to brutes, some +midway between man and beast, and the others rioting in the flow +of tipsy jollity that foreran the change. But a band of Puritans, +who watched the scene, invisible themselves, compared the masques +to those devils and ruined souls with whom their superstition +peopled the black wilderness. +</p> + +<p> +Within the ring of monsters appeared the two airiest forms that +had ever trodden on any more solid footing than a purple and +golden cloud. One was a youth in glistening apparel, with a scarf +of the rainbow pattern crosswise on his breast. His right hand +held a gilded staff, the ensign of high dignity among the +revellers, and his left grasped the slender fingers of a fair +maiden, not less gayly decorated than himself. Bright roses +glowed in contrast with the dark and glossy curls of each, and +were scattered round their feet, or had sprung up spontaneously +there. Behind this lightsome couple, so close to the Maypole that +its boughs shaded his jovial face, stood the figure of an English +priest, canonically dressed, yet decked with flowers, in heathen +fashion, and wearing a chaplet of the native vine leaves. By the +riot of his rolling eye, and the pagan decorations of his holy +garb, he seemed the wildest monster there, and the very Comus of +the crew. +</p> + +<p> +"Votaries of the Maypole," cried the flower-decked priest, +"merrily, all day long, have the woods echoed to your mirth. But +be this your merriest hour, my hearts! Lo, here stand the Lord +and Lady of the May, whom I, a clerk of Oxford, and high priest +of Merry Mount, am presently to join in holy matrimony. Up with +your nimble spirits, ye morris-dancers, green men, and glee +maidens, bears and wolves, and horned gentlemen! Come; a chorus +now, rich with the old mirth of Merry England, and the wilder +glee of this fresh forest; and then a dance, to show the youthful +pair what life is made of, and how airily they should go through +it! All ye that love the Maypole, lend your voices to the nuptial +song of the Lord and Lady of the May!" +</p> + +<p> +This wedlock was more serious than most affairs of Merry Mount, +where jest and delusion, trick and fantasy, kept up a continual +carnival. The Lord and Lady of the May, though their titles must +be laid down at sunset, were really and truly to be partners for +the dance of life, beginning the measure that same bright eve. +The wreath of roses, that hung from the lowest green bough of the +Maypole, had been twined for them, and would be thrown over both +their heads, in symbol of their flowery union. When the priest +had spoken, therefore, a riotous uproar burst from the rout of +monstrous figures. +</p> + +<p> +"Begin you the stave, reverend Sir," cried they all; "and never +did the woods ring to such a merry peal as we of the Maypole +shall send up!" +</p> + +<p> +Immediately a prelude of pipe, cithern, and viol, touched with +practised minstrelsy, began to play from a neighboring thicket, +in such a mirthful cadence that the boughs of the Maypole +quivered to the sound. But the May Lord, he of the gilded staff, +chancing to look into his Lady's eyes, was wonder struck at the +almost pensive glance that met his own. +</p> + +<p> +"Edith, sweet Lady of the May," whispered he reproachfully, "is +yon wreath of roses a garland to hang above our graves, that you +look so sad? O, Edith, this is our golden time! Tarnish it not by +any pensive shadow of the mind; for it may be that nothing of +futurity will be brighter than the mere remembrance of what is +now passing." +</p> + +<p> +"That was the very thought that saddened me! How came it in your +mind too?" said Edith, in a still lower tone than he, for it was +high treason to be sad at Merry Mount. "Therefore do I sigh amid +this festive music. And besides, dear Edgar, I struggle as with a +dream, and fancy that these shapes of our jovial friends are +visionary, and their mirth unreal, and that we are no true Lord +and Lady of the May. What is the mystery in my heart?" +</p> + +<p> +Just then, as if a spell had loosened them, down came a little +shower of withering rose leaves from the Maypole. Alas, for the +young lovers! No sooner had their hearts glowed with real passion +than they were sensible of something vague and unsubstantial in +their former pleasures, and felt a dreary presentiment of +inevitable change. From the moment that they truly loved, they +had subjected themselves to earth's doom of care and sorrow, and +troubled joy, and had no more a home at Merry Mount. That was +Edith's mystery. Now leave we the priest to marry them, and the +masquers to sport round the Maypole, till the last sunbeam be +withdrawn from its summit, and the shadows of the forest mingle +gloomily in the dance. Meanwhile, we may discover who these gay +people were. +</p> + +<p> +Two hundred years ago, and more, the old world and its +inhabitants became mutually weary of each other. Men voyaged by +thousands to the West: some to barter glass beads, and such like +jewels, for the furs of the Indian hunter; some to conquer virgin +empires; and one stern band to pray. But none of these motives +had much weight with the colonists of Merry Mount. Their leaders +were men who had sported so long with life, that when Thought and +Wisdom came, even these unwelcome guests were led astray by the +crowd of vanities which they should have put to flight. Erring +Thought and perverted Wisdom were made to put on masques, and +play the fool. The men of whom we speak, after losing the heart's +fresh gayety, imagined a wild philosophy of pleasure, and came +hither to act out their latest day-dream. They gathered followers +from all that giddy tribe whose whole life is like the festal +days of soberer men. In their train were minstrels, not unknown +in London streets; wandering players, whose theatres had been the +halls of noblemen; mummers, rope-dancers, and mountebanks, who +would long be missed at wakes, church ales, and fairs; in a word, +mirth makers of every sort, such as abounded in that age, but now +began to be discountenanced by the rapid growth of Puritanism. +Light had their footsteps been on land, and as lightly they came +across the sea. Many had been maddened by their previous troubles +into a gay despair; others were as madly gay in the flush of +youth, like the May Lord and his Lady; but whatever might be the +quality of their mirth, old and young were gay at Merry Mount. +The young deemed themselves happy. The elder spirits, if they +knew that mirth was but the counterfeit of happiness, yet +followed the false shadow wilfully, because at least her garments +glittered brightest. Sworn triflers of a lifetime, they would not +venture among the sober truths of life not even to be truly +blest. +</p> + +<p> +All the hereditary pastimes of Old England were transplanted +hither. The King of Christmas was duly crowned, and the Lord of +Misrule bore potent sway. On the Eve of St. John, they felled +whole acres of the forest to make bonfires, and danced by the +blaze all night, crowned with garlands, and throwing flowers into +the flame. At harvest time, though their crop was of the +smallest, they made an image with the sheaves of Indian corn, and +wreathed it with autumnal garlands, and bore it home +triumphantly. But what chiefly characterized the colonists of +Merry Mount was their veneration for the Maypole. It has made +their true history a poet's tale. Spring decked the hallowed +emblem with young blossoms and fresh green boughs; Summer brought +roses of the deepest blush, and the perfected foliage of the +forest; Autumn enriched it with that red and yellow gorgeousness +which converts each wildwood leaf into a painted flower; and +Winter silvered it with sleet, and hung it round with icicles, +till it flashed in the cold sunshine, itself a frozen sunbeam. +Thus each alternate season did homage to the Maypole, and paid it +a tribute of its own richest splendor. Its votaries danced round +it, once, at least, in every month; sometimes they called it +their religion, or their altar; but always, it was the banner +staff of Merry Mount. +</p> + +<p> +Unfortunately, there were men in the new world of a sterner faith +than those Maypole worshippers. Not far from Merry Mount was a +settlement of Puritans, most dismal wretches, who said their +prayers before daylight, and then wrought in the forest or the +cornfield till evening made it prayer time again. Their weapons +were always at hand to shoot down the straggling savage. When +they met in conclave, it was never to keep up the old English +mirth, but to hear sermons three hours long, or to proclaim +bounties on the heads of wolves and the scalps of Indians. Their +festivals were fast days, and their chief pastime the singing of +psalms. Woe to the youth or maiden who did but dream of a dance! +The selectman nodded to the constable; and there sat the +light-heeled reprobate in the stocks; or if he danced, it was +round the whipping-post, which might be termed the Puritan +Maypole. +</p> + +<p> +A party of these grim Puritans, toiling through the difficult +woods, each with a horseload of iron armor to burden his +footsteps, would sometimes draw near the sunny precincts of Merry +Mount. There were the silken colonists, sporting round their +Maypole; perhaps teaching a bear to dance, or striving to +communicate their mirth to the grave Indian; or masquerading in +the skins of deer and wolves, which they had hunted for that +especial purpose. Often, the whole colony were playing at +blindman's buff, magistrates and all, with their eyes bandaged, +except a single scapegoat, whom the blinded sinners pursued by +the tinkling of the bells at his garments. Once, it is said, they +were seen following a flower-decked corpse, with merriment and +festive music, to his grave. But did the dead man laugh? In their +quietest times, they sang ballads and told tales, for the +edification of their pious visitors; or perplexed them with +juggling tricks; or grinned at them through horse collars; and +when sport itself grew wearisome, they made game of their own +stupidity, and began a yawning match. At the very least of these +enormities, the men of iron shook their heads and frowned so +darkly that the revellers looked up imagining that a momentary +cloud had overcast the sunshine, which was to be perpetual there. +On the other hand, the Puritans affirmed that, when a psalm was +pealing from their place of worship, the echo which the forest +sent them back seemed often like the chorus of a jolly catch, +closing with a roar of laughter. Who but the fiend, and his bond +slaves, the crew of Merry Mount, had thus disturbed them? In due +time, a feud arose, stern and bitter on one side, and as serious +on the other as anything could be among such light spirits as had +sworn allegiance to the Maypole. The future complexion of New +England was involved in this important quarrel. Should the +grizzly saints establish their jurisdiction over the gay sinners, +then would their spirits darken all the clime, and make it a land +of clouded visages, of hard toil, of sermon and psalm forever. +But should the banner staff of Merry Mount be fortunate, sunshine +would break upon the hills, and flowers would beautify the +forest, and late posterity do homage to the Maypole. +</p> + +<p> +After these authentic passages from history, we return to the +nuptials of the Lord and Lady of the May. Alas! we have delayed +too long, and must darken our tale too suddenly. As we glance +again at the Maypole, a solitary sunbeam is fading from the +summit, and leaves only a faint, golden tinge blended with the +hues of the rainbow banner. Even that dim light is now withdrawn, +relinquishing the whole domain of Merry Mount to the evening +gloom, which has rushed so instantaneously from the black +surrounding woods. But some of these black shadows have rushed +forth in human shape. +</p> + +<p> +Yes, with the setting sun, the last day of mirth had passed from +Merry Mount. The ring of gay masquers was disordered and broken; +the stag lowered his antlers in dismay; the wolf grew weaker than +a lamb; the bells of the morris-dancers tinkled with tremulous +affright. The Puritans had played a characteristic part in the +Maypole mummeries. Their darksome figures were intermixed with +the wild shapes of their foes, and made the scene a picture of +the moment, when waking thoughts start up amid the scattered +fantasies of a dream. The leader of the hostile party stood in +the centre of the circle, while the route of monsters cowered +around him, like evil spirits in the presence of a dread +magician. No fantastic foolery could look him in the face. So +stern was the energy of his aspect, that the whole man, visage, +frame, and soul, seemed wrought of iron, gifted with life and +thought, yet all of one substance with his headpiece and +breastplate. It was the Puritan of Puritans; it was Endicott +himself! +</p> + +<p> +"Stand off, priest of Baal!" said he, with a grim frown, and +laying no reverent hand upon the surplice. "I know thee, +Blackstone![1] Thou art the man who couldst not abide the rule +even of thine own corrupted church, and hast come hither to +preach iniquity, and to give example of it in thy life. But now +shall it be seen that the Lord hath sanctified this wilderness +for his peculiar people. Woe unto them that would defile it! And +first, for this flower-decked abomination, the altar of thy +worship!" +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +[1] Did Governor Endicott speak less positively, we should +suspect a mistake here. The Rev. Mr. Blackstone, though an +eccentric, is not known to have been an immoral man. We rather +doubt his identity with the priest of Merry Mount. +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +And with his keen sword Endicott assaulted the hallowed Maypole. +Nor long did it resist his arm. It groaned with a dismal sound; +it showered leaves and rosebuds upon the remorseless enthusiast; +and finally, with all its green boughs and ribbons and flowers, +symbolic of departed pleasures, down fell the banner staff of +Merry Mount. As it sank, tradition says, the evening sky grew +darker, and the woods threw forth a more sombre shadow. +</p> + +<p> +"There," cried Endicott, looking triumphantly on his work, "there +lies the only Maypole in New England! The thought is strong +within me that, by its fall, is shadowed forth the fate of light +and idle mirth makers, amongst us and our posterity. Amen, saith +John Endicott." +</p> + +<p> +"Amen!" echoed his followers. +</p> + +<p> +But the votaries of the Maypole gave one groan for their idol. At +the sound, the Puritan leader glanced at the crew of Comus, each +a figure of broad mirth, yet, at this moment, strangely +expressive of sorrow and dismay. +</p> + +<p> +"Valiant captain," quoth Peter Palfrey, the Ancient of the band, +"what order shall be taken with the prisoners?" +</p> + +<p> +"I thought not to repent me of cutting down a Maypole," replied +Endicott, "yet now I could find in my heart to plant it again, +and give each of these bestial pagans one other dance round their +idol. It would have served rarely for a whipping-post!" +</p> + +<p> +"But there are pine-trees enow," suggested the lieutenant. +</p> + +<p> +"True, good Ancient," said the leader. "Wherefore, bind the +heathen crew, and bestow on them a small matter of stripes +apiece, as earnest of our future justice. Set some of the rogues +in the stocks to rest themselves, so soon as Providence shall +bring us to one of our own well-ordered settlements where such +accommodations may be found. Further penalties, such as branding +and cropping of ears, shall be thought of hereafter." +</p> + +<p> +"How many stripes for the priest?" inquired Ancient Palfrey. +</p> + +<p> +"None as yet," answered Endicott, bending his iron frown upon the +culprit. "It must be for the Great and General Court to +determine, whether stripes and long imprisonment, and other +grievous penalty, may atone for his transgressions. Let him look +to himself! For such as violate our civil order, it may be +permitted us to show mercy. But woe to the wretch that troubleth +our religion." +</p> + +<p> +"And this dancing bear," resumed the officer. "Must he share the +stripes of his fellows?" +</p> + +<p> +"Shoot him through the head!" said the energetic Puritan. "I +suspect witchcraft in the beast." +</p> + +<p> +"Here be a couple of shining ones," continued Peter Palfrey, +pointing his weapon at the Lord and Lady of the May. "They seem +to be of high station among these misdoers. Methinks their +dignity will not be fitted with less than a double share of +stripes." +</p> + +<p> +Endicott rested on his sword, and closely surveyed the dress and +aspect of the hapless pair. There they stood, pale, downcast, and +apprehensive. Yet there was an air of mutual support and of pure +affection, seeking aid and giving it, that showed them to be man +and wife, with the sanction of a priest upon their love. The +youth, in the peril of the moment, had dropped his gilded staff, +and thrown his arm about the Lady of the May, who leaned against +his breast, too lightly to burden him, but with weight enough to +express that their destinies were linked together, for good or +evil. They looked first at each other, and then into the grim +captain's face. There they stood, in the first hour of wedlock, +while the idle pleasures, of which their companions were the +emblems, had given place to the sternest cares of life, +personified by the dark Puritans. But never had their youthful +beauty seemed so pure and high as when its glow was chastened by +adversity. +</p> + +<p> +"Youth," said Endicott, "ye stand in an evil case thou and thy +maiden wife. Make ready presently, for I am minded that ye shall +both have a token to remember your wedding day!" +</p> + +<p> +"Stern man," cried the May Lord, "how can I move thee? Were the +means at hand, I would resist to the death. Being powerless, I +entreat! Do with me as thou wilt, but let Edith go untouched!" +</p> + +<p> +"Not so," replied the immitigable zealot. "We are not wont to +show an idle courtesy to that sex, which requireth the stricter +discipline. What sayest thou, maid? Shall thy silken bridegroom +suffer thy share of the penalty, besides his own?" +</p> + +<p> +"Be it death," said Edith, "and lay it all on me!" +</p> + +<p> +Truly, as Endicott had said, the poor lovers stood in a woful +case. Their foes were triumphant, their friends captive and +abased, their home desolate, the benighted wilderness around +them, and a rigorous destiny, in the shape of the Puritan leader, +their only guide. Yet the deepening twilight could not altogether +conceal that the iron man was softened; he smiled at the fair +spectacle of early love; he almost sighed for the inevitable +blight of early hopes. +</p> + +<p> +"The troubles of life have come hastily on this young couple," +observed Endicott. "We will see how they comport themselves under +their present trials ere we burden them with greater. If, among +the spoil, there be any garments of a more decent fashion, let +them be put upon this May Lord and his Lady, instead of their +glistening vanities. Look to it, some of you. +</p> + +<p> +"And shall not the youth's hair be cut?" asked Peter Palfrey, +looking with abhorrence at the lovelock and long glossy curls of +the young man. +</p> + +<p> +"Crop it forthwith, and that in the true pumpkin-shell fashion," +answered the captain. "Then bring them along with us, but more +gently than their fellows. There be qualities in the youth, which +may make him valiant to fight, and sober to toil, and pious to +pray; and in the maiden, that may fit her to become a mother in +our Israel, bringing up babes in better nurture than her own hath +been. Nor think ye, young ones, that they are the happiest, even +in our lifetime of a moment, who misspend it in dancing round a +Maypole!" +</p> + +<p> +And Endicott, the severest Puritan of all who laid the rock +foundation of New England, lifted the wreath of roses from the +ruin of the Maypole, and threw it, with his own gauntleted hand, +over the heads of the Lord and Lady of the May. It was a deed of +prophecy. As the moral gloom of the world overpowers all +systematic gayety, even so was their home of wild mirth made +desolate amid the sad forest. They returned to it no more. But as +their flowery garland was wreathed of the brightest roses that +had grown there, so, in the tie that united them, were +intertwined all the purest and best of their early joys. They +went heavenward, supporting each other along the difficult path +which it was their lot to tread, and never wasted one regretful +thought on the vanities of Merry Mount. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="boy"></a></p> + +<h3> +THE GENTLE BOY +</h3> + +<p> +In the course of the year 1656, several of the people called +Quakers, led, as they professed, by the inward movement of the +spirit, made their appearance in New England. Their reputation, +as holders of mystic and pernicious principles, having spread +before them, the Puritans early endeavored to banish, and to +prevent the further intrusion of the rising sect. But the +measures by which it was intended to purge the land of heresy, +though more than sufficiently vigorous, were entirely +unsuccessful. The Quakers, esteeming persecution as a divine call +to the post of danger, laid claim to a holy courage, unknown to +the Puritans themselves, who had shunned the cross, by providing +for the peaceable exercise of their religion in a distant +wilderness. Though it was the singular fact, that every nation of +the earth rejected the wandering enthusiasts who practised peace +towards all men, the place of greatest uneasiness and peril, and +therefore, in their eyes the most eligible, was the province of +Massachusetts Bay. +</p> + +<p> +The fines, imprisonments, and stripes, liberally distributed by +our pious forefathers; the popular antipathy, so strong that it +endured nearly a hundred years after actual persecution had +ceased, were attractions as powerful for the Quakers, as peace, +honor, and reward, would have been for the worldly minded. Every +European vessel brought new cargoes of the sect, eager to testify +against the oppression which they hoped to share; and when +shipmasters were restrained by heavy fines from affording them +passage, they made long and circuitous journeys through the +Indian country, and appeared in the province as if conveyed by a +supernatural power. Their enthusiasm, heightened almost to +madness by the treatment which they received, produced actions +contrary to the rules of decency, as well as of rational +religion, and presented a singular contrast to the calm and staid +deportment of their sectarian successors of the present day. The +command of the spirit, inaudible except to the soul, and not to +be controverted on grounds of human wisdom, was made a plea for +most indecorous exhibitions, which, abstractedly considered, well +deserved the moderate chastisement of the rod. These +extravagances, and the persecution which was at once their cause +and consequence, continued to increase, till, in the year 1659, +the government of Massachusetts Bay indulged two members of the +Quaker sect with a crown of martyrdom. +</p> + +<p> +An indelible stain of blood is upon the hands of all who +consented to this act, but a large share of the awful +responsibility must rest upon the person then at the head of the +government. He was a man of narrow mind and imperfect education, +and his uncompromising bigotry was made hot and mischievous by +violent and hasty passions; he exerted his influence indecorously +and unjustifiably to compass the death of the enthusiasts; and +his whole conduct, in respect to them, was marked by brutal +cruelty. The Quakers, whose revengeful feelings were not less +deep because they were inactive, remembered this man and his +associates in after times. The historian of the sect affirms +that, by the wrath of Heaven, a blight fell upon the land in the +vicinity of the "bloody town" of Boston, so that no wheat would +grow there; and he takes his stand, as it were, among the graves +of the ancient persecutors, and triumphantly recounts the +judgments that overtook them, in old age or at the parting hour. +He tells us that they died suddenly and violently and in madness; +but nothing can exceed the bitter mockery with which he records +the loathsome disease, and "death by rottenness," of the fierce +and cruel governor. +</p> + +<p> + . . . . . . . . .<br /> +</p> + +<p> +On the evening of the autumn day that had witnessed the martyrdom +of two men of the Quaker persuasion, a Puritan settler was +returning from the metropolis to the neighboring country town in +which he resided. The air was cool, the sky clear, and the +lingering twilight was made brighter by the rays of a young moon, +which had now nearly reached the verge of the horizon. The +traveller, a man of middle age, wrapped in a gray frieze cloak, +quickened his pace when he had reached the outskirts of the town, +for a gloomy extent of nearly four miles lay between him and his +home. The low, straw-thatched houses were scattered at +considerable intervals along the road, and the country having +been settled but about thirty years, the tracts of original +forest still bore no small proportion to the cultivated ground. +The autumn wind wandered among the branches, whirling away the +leaves from all except the pine-trees, and moaning as if it +lamented the desolation of which it was the instrument. The road +had penetrated the mass of woods that lay nearest to the town, +and was just emerging into an open space, when the traveller's +ears were saluted by a sound more mournful than even that of the +wind. It was like the wailing of someone in distress, and it +seemed to proceed from beneath a tall and lonely fir-tree, in the +centre of a cleared but uninclosed and uncultivated field. The +Puritan could not but remember that this was the very spot which +had been made accursed a few hours before by the execution of the +Quakers whose bodies had been thrown together into one hasty +grave, beneath the tree on which they suffered. He struggled +however, against the superstitious fears which belonged to the +age, and compelled himself to pause and listen. +</p> + +<p> +"The voice is most likely mortal, nor have I cause to tremble if +it be otherwise," thought he, straining his eyes through the dim +moonlight. "Methinks it is like the wailing of a child; some +infant, it may be, which has strayed from its mother, and chanced +upon this place of death. For the ease of mine own conscience I +must search this matter out." +</p> + +<p> +He therefore left the path, and walked somewhat fearfully across +the field. Though now so desolate, its soil was pressed down and +trampled by the thousand footsteps of those who had witnessed the +spectacle of that day, all of whom had now retired, leaving the +dead to their loneliness. The traveller, at length reached the +fir-tree, which from the middle upward was covered with living +branches, although a scaffold had been erected beneath, and other +preparations made for the work of death. Under this unhappy tree, +which in after times was believed to drop poison with its dew, +sat the one solitary mourner for innocent blood. It was a slender +and light clad little boy, who leaned his face upon a hillock of +fresh-turned and half-frozen earth, and wailed bitterly, yet in a +suppressed tone, as if his grief might receive the punishment of +crime. The Puritan, whose approach had been unperceived, laid his +hand upon the child's shoulder, and addressed him +compassionately. +</p> + +<p> +"You have chosen a dreary lodging, my poor boy, and no wonder +that you weep," said he. "But dry your eyes, and tell me where +your mother dwells. I promise you, if the journey be not too far, +I will leave you in her arms to-night." +</p> + +<p> +The boy had hushed his wailing at once, and turned his face +upward to the stranger. It was a pale, bright-eyed countenance, +certainly not more than six years old, but sorrow, fear, and want +had destroyed much of its infantile expression. The Puritan +seeing the boy's frightened gaze, and feeling that he trembled +under his hand, endeavored to reassure him. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, if I intended to do you harm, little lad, the readiest way +were to leave you here. What! you do not fear to sit beneath the +gallows on a new-made grave, and yet you tremble at a friend's +touch. Take heart, child, and tell me what is your name and where +is your home?" +</p> + +<p> +"Friend," replied the little boy, in a sweet though faltering +voice, "they call me Ilbrahim, and my home is here." +</p> + +<p> +The pale, spiritual face, the eyes that seemed to mingle with the +moonlight, the sweet, airy voice, and the outlandish name, almost +made the Puritan believe that the boy was in truth a being which +had sprung up out of the grave on which he sat. But perceiving +that the apparition stood the test of a short mental prayer, and +remembering that the arm which he had touched was lifelike, he +adopted a more rational supposition. "The poor child is stricken +in his intellect," thought he, "but verily his words are fearful +in a place like this." He then spoke soothingly, intending to +humor the boy's fantasy. +</p> + +<p> +"Your home will scarce be comfortable, Ilbrahim, this cold autumn +night, and I fear you are ill-provided with food. I am hastening +to a warm supper and bed, and if you will go with me you shall +share them!" +</p> + +<p> +"I thank thee, friend, but though I be hungry, and shivering with +cold, thou wilt not give me food nor lodging," replied the boy, +in the quiet tone which despair had taught him, even so young. +"My father was of the people whom all men hate. They have laid +him under this heap of earth, and here is my home." +</p> + +<p> +The Puritan, who had laid hold of little Ilbrahim's hand, +relinquished it as if he were touching a loathsome reptile. But +he possessed a compassionate heart, which not even religious +prejudice could harden into stone. +</p> + +<p> +"God forbid that I should leave this child to perish, though he +comes of the accursed sect," said he to himself. "Do we not all +spring from an evil root? Are we not all in darkness till the +light doth shine upon us? He shall not perish, neither in body, +nor, if prayer and instruction may avail for him, in soul." He +then spoke aloud and kindly to Ilbrahim, who had again hid his +face in the cold earth of the grave. "Was every door in the land +shut against you, my child, that you have wandered to this +unhallowed spot?" +</p> + +<p> +"They drove me forth from the prison when they took my father +thence," said the boy, "and I stood afar off watching the crowd +of people, and when they were gone I came hither, and found only +his grave. I knew that my father was sleeping here, and I said +this shall be my home." +</p> + +<p> +"No, child, no; not while I have a roof over my head, or a morsel +to share with you!" exclaimed the Puritan, whose sympathies were +now fully excited. "Rise up and come with me, and fear not any +harm." +</p> + +<p> +The boy wept afresh, and clung to the heap of earth as if the +cold heart beneath it were warmer to him than any in a living +breast. The traveller, however, continued to entreat him +tenderly, and seeming to acquire some degree of confidence, he at +length arose. But his slender limbs tottered with weakness, his +little head grew dizzy, and he leaned against the tree of death +for support. +</p> + +<p> +"My poor boy, are you so feeble?" said the Puritan. "When did you +taste food last?" +</p> + +<p> +"I ate of bread and water with my father in the prison," replied +Ilbrahim, "but they brought him none neither yesterday nor +to-day, saying that he had eaten enough to bear him to his +journey's end. Trouble not thyself for my hunger, kind friend, +for I have lacked food many times ere now." +</p> + +<p> +The traveller took the child in his arms and wrapped his cloak +about him, while his heart stirred with shame and anger against +the gratuitous cruelty of the instruments in this persecution. In +the awakened warmth of his feelings he resolved that, at whatever +risk, he would not forsake the poor little defenceless being whom +Heaven had confided to his care. With this determination he left +the accursed field, and resumed the homeward path from which the +wailing of the boy had called him. The light and motionless +burden scarcely impeded his progress, and he soon beheld the fire +rays from the windows of the cottage which he, a native of a +distant clime, had built in the western wilderness. It was +surrounded by a considerable extent of cultivated ground, and the +dwelling was situated in the nook of a wood-covered hill, whither +it seemed to have crept for protection. +</p> + +<p> +"Look up, child," said the Puritan to Ilbrahim, whose faint head +had sunk upon his shoulder, "there is our home." +</p> + +<p> +At the word "home," a thrill passed through the child's frame, +but he continued silent. A few moments brought them to a cottage +door, at which the owner knocked; for at that early period, when +savages were wandering everywhere among the settlers, bolt and +bar were indispensable to the security of a dwelling. The summons +was answered by a bond-servant, a coarse-clad and dull-featured +piece of humanity, who, after ascertaining that his master was +the applicant, undid the door, and held a flaring pineknot torch +to light him in. Farther back in the passage-way, the red blaze +discovered a matronly woman, but no little crowd of children came +bounding forth to greet their father's return. As the Puritan +entered, he thrust aside his cloak, and displayed Ilbrahim's face +to the female. +</p> + +<p> +"Dorothy, here is a little outcast, whom Providence hath put into +our hands," observed he. "Be kind to him, even as if he were of +those dear ones who have departed from us." +</p> + +<p> +"What pale and bright-eyed little boy is this, Tobias?" she +inquired. "Is he one whom the wilderness folk have ravished from +some Christian mother?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, Dorothy, this poor child is no captive from the wilderness," +he replied. "The heathen savage would have given him to eat of +his scanty morsel, and to drink of his birchen cup; but Christian +men, alas, had cast him out to die." +</p> + +<p> +Then he told her how he had found him beneath the gallows, upon +his father's grave; and how his heart had prompted him, like the +speaking of an inward voice, to take the little outcast home, and +be kind unto him. He acknowledged his resolution to feed and +clothe him, as if he were his own child, and to afford him the +instruction which should counteract the pernicious errors +hitherto instilled into his infant mind. Dorothy was gifted with +even a quicker tenderness than her husband, and she approved of +all his doings and intentions. +</p> + +<p> +"Have you a mother, dear child?" she inquired. +</p> + +<p> +The tears burst forth from his full heart as he attempted to +reply; but Dorothy at length understood that he had a mother, +who, like the rest of her sect, was a persecuted wanderer. She +had been taken from the prison a short time before, carried into +the uninhabited wilderness, and left to perish there by hunger or +wild beasts. This was no uncommon method of disposing of the +Quakers, and they were accustomed to boast that the inhabitants +of the desert were more hospitable to them than civilized man. +</p> + +<p> +"Fear not, little boy, you shall not need a mother, and a kind +one," said Dorothy, when she had gathered this information. "Dry +your tears, Ilbrahim, and be my child, as I will be your mother." +</p> + +<p> +The good woman prepared the little bed, from which her own +children had successively been borne to another resting-place. +Before Ilbrahim would consent to occupy it, he knelt down, and as +Dorothy listened to his simple and affecting prayer, she +marvelled how the parents that had taught it to him could have +been judged worthy of death. When the boy had fallen asleep, she +bent over his pale and spiritual countenance, pressed a kiss upon +his white brow, drew the bedclothes up about his neck, and went +away with a pensive gladness in her heart. +</p> + +<p> +Tobias Pearson was not among the earliest emigrants from the old +country. He had remained in England during the first years of the +civil war, in which he had borne some share as a cornet of +dragoons, under Cromwell. But when the ambitious designs of his +leader began to develop themselves, he quitted the army of the +Parliament, and sought a refuge from the strife, which was no +longer holy, among the people of his persuasion in the colony of +Massachusetts. A more worldly consideration had perhaps an +influence in drawing him thither; for New England offered +advantages to men of unprosperous fortunes, as well as to +dissatisfied religionists, and Pearson had hitherto found it +difficult to provide for a wife and increasing family. To this +supposed impurity of motive the more bigoted Puritans were +inclined to impute the removal by death of all the children, for +whose earthly good the father had been over-thoughtful. They had +left their native country blooming like roses, and like roses +they had perished in a foreign soil. Those expounders of the ways +of Providence, who had thus judged their brother, and attributed +his domestic sorrows to his sin, were not more charitable when +they saw him and Dorothy endeavoring to fill up the void in their +hearts by the adoption of an infant of the accursed sect. Nor did +they fail to communicate their disapprobation to Tobias; but the +latter, in reply, merely pointed at the little quiet, lovely boy, +whose appearance and deportment were indeed as powerful arguments +as could possibly have been adduced in his own favor. Even his +beauty, however, and his winning manners, sometimes produced an +effect ultimately unfavorable; for the bigots, when the outer +surfaces of their iron hearts had been softened and again grew +hard, affirmed that no merely natural cause could have so worked +upon them. +</p> + +<p> +Their antipathy to the poor infant was also increased by the ill +success of divers theological discussions, in which it was +attempted to convince him of the errors of his sect. Ilbrahim, it +is true, was not a skilful controversialist; but the feeling of +his religion was strong as instinct in him, and he could neither +be enticed nor driven from the faith which his father had died +for. The odium of this stubbornness was shared in a great measure +by the child's protectors, insomuch that Tobias and Dorothy very +shortly began to experience a most bitter species of persecution, +in the cold regards of many a friend whom they had valued. The +common people manifested their opinions more openly. Pearson was +a man of some consideration, being a representative to the +General Court and an approved lieutenant in the trainbands, yet +within a week after his adoption of Ilbrahim he had been both +hissed and hooted. Once, also, when walking through a solitary +piece of woods, he heard a loud voice from some invisible +speaker; and it cried, "What shall be done to the backslider? Lo! +the scourge is knotted for him, even the whip of nine cords, and +every cord three knots!" These insults irritated Pearson's temper +for the moment; they entered also into his heart, and became +imperceptible but powerful workers towards an end which his most +secret thought had not yet whispered. +</p> + +<p> + . . . . . . . . .<br /> +</p> + +<p> +On the second Sabbath after Ilbrahim became a member of their +family, Pearson and his wife deemed it proper that he should +appear with them at public worship. They had anticipated some +opposition to this measure from the boy, but he prepared himself +in silence, and at the appointed hour was clad in the new +mourning suit which Dorothy had wrought for him. As the parish +was then, and during many subsequent years, unprovided with a +bell, the signal for the commencement of religious exercises was +the beat of a drum. At the first sound of that martial call to +the place of holy and quiet thoughts, Tobias and Dorothy set +forth, each holding a hand of little Ilbrahim, like two parents +linked together by the infant of their love. On their path +through the leafless woods they were overtaken by many persons of +their acquaintance, all of whom avoided them, and passed by on +the other side; but a severer trial awaited their constancy when +they had descended the hill, and drew near the pine-built and +undecorated house of prayer. Around the door, from which the +drummer still sent forth his thundering summons, was drawn up a +formidable phalanx, including several of the oldest members of +the congregation, many of the middle aged, and nearly all the +younger males. Pearson found it difficult to sustain their united +and disapproving gaze, but Dorothy, whose mind was differently +circumstanced, merely drew the boy closer to her, and faltered +not in her approach. As they entered the door, they overheard the +muttered sentiments of the assemblage, and when the reviling +voices of the little children smote Ilbrahim's ear, he wept. +</p> + +<p> +The interior aspect of the meeting-house was rude. The low +ceiling, the unplastered walls, the naked wood work, and the +undraperied pulpit, offered nothing to excite the devotion, +which, without such external aids, often remains latent in the +heart. The floor of the building was occupied by rows of long, +cushionless benches, supplying the place of pews, and the broad +aisle formed a sexual division, impassable except by children +beneath a certain age. +</p> + +<p> +Pearson and Dorothy separated at the door of the meeting-house, +and Ilbrahim, being within the years of infancy, was retained +under the care of the latter. The wrinkled beldams involved +themselves in their rusty cloaks as he passed by; even the +mild-featured maidens seemed to dread contamination; and many a +stern old man arose, and turned his repulsive and unheavenly +countenance upon the gentle boy, as if the sanctuary were +polluted by his presence. He was a sweet infant of the skies that +had strayed away from his home, and all the inhabitants of this +miserable world closed up their impure hearts against him, drew +back their earthsoiled garments from his touch, and said, "We are +holier than thou." +</p> + +<p> +Ilbrahim, seated by the side of his adopted mother, and retaining +fast hold of her hand, assumed a grave and decorous demeanor, +such as might befit a person of matured taste and understanding, +who should find him self in a temple dedicated to some worship +which he did not recognize, but felt himself bound to respect. +The exercises had not yet commenced, however, when the boy's +attention was arrested by an event, apparently of trifling +interest. A woman, having her face muffled in a hood, and a cloak +drawn completely about her form, advanced slowly up the broad +aisle and took a place upon the foremost bench. Ilbrahim's faint +color varied, his nerves fluttered, he was unable to turn his +eyes from the muffled female. +</p> + +<p> +When the preliminary prayer and hymn were over, the minister +arose, and having turned the hour-glass which stood by the great +Bible, commenced his discourse. He was now well stricken in +years, a man of pale, thin countenance, and his gray hairs were +closely covered by a black velvet skullcap. In his younger days +he had practically learned the meaning of persecution from +Archbishop Laud, and he was not now disposed to forget the lesson +against which he had murmured then. Introducing the often +discussed subject of the Quakers, he gave a history of that sect, +and a description of their tenets, in which error predominated, +and prejudice distorted the aspect of what was true. He adverted +to the recent measures in the province, and cautioned his hearers +of weaker parts against calling in question the just severity +which God-fearing magistrates had at length been compelled to +exercise. He spoke of the danger of pity, in some cases a +commendable and Christian virtue, but inapplicable to this +pernicious sect. He observed that such was their devilish +obstinacy in error, that even the little children, the sucking +babes, were hardened and desperate heretics. He affirmed that no +man, without Heaven's especial warrants should attempt their +conversion, lest while he lent his hand to draw them from the +slough, he should himself be precipitated into its lowest depths. +</p> + +<p> +The sands of the second hour were principally in the lower half +of the glass when the sermon concluded. An approving murmur +followed, and the clergyman, having given out a hymn, took his +seat with much self-congratulation, and endeavored to read the +effect of his eloquence in the visages of the people. But while +voices from all parts of the house were tuning themselves to +sing, a scene occurred, which, though not very unusual at that +period in the province, happened to be without precedent in this +parish. +</p> + +<p> +The muffled female, who had hitherto sat motionless in the front +rank of the audience, now arose, and with slow, stately, and +unwavering step, ascended the pulpit stairs. The quiverings of +incipient harmony were hushed, and the divine sat in speechless +and almost terrified astonishment, while she undid the door, and +stood up in the sacred desk from which his maledictions had just +been thundered. She then divested herself of the cloak and hood, +and appeared in a most singular array. A shapeless robe of +sackcloth was girded about her waist with a knotted cord; her +raven hair fell down upon her shoulders, and its blackness was +defiled by pale streaks of ashes, which she had strown upon her +head. Her eyebrows, dark and strongly defined, added to the +deathly whiteness of a countenance, which, emaciated with want, +and wild with enthusiasm and strange sorrows, retained no trace +of earlier beauty. This figure stood gazing earnestly on the +audience, and there was no sound, nor any movement, except a +faint shuddering which every man observed in his neighbor, but +was scarcely conscious of in himself. At length, when her fit of +inspiration came, she spoke, for the first few moments, in a low +voice, and not invariably distinct utterance. Her discourse gave +evidence of an imagination hopelessly entangled with her reason; +it was a vague and incomprehensible rhapsody, which, however, +seemed to spread its own atmosphere round the hearer's soul, and +to move his feelings by some influence unconnected with the +words. As she proceeded, beautiful but shadowy images would +sometimes be seen, like bright things moving in a turbid river; +or a strong and singularly-shaped idea leaped forth, and seized +at once on the understanding or the heart. But the course of her +unearthly eloquence soon led her to the persecutions of her sect, +and from thence the step was short to her own peculiar sorrows. +She was naturally a woman of mighty passions, and hatred and +revenge now wrapped themselves in the garb of piety; the +character of her speech was changed, her images became distinct +though wild, and her denunciations had an almost hellish +bitterness. +</p> + +<p> +"The Governor and his mighty men," she said, "have gathered +together, taking counsel among themselves and saying, 'What shall +we do unto this people even unto the people that have come into +this land to put our iniquity to the blush?' And lo! the devil +entereth into the council chamber, like a lame man of low stature +and gravely apparelled, with a dark and twisted countenance, and +a bright, downcast eye. And he standeth up among the rulers; yea, +he goeth to and fro, whispering to each; and every man lends his +ear, for his word is 'Slay, slay!' But I say unto ye, Woe to them +that slay! Woe to them that shed the blood of saints! Woe to them +that have slain the husband, and cast forth the child, the tender +infant, to wander homeless and hungry and cold, till he die; and +have saved the mother alive, in the cruelty of their tender +mercies! Woe to them in their lifetime! cursed are they in the +delight and pleasure of their hearts! Woe to them in their death +hour, whether it come swiftly with blood and violence, or after +long and lingering pain! Woe, in the dark house, in the +rottenness of the grave, when the children's children shall +revile the ashes of the fathers! Woe, woe, woe, at the judgment, +when all the persecuted and all the slain in this bloody land, +and the father, the mother, and the child, shall await them in a +day that they cannot escape! Seed of the faith, seed of the +faith, ye whose hearts are moving with a power that ye know not, +arise, wash your hands of this innocent blood! Lift your voices, +chosen ones; cry aloud, and call down a woe and a judgment with +me!" +</p> + +<p> +Having thus given vent to the flood of malignity which she +mistook for inspiration, the speaker was silent. Her voice was +succeeded by the hysteric shrieks of several women, but the +feelings of the audience generally had not been drawn onward in +the current with her own. They remained stupefied, stranded as it +were, in the midst of a torrent, which deafened them by its +roaring, but might not move them by its violence. The clergyman, +who could not hitherto have ejected the usurper of his pulpit +otherwise than by bodily force, now addressed her in the tone of +just indignation and legitimate authority. +</p> + +<p> +"Get you down, woman, from the holy place which you profane," he +said. "Is it to the Lord's house that you come to pour forth the +foulness of your heart and the inspiration of the devil? Get you +down, and remember that the sentence of death is on you; yea, and +shall be executed, were it but for this day's work!" +</p> + +<p> +"I go, friend, I go, for the voice hath had its utterance," +replied she, in a depressed and even mild tone. "I have done my +mission unto thee and to thy people. Reward me with stripes, +imprisonment, or death, as ye shall be permitted." +</p> + +<p> +The weakness of exhausted passion caused her steps to totter as +she descended the pulpit stairs. The people, in the mean while, +were stirring to and fro on the floor of the house, whispering +among themselves, and glancing towards the intruder. Many of them +now recognized her as the woman who had assaulted the Governor +with frightful language as he passed by the window of her prison; +they knew, also, that she was adjudged to suffer death, and had +been preserved only by an involuntary banishment into the +wilderness. The new outrage, by which she had provoked her fate, +seemed to render further lenity impossible; and a gentleman in +military dress, with a stout man of inferior rank, drew towards +the door of the meeting-house, and awaited her approach. +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely did her feet press the floor, however, when an +unexpected scene occurred. In that moment of her peril, when +every eye frowned with death, a little timid boy pressed forth, +and threw his arms round his mother. +</p> + +<p> +"I am here, mother; it is I, and I will go with thee to prison," +he exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +She gazed at him with a doubtful and almost frightened +expression, for she knew that the boy had been cast out to +perish, and she had not hoped to see his face again. She feared, +perhaps, that it was but one of the happy visions with which her +excited fancy had often deceived her, in the solitude of the +desert or in prison. But when she felt his hand warm within her +own, and heard his little eloquence of childish love, she began +to know that she was yet a mother. +</p> + +<p> +"Blessed art thou, my son," she sobbed. "My heart was withered; +yea, dead with thee and with thy father; and now it leaps as in +the first moment when I pressed thee to my bosom." +</p> + +<p> +She knelt down and embraced him again and again, while the joy +that could find no words expressed itself in broken accents, like +the bubbles gushing up to vanish at the surface of a deep +fountain. The sorrows of past years, and the darker peril that +was nigh, cast not a shadow on the brightness of that fleeting +moment. Soon, however, the spectators saw a change upon her face, +as the consciousness of her sad estate returned, and grief +supplied the fount of tears which joy had opened. By the words +she uttered, it would seem that the indulgence of natural love +had given her mind a momentary sense of its errors, and made her +know how far she had strayed from duty in following the dictates +of a wild fanaticism. +</p> + +<p> +"In a doleful hour art thou returned to me, poor boy," she said, +"for thy mother's path has gone darkening onward, till now the +end is death. Son, son, I have borne thee in my arms when my +limbs were tottering, and I have fed thee with the food that I +was fainting for; yet I have ill performed a mother's part by +thee in life, and now I leave thee no inheritance but woe and +shame. Thou wilt go seeking through the world, and find all +hearts closed against thee and their sweet affections turned to +bitterness for my sake. My child, my child, how many a pang +awaits thy gentle spirit, and I the cause of all!" +</p> + +<p> +She hid her face on Ilbrahim's head, and her long, raven hair, +discolored with the ashes of her mourning, fell down about him +like a veil. A low and interrupted moan was the voice of her +heart's anguish, and it did not fail to move the sympathies of +many who mistook their involuntary virtue for a sin. Sobs were +audible in the female section of the house, and every man who was +a father drew his hand across his eyes. Tobias Pearson was +agitated and uneasy, but a certain feeling like the consciousness +of guilt oppressed him, so that he could not go forth and offer +himself as the protector of the child. Dorothy, however, had +watched her husband's eye. Her mind was free from the influence +that had begun to work on his, and she drew near the Quaker +woman, and addressed her in the hearing of all the congregation. +</p> + +<p> +"Stranger, trust this boy to me, and I will be his mother," she +said, taking Ilbrahim's hand. "Providence has signally marked out +my husband to protect him, and he has fed at our table and lodged +under our roof now many days, till our hearts have grown very +strongly unto him. Leave the tender child with us, and be at ease +concerning his welfare." +</p> + +<p> +The Quaker rose from the ground, but drew the boy closer to her, +while she gazed earnestly in Dorothy's face. Her mild but +saddened features, and neat matronly attire, harmonized together, +and were like a verse of fireside poetry. Her very aspect proved +that she was blameless, so far as mortal could be so, in respect +to God and man; while the enthusiast, in her robe of sackcloth +and girdle of knotted cord, had as evidently violated the duties +of the present life and the future, by fixing her attention +wholly on the latter. The two females, as they held each a hand +of Ilbrahim, formed a practical allegory; it was rational piety +and unbridled fanaticism contending for the empire of a young +heart. +</p> + +<p> +"Thou art not of our people," said the Quaker, mournfully. +</p> + +<p> +"No, we are not of your people," replied Dorothy, with mildness, +"but we are Christians, looking upward to the same heaven with +you. Doubt not that your boy shall meet you there, if there be a +blessing on our tender and prayerful guidance of him. Thither, I +trust, my own children have gone before me, for I also have been +a mother; I am no longer so," she added, in a faltering tone, +"and your son will have all my care." +</p> + +<p> +"But will ye lead him in the path which his parents have +trodden?" demanded the Quaker. "Can ye teach him the enlightened +faith which his father has died for, and for which I, even I, am +soon to become an unworthy martyr? The boy has been baptized in +blood; will ye keep the mark fresh and ruddy upon his forehead?" +</p> + +<p> +"I will not deceive you," answered Dorothy. "If your child become +our child, we must breed him up in the instruction which Heaven +has imparted to us; we must pray for him the prayers of our own +faith; we must do towards him according to the dictates of our +own consciences, and not of yours. Were we to act otherwise, we +should abuse your trust, even in complying with your wishes." +</p> + +<p> +The mother looked down upon her boy with a troubled countenance, +and then turned her eyes upward to heaven. She seemed to pray +internally, and the contention of her soul was evident. +</p> + +<p> +"Friend," she said at length to Dorothy, "I doubt not that my son +shall receive all earthly tenderness at thy hands. Nay, I will +believe that even thy imperfect lights may guide him to a better +world, for surely thou art on the path thither. But thou hast +spoken of a husband. Doth he stand here among this multitude of +people? Let him come forth, for I must know to whom I commit this +most precious trust." +</p> + +<p> +She turned her face upon the male auditors, and after a momentary +delay, Tobias Pearson came forth from among them. The Quaker saw +the dress which marked his military rank, and shook her head; but +then she noted the hesitating air, the eyes that struggled with +her own, and were vanquished; the color that went and came, and +could find no resting place. As she gazed, an unmirthful smile +spread over her features, like sunshine that grows melancholy in +some desolate spot. Her lips moved inaudibly, but at length she +spake. +</p> + +<p> +"I hear it, I hear it. The voice speaketh within me and saith, +'Leave thy child, Catharine, for his place is here, and go hence, +for I have other work for thee. Break the bonds of natural +affection, martyr thy love, and know that in all these things +eternal wisdom hath its ends.' I go, friends; I go. Take ye my +boy, my precious jewel. I go hence, trusting that all shall be +well, and that even for his infant hands there is a labor in the +vineyard." +</p> + +<p> +She knelt down and whispered to Ilbrahim, who at first struggled +and clung to his mother, with sobs and tears, but remained +passive when she had kissed his cheek and arisen from the ground. +Having held her hands over his head in mental prayer, she was +ready to depart. +</p> + +<p> +"Farewell, friends in mine extremity," she said to Pearson and +his wife; "the good deed ye have done me is a treasure laid up in +heaven, to be returned a thousand-fold hereafter. And farewell +ye, mine enemies, to whom it is not permitted to harm so much as +a hair of my head, nor to stay my footsteps even for a moment. +The day is coming when ye shall call upon me to witness for ye to +this one sin uncommitted, and I will rise up and answer." +</p> + +<p> +She turned her steps towards the door, and the men, who had +stationed themselves to guard it, withdrew, and suffered her to +pass. A general sentiment of pity overcame the virulence of +religious hatred. Sanctified by her love and her affliction, she +went forth, and all the people gazed after her till she had +journeyed up the hill, and was lost behind its brow. She went, +the apostle of her own unquiet heart, to renew the wanderings of +past years. For her voice had been already heard in many lands of +Christendom; and she had pined in the cells of a Catholic +Inquisition before she felt the lash and lay in the dungeons of +the Puritans. Her mission had extended also to the followers of +the Prophet, and from them she had received the courtesy and +kindness which all the contending sects of our purer religion +united to deny her. Her husband and herself had resided many +months in Turkey, where even the Sultan's countenance was +gracious to them; in that pagan land, too, was Ilbrahim's +birthplace, and his oriental name was a mark of gratitude for the +good deeds of an unbeliever. +</p> + +<p> + . . . . . . . . .