The Village.
In due time, and without any farther adventure, Forester and Marco
arrived at the end of their journey. The village where Forester's
father lived was situated in a gorge of the mountains, or rather at
the entrance of a valley, which terminated at last in a gorge. There
was a river flowing through this valley, and the village was upon its
banks. At the upper end of the village a branch stream came in from
the north, and there was a dam upon it, with some mills. The river
itself was a rapid stream, flowing over a sandy and gravelly bottom,
and there were broad intervals on each side of it, extending for some
distance toward the higher land. Beyond these intervals, the land rose
gradually, and in an undulating manner, to the foot of the mountains,
which extended along the sides of the valley, and from the summits of
which, one might look down upon the whole scene, with the village in
the center of it as upon a map.
Marco was very much pleased with the situation, and with the
appearance of the village. The street was broad, and it was shaded
with rows of large maples and elms on each side. The houses were
generally white, with green blinds. Most of them had pleasant yards
before them and at their sides; these yards were planted with trees
and shrubbery. There were also gardens behind. The mountains which
surrounded the scene, gave a very secluded and sheltered appearance to
the valley.
The house in which Forester lived was the largest in the village. It
was a square house of two stories. It stood back a little from the
road, in the middle of a large yard, ornamented with rows of trees
along the sides, and groups of shrubbery in the corners and near the
house. There were gravel walks leading in different directions through
this yard, and on one side of the house was a carriage-way, which led
from a great gate in front, to a door in one end of the house, and
thence to the stable in the rear. On the other side of the house, near
the street, was the office,--for Forester's father was a lawyer. The
office was a small square building, with the lawyer's name over the
door. There was a back door to the office, and a footpath, winding
among trees and shrubbery, which led from the office to the house.
The morning after they arrived, Forester took Marco out to see the
village. He intended not only to show him the various objects of
interest which were to be seen, but also to explain to him why it was
that such villages would spring up in a farming country, and what were
the occupations of the inhabitants.
"The first thing which causes the commencement of a village in New
England," said Forester, "is a water-fall."
"Why is that?" asked Marco.
"There are certain things," replied Forester, "which the farmers can
not very well do for themselves, by their own strength, particularly
grinding their corn, and sawing logs into boards for their houses.
When they first begin to settle in a new country, they make the houses
of logs, and they have to take the corn and grain a great many miles
on horseback, through paths in the woods, or, in the winter, on
hand-sleds, to get it ground. But as soon as any of them are able to
do it, they build a dam on some stream in the neighborhood, where
there is a fall in the water, and thus get a water power. This water
power they employ, to turn a saw-mill and a grist-mill. Then all the
farmers, when they want to build houses or barns, haul logs to the
mill to get them sawed into boards, and they carry their grain to the
grist-mill and get it ground. They pay the owner of the mills for
doing this work for them. And thus, if there are a great many farms in
the country around, and no other mills very near, so that the mills
are kept all the time at work, the owner gets a great deal of pay, and
gradually acquires property.
"Now, as soon as the mills are built, perhaps a blacksmith sets up a
shop near them. If a blacksmith is going to open a shop anywhere
in that town, it will be better for him to have it near the mills,
because, as the farmers all have to come to the mills at any rate,
they can avail themselves of the opportunity, to get their horses
shod, or to get new tires to their wheels, when they are broken."
"Tires?" repeated Marco. "What are tires?"
"They are the iron rims around wheels. Every wheel must have an iron
band about it, very tight, to strengthen it and to hold it firmly
together. Without a tire, a wheel would very soon come to pieces, in
rattling over a stony road.
"Besides," continued Forester, "there is a great deal of other iron
work, which the farmers must have done. Farmers can, generally, do
most of the wood work which they want themselves. They can make their
rakes, and drags, and cart-bodies, and sleds, and tool handles; but
when they want iron work, they must go to the blacksmith's. They can
make a harrow-frame, but the blacksmith must make the teeth."
"Now I should think," said Marco, "that it would be easier to make the
teeth than the frame."
"Perhaps it is as easy, if one has the forge and tools," replied
Forester; "but the tools and fixtures, necessary for blacksmith's
work, are much more expensive than those required for ordinary wood
work. There must be a forge built on purpose, and an anvil, supported
on a solid foundation, and various tools. All these are necessary for
shoeing a single horse, and when they are all procured, they will
answer for all the horses of the neighborhood. Thus it happens, that
though farmers do a great deal of their wood work themselves, at their
own farms, in cold and stormy weather, they generally have their iron
work done at a blacksmith's at some central place, where it is easy
and convenient for all of them to go."
The above conversation took place between Marco and Forester, as they
were walking along together through the village, toward the part of
the town where the mills were situated. Just at this moment, Marco
happened to cast his eyes across the street a short distance before
them, and he saw a fire on the ground in a little yard. He asked
Forester what that fire could be. As soon as Forester saw the fire, he
exclaimed,
"Ah! they are putting a tire upon a wheel; that's quite fortunate;
we'll go across and see them."
So they left the path under the trees where they had been walking, and
went obliquely across the street toward the fire. Marco saw that
there was a large blacksmith's shop there. It was a very neat-looking
building, painted red. There was a large door in the front, and a very
low window, with a shutter hanging over it, by the side of the door.
