THE TRAVELLERS.
Let the traveller stand with us on the top of this rugged eminence, and
look down upon the scene below. Around us, the hills gather in groups
on every side, a family cluster, each of which wears the same general
likeness to that on which we stand, yet there is no monotony in their
aspect. The axe has not yet deprived them of a single tree, and they
rise up, covered with the honored growth of a thousand summers. But they
seem not half so venerable. They wear, in this invigorating season,
all the green, fresh features of youth and spring. The leaves cover the
rugged Limbs which sustain them, with so much ease and grace, as if for
the first time they were so green and glossy, and as if the impression
should be made more certain and complete, the gusty wind of March has
scattered abroad and borne afar, all the yellow garments of the
vanished winter. The wild flowers begin to flaunt their blue and crimson
draperies about us, as if conscious that they are borne upon the bosom
of undecaying beauty; and the spot so marked and hallowed by each
charming variety of bud and blossom, would seem to have been a selected
dwelling for the queenly Spring herself.
Man, mindful of those tastes and sensibilities which in great part
constitute his claim to superiority over the brute, has not been
indifferent to the beauties of the place. In the winding hollows of
these hills, beginning at our feet, you see the first signs of as lovely
a little hamlet as ever promised peace to the weary and the discontent.
This is the village of Charlemont.
A dozen snug and smiling cottages seem to have been dropped in this
natural cup, as if by a spell of magic. They appear, each of them, to
fill a fitted place--not equally distant from, but equally near each
other. Though distinguished, each by an individual feature, there is
yet no great dissimilarity among them. All are small, and none of
them distinguished by architectural pretension. They are now quite as
flourishing as when first built, and their number has had no increase
since the village was first settled. Speculation has not made it
populous and prosperous, by destroying its repose, stifling its
charities, and abridging the sedate habits and comforts of its people.
The houses, though constructed after the fashion of the country, of
heavy and ill-squared logs, roughly hewn, and hastily thrown together,
perhaps by unpractised hands, are yet made cheerful by that tidy
industry which is always sure to make them comfortable also. Trim hedges
that run beside slender white palings, surround and separate them from
each other. Sometimes, as you see, festoons of graceful flowers, and
waving blossoms, distinguish one dwelling from the rest, declaring its
possession of some fair tenant, whose hand and fancy have kept equal
progress with habitual industry; at the same time, some of them appear
entirely without the little garden of flowers and vegetables, which
glimmers and glitters in the rear or front of the greater number.
Such was Charlemont, at the date of our narrative. But the traveller
would vainly look, now, to find the place as we describe it. The garden
is no longer green with fruits and flowers--the festoons no longer grace
the lowly portals--the white palings are down and blackening in the
gloomy mould--the roofs have fallen, and silence dwells lonely among
the ruins,--the only inhabitant of the place. It has no longer a human
occupant.
“Something ails it now--the spot is cursed.”
Why this fate has fallen upon so sweet an abiding place--why the
villagers should have deserted a spot, so quiet and so beautiful--it
does not fall within our present purpose to inquire. It was most
probably abandoned--not because of the unfruitfulness of the soil, or
the unhealthiness of the climate--for but few places on the bosom of
the earth, may be found either more fertile, more beautiful, or
more healthful--but in compliance with that feverish restlessness of
mood--that sleepless discontent of temper, which, perhaps, more than
any other quality, is the moral failing in the character of the
Anglo-American. The roving desires of his ancestor, which brought him
across the waters, have been transmitted without diminution--nay, with
large increase--to the son. The creatures of a new condition of things,
and new necessities, our people will follow out their destiny. The
restless energies which distinguish them, are, perhaps, the contemplated
characteristics which Providence has assigned them, in order that they
may the more effectually and soon, bring into the use and occupation of
a yet mightier people, the wilderness of that new world in which their
fortunes have been cast. Generation is but the pioneer of generation,
and the children of millions, more gigantic and powerful than ourselves,
shall yet smile to behold, how feeble was the stroke made by our axe
upon the towering trees of their inheritance.
