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diff --git a/36613.txt b/36613.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1dd1d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/36613.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6181 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Kentuckian in New-York, Volume I (of 2), +by William Alexander Caruthers + + +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: The Kentuckian in New-York, Volume I (of 2) + or, The Adventures of Three Southerns + + +Author: William Alexander Caruthers + + + +Release Date: July 4, 2011 [eBook #36613] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KENTUCKIAN IN NEW-YORK, VOLUME +I (OF 2)*** + + +E-text prepared by Roberta Staehlin, Pat McCoy, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made +available by Internet Archive/American Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/americana) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 36613-h.htm or 36613-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36613/36613-h/36613-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36613/36613-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/American Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/kentuckianinnewy01carurich + + + + + +THE KENTUCKIAN IN NEW-YORK. + +Or, The Adventures of Three Southerns. + +BY A VIRGINIAN. + + +"Perhaps it may turn out a sang, +Perhaps turn out a sermon."--_Burns._ + + +In Two Volumes. + +VOL. I. + + + + + + + +New-York: +Published by Harper & Brothers, +No. 82 Cliff-Street. +1834. + +Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1834, +By Harper & Brothers, +In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York. + + * * * * * + +NEARLY READY. + + + HELEN. A new Tale. By MARIA EDGEWORTH--forming the _tenth_ volume + of Harper's Uniform Edition of her Works. Containing two + beautiful Engravings on steel. + + TALES AND SKETCHES,--such as they are. By W. L. STONE, Esq. In 2 + vols. 12mo. + + THE FROLICS OF PUCK. In 2 vols. 12mo. + + THE KENTUCKIAN IN NEW-YORK. By A VIRGINIAN. In 2 vols. 12mo. + + GUY RIVERS. A Novel. By the Author of "Martin Faber." In 2 vols. + 12mo. + + MRS. SHERWOOD'S WORKS. Uniform Edition. With Engravings on steel. + 12mo. + + PAULDING'S WORKS. Uniform Edition. Revised and corrected by the + Author. 12mo. + + * * * * * + + +THE + +KENTUCKIAN IN NEW-YORK. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Towards the latter part of the summer of 18--, on one of those cool, +delightful, and invigorating mornings which are frequent in the southern +regions of the United States, there issued from the principal hotel on +the valley-side of Harper's Ferry two travellers, attended by a +venerable and stately southern slave. The experienced eye of the old +ferryman, as he stood in his flat-bottomed boat awaiting the arrival of +this party, discovered at once that our travellers were from the far +South. + +The first of these, Victor Chevillere, entered the "flat," leading by +the bridle a mettlesome southern horse; when he had stationed this fine +animal to his satisfaction, he stood directly fronting the prescriptive +Charon of the region. This young gentleman, who appeared to be the +principal character of the party just entering the boat, was handsomely +formed, moderately tall, and fashionably dressed. His face was bold, +dignified, and resolute, and not remarkable for any very peculiar +fashion of the hair or beard which shaded it. He appeared to be about +twenty-three years of age, and though so young, much and early +experience of the world had already o'ershadowed his face with a +becoming serenity, if not sadness. Not that silly, affected melancholy, +however, which is so often worn in these days by young and romantic idle +gentlemen, to catch the errant sympathies of some untravelled country +beauty. + +The next personage of the party (who likewise entered the boat leading a +fine southern animal), was a fashionable young gentleman, about the +middle size; his face was pale and wan, as if he had but just recovered +from an attack of illness. Nevertheless there was a brilliant fire in +his eye, and a lurking, but too evident, disposition to fun and humour, +which illness had not been entirely able to subdue. Augustus Lamar, for +such was his name, was the confidential and long-tried friend of the +first-named gentleman: their mutual regard had existed undiminished from +the time of their early school days in South Carolina, through their +whole college career in Virginia up to the moment of which we speak. + +The third and more humble personage of the party bore the time-honoured +appellation of Cato. He was a tall old negro, with a face so black as to +form a perfect contrast to his white hair and brilliant teeth. He was +well dressed and cleanly in his person, and rather solemn and pompous +in his manners. Cato had served the father of his present highly +honoured young master, and was deeply imbued with that strong feudal +attachment to the family, which is a distinguishing characteristic of +the southern negroes who serve immediately near the persons of the great +landholders. + +Our travellers were now smoothly gliding over that most magnificent +"meeting of the waters" of the Shenandoah and Potomack, which is usually +known by the unpretending name of "Harper's Ferry." It was early +morning; the moon was still visible above the horizon, and the sun had +not yet risen above those stupendous fragments whose chaotic and +irregular position gives token of the violence with which the mass of +waters rent for themselves a passage through the mountains, when rushing +on to meet that other congregation of rivers, with whose waters they +unite to form the Bay of the Chesapeake. The black bituminous smoke from +the hundred smithies of the United States' armory, had just begun to +rise above the towering crags that seemed, at this early period, to +battle with the vapours which are here sent up in thick volumes from the +contest of rocks and rivers beneath. + +Old Cato had by this time assumed his post at the heads of the three +horses, while our southerns stood with folded arms, each impressed with +the scene according to his individual impulses. As they approached +nearer to the northern shore, Chevillere, addressing Lamar, observed: +"An unhappy young lady she must be who arrived at our hotel last +evening. I could hear her weeping bitterly as she paced the floor, until +a late hour of the night, when finally she seemed to throw herself upon +the bed, and fall asleep from mere exhaustion;" and then, turning to the +weather-beaten steersman, continued: "I suppose we are the first +passengers in the 'flat' this morning?" + +"No, sir, you are not; a carriage from the same tavern went over half an +hour ago. There was an old gray-headed man, and two young women in it, +besides the driver, and the driver told me that they were all the way +from York State,--the mail stage, too, went over." + +"The same party," said Chevillere, abstractedly; "Did you learn where +they were to breakfast, boatman?" + +"About ten miles from this, I think I heard say." + +They were soon landed and mounted, and cantering away through the fog +and vapours of the early morning. Nor were they long in overtaking a +handsome travelling-carriage, which was moving at a brisk rate, in +accordance with the exertions of two fine, evidently northern, horses. +The carriage contained an elderly, grave, formal, and magisterial +gentleman; his locks quite gray, and hanging loose upon the collar of +his coat; his countenance harsh, austere, and forbidding in the extreme. +By his side sat a youthful lady, so enveloped in a large black mantle, +and travelling hat and veil, that but little of her form or features +could be seen, except a pair of brilliant blue eyes. + +It is not to be denied, that these sudden apparitions of young and +beautiful females, almost completely shrouded in mantles, drapery, or +veils, are the very circumstances fully to arouse the slumbering +energies of a lately emancipated college Quixotte. A lovely pair of +eyes, brimful of tears,--a "Cinderella" foot and ankle,--a white and +beautifully turned hand and tapered fingers, with perhaps a mourning +ring or two,--or a bonnet suddenly blown off, so as to dishevel a +magnificent head of hair, its pretty mistress meanwhile all confusion, +and her snowy neck and temples suffused with blushes,--these are the +little incidents on which the real romances of human life are founded. +How many persons can look back to such a commencement of their youthful +loves! nay, perhaps, refer to it all the little enjoyment with which +they have been blessed through life! We venture to say, that those who +were so unfortunate as never to bring their first youthful romance to a +fortunate denouement, can likewise look back upon such occurrences with +many pleasing emotions. A bachelor or a widower, indeed, may not always +recur with pleasure to these first passages in the book of life,--but +the feelings even of these are not altogether of the melancholy kind. +The fairy queens of their spring-tide will sometimes arise in the +present tense, until they almost imagine themselves in the possession +again of youth and all its raptures,--its brilliant dreams, airy +castles, "hair-breadth 'scapes," and miraculous deliverances,--cruel +fathers, and perverse guardians, and stolen interviews, and lovers' vows +and tokens,--winding up finally with a runaway match--all of the +imagination. + +After the equipage before alluded to had been for some time left behind, +our travellers began to descry, at the distance of several miles, the +long white portico of the country inn at which they proposed to +breakfast. The United States mail-coach for Baltimore was standing at +the door, evidently waiting till the passengers should have performed +the same needful operation. Servants were running hither and thither, +some to the roost, others to the stable, as if a large number of the +most distinguished dignitaries of the land had just arrived. + +But, behold, when our travellers drew up, they found that all this stir +among the servants of the inn was called into being by the real or +affected wants of a number of very young gentlemen. We say affected, +because we are sorry to acknowledge that it is not uncommon to see very +young and inexperienced gentlemen, on such occasions, assume airs and +graces which are merely put on as a travelling dress, and which would be +thrown aside at the first appearance of an old acquaintance. At such +times it is by no means rare to see all the servants of the inn, +together with the host and hostess, entirely engrossed by one of these +overgrown boys or ill-bred men, while their elders and superiors are +compelled either to want or wait upon themselves. At the time we notice, +some young bloods of the cities were exercising themselves in their new +suit of stage-coach manners. + +"Here waiter! waiter!" with an affectedly delicate and foreign voice, +cried one of these youths, enveloped in a brown "Petersham box" coat, +and with his hands stuck into his pockets over his hips. Under the arm +of this person was a black riding-switch, with a golden head, and a +small chain of the same precious metal, fastened about six inches +therefrom, after the fashion of some old rapier guards. He wore a +rakish-looking fur cap, round and tight on the top of his head as a +bladder of snuff; this was cocked on one side after a most piratical +fashion, so as to show off, in the best possible manner, a great +profusion of coarse, shining black hair, which was evidently indebted to +art rather than nature for the curls that frizzled out over his ears, +while the back part of his head was left as bare and defenceless as if +he had already been under the hands of a deputy turnkey. He practised +what may be called American puppyism, as technically distinguished from +the London species of the same genus. "Here waiter! waiter!" said he, +"bring me a gin sling,--and half-a-dozen Bagdad segars,--and a lighted +taper,--and a fresh egg,--and a bowl of water, and a clean towel,--and +polish my boots,--and dust my coat,--and then send me the barber, do you +hear?" + +"O, sir! we has no barber, nor Bagdab segars neither; but we has plenty +of the real Baltimores,--real good ones, too,--as I knows very well, for +I smokes the old sodgers what the gentlemen throws on the bar-room +floor." + +"It is one of the most amusing scenes imaginable," said Victor +Chevillere to Augustus Lamar, as they sat witnessing this scene, "when +the waiter and the master pro tempore are both fools. The fawning, +bowing, cringing waiter, with his big lips upon the _qui vive_, his head +and shoulders constantly in motion, and rubbing his hands one over the +other after the most approved fashion of the men of business. In such a +case as that which we have just witnessed, where puppyism comes in +contact with the kindred monkey-tricks of the waiter, I can enjoy it. +But when it happens, as I have more than once seen, that the waiter is a +manly, sensible, and dignified old negro of the loftier sort, such as +old Cato,--then you can soon detect the curl of contempt upon his +lip,--and he is not long thereafter in selecting the real gentlemen of +the party,--always choosing to wait most upon those who least demand +it." + +"I would bet my horse Talleyrand against an old field scrub, that that +fellow is a Yankee," answered Lamar. + +"He may be a Yankee," continued Victor Chevillere, "but you have +travelled too much and reflected too long upon the nature of man, to +ascribe every thing disgusting to a Yankee origin. For my part, I make +the character of every man I meet in some measure my study during my +travels, and as we have agreed to exchange opinions upon men and things, +I will tell you freely what I think of that fellow who has just +retreated from our laughter. I have found it not at all uncommon, to see +the most undisguised hatred arise between two such persons as he of the +stage-coach,--the one from the north, and the other from the +south,--when in truth, the actuating impulse was precisely the same in +both, but had taken a different direction, and was differently developed +by different exciting causes. + +"The puppyism of Charleston and that of Boston are only different shades +of the same character, yet these kindred spirits can in nowise tolerate +each other. As is universally the case, those are most intolerant to +others who have most need of forgiveness themselves. The mutual jealousy +of the north and south is a decided evidence of littleness in both +regions, and ample cause for shame to the educated gentlemen of all +parties of this happy country. If pecuniary interest had not been mixed +up with this provincial rivalry, the feeling could easily have been so +held up to the broad light of intelligence, as to be a fertile source of +amusement, and furnish many a subject for comedy and farce in +after-times." + +This specimen was by no means the only one among the arrivals by the +stage-coach. Every waiter in the house was pressed into the service of +these coxcombs,--some smoked,--some swaggered through the private +rooms,--others adjusted their frizzled locks at the mirrors with brushes +carried for the purpose,--and all together created a vast commotion in +the quiet country inn. + +As our two young southerns sat in the long piazza, eying these +stage-coach travellers and waiting for breakfast, the same equipage +which they had passed on the road, and containing our northern party, +drew up to the door. + +Not many minutes had elapsed before a black servant stood in the entry +between the double suite of apartments, and briskly swung a small bell +to and fro, which seemed to announce breakfast, from the precipitate +haste with which the gentlemen of the stage-coach found their way into +the long breakfasting-hall of the establishment. Our southerns followed +their example, but more quietly, and by the invitation of the host. At +the upper end of the table stood the hostess, who, like most of her kind +in America, was the wife of a wealthy landholder and farmer, as well as +tavern-keeper. She was a genteel and modest-looking woman, and did the +honours of the table like a lady at her own hospitable board, and among +selected guests. It is owing to a mistake in the character of the host +and hostess, that so many foreigners give and take offence at these +establishments. They often contumaciously demand as a right, what would +have been offered to them in all courtesy after the established usages +of the country. + +On the right of the hostess sat the youthful lady who had spent such an +unhappy night at the ferry,--in the hearing of Victor Chevillere,--and +whom they had passed on the road. She was still so enveloped in her +travelling dress and veil as to be but partially seen. On the same side, +unfortunately, as he no doubt thought, sat Chevillere with Lamar. The +grave-looking old gentleman, the companion of the youthful lady +mentioned, sat immediately opposite to her. The gentlemen of extreme ton +(as they wished to be thought), were ranged along the table, already +mangling the dishes, cracking and replacing the eggs, and apparently +much dissatisfied with the number of seconds they had remained in heated +water. Nor were they long in striking up a conversation, as loud and +full of slang as their previous displays had been. During this unseemly +and boisterous conduct, some more tender chord seemed to be touched +within the bosom of the lovely young female, than would have been +supposed from the character of the assailants. Victor Chevillere turned +his head in that direction, and saw that her face had become more deadly +pale; at the same moment he heard her say, in an under-tone, to the old +gentleman her companion, "My dear sir, assist me from this room,--my +head grows dizzy, and I feel a deathlike sickness." + +Chevillere was upon his feet in an instant, and assisted the lady to +rise; by this time, the old gentleman having taken her other arm, they +carried rather than led her into one of the adjoining apartments, +where, after depositing their beautiful burden upon a sofa, Chevillere +left her to the care of the hostess, who had followed, and returned to +the breakfast-table. + +Let us describe a country breakfast for the uninitiated. At the head of +the table was a large salver, or japanned waiter, upon which was spread +out various utensils of China-ware,--the only articles of plate being a +sugar-dish and cream-pot. On the right of this salver stood a coffee and +tea-urn, of some composition metal, resembling silver in appearance. At +the other end of the table, under the skilful hands of the host, was a +large steak, cut and sawed entirely through the sirloin of the beef. +Half-way up the table, on either side, were dishes of broiled game, the +intermediate spaces being filled up with various kinds of hot bread, +biscuit and pancakes (as they are called in some parts of the north). +This custom of eating hot bread at the morning and evening meal, is +almost universal at the south. Immediately in the centre stood a pyramid +of fresh-churned butter, with a silver butter-knife sticking into the +various ornaments of vine-leaves and grapes with which it was stamped. + +To this fare Chevillere found his friend Lamar doing the most ample +justice, nor was his own keen appetite entirely destroyed by the +temporary indisposition of the lady who had so much excited his +curiosity and his sympathy. He could have congratulated himself on the +little occurrence which had given him some claims to a farther +acquaintance, and doubtless could have indulged in delightful reveries +as to the fair and youthful stranger,--had not all his gay dreams been +put to flight by the boisterous laughter and meager attempts at wit of +the other travellers. As he returned towards the table, the one whom we +have more particularly described elevated a glass, with a golden handle, +to his large, full, and impudent eye. Chevillere returned the gaze until +his look almost amounted to a deliberate stare. The "bloods" looked +fierce, and exchanged pugnacious looks, but all chance of a collision +was prevented by the return of the hostess. Notwithstanding the +disagreeable qualities of most of the guests at the table, Chevillere +found time to turn the little incident of the sudden indisposition and +its probable cause several times in his own mind; and, as may be well +imagined, his mental soliloquy resulted in no injurious imputation upon +the youthful lady,--there was evidently no trait of affectation. + +At length the meal was brought to a close,--not however, before the +driver of the mail-coach had wound sundry impatient blasts upon his +bugle,--general joy seemed to pervade every remaining countenance after +the departure of the coxcombs. Both the northern and southern +travellers, who were journeying northward, and who had breakfasted at +the inn, were soon likewise plodding along at the usual rate of weary +travellers by a private conveyance. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The misery of the young and the beautiful is at all times infectious. +Few young persons can withhold sympathy in such a case,--especially if +the person thus afflicted be unmarried--of the other sex--and near one's +own age. + +Victor Chevillere could not expel from his imagination the image of the +fair stranger. Again and again did he essay to join Lamar in his light +and sprightly conversation, as they, on the day after the one recorded +in the last chapter, pursued their journey along the noble turnpike +between Fredericktown and Baltimore. The same profound revery would +steal upon him, and abide until broken by the merry peals of Lamar's +peculiarly loud and joyous laughter, at the new mood which seemed to +have visited the former. When a young person first begins to experience +these abstracted moods, there is nothing, perhaps, that sounds more +harsh and startling to his senses, than the mirthful voice of his best +friend. He looks up as one would naturally look at any unseemly or +boisterous conduct at a funeral. He seems to gaze and wonder, for the +first time, that all things and all men are jogging on at their usual +gait. Thus were things moving upon the Fredericktown turnpike: Lamar +riding forty or fifty paces in front, singing away the blue devils; +Chevillere in the centre, moody and silent; and old Cato, stately as a +statue on horseback, bringing up the rear. + +From hearing sundry merry peals of laughter from Lamar's quarter, +Chevillere was induced at length to forego his own society for a moment, +to see what new subject his Quixotic friend had found for such unusual +merriment; and a subject he had indeed found in the shape of a tall +Kentuckian. The name of the stranger, it seems, was Montgomery Damon. He +was six feet high, with broad shoulders, full, projecting chest, light +hair and complexion, and a countenance that was upon the first blush an +index to a mind full of quaint, rude, and wild humour. His dress was any +thing but fashionable; he wore a large, two-story hat, with a bandana +handkerchief hanging out in front, partly over his forehead, as if to +protect it from the great weight of his castor. His coat and pantaloons +were of home-made cotton and woollen jeans, and he carried in his hand a +warlike riding-whip, loaded with lead, and mounted with silver, with +which, now and then, he gave emphasis to his words, by an unexpected and +sonorous crack. + +Our Kentuckian was no quiet man; but, like most of his race, bold, +talkative, and exceedingly democratic in all his notions; feeling as +much pride in his occupation of drover, as if he had been a senator in +Congress from his own "Kentuck," as he emphatically called it. He was a +politician, too, inasmuch as he despised _tories_, as he called the +federalists, approved of the late war, and had a most venomous hatred +against Indians, of whatever tribe or nation. We shall break into their +dialogue at the point at which Victor became a listener. + +"How did it happen," said Lamar, "that you did not join the army either +of the north or south, when your heart seems to have been so entirely +with them?" + +"O! as to _jine_en the army to the north," said Damon, "I was afraid the +blasted tories would sell me to the British, me and my messmates, like +old Hull, the infernal old traitor, sold his men for so much a head, +_jist_ as I sell my hogs. As to t'other business, down yonder, under Old +Hickory, I reckon I _did_ take a hand or so aginst the bloody Injins." + +"You prefer a fight with Indians, then, to one with white men." + +"To be sure I do; I think no more of taking my jack-knife, and +unbuttonin the collar of a Creek Injin, than I would of takin the jacket +off a good fat bell-wether, or mout-be a yerlin calf. Old Hickory's the +boy to _sculp_ the bloody creters; he's the boy to walk into their +bread-baskets; and Dick Johnston ain't far behind him, I can tell you, +stranger; he's the chap what plumped a bullet right into old Tecumseh's +bagpipes. Let him alone for stoppin their war-whoops." + +"You were a rifleman, I suppose," said Lamar. + +"Right agin, stranger. Give me a rifle for ever; they never spiles meat, +though, as one may say, Injin's meat ain't as good as blue-lick buck's; +but for all that, it's a pity to make bunglin work of a neat job; +besides, your smooth bores waste a deal of powder and lead upon the +outlandish creters." + +"Were you ever wounded?" asked Lamar. + +"Yes! don't you see this here hare-lip to my right eye? Well! that was +jist the corner of an Injin's hatchet. Bob Wiley jist knocked up his arm +in time to save me for another whet at the varmints; if so mout be that +we ever has another brush with 'em, and Bob goes out agin, maybe I may +do him a good turn yet; he's what I call a tear down sneezer (crack went +the whip). He's got no more fear among the Injins than a wild cat in a +weasel's nest; O! it would have done your heart good to see him jist lie +down behind an old log, and watch for one of the varmint's heads bobbin +up and down like a muskovy drake in a barn yard, and as sure as you saw +the fire at the muzzle of his gun, so sure he knocked the creter's hind +sights out. You see he always took 'em on the bob, jist as you would +shoot a divin bird, and that's what I always called taking the bread out +of the creter's mouth, for he was watchin for the same chance." + +"Did you scalp the slain?" said Lamar. + +"No!" replied Damon, "we had plenty of friendly Injins to do that, and +it used to make me laugh to see the yallow raskals sculpin their kin; +that's what I call dog eat dog." + +"Do you think an Indian has a soul?" said Lamar. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" roared the Kentuckian, giving a crack of unusual emphasis, +"that's what I call a stumper; but as you're no missionary, I 'spose +I'll tell you. I knows some dumb brutes--here's this Pete Ironsides that +I'm ridin on, has more of a Christian soul in him than any leather-skin +between Missouri and Red River. Why! stranger! what's an Injin good for, +more nor a wild cat? You can't tame ne'er a one of 'em." + +"But those missionaries you spoke of, don't you think they will +civilize, if not Christianize them?" + +"Ha! ha! ha!" shouted Damon, with another loud crack, and rolling a huge +quid of tobacco to the opposite side of his mouth, "they might as well +mount the trees and preach to the 'coons and tree-frogs; one of your +real psalm-singers mout tree a coon at it, but hang me if he can ever +put the pluck of a white man under a yellow jacket. Catch a weasel +asleep or a fox at a foot race. I rather suspicion, stranger, that I've +seen more Injins than your missionaries, and I'll tell you the way to +tame 'em;--slit their windpipes and hamstring 'em." + +"Perhaps you are an enemy to religion, or prejudiced against the +missionaries?" + +"No! no! stranger, no! I likes religion well enough of a Sunday; but +hang me if I should not die of laughin to see 'em layin it down to the +redskins. I'd as soon think of going into my horse stable and preachin +to the dumb brutes. Old Pete here knows more now than many an Injin, and +he's got more soul than some Yankees that mout be named; but come, +stranger, here's a public house, let's go in and cut the phlegm." + +"Agreed," said Lamar, "but it must be at my expense." + +"Well," said Damon, "we'll not quarrel about that;" and turning to +Victor, "Stranger, won't you join us in a glass of tight?" + +"No! I thank you," said Chevillere, "but I will look on while you and my +friend drink to the better acquaintance of us all." + +After the parties had refreshed themselves and their horses, and +remounted, the conversation was resumed. "Well now," said the +Kentuckian, addressing Victor, "I wish I may be contwisted if you ain't +one of the queerest men, to come from the Carolinas, I have clapped eyes +on this many a day. You don't chaw tobacco, and you don't drink nothin; +smash my apple-cart if I can see into it." + +"I am one of those that don't believe in the happy effects of either +brandy or tobacco," replied Chevillere. + +"Then you are off the trail for once in your life, stranger, for I take +tobacco to be one of God's mercies to the poor. Whether it came by a +rigular dispensation of providence (as our parson used to say), or in a +natural way, I can't tell; but hang me, if when I gets a quid of the +real Kentuck twist or Maryland kite-foot into my mouth, if I ain't as +proud a man as the grand Turk himself. It drives away the solemncholies, +and makes a fellow feel so good-natured, and so comfortable; it turns +the shillings in his pocket into dollars, and his wrath into fun and +deviltry. Let them talk about tobacco as they choose among the fine +gals, and at their theatres, and balls, and cotillions, and all them +sort of things; but let one of 'em git twenty miles deep into a Kentuck +forest, and then see if a chew of the stuff ain't good for company and +comfort." + +"But you did not tell me," resumed Lamar, "whether you had ever shot at +a white man?" + +"No! no! I never did; and I don't know that I ever will. I think I +should feel a leetle particlar, at standin up and shooting at a real +Christian man, with flesh and blood like you and me. You see, when we +boys of the long guns shoot, we don't turn our heads away and pull +trigger in a world of smoke, so that nobody can tell where the lead +goes; we look right into the white of a fellow's eye, and can most +always tell which side of his nose the ball went, and you see that would +be but a slayin and skinnen business among white people; but as to +shootin and sculpin Injins, that's a thing there is no bones made about, +because out on the frontiers at the west, if a man should stand addlin +his brains about the right and the wrong of the thing, the red devils +would just knock them out to settle the matter, and sculp him for his +pains into the bargain. Shooting real Christian men's quite another +thing. It's what I ha'nt tried yet; but when we Kentuck boys gits at it, +it won't all end like a log-rollin, with one or two broken shins and a +black eye. But I'm told the Yankees always sings a psalm before they go +to battle. Now, according to my notion, a chap would make a blue fist of +takin a dead aim through double sights, with the butt end of a psalm in +his guzzle." + +"Some person must have told you that as a joke," said Lamar. + +"No, no, I believe it, because we had just such a fellow once in our +neighbourhood--a Yankee schoolmaster--and we took him out a deer-driving +two or three times, and he was always singing a psalm at his stand. He +spoilt the fun, confound him! Hang me if I didn't always think the +fellow was afraid to stand in the woods by himself without it. I went to +his singin school of Saturday nights, too; but I never had a turn that +way. All the master could do, he could'nt keep me on the trail,--I was +for ever slipping into Yankee Doodle; you see, every once in a while, +the tune would take a quick turn, like one I knowed afore, so I used to +blaze away at it with the best of 'em, but the same old Yankee Doodle +always turned up at the end. But the worst of it was, the infernal +Yankee spoiled all the music I ever had in me; when I come out of the +school, I thought the gals at home would have killed themselves laughin' +at me. They said I ground up Yankee Doodle and Old Hundred together, +all in a hodge-podge, so I never sings to no one now but the dumb brutes +in the stable, when they gits melancholy of a rainy day. Old Pete here +raises his ears, and begins to snort the minute I raises a tune." + +"Your singing-master was, like his scholar, an original." + +"An original! When he come to them parts, he drove what we call a Yankee +cart, half wagon and half carriage, full of all sorts of odds and ends; +when he had sold them out, he sold his horse and cart too, and then +turned in to keepin a little old-field school; and over and above this, +he opened a Saturday night singin-school,--and I reckon we had rare +times with the gals there. At last, when the feller had got considerable +ahead, the word came out that he was studyin to be a doctor; and sure +enough, in a few months, he sold out the school for so much a head, just +like we sell our hogs; then off the Yankee starts to git made a doctor +of; and hang me if ever I could see into that business. How they can +turn a pedlar into a doctor in four months, is a leetle jist over my +head. It's true enough they works a mighty change in the chaps in that +time. Our Yankee went off, as well-behaved and as down-faced a chap as +you would wish to see in a hundred, and wore home-made clothes like +mine; but when he had staid his four months out, and 'most everybody had +forgot him, one day as I was leanen up against one of the poplar trees +in the little town, I saw a sign goin up on the side of a house, with +DOCTOR GUN in large letters. I'll take my Bible oath, when I saw the +thing, I thought I should have broke a blood-vessel. Howsomever, I +strained 'em down, till an old woman would have sworn I had the +high-strikes, with a knot o' wind in my guzzle. But I quieted the devil +in me, and then I slipped slyly over the street, behind where the doctor +was standing with his new suit of black; one hand stuck in his side, and +the other holding an ivory-headed stick up to his mouth in the most +knowing fashion, I tell you. I stole up behind him, and bawled out in +his ear, as loud as I could yell, '_faw--sol--law--me_.' Oh! my +grandmother! what a smashin rage he flew into; he shook his cane--he +walked backwards and forwards--and didn't he make the tobacco juice fly? +I rather reckon, if I hadn't had so many inches, he'd have been into my +meat; but the fun of it all was, the feller had foreswore his mother +tongue; dash me if he could talk a word of common lingo, much less sing +psalms and hymns by note; he rattled off words as long as my arm, and as +fast as a windmill. Some of the old knowing ones says they've got some +kind of a mill, like these little hand-organs, and that chops it out to +the chaps eny night and morning, pretty much as I chop straw to my +horses; but I'm going in to see that doctor-factory, when I git to +Philadelphia, if they don't charge a feller more nor half a dollar a +head." + +"I hope we shall travel together to Philadelphia," said Lamar; "and if +so, I will introduce you into the establishment, free of expense." + +"Thank you, sir, thank you," said the Kentuckian; "but I'm rather +inclined to think that we will hardly meet again after to-day; 'cause, +you see, I'm 'bliged to do a might of business in Baltimore afore I can +go on. After that, then I can go on as I please; as I'm only goin to see +the world abit, afore I settle down for life." + +"But," said Lamar, "if you will call at Barnum's, and leave word what +day you will set out, I will see that we travel together, for I will +suit my time to yours; and I would advise you to send your horse a short +distance into the country, both for the sake of convenience and +economy." + +"What! part with old Pete here! Bless my soul, stranger! he would go +into a gallopin consumption! or die of the solemncholies, if a rainy +spell should come on, and he and I couldn't have a dish of chat +together; and then I shouldn't know no more what to do in one of your +coaches nor a cow with a side-pocket." + +"My word for it," replied Victor, "you would soon enjoy yourself inside +of a stage-coach. Come, let us make a bargain. I will engage to have +your horse well taken care of in the country, and provide him with a +groom that will soon learn his ways, and be able to cheer him up when he +gets low-spirited." + +"Yes, do!" said Lamar, jocosely; "we are anxious to have your company +during our visit to the cities. We are from Carolina, and you are from +Kentuck; and after you get through with your business, we shall all be +on the same errand--pleasure and improvement." + +"And a wild-goose chase it's like to be, I'm afraid; especially if I'm +to be of your mess. But suppose you should meet with some fine lady +acquaintances, what, in the name of old Sam, would you do with me? I +should be like a fifth wheel to a wagon." + +"Were you never in the company of fine ladies?" asked Chevillere. + +"Yes! and flummuck me if ever I want to be so fixed again; for there I +sat with my feet drawn straight under my knees, heads up, and hands laid +close along my legs, like a new recruit on drill, or a horse in the +stocks; and, twist me, if I didn't feel as if I was about to be nicked. +The whole company stared at me as if I had come without an invite; and I +swear I thought my arms had grown a foot longer, for I couldn't get my +hands in no sort of a comfortable fix--first I tried them on my lap; +there they looked like goin to prayers, or as if I was tied in that way; +then I slung 'em down by my side, and they looked like two weights to a +clock; and then I wanted to cross my legs, and I tried that, but my leg +stuck out like a pump handle; then my head stuck up through a glazed +shirt-collar, like a pig in a yoke; then I wanted to spit, but the floor +looked so fine, that I would as soon have thought of spittin on the +window; and then to fix me out and out, they asked us all to sit down +to dinner! Well, things went on smooth enough for a while, till we had +got through one whet at it. Then a blasted imp of a nigger come to me +first with a waiter of little bowls full of something, and a parcel of +towels slung over his arm; so I clapped one of the bowls to my head, and +drank it down at a swallow. Now, stranger, what do you think was in it?" + +"Punch, I suppose," said Lamar, laughing; "or perhaps apple toddy." + +"So I thought, and so would anybody, as dry as I was, and that wanted +something to wash down the fainty stuffs I had been layin in; but no! it +was warm water! Yes! you may laugh! but it was clean warm water. The +others dipped their fingers into the bowls, and wiped them on the towels +as well as they could for gigglin; but it was all the fault of that +pampered nigger, in bringin it to me first. As soon as I catched his +eye, I gin him a wink, as much as to let him know that if ever I caught +him on my trail, I would wipe him down with a hickory towel." + +"But I suppose you enjoyed yourself highly before it was all over?" said +Chevillere. + +"When it was all over, I was glad enough; I jumped and capered like a +school-boy at the first of the holydays." + +"Have you never been invited out since?" asked Lamar. + +"O yes, often," said Damon; "but you don't catch a weasel asleep again. +I like to give a joke, and take a joke; but then the joke was all on one +side. If I can take a hand in the laugh, I don't care whether a person +laughs _at_ me, or _with_ me." + +"But what say you?" said Chevillere; "shall we send your horse to the +country with ours?" + +"Why! as you gentlemen seem to speak me so fair, and to know the world +so well, I don't care if I do send old Pete out to board awhile. I +shouldn't be surprised though if he should give me up for lost, and fret +himself to death. But I must see the man that goes to the country with +them; 'cause Pete couldn't bear shabby talk; he's what I call a leetle +particular in his company for a dumb brute." + +"The man rides behind us," said Chevillere, "who will perform that duty. +Cato! this gentleman wishes to speak to you." + +"Did you call, your honour?" + +"Yes. Cato! Mr. Damon wishes to give you some charges about his horse, +which you are to take into the country with ours." + +"Cato," said Damon, "tell the farmer who takes the horses, that old Pete +Ironsides here has been used to good company, and that he has been +treated more like a Christian nor a horse, and that I wish him indulged +in his old ways." + +During this harangue, Cato cast sundry glances from his master to the +speaker, as if to ascertain whether he was in earnest, or only playing +off one of those freaks in which the young men had so often indulged in +his presence. Being accustomed, however, to treat with respect those +whom his master respected, and seeing his eye calm and serious, he bowed +with grave deference, saying, "It shall be done as you direct, your +honour;" and then fell back. + +"Now," said Damon, "that's what I call a well-bred nigger. I would +venture that old Scip would'nt have puzzled me with the warm water; +'cause he knows that I'm not one of them there sort of chaps what knows +all their new-fangled kick-shaws. He knows in a case of real +needcessity, or life and death, as I may say, either to man, woman, or +horse, I'm more to be depended on than a dozen such chaps as went along +here in the stage this morning." + +"You saw the dandies in the stage, then?" asked Victor. + +"Yes, and one of 'em popped his head out of the window, and says to me +as they went by, 'Country,' says he, 'there's something on your horse's +tail.'