<br /> +</p> + +<p> +When Pearson and his wife had thus acquired all the rights over +Ilbrahim that could be delegated, their affection for him became +like the memory of their native land, or their mild sorrow for +the dead, a piece of the immovable furniture of their hearts. The +boy, also, after a week or two of mental disquiet, began to +gratify his protectors by many inadvertent proofs that he +considered them as parents, and their house as home. Before the +winter snows were melted, the persecuted infant, the little +wanderer from a remote and heathen country, seemed native in the +New England cottage, and inseparable from the warmth and security +of its hearth. Under the influence of kind treatment, and in the +consciousness that he was loved, Ilbrahim's demeanor lost a +premature manliness, which had resulted from his earlier +situation; he became more childlike, and his natural character +displayed itself with freedom. It was in many respects a +beautiful one, yet the disordered imaginations of both his father +and mother had perhaps propagated a certain unhealthiness in the +mind of the boy. In his general state, Ilbrahim would derive +enjoyment from the most trifling events, and from every object +about him; he seemed to discover rich treasures of happiness, by +a faculty analogous to that of the witch hazel, which points to +hidden gold where all is barren to the eye. His airy gayety, +coming to him from a thousand sources, communicated itself to the +family, and Ilbrahim was like a domesticated sunbeam, brightening +moody countenances, and chasing away the gloom from the dark +corners of the cottage. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, as the susceptibility of pleasure is also that +of pain, the exuberant cheerfulness of the boy's prevailing +temper sometimes yielded to moments of deep depression. His +sorrows could not always be followed up to their original source, +but most frequently they appeared to flow, though Ilbrahim was +young to be sad for such a cause, from wounded love. The +flightiness of his mirth rendered him often guilty of offences +against the decorum of a Puritan household, and on these +occasions he did not invariably escape rebuke. But the slightest +word of real bitterness, which he was infallible in +distinguishing from pretended anger, seemed to sink into his +heart and poison all his enjoyments, till he became sensible that +he was entirely forgiven. Of the malice, which generally +accompanies a superfluity of sensitiveness, Ilbrahim was +altogether destitute: when trodden upon, he would not turn; when +wounded, he could but die. His mind was wanting in the stamina +for self-support; it was a plant that would twine beautifully +round something stronger than itself, but if repulsed, or torn +away, it had no choice but to wither on the ground. Dorothy's +acuteness taught her that severity would crush the spirit of the +child, and she nurtured him with the gentle care of one who +handles a butterfly. Her husband manifested an equal affection, +although it grew daily less productive of familiar caresses. +</p> + +<p> +The feelings of the neighboring people, in regard to the Quaker +infant and his protectors, had not undergone a favorable change, +in spite of the momentary triumph which the desolate mother had +obtained over their sympathies. The scorn and bitterness, of +which he was the object, were very grievous to Ilbrahim, +especially when any circumstance made him sensible that the +children, his equals in age, partook of the enmity of their +parents. His tender and social nature had already overflowed in +attachments to everything about him, and still there was a +residue of unappropriated love, which he yearned to bestow upon +the little ones who were taught to hate him. As the warm days of +spring came on, Ilbrahim was accustomed to remain for hours, +silent and inactive, within hearing of the children's voices at +their play; yet, with his usual delicacy of feeling, he avoided +their notice, and would flee and hide himself from the smallest +individual among them. Chance, however, at length seemed to open +a medium of communication between his heart and theirs; it was by +means of a boy about two years older than Ilbrahim, who was +injured by a fall from a tree in the vicinity of Pearson's +habitation. As the sufferer's own home was at some distance, +Dorothy willingly received him under her roof, and became his +tender and careful nurse. +</p> + +<p> +Ilbrahim was the unconscious possessor of much skill in +physiognomy, and it would have deterred him, in other +circumstances, from attempting to make a friend of this boy. The +countenance of the latter immediately impressed a beholder +disagreeably, but it required some examination to discover that +the cause was a very slight distortion of the mouth, and the +irregular, broken line, and near approach of the eyebrows. +Analogous, perhaps, to these trifling deformities, was an almost +imperceptible twist of every joint, and the uneven prominence of +the breast; forming a body, regular in its general outline, but +faulty in almost all its details. The disposition of the boy was +sullen and reserved, and the village schoolmaster stigmatized him +as obtuse in intellect; although, at a later period of life, he +evinced ambition and very peculiar talents. But whatever might be +his personal or moral irregularities, Ilbrahim's heart seized +upon, and clung to him, from the moment that he was brought +wounded into the cottage; the child of persecution seemed to +compare his own fate with that of the sufferer, and to feel that +even different modes of misfortune had created a sort of +relationship between them. Food, rest, and the fresh air, for +which he languished, were neglected; he nestled continually by +the bedside of the little stranger, and, with a fond jealousy, +endeavored to be the medium of all the cares that were bestowed +upon him. As the boy became convalescent, Ilbrahim contrived +games suitable to his situation, or amused him by a faculty which +he had perhaps breathed in with the air of his barbaric +birthplace. It was that of reciting imaginary adventures, on the +spur of the moment, and apparently in inexhaustible succession. +His tales were of course monstrous, disjointed, and without aim; +but they were curious on account of a vein of human tenderness +which ran through them all, and was like a sweet, familiar face, +encountered in the midst of wild and unearthly scenery. The +auditor paid much attention to these romances, and sometimes +interrupted them by brief remarks upon the incidents, displaying +shrewdness above his years, mingled with a moral obliquity which +grated very harshly against Ilbrahim's instinctive rectitude. +Nothing, however, could arrest the progress of the latter's +affection, and there were many proofs that it met with a response +from the dark and stubborn nature on which it was lavished. The +boy's parents at length removed him, to complete his cure under +their own roof. +</p> + +<p> +Ilbrahim did not visit his new friend after his departure; but he +made anxious and continual inquiries respecting him, and informed +himself of the day when he was to reappear among his playmates. +On a pleasant summer afternoon, the children of the neighborhood +had assembled in the little forest-crowned amphitheatre behind +the meeting-house, and the recovering invalid was there, leaning +on a staff. The glee of a score of untainted bosoms was heard in +light and airy voices, which danced among the trees like sunshine +become audible; the grown men of this weary world, as they +journeyed by the spot, marvelled why life, beginning in such +brightness, should proceed in gloom; and their hearts, or their +imaginations, answered them and said, that the bliss of childhood +gushes from its innocence. But it happened that an unexpected +addition was made to the heavenly little band. It was Ilbrahim, +who came towards the children with a look of sweet confidence on +his fair and spiritual face, as if, having manifested his love to +one of them, he had no longer to fear a repulse from their +society. A hush came over their mirth the moment they beheld him, +and they stood whispering to each other while he drew nigh; but, +all at once, the devil of their fathers entered into the +unbreeched fanatics, and sending up a fierce, shrill cry, they +rushed upon the poor Quaker child. In an instant, he was the +centre of a brood of baby-fiends, who lifted sticks against him, +pelted him with stones, and displayed an instinct of destruction +far more loathsome than the bloodthirstiness of manhood. +</p> + +<p> +The invalid, in the meanwhile, stood apart from the tumult, +crying out with a loud voice, "Fear not, Ilbrahim, come hither +and take my hand;" and his unhappy friend endeavored to obey him. +After watching the victim's struggling approach with a calm smile +and unabashed eye, the foulhearted little villain lifted his +staff and struck Ilbrahim on the mouth, so forcibly that the +blood issued in a stream. The poor child's arms had been raised +to guard his head from the storm of blows; but now he dropped +them at once. His persecutors beat him down, trampled upon him, +dragged him by his long, fair locks, and Ilbrahim was on the +point of becoming as veritable a martyr as ever entered bleeding +into heaven. The uproar, however, attracted the notice of a few +neighbors, who put themselves to the trouble of rescuing the +little heretic, and of conveying him to Pearson's door. +</p> + +<p> +Ilbrahim's bodily harm was severe, but long and careful nursing +accomplished his recovery; the injury done to his sensitive +spirit was more serious, though not so visible. Its signs were +principally of a negative character, and to be discovered only by +those who had previously known him. His gait was thenceforth +slow, even, and unvaried by the sudden bursts of sprightlier +motion, which had once corresponded to his overflowing gladness; +his countenance was heavier, and its former play of expression, +the dance of sunshine reflected from moving water, was destroyed +by the cloud over his existence; his notice was attracted in a +far less degree by passing events, and he appeared to find +greater difficulty in comprehending what was new to him than at a +happier period. A stranger, founding his judgment upon these +circumstances, would have said that the dulness of the child's +intellect widely contradicted the promise of his features, but +the secret was in the direction of Ilbrahim's thoughts, which +were brooding within him when they should naturally have been +wandering abroad. An attempt of Dorothy to revive his former +sportiveness was the single occasion on which his quiet demeanor +yielded to a violent display of grief; he burst into passionate +weeping, and ran and hid himself, for his heart had become so +miserably sore that even the hand of kindness tortured it like +fire. Sometimes, at night and probably in his dreams, he was +heard to cry "Mother! Mother!" as if her place, which a stranger +had supplied while Ilbrahim was happy, admitted of no substitute +in his extreme affliction. Perhaps, among the many life-weary +wretches then upon the earth, there was not one who combined +innocence and misery like this poor, broken-hearted infant, so +soon the victim of his own heavenly nature. +</p> + +<p> +While this melancholy change had taken place in Ilbrahim, one of +an earlier origin and of different character had come to its +perfection in his adopted father. The incident with which this +tale commences found Pearson in a state of religious dulness, yet +mentally disquieted, and longing for a more fervid faith than he +possessed. The first effect of his kindness to Ilbrahim was to +produce a softened feeling, and incipient love for the child's +whole sect; but joined to this, and resulting perhaps from +self-suspicion, was a proud and ostentatious contempt of all +their tenets and practical extravagances. In the course of much +thought, however, for the subject struggled irresistibly into his +mind, the foolishness of the doctrine began to be less evident, +and the points which had particularly offended his reason assumed +another aspect, or vanished entirely away. The work within him +appeared to go on even while he slept, and that which had been a +doubt, when he lay down to rest, would often hold the place of a +truth, confirmed by some forgotten demonstration, when he +recalled his thoughts in the morning. But while he was thus +becoming assimilated to the enthusiasts, his contempt, in nowise +decreasing towards them, grew very fierce against himself; he +imagined, also, that every face of his acquaintance wore a sneer, +and that every word addressed to him was a gibe. Such was his +state of mind at the period of Ilbrahim's misfortune; and the +emotions consequent upon that event completed the change, of +which the child had been the original instrument. +</p> + +<p> +In the mean time, neither the fierceness of the persecutors, nor +the infatuation of their victims, had decreased. The dungeons +were never empty; the streets of almost every village echoed +daily with the lash; the life of a woman, whose mild and +Christian spirit no cruelty could embitter, had been sacrificed; +and more innocent blood was yet to pollute the hands that were so +often raised in prayer. Early after the Restoration, the English +Quakers represented to Charles II that a "vein of blood was open +in his dominions;" but though the displeasure of the voluptuous +king was roused, his interference was not prompt. And now the +tale must stride forward over many months, leaving Pearson to +encounter ignominy and misfortune; his wife to a firm endurance +of a thousand sorrows; poor Ilbrahim to pine and droop like a +cankered rosebud; his mother to wander on a mistaken errand, +neglectful of the holiest trust which can be committed to a +woman. +</p> + +<p> + . . . . . . . . .<br /> +</p> + +<p> +A winter evening, a night of storm, had darkened over Pearson's +habitation, and there were no cheerful faces to drive the gloom +from his broad hearth. The fire, it is true, sent forth a glowing +heat and a ruddy light, and large logs, dripping with half-melted +snow, lay ready to be cast upon the embers. But the apartment was +saddened in its aspect by the absence of much of the homely +wealth which had once adorned it; for the exaction of repeated +fines, and his own neglect of temporal affairs, had greatly +impoverished the owner. And with the furniture of peace, the +implements of war had likewise disappeared; the sword was broken, +the helm and cuirass were cast away forever; the soldier had done +with battles, and might not lift so much as his naked hand to +guard his head. But the Holy Book remained, and the table on +which it rested was drawn before the fire, while two of the +persecuted sect sought comfort from its pages. +</p> + +<p> +He who listened, while the other read, was the master of the +house, now emaciated in form, and altered as to the expression +and healthiness of his countenance; for his mind had dwelt too +long among visionary thoughts, and his body had been worn by +imprisonment and stripes. The hale and weather-beaten old man who +sat beside him had sustained less injury from a far longer course +of the same mode of life. In person he was tall and dignified, +and, which alone would have made him hateful to the Puritans, his +gray locks fell from beneath the broad-brimmed hat, and rested on +his shoulders. As the old man read the sacred page the snow +drifted against the windows, or eddied in at the crevices of the +door, while a blast kept laughing in the chimney, and the blaze +leaped fiercely up to seek it. And sometimes, when the wind +struck the hill at a certain angle, and swept down by the cottage +across the wintry plain, its voice was the most doleful that can +be conceived; it came as if the Past were speaking, as if the +Dead had contributed each a whisper, as if the Desolation of Ages +were breathed in that one lamenting sound. +</p> + +<p> +The Quaker at length closed the book, retaining however his hand +between the pages which he had been reading, while he looked +steadfastly at Pearson. The attitude and features of the latter +might have indicated the endurance of bodily pain; he leaned his +forehead on his hands, his teeth were firmly closed, and his +frame was tremulous at intervals with a nervous agitation. +</p> + +<p> +"Friend Tobias," inquired the old man, compassionately, "hast +thou found no comfort in these many blessed passages of +Scripture?" +</p> + +<p> +"Thy voice has fallen on my ear like a sound afar off and +indistinct," replied Pearson without lifting his eyes. "Yea, and +when I have hearkened carefully the words seemed cold and +lifeless, and intended for another and a lesser grief than mine. +Remove the book," he added, in a tone of sullen bitterness. "I +have no part in its consolations, and they do but fret my sorrow +the more." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, feeble brother, be not as one who hath never known the +light," said the elder Quaker earnestly, but with mildness. "Art +thou he that wouldst be content to give all, and endure all, for +conscience' sake; desiring even peculiar trials, that thy faith +might be purified and thy heart weaned from worldly desires? And +wilt thou sink beneath an affliction which happens alike to them +that have their portion here below, and to them that lay up +treasure in heaven? Faint not, for thy burden is yet light." +</p> + +<p> +"It is heavy! It is heavier than I can bear!" exclaimed Pearson, +with the impatience of a variable spirit. "From my youth upward I +have been a man marked out for wrath; and year by year, yea, day +after day, I have endured sorrows such as others know not in +their lifetime. And now I speak not of the love that has been +turned to hatred, the honor to ignominy, the ease and +plentifulness of all things to danger, want, and nakedness. All +this I could have borne, and counted myself blessed. But when my +heart was desolate with many losses I fixed it upon the child of +a stranger, and he became dearer to me than all my buried ones; +and now he too must die as if my love were poison. Verily, I am +an accursed man, and I will lay me down in the dust and lift up +my head no more." +</p> + +<p> +"Thou sinnest, brother, but it is not for me to rebuke thee; for +I also have had my hours of darkness, wherein I have murmured +against the cross," said the old Quaker. He continued, perhaps in +the hope of distracting his companion's thoughts from his own +sorrows. "Even of late was the light obscured within me, when the +men of blood had banished me on pain of death, and the constables +led me onward from village to village towards the wilderness. A +strong and cruel hand was wielding the knotted cords; they sunk +deep into the flesh, and thou mightst have tracked every reel and +totter of my footsteps by the blood that followed. As we went +on--" +</p> + +<p> +"Have I not borne all this; and have I murmured?" interrupted +Pearson impatiently. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, friend but hear me," continued the other. "As we journeyed +on, night darkened on our path, so that no man could see the rage +of the persecutors or the constancy of my endurance, though +Heaven forbid that I should glory therein. The lights began to +glimmer in the cottage windows, and I could discern the inmates +as they gathered in comfort and security every man with his wife +and children by their own evening hearth. At length we came to a +tract of fertile land; in the dim light, the forest was not +visible around it; and behold! there was a straw-thatched +dwelling which bore the very aspect of my home, far over the wild +ocean, far in our own England. Then came bitter thoughts upon me; +yea, remembrances that were like death to my soul. The happiness +of my early days was painted to me; the disquiet of my manhood, +the altered faith of my declining years. I remembered how I had +been moved to go forth a wanderer when my daughter, the youngest, +the dearest of my flock, lay on her dying bed, and--" +</p> + +<p> +"Couldst thou obey the command at such a moment?" exclaimed +Pearson, shuddering. +</p> + +<p> +"Yea, yea," replied the old man hurriedly. "I was kneeling by her +bedside when the voice spoke loud within me; but immediately I +rose, and took my staff, and gat me gone. Oh! that it were +permitted me to forget her woful look when I thus withdrew my +arm, and left her journeying through the dark valley alone! for +her soul was faint, and she had leaned upon my prayers. Now in +that night of horror I was assailed by the thought that I had +been an erring Christian and a cruel parent; yea, even my +daughter, with her pale, dying features, seemed to stand by me +and whisper, 'Father, you are deceived; go home and shelter your +gray head.' O Thou, to whom I have looked in my farthest +wanderings," continued the Quaker, raising his agitated eyes to +heaven, "inflict not upon the bloodiest of our persecutors the +unmitigated agony of my soul, when I believed that all I had done +and suffered for Thee was at the instigation of a mocking fiend! +But I yielded not; I knelt down and wrestled with the tempter, +while the scourge bit more fiercely into the flesh. My prayer was +heard, and I went on in peace and joy towards the wilderness." +</p> + +<p> +The old man, though his fanaticism had generally all the calmness +of reason, was deeply moved while reciting this tale; and his +unwonted emotion seemed to rebuke and keep down that of his +companion. They sat in silence, with their faces to the fire, +imagining, perhaps, in its red embers new scenes of persecution +yet to be encountered. The snow still drifted hard against the +windows, and sometimes, as the blaze of the logs had gradually +sunk, came down the spacious chimney and hissed upon the hearth. +A cautious footstep might now and then be heard in a neighboring +apartment, and the sound invariably drew the eyes of both Quakers +to the door which led thither. When a fierce and riotous gust of +wind had led his thoughts, by a natural association, to homeless +travellers on such a night, Pearson resumed the conversation. +</p> + +<p> +"I have well-nigh sunk under my own share of this trial," +observed he, sighing heavily; "yet I would that it might be +doubled to me, if so the child's mother could be spared. Her +wounds have been deep and many, but this will be the sorest of +all." +</p> + +<p> +"Fear not for Catharine," replied the old Quaker, "for I know +that valiant woman, and have seen how she can bear the cross. A +mother's heart, indeed, is strong in her, and may seem to contend +mightily with her faith; but soon she will stand up and give +thanks that her son has been thus early an accepted sacrifice. +The boy hath done his work, and she will feel that he is taken +hence in kindness both to him and her. Blessed, blessed are they +that with so little suffering can enter into peace!" +</p> + +<p> +The fitful rush of the wind was now disturbed by a portentous +sound; it was a quick and heavy knocking at the outer door. +Pearson's wan countenance grew paler, for many a visit of +persecution had taught him what to dread; the old man, on the +other hand, stood up erect, and his glance was firm as that of +the tried soldier who awaits his enemy. +</p> + +<p> +"The men of blood have come to seek me," he observed with +calmness. "They have heard how I was moved to return from +banishment; and now am I to be led to prison, and thence to +death. It is an end I have long looked for. I will open unto +them, lest they say, 'Lo, he feareth!'" +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, I will present myself before them," said Pearson, with +recovered fortitude. "It may be that they seek me alone, and know +not that thou abidest with me." +</p> + +<p> +"Let us go boldly, both one and the other," rejoined his +companion. "It is not fitting that thou or I should shrink." +</p> + +<p> +They therefore proceeded through the entry to the door, which +they opened, bidding the applicant "Come in, in God's name!" A +furious blast of wind drove the storm into their faces, and +extinguished the lamp; they had barely time to discern a figure, +so white from head to foot with the drifted snow that it seemed +like Winter's self, come in human shape, to seek refuge from its +own desolation. +</p> + +<p> +"Enter, friend, and do thy errand, be it what it may," said +Pearson. "It must needs be pressing, since thou comest on such a +bitter night." +</p> + +<p> +"Peace be with this household," said the stranger, when they +stood on the floor of the inner apartment. +</p> + +<p> +Pearson started, the elder Quaker stirred the slumbering embers +of the fire till they sent up a clear and lofty blaze; it was a +female voice that had spoken; it was a female form that shone +out, cold and wintry, in that comfortable light. +</p> + +<p> +"Catharine, blessed woman!" exclaimed the old man, "art thou come +to this darkened land again? art thou come to bear a valiant +testimony as in former years? The scourge hath not prevailed +against thee, and from the dungeon hast thou come forth +triumphant; but strengthen, strengthen now thy heart, Catharine, +for Heaven will prove thee yet this once, ere thou go to thy +reward." +</p> + +<p> +"Rejoice, friends!" she replied. "Thou who hast long been of our +people, and thou whom a little child hath led to us, rejoice! Lo! +I come, the messenger of glad tidings, for the day of persecution +is overpast. The heart of the king, even Charles, hath been moved +in gentleness towards us, and he hath sent forth his letters to +stay the hands of the men of blood. A ship's company of our +friends hath arrived at yonder town, and I also sailed joyfully +among them." +</p> + +<p> +As Catharine spoke, her eyes were roaming about the room, in +search of him for whose sake security was dear to her. Pearson +made a silent appeal to the old man, nor did the latter shrink +from the painful task assigned him. +</p> + +<p> +"Sister," he began, in a softened yet perfectly calm tone, "thou +tellest us of His love, manifested in temporal good; and now must +we speak to thee of that selfsame love, displayed in chastenings. +Hitherto, Catharine, thou hast been as one journeying in a +darksome and difficult path, and leading an infant by the hand; +fain wouldst thou have looked heavenward continually, but still +the cares of that little child have drawn thine eyes and thy +affections to the earth. Sister! go on rejoicing, for his +tottering footsteps shall impede thine own no more." +</p> + +<p> +But the unhappy mother was not thus to be consoled; she shook +like a leaf, she turned white as the very snow that hung drifted +into her hair. The firm old man extended his hand and held her +up, keeping his eye upon hers, as if to repress any outbreak of +passion. +</p> + +<p> +"I am a woman, I am but a woman; will He try me above my +strength?" said Catharine very quickly, and almost in a whisper. +"I have been wounded sore; I have suffered much; many things in +the body; many in the mind; crucified in myself, and in them that +were dearest to me. Surely," added she, with a long shudder, "He +hath spared me in this one thing." She broke forth with sudden +and irrepressible violence. "Tell me, man of cold heart, what has +God done to me? Hath He cast me down, never to rise again? Hath +He crushed my very heart in his hand? And thou, to whom I +committed my child, how hast thou fulfilled thy trust? Give me +back the boy, well, sound, alive, alive; or earth and Heaven +shall avenge me!" +</p> + +<p> +The agonized shriek of Catharine was answered by the faint, the +very faint, voice of a child. +</p> + +<p> +On this day it had become evident to Pearson, to his aged guest, +and to Dorothy, that Ilbrahim's brief and troubled pilgrimage +drew near its close. The two former would willingly have remained +by him, to make use of the prayers and pious discourses which +they deemed appropriate to the time, and which, if they be +impotent as to the departing traveller's reception in the world +whither he goes, may at least sustain him in bidding adieu to +earth. But though Ilbrahim uttered no complaint, he was disturbed +by the faces that looked upon him; so that Dorothy's entreaties, +and their own conviction that the child's feet might tread +heaven's pavement and not soil it, had induced the two Quakers to +remove. Ilbrahim then closed his eyes and grew calm, and, except +for now and then a kind and low word to his nurse, might have +been thought to slumber. As nightfall came on, however, and the +storm began to rise, something seemed to trouble the repose of +the boy's mind, and to render his sense of hearing active and +acute. If a passing wind lingered to shake the casement, he +strove to turn his head towards it; if the door jarred to and fro +upon its hinges, he looked long and anxiously thitherward; if the +heavy voice of the old man, as he read the Scriptures, rose but a +little higher, the child almost held his dying breath to listen; +if a snow-drift swept by the cottage, with a sound like the +trailing of a garment, Ilbrahim seemed to watch that some +visitant should enter. +</p> + +<p> +But, after a little time, he relinquished whatever secret hope +had agitated him, and with one low, complaining whisper, turned +his cheek upon the pillow. He then addressed Dorothy with his +usual sweetness, and besought her to draw near him; she did so, +and Ilbrahim took her hand in both of his, grasping it with a +gentle pressure, as if to assure himself that he retained it. At +intervals, and without disturbing the repose of his countenance, +a very faint trembling passed over him from head to foot, as if a +mild but somewhat cool wind had breathed upon him, and made him +shiver. As the boy thus led her by the hand, in his quiet +progress over the borders of eternity, Dorothy almost imagined +that she could discern the near, though dim, delightfulness of +the home he was about to reach; she would not have enticed the +little wanderer back, though she bemoaned herself that she must +leave him and return. But just when Ilbrahim's feet were pressing +on the soil of Paradise he heard a voice behind him, and it +recalled him a few, few paces of the weary path which he had +travelled. As Dorothy looked upon his features, she perceived +that their placid expression was again disturbed; her own +thoughts had been so wrapped in him, that all sounds of the +storm, and of human speech, were lost to her; but when +Catharine's shriek pierced through the room, the boy strove to +raise himself. +</p> + +<p> +"Friend, she is come! Open unto her!" cried he. +</p> + +<p> +In a moment his mother was kneeling by the bedside; she drew +Ilbrahim to her bosom, and he nestled there, with no violence of +joy, but contentedly, as if he were hushing himself to sleep. He +looked into her face, and reading its agony, said, with feeble +earnestness, "Mourn not, dearest mother. I am happy now." And +with these words the gentle boy was dead. +</p> + +<p> + . . . . . . . . .<br /> +</p> + +<p> +The king's mandate to stay the New England persecutors was +effectual in preventing further martyrdoms; but the colonial +authorities, trusting in the remoteness of their situation, and +perhaps in the supposed instability of the royal government, +shortly renewed their severities in all other respects. +Catharine's fanaticism had become wilder by the sundering of all +human ties; and wherever a scourge was lifted there was she to +receive the blow, and whenever a dungeon was unbarred thither she +came, to cast herself upon the floor. But in process of time a +more Christian spirit--a spirit of forbearance, though not of +cordiality or approbation--began to pervade the land in regard to +the persecuted sect. And then, when the rigid old Pilgrims eyed +her rather in pity than in wrath; when the matrons fed her with +the fragments of their children's food, and offered her a lodging +on a hard and lowly bed; when no little crowd of schoolboys left +their sports to cast stones after the roving enthusiast; then did +Catharine return to Pearson's dwelling and made that her home. +</p> + +<p> +As if Ilbrahim's sweetness yet lingered round his ashes; as if +his gentle spirit came down from heaven to teach his parent a +true religion, her fierce and vindictive nature was softened by +the same griefs which had once irritated it. When the course of +years had made the features of the unobtrusive mourner familiar +in the settlement, she became a subject of not deep, but general, +interest; a being on whom the otherwise superfluous sympathies of +all might be bestowed. Every one spoke of her with that degree of +pity which it is pleasant to experience; every one was ready to +do her the little kindnesses which are not costly, yet manifest +good will and when at last she died, a long train of her once +bitter persecutors followed her, with decent sadness and tears +that were not painful, to her place by Ilbrahim's green and +sunken grave. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="catastrophe"></a></p> + +<h3> +MR. HIGGINBOTHAM'S CATASTROPHE +</h3> + +<p> +A young fellow, a tobacco pedlar by trade, was on his way from +Morristown, where he had dealt largely with the Deacon of the +Shaker settlement, to the village of Parker's Falls, on Salmon +River. He had a neat little cart, painted green, with a box of +cigars depicted on each side panel, and an Indian chief, holding +a pipe and a golden tobacco stalk, on the rear. The pedlar drove +a smart little mare, and was a young man of excellent character, +keen at a bargain, but none the worse liked by the Yankees; who, +as I have heard them say, would rather be shaved with a sharp +razor than a dull one. Especially was he beloved by the pretty +girls along the Connecticut, whose favor he used to court by +presents of the best smoking tobacco in his stock; knowing well +that the country lasses of New England are generally great +performers on pipes. Moreover, as will be seen in the course of +my story, the pedlar was inquisitive, and something of a tattler, +always itching to hear the news and anxious to tell it again. +</p> + +<p> +After an early breakfast at Morristown, the tobacco pedlar, whose +name was Dominicus Pike, had travelled seven miles through a +solitary piece of woods, without speaking a word to anybody but +himself and his little gray mare. It being nearly seven o'clock, +he was as eager to hold a morning gossip as a city shopkeeper to +read the morning paper. An opportunity seemed at hand when, after +lighting a cigar with a sun-glass, he looked up, and perceived a +man coming over the brow of the hill, at the foot of which the +pedlar had stopped his green cart. Dominicus watched him as he +descended, and noticed that he carried a bundle over his shoulder +on the end of a stick, and travelled with a weary, yet determined +pace. He did not look as if he had started in the freshness of +the morning, but had footed it all night, and meant to do the +same all day. +</p> + +<p> +"Good morning, mister," said Dominicus, when within speaking +distance. "You go a pretty good jog. What's the latest news at +Parker's Falls?" +</p> + +<p> +The man pulled the broad brim of a gray hat over his eyes, and +answered, rather sullenly, that he did not come from Parker's +Falls, which, as being the limit of his own day's journey, the +pedlar had naturally mentioned in his inquiry. +</p> + +<p> +"Well then," rejoined Dominicus Pike, "let's have the latest news +where you did come from. I'm not particular about Parker's Falls. +Any place will answer." +</p> + +<p> +Being thus importuned, the traveller--who was as ill looking a +fellow as one would desire to meet in a solitary piece of +woods--appeared to hesitate a little, as if he was either +searching his memory for news, or weighing the expediency of +telling it. At last, mounting on the step of the cart, he +whispered in the ear of Dominicus, though he might have shouted +aloud and no other mortal would have heard him. +</p> + +<p> +"I do remember one little trifle of news," said he. "Old Mr. +Higginbotham, of Kimballton, was murdered in his orchard, at +eight o'clock last night, by an Irishman and a nigger. They +strung him up to the branch of a St. Michael's pear-tree, where +nobody would find him till the morning." +</p> + +<p> +As soon as this horrible intelligence was communicated, the +stranger betook himself to his journey again, with more speed +than ever, not even turning his head when Dominicus invited him +to smoke a Spanish cigar and relate all the particulars. The +pedlar whistled to his mare and went up the hill, pondering on +the doleful fate of Mr. Higginbotham whom he had known in the way +of trade, having sold him many a bunch of long nines, and a great +deal of pigtail, lady's twist, and fig tobacco. He was rather +astonished at the rapidity with which the news had spread. +Kimballton was nearly sixty miles distant in a straight line; the +murder had been perpetrated only at eight o'clock the preceding +night; yet Dominicus had heard of it at seven in the morning, +when, in all probability, poor Mr. Higginbotham's own family had +but just discovered his corpse, hanging on the St. Michael's +pear-tree. The stranger on foot must have worn seven-league boots +to travel at such a rate. +</p> + +<p> +"Ill news flies fast, they say," thought Dominicus Pike; "but +this beats railroads. The fellow ought to be hired to go express +with the President's Message." +</p> + +<p> +The difficulty was solved by supposing that the narrator had made +a mistake of one day in the date of the occurrence; so that our +friend did not hesitate to introduce the story at every tavern +and country store along the road, expending a whole bunch of +Spanish wrappers among at least twenty horrified audiences. He +found himself invariably the first bearer of the intelligence, +and was so pestered with questions that he could not avoid +filling up the outline, till it became quite a respectable +narrative. He met with one piece of corroborative evidence. Mr. +Higginbotham was a trader; and a former clerk of his, to whom +Dominicus related the facts, testified that the old gentleman was +accustomed to return home through the orchard about nightfall, +with the money and valuable papers of the store in his pocket. +The clerk manifested but little grief at Mr. Higginbotham's +catastrophe, hinting, what the pedlar had discovered in his own +dealings with him, that he was a crusty old fellow, as close as a +vice. His property would descend to a pretty niece who was now +keeping school in Kimballton. +</p> + +<p> +What with telling the news for the public good, and driving +bargains for his own, Dominicus was so much delayed on the road +that he chose to put up at a tavern, about five miles short of +Parker's Falls. After supper, lighting one of his prime cigars, +he seated himself in the bar-room, and went through the story of +the murder, which had grown so fast that it took him half an hour +to tell. There were as many as twenty people in the room, +nineteen of whom received it all for gospel. But the twentieth +was an elderly farmer, who had arrived on horseback a short time +before, and was now seated in a corner smoking his pipe. When the +story was concluded, he rose up very deliberately, brought his +chair right in front of Dominicus, and stared him full in the +face, puffing out the vilest tobacco smoke the pedlar had ever +smelt. +</p> + +<p> +"Will you make affidavit," demanded he, in the tone of a country +justice taking an examination, "that old Squire Higginbotham of +Kimballton was murdered in his orchard the night before last, and +found hanging on his great pear-tree yesterday morning?" +</p> + +<p> +"I tell the story as I heard it, mister," answered Dominicus, +dropping his half-burnt cigar; "I don't say that I saw the thing +done. So I can't take my oath that he was murdered exactly in +that way." +</p> + +<p> +"But I can take mine," said the farmer, "that if Squire +Higginbotham was murdered night before last, I drank a glass of +bitters with his ghost this morning. Being a neighbor of mine, he +called me into his store, as I was riding by, and treated me, and +then asked me to do a little business for him on the road. He +didn't seem to know any more about his own murder than I did." +</p> + +<p> +"Why, then, it can't be a fact!" exclaimed Dominicus Pike. +</p> + +<p> +"I guess he'd have mentioned, if it was," said the old farmer; +and he removed his chair back to the corner, leaving Dominicus +quite down in the mouth. +</p> + +<p> +Here was a sad resurrection of old Mr. Higginbotham! The pedlar +had no heart to mingle in the conversation any more, but +comforted himself with a glass of gin and water, and went to bed +where, all night long, he dreamed of hanging on the St. Michael's +pear-tree. To avoid the old farmer (whom he so detested that his +suspension would have pleased him better than Mr. +Higginbotham's), Dominicus rose in the gray of the morning, put +the little mare into the green cart, and trotted swiftly away +towards Parker's Falls. The fresh breeze, the dewy road, and the +pleasant summer dawn, revived his spirits, and might have +encouraged him to repeat the old story had there been anybody +awake to hear it. But he met neither ox team, light wagon chaise, +horseman, nor foot traveller, till, just as he crossed Salmon +River, a man came trudging down to the bridge with a bundle over +his shoulder, on the end of a stick. +</p> + +<p> +"Good morning, mister," said the pedlar, reining in his mare. "If +you come from Kimballton or that neighborhood, may be you can +tell me the real fact about this affair of old Mr. Higginbotham. +Was the old fellow actually murdered two or three nights ago, by +an Irishman and a nigger?" +</p> + +<p> +Dominicus had spoken in too great a hurry to observe, at first, +that the stranger himself had a deep tinge of negro blood. On +hearing this sudden question, the Ethiopian appeared to change +his skin, its yellow hue becoming a ghastly white, while, shaking +and stammering, he thus replied: "No! no! There was no colored +man! It was an Irishman that hanged him last night, at eight +o'clock. I came away at seven! His folks can't have looked for +him in the orchard yet." +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely had the yellow man spoken, when he interrupted himself, +and though he seemed weary enough before, continued his journey +at a pace which would have kept the pedlar's mare on a smart +trot. Dominicus stared after him in great perplexity. If the +murder had not been committed till Tuesday night, who was the +prophet that had foretold it, in all its circumstances, on +Tuesday morning? If Mr. Higginbotham's corpse were not yet +discovered by his own family, how came the mulatto, at above +thirty miles' distance, to know that he was hanging in the +orchard, especially as he had left Kimballton before the +unfortunate man was hanged at all? These ambiguous circumstances, +with the stranger's surprise and terror, made Dominicus think of +raising a hue and cry after him, as an accomplice in the murder; +since a murder, it seemed, had really been perpetrated. +</p> + +<p> +"But let the poor devil go," thought the pedlar. "I don't want +his black blood on my head; and hanging the nigger wouldn't +unhang Mr. Higginbotham. Unhang the old gentleman; It's a sin, I +know; but I should hate to have him come to life a second time, +and give me the lie!" +</p> + +<p> +With these meditations, Dominicus Pike drove into the street of +Parker's Falls, which, as everybody knows, is as thriving a +village as three cotton factories and a slitting mill can make +it. The machinery was not in motion, and but a few of the shop +doors unbarred, when he alighted in the stable yard of the +tavern, and made it his first business to order the mare four +quarts of oats. His second duty, of course, was to impart Mr. +Higginbotham's catastrophe to the hostler. He deemed it +advisable, however, not to be too positive as to the date of the +direful fact, and also to be uncertain whether it were +perpetrated by an Irishman and a mulatto, or by the son of Erin +alone. Neither did he profess to relate it on his own authority, +or that of any one person; but mentioned it as a report generally +diffused. +</p> + +<p> +The story ran through the town like fire among girdled trees, and +became so much the universal talk that nobody could tell whence +it had originated. Mr. Higginbotham was as well known at Parker's +Falls as any citizen of the place, being part owner of the +slitting mill, and a considerable stockholder in the cotton +factories. The inhabitants felt their own prosperity interested +in his fate. Such was the excitement, that the Parker's Falls +Gazette anticipated its regular day of publication, and came out +with half a form of blank paper and a column of double pica +emphasized with capitals, and headed HORRID MURDER OF MR. +HIGGINBOTHAM! Among other dreadful details, the printed account +described the mark of the cord round the dead man's neck, and +stated the number of thousand dollars of which he had been +robbed; there was much pathos also about the affliction of his +niece, who had gone from one fainting fit to another, ever since +her uncle was found hanging on the St. Michael's pear-tree with +his pockets inside out. The village poet likewise commemorated +the young lady's grief in seventeen stanzas of a ballad. The +selectmen held a meeting, and, in consideration of Mr. +Higginbotham's claims on the town, determined to issue handbills, +offering a reward of five hundred dollars for the apprehension of +his murderers, and the recovery of the stolen property. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the whole population of Parker's Falls, consisting of +shopkeepers, mistresses of boarding-houses, factory girls, +millmen, and schoolboys, rushed into the street and kept up such +a terrible loquacity as more than compensated for the silence of +the cotton machines, which refrained from their usual din out of +respect to the deceased. Had Mr. Higginbotham cared about +posthumous renown, his untimely ghost would have exulted in this +tumult. Our friend Dominicus, in his vanity of heart, forgot his +intended precautions, and mounting on the town pump, announced +himself as the bearer of the authentic intelligence which had +caused so wonderful a sensation. He immediately became the great +man of the moment, and had just begun a new edition of the +narrative, with a voice like a field preacher, when the mail +stage drove into the village street. It had travelled all night, +and must have shifted horses at Kimballton, at three in the +morning. +</p> + +<p> +"Now we shall hear all the particulars," shouted the crowd. +</p> + +<p> +The coach rumbled up to the piazza of the tavern, followed by a +thousand people; for if any man had been minding his own business +till then, he now left it at sixes and sevens, to hear the news. +The pedlar, foremost in the race, discovered two passengers, both +of whom had been startled from a comfortable nap to find +themselves in the centre of a mob. Every man assailing them with +separate questions, all propounded at once, the couple were +struck speechless, though one was a lawyer and the other a young +lady. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Higginbotham! Mr. Higginbotham! Tell us the particulars +about old Mr. Higginbotham!" bawled the mob. "What is the +coroner's verdict? Are the murderers apprehended? Is Mr. +Higginbotham's niece come out of her fainting fits? Mr. +Higginbotham! Mr. Higginbotham!!" +</p> + +<p> +The coachman said not a word, except to swear awfully at the +hostler for not bringing him a fresh team of horses. The lawyer +inside had generally his wits about him even when asleep; the +first thing he did, after learning the cause of the excitement, +was to produce a large, red pocketbook. Meantime Dominicus Pike, +being an extremely polite young man, and also suspecting that a +female tongue would tell the story as glibly as a lawyer's, had +handed the lady out of the coach. She was a fine, smart girl, now +wide awake and bright as a button, and had such a sweet pretty +mouth, that Dominicus would almost as lief have heard a love tale +from it as a tale of murder. +</p> + +<p> +"Gentlemen and ladies," said the lawyer to the shopkeepers, the +millmen, and the factory girls, "I can assure you that some +unaccountable mistake, or, more probably, a wilful falsehood, +maliciously contrived to injure Mr. Higginbotham's credit, has +excited this singular uproar. We passed through Kimballton at +three o'clock this morning, and most certainly should have been +informed of the murder had any been perpetrated. But I have proof +nearly as strong as Mr. Higginbotham's own oral testimony, in the +negative. Here is a note relating to a suit of his in the +Connecticut courts, which was delivered me from that gentleman +himself. I find it dated at ten o'clock last evening." +</p> + +<p> +So saying, the lawyer exhibited the date and signature of the +note, which irrefragably proved, either that this perverse Mr. +Higginbotham was alive when he wrote it, or--as some deemed the +more probable case, of two doubtful ones--that he was so absorbed +in worldly business as to continue to transact it even after his +death. But unexpected evidence was forthcoming. The young lady, +after listening to the pedlar's explanation, merely seized a +moment to smooth her gown and put her curls in order, and then +appeared at the tavern door, making a modest signal to be heard. +</p> + +<p> +"Good people," said she, "I am Mr. Higginbotham's niece." +</p> + +<p> +A wondering murmur passed through the crowd on beholding her so +rosy and bright; that same unhappy niece, whom they had supposed, +on the authority of the Parker's Falls Gazette, to be lying at +death's door in a fainting fit. But some shrewd fellows had +doubted, all along, whether a young lady would be quite so +desperate at the hanging of a rich old uncle. +</p> + +<p> +"You see," continued Miss Higginbotham, with a smile, "that this +strange story is quite unfounded as to myself; and I believe I +may affirm it to be equally so in regard to my dear uncle +Higginbotham. He has the kindness to give me a home in his house, +though I contribute to my own support by teaching a school. I +left Kimballton this morning to spend the vacation of +commencement week with a friend, about five miles from Parker's +Falls. My generous uncle, when he heard me on the stairs, called +me to his bedside, and gave me two dollars and fifty cents to pay +my stage fare, and another dollar for my extra expenses. He then +laid his pocketbook under his pillow, shook hands with me, and +advised me to take some biscuit in my bag, instead of +breakfasting on the road. I feel confident, therefore, that I +left my beloved relative alive, and trust that I shall find him +so on my return." +</p> + +<p> +The young lady courtesied at the close of her speech, which was +so sensible and well worded, and delivered with such grace and +propriety, that everybody thought her fit to be preceptress of +the best academy in the State. But a stranger would have supposed +that Mr. Higginbotham was an object of abhorrence at Parker's +Falls, and that a thanksgiving had been proclaimed for his +murder; so excessive was the wrath of the inhabitants on learning +their mistake. The millmen resolved to bestow public honors on +Dominicus Pike, only hesitating whether to tar and feather him, +ride him on a rail, or refresh him with an ablution at the town +pump, on the top of which he had declared himself the bearer of +the news. The selectmen, by advice of the lawyer, spoke of +prosecuting him for a misdemeanor, in circulating unfounded +reports, to the great disturbance of the peace of the +Commonwealth. Nothing saved Dominicus, either from mob law or a +court of justice, but an eloquent appeal made by the young lady +in his behalf. Addressing a few words of heartfelt gratitude to +his benefactress, he mounted the green cart and rode out of town, +under a discharge of artillery from the school-boys, who found +plenty of ammunition in the neighboring clay-pits and mud holes. +As he turned his head to exchange a farewell glance with Mr. +Higginbotham's niece, a ball, of the consistence of hasty +pudding, hit him slap in the mouth, giving him a most grim +aspect. His whole person was so bespattered with the like filthy +missiles, that he had almost a mind to ride back, and supplicate +for the threatened ablution at the town pump; for, though not +meant in kindness, it would now have been a deed of charity. +</p> + +<p> +However, the sun shone bright on poor Dominicus, and the mud, an +emblem of all stains of undeserved opprobrium, was easily brushed +off when dry. Being a funny rogue, his heart soon cheered up; nor +could he refrain from a hearty laugh at the uproar which his +story had excited. The handbills of the selectmen would cause the +commitment of all the vagabonds in the State; the paragraph in +the Parker's Falls Gazette would be reprinted from Maine to +Florida, and perhaps form an item in the London newspapers; and +many a miser would tremble for his money bags and life, on +learning the catastrophe of Mr. Higginbotham. The pedlar +meditated with much fervor on the charms of the young +schoolmistress, and swore that Daniel Webster never spoke nor +looked so like an angel as Miss Higginbotham, while defending him +from the wrathful populace at Parker's Falls. +</p> + +<p> +Dominicus was now on the Kimballton turnpike, having all along +determined to visit that place, though business had drawn him out +of the most direct road from Morristown. As he approached the +scene of the supposed murder, he continued to revolve the +circumstances in his mind, and was astonished at the aspect which +the whole case assumed. Had nothing occurred to corroborate the +story of the first traveller, it might now have been considered +as a hoax; but the yellow man was evidently acquainted either +with the report or the fact; and there was a mystery in his +dismayed and guilty look on being abruptly questioned. When, to +this singular combination of incidents, it was added that the +rumor tallied exactly with Mr. Higginbotham's character and +habits of life; and that he had an orchard, and a St. Michael's +pear-tree, near which he always passed at nightfall: the +circumstantial evidence appeared so strong that Dominicus doubted +whether the autograph produced by the lawyer, or even the niece's +direct testimony, ought to be equivalent. Making cautious +inquiries along the road, the pedlar further learned that Mr. +Higginbotham had in his service an Irishman of doubtful +character, whom he had hired without a recommendation, on the +score of economy. +</p> + +<p> +"May I be hanged myself," exclaimed Dominicus Pike aloud, on +reaching the top of a lonely hill, "if I'll believe old +Higginbotham is unhanged till I see him with my own eyes, and +hear it from his own mouth! And as he's a real shaver, I'll have +the minister or some other responsible man for an indorser." +</p> + +<p> +It was growing dusk when he reached the toll-house on Kimballton +turnpike, about a quarter of a mile from the village of this +name. His little mare was fast bringing him up with a man on +horseback, who trotted through the gate a few rods in advance of +him, nodded to the toll-gatherer, and kept on towards the +village. Dominicus was acquainted with the tollman, and, while +making change, the usual remarks on the weather passed between +them. +</p> + +<p> +"I suppose," said the pedlar, throwing back his whiplash, to +bring it down like a feather on the mare's flank, "you have not +seen anything of old Mr. Higginbotham within a day or two?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," answered the toll-gatherer. "He passed the gate just +before you drove up, and yonder he rides now, if you can see him +through the dusk. He's been to Woodfield this afternoon, +attending a sheriff's sale there. The old man generally shakes +hands and has a little chat with me; but to-night, he nodded,--as +if to say, 'Charge my toll,' and jogged on; for wherever he goes, +he must always be at home by eight o'clock." +</p> + +<p> +"So they tell me," said Dominicus. +</p> + +<p> +"I never saw a man look so yellow and thin as the squire does," +continued the toll-gatherer. "Says I to myself, to-night, he's +more like a ghost or an old mummy than good flesh and blood." +</p> + +<p> +The pedlar strained his eyes through the twilight, and could just +discern the horseman now far ahead on the village road. He seemed +to recognize the rear of Mr. Higginbotham; but through the +evening shadows, and amid the dust from the horse's feet, the +figure appeared dim and unsubstantial; as if the shape of the +mysterious old man were faintly moulded of darkness and gray +light. Dominicus shivered. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Higginbotham has come back from the other world, by way of +the Kimballton turnpike," thought he. +</p> + +<p> +He shook the reins and rode forward, keeping about the same +distance in the rear of the gray old shadow, till the latter was +concealed by a bend of the road. On reaching this point, the +pedlar no longer saw the man on horseback, but found himself at +the head of the village street, not far from a number of stores +and two taverns, clustered round the meeting-house steeple. On +his left were a stone wall and a gate, the boundary of a woodlot, +beyond which lay an orchard, farther still, a mowing field, and +last of all, a house. These were the premises of Mr. +Higginbotham, whose dwelling stood beside the old highway, but +had been left in the background by the Kimballton turnpike. +Dominicus knew the place; and the little mare stopped short by +instinct; for he was not conscious of tightening the reins. +</p> + +<p> +"For the soul of me, I cannot get by this gate!" said he, +trembling. "I never shall be my own man again, till I see whether +Mr. Higginbotham is hanging on the St. Michael's pear-tree!" +</p> + +<p> +He leaped from the cart, gave the rein a turn round the gate +post, and ran along the green path of the wood-lot as if Old Nick +were chasing behind. Just then the village clock tolled eight, +and as each deep stroke fell, Dominicus gave a fresh bound and +flew faster than before, till, dim in the solitary centre of the +orchard, he saw the fated pear-tree. One great branch stretched +from the old contorted trunk across the path, and threw the +darkest shadow on that one spot. But something seemed to struggle +beneath the branch! +</p> + +<p> +The pedlar had never pretended to more courage than befits a man +of peaceful occupation, nor could he account for his valor on +this awful emergency. Certain it is, however, that he rushed +forward, prostrated a sturdy Irishman with the butt end of his +whip, and found--not indeed hanging on the St. Michael's +pear-tree, but trembling beneath it, with a halter round his +neck--the old, identical Mr. Higginbotham! +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Higginbotham," said Dominicus tremulously, "you're an honest +man, and I'll take your word for it. Have you been hanged or +not?" +</p> + +<p> +If the riddle be not already guessed, a few words will explain +the simple machinery by which this "coming event" was made to +"cast its shadow before." Three men had plotted the robbery and +murder of Mr. Higginbotham; two of them, successively, lost +courage and fled, each delaying the crime one night by their +disappearance; the third was in the act of perpetration, when a +champion, blindly obeying the call of fate, like the heroes of +old romance, appeared in the person of Dominicus Pike. +</p> + +<p> +It only remains to say, that Mr. Higginbotham took the pedlar +into high favor, sanctioned his addresses to the pretty +schoolmistress, and settled his whole property on their children, +allowing themselves the interest. In due time, the old gentleman +capped the climax of his favors, by dying a Christian death, in +bed, since which melancholy event Dominicus Pike has removed from +Kimballton, and established a large tobacco manufactory in my +native village. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="wakefield"></a></p> + +<h3> +WAKEFIELD +</h3> + +<p> +In some old magazine or newspaper I recollect a story, told as +truth, of a man--let us call him Wakefield--who absented himself +for a long time from his wife. The fact, thus abstractedly +stated, is not very uncommon, nor--without a proper distinction +of circumstances--to be condemned either as naughty or +nonsensical. Howbeit, this, though far from the most aggravated, +is perhaps the strangest, instance on record, of marital +delinquency; and, moreover, as remarkable a freak as may be found +in the whole list of human oddities. The wedded couple lived in +London. The man, under pretence of going a journey, took lodgings +in the next street to his own house, and there, unheard of by his +wife or friends, and without the shadow of a reason for such +self-banishment, dwelt upwards of twenty years. During that +period, he beheld his home every day, and frequently the forlorn +Mrs. Wakefield. And after so great a gap in his matrimonial +felicity--when his death was reckoned certain, his estate +settled, his name dismissed from memory, and his wife, long, long +ago, resigned to her autumnal widowhood--he entered the door one +evening, quietly, as from a day's absence, and became a loving +spouse till death. +</p> + +<p> +This outline is all that I remember. But the incident, though of +the purest originality, unexampled, and probably never to be +repeated, is one, I think, which appeals to the generous +sympathies of mankind. We know, each for himself, that none of us +would perpetrate such a folly, yet feel as if some other might. +To my own contemplations, at least, it has often recurred, always +exciting wonder, but with a sense that the story must be true, +and a conception of its hero's character. Whenever any subject so +forcibly affects the mind, time is well spent in thinking of it. +If the reader choose, let him do his own meditation; or if he +prefer to ramble with me through the twenty years of Wakefield's +vagary, I bid him welcome; trusting that there will be a +pervading spirit and a moral, even should we fail to find them, +done up neatly, and condensed into the final sentence. Thought +has always its efficacy, and every striking incident its moral. +</p> + +<p> +What sort of a man was Wakefield? We are free to shape out our +own idea, and call it by his name. He was now in the meridian of +life; his matrimonial affections, never violent, were sobered +into a calm, habitual sentiment; of all husbands, he was likely +to be the most constant, because a certain sluggishness would +keep his heart at rest, wherever it might be placed. He was +intellectual, but not actively so; his mind occupied itself in +long and lazy musings, that ended to no purpose, or had not vigor +to attain it; his thoughts were seldom so energetic as to seize +hold of words. Imagination, in the proper meaning of the term, +made no part of Wakefield's gifts. With a cold but not depraved +nor wandering heart, and a mind never feverish with riotous +thoughts, nor perplexed with originality, who could have +anticipated that our friend would entitle himself to a foremost +place among the doers of eccentric deeds? Had his acquaintances +been asked, who was the man in London the surest to perform +nothing today which should be remembered on the morrow, they +would have thought of Wakefield. Only the wife of his bosom might +have hesitated. She, without having analyzed his character, was +partly aware of a quiet selfishness, that had rusted into his +inactive mind; of a peculiar sort of vanity, the most uneasy +attribute about him; of a disposition to craft which had seldom +produced more positive effects than the keeping of petty secrets, +hardly worth revealing; and, lastly, of what she called a little +strangeness, sometimes, in the good man. This latter quality is +indefinable, and perhaps non-existent. +</p> + +<p> +Let us now imagine Wakefield bidding adieu to his wife. It is the +dusk of an October evening. His equipment is a drab great-coat, a +hat covered with an oilcloth, top-boots, an umbrella in one hand +and a small portmanteau in the other. He has informed Mrs. +Wakefield that he is to take the night coach into the country. +She would fain inquire the length of his journey, its object, and +the probable time of his return; but, indulgent to his harmless +love of mystery, interrogates him only by a look. He tells her +not to expect him positively by the return coach, nor to be +alarmed should he tarry three or four days; but, at all events, +to look for him at supper on Friday evening. Wakefield himself, +be it considered, has no suspicion of what is before him. He +holds out his hand, she gives her own, and meets his parting kiss +in the matter-of-course way of a ten years' matrimony; and forth +goes the middle-aged Mr. Wakefield, almost resolved to perplex +his good lady by a whole week's absence. After the door has +closed behind him, she perceives it thrust partly open, and a +vision of her husband's face, through the aperture, smiling on +her, and gone in a moment. For the time, this little incident is +dismissed without a thought. But, long afterwards, when she has +been more years a widow than a wife, that smile recurs, and +flickers across all her reminiscences of Wakefield's visage. In +her many musings, she surrounds the original smile with a +multitude of fantasies, which make it strange and awful: as, for +instance, if she imagines him in a coffin, that parting look is +frozen on his pale features; or, if she dreams of him in heaven, +still his blessed spirit wears a quiet and crafty smile. Yet, for +its sake, when all others have given him up for dead, she +sometimes doubts whether she is a widow. +</p> + +<p> +But our business is with the husband. We must hurry after him +along the street, ere he lose his individuality, and melt into +the great mass of London life. It would be vain searching for him +there. Let us follow close at his heels, therefore, until, after +several superfluous turns and doublings, we find him comfortably +established by the fireside of a small apartment, previously +bespoken. He is in the next street to his own, and at his +journey's end. He can scarcely trust his good fortune, in having +got thither unperceived--recollecting that, at one time, he was +delayed by the throng, in the very focus of a lighted lantern; +and, again, there were footsteps that seemed to tread behind his +own, distinct from the multitudinous tramp around him; and, anon, +he heard a voice shouting afar, and fancied that it called his +name. Doubtless, a dozen busybodies had been watching him, and +told his wife the whole affair. Poor Wakefield! Little knowest +thou thine own insignificance in this great world! No mortal eye +but mine has traced thee. Go quietly to thy bed, foolish man: +and, on the morrow, if thou wilt be wise, get thee home to good +Mrs. Wakefield, and tell her the truth. Remove not thyself, even +for a little week, from thy place in her chaste bosom. Were she, +for a single moment, to deem thee dead, or lost, or lastingly +divided from her, thou wouldst be wofully conscious of a change +in thy true wife forever after. It is perilous to make a chasm in +human affections; not that they gape so long and wide--but so +quickly close again! +</p> + +<p> +Almost repenting of his frolic, or whatever it may be termed, +Wakefield lies down betimes, and starting from his first nap, +spreads forth his arms into the wide and solitary waste of the +unaccustomed bed. "No,"-thinks he, gathering the bedclothes about +him,--"I will not sleep alone another night." +</p> + +<p> +In the morning he rises earlier than usual, and sets himself to +consider what he really means to do. Such are his loose and +rambling modes of thought that he has taken this very singular +step with the consciousness of a purpose, indeed, but without +being able to define it sufficiently for his own contemplation. +The vagueness of the project, and the convulsive effort with +which he plunges into the execution of it, are equally +characteristic of a feeble-minded man. Wakefield sifts his ideas, +however, as minutely as he may, and finds himself curious to know +the progress of matters at home--how his exemplary wife will +endure her widowhood of a week; and, briefly, how the little +sphere of creatures and circumstances, in which he was a central +object, will be affected by his removal. A morbid vanity, +therefore, lies nearest the bottom of the affair. But, how is he +to attain his ends? Not, certainly, by keeping close in this +comfortable lodging, where, though he slept and awoke in the next +street to his home, he is as effectually abroad as if the +stage-coach had been whirling him away all night. Yet, should he +reappear, the whole project is knocked in the head. His poor +brains being hopelessly puzzled with this dilemma, he at length +ventures out, partly resolving to cross the head of the street, +and send one hasty glance towards his forsaken domicile. +Habit--for he is a man of habits--takes him by the hand, and +guides him, wholly unaware, to his own door, where, just at the +critical moment, he is aroused by the scraping of his foot upon +the step. Wakefield! whither are you going? +</p> + +<p> +At that instant his fate was turning on the pivot. Little +dreaming of the doom to which his first backward step devotes +him, he hurries away, breathless with agitation hitherto unfelt, +and hardly dares turn his head at the distant corner. Can it be +that nobody caught sight of him? Will not the whole +household--the decent Mrs. Wakefield, the smart maid servant, and +the dirty little footboy--raise a hue and cry, through London +streets, in pursuit of their fugitive lord and master? Wonderful +escape! He gathers courage to pause and look homeward, but is +perplexed with a sense of change about the familiar edifice, such +as affects us all, when, after a separation of months or years, +we again see some hill or lake, or work of art, with which we +were friends of old. In ordinary cases, this indescribable +impression is caused by the comparison and contrast between our +imperfect reminiscences and the reality. In Wakefield, the magic +of a single night has wrought a similar transformation, because, +in that brief period, a great moral change has been effected. But +this is a secret from himself. Before leaving the spot, he +catches a far and momentary glimpse of his wife, passing athwart +the front window, with her face turned towards the head of the +street. The crafty nincompoop takes to his heels, scared with the +idea that, among a thousand such atoms of mortality, her eye must +have detected him. Right glad is his heart, though his brain be +somewhat dizzy, when he finds himself by the coal fire of his +lodgings. +</p> + +<p> +So much for the commencement of this long whimwham. After the +initial conception, and the stirring up of the man's sluggish +temperament to put it in practice, the whole matter evolves +itself in a natural train. We may suppose him, as the result of +deep deliberation, buying a new wig, of reddish hair, and +selecting sundry garments, in a fashion unlike his customary suit +of brown, from a Jew's old-clothes bag. It is accomplished. +Wakefield is another man. The new system being now established, a +retrograde movement to the old would be almost as difficult as +the step that placed him in his unparalleled position. +Furthermore, he is rendered obstinate by a sulkiness occasionally +incident to his temper, and brought on at present by the +inadequate sensation which he conceives to have been produced in +the bosom of Mrs. Wakefield. He will not go back until she be +frightened half to death. Well; twice or thrice has she passed +before his sight, each time with a heavier step, a paler cheek, +and more anxious brow; and in the third week of his +non-appearance he detects a portent of evil entering the house, +in the guise of an apothecary. Next day the knocker is muffled. +Towards nightfall comes the chariot of a physician, and deposits +its big-wigged and solemn burden at Wakefield's door, whence, +after a quarter of an hour's visit, he emerges, perchance the +herald of a funeral. Dear woman! Will she die? By this time, +Wakefield is excited to something like energy of feeling, but +still lingers away from his wife's bedside, pleading with his +conscience that she must not be disturbed at such a juncture. If +aught else restrains him, he does not know it. In the course of a +few weeks she gradually recovers; the crisis is over; her heart +is sad, perhaps, but quiet; and, let him return soon or late, it +will never be feverish for him again. Such ideas glimmer through +the midst of Wakefield's mind, and render him indistinctly +conscious that an almost impassable gulf divides his hired +apartment from his former home. "It is but in the next street!" +he sometimes says. Fool! it is in another world. Hitherto, he has +put off his return from one particular day to another; +henceforward, he leaves the precise time undetermined. Not +tomorrow--probably next week--pretty soon. Poor man! The dead +have nearly as much chance of revisiting their earthly homes as +the self-banished Wakefield. +</p> + +<p> +Would that I had a folio to write, instead of an article of a +dozen pages! Then might I exemplify how an influence beyond our +control lays its strong hand on every deed which we do, and +weaves its consequences into an iron tissue of necessity. +Wakefield is spell-bound. We must leave him for ten years or so, +to haunt around his house, without once crossing the threshold, +and to be faithful to his wife, with all the affection of which +his heart is capable, while he is slowly fading out of hers. Long +since, it must be remarked, he had lost the perception of +singularity in his conduct. +</p> + +<p> +Now for a scene! Amind the throng of a London street we +distinguish a man, now waxing elderly, with few characteristics +to attract careless observers, yet bearing, in his whole aspect, +the handwriting of no common fate, for such as have the skill to +read it. He is meagre; his low and narrow forehead is deeply +wrinkled; his eyes, small and lustreless, sometimes wander +apprehensively about him, but oftener seem to look inward. He +bends his head, and moves with an indescribable obliquity of +gait, as if unwilling to display his full front to the world. +Watch him long enough to see what we have described, and you will +allow that circumstances--which often produce remarkable men from +nature's ordinary handiwork--have produced one such here. Next, +leaving him to sidle along the footwalk, cast your eyes in the +opposite direction, where a portly female, considerably in the +wane of life, with a prayer-book in her hand, is proceeding to +yonder church. She has the placid mien of settled widowhood. Her +regrets have either died away, or have become so essential to her +heart, that they would be poorly exchanged for joy. Just as the +lean man and well-conditioned woman are passing, a slight +obstruction occurs, and brings these two figures directly in +contact. Their hands touch; the pressure of the crowd forces her +bosom against his shoulder; they stand, face to face, staring +into each other's eyes. After a ten years' separation, thus +Wakefield meets his wife! +</p> + +<p> +The throng eddies away, and carries them asunder. The sober +widow, resuming her former pace, proceeds to church, but pauses +in the portal, and throws a perplexed glance along the street. +She passes in, however, opening her prayer-book as she goes. And +the man! with so wild a face that busy and selfish London stands +to gaze after him, he hurries to his lodgings, bolts the door, +and throws himself upon the bed. The latent feelings of years +break out; his feeble mind acquires a brief energy from their +strength; all the miserable strangeness of his life is revealed +to him at a glance: and he cries out, passionately, "Wakefield! +Wakefield! You are mad!" +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps he was so. The singularity of his situation must have so +moulded him to himself, that, considered in regard to his +fellow-creatures and the business of life, he could not be said +to possess his right mind. He had contrived, or rather he had +happened, to dissever himself from the world--to vanish--to give +up his place and privileges with living men, without being +admitted among the dead. The life of a hermit is nowise parallel +to his. He was in the bustle of the city, as of old; but the +crowd swept by and saw him not; he was, we may figuratively say, +always beside his wife and at his hearth, yet must never feel the +warmth of the one nor the affection of the other. It was +Wakefield's unprecedented fate to retain his original share of +human sympathies, and to be still involved in human interests, +while he had lost his reciprocal influence on them. It would be a +most curious speculation to trace out the effect of such +circumstances on his heart and intellect, separately, and in +unison. Yet, changed as he was, he would seldom be conscious of +it, but deem himself the same man as ever; glimpses of the truth +indeed would come, but only for the moment; and still he would +keep saying, "I shall soon go back!"--nor reflect that he had +been saying so for twenty years. +</p> + +<p> +I conceive, also, that these twenty years would appear, in the +retrospect, scarcely longer than the week to which Wakefield had +at first limited his absence. He would look on the affair as no +more than an interlude in the main business of his life. When, +after a little while more, he should deem it time to reenter his +parlor, his wife would clap her hands for joy, on beholding the +middle-aged Mr. Wakefield. Alas, what a mistake! Would Time but +await the close of our favorite follies, we should be young men, +all of us, and till Doomsday. +</p> + +<p> +One evening, in the twentieth year since he vanished, Wakefield +is taking his customary walk towards the dwelling which he still +calls his own. It is a gusty night of autumn, with frequent +showers that patter down upon the pavement, and are gone before a +man can put up his umbrella. Pausing near the house, Wakefield +discerns, through the parlor windows of the second floor, the red +glow and the glimmer and fitful flash of a comfortable fire. On +the ceiling appears a grotesque shadow of good Mrs. Wakefield. +The cap, the nose and chin, and the broad waist, form an +admirable caricature, which dances, moreover, with the +up-flickering and down-sinking blaze, almost too merrily for the +shade of an elderly widow. At this instant a shower chances to +fall, and is driven, by the unmannerly gust, full into +Wakefield's face and bosom. He is quite penetrated with its +autumnal chill. Shall he stand, wet and shivering here, when his +own hearth has a good fire to warm him, and his own wife will run +to fetch the gray coat and small-clothes, which, doubtless, she +has kept carefully in the closet of their bed chamber? No! +Wakefield is no such fool. He ascends the steps--heavily!--for +twenty years have stiffened his legs since he came down--but he +knows it not. Stay, Wakefield! Would you go to the sole home that +is left you? Then step into your grave! The door opens. As he +passes in, we have a parting glimpse of his visage, and recognize +the crafty smile, which was the precursor of the little joke that +he has ever since been playing off at his wife's expense. How +unmercifully has he quizzed the poor woman! Well, a good night's +rest to Wakefield! +</p> + +<p> +This happy event--supposing it to be such--could only have +occurred at an unpremeditated moment. We will not follow our +friend across the threshold. He has left us much food for +thought, a portion of which shall lend its wisdom to a moral, and +be shaped into a figure. Amid the seeming confusion of our +mysterious world, individuals are so nicely adjusted to a system, +and systems to one another and to a whole, that, by stepping +aside for a moment, a man exposes himself to a fearful risk of +losing his place forever. Like Wakefield, he may become, as it +were, the Outcast of the Universe. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="carbuncle"></a></p> + +<h3> +THE GREAT CARBUNCLE[1] +</h3> + +<p class="t3b"> +A MYSTERY OF THE WHITE MOUNTAINS +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Indian tradition, on which this somewhat extravagant tale +is founded, is both too wild and too beautiful to be adequately +wrought up in prose. Sullivan, in his History of Maine, written +since the Revolution, remarks, that even then the existence of +the Great Carbuncle was not entirely discredited. +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p> +At nightfall, once in the olden time, on the rugged side of one +of the Crystal Hills, a party of adventurers were refreshing +themselves, after a toilsome and fruitless quest for the Great +Carbuncle. They had come thither, not as friends nor partners in +the enterprise, but each, save one youthful pair, impelled by his +own selfish and solitary longing for this wondrous gem. Their +feeling of brotherhood, however, was strong enough to induce them +to contribute a mutual aid in building a rude hut of branches, +and kindling a great fire of shattered pines, that had drifted +down the headlong current of the Amonoosuck, on the lower bank of +which they were to pass the night. There was but one of their +number, perhaps, who had become so estranged from natural +sympathies, by the absorbing spell of the pursuit, as to +acknowledge no satisfaction at the sight of human faces, in the +remote and solitary region whither they had ascended. A vast +extent of wilderness lay between them and the nearest settlement, +while a scant mile above their heads was that black verge where +the hills throw off their shaggy mantle of forest trees, and +either robe themselves in clouds or tower naked into the sky. The +roar of the Amonoosuck would have been too awful for endurance if +only a solitary man had listened, while the mountain stream +talked with the wind. +</p> + +<p> +The adventurers, therefore, exchanged hospitable greetings, and +welcomed one another to the hut, where each man was the host, and +all were the guests of the whole company. They spread their +individual supplies of food on the flat surface of a rock, and +partook of a general repast; at the close of which, a sentiment +of good fellowship was perceptible among the party, though +repressed by the idea, that the renewed search for the Great +Carbuncle must make them strangers again in the morning. Seven +men and one young woman, they warmed themselves together at the +fire, which extended its bright wall along the whole front of +their wigwam. As they observed the various and contrasted figures +that made up the assemblage, each man looking like a caricature +of himself, in the unsteady light that flickered over him, they +came mutually to the conclusion, that an odder society had never +met, in city or wilderness, on mountain or plain. +</p> + +<p> +The eldest of the group, a tall, lean, weather-beaten man, some +sixty years of age, was clad in the skins of wild animals, whose +fashion of dress he did well to imitate, since the deer, the +wolf, and the bear, had long been his most intimate companions. +He was one of those ill-fated mortals, such as the Indians told +of, whom, in their early youth, the Great Carbuncle smote with a +peculiar madness, and became the passionate dream of their +existence. All who visited that region knew him as the Seeker, +and by no other name. As none could remember when he first took +up the search, there went a fable in the valley of the Saco, that +for his inordinate lust after the Great Carbuncle, he had been +condemned to wander among the mountains till the end of time, +still with the same feverish hopes at sunrise--the same despair +at eve. Near this miserable Seeker sat a little elderly +personage, wearing a high-crowned hat, shaped somewhat like a +crucible. He was from beyond the sea, a Doctor Cacaphodel, who +had wilted and dried himself into a mummy by continually stooping +over charcoal furnaces, and inhaling unwholesome fumes during his +researches in chemistry and alchemy. It was told of him, whether +truly or not, that at the commencement of his studies, he had +drained his body of all its richest blood, and wasted it, with +other inestimable ingredients, in an unsuccessful experiment--and +had never been a well man since. Another of the adventurers was +Master Ichabod Pigsnort, a weighty merchant and selectman of +Boston, and an elder of the famous Mr. Norton's church. His +enemies had a ridiculous story that Master Pigsnort was +accustomed to spend a whole hour after prayer time, every morning +and evening, in wallowing naked among an immense quantity of +pine-tree shillings, which were the earliest silver coinage of +Massachusetts. The fourth whom we shall notice had no name that +his companions knew of, and was chiefly distinguished by a sneer +that always contorted his thin visage, and by a prodigious pair +of spectacles, which were supposed to deform and discolor the +whole face of nature, to this gentleman's perception. The fifth +adventurer likewise lacked a name, which was the greater pity, as +he appeared to be a poet. He was a bright-eyed man, but wofully +pined away, which was no more than natural, if, as some people +affirmed, his ordinary diet was fog, morning mist, and a slice of +the densest cloud within his reach, sauced with moonshine, +whenever he could get it. Certain it is, that the poetry which +flowed from him had a smack of all these dainties The sixth of +the party was a young man of haughty mien, and sat somewhat apart +from the rest, wearing his plumed hat loftily among his elders, +while the fire glittered on the rich embroidery of his dress, and +gleamed intensely on the jewelled pommel of his sword. This was +the Lord de Vere, who, when at home, was said to spend much of +his time in the burial vault of his dead progenitors, rummaging +their mouldy coffins in search of all the earthly pride and +vainglory that was hidden among bones and dust; so that, besides +his own share, he had the collected haughtiness of his whole line +of ancestry. +</p> + +<p> +Lastly, there was a handsome youth in rustic garb, and by his +side a blooming little person, in whom a delicate shade of maiden +reserve was just melting into the rich glow of a young wife's +affection. Her name was Hannah and her husband's Matthew; two +homely names, yet well enough adapted to the simple pair, who +seemed strangely out of place among the whimsical fraternity +whose wits had been set agog by the Great Carbuncle. +</p> + +<p> +Beneath the shelter of one hut, in the bright blaze of the same +fire, sat this varied group of adventurers, all so intent upon a +single object, that, of whatever else they began to speak, their +closing words were sure to be illuminated with the Great +Carbuncle. Several related the circumstances that brought them +thither. One had listened to a traveller's tale of this +marvellous stone in his own distant country, and had immediately +been seized with such a thirst for beholding it as could only be +quenched in its intensest lustre. Another, so long ago as when +the famous Captain Smith visited these coasts, had seen it +blazing far at sea, and had felt no rest in all the intervening +years till now that he took up the search. A third, being +encamped on a hunting expedition full forty miles south of the +White Mountains, awoke at midnight, and beheld the Great +Carbuncle gleaming like a meteor, so that the shadows of the +trees fell backward from it. They spoke of the innumerable +attempts which had been made to reach the spot, and of the +singular fatality which had hitherto withheld success from all +adventurers, though it might seem so easy to follow to its source +a light that overpowered the moon, and almost matched the sun. It +was observable that each smiled scornfully at the madness of +every other in anticipating better fortune than the past, yet +nourished a scarcely hidden conviction that he would himself be +the favored one. As if to allay their too sanguine hopes, they +recurred to the Indian traditions that a spirit kept watch about +the gem, and bewildered those who sought it either by removing it +from peak to peak of the higher hills, or by calling up a mist +from the enchanted lake over which it hung. But these tales were +deemed unworthy of credit, all professing to believe that the +search had been baffled by want of sagacity or perseverance in +the adventurers, or such other causes as might naturally obstruct +the passage to any given point among the intricacies of forest, +valley, and mountain. +</p> + +<p> +In a pause of the conversation the wearer of the prodigious +spectacles looked round upon the party, making each individual, +in turn, the object of the sneer which invariably dwelt upon his +countenance. +</p> + +<p> +"So, fellow-pilgrims," said he, "here we are, seven wise men, and +one fair damsel--who, doubtless, is as wise as any graybeard of +the company: here we are, I say, all bound on the same goodly +enterprise. Methinks, now, it were not amiss that each of us +declare what he proposes to do with the Great Carbuncle, provided +he have the good hap to clutch it. What says our friend in the +bear skin? How mean you, good sir, to enjoy the prize which you +have been seeking, the Lord knows how long, among the Crystal +Hills?" +</p> + +<p> +"How enjoy it!" exclaimed the aged Seeker, bitterly. "I hope for +no enjoyment from it; that folly has passed long ago! I keep up +the search for this accursed stone because the vain ambition of +my youth has become a fate upon me in old age. The pursuit alone +is my strength,--the energy of my soul,--the warmth of my +blood,--and the pith and marrow of my bones! Were I to turn my +back upon it I should fall down dead on the hither side of the +Notch, which is the gateway of this mountain region. Yet not to +have my wasted lifetime back again would I give up my hopes of +the Great Carbuncle! Having found it, I shall bear it to a +certain cavern that I wot of, and there, grasping it in my arms, +lie down and die, and keep it buried with me forever." +</p> + +<p> +"O wretch, regardless of the interests of science!" cried Doctor +Cacaphodel, with philosophic indignation. "Thou art not worthy to +behold, even from afar off, the lustre of this most precious gem +that ever was concocted in the laboratory of Nature. Mine is the +sole purpose for which a wise man may desire the possession of +the Great Carbuncle. Immediately on obtaining it--for I have a +presentiment, good people that the prize is reserved to crown my +scientific reputation--I shall return to Europe, and employ my +remaining years in reducing it to its first elements. A portion +of the stone will I grind to impalpable powder; other parts shall +be dissolved in acids, or whatever solvents will act upon so +admirable a composition; and the remainder I design to melt in +the crucible, or set on fire with the blow-pipe. By these various +methods I shall gain an accurate analysis, and finally bestow the +result of my labors upon the world in a folio volume." +</p> + +<p> +"Excellent!" quoth the man with the spectacles. "Nor need you +hesitate, learned sir, on account of the necessary destruction of +the gem; since the perusal of your folio may teach every mother's +son of us to concoct a Great Carbuncle of his own." +</p> + +<p> +"But, verily," said Master Ichabod Pigsnort, "for mine own part I +object to the making of these counterfeits, as being calculated +to reduce the marketable value of the true gem. I tell ye +frankly, sirs, I have an interest in keeping up the price. Here +have I quitted my regular traffic, leaving my warehouse in the +care of my clerks, and putting my credit to great hazard, and, +furthermore, have put myself in peril of death or captivity by +the accursed heathen savages--and all this without daring to ask +the prayers of the congregation, because the quest for the Great +Carbuncle is deemed little better than a traffic with the Evil +One. Now think ye that I would have done this grievous wrong to +my soul, body, reputation, and estate, without a reasonable +chance of profit?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not I, pious Master Pigsnort," said the man with the spectacles. +"I never laid such a great folly to thy charge." +</p> + +<p> +"Truly, I hope not," said the merchant. "Now, as touching this +Great Carbuncle, I am free to own that I have never had a glimpse +of it; but be it only the hundredth part so bright as people +tell, it will surely outvalue the Great Mogul's best diamond, +which he holds at an incalculable sum. Wherefore, I am minded to +put the Great Carbuncle on shipboard, and voyage with it to +England, France, Spain, Italy, or into Heathendom, if Providence +should send me thither, and, in a word, dispose of the gem to the +best bidder among the potentates of the earth, that he may place +it among his crown jewels. If any of ye have a wiser plan, let +him expound it." +</p> + +<p> +"That have I, thou sordid man!" exclaimed the poet. "Dost thou +desire nothing brighter than gold that thou wouldst transmute all +this ethereal lustre into such dross as thou wallowest in +already? For myself, hiding the jewel under my cloak, I shall hie +me back to my attic chamber, in one of the darksome alleys of +London. There, night and day, will I gaze upon it; my soul shall +drink its radiance; it shall be diffused throughout my +intellectual powers, and gleam brightly in every line of poesy +that I indite. Thus, long ages after I am gone, the splendor of +the Great Carbuncle will blaze around my name!" +</p> + +<p> +"Well said, Master Poet!" cried he of the spectacles. "Hide it +under thy cloak, sayest thou? Why, it will gleam through the +holes, and make thee look like a jack-o'-lantern!" +</p> + +<p> +"To think!" ejaculated the Lord de Vere, rather to himself than +his companions, the best of whom he held utterly unworthy of his +intercourse--"to think that a fellow in a tattered cloak should +talk of conveying the Great Carbuncle to a garret in Grub Street! +Have not I resolved within myself that the whole earth contains +no fitter ornament for the great hall of my ancestral castle? +There shall it flame for ages, making a noonday of midnight, +glittering on the suits of armor, the banners, and escutcheons, +that hang around the wall, and keeping bright the memory of +heroes. Wherefore have all other adventurers sought the prize in +vain but that I might win it, and make it a symbol of the glories +of our lofty line? And never, on the diadem of the White +Mountains, did the Great Carbuncle hold a place half so honored +as is reserved for it in the hall of the De Veres!" +</p> + +<p> +"It is a noble thought," said the Cynic, with an obsequious +sneer. "Yet, might I presume to say so, the gem would make a rare +sepulchral lamp, and would display the glories of your lordship's +progenitors more truly in the ancestral vault than in the castle +hall." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, forsooth," observed Matthew, the young rustic, who sat hand +in hand with his bride, "the gentleman has bethought himself of a +profitable use for this bright stone. Hannah here and I are +seeking it for a like purpose." +</p> + +<p> +"How, fellow!" exclaimed his lordship, in surprise. "What castle +hall hast thou to hang it in?" +</p> + +<p> +"No castle," replied Matthew, "but as neat a cottage as any +within sight of the Crystal Hills. Ye must know, friends, that +Hannah and I, being wedded the last week, have taken up the +search of the Great Carbuncle, because we shall need its light in +the long winter evenings; and it will be such a pretty thing to +show the neighbors when they visit us. It will shine through the +house so that we may pick up a pin in any corner and will set all +the windows aglowing as if there were a great fire of pine knots +in the chimney. And then how pleasant, when we awake in the +night, to be able to see one another's faces!" +</p> + +<p> +There was a general smile among the adventurers at the simplicity +of the young couple's project in regard to this wondrous and +invaluable stone, with which the greatest monarch on earth might +have been proud to adorn his palace. Especially the man with +spectacles, who had sneered at all the company in turn, now +twisted his visage into such an expression of ill-natured mirth, +that Matthew asked him, rather peevishly, what he himself meant +to do with the Great Carbuncle. +</p> + +<p> +"The Great Carbuncle!" answered the Cynic, with ineffable scorn. +"Why, you blockhead, there is no such thing in rerum natura. I +have come three thousand miles, and am resolved to set my foot on +every peak of these mountains, and poke my head into every chasm, +for the sole purpose of demonstrating to the satisfaction of any +man one whit less an ass than thyself that the Great Carbuncle is +all a humbug!" +</p> + +<p> +Vain and foolish were the motives that had brought most of the +adventurers to the Crystal Hills; but none so vain, so foolish, +and so impious too, as that of the scoffer with the prodigious +spectacles. He was one of those wretched and evil men whose +yearnings are downward to the darkness, instead of heavenward, +and who, could they but extinguish the lights which God hath +kindled for us, would count the midnight gloom their chiefest +glory. As the Cynic spoke, several of the party were startled by +a gleam of red splendor, that showed the huge shapes of the +surrounding mountains and the rock-bestrewn bed of the turbulent +river with an illumination unlike that of their fire on the +trunks and black boughs of the forest trees. They listened for +the roll of thunder, but heard nothing, and were glad that the +tempest came not near them. The stars, those dial points of +heaven, now warned the adventurers to close their eyes on the +blazing logs, and open them, in dreams, to the glow of the Great +Carbuncle. +</p> + +<p> +The young married couple had taken their lodgings in the farthest +corner of the wigwam, and were separated from the rest of the +party by a curtain of curiously-woven twigs, such as might have +hung, in deep festoons, around the bridal-bower of Eve. The +modest little wife had wrought this piece of tapestry while the +other guests were talking. She and her husband fell asleep with +hands tenderly clasped, and awoke from visions of unearthly +radiance to meet the more blessed light of one another's eyes. +They awoke at the same instant, and with one happy smile beaming +over their two faces, which grew brighter with their +consciousness of the reality of life and love. But no sooner did +she recollect where they were, than the bride peeped through the +interstices of the leafy curtain, and saw that the outer room of +the hut was deserted. +</p> + +<p> +"Up, dear Matthew!" cried she, in haste. "The strange folk are +all gone! Up, this very minute, or we shall lose the Great +Carbuncle!" +</p> + +<p> +In truth, so little did these poor young people deserve the +mighty prize which had lured them thither, that they had slept +peacefully all night, and till the summits of the hills were +glittering with sunshine; while the other adventurers had tossed +their limbs in feverish wakefulness, or dreamed of climbing +precipices, and set off to realize their dreams with the earliest +peep of dawn. But Matthew and Hannah, after their calm rest, were +as light as two young deer, and merely stopped to say their +prayers and wash themselves in a cold pool of the Amonoosuck, and +then to taste a morsel of food, ere they turned their faces to +the mountain-side. It was a sweet emblem of conjugal affection, +as they toiled up the difficult ascent, gathering strength from +the mutual aid which they afforded. After several little +accidents, such as a torn robe, a lost shoe, and the entanglement +of Hannah's hair in a bough, they reached the upper verge of the +forest, and were now to pursue a more adventurous course. The +innumerable trunks and heavy foliage of the trees had hitherto +shut in their thoughts, which now shrank affrighted from the +region of wind and cloud and naked rocks and desolate sunshine, +that rose immeasurably above them. They gazed back at the obscure +wilderness which they had traversed, and longed to be buried +again in its depths rather than trust themselves to so vast and +visible a solitude. +</p> + +<p> +"Shall we go on?" said Matthew, throwing his arm round Hannah's +waist, both to protect her and to comfort his heart by drawing +her close to it. +</p> + +<p> +But the little bride, simple as she was, had a woman's love of +jewels, and could not forego the hope of possessing the very +brightest in the world, in spite of the perils with which it must +be won. +</p> + +<p> +"Let us climb a little higher," whispered she, yet tremulously, +as she turned her face upward to the lonely sky. +</p> + +<p> +"Come, then," said Matthew, mustering his manly courage and +drawing her along with him, for she became timid again the moment +that he grew bold. +</p> + +<p> +And upward, accordingly, went the pilgrims of the Great +Carbuncle, now treading upon the tops and thickly-interwoven +branches of dwarf pines, which, by the growth of centuries, +though mossy with age, had barely reached three feet in altitude. +Next, they came to masses and fragments of naked rock heaped +confusedly together, like a cairn reared by giants in memory of a +giant chief. In this bleak realm of upper air nothing breathed, +nothing grew; there was no life but what was concentrated in +their two hearts; they had climbed so high that Nature herself +seemed no longer to keep them company. She lingered beneath them, +within the verge of the forest trees, and sent a farewell glance +after her children as they strayed where her own green footprints +had never been. But soon they were to be hidden from her eye +Densely and dark the mists began to gather below, casting black +spots of shadow on the vast landscape, and sailing heavily to one +centre, as if the loftiest mountain peak had summoned a council +of its kindred clouds. Finally, the vapors welded themselves, as +it were, into a mass, presenting the appearance of a pavement +over which the wanderers might have trodden, but where they would +vainly have sought an avenue to the blessed earth which they had +lost. And the lovers yearned to behold that green earth again, +more intensely, alas! than, beneath a clouded sky, they had ever +desired a glimpse of heaven. They even felt it a relief to their +desolation when the mists, creeping gradually up the mountain, +concealed its lonely peak, and thus annihilated, at least for +them, the whole region of visible space. But they drew closer +together, with a fond and melancholy gaze, dreading lest the +universal cloud should snatch them from each other's sight. +</p> + +<p> +Still, perhaps, they would have been resolute to climb as far and +as high, between earth and heaven, as they could find foothold, +if Hannah's strength had not begun to fail, and with that, her +courage also. Her breath grew short. She refused to burden her +husband with her weight, but often tottered against his side, and +recovered herself each time by a feebler effort. At last, she +sank down on one of the rocky steps of the acclivity. +</p> + +<p> +"We are lost, dear Matthew," said she, mournfully. "We shall +never find our way to the earth again. And oh how happy we might +have been in our cottage!" +</p> + +<p> +"Dear heart!