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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches And Tales Illustrative Of Life In
+The Backwoods Of New Brunswick, by Mrs. F. Beavan
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Sketches And Tales Illustrative Of Life In The Backwoods Of New Brunswick
+       Gleaned From Actual Observation And Experience During A Residence
+       Of Seven Years In That Interesting Colony
+       
+
+Author: Mrs. F. Beavan
+
+Release Date: June 22, 2004 [EBook #12675]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACKWOODS OF NEW BRUNSWICK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dave Morgan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team,
+with thanks to www.canadiana.org,
+
+
+
+
+
+SKETCHES AND TALES ILLUSTRATIVE OF LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS
+OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NORTH AMERICA,
+
+
+Gleaned From Actual Observation And Experience During A
+Residence Of Seven Years In That Interesting Colony.
+
+
+BY MRS. F. BEAVAN.
+
+    "Son of the Isles! talk not to me,
+    Of the old world's pride and luxury!
+    Tho' gilded bower and fancy cot,
+    Grace not each wild concession lot;
+    Tho' rude our hut, and coarse our cheer,
+    The wealth the world can give is here."
+
+
+1845.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+  Introductory Remarks
+  New Brunswick--by whom settled
+  Remarks on State of Morals and Religion
+  American Physiognomy
+  The Spring Freshets
+  Cranberries
+  Stream Driving
+  Moving a House
+  Frolics
+  Sugar Making
+  Breaking up of the Ice
+  First appearances of Spring
+  Burning a Fallow
+  A Walk through a Settlement
+  Log Huts
+  Description of a Native New Brunswicker's House
+  Blowing the Horn
+  A Deserted Lot
+  The Bushwacker
+  The Postman
+  American Newspapers
+  Musquitoes
+  An Emigrant's House
+  Unsuccessful Lumberer
+  The Law of Kindness exemplified in the Case of a Criminal
+  Schools
+  The School Mistress
+  The Woods
+  Baptists' Association
+  A Visit to the House of a Refugee
+  The Indian Bride, a Refugee's Story
+  Mr. Hanselpecker
+  Burning of Miramichi
+  The Lost One--a tale of the Early Settlers
+  The Mignionette
+  Song of the Irish Mourner
+  A Winter's Evening Sketch
+  The School-mistress's Dream
+  Library in the Backwoods
+  The Indian Summer
+  The Lost Children--a Poem
+  Sleigh Riding
+  Aurora Borealis
+  Getting into the Ice
+  Conclusion
+
+
+
+
+These sketches of the Backwoods of New Brunswick are intended to
+illustrate the individual and national characteristics of the settlers,
+as displayed in the living pictures and legendary tales of the country.
+They have been written during the short intervals allowed from domestic
+toils, and may, perhaps, have little claim to the attention of the
+public, save that of throwing a faint light upon the manners and customs
+of that little-known, though interesting, appendage of the British
+empire. A long residence in that colony having given me ample means of
+knowing and of studying them in all their varying hues of light and
+shade. There, in the free wide solitude of that fair land whose youthful
+face "seems wearing still the first fresh fragrance of the world," the
+fadeless traces of character, peculiar to the dwellers of the olden
+climes, are brought into close contrast with the more original feelings
+of the "sons of the soil," both white and red, and are there more fully
+displayed than in the mass of larger communities. Of political, or depth
+of topographical information, the writer claims no share, and much of
+deep interest, or moving incident, cannot now be expected in the life of
+a settler in the woods. The days when the war-whoop of the Indian was
+yelled above the burning ruins of the white man's dwelling are
+gone--their memory exists but in the legend of the winter's eve, and
+the struggle is now with the elements which form the climate; the
+impulse of "going a-head" giving impetus to people's "getting
+along"--forcing the woods to bow beneath their sturdy stroke, and fields
+to shine with ripened grain, where erst the forest shadows fell; or
+floating down the broad and noble streams the tall and stately pine,
+taken from the ancient bearded wilderness to bear the might of England's
+fame to earth and sea's remotest bounds.
+
+New Brunswick is partly settled by French Acadians from the adjoining
+province of Nova Scotia, but these, generally speaking, form a race by
+themselves, and mingle little with the others, still retaining the
+peculiarities of their nation, although long separated from it--they
+like gaiety and amusement more than work, and consequently are rather
+poorer than the other inhabitants; but, of course, there are exceptions.
+In the winter I have often seen them on their way to market, with loads
+of frozen oysters, packed in barrels, and moss cranberries (rather a
+chance crop); but they looked happy and comfortable, and went singing
+merrily to the ringing of their horse bells. The French were the
+pioneers of the province, and often had to do battle with the Indians,
+the ancient possessors of the soil: of these last there now remains but
+a fast-fading remnant--objects more of pity or laughter than of dread.
+Of the other original settlers, or, as they are particularly termed,
+"blue noses," they are composed of the refugees and their descendants,
+being those persons who, at the separation of England from America,
+prefering the British government, sought her protection and came,
+another band of pilgrims, and swore fealty to that land from whence
+their fathers had so indignantly fled--they are certainly a most
+indescribable genus those blue noses--the traces of descent from the
+Dutch and French blood of the United States, being mingled with the
+independent spirit of the American and the staunch firmness of the
+"Britisher," as they delight to call themselves, showing their claim to
+it by the most determined hatred of the Yankees, whose language and
+features they yet retain: yet these differing qualities blend to form a
+shrewd, intelligent, active, and handsome people--intelligence and
+strong sense, to a far greater amount than could be found in persons of
+the same class in England. A trace, albeit a faint one of the Saxon
+serf, still lingers with the English peasant; but the free breeze of
+America soon sweeps the shadows from his brow, and his sons all, proudly
+take their place as men, knowing that by their own conduct and talents
+they may work their way to fortune, or, at least, "rough hew" it,
+without dread that the might of custom's icy breath can blight their
+fate for lack of birth or fortune. This gives a noble feeling to the
+heart and a higher tone to the character, although a sense of the
+ridiculous is often attached to this by a native of the old countries,
+when it is shown forth by the "squire" yoking his oxen, a major selling
+turkies, and the member for the county cradling buckwheat. Yet all this
+is productive of good, and opens a path for intellect and genius, and
+when a colonel and member of the Legislative Council eats _pancakes and
+molasses_ in a friendly way with his poorer neighbours, is it not likely
+(as the Persian fable tells us of the pebble lying near the rose, and
+thereby imbibing some of its fragrance) that some of the graces and
+politeness of the higher circles, to which these gentlemen belong both
+by fortune and education, should be imparted, in some degree, to those
+with whom they converse. So it undoubtedly does, and the air of
+refinement, native to the New Brunswicker, is never so strongly visible
+as when contrasted with the new-caught emigrant. Rudeness and vulgarity
+in glaring forms one never meets from them; odd and inquisitive ways may
+be thought impertinent, and require both time and patience to be rightly
+understood.
+
+The state of morals and religion is fast progressing; these, of course,
+have all their mainspring from education, for an uneducated people can
+never be, rightly speaking, either moral or religious. So New Brunswick
+may have the apology for whispered tales that float about, of corn being
+reaped and wood being felled on the Sabbath-day, and of sacred rites
+being dispensed with. She is yet in her infancy, and when one thinks
+that 'tis but sixty years since they first set foot on the shore, where
+stood one lonely hut, on the site of the now flourishing city of St.
+John, we must know that their physical wants were then so many that but
+little attention could be given to the wants of the mind. But now,
+thanks to the parental care of Britain, schools and churches are rising
+fast throughout the country, and learning is received with an avidity
+that marks the active intellect it has to work upon; besides, all these
+old stories of failings occurred long before the tide of emigration
+caused them to be enlightened by the visitation of the inhabitants of
+the gifted climes of the olden world. Well would it be if all those
+showed as much desire to avail themselves of their means of
+improvement, as a New Brunswicker does of those enjoyed by him. Their
+personal appearance differs much from the English. Cooper says, "the
+American physiognomy has already its own peculiar cast"--so it has, and
+can easily be distinguished--in general they are handsomer than the
+emigrants--darker in complexion, but finer in feature and more graceful
+in form--not so strong, and fading sooner. Many of the children are
+perfectly beautiful, but the cherub beauty changes soon, and the women
+particularly look old and withered while yet young in years. Infantine
+beauty seems peculiar to the country, for even the children of emigrants
+born there are much handsomer than those born at home. Such are some of
+the traits of the natives--then comes the wide circle of emigrants, each
+(at least the older ones) retaining the peculiarities of their different
+countries. Many of them, although better off than they could possibly
+expect to be at home, yet keep railing at the country, and thirsting
+after the "flesh-pots of Egypt." The Yorkshireman talks of nothing but
+the "white cakes and bag puddings" of old England, regardless of the
+"pumpkin pies and buckwheat pancakes" of New Brunswick; and one old lady
+from Cornwall (where they say the Devil would not go for fear of being
+transformed into a pasty) revenges herself on the country by making pies
+of everything, from apples and mutton down to parsley, and all for the
+memory of England; while, perhaps, were she there, she might be without
+a pie. The honest Scotchman is silent upon the subject of "vivers," and
+wisely talks not of either "crowdy" or barley meal, but tells of the
+time when he was a sitter in the kirk of the Rev. Peter Poundtext,
+showing his Christian charity by the most profound contempt as well for
+the ordinances of the Church of England as for the "dippings" of the
+Baptists. He attends none of them, for he says "he canna thole it," but
+when by chance a minister of the kirk comes his way, then you may see
+him, with well-saved Sabbath suit, pressing anxiously forward to catch
+the droppings of the sanctuary: snows or streams offering no obstacle to
+his zeal. The Irishman, too, is there seen all in his glory--one with a
+medal on his breast, flinging his shillalagh over his head and shouting
+for O'Connell, while another is quaffing to the "pious, glorious, and
+immortal memory of King William," inviting those around him to join
+together in an Orange Lodge, of which community he certainly shows no
+favourable specimen; but by degrees these national feelings and
+asperities become more softened, and the second generation know little
+of them. The settlement from whence these sketches are drawn, was formed
+of a motley mixture of all the different nations--Blue Nose, English,
+Scotch, Irish, Welch, and Dutch.
+
+We had been living for some time at a place called _Long Creek_, on the
+margin of a broad and rapid stream, which might well have borne the more
+dignified appellation of river--the land on its borders was the flat,
+rich "_intervale_," so highly prized, formed by alluvial deposits. There
+are, I believe, two descriptions of this _intervale_,--one covered with
+low small bushes, and, therefore, more easily cleared--the other with a
+gigantic growth of the butternut, the oak, and the elm. This where we
+lived was of the latter description. A few of the stately monarchs of
+the forest yet stood upon the emerald plains, spreading their
+magnificent branches to the sunlight, and telling of the kindly soil
+that nourished them. Along the fences wild hops festooned themselves in
+graceful wreaths of wild luxuriance. A few clumps of cranberry bushes
+had also been permitted to remain, notwithstanding the American's
+antipathy to trees or bushes is such, that his axe, which he hardly ever
+stirs without, is continually flying about him; but this berry, one
+amongst the many indigenous to the country, is a useful addition to the
+winter store--they grow abundantly, and, after the first frost which
+ripens them they have a brilliant appearance, hanging like clustering
+rubies, reminding one of the gem-clad boughs of Aladdin. When gathered,
+they are hung up in bunches, when they become frozen, keeping good till
+the spring. They are used for tarts and jellies, the frost neither
+altering their colour nor flavour. Those places are overflown in the
+spring; the "freshets" caused by the melting of the snow raising the
+waters above their ordinary level. I have often sailed over them, and
+'twas strange to see each familiar footpath and strawberry bank far down
+beneath the shining waves. As the creek goes onward to the river the
+_intervale_ disappears, and the banks become grey and steep, crowned
+with the tall and slender stems of the spruce and cedar. New Brunswick
+is rich in minerals, and veins of coal and iron abound at this place;
+but many years must elapse ere mines are worked to any extent. A few are
+in operation at present; but while the pine waves the wealth of her
+green plumage to the lumber-man, or the new-cleared ground will yield
+its virgin crop to the farmer, the earth must keep her deeper treasures.
+In the spring, this creek presents a busy picture. The rivers of New
+Brunswick are to her what the railroads are now to other countries: and
+richly is she blessed with sparkling waters from the diamond flashings
+of the mountain rill to the still calm beauty of the sheltered lake, the
+silvery streams, the sweeping river, and the unfrozen width of the
+winter harbour of her noble bay. True, much can be done on the icy ways
+of winter, but then the home work must be minded, and market attended.
+Fire-wood for the year must be _hauled_; the increasing _clearings_ call
+for extended fences, and these also must be drawn from the woods on the
+snow, so that when the spring opens, the roots and other spare produce
+are quickly shipped off (boated would be a better expression) into large
+open boats, called market-boats. Another description, called wood-boats,
+are used for carrying deals and cord-wood, so called from the stick
+forming the measure of a cord, which is the mode of selling it in the
+city for fuel. The deals are floated from the saw mills over the
+shallows, and piled into the boats. One could sometimes walk across the
+river on the quantities of wood floating about. The larger pieces of
+wood or timber are floated singly down the stream nearest to the place
+whence they are cut. This operation is called stream-driving, and
+commences as soon as the rapid melting of the snow and ice has so
+swollen the small streams as to give them power to force and carry the
+huge pieces of timber, until, at the confluence of the streams, the
+water becomes wide enough to enable them to form it into rafts, on which
+raft a hut is built and furnished with the necessaries for subsistence.
+The gang who have been employed in bringing it so far lay themselves
+upon it, and allow it to float down the stream, until the breeze wafts
+them to their destination. These are the scenes of the spring, when all
+life seems awakening. The tree-buds are bursting their cerements--the
+waters are dancing in light and song--and the woods, before all still,
+now echo a few wild notes of melody. The blue wing of the halycon goes
+dazzlingly past, and tells us his own bright days are come; and the
+"_whip-poor-will_" brings his lay so close, that the ear is startled
+with the human sound on the soft damp air. The scene is changed when
+Sirius is triumphant, telling us of the tropics, and that we live in
+rather an inexplicable climate. Beneath his burning influence I have
+glided down this creek when no sound was heard on earth or air save the
+ripples of the paddle as it rose or fell at the will of the child-like
+form which guided the fragile bark. The dwellers on the margin of these
+fair waters are as much at home upon them as on land, and the children
+in particular are as amphibious as the musk rats which people its banks,
+and which scent the air somewhat heavily with what, in a fainter degree,
+would be thought perfume. One can hardly recall these dog-star days at
+that later season when the pearly moon and brilliant stars shine down
+from the deep blue sky on the crusted snows; when fairy crystals are
+reflecting their cold bright beams on the glistening ice, while the
+sleigh flies merrily along, "with bell and bridle ringing," on the same
+path we held in summer with the light canoe; when the breath congeals in
+a sheet of ice around the face, and the clearness of the atmosphere
+makes respiration difficult. To tell us that we are in the same latitude
+with the sunny clime of Boulogne, in France, shows us that America
+cannot be measured by the European standard. A quarter of the globe lies
+between us; they go to bed four hours before we do, and are fast asleep
+while we are wide awake. No one attempts to live in the country
+districts without a farm. As the place where we lived had but a house
+and one acre of land, none being vacant in that immediate neighbourhood,
+and finding firing and pasturage expensive, and furthermore wishing to
+raise our own potatoes, and, if we liked, live in _peas_, a lot of two
+hundred acres was purchased in the settlement, styled, "_par
+excellence_," "the English," (from the first settlers being of that
+illustrious nation,) a distance of two miles from where we then lived.
+Our house was a good one. We did not like to leave it. Selling was out
+of the question: so we e'en resolved to take it with us, wishing, as the
+Highland robber did of the haystack, that it had legs to walk. A
+substitute for this was found in the universal resource of New
+Brunswickers for all their wants, from the cradle to the coffin, "the
+tree, the bonny greenwood tree," that gives the young life-blood of its
+sweet sap for sugar--and even when consumed by fire its white ashes
+yield them soap. I have even seen wooden fire-irons, although they do
+not go quite so far as their Yankee neighbours, who, letting alone
+wooden clocks, deal besides in _wooden hams_, nutmegs, and cucumber
+seeds. Two stout trees were then felled (the meanest would have graced a
+lordly park), and hewed with the axe into a pair of gigantic sled
+runners. The house was raised from its foundation and placed on these.
+Many hands make light work; but, had those hands been all hired
+labourers, the expense would have been more than the value of the house,
+but 'twas done by what is called a "frolic." When people have a
+particular kind of work requiring to be done quickly, and strength to
+accomplish it, they invite their neighbours to come, and, if necessary,
+bring with them their horses or oxen. Frolics are used for building log
+huts, chopping, piling, ploughing, planting, and hoeing. The ladies also
+have their particular frolics, such as wool-picking, or cutting out and
+making the home-spun woollen clothes for winter. The entertainment given
+on such occasions is such as the house people can afford; for the men,
+roast mutton, pot pie, pumpkin pie, and rum dough nuts; for the ladies,
+tea, some scandal, and plenty of "_sweet cake_," with stewed apple and
+custards. There are, at certain seasons, a great many of these frolics,
+and the people never grow tired of attending them, knowing that the logs
+on their own fallows will disappear all the quicker for it. The house
+being now on the runners, thirty yoke of oxen, four abreast, were
+fastened to an enormous tongue, or pole, made of an entire tree of ash.
+No one can form any idea, until they have heard it, of the noise made in
+driving oxen; and, in such an instance as this, of the skill and tact
+required in starting them, so that they are all made to pull at once. I
+have often seen the drivers, who are constantly shouting, completely
+hoarse; and after a day's work so exhausted that they have been unable
+to raise the voice. Although the cattle are very docile, and understand
+well what is said to them, yet from the number of turnings and twistings
+they require to be continually reminded of their duty. Amid, then, all
+the noise and bustle made by intimating to such a number whether they
+were to "haw" or "gee," the shoutings of the younger parties assembled,
+the straining of chains and the creaking of boards, the ponderous pile
+was set in motion along the smooth white and marble-like snow road,
+whose breadth it entirely filled up. It was a sight one cannot well
+forget--to see it move slowly up the hill, as if unwilling to leave the
+spot it had been raised on, notwithstanding the merry shouts around, and
+the flag they had decked it with streaming so gaily through the green
+trees as they bent over it till it reached the site destined for it,
+where it looked as much at home as if it were too grave and steady a
+thing to take the step it had done. This was in March--we had been
+waiting some time for snow, as to move without it would have been a
+difficult task; for, plentifully as New Brunswick is supplied with that
+commodity, at some seasons much delay and loss is experienced for want
+of it--the sleighing cannot be done, and wheel carriages cannot run, the
+roads are so rough and broken with the frost--the cold is then more
+intense, and the cellars, (the sole store-houses and receptacles of the
+chief comforts) without their deep covering of snow, become penetrated
+by the frost, and their contents much injured, if not totally
+destroyed--this is a calamity that to be known must be experienced--the
+potatoes stored here are the chief produce of the farm, at least the
+part that is most available for selling, for hay should never go off the
+land, and grain is as yet so little raised that 'tis but the old farmers
+can do what is called "_bread themselves:_" thus the innovation of the
+cellars by the _frost fiend_ is a sad and serious occurrence--of course
+a deep bank of earth is thrown up round the house, beneath which, and
+generally its whole length and breadth, is the cellar; but the snow over
+this is an additional and even necessary defence, and its want is much
+felt in many other ways--in quantity, however, it generally makes up for
+its temporary absence by being five and six feet deep in April. About
+this season the warm sun begins to beam out, and causes the sap to flow
+in the slumbering trees--this is the season for sugar-making, which,
+although an excellent thing if it can be managed, is not much attended
+to, especially in new settlements, and those are generally the best off
+for a "_sugar-bush_;" but it occurs at that season when the last of the
+winter work must be done--the snow begins to melt on the roads, and the
+"saw whet," a small bird of the owl species, makes its appearance, and
+tells us, as the natives say, that "_the heart of the winter is
+broken_." All that can be done now must be done to lessen the toils of
+that season now approaching, from which the settler must not shrink if
+he hope to prosper. Sugar-making, then, unless the farmer is strong
+handed, is not profitable. A visit to a sugar-camp is an interesting
+sight to a stranger--it may, perhaps, be two or three miles through the
+woods to where a sufficient number of maple trees may be found close
+enough together to render it eligible for sugar-making. All the
+different kinds of maple yield a sweet sap, but the "rock maple" is the
+species particularly used for sugar, and perhaps a thousand of these
+trees near together constitute what is called a _sugar-bush_. Here,
+then, a rude hut, but withal picturesque in its appearance, is
+erected--it is formed of logs, and covered with broad sheets of birch
+bark. For the universal use of this bark I think the Indians must have
+given the example. Many beautiful articles are made by them of it, and
+to the back settlers it is invaluable. As an inside roofing, it
+effectually resists the rain--baskets for gathering the innumerable
+tribe of summer berries, and boxes for packing butter are made of
+it--calabashes for drinking are formed of it in an instant by the bright
+forest stream. Many a New Brunswick belle has worn it for a head-dress
+as the dames of more polished lands do frames of French willow; and it
+is said the title deeds of many a broad acre in America have been
+written on no other parchment than its smooth and vellum-like folds. The
+sugar-maker's bark-covered hut contains his bedding and provisions,
+consisting of little save the huge round loaf of bread, known as the
+"shanty loaf"--his beverage, or substitute for tea, is made of the
+leaves of the winter green, or the hemlock boughs which grow beside him,
+and his sweetening being handy bye, he wants nothing more. A notch is
+cut in the tree, from which the sap flows, and beneath it a piece of
+shingle is inserted for a spout to conduct it into troughs, or bark
+dishes, placed at the foot of the tree. The cold frosty nights, followed
+by warm sunny days, making it run freely, clear as water, and slightly
+sweet--from these troughs, or bark dishes, it is collected in pails, by
+walking upon the now soft snow, by the aid of snow shoes, and poured
+into barrels which stand near the boilers, ready to supply them as the
+syrup boils down. When it reaches the consistence required for sugar, it
+is poured into moulds of different forms. Visits to these sugar camps
+are a great amusement of the young people of the neighbourhood in which
+they are, who make parties for that purpose--the great treat is the
+candy, made by dashing the boiling syrup on the snow, where it instantly
+congeals, transparent and crisp, into sheets. At first the blazing fire
+and boiling cauldron look strange, amid the solemn loneliness of the
+forest, along whose stately aisles of cathedral-like grandeur the eye
+may gaze for days, and see no living thing--the ear hear no sound, save
+it may be the tapping of the woodpecker, or the whispering of the wind
+as it sighs through the boughs, seeming to mourn with them for the time
+when the white man knew them not. But these thoughts pass away when the
+proprietor, with his pale intelligent face, shaded by a flapping sun hat
+from the glaring snow, presses us hospitably to "take along a junk of
+candy, a lump of sugar," or a cup of the syrup. He sees nothing
+picturesque or romantic in the whole affair, and only calculates if it
+will pay for the time it occupies; at the same time, with the produce of
+his labours he is extremely "_clever_," this being the term for generous
+or hospitable, and one is sometimes startled at its application,
+especially to women; the persons in England, to whom it is applied, are
+so unlike the clever women of New Brunswick, those dear old creatures,
+who know not the difference between Milton and Dilworth, and whose very
+woollen gowns are redolent of all-spice and apples.
+
+Towards the latter part of March and April the breaking up of the ice
+goes on gradually--some seasons, however, a sudden storm causes the ice
+and snow to disappear rapidly, but generally a succession of soft warm
+winds, and days partly sunshine and rain, does it more effectually, and
+prevents the heavy freshets in the rivers, which are often destructive,
+overflowing the low banks and carrying away with resistless force
+whatever buildings may be on them. After the disappearance of the snow,
+some time must elapse ere the land be in a fit state for sowing,
+consequently fencing, and such like, is now the farmer's employment,
+either around the new clearings, or in repairing those which have fallen
+or been removed during the winter. This, with attending to the stock,
+which at this season require particular care, gives them sufficient
+occupation--the sheep, which have long since been wearied of the
+"durance vile" which bound them to the hay-rick, may now be seen in
+groups on the little isles of emerald green which appear in the white
+fields; and the cattle, that for six long weary months have been
+ruminating in their stalls, or "chewing the cud of sweet and bitter
+fancy" in the barn yards, now begin to extend their perigrinations
+towards the woods, browsing with delight on the sweet young buds of the
+birch tree. At this season it is, for obvious reasons, desirable that
+the "milky mothers" should not stray far from home--many "a staid brow'd
+matron" has disappeared in the spring, and, after her summer rambles in
+the woods, returned in the "fall" with her full-grown calf by her side,
+but many a good cow has gone and been seen no more, but as a white
+skeleton gleaming among the green leaves. To prevent these mischances, a
+bell is fastened on the leader of the herd, the intention of which is to
+guide where they may be found. This bell is worn all summer, as their
+pasture is the rich herbage of the forest. It is taken off during the
+winter, and its first sounds now tell us, although the days are cold,
+and the snow not yet gone, that brighter times are coming. The clear
+concerts of the frogs ring loudly out from marsh and lake, and at this
+season alone is heard the lay of the wood-robin, and the blackbird. The
+green glossy leaves of the winter green, whose bright scarlet berries
+look like clusters of coral on the snow, now seem even brighter than
+they were--the blue violet rises among the sheltered moss by the old
+tree roots, and the broad-leaved adder tongue gives out its orange and
+purple blossoms to gladden the brown earth, while the trees are yet all
+black and barren, save the various species of pine and spruce, which now
+wear a fringe of softer green. The May flowers of New Brunswick seldom
+blossom till June, which is rather an Irish thing of them to do, and
+although the weather has been fine, and recalls to the memory the balmy
+breath of May, yet I have often seen a pearly wreath of new fallen snow,
+deck the threshhold on that 'merrie morn'. After the evaporation of the
+steaming vapour of spring has gone forward, and the farmer has operated
+in the way of ploughing and sowing, on whatever ready-prepared land he
+may have for the purpose, the first dry "_spell_" is looked forward to
+most anxiously to burn off the land which has been chopped during the
+winter--it is bad policy, however, to depend for the whole crop on this
+"_spring burn_," as a long continuance of wet weather may prevent it.
+The new settler, on his first season, has nothing else to depend upon;
+but the older ones chop the land at intervals during the summer, and
+clear it off in the autumn, and thus have it ready for the ensuing
+spring. Burning a chopping, or _fallow_, as it is called, of twelve or
+fourteen acres in extent, is a grand and even awful sight: rushing in
+torrents of flame, it rolls with the wind, crackling and roaring through
+the brushwood, and often extending beyond the limits assigned it,
+catching the dry stems of ancient trees, the growth of the earlier ages
+of this continent, which lie in gigantic ruins, half buried in the
+rising soil, and which will be themes of speculation to the geologists
+of other days--it rushes madly among the standing trees of the woods,
+wreathing them to their summits in its wild embrace--they stand at night
+like lofty torches, or a park decked out with festal lamps for some
+grand gala. After this first burn, a _fallow_ presents a blackened scene
+of desolation and confusion, and requires, indeed, a strong arm and a
+stout heart to undertake its clearance; the small branches and
+brush-wood alone have been burnt, but the large logs or trunks lie all
+blackened but unconsumed. These must all be placed in regular piles or
+heaps, which are again fired, and burn steadily for a few hours, after
+which all traces of the noble forest are gone, save the blackened stumps
+and a few white ashes; it is then ready for planting or sowing, with the
+assistance of the hoe or harrow.
+
+And now, kind reader, if you have accompanied me thus far, will you have
+the kindness to suppose us fixed at last in our habitation--whitewashing,
+painting, and scrubbing done, and all the fuss of moving over--our
+fallow fenced and filled--the dark green stems of the wheat and oats
+standing thick and tall--the buck-wheat spreading its broad leaves, and
+the vines of the pumpkins and cucumbers running along the rich soil,
+where grows in luxuriance the potatoe, that root, valuable to New
+Brunswick
+
+    "As the bread-fruit tree
+    To the sunny isles of Owhyhee."
+
+Suppose it, then, a bright and balmy day in the sunny ides of June--the
+earth is now in all the luxuriant pride of her summer beauty; for
+although the summer is long coming, yet, when it does begin, vegetation
+is so rapid that a few short days call it forth in all its loveliness;
+nay, the transition is so quick, that I have observed its workings in an
+hour's space. In the red sunlight of the morn I have seen the trees with
+their wintry sprays and brown leaf-buds all closed--when there fell a
+soft and refreshing shower--again the sunbeams lit the sky, and oh! the
+glorious change--the maple laughed out with her crimson blossoms and
+fair green leaves--the beech-tree unfolded her emerald plumes--the fairy
+stems of the aspen and birch were dancing in light, and the stately ash
+was enwreathed with her garland of verdant green--the spirit of spring
+seemed to have waved o'er them the wand of enchantment. On this bright
+day, of which I now speak, all this mighty change had been accomplished,
+and earth and air seemed all so delightful, one could hardly imagine
+that it could be improved by aught added to or taken from it.
+
+I am now just going to walk along the settlement to visit a friend, and
+if you will accompany me, I shall most willingly be your Asmodeus. A
+straight and well-worked road runs through the settlement, which is
+about nine miles in length. This part of the country is particularly
+hilly, and from where we now stand we have a view of its whole extent.
+Twenty years ago a blazed track was the only path through the dense
+forest to where, at its furthest extremity, one adventurous settler had
+dared to raise his _log hut_. The older inhabitants, who lived only on
+the margin of the rivers, laughed at the idea of clearing those high
+"_back lands_" where there was neither intervale or rivers, but he
+heeded them not, and his lonely hut became the nucleus of one of the
+most flourishing settlements in New Brunswick. The woods have now
+retreated far back from the road, and at this season the grass and grain
+are so high that the stumps are all concealed. The scene is very
+different to the country landscapes of England. There there are square
+smooth fields enclosed with stone walls, neat white palings, or the
+hawthorn hedge, scenting the breezes with its balmy "honeysuckle," or
+sweet wild rose--song-birds filling the air with melody, and stately
+castles, towering o'er the peasant's lowly home, while far as the eye
+can reach 'twill rest but on some fair village dome or farm. Here the
+worm or zigzag fence runs round the irregularly-shaped clearings, in the
+same rustic garb it wore when a denizen of the forest. The wild flowers
+here have no perfume, but the raspberries, which grow luxuriantly in the
+spaces made by the turnings of the fences, have a sweet smell, and there
+is a breath which tells of the rich strawberry far down among the
+shadowy grass. The birds during the hot months of summer have no song,
+but there are numbers of them, and of the brightest plumage. The fairy
+humming-bird, often in size no larger than a bee, gleams through the air
+like a flower with wings, and the bald eagle sits majestically on the
+old grey pines, which stand like lone monuments of the past, the storms
+and the lightnings having ages ago wreaked their worst upon them, and
+bereft them of life and limb, yet still they stand, all lofty and
+unscathed by the axe or the fire which has laid the younger forest low.
+The dwellings, either the primitive log-hut, the first home of the
+settler, or the more stately frame-buildings, stand each near the road,
+on the verge of its own clearing, which reaches back to where the dark
+woods form a back-ground to the scene. These stretch far and wide over
+the land, save where appears, amid their density, some lonely settlement
+or improvement of adventurous emigrant. Those little spots, of how much
+importance to their owners, yet seem as nothing amid the vast forest.
+Each dwelling in this country is in itself a theme for study and
+interest. Here, on one side, is the home of an English settler--amid all
+the bustle and chopping and burning of a new farm, he has found time to
+plant a few fruit trees, and has now a flourishing young orchard, and a
+garden wherein are herbs of "fragrant smell and spicy taste," to give a
+warm relish to the night's repast. For the cultivation of a garden the
+natives, unless the more opulent of them, seem to care little; and
+outside the dwelling of a blue nose there is little to be seen, unless
+it be a cucumber bed among the chips, or a patch of Indian corn. Again,
+the Scotch settlers may be known by the taste shown in selecting a
+garden spot--a gentle declivity, sloping to a silvery stream, by which
+stand a few household trees that he has permitted to remain--beneath
+them a seat is placed, and in some cherished spot, watched over with the
+tenderest care, is an exotic sprig of heath or broom. About the
+Hibernian's dwelling may be a mixture of all these differing tastes,
+while perhaps a little of the national ingenuity may be displayed in a
+broken window, repaired with an old hat, or an approximation towards
+friendliness between the domestic animals and the inmates. With the
+interior of these dwellings one is agreeably surprised, they (that is,
+generally speaking), appear so clean and comfortable. Outside the logs
+are merely hewed flat, and the interstices filled up with moss and clay,
+the roof and ends being patched up with boards and bark, or anything to
+keep out the cold. They certainly look rough enough, but within they are
+ceiled above and around with smooth shining boards; there are no walls
+daubed with white-wash, nor floors strewn with vile gritty sand, which
+last certainly requires all the sanctity of custom to render it
+endurable, but the walls and floors are as bright and clean as the
+scrubbing-brush and plenty of soap can make them. This great accessary
+to cleanliness, _soap_, is made at home in large quantities, the ashes
+of the wood burnt in the fire-place making the "ley," to which is added
+the coarser fat and grease of the animals used for home consumption. It
+costs nothing but the trouble of making, and the art is little. As
+regards cleanliness, the natives have something almost Jewish in their
+personal observances of it as well as of their food. The blood of no
+animal is ever used, but flows to the earth from whence it sprung, and
+the poorest of them perform their ablutions before eating with oriental
+exactness; these habits are soon imparted to the emigrants, many of
+whom, when they first come out, all softly be it said, are by no means
+so nice.
+
+The large bright fires of the log house prevent all possible ideas of
+damp; they certainly are most delightful--those magnificent winter fires
+of New Brunswick--so brilliant, so cheerful, and so warm--the charred
+coals, like a mass of burning rubies, giving out their heat beneath,
+while between the huge "_back-log_" and "_fore-stick,_" the bright
+flames dance merrily up the wide chimney. I have often heard people
+fancy a wood fire as always snapping and sparkling in your face, or
+green and smoky, chilling you with its very appearance, but those would
+soon change their opinion if they saw a pile of yellow birch and rock
+maple laid right "fore and aft" across the bright fire-dogs, the hearth
+swept up, and the chips beneath fanned with the broom, they would then
+see the union of light and heat in perfection. In one way it is
+preferable to coals, that is, while making on the fire you might if you
+chose wear white kid gloves without danger of soiling them. Another
+comfort to the settler in the back woods is, that every stick you burn
+makes one less on the land. Stoves, both for cooking and warming the
+houses, have long been used in the United States, and are gradually
+coming into common use in New Brunswick. In the cities they are
+generally used, where fuel is expensive, as they require less fuel, and
+give more heat than open "fire-places;" but the older inhabitants can
+hardly be reconciled to them; they prefer the rude old hearth stone,
+with its bright light, to the dark stove. I remember once spending the
+evening at a house where the younger part of the family, to be
+fashionable, had got a new stove placed in the fire-place of "_'tother
+room_," which means, what in Scotland is termed "_ben_" the house, and
+in England "the _parlour_." This was the first evening of its being put
+in operation. I observed the old gentleman (a first-rate specimen of a
+blue nose) looked very uncomfortable and fidgetty. For a time he sat
+twirling his thumbs in silence, when suddenly a thought seemed to strike
+him: he left the room, and shortly after the draught-hole of the stove
+grew dark, and a cloud of smoke burst forth from it. The old gentleman
+came in, declaring he was almost suffocated, and that it was "all owing
+to _that nasty ugly Yankee critter_," the stove. He instantly had it
+taken down, and was soon gazing most comfortably on a glorious pile of
+burning wood, laid on by himself, with the most scientific regard to the
+laws of _levity, concavity_, and _contiguity_ requisite in fire-making;
+and by the twinkle of his eye I knew that he was enjoying the ruse he
+had employed to get rid of the stove, for he had quietly stopped the
+flue. For the mere convenience of the thing, I think a stove is
+decidedly preferable. In this country, where people are generally their
+own cooks as well as everything else, they learn to know how the most
+and the best work can be done with the least time and trouble. With the
+stove there is not that roasting of the face and hands, nor confused
+jumble of pots and pans, inseparable from a kitchen fire; but upon the
+neat little polished thing, upon which there is nothing to be seen but a
+few bright covers, you can have the constituents of a New Brunswick
+breakfast, "_cod-fish and taters_," for twice laid, fried ham, hot
+rolls, and pancakes, all prepared while the tea kettle is boiling, and
+experience whilst arranging them no more heat than on a winter morning,
+is quite agreeable. In the furniture of these back-wood dwellings there
+is nothing rich or costly, yet there is such an air of neatness diffused
+over it, and effect brought out, that they always recalled to me the
+painted cottage scenes of a theatre. But here is a house at which I have
+a call to make, and which will illustrate the "_mènage_" of a New
+Brunswicker. Remember, this is not one of the old settlers, who have
+overcome all the toil and inconvenience of clearing and building, and
+are now enjoying the comforts they have earned, but it is the log-house
+of a new farm, around which the stumps yet stand thick and strong, and
+where the ringing of the axe is yet heard incessantly. In this working
+country people are, in general, like the famous Mrs. Gilpin, who, though
+on pleasure bent, had yet a frugal mind, and contrive to make business
+and amusement go together; and although I had left home with the
+intention of paying a visit, a little business induces me to pause here,
+ere I proceed to where I intended; and even here, while arranging this,
+I shall enjoy myself as much as though I were sackless of thought or
+interest in anything save amusement. The manufacture of the wool raised
+on the farm is the most important part of the women's work, and in this
+the natives particularly excel. As yet I knew not the mysteries of
+colouring brown with butternut bark, nor the proper proportion of _sweet
+fern_ and indigo to produce green, so that our wool, on its return from
+the carding mill, had been left with this person--lady, "par
+courtesie,"--who was a perfect adept in the art, to be spun and wove:
+and the business on which I now call is to arrange with her as to its
+different proportions and purposes. What for blankets, for clothing, or
+for socks and mittens, which all require a different style of
+manufacture, and are all items of such importance during the winter
+snows. Melancthon Grey, whose most Christian and protestant appellation
+was abbreviated into "Lank," was a true-blooded blue nose. His father
+had a noble farm of rich intervale on the banks of the river Saint John,
+and was well to do in the world. Lank was his eldest son, yet no
+heritage was his, save his axe and the arm which swung it. The law of
+primogeniture exists not in this country, and the youngest son is
+frequently heir to that land on which the older ones have borne the
+"heat and burthen of the day," and rendered valuable by their toil,
+until each chooses his own portion in the world, by taking unto himself
+a wife and a lot of forest land, and thus another hard-won _homestead_
+is raised, and sons enough to choose among for heirs. Melancthon Grey
+had wedded his cousin, a custom common among the "blue noses," and which
+most likely had its origin in the patriarchal days of the earlier
+settlers, when the inhabitants were few. Sybèl was a sweet pretty girl,
+deficient, as the Americans all are, in those high-toned feelings which
+characterise the depth of woman's love in the countries of Europe, yet
+made, as they generally do, an affectionate wife, and a fond and doating
+mother. Those two names, Sybèl and Melancthon, had a strange sound in
+the same household, awaking, as they always did in my dreamy fancy, a
+train of such differing memories. Sybèl recalling the days of early
+Rome, the haughty Tarquin and his mysterious prophetess, while
+Melancthon brought back the "Reformation," and the best and most pious
+of its fathers. In the particular of names, the Americans have a decided
+"penchant" for those of euphonious and peculiar sound--they are selected
+from sacred and profane history, ancient and modern. To them, however,
+there is little of meaning attached by those who give them save the
+sound. I have known one family reckon among its members a Solon and
+Solomon, a Hector and Wellington, a Bathsheba and Lucretia; and the two
+famous Johns, Bunyan and Wesley, have many a name-sake. These, in their
+full length, are generally saved for holiday terms, and abbreviations
+are made for every-day use. In these they are ingenious in finding the
+shortest, and _Theodore_, that sweetest of all names, I have heard
+curtailed to "_Od_," which seems certainly an odd enough cognomen.
+Sybèl's bridal portion consisted of a cow and some sheep--her father's
+waggon which brought her home contained some household articles her
+mother's care had afforded--Melancthon had provided a barrel of pork and
+one of flour, some tea and molasses, that staple commodity in
+transatlantic housekeeping. Amongst Sybèl's chattels were a bake-pan and
+tea-kettle, and thus they commenced the world. Melancthon has not yet
+had time to make a gate at his dwelling, and our only mode of entrance
+must be either by climbing the "fence" or unshipping the "_bars_," which
+form one pannel, and which are placed so as to be readily removed for
+the passage of a carriage, but from us this will require both time and
+strength, so at the risk of tearing our dress we will e'en take the
+fence. This is a feat which a novice does most clumsily, but which those
+who are accustomed to it do most gracefully.
+
+As we approach the dwelling, the housewife's handy-work is displayed in
+a pole hung with many a skein of snow white yarn, glistening in the
+sunlight. Four years have passed since Sybèl was a bride---her cheek has
+lost the bloom of girlhood, and has already assumed the hollow form of
+New Brunswick matrons; her dress is home-spun, of her own manufacture,
+carded and spun by her own hands, coloured with dye stuffs gathered in
+the woods, woven in a pretty plaid, and neatly made by herself. This is
+also the clothing of her husband and children; a bright gingham
+handkerchief is folded inside her dress, and her rich dark hair is
+smoothly braided. In this particular the natives display a good
+taste--young women do not enshroud themselves in a cap the day after
+their marriage, as if glad to be done with the trouble of dressing their
+hair; and unless from sickness a cap is never worn by any one the least
+youthful. The custom commences with the children, for infants never have
+their heads covered during the day. At first the little bald heads seem
+unsightly to a stranger, but when the eye gets accustomed, they look
+much better in their own natural beauty then when decked out in lace and
+muslin. The plan of keeping the head cool seems to answer well, for New
+Brunswick may rival any country in the world for a display of lovely
+infants. Sybèl has the delicacy of appearance which the constant in-door
+occupation of the women gives them, differing much from the coarse, but
+healthier look of those countries where the females assist in field
+labours. The "blue nose" considers it "_agin all nature_" for women to
+work out, and none are ever seen so employed, unless it be the families
+of emigrants before they are naturalised. A flush of delight crimsons
+Sybèl's pale face as she welcomes me in, for simple and retired as her
+life is, she yet cherishes in her heart all the fondness for company and
+visiting inherent to her sex, and loves to enjoy them whenever
+opportunity permits. No excuse would be listened to,--I must stay
+dinner--my bonnet is untied, and placed upon the bed--Sybèl has churned
+in the early cool of the morning, and she has now been working over the
+golden produce of her labours with a wooden ladle in a tray. With this
+ladle the butter is taken from the churn; the milk beaten out, and
+formed by it into rolls--nothing else is employed, for moulds or prints
+are not used as in England. She has just finished, and placed it in her
+dairy, a little bark-lined recess adjoining the house--and now, on
+hospitable thoughts intent, she has caught up her pail and is gone for
+water--in this we are most luxurious in New Brunswick, never keeping any
+quantity in the house, but using it bright and sparkling as it gushes
+from the spring. While she is gone, we will take a pencilling of her
+dwelling. A beautiful specimen of still-life, in the shape of a baby six
+months old, reposes in its cradle--its eye-lids' long and silky fringes
+are lightly folded in sleep on its smooth round cheek. Another older one
+is swinging in the rocking chair, playing with some chips and bark, the
+only toys of the log house--this single apartment serves the family for
+parlour, for kitchen, and hall--the chamber above being merely used as a
+store room, or receptacle for lumber--'tis the state bed-room as well,
+and on the large airy-looking couch is displayed a splendid coverlet of
+home-spun wool, manufactured in a peculiar style, the possessing of
+which is the first ambition of a back-wood matron, and for which she
+will manoeuvre as much as a city lady would for some _bijou of a
+chiffionier_, or centre table--Sybèl has gained her's by saving each
+year a portion of the wool, until she had enough to accomplish this sure
+mark of industry, and of _getting along in the world_; for if they are
+not getting along or improving in circumstances their farms will not
+raise sheep enough to yield the wool, and if they are not industrious
+the yarn will not be spun for this much-prized coverlet, which, despite
+the local importance attached to it, is a useful, handsome and valuable
+article in itself. On a large chest beside the bed are laid piles of
+snow white blankets, and around the walls are hung the various woollen
+garments which form the wardrobe of the family. Bright-hued Indian
+baskets stand on top of each other--a pair of beaded moccasins and a
+reticule of porcupine quills are hung up for ornament. The pine table
+and willow-seated chairs are all made in the "bush," and even into this
+far back settlement has penetrated the prowess of the renowned "Sam
+Slick, of Slickville." One of his wooden-made yankee clocks is here--its
+case displaying "a most elegant picture" of Cupid, in frilled trowsers
+and morocco boots, the American prototype of the little god not being
+allowed to appear so scantily clad as he is generally represented. A
+long rifle is hung over the mantle-piece, and from the beams are
+suspended heads of Indian corn for seed; by them, tied in bunches, or in
+paper bags, is a complete "hortus siccus" of herbs and roots for
+medicinal as well as culinary purposes. Bone set and lobelia, sage and
+savory, sarsaparilla, and that mysterous bark which the natives say acts
+with a different effect, according as it is peeled up or down the
+tree--cat-nip and calamus root for the baby, with dried marigold leaves,
+balm of gilead buds, and a hundred others, for compounding the various
+receipts they possess, as remedies for every complaint in the world.
+Many of these they have learnt from the Indians, whose "ancient medicine
+men" are well versed in the healing powers with which the herbs of the
+forest and the field are gifted. On a small shelf is laid the library,
+which consists but of the bible, a new almanac, and Humbert's Union
+Harmony, the province manual of sacred music, of which they are most
+particularly fond; but the air of the country is not favourable to song,
+and their melody always seemed to me "harmony not understood,"
+Meanwhile, for the last half-hour, Sybèl has been busily engaged in
+cooking, at which the natives are most expeditious and expert. I know
+not how they would be in other countries, but I know that at home they
+are first-rate--no other can come up to them in using the materials and
+implements they are possessed of. By the accustomed sun-mark on the
+floor, which Sybèl prefers to the clock, she sees 'tis now the hungry
+hour of noon, and blows the horn for Lank to come to dinner. This horn
+is a conk shell, bored at one end, and its sound is heard at a great
+distance. At the hours of meal-time it may be heard from house to house,
+and, ringing through the echoing woods from distant settlements, telling
+us, amid their loneliness, of happy meetings at the household board; but
+it comes, too, at times, when its sounds are heralds of trouble and
+dismay. I have heard it burst upon the ear at the silent hour of
+midnight, and, starting from sleep, seen the sky all crimsoned with the
+flames of some far off dwelling, whose inmates thus called for
+assistance; but long ere that assistance could be given, the fire would
+have done its worst of destruction, perhaps of death. I have also heard
+it, when twilight gathered darkly o'er the earth, floating sad and
+mournfully since sun-set, from some dwelling in the forest's depths,
+whose locality, but for the sounds, would not be known. Some member of
+the family has been lost in the woods, and the horn is blown to guide
+him homewards through the trackless wilderness. How sweet must those
+sounds be to the benighted wanderer, bearing, as they do, the voice of
+the heart, and telling of love and affectionate solicitude! But
+Melancthon has driven his ox-team to the barn, and now, with the baby on
+his lap, which, like all the blue-noses, he loves to nurse, sits down to
+table, where we join him. The dinner, as is often the case in the
+backwoods in summer, is "a regular pick-up one," that is, composed of
+any thing and every thing. People care little for meat in the hot
+weather; and, in fact, a new settler generally uses his allowance of
+beef and pork during the long winter, so that the provision for summer
+depends principally on fish, with which the country is amply supplied,
+and the produce of the dairy. The present meal consists of fine trout
+from the adjoining stream, potatoes white as snow-balls, and,
+pulverising on the dish, some fried ham, and young French beans, which
+grow there in the greatest luxuriance, climbing to the top of their
+lofty poles till they can grow no higher. I have often thought them
+scions of that illustrious bean-stalk owned by Jack in the fairy tale.
+We have also a bowl of salad, and home-made vinegar prepared from maple
+sap, a large hot cake, made with Indian meal, and milk and dried
+blue-berries, an excellent substitute for currants. Buscuits, of snow
+white Tenessee flour, raised with cream and sal-a-ratus. This last
+article, which is used in place of yeast, or eggs, in compounding light
+cakes, can also be made at home from ley of the wood ashes, but it is
+mostly bought in town. The quantity of this used is surprising, country
+"store-keepers" purchasing barrels to supply their customers. A
+raspberry pie, and a splendid dish of strawberries and cream, with tea
+(the inseparable beverage of every meal in New Brunswick), forms our
+repast; and such would it be in ninety-nine houses out of a hundred of
+the class I am describing. Many of the luxuries, and all the necessaries
+of life, can be raised at home, by those who are industrious and
+spirited enough to take advantage of their resources. Melancthon this
+year expects to _bread himself_, as well as grow enough of hay to winter
+his stock. Since he commenced farming he purchased what was not raised
+on the land by the sale of what was cut off it--that is, by selling ash
+timber and cord-wood he procured what he required. This, however, can
+only be done where there is water conveyance to market. The
+indefatigable Melancthon had four miles to "haul" his marketable wood;
+but, when the roads were bad, he was chopping and clearing at the same
+time, and when the snow was well beaten down, with his little French
+horse and light sled he soon drew it to the place from whence the boats
+are loaded in the spring. Dinner being now finished, and after some
+conversation, which must of course be of a very local description,
+although it is brightened with many a quiet touch of wit, of which the
+natives possess a great original fund, and Melancthon, having finished
+in the forenoon harrowing in his buck-wheat, has now gone with his axe
+to hew at a house-frame which he has in preparation, and Sybèl and I
+having settled our affair of warp and woof, it is now time for me to
+proceed. She with her large Swiss-looking sun-hat, placed lightly on
+her brow, accompanies me to the "bars," and there, having parted with
+her, we will now resume our walk. The next lot presents one of those
+scenes of desolation and decay which will sometimes appear even in this
+land of improvement. What had once been a large clearing is now grown
+wild with bushes, the stumps have all sprouted afresh, and the fences
+fallen to the ground. The house presents that least-respectable of all
+ruins, a deserted _log-building._ There is no solidity of material nor
+remains of architectural beauty to make us respect its fate. 'Tis decay
+in its plainest and most uninteresting aspect. A few flowers have been
+planted near the house, and even now, where the weeds grow dark and
+rank, a fair young rose is waving her lovely head. The person who had
+gone thus far on in the toils of settling was from England, but the love
+of his native land burned all too bright within his heart. In vain he
+toiled on those rude fields, and though his own, they seemed not his
+home. The spirit voices of the land of his childhood called him back--he
+obeyed their spell, and just at the time his labours would have been
+repaid, he left, and, with all the money he could procure, paid his
+passage to England, where he soon after died in the workhouse of his
+parish. Yet even there the thought, perhaps, might soothe him, that
+though he filled a pauper's grave, it was in the soil where his fathers
+slept. The forsaken lot is still unclaimed, for people prefer the
+woodlands to those neglected clearings, from which to procure a crop
+infinitely more trouble and expense would be required than in taking it
+at once from the forest. Our way is not now so lonely as it was in the
+morning. Parties of the male population are frequently passing. One of
+the settlers has to-day a "barn-raising frolic," and thither they are
+bound. They present a fair specimen of their class in the forest
+settlements. The bushwhacker has nothing of the "bog-trotter" in his
+appearance, and his step is firm and free, as though he trod on marble
+floor. The attire of the younger parties which, although coarse, is
+perfectly clean and whole, has nothing rustic in its arrangement. His
+kersey trowsers are tightly strapped, and the little low-crowned hat,
+with a streaming ribbon, is placed most jauntily on his head. His axe is
+carried over one shoulder and his jacket over the other, which in summer
+is the common mode of carrying this part of the apparel. Those who have
+been _lumbering_ may easily be known among the others, by sporting a
+flashy stock or waistcoat, and by being arrayed in "_boughten_" clothes,
+procured in town at a most expensive rate in lieu of their _lumber_.
+Little respect is, however, paid here to the cloth, (that is,
+broadcloth), for it is a sure sign of bad management, and most likely of
+debt, for the back settlers to be arrayed in any thing but their own
+home-made clothing. The grave and serious demeanour of these people is
+as different from the savage scowl of the discontented peasant,
+murmuring beneath the burthen of taxation and ill-remunerated toil, as
+from the free, light-hearted, and careless laughter, both of which
+characterise the rural groups in the fertile fields of England. New
+Brunswick is the land of strangers; even the first settlers, the "sons
+of the soil," as they claim to be, have hardly yet forgot their exile,
+a trace of which character, be he prosperous as he may, still hovers
+over the emigrant. Their early home, with its thousand ties of love,
+cannot be all forgotten. This feeling descends to their children, losing
+its tone of sadness, but throwing a serious shade over the national
+character, which, otherwise has nothing gloomy or melancholy in its
+composition. There is also a kind of "_looking a-head_" expression of
+countenance natural to the country, which is observed even in the
+children, who are not the careless frolicsome beings they are in other
+countries, but are here more truly miniature men and women, looking, as
+the Yankees express it, as if they had all cut their "_eye-teeth_."
+
+But here we are, for the present, arrived at the bourne of our journey.
+High on a lofty hill before us stands a large frame building, the place
+of worship as well as the principal school-house of the settlement. This
+double purpose it is not, however, destined long to be devoted to, for
+the building of a church is already in contemplation, and will, no
+doubt, soon be proceeded with. The beaming sun is shining with dazzling
+radiance on its white walls, telling, in fervent whispers, that a
+shelter from the heat will be desirable; so here we will enter, where
+the shadowy trees, and bright stream glancing through the garden
+flowers, speak of inhabitants from the olden world. A frame building has
+been joined to the original log-house, and the dwelling thus made large
+enough to accommodate the household. Mrs. Gordon, the lady of the
+mansion, and the friend I have come thus far to see, is one of those
+persons the brilliance of whose gem-like character has been increased
+by the hard rubs of the world. She has experienced much of Time's
+chance and change--experiences and trials which deserve relating at
+large, and which I shall hereafter give, as they were told me by
+herself. Traces of the beauty she once possessed are yet pourtrayed on
+her faded but placid brow, and appear in brighter lines on the fair
+faces of her daughters. Her husband is from home, and the boys are gone
+to the frolic, so we will have a quiet evening to ourselves. The
+arrangement of this dwelling, although similar in feature to Sybèl
+Gray's, is yet, as it were, different in expression; for instance, there
+is not such a display made of the home-manufactured garments, which it
+is the pride of her heart to look upon. These, of course, are here in
+existence, but are placed in another receptacle; and the place they hold
+along the walls of Sybèl's dwelling is here occupied by a book-case, in
+which rests a store of treasured volumes; our conversation, too, is of a
+different cast from the original, yet often commonplace, remarks of
+Melancthon. 'Tis most likely a discussion of the speculative fancies
+contained in those sweet brighteners of our solitude, the books; or in
+tracing the same lights and shadows of character described in them, as
+were occurring in the passages of life around us; or, perhaps, something
+leads us to talk of him whose portrait hangs on the wall, the peasant
+bard of Scotland, whose heart-strung harp awakens an answering chord in
+every breast. The girls--who although born in this country and now
+busied in its occupations, one in guiding the revolving wheel, and the
+other in braiding a hat of poplar splints--join us in a manner which
+tells how well they have been nurtured in the lore of the "mountain
+heathery land," the birth-place of their parents; and the younger sister
+Helen's silvery voice breathes a soft strain of Scottish melody.
+
+Meanwhile a pleasant interruption occurs in the post-horn winding loud
+and clear along the settlement. This is an event of rare occurrence in
+the back woods, where the want of a regular post communication is much
+felt, not so much in matters of worldly importance in business--these
+being generally transacted without the medium of letters--as by those
+who have loved ones in other lands. Alas! how often has the heart pined
+with the sickness of hope deferred, in waiting in vain for those
+long-expected lines, from the distant and the dear, which had been duly
+sent in all the spirit of affection, but which had been mislaid in their
+wanderings by land or sea; or the post-masters not being particularly
+anxious to know where the land of Goshen, the Pembroke, or the Canaan
+settlements were situated, had returned them to the dead letter office,
+and thus they never reached the persons for whom they were intended, and
+who lived on upbraiding those who, believing them to be no longer
+dwellers of the earth, cherished their memory with fondest love. Taking
+all these things into consideration, a meeting had been called in our
+settlement to ascertain if by subscription a sufficient sum could be
+raised to pay a weekly courier to assert our rights at the nearest
+post-office. This was entered into with spirit, all feeling sensible of
+the benefits which it would bring; they who could afford it giving
+freely of their abundance, and those who could not pay their
+subscription all in money, giving half a dollar cash, and a bushel or
+half a bushel of buck wheat or potatoes to the cause; and thus the sum
+necessary was soon raised--the courier himself subscribing a dollar
+towards his own salary. The thing had gone on very well--communication
+with the world seemed to have commenced all at once. Nearly every family
+took a different newspaper, and these being exchanged with each other,
+afforded plenty of food for the mind, and prevented it brooding too
+deeply over the realities of life.
+
+The newspapers in this country, especially those of the United States,
+are not merely dull records of parliamentary doings, of bill and debate,
+the rising of corn or falling of wheat, but contain besides reviews and
+whole copies of the newest and best works of the day, both in science
+and lighter literature. We dwellers of the forest had no guineas to give
+for new books, and if we had, unless we freighted ships home on purpose,
+we could not have procured them. But this was not felt, while for our
+few yearly dollars the Albion's pearly paper and clear black type
+brought for society around our hearths the laughter-loving "Lorrequer,"
+the pathos of the portrait painter, or the soul-winning Christopher
+North, whose every word seems written in letters of gold, incrusted with
+precious jewels. In the "New World" Froissart gave his chronicles of the
+olden time, and the mammoth sheets of "Era" and "The Notion" brought us
+the peerless pages of "Zanoni," or led us away with "Dickens" and
+"Little Nell," by the green glades and ancient churches of England.
+Little did we think while we read with delight of this author's
+princely welcome to the American continent, what would be the result of
+his visit, he came and passed like the wild Simoom. Soon after his
+return to England an edict came, forbidding in the British provinces of
+America publications containing reprints of English works. Of the deeper
+matters connected with the copyright question I know not, but this I do
+know, that our long winter nights seemed doubly long and drear, with
+nothing to read but dark details of horrid murder, or deadly doings of
+Rebeccaite and Chartist. As yet, however, this time was not come, and
+each passing week saw us now enlightened with the rays of some new
+bright gem of genius.
+
+The postman blew his horn as he passed each dwelling for whose inmates
+he had letters or papers; and for those whose address lay beyond his
+route, places of depository were appointed in the settlement. Mrs.
+Gordon's was one of these, from whence they were duly despatched by the
+first chance to their destinations on the Nashwaak, Waterloo, or Windsor
+clearings. Although our Mercury would duly have signalised his approach
+as he passed our own dwelling, I possessed myself of my treasure
+here--my share of the priceless wealth of that undying intellect which
+is allowed to pour its brilliant flood, freely and untramelled, to the
+lowliest homes of the American world. Having glanced along the lines and
+seen that our first favourites had visited us this week, our tea seemed
+to bear with it an added fragrance; and this, although the walls around
+us were of logs, we had in fairy cups of ancient porcelain from the
+distant land of Scotland. And now the sun's broad disc having vanished
+behind the lofty pines, and the young moon rising in the blue heavens,
+tell us our short twilight will soon be gone, and that if we would reach
+home before the stars look out upon our path, 'tis time we were on our
+way.
+
+The cow bells are ringing loud and clear as the herd winds slowly
+homeward, looking most luxuriantly comfortable, and bearing with them
+the spicy scent of the cedar-woods in which they have been wandering,
+and which they seem to leave so unwillingly. Philoprogenitiveness, or a
+deep feeling of motherly affection, being the only thing that does
+voluntarily induce them to come home. To encourage this desirable
+feeling the leader of the herd, the lady of the bell, is allowed to
+suckle her calf every evening. For this happy task she leaves all the
+delights of her pasture, plodding regularly homeward at the hour of
+sunset, the rest all meekly following in her train.
+
+The evening is dry and clear, with no trace of rain in the atmosphere,
+or we would be surrounded with clouds of those _awful critturs_, the
+musquitoes, which the cattle bring home. These are often a dreadful
+annoyance, nothing but a thick cloud of smoke dispelling them, and that
+only for a time. At night they are particularly a nuisance, buzzing and
+stinging unceasingly through the silent hours, forbidding all thought of
+sleep till the dawn shows them clinging to the walls and windows,
+wearied and bloated with their night's amusement. Those who are
+sufficiently acclimated suffer comparatively little--'tis the rich blood
+of the stranger that the musquito loves, and emigrants, on the first
+season, especially in low marshy situations, suffer extremely from their
+attacks.
+
+Mary Gordon having now gone with her pails to meet her milky charge,
+while her mother arranges the dairy within, Helen comes to set me on my
+way. Again we meet the frolickers returning rather earlier than is usual
+on such occasions; but there was sickness at the dwelling where they had
+been, which caused them to disperse soon after they had accomplished the
+"raising." Kindly greetings passed between us; for here, in this little
+world of ours, we have hardly room for the petty distinctions and
+pettier strifes of larger communities. We are all well acquainted with
+each other, and know each other's business and concerns as well as our
+own. There is no concealment of affairs. This, however, saves a vast
+deal of trouble--people are much easier where there is no false
+appearance to be kept up; and in New Brunswick there is less of "behind
+the scenes" than in most places. Many a bright eye glances under Helen's
+shadowy hat: and, see, one gallant axe-man lingers behind the others--he
+pauses now by the old birch tree--I know he is her lover, and in charity
+to their young hearts I must allow her to turn, while we proceed onward.
+
+The fire-flies now gleam through the air like living diamonds, and the
+evening star has opened her golden eye in the rich deep azure of the
+sky. Our home stands before us, with its white walls thrown in strong
+relief by the dark woods behind it: and here, on this adjoining lot,
+lives our neighbour who is ill--he who to-day has had the "barn
+raising." It would be but friendly to call and enquire for him. The
+house is one of the best description of log buildings. The ground floor
+contains two large apartments and a spacious porch, which extends along
+the front, has the dairy in one end and a workshop in the other, that
+most useful adjunct to a New Brunswick dwelling, where the settlers are
+often their own blacksmiths and carpenters, as well as splint pounders
+and shingle weavers. The walls are raised high enough to make the
+chamber sufficiently lofty, and the roof is neatly shingled. As we
+enter, an air of that undefinable English ideality--comfort--seems
+diffused, as it were, in the atmosphere of the place. There is a look of
+retirement about the beds, which stand in dim recesses of the inner
+apartment, with their old but well-cared-for chintz hangings, differing
+from the free uncurtained openness of the blue nose settler's couch; a
+publicity of sleeping arrangements being common all over America, and
+much disliked by persons from the old countries, a bed being a prominent
+piece of furniture in the sitting and keeping rooms of even those
+aristocratic personages, the first settlers. The large solid-looking
+dresser, which extends nearly along one side of the house, differs too
+from the light shelf of the blue nose, which rests no more crockery than
+is absolutely necessary. Here there is a wide array of dishes, large and
+small--old China tea-cups, wisely kept for show,--little funny mugs,
+curious pitchers, mysterious covered dishes, unearthly salad bowls, and
+a host of superannuated tea-pots. Above them is ranged a bright copper
+kettle, a large silvery pewter basin, and glittering brazen
+candlesticks, all brought from their English home, and borne through
+toil and danger, like sacred relics, from the shrine of the household
+gods. The light of the fire is reflected on the polished surface of a
+venerable oaken bureau, whose unwieldy form has also come o'er the deep
+sea, being borne along the creeks and rivers of New Brunswick, and
+dragged through forest paths to its present resting place. In the course
+of its wanderings by earth and ocean it has become minus a foot, the
+loss of which is supplied by an unsmoothed block of pine, the two
+forming not an inapt illustration of their different countries. The
+polished oaken symbol of England receiving assistance in its hour of
+need from the rude but hardy pine emblem of New Brunswick. The room is
+cool and quiet; the young people being outside with a few who have
+lingered after the frolic. By the open window, around which a hop vine
+is enwreathed, in memory of the rose-bound casements of England, and
+through which comes a faint perfume from the balm of gilead trees, sits
+the invalid, seemingly refreshed with the pleasant things around him. He
+has been suffering from rheumatic fever caught in the changeful days of
+the early spring, when the moist air penetrates through nerve and bone,
+and when persons having the least tendency to rheumatism, or pulmonary
+complaints, cannot use too much caution. At no other season is New
+Brunswick unhealthy; for the winter, although cold, is dry and bracing.
+The hot months are not so much so as to be injurious, and the bland
+breezes of the fall and Indian summer are the most delightful that can
+be imagined.
+
+Stephen Morris had come from England, like the generality of New
+Brunswick settlers, but lightly burthened with worldly gear--but gifted
+with the unpurchasable treasures of a strong arm and willing spirit,
+that is, a spirit resolved to do its best, and not be overcome with the
+difficulties to be encountered in the struggle of subduing the mighty
+wilderness. While he felled the forest, his wife, accustomed in her own
+country to assist in all field labours, toiled with him in piling and
+fencing as well as in planting and reaping. Even their young children
+learned to know that every twig they lifted off the ground left space
+for a blade of grass or grain; beginning with this, their assistance
+soon became valuable, and the labour of their hands in the field soon
+lightened the burthen of feeding their lips. Slowly and surely had
+Stephen gone onward, keeping to his farm and minding nothing else,
+unlike many of the emigrants, who, while professing to be farmers, yet
+engage in other pursuits, particularly lumbering, which, although the
+mainspring of the province and source of splendid wealth to many of the
+inhabitants, has yet been the bane of others. Allured by the visions of
+speedy riches it promises, they have neglected their farms, and engaged
+in its glittering speculations with the most ardent hopes, which have
+far oftener been blighted than realised. A sudden change in trade, or an
+unexpected storm in the spring, having bereft them of all, and left them
+overwhelmed in debt, with neglected and ruined lands, with broken
+constitutions, (for the lumberer's life is most trying to the health,)
+and often too with broken hearts, and minds all unfitted for the task of
+renovating their fortune. Their life afterwards is a bitter struggle to
+get above water; that tyrant monster, their heavy debt, still chaining
+them downwards, devouring with insatiate greed their whole means, for
+interest or bond, until it be discharged; a hard matter for them to
+accomplish--so hard that few do it, and the ruined lumberer sinks, to the
+grave with its burthen yet upon him. Stephen had kept aloof from this,
+and now surveyed,
+
+    "----With pride beyond a monarch's spoil,
+    His honest arm's own subjugated toil."
+
+A neighbour of his had come out from England at the same time he had
+done and commenced farming an adjoining lot, but he soon wearied of the
+slow returns of his land and commenced lumbering. For a time he went on
+dashingly, the merchants in town supplying him freely with provisions
+and everything necessary to carry on his timber-making--whilst Stephen
+worked hard and lived poor, he enjoyed long intervals of ease and fared
+luxuriantly. But a change came: one spring the water was too low to get
+his timber down, the next the freshet burst at once and swept away the
+labour of two seasons, and ere he got another raft to market, the price
+had fallen so low that it was nearly valueless. He returned dispirited
+to his home and tried to conceal himself from his creditors, the
+merchants whom the sale of his timber was to have repaid for the
+supplies they had advanced; but his neglected fields showed now but a
+crop of bushes and wild laurel, or an ill-piled clearing, with a scanty
+crop of buck-wheat; while Stephen Morris looked from his window on fair
+broad fields from whence the stumps had all disappeared, where the long
+grass waved rich with clover-flowers between, and many a tract that
+promised to shine with autumn wreaths of golden grain; leaflets and
+buds were close and thick on the orchard he had planted, and where erst
+the wild-bush stood now bloomed the lovely rose. On a green hill before
+him stood the lofty frame of the building this evening raised, with all
+its white tracery of beam and rafter, a new but welcome feature in the
+landscape. A frame barn is the first ambition of the settler's heart;
+without one much loss and inconvenience is felt. Hay and grain are not
+stacked out as in other countries, but are all placed within the shelter
+of the barn; these containing, as they often do, the whole hay crop,
+besides the grain and accommodation for the cattle, must, of course, be
+of large dimensions, and are consequently expensive. With this Stephen
+had proceeded surely and cautiously as was his wont. In the winter he
+had hauled logs off his own land to the saw-mill to be made into boards.
+He cut down with much trouble some of the ancient pines which long stood
+in the centre of his best field, and from their giant trunks cut
+well-seasoned blocks, with which he made shingles in the stormy days of
+winter. Thus by degrees he provided all the materials for enclosing and
+roofing, and was not obliged, as many are, to let the frame, (which is
+the easiest part provided, and which they often raise without seeming
+even to think how they are to be enclosed,) stand for years, like a huge
+grey skeleton, with timbers all warped and blackened by the weather.
+Steadily as Stephen had gone on, yet as the completion of his object
+became nearer he grew impatient of its accomplishment, and determined to
+have his barn ready for the reception of his hay harvest; and for this
+purpose he worked on, hewing at the frame in the spring, reckless of the
+penetrating rain, the chill wind, or the damp earth beneath, and thus,
+by neglect of the natural laws, he was thrown upon the couch of
+sickness, where he lay long. This evening, however, he was better, and
+sat gazing with pleased aspect on the scene, and then I saw his eyes
+turn from the fair green hill and its new erection to where, in the
+hollow of a low and marshy spot of land, stood the moss-grown logs and
+sunken walls of the first shelter he had raised for his cattle--his old
+log barn, which stood on the worst land of the farm, but when it was
+raised the woods around were dark and drear, and he knew not the good
+soil from the bad; yet now he thought how, in this unseemly place, he
+had stored his crop and toiled for years with unfailing health, where
+his arm retained its nerve, unstrung neither by summer's heat nor
+winter's cold, when the voice of his son, a tall stripling, who had
+managed affairs during his illness, recalled him to the present, which
+certainly to him I thought might wear no unfavourable aspect. He had
+literally caused the wilderness to blossom as the rose, and saw rising
+around him not a degenerate but an improving race, gifted far beyond
+himself with bright mental endowments, the spontaneous growth of the
+land they lived in, and which never flourish more fairly than when
+engrafted on the old English stem; that is, the children of emigrants,
+or the Anglo-bluenoses, have the chance of uniting the high-aspiring
+impulses of young America to the more solid principles of the olden
+world, thus forming a decided improvement in the native race of both
+countries. But Stephen has too much of human nature in him not to
+prefer the past, and I saw that the sunbeams of memory rested brightly
+on the old log barn, obscuring the privations and years of bitter toil
+and anxiety connected with it, and dimming his eyes to ought else,
+however better; so that I left him to his meditations, and after a step
+of sixty rods, the breadth of the lot, I am once more at home, where, as
+it is now dark, we will close the door and shut out the world, to this
+old country prejudice has made us attach a small wooden button inside,
+the only fastening, except the latch, I believe, in the settlement.
+Bolts and bars being all unused, the business of locksmith is quite at a
+discount in the back woods, where all idea of a midnight robbery is
+unknown; and yet, if rumour was true, there were persons not far from us
+to whom the trade of stealing would not be new. One there was of whom it
+was said, that for this reason alone was New Brunswick graced with his
+presence. He had in his own country been taken in a daring act of
+robbery, and conveyed in the dark of night to be lodged in gaol. The
+officers were kind-hearted, and, having secured his hands, allowed his
+wife to accompany him, themselves walking a short distance apart. At
+first the lady kept up a most animated conversation, apparently
+upbraiding the culprit for his conduct. He answered her, but by degrees
+he seemed so overcome by her remarks that he spoke no more, and she had
+all the discourse to herself. Having arrived at their destination, the
+officers approached their prisoner, but he was gone, the wife alone
+remained. The darkness of the night bad favoured his escape while she
+feigned to be addressing him, and, having thus defeated the law, joined
+her spouse, and made the best of their way to America, where the
+workings of the law of kindness were exemplified in his case. His
+character being there generally unknown, he was treated and trusted as
+an honest man, and he broke not his faith. The better feelings were
+called into action; conscientiousness, though long subdued, arose and
+breathed through his spirit the golden rule of right.
+
+The days in America are never so short in winter as they are in Europe,
+nor are they so long in summer, and there is always an hour or two of
+the cool night to be enjoyed ere the hour of rest comes. Our evening
+lamp is already lighted, and our circle increased by the presence of the
+school-mistress.
+
+Although in this country the local government has done much towards the
+advancement of schools, yet much improvement requires to be made--not in
+their simple internal arrangements, for which there is no regular
+system, but in the more important article of remuneration. The
+government allows twenty pounds a year to each school; the proprietors,
+or those persons who send their children to the school, agreeing to pay
+the teacher a like sum at least (though in some of the older settled
+parts of the country from forty to fifty pounds is paid by them); as
+part payment of this sum providing him with board, &c., &c., and this
+alone is the evil part of the scheme; this boarding in turn with the
+proprietors, who keep him a week or a month in proportion to the number
+of the pupils they send, and to make up their share of the year, for
+which term he is hired, as his engagement is termed--an expression how
+derogatory to the dignity of many a learned dominie? From this cause the
+teacher has no home, no depository for his books, which are lost in
+wandering from place to place; and if he had them, no chance for study:
+for the log-house filled with children and wheels is no fit abode for a
+student. This boarding system operates badly in many ways. The nature of
+the blue nose is still leavened with that dislike of coercive measures
+inherited from their former countrymen, the Yankees. It extends to their
+children, and each little black-eyed urchin, on his wooden bench and
+dog-eared dilworth in hand, must be treated by his teacher as a free
+enlightened citizen. But even without this, where is there in any
+country a schoolmaster daring enough to use a ratan, or birch rod, to
+that unruly darling from whose mother he knows his evening reception
+will be sour looks, and tea tinged with sky-blue, but would not rather
+let the boy make fox-and-geese instead of, ciphering, say his lesson
+when he pleased, and have cream and short-cake for his portion. Another
+disagreeable thing is, that fond and anxious as they are for
+"_larning_," they have not yet enough of it to appreciate the value of
+education. The schoolmaster is not yet regarded as the mightiest moral
+agent of the earth; the true vicegerent of the spirit from above, by
+which alone the soul is truly taught to plume her wings and shape her
+course for Heaven. And in this country, where operative power is certain
+wealth, he who can neither wield axe or scythe may be looked on with a
+slight shade of contempt: but this only arises from constant
+association with the people; for were the schoolmaster more his own
+master, and less under their surveillance by having a dwelling of his
+own, his situation otherwise would be comfortable and lucrative.