It was probably because of this characteristic of our people, that
Charlemont came in time to be deserted. The inhabitants were one day
surprised with tidings of more attractive regions in yet deeper forests,
and grew dissatisfied with their beautiful and secluded valley. Such
is the ready access to the American mind, in its excitable state, of
novelty and sudden impulse, that there needs but few suggestions to
persuade the forester to draw stakes, and remove his tents, where the
signs seem to be more numerous of sweeter waters and more prolific
fields. For a time, change has the power which nature does not often
exercise; and under its freshness, the waters DO seem sweeter, and the
stores of the wilderness, the wild-honey and the locust, DO seem more
abundant to the lip and eye.
Where our cottagers went, and under what delusion, are utterly unknown
to us; nor is it important to our narrative that we should inquire. Our
knowledge of them is only desirable, while they were in the flourishing
condition in which they have been seen. It is our trust that the
novelty which seduced them from their homes, did not fail them in its
promises--that they may never have found, in all their wanderings, a
less lovely abiding-place, than that which they abandoned. But change
has its bitter, as well as its sweet, and the fear is strong that the
cottagers of Charlemont, in the weary hours, when life's winter
is approaching, will still and vainly sigh after the once-despised
enjoyments of their deserted hamlet.
It was toward the close of one of those bright, tearful days in
April, of which we have briefly spoken, when a couple of travellers on
horseback, ascended the last hill looking down upon Charlemont. One of
these travellers had passed the middle period of life; the other was,
perhaps, just about to enter upon its heavy responsibilities, and more
active duties. The first wore the countenance of one who had borne many
sorrows, and borne them with that resignation, which, while it proves
the wisdom of the sufferer, is at the same time, calculated to increase
his benevolence. The expression of his eye, was full of kindness and
benignity, while that of his mouth, with equal force, was indicative
of a melancholy, as constant as it was gentle and unobtrusive. A feeble
smile played over his lips while he spoke, that increased the sadness
which it softened; as the faint glimmer of the evening sunlight, upon
the yellow leaves of autumn, heightens the solemn tones in the rich
coloring of the still decaying forest.
The face of his companion, in many of its features, was in direct
contrast with his own. It was well formed, and, to the casual glance,
seemed no less handsome than intellectual. There was much in it to win
the regard of the young and superficial. An eye that sparkled with fire,
a mouth that glowed with animation--cheeks warmly colored, and a contour
full of vivacity, seemed to denote properties of mind and heart equally
valuable and attractive. Still, a keen observer would have found
something sinister, in the upward glancing of the eye, at intervals,
from the half-closed lids; and, at such moments, there was a curling
contempt upon the lips, which seemed to denote a cynical and sarcastic
turn of mind. A restless movement of the same features seemed equally
significant of caprice of character, and a flexibility of moral; while
the chin narrowed too suddenly and became too sharp at the extremity, to
persuade a thorough physiognomist, that the owner could be either very
noble in his aims, or very generous in his sentiments. But as these
outward tokens can not well be considered authority in the work of
judgment, let events, which speak for themselves, determine the true
character of our travellers.
They had reached the table land of the heights which looked down upon
Charlemont, at a moment when the beauty of the scene could scarcely fail
to impress itself upon the most indifferent observer. The elder of the
travellers, who happened to be in advance, was immediately arrested by
it; and, staying the progress of his horse, with hand lifted above
his eye, looked around him with a delight which expressed itself in an
abrupt ejaculation, and brought his companion to his side. The sun had
just reached that point in his descent, which enabled him to level a
shaft of rosy light from the pinnacle of the opposite hill, into the
valley below, where it rested among the roofs of two of the cottages,
which arose directly in its path. The occupants of these two cottages
had come forth, as it were, in answer to the summons; and old and young,
to the number of ten or a dozen persons, had met, in the winding pathway
between, which led through the valley, and in front of every cottage
which it contained. The elder of the cottagers sat upon the huge trunk
of a tree, which had been felled beside the road, for the greater
convenience of the traveller; and with eyes turned in the direction of
the hill on which the sunlight had sunk and appeared to slumber, seemed
to enjoy the vision with no less pleasure than our senior traveller.