--we will yet be happy there," answered Matthew. +"Look! In this direction, the sunshine penetrates the dismal +mist. By its aid, I can direct our course to the passage of the +Notch. Let us go back, love, and dream no more of the Great +Carbuncle!" +</p> + +<p> +"The sun cannot be yonder," said Hannah, with despondence. "By +this time it must be noon. If there could ever be any sunshine +here, it would come from above our heads." +</p> + +<p> +"But look!" repeated Matthew, in a somewhat altered tone. "It is +brightening every moment. If not sunshine, what can it be?" +</p> + +<p> +Nor could the young bride any longer deny that a radiance was +breaking through the mist, and changing its dim hue to a dusky +red, which continually grew more vivid, as if brilliant particles +were interfused with the gloom. Now, also, the cloud began to +roll away from the mountain, while, as it heavily withdrew, one +object after another started out of its impenetrable obscurity +into sight, with precisely the effect of a new creation, before +the indistinctness of the old chaos had been completely swallowed +up. As the process went on, they saw the gleaming of water close +at their feet, and found themselves on the very border of a +mountain lake, deep, bright, clear, and calmly beautiful, +spreading from brim to brim of a basin that had been scooped out +of the solid rock. A ray of glory flashed across its surface. The +pilgrims looked whence it should proceed, but closed their eyes +with a thrill of awful admiration, to exclude the fervid splendor +that glowed from the brow of a cliff impending over the enchanted +lake. For the simple pair had reached that lake of mystery, and +found the longsought shrine of the Great Carbuncle! +</p> + +<p> +They threw their arms around each other, and trembled at their +own success; for, as the legends of this wondrous gem rushed +thick upon their memory, they felt themselves marked out by +fate--and the consciousness was fearful. Often, from childhood +upward, they had seen it shining like a distant star. And now +that star was throwing its intensest lustre on their hearts. They +seemed changed to one another's eyes, in the red brilliancy that +flamed upon their cheeks, while it lent the same fire to the +lake, the rocks, and sky, and to the mists which had rolled back +before its power. But, with their next glance, they beheld an +object that drew their attention even from the mighty stone. At +the base of the cliff, directly beneath the Great Carbuncle, +appeared the figure of a man, with his arms extended in the act +of climbing, and his face turned upward, as if to drink the full +gush of splendor. But he stirred not, no more than if changed to +marble. +</p> + +<p> +"It is the Seeker," whispered Hannah, convulsively grasping her +husband's arm. "Matthew, he is dead." +</p> + +<p> +"The joy of success has killed him," replied Matthew, trembling +violently. "Or, perhaps, the very light of the Great Carbuncle +was death!" +</p> + +<p> +"The Great Carbuncle," cried a peevish voice behind them. "The +Great Humbug! If you have found it, prithee point it out to me." +</p> + +<p> +They turned their heads, and there was the Cynic, with his +prodigious spectacles set carefully on his nose, staring now at +the lake, now at the rocks, now at the distant masses of vapor, +now right at the Great Carbuncle itself, yet seemingly as +unconscious of its light as if all the scattered clouds were +condensed about his person. Though its radiance actually threw +the shadow of the unbeliever at his own feet, as he turned his +back upon the glorious jewel, he would not be convinced that +there was the least glimmer there. +</p> + +<p> +"Where is your Great Humbug?" he repeated. "I challenge you to +make me see it!" +</p> + +<p> +"There," said Matthew, incensed at such perverse blindness, and +turning the Cynic round towards the illuminated cliff. "Take off +those abominable spectacles, and you cannot help seeing it!" +</p> + +<p> +Now these colored spectacles probably darkened the Cynic's sight, +in at least as great a degree as the smoked glasses through which +people gaze at an eclipse. With resolute bravado, however, he +snatched them from his nose, and fixed a bold stare full upon the +ruddy blaze of the Great Carbuncle. But scarcely had he +encountered it, when, with a deep, shuddering groan, he dropped +his head, and pressed both hands across his miserable eyes. +Thenceforth there was, in very truth, no light of the Great +Carbuncle, nor any other light on earth, nor light of heaven +itself, for the poor Cynic. So long accustomed to view all +objects through a medium that deprived them of every glimpse of +brightness, a single flash of so glorious a phenomenon, striking +upon his naked vision, had blinded him forever. +</p> + +<p> +"Matthew," said Hannah, clinging to him, "let us go hence!" +</p> + +<p> +Matthew saw that she was faint, and kneeling down, supported her +in his arms, while he threw some of the thrillingly cold water of +the enchanted lake upon her face and bosom. It revived her, but +could not renovate her courage. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, dearest!" cried Matthew, pressing her tremulous form to his +breast,--"we will go hence, and return to our humble cottage. The +blessed sunshine and the quiet moonlight shall come through our +window. We will kindle the cheerful glow of our hearth, at +eventide, and be happy in its light. But never again will we +desire more light than all the world may share with us." +</p> + +<p> +"No," said his bride, "for how could we live by day, or sleep by +night, in this awful blaze of the Great Carbuncle!" +</p> + +<p> +Out of the hollow of their hands, they drank each a draught from +the lake, which presented them its waters uncontaminated by an +earthly lip. Then, lending their guidance to the blinded Cynic, +who uttered not a word, and even stifled his groans in his own +most wretched heart, they began to descend the mountain. Yet, as +they left the shore, till then untrodden, of the spirit's lake, +they threw a farewell glance towards the cliff, and beheld the +vapors gathering in dense volumes, through which the gem burned +duskily. +</p> + +<p> +As touching the other pilgrims of the Great Carbuncle, the legend +goes on to tell, that the worshipful Master Ichabod Pigsnort soon +gave up the quest as a desperate speculation, and wisely resolved +to betake himself again to his warehouse, near the town dock, in +Boston. But, as he passed through the Notch of the mountains, a +war party of Indians captured our unlucky merchant, and carried +him to Montreal, there holding him in bondage, till, by the +payment of a heavy ransom, he had wofully subtracted from his +hoard of pine-tree shillings. By his long absence, moreover, his +affairs had become so disordered that, for the rest of his life, +instead of wallowing in silver, he had seldom a sixpence worth of +copper. Doctor Cacaphodel, the alchemist, returned to his +laboratory with a prodigious fragment of granite, which he ground +to powder, dissolved in acids, melted in the crucible, and burned +with the blow-pipe, and published the result of his experiments +in one of the heaviest folios of the day. And, for all these +purposes, the gem itself could not have answered better than the +granite. The poet, by a somewhat similar mistake, made prize of a +great piece of ice, which he found in a sunless chasm of the +mountains and swore that it corresponded, in all points, with his +idea of the Great Carbuncle. The critics say, that, if his poetry +lacked the splendor of the gem, it retained all the coldness of +the ice. The Lord de Vere went back to his ancestral hall, where +he contented himself with a wax-lighted chandelier, and filled, +in due course of time, another coffin in the ancestral vault. As +the funeral torches gleamed within that dark receptacle, there +was no need of the Great Carbuncle to show the vanity of earthly +pomp. +</p> + +<p> +The Cynic, having cast aside his spectacles, wandered about the +world a miserable object, and was punished with an agonizing +desire of light, for the wilful blindness of his former life. The +whole night long, he would lift his splendor-blasted orbs to the +moon and stars; he turned his face eastward, at sunrise, as duly +as a Perisan idolater; he made a pilgrimage to Rome, to witness +the magnificent illumination of St. Peter's Church; and finally +perished in the great fire of London, into the midst of which he +had thrust himself, with the desperate idea of catching one +feeble ray from the blaze that was kindling earth and heaven. +</p> + +<p> +Matthew and his bride spent many peaceful years, and were fond of +telling the legend of the Great Carbuncle. The tale, however, +towards the close of their lengthened lives, did not meet with +the full credence that had been accorded to it by those who +remembered the ancient lustre of the gem. For it is affirmed +that, from the hour when two mortals had shown themselves so +simply wise as to reject a jewel which would have dimmed all +earthly things, its splendor waned. When other pilgrims reached +the cliff, they found only an opaque stone, with particles of +mica glittering on its surface. There is also a tradition that, +as the youthful pair departed, the gem was loosened from the +forehead of the cliff, and fell into the enchanted lake, and +that, at noontide, the Seeker's form may still be seen to bend +over its quenchless gleam. +</p> + +<p> +Some few believe that this inestimable stone is blazing as of +old, and say that they have caught its radiance, like a flash of +summer lightning, far down the valley of the Saco. And be it +owned that, many a mile from the Crystal Hills, I saw a wondrous +light around their summits, and was lured, by the faith of poesy, +to be the latest pilgrim of the GREAT CARBUNCLE. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="david"></a></p> + +<h3> +DAVID SWAN +</h3> + +<p class="t3b"> +A FANTASY +</p> + +<p> +We can be but partially acquainted even with the events which +actually influence our course through life, and our final +destiny. There are innumerable other events--if such they may be +called--which come close upon us, yet pass away without actual +results, or even betraying their near approach, by the reflection +of any light or shadow across our minds. Could we know all the +vicissitudes of our fortunes, life would be too full of hope and +fear, exultation or disappointment, to afford us a single hour of +true serenity. This idea may be illustrated by a page from the +secret history of David Swan. +</p> + +<p> +We have nothing to do with David until we find him, at the age of +twenty, on the high road from his native place to the city of +Boston, where his uncle, a small dealer in the grocery line, was +to take him behind the counter. Be it enough to say that he was a +native of New Hampshire, born of respectable parents, and had +received an ordinary school education, with a classic finish by a +year at Gilmanton Academy. After journeying on foot from sunrise +till nearly noon of a summer's day, his weariness and the +increasing heat determined him to sit down in the first +convenient shade, and await the coming up of the stage-coach. As +if planted on purpose for him, there soon appeared a little tuft +of maples, with a delightful recess in the midst, and such a +fresh bubbling spring that it seemed never to have sparkled for +any wayfarer but David Swan. Virgin or not, he kissed it with his +thirsty lips, and then flung himself along the brink, pillowing +his head upon some shirts and a pair of pantaloons, tied up in a +striped cotton handkerchief. The sunbeams could not reach him; +the dust did not yet rise from the road after the heavy rain of +yesterday; and his grassy lair suited the young man better than a +bed of down. The spring murmured drowsily beside him; the +branches waved dreamily across the blue sky overhead; and a deep +sleep, perchance hiding dreams within its depths, fell upon David +Swan. But we are to relate events which he did not dream of. +</p> + +<p> +While he lay sound asleep in the shade, other people were wide +awake, and passed to and fro, afoot, on horseback, and in all +sorts of vehicles, along the sunny road by his bedchamber. Some +looked neither to the right hand nor the left, and knew not that +he was there; some merely glanced that way, without admitting the +slumberer among their busy thoughts; some laughed to see how +soundly he slept; and several, whose hearts were brimming full of +scorn, ejected their venomous superfluity on David Swan. A +middle-aged widow, when nobody else was near, thrust her head a +little way into the recess, and vowed that the young fellow +looked charming in his sleep. A temperance lecturer saw him, and +wrought poor David into the texture of his evening's discourse, +as an awful instance of dead drunkenness by the roadside. But +censure, praise, merriment, scorn, and indifference were all one, +or rather all nothing, to David Swan. +</p> + +<p> +He had slept only a few moments when a brown carriage, drawn by a +handsome pair of horses, bowled easily along, and was brought to +a standstill nearly in front of David's resting-place. A linchpin +had fallen out, and permitted one of the wheels to slide off. The +damage was slight, and occasioned merely a momentary alarm to an +elderly merchant and his wife, who were returning to Boston in +the carriage. While the coachman and a servant were replacing the +wheel, the lady and gentleman sheltered themselves beneath the +maple-trees, and there espied the bubbling fountain, and David +Swan asleep beside it. Impressed with the awe which the humblest +sleeped usually sheds around him, the merchant trod as lightly as +the gout would allow; and his spouse took good heed not to rustle +her silk gown, lest David should start up all of a sudden. +</p> + +<p> +"How soundly he sleeps!" whispered the old gentleman. "From what +a depth he draws that easy breath! Such sleep as that, brought on +without an opiate, would be worth more to me than half my income; +for it would suppose health and an untroubled mind." +</p> + +<p> +"And youth, besides," said the lady. "Healthy and quiet age does +not sleep thus. Our slumber is no more like his than our +wakefulness." +</p> + +<p> +The longer they looked the more did this elderly couple feel +interested in the unknown youth, to whom the wayside and the +maple shade were as a secret chamber, with the rich gloom of +damask curtains brooding over him. Perceiving that a stray +sunbeam glimmered down upon his face, the lady contrived to twist +a branch aside, so as to intercept it. And having done this +little act of kindness, she began to feel like a mother to him. +</p> + +<p> +"Providence seems to have laid him here," whispered she to her +husband, "and to have brought us hither to find him, after our +disappointment in our cousin's son. Methinks I can see a likeness +to our departed Henry. Shall we waken him?" +</p> + +<p> +"To what purpose?" said the merchant, hesitating. "We know +nothing of the youth's character." +</p> + +<p> +"That open countenance!" replied his wife, in the same hushed +voice, yet earnestly. "This innocent sleep!" +</p> + +<p> +While these whispers were passing, the sleeper's heart did not +throb, nor his breath become agitated, nor his features betray +the least token of interest. Yet Fortune was bending over him, +just ready to let fall a burden of gold. The old merchant had +lost his only son, and had no heir to his wealth except a distant +relative, with whose conduct he was dissatisfied. In such cases, +people sometimes do stranger things than to act the magician, and +awaken a young man to splendor who fell asleep in poverty. +</p> + +<p> +"Shall we not waken him?" repeated the lady persuasively. +</p> + +<p> +"The coach is ready, sir," said the servant, behind. +</p> + +<p> +The old couple started, reddened, and hurried away, mutually +wondering that they should ever have dreamed of doing anything so +very ridiculous. The merchant threw himself back in the carriage, +and occupied his mind with the plan of a magnificent asylum for +unfortunate men of business. Meanwhile, David Swan enjoyed his +nap. +</p> + +<p> +The carriage could not have gone above a mile or two, when a +pretty young girl came along, with a tripping pace, which showed +precisely how her little heart was dancing in her bosom. Perhaps +it was this merry kind of motion that caused--is there any harm +in saying it?--her garter to slip its knot. Conscious that the +silken girth--if silk it were--was relaxing its hold, she turned +aside into the shelter of the maple-trees, and there found a +young man asleep by the spring! Blushing as red as any rose that +she should have intruded into a gentleman's bedchamber, and for +such a purpose, too, she was about to make her escape on tiptoe. +But there was peril near the sleeper. A monster of a bee had been +wandering overhead--buzz, buzz, buzz--now among the leaves, now +flashing through the strips of sunshine, and now lost in the dark +shade, till finally he appeared to be settling on the eyelid of +David Swan. The sting of a bee is sometimes deadly. As free +hearted as she was innocent, the girl attacked the intruder with +her handkerchief, brushed him soundly, and drove him from beneath +the mapleshade. How sweet a picture! This good deed accomplished, +with quickened breath, and a deeper blush, she stole a glance at +the youthful stranger for whom she had been battling with a +dragon in the air. +</p> + +<p> +"He is handsome!" thought she, and blushed redder yet. +</p> + +<p> +How could it be that no dream of bliss grew so strong within him, +that, shattered by its very strength, it should part asunder, and +allow him to perceive the girl among its phantoms? Why, at least, +did no smile of welcome brighten upon his face? She was come, the +maid whose soul, according to the old and beautiful idea, had +been severed from his own, and whom, in all his vague but +passionate desires, he yearned to meet. Her, only, could he love +with a perfect love; him, only, could she receive into the depths +of her heart; and now her image was faintly blushing in the +fountain, by his side; should it pass away, its happy lustre +would never gleam upon his life again. +</p> + +<p> +"How sound he sleeps!" murmured the girl. +</p> + +<p> +She departed, but did not trip along the road so lightly as when +she came. +</p> + +<p> +Now, this girl's father was a thriving country merchant in the +neighborhood, and happened, at that identical time, to be looking +out for just such a young man as David Swan. Had David formed a +wayside acquaintance with the daughter, he would have become the +father's clerk, and all else in natural succession. So here, +again, had good fortune--the best of fortunes--stolen so near +that her garments brushed against him; and he knew nothing of the +matter. +</p> + +<p> +The girl was hardly out of sight when two men turned aside +beneath the maple shade. Both had dark faces, set off by cloth +caps, which were drawn down aslant over their brows. Their +dresses were shabby, yet had a certain smartness. These were a +couple of rascals who got their living by whatever the devil sent +them, and now, in the interim of other business, had staked the +joint profits of their next piece of villany on a game of cards, +which was to have been decided here under the trees. But, finding +David asleep by the spring, one of the rogues whispered to his +fellow, "Hist!--Do you see that bundle under his head?" +</p> + +<p> +The other villain nodded, winked, and leered. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll bet you a horn of brandy," said the first, "that the chap +has either a pocket-book, or a snug little hoard of small change, +stowed away amongst his shirts. And if not there, we shall find +it in his pantaloons pocket." +</p> + +<p> +"But how if he wakes?" said the other. +</p> + +<p> +His companion thrust aside his waistcoat, pointed to the handle +of a dirk, and nodded. +</p> + +<p> +"So be it!" muttered the second villain. +</p> + +<p> +They approached the unconscious David, and, while one pointed the +dagger towards his heart, the other began to search the bundle +beneath his head. Their two faces, grim, wrinkled, and ghastly +with guilt and fear, bent over their victim, looking horrible +enough to be mistaken for fiends, should he suddenly awake. Nay, +had the villains glanced aside into the spring, even they would +hardly have known themselves as reflected there. But David Swan +had never worn a more tranquil aspect, even when asleep on his +mother's breast. +</p> + +<p> +"I must take away the bundle," whispered one. +</p> + +<p> +"If he stirs, I'll strike," muttered the other. +</p> + +<p> +But, at this moment, a dog scenting along the ground, came in +beneath the maple-trees, and gazed alternately at each of these +wicked men, and then at the quiet sleeper. He then lapped out of +the fountain. +</p> + +<p> +"Pshaw!" said one villain. "We can do nothing now. The dog's +master must be close behind." +</p> + +<p> +"Let's take a drink and be off," said the other +</p> + +<p> +The man with the dagger thrust back the weapon into his bosom, +and drew forth a pocket pistol, but not of that kind which kills +by a single discharge. It was a flask of liquor, with a block-tin +tumbler screwed upon the mouth. Each drank a comfortable dram, +and left the spot, with so many jests, and such laughter at their +unaccomplished wickedness, that they might be said to have gone +on their way rejoicing. In a few hours they had forgotten the +whole affair, nor once imagined that the recording angel had +written down the crime of murder against their souls, in letters +as durable as eternity. As for David Swan, he still slept +quietly, neither conscious of the shadow of death when it hung +over him, nor of the glow of renewed life when that shadow was +withdrawn. +</p> + +<p> +He slept, but no longer so quietly as at first. An hour's repose +had snatched, from his elastic frame, the weariness with which +many hours of toil had burdened it. Now he stirred--now, moved +his lips, without a sound--now, talked, in an inward tone, to the +noonday spectres of his dream. But a noise of wheels came +rattling louder and louder along the road, until it dashed +through the dispersing mist of David's slumber-and there was the +stage-coach. He started up with all his ideas about him. +</p> + +<p> +"Halloo, driver!--Take a passenger?" shouted he. +</p> + +<p> +"Room on top!" answered the driver. +</p> + +<p> +Up mounted David, and bowled away merrily towards Boston, without +so much as a parting glance at that fountain of dreamlike +vicissitude. He knew not that a phantom of Wealth had thrown a +golden hue upon its waters--nor that one of Love had sighed +softly to their murmur--nor that one of Death had threatened to +crimson them with his blood--all, in the brief hour since he lay +down to sleep. Sleeping or waking, we hear not the airy footsteps +of the strange things that almost happen. Does it not argue a +superintending Providence that, while viewless and unexpected +events thrust themselves continually athwart our path, there +should still be regularity enough in mortal life to render +foresight even partially available? +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="hollow"></a></p> + +<h3> +THE HOLLOW OF THE THREE HILLS +</h3> + +<p> +In those strange old times, when fantastic dreams and madmen's +reveries were realized among the actual circumstances of life, +two persons met together at an appointed hour and place. One was +a lady, graceful in form and fair of feature, though pale and +troubled, and smitten with an untimely blight in what should have +been the fullest bloom of her years; the other was an ancient and +meanly-dressed woman, of ill-favored aspect, and so withered, +shrunken, and decrepit, that even the space since she began to +decay must have exceeded the ordinary term of human existence. In +the spot where they encountered, no mortal could observe them. +Three little hills stood near each other, and down in the midst +of them sunk a hollow basin, almost mathematically circular, two +or three hundred feet in breadth, and of such depth that a +stately cedar might but just be visible above the sides. Dwarf +pines were numerous upon the hills, and partly fringed the outer +verge of the intermediate hollow, within which there was nothing +but the brown grass of October, and here and there a tree trunk +that had fallen long ago, and lay mouldering with no green +successor from its roots. One of these masses of decaying wood, +formerly a majestic oak, rested close beside a pool of green and +sluggish water at the bottom of the basin. Such scenes as this +(so gray tradition tells) were once the resort of the Power of +Evil and his plighted subjects; and here, at midnight or on the +dim verge of evening, they were said to stand round the mantling +pool, disturbing its putrid waters in the performance of an +impious baptismal rite. The chill beauty of an autumnal sunset +was now gilding the three hill-tops, whence a paler tint stole +down their sides into the hollow. +</p> + +<p> +"Here is our pleasant meeting come to pass," said the aged crone, +"according as thou hast desired. Say quickly what thou wouldst +have of me, for there is but a short hour that we may tarry +here." +</p> + +<p> +As the old withered woman spoke, a smile glimmered on her +countenance, like lamplight on the wall of a sepulchre. The lady +trembled, and cast her eyes upward to the verge of the basin, as +if meditating to return with her purpose unaccomplished. But it +was not so ordained. +</p> + +<p> +"I am a stranger in this land, as you know," said she at length. +"Whence I come it matters not; but I have left those behind me +with whom my fate was intimately bound, and from whom I am cut +off forever. There is a weight in my bosom that I cannot away +with, and I have come hither to inquire of their welfare." +</p> + +<p> +"And who is there by this green pool that can bring thee news +from the ends of the earth?" cried the old woman, peering into +the lady's face. "Not from my lips mayst thou hear these tidings; +yet, be thou bold, and the daylight shall not pass away from +yonder hill-top before thy wish be granted." +</p> + +<p> +"I will do your bidding though I die," replied the lady +desperately. +</p> + +<p> +The old woman seated herself on the trunk of the fallen tree, +threw aside the hood that shrouded her gray locks, and beckoned +her companion to draw near. +</p> + +<p> +"Kneel down," she said, "and lay your forehead on my knees." +</p> + +<p> +She hesitated a moment, but the anxiety that had long been +kindling burned fiercely up within her. As she knelt down, the +border of her garment was dipped into the pool; she laid her +forehead on the old woman's knees, and the latter drew a cloak +about the lady's face, so that she was in darkness. Then she +heard the muttered words of prayer, in the midst of which she +started, and would have arisen. +</p> + +<p> +"Let me flee,--let me flee and hide myself, that they may not +look upon me!" she cried. But, with returning recollection, she +hushed herself, and was still as death. +</p> + +<p> +For it seemed as if other voices--familiar in infancy, and +unforgotten through many wanderings, and in all the vicissitudes +of her heart and fortune--were mingling with the accents of the +prayer. At first the words were faint and indistinct, not +rendered so by distance, but rather resembling the dim pages of a +book which we strive to read by an imperfect and gradually +brightening light. In such a manner, as the prayer proceeded, did +those voices strengthen upon the ear; till at length the petition +ended, and the conversation of an aged man, and of a woman broken +and decayed like himself, became distinctly audible to the lady +as she knelt. But those strangers appeared not to stand in the +hollow depth between the three hills. Their voices were +encompassed and reechoed by the walls of a chamber, the windows +of which were rattling in the breeze; the regular vibration of a +clock, the crackling of a fire, and the tinkling of the embers as +they fell among the ashes, rendered the scene almost as vivid as +if painted to the eye. By a melancholy hearth sat these two old +people, the man calmly despondent, the woman querulous and +tearful, and their words were all of sorrow. They spoke of a +daughter, a wanderer they knew not where, bearing dishonor along +with her, and leaving shame and affliction to bring their gray +heads to the grave. They alluded also to other and more recent +woe, but in the midst of their talk their voices seemed to melt +into the sound of the wind sweeping mournfully among the autumn +leaves; and when the lady lifted her eyes, there was she kneeling +in the hollow between three hills. +</p> + +<p> +"A weary and lonesome time yonder old couple have of it," +remarked the old woman, smiling in the lady's face. +</p> + +<p> +"And did you also hear them?" exclaimed she, a sense of +intolerable humiliation triumphing over her agony and fear. +</p> + +<p> +"Yea; and we have yet more to hear," replied the old woman. +"Wherefore, cover thy face quickly." +</p> + +<p> +Again the withered hag poured forth the monotonous words of a +prayer that was not meant to be acceptable in heaven; and soon, +in the pauses of her breath, strange murmurings began to thicken, +gradually increasing so as to drown and overpower the charm by +which they grew. Shrieks pierced through the obscurity of sound, +and were succeeded by the singing of sweet female voices, which, +in their turn, gave way to a wild roar of laughter, broken +suddenly by groanings and sobs, forming altogether a ghastly +confusion of terror and mourning and mirth. Chains were rattling, +fierce and stern voices uttered threats, and the scourge +resounded at their command. All these noises deepened and became +substantial to the listener's ear, till she could distinguish +every soft and dreamy accent of the love songs that died +causelessly into funeral hymns. She shuddered at the unprovoked +wrath which blazed up like the spontaneous kindling of flames and +she grew faint at the fearful merriment raging miserably around +her. In the midst of this wild scene, where unbound passions +jostled each other in a drunken career, there was one solemn +voice of a man, and a manly and melodious voice it might once +have been. He went to and fro continually, and his feet sounded +upon the floor. In each member of that frenzied company, whose +own burning thoughts had become their exclusive world, he sought +an auditor for the story of his individual wrong, and interpreted +their laughter and tears as his reward of scorn or pity. He spoke +of woman's perfidy, of a wife who had broken her holiest vows, of +a home and heart made desolate. Even as he went on, the shout, +the laugh, the shriek the sob, rose up in unison, till they +changed into the hollow, fitful, and uneven sound of the wind, as +it fought among the pine-trees on those three lonely hills. The +lady looked up, and there was the withered woman smiling in her +face. +</p> + +<p> +"Couldst thou have thought there were such merry times in a +madhouse?" inquired the latter. +</p> + +<p> +"True, true," said the lady to herself; "there is mirth within +its walls, but misery, misery without." +</p> + +<p> +"Wouldst thou hear more?" demanded the old woman. +</p> + +<p> +"There is one other voice I would fain listen to again," replied +the lady, faintly. +</p> + +<p> +"Then, lay down thy head speedily upon my knees, that thou mayst +get thee hence before the hour be past." +</p> + +<p> +The golden skirts of day were yet lingering upon the hills, but +deep shades obscured the hollow and the pool, as if sombre night +were rising thence to overspread the world. Again that evil woman +began to weave her spell. Long did it proceed unanswered, till +the knolling of a bell stole in among the intervals of her words, +like a clang that had travelled far over valley and rising +ground, and was just ready to die in the air. The lady shook upon +her companion's knees as she heard that boding sound. Stronger it +grew and sadder, and deepened into the tone of a death bell, +knolling dolefully from some ivy-mantled tower, and bearing +tidings of mortality and woe to the cottage, to the hall, and to +the solitary wayfarer that all might weep for the doom appointed +in turn to them. Then came a measured tread, passing slowly, +slowly on, as of mourners with a coffin, their garments trailing +on the ground, so that the ear could measure the length of their +melancholy array. Before them went the priest, reading the burial +service, while the leaves of his book were rustling in the +breeze. And though no voice but his was heard to speak aloud, +still there were revilings and anathemas, whispered but distinct, +from women and from men, breathed against the daughter who had +wrung the aged hearts of her parents,--the wife who had betrayed +the trusting fondness of her husband,--the mother who had sinned +against natural affection, and left her child to die. The +sweeping sound of the funeral train faded away like a thin vapor, +and the wind, that just before had seemed to shake the coffin +pall, moaned sadly round the verge of the Hollow between three +Hills. But when the old woman stirred the kneeling lady, she +lifted not her head. +</p> + +<p> +"Here has been a sweet hour's sport!" said the withered crone, +chuckling to herself. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="experiment"></a></p> + +<h3> +DR. HEIDEGGER'S EXPERIMENT +</h3> + +<p> +That very singular man, old Dr. Heidegger, once invited four +venerable friends to meet him in his study. There were three +white-bearded gentlemen, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew, and +Mr. Gascoigne, and a withered gentlewoman, whose name was the +Widow Wycherly. They were all melancholy old creatures, who had +been unfortunate in life, and whose greatest misfortune it was +that they were not long ago in their graves. Mr. Medbourne, in +the vigor of his age, had been a prosperous merchant, but had +lost his all by a frantic speculation, and was now little better +than a mendicant. Colonel Killigrew had wasted his best years, +and his health and substance, in the pursuit of sinful pleasures, +which had given birth to a brood of pains, such as the gout, and +divers other torments of soul and body. Mr. Gascoigne was a +ruined politician, a man of evil fame, or at least had been so +till time had buried him from the knowledge of the present +generation, and made him obscure instead of infamous. As for the +Widow Wycherly, tradition tells us that she was a great beauty in +her day; but, for a long while past, she had lived in deep +seclusion, on account of certain scandalous stories which had +prejudiced the gentry of the town against her. It is a +circumstance worth mentioning that each of these three old +gentlemen, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew, and Mr. Gascoigne, +were early lovers of the Widow Wycherly, and had once been on the +point of cutting each other's throats for her sake. And, before +proceeding further, I will merely hint that Dr. Heidegger and all +his foul guests were sometimes thought to be a little beside +themselves,--as is not unfrequently the case with old people, +when worried either by present troubles or woful recollections. +</p> + +<p> +"My dear old friends," said Dr. Heidegger, motioning them to be +seated, "I am desirous of your assistance in one of those little +experiments with which I amuse myself here in my study." +</p> + +<p> +If all stories were true, Dr. Heidegger's study must have been a +very curious place. It was a dim, old-fashioned chamber, +festooned with cobwebs, and besprinkled with antique dust. Around +the walls stood several oaken bookcases, the lower shelves of +which were filled with rows of gigantic folios and black-letter +quartos, and the upper with little parchment-covered duodecimos. +Over the central bookcase was a bronze bust of Hippocrates, with +which, according to some authorities, Dr. Heidegger was +accustomed to hold consultations in all difficult cases of his +practice. In the obscurest corner of the room stood a tall and +narrow oaken closet, with its door ajar, within which doubtfully +appeared a skeleton. Between two of the bookcases hung a +looking-glass, presenting its high and dusty plate within a +tarnished gilt frame. Among many wonderful stories related of +this mirror, it was fabled that the spirits of all the doctor's +deceased patients dwelt within its verge, and would stare him in +the face whenever he looked thitherward. The opposite side of the +chamber was ornamented with the full-length portrait of a young +lady, arrayed in the faded magnificence of silk, satin, and +brocade, and with a visage as faded as her dress. Above half a +century ago, Dr. Heidegger had been on the point of marriage with +this young lady; but, being affected with some slight disorder, +she had swallowed one of her lover's prescriptions, and died on +the bridal evening. The greatest curiosity of the study remains +to be mentioned; it was a ponderous folio volume, bound in black +leather, with massive silver clasps. There were no letters on the +back, and nobody could tell the title of the book. But it was +well known to be a book of magic; and once, when a chambermaid +had lifted it, merely to brush away the dust, the skeleton had +rattled in its closet, the picture of the young lady had stepped +one foot upon the floor, and several ghastly faces had peeped +forth from the mirror; while the brazen head of Hippocrates +frowned, and said,--"Forbear!" +</p> + +<p> +Such was Dr. Heidegger's study. On the summer afternoon of our +tale a small round table, as black as ebony, stood in the centre +of the room, sustaining a cut-glass vase of beautiful form and +elaborate workmanship. The sunshine came through the window, +between the heavy festoons of two faded damask curtains, and fell +directly across this vase; so that a mild splendor was reflected +from it on the ashen visages of the five old people who sat +around. Four champagne glasses were also on the table. +</p> + +<p> +"My dear old friends," repeated Dr. Heidegger, "may I reckon on +your aid in performing an exceedingly curious experiment?" +</p> + +<p> +Now Dr. Heidegger was a very strange old gentleman, whose +eccentricity had become the nucleus for a thousand fantastic +stories. Some of these fables, to my shame be it spoken, might +possibly be traced back to my own veracious self; and if any +passages of the present tale should startle the reader's faith, I +must be content to bear the stigma of a fiction monger. +</p> + +<p> +When the doctor's four guests heard him talk of his proposed +experiment, they anticipated nothing more wonderful than the +murder of a mouse in an air pump, or the examination of a cobweb +by the microscope, or some similar nonsense, with which he was +constantly in the habit of pestering his intimates. But without +waiting for a reply, Dr. Heidegger hobbled across the chamber, +and returned with the same ponderous folio, bound in black +leather, which common report affirmed to be a book of magic. +Undoing the silver clasps, he opened the volume, and took from +among its black-letter pages a rose, or what was once a rose, +though now the green leaves and crimson petals had assumed one +brownish hue, and the ancient flower seemed ready to crumble to +dust in the doctor's hands. +</p> + +<p> +"This rose," said Dr. Heidegger, with a sigh, "this same withered +and crumbling flower, blossomed five and fifty years ago. It was +given me by Sylvia Ward, whose portrait hangs yonder; and I meant +to wear it in my bosom at our wedding. Five and fifty years it +has been treasured between the leaves of this old volume. Now, +would you deem it possible that this rose of half a century could +ever bloom again?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nonsense!" said the Widow Wycherly, with a peevish toss of her +head. "You might as well ask whether an old woman's wrinkled face +could ever bloom again." +</p> + +<p> +"See!" answered Dr. Heidegger. +</p> + +<p> +He uncovered the vase, and threw the faded rose into the water +which it contained. At first, it lay lightly on the surface of +the fluid, appearing to imbibe none of its moisture. Soon, +however, a singular change began to be visible. The crushed and +dried petals stirred, and assumed a deepening tinge of crimson, +as if the flower were reviving from a deathlike slumber; the +slender stalk and twigs of foliage became green; and there was +the rose of half a century, looking as fresh as when Sylvia Ward +had first given it to her lover. It was scarcely full blown; for +some of its delicate red leaves curled modestly around its moist +bosom, within which two or three dewdrops were sparkling. +</p> + +<p> +"That is certainly a very pretty deception," said the doctor's +friends; carelessly, however, for they had witnessed greater +miracles at a conjurer's show; "pray how was it effected?" +</p> + +<p> +"Did you never hear of the 'Fountain of Youth?'" asked Dr. +Heidegger, "which Ponce De Leon, the Spanish adventurer, went in +search of two or three centuries ago?" +</p> + +<p> +"But did Ponce De Leon ever find it?" said the Widow Wycherly. +</p> + +<p> +"No," answered Dr. Heidegger, "for he never sought it in the +right place. The famous Fountain of Youth, if I am rightly +informed, is situated in the southern part of the Floridian +peninsula, not far from Lake Macaco. Its source is overshadowed +by several gigantic magnolias, which, though numberless centuries +old, have been kept as fresh as violets by the virtues of this +wonderful water. An acquaintance of mine, knowing my curiosity in +such matters, has sent me what you see in the vase." +</p> + +<p> +"Ahem!" said Colonel Killigrew, who believed not a word of the +doctor's story; "and what may be the effect of this fluid on the +human frame?" +</p> + +<p> +"You shall judge for yourself, my dear colonel," replied Dr. +Heidegger; "and all of you, my respected friends, are welcome to +so much of this admirable fluid as may restore to you the bloom +of youth. For my own part, having had much trouble in growing +old, I am in no hurry to grow young again. With your permission, +therefore, I will merely watch the progress of the experiment." +</p> + +<p> +While he spoke, Dr. Heidegger had been filling the four champagne +glasses with the water of the Fountain of Youth. It was +apparently impregnated with an effervescent gas, for little +bubbles were continually ascending from the depths of the +glasses, and bursting in silvery spray at the surface. As the +liquor diffused a pleasant perfume, the old people doubted not +that it possessed cordial and comfortable properties; and though +utter sceptics as to its rejuvenescent power, they were inclined +to swallow it at once. But Dr. Heidegger besought them to stay a +moment. +</p> + +<p> +"Before you drink, my respectable old friends," said he, "it +would be well that, with the experience of a lifetime to direct +you, you should draw up a few general rules for your guidance, in +passing a second time through the perils of youth. Think what a +sin and shame it would be, if, with your peculiar advantages, you +should not become patterns of virtue and wisdom to all the young +people of the age!" +</p> + +<p> +The doctor's four venerable friends made him no answer, except by +a feeble and tremulous laugh; so very ridiculous was the idea +that, knowing how closely repentance treads behind the steps of +error, they should ever go astray again. +</p> + +<p> +"Drink, then," said the doctor, bowing: "I rejoice that I have so +well selected the subjects of my experiment." +</p> + +<p> +With palsied hands, they raised the glasses to their lips. The +liquor, if it really possessed such virtues as Dr. Heidegger +imputed to it, could not have been bestowed on four human beings +who needed it more wofully. They looked as if they had never +known what youth or pleasure was, but had been the offspring of +Nature's dotage, and always the gray, decrepit, sapless, +miserable creatures, who now sat stooping round the doctor's +table, without life enough in their souls or bodies to be +animated even by the prospect of growing young again. They drank +off the water, and replaced their glasses on the table. +</p> + +<p> +Assuredly there was an almost immediate improvement in the aspect +of the party, not unlike what might have been produced by a glass +of generous wine, together with a sudden glow of cheerful +sunshine brightening over all their visages at once. There was a +healthful suffusion on their cheeks, instead of the ashen hue +that had made them look so corpse-like. They gazed at one +another, and fancied that some magic power had really begun to +smooth away the deep and sad inscriptions which Father Time had +been so long engraving on their brows. The Widow Wycherly +adjusted her cap, for she felt almost like a woman again. +</p> + +<p> +"Give us more of this wondrous water!" cried they, eagerly. "We +are younger--but we are still too old! Quick--give us more!" +</p> + +<p> +"Patience, patience!" quoth Dr. Heidegger, who sat watching the +experiment with philosophic coolness. "You have been a long time +growing old. Surely, you might be content to grow young in half +an hour! But the water is at your service." +</p> + +<p> +Again he filled their glasses with the liquor of youth, enough of +which still remained in the vase to turn half the old people in +the city to the age of their own grandchildren. While the bubbles +were yet sparkling on the brim, the doctor's four guests snatched +their glasses from the table, and swallowed the contents at a +single gulp. Was it delusion? even while the draught was passing +down their throats, it seemed to have wrought a change on their +whole systems. Their eyes grew clear and bright; a dark shade +deepened among their silvery locks, they sat around the table, +three gentlemen of middle age, and a woman, hardly beyond her +buxom prime. +</p> + +<p> +"My dear widow, you are charming!" cried Colonel Killigrew, whose +eyes had been fixed upon her face, while the shadows of age were +flitting from it like darkness from the crimson daybreak. +</p> + +<p> +The fair widow knew, of old, that Colonel Killigrew's compliments +were not always measured by sober truth; so she started up and +ran to the mirror, still dreading that the ugly visage of an old +woman would meet her gaze. Meanwhile, the three gentlemen behaved +in such a manner as proved that the water of the Fountain of +Youth possessed some intoxicating qualities; unless, indeed, +their exhilaration of spirits were merely a lightsome dizziness +caused by the sudden removal of the weight of years. Mr. +Gascoigne's mind seemed to run on political topics, but whether +relating to the past, present, or future, could not easily be +determined, since the same ideas and phrases have been in vogue +these fifty years. Now he rattled forth full-throated sentences +about patriotism, national glory, and the people's right; now he +muttered some perilous stuff or other, in a sly and doubtful +whisper, so cautiously that even his own conscience could +scarcely catch the secret; and now, again, he spoke in measured +accents, and a deeply deferential tone, as if a royal ear were +listening to his wellturned periods. Colonel Killigrew all this +time had been trolling forth a jolly bottle song, and ringing his +glass in symphony with the chorus, while his eyes wandered toward +the buxom figure of the Widow Wycherly. On the other side of the +table, Mr. Medbourne was involved in a calculation of dollars and +cents, with which was strangely intermingled a project for +supplying the East Indies with ice, by harnessing a team of +whales to the polar icebergs. +</p> + +<p> +As for the Widow Wycherly, she stood before the mirror +courtesying and simpering to her own image, and greeting it as +the friend whom she loved better than all the world beside. She +thrust her face close to the glass, to see whether some +long-remembered wrinkle or crow's foot had indeed vanished. She +examined whether the snow had so entirely melted from her hair +that the venerable cap could be safely thrown aside. At last, +turning briskly away, she came with a sort of dancing step to the +table. +</p> + +<p> +"My dear old doctor," cried she, "pray favor me with another +glass!" +</p> + +<p> +"Certainly, my dear madam, certainly!" replied the complaisant +doctor; "see! I have already filled the glasses." +</p> + +<p> +There, in fact, stood the four glasses, brimful of this wonderful +water, the delicate spray of which, as it effervesced from the +surface, resembled the tremulous glitter of diamonds. It was now +so nearly sunset that the chamber had grown duskier than ever; +but a mild and moonlike splendor gleamed from within the vase, +and rested alike on the four guests and on the doctor's venerable +figure. He sat in a high-backed, elaborately-carved, oaken +arm-chair, with a gray dignity of aspect that might have well +befitted that very Father Time, whose power had never been +disputed, save by this fortunate company. Even while quaffing the +third draught of the Fountain of Youth, they were almost awed by +the expression of his mysterious visage. +</p> + +<p> +But, the next moment, the exhilarating gush of young life shot +through their veins. They were now in the happy prime of youth. +Age, with its miserable train of cares and sorrows and diseases, +was remembered only as the trouble of a dream, from which they +had joyously awoke. The fresh gloss of the soul, so early lost, +and without which the world's successive scenes had been but a +gallery of faded pictures, again threw its enchantment over all +their prospects. They felt like new-created beings in a +new-created universe. +</p> + +<p> +"We are young! We are young!" they cried exultingly. +</p> + +<p> +Youth, like the extremity of age, had effaced the strongly-marked +characteristics of middle life, and mutually assimilated them +all. They were a group of merry youngsters, almost maddened with +the exuberant frolicsomeness of their years. The most singular +effect of their gayety was an impulse to mock the infirmity and +decrepitude of which they had so lately been the victims. They +laughed loudly at their old-fashioned attire, the wide-skirted +coats and flapped waistcoats of the young men, and the ancient +cap and gown of the blooming girl. One limped across the floor +like a gouty grandfather; one set a pair of spectacles astride of +his nose, and pretended to pore over the black-letter pages of +the book of magic; a third seated himself in an arm-chair, and +strove to imitate the venerable dignity of Dr. Heidegger. Then +all shouted mirthfully, and leaped about the room. The Widow +Wycherly--if so fresh a damsel could be called a widow--tripped +up to the doctor's chair, with a mischievous merriment in her +rosy face. +</p> + +<p> +"Doctor, you dear old soul," cried she, "get up and dance with +me!" And then the four young people laughed louder than ever, to +think what a queer figure the poor old doctor would cut. +</p> + +<p> +"Pray excuse me," answered the doctor quietly. "I am old and +rheumatic, and my dancing days were over long ago. But either of +these gay young gentlemen will be glad of so pretty a partner." +</p> + +<p> +"Dance with me, Clara!" cried Colonel Killigrew +</p> + +<p> +"No, no, I will be her partner!" shouted Mr. Gascoigne. +</p> + +<p> +"She promised me her hand, fifty years ago!" exclaimed Mr. +Medbourne. +</p> + +<p> +They all gathered round her. One caught both her hands in his +passionate grasp another threw his arm about her waist--the third +buried his hand among the glossy curls that clustered beneath the +widow's cap. Blushing, panting, struggling, chiding, laughing, +her warm breath fanning each of their faces by turns, she strove +to disengage herself, yet still remained in their triple embrace. +Never was there a livelier picture of youthful rivalship, with +bewitching beauty for the prize. Yet, by a strange deception, +owing to the duskiness of the chamber, and the antique dresses +which they still wore, the tall mirror is said to have reflected +the figures of the three old, gray, withered grandsires, +ridiculously contending for the skinny ugliness of a shrivelled +grandam. +</p> + +<p> +But they were young: their burning passions proved them so. +Inflamed to madness by the coquetry of the girl-widow, who +neither granted nor quite withheld her favors, the three rivals +began to interchange threatening glances. Still keeping hold of +the fair prize, they grappled fiercely at one another's throats. +As they struggled to and fro, the table was overturned, and the +vase dashed into a thousand fragments. The precious Water of +Youth flowed in a bright stream across the floor, moistening the +wings of a butterfly, which, grown old in the decline of summer, +had alighted there to die. The insect fluttered lightly through +the chamber, and settled on the snowy head of Dr. Heidegger. +</p> + +<p> +"Come, come, gentlemen!