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diff --git a/8088-h/8088-h.htm b/8088-h/8088-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cdb0aaa --- /dev/null +++ b/8088-h/8088-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6683 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Passages from the American Note-books, Volume I, by Nathaniel Hawthorne + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Passages From The American Notebooks, +Volume 1, by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +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: Passages From The American Notebooks, Volume 1 + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8088] +This file was first posted on June 13, 2003 +Last Updated: April 3, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PASSAGES *** + + + + +Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + PASSAGES FROM THE AMERICAN NOTE-BOOKS,<br /> VOLUME I + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Nathaniel Hawthorne + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + Salem, June 15, 1835.—A walk down to the Juniper. The shore of the + coves strewn with bunches of sea-weed, driven in by recent winds. + Eel-grass, rolled and bundled up, and entangled with it,—large + marine vegetables, of an olive-color, with round, slender, snake-like + stalks, four or five feet long, and nearly two feet broad: these are the + herbage of the deep sea. Shoals of fishes, at a little distance from the + shore, discernible by their fins out of water. Among the heaps of sea-weed + there were sometimes small pieces of painted wood, bark, and other + driftage. On the shore, with pebbles of granite, there were round or oval + pieces of brick, which the waves had rolled about till they resembled a + natural mineral. Huge stones tossed about, in every variety of confusion, + some shagged all over with sea-weed, others only partly covered, others + bare. The old ten-gun battery, at the outer angle of the Juniper, very + verdant, and besprinkled with white-weed, clover, and buttercups. The + juniper-trees are very aged and decayed and moss-grown. The grass about + the hospital is rank, being trodden, probably, by nobody but myself. There + is a representation of a vessel under sail, cut with a penknife, on the + corner of the house. + </p> + <p> + Returning by the almshouse, I stopped a good while to look at the pigs,—a + great herd,—who seemed to be just finishing their suppers. They + certainly are types of unmitigated sensuality,—some standing in the + trough, in the midst of their own and others' victuals,—some + thrusting their noses deep into the food,—some rubbing their backs + against a post,—some huddled together between sleeping and waking, + breathing hard,—all wallowing about; a great boar swaggering round, + and a big sow waddling along with her huge paunch. Notwithstanding the + unspeakable defilement with which these strange sensualists spice all + their food, they seem to have a quick and delicate sense of smell. What + ridiculous-looking animals! Swift himself could not have imagined anything + nastier than what they practise by the mere impulse of natural genius. Yet + the Shakers keep their pigs very clean, and with great advantage. The + legion of devils in the herd of swine,—what a scene it must have + been! + </p> + <p> + Sunday evening, going by the jail, the setting sun kindled up the windows + most cheerfully; as if there were a bright, comfortable light within its + darksome stone wall. + </p> + <p> + June 18th.—A walk in North Salem in the decline of yesterday + afternoon, —beautiful weather, bright, sunny, with a western or + northwestern wind just cool enough, and a slight superfluity of heat. The + verdure, both of trees and grass, is now in its prime, the leaves elastic, + all life. The grass-fields are plenteously bestrewn with white-weed, large + spaces looking as white as a sheet of snow, at a distance, yet with an + indescribably warmer tinge than snow,—living white, intermixed with + living green. The hills and hollows beyond the Cold Spring copiously + shaded, principally with oaks of good growth, and some walnut-trees, with + the rich sun brightening in the midst of the open spaces, and mellowing + and fading into the shade,—and single trees, with their cool spot of + shade, in the waste of sun: quite a picture of beauty, gently picturesque. + The surface of the land is so varied, with woodland mingled, that the eye + cannot reach far away, except now and then in vistas perhaps across the + river, showing houses, or a church and surrounding village, in Upper + Beverly. In one of the sunny bits of pasture, walled irregularly in with + oak-shade, I saw a gray mare feeding, and, as I drew near, a colt sprang + up from amid the grass,—a very small colt. He looked me in the face, + and I tried to startle him, so as to make him gallop; but he stretched his + long legs, one after another, walked quietly to his mother, and began to + suck,—just wetting his lips, not being very hungry. Then he rubbed + his head, alternately, with each hind leg. He was a graceful little beast. + </p> + <p> + I bathed in the cove, overhung with maples and walnuts, the water cool and + thrilling. At a distance it sparkled bright and blue in the breeze and + sun. There were jelly-fish swimming about, and several left to melt away + on the shore. On the shore, sprouting amongst the sand and gravel, I found + samphire, growing somewhat like asparagus. It is an excellent salad at + this season, salt, yet with an herb-like vivacity, and very tender. I + strolled slowly through the pastures, watching my long shadow making + grave, fantastic gestures in the sun. It is a pretty sight to see the + sunshine brightening the entrance of a road which shortly becomes deeply + overshadowed by trees on both sides. At the Cold Spring, three little + girls, from six to nine, were seated on the stones in which the fountain + is set, and paddling in the water. It was a pretty picture, and would have + been prettier, if they had shown bare little legs, instead of pantalets. + Very large trees overhung them, and the sun was so nearly gone down that a + pleasant gloom made the spot sombre, in contrast with these light and + laughing little figures. On perceiving me, they rose up, tittering among + themselves. It seemed that, there was a sort of playful malice in those + who first saw me; for they allowed the other to keep on paddling, without + warning her of my approach. I passed along, and heard them come chattering + behind. + </p> + <p> + June 22d.—I rode to Boston in the afternoon with Mr. Proctor. It was + a coolish day, with clouds and intermitting sunshine, and a pretty fresh + breeze. We stopped about an hour at the Maverick House, in the sprouting + branch of the city, at East Boston,—a stylish house, with doors + painted in imitation of oak; a large bar; bells ringing; the bar-keeper + calls out, when a bell rings, "Number—"; then a waiter replies, + "Number— answered"; and scampers up stairs. A ticket is given by the + hostler, on taking the horse and chaise, which is returned to the + bar-keeper when the chaise is wanted. The landlord was fashionably + dressed, with the whitest of linen, neatly plaited, and as courteous as a + Lord Chamberlain. Visitors from Boston thronging the house,—some, + standing at the bar, watching the process of preparing tumblers of punch,—others + sitting at the windows of different parlors,—some with faces + flushed, puffing cigars. The bill of fare for the day was stuck up beside + the bar. Opposite this principal hotel there was another, called "The + Mechanics," which seemed to be equally thronged. I suspect that the + company were about on a par in each; for at the Maverick House, though + well dressed, they seemed to be merely Sunday gentlemen,—mostly + young fellows,—clerks in dry-goods stores being the aristocracy of + them. One, very fashionable in appearance, with a handsome cane, happened + to stop by me and lift up his foot, and I noticed that the sole of his + boot (which was exquisitely polished) was all worn out. I apprehend that + some such minor deficiencies might have been detected in the general + showiness of most of them. There were girls, too, but not pretty ones, + nor, on the whole, such good imitations of gentility as the young men. + There were as many people as are usually collected at a muster, or on + similar occasions, lounging about, without any apparent enjoyment; but the + observation of this may serve me to make a sketch of the mode of spending + the Sabbath by the majority of unmarried, young, middling-class people, + near a great town. Most of the people had smart canes and bosom-pins. + </p> + <p> + Crossing the ferry into Boston, we went to the City Tavern, where the + bar-room presented a Sabbath scene of repose,—stage-folk lounging in + chairs half asleep, smoking cigars, generally with clean linen and other + niceties of apparel, to mark the day. The doors and blinds of an oyster + and refreshment shop across the street were closed, but I saw people enter + it. There were two owls in a back court, visible through a window of the + bar-room,—speckled gray, with dark-blue eyes,—the + queerest-looking birds that exist,—so solemn and wise,—dozing + away the day, much like the rest of the people, only that they looked + wiser than any others. Their hooked beaks looked like hooked noses. A dull + scene this. A stranger, here and there, poring over a newspaper. Many of + the stage-folk sitting in chairs on the pavement, in front of the door. + </p> + <p> + We went to the top of the hill which formed part of Gardiner Greene's + estate, and which is now in the process of levelling, and pretty much + taken away, except the highest point, and a narrow path to ascend to it. + It gives an admirable view of the city, being almost as high as the + steeples and the dome of the State House, and overlooking the whole mass + of brick buildings and slated roofs, with glimpses of streets far below. + It was really a pity to take it down. I noticed the stump of a very large + elm, recently felled. No house in the city could have reared its roof so + high as the roots of that tree, if indeed the church-spires did so. + </p> + <p> + On our drive home we passed through Charlestown. Stages in abundance were + passing the road, burdened with passengers inside and out; also chaises + and barouches, horsemen and footmen. We are a community of + Sabbath-breakers. + </p> + <p> + August 31st.—A drive to Nahant yesterday afternoon. Stopped at + Rice's, and afterwards walked down to the steamboat wharf to see the + passengers land. It is strange how few good faces there are in the world, + comparatively to the ugly ones. Scarcely a single comely one in all this + collection. Then to the hotel. Barouches at the doors, and gentlemen and + ladies going to drive, and gentlemen smoking round the piazza. The + bar-keeper had one of Benton's mint-drops for a bosom-brooch! It made a + very handsome one. I crossed the beach for home about sunset. The tide was + so far down as just to give me a passage on the hard sand, between the sea + and the loose gravel. The sea was calm and smooth, with only the + surf-waves whitening along the beach. Several ladies and gentlemen on + horseback were cantering and galloping before and behind me. + </p> + <p> + A hint of a story,—some incident which should bring on a general + war; and the chief actor in the incident to have something corresponding + to the mischief he had caused. + </p> + <p> + September 7th—A drive to Ipswich with B———. At the + tavern was an old, fat, country major, and another old fellow, laughing + and playing off jokes on each other,—one tying a ribbon upon the + other's hat. One had been a trumpeter to the major's troop. Walking about + town, we knocked, for a whim, at the door of a dark old house, and + inquired if Miss Hannah Lord lived there. A woman of about thirty came to + the door, with rather a confused smile, and a disorder about the bosom of + her dress, as if she had been disturbed while nursing her child. She + answered us with great kindness. + </p> + <p> + Entering the burial-ground, where some masons were building a tomb, we + found a good many old monuments, and several covered with slabs of red + freestone or slate, and with arms sculptured on the slab, or an inlaid + circle of slate. On one slate gravestone, of the Rev. Nathl. Rogers, there + was a portrait of that worthy, about a third of the size of life, carved + in relief, with his cloak, band, and wig, in excellent preservation, all + the buttons of his waistcoat being cut with great minuteness,—the + minister's nose being on a level with his cheeks. It was an upright + gravestone. Returning home, I held a colloquy with a young girl about the + right road. She had come out to feed a pig, and was a little suspicious + that we were making fun of her, yet answered us with a shy laugh and + good-nature,—the pig all the time squealing for his dinner. + </p> + <p> + Displayed along the walls, and suspended from the pillars of the original + King's Chapel, were coats-of-arms of the king, the successive governors, + and other distinguished men. In the pulpit there was an hour-glass on a + large and elaborate brass stand. The organ was surmounted by a gilt crown + in the centre, supported by a gilt mitre on each side. The governor's pew + had Corinthian pillars, and crimson damask tapestry. In 1727 it was lined + with china, probably tiles. + </p> + <p> + Saint Augustin, at mass, charged all that were accursed to go out of the + church. "Then a dead body arose, and went out of the church into the + churchyard, with a white cloth on its head, and stood there till mass was + over. It was a former lord of the manor, whom a curate had cursed because + he refused to pay his tithes. A justice also commanded the dead curate to + arise, and gave him a rod; and the dead lord, kneeling, received penance + thereby." He then ordered the lord to go again to his grave, which he did, + and fell immediately to ashes. Saint Augustin offered to pray for the + curate, that he might remain on earth to confirm men in their belief; but + the curate refused, because he was in the place of rest. + </p> + <p> + A sketch to be given of a modern reformer,—a type of the extreme + doctrines on the subject of slaves, cold water, and other such topics. He + goes about the streets haranguing most eloquently, and is on the point of + making many converts, when his labors are suddenly interrupted by the + appearance of the keeper of a mad-house, whence he has escaped. Much may + be made of this idea. + </p> + <p> + A change from a gay young girl to an old woman; the melancholy events, the + effects of which have clustered around her character, and gradually imbued + it with their influence, till she becomes a lover of sick-chambers, taking + pleasure in receiving dying breaths and in laying out the dead; also + having her mind full of funeral reminiscences, and possessing more + acquaintances beneath the burial turf than above it. + </p> + <p> + A well-concerted train of events to be thrown into confusion by some + misplaced circumstance, unsuspected till the catastrophe, yet exerting its + influence from beginning to end. + </p> + <p> + On the common, at dusk, after a salute from two field-pieces, the smoke + lay long and heavily on the ground, without much spreading beyond the + original space over which it had gushed from the guns. It was about the + height of a man. The evening clear, but with an autumnal chill. + </p> + <p> + The world is so sad and solemn, that things meant in jest are liable, by + an overpowering influence, to become dreadful earnest,—gayly dressed + fantasies turning to ghostly and black-clad images of themselves. + </p> + <p> + A story, the hero of which is to be represented as naturally capable of + deep and strong passion, and looking forward to the time when he shall + feel passionate love, which is to be the great event of his existence. But + it so chances that he never falls in love, and although he gives up the + expectation of so doing, and marries calmly, yet it is somewhat sadly, + with sentiments merely of esteem for his bride. The lady might be one who + had loved him early in life, but whom then, in his expectation of + passionate love, he had scorned. + </p> + <p> + The scene of a story or sketch to be laid within the light of a + street-lantern; the time, when the lamp is near going out; and the + catastrophe to be simultaneous with the last flickering gleam. + </p> + <p> + The peculiar weariness and depression of spirits which is felt after a day + wasted in turning over a magazine or other light miscellany, different + from the state of the mind after severe study; because there has been no + excitement, no difficulties to be overcome, but the spirits have + evaporated insensibly. + </p> + <p> + To represent the process by which sober truth gradually strips off all the + beautiful draperies with which imagination has enveloped a beloved object, + till from an angel she turns out to be a merely ordinary woman. This to be + done without caricature, perhaps with a quiet humor interfused, but the + prevailing impression to be a sad one. The story might consist of the + various alterations in the feelings of the absent lover, caused by + successive events that display the true character of his mistress; and the + catastrophe should take place at their meeting, when he finds himself + equally disappointed in her person; or the whole spirit of the thing may + here be reproduced. + </p> + <p> + Last evening, from the opposite shore of the North River, a view of the + town mirrored in the water, which was as smooth as glass, with no + perceptible tide or agitation, except a trifling swell and reflux on the + sand, although the shadow of the moon danced in it. The picture of the + town perfect in the water,—towers of churches, houses, with here and + there a light gleaming near the shore above, and more faintly glimmering + under water,—all perfect, but somewhat more hazy and indistinct than + the reality. There were many clouds flitting about the sky; and the + picture of each could be traced in the water,—the ghost of what was + itself unsubstantial. The rattling of wheels heard long and far through + the town. Voices of people talking on the other side of the river, the + tones being so distinguishable in all their variations that it seemed as + if what was there said might be understood; but it was not so. + </p> + <p> + Two persons might be bitter enemies through life, and mutually cause the + ruin of one another, and of all that were dear to them. Finally, meeting + at the funeral of a grandchild, the offspring of a son and daughter + married without their consent,—and who, as well as the child, had + been the victims of their hatred,—they might discover that the + supposed ground of the quarrel was altogether a mistake, and then be + wofully reconciled. + </p> + <p> + Two persons, by mutual agreement, to make their wills in each other's + favor, then to wait impatiently for one another's death, and both to be + informed of the desired event at the same time. Both, in most joyous + sorrow, hasten to be present at the funeral, meet, and find themselves + both hoaxed. + </p> + <p> + The story of a man, cold and hard-hearted, and acknowledging no + brotherhood with mankind. At his death they might try to dig him a grave, + but, at a little space beneath the ground, strike upon a rock, as if the + earth refused to receive the unnatural son into her bosom. Then they would + put him into an old sepulchre, where the coffins and corpses were all + turned to dust, and so he would be alone. Then the body would petrify; and + he having died in some characteristic act and expression, he would seem, + through endless ages of death, to repel society as in life, and no one + would be buried in that tomb forever. + </p> + <p> + Cannon transformed to church-bells. + </p> + <p> + A person, even before middle age, may become musty and faded among the + people with whom he has grown up from childhood; but, by migrating to a + new place, he appears fresh with the effect of youth, which may be + communicated from the impressions of others to his own feelings. + </p> + <p> + In an old house, a mysterious knocking might be beard on the wall, where + had formerly been a doorway, now bricked up. + </p> + <p> + It might be stated, as the closing circumstance of a tale, that the body + of one of the characters had been petrified, and still existed in that + state. + </p> + <p> + A young man to win the love of a girl, without any serious intentions, and + to find that in that love, which might have been the greatest blessing of + his life, he had conjured up a spirit of mischief which pursued him + throughout his whole career,—and this without any revengeful + purposes on the part of the deserted girl. + </p> + <p> + Two lovers, or other persons, on the most private business, to appoint a + meeting in what they supposed to be a place of the utmost solitude, and to + find it thronged with people. + </p> + <p> + October 17th.—Some of the oaks are now a deep brown red; others are + changed to a light green, which, at a little distance, especially in the + sunshine, looks like the green of early spring. In some trees, different + masses of the foliage show each of these hues. Some of the walnut-trees + have a yet more delicate green. Others are of a bright sunny yellow. + </p> + <p> + Mr. ——— was married to Miss ——— last + Wednesday. Yesterday Mr. Brazer, preaching on the comet, observed that not + one, probably, of all who heard him, would witness its reappearance. Mrs. + ——— shed tears. Poor soul! she would be contented to + dwell in earthly love to all eternity! + </p> + <p> + Some treasure or other thing to be buried, and a tree planted directly + over the spot, so as to embrace it with its roots. + </p> + <p> + A tree, tall and venerable, to be said by tradition to have been the staff + of some famous man, who happened to thrust it into the ground, where it + took root. + </p> + <p> + A fellow without money, having a hundred and seventy miles to go, fastened + a chain and padlock to his legs, and lay down to sleep in a field. He was + apprehended, and carried gratis to a jail in the town whither he desired + to go. + </p> + <p> + An old volume in a large library,—every one to be afraid to unclasp + and open it, because it was said to be a book of magic. + </p> + <p> + A ghost seen by moonlight; when the moon was out, it would shine and melt + through the airy substance of the ghost, as through a cloud. + </p> + <p> + Prideaux, Bishop of Worcester, during the sway of the Parliament, was + forced to support himself and his family by selling his household goods. A + friend asked him, "How doth your lordship?" "Never better in my life," + said the Bishop, "only I have too great a stomach; for I have eaten that + little plate which the sequestrators left me. I have eaten a great library + of excellent books. I have eaten a great deal of linen, much of my brass, + some of my pewter, and now I am come to eat iron; and what will come next + I know not." + </p> + <p> + A scold and a blockhead,—brimstone and wood,—a good match. + </p> + <p> + To make one's own reflection in a mirror the subject of a story. + </p> + <p> + In a dream to wander to some place where may be heard the complaints of + all the miserable on earth. + </p> + <p> + Some common quality or circumstance that should bring together people the + most unlike in all other respects, and make a brotherhood and sisterhood + of them,—the rich and the proud finding themselves in the same + category with the mean and the despised. + </p> + <p> + A person to consider himself as the prime mover of certain remarkable + events, but to discover that his actions have not contributed in the least + thereto. Another person to be the cause, without suspecting it. + </p> + <p> + October 25th.—A person or family long desires some particular good. + At last it comes in such profusion as to be the great pest of their lives. + </p> + <p> + A man, perhaps with a persuasion that he shall make his fortune by some + singular means, and with an eager longing so to do, while digging or + boring for water, to strike upon a salt-spring. + </p> + <p> + To have one event operate in several places,—as, for example, if a + man's head were to be cut off in one town, men's heads to drop off in + several towns. + </p> + <p> + Follow out the fantasy of a man taking his life by instalments, instead of + at one payment,—say ten years of life alternately with ten years of + suspended animation. + </p> + <p> + Sentiments in a foreign language, which merely convey the sentiment + without retaining to the reader any graces of style or harmony of sound, + have somewhat of the charm of thoughts in one's own mind that have not yet + been put into words. No possible words that we might adapt to them could + realize the unshaped beauty that they appear to possess. This is the + reason that translations are never satisfactory,—and less so, I + should think, to one who cannot than to one who can pronounce the + language. + </p> + <p> + A person to be writing a tale, and to find that it shapes itself against + his intentions; that the characters act otherwise than he thought; that + unforeseen events occur; and a catastrophe comes which he strives in vain + to avert. It might shadow forth his own fate,—he having made himself + one of the personages. + </p> + <p> + It is a singular thing, that, at the distance, say, of five feet, the work + of the greatest dunce looks just as well as that of the greatest genius,—that + little space being all the distance between genius and stupidity. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Sigourney says, after Coleridge, that "poetry has been its own + exceeding great reward." For the writing, perhaps; but would it be so for + the reading? + </p> + <p> + Four precepts: To break off customs; to shake off spirits ill-disposed; to + meditate on youth; to do nothing against one's genius. + </p> + <p> + Salem, August 31st, 1836.—A walk, yesterday, down to the shore, near + the hospital. Standing on the old grassy battery, that forms a semicircle, + and looking seaward. The sun not a great way above the horizon, yet so far + as to give a very golden brightness, when it shone out. Clouds in the + vicinity of the sun, and nearly all the rest of the sky covered with + clouds in masses, not a gray uniformity of cloud. A fresh breeze blowing + from land seaward. If it had been blowing from the sea, it would have + raised it in heavy billows, and caused it to dash high against the rocks. + But now its surface was not at all commoved with billows; there was only + roughness enough to take off the gleam, and give it the aspect of iron + after cooling. The clouds above added to the black appearance. A few + sea-birds were flitting over the water, only visible at moments, when they + turned their white bosoms towards me,—as if they were then first + created. The sunshine had a singular effect. The clouds would interpose in + such a manner that some objects were shaded from it, while others were + strongly illuminated. Some of the islands lay in the shade, dark and + gloomy, while others were bright and favored spots. The white lighthouse + was sometimes very cheerfully marked. There was a schooner about a mile + from the shore, at anchor, laden apparently with lumber. The sea all about + her had the black, iron aspect which I have described; but the vessel + herself was alight. Hull, masts, and spars were all gilded, and the + rigging was made of golden threads. A small white streak of foam breaking + around the bows, which were towards the wind. The shadowiness of the + clouds overhead made the effect of the sunlight strange, where it fell. + </p> + <p> + September.—The elm-trees have golden branches intermingled with + their green already, and so they had on the first of the month. + </p> + <p> + To picture the predicament of worldly people, if admitted to paradise. + </p> + <p> + As the architecture of a country always follows the earliest structures, + American architecture should be a refinement of the log-house. The + Egyptian is so of the cavern and mound; the Chinese, of the tent; the + Gothic, of overarching trees; the Greek, of a cabin. + </p> + <p> + "Though we speak nonsense, God will pick out the meaning of it,"—an + extempore prayer by a New England divine. + </p> + <p> + In old times it must have been much less customary than now to drink pure + water. Walker emphatically mentions, among the sufferings of a clergyman's + wife and family in the Great Rebellion, that they were forced to drink + water, with crab-apples stamped in it to relish it. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Kirby, author of a work on the History, Habits, and Instincts of + Animals, questions whether there may not be an abyss of waters within the + globe, communicating with the ocean, and whether the huge animals of the + Saurian tribe—great reptiles, supposed to be exclusively + antediluvian, and now extinct—may not be inhabitants of it. He + quotes a passage from Revelation, where the creatures under the earth are + spoken of as distinct from those of the sea, and speaks of a Saurian + fossil that has been found deep in the subterranean regions. He thinks, or + suggests, that these may be the dragons of Scripture. + </p> + <p> + The elephant is not particularly sagacious in the wild state, but becomes + so when tamed. The fox directly the contrary, and likewise the wolf. + </p> + <p> + A modern Jewish adage,—"Let a man clothe himself beneath his + ability, his children according to his ability, and his wife above his + ability." + </p> + <p> + It is said of the eagle, that, in however long a flight, he is never seen + to clap his wings to his sides. He seems to govern his movements by the + inclination of his wings and tail to the wind, as a ship is propelled by + the action of the wind on her sails. + </p> + <p> + In old country-houses in England, instead of glass for windows, they used + wicker, or fine strips of oak disposed checkerwise. Horn was also used. + The windows of princes and great noblemen were of crystal; those of + Studley Castle, Holinshed says, of beryl. There were seldom chimneys; and + they cooked their meats by a fire made against an iron back in the great + hall. Houses, often of gentry, were built of a heavy timber frame, filled + up with lath and plaster. People slept on rough mats or straw pallets, + with a round log for a pillow; seldom better beds than a mattress, with a + sack of chaff for a pillow. + </p> + <p> + October 25th.—A walk yesterday through Dark Lane, and home through + the village of Danvers. Landscape now wholly autumnal. Saw an elderly man + laden with two dry, yellow, rustling bundles of Indian corn-stalks,—a + good personification of Autumn. Another man hoeing up potatoes. Rows of + white cabbages lay ripening. Fields of dry Indian corn. The grass has + still considerable greenness. Wild rose-bushes devoid of leaves, with + their deep, bright red seed-vessels. Meeting-house in Danvers seen at a + distance, with the sun shining through the windows of its belfry. + Barberry-bushes,—the leaves now of a brown red, still juicy and + healthy; very few berries remaining, mostly frost-bitten and wilted. All + among the yet green grass, dry stalks of weeds. The down of thistles + occasionally seen flying through the sunny air. + </p> + <p> + In this dismal chamber FAME was won. (Salem, Union Street.) + </p> + <p> + Those who are very difficult in choosing wives seem as if they would take + none of Nature's ready-made works, but want a woman manufactured + particularly to their order. + </p> + <p> + A council of the passengers in a street: called by somebody to decide upon + some points important to him. + </p> + <p> + Every individual has a place to fill in the world, and is important in + some respects, whether he chooses to be so or not. + </p> + <p> + A Thanksgiving dinner. All the miserable on earth are to be invited, + —as the drunkard, the bereaved parent, the ruined merchant, the + broken-hearted lover, the poor widow, the old man and woman who have + outlived their generation, the disappointed author, the wounded, sick, and + broken soldier, the diseased person, the infidel, the man with an evil + conscience, little orphan children or children of neglectful parents, + shall be admitted to the table, and many others. The giver of the feast + goes out to deliver his invitations. Some of the guests he meets in the + streets, some he knocks for at the doors of their houses. The description + must be rapid. But who must be the giver of the feast, and what his claims + to preside? A man who has never found out what he is fit for, who has + unsettled aims or objects in life, and whose mind gnaws him, making him + the sufferer of many kinds of misery. He should meet some pious, old, + sorrowful person, with more outward calamities than any other, and invite + him, with a reflection that piety would make all that miserable company + truly thankful. + </p> + <p> + Merry, in "merry England," does not mean mirthful; but is corrupted from + an old Teutonic word signifying famous or renowned. + </p> + <p> + In an old London newspaper, 1678, there is an advertisement, among other + goods at auction, of a black girl, about fifteen years old, to be sold. + </p> + <p> + We sometimes congratulate ourselves at the moment of waking from a + troubled dream: it may be so the moment after death. + </p> + <p> + The race of mankind to be swept away, leaving all their cities and works. + Then another human pair to be placed in the world, with native + intelligence like Adam and Eve, but knowing nothing of their predecessors + or of their own nature and destiny. They, perhaps, to be described as + working out this knowledge by their sympathy with what they saw, and by + their own feelings. + </p> + <p> + Memorials of the family of Hawthorne in the church of the village of + Dundry, Somersetshire, England. The church is ancient and small, and has a + prodigiously high tower of more modern date, being erected in the time of + Edward IV. It serves as a landmark for an amazing extent of country. + </p> + <p> + A singular fact, that, when man is a brute, he is the most sensual and + loathsome of all brutes. + </p> + <p> + A snake, taken into a man's stomach and nourished there from fifteen years + to thirty-five, tormenting him most horribly. A type of envy or some other + evil passion. + </p> + <p> + A sketch illustrating the imperfect compensations which time makes for its + devastations on the person,—giving a wreath of laurel while it + causes baldness, honors for infirmities, wealth for a broken constitution,—and + at last, when a man has everything that seems desirable, death seizes him. + To contrast the man who has thus reached the summit of ambition with the + ambitious youth. + </p> + <p> + Walking along the track of the railroad, I observed a place where the + workmen had bored a hole through the solid rock, in order to blast it; + but, striking a spring of water beneath the rock, it gushed up through the + hole. It looked as if the water were contained within the rock. + </p> + <p> + A Fancy Ball, in which the prominent American writers should appear, + dressed in character. + </p> + <p> + A lament for life's wasted sunshine. + </p> + <p> + A new classification of society to be instituted. Instead of rich and + poor, high and low, they are to be classed,—First, by their sorrows: + for instance, whenever there are any, whether in fair mansion or hovel, + who are mourning the loss of relations and friends, and who wear black, + whether the cloth be coarse or superfine, they are to make one class. + Secondly, all who have the same maladies, whether they lie under damask + canopies or on straw pallets or in the wards of hospitals, they are to + form one class. Thirdly, all who are guilty of the same sins, whether the + world knows them or not; whether they languish in prison, looking forward + to the gallows, or walk honored among men, they also form a class. Then + proceed to generalize and classify the whole world together, as none can + claim utter exemption from either sorrow, sin, or disease; and if they + could, yet Death, like a great parent, comes and sweeps them all through + one darksome portal,—all his children. + </p> + <p> + Fortune to come like a pedler with his goods,—as wreaths of laurel, + diamonds, crowns; selling them, but asking for them the sacrifice of + health, of integrity, perhaps of life in the battle-field, and of the real + pleasures of existence. Who would buy, if the price were to be paid down? + </p> + <p> + The dying exclamation of the Emperor Augustus, "Has it not been well + acted?" An essay on the misery of being always under a mask. A veil may be + needful, but never a mask. Instances of people who wear masks in all + classes of society, and never take them off even in the most familiar + moments, though sometimes they may chance to slip aside. + </p> + <p> + The various guises under which Ruin makes his approaches to his victims: + to the merchant, in the guise of a merchant offering speculations; to the + young heir, a jolly companion; to the maiden, a sighing, sentimentalist + lover. + </p> + <p> + What were the contents of the burden of Christian in the Pilgrim's + Progress? He must have been taken for a pedler travelling with his pack. + </p> + <p> + To think, as the sun goes down, what events have happened in the course of + the day,—events of ordinary occurrence: as, the clocks have struck, + the dead have been buried. + </p> + <p> + Curious to imagine what murmurings and discontent would be excited, if any + of the great so-called calamities of human beings were to be abolished,—as, + for instance, death. + </p> + <p> + Trifles to one are matters of life and death to