Two tall damsels of sixteen, accompanied by a young man something older,
were strolling off in the direction of the woods; while five or six
chubby girls and boys were making the echoes leap and dance along the
hills, in the clamorous delight which they felt in their innocent but
stirring exercises. The whole scene was warmed with the equal brightness
of the natural and the human sun. Beauty was in the sky, and its
semblance, at least, was on the earth. God was in the heavens, and in
his presence could there be other than peace and harmony among men!
“How beautiful!” exclaimed the elder of our travellers--“could
anything be more so! How pure, how peaceful! See, Warham, how soft, how
spirit-like, that light lies along the hill-side, and how distinct, yet
how delicate, is the train which glides from it down the valley, even
to the white dwellings at its bottom, from which it seems to shrink and
tremble as if half conscious of intrusion. And yet the picture below
is kindred with it. That, now, is a scene that I delight in--it is a
constant picture in my mind. There is peace in that valley, if there
be peace anywhere on earth. The old men sit before the door, and
contemplate with mingled feelings of pride and pleasure, the vigorous
growth of their children. They behold in them their own immortality,
even upon earth. The young will preserve their memories, and transmit
their names to other children yet unborn; and how must such a reflection
reconcile them to their own time of departure, not unfitly shown in the
last smiles of that sunlight, which they are so soon about to lose. Like
him, they look with benevolence and love upon the world from which they
will soon depart.”
“Take my word for it, uncle, they will postpone their departure to the
last possible moment, and, so far from looking with smiles upon what
they are about to leave for ever, they will leave it with very great
reluctance, and in monstrous bad humor. As for regarding their children
with any such notions as those you dwell upon with such poetical
raptures, they will infinitely prefer transmitting for themselves their
names and qualities to the very end of the chapter. Ask any one of them
the question now, and he will tell you that an immortality, each, in his
own wig-wam, and with his weight of years and infirmity upon him, would
satisfy all his expectations. If they look at the vigor of their young,
it is to recollect that they themselves once were so, and to repine at
the recollection. Take my word for it, there is not a dad among them,
that does not envy his own son the excellence of his limbs, and the long
time of exercise and enjoyment which they seemingly assure him.”
“Impossible!” exclaimed the elder of the two travellers. “Impossible! I
should be sorry to think as you do. But you, Warham, can not understand
these things. You are an habitual unbeliever--the most unfortunate of
all mankind.”
“The most fortunate, rather. I have but few burdens of credulity to
carry. The stars be blessed, my articles of faith are neither very many
nor very cumbrous. I should be sorry if my clients were so few.”
“I should be sorry, Warham, if I had so little feeling as yourself.”
“And I should be still more sorry, uncle, if I had half so much. Why,
sir, yours is in such excess, that you continually mistake the joys
and sorrows of other people for your own. You laugh and weep with them
alternately; and, until all's done and over, you never seem to discover
that the business was none of yours;--that you had none of the pleasure
which made you laugh, and might have been spared all the unnecessary
suffering which moved your tears. 'Pon my soul, sir, you pass a most
unprofitable life.”
“You mistake, Warham, I have shared both; and my profits have been
equally great from both sources. My susceptibility has been an exceeding
great gain to me, and has quickened all my senses. There is a joy of
grief, you know, according to Ossian.”
“Nay, if you quote Ossian, uncle. I give you up. I don't believe in
Ossian, and his raving stuff always sickens me.”
“I sometimes think, Warham,” said the uncle, good naturedly, “that
Providence has denied you some of the more human faculties. Nay, I fear
that you are partially deficient in some of the senses. Do you see that
sunlight to which I point--there, on the hill-side, a sort of rosy haze,
which seems to me eminently beautiful?”
“Yes, sir; and, if you will suffer me, I will get out of its reach as
quickly as possible. I have been half blinded by it ever since you found
it so beautiful. Sunlight is, I think, of very little importance to
professional men, unless as a substitute for candles, and then it should
come over the left shoulder, if you would not have it endanger the
sight. Nay, I will go farther, and confess that it is better than
candlelight, and certainly far less expensive. Shall we go forward,
sir?”
“Warham,” said the uncle, with increasing gravity, “I should be sorry to
believe that a habit of speech so irreverential, springs from anything
but an ambition for saying smart things, and strange things, which are
not always smart. It would give me great pain to think that you were
devoid of any of those sensibilities which soften the hearts of other
men, and lead them to generous impulses.”
