"This is most strange: your father's in some passion
That works him strongly."
Tempest.
A few hours made a great change in the occupations of the different
members of our simple and secluded family. The kine had yielded their
nightly tribute; the oxen had been released from the yoke, and were now
secure beneath their sheds; the sheep were in their folds, safe from the
assaults of the prowling wolf; and care had been taken to see that every
thing possessing life was gathered within the particular defences that
were provided for its security and comfort. But while all this caution was
used in behalf of living things, the utmost indifference prevailed on the
subject of that species of movable property, which, elsewhere, would have
been guarded with, at least, an equal jealousy. The homely fabrics of the
looms of Ruth lay on their bleaching-ground, to drink in the night-dew;
and plows, harrows, carts, saddles, and other similar articles, were left
in situations so exposed, as to prove that the hand of man had occupations
so numerous and so urgent, as to render it inconvenient to bestow labor
where it was not considered absolutely necessary.
Content himself was the last to quit the fields and the out-buildings.
When he reached the postern in the palisadoes, he stopped to call to those
above him, in order to learn if any yet lingered without the wooden
barriers. The answer being in the negative, he entered, and drawing-to the
small but heavy gate, he secured it with bar, bolt, and lock, carefully
and jealously, with his own hand. As this was no more than a nightly and
necessary precaution, the affairs of the family received no interruption.
The meal of the hour was soon ended; and conversation, with those light
toils which are peculiar to the long evenings of the fall and winter in
families on the frontier, succeeded as fitting employments to close the
business of a laborious and well-spent day.
Notwithstanding the entire simplicity which marked the opinions and usages
of the colonists at that period, and the great equality of condition which
even to this hour distinguishes the particular community of which we
write, choice and inclination drew some natural distinctions in the
ordinary intercourse of the inmates of the Heathcote family. A fire so
bright and cheerful blazed on an enormous hearth in a sort of upper
kitchen, as to render candles or torches unnecessary. Around it were
seated six or seven hardy and athletic young men, some drawing coarse
tools carefully through the curvatures of ox-bows, others scraping down
the helves of axes, or perhaps fashioning sticks of birch into homely but
convenient brooms. A demure, side-looking young woman kept her great wheel
in motion; while one or two others were passing from room to room, with
the notable and stirring industry of handmaidens, busied in the more
familiar cares of the household. A door communicated with an inner and
superior apartment. Here was a smaller but an equally cheerful fire, a
floor which had recently been swept, while that without had been freshly
sprinkled with river sand; candles of tallow, on a table of cherry-wood
from the neighboring forest; walls that were wainscoted in the black oak
of the country, and a few other articles, of a fashion so antique, and of
ornaments so ingenious and rich, as to announce that they had been
transported from beyond sea. Above the mantel were suspended the armorial
bearings of the Heathcotes and the Hardings, elaborately emblazoned in
tent-stitch.
The principal personages of the family were seated around the latter
hearth, while a straggler from the other room, of more than usual
curiosity, had placed himself among them, marking the distinction in
ranks, or rather in situation, merely by the extraordinary care which he
took that none of the scrapings should litter the spotless oaken floor.
Until this period of the evening, the duties of hospitality and the
observances of religion had prevented familiar discourse. But the offices
of the housewife were now ended for the night, the handmaidens had all
retired to their wheels, and, as the bustle of a busy and more stirring
domestic industry ceased, the cold and self-restrained silence which had
hitherto only been broken by distant and brief observations of courtesy,
or by some wholesome allusion to the lost and probationary condition of
man, seemed to invite an intercourse of a more general character.
"You entered my clearing by the southern path," commenced Mark Heathcote,
addressing himself to his guest with sufficient courtesy, "and needs must
bring tidings from the towns on the river side. Has aught been done by our
councillors, at home, in the matter that pertaineth so closely to the
well-being of this colony?"
"You would have me say whether he that now sitteth on the throne of
England, hath listened to the petitions of his people in this province,
and hath granted them protection against the abuses which might so readily
flow out of his own ill-advised will or out of the violence and injustice
of his successors?