+
+The state of school affairs begins to attract much notice from the
+legislature, and no doubt the present system of school government will
+soon be improved. A board of education is appointed in each county,
+whose office it is to examine candidates for the office of parish school
+teacher, and report to the local governor as to their competency,
+previous to his conferring the required license. Trustees are also
+appointed in the several parishes, who manage the other business
+connected with them, such as regulating their number, placing masters
+where they are most wanted, and receiving and apportioning the sum
+appropriated to their support, or encouragement, by the government. Mr.
+B. held this situation, and frequent were the visits of the lords of the
+birch to our domicile, either asking redress for fancied wrongs, or to
+discuss disputed points of school discipline.
+
+The female teachers are situated much the same, save that many of them,
+preferring a quiet home to gain, pay for their board out of their cash
+salary, and give up that which they could otherwise claim from the
+people. This, however, is by no means general, and the present mistress
+has come to stay her term with us, although having no occasion for the
+school, yet wishing to hasten the march of intellect through the back
+woods, we paid towards it, and boarded the teacher, as if we had. Grace
+Marley, who held this situation now, was a sweet wild-flower from the
+Emerald Isle, with spirits bright and changeful as the dewy skies of
+her own loved Erin. Her graceful but fully rounded figure shows none of
+those anatomical corners described by Captain Hamilton in the appearance
+of the native American ladies. Her dark eye speaks with wondrous truth
+the promptings of her heart, and her brown hair lies like folds of satin
+on her cheek, from which the air of America has not yet drank all the
+rose light. From her fairy ear of waxen white hangs a golden pendant,
+the treasured gift of one far distant. Before her, on the table, lies
+_Chambers' Journal_, which always found its way a welcome visitant to
+our settlement, soon after the spring fleet had borne it over the
+Atlantic. She has been reading one of Mrs. Hall's stories, which, good
+as they are, are yet little admired by the Irish in America. The darker
+hues which she pourtrays in the picture of their native land have become
+to them all softened in the distance; and by them is their country
+cherished there, as being indeed that beautiful ideal "first flower of
+the earth, and first gem of the sea." A slight indignant flush, raised
+by what she had been reading, was on her brow as I entered; but this
+gave place to the heart-crushing look of disappointment I had often seen
+her wear, as I replied in the negative to her question, if there was a
+letter for her. From where, or whom she expected this letter I knew not,
+yet as still week after week passed away and brought her none, the same
+shade had passed over her face.
+
+And now, reader, as the night wanes apace, and you no doubt are wearied
+with this day's journey through our settlement, I shall wish to you
+
+    "A fair good night, with easy dreams and slumbers light,"
+
+while I, who like most authors am not at all inclined to sleep over my
+own writing, will sketch what I know of the history of Grace Marley,
+whose memory forms a sweet episode in my transatlantic experiences.
+
+Grace had been left an orphan and unprovided for in her own country,
+when a relation, who had been prosperous here, wrote for her to come
+out. She did come, and at first seemed happy, but 'twas soon evident her
+heart was not here, and she sighed to return to her native land, where
+the streams were brighter, and the grass grew greener than elsewhere.
+Her friends, vexed at her obstinacy in determining so firmly to return,
+would give her no assistance for this purpose, fancying that she felt
+but that nostalgic sickness felt by all on their first arrival in
+America, and that like others she would become reconciled in time. But
+she was firm in her resolve, and to procure funds wherewithal to return
+she commenced teaching a school, for which her education had well
+qualified her. It was not likely that such a girl as Grace would, in
+this land of marrying and giving in marriage, be without fonder
+solicitations to induce her to remain, and a tall blue nose, rejoicing
+in the appellation of Leonidas van Wort, and lord of six hundred noble
+acres, was heard to declare one fall, that she, for an Irish girl, was
+"raal downright good-looking," and guessed he knew which way "his tracks
+would lay when snow came." Snow did come, and Leonidas, arrayed in his
+best "go-to-meeting style," geared up his sleigh, and what with bear
+skins and bells, fancying himself and appurtenances enough to charm the
+heart of any maid or matron in the back woods, set off to spark Grace
+Marley. "Sparking," the term used in New Brunswick for courtship, now
+that the old fashion of "bundling" is gone out, occupies much of the
+attention (as, indeed, where does it not?) of young folks. They, for
+this purpose, take Moore's plan of lengthening their days, by "stealing
+a few hours from the night," and generally breathe out their tender
+vows, not beneath the "milk-white thorn," but by the soft dim light of
+the birch-wood fire; the older members of the family retiring and
+leaving the lovers to their own sweet society.
+
+Although it has been sometimes observed that mothers who, in their own
+young days, have been versed in this custom, insist most pertinaciously
+in sitting out the wooer, in spite of insinuations as to the pleasure
+their absence would occasion, still keep their easy chair, with
+unwearied eyes and fingers busied in their everlasting knitting. Grace's
+beau was most hospitably received by her aunt and uncle, who considering
+him quite an "eligible," wished to further him all in their power, soon
+left the pair to themselves, telling Grace that it would be the height
+of rudeness not to follow the custom of the country. She politely waited
+for Leonidas to commence the conversation, but he, unused to her
+proceeding, could say nothing, not even ask her if she liked maple
+sugar; and so, being unused to deep study, while thinking how to begin,
+fell asleep, a consummation Grace was most delighted to witness. By the
+fire stood the small American churn, which, as is often the case in cold
+weather, had been placed there to be in readiness for the morrow; this
+Grace, with something of the quiet humour which made Jeanie Deans treat
+Dumbie-dykes to fried peats in place of collops, she lifted and placed
+it by the sleeper's side, throwing over it a white cloth, which fell
+like folds of drapery, and softly retired to rest herself. Her uncle, on
+coming into the room at the dawn of morning, beheld the great Leonidas
+still sleeping, and his arm most lovingly encircling the churn dash,
+which no doubt in his dreams he mistook for the taper waist of Grace,
+when the loud laugh of the old man and his "helps," who had now risen,
+roused him. He got up and looked round him, but, with the Spartan
+firmness of his name-sake, said nothing, but went right off and married
+his cousin Prudence Prague, who could do all the sparking talk herself.
+
+Many another lover since then had Grace--many a mathematical
+schoolmaster, to whom Euclid was no longer a mystery, became, for her
+sake, puzzled in the problem of love, and earnestly besought her to
+solve the question he gave, with the simple statement of yes. But still
+her heart was adamant, and still she was unwon, and sighed more deeply
+for her island home. She disliked the country, and its customs more. Her
+religion was Roman catholic, and she cherished all the tenets of her
+faith with the deepest devotion. I remember calling on her one Sunday
+morning and finding her alone in her solitary dwelling; her relations,
+themselves catholics, having gone, and half the settlement with them, to
+meeting, but she preferred her solitude rather than join in their
+unconsecrated worship. This want of their own peculiar means of grace is
+much felt by religiously inclined persons in the forest settlements, and
+this made her wish more earnestly for the closing of the year to come,
+when, with the produce of her school labours, she would be enabled to
+leave.
+
+Such was, up to this period, what I knew of Grace's character and
+history. I was extremely fond of her society and conversation, as she,
+coming from that land of which 'tis said, her every word, her wildest
+thought, is poetry, had, in her imaginings, a twilight tinge of blue,
+which made her remarks truly delightful. She had become a little more
+softened in her prejudice, especially as she expected soon to leave the
+country, so that one day during her stay with us, in this same bright
+summer weather, I induced her to accompany me to a great baptist
+meeting, to be held in a river settlement some four or five miles off.
+On reaching the creek, the rest of our party, who had acquired the true
+American antipathy to pedestrianism, proceeded in canoes and punts to
+the place, but we preferred a walk to the dazzling glare of the sunshine
+on the water, so took not the highway, but a path through the forest,
+called the blazed track, from a chip or slice being made on the trees to
+indicate its line, and which you must keep sight of, or else go astray
+in the leafy labyrinth.
+
+When I first trod the woods of New Brunswick, I fancied wild animals
+would meet me at each step--every black log was transformed into some
+shaggy monster--visions of bears and lucifee's were ever before me--but
+these are now but rarely seen near the settlements, although bruin will
+sometimes make a descent on the sheepfolds; yet they have generally
+retreated before the axe, along with the more valuable moose deer and
+caraboo, with which the country used to abound. The ugliest animal I
+ever saw was a huge porcupine, which came close to the door and carried
+off, one by one, a whole flock of young turkies; and the boldest, the
+beautiful foxes, which are also extremely destructive to the poultry; so
+that in walking the woods one need not be afraid, even if a bear's
+foot-print be indented in the soil, as perhaps he is then far enough
+off, and besides 'tis only in the hungry spring, after his winter's
+sleep, he is carniverous, preferring in summer the roots, nuts, and
+berries with which the forest supplies him. The living things one sees
+are quite harmless--the bright eyed racoon looking down upon us through
+the branches, or the squirrels hopping from spray to spray, a mink or an
+otter splashing through the pond of a deserted beaver dam, from which
+the ancient possessors have also retired, and a hare or sable gliding in
+the distance, are all the animals one usually sees, with flocks of
+partridges, so tame that they stir not from you, and there being no game
+laws, these free denizens of the wild are the property of all who choose
+to claim them.
+
+The forests, especially in the hard wood districts, are beautiful in
+their fresh unbroken solitude--not the solitude of desolation, but the
+young wild loveliness of the untamed earth. The trees stand close and
+thick, with straight pillar-like stems, unbroken by leaf or bough, which
+all expand to the summit, as if for breathing space. There is little
+brush wood, but myriads of plants and creepers, springing with the
+summer's breath. The beautiful dog-wood's sweeping sprays and broad
+leaves, the maiden-hairs glossy wreathes and pearly buds, and the soft
+emerald moss, clothing the old fallen trees with its velvet tapestry,
+and hiding their decay with its cool rich beauty, while the sun light
+falls in golden tracery down the birch trees silver trunk, and the
+sparkling water flashes in the rays, or sings on its sweet melody unseen
+amid the luxuriant vegetation that conceals it.
+
+Through this sweet path we held on our way, talking of every bard who
+has said or sung the green wood's glories, whose fancied beauties were
+here all realized. As we neared the clearings, we met frequent groups of
+blue nose children gathering, with botanical skill, herbs for dyeing, or
+carrying sheets of birch bark, which, to be fit for its many uses, must
+be peeled from the trees in the full moon of June. On these children,
+beautiful as young Greeks, with lustrous eyes and faultless features,
+Grace said she could hardly yet look without an instinctive feeling of
+awe and pity, cherishing as she did the partiality of her creed and
+nation for infant baptism. To her there was something awful, in sight of
+those unhallowed creatures, whose brows bore not the first symbol of
+christianity. We having passed through the woods, were soon in a large
+assemblage of native and adopted colonists.
+
+The greater number of the native population, I think, are baptists, and
+their ministers are either raised among themselves, or come from the
+United States; or Nova Scotia. Once in every year a general association
+is convened of the members of the society throughout the province, the
+attendance on which gives ample proof of the greatness of their numbers,
+as well as their fervency of feeling. This association is held in a
+different part of the province each season--and generally lasts a week.
+Reports are here made of the progress of their religion, the state of
+funds, and of all other matters connected with the society. There is,
+generally, at these conventions a revival of religious feeling, and
+during the last days numerous converts are made and received by baptism
+into the church. This meeting is looked forward too by the colonists
+with many mingled feelings. By the grave and good it is hailed as an
+event of sacred importance, and by the gay and thoughtless as a season
+of sight-seeing and dress-displaying. Those in whose neighbourhood it
+was last year are glad it is not be so this time; and those near the
+place it is to be held, are calculating the sheep and poultry, the
+molasses and flour it will take to supply the numerous guests they
+expect on the occasion--open tables being kept at taverns, and private
+houses are so no longer, but hospitably receive all who come. No harvest
+is reaped by exorbitant charges for lodging, and all that is expected in
+return, is the same clever treatment when their turn comes. This
+convocation, occurring in the leisure spell between the end of planting
+and the commencement of haying, is consequently no hindrance to the
+agricultural part of the community; and old and young "off they come"
+from Miramichi, from Acadia, and the Oromocto, in shay and waggon,
+steam-boat and catamaran, on horseback or on foot, as best they can.
+This day, one towards the conclusion, the large frame building was
+crowded to excess, and outside were gathered groups, as may be seen in
+some countries around the catholic chapels. Within, the long tiers of
+benches display as fair an array of fashion and flowers as would be
+seen in any similar congregation in any country. The days of going to
+meeting in home-spun and raw hide moccasins are vanishing fast all
+through the province. These are the solid constituents of every-day
+apparel, but for holidays, even the bush maiden from the far-off
+settlements of the gulph shore has a lace veil and silken shawl, and
+these she arranges with infinitely more taste and grace than many a
+damsel whose eye has never lost sight of the clearings. By far the
+greater portion of the assembly have the dark eyes and intellectual
+expression of face which declares them of American origin; and,
+sprinkled among them, are the features which tell of England's born. The
+son of Scotland, too, is here, although unwont to grace such gatherings
+with his presence; yet this is an event of rare importance, and from its
+occurrence in his immediate neighbourhood, he has come, we dare not say
+to scoff, and yet about his expressive mouth their lingers a slight curl
+of something like it. And here, too, the Hibernian forgets his
+prejudices in the delight of being in a crowd. I do not class my friend
+Grace along with this common herd, but even she became as deeply
+interested as others in the discussion which was now going forward--this
+was the time of transacting business, and the present subject one which
+had occupied much attention. It was the appropriation of certain
+funds--whether they should be applied towards increasing their seminary,
+so as to fit it for the proper education of ministers for their church,
+or whether they should not be applied to some other purpose, and their
+priesthood be still allowed to spring uncultured from the mass. The
+different opinions expressed regarding this, finely developed the
+progress of mind throughout the land. Some white-headed fathers of the
+sect, old refugees, who had left the bounds of civilization before they
+had received any education, yet who had been gifted in the primitive
+days of the colony to lead souls from sin, sternly declaimed against the
+education system, declaring that grace, and grace alone, was what formed
+the teacher. All else was of the earth earthy, and had nought to do with
+heavenly things. One said that when he commenced preaching he could not
+read the bible--he could do little more now, and yet throughout the
+country many a soul owned its sickness to have been healed through him.
+Another then rose and answered him--a native of the province, and of his
+own persuasion, but who had drank from the springing fountains of
+science and of holiness--the bright gushing of whose clear streams
+sparkled through his discourse. I have since forgotten his language, but
+I know that at the time nothing I had ever heard or read entranced me as
+did it, glowing as it was with the new world's fervency of thought, and
+the old world's wealth of learning. He pleaded, as such should, for
+extended education, and his mighty words had power, and won the day. The
+old men, stern in their prejudices as their zeal, were conquered, and
+the baptists have now well conducted establishments of learning
+throughout the province.
+
+This discussion occupied the morning, and, at noon, we were invited home
+to dinner by a person who sat next us at the meeting, but whom we had
+never before seen. Some twelve or fourteen others formed our party,
+rather a small one considering, but we were the second relay, another
+party having already dined and proceeded to the meeting house, where
+religious worship had commenced as soon as we left. Our meal was not so
+varied in its details of cookery as the wealthier blue noses love to
+treat their guests with. The number to be supplied, and the quantity of
+provisions required, prevented this. It consisted of large joints of
+veal and mutton, baked and boiled, with a stately pot-pie, on its
+ponderous platter,--the standing dish in all these parts. Soon after
+dinner we were given to understand the dipping was about to commence;
+and walked along the shore to the place appointed for the purpose, in
+the bright blue waters of the bay, which is here formed by an inlet of
+the chief river of the province, the silver-rolling St. John. The scene
+around us was wondrously rich and lovely--the bright green intervale
+meadows with their lofty trees, the cloudless sky, the flashing waters,
+and the balmy breeze, which bore the breath of the far-off spruce and
+cedars. From the assembled throng, who had now left the meeting-house,
+arose the hymns which form the principal part of their worship.
+
+I have said the New Brunswickers are not, as yet, greatly favoured with
+the gift of music; this may, in a great measure, arise from deficient
+cultivation of the science, but at this time there was something strange
+and pleasant in the quick chaunting strain they raised, so different
+from the solemn sounds of sacred melody usual in other countries; and
+even Grace, accustomed to the organ's pealing grandeur and lofty
+anthems of her own church, was pleased with it. Still singing the
+minister entered the water, the converts one by one joining him, and
+singly became encircled in the shining waves: many of them were aged and
+bowed with time, and now took up the cross in their declining days; and
+others of the young and fair, who sought their creator in youth. It was
+wondrous now to think of this once lonely stream of the western world,
+the Indian's own Ounagandy. A few years since no voice had broke on its
+solitude save the red man's war-whoop, or his shrieking death song--no
+form been shadowed on its depths but the wild bird's wing, or the savage
+speeding on the blood chase. Now its living pictures told the holy
+records of the blessed east, and its waters typed the healing stream of
+Jordan. After some more singing and prayers offered for the
+newly-baptized, the ceremony was finished. 'Tis strange that on these
+dipping occasions no cold is caught by the converts. I suppose the
+excitement of the mind sustains the body; but persons are often baptised
+in winter, in an opening made through the ice for the purpose, and walk
+with their garments frozen around them without inconvenience, seeming to
+prove the efficacy of hydropathy, by declaring how happy and comfortable
+they feel. We, at the conclusion of the prayers, left the place, and
+proceeded homewards in a canoe; this is a mode of locomotion much liked
+by the river settlers, but to a stranger anything but agreeable. They
+glide along the waters swift and smooth, but a slight cause upsets them,
+and as perhaps you are not exactly certain about being born to be
+hanged, you must sit perfectly still--you are warned to do this, but if
+you are the least nervous, you will hardly dare to breathe, much less
+move, and this, in a journey of any length, is not so pleasant. This
+feeling, however, custom soon dispels; and when one sees little fairy
+girls paddling themselves and a cargo of brothers and sisters to school,
+or women with babies taking their wool to the carding mill, they feel
+ashamed, and learn to keep the true balance.
+
+Our light skiff, or bark rather, as it might be truely styled, being a
+veritable Indian canoe, made of birch bark most cunningly put together,
+these being so light as to float in shallow water, and to be easily
+removed, are for this reason preferred by the Indians to more solid
+materials, who carry them on their backs from stream to stream during
+their peregrinations through the country, soon bore us over the diamond
+water, whose mirrored surface we scarcely stirred, to the landing place,
+whose marshy precincts were now all gemmed with the golden and purple
+flowers of the sweet flag or calamus; and as the sun was yet high in the
+glorious blue, we resolved to spend the remainder of the day with a
+family living near; feeling, in this land of New Brunswick, no qualms
+about a sudden visitation, knowing that a people so proverbial for being
+"wide awake" can never be taken unawares. Their dwelling, a large frame
+building painted most gaily in the bright warm hues the old Dutch
+fancies of the states love to cherish, stands in the centre of rich
+parks of intervale. The porch is here, as well as at the more humble
+log-house, answering as it does in summer for a cool verandah, and in
+winter as a shelter from the snows. This, the taste of the country
+artist has erected on pillars, not recognisable as belonging to any
+known order of architecture, yet here esteemed as tasty and beautiful,
+and, as is his custom in the afternoon, is seated the owner of the
+dwelling, Silas Mavin, one of that fast declining remnant--the refugees.
+He had come from the United States at the revolution, and possessed
+himself of this fair heritage in the days when squatting was in vogue;
+those palmy days which the older inhabitants love to recall, when
+government had not to be petitioned, as it has now, for leave to
+purchase land, and when, in place of the now many-worded grant, with its
+broad seals and official signatures, people made out their own right of
+possession by raising their log-house, and placing the sign manual of
+their axe in whatever trees they chose; when moose and caraboo were
+plentiful as sheep and oxen are now; when salmon filled each stream, and
+the wood-sheltered clearings ripened the Indian corn without failing.
+
+In this land, young as it is, there are those who mourn for the times
+gone by, and consider the increasing settlement of the country as their
+worst evil; wilfully closing their eyes against improvement, they see
+not the wide fields, waving fair with grass and wheat, but think it was
+better when the dense forest shut out the breeze and reflected the
+sunbeams down with greater strength on the corn, so dearly loved by the
+American. They hear not the sound of the busy mill when they mourn for
+the fish-deserted brooks, and forget that when moose meat was more
+plentiful than now bread stuffs were ground in the wearying hand-mill.
+One of this respectable class of grumblers was our present
+acquaintance, and here he sat in his porch, with aspect grave as the
+stoics--his tall form, although in ruins now, was stately in decay as
+the old forest's pines. His head was such as a phrenologist would have
+loved to look upon; the true platonic breadth of brow, and lofty
+elevation of the scalp silvered over, told of a mind fitting in its
+magnitude to spring from that gigantic continent whose streams are
+mighty rivers and whose lakes are seas; but, valueless as these, when
+embosomed in their native woods, were the treasures of the old man's
+mind, unawakened as they were by education, and unpolished even by
+contact with the open world, yet still, amid the crust contracted in the
+life he had led, rays of the inward diamond glittered forth. The
+wilderness had always been his dwelling--in the land he had left, his
+early days had been passed in hunting the red deer or the red man on the
+Prairie fields--there, with the true spirit of the old American, he had
+learned to treat the Indian as "varment," although a kindlier feeling
+was awakened towards them in this country, where white as well as red
+were recipients of England's bounty, and many a tale of wild pathos or
+dark horror has he told of the experience of his youth with the people
+of the wild. In New Brunswick his days had passed more peacefully. He
+sat this evening with his chair poised in that aerial position on one
+leg which none but an American can attain. Ambitious emigrants, wishing
+to be thought cute, attempt this delicate point of Yankee character, but
+their awkwardness falling short of the easy swing necessary for the
+purpose, often brings them to the ground. A beautiful English cherry
+tree, with its snowy wreathes in full blow, stood before him; he had
+raised it from the seed, and loved to look upon it. It had evidently
+been the object of his meditations, and served him now as a type
+wherewith to illustrate his remarks respecting the meeting we had
+attended--like those professors of religion we to-day heard, he said,
+was his beautiful cherry tree. It gave forth fair green leaves of
+promise and bright truth-seeming blossoms, but in summer, when he sought
+for fruit there was none; and false as it, were they of words so fair
+and deeds so dark, and he'd "double sooner trust one who laughed more
+and prayed less, than those same whining preachers." This was the old
+man's opinion, not only respecting the baptists, but all other sects as
+well. What his own ideas of religion were I never could make out.
+Universalism I fancied it was, but differing much from the theories of
+those evanescent preachers who sometimes flashed like meteors through
+the land, leaving doubt and recklessness in their path. The first truths
+of Christianity had been imparted to him, and these, mingling with his
+own innate ideas of veneration, formed his faith; as original, though
+more lofty in its aspirations, than the wild Indian's who tells of the
+flowery land of souls where the good spirit dwells, and where buffalo
+and deer forsake not the hunting grounds of the blessed. He held no
+outward form or right of sanctity. The ceremony which bound him to his
+wife was simply legal, having been read over by the nearest magistrate.
+His children were unbaptised, and the green graves of his household were
+in his own field, although a public burying-ground was by the
+meeting-house of the settlement.
+
+Meanwhile the old lady, who had hailed our advent with the hospitality
+of her country, set about preparing our entertainment. Tradition says of
+the puritans, the pilgrims of New England, that when they first stood on
+Plymouth Rock, on their first arrival from Europe, they bore the bible
+under one arm and a cookery book under the other. Now, as to their
+descendants, the refugees, I am not exactly sure if, when they
+pilgrimised to New Brunswick, they were so careful of the bible, but I
+am certain they retain the precepts of the cookery book, and love to
+embody them when they may. Soon as a guest comes within ken of a blue
+nose, the delightful operations commence. The poorer class shifting with
+Johnny-cake and pumpkin, while, with the better off, the airy phantoms
+of custard and curls, which flit through their brains, are called into
+tangible existence. The air is impregnated with allspice and
+nutmeg--apple "sarce" and cranberry "persarves" become visible, while
+sal-a-ratus and molasses are evidently in the ascendant.
+
+And now, while our hostess of this evening busied herself in compounding
+these sweet mysteries, the old man related to us the following love
+passage of his earlier days, which I shall give in my own language,
+although his original expressions rendered it infinitely more
+interesting.
+
+
+
+
+THE INDIAN BRIDE,
+
+A REFUGEE'S STORY.
+
+
+On the margin of a bright blue western stream stood a small fort,
+surrounding the dwellings of some hunters who had penetrated thus far
+into the vast wilderness to pursue their calling. The huts they raised
+were rude and lowly, and yet the walls surrounding them were high and
+lofty. Piles of arms filled their block house, and a constant guard was
+kept. These precautions were taken to protect them from the Indians,
+whose ancient hunting grounds they had intruded on, and whose camp was
+not far distant. Deadly dealings had passed between them, but the
+whites, strong in number and in arms, heeded little the settled malice
+of their foes, and after taking the usual precautions of defence,
+carried on their hunting, shooting an Indian, or ought else that came
+across them, while the others, savage and unrelenting, kept on their
+trail in hope of vengeance.
+
+Strange was it, that in an atmosphere dark as this, the light of love
+should beam. Leemah, a beautiful Indian girl, met in the forest a young
+white hunter. She loved, and was beloved in return. The roses of the few
+summers she had lived glowed warm upon her cheek, and truth flashed in
+the guileless light of her deep dark eyes--but Leemah was already a
+bride, betrothed in childhood to a chieftain of her tribe; he had now
+summoned her to his dwelling, and her business in the forest was
+collecting materials for her bridal store of box and basket. Her
+sylph-like form of arrowy grace was arrayed in his wedding gifts of
+costly furs, and glittering bright with bead and shell. But few were the
+stores that Leemah gathered for her Indian chief. The burning noon was
+passed with her white love in the leafy shade--there she brought for him
+summer berries, and gathered for him the water cup flower, with its
+cooling draught of fragrant dew. Her time of marriage came, and at
+midnight it was to be celebrated with torch light and dance. The other
+hunters knew the love of Silas for the gem of the wilderness, and
+readily offered their assistance in his project of gaining her. To them,
+carrying off an Indian girl was an affair of light moment, and at dark
+of night, with their boat and loaded rifles, they proceeded up the
+stream towards the Indian village. As they drew near, the wild chaunt of
+the bridal song was heard, and as all silently they approached the
+shore, the red torch light gleamed out upon the scene of mystic
+splendour. The chieftains of the tribe in stately silence stood around.
+The crimson beams lit up the plumes upon their brow, and showed in more
+awful hues the fearful lines of their painted faces, terrible at the
+festival as on the field of battle. The squaws, in their gayest garb,
+with mirrors flashing on their breasts, and beads all shining as they
+moved, danced round the betrothed; and there she stood, the love-lorn
+Leemah, her black hair all unbraided, and her dark eyes piercing the far
+depths of night, as if looking for her lover. Nor looked she long in
+vain, for suddenly and fearlessly Silas sprung upon the shore, dashed
+through the circle, and bore off the Indian bride to his bark. Then rose
+the war-shout of her people, while pealed among them the rifles of the
+hunters. Again came the war-whoop, mingled with the death shriek of the
+wounded. A hunter stood up and echoed them in mockery, but an arrow
+quivered through his brain and he was silent, while the stream grew
+covered with shadowy canoes, filled with dark forms shouting for
+revenge. On came they with lightning's speed, and on sped the hunters
+knowing now that their only safety was in flight. On dashed they through
+the waters which now began to bear them forward with wondrous haste. A
+thought of horror struck them: they were in the rapids, while before
+them the white foam of the falls flashed through the darkness. The tide
+had ebbed in their absence, and the river, smooth and level when full,
+showed all across it, at the flood, a dark abyss of fearful rocks and
+boiling surf. This they knew, but it was now too late to recede; the
+dark stream bore them onward, and now even the Indians dare not follow,
+but landed and ran along the shore shouting with delight at their
+inevitable destruction. It was a moment of dread, unutterable horror to
+Silas and his comrades. Their bark whirled round in the giddy
+waves--then was there a wild plunge--a fearful shock--a shriek of death,
+and the flashing foam gathered over them, while loudly rang the voices
+from the shore. But suddenly, by some mighty effort, the boat was flung
+clear of the rocks and uninjured into the smooth current of the lower
+stream. A few strokes of the oar brought them to the fort, which they
+entered; and heard the Indians howling behind them like wolves baffled
+of their prey. But they and the dangers they had so lately passed were
+alike forgotten in the night's carousal; and, when the season was ended,
+they returned to their homes in the settlements, enriched with the
+spoils they had gained in hunting, and Silas with his treasured pearl of
+the prairie.
+
+But here, some months after they returned, and while, his heart was yet
+brightened with her smiles, a dark shade passed over her sunny brow, and
+she vanished from his home. An Indian of her tribe was said to have been
+lingering near the village, and she no doubt had joined him and returned
+to her kindred. Other tidings of her fate Silas heard not. Alas! she
+knew the undying vengeance of her people, and by giving herself up to
+them thought to shield him from their hatred.
+
+Again the time of hunting came, and the same party occupied the fort in
+the wilderness. As yet they had been unmolested by the Indians: they
+even knew not of their being in the neighbourhood, yet still a form of
+guarding was kept up, and Silas and a comrade held the night-watch in
+the block house. The others had fallen asleep, and Silas, as he sat with
+half-closed eyes, fancied he saw before him his lost love, Leemah; he
+started as he thought from a dream, but 'twas real, and 'twas her own
+cool fingers pressed his brow--by the clear fire light he saw her cheek
+was deadly pale, but her eyes were flashing like sepulchral lamps, and a
+white-browed babe slept upon her bosom. In a deep thrilling whisper she
+bade him rise and follow her. Wondering how she had found entrance, he
+obeyed, and she led him outside the walls of the fort; a murmuring
+sound as of leaves stirred by the wind was heard.
+
+'Tis the coming of the Red Eagle, said Leemah, his beak is whetted for
+the blood draughts; here enter, and if your own life or Leemah's be
+dear, keep still;--as she spoke she parted aside the young shoots which
+had sprung tip from the root of a tree, and twined like an arbour about
+it. Her deep earnestness left no time for speculation; he entered the
+recess, and hardly had the flexile boughs sprung back to their places,
+when the fleet footsteps of the Indians came nearer, and the fort was
+surrounded by them; the building was fired, and then their deadly yell
+burst forth, while the unfortunate inmates started from sleep at the
+sound of horror. Mercy for them there was none; the relentless savage
+knew it not; but the shout of delight rose louder as they saw the flames
+dance higher o'er their victims; and Silas looked on all--but Leemah's
+eye was on his--he knew his slightest movement was death to her as well
+as to himself. Like a demon through the flame leaped the ghastly form of
+the Red Eagle, (he to whom Leemah had been espoused) and with searching
+glance glared on his victims, but saw not there the one he sought with
+deeper vengeance than the others--'twas Silas he looked for; and, with
+the speed of a winged fiend, he bounded to where Leemah stood, and
+accused her of having aided in his escape. She acknowledged she had, and
+pointed to the far-off forest as his hiding place. In an instant his
+glittering tomahawk cleft the hand she raised off at the wrist. Silas
+knew no more. Leemah's hot blood fell upon his brow, and he fainted
+through excess of agony, but like Mazeppa, he lived to repay the Red
+Eagle in after-years for that night of horror--when his eyes had been
+blasted with the burning fort, his ears stunned with the shrieks of his
+murdered friends, and his brain scorched through with Leemah's life
+blood.
+
+Long years after, when he had forsaken the hunter's path, and fought as
+a loyalist in the British ranks, among their Indian allies who smoked
+with them the pipe of peace and called them brothers, was one, in whose
+wild and withered features he recalled the stern Red Eagle; blood called
+for blood; he beguiled the Indian now with copious draughts of the white
+man's fire-water, and he and another (brother of one of the murdered
+hunters) killed him, and placing him in his own canoe with the paddle in
+his hand, sent the fearful corpse down the rapid stream, bearing him
+unto his home. The wild dog and wolf howled on the banks as it floated
+past, and the raven and eagle hovered over it claiming it as their prey.
+The tribe, at the death of their Sagamore, withdrew from their allies,
+and, following the track of the setting sun, waged war indiscriminately
+with all.
+
+And long after, though more than half a century had elapsed since the
+death of the Red Eagle, and when the snows of eighty winters had
+whitened the dark tresses of the young hunter, and bowed the tall form
+of the loyalist soldier; when he who had trod the flowery paths of the
+prairie, and slept in the orchard bowers by the blue stream of the
+Hudson, had, for love of England's laws, become a refugee from his
+native land; and when here, in New Brunswick, he beheld raised around
+him a happy and comfortable home--his house, which had always been
+freely opened to religious worship, and in which had been held the
+prayer-meetings of the baptists and love-feasts of the methodists,
+became one day transformed into a catholic chapel.
+
+A bishop of the Romish church was passing through the province, and his
+presence in this sequestered spot was an event of unwonted interest;
+many who had forgotten the creed of their fathers returned to the faith
+of their earlier days, and among the most fervent of those assembled,
+there was a small group of Milicete Indians from the woods hard by. With
+the idolatrous devotion of their half savage nature they fell prostrate
+before the priest. Among them was an ancient woman, but not of their
+tribe, who, while raising her head in prayer, or in crossing herself,
+Silas observed she used but one hand--the other was gone. This
+circumstance recalled to light the faded love-dream of his youth. He
+questioned her and found her to be Leemah, his once beautiful Indian
+bride, who had wandered here to escape the dark tyranny of her savage
+kindred. She died soon after, and "she sleeps there," said the old man,
+pointing to where a white cross marked a low grassy mound before us, and
+time had not so dried up his heart springs but I saw a tear drop to her
+memory.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I turned my eyes from Leemah's grave to see what effect the tale had
+made on the old lady, but she was so engaged in contemplating the golden
+curls of her doughnuts, and feathery lightness of her pound cake, she
+had heard it not; and even if she had, it had all happened such a long
+time ago, that her impressions respecting it must all have worn out by
+now. After having partaken of the luxurious feast she set before us, and
+hearing some more of the old man's legends, we proceeded forward.
+
+The evening, with one of those sudden changes of New Brunswick, had
+become cold and chilly. The sun looked red and lurid through the heavy
+masses of fog clouds drifting through the sky; this fog, which comes all
+the way from the Banks of Newfoundland, and which is particularly
+disagreeable sometimes along the Bay shore and in St. John, in
+opposition to the general clearness of the American atmosphere is but
+little known in the interior of the country. Numerous summer fallows are
+burning around, and the breeze flings over us showers of blackened
+leaves and blossoms. As we approached home, we were accosted by one Mr.
+Isaac Hanselpecker, a neighbour of ours; he was leaning over the bars,
+apparently wanting a lounge excessively. He had just finished milking,
+and had handed the pails to Miss Hanselpecker, as he called his wife. If
+there be a trait of American character peculiar to itself, displayed
+more fully than another by contrast with Europeans, it is in the
+treatment of the gentler sex, differing as it does materially from the
+picture of the Englishman, standing with his back to the fire, while the
+ladies freeze around him; or the glittering politeness of the Frenchman,
+hovering like a butterfly by the music stand; it has in it more of
+intellect and real tenderness than either, although tending as it does
+to the advancement of national character, some of their own talented
+ones begin to complain that in the refined circles of the States they
+are becoming almost too civilised in this respect: the ladies requiring
+rather more than is due to them. Yet among the working classes it has a
+sweet and wholesome influence, softening as it does the asperities of
+labour, and lightening the burthen to each. Here woman's empire is
+within, and here she shines the household star of the poor man's hearth;
+not in idleness, for in America, of all countries in the world,
+prosperity depends on female industry. Here "she looketh well to the
+ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness," and for
+this reason, perhaps, it is, that their husbands arise and call them
+blessed. Now Mr. Hanselpecker had all the respect for his lady natural
+to his country, and assisted her domestic toils by milking the cows,
+making fires, and fetching wood and water. Yet there was one material
+point in which he failed: she was often "scant of bread," he being one
+who, even in this land of toil, got along, somehow or other, with
+wondrous little bodily labour; professing to be a farmer, he held one of
+the finest pieces of land in the settlement, but his agricultural
+operations, for the most part, consisted in hoeing a few sickly stems of
+corn, while others were reaping buckwheat, or sowing a patch of flax,
+"'cause the old woman wanted loom gears;" shooting cranes, spearing
+salmon, or trapping musquash on the lake, he prefers to raising fowl or
+sheep, as cranes find their own provisions, and fish require no fences
+to keep them from the fields. His wife's skill, however, in managing the
+dairy department, is, when butter rates well in the market, their chief
+dependence; and he, when he chooses to work, which he would much rather
+do for another than himself, can earn enough in one day, if he take
+truck, to keep him three, and but that he prefers fixing cucumbers to
+thrashing, and making moccasins to clearing land, he might do well
+enough. Though poor, he is none the least inclined to grovel, but, with
+the spirit of his land, feels quite at ease in company with any judge or
+general in the country.
+
+Having declined his invitation to enter the log erection,--which in
+another country would hardly be styled a house, he having still delayed
+to enclose the gigantic frame, whose skeleton form was reared hard
+by--he gave his opinion of the weather at present, with some shrewd
+guesses as to what it would be in future; regarding the smoke wreaths
+from the fires around (there were none on his land however), he said, it
+reminded him of the fire in Miramichi. "How long is it, old woman," said
+he, turning to his wife, who had now joined us, "since that ere
+burning?" "Well," said she, "I aint exactly availed to tell you right
+off how many years it is since, but I guess our Jake was a week old when
+it happened."
+
+Now, as the burning of Miramichi was one of the most interesting
+historical events in the province records, we gave him the date, which
+was some twenty years since; this also gave us the sum of Jacob's
+lustres--rather few considering he had planted a tater patch on shares,
+and laid out to marry in the fall.
+
+"Well," said he, "You may depend that was a fire--my hair curls yet when
+I think of it--it was the same summer we got married, and Washington
+Welford having been out a timber-hunting with me the fall afore, we
+discovered a most elegant growth of pine--I never see'd before nor since
+the equal on it--regular sixty footers, every log on 'em--the trees
+stood on the banks of the river, as if growing there on purpose to be
+handy for rafting, and we having got a first-rate supply from our
+merchants in town, toted our things with some of the old woman's house
+trumpery to the spot--we soon had up a shanty, and went to work in right
+airnest. There was no mistake in Wash; he was as clever a fellow as ever
+I knowed, and as handsome a one--seven feet without his shoes--eyes like
+diamonds, and hair slick as silk; when he swung his axe among the
+timber, you may depend he looked as if he had a mind to do it--our
+felling and hewing went on great, and with the old woman for cook we
+made out grand--she, however, being rather delicate, we hired a help, a
+daughter of a neighbour about thirty miles off. Ellen Ross was as smart
+a gal as ever was raised in these clearings--her parents were old
+country folks, and she had most grand larning, and was out and out a
+regular first-rater. Washington and her didn't feel at all small
+together--they took a liking to each other right away, and a prettier
+span was never geared. Well, our Jake was born, and the old woman got
+smart, and about house again. Wash took one of our team horses, and he
+and Ellen went off to the squire's to get yoked. It was a most beautiful
+morning when they started, but the weather soon began to change--there
+had been a most uncommon dry spell--not a drop of rain for many weeks,
+nor hardly a breath of air in the woods, but now there came a most
+fearful wind and storm, and awful black clouds gathering through the
+sky--the sun grew blood red, and looked most terrible through the smoke.
+I had heard of such things as 'clipses, but neither the almanac, nor the
+old woman's universal, said a word about it. Altho' there was such a
+wind, there was the most burning heat--one could hardly breathe, and the
+baby lay pale and gasping--we thought it was a dying. The cattle grew
+oneasy, and all at once a herd of moose bounded into our chopping, and a
+lot of bears after them, all running as if for dear life. I got down the
+rifle, and was just a going to let fly at them, when a scream from the
+old woman made me look about. The woods were on fire all round us, and
+the smoke parting before us, showed the flames crackling and roaring
+like mad, 'till the very sky seemed on fire over our heads. I did'nt
+know what to do, and, in fact, there was no time to calculate about it.
+The blaze glared hotly on our faces, and all the wild critturs of the
+woods began to carry on most ridiculous, and shout and holler like all
+nature I caught up my axe, and the old woman the baby, and took the only
+open space left for us, where the stream was running, and the fire
+couldn't catch. Just as we were going, a horse came galloping most awful
+fast right through the fire--it was poor Washington; his clothes all
+burnt, and his black hair turned white as snow, and oh! the fearful
+burden he carried in his arms. Ellen Ross, the beautiful bright-eyed
+girl, who had left us so smilingly in the morning, lay now before us a
+scorched and blackened corpse--the scared horse fell dead on the ground.
+I hollered to Washington to follow us to the water, but he heard me
+not; and the flames closed fast o'er him and his dead bride--poor
+fellow, that was the last on him--and creation might be biled down, ere
+you could ditto him any how. By chance our timber was lying near in the
+stream, and I got the old woman and the baby on a log, and stood beside
+them up to the neck in water, which now grew hot, and actilly began to
+hiss around me. The trees on the other side of the river had caught, and
+there was an arch of flame right above us. My stars! what a time we had
+of it! Lucifees and minks, carraboo and all came close about us, and an
+Indian devil got upon the log beside my wife; poor critturs, they were
+all as tame as possible, and half frightened to death. I thought the end
+of the world was come for sartain. I tried to pray, but I was got so
+awful hungry, that grace before meat was all I could think off. How long
+we had been there I couldn't tell, but it seemed tome a 'tarnity--fire,
+howsomever, cannot burn always--that's a fact; so at the end of what we
+afterwards found to be the third day, we saw the sun shine down on the
+still smoking woods. The old woman was weak, I tell you; and for me, I
+felt considerably used up--howsomever I got to the shore, and hewed out
+a canoe from one of our own timber sticks--there was no need of lucifers
+to strike a light--lots of brands were burning about. I laid some on to
+it and burnt it out, and soon had a capital craft, and away we went down
+the stream. Dead bodies of animals were floating about, and there were
+some living ones, looking as if they had got out of their latitude, and
+didn't think they would find it. I reckon we weren't the only sufferers
+by that ere conflagration. As we came down to the settlements folks took
+us for ghosts, we looked so miserable like--howsomever, with good
+tendin, we soon came round again; but, to tell you the truth, it makes
+me feel kind a narvous, when I see a fallow burning ever since. Tho'
+folks could'nt tell how that ere fire happened, and say it was a
+judgment on lumber men and sich like, I think it came from some
+settlers' improvements, who, wishing to raise lots of taters, destroyed
+the finest block of timber land in the province, besides the ships in
+Miramichi harbour, folks' buildings, and many a clever feller, whose
+latter end was never known."
+
+"And so I suppose Mr. H.," said his wife, "that is the reason you make
+such slim clearings." "I estimate your right," said he; and we, not
+expecting the spice of sentiment which flavored Mr. H.'s story, left
+him, and reached home, where we closed the evening by putting into the
+following shape one of Silas Marvin's legends, not written with a
+perryian pen and azure fluid, but with a quill from the wing of a wild
+goose, shot by our friend Hanselpecker, (who by the way was fond of such
+game,) as last fall it took its flight from our cold land to the sunny
+south, and with home-made ink prepared from a decoction of white maple
+bark.
+
+
+
+
+THE LOST ONE,
+
+A TALE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
+
+
+Beyond the utmost verge of the limits which the white settlers had yet
+dared to encroach on the red owners of the soil, stood the humble
+dwelling of Kenneth Gordon, a Scotch emigrant, whom necessity had driven
+from the blue hills and fertile vallies of his native land, to seek a
+shelter in the tangled mazes of the forests of the new world. Few would
+have had the courage to venture thus into the very power of the
+savage--but Kenneth Gordon possessed a strong arm and a hopeful heart,
+to give the lips he loved unborrowed bread; this nerved him against
+danger, and, 'spite of the warning of friends, Kenneth pitched his tent
+twelve miles from the nearest settlement. Two years passed over the
+family in their lonely home, and nothing had occurred to disturb their
+peace, when business required Kenneth's presence up the river. One calm
+and dewy morning he prepared for his journey; Marion Gordon followed her
+husband to the wicket, and a tear, which she vainly strove to hide with
+a smile, trembled in her large blue eye. She wedded Kenneth when she
+might well have won a richer bridegroom: she chose him for his worth;
+their lot had been a hard one--but in all the changing scenes of life
+their love remained unchanged; and Kenneth Gordon, although thirteen
+years a husband, was still a lover. Marion strove to rally her spirits,
+as her husband gaily cheered her with an assurance of his return before
+night. "Why so fearful, Marion? See here is our ain bonny Charlie for a
+guard, and what better could an auld Jacobite wish for?" said Kenneth,
+looking fondly on his wife; while their son marched past them in his
+Highland dress and wooden claymore by his side. Marion smiled as her
+husband playfully alluded to the difference in their religion; for
+Kenneth was a staunch presbyterian, and his wife a Roman catholic; yet
+that difference--for which so much blood has been shed in the
+world--never for an instant dimmed the lustre of their peace; and Marion
+told her glittering beads on the same spot where her husband breathed
+his simple prayer. Kenneth, taking advantage of the smile he had roused,
+waved his hand to the little group, and was soon out of sight.
+
+The hot and sultry day was passed by Marion in a state of restless
+anxiety, but it was for Kenneth alone she feared, and the hours sped
+heavily till she might expect his return. Slowly the burning sun
+declined in the heavens, and poured a flood of golden radiance on the
+leafy trees and the bright waves of the majestic river, which rolled its
+graceful waters past the settlers dwelling. Marion left her infant
+asleep in a small shed at the back of the log-house, with Mary, her
+eldest daughter, to watch by it, and taking Charlie by the hand went out
+to the gate to look for her husband's return. Kenneth's father, an old
+and almost superannuated man, sat in the door-way, with twin girls of
+Kenneth's sitting on his knees, singing their evening hymn, while he
+bent fondly over them.
+
+Scarcely had Marion reached the wicket, when a loud yell--the wild
+war-whoop of the savage--rang on her startled ear. A thousand dark
+figures seemed to start from the water's edge--the house was surrounded,
+and she beheld the grey hairs of the old man twined round in the hand of
+one, and the bright curls of her daughters gleamed in that of another;
+while the glittering tomahawk glared like lightning in her eyes. Madly
+she rushed forward to shield her children; the vengeance of the Indian
+was glutted, and the life-blood of their victims crimsoned the hearth
+stone! The house was soon in flames--the war dance was finished--and
+their canoes bounded lightly on the waters, bearing them far from the
+scene of their havoc.
+
+As the sun set a heavy shower of rain fell and refreshed the parched
+earth--the flowers sent up a grateful fragrance on the evening air--the
+few singing birds of the woods poured forth their notes of melody--the
+blue jay screamed among the crimson buds of the maple, and the humming
+bird gleamed through the emerald sprays of the beech tree.
+
+The pearly moon was slowly rising in the blue aether, when Kenneth
+Gordon approached his home. He was weary with his journey, but the
+pictured visions of his happy home, his smiling wife, and the caresses
+of his sunny haired children, cheered the father's heart, though his
+step was languid, and his brow feverish. But oh! what a sight of horror
+for a fond and loving heart met his eyes, as he came in sight of the
+spot that contained his earthly treasures--the foreboding silence had
+surprised him--he heard not the gleeful voices of his children, as they
+were wont to bound forth to meet him, he saw not Marion stand at the
+gate to greet his return--but a thick black smoke rose heavily to the
+summits of the trees, and the smouldering logs of the building fell with
+a sullen noise to the ground. The rain had quenched the fire, and the
+house was not all consumed. Wild with terror, Kenneth rushed forward;
+his feet slipped on the bloody threshhold, and he fell on the mangled
+bodies of his father and his children. The demoniac laceration of the
+stiffening victims told too plainly who had been their murderers. How
+that night of horror passed Kenneth knew not. The morning sun was
+shining bright--when the bereaved and broken-hearted man was roused from
+the stupor of despair by the sound of the word "father" in his ears; he
+raised his eyes, and beheld Mary, his eldest daughter, on her knees
+beside him. For a moment Kenneth fancied he had had a dreadful dream,
+but the awful reality was before him. He pressed Mary wildly to his
+bosom, and a passionate flood of tears relieved his burning brain. Mary
+had heard the yells of the savages, and the shrieks of her mother
+convinced her that the dreaded Indians had arrived. She threw open the
+window, and snatching the infant from its bed, flew like a wounded deer
+to the woods behind the house. The frightened girl heard all, remained
+quiet, and knowing her father would soon return, left the little Alice
+asleep on some dried leaves, and ventured from her hiding place.
+
+No trace of Marion or of Charles could be found--they had been reserved
+for a worse fate; and for months a vigilant search was kept up--parties
+of the settlers, led on by Kenneth, scoured the woods night and day.
+Many miles off a bloody battle had been fought between two hostile
+tribes, where a part of Marion's dress and of her son's was found, but
+here all trace of the Indians ended, and Kenneth returned to his
+desolated home. No persuasion could induce him to leave the place where
+the joys of his heart had been buried: true, his remaining children yet
+linked him to life, but his love for them only increased his sorrow for
+the dead and the lost. Kenneth became a prematurely old man--his dark
+hair faded white as the mountain snow--his brow was wrinkled, and his
+tall figure bent downwards to the earth.
+
+Seventeen years had rolled on their returnless flight since that night
+of withering sorrow. Kenneth Gordon still lived, a sad and
+broken-spirited man; but time, that great tamer of the human heart,
+which dulls the arrows of affliction, and softens the bright tints of
+joy down to a sober hue, had shed its healing influence even over his
+wounded heart. Mary Gordon had been some years a wife, and her children
+played around Kenneth's footsteps. A little Marion recalled the wife of
+his youth; and another, Charlie, the image of his lost son, slept in his
+bosom. There was yet another person who was as a sunbeam in the sight of
+Kenneth; her light laugh sounded as music in his ears, and the joy-beams
+of her eyes fell gladly on his soul. This gladdener of sorrow was his
+daughter Alice, now a young and lovely woman; bright and beautiful was
+she, lovely as a rose-bud, with a living soul--
+
+    "No fountain from its native cave,
+    E'er tripped with foot so free;
+    She was as happy as a wave
+    That dances o'er the sea."
+
+Alice was but five months old when her mother was taken from her, but
+Mary, who watched over her helpless infancy with a care far beyond her
+years, and with love equal to a mother's, was repaid by Alice with most
+unbounded affection; for to the love of a sister was added the
+veneration of a parent.
+
+One bright and balmy Sabbath morning Kenneth Gordon and his family left
+their home for the house of prayer. Mary and her husband walked
+together, and their children gambolled on the grassy path before them.
+Kenneth leaned on the arm of his daughter Alice; another person walked
+by her side, whose eye, when it met her's, deepened the tint on her fair
+cheek. It was William Douglas--the chosen lover of her heart, and well
+worthy was he to love the gentle Alice. Together they proceeded to the
+holy altar, and the next Sabbath was to be their bridal day.
+
+A change had taken place since Kenneth Gordon first settled on the banks
+of the lonely river. The white walls and graceful spire of a church now
+rose where the blue smoke of the solitary log-house once curled through
+the forest trees; and the ashes of Kenneth's children and his father
+reposed within its sacred precincts. A large and populous village stood
+where the red deer roved on his trackless path. The white sails of the
+laden barque gleamed on the water, where erst floated the stealthy canoe
+of the savage; and a pious throng offered their aspirations where the
+war-whoop had rung on the air.
+
+Alice was to spend the remaining days of her maiden life with a young
+friend, a few miles from her father's, and they were to return together
+on her bridal eve. William Douglas accompanied Alice on her walk to the
+house of her friend. They parted within a few steps of the house.
+William returned home, and Alice, gay and gladsome as a bird, entered a
+piece of wood, which led directly to the house. Scarcely had she entered
+it when she was seized by a strong arm; her mouth was gagged, and
+something thrown over her head; she was then borne rapidly down the bank
+of the river, and laid in a canoe. She heard no voices, and the swift
+motion of the canoe rendered her unconscious. How long the journey
+lasted she knew not. At length she found herself, on recovering from
+partial insensibility, in a rude hut, with a frightful-looking Indian
+squaw bathing her hands, while another held a blazing torch of pine
+above her head. Their hideous faces, frightful as the imagery of a
+dream, scared Alice, and she fainted again.
+
+The injuries which Kenneth Gordon had suffered from the savages made him
+shudder at the name of Indian--and neither he nor his family ever held
+converse with those who traded in the village. Metea, a chief of the
+Menomene Indians, in his frequent trading expeditions to the village,
+had often seen Alice, and became enamoured of the village beauty. He had
+long watched an opportunity of stealing her, and bearing her away to his
+tribe, where he made no doubt of winning her love. When Alice recovered
+the squaws left her, and Metea entered the hut; he commenced by telling
+her of the great honour in being allowed to share the hut of Metea, a
+"brave" whose bow was always strung, whose tomahawk never missed its
+blow, and whose scalps were as numerous as the stars in the path-way of
+ghosts; and he pointed to the grisly trophies hung in the smoke of the
+cabin. He concluded by giving her furs and strings of beads, with which
+the squaws decorated her, and the next morning the trembling girl was
+led from the hut, and lifted into a circle formed of the warriors of the
+tribe. Here Metea stood forth and declared his deeds of bravery, and
+asked their consent for "the flower of the white nation" to be his
+bride. When he had finished, a young warrior, whose light and graceful
+limbs might well have been a sculptor's model, stood forward to speak.
+He was dressed in the richest Indian costume, and his scalping knife and
+beaded moccasins glittered in the sunshine. His features bore an
+expression very different from the others. Neither malice nor cunning
+lurked in his full dark eye, but a calm and majestic melancholy reposed
+on his high and smooth brow, and was diffused over his whole mein; and,
+in the clear tones of his voice, "Brothers," said he to the warriors,
+"we have buried the hatchet with the white nation--it is very deep
+beneath the earth--shall we dig it because Metea scorns the women of his
+tribe, because he has stolen 'the flower of the white nation?' Let her
+be restored to her people, lest her chiefs come to claim her, and Metea
+lives to disgrace the brave warriors of the woods?" He sat down, and the
+circle rising, said, "Our brother speaks well, but Metea is very
+_brave_." It was decided that Alice should remain.
+
+Towards evening Metea entered the hut, and approaching Alice, caught
+hold of her hand,--the wildest passion gleamed in his glittering eyes,
+and Alice, shrieking, ran towards the door. Metea caught her in his arms
+and pressed her to his bosom. Again she shrieked, and a descending blow
+cleft Metea's skull in sunder, and his blood fell on her neck. It was
+the young Indian who advised her liberation in the morning who dealt
+Metea's death-blow. Taking Alice in his arms, he stepped lightly from
+the hut. It was a still and starless night, and the sleeping Indians saw
+them not. Unloosing a canoe, he placed Alice in it, and pushed softly
+from the shore.
+
+Before the next sunset Alice was in sight of her home. Her father and
+friends knew nothing of what had transpired. They fancied her at her
+friend's house, and terror at her peril and joy at her return followed
+in the same breath. Mary threw a timid, yet kind glance on the Indian
+warrior who had saved her darling Alice, and Kenneth pressed the hand of
+him who restored his child. In a few minutes William Douglas joined the
+happy group, and she repeated her escape on his bosom. That night
+Kenneth Gordon's prayer was longer and more fervent than usual. The
+father's thanks arose to the throne of grace for the safety of his
+child; he prayed for her deliverer, and for pardon for the hatred he had
+nurtured against the murderers of his children. During the prayer the
+Indian stood apart, his arms were folded, and deep thought was marked on
+his brow. When it was finished, Mary's children knelt and received
+Kenneth's blessing, ere they retired to rest. The Indian rushed forward,
+and, bursting into tears, threw himself at the old man's feet--he bent
+his feathered head to the earth. The stern warrior wept like a child.
+Oh! who can trace the deep workings of the human heart? Who can tell in
+what hidden fount the feelings have their spring? The forest chase--the
+bloody field--the war dance--all the pomp of savage life passed like a
+dream from the Indian's soul; a cloud seemed to roll its shadows from
+his memory. That evening's prayer, and a father's blessing, recalled a
+time faded from his recollection, yet living in the dreams of his soul.
+He thought of the period when he, a happy child like those before him,
+had knelt and heard the same sweet words breathed o'er his bending head:
+he remembered having received a father's kiss, and a mother's smile
+gleamed like a star in his memory; but the fleeting visions of childhood
+were fading again into darkness, when Kenneth arose, and, clasping the
+Indian wildly to his breast, exclaimed, "My son, my son! my long lost
+Charles!" The springs of the father's love gushed forth to meet his son,
+and the unseen sympathy of nature guided him to "The Lost One." 'Twas
+indeed Charles Gordon, whom his father held to his breast, but not as he
+lived in his father's fancy. He beheld him a painted savage, whose hand
+was yet stained with blood; but Kenneth's fondest prayer was granted,
+and he pressed him again to his bosom, exclaiming again, "He is my son."
+A small gold cross hung suspended from the collar of Charles. Kenneth
+knew it well; it had belonged to Marion, who hung it round her son's
+neck e'er her eyes were closed. She had sickened early of her captivity,
+and died while her son was yet a child: but the relics she had left
+were prized by him as something holy. From his wampum belt he took a
+roll of the bark of the birch tree, on which something had been written
+with a pencil. The writing was nearly effaced, and the signature of
+Marion Gordon was alone distinguishable. Kenneth pressed the writing to
+his lips, and again his bruised spirit mourned for his sainted Marion.
+Mary and Alice greeted their restored brother with warm affection.
+Kenneth lived but in the sight of his son. Charles rejoiced in their
+endearments, and all the joys of kindred were to him
+
+    "New as if brought from other spheres,
+     Yet welcome as if known for years."
+
+But soon a change came o'er the young warrior; his eye grew dim, his
+step was heavy, and his brow was sad: he sought for solitude, and he
+seemed like a bird pining for freedom. They thought he sighed for the
+liberty of his savage life, but, alas! it was another cause. The better
+feelings of the human heart all lie dormant in the Indian character, and
+are but seldom called into action. Charles had been the "stern stoic of
+the woods" till he saw Alice. Then the first warm rush of young
+affections bounded like a torrent through his veins, and he loved his
+sister with a passion so strong, so overwhelming, that it sapped the
+current of his life. The marriage of Alice had been delayed on his
+return--it would again have been delayed on his account, but he himself
+urged it forward. Kenneth entered the church with Charles leaning on his
+arm. During the ceremony he stood apart from the others. When it was
+finished, Alice went up to him and took his hand; it was cold as
+marble--he was dead; his spirit fled with the bridal benediction.
+Kenneth's heart bled afresh for his son, and as he laid his head in the
+earth he felt that it would not be long till he followed him. Nor was he
+mistaken; for a few mornings after he was found dead on the grave of
+"_The Lost One_."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And now the bright summer of New Brunswick drew onward to its close. The
+hay, which in this country is cut in a much greener state than is usual
+elsewhere, and which, from this cause, retains its fragrance till the
+spring, was safely lodged in the capacious barns. The buck wheat had
+changed its delicate white flower for the brown clusters of its grain,
+and the reaper and the thrasher were both busied with it, for so loosely
+does this grain hang on its stem that it is generally thrashed out of
+doors as soon as ripe, as much would be lost in the conveyance to the
+barn.
+
+Grace Marley's time of departure now drew near; her government stipend
+had arrived. The proprietors, who paid in trade, had deposited the
+butter and oats equivalent to her hire in the market boat, in which she
+intended to proceed to town. And as this is decidedly the pleasantest
+method of travelling, I laid out to accompany her by the same
+conveyance, and we were spending the last evening with Mrs. Gordon, who
+also was to be our companion to St. John; we walked with Helen through
+her flower-garden, who showed us some flowers, the seeds of which she
+had received from the old country. I saw a bright hue pass o'er the brow
+of Grace as we walked among them, and tears gushed forth from her warm
+and feeling heart. Next day she explained what occasioned her emotion, a
+feeling which all must have felt, awakened by as slight a cause, when
+wandering far from their native land. Thus she pourtrayed what she then
+felt--
+
+
+    THE MIGNIONETTE.
+
+    'Twas when the summer's golden eve
+    Fell dim o'er flower and fruit,
+    A mystic spell was o'er me thrown,
+    As I'd drank of some charmed root.
+    It came o'er my soul as the breeze swept by,
+    Like the breath of some blessed thing;
+    Again it came, and my spirit rose
+    As if borne on an angel's wing.
+    It bore me away to my native land,
+    Away o'er the deep sea foam;
+    And I stood, once more a happy child,
+    By the hearth of my early home.
+    And well-loved forms were by me there,
+    That long in the grave had lain;
+    And I heard the voices I heard of old,
+    And they smiled on me again.
+    And I knew once more the dazzling light,
+    Of the spirit's gladsome youth;
+    And lived again in the sunny light
+    Of the heart's unbroken truth.
+    Yet felt I then, as we always feel,
+    The sweet grief o'er me cast,
+    When a chord is waked of the spirit's harp,
+    Which telleth of the past.
+    And what could it be, that blissful trance?
+    What caused the soul to glide?
+    Forgetting alike both time and change,
+    So far o'er memory's tide.
+    Oh! could that deep mysterious power
+    Be but the breath of an earthly flower?
+    'Twas not the rose with her leaves so bright,
+    That flung o'er my soul such dazzling light,
+    Nor the tiger lily's gorgeous dies,
+    That changed the hue of my spirit's eyes.
+    'Twas not from the pale, but gifted leaf,
+    That bringeth to mortal pain relief.
+    Not where the blue wreaths of the star-flower shine,
+    Nor lingered it in the airy bells
+    Of the graceful columbine.
+    But again it cometh, I breathe it yet,
+    'Tis the sigh of the lowly mignionette.
+    And there, 'mid the garden's leafy gems,
+    Blossomed a group of its fairy stems;
+    Few would have thought of its faint perfume,
+    While they gazed on the rosebud's crimson bloom.
+    But to me it was laden with sighs and tears,
+    And the faded hopes of by-gone years.
+    Many a vision, long buried deep,
+    Was waked again from its dreamless sleep.
+    Thoughts whose light was dim before,
+    Lived in their pristine truth once more.
+    Well might its form with my fancies weave,
+    For in youth it seemed with me to joy,
+    And in woe with me to grieve.
+    Oft have I knelt in the cool moonlight,
+    Where it wreathed the lattice pane,
+    'Till I felt that He who formed the flower
+    Would hear my prayer again.
+    Then, welcome sweet thing, in this stranger land,
+    May it smile upon thy birth,
+    Light fall the rain on thy lovely head,
+    And genial be the earth;
+    And blest be the power that gave to thee,
+    All lowly as thou art,
+    The gift unknown to prouder things,
+    To soothe and teach the heart.
+
+
+Next day we proceeded on our journey, and, preferring the coolness of
+the deck to the heated atmosphere of the cabin, seated ourselves there
+to enjoy the quiet beauty of the night. The full glory of a September's
+moon was beaming bright in the clear rich blue of heaven; the stars were
+glittering in the water's depths, and ever and anon the fire flies
+flashed like diamonds through the dark foliage on the shore--the light
+fair breeze scarce stirred the ripples on the stream--when, from one of
+the white dwellings on the beach in whose casement a light was yet
+burning, came a low, sad strain of sorrow. I had heard that sound once
+before, and knew now it was the wail of Irish grief. Strange that
+mournful dirge of Erin sounded in that distant land. Grace knew the
+language of her country, and ere the "keen" had died upon the breeze,
+she translated thus
+
+
+    THE SONG OF THE IRISH MOURNER.
+
+    Light of the widow's heart! art thou then dead?
+    And is then thy spirit from earth ever fled?
+    And shall we, then, see thee and hear thee no more,
+    All radiant in beauty and life as before?
+
+    My own blue-eyed darling, Oh, why didst thou die,
+    Ere the tear-drop of sorrow had dimmed thy bright eye,
+    Ere thy cheek's blooming hue felt one touch of decay,
+    Or thy long golden ringlets were mingled with grey?
+
+    Why, star of our path-way, why didst thou depart?
+    Why leave us to weep for the pulse of the heart?
+    Oh, darkened for ever is life's sunny hour,
+    When robbed of its brightest and loveliest flower!
+
+    Around thy low bier sacred incense is flinging,
+    And soft on the air are the silver bells ringing;
+    For the peace of thy soul is the holy mass said,
+    And on thy fair forehead the blessed cross laid.
+
+    Soft, soft be thy slumbers, our lady receive thee,
+    And shining in glory for ever thy soul be;
+    To the climes of the blessed, my own grama-chree,
+    May blessings attend thee, sweet cushla ma-chree.
+
+As we passed the jemseg, we spoke of the time when Madame la Tour so
+bravely defended the fort in the absence of her husband--this occurred
+in the early times of the province, and strange stories are told of
+spirit forms which glide along the beach, beneath whose sands the white
+bones of the French and Indians, who fell in the deadly fight, lie
+buried. Talking of these things, induced Mrs. Gordon to tell us the
+following tale, which she had heard, and which I have entitled
+
+
+
+
+A WINTER'S EVENING SKETCH,
+
+WRITTEN IN NEW BRUNSWICK.
+
+    "Oh! there's a dream of early youth,
+    And it never comes again;
+    'Tis a vision of joy, and light, and truth,
+    That flits across the brain;
+    And love is the theme of that early dream,
+    So wild, so warm, so new.
+    And oft I ween, in our after-years,
+    That early dream we rue."---Mrs. HEMANS.
+
+
+The winter's eve had gathered o'er New Brunswick, and the snow was
+falling, as in that clime it only knows how to fall. The atmosphere was
+like the face of Sterne's monk, "calm, cold, and penetrating," and the
+faint tinkling of the sleigh bells came mournfully on the ear as a knell
+of sadness--so utterly cheerless was the scene. Another hour passed, and
+our journey was ended. The open door of the hospitable dwelling was
+ready to receive us, and in the light and heat of a happy home, toil and
+trouble were alike forgotten.
+
+There is always something picturesque in the interior of a New Brunswick
+farm house, and this evening everything assumed an aspect of interest
+and beauty. It might have been the comfortable contrast to the scene
+without that threw its mellow tints around. Even the homely loom and
+spinning-wheel lost their uncouthness, and recalled to the mind's
+imagery the classic dreams of old romance--Hercules in the chambers of
+Omphale the story of Arachne and Penelope, the faithful wife of brave
+Ulysses; but there was other food for the spirit which required not the
+aid of fancy to render palatable. On the large centre table, round which
+were grouped the household band, with smiling brows and happy hearts,
+lay the magazines and papers of the day, with their sweet tales and
+poetic gems. The "Amulet" and "Keepsake" glittering in silk and gold,
+and "Chambers," with plain, unwinning exterior, the ungarnished casket
+of a mine of treasure, gave forth, like whisperings from a better land,
+their gentle influence to soothe and cheer the heart, and teach the
+spirit higher aspirations, while breathing the magic spells raised by
+their fairy power--those sweet creators of a world unswayed by earth,
+where hope and beauty live undimmed by time or tears--givers to all who
+own their power, a solace 'mid the pining cares of life. Thus, with the
+aid of these, and the joys of converse, sped the night; and as the wind
+which had now arisen blew heavy gusts of frozen rain against the
+windows, we rejoiced in our situation all the more, and looked
+complacently on the great mainspring of our comfort, the glowing stove,
+which imparted its grateful caloric through the apartment, and bore on
+its polished surface shining evidence of the housewife's care. 'Twas
+apparently already a favourite, and the storm without had enhanced its
+value. Without dissent, all agreed in its perfection and superiority
+over ordinary fire-places.
+
+Twas a theme which called forth conversation, and when all had given
+their opinion, uncle Ethel was asked for his.
+
+The person so addressed was an aged man, who reclined in an arm chair
+apart from the others, sharing not in words with their discourse or
+mirth, but smiling like a benignant spirit on them. More than eighty
+years of shade and sunshine had passed o'er him. The few snowy locks
+which lingered yet around his brow were soft and silky as a
+child's--time and sorrow had traced him but a gentle path, 'twould seem
+by the light which yet beamed in his calm blue eye and placid smile, the
+expression was far different from mirthful happiness, but breathed of
+holy peace and spirit pure, tempered with love and kindness for
+all--living in the past dreams of youth, he loved the present, when it
+recalled their sweet memories in brighter beauty from the tomb of faded
+years, and then it seemed as if a secret woe arose and dimmed the vision
+when it glowed brightest. A deeper sorrow than for departed youth
+flashed o'er his brow, brief but fearful, as though he once, and but
+once only, had felt a pang of agony which had deadened all other lighter
+woes, and, overcome by resignation, left the spirit calmer as its strong
+feeling passed away. Such was what we knew of uncle Ethel, but ere the
+night had worn we knew him better. Joining us in our conversation
+regarding the stove, he smiled, and said he agreed not with us--our
+favourite was more sightly, and more useful, but it bore not the
+friendly face of the old hearthstone--one of memory's most treasured
+spots was gone--the _fireside_ of our home--the thought of whose
+hallowed precincts cheers the wanderer's heart, and has won many from
+the path of error, to seek again its sinless welcome.
+
+'Tis while sitting by the fireside at eve, said he, that the vanished
+forms of other days gather round me--there where our happiest meetings
+were in the holy sanctity of our _home_. Where peace and love hovered
+o'er us, I see again kind faces lit by the ruddy gleam, and hear again
+the evening hymn, as of old it used to rise from the loving band
+assembled there. Alas! long years have passed since I missed them from
+the earth, but there they meet me still--in the glowing fire's bright
+light I trace their sweet names, and the vague fancies of childhood are
+waked again from their dim repose to live in light and truth once more,
+amid the fantastic visions and shadowy forms, flitting through the red
+world of embers, on which I loved to gaze when thought and hope were
+young. I love it even now--the sorrow that is written there makes it
+more holy to my mind, telling me, as it does, of a clime where grief
+comes not, and where the blighted hope and broken heart will be at rest.
+
+But why, said the old man, do I talk so long--I weary you, my children,
+for the fancies of age are not those of youth--hope's fairy flowers are
+bright for you--the faded things of memory are mine alone--with them I
+live, but rejoice ye in your happiness, and gather now, in the spring
+time of your days, treasures to cheer you in the fall of life. As to
+your favourite, the stove, although I love it not so well as the old
+familiar fire-place, I can admire and value it as part of the spirit of
+improvement which is spreading o'er our land--her early troubles are
+passing away, and she is rising fast to take her place among the nations
+of the earth--bitter has been her struggle for existence, but the clouds
+are fading in the brightness of her coming years, and her past woes
+will be forgotten.
+
+He ceased, but we all loved to hear him talk, he was so kind and good,
+and he was earnestly requested for one of those tales of the early times
+of our own land, which had often thrilled us with their simple, yet
+often woeful interest.
+
+I am become an egotist to-night, for self is the only theme of which I
+can discourse. My spirit, too, is like the minstrel harp of which you
+have to-night been reading, 'twill "echo nought but sadness;" but if it
+please you, you shall have uncle Ethel's love story--well may we say
+alas! for time,
+
+    "For he taketh away the heart of youth,
+    And its gladness which hath been
+    Like the summer's sunshine on our path,
+    Making the desert green."
+
+More than sixty years have elapsed since the time of which I now shall
+speak. We lived then, a large and happy family, in the dwelling where
+our fathers' sires had died--sons and daughters had married, but still
+remained beneath the shadow of the parent roof tree, which seemed to
+extend its wings like a guardian spirit, as they increased in number.
+'Twas near the city of New York, and stood in the centre of sunny
+fields, which had been won from the forest shade. Our parents were
+natives of the soil, but theirs had come from the far land of Germany,
+and the memories of that land were still fondly cherished by their
+descendants. The low-roofed cottage, with its many-pointed gables and
+narrow casement, was gay with the bright flowers of that home of their
+hearts--cherished and guarded there with the tenderest care--all hues
+of earth seemed blended in the bright parterre of tulips, over which the
+magnificent dahlia towered, tall and stately as a queen--the rich scent
+of the wallflower breathed around, and the jessamine went climbing
+freely o'er the trellissed porch and arching eaves--each flower around
+my home bore to me the face of a friend--they bore to me the poetry of
+the earth, as the stars tell the sweet harmonies of heaven--but there is
+a vision of fairer beauty than either star or flower comes with the
+thought of these bye-gone days--the face of my orphan cousin Ella Werner
+arises in the brightness of its young beauty, as it used to beam upon me
+from the latticed window of my home: for her's, indeed,
+
+    "Was a form of life and light,
+    That seen became a part of sight,
+    And comes where'er I turn mine eye,
+    The morning star of memory."
+
+Ella's mother was sister to my father: she lived but long enough to look
+upon her child, and her husband died of a broken heart soon after her.
+Thus the very existence of the fair girl was fatal to those who best
+loved her--not best, for all living loved her. In after-years it seemed
+as though it was her beauty, that fatal gift, which ne'er for good was
+given to many, caused her woe. Ella's spirit was pure and bright as the
+eyes through which it beamed--the gladness of her young heart's
+happiness rung in the silvery music of her voice, and in the fairy magic
+of her smile she looked as if sorrow could never dim the golden lustre
+of her curls, or trace a cloud on her snowy brow--gentle and lovely she
+was, and that was all. There was no depth of thought, no strength of
+mind, to form the character of one so gifted. Her faculties for
+reasoning were the impulses of her own heart: these were generally good,
+and constituted her principle of action--but changeful as the summer sky
+are the feelings of the human heart, unswayed by the deeper power of the
+head. Such were Ella's, and their power destroyed her. Alas! how calmly
+can I talk now of her faults; but who could think of them when they
+looked upon her, and loved her as I did--'tis only since she is gone I
+discover them.
+
+Of the other members of the family I need not speak, as you already know
+of them; but there is one whose name you have never heard, for crime and
+sorrow rest with it, and oblivion shrouds his memory. Conrad Ernstein
+was also my cousin, and an orphan--he was an inmate of our dwelling, and
+my mother was to him as a parent. He was some years older, but his
+delicate constitution and studious mind withdrew him from the others,
+and made him the companion of Ella and myself. I have said that Ella's
+mind was too volatile, so in like degree was Conrad's, in its deep
+unchanging firmness and immutability of purpose. Nothing deterred him
+from the pursuit of any object he engaged in--obstacles but increased
+his energy to overcome and call forth stronger powers of mind--this was
+observable in his learning. Science the most abstruse and difficult was
+his favourite study, and in these he attained an excellence rarely
+arrived at by one so situated.