“Nay, be not harsh, uncle. You should know me better. I trust my
sensibilities, and senses too, may be sufficient for all proper
purposes, when the proper time comes for their employment; but I can't
flame up at every sunbeam, and grow enthusiastic in the contemplation of
Bill Johnson's cottage, and Richard Higgins's hedgerow. A turnip-patch
never yet could waken my enthusiasm, and I do believe, sir--I confess it
with some shame and a slight misgiving, lest my admissions should give
you pain--that my fancy has never been half so greatly enkindled by
Carthula, of the bending spear, or Morven of the winds, as by the sedate
and homely aspect of an ordinary dish of eggs and bacon, hot from the
flaming frying-pan of some worthy housewife.”
The uncle simply looked upon the speaker, but without answering. He was
probably quite too much accustomed to his modes of thought and speech to
be so much surprised as annoyed by what he said. Perhaps, too, his own
benevolence of spirit interfered to save the nephew from that harsher
rebuke which his judgment might yet have very well disposed him to
bestow.
Following the course of the latter in silence, he descended into the
valley, and soon made his way among the sweet little cottages at
its foot. An interchange of courtsies between the travellers and the
villagers whose presence had given occasion to some portion of the
previous dialogue, in which the manner of the younger traveller was
civil, and that of the elder kind; and the two continued on their
journey, though not without being compelled to refuse sundry
invitations, given with true patriarchal hospitality, to remain among
the quiet abodes through which they passed.
As cottage after cottage unfolded itself to their eyes, along the
winding avenue, the proprietors appeared at door and window, and, with
the simple freedoms of rural life, welcomed the strangers with a
smile, a nod, and sometimes, when sufficiently nigh, a friendly word
of salutation, but without having the effect of arresting their onward
progress. Yet many a backward glance was sent by the elder of the
travellers, whose eyes, beaming with satisfaction, sufficiently declared
the delight which he received from the contemplation of so many of the
mingled graces of physical and moral nature. His loitering steps drew
from his young companion an occasional remark, which, to ears less
benevolent and unsuspecting than than those of the senior, might have
been deemed a sarcasm; and more than once the lips of the nephew had
curled with contemptuous smiles, as he watched the yearning glances of
his uncle on each side of the avenue, as they wended slowly through it.
At the end of the village, and at the foot of the opposite hills, they
encountered a group of young people of both sexes, whose bursts of
merriment were suddenly restrained as they emerged unexpectedly into
sight. The girls had been sitting upon the grassy mead, with the young
men before them; but they started to their feet at the sound of strange
steps, and the look of strange faces. Charlemont, it must be remembered,
was not in the thoroughfare of common travel. If visited at all by
strangers, it was most usually by those only who came with a single
purpose. Nothing, therefore could have been more calculated to surprise
a community so insulated, than that they should attract, but not arrest
the traveller. The natural surprise which the young people felt, when
unexpectedly encountered in their rustic sports, was naturally increased
by this unusual circumstance, and they looked after the departing forms
of the wayfarers with a wonder and curiosity that kept them for some
time silent. The elder of the two, meanwhile--one of whose habits of
mind was always to give instantaneous utterance to the feeling which was
upper-most--dilated, without heeding the sneers of his nephew, upon the
apparent happiness which they witnessed.
“Here, you see, Warham, is a pleasure which the great city never
knows:--the free intercourse of the sexes in all those natural exercises
which give health to the body, grace to the movement, and vivacity to
the manners.”
“The health will do well enough,” replied the skeptic, “but save me from
the grace of Hob and Hinney; and as for their manners--did I hear you
correctly, uncle, when you spoke of their manners?”
“Surely, you did. I have always regarded the natural manners which
belong to the life of the forester, as being infinitely more noble, as
well as more graceful, than those of the citizen. Where did you ever
see a tradesman whose bearing was not mean compared with that of the
hunter?”