--come, Madam Wycherly," exclaimed the +doctor, "I really must protest against this riot." +</p> + +<p> +They stood still and shivered; for it seemed as if gray Time were +calling them back from their sunny youth, far down into the chill +and darksome vale of years. They looked at old Dr. Heidegger, who +sat in his carved arm-chair, holding the rose of half a century, +which he had rescued from among the fragments of the shattered +vase. At the motion of his hand, the four rioters resumed their +seats; the more readily, because their violent exertions had +wearied them, youthful though they were. +</p> + +<p> +"My poor Sylvia's rose!" ejaculated Dr. Heidegger, holding it in +the light of the sunset clouds; "it appears to be fading again." +</p> + +<p> +And so it was. Even while the party were looking at it, the +flower continued to shrivel up, till it became as dry and fragile +as when the doctor had first thrown it into the vase. He shook +off the few drops of moisture which clung to its petals. +</p> + +<p> +"I love it as well thus as in its dewy freshness," observed he, +pressing the withered rose to his withered lips. While he spoke, +the butterfly fluttered down from the doctor's snowy head, and +fell upon the floor. +</p> + +<p> +His guests shivered again. A strange chillness, whether of the +body or spirit they could not tell, was creeping gradually over +them all. They gazed at one another, and fancied that each +fleeting moment snatched away a charm, and left a deepening +furrow where none had been before. Was it an illusion? Had the +changes of a lifetime been crowded into so brief a space, and +were they now four aged people, sitting with their old friend, +Dr. Heidegger? +</p> + +<p> +"Are we grown old again, so soon?" cried they, dolefully. +</p> + +<p> +In truth they had. The Water of Youth possessed merely a virtue +more transient than that of wine. The delirium which it created +had effervesced away. Yes! they were old again. With a shuddering +impulse, that showed her a woman still, the widow clasped her +skinny hands before her face, and wished that the coffin lid were +over it, since it could be no longer beautiful. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, friends, ye are old again," said Dr. Heidegger, "and lo! +the Water of Youth is all lavished on the ground. Well--I bemoan +it not; for if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would +not stoop to bathe my lips in it--no, though its delirium were +for years instead of moments. Such is the lesson ye have taught +me!" +</p> + +<p> +But the doctor's four friends had taught no such lesson to +themselves. They resolved forthwith to make a pilgrimage to +Florida, and quaff at morning, noon, and night, from the Fountain +of Youth. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="legends1"></a></p> + +<h3> +LEGENDS OF THE PROVINCE HOUSE +</h3> + +<p class="t3b"> +I +</p> + +<p class="t3b"> +HOWE'S MASQUERADE +</p> + +<p> +One afternoon, last summer, while walking along Washington +Street, my eye was attracted by a signboard protruding over a +narrow archway, nearly opposite the Old South Church. The sign +represented the front of a stately edifice, which was designated +as the "OLD PROVINCE HOUSE, kept by Thomas Waite." I was glad to +be thus reminded of a purpose, long entertained, of visiting and +rambling over the mansion of the old royal governors of +Massachusetts; and entering the arched passage, which penetrated +through the middle of a brick row of shops, a few steps +transported me from the busy heart of modern Boston into a small +and secluded courtyard. One side of this space was occupied by +the square front of the Province House, three stories high, and +surmounted by a cupola, on the top of which a gilded Indian was +discernible, with his bow bent and his arrow on the string, as if +aiming at the weathercock on the spire of the Old South. The +figure has kept this attitude for seventy years or more, ever +since good Deacon Drowne, a cunning carver of wood, first +stationed him on his long sentinel's watch over the city. +</p> + +<p> +The Province House is constructed of brick, which seems recently +to have been overlaid with a coat of light-colored paint. A +flight of red freestone steps, fenced in by a balustrade of +curiously wrought iron, ascends from the court-yard to the +spacious porch, over which is a balcony, with an iron balustrade +of similar pattern and workmanship to that beneath. These letters +and figures--16 P.S. 79--are wrought into the iron work of the +balcony, and probably express the date of the edifice, with the +initials of its founder's name. A wide door with double leaves +admitted me into the hall or entry, on the right of which is the +entrance to the bar-room. +</p> + +<p> +It was in this apartment, I presume, that the ancient governors +held their levees, with vice-regal pomp, surrounded by the +military men, the councillors, the judges, and other officers of +the crown, while all the loyalty of the province thronged to do +them honor. But the room, in its present condition, cannot boast +even of faded magnificence. The panelled wainscot is covered with +dingy paint, and acquires a duskier hue from the deep shadow into +which the Province House is thrown by the brick block that shuts +it in from Washington Street. A ray of sunshine never visits this +apartment any more than the glare of the festal torches, which +have been extinguished from the era of the Revolution. The most +venerable and ornamental object is a chimney-piece set round with +Dutch tiles of blue-figured China, representing scenes from +Scripture; and, for aught I know, the lady of Pownall or Bernard +may have sat beside this fireplace, and told her children the +story of each blue tile. A bar in modern style, well replenished +with decanters, bottles, cigar boxes, and net-work bags of +lemons, and provided with a beer pump, and a soda fount, extends +along one side of the room. At my entrance, an elderly person was +smacking his lips with a zest which satisfied me that the cellars +of the Province House still hold good liquor, though doubtless of +other vintages than were quaffed by the old governors. After +sipping a glass of port sangaree, prepared by the skilful hands +of Mr. Thomas Waite, I besought that worthy successor and +representative of so many historic personages to conduct me over +their time honored mansion. +</p> + +<p> +He readily complied; but, to confess the truth, I was forced to +draw strenuously upon my imagination, in order to find aught that +was interesting in a house which, without its historic +associations, would have seemed merely such a tavern as is +usually favored by the custom of decent city boarders, and +old-fashioned country gentlemen. The chambers, which were +probably spacious in former times, are now cut up by partitions, +and subdivided into little nooks, each affording scanty room for +the narrow bed and chair and dressing-table of a single lodger. +The great staircase, however, may be termed, without much +hyperbole, a feature of grandeur and magnificence. It winds +through the midst of the house by flights of broad steps, each +flight terminating in a square landing-place, whence the ascent +is continued towards the cupola. A carved balustrade, freshly +painted in the lower stories, but growing dingier as we ascend, +borders the staircase with its quaintly twisted and intertwined +pillars, from top to bottom. Up these stairs the military boots, +or perchance the gouty shoes, of many a governor have trodden, as +the wearers mounted to the cupola, which afforded them so wide a +view over their metropolis and the surrounding country. The +cupola is an octagon, with several windows, and a door opening +upon the roof. From this station, as I pleased myself with +imagining, Gage may have beheld his disastrous victory on Bunker +Hill (unless one of the tri-mountains intervened), and Howe have +marked the approaches of Washington's besieging army; although +the buildings since erected in the vicinity have shut out almost +every object, save the steeple of the Old South, which seems +almost within arm's length. Descending from the cupola, I paused +in the garret to observe the ponderous white-oak framework, so +much more massive than the frames of modern houses, and thereby +resembling an antique skeleton. The brick walls, the materials of +which were imported from Holland, and the timbers of the mansion, +are still as sound as ever; but the floors and other interior +parts being greatly decayed, it is contemplated to gut the whole, +and build a new house within the ancient frame and brick work. +Among other inconveniences of the present edifice, mine host +mentioned that any jar or motion was apt to shake down the dust +of ages out of the ceiling of one chamber upon the floor of that +beneath it. +</p> + +<p> +We stepped forth from the great front window into the balcony, +where, in old times, it was doubtless the custom of the king's +representative to Show himself to a loyal populace, requiting +their huzzas and tossed-up hats with stately bendings of his +dignified person. In those days the front of the Province House +looked upon the street; and the whole site now occupied by the +brick range of stores, as well as the present court-yard, was +laid out in grass plats, overshadowed by trees and bordered by a +wrought-iron fence. Now, the old aristocratic edifice hides its +time-worn visage behind an upstart modern building; at one of the +back windows I observed some pretty tailoresses, sewing and +chatting and laughing, with now and then a careless glance +towards the balcony. Descending thence, we again entered the +bar-room, where the elderly gentleman above mentioned, the smack +of whose lips had spoken so favorably for Mr. Waite's good +liquor, was still lounging in his chair. He seemed to be, if not +a lodger, at least a familiar visitor of the house, who might be +supposed to have his regular score at the bar, his summer seat at +the open window, and his prescriptive corner at the winter's +fireside. Being of a sociable aspect, I ventured to address him +with a remark calculated to draw forth his historical +reminiscences, if any such were in his mind; and it gratified me +to discover, that, between memory and tradition, the old +gentleman was really possessed of some very pleasant gossip about +the Province House. The portion of his talk which chiefly +interested me was the outline of the following legend. He +professed to have received it at one or two removes from an +eye-witness; but this derivation, together with the lapse of +time, must have afforded opportunities for many variations of the +narrative; so that despairing of literal and absolute truth, I +have not scrupled to make such further changes as seemed +conducive to the reader's profit and delight. +</p> + +<p> +At one of the entertainments given at the Province +House, during the latter part of the siege of Boston, there +passed a scene which has never yet been satisfactorily explained. +The officers of the British army, and the loyal gentry of the +province, most of whom were collected within the beleaguered +town, had been invited to a masked ball; for it was the policy of +Sir William Howe to hide the distress and danger of the period, +and the desperate aspect of the siege, under an ostentation of +festivity. The spectacle of this evening, if the oldest members +of the provincial court circle might be believed, was the most +gay and gorgeous affair that had occurred in the annals of the +government. The brilliantly-lighted apartments were thronged with +figures that seemed to have stepped from the dark canvas of +historic portraits, or to have flitted forth from the magic pages +of romance, or at least to have flown hither from one of the +London theatres, without a change of garments. Steeled knights of +the Conquest, bearded statesmen of Queen Elizabeth, and +high-ruffled ladies of her court, were mingled with characters of +comedy, such as a party-colored Merry Andrew, jingling his cap +and bells; a Falstaff, almost as provocative of laughter as his +prototype; and a Don Quixote, with a bean pole for a lance, and a +pot lid for a shield. +</p> + +<p> +But the broadest merriment was excited by a group of figures +ridiculously dressed in old regimentals, which seemed to have +been purchased at a military rag fair, or pilfered from some +receptacle of the cast-off clothes of both the French and British +armies. Portions of their attire had probably been worn at the +siege of Louisburg, and the coats of most recent cut might have +been rent and tattered by sword, ball, or bayonet, as long ago as +Wolfe's victory. One of these worthies--a tall, lank figure, +brandishing a rusty sword of immense longitude--purported to be +no less a personage than General George Washington; and the other +principal officers of the American army, such as Gates, Lee, +Putnam, Schuyler, Ward and Heath, were represented by similar +scarecrows. An interview in the mock heroic style, between the +rebel warriors and the British commander-in-chief, was received +with immense applause, which came loudest of all from the +loyalists of the colony. There was one of the guests, however, +who stood apart, eyeing these antics sternly and scornfully, at +once with a frown and a bitter smile. +</p> + +<p> +It was an old man, formerly of high station and great repute in +the province, and who had been a very famous soldier in his day. +Some surprise had been expressed that a person of Colonel +Joliffe's known Whig principles, though now too old to take an +active part in the contest, should have remained in Boston during +the siege, and especially that he should consent to show himself +in the mansion of Sir William Howe. But thither he had come, with +a fair granddaughter under his arm; and there, amid all the mirth +and buffoonery, stood this stern old figure, the best sustained +character in the masquerade, because so well representing the +antique spirit of his native land. The other guests affirmed that +Colonel Joliffe's black puritanical scowl threw a shadow round +about him; although in spite of his sombre influence their gayety +continued to blaze higher, like--(an ominous comparison)--the +flickering brilliancy of a lamp which has but a little while to +burn. Eleven strokes, full half an hour ago, had pealed from the +clock of the Old South, when a rumor was circulated among the +company that some new spectacle or pageant was about to be +exhibited, which should put a fitting close to the splendid +festivities of the night. +</p> + +<p> +"What new jest has your Excellency in hand?" asked the Rev. +Mather Byles, whose Presbyterian scruples had not kept him from +the entertainment. "Trust me, sir, I have already laughed more +than beseems my cloth at your Homeric confabulation with yonder +ragamuffin General of the rebels. One other such fit of +merriment, and I must throw off my clerical wig and band." +</p> + +<p> +"Not so, good Doctor Byles," answered Sir William Howe; "if mirth +were a crime, you had never gained your doctorate in divinity. As +to this new foolery, I know no more about it than yourself; +perhaps not so much. Honestly now, Doctor, have you not stirred +up the sober brains of some of your countrymen to enact a scene +in our masquerade?" +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps," slyly remarked the granddaughter of Colonel Joliffe, +whose high spirit had been stung by many taunts against New +England,--"perhaps we are to have a mask of allegorical figures. +Victory, with trophies from Lexington and Bunker Hill--Plenty, +with her overflowing horn, to typify the present abundance in +this good town--and Glory, with a wreath for his Excellency's +brow." +</p> + +<p> +Sir William Howe smiled at words which he would have answered +with one of his darkest frowns had they been uttered by lips that +wore a beard. He was spared the necessity of a retort, by a +singular interruption. A sound of music was heard without the +house, as if proceeding from a full band of military instruments +stationed in the street, playing not such a festal strain as was +suited to the occasion, but a slow funeral march. The drums +appeared to be muffled, and the trumpets poured forth a wailing +breath, which at once hushed the merriment of the auditors, +filling all with wonder, and some with apprehension. The idea +occurred to many that either the funeral procession of some great +personage had halted in front of the Province House, or that a +corpse, in a velvet-covered and gorgeously-decorated coffin, was +about to be borne from the portal. After listening a moment, Sir +William Howe called, in a stern voice, to the leader of the +musicians, who had hitherto enlivened the entertainment with gay +and lightsome melodies. The man was drum-major to one of the +British regiments. +</p> + +<p> +"Dighton," demanded the general, "what means this foolery? Bid +your band silence that dead march--or, by my word, they shall +have sufficient cause for their lugubrious strains! Silence it, +sirrah!" +</p> + +<p> +"Please your honor," answered the drum-major, whose rubicund +visage had lost all its color, "the fault is none of mine. I and +my band are all here together, and I question whether there be a +man of us that could play that march without book. I never heard +it but once before, and that was at the funeral of his late +Majesty, King George the Second." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, well!" said Sir William Howe, recovering his +composure--"it is the prelude to some masquerading antic. Let it +pass." +</p> + +<p> +A figure now presented itself, but among the many fantastic masks +that were dispersed through the apartments none could tell +precisely from whence it came. It was a man in an old-fashioned +dress of black serge and having the aspect of a steward or +principal domestic in the household of a nobleman or great +English landholder. This figure advanced to the outer door of the +mansion, and throwing both its leaves wide open, withdrew a +little to one side and looked back towards the grand staircase as +if expecting some person to descend. At the same time the music +in the street sounded a loud and doleful summons. The eyes of Sir +William Howe and his guests being directed to the staircase, +there appeared, on the uppermost landing-place that was +discernible from the bottom, several personages descending +towards the door. The foremost was a man of stern visage, wearing +a steeple-crowned hat and a skull-cap beneath it; a dark cloak, +and huge wrinkled boots that came half-way up his legs. Under his +arm was a rolled-up banner, which seemed to be the banner of +England, but strangely rent and torn; he had a sword in his right +hand, and grasped a Bible in his left. The next figure was of +milder aspect, yet full of dignity, wearing a broad ruff, over +which descended a beard, a gown of wrought velvet, and a doublet +and hose of black satin. He carried a roll of manuscript in his +hand. Close behind these two came a young man of very striking +countenance and demeanor, with deep thought and contemplation on +his brow, and perhaps a flash of enthusiasm in his eye. His +garb, like that of his predecessors, was of an antique fashion, +and there was a stain of blood upon his ruff. In the same group +with these were three or four others, all men of dignity and +evident command, and bearing themselves like personages who were +accustomed to the gaze of the multitude. It was the idea of the +beholders that these figures went to join the mysterious funeral +that had halted in front of the Province House; yet that +supposition seemed to be contradicted by the air of triumph with +which they waved their hands, as they crossed the threshold and +vanished through the portal. +</p> + +<p> +"In the devil's name what is this?" muttered Sir William Howe to +a gentleman beside him; "a procession of the regicide judges of +King Charles the martyr?" +</p> + +<p> +"These," said Colonel Joliffe, breaking silence almost for the +first time that evening,--"these, if I interpret them aright, are +the Puritan governors--the rulers of the old original Democracy +of Massachusetts. Endicott, with the banner from which he had +torn the symbol of subjection, and Winthrop, and Sir Henry Vane, +and Dudley, Haynes, Bellingham, and Leverett." +</p> + +<p> +"Why had that young man a stain of blood upon his ruff?" asked +Miss Joliffe. +</p> + +<p> +"Because, in after years," answered her grandfather, "he laid +down the wisest head in England upon the block for the principles +of liberty." +</p> + +<p> +"Will not your Excellency order out the guard?" whispered Lord +Percy, who, with other British officers, had now assembled round +the General. "There may be a plot under this mummery." +</p> + +<p> +"Tush! we have nothing to fear," carelessly replied Sir William +Howe. "There can be no worse treason in the matter than a jest, +and that somewhat of the dullest. Even were it a sharp and bitter +one, our best policy would be to laugh it off. See--here come +more of these gentry." +</p> + +<p> +Another group of characters had now partly descended the +staircase. The first was a venerable and white-bearded patriarch, +who cautiously felt his way downward with a staff. Treading +hastily behind him, and stretching forth his gauntleted hand as +if to grasp the old man's shoulder, came a tall, soldier-like +figure, equipped with a plumed cap of steel, a bright +breastplate, and a long sword, which rattled against the stairs. +Next was seen a stout man, dressed in rich and courtly attire, +but not of courtly demeanor; his gait had the swinging motion of +a seaman's walk, and chancing to stumble on the staircase, he +suddenly grew wrathful, and was heard to mutter an oath. He was +followed by a noble-looking personage in a curled wig, such as +are represented in the portraits of Queen Anne's time and +earlier; and the breast of his coat was decorated with an +embroidered star. While advancing to the door, he bowed to the +right hand and to the left, in a very gracious and insinuating +style; but as he crossed the threshold, unlike the early Puritan +governors, he seemed to wring his hands with sorrow. +</p> + +<p> +"Prithee, play the part of a chorus, good Doctor Byles," said Sir +William Howe. "What worthies are these?" +</p> + +<p> +"If it please your Excellency they lived somewhat before my day," +answered the doctor; "but doubtless our friend, the Colonel, has +been hand and glove with them." +</p> + +<p> +"Their living faces I never looked upon," said Colonel Joliffe, +gravely; "although I have spoken face to face with many rulers of +this land, and shall greet yet another with an old man's blessing +ere I die. But we talk of these figures. I take the venerable +patriarch to be Bradstreet, the last of the Puritans, who was +governor at ninety, or thereabouts. The next is Sir Edmund +Andros, a tyrant, as any New England school-boy will tell you; +and therefore the people cast him down from his high seat into a +dungeon. Then comes Sir William Phipps, shepherd, cooper, +sea-captain, and governor--may many of his countrymen rise as +high from as low an origin! Lastly, you saw the gracious Earl of +Bellamont, who ruled us under King William." +</p> + +<p> +"But what is the meaning of it all?" asked Lord Percy. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, were I a rebel," said Miss Joliffe, half aloud, "I might +fancy that the ghosts of these ancient governors had been +summoned to form the funeral procession of royal authority in New +England." +</p> + +<p> +Several other figures were now seen at the turn of the staircase. +The one in advance had a thoughtful, anxious, and somewhat crafty +expression of face, and in spite of his loftiness of manner, +which was evidently the result both of an ambitious spirit and of +long continuance in high stations, he seemed not incapable of +cringing to a greater than himself. A few steps behind came an +officer in a scarlet and embroidered uniform, cut in a fashion +old enough to have been worn by the Duke of Marlborough. His nose +had a rubicund tinge, which, together with the twinkle of his +eye, might have marked him as a lover of the wine cup and good +fellowship; notwithstanding which tokens he appeared ill at ease, +and often glanced around him as if apprehensive of some secret +mischief. Next came a portly gentleman, wearing a coat of shaggy +cloth, lined with silken velvet; he had sense, shrewdness, and +humor in his face, and a folio volume under his arm; but his +aspect was that of a man vexed and tormented beyond all patience, +and harassed almost to death. He went hastily down, and was +followed by a dignified person, dressed in a purple velvet suit +with very rich embroidery; his demeanor would have possessed much +stateliness, only that a grievous fit of the gout compelled him +to hobble from stair to stair, with contortions of face and body. +When Dr. Byles beheld this figure on the staircase, he shivered +as with an ague, but continued to watch him steadfastly, until +the gouty gentleman had reached the threshold, made a gesture of +anguish and despair, and vanished into the outer gloom, whither +the funeral music summoned him. +</p> + +<p> +"Governor Belcher!--my old patron!--in his very shape and dress!" +gasped Doctor Byles. "This is an awful mockery!" +</p> + +<p> +"A tedious foolery, rather," said Sir William Howe, with an air +of indifference. "But who were the three that preceded him?" +</p> + +<p> +"Governor Dudley, a cunning politician--yet his craft once +brought him to a prison," replied Colonel Joliffe. "Governor +Shute, formerly a Colonel under Marlborough, and whom the people +frightened out of the province; and learned Governor Burnet, whom +the legislature tormented into a mortal fever." +</p> + +<p> +"Methinks they were miserable men, these royal governors of +Massachusetts," observed Miss Joliffe. "Heavens, how dim the +light grows!" +</p> + +<p> +It was certainly a fact that the large lamp which illuminated the +staircase now burned dim and duskily: so that several figures, +which passed hastily down the stairs and went forth from the +porch, appeared rather like shadows than persons of fleshly +substance. Sir William Howe and his guests stood at the doors of +the contiguous apartments, watching the progress of this singular +pageant, with various emotions of anger, contempt, or +half-acknowledged fear, but still with an anxious curiosity. The +shapes which now seemed hastening to join the mysterious +procession were recognized rather by striking peculiarities of +dress, or broad characteristics of manner, than by any +perceptible resemblance of features to their prototypes. Their +faces, indeed, were invariably kept in deep shadow. But Doctor +Byles, and other gentlemen who had long been familiar with the +successive rulers of the province, were heard to whisper the +names of Shirley, of Pownall, of Sir Francis Bernard, and of the +well-remembered Hutchinson; thereby confessing that the actors, +whoever they might be, in this spectral march of governors, had +succeeded in putting on some distant portraiture of the real +personages. As they vanished from the door, still did these +shadows toss their arms into the gloom of night, with a dread +expression of woe. Following the mimic representative of +Hutchinson came a military figure, holding before his face the +cocked hat which he had taken from his powdered head; but his +epaulettes and other insignia of rank were those of a general +officer, and something in his mien reminded the beholders of one +who had recently been master of the Province House, and chief of +all the land. +</p> + +<p> +"The shape of Gage, as true as in a looking-glass," exclaimed +Lord Percy, turning pale. +</p> + +<p> +"No, surely," cried Miss Joliffe, laughing hysterically; "it +could not be Gage, or Sir William would have greeted his old +comrade in arms! Perhaps he will not suffer the next to pass +unchallenged." +</p> + +<p> +"Of that be assured, young lady," answered Sir William Howe, +fixing his eyes, with a very marked expression, upon the +immovable visage of her grandfather. "I have long enough delayed +to pay the ceremonies of a host to these departing guests. The +next that takes his leave shall receive due courtesy." +</p> + +<p> +A wild and dreary burst of music came through the open door. It +seemed as if the procession, which had been gradually filling up +its ranks, were now about to move, and that this loud peal of the +wailing trumpets, and roll of the muffled drums, were a call to +some loiterer to make haste. Many eyes, by an irresistible +impulse, were turned upon Sir William Howe, as if it were he whom +the dreary music summoned to the funeral or departed power. +</p> + +<p> +"See!--here comes the last!" whispered Miss Joliffe, pointing her +tremulous finger to the staircase. +</p> + +<p> +A figure had come into view as if descending the stairs; although +so dusky was the region whence it emerged, some of the spectators +fancied that they had seen this human shape suddenly moulding +itself amid the gloom. Downward the figure came, with a stately +and martial tread, and reaching the lowest stair was observed to +be a tall man, booted and wrapped in a military cloak, which was +drawn up around the face so as to meet the flapped brim of a +laced hat. The features, therefore, were completely hidden. But +the British officers deemed that they had seen that military +cloak before, and even recognized the frayed embroidery on the +collar, as well as the gilded scabbard of a sword which protruded +from the folds of the cloak, and glittered in a vivid gleam of +light. Apart from these trifling particulars, there were +characteristics of gait and bearing which impelled the wondering +guests to glance from the shrouded figure to Sir William Howe, as +if to satisfy themselves that their host had not suddenly +vanished from the midst of them. +</p> + +<p> +With a dark flush of wrath upon his brow they saw the General +draw his sword and advance to meet the figure in the cloak before +the latter had stepped one pace upon the floor. +</p> + +<p> +"Villain, unmuffle yourself!" cried he. "You pass no farther!" +</p> + +<p> +The figure, without blenching a hair's breadth from the sword +which was pointed at his breast, made a solemn pause and lowered +the cape of the cloak from about his face, yet not sufficiently +for the spectators to catch a glimpse of it. But Sir William Howe +had evidently seen enough. The sternness of his countenance gave +place to a look of wild amazement, if not horror, while he +recoiled several steps from the figure and let fall his sword +upon the floor. The martial shape again drew the cloak about his, +features and passed on; but reaching the threshold, with his back +towards the spectators, he was seen to stamp his foot and shake +his clinched hands in the air. It was afterwards affirmed that +Sir William Howe had repeated that selfsame gesture of rage and +sorrow, when, for the last time, and as the last royal governor, +he passed through the portal of the Province House. +</p> + +<p> +"Hark!--the procession moves," said Miss Joliffe. +</p> + +<p> +The music was dying away along the street, and its dismal strains +were mingled with the knell of midnight from the steeple of the +Old South, and with the roar of artillery, which announced that +the beleaguering army of Washington had intrenched itself upon a +nearer height than before. As the deep boom of the cannon smote +upon his ear, Colonel Joliffe raised himself to the full height +of his aged form, and smiled sternly on the British General. +</p> + +<p> +"Would your Excellency inquire further into the mystery of the +pageant?" said he. +</p> + +<p> +"Take care of your gray head!" cried Sir William Howe, fiercely, +though with a quivering lip. "It has stood too long on a +traitor's shoulders!" +</p> + +<p> +"You must make haste to chop it off, then," calmly replied the +Colonel; "for a few hours longer, and not all the power of Sir +William Howe, nor of his master, shall cause one of these gray +hairs to fall. The empire of Britain in this ancient province is +at its last gasp to-night;--almost while I speak it is a dead +corpse;--and methinks the shadows of the old governors are fit +mourners at its funeral!" +</p> + +<p> +With these words Colonel Joliffe threw on his cloak, and drawing +his granddaughter's arm within his own, retired from the last +festival that a British ruler ever held in the old province of +Massachusetts Bay. It was supposed that the Colonel and the young +lady possessed some secret intelligence in regard to the +mysterious pageant of that night. However this might be, such +knowledge has never become general. The actors in the scene have +vanished into deeper obscurity than even that wild Indian band +who scattered the cargoes of the tea ships on the waves, and +gained a place in history, yet left no names. But superstition, +among other legends of this mansion, repeats the wondrous tale, +that on the anniversary night of Britain's discomfiture the +ghosts of the ancient governors of Massachusetts still glide +through the portal of the Province House. And, last of all, comes +a figure shrouded in a military cloak, tossing his clinched hands +into the air, and stamping his iron-shod boots upon the broad +freestone steps, with a semblance of feverish despair, but +without the sound of a foot-tramp. +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +When the truth-telling accents of the elderly +gentleman were hushed, I drew a long breath and looked round the +room, striving, with the best energy of my imagination, to throw +a tinge of romance and historic grandeur over the realities of +the scene. But my nostrils snuffed up a scent of cigar smoke, +clouds of which the narrator had emitted by way of visible +emblem, I suppose, of the nebulous obscurity of his tale. +Moreover, my gorgeous fantasies were wofully disturbed by the +rattling of the spoon in a tumbler of whiskey punch, which Mr. +Thomas Waite was mingling for a customer. Nor did it add to the +picturesque appearance of the panelled walls that the slate of +the Brookline stage was suspended against them, instead of the +armorial escutcheon of some far-descended governor. A +stage-driver sat at one of the windows, reading a penny paper of +the day--the Boston Times--and presenting a figure which could +nowise be brought into any picture of "Times in Boston" seventy +or a hundred years ago. On the window seat lay a bundle, neatly +done up in brown paper, the direction of which I had the idle +curiosity to read. "MISS SUSAN HUGGINS, at the PROVINCE HOUSE." A +pretty chambermaid, no doubt. In truth, it is desperately hard +work, when we attempt to throw the spell of hoar antiquity over +localities with which the living world, and the day that is +passing over us, have aught to do. Yet, as I glanced at the +stately staircase down which the procession of the old governors +had descended, and as I emerged through the venerable portal +whence their figures had preceded me, it gladdened me to be +conscious of a thrill of awe. Then, diving through the narrow +archway, a few strides transported me into the densest throng of +Washington Street. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="legends2"></a></p> + +<h3> +LEGENDS OF THE PROVINCE HOUSE +</h3> + +<p class="t3b"> +II +</p> + +<p class="t3b"> +EDWARD RANDOLPH'S PORTRAIT +</p> + +<p> +The old legendary guest of the Province House abode in my +remembrance from midsummer till January. One idle evening last +winter, confident that he would be found in the snuggest corner +of the bar-room, I resolved to pay him another visit, hoping to +deserve well of my country by snatching from oblivion some else +unheard-of fact of history. The night was chill and raw, and +rendered boisterous by almost a gale of wind, which whistled +along Washington Street, causing the gas-lights to flare and +flicker within the lamps. As I hurried onward, my fancy was busy +with a comparison between the present aspect of the street and +that which it probably wore when the British governors inhabited +the mansion whither I was now going. Brick edifices in those +times were few, till a succession of destructive fires had swept, +and swept again, the wooden dwellings and warehouses from the +most populous quarters of the town. The buildings stood insulated +and independent, not, as now, merging their separate existences +into connected ranges, with a front of tiresome identity,--but +each possessing features of its own, as if the owner's individual +taste had shaped it,--and the whole presenting a picturesque +irregularity, the absence of which is hardly compensated by any +beauties of our modern architecture. Such a scene, dimly +vanishing from the eye by the ray of here and there a tallow +candle, glimmering through the small panes of scattered windows, +would form a sombre contrast to the street as I beheld it, with +the gas-lights blazing from corner to corner, flaming within the +shops, and throwing a noonday brightness through the huge plates +of glass. +</p> + +<p> +But the black, lowering sky, as I turned my eyes upward, wore, +doubtless, the same visage as when it frowned upon the +ante-revolutionary New Englanders. The wintry blast had the same +shriek that was familiar to their ears. The Old South Church, +too, still pointed its antique spire into the darkness, and was +lost between earth and heaven; and as I passed, its clock, which +had warned so many generations how transitory was their lifetime, +spoke heavily and slow the same unregarded moral to myself. "Only +seven o'clock," thought I. "My old friend's legends will scarcely +kill the hours 'twixt this and bedtime." +</p> + +<p> +Passing through the narrow arch, I crossed the court-yard, the +confined precincts of which were made visible by a lantern over +the portal of the Province House. On entering the bar-room, I +found, as I expected, the old tradition monger seated by a +special good fire of anthracite, compelling clouds of smoke from +a corpulent cigar. He recognized me with evident pleasure; for my +rare properties as a patient listener invariably make me a +favorite with elderly gentlemen and ladies of narrative +propensities. Drawing a chair to the fire, I desired mine host to +favor us with a glass apiece of whiskey punch, which was speedily +prepared, steaming hot, with a slice of lemon at the bottom, a +dark-red stratum of port wine upon the surface, and a sprinkling +of nutmeg strewn over all. As we touched our glasses together, my +legendary friend made himself known to me as Mr. Bela Tiffany; +and I rejoiced at the oddity of the name, because it gave his +image and character a sort of individuality in my conception. The +old gentleman's draught acted as a solvent upon his memory, so +that it overflowed with tales, traditions, anecdotes of famous +dead people, and traits of ancient manners, some of which were +childish as a nurse's lullaby, while others might have been worth +the notice of the grave historian. Nothing impressed me more than +a story of a black mysterious picture, which used to hang in one +of the chambers of the Province House, directly above the room +where we were now sitting. The following is as correct a version +of the fact as the reader would be likely to obtain from any +other source, although, assuredly, it has a tinge of romance +approaching to the marvellous. +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +In one of the apartments of the Province House +there was long preserved an ancient picture, the frame of which +was as black as ebony, and the canvas itself so dark with age, +damp, and smoke, that not a touch of the painter's art could be +discerned. Time had thrown an impenetrable veil over it, and left +to tradition and fable and conjecture to say what had once been +there portrayed. During the rule of many successive governors, it +had hung, by prescriptive and undisputed right, over the +mantel-piece of the same chamber; and it still kept its place +when Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson assumed the administration of +the province, on the departure of Sir Francis Bernard. +</p> + +<p> +The Lieutenant-Governor sat, one afternoon, resting his head +against the carved back of his stately armchair, and gazing up +thoughtfully at the void blackness of the picture. It was +scarcely a time for such inactive musing, when affairs of the +deepest moment required the ruler's decision, for within that +very hour Hutchinson had received intelligence of the arrival of +a British fleet, bringing three regiments from Halifax to overawe +the insubordination of the people. These troops awaited his +permission to occupy the fortress of Castle William, and the town +itself. Yet, instead of affixing his signature to an official +order, there sat the Lieutenant-Governor, so carefully +scrutinizing the black waste of canvas that his demeanor +attracted the notice of two young persons who attended him. One, +wearing a military dress of buff, was his kinsman, Francis +Lincoln, the Provincial Captain of Castle William; the other, who +sat on a low stool beside his chair, was Alice Vane, his favorite +niece. +</p> + +<p> +She was clad entirely in white, a pale, ethereal creature, who, +though a native of New England, had been educated abroad, and +seemed not merely a stranger from another clime, but almost a +being from another world. For several years, until left an +orphan, she had dwelt with her father in sunny Italy, and there +had acquired a taste and enthusiasm for sculpture and painting +which she found few opportunities of gratifying in the +undecorated dwellings of the colonial gentry. It was said that +the early productions of her own pencil exhibited no inferior +genius, though, perhaps, the rude atmosphere of New England had +cramped her hand, and dimmed the glowing colors of her fancy. But +observing her uncle's steadfast gaze, which appeared to search +through the mist of years to discover the subject of the picture, +her curiosity was excited. +</p> + +<p> +"Is it known, my dear uncle," inquired she, "what this old +picture once represented? Possibly, could it be made visible, it +might prove a masterpiece of some great artist--else, why has it +so long held such a conspicuous place?" +</p> + +<p> +As her uncle, contrary to his usual custom (for he was as +attentive to all the humors and caprices of Alice as if she had +been his own best-beloved child), did not immediately reply, the +young Captain of Castle William took that office upon himself. +</p> + +<p> +"This dark old square of canvas, my fair cousin," said he, "has +been an heirloom in the Province House from time immemorial. As +to the painter, I can tell you nothing; but, if half the stories +told of it be true, not one of the great Italian masters has ever +produced so marvellous a piece of work as that before you." +</p> + +<p> +Captain Lincoln proceeded to relate some of the strange fables +and fantasies which, as it was impossible to refute them by +ocular demonstration, had grown to be articles of popular belief, +in reference to this old picture. One of the wildest, and at the +same time the best accredited, accounts, stated it to be an +original and authentic portrait of the Evil One, taken at a witch +meeting near Salem; and that its strong and terrible resemblance +had been confirmed by several of the confessing wizards and +witches, at their trial, in open court. It was likewise affirmed +that a familiar spirit or demon abode behind the blackness of the +picture, and had shown himself, at seasons of public calamity, to +more than one of the royal governors. Shirley, for instance, had +beheld this ominous apparition, on the eve of General +Abercrombie's shameful and bloody defeat under the walls of +Ticonderoga. Many of the servants of the Province House had +caught glimpses of a visage frowning down upon them, at morning +or evening twilight,--or in the depths of night, while raking up +the fire that glimmered on the hearth beneath; although, if any +were bold enough to hold a torch before the picture, it would +appear as black and undistinguishable as ever. The oldest +inhabitant of Boston recollected that his father, in whose days +the portrait had not wholly faded out of sight, had once looked +upon it, but would never suffer himself to be questioned as to +the face which was there represented. In connection with such +stories, it was remarkable that over the top of the frame there +were some ragged remnants of black silk, indicating that a veil +had formerly hung down before the picture, until the duskiness of +time had so effectually concealed it. But, after all, it was the +most singular part of the affair that so many of the pompous +governors of Massachusetts had allowed the obliterated picture to +remain in the state chamber of the Province House. +</p> + +<p> +"Some of these fables are really awful," observed Alice Vane, who +had occasionally shuddered, as well as smiled, while her cousin +spoke. "It would be almost worth while to wipe away the black +surface of the canvas, since the original picture can hardly be +so formidable as those which fancy paints instead of it." +</p> + +<p> +"But would it be possible," inquired her cousin, "to restore this +dark picture to its pristine hues?" +</p> + +<p> +"Such arts are known in Italy," said Alice. +</p> + +<p> +The Lieutenant-Governor had roused himself from his abstracted +mood, and listened with a smile to the conversation of his young +relatives. Yet his voice had something peculiar in its tones when +he undertook the explanation of the mystery. +</p> + +<p> +"I am sorry, Alice, to destroy your faith in the legends of which +you are so fond," remarked he; "but my antiquarian researches +have long since made me acquainted with the subject of this +picture--if picture it can be called--which is no more visible, +nor ever will be, than the face of the long buried man whom it +once represented. It was the portrait of Edward Randolph, the +founder of this house, a person famous in the history of New +England." +</p> + +<p> +"Of that Edward Randolph," exclaimed Captain Lincoln, "who +obtained the repeal of the first provincial charter, under which +our forefathers had enjoyed almost democratic privileges! He that +was styled the arch-enemy of New England, and whose memory is +still held in detestation as the destroyer of our liberties!" +</p> + +<p> +"It was the same Randolph," answered Hutchinson, moving uneasily +in his chair. "It was his lot to taste the bitterness of popular +odium." +</p> + +<p> +"Our annals tell us," continued the Captain of Castle William, +"that the curse of the people followed this Randolph where he +went, and wrought evil in all the subsequent events of his life, +and that its effect was seen likewise in the manner of his death. +They say, too, that the inward misery of that curse worked itself +outward, and was visible on the wretched man's countenance, +making it too horrible to be looked upon. If so, and if this +picture truly represented his aspect, it was in mercy that the +cloud of blackness has gathered over it." +</p> + +<p> +"These traditions are folly to one who has proved, as I have, how +little of historic truth lies at the bottom," said the +Lieutenant-Governor. "As regards the life and character of Edward +Randolph, too implicit credence has been given to Dr. Cotton +Mather, who--I must say it, though some of his blood runs in my +veins--has filled our early history with old women's tales, as +fanciful and extravagant as those of Greece or Rome." +</p> + +<p> +"And yet," whispered Alice Vane, "may not such fables have a +moral? And, methinks, if the visage of this portrait be so +dreadful, it is not without a cause that it has hung so long in a +chamber of the Province House. When the rulers feel themselves +irresponsible, it were well that they should be reminded of the +awful weight of a people's curse." +</p> + +<p> +The Lieutenant-Governor started, and gazed for a moment at his +niece, as if her girlish fantasies had struck upon some feeling +in his own breast, which all his policy or principles could not +entirely subdue. He knew, indeed, that Alice, in spite of her +foreign education, retained the native sympathies of a New +England girl. +</p> + +<p> +"Peace, silly child," cried he, at last, more harshly than he had +ever before addressed the gentle Alice. "The rebuke of a king is +more to be dreaded than the clamor of a wild, misguided +multitude. Captain Lincoln, it is decided. The fortress of Castle +William must be occupied by the royal troops. The two remaining +regiments shall be billeted in the town, or encamped upon the +Common. It is time, after years of tumult, and almost rebellion, +that his majesty's government should have a wall of strength +about it." +</p> + +<p> +"Trust, sir--trust yet awhile to the loyalty of the people," said +Captain Lincoln; "nor teach them that they can ever be on other +terms with British soldiers than those of brotherhood, as when +they fought side by side through the French War. Do not convert +the streets of your native town into a camp. Think twice before +you give up old Castle William, the key of the province, into +other keeping than that of true-born New Englanders." +</p> + +<p> +"Young man, it is decided," repeated Hutchinson, rising from his +chair. "A British officer will be in attendance this evening, to +receive the necessary instructions for the disposal of the +troops. Your presence also will be required. Till then, +farewell." +</p> + +<p> +With these words the Lieutenant-Governor hastily left the room, +while Alice and her cousin more slowly followed, whispering +together, and once pausing to glance back at the mysterious +picture. The Captain of Castle William fancied that the girl's +air and mien were such as might have belonged to one of those +spirits of fable-fairies, or creatures of a more antique +mythology--who sometimes mingled their agency with mortal +affairs, half in caprice, yet with a sensibility to human weal or +woe. As he held the door for her to pass, Alice beckoned to the +picture and smiled. +</p> + +<p> +"Come forth, dark and evil Shape!" cried she. "It is thine hour!" +</p> + +<p> +In the evening, Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson sat in the same +chamber where the foregoing scene had occurred, surrounded by +several persons whose various interests had summoned them +together. There were the selectmen of Boston, plain, patriarchal +fathers of the people, excellent representatives of the old +puritanical founders, whose sombre strength had stamped so deep +an impress upon the New England character. Contrasting with these +were one or two members of Council, richly dressed in the white +wigs, the embroidered waistcoats and other magnificence of the +time, and making a somewhat ostentatious display of courtier-like +ceremonial. In attendance, likewise, was a major of the British +army, awaiting the Lieutenant-Governor's orders for the landing +of the troops, which still remained on board the transports. The +Captain of Castle William stood beside Hutchinson's chair with +folded arms, glancing rather haughtily at the British officer, by +whom he was soon to be superseded in his command. On a table, in +the centre of the chamber, stood a branched silver candlestick, +throwing down the glow of half a dozen wax-lights upon a paper +apparently ready for the Lieutenant-Governor's signature. +</p> + +<p> +Partly shrouded in the voluminous folds of one of the window +curtains, which fell from the ceiling to the floor, was seen the +white drapery of a lady's robe. It may appear strange that Alice +Vane should have been there at such a time; but there was +something so childlike, so wayward, in her singular character, so +apart from ordinary rules, that her presence did not surprise the +few who noticed it. Meantime, the chairman of the Selectmen was +addressing to the Lieutenant-Governor a long and solemn protest +against the reception of the British troops into the town. +</p> + +<p> +"And if your Honor," concluded this excellent but somewhat prosy +old gentleman, "shall see fit to persist in bringing these +mercenary sworders and musketeers into our quiet streets, not on +our heads be the responsibility. Think, sir, while there is yet +time, that if one drop of blood be shed, that blood shall be an +eternal stain upon your Honor's memory. You, sir, have written +with an able pen the deeds of our forefathers. The more to be +desired is it, therefore, that yourself should deserve honorable +mention, as a true patriot and upright ruler, when your own +doings shall be written down in history." +</p> + +<p> +"I am not insensible, my good sir, to the natural desire to stand +well in the annals of my country," replied Hutchinson, +controlling his impatience into courtesy, "nor know I any better +method of attaining that end than by withstanding the merely +temporary spirit of mischief, which, with your pardon, seems to +have infected elder men than myself. Would you have me wait till +the mob shall sack the Province House, as they did my private +mansion? Trust me, sir, the time may come when you will be glad +to flee for protection to the king's banner, the raising of which +is now so distasteful to you." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," said the British major, who was impatiently expecting the +Lieutenant-Governor's orders. "The demagogues of this Province +have raised the devil and cannot lay him again. We will exorcise +him, in God's name and the king's." +</p> + +<p> +"If you meddle with the devil, take care of his claws!" answered +the Captain of Castle William, stirred by the taunt against his +countrymen. +</p> + +<p> +"Craving your pardon, young sir," said the venerable Selectman, +"let not an evil spirit enter into your words. We will strive +against the oppressor with prayer and fasting, as our forefathers +would have done. Like them, moreover, we will submit to whatever +lot a wise Providence may send us,--always, after our own best +exertions to amend it." +</p> + +<p> +"And there peep forth the devil's claws!" muttered Hutchinson, +who well understood the nature of Puritan submission. "This +matter shall be expedited forthwith. When there shall be a +sentinel at every corner, and a court of guard before the town +house, a loyal gentleman may venture to walk abroad. What to me +is the outcry of a mob, in this remote province of the realm? The +king is my master, and England is my country! Upheld by their +armed strength, I set my foot upon the rabble, and defy them!" +</p> + +<p> +He snatched a pen, and was about to affix his signature to the +paper that lay on the table, when the Captain of Castle William +placed his hand upon his shoulder. The freedom of the action, so +contrary to the ceremonious respect which was then considered due +to rank and dignity, awakened general surprise, and in none more +than in the Lieutenant-Governor himself. Looking angrily up, he +perceived that his young relative was pointing his finger to the +opposite wall. Hutchinson's eye followed the signal; and he saw, +what had hitherto been unobserved, that a black silk curtain was +suspended before the mysterious picture, so as completely to +conceal it. His thoughts immediately recurred to the scene of the +preceding afternoon; and, in his surprise, confused by indistinct +emotions, yet sensible that his niece must have had an agency in +this phenomenon, he called loudly upon her. +</p> + +<p> +"Alice!--come hither, Alice!" +</p> + +<p> +No sooner had he spoken than Alice Vane glided from her station, +and pressing one hand across her eyes, with the other snatched +away the sable curtain that concealed the portrait. An +exclamation of surprise burst from every beholder; but the +Lieutenant-Governor's voice had a tone of horror. +</p> + +<p> +"By Heaven!" said he, in a low, inward murmur, speaking rather to +himself than to those around him, "if the spirit of Edward +Randolph were to appear among us from the place of torment, he +could not wear more of the terrors of hell upon his face!" +</p> + +<p> +"For some wise end," said the aged Selectman, solemnly, "hath +Providence scattered away the mist of years that had so long hid +this dreadful effigy. Until this hour no living man hath seen +what we behold!" +</p> + +<p> +Within the antique frame, which so recently had inclosed a sable +waste of canvas, now appeared a visible picture, still dark, +indeed, in its hues and shadings, but thrown forward in strong +relief. It was a half-length figure of a gentleman in a rich but +very old-fashioned dress of embroidered velvet, with a broad ruff +and a beard, and wearing a hat, the brim of which overshadowed +his forehead. Beneath this cloud the eyes had a peculiar glare, +which was almost lifelike. The whole portrait started so +distinctly out of the background, that it had the effect of a +person looking down from the wall at the astonished and +awe-stricken spectators. The expression of the face, if any words +can convey an idea of it, was that of a wretch detected in some +hideous guilt, and exposed to the bitter hatred and laughter and +withering scorn of a vast surrounding multitude. There was the +struggle of defiance, beaten down and overwhelmed by the crushing +weight of ignominy. The torture of the soul had come forth upon +the countenance. It seemed as if the picture, while hidden behind +the cloud of immemorial years, had been all the time acquiring an +intenser depth and darkness of expression, till now it gloomed +forth again, and threw its evil omen over the present hour. Such, +if the wild legend may be credited, was the portrait of Edward +Randolph, as he appeared when a people's curse had wrought its +influence upon his nature. +</p> + +<p> +"'T would drive me mad--that awful face!" said Hutchinson, who +seemed fascinated by the contemplation of it. +</p> + +<p> +"Be warned, then!" whispered Alice. "He trampled on a people's +rights. Behold his punishment--and avoid a crime like his!" +</p> + +<p> +The Lieutenant-Governor actually trembled for an instant; but, +exerting his energy--which was not, however, his most +characteristic feature--he strove to shake off the spell of +Randolph's countenance. +</p> + +<p> +"Girl!" cried he, laughing bitterly as he turned to Alice, "have +you brought hither your painter's art--your Italian spirit of +intrigue--your tricks of stage effect--and think to influence the +councils of rulers and the affairs of nations by such shallow +contrivances? See here!" +</p> + +<p> +"Stay yet a while," said the Selectman, as Hutchinson again +snatched the pen; "for if ever mortal man received a warning from +a tormented soul, your Honor is that man!" +</p> + +<p> +"Away!" answered Hutchinson fiercely. "Though yonder senseless +picture cried 'Forbear!'--it should not move me!" +</p> + +<p> +Casting a scowl of defiance at the pictured face (which seemed at +that moment to intensify the horror of its miserable and wicked +look), he scrawled on the paper, in characters that betokened it +a deed of desperation, the name of Thomas Hutchinson. Then, it is +said, he shuddered, as if that signature had granted away his +salvation. +</p> + +<p> +"It is done," said he; and placed his hand upon his brow. +</p> + +<p> +"May Heaven forgive the deed," said the soft, sad accents of +Alice Vane, like the voice of a good spirit flitting away. +</p> + +<p> +When morning came there was a stifled whisper through the +household, and spreading thence about the town, that the dark, +mysterious picture had started from the wall, and spoken face to +face with Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson. If such a miracle had +been wrought, however, no traces of it remained behind, for +within the antique frame nothing could be discerned save the +impenetrable cloud, which had covered the canvas since the memory +of man. If the figure had, indeed, stepped forth, it had fled +back, spirit-like, at the daydawn, and hidden itself behind a +century's obscurity. The truth probably was, that Alice Vane's +secret for restoring the hues of the picture had merely effected +a temporary renovation. But those who, in that brief interval, +had beheld the awful visage of Edward Randolph, desired no second +glance, and ever afterwards trembled at the recollection of the +scene, as if an evil spirit had appeared visibly among them. And +as for Hutchinson, when, far over the ocean, his dying hour drew +on, he gasped for breath, and complained that he was choking with +the blood of the Boston Massacre; and Francis Lincoln, the former +Captain of Castle William, who was standing at his bedside, +perceived a likeness in his frenzied look to that of Edward +Randolph. Did his broken spirit feel, at that dread hour, the +tremendous burden of a People's curse? +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +At the conclusion of this miraculous legend, I +inquired of mine host whether the picture still remained in the +chamber over our heads; but Mr. Tiffany informed me that it had +long since been removed, and was supposed to be hidden in some +out-of-the-way corner of the New England Museum. Perchance some +curious antiquary may light upon it there, and, with the +assistance of Mr. Howorth, the picture cleaner, may supply a not +unnecessary proof of the authenticity of the facts here set down. +During the progress of the story a storm had been gathering +abroad, and raging and rattling so loudly in the upper regions of +the Province House, that it seemed as if all the old governors +and great men were running riot above stairs while Mr. Bela +Tiffany babbled of them below. In the course of generations, when +many people have lived and died in an ancient house, the +whistling of the wind through its crannies, and the creaking of +its beams and rafters, become strangely like the tones of the +human voice, or thundering laughter, or heavy footsteps treading +the deserted chambers. It is as if the echoes of half a century +were revived. Such were the ghostly sounds that roared and +murmured in our ears when I took leave of the circle round the +fireside of the Province House, and plunging down the door steps, +fought my way homeward against a drifting snow-storm. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="legends3"></a></p> + +<h3> +LEGENDS OF THE PROVINCE HOUSE +</h3> + +<p class="t3b"> +III +</p> + +<p class="t3b"> +LADY ELEANORE'S MANTLE +</p> + +<p> +Mine excellent friend, the landlord of the Province House, was +pleased, the other evening, to invite Mr. Tiffany and myself to +an oyster supper. This slight mark of respect and gratitude, as +he handsomely observed, was far less than the ingenious +tale-teller, and I, the humble note-taker of his narratives, had +fairly earned, by the public notice which our joint lucubrations +had attracted to his establishment. Many a cigar had been smoked +within his premises--many a glass of wine, or more potent aqua +vitae, had been quaffed--many a dinner had been eaten by curious +strangers, who, save for the fortunate conjunction of Mr. Tiffany +and me, would never have ventured through that darksome avenue +which gives access to the historic precincts of the Province +House. In short, if any credit be due to the courteous assurances +of Mr. Thomas Waite, we had brought his forgotten mansion almost +as effectually into public view as if we had thrown down the +vulgar range of shoe shops and dry goods stores, which hides its +aristocratic front from Washington Street. It may be unadvisable, +however, to speak too loudly of the increased custom of the +house, lest Mr. Waite should find it difficult to renew the lease +on so favorable terms as heretofore. +</p> + +<p> +Being thus welcomed as benefactors, neither Mr. Tiffany nor +myself felt any scruple in doing full justice to the good things +that were set before us. If the feast were less magnificent than +those same panelled walls had witnessed in a by-gone century,--if +mine host presided with somewhat less of state than might have +befitted a successor of the royal Governors,--if the guests made +a less imposing show than the bewigged and powdered and +embroidered dignitaries, who erst banqueted at the gubernatorial +table, and now sleep, within their armorial tombs on Copp's Hill, +or round King's Chapel,--yet never, I may boldly say, did a more +comfortable little party assemble in the Province House, from +Queen Anne's days to the Revolution. The occasion was rendered +more interesting by the presence of a venerable personage, whose +own actual reminiscences went back to the epoch of Gage and Howe, +and even supplied him with a doubtful anecdote or two of +Hutchinson. He was one of that small, and now all but +extinguished, class, whose attachment to royalty, and to the +colonial institutions and customs that were connected with it, +had never yielded to the democratic heresies of after times. The +young queen of Britain has not a more loyal subject in her +realm--perhaps not one who would kneel before her throne with +such reverential love--as this old grandsire, whose head has +whitened beneath the mild sway of the Republic, which still, in +his mellower moments, he terms a usurpation. Yet prejudices so +obstinate have not made him an ungentle or impracticable +companion. If the truth must be told, the life of the aged +loyalist has been of such a scrambling and unsettled +character,--he has had so little choice of friends and been so +often destitute of any,--that I doubt whether he would refuse a +cup of kindness with either Oliver Cromwell or John Hancock,--to +say nothing of any democrat now upon the stage. In another paper +of this series I may perhaps give the reader a closer glimpse of +his portrait. +</p> + +<p> +Our host, in due season, uncorked a bottle of Madeira, of such +exquisite perfume and admirable flavor that he surely must have +discovered it in an ancient bin, down deep beneath the deepest +cellar, where some jolly old butler stored away the Governor's +choicest wine, and forgot to reveal the secret on his death-bed. +Peace to his red-nosed ghost, and a libation to his memory! This +precious liquor was imbibed by Mr. Tiffany with peculiar zest; +and after sipping the third glass, it was his pleasure to give us +one of the oddest legends which he had yet raked from the +storehouse where he keeps such matters. With some suitable +adornments from my own fancy, it ran pretty much as follows. +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +Not long after Colonel Shute had assumed the +government of Massachusetts Bay, now nearly a hundred and twenty +years ago, a young lady of rank and fortune arrived from England, +to claim his protection as her guardian. He was her distant +relative, but the nearest who had survived the gradual extinction +of her family; so that no more eligible shelter could be found +for the rich and high-born Lady Eleanore Rochcliffe than within +the Province House of a transatlantic colony. The consort of +Governor Shute, moreover, had been as a mother to her childhood, +and was now anxious to receive her, in the hope that a beautiful +young woman would be exposed to infinitely less peril from the +primitive society of New England than amid the artifices and +corruptions of a court. If either the Governor or his lady had +especially consulted their own comfort, they would probably have +sought to devolve the responsibility on other hands; since, with +some noble and splendid traits of character, Lady Eleanore was +remarkable for a harsh, unyielding pride, a haughty consciousness +of her hereditary and personal advantages, which made her almost +incapable of control. Judging from many traditionary anecdotes, +this peculiar temper was hardly less than a monomania; or, if the +acts which it inspired were those of a sane person, it seemed due +from Providence that pride so sinful should be followed by as +severe a retribution. That tinge of the marvellous, which is +thrown over so many of these half-forgotten legends, has probably +imparted an additional wildness to the strange story of Lady +Eleanore Rochcliffe. +</p> + +<p> +The ship in which she came passenger had arrived at Newport, +whence Lady Eleanore was conveyed to Boston in the Governor's +coach, attended by a small escort of gentlemen on horseback. The +ponderous equipage with its four black horses, attracted much +notice as it rumbled through Cornhill, surrounded by the prancing +steeds of half a dozen cavaliers, with swords dangling to their +stirrups and pistols at their holsters. Through the large glass +windows of the coach, as it rolled along, the people could +discern the figure of Lady Eleanore, strangely combining an +almost queenly stateliness with the grace and beauty of a maiden +in her teens. A singular tale had gone abroad among the ladies of +the province, that their fair rival was indebted for much of the +irresistible charm of her appearance to a certain article of +dress--an embroidered mantle--which had been wrought by the most +skilful artist in London, and possessed even magical properties +of adornment. On the present occasion, however, she owed nothing +to the witchery of dress, being clad in a riding habit of velvet, +which would have appeared stiff and ungraceful on any other form. +</p> + +<p> +The coachman reined in his four black steeds, and the whole +cavalcade came to a pause in front of the contorted iron +balustrade that fenced the Province House from the public street. +It was an awkward coincidence that the bell of the Old South was +just then tolling for a funeral; so that, instead of a gladsome +peal with which it was customary to announce the arrival of +distinguished strangers, Lady Eleanore Rochcliffe was ushered by +a doleful clang, as if calamity had come embodied in her +beautiful person. +</p> + +<p> +"A very great disrespect!" exclaimed Captain Langford, an English +officer, who had recently brought dispatches to Governor Shute. +"The funeral should have been deferred, lest Lady Eleanore's +spirits be affected by such a dismal welcome." +</p> + +<p> +"With your pardon, sir," replied Doctor Clarke, a physician, and +a famous champion of the popular party, "whatever the heralds may +pretend, a dead beggar must have precedence of a living queen. +King Death confers high privileges." +</p> + +<p> +These remarks were interchanged while the speakers waited a +passage through the crowd, which had gathered on each side of the +gateway, leaving an open avenue to the portal of the Province +House. A black slave in livery now leaped from behind the coach, +and threw open the door; while at the same moment Governor Shute +descended the flight of steps from his mansion, to assist Lady +Eleanore in alighting. But the Governor's stately approach was +anticipated in a manner that excited general astonishment. A pale +young man, with his black hair all in disorder, rushed from the +throng, and prostrated himself beside the coach, thus offering +his person as a footstool for Lady Eleanore Rochcliffe to tread +upon. She held back an instant, yet with an expression as if +doubting whether the young man were worthy to bear the weight of +her footstep, rather than dissatisfied to receive such awful +reverence from a fellow-mortal. +</p> + +<p> +"Up, sir," said the Governor, sternly, at the same time lifting +his cane over the intruder. "What means the Bedlamite by this +freak?" +</p> + +<p> +"Nay," answered Lady Eleanore playfully, but with more scorn than +pity in her tone, "your Excellency shall not strike him. When men +seek only to be trampled upon, it were a pity to deny them a +favor so easily granted--and so well deserved!" +</p> + +<p> +Then, though as lightly as a sunbeam on a cloud, she placed her +foot upon the cowering form, and extended her hand to meet that +of the Governor. There was a brief interval, during which Lady +Eleanore retained this attitude; and never, surely, was there an +apter emblem of aristocracy and hereditary pride trampling on +human sympathies and the kindred of nature, than these two +figures presented at that moment. Yet the spectators were so +smitten with her beauty, and so essential did pride seem to the +existence of such a creature, that they gave a simultaneous +acclamation of applause. +</p> + +<p> +"Who is this insolent young fellow?" inquired Captain Langford, +who still remained beside Doctor Clarke. "If he be in his senses, +his impertinence demands the bastinado. If mad, Lady Eleanore +should be secured from further inconvenience, by his +confinement." +</p> + +<p> +"His name is Jervase Helwyse," answered the Doctor; "a youth of +no birth or fortune, or other advantages, save the mind and soul +that nature gave him; and being secretary to our colonial agent +in London, it was his misfortune to meet this Lady Eleanore +Rochcliffe. He loved her--and her scorn has driven him mad." +</p> + +<p> +"He was mad so to aspire," observed the English officer. +</p> + +<p> +"It may be so," said Doctor Clarke, frowning as he spoke. "But I +tell you, sir, I could well-nigh doubt the justice of the Heaven +above us if no signal humiliation overtake this lady, who now +treads so haughtily into yonder mansion. She seeks to place +herself above the sympathies of our common nature, which envelops +all human souls. See, if that nature do not assert its claim over +her in some mode that shall bring her level with the lowest!" +</p> + +<p> +"Never!" cried Captain Langford indignantly--"neither in life, +nor when they lay her with her ancestors." +</p> + +<p> +Not many days afterwards the Governor gave a ball in honor of +Lady Eleanore Rochcliffe. The principal gentry of the colony +received invitations, which were distributed to their residences, +far and near, by messengers on horseback, bearing missives sealed +with all the formality of official dispatches. In obedience to +the summons, there was a general gathering of rank, wealth, and +beauty; and the wide door of the Province House had seldom given +admittance to more numerous and honorable guests than on the +evening of Lady Eleanore's ball. Without much extravagance of +eulogy, the spectacle might even be termed splendid; for, +according to the fashion of the times, the ladies shone in rich +silks and satins, outspread over wide-projecting hoops; and the +gentlemen glittered in gold embroidery, laid unsparingly upon the +purple, or scarlet, or sky-blue velvet, which was the material of +their coats and waistcoats. The latter article of dress was of +great importance, since it enveloped the wearer's body nearly to +the knees, and was perhaps bedizened with the amount of his whole +year's income, in golden flowers and foliage. The altered taste +of the present day--a taste symbolic of a deep change in the +whole system of society--would look upon almost any of those +gorgeous figures as ridiculous; although that evening the guests +sought their reflections in the pier-glasses, and rejoiced to +catch their own glitter amid the glittering crowd. What a pity +that one of the stately mirrors has not preserved a picture of +the scene, which, by the very traits that were so transitory, +might have taught us much that would be worth knowing and +remembering! +</p> + +<p> +Would, at least, that either painter or mirror could convey to us +some faint idea of a garment, already noticed in this +legend,--the Lady Eleanore's embroidered mantle,--which the +gossips whispered was invested with magic properties, so as to +lend a new and untried grace to her figure each time that she put +it on! Idle fancy as it is, this mysterious mantle has thrown an +awe around my image of her, partly from its fabled virtues, and +partly because it was the handiwork of a dying woman, and, +perchance, owed the fantastic grace of its conception to the +delirium of approaching death. +</p> + +<p> +After the ceremonial greetings had been paid, Lady Eleanore +Rochcliffe stood apart from the mob of guests, insulating herself +within a small and distinguished circle, to whom she accorded a +more cordial favor than to the general throng. The waxen torches +threw their radiance vividly over the scene, bringing out its +brilliant points in strong relief; but she gazed carelessly, and +with now and then an expression of weariness or scorn, tempered +with such feminine grace that her auditors scarcely perceived the +moral deformity of which it was the utterance. She beheld the +spectacle not with vulgar ridicule, as disdaining to be pleased +with the provincial mockery of a court festival, but with the +deeper scorn of one whose spirit held itself too high to +participate in the enjoyment of other human souls. Whether or no +the recollections of those who saw her that evening were +influenced by the strange events with which she was subsequently +connected, so it was that her figure ever after recurred to them +as marked by something wild and unnatural,--although, at the +time, the general whisper was of her exceeding beauty, and of the +indescribable charm which her mantle threw around her. Some close +observers, indeed, detected a feverish flush and alternate +paleness of countenance, with corresponding flow and revulsion of +spirits, and once or twice a painful and helpless betrayal of +lassitude, as if she were on the point of sinking to the ground. +Then, with a nervous shudder, she seemed to arouse her energies +and threw some bright and playful yet half-wicked sarcasm into +the conversation. There was so strange a characteristic in her +manners and sentiments that it astonished every right-minded +listener; till looking in her face, a lurking and +incomprehensible glance and smile perplexed them with doubts both +as to her seriousness and sanity. Gradually, Lady Eleanore +Rochcliffe's circle grew smaller, till only four gentlemen +remained in it. These were Captain Langford, the English officer +before mentioned; a Virginian planter, who had come to +Massachusetts on some political errand; a young Episcopal +clergyman, the grandson of a British earl; and, lastly, the +private secretary of Governor Shute, whose obsequiousness had won +a sort of tolerance from Lady Eleanore. +</p> + +<p> +At different periods of the evening the liveried servants of the +Province House passed among the guests, bearing huge trays of +refreshments and French and Spanish wines. Lady Eleanore +Rochcliffe, who refused to wet her beautiful lips even with a +bubble of Champagne, had sunk back into a large damask chair, +apparently overwearied either with the excitement of the scene or +its tedium, and while, for an instant, she was unconscious of +voices, laughter and music, a young man stole forward, and knelt +down at her feet. He bore a salver in his hand, on which was a +chased silver goblet, filled to the brim with wine, which he +offered as reverentially as to a crowned queen, or rather with +the awful devotion of a priest doing sacrifice to his idol. +Conscious that some one touched her robe, Lady Eleanore started, +and unclosed her eyes upon the pale, wild features and +dishevelled hair of Jervase Helwyse. +</p> + +<p> +"Why do you haunt me thus?" said she, in a languid tone, but with +a kindlier feeling than she ordinarily permitted herself to +express. "They tell me that I have done you harm." +</p> + +<p> +"Heaven knows if that be so," replied the young man solemnly. +"But, Lady Eleanore, in requital of that harm, if such there be, +and for your own earthly and heavenly welfare, I pray you to take +one sip of this holy wine, and then to pass the goblet round +among the guests. And this shall be a symbol that you have not +sought to withdraw yourself from the chain of human +sympathies--which whoso would shake off must keep company with +fallen angels." +</p> + +<p> +"Where has this mad fellow stolen that sacramental vessel?" +exclaimed the Episcopal clergyman. +</p> + +<p> +This question drew the notice of the guests to the silver cup, +which was recognized as appertaining to the communion plate of +the Old South Church; and, for aught that could be known, it was +brimming over with the consecrated wine. +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps it is poisoned," half whispered the Governor's +secretary. +</p> + +<p> +"Pour it down the villain's throat!" cried the Virginian +fiercely. +</p> + +<p> +"Turn him out of the house!" cried Captain Langford, seizing +Jervase Helwyse so roughly by the shoulder that the sacramental +cup was overturned, and its contents sprinkled upon Lady +Eleanore's mantle. "Whether knave, fool, or Bedlamite, it is +intolerable that the fellow should go at large." +</p> + +<p> +"Pray, gentlemen, do my poor admirer no harm," said Lady Eleanore +with a faint and weary smile. "Take him out of my sight, if such +be your pleasure; for I can find in my heart to do nothing but +laugh at him; whereas, in all decency and conscience, it would +become me to weep for the mischief I have wrought!" +</p> + +<p> +But while the by-standers were attempting to lead away the +unfortunate young man, he broke from them, and with a wild, +impassioned earnestness, offered a new and equally strange +petition to Lady Eleanore. It was no other than that she should +throw off the mantle, which, while he pressed the silver cup of +wine upon her, she had drawn more closely around her form, so as +almost to shroud herself within it. +</p> + +<p> +"Cast it from you!" exclaimed Jervase Helwyse, clasping his hands +in an agony of entreaty. "It may not yet be too late! Give the +accursed garment to the flames!" +</p> + +<p> +But Lady Eleanore, with a laugh of scorn, drew the rich folds of +the embroidered mantle over her head, in such a fashion as to +give a completely new aspect to her beautiful face, which--half +hidden, half revealed--seemed to belong to some being of +mysterious character and purposes. +</p> + +<p> +"Farewell, Jervase Helwyse!" said she. "Keep my image in your +remembrance, as you behold it now." +</p> + +<p> +"Alas, lady!" he replied, in a tone no longer wild, but sad as a +funeral bell. "We must meet shortly, when your face may wear +another aspect--and that shall be the image that must abide +within me." +</p> + +<p> +He made no more resistance to the violent efforts of the +gentlemen and servants, who almost dragged him out of the +apartment, and dismissed him roughly from the iron gate of the +Province House. Captain Langford, who had been very active in +this affair, was returning to the presence of Lady Eleanore +Rochcliffe, when he encountered the physician, Doctor Clarke, +with whom he had held some casual talk on the day of her arrival. +The Doctor stood apart, separated from Lady Eleanore by the width +of the room, but eying her with such keen sagacity that Captain +Langford involuntarily gave him credit for the discovery of some +deep secret. +</p> + +<p> +"You appear to be smitten, after all, with the charms of this +queenly maiden," said he, hoping thus to draw forth the +physician's hidden knowledge. +</p> + +<p> +"God forbid!" answered Doctor Clarke, with a grave smile; "and if +you be wise you will put up the same prayer for yourself. Woe to +those who shall be smitten by this beautiful Lady Eleanore! But +yonder stands the Governor--and I have a word or two for his +private ear. Good night!" +</p> + +<p> +He accordingly advanced to Governor Shute, and addressed him in +so low a tone that none of the by-standers could catch a word of +what he said, although the sudden change of his Excellency's +hitherto cheerful visage betokened that the communication could +be of no agreeable import. A very few moments afterwards it was +announced to the guests that an unforeseen circumstance rendered +it necessary to put a premature close to the festival. +</p> + +<p> +The hall at the Province House supplied a topic of conversation +for the colonial metropolis for some days after its occurrence, +and might still longer have been the general theme, only that a +subject of all-engrossing interest thrust it, for a time, from +the public recollection. This was the appearance of a dreadful +epidemic, which, in that age and long before and afterwards, was +wont to slay its hundreds and thousands on both sides of the +Atlantic. On the occasion of which we speak, it was distinguished +by a peculiar virulence, insomuch that it has left its +traces--its pit-marks, to use an appropriate figure--on the +history of the country, the affairs of which were thrown into +confusion by its ravages. At first, unlike its ordinary course, +the disease seemed to confine itself to the higher circles of +society, selecting its victims from among the proud, the +well-born, and the wealthy, entering unabashed into stately +chambers, and lying down with the slumberers in silken beds. Some +of the most distinguished guests of the Province House even those +whom the haughty Lady Eleanore Rochcliffe had deemed not unworthy +of her favor--were stricken by this fatal scourge. It was +noticed, with an ungenerous bitterness of feeling, that the four +gentlemen--the Virginian, the British officer, the young +clergyman, and the Governor's secretary--who had been her most +devoted attendants on the evening of the ball, were the foremost +of whom the plague stroke fell. But the disease, pursuing its +onward progress, soon ceased to be exclusively a prerogative of +aristocracy. Its red brand was no longer conferred like a noble's +star, or an order of knighthood. It threaded its way through the +narrow and crooked streets, and entered the low, mean, darksome +dwellings, and laid its hand of death upon the artisans and +laboring classes of the town. It compelled rich and poor to feel +themselves brethren then; and stalking to and fro across the +Three Hills, with a fierceness which made it almost a new +pestilence, there was that mighty conqueror--that scourge and +horror of our forefathers--the Small-Pox! +</p> + +<p> +We cannot estimate the affright which this plague inspired of +yore, by contemplating it as the fangless monster of the present +day. We must remember, rather, with what awe we watched the +gigantic footsteps of the Asiatic cholera, striding from shore to +shore of the Atlantic, and marching like destiny upon cities far +remote which flight had already half depopulated. There is no +other fear so horrible and unhumanizing as that which makes man +dread to breathe heaven's vital air lest it be poison, or to +grasp the hand of a brother or friend lest the gripe of the +pestilence should clutch him. Such was the dismay that now +followed in the track of the disease, or ran before it throughout +the town. Graves were hastily dug, and the pestilential relics as +hastily covered, because the dead were enemies of the living, and +strove to draw them headlong, as it were, into their own dismal +pit. The public councils were suspended, as if mortal wisdom +might relinquish its devices, now that an unearthly usurper had +found his way into the ruler's mansion. Had an enemy's fleet been +hovering on the coast, or his armies trampling on our soil, the +people would probably have committed their defence to that same +direful conqueror who had wrought their own calamity, and would +permit no interference with his sway. This conquerer had a symbol +of his triumphs. It was a blood-red flag, that fluttered in the +tainted air, over the door of every dwelling into which the +Small-Pox had entered. +</p> + +<p> +Such a banner was long since waving over the portal of the +Province House; for thence, as was proved by tracking its +footsteps back, had all this dreadful mischief issued. It had +been traced back to a lady's luxurious chamber--to the proudest +of the proud--to her that was so delicate, and hardly owned +herself of earthly mould--to the haughty one, who took her stand +above human sympathies--to Lady Eleanore! There remained no room +for doubt that the contagion had lurked in that gorgeous mantle, +which threw so strange a grace around her at the festival. Its +fantastic splendor had been conceived in the delirious brain of a +woman on her death-bed, and was the last toil of her stiffening +fingers, which had interwoven fate and misery with its golden +threads. This dark tale, whispered at first, was now bruited far +and wide. The people raved against the Lady Eleanore, and cried +out that her pride and scorn had evoked a fiend, and that, +between them both, this monstrous evil had been born. At times, +their rage and despair took the semblance of grinning mirth; and +whenever the red flag of the pestilence was hoisted over another +and yet another door, they clapped their hands and shouted +through the streets, in bitter mockery: "Behold a new triumph for +the Lady Eleanore!" +</p> + +<p> +One day, in the midst of these dismal times, a wild figure +approached the portal of the Province House, and folding his +arms, stood contemplating the scarlet banner which a passing +breeze shook fitfully, as if to fling abroad the contagion that +it typified. At length, climbing one of the pillars by means of +the iron balustrade, he took down the flag and entered the +mansion, waving it above his head. At the foot of the staircase +he met the Governor, booted and spurred, with his cloak drawn +around him, evidently on the point of setting forth upon a +journey. +</p> + +<p> +"Wretched lunatic, what do you seek here?" exclaimed Shute, +extending his cane to guard himself from contact. "There is +nothing here but Death. Back--or you will meet him!" +</p> + +<p> +"Death will not touch me, the banner-bearer of the pestilence!" +cried Jervase Helwyse, shaking the red flag aloft. "Death, and +the Pestilence, who wears the aspect of the Lady Eleanore, will +walk through the streets to-night, and I must march before them +with this banner!" +</p> + +<p> +"Why do I waste words on the fellow?" muttered the Governor, +drawing his cloak across his mouth. "What matters his miserable +life, when none of us are sure of twelve hours' breath? On, fool, +to your own destruction!" +</p> + +<p> +He made way for Jervase Helwyse, who immediately ascended the +staircase, but, on the first landing place, was arrested by the +firm grasp of a hand upon his shoulder. Looking fiercely up, with +a madman's impulse to struggle with and rend asunder his +opponent, he found himself powerless beneath a calm, stern eye, +which possessed the mysterious property of quelling frenzy at its +height. The person whom he had now encountered was the physician, +Doctor Clarke, the duties of whose sad profession had led him to +the Province House, where he was an infrequent guest in more +prosperous times. +</p> + +<p> +"Young man, what is your purpose?" demanded he. +</p> + +<p> +"I seek the Lady Eleanore," answered Jervase Helwyse, +submissively. +</p> + +<p> +"All have fled from her," said the physician. "Why do you seek +her now? I tell you, youth, her nurse fell death-stricken on the +threshold of that fatal chamber. Know ye not, that never came +such a curse to our shores as this lovely Lady Eleanore?--that +her breath has filled the air with poison?--that she has shaken +pestilence and death upon the land, from the folds of her +accursed mantle?" +</p> + +<p> +"Let me look upon her!" rejoined the mad youth, more wildly. "Let +me behold her, in her awful beauty, clad in the regal garments of +the pestilence! She and Death sit on a throne together. Let me +kneel down before them!" +</p> + +<p> +"Poor youth!" said Doctor Clarke; and, moved by a deep sense of +human weakness, a smile of caustic humor curled his lip even +then. "Wilt thou still worship the destroyer and surround her +image with fantasies the more magnificent, the more evil she has +wrought? Thus man doth ever to his tyrants. Approach, then! +Madness, as I have noted, has that good efficacy, that it will +guard you from contagion--and perchance its own cure may be found +in yonder chamber." +</p> + +<p> +Ascending another flight of stairs, he threw open a door and +signed to Jervase Helwyse that he should enter. The poor lunatic, +it seems probable, had cherished a delusion that his haughty +mistress sat in state, unharmed herself by the pestilential +influence, which, as by enchantment, she scattered round about +her. He dreamed, no doubt, that her beauty was not dimmed, but +brightened into superhuman splendor. With such anticipations, he +stole reverentially to the door at which the physician stood, but +paused upon the threshold, gazing fearfully into the gloom of the +darkened chamber. +</p> + +<p> +"Where is the Lady Eleanore?" whispered he. +</p> + +<p> +"Call her," replied the physician. +</p> + +<p> +"Lady Eleanore!--Princess!--Queen of Death!" cried Jervase +Helwyse, advancing three steps into the chamber. "She is not +here! There on yonder table, I behold the sparkle of a diamond +which once she wore upon her bosom. There"--and he +shuddered--"there hangs her mantle, on which a dead woman +embroidered a spell of dreadful potency. But where is the Lady +Eleanore?" +</p> + +<p> +Something stirred within the silken curtains of a canopied bed; +and a low moan was uttered, which, listening intently, Jervase +Helwyse began to distinguish as a woman's voice, complaining +dolefully of thirst. He fancied, even, that he recognized its +tones. +</p> + +<p> +"My throat!--my throat is scorched," murmured the voice. "A drop +of water!" +</p> + +<p> +"What thing art thou?" said the brain-stricken youth, drawing +near the bed and tearing asunder its curtains. "Whose voice hast +thou stolen for thy murmurs and miserable petitions, as if Lady +Eleanore could be conscious of mortal infirmity? Fie! Heap of +diseased mortality, why lurkest thou in my lady's chamber?" +</p> + +<p> +"O Jervase Helwyse," said the voice--and as it spoke the figure +contorted itself, struggling to hide its blasted face--"look not +now on the woman you once loved! The curse of Heaven hath +stricken me, because I would not call man my brother, nor woman +sister. I wrapped myself in PRIDE as in a MANTLE, and scorned the +sympathies of nature; and therefore has nature made this wretched +body the medium of a dreadful sympathy. You are avenged--they are +all avenged--Nature is avenged--for I am Eleanore Rochcliffe!" +</p> + +<p> +The malice of his mental disease, the bitterness lurking at the +bottom of his heart, mad as he was, for a blighted and ruined +life, and love that had been paid with cruel scorn, awoke within +the breast of Jervase Helwyse. He shook his finger at the +wretched girl, and the chamber echoed, the curtains of the bed +were shaken, with his outburst of insane merriment. +</p> + +<p> +"Another triumph for the Lady Eleanore!" he cried. "All have been +her victims! Who so worthy to be the final victim as herself?" +</p> + +<p> +Impelled by some new fantasy of his crazed intellect, he snatched +the fatal mantle and rushed from the chamber and the house. That +night a procession passed, by torchlight, through the streets, +bearing in the midst the figure of a woman, enveloped with a +richly embroidered mantle; while in advance stalked Jervase +Helwyse, waving the red flag of the pestilence. Arriving opposite +the Province House, the mob burned the effigy, and a strong wind +came and swept away the ashes. It was said that, from that very +hour, the pestilence abated, as if its sway had some mysterious +connection, from the first plague stroke to the last, with Lady +Eleanore's Mantle. A remarkable uncertainty broods over that +unhappy lady's fate. There is a belief, however, that in a +certain chamber of this mansion a female form may sometimes be +duskily discerned, shrinking into the darkest corner and +muffling her face within an embroidered mantle. Supposing the +legend true, can this be other than the once proud Lady Eleanore? +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +Mine host and the old loyalist and I bestowed no +little warmth of applause upon this narrative, in which we had +all been deeply interested; for the reader can scarcely conceive +how unspeakably the effect of such a tale is heightened when, as +in the present case, we may repose perfect confidence in the +veracity of him who tells it. For my own part, knowing how +scrupulous is Mr. Tiffany to settle the foundation of his facts, +I could not have believed him one whit the more faithfully had he +professed himself an eye-witness of the doings and sufferings of +poor Lady Eleanore. Some sceptics, it is true, might demand +documentary evidence, or even require him to produce the +embroidered mantle, forgetting that--Heaven be praised--it was +consumed to ashes. But now the old loyalist, whose blood was +warmed by the good cheer, began to talk, in his turn, about the +traditions of the Province House, and hinted that he, if it were +agreeable, might add a few reminiscences to our legendary stock. +Mr. Tiffany, having no cause to dread a rival, immediately +besought him to favor us with a specimen; my own entreaties, of +course, were urged to the same effect; and our venerable guest, +well pleased to find willing auditors, awaited only the return of +Mr. Thomas Waite, who had been summoned forth to provide +accommodations for several new arrivals. Perchance the public-but +be this as its own caprice and ours shall settle the matter--may +read the result in another Tale of the Province House. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="legends4"></a></p> + +<h3> +LEGENDS OF THE PROVINCE HOUSE +</h3> + +<p class="t3b"> +IV +</p> + +<p class="t3b"> +OLD ESTHER DUDLEY +</p> + +<p> +Our host having resumed the chair, he, as well as Mr. Tiffany and +myself; expressed much eagerness to be made acquainted with the +story to which the loyalist had alluded. That venerable man first +of all saw fit to moisten his throat with another glass of wine, +and then, turning his face towards our coal fire, looked +steadfastly for a few moments into the depths of its cheerful +glow. Finally, he poured forth a great fluency of speech. The +generous liquid that he had imbibed, while it warmed his +age-chilled blood, likewise took off the chill from his heart and +mind, and gave him an energy to think and feel, which we could +hardly have expected to find beneath the snows of fourscore +winters. His feelings, indeed, appeared to me more excitable than +those of a younger man; or at least, the same degree of feeling +manifested itself by more visible effects than if his judgment +and will had possessed the potency of meridian life. At the +pathetic passages of his narrative he readily melted into tears. +When a breath of indignation swept across his spirit the blood +flushed his withered visage even to the roots of his white hair; +and he shook his clinched fist at the trio of peaceful auditors, +seeming to fancy enemies in those who felt very kindly towards +the desolate old soul. But ever and anon, sometimes in the midst +of his most earnest talk, this ancient person's intellect would +wander vaguely, losing its hold of the matter in hand, and +groping for it amid misty shadows. Then would he cackle forth a +feeble laugh, and express a doubt whether his wits--for by that +phrase it pleased our ancient friend to signify his mental +powers--were not getting a little the worse for wear. +</p> + +<p> +Under these disadvantages, the old loyalist's story required more +revision to render it fit for the public eye than those of the +series which have preceded it; nor should it be concealed that +the sentiment and tone of the affair may have undergone some +slight, or perchance more than slight, metamorphosis, in its +transmission to the reader through the medium of a thorough-going +democrat. The tale itself is a mere sketch, with no involution of +plot, nor any great interest of events, yet possessing, if I have +rehearsed it aright, that pensive influence over the mind which +the shadow of the old Province House flings upon the loiterer in +its court-yard. +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +The hour had come--the hour of defeat and +humiliation--when Sir William Howe was to pass over the threshold +of the Province House, and embark, with no such triumphal +ceremonies as he once promised himself, on board the British +fleet. He bade his servants and military attendants go before +him, and lingered a moment in the loneliness of the mansion, to +quell the fierce emotions that struggled in his bosom as with a +death throb. Preferable, then, would he have deemed his fate, had +a warrior's death left him a claim to the narrow territory of a +grave within the soil which the King had given him to defend. +With an ominous perception that, as his departing footsteps +echoed adown the staircase, the sway of Britain was passing +forever from New England, he smote his clinched hand on his brow, +and cursed the destiny that had flung the shame of a dismembered +empire upon him. +</p> + +<p> +"Would to God," cried he, hardly repressing his tears of rage, +"that the rebels were even now at the doorstep! A blood-stain +upon the floor should then bear testimony that the last British +ruler was faithful to his trust." +</p> + +<p> +The tremulous voice of a woman replied to his exclamation. +</p> + +<p> +"Heaven's cause and the King's are one," it said. "Go forth, Sir +William Howe, and trust in Heaven to bring back a Royal Governor +in triumph." +</p> + +<p> +Subduing, at once, the passion to which he had yielded only in +the faith that it was unwitnessed, Sir William Howe became +conscious that an aged woman, leaning on a gold-headed staff, was +standing betwixt him and the door. It was old Esther Dudley, who +had dwelt almost immemorial years in this mansion, until her +presence seemed as inseparable from it as the recollections of +its history. She was the daughter of an ancient and once eminent +family, which had fallen into poverty and decay, and left its +last descendant no resource save the bounty of the King, nor any +shelter except within the walls of the Province House. An office +in the household, with merely nominal duties, had been assigned +to her as a pretext for the payment of a small pension, the +greater part of which she expended in adorning herself with an +antique magnificence of attire. The claims of Esther Dudley's +gentle blood were acknowledged by all the successive Governors; +and they treated her with the punctilious courtesy which it was +her foible to demand, not always with success, from a neglectful +world. The only actual share which she assumed in the business of +the mansion was to glide through its passages and public +chambers, late at night, to see that the servants had dropped no +fire from their flaring torches, nor left embers crackling and +blazing on the hearths. Perhaps it was this invariable custom of +walking her rounds in the hush of midnight that caused the +superstition of the times to invest the old woman with attributes +of awe and mystery; fabling that she had entered the portal of +the Province House, none knew whence, in the train of the first +Royal Governor, and that it was her fate to dwell there till the +last should have departed. But Sir William Howe, if he ever heard +this legend, had forgotten it. +</p> + +<p> +"Mistress Dudley, why are you loitering here?" asked he, with +some severity of tone. "It is my pleasure to be the last in this +mansion of the King." +</p> + +<p> +"Not so, if it please your Excellency," answered the +time-stricken woman. "This roof has sheltered me long. I will not +pass from it until they bear me to the tomb of my forefathers. +What other shelter is there for old Esther Dudley, save the +Province House or the grave?" +</p> + +<p> +"Now Heaven forgive me!" said Sir William Howe to himself. "I was +about to leave this wretched old creature to starve or beg. Take +this, good Mistress Dudley," he added, putting a purse into her +hands. "King George's head on these golden guineas is sterling +yet, and will continue so, I warrant you, even should the rebels +crown John Hancock their king. That purse will buy a better +shelter than the Province House can now afford." +</p> + +<p> +"While the burden of life remains upon me, I will have no other +shelter than this roof," persisted Esther Dudley, striking her +staff upon the floor with a gesture that expressed immovable +resolve. "And when your Excellency returns in triumph, I will +totter into the porch to welcome you." +</p> + +<p> +"My poor old friend!" answered the British General,--and all his +manly and martial pride could no longer restrain a gush of bitter +tears. "This is an evil hour for you and me. The Province which +the King intrusted to my charge is lost. I go hence in +misfortune--perchance in disgrace--to return no more. And you, +whose present being is incorporated with the past--who have seen +Governor after Governor, in stately pageantry, ascend these +steps--whose whole life has been an observance of majestic +ceremonies, and a worship of the King--how will you endure the +change? Come with us! Bid farewell to a land that has shaken off +its allegiance, and live still under a royal government, at +Halifax." +</p> + +<p> +"Never, never!" said the pertinacious old dame. "Here will I +abide; and King George shall still have one true subject in his +disloyal Province." +</p> + +<p> +"Beshrew the old fool!" muttered Sir William Howe, growing +impatient of her obstinacy, and ashamed of the emotion into which +he had been betrayed. "She is the very moral of old-fashioned +prejudice, and could exist nowhere but in this musty edifice. +Well, then, Mistress Dudley, since you will needs tarry, I give +the Province House in charge to you. Take this key, and keep it +safe until myself, or some other Royal Governor, shall demand it +of you." +</p> + +<p> +Smiling bitterly at himself and her, he took the heavy key of the +Province House, and delivering it into the old lady's hands, drew +his cloak around him for departure. As the General glanced back +at Esther Dudley's antique figure, he deemed her well fitted for +such a charge, as being so perfect a representative of the +decayed past--of an age gone by, with its manners, opinions, +faith and feelings, all fallen into oblivion or scorn--of what +had once been a reality, but was now merely a vision of faded +magnificence. Then Sir William Howe strode forth, smiting his +clinched hands together, in the fierce anguish of his spirit; and +old Esther Dudley was left to keep watch in the lonely Province +House, dwelling there with memory; and if Hope ever seemed to +flit around her, still was it Memory in disguise. +</p> + +<p> +The total change of affairs that ensued on the departure of the +British troops did not drive the venerable lady from her +stronghold. There was not, for many years afterwards, a Governor +of Massachusetts; and the magistrates, who had charge of such +matters, saw no objection to Esther Dudley's residence in the +Province House, especially as they must otherwise have paid a +hireling for taking care of the premises, which with her was a +labor of love. And so they left her the undisturbed mistress of +the old historic edifice. Many and strange were the fables which +the gossips whispered about her, in all the chimney corners of +the town. Among the time-worn articles of furniture that had been +left in the mansion there was a tall, antique mirror, which was +well worthy of a tale by itself, and perhaps may hereafter be the +theme of one. The gold of its heavily-wrought frame was +tarnished, and its surface so blurred, that the old woman's +figure, whenever she paused before it, looked indistinct and +ghost-like. But it was the general belief that Esther could cause +the Governors of the overthrown dynasty, with the beautiful +ladies who had once adorned their festivals, the Indian chiefs +who had come up to the Province House to hold council or swear +allegiance, the grim Provincial warriors, the severe +clergymen--in short, all the pageantry of gone days--all the +figures that ever swept across the broad plate of glass in former +times--she could cause the whole to reappear, and people the +inner world of the mirror with shadows of old life. Such legends +as these, together with the singularity of her isolated +existence, her age, and the infirmity that each added winter +flung upon her, made Mistress Dudley the object both of fear and +pity; and it was partly the result of either sentiment that, amid +all the angry license of the times, neither wrong nor insult ever +fell upon her unprotected head. Indeed, there was so much +haughtiness in her demeanor towards intruders, among whom she +reckoned all persons acting under the new authorities, that it +was really an affair of no small nerve to look her in the face. +And to do the people justice, stern republicans as they had now +become, they were well content that the old gentlewoman, in her +hoop petticoat and faded embroidery, should still haunt the +palace of ruined pride and overthrown power, the symbol of a +departed system, embodying a history in her person. So Esther +Dudley dwelt year after year in the Province House, still +reverencing all that others had flung aside, still faithful to +her King, who, so long as the venerable dame yet held her post, +might be said to retain one true subject in New England, and one +spot of the empire that had been wrested from him. +</p> + +<p> +And did she dwell there in utter loneliness? Rumor said, not so. +Whenever her chill and withered heart desired warmth, she was +wont to summon a black slave of Governor Shirley's from the +blurred mirror, and send him in search of guests who had long ago +been familiar in those deserted chambers. Forth went the sable +messenger, with the starlight or the moonshine gleaming through +him, and did his errand in the burial ground, knocking at the +iron doors of tombs, or upon the marble slabs that covered them, +and whispering to those within: "My mistress, old Esther Dudley, +bids you to the Province House at midnight." And punctually as +the clock of the Old South told twelve came the shadows of the +Olivers, the Hutchinsons, the Dudleys, all the grandees of a +by-gone generation, gliding beneath the portal into the +well-known mansion, where Esther mingled with them as if she +likewise were a shade. Without vouching for the truth of such +traditions, it is certain that Mistress Dudley sometimes +assembled a few of the stanch, though crestfallen, old Tories, +who had lingered in the rebel town during those days of wrath and +tribulation. Out of a cobwebbed bottle, containing liquor that a +royal Governor might have smacked his lips over, they quaffed +healths to the King, and babbled treason to the Republic, feeling +as if the protecting shadow of the throne were still flung around +them. But, draining the last drops of their liquor, they stole +timorously homeward, and answered not again if the rude mob +reviled them in the street. +</p> + +<p> +Yet Esther Dudley's most frequent and favored guests were the +children of the town. Towards them she was never stern. A kindly +and loving nature, hindered elsewhere from its free course by a +thousand rocky prejudices, lavished itself upon these little +ones. By bribes of gingerbread of her own making, stamped with a +royal crown, she tempted their sunny sportiveness beneath the +gloomy portal of the Province House, and would often beguile them +to spend a whole play-day there, sitting in a circle round the +verge of her hoop petticoat, greedily attentive to her stories of +a dead world. And when these little boys and girls stole forth +again from the dark, mysterious mansion, they went bewildered, +full of old feelings that graver people had long ago forgotten, +rubbing their eyes at the world around them as if they had gone +astray into ancient times, and become children of the past. At +home, when their parents asked where they had loitered such a +weary while, and with whom they had been at play, the children +would talk of all the departed worthies of the Province, as far +back as Governor Belcher and the haughty dame of Sir William +Phipps. It would seem as though they had been sitting on the +knees of these famous personages, whom the grave had hidden for +half a century, and had toyed with the embroidery of their rich +waistcoats, or roguishly pulled the long curls of their flowing +wigs. "But Governor Belcher has been dead this many a year," +would the mother say to her little boy. "And did you really see +him at the Province House?" "Oh yes, dear mother! yes!" the +half-dreaming child would answer. "But when old Esther had done +speaking about him he faded away out of his chair." Thus, without +affrighting her little guests, she led them by the hand into the +chambers of her own desolate heart, and made childhood's fancy +discern the ghosts that haunted there. +</p> + +<p> +Living so continually in her own circle of ideas, and never +regulating her mind by a proper reference to present things, +Esther Dudley appears to have grown partially crazed. It was +found that she had no right sense of the progress and true state +of the Revolutionary War, but held a constant faith that the +armies of Britain were victorious on every field, and destined to +be ultimately triumphant. Whenever the town rejoiced for a battle +won by Washington, or Gates, or Morgan or Greene, the news, in +passing through the door of the Province House, as through the +ivory gate of dreams, became metamorphosed into a strange tale of +the prowess of Howe, Clinton, or Cornwallis. Sooner or later it +was her invincible belief the colonies would be prostrate at the +footstool of the King. Sometimes she seemed to take for granted +that such was already the case. On one occasion, she startled the +townspeople by a brilliant illumination of the Province House, +with candles at every pane of glass, and a transparency of the +King's initials and a crown of light in the great balcony window. +The figure of the aged woman in the most gorgeous of her mildewed +velvets and brocades was seen passing from casement to casement, +until she paused before the balcony, and flourished a huge key +above her head. Her wrinkled visage actually gleamed with +triumph, as if the soul within her were a festal lamp. +</p> + +<p> +"What means this blaze of light? What does old Esther's joy +portend?" whispered a spectator. "It is frightful to see her +gliding about the chambers, and rejoicing there without a soul to +bear her company." +</p> + +<p> +"It is as if she were making merry in a tomb," said another. +</p> + +<p> +"Pshaw! It is no such mystery," observed an old man, after some +brief exercise of memory. "Mistress Dudley is keeping jubilee for +the King of England's birthday." +</p> + +<p> +Then the people laughed aloud, and would have thrown mud against +the blazing transparency of the King's crown and initials, only +that they pitied the poor old dame, who was so dismally +triumphant amid the wreck and ruin of the system to which she +appertained. +</p> + +<p> +Oftentimes it was her custom to climb the weary staircase that +wound upward to the cupola, and thence strain her dimmed eyesight +seaward and countryward, watching for a British fleet, or for the +march of a grand procession, with the King's banner floating over +it. The passengers in the street below would discern her anxious +visage, and send up a shout, "When the golden Indian on the +Province House shall shoot his arrow, and when the cock on the +Old South spire shall crow, then look for a Royal Governor +again!"