--'Yes,' says I, 'and there's something in his head that you +hav'nt got, if his ears ain't so long.'" + +Thus were our acquaintances and their new companion jogging along when +the distant rumbling of wheels upon the pavements and the dense clouds +of black smoke which seemed to be hanging in the heavens but a short +distance ahead, announced that they were soon to enter the monumental +city. + +There is not, perhaps, a feeling of more truly unmixed melancholy, +incident to the heart of an inexperienced and modest student, than that +which steals over him upon his first entrance into a strange city; a +feeling of incomparable loneliness, even deeper than if the same +individual were standing alone upon the highest blue peak of the far +stretching Alleghany. The vanishing rays of twilight were extending +their lengthening shadows; the husbandman and his cattle were seen +wending their way to their accustomed abodes for the night; and the +feathered tribes had already sought the resting-places which nature so +plentifully provides for them in our well-wooded land. The sad, and it +may be pleasing reflections which such sights produced, were +occasionally interrupted by the clattering of a horse's hoofs upon the +turnpike, as some belated countryman sought to redeem the time he had +spent at the alehouse; or as the solitary marketman, with more staid and +quiet demeanour, sped upon a like errand. Occasionally the scene was +marred by some besotted and staggering wretch, seeking his lowly and +miserable hut in the suburbs. At intervals too, the barking of dogs and +the lowing of cattle contributed their share to remind our friends that +they were about to take leave of these quiet and pastoral scenes, for an +indefinite period, and to mix in the bustle and gay assemblage of city +life. Often, at such junctures, there is a presentiment of the evil +which awaits the unhappy exchange. Warning clouds of the mind are +believed to exist by many of the clearest heads and soundest hearts: we +do not say that our heroes were thus sadly affected, nor that the +Kentuckian had a fore-taste of evil; but certain it is, that all were +silent until they arrived at the place of separation. All things having +been previously settled, they exchanged salutations, and departed upon +their separate routes. They passed a variety of streets in that most +gloomy period of the day when lamp-lighters are to be seen, with their +torches and ladders, starting their glimmering lights first in one +direction and then in another, as they hurry from post to post. Draymen +were driving home with reckless and Jehu-like speed; and the brilliant +lights which began to appear at long intervals, gave evidence that the +trading community carried their operations also into that portion of +time which nature has allotted for rest and repose to nearly all living +things. Our travellers now alighted at Barnum's; but as their adventures +were of an interesting character, we shall defer them till a new +chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +After a substantial meal had been despatched, our travellers repaired to +the livery-stable, to inspect in person the condition of their horses. +The establishment was lighted with a single lamp, swung in the centre of +the building. The approach of the two young gentlemen was not therefore +immediately noticed by old Cato and another groom (who proved to be the +coachman of the equipage they had left on the road), as they were busily +engaged in rubbing down their horses, the dialogue between them was not +brought to a close at once. + +"Who did you say the gentleman was?" said old Cato. + +"His name is Brumley," replied coachee. + +"And the young lady is his daughter, I suppose?" continued Cato. + +"Oh! as to that, I cannot say," continued coachee, "but I believe she is +only his step-daughter; they calls her Miss Fanny St. Clair, and +sometimes of late the old gentleman calls her Mrs. Frances; but between +you and me and the horse-stall, there is some strange things about this +family; I rather guess that Sukey, the maid up yonder, could tell us +something that would make us open our eyes, if she was not so confounded +close; all that I know about it is, that the harsh old gentleman +sometimes gives her a talk in the carriage that throws her a'most into a +faintin' spell. But I could never see into it, not I; I don't somehow +believe in all these little hurrahs the women kicks up just for +pastime." + +Our travellers did not think proper to listen further to the gossip of +the grooms, and having executed their business at the livery, they +retraced their steps to the splendid establishment at which they had put +up. Notwithstanding the doubtful source from which Chevillere had gained +his latest information concerning the singularly interesting young lady +whom they had seen at the inn, it made its impression. Corrupt indeed +must be that channel of information relative to a beautiful and +attractive female, apparently in distress, which will not find an +auditor in the person of a sensitive young man just emancipated from +college. On such occasions, and with such persons, the credibility of +all witnesses is the same, and the most improbable tale is taken at +once, and made the foundation of a whole train of reveries, dreams, and +plans. + +It is not to be denied that Victor Chevillere had worked his imagination +up to a very romantic height, and had allowed his curiosity concerning +the youthful lady to reach such a pitch that little else gave occupation +to his fancies. + +He was in this state of mind, leisurely marking time with lazy steps, +and in an abstracted mood, as he ascended the grand staircase of the +establishment, when his attention was again riveted by the sound of the +lady's voice in earnest entreaty with the old gentleman. + +"Consider, my dear Frances," said the latter, "that your health is now +nearly re-established, and that these are subjects that you must dwell +upon; why not, therefore, become accustomed to it at once?" + +"For heaven's sake! for my dear mother's! never, sir, mention that +fearful marriage, and more fearful death to me again! Why should I +recall hideous and frightful dreams!" + +Chevillere was compelled to move on, but it must be confessed that +his steps were slower than before; and it may be readily imagined, +that his fancy and his curiosity were not much allayed by the shreds +of conversation which he had involuntarily overheard. When he had +ascended to his own apartment, and could indulge freely in that +bachelor recreation of pacing to and fro, the two words still +involuntarily quickened his movements whenever they flashed through his +mind---"marriage" and "death" were words of opposite import certainly, +viewed in the abstract, and we doubt whether he had ever connected them +together before;---"Fearful marriage! and more fearful death!" what +could it mean? to whom could they refer? Only one of them could refer to +her, that was certain; who then was married and died so fearfully? Ah! +thought he, I have it! her mother has married this old man, and died +suddenly; and he has got the fortune of both in his hands! Suspicious +circumstance! If fortune puts it in my power, I will watch him narrowly! +I disliked his countenance from the first!--must be cool, however, and +deliberate--must watch--and wait! pshaw, what am I at! Thus ended Victor +Chevillere's solution of the enigma, when Lamar stepped into the room +and disturbed his revery. + +"What! still musing, Chevillere. By my troth, she must be a witch; but +it will be glorious news to write to our friend Beverly Randolph, of old +Virginia. What say you? Shall I sit down and indite an epistle? Let me +see--how do such narratives generally begin? Cupid, and darts, and +arrows--blind of an eye--shot right through the vitals of a poor +innocent youth that never did him any harm--never was struck +before--covered with a panoply, and shield, and armour, and all that; +and then worship prostrate before the shrine; and vows, and tears, and +tokens; and then the dart is taken out--and the wound heals up--and +then--'Richard's himself again!' What say you to that, or rather what +would Randolph say to that, think you?" + +"He would say that Augustus Lamar was still the same mirth-loving +fellow, without regard to time or place." + +"Then it is a serious affair, and too true to make a joke of! Well, then +I have done! She's a beautiful young creature, it is true; but then from +what I had seen of your cold philosophy, I did not think you were the +man to be slain at first sight, and surrender at discretion before a +single charge." + +"I will acknowledge to you, Lamar, that my curiosity is most painfully +excited with regard to that unhappy young lady, but nothing more, I +assure you. Some facts have, without my seeking, come to my knowledge, +with which you are entirely unacquainted, and which have tended greatly +to increase that curiosity. I cannot at this time explain; as soon as my +own mind is satisfied on the subject, my confidence shall not be +withheld from you." + +"Lovers are truly a singular set of mortals---here is a young lady (and +a Yankee too, perhaps) of some dozen hours' acquaintance, and with whom +you have never exchanged a dozen words; and yet you are already +entrusted with profound secrets, which excite you in the most painful +manner!" + +"Come, come, Lamar, I see you are determined to misunderstand me. Let us +drop the subject. What do you think of the Kentuckian?" + +"I think he is an admirable fellow; and I intend to patronise him; and +induct him into fashionable life; but do you think his singularities are +the natural products of the life, manners, and climate of Kentucky?" + +"I cannot decide whether there is much in him that is peculiar to +Kentucky. Some of the most elegant and accomplished gentleman I have +seen were natives of that state." + +"He takes a laugh at his expense admirably." + +"He does, but you must be careful not to exceed the limits he has laid +down for himself and us, in that respect. For my own part, I entertain a +serious respect for Damon and his unsophisticated honesty, degenerating, +as it sometimes does, into prejudices and ludicrous fancies." + +"Good night, and pleasant dreams to you. I will call early to interpret +them for you." + +As Lamar closed the door, Chevillere drew from his pocket a little +basket segar-case, from which he extracted a genuine Havana, and +lighting a taper at the candle, and throwing himself into one of those +easy attitudes familiar to smokers, with his head back, and his eyes +closed, gave himself up to those absorbing reveries, generally +delightful in proportion to the goodness of the segar, which a southern +knows so well how to enjoy. To be fully relished, segars should be +resorted to only in the evening, and then in moderation. The sensibility +is blunted by excess, and in that case, tobacco, like the intoxicating +drinks, will sometimes conjure up frightful images upon the wall of a +dimly-lighted chamber, or among the embers of a dying fire. Victor, +however, had not converted his capacity for enjoyment into fruitful +sources of mental and physical suffering---he sat for a long time gently +throwing the fragrant results of his efforts into various columns, +wreaths, and pyramids. Not that his mind dwelt upon these things for a +moment; he was far distant in spirit; his imagination was calling up +delightful dreams of love and friendship, with thoughts of a beloved +cousin, of his friend and room-mate Beverley Randolph--his mother, his +home, and the scenes of his childhood, and finally, of the lady of the +black mantle. He beheld airy castles,--romantic adventures,--bridal +scenes--and flowers,--assemblies,--parties,--and the high hills of the +Santee. + +Aladdin's lamp never wrought more rich and highly-coloured scenes of +enchantment than did this same Havana; but the most pleasant dream must +come to an end, as well as the richest flavoured segar--and so did +Chevillere's. Tossing the little hot remnant from him with a passionate +jerk, as if in anger at the insensible cause of his interruption, he +bounced into the centre of the floor and began to pace to and fro, in +his accustomed mood, clenching his fists now and then, and by his whole +appearance showing a perfect contrast to the calm and delightful revery +attendant upon the first stage of tobacco intoxication. + +In this mood we shall leave him to seek his rest, while we recount in +the next chapter what farther befel our late collegians on the following +morning. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +A brilliant morning found our collegians refreshed in health and elastic +in spirits. The more gloomy fancies of the previous night, which had +beset Chevillere both in his waking and sleeping hours--like the mists +of the morning, had been dispelled by the bright sunshine, and the +refreshing breezes of the bay. After the usual meal had been some time +despatched; and while Chevillere was leisurely turning over the papers +of the day (Lamar having departed in pursuit of the Kentuckian) he was +surprised by the entrance of Mr. Brumley (the austere gentleman), who +saluted him with the most friendly greetings of the hour and season, and +concluded by inviting him into their private parlour. It may be readily +imagined that this invitation was not tardily complied with, for he now +imagined that the whole history of the lady would be unravelled by a +single word--so sanguine is youthful hope, and so apt are we, at that +interesting period, to jump to those conclusions which are desirable, +without ever considering the previous steps, and painful delays, and +necessary forms, and conventional usages which inevitably intervene +between our highest hopes and their fruition. How often would the ardent +wishes and the bold hands of youth seize upon futurity, despoiling it +of the thin veil which separates us from what we wish to know, +especially when this could be learned by dispensing with the accustomed +formalities and wholesome restraints of refined society. A train of +kindred thoughts was passing through the mind of Chevillere as he was +ushered into a small but elegant saloon, connected with the back +chambers by folding-doors, which were now closed. On the left of the +door, and between the windows opening upon a great thoroughfare, sat the +lady who occupied his thoughts. She was sitting, or rather reclining +upon one end of a sofa, her head resting upon her hand in a thoughtful +mood. As is true of most daughters of this favoured land, nature had +evidently in nowise been thwarted, either in her mental or physical +education. She appeared to possess that naivete which is so apt to be +the result of a mixed town, and country education; with just enough of +self-possession to show that native modesty had been properly regulated +by much good society, but not too much to forbid an occasional +crimsoning of the neck and face. Her eyes were blue, shaded by long dark +lashes, and so sparkling and joyous in their expression, that the +evident present sorrow which hung over her spirits, could not efface the +impression to a beholder, that they were naturally much more inclined to +beam with mirth and gayety, than to weeping; her features were +regular--arch in their expression, and finely formed--her complexion of +the finest shade--with a rich profusion of light brown hair, braided +and parted on the forehead without a single curl; her figure was just +tall enough to be elegant and graceful, and exhibited the graces of that +interesting period, when the school-girl is merging into the reserved +woman. + +As Chevillere was ushered into the presence of this youthful lady, the +old gentleman presented him as Mr. Chevillere, of South Carolina, and +the lady by the name of (his step-daughter) Frances St. Clair; she +assumed the erect position barely long enough to return the salutation +of the gentleman, then reclined again and lapsed apparently into her sad +mood; for a moment she pressed her handkerchief to her face as if she +would drive away some horrible image, and then waited a moment as if she +expected her father to speak upon some previously settled subject. +Perceiving, however, that she waited in vain, she with some difficulty +forced herself to say, "Mr. Chevillere, I requested my father to invite +you to our apartments to"--here she seemed overpowered and stopped. +Chevillere seeing her distress, replied, "Madam, you do me too much +honour; but I see you are distressed--let me say then, without any +farther formality, that if there is any way in the world by which I can +lighten that distress, command me." + +"It is about these very emotions that I would speak," she answered; "I +was afraid you might think the scene at the breakfast-table two days +since was got up in some silly girlish affectation, in pretended disgust +at the rudeness of the young men present; but believe me when I say, +their conduct would at many times in my life have furnished me with an +ample fund for laughter; it was not in their manners, it was in the +subject of one of their discourses that I felt so much affected--I tried +to subdue my feelings, but the more I tried the more they overcame me; +the truth is, some painful recollections were awakened"--Here again she +covered her face with her handkerchief, and seemed to be for a moment +almost suffocated. The lady resumed; "Nor should I have thought it +proper to offer this explanation to one who is apparently a perfect +stranger; but, sir, I have known you for some time by reputation." + +"Indeed, madam, I must be indebted to some most flattering mistake for +my present good fortune; I am but just emancipated from college walls +and rules, and have, of course, even a reputation to make for myself." + +"No! no!" said the youthful lady (a beautiful smile passing swiftly over +her sad countenance), "there can be no mistake about it," and drawing +from her work-bag a small bit of paper, rolled up in the shape of a +letter, she presented it to him; adding, "Do you know that +hand-writing?" + +He gazed upon the signature for an instant, and then exclaimed, "My +honoured mother's! by all that's fortunate! then indeed we are old +acquaintances--with your permission; and I am perfectly content with the +reputation which you spoke of, when I know that it originated in such a +source." + +"Your mother was indeed a prudent and a modest, but still a devoted +herald of your good qualities." + +"Believe me, dear lady, that I shall be more proud than ever to appear +in your eyes to deserve some small share of her maternal praise; it was +always inexpressibly dear to me for its own sake, but now I shall +endeavour doubly to deserve it. You saw her, I suppose, at the White +Sulphur Springs?" + +"We did, sir; and a most fortunate circumstance it was for me; for being +an invalid, she did every thing for me that my own mother could have +done. Oh! how I regretted that my mother did not come, merely to have +made her acquaintance." + +"Your mother! is your mother alive, madam?" + +"I hope and trust she is--and well; she was both when we last heard from +her, and that was but a few days since; but your agitation alarms me! +you know no bad news of my mother?" laying her hand upon his arm. + +"None, madam! none. I don't know what put the foolish idea into my head, +but I thought that both your own parents were dead." + +"You alarmed me," said she. "I conjured up every dreadful image--I +imagined that you had been commissioned by some of our friends here, to +break the painful intelligence to me--but you are sure she is well?" + +Chevillere smiled, as he answered "You forget that I am a total stranger +to her, and she to me." + +"True! true! But tell me how you left your charming young cousin +Virginia Bell, of whom I heard your mother speak so often. She told me, +I think, that she was at some celebrated school in North Carolina?" + +"At Salem. She is well, I thank you, or was well when I came through the +town: my mother intends to take her home with her on her return." + +"So she told me," said the lady. + +"She did not tell you, I suppose, for I believe she does not know, that +I have promised the hand of the dear girl in marriage, though she is +scarcely sixteen yet. You must know that I had in college two dear and +beloved friends--the one, Mr. Lamar, you have seen; the other is Mr. +Beverley Randolph, of Virginia--we were both class and room-mates. +Randolph has gone on a journey through the Southern States, as he +pretends; but, I believe, in truth, to take a sly peep at his affianced +bride. If he likes her looks, it is a bargain; and if not, he will pass +it all off for a college joke." Here he was interrupted by the lady +gasping; and on looking in her face, he found she was as pale as marble, +and terribly agitated. She asked her father for water, which he handed +to her instantly, while Chevillere rang violently at the bell. + +"It will all be over in a minute," said she; "it is only a return of the +suffering to which I am subject." + +Many strange ideas flitted through Chevillere's mind during this +interruption of the conversation. He now recollected that one of the +subjects of discourse between the vulgar fops, at the breakfast-table +the previous morning, had been some runaway marriage--and "the fearful +marriage and more fearful death" still sounded in his ears, and now the +same subject again introduced by himself produced like consequences,--he +thought it strange and incomprehensible; he cheered himself, however, +with the reflection, that his mother was not likely to form an intimacy +with persons against whom there was any charge of crime; nay, more, he +felt assured that they must have been well sustained by public opinion, +or introduced to her acquaintance by some judicious friend. + +"If I have unaptly said any thing offensive, I hope Miss St. Clair will +believe me, when I say that such a design was the farthest from my +thoughts." + +"Rest easy on that score," said she; "I am now well again: you said +nothing that it was not proper for you to say, and me to hear, had I not +been a poor silly-headed girl." + +"Well, Miss Frances, I am anxious to hear your opinion of Western +Virginia." + +"My opinion is not worth having; but such as it is, you are welcome to +it, or rather to such observations as a lady might make. First, then, I +was delighted with the wild mountain scenery, and the beautiful valleys +between the mountains; such are those, you will recollect, perhaps, in +which all of those springs are situated. I doubt very much, whether +Switzerland, or Spain, could present as many rich and beautiful +mountain-scenes, as we have passed between Lexington and the White +Sulphur and Salt Sulphur springs. We have similar scenes along and among +the highlands of the Hudson, it is true; perhaps they are more grand and +majestic than these; but then, there is such a stir of busy life, such +an atmosphere of steam, and clouds of canvass, that one is perpetually +called back in spirit to the stir and bustle of a city life. But here, +among the rugged blue mountains of 'old Virginia,' as these people love +to call it, there are the silence and the solitude of nature, which more +befit such contemplations as the scenes induce. We can seat ourselves in +one of the green forests of the mountains we have just left, and imagine +ours to be the first human footsteps, which have ever been imprinted +upon the soil; and we can repose amid the shades and the profound and +solemn silence of those scenes, with a calmness and a serenity, and a +soothing, delightful, melancholy feeling, which no other objects can +produce. The very atmosphere seems teeming with these delightful +impressions; primitive nature seems to have returned upon us with all +its balmy delights,--quiet and peacefulness. The profound solitude would +become tiresome, perhaps, to those who have no resources in unison with +such scenes, or to those who admire and feign to revel in them, because +it is fashionable just now to do so. But to an educated mind, a natural +and feeling, and I may say devout heart, they furnish inexhaustible +food for contemplation, and ever-renewing sources of delight and +improvement." + +"They are such scenes," replied Chevillere, "as I love to dwell upon, +even in imagination. But come, Miss Frances, I see by the hat and mantle +upon the table, that I have interrupted some intended promenade; shall I +have the honour to be of your party?" + +"Unquestionably, young gentleman--you may take the whole journey off my +hands; Frances was only going out among the shops," said Mr. Brumley. + +The plain, but tasteful apparel was soon adjusted, and the youthful pair +sallied forth upon the promised expedition. + +The tide of human life seems to be ever rolling and tossing, and ever +renewing, and then rolling on again. Pestilence, and death, and famine +may do their worst, but the tide is still renewed, and still moves on to +the great sea of eternity. + +Who that walks through the busy and thronged streets of a populous city, +and sees the gay plumage, the fantastic finery, the smiling faces, and +the splendid equipages, could ever form an adequate idea of the real +suffering and wo, which constitute the sum of one day's pains in a city +life? If all the miserable--the lame, the blind, the poor, the dumb, the +aged, and the diseased, could be poured out along one side of the gay +promenades, while fashionables were parading along the other, a much +truer picture of life in a city would be seen. Such were the ideas of +Victor Chevillere, as he escorted his timid and youthful companion +through the gay throng from shop to shop. + +As they emerged into a part of the city less thronged, interchange of +opinions became more practicable. + +"I am impatient to hear your opinion of the Southerns," said Chevillere; +"you had the finest opportunity imaginable to see our southern +aristocrats at the springs." + +"Oh! I was delighted with the little society in which I moved there," +replied she; "and, but for one unhappy, and most untoward circumstance +for me, my enjoyments would have far surpassed any thing which I had +ever laid out for myself again in this world." + +"You excite my curiosity most strangely," said he; "and, if it would not +appear impertinent or intrusive, I should like to know two things: +first, what untoward circumstance you speak of? and next, what great bar +has been placed between you and happiness, that you should have laid off +so small a share for yourself in all time to come?" + +"Oh! sir, your questions are painful to me, even to think of; how much +worse then must have been the reality of those circumstances, which +could poison the small share of happiness which is allotted to us under +the most favourable circumstances. I would gratify your curiosity if I +could, but indeed, indeed, sir, I cannot now relate to you the whole +history of my life; and nothing less could explain to you the cruel +train of circumstances by which I am surrounded, and from which there is +no escape." + +"One question you can, and I am sure you will, answer me. + +"Could a devoted friend, with a cool head and a resolute hand, effect +nothing in freeing you from this persecution?" + +"I will answer you, sir, most plainly. You misunderstand my allusions, +in the first place; for I am not persecuted now, nor can I say that I +have been. It may seem enigmatical to you, but it is all that I can in +prudence say. There is no person on this side of the grave who can +relieve me from the cause of those emotions which you have unhappily +witnessed; nay, more! if those persons were to rise from the dead, who +were, unfortunately for themselves and for me, the cause of my painful +situation, my condition would be incomparably worse than it is now." + +"Painful, indeed, must those circumstances be, and incomprehensible to +me, which seem to have been produced by the death of some one; and yet, +if that person should rise from the dead, you would be more miserable +than ever," said Chevillere. + +During the latter part of this speech, the lady, as was often her +custom, pressed her handkerchief to her face, as if she would by +mechanical pressure drive off disagreeable images from the mind; and +then said, "Now, sir, let us drop this subject." + +"One more question, and then I have done; and believe me, it is not idly +asked. Were the circumstances you spoke of developed so recently as your +visit to the Virginia springs?" + +"Oh! by no means, sir; the untoward circumstance there that I spoke of, +was the frequent and unexpected presence of one who forcibly reminded me +of all the painful particulars; and what made it so much worse was, that +wherever I moved, he moved; he followed the same route round the +watering-places, and seemed purposely to throw himself in my way; and +even now I dread every moment to encounter him; and the more so, as I +have heard lately that his mind is unsettled. Poor gentleman, I pity +him." + +By this time they had arrived in a part of the city from which +Washington's monument could be seen, elevating its majestic column above +a magnificent grove of trees. + +"Suppose we extend our walk," said the gentleman, "to yonder beautiful +grove." + +To this the lady readily assented. They found rude seats, constructed +perhaps by some romantic swain; or by some country-bred youths, who came +there, after the toils of the day, to refresh themselves with the pure +and invigorating breezes which sweep the green, fresh from their dear +and longed-for homes. Here they seated themselves, to enjoy this +delightful mixture of town and country. + +"This is a noble monument to the great and good father of our Republic; +and worthy of the high-minded and public-spirited people of Baltimore," +said Chevillere. "Give me such evidence as this of their veneration for +his memory, and none of your new-fangled nonsense about enshrining him +in the hearts of his countrymen. Let him be enshrined in the hearts of +his countrymen as individuals; but let cities, communities, and states +enshrine him in marble. These speak to the eyes; and hundreds, and +thousands will stand here, amid these beautiful shades, and think of him +with profound veneration, who would never otherwise look into any other +kind of history. The effect of such works as these is admirable; not +only in showing veneration for the great dead, but also upon the living, +in purifying the heart and ennobling its impulses." + +"Baltimore, indeed, has set a noble example," said the lady. + +"And richly will she be rewarded. A few years hence, the far West will +be brought to her doors; and she will grow up to be a mighty city. +Standing on the middle ground, between the angry sectionists of the +North and the South, she will present a haven in which the rivals may +meet, and learn to estimate each other's good qualities, and bury or +forget those errors which are inseparable from humanity. But see! Miss +St. Clair," said he, "what a singular looking man is just emerging from +within the column!" + +"Heavens!" said the lady, in extreme terror, "that is the person! Do +take me from this place! I would not encounter him for the world!" + +She was too late; for already had the object of her apprehension caught +a glimpse of her person; and no sooner had he done so, than with rapid +strides he advanced directly towards them. The lady shook with terror +and agitation. When he had approached almost in a direct line to within +some forty or fifty feet, he riveted a long and steady gaze upon the +lady, and another of shorter duration upon her companion, still walking +onward. Victor stood and gazed after him until he was entirely without +the enclosure. + +He was a well-dressed man, apparently about fifty-five years of age, +tall, and straight in his carriage as an Indian; his hair was slightly +silvered; his countenance expressed wildness, but was steady and +consistent in the expression of present purpose; his eye was dark and +deep, and, when you looked upon it steadily for a short time, appeared +as if you were gazing at two black holes in his head; his complexion was +sallow; its characteristics--energy and deep determination. + +"And that is the maniac?" said Chevillere, in a half-abstracted mood. + +"I said not so," replied the lady; "but he is, indeed, that most +unfortunate man, whose whole business seems to be to haunt me in my +travels; otherwise our meeting has been most strangely accidental and +untoward." + +"If he is in ill health," said Victor, "he may have gone to the Springs +without intending to meet you; and now, when the season is nearly over, +and he is likewise on his return, there is nothing more natural than his +visiting this monument--every stranger does so,--do not, therefore, +aggravate your distress by supposing these meetings to have been sought +on his part. I will endeavour to find him, and demand of him whether he +seeks to annoy an unhappy invalid by pursuing her from place to place, +and what are his motives." + +"Oh! sir, for Heaven's sake, do not think of such a thing. He is a +powerful and a fearful man, when in his right mind; and even in his +derangement, might do you some harm, especially if you went as +commissioned by me. Besides, sir, if he was undoubtedly sane and +respectful, he might demand, as a right, to see me, and converse with me +too. Nay, he might possibly have some claim to control my actions; but +you see he does not. Let him alone, therefore, and do not involve +yourself in any of my troubles. I am inextricably entangled, and +pinioned down to a certain routine of suffering, perhaps unexampled, and +that too by no crime of my own." + +"Dear lady," said Chevillere, taking her