“Ay, but these are no hunters, and scarcely foresters. I see not a
single Nimrod among the lads; and as for the lasses, even your eyes,
indulgent as they usually are, will scarcely venture to insist that I
shall behold one nymph among them worthy to tie the shoe-latchets of
Diana. The manners of the hunter are those of an elastic savage; but
these lads shear sheep, raise hogs for the slaughter-pen, and seldom
perform a nobler feat than felling a bullock. They have none of the
elasticity which, coupled with strength, makes the grace of the man;
and they walk as if perpetually in the faith that their corn-rows and
potatoe-hills were between their legs.”
“Did you note the young woman in the crimson body Warham? Was she not
majestically made?”
“It struck me she would weigh against any two of the company.”
“She is rather heavy, I grant you, but her carriage, Warham!”
“Would carry weight--nothing more.”
“There was one little girl, just rising into womanhood:--you must admit
that she had a very lovely face, and her form--”
“My dear uncle, what is it that you will not desire me to believe? You
are sadly given to proselytism, and take infinite pains to compel me
to see with eyes that never do their owner so much wrong, as when
they reject the aid of spectacles. How much would Charlemont and its
inhabitants differ to your sight, were you only to take your green
spectacles from the shagreen case in which they do no duty. But if you
are resolved, in order to seem youthful, to let your age go unprovided
with the means of seeing as youth would see, at least suffer me to enjoy
the natural privileges of twenty-five. When, like you, my hairs whiten,
and my eyes grow feeble, ten to one, I shall think with you that every
third woodman is an Apollo, and every other peasant-girl is a Venus,
whom--”
The words of the speaker ceased--cut short by the sudden appearance of a
form and face, the beauty and dignity of which silenced the skeptic, and
made him doubtful, for the moment, whether he had not in reality reached
that period of confused and confounding vision, which, as he alleged to
be the case with his uncle, loses all power of discrimination. A maiden
stood before him--tall, erect, majestic--beautiful after no ordinary
standard of beauty. She was a brunette, with large dark eyes, which,
though bright, seemed dark with excess of bright--and had a depth of
expression which thrilled instantly through the bosom of the spectator.
A single glance did she bestow upon the travellers, while she
acknowledged, by a slight courtesy, the respectful bow which they made
her. They drew up their horses as with mutual instinct, but she passed
them quickly, courtesying a second time as she did so, and, in another
moment a turn of the road concealed her from the eyes of the travellers.
“What say you to that, Warham?” demanded the senior exultingly.
“A Diana, in truth; but, uncle, we find her not among the rest. SHE is
none of your cottagers. SHE is of another world and element. She is no
Charlemonter.”
And, as he spoke, the younger traveller looked back with straining eyes
to catch another glance of the vanished object, but in vain.
“You deserve never to see a lovely woman again, Warham, for your
skepticism.”
“But I will have a second look at her, uncle, though the skies fall,”
answered the young man, as, wheeling his horse round, he deliberately
galloped back to the bend in the avenue, by which she had been hidden
from his view.
He had scarcely reached the desired point, when he suddenly recoiled
to find the object of his pursuit standing motionless just beyond, with
eyes averted to the backward path--her glance consequently encountering
his own, the very moment when he discovered her. A deep crimson, visible
even where he stood, suffused her cheeks when she beheld him; and
without acknowledging the second bow which the traveller made, she
somewhat haughtily averted her head with a suddenness which shook her
long and raven tresses entirely free of the net-work which confined
them.
“A proud gipsy!” muttered the youth as he rode back to his uncle--“just
such a spirit as I should like to tame.” He took especial care, however,
that this sentiment did not reach the ears of his senior.
“Well?” said the latter, inquiringly, at his approach.
“I am right after all, uncle:--the wench is no better than the rest. A
heavy bulk that seemed dignified only because she is too fat for levity.
She walks like a blind plough-horse in a broken pasture, up and down,
over and over; with a gait as rigid and deliberate as if she trod
among the hot cinders, and had corns on all her toes. She took us so by
surprise that if we had not thought her beautiful we must have thought
her ugly, and the chances are equal, that, on a second meeting, we shall
both think her so. I shall, I'm certain, and you must, provided you give
your eyes the benefit, and your nose the burden of your green specs.”
“Impossible! I can scarce believe it, Warham,” replied the senior. “I
thought her very beautiful.”
“I shall never rely on your judgment again;--nay, uncle, I am almost
inclined to suspect your taste.”
