Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

them, with a segar in his mouth, and after listening to their conversation a few moments, he ventured to address them.

Charming evening, gentlemen,' said the stranger.

'Yes, Sir, it is, very lovely,' replied Jeremiah; I was just remarking to my young friend here, that the solemn grandeur of the scene was very impressive.'

Upon my soul,' said the stranger, 'I was just thinking that very thing myself; what a liquid appearance the water has!'

'Very,' replied Jeremiah; it is a pleasant thing to travel; there is such a constant succession of new and surprising scenes, that one has hardly time to dwell upon his own sad feelings.'

'Yes,' replied the stranger; 'but d-n it! I have got sick of it, and I am now going home to settle down quietly on my own farm, where I can eat my own eggs, and drink my own cider.'

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Ah! there's a pleasure in that, too,' said Jeremiah. Pray have you travelled much ?'

'Not much,' said the stranger; 'I have been as fur as Rome, and once I was as fur from hum as Batavia. I have got a sister married in Vienna, which I go to see once a year; and once in a great while, I go to see my uncle, in Pekin.'

You must have been a very great traveller,' said Jeremiah.

'I don't call that nothing at all,' said the stranger; 'I mean to go to Niagara next fall.'

'How long since you were in Batavia?' asked Jeremiah.

Only last spring,' replied the stranger.

'Our house has some correspondents in Batavia,' said Jeremiah; we received a large consignment from them last week. I suppose you know the firm of Gluttstiver and Gruntwitchel ?'

'No, I can't say I did,' said the stranger. 'I thought I knowd all the merchants in that place, too. Have they been long in business?' 'Oh, it is a very old house,' replied Jeremiah;' our firm have been in correspondence with them for a great many years. And pray what is the quality of the coffee there?' asked Jeremiah.

'The d st stuff I ever swallowed in my life! nothing like as good as you get at the Eagle, in Palmyra. I would as soon drink the water out of the Grand Canawl,' replied the stranger, with some warmth.

'Your account does not agree with my impressions at all,' said Jeremiah; I thought the coffee was very fine.'

All humbug!' said the stranger; 'it is not worth that!' Palmyra must be a very interesting spot,' said Jeremiah. So-so,' said the stranger;' the fact is, it was built up too suddenly. Folks said 't was a very flourishing place, and so 't was; but 't was all flourish; and now it's going down hill fast enough.'

[ocr errors]

'Perhaps its rise was too sudden,' replied Jeremiah; but it was always a matter of wonder to me, how such a city ever sprung up at all in such a place.'

'It is no wonder at all to me,' said the stranger; 'it was all done by speculators.'

'Not unlikely,' replied Jeremiah; human nature has doubtless been the same in all ages; and I suppose there were speculators even among the Palmyrenes.'

The stranger now perceived that his segar had gone out while he had been talking to our travellers, and he left them to get a light. That is a very remarkable man!' said Jeremiah. Only think of it, Jack; he says his sister lives in Vienna, and his uncle in Pekin; and that he has been in Batavia, and Palmyra, and Rome! Perhaps he has kissed the Pope's toe.'

6

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

'I guess he did,' replied our hero, for he had a dreadful disagreeable breath.' The bell now rang for supper, and our travellers went down into the cabin, where they sat opposite to the communicative stranger; but as they were all very hungry, Jeremiah asked no farther questions about Palmyra, neither did the great traveller appear at all disposed to communicate any farther intelligence respecting the famous places where his aunts and uncles resided. But when they landed the next morning, another agreeable gentleman addressed Jeremiah, and asked him if he had much luggage.

[ocr errors]

Not much,' replied Jeremiah, but what I have, is of some consequence; and I am very anxious about it, because the most of it belongs to this young gentleman, who is placed in my charge.'

[ocr errors]

I suppose there is nothing of much value in it?' said the stranger. 'Yes, it is rather valuable,' said Jeremiah; and for the greater safety, I have put my purse into my valise, as I have heard of a good many robberies on board of steam-boats.'

[ocr errors]

You did right,' said the stranger; I always keep a bright look-out myself; which is your luggage?'