hand, as he saw her blue eye +filling with tears, and just ready to run over; "you cannot imagine how +much I feel interested for you; and what I am about to say, as it will +risk your displeasure, is the very best evidence that I can give of my +deep interest in your future peace and contentment. Believe me, dear +lady, that though I am young, and may be inexperienced,--I am not an +indifferent observer of the secret machinery of men's actions. I have +been a steady observer and a thinker for myself, without regard to the +opinion of individuals or the world, when I was conscious that I was +right, and that they were wrong. Listen to me, then, with patience, +while I give you my opinion, with regard to the difficulties which seem +to be accumulating around you. Of course, this opinion must be a general +one; as the circumstances upon which it is founded are only such as are +of a general character. Nor do I seek for more confidence on your part +towards me; I cannot expect that you should unfold the intimate +relations of your family and your friends to a comparative stranger. +This, then, is my (of course vague) opinion--I have generally observed, +in my intercourse with mankind, that the most trying situations and the +deepset distress are often brought about by a small mistake-- +misfortune--or crime in the beginning. The latter of these I would defy +the most malignant misanthrope to look upon your countenance and charge +you with; one of the two former, then, is the point upon which all your +distress, and ill health, and melancholy hangs. My advice then is, upon +this general view of the case, that you go back to that point, and +rectify it as speedily as possible; and do it boldly and fearlessly, as +I am sure you can. Burst asunder these chains that fetter you, whatever +they may be." + +"I see," said the lady (tears fast stealing down her cheeks), "that I am +always destined to make the same unhappy impression on every +acquaintance, male or female, valued or unvalued. Before I have grown +many degrees in their good opinion, some of these unlucky things are +seen to develop themselves, and then I am subject to the greatest +misfortune to which an honourable and a sensitive mind can be exposed; +that is, to be supposed weak or wicked, though at the same time +conscious of pure and upright motives. To be plain with you, sir, I must +tell you again, that in order for me to be relieved of that which +trammels me in some shape or other at every step, _the grave must give +up its own; and the law must give up its own; and the avaricious must +annul their decrees; and the dead of half a century must undo their +work; and the wisdom of the sage must be instilled into the mind of a +child; and the slanders, and the wild and wicked fancies of the lunatic +must be convinced by reason or actual demonstration of the foregoing +things_--before the point you speak of can be seized upon, and turned to +my advantage." + +"Then, indeed, is it a hard case, and I will not distress you further on +the subject; I will not add my persecution to that of others--I will not +say enemies; for one so young and so artless, so innocent and so +unfortunate, can have no enemies." + +"And therein consists part of my distress," replied she. "Is it not +strange that I have not an enemy living, to my knowledge, who has ever +wilfully injured me in word or deed? unless, indeed, it be yon wretched +old man, whose mind is now, and whose heart, I fear, has always been +wrong. Now, sir, let me beg of you, in future, whenever any of these +little occurrences embarrass me during my stay here, to take no notice +of them whatever; let me move along as quietly and as unobtrusively as +possible. I love the retirement of the country, and to the country and +retirement I will go. My mother loves me, and knows all my actions, and +their motives too; and even my father loves me in his own way. They will +be my companions for the remainder of a short and weary life." + +The colloquy was cut short by their return to the hotel. + +Lamar, as has been already announced, was a humorous gentleman, and +would not lose an opportunity of enjoying the remarks of one so new to +the busy world and its ways as Damon. He was not long in finding out the +retired quarters of the gentleman of the west. At the bar-room he +inquired if there was such a lodger in the house. + +"No," said the barkeeper (so are these functionaries called), "but he is +expected every minute." + +Lamar seated himself near the files of morning papers which lay strewed +along a reading-desk, and awaited the arrival of his singular new +acquaintance. In a few minutes Damon stalked in. A new black hat and +blue frock-coat had so much altered his appearance, that Lamar did not +recognise him until he took off his hat, wiped his dripping brows with +the handkerchief which he still carried in it, and then, seeing Lamar +for the first time, waved it over his head. + +"Hurrah! for old Kentuck!" was his characteristic exclamation. + +"Why, Damon, you have been under the tailor's hands," said Lamar. + +"I believe I was in Old Sam's hands last night; but come up-stairs, and +I will tell you all about it." + +They proceeded to the third story into a small apartment, dimly lighted +through a single window. Damon, after seating Lamar, threw aside his +coat, and drawing from under the head of his bed the one in which Lamar +had first seen him, he quickly inserted his arms through what remained +of the garment,--the lappels were torn off on each side down to the +waist, so that all the front of the coat was gone, leaving nothing but +the long straight back, collar, and sleeves. What remained was smeared +with mud, and torn in many places. He next proceeded to pull out of his +pocket a collar, and parts of two sleeves of a shirt, spreading them on +the bed, as a milliner would do her finery; and holding out both his +hands with the palms upward in the manner of an orator,---- + +"There!" said he, "that's what I call a pretty tolerable neat job, to +shirt a stranger the first night he comes to town." + +Lamar, who by this time began to see a little into the affair, asked, +"But, Damon, how did all this happen? you seem to have been +discomfited." + +"Now I'll be smashed if you ain't off the trail, stranger, for you see +I've only showed you half yet." + +Upon which he drew from his other pocket a pair of spectacles, bent, +bloody, and broken,--then a wig,--and, lastly, the remains of a little +black rattan with a gold head and chain broken into inches. He displayed +these on the bed as he had done the others; only drawing his +handkerchief as a line between them. Upon this he fell, rather than sat, +back into a chair just behind him, and burst out into a loud, long, and +hearty laugh, seemingly excited afresh at the sight of his spoils. + +"Well, now," said he, "I wish I may be horn swoggled, if ever I thought +to live to see the day when I should '_sculp_' a Christian man; but +there it is, you see; I left his head as clean as a peeled onion." + +"But how? and when? and who was your antagonist in this frolic?" + +"Frolic!" exclaimed Damon; "well, now, it's what I would call a regular +row; I never saw a prettier knock down and drag out in all the days of +my life, even in old Kentuck." + +"But do tell me," said Lamar, "was anybody seriously hurt?" + +"There was several chaps in the circus last night with their heels +uppermost, besides them suple chaps on the horses; I can tell you that." + +"Oh! you were in the circus, were you?" + +"Yes; and there was a rip-roaring sight of slight o'hand and tumblin +work there, besides their ground and lofty tumblin they had in the +handbills." + +"You did some of the ground tumbling yourself then?" asked Lamar. + +"No, I did the slight o'hand work, as you may see by the skin that's +gone off these four marrow-bones." + +"And who did the ground tumbling?" asked Lamar. + +"There was a good deal done there last night; the chaps in the ring and +the chaps in the pit all did a little at it; flummuck me if I didn't +think the heels of the whole house would be uppermost before they were +done; what an everlastin pity 'tis, these critters elbows ain't as suple +as their heels." + +"Then you think all the people of Baltimore a little limber in the +heels." + +"I can't say as to that; but I wish I may be hackled, if there was not +so much flyin up of the heels there last night, that I was fidlin and +tumblin all night in my sleep, jumpin through hoops, and tanglin my legs +in their long red garters, which the circus riders jumped over; and then +I thought they had my poor old horse, Pete Ironsides, jumpin over bars, +and leapin through fiery balloons, until at last they smashed his head +right into a tar barrel, and then maybe I didn't fly into a tear down +snortin rage! I was crammed full of fight then, and so I got to slingin +my arms about in my sleep, till I knocked out that head-board +there,--then I woke up, and I wish I may be hanged if I didn't think it +was all a dream; till I found that the forepart of my coat had run away +from the tail, and that I had got an odd collar among my linen. And then +on t'other hand I began to think it was all true, and rung the bell, and +sent the nigger down to the stable to see if Pete had his head in a tar +barrel sure enough; presently the nigger came back, grinen and giglin, +and said Pete had gone to the country two hours ago; so I run the little +nigger down stairs, and sent my old boots after him to get blacked; and +as I was dodgin through that long entry there, I saw the bottles, and +tumblers, and lemon-skins; so ho! said I, there's the mad dog that bit +me last night." + +"Then you _began_ in a frolic at least," said Lamar. + +"Only a small breeze or so; a few tumblers of punch, made of that +doubled and twisted Irish whiskey; it was none of your Kentuck low +wines, run off at a singlin, for I have made many a barrel. It was as +strong as _pison_, and it raised the Irish in me pretty quick, or rather +old Kentuck, for I jumped up and kicked the table over, and broke +things, afore I would have been cleverly primed with the low wines." + +"Were you drinking all alone?" + +"No; there was half-a-dozen milksops set down; I believe they board +here; but no sooner had I kicked the table over, and begun to smash +things a little, than they all sneaked out one by one, until they were +all gone but one, and I rather suspicion that he's a blackleg, for he +stuck pretty close to me till the row at the circus was over, and then +when I had got clear, he come up here with me, and sent for the chap who +furnished me with my new hat and coat; but it wasn't all for nothin, as +he thought, for he presently proposed that we should go down street a +piece, and see some fine fellers, he said, who were friends of his, and +who were going to have a night of it. Well, said I, 'a little hair of +the dog is good for the bite,' and down we went to a large room up four +pair of stairs in a dark alley. And there, sure enough, there was a +merry-looking set of fellers; but you see they overdid the job, for I +soon smelt a rat; they most all of 'em pretended to be too etarnal +drunk. I said nothin though, but 'possumed too a little; only sipped a +little wine, and that made me straight instead of crooked. But at last +they proposed a game of cards. Well, said I, I'm not much of a dabster +at it, but if the stake ain't high, I don't care if I do take a fling or +two; so down we set to it, and they pulled out their cards for loo. +Stop! stop! said I, we must have _new cards_; I never play with other +men's cards. They began to suspicion, maybe, that they had got the wrong +sow by the ear, but they sent and got some new packs, and then we took +a smash or two at the game, and I'm a Cherokee if I didn't give 'em a +touch or two of old Kentuck. I won all the money they had, but it wasn't +much, and they made me pay most of that for the refreshments, as they +said the winners always paid for them things." + +"But you have not yet told me how you got into the row," said Lamar; "I +wish to know the whole story--come, let us have it?" + +"Well, it's soon told. As I was telling you, the black-leg chap and I +went to the circus, and we had'nt set long in the pit before there was a +young gal come in, and set on one end of the same bench. She was'nt so +ugly neither, but I took pity on her because she looked like a country +gal, and there was no women settin near her. After a while, three chaps +come down from the boxes above, and set right down by the gal, and began +to push one another over against her; at last the one next her, and he +was the same chap you saw in the stage yesterday morning, only he had on +them green specks--well, he put his arm round her, and called her his +dear, and all that; well, you see, I had heard tell of these city gals, +and I thought if she was pleased it was none of my business; but +presently I heard her sobbing and crying, with her apron up to her eyes, +and she told them they were no gentlemen, or they would not treat a poor +girl so away from home. So the Irish whiskey, or old Kentuck, I don't +know which, began to rise in my throat. I jumped up and raised the +war-whoop. 'Old Kentuck for ever!' said I; and with that, I took the +back of my hand and knocked the chap's hat off, and his 'sculp' went +with it. Call your soul your own, said I; he jumped up and gin me a wipe +with that little black switch across the nose; it had hardly cleverly +touched me, afore I took him a sneezer, between the two eyes, glasses +and all; he dropped over like a rabbit when you knock 'em behind the +head; I rather suspicion he thought a two year old colt's heels had got +a taste of his cocoanut. + +"Then the other two took it up, and both on 'em seized me, and swore +they would carry me to the police office; but I took 'em at cross +purposes, for while one of them held the collar of the old home-made, I +fetched the other a kick that sent him over the benches a rip roaring, I +tell you. The other little chap was hangin on to me like a leech to a +horse's leg; I jist picked him up and throwed him into the ring upon the +sand, for I did'nt want to hurt him: but then the real officers come up +and clamped me. I wished myself back in old Kentuck bad enough then; but +while they held me there, like a dog that had been killen sheep, the +little gal came up to me, and said she would go and bring her father, to +try and get me off; and then she asked me where I lived,--I told her in +old Kentuck; then she asked me where I put up, and I put my mouth to her +ear and told her; and I could hardly get it away again without givin her +a smack, for she would pass for a pretty gal even in old Kentuck; well, +this morning, her and her father were here by times to thank me, and the +old man invited me to stop at his house as I go home; it's on the same +road we came down yesterday." + +"Did the girl go to the circus by herself?" asked Lamar. + +"No; the old man stopped at the door to buy a ticket, and she went on, +and lost him." + +"But you have not told me how you came by this scalp," said Lamar, +taking up the large black scratch with curled locks. + +"Oh! you see, I grabbled that in the scuffle, and slipped it into my +pocket." + +"How did you get away from the officers?" + +"Oh! that's the way I lost the old 'home-made;' you see they began to +pull me over the benches, and I told 'em I would walk myself if they +would let me, and so they did, but they held on to my coat. I kept +pretty cool until they got outside of the house, and then a crowd +gathered round, and they began cologueing together, until I saw my way +out a little, and then I jist slipped my foot behind one of 'em and +pushed him down, and tumbled the other feller over him, and then I +showed them a clean pair of heels. They raised the whoop--and I raised +my tail like a blue-lick buck, for you see I had'nt much coat to keep it +down;--dash me if it was'nt tail all the way to the collar, and stood +out straight behind like it was afraid of my pantaloons. I made a few +turns to throw 'em off the trail, and then with a curly whoop, and a +hurrah! for old Kentuck, I got to my own door, where I found the +black-leg chap. Now you know the whole business, and I suppose you can +tell me whether there is any danger of their finding me out in that +little excuse for a coat that blasted tailor, who was so stingy with his +cloth, made me." + +"I should suppose there was none in the world. Have no fear on that +head; there is not a magistrate in town who would not honour you in his +heart for what you did." + +"I should think so too, if they had any gals of their own. The fact is, +if there was a little knockin down and draggin out once in a while among +them dandy chaps, they would take better care how they sleeved decent +men's daughters." + +"Well, good day, Damon," said Lamar; "send for me or Chevillere if you +get into trouble." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +It will readily be perceived, by the reader, that Beverley Randolph, the +person to whom the following letter was written, is one of the three +southerns. + + + VICTOR CHEVILLERE TO B. RANDOLPH. + + Baltimore, 18--. + + "DEAR RANDOLPH, + + "Five long years have we lived under the same roof, pursued the + same studies, or rather the same studies pursued us;--engaged in + the same dissipation, drank of the same sour wine, shed the same + vinous tears, discussed the same dinners and suppers, enjoyed the + same dances,--stag dances, I mean,--played the same music, + belonged to the same society, and, I was going to say, fallen in + love with the same nymphs; but that brings me to the subject of + this letter. I am in for it! Yes, you may well look surprised! It + is a fact! Who is the lady? you ask. I will tell you,--that is, + if I can; her name is St. Clair. O! she is the most lovely, + modest, weeping, melancholy, blue-eyed, fair-haired, and + mysterious little creature you ever beheld. If you could only see + her bend that white neck, and rest her head upon that small hand, + her eye lost in profound thought, until the lower lid just + overflows, and a tear steals gently down that most lovely cheek; + and then see her start up stealthily to join again in the + conversation, with the most innocent consciousness of guilt + imaginable;--but what is it that brings these tears to sadden the + heart of one so youthful and so innocent? 'There's the rub,' as + Hamlet says. Yourself, Lamar, and I were unanimous, as you + perhaps remember, that men generally suffer in proportion to + their crimes, even in this world. I here renounce that opinion, + with all others founded upon college logic. A half-taught college + boy, in the pride of his little learning and stubborn opinions, + is little better than an innocent. But, you ought to see this + fair sufferer in order fully to appreciate the foregoing opinion. + You would see child-like innocence--intelligence--benevolence; in + short, all that is good, in her sad but lovely countenance. + + "But to return to college logic; what is it? Conclusions without + premises, ends without means; and opinions adopted without any of + the previous and inevitable pains and penalties attendant upon + the acquirement of human knowledge, or, in other words, without + _experience_! I would take one of our old break-of-day club to + tell the flavour of a ham, or the difference between a bottle of + Bordeaux and Seignette brandy, as soon as any one; but what else + did they know? or rather what else did we know? Nothing! not + literally nothing, but truly nothing. If I now wanted a judicious + opinion upon any subject, I would go to an experienced man! one + that had suffered in order to learn; an original thinker for + practical ends. + + "You ask me concerning my cousin, Virginia Bell; her with whose + miniature, infantile as it was, you fell so desperately in love, + and whom, yet unseen, I promised to yourself. She flourishes, + Randolph, and is as beautiful as you could desire; she is yet + unengaged in heart or hand, so far as I know; but _you_ know, + that the little sly, dear, delightful creatures will complete a + whole life-time of love affairs, while fathers, and brothers, and + guardians, and affianced lords _unloved_, may be looking on none + the wiser. And they will look as innocent, and as demure, and as + child-like, as my dear beautiful little enigma of the Black + Mantle. + + "You say you 'hate Yankees;'--my dear fellow, you forget that you + and I would be considered Yankees in London or Paris. The + national denomination we have abroad, is 'the nation of Yankees,' + or the 'universal Yankee nation.' 'Tis galling to our southern + pride, I grant you, that we should be a mere appendage, in the + eyes of a foreigner, to a people who are totally dissimilar to + us. We must brook it until we can outdo them, in literature at + least. They are (say many) retailers of wooden nutmegs--unfair + dealers, and a canting, snivelling, hypocritical set; tell me + where the country is, where the population is growing + dense--where means of living are scarce--land high--trades + overstocked--professions run down--and manufactures injured by + foreign competition, in which the little arts of trade, and + 'tricks upon travellers' do not also flourish. Let the population + of your 'old dominion' be once multiplied by wholesome + legislation, or rather let the yearly emigrants be induced to + stay in the land of their sires, and the same cunning usages will + prevail. As to the 'canting and snivelling,' you must allow + something for the descendants of the Pilgrims. Besides, tell me, + liberal sir, if you have not, in the very bosom of your great + valley, as genuine Presbyterians and Roundheads as ever graced + the Rump Parliament, or sung a psalm on horseback. And to give + the devil his due, these same Presbyterians are no bad citizens + of a popular government. But there is the lady of the Black + Mantle. Observe that she was born north of the Potomac, yet I + would wager any thing that you could not look steadily upon her + face for one minute, and curse the Yankees as I have heard you + do. I know you will say, therein lies the cause of my sudden + conversion to Yankeeism. By no means! I had begun to find out + that the Yankees had souls like other people, before I had ever + seen her. + + "I approve of your determination to travel, and that even to the + south, rather than not to travel at all; but is there not some + danger lest a Virginian should become more bigoted, by travelling + among a people still more bigoted than himself. I know your + disposition; it is to hug up your dear southern prejudices within + your own bosom. Lamar and I are becoming liberal, and then we + will cast out devils for you. Do not forget that I shall have a + mother and cousin there by the time you arrive at the high hills + of the Santee. Lamar has taken desperately to a six foot + Kentuckian, as fine a specimen as you could wish to see; he is + what may be called an American yeoman of the west. + + "Yours truly, + + "VICTOR CHEVILLERE." + + * * * * * + + + B. RANDOLPH TO V. CHEVILLERE. + + "Salem, North Carolina, 18--. + + "DEAR CHEVILLERE, + + "Thus far I have flown before the wind--sand, I should have said. + At any rate, here I am, in this town of German religionists. Here + dwells the first unanimous people I have ever seen. They are + Moravians; and every thing is managed by this little community + for the common benefit. They have one tavern, one store, one + doctor, one tanner, one potter, and so on in every trade or + occupation. Besides these, they have a church and a flourishing + female seminary. The latter is conducted upon the utilitarian + plan--each lady, in turn, has to perform the offices of cook, + laundress, and gardener; and, I need hardly say, that it is + admirably conducted. After I had visited all these + establishments--for every respectable looking stranger is waited + upon by some one appointed for that purpose to conduct him + thither,--I returned to the large, cool, and comfortable inn, and + had scarcely seated myself to enjoy the comforts of nicotiana, + when a small billet was handed to me by a handsomely dressed and + polite black servant with a glazed hat, which not a little + astonished me, you may be sure. I had not a living acquaintance + in the whole state that I knew of; except, indeed, old Father + Bagby, the master of ceremonies to the little community. It could + not be a challenge from some Hans Von Puffenburg of these quiet + burghers: so I concluded it must be a billet-doux from some of + the beautiful creatures at the seminary on the hill. You can + easily imagine, therefore, that I was no long time in tearing it + open; when, behold! it was, in good truth, from a lady. Can you + guess who? No. Then take the note itself entire. + + "'DEAR SIR, + + "'If, as I believe, you are the same Mr. Randolph who was a + room and class-mate of my son Victor Chevillere, in college, + I will be very glad to see you. The servant will show you to + our little parlour. + + "'M. J. CHEVILLERE.' + + "'I am the luckiest dog alive,' said I, jumping nearly over the + negro's head, 'Is your young mistress here also.' + + "'Yes, masta, she is just leaving school for home, so please you.' + + "'Please me!' said I; 'to be sure it does please me; I never was + more pleased in all my life. For I was just about to forswear + these eternal pine-barrens and sand-hills, and face to the + right-about. So lead the way to your two mistresses.' Whereupon he + led the way, hat in hand, to a room in the inn; and there, + Chevillere, sat your honoured mother. Commend me to our southern + matrons in high-life. Not that I know any thing against your + northern ladies, old or young; but there is in our mothers a mild + dignity, hospitality, and politeness, which makes every one at + home. But I need not describe to you your own. But I will not + promise you as much of the little blushing southern brunette, who + gracefully arose on your mother's saying, 'Mr. Randolph, my + adopted daughter Virginia Bell Chevillere.' I saw in an instant + that you had told her of our college bargain, and my falling in + love with her miniature. By-the-by, you ought to break that + slanderous miniature, or the head of the dauber who perpetrated + it. Her beauty never could be delineated on ivory or canvass. Can + any one paint the living, breathing soul of a very young and + beautiful female? No! and I'll tell you why. If a man had the + genius to do so, the very enthusiasm which always attends it would + throw him into very unpainter-like raptures at the sight of such a + one; and that's the true reason why artists so seldom succeed in + delineating young females. A precious piece of logic for you. But + to return to the original of the picture; there was a blushing + consciousness about the little Bell, as everybody calls her, which + was truly charming. Her jet black hair and eyes shone like ebony; + her brilliant white teeth and brunette complexion were radiant + with blushing smiles at this first reception of her long-promised + husband. There was no girlish pouting, or childish affectation, as + is too often the case when the parties have been laid off for each + other; she was at the same time modest and self-possessed; her + fairy figure glided about, as if her little fairy foot scarcely + touched the carpet. I tell you these things, because you asked me + to do so in all plainness of speech. Your cousin is all that a + cousin of my dearest friend should be--lovely, intelligent, and + interesting. + + "Your mother intended to wait here for some male friend, who has + diverged a day's ride from their route home from the Springs; but + she has now determined to leave this place to-morrow. I shall + escort them as far as the Chevilleres' proud family seat, + Belville. You will, therefore, hear no more complaints of the + dreariness of the eternal pine-barrens, or the fever-and-ague + appearance of the poor; except, that I will say now, once for all, + that the poor of a slave-country are the most miserable and the + most wretched of all the human family. The grades of society in + this state are even farther apart than in Virginia. Here, there is + one immense chasm from the rich to the abject poor. In the valley + of Virginia, or in the country where you are, there are regular + gradations. The very happiest, most useful, and most industrious + class of a well-regulated community, is here wanting. Their place + is filled up by negroes; in consequence of which, your + aristocrats are more aristocratic, and your poor still poorer. The + slaves create an immeasurable distance between these two classes, + which can never be brought together until this separating cause be + removed. You know I am no _abolitionist_, in the incendiary + meaning of the term; yet I cannot deny from you and myself, that + they are an incubus upon our prosperity. This we would boldly + deny, if a Yankee uttered it in our hearing; but to ourselves, we + must e'en confess it. If I am, therefore, an abolitionist, it is + not for conscience-sake, but from policy and patriotism. + + "We can never rival those northern people, until we assume the + modern tactics in this provincial warfare; that is, throw aside + all useless baggage, and concentrate our energies upon a single + point at a time. I have done with this theme for the present, and + will repair to your friends. + + "Your mother knows nothing of our college-treaty, therefore she + little thinks what a masked enemy she has let into the camp. + Little Bell smiles, and enjoys our mutual understanding highly. + But there lies the mischief; she smiles too innocently, and too + calmly, and too openly, and has lost too much of that blushing + mood in which she first received me; and I have thought several + times that the little arch gipsy was laughing at me. If she had + not been your cousin, and my affianced bride for the last five + years, I should have taken leave. _You_ know I never could stand + to be exhibited; and would prefer being shot, at any time, to + being laughed at. I shall watch the little fairy, and see if she + is making me her butt; if so, I will see them safe to Belville, + and then--you shall hear from me again. + + "You requested me to point out to you any thing in which I should + observe that the Carolinas differed from Virginia. I must say + then, with the judges, when they are pronouncing sentence, + 'however painful may be the duty imposed upon me,' that your + country appears more miserable the more deeply I penetrate it. Not + that you lack splendid mansions, and magnificent cotton-fields + varied with flowers, rich and tropical gardens, the orange and the + 'pride of India,' your wild and fragrant swamp-flowers, princely + hospitality, accomplished men and women,--not that you lack any of + these. But the seeds of decay are sown at the very point where + energy--enterprise--national + pride--industry--economy--amusements--gayety--and above all, + intelligence, should grow, namely, with your yeomanry! + + "I would not, if I could, have your young men and women + transformed to spinning-jennies. Heaven forefend! I would have + your lowest class of whites elevated to the dignity of intelligent + and independent yeomen. How would I effect it? you ask. Apply the + grand lever by which all human movement is brought about--hope! + Has a poor North Carolinian hope? See him, on some cloudless + morning, when the glorious rays of the sun are gladdening the + hearts even of the unintelligent creation, standing within the + door of his pine-log cabin, his hands in his pockets, his head + leaning against the door in melancholy mood. Some half-dozen pale + and swollen-faced children are sitting on a bench against the side + of the hut, endeavouring to warm away the ague in the sunbeams. + The wife lies sick in bed. The little fields are barely marked out + with a rotten and broken-down pole-fence, and overgrown with + broom, or Bermuda-grass, and blackberry-bushes. A miserable horse + stands beyond the fence, doubtful whether there is better grazing + within or without. A little short-cotton and sweet-potato patch, + flanked by an acre of scrubby Indian corn; and, added to these, + five poor sheep, two goats, and a lean cow, complete the inventory + of his goods and chattels. You have all his cause for _hope_! You + have, too, his causes for fear. He has in his pocket a summons for + debt, contracted for sugar and tea, and other needful comforts, + for his sick wife and children. + + "Had he any cause for hope? God knows he had none in this world. + But you will say the picture is exaggerated. As I am a true man + and a southern, it is not. + + "I was benighted, and sought lodgings in the very house I have + described. 'Who lives here,' said I, on riding to the door. 'One + Fifer,' said a white-headed, half-grown girl, so weak that she + could scarcely stand. I sat up nearly all night with the sick + woman and children. On relieving the poor man's embarrassments in + the morning, I received the heart-felt thanks of the wretched + family; and almost rode my horse to exhaustion, to get away from + the wretched image imprinted on my memory. + + "Is this man a sample of the yeomanry of your country? I say, in + deep and profound sorrow, I believe that he is. Where, then, does + the evil lie? This is a question which every southern must soon + ask himself, and one which Nullification cannot answer. + + "_Here_, then, is a triumphant answer--an answer in deeds, instead + of words--in the happiness, the prosperity, and the substantial + wealth of these simple and primitive Moravians. Here, where I am + writing, is an industrious, intelligent, and healthy community, in + the very heart of all the misery I before described. Let us then + improve by the lesson, seek out the sources of their prosperity, + find the point where their plans diverge from ours, and, my word + for it (if there be no reason in the case), we become a great, a + flourishing, and a happy people. + + "But I must take one small exception to the Moravian political + economy. They require all the young gentlemen to be enrolled on + one list, and all the willing young ladies on another; and the + first gentleman on the list must marry the first lady; so that + they are drafted for marriage, as our Virginia militia are drafted + for duty. I do not know that this is certainly true; but if it be + true, that a youth must marry the first that comes up, _nolens + volens_, I would put in a plump negative. This excepted, they are + worthy of all imitation, even to the drinking of home-brewed in + their pewter mugs, and smoking long pipes around their + council-table, when their little legislature meets. + + "There are no slaves in this little nation, and labour is no + disgrace. In the extensive grounds, belonging to the female + seminary, I saw many pretty little arms bared to work; not + Moravian young ladies only, but elegant and aristocratic young + ladies from all parts of the southern states, without distinction, + and of every sect and denomination; and I never saw more beautiful + complexions. The little gipsies would come in from their work in + the morning, blooming as roses. Here is a complete refutation of + the assertion, that the whites cannot work in a southern climate; + here are as fine lands, and as fine husbandry and horticulture, as + can be found in any country; here are the first paved streets + south of Petersburg; here the first town, in which water is + conveyed by pipes, as in Philadelphia; here the first stone-fences + and grass-plots. + + "Your mother and little Bell are cheerful and happy. Indeed, the + latter looks as if she had never suffered for a moment. How happy + a life is that of a girl at a boarding-school, exempt from all the + pains and penalties of collegians--the 'hair-breadth 'scapes'--the + formal trials for riding other people's horses,--ringing church + bells,--building fences across the road,--hanging cake and beer + signs at magistrates' and elders' doors,--burnings in effigy, + fights at country weddings and dances,--exploring expeditions in + the mountains and caverns, professedly for geological, but really + for depredating purposes,--shooting house-dogs,--expeditions upon + the water, and skating upon the ice,--swimming, duelling, + fighting, biting, scratching,--firing crackers and cannons in + college entries,--heavy meat suppers, with oceans of strong + waters,--and then headache, thirst, soda and congress-water in the + morning, and perhaps a visit from the doctor or the + president,--presentments by the grand jury for playing at cards + and overturning apple-carts,--personating ghosts with + winding-sheets, and getting knocked on the head for their + pains,--serenading sweethearts, and taking linchpins out of + wagons,--making sober people drunk and drunken people + sober,--battling with watchmen, constables, and sheriffs,--running + away from the tailors and tavern-keepers,--kissing country girls, + and battling with their beaux,--tricks upon the tutors, and + shaving the tails of the president's horses,--stealing away the + lion or the elephant at an animal show, and pelting strolling + players,--putting hencoops upon churches, painting out signs, and + carrying off platforms,--throwing hot rolls under the table, and + biscuit at the steward's head,--playing musical seals at prayers, + and saying prayers at rows,--gambling in study hours, and filching + at recitation,--having one face for the president and another for + the fellows,--and, finally, being sent home with a letter to your + father, informing him that you are corrupting the morals of your + _teachers_ in these pranks. These are a few of the classical + studies into which the dear little innocents are never initiated, + while they form no small part of collegiate education in America, + as we can testify from experience. + + "Many a fine fellow makes the first trial of a stump speech, with + an extract from an Irish sermon at a drunken row; his head perhaps + stuck three feet through the window of the little bar in a tavern, + and his audience sitting round on the beer-tables, armed with + sticks, stones, and staves. One, who with drunken gravity keeps + his head and stick moving all the while, says, that he concurs + fully in opinion with the speaker; though, if asked what the + subject is, he swears it is the Greek question. The question and + the laugh go round. One avers stoutly that it is Catholic + emancipation; a third vociferates that it is a complete + justification of Brutus for killing Caesar; a fourth thinks it a + part of the recitation of the day, while the most drunken man of + the company jumps down from his seat on the table, and swears that + he can see through the fellow clearly, 'it's nothing but sleight + of hand;' with which he exclaims, as he rubs his eyes and looks + round, 'Bless my soul, boys, how drunk you all are; come, I'll + help you to your room before matters get worse,' leading off the + soberest man in the room. The party then breaks up in a regular + row; I think I see the _old_ fellows now, marching off two and two + with the true would-be sober and drunken gravity, every man + thinking that he is completely cheating his neighbour, by his + picked steps and exactly poised head and shoulders, like a drunken + soldier on drill. One gets into a carriage rut; another climbs + into a pig-sty, and thinks he is getting over the college fence. A + third falls over a cow, while a fourth takes off his hat to a + blind horse, mistaking him in the dark for the president. At + length they are lodged in bed, with boots, hats, and clubs, like + soldiers expecting a surprise. Some murder a song or two in a + drunken twang, while the rest snore in chorus. + + "But next comes the awful reward of transgression in the morning; + dry throats, aching limbs, torn coats, sick stomachs, haggard + countenances, swelled heads. The trembling and moody toilet is + made; the bell rings for prayers; and a more repentant set of + sinners never assembled under its sound. All wonder what has + become of the joyous feelings of the previous night, and think + with shame of such actions and speeches as they can recollect. + Hereupon follows a gloomy and melancholy day. They are home-sick. + Relations, friends, and the scenes of childhood, with all their + quiet, innocent, and heartfelt pleasures, glide before the + imagination. The head becomes dizzy; the heart palpitates; the + hands tremble, and the sight grows double. Then comes the fear of + illness, and death in a strange land. Associates of the 'row' are + avoided; several chapters in the Bible are read; repentance is + promised; sleep settles the nervous system; and next morning they + arise gay and happy. This continues until the scene is repeated, + and so on, until one half forswear brandy and the other half + become confirmed sots. + + "Here is a coherent epistle for you. But if you dislike it, send + it back, and I will divide it into--first--secondly--thirdly, et + cetera, as the old president did his sermons. + + "B. RANDOLPH." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +After the visit to the monument, Chevillere daily inquired concerning +the health of the interesting invalid; and as regularly was +indisposition pleaded for her non-appearance. Late in the evening of the +third day, he was slowly pacing the pavement in front of the hotel; now +and then throwing a wistful glance at the lighted window of the lady, +when all at once he suddenly wheeled round, and grasping in the dark, +was surprised to find that a person whom he had supposed to be +impertinently dogging his steps, had eluded his grasp. He grimly smiled +at his own exasperation for an imaginary cause, hastily adjusted his +cloak, and turned down the street leading most directly to the bay. + +When he arrived at the quiet and deserted wharf, and the rapid flow of +his impetuous blood was retarded by the cool invigorating breeze which +swept over the face of the water, he saw an old yawl lying on the dock, +with its broad bottom turned to the bay. Negligently leaning his person +at full length against its weather-beaten bottom, and drawing down his +hat close over his brows, he surrendered himself to one of those +habitual reveries which the southern well knows how to enjoy. Had his +mind and feelings been attuned to such things at the time, the scene +itself would have furnished no uninteresting subject, with its hundred +little lights, gleaming in the intense fog and darkness, and the +numberless vessels that lay upon the bosom of the waters, with their +dark outlines dimly visible, like slumbering monsters of their own +element. He heeded them not; yet were his feelings insensibly impressed +with the surrounding objects, and deeply tinctured with the profound +gloom of the time and scene. The direct current of his thoughts pointed, +however, in the direction of the invalid. Her extreme youth, beauty, and +apparent innocence,--her deep distress and profound melancholy, +naturally produced a corresponding depression in his own otherwise +elastic spirits. He was perfectly unconscious of the time he had spent +in this way, when accidentally turning his head to one side, he was +struck with the appearance of something intercepting the line of vision +in that direction. He was just about to approach the cause of his +surprise, when a deep voice, issuing from the very spot, added not a +little to his superstitious mood, by the exact manner in which it chimed +in with the present subject of his meditations. + +"A beautiful young woman in affliction is a very dangerous subject of +meditation, under some circumstances." + +"An honest heart fears no danger from any earthly source," was the +reply. + +"Honesty is no guard against external danger in this world, whether +moral or physical," said the figure. + +"Discernment may lend a hand to honesty in such a case." + +"Ha! ha! ha!" hideously retorted the intruder; "Discernment, said you? +Man's discernment is a mighty thing; by it he reads the past, the +present, and the future; what can withstand his mighty vision? He can +descry danger at a distance, and bring happiness within his grasp; he +can tell the objects of his own creation, and his Creator's first +beginning; he can read the starry alphabet in yonder heavens, and fathom +the great deep; he can laugh at the instinct of grovelling creation, and +thunder the dogmas of reason in the teeth of revelation itself! +Discernment, indeed! ha! ha! ha! why, man is not half so well off as the +brutes. What is their instinct but God's ever present and supporting +hand; but man--he has neither perfect reason nor instinct! He has the +conscience of an angel, and the impulses of a devil; and reason sits +between them, for an umpire, with a fool's cap upon her head! Impulse +bribes reason, and reason laughs at conscience. Impulse leads downward, +like the power of gravity; and conscience struggles upward like the +nightmare: but reason and discernment will traffic and bargain with +impulse for one moment, and blind or cheat conscience the next! Turn +mankind loose with all their reason without providence, and they will +butt each other's foolish brains out! Bribed conscience makes +hypocrites,--frightened conscience makes fanatics,--but reason-drilled +conscience makes incarnate devils!" + +"But," said Chevillere, involuntarily interested by this wild rhapsody, +"a tender, conscience-instructed reason, and christianized impulses, +make an honest and a discerning man, too." + +"Instructed reason! who teaches man's reason, but the inward devils of +his impulses? A few good parents may point upward, periodically, but the +impulses pull down! down! down! for ever! no intermission. If they would +let go, I myself could plunge into the sea; but the deeper we plunge, +the harder they pull! The farther we sink, the heavier they become. Oh! +man! of what a cursed race art thou! Think you the inhabitants of the +moon are likewise under the ban of God's displeasure?" + +"I indulge in no such impracticable dreams," said Chevillere. + +"No! no! _you_ dream of paradise; but remember what I now tell you, your +paradise will not be without its Eve, and its serpent too!" + +"To whom do you allude?" + +"To the lady of whom you were thinking but now." + +"You know not what you say," said Chevillere. + +"Do I not? Perhaps you would have me speak more plainly! Perhaps you +could screw up your resolution to the point, that I might amputate your +hopes one by one, as a poor fellow sees the surgeon carrying off his +bloody limbs; nay, I could do it!" + +"Why, sir, you never saw me till within the hour." + +"Have I not? perhaps not; I would to heaven I could say as much about +the lady." + +"To what lady do you so often allude?" + +"To the lady with the _black mantle_." + +"Hold, she is all innocence and purity." + +"Innocence and purity! Eve was innocent and pure too! yea, and +surpassingly beautiful! but she fell! Alas! her daughters are like her." + +"Come, sir," said Chevillere, with some exasperation, "let us put a stop +to this discourse; it is not pleasing to me, and I feel sure it is not +useful to you." + +"Be it so," said the intruder, drawing up his long goat's-hair cloak, +and pulling a flat cloth cap closely over his gray locks, as they for a +moment became visible by the reflection of the long horizontal rays of a +lamp from the deck of a neighbouring vessel; "be it so, sir; there is no +convincing a child that a _beautiful_ candle will burn until it scorches +its fingers." + +"In God's name, then, out with it, sir! what is it that seems to burn so +upon your tongue? come, out with it!" said Chevillere, sharply. + +"For what do you take me, young man? a gossip or a stripling! I am +neither one nor the other; I am old enough to be your father; as well +born and as well educated as he ever was; and (notwithstanding your +southern blood and aristocratic notions) it may be as proud; farewell, +sir, and the next time I offer to pull you from the edge of a precipice, +perhaps you will listen with more respect to one of double your age, who +can have no interest in deceiving you. Farewell, sir!" + +"Stay! stay! a moment,--one word more. Did you not visit Washington's +monument three days ago, and see me there for the first time?" + +"I could answer either yes or no to that question. How do you know, sir, +that we have not met before, centuries ago? Do you not sometimes foresee +a whole scene, just as it afterward takes place? Do you not sometimes +look upon a strange face with a shudder? Does not a feature--a smile--or +an expression of them combined--sometimes awake the slumbering memory of +ages? Is it not so? have you never communed with the dead?" + +"Never, sir." + +"I have, often! often!--and many times have I been warned of approaching +evils, by these dreamy conversations; I never dream of seeing my father +smile upon me, that something good does not speedily follow; nor of +snakes and serpents, unattended by bad news or bad fortune. Of these +things I usually dream the night before meeting the lady yonder, after a +long absence." + +"I supposed as much," said Chevillere. + +"How, sir." + +"I supposed that you had _dreamed_ something against that pure and +unfortunate young lady." + +"Would to Heaven it were all a dream! Sunshine would again break into +the dark regions of my thoughts." + +"Suppose I should undertake and pledge my life to convince you that it +is so." + +"You might convince me of your sincerity, but not of your power. Can you +raise the dead?" + +"No, but what has raising the dead to do with the lady?" + +"More than you imagine, perhaps." + +"Ah, I see it is useless to attempt what I proposed and hoped to effect +for the sake of the lady's peace. Have you no friends with you in this +city?" + +"Yes, I have a dog! there sits the best friend I ever had, save one!" + +"My dear sir! permit me to say I think you far from being well." + +"I never felt better in health than I do at this moment." + +"But we are not judges of our own ailments: Physicians do not often +prescribe for themselves." + +"I tell you, sir, I am well!" + +"Have it so, sir! but if you are the person whom I met a few days since +at the monument, I would mildly and respectfully recommend to you to +think no more of the lady you saw there with me. You certainly labour +under some grievous error, with regard to her, at least." + +"You will find, when it is too late, perhaps, that others instead of me +are labouring under _fatal_ errors concerning that young lady! +Farewell, sir, farewell. When next we meet, you will listen with a more +attentive ear to what I have to say; you will have observed many strange +things yourself, and you will naturally seek, rather than repel a +solution of the mystery." Then with a signal to his dog, he hastily went +from the wharf, leaving Chevillere in no enviable state of mind. + +Youthful thoughts will not long voluntarily dwell upon the gloomy aspect +even of the circumstances surrounding themselves; it was very natural, +therefore, that Chevillere should reflect with much complacency upon the +tendency of his friend Lamar's laughing philosophy; nor was he long in +threading his way to the lodgings of the Kentuckian. He had calculated +with great certainty upon finding his friend there, and on ascending the +three flights of stairs, he heard the voices of both in full chorus of +laughter, that of Lamar indicating his most joyful mood. He rapped at +the door once or twice before he was heard. "Come in!" shouted the +backwoodsman, "what the devil's the use of knocking with every mug of +punch." Lamar sprang to his feet at the sight of his friend, with +volumes of smoke rolling over his head, and laying one hand on +Chevillere's back and another on his breast, cried in the true mock +heroic;--"'Be thy intents wicked or charitable, thou com'st in such a +questionable shape, that I will speak to thee.' 'Revisit'st thou thus +the glimpses of the moon, making night hideous, and us fools of' +liquor--'so horribly to shake our dispositions, with thoughts beyond the +reaches of our souls; say, why is this?' But, by old Shakspeare's beard, +you look like a ghost indeed! why, whence com'st thou, man? see his +cloak, too! it is covered with sawdust!" + +"Hurrah for old Kentuck!" said Damon, "he's been to the circus! I say, +stranger, was there any knockin down and draggin out there. O! black +eyes and bruises! what a rascally appetite I've got now for a knock +down; I swear I think my hands will git as tender as a woman's, if I +don't git a little now and then jist to keep 'em in." + +"I may be soiled from leaning against a boat at the dock," said +Chevillere. + +"You certainly have the air of one who had tried a few perils by land +and sea," said Lamar. + +"The fact is, I do not feel well, nor in high spirits, and I came here +on purpose to see if Damon could not brighten me up a little." + +"To be sure I can," said he; "but why didn't you come sooner, and then +we could all have gone to the circus together; that's the place for my +money; you see you want something to make your blood circulate: a small +taste or two would soon bring you round." + +"A taste of what?" asked Chevillere. + +"A small bit of a regular row, to be sure; all in good-nature, you know; +a man needn't git in a passion, in takin a little exercise after bein +cooped up here all day, in one of these cocklofts--why, if I sit here an +hour, and go down in the street, by hokies, but I want to snort +directly; I feel like old Pete when he's been stabled up for a week or +two, and jist turned loose to graze a little; and I'll tell you what it +is, stranger, I'm for making a straight coat-tail out of this place, and +that in a hurry, for I've got through all my business now, and I'm keen +to be among the Yorkers; for I've heard tell there's smashin work there +every night." + +"Have you any acquaintances there?" asked Lamar. + +"No; but I expect to find some of our Kentuck boys there, who come round +by the lakes; and if I do, I rather reckon we'll weed a wide row." + +"Take care you do not run against old Hays in your mad pranks," said +Chevillere. + +"They say he's a little touched with the snappin-turtle, but I'm thinkin +he'd hardly try old Kentuck at a fight or a foot-race." + +"He has had a good many fights and foot-races in his day," said +Chevillere. + +"Yes," said Damon, "but always with rogues; he'd find it rather a +different business at an honest ground-scuffle, where every man had to +take care of his own ears." + +"You think, then, he could not be so successful in Kentucky as he is in +New-York, at his occupation," said Lamar. + +"He'd be off the scent there, and I rather think he'd soon look like the +babes in the woods; you see he has the rogues in the city like a coon +when he's treed; an old dog's better than a young one in such a fix." + +"But come, Damon, go on with your adventures of the day which +Chevillere's entrance interrupted." + +"Not till we have wet our whistles; come, stranger (to Chevillere), you +have'nt drank nothin since you came into the room, nor into the city +either, for what I know." + +"You know," said Chevillere, "that I am a cold water man, upon taste and +principle both." + +"And that's what I call ra'al hard drink; well, here's to the little gal +of the circus, and the little gal down yonder at the hotel; cold water's +but a sorry drink to pledge such warm-hearted creters--but I see talking +of them makes you look solemncholy again, and so here goes for my day's +work; let me see--where did I leave off?" + +"At the commission house where you carried the letter," said Lamar. + +"Ah, by the hokies! so it was. Well, you see, I marched into the great +store, as they had told me it was, with my nose uppermost, like a pig in +the wind, I had an order on them for some of the eel-skins--but I soon +brought my snout down agin; ho! ho! thought I, here's a pretty spot of +work! I'm a Turk if I aint tetotally dished." + +"What was the matter?" said Chevillere. + +"Why, instead of all the fine things loomin out in the wind as I +expected for such great marchants, I found nothing but a long empty +store, and no shelves even, and there sat two or three starched lookin +dogs, on so many old rum bar'ls; I swear I thought in a minute about our +old still-house, and the school-master, and the miller, and the +blacksmith, and the stiller, talkin politics over the bar'ls, and takin +a swig every now and then out of the old proof-vial." + +"Well! you presented your draft," said Lamar, "and what then?" + +"No I did'nt--I got a straddle of a bar'l too; I thought I would take a +dish of chat, for that was about the most I expected to get. Rat me! but +I began to feel a little particular about the gizzard in thoughts of +sellin old Pete to get home on; I put on a long face. It's everlastin +dull times for business, said I. 'O sir, you are quite mistaken, +business is taking a look up--it's getting very brisk indeed.' And he +rubbed his hands, and looked as glad as if he had had a drink of that +hot punch. So, thought I, I'm off the trail; but I thought I would tree +him next time. 'The best horses, said I, will stumble sometimes.' 'Sir?' +said he, I said 'the honestest men sometimes make bad speculations.' +'Oh!' said he, 'I understand you! but I hope business is brisk and money +plenty this season in the west.' Now, thought I, he's got the boot on +the wrong leg this time; 'yes, said I, we can't complain, but I must say +I thought it looked a little dull hereabouts.' 'O, you western men are +such driving fellows, that you can't put up with our slow way of makin +money.' He's feedin me on soft corn, thought I. 'We do a little now and +then, but getting the money afterward is all our trouble,' said I. 'Why, +sir, you have hit the nail upon the head; that's the difficulty +everywhere,' said he. I thought I would run him into a stand 'fore long; +but he hoisted his tail and flung me clean off the trail agin. 'Can't I +sell you half a dozen bar'ls of cognac brandy to-day,' said he. I +snapped my fingers and jumped up, and by the long Harry I was near +raisin the whoop; for I thought old Pete and the money was all safe, and +so it was. 'O! the hunters of Kentucky! old Kentucky;' and he began to +sing and caper round the table. + +"Did he pay the money?" asked Chevillere. + +"Not exactly; these city chaps keep their money buried, I believe, for +you never see none of it; I reckon they're 'fraid it'll spile; +howsomever, he gave me an order on the bank for the eel-skins." + +"Then you took your leave," said Lamar. + +"No; he asked me if I had ever seen an auction of a ship's cargo; I said +no, I had never seen more nor a Kentuck vendue: he asked me to go along; +I'm your man, said I, for I expected there would be smashin work if a +whole ship-load was to be sold, for I have seen some very clever little +skrimmages at a vendue; well, when we got there, there was boxes and +bags all laying in rows, and little troughs laying under them, like them +we catch sugar-water in. Some had little long spoons made on purpose to +suck sugar with, and some had little augers for boring holes; presently +the crier began. '_Seven, seven, seven--eight, eight, eight cents a +pound, going, going_,' and smash went the little mallet; 'how many do +you take, sir? twenty, or the hundred boxes?' said he. 'Take the +hundred,' said a man, that looked like he wasn't worth the powder that +would blow him up." + +"Could you always tell who bid?" + +"No; they mostly did it by winkin, I believe; sometimes one fellow would +grunt this side and another that side; I kept my head bobbin after them +first one side and then the other; but whenever I looked in their faces +their eyes looked as sleepy as a dog in fly-time, just waitin to snap a +fellow that was buzzin about his ears." + +"Did you find out at last who were the bidders?" + +"No; they shut up their faces like steel-traps. Once or twice, maybe, I +saw a dyin-away wrinkle round a feller's mouth, like the rings in the +water when you throw a stone in; but they soon faded away, and they +looked as smooth and deceitful as a pool of deep water itself agin." + +"They tasted and tried the articles, of course, before they bought?" + +"Yes; some of them had their mouths daubed, like children suckin 'lasses +candy; and some of their big noses was stuck full of Bohea tea, outside +and in, like old Pete when he's had a good feed of chopped rye and cut +straw." + +"And what sort of a man was the auctioneer?" + +"Why, his mouth went so fast when he got to '_going, going, going_,' +that you couldn't say _stop_, if you had had your mouth fixed; but his +face I didn't like at all." + +"What was there in his face objectionable?" + +"O! I can't tell exactly, it looked out of all sort of nature; a good +deal I don't know howish. One thing I'll be sworn to, you would never +see such a one in old Kentuck; there every man wears his Sunday face on +week days." + +"I suppose you mean that the man was disfigured with affectation," said +Chevillere. + +"You've hit it, stranger, you've hit it; that's the very word I wanted +to be at, but I couldn't get it out. Well, from the vendue I took a +stroll round town, to see the lads and lasses; how they carried their +heads in these parts, and maybe to see how they carried on their +_sparkin_ in a big town like this; for, to tell you the truth, that's +one of the things I never could see how they carried on here." + +"How did you manage such things in the west? Is there any thing peculiar +in your method?" + +"I can't say we're different from other folks in the country, but you +see we have abundance of chances to court the gals a little; for there's +our weddings." + +"There are weddings here, too, I hope," said Lamar. + +"Yes, and a pretty business they make of 'em; I blundered into a church +the other day, and what should be goin on there but a weddin; and smash +my apple-cart, if there wasn't more cryin and snifflin than I've seen at +many an honest man's funeral, and all in broad daylight, too; and when +the parson had got through his flummery, with his long white mornin +gown, they all jumped into carriages, and off they went away into the +country somewhere, to hide themselves. I rather suspect they had stole a +march on the old folks, else they wouldn't have run so as if the devil +was at their heels." + +"How do you conduct such things in the west?" asked Lamar. + +"Oh! there we have quiltings, skutchings, and sewin frolics, and makin +apple butter, and all such like; and they always wind up at the little +end with a rip-sneezin dance, and that's where we do the sparkin; well, +presently a weddin grows out of it, and maybe then there isn't a little +fun agoing, dance all night, and play all sort of games, at least all +them sort that wind up in kissin the gals, and that they manage to bring +about by sellin pawns, and one thing or other. For my part, I never +could see into any but the kissin part, and that you know was the cream +of the joke." + +"They do not often go to church to get married then," said Chevillere. + +"No; I never saw anybody married at church before t'other day, and I +hope it'll be a long time before their new-fangled ways travels out to +old Kentuck; there our gals and boys stands up before the parson a few +minutes, and he rolls his tobacco two or three times over his teeth, +and _chaws_ a few words, and it's all over before you could say 'God +save the commonwealth' three times; and what's the use in makin three +bites of a cherry?" + +"But you have wandered from your point," said Lamar; "you started out on +an expedition to see how the lads and lasses carried themselves here." + +"O! ay, sure enough; well, one of the first things I come across was a +parcel of gals and boys on horseback, and I'm flummucked if it wouldn't +have been a pretty tolerable show in the land of hogs and homminy. The +gals rode well enough, considering how they were hampered with clothes +and trumpery; but the men! O smashy! how they rode! bobbin up and down +on the saddle, with three motions to the horse's one. I'm an Injin if +old Pete Ironsides wouldn't have kicked up his heels and squealed at the +very first motion of the rider goin ahead of him; and then the saddles +were stuck on the shoulders of the animals, like a hump on a man's back, +or a pair of _haims_ to hitch traces to. One of them chaps would ride a +saddle about twice as hard as a horse. I was lookin evry minute for one +of 'em to light behind his saddle." + +"Did all the gentlemen and ladies you met carry themselves so +unnaturally?" said Lamar. + +"No; I met one young lady dressed in black that I thought I had seen +before somewhere, and her spark too; but they were too busy to see me. +_She_ looked more coy and shamefaced, like our country gals, than any of +them." + +"How did the gentleman bear himself? was he polite and respectful in his +carriage?" said Lamar, smiling, and looking at Chevillere. + +"Oh, yes! he bowed his head close down to the bonnet of the pretty +little lady, and walked that way all through the street, as if he was +afraid to lose so much as a word; sometimes she seemed to be just ready +to cry, and looked pale and frightened. I rather suppose her old dad's a +little sour or cross, maybe; but for all I couldn't help thinkin what a +clever nice young couple they would make to stand up before the parson." + +Chevillere attempted reserve of manner, but blushed and smiled in spite +of himself, as he asked Damon, "Not your chaw-tobacco parson, I hope?" + +"And why not? what if he _would_ roll his chaw-tobacco into one cheek at +you, while he coupled you up with the other? I'll be bound you'd look at +somebody else's pretty cheeks more nor you would at the parson's +chaw-tobacco; besides, what harm is there in a parson's chawin? I know +an old one who would no more git up into his pulpit of a Sunday without +a good smart plug in his mouth, than I would strike my own brother when +he's down. I've seen him afore now, when his wind held out longer than +his tobacco, run his finger first into one jacket-pocket, and then into +the other, and at last he'd draw a little piece of pigtail, just up to +the top of the water (as you may say), and then he'd let it go again." + +"Some virtuous shame, in view of the congregation, I suppose," said +Chevillere. + +"Yes, that was it; but I never heard any of the sarmont after the old +boy's ammunition run out." + +"Why, what had his tobacco to do with your listening?" + +"A great deal; no sooner would the old feller begin to fumble in his +pockets, than my hand always run into mine, of its own accord, and +lugged out a chunk of a twist just ready to hand to the old man, and +then when I'd find it couldn't be, I naturally took a plug myself, and +chawed for the old boss till his wind _flagg'd_." + +"Or, in other words, his desire for the weed made you desire it, to cure +which you chewed for yourself, and flattered your conscience all the +while that you were rendering him a service," said Chevillere. + +"Very like! very like! for I know it makes a feller husky dry to see +another famishin for a little of the cretur." + +"Not so much so, perhaps, as if a dry person, as you call him, should +see another drinking, and could get none himself." + +"Oh! but that's a case out of all nature, as one may say, in these +parts, anyhow, where liquor runs down the streets, after a manner." + +Chevillere and Lamar, both rising, exchanged the usual salutations, and +the _good night! good night!_ went the rounds of all present. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +"Were you not delighted with the wild and mountainous scenery of the +country around the Virginia Springs?" said Victor Chevillere to Miss St. +Clair, on the morning after the scene related in the last chapter, as +the lady reclined, in a pensive mood, in the room before described. + +"Oh, sir, you forget that I was too feeble in mind and body to enjoy the +scenery around me then, or to partake of the enthusiasm of my friends on +the subject. The rich and romantic scenery of the White Sulphur was +highly attractive to me, when I became somewhat convalescent; yet I +shall carry with me through life a sad remembrance of scenes, which to +many others of my age and sex will ever be associated with the gay +dance, the enlivening gallopade, the stirring music, and with +adventurous equestrian excursions among the mountains." + +"I believe," said Chevillere, "that the most melancholy reflections may +be and are much softened and mellowed in after-life, by being associated +in the mind with the profoundly poetical feelings excited by the +constant view of quiet mountain scenery; such as the well-remembered, +long, long line of blue peaks, stretching far away until they reach the +clouds and the horizon." + +"It is indeed true," said she, "that kind and beautiful nature, in the +season of green leaves and flowers, will sometimes almost tempt us to +believe that misery is not the inevitable lot of the human family; but +when the consciousness of the one and the beauty of the other are +together present to us, it depends entirely upon the degree, whether the +beauty softens the suffering or not." + +"In other words," said he, "whether the evil be so irremediable that +_hope_ cannot enter the heart; that the ravishing beauty of nature +cannot excite benevolence, devotion, and love." + +"That was not entirely my case," said she, "for I am grateful for having +felt some pleasing excitement at the time, and for being able now to +call up many pleasurable remembrances, clouded as they are for the most +part with sadness." + +"If I have been rightly informed, you did not visit all the other +springs around the White Sulphur." + +"My health would not permit of our making the entire fashionable round." + +"Oh, then you have missed much pleasure," said he. "There are the Sweet +Springs, rising out of the earth like a boiling caldron, with brilliant +little balloons of gas ever ascending to the top of the water, and +bursting in the sunbeams. There is not perhaps in the world such another +natural fountain of soda-water. And there is the Salt Sulphur, with its +high romantic hills covered with herds, and its beautiful meadows, and +its long village of neat white cottages, and its splendid +assembly-rooms, and its sumptuous banquets of wild game and artificial +luxuries. But, above all, there is the Warm Spring, with its clear blue +crystal baths, large enough for a troop of horse to swim in; there, +likewise, is an extensive green lawn, flanked on the one side by the +same kind of neat white cottages, and on the other by the line of blue +mountains, rising abruptly from the plain within gun-shot of the baths. +On a clear moonlight night, one may see the invalids sitting out on the +green in front of their doors, enjoying the placid scenery of the +valley, and the profound and solemn monotony of the overhanging +mountains,--sometimes, indeed, interrupted by the bustle of a new +arrival, the neighing of horses, the crash of the wheels, the hoarse +voices of the coachmen as they exchange advice upon the descent into the +valley, or by the meeting of old friends and fellow-invalids, perhaps +acquaintances of a former season, and fellow-sufferers with the gout, +bantering each other upon their speed." + +"From what little I saw of them, I think they perfectly justify the +southern enthusiasm which we found everywhere on the subject; and I +should think that there is no finer opportunity of seeing southern +fashionable society." + +"True; our wealthiest and most fashionable people resort thither every +season. Yet I cannot say in truth, from what I have observed myself, +that our aristocracy are seen there to the best advantage. They are too +much in their holyday suit of manners,--too artificial,--too unnatural. +I have seen people who were agreeable at home, become affected and +disagreeable at watering-places. I have also seen some who were reserved +at home, become quite affable there. The latter effect, however, was by +no means so common as the former." + +"I did not see much affectation, or many unnatural people at the White +Sulphur," said the lady. + +"I cannot say that it is one of the besetting sins of the southern +fashionables; all I meant to say was, that they show more of it there +than at home." + +"For my own part, I was delighted with the generous, free, and +open-hearted manner in which I was treated by the few female +acquaintances I made; and I am almost ashamed to acknowledge that they +were far more intelligent and accomplished than my prejudices had taught +me to expect." + +"You acknowledge, then, that you had some provincial prejudices. Let me +see! _then_ I must take you regularly to account, and catechise you." + +"Well," said the lady, as lightly as her habitual sadness ever +permitted, "I will answer truly." + +"I know you will speak truly whatever you do answer; but will you speak +the whole truth in answer to whatever I shall ask?" + +A sad and afflicted expression appeared upon her countenance as she +replied, "I need hardly say to Mr. Chevillere, that those questions +which are proper for him to ask and for me to hear shall be fully +answered." + +"You do me but justice in supposing that I would not discredit my new +dignity, by propounding questions which would lessen me in the eyes of a +fair witness; but, to tell you the truth, I seriously meditated putting +a few in addition to such as were local, and perhaps in a more serious +mood than these might demand." + +"Proceed, sir, proceed," said the lady, somewhat perturbed; "I must +reserve the right to answer or not. No trifling impediment, however, +shall prevent me from gratifying your curiosity." + +"Would you consider it a great misfortune to reside in the southern +states?" + +"Places and countries are to me nearly alike." + +"How so? You surely prefer your native land to all others?" + +"Unhappiness soon makes us indifferent to mere locality; situated as I +am, many would prefer new scenes." + +"Does not affliction enlarge the heart, and extend the affections?" + +"I believe that slight sufferings make us captious--great ones, humane +and benevolent." + +"Is it a natural consequence, that, when benevolence becomes universal, +personal affections and partialities wither in proportion?" + +"Certainly not, as a consequence; but it is questionable whether +blighted hopes do not generally precede the enlarged philanthropy spoken +of." + +"May not much travelling and experience of the world produce the same +effect?" + +"I cannot speak experimentally on that point; but I think it is very +probable they do upon a masculine mind." + +As Chevillere was about to continue his half-serious, half-jesting +questions, Mr. Brumley abruptly entered, and announced to his +daughter-in-law his determination to proceed northward early on the +following morning; and almost at the same moment, old Cato, with his +stately step, profound bow, and cap in hand, presented a letter to his +master, which he instantly knew by the superscription to be from +Randolph. Presenting his regards to them both, he retired to peruse the +epistle, which will be found in the next chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + + B. RANDOLPH TO V. CHEVILLERE. + + "Belville, High Hills of the Santee, S. Carolina. + + "DEAR CHUM, + + "The deserts of Africa are not to be compared, for loneliness, to + a South Carolinian swamp. Oh! the comforts and blessings of a + corduroy turnpike! These, you know, are made of poles laid down + in the bottom of the swamps for a road, in humble imitation of + that same most durable web. But