“Well, let them be beautiful or ugly, still I should think the same of
the beauty of this village.”
“While the sun shines it may be tolerable; but, uncle, in wet bad
weather--it must become a mere pond, it lies so completely in the hollow
of the hills.”
“There is reason in that, Warham.”
“And yet, even as a pond, it would have its advantages--it would be
famous for duck-raising.”
“Pshaw! you are worse than a Mahometan.”
“Something of a just comparison, uncle, though scarcely aimed,” said
the other; “like Mahomet, you know, I doubt the possession of souls by
women.”
“Yet if these of Charlemont have not souls, they have no small share of
happiness on earth. I never heard more happy laughter from human lips
than from theirs. They must be happy.”
“I doubt that also,” was the reply. “See you not, uncle, that to nine or
ten women there are but three lads? Where the disproportion is so great
among the sexes, and where it is so unfavorable to the weaker, women
never can be happy. Their whole lives will be lives of turmoil,
jealousy, and pulling of caps. Nay, eyes shall not be secure under such
circumstances; and Nan's fingers shall be in Doll's hair, and Doll's
claws in Nanny's cheeks, whenever it shall so happen, that Tom Jenkins
shall incline to Nan, or John Dobbins to Doll. Such a disparity between
the sexes is one of the most fruitful causes of domestic war.”
“Warham, where do you think to go when you die?”
“Where there shall be no great inequality in the population. Believe me,
uncle, though I am sometimes disposed to think with Mahomet, and deny
the possession of souls to the sex, I also incline to believe, with
other more charitable teachers--however difficult it may be to reconcile
the two philosophies--that there will be no lack of them in either
world.”
“Hush, hush, Warham,” was the mild rebuke of the senior; “you go too
far--you are irreverent. As for this maiden, I still think her
very beautiful--of a high and noble kind of beauty. My eyes may be
bad;--indeed I am willing to admit they are none of the best; but I feel
certain that they cannot so far deceive me, when we consider how nigh we
were to her.”
“The matter deserves inquiry, uncle, if it were only to satisfy
your faith;--suppose we ride back, both of us, and see for
ourselves--closely, and with the aid of the green spectacles? Not that
I care to see farther--not that I have any doubts--but I wish you to
be convinced in this case, if only to make you sensible of the frequent
injustice to which your indulgence of judgment, subjects the critical
fastidiousness of mine. What say you; shall we wheel about?”
“Why, you are mad, surely. It is now sunset, and we have a good eight
miles before we get to Holme's Station.”
“But we can sleep in Charlemont to-night. A night in this earthly
Eden--”
“And run the risk of losing our company? Oh, no, most worthy nephew.
They will start at dawn to-morrow.”
“We can soon come up with 'em.”
“Perhaps not, and the risk is considerable. Travelling to the
Mississippi is no such small matter at any time, and, in these times
it is only with a multitude, that there is safety. The murder of old
Whiteford, is a sufficient warning not to go alone with more gold than
lead in one's pocket. We are two, it is true, but better ten than two.
You are a brave fellow enough, Warham, I doubt not; but a shot will
dispose of you, and after that I should be an easy victim. I could wink
and hold out my iron as well as the best of you, but I prefer to escape
the necessity. Let us mend our pace. We are burning daylight.”
The nephew, with an air of some impatience, which, however, escaped the
eyes of the senior, sent his horse forward by a sharp application of his
spur, though looking back the while, with a glance of reluctance, which
strongly disagreed with the sentiments which he expressed. Indeed,
with both the travellers, the impression made by the little village
of Charlemont was such that the subject seemed nowise displeasing to
either, and furnished the chief staple of conversation between them,
as they rode the remaining eight miles of their journey. The old man's
heart had been subdued and won by the sweet air of peace which seemed to
overspread and hallow the soft landscape, and the smiling cottages which
made it human. The laughing maidens with their bright eyes and cheering
accents, gave vivacity to its milder charms. We have heard from the lips
of the younger traveller, that these attractions had failed to captivate
his fancy. We may believe of this as we please. It is very probable that
he had, in considerable part, spoken nothing but the truth. He was too
much of a mocker;--one of those worldlings who derive their pleasures
from circumstances of higher conventional attraction. He had no feeling
for natural romance. His PENCHANT, was decidedly for the artificial
existence of city life; and the sneers which he had been heard
to express at the humble joys of rustic life, its tastes, and
characteristics, were, in truth, only such as he really felt. But, even
in his case, there was an evident disposition to know something more of
Charlemont. He was really willing to return. He renewed the same subject
of conversation, when it happened to flag, with obvious eagerness;
and, though his language was still studiedly disparaging, a more deeply
penetrating judgment than that of his uncle, would have seen that the
little village, slightly as he professed to esteem it, was yet an object
of thought and interest in his eyes. Of the sources of this new interest
time must inform us.