Those two trunks,' said Jeremiah, pointing to them.

'Where did you say you were going to inquired the stranger. 'We are going to Willow-mead Academy,' said Jeremiah, ‘in Berkshire county, Massachusetts.'

[ocr errors]

Ah! it's the very place I am going to myself!' said the stranger; my youngest brother is there at school. But I forget the name of the principal?

[ocr errors]

The Reverend Doctor Whippy,' said Jeremiah.

[ocr errors]

'Yes, that is it,' said the stranger; and a most appropriate name, too, for my brother writes me he is a devil of a fellow for whipping.' This piece of intelligence was rather unpleasant to our hero, who seemed to have taken a dislike to the stranger. When their trunks were taken up to the stage office, the stranger very kindly offered to take charge of them, upon which Jeremiah thanked him for his politeness, and told him, as they were not much used to travelling, he would be obliged if he would keep them with his own luggage until they got to Willow-mead; all of which the stranger very obligingly promised to do. They rode all day, and about eight o'clock in the evening, at the place where they stopped to change horses, they met the returning coach. It was a cloudy night, the wind blew strong from the east, and it was very dark. When Jeremiah and our hero got into the stage again, they did not observe that one of their number was missing, and being fatigued with riding, they soon fell asleep, and did not wake again until it was midnight, when they stopped at an out-of-the-way tavern to change horses. The wind had increased, and it rained very hard, and our travellers were stiff and cold; their legs were cramped, and they felt very wretched. It was a long time before the tavern-keeper opened his door; and

1

when he did, his bar-room presented a most cheerless and dreary appearance. There was no fire, and only one small tallow candle burning in a huge tin candle-stick. The tavern-keeper himself was very tall and thin; his hair was long, and so was his face, and in fact every thing else about him, except his answers, which were very short and crusty. And indeed his ill-humor was not to be wondered at to be roused out of a pleasant sleep, in the middle of a cold, rainy night, to admit half a dozen temperance customers, could not have been very soothing to the feelings of a publican.

As it was necessary to pay for the next stage at this house, Jeremiah put his hand in his pocket to take out his purse, and to his great horror discovered it was not there. He procured a lantern from the landlord, and searched the coach, without finding it; and then he remembered that he had put it into his valise for safe-keeping. Jeremiah now began to make inquiries for the obliging stranger who had so generously undertaken the charge of his luggage; and he was terrified beyond expression, when he was told how that kind gentleman had pretended to have left one of his trunks behind him, and had taken a seat in the returning coach, which they met at eight o'clock. On inspecting the boot of the stage, it was farther discovered that he had taken with him our hero's trunk, and Jeremiah's valise.

Our travellers were now in a most uncomfortable situation, for the driver of the coach not only refused to take them a mile farther, unless their fare was first paid, but the tavern-keeper refused to give them a bed, although he consented to their remaining in the bar-room until it was day-light. Jeremiah begged hard for a little fire, as the night was cold, and their clothes were damp; but this the host also refused; and indeed he would not even allow them the light of the miserable tallow candle; but, having first locked all the doors, and taken a five cent piece and two bung-town coppers out of the till, he retired to bed, and left our hero and Jeremiah in darkness. They were too cold to sleep, and so they sat close together on a wooden bench, without any back to it, and tried to divert their thoughts from their uncomfortable situation, by relating the many unpleasant dilemmas in which they had both been placed before. Once,' said Jeremiah, I should have considered it a great happiness to have obtained such a shelter as this cheerless bar-room affords, on a night like this. Then why should I repine at what I should once have felt myself called upon to give thanks for? I will not; but let us rather, John, kneel down, and thank the Giver of all good things, that we are not exposed to the piercing wind, and the cold, driving rain.'