--for this had grown a byword through the town. And at +last, after long, long years, old Esther Dudley knew, or +perchance she only dreamed, that a Royal Governor was on the eve +of returning to the Province House, to receive the heavy key +which Sir William Howe had committed to her charge. Now it was +the fact that intelligence bearing some faint analogy to Esther's +version of it was current among the townspeople. She set the +mansion in the best order that her means allowed, and, arraying +herself in silks and tarnished gold, stood long before the +blurred mirror to admire her own magnificence. As she gazed, the +gray and withered lady moved her ashen lips, murmuring half +aloud, talking to shapes that she saw within the mirror, to +shadows of her own fantasies, to the household friends of memory, +and bidding them rejoice with her and come forth to meet the +Governor. And while absorbed in this communion, Mistress Dudley +heard the tramp of many footsteps in the street, and, looking out +at the window, beheld what she construed as the Royal Governor's +arrival. +</p> + +<p> +"O happy day! O blessed, blessed hour!" she exclaimed. "Let me +but bid him welcome within the portal, and my task in the +Province House, and on earth, is done!" +</p> + +<p> +Then with tottering feet, which age and tremulous joy caused to +tread amiss, she hurried down the grand staircase, her silks +sweeping and rustling as she went, so that the sound was as if a +train of spectral courtiers were thronging from the dim mirror. +And Esther Dudley fancied that as soon as the wide door should be +flung open, all the pomp and splendor of by-gone times would pace +majestically into the Province House, and the gilded tapestry of +the past would be brightened by the sunshine of the present. She +turned the key--withdrew it from the lock--unclosed the door--and +stepped across the threshold. Advancing up the court-yard +appeared a person of most dignified mien, with tokens, as Esther +interpreted them, of gentle blood, high rank, and long-accustomed +authority, even in his walk and every gesture. He was richly +dressed, but wore a gouty shoe which, however, did not lessen the +stateliness of his gait. Around and behind him were people in +plain civic dresses, and two or three war-worn veterans, +evidently officers of rank, arrayed in a uniform of blue and +buff. But Esther Dudley, firm in the belief that had fastened its +roots about her heart, beheld only the principal personage, and +never doubted that this was the long-looked-for Governor, to whom +she was to surrender up her charge. As he approached, she +involuntary sank down on her knees and tremblingly held forth the +heavy key. +</p> + +<p> +"Receive my trust! take it quickly!" cried she, "for methinks +Death is striving to snatch away my triumph. But he comes too +late. Thank Heaven for this blessed hour! God save King George!" +</p> + +<p> +"That, Madam, is a strange prayer to be offered up at such a +moment," replied the unknown guest of the Province House, and +courteously removing his hat, he offered his arm to raise the +aged woman. "Yet, in reverence for your gray hairs and long-kept +faith, Heaven forbid that any here should say you nay. Over the +realms which still acknowledge his sceptre, God save King +George!" +</p> + +<p> +Esther Dudley started to her feet, and hastily clutching back the +key gazed with fearful earnestness at the stranger; and dimly and +doubtfully, as if suddenly awakened from a dream, her bewildered +eyes half recognized his face. Years ago she had known him among +the gentry of the province. But the ban of the King had fallen +upon him! How, then, came the doomed victim here? Proscribed, +excluded from mercy, the monarch's most dreaded and hated foe, +this New England merchant had stood triumphantly against a +kingdom's strength; and his foot now trod upon humbled Royalty, +as he ascended the steps of the Province House, the people's +chosen Governor of Massachusetts. +</p> + +<p> +"Wretch, wretch that I am!" muttered the old woman, with such a +heart-broken expression that the tears gushed from the stranger's +eyes "Have I bidden a traitor welcome? Come, Death! come +quickly!" +</p> + +<p> +"Alas, venerable lady!" said Governor Hancock, tending her his +support with all the reverence that a courtier would have shown +to a queen. +</p> + +<p> +"Your life has been prolonged until the world has changed around +you. You have treasured up all that time has rendered +worthless--the principles, feelings, manners, modes of being and +acting, which another generation has flung aside--and you are a +symbol of the past. And I, and these around me--we represent a +new race of men--living no longer in the past, scarcely in the +present--but projecting our lives forward into the future. +Ceasing to model ourselves on ancestral superstitions, it is our +faith and principle to press onward, onward! Yet," continued he, +turning to his attendants, "let us reverence, for the last time, +the stately and gorgeous prejudices of the tottering Past!" +</p> + +<p> +While the Republican Governor spoke, he had continued to support +the helpless form of Esther Dudley; her weight grew heavier +against his arm; but at last, with a sudden effort to free +herself, the ancient woman sank down beside one of the pillars of +the portal. The key of the Province House fell from her grasp, +and clanked against the stone. +</p> + +<p> +"I have been faithful unto death," murmured she. "God save the King!" +</p> + +<p> +"She hath done her office!" said Hancock solemnly. "We will follow +her reverently to the tomb of her ancestors; and then, my fellow-citizens, +onward--onward! We are no longer children of the Past!" +</p> + +<p> +</p> + +<p> +As the old loyalist concluded his narrative, the +enthusiasm which had been fitfully flashing within his sunken +eyes, and quivering across his wrinkled visage, faded away, as if +all the lingering fire of his soul were extinguished. Just then, +too, a lamp upon the mantel-piece threw out a dying gleam, which +vanished as speedily as it shot upward, compelling our eyes to +grope for one another's features by the dim glow of the hearth. +With such a lingering fire, methought, with such a dying gleam, +had the glory of the ancient system vanished from the Province +House, when the spirit of old Esther Dudley took its flight. And +now, again, the clock of the Old South threw its voice of ages on +the breeze, knolling the hourly knell of the Past, crying out far +and wide through the multitudinous city, and filling our ears, as +we sat in the dusky chamber, with its reverberating depth of +tone. In that same mansion--in that very chamber--what a volume +of history had been told off into hours, by the same voice that +was now trembling in the air. Many a Governor had heard those +midnight accents, and longed to exchange his stately cares for +slumber. And as for mine host and Mr. Bela Tiffany and the old +loyalist and me, we had babbled about dreams of the past, until +we almost fancied that the clock was still striking in a bygone +century. Neither of us would have wondered, had a +hoop-petticoated phantom of Esther Dudley tottered into the +chamber, walking her rounds in the hush of midnight, as of yore, +and motioned us to quench the fading embers of the fire, and +leave the historic precincts to herself and her kindred shades. +But as no such vision was vouchsafed, I retired unbidden, and +would advise Mr. Tiffany to lay hold of another auditor, being +resolved not to show my face in the Province House for a good +while hence--if ever. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="guest"></a></p> + +<h3> +THE AMBITIOUS GUEST +</h3> + +<p> +One September night a family had gathered round their hearth, +and piled it high with the driftwood of mountain streams, the dry +cones of the pine, and the splintered ruins of great trees that +had come crashing down the precipice. Up the chimney roared the +fire, and brightened the room with its broad blaze. The faces of +the father and mother had a sober gladness; the children laughed; +the eldest daughter was the image of Happiness at seventeen; and +the aged grandmother, who sat knitting in the warmest place, was +the image of Happiness grown old. They had found the "herb, +heart's-ease," in the bleakest spot of all New England. This +family were situated in the Notch of the White Hills, where the +wind was sharp throughout the year, and pitilessly cold in the +winter,--giving their cottage all its fresh inclemency before it +descended on the valley of the Saco. They dwelt in a cold spot +and a dangerous one; for a mountain towered above their heads, so +steep, that the stones would often rumble down its sides and +startle them at midnight. +</p> + +<p> +The daughter had just uttered some simple jest that filled them +all with mirth, when the wind came through the Notch and seemed +to pause before their cottage--rattling the door, with a sound of +wailing and lamentation, before it passed into the valley. For a +moment it saddened them, though there was nothing unusual in the +tones. But the family were glad again when they perceived that +the latch was lifted by some traveller, whose footsteps had been +unheard amid the dreary blast which heralded his approach, and +wailed as he was entering, and went moaning away from the door. +</p> + +<p> +Though they dwelt in such a solitude, these people held daily +converse with the world. The romantic pass of the Notch is a +great artery, through which the life-blood of internal commerce +is continually throbbing between Maine, on one side, and the +Green Mountains and the shores of the St. Lawrence, on the other. +The stage-coach always drew up before the door of the cottage. +The wayfarer, with no companion but his staff, paused here to +exchange a word, that the sense of loneliness might not utterly +overcome him ere he could pass through the cleft of the mountain, +or reach the first house in the valley. And here the teamster, on +his way to Portland market, would put up for the night; and, if a +bachelor, might sit an hour beyond the usual bedtime, and steal a +kiss from the mountain maid at parting. It was one of those +primitive taverns where the traveller pays only for food and +lodging, but meets with a homely kindness beyond all price. When +the footsteps were heard, therefore, between the outer door and +the inner one, the whole family rose up, grandmother, children +and all, as if about to welcome some one who belonged to them, +and whose fate was linked with theirs. +</p> + +<p> +The door was opened by a young man. His face at first wore the +melancholy expression, almost despondency, of one who travels a +wild and bleak road, at nightfall and alone, but soon brightened +up when he saw the kindly warmth of his reception. He felt his +heart spring forward to meet them all, from the old woman, who +wiped a chair with her apron, to the little child that held out +its arms to him. One glance and smile placed the stranger on a +footing of innocent familiarity with the eldest daughter. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, this fire is the right thing!" cried he; "especially when +there is such a pleasant circle round it. I am quite benumbed; +for the Notch is just like the pipe of a great pair of bellows; +it has blown a terrible blast in my face all the way from +Bartlett." +</p> + +<p> +"Then you are going towards Vermont?" said the master of the +house, as he helped to take a light knapsack off the young man's +shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes; to Burlington, and far enough beyond," replied he. "I meant +to have been at Ethan Crawford's to-night; but a pedestrian +lingers along such a road as this. It is no matter; for, when I +saw this good fire, and all your cheerful faces, I felt as if you +had kindled it on purpose for me, and were waiting my arrival. So +I shall sit down among you, and make myself at home." +</p> + +<p> +The frank-hearted stranger had just drawn his chair to the fire +when something like a heavy footstep was heard without, rushing +down the steep side of the mountain, as with long and rapid +strides, and taking such a leap in passing the cottage as to +strike the opposite precipice. The family held their breath, +because they knew the sound, and their guest held his by +instinct. +</p> + +<p> +"The old mountain has thrown a stone at us, for fear we should +forget him," said the landlord, recovering himself. "He sometimes +nods his head and threatens to come down; but we are old +neighbors, and agree together pretty well upon the whole. Besides +we have a sure place of refuge hard by if he should be coming in +good earnest." +</p> + +<p> +Let us now suppose the stranger to have finished his supper of +bear's meat; and, by his natural felicity of manner, to have +placed himself on a footing of kindness with the whole family, so +that they talked as freely together as if he belonged to their +mountain brood. He was of a proud, yet gentle spirit--haughty and +reserved among the rich and great; but ever ready to stoop his +head to the lowly cottage door, and be like a brother or a son at +the poor man's fireside. In the household of the Notch he found +warmth and simplicity of feeling, the pervading intelligence of +New England, and a poetry of native growth, which they had +gathered when they little thought of it from the mountain peaks +and chasms, and at the very threshold of their romantic and +dangerous abode. He had travelled far and alone; his whole life, +indeed, had been a solitary path; for, with the lofty caution of +his nature, he had kept himself apart from those who might +otherwise have been his companions. The family, too, though so +kind and hospitable, had that consciousness of unity among +themselves, and separation from the world at large, which, in +every domestic circle, should still keep a holy place where no +stranger may intrude. But this evening a prophetic sympathy +impelled the refined and educated youth to pour out his heart +before the simple mountaineers, and constrained them to answer +him with the same free confidence. And thus it should have been. +Is not the kindred of a common fate a closer tie than that of +birth? +</p> + +<p> +The secret of the young man's character was a high and abstracted +ambition. He could have borne to live an undistinguished life, +but not to be forgotten in the grave. Yearning desire had been +transformed to hope; and hope, long cherished, had become like +certainty, that, obscurely as he journeyed now, a glory was to +beam on all his pathway,--though not, perhaps, while he was +treading it. But when posterity should gaze back into the gloom +of what was now the present, they would trace the brightness of +his footsteps, brightening as meaner glories faded, and confess +that a gifted one had passed from his cradle to his tomb with +none to recognize him. +</p> + +<p> +"As yet," cried the stranger--his cheek glowing and his eye +flashing with enthusiasm--"as yet, I have done nothing. Were I to +vanish from the earth to-morrow, none would know so much of me as +you: that a nameless youth came up at nightfall from the valley +of the Saco, and opened his heart to you in the evening, and +passed through the Notch by sunrise, and was seen no more. Not a +soul would ask, 'Who was he? Whither did the wanderer go?' But I +cannot die till I have achieved my destiny. Then, let Death come! +I shall have built my monument!" +</p> + +<p> +There was a continual flow of natural emotion, gushing forth amid +abstracted reverie, which enabled the family to understand this +young man's sentiments, though so foreign from their own. With +quick sensibility of the ludicrous, he blushed at the ardor into +which he had been betrayed. +</p> + +<p> +"You laugh at me," said he, taking the eldest daughter's hand, +and laughing himself. "You think my ambition as nonsensical as if +I were to freeze myself to death on the top of Mount Washington, +only that people might spy at me from the country round about. +And, truly, that would be a noble pedestal for a man's statue!" +</p> + +<p> +"It is better to sit here by this fire," answered the girl, +blushing, "and be comfortable and contented, though nobody thinks +about us." +</p> + +<p> +"I suppose," said her father, after a fit of musing, "there is +something natural in what the young man says; and if my mind had +been turned that way, I might have felt just the same. It is +strange, wife, how his talk has set my head running on things +that are pretty certain never to come to pass." +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps they may," observed the wife. "Is the man thinking what +he will do when he is a widower?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, no!" cried he, repelling the idea with reproachful kindness. +"When I think of your death, Esther, I think of mine, too. But I +was wishing we had a good farm in Bartlett, or Bethlehem, or +Littleton, or some other township round the White Mountains; but +not where they could tumble on our heads. I should want to stand +well with my neighbors and be called Squire, and sent to General +Court for a term or two; for a plain, honest man may do as much +good there as a lawyer. And when I should be grown quite an old +man, and you an old woman, so as not to be long apart, I might +die happy enough in my bed, and leave you all crying around me. A +slate gravestone would suit me as well as a marble one--with just +my name and age, and a verse of a hymn, and something to let +people know that I lived an honest man and died a Christian." +</p> + +<p> +"There now!" exclaimed the stranger; "it is our nature to desire +a monument, be it slate or marble, or a pillar of granite, or a +glorious memory in the universal heart of man." +</p> + +<p> +"We're in a strange way, to-night," said the wife, with tears in +her eyes. "They say it's a sign of something, when folks' minds +go a wandering so. Hark to the children!" +</p> + +<p> +They listened accordingly. The younger children had been put to +bed in another room, but with an open door between, so that they +could be heard talking busily among themselves. One and all +seemed to have caught the infection from the fireside circle, and +were outvying each other in wild wishes, and childish projects of +what they would do when they came to be men and women. At length +a little boy, instead of addressing his brothers and sisters, +called out to his mother. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll tell you what I wish, mother," cried he. "I want you and +father and grandma'm, and all of us, and the stranger too, to +start right away, and go and take a drink out of the basin of the +Flume!" +</p> + +<p> +Nobody could help laughing at the child's notion of leaving a +warm bed, and dragging them from a cheerful fire, to visit the +basin of the Flume,--a brook, which tumbles over the precipice, +deep within the Notch. The boy had hardly spoken when a wagon +rattled along the road, and stopped a moment before the door. It +appeared to contain two or three men, who were cheering their +hearts with the rough chorus of a song, which resounded, in +broken notes, between the cliffs, while the singers hesitated +whether to continue their journey or put up here for the night. +</p> + +<p> +"Father," said the girl, "they are calling you by name." +</p> + +<p> +But the good man doubted whether they had really called him, and +was unwilling to show himself too solicitous of gain by inviting +people to patronize his house. He therefore did not hurry to the +door; and the lash being soon applied, the travellers plunged +into the Notch, still singing and laughing, though their music +and mirth came back drearily from the heart of the mountain. +</p> + +<p> +"There, mother!" cried the boy, again. "They'd have given us a +ride to the Flume." +</p> + +<p> +Again they laughed at the child's pertinacious fancy for a night +ramble. But it happened that a light cloud passed over the +daughter's spirit; she looked gravely into the fire, and drew a +breath that was almost a sigh. It forced its way, in spite of a +little struggle to repress it. Then starting and blushing, she +looked quickly round the circle, as if they had caught a glimpse +into her bosom. The stranger asked what she had been thinking of. +</p> + +<p> +"Nothing," answered she, with a downcast smile. "Only I felt +lonesome just then." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, I have always had a gift of feeling what is in other +people's hearts," said he, half seriously. "Shall I tell the +secrets of yours? For I know what to think when a young girl +shivers by a warm hearth, and complains of lonesomeness at her +mother's side. Shall I put these feelings into words?" +</p> + +<p> +"They would not be a girl's feelings any longer if they could be +put into words," replied the mountain nymph, laughing, but +avoiding his eye. +</p> + +<p> +All this was said apart. Perhaps a germ of love was springing in +their hearts, so pure that it might blossom in Paradise, since it +could not be matured on earth; for women worship such gentle +dignity as his; and the proud, contemplative, yet kindly soul is +oftenest captivated by simplicity like hers. But while they spoke +softly, and he was watching the happy sadness, the lightsome +shadows, the shy yearnings of a maiden's nature, the wind through +the Notch took a deeper and drearier sound. It seemed, as the +fanciful stranger said, like the choral strain of the spirits of +the blast, who in old Indian times had their dwelling among these +mountains, and made their heights and recesses a sacred region. +There was a wail along the road, as if a funeral were passing. To +chase away the gloom, the family threw pine branches on their +fire, till the dry leaves crackled and the flame arose, +discovering once again a scene of peace and humble happiness. The +light hovered about them fondly, and caressed them all. There +were the little faces of the children, peeping from their bed +apart and here the father's frame of strength, the mother's +subdued and careful mien, the high-browed youth, the budding +girl, and the good old grandam, still knitting in the warmest +place. The aged woman looked up from her task, and, with fingers +ever busy, was the next to speak. +</p> + +<p> +"Old folks have their notions," said she, "as well as young ones. +You've been wishing and planning; and letting your heads run on +one thing and another, till you've set my mind a wandering too. +Now what should an old woman wish for, when she can go but a step +or two before she comes to her grave? Children, it will haunt me +night and day till I tell you." +</p> + +<p> +"What is it, mother?" cried the husband and wife at once. +</p> + +<p> +Then the old woman, with an air of mystery which drew the circle +closer round the fire, informed them that she had provided her +graveclothes some years before,--a nice linen shroud, a cap with +a muslin ruff, and everything of a finer sort than she had worn +since her wedding day. But this evening an old superstition had +strangely recurred to her. It used to be said, in her younger +days, that if anything were amiss with a corpse, if only the ruff +were not smooth, or the cap did not set right, the corpse in the +coffin and beneath the clods would strive to put up its cold +hands and arrange it. The bare thought made her nervous. +</p> + +<p> +"Don't talk so, grandmother!" said the girl, shuddering. +</p> + +<p> +"Now,"--continued the old woman, with singular earnestness, yet +smiling strangely at her own folly,--"I want one of you, my +children--when your mother is dressed and in the coffin--I want +one of you to hold a looking-glass over my face. Who knows but I +may take a glimpse at myself, and see whether all's right?" +</p> + +<p> +"Old and young, we dream of graves and monuments," murmured the +stranger youth. "I wonder how mariners feel when the ship is +sinking, and they, unknown and undistinguished, are to be buried +together in the ocean--that wide and nameless sepulchre?" +</p> + +<p> +For a moment, the old woman's ghastly conception so engrossed the +minds of her hearers that a sound abroad in the night, rising +like the roar of a blast, had grown broad, deep, and terrible, +before the fated group were conscious of it. The house and all +within it trembled; the foundations of the earth seemed to be +shaken, as if this awful sound were the peal of the last trump. +Young and old exchanged one wild glance, and remained an instant, +pale, affrighted, without utterance, or power to move. Then the +same shriek burst simultaneously from all their lips. +</p> + +<p> +"The Slide! The Slide!" +</p> + +<p> +The simplest words must intimate, but not portray, the +unutterable horror of the catastrophe. The victims rushed from +their cottage, and sought refuge in what they deemed a safer +spot--where, in contemplation of such an emergency, a sort of +barrier had been reared. Alas! they had quitted their security, +and fled right into the pathway of destruction. Down came the +whole side of the mountain, in a cataract of ruin. Just before it +reached the house, the stream broke into two branches--shivered +not a window there, but overwhelmed the whole vicinity, blocked +up the road, and annihilated everything in its dreadful course. +Long ere the thunder of the great Slide had ceased to roar among +the mountains, the mortal agony had been endured, and the victims +were at peace. Their bodies were never found. +</p> + +<p> +The next morning, the light smoke was seen stealing from the +cottage chimney up the mountain side. Within, the fire was yet +smouldering on the hearth, and the chairs in a circle round it, +as if the inhabitants had but gone forth to view the devastation +of the Slide, and would shortly return, to thank Heaven for their +miraculous escape. All had left separate tokens, by which those +who had known the family were made to shed a tear for each. Who +has not heard their name? The story has been told far and wide, +and will forever be a legend of these mountains. Poets have sung +their fate. +</p> + +<p> +There were circumstances which led some to suppose that a +stranger had been received into the cottage on this awful night, +and had shared the catastrophe of all its inmates. Others denied +that there were sufficient grounds for such a conjecture. Woe for +the high-souled youth, with his dream of Earthly Immortality! His +name and person utterly unknown; his history, his way of life, +his plans, a mystery never to be solved, his death and his +existence equally a doubt! Whose was the agony of that death +moment? +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="treasure"></a></p> + +<h3> +PETER GOLDTHWAITE'S TREASURE +</h3> + +<p> +"And so, Peter, you won't even consider of the business?" said +Mr. John Brown, buttoning his surtout over the snug rotundity of +his person, and drawing on his gloves. "You positively refuse to +let me have this crazy old house, and the land under and +adjoining, at the price named?" +</p> + +<p> +"Neither at that, nor treble the sum," responded the gaunt, +grizzled, and threadbare Peter Goldthwaite. "The fact is, Mr. +Brown, you must find another site for your brick block, and be +content to leave my estate with the present owner. Next summer, I +intend to put a splendid new mansion over the cellar of the old +house." +</p> + +<p> +"Pho, Peter!" cried Mr. Brown, as he opened the kitchen door; +"content yourself with building castles in the air, where +house-lots are cheaper than on earth, to say nothing of the cost +of bricks and mortar. Such foundations are solid enough for your +edifices, while this underneath us is just the thing for mine; +and so we may both be suited. What say you again?" +</p> + +<p> +"Precisely what I said before, Mr. Brown," answered Peter +Goldthwaite. "And as for castles in the air, mine may not be as +magnificent as that sort of architecture, but perhaps as +substantial, Mr. Brown, as the very respectable brick block with +dry goods stores, tailors' shops, and banking rooms on the lower +floor, and lawyers' offices in the second story, which you are so +anxious to substitute." +</p> + +<p> +"And the cost, Peter, eh?" said Mr. Brown, as he withdrew, in +something of a pet. "That, I suppose, will be provided for, +off-hand, by drawing a check on Bubble Bank!" +</p> + +<p> +John Brown and Peter Goldthwaite had been jointly known to the +commercial world between twenty and thirty years before, under +the firm of Goldthwaite & Brown; which co-partnership, however, +was speedily dissolved by the natural incongruity of its +constituent parts. Since that event, John Brown, with exactly the +qualities of a thousand other John Browns, and by just such +plodding methods as they used, had prospered wonderfully, and +become one of the wealthiest John Browns on earth. Peter +Goldthwaite, on the contrary, after innumerable schemes, which +ought to have collected all the coin and paper currency of the +country into his coffers, was as needy a gentleman as ever wore a +patch upon his elbow. The contrast between him and his former +partner may be briefly marked; for Brown never reckoned upon +luck, yet always had it; while Peter made luck the main condition +of his projects, and always missed it. While the means held out, +his speculations had been magnificent, but were chiefly confined, +of late years, to such small business as adventures in the +lottery. Once he had gone on a gold-gathering expedition +somewhere to the South, and ingeniously contrived to empty his +pockets more thoroughly than ever; while others, doubtless, were +filling theirs with native bullion by the handful. More recently +he had expended a legacy of a thousand or two of dollars in +purchasing Mexican scrip, and thereby became the proprietor of a +province; which, however, so far as Peter could find out, was +situated where he might have had an empire for the same +money,--in the clouds. From a search after this valuable real +estate Peter returned so gaunt and threadbare that, on reaching +New England, the scarecrows in the cornfields beckoned to him, as +he passed by. "They did but flutter in the wind," quoth Peter +Goldthwaite. No, Peter, they beckoned, for the scarecrows knew +their brother! +</p> + +<p> +At the period of our story his whole visible income would not +have paid the tax of the old mansion in which we find him. It was +one of those rusty, moss-grown, many-peaked wooden houses, which +are scattered about the streets of our elder towns, with a +beetle-browed second story projecting over the foundation, as if +it frowned at the novelty around it. This old paternal edifice, +needy as he was, and though, being centrally situated on the +principal street of the town, it would have brought him a +handsome sum, the sagacious Peter had his own reasons for never +parting with, either by auction or private sale. There seemed, +indeed, to be a fatality that connected him with his birthplace; +for, often as he had stood on the verge of ruin, and standing +there even now, he had not yet taken the step beyond it which +would have compelled him to surrender the house to his creditors. +So here he dwelt with bad luck till good should come. +</p> + +<p> +Here then in his kitchen, the only room where a spark of fire +took off the chill of a November evening, poor Peter Goldthwaite +had just been visited by his rich old partner. At the close of +their interview, Peter, with rather a mortified look, glanced +downwards at his dress, parts of which appeared as ancient as the +days of Goldthwaite & Brown. His upper garment was a mixed +surtout, wofully faded, and patched with newer stuff on each +elbow; beneath this he wore a threadbare black coat, some of the +silk buttons of which had been replaced with others of a +different pattern; and lastly, though he lacked not a pair of +gray pantaloons, they were very shabby ones, and had been +partially turned brown by the frequent toasting of Peter's shins +before a scanty fire. Peter's person was in keeping with his +goodly apparel. Gray-headed, hollow-eyed, pale-cheeked, and +lean-bodied, he was the perfect picture of a man who had fed on +windy schemes and empty hopes, till he could neither live on such +unwholesome trash, nor stomach more substantial food. But, +withal, this Peter Goldthwaite, crack-brained simpleton as, +perhaps, he was, might have cut a very brilliant figure in the +world, had he employed his imagination in the airy business of +poetry, instead of making it a demon of mischief in mercantile +pursuits. After all, he was no bad fellow, but as harmless as a +child, and as honest and honorable, and as much of the gentleman +which nature meant him for, as an irregular life and depressed +circumstances will permit any man to be. +</p> + +<p> +As Peter stood on the uneven bricks of his hearth, looking round +at the disconsolate old kitchen, his eyes began to kindle with +the illumination of an enthusiasm that never long deserted him. +He raised his hand, clinched it, and smote it energetically +against the smoky panel over the fireplace. +</p> + +<p> +"The time is come!" said he. "With such a treasure at command, it +were folly to be a poor man any longer. To-morrow morning I will +begin with the garret, nor desist till I have torn the house +down!" +</p> + +<p> +Deep in the chimney-corner, like a witch in a dark cavern, sat a +little old woman, mending one of the two pairs of stockings +wherewith Peter Goldthwaite kept his toes from being frostbitten. +As the feet were ragged past all darning, she had cut pieces out +of a cast-off flannel petticoat, to make new soles. Tabitha +Porter was an old maid, upwards of sixty years of age, fifty-five +of which she had sat in that same chimney-corner, such being the +length of time since Peter's grandfather had taken her from the +almshouse. She had no friend but Peter, nor Peter any friend but +Tabitha; so long as Peter might have a shelter for his own head, +Tabitha would know where to shelter hers; or, being homeless +elsewhere, she would take her master by the hand and bring him to +her native home, the almshouse. Should it ever be necessary, she +loved him well enough to feed him with her last morsel, and +clothe him with her under petticoat. But Tabitha was a queer old +woman, and, though never infected with Peter's flightiness, had +become so accustomed to his freaks and follies that she viewed +them all as matters of course. Hearing him threaten to tear the +house down, she looked quietly up from her work. +</p> + +<p> +"Best leave the kitchen till the last, Mr. Peter," said she. +</p> + +<p> +"The sooner we have it all down the better," said Peter +Goldthwaite. "I am tired to death of living in this cold, dark, +windy, smoky, creaking, groaning, dismal old house. I shall feel +like a younger man when we get into my splendid brick mansion, +as, please Heaven, we shall by this time next autumn. You shall +have a room on the sunny side, old Tabby, finished and furnished +as best may suit your own notions." +</p> + +<p> +"I should like it pretty much such a room as this kitchen," +answered Tabitha. "It will never be like home to me till the +chimney-corner gets as black with smoke as this; and that won't +be these hundred years. How much do you mean to lay out on the +house, Mr. Peter?" +</p> + +<p> +"What is that to the purpose?" exclaimed Peter, loftily. "Did not +my great-granduncle, Peter Goldthwaite, who died seventy years +ago, and whose namesake I am, leave treasure enough to build +twenty such?" +</p> + +<p> +"I can't say but he did, Mr. Peter," said Tabitha, threading her +needle. +</p> + +<p> +Tabitha well understood that Peter had reference to an immense +hoard of the precious metals, which was said to exist somewhere +in the cellar or walls, or under the floors, or in some concealed +closet, or other out-of-the-way nook of the house. This wealth, +according to tradition, had been accumulated by a former Peter +Goldthwaite, whose character seems to have borne a remarkable +similitude to that of the Peter of our story. Like him he was a +wild projector, seeking to heap up gold by the bushel and the +cartload, instead of scraping it together, coin by coin. Like +Peter the second, too, his projects had almost invariably failed, +and, but for the magnificent success of the final one, would have +left him with hardly a coat and pair of breeches to his gaunt and +grizzled person. Reports were various as to the nature of his +fortunate speculation: one intimating that the ancient Peter had +made the gold by alchemy; another, that he had conjured it out of +people's pockets by the black art; and a third, still more +unaccountable, that the devil had given him free access to the +old provincial treasury. It was affirmed, however, that some +secret impediment had debarred him from the enjoyment of his +riches, and that he had a motive for concealing them from his +heir, or at any rate had died without disclosing the place of +deposit. The present Peter's father had faith enough in the story +to cause the cellar to be dug over. Peter himself chose to +consider the legend as an indisputable truth, and, amid his many +troubles, had this one consolation that, should all other +resources fail, he might build up his fortunes by tearing his +house down. Yet, unless he felt a lurking distrust of the golden +tale, it is difficult to account for his permitting the paternal +roof to stand so long, since he had never yet seen the moment +when his predecessor's treasure would not have found plenty of +room in his own strong box. But now was the crisis. Should he +delay the search a little longer, the house would pass from the +lineal heir, and with it the vast heap of gold, to remain in its +burial-place, till the ruin of the aged walls should discover it +to strangers of a future generation. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes!" cried Peter Goldthwaite, again, "to-morrow I will set +about it." +</p> + +<p> +The deeper he looked at the matter the more certain of success +grew Peter. His spirits were naturally so elastic that even now, +in the blasted autumn of his age, he could often compete with the +spring-time gayety of other people. Enlivened by his brightening +prospects, he began to caper about the kitchen like a hobgoblin, +with the queerest antics of his lean limbs, and gesticulations of +his starved features. Nay, in the exuberance of his feelings, he +seized both of Tabitha's hands, and danced the old lady across +the floor, till the oddity of her rheumatic motions set him into +a roar of laughter, which was echoed back from the rooms and +chambers, as if Peter Goldthwaite were laughing in every one. +Finally he bounded upward almost out of sight, into the smoke +that clouded the roof of the kitchen, and, alighting safely on +the floor again, endeavored to resume his customary gravity. +</p> + +<p> +"To-morrow, at sunrise," he repeated, taking his lamp to retire +to bed, "I'll see whether this treasure be hid in the wall of the +garret." +</p> + +<p> +"And as we're out of wood, Mr. Peter," said Tabitha, puffing and +panting with her late gymnastics, "as fast as you tear the house +down, I'll make a fire with the pieces." +</p> + +<p> +Gorgeous that night were the dreams of Peter Goldthwaite! At one +time he was turning a ponderous key in an iron door not unlike +the door of a sepulchre, but which, being opened, disclosed a +vault heaped up with gold coin, as plentifully as golden corn in +a granary. There were chased goblets, also, and tureens, salvers, +dinner dishes, and dish covers of gold, or silver gilt, besides +chains and other jewels, incalculably rich, though tarnished with +the damps of the vault; for, of all the wealth that was +irrevocably lost to the man, whether buried in the earth or +sunken in the sea, Peter Goldthwaite had found it in this one +treasure-place. Anon, he had returned to the old house as poor as +ever, and was received at the door by the gaunt and grizzled +figure of a man whom he might have mistaken for himself, only +that his garments were of a much elder fashion. But the house, +without losing its former aspect, had been changed into a palace +of the precious metals. The floors, walls, and ceiling were of +burnished silver; the doors, the window frames, the cornices, the +balustrades and the steps of the staircase, of pure gold; and +silver, with gold bottoms, were the chairs, and gold, standing on +silver legs, the high chests of drawers, and silver the +bedsteads, with blankets of woven gold, and sheets of silver +tissue. The house had evidently been transmuted by a single +touch; for it retained all the marks that Peter remembered, but +in gold or silver instead of wood; and the initials of his name, +which, when a boy, he had cut in the wooden door-post, remained +as deep in the pillar of gold. A happy man would have been Peter +Goldthwaite except for a certain ocular deception, which, +whenever he glanced backwards, caused the house to darken from +its glittering magnificence into the sordid gloom of yesterday. +</p> + +<p> +Up, betimes, rose Peter, seized an axe, hammer, and saw, which he +had placed by his bedside, and hied him to the garret. It was but +scantily lighted up, as yet, by the frosty fragments of a +sunbeam, which began to glimmer through the almost opaque +bull's-eyes of the window. A moralizer might find abundant themes +for his speculative and impracticable wisdom in a garret. There +is the limbo of departed fashions, aged trifles. Of a day, and +whatever was valuable only to one generation of men, and which +passed to the garret when that generation passed to the grave, +not for safe keeping, but to be out of the way. Peter saw piles +of yellow and musty account-books, in parchment covers, wherein +creditors, long dead and buried, had written the names of dead +and buried debtors in ink now so faded that their moss-grown +tombstones were more legible. He found old moth-eaten garments +all in rags and tatters, or Peter would have put them on. Here +was a naked and rusty sword, not a sword of service, but a +gentleman's small French rapier, which had never left its +scabbard till it lost it. Here were canes of twenty different +sorts, but no gold-headed ones, and shoe-buckles of various +pattern and material, but not silver nor set with precious +stones. Here was a large box full of shoes, with high heels and +peaked toes. Here, on a shelf, were a multitude of phials, +half-filled with old apothecaries' stuff, which, when the other +half had done its business on Peter's ancestors, had been brought +hither from the death chamber. Here--not to give a longer +inventory of articles that will never be put up at auction--was +the fragment of a full-length looking-glass, which, by the dust +and dimness of its surface, made the picture of these old things +look older than the reality. When Peter not knowing that there +was a mirror there, caught the faint traces of his own figure, he +partly imagined that the former Peter Goldthwaite had come back, +either to assist or impede his search for the hidden wealth. And +at that moment a strange notion glimmered through his brain that +he was the identical Peter who had concealed the gold, and ought +to know whereabout it lay. This, however, he had unaccountably +forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, Mr. Peter!" cried Tabitha, on the garret stairs. "Have you +torn the house down enough to heat the teakettle?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not yet, old Tabby," answered Peter; "but that's soon done--as +you shall see." +</p> + +<p> +With the word in his mouth, he uplifted the axe, and laid about +him so vigorously that the dust flew, the boards crashed, and, in +a twinkling, the old woman had an apron full of broken rubbish. +</p> + +<p> +"We shall get our winter's wood cheap," quoth Tabitha. +</p> + +<p> +The good work being thus commenced, Peter beat down all before +him, smiting and hewing at the joists and timbers, unclinching +spike-nails, ripping and tearing away boards, with a tremendous +racket, from morning till night. He took care, however, to leave +the outside shell of the house untouched, so that the neighbors +might not suspect what was going on. +</p> + +<p> +Never, in any of his vagaries, though each had made him happy +while it lasted, had Peter been happier than now. Perhaps, after +all, there was something in Peter Goldthwaite's turn of mind, +which brought him an inward recompense for all the external evil +that it caused. If he were poor, ill-clad, even hungry, and +exposed, as it were, to be utterly annihilated by a precipice of +impending ruin, yet only his body remained in these miserable +circumstances, while his aspiring soul enjoyed the sunshine of a +bright futurity. It was his nature to be always young, and the +tendency of his mode of life to keep him so. Gray hairs were +nothing, no, nor wrinkles, nor infirmity; he might look old, +indeed, and be somewhat disagreeably connected with a gaunt old +figure, much the worse for wear; but the true, the essential +Peter was a young man of high hopes, just entering on the world. +At the kindling of each new fire, his burnt-out youth rose afresh +from the old embers and ashes. It rose exulting now. Having lived +thus long--not too long, but just to the right age--a susceptible +bachelor, with warm and tender dreams, he resolved, so soon as +the hidden gold should flash to light, to go a-wooing, and win +the love of the fairest maid in town. What heart could resist +him? Happy Peter Goldthwaite! +</p> + +<p> +Every evening--as Peter had long absented himself from his former +lounging-places, at insurance offices, news-rooms, and +bookstores, and as the honor of his company was seldom requested +in private circles--he and Tabitha used to sit down sociably by +the kitchen hearth. This was always heaped plentifully with the +rubbish of his day's labor. As the foundation of the fire, there +would be a goodly-sized backlog of red oak, which, after being +sheltered from rain or damp above a century, still hissed with +the heat, and distilled streams of water from each end, as if the +tree had been cut down within a week or two. Next these were +large sticks, sound, black, and heavy, which had lost the +principle of decay, and were indestructible except by fire, +wherein they glowed like red-hot bars of iron. On this solid +basis, Tabitha would rear a lighter structure, composed of the +splinters of door panels, ornamented mouldings, and such quick +combustibles, which caught like straw, and threw a brilliant +blaze high up the spacious flue, making its sooty sides visible +almost to the chimney-top. Meantime, the gleam of the old kitchen +would be chased out of the cobwebbed corners and away from the +dusky cross-beams overhead, and driven nobody could tell whither, +while Peter smiled like a gladsome man, and Tabitha seemed a +picture of comfortable age. All this, of course, was but an +emblem of the bright fortune which the destruction of the house +would shed upon its occupants. +</p> + +<p> +While the dry pine was flaming and crackling, like an irregular +discharge of fairy musketry, Peter sat looking and listening, in +a pleasant state of excitement. But, when the brief blaze and +uproar were succeeded by the dark-red glow, the substantial heat, +and the deep singing sound, which were to last throughout the +evening, his humor became talkative. One night, the hundredth +time, he teased Tabitha to tell him something new about his +great-granduncle. +</p> + +<p> +"You have been sitting in that chimney-corner fifty-five years, +old Tabby, and must have heard many a tradition about him," said +Peter. "Did not you tell me that, when you first came to the +house, there was an old woman sitting where you sit now, who had +been housekeeper to the famous Peter Goldthwaite?" +</p> + +<p> +"So there was, Mr. Peter," answered Tabitha, "and she was near +about a hundred years old. She used to say that she and old Peter +Goldthwaite had often spent a sociable evening by the kitchen +fire--pretty much as you and I are doing now, Mr. Peter." +</p> + +<p> +"The old fellow must have resembled me in more points than one," +said Peter, complacently, "or he never would have grown so rich. +But, methinks, he might have invested the money better than he +did--no interest!