the swamps gone through, and + myself safely landed here--this Belville of yours is a most + desirable place. Your father must have been a man of taste, + friend Victor. The grove of Pride of India trees, in front of the + villa, stands exactly as you left it; the vines run up and around + Bell's window as beautiful as ever; the pigeons wheel over the + garden and cotton-fields as gayly as of old. The flowers which + perfume this delightful and balmy air, send up their sweets from + the garden and the lawn as they have done these forty years; at + least so testifies old Tombo the gardener. Your favourite horse + thrives, and is none the worse for a trial of his speed and + bottom which I made the other day in a race with my own impetuous + thoughts. Your mother seems happier than I have ever seen her; + and little Virginia Bell is the fairest flower on the Chevillere + estate. Will you believe it! she introduced me to the housekeeper + on my arrival as having been her affianced bridegroom ever since + she was three months old, and then enjoyed a school-girl laugh. + By St. Benedict, that laugh cut nearer to my heart than a funeral + sermon. + + "Why have you not written to her and extolled some of my good + qualities? She will never find them out! and as to my becoming a + serious, sighing suitor, I am ten times farther from it than I + was the first day I blundered into such dangerous company. If I + were to elongate my phiz by way of preparative for a sigh, she + would split her little sides with laughing at me. The fact is, I + begin to think myself pretty considerably of an ass among the + ladies, as your Yankees would express it. What shall I do? shall + I run for it? or shall I stand here and die of the cold plague? + If I laugh, she laughs with me; if I look serious, she laughs at + me; if we visit, I am laughed at; if we are visited, I am stared + at; and thus it is, day after day, and week after week. To your + mother, I no doubt appear like a more rational creature, but + before Miss Bell I am utterly at a loss and dumbfoundered. + + "How can I show your charming cousin that I am not the fool she + takes me for? must I shoot somebody? That would be too + bloody-minded. Must I write a book? Sicken and become + interesting? Ah! I have it! I'll get the fever and ague (no hard + matter you know here); but then a man looks so unromantic with + his teeth, and his hands, and his feet all in motion like a negro + dancing 'Juba.' A lady would as soon think of falling in love + with a culprit on the gibbet. I shall certainly try what absence + will do; but then suppose that I am a bore, and no one entreats + me to stay! Your mother might deem it indelicate, under the + circumstances, for she certainly sees that I am a lost sinner; + then I should be blown, indeed, with all my sins upon my head! + without one redeeming quality for the little Bell to dwell upon + in my absence. If I had rescued somebody from a watery + grave--stopped a pair of runaway horses--saved somebody's + life--shot a robber--been wounded myself--should turn out to be + some lord's heir in England--had jumped down the Passaic or the + Niagara--distinguished myself against the Indians or the + Algerines--or even killed a mad dog--it would not be so desperate + a case for the hero of a love affair. + + "But here I am--a poor forlorn somebody, without a single trait + of heroism in my composition, or a solitary past deed of the kind + to boast of; unless it may be bursting little brass bombs under + the tutor's windows in College, or shaving a horse's tail, or one + side of a drunken man's whiskers, or laying two drunken fellows + at each other's door. Suppose I should get old Tombo, the + gardener, into the river by stratagem, merely that I might pull + him out again; as he seems to be a universal favourite here. But + then suppose I should drown him in these mock heroics? Ah, I see + I shall have to remain plain Beverly Randolph all my days! Alas! + the days of chivalry are gone! If I could splinter a lance with + some of these Sir Hotheads, or Sir Blunderbys, the case might not + be so desperate. + + "Thank Heaven, however, that the age of poetry is not gone too; + for poetry, you know, is but the shadow or reflection of + chivalry--heroism--and action! First an age of deeds, and then an + age of song--so here goes for the doggerel. But let me see; are + there not more than two ages? what succeeds to an age of poetry? + One of philosophy! What succeeds philosophy? Cynicism or + infidelity--next a utilitarian age, and lastly we have a mongrel + compound of all--then we have revolutions, bloodshed, sentiment, + religion, and spinning-jennies. Now you see I have hit it! we + live in the mongrel age; a hero of this era should + fight--write--pray--and spin cotton! Let's see how all these + could be united into a picture suitable for a frontispiece to a + work of the current age. First there must be a spinning-jenny to + go by steam, to the wheel of which there must be a hand-organ. + The steam must be scattered against an enemy; a long nosed fellow + with the real nasal twang must be seen upon his knees attending + the jenny, and singing doggerel to the music of the + hand-organ--there's a pretty coat of arms for you, and suitable + for the present age. + + "But seriously, my dear Chevillere, what am I to do? I cannot get + on without your assistance, and yet I am ashamed to ask it; + however, I shall leave all these things to time--fate--and a + better acquaintance between the charming Miss Bell and your + humble servant. + + "I find you have more negroes here than we have in Virginia, in + proportion to the whites; and existing under totally different + circumstances, so far as regards the distance between them and + their masters. + + "With us slavery is tolerable, and has something soothing about + it to the heart of the philanthropist; the slaves are more in the + condition of tenants to their landlords--they are viewed more as + rational creatures, and with more kindly feelings; each planter + owning a smaller number than the planters generally do here, of + course the direct knowledge of, and intercourse between each + other is greater. Every slave in Virginia knows, even if he does + not love, his master; and his master knows him, and generally + respects him according to his deserts. _Here_ slavery is + intolerable; a single individual owning a hundred or more, and + often not knowing them when he sees them. If they sicken and die, + he knows it not except through the report of those wretched + mercenaries, the overseers. The slaves here are plantation + live-stock; not domestic and attached family servants, who have + served around the person of the master from the childhood of + both. + + "I have known masters in Virginia to exhibit the most intense + sorrow and affliction at the death of an old venerable household + servant, who was quite valueless in a pecuniary point of view. + + "Here, besides your white overseers, you have your black + _drivers_;--an odious animal, almost peculiar to the far south. + It is horrible to see one slave following another at his work, + with a cow-skin dangling at his arm, and occasionally tying him + up and flogging him when he does not get through his two tasks a + day. These tasks I believe are two acres of land, which they are + required to hoe without much discrimination, or regard to age, + sex, health, or condition; now I have seen stout active fellows + get through their two tasks by one o'clock, while another poor, + stunted, bilious creature toiled the whole day at the same + portion of labour. Another abomination here, and even known in + some parts of Virginia, is that the females are required to work + in the field, and generally to do as much as the males. This + system is unworthy even of refined slave-holders. But the hardest + part is to tell yet; they receive their provisions but once a + week, and then, each has for seven days, either one peck of + Indian corn, or three pecks of sweet potatoes, without meat, or + any thing else to season this dry fare. + + "I will confess to you that, at first, I thought this allowance + much more niggardly than I now consider it. In order to see how + they lived, I went into the thickest of the quarter, on purpose + to share a part of their food myself, and observe a little of + their economy; I found two or three stout fellows standing at a + large table, or frame, into which were fixed two grindstones, or + rather one was fixed and the other revolved upon it, like two + little mill-stones; the upper stone was turned by a crank, at + which the two slaves seemed to work by turns. The arrangements + for this labour they made among themselves. I then went into the + best looking hut of the quarter, just as they had all drawn round + a large kettle of small homminy, in the centre of which I was + pleased to see a piece of salt fat pork about the size of a large + apple. The family consisted of six persons. They had all clubbed + their portions of food into a common stock. + + "'How often do you draw meat?' said I; they informed me that they + had none except at Christmas, and that none were able to buy meat + except those who finished their two tasks early in the day, and + then cultivated their own little 'patches,' as they are called. I + then went round the huts to see how many had meat, and was much + rejoiced to find that more than three-fourths lived substantially + well. + + "I was exceedingly amused at one thing in these singular little + communities, which was, that matches of convenience are almost as + common among them as among their more fashionable masters. I + suspect it would puzzle some of your fashionable belles to guess + how these have their origin, and what is the fortune upon which + they are founded. I will tell you, if you have never observed it + yourself. The most active and sober hands, who are able to finish + their tasks early, and of course live well, are always in great + demand for husbands; and a well-favoured girl is almost sure to + select one of these for her _helpmate_ in the true sense of the + word. Nor is this excellence confined to the males; many of the + women are in as much demand among the lazy fellows for their + prowess in the field, as the active men are among the women. + + "While the mothers are at work in the field, their helpless + offspring are all left under the care of the superannuated women, + in a large hut, or several large huts provided for that purpose; + and a more unearthly set of wrinkled and arid witches you never + saw, unless you have more curiosity than most of your + Carolinians. These scenes, especially if visited by moonlight, + transport a man into the centre of Africa at once; there is the + dark, sluggish stream, the dismal-looking pine-barrens, and the + palmetto, the oriental-looking cabbage-tree, aided by the foreign + gibberish, and the unsteady light of the pine logs before the + door, now and then casting a fitful gleam of light upon some of + these natives of the shores of the Niger, with their tattooed + visages, ivory teeth, flat noses, and yellow and blood-shot + eyeballs. + + "I do not observe much difference between the North and South + Carolinians, except in the case of those who inhabit the most + southern portions of the latter state. There your rich are more + princely and aristocratic, and your poor more wretched and + degraded; but to tell you the plain truth, many of your little + slaveholders are miserably poor and ignorant; and what must be + the condition of that negro who is a slave to one of these + miserable wretches? They are uniformly hard and cruel masters, + and the more fortune or fate frowns upon them, the more cruel + they become to their slaves. This is a singular development of + human character, and not easily accounted for, unless we suppose + them to be revenging themselves of fate. + + "Most of the accomplished ladies whom I have seen, were educated + either at Salem or at the north, and sometimes at both,--the + preference being given to New-York and Philadelphia. Therein + Virginia has the advantage; for scarcely a town of two thousand + inhabitants is without its seminary for girls. I have myself + visited those at Richmond, Petersburg, Fredericksburg, + Charlottesville, Staunton, Lexington, Fincastle, &c. &c. This, + you will acknowledge, shows deep-seated wisdom and foresight in + the people; for if our wives and mothers are intelligent, their + offspring will be so too. + + "Virginia Bell has just stolen into the parlour in the south + wing, where I am now writing, so there is an end of slavery, and + education, and all that sort of thing; unless, indeed, your + humble servant may be said to have surrendered his freedom, and + to be now undergoing a new sort of schooling. Her look is arch + and knowing, as if she had read every word I have written; I + will finish my letter when she goes out. + + "There now, I breathe more easily,--she is gone! 'Mr. Randolph,' + said she, 'I have a very great curiosity to see the letter of a + young gentleman; I never saw one in my life.' 'Indeed!' said I, + 'then I will write you one before I leave my seat.' + + "'No, no, no!' said she, blushing just perceptibly, 'you + understand me very well; I mean such letters as you write to my + cousin; there would be something worth reading in them; as for + your letters to young ladies, I have seen some of them. O! + deliver me from the side-ache, and weeping till my eyes are red + with irrepressible laughter; if they would write naturally and + simply, it would not be so bad. There would then be only the + natural awkwardness of the subject; but to get upon stilts, + merely because the letter is to a lady, is too bad. But you have + not answered my question; do you intend to show me that letter?' + + "'I will show you a better one.' + + "'No, no! I want to see none of your set speeches upon paper, all + so prim and formal; if you care any thing for my good opinion, + you will show me one of your careless ones,' said she. + + "'Care any thing for your good opinion!' said I, rising, and + trying to seize her hand, which she held behind her; 'I value + your opinion more than that of the whole sex besides.' She raised + her eyes in mock astonishment, and puckering up her beautiful + little lips, whistled as if in amazement, and then deliberately + marched out of the room, saying, as she stood at the entrance, + 'Finish your copy like a good boy, and be sure not to blot it, + and you shall have some nuts and a sweet cake;' and I crushed the + unfortunate epistle with chagrin. She certainly takes me for a + fool, and truly I begin to think she is not very far wrong. + + "B. RANDOLPH." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + + V. CHEVILLERE TO B. RANDOLPH. + + "Baltimore, 18--. + + "You will have learned by the previous letters[A] of Lamar and + myself, every interesting circumstance which has occurred to us, + together with our _sage_ observations upon men and things as they + were presented. + + [A] These letters are omitted, of course, as the same + information has been already given to the reader. + + "Lamar spends more than half his time with the Kentuckian,--he + declares that he will never rest satisfied until he persuades him + to remove to the high hills of the Santee, where he can have him + for a neighbour. He has found a new source of amusement to-day, in + the supposed discovery that Damon is in love with the pretty + country girl, on whose account, you will recollect, he got into + the affray at the circus. Her father invited him to pay them a + visit, and Lamar has been trying to persuade him to take advantage + of it immediately, and has even offered to accompany him. I have + no doubt he would succeed, had not the Kentuckian's idol, Pete + Ironsides, been sent into the country 'to board,' as he calls it. + As it is, he has determined upon accepting the invitation as he + returns. + + "My own affairs are assuming too sombre a hue for me to enjoy + Lamar's foolery as I used to do, when we three lived together, and + when you and I were made joint partakers of his animal spirits; + _I_ in fact lived upon his stock in trade in that respect, while + you added no little to the joint concern; I was always, I fear, + but a sullen companion for such merry fellows. But have you never + observed that the most lasting and ardent friendships are formed + of such materials? Even in married life, you will, in nine cases + out of ten, see the most opposite qualities form the most durable + and happy connexions. This is running, I know, right in the teeth + of the romantic twaddle of the day, about congenial sentiments, + and the like; but is it not true? Look around you, and see in + every instance if the lively woman has not chosen a serious + husband; the man of genius, a dull drone; the bigot and fanatic, a + romp; the pious lady, a libertine. These observations, however, + like most others of the college stamp, may be destined to give + place to others of a very different character. When I look back + upon all the various revolutions of opinion which the mind + undergoes, before it arrives even at our present state of + maturity, I am dismayed, and almost afraid to look forward. + + "Nor is it in matters of abstract opinion alone, I fear, that we + are destined to undergo changes. Our hopes _must_ be in some + measure paralyzed, our hearts made colder, and our youthful + friendships broken asunder! Look what sad havoc a single year has + already made in our own catalogue. Where now is that noble band of + young and generous spirits, who but a single twelvemonth ago were + all the world to each other? Two of them have surrendered the + bright hopes of young life upon its very threshold, and the others + are scattered abroad over land and sea. But I have wandered from + the subject of our adventures, which we have promised faithfully + to record. + + "Is it not strange how fate seems to play with us, when once we + are fairly embarked upon life's great current? I am now completely + wound up in perplexities and embarrassments, which, a week ago, I + never once thought of. The actors in this new drama in which I am + confessedly entangled, were then perfect strangers to me; and how + handsomely has providence, or fate, or whatever you may choose to + call it, paved the way for my more complete introduction into + these new mysteries? The lady becomes intimate with my mother, + though coming from opposite ends of the Union. She travels home + again and is taken ill on the road, at the very time when Lamar + and I strike into the same road. It seemed, too, as if I was + placed at the table where our acquaintance commenced, in the very + position where I could not avoid making a tender of my services; + and now that I have become almost a part of their little family + here, I find that they have been afflicted in some way beyond + measure. They seem to be surrounded with mysteries and strange + connexions; more than once have I gone specially to break the + spell, and clear away the trammels which render this most strange + and interesting young lady miserable. Various methods have I + devised to acquire the secret, but they have always ended in + awkwardness and embarrassment. It is no easy matter to initiate + one's self into the midst of family secrets, when one is + comparatively a stranger; yet it must be done, and that shortly. I + feel that it is necessary to my own peace; indeed it is necessary + in order that I may see my own way clearly, to have these cruel + doubts solved. Every hour but adds to my entanglement, and if + there is a shadow of foundation for the phantasies of the lunatic, + the sooner I make the plunge the better. Yet how simple I become; + if I had now the decision of character for which I once had credit + in college, I should not long suffer the dreams of a maniac to + disturb my good opinion of this most lovely and interesting girl. + You may talk of your embarrassments and difficulties with Bell's + untamable humour; they are all child's play,--mere romping,--but + the case is not so easy of adjustment here; the old gentleman has + just announced, that he shall resume his journey early to-morrow + morning; so that something must be effected this afternoon or + evening. If there is no other way, I will formally seek an + interview with the lady, and, however painful it may be to her, I + will ask her to explain her strange fear of the lunatic; of + course I must avow the reason; you shall hear the result. + + "P.S. _12 o'clock at night_--I have broken the ice, my dear + fellow, and no doubt you will think I have got a cold bath for my + pains. + + "Soon after dark I knocked at the door, and waited some little + time with throbbing pulses, to hear that gentle and silvery voice + bid me '_come in!_' for I had seen the old gentleman go off in a + carriage, to the theatre, as I hoped. No summons came--I repeated + my knock with the same result. I do not know what prompted me to + an act so rude, but I mechanically pushed open the door before I + had reflected a moment. I was in the presence of the little fairy. + She held in her hand an open letter, which was wet with tears; her + head was leaning far back against the wall; her comb, carrying + with it the large rolls of her fair brown hair, was partly lying + on the window, and partly stuck into its place; the pearl of her + cheeks was still wet with recent tears. I did not know which was + now worst, to retreat or go forward. At first I thought she had + fainted, and would have sprung to the bell; but I soon saw that + she slumbered gently and peacefully. Randolph, there is something + heavenly in the slumbers of a young, innocent, and beautiful + female; but I will leave my reflections for another time. I was + about to retreat, and had so far closed the door as to hide my + person, when she suddenly awoke and said, 'Come in, dear father, + come in!' the lights had not yet been brought, but I could see the + crimson mantling her neck and cheeks as she discovered who the + visiter was, and replaced her hair at the same time. + + "I felt confused and ashamed, and stammered some vague attempt at + an apology. She made light of my intrusion; but one thing + attracted my attention particularly. Just as the maid set the + lights upon the table in the centre of the room, I thought that I + recognised my mother's handwriting in the letter which she now + hastily folded up and thrust into her reticule. As I mentioned, + she had been weeping over it. This set my imagination to work; I + could not divine on what theme my mother could write to her; still + less what subject for grief they could have between them. I + inquired if she was well; she said 'yes, as well as usual, but + exhausted for want of sleep the previous night.' I instantly + connected her want of sleep and restlessness with my mother's + letter; and before I had sufficiently reflected upon the import of + the question, I asked her whether her first acquaintance with my + mother had not been formed during her late visit to the springs. + She answered in the affirmative. 'But why do you ask?' said she, + searchingly. 'For no particular reason, but the question occurred + to me, from seeing the handwriting of the letter you have just + folded up. I thought it strange that you should receive a letter + from my mother, when I have received none,' 'This letter,' said + she, 'was not received at this place; I was merely refreshing my + memory with its contents.' 'It is not often,' said I, 'that my + mother writes so as to bring tears into the eyes of her friends, + and if you would not consider the expression of the wish too + impertinent, and that too when I have little expectation of its + being granted, I would say that I never before had so much + curiosity to see one of her letters.' + + "'Your curiosity,' said she, 'should be gratified immediately, but + this letter alludes to circumstances which would perhaps be + uninteresting to you; but even were they otherwise, it would + excite your curiosity still more to read the letter, when I am + unable to give such explanations _now_ as it requires.' + + "'You labour under a most grievous error,' said I, 'if you suppose + there are any circumstances connected in any way with the present + distress of Miss Frances St. Clair, which would be uninteresting + to me. The express object of my visit to-night was to ask that + very explanation. It may seem strange and impertinent that I + should seek that which you evidently avoid; but my excuse is, and + it is the only one that I can plead, that this is your last + evening in the city; will Miss St. Clair be offended, if I + acknowledge that upon this explanation turns my happiness? I am + fearful of giving offence by acknowledging that any previous + history is necessary of one who carries in her countenance a + refutation of all calumnies.' + + "I had ventured to seize her unresisting hand, but as I concluded + the sentence, she withdrew it, and covered her face with her + handkerchief, pressing it hard, and breathing short. At the same + time I noticed some confusion with her distress, though without + anger. This imboldened me to proceed. + + "'It may appear like double presumption in me to ask an + explanation before I can proffer a suit, which may be instantly + and indignantly rejected, either with or without your history.' + + "'I will not prudishly affect to misunderstand you, in either of + the prominent points of your remarks,' said she, her head sinking + in modest guise, 'but before I reply to them, will you tell me + whence you have ever heard any thing against me.' + + "The question went straight to my suspicious heart, and rankled + there; insomuch that I coughed and hemmed at it several times + ineffectually; her eyes being riveted on me all the while, like a + judge's upon a detected thief--I felt that her pure and searching + gaze was far more honest than my own, and I should speedily have + begun an explanation if her father had not at that instant entered + the room. I thought he saw and disrelished the matter in hand, for + he seated himself in a chair, in a certain manner, by which one + understands a person to say, 'I'll stay all night, if you have no + objections.' I will be up by daylight in the morning, lest the old + gentleman steal a march upon me. + + "Yours truly, + + "V. CHEVILLERE." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + + B. RANDOLPH TO V. CHEVILLERE. + + "Savannah, 18--. + + "DEAR FRIEND, + + "After despatching my last letter, not knowing exactly what else + to do with myself in the present state of affairs, I set out on + horseback, telling the family that I wished to see a little more + of Carolina, but inwardly resolved to follow the horse's nose + wherever he might lead, and continue thus to ride and thus to be + led until I might gather up my scattered thoughts and determine + what course to pursue. + + "I will not deny, that on the second day in the afternoon, about + three o'clock (truth is always precise, you know), I discovered in + one corner of the storehouse of my thoughts a secret design to try + 'Bell' by a leave-taking, absence, and reappearance. If you had + been upon the ground to charge me with the intention, I should no + doubt have sworn upon a stack of Testaments that it was not so; + and I could have done so honestly. You have looked inwards too + often not to know, that in wandering through the dreary passages + of one's own mind, we blunder by accident upon many obscure + motives, which, if boldly charged with them before we set out on + such a pilgrimage, we should stoutly deny. + + "When the horses were brought up on the gravelled road, and all + things in readiness for my departure, I cast a furtive glance at + that too-knowing and too-beautiful little brunette, who calls you + cousin, to see how she was about to feel on the solemn occasion. + Her looks were perfectly inexplicable. I have thought of them ever + since, but for my life I cannot say in what feelings they had + their origin. There was neither sorrow, joy, love, hatred, + revenge, hope, despair, nor any other definable emotion. There was + a scarcely perceptible smile, a slight shutting of the corner of + one eye, and a mock solemnity of the other unruly features, as if + one was winking to the other rebels as much as to say, 'wait till + he's out of hearing, and we will have a rare laugh at his + expense.' It was just such a look as would make a man say, 'Zounds + and fury, madam, you'll never see me again; farewell, for ever;' + and then be laughed at for his pains. + + "But what sort of a look was it? It was a very knowing look, I am + sure of that. She looked as if she read all the inward workings of + my moral machinery. It was a serio-comic look; produced, no doubt, + by the idea that she was scanning me thoroughly, while I imagined + that I could see just as clearly through her. In other words, as I + have somewhere else beautifully expressed it, she thought me + 'pretty considerable much of an ass,' and I am pretty considerable + much of her opinion, at least before ladies. It is somewhat + singular that this tendency to display my weak side should have + developed itself at the very time when I most desired to appear to + advantage. + + "At last the parting moment came. I had bidden your mother + farewell in the breakfast-room, and then proceeded to the front + door, where stood Virginia Bell. + + "'I think it very doubtful,' said I, 'whether I shall be enabled + to take your aunt's house in my route home.' + + "'You are not going to run away with cousin's favourite horse, are + you?' said she. + + "By the Great Mogul! in my earnestness to invent a pathetic lie, I + forgot to arrange the consistency of the plot. + + "'True, true!' said I, stammering; 'then I must indeed run my head + into danger again!' saying which I sprang upon your horse, and + rode like a country doctor who has no practice. By-the-by, that + was nearer to an avowal than I have ever come yet; your joyous, + fun-loving creatures are the most difficult to address in the + world. + + "Oh! if I only had such a one in love with me, what a race I would + lead her! I would punish the whole class of unapproachable little + mischievous misses! I would make her ogle me at church; hang on my + arm to the theatre; sigh by the fire-side, and weep when she went + to bed; I would almost break her heart before I would take the + least pity upon her. + + "I am curious to know what sort of wives these same little romps + make. Do they romp it through life, or do they settle down into + your miserable, sad, melancholy drones, who greet their husbands + when they come home with a sigh, or inexpressible look, that + drives more men to the bottle than all the good wine and good + company in the world? + + "You ask me, at least I know you would ask me, what I saw, or what + occurred on the road to the place from which this letter is dated. + I will tell you what I have not seen since I entered this land of + nullification. I have not seen a clear limpid river that could be + forded on horseback. Your water-courses are dark, deep, still, and + gloomy. The foliage on their banks is superlatively rich and + abundant, but it is occasionally interspersed with a species of + natural beauties which I don't admire, namely, little alligators; + by-the-by, I never see alligators, lizards, or tadpoles, that I do + not think of those weary days when we read together Ovid's + Metamorphoses. + + "Of a southern swamp I had no proper conception. I thought they + were black, dismal holes, covered with old black logs, and black + snakes, and frogs, and vapours; instead of which, they bear a + nearer resemblance, in the summer, to a princely (or _Prince's_) + botanical garden. The very perfume upon the olfactories is far + more delightful than the greatest assemblage of artificial + odours. Then there are the rich and variegated flowers of all + hues, sizes, and colours, set amid the deep green of the rich + shrubbery. The soil of which these swamps are composed is as black + as tar, and pretty much of the same consistence. + + "I observe, as I travel farther south, that bread is seldom seen + upon the table. What is called here _small homminy_ is used in its + place, at breakfast, dinner, and supper. + + "I saw no ploughs in your fields. Horses seemed to be used only + for carriages, racing, and for the private use of gentlemen and + ladies. I saw no brick houses; your mother's and that of Col. S. + being the only two I saw in the whole state. I saw many private + mansions very tastefully built and ornamented; some of them were + splendid, but mostly built of wood and painted white. + + "After three days pretty constant riding after my horse's nose, he + brought me to the banks of the Savannah, at a little + miserable-looking town, or village, called Purysburg. Here I found + a steamboat just about to depart for Savannah. I immediately + engaged passage for myself, servant, and two horses (one of which + is yours; confound him, I say, for betraying me). I amused myself + by shooting at the alligators, as we glided along the water, and + had kept up the sport some time, when a mellow distant sound came + along the surface of the water, like an exquisitely played Kent + bugle. It was decidedly the most enchanting music I ever heard, + and seemed nearer and nearer until it appeared to rise from under + the very bow of the boat. You will be surprised when I tell you + that it was made through a straight wooden tube, about five feet + long. The musician was a tall, ebony-coloured old African, who + stood up in one of your singular-looking batteaux, amid + half-a-dozen other negroes, who seemed to be at their luncheon. It + looked much like a boat on the Niger; indeed, I found my + imagination carrying me into such distant regions, that I + instinctively bit my lip to see whether I was awake or dreaming. + + "The city of Savannah became distinctly visible at a distance of + about seven miles. A brilliant city indeed it is. You cannot + imagine any thing finer than the view from the river. It is + situated on a high bluff, and commands an extensive view up and + down the stream. In the latter direction, on a clear day, you can + see, without glasses, the lighthouse on the island of Tybee. + + "By-the-by, I have been down among those islands; they are all + inhabited, and by a class of men as much like our real + old-fashioned Virginia gentlemen as can well be imagined. This + city is nobly built, and is laid out on a magnificent scale, + having a public square, containing a grove of pride of India + trees, in the centre of every four squares, and a row of the same + along each side of every street. + + "Talk of Philadelphia, and New-York, and Boston, and Richmond, and + New-Haven--Savannah outstrips them all, both in artificial and + natural beauty. It seems the residence of the prince of the world + and his nobility. + + "Yours, most truly, + + "B. RANDOLPH." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + + V. CHEVILLERE TO B. RANDOLPH. + + "Baltimore, 18--. + + "DEAR FRIEND, + + "Though I had but two hours' sleep, I was up betimes to catch a + parting glimpse of an interesting person who need not be named. + When I descended into the great vestibule of this extensive + establishment, I found the door of their parlour open, and the + entry nearly blocked up by bandboxes, trunks, and all the little + paraphernalia of which you and I are as yet quite ignorant. A + carriage stood at the door; the lady and the old gentleman sat + side by side upon the sofa, the former in her travelling habit, + while the latter held in his hand a cup of coffee, which he + sipped, giving directions from time to time to the servants. I + paid them the compliments of the morning, not in the most bland + and courtly style, for to tell you the truth I felt a little + inclined to poaching, and the old gentleman looked _to me_ not + unlike a vigilant and surly gamekeeper; however, he received me + with a welcome, perhaps it was a northern one; but of that I will + tell you more when we get fully into the enemy's country, as your + namesake of Roanoke would say. My presence seemed to hurry the + old gentleman's coffee down his throat, hot as it was, and in ten + minutes, before I had exchanged ten words with the lady, all was + pronounced in readiness. + + "The old gentleman did not leave her for a moment. I of course + handed her to the carriage, and took, as I supposed, a last look. + I suppose I must have appeared dolorous enough. The parting moment + came, the last pressure of the hand was given, the door closed, + whip cracked, and the carriage had gone some time, before I found + myself standing in the middle of the street, my head turned to one + side just far enough to catch a glimpse of Lamar in his nightgown, + half-way out of a three-story window, laughing with that + complacent self-satisfaction which is peculiar to him. 