In an open yard, by the side of the shop, was the fire. The fire was
in the form of a ring. There were several men standing about it; one
of them, whom Marco supposed was the blacksmith, by his leather apron,
was putting on small sticks of wood and chips, here and there, around
the ring. Marco saw that there was a large iron hoop, as he called it,
on the fire. It was not really a hoop, it was a _tire_. It was
made of a much larger and thicker bar of iron, than those which are
used for hoops. It was a tire belonging to a wheel. The wheel was
lying upon the ground near, ready to receive the tire. It was the hind
wheel of a wagon. The wagon itself was standing in front of the shop,
with one end of the hind axletree supported by a block.
"What do they heat the tire for?" asked Marco.
"To swell it," replied Forester. "It is necessary to have the tire go
on very tight, so as to hold the wheel together with all the force of
the iron. Now when iron is heated it swells, and then shrinks again
when it cools. So they heat the tire hot, and put it upon the wheel in
that state. Then when it cools it shrinks, and binds the whole wheel
together with a very strong grip."
"But if they put it on hot, it will burn the wood," said Marco.
"Yes," replied Forester, "it will burn the wood a little. They can not
help that entirely; but they stand ready with water, to pour on, as
soon as the tire is in its place, and so cool it immediately, so that
it does not burn the fellies enough to injure them."
"What are the fellies?" asked Marco.
"They are the parts of the wooden rim of the wheel. The rim is made of
several pieces of wood, which are called fellies."
So Forester took Marco to the wheel, and showed him the parts of
which the rim was composed. While Marco was looking at the wheel, the
blacksmith began to push away the burning brands a little from the
tire, as it began to be hot enough. Presently he went into his shop
and brought out several pairs of tongs. With these the men lifted the
tire out of the fire, but the blacksmith said it was a little too hot,
and he must let it cool a minute or two.
"Why, if it's very hot," said Marco, "it will grip the wheel all the
harder."
"It will grip it _too_ hard," said Forester. "Sometimes a tire
shrinks so much as to spring the spokes out of shape. Didn't you ever
see a wheel with the spokes bent out of shape?"
"I don't know," said Marco. "I never noticed wheels much."
"They do get bent, sometimes," said Forester. "It requires great care
to put on a tire in such a manner, as to give it just the right degree
of force to bind the wheel strongly together, without straining it."
[Illustration: THE TIRE.]
As soon as the tire became of the right temperature, the men took it
up again with the pairs of tongs--taking hold with them at different
sides of it--and then they put it down carefully over the wheel. The
wheel immediately began to smoke on all sides. In one or two places
it burst into a flame. The blacksmith, however, paid no attention to
this, but with a hammer, which he held in his hand, he knocked it down
into its place, all around the rim; then he took up a brown pitcher
full of water, which was standing near, and began to pour the
water on, walking round and round the wheel as he did it, so as to
extinguish the flames in every part and cool the iron. When this
process was completed, Forester and Marco walked on.
"Let me see," said Forester, "where did I leave off, Marco, in my
account of the growth of a village? I was telling you about the
blacksmith's shop, I believe."
"Yes," said Marco.
"The next thing to the blacksmith's shop, in the history of a New
England village," said Forester, "is generally a store. You see the
farmers can not raise every thing they want. There are a great many
things which come from foreign countries, which they have to buy."
"Such as sugar and tea," said Marco.
"Yes," replied Forester, "only they make a great deal of sugar in
Vermont out of the sap of the maple-tree. We will go and see Mr.
Warner's sugar bush next spring. But there are a great many things
which the farmers must buy. One of the most important articles is
iron. Now when a man concludes to open a store, the best place that he
can have for his business is near the mills and the blacksmith's shop;
because the people have to come there on other business, and so that
is the most convenient place for them to visit his store. And so, by
and by, when a carpenter and a mason come into the country, the little
village which has thus begun to form itself, is the best place for
them to settle in, for that is the place where people can most
conveniently call and see them. After a while a physician comes and
settles there, to heal them when they are sick, and a lawyer to
prevent disputes."
"To _prevent_ disputes!" said Marco. Marco had not much idea of
the nature of a lawyer's business, but he had a sort of undefined and
vague notion, that lawyers _made_ disputes among men, and lived
by them.
"Why, I know," said Forester, laughing, "that lawyers have not the
credit, generally, of preventing many disputes, but I believe they do.
Perhaps it is because I am going to be a lawyer myself. But I really
believe that lawyers prevent ten disputes, where they occasion one."
"How do they do it?" asked Marco.
"Why, they make contracts, and draw up writings, and teach men to be
clear and distinct in their engagements and bargains. Then besides,
when men will not pay their debts, they compel them to do it, by legal
process. And there are a vast many debts which are paid, for fear of
this legal process, which would not have been paid without it. Thus,
knowing that the lawyers are always ready to apply the laws, men are
much more careful not to break them, than they otherwise would be. So
that it is no doubt vastly for the benefit of a community, not only to
have efficient laws, but efficient lawyers to aid in the execution of
them."