+
+Wondered at and admired by all, his pride which was great was amply
+gratified, and what was evil in his nature was not yet called into
+being--his disposition was melancholy, and showed none of the joyousness
+of youth--yet that very sadness seemed to make us love him all the
+more--his air of suffering asked for pity--'twas strange to see the
+glad-hearted Ella leave my mother's side, while she sang to us the songs
+of the blue Rhine, and bend her sunny brow with him over the ancient
+page of some clasped volume, containing the terrific legends of the
+"black forest," till the tales of the wild huntsmen filled her with
+dread--then again would she spring to my mother, and burying her head in
+her bosom, ask her once more to sing the songs of her native land, for
+so we still called Germany; and, as you see, the romances and legends of
+that country formed our childhood's lore, my early love for Ella grew
+and increased with my years, and I fancied that she loved me.
+
+On the first of May, or, as it was by us styled, "Walburga's eve," the
+young German maidens have a custom of seeking a lonely stream, and
+flinging on its waters a wreath of early flowers, as an offering to a
+spirit which then has power. When, as the legend tells, the face of
+their lover will glide along the water, and the name be borne on the
+breeze, if the gift be pleasing to the spirit. Ella, I knew, had for
+some time been preparing to keep this ancient relic of the pagan
+rites--she had a treasured rose tree which bloomed, unexpectedly, early
+in the season--these delicate things she fancied would be a fitting
+offering to the spirit. She paused not to think of what she was about to
+do--the thing itself was but a harmless folly--from aught of ill her
+nature would have drawn instinctively; but evil there might have
+been--she stayed not to weigh the result--at the last hour of sunset she
+wreathed her roses, and set out. In the lightness of my heart I followed
+in the same path, intending to surprize her. I heard her clear voice
+floating on the air, as she sung the invocation to the spirit--the words
+were these:--
+
+    Blue-eyed spirit of balmy spring,
+    Bright young flowers to thee I bring,
+    Wreaths all tinged with hues divine,
+    Meet to rest on thy fairy shrine.
+    With these I invoke thy gentle care,
+    Queen of the earth and ambient air,
+    Come with the light of thy radiant skies,
+    Trace on the stream my true love's eyes,
+    Show me the face in the silvery deep,
+    Whose image for aye my heart may keep;
+    Bid the waters echoing shell,
+    Whisper the name thy breezes tell.
+    And still on the feast of Walburga's eve,
+    Bright young flowers to thee I'll give;
+    Beautiful spirit I've spoken the spell,
+    And offered the gift thou lovest well."
+
+The last notes died suddenly away, and Ella, greatly agitated, threw
+herself into my arms. I enquired the cause of her terror, and forgetting
+her secrecy, she said a face had appeared to her on the stream. Just
+then we saw Conrad, who had followed on the same purpose I had, but had
+fallen and hurt his ancle, and was unable to proceed. He joined not with
+me when I laughed at Ella's fright, but a deeper paleness overspread his
+countenance. Raising his eyes to the heavens, they rested on a star
+beaming brightly in the blue--its mild radiance seemed to soothe him.
+See ye yonder, said he, how clear and unclouded the lustre of that
+shining orb--these words seemed irrelevant, but I knew their meaning.
+His knowledge of German literature had led him into the mazes of its
+mingled philosophy and wild romance. Astronomy and astrology were to him
+the same; the star to which he pointed was what he called the planet of
+his fate, and its brightness or obscurity were shadowed in his mind--its
+aspect caused him either joy or woe. The incident of Ella's fright
+agitated him much, for the occurrences of this real world were to him
+all tinged with the supernatural; but he looked again at the heavens,
+and the mild lustre of the star was reflected in his eyes; he leaned
+upon my arm, and we passed onward. I knew not then that his dark spirit
+felt the sunbeams which illumined mine own.
+
+That same balmy evening I stood with Ella by the silver stream which
+traced its shining path around our home, watching the clear moonbeams as
+they flashed in the fairy foambells sparkling at our feet. There I first
+told my love--her hand was clasped in mine--she heard me, and raising
+her dewy eyes, said, "Dearest Ethel, I love you well; but not as she who
+weds must love you--be still to me my own dear friend and brother, and
+Ella will love you as she ever has. Ask not for more." She left me, and
+I saw a tear-drop gem the silken braid on her cheek, and thus my dream
+of beauty burst. My spirit's light grew dark as the treasured spell
+which bound me broke. Some hours passed in agony, such as none could
+feel but those who loved as I did--so deep, so fondly.
+
+As I approached my home the warm evening light was streaming from the
+windows, and I heard her rich voice thrilling its wild melody. Every
+brow smiled upon her: even Conrad's was unbent. I looked upon her, and
+prayed she might never know a grief like mine. The ringing music of her
+laugh greeted my entrance, and ere the night had passed she charmed away
+my woe.
+
+While these things occurred with us, the aspect of the times without had
+changed. America made war with England. What were her injuries we asked
+not, but 'twas not likely that we, come of a race who loved so well
+their "fatherland and king," would join with those who had risen against
+theirs. As yet the crisis was not come, and in New York British power
+was still triumphant.
+
+Among the many festivities given by the officers, naval and military,
+then in the country, was a splendid ball on board a British frigate then
+in the harbour. To this scene of magic beauty and delight I accompanied
+Ella--'twas but a few days after that unhappy first of May; but the
+buoyant spirits of youth are soon rekindled, and Ella yet, I thought,
+might love me. The scene was so new, and withal so splendid in its
+details, that it comes before me now fresh and undimmed. The night was
+one of summer's softest, earliest beauty: the moonlight slept upon the
+still waters, and the tall masts, with all their graceful tracery of
+spar and line, were bathed with rich radiance, mingled with the hundred
+lights of coloured lamps, suspended from festoons of flowers; low
+couches stood along the bulwarks of the noble ship, and the meteor flag
+of England, which waved so oft amid the battle and the breeze, now
+wafted its ruby cross o'er fair forms gliding through the dance, to the
+rich strains of merry music--'twas an hour that sent glad feeling to the
+heart. The gay dresses and noble bearing of the military officers, all
+glistening in scarlet and gold, contrasted well with the white robes and
+delicate beauty of the fair girls by their sides. But they had their
+rivals in the gallant givers of the fete. Many a lady's heart was lost
+that night. "What is it always makes a sailor so dangerous a rival?"
+Ella used to say, when rallied on her partiality for a "bluejacket,"
+that she loved it because it was the colour of so many things dear to
+her: the sky was blue, the waves of the deep mysterious sea were blue,
+and the wreaths of that fairy flower, which bears the magic name
+forget-me-not, were of the same charmed hue. Some such reason, I
+suppose, it is that makes every maiden love a sailor.
+
+While we stood gazing on the scene, enchanted and delighted, one came
+near and joined our group. Nobility of mind and birth was written on his
+brow in beauty's brightest traits. He seemed hardly nineteen, but, young
+as he was, many a wild breeze had parted the wavy ringlets of his hair,
+and the salt spray of the ocean raised a deeper hue on his cheek. His
+light and graceful figure was clad in the becoming costume of his rank,
+and on his richly braided bosom rested three half blown roses. Ella's
+eyes for an instant met his, they fell upon the flowers, and she dropped
+fainting from my arm. The mystery was soon explained. De Clairville,
+such was the stranger's name, had been walking on the cliffs when Ella
+sought the stream--he heard her voice and approached to see from whence
+it came--his was the face she had seen upon the waters; he heard her
+scream, and descended to apologise, but she was gone, and he had found
+and worn her rose buds--
+
+    "Oh! there are looks and tones that dart
+    An instant sunshine through the heart,
+    As if the soul that instant caught
+    Some treasure it through life had sought;
+    As if the very lips and eyes,
+    Predestined to have all our sighs,
+    And never be forgot again,
+    Sparkled and spoke before us then."
+
+So sings the poet, and so seemed it with Ella and De Clairville; and
+when the rosy morn, tinging the eastern sky, announced to the revellers
+the hour of parting, that night of happiness was deemed too short.
+
+To hasten on my story, I must merely say that they became fondly
+attached, and when De Clairville departed for another station, he left
+Ella as his betrothed bride. On love such as theirs 'twould seem to all
+that heaven smiled; but inscrutable to human eyes are the ways of
+Providence, for deadly was the blight thrown o'er them.
+
+Meanwhile the events in which the country was engaged drew to a close.
+England acknowledged the independence of America, and withdrew her
+forces; but while she did so, offered a home and protection to those who
+yet wished to claim it. We were among the first to embrace the proposal:
+and though with sadness we left our sunny home with all its fond
+remembrances, yet integrity of mind was dearer still. We might not stay
+in the land with whose institutions we concurred not. Conrad, with his
+learning and talents, 'twas thought, might remain to seek the path of
+fame already opening to him; but what to him were the dreams of
+ambition, compared to the all-engrossing thought which now bound each
+faculty of his mind beneath its power. Ella, my mother also wished to
+stay, nor attempt with us the perils of our new life; for here her
+betrothed, when he returned, expected to meet her; but she flung her
+arms around my mother, saying in the language of Ruth, "thy home,
+dearest, shall be mine," and there shall De Clairville join us. Suffice
+it, then, to say, that after bidding farewell to scenes we loved, our
+wearisome voyage was ended, and we landed on these sterile and dreary
+shores. We dared not venture from the coast, and our abode was chosen in
+what appeared to us the best of this bleak and barren soil. 'Twas a sad
+change, but those were the days of strong hearts and trusting hopes.
+
+Our settlement was formed of six or eight different households, all
+connected, and all from the neighbourhood of the beautiful Bowery. Each
+knew what the other had left, and tried to cheer each other with
+brighter hopes than they hardly dared to feel; but sympathy and kindness
+were among us.
+
+Why need I tell you of our blighted crops and scanty harvests, and all
+the toil and trouble which we then endured. I must go on with what I
+commenced--the story of my own love. Shall I say that when Ella
+accompanied us I hoped De Clairville might never join us. 'Tis true, but
+what were my feelings to discover the love of Conrad for the gem of my
+heart, and that he cherished it with all the deep strength of his
+nature. I saw Ella's manner was not such as became a betrothed maiden,
+but she feared Conrad, and trembled beneath the dark glance of his eye.
+A feeling more of fear and pity than of love was her's; but I was
+fearful for the result, for I knew he was one not to be trifled with.
+
+The last dreary days of the autumn were gathered round us--the earth
+was already bound in her frozen sleep, and all nature stilled in her
+silent trance--all, save the restless waves, dashing on the rocky shore;
+or the wind, which first curled their crests, and then went sweeping
+through the wiry foliage of the pines--when, at the close of the short
+twilight, we were all gathered on the highest point which overlooked the
+sea, earnestly gazing o'er the dim horizon, where night was coming fast.
+Ere the sun had set a barque had been seen, and her appearance caused
+unwonted excitement in our solitudes. Ships in those days were strange
+but welcome visitants. Not merely the necessaries of life, but kind
+letters and tidings from distant friends were borne by them. As the
+darkness increased, signal fires were raised along the beach, and ere
+long a gun came booming o'er the waters; soon after came the noble ship
+herself; her white sails gleaming through the night, and the glittering
+spray flashing in diamond sparkles from her prow. She came to, some
+distance from the shore, and, as if by magic, every sail was furled. A
+boat came glancing from her side; a few minutes sent it to the beach,
+and a gallant form sprung out upon the strand. It was De Clairville come
+to claim his affianced bride; and with a blushing cheek and tearful eye
+Ella was once more folded to his faithful heart.
+
+A pang of jealous feeling for an instant darted through me, but Conrad's
+face met mine, and its dark expression drove the demon power from me. I
+saw the withering scowl of hate he cast upon De Clairville, and I
+inwardly determined to shield the noble youth from the malice of that
+dark one; for, bright as was to me the hope of Ella's love, I loved her
+too well to be ought but rejoiced in her happiness. Although it brought
+sorrow to myself, yet she was blessed. Mirth and joy, now for a while
+cheered our lonely homes; we knew we were to lose our flower; but love
+like theirs is a gladsome thing to look at. Many were the gifts De
+Clairville brought his bride from the rich shore of England. Bracelets,
+radiant as her own bright eyes, and pearls as pure as the neck they
+twined. Among other things was a fairy case of gold, in the form of a
+locket, which he himself wore. Ella wished to see what it contained, and
+laughingly he unclosed it before us: 'twas the faded rose leaves of her
+offerings to the love spirit on Walburga's eve. They had rested on his
+heart, he said, in the hours of absence; and there, in death, should
+they be still. Ella blushed and hid her face upon his bosom. I sighed at
+the memory of that day, but Conrad's gloomy frown recalled me to the
+present--this was their bridal eve. Our pastor was with us, and the
+lowly building where we worshipped was decorated with simple state for
+the occasion.
+
+It stood on an eminence some distance from the other houses. That night
+I was awakened from sleep by a sudden light shining through the room--a
+wild dream' was yet before me, and a death snriek seemed ringing in my
+ears. I looked from the window; our little church was all in flames;
+'twas built of rough logs, and was of little value, save that it was
+hallowed by its use. A fire had-probably been left on to prepare it for
+the morrow, and from this the mischief had arisen. I thought little
+about it, and none knew of its destruction till the morn.
+
+The sun rose round and red, and sparkled o'er the glittering sheen of
+the frost king's gems, flung in wild symmetry o'er the earth, till all
+that before looked dark and drear was wreathed with a veil of dazzling
+beauty; even the blackened logs where the fire had been had their
+delicate tracery of pearly fringe. The guests assembled in our dwelling,
+and the pastor stood before the humble altar, raised for the occasion.
+The walls were rude, but the bride in her young beauty might have graced
+a palace. She leaned on Conrad's arm, according to our custom, as her
+oldest unmarried relative. The tables were spread with the bridal cheer,
+and the blazing fire crackled merrily on the wide hearth-stone. The
+bridegroom's presence alone was waited for. Gaily hung with flags was
+the ship, and cheers rung loudly from her crew as a boat left her side.
+It came, but bore but the officers invited to the wedding. Where was De
+Clairville? None knew! We had expected he passed the night on board; but
+there he had not been. 'Twas most strange! The day passed away, and
+others like it, and still he came not. He was gone for ever. Had he
+proved false and forsaken his love? Such was the imputation thrown on
+his absence by Conrad.
+
+The sailors joined us; a band of Indian hunters led the way, and for
+miles around the woods were searched, but trace of human footsteps, save
+our own, we saw not. Long did the vessel's crew linger by the shore,
+hoping each day for tidings of their loved commander's fate, but of him
+they heard no more, and it was deemed he had met his death by drowning.
+
+Conrad, whose morose manner suddenly disappeared for a bold and forward
+tone, so utterly at variance from his usual that all were surprized,
+still persisted in asserting that he had but proceeded along the coast,
+and would join his vessel as she passed onward. One of the sailors, an
+old and grey-haired man, who loved De Clairville as a son, indignantly
+denied the charge. He was incapable of such an action. "God grant," said
+he, "he may have been fairly dealt with." "You would not say he had been
+murdered," said Conrad. "No," said the old man, "I thought not of that:
+if he were, not a leaflet in your woods but would bear witness to the
+crime."
+
+We were standing then by the ruined church--a slender beech tree grew
+beside it--one faded leaf yet hovered on its stem--for an instant it
+trembled in the blast, then fell at Conrad's feet, brushing his cheek as
+it passed. If the blow of a giant had struck him he could not have
+fallen more heavily to the ground. An inward loathing, such as may
+mortal man never feel to his fellow, forbade me to assist him. He had
+fainted; but the cold air soon revived him, and he arose, complaining of
+sudden illness. The sailors left us, and the ship sailed slowly from our
+waters, with her colours floating sadly half-mast high.
+
+Ella thus suddenly bereaved, mourned in wild and bitter grief, but
+woman's pride, at times her guardian angel, at others her destroyer,
+took up its stronghold in her heart. The tempter Conrad awoke its
+tones--with specious wile he recalled De Clairville's lofty ideas of
+name and birth--how proudly he spoke of his lady mother and the castled
+state of his father's hall. Was it not likely that, at the last, this
+pride had rallied its strength around him, and bade him seek a nobler
+bride than the lowly maiden of the "Refugees?" Too readily she heard
+him, for love the fondest is nearest allied to hate the deepest, and De
+Clairville's name became a thing for scorn and hate. 'Twas vain for me
+to speak--what could I say? A species of fascination seemed to be
+obtained by Conrad o'er her--a witching spell was in his words--'twas
+but the power, swayed by his strong and ill-formed mind, over her weak
+but gentle one--which, if rightly guided, would have echoed such sweet
+music--and, ere the summer passed, she had forgotten her lost lover, and
+was to wed him.
+
+To others there was nothing strange in this, but to me it brought a wild
+and dreary feeling; not that my early dreams were unchanged, for I had
+learned to think a love like her's, so lightly lost and won, was not the
+thing to be prized. Alas! I knew not the blackness of the spirit that
+beguiled her, and wrought such woe. Still she had done wrong--the
+affections of man's heart may not be idly dealt with--the woman who
+feigns what she feels not, has her hand on the lion's mane. Ella at one
+time had done this, and she reaped a dark guerdon for her falsehood. Yet
+in her it might have been excused, for the very weakness of her nature
+led her to it. Let those who are more strongly gifted beware of her
+fate.
+
+The earth was in the richest flush of her green beauty. On the morn,
+Ella was again to be a bride--the golden light streamed through the glad
+blue sky, and all looked bright and fair--the remains of the church,
+which had long looked black and dreary, were gay with the richness of
+vegetation--the bracken waved its green plumes, and the tall mullen
+plant, with its broad white leaves, raised its pale crest above the
+charred walls. While the dew was shining bright I had gone
+forth--surprise and consternation greeted my solitary approach when I
+returned. Again the holy book had been opened--the priest stood ready
+with the bride, and tarried for the lover--they thought he was with me,
+but I had not seen him--daylight passed away, night came, but brought
+him not--the moon arose, and her shadowy light gave to familiar things
+of day the spectral forms of mystery.
+
+While we sat in silence, thinking of Conrad's absence, a dog's mournful
+whine sounded near--it grew louder, and attracted our attention. We
+followed the sound--it came from the ruins of the church, and there,
+among the weeds and flowers lay Conrad stiff and cold--he was dead, and,
+oh the horrible expression of that face, the demoniac look of despair
+was never written in such fearful lines on human face before. All felt
+relief when 'twas covered from the sight. One hand had 'twined in the
+death grasp round the reed-like stem of the mullen plant--we unclosed
+it, and it sprung back, tall and straight as before; something glittered
+in the other--'twas the half of De Clairville's golden locket--how it
+came to be in his possession was strange, but we thought not of it then.
+
+Events like these have a saddening influence on the mind, and the gloom
+for Conrad's sudden death hung heavy o'er us--Ella's mourning was long
+and deep. I was not grieved to see it, for sorrow makes the spirit
+wiser.
+
+Three years passed away--little change had been among us, save that some
+of our aged were gone, and the young had risen around us. Once more it
+was the first of May--the night was dark and still, but the silvery
+sounds of the waging earth came like balm o'er the soul--there was a
+murmur in the forest, as though one heard the song of the young leaves
+bursting into life, and the glad gushing of the springing streams rose
+with them. The memory of other days was floating o'er my mind, when a
+soft voice broke on my reverie. Her thoughts had been with
+mine--"Ethel," said she, "remember you, how on such a night as this, you
+once sought my love. Alas! how little knew I then of my own
+heart--your's it should then have been--you know the shades that have
+passed over it. Is Ella's love a worthless gift, or will you accept it
+now as freely as 'tis offered. How long and sternly must we be trained
+e'er love's young dream can be forgotten." The events that intervened
+all passed away, and Ella was again the same maiden that stood with me
+so long ago by the streamlet's side on Walburga's eve. My heart's long
+silenced music once more rung forth its melody at her sweet words, and
+life again was bright with the gems of hope and fond affection.
+
+In places so lone as that in which we lived, the fancies of superstition
+have ample scope to range. It had long been whispered through the
+settlement that the spirit of Conrad appeared on the spot where he had
+died at certain times. When the moon beamed, a shadowy form was seen to
+wave its pale arms among the ruins of the church, which yet remained
+unchanged. So strongly was the story believed, that after night-fall
+none dared to pass the spot alone. Ella, too, had heard it, and trembled
+whilst she disbelieved its truth. Our marriage morning came, and Ella
+was for the third time arrayed in her bridal dress. A wreath of pearl
+gleamed through her hair, and lace and satin robed her peerless
+form--the tinge upon her cheek might not have been so bright as once it
+was, but to me she was lovely--more of mind was blended with the
+feelings of the heart, and gave a higher tone to her beauty. The holy
+words were said, and my fondest hopes made truth. Is it, that because in
+our most blissful hours the spirits are most ready fall, or was it the
+sense of coming ill that threw its dreary shade of sadness o'er me all
+that day? The glorious sun sunk brightly to his rest, but the rose cloud
+round his path seemed deepened to the hue of blood. A wailing sound came
+o'er the waters, and a whispering, as of woe, sighed through the leafy
+trees. This feeling of despondency I tried in vain to banish; as the
+evening came, it grew deeper, but Ella was more joyous than ever, for a
+long time, she had been. All the fairy wiles of her winning youth seemed
+bright as of old--glad faces were around us, and she was the gayest of
+them all; when, suddenly, something from the open door met her eyes--one
+loud shriek broke from her, and she rushed wildly from among us. I saw
+her speed madly up the hill, where stood the church. I was hastening
+after, when strong arms held me back, and fingers, trembling with awe
+and dread, pointed to the object of their terror--there among the ruins
+stood a tall and ghost-like form, whose spectral head seemed to move
+with a threatening motion--for an instant I was paralysed, but Ella's
+white robes flashed before me, and I broke from their grasp. Again I
+heard her shriek--she vanished from me, but the phantom form still
+stood. I reached it, and that thing of fear was but a gigantic weed--a
+tall mullen that had outgrown the others on the very spot where we had
+found the body of Conrad; the waving of its flexile head and long pale
+leaves, shining with moonlight, were the motions we had seen--but where
+was Ella? The decaying logs gave way beneath her, and she had fallen
+into a vault or cellar beneath the building. Meanwhile those at the
+house recovered their courage, and came towards us, bearing lights. We
+entered the vault, and, on her knees before a figure, was Ella--the form
+and dress were De Clairville's, such as we had seen him in last, but the
+face, oh! heaven, the face showed but the white bones of a skeleton. The
+rich brown curls still clung to the fleshless skull, and on the finger
+glittered the ring with which Ella was to have been wed. The half of the
+golden locket was clasped to his breast--the ribbon by which it hung
+seemed to have been torn rudely from its place, but the hand had kept
+its hold till the motion caused by our descent--it fell at Ella's feet,
+a sad memento of other days, and recalled her to sensation. Horror paled
+the brows of all, but to me was given a deeper woe, to think and know
+what Ella must have felt.
+
+Every feeling was deepened to intensity of agony in the passing of that
+night--that dreary closing of my bridal day. How came the morning's
+light I know not, but when it did, the fresh breeze blew on my brow, and
+I saw the remains of De Clairville lying on the grass before me--they
+had borne him from below, and it showed more plainly the crime which had
+been among us. The deep blue of the dress was changed to a darker hue
+where the red life blood had flowed, and from the back was drawn the
+treacherous implement of death. The hearts of all readily whispered the
+murderer's name, and fuller proof was given in that ancient dagger that
+had long been an heir-loom in the family of Conrad--a relic of the old
+Teutonic race from whence they sprung--well was it known, and we had
+often wondered at its disappearance. He, Conrad, was the murderer--he
+had slain De Clairville, and fired the building to conceal his crime.
+God was the avenger of the dark deed--the mighty hand of conscience
+struck him in his proudest hour--the humblest things of earth, brought
+deathly terror to his soul. 'Twas evident the appearance of the mullen
+plant, which drew us to the spot, had been the cause of his death. The
+words of the old sailor seemed true. The lowly herb had brought the
+crime to light, and in the hand of heaven had punished the murderer.
+
+We buried De Clairville beneath a mossy mound, where the lofty pine and
+spicy cedar waved above, and hallowed words were said o'er his rest. A
+blight seemed to hover o'er our lonely settlement by the deed which had
+been done within it. Nothing bound us to the spot; but hues of sadness
+rested with it, and ever would. 'Twas an unhallowed spot, and we
+prepared to leave it, and seek another resting place.
+
+Our boats lay ready by the beach, and some were already embarked. I
+took a last look around--something white gleamed among the trees around
+De Clairville's grave--'twas Ella, who lay there dead. She always
+accused herself as the cause of De Clairville's death, and indirectly,
+too, she had been--but restitution now was made. We laid her by his
+side, and thus I lost my early, only love.
+
+Here then was it where we chose our heritage, and here we have since
+remained, but everything is changed since then. Many an aged brow has
+passed from earth, and many a bright eye closed in death. Every trace of
+old is passing away, save where their shadows glide in the memory. Even
+the grave where Ella slept is gone from earth.
+
+Twenty years after her death I made a pilgrimage to the place--the young
+sapling pines which shaded it had grown to lofty trees--human voice
+seemed never to have broken in tones of joy or woe the deep solitude
+around--the long grass waved rank and dark above the walls we had
+raised, and the red berries hung rich and ripe by the ruined
+hearthstone. Again, when another twenty years passed, I came to it once
+more--the weight of age had gathered o'er me, but there lay the buried
+sunlight of my youth, and the spirit thoughts of other days drew me to
+it. Again there was a change--a change which told me my own time drew
+near. The woods were gone long since--the reaper had passed o'er the
+lowly graves, and knew them not. The last record of my love and of my
+woe, was gone. Dwellings were raised along the lonely beach, and laden
+ships floated on the long silent waters. I bade the place farewell for
+ever, and returned to await in peace and hope my summons to the promised
+rest.
+
+The old man paused--the dreams of the past had weakened him, and he
+retired for the night. Next morn we waited long for his presence, but he
+came not. We sought his chamber, and found him dead. The soul had passed
+away--one hand was folded on his heart, and oh! the might of earthly
+love. It clasped a shining braid of silken hair, and something, of which
+their faint perfume told to be the faded rose leaves--frail memorials of
+his fondly loved Ella, but lasting after the warm heart which cherished
+them was cold. He was gone where, if it be not in heaven "a crime to
+love too well," his spirit may yet meet with her's, in that holy light,
+whose purity of bliss may not be broken by the vain turmoil of earthly
+feelings. So ends the story of uncle Ethel.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Well, said Grace, after we had discussed Ethel's melancholy story,
+although I don't believe in ghosts, I cannot do away with my faith in
+dreams, and last night I had a most disagreeable one, which disturbed me
+much. I thought I had engaged my passage, and when I unclosed my purse
+to pay down the money, nothing was in it but a plain gold ring and a
+ruby heart. My money was gone, and, oh! the grief I felt was deeper than
+waking language can describe. Then, Grace, said I, you must receive
+consolation for your disagreeable dream, in the words of your own
+favourite song, "Rory o'More," that dreams always go by contrary you
+know, and so I shall read your dream. The plain gold ring means that
+tie, which, like it, has no ending. The heart has, in all ages, been
+held symbolical of its holiest feeling, and thus unite love and
+marriage, and your sorrow will be turned to joy. So I prognosticate your
+dream to mean. And time told I had foretold aright--for soon after we
+had arrived in St. John's, the entrance to which, from the main river,
+is extremely beautiful, showing every variety of scenery, from the green
+meadows of rich intervale, where stand white dwellings and orchard
+trees, to the grey and barren rocks, with cedary plumage towering to the
+sky.
+
+Grace having engaged her passage home, we were turning from the office,
+when a stranger bounded to us, and caught her by the hand. Grace Marley,
+he exclaimed--my own, my beautiful. I felt her lean heavily on my arm;
+she had fainted. And so deep was that trance, we fancied she was
+gone--but joy rarely kills, and she awoke to the passionate exclamations
+of her lover--for such he was, come o'er the deep sea to seek her. An
+explanation ensued. Their letters to each other had all miscarried. None
+had been received by either. (All this bitter disappointment, however,
+happened before the establishment of our post.) So Grace, instead of
+returning to Ireland, was wedded next day, her husband having brought
+means with him to settle in the country. The magician, Love, flung his
+rose-light o'er her path, and, when I saw her last, she fancied the
+emerald glades of Oromot, where her home now lay, almost as beautiful as
+those by the blue lakes of Killarney, in the land of her birth.
+
+With the end of September commence the night frosts. The woods now lose
+their greenness; and the most brilliant hues of crimson, and gold, and
+purple, are flung in gorgeous flakes of beauty over their boughs, as
+though each leaf were crystal, and reflected and retained the light of
+some glorious sunset. In this lovely season, which is most appropriately
+termed the fall, we wished to _get along_ with our church, and have it
+enclosed before the winter. This was rather an arduous undertaking in
+young settlement like ours; but there were those here who loved
+
+    "Old England's holy church,
+    And loved her form of prayer right well."
+
+And liberally they came forward to raise a temple to their faith in the
+wilderness. The "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
+Lands" had promised assistance; but the frame must first be erected and
+enclosed ere it could be claimed. In this country cash is a most scarce
+commodity, and many species of speculation are made with the aid of
+little real specie. Large sums are spoken of, but rarely appear bodily:
+and our church got on in the same way. The owner of the saw-mill signed
+twenty pounds as his subscription towards it, and paid it in boards--the
+carpenters who did the work received from the subscribers pork and flour
+for their pay--and our neighbour, the embarrassed lumber-man, who was
+still wooden-headed enough to like anything of a _timber spec_, got out
+the frame by contract, himself giving most generously five pounds worth
+of work towards it. And thus the church was raised, and now it stands,
+with white spire, pointing heavenward, above the ancient forest trees.
+
+As winter was now approaching, how to pass its long evenings agreeably
+and rationally was a question which was agitated. The dwellers of
+America are more enlightened now than in those old times when dancing
+and feasting were the sole amusements, so a library was instituted and
+formed by the same means as the church had been--a load of potatoes, or
+a barrel of buckwheat, being given by each party to purchase books with.
+The selection of these, to suit all tastes, was a matter of some
+difficulty, the grave and serious declaiming against light reading, and
+regarding a novel as the climax of human wickedness. One old lady, who
+by the way was fond of reading, and had studied the ancient tale of
+Pamela regularly, at her leisure, for the last forty years, was the
+strongest against these, and, on being told that her favourite tome was
+no less than a novel, she consigned it to oblivion, and seemed, for a
+time, to have lost all faith in sublunary things. After some little
+trouble, however, the thing was satisfactorily arranged. Even here, to
+this lone nook of the western world, had reached the fame of the Caxtons
+of modern times. Aught that bore the name of Chambers, had a place in
+our collection, and the busy fingers of the little Edinburgh 'devils'
+have brightened the solitude of many a home on the banks of the
+Washedemoak.
+
+The Indian summer, which, in November, comes like breathing space, ere
+the mighty power of winter sweeps o'er the earth, is beautiful, with its
+balmy airs and soft bright skies, yet melancholy in its loveliness as a
+fair face in death--'tis the last smile of summer, and when the last
+wreath of crimson leaves fall to earth, the erratic birds take their
+flight to warmer lands--the bear retires to his hollow tree--the
+squirrel to his winter stores--and man calls forth all his genius to
+make him independent of the storm king's power. In this country we have
+a specimen of every climate at its utmost boundary of endurance; in
+summer we have breathless days of burning heat shining on in shadowless
+splendour of sunlight; but it is in the getting up of a winter's scene
+that New Brunswick is perfect. True, a considerable tall sample of a
+snow-storm can sometimes be enjoyed in England, but nothing to compare
+with the free and easy sweep with which the monarch of clouds flings his
+boons over this portion of his dominions. After the first snow-storm the
+woods have a grand and beautiful appearance, festooned with their
+garlands of feathery pearls--the raindrops which fall with the earlier
+snows hang like diamond pendants, and flash in the sun, "As if gems were
+the fruitage of every bough."
+
+I remember once coming from St. John's by water. The frost set in rather
+earlier than we expected. The farther from the sea the sooner it
+commences; so as we proceeded up the river our boat was stopped by the
+crystal barrier across the stream, not strong enough yet to admit of
+teaming, and we had nothing for it but a walk of seven miles through the
+forest,--home we must proceed, though evening was closing in and
+darkness would soon be around us, the heavy atmosphere told of a coming
+storm, and ere to-morrow our path would be blocked up. America is the
+land of invention; and here we were, on the dreary shore, in the dusky
+twilight--a situation which requires the aid of philosophy. We were
+something in the predicament of the Russian sailors in Spitzbergen, we
+wanted light to guide us on the "blaze," without which we could not keep
+it; but beyond the gleam of a patent congreve, our means extended not.
+One of our company, however, a native of the country, took the matter
+easy. Some birch trees were growing near, from which he stripped a
+portion of the silvery bark, which being rolled into torches, were
+ignited; each carried a store, and by their brilliant light we set out
+on our pilgrimage. The effect of our most original Bude on the
+snow-wreathed forest was magical--we seemed to traverse the palace
+gardens of enchantment, so strange yet splendid was the scene--the snow
+shining pure in the distance, and the thousand ice gems gleaming ruby
+red in the rays of our torches. They are wondrous to walk through, those
+boundless forests, when one thinks that by a slight deviation from the
+track the path would be lost; and, ere it could be found again, the
+spirit grow weary in its wanderings, and, taking its flight, leave the
+unshrouded brows to bleach on summer flowers or winter snows, in the
+path where the graceful carraboo bounds past, or the bear comes guided
+by the tainted breeze to where it lies.
+
+It was on this midnight ramble that the facts of the following lines
+were related to me, ending not, as such tales generally do, in death,
+but in what perchance was worse,--civilisation lost in barbarism.
+
+
+Many years ago two children, daughters of a person residing in this
+province, were lost in the woods. What had been their fate none knew
+--no trace of them could be found until, after a long period of time
+had elapsed, one of them was discovered among some Indians, by whom they
+had been taken, and with whom this one had remained, the other having
+joined another tribe. She appeared an Indian squaw in every respect--her
+complexion had been stained as dark as theirs--her costume was the same,
+but she had blue eyes. This excited suspicion, which proved to be
+correct. The story of the lost children was remembered, which event
+occurred thirty years before. With some difficulty she was induced to
+meet her mother, her only remaining parent. The tide of time swept back
+from the mother's mind, and she hastened to embrace the child of her
+memory, but, alas! the change. There existed for her no love in the
+bosom of the lost one. Her relatives wishing to reclaim her from her
+savage life, earnestly besought her to remain with them, but their ways
+were not as her's--she felt as a stranger with them, and rejoined the
+Indian band, with whom she still remains.
+
+
+
+
+    THE LOST CHILDREN.
+
+    At early morn a mother stood,
+      Her hands were raised to heaven.
+    And she praised Almighty God
+      For the blessings He had given;
+    But far too deep were they
+      Encircled in her heart,--
+    Too deep for human weal,
+      For earth and love must part.
+    She looked with hope too bright
+      On the forms that by her bent,
+    And loved, by far too fondly,
+      Those treasures God had sent.
+    They bound her to the earth,
+      With love's own golden chain,
+    How were its bright links severed
+      By the spirit's wildest pain?
+    She parted the rich tresses,
+      And kissed each snowy brow,
+    And where, oh! happy mother,
+      Was one so blest as thou?
+    The summer sun was shining
+      All cloudless o'er the lea,
+    When forth her children bounded,
+      In childhood's summer glee.
+    They strayed along the woody banks,
+      All fringed with sunny green,
+    Where, like a silver serpent,
+      The river ran between.
+    Their glad young voices rose,
+      As they thought of flower or bird,
+    And they sang the joyous fancies
+      That in each spirit stirred.
+    Oh! sister, see that humming bird;
+      Saw ye ever ought so fair?
+    With wings of gold and ruby,
+      He sparkles through the air;
+    Let us follow where he flies
+      O'er yonder hazel dell,
+    For oh! it must be beautiful
+      Where such a thing can dwell.
+    Yet to me it seemeth still,
+      That his rest must be on high;
+    Methinks his plumes are bathed
+      In the even's crimson sky:
+    How lovely is this earth,
+      Where such fair things we see,
+    And yet how much more glorious
+      The power that bids them be!
+    Nay, sister, let us stay
+      Where those water lilies float,
+    So spotless and so pure
+      Like a fairy's pearly boat.
+    Listen to the melody
+      That cometh soft and low,
+    As through the twining tendrils
+      The water glides below.
+    Perchance 'twas in a spot like this,
+      And by a stream as mild,
+    Where the Jewish mother laid
+      Her gentle Hebrew child.
+    Then rested they beneath the trees,
+      Where, through the leafy shade,
+    In ever-changing radiance,
+      The broken sun-light played;
+    And spoke in words, whose simple truth
+      Revealed the guileless soul,
+    Till softly o'er their senses
+      A quiet slumber stole.
+    Lo! now a form comes glancing
+      Along the waters blue,
+    And moored among the lilies
+      Lay an Indian's dark canoe.
+    The days of ancient feud were gone.
+      The axe was buried deep.
+    And stilled the red man's warfare,
+      In unawaking sleep.
+    Why stands he then so silently,
+      Where those fair children lie?
+    And say, what means the flashing
+      Of the Indian's eagle eye?
+    He thinks him of his lonely spouse,
+      Within her forest glade;
+    Around her silent dwelling
+      No children ever played.
+    No voice arose to greet him
+      When he at eve would come,
+    But sadness ever hovered
+      Around his dreary home.
+    Oh! with those lovely rose-buds
+      Were my lone hearth-stone blest,
+    My richest food should cheer them,
+      My softest furs should rest.
+    Their kindred drive us onward,
+      Where the setting sunbeams shine;
+    They claim our father's heritage,
+      Why may not these be mine?
+    He raised the sleeping children,
+      Oh! sad and dreary day!
+    And o'er the dancing waters
+      He bore them far away.
+    He wiled their hearts' young feelings
+      With words and actions kind,
+    And soon the past went fading
+      All dream-like from their mind.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Oh! brightly sped the beaming sun
+      Along his glorious way,
+    And feathery clouds of golden light
+      Around his parting lay.
+    In beauty came the holy stars,
+      All gleaming mid the blue,
+    It seemed as o'er the lovely earth
+      A blessed calm they threw.
+    A sound of grief arose
+      On the dewy evening air,
+    It bore the bitter anguish
+      Of a mortal's wild despair;
+    A wail like that which sounded
+      Throughout Judea's land,
+    When Herod's haughty minions
+      Obeyed his dark command.
+    The mourning mother wept
+      Because her babes were not,
+    Their forms were gone for ever
+      From each familiar spot.
+    Oh! had they sought the river,
+      And sunk beneath its wave;
+    Or had the dark recesses
+      Of the forest been their grave.
+    The same deep tinge of sorrow,
+      Each surmise ever bore;
+    Her gems from her were taken;
+      Of their fate she knew no more.
+    Long years of withering woe went on,
+      Each sadly as the last,
+    To other's ears the theme became
+      A legend of the past.
+    But she, oh! bright she cherished
+      Their memory enshrined,
+    With all a mother's fondness
+      And fadeless truth entwined.
+    Many a hope she treasured
+      In sorrow's gloom had burst,
+    But still her spirit knew
+      No grieving like the first.
+    Along her faded forehead
+      The hand of time had crost,
+    And every furrow told
+      Her mourning for the lost.
+    With such deep love within her,
+      What words the truth could give,
+    Howe'er she heard the tidings--
+      "Thy children yet they live."
+    But one alone was near,
+      And with rushing feelings wild,
+    The aged mother flew
+      To meet once more her child.
+    A moment passed away--
+      The lost one slowly came,
+    And stood before her there--
+      A tall and dark-browed dame.
+    Far from her swarthy forehead
+      Her raven hair was roll'd;
+    She spoke to those around her,
+      Her voice was stern and cold:
+    "Why seek ye here to bind me,
+      I would again be free;
+    They say ye are my kindred--
+      But what are ye to me?
+    My spring of youth was past
+      With the people of the wild:
+    And slumber in the green-wood
+      My husband and my child.
+    'Tis true I oft have seen ye
+      In the visions of the night;
+    But many a shadow comes
+      From the dreamer's land of light.
+    If e'er I've been among ye,
+      Save in my wandering thought,
+    The memory has passed away--
+      Ye long have been forgot."
+    And were not these hard words to come
+      To that fond mother's heart,
+    Who through such years of agony
+      Had kept her loving part.
+    Her wildest wish was granted--
+      Her deepest prayer was heard--
+    Yet it but served to show her
+      How deeply she had err'd.
+    The mysteries of God's high will
+      May not be understood;
+    And mortals may not vainly ask,
+      To them, what seemeth good.
+    With spirit wrung to earth,
+      In grief she bowed her head:
+    "Oh! better far than meet thee thus,
+      To mourn thee with the dead."
+    But, think ye, He who comforted
+      The widowed one of Nain--
+    Who bade the lonely Hagar
+      With hope revive again?
+    Think ye that mother's trusting love
+      Should bleed without a balm?
+    No! o'er the troubled spirit
+      There came a blessed calm.
+    Amid the savage relics
+      Around her daughter flung,
+    Upon her naked bosom
+      A crucifix there hung.
+    And though the simple Indian
+      False tenets might enthral--
+    Yet, 'twas the blessed symbol
+      Of Him who died for all.
+    And the mourner's heart rejoiced
+      For the promise seemed to say--
+    She shall be thine in Heaven,
+      When the world has passed away.
+    Tho' now ye meet as strangers,
+      Yet there ye shall be one;
+    And live in love for ever,
+      When time and earth are gone.
+
+In the days of the early settling of the country, marriages were
+attended with a ceremony called stumping. This was a local way of
+publishing the banns, the names of the parties and the announcement of
+the event to take place being written on a slip of paper, and inserted
+on the numerous stumps bordering the corduroy road, that all who ran
+might read, though perchance none might scan it save some bewildered fox
+or wandering bear; the squire read the ceremony from the prayer-book,
+received his dollar, and further form for wedlock was required not. Now
+they order these things differently. A wedding is a regular frolic, and
+generally performed by a clergyman (though a few in the back settlements
+still adhere to the custom of their fathers), a large party being
+invited to solemnise the event. The last winter we were in the country
+we attended one some distance from home; but here, while flying along
+the ice paths, distance is not thought of. Nothing can be more
+exhilarating than sleigh-riding, the clear air bracing the nerves, and
+the bells ringing gladly out. These bells are worn round the horse's
+neck and on the harness, to give warning of the sleigh's approach, which
+otherwise would not be heard over the smooth road. The glassy way was
+crowded with skaters, gliding past with graceful ease and folded arms,
+"as though they trod on tented ground." We soon reached our destination,
+and found assembled a large and joyous party. The festival commenced in
+the morning, and continued late. The fare was luxuriant, and the bride,
+in her white dress and orange blossoms (for, be it known, such things
+are sometimes seen, even in this region of spruce and pine), looked as
+all brides do, bashful and beautiful. The "grave and pompous father,"
+and busy-minded mother, had a look which, though concealed, told that at
+heart they rejoiced to see their "bairn respeckit like the lave," and
+"all indeed went merry as a marriage bell." We and some others left at
+midnight. The air was piercingly cold, and the bear skins in which we
+were wrapped soon had a white fringe, where fell the fast congealing
+breath. There was no moon, and the stars looked dim, in the fitful gleam
+of the streamers of the aurora borealis, which were glancing in
+corruscations of awful grandeur along the heavens, now throwing a blood
+red glare on the snow, their pale sepulchral rays of green or blue
+imparting a ghastly horror to the scene, or arranging themselves like
+the golden pillars of some mighty organ, while, ever and again, a wild
+unearthly sound is heard, as if swords were clashing. Those mysterious
+northern lights, whose appearance in superstitious times was supposed to
+threaten, or be the forerunner, of dire calamity; and no wonder was it,
+for even now, with all the light science has thrown upon such things,
+there is attached to them, seen as they are in this country, a feeling
+of dread which cannot all be dispelled.
+
+Travelling on the ice is not altogether free from danger; and even when
+it is thought safe, there are places where it is dangerous to go. The
+best plan of avoiding these is to follow the track of those who have
+gone before--never, but with caution, and especially at night, striking
+out a new one.
+
+One of the parties who accompanied us wished to reach the shore. There
+was a path which, though rather longer, would have led him safely to
+it, but he determined to strike across the unmarked ice, to where be
+wished to land. All advised him to take the longer way, but he was
+resolute, and turned his horse's head from us. The gallant steed bounded
+forward--the golden light was beaming from the sky--and we paused to
+watch his progress. A fearful crashing was heard--then a sharp crack,
+and sleigh, horse, and rider vanished from our sight. 'Twas horrible to
+see them thus enclosed in that cold tomb.
+
+Assistance was speedily sought from the shore, but ere it came I heard
+the horrid shout of "steeds that snort in agony," while the blue
+sulphurous flash from above showed the man struggling helplessly among
+the breaking ice. Poles were placed from the solid parts to where he
+was, and he was rescued. He was carried to the nearest house, and with
+some difficulty restored to warmth. The sleighing rarely passes without
+many such accidents occurring, merely through want of caution.
+
+When the balmy breezes of spring again blew ever New Brunswick,
+circumstances had arisen which induced me to leave it, and though I
+loved it not as my native land, I sighed to go, so much of kindness and
+good feeling had I enjoyed among its dwellers; and I stood on the
+vessel's deck, gazing on it till the green trees and white walls of
+Partridge-Island faded in the distance, and the rolling waves of the Bay
+of Fundy, throwing me into that least terrestrial of all maladies, the
+"mal du mer," rendered me insensible of all sublunary cares.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches And Tales Illustrative Of
+Life In The Backwoods Of New Brunswick, by Mrs. F. Beavan
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+<html>
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content=
+    "text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Sketches And Tales Illustrative Of Life In The Backwoods
+Of New Brunswick, By Mrs. F. Beavan.
+    </title>
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+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches And Tales Illustrative Of Life In
+The Backwoods Of New Brunswick, by Mrs. F. Beavan
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Sketches And Tales Illustrative Of Life In The Backwoods Of New Brunswick
+       Gleaned From Actual Observation And Experience During A Residence
+              Of Seven Years In That Interesting Colony
+              
+
+Author: Mrs. F. Beavan
+
+Release Date: June 22, 2004 [EBook #12675]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACKWOODS OF NEW BRUNSWICK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dave Morgan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team,
+with thanks to www.canadiana.org,
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>SKETCHES AND TALES ILLUSTRATIVE OF LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS
+OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NORTH AMERICA,</h1>
+
+
+<h4>Gleaned From Actual Observation And Experience During A
+Residence Of Seven Years In That Interesting Colony.</h4>
+
+
+<h2>BY MRS. F. BEAVAN.</h2>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+<span>Son of the Isles! talk not to me,</span>
+<span>Of the old world's pride and luxury!<br /></span>
+<span>Tho' gilded bower and fancy cot,<br /></span>
+<span>Grace not each wild concession lot;<br /></span>
+<span>Tho' rude our hut, and coarse our cheer,<br /></span>
+<span>The wealth the world can give is here.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div><br />
+<div class='poem'>
+<span>1845.<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+
+
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#Page_001">Introductory Remarks</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_002'>New Brunswick&mdash;by whom settled</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_004'>Remarks on State of Morals and Religion</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_005'>American Physiognomy</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_007'>The Spring Freshets</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_008'>Cranberries</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_008'>Stream Driving</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_010'>Moving a House</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_011'>Frolics</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_013'>Sugar Making</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_016'>Breaking up of the Ice</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_017'>First appearances of Spring</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_018'>Burning a Fallow</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_020'>A Walk through a Settlement</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_021'>Log Huts</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_026'>Description of a Native New Brunswicker's House</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_032'>Blowing the Horn</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_035'>A Deserted Lot</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_036'>The Bushwacker</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_039'>The Postman</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_040'>American Newspapers</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_042'>Musquitoes</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_044'>An Emigrant's House</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_047'>Unsuccessful Lumberer</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_050'>The Law of Kindness exemplified in the Case of a Criminal</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_052'>Schools</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_055'>The School Mistress</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_058'>The Woods</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_061'>Baptists' Association</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_066'>A Visit to the House of a Refugee</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_071'>The Indian Bride, a Refugee's Story</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_079'>Mr. Hanselpecker</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_081'>Burning of Miramichi</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_085'>The Lost One&mdash;a tale of the Early Settlers</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_097'>The Mignionette</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_099'>Song of the Irish Mourner</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_101'>A Winter's Evening Sketch</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_126'>The School-mistress's Dream</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_129'>Library in the Backwoods</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_129'>The Indian Summer</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_133'>The Lost Children&mdash;a Poem</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_140'>Sleigh Riding</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_141'>Aurora Borealis</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_142'>Getting into the Ice</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href='#Page_142'>Conclusion</a></span><br />
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<a name='Page_001'></a><p>These sketches of the Backwoods of New Brunswick are intended to
+illustrate the individual and national characteristics of the settlers,
+as displayed in the living pictures and legendary tales of the country.
+They have been written during the short intervals allowed from domestic
+toils, and may, perhaps, have little claim to the attention of the
+public, save that of throwing a faint light upon the manners and customs
+of that little-known, though interesting, appendage of the British
+empire. A long residence in that colony having given me ample means of
+knowing and of studying them in all their varying hues of light and
+shade. There, in the free wide solitude of that fair land whose youthful
+face &quot;seems wearing still the first fresh fragrance of the world,&quot; the
+fadeless traces of character, peculiar to the dwellers of the olden
+climes, are brought into close contrast with the more original feelings
+of the &quot;sons of the soil,&quot; both white and red, and are there more fully
+displayed than in the mass of larger communities. Of political, or depth
+of topographical information, the writer claims no share, and much of
+deep interest, or moving incident, cannot now be expected in the life of
+a settler in the woods. The days when the war-whoop of the Indian was
+yelled above the burning ruins of the white man's dwelling are
+gone&mdash;their memory exists but in the legend of the winter's eve, <a name='Page_002'></a>and
+the struggle is now with the elements which form the climate; the
+impulse of &quot;going a-head&quot; giving impetus to people's &quot;getting
+along&quot;&mdash;forcing the woods to bow beneath their sturdy stroke, and fields
+to shine with ripened grain, where erst the forest shadows fell; or
+floating down the broad and noble streams the tall and stately pine,
+taken from the ancient bearded wilderness to bear the might of England's
+fame to earth and sea's remotest bounds.</p>
+
+<p>New Brunswick is partly settled by French Acadians from the adjoining
+province of Nova Scotia, but these, generally speaking, form a race by
+themselves, and mingle little with the others, still retaining the
+peculiarities of their nation, although long separated from it&mdash;they
+like gaiety and amusement more than work, and consequently are rather
+poorer than the other inhabitants; but, of course, there are exceptions.
+In the winter I have often seen them on their way to market, with loads
+of frozen oysters, packed in barrels, and moss cranberries (rather a
+chance crop); but they looked happy and comfortable, and went singing
+merrily to the ringing of their horse bells. The French were the
+pioneers of the province, and often had to do battle with the Indians,
+the ancient possessors of the soil: of these last there now remains but
+a fast-fading remnant&mdash;objects more of pity or laughter than of dread.
+Of the other original settlers, or, as they are particularly termed,
+&quot;blue noses,&quot; they are composed of the refugees and their descendants,
+being those persons who, at the separation of England from America,
+prefering the British government, sought her protection and came,
+another band of pilgrims, and swore fealty to that land from whence
+their fathers had so indignantly fled&mdash;they are certainly a most
+indescribable genus those blue noses&mdash;the traces of descent from the
+Dutch and French blood of the United States, being mingled with the
+independent spirit of the American and the staunch firmness of the
+&quot;Britisher,&quot; as they delight to call themselves, showing their claim to
+it by the most determined hatred of the Yankees, whose language and
+features they yet retain: yet these differing qualities blend to form a
+shrewd, intelligent, active, and handsome people&mdash;intelligence and
+strong sense, to a far greater amount than could be found in persons of
+the same class in England. A trace, albeit a faint one of the Saxon
+serf, still lingers with the English peasant; but the free breeze of
+America soon sweeps the shadows from his brow, and his sons all, proudly
+take their place as men, knowing that by their own conduct and talents
+they may work their way to fortune, or, at least, &quot;rough hew&quot; it,
+without dread that the might of custom's icy breath can blight their
+fate for lack of birth or fortune. This gives a noble feeling to the
+heart and a higher tone to the character, although a sense of the
+ridiculous is often attached to this by a native of the old countries,
+when it is shown forth by the &quot;squire&quot; yoking his oxen, a major selling
+turkies, and the member for the county cradling buckwheat. Yet all this
+is productive of good, and opens a path for intellect and genius, and
+when a colonel and member of the Legislative Council eats <i>pancakes and
+molasses</i> in a friendly way with his poorer neighbours, is it not likely
+(as the Persian fable tells us of the pebble lying near the rose, and
+thereby imbibing some <a name='Page_004'></a>of its fragrance) that some of the graces and
+politeness of the higher circles, to which these gentlemen belong both
+by fortune and education, should be imparted, in some degree, to those
+with whom they converse. So it undoubtedly does, and the air of
+refinement, native to the New Brunswicker, is never so strongly visible
+as when contrasted with the new-caught emigrant. Rudeness and vulgarity
+in glaring forms one never meets from them; odd and inquisitive ways may
+be thought impertinent, and require both time and patience to be rightly
+understood.</p>
+
+<p>The state of morals and religion is fast progressing; these, of course,
+have all their mainspring from education, for an uneducated people can
+never be, rightly speaking, either moral or religious. So New Brunswick
+may have the apology for whispered tales that float about, of corn being
+reaped and wood being felled on the Sabbath-day, and of sacred rites
+being dispensed with. She is yet in her infancy, and when one thinks
+that 'tis but sixty years since they first set foot on the shore, where
+stood one lonely hut, on the site of the now flourishing city of St.
+John, we must know that their physical wants were then so many that but
+little attention could be given to the wants of the mind. But now,
+thanks to the parental care of Britain, schools and churches are rising
+fast throughout the country, and learning is received with an avidity
+that marks the active intellect it has to work upon; besides, all these
+old stories of failings occurred long before the tide of emigration
+caused them to be enlightened by the visitation of the inhabitants of
+the gifted climes of the olden world. Well would it be if all those
+<a name='Page_005'></a>showed as much desire to avail themselves of their means of
+improvement, as a New Brunswicker does of those enjoyed by him. Their
+personal appearance differs much from the English. Cooper says, &quot;the
+American physiognomy has already its own peculiar cast&quot;&mdash;so it has, and
+can easily be distinguished&mdash;in general they are handsomer than the
+emigrants&mdash;darker in complexion, but finer in feature and more graceful
+in form&mdash;not so strong, and fading sooner. Many of the children are
+perfectly beautiful, but the cherub beauty changes soon, and the women
+particularly look old and withered while yet young in years. Infantine
+beauty seems peculiar to the country, for even the children of emigrants
+born there are much handsomer than those born at home. Such are some of
+the traits of the natives&mdash;then comes the wide circle of emigrants, each
+(at least the older ones) retaining the peculiarities of their different
+countries. Many of them, although better off than they could possibly
+expect to be at home, yet keep railing at the country, and thirsting
+after the &quot;flesh-pots of Egypt.&quot; The Yorkshireman talks of nothing but
+the &quot;white cakes and bag puddings&quot; of old England, regardless of the
+&quot;pumpkin pies and buckwheat pancakes&quot; of New Brunswick; and one old lady
+from Cornwall (where they say the Devil would not go for fear of being
+transformed into a pasty) revenges herself on the country by making pies
+of everything, from apples and mutton down to parsley, and all for the
+memory of England; while, perhaps, were she there, she might be without
+a pie. The honest Scotchman is silent upon the subject of &quot;vivers,&quot; and
+wisely talks not of either &quot;crowdy&quot; or barley meal, but tells of the
+time when he was a sitter in the kirk of the Rev. Peter Poundtext,
+showing his Christian charity by the most profound contempt as well for
+the ordinances of the Church of England as for the &quot;dippings&quot; of the
+Baptists. He attends none of them, for he says &quot;he canna thole it,&quot; but
+when by chance a minister of the kirk comes his way, then you may see
+him, with well-saved Sabbath suit, pressing anxiously forward to catch
+the droppings of the sanctuary: snows or streams offering no obstacle to
+his zeal. The Irishman, too, is there seen all in his glory&mdash;one with a
+medal on his breast, flinging his shillalagh over his head and shouting
+for O'Connell, while another is quaffing to the &quot;pious, glorious, and
+immortal memory of King William,&quot; inviting those around him to join
+together in an Orange Lodge, of which community he certainly shows no
+favourable specimen; but by degrees these national feelings and
+asperities become more softened, and the second generation know little
+of them. The settlement from whence these sketches are drawn, was formed
+of a motley mixture of all the different nations&mdash;Blue Nose, English,
+Scotch, Irish, Welch, and Dutch.</p>
+
+<p>We had been living for some time at a place called <i>Long Creek</i>, on the
+margin of a broad and rapid stream, which might well have borne the more
+dignified appellation of river&mdash;the land on its borders was the flat,
+rich &quot;<i>intervale</i>,&quot; so highly prized, formed by alluvial deposits. There
+are, I believe, two descriptions of this <i>intervale</i>,&mdash;one covered with
+low small bushes, and, therefore, more easily cleared&mdash;the other with a
+gigantic <a name='Page_007'></a>growth of the butternut, the oak, and the elm. This where we
+lived was of the latter description. A few of the stately monarchs of
+the forest yet stood upon the emerald plains, spreading their
+magnificent branches to the sunlight, and telling of the kindly soil
+that nourished them. Along the fences wild hops festooned themselves in
+graceful wreaths of wild luxuriance. A few clumps of cranberry bushes
+had also been permitted to remain, notwithstanding the American's
+antipathy to trees or bushes is such, that his axe, which he hardly ever
+stirs without, is continually flying about him; but this berry, one
+amongst the many indigenous to the country, is a useful addition to the
+winter store&mdash;they grow abundantly, and, after the first frost which
+ripens them they have a brilliant appearance, hanging like clustering
+rubies, reminding one of the gem-clad boughs of Aladdin. When gathered,
+they are hung up in bunches, when they become frozen, keeping good till
+the spring. They are used for tarts and jellies, the frost neither
+altering their colour nor flavour. Those places are overflown in the
+spring; the &quot;freshets&quot; caused by the melting of the snow raising the
+waters above their ordinary level. I have often sailed over them, and
+'twas strange to see each familiar footpath and strawberry bank far down
+beneath the shining waves. As the creek goes onward to the river the
+<i>intervale</i> disappears, and the banks become grey and steep, crowned
+with the tall and slender stems of the spruce and cedar. New Brunswick
+is rich in minerals, and veins of coal and iron abound at this place;
+but many years must elapse ere mines are worked to any extent. A few are
+in operation <a name='Page_008'></a>at present; but while the pine waves the wealth of her
+green plumage to the lumber-man, or the new-cleared ground will yield
+its virgin crop to the farmer, the earth must keep her deeper treasures.
+In the spring, this creek presents a busy picture. The rivers of New
+Brunswick are to her what the railroads are now to other countries: and
+richly is she blessed with sparkling waters from the diamond flashings
+of the mountain rill to the still calm beauty of the sheltered lake, the
+silvery streams, the sweeping river, and the unfrozen width of the
+winter harbour of her noble bay. True, much can be done on the icy ways
+of winter, but then the home work must be minded, and market attended.
+Fire-wood for the year must be <i>hauled</i>; the increasing <i>clearings</i> call
+for extended fences, and these also must be drawn from the woods on the
+snow, so that when the spring opens, the roots and other spare produce
+are quickly shipped off (boated would be a better expression) into large
+open boats, called market-boats. Another description, called wood-boats,
+are used for carrying deals and cord-wood, so called from the stick
+forming the measure of a cord, which is the mode of selling it in the
+city for fuel. The deals are floated from the saw mills over the
+shallows, and piled into the boats. One could sometimes walk across the
+river on the quantities of wood floating about. The larger pieces of
+wood or timber are floated singly down the stream nearest to the place
+whence they are cut. This operation is called stream-driving, and
+commences as soon as the rapid melting of the snow and ice has so
+swollen the small streams as to give them power to force and carry the
+huge pieces of timber, until, at the confluence of the streams, the
+water becomes wide enough to enable them to form it into rafts, on which
+raft a hut is built and furnished with the necessaries for subsistence.
+The gang who have been employed in bringing it so far lay themselves
+upon it, and allow it to float down the stream, until the breeze wafts
+them to their destination. These are the scenes of the spring, when all
+life seems awakening. The tree-buds are bursting their cerements&mdash;the
+waters are dancing in light and song&mdash;and the woods, before all still,
+now echo a few wild notes of melody. The blue wing of the halycon goes
+dazzlingly past, and tells us his own bright days are come; and the
+&quot;<i>whip-poor-will</i>&quot; brings his lay so close, that the ear is startled
+with the human sound on the soft damp air. The scene is changed when
+Sirius is triumphant, telling us of the tropics, and that we live in
+rather an inexplicable climate. Beneath his burning influence I have
+glided down this creek when no sound was heard on earth or air save the
+ripples of the paddle as it rose or fell at the will of the child-like
+form which guided the fragile bark. The dwellers on the margin of these
+fair waters are as much at home upon them as on land, and the children
+in particular are as amphibious as the musk rats which people its banks,
+and which scent the air somewhat heavily with what, in a fainter degree,
+would be thought perfume. One can hardly recall these dog-star days at
+that later season when the pearly moon and brilliant stars shine down
+from the deep blue sky on the crusted snows; when fairy crystals are
+reflecting their cold bright beams on the glistening ice, while <a name='Page_010'></a>the
+sleigh flies merrily along, &quot;with bell and bridle ringing,&quot; on the same
+path we held in summer with the light canoe; when the breath congeals in
+a sheet of ice around the face, and the clearness of the atmosphere
+makes respiration difficult. To tell us that we are in the same latitude
+with the sunny clime of Boulogne, in France, shows us that America
+cannot be measured by the European standard. A quarter of the globe lies
+between us; they go to bed four hours before we do, and are fast asleep
+while we are wide awake. No one attempts to live in the country
+districts without a farm. As the place where we lived had but a house
+and one acre of land, none being vacant in that immediate neighbourhood,
+and finding firing and pasturage expensive, and furthermore wishing to
+raise our own potatoes, and, if we liked, live in <i>peas</i>, a lot of two
+hundred acres was purchased in the settlement, styled, &quot;<i>par
+excellence</i>,&quot; &quot;the English,&quot; (from the first settlers being of that
+illustrious nation,) a distance of two miles from where we then lived.
+Our house was a good one. We did not like to leave it. Selling was out
+of the question: so we e'en resolved to take it with us, wishing, as the
+Highland robber did of the haystack, that it had legs to walk. A
+substitute for this was found in the universal resource of New
+Brunswickers for all their wants, from the cradle to the coffin, &quot;the
+tree, the bonny greenwood tree,&quot; that gives the young life-blood of its
+sweet sap for sugar&mdash;and even when consumed by fire its white ashes
+yield them soap. I have even seen wooden fire-irons, although they do
+not go quite so far as their Yankee neighbours, who, letting alone
+<a name='Page_011'></a>wooden clocks, deal besides in <i>wooden hams</i>, nutmegs, and cucumber
+seeds. Two stout trees were then felled (the meanest would have graced a
+lordly park), and hewed with the axe into a pair of gigantic sled
+runners. The house was raised from its foundation and placed on these.
+Many hands make light work; but, had those hands been all hired
+labourers, the expense would have been more than the value of the house,
+but 'twas done by what is called a &quot;frolic.&quot; When people have a
+particular kind of work requiring to be done quickly, and strength to
+accomplish it, they invite their neighbours to come, and, if necessary,
+bring with them their horses or oxen. Frolics are used for building log
+huts, chopping, piling, ploughing, planting, and hoeing. The ladies also
+have their particular frolics, such as wool-picking, or cutting out and
+making the home-spun woollen clothes for winter. The entertainment given
+on such occasions is such as the house people can afford; for the men,
+roast mutton, pot pie, pumpkin pie, and rum dough nuts; for the ladies,
+tea, some scandal, and plenty of &quot;<i>sweet cake</i>,&quot; with stewed apple and
+custards. There are, at certain seasons, a great many of these frolics,
+and the people never grow tired of attending them, knowing that the logs
+on their own fallows will disappear all the quicker for it. The house
+being now on the runners, thirty yoke of oxen, four abreast, were
+fastened to an enormous tongue, or pole, made of an entire tree of ash.
+No one can form any idea, until they have heard it, of the noise made in
+driving oxen; and, in such an instance as this, of the skill and tact
+required in starting them, so that they are all made to pull at once. I
+have often seen the drivers, who are constantly shouting, completely
+hoarse; and after a day's work so exhausted that they have been unable
+to raise the voice. Although the cattle are very docile, and understand
+well what is said to them, yet from the number of turnings and twistings
+they require to be continually reminded of their duty. Amid, then, all
+the noise and bustle made by intimating to such a number whether they
+were to &quot;haw&quot; or &quot;gee,&quot; the shoutings of the younger parties assembled,
+the straining of chains and the creaking of boards, the ponderous pile
+was set in motion along the smooth white and marble-like snow road,
+whose breadth it entirely filled up. It was a sight one cannot well
+forget&mdash;to see it move slowly up the hill, as if unwilling to leave the
+spot it had been raised on, notwithstanding the merry shouts around, and
+the flag they had decked it with streaming so gaily through the green
+trees as they bent over it till it reached the site destined for it,
+where it looked as much at home as if it were too grave and steady a
+thing to take the step it had done. This was in March&mdash;we had been
+waiting some time for snow, as to move without it would have been a
+difficult task; for, plentifully as New Brunswick is supplied with that
+commodity, at some seasons much delay and loss is experienced for want
+of it&mdash;the sleighing cannot be done, and wheel carriages cannot run, the
+roads are so rough and broken with the frost&mdash;the cold is then more
+intense, and the cellars, (the sole store-houses and receptacles of the
+chief comforts) without their deep covering of snow, become penetrated
+by the frost, and their contents <a name='Page_013'></a>much injured, if not totally
+destroyed&mdash;this is a calamity that to be known must be experienced&mdash;the
+potatoes stored here are the chief produce of the farm, at least the
+part that is most available for selling, for hay should never go off the
+land, and grain is as yet so little raised that 'tis but the old farmers
+can do what is called &quot;<i>bread themselves:</i>&quot; thus the innovation of the
+cellars by the <i>frost fiend</i> is a sad and serious occurrence&mdash;of course
+a deep bank of earth is thrown up round the house, beneath which, and
+generally its whole length and breadth, is the cellar; but the snow over
+this is an additional and even necessary defence, and its want is much
+felt in many other ways&mdash;in quantity, however, it generally makes up for
+its temporary absence by being five and six feet deep in April. About
+this season the warm sun begins to beam out, and causes the sap to flow
+in the slumbering trees&mdash;this is the season for sugar-making, which,
+although an excellent thing if it can be managed, is not much attended
+to, especially in new settlements, and those are generally the best off
+for a &quot;<i>sugar-bush</i>;&quot; but it occurs at that season when the last of the
+winter work must be done&mdash;the snow begins to melt on the roads, and the
+&quot;saw whet,&quot; a small bird of the owl species, makes its appearance, and
+tells us, as the natives say, that &quot;<i>the heart of the winter is
+broken</i>.&quot; All that can be done now must be done to lessen the toils of
+that season now approaching, from which the settler must not shrink if
+he hope to prosper. Sugar-making, then, unless the farmer is strong
+handed, is not profitable. A visit to a sugar-camp is an interesting
+sight to a stranger&mdash;it may, perhaps, be two or three miles through the
+woods to where a sufficient number of maple trees may be found close
+enough together to render it eligible for sugar-making. All the
+different kinds of maple yield a sweet sap, but the &quot;rock maple&quot; is the
+species particularly used for sugar, and perhaps a thousand of these
+trees near together constitute what is called a <i>sugar-bush</i>. Here,
+then, a rude hut, but withal picturesque in its appearance, is
+erected&mdash;it is formed of logs, and covered with broad sheets of birch
+bark. For the universal use of this bark I think the Indians must have
+given the example. Many beautiful articles are made by them of it, and
+to the back settlers it is invaluable. As an inside roofing, it
+effectually resists the rain&mdash;baskets for gathering the innumerable
+tribe of summer berries, and boxes for packing butter are made of
+it&mdash;calabashes for drinking are formed of it in an instant by the bright
+forest stream. Many a New Brunswick belle has worn it for a head-dress
+as the dames of more polished lands do frames of French willow; and it
+is said the title deeds of many a broad acre in America have been
+written on no other parchment than its smooth and vellum-like folds. The
+sugar-maker's bark-covered hut contains his bedding and provisions,
+consisting of little save the huge round loaf of bread, known as the
+&quot;shanty loaf&quot;&mdash;his beverage, or substitute for tea, is made of the
+leaves of the winter green, or the hemlock boughs which grow beside him,
+and his sweetening being handy bye, he wants nothing more. A notch is
+cut in the tree, from which the sap flows, and beneath it a piece of
+shingle is inserted for a spout to conduct it into troughs, or bark
+dishes, placed at the foot of the tree. The cold frosty nights, followed
+by warm sunny days, making it run freely, clear as water, and slightly
+sweet&mdash;from these troughs, or bark dishes, it is collected in pails, by
+walking upon the now soft snow, by the aid of snow shoes, and poured
+into barrels which stand near the boilers, ready to supply them as the
+syrup boils down. When it reaches the consistence required for sugar, it
+is poured into moulds of different forms. Visits to these sugar camps
+are a great amusement of the young people of the neighbourhood in which
+they are, who make parties for that purpose&mdash;the great treat is the
+candy, made by dashing the boiling syrup on the snow, where it instantly
+congeals, transparent and crisp, into sheets. At first the blazing fire
+and boiling cauldron look strange, amid the solemn loneliness of the
+forest, along whose stately aisles of cathedral-like grandeur the eye
+may gaze for days, and see no living thing&mdash;the ear hear no sound, save
+it may be the tapping of the woodpecker, or the whispering of the wind
+as it sighs through the boughs, seeming to mourn with them for the time
+when the white man knew them not. But these thoughts pass away when the
+proprietor, with his pale intelligent face, shaded by a flapping sun hat
+from the glaring snow, presses us hospitably to &quot;take along a junk of
+candy, a lump of sugar,&quot; or a cup of the syrup. He sees nothing
+picturesque or romantic in the whole affair, and only calculates if it
+will pay for the time it occupies; at the same time, with the produce of
+his labours he is extremely &quot;<i>clever</i>,&quot; this being the term for generous
+or hospitable, and one is sometimes <a name='Page_016'></a>startled at its application,
+especially to women; the persons in England, to whom it is applied, are
+so unlike the clever women of New Brunswick, those dear old creatures,
+who know not the difference between Milton and Dilworth, and whose very
+woollen gowns are redolent of all-spice and apples.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the latter part of March and April the breaking up of the ice
+goes on gradually&mdash;some seasons, however, a sudden storm causes the ice
+and snow to disappear rapidly, but generally a succession of soft warm
+winds, and days partly sunshine and rain, does it more effectually, and
+prevents the heavy freshets in the rivers, which are often destructive,
+overflowing the low banks and carrying away with resistless force
+whatever buildings may be on them. After the disappearance of the snow,
+some time must elapse ere the land be in a fit state for sowing,
+consequently fencing, and such like, is now the farmer's employment,
+either around the new clearings, or in repairing those which have fallen
+or been removed during the winter. This, with attending to the stock,
+which at this season require particular care, gives them sufficient
+occupation&mdash;the sheep, which have long since been wearied of the
+&quot;durance vile&quot; which bound them to the hay-rick, may now be seen in
+groups on the little isles of emerald green which appear in the white
+fields; and the cattle, that for six long weary months have been
+ruminating in their stalls, or &quot;chewing the cud of sweet and bitter
+fancy&quot; in the barn yards, now begin to extend their perigrinations
+towards the woods, browsing with delight on the sweet young buds of the
+birch tree. At this season it is, for <a name='Page_017'></a>obvious reasons, desirable that
+the &quot;milky mothers&quot; should not stray far from home&mdash;many &quot;a staid brow'd
+matron&quot; has disappeared in the spring, and, after her summer rambles in
+the woods, returned in the &quot;fall&quot; with her full-grown calf by her side,
+but many a good cow has gone and been seen no more, but as a white
+skeleton gleaming among the green leaves. To prevent these mischances, a
+bell is fastened on the leader of the herd, the intention of which is to
+guide where they may be found. This bell is worn all summer, as their
+pasture is the rich herbage of the forest. It is taken off during the
+winter, and its first sounds now tell us, although the days are cold,
+and the snow not yet gone, that brighter times are coming. The clear
+concerts of the frogs ring loudly out from marsh and lake, and at this
+season alone is heard the lay of the wood-robin, and the blackbird. The
+green glossy leaves of the winter green, whose bright scarlet berries
+look like clusters of coral on the snow, now seem even brighter than
+they were&mdash;the blue violet rises among the sheltered moss by the old
+tree roots, and the broad-leaved adder tongue gives out its orange and
+purple blossoms to gladden the brown earth, while the trees are yet all
+black and barren, save the various species of pine and spruce, which now
+wear a fringe of softer green. The May flowers of New Brunswick seldom
+blossom till June, which is rather an Irish thing of them to do, and
+although the weather has been fine, and recalls to the memory the balmy
+breath of May, yet I have often seen a pearly wreath of new fallen snow,
+deck the threshhold on that 'merrie morn'. After the evaporation of the
+<a name='Page_018'></a>steaming vapour of spring has gone forward, and the farmer has operated
+in the way of ploughing and sowing, on whatever ready-prepared land he
+may have for the purpose, the first dry &quot;<i>spell</i>&quot; is looked forward to
+most anxiously to burn off the land which has been chopped during the
+winter&mdash;it is bad policy, however, to depend for the whole crop on this
+&quot;<i>spring burn</i>,&quot; as a long continuance of wet weather may prevent it.