"We will render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and speak
reverently of men having authority. I would fain know whether the agent
sent by our people hath gained the ears of those who counsel the prince,
and obtained that which he sought?"
"He hath done more," returned the stranger, with singular asperity; "he
hath even gained the ear of the Lord's Anointed."
"Then is Charles of better mind, and of stronger justice, than report
hath spoken. We were told that light manners and unprofitable companions
had led him to think more of the vanities of the world, and less of the
wants of those over whom he hath been called by Providence to rule, than
is meet for one that sitteth on a high place. I rejoice that the
arguments of the man we sent have prevailed over more evil promptings,
and that peace and freedom of conscience are likely to be the fruits of
the undertaking. In what manner hath he seen fit to order the future
government of this people?"
"Much as it hath ever stood; by their own ordinances. Winthrop hath
returned, and is the bearer of a Royal Charter, which granteth all the
rights long claimed and practised. None now dwell under the Crown of
Britain with fewer offensive demands on their consciences, or with lighter
calls on their political duties, than the men of Connecticut."
"It is fitting that thanks should be rendered therefor, where thanks are
most due," said the Puritan, folding his hands on his bosom, and sitting
for a moment with closed eyes, like one who communed with an unseen being.
"Is it known by what manner of argument the Lord moved the heart of the
Prince to hearken to our wants; or was it an open and manifest token of
his power?"
"I think it must needs have been the latter," rejoined the visiter, with a
manner that grew still more caustic and emphatic. "The bauble, that was
the visible agent, could not have weighed greatly with one so proudly
seated before the eyes of men."
Until this point in the discourse, Content and Ruth, with their
offspring, and the two or three other individuals who composed the
audience, had listened with the demure gravity which characterized the
manners of the country. The language, united with the ill-concealed
sarcasm conveyed by the countenance, no less than the emphasis, of the
speaker, caused them now to raise their eyes, as by a common impulse. The
word "bauble" was audibly and curiously repeated. But the look of cold
irony had already passed from the features of the stranger, and it had
given place to a stern and fixed austerity, that imparted a character of
grimness to his hard and sun-burnt visage. Still he betrayed no
disposition to shrink from the subject, but, after regarding, his auditors
with a glance in which pride and suspicion were strongly blended, he
resumed the discourse.
"It is known," he added, "that the grandfather of him the good people of
these settlements have commissioned to bear their wants over sea, lived in
the favor of the man who last sat upon the throne of England; and a rumor
goeth forth, that the Stuart, in a moment of princely condescension, once
decked the finger of his subject, with a ring wrought in a curious
fashion. It was a token of the love which a monarch may bear a man."
"Such gifts are beacons of friendship, but may not be used as gay and
sinful ornaments," observed Mark, while the other paused like one who
wished none of the bitterness of his allusions to be lost.
"It matters not whether the bauble lay in the coffers of the Winthrops,
or has long been glittering before the eyes of the faithful, in the
Bay, since it hath finally proved to be a jewel of price," continued
the stranger. "It is said, in secret, that this ring hath returned to
the finger of a Stuart, and it is openly proclaimed that Connecticut
hath a Charter!"
Content and his wife regarded each other in melancholy amazement. Such an
evidence of wanton levity and of unworthiness of motive, in one who was
intrusted with the gift of earthly government, pained their simple and
upright minds; while old Mark, of still more decided and exaggerated
ideas of spiritual perfection, distinctly groaned aloud The stranger took
a sensible pleasure in this testimony of their abhorrence of so gross and
so unworthy a venality, though he saw no occasion to heighten its effect
by further speech. When his host stood erect, and, in a voice that was
accustomed to obedience, he called on his family to join, in behalf of
the reckless ruler of the land of their fathers, in a petition to him who
alone could soften the hearts of Princes, he also arose from his seat.
But even in this act of devotion, the stranger bore the air of one who
wished to do pleasure to his entertainers, rather than to obtain that
which was asked.
The prayer, though short, was pointed, fervent, and sufficiently personal.