another. As, for instance, + a farmer desires a brisk breeze to winnow his grain; and mariners, to blow + them out of the reach of pirates. + </p> + <p> + A recluse, like myself, or a prisoner, to measure time by the progress of + sunshine through his chamber. + </p> + <p> + Would it not be wiser for people to rejoice at all that they now sorrow + for, and vice versa? To put on bridal garments at funerals, and mourning + at weddings? For their friends to condole with them when they attained + riches and honor, as only so much care added? + </p> + <p> + If in a village it were a custom to hang a funeral garland or other token + of death on a house where some one had died, and there to let it remain + till a death occurred elsewhere, and then to hang that same garland over + the other house, it would have, methinks, a strong effect. + </p> + <p> + No fountain so small but that Heaven may be imaged in its bosom. + </p> + <p> + Fame! Some very humble persons in a town may be said to possess it,—as, + the penny-post, the town-crier, the constable,—and they are known to + everybody; while many richer, more intellectual, worthier persons are + unknown by the majority of their fellow-citizens. Something analogous in + the world at large. + </p> + <p> + The ideas of people in general are not raised higher than the roofs of the + houses. All their interests extend over the earth's surface in a layer of + that thickness. The meeting-house steeple reaches out of their sphere. + </p> + <p> + Nobody will use other people's experience, nor has any of his own till it + is too late to use it. + </p> + <p> + Two lovers to plan the building of a pleasure-house on a certain spot of + ground, but various seeming accidents prevent it. Once they find a group + of miserable children there; once it is the scene where crime is plotted; + at last the dead body of one of the lovers or of a dear friend is found + there; and, instead of a pleasure-house, they build a marble tomb. The + moral,—that there is no place on earth fit for the site of a + pleasure-house, because there is no spot that may not have been saddened + by human grief, stained by crime, or hallowed by death. It might be three + friends who plan it, instead of two lovers; and the dearest one dies. + </p> + <p> + Comfort for childless people. A married couple with ten children have been + the means of bringing about ten funerals. + </p> + <p> + A blind man on a dark night carried a torch, in order that people might + see him, and not run against him, and direct him how to avoid dangers. + </p> + <p> + To picture a child's (one of four or five years old) reminiscences at + sunset of a long summer's day,—his first awakening, his studies, his + sports, his little fits of passion, perhaps a whipping, etc. + </p> + <p> + The blind man's walk. + </p> + <p> + To picture a virtuous family, the different members examples of virtuous + dispositions in their way; then introduce a vicious person, and trace out + the relations that arise between him and them, and the manner in which all + are affected. + </p> + <p> + A man to flatter himself with the idea that he would not be guilty of some + certain wickedness,—-as, for instance, to yield to the personal + temptations of the Devil,—yet to find, ultimately, that he was at + that very time committing that same wickedness. + </p> + <p> + What would a man do, if he were compelled to live always in the sultry + heat of society, and could never bathe himself in cool solitude? + </p> + <p> + A girl's lover to be slain and buried in her flower-garden, and the earth + levelled over him. That particular spot, which she happens to plant with + some peculiar variety of flowers, produces them of admirable splendor, + beauty, and perfume; and she delights, with an indescribable impulse, to + wear them in her bosom, and scent her chamber with them. Thus the classic + fantasy would be realized, of dead people transformed to flowers. + </p> + <p> + Objects seen by a magic-lantern reversed. A street, or other location, + might be presented, where there would be opportunity to bring forward all + objects of worldly interest, and thus much pleasant satire might be the + result. + </p> + <p> + The Abyssinians, after dressing their hair, sleep with their heads in a + forked stick, in order not to discompose it. + </p> + <p> + At the battle of Edge Hill, October 23, 1642, Captain John Smith, a + soldier of note, Captain Lieutenant to Lord James Stuart's horse, with + only a groom, attacked a Parliament officer, three cuirassiers, and three + arquebusiers, and rescued the royal standard, which they had taken and + were guarding. Was this the Virginian Smith? + </p> + <p> + Stephen Gowans supposed that the bodies of Adam and Eve were clothed in + robes of light, which vanished after their sin. + </p> + <p> + Lord Chancellor Clare, towards the close of his life, went to a village + church, where he might not be known, to partake of the Sacrament. + </p> + <p> + A missionary to the heathen in a great city, to describe his labors in the + manner of a foreign mission. + </p> + <p> + In the tenth century, mechanism of organs so clumsy, that one in + Westminster Abbey, with four hundred pipes, required twenty-six bellows + and seventy stout men. First organ ever known in Europe received by King + Pepin, from the Emperor Constantine, in 757. Water boiling was kept in a + reservoir under the pipes; and, the keys being struck, the valves opened, + and steam rushed through with noise. The secret of working them thus is + now lost. Then came bellows organs, first used by Louis le Debonnaire. + </p> + <p> + After the siege of Antwerp, the children played marbles in the streets + with grape and cannon shot. + </p> + <p> + A shell, in falling, buries itself in the earth, and, when it explodes, a + large pit is made by the earth being blown about in all directions,— + large enough, sometimes, to hold three or four cart-loads of earth. The + holes are circular. + </p> + <p> + A French artillery-man being buried in his military cloak on the ramparts, + a shell exploded, and unburied him. + </p> + <p> + In the Netherlands, to form hedges, young trees are interwoven into a sort + of lattice-work; and, in time, they grow together at the point of + junction, so that the fence is all of one piece. + </p> + <p> + To show the effect of gratified revenge. As an instance, merely, suppose a + woman sues her lover for breach of promise, and gets the money by + instalments, through a long series of years. At last, when the miserable + victim were utterly trodden down, the triumpher would have become a very + devil of evil passions,—they having overgrown his whole nature; so + that a far greater evil would have come upon himself than on his victim. + </p> + <p> + Anciently, when long-buried bodies were found undecayed in the grave, a + species of sanctity was attributed to them. + </p> + <p> + Some chimneys of ancient halls used to be swept by having a culverin fired + up them. + </p> + <p> + At Leith, in 1711, a glass bottle was blown of the capacity of two English + bushels. + </p> + <p> + The buff and blue of the Union were adopted by Fox and the Whig party in + England. The Prince of Wales wore them. + </p> + <p> + In 1621, a Mr. Copinger left a certain charity, an almshouse, of which + four poor persons were to partake, after the death of his eldest son and + his wife. It was a tenement and yard. The parson, head-boroughs, and his + five other sons were to appoint the persons. At the time specified, + however, all but one of his sons were dead; and he was in such poor + circumstances that he obtained the benefit of the charity for himself, as + one of the four. + </p> + <p> + A town clerk arranges the publishments that are given in, according to his + own judgment. + </p> + <p> + To make a story from Robert Raikes seeing dirty children at play, in the + streets of London, and inquiring of a woman about them. She tells him that + on Sundays, when they were not employed, they were a great deal worse, + making the streets like hell; playing at church, etc. He was therefore + induced to employ women at a shilling to teach them on Sundays, and thus + Sunday schools were established. + </p> + <p> + To represent the different departments of the United States government by + village functionaries. The War Department by watchmen, the law by + constables, the merchants by a variety store, etc. + </p> + <p> + At the accession of Bloody Mary, a man, coming into a house, sounded three + times with his mouth, as with a trumpet, and then made proclamation to the + family. A bonfire was built, and little children were made to carry wood + to it, that they might remember the circumstance in old age. Meat and + drink were provided at the bonfires. + </p> + <p> + To describe a boyish combat with snowballs, and the victorious leader to + have a statue of snow erected to him. A satire on ambition and fame to be + made out of this idea. It might be a child's story. + </p> + <p> + Our body to be possessed by two different spirits; so that half of the + visage shall express one mood, and the other half another. + </p> + <p> + An old English sea-captain desires to have a fast-sailing ship, to keep a + good table, and to sail between the tropics without making land. + </p> + <p> + A rich man left by will his mansion and estate to a poor couple. They + remove into it, and find there a darksome servant, whom they are forbidden + by will to turn away. He becomes a torment to them; and, in the finale, he + turns out to be the former master of the estate. + </p> + <p> + Two persons to be expecting some occurrence, and watching for the two + principal actors in it, and to find that the occurrence is even then + passing, and that they themselves are the two actors. + </p> + <p> + There is evil in every human heart, which may remain latent, perhaps, + through the whole of life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity. To + imagine such circumstances. A woman, tempted to be false to her husband, + apparently through mere whim,—or a young man to feel an instinctive + thirst for blood, and to commit murder. This appetite may be traced in the + popularity of criminal trials. The appetite might be observed first in a + child, and then traced upwards, manifesting itself in crimes suited to + every stage of life. + </p> + <p> + The good deeds in an evil life,—the generous, noble, and excellent + actions done by people habitually wicked,—to ask what is to become + of them. + </p> + <p> + A satirical article might be made out of the idea of an imaginary museum, + containing such articles as Aaron's rod, the petticoat of General + Harrison, the pistol with which Benton shot Jackson,—and then a + diorama, consisting of political or other scenes, or done in wax-work. The + idea to be wrought out and extended. Perhaps it might be the museum of a + deceased old man. + </p> + <p> + An article might be made respecting various kinds of ruin,—ruin as + regards property,—ruin of health,—ruin of habits, as + drunkenness and all kinds of debauchery,—ruin of character, while + prosperous in other respects,—ruin of the soul. Ruin, perhaps, might + be personified as a demon, seizing its victims by various holds. + </p> + <p> + An article on fire, on smoke. Diseases of the mind and soul,—even + more common than bodily diseases. + </p> + <p> + Tarleton, of the Revolution, is said to have been one of the two + handsomest men in Europe,—the Prince of Wales, afterwards George + IV., being the other. Some authorities, however, have represented him as + ungainly in person and rough in manners. Tarleton was originally bred to + the law, but quitted law for the army early in life. He was son to a mayor + of Liverpool, born in 1754, of ancient family. He wrote his own memoirs + after returning from America. Afterwards in Parliament. Never afterwards + distinguished in arms. Created baronet in 1818, and died childless in + 1833. Thought he was not sufficiently honored among more modern heroes. + Lost part of his right hand in battle of Guilford Court House. A man of + pleasure in England. + </p> + <p> + It would be a good idea for a painter to paint a picture of a great actor, + representing him in several different characters of one scene,— Iago + and Othello, for instance. + </p> + <p> + Maine, July 5th, 1837.—Here I am, settled since night before last + with B———, and living very singularly. He leads a + bachelor's life in his paternal mansion, only a small part of which is + occupied by a family who serve him. He provides his own breakfast and + supper, and occasionally his dinner; though this is oftener, I believe, + taken at the hotel, or an eating-house, or with some of his relatives. I + am his guest, and my presence makes no alteration in his way of life. Our + fare, thus far, has consisted of bread, butter, and cheese, crackers, + herrings, boiled eggs, coffee, milk, and claret wine. He has another + inmate, in the person of a queer little Frenchman, who has his breakfast, + tea, and lodging here, and finds his dinner elsewhere. Monsieur S——— + does not appear to be more than twenty-one years old,—a diminutive + figure, with eyes askew, and otherwise of an ungainly physiognomy; he is + ill-dressed also, in a coarse blue coat, thin cotton pantaloons, and + unbrushed boots; altogether with as little of French coxcombry as can well + be imagined, though with something of the monkey aspect inseparable from a + little Frenchman. He is, nevertheless, an intelligent and well-informed + man, apparently of extensive reading in his own language,—a + philosopher, B——— tells me, and an infidel. His + insignificant personal appearance stands in the way of his success, and + prevents him from receiving the respect which is really due to his talents + and acquirements; wherefore he is bitterly dissatisfied with the country + and its inhabitants, and often expresses his feelings to B——— + (who has gained his confidence to a certain degree) in very strong terms. + </p> + <p> + Thus here are three characters, each with something out of the common way, + living together somewhat like monks. B———, our host, + combines more high and admirable qualities, of that sort which make up a + gentleman, than any other that I have met with. Polished, yet natural, + frank, open, and straightforward, yet with a delicate feeling for the + sensitiveness of his companions; of excellent temper and warm heart; well + acquainted with the world, with a keen faculty of observation, which he + has had many opportunities of exercising, and never varying from a code of + honor and principle which is really nice and rigid in its way. There is a + sort of philosophy developing itself in him which will not impossibly + cause him to settle down in this or some other equally singular course of + life. He seems almost to have made up his mind never to be married, which + I wonder at; for he has strong affections, and is fond both of women and + children. + </p> + <p> + The little Frenchman impresses me very strongly, too,—so lonely as + he is here, struggling against the world, with bitter feelings in his + breast, and yet talking with the vivacity and gayety of his nation; making + this his home from darkness to daylight, and enjoying here what little + domestic comfort and confidence there is for him; and then going about all + the livelong day, teaching French to blockheads who sneer at him, and + returning at about ten o'clock in the evening (for I was wrong in saying + he supped here,—he eats no supper) to his solitary room and bed. + Before retiring, he goes to B———'s bedside, and, if he + finds him awake, stands talking French, expressing his dislike of the + Americans, "Je hais, je hais les Yankees!"—thus giving vent to the + stifled bitterness of the whole day. In the morning I hear him getting up + early, at sunrise or before, humming to himself, scuffling about his + chamber with his thick boots, and at last taking his departure for a + solitary ramble till breakfast. Then he comes in, cheerful and vivacious + enough, eats pretty heartily, and is off again, singing French chansons as + he goes down the gravel-walk. The poor fellow has nobody to sympathize + with him but B———, and thus a singular connection is + established between two utterly different characters. + </p> + <p> + Then here is myself, who am likewise a queer character in my way, and have + come to spend a week or two with my friend of half a lifetime,—the + longest space, probably, that we are ever destined to spend together; for + Fate seems preparing changes for both of us. My circumstances, at least, + cannot long continue as they are and have been; and B———, + too, stands between high prosperity and utter ruin. + </p> + <p> + I think I should soon become strongly attached to our way of life, so + independent and untroubled by the forms and restrictions of society. The + house is very pleasantly situated,—half a mile distant from where + the town begins to be thickly settled, and on a swell of land, with the + road running at a distance of fifty yards, and a grassy tract and a + gravel-walk between. Beyond the road rolls the Kennebec, here two or three + hundred yards wide. Putting my head out of the window, I can see it + flowing steadily along straightway between wooded banks; but arriving + nearly opposite the house, there is a large and level sand island in the + middle of the stream; and just below the island the current is further + interrupted by the works of the mill-dam, which is perhaps half finished, + yet still in so rude a state that it looks as much like the ruins of a dam + destroyed by the spring freshets as like the foundations of a dam yet to + be. Irishmen and Canadians toil at work on it, and the echoes of their + hammering and of the voices come across the river and up to this window. + Then there is a sound of the wind among the trees round the house; and, + when that is silent, the calm, full, distant voice of the river becomes + audible. Looking downward thither, I see the rush of the current, and mark + the different eddies, with here and there white specks or streaks of foam; + and often a log comes floating on, glistening in the sun, as it rolls over + among the eddies, having voyaged, for aught I know, hundreds of miles from + the wild upper sources of the river, passing down, down, between lines of + forest, and sometimes a rough clearing, till here it floats by cultivated + banks, and will soon pass by the village. Sometimes a long raft of boards + comes along, requiring the nicest skill in navigating it through the + narrow passage left by the mill-dam. Chaises and wagons occasionally go + over the road, the riders all giving a passing glance at the dam, or + perhaps alighting to examine it more fully, and at last departing with + ominous shakes of the head as to the result of the enterprise. My position + is so far retired from the river and mill-dam, that, though the latter is + really rather a scene, yet a sort of quiet seems to be diffused over the + whole. Two or three times a day this quiet is broken by the sudden thunder + from a quarry, where the workmen are blasting rocks; and a peal of thunder + sounds strangely in such a green, sunny, and quiet landscape, with the + blue sky brightening the river. + </p> + <p> + I have not seen much of the people. There have been, however, several + incidents which amused me, though scarcely worth telling. A passionate + tavern-keeper, quick as a flash of gunpowder, a nervous man, and showing + in his demeanor, it seems, a consciousness of his infirmity of temper. I + was a witness of a scuffle of his with a drunken guest. The tavern-keeper, + after they were separated, raved like a madman, and in a tone of voice + having a drolly pathetic or lamentable sound mingled with its rage, as if + he were lifting up his voice to weep. Then he jumped into a chaise which + was standing by, whipped up the horse, and drove off rapidly, as if to + give his fury vent in that way. + </p> + <p> + On the morning of the Fourth of July, two printer's apprentice-lads, + nearly grown, dressed in jackets and very tight pantaloons of check, tight + as their skins, so that they looked like harlequins or circus-clowns, yet + appeared to think themselves in perfect propriety, with a very calm and + quiet assurance of the admiration of the town. A common fellow, a + carpenter, who, on the strength of political partisanship, asked B———'s + assistance in cutting out great letters from play-bills in order to print + "Martin Van Buren Forever" on a flag; but B——— refused. + B——— seems to be considerably of a favorite with the + lower orders, especially with the Irishmen and French Canadians,—the + latter accosting him in the street, and asking his assistance as an + interpreter in making their bargains for work. + </p> + <p> + I meant to dine at the hotel with B——— to-day; but + having returned to the house, leaving him to do some business in the + village, I found myself unwilling to move when the dinner-hour approached, + and therefore dined very well on bread, cheese, and eggs. Nothing of much + interest takes place. We live very comfortably in our bachelor + establishment on a cold shoulder of mutton, with ham and smoked beef and + boiled eggs; and as to drinkables, we had both claret and brown sherry on + the dinner-table to-day. Last evening we had along literary and + philosophical conversation with Monsieur S———. He is + rather remarkably well-informed for a man of his age, and seems to have + very just notions on ethics, etc., though damnably perverted as to + religion. It is strange to hear philosophy of any sort from such a boyish + figure. "We philosophers," he is fond of saying, to distinguish himself + and his brethren from the Christians. One of his oddities is, that, while + steadfastly maintaining an opinion that he is a very small and slow eater, + and that we, in common with other Yankees, eat immensely and fast, he + actually eats both faster and longer than we do, and devours, as B———avers, + more victuals than both of us together. + </p> + <p> + Saturday, July 8th.—Yesterday afternoon, a stroll with B——— + up a large brook, he fishing for trout, and I looking on. The brook runs + through a valley, on one side bordered by a high and precipitous bank; on + the other there is an interval, and then the bank rises upward and upward + into a high hill with gorges and ravines separating one summit from + another, and here and there are bare places, where the rain-streams have + washed away the grass. The brook is bestrewn with stones, some bare, some + partially moss-grown, and sometimes so huge as—once at least—to + occupy almost the whole breadth of the current. Amongst these the stream + brawls, only that this word does not express its good-natured voice, and + "murmur" is too quiet. It sings along, sometimes smooth, with the pebbles + visible beneath, sometimes rushing dark and swift, eddying and whitening + past some rock, or underneath the hither or the farther bank; and at these + places B——— cast his line, and sometimes drew out a + trout, small, not more than five or six inches long. The farther we went + up the brook, the wilder it grew. The opposite bank was covered with pines + and hemlocks, ascending high upwards, black and solemn. One knew that + there must be almost a precipice behind, yet we could not see it. At the + foot you could spy, a little way within the darksome shade, the roots and + branches of the trees; but soon all sight was obstructed amidst the + trunks. On the hither side, at first the bank was bare, then fringed with + alder-bushes, bending and dipping into the stream, which, farther on, + flowed through the midst of a forest of maple, beech, and other trees, its + course growing wilder and wilder as we proceeded. For a considerable + distance there was a causeway, built long ago of logs, to drag lumber + upon; it was now decayed and rotten, a red decay, sometimes sunken down in + the midst, here and there a knotty trunk stretching across, apparently + sound. The sun being now low towards the west, a pleasant gloom and + brightness were diffused through the forest, spots of brightness scattered + upon the branches, or thrown down in gold upon the last year's leaves + among the trees. At last we came to where a dam had been built across the + brook many years ago, and was now gone to ruin, so as to make the spot + look more solitary and wilder than if man had never left vestiges of his + toil there. It was a framework of logs with a covering of plank sufficient + to obstruct the onward flow of the brook; but it found its way past the + side, and came foaming and struggling along among scattered rocks. Above + the dam there was a broad and deep pool, one side of which was bordered by + a precipitous wall of rocks, as smooth as if hewn out and squared, and + piled one upon another, above which rose the forest. On the other side + there was still a gently shelving bank, and the shore was covered with + tall trees, among which I particularly remarked a stately pine, wholly + devoid of bark, rising white in aged and majestic ruin, thrusting out its + barkless arms. It must have stood there in death many years, its own + ghost. Above the dam the brook flowed through the forest, a glistening and + babbling water-path, illuminated by the sun, which sent its rays almost + straight along its course. It was as lovely and wild and peaceful as it + could possibly have been a hundred years ago; and the traces of labors of + men long departed added a deeper peace to it. I bathed in the pool, and + then pursued my way down beside the brook, growing dark with a pleasant + gloom, as the sun sank and the water became more shadowy. B——— + says that there was formerly a tradition that the Indians used to go up + this brook, and return, after a brief absence, with large masses of lead, + which they sold at the trading-stations in Augusta; whence there has + always been an idea that there is a lead-mine hereabouts. Great toadstools + were under the trees, and some small ones as yellow and almost the size of + a half-broiled yolk of an egg. Strawberries were scattered along the + brookside. + </p> + <p> + Dined at the hotel or Mansion House to-day. Men were playing checkers in + the parlor. The Marshal of Maine, a corpulent, jolly fellow, famed for + humor. A passenger left by the stage, hiring an express onward. A bottle + of champagne was quaffed at the bar. + </p> + <p> + July 9th.—Went with B——— to pay a visit to the + shanties of the Irish and Canadians. He says that they sell and exchange + these small houses among themselves continually. They may be built in + three or four days, and are valued at four or five dollars. When the turf + that is piled against the walls of some of them becomes covered with + grass, it makes quite a picturesque object. It was almost dusk—just + candle-lighting time—when we visited them. A young Frenchwoman, with + a baby in her arms, came to the door of one of them, smiling, and looking + pretty and happy. Her husband, a dark, black-haired, lively little fellow, + caressed the child, laughing and singing to it; and there was a + red-bearded Irishman, who likewise fondled the little brat. Then we could + hear them within the hut, gabbling merrily, and could see them moving + about briskly in the candlelight, through the window and open door. An old + Irishwoman sat in the door of another hut, under the influence of an extra + dose of rum,—she being an old lady of somewhat dissipated habits. + She called to B———, and began to talk to him about her + resolution not to give up her house: for it is his design to get her out + of it. She is a true virago, and, though somewhat restrained by respect + for him, she evinced a sturdy design to remain here through the winter, or + at least for a considerable time longer. He persisting, she took her stand + in the doorway of the hut, and stretched out her fist in a very Amazonian + attitude. "Nobody," quoth she, "shall drive me out of this house, till my + praties are out of the ground." Then would she wheedle and laugh and + blarney, beginning in a rage, and ending as if she had been in jest. + Meanwhile her husband stood by very quiet, occasionally trying to still + her; but it is to be presumed, that, after our departure, they came to + blows, it being a custom with the Irish husbands and wives to settle their + disputes with blows; and it is said the woman often proves the better man. + The different families also have battles, and occasionally the Irish fight + with the Canadians. The latter, however, are much the more peaceable, + never quarrelling among themselves, and seldom with their neighbors. They + are frugal, and often go back to Canada with considerable sums of money. B——— + has gained much influence both with the Irish and the French,—with + the latter, by dint of speaking to them in their own language. He is the + umpire in their disputes, and their adviser, and they look up to him as a + protector and patron-friend. I have been struck to see with what careful + integrity and wisdom he manages matters among them, hitherto having known + him only as a free and gay young man. He appears perfectly to understand + their general character, of which he gives no very flattering description. + In these huts, less than twenty feet square, he tells me that upwards of + twenty people have sometimes been lodged. + </p> + <p> + A description of a young lady who had formerly been insane, and now felt + the approach of a new fit of madness. She had been out to ride, had + exerted herself much, and had been very vivacious. On her return, she sat + down in a thoughtful and despondent attitude, looking very sad, but one of + the loveliest objects that ever were seen. The family spoke to her, but + she made no answer, nor took the least notice; but still sat like a statue + in her chair,—a statue of melancholy and beauty. At last they led + her away to her chamber. + </p> + <p> + We went to meeting this forenoon. I saw nothing remarkable, unless a + little girl in the next pew to us, three or four years old, who fell + asleep, with her bead in the lap of her maid, and looked very pretty: a + picture of sleeping innocence. + </p> + <p> + July 11th, Tuesday.—A drive with B——— to + Hallowell, yesterday, where we dined, and afterwards to Gardiner. The most + curious object in this latter place was the elegant new mansion of ———. + It stands on the site of his former dwelling, which was destroyed by fire. + </p> + <p> + The new building was estimated to cost about thirty thousand dollars; but + twice as much has already been expended, and a great deal more will be + required to complete it. It is certainly a splendid structure; the + material, granite from the vicinity. At the angles it has small, circular + towers; the portal is lofty and imposing. Relatively to the general style + of domestic architecture in our country, it well deserves the name of + castle or palace. Its situation, too, is fine, far retired from the public + road, and attainable by a winding carriage-drive; standing amid fertile + fields, and with large trees in the vicinity. There is also a beautiful + view from the mansion, adown the Kennebec. + </p> + <p> + Beneath some of the large trees we saw the remains of circular seats, + whereupon the family used to sit before the former house was burned down. + There was no one now in the vicinity of the place, save a man and a yoke + of oxen; and what he was about, I did not ascertain. Mr. ——— + at present resides in a small dwelling, little more than a cottage, beside + the main road, not far from the gateway which gives access to his palace. + </p> + <p> + At Gardiner, on the wharf, I witnessed the starting of the steamboat New + England for Boston. There was quite a collection of people, looking on or + taking leave of passengers,—the steam puffing,—stages + arriving, full-freighted with ladies and gentlemen. A man was one moment + too late; but running along the gunwale of a mud-scow, and jumping into a + skiff, he was put on board by a black fellow. The dark cabin, wherein, + descending from the sunshiny deck, it was difficult to discern the + furniture, looking-glasses, and mahogany wainscoting. I met two old + college acquaintances, O———, who was going to Boston, + and B——— with whom we afterwards drank a glass of wine + at the hotel. + </p> + <p> + B———, Mons. S———, and myself continue + to live in the same style as heretofore. We appear mutually to be very + well pleased with each other. Mons. S——— displays many + comical qualities, and manages to insure us several hearty laughs every + morning and evening,—those being the seasons when we meet. I am + going to take lessons from him in the pronunciation of French. Of female + society I see nothing. The only petticoat that comes within our premises + appertains to Nancy, the pretty, dark-eyed maid-servant of the man who + lives in the other part of the house. + </p> + <p> + On the road from Hallowell to Augusta we saw little booths, in two places, + erected on the roadside, where boys offered beer, apples, etc., for sale. + We passed an Irishwoman with a child in her arms, and a heavy bundle, and + afterwards an Irishman with a light bundle, sitting by the highway. They + were husband and wife; and B——— says that an Irishman + and his wife, on their journeys, do not usually walk side by side, but + that the man gives the woman the heaviest burden to carry, and walks on + lightly ahead! + </p> + <p> + A thought comes into my mind: Which sort of house excites the most + contemptuous feelings in the beholder,—such a house as Mr.———'s, + all circumstances considered, or the board-built and turf-buttressed + hovels of these wild Irish, scattered about as if they had sprung up like + mushrooms, in the dells and gorges, and along the banks of the river? + Mushrooms, by the way, spring up where the roots of an old tree are hidden + under the ground. + </p> + <p> + Thursday, July 13th.—Two small Canadian boys came to our house + yesterday, with strawberries to sell. It sounds strangely to hear children + bargaining in French on the borders of Yankee-land. Among other languages + spoken hereabouts must be reckoned the wild Irish. Some of the laborers on + the mill-dam can speak nothing else. The intermixture of foreigners + sometimes gives rise to quarrels between them and the natives. As we were + going to the village yesterday afternoon, we witnessed the beginning of a + quarrel between a Canadian and a Yankee,—the latter accusing the + former of striking his oxen. B——— thrust himself between + and parted them; but they afterwards renewed their fray, and the Canadian, + I believe, thrashed the Yankee soundly,—for which he had to pay + twelve dollars. Yet he was but a little fellow. + </p> + <p> + Coming to the Mansion House about supper-time, we found somewhat of a + concourse of people, the Governor and Council being in session on the + subject of the disputed territory. The British have lately imprisoned a + man who was sent to take the census; and the Mainiacs are much excited on + the subject. They wish the Governor to order out the militia at once, and + take possession of the territory with the strong hand. There was a British + army-captain at the Mansion House; and an idea was thrown out that it + would be as well to seize upon him as a hostage. I would, for the joke's + sake, that it had been done. Personages at the tavern: the Governor, + somewhat stared after as he walked through the bar-room; Councillors + seated about, sitting on benches near the bar, or on the stoop along the + front of the house; the Adjutant-General of the State; two young + Blue-Noses, from Canada or the Provinces; a gentleman "thumbing his hat" + for liquor, or perhaps playing off the trick of the "honest landlord" on + some stranger. The decanters and wine-bottles on the move, and the beer + and soda founts pouring out continual streams, with a whiz. Stage-drivers, + etc., asked to drink with the aristocracy, and mine host treating and + being treated. Rubicund faces; breaths odorous of brandy-and-water. + Occasionally the pop of a champagne cork. + </p> + <p> + Returned home, and took a lesson in French of Mons. S———. + I like him very much, and have seldom met with a more honest, simple, and + apparently so well-principled a man; which good qualities I impute to his + being, by the father's side, of German blood. He looks more like a German—or, + as he says, like a Swiss—than a Frenchman, having very light hair + and a light complexion, and not a French expression. He is a vivacious + little fellow, and wonderfully excitable to mirth; and it is truly a sight + to see him laugh;—every feature partakes of his movement, and even + his whole body shares in it, as he rises and dances about the room. He has + great variety of conversation, commensurate with his experiences in life, + and sometimes will talk Spanish, ore rotundo,—sometimes imitate the + Catholic priests, chanting Latin songs for the dead, in deep, gruff, awful + tones, producing really a very strong impression,—then he will break + out into a light, French song, perhaps of love, perhaps of war, acting it + out, as if on the stage of a theatre: all this intermingled with continual + fun, excited by the incidents of the passing moment. He has Frenchified + all our names, calling B——— Monsieur Du Pont, myself M. + de L'Aubepine, and himself M. le Berger, and all, Knights of the + Round-Table. And we live in great harmony and brotherhood, as queer a life + as anybody leads, and as queer a set as may be found anywhere. In his more + serious intervals, he talks philosophy and deism, and preaches obedience + to the law of reason and morality; which law he says (and I believe him) + he has so well observed, that, notwithstanding his residence in dissolute + countries, he has never yet been sinful. He wishes me, eight or nine weeks + hence, to accompany him on foot to Quebec, and then to Niagara and New + York. I should like it well, if my circumstances and other considerations + would permit. What pleases much in Mons. S——— is the + simple and childlike enjoyment he finds in trifles, and the joy with which + he speaks of going back to his own country, away from the dull Yankees, + who here misunderstand and despise him. Yet I have never heard him speak + harshly of them. I rather think that B——— and I will be + remembered by him with more pleasure than anybody else in the country; for + we have sympathized with him, and treated him kindly, and like a gentleman + and an equal; and he comes to us at night as to home and friends. + </p> + <p> + I went down to the river to-day to see B——— fish for + salmon with a fly,—a hopeless business; for he says that only one + instance has been known in the United States of salmon being taken + otherwise than with a net. A few chubs were all the fruit of his piscatory + efforts. But while looking at the rushing and rippling stream, I saw a + great fish, some six feet long and thick in proportion, suddenly emerge at + whole length, turn a somerset, and then vanish again beneath the water. It + was of a glistening, yellowish brown, with its fins all spread, and + looking very strange and startling, darting out so lifelike from the black + water, throwing itself fully into the bright sunshine, and then lost to + sight and to pursuit. I saw also a long, flat-bottomed boat go up the + river, with a brisk wind, and against a strong stream. Its sails were of + curious construction: a long mast, with two sails below, one on each side + of the boat, and a broader one surmounting them. The sails were colored + brown, and appeared like leather or skins, but were really cloth. At a + distance, the vessel looked like, or at least I compared it to, a + monstrous water-insect skimming along the river. If the sails had been + crimson or yellow, the resemblance would have been much closer. There was + a pretty spacious raised cabin in the after part of the boat. It moved + along lightly, and disappeared between the woody banks. These boats have + the two parallel sails attached to the same yard, and some have two sails, + one surmounting the other. They trade to Waterville and thereabouts,—names, + as "Paul Pry," on their sails. + </p> + <p> + Saturday, July 15th.