+The new settler, on his first season, has nothing else to depend upon;
+but the older ones chop the land at intervals during the summer, and
+clear it off in the autumn, and thus have it ready for the ensuing
+spring. Burning a chopping, or <i>fallow</i>, as it is called, of twelve or
+fourteen acres in extent, is a grand and even awful sight: rushing in
+torrents of flame, it rolls with the wind, crackling and roaring through
+the brushwood, and often extending beyond the limits assigned it,
+catching the dry stems of ancient trees, the growth of the earlier ages
+of this continent, which lie in gigantic ruins, half buried in the
+rising soil, and which will be themes of speculation to the geologists
+of other days&mdash;it rushes madly among the standing trees of the woods,
+wreathing them to their summits in its wild embrace&mdash;they stand at night
+like lofty torches, or a park decked out with festal lamps for some
+grand gala. After this first burn, a <i>fallow</i> presents a blackened scene
+of desolation and confusion, and requires, indeed, a strong arm and a
+stout heart to undertake its clearance; the small branches and
+brush-wood alone have been burnt, but the large logs or trunks lie all
+blackened but unconsumed. These must all be placed in regular piles or
+heaps, which are again fired, and burn steadily for a few hours, after
+which all traces of the noble forest are gone, save the blackened stumps
+and a few white ashes; it is then ready for planting or sowing, with the
+assistance of the hoe or harrow.</p>
+
+<p>And now, kind reader, if you have accompanied me thus far, will you have the
+kindness to suppose us fixed at last in our habitation&mdash;whitewashing,
+painting, and scrubbing done, and all the fuss of moving over&mdash;our
+fallow fenced and filled&mdash;the dark green stems of the wheat and oats
+standing thick and tall&mdash;the buck-wheat spreading its broad leaves, and
+the vines of the pumpkins and cucumbers running along the rich soil,
+where grows in luxuriance the potatoe, that root, valuable to New
+Brunswick</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;As the bread-fruit tree<br /></span>
+<span>To the sunny isles of Owhyhee.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Suppose it, then, a bright and balmy day in the sunny ides of June&mdash;the
+earth is now in all the luxuriant pride of her summer beauty; for
+although the summer is long coming, yet, when it does begin, vegetation
+is so rapid that a few short days call it forth in all its loveliness;
+nay, the transition is so quick, that I have observed its workings in an
+hour's space. In the red sunlight of the morn I have seen the trees with
+their wintry sprays and brown leaf-buds all closed&mdash;when there fell a
+soft and refreshing shower&mdash;again the sunbeams lit the sky, and oh! the
+glorious change&mdash;the maple laughed out with her crimson blossoms and
+fair green leaves&mdash;the beech-tree unfolded her emerald plumes&mdash;the fairy
+stems of the aspen and birch were dancing in light, and the <a name='Page_020'></a>stately ash
+was enwreathed with her garland of verdant green&mdash;the spirit of spring
+seemed to have waved o'er them the wand of enchantment. On this bright
+day, of which I now speak, all this mighty change had been accomplished,
+and earth and air seemed all so delightful, one could hardly imagine
+that it could be improved by aught added to or taken from it.</p>
+
+<p>I am now just going to walk along the settlement to visit a friend, and
+if you will accompany me, I shall most willingly be your Asmodeus. A
+straight and well-worked road runs through the settlement, which is
+about nine miles in length. This part of the country is particularly
+hilly, and from where we now stand we have a view of its whole extent.
+Twenty years ago a blazed track was the only path through the dense
+forest to where, at its furthest extremity, one adventurous settler had
+dared to raise his <i>log hut</i>. The older inhabitants, who lived only on
+the margin of the rivers, laughed at the idea of clearing those high
+&quot;<i>back lands</i>&quot; where there was neither intervale or rivers, but he
+heeded them not, and his lonely hut became the nucleus of one of the
+most flourishing settlements in New Brunswick. The woods have now
+retreated far back from the road, and at this season the grass and grain
+are so high that the stumps are all concealed. The scene is very
+different to the country landscapes of England. There there are square
+smooth fields enclosed with stone walls, neat white palings, or the
+hawthorn hedge, scenting the breezes with its balmy &quot;honeysuckle,&quot; or
+sweet wild rose&mdash;song-birds filling the air with melody, and stately
+castles, towering o'er the peasant's lowly home, <a name='Page_021'></a>while far as the eye
+can reach 'twill rest but on some fair village dome or farm. Here the
+worm or zigzag fence runs round the irregularly-shaped clearings, in the
+same rustic garb it wore when a denizen of the forest. The wild flowers
+here have no perfume, but the raspberries, which grow luxuriantly in the
+spaces made by the turnings of the fences, have a sweet smell, and there
+is a breath which tells of the rich strawberry far down among the
+shadowy grass. The birds during the hot months of summer have no song,
+but there are numbers of them, and of the brightest plumage. The fairy
+humming-bird, often in size no larger than a bee, gleams through the air
+like a flower with wings, and the bald eagle sits majestically on the
+old grey pines, which stand like lone monuments of the past, the storms
+and the lightnings having ages ago wreaked their worst upon them, and
+bereft them of life and limb, yet still they stand, all lofty and
+unscathed by the axe or the fire which has laid the younger forest low.
+The dwellings, either the primitive log-hut, the first home of the
+settler, or the more stately frame-buildings, stand each near the road,
+on the verge of its own clearing, which reaches back to where the dark
+woods form a back-ground to the scene. These stretch far and wide over
+the land, save where appears, amid their density, some lonely settlement
+or improvement of adventurous emigrant. Those little spots, of how much
+importance to their owners, yet seem as nothing amid the vast forest.
+Each dwelling in this country is in itself a theme for study and
+interest. Here, on one side, is the home of an English settler&mdash;amid all
+the bustle and chopping and burning of a new farm, he has found time to
+plant a few fruit trees, and has now a flourishing young orchard, and a
+garden wherein are herbs of &quot;fragrant smell and spicy taste,&quot; to give a
+warm relish to the night's repast. For the cultivation of a garden the
+natives, unless the more opulent of them, seem to care little; and
+outside the dwelling of a blue nose there is little to be seen, unless
+it be a cucumber bed among the chips, or a patch of Indian corn. Again,
+the Scotch settlers may be known by the taste shown in selecting a
+garden spot&mdash;a gentle declivity, sloping to a silvery stream, by which
+stand a few household trees that he has permitted to remain&mdash;beneath
+them a seat is placed, and in some cherished spot, watched over with the
+tenderest care, is an exotic sprig of heath or broom. About the
+Hibernian's dwelling may be a mixture of all these differing tastes,
+while perhaps a little of the national ingenuity may be displayed in a
+broken window, repaired with an old hat, or an approximation towards
+friendliness between the domestic animals and the inmates. With the
+interior of these dwellings one is agreeably surprised, they (that is,
+generally speaking), appear so clean and comfortable. Outside the logs
+are merely hewed flat, and the interstices filled up with moss and clay,
+the roof and ends being patched up with boards and bark, or anything to
+keep out the cold. They certainly look rough enough, but within they are
+ceiled above and around with smooth shining boards; there are no walls
+daubed with white-wash, nor floors strewn with vile gritty sand, which
+last certainly requires all the sanctity of custom to render it
+endurable, but the walls and floors are as bright and clean as the
+scrubbing-brush and plenty of soap can make them. This great accessary
+to cleanliness, <i>soap</i>, is made at home in large quantities, the ashes
+of the wood burnt in the fire-place making the &quot;ley,&quot; to which is added
+the coarser fat and grease of the animals used for home consumption. It
+costs nothing but the trouble of making, and the art is little. As
+regards cleanliness, the natives have something almost Jewish in their
+personal observances of it as well as of their food. The blood of no
+animal is ever used, but flows to the earth from whence it sprung, and
+the poorest of them perform their ablutions before eating with oriental
+exactness; these habits are soon imparted to the emigrants, many of
+whom, when they first come out, all softly be it said, are by no means
+so nice.</p>
+
+<p>The large bright fires of the log house prevent all possible ideas of
+damp; they certainly are most delightful&mdash;those magnificent winter fires
+of New Brunswick&mdash;so brilliant, so cheerful, and so warm&mdash;the charred
+coals, like a mass of burning rubies, giving out their heat beneath,
+while between the huge &quot;<i>back-log</i>&quot; and &quot;<i>fore-stick,</i>&quot; the bright
+flames dance merrily up the wide chimney. I have often heard people
+fancy a wood fire as always snapping and sparkling in your face, or
+green and smoky, chilling you with its very appearance, but those would
+soon change their opinion if they saw a pile of yellow birch and rock
+maple laid right &quot;fore and aft&quot; across the bright fire-dogs, the hearth
+swept up, and the chips beneath fanned with the broom, they would then
+see the union of light and heat in perfection. In one way it is
+preferable to coals, that is, while making on the fire you might if you
+chose wear white kid gloves without danger of soiling them. Another
+comfort to the settler in the back woods is, that every stick you burn
+makes one less on the land. Stoves, both for cooking and warming the
+houses, have long been used in the United States, and are gradually
+coming into common use in New Brunswick. In the cities they are
+generally used, where fuel is expensive, as they require less fuel, and
+give more heat than open &quot;fire-places;&quot; but the older inhabitants can
+hardly be reconciled to them; they prefer the rude old hearth stone,
+with its bright light, to the dark stove. I remember once spending the
+evening at a house where the younger part of the family, to be
+fashionable, had got a new stove placed in the fire-place of &quot;<i>'tother
+room</i>,&quot; which means, what in Scotland is termed &quot;<i>ben</i>&quot; the house, and
+in England &quot;the <i>parlour</i>.&quot; This was the first evening of its being put
+in operation. I observed the old gentleman (a first-rate specimen of a
+blue nose) looked very uncomfortable and fidgetty. For a time he sat
+twirling his thumbs in silence, when suddenly a thought seemed to strike
+him: he left the room, and shortly after the draught-hole of the stove
+grew dark, and a cloud of smoke burst forth from it. The old gentleman
+came in, declaring he was almost suffocated, and that it was &quot;all owing
+to <i>that nasty ugly Yankee critter</i>,&quot; the stove. He instantly had it
+taken down, and was soon gazing most comfortably on a glorious pile of
+burning wood, laid on by himself, with the most scientific regard to the
+laws of <i>levity, concavity</i>, and <i>contiguity</i> requisite in fire-making;
+and by the twinkle of his eye I knew that he was enjoying the ruse he
+had employed to get rid of the stove, for he had quietly stopped the
+flue. For the mere convenience of the thing, I think a stove is
+decidedly preferable. In this country, where people are generally their
+own cooks as well as everything else, they learn to know how the most
+and the best work can be done with the least time and trouble. With the
+stove there is not that roasting of the face and hands, nor confused
+jumble of pots and pans, inseparable from a kitchen fire; but upon the
+neat little polished thing, upon which there is nothing to be seen but a
+few bright covers, you can have the constituents of a New Brunswick
+breakfast, &quot;<i>cod-fish and taters</i>,&quot; for twice laid, fried ham, hot
+rolls, and pancakes, all prepared while the tea kettle is boiling, and
+experience whilst arranging them no more heat than on a winter morning,
+is quite agreeable. In the furniture of these back-wood dwellings there
+is nothing rich or costly, yet there is such an air of neatness diffused
+over it, and effect brought out, that they always recalled to me the
+painted cottage scenes of a theatre. But here is a house at which I have
+a call to make, and which will illustrate the &quot;<i>m&egrave;nage</i>&quot; of a New
+Brunswicker. Remember, this is not one of the old settlers, who have
+overcome all the toil and inconvenience of clearing and building, and
+are now enjoying the comforts they have earned, but it is the log-house
+of a new farm, around which the stumps yet stand thick and strong, and
+where the ringing of the axe is yet heard incessantly. In this working
+country people are, in general, like the famous Mrs. Gilpin, who, though
+on pleasure bent, had yet a frugal mind, and contrive to make business
+and amusement <a name='Page_026'></a>go together; and although I had left home with the
+intention of paying a visit, a little business induces me to pause here,
+ere I proceed to where I intended; and even here, while arranging this,
+I shall enjoy myself as much as though I were sackless of thought or
+interest in anything save amusement. The manufacture of the wool raised
+on the farm is the most important part of the women's work, and in this
+the natives particularly excel. As yet I knew not the mysteries of
+colouring brown with butternut bark, nor the proper proportion of <i>sweet
+fern</i> and indigo to produce green, so that our wool, on its return from
+the carding mill, had been left with this person&mdash;lady, &quot;par
+courtesie,&quot;&mdash;who was a perfect adept in the art, to be spun and wove:
+and the business on which I now call is to arrange with her as to its
+different proportions and purposes. What for blankets, for clothing, or
+for socks and mittens, which all require a different style of
+manufacture, and are all items of such importance during the winter
+snows. Melancthon Grey, whose most Christian and protestant appellation
+was abbreviated into &quot;Lank,&quot; was a true-blooded blue nose. His father
+had a noble farm of rich intervale on the banks of the river Saint John,
+and was well to do in the world. Lank was his eldest son, yet no
+heritage was his, save his axe and the arm which swung it. The law of
+primogeniture exists not in this country, and the youngest son is
+frequently heir to that land on which the older ones have borne the
+&quot;heat and burthen of the day,&quot; and rendered valuable by their toil,
+until each chooses his own portion in the world, by taking unto himself
+a wife and a lot of forest land, and thus another hard-won <i>homestead</i>
+is raised, and sons enough to choose among for heirs. Melancthon Grey
+had wedded his cousin, a custom common among the &quot;blue noses,&quot; and which
+most likely had its origin in the patriarchal days of the earlier
+settlers, when the inhabitants were few. Syb&egrave;l was a sweet pretty girl,
+deficient, as the Americans all are, in those high-toned feelings which
+characterise the depth of woman's love in the countries of Europe, yet
+made, as they generally do, an affectionate wife, and a fond and doating
+mother. Those two names, Syb&egrave;l and Melancthon, had a strange sound in
+the same household, awaking, as they always did in my dreamy fancy, a
+train of such differing memories. Syb&egrave;l recalling the days of early
+Rome, the haughty Tarquin and his mysterious prophetess, while
+Melancthon brought back the &quot;Reformation,&quot; and the best and most pious
+of its fathers. In the particular of names, the Americans have a decided
+&quot;penchant&quot; for those of euphonious and peculiar sound&mdash;they are selected
+from sacred and profane history, ancient and modern. To them, however,
+there is little of meaning attached by those who give them save the
+sound. I have known one family reckon among its members a Solon and
+Solomon, a Hector and Wellington, a Bathsheba and Lucretia; and the two
+famous Johns, Bunyan and Wesley, have many a name-sake. These, in their
+full length, are generally saved for holiday terms, and abbreviations
+are made for every-day use. In these they are ingenious in finding the
+shortest, and <i>Theodore</i>, that sweetest of all names, I have heard
+curtailed to &quot;<i>Od</i>,&quot; which seems certainly an odd enough cognomen.
+Syb&egrave;l's bridal portion consisted of a cow and some sheep&mdash;her father's
+waggon which brought her home contained some household articles her
+mother's care had afforded&mdash;Melancthon had provided a barrel of pork and
+one of flour, some tea and molasses, that staple commodity in
+transatlantic housekeeping. Amongst Syb&egrave;l's chattels were a bake-pan and
+tea-kettle, and thus they commenced the world. Melancthon has not yet
+had time to make a gate at his dwelling, and our only mode of entrance
+must be either by climbing the &quot;fence&quot; or unshipping the &quot;<i>bars</i>,&quot; which
+form one pannel, and which are placed so as to be readily removed for
+the passage of a carriage, but from us this will require both time and
+strength, so at the risk of tearing our dress we will e'en take the
+fence. This is a feat which a novice does most clumsily, but which those
+who are accustomed to it do most gracefully.</p>
+
+<p>As we approach the dwelling, the housewife's handy-work is displayed in
+a pole hung with many a skein of snow white yarn, glistening in the
+sunlight. Four years have passed since Syb&egrave;l was a bride&mdash;-her cheek has
+lost the bloom of girlhood, and has already assumed the hollow form of
+New Brunswick matrons; her dress is home-spun, of her own manufacture,
+carded and spun by her own hands, coloured with dye stuffs gathered in
+the woods, woven in a pretty plaid, and neatly made by herself. This is
+also the clothing of her husband and children; a bright gingham
+handkerchief is folded inside her dress, and her rich dark hair is
+smoothly braided. In this particular the natives display a good
+taste&mdash;young women do not enshroud themselves in a cap the day after
+their marriage, as if glad to be done with the trouble of dressing their
+hair; and unless from sickness a cap is never worn by any one the least
+youthful. The custom commences with the children, for infants never have
+their heads covered during the day. At first the little bald heads seem
+unsightly to a stranger, but when the eye gets accustomed, they look
+much better in their own natural beauty then when decked out in lace and
+muslin. The plan of keeping the head cool seems to answer well, for New
+Brunswick may rival any country in the world for a display of lovely
+infants. Syb&egrave;l has the delicacy of appearance which the constant in-door
+occupation of the women gives them, differing much from the coarse, but
+healthier look of those countries where the females assist in field
+labours. The &quot;blue nose&quot; considers it &quot;<i>agin all nature</i>&quot; for women to
+work out, and none are ever seen so employed, unless it be the families
+of emigrants before they are naturalised. A flush of delight crimsons
+Syb&egrave;l's pale face as she welcomes me in, for simple and retired as her
+life is, she yet cherishes in her heart all the fondness for company and
+visiting inherent to her sex, and loves to enjoy them whenever
+opportunity permits. No excuse would be listened to,&mdash;I must stay
+dinner&mdash;my bonnet is untied, and placed upon the bed&mdash;Syb&egrave;l has churned
+in the early cool of the morning, and she has now been working over the
+golden produce of her labours with a wooden ladle in a tray. With this
+ladle the butter is taken from the churn; the milk beaten out, and
+formed by it into rolls&mdash;nothing else is employed, for moulds or prints
+are not used as in England. She has just finished, and placed it in her
+dairy, a little bark-lined recess adjoining the house&mdash;and now, on
+hospitable thoughts intent, she has caught up her pail and is gone for
+water&mdash;in this we are most luxurious in New Brunswick, never keeping any
+quantity in the house, but using it bright and sparkling as it gushes
+from the spring. While she is gone, we will take a pencilling of her
+dwelling. A beautiful specimen of still-life, in the shape of a baby six
+months old, reposes in its cradle&mdash;its eye-lids' long and silky fringes
+are lightly folded in sleep on its smooth round cheek. Another older one
+is swinging in the rocking chair, playing with some chips and bark, the
+only toys of the log house&mdash;this single apartment serves the family for
+parlour, for kitchen, and hall&mdash;the chamber above being merely used as a
+store room, or receptacle for lumber&mdash;'tis the state bed-room as well,
+and on the large airy-looking couch is displayed a splendid coverlet of
+home-spun wool, manufactured in a peculiar style, the possessing of
+which is the first ambition of a back-wood matron, and for which she
+will manoeuvre as much as a city lady would for some <i>bijou of a
+chiffionier</i>, or centre table&mdash;Syb&egrave;l has gained her's by saving each
+year a portion of the wool, until she had enough to accomplish this sure
+mark of industry, and of <i>getting along in the world</i>; for if they are
+not getting along or improving in circumstances their farms will not
+raise sheep enough to yield the wool, and if they are not industrious
+the yarn will not be spun for this much-prized coverlet, which, despite
+the local importance attached to it, is a useful, handsome and valuable
+article in itself. On a large chest beside the bed are laid piles of
+snow white blankets, and around the walls are hung the various woollen
+garments which form the wardrobe of the family. Bright-hued Indian
+baskets stand on top of each other&mdash;a pair of beaded moccasins and a
+reticule of porcupine quills are hung up for ornament. The pine table
+and willow-seated chairs are all made in the &quot;bush,&quot; and even into this
+far back settlement has penetrated the prowess of the renowned &quot;Sam
+Slick, of Slickville.&quot; One of his wooden-made yankee clocks is here&mdash;its
+case displaying &quot;a most elegant picture&quot; of Cupid, in frilled trowsers
+and morocco boots, the American prototype of the little god not being
+allowed to appear so scantily clad as he is generally represented. A
+long rifle is hung over the mantle-piece, and from the beams are
+suspended heads of Indian corn for seed; by them, tied in bunches, or in
+paper bags, is a complete &quot;hortus siccus&quot; of herbs and roots for
+medicinal as well as culinary purposes. Bone set and lobelia, sage and
+savory, sarsaparilla, and that mysterous bark which the natives say acts
+with a different effect, according as it is peeled up or down the
+tree&mdash;cat-nip and calamus root for the baby, with dried marigold leaves,
+balm of gilead buds, and a hundred others, for compounding the various
+receipts they possess, as remedies for every complaint in the world.
+Many of these they have learnt from the Indians, whose &quot;ancient medicine
+men&quot; are well versed in the healing powers with which the herbs of the
+forest and the field are gifted. On a small shelf is laid the library,
+which consists but of the bible, a new almanac, and <a name='Page_032'></a>Humbert's Union
+Harmony, the province manual of sacred music, of which they are most
+particularly fond; but the air of the country is not favourable to song,
+and their melody always seemed to me &quot;harmony not understood,&quot;
+Meanwhile, for the last half-hour, Syb&egrave;l has been busily engaged in
+cooking, at which the natives are most expeditious and expert. I know
+not how they would be in other countries, but I know that at home they
+are first-rate&mdash;no other can come up to them in using the materials and
+implements they are possessed of. By the accustomed sun-mark on the
+floor, which Syb&egrave;l prefers to the clock, she sees 'tis now the hungry
+hour of noon, and blows the horn for Lank to come to dinner. This horn
+is a conk shell, bored at one end, and its sound is heard at a great
+distance. At the hours of meal-time it may be heard from house to house,
+and, ringing through the echoing woods from distant settlements, telling
+us, amid their loneliness, of happy meetings at the household board; but
+it comes, too, at times, when its sounds are heralds of trouble and
+dismay. I have heard it burst upon the ear at the silent hour of
+midnight, and, starting from sleep, seen the sky all crimsoned with the
+flames of some far off dwelling, whose inmates thus called for
+assistance; but long ere that assistance could be given, the fire would
+have done its worst of destruction, perhaps of death. I have also heard
+it, when twilight gathered darkly o'er the earth, floating sad and
+mournfully since sun-set, from some dwelling in the forest's depths,
+whose locality, but for the sounds, would not be known. Some member of
+the family has been lost in the woods, and the horn is blown to guide
+him homewards through the trackless wilderness. How sweet must those
+sounds be to the benighted wanderer, bearing, as they do, the voice of
+the heart, and telling of love and affectionate solicitude! But
+Melancthon has driven his ox-team to the barn, and now, with the baby on
+his lap, which, like all the blue-noses, he loves to nurse, sits down to
+table, where we join him. The dinner, as is often the case in the
+backwoods in summer, is &quot;a regular pick-up one,&quot; that is, composed of
+any thing and every thing. People care little for meat in the hot
+weather; and, in fact, a new settler generally uses his allowance of
+beef and pork during the long winter, so that the provision for summer
+depends principally on fish, with which the country is amply supplied,
+and the produce of the dairy. The present meal consists of fine trout
+from the adjoining stream, potatoes white as snow-balls, and,
+pulverising on the dish, some fried ham, and young French beans, which
+grow there in the greatest luxuriance, climbing to the top of their
+lofty poles till they can grow no higher. I have often thought them
+scions of that illustrious bean-stalk owned by Jack in the fairy tale.
+We have also a bowl of salad, and home-made vinegar prepared from maple
+sap, a large hot cake, made with Indian meal, and milk and dried
+blue-berries, an excellent substitute for currants. Buscuits, of snow
+white Tenessee flour, raised with cream and sal-a-ratus. This last
+article, which is used in place of yeast, or eggs, in compounding light
+cakes, can also be made at home from ley of the wood ashes, but it is
+mostly bought in town. The quantity of this used is surprising, country
+&quot;store-keepers&quot; purchasing barrels to supply their customers. A
+raspberry pie, and a splendid dish of strawberries and cream, with tea
+(the inseparable beverage of every meal in New Brunswick), forms our
+repast; and such would it be in ninety-nine houses out of a hundred of
+the class I am describing. Many of the luxuries, and all the necessaries
+of life, can be raised at home, by those who are industrious and
+spirited enough to take advantage of their resources. Melancthon this
+year expects to <i>bread himself</i>, as well as grow enough of hay to winter
+his stock. Since he commenced farming he purchased what was not raised
+on the land by the sale of what was cut off it&mdash;that is, by selling ash
+timber and cord-wood he procured what he required. This, however, can
+only be done where there is water conveyance to market. The
+indefatigable Melancthon had four miles to &quot;haul&quot; his marketable wood;
+but, when the roads were bad, he was chopping and clearing at the same
+time, and when the snow was well beaten down, with his little French
+horse and light sled he soon drew it to the place from whence the boats
+are loaded in the spring. Dinner being now finished, and after some
+conversation, which must of course be of a very local description,
+although it is brightened with many a quiet touch of wit, of which the
+natives possess a great original fund, and Melancthon, having finished
+in the forenoon harrowing in his buck-wheat, has now gone with his axe
+to hew at a house-frame which he has in preparation, and Syb&egrave;l and I
+having settled our affair of warp and woof, it is now time for me to
+proceed. She with her <a name='Page_035'></a>large Swiss-looking sun-hat, placed lightly on
+her brow, accompanies me to the &quot;bars,&quot; and there, having parted with
+her, we will now resume our walk. The next lot presents one of those
+scenes of desolation and decay which will sometimes appear even in this
+land of improvement. What had once been a large clearing is now grown
+wild with bushes, the stumps have all sprouted afresh, and the fences
+fallen to the ground. The house presents that least-respectable of all
+ruins, a deserted <i>log-building.</i> There is no solidity of material nor
+remains of architectural beauty to make us respect its fate. 'Tis decay
+in its plainest and most uninteresting aspect. A few flowers have been
+planted near the house, and even now, where the weeds grow dark and
+rank, a fair young rose is waving her lovely head. The person who had
+gone thus far on in the toils of settling was from England, but the love
+of his native land burned all too bright within his heart. In vain he
+toiled on those rude fields, and though his own, they seemed not his
+home. The spirit voices of the land of his childhood called him back&mdash;he
+obeyed their spell, and just at the time his labours would have been
+repaid, he left, and, with all the money he could procure, paid his
+passage to England, where he soon after died in the workhouse of his
+parish. Yet even there the thought, perhaps, might soothe him, that
+though he filled a pauper's grave, it was in the soil where his fathers
+slept. The forsaken lot is still unclaimed, for people prefer the
+woodlands to those neglected clearings, from which to procure a crop
+infinitely more trouble and expense would be required than in taking it
+at once from <a name='Page_036'></a>the forest. Our way is not now so lonely as it was in the
+morning. Parties of the male population are frequently passing. One of
+the settlers has to-day a &quot;barn-raising frolic,&quot; and thither they are
+bound. They present a fair specimen of their class in the forest
+settlements. The bushwhacker has nothing of the &quot;bog-trotter&quot; in his
+appearance, and his step is firm and free, as though he trod on marble
+floor. The attire of the younger parties which, although coarse, is
+perfectly clean and whole, has nothing rustic in its arrangement. His
+kersey trowsers are tightly strapped, and the little low-crowned hat,
+with a streaming ribbon, is placed most jauntily on his head. His axe is
+carried over one shoulder and his jacket over the other, which in summer
+is the common mode of carrying this part of the apparel. Those who have
+been <i>lumbering</i> may easily be known among the others, by sporting a
+flashy stock or waistcoat, and by being arrayed in &quot;<i>boughten</i>&quot; clothes,
+procured in town at a most expensive rate in lieu of their <i>lumber</i>.
+Little respect is, however, paid here to the cloth, (that is,
+broadcloth), for it is a sure sign of bad management, and most likely of
+debt, for the back settlers to be arrayed in any thing but their own
+home-made clothing. The grave and serious demeanour of these people is
+as different from the savage scowl of the discontented peasant,
+murmuring beneath the burthen of taxation and ill-remunerated toil, as
+from the free, light-hearted, and careless laughter, both of which
+characterise the rural groups in the fertile fields of England. New
+Brunswick is the land of strangers; even the first settlers, the &quot;sons
+of the soil,&quot; as they claim to be, have hardly yet forgot their exile,
+a trace of which character, be he prosperous as he may, still hovers
+over the emigrant. Their early home, with its thousand ties of love,
+cannot be all forgotten. This feeling descends to their children, losing
+its tone of sadness, but throwing a serious shade over the national
+character, which, otherwise has nothing gloomy or melancholy in its
+composition. There is also a kind of &quot;<i>looking a-head</i>&quot; expression of
+countenance natural to the country, which is observed even in the
+children, who are not the careless frolicsome beings they are in other
+countries, but are here more truly miniature men and women, looking, as
+the Yankees express it, as if they had all cut their &quot;<i>eye-teeth</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But here we are, for the present, arrived at the bourne of our journey.
+High on a lofty hill before us stands a large frame building, the place
+of worship as well as the principal school-house of the settlement. This
+double purpose it is not, however, destined long to be devoted to, for
+the building of a church is already in contemplation, and will, no
+doubt, soon be proceeded with. The beaming sun is shining with dazzling
+radiance on its white walls, telling, in fervent whispers, that a
+shelter from the heat will be desirable; so here we will enter, where
+the shadowy trees, and bright stream glancing through the garden
+flowers, speak of inhabitants from the olden world. A frame building has
+been joined to the original log-house, and the dwelling thus made large
+enough to accommodate the household. Mrs. Gordon, the lady of the
+mansion, and the friend I have come thus far to see, is one of those
+persons the brilliance of whose gem-like character has been increased
+by the hard rubs of the world. She has experienced much of Time's
+chance and change&mdash;experiences and trials which deserve relating at
+large, and which I shall hereafter give, as they were told me by
+herself. Traces of the beauty she once possessed are yet pourtrayed on
+her faded but placid brow, and appear in brighter lines on the fair
+faces of her daughters. Her husband is from home, and the boys are gone
+to the frolic, so we will have a quiet evening to ourselves. The
+arrangement of this dwelling, although similar in feature to Syb&egrave;l
+Gray's, is yet, as it were, different in expression; for instance, there
+is not such a display made of the home-manufactured garments, which it
+is the pride of her heart to look upon. These, of course, are here in
+existence, but are placed in another receptacle; and the place they hold
+along the walls of Syb&egrave;l's dwelling is here occupied by a book-case, in
+which rests a store of treasured volumes; our conversation, too, is of a
+different cast from the original, yet often commonplace, remarks of
+Melancthon. 'Tis most likely a discussion of the speculative fancies
+contained in those sweet brighteners of our solitude, the books; or in
+tracing the same lights and shadows of character described in them, as
+were occurring in the passages of life around us; or, perhaps, something
+leads us to talk of him whose portrait hangs on the wall, the peasant
+bard of Scotland, whose heart-strung harp awakens an answering chord in
+every breast. The girls&mdash;who although born in this country and now
+busied in its occupations, one in guiding the revolving wheel, and the
+other in braiding a hat of poplar splints&mdash;join us in a manner which
+tells how well they have been nurtured <a name='Page_039'></a>in the lore of the &quot;mountain
+heathery land,&quot; the birth-place of their parents; and the younger sister
+Helen's silvery voice breathes a soft strain of Scottish melody.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile a pleasant interruption occurs in the post-horn winding loud
+and clear along the settlement. This is an event of rare occurrence in
+the back woods, where the want of a regular post communication is much
+felt, not so much in matters of worldly importance in business&mdash;these
+being generally transacted without the medium of letters&mdash;as by those
+who have loved ones in other lands. Alas! how often has the heart pined
+with the sickness of hope deferred, in waiting in vain for those
+long-expected lines, from the distant and the dear, which had been duly
+sent in all the spirit of affection, but which had been mislaid in their
+wanderings by land or sea; or the post-masters not being particularly
+anxious to know where the land of Goshen, the Pembroke, or the Canaan
+settlements were situated, had returned them to the dead letter office,
+and thus they never reached the persons for whom they were intended, and
+who lived on upbraiding those who, believing them to be no longer
+dwellers of the earth, cherished their memory with fondest love. Taking
+all these things into consideration, a meeting had been called in our
+settlement to ascertain if by subscription a sufficient sum could be
+raised to pay a weekly courier to assert our rights at the nearest
+post-office. This was entered into with spirit, all feeling sensible of
+the benefits which it would bring; they who could afford it giving
+freely of their abundance, and those who could not pay their
+subscription all in <a name='Page_040'></a>money, giving half a dollar cash, and a bushel or
+half a bushel of buck wheat or potatoes to the cause; and thus the sum
+necessary was soon raised&mdash;the courier himself subscribing a dollar
+towards his own salary. The thing had gone on very well&mdash;communication
+with the world seemed to have commenced all at once. Nearly every family
+took a different newspaper, and these being exchanged with each other,
+afforded plenty of food for the mind, and prevented it brooding too
+deeply over the realities of life.</p>
+
+<p>The newspapers in this country, especially those of the United States,
+are not merely dull records of parliamentary doings, of bill and debate,
+the rising of corn or falling of wheat, but contain besides reviews and
+whole copies of the newest and best works of the day, both in science
+and lighter literature. We dwellers of the forest had no guineas to give
+for new books, and if we had, unless we freighted ships home on purpose,
+we could not have procured them. But this was not felt, while for our
+few yearly dollars the Albion's pearly paper and clear black type
+brought for society around our hearths the laughter-loving &quot;Lorrequer,&quot;
+the pathos of the portrait painter, or the soul-winning Christopher
+North, whose every word seems written in letters of gold, incrusted with
+precious jewels. In the &quot;New World&quot; Froissart gave his chronicles of the
+olden time, and the mammoth sheets of &quot;Era&quot; and &quot;The Notion&quot; brought us
+the peerless pages of &quot;Zanoni,&quot; or led us away with &quot;Dickens&quot; and
+&quot;Little Nell,&quot; by the green glades and ancient churches of England.
+Little did we think while we read with delight of this author's
+princely welcome to the American continent, what would be the result of
+his visit, he came and passed like the wild Simoom. Soon after his
+return to England an edict came, forbidding in the British provinces of
+America publications containing reprints of English works. Of the deeper
+matters connected with the copyright question I know not, but this I do
+know, that our long winter nights seemed doubly long and drear, with
+nothing to read but dark details of horrid murder, or deadly doings of
+Rebeccaite and Chartist. As yet, however, this time was not come, and
+each passing week saw us now enlightened with the rays of some new
+bright gem of genius.</p>
+
+<p>The postman blew his horn as he passed each dwelling for whose inmates
+he had letters or papers; and for those whose address lay beyond his
+route, places of depository were appointed in the settlement. Mrs.
+Gordon's was one of these, from whence they were duly despatched by the
+first chance to their destinations on the Nashwaak, Waterloo, or Windsor
+clearings. Although our Mercury would duly have signalised his approach
+as he passed our own dwelling, I possessed myself of my treasure
+here&mdash;my share of the priceless wealth of that undying intellect which
+is allowed to pour its brilliant flood, freely and untramelled, to the
+lowliest homes of the American world. Having glanced along the lines and
+seen that our first favourites had visited us this week, our tea seemed
+to bear with it an added fragrance; and this, although the walls around
+us were of logs, we had in fairy cups of ancient porcelain from the
+distant land of Scotland. And now the sun's <a name='Page_042'></a>broad disc having vanished
+behind the lofty pines, and the young moon rising in the blue heavens,
+tell us our short twilight will soon be gone, and that if we would reach
+home before the stars look out upon our path, 'tis time we were on our
+way.</p>
+
+<p>The cow bells are ringing loud and clear as the herd winds slowly
+homeward, looking most luxuriantly comfortable, and bearing with them
+the spicy scent of the cedar-woods in which they have been wandering,
+and which they seem to leave so unwillingly. Philoprogenitiveness, or a
+deep feeling of motherly affection, being the only thing that does
+voluntarily induce them to come home. To encourage this desirable
+feeling the leader of the herd, the lady of the bell, is allowed to
+suckle her calf every evening. For this happy task she leaves all the
+delights of her pasture, plodding regularly homeward at the hour of
+sunset, the rest all meekly following in her train.</p>
+
+<p>The evening is dry and clear, with no trace of rain in the atmosphere,
+or we would be surrounded with clouds of those <i>awful critturs</i>, the
+musquitoes, which the cattle bring home. These are often a dreadful
+annoyance, nothing but a thick cloud of smoke dispelling them, and that
+only for a time. At night they are particularly a nuisance, buzzing and
+stinging unceasingly through the silent hours, forbidding all thought of
+sleep till the dawn shows them clinging to the walls and windows,
+wearied and bloated with their night's amusement. Those who are
+sufficiently acclimated suffer comparatively little&mdash;'tis the rich blood
+of the stranger that the musquito loves, and emigrants, on the first
+season, especially in low marshy situations, suffer extremely from their
+attacks.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Gordon having now gone with her pails to meet her milky charge,
+while her mother arranges the dairy within, Helen comes to set me on my
+way. Again we meet the frolickers returning rather earlier than is usual
+on such occasions; but there was sickness at the dwelling where they had
+been, which caused them to disperse soon after they had accomplished the
+&quot;raising.&quot; Kindly greetings passed between us; for here, in this little
+world of ours, we have hardly room for the petty distinctions and
+pettier strifes of larger communities. We are all well acquainted with
+each other, and know each other's business and concerns as well as our
+own. There is no concealment of affairs. This, however, saves a vast
+deal of trouble&mdash;people are much easier where there is no false
+appearance to be kept up; and in New Brunswick there is less of &quot;behind
+the scenes&quot; than in most places. Many a bright eye glances under Helen's
+shadowy hat: and, see, one gallant axe-man lingers behind the others&mdash;he
+pauses now by the old birch tree&mdash;I know he is her lover, and in charity
+to their young hearts I must allow her to turn, while we proceed onward.</p>
+
+<p>The fire-flies now gleam through the air like living diamonds, and the
+evening star has opened her golden eye in the rich deep azure of the
+sky. Our home stands before us, with its white walls thrown in strong
+relief by the dark woods behind it: and here, on this adjoining lot,
+lives our neighbour who is ill&mdash;he who to-day has had the &quot;barn
+raising.&quot; It would be but friendly to call and enquire for him. The
+house is one of the best description of log buildings. The ground floor
+<a name='Page_044'></a>contains two large apartments and a spacious porch, which extends along
+the front, has the dairy in one end and a workshop in the other, that
+most useful adjunct to a New Brunswick dwelling, where the settlers are
+often their own blacksmiths and carpenters, as well as splint pounders
+and shingle weavers. The walls are raised high enough to make the
+chamber sufficiently lofty, and the roof is neatly shingled. As we
+enter, an air of that undefinable English ideality&mdash;comfort&mdash;seems
+diffused, as it were, in the atmosphere of the place. There is a look of
+retirement about the beds, which stand in dim recesses of the inner
+apartment, with their old but well-cared-for chintz hangings, differing
+from the free uncurtained openness of the blue nose settler's couch; a
+publicity of sleeping arrangements being common all over America, and
+much disliked by persons from the old countries, a bed being a prominent
+piece of furniture in the sitting and keeping rooms of even those
+aristocratic personages, the first settlers. The large solid-looking
+dresser, which extends nearly along one side of the house, differs too
+from the light shelf of the blue nose, which rests no more crockery than
+is absolutely necessary. Here there is a wide array of dishes, large and
+small&mdash;old China tea-cups, wisely kept for show,&mdash;little funny mugs,
+curious pitchers, mysterious covered dishes, unearthly salad bowls, and
+a host of superannuated tea-pots. Above them is ranged a bright copper
+kettle, a large silvery pewter basin, and glittering brazen
+candlesticks, all brought from their English home, and borne through
+toil and danger, like sacred relics, from the shrine of the household
+gods. The light of the fire is reflected on the polished surface of a
+venerable oaken bureau, whose unwieldy form has also come o'er the deep
+sea, being borne along the creeks and rivers of New Brunswick, and
+dragged through forest paths to its present resting place. In the course
+of its wanderings by earth and ocean it has become minus a foot, the
+loss of which is supplied by an unsmoothed block of pine, the two
+forming not an inapt illustration of their different countries. The
+polished oaken symbol of England receiving assistance in its hour of
+need from the rude but hardy pine emblem of New Brunswick. The room is
+cool and quiet; the young people being outside with a few who have
+lingered after the frolic. By the open window, around which a hop vine
+is enwreathed, in memory of the rose-bound casements of England, and
+through which comes a faint perfume from the balm of gilead trees, sits
+the invalid, seemingly refreshed with the pleasant things around him. He
+has been suffering from rheumatic fever caught in the changeful days of
+the early spring, when the moist air penetrates through nerve and bone,
+and when persons having the least tendency to rheumatism, or pulmonary
+complaints, cannot use too much caution. At no other season is New
+Brunswick unhealthy; for the winter, although cold, is dry and bracing.
+The hot months are not so much so as to be injurious, and the bland
+breezes of the fall and Indian summer are the most delightful that can
+be imagined.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen Morris had come from England, like the generality of New
+Brunswick settlers, but lightly burthened with worldly gear&mdash;but gifted
+with the unpurchasable treasures of a strong arm and willing spirit,
+that is, a spirit resolved to do its best, and not be overcome with the
+difficulties to be encountered in the struggle of subduing the mighty
+wilderness. While he felled the forest, his wife, accustomed in her own
+country to assist in all field labours, toiled with him in piling and
+fencing as well as in planting and reaping. Even their young children
+learned to know that every twig they lifted off the ground left space
+for a blade of grass or grain; beginning with this, their assistance
+soon became valuable, and the labour of their hands in the field soon
+lightened the burthen of feeding their lips. Slowly and surely had
+Stephen gone onward, keeping to his farm and minding nothing else,
+unlike many of the emigrants, who, while professing to be farmers, yet
+engage in other pursuits, particularly lumbering, which, although the
+mainspring of the province and source of splendid wealth to many of the
+inhabitants, has yet been the bane of others. Allured by the visions of
+speedy riches it promises, they have neglected their farms, and engaged
+in its glittering speculations with the most ardent hopes, which have
+far oftener been blighted than realised. A sudden change in trade, or an
+unexpected storm in the spring, having bereft them of all, and left them
+overwhelmed in debt, with neglected and ruined lands, with broken
+constitutions, (for the lumberer's life is most trying to the health,)
+and often too with broken hearts, and minds all unfitted for the task of
+renovating their fortune. Their life afterwards is a bitter struggle to
+get above water; that tyrant monster, their heavy debt, still chaining
+them downwards, devouring with insatiate <a name='Page_047'></a>greed their whole means, for
+interest or bond, until it be discharged; a hard matter for them to
+accomplish&mdash;so hard that few do it, and the ruined lumberer sinks, to the
+grave with its burthen yet upon him. Stephen had kept aloof from this,
+and now surveyed,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;&mdash;&mdash;With pride beyond a monarch's spoil,<br /></span>
+<span>His honest arm's own subjugated toil.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A neighbour of his had come out from England at the same time he had
+done and commenced farming an adjoining lot, but he soon wearied of the
+slow returns of his land and commenced lumbering. For a time he went on
+dashingly, the merchants in town supplying him freely with provisions
+and everything necessary to carry on his timber-making&mdash;whilst Stephen
+worked hard and lived poor, he enjoyed long intervals of ease and fared
+luxuriantly. But a change came: one spring the water was too low to get
+his timber down, the next the freshet burst at once and swept away the
+labour of two seasons, and ere he got another raft to market, the price
+had fallen so low that it was nearly valueless. He returned dispirited
+to his home and tried to conceal himself from his creditors, the
+merchants whom the sale of his timber was to have repaid for the
+supplies they had advanced; but his neglected fields showed now but a
+crop of bushes and wild laurel, or an ill-piled clearing, with a scanty
+crop of buck-wheat; while Stephen Morris looked from his window on fair
+broad fields from whence the stumps had all disappeared, where the long
+grass waved rich with clover-flowers between, and many a tract that
+promised to shine with autumn wreaths of golden grain; leaflets and
+buds were close and thick on the orchard he had planted, and where erst
+the wild-bush stood now bloomed the lovely rose. On a green hill before
+him stood the lofty frame of the building this evening raised, with all
+its white tracery of beam and rafter, a new but welcome feature in the
+landscape. A frame barn is the first ambition of the settler's heart;
+without one much loss and inconvenience is felt. Hay and grain are not
+stacked out as in other countries, but are all placed within the shelter
+of the barn; these containing, as they often do, the whole hay crop,
+besides the grain and accommodation for the cattle, must, of course, be
+of large dimensions, and are consequently expensive. With this Stephen
+had proceeded surely and cautiously as was his wont. In the winter he
+had hauled logs off his own land to the saw-mill to be made into boards.
+He cut down with much trouble some of the ancient pines which long stood
+in the centre of his best field, and from their giant trunks cut
+well-seasoned blocks, with which he made shingles in the stormy days of
+winter. Thus by degrees he provided all the materials for enclosing and
+roofing, and was not obliged, as many are, to let the frame, (which is
+the easiest part provided, and which they often raise without seeming
+even to think how they are to be enclosed,) stand for years, like a huge
+grey skeleton, with timbers all warped and blackened by the weather.
+Steadily as Stephen had gone on, yet as the completion of his object
+became nearer he grew impatient of its accomplishment, and determined to
+have his barn ready for the reception of his hay harvest; and for this
+purpose he worked on, hewing at the frame in the spring, reckless of the
+penetrating rain, the chill wind, or the damp earth beneath, and thus,
+by neglect of the natural laws, he was thrown upon the couch of
+sickness, where he lay long. This evening, however, he was better, and
+sat gazing with pleased aspect on the scene, and then I saw his eyes
+turn from the fair green hill and its new erection to where, in the
+hollow of a low and marshy spot of land, stood the moss-grown logs and
+sunken walls of the first shelter he had raised for his cattle&mdash;his old
+log barn, which stood on the worst land of the farm, but when it was
+raised the woods around were dark and drear, and he knew not the good
+soil from the bad; yet now he thought how, in this unseemly place, he
+had stored his crop and toiled for years with unfailing health, where
+his arm retained its nerve, unstrung neither by summer's heat nor
+winter's cold, when the voice of his son, a tall stripling, who had
+managed affairs during his illness, recalled him to the present, which
+certainly to him I thought might wear no unfavourable aspect. He had
+literally caused the wilderness to blossom as the rose, and saw rising
+around him not a degenerate but an improving race, gifted far beyond
+himself with bright mental endowments, the spontaneous growth of the
+land they lived in, and which never flourish more fairly than when
+engrafted on the old English stem; that is, the children of emigrants,
+or the Anglo-bluenoses, have the chance of uniting the high-aspiring
+impulses of young America to the more solid principles of the olden
+world, thus forming a decided improvement in the native race of both
+<a name='Page_050'></a>countries. But Stephen has too much of human nature in him not to
+prefer the past, and I saw that the sunbeams of memory rested brightly
+on the old log barn, obscuring the privations and years of bitter toil
+and anxiety connected with it, and dimming his eyes to ought else,
+however better; so that I left him to his meditations, and after a step
+of sixty rods, the breadth of the lot, I am once more at home, where, as
+it is now dark, we will close the door and shut out the world, to this
+old country prejudice has made us attach a small wooden button inside,
+the only fastening, except the latch, I believe, in the settlement.
+Bolts and bars being all unused, the business of locksmith is quite at a
+discount in the back woods, where all idea of a midnight robbery is
+unknown; and yet, if rumour was true, there were persons not far from us
+to whom the trade of stealing would not be new. One there was of whom it
+was said, that for this reason alone was New Brunswick graced with his
+presence. He had in his own country been taken in a daring act of
+robbery, and conveyed in the dark of night to be lodged in gaol. The
+officers were kind-hearted, and, having secured his hands, allowed his
+wife to accompany him, themselves walking a short distance apart. At
+first the lady kept up a most animated conversation, apparently
+upbraiding the culprit for his conduct. He answered her, but by degrees
+he seemed so overcome by her remarks that he spoke no more, and she had
+all the discourse to herself. Having arrived at their destination, the
+officers approached their prisoner, but he was gone, the wife alone
+remained. The darkness of the night bad favoured his escape while she
+feigned to be addressing him, and, having thus defeated the law, joined
+her spouse, and made the best of their way to America, where the
+workings of the law of kindness were exemplified in his case. His
+character being there generally unknown, he was treated and trusted as
+an honest man, and he broke not his faith. The better feelings were
+called into action; conscientiousness, though long subdued, arose and
+breathed through his spirit the golden rule of right.</p>
+
+<p>The days in America are never so short in winter as they are in Europe,
+nor are they so long in summer, and there is always an hour or two of
+the cool night to be enjoyed ere the hour of rest comes. Our evening
+lamp is already lighted, and our circle increased by the presence of the
+school-mistress.</p>
+
+<p>Although in this country the local government has done much towards the
+advancement of schools, yet much improvement requires to be made&mdash;not in
+their simple internal arrangements, for which there is no regular
+system, but in the more important article of remuneration. The
+government allows twenty pounds a year to each school; the proprietors,
+or those persons who send their children to the school, agreeing to pay
+the teacher a like sum at least (though in some of the older settled
+parts of the country from forty to fifty pounds is paid by them); as
+part payment of this sum providing him with board, &amp;c., &amp;c., and this
+alone is the evil part of the scheme; this boarding in turn with the
+proprietors, who keep him a week or a month in proportion to the number
+of the pupils they send, and to make up their share of <a name='Page_052'></a>the year, for
+which term he is hired, as his engagement is termed&mdash;an expression how
+derogatory to the dignity of many a learned dominie? From this cause the
+teacher has no home, no depository for his books, which are lost in
+wandering from place to place; and if he had them, no chance for study:
+for the log-house filled with children and wheels is no fit abode for a
+student. This boarding system operates badly in many ways. The nature of
+the blue nose is still leavened with that dislike of coercive measures
+inherited from their former countrymen, the Yankees. It extends to their
+children, and each little black-eyed urchin, on his wooden bench and
+dog-eared dilworth in hand, must be treated by his teacher as a free
+enlightened citizen. But even without this, where is there in any
+country a schoolmaster daring enough to use a ratan, or birch rod, to
+that unruly darling from whose mother he knows his evening reception
+will be sour looks, and tea tinged with sky-blue, but would not rather
+let the boy make fox-and-geese instead of, ciphering, say his lesson
+when he pleased, and have cream and short-cake for his portion. Another
+disagreeable thing is, that fond and anxious as they are for
+&quot;<i>larning</i>,&quot; they have not yet enough of it to appreciate the value of
+education. The schoolmaster is not yet regarded as the mightiest moral
+agent of the earth; the true vicegerent of the spirit from above, by
+which alone the soul is truly taught to plume her wings and shape her
+course for Heaven. And in this country, where operative power is certain
+wealth, he who can neither wield axe or scythe may be looked on with a
+slight shade of contempt: but this only arises from constant
+association with the people; for were the schoolmaster more his own
+master, and less under their surveillance by having a dwelling of his
+own, his situation otherwise would be comfortable and lucrative.</p>
+
+<p>The state of school affairs begins to attract much notice from the
+legislature, and no doubt the present system of school government will
+soon be improved. A board of education is appointed in each county,
+whose office it is to examine candidates for the office of parish school
+teacher, and report to the local governor as to their competency,
+previous to his conferring the required license. Trustees are also
+appointed in the several parishes, who manage the other business
+connected with them, such as regulating their number, placing masters
+where they are most wanted, and receiving and apportioning the sum
+appropriated to their support, or encouragement, by the government. Mr.
+B. held this situation, and frequent were the visits of the lords of the
+birch to our domicile, either asking redress for fancied wrongs, or to
+discuss disputed points of school discipline.</p>
+
+<p>The female teachers are situated much the same, save that many of them,
+preferring a quiet home to gain, pay for their board out of their cash
+salary, and give up that which they could otherwise claim from the
+people. This, however, is by no means general, and the present mistress
+has come to stay her term with us, although having no occasion for the
+school, yet wishing to hasten the march of intellect through the back
+woods, we paid towards it, and boarded the teacher, as if we had. Grace
+Marley, who held this situation now, was a sweet wild-flower from the
+Emerald Isle, with spirits bright and changeful as the dewy skies of
+her own loved Erin. Her graceful but fully rounded figure shows none of
+those anatomical corners described by Captain Hamilton in the appearance
+of the native American ladies. Her dark eye speaks with wondrous truth
+the promptings of her heart, and her brown hair lies like folds of satin
+on her cheek, from which the air of America has not yet drank all the
+rose light. From her fairy ear of waxen white hangs a golden pendant,
+the treasured gift of one far distant. Before her, on the table, lies
+<i>Chambers' Journal</i>, which always found its way a welcome visitant to
+our settlement, soon after the spring fleet had borne it over the
+Atlantic. She has been reading one of Mrs. Hall's stories, which, good
+as they are, are yet little admired by the Irish in America. The darker
+hues which she pourtrays in the picture of their native land have become
+to them all softened in the distance; and by them is their country
+cherished there, as being indeed that beautiful ideal &quot;first flower of
+the earth, and first gem of the sea.&quot; A slight indignant flush, raised
+by what she had been reading, was on her brow as I entered; but this
+gave place to the heart-crushing look of disappointment I had often seen
+her wear, as I replied in the negative to her question, if there was a
+letter for her. From where, or whom she expected this letter I knew not,
+yet as still week after week passed away and brought her none, the same
+shade had passed over her face.</p>
+
+<p>And now, reader, as the night wanes apace, and you no doubt are wearied
+with this day's journey through our settlement, I shall wish to you</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;A fair good night, with easy dreams and slumbers light,&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><a name='Page_055'></a>while I, who like most authors am not at all inclined to sleep over my
+own writing, will sketch what I know of the history of Grace Marley,
+whose memory forms a sweet episode in my transatlantic experiences.</p>
+
+<p>Grace had been left an orphan and unprovided for in her own country,
+when a relation, who had been prosperous here, wrote for her to come
+out. She did come, and at first seemed happy, but 'twas soon evident her
+heart was not here, and she sighed to return to her native land, where
+the streams were brighter, and the grass grew greener than elsewhere.
+Her friends, vexed at her obstinacy in determining so firmly to return,
+would give her no assistance for this purpose, fancying that she felt
+but that nostalgic sickness felt by all on their first arrival in
+America, and that like others she would become reconciled in time. But
+she was firm in her resolve, and to procure funds wherewithal to return
+she commenced teaching a school, for which her education had well
+qualified her. It was not likely that such a girl as Grace would, in
+this land of marrying and giving in marriage, be without fonder
+solicitations to induce her to remain, and a tall blue nose, rejoicing
+in the appellation of Leonidas van Wort, and lord of six hundred noble
+acres, was heard to declare one fall, that she, for an Irish girl, was
+&quot;raal downright good-looking,&quot; and guessed he knew which way &quot;his tracks
+would lay when snow came.&quot; Snow did come, and Leonidas, arrayed in his
+best &quot;go-to-meeting style,&quot; geared up his sleigh, and what with bear
+skins and bells, fancying himself and appurtenances enough to charm the
+heart of any maid or matron in the back woods, set off to spark Grace
+Marley. &quot;Sparking,&quot; the term used in New Brunswick for courtship, now
+that the old fashion of &quot;bundling&quot; is gone out, occupies much of the
+attention (as, indeed, where does it not?) of young folks. They, for
+this purpose, take Moore's plan of lengthening their days, by &quot;stealing
+a few hours from the night,&quot; and generally breathe out their tender
+vows, not beneath the &quot;milk-white thorn,&quot; but by the soft dim light of
+the birch-wood fire; the older members of the family retiring and
+leaving the lovers to their own sweet society.</p>
+
+<p>Although it has been sometimes observed that mothers who, in their own
+young days, have been versed in this custom, insist most pertinaciously
+in sitting out the wooer, in spite of insinuations as to the pleasure
+their absence would occasion, still keep their easy chair, with
+unwearied eyes and fingers busied in their everlasting knitting. Grace's
+beau was most hospitably received by her aunt and uncle, who considering
+him quite an &quot;eligible,&quot; wished to further him all in their power, soon
+left the pair to themselves, telling Grace that it would be the height
+of rudeness not to follow the custom of the country. She politely waited
+for Leonidas to commence the conversation, but he, unused to her
+proceeding, could say nothing, not even ask her if she liked maple
+sugar; and so, being unused to deep study, while thinking how to begin,
+fell asleep, a consummation Grace was most delighted to witness. By the
+fire stood the small American churn, which, as is often the case in cold
+weather, had been placed there to be in readiness for the morrow; this
+Grace, with something of the quiet humour which made Jeanie Deans treat
+Dumbie-dykes to fried peats in place of collops, she lifted and placed
+it by the sleeper's side, throwing over it a white cloth, which fell
+like folds of drapery, and softly retired to rest herself. Her uncle, on
+coming into the room at the dawn of morning, beheld the great Leonidas
+still sleeping, and his arm most lovingly encircling the churn dash,
+which no doubt in his dreams he mistook for the taper waist of Grace,
+when the loud laugh of the old man and his &quot;helps,&quot; who had now risen,
+roused him. He got up and looked round him, but, with the Spartan
+firmness of his name-sake, said nothing, but went right off and married
+his cousin Prudence Prague, who could do all the sparking talk herself.</p>
+
+<p>Many another lover since then had Grace&mdash;many a mathematical
+schoolmaster, to whom Euclid was no longer a mystery, became, for her
+sake, puzzled in the problem of love, and earnestly besought her to
+solve the question he gave, with the simple statement of yes. But still
+her heart was adamant, and still she was unwon, and sighed more deeply
+for her island home. She disliked the country, and its customs more. Her
+religion was Roman catholic, and she cherished all the tenets of her
+faith with the deepest devotion. I remember calling on her one Sunday
+morning and finding her alone in her solitary dwelling; her relations,
+themselves catholics, having gone, and half the settlement with them, to
+meeting, but she preferred her solitude rather than join in their
+unconsecrated worship. This want of their own peculiar means of grace is
+much felt by religiously inclined persons in the forest settlements, and
+this made her wish more earnestly for the closing <a name='Page_058'></a>of the year to come,
+when, with the produce of her school labours, she would be enabled to
+leave.</p>
+
+<p>Such was, up to this period, what I knew of Grace's character and
+history. I was extremely fond of her society and conversation, as she,
+coming from that land of which 'tis said, her every word, her wildest
+thought, is poetry, had, in her imaginings, a twilight tinge of blue,
+which made her remarks truly delightful. She had become a little more
+softened in her prejudice, especially as she expected soon to leave the
+country, so that one day during her stay with us, in this same bright
+summer weather, I induced her to accompany me to a great baptist
+meeting, to be held in a river settlement some four or five miles off.
+On reaching the creek, the rest of our party, who had acquired the true
+American antipathy to pedestrianism, proceeded in canoes and punts to
+the place, but we preferred a walk to the dazzling glare of the sunshine
+on the water, so took not the highway, but a path through the forest,
+called the blazed track, from a chip or slice being made on the trees to
+indicate its line, and which you must keep sight of, or else go astray
+in the leafy labyrinth.</p>
+
+<p>When I first trod the woods of New Brunswick, I fancied wild animals
+would meet me at each step&mdash;every black log was transformed into some
+shaggy monster&mdash;visions of bears and lucifee's were ever before me&mdash;but
+these are now but rarely seen near the settlements, although bruin will
+sometimes make a descent on the sheepfolds; yet they have generally
+retreated before the axe, along with the more valuable moose deer and
+caraboo, with which the country used to abound. The ugliest animal I
+ever saw was a huge porcupine, which came close to the door and carried
+off, one by one, a whole flock of young turkies; and the boldest, the
+beautiful foxes, which are also extremely destructive to the poultry; so
+that in walking the woods one need not be afraid, even if a bear's
+foot-print be indented in the soil, as perhaps he is then far enough
+off, and besides 'tis only in the hungry spring, after his winter's
+sleep, he is carniverous, preferring in summer the roots, nuts, and
+berries with which the forest supplies him. The living things one sees
+are quite harmless&mdash;the bright eyed racoon looking down upon us through
+the branches, or the squirrels hopping from spray to spray, a mink or an
+otter splashing through the pond of a deserted beaver dam, from which
+the ancient possessors have also retired, and a hare or sable gliding in
+the distance, are all the animals one usually sees, with flocks of
+partridges, so tame that they stir not from you, and there being no game
+laws, these free denizens of the wild are the property of all who choose
+to claim them.</p>
+
+<p>The forests, especially in the hard wood districts, are beautiful in
+their fresh unbroken solitude&mdash;not the solitude of desolation, but the
+young wild loveliness of the untamed earth. The trees stand close and
+thick, with straight pillar-like stems, unbroken by leaf or bough, which
+all expand to the summit, as if for breathing space. There is little
+brush wood, but myriads of plants and creepers, springing with the
+summer's breath. The beautiful dog-wood's sweeping sprays and broad
+leaves, the maiden-hairs glossy wreathes and pearly buds, and the soft
+emerald moss, clothing the old fallen trees with its velvet tapestry,
+and hiding their decay with its cool rich beauty, while the sun light
+falls in golden tracery down the birch trees silver trunk, and the
+sparkling water flashes in the rays, or sings on its sweet melody unseen
+amid the luxuriant vegetation that conceals it.</p>
+
+<p>Through this sweet path we held on our way, talking of every bard who
+has said or sung the green wood's glories, whose fancied beauties were
+here all realized. As we neared the clearings, we met frequent groups of
+blue nose children gathering, with botanical skill, herbs for dyeing, or
+carrying sheets of birch bark, which, to be fit for its many uses, must
+be peeled from the trees in the full moon of June. On these children,
+beautiful as young Greeks, with lustrous eyes and faultless features,
+Grace said she could hardly yet look without an instinctive feeling of
+awe and pity, cherishing as she did the partiality of her creed and
+nation for infant baptism. To her there was something awful, in sight of
+those unhallowed creatures, whose brows bore not the first symbol of
+christianity. We having passed through the woods, were soon in a large
+assemblage of native and adopted colonists.</p>
+
+<p>The greater number of the native population, I think, are baptists, and
+their ministers are either raised among themselves, or come from the
+United States; or Nova Scotia. Once in every year a general association
+is convened of the members of the society throughout the province, the
+attendance on which gives ample proof of the greatness of their numbers,
+as well as their fervency of feeling. This association is held in a
+different <a name='Page_061'></a>part of the province each season&mdash;and generally lasts a week.
+Reports are here made of the progress of their religion, the state of
+funds, and of all other matters connected with the society. There is,
+generally, at these conventions a revival of religious feeling, and
+during the last days numerous converts are made and received by baptism
+into the church. This meeting is looked forward too by the colonists
+with many mingled feelings. By the grave and good it is hailed as an
+event of sacred importance, and by the gay and thoughtless as a season
+of sight-seeing and dress-displaying. Those in whose neighbourhood it
+was last year are glad it is not be so this time; and those near the
+place it is to be held, are calculating the sheep and poultry, the
+molasses and flour it will take to supply the numerous guests they
+expect on the occasion&mdash;open tables being kept at taverns, and private
+houses are so no longer, but hospitably receive all who come. No harvest
+is reaped by exorbitant charges for lodging, and all that is expected in
+return, is the same clever treatment when their turn comes. This
+convocation, occurring in the leisure spell between the end of planting
+and the commencement of haying, is consequently no hindrance to the
+agricultural part of the community; and old and young &quot;off they come&quot;
+from Miramichi, from Acadia, and the Oromocto, in shay and waggon,
+steam-boat and catamaran, on horseback or on foot, as best they can.
+This day, one towards the conclusion, the large frame building was
+crowded to excess, and outside were gathered groups, as may be seen in
+some countries around the catholic chapels. Within, the long tiers of
+benches display as fair an array of fashion and flowers as would be
+seen in any similar congregation in any country. The days of going to
+meeting in home-spun and raw hide moccasins are vanishing fast all
+through the province. These are the solid constituents of every-day
+apparel, but for holidays, even the bush maiden from the far-off
+settlements of the gulph shore has a lace veil and silken shawl, and
+these she arranges with infinitely more taste and grace than many a
+damsel whose eye has never lost sight of the clearings. By far the
+greater portion of the assembly have the dark eyes and intellectual
+expression of face which declares them of American origin; and,
+sprinkled among them, are the features which tell of England's born. The
+son of Scotland, too, is here, although unwont to grace such gatherings
+with his presence; yet this is an event of rare importance, and from its
+occurrence in his immediate neighbourhood, he has come, we dare not say
+to scoff, and yet about his expressive mouth their lingers a slight curl
+of something like it. And here, too, the Hibernian forgets his
+prejudices in the delight of being in a crowd. I do not class my friend
+Grace along with this common herd, but even she became as deeply
+interested as others in the discussion which was now going forward&mdash;this
+was the time of transacting business, and the present subject one which
+had occupied much attention. It was the appropriation of certain
+funds&mdash;whether they should be applied towards increasing their seminary,
+so as to fit it for the proper education of ministers for their church,
+or whether they should not be applied to some other purpose, and their
+priesthood be still allowed to spring uncultured from the mass. The
+different opinions expressed regarding this, finely developed the
+progress of mind throughout the land. Some white-headed fathers of the
+sect, old refugees, who had left the bounds of civilization before they
+had received any education, yet who had been gifted in the primitive
+days of the colony to lead souls from sin, sternly declaimed against the
+education system, declaring that grace, and grace alone, was what formed
+the teacher. All else was of the earth earthy, and had nought to do with
+heavenly things. One said that when he commenced preaching he could not
+read the bible&mdash;he could do little more now, and yet throughout the
+country many a soul owned its sickness to have been healed through him.
+Another then rose and answered him&mdash;a native of the province, and of his
+own persuasion, but who had drank from the springing fountains of
+science and of holiness&mdash;the bright gushing of whose clear streams
+sparkled through his discourse. I have since forgotten his language, but
+I know that at the time nothing I had ever heard or read entranced me as
+did it, glowing as it was with the new world's fervency of thought, and
+the old world's wealth of learning. He pleaded, as such should, for
+extended education, and his mighty words had power, and won the day. The
+old men, stern in their prejudices as their zeal, were conquered, and
+the baptists have now well conducted establishments of learning
+throughout the province.</p>
+
+<p>This discussion occupied the morning, and, at noon, we were invited home
+to dinner by a person who sat next us at the meeting, but whom we had
+never before seen. Some twelve or fourteen others formed our party,
+rather a small one considering, but we were the second relay, another
+party having already dined and proceeded to the meeting house, where
+religious worship had commenced as soon as we left. Our meal was not so
+varied in its details of cookery as the wealthier blue noses love to
+treat their guests with. The number to be supplied, and the quantity of
+provisions required, prevented this. It consisted of large joints of
+veal and mutton, baked and boiled, with a stately pot-pie, on its
+ponderous platter,&mdash;the standing dish in all these parts. Soon after
+dinner we were given to understand the dipping was about to commence;
+and walked along the shore to the place appointed for the purpose, in
+the bright blue waters of the bay, which is here formed by an inlet of
+the chief river of the province, the silver-rolling St. John. The scene
+around us was wondrously rich and lovely&mdash;the bright green intervale
+meadows with their lofty trees, the cloudless sky, the flashing waters,
+and the balmy breeze, which bore the breath of the far-off spruce and
+cedars. From the assembled throng, who had now left the meeting-house,
+arose the hymns which form the principal part of their worship.</p>
+
+<p>I have said the New Brunswickers are not, as yet, greatly favoured with
+the gift of music; this may, in a great measure, arise from deficient
+cultivation of the science, but at this time there was something strange
+and pleasant in the quick chaunting strain they raised, so different
+from the solemn sounds of sacred melody usual in other countries; and
+even Grace, accustomed to the organ's pealing grandeur and lofty
+anthems of her own church, was pleased with it. Still singing the
+minister entered the water, the converts one by one joining him, and
+singly became encircled in the shining waves: many of them were aged and
+bowed with time, and now took up the cross in their declining days; and
+others of the young and fair, who sought their creator in youth. It was
+wondrous now to think of this once lonely stream of the western world,
+the Indian's own Ounagandy. A few years since no voice had broke on its
+solitude save the red man's war-whoop, or his shrieking death song&mdash;no
+form been shadowed on its depths but the wild bird's wing, or the savage
+speeding on the blood chase. Now its living pictures told the holy
+records of the blessed east, and its waters typed the healing stream of
+Jordan. After some more singing and prayers offered for the
+newly-baptized, the ceremony was finished. 'Tis strange that on these
+dipping occasions no cold is caught by the converts. I suppose the
+excitement of the mind sustains the body; but persons are often baptised
+in winter, in an opening made through the ice for the purpose, and walk
+with their garments frozen around them without inconvenience, seeming to
+prove the efficacy of hydropathy, by declaring how happy and comfortable
+they feel. We, at the conclusion of the prayers, left the place, and
+proceeded homewards in a canoe; this is a mode of locomotion much liked
+by the river settlers, but to a stranger anything but agreeable. They
+glide along the waters swift and smooth, but a slight cause upsets them,
+and as perhaps you are not exactly certain about being born to be
+hanged, you must sit perfectly still&mdash;you are warned to do <a name='Page_066'></a>this, but if
+you are the least nervous, you will hardly dare to breathe, much less
+move, and this, in a journey of any length, is not so pleasant. This
+feeling, however, custom soon dispels; and when one sees little fairy
+girls paddling themselves and a cargo of brothers and sisters to school,
+or women with babies taking their wool to the carding mill, they feel
+ashamed, and learn to keep the true balance.</p>
+
+<p>Our light skiff, or bark rather, as it might be truely styled, being a
+veritable Indian canoe, made of birch bark most cunningly put together,
+these being so light as to float in shallow water, and to be easily
+removed, are for this reason preferred by the Indians to more solid
+materials, who carry them on their backs from stream to stream during
+their peregrinations through the country, soon bore us over the diamond
+water, whose mirrored surface we scarcely stirred, to the landing place,
+whose marshy precincts were now all gemmed with the golden and purple
+flowers of the sweet flag or calamus; and as the sun was yet high in the
+glorious blue, we resolved to spend the remainder of the day with a
+family living near; feeling, in this land of New Brunswick, no qualms
+about a sudden visitation, knowing that a people so proverbial for being
+&quot;wide awake&quot; can never be taken unawares. Their dwelling, a large frame
+building painted most gaily in the bright warm hues the old Dutch
+fancies of the states love to cherish, stands in the centre of rich
+parks of intervale. The porch is here, as well as at the more humble
+log-house, answering as it does in summer for a cool verandah, and in
+winter as a shelter from the snows. This, the taste of the country
+artist has erected on pillars, not recognisable as belonging to any
+known order of architecture, yet here esteemed as tasty and beautiful,
+and, as is his custom in the afternoon, is seated the owner of the
+dwelling, Silas Mavin, one of that fast declining remnant&mdash;the refugees.
+He had come from the United States at the revolution, and possessed
+himself of this fair heritage in the days when squatting was in vogue;
+those palmy days which the older inhabitants love to recall, when
+government had not to be petitioned, as it has now, for leave to
+purchase land, and when, in place of the now many-worded grant, with its
+broad seals and official signatures, people made out their own right of
+possession by raising their log-house, and placing the sign manual of
+their axe in whatever trees they chose; when moose and caraboo were
+plentiful as sheep and oxen are now; when salmon filled each stream, and
+the wood-sheltered clearings ripened the Indian corn without failing.</p>
+
+<p>In this land, young as it is, there are those who mourn for the times
+gone by, and consider the increasing settlement of the country as their
+worst evil; wilfully closing their eyes against improvement, they see
+not the wide fields, waving fair with grass and wheat, but think it was
+better when the dense forest shut out the breeze and reflected the
+sunbeams down with greater strength on the corn, so dearly loved by the
+American. They hear not the sound of the busy mill when they mourn for
+the fish-deserted brooks, and forget that when moose meat was more
+plentiful than now bread stuffs were ground in the wearying hand-mill.
+One of this respectable class of grumblers was our present
+acquaintance, and here he sat in his porch, with aspect grave as the
+stoics&mdash;his tall form, although in ruins now, was stately in decay as
+the old forest's pines. His head was such as a phrenologist would have
+loved to look upon; the true platonic breadth of brow, and lofty
+elevation of the scalp silvered over, told of a mind fitting in its
+magnitude to spring from that gigantic continent whose streams are
+mighty rivers and whose lakes are seas; but, valueless as these, when
+embosomed in their native woods, were the treasures of the old man's
+mind, unawakened as they were by education, and unpolished even by
+contact with the open world, yet still, amid the crust contracted in the
+life he had led, rays of the inward diamond glittered forth. The
+wilderness had always been his dwelling&mdash;in the land he had left, his
+early days had been passed in hunting the red deer or the red man on the
+Prairie fields&mdash;there, with the true spirit of the old American, he had
+learned to treat the Indian as &quot;varment,&quot; although a kindlier feeling
+was awakened towards them in this country, where white as well as red
+were recipients of England's bounty, and many a tale of wild pathos or
+dark horror has he told of the experience of his youth with the people
+of the wild. In New Brunswick his days had passed more peacefully. He
+sat this evening with his chair poised in that aerial position on one
+leg which none but an American can attain. Ambitious emigrants, wishing
+to be thought cute, attempt this delicate point of Yankee character, but
+their awkwardness falling short of the easy swing necessary for the
+purpose, often brings them to the ground. A beautiful English cherry
+tree, with its snowy wreathes in full blow, stood before him; he had
+raised it from the seed, and loved to look upon it. It had evidently
+been the object of his meditations, and served him now as a type
+wherewith to illustrate his remarks respecting the meeting we had
+attended&mdash;like those professors of religion we to-day heard, he said,
+was his beautiful cherry tree. It gave forth fair green leaves of
+promise and bright truth-seeming blossoms, but in summer, when he sought
+for fruit there was none; and false as it, were they of words so fair
+and deeds so dark, and he'd &quot;double sooner trust one who laughed more
+and prayed less, than those same whining preachers.&quot; This was the old
+man's opinion, not only respecting the baptists, but all other sects as
+well. What his own ideas of religion were I never could make out.
+Universalism I fancied it was, but differing much from the theories of
+those evanescent preachers who sometimes flashed like meteors through
+the land, leaving doubt and recklessness in their path. The first truths
+of Christianity had been imparted to him, and these, mingling with his
+own innate ideas of veneration, formed his faith; as original, though
+more lofty in its aspirations, than the wild Indian's who tells of the
+flowery land of souls where the good spirit dwells, and where buffalo
+and deer forsake not the hunting grounds of the blessed. He held no
+outward form or right of sanctity. The ceremony which bound him to his
+wife was simply legal, having been read over by the nearest magistrate.