'Half-past + four and a dark stormy morning,' cried he, in true watchman style. + I pulled my hat down over my face, and walked away from the hotel + as fast as my impetuous blood would drive me; indeed, I felt + provoked at the time. I had not walked far, before I recollected + having felt something in my hand, as if it had found its way there + by accident, while I was exchanging adieus with my enslaver. I had + mechanically, while abstracted in the street, thrust it into my + waistcoat pocket. I now drew it forth,--it was a small roll of + paper, which you might have put into a thimble,--I opened it very + carefully, in hope that there might be some even + carelessly-scribbled line, which I could preserve as a memento. + By heavens, Randolph, there was a memento upon it! and evidently + intended for my eye alone. + + "The writing was in pencil, and scarcely legible; with some + difficulty I could make out these words. + + "'The explanation sought by Mr. Chevillere has not been + surreptitiously avoided by me, nor will it ever be; but if he is + wise, he will forget one who has already extended the influence of + her unhappiness too far.' + + "I read these lines over again and again. I walked round Baltimore + as if it had been a hamlet. It seemed to me that every person whom + I met could read in my countenance something strange and hurried. + At length, however, I found my way to the breakfast table. Lamar, + as my bad luck would have it, sat almost opposite to me. I do not + think I ever saw him perfectly disagreeable before; all his + remarks seemed to me _mal-apropos_, and he is not usually so + unfortunate, you know. I made a hasty breakfast, and hurried out + on purpose to avoid him, but in vain! he was with me in an + instant. 'All settled, I suppose, Chevillere,' said he. 'Yes, all + is settled for our journey to New-York,' said I, 'except our + bills, and that you may attend to as soon as you please.' I + ordered old Cato to see the luggage on board the steamboat for + Philadelphia: Lamar did the same. 'But, Chevillere,' said he, 'you + are not going to leave the Kentuckian,' upon which he set off to + summon our new companion. + + "Our next epistle will in all probability be from Philadelphia or + New-York; we shall only stay a short time in the former place, as + we conceive the other to be the true point from which to make + observations. + + "Yours truly, + + "V. CHEVILLERE." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + + B. RANDOLPH TO V. CHEVILLERE. + + "High Hills of the Santee, 18--. + + "DEAR FRIEND, + + "From the city of Savannah, I paid my first visit to our old + heathen dad, Neptune, and if first impressions of the sea were not + as common and as numerous as doggerel verses in a modern lady's + album, I might be tempted to become sublime for your edification. + I was rowed down from the city, in a beautiful boat made of a + single cypress, by the hands of the gentleman who was so polite as + to give me this gentle passage. By this you may know that they + take as much pride in their boats as the Venetians themselves. It + was beautifully painted, and rowed by eight well-formed negroes. + Inside of the seat at one end was a marooning chest, as they + called it, full of all kinds of liquors and cold meat, with the + necessary utensils for their use. The gentleman was an islander; + and during the few hours in which we were gliding over the + seventeen miles between the city and the ocean, he entertained me + with an account of his marooning expeditions. These are their + excursions upon the Sea Islands, for purposes of fishing and + hunting. These islanders are a peculiar, but delightful people; + however, I must not keep you too long in the sea-breeze; at some + other time, perhaps, I may indite you a history of these + hospitable and isolated gentlemen. + + "When I left Savannah, I determined to pursue a different route + from the one by which I came. I therefore crossed the Savannah + river fifteen or sixteen miles above the city; I then crossed the + country in as straight a line as I could draw upon the map, + between the ferry and the high hills of Santee; and in a short + time found myself in as complete solitude as ever Crusoe + experienced upon his desolate island. Nothing was to be seen but + the tall and gloomy-looking pines, stretching away into the bosom + of the atmosphere, and the interminable sands which lay before me + as far as the eye could reach. Twilight presently came on, and + those horrible musicians, the tree-frogs, began to chirp and sing. + The dolorous note of the whippoorwill was heard, with a horn + accompaniment from the throat of a screech-owl. Here was a pretty + serenade for a man with his heart attuned for melody, and his + stomach attuned for a slash at a cold ham, for I had had no + dinner. I struck up an accompaniment from my own pipes, but I soon + found that the vacuum was too profound for a due modulation in + concert pitch with this sylvan band. I wished them all at the + d----l, with their shrill pipes and full crops, and set my horse, + or rather _your_ horse, at full gallop, in a vain effort to escape + from the intended honour; but the harder I rode, the more + enthusiastic they became. I soon made another comfortable + discovery; I found that I had been riding for the last two hours + in a perfect wilderness, in utter contempt of what two pioneer + wheels had made for a highway; nor could I tell the north from the + south, nor the east from the west, having foolishly enough turned + the horse round and round in order to gaze at the stars. 'Like + master like man,' my servant did the same, as if he could read in + the pine tops more than I could in the heavens. All my astronomy + had gone with my dinner; I could see nothing in the starry regions + but what is sometimes called the _Frying-pan_. Oh! the shades of + Thales of Miletus, who first imported astronomy into Greece! to + think that a bachelor of such heavenly arts could not look into + the face of the Frying-pan without thinking of grilled chickens + and rashers of bacon, and the crackling of fire, and the + sputtering of fat. I dismounted, and ordered Sam to do likewise, + and try to find me a piece of flint by which to strike a light; he + declared that he had not seen a stone or a rock since he came into + the Carolinas. 'So much for geology and astronomy,' said I. 'I + rader tink they all bad fur empty stumuck, masta,' said Sam, + considering himself privileged by the exigencies of the case. + 'True enough, Sam,' said I, 'it would be an apt scholar that could + produce bread or a stone either by his learning, in our + circumstances.' + + "As I mounted, Sam mounted, not a word more having been uttered; + he seemed to be aware of the fact, that language generally fails + with the food; a man's ideas in such a case run fast enough, but + they are all in humble life; below stairs, diving among pots, and + pans, and pantries, and receptacles for cold victuals. As the + ideas ran, so ran the horses, until the water began to splash our + legs from a thick bushy swamp, into which we found that we had + initiated ourselves. 'Now Sam,' said I, 'we are swamped.' Sam said + nothing aloud, but was evidently muttering something to himself, + being engaged, as I supposed, at his secret devotions, for you + must know that he would be a Puritan. Like most of his race, + however, he has more faith in the effect of singing hymns, than + devotions of any other kind. I saw that he was itching for a trial + at his usual relief in all his troubles. I therefore told him not + to suppress it on my account, but to give it free utterance; the + idea of it naturally excited ludicrous recollections of old Noll + and the veteran Rumpers, but Sam saw the new vein I had so + inappropriately fallen into, and therefore resisted his inward + strivings. I must say, _en passant_, that I think him honest and + sincere in his faith, I therefore do not ridicule him. + + "We waded through the black regions of this little pandemonium for + some three-quarters of a mile, before the dry sand again greeted + our hearing. The Frying-pan still stared me in the face, and the + sylvan band still plied their pipes. We had not proceeded far by + land before we came directly against a fence. I was truly glad to + see it, for I was sure it must lead to some inhabited place, and + accordingly ordered Sam to let us into the field, which we found + to be an immense plain covered with cotton,--the most beautiful of + all crops. We rode between the rows, for many a weary foot, until + at length the glimmering of many lights greeted our longing eyes. + We made directly for them, and soon stood in the midst of an + immense negro quarter. On inquiring whether their master's house + was near at hand, we found that it was many miles distant. The + overseer's house, they told us, was not more than half a mile off; + but to these animals I have always had an utter aversion. I + therefore bought some fodder for the horses, and two fowls for + ourselves, from the _driver_, who had the privilege of raising + them, and employed his wife to pick and grill them upon the coals, + and a delightful and savoury prelude they soon sent up to my + famished senses; a heartier or a sweeter meal was never made than + I thus took; a fowl seasoned with salt, and a large pot of small + homminy, served direct to my mouth from a large wooden spoon, + without the cumbrous intervention of plates, knives, and forks. + Our meal being finished,--for you must know Sam and I dined at the + same time and from the same table, which was none other than the + ground floor, covered with the head of a barrel,--hunger is a + wonderful leveller of distinctions,--as I was saying, our meal + being finished, a goodly number of the more aged, respectable, + and intelligent blacks of the quarter assembled to entertain us, + or be entertained themselves, I scarcely know which. Many of these + negroes, I found, were born in Africa, and one poor tattooed + fellow claimed to be of royal blood. He told me that his father, + the king, had a hundred children. I asked if any of those present + could write; they replied that there was one man in the quarter + who could write in his own language, and several of them went out + and brought in a tall, bald-headed old fellow, who seemed to come + with great reluctance. After being told what was desired, he + acknowledged to me that he could write when he last tried, which + was many years previous. I took out my pocket-book, tore out a + blank leaf, and handing him a pen from my pocket inkstand, + requested him to give me a specimen. He took the head of the + barrel on his lap, and began, if I recollect right, on the right + side of the page; the following is a fac simile of his + performance: + + [Illustration] + + "The following is a liberal translation into English:-- + + "'In the name of God the merciful! the compassionate! God bless + our Lord Mohammed his prophet, and his descendants, and his + followers, and prosper them exceedingly. Praise be to God the + Lord of all creatures! the merciful, the compassionate king of + the day of judgment! Thee we adore, and of thee we implore + assistance! Guide us in the right way, the way of those with whom + thou art well pleased, and not of those with whom thou art angry, + nor of those who are in error. Amen!' + + "The original is written in Arabic. The old fellow's name is + Charno, which it seems he has retained, after being enslaved, + contrary to their general custom in that respect. I became quite + affected and melancholy in talking to this venerable old man, and + you may judge from that rare circumstance that he is no common + character. + + "I now fixed my saddle under my head in a cotton shed to rest for + the night; but, weary as I was, I could not directly get to sleep + for thinking of sandy deserts, old Charno, chicken suppers, negro + quarters, and Virginia Bell! You see she is still the heroine, let + my wanderings lay the scenes where they will. + + "I have no doubt but you will say, on the reception of this + letter, 'Well! I thought Randolph would run his nose into all the + out-of-the-way places in Carolina,' I plead guilty! I have a sort + of natural instinct for unbeaten paths, and the one by which I + arrived at Belville shall be given in my next; until then, fare + thee well. + + "B. RANDOLPH." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + + VICTOR CHEVILLERE TO B. RANDOLPH. + + "New-York, 18--. + + "DEAR FRIEND, + + "At length we have arrived in this flourishing city, not, however, + without having experienced many vicissitudes of weather, humour, + and adventure, the two latter especially; how could we help it, + when the Kentuckian formed so large a part of our little crew, by + steamboat and stage? His animal spirits are worth a million. + + "You cannot conceive any thing more agreeable to an emancipated + and sombre student, than to get a comfortable high backed leather + seat in one of these fine northern coaches, his cloak collar put + up like a mask, and the rim of his cap drawn down to meet it, just + leaving a peeping-hole sufficient to see and enjoy every thing + worth enjoying, at the same time defying the gaze of intruding + eyes. + + "If there should fortunately happen to be such a reckless, yet + generous spirit as Damon among the company, the student's + happiness is complete, for you cannot imagine what a protector he + is against intruders. In our American stage-coaches (and perhaps + in all others) there are sometimes men, full of brandy eloquence, + which is kept so constantly on the stretch by repeated libations; + or boisterous politicians, with their mouths so full of the last + importation of news from Washington, or of the contents of the + morning papers, that a complaisant young man is almost compelled + to make himself ridiculous, by getting into a political + controversy. + + "Damon took all that sort of work off our hands, in the most + generous and chivalrous spirit imaginable. His eye was ever bright + and ready; there was no sinking into dull student-like lethargy + one moment, and flashing out into erratic folly the next; he was + ready with lance in rest, to take a tilt against anybody's + windmill; at home upon all subjects, being exactly in such a state + of refinement as not to be ashamed to show his ignorance, and + always eager to acquire information. Nor is his mind dull or + unapt; he will rebut or ridicule an adversary with astonishing + shrewdness. One of his peculiarities amused me much; he was + evidently more excited in the stage-coaches than in the boats. He + was never satisfied until he had let down the front glasses, so + that he could see the horses; then he would talk fluently to his + near neighbour, and keep his neck stretched all the while, so as + to have all the horses in view, throwing out occasional digressive + remarks as to their various powers, as thus, 'that's my little + hearty, make a straight back to it;' and then turning to his + antagonist he would continue his remarks, as if nothing had drawn + off his attention. + + "But I must not take up all your time with our comic adventures. + When I get into that vein more completely, you shall have his + exploits in the city. By-the-by, I suggested to Lamar that he + should take that part of the correspondence off my hands, but he + said, 'Randolph knows I'm not one of the writing sort, therefore + you must write for us both; action,' said he, with a mock heroic + flourish, 'is my forte.' + + "We are comfortably situated at the City Hotel in Broadway. After + we had selected our rooms, I sallied out into that gay and + brilliant promenade, which intersects the city from north-east to + south-west. You may there see, on a fine sunshiny afternoon, all + the fashion and beauty of this great city; the neat, tasteful, + Parisian costume, in close contrast with the more sober guise of + London. There you may hear intermingled the language of the Gaul, + the German, and the modern Roman. To the right and left you see + the spires of various Christian temples; and smiling faces, and + happy hearts, will greet you at every step. + + "To a secluded college novice like myself, there is something new + and moving in all this life and bustle; it irresistibly brings to + my mind ideas of gay feats, tilts, tournaments, and brilliant + fairs. Within the finished bow-windows are wealth and splendour, + and brilliancy, which we poor southerns have not seen in our own + native land; marble buildings, stores with granite columns, and + the streets crowded with immense omnibuses (these are stages to + transport persons from one part of the city to another); splendid + private equipages, _republican_ liveries, and carts loaded with + merchandise. + + "Seeing some trees and a comfortable green plat a little farther + up the street, I worked through the crowd of persons, and carts, + and stages, and found myself in the midst of the far famed Park, + and immediately in front of that proud edifice the City Hall. I + ascended the marble platform, and surveyed the gay throng, as they + moved on in one continued and dense current, with merry faces, + miserable hearts, and empty heads and pockets; but to talk of + these stale things, you know, in the present age, is all stuff and + sheer nonsense. I therefore put my reflections in my portfolio to + carry home with me, and proceeded to the house-keeper's room, as I + had been directed, to obtain the good lady's pilotage, or that of + some deputy, to the governor's room, which I readily found. There + is nothing remarkable in the two rooms which contain the + paintings, except that they command from the windows a fine view + of the park and the surrounding streets. Yes, there are two + venerable old stuffed chairs. The one in the north wing was used + by Washington at his inauguration as first President of the United + States, and the one in the east room by the elder Adams. There are + portraits of George Washington, George Clinton, Alexander + Hamilton, Commodore Bainbridge, Monroe, Jackson, Duane, Varick, + Livingston, Clinton, Willet, Radcliff, Captain Hull, Governor + Lewis, Macomb, Yates, Van Buren, Brown, Perry, La Fayette, + Decatur, Tompkins, Colden, Allen, Paulding, Hone, Stuyvesant, + Bolivar, Columbus, Monkton, Williams: some of these last are only + half-length. Over the portrait of Washington is a blue flag rolled + up, with the following inscription in golden letters:--'This + standard was displayed at the inauguration of George Washington, + first President of the United States, on the 30th day of April, + 1789. And was presented to the Corporation of New-York by the + Second Regt. of N. Y. State Artillery, Nov. 25th, 1821.' + + "While I was standing at one of the front windows again looking + over the moving masses of Broadway, I saw a lady approach on the + eastern footway of the Park, with a hurried step, until she came + nearly opposite to the Hall. Crossing Chatham, she turned abruptly + down one of the narrow streets running at right angles to the + eastern line of the Park. There was something in the figure and + carriage of this lady which, unknown at first to my consciousness, + quickened my pulsations; but when she approached to the nearest + point in her course, I felt morally certain that it was none other + than that mysterious charmer, who by her father's connivance, or + rather management, slipped through my fingers at Baltimore, and + that, too, without my even having asked her address in this city. + The recollection of this latter circumstance prompted me instantly + to seize my hat and hurry after her. Throwing the accustomed fee + to my obliging pilotess, I walked with all possible haste to the + corner of the street which I supposed she had taken. I found that + a little crowd of ragged urchins had collected upon some occasion + of their own, and asked the most intelligent-looking among them if + he had seen a lady in black go down that street,--pointing down + the hill from Tammany Hall; and, by way of reply, one of the most + disgusting, discordant, and ill-timed peals of laughter that I + ever heard burst upon my senses. + + "'Lady in black!' said the most forward fellow, 'you will find + plenty of black ladies down that street, with black eyes to boot.' + I retreated in perfect disgust with these precocious vagabonds, + not, however, before I was saluted with another peal of laughter, + accompanied by the epithets--'greenhorn,' 'young 'un,' 'bumpkin,' + &c. &c. + + "You cannot conceive of any more thoroughly disgusting feeling + than that produced upon the mind of a young man bred up in the + country, upon this first exhibition of the detestable forms which + vice and dissipation assume in every large city,--young females + with bloated countenances,--boys with _black_ eyes and bruised + faces, with their disgusting slang and familiar nicknames, of Sal, + Bet, Kate, Tom, Josh, Jack, or Jim, and their unmeaning oaths, + Billingsgate wit, and filthy and ragged garments. There are + certain districts of the city in which these are always to be + seen, I am informed,--but of these more anon. I turned down the + street, and pursued the course which I supposed the lady had + taken, until I got to the bottom of what had once been a deep glen + in its rural days. I could see nothing but entrances to tanyards, + and warehouses full of leather and morocco. The houses, too, + looked at least a century and a half behind those on the hill, in + architectural taste. Turning to a woman who was sweeping the + little narrow pavement in front of one of the houses, I asked her + what part of the city I was in. + + "'This is called the _swamp_, sir,' was the reply. + + "'This,' thought I to myself, 'is a very different affair from our + swamps.' Just at that moment, casting my eye along one of the + narrow streets, I caught a glimpse of the same figure, attended + only by her maid, entering a low, Dutch, dingy-looking house, with + the gable end to the street. I walked as rapidly as I could in the + same direction, and was within some twenty yards of the house, + when two young men issued from the door, with the air and dress of + gentlemen. I did not immediately observe their faces, because my + mind was intently occupied with the lady, and the probable cause + of her visit to such a strange part of the city. These reflections + were suddenly interrupted by some one slapping me on the back, and + exclaiming in my ear, 'Ha! my Chevillere! you here! how do you do? + what brought you here?' but I am resolved to put your curiosity to + a serious test; names in my next. Yours, truly, + + "V. CHEVILLERE." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + + V. CHEVILLERE TO B. RANDOLPH. + + (In continuation.) + + "New-York, 18--. + + "Who do you think it was who met me at such an unlucky moment, + just, perhaps, as I was about to stumble upon some clew to unravel + the mysteries of this fair little breathing ignis fatuus? It was + no other than young Arthur, our old schoolfellow, from Kentucky. + He has come hither to attend a course of medical lectures, though + they have medical lectures in his own State. Arthur was not of our + class, nor yet one of the glorious three, but he was an old and + respected friend and schoolmate, and therefore his acquaintance + could not be cut quite so unceremoniously at the very moment of + its renewal; and even if I had made some silly excuse to avoid him + for the moment, he would undoubtedly have seen me kicking my heels + in the street, 'like a strange dog in a crowd,' as Damon has it; + so I reluctantly wheeled about with him. His companion was also a + student of medicine, and a native of this city; he was introduced + to me by the name of Hazlehurst. I am aware you are anxious to + know what they could be seeking in the identical house in which I + had just blockaded my fair fugitive. I wish, as heartily as you + can do, that I could explain that matter to our mutual + satisfaction. I pumped our inchoate doctors in vain; they + explained their own visit to the house very satisfactorily, upon + the grounds of professional business, in the name and on behalf of + their preceptor, for it seems Arthur has been here all the summer; + but they neither saw nor heard of any lady in the premises, and + all further inquiries were of course ended by the interpretation + which Arthur chose to put upon my inquiries concerning a fair + fugitive, so soon after my arrival. He was not a little pleased to + hear that Lamar was in the city, in close league with a countryman + of his own. + + "By-the-way, Arthur is a noble fellow and an accomplished + gentleman. He has all the prerequisites of natural capacity and + elementary acquirements, for the study of his arduous profession. + I know no young gentleman who has chosen a profession in every way + better suited to his peculiarities of mind and temperament. You + will doubtless recollect that he always had a fondness for the + natural sciences, and this, after all, is the true 'condition + precedent' for making a profound and philosophic physician. How + lamentable it is that such minds are always thrown in the + background in our colleges! This results from that everlasting + _dingdong_ hammering at languages, before the pupil has discovered + their uses, and without any regard to his peculiarities of mind. + Those students who, like Arthur, exhibit an apt capacity for the + study of things, and their properties and relations, are almost + always dull at the study of their representatives, or, in other + words, languages; why, then, do the instructers in these + institutions destroy the energies and the vigour of such a mind, + by making him fail at those things for which nature has + disqualified him, or, rather, for which nature has too nobly + endowed him? I am no enemy to the study of the vehicles by which + we communicate with our fellow-men, but I am an enemy to the + uniform, monotonous drilling, which all collegians in this country + receive alike, because I have observed in this process, that + third-rate minds invariably rank first. There are, in every + college, numbers of young gentlemen who have parrot-like + capacities, and memories that retain little words; but who, if + required to originate ideas of their own, would soon show the + native barrenness of their understandings. + + "Look around you now in the world, and see what has become of + these _distinguished_ linguists! One out of a hundred, perhaps, + has received a professorship in some new institution, and the + others are all falsifying the promises of their precocious youth; + while of the thoughtful and abstract dunces, as they were + considered in college, many are building up lasting reputations, + upon the deep and solid foundations which our hackneyed systems of + education could not develop. Necessity and the world develop them; + and these, we soon find, are very different from college life. + Now, college discipline should imitate the world in this respect; + it should develope every man's peculiar genius. Neglect of this is + the true reason why so many men distinguish themselves in the + world, who were considered asses in college, and why so many who + were considered amazingly clever in college, are found to be + little better than asses in the world. + + "Now that I have somewhat recovered from the chagrin of Arthur's + mal-apropos appearance, I am really glad that he is here. I must + surely see the lady again. Indeed, I am resolved to do so, if I + have to stay here twelve months; and then Arthur's presence will + much facilitate our design of surveying the under-currents of the + busy world. You know that I am not prone to trust the surface of + things. I shall therefore follow him into many places besides his + fashionable resorts. He tells me that a malignant epidemic is said + to be prevailing here, and that their visit to the sick person + before mentioned was with a view to ascertain whether the patient + really had malignant symptoms. They think she had not. I was not + so much interested in the affairs of their patient during the + discussion on the subject, as I was in their possible consequences + upon others,--but of that more in my next. Young Doctor Hazlehurst + seems to be a very fashionable personage, but gentlemanly in his + manners, and unaffected in his deportment. + + "They walked with me to our hotel, in order to see Lamar, but + unfortunately he was out. However, Arthur left college greetings + for him, and young Hazlehurst left his address, and invitations + for us both to call at his father's house, who, it seems, lives in + the city; so you see we have made the first step towards seeing + both the upper and under-currents during our sojourn. Whatever + they bring forth shall be as faithfully chronicled as your own + adventures. Truly, + + "V. CHEVILLERE." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + + V. CHEVILLERE TO B. RANDOLPH. + + (In continuation.) + + "New-York, 18--. + + "The little coincidences of real life are of much more frequent + occurrence than is generally allowed by our prim historians. + Arthur and his companion had not long departed, when Lamar and + Damon came in. I mentioned their visit to the former, when, + picking up the card and examining it with evident surprise, he + placed his finger upon the number of the street, and held it + across the table for Damon to see it, who immediately exclaimed, + 'Well! I'm flambergasted now! if that ain't what I call a _leetle_ + particular.' + + "'Why, what is the matter?' said I, astonished in my turn at their + astonishment. + + "'Oh, nothing more,' said Lamar, 'than that Damon and myself have + but just come from the very door upon which that name and number + are placed.' + + "'Are you acquainted with the family?' said I. + + "'No,' replied he; 'I was standing opposite to the door in + question, when a young lady alighted from her carriage and entered + the house; not, however, before she suddenly stopped and took a + searching look at your humble servant.' + + "'Had you ever seen her before?' + + "'If I am not mistaken she is the same young lady whom I saw two + years ago at the Virginia springs, when I obtained leave from + college to go there on account of my health; she was then quite + young; just entering her teens, I should suppose.' + + "'Ah! ha! have I caught you at last?' said I, as Lamar began to + redden under a searching glance; 'then there was some foundation + for the stories which followed you upon that occasion.' + + "'Bah!' said he, 'they were all nonsense; but come, Damon, tell + Chevillere what fine stump speeches you heard this morning at a + New-York election.' + + "I saw his drift in amusing me with Damon, and I was indeed quite + willing to be so amused. + + "'Smash me if I heard any speeches,' said Damon, 'nor saw any + candidates either; they manage them things here quite after a + different fashion.' + + "'Why, how do they manage them, if they have no candidates and no + speeches?' said I. + + "'By the art of hocus pocus, I believe,' continued Damon; 'I had + whetted my appetite for a New-York speech till I was completely on + a wire edge, by the time we got to the polls; then they had a + parcel of chaps standing behind a little counter, with gold headed + poles, like freemasons in a cake-shop, playing at long-pole with + the boys. Why! where's the election,' said I, to a chap outside + the counter, with one black eye too many. 'Right under your nose,' + said he; 'clap down your tickets and kiss the calf-skin, as I did + just now;' and then he cramm'd my hands full of little bits of + paper, 'H----l in the West,' said I, 'are we going to have no + speeches, no drink, no fighten?' 'O!' said he, 'there's plenty of + drink in the bar-room next door, and you can get your stomach full + of fight, if you will walk down to the _Five Points_.' + + "'And how do the people know whom they vote for?' said I to Lamar. + + "His answer satisfied me that Damon's account of the business was + nearly correct as to matters of fact; and that the New-Yorkers + never have what we call 'stump speeches,' and never personally + know, or even see their representatives. These city mobocracies, + composed as they are, principally of wild Irish, are terrible + things; but I must adhere to our bargain, to have nothing to do + with politics. + + "Lamar has evidently ripped up an old wound this morning, and I am + truly rejoiced thereat; we shall take an early day to pay the + visit spoken of, at which time I shall observe the gentleman's + movements, and see if I cannot treasure up a little ammunition for + future use, wherewithal to pay off old scores against him. + + "You recollect, perhaps, the old woman's comfort in a time of + great famine; 'she thanked God her neighbours were as bad off as + herself.' I find very little comfort in this truly philanthropic + doctrine, save from occasionally amusing myself with anticipations + of Lamar's more fashionable dilemma. + + "The Kentuckian's pulsations seem to be regulated by a gigantic + and equipoised animal impulse. There is very little sinking of the + heart in gloomy anticipation, with him; he enjoys the present, + uninterrupted by the past or future. After all, are not these + hardy and free sons of the west the happiest of all created + beings? They enjoy nearly every thing that we do, perhaps not + exactly in the same degree, but certainly with as much of the + heart, if not so much of the head; I really envy Damon his hearty + and joyous laughs, such as I could once indulge in myself, and I + have often asked what is it that has made the change? Can you + answer the question, Randolph? + + "I once thought that you and Lamar would laugh it on through life, + but it seems that you have scarcely started, each in his distinct + career, before you begin sowing the seeds of your future sorrows, + don't be frightened; it is the appointed race we must all run, + sooner or later; we cannot be joyous and jovial college-lads all + our days; but we may, and I hope will, be calm and tranquil old + _country gentlemen_. + + "But pshaw! I grow old before my time; 'sufficient for the day is + the evil thereof;' lay that flattering unction to your soul, and + all will soon be well, that is now ill with you. + + "The more I see of these northern states, the more I am convinced + that some great revolution awaits our own cherished communities. + Revolutions, whether sudden or gradual, are fearful things; we + learn to feel attachments to those things which they tear up, as a + poor cripple feels attached to the mortified limb, that must be + amputated to save his life. A line of demarkation in such a case + is distinctly drawn between the diseased and the healthy flesh. + Such a line is now drawing between the slave and free states, I + fear. God send that the disease may be cured without amputation, + and before mortification takes place. I know that this latter is + your own belief. What think you now, since you have seen the + greater extent of the disease? Truly, + + "V. CHEVILLERE." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + + B. RANDOLPH TO V. CHEVILLERE. + + "Belville, High Hills of the Santee. + + "DEAR FRIEND, + + "I have heard of weeping willows, but I never saw weeping pines + and black Jacks (scrub oaks) before I came into South Carolina; + these are made so by the moss which here grows from the trees in + long pendulous masses, which makes them look like gigantic weeping + willows. + + "On the day of my arrival here, I was again benighted within a few + miles of Belville, and again found my way into Christendom by a + delightful custom which prevails among your city refugees. You + know that they have a little village erected here among your + sandhills, which is entirely owned by wealthy residents of + Charleston; to these they retire during the sickly season, and of + course they are now full of fashionables. Before each door is a + large wooden pillar, with a hearth on the top of it, a kind of + rude imitation of our urn. On these they kindle pine-knot fires to + keep the mosquitoes away from the premises, and the effect is + doubtless at all times brilliant; but it is doubly so when they + are the means of restoring a poor benighted traveller to the + region of hope and comfort; such was the case with your humble + servant. I had but just begun to look out for the usual concert, + and the Frying-pan, and the swamp, when I discovered these fires + away to my right; I was not more than a mile out of my road. + + "This little mushroom village was entirely deserted when I passed + through it before; I was therefore surprised to find carriages + standing by each cabin, and fine ladies promenading along the + sandy roads with their attendant beaux. + + "Sounds of infantile laughter, sweet music, and the still sweeter + notes of frying-pans (very different affairs from my assortment), + saluted my delighted ears as I cantered through the encamped + throng. I did not stop, because the distance was but short to your + own house, at which I soon arrived, and, for once in my life, not + before I was wanted. + + "As I briskly rode up the long sandy avenue, I heard a strange + confusion of noises and sounds from the direction of the quarter, + which you have here dangerously near, but from benevolent views I + suppose; I next discovered Bell walking to and fro along the + little esplanade which surmounts the front portico, wringing her + hands, weeping, and calling upon your mother's name most + piteously. I dismounted, and ran towards the nearest entrance with + all my speed, and there I met the dear girl, just in time to catch + her in my arms for fear of a worse resting-place. As soon as she + had recovered a little from her exhaustion, the effect of her + previous excitement, she exclaimed, 'Oh! Mr. Randolph, how glad I + am to see you!' + + "'Not more so than I am to see you, my dear Bell; but tell me the + cause of all this noise at the quarter, and of your alarm.' + + "She told me, as well as she could for her short and convulsive + breathing, that the driver had undertaken, in the absence of the + overseer, to whip a young negro who is a great favourite among his + fellows; and it seems that he had beaten him unmercifully. Some + time after, a party had assailed his house where he had shut + himself in; as I came up, they had just succeeded in breaking down + the door; but the bird had been some time flown, out of a back + window. Your mother had gone to drink tea with one of the + refugees, a city acquaintance of hers, at the little encampment + before mentioned. Under these circumstances, I seized a cudgel and + departed to the scene of action, not, however, with Bell's + consent. She declared that they would murder me, and clung to my + garments until I gently disengaged myself and committed her to her + maid. It is not to be denied that I almost blessed the rebellion, + for its showing me that I was a person to be preserved in the eyes + of your cousin. + + "When I arrived upon the ground, it was some minutes before I + could make the principal actors conscious of the presence of any + one not in the number of their confederates; however, by dint of + lungs and violent gesticulations, I at length gained an audience, + and no sooner had I done so, than the victory was gained. I merely + promised to have the matter investigated, and the offender + punished himself, if he should prove, upon investigation, to have + whipped the favourite either without cause, or unmercifully, with + cause. This desirable conclusion to the affair could not have been + brought about in every quarter in this neighbourhood, or at any + one where they had been less accustomed to have their mutual + wrongs redressed. + + "When I returned to the house, the news of the result had preceded + me, and Bell had retired to her room; she soon, however, again + made her appearance, more beautiful, if possible, than when I left + her; she found it exceedingly difficult to amalgamate her present + evident gratitude with her former comico-quizzico treatment of + me,--and though the latter decidedly had the advantage, the + struggles between the little devil of mischief within, and a + proper behaviour to me on the present occasion, kept me quite + amused, considering our late excitement, until your mother, who + had been sent for, arrived with a number of gentlemen from the + sandhills. With these we formed quite a party; your mother was + less moved than I expected, owing, I suppose, to her having so + long been in the habit of putting her energies to the test. She + was undisguisedly pleased to see me. + + "Among the gentlemen who returned with her, my green eyes soon + discovered a suitor of Bell's; whether one formerly discarded, or + at present encouraged, I could not tell; but I rather suspect the + latter, as your mother's visit was to his sister, and Bell had + excused herself from going upon some grounds, for which he was now + taking her to task. + + "I was not so much surprised as I have been, at her easy control + of _my_ poor generalship, when I saw with what admirable + discipline she managed her troops, both raw militia and regulars; + of course I class myself with the latter. + + "I was not too much delighted to hear many parties and excursions + talked of and arranged; what a selfish animal I must have become + since I have undertaken this southern tour! I wonder if the + northern air and manners have had the same effect upon you and + Lamar? + + "After our visiters had departed (you see I am domiciliated), Bell + said to me, starting up suddenly, 'Mr. Randolph, if my memory + serves me, you told me at the door, on the morning of your + departure, that indispensable business would put it entirely out + of your power to take our house in your way home; I hope you have + heard favourable accounts from that urgent business?' + + "The little _devil_ within was now completely triumphant; and + then, to make my intended pathos still more ridiculous, by + inventing more than half of my speech! I had a great mind to say, + 'Oh, Mr. Randolph, how glad I am to see you!' and almost run into + her arms; but your mother's dignity, Chevillere, though it is mild + and benevolent, keeps me always on my good behaviour in her + presence; so I only answered, 'The horse! the horse! you forget + the horse!' and then she enjoyed a peculiarly sincere and + triumphant laugh; and the first, too, with which she has greeted + my return. I love them so much that I can almost bear to hear her + laugh at myself, provided it is at my knavery and not at my folly. + + "B. RANDOLPH." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + + V. CHEVILLERE TO B. RANDOLPH. + + "New-York, 18--. + + "I told you in my last of our surprise at the little coincidence + of the number on the card, and that on the house where the lady + alighted, with whom Lamar had exchanged some intelligent glances + in her more girlish days; but I did not complete the relation, + which I will do presently. + + "In the mean time, was there ever a man of any travel or + adventure, who has not been alarmed at these seeming accidents, + or, what is more probable, made superstitious by their frequent + recurrence? I think that I hazard nothing in saying, that more of + such strange coincidences have occurred to me than I have ever + seen in any work of fiction; not the clap-traps, and other little + contrivances, which are intended to electrify the blunted nerves + of veteran readers; but the coincidences of ordinary life in + society, which reveal to us occasionally the finger of Providence + in the course we vainly suppose we are chalking out for ourselves. + What is it to a man to possess the will, when all the + circumstances upon which that will is to operate, are ready + arranged to his hand? I do not repine at this, if it be a fact. + On the contrary, it is often a matter of consolation to me to + think, how narrow is the choice which the Creator has given us; + thereby, of course, decreasing our means of doing wrong; nor is + this all his beneficence to us,--he has made it easier for us to + do right than wrong; often leaving us but two plain roads to + follow, the right one being the easier, plainer, more attractive + to a cultivated head and heart, and more profitable in this world. + There! you see I never preach beyond this world; and hard enough + it is to see clearly all around us in that. + + "This brings me, by a very circuitous route you will no doubt + think, to the further coincidence spoken of. + + "As Damon does not take up his abode with us, besides other + reasons, he was not of our party when we went to pay our respects + to the Hazlehurst family. On entering the parlour, we found the + young gentleman who had invited us, with Arthur and the lady, who + were sitting, at the time of our entrance, engaged in an + apparently interesting conversation, in the recess of one of the + windows. Arthur and Lamar seemed pleased to meet again. The lady + smiled upon Lamar, and acknowledged her recollection of his + countenance. She is elegant and lofty; not in height, indeed, for + she is not remarkably tall, but lofty in her demeanour and + bearing. There are none of the gentle whisperings which come + directly from the heart of a certain little unhappy runaway. The + one would captivate an assembly; the other has made terrible + inroads upon the heart of a single gentleman; and this brings me + to the matter with which I began this epistle. + + "Lamar, having mentioned to Arthur something about the young lady + we had met on our travels, and having thrown many gratuitous + remarks and glances towards me, the lady seemed at length to take + some interest in the subject, and in Lamar's description. She then + appealed to me for the name. + + "'Miss St. Clair!' exclaimed she, when I had succeeded in uttering + it, 'and have you really fallen into her toils? Alas, I pity you!' + + "Why the plague should she pity me, Randolph? It was evident + enough that she did not mean the mock pity, which is only another + way for saying, 'how I am rejoiced!' + + "'But,' continued she, 'the lady is a dear and valued friend of + mine, and you shall see her.' + + "'But when?' said I, eagerly, awakening out of a brown study. + + "All laughed; and I cannot say from my own experience, that I like + the sport any better than yourself. + + "You could have amused yourself (it was no amusement to me) with + the odd looks of Lamar, in presence of the object of a first and + youthful attachment. There is something pure and primitive in + these boyish loves, and they are too much out of fashion in the + present age, even in this country. It is not certainly because + matches of mere convenience have supplanted them, so much as + because it has become too much the custom to treat very young + affairs of the heart with ridicule and contempt. People are apt to + say 'Oh! it is nothing more than puppy love!' (a refined + expression truly) and to throw derision upon all such + demonstrations, at the very time, too, when we are most sensitive + upon such subjects, and when our impressions of the fair one are + but too easily modified by the pretended opinions of our seniors + and superiors. Opposition, direct and serious, will indeed + sometimes make the youth steady in his course, but ridicule of the + object, never! + + "From the little I know of the science of political economy and + human happiness, I am inclined to run right into the teeth of the + prevailing doctrines on this subject. I have never known a couple + who married, whether young or old, upon the strength of a first + and mutual passion, who were not contented, prosperous, and happy. + There are doubtless exceptions to this sweeping rule, but I have + not seen them. + + "Its enemies urge that the youthful pair are not capable of + estimating each other's qualifications. But do age and experience + qualify them? Or is the judgment of so much avail in these matters + as is pretended? Look at the men most remarkable for discretion + and judgment; I will venture to say you will find that most of + them have trusted too much to their judgments, and too little to + their hearts, to be happy. The truth is, that nature has made the + heart the magnetic point of mutual attraction in these affairs, + and the head of the wisest man is here out of its sphere. + + "It is too true, that many of your slow, cautious, miserly + characters, attempt to reduce the whole business to a question in + the single rule of three; as thus: if Caroline B. with a sweet + face and a prudent turn makes a thrifty wife, what will Adeline B. + make, with a sweet face, thrifty ways, and a heavy purse? + + "Thanks be to an overruling providence, they are often carried a + rule or two farther in their mathematics than they intended; the + honey-moon winds up with doleful calculations, in the ashes of the + chimney-corner, with the end of their rattans; such as Vulgar + Fractions, Profit and Loss, Tare and Trett, et cetera. + + "You must not imagine, from what I have here said, that I am one + of those dreamers who contend that the world might again become a + paradise; if, in these things, men would always consult the + dictates of the heart. + + "If we look forward at the marriages which are to come, we can + discern nothing. This you may think is too true to make a joke of, + and too serious to discuss. But look back over all the world that + you have seen, and I think you will own that Providence or destiny + has had a great design constantly in view in their fulfilment. The + human character has been equipoised, extremes have been avoided, + the humble elevated, the exalted humbled; all the genius, and the + wit, and the judgment, and the virtues, have not been suffered to + be concentrated in the descendants of a single pair, but have been + as nearly as possible divided among us, the descendants of the + multitude. Opposite, or rather diverging characters, are + frequently enamoured of each other--the brave man loves the gentle + woman; the gentle man, the gay woman; and thus in their + descendants we have the grand compromise of nature. + + "There is a sermon, now for the text--'neither is the battle to + the strong nor the race to the swift.' + + "V. CHEVILLERE." + + * * * * * + + + V. CHEVILLERE TO B. RANDOLPH. + + (In continuation.) + + "New-York, 18--. + + "The day being Sunday, I sent old Cato this morning to arouse + Lamar quite early, in order to ascertain if he was disposed to + walk before breakfast, and view some of the boasted parks, groves, + and gardens of these hospitable Gothamites. Old Cato soon + returned, saying that Lamar had but that moment fallen asleep, but + that he would be with me as soon as he could make a hasty toilet; + hasty it indeed was, for he was not many minutes behind Cato, in + his morning-gown and slippers, yawning and stretching his clenched + fists through the room as if he had sat in his chair all night. + + "'Beshrew me, Chevillere,' said he, 'but you are an uneasy and + restless spirit, to be waking a man up at all hours of the night + in this style. I thought, at least, when I saw old Cato's grisly + head, that you had had a surfeit, or a fit of indigestion.' + + "I suppose then you are disappointed to find me well; but tell me, + Lamar, how you intend to spend the day? + + "'Why, I have not laid it down in a regular campaign, but I + suppose, as you are too much of a Roundhead to kill the day with + me at cards, that I shall have to submit myself to be whined to + death with nasal psalmody, at some conventicle or other. Be that + as it may, Damon shall sit on the stool of repentance as well as + myself.' + + "'In the mean time, suppose we walk to the Battery and Castle + Garden?' + + "'Agreed!' said he, 'provided you wait till I jump into a more + seemly garb.' + + "We were soon arm in arm, sauntering down the southern extremity + of Broadway, which terminates in a beautiful oval grass-plot, + called the Bowling Green; surrounded by a handsome iron railing, + and containing a young and an old grove of trees; in imitation, + doubtless, of human life, the young to supplant the aged. During + the colonial government, there stood in the centre of this + beautiful spot a painted leaden equestrian statue of George the + Third, but as soon as the revolutionary war broke out, it was + melted into bullets, and shot at his own ships and soldiers. On + the opposite side of the right branch of Broadway, in a + southwesterly direction, is the Battery--a noble lawn, covering + some acres of the southern extremity of Manhattan Island, and of + course looking into the Bay of New-York. What is by a misnomer + called Castle Garden, stands out in the waters of the bay on the + south-west side, and is connected with the lawn by a wooden bridge + of some thirty or forty yards length, and not too strong to give + way under some future pressure. Castle Garden is a castellated + structure, without turrets and battlements, built of hewn stone, + and pierced with a row of port-holes. It seems to have been built + for warlike purposes, but is now used as a public promenade, and + exhibition garden, having tiers of seats inside, and around an + extensive area, in the manner of an amphitheatre. In the centre of + the area is a little temple or dome, supported on columns. + Surmounting the whole body of the castle is an esplanade, + protected by plain railings; from the top of this extends high + into the air a flag-staff, from which, on national festivals, the + 'star spangled banner' proudly floats over the blue waves which + beat against its base. + + "It was here that the corporation entertained Lafayette, a + platform having been thrown over the area, and a canvass marquee + over the top; this ball-room is said to have been capable of + containing from six to ten thousand persons. + + "Lamar and I mounted the esplanade, and seated ourselves upon the + benches, just within the railing. + + "We could see the ships of every nation, as they rode triumphantly + over the waters of this magnificent bay, gliding about like + 'things of life;' marine birds screaming and diving among them, + and sometimes the porpoises in their clumsy gambols, shooting + their black masses above the water and down again; steamers with + their gay pennants, thundering noises, and deafening bells; the + rude music and songs of the sailors, the hoarse voice of the + pilot, as he stepped on board some outward-bound vessel, and the + 'ay! ay!' of the sailor, as the order reached his ears, through + the rattling of the shrouds, and the whistling of the breeze. + + "Farther out in the bay, between us and the ocean, is a beautiful + chain of islands; first Ellis's, then Bedloe's, and lastly, next + the ocean, Staten Island. + + "Gay throngs of well-dressed people began now to crowd the + gravelled walks of the Battery; maids attending on children were + seen with their little charges, gambolling over the green in their + Sunday suits; the emancipated mechanics, with their snow-white + jackets and collars; and the happy negro, with his tawdry and + cast-off finery, as free (personally, not politically, free) as + any of the loungers. There was something in this Sunday scene + inexpressibly soothing and delightful to my feelings. + + "Every southern should visit New-York. It would allay provincial + prejudices, and calm his excitement against his northern + countrymen. The people here are warm-hearted, generous, and + enthusiastic, in a degree scarcely inferior to our own southerns. + The multitude move as one man, in all public-spirited, benevolent, + or charitable measures. Many of these Yorkers are above local + prejudices, and truly consider this as the commercial metropolis + of the Union, and all the people of the land as their customers, + friends, patrons, and countrymen. + + "Nor is trade the only thing that flourishes. The arts of polished + and refined life, refined literature, and the profounder studies + of the schoolmen, all have their distinguished votaries,--I say + distinguished, with reference to the standard of science in our + country. + + "This much I have written before going to church. The further + adventures of the day, in the evening. + + "V. CHEVILLERE." + + * * * * * + + + V. CHEVILLERE TO B. RANDOLPH. + + (In continuation.) + + "10 o'clock P. M. + + "About ten o'clock this morning the bells began to ring, from + Trinity to St. John's. A forest of steeples seemed to have let + loose their artillery at once upon us tardy Christians. These + gongs seemed to take effect in about fifteen minutes, for + simultaneously the houses poured out their thronging occupants, + until the streets literally swarmed with these church-going + people. + + "'Whither shall we bend our steps?' said I; 'here are various + routes to heaven; which do you choose, Episcopal, Methodist, or + Presbyterian?' + + "'Not any one of the three,' said he. + + "'Indeed! Perhaps Jewishly inclined?' + + "'No; I thought that you were aware of my partiality for the + close-communion Baptists,' said he, with mock gravity. + + "'But seriously, Lamar, you accused me of wishing to drag you to + some conventicle or other; choose for us both; indeed for _three_, + for here comes Damon.' + + "'Then,' said he, 'I choose the most celebrated preacher! you will + thus be most likely to see a certain demure little runaway.' + + "'And there,' said I, 'you will be most likely to see her friend, + with Arthur by her side.' + + "Damon now coming up, was asked by me where he would choose to + spend the forenoon of the day. + + "'I can't tell exactly,' replied he, 'for the truth is, I feel + pretty much like a fish out of water even of week days; but Sunday + I'm completely dished; I was thinking of walking out into the + country, and bantering somebody for a foot-race.' + + "I proposed that we should all go and hear Dr. ----, and + forthwith led the way, my two companions following on, much like + truant boys on their return march to school. We entered a low + white church, I don't recollect where exactly, but on the western + side of Broadway. The preacher was already in the pulpit, and the + aisles and pews on the lower floor were crammed with hearers, + insomuch that we were compelled to seek seats in the small + gallery, where with great difficulty we found them. + + "The preacher, who had already begun, was a commanding-looking + gentleman, clothed in black, and, like most of our dissenting + clergymen, without gown or surplice; his features were large and + well-formed; his forehead lofty beyond any thing I have ever seen, + but falling back at the top until it was lost in little short + bristly curls; his attitudes were lofty and dignified. He had, as + I said before, announced the portion of Scripture which he was + attempting to elucidate, before we entered the church. The subject + seemed to be, the practicability and means of a direct revelation + from God! When he spoke of the Great Spirit who rules our + destinies revealing himself, and his manner of doing it, he was + almost sublime. I must try to recollect a few passages for your + edification, but you must remember that they are transposed into + my own language. + + "He painted in vivid and striking colours, the utter incapacity of + man to conceive identically of such a being as God. 'The little + puny brain of man,' said he, 'which you may hold in the hollow of + your hand, cannot contain a true conception of God in all his + majesty! the little arteries and fibres of our poor heads would + rend and burst asunder with such an idea. + + "'To form one single correct thought of so great a Spirit, you + must first conceive of those things which surround him; as, when + we view a painting of some earthly object, there must first be a + background to relieve the eye. So when you would conceive of that + great Being truly and fully, you must be able to realize the + duration of eternity, obliterate the little periods of time and + chronology, which require a starting and a resting-place in our + human minds,--soar out of the reach of the sickly atmospheres + which surround these little planets, and stand erect in the broad + and fathomless light of God's own atmosphere! Could the human eye + see with such rays, and stretch its glances over the great waves + and boundless oceans of light in which he dwells, one single ray + of it would blast your optic nerves. + + "'Even here upon earth, if we are suddenly brought from a dark + dungeon into the bright rays of his reflected glory, our little + optical machinery quails and dances with the shock; but take that + same creature from his gloomy dungeon, and place him in the glassy + sea of light in which God dwells! The utter horrors of such a + moment, if they did not instantly explode the soul into its + elements, would be worse than the terrors of convulsions, and + earthquakes, and the black and fathomless chasms of the sea. And + yet! some of us desire in our hearts a direct revelation to + ourselves from this sublime Being! Know you what you desire? You + desire that God should stretch out his mighty power, and draw away + the friendly veil of the heavens, and burst upon an astounded + world in all his fearful attributes! Before such an immediate + presence, the sun and moon would become dark in contrast. The + natural laws which he has given us for our protection, of + gravitation, electricity, and magnetism, would burst loose from + their reflected positions, and all animate and inanimate nature + would fall before their First Great Cause! We cannot have direct + physical intercourse with God. We are physically incompetent to + encounter him, either in his goodness or in his wrath. + + "You say in your hearts, that there is mystery in this revelation + of the Bible! Can mystery be separable from sublime or profound + greatness, when viewed through human powers? Are not height, and + depth, and space, and air, all mysterious to your minds, when + beyond the reach of the eye? Is not darkness alone profoundly + mysterious? mysterious in its effects and in its properties! Can + any mind analyze darkness? Is it positive or negative? Does it + extend through eternal and measureless space? or is it only a + creative property dependent upon the functions of the eye? Our + darkness is to one part of creation light, and our light their + darkness. + + "Is measureless space a positive creation, or a negative + nonentity! No human intellect can fathom these subjects; not from + any of their delusive properties, but from our limited capacities! + These then are but the beginning of those things which interpose + between us and our great and sublime Creator! + + "You can now, perhaps, form some idea of the difficulties of + revealing God to man! + + "What would you have with a more powerful and sublime revelation + than this? Would you disorganize the minds of the whole human + family, by opening to them frightful volumes which would craze and + bewilder, rather than direct them? Do you complain of mystery, and + yet call upon God for more? + + "But the greatest difficulty between us and a direct revelation + from our Creator, has yet to be considered. + + "This revelation of the Bible was necessarily conveyed to us + through the medium of human language. Now let us examine what this + human language is. It is a system of words or signs, which convey + to our minds the ideas of things. These words only represent such + ideas as we ourselves have formed from the things we have seen, + and their various combinations. How then can these signs and + symbols convey identical ideas of God and his attributes? All the + imperfections of this revelation then are confessedly owing to our + imperfections, both as it regards mind and language. + + "I have given you but a faint outline of this powerful and + vehement speaker's discourse. During its delivery I once or twice + turned to Lamar and the Kentuckian, to see how they were affected. + The former had insensibly risen during the fervency of the + preacher's eloquence, and stood leaning over the balustrade, + drinking in the sounds of a voice which are truly powerful though + not musical, until he came to a pause; he then sank into his seat, + a grim smile passing over his pale sickly features, clearly + showing to those who knew him, how intently he had listened. Damon + chewed tobacco at a prodigious rate, and the more eloquent the + speaker became, the more energetic was the action of his jaws. His + eye was wild and savage, like that of a forest animal when it + suddenly finds itself in the midst of a settlement. He sometimes + cracked his fingers together, for the same purpose, I suppose, + that he used to crack his whip when travelling on horseback, to + give emphasis and round his periods. + + "But I had not long to consider these effects upon different + characters, for at this moment Lamar pointed over the balustrade + at two moving figures on the lower floor. You already guess, if + you are any thing of a Yankee, what these were. Lamar and I + simultaneously arose to our feet and gazed at the heads which + filled up every crevice, as a veteran soldier would have gazed at + so many bristling bayonets upon an impregnable bastion. We soon + heard the steps of a carriage let down, and then the rolling of + the wheels. Lamar bit his lip till the blood almost started from + it. Whether the pressure was increased by his having seen that + Arthur joined the ladies near the door, I shall not undertake to + say. + + "The sermon now being over we had merely to throw ourselves into + the tide of human figures which moved down stairs, to be carried + safely to the bottom. + + "When there, Damon drew one long and whistling breath, and an + inarticulate sound not unlike the snort of a whale. + + "'I'm flambergasted! if that ain't what I call goin the whole + cretur, he'd go to Congress from old Kentuck as easy as I could + put a gin sling under my jacket. O Christopher! what a stump + speech he could make, if he would only turn his hand to it, + instead of wasting his wind here among the old wives!' + + "'Well, Lamar, what did you think of him?' + + "'Think of him! (rousing himself from a brown study), I never + knew before that I had nerves in the hairs of my head.' + + "'And where did you now obtain that precious piece of anatomical + news?' + + "'In the church, to be sure! Were not my locks dancing all the + while to the music of that eccentric man's voice? The cold chills + ran over me, as if I had been under the influence of miasma.' + + "I watched Damon through an unusually long silence, while he + several times snapped his fingers and took a fresh chew of + tobacco. + + "'I'll tell you what it is, that's what I call a real tear-down + sneezer,' ejaculated he; 'he's a bark-well and hold-fast too; he + doesn't honey it up to 'em, and mince his words--he lets it down + upon 'em hot and heavy; he knocks down and drags out; first he + gives it to 'em in one eye and then in 'tother, then in the + gizzard, and at last he gits your head under his arm, and then I + reckon he feathers it in, between the lug and the horn; he gives a + feller no more chance nor a 'coon has in a black jack.' + + "'Then you give him more credit for sincerity than you usually do + men of his cloth,' said I. + + "'Yes, yes! there's no whippin the devil round the stump with him; + he jumps right at him, tooth and toe-nail, and I'm flambergasted + if I don't think he rather worsted the _Old Boy_ this morning; and + he's the best match I ever saw him have, he looks so stout and + soldier-like; and then his eye! Did you see his eye, stranger? I'm + shot if he didn't look as if he could'a jumped right a-straddle + of the devil's neck, and just run his thumbs in, and scooped out + his two eyes, as easy as I would scoop an oyster out of his + shell.' + + "'You don't go to church often when you are at home?' + + "'No; but I _would_ go, if we had such a Samson as this; he raises + old Kentuck in me in a minute. I feel full of fight, and ready for + any thing now! But our old parson! he's an entirely different cut + in the jib. He whines it out to us like an old woman in the last + of pea-time; he doesn't thunder it down to 'em like this chap, and + like old Hickory did the grape-shot at New-Orleans.' + + "We had now arrived at that point of the street where we were to + separate. Damon abruptly informed us of his intention to return + soon to Baltimore. I asked him if he was not pleased with + New-York. + + "'O, yes;' said he, 'it's a real Kentuck of a place, a man can do + here what he likes; they don't look at the cut of a feller's coat, + but at the cut of his jib. I could wear my coat upside down here, + and my hat smashed all into a gin-shop, and nobody has time to + turn round and look at me. Yes, yes, stranger, they are a + whole-souled people, and I like 'em, but I have staid long + enough.' + + "Here we separated for the day. Lamar intends to try and prevail + upon him to accompany us to the theatre, and the Italian opera. I + have great curiosity to see him at the latter place. Pedrotti, + they say, can tame a tiger with her melodious and touching voice. + As you may suppose, I am anxious to hear it myself, and to see its + effects upon one so unschooled in the music of luxurious and + effeminate Italy. + + "I have written you more at length than I intended, but I could + not do otherwise in return for your amusing, friendly, and + satisfactory epistle. We shall meet again, as in days of yore, and + then we will gather up all these scribblings, and enjoy these + scenes again. In the mean time, believe that I wish you success in + your present suit, for the sake of three of us,--but more + particularly and selfishly that of + + "V. CHEVILLERE." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + + V. CHEVILLERE TO B. RANDOLPH. + + "New-York, 18--. + + "DEAR CHUM, + + "Events which seem to me worth recording, crowd upon us so fast + now, that it is almost impossible to give you, according to + promise, even a profile view of our movements. + + "This morning, about the same hour at which we went to church + yesterday, we strolled down Wall-street (and we seemed the only + strollers there) to see the Shylocks in their dens, if any such + could be found. I was instantly struck with the concentrated + looks, and absorbed countenances of all the persons we met. Most + of them were running in and out of the banks, with their little + bank books in their hands, making mental calculations of notes to + be taken up, deposites where made, and how much. Brokers were + standing behind their counters, ready to commence their brisk, and + (in this country) almost unhazardous game. Many of them amass + immense fortunes; it is not at all uncommon for one of these + houses to loan to a state several millions at once. + + "We went upon 'change at the hour of twelve. There, in the large + room of the rotunda, or circular part of the exchange, merchants, + and brokers, and bankers, and moneyed men meet, pretty much after + the same fashion as our jockeys and racers upon the turf. The + light falls from the dome upon these faces, and reveals the best + study for a picture I have ever seen. The seller and the sellee, + the shaver and the shavee, or diamond cut diamond, as Damon + expresses it:--bear with me but a moment while I go over these + dull details, and in return I will tell you something more of the + lady with the black mantle. + + "The most predominant expression that I saw upon 'change was + _affectation_; the affectation of business; not the silly + school-boy affectation which wears off with the improving mind, + but that which is first put on by business men, to disguise the + real operations of the mind, and which afterward grows into a + confirmed habit, and is seen deeply set in wrinkles, long after + the first exciting cause has disappeared. + + "This symptom, among the moneyed men, varies according to + character and strength of mind in the individual. One man I saw + standing with his back against a window, his thumbs stuck into the + armholes of his waistcoat, his quill toothpick tight between his + teeth,--his features large and fleshy, his complexion between a + copper and an apoplectic dapple of blue and red,--his teeth large, + white, and flat, his eye small and gray, and his head grizzled; he + had evidently been a free, but what is _called_ a _temperate_ + liver. I tried to trace back through the wrinkles in this man's + face, what the emotions were which in his younger days he had + attempted to engrave upon it, and which long habit had now made + part of his nature; but I should first attempt to describe _the_ + expression itself. His upper lip was turned into a curl of + contempt; his eye was thrown a little down, and the eyelid raised + high, so as to show much of the white of the eye, as when a person + is in the attitude of profound thought upon some far distant + subject. This man had, I thought, the best chosen affectation; it + expressed profound abstraction in _one_ direction, when he was no + doubt really abstracted in another. + + "His right-hand neighbour had not been so fortunate in his + selection of a vizor for the moneyed masquerade. He had chosen + comedy; and attempted to hide pounds, shillings, and pence under a + comic visage. It was not well chosen. His business-laugh was too + horrid. It displayed teeth, gums, and throat, and was too + affectedly sincere. He too frequently passed his glances quickly + round from one face to the other, to see if they enjoyed the + sport. This species of affectation had its origin in a settled + contempt for the sense of his associates, and an exalted + conception of his own, and especially of his powers to amuse. He + frequently drew the corners of his mouth towards his ears, by a + voluntary motion, without exercising the corresponding risible + muscles; elevating his eyebrows at the same time in a knowing + way. Do this yourself, and you will have the expression instantly. + His only additional comic resource consisted in sticking one thumb + directly under his chin, like a pillar. This man is celebrated on + 'change for telling what _he_ considers a good story. + + "Another description of affectation here seen, and by far the most + common, is the affectation of decision, firmness, stability, and + concentrated purpose. + + "Various methods, I saw, had been practised through long lives to + attain this safe look. Some, to whom it was not natural to do so, + pushed out the under jaw, like a person who (to use a Southern + term) is _jimber_-jawed. Others carried the head on one side, drew + up the muscles at the outer angle of one eye, and kept the + nostrils distended. Others clenched the teeth, looked fierce and + steady, and habitually patted one foot upon the floor, as if in + high-spirited impatience. Some looked pensive and sad, and + occasionally drew long sighs. Beware of these, if you ever trade + in the money-market. + + "The most ludicrous of all moneyed whims is a desire to make + others suppose that you think yourself poor. A heartless man + begging for sympathy is, of all kinds of affectation, the most + contemptible. But the most dangerous of all others, and the most + apt to deceive a candid and upright mind, is the affectation of + being unaffected. Such is the sin of those who affect bold, + independent, and reckless looks. If good fortune had not made + them brokers, bad fortune (they seem to say) might have made them + robbers. + + "There is yet another class to describe--the sincere and the + honest. These are easily descried. Something like an electric + intelligence passes from the eye of one honest man to that of + another. These are usually modest, retiring, and humble. I speak + of real humility, which is best displayed in a respect for the + understanding of other men; a desire to place one's companions at + their ease; and a tenderness and sympathy towards the failings of + the bankrupt, the vicious, and the unfortunate generally. + + "Not that these indications occur only on 'change; they may be + seen in the pulpit, at the bar, at the bedside, and behind the + counter. As you read my descriptions, try to produce the + expression upon your face; then call up some individual of your + acquaintance, who may have sat for such a picture--poor, indeed, + in its finish, but if it convey to you the idea, my ambition is + satisfied. This is a severe test, but I think you may muster up + _dramatis personae_ for all the characters. + + "As I am now upon this subject, permit me to make one or two + general