—Went with B——— yesterday to + visit several Irish shanties, endeavoring to find out who had stolen some + rails of a fence. At the first door at which we knocked (a shanty with an + earthen mound heaped against the wall, two or three feet thick), the + inmates were not up, though it was past eight o'clock. At last a + middle-aged woman showed herself, half dressed, and completing her toilet. + Threats were made of tearing down her house; for she is a lady of very + indifferent morals, and sells rum. Few of these people are connected with + the mill-dam,—or, at least, many are not so, but have intruded + themselves into the vacant huts which were occupied by the mill-dam people + last year. In two or three places hereabouts there is quite a village of + these dwellings, with a clay and board chimney, or oftener an old barrel, + smoked and charred with the fire. Some of their roofs are covered with + sods, and appear almost subterranean. One of the little hamlets stands on + both sides of a deep dell, wooded and bush-grown, with a vista, as it + were, into the heart of a wood in one direction, and to the broad, sunny + river in the other: there was a little rivulet, crossed by a plank, at the + bottom of the dell. At two doors we saw very pretty and modest-looking + young women,— one with a child in her arms. Indeed, they all have + innumerable little children; and they are invariably in good health, + though always dirty of face. They come to the door while their mothers are + talking with the visitors, standing straight up on their bare legs, with + their little plump bodies protruding, in one hand a small tin saucepan, + and in the other an iron spoon, with unwashed mouths, looking as + independent as any child or grown person in the land. They stare + unabashed, but make no answer when spoken to. "I've no call to your fence, + Misser B———." It seems strange that a man should have + the right, unarmed with any legal instrument, of tearing down the + dwelling-houses of a score of families, and driving the inmates forth + without a shelter. Yet B——— undoubtedly has this right; + and it is not a little striking to see how quietly these people + contemplate the probability of his exercising it,—resolving, indeed, + to burrow in their holes as long as may be, yet caring about as little for + an ejectment as those who could find a tenement anywhere, and less. Yet + the women, amid all the trials of their situation, appear to have kept up + the distinction between virtue and vice; those who can claim the former + will not associate with the latter. When the women travel with young + children, they carry the baby slung at their backs, and sleeping quietly. + The dresses of the new-comers are old-fashioned, making them look aged + before their time. + </p> + <p> + Monsieur S——— shaving himself yesterday morning. He was + in excellent spirits, and could not keep his tongue or body still, more + than long enough to make two or three consecutive strokes at his beard. + Then he would turn, flourishing his razor and grimacing joyously, enacting + droll antics, breaking out into scraps and verses of drinking-songs, "A + boire! a boire!"—then laughing heartily, and crying, "Vive la + gaite!" then resuming his task, looking into the glass with grave face, on + which, however, a grin would soon break out anew, and all his pranks would + be repeated with variations. He turned this foolery to philosophy, by + observing that mirth contributed to goodness of heart, and to make us love + our fellow-creatures. Conversing with him in the evening, he affirmed, + with evident belief in the truth of what he said, that he would have no + objection, except that it would be a very foolish thing, to expose his + whole heart, his whole inner man, to the view of the world. Not that there + would not be much evil discovered there; but, as he was conscious of being + in a state of mental and moral improvement, working out his progress + onward, he would not shrink from such a scrutiny. This talk was introduced + by his mentioning the "Minister's Black Veil," which he said he had seen + translated into French, as an exercise, by a Miss Appleton of Bangor. + </p> + <p> + Saw by the river-side, late in the afternoon, one of the above-described + boats going into the stream with the water rippling at the prow, from the + strength of the current and of the boat's motion. By and by comes down a + raft, perhaps twenty yards long, guided by two men, one at each end,—the + raft itself of boards sawed at Waterville, and laden with square bundles + of shingles and round bundles of clapboards. "Friend," says one man, "how + is the tide now?"—this being important to the onward progress. They + make fast to a tree, in order to wait for the tide to rise a little + higher. It would be pleasant enough to float down the Kennebec on one of + these rafts, letting the river conduct you onward at its own pace, + leisurely displaying to you all the wild or ordered beauties along its + banks, and perhaps running you aground in some peculiarly picturesque + spot, for your longer enjoyment of it. Another object, perhaps, is a + solitary man paddling himself down the river in a small canoe, the light, + lonely touch of his paddle in the water making the silence seem deeper. + Every few minutes a sturgeon leaps forth, sometimes behind you, so that + you merely hear the splash, and, turning hastily around, see nothing but + the disturbed water. Sometimes he darts straight on end out of a quiet + black spot on which your eyes happen to be fixed, and, when even his tail + is clear of the surface, he falls down on his side and disappears. + </p> + <p> + On the river-bank, an Irishwoman washing some clothes, surrounded by her + children, whose babbling sounds pleasantly along the edge of the shore; + and she also answers in a sweet, kindly, and cheerful voice, though an + immoral woman, and without the certainty of bread or shelter from day to + day. An Irishman sitting angling on the brink with an alder pole and a + clothes-line. At frequent intervals, the scene is suddenly broken by a + loud report like thunder, rolling along the banks, echoing and + reverberating afar. It is a blast of rocks. Along the margin, sometimes + sticks of timber made fast, either separately or several together; stones + of some size, varying the pebbles and sand; a clayey spot, where a shallow + brook runs into the river, not with a deep outlet, but finding its way + across the bank in two or three single runlets. Looking upward into the + deep glen whence it issues, you see its shady current. Elsewhere, a high + acclivity, with the beach between it and the river, the ridge broken and + caved away, so that the earth looks fresh and yellow, and is penetrated by + the nests of birds. An old, shining tree-trunk, half in and half out of + the water. An island of gravel, long and narrow, in the centre of the + river. Chips, blocks of wood, slabs, and other scraps of lumber, strewed + along the beach; logs drifting down. The high bank covered with various + trees and shrubbery, and, in one place, two or three Irish shanties. + </p> + <p> + Thursday, July 20th.—A drive yesterday afternoon to a pond in the + vicinity of Augusta, about nine miles off, to fish for white perch. + Remarkables: the steering of the boat through the crooked, labyrinthine + brook, into the open pond,—the man who acted as pilot,—his + talking with B——— about politics, the bank, the iron + money of "a king who came to reign, in Greece, over a city called Sparta,"—his + advice to B——— to come amongst the laborers on the + mill-dam, because it stimulated them "to see a man grinning amongst them." + The man took hearty tugs at a bottle of good Scotch whiskey, and became + pretty merry. The fish caught were the yellow perch, which are not + esteemed for eating; the white perch, a beautiful, silvery, round-backed + fish, which bites eagerly, runs about with the line while being pulled up, + makes good sport for the angler, and an admirable dish; a great chub; and + three horned pouts, which swallow the hook into their lowest entrails. + Several dozen fish were taken in an hour or two, and then we returned to + the shop where we had left our horse and wagon, the pilot very eccentric + behind us. It was a small, dingy shop, dimly lighted by a single inch of + candle, faintly disclosing various boxes, barrels standing on end, + articles hanging from the ceiling; the proprietor at the counter, whereon + appear gin and brandy, respectively contained in a tin pint-measure and an + earthenware jug, with two or three tumblers beside them, out of which + nearly all the party drank; some coming up to the counter frankly, others + lingering in the background, waiting to be pressed, two paying for their + own liquor and withdrawing. B——— treated them twice + round. The pilot, after drinking his brandy, gave a history of our fishing + expedition, and how many and how large fish we caught. B——— + making acquaintances and renewing them, and gaining great credit for + liberality and free-heartedness,—two or three boys looking on and + listening to the talk,—the shopkeeper smiling behind his counter, + with the tarnished tin scales beside him,—the inch of candle burning + down almost to extinction. So we got into our wagon, with the fish, and + drove to Robinson's tavern, almost five miles off, where we supped and + passed the night. In the bar-room was a fat old countryman on a journey, + and a quack doctor of the vicinity, and an Englishman with a peculiar + accent. Seeing B———'s jointed and brass-mounted + fishing-pole, he took it for a theodolite, and supposed that we had been + on a surveying expedition. At supper, which consisted of bread, butter, + cheese, cake, doughnuts, and gooseberry-pie, we were waited upon by a + tall, very tall woman, young and maiden-looking, yet with a strongly + outlined and determined face. Afterwards we found her to be the wife of + mine host. She poured out our tea, came in when we rang the table-bell to + refill our cups, and again retired. While at supper, the fat old traveller + was ushered through the room into a contiguous bedroom. My own chamber, + apparently the best in the house, had its walls ornamented with a small, + gilt-framed, foot-square looking-glass, with a hairbrush hanging beneath + it; a record of the deaths of the family written on a black tomb, in an + engraving, where a father, mother, and child were represented in a + graveyard, weeping over said tomb; the mourners dressed in black, + country-cut clothes; the engraving executed in Vermont. There was also a + wood engraving of the Declaration of Independence, with fac-similes of the + autographs; a portrait of the Empress Josephine, and another of Spring. In + the two closets of this chamber were mine hostess's cloak, best bonnet, + and go-to-meeting apparel. There was a good bed, in which I slept + tolerably well, and, rising betimes, ate breakfast, consisting of some of + our own fish, and then started for Augusta. The fat old traveller had gone + off with the harness of our wagon, which the hostler had put on to his + horse by mistake. The tavern-keeper gave us his own harness, and started + in pursuit of the old man, who was probably aware of the exchange, and + well satisfied with it. + </p> + <p> + Our drive to Augusta, six or seven miles, was very pleasant, a heavy rain + having fallen during the night, and laid the oppressive dust of the day + before. The road lay parallel with the Kennebec, of which we occasionally + had near glimpses. The country swells back from the river in hills and + ridges, without any interval of level ground; and there were frequent + woods, filling up the valleys or crowning the summits. The land is good, + the farms look neat, and the houses comfortable. The latter are generally + but of one story, but with large barns; and it was a good sign, that, + while we saw no houses unfinished nor out of repair, one man at least had + found it expedient to make an addition to his dwelling. At the distance of + more than two miles, we had a view of white Augusta, with its steeples, + and the State-House, at the farther end of the town. Observable matters + along the road were the stage,—all the dust of yesterday brushed + off, and no new dust contracted,—full of passengers, inside and out; + among them some gentlemanly people and pretty girls, all looking fresh and + unsullied, rosy, cheerful, and curious as to the face of the country, the + faces of passing travellers, and the incidents of their journey; not yet + damped, in the morning sunshine, by long miles of jolting over rough and + hilly roads,—to compare this with their appearance at midday, and as + they drive into Bangor at dusk;—two women dashing along in a wagon, + and with a child, rattling pretty speedily down hill;—people looking + at us from the open doors and windows;—the children staring from the + wayside;—the mowers stopping, for a moment, the sway of their + scythes;—the matron of a family, indistinctly seen at some distance + within the house, her head and shoulders appearing through the window, + drawing her handkerchief over her bosom, which had been uncovered to give + the baby its breakfast,—the said baby, or its immediate predecessor, + sitting at the door, turning round to creep away on all fours;—a man + building a flat-bottomed boat by the roadside: he talked with B——— + about the Boundary question, and swore fervently in favor of driving the + British "into hell's kitchen" by main force. + </p> + <p> + Colonel B———, the engineer of the mill-dam, is now here, + after about a fortnight's absence. He is a plain country squire, with a + good figure, but with rather a heavy brow; a rough complexion; a gait + stiff, and a general rigidity of manner, something like that of a + schoolmaster. He originated in a country town, and is a self-educated man. + As he walked down the gravel-path to-day, after dinner, he took up a + scythe, which one of the mowers had left on the sward, and began to mow, + with quite a scientific swing. On the coming of the mower, he laid it + down, perhaps a little ashamed of his amusement. I was interested in this; + to see a man, after twenty-five years of scientific occupation, thus + trying whether his arms retained their strength and skill for the labors + of his youth,— mindful of the day when he wore striped trousers, and + toiled in his shirt-sleeves,—and now tasting again, for pastime, + this drudgery beneath a fervid sun. He stood awhile, looking at the + workmen, and then went to oversee the laborers at the mill-dam. + </p> + <p> + Monday, July, 24th.—I bathed in the river on Thursday evening, and + in the brook at the old dam on Saturday and Sunday,—the former time + at noon. The aspect of the solitude at noon was peculiarly impressive, + there being a cloudless sunshine, no wind, no rustling of the + forest-leaves, no waving of the boughs, no noise but the brawling and + babbling of the stream, making its way among the stones, and pouring in a + little cataract round one side of the mouldering dam. Looking up the + brook, there was a long vista,—now ripples, now smooth and glassy + spaces, now large rocks, almost blocking up the channel; while the trees + stood upon either side, mostly straight, but here and there a branch + thrusting itself out irregularly, and one tree, a pine, leaning over,— + not bending,—but leaning at an angle over the brook, rough and + ragged; birches, alders; the tallest of all the trees an old, dead, + leafless pine, rising white and lonely, though closely surrounded by + others. Along the brook, now the grass and herbage extended close to the + water; now a small, sandy beach. The wall of rock before described, + looking as if it had been hewn, but with irregular strokes of the workman, + doing his job by rough and ponderous strength,—now chancing to hew + it away smoothly and cleanly, now carelessly smiting, and making gaps, or + piling on the slabs of rock, so as to leave vacant spaces. In the + interstices grow brake and broad-leaved forest-grass. The trees that + spring from the top of this wall have their roots pressing close to the + rock, so that there is no soil between; they cling powerfully, and grasp + the crag tightly with their knotty fingers. The trees on both sides are so + thick, that the sight and the thoughts are almost immediately lost among + confused stems, branches, and clustering green leaves,—a narrow + strip of bright blue sky above, the sunshine falling lustrously down, and + making the pathway of the brook luminous below. Entering among the + thickets, I find the soil strewn with old leaves of preceding seasons, + through which may be seen a black or dark mould; the roots of trees + stretch frequently across the path; often a moss-grown brown log lies + athwart, and when you set your foot down, it sinks into the decaying + substance,—into the heart of oak or pine. The leafy boughs and twigs + of the underbrush enlace themselves before you, so that you must stoop + your head to pass under, or thrust yourself through amain, while they + sweep against your face, and perhaps knock off your hat. There are rocks + mossy and slippery; sometimes you stagger, with a great rustling of + branches, against a clump of bushes, and into the midst of it. From end to + end of all this tangled shade goes a pathway scarcely worn, for the leaves + are not trodden through, yet plain enough to the eye, winding gently to + avoid tree-trunks and rocks and little hillocks. In the more open ground, + the aspect of a tall, fire-blackened stump, standing alone, high up on a + swell of land, that rises gradually from one side of the brook, like a + monument. Yesterday, I passed a group of children in this solitary valley,—two + boys, I think, and two girls. One of the little girls seemed to have + suffered some wrong from her companions, for she was weeping and + complaining violently. Another time, I came suddenly on a small Canadian + boy, who was in a hollow place, among the ruined logs of an old causeway, + picking raspberries,—lonely among bushes and gorges, far up the wild + valley,—and the lonelier seemed the little boy for the bright + sunshine, that showed no one else in a wide space of view except him and + me. + </p> + <p> + Remarkable items: the observation of Mons. S——— when B——— + was saying something against the character of the French people,—"You + ought not to form an unfavorable judgment of a great nation from mean + fellows like me, strolling about in a foreign country." I thought it very + noble thus to protest against anything discreditable in himself personally + being used against the honor of his country. He is a very singular person, + with an originality in all his notions;—not that nobody has ever had + such before, but that he has thought them out for himself. He told me + yesterday that one of his sisters was a waiting-maid in the Rocher de + Cancale. He is about the sincerest man I ever knew, never pretending to + feelings that are not in him,—never flattering. His feelings do not + seem to be warm, though they are kindly. He is so single-minded that he + cannot understand badinage, but takes it all as if meant in earnest,—a + German trait. He values himself greatly on being a Frenchman, though all + his most valuable qualities come from Germany. His temperament is cool and + pure, and he is greatly delighted with any attentions from the ladies. A + short time since, a lady gave him a bouquet of roses and pinks; he capered + and danced and sang, put it in water, and carried it to his own chamber; + but he brought it out for us to see and admire two or three times a day, + bestowing on it all the epithets of admiration in the French language,—"Superbe! + magnifique!" When some of the flowers began to fade, he made the rest, + with others, into a new nosegay, and consulted us whether it would be fit + to give to another lady. Contrast this French foppery with his solemn + moods, when we sit in the twilight, or after B——— is + abed, talking of Christianity and Deism, of ways of life, of marriage, of + benevolence,—in short, of all deep matters of this world and the + next. An evening or two since, he began singing all manner of English + songs,—such as Mrs. Hemans's "Landing of the Pilgrims," "Auld Lang + Syne," and some of Moore's,—the singing pretty fair, but in the + oddest tone and accent. Occasionally he breaks out with scraps from French + tragedies, which he spouts with corresponding action. He generally gets + close to me in these displays of musical and histrionic talent. Once he + offered to magnetize me in the manner of Monsieur P———. + </p> + <p> + Wednesday, July 26th.—Dined at Barker's yesterday. Before dinner, + sat with several other persons in the stoop of the tavern. There were B———, + J. A. Chandler, Clerk of the Court, a man of middle age or beyond, two or + three stage people, and, near by, a negro, whom they call "the Doctor," a + crafty-looking fellow, one of whose occupations is nameless. In presence + of this goodly company, a man of a depressed, neglected air, a soft, + simple-looking fellow, with an anxious expression, in a laborer's dress, + approached and inquired for Mr. Barker. Mine host being gone to Portland, + the stranger was directed to the bar-keeper, who stood at the door. The + man asked where he should find one Mary Ann Russell,—a question + which excited general and hardly suppressed mirth; for the said Mary Ann + is one of a knot of women who were routed on Sunday evening by Barker and + a constable. The man was told that the black fellow would give him all the + information he wanted. The black fellow asked,— + </p> + <p> + "Do you want to see her?" + </p> + <p> + Others of the by-standers or by-sitters put various questions as to the + nature of the man's business with Mary Ann. One asked,— + </p> + <p> + "Is she your daughter?" + </p> + <p> + "Why, a little nearer than that, I calkilate," said the poor devil. + </p> + <p> + Here the mirth was increased, it being evident that the woman was his + wife. The man seemed too simple and obtuse to comprehend the ridicule of + his situation, or to be rendered very miserable by it. Nevertheless, he + made some touching points. + </p> + <p> + "A man generally places some little dependence on his wife," said he, + "whether she's good or not." He meant, probably, that he rests some + affection on her. He told us that she had behaved well, till committed to + jail for striking a child; and I believe he was absent from home at the + time, and had not seen her since. And now he was in search of her, + intending, doubtless, to do his best to get her out of her troubles, and + then to take her back to his home. Some advised him not to look after her; + others recommended him to pay "the Doctor" aforesaid for guiding him to + her; which finally "the Doctor" did, in consideration of a treat; and the + fellow went off, having heard little but gibes and not one word of + sympathy! I would like to have witnessed his meeting with his wife. + </p> + <p> + There was a moral picturesqueness in the contrasts of the scene,—a + man moved as deeply as his nature would admit, in the midst of hardened, + gibing spectators, heartless towards him. It is worth thinking over and + studying out. He seemed rather hurt and pricked by the jests thrown at + him, yet bore it patiently, and sometimes almost joined in the laugh, + being of an easy, unenergetic temper. + </p> + <p> + Hints for characters:—Nancy, a pretty, black-eyed, intelligent + servant-girl, living in Captain H———'s family. She comes + daily to make the beds in our part of the house, and exchanges a + good-morning with me, in a pleasant voice, and with a glance and smile,—somewhat + shy, because we are not acquainted, yet capable of being made conversable. + She washes once a week, and may be seen standing over her tub, with her + handkerchief somewhat displaced from her white neck, because it is hot. + Often she stands with her bare arms in the water, talking with Mrs. H———, + or looks through the window, perhaps, at B———, or + somebody else crossing the yard,—rather thoughtfully, but soon + smiling or laughing. Then goeth she for a pail of water. In the afternoon, + very probably, she dresses herself in silks, looking not only pretty, but + lady-like, and strolls round the house, not unconscious that some + gentleman may be staring at her from behind the green blinds. After + supper, she walks to the village. Morning and evening, she goes a-milking. + And thus passes her life, cheerfully, usefully, virtuously, with hopes, + doubtless, of a husband and children.—Mrs. H——— is + a particularly plump, soft-fleshed, fair-complexioned, comely woman + enough, with rather a simple countenance, not nearly so piquant as + Nancy's. Her walk has something of the roll or waddle of a fat woman, + though it were too much to call her fat. She seems to be a sociable body, + probably laughter-loving. Captain H——— himself has + commanded a steamboat, and has a certain knowledge of life. + </p> + <p> + Query, in relation to the man's missing wife, how much desire and + resolution of doing her duty by her husband can a wife retain, while + injuring him in what is deemed the most essential point? + </p> + <p> + Observation. The effect of morning sunshine on the wet grass, on sloping + and swelling land, between the spectator and the sun at some distance, as + across a lawn. It diffused a dim brilliancy over the whole surface of the + field. The mists, slow-rising farther off, part resting on the earth, the + remainder of the column already ascending so high that you doubt whether + to call it a fog or a cloud. + </p> + <p> + Friday, July 28th.—Saw my classmate and formerly intimate friend, + ———, for the first time since we graduated. He has met + with good success in life, in spite of circumstance, having struggled + upward against bitter opposition, by the force of his own abilities, to be + a member of Congress, after having been for some time the leader of his + party in the State Legislature. We met like old friends, and conversed + almost as freely as we used to do in college days, twelve years ago and + more. He is a singular person, shrewd, crafty, insinuating, with wonderful + tact, seizing on each man by his manageable point, and using him for his + own purpose, often without the man's suspecting that he is made a tool of; + and yet, artificial as his character would seem to be, his conversation, + at least to myself, was full of natural feeling, the expression of which + can hardly be mistaken, and his revelations with regard to himself had + really a great deal of frankness. He spoke of his ambition, of the + obstacles which he had encountered, of the means by which he had overcome + them, imputing great efficacy to his personal intercourse with people, and + his study of their characters; then of his course as a member of the + Legislature and Speaker, and his style of speaking and its effects; of the + dishonorable things which had been imputed to him, and in what manner he + had repelled the charges. In short, he would seem to have opened himself + very freely as to his public life. Then, as to his private affairs, he + spoke of his marriage, of his wife, his children, and told me, with tears + in his eyes, of the death of a dear little girl, and how it affected him, + and how impossible it had been for him to believe that she was really to + die. A man of the most open nature might well have been more reserved to a + friend, after twelve years' separation, than ——— was to + me. Nevertheless, he is really a crafty man, concealing, like a + murder-secret, anything that it is not good for him to have known. He by + no means feigns the good-feeling that he professes, nor is there anything + affected in the frankness of his conversation; and it is this that makes + him so very fascinating. There is such a quantity of truth and kindliness + and warm affections, that a man's heart opens to him, in spite of himself. + He deceives by truth. And not only is he crafty, but, when occasion + demands, bold and fierce as a tiger, determined, and even straightforward + and undisguised in his measures,—a daring fellow as well as a sly + one. Yet, notwithstanding his consummate art, the general estimate of his + character seems to be pretty just. Hardly anybody, probably, thinks him + better than he is, and many think him worse. Nevertheless, if no + overwhelming discovery of rascality be made, he will always possess + influence; though I should hardly think that he would take any prominent + part in Congress. As to any rascality, I rather believe that he has + thought out for himself a much higher system of morality than any natural + integrity would have prompted him to adopt; that he has seen the thorough + advantage of morality and honesty; and the sentiment of these qualities + has now got into his mind and spirit, and pretty well impregnated them. I + believe him to be about as honest as the great run of the world, with + something even approaching to high-mindedness. His person in some degree + accords with his character,—thin and with a thin face, sharp + features, sallow, a projecting brow not very high, deep-set eyes, an + insinuating smile and look, when he meets you, and is about to address + you. I should think that he would do away with this peculiar expression, + for it reveals more of himself than can be detected in any other way, in + personal intercourse with him. Upon the whole, I have quite a good liking + for him, and mean to go to—to see him. + </p> + <p> + Observation. A steam-engine across the river, which almost continually + during the day, and sometimes all night, may be heard puffing and panting, + as if it uttered groans for being compelled to labor in the heat and + sunshine, and when the world is asleep also. + </p> + <p> + Monday, July 31st.—Nothing remarkable to record. A child asleep in a + young lady's arms,—a little baby, two or three months old. Whenever + anything partially disturbed the child, as, for instance, when the young + lady or a bystander patted its cheek or rubbed its chin, the child would + smile; then all its dreams seemed to be of pleasure and happiness. At + first the smile was so faint, that I doubted whether it were really a + smile or no; but on further efforts, it brightened forth very decidedly. + This, without opening its eyes.—A constable, a homely, good-natured, + business-looking man, with a warrant against an Irishman's wife for + throwing a brickbat at a fellow. He gave good advice to the Irishman about + the best method of coming easiest through the affair. Finally settled,—the + justice agreeing to relinquish his fees, on condition that the Irishman + would pay for the mending of his old boots! + </p> + <p> + I went with Monsieur S——— yesterday to pick raspberries. + He fell through an old log bridge thrown over a hollow; looking back, only + his head and shoulders appeared through the rotten logs and among the + bushes.—A shower coming on, the rapid running of a little barefooted + boy, coming up unheard, and dashing swiftly past us, and showing the soles + of his naked feet as he ran adown the path, and up the opposite rise. + </p> + <p> + Tuesday, August 1st.—There having been a heavy rain yesterday, a + nest of chimney-swallows was washed down the chimney into the fireplace of + one of the front rooms. My attention was drawn to them by a most + obstreperous twittering; and looking behind the fireboard, there were + three young birds, clinging with their feet against one of the jambs, + looking at me, open-mouthed, and all clamoring together, so as quite to + fill the room with the short, eager, frightened sound. The old birds, by + certain signs upon the floor of the room, appeared to have fallen victims + to the appetite of the cat. La belle Nancy provided a basket filled with + cotton-wool, into which the poor little devils were put; and I tried to + feed them with soaked bread, of which, however, they did not eat with much + relish. Tom, the Irish boy, gave it as his opinion that they were not old + enough to be weaned. I hung the basket out of the window, in the sunshine, + and upon looking in, an hour or two after, found that two of the birds had + escaped. The other I tried to feed, and sometimes, when a morsel of bread + was thrust into its open mouth, it would swallow it. But it appeared to + suffer very much, vociferating loudly when disturbed, and panting, in a + sluggish agony, with eyes closed, or half opened, when let alone. It + distressed me a good deal; and I felt relieved, though somewhat shocked, + when B——— put an end to its misery by squeezing its head + and throwing it out of the window. They were of a slate-color, and might, + I suppose, have been able to shift for themselves.—The other day a + little yellow bird flew into one of the empty rooms, of which there are + half a dozen on the lower floor, and could not find his way out again, + flying at the glass of the windows, instead of at the door, thumping his + head against the panes or against the ceiling. I drove him into the entry + and chased him from end to end, endeavoring to make him fly through one of + the open doors. He would fly at the circular light over the door, clinging + to the casement, sometimes alighting on one of the two glass lamps, or on + the cords that suspended them, uttering an affrighted and melancholy cry + whenever I came near and flapped my handkerchief, and appearing quite + tired and sinking into despair. At last he happened to fly low enough to + pass through the door, and immediately vanished into the gladsome + sunshine.—Ludicrous situation of a man, drawing his chaise down a + sloping bank, to wash in the river. The chaise got the better of him, and, + rushing downward as if it were possessed, compelled him to run at full + speed, and drove him up to his chin into the water. A singular instance, + that a chaise may run away with a man without a horse! + </p> + <p> + Saturday, August 12th.