+His children were unbaptised, and the green graves of his household were
+in his own field, although a public burying-ground was by the
+meeting-house of the settlement.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the old lady, who had hailed our advent with the hospitality
+of her country, set about preparing our entertainment. Tradition says of
+the puritans, the pilgrims of New England, that when they first stood on
+Plymouth Rock, on their first arrival from Europe, they bore the bible
+under one arm and a cookery book under the other. Now, as to their
+descendants, the refugees, I am not exactly sure if, when they
+pilgrimised to New Brunswick, they were so careful of the bible, but I
+am certain they retain the precepts of the cookery book, and love to
+embody them when they may. Soon as a guest comes within ken of a blue
+nose, the delightful operations commence. The poorer class shifting with
+Johnny-cake and pumpkin, while, with the better off, the airy phantoms
+of custard and curls, which flit through their brains, are called into
+tangible existence. The air is impregnated with allspice and
+nutmeg&mdash;apple &quot;sarce&quot; and cranberry &quot;persarves&quot; become visible, while
+sal-a-ratus and molasses are evidently in the ascendant.</p>
+
+<p>And now, while our hostess of this evening busied herself in compounding
+these sweet mysteries, the old man related to us the following love
+passage of his earlier days, which I shall give in my own language,
+although his original expressions rendered it infinitely more
+interesting.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<a name='Page_071'></a><h2>THE INDIAN BRIDE,</h2>
+
+<h4>A REFUGEE'S STORY.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>On the margin of a bright blue western stream stood a small fort,
+surrounding the dwellings of some hunters who had penetrated thus far
+into the vast wilderness to pursue their calling. The huts they raised
+were rude and lowly, and yet the walls surrounding them were high and
+lofty. Piles of arms filled their block house, and a constant guard was
+kept. These precautions were taken to protect them from the Indians,
+whose ancient hunting grounds they had intruded on, and whose camp was
+not far distant. Deadly dealings had passed between them, but the
+whites, strong in number and in arms, heeded little the settled malice
+of their foes, and after taking the usual precautions of defence,
+carried on their hunting, shooting an Indian, or ought else that came
+across them, while the others, savage and unrelenting, kept on their
+trail in hope of vengeance.</p>
+
+<p>Strange was it, that in an atmosphere dark as this, the light of love
+should beam. Leemah, a beautiful Indian girl, met in the forest a young
+white hunter. She loved, and was beloved in return. The roses of the few
+summers she had lived glowed warm upon her cheek, and truth flashed in
+the guileless light of her deep dark eyes&mdash;but Leemah was already a
+bride, betrothed in childhood to a chieftain of her tribe; he had now
+summoned her to his dwelling, and her business in the forest was
+collecting materials for her bridal store of box and basket. Her
+sylph-like form of arrowy grace was arrayed in his wedding gifts of
+costly furs, and glittering bright with bead and shell. But few were the
+stores that Leemah gathered for her Indian chief. The burning noon was
+passed with her white love in the leafy shade&mdash;there she brought for him
+summer berries, and gathered for him the water cup flower, with its
+cooling draught of fragrant dew. Her time of marriage came, and at
+midnight it was to be celebrated with torch light and dance. The other
+hunters knew the love of Silas for the gem of the wilderness, and
+readily offered their assistance in his project of gaining her. To them,
+carrying off an Indian girl was an affair of light moment, and at dark
+of night, with their boat and loaded rifles, they proceeded up the
+stream towards the Indian village. As they drew near, the wild chaunt of
+the bridal song was heard, and as all silently they approached the
+shore, the red torch light gleamed out upon the scene of mystic
+splendour. The chieftains of the tribe in stately silence stood around.
+The crimson beams lit up the plumes upon their brow, and showed in more
+awful hues the fearful lines of their painted faces, terrible at the
+festival as on the field of battle. The squaws, in their gayest garb,
+with mirrors flashing on their breasts, and beads all shining as they
+moved, danced round the betrothed; and there she stood, the love-lorn
+Leemah, her black hair all unbraided, and her dark eyes piercing the far
+depths of night, as if looking for her lover. Nor looked she long in
+vain, for suddenly and fearlessly Silas sprung upon the shore, dashed
+through the circle, and bore off the Indian bride to his bark. Then rose
+the war-shout of her people, while pealed among them the rifles of the
+hunters. Again came the war-whoop, mingled with the death shriek of the
+wounded. A hunter stood up and echoed them in mockery, but an arrow
+quivered through his brain and he was silent, while the stream grew
+covered with shadowy canoes, filled with dark forms shouting for
+revenge. On came they with lightning's speed, and on sped the hunters
+knowing now that their only safety was in flight. On dashed they through
+the waters which now began to bear them forward with wondrous haste. A
+thought of horror struck them: they were in the rapids, while before
+them the white foam of the falls flashed through the darkness. The tide
+had ebbed in their absence, and the river, smooth and level when full,
+showed all across it, at the flood, a dark abyss of fearful rocks and
+boiling surf. This they knew, but it was now too late to recede; the
+dark stream bore them onward, and now even the Indians dare not follow,
+but landed and ran along the shore shouting with delight at their
+inevitable destruction. It was a moment of dread, unutterable horror to
+Silas and his comrades. Their bark whirled round in the giddy
+waves&mdash;then was there a wild plunge&mdash;a fearful shock&mdash;a shriek of death,
+and the flashing foam gathered over them, while loudly rang the voices
+from the shore. But suddenly, by some mighty effort, the boat was flung
+clear of the rocks and uninjured into the smooth current of the lower
+stream. A few strokes of the oar brought them to the fort, which they
+entered; and heard the Indians howling behind them like wolves baffled
+of their prey. But they and the dangers they had so lately passed were
+alike forgotten in the night's carousal; and, when the season was ended,
+they returned to their homes in the settlements, enriched with the
+spoils they had gained in hunting, and Silas with his treasured pearl of
+the prairie.</p>
+
+<p>But here, some months after they returned, and while, his heart was yet
+brightened with her smiles, a dark shade passed over her sunny brow, and
+she vanished from his home. An Indian of her tribe was said to have been
+lingering near the village, and she no doubt had joined him and returned
+to her kindred. Other tidings of her fate Silas heard not. Alas! she
+knew the undying vengeance of her people, and by giving herself up to
+them thought to shield him from their hatred.</p>
+
+<p>Again the time of hunting came, and the same party occupied the fort in
+the wilderness. As yet they had been unmolested by the Indians: they
+even knew not of their being in the neighbourhood, yet still a form of
+guarding was kept up, and Silas and a comrade held the night-watch in
+the block house. The others had fallen asleep, and Silas, as he sat with
+half-closed eyes, fancied he saw before him his lost love, Leemah; he
+started as he thought from a dream, but 'twas real, and 'twas her own
+cool fingers pressed his brow&mdash;by the clear fire light he saw her cheek
+was deadly pale, but her eyes were flashing like sepulchral lamps, and a
+white-browed babe slept upon her bosom. In a deep thrilling whisper she
+bade him rise and follow her. Wondering how she had found entrance, he
+obeyed, and she led him outside the walls of the fort; a murmuring
+sound as of leaves stirred by the wind was heard.</p>
+
+<p>'Tis the coming of the Red Eagle, said Leemah, his beak is whetted for
+the blood draughts; here enter, and if your own life or Leemah's be
+dear, keep still;&mdash;as she spoke she parted aside the young shoots which
+had sprung tip from the root of a tree, and twined like an arbour about
+it. Her deep earnestness left no time for speculation; he entered the
+recess, and hardly had the flexile boughs sprung back to their places,
+when the fleet footsteps of the Indians came nearer, and the fort was
+surrounded by them; the building was fired, and then their deadly yell
+burst forth, while the unfortunate inmates started from sleep at the
+sound of horror. Mercy for them there was none; the relentless savage
+knew it not; but the shout of delight rose louder as they saw the flames
+dance higher o'er their victims; and Silas looked on all&mdash;but Leemah's
+eye was on his&mdash;he knew his slightest movement was death to her as well
+as to himself. Like a demon through the flame leaped the ghastly form of
+the Red Eagle, (he to whom Leemah had been espoused) and with searching
+glance glared on his victims, but saw not there the one he sought with
+deeper vengeance than the others&mdash;'twas Silas he looked for; and, with
+the speed of a winged fiend, he bounded to where Leemah stood, and
+accused her of having aided in his escape. She acknowledged she had, and
+pointed to the far-off forest as his hiding place. In an instant his
+glittering tomahawk cleft the hand she raised off at the wrist. Silas
+knew no more. Leemah's hot blood fell upon his brow, and he fainted
+through excess of agony, but like Mazeppa, he lived to repay the Red
+Eagle in after-years for that night of horror&mdash;when his eyes had been
+blasted with the burning fort, his ears stunned with the shrieks of his
+murdered friends, and his brain scorched through with Leemah's life
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>Long years after, when he had forsaken the hunter's path, and fought as
+a loyalist in the British ranks, among their Indian allies who smoked
+with them the pipe of peace and called them brothers, was one, in whose
+wild and withered features he recalled the stern Red Eagle; blood called
+for blood; he beguiled the Indian now with copious draughts of the white
+man's fire-water, and he and another (brother of one of the murdered
+hunters) killed him, and placing him in his own canoe with the paddle in
+his hand, sent the fearful corpse down the rapid stream, bearing him
+unto his home. The wild dog and wolf howled on the banks as it floated
+past, and the raven and eagle hovered over it claiming it as their prey.
+The tribe, at the death of their Sagamore, withdrew from their allies,
+and, following the track of the setting sun, waged war indiscriminately
+with all.</p>
+
+<p>And long after, though more than half a century had elapsed since the
+death of the Red Eagle, and when the snows of eighty winters had
+whitened the dark tresses of the young hunter, and bowed the tall form
+of the loyalist soldier; when he who had trod the flowery paths of the
+prairie, and slept in the orchard bowers by the blue stream of the
+Hudson, had, for love of England's laws, become a refugee from his
+native land; and when here, in New Brunswick, he beheld raised around
+him a happy and comfortable home&mdash;his house, which had always been
+freely opened to religious worship, and in which had been held the
+prayer-meetings of the baptists and love-feasts of the methodists,
+became one day transformed into a catholic chapel.</p>
+
+<p>A bishop of the Romish church was passing through the province, and his
+presence in this sequestered spot was an event of unwonted interest;
+many who had forgotten the creed of their fathers returned to the faith
+of their earlier days, and among the most fervent of those assembled,
+there was a small group of Milicete Indians from the woods hard by. With
+the idolatrous devotion of their half savage nature they fell prostrate
+before the priest. Among them was an ancient woman, but not of their
+tribe, who, while raising her head in prayer, or in crossing herself,
+Silas observed she used but one hand&mdash;the other was gone. This
+circumstance recalled to light the faded love-dream of his youth. He
+questioned her and found her to be Leemah, his once beautiful Indian
+bride, who had wandered here to escape the dark tyranny of her savage
+kindred. She died soon after, and &quot;she sleeps there,&quot; said the old man,
+pointing to where a white cross marked a low grassy mound before us, and
+time had not so dried up his heart springs but I saw a tear drop to her
+memory.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I turned my eyes from Leemah's grave to see what effect the tale had
+made on the old lady, but she was so engaged in contemplating the golden
+curls of her doughnuts, and feathery lightness of her pound cake, she
+had heard it not; and even if she had, it had all happened such a long
+time ago, that her impressions respecting it must all have worn out by
+now. After having partaken of the luxurious feast she set before us, and
+hearing some more of the old man's legends, we proceeded forward.</p>
+
+<p>The evening, with one of those sudden changes of New Brunswick, had
+become cold and chilly. The sun looked red and lurid through the heavy
+masses of fog clouds drifting through the sky; this fog, which comes all
+the way from the Banks of Newfoundland, and which is particularly
+disagreeable sometimes along the Bay shore and in St. John, in
+opposition to the general clearness of the American atmosphere is but
+little known in the interior of the country. Numerous summer fallows are
+burning around, and the breeze flings over us showers of blackened
+leaves and blossoms. As we approached home, we were accosted by one Mr.
+Isaac Hanselpecker, a neighbour of ours; he was leaning over the bars,
+apparently wanting a lounge excessively. He had just finished milking,
+and had handed the pails to Miss Hanselpecker, as he called his wife. If
+there be a trait of American character peculiar to itself, displayed
+more fully than another by contrast with Europeans, it is in the
+treatment of the gentler sex, differing as it does materially from the
+picture of the Englishman, standing with his back to the fire, while the
+ladies freeze around him; or the glittering politeness of the Frenchman,
+hovering like a butterfly by the music stand; it has in it more of
+intellect and real tenderness than either, although tending as it does
+to the advancement of national character, some of their own talented
+ones begin to complain <a name='Page_079'></a>that in the refined circles of the States they
+are becoming almost too civilised in this respect: the ladies requiring
+rather more than is due to them. Yet among the working classes it has a
+sweet and wholesome influence, softening as it does the asperities of
+labour, and lightening the burthen to each. Here woman's empire is
+within, and here she shines the household star of the poor man's hearth;
+not in idleness, for in America, of all countries in the world,
+prosperity depends on female industry. Here &quot;she looketh well to the
+ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness,&quot; and for
+this reason, perhaps, it is, that their husbands arise and call them
+blessed. Now Mr. Hanselpecker had all the respect for his lady natural
+to his country, and assisted her domestic toils by milking the cows,
+making fires, and fetching wood and water. Yet there was one material
+point in which he failed: she was often &quot;scant of bread,&quot; he being one
+who, even in this land of toil, got along, somehow or other, with
+wondrous little bodily labour; professing to be a farmer, he held one of
+the finest pieces of land in the settlement, but his agricultural
+operations, for the most part, consisted in hoeing a few sickly stems of
+corn, while others were reaping buckwheat, or sowing a patch of flax,
+&quot;'cause the old woman wanted loom gears;&quot; shooting cranes, spearing
+salmon, or trapping musquash on the lake, he prefers to raising fowl or
+sheep, as cranes find their own provisions, and fish require no fences
+to keep them from the fields. His wife's skill, however, in managing the
+dairy department, is, when butter rates well in the market, their chief
+dependence; and he, when he chooses to work, which he would much rather
+do for another than himself, can earn enough in one day, if he take
+truck, to keep him three, and but that he prefers fixing cucumbers to
+thrashing, and making moccasins to clearing land, he might do well
+enough. Though poor, he is none the least inclined to grovel, but, with
+the spirit of his land, feels quite at ease in company with any judge or
+general in the country.</p>
+
+<p>Having declined his invitation to enter the log erection,&mdash;which in
+another country would hardly be styled a house, he having still delayed
+to enclose the gigantic frame, whose skeleton form was reared hard
+by&mdash;he gave his opinion of the weather at present, with some shrewd
+guesses as to what it would be in future; regarding the smoke wreaths
+from the fires around (there were none on his land however), he said, it
+reminded him of the fire in Miramichi. &quot;How long is it, old woman,&quot; said
+he, turning to his wife, who had now joined us, &quot;since that ere
+burning?&quot; &quot;Well,&quot; said she, &quot;I aint exactly availed to tell you right
+off how many years it is since, but I guess our Jake was a week old when
+it happened.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now, as the burning of Miramichi was one of the most interesting
+historical events in the province records, we gave him the date, which
+was some twenty years since; this also gave us the sum of Jacob's
+lustres&mdash;rather few considering he had planted a tater patch on shares,
+and laid out to marry in the fall.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well,&quot; said he, &quot;You may depend that was a fire&mdash;my hair curls yet when
+I think of it&mdash;it was the same summer we got married, and Washington
+Welford having been out a timber-hunting <a name='Page_081'></a>with me the fall afore, we
+discovered a most elegant growth of pine&mdash;I never see'd before nor since
+the equal on it&mdash;regular sixty footers, every log on 'em&mdash;the trees
+stood on the banks of the river, as if growing there on purpose to be
+handy for rafting, and we having got a first-rate supply from our
+merchants in town, toted our things with some of the old woman's house
+trumpery to the spot&mdash;we soon had up a shanty, and went to work in right
+airnest. There was no mistake in Wash; he was as clever a fellow as ever
+I knowed, and as handsome a one&mdash;seven feet without his shoes&mdash;eyes like
+diamonds, and hair slick as silk; when he swung his axe among the
+timber, you may depend he looked as if he had a mind to do it&mdash;our
+felling and hewing went on great, and with the old woman for cook we
+made out grand&mdash;she, however, being rather delicate, we hired a help, a
+daughter of a neighbour about thirty miles off. Ellen Ross was as smart
+a gal as ever was raised in these clearings&mdash;her parents were old
+country folks, and she had most grand larning, and was out and out a
+regular first-rater. Washington and her didn't feel at all small
+together&mdash;they took a liking to each other right away, and a prettier
+span was never geared. Well, our Jake was born, and the old woman got
+smart, and about house again. Wash took one of our team horses, and he
+and Ellen went off to the squire's to get yoked. It was a most beautiful
+morning when they started, but the weather soon began to change&mdash;there
+had been a most uncommon dry spell&mdash;not a drop of rain for many weeks,
+nor hardly a breath of air in the woods, but now there came a most
+fearful wind and storm, and awful black clouds gathering through the
+sky&mdash;the sun grew blood red, and looked most terrible through the smoke.
+I had heard of such things as 'clipses, but neither the almanac, nor the
+old woman's universal, said a word about it. Altho' there was such a
+wind, there was the most burning heat&mdash;one could hardly breathe, and the
+baby lay pale and gasping&mdash;we thought it was a dying. The cattle grew
+oneasy, and all at once a herd of moose bounded into our chopping, and a
+lot of bears after them, all running as if for dear life. I got down the
+rifle, and was just a going to let fly at them, when a scream from the
+old woman made me look about. The woods were on fire all round us, and
+the smoke parting before us, showed the flames crackling and roaring
+like mad, 'till the very sky seemed on fire over our heads. I did'nt
+know what to do, and, in fact, there was no time to calculate about it.
+The blaze glared hotly on our faces, and all the wild critturs of the
+woods began to carry on most ridiculous, and shout and holler like all
+nature I caught up my axe, and the old woman the baby, and took the only
+open space left for us, where the stream was running, and the fire
+couldn't catch. Just as we were going, a horse came galloping most awful
+fast right through the fire&mdash;it was poor Washington; his clothes all
+burnt, and his black hair turned white as snow, and oh! the fearful
+burden he carried in his arms. Ellen Ross, the beautiful bright-eyed
+girl, who had left us so smilingly in the morning, lay now before us a
+scorched and blackened corpse&mdash;the scared horse fell dead on the ground.
+I hollered to Washington to follow us to the water, but he heard me
+not; and the flames closed fast o'er him and his dead bride&mdash;poor
+fellow, that was the last on him&mdash;and creation might be biled down, ere
+you could ditto him any how. By chance our timber was lying near in the
+stream, and I got the old woman and the baby on a log, and stood beside
+them up to the neck in water, which now grew hot, and actilly began to
+hiss around me. The trees on the other side of the river had caught, and
+there was an arch of flame right above us. My stars! what a time we had
+of it! Lucifees and minks, carraboo and all came close about us, and an
+Indian devil got upon the log beside my wife; poor critturs, they were
+all as tame as possible, and half frightened to death. I thought the end
+of the world was come for sartain. I tried to pray, but I was got so
+awful hungry, that grace before meat was all I could think off. How long
+we had been there I couldn't tell, but it seemed tome a 'tarnity&mdash;fire,
+howsomever, cannot burn always&mdash;that's a fact; so at the end of what we
+afterwards found to be the third day, we saw the sun shine down on the
+still smoking woods. The old woman was weak, I tell you; and for me, I
+felt considerably used up&mdash;howsomever I got to the shore, and hewed out
+a canoe from one of our own timber sticks&mdash;there was no need of lucifers
+to strike a light&mdash;lots of brands were burning about. I laid some on to
+it and burnt it out, and soon had a capital craft, and away we went down
+the stream. Dead bodies of animals were floating about, and there were
+some living ones, looking as if they had got out of their latitude, and
+didn't think they would find it. I reckon we weren't the only sufferers
+by that ere conflagration. As we came down to the settlements folks took
+us for ghosts, we looked so miserable like&mdash;howsomever, with good
+tendin, we soon came round again; but, to tell you the truth, it makes
+me feel kind a narvous, when I see a fallow burning ever since. Tho'
+folks could'nt tell how that ere fire happened, and say it was a
+judgment on lumber men and sich like, I think it came from some
+settlers' improvements, who, wishing to raise lots of taters, destroyed
+the finest block of timber land in the province, besides the ships in
+Miramichi harbour, folks' buildings, and many a clever feller, whose
+latter end was never known.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And so I suppose Mr. H.,&quot; said his wife, &quot;that is the reason you make
+such slim clearings.&quot; &quot;I estimate your right,&quot; said he; and we, not
+expecting the spice of sentiment which flavored Mr. H.'s story, left
+him, and reached home, where we closed the evening by putting into the
+following shape one of Silas Marvin's legends, not written with a
+perryian pen and azure fluid, but with a quill from the wing of a wild
+goose, shot by our friend Hanselpecker, (who by the way was fond of such
+game,) as last fall it took its flight from our cold land to the sunny
+south, and with home-made ink prepared from a decoction of white maple
+bark.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<a name='Page_085'></a><h2>THE LOST ONE,</h2>
+
+<h4>A TALE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Beyond the utmost verge of the limits which the white settlers had yet
+dared to encroach on the red owners of the soil, stood the humble
+dwelling of Kenneth Gordon, a Scotch emigrant, whom necessity had driven
+from the blue hills and fertile vallies of his native land, to seek a
+shelter in the tangled mazes of the forests of the new world. Few would
+have had the courage to venture thus into the very power of the
+savage&mdash;but Kenneth Gordon possessed a strong arm and a hopeful heart,
+to give the lips he loved unborrowed bread; this nerved him against
+danger, and, 'spite of the warning of friends, Kenneth pitched his tent
+twelve miles from the nearest settlement. Two years passed over the
+family in their lonely home, and nothing had occurred to disturb their
+peace, when business required Kenneth's presence up the river. One calm
+and dewy morning he prepared for his journey; Marion Gordon followed her
+husband to the wicket, and a tear, which she vainly strove to hide with
+a smile, trembled in her large blue eye. She wedded Kenneth when she
+might well have won a richer bridegroom: she chose him for his worth;
+their lot had been a hard one&mdash;but in all the changing scenes of life
+their love remained unchanged; and Kenneth Gordon, although thirteen
+years a husband, was still a lover. Marion strove to rally her spirits,
+as her husband gaily cheered her with an assurance of his return before
+night. &quot;Why so fearful, Marion? See here is our ain bonny Charlie for a
+guard, and what better could an auld Jacobite wish for?&quot; said Kenneth,
+looking fondly on his wife; while their son marched past them in his
+Highland dress and wooden claymore by his side. Marion smiled as her
+husband playfully alluded to the difference in their religion; for
+Kenneth was a staunch presbyterian, and his wife a Roman catholic; yet
+that difference&mdash;for which so much blood has been shed in the
+world&mdash;never for an instant dimmed the lustre of their peace; and Marion
+told her glittering beads on the same spot where her husband breathed
+his simple prayer. Kenneth, taking advantage of the smile he had roused,
+waved his hand to the little group, and was soon out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>The hot and sultry day was passed by Marion in a state of restless
+anxiety, but it was for Kenneth alone she feared, and the hours sped
+heavily till she might expect his return. Slowly the burning sun
+declined in the heavens, and poured a flood of golden radiance on the
+leafy trees and the bright waves of the majestic river, which rolled its
+graceful waters past the settlers dwelling. Marion left her infant
+asleep in a small shed at the back of the log-house, with Mary, her
+eldest daughter, to watch by it, and taking Charlie by the hand went out
+to the gate to look for her husband's return. Kenneth's father, an old
+and almost superannuated man, sat in the door-way, with twin girls of
+Kenneth's sitting on his knees, singing their evening hymn, while he
+bent fondly over them.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had Marion reached the wicket, when a loud yell&mdash;the wild
+war-whoop of the savage&mdash;rang on her startled ear. A thousand dark
+figures seemed to start from the water's edge&mdash;the house was surrounded,
+and she beheld the grey hairs of the old man twined round in the hand of
+one, and the bright curls of her daughters gleamed in that of another;
+while the glittering tomahawk glared like lightning in her eyes. Madly
+she rushed forward to shield her children; the vengeance of the Indian
+was glutted, and the life-blood of their victims crimsoned the hearth
+stone! The house was soon in flames&mdash;the war dance was finished&mdash;and
+their canoes bounded lightly on the waters, bearing them far from the
+scene of their havoc.</p>
+
+<p>As the sun set a heavy shower of rain fell and refreshed the parched
+earth&mdash;the flowers sent up a grateful fragrance on the evening air&mdash;the
+few singing birds of the woods poured forth their notes of melody&mdash;the
+blue jay screamed among the crimson buds of the maple, and the humming
+bird gleamed through the emerald sprays of the beech tree.</p>
+
+<p>The pearly moon was slowly rising in the blue aether, when Kenneth
+Gordon approached his home. He was weary with his journey, but the
+pictured visions of his happy home, his smiling wife, and the caresses
+of his sunny haired children, cheered the father's heart, though his
+step was languid, and his brow feverish. But oh! what a sight of horror
+for a fond and loving heart met his eyes, as he came in sight of the
+spot that contained his earthly treasures&mdash;the foreboding silence had
+surprised him&mdash;he heard not the gleeful voices of his children, as they
+were wont to bound forth to meet him, he saw not Marion stand at the
+gate to greet his return&mdash;but a thick black smoke rose heavily to the
+summits of the trees, and the smouldering logs of the building fell with
+a sullen noise to the ground. The rain had quenched the fire, and the
+house was not all consumed. Wild with terror, Kenneth rushed forward;
+his feet slipped on the bloody threshhold, and he fell on the mangled
+bodies of his father and his children. The demoniac laceration of the
+stiffening victims told too plainly who had been their murderers. How
+that night of horror passed Kenneth knew not. The morning sun was
+shining bright&mdash;when the bereaved and broken-hearted man was roused from
+the stupor of despair by the sound of the word &quot;father&quot; in his ears; he
+raised his eyes, and beheld Mary, his eldest daughter, on her knees
+beside him. For a moment Kenneth fancied he had had a dreadful dream,
+but the awful reality was before him. He pressed Mary wildly to his
+bosom, and a passionate flood of tears relieved his burning brain. Mary
+had heard the yells of the savages, and the shrieks of her mother
+convinced her that the dreaded Indians had arrived. She threw open the
+window, and snatching the infant from its bed, flew like a wounded deer
+to the woods behind the house. The frightened girl heard all, remained
+quiet, and knowing her father would soon return, left the little Alice
+asleep on some dried leaves, and ventured from her hiding place.</p>
+
+<p>No trace of Marion or of Charles could be found&mdash;they had been reserved
+for a worse fate; and for months a vigilant search was kept up&mdash;parties
+of the settlers, led on by Kenneth, scoured the woods night and day.
+Many miles off a bloody battle had been fought between two hostile
+tribes, where a part of Marion's dress and of her son's was found, but
+here all trace of the Indians ended, and Kenneth returned to his
+desolated home. No persuasion could induce him to leave the place where
+the joys of his heart had been buried: true, his remaining children yet
+linked him to life, but his love for them only increased his sorrow for
+the dead and the lost. Kenneth became a prematurely old man&mdash;his dark
+hair faded white as the mountain snow&mdash;his brow was wrinkled, and his
+tall figure bent downwards to the earth.</p>
+
+<p>Seventeen years had rolled on their returnless flight since that night
+of withering sorrow. Kenneth Gordon still lived, a sad and
+broken-spirited man; but time, that great tamer of the human heart,
+which dulls the arrows of affliction, and softens the bright tints of
+joy down to a sober hue, had shed its healing influence even over his
+wounded heart. Mary Gordon had been some years a wife, and her children
+played around Kenneth's footsteps. A little Marion recalled the wife of
+his youth; and another, Charlie, the image of his lost son, slept in his
+bosom. There was yet another person who was as a sunbeam in the sight of
+Kenneth; her light laugh sounded as music in his ears, and the joy-beams
+of her eyes fell gladly on his soul. This gladdener of sorrow was his
+daughter Alice, now a young and lovely woman; bright and beautiful was
+she, lovely as a rose-bud, with a living soul&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;No fountain from its native cave,<br /></span>
+<span>E'er tripped with foot so free;<br /></span>
+<span>She was as happy as a wave<br /></span>
+<span>That dances o'er the sea.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Alice was but five months old when her mother was taken from her, but
+Mary, who watched over her helpless infancy with a care far beyond her
+years, and with love equal to a mother's, was repaid by Alice with most
+unbounded affection; for to the love of a sister was added the
+veneration of a parent.</p>
+
+<p>One bright and balmy Sabbath morning Kenneth Gordon and his family left
+their home for the house of prayer. Mary and her husband walked
+together, and their children gambolled on the grassy path before them.
+Kenneth leaned on the arm of his daughter Alice; another person walked
+by her side, whose eye, when it met her's, deepened the tint on her fair
+cheek. It was William Douglas&mdash;the chosen lover of her heart, and well
+worthy was he to love the gentle Alice. Together they proceeded to the
+holy altar, and the next Sabbath was to be their bridal day.</p>
+
+<p>A change had taken place since Kenneth Gordon first settled on the banks
+of the lonely river. The white walls and graceful spire of a church now
+rose where the blue smoke of the solitary log-house once curled through
+the forest trees; and the ashes of Kenneth's children and his father
+reposed within its sacred precincts. A large and populous village stood
+where the red deer roved on his trackless path. The white sails of the
+laden barque gleamed on the water, where erst floated the stealthy canoe
+of the savage; and a pious throng offered their aspirations where the
+war-whoop had rung on the air.</p>
+
+<p>Alice was to spend the remaining days of her maiden life with a young
+friend, a few miles from her father's, and they were to return together
+on her bridal eve. William Douglas accompanied Alice on her walk to the
+house of her friend. They parted within a few steps of the house.
+William returned home, and Alice, gay and gladsome as a bird, entered a
+piece of wood, which led directly to the house. Scarcely had she entered
+it when she was seized by a strong arm; her mouth was gagged, and
+something thrown over her head; she was then borne rapidly down the bank
+of the river, and laid in a canoe. She heard no voices, and the swift
+motion of the canoe rendered her unconscious. How long the journey
+lasted she knew not. At length she found herself, on recovering from
+partial insensibility, in a rude hut, with a frightful-looking Indian
+squaw bathing her hands, while another held a blazing torch of pine
+above her head. Their hideous faces, frightful as the imagery of a
+dream, scared Alice, and she fainted again.</p>
+
+<p>The injuries which Kenneth Gordon had suffered from the savages made him
+shudder at the name of Indian&mdash;and neither he nor his family ever held
+converse with those who traded in the village. Metea, a chief of the
+Menomene Indians, in his frequent trading expeditions to the village,
+had often seen Alice, and became enamoured of the village beauty. He had
+long watched an opportunity of stealing her, and bearing her away to his
+tribe, where he made no doubt of winning her love. When Alice recovered
+the squaws left her, and Metea entered the hut; he commenced by telling
+her of the great honour in being allowed to share the hut of Metea, a
+&quot;brave&quot; whose bow was always strung, whose tomahawk never missed its
+blow, and whose scalps were as numerous as the stars in the path-way of
+ghosts; and he pointed to the grisly trophies hung in the smoke of the
+cabin. He concluded by giving her furs and strings of beads, with which
+the squaws decorated her, and the next morning the trembling girl was
+led from the hut, and lifted into a circle formed of the warriors of the
+tribe. Here Metea stood forth and declared his deeds of bravery, and
+asked their consent for &quot;the flower of the white nation&quot; to be his
+bride. When he had finished, a young warrior, whose light and graceful
+limbs might well have been a sculptor's model, stood forward to speak.
+He was dressed in the richest Indian costume, and his scalping knife and
+beaded moccasins glittered in the sunshine. His features bore an
+expression very different from the others. Neither malice nor cunning
+lurked in his full dark eye, but a calm and majestic melancholy reposed
+on his high and smooth brow, and was diffused over his whole mein; and,
+in the clear tones of his voice, &quot;Brothers,&quot; said he to the warriors,
+&quot;we have buried the hatchet with the white nation&mdash;it is very deep
+beneath the earth&mdash;shall we dig it because Metea scorns the women of his
+tribe, because he has stolen 'the flower of the white nation?' Let her
+be restored to her people, lest her chiefs come to claim her, and Metea
+lives to disgrace the brave warriors of the woods?&quot; He sat down, and the
+circle rising, said, &quot;Our brother speaks well, but Metea is very
+<i>brave</i>.&quot; It was decided that Alice should remain.</p>
+
+<p>Towards evening Metea entered the hut, and approaching Alice, caught
+hold of her hand,&mdash;the wildest passion gleamed in his glittering eyes,
+and Alice, shrieking, ran towards the door. Metea caught her in his arms
+and pressed her to his bosom. Again she shrieked, and a descending blow
+cleft Metea's skull in sunder, and his blood fell on her neck. It was
+the young Indian who advised her liberation in the morning who dealt
+Metea's death-blow. Taking Alice in his arms, he stepped lightly from
+the hut. It was a still and starless night, and the sleeping Indians saw
+them not. Unloosing a canoe, he placed Alice in it, and pushed softly
+from the shore.</p>
+
+<p>Before the next sunset Alice was in sight of her home. Her father and
+friends knew nothing of what had transpired. They fancied her at her
+friend's house, and terror at her peril and joy at her return followed
+in the same breath. Mary threw a timid, yet kind glance on the Indian
+warrior who had saved her darling Alice, and Kenneth pressed the hand of
+him who restored his child. In a few minutes William Douglas joined the
+happy group, and she repeated her escape on his bosom. That night
+Kenneth Gordon's prayer was longer and more fervent than usual. The
+father's thanks arose to the throne of grace for the safety of his
+child; he prayed for her deliverer, and for pardon for the hatred he had
+nurtured against the murderers of his children. During the prayer the
+Indian stood apart, his arms were folded, and deep thought was marked on
+his brow. When it was finished, Mary's children knelt and received
+Kenneth's blessing, ere they retired to rest. The Indian rushed forward,
+and, bursting into tears, threw himself at the old man's feet&mdash;he bent
+his feathered head to the earth. The stern warrior wept like a child.
+Oh! who can trace the deep workings of the human heart? Who can tell in
+what hidden fount the feelings have their spring? The forest chase&mdash;the
+bloody field&mdash;the war dance&mdash;all the pomp of savage life passed like a
+dream from the Indian's soul; a cloud seemed to roll its shadows from
+his memory. That evening's prayer, and a father's blessing, recalled a
+time faded from his recollection, yet living in the dreams of his soul.
+He thought of the period when he, a happy child like those before him,
+had knelt and heard the same sweet words breathed o'er his bending head:
+he remembered having received a father's kiss, and a mother's smile
+gleamed like a star in his memory; but the fleeting visions of childhood
+were fading again into darkness, when Kenneth arose, and, clasping the
+Indian wildly to his breast, exclaimed, &quot;My son, my son! my long lost
+Charles!&quot; The springs of the father's love gushed forth to meet his son,
+and the unseen sympathy of nature guided him to &quot;The Lost One.&quot; 'Twas
+indeed Charles Gordon, whom his father held to his breast, but not as he
+lived in his father's fancy. He beheld him a painted savage, whose hand
+was yet stained with blood; but Kenneth's fondest prayer was granted,
+and he pressed him again to his bosom, exclaiming again, &quot;He is my son.&quot;
+A small gold cross hung suspended from the collar of Charles. Kenneth
+knew it well; it had belonged to Marion, who hung it round her son's
+neck e'er her eyes were closed. She had sickened early of her captivity,
+and died while her son was yet a child: but the relics she had left
+were prized by him as something holy. From his wampum belt he took a
+roll of the bark of the birch tree, on which something had been written
+with a pencil. The writing was nearly effaced, and the signature of
+Marion Gordon was alone distinguishable. Kenneth pressed the writing to
+his lips, and again his bruised spirit mourned for his sainted Marion.
+Mary and Alice greeted their restored brother with warm affection.
+Kenneth lived but in the sight of his son. Charles rejoiced in their
+endearments, and all the joys of kindred were to him</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;New as if brought from other spheres,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Yet welcome as if known for years.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But soon a change came o'er the young warrior; his eye grew dim, his
+step was heavy, and his brow was sad: he sought for solitude, and he
+seemed like a bird pining for freedom. They thought he sighed for the
+liberty of his savage life, but, alas! it was another cause. The better
+feelings of the human heart all lie dormant in the Indian character, and
+are but seldom called into action. Charles had been the &quot;stern stoic of
+the woods&quot; till he saw Alice. Then the first warm rush of young
+affections bounded like a torrent through his veins, and he loved his
+sister with a passion so strong, so overwhelming, that it sapped the
+current of his life. The marriage of Alice had been delayed on his
+return&mdash;it would again have been delayed on his account, but he himself
+urged it forward. Kenneth entered the church with Charles leaning on his
+arm. During the ceremony he stood apart from the others. When it was
+finished, Alice went up to him and took his hand; it was cold as
+marble&mdash;he was dead; his spirit fled with the bridal benediction.
+Kenneth's heart bled afresh for his son, and as he laid his head in the
+earth he felt that it would not be long till he followed him. Nor was he
+mistaken; for a few mornings after he was found dead on the grave of
+&quot;<i>The Lost One</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>And now the bright summer of New Brunswick drew onward to its close. The
+hay, which in this country is cut in a much greener state than is usual
+elsewhere, and which, from this cause, retains its fragrance till the
+spring, was safely lodged in the capacious barns. The buck wheat had
+changed its delicate white flower for the brown clusters of its grain,
+and the reaper and the thrasher were both busied with it, for so loosely
+does this grain hang on its stem that it is generally thrashed out of
+doors as soon as ripe, as much would be lost in the conveyance to the
+barn.</p>
+
+<p>Grace Marley's time of departure now drew near; her government stipend
+had arrived. The proprietors, who paid in trade, had deposited the
+butter and oats equivalent to her hire in the market boat, in which she
+intended to proceed to town. And as this is decidedly the pleasantest
+method of travelling, I laid out to accompany her by the same
+conveyance, and we were spending the last evening with Mrs. Gordon, who
+also was to be our companion to St. John; we walked with Helen through
+her flower-garden, who showed us some flowers, the seeds of which she
+had received from the old country. I saw a bright hue pass o'er the brow
+of Grace as we walked among them, <a name='Page_097'></a>and tears gushed forth from her warm
+and feeling heart. Next day she explained what occasioned her emotion, a
+feeling which all must have felt, awakened by as slight a cause, when
+wandering far from their native land. Thus she pourtrayed what she then
+felt&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>THE MIGNIONETTE.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>'Twas when the summer's golden eve<br /></span>
+<span>Fell dim o'er flower and fruit,<br /></span>
+<span>A mystic spell was o'er me thrown,<br /></span>
+<span>As I'd drank of some charmed root.<br /></span>
+<span>It came o'er my soul as the breeze swept by,<br /></span>
+<span>Like the breath of some blessed thing;<br /></span>
+<span>Again it came, and my spirit rose<br /></span>
+<span>As if borne on an angel's wing.<br /></span>
+<span>It bore me away to my native land,<br /></span>
+<span>Away o'er the deep sea foam;<br /></span>
+<span>And I stood, once more a happy child,<br /></span>
+<span>By the hearth of my early home.<br /></span>
+<span>And well-loved forms were by me there,<br /></span>
+<span>That long in the grave had lain;<br /></span>
+<span>And I heard the voices I heard of old,<br /></span>
+<span>And they smiled on me again.<br /></span>
+<span>And I knew once more the dazzling light,<br /></span>
+<span>Of the spirit's gladsome youth;<br /></span>
+<span>And lived again in the sunny light<br /></span>
+<span>Of the heart's unbroken truth.<br /></span>
+<span>Yet felt I then, as we always feel,<br /></span>
+<span>The sweet grief o'er me cast,<br /></span>
+<span>When a chord is waked of the spirit's harp,<br /></span>
+<span>Which telleth of the past.<br /></span>
+<span>And what could it be, that blissful trance?<br /></span>
+<span>What caused the soul to glide?<br /></span>
+<span>Forgetting alike both time and change,<br /></span>
+<span>So far o'er memory's tide.<br /></span>
+<span>Oh! could that deep mysterious power<br /></span>
+<span>Be but the breath of an earthly flower?<br /></span>
+<span>'Twas not the rose with her leaves so bright,<br /></span>
+<span>That flung o'er my soul such dazzling light,<br /></span>
+<span>Nor the tiger lily's gorgeous dies,<br /></span>
+<span>That changed the hue of my spirit's eyes.<br /></span>
+<span>'Twas not from the pale, but gifted leaf,<br /></span>
+<span>That bringeth to mortal pain relief.<br /></span>
+<span>Not where the blue wreaths of the star-flower shine,<br /></span>
+<span>Nor lingered it in the airy bells<br /></span>
+<span>Of the graceful columbine.<br /></span>
+<span>But again it cometh, I breathe it yet,<br /></span>
+<span>'Tis the sigh of the lowly mignionette.<br /></span>
+<span>And there, 'mid the garden's leafy gems,<br /></span>
+<span>Blossomed a group of its fairy stems;<br /></span>
+<span>Few would have thought of its faint perfume,<br /></span>
+<span>While they gazed on the rosebud's crimson bloom.<br /></span>
+<span>But to me it was laden with sighs and tears,<br /></span>
+<span>And the faded hopes of by-gone years.<br /></span>
+<span>Many a vision, long buried deep,<br /></span>
+<span>Was waked again from its dreamless sleep.<br /></span>
+<span>Thoughts whose light was dim before,<br /></span>
+<span>Lived in their pristine truth once more.<br /></span>
+<span>Well might its form with my fancies weave,<br /></span>
+<span>For in youth it seemed with me to joy,<br /></span>
+<span>And in woe with me to grieve.<br /></span>
+<span>Oft have I knelt in the cool moonlight,<br /></span>
+<span>Where it wreathed the lattice pane,<br /></span>
+<span>'Till I felt that He who formed the flower<br /></span>
+<span>Would hear my prayer again.<br /></span>
+<span>Then, welcome sweet thing, in this stranger land,<br /></span>
+<span>May it smile upon thy birth,<br /></span>
+<span>Light fall the rain on thy lovely head,<br /></span>
+<span>And genial be the earth;<br /></span>
+<span>And blest be the power that gave to thee,<br /></span>
+<span>All lowly as thou art,<br /></span>
+<span>The gift unknown to prouder things,<br /></span>
+<span>To soothe and teach the heart.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><a name='Page_099'></a>Next day we proceeded on our journey, and, preferring the coolness of
+the deck to the heated atmosphere of the cabin, seated ourselves there
+to enjoy the quiet beauty of the night. The full glory of a September's
+moon was beaming bright in the clear rich blue of heaven; the stars were
+glittering in the water's depths, and ever and anon the fire flies
+flashed like diamonds through the dark foliage on the shore&mdash;the light
+fair breeze scarce stirred the ripples on the stream&mdash;when, from one of
+the white dwellings on the beach in whose casement a light was yet
+burning, came a low, sad strain of sorrow. I had heard that sound once
+before, and knew now it was the wail of Irish grief. Strange that
+mournful dirge of Erin sounded in that distant land. Grace knew the
+language of her country, and ere the &quot;keen&quot; had died upon the breeze,
+she translated thus</p>
+<br />
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>THE SONG OF THE IRISH MOURNER.<br /></span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>Light of the widow's heart! art thou then dead?<br /></span>
+<span>And is then thy spirit from earth ever fled?<br /></span>
+<span>And shall we, then, see thee and hear thee no more,<br /></span>
+<span>All radiant in beauty and life as before?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>My own blue-eyed darling, Oh, why didst thou die,<br /></span>
+<span>Ere the tear-drop of sorrow had dimmed thy bright eye,<br /></span>
+<span>Ere thy cheek's blooming hue felt one touch of decay,<br /></span>
+<span>Or thy long golden ringlets were mingled with grey?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Why, star of our path-way, why didst thou depart?<br /></span>
+<span>Why leave us to weep for the pulse of the heart?<br /></span>
+<span>Oh, darkened for ever is life's sunny hour,<br /></span>
+<span>When robbed of its brightest and loveliest flower!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Around thy low bier sacred incense is flinging,<br /></span>
+<span>And soft on the air are the silver bells ringing;<br /></span>
+<span>For the peace of thy soul is the holy mass said,<br /></span>
+<span>And on thy fair forehead the blessed cross laid.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Soft, soft be thy slumbers, our lady receive thee,<br /></span>
+<span>And shining in glory for ever thy soul be;<br /></span>
+<span>To the climes of the blessed, my own grama-chree,<br /></span>
+<span>May blessings attend thee, sweet cushla ma-chree.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>As we passed the jemseg, we spoke of the time when Madame la Tour so
+bravely defended the fort in the absence of her husband&mdash;this occurred
+in the early times of the province, and strange stories are told of
+spirit forms which glide along the beach, beneath whose sands the white
+bones of the French and Indians, who fell in the deadly fight, lie
+buried. Talking of these things, induced Mrs. Gordon to tell us the
+following tale, which she had heard, and which I have entitled</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<a name='Page_101'></a><h2>A WINTER'S EVENING SKETCH,</h2>
+
+<h4>WRITTEN IN NEW BRUNSWICK.</h4>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Oh! there's a dream of early youth,<br /></span>
+<span>And it never comes again;<br /></span>
+<span>'Tis a vision of joy, and light, and truth,<br /></span>
+<span>That flits across the brain;<br /></span>
+<span>And love is the theme of that early dream,<br /></span>
+<span>So wild, so warm, so new.<br /></span>
+<span>And oft I ween, in our after-years,<br /></span>
+<span>That early dream we rue.&quot;&mdash;-Mrs. HEMANS.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<br />
+
+<p>The winter's eve had gathered o'er New Brunswick, and the snow was
+falling, as in that clime it only knows how to fall. The atmosphere was
+like the face of Sterne's monk, &quot;calm, cold, and penetrating,&quot; and the
+faint tinkling of the sleigh bells came mournfully on the ear as a knell
+of sadness&mdash;so utterly cheerless was the scene. Another hour passed, and
+our journey was ended. The open door of the hospitable dwelling was
+ready to receive us, and in the light and heat of a happy home, toil and
+trouble were alike forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>There is always something picturesque in the interior of a New Brunswick
+farm house, and this evening everything assumed an aspect of interest
+and beauty. It might have been the comfortable contrast to the scene
+without that threw its mellow tints around. Even the homely loom and
+spinning-wheel lost their uncouthness, and recalled to the mind's
+imagery the classic dreams of old romance&mdash;Hercules in the chambers of
+Omphale the story of Arachne and Penelope, the faithful wife of brave
+Ulysses; but there was other food for the spirit which required not the
+aid of fancy to render palatable. On the large centre table, round which
+were grouped the household band, with smiling brows and happy hearts,
+lay the magazines and papers of the day, with their sweet tales and
+poetic gems. The &quot;Amulet&quot; and &quot;Keepsake&quot; glittering in silk and gold,
+and &quot;Chambers,&quot; with plain, unwinning exterior, the ungarnished casket
+of a mine of treasure, gave forth, like whisperings from a better land,
+their gentle influence to soothe and cheer the heart, and teach the
+spirit higher aspirations, while breathing the magic spells raised by
+their fairy power&mdash;those sweet creators of a world unswayed by earth,
+where hope and beauty live undimmed by time or tears&mdash;givers to all who
+own their power, a solace 'mid the pining cares of life. Thus, with the
+aid of these, and the joys of converse, sped the night; and as the wind
+which had now arisen blew heavy gusts of frozen rain against the
+windows, we rejoiced in our situation all the more, and looked
+complacently on the great mainspring of our comfort, the glowing stove,
+which imparted its grateful caloric through the apartment, and bore on
+its polished surface shining evidence of the housewife's care. 'Twas
+apparently already a favourite, and the storm without had enhanced its
+value. Without dissent, all agreed in its perfection and superiority
+over ordinary fire-places.</p>
+
+<p>Twas a theme which called forth conversation, and when all had given
+their opinion, uncle Ethel was asked for his.</p>
+
+<p>The person so addressed was an aged man, who reclined in an arm chair
+apart from the others, sharing not in words with their discourse or
+mirth, but smiling like a benignant spirit on them. More than eighty
+years of shade and sunshine had passed o'er him. The few snowy locks
+which lingered yet around his brow were soft and silky as a
+child's&mdash;time and sorrow had traced him but a gentle path, 'twould seem
+by the light which yet beamed in his calm blue eye and placid smile, the
+expression was far different from mirthful happiness, but breathed of
+holy peace and spirit pure, tempered with love and kindness for
+all&mdash;living in the past dreams of youth, he loved the present, when it
+recalled their sweet memories in brighter beauty from the tomb of faded
+years, and then it seemed as if a secret woe arose and dimmed the vision
+when it glowed brightest. A deeper sorrow than for departed youth
+flashed o'er his brow, brief but fearful, as though he once, and but
+once only, had felt a pang of agony which had deadened all other lighter
+woes, and, overcome by resignation, left the spirit calmer as its strong
+feeling passed away. Such was what we knew of uncle Ethel, but ere the
+night had worn we knew him better. Joining us in our conversation
+regarding the stove, he smiled, and said he agreed not with us&mdash;our
+favourite was more sightly, and more useful, but it bore not the
+friendly face of the old hearthstone&mdash;one of memory's most treasured
+spots was gone&mdash;the <i>fireside</i> of our home&mdash;the thought of whose
+hallowed precincts cheers the wanderer's heart, and has won many from
+the path of error, to seek again its sinless welcome.</p>
+
+<p>'Tis while sitting by the fireside at eve, said he, that the vanished
+forms of other days gather round me&mdash;there where our happiest meetings
+were in the holy sanctity of our <i>home</i>. Where peace and love hovered
+o'er us, I see again kind faces lit by the ruddy gleam, and hear again
+the evening hymn, as of old it used to rise from the loving band
+assembled there. Alas! long years have passed since I missed them from
+the earth, but there they meet me still&mdash;in the glowing fire's bright
+light I trace their sweet names, and the vague fancies of childhood are
+waked again from their dim repose to live in light and truth once more,
+amid the fantastic visions and shadowy forms, flitting through the red
+world of embers, on which I loved to gaze when thought and hope were
+young. I love it even now&mdash;the sorrow that is written there makes it
+more holy to my mind, telling me, as it does, of a clime where grief
+comes not, and where the blighted hope and broken heart will be at rest.</p>
+
+<p>But why, said the old man, do I talk so long&mdash;I weary you, my children,
+for the fancies of age are not those of youth&mdash;hope's fairy flowers are
+bright for you&mdash;the faded things of memory are mine alone&mdash;with them I
+live, but rejoice ye in your happiness, and gather now, in the spring
+time of your days, treasures to cheer you in the fall of life. As to
+your favourite, the stove, although I love it not so well as the old
+familiar fire-place, I can admire and value it as part of the spirit of
+improvement which is spreading o'er our land&mdash;her early troubles are
+passing away, and she is rising fast to take her place among the nations
+of the earth&mdash;bitter has been her struggle for existence, but the clouds
+are fading in the brightness of her coming years, and her past woes
+will be forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>He ceased, but we all loved to hear him talk, he was so kind and good,
+and he was earnestly requested for one of those tales of the early times
+of our own land, which had often thrilled us with their simple, yet
+often woeful interest.</p>
+
+<p>I am become an egotist to-night, for self is the only theme of which I
+can discourse. My spirit, too, is like the minstrel harp of which you
+have to-night been reading, 'twill &quot;echo nought but sadness;&quot; but if it
+please you, you shall have uncle Ethel's love story&mdash;well may we say
+alas! for time,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;For he taketh away the heart of youth,<br /></span>
+<span>And its gladness which hath been<br /></span>
+<span>Like the summer's sunshine on our path,<br /></span>
+<span>Making the desert green.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>More than sixty years have elapsed since the time of which I now shall
+speak. We lived then, a large and happy family, in the dwelling where
+our fathers' sires had died&mdash;sons and daughters had married, but still
+remained beneath the shadow of the parent roof tree, which seemed to
+extend its wings like a guardian spirit, as they increased in number.
+'Twas near the city of New York, and stood in the centre of sunny
+fields, which had been won from the forest shade. Our parents were
+natives of the soil, but theirs had come from the far land of Germany,
+and the memories of that land were still fondly cherished by their
+descendants. The low-roofed cottage, with its many-pointed gables and
+narrow casement, was gay with the bright flowers of that home of their
+hearts&mdash;cherished and guarded there with the tenderest care&mdash;all hues
+of earth seemed blended in the bright parterre of tulips, over which the
+magnificent dahlia towered, tall and stately as a queen&mdash;the rich scent
+of the wallflower breathed around, and the jessamine went climbing
+freely o'er the trellissed porch and arching eaves&mdash;each flower around
+my home bore to me the face of a friend&mdash;they bore to me the poetry of
+the earth, as the stars tell the sweet harmonies of heaven&mdash;but there is
+a vision of fairer beauty than either star or flower comes with the
+thought of these bye-gone days&mdash;the face of my orphan cousin Ella Werner
+arises in the brightness of its young beauty, as it used to beam upon me
+from the latticed window of my home: for her's, indeed,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Was a form of life and light,<br /></span>
+<span>That seen became a part of sight,<br /></span>
+<span>And comes where'er I turn mine eye,<br /></span>
+<span>The morning star of memory.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Ella's mother was sister to my father: she lived but long enough to look
+upon her child, and her husband died of a broken heart soon after her.
+Thus the very existence of the fair girl was fatal to those who best
+loved her&mdash;not best, for all living loved her. In after-years it seemed
+as though it was her beauty, that fatal gift, which ne'er for good was
+given to many, caused her woe. Ella's spirit was pure and bright as the
+eyes through which it beamed&mdash;the gladness of her young heart's
+happiness rung in the silvery music of her voice, and in the fairy magic
+of her smile she looked as if sorrow could never dim the golden lustre
+of her curls, or trace a cloud on her snowy brow&mdash;gentle and lovely she
+was, and that was all. There was no depth of thought, no strength of
+mind, to form the character of one so gifted. Her faculties for
+reasoning were the impulses of her own heart: these were generally good,
+and constituted her principle of action&mdash;but changeful as the summer sky
+are the feelings of the human heart, unswayed by the deeper power of the
+head. Such were Ella's, and their power destroyed her. Alas! how calmly
+can I talk now of her faults; but who could think of them when they
+looked upon her, and loved her as I did&mdash;'tis only since she is gone I
+discover them.</p>
+
+<p>Of the other members of the family I need not speak, as you already know
+of them; but there is one whose name you have never heard, for crime and
+sorrow rest with it, and oblivion shrouds his memory. Conrad Ernstein
+was also my cousin, and an orphan&mdash;he was an inmate of our dwelling, and
+my mother was to him as a parent. He was some years older, but his
+delicate constitution and studious mind withdrew him from the others,
+and made him the companion of Ella and myself. I have said that Ella's
+mind was too volatile, so in like degree was Conrad's, in its deep
+unchanging firmness and immutability of purpose. Nothing deterred him
+from the pursuit of any object he engaged in&mdash;obstacles but increased
+his energy to overcome and call forth stronger powers of mind&mdash;this was
+observable in his learning. Science the most abstruse and difficult was
+his favourite study, and in these he attained an excellence rarely
+arrived at by one so situated.</p>
+
+<p>Wondered at and admired by all, his pride which was great was amply
+gratified, and what was evil in his nature was not yet called into
+being&mdash;his disposition was melancholy, and showed none of the joyousness
+of youth&mdash;yet that very sadness seemed to make us love him all the
+more&mdash;his air of suffering asked for pity&mdash;'twas strange to see the
+glad-hearted Ella leave my mother's side, while she sang to us the songs
+of the blue Rhine, and bend her sunny brow with him over the ancient
+page of some clasped volume, containing the terrific legends of the
+&quot;black forest,&quot; till the tales of the wild huntsmen filled her with
+dread&mdash;then again would she spring to my mother, and burying her head in
+her bosom, ask her once more to sing the songs of her native land, for
+so we still called Germany; and, as you see, the romances and legends of
+that country formed our childhood's lore, my early love for Ella grew
+and increased with my years, and I fancied that she loved me.</p>
+
+<p>On the first of May, or, as it was by us styled, &quot;Walburga's eve,&quot; the
+young German maidens have a custom of seeking a lonely stream, and
+flinging on its waters a wreath of early flowers, as an offering to a
+spirit which then has power. When, as the legend tells, the face of
+their lover will glide along the water, and the name be borne on the
+breeze, if the gift be pleasing to the spirit. Ella, I knew, had for
+some time been preparing to keep this ancient relic of the pagan
+rites&mdash;she had a treasured rose tree which bloomed, unexpectedly, early
+in the season&mdash;these delicate things she fancied would be a fitting
+offering to the spirit. She paused not to think of what she was about to
+do&mdash;the thing itself was but a harmless folly&mdash;from aught of ill her
+nature would have drawn instinctively; but evil there might have
+been&mdash;she stayed not to weigh the result&mdash;at the last hour of sunset she
+wreathed her roses, and set out. In the lightness of my heart I followed
+in the same path, intending to surprize her. I heard her clear voice
+floating on the air, as she sung the invocation to the spirit&mdash;the words
+were these:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Blue-eyed spirit of balmy spring,<br /></span>
+<span>Bright young flowers to thee I bring,<br /></span>
+<span>Wreaths all tinged with hues divine,<br /></span>
+<span>Meet to rest on thy fairy shrine.<br /></span>
+<span>With these I invoke thy gentle care,<br /></span>
+<span>Queen of the earth and ambient air,<br /></span>
+<span>Come with the light of thy radiant skies,<br /></span>
+<span>Trace on the stream my true love's eyes,<br /></span>
+<span>Show me the face in the silvery deep,<br /></span>
+<span>Whose image for aye my heart may keep;<br /></span>
+<span>Bid the waters echoing shell,<br /></span>
+<span>Whisper the name thy breezes tell.<br /></span>
+<span>And still on the feast of Walburga's eve,<br /></span>
+<span>Bright young flowers to thee I'll give;<br /></span>
+<span>Beautiful spirit I've spoken the spell,<br /></span>
+<span>And offered the gift thou lovest well.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The last notes died suddenly away, and Ella, greatly agitated, threw
+herself into my arms. I enquired the cause of her terror, and forgetting
+her secrecy, she said a face had appeared to her on the stream. Just
+then we saw Conrad, who had followed on the same purpose I had, but had
+fallen and hurt his ancle, and was unable to proceed. He joined not with
+me when I laughed at Ella's fright, but a deeper paleness overspread his
+countenance. Raising his eyes to the heavens, they rested on a star
+beaming brightly in the blue&mdash;its mild radiance seemed to soothe him.
+See ye yonder, said he, how clear and unclouded the lustre of that
+shining orb&mdash;these words seemed irrelevant, but I knew their meaning.
+His knowledge of German literature had led him into the mazes of its
+mingled philosophy and wild romance. Astronomy and astrology were to him
+the same; the star to which he pointed was what he called the planet of
+his fate, and its brightness or obscurity were shadowed in his mind&mdash;its
+aspect caused him either joy or woe. The incident of Ella's fright
+agitated him much, for the occurrences of this real world were to him
+all tinged with the supernatural; but he looked again at the heavens,
+and the mild lustre of the star was reflected in his eyes; he leaned
+upon my arm, and we passed onward. I knew not then that his dark spirit
+felt the sunbeams which illumined mine own.</p>
+
+<p>That same balmy evening I stood with Ella by the silver stream which
+traced its shining path around our home, watching the clear moonbeams as
+they flashed in the fairy foambells sparkling at our feet. There I first
+told my love&mdash;her hand was clasped in mine&mdash;she heard me, and raising
+her dewy eyes, said, &quot;Dearest Ethel, I love you well; but not as she who
+weds must love you&mdash;be still to me my own dear friend and brother, and
+Ella will love you as she ever has. Ask not for more.&quot; She left me, and
+I saw a tear-drop gem the silken braid on her cheek, and thus my dream
+of beauty burst. My spirit's light grew dark as the treasured spell
+which bound me broke. Some hours passed in agony, such as none could
+feel but those who loved as I did&mdash;so deep, so fondly.</p>
+
+<p>As I approached my home the warm evening light was streaming from the
+windows, and I heard her rich voice thrilling its wild melody. Every
+brow smiled upon her: even Conrad's was unbent. I looked upon her, and
+prayed she might never know a grief like mine. The ringing music of her
+laugh greeted my entrance, and ere the night had passed she charmed away
+my woe.</p>
+
+<p>While these things occurred with us, the aspect of the times without had
+changed. America made war with England. What were her injuries we asked
+not, but 'twas not likely that we, come of a race who loved so well
+their &quot;fatherland and king,&quot; would join with those who had risen against
+theirs. As yet the crisis was not come, and in New York British power
+was still triumphant.</p>
+
+<p>Among the many festivities given by the officers, naval and military,
+then in the country, was a splendid ball on board a British frigate then
+in the harbour. To this scene of magic beauty and delight I accompanied
+Ella&mdash;'twas but a few days after that unhappy first of May; but the
+buoyant spirits of youth are soon rekindled, and Ella yet, I thought,
+might love me. The scene was so new, and withal so splendid in its
+details, that it comes before me now fresh and undimmed. The night was
+one of summer's softest, earliest beauty: the moonlight slept upon the
+still waters, and the tall masts, with all their graceful tracery of
+spar and line, were bathed with rich radiance, mingled with the hundred
+lights of coloured lamps, suspended from festoons of flowers; low
+couches stood along the bulwarks of the noble ship, and the meteor flag
+of England, which waved so oft amid the battle and the breeze, now
+wafted its ruby cross o'er fair forms gliding through the dance, to the
+rich strains of merry music&mdash;'twas an hour that sent glad feeling to the
+heart. The gay dresses and noble bearing of the military officers, all
+glistening in scarlet and gold, contrasted well with the white robes and
+delicate beauty of the fair girls by their sides. But they had their
+rivals in the gallant givers of the fete. Many a lady's heart was lost
+that night. &quot;What is it always makes a sailor so dangerous a rival?&quot;
+Ella used to say, when rallied on her partiality for a &quot;bluejacket,&quot;
+that she loved it because it was the colour of so many things dear to
+her: the sky was blue, the waves of the deep mysterious sea were blue,
+and the wreaths of that fairy flower, which bears the magic name
+forget-me-not, were of the same charmed hue. Some such reason, I
+suppose, it is that makes every maiden love a sailor.</p>
+
+<p>While we stood gazing on the scene, enchanted and delighted, one came
+near and joined our group. Nobility of mind and birth was written on his
+brow in beauty's brightest traits. He seemed hardly nineteen, but, young
+as he was, many a wild breeze had parted the wavy ringlets of his hair,
+and the salt spray of the ocean raised a deeper hue on his cheek. His
+light and graceful figure was clad in the becoming costume of his rank,
+and on his richly braided bosom rested three half blown roses. Ella's
+eyes for an instant met his, they fell upon the flowers, and she dropped
+fainting from my arm. The mystery was soon explained. De Clairville,
+such was the stranger's name, had been walking on the cliffs when Ella
+sought the stream&mdash;he heard her voice and approached to see from whence
+it came&mdash;his was the face she had seen upon the waters; he heard her
+scream, and descended to apologise, but she was gone, and he had found
+and worn her rose buds&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Oh! there are looks and tones that dart<br /></span>
+<span>An instant sunshine through the heart,<br /></span>
+<span>As if the soul that instant caught<br /></span>
+<span>Some treasure it through life had sought;<br /></span>
+<span>As if the very lips and eyes,<br /></span>
+<span>Predestined to have all our sighs,<br /></span>
+<span>And never be forgot again,<br /></span>
+<span>Sparkled and spoke before us then.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>So sings the poet, and so seemed it with Ella and De Clairville; and
+when the rosy morn, tinging the eastern sky, announced to the revellers
+the hour of parting, that night of happiness was deemed too short.</p>
+
+<p>To hasten on my story, I must merely say that they became fondly
+attached, and when De Clairville departed for another station, he left
+Ella as his betrothed bride. On love such as theirs 'twould seem to all
+that heaven smiled; but inscrutable to human eyes are the ways of
+Providence, for deadly was the blight thrown o'er them.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the events in which the country was engaged drew to a close.
+England acknowledged the independence of America, and withdrew her
+forces; but while she did so, offered a home and protection to those who
+yet wished to claim it. We were among the first to embrace the proposal:
+and though with sadness we left our sunny home with all its fond
+remembrances, yet integrity of mind was dearer still. We might not stay
+in the land with whose institutions we concurred not. Conrad, with his
+learning and talents, 'twas thought, might remain to seek the path of
+fame already opening to him; but what to him were the dreams of
+ambition, compared to the all-engrossing thought which now bound each
+faculty of his mind beneath its power. Ella, my mother also wished to
+stay, nor attempt with us the perils of our new life; for here her
+betrothed, when he returned, expected to meet her; but she flung her
+arms around my mother, saying in the language of Ruth, &quot;thy home,
+dearest, shall be mine,&quot; and there shall De Clairville join us. Suffice
+it, then, to say, that after bidding farewell to scenes we loved, our
+wearisome voyage was ended, and we landed on these sterile and dreary
+shores. We dared not venture from the coast, and our abode was chosen in
+what appeared to us the best of this bleak and barren soil. 'Twas a sad
+change, but those were the days of strong hearts and trusting hopes.</p>
+
+<p>Our settlement was formed of six or eight different households, all
+connected, and all from the neighbourhood of the beautiful Bowery. Each
+knew what the other had left, and tried to cheer each other with
+brighter hopes than they hardly dared to feel; but sympathy and kindness
+were among us.</p>
+
+<p>Why need I tell you of our blighted crops and scanty harvests, and all
+the toil and trouble which we then endured. I must go on with what I
+commenced&mdash;the story of my own love. Shall I say that when Ella
+accompanied us I hoped De Clairville might never join us. 'Tis true, but
+what were my feelings to discover the love of Conrad for the gem of my
+heart, and that he cherished it with all the deep strength of his
+nature. I saw Ella's manner was not such as became a betrothed maiden,
+but she feared Conrad, and trembled beneath the dark glance of his eye.
+A feeling more of fear and pity than of love was her's; but I was
+fearful for the result, for I knew he was one not to be trifled with.</p>
+
+<p>The last dreary days of the autumn were gathered round us&mdash;the earth
+was already bound in her frozen sleep, and all nature stilled in her
+silent trance&mdash;all, save the restless waves, dashing on the rocky shore;
+or the wind, which first curled their crests, and then went sweeping
+through the wiry foliage of the pines&mdash;when, at the close of the short
+twilight, we were all gathered on the highest point which overlooked the
+sea, earnestly gazing o'er the dim horizon, where night was coming fast.
+Ere the sun had set a barque had been seen, and her appearance caused
+unwonted excitement in our solitudes. Ships in those days were strange
+but welcome visitants. Not merely the necessaries of life, but kind
+letters and tidings from distant friends were borne by them. As the
+darkness increased, signal fires were raised along the beach, and ere
+long a gun came booming o'er the waters; soon after came the noble ship
+herself; her white sails gleaming through the night, and the glittering
+spray flashing in diamond sparkles from her prow. She came to, some
+distance from the shore, and, as if by magic, every sail was furled. A
+boat came glancing from her side; a few minutes sent it to the beach,
+and a gallant form sprung out upon the strand. It was De Clairville come
+to claim his affianced bride; and with a blushing cheek and tearful eye
+Ella was once more folded to his faithful heart.</p>
+
+<p>A pang of jealous feeling for an instant darted through me, but Conrad's
+face met mine, and its dark expression drove the demon power from me. I
+saw the withering scowl of hate he cast upon De Clairville, and I
+inwardly determined to shield the noble youth from the malice of that
+dark one; for, bright as was to me the hope of Ella's love, I loved her
+too well to be ought but rejoiced in her happiness. Although it brought
+sorrow to myself, yet she was blessed. Mirth and joy, now for a while
+cheered our lonely homes; we knew we were to lose our flower; but love
+like theirs is a gladsome thing to look at. Many were the gifts De
+Clairville brought his bride from the rich shore of England. Bracelets,
+radiant as her own bright eyes, and pearls as pure as the neck they
+twined. Among other things was a fairy case of gold, in the form of a
+locket, which he himself wore. Ella wished to see what it contained, and
+laughingly he unclosed it before us: 'twas the faded rose leaves of her
+offerings to the love spirit on Walburga's eve. They had rested on his
+heart, he said, in the hours of absence; and there, in death, should
+they be still. Ella blushed and hid her face upon his bosom. I sighed at
+the memory of that day, but Conrad's gloomy frown recalled me to the
+present&mdash;this was their bridal eve. Our pastor was with us, and the
+lowly building where we worshipped was decorated with simple state for
+the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>It stood on an eminence some distance from the other houses. That night
+I was awakened from sleep by a sudden light shining through the room&mdash;a
+wild dream' was yet before me, and a death snriek seemed ringing in my
+ears. I looked from the window; our little church was all in flames;
+'twas built of rough logs, and was of little value, save that it was
+hallowed by its use. A fire had-probably been left on to prepare it for
+the morrow, and from this the mischief had arisen. I thought little
+about it, and none knew of its destruction till the morn.</p>
+
+<p>The sun rose round and red, and sparkled o'er the glittering sheen of
+the frost king's gems, flung in wild symmetry o'er the earth, till all
+that before looked dark and drear was wreathed with a veil of dazzling
+beauty; even the blackened logs where the fire had been had their
+delicate tracery of pearly fringe. The guests assembled in our dwelling,
+and the pastor stood before the humble altar, raised for the occasion.
+The walls were rude, but the bride in her young beauty might have graced
+a palace. She leaned on Conrad's arm, according to our custom, as her
+oldest unmarried relative. The tables were spread with the bridal cheer,
+and the blazing fire crackled merrily on the wide hearth-stone. The
+bridegroom's presence alone was waited for. Gaily hung with flags was
+the ship, and cheers rung loudly from her crew as a boat left her side.
+It came, but bore but the officers invited to the wedding. Where was De
+Clairville? None knew! We had expected he passed the night on board; but
+there he had not been. 'Twas most strange! The day passed away, and
+others like it, and still he came not. He was gone for ever. Had he
+proved false and forsaken his love? Such was the imputation thrown on
+his absence by Conrad.</p>
+
+<p>The sailors joined us; a band of Indian hunters led the way, and for
+miles around the woods were searched, but trace of human footsteps, save
+our own, we saw not. Long did the vessel's crew linger by the shore,
+hoping each day for tidings of their loved commander's fate, but of him
+they heard no more, and it was deemed he had met his death by drowning.</p>
+
+<p>Conrad, whose morose manner suddenly disappeared for a bold and forward
+tone, so utterly at variance from his usual that all were surprized,
+still persisted in asserting that he had but proceeded along the coast,
+and would join his vessel as she passed onward. One of the sailors, an
+old and grey-haired man, who loved De Clairville as a son, indignantly
+denied the charge. He was incapable of such an action. &quot;God grant,&quot; said
+he, &quot;he may have been fairly dealt with.&quot; &quot;You would not say he had been
+murdered,&quot; said Conrad. &quot;No,&quot; said the old man, &quot;I thought not of that:
+if he were, not a leaflet in your woods but would bear witness to the
+crime.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>We were standing then by the ruined church&mdash;a slender beech tree grew
+beside it&mdash;one faded leaf yet hovered on its stem&mdash;for an instant it
+trembled in the blast, then fell at Conrad's feet, brushing his cheek as
+it passed. If the blow of a giant had struck him he could not have
+fallen more heavily to the ground. An inward loathing, such as may
+mortal man never feel to his fellow, forbade me to assist him. He had
+fainted; but the cold air soon revived him, and he arose, complaining of
+sudden illness. The sailors left us, and the ship sailed slowly from our
+waters, with her colours floating sadly half-mast high.</p>
+
+<p>Ella thus suddenly bereaved, mourned in wild and bitter grief, but
+woman's pride, at times her guardian angel, at others her destroyer,
+took up its stronghold in her heart. The tempter Conrad awoke its
+tones&mdash;with specious wile he recalled De Clairville's lofty ideas of
+name and birth&mdash;how proudly he spoke of his lady mother and the castled
+state of his father's hall. Was it not likely that, at the last, this
+pride had rallied its strength around him, and bade him seek a nobler
+bride than the lowly maiden of the &quot;Refugees?&quot; Too readily she heard
+him, for love the fondest is nearest allied to hate the deepest, and De
+Clairville's name became a thing for scorn and hate. 'Twas vain for me
+to speak&mdash;what could I say? A species of fascination seemed to be
+obtained by Conrad o'er her&mdash;a witching spell was in his words&mdash;'twas
+but the power, swayed by his strong and ill-formed mind, over her weak
+but gentle one&mdash;which, if rightly guided, would have echoed such sweet
+music&mdash;and, ere the summer passed, she had forgotten her lost lover, and
+was to wed him.</p>
+
+<p>To others there was nothing strange in this, but to me it brought a wild
+and dreary feeling; not that my early dreams were unchanged, for I had
+learned to think a love like her's, so lightly lost and won, was not the
+thing to be prized. Alas! I knew not the blackness of the spirit that
+beguiled her, and wrought such woe. Still she had done wrong&mdash;the
+affections of man's heart may not be idly dealt with&mdash;the woman who
+feigns what she feels not, has her hand on the lion's mane. Ella at one
+time had done this, and she reaped a dark guerdon for her falsehood. Yet
+in her it might have been excused, for the very weakness of her nature
+led her to it. Let those who are more strongly gifted beware of her
+fate.</p>
+
+<p>The earth was in the richest flush of her green beauty. On the morn,
+Ella was again to be a bride&mdash;the golden light streamed through the glad
+blue sky, and all looked bright and fair&mdash;the remains of the church,
+which had long looked black and dreary, were gay with the richness of
+vegetation&mdash;the bracken waved its green plumes, and the tall mullen
+plant, with its broad white leaves, raised its pale crest above the
+charred walls. While the dew was shining bright I had gone
+forth&mdash;surprise and consternation greeted my solitary approach when I
+returned. Again the holy book had been opened&mdash;the priest stood ready
+with the bride, and tarried for the lover&mdash;they thought he was with me,
+but I had not seen him&mdash;daylight passed away, night came, but brought
+him not&mdash;the moon arose, and her shadowy light gave to familiar things
+of day the spectral forms of mystery.</p>
+
+<p>While we sat in silence, thinking of Conrad's absence, a dog's mournful
+whine sounded near&mdash;it grew louder, and attracted our attention. We
+followed the sound&mdash;it came from the ruins of the church, and there,
+among the weeds and flowers lay Conrad stiff and cold&mdash;he was dead, and,
+oh the horrible expression of that face, the demoniac look of despair
+was never written in such fearful lines on human face before. All felt
+relief when 'twas covered from the sight. One hand had 'twined in the
+death grasp round the reed-like stem of the mullen plant&mdash;we unclosed
+it, and it sprung back, tall and straight as before; something glittered
+in the other&mdash;'twas the half of De Clairville's golden locket&mdash;how it
+came to be in his possession was strange, but we thought not of it then.</p>
+
+<p>Events like these have a saddening influence on the mind, and the gloom
+for Conrad's sudden death hung heavy o'er us&mdash;Ella's mourning was long
+and deep. I was not grieved to see it, for sorrow makes the spirit
+wiser.</p>
+
+<p>Three years passed away&mdash;little change had been among us, save that some
+of our aged were gone, and the young had risen around us. Once more it
+was the first of May&mdash;the night was dark and still, but the silvery
+sounds of the waging earth came like balm o'er the soul&mdash;there was a
+murmur in the forest, as though one heard the song of the young leaves
+bursting into life, and the glad gushing of the springing streams rose
+with them. The memory of other days was floating o'er my mind, when a
+soft voice broke on my reverie. Her thoughts had been with
+mine&mdash;&quot;Ethel,&quot; said she, &quot;remember you, how on such a night as this, you
+once sought my love. Alas! how little knew I then of my own
+heart&mdash;your's it should then have been&mdash;you know the shades that have
+passed over it. Is Ella's love a worthless gift, or will you accept it
+now as freely as 'tis offered. How long and sternly must we be trained
+e'er love's young dream can be forgotten.&quot; The events that intervened
+all passed away, and Ella was again the same maiden that stood with me
+so long ago by the streamlet's side on Walburga's eve. My heart's long
+silenced music once more rung forth its melody at her sweet words, and
+life again was bright with the gems of hope and fond affection.</p>
+
+<p>In places so lone as that in which we lived, the fancies of superstition
+have ample scope to range. It had long been whispered through the
+settlement that the spirit of Conrad appeared on the spot where he had
+died at certain times. When the moon beamed, a shadowy form was seen to
+wave its pale arms among the ruins of the church, which yet remained
+unchanged. So strongly was the story believed, that after night-fall
+none dared to pass the spot alone. Ella, too, had heard it, and trembled
+whilst she disbelieved its truth. Our marriage morning came, and Ella
+was for the third time arrayed in her bridal dress. A wreath of pearl
+gleamed through her hair, and lace and satin robed her peerless
+form&mdash;the tinge upon her cheek might not have been so bright as once it
+was, but to me she was lovely&mdash;more of mind was blended with the
+feelings of the heart, and gave a higher tone to her beauty. The holy
+words were said, and my fondest hopes made truth. Is it, that because in
+our most blissful hours the spirits are most ready fall, or was it the
+sense of coming ill that threw its dreary shade of sadness o'er me all
+that day? The glorious sun sunk brightly to his rest, but the rose cloud
+round his path seemed deepened to the hue of blood. A wailing sound came
+o'er the waters, and a whispering, as of woe, sighed through the leafy
+trees. This feeling of despondency I tried in vain to banish; as the
+evening came, it grew deeper, but Ella was more joyous than ever, for a
+long time, she had been. All the fairy wiles of her winning youth seemed
+bright as of old&mdash;glad faces were around us, and she was the gayest of
+them all; when, suddenly, something from the open door met her eyes&mdash;one
+loud shriek broke from her, and she rushed wildly from among us. I saw
+her speed madly up the hill, where stood the church. I was hastening
+after, when strong arms held me back, and fingers, trembling with awe
+and dread, pointed to the object of their terror&mdash;there among the ruins
+stood a tall and ghost-like form, whose spectral head seemed to move
+with a threatening motion&mdash;for an instant I was paralysed, but Ella's
+white robes flashed before me, and I broke from their grasp. Again I
+heard her shriek&mdash;she vanished from me, but the phantom form still
+stood. I reached it, and that thing of fear was but a gigantic weed&mdash;a
+tall mullen that had outgrown the others on the very spot where we had
+found the body of Conrad; the waving of its flexile head and long pale
+leaves, shining with moonlight, were the motions we had seen&mdash;but where
+was Ella? The decaying logs gave way beneath her, and she had fallen
+into a vault or cellar beneath the building. Meanwhile those at the
+house recovered their courage, and came towards us, bearing lights. We
+entered the vault, and, on her knees before a figure, was Ella&mdash;the form
+and dress were De Clairville's, such as we had seen him in last, but the
+face, oh! heaven, the face showed but the white bones of a skeleton. The
+rich brown curls still clung to the fleshless skull, and on the finger
+glittered the ring with which Ella was to have been wed. The half of the
+golden locket was clasped to his breast&mdash;the ribbon by which it hung
+seemed to have been torn rudely from its place, but the hand had kept
+its hold till the motion caused by our descent&mdash;it fell at Ella's feet,
+a sad memento of other days, and recalled her to sensation. Horror paled
+the brows of all, but to me was given a deeper woe, to think and know
+what Ella must have felt.</p>
+
+<p>Every feeling was deepened to intensity of agony in the passing of that
+night&mdash;that dreary closing of my bridal day. How came the morning's
+light I know not, but when it did, the fresh breeze blew on my brow, and
+I saw the remains of De Clairville lying on the grass before me&mdash;they
+had borne him from below, and it showed more plainly the crime which had
+been among us. The deep blue of the dress was changed to a darker hue
+where the red life blood had flowed, and from the back was drawn the
+treacherous implement of death. The hearts of all readily whispered the
+murderer's name, and fuller proof was given in that ancient dagger that
+had long been an heir-loom in the family of Conrad&mdash;a relic of the old
+Teutonic race from whence they sprung&mdash;well was it known, and we had
+often wondered at its disappearance. He, Conrad, was the murderer&mdash;he
+had slain De Clairville, and fired the building to conceal his crime.