“Well, well, Warham,” at length exclaimed the uncle, in a tone that
seemed meant to close the discussion of a topic which his nephew now
appeared mischievously bent to thrust upon him, “you will return to
Kentucky in the fall. Take Charlemont in your route. Stop a week there.
It will do you no harm. Possibly you may procure some clients--may,
indeed, include it in your tour of practice--at all events, you will not
be unprofitably employed if you come to see the village and the people
with MY eyes, which, I doubt not, you will in time.”
“In time, perhaps, I may. It is well that you do not insist upon any
hurried convictions. Were I at your years uncle mine,” continued the
other irreverently, “I should no doubt see with your eyes, and possibly
feel with your desires. Then, no doubt, I shall acquire a taste for
warmingpans and nightcaps--shall look for landscapes rather than
lands--shall see nothing but innocence among the young, and resignation
and religion among the old; and fancy, in every aged pair of bumpkins
that I see, a Darby and Joan, with perpetual peace at their fireside,
though they may both happen to lie there drunk on apple-brandy. Between
caudle-cups and 'John Anderson, my Jo-John,' it is my hope to pass the
evening of my days with a tolerable grace, and leave behind me some
comely representatives, who shall take up the burden of the ditty where
I leave off. On this head be sure you shall have no cause to complain of
me. I shall be no Malthusian, as you certainly have shown yourself. It
is the strangest thing to me, uncle, that, with all your SPOKEN rapture
for the sex, you should never have thought of securing for yourself at
least one among the crowd which you so indiscriminately admire. Surely,
a gentleman of your personal attractions--attractions which seem
resolute to cling to you to the last--could not have found much
difficulty in procuring the damsel he desired! And when, too, your
enthusiasm for the sex is known, one would think it only necessary that
you should fling your handkerchief, to have it greedily grappled by
the fairest of the herd. How is it, uncle--how have you escaped from
them--from yourself?”
“Pshaw, Warham, you are a fool!” exclaimed the senior, riding forward
with increasing speed. The words were spoken good naturedly, but the
youth had touched a spot, scarcely yet thoroughly scarred over, in the
old man's bosom; and memories, not less painful because they had been
bidden so long, were instantly wakened into fresh and cruel activity.
It will not diminish the offence of the nephew in the mind of the
reader, when he is told that the youth was not ignorant of the
particular tenderness of his relative in this respect. The gentle nature
of the latter, alone, rescued him from the well-merited reproach of
suffering his habitual levity of mood to prevail in reference to one
whom even he himself was disposed to honor. But few words passed
between the two, ere they reached the place of appointment. The careless
reference of the youth had made the thoughts of the senior active at
the expense of his observation. His eyes were now turned inward; and the
landscape, and the evening sun, which streamed over and hallowed it with
a tender beauty to the last, was as completely hidden from his vision,
as if a veil had been drawn above his sight. The retrospect, indeed,
is ever the old man's landscape; and perhaps, even had he not been so
unkindly driven back to its survey, our aged traveller would have been
reminded of the past in the momently-deepening shadows which the evening
gathered around his path. Twilight is the cherished season for sad
memories, even as the midnight is supposed to be that of guilty ghosts;
and nothing, surely, can be more fitting than that the shadows of former
hopes should revisit us in those hours when the face of nature itself
seems darkening into gloom.
It was night before the wayfarers reached the appointed baiting place.
There they found their company--a sort of little caravan, such as is
frequent in the history of western emigration--already assembled, and
the supper awaiting them. Let us leave them to its enjoyment, and return
once more to the village of Charlemont.