—Left Augusta a week ago this morning for + ———. Nothing particular in our drive across the country. + Fellow-passenger a Boston dry-goods dealer, travelling to collect bills. + At many of the country shops he would get out, and show his unwelcome + visage. In the tavern, prints from Scripture, varnished and on rollers,—such + as the Judgment of Christ; also a droll set of colored engravings of the + story of the Prodigal Son, the figures being clad in modern costume,—or, + at least, that of not more than half a century ago. The father, a grave, + clerical person, with a white wig and black broadcloth suit; the son, with + a cocked hat and laced clothes, drinking wine out of a glass, and + caressing a woman in fashionable dress. At ——— a nice, + comfortable boarding-house tavern, without a bar or any sort of wines or + spirits. An old lady from Boston, with her three daughters, one of whom + was teaching music, and the other two schoolmistresses. A frank, free, + mirthful daughter of the landlady, about twenty-four years old, between + whom and myself there immediately sprang up a flirtation, which made us + both feel rather melancholy when we parted on Tuesday morning. Music in + the evening, with a song by a rather pretty, fantastic little mischief of + a brunette, about eighteen years old, who has married within a year, and + spent the last summer in a trip to the Springs and elsewhere. Her manner + of walking is by jerks, with a quiver, as if she were made of calves-feet + jelly. I talk with everybody: to Mrs. T——— good sense,—to + Mary, good sense, with a mixture of fun,—to Mrs. G———, + sentiment, romance, and nonsense. + </p> + <p> + Walked with ——— to see General Knox's old mansion,—a + large, rusty-looking edifice of wood, with some grandeur in the + architecture, standing on the banks of the river, close by the site of an + old burial-ground, and near where an ancient fort had been erected for + defence against the French and Indians. General Knox once owned a square + of thirty miles in this part of the country, and he wished to settle it + with a tenantry, after the fashion of English gentlemen. He would permit + no edifice to be erected within a certain distance of his mansion. His + patent covered, of course, the whole present town of Waldoborough and + divers other flourishing commercial and country villages, and would have + been of incalculable value could it have remained unbroken to the present + time. But the General lived in grand style, and received throngs of + visitors from foreign parts, and was obliged to part with large tracts of + his possessions, till now there is little left but the ruinous mansion and + the ground immediately around it. His tomb stands near the house,—a + spacious receptacle, an iron door at the end of a turf-covered mound, and + surmounted by an obelisk of marble. There are inscriptions to the memory + of several of his family; for he had many children, all of whom are now + dead, except one daughter, a widow of fifty, recently married to Hon. John + H———. There is a stone fence round the monument. On the + outside of this are the gravestones, and large, flat tombstones of the + ancient burial-ground,—the tombstones being of red freestone, with + vacant spaces, formerly inlaid with slate, on which were the inscriptions, + and perhaps coats-of-arms. One of these spaces was in the shape of a + heart. The people were very wrathful that the General should have laid out + his grounds over this old burial-place; and he dared never throw down the + gravestones, though his wife, a haughty English lady, often teased him to + do so. But when the old General was dead, Lady Knox (as they called her) + caused them to be prostrated, as they now lie. She was a woman of violent + passions, and so proud an aristocrat, that, as long as she lived, she + would never enter any house in the town except her own. When a married + daughter was ill, she used to go in her carriage to the door, and send up + to inquire how she did. The General was personally very popular; but his + wife ruled him. The house and its vicinity, and the whole tract covered by + Knox's patent, may be taken as an illustration of what must be the result + of American schemes of aristocracy. It is not forty years since this house + was built, and Knox was in his glory; but now the house is all in decay, + while within a stone's-throw of it there is a street of smart white + edifices of one and two stories, occupied chiefly by thriving mechanics, + which has been laid out where Knox meant to have forests and parks. On the + banks of the river, where he intended to have only one wharf for his own + West Indian vessels and yacht, there are two wharves, with stores and a + lime kiln. Little appertains to the mansion except the tomb and the old + burial-ground, and the old fort. + </p> + <p> + The descendants are all poor, and the inheritance was merely sufficient to + make a dissipated and drunken fellow of the only one of the old General's + sons who survived to middle age. The man's habits were as bad as possible + as long as he had any money; but when quite ruined, he reformed. The + daughter, the only survivor among Knox's children (herself childless), is + a mild, amiable woman, therein totally differing from her mother. Knox, + when he first visited his estate, arriving in a vessel, was waited upon by + a deputation of the squatters, who had resolved to resist him to the + death. He received them with genial courtesy, made them dine with him + aboard the vessel, and sent them back to their constituents in great love + and admiration of him. He used to have a vessel running to Philadelphia, I + think, and bringing him all sorts of delicacies. His way of raising money + was to give a mortgage on his estate of a hundred thousand dollars at a + time, and receive that nominal amount in goods, which he would immediately + sell at auction for perhaps thirty thousand. He died by a chicken-bone. + Near the house are the remains of a covered way, by which the French once + attempted to gain admittance into the fort; but the work caved in and + buried a good many of them, and the rest gave up the siege. There was + recently an old inhabitant living who remembered when the people used to + reside in the fort. + </p> + <p> + Owl's Head,—a watering-place, terminating a point of land, six or + seven miles from Thomaston. A long island shuts out the prospect of the + sea. Hither coasters and fishing-smacks run in when a storm is + anticipated. Two fat landlords, both young men, with something of a + contrast in their dispositions; one of them being a brisk, lively, active, + jesting, fat man; the other more heavy and inert, making jests sluggishly, + if at all. Aboard the steamboat, Professor Stuart of Andover, sitting on a + sofa in the saloon, generally in conversation with some person, resolving + their doubts on one point or another, speaking in a very audible voice; + and strangers standing or sitting around to hear him, as if he were an + ancient apostle or philosopher. He is a bulky man, with a large, massive + face, particularly calm in its expression, and mild enough to be pleasing. + When not otherwise occupied, he reads, without much notice of what is + going on around him. He speaks without effort, yet thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + We got lost in a fog the morning after leaving Owl's Head. Fired a brass + cannon, rang bell, blew steam, like a whale snorting. After one of the + reports of the cannon, we heard a horn blown at no great distance, the + sound coming soon after the report. Doubtful whether it came from the + shore or a vessel. Continued our ringing and snorting; and by and by + something was seen to mingle with the fog that obscured everything beyond + fifty yards from us. At first it seemed only like a denser wreath of fog; + it darkened still more, till it took the aspect of sails; then the hull of + a small schooner came beating down towards us, the wind laying her over + towards us, so that her gunwale was almost in the water, and we could see + the whole of her sloping deck. + </p> + <p> + "Schooner ahoy!" say we. "Halloo! Have you seen Boston Light this + morning?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes; it bears north-northwest, two miles distant." + </p> + <p> + "Very much obliged to you," cries our captain. + </p> + <p> + So the schooner vanishes into the mist behind. We get up our steam, and + soon enter the harbor, meeting vessels of every rig; and the fog, clearing + away, shows a cloudy sky. Aboard, an old one-eyed sailor, who had lost one + of his feet, and had walked on the stump from Eastport to Bangor, thereby + making a shocking ulcer. + </p> + <p> + Penobscot Bay is full of islands, close to which the steamboat is + continually passing. Some are large, with portions of forest and portions + of cleared land; some are mere rocks, with a little green or none, and + inhabited by sea-birds, which fly and flap about hoarsely. Their eggs may + be gathered by the bushel, and are good to eat. Other islands have one + house and barn on them, this sole family being lords and rulers of all the + land which the sea girds. The owner of such an island must have a peculiar + sense of property and lordship; he must feel more like his own master and + his own man than other people can. Other islands, perhaps high, + precipitous, black bluffs, are crowned with a white lighthouse, whence, as + evening comes on, twinkles a star across the melancholy deep,—seen + by vessels coming on the coast, seen from the mainland, seen from island + to island. Darkness descending, and, looking down at the broad wake left + by the wheels of the steamboat, we may see sparkles of sea-fire glittering + through the gloom. + </p> + <p> + Salem, August 22d.—A walk yesterday afternoon down to the Juniper + and Winter Island. Singular effect of partial sunshine, the sky being + broadly and heavily clouded, and land and sea, in consequence, being + generally overspread with a sombre gloom. But the sunshine, somehow or + other, found its way between the interstices of the clouds, and + illuminated some of the distant objects very vividly. The white sails of a + ship caught it, and gleamed brilliant as sunny snow, the hull being + scarcely visible, and the sea around dark; other smaller vessels too, so + that they looked like heavenly-winged things, just alighting on a dismal + world. Shifting their sails, perhaps, or going on another tack, they + almost disappear at once in the obscure distance. Islands are seen in + summer sunshine and green glory; their rocks also sunny and their beaches + white; while other islands, for no apparent reason, are in deep shade, and + share the gloom of the rest of the world. Sometimes part of an island is + illuminated and part dark. When the sunshine falls on a very distant + island, nearer ones being in shade, it seems greatly to extend the bounds + of visible space, and put the horizon to a farther distance. The sea + roughly rushing against the shore, and dashing against the rocks, and + grating back over the sands. A boat a little way from the shore, tossing + and swinging at anchor. Beach birds flitting from place to place. + </p> + <p> + The family seat of the Hawthornes is Wigcastle, Wigton, Wiltshire. The + present head of the family, now residing there, is Hugh Hawthorne. William + Hawthorne, who came over in 1635-36, was a younger brother of the family. + </p> + <p> + A young man and girl meet together, each in search of a person to be known + by some particular sign. They watch and wait a great while for that person + to pass. At last some casual circumstance discloses that each is the one + that the other is waiting for. Moral,—that what we need for our + happiness is often close at hand, if we knew but how to seek for it. + </p> + <p> + The journal of a human heart for a single day in ordinary circumstances. + The lights and shadows that flit across it; its internal vicissitudes. + </p> + <p> + Distrust to be thus exemplified:—Various good and desirable things + to be presented to a young man, and offered to his acceptance,—as a + friend, a wife, a fortune; but he to refuse them all, suspecting that it + is merely a delusion. Yet all to be real, and he to be told so, when too + late. + </p> + <p> + A man tries to be happy in love; he cannot sincerely give his heart, and + the affair seems all a dream. In domestic life, the same; in politics, a + seeming patriot; but still he is sincere, and all seems like a theatre. + </p> + <p> + An old man, on a summer day, sits on a hill-top, or on the observatory of + his house, and sees the sun's light pass from one object to another + connected with the events of his past life,—as the school-house, the + place where his wife lived in her maidenhood,—its setting beams + falling on the churchyard. + </p> + <p> + An idle man's pleasures and occupations and thoughts during a day spent by + the sea-shore: among them, that of sitting on the top of a cliff, and + throwing stones at his own shadow, far below. + </p> + <p> + A blind man to set forth on a walk through ways unknown to him, and to + trust to the guidance of anybody who will take the trouble; the different + characters who would undertake it: some mischievous, some well-meaning, + but incapable; perhaps one blind man undertakes to lead another. At last, + possibly, he rejects all guidance, and blunders on by himself. + </p> + <p> + In the cabinet of the Essex Historical Society, old portraits.—Governor + Leverett; a dark mustachioed face, the figure two-thirds length, clothed + in a sort of frock-coat, buttoned, and a broad sword-belt girded round the + waist, and fastened with a large steel buckle; the hilt of the sword + steel,—altogether very striking. Sir William Pepperell, in English + regimentals, coat, waistcoat, and breeches, all of red broadcloth, richly + gold-embroidered; he holds a general's truncheon in his right hand, and + extends the left towards the batteries erected against Louisbourg, in the + country near which he is standing. Endicott, Pyncheon, and others, in + scarlet robes, bands, etc. Half a dozen or more family portraits of the + Olivers, some in plain dresses brown, crimson, or claret; others with + gorgeous gold-embroidered waistcoats, descending almost to the knees, so + as to form the most conspicuous article of dress. Ladies, with lace + ruffles, the painting of which, in one of the pictures, cost five guineas. + Peter Oliver, who was crazy, used to fight with these family pictures in + the old Mansion House; and the face and breast of one lady bear cuts and + stabs inflicted by him. Miniatures in oil, with the paint peeling off, of + stern, old, yellow faces. Oliver Cromwell, apparently an old picture, half + length, or one third, in an oval frame, probably painted for some New + England partisan. Some pictures that had been partly obliterated by + scrubbing with sand. The dresses, embroidery, laces of the Oliver family + are generally better done than the faces. Governor Leverett's gloves,—the + glove part of coarse leather, but round the wrist a deep, three or four + inch border of spangles and silver embroidery. Old drinking-glasses, with + tall stalks. A black glass bottle, stamped with the name of Philip + English, with a broad bottom. The baby-linen, etc., of Governor Bradford + of Plymouth County. Old manuscript sermons, some written in short-hand, + others in a hand that seems learnt from print. + </p> + <p> + Nothing gives a stronger idea of old worm-eaten aristocracy—of a + family being crazy with age, and of its being time that it was extinct—than + these black, dusty, faded, antique-dressed portraits, such as those of the + Oliver family; the identical old white wig of an ancient minister + producing somewhat the impression that his very scalp, or some other + portion of his personal self, would do. + </p> + <p> + The excruciating agonies which Nature inflicts on men (who break her laws) + to be represented as the work of human tormentors; as the gout, by + screwing the toes. Thus we might find that worse than the tortures of the + Spanish Inquisition are daily suffered without exciting notice. + </p> + <p> + Suppose a married couple fondly attached to one another, and to think that + they lived solely for one another; then it to be found out that they were + divorced, or that they might separate if they chose. What would be its + effect? + </p> + <p> + Monday, August 27th.—Went to Boston last Wednesday. Remarkables:—An + author at the American Stationers' Company, slapping his hand on his + manuscript, and crying, "I'm going to publish."—An excursion aboard + a steamboat to Thompson's Island, to visit the Manual Labor School for + boys. Aboard the steamboat several poets and various other authors; a + Commodore,—Colton, a small, dark brown, sickly man, with a good deal + of roughness in his address; Mr. Waterston, talking poetry and philosophy. + Examination and exhibition of the boys, little tanned agriculturists. + After examination, a stroll round the island, examining the products, as + wheat in sheaves on the stubble-field; oats, somewhat blighted and + spoiled; great pumpkins elsewhere; pastures; mowing ground;—all + cultivated by the boys. Their residence, a great brick building, painted + green, and standing on the summit of a rising ground, exposed to the winds + of the bay. Vessels flitting past; great ships, with intricacy of rigging + and various sails; schooners, sloops, with their one or two broad sheets + of canvas: going on different tacks, so that the spectator might think + that there was a different wind for each vessel, or that they scudded + across the sea spontaneously, whither their own wills led them. The farm + boys remain insulated, looking at the passing show, within sight of the + city, yet having nothing to do with it; beholding their fellow-creatures + skimming by them in winged machines, and steamboats snorting and puffing + through the waves. Methinks an island would be the most desirable of all + landed property, for it seems like a little world by itself; and the water + may answer instead of the atmosphere that surrounds planets. The boys + swinging, two together, standing up, and almost causing the ropes and + their bodies to stretch out horizontally. On our departure, they ranged + themselves on the rails of the fence, and, being dressed in blue, looked + not unlike a flock of pigeons. + </p> + <p> + On Friday, a visit to the Navy Yard at Charlestown, in company with the + Naval Officer of Boston, and Cilley. Dined aboard the revenue-cutter + Hamilton. A pretty cabin, finished off with bird's-eye maple and mahogany; + two looking-glasses. Two officers in blue frocks, with a stripe of lace on + each shoulder. Dinner, chowder, fried fish, corned beef,—claret, + afterwards champagne. The waiter tells the Captain of the cutter that + Captain Percival (Commander of the Navy Yard) is sitting on the deck of + the anchor boy (which lies inside of the cutter), smoking his cigar. The + captain sends him a glass of champagne, and inquires of the waiter what + Percival says to it. "He said, sir, `What does he send me this damned + stuff for?' but drinks, nevertheless." The Captain characterizes Percival + as the roughest old devil that ever was in his manners, but a kind, + good-hearted man at bottom. By and by comes in the steward. "Captain + Percival is coming aboard of you, sir." "Well, ask him to walk down into + the cabin"; and shortly down comes old Captain Percival, a white-haired, + thin-visaged, weather-worn old gentleman, in a blue, Quaker-cut coat, with + tarnished lace and brass buttons, a pair of drab pantaloons, and brown + waistcoat. There was an eccentric expression in his face, which seemed + partly wilful, partly natural. He has not risen to his present rank in the + regular line of the profession; but entered the navy as a sailing-master, + and has all the roughness of that class of officers. Nevertheless, he + knows how to behave and to talk like a gentleman. Sitting down, and taking + in hand a glass of champagne, he began a lecture on economy, and how well + it was that Uncle Sam had a broad back, being compelled to bear so many + burdens as were laid on it,— alluding to the table covered with + wine-bottles. Then he spoke of the fitting up of the cabin with expensive + woods,—of the brooch in Captain Scott's bosom. Then he proceeded to + discourse of politics, taking the opposite side to Cilley, and arguing + with much pertinacity. He seems to have moulded and shaped himself to his + own whims, till a sort of rough affectation has become thoroughly imbued + throughout a kindly nature. He is full of antique prejudices against the + modern fashions of the younger officers, their mustaches and such + fripperies, and prophesies little better than disgrace in case of another + war; owning that the boys would fight for their country, and die for her, + but denying that there are any officers now like Hull and Stuart, whose + exploits, nevertheless, he greatly depreciated, saying that the Boxer and + Enterprise fought the only equal battle which we won during the war; and + that, in that action, an officer had proposed to haul down the stars and + stripes, and a common sailor threatened to cut him to pieces if he should + do so. He spoke of Bainbridge as a sot and a poltroon, who wanted to run + from the Macedonian, pretending to take her for a line-of-battle ship; of + Commodore Elliot as a liar; but praised Commodore Downes in the highest + terms. Percival seems to be the very pattern of old integrity; taking as + much care of Uncle Sam's interests as if all the money expended were to + come out of his own pocket. This quality was displayed in his resistance + to the demand of a new patent capstan for the revenue-cutter, which, + however, Scott is resolved in such a sailor-like way to get, that he will + probably succeed. Percival spoke to me of how his business in the yard + absorbed him, especially the fitting of the Columbus seventy-four, of + which ship he discoursed with great enthusiasm. He seems to have no + ambition beyond his present duties, perhaps never had any; at any rate, he + now passes his life with a sort of gruff contentedness, grumbling and + growling, yet in good humor enough. He is conscious of his peculiarities; + for when I asked him whether it would be well to make a naval officer + Secretary of the Navy, he said, "God forbid, for that an old sailor was + always full of prejudices and stubborn whim-whams," instancing himself; + whereto I agreed. We went round the Navy Yard with Percival and Commodore + Downes, the latter a sailor and a gentleman too, with rather more of the + ocean than the drawing-room about him, but courteous, frank, and + good-natured. We looked at ropewalks, rigging-lofts, ships in the stocks; + and saw the sailors of the station laughing and sporting with great mirth + and cheerfulness, which the Commodore said was much increased at sea. We + returned to the wharf at Boston in the cutter's boat. Captain Scott, of + the cutter, told me a singular story of what occurred during the action + between the Constitution and Macedonian—he being powder-monkey + aboard the former ship. A cannon-shot came through the ship's side, and a + man's head was struck off, probably by a splinter, for it was done without + bruising the head or body, as clean as by a razor. Well, the man was + walking pretty briskly at the time of the accident; and Scott seriously + affirmed that he kept walking onward at the same pace, with two jets of + blood gushing from his headless trunk, till, after going about twenty feet + without a head, he sunk down at once, with his legs under him. + </p> + <p> + [The corroboration of the truth of this, see Lord Bacon, Century IV. of + his Sylva Sylvarum, or Natural History, in Ten Centuries, paragraph 400.] + </p> + <p> + On Saturday, I called to see E. H———, having previously + appointed a meeting for the purpose of inquiring about our name. He is an + old bachelor, and truly forlorn. The pride of ancestry seems to be his + great hobby. He had a good many old papers in his desk at the + Custom-House, which he produced and dissertated upon, and afterwards went + with me to his sister's, and showed me an old book, with a record of the + children of the first emigrant (who came over two hundred years ago), in + his own handwriting. E——'s manners are gentlemanly, and he + seems to be very well informed. At a little distance, I think, one would + take him to be not much over thirty; but nearer at hand one finds him to + look rather venerable,—perhaps fifty or more. He is nervous, and his + hands shook while he was looking over the papers, as if he had been + startled by my visit; and when we came to the crossings of streets, he + darted across, cautioning me, as if both were in great danger to be run + over. Nevertheless, being very quick-tempered, he would face the Devil if + at all irritated. He gave a most forlorn description of his life; how, + when he came to Salem, there was nobody except Mr. ——— + whom he cared about seeing; how his position prevented him from accepting + of civilities, because he had no home where he could return them; in + short, he seemed about as miserable a being as is to be found anywhere,—lonely, + and with sensitiveness to feel his loneliness, and capacities, now + withered, to have enjoyed the sweets of life. I suppose he is comfortable + enough when busied in his duties at the Custom-House; for when I spoke to + him at my entrance, he was too much absorbed to hear me at first. As we + walked, he kept telling stories of the family, which seemed to have + comprised many oddities, eccentric men and women, recluses and other + kinds,—one of old Philip English (a Jersey man, the name originally + L'Anglais), who had been persecuted by John Hawthorne, of witch-time + memory, and a violent quarrel ensued. When Philip lay on his death-bed, he + consented to forgive his persecutor; "But if I get well," said he, "I'll + be damned if I forgive him!" This Philip left daughters, one of whom + married, I believe, the son of the persecuting John, and thus all the + legitimate blood of English is in our family. E—— passed from + the matters of birth, pedigree, and ancestral pride to give vent to the + most arrant democracy and locofocoism that I ever happened to hear, saying + that nobody ought to possess wealth longer than his own life, and that + then it should return to the people, etc. He says S. I——— + has a great fund of traditions about the family, which she learned from + her mother or grandmother (I forget which), one of them being a Hawthorne. + The old lady was a very proud woman, and, as E—— says, "proud + of being proud," and so is S. I———. + </p> + <p> + October 7th.—A walk in Northfields in the afternoon. Bright sunshine + and autumnal warmth, giving a sensation quite unlike the same degree of + warmth in summer. Oaks,—some brown, some reddish, some still green; + walnuts, yellow,—fallen leaves and acorns lying beneath; the + footsteps crumple them in walking. In sunny spots beneath the trees, where + green grass is overstrewn by the dry, fallen foliage, as I passed, I + disturbed multitudes of grasshoppers basking in the warm sunshine; and + they began to hop, hop, hop, pattering on the dry leaves like big and + heavy drops of a thunder-shower. They were invisible till they hopped. + Boys gathering walnuts. Passed an orchard, where two men were gathering + the apples. A wagon, with barrels, stood among the trees; the men's coats + flung on the fence; the apples lay in heaps, and each of the men was up in + a separate tree. They conversed together in loud voices, which the air + caused to ring still louder, jeering each other, boasting of their own + feats in shaking down the apples. One got into the very top of his tree, + and gave a long and mighty shake, and the big apples came down thump, + thump, bushels hitting on the ground at once. "There! did you ever hear + anything like that?" cried he. This sunny scene was pretty. A horse + feeding apart, belonging to the wagon. The barberry-bushes have some red + fruit on them, but they are frost-bitten. The rose-bushes have their + scarlet hips. + </p> + <p> + Distant clumps of trees, now that the variegated foliage adorns them, have + a phantasmagorian, an apparition-like appearance. They seem to be of some + kindred to the crimson and gold cloud-islands. It would not be strange to + see phantoms peeping forth from their recesses. When the sun was almost + below the horizon, his rays, gilding the upper branches of a yellow + walnut-tree, had an airy and beautiful effect,—the gentle contrast + between the tint of the yellow in the shade and its ethereal gold in the + fading sunshine. The woods that crown distant uplands were seen to great + advantage in these last rays, for the sunshine perfectly marked out and + distinguished every shade of color, varnishing them as it were; while the + country round, both hill and plain, being in gloomy shadow, the woods + looked the brighter for it. + </p> + <p> + The tide, being high, had flowed almost into the Cold Spring, so its small + current hardly issued forth from the basin. As I approached, two little + eels, about as long as my finger, and slender in proportion, wriggled out + of the basin. They had come from the salt water. An Indian-corn field, as + yet unharvested,—huge, golden pumpkins scattered among the hills of + corn,—a noble-looking fruit. After the sun was down, the sky was + deeply dyed with a broad sweep of gold, high towards the zenith; not + flaming brightly, but of a somewhat dusky gold. A piece of water, + extending towards the west, between high banks, caught the reflection, and + appeared like a sheet of brighter and more glistening gold than the sky + which made it bright. + </p> + <p> + Dandelions and blue flowers are still growing in sunny places. Saw in a + barn a prodigious treasure of onions in their silvery coats, exhaling a + penetrating perfume. + </p> + <p> + How exceeding bright looks the sunshine, casually reflected from a + looking-glass into a gloomy region of the chamber, distinctly marking out + the figures and colors of the paper-hangings, which are scarcely seen + elsewhere. It is like the light of mind thrown on an obscure subject. + </p> + <p> + Man's finest workmanship, the closer you observe it, the more + imperfections it shows; as in a piece of polished steel a microscope will + discover a rough surface. Whereas, what may look coarse and rough in + Nature's workmanship will show an infinitely minute perfection, the closer + you look into it. The reason of the minute superiority of Nature's work + over man's is, that the former works from the innermost germ, while the + latter works merely superficially. + </p> + <p> + Standing in the cross-road that leads by the Mineral Spring, and looking + towards an opposite shore of the lake, an ascending bank, with a douse + border of trees, green, yellow, red, russet, all bright colors, brightened + by the mild brilliancy of the descending sun; it was strange to recognize + the sober old friends of spring and summer in this new dress. By the by, a + pretty riddle or fable might be made out of the changes in apparel of the + familiar trees round a house, adapted for children. But in the lake, + beneath the aforesaid border of trees,—the water being, not rippled, + but its glassy surface somewhat moved and shaken by the remote agitation + of a breeze that was breathing on the outer lake,—this being in a + sort of bay,—in the slightly agitated mirror, the variegated trees + were reflected dreamily and indistinctly; a broad belt of bright and + diversified colors shining in the water beneath. Sometimes the image of a + tree might be almost traced; then nothing but this sweep of broken + rainbow. It was like the recollection of the real scene in an observer's + mind,—a confused radiance. + </p> + <p> + A whirlwind, whirling the dried leaves round in a circle, not very + violently. + </p> + <p> + To well consider the characters of a family of persons in a certain + condition,—in poverty, for instance,—and endeavor to judge how + an altered condition would affect the character of each. + </p> + <p> + The aromatic odor of peat-smoke in the sunny autumnal air is very + pleasant. + </p> + <p> + Salem, October 14th.—A walk through Beverly to Browne's Hill, and + home by the iron-factory. A bright, cool afternoon. The trees, in a large + part of the space through which I passed, appeared to be in their fullest + glory, bright red, yellow, some of a tender green, appearing at a distance + as if bedecked with new foliage, though this emerald tint was likewise the + effect of frost. In some places, large tracts of ground were covered as + with a scarlet cloth,—the underbrush being thus colored. The general + character of these autumnal colors is not gaudy, scarcely gay; there is + something too deep and rich in it: it is gorgeous and magnificent, but + with a sobriety diffused. The pastures at the foot of Browne's Hill were + plentifully covered with barberry-bushes, the leaves of which were + reddish, and they were hung with a prodigious quantity of berries. From + the summit of the hill, looking down a tract of woodland at a considerable + distance, so that the interstices between the trees could not be seen, + their tops presented an unbroken level, and seemed somewhat like a richly + variegated carpet. The prospect from the hill is wide and interesting; but + methinks it is pleasanter in the more immediate vicinity of the hill than + miles away. It is agreeable to look down at the square patches of + cornfield, or of potato-ground, or of cabbages still green, or of beets + looking red,—all a man's farm, in short,—each portion of which + he considers separately so important, while you take in the whole at a + glance. Then to cast your eye over so many different establishments at + once, and rapidly compare thorn,—here a house of gentility, with + shady old yellow-leaved elms hanging around it; there a new little white + dwelling; there an old farm-house; to see the barns and sheds and all the + out-houses clustered together; to comprehend the oneness and exclusiveness + and what constitutes the peculiarity of each of so many establishments, + and to have in your mind a multitude of them, each of which is the most + important part of the world to those who live in it,—this really + enlarges the mind, and you come down the hill somewhat wiser than you go + up. Pleasant to look over an orchard far below, and see the trees, each + casting its own shadow; the white spires of meeting-houses; a sheet of + water, partly seen among swelling lands. This Browne's Hill is a long + ridge, lying in the midst of a large, level plain; it looks at a distance + somewhat like a whale, with its head and tail under water, but its immense + back protruding, with steep sides, and a gradual curve along its length. + When you have climbed it on one side, and gaze from the summit at the + other, you feel as if you had made a discovery,—the landscape being + quite different on the two sides. The cellar of the house which formerly + crowned the hill, and used to be named Browne's Folly, still remains, two + grass-grown and shallow hollows, on the highest part of the ridge. The + house consisted of two wings, each perhaps sixty feet in length, united by + a middle part, in which was the entrance-hall, and which looked lengthwise + along the hill. The foundation of a spacious porch may be traced on either + side of the central portion; some of the stones still remain; but even + where they are gone, the line of the porch is still traceable by the + greener verdure. In the cellar, or rather in the two cellars, grow one or + two barberry-bushes, with frost-bitten fruit; there is also yarrow with + its white flower, and yellow dandelions. The cellars are still deep enough + to shelter a person, all but his head at least, from the wind on the + summit of the hill; but they are all grass-grown. A line of trees seems to + have been planted along the ridge of the hill. The edifice must have made + quite a magnificent appearance. + </p> + <p> + Characteristics during the walk:—Apple-trees with only here and + there an apple on the boughs, among the thinned leaves, the relics of a + gathering. In others you observe a rustling, and see the boughs shaking + and hear the apples thumping down, without seeing the person who does it. + Apples scattered by the wayside, some with pieces bitten out, others + entire, which you pick up and taste, and find them harsh, crabbed + cider-apples, though they have a pretty, waxen appearance. In sunny spots + of woodland, boys in search of nuts, looking picturesque among the scarlet + and golden foliage. There is something in this sunny autumnal atmosphere + that gives a peculiar effect to laughter and joyous voices,—it makes + them infinitely more elastic and gladsome than at other seasons. Heaps of + dry leaves tossed together by the wind, as if for a couch and + lounging-place for the weary traveller, while the sun is warming it for + him. Golden pumpkins and squashes, heaped in the angle of a house, till + they reach the lower windows. Ox-teams, laden with a rustling load of + Indian corn, in the stalk and ear. When all inlet of the sea runs far up + into the country, you stare to see a large schooner appear amid the rural + landscape; she is unloading a cargo of wood, moist with rain or salt water + that has dashed over it. Perhaps you hear the sound of an axe in the + woodland; occasionally, the report of a fowling-piece. The travellers in + the early part of the afternoon look warm and comfortable as if taking a + summer drive; but as eve draws nearer, you meet them well wrapped in + top-coats or cloaks, or rough, great surtouts, and red-nosed withal, + seeming to take no great comfort, but pressing homeward. The + characteristic conversation among teamsters and country squires, where the + ascent of a hill causes the chaise to go at the same pace as an ox-team,—perhaps + discussing the qualities of a yoke of oxen. The cold, blue aspects of + sheets of water. Some of the country shops with the doors closed; others + still open as in summer. I meet a wood-sawyer, with his horse and saw on + his shoulders, returning from work. As night draws on, you begin to see + the gleaming of fires on the ceilings in the houses which you pass. The + comfortless appearance of houses at bleak and bare spots,—you wonder + how there can be any enjoyment in them. I meet a girl in a chintz gown, + with a small shawl on her shoulders, white stockings, and summer morocco + shoes,—it looks observable. Turkeys, queer, solemn objects, in black + attire, grazing about, and trying to peck the fallen apples, which slip + away from their bills. + </p> + <p> + October 16th.