I have no objection,' said our hero; and so they knelt down, and Jeremiah prayed thus:

'O, Lord, God! we give thee humble and hearty thanks, that thou hast created us in such wise that our happiness is not dependent upon the outward circumstances and conditions of our bodies; and though we do not exult because that they who are clothed in soft raiment, and who fare sumptuously in rich men's houses, are not happier than we, to whom thou hast wisely denied these things, yet we rejoice, O Lord! that to the meek and humble, the outcast and the wretched, thou hast graciously been pleased to manifest thyself,

[blocks in formation]

and hast condescended to pour into their hearts an oil of gladness, of which those know but little, who look only upon their outward seeming. And we beseech thee, O Lord! that thine outstretched wings may be over this house, and that its inmates may be kept from all harm; and that he who has kindly given us a shelter beneath his roof, may never be exposed, himself, to the inclemency of the elements. And we beseech thee, O Lord! to remember in mercy that misguided wayfarer, who has unjustly deprived us of our little property

Stop! Jeremiah,' said our hero; 'I am not going to pray for that scamp who stole our trunks!'

Certainly we must,' said Jeremiah, for we are commanded to pray for our enemies; and we do not yet positively know whether the gentleman has wronged us or not.'

'Ö, I know he did it,' said our hero; for I saw him wink at the great traveller two or three times, while he was talking to you.'

I am strongly inclined to believe, myself,' said Jeremiah, that he is guilty, but still he may not be; and even if he is, we do not know how sorely he may have been tempted, nor how much he may have resisted.'

Jeremiah would not hurt the feelings of the youngster by reminding him of his own temptation and fall; but lifting up his voice again, he continued his prayer. And when he had finished, he declared he had never felt more comfortable in his life. So huddling close together, the two fell into a sound sleep, from which they did not awake until the entrance of the landlord in the morning aroused them.

[blocks in formation]

OUR VILLAGE.

BY THE AUTHOR OF THE AMERICAN IN PARIS,' 'LETTERS FROM LONDON,' ETC.

AMONG the curiosities of this country, is the sudden growth of its towns. Any one may have assisted two or three times, in a moderate life, in clearing out the wolves, panthers, and rattle-snakes, and seen growing in their place potatoes, cabbages, and towns, with ladies fit to dance at Almacks; or may have stopped in his coach to leave a card for Madam, where a year before he had reposed in the shades of the wilderness. I think myself rather young, and yet am older than a city of fifty thousand inhabitants. Indeed, in some places, towns are ready-made, and kept for occasion. A family bound from Pittsburgh to the Ouisconsin, would not be thought very prudent to set out without taking a house along, as part of the luggage. Nor do these houses always lose their capacity for locomotion, when settled into permanent dwellings. You must have met more than one looking out for new lodgings in the streets of Philadelphia or New-York. The population of such towns is gathered from the four corners of the earth, and the employments being laborious, the new settlers are of a healthy and sturdy constitution, and have a fair chance of all the improvement resulting from a crossing of the breed.

But before the new modes of travelling had opened an easy intercourse with the older settlements, an American village had a very different character. Its growth was slow; its population native and unadulterated; and it maintained its original and traditionary customs. It was my lot to grow up to the dawn of manhood in one of these towns, which lurked in a corner a long time unheeded by the world; and I had an opportunity of observing its changes of condition; of seeing its barbarism fade away under what the courtesy of the world calls civilization. Pardon, gentle reader, if I shed a tear or two upon the recollection of this age, never to be recalled, of innocent and pastoral enjoyment!

A few engineers, young gentlemen from the cities, were in the course of time stationed in this town. Gentility is so portable a commodity, that a single beau may import enough to refine a whole community. There was an immediate and visible change. The women began to wear stockings; calico superseded worsted gowns; and landladies were seen killing the bugs in hotels, putting two sheets on the same bed, and water and other conveniences in the chambers of their lodgers. The rustic who, with two new patches on the knees for Sunday, escorted the prettiest belle of the village to church, aiding her to put on her shoes, and garter up her stockings at the church-door, was now fashionably tailored, and washed his hands in pâte d'amand; and 'modestes' made frocks and bonnets of the freshest patterns, for the girls. One was partial to tissue sylphide, and another thought paille de riz was more becoming. The very girl whom I had seen- - dear little thing! scamper upon the flanks of the mountain, bare-foot, and who counted the excoriation of her legs among the incidents of a rural excursion, now walked out in prunellas; and instead of the simple dauce of nature, that once so became her, so delighted her, it

--

« AnteriorContinuar »