The wheels in the outer room ceased their hum, and a general movement
denoted that all there had arisen to join in the office; while one or two
of their number, impelled by deeper piety or stronger interest, drew near
to the open door between the rooms, in order to listen. With this singular
but characteristic interruption, that particular branch of the discourse,
which had given rise to it, altogether ceased.
"And have we reason to dread a rising of the savages on the borders?"
asked Content, when he found that the moved spirit of his father was not
yet sufficiently calmed, to return to the examination of temporal things;
"one who brought wares from the towns below, a few months since, recited
reasons to fear a movement among the red men."
The subject had not sufficient interest to open the ears of the
stranger. He was deaf, or he chose to affect deafness, to the
interrogatory. Laying his two large and weather-worn, though still
muscular hands, on a visage that was much darkened by exposure, he
appeared to shut out the objects of the world, while he communed deeply,
and, as would seem by a slight tremor, that shook even his powerful
frame, terribly, with his own thoughts.
"We have many to whom our hearts strongly cling, to heighten the smallest
symptom of alarm from that quarter," added the tender and anxious mother,
her eye glancing at the uplifted countenances of two little girls, who,
busied with their light needle-work, sate on stools at her feet. "But I
rejoice to see, that one who hath journeyed from parts where the minds of
the savages must be better understood, hath not feared to do it unarmed."
The traveller slowly uncovered his features, and the glance that his eye
shot over the face of the last speaker, was not without a gentle and
interested expression. Instantly recovering his composure, he arose, and,
turning to the double leathern sack, which had been borne on the crupper
of his nag, and which now lay at no great distance from his seat, he drew
a pair of horseman's pistols from two well-contrived pockets in its sides,
and laid them deliberately on the table.
"Though little disposed to seek an encounter with any bearing the image of
man," he said, "I have not neglected the usual precautions of those who
enter the wilderness. Here are weapons that, in steady hands, might easily
take life, or, at need preserve it."
The young Mark drew near with boyish curiosity, and while one finger
ventured to touch a lock, as he stole a conscious glance of wrong-doing
towards his mother, he said, with as much of contempt in his air, as the
schooling of his manners would allow--
"An Indian arrow would make a surer aim, than a bore as short as this!
When the trainer from the Hartford town, struck the wild-cat on the hill
clearing, he sent the bullet from a five-foot, barrel; besides, this
short-sighted gun would be a dull weapon in a hug against the keen-edged
knife, that the wicked Wampanoag is known to carry."--
"Boy, thy years are few, and thy boldness of speech marvellous," sternly
interrupted his parent in the second degree.
The stranger manifested no displeasure at the confident language of
the lad. Encouraging him with a look, which plainly proclaimed that
martial qualities in no degree lessened the stripling in his favor, he
observed that--
"The youth who is not afraid to think of the fight, or to reason on its
chances, will lead to a manhood of spirit and independence. A hundred
thousand striplings like this, might have spared Winthrop his jewel, and
the Stuart the shame of yielding to so vain and so trivial a bribe. But
thou mayst also see, child, that had we come to the death-hug, the wicked
Wampanoag might have found a blade as keen as his own."
The stranger, while speaking, loosened a few strings of his doublet, and
thrust a hand into his bosom. The action enabled more than one eye to
catch a momentary glimpse of a weapon of the same description, but of a
size much smaller than those he had already so freely exhibited. As he
immediately withdrew the member, and again closed the garment with studied
care, no one presumed to advert to the circumstance, but all turned their
attention to the long sharp hunting-knife that he deposited by the side of
the pistols, as he concluded. Mark ventured to open its blade, but he
turned away with sudden consciousness, when he found that a few fibres of
coarse, shaggy wool, that were drawn from the loosened joint, adhered to
his fingers.