--nothing but good security!--and the house to +be torn down to come at it! What made him hide it so snug, +Tabby?" +</p> + +<p> +"Because he could not spend it," said Tabitha; "for as often as +he went to unlock the chest, the Old Scratch came behind and +caught his arm. The money, they say, was paid Peter out of his +purse; and he wanted Peter to give him a deed of this house and +land, which Peter swore he would not do." +</p> + +<p> +"Just as I swore to John Brown, my old partner," remarked Peter. +"But this is all nonsense, Tabby! I don't believe the story." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, it may not be just the truth," said Tabitha; "for some +folks say that Peter did make over the house to the Old Scratch, +and that's the reason it has always been so unlucky to them that +lived in it. And as soon as Peter had given him the deed, the +chest flew open, and Peter caught up a handful of the gold. But, +lo and behold!--there was nothing in his fist but a parcel of old +rags." +</p> + +<p> +"Hold your tongue, you silly old Tabby!" cried Peter in great +wrath. "They were as good golden guineas as ever bore the +effigies of the king of England. It seems as if I could recollect +the whole circumstance, and how I, or old Peter, or whoever it +was, thrust in my hand, or his hand, and drew it out all of a +blaze with gold. Old rags, indeed!" +</p> + +<p> +But it was not an old woman's legend that would discourage Peter +Goldthwaite. All night long he slept among pleasant dreams, and +awoke at daylight with a joyous throb of the heart, which few are +fortunate enough to feel beyond their boyhood. Day after day he +labored hard without wasting a moment, except at meal times, when +Tabitha summoned him to the pork and cabbage, or such other +sustenance as she had picked up, or Providence had sent them. +Being a truly pious man, Peter never failed to ask a blessing; if +the food were none of the best, then so much the more earnestly, +as it was more needed;--nor to return thanks, if the dinner had +been scanty, yet for the good appetite, which was better than a +sick stomach at a feast. Then did he hurry back to his toil, and, +in a moment, was lost to sight in a cloud of dust from the old +walls, though sufficiently perceptible to the ear by the clatter +which he raised in the midst of it. How enviable is the +consciousness of being usefully employed! Nothing troubled Peter; +or nothing but those phantoms of the mind which seem like vague +recollections, yet have also the aspect of presentiments. He +often paused, with his axe uplifted in the air, and said to +himself,--"Peter Goldthwaite, did you never strike this blow +before?" or, "Peter, what need of tearing the whole house down? +Think a little while, and you will remember where the gold is +hidden." Days and weeks passed on, however, without any +remarkable discovery. Sometimes, indeed, a lean, gray rat peeped +forth at the lean, gray man, wondering what devil had got into +the old house, which had always been so peaceable till now. And, +occasionally, Peter sympathized with the sorrows of a female +mouse, who had brought five or six pretty, little, soft and +delicate young ones into the world just in time to see them +crushed by its ruin. But, as yet, no treasure! +</p> + +<p> +By this time, Peter, being as determined as Fate and as diligent +as Time, had made an end with the uppermost regions, and got down +to the second story, where he was busy in one of the front +chambers. It had formerly been the state bed-chamber, and was +honored by tradition as the sleeping apartment of Governor +Dudley, and many other eminent guests. The furniture was gone. +There were remnants of faded and tattered paper-hangings, but +larger spaces of bare wall ornamented with charcoal sketches, +chiefly of people's heads in profile. These being specimens of +Peter's youthful genius, it went more to his heart to obliterate +them than if they had been pictures on a church wall by Michael +Angelo. One sketch, however, and that the best one, affected him +differently. It represented a ragged man, partly supporting +himself on a spade, and bending his lean body over a hole in the +earth, with one hand extended to grasp something that he had +found. But close behind him, with a fiendish laugh on his +features, appeared a figure with horns, a tufted tail, and a +cloven hoof. +</p> + +<p> +"Avaunt, Satan!" cried Peter. "The man shall have his gold!" +</p> + +<p> +Uplifting his axe, he hit the horned gentleman such a blow on the +head as not only demolished him, but the treasure-seeker also, +and caused the whole scene to vanish like magic. Moreover, his +axe broke quite through the plaster and laths, and discovered a +cavity. +</p> + +<p> +"Mercy on us, Mr. Peter, are you quarrelling with the Old +Scratch?" said Tabitha, who was seeking some fuel to put under +the pot. +</p> + +<p> +Without answering the old woman, Peter broke down a further space +of the wall, and laid open a small closet or cupboard, on one +side of the fireplace, about breast high from the ground. It +contained nothing but a brass lamp, covered with verdigris, and a +dusty piece of parchment. While Peter inspected the latter, +Tabitha seized the lamp, and began to rub it with her apron. +</p> + +<p> +"There is no use in rubbing it, Tabitha," said Peter. "It is not +Aladdin's lamp, though I take it to be a token of as much luck. +Look here Tabby!" +</p> + +<p> +Tabitha took the parchment and held it close to her nose, which +was saddled with a pair of iron-bound spectacles. But no sooner +had she began to puzzle over it than she burst into a chuckling +laugh, holding both her hands against her sides. +</p> + +<p> +"You can't make a fool of the old woman!" cried she. "This is +your own handwriting, Mr. Peter! the same as in the letter you +sent me from Mexico." +</p> + +<p> +"There is certainly a considerable resemblance," said Peter, +again examining the parchment. "But you know yourself, Tabby, +that this closet must have been plastered up before you came to +the house, or I came into the world. No, this is old Peter +Goldthwaite's writing; these columns of pounds, shillings, and +pence are his figures, denoting the amount of the treasure; and +this at the bottom is, doubtless, a reference to the place of +concealment. But the ink has either faded or peeled off, so that +it is absolutely illegible. What a pity!" +</p> + +<p> +"Well, this lamp is as good as new. That's some comfort," said +Tabitha. +</p> + +<p> +"A lamp!" thought Peter. "That indicates light on my researches." +</p> + +<p> +For the present, Peter felt more inclined to ponder on this +discovery than to resume his labors. After Tabitha had gone down +stairs, he stood poring over the parchment, at one of the front +windows, which was so obscured with dust that the sun could +barely throw an uncertain shadow of the casement across the +floor. Peter forced it open, and looked out upon the great street +of the town, while the sun looked in at his old house. The air, +though mild, and even warm, thrilled Peter as with a dash of +water. +</p> + +<p> +It was the first day of the January thaw. The snow lay deep upon +the house-tops, but was rapidly dissolving into millions of +water-drops, which sparkled downwards through the sunshine, with +the noise of a summer shower beneath the eaves. Along the street, +the trodden snow was as hard and solid as a pavement of white +marble, and had not yet grown moist in the spring-like +temperature. But when Peter thrust forth his head, he saw that +the inhabitants, if not the town, were already thawed out by this +warm day, after two or three weeks of winter weather. It +gladdened him--a gladness with a sigh breathing through it--to +see the stream of ladies, gliding along the slippery sidewalks, +with their red cheeks set off by quilted hoods, boas, and sable +capes, like roses amidst a new kind of foliage. The sleigh-bells +jingled to and fro continually: sometimes announcing the arrival +of a sleigh from Vermont, laden with the frozen bodies of +porkers, or sheep, and perhaps a deer or two; sometimes of a +regular market-man, with chickens, geese, and turkeys, comprising +the whole colony of a barn yard; and sometimes of a farmer and +his dame, who had come to town partly for the ride, partly to go +a-shopping, and partly for the sale of some eggs and butter. This +couple rode in an old-fashioned square sleigh, which had served +them twenty winters, and stood twenty summers in the sun beside +their door. Now, a gentleman and lady skimmed the snow in an +elegant car, shaped somewhat like a cockle-shell. Now, a +stage-sleigh, with its cloth curtains thrust aside to admit the +sun, dashed rapidly down the street, whirling in and out among +the vehicles that obstructed its passage. Now came, round a +corner, the similitude of Noah's ark on runners, being an immense +open sleigh with seats for fifty people, and drawn by a dozen +horses. This spacious receptacle was populous with merry maids +and merry bachelors, merry girls and boys, and merry old folks, +all alive with fun, and grinning to the full width of their +mouths. They kept up a buzz of babbling voices and low laughter, +and sometimes burst into a deep, joyous shout, which the +spectators answered with three cheers, while a gang of roguish +boys let drive their snowballs right among the pleasure party. +The sleigh passed on, and, when concealed by a bend of the +street, was still audible by a distant cry of merriment. +</p> + +<p> +Never had Peter beheld a livelier scene than was constituted by +all these accessories: the bright sun, the flashing water-drops, +the gleaming snow, the cheerful multitude, the variety of rapid +vehicles, and the jingle jangle of merry bells which made the +heart dance to their music. Nothing dismal was to be seen, except +that peaked piece of antiquity, Peter Goldthwaite's house, which +might well look sad externally, since such a terrible consumption +was preying on its insides. And Peter's gaunt figure, half +visible in the projecting second story, was worthy of his house. +</p> + +<p> +"Peter! How goes it, friend Peter?" cried a voice across the +street, as Peter was drawing in his head. "Look out here, Peter!" +</p> + +<p> +Peter looked, and saw his old partner, Mr. John Brown, on the +opposite sidewalk, portly and comfortable, with his furred cloak +thrown open, disclosing a handsome surtout beneath. His voice had +directed the attention of the whole town to Peter Goldthwaite's +window, and to the dusty scarecrow which appeared at it. +</p> + +<p> +"I say, Peter," cried Mr. Brown again, "what the devil are you +about there, that I hear such a racket whenever I pass by? You +are repairing the old house, I suppose,--making a new one of it, +eh?" +</p> + +<p> +"Too late for that, I am afraid, Mr. Brown," replied Peter. "If I +make it new, it will be new inside and out, from the cellar +upwards." +</p> + +<p> +"Had not you better let me take the job?" said Mr. Brown, +significantly. +</p> + +<p> +"Not yet!" answered Peter, hastily shutting the window; for, ever +since he had been in search of the treasure, he hated to have +people stare at him. +</p> + +<p> +As he drew back, ashamed of his outward poverty, yet proud of the +secret wealth within his grasp, a haughty smile shone out on +Peter's visage, with precisely the effect of the dim sunbeams in +the squalid chamber. He endeavored to assume such a mien as his +ancestor had probably worn, when he gloried in the building of a +strong house for a home to many generations of his posterity. But +the chamber was very dark to his snow-dazzled eyes, and very +dismal too, in contrast with the living scene that he had just +looked upon. His brief glimpse into the street had given him a +forcible impression of the manner in which the world kept itself +cheerful and prosperous, by social pleasures and an intercourse +of business, while he, in seclusion, was pursuing an object that +might possibly be a phantasm, by a method which most people would +call madness. It is one great advantage of a gregarious mode of +life that each person rectifies his mind by other minds, and +squares his conduct to that of his neighbors, so as seldom to be +lost in eccentricity. Peter Goldthwaite had exposed himself to +this influence by merely looking out of the window. For a while, +he doubted whether there were any hidden chest of gold, and, in +that case, whether he was so exceedingly wise to tear the house +down, only to be convinced of its non-existence. +</p> + +<p> +But this was momentary. Peter, the Destroyer, resumed the task +which fate had assigned him, nor faltered again till it was +accomplished. In the course of his search, he met with many +things that are usually found in the ruins of an old house, and +also with some that are not. What seemed most to the purpose was +a rusty key, which had been thrust into a chink of the wall, with +a wooden label appended to the handle, bearing the initials, P. +G. Another singular discovery was that of a bottle of wine, +walled up in an old oven. A tradition ran in the family, that +Peter's grandfather, a jovial officer in the old French War, had +set aside many dozens of the precious liquor for the benefit of +topers then unborn. Peter needed no cordial to sustain his hopes, +and therefore kept the wine to gladden his success. Many +halfpence did he pick up, that had been lost through the cracks +of the floor, and some few Spanish coins, and the half of a +broken sixpence, which had doubtless been a love token. There was +likewise a silver coronation medal of George the Third. But old +Peter Goldthwaite's strong box fled from one dark corner to +another, or otherwise eluded the second Peter's clutches, till, +should he seek much farther, he must burrow into the earth. +</p> + +<p> +We will not follow him in his triumphant progress, step by step. +Suffice it that Peter worked like a steam-engine, and finished, +in that one winter, the job which all the former inhabitants of +the house, with time and the elements to aid them, had only half +done in a century. Except the kitchen, every room and chamber was +now gutted. The house was nothing but a shell,--the apparition of +a house,--as unreal as the painted edifices of a theatre. It was +like the perfect rind of a great cheese, in which a mouse had +dwelt and nibbled till it was a cheese no more. And Peter was the +mouse. +</p> + +<p> +What Peter had torn down, Tabitha had burned up; for she wisely +considered that, without a house, they should need no wood to +warm it; and therefore economy was nonsense. Thus the whole house +might be said to have dissolved in smoke, and flown up among the +clouds, through the great black flue of the kitchen chimney. It +was an admirable parallel to the feat of the man who jumped down +his own throat. +</p> + +<p> +On the night between the last day of winter and the first of +spring, every chink and cranny had been ransacked, except within +the precincts of the kitchen. This fated evening was an ugly one. +A snow-storm had set in some hours before, and was still driven +and tossed about the atmosphere by a real hurricane, which fought +against the house as if the prince of the air, in person, were +putting the final stroke to Peter's labors. The framework being +so much weakened, and the inward props removed, it would have +been no marvel if, in some stronger wrestle of the blast, the +rotten walls of the edifice, and all the peaked roofs, had come +crushing down upon the owner's head. He, however, was careless of +the peril, but as wild and restless as the night itself, or as +the flame that quivered up the chimney at each roar of the +tempestuous wind. +</p> + +<p> +"The wine, Tabitha!" he cried. "My grandfather's rich old wine! +We will drink it now!" +</p> + +<p> +Tabitha arose from her smoke-blackened bench in the +chimney-corner, and placed the bottle before Peter, close beside +the old brass lamp, which had likewise been the prize of his +researches. Peter held it before his eyes, and, looking through +the liquid medium, beheld the kitchen illuminated with a golden +glory, which also enveloped Tabitha and gilded her silver hair, +and converted her mean garments into robes of queenly splendor. +It reminded him of his golden dream. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Peter," remarked Tabitha, "must the wine be drunk before the +money is found?" +</p> + +<p> +"The money IS found!" exclaimed Peter, with a sort of fierceness. +"The chest is within my reach. I will not sleep, till I have +turned this key in the rusty lock. But, first of all, let us +drink!" +</p> + +<p> +There being no corkscrew in the house, he smote the neck of the +bottle with old Peter Goldthwaite's rusty key, and decapitated +the sealed cork at a single blow. He then filled two little china +teacups, which Tabitha had brought from the cupboard. So clear +and brilliant was this aged wine that it shone within the cups, +and rendered the sprig of scarlet flowers, at the bottom of each, +more distinctly visible than when there had been no wine there. +Its rich and delicate perfume wasted itself round the kitchen. +</p> + +<p> +"Drink, Tabitha!" cried Peter. "Blessings on the honest old +fellow who set aside this good liquor for you and me! And here's +to Peter Goldthwaite's memory!" +</p> + +<p> +"And good cause have we to remember him," quoth Tabitha, as she +drank. +</p> + +<p> +How many years, and through what changes of fortune and various +calamity, had that bottle hoarded up its effervescent joy, to be +quaffed at last by two such boon companions! A portion of the +happiness of the former age had been kept for them, and was now +set free, in a crowd of rejoicing visions, to sport amid the +storm and desolation of the present time. Until they have +finished the bottle, we must turn our eyes elsewhere. +</p> + +<p> +It so chanced that, on this stormy night, Mr. John Brown found +himself ill at ease in his wire-cushioned arm-chair, by the +glowing grate of anthracite which heated his handsome parlor. He +was naturally a good sort of a man, and kind and pitiful whenever +the misfortunes of others happened to reach his heart through the +padded vest of his own prosperity. This evening he had thought +much about his old partner, Peter Goldthwaite, his strange +vagaries, and continual ill luck, the poverty of his dwelling, at +Mr. Brown's last visit, and Peter's crazed and haggard aspect +when he had talked with him at the window. +</p> + +<p> +"Poor fellow!" thought Mr. John Brown. "Poor, crackbrained Peter +Goldthwaite! For old acquaintance' sake, I ought to have taken +care that he was comfortable this rough winter." +</p> + +<p> +These feelings grew so powerful that, in spite of the inclement +weather, he resolved to visit Peter Goldthwaite immediately. The +strength of the impulse was really singular. Every shriek of the +blast seemed a summons, or would have seemed so, had Mr. Brown +been accustomed to hear the echoes of his own fancy in the wind. +Much amazed at such active benevolence, he huddled himself in his +cloak, muffled his throat and ears in comforters and +handkerchiefs, and, thus fortified, bade defiance to the tempest. +But the powers of the air had rather the best of the battle. Mr. +Brown was just weathering the corner, by Peter Goldthwaite's +house, when the hurricane caught him off his feet, tossed him +face downward into a snow bank, and proceeded to bury his +protuberant part beneath fresh drifts. There seemed little hope +of his reappearance earlier than the next thaw. At the same +moment his hat was snatched away, and whirled aloft into some far +distant region, whence no tidings have as yet returned. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless Mr. Brown contrived to burrow a passage through the +snow-drift, and, with his bare head bent against the storm, +floundered onward to Peter's door. There was such a creaking and +groaning and rattling, and such an ominous shaking throughout the +crazy edifice, that the loudest rap would have been inaudible to +those within. He therefore entered, without ceremony, and groped +his way to the kitchen. +</p> + +<p> +His intrusion, even there, was unnoticed. Peter and Tabitha stood +with their backs to the door, stooping over a large chest, which, +apparently, they had just dragged from a cavity, or concealed +closet, on the left side of the chimney. By the lamp in the old +woman's hand, Mr. Brown saw that the chest was barred and clamped +with iron, strengthened with iron plates and studded with iron +nails, so as to be a fit receptacle in which the wealth of one +century might be hoarded up for the wants of another. Peter +Goldthwaite was inserting a key into the lock. +</p> + +<p> +"O Tabitha!" cried he, with tremulous rapture, "how shall I +endure the effulgence? The gold!--the bright, bright gold! +Methinks I can remember my last glance at it, just as the +iron-plated lid fell down. And ever since, being seventy years, +it has been blazing in secret, and gathering its splendor against +this glorious moment! It will flash upon us like the noonday +sun!" +</p> + +<p> +"Then shade your eyes, Mr. Peter!" said Tabitha, with somewhat +less patience than usual. "But, for mercy's sake, do turn the +key!" +</p> + +<p> +And, with a strong effort of both hands, Peter did force the +rusty key through the intricacies of the rusty lock. Mr. Brown, +in the mean time, had drawn near, and thrust his eager visage +between those of the other two, at the instant that Peter threw +up the lid. No sudden blaze illuminated the kitchen. +</p> + +<p> +"What's here?" exclaimed Tabitha, adjusting her spectacles, and +holding the lamp over the open chest. "Old Peter Goldthwaite's +hoard of old rags." +</p> + +<p> +"Pretty much so, Tabby," said Mr. Brown, lifting a handful of the +treasure. +</p> + +<p> +Oh, what a ghost of dead and buried wealth had Peter Goldthwaite +raised, to scare himself out of his scanty wits withal! Here was +the semblance of an incalculable sum, enough to purchase the +whole town, and build every street anew, but which, vast as it +was, no sane man would have given a solid sixpence for. What +then, in sober earnest, were the delusive treasures of the chest? +Why, here were old provincial bills of credit, and treasury +notes, and bills of land, banks, and all other bubbles of the +sort, from the first issue, above a century and a half ago, down +nearly to the Revolution. Bills of a thousand pounds were +intermixed with parchment pennies, and worth no more than they. +</p> + +<p> +"And this, then, is old Peter Goldthwaite's treasure!" said John +Brown. "Your namesake, Peter, was something like yourself; and, +when the provincial currency had depreciated fifty or +seventy-five per cent., he bought it up in expectation of a rise. +I have heard my grandfather say that old Peter gave his father a +mortgage of this very house and land, to raise cash for his silly +project. But the currency kept sinking, till nobody would take it +as a gift; and there was old Peter Goldthwaite, like Peter the +second, with thousands in his strong box and hardly a coat to his +back. He went mad upon the strength of it. But, never mind, +Peter! It is just the sort of capital for building castles in the +air." +</p> + +<p> +"The house will be down about our ears!" cried Tabitha, as the +wind shook it with increasing violence. +</p> + +<p> +"Let it fall!" said Peter, folding his arms, as he seated himself +upon the chest. +</p> + +<p> +"No, no, my old friend Peter," said John Brown. "I have house +room for you and Tabby, and a safe vault for the chest of +treasure. To-morrow we will try to come to an agreement about the +sale of this old house. Real estate is well up, and I could +afford you a pretty handsome price." +</p> + +<p> +"And I," observed Peter Goldthwaite, with reviving spirits, "have +a plan for laying out the cash to great advantage." +</p> + +<p> +"Why, as to that," muttered John Brown to himself, "we must apply +to the next court for a guardian to take care of the solid cash; +and if Peter insists upon speculating, he may do it, to his +heart's content, with old PETER GOLDTHWAITE'S TREASURE." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="shaker"></a></p> + +<h3> +THE SHAKER BRIDAL +</h3> + +<p> +One day, in the sick chamber of Father Ephraim, who had been +forty years the presiding elder over the Shaker settlement at +Goshen, there was an assemblage of several of the chief men of +the sect. Individuals had come from the rich establishment at +Lebanon, from Canterbury, Harvard, and Alfred, and from all the +other localities where this strange people have fertilized the +rugged hills of New England by their systematic industry. An +elder was likewise there, who had made a pilgrimage of a thousand +miles from a village of the faithful in Kentucky, to visit his +spiritual kindred, the children of the sainted mother Ann. He had +partaken of the homely abundance of their tables, had quaffed the +far-famed Shaker cider, and had joined in the sacred dance, every +step of which is believed to alienate the enthusiast from earth, +and bear him onward to heavenly purity and bliss. His brethren of +the north had now courteously invited him to be present on an +occasion, when the concurrence of every eminent member of their +community was peculiarly desirable. +</p> + +<p> +The venerable Father Ephraim sat in his easy chair, not only +hoary headed and infirm with age, but worn down by a lingering +disease, which, it was evident, would very soon transfer his +patriarchal staff to other hands. At his footstool stood a man +and woman, both clad in the Shaker garb. +</p> + +<p> +"My brethren," said Father Ephraim to the surrounding elders, +feebly exerting himself to utter these few words, "here are the +son and daughter to whom I would commit the trust of which +Providence is about to lighten my weary shoulders. Read their +faces, I pray you, and say whether the inward movement of the +spirit hath guided my choice aright." +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly, each elder looked at the two candidates with a most +scrutinizing gaze. The man, whose name was Adam Colburn, had a +face sunburnt with labor in the fields, yet intelligent, +thoughtful, and traced with cares enough for a whole lifetime, +though he had barely reached middle age. There was something +severe in his aspect, and a rigidity throughout his person, +characteristics that caused him generally to be taken for a +school-master, which vocation, in fact, he had formerly exercised +for several years. The woman, Martha Pierson, was somewhat above +thirty, thin and pale, as a Shaker sister almost invariably is, +and not entirely free from that corpse-like appearance which the +garb of the sisterhood is so well calculated to impart. +</p> + +<p> +"This pair are still in the summer of their years," observed the +elder from Harvard, a shrewd old man. "I would like better to see +the hoar-frost of autumn on their heads. Methinks, also, they +will +be exposed to peculiar temptations, on account of the carnal +desires which have heretofore subsisted between them." +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, brother," said the elder from Canterbury, "the hoar-frost +and the black-frost hath done its work on Brother Adam and Sister +Martha, even as we sometimes discern its traces in our +cornfields, while they are yet green. And why should we question +the wisdom of our venerable Father's purpose although this pair, +in their early youth, have loved one another as the world's +people love? Are there not many brethren and sisters among us, +who have lived long together in wedlock, yet, adopting our faith, +find their hearts purified from all but spiritual affection?" +</p> + +<p> +Whether or no the early loves of Adam and Martha had rendered it +inexpedient that they should now preside together over a Shaker +village, it was certainly most singular that such should be the +final result of many warm and tender hopes. Children of +neighboring families, their affection was older even than their +school-days; it seemed an innate principle, interfused among all +their sentiments and feelings, and not so much a distinct +remembrance, as connected with their whole volume of +remembrances. But, just as they reached a proper age for their +union, misfortunes had fallen heavily on both, and made it +necessary that they should resort to personal labor for a bare +subsistence. Even under these circumstances, Martha Pierson would +probably have consented to unite her fate with Adam Colburn's, +and, secure of the bliss of mutual love, would patiently have +awaited the less important gifts of fortune. But Adam, being of a +calm and cautious character, was loath to relinquish the +advantages which a single man possesses for raising himself in +the world. Year after year, therefore, their marriage had been +deferred. Adam Colburn had followed many vocations, had travelled +far, and seen much of the world and of life. Martha had earned +her bread sometimes as a seamstress, sometimes as help to a +farmer's wife, sometimes as school-mistress of the village +children, sometimes as a nurse or watcher of the sick, thus +acquiring a varied experience, the ultimate use of which she +little anticipated. But nothing had gone prosperously with either +of the lovers; at no subsequent moment would matrimony have been +so prudent a measure as when they had first parted, in the +opening bloom of life, to seek a better fortune. Still they had +held fast their mutual faith. Martha might have been the wife of +a man who sat among the senators of his native state, and Adam +could have won the hand, as he had unintentionally won the heart, +of a rich and comely widow. But neither of them desired good +fortune save to share it with the other. +</p> + +<p> +At length that calm despair which occurs only in a strong and +somewhat stubborn character, and yields to no second spring of +hope, settled down on the spirit of Adam Colburn. He sought an +interview with Martha, and proposed that they should join the +Society of Shakers. The converts of this sect are oftener driven +within its hospitable gates by worldly misfortune than drawn +thither by fanaticism and are received without inquisition as to +their motives. Martha, faithful still, had placed her hand in +that of her lover, and accompanied him to the Shaker village. +Here the natural capacity of each, cultivated and strengthened by +the difficulties of their previous lives, had soon gained them an +important rank in the Society, whose members are generally below +the ordinary standard of intelligence. Their faith and feelings +had, in some degree, become assimilated to those of their +fellow-worshippers. Adam Colburn gradually acquired reputation, +not only in the management of the temporal affairs of the +Society, but as a clear and efficient preacher of their +doctrines. Martha was not less distinguished in the duties proper +to her sex. Finally, when the infirmities of Father Ephraim had +admonished him to seek a successor in his patriarchal office, he +thought of Adam and Martha, and proposed to renew, in their +persons, the primitive form of Shaker government, as established +by Mother Ann. They were to be the Father and Mother of the +village. The simple ceremony, which would constitute them such, +was now to be performed. +</p> + +<p> +"Son Adam, and daughter Martha," said the venerable Father +Ephraim, fixing his aged eyes piercingly upon them, "if ye can +conscientiously undertake this charge, speak, that the brethren +may not doubt of your fitness." +</p> + +<p> +"Father," replied Adam, speaking with the calmness of his +character, "I came to your village a disappointed man, weary of +the world, worn out with continual trouble, seeking only a +security against evil fortune, as I had no hope of good. Even my +wishes of worldly success were almost dead within me. I came +hither as a man might come to a tomb, willing to lie down in its +gloom and coldness, for the sake of its peace and quiet. There +was but one earthly affection in my breast, and it had grown +calmer since my youth; so that I was satisfied to bring Martha to +be my sister, in our new abode. We are brother and sister; nor +would I have it otherwise. And in this peaceful village I have +found all that I hoped for,--all that I desire. I will strive, +with my best strength, for the spiritual and temporal good of our +community. My conscience is not doubtful in this matter. I am +ready to receive the trust." +</p> + +<p> +"Thou hast spoken well, son Adam," said the Father. "God will +bless thee in the office which I am about to resign." +</p> + +<p> +"But our sister!" observed the elder from Harvard, "hath she not +likewise a gift to declare her sentiments?" +</p> + +<p> +Martha started, and moved her lips, as if she would have made a +formal reply to this appeal. But, had she attempted it, perhaps +the old recollections, the long-repressed feelings of childhood, +youth, and womanhood, might have gushed from her heart, in words +that it would have been profanation to utter there. +</p> + +<p> +"Adam has spoken," said she hurriedly; "his sentiments are +likewise mine." +</p> + +<p> +But while speaking these few words, Martha grew so pale that she +looked fitter to be laid in her coffin than to stand in the +presence of Father Ephraim and the elders; she shuddered, also, +as if there were something awful or horrible in her situation and +destiny. It required, indeed, a more than feminine strength of +nerve, to sustain the fixed observance of men so exalted and +famous throughout the sect as these were. They had overcome their +natural sympathy with human frailties and affections. One, when +he joined the Society, had brought with him his wife and +children, but never, from that hour, had spoken a fond word to +the former, or taken his best-loved child upon his knee. Another, +whose family refused to follow him, had been enabled--such was +his gift of holy fortitude--to leave them to the mercy of the +world. The youngest of the elders, a man of about fifty, had been +bred from infancy in a Shaker village, and was said never to have +clasped a woman's hand in his own, and to have no conception of a +closer tie than the cold fraternal one of the sect. Old Father +Ephraim was the most awful character of all. In his youth he had +been a dissolute libertine, but was converted by Mother Ann +herself, and had partaken of the wild fanaticism of the early +Shakers. Tradition whispered, at the firesides of the village, +that Mother Ann had been compelled to sear his heart of flesh +with a red-hot iron before it could be purified from earthly +passions. +</p> + +<p> +However that might be, poor Martha had a woman's heart, and a +tender one, and it quailed within her, as she looked round at +those strange old men, and from them to the calm features of Adam +Colburn. But perceiving that the elders eyed her doubtfully, she +gasped for breath, and again spoke. +</p> + +<p> +"With what strength is left me by my many troubles," said she, "I +am ready to undertake this charge, and to do my best in it." +</p> + +<p> +"My children, join your hands," said Father Ephraim. +</p> + +<p> +They did so. The elders stood up around, and the Father feebly +raised himself to a more erect position, but continued sitting in +his great chair. +</p> + +<p> +"I have bidden you to join your hands," said he, "not in earthly +affection, for ye have cast off its chains forever; but as +brother and sister in spiritual love, and helpers of one another +in your allotted task. Teach unto others the faith which ye have +received. Open wide your gates,--I deliver you the keys +thereof,--open them wide to all who will give up the iniquities +of the world, and come hither to lead lives of purity and peace. +Receive the weary ones, who have known the vanity of +earth,--receive the little children, that they may never learn +that miserable lesson. And a blessing be upon your labors; so +that the time may hasten on, when the mission of Mother Ann shall +have wrought its full effect,--when children shall no more be +born and die, and the last survivor of mortal race, some old and +weary man like me, shall see the sun go down, nevermore to rise +on a world of sin and sorrow!" +</p> + +<p> +The aged Father sank back exhausted, and the surrounding elders +deemed, with good reason, that the hour was come when the new +heads of the village must enter on their patriarchal duties. In +their attention to Father Ephraim, their eyes were turned from +Martha Pierson, who grew paler and paler, unnoticed even by Adam +Colburn. He, indeed, had withdrawn his hand from hers, and folded +his arms with a sense of satisfied ambition. But paler and paler +grew Martha by his side, till, like a corpse in its burial +clothes, she sank down at the feet of her early lover; for, after +many trials firmly borne, her heart could endure the weight of +its desolate agony no longer. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="endicott"></a></p> + +<h3> +ENDICOTT AND THE RED CROSS +</h3> + +<p> +At noon of on autumnal day, more than two centuries ago, the +English colors were displayed by the standard-bearer of the Salem +trainband, which had mustered for martial exercise under the +orders of John Endicott. It was a period when the religious +exiles were accustomed often to buckle on their armor, and +practise the handling of their weapons of war. Since the first +settlement of New England, its prospects had never been so +dismal. The dissensions between Charles the First and his +subjects were then, and for several years afterwards, confined to +the floor of Parliament. The measures of the King and ministry +were rendered more tyrannically violent by an opposition, which +had not yet acquired sufficient confidence in its own strength to +resist royal injustice with the sword. The bigoted and haughty +primate, Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, controlled the religious +affairs of the realm, and was consequently invested with powers +which might have wrought the utter ruin of the two Puritan +colonies, Plymouth and Massachusetts. There is evidence on record +that our forefathers perceived their danger, but were resolved +that their infant country should not fall without a struggle, +even beneath the giant strength of the King's right arm. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the aspect of the times when the folds of the English +banner, with the Red Cross in its field, were flung out over a +company of Puritans. Their leader, the famous Endicott, was a man +of stern and resolute countenance, the effect of which was +heightened by a grizzled beard that swept the upper portion of +his breastplate. This piece of armor was so highly polished that +the whole surrounding scene had its image in the glittering +steel. The central object in the mirrored picture was an edifice +of humble architecture with neither steeple nor bell to proclaim +it--what nevertheless it was--the house of prayer. A token of the +perils of the wilderness was seen in the grim head of a wolf, +which had just been slain within the precincts of the town, and +according to the regular mode of claiming the bounty, was nailed +on the porch of the meeting-house. The blood was still plashing +on the doorstep. There happened to be visible, at the same +noontide hour, so many other characteristics of the times and +manners of the Puritans, that we must endeavor to represent them +in a sketch, though far less vividly than they were reflected in +the polished breastplate of John Endicott. +</p> + +<p> +In close vicinity to the sacred edifice appeared that important +engine of Puritanic authority, the whipping-post--with the soil +around it well trodden by the feet of evil doers, who had there +been disciplined. At one corner of the meeting-house was the +pillory, and at the other the stocks; and, by a singular good +fortune for our sketch, the head of an Episcopalian and suspected +Catholic was grotesquely incased in the former machine while a +fellow-criminal, who had boisterously quaffed a health to the +king, was confined by the legs in the latter. Side by side, on +the meeting-house steps, stood a male and a female figure. The +man was a tall, lean, haggard personification of fanaticism, +bearing on his breast this label,--A WANTON GOSPELLER,--which +betokened that he had dared to give interpretations of Holy Writ +unsanctioned by the infallible judgment of the civil and +religious rulers. His aspect showed no lack of zeal to maintain +his heterodoxies, even at the stake. The woman wore a cleft stick +on her tongue, in appropriate retribution for having wagged that +unruly member against the elders of the church; and her +countenance and gestures gave much cause to apprehend that, the +moment the stick should be removed, a repetition of the offence +would demand new ingenuity in chastising it. +</p> + +<p> +The above-mentioned individuals had been sentenced to undergo +their various modes of ignominy, for the space of one hour at +noonday. But among the crowd were several whose punishment would +be life-long; some, whose ears had been cropped, like those of +puppy dogs; others, whose cheeks had been branded with the +initials of their misdemeanors; one, with his nostrils slit and +seared; and another, with a halter about his neck, which he was +forbidden ever to take off, or to conceal beneath his garments. +Methinks he must have been grievously tempted to affix the other +end of the rope to some convenient beam or bough. There was +likewise a young woman, with no mean share of beauty, whose doom +it was to wear the letter A on the breast of her gown, in the +eyes of all the world and her own children. And even her own +children knew what that initial signified. Sporting with her +infamy, the lost and desperate creature had embroidered the fatal +token in scarlet cloth, with golden thread and the nicest art of +needlework; so that the capital A might have been thought to mean +Admirable, or anything rather than Adulteress. +</p> + +<p> +Let not the reader argue, from any of these evidences of +iniquity, that the times of the Puritans were more vicious than +our own, when, as we pass along the very street of this sketch, +we discern no badge of infamy on man or woman. It was the policy +of our ancestors to search out even the most secret sins, and +expose them to shame, without fear or favor, in the broadest +light of the noonday sun. Were such the custom now, perchance we +might find materials for a no less piquant sketch than the above. +</p> + +<p> +Except the malefactors whom we have described, and the diseased +or infirm persons, the whole male population of the town, between +sixteen years and sixty, were seen in the ranks of the trainband. +A few stately savages, in all the pomp and dignity of the +primeval Indian, stood gazing at the spectacle. Their +flint-headed arrows were but childish weapons compared with the +matchlocks of the Puritans, and would have rattled harmlessly +against the steel caps and hammered iron breastplates which +inclosed each soldier in an individual fortress. The valiant John +Endicott glanced with an eye of pride at his sturdy followers, +and prepared to renew the martial toils of the day. +</p> + +<p> +"Come, my stout hearts!" quoth he, drawing his sword. "Let us +show these poor heathen that we can handle our weapons like men +of might. Well for them, if they put us not to prove it in +earnest!" +</p> + +<p> +The iron-breasted company straightened their line, and each man +drew the heavy butt of his matchlock close to his left foot, thus +awaiting the orders of the captain. But, as Endicott glanced +right and left along the front, he discovered a personage at some +little distance with whom it behooved him to hold a parley. It +was an elderly gentleman, wearing a black cloak and band, and a +high-crowned hat, beneath which was a velvet skull-cap, the whole +being the garb of a Puritan minister. This reverend person bore a +staff which seemed to have been recently cut in the forest, and +his shoes were bemired as if he had been travelling on foot +through the swamps of the wilderness. His aspect was perfectly +that of a pilgrim, heightened also by an apostolic dignity. Just +as Endicott perceived him he laid aside his staff, and stooped to +drink at a bubbling fountain which gushed into the sunshine about +a score of yards from the corner of the meeting-house. But, ere +the good man drank, he turned his face heavenward in +thankfulness, and then, holding back his gray beard with one +hand, he scooped up his simple draught in the hollow of the +other. +</p> + +<p> +"What, ho! good Mr. Williams," shouted Endicott. "You are welcome +back again to our town of peace. How does our worthy Governor +Winthrop? And what news from Boston?" +</p> + +<p> +"The Governor hath his health, worshipful Sir," answered Roger +Williams, now resuming his staff, and drawing near. "And for the +news, here is a letter, which, knowing I was to travel hitherward +to-day, his Excellency committed to my charge. Belike it contains +tidings of much import; for a ship arrived yesterday from +England." +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Williams, the minister of Salem and of course known to all +the spectators, had now reached the spot where Endicott was +standing under the banner of his company, and put the Governor's +epistle into his hand. The broad seal was impressed with +Winthrop's coat of arms. Endicott hastily unclosed the letter and +began to read, while, as his eye passed down the page, a wrathful +change came over his manly countenance. The blood glowed through +it, till it seemed to be kindling with an internal heat, nor was +it unnatural to suppose that his breastplate would likewise +become red-hot with the angry fire of the bosom which it covered. +Arriving at the conclusion, he shook the letter fiercely in his +hand, so that it rustled as loud as the flag above his head. +</p> + +<p> +"Black tidings these, Mr. Williams," said he; "blacker never came +to New England. Doubtless you know their purport?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yea, truly," replied Roger Williams; "for the Governor +consulted, respecting this matter, with my brethren in the +ministry at Boston; and my opinion was likewise asked. And his +Excellency entreats you by me, that the news be not suddenly +noised abroad, lest the people be stirred up unto some outbreak, +and thereby give the King and the Archbishop a handle against +us." +</p> + +<p> +"The Governor is a wise man--a wise man, and a meek and +moderate," said Endicott, setting his teeth grimly. +"Nevertheless, I must do according to my own best judgment. There +is neither man, woman, nor child in New England, but has a +concern as dear as life in these tidings; and if John Endicott's +voice be loud enough, man, woman, and child shall hear them. +Soldiers, wheel into a hollow square! Ho, good people! Here are +news for one and all of you." +</p> + +<p> +The soldiers closed in around their captain; and he and Roger +Williams stood together under the banner of the Red Cross; while +the women and the aged men pressed forward, and the mothers held +up their children to look Endicott in the face. A few taps of the +drum gave signal for silence and attention. +</p> + +<p> +"Fellow-soldiers--fellow-exiles," began Endicott, speaking under +strong excitement, yet powerfully restraining it, "wherefore did +ye leave your native country? Wherefore, I say, have we left the +green and fertile fields, the cottages, or, perchance, the old +gray halls, where we were born and bred, the churchyards where +our forefathers lie buried? Wherefore have we come hither to set +up our own tombstones in a wilderness? A howling wilderness it +is! The wolf and the bear meet us within halloo of our dwellings. +The savage lieth in wait for us in the dismal shadow of the +woods. The stubborn roots of the trees break our ploughshares, +when we would till the earth. Our children cry for bread, and we +must dig in the sands of the sea-shore to satisfy them. +Wherefore, I say again, have we sought this country of a rugged +soil and wintry sky? Was it not for the enjoyment of our civil +rights? Was it not for liberty to worship God according to our +conscience?" +</p> + +<p> +"Call you this liberty of conscience?" interrupted a voice on the +steps of the meeting-house. +</p> + +<p> +It was the Wanton Gospeller. A sad and quiet smile flitted across +the mild visage of Roger Williams. But Endicott, in the +excitement of the moment, shook his sword wrathfully at the +culprit--an ominous gesture from a man like him. +</p> + +<p> +"What hast thou to do with conscience, thou knave?" cried he. "I +said liberty to worship God, not license to profane and ridicule +him. Break not in upon my speech, or I will lay thee neck and +heels till this time tomorrow! Hearken to me, friends, nor heed +that accursed rhapsodist. As I was saying, we have sacrificed all +things, and have come to a land whereof the old world hath +scarcely heard, that we might make a new world unto ourselves, +and painfully seek a path from hence to heaven. But what think ye +now? This son of a Scotch tyrant--this grandson of a Papistical +and adulterous Scotch woman, whose death proved that a golden +crown doth not always save an anointed head from the block--" +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, brother, nay," interposed Mr. Williams; "thy words are not +meet for a secret chamber, far less for a public street." +</p> + +<p> +"Hold thy peace, Roger Williams!" answered Endicott, imperiously. +"My spirit is wiser than thine for the business now in hand. I +tell ye, fellow-exiles, that Charles of England, and Laud, our +bitterest persecutor, arch-priest of Canterbury, are resolute to +pursue us even hither. They are taking counsel, saith this +letter, to send over a governor-general, in whose breast shall be +deposited all the law and equity of the land. They are minded, +also, to establish the idolatrous forms of English Episcopacy; so +that, when Laud shall kiss the Pope's toe, as cardinal of Rome, +he may deliver New England, bound hand and foot, into the power +of his master!" +</p> + +<p> +A deep groan from the auditors,--a sound of wrath, as well as +fear and sorrow,--responded to this intelligence. +</p> + +<p> +"Look ye to it, brethren," resumed Endicott, with increasing +energy. "If this king and this arch-prelate have their will, we +shall briefly behold a cross on the spire of this tabernacle +which we have builded, and a high altar within its walls, with +wax tapers burning round it at noonday. We shall hear the sacring +bell, and the voices of the Romish priests saying the mass. But +think ye, Christian men, that these abominations may be suffered +without a sword drawn? without a shot fired? without blood spilt, +yea, on the very stairs of the pulpit? No,--be ye strong of hand +and stout of heart! Here we stand on our own soil, which we have +bought with our goods, which we have won with our swords, which +we have cleared with our axes, which we have tilled with the +sweat of our brows, which we have sanctified with our prayers to +the God that brought us hither! Who shall enslave us here? What +have we to do with this mitred prelate,--with this crowned king? +What have we to do with England?" +</p> + +<p> +Endicott gazed round at the excited countenances of the people, +now full of his own spirit, and then turned suddenly to the +standard-bearer, who stood close behind him. +</p> + +<p> +"Officer, lower your banner!" said he. +</p> + +<p> +The officer obeyed; and, brandishing his sword, Endicott thrust +it through the cloth, and, with his left hand, rent the Red Cross +completely out of the banner. He then waved the tattered ensign +above his head. +</p> + +<p> +"Sacrilegious wretch!" cried the high-churchman in the pillory, +unable longer to restrain himself, "thou hast rejected the symbol +of our holy religion!" +</p> + +<p> +"Treason, treason!" roared the royalist in the stocks. "He hath +defaced the King's banner!" +</p> + +<p> +"Before God and man, I will avouch the deed," answered Endicott. +"Beat a flourish, drummer!--shout, soldiers and people!--in honor +of the ensign of New England. Neither Pope nor Tyrant hath part +in it now!" +</p> + +<p> +With a cry of triumph, the people gave their sanction to one of +the boldest exploits which our history records. And forever +honored be the name of Endicott! We look back through the mist of +ages, and recognize in the rending of the Red Cross from New +England's banner the first omen of that deliverance which our +fathers consummated after the bones of the stern Puritan had lain +more than a century in the dust. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Twice-Told Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWICE-TOLD TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 508-h.htm or 508-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/508/ + +Produced by Charles Keller. 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