remarks. + + "I have learned to hold no intimacy with those men who are harsh + and uncompromising towards unfortunates and criminals. These + feelings often arise from the identical weaknesses, or faults, + which drove their victims to ruin. You have, doubtless, seen two + slaves quarrel because one belonged to a rich and the other to a + poor man. + + "As one well-fed dog is sure to be snarlish to a poorer + brother--poor human nature--this currish principle is but too true + when applied to us. + + "There is none who appears so virtuously indignant at crime as the + man who is a rogue in his heart. A horse-stealer who has blundered + into better fortune is scandalized at his former craft; and a + sheep-stealer can weep in the very face of the lamb which another + has stolen. + + "Those ladies, the purity of whose characters is most + questionable, are uniformly the first to cease visiting an openly + suspected sister. + + "But I see plainly that if I go on, the subject must become too + revolting; at all events I must give it to you in broken doses; + and by the time Arthur introduces me into the human catacombs, + where the living are _soul_-dead, you will be ready to take + another view of those dark and dismal abodes, and attempt further + observations of humanity in its darker developments. + + "A malignant disease, as Arthur thinks, has broken out in the + portions of the city alluded to; if so, I will remain with him. + This is the time to see fearful sights; and we Southerns, you + know, have looked the grim monster too often in the face in this + shape to be easily frightened from a cherished purpose. + + "Damon begins to be very uneasy under these reports of sudden + deaths, and black infections sweeping through the air." + + * * * * * + + + V. CHEVILLERE TO B. RANDOLPH. + + (In continuation.) + + "New-York, 18--. + + "I have seen her, Randolph, and seen her far more captivating and + beautiful than ever! + + "Yesterday, after I had finished the former part of this letter, I + met, on my way down to dinner, Arthur and young Hazlehurst. The + latter had come expressly to invite Lamar and myself to spend the + evening at their house. As you may suppose, it was not refused; we + pressed them to go in with us, as they had not yet dined, to which + they finally consented. + + "I find Hazlehurst an intelligent young man, but with many + erroneous opinions concerning the south, of which he must be + disabused. He imagines us to be a generous and hospitable people, + but in a rather semi-barbarous state. + + "As this very subject occupied our attention in presence of the + ladies, I prefer giving you an imperfect sketch of the discourse. + I must not omit a table lecture of Lamar's on nicotiana, however + impatient you may be to hear more of a certain fair one. + + "The subject of tobacco was introduced simultaneously with the + segars, after most of the company had retired. One having been + offered to young Hazlehurst, he declined it, saying that he did + not use tobacco in any shape. + + "'Not use tobacco! not smoke!' said Lamar; 'why, sir, you have yet + to experience one of the most calm, delightful, and soothing + pleasures of which human nerves are sensible.' + + "'I have always understood,' said the other, 'that the stimulus + leaves one far more miserable than if he had not applied it.' + + "'Then you labour under some mistake,' said Lamar; 'and if you + will permit, and your doctorships will forbear laughter, I will + explain to you the effects of a fine segar upon my system, and + "suit the action to the word." + + "'When a man takes a genuine, dappled Havana segar in his mouth, + places his legs upon a hair cushioned chair, his head thrown back + on that upon which he sits, or against the wall; his arms folded + upon his chest,--the following phenomena occur: + + "'_First stage._ He becomes heroic and chivalrous, or perhaps + eloquent; if the last, and thinks himself alone, you will see him + wave his hand in the most graceful and captivating style of + oratory. His eye is the soul of imaginary eloquence, his features + are all swelled out until they seem grand--gloomy--and profound; + his nostrils pant and show their red lining, like a fiery and + blooded steed. He rolls out thick volumes of smoke, and puffs it + from him like a forty-two-pounder. He draws down his feet, and + raises his head and looks after it, as if victory or conviction + had been hurled upon its clouds. Perhaps some one laughs at him, + as you laugh now at me. + + "'He replaces his legs, leans back his head again; the _second + stage_ is come; he smiles, perhaps, at the laurels just won; he + closes his eyes, delightful visions of green meadows and lawns, + fragrant flowers, meandering streams, limpid brooks, beautiful + nymphs, twilight amid tall and venerable trees, and lengthening + shadows, flit before his imagination. His face now is towards the + heavens; his features are calm and serene; he wafts the smoke + gently upward in long continued columns, and wreaths, and + garlands; his hands fall by his side--the diminished stump falls + from his hand. + + "'And now, in the _third stage_, he is in a revery. A servant + touches him three times, and tells him a gentleman wants to see + him; he kicks his shins; servant retreats. Eyes being still + closed, he draws a long sigh or two, but full, pleasant, and + satisfactory. Servant returns; shakes him by the shoulder; he + jumps up and throws an empty bottle at his head, as I do this one, + at that grinning fellow there (making a mock effort), and then the + trance is over. + + "'Now where are the bad effects, except upon Cato's shins, if he + should happen to be the man?' + + "We all applauded Lamar for his treat, with three hearty cheers, + in a small way. + + "I am sorry to see a little sly, stealthy, unmentionable coldness + arising between Lamar and Arthur. I first discovered it in little + acts of what the world calls politeness, but which I call + formality, towards each other. They are unconscious of it, as yet, + for it seems to have sprung up by irresistible mutual repulsion + between them: deep seated self appears to have warned each of a + dangerous rival in the other. These are little secret + selfishnesses of the soul, which lie deep, dark, and still, + running in an unseen current, far below the soundings of the + self-searching consciousness. How mysterious is the mind of man! + We may draw up the flood-gates, and let loose the dammed-up waters + in order to find some secret at the bottom; but the flood rolls + by, and the secret still lies buried as profoundly as before. At + some future day, when the thunder and the storms shall come, these + secrets may, perhaps, be washed up to the surface, like wonders of + the deep, when least expected! + + "At about eight o'clock, Lamar and I sallied out to find Mrs. + Hazlehurst's house in Broadway; amid music from clarionet, violin, + and kent bugle. These were stationed in the balconies of the + different museums. Carriages were just setting down their company + at the old Park Theatre. Little blind and lame boys sat about the + iron railing at St. Paul's church, grinding hand-organs, and + making music little better than so many grindstones--all for a + miserable pittance which they collect in the shape of pennies, + perhaps to the amount of a dozen a day. + + "Negroes were screaming 'ice-cream' at the top of their lungs, + though it is now becoming cold in the evenings and mornings. At + every corner some old huckster sang out 'Hot corn! hot corn!' + though the regular season of 'roasting-ears,' has long since + passed by. Little tables of fruit, cakes, and spruce-beer were + strewed along the walks and under the awnings, which often remain + extended during the night. + + "We at length found the house, and entered with palpitating + hearts. I had a sort of presentiment that I was to meet Miss St. + Clair, from what the lively Isabel had said. + + "When we entered the saloon she was nowhere to be seen! my + disappointment was no doubt visible, for I saw an arch smile upon + Isabel's countenance, and, I must say, a very singular one upon + that of her brother. The idea first struck me that he is either + now, or has been, a suitor of the absent lady! Was there a lurking + jealousy at the bottom of my own heart, at the very time that I + was fishing up green monsters from Lamar's mental pandemonium? + Randolph, Oh! the human heart is deceitful above all things; and + it oftener deceives ourselves than others. We have radiated rays + of light for our mental vision outwards which we may extend _ad + infinitum_, but once turn our observations inwards, and it is like + inverting the telescope. + + "We were presented to the lady of the mansion immediately upon our + entrance. She is benignant and bland, yet aristocratic withal. She + discovers a warm heart towards the South, probably from an idea of + a kindred aristocratic feeling in us. The two are, however, very + different in their developments. It is necessary here to have many + more bulwarks between this class and those below them than is + needful with us; as there is here a regular gradation in the + divisions of society. The end of one and the beginning of the next + are so merged, that it would be impossible to separate them + without these barriers. What are they? you would ask. They consist + in little formalities,--rigid adherence to fashion in its higher + flights,--exhibition of European and Oriental luxuries, et cetera, + et cetera. + + "We were presented to the company in general; most of the + fashionable ladies were sitting or standing around a fine-toned + upright piano-forte, at which two of the party were executing, in + a very finished style of fashionable elegance, some of Rossini's + compositions, accompanied by a gentleman on the flute. And in good + truth, they produced scientific and fashionable music; but, + Randolph, it was not to my taste. You know that I have cultivated + music as a science, from my earliest youth; that I am an + enthusiast here, and not altogether a bungler in my own execution. + I have now discovered either that I lack taste, or that the + fashionable world is therein deficient. You shall decide between + us at another time. + + "Lamar very soon contrived (how, heaven only knows) to throw me + completely in the shade; but the first evidence I had of it was + his sitting bolt upright between the gay Isabel and her mother. He + had already betrayed them into laughter,--not fashionable + laughter, for I saw the old lady wiping the tears from her eyes. + It is almost impossible for any one to adhere long to conventional + forms, when he is of the party,--so manly, generous, and sincere + is he. My chagrin at not finding myself situated equally to my + heart's content did not escape him, and he perhaps discovered my + awkwardness, for he attempted to draw me into a discussion + concerning the provincial rivalry of the North and South. I evaded + his friendly hand, but soon the younger lady renewed the attack. + + "'Come, Mr. Chevillere, you will tell us what peculiarities you + have observed, as existing between the northern and southern + ladies as to polish,--fashion,--education,--any thing! This + gentleman is so wonderfully free from prejudices and rivalry, that + he declares the instant he beholds a beautiful woman, he forgets + that she has a local habitation upon earth. You, sir, I hope, are + not so catholic an admirer of beauty?' + + "'I too, madam, am always disarmed of local prejudices when I see + a beautiful northern lady; but that is not what you wish me to + answer. If I understood you right, I suppose you wish to know + whether any peculiarity in fashion, habits, or manners strikes us + at first sight disagreeably.' + + "'Precisely. Your general opinion of us.' + + "'I am glad to be able to say, then, that with regard to this city + I am a perfect enthusiast. Every thing is arranged as I would have + it. Nature appears to be the criterion here in matters of taste; + utility and improvement seem to prompt the efforts of your men of + talents, and that delightful politeness to prevail, which consists + in placing all well-meaning persons at their ease, without useless + conventional forms.' + + "I hate this formal speech-making, Randolph, across a room _at_ + people, so I thought I would be myself at once. I therefore + continued my remarks for the remainder of the evening rather more + in a nonchalant way, and as an introduction to a more free and + easy tone to the company. I asked Lamar to repeat his lecture of + the day, on smoking. Hazlehurst, as soon as he heard the subject + mentioned, began to describe it to a party of young ladies who + stood round the piano. Their curiosity was excited immediately; + and though Lamar frowned at me, the ladies entreated until he was + forced to comply. + + "He set the room in a perfect roar of laughter, and then a + delightful confusion prevailed. Lamar did not repeat exactly the + same things which he had treated us with at the dinner-table, but + he preserved the stages, dwelling a much shorter time on the + heroic, and much longer on the two latter. + + "He introduced a heroine into his shades and bowers, and painted + Isabel as he saw her at the Springs; so, at least, I suspect from + a certain mantling of the colour into her cheeks. + + "'Then,' said he, speaking of the third stage, 'his hands fall by + his side, his eyes are closed, he sighs profoundly, but + comfortably and _somnolently_; perhaps he is married; his wife + steals gently up and kisses him. 'My dear, the milliner's bill has + come.'--'O _dam_ the miller!' In a short time she returns--'My + dear, my pin money is out: come now, you are not asleep, I know: + and that is not all--the carriage wants painting; the house wants + repairs; the children want toys; servants want wages.' He rolls + his head over on one shoulder, opens his eyes, and fixes them in a + deliberate stare, as I do now, upon Miss Isabel.' This last idea + became either too sentimental or too ludicrous for Lamar; and he + jumped up in an unsuppressed fit of laughter. You know Lamar, + therefore I need not tell you that this is a very imperfect sketch + of the manner in which he acted the ludicrous and careless, but + _hen-pecked_, husband. I do not wonder that he laughed, when he + looked at Isabel, for her face was indescribably arch and + sanctimonious. + + "Hilarity and glee seemed now to be the order of the evening with + all except poor Arthur. I thought that Lamar would actually sow + the seeds of a future quarrel, while discussing something + relating to the West. How introduced I do not know, unless Lamar + was talking of Damon. However, Arthur stated one fact which + surprised us all, and of which we had been all equally ignorant. + He stated that Kentucky had one more college than any other State + in the Union; half as many as all New-England; and more than North + Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, united. + + "While these things were going on, I heard a gentle and scarcely + perceptible step behind me, on the carpet; and seeing the other + gentlemen rise, I mechanically rose also--to be electrified by the + vision of Miss St. Clair. She was pale and trembling, but far more + beautiful than I had ever seen her. It was not the beauty of the + waxen figure, or the picture; it was the beauty of feeling, + sensibility, and tenderness. You have seen that little plant which + shrinks at the rude touch of man, Randolph; that should be her + emblem. + + "She glided into a rather darkened recess of the room, near where + I stood, and seated herself alone, as if to be out of the reach of + observation; yet by some means I was seated by her side, almost as + dumb as a statue. I even longed for more of Lamar's delineations, + if for nothing else but to see her smile again, and light up those + features which nature evidently made to smile. Her hair was still + parted over the forehead in the Grecian manner; a single ringlet + stole down behind her ear. Her dress was simplicity itself, + exceedingly plain and tasteful. + + "I need not tell Miss St. Clair how much gratified I am at again + meeting her in a circle composed almost entirely of my friends and + my friends' friends; but, if I have been rightly informed, we are + more indebted to accident than to any benevolent designs on her + part for this meeting. + + "'A strange accident indeed, my being here. Not less so than your + own. But _you_ are not a believer in accidents.' + + "How beautiful a little act sometimes appears, Randolph, when it + sits upon the countenance of one so artless by nature that you can + see all the machinery which she imagines is so completely hidden, + as a child often hides its eyes and vainly supposes itself unseen. + This _ruse_, intended to draw me into some argument about + accidents, and to avoid the real case at issue, really amused me; + I was willing, however, to follow her lead for a time. + 'Accidents,' said I, 'seem to us, at first sight, to be without + the usual train of cause and effect; but, if they were all placed + in my hands, I think I could govern the destinies of the world, so + long as I could control my own destiny.' + + "'I do not understand you, sir,' said she, with the simplest + cunning imaginable; feigning deep interest, though her countenance + would not join in the plot. + + "'The condition,' I continued, 'and the present circumstances of + every individual now in this room might be traced back to some + accident which has happened--to the person, his father, or his + grandfather; the death of one friend, the marriage of another, may + affect the destinies of the persons themselves and all connected + with them.' + + "Ah, Randolph! there was a tender chord touched. Did you ever see + a person shot through and through? The countenance expresses a + whole age of misery in an instant. The soul is conscious of it + before the body. One will even ask whether he is shot--while his + countenance proclaims death more forcibly than a hundred tongues + could utter it. There is a writhing, convulsive, retreating + misery; part of which I saw I had inflicted upon this gentle + being. This mystery must be solved. The system on which she is + treated by those around her is false. + + "You have, perhaps, seen a whole family after the death of one of + its members, religiously observe profound silence on the subject. + Should any one rudely or even gently mention the deceased, all are + instantly horrified. Each fears that the feelings of all the rest + have been shocked. At this moment, a calm and judicious friend, + when the ice is once broken, may cure all this amiable weakness by + steadily and tenderly persevering. I was determined to try the + experiment in this case. A bold measure, when you consider the + person and the circumstances. + + "'Miss St. Clair,' said I, after she had recovered her composure; + 'allow me to ask whether your family is related to that of General + St. Clair?' + + "'I believe not,' she composedly answered. + + "'Has your father been long dead?' + + "'Not a very long time: and the loss is the greater, as I have + never known the value of a brother or a sister.' + + "'You do not seem to labour under the usual disadvantages of + step-daughters.' + + "'Never was step-father more devoted and affectionate than mine, + in his own peculiar way; and with that I am quite contented.' + + "Now, Randolph, you know that impertinence had no share in + dictating these questions, but could impertinence have gone + farther? what ramification could I next attempt? Here was nearly + the whole genealogical tree, but farther down there was no hope of + touching the true branch. + + "Her own gentle heart alone remained to be suspected. How could I + suspect it, Randolph? so young, so pure, so gentle, so beautiful! + Alas! that is but a poor protection against suitors. Besides, she + is said to be rich. Must the question be asked? I resolved upon + it! Was I not justifiable in doing so? Am I not an avowed suitor? + at least have I not shown myself ready to become so? The + opportunity was good; the company were all engaged in little + coteries around the saloon. My previous questions seemed rather to + have tranquillized her than otherwise; it was a trying moment! + but no other step could be gained until this obstacle was + surmounted. I therefore proceeded to make one or two anxious + inquiries, critical as it regards my happiness, but which a lover + cannot confide even to the ear of Randolph. + + "My object was to know whether I had aught to fear from rivalry. + Her lips moved, but no sound issued from them. I resumed; 'Believe + me, that this pain would not have been inflicted, if my supposed + relation to yourself had not imboldened me to ask whether any + other man were so happy as to render me miserable.' + + "'I see no impropriety in answering your question, though it can + avail nothing; my _affections_ are now as they have always + been--disengaged.' + + "These words were wafted along the vestibule of my ear, like some + gentle breathings of magic; you have heard the soft vibrations of + the Aeolian harp, as a gentle summer breeze bore them along the + air, redolent of the rich perfumes of summer flowers, and attuned + to the wild music of songsters without. + + "Sweeter, far sweeter, was her voice; a silvery voice is at all + times the organ of the heart, but when it dies away in a thrilling + whisper from the profoundness of the internal struggle, the ardent + sympathy of the hearer is involuntary. Tragedians understand this + language of the heart, insomuch that custom has now established + the imitation, in deep-toned pathos. + + "She placed emphasis on the word _affections_; why was this, + unless her hand is engaged without them? This idea flashed upon me + with electric force; you can well imagine how suddenly it broke + asunder the links of the delicious revery of which I have + attempted to give you a glimpse. Another more painful question + than any of the former now became absolutely necessary; + consequently I resumed: 'I think that I know Miss St. Clair + sufficiently well to presume with a good deal of certainty that + her hand is not pledged where her heart cannot accompany it?' + + "'My hand, sir, is like my affections.' + + "Her head now hung down a little, and her eye sought the carpet; + my own expressive glances, sanguine as they perhaps had + occasionally been, were themselves much softened and humbled; but + again I summoned my scattered thoughts to the charge. + + "'Will Miss St. Clair grant me an interview on the morrow, or some + other day more convenient to herself?' + + "The words had hardly escaped my mouth, when Isabel stood before + us. Lamar was soon by her side. I also arose. + + "'My dear Frances,' said she, taking my seat, and locking her hand + where I would have given kingdoms to have had mine; 'we are + talking of making up a little equestrian party to the Passaic + Falls. Will you be of the company? Pray join us, like a dear girl; + it is only fifteen miles.' + + "The lady addressed shook her head gravely. Isabel arose, and + turning to me, 'I leave the case in your hands, sir, and you are a + poor diplomatist for a southern, if you do not succeed in + persuading her to go.' + + "I was much alarmed to hear many ladies calling for shawls and + bonnets. I was not long, therefore, in urging the case, for it was + emphatically _my_ case. + + "'I cannot go,' said she; 'in the first place, I have not been on + horseback since my boarding-school days; and in the next place, I + could not undergo the fatigue.' + + "'But if all these objections could be obviated?' I eagerly + inquired. + + "'Then I should certainly be pleased to go, and still more pleased + to gratify others by going.' + + "To make the story a short one, as my letter has already become + too long, she finally consented that I should drive her in a + cabriolet, provided her father, who was not present, thought it + proper for her to go. + + "I reported progress to Isabel, who looked sly and arch; her + brother was as solemn as a tombstone. I do not say this in + triumph, Randolph, for God knows I have little cause as yet. I + merely state the fact in all plainness and honesty, that you may + have the whole case before you. + + "'This augurs well for you, Mr. Chevillere,' whispered the lively + girl. + + "'I am not so certain of that,' said I. + + "Finally, we agreed to go, 'weather permitting,' as they say at + country sales, on the day after to-morrow. + + "I did not urge this interview any farther, for a reason which you + will easily perceive. What has become of you? I write two pages to + your one now. Is the North more prolific than the South in + incidents? + + "Your Friend and Chum, + + "V. CHEVILLERE." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + + V. CHEVILLERE TO B. RANDOLPH. + + "New-York, 18--. + + "DEAR FRIEND, + + "Certainly I must be one of the most unfortunate fellows that ever + lived. And none the less so because the bitter strokes come upon + me in the midst of apparent prosperity; but before I tell you of + one disappointment, I must tell you of the things which preceded + it, in the order of their occurrence. + + "On the evening after the assemblage of our little party at + Hazlehurst's, Lamar, Damon, and myself went to the Italian Opera; + and to please Lamar no less than Damon, we took seats in the pit. + + "The assemblage was brilliant beyond any thing I have seen, in the + two lower tiers of boxes. All the fashion, and wealth, and beauty + of this fair city seemed to be assembled around us, with their gay + plumage and foreign head-attire, and opera-glasses. As a shading + to this gay picture, there were the gentlemen, with enormous + whiskers and mustaches curling sentimentally and greasily over + the upper lip; their teeth glistening through the bristles, + ghastly as Peale's mummy itself. + + "The passion for hairy visages is a singular characteristic of + this phrenological age. Large and frizzled locks puffed out on + each side of the head to hide the absence of development are + easily enough accounted for; but this supererogatory disfiguration + of ugly faces is altogether unaccountable on the same principles. + + "'I'll be dad shamed if it ain't all cowardice, and I hate to see + it practised,' said Damon. + + "There is, perhaps, more truth in this remark than you would at + first suppose. No man is so desirous to appear fierce, courageous, + and even piratical as he that is a dastard in his heart. Indeed + most men are fond of making a parade of those qualifications with + which they are least endowed by nature. + + "There is one bewhiskered class, however, from whom we ought to + expect better things; I mean young and thoughtless men, who are + led away by fashion; many of whom have rubbed through the walls, + if not through the studies, of college; and whose taste ought to + have been more refined by associating with gentlemen, however + great their stolidity or idleness. + + "Finally, as to whiskers, I have seen most of the American naval + and military heroes; and I cannot now recall a single one of them + who ever wore remarkable whiskers, or bristles on the upper lip. + Nor have I ever seen a polished southern gentleman remarkable for + either. There is one fact which, if generally known, would root + out the evil at its source; and that is, that men who flourish + large whiskers are very apt to become _bald_! + + "'O! corn-stalks and jews-harps!' said Damon, after worrying on + his seat during the performance of the overture by the orchestra; + 'will they tune their banjoes all night, and never get to playin?' + + "'That is called fine Italian music,' said Lamar. + + "'Yes! yes!' replied he, 'there's 'four-and-twenty fiddlers' sure + enough! but I rather suspicion that it would puzzle some of our + Kentuck gals to dance a reel to that music. O my grandmother! what + jaunty heels they would have to sling after such elbow-greese as + that. But you are stuffing me with soft corn--I see you are by + your laughing. They know better than to pass that for music; no, + no, catch a weasel asleep!' + + "The opera now commenced, and I must own that I saw more of Damon + than I did of the play. He was struck dumb with astonishment; + seemed scarcely to believe his own senses, but looking round the + house after an unusual silence, and seeing the audience serious + and apparently attentive, he burst into a cachinnation. + + "'Well,' said he, with a long breath, 'I wish I may be tetotally + smashed in a cider-mill, if that don't out-Cherokee old Kentuck; + why that ain't a chaw-tobacco better nor Cherokee! Just wait a + minute, and they'll raise the whoop, it's likely; and if they do, + if I don't give them a touch of Kentuck pipes that'll make them + think somebody's busted their biler. Look! some of the men have + got rings in their ears too; and leather skinned. Now I'm snagged + if I was to meet that feller in a Mississip cane-brake, and my + rifle on my arm, if I wouldn't be apt to let the wind through his + whistle cross-ways.' + + "'Not if he was to speak to you, and tell you he was a Christian + like yourself?' + + "'Speak to me! he would do a devilish sight better to play dummy: + for sure as he spoke, I should let fly at him, because I wouldn't + know but he belonged to some of those far away tribes of + Black-feet, or the likes of that.' + + "'But you do not really think that they look and speak any thing + like the western savages, Damon?' said I. + + "'I'm smashed if I don't bet that I can put blankets and leggins + on the whole tribe, and pass them through the Cherokee nation for + friendly Black-feet.' + + "The incomparable Prima Donna (as she is called here) now made her + first appearance; her voice is exquisite, Randolph, and her + execution beyond the conception of an unsophisticated student. + + "The music is pleasing to the ear, and may touch an Italian heart, + but it found no response from mine. I tell this to you in all + sincerity and confidence, but it would lower a man, I fear, to + say so in the fashionable circles. + + "'Well, Damon, would the Italian ladies pass for squaws?' + + "'No, no; they are better than the men, and they are right pretty + too, if they didn't talk such outlandish gibberish; but that dark + skinn'd man there, I swear Pete Ironsides would kick him if he was + to go in my stable; for he hates an Injin, as I do an allegator; + poor Pete! I reckon he thinks I'm skulped.' + + "'Pete is well cared for, I will guaranty,' said Lamar, very + pathetically. + + "'Look! look!' exclaimed Damon; 'what's that under the green + umbrella there, at the front of the stage among the lights?' + + "'That is the prompter, to put them right when they go wrong.' + + "'Yes, yes! I see, I see!' continued he; 'he gives them a wink + every now and then.' + + "In the operas it is very frequently the case that one of the + subordinate characters comes to the front of the stage after the + principals have made their exit, and explains what rare sport is + coming. + + "'What does that fellow slip out here every now and then like a + dropped stitch for?' + + "We explained to him the meaning of it, as well as we understood + it ourselves. + + "'Ay, ay! I see it now; he is the Nota Bene!' + + "We found great difficulty in getting Damon to understand, with + his shrewd natural view of things, that an opera was nothing more + than a common play; the parts being sung, instead of spoken. + + "'Now I wish my head may be knocked into a cocked-hat, if a man + had told this to me of the Yorkers in old Kentuck, if I wouldn't + have thought he was spinnin long yarns; there is no sense in it, + nor there's no fun in it, as they all take it up there in the + pews; if so moutbe now that they were all of my way of thinking, + and would only join in a _leetle_ touch of the warwhoop, why we + might show them fellers a little of the real Cherokee, that I + rather suspicion they haven't seen.' + + "'Why, what would you do, Damon?' + + "'_Jist_ set them four-and-twenty fiddlers to playin of something + like Christian reels; hand the gals down on the floor; then I + reckon there would be a little sort of a regular hand-round! + Confound their jimmy simequivers, and their supple elbows! Smash + me, if they don't think the whole cream of the ball lies in + rattlin the bones of their elbows. Give me your long sweeping bow + hands, that saws the music right in under your ribs, and sets your + legs to dancin, whether they will or not. Do you think them + fellers ever made anybody feel in the humour for a hand-round?' + + "'I can't say that I think they ever did.' + + "'No, nor they never will! they may set people's teeth on a wire + edge, or make their flesh crawl, or set them into an ague fit with + their shakin, and grindin, and squawkin. And now I think of it, + the whole business sounds more like grinding ramrods in an + armory, than any thing I ever come across; there's the squeakin of + the wheels, that would go for them goose guzzles them fellers are + pipin on. The ramrods on the grindstones will go for the + fiddles,--only I don't see any fire flyin out of the catgut, but + I've been watchin sharp for it some time. Then there's the old + leather bellows groanin and gruntin away, jist like those two + fellers seesawin there, on them two big-bellied fiddles, and the + leather bands flappin every time they come round, keeps the time + for the whole concern.' + + "'Well, have you seen any fire yet?' after a long pause. + + "'Yes, plenty of it! they make it fly out of my eyes, if they + don't out of the catguts; confound them, I say, they keep me all + the time drawin down first one eye and then another, first one + corner of my mouth and then another, jist as if a horse was on a + dead strain, and you were bowing your neck and stickin your leg + straight in the ground, and then strainin with all your might as + if you could help him; but this is worse! a confounded sight + worse! for every now and then all the fiddlers and trumpeters + comes rattlin down their tinklin quivers, like a four-horse load + of china, goin to the devil down a steep hill at the rate of ten + knots an hour; and then it all dies away agin, as if horses, + wagon, and chinaware had all gone over a bank as high as a church + steeple. Then! I begin to draw a long breath agin, and feel a + little comfortable. But here's a dyin away sound! hop and come + agin, rising and whooping, until the whole team's going full tilt, + pull dick, pull devil, here they go again! old Nick take the + hindmost. See their elbows now, how they move out and in, out and + in, like spinning jinnies. And see that feller that sets at the + top of the mob, on the high chair in the middle, how his head + goes. See how he looks at that book before him, as if that stuff + could be put down there in black and white.' + + "'It _is_ all down there, Damon.' + + "'Come, come, now, strangers, you have stuffed me enough! I can't + swallow that exactly neither! All the lawyers in Philadelphia + couldn't write down half the wriggle-ma-rees one of them chaps has + made since I set here! Smash my apple-cart, if I wouldn't like + jist to see a goosequill goin at the rate of one of them elbows. + Ink would fly like mud at a scrub-race, and when it was done it + would look like my copy-book used to do at school; more stops than + words.' + + "'But you keep your eye on the orchestra all the while; why not + look on the stage?' + + "'I do, I do; and that puzzles me the blamedest,--how they all + come out square at the stops, fiddlers and all. Every now and then + they seem to git into a fair race, and one feller's eye is poppin + out of his head, and the veins on the woman's neck is ready to + burst, and the fiddlers and the pipers and the trumpeters are all + puffin and blowin, like our Kentuck jockeys at a pony + sweepstakes; and then all at once, jist as there begins to be a + little sport, to see who has the wind and the bottom, their heads + begin to move first one side and then the other all so kind, and + ready to make a draw game of it, blabbering all the time; till the + trumpeter sees they're pretty well blown, then he begins to come + down a little with his toot! toot! toot! That's to call all hands + off, you see, and they slip down as easy and as quiet as if it had + all been in fun. Then they all clear out but one, and he watches + his chance till they're all gone. Then he comes here to the front, + and flaps his wings and crows over them, as if he had done some + great things, if we hadn't been here to show fair play.' + + "I am sure, Randolph, that I give you but a poor idea of the + reality, but you must supply the deficiencies by your imagination. + Damon talked incessantly, and I enjoyed it far more than I could + have done the opera, even if I had been a perfect Italian scholar. + I find that I must defer the account of our disappointment till + another time, when I will tell you some matters of interest. + + "Truly yours, + + "V. CHEVILLERE." + + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Alternate, archaic, and inconsistent spelling of some words have + been retained. + + Punctuation has been made consistent including the use of + quotation marks. + + page 36: "faintin" changed to "faintin'" (a faintin' spell). + + page 57: "ear" changed to "dear" (Believe me, dear lady,). + + page 114: "doggrel" changed to "doggerel" so as to be consistent + with other places this word is used (and singing doggerel to the + music). + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KENTUCKIAN IN NEW-YORK, VOLUME I +(OF 2)*** + + +******* This file should be named 36613.txt or 36613.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/6/1/36613 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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