"Straight-Horns has been against a bush sharper than the thorn!"
exclaimed Whittal Ring, who had been at hand, and who watched with
childish admiration the smallest proceedings of the different
individuals. "A steel for the back of the blade, a few dried leaves and
broken sticks, with such a carver, would soon make roast and broiled of
the old bell-wether himself. I know that the hair of all my colts is
sorrel, and I counted five at sun-down, which is just as many as went
loping through the underbrush when I loosened them from the hopples in
the morning; but six-and-thirty backs can never carry seven-and-thirty
growing fleeces of unsheared wool. Master knows that, for he is a scholar
and can count a hundred!"
The allusion to the fate of the lost sheep was so plain, as to admit of no
misinterpretation of the meaning of the witless speaker. Animals of that
class were of the last importance to the comfort of the settlers, and
there was not probably one within hearing of Whittal Ring, that was at all
ignorant of the import of his words. Indeed, the loud chuckle and the open
and deriding manner with which the lad himself held above his head the
hairy fibres that he had snatched from young Mark, allowed of no
concealment, had it been desirable.
"This feeble-gifted youth would hint, that thy knife hath proved its edge
on a wether that is missing from our flock, since the animals went on
their mountain range, in the morning," said the host, calmly; though even
he bent his eye to the floor, as he waited for an answer to a remark,
direct as the one his sense of justice, and his indomitable love of right,
had prompted.
The stranger demanded, in a voice that lost none of its depth or firmness,
"Is hunger a crime, that they who dwell so far from the haunts of
selfishness, visit it with their anger?"
"The foot of Christian man never approached the gates of Wish-Ton-Wish to
be turned away in uncharitableness, but that which is freely given should
not be taken in licentiousness. From off the hill where my flock is wont
to graze, it is easy, through many an opening of the forest, to see these
roofs; and it would have been better that the body should languish, than
that a grievous sin should be placed on that immortal spirit which is
already too deeply laden, unless thou art far more happy than others of
the fallen race of Adam."
"Mark Heathcote," said the accused, and ever with an unwavering tone,
"look further at those weapons, which, if a guilty man, I have weakly
placed within thy power. Thou wilt find more there to wonder at, than a
few straggling hairs, that the spinner would cast from her as too coarse
for service."
"It is long since I found pleasure in handling the weapons of strife; may
it be longer to the time when they shall be needed in this abode of peace.
These are instruments of death, resembling those used in my youth, by
cavaliers that rode in the levies of the first Charles, and of his
pusillanimous father. There were worldly pride and great vanity, with much
and damning ungodliness, in the wars that I have seen, my children; and
yet the carnal man found pleasure in the stirrings of those graceless
days! Come hither, younker; thou hast often sought to know the manner in
which the horsemen are wont to lead into the combat, when the
broad-mouthed artillery and pattering leaden hail have cleared a passage
for the struggle of horse to horse, and man to man. Much of the
justification of these combats must depend on the inward spirit, and on
the temper of him that striketh at the life of fellow-sinner; but
righteous Joshua, it is known, contended with the heathen throughout a
supernatural day: and therefore always humbly confiding that our cause is
just, I will open to thy young mind the uses of a weapon that hath never
before been seen in these forests."
"I have hefted many a heavier piece than this," said young Mark, frowning,
equally with the exertion and with the instigations of his aspiring
spirit, as he held out the ponderous weapon in a single hand; "we have
guns that might tame a wolf with greater certainty than any barrel of a
bore less than my own height. Tell, me grand'ther; at what distance do the
mounted warriors, you so often name, take their sight?"
But the power of speech appeared suddenly to have deserted the aged
veteran. He had interrupted his own discourse, and now, instead of
answering the interrogatory of the boy, his eye wandered slowly and with a
look of painful doubt from the weapon, that he still held before him, to
the countenance of the stranger. The latter continued erect, like one
courting a strict and meaning examination of his person. This dumb-show
could not fail to attract the observation of Content. Rising from his
seat, with that quiet but authoritative manner which is still seen in the
domestic government of the people of the region where he dwelt, he
beckoned to all present to quit the apartment. Ruth and her daughters, the
hirelings, the ill-gifted Whittal, and even the reluctant Mark, preceded
him to the door, which he closed with respectful care; and then the whole
of the wondering party mingled with those of the outer room, leaving the
one they had quitted to the sole possession of the aged chief of the
settlement, and to his still unknown and mysterious guest.