—Spent the whole afternoon in a ramble to the + sea-shore, near Phillips's Beach. A beautiful, warm, sunny afternoon, the + very pleasantest day, probably, that there has been in the whole course of + the year. People at work, harvesting, without their coats. Cocks, with + their squad of hens, in the grass-fields, hunting grasshoppers, chasing + them eagerly with outspread wings, appearing to take much interest in the + sport, apart from the profit. Other hens picking up the ears of Indian + corn. Grasshoppers, flies, and flying insects of all sorts are more + abundant in these warm autumnal days than I have seen them at any other + time. Yellow butterflies flutter about in the sunshine, singly, by pairs, + or more, and are wafted on the gentle gales. The crickets begin to sing + early in the afternoon, and sometimes a locust may be heard. In some warm + spots, a pleasant buzz of many insects. + </p> + <p> + Crossed the fields near Brookhouse's villa, and came upon a long beach,— + at least a mile long, I should think,—terminated by craggy rocks at + either end, and backed by a high broken bank, the grassy summit of which, + year by year, is continually breaking away, and precipitated to the + bottom. At the foot of the bank, in some parts, is a vast number of + pebbles and paving-stones, rolled up thither by the sea long ago. The + beach is of a brown sand, with hardly any pebbles intermixed upon it. When + the tide is part way down, there is a margin of several yards from the + water's edge, along the whole mile length of the beach, which glistens + like a mirror, and reflects objects, and shines bright in the sunshine, + the sand being wet to that distance from the water. Above this margin the + sand is not wet, and grows less and less damp the farther towards the bank + you keep. In some places your footstep is perfectly implanted, showing the + whole shape, and the square toe, and every nail in the heel of your boot. + Elsewhere, the impression is imperfect, and even when you stamp, you + cannot imprint the whole. As you tread, a dry spot flashes around your + step, and grows moist as you lift your foot again. Pleasant to pass along + this extensive walk, watching the surf-wave;—how sometimes it seems + to make a feint of breaking, but dies away ineffectually, merely kissing + the strand; then, after many such abortive efforts, it gathers itself, and + forms a high wall, and rolls onward, heightening and heightening without + foam at the summit of the green line, and at last throws itself fiercely + on the beach, with a loud roar, the spray flying above. As you walk along, + you are preceded by a flock of twenty or thirty beach birds, which are + seeking, I suppose, for food on the margin of the surf, yet seem to be + merely sporting, chasing the sea as it retires, and running up before the + impending wave. Sometimes they let it bear them off their feet, and float + lightly on its breaking summit; sometimes they flutter and seem to rest on + the feathery spray. They are little birds with gray backs and snow-white + breasts; their images may be seen in the wet sand almost or quite as + distinctly as the reality. Their legs are long. As you draw near, they + take a flight of a score of yards or more, and then recommence their + dalliance with the surf-wave. You may behold their multitudinous little + tracks all along your way. Before you reach the end of the beach, you + become quite attached to these little sea-birds, and take much interest in + their occupations. After passing in one direction, it is pleasant then to + retrace your footsteps. Your tracks being all traceable, you may recall + the whole mood and occupation of your mind during your first passage. Here + you turned somewhat aside to pick up a shell that you saw nearer the + water's edge. Here you examined a long sea-weed, and trailed its length + after you for a considerable distance. Here the effect of the wide sea + struck you suddenly. Here you fronted the ocean, looking at a sail, + distant in the sunny blue. Here you looked at some plant on the bank. Here + some vagary of mind seems to have bewildered you; for your tracks go round + and round, and interchange each other without visible reason. Here you + picked up pebbles and skipped them upon the water. Here you wrote names + and drew faces with a razor sea-shell in the sand. + </p> + <p> + After leaving the beach, clambered over crags, all shattered and tossed + about everyhow; in some parts curiously worn and hollowed out, almost into + caverns. The rock, shagged with sea-weed,—in some places, a thick + carpet of sea-weed laid over the pebbles, into which your foot would sink. + Deep tanks among these rocks, which the sea replenishes at high tide, and + then leaves the bottom all covered with various sorts of sea-plants, as if + it were some sea-monster's private garden. I saw a crab in one of them; + five-fingers too. From the edge of the rocks, you may look off into deep, + deep water, even at low tide. Among the rocks, I found a great bird, + whether a wild-goose, a loon, or an albatross, I scarcely know. It was in + such a position that I almost fancied it might be asleep, and therefore + drew near softly, lest it should take flight; but it was dead, and stirred + not when I touched it. Sometimes a dead fish was cast up. A ledge of + rocks, with a beacon upon it, looking like a monument erected to those who + have perished by shipwreck. The smoked, extempore fireplace, where a party + cooked their fish. About midway on the beach, a fresh-water brooklet flows + towards the sea. Where it leaves the land, it is quite a rippling little + current; but, in flowing across the sand, it grows shallower and more + shallow, and at last is quite lost, and dies in the effort to carry its + little tribute to the main. + </p> + <p> + An article to be made of telling the stories of the tiles of an + old-fashioned chimney-piece to a child. + </p> + <p> + A person conscious that he was soon to die, the humor in which he would + pay his last visit to familiar persons and things. + </p> + <p> + A description of the various classes of hotels and taverns, and the + prominent personages in each. There should be some story connected with + it,—as of a person commencing with boarding at a great hotel, and + gradually, as his means grew less, descending in life, till he got below + ground into a cellar. + </p> + <p> + A person to be in the possession of something as perfect as mortal man has + a right to demand; he tries to make it better, and ruins it entirely. + </p> + <p> + A person to spend all his life and splendid talents in trying to achieve + something naturally impossible,—as to make a conquest over Nature. + </p> + <p> + Meditations about the main gas-pipe of a great city,—if the supply + were to be stopped, what would happen? How many different scenes it sheds + light on? It might be made emblematical of something. + </p> + <p> + December 6th.—A fairy tale about chasing Echo to her hiding-place. + Echo is the voice of a reflection in a mirror. + </p> + <p> + A house to be built over a natural spring of inflammable gas, and to be + constantly illuminated therewith. What moral could be drawn from this? It + is carburetted hydrogen gas, and is cooled from a soft shale or slate, + which is sometimes bituminous, and contains more or less carbonate of + lime. It appears in the vicinity of Lockport and Niagara Falls, and + elsewhere in New York. I believe it indicates coal. At Fredonia, the whole + village is lighted by it. Elsewhere, a farm-house was lighted by it, and + no other fuel used in the coldest weather. + </p> + <p> + Gnomes, or other mischievous little fiends, to be represented as burrowing + in the hollow teeth of some person who has subjected himself to their + power. It should be a child's story. This should be one of many modes of + petty torment. They should be contrasted with beneficent fairies, who + minister to the pleasures of the good. + </p> + <p> + A man will undergo great toil and hardship for ends that must be many + years distant,—as wealth or fame,—but none for an end that may + be close at hand,—as the joys of heaven. + </p> + <p> + Insincerity in a man's own heart must make all his enjoyments, all that + concerns him, unreal; so that his whole life must seem like a merely + dramatic representation. And this would be the case, even though he were + surrounded by true-hearted relatives and friends. + </p> + <p> + A company of men, none of whom have anything worth hoping for on earth, + yet who do not look forward to anything beyond earth! + </p> + <p> + Sorrow to be personified, and its effect on a family represented by the + way in which the members of the family regard this dark-clad and + sad-browed inmate. + </p> + <p> + A story to show how we are all wronged and wrongers, and avenge one + another. + </p> + <p> + To personify winds of various characters. + </p> + <p> + A man living a wicked life, in one place, and simultaneously a virtuous + and religious one in another. + </p> + <p> + An ornament to be worn about the person of a lady,—as a jewelled + heart. After many years, it happens to be broken or unscrewed, and a + poisonous odor comes out. + </p> + <p> + Lieutenant F. W——— of the navy was an inveterate + duellist and an unerring shot. He had taken offence at Lieutenant F———, + and endeavored to draw him into a duel, following him to the Mediterranean + for that purpose, and harassing him intolerably. At last, both parties + being in Massachusetts, F——— determined to fight, and + applied to Lieutenant A——— to be his second. A——— + examined into the merits of the quarrel, and came to the conclusion that F——— + had not given F. W——— justifiable cause for driving him + to a duel, and that he ought not to be shot. He instructed F——— + in the use of the pistol, and, before the meeting, warned him, by all + means, to get the first fire; for that, if F. W——— fired + first, he, F———, was infallibly a dead man, as his + antagonist could shoot to a hair's-breadth. The parties met; and F———, + firing immediately on the word's being given, shot F. W——— + through the heart. F. W———, with a most savage + expression of countenance, fired, after the bullet had gone through his + heart, and when the blood had entirely left his face, and shot away one of + F———'s side-locks. His face probably looked as if he + were already in the infernal regions; but afterwards it assumed an angelic + calmness and repose. + </p> + <p> + A company of persons to drink a certain medicinal preparation, which would + prove a poison, or the contrary, according to their different characters. + </p> + <p> + Many persons, without a consciousness of so doing, to contribute to some + one end; as to a beggar's feast, made up of broken victuals from many + tables; or a patch carpet, woven of shreds from innumerable garments. + </p> + <p> + Some very famous jewel or other thing, much talked of all over the world. + some person to meet with it, and get possession of it in some unexpected + manner, amid homely circumstances. + </p> + <p> + To poison a person or a party of persons with the sacramental wine. + </p> + <p> + A cloud in the shape of an old woman kneeling, with arms extended towards + the moon. + </p> + <p> + On being transported to strange scenes, we feel as if all were unreal. + This is but the perception of the true unreality of earthly things, made + evident by the want of congruity between ourselves and them. By and by we + become mutually adapted, and the perception is lost. + </p> + <p> + An old looking-glass. Somebody finds out the secret of making all the + images that have been reflected in it pass back again across its surface. + </p> + <p> + Our Indian races having reared no monuments, like the Greeks, Romans, and + Egyptians, when they have disappeared from the earth their history will + appear a fable, and they misty phantoms. + </p> + <p> + A woman to sympathize with all emotions, but to have none of her own. + </p> + <p> + A portrait of a person in New England to be recognized as of the same + person represented by a portrait in Old England. Having distinguished + himself there, he had suddenly vanished, and had never been heard of till + he was thus discovered to be identical with a distinguished man in New + England. + </p> + <p> + Men of cold passions have quick eyes. + </p> + <p> + A virtuous but giddy girl to attempt to play a trick on a man. He sees + what she is about, and contrives matters so that she throws herself + completely into his power, and is ruined,—all in jest. + </p> + <p> + A letter, written a century or more ago, but which has never yet been + unsealed. + </p> + <p> + A partially insane man to believe himself the Provincial Governor or other + great official of Massachusetts. The scene might be the Province House. + </p> + <p> + A dreadful secret to be communicated to several people of various + characters,—grave or gay,—and they all to become insane, + according to their characters, by the influence of the secret. + </p> + <p> + Stories to be told of a certain person's appearance in public, of his + having been seen in various situations, and of his making visits in + private circles; but finally, on looking for this person, to come upon his + old grave and mossy tombstone. + </p> + <p> + The influence of a peculiar mind, in close communion with another, to + drive the latter to insanity. + </p> + <p> + To look at a beautiful girl, and picture all the lovers, in different + situations, whose hearts are centred upon her. + </p> + <p> + May 11th, 1838.—At Boston last week. Items:—A young man, with + a small mustache, dyed brown, reddish from its original light color. He + walks with an affected gait, his arms crooked outwards, treading much on + his toes. His conversation is about the theatre, where he has a season + ticket,—about an amateur who lately appeared there, and about + actresses, with other theatrical scandal.—In the smoking-room, two + checker and backgammon boards; the landlord a great player, seemingly a + stupid man, but with considerable shrewdness and knowledge of the world.—F———, + the comedian, a stout, heavy-looking Englishman, of grave deportment, with + no signs of wit or humor, yet aiming at both in conversation, in order to + support his character. Very steady and regular in his life, and + parsimonious in his disposition,—worth $ 50,000, made by his + profession.—A clergyman, elderly, with a white neckcloth, very + unbecoming, an unworldly manner, unacquaintance with the customs of the + house, and learning them in a childlike way. A ruffle to his shirt, + crimped.—A gentleman, young, handsome, and sea-flushed, belonging to + Oswego, New York, but just arrived in port from the Mediterranean: he + inquires of me about the troubles in Canada, which were first beginning to + make a noise when he left the country,—whether they are all over. I + tell him all is finished, except the hanging of the prisoners. Then we + talk over the matter, and I tell him the fates of the principal men,— + some banished to New South Wales, one hanged, others in prison, others, + conspicuous at first, now almost forgotten.—Apartments of private + families in the hotel,—what sort of domesticity there may be in + them; eating in public, with no board of their own. The gas that lights + the rest of the house lights them also, in the chandelier from the + ceiling.— A shabby-looking man, quiet, with spectacles, at first + wearing an old, coarse brown frock, then appearing in a suit of elderly + black, saying nothing unless spoken to, but talking intelligently when + addressed. He is an editor, and I suppose printer, of a country paper. + Among the guests, he holds intercourse with gentlemen of much more + respectable appearance than himself, from the same part of the country.—Bill + of fare; wines printed on the back, but nobody calls for a bottle. Chairs + turned down for expected guests. Three-pronged steel forks. Cold supper + from nine to eleven P. M. Great, round, mahogany table, in the + sitting-room, covered with papers. In the morning, before and soon after + breakfast, gentlemen reading the morning papers, while others wait for + their chance, or try to pick out something from the papers of yesterday or + longer ago. In the forenoon, the Southern papers are brought in, and + thrown damp and folded on the table. The eagerness with which those who + happen to be in the room start up and make prize of them. Play-bills, + printed on yellow paper, laid upon the table. Towards evening comes the + Transcript. + </p> + <p> + June 15th.—The red light which the sunset at this season diffuse; + there being showery afternoons, but the sun setting bright amid clouds, + and diffusing its radiance over those that are scattered in masses all + over the sky. It gives a rich tinge to all objects, even to those of + sombre lines, yet without changing the lines. The complexions of people + are exceedingly enriched by it; they look warm, and kindled with a mild + fire. The whole scenery and personages acquire, methinks, a passionate + character. A love-scene should be laid on such an evening. The trees and + the grass have now the brightest possible green, there having been so many + showers alternating with such powerful sunshine. There are roses and + tulips and honeysuckles, with their sweet perfume; in short, the splendor + of a more gorgeous climate than ours might be brought into the picture. + </p> + <p> + The situation of a man in the midst of a crowd, yet as completely in the + power of another, life and all, as if they two were in the deepest + solitude. + </p> + <p> + Tremont, Boston, June 16th.—Tremendously hot weather to-day. Went on + board the Cyane to see Bridge, the purser. Took boat from the end of Long + Wharf; with two boatmen who had just landed a man. Row round to the + starboard side of the sloop, where we pass up the steps, and are received + by Bridge, who introduces us to one of the lieutenants,—Hazard. + Sailors and midshipmen scattered about,—the middies having a foul + anchor, that is, an anchor with a cable twisted round it, embroidered on + the collars of their jackets. The officers generally wear blue jackets + with lace on the shoulders, white pantaloons, and cloth caps. Introduced + into the cabin,—a handsome room, finished with mahogany, + comprehending the width of the vessel; a sideboard with liquors, and above + it a looking-glass; behind the cabin, an inner room, in which is seated a + lady, waiting for the captain to come on board; on each side of this inner + cabin, a large and convenient state-room with bed,—the doors opening + into the cabin. This cabin is on a level with the quarter-deck, and is + covered by the poop-deck. Going down below stairs, you come to the + ward-room, a pretty large room, round which are the state-rooms of the + lieutenants, the purser, surgeon, etc. A stationary table. The ship's + main-mast comes down through the middle of the room, and Bridge's chair, + at dinner, is planted against it. Wine and brandy produced; and Bridge + calls to the Doctor to drink with him, who answers affirmatively from his + state-room, and shortly after opens the door and makes his appearance. + Other officers emerge from the side of the vessel, or disappear into it, + in the same way. Forward of the ward-room, adjoining it, and on the same + level, is the midshipmen's room, on the larboard side of the vessel, not + partitioned off, so as to be shut up. On a shelf a few books; one + midshipman politely invites us to walk in; another sits writing. Going + farther forward, on the same level we come to the crew's department, part + of which is occupied by the cooking-establishment, where all sorts of + cooking is going on for the officers and men. + </p> + <p> + Through the whole of this space, ward-room and all, there is barely room + to stand upright, without the hat on. The rules of the quarter-deck (which + extends aft from the main-mast) are, that the midshipmen shall not presume + to walk on the starboard side of it, nor the men to come upon it at all, + unless to speak to an officer. The poop-deck is still more sacred,—the + lieutenants being confined to the larboard side, and the captain alone + having a right to the starboard. A marine was pacing the poop-deck, being + the only guard that I saw stationed in the vessel,—the more + stringent regulations being relaxed while she is preparing for sea. While + standing on the quarter-deck, a great piping at the gangway, and the + second cutter comes alongside, bringing the consul and some other + gentleman to visit the vessel. After a while, we are rowed ashore with + them, in the same boat. Its crew are new hands, and therefore require much + instruction from the cockswain. We are seated under an awning. The guns of + the Cyane are medium thirty-two pounders; some of them have percussion + locks. + </p> + <p> + At the Tremont, I had Bridge to dine with me: iced champagne, claret in + glass pitchers. Nothing very remarkable among the guests. A wine-merchant, + French apparently, though he had arrived the day before in a bark from + Copenhagen: a somewhat corpulent gentleman, without so good manners as an + American would have in the same line of life, but good-natured, sociable, + and civil, complaining of the heat. He had rings on his fingers of great + weight of metal, and one of them had a seal for letters; brooches at the + bosom, three in a row, up and down; also a gold watch-guard, with a seal + appended. Talks of the comparative price of living, of clothes, etc., here + and in Europe. Tells of the prices of wines by the cask and pipe. + Champagne, he says, is drunk of better quality here than where it grows.—A + vendor of patent medicines, Doctor Jaques, makes acquaintance with me, and + shows me his recommendatory letters in favor of himself and drugs, signed + by a long list of people. He prefers, he says, booksellers to druggists as + his agents, and inquired of me about them in this town. He seems to be an + honest man enough, with an intelligent face, and sensible in his talk, but + not a gentleman, wearing a somewhat shabby brown coat and mixed + pantaloons, being ill-shaven, and apparently not well acquainted with the + customs of a fashionable hotel. A simplicity about him that is likable, + though, I believe, he comes from Philadelphia.—Naval officers, + strolling about town, bargaining for swords and belts, and other military + articles; with the tailor, to have naval buttons put on their shore-going + coats, and for their pantaloons, suited to the climate of the + Mediterranean. It is the almost invariable habit of officers, when going + ashore or staying on shore, to divest themselves of all military or naval + insignia, and appear as private citizens. At the Tremont, young gentlemen + with long earlocks,—straw hats, light, or dark-mixed.—The + theatre being closed, the play-bills of many nights ago are posted up + against its walls. + </p> + <p> + July 4th.—A very hot, bright, sunny day; town much thronged; booths + on the Common, selling gingerbread, sugar-plums, and confectionery, spruce + beer, lemonade. Spirits forbidden, but probably sold stealthily. On the + top of one of the booths a monkey, with a tail two or three feet long. He + is fastened by a cord, which, getting tangled with the flag over the + booth, he takes hold and tries to free it. He is the object of much + attention from the crowd, and played with by the boys, who toss up + gingerbread to him, while he nibbles and throws it down again. He + reciprocates notice, of some kind or other, with all who notice him. There + is a sort of gravity about him. A boy pulls his long tail, whereat he + gives a slight squeak, and for the future elevates it as much as possible. + Looking at the same booth by and by, I find that the poor monkey has been + obliged to betake himself to the top of one of the wooden joists that + stick up high above. There are boys, going about with molasses candy, + almost melted down in the sun. Shows: A mammoth rat; a collection of + pirates, murderers, and the like, in wax. Constables in considerable + number, parading about with their staves, sometimes conversing with each + other, producing an effect by their presence, without having to interfere + actively. One or two old salts, rather the worse for liquor: in general + the people are very temperate. At evening the effect of things rather more + picturesque; some of the booth-keepers knocking down the temporary + structures, and putting the materials in wagons to carry away; other + booths lighted up, and the lights gleaming through rents in the sail-cloth + tops. The customers are rather riotous, calling loudly and whimsically for + what they want; a young fellow and a girl coming arm in arm; two girls + approaching the booth, and getting into conversation with the folks + thereabout. Perchance a knock-down between two half-sober fellows in the + crowd: a knock-down without a heavy blow, the receiver being scarcely able + to keep his footing at any rate. Shoutings and hallooings, laughter, + oaths,—generally a good-natured tumult; and the constables use no + severity, but interfere, if at all, in a friendly sort of way. I talk with + one about the way in which the day has passed, and he bears testimony to + the orderliness of the crowd, but suspects one booth of selling liquor, + and relates one scuffle. There is a talkative and witty seller of + gingerbread holding forth to the people from his cart, making himself + quite a noted character by his readiness of remark and humor, and + disposing of all his wares. Late in the evening, during the fire-works, + people are consulting how they are to get hone,— many having long + miles to walk: a father, with wife and children, saying it will be twelve + o'clock before they reach home, the children being already tired to death. + The moon beautifully dark-bright, not giving so white a light as + sometimes. The girls all look beautiful and fairy-like in it, not exactly + distinct, nor yet dim. The different characters of female countenances + during the day,—mirthful and mischievous, slyly humorous, stupid, + looking genteel generally, but when they speak often betraying plebeianism + by the tones of their voices. Two girls are very tired, one a pale, thin, + languid-looking creature; the other plump, rosy, rather overburdened with + her own little body. Gingerbread figures, in the shape of Jim Crow and + other popularities. + </p> + <p> + In the old burial-ground, Charter Street, a slate gravestone, carved round + the borders, to the memory of "Colonel John Hathorne, Esq.," who died in + 1717. This was the witch-judge. The stone is sunk deep into the earth, and + leans forward, and the grass grows very long around it; and, on account of + the moss, it was rather difficult to make out the date. Other Hathornes + lie buried in a range with him on either side. In a corner of the + burial-ground, close under Dr. P——-'s garden fence, are the + most ancient stones remaining in the graveyard; moss-grown, deeply sunken. + One to "Dr. John Swinnerton, Physician," in 1688; another to his wife. + There, too, is the grave of Nathaniel Mather, the younger brother of + Cotton, and mentioned in the Magnalia as a hard student, and of great + promise. "An aged man at nineteen years," saith the gravestone. It + affected me deeply, when I had cleared away the grass from the half-buried + stone, and read the name. An apple-tree or two hang over these old graves, + and throw down the blighted fruit on Nathaniel Mather's grave,—he + blighted too. It gives strange ideas, to think how convenient to Dr. P———'s + family this burial-ground is,—the monuments standing almost within + arm's reach of the side windows of the parlor,—and there being a + little gate from the back yard through which we step forth upon those old + graves aforesaid. And the tomb of the P. family is right in front, and + close to the gate. It is now filled, the last being the refugee Tory, + Colonel P——— and his wife. M. P——— has + trained flowers over this tomb, on account of her friendly relations with + Colonel P———. + </p> + <p> + It is not, I think, the most ancient families that have tombs,—their + ancestry for two or three generations having been reposited in the earth + before such a luxury as a tomb was thought of. Men who founded families, + and grew rich, a century or so ago, were probably the first. + </p> + <p> + There is a tomb of the Lyndes, with a slab of slate affixed to the brick + masonry on one side, and carved with a coat of arms. + </p> + <p> + July 10th.—A fishing excursion, last Saturday afternoon, eight or + ten miles out in the harbor. A fine wind out, which died away towards + evening, and finally became quite calm. We cooked our fish on a rock named + "Satan," about forty feet long and twenty broad, irregular in its shape, + and of uneven surface, with pools of water here and there, left by the + tide,—dark brown rock, or whitish; there was the excrement of + sea-fowl scattered on it, and a few feathers. The water was deep around + the rock, and swelling up and downward, waving the sea-weed. We built two + fires, which, as the dusk deepened, cast a red gleam over the rock and the + waves, and made the sea, on the side away from the sunset, look dismal; + but by and by up came the moon, red as a house afire, and, as it rose, it + grew silvery bright, and threw a line of silver across the calm sea. + Beneath the moon and the horizon, the commencement of its track of + brightness, there was a cone of blackness, or of very black blue. It was + after nine before we finished our supper, which we ate by firelight and + moonshine, and then went aboard our decked boat again,—no safe + achievement in our ticklish little dory. To those remaining in the boat, + we had looked very picturesque around our fires, and on the rock above + them,—our statures being apparently increased to the size of the + sons of Anak. The tide, now coming up, gradually dashed over the fires we + had left, and so the rock again became a desert. The wind had now entirely + died away, leaving the sea smooth as glass, except a quiet swell, and we + could only float along, as the tide bore us, almost imperceptibly. It was + as beautiful a night as ever shone,—calm, warm, bright, the moon + being at full. On one side of us was Marblehead lighthouse, on the other, + Baker's Island; and both, by the influence of the moonlight, had a silvery + hue, unlike their ruddy beacon tinge in dark nights. They threw long + reflections across the sea, like the moon. There we floated slowly with + the tide till about midnight, and then, the tide turning, we fastened our + vessel to a pole, which marked a rock, so as to prevent being carried back + by the reflux. Some of the passengers turned in below; some stretched + themselves on deck; some walked about, smoking cigars. I kept the deck all + night. Once there was a little cat's-paw of a breeze, whereupon we untied + ourselves from the pole; but it almost immediately died away, and we were + compelled to make fast again. At about two o'clock, up rose the morning + star, a round, red, fiery ball, very comparable to the moon at its rising, + and, getting upward, it shone marvellously bright, and threw its long + reflection into the sea, like the moon and the two lighthouses. It was + Venus, and the brightest star I ever beheld; it was in the northeast. The + moon made but a very small circuit in the sky, though it shone all night. + The aurora borealis shot upwards to the zenith, and between two and three + o'clock the first streak of dawn appeared, stretching far along the edge + of the eastern horizon,— a faint streak of light; then it gradually + broadened and deepened, and became a rich saffron tint, with violet above, + and then an ethereal and transparent blue. The saffron became intermixed + with splendor, kindling and kindling, Baker's Island lights being in the + centre of the brightness, so that they were extinguished by it, or at + least grew invisible. On the other side of the boat, the Marblehead + lighthouse still threw out its silvery gleam, and the moon shone brightly + too; and its light looked very singularly, mingling with the growing + daylight. It was not like the moonshine, brightening as the evening + twilight deepens; for now it threw its radiance over the landscape, the + green and other tints of which were displayed by the daylight, whereas + at-evening all those tints are obscured. It looked like a milder sunshine,—a + dreamy sunshine,—the sunshine of a world not quite so real and + material as this. All night we had heard the Marblehead clocks telling the + hour. Anon, up came the sun, without any bustle, but quietly, his + antecedent splendors having gilded the sea for some time before. It had + been cold towards morning, but now grew warm, and gradually burning hot in + the sun. A breeze sprang up, but our first use of it was to get aground on + Coney Island about five o'clock, where we lay till nine or thereabout, and + then floated slowly up to the wharf. The roar of distant surf, the rolling + of porpoises, the passing of shoals of fish, a steamboat smoking along at + a distance, were the scene on my watch. I fished during the night, and, + feeling something on the line, I drew up with great eagerness and vigor. + It was two of those broad-leaved sea-weeds, with stems like snakes, both + rooted on a stone,—all which came up together. Often these sea-weeds + root themselves on muscles. In the morning, our pilot killed a flounder + with the boat-hook, the poor fish thinking himself secure on the bottom. + </p> + <p> + Ladurlad, in the Curse of Kehama, on visiting a certain celestial region, + the fire in his heart and brain died away for a season, but was rekindled + again on returning to earth. So may it be with me in my projected three + months' seclusion from old associations. + </p> + <p> + Punishment of a miser,—to pay the drafts of his heir in his tomb. + </p> + <p> + July 13th.—A show of wax-figures, consisting almost wholly of + murderers and their victims,—Gibbs and Hansley, the pirates, and the + Dutch girl whom Gibbs murdered. Gibbs and Hansley were admirably done, as + natural as life; and many people who had known Gibbs would not, according + to the showman, be convinced that this wax-figure was not his skin + stuffed. The two pirates were represented with halters round their necks, + just ready to be turned off; and the sheriff stood behind them, with his + watch, waiting for the moment. The clothes, halter, and Gibbs's hair were + authentic. E. K. Avery and Cornell,—the former a figure in black, + leaning on the back of a chair, in the attitude of a clergyman about to + pray; an ugly devil, said to be a good likeness. Ellen Jewett and R. P. + Robinson, she dressed richly, in extreme fashion, and very pretty; he + awkward and stiff, it being difficult to stuff a figure to look like a + gentleman. The showman seemed very proud of Ellen Jewett, and spoke of her + somewhat as if this wax-figure were a real creation. Strong and Mrs. + Whipple, who together murdered the husband of the latter. Lastly the + Siamese twins. The showman is careful to call his exhibition the + "Statuary." He walks to and fro before the figures, talking of the history + of the persons, the moral lessons to be drawn therefrom, and especially of + the excellence of the wax-work. He has for sale printed histories of the + personages. He is a friendly, easy-mannered sort of a half-genteel + character, whose talk has been moulded by the persons who most frequent + such a show; an air of superiority of information, a moral instructor, + with a great deal of real knowledge of the world. He invites his departing + guests to call again and bring their friends, desiring to know whether + they are pleased; telling that he had a thousand people on the 4th of + July, and that they were all perfectly satisfied. He talks with the female + visitors, remarking on Ellen Jewett's person and dress to them, he having + "spared no expense in dressing her; and all the ladies say that a dress + never set better, and he thinks he never knew a handsomer female." He goes + to and fro, snuffing the candles, and now and then holding one to the face + of a favorite figure. Ever and anon, hearing steps upon the staircase, he + goes to admit a new visitor. The visitors,—a half-bumpkin, half + country-squire-like man, who has something of a knowing air, and yet looks + and listens with a good deal of simplicity and faith, smiling between + whiles; a mechanic of the town; several decent-looking girls and women, + who eye Ellen herself with more interest than the other figures,—women + having much curiosity about such ladies; a gentlemanly sort of person, who + looks somewhat ashamed of himself for being there, and glances at me + knowingly, as if to intimate that he was conscious of being out of place; + a boy or two, and myself, who examine wax faces and faces of flesh with + equal interest. A political or other satire might be made by describing a + show of wax-figures of the prominent public men; and, by the remarks of + the showman and the spectators, their characters and public standing might + be expressed. And the incident of Judge Tyler as related by E—— + might be introduced. + </p> + <p> + A series of strange, mysterious, dreadful events to occur, wholly + destructive of a person's happiness. He to impute them to various persons + and causes, but ultimately finds that he is himself the sole agent. Moral, + that our welfare depends on ourselves. + </p> + <p> + The strange incident in the court of Charles IX. of France: he and five + other maskers being attired in coats of linen covered with pitch and + bestuck with flax to represent hairy savages. They entered the hall + dancing, the five being fastened together, and the king in front. By + accident the five were set on fire with a torch. Two were burned to death + on the spot, two afterwards died; one fled to the buttery, and jumped into + a vessel of water. It might be represented as the fate of a squad of + dissolute men. + </p> + <p> + A perception, for a moment, of one's eventual and moral self, as if it + were another person,—the observant faculty being separated, and + looking intently at the qualities of the character. There is a surprise + when this happens,—this getting out of one's self,—and then + the observer sees how queer a fellow he is. + </p> + <p> + July 27th.