+God was the avenger of the dark deed&mdash;the mighty hand of conscience
+struck him in his proudest hour&mdash;the humblest things of earth, brought
+deathly terror to his soul. 'Twas evident the appearance of the mullen
+plant, which drew us to the spot, had been the cause of his death. The
+words of the old sailor seemed true. The lowly herb had brought the
+crime to light, and in the hand of heaven had punished the murderer.</p>
+
+<p>We buried De Clairville beneath a mossy mound, where the lofty pine and
+spicy cedar waved above, and hallowed words were said o'er his rest. A
+blight seemed to hover o'er our lonely settlement by the deed which had
+been done within it. Nothing bound us to the spot; but hues of sadness
+rested with it, and ever would. 'Twas an unhallowed spot, and we
+prepared to leave it, and seek another resting place.</p>
+
+<p>Our boats lay ready by the beach, and some were already embarked. I
+took a last look around&mdash;something white gleamed among the trees around
+De Clairville's grave&mdash;'twas Ella, who lay there dead. She always
+accused herself as the cause of De Clairville's death, and indirectly,
+too, she had been&mdash;but restitution now was made. We laid her by his
+side, and thus I lost my early, only love.</p>
+
+<p>Here then was it where we chose our heritage, and here we have since
+remained, but everything is changed since then. Many an aged brow has
+passed from earth, and many a bright eye closed in death. Every trace of
+old is passing away, save where their shadows glide in the memory. Even
+the grave where Ella slept is gone from earth.</p>
+
+<p>Twenty years after her death I made a pilgrimage to the place&mdash;the young
+sapling pines which shaded it had grown to lofty trees&mdash;human voice
+seemed never to have broken in tones of joy or woe the deep solitude
+around&mdash;the long grass waved rank and dark above the walls we had
+raised, and the red berries hung rich and ripe by the ruined
+hearthstone. Again, when another twenty years passed, I came to it once
+more&mdash;the weight of age had gathered o'er me, but there lay the buried
+sunlight of my youth, and the spirit thoughts of other days drew me to
+it. Again there was a change&mdash;a change which told me my own time drew
+near. The woods were gone long since&mdash;the reaper had passed o'er the
+lowly graves, and knew them not. The last record of my love and of my
+woe, was gone. Dwellings were raised along the lonely beach, and laden
+ships floated <a name='Page_126'></a>on the long silent waters. I bade the place farewell for
+ever, and returned to await in peace and hope my summons to the promised
+rest.</p>
+
+<p>The old man paused&mdash;the dreams of the past had weakened him, and he
+retired for the night. Next morn we waited long for his presence, but he
+came not. We sought his chamber, and found him dead. The soul had passed
+away&mdash;one hand was folded on his heart, and oh! the might of earthly
+love. It clasped a shining braid of silken hair, and something, of which
+their faint perfume told to be the faded rose leaves&mdash;frail memorials of
+his fondly loved Ella, but lasting after the warm heart which cherished
+them was cold. He was gone where, if it be not in heaven &quot;a crime to
+love too well,&quot; his spirit may yet meet with her's, in that holy light,
+whose purity of bliss may not be broken by the vain turmoil of earthly
+feelings. So ends the story of uncle Ethel.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Well, said Grace, after we had discussed Ethel's melancholy story,
+although I don't believe in ghosts, I cannot do away with my faith in
+dreams, and last night I had a most disagreeable one, which disturbed me
+much. I thought I had engaged my passage, and when I unclosed my purse
+to pay down the money, nothing was in it but a plain gold ring and a
+ruby heart. My money was gone, and, oh! the grief I felt was deeper than
+waking language can describe. Then, Grace, said I, you must receive
+consolation for your disagreeable dream, in the words of your own
+favourite song, &quot;Rory o'More,&quot; that dreams always go by contrary you
+know, and so I shall read your dream. The plain gold ring means that
+tie, which, like it, has no ending. The heart has, in all ages, been
+held symbolical of its holiest feeling, and thus unite love and
+marriage, and your sorrow will be turned to joy. So I prognosticate your
+dream to mean. And time told I had foretold aright&mdash;for soon after we
+had arrived in St. John's, the entrance to which, from the main river,
+is extremely beautiful, showing every variety of scenery, from the green
+meadows of rich intervale, where stand white dwellings and orchard
+trees, to the grey and barren rocks, with cedary plumage towering to the
+sky.</p>
+
+<p>Grace having engaged her passage home, we were turning from the office,
+when a stranger bounded to us, and caught her by the hand. Grace Marley,
+he exclaimed&mdash;my own, my beautiful. I felt her lean heavily on my arm;
+she had fainted. And so deep was that trance, we fancied she was
+gone&mdash;but joy rarely kills, and she awoke to the passionate exclamations
+of her lover&mdash;for such he was, come o'er the deep sea to seek her. An
+explanation ensued. Their letters to each other had all miscarried. None
+had been received by either. (All this bitter disappointment, however,
+happened before the establishment of our post.) So Grace, instead of
+returning to Ireland, was wedded next day, her husband having brought
+means with him to settle in the country. The magician, Love, flung his
+rose-light o'er her path, and, when I saw her last, she fancied the
+emerald glades of Oromot, where her home now lay, almost as beautiful as
+those by the blue lakes of Killarney, in the land of her birth.</p>
+
+<p>With the end of September commence the night frosts. The woods now lose
+their greenness; and the most brilliant hues of crimson, and gold, and
+purple, are flung in gorgeous flakes of beauty over their boughs, as
+though each leaf were crystal, and reflected and retained the light of
+some glorious sunset. In this lovely season, which is most appropriately
+termed the fall, we wished to <i>get along</i> with our church, and have it
+enclosed before the winter. This was rather an arduous undertaking in
+young settlement like ours; but there were those here who loved</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Old England's holy church,<br /></span>
+<span>And loved her form of prayer right well.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And liberally they came forward to raise a temple to their faith in the
+wilderness. The &quot;Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
+Lands&quot; had promised assistance; but the frame must first be erected and
+enclosed ere it could be claimed. In this country cash is a most scarce
+commodity, and many species of speculation are made with the aid of
+little real specie. Large sums are spoken of, but rarely appear bodily:
+and our church got on in the same way. The owner of the saw-mill signed
+twenty pounds as his subscription towards it, and paid it in boards&mdash;the
+carpenters who did the work received from the subscribers pork and flour
+for their pay&mdash;and our neighbour, the embarrassed lumber-man, who was
+still wooden-headed enough to like anything of a <i>timber spec</i>, got out
+the frame by contract, himself giving most generously five pounds worth
+of work towards it. And thus the church was raised, and now it stands,
+with white spire, pointing heavenward, above the ancient forest trees.</p>
+
+<p><a name='Page_129'></a>As winter was now approaching, how to pass its long evenings agreeably
+and rationally was a question which was agitated. The dwellers of
+America are more enlightened now than in those old times when dancing
+and feasting were the sole amusements, so a library was instituted and
+formed by the same means as the church had been&mdash;a load of potatoes, or
+a barrel of buckwheat, being given by each party to purchase books with.
+The selection of these, to suit all tastes, was a matter of some
+difficulty, the grave and serious declaiming against light reading, and
+regarding a novel as the climax of human wickedness. One old lady, who
+by the way was fond of reading, and had studied the ancient tale of
+Pamela regularly, at her leisure, for the last forty years, was the
+strongest against these, and, on being told that her favourite tome was
+no less than a novel, she consigned it to oblivion, and seemed, for a
+time, to have lost all faith in sublunary things. After some little
+trouble, however, the thing was satisfactorily arranged. Even here, to
+this lone nook of the western world, had reached the fame of the Caxtons
+of modern times. Aught that bore the name of Chambers, had a place in
+our collection, and the busy fingers of the little Edinburgh 'devils'
+have brightened the solitude of many a home on the banks of the
+Washedemoak.</p>
+
+<p>The Indian summer, which, in November, comes like breathing space, ere
+the mighty power of winter sweeps o'er the earth, is beautiful, with its
+balmy airs and soft bright skies, yet melancholy in its loveliness as a
+fair face in death&mdash;'tis the last smile of summer, and when the last
+wreath of crimson leaves fall to earth, the erratic birds take their
+flight to warmer lands&mdash;the bear retires to his hollow tree&mdash;the
+squirrel to his winter stores&mdash;and man calls forth all his genius to
+make him independent of the storm king's power. In this country we have
+a specimen of every climate at its utmost boundary of endurance; in
+summer we have breathless days of burning heat shining on in shadowless
+splendour of sunlight; but it is in the getting up of a winter's scene
+that New Brunswick is perfect. True, a considerable tall sample of a
+snow-storm can sometimes be enjoyed in England, but nothing to compare
+with the free and easy sweep with which the monarch of clouds flings his
+boons over this portion of his dominions. After the first snow-storm the
+woods have a grand and beautiful appearance, festooned with their
+garlands of feathery pearls&mdash;the raindrops which fall with the earlier
+snows hang like diamond pendants, and flash in the sun, &quot;As if gems were
+the fruitage of every bough.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I remember once coming from St. John's by water. The frost set in rather
+earlier than we expected. The farther from the sea the sooner it
+commences; so as we proceeded up the river our boat was stopped by the
+crystal barrier across the stream, not strong enough yet to admit of
+teaming, and we had nothing for it but a walk of seven miles through the
+forest,&mdash;home we must proceed, though evening was closing in and
+darkness would soon be around us, the heavy atmosphere told of a coming
+storm, and ere to-morrow our path would be blocked up. America is the
+land of invention; and here we were, on the dreary shore, in the dusky
+twilight&mdash;a situation which requires the aid of philosophy. We were
+something in the predicament of the Russian sailors in Spitzbergen, we
+wanted light to guide us on the &quot;blaze,&quot; without which we could not keep
+it; but beyond the gleam of a patent congreve, our means extended not.
+One of our company, however, a native of the country, took the matter
+easy. Some birch trees were growing near, from which he stripped a
+portion of the silvery bark, which being rolled into torches, were
+ignited; each carried a store, and by their brilliant light we set out
+on our pilgrimage. The effect of our most original Bude on the
+snow-wreathed forest was magical&mdash;we seemed to traverse the palace
+gardens of enchantment, so strange yet splendid was the scene&mdash;the snow
+shining pure in the distance, and the thousand ice gems gleaming ruby
+red in the rays of our torches. They are wondrous to walk through, those
+boundless forests, when one thinks that by a slight deviation from the
+track the path would be lost; and, ere it could be found again, the
+spirit grow weary in its wanderings, and, taking its flight, leave the
+unshrouded brows to bleach on summer flowers or winter snows, in the
+path where the graceful carraboo bounds past, or the bear comes guided
+by the tainted breeze to where it lies.</p>
+
+<p>It was on this midnight ramble that the facts of the following lines
+were related to me, ending not, as such tales generally do, in death,
+but in what perchance was worse,&mdash;civilisation lost in barbarism.</p>
+<br />
+
+<p>Many years ago two children, daughters of a person residing in this
+province, were lost in the woods. What had been their fate none knew
+&mdash;no trace of them could be found until, after a long period of time
+had elapsed, one of them was discovered among some Indians, by whom they
+had been taken, and with whom this one had remained, the other having
+joined another tribe. She appeared an Indian squaw in every respect&mdash;her
+complexion had been stained as dark as theirs&mdash;her costume was the same,
+but she had blue eyes. This excited suspicion, which proved to be
+correct. The story of the lost children was remembered, which event
+occurred thirty years before. With some difficulty she was induced to
+meet her mother, her only remaining parent. The tide of time swept back
+from the mother's mind, and she hastened to embrace the child of her
+memory, but, alas! the change. There existed for her no love in the
+bosom of the lost one. Her relatives wishing to reclaim her from her
+savage life, earnestly besought her to remain with them, but their ways
+were not as her's&mdash;she felt as a stranger with them, and rejoined the
+Indian band, with whom she still remains.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<a name='Page_133'></a><h2>THE LOST CHILDREN.</h2>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>At early morn a mother stood,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Her hands were raised to heaven.<br /></span>
+<span>And she praised Almighty God<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For the blessings He had given;<br /></span>
+<span>But far too deep were they<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Encircled in her heart,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>Too deep for human weal,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For earth and love must part.<br /></span>
+<span>She looked with hope too bright<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">On the forms that by her bent,<br /></span>
+<span>And loved, by far too fondly,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Those treasures God had sent.<br /></span>
+<span>They bound her to the earth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With love's own golden chain,<br /></span>
+<span>How were its bright links severed<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By the spirit's wildest pain?<br /></span>
+<span>She parted the rich tresses,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And kissed each snowy brow,<br /></span>
+<span>And where, oh! happy mother,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Was one so blest as thou?<br /></span>
+<span>The summer sun was shining<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">All cloudless o'er the lea,<br /></span>
+<span>When forth her children bounded,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In childhood's summer glee.<br /></span>
+<span>They strayed along the woody banks,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">All fringed with sunny green,<br /></span>
+<span>Where, like a silver serpent,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The river ran between.<br /></span>
+<span>Their glad young voices rose,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As they thought of flower or bird,<br /></span>
+<span>And they sang the joyous fancies<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That in each spirit stirred.<br /></span>
+<span>Oh! sister, see that humming bird;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Saw ye ever ought so fair?<br /></span>
+<span>With wings of gold and ruby,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He sparkles through the air;<br /></span>
+<span>Let us follow where he flies<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">O'er yonder hazel dell,<br /></span>
+<span>For oh! it must be beautiful<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where such a thing can dwell.<br /></span>
+<span>Yet to me it seemeth still,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That his rest must be on high;<br /></span>
+<span>Methinks his plumes are bathed<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In the even's crimson sky:<br /></span>
+<span>How lovely is this earth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where such fair things we see,<br /></span>
+<span>And yet how much more glorious<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The power that bids them be!<br /></span>
+<span>Nay, sister, let us stay<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where those water lilies float,<br /></span>
+<span>So spotless and so pure<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Like a fairy's pearly boat.<br /></span>
+<span>Listen to the melody<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That cometh soft and low,<br /></span>
+<span>As through the twining tendrils<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The water glides below.<br /></span>
+<span>Perchance 'twas in a spot like this,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And by a stream as mild,<br /></span>
+<span>Where the Jewish mother laid<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Her gentle Hebrew child.<br /></span>
+<span>Then rested they beneath the trees,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where, through the leafy shade,<br /></span>
+<span>In ever-changing radiance,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The broken sun-light played;<br /></span>
+<span>And spoke in words, whose simple truth<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Revealed the guileless soul,<br /></span>
+<span>Till softly o'er their senses<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A quiet slumber stole.<br /></span>
+<span>Lo! now a form comes glancing<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Along the waters blue,<br /></span>
+<span>And moored among the lilies<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Lay an Indian's dark canoe.<br /></span>
+<span>The days of ancient feud were gone.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The axe was buried deep.<br /></span>
+<span>And stilled the red man's warfare,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In unawaking sleep.<br /></span>
+<span>Why stands he then so silently,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where those fair children lie?<br /></span>
+<span>And say, what means the flashing<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of the Indian's eagle eye?<br /></span>
+<span>He thinks him of his lonely spouse,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Within her forest glade;<br /></span>
+<span>Around her silent dwelling<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">No children ever played.<br /></span>
+<span>No voice arose to greet him<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When he at eve would come,<br /></span>
+<span>But sadness ever hovered<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Around his dreary home.<br /></span>
+<span>Oh! with those lovely rose-buds<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Were my lone hearth-stone blest,<br /></span>
+<span>My richest food should cheer them,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">My softest furs should rest.<br /></span>
+<span>Their kindred drive us onward,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where the setting sunbeams shine;<br /></span>
+<span>They claim our father's heritage,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Why may not these be mine?<br /></span>
+<span>He raised the sleeping children,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Oh! sad and dreary day!<br /></span>
+<span>And o'er the dancing waters<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He bore them far away.<br /></span>
+<span>He wiled their hearts' young feelings<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With words and actions kind,<br /></span>
+<span>And soon the past went fading<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">All dream-like from their mind.<br /></span>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 45%;" /><br />
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>Oh! brightly sped the beaming sun<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Along his glorious way,<br /></span>
+<span>And feathery clouds of golden light<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Around his parting lay.<br /></span>
+<span>In beauty came the holy stars,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">All gleaming mid the blue,<br /></span>
+<span>It seemed as o'er the lovely earth<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A blessed calm they threw.<br /></span>
+<span>A sound of grief arose<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">On the dewy evening air,<br /></span>
+<span>It bore the bitter anguish<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of a mortal's wild despair;<br /></span>
+<span>A wail like that which sounded<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Throughout Judea's land,<br /></span>
+<span>When Herod's haughty minions<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Obeyed his dark command.<br /></span>
+<span>The mourning mother wept<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Because her babes were not,<br /></span>
+<span>Their forms were gone for ever<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">From each familiar spot.<br /></span>
+<span>Oh! had they sought the river,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And sunk beneath its wave;<br /></span>
+<span>Or had the dark recesses<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of the forest been their grave.<br /></span>
+<span>The same deep tinge of sorrow,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Each surmise ever bore;<br /></span>
+<span>Her gems from her were taken;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of their fate she knew no more.<br /></span>
+<span>Long years of withering woe went on,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Each sadly as the last,<br /></span>
+<span>To other's ears the theme became<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A legend of the past.<br /></span>
+<span>But she, oh! bright she cherished<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Their memory enshrined,<br /></span>
+<span>With all a mother's fondness<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And fadeless truth entwined.<br /></span>
+<span>Many a hope she treasured<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In sorrow's gloom had burst,<br /></span>
+<span>But still her spirit knew<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">No grieving like the first.<br /></span>
+<span>Along her faded forehead<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The hand of time had crost,<br /></span>
+<span>And every furrow told<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Her mourning for the lost.<br /></span>
+<span>With such deep love within her,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">What words the truth could give,<br /></span>
+<span>Howe'er she heard the tidings&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">&quot;Thy children yet they live.&quot;<br /></span>
+<span>But one alone was near,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And with rushing feelings wild,<br /></span>
+<span>The aged mother flew<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To meet once more her child.<br /></span>
+<span>A moment passed away&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The lost one slowly came,<br /></span>
+<span>And stood before her there&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A tall and dark-browed dame.<br /></span>
+<span>Far from her swarthy forehead<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Her raven hair was roll'd;<br /></span>
+<span>She spoke to those around her,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Her voice was stern and cold:<br /></span>
+<span>&quot;Why seek ye here to bind me,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I would again be free;<br /></span>
+<span>They say ye are my kindred&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">But what are ye to me?<br /></span>
+<span>My spring of youth was past<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With the people of the wild:<br /></span>
+<span>And slumber in the green-wood<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">My husband and my child.<br /></span>
+<span>'Tis true I oft have seen ye<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In the visions of the night;<br /></span>
+<span>But many a shadow comes<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">From the dreamer's land of light.<br /></span>
+<span>If e'er I've been among ye,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Save in my wandering thought,<br /></span>
+<span>The memory has passed away&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Ye long have been forgot.&quot;<br /></span>
+<span>And were not these hard words to come<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To that fond mother's heart,<br /></span>
+<span>Who through such years of agony<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Had kept her loving part.<br /></span>
+<span>Her wildest wish was granted&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Her deepest prayer was heard&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>Yet it but served to show her<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">How deeply she had err'd.<br /></span>
+<span>The mysteries of God's high will<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">May not be understood;<br /></span>
+<span>And mortals may not vainly ask,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To them, what seemeth good.<br /></span>
+<span>With spirit wrung to earth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In grief she bowed her head:<br /></span>
+<span>&quot;Oh! better far than meet thee thus,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To mourn thee with the dead.&quot;<br /></span>
+<span>But, think ye, He who comforted<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The widowed one of Nain&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>Who bade the lonely Hagar<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With hope revive again?<br /></span>
+<span>Think ye that mother's trusting love<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Should bleed without a balm?<br /></span>
+<span>No! o'er the troubled spirit<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">There came a blessed calm.<br /></span>
+<span>Amid the savage relics<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Around her daughter flung,<br /></span>
+<span>Upon her naked bosom<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A crucifix there hung.<br /></span>
+<span>And though the simple Indian<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">False tenets might enthral&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>Yet, 'twas the blessed symbol<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of Him who died for all.<br /></span>
+<span>And the mourner's heart rejoiced<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For the promise seemed to say&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>She shall be thine in Heaven,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When the world has passed away.<br /></span>
+<span>Tho' now ye meet as strangers,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Yet there ye shall be one;<br /></span>
+<span>And live in love for ever,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When time and earth are gone.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><a name='Page_140'></a>In the days of the early settling of the country, marriages were
+attended with a ceremony called stumping. This was a local way of
+publishing the banns, the names of the parties and the announcement of
+the event to take place being written on a slip of paper, and inserted
+on the numerous stumps bordering the corduroy road, that all who ran
+might read, though perchance none might scan it save some bewildered fox
+or wandering bear; the squire read the ceremony from the prayer-book,
+received his dollar, and further form for wedlock was required not. Now
+they order these things differently. A wedding is a regular frolic, and
+generally performed by a clergyman (though a few in the back settlements
+still adhere to the custom of their fathers), a large party being
+invited to solemnise the event. The last winter we were in the country
+we attended one some distance from home; but here, while flying along
+the ice paths, distance is not thought of. Nothing can be more
+exhilarating than sleigh-riding, the clear air bracing the nerves, and
+the bells ringing gladly out. These bells are worn round the horse's
+neck and on the harness, to give warning of the sleigh's approach, which
+otherwise would not be heard over the smooth road. The glassy way was
+crowded with skaters, gliding past with graceful ease and folded arms,
+&quot;as though they trod on tented ground.&quot; We soon reached our destination,
+and found assembled a large and joyous party. The festival commenced in
+the morning, and continued late. The fare was luxuriant, and the bride,
+in her white dress and orange blossoms (for, be it known, such things
+are sometimes seen, even in this region of spruce and pine), looked as
+<a name='Page_141'></a>all brides do, bashful and beautiful. The &quot;grave and pompous father,&quot;
+and busy-minded mother, had a look which, though concealed, told that at
+heart they rejoiced to see their &quot;bairn respeckit like the lave,&quot; and
+&quot;all indeed went merry as a marriage bell.&quot; We and some others left at
+midnight. The air was piercingly cold, and the bear skins in which we
+were wrapped soon had a white fringe, where fell the fast congealing
+breath. There was no moon, and the stars looked dim, in the fitful gleam
+of the streamers of the aurora borealis, which were glancing in
+corruscations of awful grandeur along the heavens, now throwing a blood
+red glare on the snow, their pale sepulchral rays of green or blue
+imparting a ghastly horror to the scene, or arranging themselves like
+the golden pillars of some mighty organ, while, ever and again, a wild
+unearthly sound is heard, as if swords were clashing. Those mysterious
+northern lights, whose appearance in superstitious times was supposed to
+threaten, or be the forerunner, of dire calamity; and no wonder was it,
+for even now, with all the light science has thrown upon such things,
+there is attached to them, seen as they are in this country, a feeling
+of dread which cannot all be dispelled.</p>
+
+<p>Travelling on the ice is not altogether free from danger; and even when
+it is thought safe, there are places where it is dangerous to go. The
+best plan of avoiding these is to follow the track of those who have
+gone before&mdash;never, but with caution, and especially at night, striking
+out a new one.</p>
+
+<p>One of the parties who accompanied us wished to reach the shore. There
+was a path which, though <a name='Page_142'></a>rather longer, would have led him safely to
+it, but he determined to strike across the unmarked ice, to where be
+wished to land. All advised him to take the longer way, but he was
+resolute, and turned his horse's head from us. The gallant steed bounded
+forward&mdash;the golden light was beaming from the sky&mdash;and we paused to
+watch his progress. A fearful crashing was heard&mdash;then a sharp crack,
+and sleigh, horse, and rider vanished from our sight. 'Twas horrible to
+see them thus enclosed in that cold tomb.</p>
+
+<p>Assistance was speedily sought from the shore, but ere it came I heard
+the horrid shout of &quot;steeds that snort in agony,&quot; while the blue
+sulphurous flash from above showed the man struggling helplessly among
+the breaking ice. Poles were placed from the solid parts to where he
+was, and he was rescued. He was carried to the nearest house, and with
+some difficulty restored to warmth. The sleighing rarely passes without
+many such accidents occurring, merely through want of caution.</p>
+
+<p>When the balmy breezes of spring again blew ever New Brunswick,
+circumstances had arisen which induced me to leave it, and though I
+loved it not as my native land, I sighed to go, so much of kindness and
+good feeling had I enjoyed among its dwellers; and I stood on the
+vessel's deck, gazing on it till the green trees and white walls of
+Partridge-Island faded in the distance, and the rolling waves of the Bay
+of Fundy, throwing me into that least terrestrial of all maladies, the
+&quot;mal du mer,&quot; rendered me insensible of all sublunary cares.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches And Tales Illustrative Of
+Life In The Backwoods Of New Brunswick, by Mrs. F. Beavan
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches And Tales Illustrative Of Life In
+The Backwoods Of New Brunswick, by Mrs. F. Beavan
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Sketches And Tales Illustrative Of Life In The Backwoods Of New Brunswick
+       Gleaned From Actual Observation And Experience During A Residence
+       Of Seven Years In That Interesting Colony
+
+
+Author: Mrs. F. Beavan
+
+Release Date: June 22, 2004 [EBook #12675]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACKWOODS OF NEW BRUNSWICK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dave Morgan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team,
+with thanks to www.canadiana.org,
+
+
+
+
+
+SKETCHES AND TALES ILLUSTRATIVE OF LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS
+OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NORTH AMERICA,
+
+
+Gleaned From Actual Observation And Experience During A
+Residence Of Seven Years In That Interesting Colony.
+
+
+BY MRS. F. BEAVAN.
+
+    "Son of the Isles! talk not to me,
+    Of the old world's pride and luxury!
+    Tho' gilded bower and fancy cot,
+    Grace not each wild concession lot;
+    Tho' rude our hut, and coarse our cheer,
+    The wealth the world can give is here."
+
+
+1845.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+  Introductory Remarks
+  New Brunswick--by whom settled
+  Remarks on State of Morals and Religion
+  American Physiognomy
+  The Spring Freshets
+  Cranberries
+  Stream Driving
+  Moving a House
+  Frolics
+  Sugar Making
+  Breaking up of the Ice
+  First appearances of Spring
+  Burning a Fallow
+  A Walk through a Settlement
+  Log Huts
+  Description of a Native New Brunswicker's House
+  Blowing the Horn
+  A Deserted Lot
+  The Bushwacker
+  The Postman
+  American Newspapers
+  Musquitoes
+  An Emigrant's House
+  Unsuccessful Lumberer
+  The Law of Kindness exemplified in the Case of a Criminal
+  Schools
+  The School Mistress
+  The Woods
+  Baptists' Association
+  A Visit to the House of a Refugee
+  The Indian Bride, a Refugee's Story
+  Mr. Hanselpecker
+  Burning of Miramichi
+  The Lost One--a tale of the Early Settlers
+  The Mignionette
+  Song of the Irish Mourner
+  A Winter's Evening Sketch
+  The School-mistress's Dream
+  Library in the Backwoods
+  The Indian Summer
+  The Lost Children--a Poem
+  Sleigh Riding
+  Aurora Borealis
+  Getting into the Ice
+  Conclusion
+
+
+
+
+These sketches of the Backwoods of New Brunswick are intended to
+illustrate the individual and national characteristics of the settlers,
+as displayed in the living pictures and legendary tales of the country.
+They have been written during the short intervals allowed from domestic
+toils, and may, perhaps, have little claim to the attention of the
+public, save that of throwing a faint light upon the manners and customs
+of that little-known, though interesting, appendage of the British
+empire. A long residence in that colony having given me ample means of
+knowing and of studying them in all their varying hues of light and
+shade. There, in the free wide solitude of that fair land whose youthful
+face "seems wearing still the first fresh fragrance of the world," the
+fadeless traces of character, peculiar to the dwellers of the olden
+climes, are brought into close contrast with the more original feelings
+of the "sons of the soil," both white and red, and are there more fully
+displayed than in the mass of larger communities. Of political, or depth
+of topographical information, the writer claims no share, and much of
+deep interest, or moving incident, cannot now be expected in the life of
+a settler in the woods. The days when the war-whoop of the Indian was
+yelled above the burning ruins of the white man's dwelling are
+gone--their memory exists but in the legend of the winter's eve, and
+the struggle is now with the elements which form the climate; the
+impulse of "going a-head" giving impetus to people's "getting
+along"--forcing the woods to bow beneath their sturdy stroke, and fields
+to shine with ripened grain, where erst the forest shadows fell; or
+floating down the broad and noble streams the tall and stately pine,
+taken from the ancient bearded wilderness to bear the might of England's
+fame to earth and sea's remotest bounds.
+
+New Brunswick is partly settled by French Acadians from the adjoining
+province of Nova Scotia, but these, generally speaking, form a race by
+themselves, and mingle little with the others, still retaining the
+peculiarities of their nation, although long separated from it--they
+like gaiety and amusement more than work, and consequently are rather
+poorer than the other inhabitants; but, of course, there are exceptions.
+In the winter I have often seen them on their way to market, with loads
+of frozen oysters, packed in barrels, and moss cranberries (rather a
+chance crop); but they looked happy and comfortable, and went singing
+merrily to the ringing of their horse bells. The French were the
+pioneers of the province, and often had to do battle with the Indians,
+the ancient possessors of the soil: of these last there now remains but
+a fast-fading remnant--objects more of pity or laughter than of dread.
+Of the other original settlers, or, as they are particularly termed,
+"blue noses," they are composed of the refugees and their descendants,
+being those persons who, at the separation of England from America,
+prefering the British government, sought her protection and came,
+another band of pilgrims, and swore fealty to that land from whence
+their fathers had so indignantly fled--they are certainly a most
+indescribable genus those blue noses--the traces of descent from the
+Dutch and French blood of the United States, being mingled with the
+independent spirit of the American and the staunch firmness of the
+"Britisher," as they delight to call themselves, showing their claim to
+it by the most determined hatred of the Yankees, whose language and
+features they yet retain: yet these differing qualities blend to form a
+shrewd, intelligent, active, and handsome people--intelligence and
+strong sense, to a far greater amount than could be found in persons of
+the same class in England. A trace, albeit a faint one of the Saxon
+serf, still lingers with the English peasant; but the free breeze of
+America soon sweeps the shadows from his brow, and his sons all, proudly
+take their place as men, knowing that by their own conduct and talents
+they may work their way to fortune, or, at least, "rough hew" it,
+without dread that the might of custom's icy breath can blight their
+fate for lack of birth or fortune. This gives a noble feeling to the
+heart and a higher tone to the character, although a sense of the
+ridiculous is often attached to this by a native of the old countries,
+when it is shown forth by the "squire" yoking his oxen, a major selling
+turkies, and the member for the county cradling buckwheat. Yet all this
+is productive of good, and opens a path for intellect and genius, and
+when a colonel and member of the Legislative Council eats _pancakes and
+molasses_ in a friendly way with his poorer neighbours, is it not likely
+(as the Persian fable tells us of the pebble lying near the rose, and
+thereby imbibing some of its fragrance) that some of the graces and
+politeness of the higher circles, to which these gentlemen belong both
+by fortune and education, should be imparted, in some degree, to those
+with whom they converse. So it undoubtedly does, and the air of
+refinement, native to the New Brunswicker, is never so strongly visible
+as when contrasted with the new-caught emigrant. Rudeness and vulgarity
+in glaring forms one never meets from them; odd and inquisitive ways may
+be thought impertinent, and require both time and patience to be rightly
+understood.
+
+The state of morals and religion is fast progressing; these, of course,
+have all their mainspring from education, for an uneducated people can
+never be, rightly speaking, either moral or religious. So New Brunswick
+may have the apology for whispered tales that float about, of corn being
+reaped and wood being felled on the Sabbath-day, and of sacred rites
+being dispensed with. She is yet in her infancy, and when one thinks
+that 'tis but sixty years since they first set foot on the shore, where
+stood one lonely hut, on the site of the now flourishing city of St.
+John, we must know that their physical wants were then so many that but
+little attention could be given to the wants of the mind. But now,
+thanks to the parental care of Britain, schools and churches are rising
+fast throughout the country, and learning is received with an avidity
+that marks the active intellect it has to work upon; besides, all these
+old stories of failings occurred long before the tide of emigration
+caused them to be enlightened by the visitation of the inhabitants of
+the gifted climes of the olden world. Well would it be if all those
+showed as much desire to avail themselves of their means of
+improvement, as a New Brunswicker does of those enjoyed by him. Their
+personal appearance differs much from the English. Cooper says, "the
+American physiognomy has already its own peculiar cast"--so it has, and
+can easily be distinguished--in general they are handsomer than the
+emigrants--darker in complexion, but finer in feature and more graceful
+in form--not so strong, and fading sooner. Many of the children are
+perfectly beautiful, but the cherub beauty changes soon, and the women
+particularly look old and withered while yet young in years. Infantine
+beauty seems peculiar to the country, for even the children of emigrants
+born there are much handsomer than those born at home. Such are some of
+the traits of the natives--then comes the wide circle of emigrants, each
+(at least the older ones) retaining the peculiarities of their different
+countries. Many of them, although better off than they could possibly
+expect to be at home, yet keep railing at the country, and thirsting
+after the "flesh-pots of Egypt." The Yorkshireman talks of nothing but
+the "white cakes and bag puddings" of old England, regardless of the
+"pumpkin pies and buckwheat pancakes" of New Brunswick; and one old lady
+from Cornwall (where they say the Devil would not go for fear of being
+transformed into a pasty) revenges herself on the country by making pies
+of everything, from apples and mutton down to parsley, and all for the
+memory of England; while, perhaps, were she there, she might be without
+a pie. The honest Scotchman is silent upon the subject of "vivers," and
+wisely talks not of either "crowdy" or barley meal, but tells of the
+time when he was a sitter in the kirk of the Rev. Peter Poundtext,
+showing his Christian charity by the most profound contempt as well for
+the ordinances of the Church of England as for the "dippings" of the
+Baptists. He attends none of them, for he says "he canna thole it," but
+when by chance a minister of the kirk comes his way, then you may see
+him, with well-saved Sabbath suit, pressing anxiously forward to catch
+the droppings of the sanctuary: snows or streams offering no obstacle to
+his zeal. The Irishman, too, is there seen all in his glory--one with a
+medal on his breast, flinging his shillalagh over his head and shouting
+for O'Connell, while another is quaffing to the "pious, glorious, and
+immortal memory of King William," inviting those around him to join
+together in an Orange Lodge, of which community he certainly shows no
+favourable specimen; but by degrees these national feelings and
+asperities become more softened, and the second generation know little
+of them. The settlement from whence these sketches are drawn, was formed
+of a motley mixture of all the different nations--Blue Nose, English,
+Scotch, Irish, Welch, and Dutch.
+
+We had been living for some time at a place called _Long Creek_, on the
+margin of a broad and rapid stream, which might well have borne the more
+dignified appellation of river--the land on its borders was the flat,
+rich "_intervale_," so highly prized, formed by alluvial deposits. There
+are, I believe, two descriptions of this _intervale_,--one covered with
+low small bushes, and, therefore, more easily cleared--the other with a
+gigantic growth of the butternut, the oak, and the elm. This where we
+lived was of the latter description. A few of the stately monarchs of
+the forest yet stood upon the emerald plains, spreading their
+magnificent branches to the sunlight, and telling of the kindly soil
+that nourished them. Along the fences wild hops festooned themselves in
+graceful wreaths of wild luxuriance. A few clumps of cranberry bushes
+had also been permitted to remain, notwithstanding the American's
+antipathy to trees or bushes is such, that his axe, which he hardly ever
+stirs without, is continually flying about him; but this berry, one
+amongst the many indigenous to the country, is a useful addition to the
+winter store--they grow abundantly, and, after the first frost which
+ripens them they have a brilliant appearance, hanging like clustering
+rubies, reminding one of the gem-clad boughs of Aladdin. When gathered,
+they are hung up in bunches, when they become frozen, keeping good till
+the spring. They are used for tarts and jellies, the frost neither
+altering their colour nor flavour. Those places are overflown in the
+spring; the "freshets" caused by the melting of the snow raising the
+waters above their ordinary level. I have often sailed over them, and
+'twas strange to see each familiar footpath and strawberry bank far down
+beneath the shining waves. As the creek goes onward to the river the
+_intervale_ disappears, and the banks become grey and steep, crowned
+with the tall and slender stems of the spruce and cedar. New Brunswick
+is rich in minerals, and veins of coal and iron abound at this place;
+but many years must elapse ere mines are worked to any extent. A few are
+in operation at present; but while the pine waves the wealth of her
+green plumage to the lumber-man, or the new-cleared ground will yield
+its virgin crop to the farmer, the earth must keep her deeper treasures.
+In the spring, this creek presents a busy picture. The rivers of New
+Brunswick are to her what the railroads are now to other countries: and
+richly is she blessed with sparkling waters from the diamond flashings
+of the mountain rill to the still calm beauty of the sheltered lake, the
+silvery streams, the sweeping river, and the unfrozen width of the
+winter harbour of her noble bay. True, much can be done on the icy ways
+of winter, but then the home work must be minded, and market attended.
+Fire-wood for the year must be _hauled_; the increasing _clearings_ call
+for extended fences, and these also must be drawn from the woods on the
+snow, so that when the spring opens, the roots and other spare produce
+are quickly shipped off (boated would be a better expression) into large
+open boats, called market-boats. Another description, called wood-boats,
+are used for carrying deals and cord-wood, so called from the stick
+forming the measure of a cord, which is the mode of selling it in the
+city for fuel. The deals are floated from the saw mills over the
+shallows, and piled into the boats. One could sometimes walk across the
+river on the quantities of wood floating about. The larger pieces of
+wood or timber are floated singly down the stream nearest to the place
+whence they are cut. This operation is called stream-driving, and
+commences as soon as the rapid melting of the snow and ice has so
+swollen the small streams as to give them power to force and carry the
+huge pieces of timber, until, at the confluence of the streams, the
+water becomes wide enough to enable them to form it into rafts, on which
+raft a hut is built and furnished with the necessaries for subsistence.
+The gang who have been employed in bringing it so far lay themselves
+upon it, and allow it to float down the stream, until the breeze wafts
+them to their destination. These are the scenes of the spring, when all
+life seems awakening. The tree-buds are bursting their cerements--the
+waters are dancing in light and song--and the woods, before all still,
+now echo a few wild notes of melody. The blue wing of the halycon goes
+dazzlingly past, and tells us his own bright days are come; and the
+"_whip-poor-will_" brings his lay so close, that the ear is startled
+with the human sound on the soft damp air. The scene is changed when
+Sirius is triumphant, telling us of the tropics, and that we live in
+rather an inexplicable climate. Beneath his burning influence I have
+glided down this creek when no sound was heard on earth or air save the
+ripples of the paddle as it rose or fell at the will of the child-like
+form which guided the fragile bark. The dwellers on the margin of these
+fair waters are as much at home upon them as on land, and the children
+in particular are as amphibious as the musk rats which people its banks,
+and which scent the air somewhat heavily with what, in a fainter degree,
+would be thought perfume. One can hardly recall these dog-star days at
+that later season when the pearly moon and brilliant stars shine down
+from the deep blue sky on the crusted snows; when fairy crystals are
+reflecting their cold bright beams on the glistening ice, while the
+sleigh flies merrily along, "with bell and bridle ringing," on the same
+path we held in summer with the light canoe; when the breath congeals in
+a sheet of ice around the face, and the clearness of the atmosphere
+makes respiration difficult. To tell us that we are in the same latitude
+with the sunny clime of Boulogne, in France, shows us that America
+cannot be measured by the European standard. A quarter of the globe lies
+between us; they go to bed four hours before we do, and are fast asleep
+while we are wide awake. No one attempts to live in the country
+districts without a farm. As the place where we lived had but a house
+and one acre of land, none being vacant in that immediate neighbourhood,
+and finding firing and pasturage expensive, and furthermore wishing to
+raise our own potatoes, and, if we liked, live in _peas_, a lot of two
+hundred acres was purchased in the settlement, styled, "_par
+excellence_," "the English," (from the first settlers being of that
+illustrious nation,) a distance of two miles from where we then lived.
+Our house was a good one. We did not like to leave it. Selling was out
+of the question: so we e'en resolved to take it with us, wishing, as the
+Highland robber did of the haystack, that it had legs to walk. A
+substitute for this was found in the universal resource of New
+Brunswickers for all their wants, from the cradle to the coffin, "the
+tree, the bonny greenwood tree," that gives the young life-blood of its
+sweet sap for sugar--and even when consumed by fire its white ashes
+yield them soap. I have even seen wooden fire-irons, although they do
+not go quite so far as their Yankee neighbours, who, letting alone
+wooden clocks, deal besides in _wooden hams_, nutmegs, and cucumber
+seeds. Two stout trees were then felled (the meanest would have graced a
+lordly park), and hewed with the axe into a pair of gigantic sled
+runners. The house was raised from its foundation and placed on these.
+Many hands make light work; but, had those hands been all hired
+labourers, the expense would have been more than the value of the house,
+but 'twas done by what is called a "frolic." When people have a
+particular kind of work requiring to be done quickly, and strength to
+accomplish it, they invite their neighbours to come, and, if necessary,
+bring with them their horses or oxen. Frolics are used for building log
+huts, chopping, piling, ploughing, planting, and hoeing. The ladies also
+have their particular frolics, such as wool-picking, or cutting out and
+making the home-spun woollen clothes for winter. The entertainment given
+on such occasions is such as the house people can afford; for the men,
+roast mutton, pot pie, pumpkin pie, and rum dough nuts; for the ladies,
+tea, some scandal, and plenty of "_sweet cake_," with stewed apple and
+custards. There are, at certain seasons, a great many of these frolics,
+and the people never grow tired of attending them, knowing that the logs
+on their own fallows will disappear all the quicker for it. The house
+being now on the runners, thirty yoke of oxen, four abreast, were
+fastened to an enormous tongue, or pole, made of an entire tree of ash.
+No one can form any idea, until they have heard it, of the noise made in
+driving oxen; and, in such an instance as this, of the skill and tact
+required in starting them, so that they are all made to pull at once. I
+have often seen the drivers, who are constantly shouting, completely
+hoarse; and after a day's work so exhausted that they have been unable
+to raise the voice. Although the cattle are very docile, and understand
+well what is said to them, yet from the number of turnings and twistings
+they require to be continually reminded of their duty. Amid, then, all
+the noise and bustle made by intimating to such a number whether they
+were to "haw" or "gee," the shoutings of the younger parties assembled,
+the straining of chains and the creaking of boards, the ponderous pile
+was set in motion along the smooth white and marble-like snow road,
+whose breadth it entirely filled up. It was a sight one cannot well
+forget--to see it move slowly up the hill, as if unwilling to leave the
+spot it had been raised on, notwithstanding the merry shouts around, and
+the flag they had decked it with streaming so gaily through the green
+trees as they bent over it till it reached the site destined for it,
+where it looked as much at home as if it were too grave and steady a
+thing to take the step it had done. This was in March--we had been
+waiting some time for snow, as to move without it would have been a
+difficult task; for, plentifully as New Brunswick is supplied with that
+commodity, at some seasons much delay and loss is experienced for want
+of it--the sleighing cannot be done, and wheel carriages cannot run, the
+roads are so rough and broken with the frost--the cold is then more
+intense, and the cellars, (the sole store-houses and receptacles of the
+chief comforts) without their deep covering of snow, become penetrated
+by the frost, and their contents much injured, if not totally
+destroyed--this is a calamity that to be known must be experienced--the
+potatoes stored here are the chief produce of the farm, at least the
+part that is most available for selling, for hay should never go off the
+land, and grain is as yet so little raised that 'tis but the old farmers
+can do what is called "_bread themselves:_" thus the innovation of the
+cellars by the _frost fiend_ is a sad and serious occurrence--of course
+a deep bank of earth is thrown up round the house, beneath which, and
+generally its whole length and breadth, is the cellar; but the snow over
+this is an additional and even necessary defence, and its want is much
+felt in many other ways--in quantity, however, it generally makes up for
+its temporary absence by being five and six feet deep in April. About
+this season the warm sun begins to beam out, and causes the sap to flow
+in the slumbering trees--this is the season for sugar-making, which,
+although an excellent thing if it can be managed, is not much attended
+to, especially in new settlements, and those are generally the best off
+for a "_sugar-bush_;" but it occurs at that season when the last of the
+winter work must be done--the snow begins to melt on the roads, and the
+"saw whet," a small bird of the owl species, makes its appearance, and
+tells us, as the natives say, that "_the heart of the winter is
+broken_." All that can be done now must be done to lessen the toils of
+that season now approaching, from which the settler must not shrink if
+he hope to prosper. Sugar-making, then, unless the farmer is strong
+handed, is not profitable. A visit to a sugar-camp is an interesting
+sight to a stranger--it may, perhaps, be two or three miles through the
+woods to where a sufficient number of maple trees may be found close
+enough together to render it eligible for sugar-making. All the
+different kinds of maple yield a sweet sap, but the "rock maple" is the
+species particularly used for sugar, and perhaps a thousand of these
+trees near together constitute what is called a _sugar-bush_. Here,
+then, a rude hut, but withal picturesque in its appearance, is
+erected--it is formed of logs, and covered with broad sheets of birch
+bark. For the universal use of this bark I think the Indians must have
+given the example. Many beautiful articles are made by them of it, and
+to the back settlers it is invaluable. As an inside roofing, it
+effectually resists the rain--baskets for gathering the innumerable
+tribe of summer berries, and boxes for packing butter are made of
+it--calabashes for drinking are formed of it in an instant by the bright
+forest stream. Many a New Brunswick belle has worn it for a head-dress
+as the dames of more polished lands do frames of French willow; and it
+is said the title deeds of many a broad acre in America have been
+written on no other parchment than its smooth and vellum-like folds. The
+sugar-maker's bark-covered hut contains his bedding and provisions,
+consisting of little save the huge round loaf of bread, known as the
+"shanty loaf"--his beverage, or substitute for tea, is made of the
+leaves of the winter green, or the hemlock boughs which grow beside him,
+and his sweetening being handy bye, he wants nothing more. A notch is
+cut in the tree, from which the sap flows, and beneath it a piece of
+shingle is inserted for a spout to conduct it into troughs, or bark
+dishes, placed at the foot of the tree. The cold frosty nights, followed
+by warm sunny days, making it run freely, clear as water, and slightly
+sweet--from these troughs, or bark dishes, it is collected in pails, by
+walking upon the now soft snow, by the aid of snow shoes, and poured
+into barrels which stand near the boilers, ready to supply them as the
+syrup boils down. When it reaches the consistence required for sugar, it
+is poured into moulds of different forms. Visits to these sugar camps
+are a great amusement of the young people of the neighbourhood in which
+they are, who make parties for that purpose--the great treat is the
+candy, made by dashing the boiling syrup on the snow, where it instantly
+congeals, transparent and crisp, into sheets. At first the blazing fire
+and boiling cauldron look strange, amid the solemn loneliness of the
+forest, along whose stately aisles of cathedral-like grandeur the eye
+may gaze for days, and see no living thing--the ear hear no sound, save
+it may be the tapping of the woodpecker, or the whispering of the wind
+as it sighs through the boughs, seeming to mourn with them for the time
+when the white man knew them not. But these thoughts pass away when the
+proprietor, with his pale intelligent face, shaded by a flapping sun hat
+from the glaring snow, presses us hospitably to "take along a junk of
+candy, a lump of sugar," or a cup of the syrup. He sees nothing
+picturesque or romantic in the whole affair, and only calculates if it
+will pay for the time it occupies; at the same time, with the produce of
+his labours he is extremely "_clever_," this being the term for generous
+or hospitable, and one is sometimes startled at its application,
+especially to women; the persons in England, to whom it is applied, are
+so unlike the clever women of New Brunswick, those dear old creatures,
+who know not the difference between Milton and Dilworth, and whose very
+woollen gowns are redolent of all-spice and apples.
+
+Towards the latter part of March and April the breaking up of the ice
+goes on gradually--some seasons, however, a sudden storm causes the ice
+and snow to disappear rapidly, but generally a succession of soft warm
+winds, and days partly sunshine and rain, does it more effectually, and
+prevents the heavy freshets in the rivers, which are often destructive,
+overflowing the low banks and carrying away with resistless force
+whatever buildings may be on them. After the disappearance of the snow,
+some time must elapse ere the land be in a fit state for sowing,
+consequently fencing, and such like, is now the farmer's employment,
+either around the new clearings, or in repairing those which have fallen
+or been removed during the winter. This, with attending to the stock,
+which at this season require particular care, gives them sufficient
+occupation--the sheep, which have long since been wearied of the
+"durance vile" which bound them to the hay-rick, may now be seen in
+groups on the little isles of emerald green which appear in the white
+fields; and the cattle, that for six long weary months have been
+ruminating in their stalls, or "chewing the cud of sweet and bitter
+fancy" in the barn yards, now begin to extend their perigrinations
+towards the woods, browsing with delight on the sweet young buds of the
+birch tree. At this season it is, for obvious reasons, desirable that
+the "milky mothers" should not stray far from home--many "a staid brow'd
+matron" has disappeared in the spring, and, after her summer rambles in
+the woods, returned in the "fall" with her full-grown calf by her side,
+but many a good cow has gone and been seen no more, but as a white
+skeleton gleaming among the green leaves. To prevent these mischances, a
+bell is fastened on the leader of the herd, the intention of which is to
+guide where they may be found. This bell is worn all summer, as their
+pasture is the rich herbage of the forest. It is taken off during the
+winter, and its first sounds now tell us, although the days are cold,
+and the snow not yet gone, that brighter times are coming. The clear
+concerts of the frogs ring loudly out from marsh and lake, and at this
+season alone is heard the lay of the wood-robin, and the blackbird. The
+green glossy leaves of the winter green, whose bright scarlet berries
+look like clusters of coral on the snow, now seem even brighter than
+they were--the blue violet rises among the sheltered moss by the old
+tree roots, and the broad-leaved adder tongue gives out its orange and
+purple blossoms to gladden the brown earth, while the trees are yet all
+black and barren, save the various species of pine and spruce, which now
+wear a fringe of softer green. The May flowers of New Brunswick seldom
+blossom till June, which is rather an Irish thing of them to do, and
+although the weather has been fine, and recalls to the memory the balmy
+breath of May, yet I have often seen a pearly wreath of new fallen snow,
+deck the threshhold on that 'merrie morn'. After the evaporation of the
+steaming vapour of spring has gone forward, and the farmer has operated
+in the way of ploughing and sowing, on whatever ready-prepared land he
+may have for the purpose, the first dry "_spell_" is looked forward to
+most anxiously to burn off the land which has been chopped during the
+winter--it is bad policy, however, to depend for the whole crop on this
+"_spring burn_," as a long continuance of wet weather may prevent it.
+The new settler, on his first season, has nothing else to depend upon;
+but the older ones chop the land at intervals during the summer, and
+clear it off in the autumn, and thus have it ready for the ensuing
+spring. Burning a chopping, or _fallow_, as it is called, of twelve or
+fourteen acres in extent, is a grand and even awful sight: rushing in
+torrents of flame, it rolls with the wind, crackling and roaring through
+the brushwood, and often extending beyond the limits assigned it,
+catching the dry stems of ancient trees, the growth of the earlier ages
+of this continent, which lie in gigantic ruins, half buried in the
+rising soil, and which will be themes of speculation to the geologists
+of other days--it rushes madly among the standing trees of the woods,
+wreathing them to their summits in its wild embrace--they stand at night
+like lofty torches, or a park decked out with festal lamps for some
+grand gala. After this first burn, a _fallow_ presents a blackened scene
+of desolation and confusion, and requires, indeed, a strong arm and a
+stout heart to undertake its clearance; the small branches and
+brush-wood alone have been burnt, but the large logs or trunks lie all
+blackened but unconsumed. These must all be placed in regular piles or
+heaps, which are again fired, and burn steadily for a few hours, after
+which all traces of the noble forest are gone, save the blackened stumps
+and a few white ashes; it is then ready for planting or sowing, with the
+assistance of the hoe or harrow.
+
+And now, kind reader, if you have accompanied me thus far, will you have
+the kindness to suppose us fixed at last in our habitation--whitewashing,
+painting, and scrubbing done, and all the fuss of moving over--our
+fallow fenced and filled--the dark green stems of the wheat and oats
+standing thick and tall--the buck-wheat spreading its broad leaves, and
+the vines of the pumpkins and cucumbers running along the rich soil,
+where grows in luxuriance the potatoe, that root, valuable to New
+Brunswick
+
+    "As the bread-fruit tree
+    To the sunny isles of Owhyhee."
+
+Suppose it, then, a bright and balmy day in the sunny ides of June--the
+earth is now in all the luxuriant pride of her summer beauty; for
+although the summer is long coming, yet, when it does begin, vegetation
+is so rapid that a few short days call it forth in all its loveliness;
+nay, the transition is so quick, that I have observed its workings in an
+hour's space. In the red sunlight of the morn I have seen the trees with
+their wintry sprays and brown leaf-buds all closed--when there fell a
+soft and refreshing shower--again the sunbeams lit the sky, and oh! the
+glorious change--the maple laughed out with her crimson blossoms and
+fair green leaves--the beech-tree unfolded her emerald plumes--the fairy
+stems of the aspen and birch were dancing in light, and the stately ash
+was enwreathed with her garland of verdant green--the spirit of spring
+seemed to have waved o'er them the wand of enchantment. On this bright
+day, of which I now speak, all this mighty change had been accomplished,
+and earth and air seemed all so delightful, one could hardly imagine
+that it could be improved by aught added to or taken from it.
+
+I am now just going to walk along the settlement to visit a friend, and
+if you will accompany me, I shall most willingly be your Asmodeus. A
+straight and well-worked road runs through the settlement, which is
+about nine miles in length. This part of the country is particularly
+hilly, and from where we now stand we have a view of its whole extent.
+Twenty years ago a blazed track was the only path through the dense
+forest to where, at its furthest extremity, one adventurous settler had
+dared to raise his _log hut_. The older inhabitants, who lived only on
+the margin of the rivers, laughed at the idea of clearing those high
+"_back lands_" where there was neither intervale or rivers, but he
+heeded them not, and his lonely hut became the nucleus of one of the
+most flourishing settlements in New Brunswick. The woods have now
+retreated far back from the road, and at this season the grass and grain
+are so high that the stumps are all concealed. The scene is very
+different to the country landscapes of England. There there are square
+smooth fields enclosed with stone walls, neat white palings, or the
+hawthorn hedge, scenting the breezes with its balmy "honeysuckle," or
+sweet wild rose--song-birds filling the air with melody, and stately
+castles, towering o'er the peasant's lowly home, while far as the eye
+can reach 'twill rest but on some fair village dome or farm. Here the
+worm or zigzag fence runs round the irregularly-shaped clearings, in the
+same rustic garb it wore when a denizen of the forest. The wild flowers
+here have no perfume, but the raspberries, which grow luxuriantly in the
+spaces made by the turnings of the fences, have a sweet smell, and there
+is a breath which tells of the rich strawberry far down among the
+shadowy grass. The birds during the hot months of summer have no song,
+but there are numbers of them, and of the brightest plumage. The fairy
+humming-bird, often in size no larger than a bee, gleams through the air
+like a flower with wings, and the bald eagle sits majestically on the
+old grey pines, which stand like lone monuments of the past, the storms
+and the lightnings having ages ago wreaked their worst upon them, and
+bereft them of life and limb, yet still they stand, all lofty and
+unscathed by the axe or the fire which has laid the younger forest low.
+The dwellings, either the primitive log-hut, the first home of the
+settler, or the more stately frame-buildings, stand each near the road,
+on the verge of its own clearing, which reaches back to where the dark
+woods form a back-ground to the scene. These stretch far and wide over
+the land, save where appears, amid their density, some lonely settlement
+or improvement of adventurous emigrant. Those little spots, of how much
+importance to their owners, yet seem as nothing amid the vast forest.
+Each dwelling in this country is in itself a theme for study and
+interest. Here, on one side, is the home of an English settler--amid all
+the bustle and chopping and burning of a new farm, he has found time to
+plant a few fruit trees, and has now a flourishing young orchard, and a
+garden wherein are herbs of "fragrant smell and spicy taste," to give a
+warm relish to the night's repast. For the cultivation of a garden the
+natives, unless the more opulent of them, seem to care little; and
+outside the dwelling of a blue nose there is little to be seen, unless
+it be a cucumber bed among the chips, or a patch of Indian corn. Again,
+the Scotch settlers may be known by the taste shown in selecting a
+garden spot--a gentle declivity, sloping to a silvery stream, by which
+stand a few household trees that he has permitted to remain--beneath
+them a seat is placed, and in some cherished spot, watched over with the
+tenderest care, is an exotic sprig of heath or broom. About the
+Hibernian's dwelling may be a mixture of all these differing tastes,
+while perhaps a little of the national ingenuity may be displayed in a
+broken window, repaired with an old hat, or an approximation towards
+friendliness between the domestic animals and the inmates. With the
+interior of these dwellings one is agreeably surprised, they (that is,
+generally speaking), appear so clean and comfortable. Outside the logs
+are merely hewed flat, and the interstices filled up with moss and clay,
+the roof and ends being patched up with boards and bark, or anything to
+keep out the cold. They certainly look rough enough, but within they are
+ceiled above and around with smooth shining boards; there are no walls
+daubed with white-wash, nor floors strewn with vile gritty sand, which
+last certainly requires all the sanctity of custom to render it
+endurable, but the walls and floors are as bright and clean as the
+scrubbing-brush and plenty of soap can make them. This great accessary
+to cleanliness, _soap_, is made at home in large quantities, the ashes
+of the wood burnt in the fire-place making the "ley," to which is added
+the coarser fat and grease of the animals used for home consumption. It
+costs nothing but the trouble of making, and the art is little. As
+regards cleanliness, the natives have something almost Jewish in their
+personal observances of it as well as of their food. The blood of no
+animal is ever used, but flows to the earth from whence it sprung, and
+the poorest of them perform their ablutions before eating with oriental
+exactness; these habits are soon imparted to the emigrants, many of
+whom, when they first come out, all softly be it said, are by no means
+so nice.
+
+The large bright fires of the log house prevent all possible ideas of
+damp; they certainly are most delightful--those magnificent winter fires
+of New Brunswick--so brilliant, so cheerful, and so warm--the charred
+coals, like a mass of burning rubies, giving out their heat beneath,
+while between the huge "_back-log_" and "_fore-stick,_" the bright
+flames dance merrily up the wide chimney. I have often heard people
+fancy a wood fire as always snapping and sparkling in your face, or
+green and smoky, chilling you with its very appearance, but those would
+soon change their opinion if they saw a pile of yellow birch and rock
+maple laid right "fore and aft" across the bright fire-dogs, the hearth
+swept up, and the chips beneath fanned with the broom, they would then
+see the union of light and heat in perfection. In one way it is
+preferable to coals, that is, while making on the fire you might if you
+chose wear white kid gloves without danger of soiling them. Another
+comfort to the settler in the back woods is, that every stick you burn
+makes one less on the land. Stoves, both for cooking and warming the
+houses, have long been used in the United States, and are gradually
+coming into common use in New Brunswick. In the cities they are
+generally used, where fuel is expensive, as they require less fuel, and
+give more heat than open "fire-places;" but the older inhabitants can
+hardly be reconciled to them; they prefer the rude old hearth stone,
+with its bright light, to the dark stove. I remember once spending the
+evening at a house where the younger part of the family, to be
+fashionable, had got a new stove placed in the fire-place of "_'tother
+room_," which means, what in Scotland is termed "_ben_" the house, and
+in England "the _parlour_." This was the first evening of its being put
+in operation. I observed the old gentleman (a first-rate specimen of a
+blue nose) looked very uncomfortable and fidgetty. For a time he sat
+twirling his thumbs in silence, when suddenly a thought seemed to strike
+him: he left the room, and shortly after the draught-hole of the stove
+grew dark, and a cloud of smoke burst forth from it. The old gentleman
+came in, declaring he was almost suffocated, and that it was "all owing
+to _that nasty ugly Yankee critter_," the stove. He instantly had it
+taken down, and was soon gazing most comfortably on a glorious pile of
+burning wood, laid on by himself, with the most scientific regard to the
+laws of _levity, concavity_, and _contiguity_ requisite in fire-making;
+and by the twinkle of his eye I knew that he was enjoying the ruse he
+had employed to get rid of the stove, for he had quietly stopped the
+flue. For the mere convenience of the thing, I think a stove is
+decidedly preferable. In this country, where people are generally their
+own cooks as well as everything else, they learn to know how the most
+and the best work can be done with the least time and trouble. With the
+stove there is not that roasting of the face and hands, nor confused
+jumble of pots and pans, inseparable from a kitchen fire; but upon the
+neat little polished thing, upon which there is nothing to be seen but a
+few bright covers, you can have the constituents of a New Brunswick
+breakfast, "_cod-fish and taters_," for twice laid, fried ham, hot
+rolls, and pancakes, all prepared while the tea kettle is boiling, and
+experience whilst arranging them no more heat than on a winter morning,
+is quite agreeable. In the furniture of these back-wood dwellings there
+is nothing rich or costly, yet there is such an air of neatness diffused
+over it, and effect brought out, that they always recalled to me the
+painted cottage scenes of a theatre. But here is a house at which I have
+a call to make, and which will illustrate the "_menage_" of a New
+Brunswicker. Remember, this is not one of the old settlers, who have
+overcome all the toil and inconvenience of clearing and building, and
+are now enjoying the comforts they have earned, but it is the log-house
+of a new farm, around which the stumps yet stand thick and strong, and
+where the ringing of the axe is yet heard incessantly. In this working
+country people are, in general, like the famous Mrs. Gilpin, who, though
+on pleasure bent, had yet a frugal mind, and contrive to make business
+and amusement go together; and although I had left home with the
+intention of paying a visit, a little business induces me to pause here,
+ere I proceed to where I intended; and even here, while arranging this,
+I shall enjoy myself as much as though I were sackless of thought or
+interest in anything save amusement. The manufacture of the wool raised
+on the farm is the most important part of the women's work, and in this
+the natives particularly excel. As yet I knew not the mysteries of
+colouring brown with butternut bark, nor the proper proportion of _sweet
+fern_ and indigo to produce green, so that our wool, on its return from
+the carding mill, had been left with this person--lady, "par
+courtesie,"--who was a perfect adept in the art, to be spun and wove:
+and the business on which I now call is to arrange with her as to its
+different proportions and purposes. What for blankets, for clothing, or
+for socks and mittens, which all require a different style of
+manufacture, and are all items of such importance during the winter
+snows. Melancthon Grey, whose most Christian and protestant appellation
+was abbreviated into "Lank," was a true-blooded blue nose. His father
+had a noble farm of rich intervale on the banks of the river Saint John,
+and was well to do in the world. Lank was his eldest son, yet no
+heritage was his, save his axe and the arm which swung it. The law of
+primogeniture exists not in this country, and the youngest son is
+frequently heir to that land on which the older ones have borne the
+"heat and burthen of the day," and rendered valuable by their toil,
+until each chooses his own portion in the world, by taking unto himself
+a wife and a lot of forest land, and thus another hard-won _homestead_
+is raised, and sons enough to choose among for heirs. Melancthon Grey
+had wedded his cousin, a custom common among the "blue noses," and which
+most likely had its origin in the patriarchal days of the earlier
+settlers, when the inhabitants were few. Sybel was a sweet pretty girl,
+deficient, as the Americans all are, in those high-toned feelings which
+characterise the depth of woman's love in the countries of Europe, yet
+made, as they generally do, an affectionate wife, and a fond and doating
+mother. Those two names, Sybel and Melancthon, had a strange sound in
+the same household, awaking, as they always did in my dreamy fancy, a
+train of such differing memories. Sybel recalling the days of early
+Rome, the haughty Tarquin and his mysterious prophetess, while
+Melancthon brought back the "Reformation," and the best and most pious
+of its fathers. In the particular of names, the Americans have a decided
+"penchant" for those of euphonious and peculiar sound--they are selected
+from sacred and profane history, ancient and modern. To them, however,
+there is little of meaning attached by those who give them save the
+sound. I have known one family reckon among its members a Solon and
+Solomon, a Hector and Wellington, a Bathsheba and Lucretia; and the two
+famous Johns, Bunyan and Wesley, have many a name-sake. These, in their
+full length, are generally saved for holiday terms, and abbreviations
+are made for every-day use. In these they are ingenious in finding the
+shortest, and _Theodore_, that sweetest of all names, I have heard
+curtailed to "_Od_," which seems certainly an odd enough cognomen.
+Sybel's bridal portion consisted of a cow and some sheep--her father's
+waggon which brought her home contained some household articles her
+mother's care had afforded--Melancthon had provided a barrel of pork and
+one of flour, some tea and molasses, that staple commodity in
+transatlantic housekeeping. Amongst Sybel's chattels were a bake-pan and
+tea-kettle, and thus they commenced the world. Melancthon has not yet
+had time to make a gate at his dwelling, and our only mode of entrance
+must be either by climbing the "fence" or unshipping the "_bars_," which
+form one pannel, and which are placed so as to be readily removed for
+the passage of a carriage, but from us this will require both time and
+strength, so at the risk of tearing our dress we will e'en take the
+fence. This is a feat which a novice does most clumsily, but which those
+who are accustomed to it do most gracefully.
+
+As we approach the dwelling, the housewife's handy-work is displayed in
+a pole hung with many a skein of snow white yarn, glistening in the
+sunlight. Four years have passed since Sybel was a bride---her cheek has
+lost the bloom of girlhood, and has already assumed the hollow form of
+New Brunswick matrons; her dress is home-spun, of her own manufacture,
+carded and spun by her own hands, coloured with dye stuffs gathered in
+the woods, woven in a pretty plaid, and neatly made by herself. This is
+also the clothing of her husband and children; a bright gingham
+handkerchief is folded inside her dress, and her rich dark hair is
+smoothly braided. In this particular the natives display a good
+taste--young women do not enshroud themselves in a cap the day after
+their marriage, as if glad to be done with the trouble of dressing their
+hair; and unless from sickness a cap is never worn by any one the least
+youthful. The custom commences with the children, for infants never have
+their heads covered during the day. At first the little bald heads seem
+unsightly to a stranger, but when the eye gets accustomed, they look
+much better in their own natural beauty then when decked out in lace and
+muslin. The plan of keeping the head cool seems to answer well, for New
+Brunswick may rival any country in the world for a display of lovely
+infants. Sybel has the delicacy of appearance which the constant in-door
+occupation of the women gives them, differing much from the coarse, but
+healthier look of those countries where the females assist in field
+labours. The "blue nose" considers it "_agin all nature_" for women to
+work out, and none are ever seen so employed, unless it be the families
+of emigrants before they are naturalised. A flush of delight crimsons
+Sybel's pale face as she welcomes me in, for simple and retired as her
+life is, she yet cherishes in her heart all the fondness for company and
+visiting inherent to her sex, and loves to enjoy them whenever
+opportunity permits. No excuse would be listened to,--I must stay
+dinner--my bonnet is untied, and placed upon the bed--Sybel has churned
+in the early cool of the morning, and she has now been working over the
+golden produce of her labours with a wooden ladle in a tray. With this
+ladle the butter is taken from the churn; the milk beaten out, and
+formed by it into rolls--nothing else is employed, for moulds or prints
+are not used as in England. She has just finished, and placed it in her
+dairy, a little bark-lined recess adjoining the house--and now, on
+hospitable thoughts intent, she has caught up her pail and is gone for
+water--in this we are most luxurious in New Brunswick, never keeping any
+quantity in the house, but using it bright and sparkling as it gushes
+from the spring. While she is gone, we will take a pencilling of her
+dwelling. A beautiful specimen of still-life, in the shape of a baby six
+months old, reposes in its cradle--its eye-lids' long and silky fringes
+are lightly folded in sleep on its smooth round cheek. Another older one
+is swinging in the rocking chair, playing with some chips and bark, the
+only toys of the log house--this single apartment serves the family for
+parlour, for kitchen, and hall--the chamber above being merely used as a
+store room, or receptacle for lumber--'tis the state bed-room as well,
+and on the large airy-looking couch is displayed a splendid coverlet of
+home-spun wool, manufactured in a peculiar style, the possessing of
+which is the first ambition of a back-wood matron, and for which she
+will manoeuvre as much as a city lady would for some _bijou of a
+chiffionier_, or centre table--Sybel has gained her's by saving each
+year a portion of the wool, until she had enough to accomplish this sure
+mark of industry, and of _getting along in the world_; for if they are
+not getting along or improving in circumstances their farms will not
+raise sheep enough to yield the wool, and if they are not industrious
+the yarn will not be spun for this much-prized coverlet, which, despite
+the local importance attached to it, is a useful, handsome and valuable
+article in itself. On a large chest beside the bed are laid piles of
+snow white blankets, and around the walls are hung the various woollen
+garments which form the wardrobe of the family. Bright-hued Indian
+baskets stand on top of each other--a pair of beaded moccasins and a
+reticule of porcupine quills are hung up for ornament. The pine table
+and willow-seated chairs are all made in the "bush," and even into this
+far back settlement has penetrated the prowess of the renowned "Sam
+Slick, of Slickville." One of his wooden-made yankee clocks is here--its
+case displaying "a most elegant picture" of Cupid, in frilled trowsers
+and morocco boots, the American prototype of the little god not being
+allowed to appear so scantily clad as he is generally represented. A
+long rifle is hung over the mantle-piece, and from the beams are
+suspended heads of Indian corn for seed; by them, tied in bunches, or in
+paper bags, is a complete "hortus siccus" of herbs and roots for
+medicinal as well as culinary purposes. Bone set and lobelia, sage and
+savory, sarsaparilla, and that mysterous bark which the natives say acts
+with a different effect, according as it is peeled up or down the
+tree--cat-nip and calamus root for the baby, with dried marigold leaves,
+balm of gilead buds, and a hundred others, for compounding the various
+receipts they possess, as remedies for every complaint in the world.