Many anxious, and to those who were excluded seemingly interminable
minutes passed, and, the secret interview appeared to draw no nearer its
close. That deep reverence, which the years, paternity, and character of
the grandfather had inspired, prevented all from approaching the quarter
of the apartment nearest to the room they had left; but a silence, still
as the grave, did all that silence could do, to enlighten their minds in a
matter of so much general interest. The deep, smothered sentences of the
speakers were often heard, each dwelling with steadiness and propriety on
his particular theme, but no sound that conveyed meaning to the minds of
those without passed the envious walls. At length, the voice of old Mark
became more than usually audible; and then Content arose, with a gesture
to those around him to imitate his example. The young men threw aside the
subjects of their light employments, the maidens left the wheels which had
not been turned for many minutes, and the whole party disposed themselves
in the decent and simple attitude of prayer. For the third time that
evening was the voice of the Puritan heard, pouring out his spirit in a
communion with that being on whom it was his practice to repose all his
worldly cares. But, though long accustomed to all the peculiar forms of
utterance by which their father ordinarily expressed his pious emotions,
neither Content nor his attentive partner was enabled to decide on the
nature of the feeling that was now uppermost. At times, it appeared to be
the language of thanksgiving, and at others it assumed more of the
imploring sounds of deprecation and petition; in short, it was so varied,
and, though tranquil, so equivocal, if such a term may be applied to so
serious a subject, as completely to baffle every conjecture.
Long and weary minutes passed after the voice had entirely ceased, and yet
no summons was given to the expecting family, nor did any sound proceed
from the inner room, which the respectful son was emboldened to construe
into an evidence that he might presume to enter. At length, apprehension
began to mingle with conjectures, and then the husband and wife communed
apart, in whispers. The misgivings and doubt of the former soon manifested
themselves in still more apparent forms. He arose, and was seen pacing the
wide apartment, gradually approaching nearer to the partition which
separated the two rooms, evidently prepared to retire beyond the limits of
hearing, the moment he should detect any proofs that his uneasiness was
without a sufficient cause. Still no sound proceeded from the inner room.
The breathless silence which had so shortly before reigned where he was,
appeared to be suddenly transferred to the spot in which he was vainly
endeavoring to detect the smallest proof of human existence. Again he
returned to Ruth, and again they consulted, in low voices, as to the step
that filial duty seemed to require at their hands.
"We were not bidden to withdraw," said his gentle companion; "why not
rejoin our parent, now that time has been given to understand the subject
which so evidently disturbed his mind?"
Content, at length, yielded to this opinion. With that cautious
discretion which distinguishes his people, he motioned to the family to
follow, in order that no unnecessary exclusion should give rise to
conjectures, or excite suspicions, for which, after all, the
circumstances might prove no justification. Notwithstanding the subdued
manners of the age and country, curiosity, and perhaps a better feeling,
had become so intense, as to cause all present to obey this silent
mandate, by moving as swiftly towards the open door as a never-yielding
decency of demeanor would permit.
Old Mark Heathcote occupied the chair in which he had been left, with
that calm and unbending gravity of eye and features which were then
thought indispensable to a fitting sobriety of spirit. But the
stranger had disappeared. There were two or three outlets by which the
room, and even the house, might be quitted, without the knowledge of
those who had so long waited for admission; and the first impression
led the family to expect the re-appearance of the absent man through one
of these exterior passages. Content, however, read in the expression of
his father's eye, that the moment of confidence, if it were ever to
arrive, had not yet come; and, so admirable and perfect was the
domestic discipline of this family, that the questions which the son
did not see fit to propound, no one of inferior condition, or lesser
age, might presume to agitate. With the person of the stranger, every
evidence of his recent visit had also vanished.