—Left home [Salem] on the 23d instant. To Boston by stage, + and took the afternoon cars for Worcester. A little boy returning from the + city, several miles, with a basket of empty custard-cups, the contents of + which he had probably sold at the depot. Stopped at the Temperance House. + An old gentleman, Mr. Phillips of Boston, got into conversation with one, + and inquired very freely as to my character, tastes, habits, and + circumstances,—a freedom sanctioned by his age, his kindly and + beneficent spirit, and the wisdom of his advice. It is strange how little + impertinence depends on what is actually said, but rather on the manner + and motives of saying it. "I want to do you good," said he with warmth, + after becoming, apparently, moved by my communications. "Well, sir," + replied I, "I wish you could, for both our sakes; for I have no doubt it + will be a great satisfaction to you." He asked the most direct questions + of another young man; for instance, "Are you married?" having before + ascertained that point with regard to myself. He told me by all means to + act, in whatever way; observing that he himself would have no objection to + be a servant, if no other mode of action presented itself. + </p> + <p> + The landlord of the tavern, a decent, active, grave, attentive personage, + giving me several cards of his house to distribute on my departure. A + judge, a stout, hearty country squire, looking elderly; a hale and rugged + man, in a black coat, and thin, light pantaloons. + </p> + <p> + Started for Northampton at half past nine in the morning. A respectable + sort of man and his son on their way to Niagara,—grocers, I believe, + and calculating how to perform the tour, subtracting as few days as + possible from the shop. Somewhat inexperienced travellers, and comparing + everything advantageously or otherwise with Boston customs; and + considering themselves a long way from home, while yet short of a hundred + miles from it. Two ladies, rather good-looking. I rode outside nearly all + day, and was very sociable with the driver and another outside passenger. + Towards night, took up an essence-vendor for a short distance. He was + returning home, after having been out on a tour two or three weeks; and + nearly exhausted his stock. He was not exclusively an essence-pedler, + having a large tin box, which had been filled with dry goods, combs, + jewelry, etc., now mostly sold out. His essences were of anise-seed, + cloves, red-cedar, wormwood, together with opodeldoc, and an oil for the + hair. These matters are concocted at Ashfield, and the pedlers are sent + about with vast quantities. Cologne-water is among the essences + manufactured, though the bottles have foreign labels on them. The pedler + was good-natured and communicative, and spoke very frankly about his + trade, which he seemed to like better than farming, though his experience + of it is yet brief. He spoke of the trials of temper to which pedlers are + subjected, but said that it was necessary to be forbearing, because the + same road must be travelled again and again. The pedlers find satisfaction + for all contumelies in making good bargains out of their customers. This + man was a pedler in quite a small way, making but a narrow circuit, and + carrying no more than an open basket full of essences; but some go out + with wagon-loads. He himself contemplated a trip westward, in which case + he would send on quantities of his wares ahead to different stations. He + seemed to enjoy the intercourse and seeing of the world. He pointed out a + rough place in the road, where his stock of essences had formerly been + broken by a jolt of the stage. What a waste of sweet smells on the desert + air! The essence-labels stated the efficacy of the stuffs for various + complaints of children and grown people. The driver was an acquaintance of + the pedler, and so gave him his drive for nothing, though the pedler + pretended to wish to force some silver into his hand; and afterwards he + got down to water the horses, while the driver was busied with other + matters. This driver was a little, dark ragamuffin, apparently of + irascible temper, speaking with great disapprobation of his way-bill not + being timed accurately, but so as to make it appear as if he were longer + upon the road than he was. As he spoke, the blood darkened in his cheek, + and his eye looked ominous and angry, as if he were enraged with the + person to whom he was speaking; yet he had not real grit, for he had never + said a word of his grievances to those concerned. "I mean to tell them of + it by and by. I won't bear it more than three or four times more," said + he. + </p> + <p> + Left Northampton the next morning, between one and two o'clock. Three + other passengers, whose faces were not visible for some hours; so we went + on through unknown space, saying nothing, glancing forth sometimes to see + the gleam of the lanterns on wayside objects. + </p> + <p> + How very desolate looks a forest when seen in this way,—as if, + should you venture one step within its wild, tangled, many-stemmed, and + dark-shadowed verge, you would inevitably be lost forever. Sometimes we + passed a house, or rumbled through a village, stopping perhaps to arouse + some drowsy postmaster, who appeared at the door in shirt and pantaloons, + yawning, received the mail, returned it again, and was yawning when last + seen. A few words exchanged among the passengers, as they roused + themselves from their half-slumbers, or dreamy, slumber-like abstraction. + Meantime dawn broke, our faces became partially visible, the morning air + grew colder, and finally cloudy day came on. We found ourselves driving + through quite a romantic country, with hills or mountains on all sides, a + stream on one side, bordered by a high, precipitous bank, up which would + have grown pines, only that, losing their footholds, many of them had + slipped downward. The road was not the safest in the world; for often the + carriage approached within two or three feet of a precipice; but the + driver, a merry fellow, lolled on his box, with his feet protruding + horizontally, and rattled on at the rate of ten miles an hour. Breakfast + between four and five,—newly caught trout, salmon, ham, boiled eggs, + and other niceties,—truly excellent. A bunch of pickerel, intended + for a tavern-keeper farther on, was carried by the stage-driver. The + drivers carry a "time-watch" enclosed in a small wooden case, with a lock, + so that it may be known in what time they perform their stages. They are + allowed so many hours and minutes to do their work, and their desire to go + as fast as possible, combined with that of keeping their horses in good + order, produces about a right medium. + </p> + <p> + One of the passengers was a young man who had been in Pennsylvania, + keeping a school,—a genteel enough young man, but not a gentleman. + He took neither supper nor breakfast, excusing himself from one as being + weary with riding all day, and from the other because it was so early. He + attacked me for a subscription for "building up a destitute church," of + which he had taken an agency, and had collected two or three hundred + dollars, but wanted as many thousands. Betimes in the morning, on the + descent of a mountain, we arrived at a house where dwelt the married + sister of the young man, whom he was going to visit. + </p> + <p> + He alighted, saw his trunk taken off, and then, having perceived his + sister at the door, and turning to bid us farewell, there was a broad + smile, even a laugh of pleasure, which did him more credit with me than + anything else; for hitherto there had been a disagreeable scornful twist + upon his face, perhaps, however, merely superficial. I saw, as the stage + drove off, his comely sister approaching with a lighted-up face to greet + him, and one passenger on the front seat beheld them meet. "Is it an + affectionate greeting?" inquired I. "Yes," said he, "I should like to + share it"; whereby I concluded that there was a kiss exchanged. + </p> + <p> + The highest point of our journey was at Windsor, where we could see + leagues around over the mountain, a terribly bare, bleak spot, fit for + nothing but sheep, and without shelter of woods. We rattled downward into + a warmer region, beholding as we went the sun shining on portions of the + landscape, miles ahead of us, while we were yet in chillness and gloom. It + is probable that during a part of the stage the mists around us looked + like sky clouds to those in the lower regions. Think of driving a + stage-coach through the clouds! Seasonably in the forenoon we arrived at + Pittsfield. + </p> + <p> + Pittsfield is a large village, quite shut in by mountain walls, generally + extending like a rampart on all sides of it, but with insulated great + hills rising here and there in the outline. The area of the town is level; + its houses are handsome, mostly wooden and white; but some are of brick, + painted deep red, the bricks being not of a healthy, natural color. There + are handsome churches, Gothic and others, and a court-house and an + academy; the court-house having a marble front. There is a small wall in + the centre of the town, and in the centre of the Mall rises an elm of the + loftiest and straightest stem that ever I beheld, without a branch or leaf + upon it till it has soared seventy or perhaps a hundred feet into the air. + The top branches unfortunately have been shattered somehow or other, so + that it does not cast a broad shade; probably they were broken by their + own ponderous foliage. The central square of Pittsfield presents all the + bustle of a thriving village,—the farmers of the vicinity in light + wagons, sulkies, or on horseback; stages at the door of the Berkshire + Hotel, under the stoop of which sit or lounge the guests, stage-people, + and idlers, observing or assisting in the arrivals and departures. Huge + trunks and bandboxes unladed and laded. The courtesy shown to ladies in + aiding them to alight, in a shower, under umbrellas. The dull looks of + passengers, who have driven all night, scarcely brightened by the + excitement of arriving at a new place. The stage agent demanding the names + of those who are going on,—some to Lebanon Springs, some to Albany. + The toddy-stick is still busy at these Berkshire public-houses. At dinner + soup preliminary, in city style. Guests: the court people; Briggs, member + of Congress, attending a trial here; horse-dealers, country squires, + store-keepers in the village, etc. My room, a narrow crib overlooking a + back court-yard, where a young man and a lad were drawing water for the + maid-servants,—their jokes, especially those of the lad, of whose + wit the elder fellow, being a blockhead himself, was in great admiration, + and declared to another that he knew as much as them both. Yet he was not + very witty. Once in a while the maid-servants would come to the door, and + hear and respond to their jokes, with a kind of restraint, yet both + permitting and enjoying them. + </p> + <p> + After or about sunset there was a heavy shower, the thunder rumbling round + and round the mountain wall, and the clouds stretching from rampart to + rampart. When it abated, the clouds in all parts of the visible heavens + were tinged with glory from the west; some that hung low being purple and + gold, while the higher ones were gray. The slender curve of the new moon + was also visible brightening amidst the fading brightness of the sunny + part of the sky. There are marble-quarries in and near Pittsfield, which + accounts for the fact that there are none but marble gravestones in the + burial-grounds; some of the monuments well carved; but the marble does not + withstand the wear and tear of time and weather so well as the imported + marble, and the sculpture soon loses its sharp outline. The door of one + tomb, a wooden door, opening in the side of a green mound, surmounted by a + marble obelisk, having been shaken from its hinges by the late explosion + of the powder-house, and incompletely repaired, I peeped in at the + crevices, and saw the coffins. It was the tomb of Rev. Thomas Allen, first + minister of Pittsfield, deceased in 1810. It contained three coffins, all + with white mould on their tops: one, a small child's, rested upon another, + and the other was on the opposite side of the tomb, and the lid was + considerably displaced; but, the tomb being dark, I could see neither + corpse nor skeleton. + </p> + <p> + Marble also occurs here in North Adams, and thus some very ordinary houses + have marble doorsteps, and even the stone walls are built of fragments of + marble. + </p> + <p> + Wednesday, 26th.—Left Pittsfield at about eight o'clock in the + Bennington stage, intending to go to Williamstown. Inside passengers,—a + new-married couple taking a jaunt. The lady, with a clear, pale + complexion, and a rather pensive cast of countenance, slender, and with a + genteel figure; the bridegroom, a shopkeeper in New York probably, a young + man with a stout black beard, black eyebrows, which formed one line across + his forehead. They were very loving; and while the stage stopped, I + watched them, quite entranced in each other, both leaning sideways against + the back of the coach, and perusing their mutual comeliness, and + apparently making complimentary observations upon it to one another. The + bride appeared the most absorbed and devoted, referring her whole being to + him. The gentleman seemed in a most paradisiacal mood, smiling ineffably + upon his bride, and, when she spoke, responding to her with a benign + expression of matrimonial sweetness, and, as it were, compassion for the + "weaker vessel," mingled with great love and pleasant humor. It was very + droll. The driver peeped into the coach once, and said that he had his arm + round her waist. He took little freedoms with her, tapping her with his + cane,—love-pats; and she seemed to see nothing amiss. They kept + eating gingerbread all along the road, and dined heartily notwithstanding. + </p> + <p> + Our driver was a slender, lathe-like, round-backed, rough-bearded, + thin-visaged, middle-aged Yankee, who became very communicative during our + drive. He was not bred a stage-driver, but had undertaken the business + temporarily, as a favor to his brother-in-law. He was a native of these + Berkshire mountains, but had formerly emigrated to Ohio, and had returned + for a time to try the benefit of her native air on his wife's declining + health,—she having complaints of a consumptive nature. He pointed + out the house where he was married to her, and told the name of the + country squire who tied the knot. His wife has little or no chance of + recovery, and he said he would never marry again,—this resolution + being expressed in answer to a remark of mine relative to a second + marriage. He has no children. I pointed to a hill at some distance before + us, and asked what it was. "That, sir," said he, "is a very high hill. It + is known by the name of Graylock." He seemed to feel that this was a more + poetical epithet than Saddleback, which is a more usual name for it. + Graylock, or Saddleback, is quite a respectable mountain; and I suppose + the former name has been given to it because it often has a gray cloud, or + lock of gray mist, upon its head. It does not ascend into a peak, but + heaves up a round ball, and has supporting ridges on each side. Its summit + is not bare, like that of Mount Washington, but covered with forests. The + driver said, that several years since the students of Williams College + erected a building for an observatory on the top of the mountain, and + employed him to haul the materials for constructing it; and he was the + only man who had driven an ox-team up Graylock. It was necessary to drive + the team round and round, in ascending. President Griffin rode up on + horseback. + </p> + <p> + Along our road we passed villages, and often factories, the machinery + whirring, and girls looking out of the windows at the stage, with heads + averted from their tasks, but still busy. These factories have two, three, + or more boarding-houses near them, two stories high, and of double length,—often + with bean-vines running up round the doors, and with altogether a domestic + look. There are several factories in different parts of North Adams, along + the banks of a stream,—a wild, highland rivulet, which, however, + does vast work of a civilized nature. It is strange to see such a rough + and untamed stream as it looks to be so subdued to the purposes of man, + and making cottons and woollens, sawing boards and marbles, and giving + employment to so many men and girls. And there is a sort of + picturesqueness in finding these factories, supremely artificial + establishments, in the midst of such wild scenery. For now the stream will + be flowing through a rude forest, with the trees erect and dark, as when + the Indians fished there; and it brawls and tumbles and eddies over its + rock-strewn current. Perhaps there is a precipice, hundreds of feet high, + beside it, down which, by heavy rains or the melting of snows, great + pine-trees have slid or fallen headlong, and lie at the bottom, or + half-way down, while their brethren seem to be gazing at their fall from + the summit, and anticipating a like fate. And then, taking a turn in the + road, behold these factories and their range of boarding-houses, with the + girls looking out of the windows as aforesaid! And perhaps the wild + scenery is all around the very site of the factory, and mingles its + impression strangely with those opposite ones. These observations were + made during a walk yesterday. + </p> + <p> + I bathed in a pool of the stream that was out of sight, and where its + brawling waters were deep enough to cover me, when I lay at length. A part + of the road along which I walked was on the edge of a precipice, falling + down straight towards the stream; and in one place the passage of heavy + loads had sunk it, so that soon, probably, there will be an avalanche, + perhaps carrying a stage-coach or heavy wagon down into the bed of the + river. + </p> + <p> + I met occasional wayfarers; once two women in a cart,—decent, + brown-visaged, country matrons,—and then an apparent doctor, of whom + there are seven or thereabouts in North Adams; for though this vicinity is + very healthy, yet the physicians are obliged to ride considerable + distances among the mountain towns, and their practice is very laborious. + A nod is always exchanged between strangers meeting on the road. This + morning an underwitted old man met me on a walk, and held a pretty long + conversation, insisting upon shaking hands (to which I was averse, lest + his band should not be clean), and insisting on his right to do so, as + being "a friend of mankind." He was a gray, bald-headed, wrinkled-visaged + figure, decently dressed, with cowhide shoes, a coat on one arm, and an + umbrella on the other, and said that he was going to see a widow in the + neighborhood. Finding that I was not provided with a wife, he recommended + a certain maiden of forty years, who had three hundred acres of land. He + spoke of his children, who are proprietors of a circus establishment, and + have taken a granddaughter to bring up in their way of life; and he gave + me a message to tell them in case we should meet. While this old man is + wandering among the hills, his children are the gaze of multitudes. He + told me the place where he was born, directing me to it by pointing to a + wreath of mist which lay on the side of a mountain ridge, which he termed + "the smoke yonder." Speaking of the widow, he said: "My wife has been dead + these seven years, and why should not I enjoy myself a little?" His manner + was full of quirks and quips and eccentricities, waving his umbrella and + gesticulating strangely, with a great deal of action. I suppose, to help + his natural foolishness, he had been drinking. We parted, he exhorting me + not to forget his message to his sons, and I shouting after him a request + to be remembered to the widow. Conceive something tragical to be talked + about, and much might be made of this interview in a wild road among the + hills, with Graylock, at a great distance, looking sombre and angry, by + reason of the gray, heavy mist upon his head. + </p> + <p> + The morning was cloudy, and all the near landscape lay unsunned; but there + was sunshine on distant tracts, in the valleys, and in specks upon the + mountain-tops. Between the ridges of hills, there are long, wide, deep + valleys, extending for miles and miles, with houses scattered along them. + A bulky company of mountains, swelling round head over round head, rises + insulated by such broad vales from the surrounding ridges. + </p> + <p> + I ought to have mentioned that I arrived at North Adams in the forenoon of + the 26th, and, liking the aspect of matters indifferently well, determined + to make my headquarters here for a short time. + </p> + <p> + On the road to Northampton, we passed a tame crow, which was sitting on + the peak of a barn. The crow flew down from its perch, and followed us a + great distance, hopping along the road, and flying, with its large, black, + flapping wings, from post to post of the fence, or from tree to tree. At + last he gave up the pursuit with a croak of disappointment. The driver + said, perhaps correctly, that the crow had scented some salmon which was + in a basket under the seat, and that this was the secret of his pursuing + us. This would be a terrific incident if it were a dead body that the crow + scented, instead of a basket of salmon. Suppose, for instance, in a coach + travelling along, that one of the passengers suddenly should die, and that + one of the indications of his death would be this deportment of the crow. + </p> + <p> + July 29th.—Remarkable characters:—A disagreeable figure, + waning from middle age, clad in a pair of tow homespun pantaloons, and a + very soiled shirt, barefoot, and with one of his feet maimed by an axe; + also an arm amputated two or three inches below the elbow. His beard of a + week's growth, grim and grisly, with a general effect of black; altogether + a disgusting object. Yet he has the signs of having been a handsome man in + his idea, though now such a beastly figure that probably no living thing + but his great dog would touch him without an effort. Coming to the stoop, + where several persons were sitting, "Good morning, gentlemen," said the + wretch. Nobody answered for a time, till at last one said, "I don't know + whom you speak to: not to me, I'm sure" (meaning that he did not claim to + be a gentleman). "Why, I thought I spoke to you all at once," replied the + figure, laughing. So he sat himself down on the lower step of the stoop, + and began to talk; and, the conversation being turned upon his bare feet + by one of the company, he related the story of his losing his toes by the + glancing aside of an axe, and with what great fortitude he bore it. Then + he made a transition to the loss of his arm, and, setting his teeth and + drawing in his breath, said that the pain was dreadful; but this, too, he + seems to have borne like an Indian; and a person testified to his + fortitude by saying that he did not suppose there was any feeling in him, + from observing how he bore it. The man spoke of the pain of cutting the + muscles, and the particular agony at one moment, while the bone was being + sawed asunder; and there was a strange expression of remembered anguish, + as he shrugged his half-limb, and described the matter. Afterwards, in a + reply to a question of mine, whether he still seemed to feel the hand that + had been amputated, he answered that he did always; and, baring the stump, + he moved the severed muscles, saying, "There is the thumb, there the + forefinger," and so on. Then he talked to me about phrenology, of which he + seems a firm believer and skilful practitioner, telling how he had hit + upon the true character of many people. There was a great deal of sense + and acuteness in his talk, and something of elevation in his expressions,—perhaps + a studied elevation,—and a sort of courtesy in his manner; but his + sense had something out of the way in it; there was something wild and + ruined and desperate in his talk, though I can hardly say what it was. + There was a trace of the gentleman and man of intellect through his deep + degradation; and a pleasure in intellectual pursuits, and an acuteness and + trained judgment, which bespoke a mind once strong and cultivated. "My + study is man," said he. And looking at me, "I do not know your name," he + said, "but there is something of the hawk-eye about you, too." + </p> + <p> + This man was formerly a lawyer in good practice; but, taking to drinking, + was reduced to the lowest state. Yet not the lowest; for after the + amputation of his arm, being advised by divers persons to throw himself + upon the public for support, he told them that, even if he should lose his + other arm, he would still be able to support himself and a servant. + Certainly he is a strong-minded and iron-constitutioned man; hut, looking + at the stump of his arm, he said that the pain of the mind was a thousand + times greater than the pain of the body. "That hand could make the pen go + fast," said he. Among people in general, he does not seem to have any + greater consideration in his ruin because of his former standing in + society. He supports himself by making soap; and, on account of the offals + used in that business, there is probably rather an evil odor in his + domicile. Talking about a dead horse near his house, he said that he could + not bear the scent of it. "I should not think you could smell carrion in + that house," said a stage agent. Whereupon the soap-maker dropped his + head, with a little snort, as it were, of wounded feeling; but immediately + said that he took all in good part. There was an old squire of the + village, a lawyer probably, whose demeanor was different,— with a + distance, yet with a kindliness; for he remembered the times when they met + on equal terms. "You and I," said the squire, alluding to their respective + troubles and sicknesses, "would have died long ago, if we had not had the + courage to live." The poor devil kept talking to me long after everybody + else had left the stoop, giving vent to much practical philosophy, and + just observation on the ways of men, mingled with rather more assumption + of literature and cultivation than belonged to the present condition of + his mind. Meantime his great dog, a cleanly looking and not ill-bred dog, + being the only decent attribute appertaining to his master,—a + well-natured dog, too, and receiving civilly any demonstration of courtesy + from other people, though preserving a certain distance of deportment,—this + great dog grew weary of his master's lengthy talk, and expressed his + impatience to be gone by thrusting himself between his legs, rolling over + on his back, seizing his ragged trousers, or playfully taking his maimed, + bare foot into his mouth,—using, in short, the kindly and humorous + freedom of a friend, with a wretch to whom all are free enough, but none + other kind. His master rebuked him, but with kindness too, and not so that + the dog felt himself bound to desist, though he seemed willing to allow + his master all the time that could possibly be spared. And at last, having + said many times that he must go and shave and dress himself,—and as + his beard had been at least a week growing, it might have seemed almost a + week's work to get rid of it,—he rose from the stoop and went his + way,—a forlorn and miserable thing in the light of the cheerful + summer morning. Yet he seems to keep his spirits up, and still preserves + himself a man among men, asking nothing from them; nor is it clearly + perceptible what right they have to scorn him, though he seems to + acquiesce, in a manner, in their doing so. And yet he cannot wholly have + lost his self-respect; and doubtless there were persons on the stoop more + grovelling than himself. + </p> + <p> + Another character:—A blacksmith of fifty or upwards, a corpulent + figure, big in the paunch and enormous in the rear; yet there is such an + appearance of strength and robustness in his frame, that his corpulence + appears very proper and necessary to him. A pound of flesh could not be + spared from his abundance, any more than from the leanest man; and he + walks about briskly, without any panting or symptom of labor or pain in + his motion. He has a round, jolly face, always mirthful and humorous and + shrewd, and the air of a man well to do, and well respected, yet not + caring much about the opinions of men, because his independence is + sufficient to itself. Nobody would take him for other than a man of some + importance in the community, though his summer dress is a tow-cloth pair + of pantaloons, a shirt not of the cleanest, open at the breast, and the + sleeves rolled up at the elbows, and a straw hat. There is not such a vast + difference between this costume and that of Lawyer H——— + above mentioned, yet never was there a greater diversity of appearance + than between these two men; and a glance at them would be sufficient to + mark the difference. The blacksmith loves his glass, and comes to the + tavern for it, whenever it seems good to him, not calling for it slyly and + shyly, but marching steadily to the bar, or calling across the room for it + to be prepared. He speaks with great bitterness against the new license + law, and vows if it be not repealed by fair means it shall be by violence, + and that he will be as ready to cock his rifle for such a cause as for any + other. On this subject his talk is really fierce; but as to all other + matters he is good-natured and good-hearted, fond of joke, and shaking his + jolly sides with frequent laughter. His conversation has much strong, + unlettered sense, imbued with humor, as everybody's talk is in New + England. + </p> + <p> + He takes a queer position sometimes,—queer for his figure + particularly, —straddling across a chair, facing the back, with his + arms resting thereon, and his chin on them, for the benefit of conversing + closely with some one. When he has spent as much time in the bar-room or + under the stoop as he chooses to spare, he gets up at once, and goes off + with a brisk, vigorous pace. He owns a mill, and seems to be prosperous in + the world. I know no man who seems more like a man, more indescribably + human, than this sturdy blacksmith. + </p> + <p> + There came in the afternoon a respectable man in gray homespun cloth, who + arrived in a wagon, I believe, and began to inquire, after supper, about a + certain new kind of mill machinery. Being referred to the blacksmith, who + owned one of these mills, the stranger said that he had come from Vermont + to learn about the matter. "What may I call your name?" said he to the + blacksmith. "My name is Hodge," replied the latter. "I believe I have + heard of you," said the stranger. Then they colloquied at much length + about the various peculiarities and merits of the new invention. The + stranger continued here two or three days, making his researches, and + forming acquaintance with several millwrights and others. He was a man + evidently of influence in his neighborhood, and the tone of his + conversation was in the style of one accustomed to be heard with + deference, though all in a plain and homely way. Lawyer H——— + took notice of this manner; for the talk being about the nature of soap, + and the evil odor arising from that process, the stranger joined in. + "There need not be any disagreeable smell in making soap," said he. "Now + we are to receive a lesson," said H———, and the remark + was particularly apropos to the large wisdom of the stranger's tone and + air. + </p> + <p> + Then he gave an account of the process in his domestic establishment, + saying that he threw away the whole offals of the hog, as not producing + any soap, and preserved the skins of the intestines for sausages. He + seemed to be hospitable, inviting those with whom he did business to take + "a mouthful of dinner" with him, and treating them with liquors; for he + was not an utter temperance man, though moderate in his potations. I + suspect he would turn out a pattern character of the upper class of New + England yeomen, if I had an opportunity of studying him. Doubtless he had + been selectman, representative, and justice, and had filled all but + weighty offices. He was highly pleased with the new mill contrivance, and + expressed his opinion that, when his neighbors saw the success of his, it + would be extensively introduced into that vicinity. + </p> + <p> + Mem. The hostlers at taverns call the money given them "pergasus,"— + corrupted from "perquisites." Otherwise "knock-down money." Remarkable + character:—A travelling surgeon-dentist, who has taken a room in the + North Adams House, and sticks up his advertising bills on the pillars of + the piazza, and all about the town. He is a tall, slim young man, six feet + two, dressed in a country-made coat of light blue (taken, as he tells me, + in exchange for dental operations), black pantaloons, and clumsy, cowhide + hoots. Self-conceit is very strongly expressed in his air; and a doctor + once told him that he owed his life to that quality; for, by keeping + himself so stiffly upright, he opens his chest, and counteracts a + consumptive tendency. He is not only a dentist, which trade he follows + temporarily, but a licensed preacher of the Baptist persuasion, and is now + on his way to the West to seek a place of settlement in his spiritual + vocation. Whatever education he possesses, he has acquired by his own + exertions since the age of twenty-one,—he being now twenty-four. We + talk together very freely; and he has given me an account, among other + matters, of all his love-affairs, which are rather curious, as + illustrative of the life of a smart young country fellow in relation to + the gentle sex. Nothing can exceed the exquisite self-conceit which + characterizes these confidences, and which is expressed inimitably in his + face, his upturned nose, and mouth, so as to be truly a caricature; and he + seems strangely to find as much food for his passion in having been jilted + once or twice as in his conquests. It is curious to notice his revengeful + feeling against the false ones,— hidden from himself, however, under + the guise of religious interest, and desire that they may be cured of + their follies. + </p> + <p> + A little boy named Joe, who haunts about the bar-room and the stoop, four + years old, in a thin, short jacket, and full-breeched trousers, and bare + feet. The men tease him, and put quids of tobacco in his mouth, under + pretence of giving him a fig; and he gets curaged, and utters a peculiar, + sharp, spiteful cry, and strikes at them with a stick, to their great + mirth. He is always in trouble, yet will not keep away. They despatch him + with two or three cents to buy candy and nuts and raisins. They set him + down in a niche of the door, and tell him to remain there a day and a + half: he sits down very demurely, as if he meant to fulfil his penance; + but a moment after, behold! there is little Joe capering across the street + to join two or three boys who are playing in a wagon. Take this boy as the + germ of a tavern-haunter, a country roue, to spend a wild and brutal + youth, ten years of his prime in the State Prison, and his old age in the + poorhouse. + </p> + <p> + There are a great many dogs kept in the village, and many of the + travellers also have dogs. Some are almost always playing about; and if a + cow or a pig be passing, two or three of them scamper forth for an attack. + Some of the younger sort chase pigeons, wheeling as they wheel. If a + contest arises between two dogs, a number of others come with huge barking + to join the fray, though I believe that they do not really take any active + part in the contest, but swell the uproar by way of encouraging the + combatants. When a traveller is starting from the door, his dog often gets + in front of the horse, placing his forefeet down,— looking the horse + in the face, and barking loudly, then, as the horse comes on, running a + little farther, and repeating the process; and this he does in spite of + his master's remonstrances, till, the horse being fairly started, the dog + follows on quietly. One dog, a diminutive little beast, has been taught to + stand on his hind legs, and rub his face with his paw, which he does with + an aspect of much endurance and deprecation. Another springs at people + whom his master points out to him, barking and pretending to bite. These + tricks make much mirth in the bar-room. All dogs, of whatever different + sizes and dissimilar varieties, acknowledge the common bond of species + among themselves, and the largest one does not disdain to suffer his tail + to be smelt of, nor to reciprocate that courtesy to the smallest. They + appear to take much interest in one another; but there is always a degree + of caution between two strange dogs when they meet. + </p> + <p> + July 31st.