By this time, Forester and Marco had reached the part of the village
where the mills were situated. Forester showed Marco the dam. It was
supported by ledges of rocks on each bank, and there was a flume,
which conducted the water to the wheels of the mills. There were two
mills and a machine-shop. They went into the machine-shop. There was
a lathe here carried by water. A man was at work at it, turning hoe
handles. Forester asked him what other articles were turned there; and
he said posts for bedsteads, and rounds for chairs, and such other
things as were used in quantities in that part of the country.
Forester asked him whether the lathe would turn brass and iron as well
as wood; but he said it would not. It was not fitted for that work.
"I suppose you might have a lathe here, to work in the metals," said
Forester.
"Yes," replied the man, "but it would not be worth while. There is
very little of that kind of work wanted in this part of the country."
After looking at the mills, Forester and Marco walked along up the
stream a little way, to look at the mill-pond. Whenever a dam is
made, it causes a pond to be formed above it, more or less extensive,
according to the nature of the ground. In this case there was quite a
large pond, formed by the accumulation of the water above the dam.
The pond was not very wide, but it extended more than a mile up the
stream. The banks were picturesque and beautiful, being overhung with
trees in some places, and in others presenting verdant slopes, down to
the water's edge.
"That's a good pond to go a-fishing in," said Marco.
"Yes," said Forester, "and it makes fine skating ground in the
winter."
Marco and Forester followed the banks of the mill-pond, until they
came to the end of the still water; beyond that they saw a rapid
running stream, coming down from the mountains. Marco wished to follow
this stream up farther, to see what they would come to, and Forester
consented. The ground ascended more and more the farther they
proceeded, and the view began to be shut in by forests, precipices and
mountains. Marco liked clambering over the rocks, and he found a
great deal to interest him at every step of the way. He saw several
squirrels and one rabbit. He wanted Forester to get him a gun and let
him come out into those woods a-gunning.
"No," said Forester.
"Why not?" asked Marco.
"That is dangerous amusement."
"Why? Do you think I should get killed with my sun?" asked Marco.
"No," replied Forester, "I don't think you would; but you _might_
get killed. The risk would be too great for the benefit."
"Why, you told me the other day, that it was a great thing to learn to
take risks coolly. If I had a gun I could practice and learn."
"Yes," said Forester, "it is well to take risks coolly, when the
advantage is sufficient to justify it. For instance, when you crept
down upon the pole the other day, to get the reins, you took a great
risk, but perhaps you saved the lives of the passengers by it. That
was right--but to hazard your life, for the sake of the pleasure of
shooting a squirrel, is not wise." Marco had before this time told him
about his getting the reins.
"I shouldn't think, there was much danger," said Marco.
"No," said Forester, "there's very little danger. In using a gun, you
put yourself in a very little danger of a very great calamity. There's
very little probability that your gun would burst, or that you would
ever shoot accidentally any other person;--very little indeed. But if
the gun were to burst, and blow off one of your arms, or put out your
eyes, or if you were to shoot another boy, the calamity would be a
very terrible one. So we call it a great risk."
"It seems to be a small risk of a great calamity," said Marco.
"Yes," replied Forester, "but we call it a great risk. We call the
risk great, when either the evil which we are in danger of is great,
or when the chance of its befalling us is great. For example, if you
and I were to walk over that log which lies across the stream, we
should run a great risk; but that would be, not a small chance of a
great evil, but a great chance of a small evil. There would be a great
chance that we should fall off into the stream; but that would not be
much of an evil as we should only get ourselves wet."
[Illustration: The Risk]
"Let us go and try it," said Marco. "Not I," said Forester. "You may,
however, if you please. I am willing to have you take such a risk as
_that_, for your amusement."
Marco went to the log and walked back and forth across it, as
composedly as if it were a broad plank, lying upon the ground.
Finally, he hopped across it on one foot, to show Forester his
dexterity. Forester was surprised. He did not know how much skill in
such feats Marco had acquired by his gymnastics in New York.
After this, Forester and Marco clambered up some rocks on an elevated
summit, where they had a fine view of the village below them. They
could trace the river, winding through the valley, with the green
intervals on both sides of it. They could see the village and the
streets, with the spire of the meeting-house in the center. The
mill-pond was in full view also; and Marco's attention was attracted
by a boat, which he saw gliding over the surface of the water.
"O! there is a boat," said Marco.
"Yes," said Forester. "I have paddled over the water many a time in
her."
"How many oars does she pull?" asked Marco.
"Oars?" said Forester, "no oars; they use paddles."
"I wish they had some oars," said Marco, "and then I would get a crew
of boys, and teach them to manage a boat man-o'-war fashion."
"How do you know any thing about it?" asked Forester.
"O, I learned at New York, in the boats at the Battery."
"Well," said Forester, "we'll have some oars made, and get a crew. I
should like to learn myself."
"Let us go down and see the boat," said Marco, "now."
"No," replied Forester, "it is time to go to dinner now; but we'll
come and see the boat the next time we go to take a walk."
So Marco and Forester came down the hill, and thence went across the
fields home to dinner. They dined at half-past twelve o'clock, which
seemed a very strange hour to Marco.