Mark missed the weapon that had excited his admiration; Whittal looked in
vain for the hunting-knife, which had betrayed the fate of the wether;
Mrs. Heathcote saw, by a hasty glance of the eye, that the leathern sacks,
which she had borne in mind ought to be transferred to the sleeping
apartment of their guest, were gone; and a mild and playful image of
herself, who bore her name no less than most of those features which had
rendered her own youth more than usually attractive, sought, without
success, a massive silver spur, of curious and antique workmanship, which
she had been permitted to handle until the moment when the family had been
commanded to withdraw.
The night had now worn later than the hour at which it was usual for
people of habits so simple to be out of their beds. The grandfather
lighted a taper, and, after bestowing the usual blessing on those around
him, with an air as calm as if nothing had occurred, he prepared to retire
into his own room. And yet, matter of interest seemed to linger on his
mind. Even on the threshold of the door, he turned, and, for an instant,
all expected some explanation of a circumstance which began to wear no
little of the aspect of an exciting and painful mystery. But their hopes
were raised only to be disappointed.
"My thoughts have not kept the passage of the time," he said. "In what
hour of the night are we, my son?"
He was told that it was already past the usual moment of sleep.
"No matter; that which Providence hath bestowed for our comfort and
support, should not be lightly and unthankfully disregarded. Take thou the
beast I am wont to ride, thyself, Content, and follow the path which
leadeth to the mountain clearing; bring away that which shall meet thine
eye, near the first turning of the route toward the river towns. We have
got into the last quarter of the year, and in order that our industry may
not flag, and that all may be stirring with the sun, let the remainder of
the household seek their rest."
Content saw, by the manner of his father, that no departure from the
strict letter of these instructions was admissible. He closed the door
after his retiring form, and then, by a quiet gesture of authority,
indicated to his dependants that they were expected to withdraw. The
maidens of Ruth led the children to their chambers, and in a few more
minutes, none remained in the outer apartment, already so often named, but
the obedient son, with his anxious and affectionate consort.
"I will be thy companion, husband," Ruth half-whisperingly commenced, so
soon as the little domestic preparations for leaving the fires and
securing the doors were ended. "I like not that thou shouldst go into the
forest alone, at so late an hour of the night."
"One will be with me, there, who never deserteth those who rely on his
protection. Besides, my Ruth, what is there to apprehend in a wilderness
like this? The beasts have been lately hunted from the hills, and,
excepting those who dwell under our own roof, there is not one within a
long day's ride."
"We know not! Where is the stranger that came within our doors as the sun
was setting?"
"As thou sayest, we know not. My father is not minded to open his lips on
the subject of this traveller, and surely we are not now to learn the
lessons of obedience and self-denial."
"It would, notwithstanding, be a great easing to the spirit to hear at
least the name of him who hath eaten of our bread, and joined in our
family worship, though he were immediately to pass away for ever from
before the sight."
"That may he have done, already!" returned the less curious and more
self-restrained husband. "My father will not that we inquire."
"And yet there can be little sin in knowing the condition of one whose
fortunes and movements can excite neither our envy nor our strife. I would
that we had tarried for a closer mingling in the prayers; it was not
seemly to desert a guest who, it would appear, had need of an especial
up-offering in his behalf."
"Our spirits joined in the asking, though our ears were shut to the matter
of his wants. But it will be needful that I should be afoot with the young
men, in the morning, and a mile of measurement would not reach to the
turning, in the path to the river towns. Go with me to the postern, and
look to the fastenings; I will not keep thee long on thy watch."
Content and his wife now quitted the dwelling, by the only door that was
left unbarred. Lighted by a moon that was full, though clouded they passed
a gateway between two of the outer buildings, and descended to the
palisadoes. The bars and bolts of the little postern were removed, and in
a few minutes, the former, mounted on the back of his father's own horse,
was galloping briskly along the path which led into the part of the forest
he was directed to seek.
While the husband was thus proceeding, in obedience to orders that he
never hesitated to obey his faithful wife withdrew within the shelter of
the wooden defences. More in compliance with a precaution that was become
habitual, than from any present causes of suspicion, she drew a single
bolt and remained at the postern, anxiously awaiting the result of a
movement that was as unaccountable as it was extraordinary.