—A visit to what is called "Hudson's Cave," or "Hudson's + Falls," the tradition being that a man by the name of Henry Hudson, many + years ago, chasing a deer, the deer fell over the place, which then first + became known to white men. It is not properly a cave, but a fissure in a + huge ledge of marble, through which a stream has been for ages forcing its + way, and has left marks of its gradually wearing power on the tall crags, + having made curious hollows from the summit down to the level which it has + reached at the present day. The depth of the fissure in some places is at + least fifty or sixty feet, perhaps more, and at several points it nearly + closes over, and often the sight of the sky is hidden by the interposition + of masses of the marble crags. The fissure is very irregular, so as not to + be describable in words, and scarcely to be painted,—jetting + buttresses, moss-grown, impending crags, with tall trees growing on their + verge, nodding over the head of the observer at the bottom of the chasm, + and rooted, as it were, in air. The part where the water works its way + down is very narrow; but the chasm widens, after the descent, so as to + form a spacious chamber between the crags, open to the sky, and its floor + is strewn with fallen fragments of marble, and trees that have been + precipitated long ago, and are heaped with drift-wood, left there by the + freshets, when the scanty stream becomes a considerable waterfall. One + crag, with a narrow ridge, which might be climbed without much difficulty, + protrudes from the middle of the rock, and divides the fall. The passage + through the cave made by the stream is very crooked, and interrupted, not + only by fallen wrecks, but by deep pools of water, which probably have + been forded by few. As the deepest pool occurs in the most uneven part of + the chasm, where the hollows in the sides of the crag are deepest, so that + each hollow is almost a cave by itself, I determined to wade through it. + There was an accumulation of soft stuff on the bottom, so that the water + did not look more than knee-deep; but, finding that my feet sunk in it, I + took off my trousers, and waded through up to my middle. Thus I reached + the most interesting part of the cave, where the whirlings of the stream + had left the marks of its eddies in the solid marble, all up and down the + two sides of the chasm. The water is now dammed for the construction of + two marble saw-mills, else it would have been impossible to effect the + passage; and I presume that, for years after the cave was discovered, the + waters roared and tore their way in a torrent through this part of the + chasm. While I was there, I heard voices, and a small stone tumbled down; + and looking up towards the narrow strip of bright light, and the sunny + verdure that peeped over the top,—looking up thither from the deep, + gloomy depth,—I saw two or three men; and, not liking to be to them + the most curious part of the spectacle, I waded back, and put on my + clothes. The marble crags are overspread with a concretion, which makes + them look as gray as granite, except where the continual flow of water + keeps them of a snowy whiteness. If they were so white all over, it would + be a splendid show. There is a marble-quarry close in the rear, above the + cave, and in process of time the whole of the crags will be quarried into + tombstones, doorsteps, fronts of edifices, fireplaces, etc. That will be a + pity. On such portions of the walls as are within reach, visitors have + sculptured their initials, or names at full length; and the white letters + showing plainly on the gray surface, they have more obvious effect than + such inscriptions generally have. There was formerly, I believe, a + complete arch of marble, forming a natural bridge over the top of the + cave; but this is no longer so. At the bottom of the broad chamber of the + cave, standing in its shadow, the effect of the morning sunshine on the + dark or bright foliage of the pines and other trees that cluster on the + summits of the crags was particularly beautiful; and it was strange how + such great trees had rooted themselves in solid marble, for so it seemed. + </p> + <p> + After passing through this romantic and most picturesque spot, the stream + goes onward to turn factories. Here its voice resounds within the hollow + crags; there it goes onward; talking to itself, with babbling din, of its + own wild thoughts and fantasies,—the voice of solitude and the + wilderness,—loud and continual, but which yet does not seem to + disturb the thoughtful wanderer, so that he forgets there is a noise. It + talks along its storm-strewn path; it talks beneath tall precipices and + high banks,—a voice that has been the same for innumerable ages; and + yet, if you listen, you will perceive a continual change and variety in + its babble, and sometimes it seems to swell louder upon the ear than at + others,—in the same spot, I mean. By and by man makes a dam for it, + and it pours over it, still making its voice heard, while it labors. At + one shop for manufacturing the marble, I saw the disk of a sun-dial as + large as the top of a hogshead, intended for Williams College; also a + small obelisk, and numerous gravestones. The marble is coarse-grained, but + of a very brilliant whiteness. It is rather a pity that the cave is not + formed of some worthless stone. + </p> + <p> + In the deep valleys of the neighborhood, where the shadows at sunset are + thrown from mountain to mountain, the clouds have a beautiful effect, + flitting high over them, bright with heavenly gold. It seems as if the + soul might rise up from the gloom, and alight upon them and soar away. + Walking along one of the valleys the other evening, while a pretty fresh + breeze blew across it, the clouds that were skimming over my head seemed + to conform themselves to the valley's shape. + </p> + <p> + At a distance, mountain summits look close together, almost as if forming + one mountain, though in reality a village lies in the depths between them. + </p> + <p> + A steam-engine in a factory to be supposed to possess a malignant spirit. + It catches one man's arm, and pulls it off; seizes another by the + coat-tails, and almost grapples him bodily; catches a girl by the hair, + and scalps her; and finally draws in a man, and crushes him to death. + </p> + <p> + The one-armed soap-maker, Lawyer H———, wears an iron + hook, which serves him instead of a hand for the purpose of holding on. + They nickname him "Black Hawk." + </p> + <p> + North Adams still.—The village, viewed from the top of a hill to the + westward at sunset, has a peculiarly happy and peaceful look. It lies on a + level, surrounded by hills, and seems as if it lay in the hollow of a + large hand. The Union Village may be seen, a manufacturing place, + extending up a gorge of the hills. It is amusing to see all the + distributed property of the aristocracy and commonalty, the various and + conflicting interests of the town, the loves and hates, compressed into a + space which the eye takes in as completely as the arrangement of a + tea-table. The rush of the streams comes up the hill somewhat like the + sound of a city. + </p> + <p> + The hills about the village appear very high and steep sometimes, when the + shadows of the clouds are thrown blackly upon them, while there is + sunshine elsewhere; so that, seen in front, the effect of their gradual + slope is lost. These hills, surrounding the town on all sides, give it a + snug and insulated air; and, viewed from certain points, it would be + difficult to tell how to get out, without climbing the mountain ridges; + but the roads wind away and accomplish the passage without ascending very + high. Sometimes the notes of a horn or bugle may be heard sounding afar + among these passes of the mountains, announcing the coming of the + stage-coach from Bennington or Troy or Greenfield or Pittsfield. + </p> + <p> + There are multitudes of sheep among the hills, and they appear very tame + and gentle; though sometimes, like the wicked, they "flee when no man + pursueth." But, climbing a rude, rough, rocky, stumpy, ferny height + yesterday, one or two of them stood and stared at me with great + earnestness. I passed on quietly, but soon heard an immense baa-ing up the + hill, and all the sheep came galloping and scrambling after me, baa-ing + with all their might in innumerable voices, running in a compact body, + expressing the utmost eagerness, as if they sought the greatest imaginable + favor from me; and so they accompanied me down the hillside,— a most + ridiculous cortege. Doubtless they had taken it into their heads that I + brought them salt. + </p> + <p> + The aspect of the village is peculiarly beautiful towards sunset, when + there are masses of cloud about the sky,—the remnants of a + thunder-storm. These clouds throw a shade upon large portions of the + rampart of hills, and the hills towards the west are shaded of course; the + clouds also make the shades deeper in the village, and thus the sunshine + on the houses and trees, and along the street, is a bright, rich gold. The + green is deeper in consequence of the recent rain. + </p> + <p> + The doctors walk about the village with their saddle-bags on their arms, + one always with a pipe in his mouth. + </p> + <p> + A little dog, named Snapper, the same who stands on his hind legs, appears + to be a roguish little dog, and the other day he stole one of the + servant-girl's shoes, and ran into the street with it. Being pursued, he + would lift the shoe in his mouth (while it almost dragged on the ground), + and run a little way, then lie down with his paws on it, and wait to be + pursued again. + </p> + <p> + August 11th.—This morning, it being cloudy and boding of rain, the + clouds had settled upon the mountains, both on the summits and ridges, all + round the town, so that there seemed to be no way of gaining access to the + rest of the world, unless by climbing above the clouds. By and by they + partially dispersed, giving glimpses of the mountain ramparts through + their obscurity, the separate clouds lying heavily upon the mountain's + breast. In warm mornings, after rain, the mist breaks forth from the + forests on the ascent of the mountains, like smoke,—the smoke of a + volcano; then it soars up, and becomes a cloud in heaven. But these clouds + to-day were real rain-clouds. Sometimes, it is said, while laboring up the + mountain-side, they suddenly burst, and pour down their moisture in a + cataract, sweeping all before it. + </p> + <p> + Every new aspect of the mountains, or view from a different position, + creates a surprise in the mind. + </p> + <p> + Scenes and characters:—A young country fellow, twenty or + thereabouts, decently dressed, pained with the toothache. A doctor, + passing on horseback, with his black leather saddle-bags behind him, a + thin, frosty-haired man. Being asked to operate, he looks at the tooth, + lances the gum, and the fellow being content to be dealt with on the spot, + he seats himself in a chair on the stoop with great heroism. The doctor + produces a rusty pair of iron forceps; a man holds the patient's head; the + doctor perceives that, it being a difficult tooth to get at, wedged + between the two largest in his jaws, he must pull very hard; and the + instrument is introduced. A turn of the doctor's hand; the patient begins + to utter a cry, but the tooth comes out first, with four prongs. The + patient gets up, half amazed, pays the doctor ninepence, pockets the + tooth, and the spectators are in glee and admiration. + </p> + <p> + There was a fat woman, a stage-passenger to-day,—a wonder how she + could possibly get through the door, which seemed not so wide as she. When + she put her foot on the step, the stage gave a great lurch, she joking all + the while. A great, coarse, red-faced dame. Other passengers,—three + or four slender Williamstown students, a young girl, and a man with one + leg and two crutches. + </p> + <p> + One of the most sensible men in this village is a plain, tall, elderly + person, who is overseeing the mending of a road,—humorous, + intelligent, with much thought about matters and things; and while at work + he has a sort of dignity in handling the hoe or crow-bar, which shows him + to be the chief. In the evening he sits under the stoop, silent and + observant from under the brim of his hat; but, occasion calling, he holds + an argument about the benefit or otherwise of manufactories or other + things. A simplicity characterizes him more than appertains to most + Yankees. + </p> + <p> + A man in a pea-green frock-coat, with velvet collar. Another in a flowered + chintz frock-coat. There is a great diversity of hues in garments. A + doctor, a stout, tall, round-paunched, red-faced, brutal-looking old + fellow, who gets drunk daily. He sat down on the step of our stoop, + looking surly, and speaking to nobody; then got up and walked homeward, + with a morose swagger and a slight unevenness of gait, attended by a fine + Newfoundland dog. + </p> + <p> + A barouche with driver returned from beyond Greenfield or Troy empty, the + passengers being left at the former place. The driver stops here for the + night, and, while washing, enters into talk with an old man about the + different roads over the mountain. + </p> + <p> + People washing themselves at a common basin in the bar-room! and using the + common hair-brushes! perhaps with a consciousness of praiseworthy + neatness! + </p> + <p> + A man with a cradle on his shoulder, having been cradling oats. I attended + a child's funeral yesterday afternoon. There was an assemblage of people + in a plain, homely apartment. Most of the men were dressed in their + ordinary clothes, and one or two were in shirt-sleeves. The coffin was + placed in the midst of us, covered with a velvet pall. A bepaid clergyman + prayed (the audience remaining seated, while he stood up at the head of + the coffin), read a passage of Scripture and commented upon it. While he + read and prayed and expounded there was a heavy thunder-storm rumbling + among the surrounding hills, and the lightning flashed fiercely through + the gloomy room; and the preacher alluded to GOD's voice of thunder. + </p> + <p> + It is the custom in this part of the country—and perhaps extensively + in the interior of New England—to bury the dead first in a + charnel-house, or common tomb, where they remain till decay has so far + progressed as to secure them from the resurrectionists. They are then + reburied, with certain ceremonies, in their own peculiar graves. + </p> + <p> + O. E. S———, a widower of forty or upwards, with a son of + twelve and a pair of infant twins. He is a sharp, shrewd Yankee, with a + Yankee's license of honesty. He drinks sometimes more than enough, and is + guilty of peccadilloes with the fair sex; yet speaks most affectionately + of his wife, and is a fond and careful father. He is a tall, thin, + hard-featured man, with a sly expression of almost hidden grave humor, as + if there were some deviltry pretty constantly in his mind,—which is + probably the case. His brother tells me that he was driven almost crazy by + the loss of his wife. It appears to me that men are more affected by the + deaths of their wives than wives by the deaths of their husbands. Orrin S——— + smokes a pipe, as do many of the guests. + </p> + <p> + A walk this forenoon up the mountain ridge that walls in the town towards + the east. The road is cut zigzag, the mountain being generally as steep as + the roof of a house; yet the stage to Greenfield passes over this road two + or three times a week. Graylock rose up behind me, appearing, with its two + summits and a long ridge between, like a huge monster crouching down + slumbering, with its head slightly elevated. Graylock is properly the name + for the highest elevation. It appeared to better advantage the higher the + point from which I viewed it. There were houses scattered here and there + up the mountainside, growing poorer as I ascended; the last that I passed + was a mean log-hut, rough, rude, and dilapidated, with the smoke issuing + from a chimney of small stones, plastered with clay; around it a garden of + beans, with some attempt at flowers, and a green creeper running over the + side of the cottage. Above this point there were various excellent views + of mountain scenery, far off and near, and one village lying below in the + hollow vale. + </p> + <p> + Having climbed so far that the road seemed now to go downward, I retraced + my steps. There was a wagon descending behind me; and as it followed the + zigzag of the road I could hear the voices of the men high over my head, + and sometimes I caught a glimpse of the wagon almost perpendicularly above + me, while I was looking almost perpendicularly down to the log-hut + aforementioned. Trees were thick on either hand,—oaks, pines, and + others; and marble occasionally peeped up in the road and there was a + lime-kiln by the wayside, ready for burning. + </p> + <p> + Graylock had a cloud on his head this morning, the base of a heavy white + cloud. The distribution of the sunshine amid mountain scenery is very + striking; one does not see exactly why one spot should be in deep + obscurity while others are all bright. The clouds throw their shadows upon + the hillsides as they move slowly along,—a transitory blackness. + </p> + <p> + I passed a doctor high up the road in a sulky, with his black leather + saddle-bags. + </p> + <p> + Hudson's Cave is formed by Hudson's Brook. There is a natural arch of + marble still in one part of it. The cliffs are partly made verdant with + green moss, chiefly gray with oxidation; on some parts the white of the + marble is seen; in interstices grow brake and other shrubs, so that there + is naked sublimity seen through a good deal of clustering beauty. Above, + the birch, poplars, and pines grow on the utmost verge of the cliffs, + which jut far over, so that they are suspended in air; and whenever the + sunshine finds its way into the depths of the chasm, the branches wave + across it. There is a lightness, however, about their foliage, which + greatly relieves what would otherwise be a gloomy scene. After the passage + of the stream through the cliffs of marble, the cliffs separate on either + side, and leave it to flow onward; intercepting its passage, however, by + fragments of marble, some of them huge ones, which the cliffs have flung + down, thundering into the bed of the stream through numberless ages. + Doubtless some of these immense fragments had trees growing on them, which + have now mouldered away. Decaying trunks are heaped in various parts of + the gorge. The pieces of marble that are washed by the water are of a + snow-white, and partially covered with a bright green water-moss, making a + beautiful contrast. + </p> + <p> + Among the cliffs, strips of earth-beach extend downward, and trees and + large shrubs root themselves in that earth, thus further contrasting the + nakedness of the stone with their green foliage. But the immediate part + where the stream forces its winding passage through the rock is stern, + dark, and mysterious. + </p> + <p> + Along the road, where it runs beneath a steep, there are high ridges, + covered with trees,—the dew of midnight damping the earth, far + towards midnoon. I observed the shadows of water-insects, as they swam in + the pools of a stream. Looking down a streamlet, I saw a trunk of a tree, + which has been overthrown by the wind, so as to form a bridge, yet + sticking up all its branches, as if it were unwilling to assist anybody + over. + </p> + <p> + Green leaves, following the eddies of the rivulet, were now borne deep + under water, and now emerged. Great uprooted trees, adhering midway down a + precipice of earth, hung with their tops downward. + </p> + <p> + There is an old man, selling the meats of butternuts under the stoop of + the hotel. He makes that his station during a part of the season. He was + dressed in a dark thin coat, ribbed velvet pantaloons, and a sort of + moccasins, or shoes, appended to the legs of woollen stockings. He had on + a straw hat, and his hair was gray, with a long, thin visage. His nuts + were contained in a square tin box, having two compartments, one for the + nuts, and another for maple sugar, which he sells in small cakes. He had + three small tin measures for nuts,—one at one cent, others at two, + four, and six cents; and as fast as they were emptied, he filled them + again, and put them on the top of his box. He smoked a pipe, and talked + with one man about whether it would be worth while to grow young again, + and the duty of being contented with old age; about predestination and + freewill and other metaphysics. I asked him what his sales amounted to in + the course of a day. He said that butternuts did not sell so well as + walnuts, which are not yet in season; that he might to-day have sold fifty + cents' worth of walnuts, never less than a dollar's worth, often more; and + when he went round with a caravan, he had sold fifteen dollars' worth per + day, and once as much as twenty dollars' worth. This promises to be an + excellent year for walnuts. Chestnuts have been scarce for two or three + years. He had one hundred chestnut-trees on his own land, and last year he + offered a man twenty-five cents if he would find him a quart of good + chestnuts on them. A bushel of walnuts would cost about ten dollars. He + wears a pair of silver-rimmed spectacles. + </p> + <p> + A drunken fellow sat down by him, and bought a cent's worth of his + butternuts, and inquired what he would sell out to him for. The old man + made an estimate, though evidently in jest, and then reckoned his box, + measures, meats, and what little maple sugar he had, at four dollars. He + had a very quiet manner, and expressed an intention of going to the + Commencement at Williamstown to-morrow. His name, I believe, is Captain + Gavett. + </p> + <p> + Wednesday, August 15th.—I went to Commencement at Williams College,— + five miles distant. At the tavern were students with ribbons, pink or + blue, fluttering from their buttonholes, these being the badges of rival + societies. There was a considerable gathering of people, chiefly arriving + in wagons or buggies, some in barouches, and very few in chaises. The most + characteristic part of the scene was where the pedlers, + gingerbread-sellers, etc., were collected, a few hundred yards from the + meeting-house. There was a pedler there from New York State, who sold his + wares by auction, and I could have stood and listened to him all day long. + Sometimes he would put up a heterogeny [this is a word made by Mr. + Hawthorne, but one that was needed.—S. H.] of articles in a lot,—as + a paper of pins, a lead-pencil, and a shaving-box,—and knock them + all down, perhaps for ninepence. Bunches of lead-pencils, steel-pens, + pound-cakes of shaving-soap, gilt finger-rings, bracelets, clasps, and + other jewelry, cards of pearl buttons, or steel ("there is some steel + about them, gentlemen, for my brother stole 'em, and I bore him out in + it"), bundles of wooden combs, boxes of matches, suspenders, and, in + short, everything,—dipping his hand down into his wares with the + promise of a wonderful lot, and producing, perhaps, a bottle of opodeldoc, + and joining it with a lead-pencil,—and when he had sold several + things of the same kind, pretending huge surprise at finding "just one + more," if the lads lingered; saying, "I could not afford to steal them for + the price; for the remorse of conscience would be worth more,"—all + the time keeping an eye upon those who bought, calling for the pay, making + change with silver or bills, and deciding on the goodness of banks; and + saying to the boys who climbed upon his cart, "Fall down, roll down, + tumble down, only get down"; and uttering everything in the queer, + humorous recitative in which he sold his articles. Sometimes he would + pretend that a person had bid, either by word or wink, and raised a laugh + thus; never losing his self-possession, nor getting out of humor. When a + man asked whether a bill were good: "No! do you suppose I'd give you good + money?" When he delivered an article, he exclaimed, "You're the lucky + man," setting off his wares with the most extravagant eulogies. The people + bought very freely, and seemed also to enjoy the fun. One little boy + bought a shaving-box, perhaps meaning to speculate upon it. This character + could not possibly he overdrawn; and he was really excellent, with his + allusions to what was passing, intermingled, doubtless, with a good deal + that was studied. He was a man between thirty and forty, with a face + expressive of other ability, as well as of humor. + </p> + <p> + A good many people were the better or the worse for liquor. There was one + fellow,—named Randall, I think,—a round-shouldered, bulky, + ill-hung devil, with a pale, sallow skin, black beard, and a sort of grin + upon his face,—a species of laugh, yet not so much mirthful as + indicating a strange mental and moral twist. He was very riotous in the + crowd, elbowing, thrusting, seizing hold of people; and at last a ring was + formed, and a regular wrestling-match commenced between him and a + farmer-looking man. Randall brandished his legs about in the most + ridiculous style, but proved himself a good wrestler, and finally threw + his antagonist. He got up with the same grin upon his features,—not + a grin of simplicity, but intimating knowingness. When more depth or force + of expression was required, he could put on the most strangely ludicrous + and ugly aspect (suiting his gesture and attitude to it) that can be + imagined. I should like to see this fellow when he was perfectly sober. + </p> + <p> + There were a good many blacks among the crowd. I suppose they used to + emigrate across the border, while New York was a slave State. There were + enough of them to form a party, though greatly in the minority; and, a + squabble arising, some of the blacks were knocked down, and otherwise + maltreated. I saw one old negro, a genuine specimen of the slave negro, + without any of the foppery of the race in our part of the State,—an + old fellow, with a bag, I suppose of broken victuals, on his shoulder, and + his pockets stuffed out at his hips with the like provender; full of + grimaces and ridiculous antics, laughing laughably, yet without + affectation; then talking with a strange kind of pathos about the + whippings he used to get while he was a slave;—a singular creature, + of mere feeling, with some glimmering of sense. Then there was another + gray old negro, but of a different stamp, politic, sage, cautious, yet + with boldness enough, talking about the rights of his race, yet so as not + to provoke his audience; discoursing of the advantage of living under + laws, and the wonders that might ensue, in that very assemblage, if there + were no laws; in the midst of this deep wisdom, turning off the anger of a + half-drunken fellow by a merry retort, a leap in the air, and a negro's + laugh. I was interested—there being a drunken negro ascending the + meeting-house steps, and near him three or four well-dressed and decent + negro wenches—to see the look of scorn and shame and sorrow and + painful sympathy which one of them assumed at this disgrace of her color. + </p> + <p> + The people here show out their character much more strongly than they do + with us; there was not the quiet, silent, dull decency of our public + assemblages, but mirth, anger, eccentricity,—all manifesting + themselves freely. There were many watermelons for sale, and people + burying their muzzles deep in the juicy flesh of them. There were cider + and beer. Many of the people had their mouths half opened in a grin, + which, more than anything else, I think, indicates a low stage of + refinement. A low-crowned hat—very low—is common. They are + respectful to gentlemen. + </p> + <p> + A bat being startled, probably, out of the meeting-house, by the commotion + around, flew blindly about in the sunshine, and alighted on a man's + sleeve. I looked at him,—a droll, winged, beast-insect, creeping up + the man's arm, not over-clean, and scattering dust on the man's coat from + his vampire wings. The man stared at him, and let the spectators stare for + a minute, and then shook him gently off; and the poor devil took a flight + across the green to the meeting-house, and then, I believe, alighted on + somebody else. Probably he was put to death. Bats are very numerous in + these parts. + </p> + <p> + There was a drunken man, annoying people with his senseless talk and + impertinences, impelled to perform eccentricities by an evil spirit in + him; and a pale little boy, with a bandaged leg, whom his father brought + out of the tavern and put into a barouche. Then the boy heedfully placed + shawls and cushions about his leg to support it, his face expressive of + pain and care,—not transitory, but settled pain, of long and + forcedly patient, endurance; and this painful look, perhaps, gave his face + more intelligence than it might otherwise have had, though it was + naturally a sensitive face. Well-dressed ladies were in the meeting-house + in silks and cambrics,—the sunburnt necks in contiguity with the + delicate fabrics of the dresses showing the yeomen's daughters. + </p> + <p> + Country graduates,—rough, brown-featured, schoolmaster-looking, + half-bumpkin, half-scholarly figures, in black ill-cut broadcloth,—their + manners quite spoilt by what little of the gentleman there was in them. + </p> + <p> + The landlord of the tavern keeping his eye on a man whom he suspected of + an intention to bolt. [A word meaning in Worcester, I find, "to spring out + with speed and suddenness."—S. H.] + </p> + <p> + The next day after Commencement was bleak and rainy from midnight till + midnight, and a good many guests were added to our table in consequence. + Among them were some of the Williamstown students, gentlemanly young + fellows, with a brotherly feeling for each other, a freedom about money + concerns, a half-boyish, half-manly character; and my heart warmed to + them. They took their departure—two for South Adams and two across + the Green Mountains—in the midst of the rain. There was one of the + graduates with his betrothed, and his brother-in-law and wife, who stayed + during the day,—the graduate the very model of a country + schoolmaster in his Sunday clothes, being his Commencement suit of black + broadcloth and pumps. He is engaged as assistant teacher of the academy at + Shelburne Falls. There was also the high sheriff of Berkshire, Mr. + Twining, with a bundle of writs under his arm, and some of them peeping + out of his pockets. Also several Trojan men and women, who had been to + Commencement. Likewise a young clergyman, graduate of Brown College, and + student of the Divinity School at Cambridge. He had come across the + Hoosic, or Green Mountains, about eighteen miles, on foot, from + Charlemont, where he is preaching, and had been to Commencement. Knowing + little of men and matters, and desiring to know more, he was very free in + making acquaintance with people, but could not do it handsomely. A + singular smile broke out upon his face on slight provocation. He was + awkward in his manners, yet it was not an ungentlemanly awkwardness,— + intelligent as respects book-learning, but much deficient in worldly tact. + It was pleasant to observe his consciousness of this deficiency, and how + he strove to remedy it by mixing as much as possible with people, and + sitting almost all day in the bar-room to study character. Sometimes he + would endeavor to contribute his share to the general amusement,—as + by growling comically, to provoke and mystify a dog; and by some bashful + and half-apropos observations. + </p> + <p> + In the afternoon there came a fresh bevy of students onward from + Williamstown; but they made only a transient visit, though it was still + raining. These were a rough-hewn, heavy set of fellows, from the hills and + woods in this neighborhood,—great unpolished bumpkins, who had grown + up farmer-boys, and had little of the literary man, save green spectacles + and black broadcloth (which all of them had not), talking with a broad + accent, and laughing clown-like, while sheepishness overspread all, + together with a vanity at being students. One of the party was six feet + seven inches high, and all his herculean dimensions were in proportion; + his features, too, were cast in a mould suitable to his stature. This + giant was not ill-looking, but of a rattier intelligent aspect. His + motions were devoid of grace, but yet had a rough freedom, appropriate + enough to such a figure. These fellows stayed awhile, talked uncouthly + about college matters, and started in the great open wagon which had + brought them and their luggage hither. We had a fire in the bar-room + almost all day,—a great, blazing fire,—and it was pleasant to + have this day of bleak November weather, and cheerful fireside talk, and + wet garments smoking in the fireside heat, still in the summer-time. Thus + the day wore on with a sort of heavy, lazy pleasantness; and night set in, + still stormy. + </p> + <p> + In the morning it was cloudy, but did not rain, and I went with the little + clergyman to Hudson's Cave. The stream which they call the North Branch, + and into which Hudson's Brook empties, was much swollen, and tumbled and + dashed and whitened over the rocks, and formed real cascades over the + dams, and rushed fast along the side of the cliffs, which had their feet + in it. Its color was deep brown, owing to the washing of the banks which + the rain had poured into it. Looking back, we could see a cloud on + Graylock; but on other parts of Saddle Mountain there were spots of + sunshine, some of most glorious brightness, contrasting with the general + gloom of the sky, and the deep shadow which lay on the earth. + </p> + <p> + We looked at the spot where the stream makes its entrance into the marble + cliff, and it was (this morning, at least) the most striking view of the + cave. The water dashed down in a misty cascade, through what looked like + the portal of some infernal subterranean structure; and far within the + portal we could see the mist and the falling water; and it looked as if, + but for these obstructions of view, we might have had a deeper insight + into a gloomy region. + </p> + <p> + After our return, the little minister set off for his eighteen miles' + journey across the mountain; and I was occupied the rest of the forenoon + with an affair of stealing—a woman of forty or upwards being accused + of stealing a needle-case and other trifles from a factory-girl at a + boarding-house. She came here to take passage in a stage; but Putnam, a + justice of the peace, examined her and afterwards ordered her to be + searched by Laura and Eliza, the chambermaid and table-waiter. Hereupon + was much fun and some sympathy. They searched, and found nothing that they + sought, though she gave up a pair of pantalets, which she pretended to + have taken by mistake. Afterwards, she being in the parlor, I went in; and + she immediately began to talk to me, giving me an account of the affair, + speaking with the bitterness of a wronged person, with a sparkling eye, + yet with great fluency and self-possession. She is a yellow, thin, and + battered old thing, yet rather country-lady-like in aspect and manners. I + heard Eliza telling another girl about it, under my window; and she seemed + to think that the poor woman's reluctance to be searched arose from the + poorness of her wardrobe and of the contents of her bandbox. + </p> + <p> + At parting, Eliza said to the girl, "What do you think I heard somebody + say about you? That it was enough to make anybody's eyes start square out + of their head to look at such red cheeks as yours." Whereupon the girl + turned off the compliment with a laugh, and took her leave. + </p> + <p> + There is an old blind dog, recognizing his friends by the sense of smell. + I observe the eager awkwardness with which he accomplishes the + recognition, his carefulness in descending steps, and generally in his + locomotion. He evidently has not forgotten that he once had the faculty of + sight; for he turns his eyes with earnestness towards those who attract + his attention, though the orbs are plainly sightless. + </p> + <p> + Here is an Englishman,—a thorough-going Tory and Monarchist,—upholding + everything English, government, people, habits, education, manufactures, + modes of living, and expressing his dislike of all Americanisms,—and + this in a quiet, calm, reasonable way, as if it were quite proper to live + in a country and draw his subsistence from it, and openly abuse it. He + imports his clothes from England, and expatiates on the superiority of + English boots, hats, cravats, etc. He is a man of unmalleable habits, and + wears his dress of the same fashion as that of twenty years ago. + </p> + <p> + August 18th.—There has come one of the proprietors, or + superintendents, of a caravan of animals,—a large, portly paunched, + dark-complexioned, brandy-burnt, heavy-faced man of about fifty; with a + diminutive nose in proportion to the size of his face,—thick lips; + nevertheless he has the air of a man who has seen much, and derived such + experience as was for his purpose. Also it is the air of a man not in a + subordinate station, though vulgar and coarse. He arrived in a wagon, with + a span of handsome gray horses, and ordered dinner. He had left his + caravan at Worcester, and came from thence and over the mountain hither, + to settle stopping-places for the caravan. The nearest place to this. I + believe, was Charlemont; the penultimate at Greenfield. In stopping at + such a village as this, they do not expect much profit, if any; but would + be content with enough to pay their travelling expenses, while they look + to gather gain at larger places. In this village, it seems, the selectmen + had resolved not to license any public exhibition of the kind; and it was + interesting to attend to the consultations whether it were feasible to + overcome the objections, and what might be the best means. Orrin S——— + and the chance passers-by took part in the discussion. The scruple is that + the factory-girls, having ready money by them, spend it for these + nonsenses, quitting their work; whereas, were it a mere farming-town, the + caravan would take little in proportion to their spendings. The opinion + generally was that the license could not be obtained; and the portly man's + face grew darker and downcast at the prospect; and he took out a + travelling-map, and looked it carefully over, to discover some other + station. This is something like the planning of the march of an army. It + was finally resolved to enlist the influence of a brother-in-law of the + head selectman, and try to gain his consent. Whereupon the caravan-man and + the brother-in-law (who, being a tavern-keeper, was to divide the custom + of the caravan people with this house) went to make the attempt,—the + caravan-man stalking along with stiff, awkward bulk and stature, yet + preserving a respectability withal, though with somewhat of the + blackguard. Before he went, he offered a wager of "a drink of rum to a + thaw of tobacco" that he did not succeed. When he came back, there was a + flush in his face and a sparkle in his eye that did not look like failure; + but I know not what was the result. He took a glass of wine with the + brother-in-law,—a grave, thin, frosty-haired, shrewd-looking yeoman, + in his shirt-sleeves,—then ordered his horses, paid his bill, and + drove off, accompanied still by the same yeoman, perhaps to get the + permission of the other two selectmen. If he does not get a license here, + he will try at Cheshire. + </p> + <p> + A fellow appears with a pink guard-chain and two breast-pins in his shirt,—one + a masonic one of gold, with compass and square, and the other of colored + glass, set in filigree brass,—and the shirt a soiled one. + </p> + <p> + A tendency to obesity is more common in this part of the country than I + have noticed it elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + August 19th.