+Many of these they have learnt from the Indians, whose "ancient medicine
+men" are well versed in the healing powers with which the herbs of the
+forest and the field are gifted. On a small shelf is laid the library,
+which consists but of the bible, a new almanac, and Humbert's Union
+Harmony, the province manual of sacred music, of which they are most
+particularly fond; but the air of the country is not favourable to song,
+and their melody always seemed to me "harmony not understood,"
+Meanwhile, for the last half-hour, Sybel has been busily engaged in
+cooking, at which the natives are most expeditious and expert. I know
+not how they would be in other countries, but I know that at home they
+are first-rate--no other can come up to them in using the materials and
+implements they are possessed of. By the accustomed sun-mark on the
+floor, which Sybel prefers to the clock, she sees 'tis now the hungry
+hour of noon, and blows the horn for Lank to come to dinner. This horn
+is a conk shell, bored at one end, and its sound is heard at a great
+distance. At the hours of meal-time it may be heard from house to house,
+and, ringing through the echoing woods from distant settlements, telling
+us, amid their loneliness, of happy meetings at the household board; but
+it comes, too, at times, when its sounds are heralds of trouble and
+dismay. I have heard it burst upon the ear at the silent hour of
+midnight, and, starting from sleep, seen the sky all crimsoned with the
+flames of some far off dwelling, whose inmates thus called for
+assistance; but long ere that assistance could be given, the fire would
+have done its worst of destruction, perhaps of death. I have also heard
+it, when twilight gathered darkly o'er the earth, floating sad and
+mournfully since sun-set, from some dwelling in the forest's depths,
+whose locality, but for the sounds, would not be known. Some member of
+the family has been lost in the woods, and the horn is blown to guide
+him homewards through the trackless wilderness. How sweet must those
+sounds be to the benighted wanderer, bearing, as they do, the voice of
+the heart, and telling of love and affectionate solicitude! But
+Melancthon has driven his ox-team to the barn, and now, with the baby on
+his lap, which, like all the blue-noses, he loves to nurse, sits down to
+table, where we join him. The dinner, as is often the case in the
+backwoods in summer, is "a regular pick-up one," that is, composed of
+any thing and every thing. People care little for meat in the hot
+weather; and, in fact, a new settler generally uses his allowance of
+beef and pork during the long winter, so that the provision for summer
+depends principally on fish, with which the country is amply supplied,
+and the produce of the dairy. The present meal consists of fine trout
+from the adjoining stream, potatoes white as snow-balls, and,
+pulverising on the dish, some fried ham, and young French beans, which
+grow there in the greatest luxuriance, climbing to the top of their
+lofty poles till they can grow no higher. I have often thought them
+scions of that illustrious bean-stalk owned by Jack in the fairy tale.
+We have also a bowl of salad, and home-made vinegar prepared from maple
+sap, a large hot cake, made with Indian meal, and milk and dried
+blue-berries, an excellent substitute for currants. Buscuits, of snow
+white Tenessee flour, raised with cream and sal-a-ratus. This last
+article, which is used in place of yeast, or eggs, in compounding light
+cakes, can also be made at home from ley of the wood ashes, but it is
+mostly bought in town. The quantity of this used is surprising, country
+"store-keepers" purchasing barrels to supply their customers. A
+raspberry pie, and a splendid dish of strawberries and cream, with tea
+(the inseparable beverage of every meal in New Brunswick), forms our
+repast; and such would it be in ninety-nine houses out of a hundred of
+the class I am describing. Many of the luxuries, and all the necessaries
+of life, can be raised at home, by those who are industrious and
+spirited enough to take advantage of their resources. Melancthon this
+year expects to _bread himself_, as well as grow enough of hay to winter
+his stock. Since he commenced farming he purchased what was not raised
+on the land by the sale of what was cut off it--that is, by selling ash
+timber and cord-wood he procured what he required. This, however, can
+only be done where there is water conveyance to market. The
+indefatigable Melancthon had four miles to "haul" his marketable wood;
+but, when the roads were bad, he was chopping and clearing at the same
+time, and when the snow was well beaten down, with his little French
+horse and light sled he soon drew it to the place from whence the boats
+are loaded in the spring. Dinner being now finished, and after some
+conversation, which must of course be of a very local description,
+although it is brightened with many a quiet touch of wit, of which the
+natives possess a great original fund, and Melancthon, having finished
+in the forenoon harrowing in his buck-wheat, has now gone with his axe
+to hew at a house-frame which he has in preparation, and Sybel and I
+having settled our affair of warp and woof, it is now time for me to
+proceed. She with her large Swiss-looking sun-hat, placed lightly on
+her brow, accompanies me to the "bars," and there, having parted with
+her, we will now resume our walk. The next lot presents one of those
+scenes of desolation and decay which will sometimes appear even in this
+land of improvement. What had once been a large clearing is now grown
+wild with bushes, the stumps have all sprouted afresh, and the fences
+fallen to the ground. The house presents that least-respectable of all
+ruins, a deserted _log-building._ There is no solidity of material nor
+remains of architectural beauty to make us respect its fate. 'Tis decay
+in its plainest and most uninteresting aspect. A few flowers have been
+planted near the house, and even now, where the weeds grow dark and
+rank, a fair young rose is waving her lovely head. The person who had
+gone thus far on in the toils of settling was from England, but the love
+of his native land burned all too bright within his heart. In vain he
+toiled on those rude fields, and though his own, they seemed not his
+home. The spirit voices of the land of his childhood called him back--he
+obeyed their spell, and just at the time his labours would have been
+repaid, he left, and, with all the money he could procure, paid his
+passage to England, where he soon after died in the workhouse of his
+parish. Yet even there the thought, perhaps, might soothe him, that
+though he filled a pauper's grave, it was in the soil where his fathers
+slept. The forsaken lot is still unclaimed, for people prefer the
+woodlands to those neglected clearings, from which to procure a crop
+infinitely more trouble and expense would be required than in taking it
+at once from the forest. Our way is not now so lonely as it was in the
+morning. Parties of the male population are frequently passing. One of
+the settlers has to-day a "barn-raising frolic," and thither they are
+bound. They present a fair specimen of their class in the forest
+settlements. The bushwhacker has nothing of the "bog-trotter" in his
+appearance, and his step is firm and free, as though he trod on marble
+floor. The attire of the younger parties which, although coarse, is
+perfectly clean and whole, has nothing rustic in its arrangement. His
+kersey trowsers are tightly strapped, and the little low-crowned hat,
+with a streaming ribbon, is placed most jauntily on his head. His axe is
+carried over one shoulder and his jacket over the other, which in summer
+is the common mode of carrying this part of the apparel. Those who have
+been _lumbering_ may easily be known among the others, by sporting a
+flashy stock or waistcoat, and by being arrayed in "_boughten_" clothes,
+procured in town at a most expensive rate in lieu of their _lumber_.
+Little respect is, however, paid here to the cloth, (that is,
+broadcloth), for it is a sure sign of bad management, and most likely of
+debt, for the back settlers to be arrayed in any thing but their own
+home-made clothing. The grave and serious demeanour of these people is
+as different from the savage scowl of the discontented peasant,
+murmuring beneath the burthen of taxation and ill-remunerated toil, as
+from the free, light-hearted, and careless laughter, both of which
+characterise the rural groups in the fertile fields of England. New
+Brunswick is the land of strangers; even the first settlers, the "sons
+of the soil," as they claim to be, have hardly yet forgot their exile,
+a trace of which character, be he prosperous as he may, still hovers
+over the emigrant. Their early home, with its thousand ties of love,
+cannot be all forgotten. This feeling descends to their children, losing
+its tone of sadness, but throwing a serious shade over the national
+character, which, otherwise has nothing gloomy or melancholy in its
+composition. There is also a kind of "_looking a-head_" expression of
+countenance natural to the country, which is observed even in the
+children, who are not the careless frolicsome beings they are in other
+countries, but are here more truly miniature men and women, looking, as
+the Yankees express it, as if they had all cut their "_eye-teeth_."
+
+But here we are, for the present, arrived at the bourne of our journey.
+High on a lofty hill before us stands a large frame building, the place
+of worship as well as the principal school-house of the settlement. This
+double purpose it is not, however, destined long to be devoted to, for
+the building of a church is already in contemplation, and will, no
+doubt, soon be proceeded with. The beaming sun is shining with dazzling
+radiance on its white walls, telling, in fervent whispers, that a
+shelter from the heat will be desirable; so here we will enter, where
+the shadowy trees, and bright stream glancing through the garden
+flowers, speak of inhabitants from the olden world. A frame building has
+been joined to the original log-house, and the dwelling thus made large
+enough to accommodate the household. Mrs. Gordon, the lady of the
+mansion, and the friend I have come thus far to see, is one of those
+persons the brilliance of whose gem-like character has been increased
+by the hard rubs of the world. She has experienced much of Time's
+chance and change--experiences and trials which deserve relating at
+large, and which I shall hereafter give, as they were told me by
+herself. Traces of the beauty she once possessed are yet pourtrayed on
+her faded but placid brow, and appear in brighter lines on the fair
+faces of her daughters. Her husband is from home, and the boys are gone
+to the frolic, so we will have a quiet evening to ourselves. The
+arrangement of this dwelling, although similar in feature to Sybel
+Gray's, is yet, as it were, different in expression; for instance, there
+is not such a display made of the home-manufactured garments, which it
+is the pride of her heart to look upon. These, of course, are here in
+existence, but are placed in another receptacle; and the place they hold
+along the walls of Sybel's dwelling is here occupied by a book-case, in
+which rests a store of treasured volumes; our conversation, too, is of a
+different cast from the original, yet often commonplace, remarks of
+Melancthon. 'Tis most likely a discussion of the speculative fancies
+contained in those sweet brighteners of our solitude, the books; or in
+tracing the same lights and shadows of character described in them, as
+were occurring in the passages of life around us; or, perhaps, something
+leads us to talk of him whose portrait hangs on the wall, the peasant
+bard of Scotland, whose heart-strung harp awakens an answering chord in
+every breast. The girls--who although born in this country and now
+busied in its occupations, one in guiding the revolving wheel, and the
+other in braiding a hat of poplar splints--join us in a manner which
+tells how well they have been nurtured in the lore of the "mountain
+heathery land," the birth-place of their parents; and the younger sister
+Helen's silvery voice breathes a soft strain of Scottish melody.
+
+Meanwhile a pleasant interruption occurs in the post-horn winding loud
+and clear along the settlement. This is an event of rare occurrence in
+the back woods, where the want of a regular post communication is much
+felt, not so much in matters of worldly importance in business--these
+being generally transacted without the medium of letters--as by those
+who have loved ones in other lands. Alas! how often has the heart pined
+with the sickness of hope deferred, in waiting in vain for those
+long-expected lines, from the distant and the dear, which had been duly
+sent in all the spirit of affection, but which had been mislaid in their
+wanderings by land or sea; or the post-masters not being particularly
+anxious to know where the land of Goshen, the Pembroke, or the Canaan
+settlements were situated, had returned them to the dead letter office,
+and thus they never reached the persons for whom they were intended, and
+who lived on upbraiding those who, believing them to be no longer
+dwellers of the earth, cherished their memory with fondest love. Taking
+all these things into consideration, a meeting had been called in our
+settlement to ascertain if by subscription a sufficient sum could be
+raised to pay a weekly courier to assert our rights at the nearest
+post-office. This was entered into with spirit, all feeling sensible of
+the benefits which it would bring; they who could afford it giving
+freely of their abundance, and those who could not pay their
+subscription all in money, giving half a dollar cash, and a bushel or
+half a bushel of buck wheat or potatoes to the cause; and thus the sum
+necessary was soon raised--the courier himself subscribing a dollar
+towards his own salary. The thing had gone on very well--communication
+with the world seemed to have commenced all at once. Nearly every family
+took a different newspaper, and these being exchanged with each other,
+afforded plenty of food for the mind, and prevented it brooding too
+deeply over the realities of life.
+
+The newspapers in this country, especially those of the United States,
+are not merely dull records of parliamentary doings, of bill and debate,
+the rising of corn or falling of wheat, but contain besides reviews and
+whole copies of the newest and best works of the day, both in science
+and lighter literature. We dwellers of the forest had no guineas to give
+for new books, and if we had, unless we freighted ships home on purpose,
+we could not have procured them. But this was not felt, while for our
+few yearly dollars the Albion's pearly paper and clear black type
+brought for society around our hearths the laughter-loving "Lorrequer,"
+the pathos of the portrait painter, or the soul-winning Christopher
+North, whose every word seems written in letters of gold, incrusted with
+precious jewels. In the "New World" Froissart gave his chronicles of the
+olden time, and the mammoth sheets of "Era" and "The Notion" brought us
+the peerless pages of "Zanoni," or led us away with "Dickens" and
+"Little Nell," by the green glades and ancient churches of England.
+Little did we think while we read with delight of this author's
+princely welcome to the American continent, what would be the result of
+his visit, he came and passed like the wild Simoom. Soon after his
+return to England an edict came, forbidding in the British provinces of
+America publications containing reprints of English works. Of the deeper
+matters connected with the copyright question I know not, but this I do
+know, that our long winter nights seemed doubly long and drear, with
+nothing to read but dark details of horrid murder, or deadly doings of
+Rebeccaite and Chartist. As yet, however, this time was not come, and
+each passing week saw us now enlightened with the rays of some new
+bright gem of genius.
+
+The postman blew his horn as he passed each dwelling for whose inmates
+he had letters or papers; and for those whose address lay beyond his
+route, places of depository were appointed in the settlement. Mrs.
+Gordon's was one of these, from whence they were duly despatched by the
+first chance to their destinations on the Nashwaak, Waterloo, or Windsor
+clearings. Although our Mercury would duly have signalised his approach
+as he passed our own dwelling, I possessed myself of my treasure
+here--my share of the priceless wealth of that undying intellect which
+is allowed to pour its brilliant flood, freely and untramelled, to the
+lowliest homes of the American world. Having glanced along the lines and
+seen that our first favourites had visited us this week, our tea seemed
+to bear with it an added fragrance; and this, although the walls around
+us were of logs, we had in fairy cups of ancient porcelain from the
+distant land of Scotland. And now the sun's broad disc having vanished
+behind the lofty pines, and the young moon rising in the blue heavens,
+tell us our short twilight will soon be gone, and that if we would reach
+home before the stars look out upon our path, 'tis time we were on our
+way.
+
+The cow bells are ringing loud and clear as the herd winds slowly
+homeward, looking most luxuriantly comfortable, and bearing with them
+the spicy scent of the cedar-woods in which they have been wandering,
+and which they seem to leave so unwillingly. Philoprogenitiveness, or a
+deep feeling of motherly affection, being the only thing that does
+voluntarily induce them to come home. To encourage this desirable
+feeling the leader of the herd, the lady of the bell, is allowed to
+suckle her calf every evening. For this happy task she leaves all the
+delights of her pasture, plodding regularly homeward at the hour of
+sunset, the rest all meekly following in her train.
+
+The evening is dry and clear, with no trace of rain in the atmosphere,
+or we would be surrounded with clouds of those _awful critturs_, the
+musquitoes, which the cattle bring home. These are often a dreadful
+annoyance, nothing but a thick cloud of smoke dispelling them, and that
+only for a time. At night they are particularly a nuisance, buzzing and
+stinging unceasingly through the silent hours, forbidding all thought of
+sleep till the dawn shows them clinging to the walls and windows,
+wearied and bloated with their night's amusement. Those who are
+sufficiently acclimated suffer comparatively little--'tis the rich blood
+of the stranger that the musquito loves, and emigrants, on the first
+season, especially in low marshy situations, suffer extremely from their
+attacks.
+
+Mary Gordon having now gone with her pails to meet her milky charge,
+while her mother arranges the dairy within, Helen comes to set me on my
+way. Again we meet the frolickers returning rather earlier than is usual
+on such occasions; but there was sickness at the dwelling where they had
+been, which caused them to disperse soon after they had accomplished the
+"raising." Kindly greetings passed between us; for here, in this little
+world of ours, we have hardly room for the petty distinctions and
+pettier strifes of larger communities. We are all well acquainted with
+each other, and know each other's business and concerns as well as our
+own. There is no concealment of affairs. This, however, saves a vast
+deal of trouble--people are much easier where there is no false
+appearance to be kept up; and in New Brunswick there is less of "behind
+the scenes" than in most places. Many a bright eye glances under Helen's
+shadowy hat: and, see, one gallant axe-man lingers behind the others--he
+pauses now by the old birch tree--I know he is her lover, and in charity
+to their young hearts I must allow her to turn, while we proceed onward.
+
+The fire-flies now gleam through the air like living diamonds, and the
+evening star has opened her golden eye in the rich deep azure of the
+sky. Our home stands before us, with its white walls thrown in strong
+relief by the dark woods behind it: and here, on this adjoining lot,
+lives our neighbour who is ill--he who to-day has had the "barn
+raising." It would be but friendly to call and enquire for him. The
+house is one of the best description of log buildings. The ground floor
+contains two large apartments and a spacious porch, which extends along
+the front, has the dairy in one end and a workshop in the other, that
+most useful adjunct to a New Brunswick dwelling, where the settlers are
+often their own blacksmiths and carpenters, as well as splint pounders
+and shingle weavers. The walls are raised high enough to make the
+chamber sufficiently lofty, and the roof is neatly shingled. As we
+enter, an air of that undefinable English ideality--comfort--seems
+diffused, as it were, in the atmosphere of the place. There is a look of
+retirement about the beds, which stand in dim recesses of the inner
+apartment, with their old but well-cared-for chintz hangings, differing
+from the free uncurtained openness of the blue nose settler's couch; a
+publicity of sleeping arrangements being common all over America, and
+much disliked by persons from the old countries, a bed being a prominent
+piece of furniture in the sitting and keeping rooms of even those
+aristocratic personages, the first settlers. The large solid-looking
+dresser, which extends nearly along one side of the house, differs too
+from the light shelf of the blue nose, which rests no more crockery than
+is absolutely necessary. Here there is a wide array of dishes, large and
+small--old China tea-cups, wisely kept for show,--little funny mugs,
+curious pitchers, mysterious covered dishes, unearthly salad bowls, and
+a host of superannuated tea-pots. Above them is ranged a bright copper
+kettle, a large silvery pewter basin, and glittering brazen
+candlesticks, all brought from their English home, and borne through
+toil and danger, like sacred relics, from the shrine of the household
+gods. The light of the fire is reflected on the polished surface of a
+venerable oaken bureau, whose unwieldy form has also come o'er the deep
+sea, being borne along the creeks and rivers of New Brunswick, and
+dragged through forest paths to its present resting place. In the course
+of its wanderings by earth and ocean it has become minus a foot, the
+loss of which is supplied by an unsmoothed block of pine, the two
+forming not an inapt illustration of their different countries. The
+polished oaken symbol of England receiving assistance in its hour of
+need from the rude but hardy pine emblem of New Brunswick. The room is
+cool and quiet; the young people being outside with a few who have
+lingered after the frolic. By the open window, around which a hop vine
+is enwreathed, in memory of the rose-bound casements of England, and
+through which comes a faint perfume from the balm of gilead trees, sits
+the invalid, seemingly refreshed with the pleasant things around him. He
+has been suffering from rheumatic fever caught in the changeful days of
+the early spring, when the moist air penetrates through nerve and bone,
+and when persons having the least tendency to rheumatism, or pulmonary
+complaints, cannot use too much caution. At no other season is New
+Brunswick unhealthy; for the winter, although cold, is dry and bracing.
+The hot months are not so much so as to be injurious, and the bland
+breezes of the fall and Indian summer are the most delightful that can
+be imagined.
+
+Stephen Morris had come from England, like the generality of New
+Brunswick settlers, but lightly burthened with worldly gear--but gifted
+with the unpurchasable treasures of a strong arm and willing spirit,
+that is, a spirit resolved to do its best, and not be overcome with the
+difficulties to be encountered in the struggle of subduing the mighty
+wilderness. While he felled the forest, his wife, accustomed in her own
+country to assist in all field labours, toiled with him in piling and
+fencing as well as in planting and reaping. Even their young children
+learned to know that every twig they lifted off the ground left space
+for a blade of grass or grain; beginning with this, their assistance
+soon became valuable, and the labour of their hands in the field soon
+lightened the burthen of feeding their lips. Slowly and surely had
+Stephen gone onward, keeping to his farm and minding nothing else,
+unlike many of the emigrants, who, while professing to be farmers, yet
+engage in other pursuits, particularly lumbering, which, although the
+mainspring of the province and source of splendid wealth to many of the
+inhabitants, has yet been the bane of others. Allured by the visions of
+speedy riches it promises, they have neglected their farms, and engaged
+in its glittering speculations with the most ardent hopes, which have
+far oftener been blighted than realised. A sudden change in trade, or an
+unexpected storm in the spring, having bereft them of all, and left them
+overwhelmed in debt, with neglected and ruined lands, with broken
+constitutions, (for the lumberer's life is most trying to the health,)
+and often too with broken hearts, and minds all unfitted for the task of
+renovating their fortune. Their life afterwards is a bitter struggle to
+get above water; that tyrant monster, their heavy debt, still chaining
+them downwards, devouring with insatiate greed their whole means, for
+interest or bond, until it be discharged; a hard matter for them to
+accomplish--so hard that few do it, and the ruined lumberer sinks, to the
+grave with its burthen yet upon him. Stephen had kept aloof from this,
+and now surveyed,
+
+    "----With pride beyond a monarch's spoil,
+    His honest arm's own subjugated toil."
+
+A neighbour of his had come out from England at the same time he had
+done and commenced farming an adjoining lot, but he soon wearied of the
+slow returns of his land and commenced lumbering. For a time he went on
+dashingly, the merchants in town supplying him freely with provisions
+and everything necessary to carry on his timber-making--whilst Stephen
+worked hard and lived poor, he enjoyed long intervals of ease and fared
+luxuriantly. But a change came: one spring the water was too low to get
+his timber down, the next the freshet burst at once and swept away the
+labour of two seasons, and ere he got another raft to market, the price
+had fallen so low that it was nearly valueless. He returned dispirited
+to his home and tried to conceal himself from his creditors, the
+merchants whom the sale of his timber was to have repaid for the
+supplies they had advanced; but his neglected fields showed now but a
+crop of bushes and wild laurel, or an ill-piled clearing, with a scanty
+crop of buck-wheat; while Stephen Morris looked from his window on fair
+broad fields from whence the stumps had all disappeared, where the long
+grass waved rich with clover-flowers between, and many a tract that
+promised to shine with autumn wreaths of golden grain; leaflets and
+buds were close and thick on the orchard he had planted, and where erst
+the wild-bush stood now bloomed the lovely rose. On a green hill before
+him stood the lofty frame of the building this evening raised, with all
+its white tracery of beam and rafter, a new but welcome feature in the
+landscape. A frame barn is the first ambition of the settler's heart;
+without one much loss and inconvenience is felt. Hay and grain are not
+stacked out as in other countries, but are all placed within the shelter
+of the barn; these containing, as they often do, the whole hay crop,
+besides the grain and accommodation for the cattle, must, of course, be
+of large dimensions, and are consequently expensive. With this Stephen
+had proceeded surely and cautiously as was his wont. In the winter he
+had hauled logs off his own land to the saw-mill to be made into boards.
+He cut down with much trouble some of the ancient pines which long stood
+in the centre of his best field, and from their giant trunks cut
+well-seasoned blocks, with which he made shingles in the stormy days of
+winter. Thus by degrees he provided all the materials for enclosing and
+roofing, and was not obliged, as many are, to let the frame, (which is
+the easiest part provided, and which they often raise without seeming
+even to think how they are to be enclosed,) stand for years, like a huge
+grey skeleton, with timbers all warped and blackened by the weather.
+Steadily as Stephen had gone on, yet as the completion of his object
+became nearer he grew impatient of its accomplishment, and determined to
+have his barn ready for the reception of his hay harvest; and for this
+purpose he worked on, hewing at the frame in the spring, reckless of the
+penetrating rain, the chill wind, or the damp earth beneath, and thus,
+by neglect of the natural laws, he was thrown upon the couch of
+sickness, where he lay long. This evening, however, he was better, and
+sat gazing with pleased aspect on the scene, and then I saw his eyes
+turn from the fair green hill and its new erection to where, in the
+hollow of a low and marshy spot of land, stood the moss-grown logs and
+sunken walls of the first shelter he had raised for his cattle--his old
+log barn, which stood on the worst land of the farm, but when it was
+raised the woods around were dark and drear, and he knew not the good
+soil from the bad; yet now he thought how, in this unseemly place, he
+had stored his crop and toiled for years with unfailing health, where
+his arm retained its nerve, unstrung neither by summer's heat nor
+winter's cold, when the voice of his son, a tall stripling, who had
+managed affairs during his illness, recalled him to the present, which
+certainly to him I thought might wear no unfavourable aspect. He had
+literally caused the wilderness to blossom as the rose, and saw rising
+around him not a degenerate but an improving race, gifted far beyond
+himself with bright mental endowments, the spontaneous growth of the
+land they lived in, and which never flourish more fairly than when
+engrafted on the old English stem; that is, the children of emigrants,
+or the Anglo-bluenoses, have the chance of uniting the high-aspiring
+impulses of young America to the more solid principles of the olden
+world, thus forming a decided improvement in the native race of both
+countries. But Stephen has too much of human nature in him not to
+prefer the past, and I saw that the sunbeams of memory rested brightly
+on the old log barn, obscuring the privations and years of bitter toil
+and anxiety connected with it, and dimming his eyes to ought else,
+however better; so that I left him to his meditations, and after a step
+of sixty rods, the breadth of the lot, I am once more at home, where, as
+it is now dark, we will close the door and shut out the world, to this
+old country prejudice has made us attach a small wooden button inside,
+the only fastening, except the latch, I believe, in the settlement.
+Bolts and bars being all unused, the business of locksmith is quite at a
+discount in the back woods, where all idea of a midnight robbery is
+unknown; and yet, if rumour was true, there were persons not far from us
+to whom the trade of stealing would not be new. One there was of whom it
+was said, that for this reason alone was New Brunswick graced with his
+presence. He had in his own country been taken in a daring act of
+robbery, and conveyed in the dark of night to be lodged in gaol. The
+officers were kind-hearted, and, having secured his hands, allowed his
+wife to accompany him, themselves walking a short distance apart. At
+first the lady kept up a most animated conversation, apparently
+upbraiding the culprit for his conduct. He answered her, but by degrees
+he seemed so overcome by her remarks that he spoke no more, and she had
+all the discourse to herself. Having arrived at their destination, the
+officers approached their prisoner, but he was gone, the wife alone
+remained. The darkness of the night bad favoured his escape while she
+feigned to be addressing him, and, having thus defeated the law, joined
+her spouse, and made the best of their way to America, where the
+workings of the law of kindness were exemplified in his case. His
+character being there generally unknown, he was treated and trusted as
+an honest man, and he broke not his faith. The better feelings were
+called into action; conscientiousness, though long subdued, arose and
+breathed through his spirit the golden rule of right.
+
+The days in America are never so short in winter as they are in Europe,
+nor are they so long in summer, and there is always an hour or two of
+the cool night to be enjoyed ere the hour of rest comes. Our evening
+lamp is already lighted, and our circle increased by the presence of the
+school-mistress.
+
+Although in this country the local government has done much towards the
+advancement of schools, yet much improvement requires to be made--not in
+their simple internal arrangements, for which there is no regular
+system, but in the more important article of remuneration. The
+government allows twenty pounds a year to each school; the proprietors,
+or those persons who send their children to the school, agreeing to pay
+the teacher a like sum at least (though in some of the older settled
+parts of the country from forty to fifty pounds is paid by them); as
+part payment of this sum providing him with board, &c., &c., and this
+alone is the evil part of the scheme; this boarding in turn with the
+proprietors, who keep him a week or a month in proportion to the number
+of the pupils they send, and to make up their share of the year, for
+which term he is hired, as his engagement is termed--an expression how
+derogatory to the dignity of many a learned dominie? From this cause the
+teacher has no home, no depository for his books, which are lost in
+wandering from place to place; and if he had them, no chance for study:
+for the log-house filled with children and wheels is no fit abode for a
+student. This boarding system operates badly in many ways. The nature of
+the blue nose is still leavened with that dislike of coercive measures
+inherited from their former countrymen, the Yankees. It extends to their
+children, and each little black-eyed urchin, on his wooden bench and
+dog-eared dilworth in hand, must be treated by his teacher as a free
+enlightened citizen. But even without this, where is there in any
+country a schoolmaster daring enough to use a ratan, or birch rod, to
+that unruly darling from whose mother he knows his evening reception
+will be sour looks, and tea tinged with sky-blue, but would not rather
+let the boy make fox-and-geese instead of, ciphering, say his lesson
+when he pleased, and have cream and short-cake for his portion. Another
+disagreeable thing is, that fond and anxious as they are for
+"_larning_," they have not yet enough of it to appreciate the value of
+education. The schoolmaster is not yet regarded as the mightiest moral
+agent of the earth; the true vicegerent of the spirit from above, by
+which alone the soul is truly taught to plume her wings and shape her
+course for Heaven. And in this country, where operative power is certain
+wealth, he who can neither wield axe or scythe may be looked on with a
+slight shade of contempt: but this only arises from constant
+association with the people; for were the schoolmaster more his own
+master, and less under their surveillance by having a dwelling of his
+own, his situation otherwise would be comfortable and lucrative.
+
+The state of school affairs begins to attract much notice from the
+legislature, and no doubt the present system of school government will
+soon be improved. A board of education is appointed in each county,
+whose office it is to examine candidates for the office of parish school
+teacher, and report to the local governor as to their competency,
+previous to his conferring the required license. Trustees are also
+appointed in the several parishes, who manage the other business
+connected with them, such as regulating their number, placing masters
+where they are most wanted, and receiving and apportioning the sum
+appropriated to their support, or encouragement, by the government. Mr.
+B. held this situation, and frequent were the visits of the lords of the
+birch to our domicile, either asking redress for fancied wrongs, or to
+discuss disputed points of school discipline.
+
+The female teachers are situated much the same, save that many of them,
+preferring a quiet home to gain, pay for their board out of their cash
+salary, and give up that which they could otherwise claim from the
+people. This, however, is by no means general, and the present mistress
+has come to stay her term with us, although having no occasion for the
+school, yet wishing to hasten the march of intellect through the back
+woods, we paid towards it, and boarded the teacher, as if we had. Grace
+Marley, who held this situation now, was a sweet wild-flower from the
+Emerald Isle, with spirits bright and changeful as the dewy skies of
+her own loved Erin. Her graceful but fully rounded figure shows none of
+those anatomical corners described by Captain Hamilton in the appearance
+of the native American ladies. Her dark eye speaks with wondrous truth
+the promptings of her heart, and her brown hair lies like folds of satin
+on her cheek, from which the air of America has not yet drank all the
+rose light. From her fairy ear of waxen white hangs a golden pendant,
+the treasured gift of one far distant. Before her, on the table, lies
+_Chambers' Journal_, which always found its way a welcome visitant to
+our settlement, soon after the spring fleet had borne it over the
+Atlantic. She has been reading one of Mrs. Hall's stories, which, good
+as they are, are yet little admired by the Irish in America. The darker
+hues which she pourtrays in the picture of their native land have become
+to them all softened in the distance; and by them is their country
+cherished there, as being indeed that beautiful ideal "first flower of
+the earth, and first gem of the sea." A slight indignant flush, raised
+by what she had been reading, was on her brow as I entered; but this
+gave place to the heart-crushing look of disappointment I had often seen
+her wear, as I replied in the negative to her question, if there was a
+letter for her. From where, or whom she expected this letter I knew not,
+yet as still week after week passed away and brought her none, the same
+shade had passed over her face.
+
+And now, reader, as the night wanes apace, and you no doubt are wearied
+with this day's journey through our settlement, I shall wish to you
+
+    "A fair good night, with easy dreams and slumbers light,"
+
+while I, who like most authors am not at all inclined to sleep over my
+own writing, will sketch what I know of the history of Grace Marley,
+whose memory forms a sweet episode in my transatlantic experiences.
+
+Grace had been left an orphan and unprovided for in her own country,
+when a relation, who had been prosperous here, wrote for her to come
+out. She did come, and at first seemed happy, but 'twas soon evident her
+heart was not here, and she sighed to return to her native land, where
+the streams were brighter, and the grass grew greener than elsewhere.
+Her friends, vexed at her obstinacy in determining so firmly to return,
+would give her no assistance for this purpose, fancying that she felt
+but that nostalgic sickness felt by all on their first arrival in
+America, and that like others she would become reconciled in time. But
+she was firm in her resolve, and to procure funds wherewithal to return
+she commenced teaching a school, for which her education had well
+qualified her. It was not likely that such a girl as Grace would, in
+this land of marrying and giving in marriage, be without fonder
+solicitations to induce her to remain, and a tall blue nose, rejoicing
+in the appellation of Leonidas van Wort, and lord of six hundred noble
+acres, was heard to declare one fall, that she, for an Irish girl, was
+"raal downright good-looking," and guessed he knew which way "his tracks
+would lay when snow came." Snow did come, and Leonidas, arrayed in his
+best "go-to-meeting style," geared up his sleigh, and what with bear
+skins and bells, fancying himself and appurtenances enough to charm the
+heart of any maid or matron in the back woods, set off to spark Grace
+Marley. "Sparking," the term used in New Brunswick for courtship, now
+that the old fashion of "bundling" is gone out, occupies much of the
+attention (as, indeed, where does it not?) of young folks. They, for
+this purpose, take Moore's plan of lengthening their days, by "stealing
+a few hours from the night," and generally breathe out their tender
+vows, not beneath the "milk-white thorn," but by the soft dim light of
+the birch-wood fire; the older members of the family retiring and
+leaving the lovers to their own sweet society.
+
+Although it has been sometimes observed that mothers who, in their own
+young days, have been versed in this custom, insist most pertinaciously
+in sitting out the wooer, in spite of insinuations as to the pleasure
+their absence would occasion, still keep their easy chair, with
+unwearied eyes and fingers busied in their everlasting knitting. Grace's
+beau was most hospitably received by her aunt and uncle, who considering
+him quite an "eligible," wished to further him all in their power, soon
+left the pair to themselves, telling Grace that it would be the height
+of rudeness not to follow the custom of the country. She politely waited
+for Leonidas to commence the conversation, but he, unused to her
+proceeding, could say nothing, not even ask her if she liked maple
+sugar; and so, being unused to deep study, while thinking how to begin,
+fell asleep, a consummation Grace was most delighted to witness. By the
+fire stood the small American churn, which, as is often the case in cold
+weather, had been placed there to be in readiness for the morrow; this
+Grace, with something of the quiet humour which made Jeanie Deans treat
+Dumbie-dykes to fried peats in place of collops, she lifted and placed
+it by the sleeper's side, throwing over it a white cloth, which fell
+like folds of drapery, and softly retired to rest herself. Her uncle, on
+coming into the room at the dawn of morning, beheld the great Leonidas
+still sleeping, and his arm most lovingly encircling the churn dash,
+which no doubt in his dreams he mistook for the taper waist of Grace,
+when the loud laugh of the old man and his "helps," who had now risen,
+roused him. He got up and looked round him, but, with the Spartan
+firmness of his name-sake, said nothing, but went right off and married
+his cousin Prudence Prague, who could do all the sparking talk herself.
+
+Many another lover since then had Grace--many a mathematical
+schoolmaster, to whom Euclid was no longer a mystery, became, for her
+sake, puzzled in the problem of love, and earnestly besought her to
+solve the question he gave, with the simple statement of yes. But still
+her heart was adamant, and still she was unwon, and sighed more deeply
+for her island home. She disliked the country, and its customs more. Her
+religion was Roman catholic, and she cherished all the tenets of her
+faith with the deepest devotion. I remember calling on her one Sunday
+morning and finding her alone in her solitary dwelling; her relations,
+themselves catholics, having gone, and half the settlement with them, to
+meeting, but she preferred her solitude rather than join in their
+unconsecrated worship. This want of their own peculiar means of grace is
+much felt by religiously inclined persons in the forest settlements, and
+this made her wish more earnestly for the closing of the year to come,
+when, with the produce of her school labours, she would be enabled to
+leave.
+
+Such was, up to this period, what I knew of Grace's character and
+history. I was extremely fond of her society and conversation, as she,
+coming from that land of which 'tis said, her every word, her wildest
+thought, is poetry, had, in her imaginings, a twilight tinge of blue,
+which made her remarks truly delightful. She had become a little more
+softened in her prejudice, especially as she expected soon to leave the
+country, so that one day during her stay with us, in this same bright
+summer weather, I induced her to accompany me to a great baptist
+meeting, to be held in a river settlement some four or five miles off.
+On reaching the creek, the rest of our party, who had acquired the true
+American antipathy to pedestrianism, proceeded in canoes and punts to
+the place, but we preferred a walk to the dazzling glare of the sunshine
+on the water, so took not the highway, but a path through the forest,
+called the blazed track, from a chip or slice being made on the trees to
+indicate its line, and which you must keep sight of, or else go astray
+in the leafy labyrinth.
+
+When I first trod the woods of New Brunswick, I fancied wild animals
+would meet me at each step--every black log was transformed into some
+shaggy monster--visions of bears and lucifee's were ever before me--but
+these are now but rarely seen near the settlements, although bruin will
+sometimes make a descent on the sheepfolds; yet they have generally
+retreated before the axe, along with the more valuable moose deer and
+caraboo, with which the country used to abound. The ugliest animal I
+ever saw was a huge porcupine, which came close to the door and carried
+off, one by one, a whole flock of young turkies; and the boldest, the
+beautiful foxes, which are also extremely destructive to the poultry; so
+that in walking the woods one need not be afraid, even if a bear's
+foot-print be indented in the soil, as perhaps he is then far enough
+off, and besides 'tis only in the hungry spring, after his winter's
+sleep, he is carniverous, preferring in summer the roots, nuts, and
+berries with which the forest supplies him. The living things one sees
+are quite harmless--the bright eyed racoon looking down upon us through
+the branches, or the squirrels hopping from spray to spray, a mink or an
+otter splashing through the pond of a deserted beaver dam, from which
+the ancient possessors have also retired, and a hare or sable gliding in
+the distance, are all the animals one usually sees, with flocks of
+partridges, so tame that they stir not from you, and there being no game
+laws, these free denizens of the wild are the property of all who choose
+to claim them.
+
+The forests, especially in the hard wood districts, are beautiful in
+their fresh unbroken solitude--not the solitude of desolation, but the
+young wild loveliness of the untamed earth. The trees stand close and
+thick, with straight pillar-like stems, unbroken by leaf or bough, which
+all expand to the summit, as if for breathing space. There is little
+brush wood, but myriads of plants and creepers, springing with the
+summer's breath. The beautiful dog-wood's sweeping sprays and broad
+leaves, the maiden-hairs glossy wreathes and pearly buds, and the soft
+emerald moss, clothing the old fallen trees with its velvet tapestry,
+and hiding their decay with its cool rich beauty, while the sun light
+falls in golden tracery down the birch trees silver trunk, and the
+sparkling water flashes in the rays, or sings on its sweet melody unseen
+amid the luxuriant vegetation that conceals it.
+
+Through this sweet path we held on our way, talking of every bard who
+has said or sung the green wood's glories, whose fancied beauties were
+here all realized. As we neared the clearings, we met frequent groups of
+blue nose children gathering, with botanical skill, herbs for dyeing, or
+carrying sheets of birch bark, which, to be fit for its many uses, must
+be peeled from the trees in the full moon of June. On these children,
+beautiful as young Greeks, with lustrous eyes and faultless features,
+Grace said she could hardly yet look without an instinctive feeling of
+awe and pity, cherishing as she did the partiality of her creed and
+nation for infant baptism. To her there was something awful, in sight of
+those unhallowed creatures, whose brows bore not the first symbol of
+christianity. We having passed through the woods, were soon in a large
+assemblage of native and adopted colonists.
+
+The greater number of the native population, I think, are baptists, and
+their ministers are either raised among themselves, or come from the
+United States; or Nova Scotia. Once in every year a general association
+is convened of the members of the society throughout the province, the
+attendance on which gives ample proof of the greatness of their numbers,
+as well as their fervency of feeling. This association is held in a
+different part of the province each season--and generally lasts a week.
+Reports are here made of the progress of their religion, the state of
+funds, and of all other matters connected with the society. There is,
+generally, at these conventions a revival of religious feeling, and
+during the last days numerous converts are made and received by baptism
+into the church. This meeting is looked forward too by the colonists
+with many mingled feelings. By the grave and good it is hailed as an
+event of sacred importance, and by the gay and thoughtless as a season
+of sight-seeing and dress-displaying. Those in whose neighbourhood it
+was last year are glad it is not be so this time; and those near the
+place it is to be held, are calculating the sheep and poultry, the
+molasses and flour it will take to supply the numerous guests they
+expect on the occasion--open tables being kept at taverns, and private
+houses are so no longer, but hospitably receive all who come. No harvest
+is reaped by exorbitant charges for lodging, and all that is expected in
+return, is the same clever treatment when their turn comes. This
+convocation, occurring in the leisure spell between the end of planting
+and the commencement of haying, is consequently no hindrance to the
+agricultural part of the community; and old and young "off they come"
+from Miramichi, from Acadia, and the Oromocto, in shay and waggon,
+steam-boat and catamaran, on horseback or on foot, as best they can.
+This day, one towards the conclusion, the large frame building was
+crowded to excess, and outside were gathered groups, as may be seen in
+some countries around the catholic chapels. Within, the long tiers of
+benches display as fair an array of fashion and flowers as would be
+seen in any similar congregation in any country. The days of going to
+meeting in home-spun and raw hide moccasins are vanishing fast all
+through the province. These are the solid constituents of every-day
+apparel, but for holidays, even the bush maiden from the far-off
+settlements of the gulph shore has a lace veil and silken shawl, and
+these she arranges with infinitely more taste and grace than many a
+damsel whose eye has never lost sight of the clearings. By far the
+greater portion of the assembly have the dark eyes and intellectual
+expression of face which declares them of American origin; and,
+sprinkled among them, are the features which tell of England's born. The
+son of Scotland, too, is here, although unwont to grace such gatherings
+with his presence; yet this is an event of rare importance, and from its
+occurrence in his immediate neighbourhood, he has come, we dare not say
+to scoff, and yet about his expressive mouth their lingers a slight curl
+of something like it. And here, too, the Hibernian forgets his
+prejudices in the delight of being in a crowd. I do not class my friend
+Grace along with this common herd, but even she became as deeply
+interested as others in the discussion which was now going forward--this
+was the time of transacting business, and the present subject one which
+had occupied much attention. It was the appropriation of certain
+funds--whether they should be applied towards increasing their seminary,
+so as to fit it for the proper education of ministers for their church,
+or whether they should not be applied to some other purpose, and their
+priesthood be still allowed to spring uncultured from the mass. The
+different opinions expressed regarding this, finely developed the
+progress of mind throughout the land. Some white-headed fathers of the
+sect, old refugees, who had left the bounds of civilization before they
+had received any education, yet who had been gifted in the primitive
+days of the colony to lead souls from sin, sternly declaimed against the
+education system, declaring that grace, and grace alone, was what formed
+the teacher. All else was of the earth earthy, and had nought to do with
+heavenly things. One said that when he commenced preaching he could not
+read the bible--he could do little more now, and yet throughout the
+country many a soul owned its sickness to have been healed through him.
+Another then rose and answered him--a native of the province, and of his
+own persuasion, but who had drank from the springing fountains of
+science and of holiness--the bright gushing of whose clear streams
+sparkled through his discourse. I have since forgotten his language, but
+I know that at the time nothing I had ever heard or read entranced me as
+did it, glowing as it was with the new world's fervency of thought, and
+the old world's wealth of learning. He pleaded, as such should, for
+extended education, and his mighty words had power, and won the day. The
+old men, stern in their prejudices as their zeal, were conquered, and
+the baptists have now well conducted establishments of learning
+throughout the province.
+
+This discussion occupied the morning, and, at noon, we were invited home
+to dinner by a person who sat next us at the meeting, but whom we had
+never before seen. Some twelve or fourteen others formed our party,
+rather a small one considering, but we were the second relay, another
+party having already dined and proceeded to the meeting house, where
+religious worship had commenced as soon as we left. Our meal was not so
+varied in its details of cookery as the wealthier blue noses love to
+treat their guests with. The number to be supplied, and the quantity of
+provisions required, prevented this. It consisted of large joints of
+veal and mutton, baked and boiled, with a stately pot-pie, on its
+ponderous platter,--the standing dish in all these parts. Soon after
+dinner we were given to understand the dipping was about to commence;
+and walked along the shore to the place appointed for the purpose, in
+the bright blue waters of the bay, which is here formed by an inlet of
+the chief river of the province, the silver-rolling St. John. The scene
+around us was wondrously rich and lovely--the bright green intervale
+meadows with their lofty trees, the cloudless sky, the flashing waters,
+and the balmy breeze, which bore the breath of the far-off spruce and
+cedars. From the assembled throng, who had now left the meeting-house,
+arose the hymns which form the principal part of their worship.
+
+I have said the New Brunswickers are not, as yet, greatly favoured with
+the gift of music; this may, in a great measure, arise from deficient
+cultivation of the science, but at this time there was something strange
+and pleasant in the quick chaunting strain they raised, so different
+from the solemn sounds of sacred melody usual in other countries; and
+even Grace, accustomed to the organ's pealing grandeur and lofty
+anthems of her own church, was pleased with it. Still singing the
+minister entered the water, the converts one by one joining him, and
+singly became encircled in the shining waves: many of them were aged and
+bowed with time, and now took up the cross in their declining days; and
+others of the young and fair, who sought their creator in youth. It was
+wondrous now to think of this once lonely stream of the western world,
+the Indian's own Ounagandy. A few years since no voice had broke on its
+solitude save the red man's war-whoop, or his shrieking death song--no
+form been shadowed on its depths but the wild bird's wing, or the savage
+speeding on the blood chase. Now its living pictures told the holy
+records of the blessed east, and its waters typed the healing stream of
+Jordan. After some more singing and prayers offered for the
+newly-baptized, the ceremony was finished. 'Tis strange that on these
+dipping occasions no cold is caught by the converts. I suppose the
+excitement of the mind sustains the body; but persons are often baptised
+in winter, in an opening made through the ice for the purpose, and walk
+with their garments frozen around them without inconvenience, seeming to
+prove the efficacy of hydropathy, by declaring how happy and comfortable
+they feel. We, at the conclusion of the prayers, left the place, and
+proceeded homewards in a canoe; this is a mode of locomotion much liked
+by the river settlers, but to a stranger anything but agreeable. They
+glide along the waters swift and smooth, but a slight cause upsets them,
+and as perhaps you are not exactly certain about being born to be
+hanged, you must sit perfectly still--you are warned to do this, but if
+you are the least nervous, you will hardly dare to breathe, much less
+move, and this, in a journey of any length, is not so pleasant. This
+feeling, however, custom soon dispels; and when one sees little fairy
+girls paddling themselves and a cargo of brothers and sisters to school,
+or women with babies taking their wool to the carding mill, they feel
+ashamed, and learn to keep the true balance.
+
+Our light skiff, or bark rather, as it might be truely styled, being a
+veritable Indian canoe, made of birch bark most cunningly put together,
+these being so light as to float in shallow water, and to be easily
+removed, are for this reason preferred by the Indians to more solid
+materials, who carry them on their backs from stream to stream during
+their peregrinations through the country, soon bore us over the diamond
+water, whose mirrored surface we scarcely stirred, to the landing place,
+whose marshy precincts were now all gemmed with the golden and purple
+flowers of the sweet flag or calamus; and as the sun was yet high in the
+glorious blue, we resolved to spend the remainder of the day with a
+family living near; feeling, in this land of New Brunswick, no qualms
+about a sudden visitation, knowing that a people so proverbial for being
+"wide awake" can never be taken unawares. Their dwelling, a large frame
+building painted most gaily in the bright warm hues the old Dutch
+fancies of the states love to cherish, stands in the centre of rich
+parks of intervale. The porch is here, as well as at the more humble
+log-house, answering as it does in summer for a cool verandah, and in
+winter as a shelter from the snows. This, the taste of the country
+artist has erected on pillars, not recognisable as belonging to any
+known order of architecture, yet here esteemed as tasty and beautiful,
+and, as is his custom in the afternoon, is seated the owner of the
+dwelling, Silas Mavin, one of that fast declining remnant--the refugees.
+He had come from the United States at the revolution, and possessed
+himself of this fair heritage in the days when squatting was in vogue;
+those palmy days which the older inhabitants love to recall, when
+government had not to be petitioned, as it has now, for leave to
+purchase land, and when, in place of the now many-worded grant, with its
+broad seals and official signatures, people made out their own right of
+possession by raising their log-house, and placing the sign manual of
+their axe in whatever trees they chose; when moose and caraboo were
+plentiful as sheep and oxen are now; when salmon filled each stream, and
+the wood-sheltered clearings ripened the Indian corn without failing.
+
+In this land, young as it is, there are those who mourn for the times
+gone by, and consider the increasing settlement of the country as their
+worst evil; wilfully closing their eyes against improvement, they see
+not the wide fields, waving fair with grass and wheat, but think it was
+better when the dense forest shut out the breeze and reflected the
+sunbeams down with greater strength on the corn, so dearly loved by the
+American. They hear not the sound of the busy mill when they mourn for
+the fish-deserted brooks, and forget that when moose meat was more
+plentiful than now bread stuffs were ground in the wearying hand-mill.
+One of this respectable class of grumblers was our present
+acquaintance, and here he sat in his porch, with aspect grave as the
+stoics--his tall form, although in ruins now, was stately in decay as
+the old forest's pines. His head was such as a phrenologist would have
+loved to look upon; the true platonic breadth of brow, and lofty
+elevation of the scalp silvered over, told of a mind fitting in its
+magnitude to spring from that gigantic continent whose streams are
+mighty rivers and whose lakes are seas; but, valueless as these, when
+embosomed in their native woods, were the treasures of the old man's
+mind, unawakened as they were by education, and unpolished even by
+contact with the open world, yet still, amid the crust contracted in the
+life he had led, rays of the inward diamond glittered forth. The
+wilderness had always been his dwelling--in the land he had left, his
+early days had been passed in hunting the red deer or the red man on the
+Prairie fields--there, with the true spirit of the old American, he had
+learned to treat the Indian as "varment," although a kindlier feeling
+was awakened towards them in this country, where white as well as red
+were recipients of England's bounty, and many a tale of wild pathos or
+dark horror has he told of the experience of his youth with the people
+of the wild. In New Brunswick his days had passed more peacefully. He
+sat this evening with his chair poised in that aerial position on one
+leg which none but an American can attain. Ambitious emigrants, wishing
+to be thought cute, attempt this delicate point of Yankee character, but
+their awkwardness falling short of the easy swing necessary for the
+purpose, often brings them to the ground. A beautiful English cherry
+tree, with its snowy wreathes in full blow, stood before him; he had
+raised it from the seed, and loved to look upon it. It had evidently
+been the object of his meditations, and served him now as a type
+wherewith to illustrate his remarks respecting the meeting we had
+attended--like those professors of religion we to-day heard, he said,
+was his beautiful cherry tree. It gave forth fair green leaves of
+promise and bright truth-seeming blossoms, but in summer, when he sought
+for fruit there was none; and false as it, were they of words so fair
+and deeds so dark, and he'd "double sooner trust one who laughed more
+and prayed less, than those same whining preachers." This was the old
+man's opinion, not only respecting the baptists, but all other sects as
+well. What his own ideas of religion were I never could make out.
+Universalism I fancied it was, but differing much from the theories of
+those evanescent preachers who sometimes flashed like meteors through
+the land, leaving doubt and recklessness in their path. The first truths
+of Christianity had been imparted to him, and these, mingling with his
+own innate ideas of veneration, formed his faith; as original, though
+more lofty in its aspirations, than the wild Indian's who tells of the
+flowery land of souls where the good spirit dwells, and where buffalo
+and deer forsake not the hunting grounds of the blessed. He held no
+outward form or right of sanctity. The ceremony which bound him to his
+wife was simply legal, having been read over by the nearest magistrate.
+His children were unbaptised, and the green graves of his household were
+in his own field, although a public burying-ground was by the
+meeting-house of the settlement.
+
+Meanwhile the old lady, who had hailed our advent with the hospitality
+of her country, set about preparing our entertainment. Tradition says of
+the puritans, the pilgrims of New England, that when they first stood on
+Plymouth Rock, on their first arrival from Europe, they bore the bible
+under one arm and a cookery book under the other. Now, as to their
+descendants, the refugees, I am not exactly sure if, when they
+pilgrimised to New Brunswick, they were so careful of the bible, but I
+am certain they retain the precepts of the cookery book, and love to
+embody them when they may. Soon as a guest comes within ken of a blue
+nose, the delightful operations commence. The poorer class shifting with
+Johnny-cake and pumpkin, while, with the better off, the airy phantoms
+of custard and curls, which flit through their brains, are called into
+tangible existence. The air is impregnated with allspice and
+nutmeg--apple "sarce" and cranberry "persarves" become visible, while
+sal-a-ratus and molasses are evidently in the ascendant.
+
+And now, while our hostess of this evening busied herself in compounding
+these sweet mysteries, the old man related to us the following love
+passage of his earlier days, which I shall give in my own language,
+although his original expressions rendered it infinitely more
+interesting.
+
+
+
+
+THE INDIAN BRIDE,
+
+A REFUGEE'S STORY.
+
+
+On the margin of a bright blue western stream stood a small fort,
+surrounding the dwellings of some hunters who had penetrated thus far
+into the vast wilderness to pursue their calling. The huts they raised
+were rude and lowly, and yet the walls surrounding them were high and
+lofty. Piles of arms filled their block house, and a constant guard was
+kept. These precautions were taken to protect them from the Indians,
+whose ancient hunting grounds they had intruded on, and whose camp was
+not far distant. Deadly dealings had passed between them, but the
+whites, strong in number and in arms, heeded little the settled malice
+of their foes, and after taking the usual precautions of defence,
+carried on their hunting, shooting an Indian, or ought else that came
+across them, while the others, savage and unrelenting, kept on their
+trail in hope of vengeance.
+
+Strange was it, that in an atmosphere dark as this, the light of love
+should beam. Leemah, a beautiful Indian girl, met in the forest a young
+white hunter. She loved, and was beloved in return. The roses of the few
+summers she had lived glowed warm upon her cheek, and truth flashed in
+the guileless light of her deep dark eyes--but Leemah was already a
+bride, betrothed in childhood to a chieftain of her tribe; he had now
+summoned her to his dwelling, and her business in the forest was
+collecting materials for her bridal store of box and basket. Her
+sylph-like form of arrowy grace was arrayed in his wedding gifts of
+costly furs, and glittering bright with bead and shell. But few were the
+stores that Leemah gathered for her Indian chief. The burning noon was
+passed with her white love in the leafy shade--there she brought for him
+summer berries, and gathered for him the water cup flower, with its
+cooling draught of fragrant dew. Her time of marriage came, and at
+midnight it was to be celebrated with torch light and dance. The other
+hunters knew the love of Silas for the gem of the wilderness, and
+readily offered their assistance in his project of gaining her. To them,
+carrying off an Indian girl was an affair of light moment, and at dark
+of night, with their boat and loaded rifles, they proceeded up the
+stream towards the Indian village. As they drew near, the wild chaunt of
+the bridal song was heard, and as all silently they approached the
+shore, the red torch light gleamed out upon the scene of mystic
+splendour. The chieftains of the tribe in stately silence stood around.
+The crimson beams lit up the plumes upon their brow, and showed in more
+awful hues the fearful lines of their painted faces, terrible at the
+festival as on the field of battle. The squaws, in their gayest garb,
+with mirrors flashing on their breasts, and beads all shining as they
+moved, danced round the betrothed; and there she stood, the love-lorn
+Leemah, her black hair all unbraided, and her dark eyes piercing the far
+depths of night, as if looking for her lover. Nor looked she long in
+vain, for suddenly and fearlessly Silas sprung upon the shore, dashed
+through the circle, and bore off the Indian bride to his bark. Then rose
+the war-shout of her people, while pealed among them the rifles of the
+hunters. Again came the war-whoop, mingled with the death shriek of the
+wounded. A hunter stood up and echoed them in mockery, but an arrow
+quivered through his brain and he was silent, while the stream grew
+covered with shadowy canoes, filled with dark forms shouting for
+revenge. On came they with lightning's speed, and on sped the hunters
+knowing now that their only safety was in flight. On dashed they through
+the waters which now began to bear them forward with wondrous haste. A
+thought of horror struck them: they were in the rapids, while before
+them the white foam of the falls flashed through the darkness. The tide
+had ebbed in their absence, and the river, smooth and level when full,
+showed all across it, at the flood, a dark abyss of fearful rocks and
+boiling surf. This they knew, but it was now too late to recede; the
+dark stream bore them onward, and now even the Indians dare not follow,
+but landed and ran along the shore shouting with delight at their
+inevitable destruction. It was a moment of dread, unutterable horror to
+Silas and his comrades. Their bark whirled round in the giddy
+waves--then was there a wild plunge--a fearful shock--a shriek of death,
+and the flashing foam gathered over them, while loudly rang the voices
+from the shore. But suddenly, by some mighty effort, the boat was flung
+clear of the rocks and uninjured into the smooth current of the lower
+stream. A few strokes of the oar brought them to the fort, which they
+entered; and heard the Indians howling behind them like wolves baffled
+of their prey. But they and the dangers they had so lately passed were
+alike forgotten in the night's carousal; and, when the season was ended,
+they returned to their homes in the settlements, enriched with the
+spoils they had gained in hunting, and Silas with his treasured pearl of
+the prairie.
+
+But here, some months after they returned, and while, his heart was yet
+brightened with her smiles, a dark shade passed over her sunny brow, and
+she vanished from his home. An Indian of her tribe was said to have been
+lingering near the village, and she no doubt had joined him and returned
+to her kindred. Other tidings of her fate Silas heard not. Alas! she
+knew the undying vengeance of her people, and by giving herself up to
+them thought to shield him from their hatred.
+
+Again the time of hunting came, and the same party occupied the fort in
+the wilderness. As yet they had been unmolested by the Indians: they
+even knew not of their being in the neighbourhood, yet still a form of
+guarding was kept up, and Silas and a comrade held the night-watch in
+the block house. The others had fallen asleep, and Silas, as he sat with
+half-closed eyes, fancied he saw before him his lost love, Leemah; he
+started as he thought from a dream, but 'twas real, and 'twas her own
+cool fingers pressed his brow--by the clear fire light he saw her cheek
+was deadly pale, but her eyes were flashing like sepulchral lamps, and a
+white-browed babe slept upon her bosom. In a deep thrilling whisper she
+bade him rise and follow her. Wondering how she had found entrance, he
+obeyed, and she led him outside the walls of the fort; a murmuring
+sound as of leaves stirred by the wind was heard.
+
+'Tis the coming of the Red Eagle, said Leemah, his beak is whetted for
+the blood draughts; here enter, and if your own life or Leemah's be
+dear, keep still;--as she spoke she parted aside the young shoots which
+had sprung tip from the root of a tree, and twined like an arbour about
+it. Her deep earnestness left no time for speculation; he entered the
+recess, and hardly had the flexile boughs sprung back to their places,
+when the fleet footsteps of the Indians came nearer, and the fort was
+surrounded by them; the building was fired, and then their deadly yell
+burst forth, while the unfortunate inmates started from sleep at the
+sound of horror. Mercy for them there was none; the relentless savage
+knew it not; but the shout of delight rose louder as they saw the flames
+dance higher o'er their victims; and Silas looked on all--but Leemah's
+eye was on his--he knew his slightest movement was death to her as well
+as to himself. Like a demon through the flame leaped the ghastly form of
+the Red Eagle, (he to whom Leemah had been espoused) and with searching
+glance glared on his victims, but saw not there the one he sought with
+deeper vengeance than the others--'twas Silas he looked for; and, with
+the speed of a winged fiend, he bounded to where Leemah stood, and
+accused her of having aided in his escape. She acknowledged she had, and
+pointed to the far-off forest as his hiding place. In an instant his
+glittering tomahawk cleft the hand she raised off at the wrist. Silas
+knew no more. Leemah's hot blood fell upon his brow, and he fainted
+through excess of agony, but like Mazeppa, he lived to repay the Red
+Eagle in after-years for that night of horror--when his eyes had been
+blasted with the burning fort, his ears stunned with the shrieks of his
+murdered friends, and his brain scorched through with Leemah's life
+blood.
+
+Long years after, when he had forsaken the hunter's path, and fought as
+a loyalist in the British ranks, among their Indian allies who smoked
+with them the pipe of peace and called them brothers, was one, in whose
+wild and withered features he recalled the stern Red Eagle; blood called
+for blood; he beguiled the Indian now with copious draughts of the white
+man's fire-water, and he and another (brother of one of the murdered
+hunters) killed him, and placing him in his own canoe with the paddle in
+his hand, sent the fearful corpse down the rapid stream, bearing him
+unto his home. The wild dog and wolf howled on the banks as it floated
+past, and the raven and eagle hovered over it claiming it as their prey.
+The tribe, at the death of their Sagamore, withdrew from their allies,
+and, following the track of the setting sun, waged war indiscriminately
+with all.
+
+And long after, though more than half a century had elapsed since the
+death of the Red Eagle, and when the snows of eighty winters had
+whitened the dark tresses of the young hunter, and bowed the tall form
+of the loyalist soldier; when he who had trod the flowery paths of the
+prairie, and slept in the orchard bowers by the blue stream of the
+Hudson, had, for love of England's laws, become a refugee from his
+native land; and when here, in New Brunswick, he beheld raised around
+him a happy and comfortable home--his house, which had always been
+freely opened to religious worship, and in which had been held the
+prayer-meetings of the baptists and love-feasts of the methodists,
+became one day transformed into a catholic chapel.
+
+A bishop of the Romish church was passing through the province, and his
+presence in this sequestered spot was an event of unwonted interest;
+many who had forgotten the creed of their fathers returned to the faith
+of their earlier days, and among the most fervent of those assembled,
+there was a small group of Milicete Indians from the woods hard by. With
+the idolatrous devotion of their half savage nature they fell prostrate
+before the priest. Among them was an ancient woman, but not of their
+tribe, who, while raising her head in prayer, or in crossing herself,
+Silas observed she used but one hand--the other was gone. This
+circumstance recalled to light the faded love-dream of his youth. He
+questioned her and found her to be Leemah, his once beautiful Indian
+bride, who had wandered here to escape the dark tyranny of her savage
+kindred. She died soon after, and "she sleeps there," said the old man,
+pointing to where a white cross marked a low grassy mound before us, and
+time had not so dried up his heart springs but I saw a tear drop to her
+memory.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I turned my eyes from Leemah's grave to see what effect the tale had
+made on the old lady, but she was so engaged in contemplating the golden
+curls of her doughnuts, and feathery lightness of her pound cake, she
+had heard it not; and even if she had, it had all happened such a long
+time ago, that her impressions respecting it must all have worn out by
+now. After having partaken of the luxurious feast she set before us, and
+hearing some more of the old man's legends, we proceeded forward.
+
+The evening, with one of those sudden changes of New Brunswick, had
+become cold and chilly. The sun looked red and lurid through the heavy
+masses of fog clouds drifting through the sky; this fog, which comes all
+the way from the Banks of Newfoundland, and which is particularly
+disagreeable sometimes along the Bay shore and in St. John, in
+opposition to the general clearness of the American atmosphere is but
+little known in the interior of the country. Numerous summer fallows are
+burning around, and the breeze flings over us showers of blackened
+leaves and blossoms. As we approached home, we were accosted by one Mr.
+Isaac Hanselpecker, a neighbour of ours; he was leaning over the bars,
+apparently wanting a lounge excessively. He had just finished milking,
+and had handed the pails to Miss Hanselpecker, as he called his wife. If
+there be a trait of American character peculiar to itself, displayed
+more fully than another by contrast with Europeans, it is in the
+treatment of the gentler sex, differing as it does materially from the
+picture of the Englishman, standing with his back to the fire, while the
+ladies freeze around him; or the glittering politeness of the Frenchman,
+hovering like a butterfly by the music stand; it has in it more of
+intellect and real tenderness than either, although tending as it does
+to the advancement of national character, some of their own talented
+ones begin to complain that in the refined circles of the States they
+are becoming almost too civilised in this respect: the ladies requiring
+rather more than is due to them. Yet among the working classes it has a
+sweet and wholesome influence, softening as it does the asperities of
+labour, and lightening the burthen to each. Here woman's empire is
+within, and here she shines the household star of the poor man's hearth;
+not in idleness, for in America, of all countries in the world,
+prosperity depends on female industry. Here "she looketh well to the
+ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness," and for
+this reason, perhaps, it is, that their husbands arise and call them
+blessed. Now Mr. Hanselpecker had all the respect for his lady natural
+to his country, and assisted her domestic toils by milking the cows,
+making fires, and fetching wood and water. Yet there was one material
+point in which he failed: she was often "scant of bread," he being one
+who, even in this land of toil, got along, somehow or other, with
+wondrous little bodily labour; professing to be a farmer, he held one of
+the finest pieces of land in the settlement, but his agricultural
+operations, for the most part, consisted in hoeing a few sickly stems of
+corn, while others were reaping buckwheat, or sowing a patch of flax,
+"'cause the old woman wanted loom gears;" shooting cranes, spearing
+salmon, or trapping musquash on the lake, he prefers to raising fowl or
+sheep, as cranes find their own provisions, and fish require no fences
+to keep them from the fields. His wife's skill, however, in managing the
+dairy department, is, when butter rates well in the market, their chief
+dependence; and he, when he chooses to work, which he would much rather
+do for another than himself, can earn enough in one day, if he take
+truck, to keep him three, and but that he prefers fixing cucumbers to
+thrashing, and making moccasins to clearing land, he might do well
+enough. Though poor, he is none the least inclined to grovel, but, with
+the spirit of his land, feels quite at ease in company with any judge or
+general in the country.
+
+Having declined his invitation to enter the log erection,--which in
+another country would hardly be styled a house, he having still delayed
+to enclose the gigantic frame, whose skeleton form was reared hard
+by--he gave his opinion of the weather at present, with some shrewd
+guesses as to what it would be in future; regarding the smoke wreaths
+from the fires around (there were none on his land however), he said, it
+reminded him of the fire in Miramichi. "How long is it, old woman," said
+he, turning to his wife, who had now joined us, "since that ere
+burning?" "Well," said she, "I aint exactly availed to tell you right
+off how many years it is since, but I guess our Jake was a week old when
+it happened."
+
+Now, as the burning of Miramichi was one of the most interesting
+historical events in the province records, we gave him the date, which
+was some twenty years since; this also gave us the sum of Jacob's
+lustres--rather few considering he had planted a tater patch on shares,
+and laid out to marry in the fall.
+
+"Well," said he, "You may depend that was a fire--my hair curls yet when
+I think of it--it was the same summer we got married, and Washington
+Welford having been out a timber-hunting with me the fall afore, we
+discovered a most elegant growth of pine--I never see'd before nor since
+the equal on it--regular sixty footers, every log on 'em--the trees
+stood on the banks of the river, as if growing there on purpose to be
+handy for rafting, and we having got a first-rate supply from our
+merchants in town, toted our things with some of the old woman's house
+trumpery to the spot--we soon had up a shanty, and went to work in right
+airnest. There was no mistake in Wash; he was as clever a fellow as ever
+I knowed, and as handsome a one--seven feet without his shoes--eyes like
+diamonds, and hair slick as silk; when he swung his axe among the
+timber, you may depend he looked as if he had a mind to do it--our
+felling and hewing went on great, and with the old woman for cook we
+made out grand--she, however, being rather delicate, we hired a help, a
+daughter of a neighbour about thirty miles off. Ellen Ross was as smart
+a gal as ever was raised in these clearings--her parents were old
+country folks, and she had most grand larning, and was out and out a
+regular first-rater. Washington and her didn't feel at all small
+together--they took a liking to each other right away, and a prettier
+span was never geared. Well, our Jake was born, and the old woman got
+smart, and about house again. Wash took one of our team horses, and he
+and Ellen went off to the squire's to get yoked. It was a most beautiful
+morning when they started, but the weather soon began to change--there
+had been a most uncommon dry spell--not a drop of rain for many weeks,
+nor hardly a breath of air in the woods, but now there came a most
+fearful wind and storm, and awful black clouds gathering through the
+sky--the sun grew blood red, and looked most terrible through the smoke.
+I had heard of such things as 'clipses, but neither the almanac, nor the
+old woman's universal, said a word about it. Altho' there was such a
+wind, there was the most burning heat--one could hardly breathe, and the
+baby lay pale and gasping--we thought it was a dying. The cattle grew
+oneasy, and all at once a herd of moose bounded into our chopping, and a
+lot of bears after them, all running as if for dear life. I got down the
+rifle, and was just a going to let fly at them, when a scream from the
+old woman made me look about. The woods were on fire all round us, and
+the smoke parting before us, showed the flames crackling and roaring
+like mad, 'till the very sky seemed on fire over our heads. I did'nt
+know what to do, and, in fact, there was no time to calculate about it.
+The blaze glared hotly on our faces, and all the wild critturs of the
+woods began to carry on most ridiculous, and shout and holler like all
+nature I caught up my axe, and the old woman the baby, and took the only
+open space left for us, where the stream was running, and the fire
+couldn't catch. Just as we were going, a horse came galloping most awful
+fast right through the fire--it was poor Washington; his clothes all
+burnt, and his black hair turned white as snow, and oh! the fearful
+burden he carried in his arms. Ellen Ross, the beautiful bright-eyed
+girl, who had left us so smilingly in the morning, lay now before us a
+scorched and blackened corpse--the scared horse fell dead on the ground.
+I hollered to Washington to follow us to the water, but he heard me
+not; and the flames closed fast o'er him and his dead bride--poor
+fellow, that was the last on him--and creation might be biled down, ere
+you could ditto him any how. By chance our timber was lying near in the
+stream, and I got the old woman and the baby on a log, and stood beside
+them up to the neck in water, which now grew hot, and actilly began to
+hiss around me. The trees on the other side of the river had caught, and
+there was an arch of flame right above us. My stars! what a time we had
+of it! Lucifees and minks, carraboo and all came close about us, and an
+Indian devil got upon the log beside my wife; poor critturs, they were
+all as tame as possible, and half frightened to death. I thought the end
+of the world was come for sartain. I tried to pray, but I was got so
+awful hungry, that grace before meat was all I could think off. How long
+we had been there I couldn't tell, but it seemed tome a 'tarnity--fire,
+howsomever, cannot burn always--that's a fact; so at the end of what we
+afterwards found to be the third day, we saw the sun shine down on the
+still smoking woods. The old woman was weak, I tell you; and for me, I
+felt considerably used up--howsomever I got to the shore, and hewed out
+a canoe from one of our own timber sticks--there was no need of lucifers
+to strike a light--lots of brands were burning about. I laid some on to
+it and burnt it out, and soon had a capital craft, and away we went down
+the stream. Dead bodies of animals were floating about, and there were
+some living ones, looking as if they had got out of their latitude, and
+didn't think they would find it. I reckon we weren't the only sufferers
+by that ere conflagration. As we came down to the settlements folks took
+us for ghosts, we looked so miserable like--howsomever, with good
+tendin, we soon came round again; but, to tell you the truth, it makes
+me feel kind a narvous, when I see a fallow burning ever since. Tho'
+folks could'nt tell how that ere fire happened, and say it was a
+judgment on lumber men and sich like, I think it came from some
+settlers' improvements, who, wishing to raise lots of taters, destroyed
+the finest block of timber land in the province, besides the ships in
+Miramichi harbour, folks' buildings, and many a clever feller, whose
+latter end was never known."
+
+"And so I suppose Mr. H.," said his wife, "that is the reason you make
+such slim clearings." "I estimate your right," said he; and we, not
+expecting the spice of sentiment which flavored Mr. H.'s story, left
+him, and reached home, where we closed the evening by putting into the
+following shape one of Silas Marvin's legends, not written with a
+perryian pen and azure fluid, but with a quill from the wing of a wild
+goose, shot by our friend Hanselpecker, (who by the way was fond of such
+game,) as last fall it took its flight from our cold land to the sunny
+south, and with home-made ink prepared from a decoction of white maple
+bark.
+
+
+
+
+THE LOST ONE,
+
+A TALE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
+
+
+Beyond the utmost verge of the limits which the white settlers had yet
+dared to encroach on the red owners of the soil, stood the humble
+dwelling of Kenneth Gordon, a Scotch emigrant, whom necessity had driven
+from the blue hills and fertile vallies of his native land, to seek a
+shelter in the tangled mazes of the forests of the new world. Few would
+have had the courage to venture thus into the very power of the
+savage--but Kenneth Gordon possessed a strong arm and a hopeful heart,
+to give the lips he loved unborrowed bread; this nerved him against
+danger, and, 'spite of the warning of friends, Kenneth pitched his tent
+twelve miles from the nearest settlement. Two years passed over the
+family in their lonely home, and nothing had occurred to disturb their
+peace, when business required Kenneth's presence up the river. One calm
+and dewy morning he prepared for his journey; Marion Gordon followed her
+husband to the wicket, and a tear, which she vainly strove to hide with
+a smile, trembled in her large blue eye. She wedded Kenneth when she
+might well have won a richer bridegroom: she chose him for his worth;
+their lot had been a hard one--but in all the changing scenes of life
+their love remained unchanged; and Kenneth Gordon, although thirteen
+years a husband, was still a lover. Marion strove to rally her spirits,
+as her husband gaily cheered her with an assurance of his return before
+night. "Why so fearful, Marion? See here is our ain bonny Charlie for a
+guard, and what better could an auld Jacobite wish for?" said Kenneth,
+looking fondly on his wife; while their son marched past them in his
+Highland dress and wooden claymore by his side. Marion smiled as her
+husband playfully alluded to the difference in their religion; for
+Kenneth was a staunch presbyterian, and his wife a Roman catholic; yet
+that difference--for which so much blood has been shed in the
+world--never for an instant dimmed the lustre of their peace; and Marion
+told her glittering beads on the same spot where her husband breathed
+his simple prayer. Kenneth, taking advantage of the smile he had roused,
+waved his hand to the little group, and was soon out of sight.
+
+The hot and sultry day was passed by Marion in a state of restless
+anxiety, but it was for Kenneth alone she feared, and the hours sped
+heavily till she might expect his return. Slowly the burning sun
+declined in the heavens, and poured a flood of golden radiance on the
+leafy trees and the bright waves of the majestic river, which rolled its
+graceful waters past the settlers dwelling. Marion left her infant
+asleep in a small shed at the back of the log-house, with Mary, her
+eldest daughter, to watch by it, and taking Charlie by the hand went out
+to the gate to look for her husband's return. Kenneth's father, an old
+and almost superannuated man, sat in the door-way, with twin girls of
+Kenneth's sitting on his knees, singing their evening hymn, while he
+bent fondly over them.
+
+Scarcely had Marion reached the wicket, when a loud yell--the wild
+war-whoop of the savage--rang on her startled ear. A thousand dark
+figures seemed to start from the water's edge--the house was surrounded,
+and she beheld the grey hairs of the old man twined round in the hand of
+one, and the bright curls of her daughters gleamed in that of another;
+while the glittering tomahawk glared like lightning in her eyes. Madly
+she rushed forward to shield her children; the vengeance of the Indian
+was glutted, and the life-blood of their victims crimsoned the hearth
+stone! The house was soon in flames--the war dance was finished--and
+their canoes bounded lightly on the waters, bearing them far from the
+scene of their havoc.
+
+As the sun set a heavy shower of rain fell and refreshed the parched
+earth--the flowers sent up a grateful fragrance on the evening air--the
+few singing birds of the woods poured forth their notes of melody--the
+blue jay screamed among the crimson buds of the maple, and the humming
+bird gleamed through the emerald sprays of the beech tree.
+
+The pearly moon was slowly rising in the blue aether, when Kenneth
+Gordon approached his home. He was weary with his journey, but the
+pictured visions of his happy home, his smiling wife, and the caresses
+of his sunny haired children, cheered the father's heart, though his
+step was languid, and his brow feverish. But oh! what a sight of horror
+for a fond and loving heart met his eyes, as he came in sight of the
+spot that contained his earthly treasures--the foreboding silence had
+surprised him--he heard not the gleeful voices of his children, as they
+were wont to bound forth to meet him, he saw not Marion stand at the
+gate to greet his return--but a thick black smoke rose heavily to the
+summits of the trees, and the smouldering logs of the building fell with
+a sullen noise to the ground. The rain had quenched the fire, and the
+house was not all consumed. Wild with terror, Kenneth rushed forward;
+his feet slipped on the bloody threshhold, and he fell on the mangled
+bodies of his father and his children. The demoniac laceration of the
+stiffening victims told too plainly who had been their murderers. How
+that night of horror passed Kenneth knew not. The morning sun was
+shining bright--when the bereaved and broken-hearted man was roused from
+the stupor of despair by the sound of the word "father" in his ears; he
+raised his eyes, and beheld Mary, his eldest daughter, on her knees
+beside him. For a moment Kenneth fancied he had had a dreadful dream,
+but the awful reality was before him. He pressed Mary wildly to his
+bosom, and a passionate flood of tears relieved his burning brain. Mary
+had heard the yells of the savages, and the shrieks of her mother
+convinced her that the dreaded Indians had arrived. She threw open the
+window, and snatching the infant from its bed, flew like a wounded deer
+to the woods behind the house. The frightened girl heard all, remained
+quiet, and knowing her father would soon return, left the little Alice
+asleep on some dried leaves, and ventured from her hiding place.
+
+No trace of Marion or of Charles could be found--they had been reserved
+for a worse fate; and for months a vigilant search was kept up--parties
+of the settlers, led on by Kenneth, scoured the woods night and day.
+Many miles off a bloody battle had been fought between two hostile
+tribes, where a part of Marion's dress and of her son's was found, but
+here all trace of the Indians ended, and Kenneth returned to his
+desolated home. No persuasion could induce him to leave the place where
+the joys of his heart had been buried: true, his remaining children yet
+linked him to life, but his love for them only increased his sorrow for
+the dead and the lost. Kenneth became a prematurely old man--his dark
+hair faded white as the mountain snow--his brow was wrinkled, and his
+tall figure bent downwards to the earth.
+
+Seventeen years had rolled on their returnless flight since that night
+of withering sorrow. Kenneth Gordon still lived, a sad and
+broken-spirited man; but time, that great tamer of the human heart,
+which dulls the arrows of affliction, and softens the bright tints of
+joy down to a sober hue, had shed its healing influence even over his
+wounded heart. Mary Gordon had been some years a wife, and her children
+played around Kenneth's footsteps. A little Marion recalled the wife of
+his youth; and another, Charlie, the image of his lost son, slept in his
+bosom. There was yet another person who was as a sunbeam in the sight of
+Kenneth; her light laugh sounded as music in his ears, and the joy-beams
+of her eyes fell gladly on his soul. This gladdener of sorrow was his
+daughter Alice, now a young and lovely woman; bright and beautiful was
+she, lovely as a rose-bud, with a living soul--
+
+    "No fountain from its native cave,
+    E'er tripped with foot so free;
+    She was as happy as a wave
+    That dances o'er the sea."
+
+Alice was but five months old when her mother was taken from her, but
+Mary, who watched over her helpless infancy with a care far beyond her
+years, and with love equal to a mother's, was repaid by Alice with most
+unbounded affection; for to the love of a sister was added the
+veneration of a parent.
+
+One bright and balmy Sabbath morning Kenneth Gordon and his family left
+their home for the house of prayer. Mary and her husband walked
+together, and their children gambolled on the grassy path before them.
+Kenneth leaned on the arm of his daughter Alice; another person walked
+by her side, whose eye, when it met her's, deepened the tint on her fair
+cheek. It was William Douglas--the chosen lover of her heart, and well
+worthy was he to love the gentle Alice. Together they proceeded to the
+holy altar, and the next Sabbath was to be their bridal day.
+
+A change had taken place since Kenneth Gordon first settled on the banks
+of the lonely river. The white walls and graceful spire of a church now
+rose where the blue smoke of the solitary log-house once curled through
+the forest trees; and the ashes of Kenneth's children and his father
+reposed within its sacred precincts. A large and populous village stood
+where the red deer roved on his trackless path. The white sails of the
+laden barque gleamed on the water, where erst floated the stealthy canoe
+of the savage; and a pious throng offered their aspirations where the
+war-whoop had rung on the air.
+
+Alice was to spend the remaining days of her maiden life with a young
+friend, a few miles from her father's, and they were to return together
+on her bridal eve. William Douglas accompanied Alice on her walk to the
+house of her friend. They parted within a few steps of the house.
+William returned home, and Alice, gay and gladsome as a bird, entered a
+piece of wood, which led directly to the house. Scarcely had she entered
+it when she was seized by a strong arm; her mouth was gagged, and
+something thrown over her head; she was then borne rapidly down the bank
+of the river, and laid in a canoe. She heard no voices, and the swift
+motion of the canoe rendered her unconscious. How long the journey
+lasted she knew not. At length she found herself, on recovering from
+partial insensibility, in a rude hut, with a frightful-looking Indian
+squaw bathing her hands, while another held a blazing torch of pine
+above her head. Their hideous faces, frightful as the imagery of a
+dream, scared Alice, and she fainted again.
+
+The injuries which Kenneth Gordon had suffered from the savages made him
+shudder at the name of Indian--and neither he nor his family ever held
+converse with those who traded in the village. Metea, a chief of the
+Menomene Indians, in his frequent trading expeditions to the village,
+had often seen Alice, and became enamoured of the village beauty. He had
+long watched an opportunity of stealing her, and bearing her away to his
+tribe, where he made no doubt of winning her love. When Alice recovered
+the squaws left her, and Metea entered the hut; he commenced by telling
+her of the great honour in being allowed to share the hut of Metea, a
+"brave" whose bow was always strung, whose tomahawk never missed its
+blow, and whose scalps were as numerous as the stars in the path-way of
+ghosts; and he pointed to the grisly trophies hung in the smoke of the
+cabin. He concluded by giving her furs and strings of beads, with which
+the squaws decorated her, and the next morning the trembling girl was
+led from the hut, and lifted into a circle formed of the warriors of the
+tribe. Here Metea stood forth and declared his deeds of bravery, and
+asked their consent for "the flower of the white nation" to be his
+bride. When he had finished, a young warrior, whose light and graceful
+limbs might well have been a sculptor's model, stood forward to speak.
+He was dressed in the richest Indian costume, and his scalping knife and
+beaded moccasins glittered in the sunshine. His features bore an
+expression very different from the others. Neither malice nor cunning
+lurked in his full dark eye, but a calm and majestic melancholy reposed
+on his high and smooth brow, and was diffused over his whole mein; and,
+in the clear tones of his voice, "Brothers," said he to the warriors,
+"we have buried the hatchet with the white nation--it is very deep
+beneath the earth--shall we dig it because Metea scorns the women of his
+tribe, because he has stolen 'the flower of the white nation?' Let her
+be restored to her people, lest her chiefs come to claim her, and Metea
+lives to disgrace the brave warriors of the woods?" He sat down, and the
+circle rising, said, "Our brother speaks well, but Metea is very
+_brave_." It was decided that Alice should remain.
+
+Towards evening Metea entered the hut, and approaching Alice, caught
+hold of her hand,--the wildest passion gleamed in his glittering eyes,
+and Alice, shrieking, ran towards the door. Metea caught her in his arms
+and pressed her to his bosom. Again she shrieked, and a descending blow
+cleft Metea's skull in sunder, and his blood fell on her neck. It was
+the young Indian who advised her liberation in the morning who dealt
+Metea's death-blow. Taking Alice in his arms, he stepped lightly from
+the hut. It was a still and starless night, and the sleeping Indians saw
+them not. Unloosing a canoe, he placed Alice in it, and pushed softly
+from the shore.
+
+Before the next sunset Alice was in sight of her home. Her father and
+friends knew nothing of what had transpired. They fancied her at her
+friend's house, and terror at her peril and joy at her return followed
+in the same breath. Mary threw a timid, yet kind glance on the Indian
+warrior who had saved her darling Alice, and Kenneth pressed the hand of
+him who restored his child. In a few minutes William Douglas joined the
+happy group, and she repeated her escape on his bosom. That night
+Kenneth Gordon's prayer was longer and more fervent than usual. The
+father's thanks arose to the throne of grace for the safety of his
+child; he prayed for her deliverer, and for pardon for the hatred he had
+nurtured against the murderers of his children. During the prayer the
+Indian stood apart, his arms were folded, and deep thought was marked on
+his brow. When it was finished, Mary's children knelt and received
+Kenneth's blessing, ere they retired to rest. The Indian rushed forward,
+and, bursting into tears, threw himself at the old man's feet--he bent
+his feathered head to the earth. The stern warrior wept like a child.
+Oh! who can trace the deep workings of the human heart? Who can tell in
+what hidden fount the feelings have their spring? The forest chase--the
+bloody field--the war dance--all the pomp of savage life passed like a
+dream from the Indian's soul; a cloud seemed to roll its shadows from
+his memory. That evening's prayer, and a father's blessing, recalled a
+time faded from his recollection, yet living in the dreams of his soul.
+He thought of the period when he, a happy child like those before him,
+had knelt and heard the same sweet words breathed o'er his bending head:
+he remembered having received a father's kiss, and a mother's smile
+gleamed like a star in his memory; but the fleeting visions of childhood
+were fading again into darkness, when Kenneth arose, and, clasping the
+Indian wildly to his breast, exclaimed, "My son, my son! my long lost
+Charles!" The springs of the father's love gushed forth to meet his son,
+and the unseen sympathy of nature guided him to "The Lost One." 'Twas
+indeed Charles Gordon, whom his father held to his breast, but not as he
+lived in his father's fancy. He beheld him a painted savage, whose hand
+was yet stained with blood; but Kenneth's fondest prayer was granted,
+and he pressed him again to his bosom, exclaiming again, "He is my son."
+A small gold cross hung suspended from the collar of Charles. Kenneth
+knew it well; it had belonged to Marion, who hung it round her son's
+neck e'er her eyes were closed. She had sickened early of her captivity,
+and died while her son was yet a child: but the relics she had left
+were prized by him as something holy. From his wampum belt he took a
+roll of the bark of the birch tree, on which something had been written
+with a pencil. The writing was nearly effaced, and the signature of
+Marion Gordon was alone distinguishable. Kenneth pressed the writing to
+his lips, and again his bruised spirit mourned for his sainted Marion.
+Mary and Alice greeted their restored brother with warm affection.
+Kenneth lived but in the sight of his son. Charles rejoiced in their
+endearments, and all the joys of kindred were to him
+
+    "New as if brought from other spheres,
+     Yet welcome as if known for years."
+
+But soon a change came o'er the young warrior; his eye grew dim, his
+step was heavy, and his brow was sad: he sought for solitude, and he
+seemed like a bird pining for freedom. They thought he sighed for the
+liberty of his savage life, but, alas! it was another cause. The better
+feelings of the human heart all lie dormant in the Indian character, and
+are but seldom called into action. Charles had been the "stern stoic of
+the woods" till he saw Alice. Then the first warm rush of young
+affections bounded like a torrent through his veins, and he loved his
+sister with a passion so strong, so overwhelming, that it sapped the
+current of his life. The marriage of Alice had been delayed on his
+return--it would again have been delayed on his account, but he himself
+urged it forward. Kenneth entered the church with Charles leaning on his
+arm. During the ceremony he stood apart from the others. When it was
+finished, Alice went up to him and took his hand; it was cold as
+marble--he was dead; his spirit fled with the bridal benediction.
+Kenneth's heart bled afresh for his son, and as he laid his head in the
+earth he felt that it would not be long till he followed him. Nor was he
+mistaken; for a few mornings after he was found dead on the grave of
+"_The Lost One_."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And now the bright summer of New Brunswick drew onward to its close. The
+hay, which in this country is cut in a much greener state than is usual
+elsewhere, and which, from this cause, retains its fragrance till the
+spring, was safely lodged in the capacious barns. The buck wheat had
+changed its delicate white flower for the brown clusters of its grain,
+and the reaper and the thrasher were both busied with it, for so loosely
+does this grain hang on its stem that it is generally thrashed out of
+doors as soon as ripe, as much would be lost in the conveyance to the
+barn.
+
+Grace Marley's time of departure now drew near; her government stipend
+had arrived. The proprietors, who paid in trade, had deposited the
+butter and oats equivalent to her hire in the market boat, in which she
+intended to proceed to town. And as this is decidedly the pleasantest
+method of travelling, I laid out to accompany her by the same
+conveyance, and we were spending the last evening with Mrs. Gordon, who
+also was to be our companion to St. John; we walked with Helen through
+her flower-garden, who showed us some flowers, the seeds of which she
+had received from the old country. I saw a bright hue pass o'er the brow
+of Grace as we walked among them, and tears gushed forth from her warm
+and feeling heart. Next day she explained what occasioned her emotion, a
+feeling which all must have felt, awakened by as slight a cause, when
+wandering far from their native land. Thus she pourtrayed what she then
+felt--
+
+
+    THE MIGNIONETTE.
+
+    'Twas when the summer's golden eve
+    Fell dim o'er flower and fruit,
+    A mystic spell was o'er me thrown,
+    As I'd drank of some charmed root.
+    It came o'er my soul as the breeze swept by,
+    Like the breath of some blessed thing;
+    Again it came, and my spirit rose
+    As if borne on an angel's wing.
+    It bore me away to my native land,
+    Away o'er the deep sea foam;
+    And I stood, once more a happy child,
+    By the hearth of my early home.
+    And well-loved forms were by me there,
+    That long in the grave had lain;
+    And I heard the voices I heard of old,
+    And they smiled on me again.
+    And I knew once more the dazzling light,
+    Of the spirit's gladsome youth;
+    And lived again in the sunny light
+    Of the heart's unbroken truth.
+    Yet felt I then, as we always feel,
+    The sweet grief o'er me cast,
+    When a chord is waked of the spirit's harp,
+    Which telleth of the past.
+    And what could it be, that blissful trance?
+    What caused the soul to glide?
+    Forgetting alike both time and change,
+    So far o'er memory's tide.
+    Oh! could that deep mysterious power
+    Be but the breath of an earthly flower?
+    'Twas not the rose with her leaves so bright,
+    That flung o'er my soul such dazzling light,
+    Nor the tiger lily's gorgeous dies,
+    That changed the hue of my spirit's eyes.
+    'Twas not from the pale, but gifted leaf,
+    That bringeth to mortal pain relief.
+    Not where the blue wreaths of the star-flower shine,
+    Nor lingered it in the airy bells
+    Of the graceful columbine.
+    But again it cometh, I breathe it yet,
+    'Tis the sigh of the lowly mignionette.
+    And there, 'mid the garden's leafy gems,
+    Blossomed a group of its fairy stems;
+    Few would have thought of its faint perfume,
+    While they gazed on the rosebud's crimson bloom.
+    But to me it was laden with sighs and tears,
+    And the faded hopes of by-gone years.
+    Many a vision, long buried deep,
+    Was waked again from its dreamless sleep.
+    Thoughts whose light was dim before,
+    Lived in their pristine truth once more.
+    Well might its form with my fancies weave,
+    For in youth it seemed with me to joy,
+    And in woe with me to grieve.
+    Oft have I knelt in the cool moonlight,
+    Where it wreathed the lattice pane,
+    'Till I felt that He who formed the flower
+    Would hear my prayer again.
+    Then, welcome sweet thing, in this stranger land,
+    May it smile upon thy birth,
+    Light fall the rain on thy lovely head,
+    And genial be the earth;
+    And blest be the power that gave to thee,
+    All lowly as thou art,
+    The gift unknown to prouder things,
+    To soothe and teach the heart.
+
+
+Next day we proceeded on our journey, and, preferring the coolness of
+the deck to the heated atmosphere of the cabin, seated ourselves there
+to enjoy the quiet beauty of the night. The full glory of a September's
+moon was beaming bright in the clear rich blue of heaven; the stars were
+glittering in the water's depths, and ever and anon the fire flies
+flashed like diamonds through the dark foliage on the shore--the light
+fair breeze scarce stirred the ripples on the stream--when, from one of
+the white dwellings on the beach in whose casement a light was yet
+burning, came a low, sad strain of sorrow. I had heard that sound once
+before, and knew now it was the wail of Irish grief. Strange that
+mournful dirge of Erin sounded in that distant land. Grace knew the
+language of her country, and ere the "keen" had died upon the breeze,
+she translated thus
+
+
+    THE SONG OF THE IRISH MOURNER.
+
+    Light of the widow's heart! art thou then dead?
+    And is then thy spirit from earth ever fled?
+    And shall we, then, see thee and hear thee no more,
+    All radiant in beauty and life as before?
+
+    My own blue-eyed darling, Oh, why didst thou die,
+    Ere the tear-drop of sorrow had dimmed thy bright eye,
+    Ere thy cheek's blooming hue felt one touch of decay,
+    Or thy long golden ringlets were mingled with grey?
+
+    Why, star of our path-way, why didst thou depart?
+    Why leave us to weep for the pulse of the heart?
+    Oh, darkened for ever is life's sunny hour,
+    When robbed of its brightest and loveliest flower!
+
+    Around thy low bier sacred incense is flinging,
+    And soft on the air are the silver bells ringing;
+    For the peace of thy soul is the holy mass said,
+    And on thy fair forehead the blessed cross laid.
+
+    Soft, soft be thy slumbers, our lady receive thee,
+    And shining in glory for ever thy soul be;
+    To the climes of the blessed, my own grama-chree,
+    May blessings attend thee, sweet cushla ma-chree.
+
+As we passed the jemseg, we spoke of the time when Madame la Tour so
+bravely defended the fort in the absence of her husband--this occurred
+in the early times of the province, and strange stories are told of
+spirit forms which glide along the beach, beneath whose sands the white
+bones of the French and Indians, who fell in the deadly fight, lie
+buried. Talking of these things, induced Mrs. Gordon to tell us the
+following tale, which she had heard, and which I have entitled
+
+
+
+
+A WINTER'S EVENING SKETCH,
+
+WRITTEN IN NEW BRUNSWICK.
+
+    "Oh! there's a dream of early youth,
+    And it never comes again;
+    'Tis a vision of joy, and light, and truth,
+    That flits across the brain;
+    And love is the theme of that early dream,
+    So wild, so warm, so new.
+    And oft I ween, in our after-years,
+    That early dream we rue."---Mrs. HEMANS.
+
+
+The winter's eve had gathered o'er New Brunswick, and the snow was
+falling, as in that clime it only knows how to fall. The atmosphere was
+like the face of Sterne's monk, "calm, cold, and penetrating," and the
+faint tinkling of the sleigh bells came mournfully on the ear as a knell
+of sadness--so utterly cheerless was the scene. Another hour passed, and
+our journey was ended. The open door of the hospitable dwelling was
+ready to receive us, and in the light and heat of a happy home, toil and
+trouble were alike forgotten.
+
+There is always something picturesque in the interior of a New Brunswick
+farm house, and this evening everything assumed an aspect of interest
+and beauty. It might have been the comfortable contrast to the scene
+without that threw its mellow tints around. Even the homely loom and
+spinning-wheel lost their uncouthness, and recalled to the mind's
+imagery the classic dreams of old romance--Hercules in the chambers of
+Omphale the story of Arachne and Penelope, the faithful wife of brave
+Ulysses; but there was other food for the spirit which required not the
+aid of fancy to render palatable. On the large centre table, round which
+were grouped the household band, with smiling brows and happy hearts,
+lay the magazines and papers of the day, with their sweet tales and
+poetic gems. The "Amulet" and "Keepsake" glittering in silk and gold,
+and "Chambers," with plain, unwinning exterior, the ungarnished casket
+of a mine of treasure, gave forth, like whisperings from a better land,
+their gentle influence to soothe and cheer the heart, and teach the
+spirit higher aspirations, while breathing the magic spells raised by
+their fairy power--those sweet creators of a world unswayed by earth,
+where hope and beauty live undimmed by time or tears--givers to all who
+own their power, a solace 'mid the pining cares of life. Thus, with the
+aid of these, and the joys of converse, sped the night; and as the wind
+which had now arisen blew heavy gusts of frozen rain against the
+windows, we rejoiced in our situation all the more, and looked
+complacently on the great mainspring of our comfort, the glowing stove,
+which imparted its grateful caloric through the apartment, and bore on
+its polished surface shining evidence of the housewife's care. 'Twas
+apparently already a favourite, and the storm without had enhanced its
+value. Without dissent, all agreed in its perfection and superiority
+over ordinary fire-places.
+
+Twas a theme which called forth conversation, and when all had given
+their opinion, uncle Ethel was asked for his.
+
+The person so addressed was an aged man, who reclined in an arm chair
+apart from the others, sharing not in words with their discourse or
+mirth, but smiling like a benignant spirit on them. More than eighty
+years of shade and sunshine had passed o'er him. The few snowy locks
+which lingered yet around his brow were soft and silky as a
+child's--time and sorrow had traced him but a gentle path, 'twould seem
+by the light which yet beamed in his calm blue eye and placid smile, the
+expression was far different from mirthful happiness, but breathed of
+holy peace and spirit pure, tempered with love and kindness for
+all--living in the past dreams of youth, he loved the present, when it
+recalled their sweet memories in brighter beauty from the tomb of faded
+years, and then it seemed as if a secret woe arose and dimmed the vision
+when it glowed brightest. A deeper sorrow than for departed youth
+flashed o'er his brow, brief but fearful, as though he once, and but
+once only, had felt a pang of agony which had deadened all other lighter
+woes, and, overcome by resignation, left the spirit calmer as its strong
+feeling passed away. Such was what we knew of uncle Ethel, but ere the
+night had worn we knew him better. Joining us in our conversation
+regarding the stove, he smiled, and said he agreed not with us--our
+favourite was more sightly, and more useful, but it bore not the
+friendly face of the old hearthstone--one of memory's most treasured
+spots was gone--the _fireside_ of our home--the thought of whose
+hallowed precincts cheers the wanderer's heart, and has won many from
+the path of error, to seek again its sinless welcome.
+
+'Tis while sitting by the fireside at eve, said he, that the vanished
+forms of other days gather round me--there where our happiest meetings
+were in the holy sanctity of our _home_. Where peace and love hovered
+o'er us, I see again kind faces lit by the ruddy gleam, and hear again
+the evening hymn, as of old it used to rise from the loving band
+assembled there. Alas! long years have passed since I missed them from
+the earth, but there they meet me still--in the glowing fire's bright
+light I trace their sweet names, and the vague fancies of childhood are
+waked again from their dim repose to live in light and truth once more,
+amid the fantastic visions and shadowy forms, flitting through the red
+world of embers, on which I loved to gaze when thought and hope were
+young. I love it even now--the sorrow that is written there makes it
+more holy to my mind, telling me, as it does, of a clime where grief
+comes not, and where the blighted hope and broken heart will be at rest.
+
+But why, said the old man, do I talk so long--I weary you, my children,
+for the fancies of age are not those of youth--hope's fairy flowers are
+bright for you--the faded things of memory are mine alone--with them I
+live, but rejoice ye in your happiness, and gather now, in the spring
+time of your days, treasures to cheer you in the fall of life. As to
+your favourite, the stove, although I love it not so well as the old
+familiar fire-place, I can admire and value it as part of the spirit of
+improvement which is spreading o'er our land--her early troubles are
+passing away, and she is rising fast to take her place among the nations
+of the earth--bitter has been her struggle for existence, but the clouds
+are fading in the brightness of her coming years, and her past woes
+will be forgotten.
+
+He ceased, but we all loved to hear him talk, he was so kind and good,
+and he was earnestly requested for one of those tales of the early times
+of our own land, which had often thrilled us with their simple, yet
+often woeful interest.
+
+I am become an egotist to-night, for self is the only theme of which I
+can discourse. My spirit, too, is like the minstrel harp of which you
+have to-night been reading, 'twill "echo nought but sadness;" but if it
+please you, you shall have uncle Ethel's love story--well may we say
+alas! for time,
+
+    "For he taketh away the heart of youth,
+    And its gladness which hath been
+    Like the summer's sunshine on our path,
+    Making the desert green."
+
+More than sixty years have elapsed since the time of which I now shall
+speak. We lived then, a large and happy family, in the dwelling where
+our fathers' sires had died--sons and daughters had married, but still
+remained beneath the shadow of the parent roof tree, which seemed to
+extend its wings like a guardian spirit, as they increased in number.
+'Twas near the city of New York, and stood in the centre of sunny
+fields, which had been won from the forest shade. Our parents were
+natives of the soil, but theirs had come from the far land of Germany,
+and the memories of that land were still fondly cherished by their
+descendants. The low-roofed cottage, with its many-pointed gables and
+narrow casement, was gay with the bright flowers of that home of their
+hearts--cherished and guarded there with the tenderest care--all hues
+of earth seemed blended in the bright parterre of tulips, over which the
+magnificent dahlia towered, tall and stately as a queen--the rich scent
+of the wallflower breathed around, and the jessamine went climbing
+freely o'er the trellissed porch and arching eaves--each flower around
+my home bore to me the face of a friend--they bore to me the poetry of
+the earth, as the stars tell the sweet harmonies of heaven--but there is
+a vision of fairer beauty than either star or flower comes with the
+thought of these bye-gone days--the face of my orphan cousin Ella Werner
+arises in the brightness of its young beauty, as it used to beam upon me
+from the latticed window of my home: for her's, indeed,
+
+    "Was a form of life and light,
+    That seen became a part of sight,
+    And comes where'er I turn mine eye,
+    The morning star of memory."
+
+Ella's mother was sister to my father: she lived but long enough to look
+upon her child, and her husband died of a broken heart soon after her.
+Thus the very existence of the fair girl was fatal to those who best
+loved her--not best, for all living loved her. In after-years it seemed
+as though it was her beauty, that fatal gift, which ne'er for good was
+given to many, caused her woe. Ella's spirit was pure and bright as the
+eyes through which it beamed--the gladness of her young heart's
+happiness rung in the silvery music of her voice, and in the fairy magic
+of her smile she looked as if sorrow could never dim the golden lustre
+of her curls, or trace a cloud on her snowy brow--gentle and lovely she
+was, and that was all. There was no depth of thought, no strength of
+mind, to form the character of one so gifted. Her faculties for
+reasoning were the impulses of her own heart: these were generally good,
+and constituted her principle of action--but changeful as the summer sky
+are the feelings of the human heart, unswayed by the deeper power of the
+head. Such were Ella's, and their power destroyed her. Alas! how calmly
+can I talk now of her faults; but who could think of them when they
+looked upon her, and loved her as I did--'tis only since she is gone I
+discover them.
+
+Of the other members of the family I need not speak, as you already know
+of them; but there is one whose name you have never heard, for crime and
+sorrow rest with it, and oblivion shrouds his memory. Conrad Ernstein
+was also my cousin, and an orphan--he was an inmate of our dwelling, and
+my mother was to him as a parent. He was some years older, but his
+delicate constitution and studious mind withdrew him from the others,
+and made him the companion of Ella and myself. I have said that Ella's
+mind was too volatile, so in like degree was Conrad's, in its deep
+unchanging firmness and immutability of purpose. Nothing deterred him
+from the pursuit of any object he engaged in--obstacles but increased
+his energy to overcome and call forth stronger powers of mind--this was
+observable in his learning. Science the most abstruse and difficult was
+his favourite study, and in these he attained an excellence rarely
+arrived at by one so situated.
+
+Wondered at and admired by all, his pride which was great was amply
+gratified, and what was evil in his nature was not yet called into
+being--his disposition was melancholy, and showed none of the joyousness
+of youth--yet that very sadness seemed to make us love him all the
+more--his air of suffering asked for pity--'twas strange to see the
+glad-hearted Ella leave my mother's side, while she sang to us the songs
+of the blue Rhine, and bend her sunny brow with him over the ancient
+page of some clasped volume, containing the terrific legends of the
+"black forest," till the tales of the wild huntsmen filled her with
+dread--then again would she spring to my mother, and burying her head in
+her bosom, ask her once more to sing the songs of her native land, for
+so we still called Germany; and, as you see, the romances and legends of
+that country formed our childhood's lore, my early love for Ella grew
+and increased with my years, and I fancied that she loved me.
+
+On the first of May, or, as it was by us styled, "Walburga's eve," the
+young German maidens have a custom of seeking a lonely stream, and
+flinging on its waters a wreath of early flowers, as an offering to a
+spirit which then has power. When, as the legend tells, the face of
+their lover will glide along the water, and the name be borne on the
+breeze, if the gift be pleasing to the spirit. Ella, I knew, had for
+some time been preparing to keep this ancient relic of the pagan
+rites--she had a treasured rose tree which bloomed, unexpectedly, early
+in the season--these delicate things she fancied would be a fitting
+offering to the spirit. She paused not to think of what she was about to
+do--the thing itself was but a harmless folly--from aught of ill her
+nature would have drawn instinctively; but evil there might have
+been--she stayed not to weigh the result--at the last hour of sunset she
+wreathed her roses, and set out. In the lightness of my heart I followed
+in the same path, intending to surprize her. I heard her clear voice
+floating on the air, as she sung the invocation to the spirit--the words
+were these:--
+
+    Blue-eyed spirit of balmy spring,
+    Bright young flowers to thee I bring,
+    Wreaths all tinged with hues divine,
+    Meet to rest on thy fairy shrine.
+    With these I invoke thy gentle care,
+    Queen of the earth and ambient air,
+    Come with the light of thy radiant skies,
+    Trace on the stream my true love's eyes,
+    Show me the face in the silvery deep,
+    Whose image for aye my heart may keep;
+    Bid the waters echoing shell,
+    Whisper the name thy breezes tell.
+    And still on the feast of Walburga's eve,
+    Bright young flowers to thee I'll give;
+    Beautiful spirit I've spoken the spell,
+    And offered the gift thou lovest well."
+
+The last notes died suddenly away, and Ella, greatly agitated, threw
+herself into my arms. I enquired the cause of her terror, and forgetting
+her secrecy, she said a face had appeared to her on the stream. Just
+then we saw Conrad, who had followed on the same purpose I had, but had
+fallen and hurt his ancle, and was unable to proceed. He joined not with
+me when I laughed at Ella's fright, but a deeper paleness overspread his
+countenance. Raising his eyes to the heavens, they rested on a star
+beaming brightly in the blue--its mild radiance seemed to soothe him.
+See ye yonder, said he, how clear and unclouded the lustre of that
+shining orb--these words seemed irrelevant, but I knew their meaning.
+His knowledge of German literature had led him into the mazes of its
+mingled philosophy and wild romance. Astronomy and astrology were to him
+the same; the star to which he pointed was what he called the planet of
+his fate, and its brightness or obscurity were shadowed in his mind--its
+aspect caused him either joy or woe. The incident of Ella's fright
+agitated him much, for the occurrences of this real world were to him
+all tinged with the supernatural; but he looked again at the heavens,
+and the mild lustre of the star was reflected in his eyes; he leaned
+upon my arm, and we passed onward. I knew not then that his dark spirit
+felt the sunbeams which illumined mine own.
+
+That same balmy evening I stood with Ella by the silver stream which
+traced its shining path around our home, watching the clear moonbeams as
+they flashed in the fairy foambells sparkling at our feet. There I first
+told my love--her hand was clasped in mine--she heard me, and raising
+her dewy eyes, said, "Dearest Ethel, I love you well; but not as she who
+weds must love you--be still to me my own dear friend and brother, and
+Ella will love you as she ever has. Ask not for more." She left me, and
+I saw a tear-drop gem the silken braid on her cheek, and thus my dream
+of beauty burst. My spirit's light grew dark as the treasured spell
+which bound me broke. Some hours passed in agony, such as none could
+feel but those who loved as I did--so deep, so fondly.
+
+As I approached my home the warm evening light was streaming from the
+windows, and I heard her rich voice thrilling its wild melody. Every
+brow smiled upon her: even Conrad's was unbent. I looked upon her, and
+prayed she might never know a grief like mine. The ringing music of her
+laugh greeted my entrance, and ere the night had passed she charmed away
+my woe.
+
+While these things occurred with us, the aspect of the times without had
+changed. America made war with England. What were her injuries we asked
+not, but 'twas not likely that we, come of a race who loved so well
+their "fatherland and king," would join with those who had risen against
+theirs. As yet the crisis was not come, and in New York British power
+was still triumphant.
+
+Among the many festivities given by the officers, naval and military,
+then in the country, was a splendid ball on board a British frigate then
+in the harbour. To this scene of magic beauty and delight I accompanied
+Ella--'twas but a few days after that unhappy first of May; but the
+buoyant spirits of youth are soon rekindled, and Ella yet, I thought,
+might love me. The scene was so new, and withal so splendid in its
+details, that it comes before me now fresh and undimmed. The night was
+one of summer's softest, earliest beauty: the moonlight slept upon the
+still waters, and the tall masts, with all their graceful tracery of
+spar and line, were bathed with rich radiance, mingled with the hundred
+lights of coloured lamps, suspended from festoons of flowers; low
+couches stood along the bulwarks of the noble ship, and the meteor flag
+of England, which waved so oft amid the battle and the breeze, now
+wafted its ruby cross o'er fair forms gliding through the dance, to the
+rich strains of merry music--'twas an hour that sent glad feeling to the
+heart. The gay dresses and noble bearing of the military officers, all
+glistening in scarlet and gold, contrasted well with the white robes and
+delicate beauty of the fair girls by their sides. But they had their
+rivals in the gallant givers of the fete. Many a lady's heart was lost
+that night. "What is it always makes a sailor so dangerous a rival?"
+Ella used to say, when rallied on her partiality for a "bluejacket,"
+that she loved it because it was the colour of so many things dear to
+her: the sky was blue, the waves of the deep mysterious sea were blue,
+and the wreaths of that fairy flower, which bears the magic name
+forget-me-not, were of the same charmed hue. Some such reason, I
+suppose, it is that makes every maiden love a sailor.
+
+While we stood gazing on the scene, enchanted and delighted, one came
+near and joined our group. Nobility of mind and birth was written on his
+brow in beauty's brightest traits. He seemed hardly nineteen, but, young
+as he was, many a wild breeze had parted the wavy ringlets of his hair,
+and the salt spray of the ocean raised a deeper hue on his cheek. His
+light and graceful figure was clad in the becoming costume of his rank,
+and on his richly braided bosom rested three half blown roses. Ella's
+eyes for an instant met his, they fell upon the flowers, and she dropped
+fainting from my arm. The mystery was soon explained. De Clairville,
+such was the stranger's name, had been walking on the cliffs when Ella
+sought the stream--he heard her voice and approached to see from whence
+it came--his was the face she had seen upon the waters; he heard her
+scream, and descended to apologise, but she was gone, and he had found
+and worn her rose buds--
+
+    "Oh! there are looks and tones that dart
+    An instant sunshine through the heart,
+    As if the soul that instant caught
+    Some treasure it through life had sought;
+    As if the very lips and eyes,
+    Predestined to have all our sighs,
+    And never be forgot again,
+    Sparkled and spoke before us then."
+
+So sings the poet, and so seemed it with Ella and De Clairville; and
+when the rosy morn, tinging the eastern sky, announced to the revellers
+the hour of parting, that night of happiness was deemed too short.
+
+To hasten on my story, I must merely say that they became fondly
+attached, and when De Clairville departed for another station, he left
+Ella as his betrothed bride. On love such as theirs 'twould seem to all
+that heaven smiled; but inscrutable to human eyes are the ways of
+Providence, for deadly was the blight thrown o'er them.
+
+Meanwhile the events in which the country was engaged drew to a close.
+England acknowledged the independence of America, and withdrew her
+forces; but while she did so, offered a home and protection to those who
+yet wished to claim it. We were among the first to embrace the proposal:
+and though with sadness we left our sunny home with all its fond
+remembrances, yet integrity of mind was dearer still. We might not stay
+in the land with whose institutions we concurred not. Conrad, with his
+learning and talents, 'twas thought, might remain to seek the path of
+fame already opening to him; but what to him were the dreams of
+ambition, compared to the all-engrossing thought which now bound each
+faculty of his mind beneath its power. Ella, my mother also wished to
+stay, nor attempt with us the perils of our new life; for here her
+betrothed, when he returned, expected to meet her; but she flung her
+arms around my mother, saying in the language of Ruth, "thy home,
+dearest, shall be mine," and there shall De Clairville join us. Suffice
+it, then, to say, that after bidding farewell to scenes we loved, our
+wearisome voyage was ended, and we landed on these sterile and dreary
+shores. We dared not venture from the coast, and our abode was chosen in
+what appeared to us the best of this bleak and barren soil. 'Twas a sad
+change, but those were the days of strong hearts and trusting hopes.
+
+Our settlement was formed of six or eight different households, all
+connected, and all from the neighbourhood of the beautiful Bowery. Each
+knew what the other had left, and tried to cheer each other with
+brighter hopes than they hardly dared to feel; but sympathy and kindness
+were among us.
+
+Why need I tell you of our blighted crops and scanty harvests, and all
+the toil and trouble which we then endured. I must go on with what I
+commenced--the story of my own love. Shall I say that when Ella
+accompanied us I hoped De Clairville might never join us. 'Tis true, but
+what were my feelings to discover the love of Conrad for the gem of my
+heart, and that he cherished it with all the deep strength of his
+nature. I saw Ella's manner was not such as became a betrothed maiden,
+but she feared Conrad, and trembled beneath the dark glance of his eye.
+A feeling more of fear and pity than of love was her's; but I was
+fearful for the result, for I knew he was one not to be trifled with.
+
+The last dreary days of the autumn were gathered round us--the earth
+was already bound in her frozen sleep, and all nature stilled in her
+silent trance--all, save the restless waves, dashing on the rocky shore;
+or the wind, which first curled their crests, and then went sweeping
+through the wiry foliage of the pines--when, at the close of the short
+twilight, we were all gathered on the highest point which overlooked the
+sea, earnestly gazing o'er the dim horizon, where night was coming fast.
+Ere the sun had set a barque had been seen, and her appearance caused
+unwonted excitement in our solitudes. Ships in those days were strange
+but welcome visitants. Not merely the necessaries of life, but kind
+letters and tidings from distant friends were borne by them. As the
+darkness increased, signal fires were raised along the beach, and ere
+long a gun came booming o'er the waters; soon after came the noble ship
+herself; her white sails gleaming through the night, and the glittering
+spray flashing in diamond sparkles from her prow. She came to, some
+distance from the shore, and, as if by magic, every sail was furled. A
+boat came glancing from her side; a few minutes sent it to the beach,
+and a gallant form sprung out upon the strand. It was De Clairville come
+to claim his affianced bride; and with a blushing cheek and tearful eye
+Ella was once more folded to his faithful heart.
+
+A pang of jealous feeling for an instant darted through me, but Conrad's
+face met mine, and its dark expression drove the demon power from me. I
+saw the withering scowl of hate he cast upon De Clairville, and I
+inwardly determined to shield the noble youth from the malice of that
+dark one; for, bright as was to me the hope of Ella's love, I loved her
+too well to be ought but rejoiced in her happiness. Although it brought
+sorrow to myself, yet she was blessed. Mirth and joy, now for a while
+cheered our lonely homes; we knew we were to lose our flower; but love
+like theirs is a gladsome thing to look at. Many were the gifts De
+Clairville brought his bride from the rich shore of England. Bracelets,
+radiant as her own bright eyes, and pearls as pure as the neck they
+twined. Among other things was a fairy case of gold, in the form of a
+locket, which he himself wore. Ella wished to see what it contained, and
+laughingly he unclosed it before us: 'twas the faded rose leaves of her
+offerings to the love spirit on Walburga's eve. They had rested on his
+heart, he said, in the hours of absence; and there, in death, should
+they be still. Ella blushed and hid her face upon his bosom. I sighed at
+the memory of that day, but Conrad's gloomy frown recalled me to the
+present--this was their bridal eve. Our pastor was with us, and the
+lowly building where we worshipped was decorated with simple state for
+the occasion.
+
+It stood on an eminence some distance from the other houses. That night
+I was awakened from sleep by a sudden light shining through the room--a
+wild dream' was yet before me, and a death snriek seemed ringing in my
+ears. I looked from the window; our little church was all in flames;
+'twas built of rough logs, and was of little value, save that it was
+hallowed by its use. A fire had-probably been left on to prepare it for
+the morrow, and from this the mischief had arisen. I thought little
+about it, and none knew of its destruction till the morn.
+
+The sun rose round and red, and sparkled o'er the glittering sheen of
+the frost king's gems, flung in wild symmetry o'er the earth, till all
+that before looked dark and drear was wreathed with a veil of dazzling
+beauty; even the blackened logs where the fire had been had their
+delicate tracery of pearly fringe. The guests assembled in our dwelling,
+and the pastor stood before the humble altar, raised for the occasion.
+The walls were rude, but the bride in her young beauty might have graced
+a palace. She leaned on Conrad's arm, according to our custom, as her
+oldest unmarried relative. The tables were spread with the bridal cheer,
+and the blazing fire crackled merrily on the wide hearth-stone. The
+bridegroom's presence alone was waited for. Gaily hung with flags was
+the ship, and cheers rung loudly from her crew as a boat left her side.
+It came, but bore but the officers invited to the wedding. Where was De
+Clairville? None knew! We had expected he passed the night on board; but
+there he had not been. 'Twas most strange! The day passed away, and
+others like it, and still he came not. He was gone for ever. Had he
+proved false and forsaken his love? Such was the imputation thrown on
+his absence by Conrad.
+
+The sailors joined us; a band of Indian hunters led the way, and for
+miles around the woods were searched, but trace of human footsteps, save
+our own, we saw not. Long did the vessel's crew linger by the shore,
+hoping each day for tidings of their loved commander's fate, but of him
+they heard no more, and it was deemed he had met his death by drowning.
+
+Conrad, whose morose manner suddenly disappeared for a bold and forward
+tone, so utterly at variance from his usual that all were surprized,
+still persisted in asserting that he had but proceeded along the coast,
+and would join his vessel as she passed onward. One of the sailors, an
+old and grey-haired man, who loved De Clairville as a son, indignantly
+denied the charge. He was incapable of such an action. "God grant," said
+he, "he may have been fairly dealt with." "You would not say he had been
+murdered," said Conrad. "No," said the old man, "I thought not of that:
+if he were, not a leaflet in your woods but would bear witness to the
+crime."
+
+We were standing then by the ruined church--a slender beech tree grew
+beside it--one faded leaf yet hovered on its stem--for an instant it
+trembled in the blast, then fell at Conrad's feet, brushing his cheek as
+it passed. If the blow of a giant had struck him he could not have
+fallen more heavily to the ground. An inward loathing, such as may
+mortal man never feel to his fellow, forbade me to assist him. He had
+fainted; but the cold air soon revived him, and he arose, complaining of
+sudden illness. The sailors left us, and the ship sailed slowly from our
+waters, with her colours floating sadly half-mast high.
+
+Ella thus suddenly bereaved, mourned in wild and bitter grief, but
+woman's pride, at times her guardian angel, at others her destroyer,
+took up its stronghold in her heart. The tempter Conrad awoke its
+tones--with specious wile he recalled De Clairville's lofty ideas of
+name and birth--how proudly he spoke of his lady mother and the castled
+state of his father's hall. Was it not likely that, at the last, this
+pride had rallied its strength around him, and bade him seek a nobler
+bride than the lowly maiden of the "Refugees?" Too readily she heard
+him, for love the fondest is nearest allied to hate the deepest, and De
+Clairville's name became a thing for scorn and hate. 'Twas vain for me
+to speak--what could I say? A species of fascination seemed to be
+obtained by Conrad o'er her--a witching spell was in his words--'twas
+but the power, swayed by his strong and ill-formed mind, over her weak
+but gentle one--which, if rightly guided, would have echoed such sweet
+music--and, ere the summer passed, she had forgotten her lost lover, and
+was to wed him.
+
+To others there was nothing strange in this, but to me it brought a wild
+and dreary feeling; not that my early dreams were unchanged, for I had
+learned to think a love like her's, so lightly lost and won, was not the
+thing to be prized. Alas! I knew not the blackness of the spirit that
+beguiled her, and wrought such woe. Still she had done wrong--the
+affections of man's heart may not be idly dealt with--the woman who
+feigns what she feels not, has her hand on the lion's mane. Ella at one
+time had done this, and she reaped a dark guerdon for her falsehood. Yet
+in her it might have been excused, for the very weakness of her nature
+led her to it. Let those who are more strongly gifted beware of her
+fate.
+
+The earth was in the richest flush of her green beauty. On the morn,
+Ella was again to be a bride--the golden light streamed through the glad
+blue sky, and all looked bright and fair--the remains of the church,
+which had long looked black and dreary, were gay with the richness of
+vegetation--the bracken waved its green plumes, and the tall mullen
+plant, with its broad white leaves, raised its pale crest above the
+charred walls. While the dew was shining bright I had gone
+forth--surprise and consternation greeted my solitary approach when I
+returned. Again the holy book had been opened--the priest stood ready
+with the bride, and tarried for the lover--they thought he was with me,
+but I had not seen him--daylight passed away, night came, but brought
+him not--the moon arose, and her shadowy light gave to familiar things
+of day the spectral forms of mystery.
+
+While we sat in silence, thinking of Conrad's absence, a dog's mournful
+whine sounded near--it grew louder, and attracted our attention. We
+followed the sound--it came from the ruins of the church, and there,
+among the weeds and flowers lay Conrad stiff and cold--he was dead, and,
+oh the horrible expression of that face, the demoniac look of despair
+was never written in such fearful lines on human face before. All felt
+relief when 'twas covered from the sight. One hand had 'twined in the
+death grasp round the reed-like stem of the mullen plant--we unclosed
+it, and it sprung back, tall and straight as before; something glittered
+in the other--'twas the half of De Clairville's golden locket--how it
+came to be in his possession was strange, but we thought not of it then.
+
+Events like these have a saddening influence on the mind, and the gloom
+for Conrad's sudden death hung heavy o'er us--Ella's mourning was long
+and deep. I was not grieved to see it, for sorrow makes the spirit
+wiser.
+
+Three years passed away--little change had been among us, save that some
+of our aged were gone, and the young had risen around us. Once more it
+was the first of May--the night was dark and still, but the silvery
+sounds of the waging earth came like balm o'er the soul--there was a
+murmur in the forest, as though one heard the song of the young leaves
+bursting into life, and the glad gushing of the springing streams rose
+with them. The memory of other days was floating o'er my mind, when a
+soft voice broke on my reverie. Her thoughts had been with
+mine--"Ethel," said she, "remember you, how on such a night as this, you
+once sought my love. Alas! how little knew I then of my own
+heart--your's it should then have been--you know the shades that have
+passed over it. Is Ella's love a worthless gift, or will you accept it
+now as freely as 'tis offered. How long and sternly must we be trained
+e'er love's young dream can be forgotten." The events that intervened
+all passed away, and Ella was again the same maiden that stood with me
+so long ago by the streamlet's side on Walburga's eve. My heart's long
+silenced music once more rung forth its melody at her sweet words, and
+life again was bright with the gems of hope and fond affection.
+
+In places so lone as that in which we lived, the fancies of superstition
+have ample scope to range. It had long been whispered through the
+settlement that the spirit of Conrad appeared on the spot where he had
+died at certain times. When the moon beamed, a shadowy form was seen to
+wave its pale arms among the ruins of the church, which yet remained
+unchanged. So strongly was the story believed, that after night-fall
+none dared to pass the spot alone. Ella, too, had heard it, and trembled
+whilst she disbelieved its truth. Our marriage morning came, and Ella
+was for the third time arrayed in her bridal dress. A wreath of pearl
+gleamed through her hair, and lace and satin robed her peerless
+form--the tinge upon her cheek might not have been so bright as once it
+was, but to me she was lovely--more of mind was blended with the
+feelings of the heart, and gave a higher tone to her beauty. The holy
+words were said, and my fondest hopes made truth. Is it, that because in
+our most blissful hours the spirits are most ready fall, or was it the
+sense of coming ill that threw its dreary shade of sadness o'er me all
+that day? The glorious sun sunk brightly to his rest, but the rose cloud
+round his path seemed deepened to the hue of blood. A wailing sound came
+o'er the waters, and a whispering, as of woe, sighed through the leafy
+trees. This feeling of despondency I tried in vain to banish; as the
+evening came, it grew deeper, but Ella was more joyous than ever, for a
+long time, she had been. All the fairy wiles of her winning youth seemed
+bright as of old--glad faces were around us, and she was the gayest of
+them all; when, suddenly, something from the open door met her eyes--one
+loud shriek broke from her, and she rushed wildly from among us. I saw
+her speed madly up the hill, where stood the church. I was hastening
+after, when strong arms held me back, and fingers, trembling with awe
+and dread, pointed to the object of their terror--there among the ruins
+stood a tall and ghost-like form, whose spectral head seemed to move
+with a threatening motion--for an instant I was paralysed, but Ella's
+white robes flashed before me, and I broke from their grasp. Again I
+heard her shriek--she vanished from me, but the phantom form still
+stood. I reached it, and that thing of fear was but a gigantic weed--a
+tall mullen that had outgrown the others on the very spot where we had
+found the body of Conrad; the waving of its flexile head and long pale
+leaves, shining with moonlight, were the motions we had seen--but where
+was Ella? The decaying logs gave way beneath her, and she had fallen
+into a vault or cellar beneath the building. Meanwhile those at the
+house recovered their courage, and came towards us, bearing lights. We
+entered the vault, and, on her knees before a figure, was Ella--the form
+and dress were De Clairville's, such as we had seen him in last, but the
+face, oh! heaven, the face showed but the white bones of a skeleton. The
+rich brown curls still clung to the fleshless skull, and on the finger
+glittered the ring with which Ella was to have been wed. The half of the
+golden locket was clasped to his breast--the ribbon by which it hung
+seemed to have been torn rudely from its place, but the hand had kept
+its hold till the motion caused by our descent--it fell at Ella's feet,
+a sad memento of other days, and recalled her to sensation. Horror paled
+the brows of all, but to me was given a deeper woe, to think and know
+what Ella must have felt.
+
+Every feeling was deepened to intensity of agony in the passing of that
+night--that dreary closing of my bridal day. How came the morning's
+light I know not, but when it did, the fresh breeze blew on my brow, and
+I saw the remains of De Clairville lying on the grass before me--they
+had borne him from below, and it showed more plainly the crime which had
+been among us. The deep blue of the dress was changed to a darker hue
+where the red life blood had flowed, and from the back was drawn the
+treacherous implement of death. The hearts of all readily whispered the
+murderer's name, and fuller proof was given in that ancient dagger that
+had long been an heir-loom in the family of Conrad--a relic of the old
+Teutonic race from whence they sprung--well was it known, and we had
+often wondered at its disappearance. He, Conrad, was the murderer--he
+had slain De Clairville, and fired the building to conceal his crime.
+God was the avenger of the dark deed--the mighty hand of conscience
+struck him in his proudest hour--the humblest things of earth, brought
+deathly terror to his soul. 'Twas evident the appearance of the mullen
+plant, which drew us to the spot, had been the cause of his death. The
+words of the old sailor seemed true. The lowly herb had brought the
+crime to light, and in the hand of heaven had punished the murderer.
+
+We buried De Clairville beneath a mossy mound, where the lofty pine and
+spicy cedar waved above, and hallowed words were said o'er his rest. A
+blight seemed to hover o'er our lonely settlement by the deed which had
+been done within it. Nothing bound us to the spot; but hues of sadness
+rested with it, and ever would. 'Twas an unhallowed spot, and we
+prepared to leave it, and seek another resting place.
+
+Our boats lay ready by the beach, and some were already embarked. I
+took a last look around--something white gleamed among the trees around
+De Clairville's grave--'twas Ella, who lay there dead. She always
+accused herself as the cause of De Clairville's death, and indirectly,
+too, she had been--but restitution now was made. We laid her by his
+side, and thus I lost my early, only love.
+
+Here then was it where we chose our heritage, and here we have since
+remained, but everything is changed since then. Many an aged brow has
+passed from earth, and many a bright eye closed in death. Every trace of
+old is passing away, save where their shadows glide in the memory. Even
+the grave where Ella slept is gone from earth.
+
+Twenty years after her death I made a pilgrimage to the place--the young
+sapling pines which shaded it had grown to lofty trees--human voice
+seemed never to have broken in tones of joy or woe the deep solitude
+around--the long grass waved rank and dark above the walls we had
+raised, and the red berries hung rich and ripe by the ruined
+hearthstone. Again, when another twenty years passed, I came to it once
+more--the weight of age had gathered o'er me, but there lay the buried
+sunlight of my youth, and the spirit thoughts of other days drew me to
+it. Again there was a change--a change which told me my own time drew
+near. The woods were gone long since--the reaper had passed o'er the
+lowly graves, and knew them not. The last record of my love and of my
+woe, was gone. Dwellings were raised along the lonely beach, and laden
+ships floated on the long silent waters. I bade the place farewell for
+ever, and returned to await in peace and hope my summons to the promised
+rest.
+
+The old man paused--the dreams of the past had weakened him, and he
+retired for the night. Next morn we waited long for his presence, but he
+came not. We sought his chamber, and found him dead. The soul had passed
+away--one hand was folded on his heart, and oh! the might of earthly
+love. It clasped a shining braid of silken hair, and something, of which
+their faint perfume told to be the faded rose leaves--frail memorials of
+his fondly loved Ella, but lasting after the warm heart which cherished
+them was cold. He was gone where, if it be not in heaven "a crime to
+love too well," his spirit may yet meet with her's, in that holy light,
+whose purity of bliss may not be broken by the vain turmoil of earthly
+feelings. So ends the story of uncle Ethel.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Well, said Grace, after we had discussed Ethel's melancholy story,
+although I don't believe in ghosts, I cannot do away with my faith in
+dreams, and last night I had a most disagreeable one, which disturbed me
+much. I thought I had engaged my passage, and when I unclosed my purse
+to pay down the money, nothing was in it but a plain gold ring and a
+ruby heart. My money was gone, and, oh! the grief I felt was deeper than
+waking language can describe. Then, Grace, said I, you must receive
+consolation for your disagreeable dream, in the words of your own
+favourite song, "Rory o'More," that dreams always go by contrary you
+know, and so I shall read your dream. The plain gold ring means that
+tie, which, like it, has no ending. The heart has, in all ages, been
+held symbolical of its holiest feeling, and thus unite love and
+marriage, and your sorrow will be turned to joy. So I prognosticate your
+dream to mean. And time told I had foretold aright--for soon after we
+had arrived in St. John's, the entrance to which, from the main river,
+is extremely beautiful, showing every variety of scenery, from the green
+meadows of rich intervale, where stand white dwellings and orchard
+trees, to the grey and barren rocks, with cedary plumage towering to the
+sky.
+
+Grace having engaged her passage home, we were turning from the office,
+when a stranger bounded to us, and caught her by the hand. Grace Marley,
+he exclaimed--my own, my beautiful. I felt her lean heavily on my arm;
+she had fainted. And so deep was that trance, we fancied she was
+gone--but joy rarely kills, and she awoke to the passionate exclamations
+of her lover--for such he was, come o'er the deep sea to seek her. An
+explanation ensued. Their letters to each other had all miscarried. None
+had been received by either. (All this bitter disappointment, however,
+happened before the establishment of our post.) So Grace, instead of
+returning to Ireland, was wedded next day, her husband having brought
+means with him to settle in the country. The magician, Love, flung his
+rose-light o'er her path, and, when I saw her last, she fancied the
+emerald glades of Oromot, where her home now lay, almost as beautiful as
+those by the blue lakes of Killarney, in the land of her birth.
+
+With the end of September commence the night frosts. The woods now lose
+their greenness; and the most brilliant hues of crimson, and gold, and
+purple, are flung in gorgeous flakes of beauty over their boughs, as
+though each leaf were crystal, and reflected and retained the light of
+some glorious sunset. In this lovely season, which is most appropriately
+termed the fall, we wished to _get along_ with our church, and have it
+enclosed before the winter. This was rather an arduous undertaking in
+young settlement like ours; but there were those here who loved
+
+    "Old England's holy church,
+    And loved her form of prayer right well."
+
+And liberally they came forward to raise a temple to their faith in the
+wilderness. The "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
+Lands" had promised assistance; but the frame must first be erected and
+enclosed ere it could be claimed. In this country cash is a most scarce
+commodity, and many species of speculation are made with the aid of
+little real specie. Large sums are spoken of, but rarely appear bodily:
+and our church got on in the same way. The owner of the saw-mill signed
+twenty pounds as his subscription towards it, and paid it in boards--the
+carpenters who did the work received from the subscribers pork and flour
+for their pay--and our neighbour, the embarrassed lumber-man, who was
+still wooden-headed enough to like anything of a _timber spec_, got out
+the frame by contract, himself giving most generously five pounds worth
+of work towards it. And thus the church was raised, and now it stands,
+with white spire, pointing heavenward, above the ancient forest trees.
+
+As winter was now approaching, how to pass its long evenings agreeably
+and rationally was a question which was agitated. The dwellers of
+America are more enlightened now than in those old times when dancing
+and feasting were the sole amusements, so a library was instituted and
+formed by the same means as the church had been--a load of potatoes, or
+a barrel of buckwheat, being given by each party to purchase books with.
+The selection of these, to suit all tastes, was a matter of some
+difficulty, the grave and serious declaiming against light reading, and
+regarding a novel as the climax of human wickedness. One old lady, who
+by the way was fond of reading, and had studied the ancient tale of
+Pamela regularly, at her leisure, for the last forty years, was the
+strongest against these, and, on being told that her favourite tome was
+no less than a novel, she consigned it to oblivion, and seemed, for a
+time, to have lost all faith in sublunary things. After some little
+trouble, however, the thing was satisfactorily arranged. Even here, to
+this lone nook of the western world, had reached the fame of the Caxtons
+of modern times. Aught that bore the name of Chambers, had a place in
+our collection, and the busy fingers of the little Edinburgh 'devils'
+have brightened the solitude of many a home on the banks of the
+Washedemoak.
+
+The Indian summer, which, in November, comes like breathing space, ere
+the mighty power of winter sweeps o'er the earth, is beautiful, with its
+balmy airs and soft bright skies, yet melancholy in its loveliness as a
+fair face in death--'tis the last smile of summer, and when the last
+wreath of crimson leaves fall to earth, the erratic birds take their
+flight to warmer lands--the bear retires to his hollow tree--the
+squirrel to his winter stores--and man calls forth all his genius to
+make him independent of the storm king's power. In this country we have
+a specimen of every climate at its utmost boundary of endurance; in
+summer we have breathless days of burning heat shining on in shadowless
+splendour of sunlight; but it is in the getting up of a winter's scene
+that New Brunswick is perfect. True, a considerable tall sample of a
+snow-storm can sometimes be enjoyed in England, but nothing to compare
+with the free and easy sweep with which the monarch of clouds flings his
+boons over this portion of his dominions. After the first snow-storm the
+woods have a grand and beautiful appearance, festooned with their
+garlands of feathery pearls--the raindrops which fall with the earlier
+snows hang like diamond pendants, and flash in the sun, "As if gems were
+the fruitage of every bough."
+
+I remember once coming from St. John's by water. The frost set in rather
+earlier than we expected. The farther from the sea the sooner it
+commences; so as we proceeded up the river our boat was stopped by the
+crystal barrier across the stream, not strong enough yet to admit of
+teaming, and we had nothing for it but a walk of seven miles through the
+forest,--home we must proceed, though evening was closing in and
+darkness would soon be around us, the heavy atmosphere told of a coming
+storm, and ere to-morrow our path would be blocked up. America is the
+land of invention; and here we were, on the dreary shore, in the dusky
+twilight--a situation which requires the aid of philosophy. We were
+something in the predicament of the Russian sailors in Spitzbergen, we
+wanted light to guide us on the "blaze," without which we could not keep
+it; but beyond the gleam of a patent congreve, our means extended not.
+One of our company, however, a native of the country, took the matter
+easy. Some birch trees were growing near, from which he stripped a
+portion of the silvery bark, which being rolled into torches, were
+ignited; each carried a store, and by their brilliant light we set out
+on our pilgrimage. The effect of our most original Bude on the
+snow-wreathed forest was magical--we seemed to traverse the palace
+gardens of enchantment, so strange yet splendid was the scene--the snow
+shining pure in the distance, and the thousand ice gems gleaming ruby
+red in the rays of our torches. They are wondrous to walk through, those
+boundless forests, when one thinks that by a slight deviation from the
+track the path would be lost; and, ere it could be found again, the
+spirit grow weary in its wanderings, and, taking its flight, leave the
+unshrouded brows to bleach on summer flowers or winter snows, in the
+path where the graceful carraboo bounds past, or the bear comes guided
+by the tainted breeze to where it lies.
+
+It was on this midnight ramble that the facts of the following lines
+were related to me, ending not, as such tales generally do, in death,
+but in what perchance was worse,--civilisation lost in barbarism.
+
+
+Many years ago two children, daughters of a person residing in this
+province, were lost in the woods. What had been their fate none knew
+--no trace of them could be found until, after a long period of time
+had elapsed, one of them was discovered among some Indians, by whom they
+had been taken, and with whom this one had remained, the other having
+joined another tribe. She appeared an Indian squaw in every respect--her
+complexion had been stained as dark as theirs--her costume was the same,
+but she had blue eyes. This excited suspicion, which proved to be
+correct. The story of the lost children was remembered, which event
+occurred thirty years before. With some difficulty she was induced to
+meet her mother, her only remaining parent. The tide of time swept back
+from the mother's mind, and she hastened to embrace the child of her
+memory, but, alas! the change. There existed for her no love in the
+bosom of the lost one. Her relatives wishing to reclaim her from her
+savage life, earnestly besought her to remain with them, but their ways
+were not as her's--she felt as a stranger with them, and rejoined the
+Indian band, with whom she still remains.
+
+
+
+
+    THE LOST CHILDREN.
+
+    At early morn a mother stood,
+      Her hands were raised to heaven.
+    And she praised Almighty God
+      For the blessings He had given;
+    But far too deep were they
+      Encircled in her heart,--
+    Too deep for human weal,
+      For earth and love must part.
+    She looked with hope too bright
+      On the forms that by her bent,
+    And loved, by far too fondly,
+      Those treasures God had sent.
+    They bound her to the earth,
+      With love's own golden chain,
+    How were its bright links severed
+      By the spirit's wildest pain?
+    She parted the rich tresses,
+      And kissed each snowy brow,
+    And where, oh! happy mother,
+      Was one so blest as thou?
+    The summer sun was shining
+      All cloudless o'er the lea,
+    When forth her children bounded,
+      In childhood's summer glee.
+    They strayed along the woody banks,
+      All fringed with sunny green,
+    Where, like a silver serpent,
+      The river ran between.
+    Their glad young voices rose,
+      As they thought of flower or bird,
+    And they sang the joyous fancies
+      That in each spirit stirred.
+    Oh! sister, see that humming bird;
+      Saw ye ever ought so fair?
+    With wings of gold and ruby,
+      He sparkles through the air;
+    Let us follow where he flies
+      O'er yonder hazel dell,
+    For oh! it must be beautiful
+      Where such a thing can dwell.
+    Yet to me it seemeth still,
+      That his rest must be on high;
+    Methinks his plumes are bathed
+      In the even's crimson sky:
+    How lovely is this earth,
+      Where such fair things we see,
+    And yet how much more glorious
+      The power that bids them be!
+    Nay, sister, let us stay
+      Where those water lilies float,
+    So spotless and so pure
+      Like a fairy's pearly boat.
+    Listen to the melody
+      That cometh soft and low,
+    As through the twining tendrils
+      The water glides below.
+    Perchance 'twas in a spot like this,
+      And by a stream as mild,
+    Where the Jewish mother laid
+      Her gentle Hebrew child.
+    Then rested they beneath the trees,
+      Where, through the leafy shade,
+    In ever-changing radiance,
+      The broken sun-light played;
+    And spoke in words, whose simple truth
+      Revealed the guileless soul,
+    Till softly o'er their senses
+      A quiet slumber stole.
+    Lo! now a form comes glancing
+      Along the waters blue,
+    And moored among the lilies
+      Lay an Indian's dark canoe.
+    The days of ancient feud were gone.
+      The axe was buried deep.
+    And stilled the red man's warfare,
+      In unawaking sleep.
+    Why stands he then so silently,
+      Where those fair children lie?
+    And say, what means the flashing
+      Of the Indian's eagle eye?
+    He thinks him of his lonely spouse,
+      Within her forest glade;
+    Around her silent dwelling
+      No children ever played.
+    No voice arose to greet him
+      When he at eve would come,
+    But sadness ever hovered
+      Around his dreary home.
+    Oh! with those lovely rose-buds
+      Were my lone hearth-stone blest,
+    My richest food should cheer them,
+      My softest furs should rest.
+    Their kindred drive us onward,
+      Where the setting sunbeams shine;
+    They claim our father's heritage,
+      Why may not these be mine?
+    He raised the sleeping children,
+      Oh! sad and dreary day!
+    And o'er the dancing waters
+      He bore them far away.
+    He wiled their hearts' young feelings
+      With words and actions kind,
+    And soon the past went fading
+      All dream-like from their mind.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Oh! brightly sped the beaming sun
+      Along his glorious way,
+    And feathery clouds of golden light
+      Around his parting lay.
+    In beauty came the holy stars,
+      All gleaming mid the blue,
+    It seemed as o'er the lovely earth
+      A blessed calm they threw.
+    A sound of grief arose
+      On the dewy evening air,
+    It bore the bitter anguish
+      Of a mortal's wild despair;
+    A wail like that which sounded
+      Throughout Judea's land,
+    When Herod's haughty minions
+      Obeyed his dark command.
+    The mourning mother wept
+      Because her babes were not,
+    Their forms were gone for ever
+      From each familiar spot.
+    Oh! had they sought the river,
+      And sunk beneath its wave;
+    Or had the dark recesses
+      Of the forest been their grave.
+    The same deep tinge of sorrow,
+      Each surmise ever bore;
+    Her gems from her were taken;
+      Of their fate she knew no more.
+    Long years of withering woe went on,
+      Each sadly as the last,
+    To other's ears the theme became
+      A legend of the past.
+    But she, oh! bright she cherished
+      Their memory enshrined,
+    With all a mother's fondness
+      And fadeless truth entwined.
+    Many a hope she treasured
+      In sorrow's gloom had burst,
+    But still her spirit knew
+      No grieving like the first.
+    Along her faded forehead
+      The hand of time had crost,
+    And every furrow told
+      Her mourning for the lost.
+    With such deep love within her,
+      What words the truth could give,
+    Howe'er she heard the tidings--
+      "Thy children yet they live."
+    But one alone was near,
+      And with rushing feelings wild,
+    The aged mother flew
+      To meet once more her child.
+    A moment passed away--
+      The lost one slowly came,
+    And stood before her there--
+      A tall and dark-browed dame.
+    Far from her swarthy forehead
+      Her raven hair was roll'd;
+    She spoke to those around her,
+      Her voice was stern and cold:
+    "Why seek ye here to bind me,
+      I would again be free;
+    They say ye are my kindred--
+      But what are ye to me?
+    My spring of youth was past
+      With the people of the wild:
+    And slumber in the green-wood
+      My husband and my child.
+    'Tis true I oft have seen ye
+      In the visions of the night;
+    But many a shadow comes
+      From the dreamer's land of light.
+    If e'er I've been among ye,
+      Save in my wandering thought,
+    The memory has passed away--
+      Ye long have been forgot."
+    And were not these hard words to come
+      To that fond mother's heart,
+    Who through such years of agony
+      Had kept her loving part.
+    Her wildest wish was granted--
+      Her deepest prayer was heard--
+    Yet it but served to show her
+      How deeply she had err'd.
+    The mysteries of God's high will
+      May not be understood;
+    And mortals may not vainly ask,
+      To them, what seemeth good.
+    With spirit wrung to earth,
+      In grief she bowed her head:
+    "Oh! better far than meet thee thus,
+      To mourn thee with the dead."
+    But, think ye, He who comforted
+      The widowed one of Nain--
+    Who bade the lonely Hagar
+      With hope revive again?
+    Think ye that mother's trusting love
+      Should bleed without a balm?
+    No! o'er the troubled spirit
+      There came a blessed calm.
+    Amid the savage relics
+      Around her daughter flung,
+    Upon her naked bosom
+      A crucifix there hung.
+    And though the simple Indian
+      False tenets might enthral--
+    Yet, 'twas the blessed symbol
+      Of Him who died for all.
+    And the mourner's heart rejoiced
+      For the promise seemed to say--
+    She shall be thine in Heaven,
+      When the world has passed away.
+    Tho' now ye meet as strangers,
+      Yet there ye shall be one;
+    And live in love for ever,
+      When time and earth are gone.
+
+In the days of the early settling of the country, marriages were
+attended with a ceremony called stumping. This was a local way of
+publishing the banns, the names of the parties and the announcement of
+the event to take place being written on a slip of paper, and inserted
+on the numerous stumps bordering the corduroy road, that all who ran
+might read, though perchance none might scan it save some bewildered fox
+or wandering bear; the squire read the ceremony from the prayer-book,
+received his dollar, and further form for wedlock was required not. Now
+they order these things differently. A wedding is a regular frolic, and
+generally performed by a clergyman (though a few in the back settlements
+still adhere to the custom of their fathers), a large party being
+invited to solemnise the event. The last winter we were in the country
+we attended one some distance from home; but here, while flying along
+the ice paths, distance is not thought of. Nothing can be more
+exhilarating than sleigh-riding, the clear air bracing the nerves, and
+the bells ringing gladly out. These bells are worn round the horse's
+neck and on the harness, to give warning of the sleigh's approach, which
+otherwise would not be heard over the smooth road. The glassy way was
+crowded with skaters, gliding past with graceful ease and folded arms,
+"as though they trod on tented ground." We soon reached our destination,
+and found assembled a large and joyous party. The festival commenced in
+the morning, and continued late. The fare was luxuriant, and the bride,
+in her white dress and orange blossoms (for, be it known, such things
+are sometimes seen, even in this region of spruce and pine), looked as
+all brides do, bashful and beautiful. The "grave and pompous father,"
+and busy-minded mother, had a look which, though concealed, told that at
+heart they rejoiced to see their "bairn respeckit like the lave," and
+"all indeed went merry as a marriage bell." We and some others left at
+midnight. The air was piercingly cold, and the bear skins in which we
+were wrapped soon had a white fringe, where fell the fast congealing
+breath. There was no moon, and the stars looked dim, in the fitful gleam
+of the streamers of the aurora borealis, which were glancing in
+corruscations of awful grandeur along the heavens, now throwing a blood
+red glare on the snow, their pale sepulchral rays of green or blue
+imparting a ghastly horror to the scene, or arranging themselves like
+the golden pillars of some mighty organ, while, ever and again, a wild
+unearthly sound is heard, as if swords were clashing. Those mysterious
+northern lights, whose appearance in superstitious times was supposed to
+threaten, or be the forerunner, of dire calamity; and no wonder was it,
+for even now, with all the light science has thrown upon such things,
+there is attached to them, seen as they are in this country, a feeling
+of dread which cannot all be dispelled.
+
+Travelling on the ice is not altogether free from danger; and even when
+it is thought safe, there are places where it is dangerous to go. The
+best plan of avoiding these is to follow the track of those who have
+gone before--never, but with caution, and especially at night, striking
+out a new one.
+
+One of the parties who accompanied us wished to reach the shore. There
+was a path which, though rather longer, would have led him safely to
+it, but he determined to strike across the unmarked ice, to where be
+wished to land. All advised him to take the longer way, but he was
+resolute, and turned his horse's head from us. The gallant steed bounded
+forward--the golden light was beaming from the sky--and we paused to
+watch his progress. A fearful crashing was heard--then a sharp crack,
+and sleigh, horse, and rider vanished from our sight. 'Twas horrible to
+see them thus enclosed in that cold tomb.
+
+Assistance was speedily sought from the shore, but ere it came I heard
+the horrid shout of "steeds that snort in agony," while the blue
+sulphurous flash from above showed the man struggling helplessly among
+the breaking ice. Poles were placed from the solid parts to where he
+was, and he was rescued. He was carried to the nearest house, and with
+some difficulty restored to warmth. The sleighing rarely passes without
+many such accidents occurring, merely through want of caution.
+
+When the balmy breezes of spring again blew ever New Brunswick,
+circumstances had arisen which induced me to leave it, and though I
+loved it not as my native land, I sighed to go, so much of kindness and
+good feeling had I enjoyed among its dwellers; and I stood on the
+vessel's deck, gazing on it till the green trees and white walls of
+Partridge-Island faded in the distance, and the rolling waves of the Bay
+of Fundy, throwing me into that least terrestrial of all maladies, the
+"mal du mer," rendered me insensible of all sublunary cares.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches And Tales Illustrative Of
+Life In The Backwoods Of New Brunswick, by Mrs. F. Beavan
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACKWOODS OF NEW BRUNSWICK ***
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