—I drove with Orrin S——— last evening + to an old farmer's house to get some chickens. Entering the kitchen, I + observed a fireplace with rough stone jambs and back, and a marble hearth, + cracked, and otherwise contrasting a roughness of workmanship with the + value of the material. There was a clock without a case, the weights being + visible, and the pendulum swinging in air,—and a coffee-mill fixed + against the wall. A religious newspaper lay on the mantel-piece. The old + farmer was reluctant to go after the fowls, declaring that it would be + impossible to find them in the dark; but Orrin insisting, he lighted a + lamp, and we all went together, and quickly found them, roosted about the + wood-pile; whereupon Orrin speedily laid hands on five, and wrung their + necks in a twinkling, they fluttering long after they should have been + dead. When we had taken our departure, Orrin remarked, "How faint-hearted + these old fellows are!" and it was a good observation; for it was the + farmer's timorous age that made him doubt the practicability of catching + the chickens, and it contrasted well with the persevering energy of the + middle-aged Orrin. But Orrin inquired, somewhat dolefully, whether I + should suppose that he himself bewailed the advances of age. It is a + grievous point with him. + </p> + <p> + In the evening there was a strange fellow in the bar-room,—a sort of + mock Methodist,—a cattle-drover, who had stopped here for the night + with two cows and a Durham bull. All his talk turned upon religion, and he + would ever and anon burst out in some strain of scriptural-styled + eloquence, chanted through his nose, like an exhortation at a + camp-meeting. A group of Universalists and no-religionists sat around him, + making him their butt, and holding wild argument with him; and he + strangely mingled humor with his enthusiasm, and enthusiasm with his + humor, so that it was almost impossible to tell whether he were in jest or + earnest. Probably it was neither, but an eccentricity, an almost + monomania, that has grown upon him,—perhaps the result of strong + religious excitement. And, having been a backslider, he is cursed with a + half-frenzied humor. In the morning he talked in the same strain at + breakfast, while quaffing fourteen cups of tea,—Eliza, all the + while, as she supplied him, entreating him not to drink any more. After + breakfast (it being the Sabbath) he drove his two cows and bull past the + stoop, raising his stair, and running after them with strange, uncouth + gestures; and the last word I heard from him was an exhortation: + "Gentlemen, now all of you take your Bibles, and meditate on divine + things,"—this being uttered with raised hands, and a Methodistical + tone, intermingled, as was his expression, with something humorous; so + that, to the last, the puzzle was still kept up, whether he was an + enthusiast or a jester. He wore a suit of coarse brown cloth, cut in + rather a Quaker fashion; and he had a large nose, and his face expressed + enthusiasm and honor,—a sort of smile and twinkle of the eye, with + wildness. He is excellent at a bargain; and if, in the midst of his + ghostly exhortation, the talk were turned on cattle, he eagerly seized the + topic and expatiated on it. + </p> + <p> + While this fellow was enumerating the Universalists in neighboring towns + who had turned from their errors on their death-beds, some one exclaimed, + "John Hodges! why, he isn't dead,—he's alive and well." Whereat + there was a roar of laughter. While holding an argument at table, I heard + him mutter to himself at something that his adversary said; and though I + could not distinguish what it was, the tone did more to convince me of + some degree of earnestness than aught beside. This character might be + wrought into a strange portrait of something sad, terrific, and laughable. + </p> + <p> + The Sabbath wore away lazily, and therefore wickedly. The heavy + caravan-man inquired for some book of light reading, and, having obtained + an old volume of a literary paper, betook himself to the seat of his + wagon, to read. At other times he smoked, and talked sensibly enough with + anybody that offered. He is a man of sense, though not quick, and seems to + be a fair man. + </p> + <p> + When he walks, he puts the thumb of each hand into the armhole of his + waistcoat, and moves along stiffly, with a knock-kneed gait. His talk was + chiefly of hotels, and such matters as a man, always travelling, without + any purpose of observation for mental improvement, would be interested in. + He spoke of his life as a hard one. + </p> + <p> + There was a Methodist quarterly meeting here, and a love-feast. + </p> + <p> + There is a fellow hereabout who refuses to pay six dollars for the coffin + in which his wife was buried. She died about six months since, and I + believe he is already engaged to another. He is young and rather comely, + but has not a straightforward look. + </p> + <p> + One man plods along, looking always on the ground, without ever lifting + his eyes to the mountain scenery, and forest, and clouds, above and around + him. Another walks the street with a quick, prying eye, and sharp face,—the + most, expressive possible of one on the lookout for gain,—of the + most disagreeable class of Yankees. There is also a sour-looking, + unwholesome boy, the son of this man, whose voice is querulous and + ill-natured, precisely suited to his aspect. So is his character. + </p> + <p> + We have another with Indian blood in him, and the straight, black hair,— + something of the tawny skin and the quick, shining eye of the Indian. He + seems reserved, but is not ill-natured when spoken to. There is so much of + the white in him, that he gives the impression of belonging to a civilized + race, which causes the more strange sensation on discovering that he has a + wild lineage. + </p> + <p> + August 22d.—I walked out into what is called the Notch this + forenoon, between Saddle Mountain and another. There are good farms in + this Notch, although the ground is considerably elevated,—this + morning, indeed, above the clouds; for I penetrated through one in + reaching the higher region, although I found sunshine there. Graylock was + hidden in clouds, and the rest of Saddle Mountain had one partially + wreathed about it; but it was withdrawn before long. It was very beautiful + cloud-scenery. The clouds lay on the breast of the mountain, dense, white, + well-defined, and some of them were in such close vicinity that it seemed + as if I could infold myself in them; while others, belonging to the same + fleet, were floating through the blue sky above. I had a view of + Williamstown at the distance of a few miles,—two or three, perhaps,—a + white village and steeple in a gradual hollow, with high mountainous + swells heaving themselves up, like immense, subsiding waves, far and wide + around it. On these high mountain-waves rested the white summer clouds, or + they rested as still in the air above; and they were formed in such + fantastic shapes that they gave the strongest possible impression of being + confounded or intermixed with the sky. It was like a day-dream to look at + it; and the students ought to be day-dreamers, all of them,—when + cloud-land is one and the same thing with the substantial earth. By + degrees all these clouds flitted away, and the sultry summer sun burned on + hill and valley. As I was walking home, an old man came down the + mountain-path behind me in a wagon, and gave me a drive to the village. + Visitors being few in the Notch, the women and girls looked from the + windows after me; the men nodded and greeted me with a look of curiosity; + and two little girls whom I met, bearing tin pails, whispered one another + and smiled. + </p> + <p> + North Adams, August 23d.—The county commissioners held a court; in + the bar-room yesterday afternoon, for the purpose of letting out the + making of the new road over the mountain. The commissioners sat together + in attitudes of some dignity, with one leg laid across another; and the + people, to the number of twenty or thirty, sat round about with their hats + on, in their shirt-sleeves, with but little, yet with some formality. + Several had come from a distance to bid for the job. They sat with whips + in their hands. The first bid was three dollars,—then there was a + long silence,—then a bid of two dollars eighty-five cents, and + finally it was knocked down at two eighteen, per rod. A disposition to bid + was evidenced in one man by his joking on the bid of another. + </p> + <p> + After supper, as the sun was setting, a man passed by the door with a + hand-organ, connected with which was a row of figures, such as dancers, + pirouetting and turning, a lady playing on a piano, soldiers, a negro + wench dancing, and opening and shutting a huge red mouth,—all these + keeping time to the lively or slow tunes of the organ. The man had a + pleasant, but sly, dark face; he carried his whole establishment on his + shoulder, it being fastened to a staff which he rested on the ground when + he performed. A little crowd of people gathered about him on the stoop, + peeping over each other's heads with huge admiration,—fat Otis + Hodge, and the tall stage-driver, and the little boys, all declaring that + it was the masterpiece of sights. Some few coppers did the man obtain, as + well as much praise. He had come over the high, solitary mountain, where + for miles there could hardly be a soul to hear his music. + </p> + <p> + In the evening, a portly old commissioner, a cheerful man enough, was + sitting reading the newspaper in the parlor, holding the candle between + the newspaper and his eyes,—its rays glittering on his silver-bowed + spectacles and silvery hair. A pensive mood of age had come upon him, and + sometimes he heaved a long sigh, while he turned and re-turned the paper, + and folded it for convenient reading. By and by a gentleman came to see + him, and he talked with him cheerfully. + </p> + <p> + The fat old squire, whom I have mentioned more than once, is an odd + figure, with his bluff, red face,—coarsely red,—set in silver + hair,— his clumsy legs, which he moves in a strange straddle, using, + I believe, a broomstick for a staff. The breadth of back of these fat men + is truly a wonder. + </p> + <p> + A decent man, at table the other day, took the only remaining potato out + of the dish, on the end of his knife, and offered his friend half of it! + </p> + <p> + The mountains look much larger and more majestic sometimes than at others,—partly + because the mind may be variously disposed, so as to comprehend them more + or less, and partly that an imperceptible (or almost so) haze adds a great + deal to the effect. Saddleback often looks a huge, black mass,—black-green, + or black-blue. + </p> + <p> + The cave makes a fresh impression upon me every time I visit it,—so + deep, so irregular, so gloomy, so stern,—part of its walls the pure + white of the marble,—others covered with a gray decomposition and + with spots of moss, and with brake growing where there is a handful of + earth. I stand and look into its depths at various points, and hear the + roar of the stream re-echoing up. It is like a heart that has been rent + asunder by a torrent of passion, which has raged and foamed, and left its + ineffaceable traces; though now there is but a little rill of feeling at + the bottom. + </p> + <p> + In parts, trees have fallen across the fissure,—trees with large + trunks. + </p> + <p> + I bathed in the stream in this old, secluded spot, which I frequent for + that purpose. To reach it, I cross one branch of the stream on stones, and + then pass to the other side of a little island, overgrown with trees and + underbrush. Where I bathe, the stream has partially dammed itself up by + sweeping together tree-trunks and slabs and branches, and a thousand + things that have come down its current for years perhaps; so that there is + a deep pool, full of eddies and little whirlpools which would carry me + away, did I not take hold of the stem of a small tree that lies + opportunely transversely across the water. The bottom is uneven, with + rocks of various size, against which it is difficult to keep from + stumbling, so rapid is the stream. Sometimes it bears along branches and + strips of bark,—sometimes a green leaf, or perchance a dry one,— + occasionally overwhelmed by the eddies and borne deep under water, then + rushing atop the waves. + </p> + <p> + The forest, bordering the stream, produces its effect by a complexity of + causes,—the old and stern trees, with stately trunks and dark + foliage,— as the almost black pines,—the young trees, with + lightsome green foliage,—as sapling oaks, maples and poplars,—then + the old, decayed trunks, that are seen lying here and there, all + mouldered, so that the foot would sink into them. The sunshine, falling + capriciously on a casual branch considerably within the forest verge, + while it leaves nearer trees in shadow, leads the imagination into the + depths. But it soon becomes bewildered there. Rocks strewn about, half + hidden in the fallen leaves, must not be overlooked. + </p> + <p> + August 26th.—A funeral last evening, nearly at sunset,—a + coffin of a boy about ten years old laid on a one-horse wagon among some + straw,—two or three barouches and wagons following. As the funeral + passed through the village street, a few men formed a short procession in + front of the coffin, among whom were Orrin S——- and I. The + burial-ground (there are two in the town) is on the sides and summit of a + round hill, which is planted with cypress and other trees, among which the + white marble gravestones show pleasantly. The grave was dug on the steep + slope of a hill; and the grave-digger was waiting there, and two or three + other shirt-sleeved yeomen, leaning against the trees. + </p> + <p> + Orrin S———, a wanton and mirth-making middle-aged man, + who would not seem to have much domestic feeling, took a chief part on the + occasion, assisting in taking the coffin from the wagon and in lowering it + into the grave. There being some superfluous earth at the bottom of the + grave, the coffin was drawn up again after being once buried, and the + obstacle removed with a hoe; then it was lowered again for the last time. + While this was going on, the father and mother stood weeping at the upper + end of the grave, at the head of the little procession,—the mother + sobbing with stifled violence, and peeping forth to discover why the + coffin was drawn up again. It being fitted in its place, Orrin S——— + strewed some straw upon it,—this being the custom here, because "the + clods on the coffin-lid have an ugly sound." Then the Baptist minister, + having first whispered to the father, removed his hat, the spectators all + doing the same, and thanked them "in the name of these mourners, for this + last act of kindness to them." + </p> + <p> + In all these rites Orrin S——— bore the chief part with + real feeling and sadly decorous demeanor. After the funeral, I took a walk + on the Williamstown road, towards the west. There had been a heavy shower + in the afternoon, and clouds were brilliant all over the sky, around + Graylock and everywhere else. Those over the hills of the west were the + most splendid in purple and gold, and, there being a haze, it added + immensely to their majesty and dusky magnificence. + </p> + <p> + This morning I walked a little way along the mountain road, and stood + awhile in the shadow of some oak and chestnut trees,—it being a + warm, bright, sunshiny morning. The shades lay long from trees and other + objects, as at sunset, but how different this cheerful and light radiance + from the mild repose of sunset! Locusts, crickets, and other insects were + making music. Cattle were feeding briskly, with morning appetites. The + wakeful voices of children were heard in a neighboring hollow. The dew + damped the road, and formed many-colored drops in the grass. In short, the + world was not weary with a long, sultry day, but in a fresh, recruited + state, fit to carry it through such a day. + </p> + <p> + A rough-looking, sunburnt, soiled-skirted, odd, middle-aged little man + came to the house a day or two ago, seeking work. He had come from Ohio, + and was returning to his native place, somewhere in New England, stopping + occasionally to earn money to pay his way. There was something rather + ludicrous in his physiognomy and aspect. He was very free to talk with all + and sundry. He made a long eulogy on his dog Tiger, yesterday, insisting + on his good moral character, his not being quarrelsome, his docility, and + all other excellent qualities that a huge, strong, fierce mastiff could + have. Tiger is the bully of the village, and keeps all the other dogs in + awe. His aspect is very spirited, trotting massively along, with his tail + elevated and his head likewise. "When he sees a dog that's anything near + his size, he's apt to growl a little,"—Tiger had the marks of a + battle on him,—"yet he's a good dog." + </p> + <p> + Friday, August 31st.—A drive on Tuesday to Shelburne Falls, + twenty-two miles or thereabouts distant. Started at about eight o'clock in + a wagon with Mr. Leach and Mr. Birch. Our road lay over the Green + Mountains, the long ridge of which was made awful by a dark, heavy, + threatening cloud, apparently rolled and condensed along the whole summit. + As we ascended the zigzag road, we looked behind, at every opening in the + forest, and beheld a wide landscape of mountain-swells and valleys + intermixed, and old Graylock and the whole of Saddleback. Over the wide + scene there was a general gloom; but there was a continual vicissitude of + bright sunshine flitting over it, now resting for a brief space on + portions of the heights, now flooding the valleys with green brightness, + now making out distinctly each dwelling, and the hotels, and then two + small brick churches of the distant village, denoting its prosperity, + while all around seemed under adverse fortunes. But we, who stood so + elevated above mortal things, and saw so wide and far, could see the + sunshine of prosperity departing from one spot and rolling towards + another, so that we could not think it much matter which spot were sunny + or gloomy at any one moment. + </p> + <p> + The top of this Hoosic Mountain is a long ridge, marked on the county map + as two thousand one hundred and sixty feet above the sea; on this summit + is a valley, not very deep, but one or two miles wide, in which is the + town of L———. Here there are respectable farmers, though + it is a rough, and must be a bleak place. The first house, after reaching + the summit, is a small, homely tavern. We left our horse in the shed, and, + entering the little unpainted bar-room, we heard a voice, in a strange, + outlandish accent, exclaiming "Diorama." It was an old man, with a full, + gray-bearded countenance, and Mr. Leach exclaimed, "Ah, here's the old + Dutchman again!" And he answered, "Yes, Captain, here's the old Dutchman,"—though, + by the way, he is a German, and travels the country with this diorama in a + wagon, and had recently been at South Adams, and was now returning from + Saratoga Springs. We looked through the glass orifice of his machine, + while he exhibited a succession of the very worst scratches and daubings + that can be imagined,—worn out, too, and full of cracks and + wrinkles, dimmed with tobacco-smoke, and every other wise dilapidated. + There were none in a later fashion than thirty years since, except some + figures that had been cut from tailors' show-bills. There were views of + cities and edifices in Europe, of Napoleon's battles and Nelson's + sea-fights, in the midst of which would be seen a gigantic, brown, hairy + hand (the Hand of Destiny) pointing at the principal points of the + conflict, while the old Dutchman explained. He gave a good deal of + dramatic effect to his descriptions, but his accent and intonation cannot + be written. He seemed to take interest and pride in his exhibition; yet + when the utter and ludicrous miserability thereof made us laugh, he joined + in the joke very readily. When the last picture had been shown, he caused + a country boor, who stood gaping beside the machine, to put his head + within it, and thrust out his tongue. The head becoming gigantic, a + singular effect was produced. + </p> + <p> + The old Dutchman's exhibition being over, a great dog, apparently an + elderly dog, suddenly made himself the object of notice, evidently in + rivalship of the Dutchman. He had seemed to be a good-natured, quiet kind + of dog, offering his head to be patted by those who were kindly disposed + towards him. This great, old dog, unexpectedly, and of his own motion, + began to run round after his not very long tail with the utmost eagerness; + and, catching hold of it, he growled furiously at it, and still continued + to circle round, growling and snarling with increasing rage, as if one + half of his body were at deadly enmity with the other. Faster and faster + went he, round and roundabout, growing still fiercer, till at last he + ceased in a state of utter exhaustion; but no sooner had his exhibition + finished than he became the same mild, quiet, sensible old dog as before; + and no one could have suspected him of such nonsense as getting enraged + with his own tail. He was first taught this trick by attaching a bell to + the end of his tail; but he now commences entirely of his own accord, and + I really believe he feels vain at the attention he excites. + </p> + <p> + It was chill and bleak on the mountain-top, and a fire was burning in the + bar-room. The old Dutchman bestowed on everybody the title of "Captain," + perhaps because such a title has a great chance of suiting an American. + </p> + <p> + Leaving the tavern, we drove a mile or two farther to the eastern brow of + the mountain, whence we had a view, over the tops of a multitude of + heights, into the intersecting valleys down which we were to plunge,—and + beyond them the blue and indistinctive scene extended to the east and + north for at least sixty miles. Beyond the hills it looked almost as if + the blue ocean might be seen. Monadnock was visible, like a sapphire cloud + against the sky. Descending, we by and by got a view of the Deerfield + River, which makes a bend in its course from about north and south to + about east and west, coming out from one defile among the mountains, and + flowing through another. The scenery on the eastern side of the Green + Mountains is incomparably more striking than on the western, where the + long swells and ridges have a flatness of effect; and even Graylock heaves + itself so gradually that it does not much strike the beholder. But on the + eastern part, peaks one or two thousand feet high rush up on either bank + of the river in ranges, thrusting out their shoulders side by side. They + are almost precipitous, clothed in woods, through which the naked rock + pushes itself forth to view. Sometimes the peak is bald, while the forest + wraps the body of the hill, and the baldness gives it an indescribably + stern effect. Sometimes the precipice rises with abruptness from the + immediate side of the river; sometimes there is a cultivated valley on + either side,—cultivated long, and with all the smoothness and + antique rurality of a farm near cities,—this gentle picture strongly + set off by the wild mountain-frame around it. Often it would seem a wonder + how our road was to continue, the mountains rose so abruptly on either + side, and stood, so direct a wall, across our onward course; while, + looking behind, it would be an equal mystery how we had gotten thither, + through the huge base of the mountain, that seemed to have reared itself + erect after our passage. But, passing onward, a narrow defile would give + us egress into a scene where new mountains would still appear to bar us. + Our road was much of it level; but scooped out among mountains. The river + was a brawling stream, shallow, and roughened by rocks; now we drove on a + plane with it; now there was a sheer descent down from the roadside upon + it, often unguarded by any kind of fence, except by the trees that + contrived to grow on the headlong interval. Between the mountains there + were gorges, that led the imagination away into new scenes of wildness. I + have never driven through such romantic scenery, where there was such + variety and boldness of mountain shapes as this; and though it was a broad + sunny day, the mountains diversified the view with sunshine and shadow, + and glory and gloom. + </p> + <p> + In Charlemont (I think), after passing a bridge, we saw a very curious + rock on the shore of the river, about twenty feet from the roadside. + Clambering down the bank, we found it a complete arch, hollowed out of the + solid rock, and as high as the arched entrance of an ancient church, which + it might be taken to be, though considerably dilapidated and weather-worn. + The water flows through it, though the rock afforded standing room, beside + the pillars. It was really like the archway of an enchanted palace, all of + which has vanished except the entrance,—now only into nothingness + and empty space. We climbed to the top of the arch, in which the traces of + water having eddied are very perceptible. This curiosity occurs in a wild + part of the river's course, and in a solitude of mountains. + </p> + <p> + Farther down, the river becoming deeper, broader, and more placid, little + boats were seen moored along it, for the convenience of crossing. + Sometimes, too, the well-beaten track of wheels and hoofs passed down to + its verge, then vanished, and appeared on the other side, indicating a + ford. We saw one house, pretty, small, with green blinds, and much + quietness in its environments, on the other side of the river, with a + flat-bottomed boat for communication. It was a pleasant idea that the + world was kept off by the river. + </p> + <p> + Proceeding onward, we reached Shelburne Falls. Here the river, in the + distance of a few hundred yards, makes a descent of about a hundred and + fifty feet over a prodigious bed of rock. Formerly it doubtless flowed + unbroken over the rock, merely creating a rapid; and traces of water + having raged over it are visible in portions of the rock that now lie high + and dry. At present the river roars through a channel which it has worn in + the stone, leaping in two or three distinct falls, and rushing downward, + as from flight to flight of a broken and irregular staircase. The mist + rises from the highest of these cataracts, and forms a pleasant object in + the sunshine. The best view, I think, is to stand on the verge of the + upper and largest fall, and look down through the whole rapid descent of + the river, as it hurries, foaming, through its rock-worn path,—the + rocks seeming to have been hewn away, as when mortals make a road. These + falls are the largest in this State, and have a very peculiar character. + It seems as if water had had more power at some former period than now, to + hew and tear its passage through such an immense ledge of rock as here + withstood it. In this crag, or parts of it, now far beyond the reach of + the water, it has worn what are called pot-holes,—being circular + hollows in the rock, where for ages stones have been whirled round and + round by the eddies of the water; so that the interior of the pot is as + circular and as smooth as it could have been made by art. Often the mouth + of the pot is the narrowest part, the inner space being deeply scooped + out. Water is contained in most of these pot-holes, sometimes so deep that + a man might drown himself therein, and lie undetected at the bottom. Some + of them are of a convenient size for cooking, which might be practicable + by putting in hot stones. + </p> + <p> + The tavern at Shelburne Falls was about the worst I ever saw,—there + being hardly anything to eat, at least nothing of the meat kind. There was + a party of students from the Rensselaer school at Troy, who had spent the + night there, a set of rough urchins from sixteen to twenty years old, + accompanied by the wagon-driver, a short, stubbed little fellow, who + walked about with great independence, thrusting his hands into his + breeches-pockets, beneath his frock. The queerness was, such a figure + being associated with classic youth. They were on an excursion which is + yearly made from that school in search of minerals. They seemed in rather + better moral habits than students used to be, but wild-spirited, rude, and + unpolished, somewhat like German students, which resemblance one or two of + them increased by smoking pipes. In the morning, my breakfast being set in + a corner of the same room with them, I saw their breakfast-table, with a + huge wash-bowl of milk in the centre, and a basin and spoon placed for + each guest. + </p> + <p> + In the bar-room of this tavern were posted up written advertisements, the + smoked chimney-piece being thus made to serve for a newspaper: "I have rye + for sale," "I have a fine mare colt," etc. There was one quaintly + expressed advertisement of a horse that had strayed or been stolen from a + pasture. + </p> + <p> + The students, from year to year, have been in search of a particular rock, + somewhere on the mountains in the vicinity of Shelburne Falls, which is + supposed to contain some valuable ore; but they cannot find it. One man in + the bar-room observed that it must be enchanted; and spoke of a tinker, + during the Revolutionary War, who met with a somewhat similar instance. + Roaming along the Hudson River, he came to a precipice which had some + bunches of singular appearance embossed upon it. He knocked off one of the + hunches, and carrying it home, or to a camp, or wherever he lived, he put + it on the fire, and incited it down into clear lead. He sought for the + spot again and again, but could never find it. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Leach's brother is a student at Shelburne Falls. He is about + thirty-five years old, and married; and at this mature age he is studying + for the ministry, and will not finish his course for two or three years. + He was bred a farmer, but has sold his farm, and invested the money, and + supports himself and wife by dentistry during his studies. Many of the + academy students are men grown, and some, they say, well towards forty + years old. Methinks this is characteristic of American life,—these + rough, weather-beaten, hard-handed, farmer-bred students. In nine cases + out of ten they are incapable of any effectual cultivation; for men of + ripe years, if they have any pith in them, will have long ago got beyond + academy or even college instruction. I suspect nothing better than a very + wretched smattering is to be obtained in these country academies. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Jerkins, an instructor at Amherst, speaking of the Western mounds, + expressed an opinion that they were of the same nature and origin as some + small circular hills which are of very frequent occurrence here in North + Adams. The burial-ground is on one of them, and there is another, on the + summit of which appears a single tombstone, as if there were something + natural in making these hills the repositories of the dead. A question of + old H——— led to Mr. Jenkins's dissertation on this + subject, to the great contentment of a large circle round the bar-room + fireside on the last rainy day. + </p> + <p> + A tailor is detected by Mr. Leach, because his coat had not a single + wrinkle in it. I saw him exhibiting patterns of fashions to Randall, the + village tailor. Mr. Leach has much tact in finding out the professions of + people. He found out a blacksmith, because his right hand was much larger + than the other. + </p> + <p> + A man getting subscriptions for a religious and abolition newspaper in New + York,—somewhat elderly and gray-haired, quick in his movements, + hasty in his walk, with an eager, earnest stare through his spectacles, + hurrying about with a pocket-book of subscriptions in his hand,—seldom + speaking, and then in brief expressions,—sitting down before the + stage comes, to write a list of subscribers obtained to his employers in + New York. Withal, a city and business air about him, as of one accustomed + to hurry through narrow alleys, and dart across thronged streets, and + speak hastily to one man and another at jostling corners, though now + transacting his affairs in the solitude of mountains. + </p> + <p> + An old, gray man, seemingly astray and abandoned in this wide world, + sitting in the bar-room, speaking to none, nor addressed by any one. Not + understanding the meaning of the supper-bell till asked to supper by word + of mouth. However, he called for a glass of brandy. + </p> + <p> + A pedler, with girls' silk neckerchiefs,—or gauze,—men's silk + pocket-handkerchiefs, red bandannas, and a variety of horn combs, trying + to trade with the servant-girls of the house. One of them, Laura, attempts + to exchange a worked vandyke, which she values at two dollars and a half; + Eliza, being reproached by the pedler, "vows that she buys more of pedlers + than any other person in the house." + </p> + <p> + A drove of pigs passing at dusk. They appeared not so much disposed to + ramble and go astray from the line of march as in daylight, but kept + together in a pretty compact body. There was a general grunting, not + violent at all, but low and quiet, as if they were expressing their + sentiments among themselves in a companionable way. Pigs, on a march, do + not subject themselves to any leader among themselves, but pass on, + higgledy-piggledy, without regard to age or sex. + </p> + <p> + September 1st.—Last evening, during a walk, Graylock and the whole + of Saddleback were at first imbued with a mild, half-sunshiny tinge, then + grew almost black,—a huge, dark mass lying on the back of the earth + and encumbering it. Stretching up from behind the black mountain, over a + third or more of the sky, there was a heavy, sombre blue heap or ledge of + clouds, looking almost as solid as rocks. The volumes of which it was + composed were perceptible, by translucent lines and fissures; but the + mass, as a whole, seemed as solid, bulky, and ponderous in the cloud-world + as the mountain was on earth. The mountain and cloud together had an + indescribably stern and majestic aspect. Beneath this heavy cloud, there + was a fleet or flock of light, vapory mists, flitting in middle air; and + these were tinted, from the vanished sun, with the most gorgeous and + living purple that can be conceived,—a fringe upon the stern blue. + In the opposite quarter of the heavens, a rose-light was reflected, whence + I know not, which colored the clouds around the moon, then well above the + horizon, so that the nearly round and silver moon appeared strangely among + roseate clouds,—sometimes half obscured by them. + </p> + <p> + A man with a smart horse, upon which the landlord makes laudatory remarks. + He replies that he has "a better at home." Dressed in a brown, + bright-buttoned coat, smartly cut. He immediately becomes familiar, and + begins to talk of the license law, and other similar topics,—making + himself at home, as one who, being much of his time upon the road, finds + himself at ease at any tavern. He inquired after a stage agent, named + Brigham, who formerly resided here, but now has gone to the West. He + himself was probably a horse-jockey. + </p> + <p> + An old lady, stopping here over the Sabbath, waiting for to-morrow's stage + for Greenfield, having been deceived by the idea that she could proceed on + her journey without delay. Quiet, making herself comfortable, taken into + the society of the women of the house. + </p> + <p> + September 3d.—On the slope of Bald Mountain a clearing, set in the + frame of the forest on all sides,—a growth of clover upon it, which, + having been mowed once this year, is now appropriated to pasturage. Stumps + remaining in the ground; one tall, barkless stem of a tree standing + upright, branchless, and with a shattered summit. One or two other stems + lying prostrate and partly overgrown with bushes and shrubbery, some of + them bearing a yellow flower,—a color which Autumn loves. The stumps + and trunks fire-blackened, yet nothing about them that indicates a recent + clearing, but the roughness of an old clearing, that, being removed from + convenient labor, has none of the polish of the homestead. The field, with + slight undulations, slopes pretty directly down. Near the lower verge, a + rude sort of barn, or rather haystack roofed over, and with hay protruding + and hanging out. An ox feeding, and putting up his muzzle to pull down a + mouthful of hay; but seeing me, a stranger, in the upper part of the + field, he remains long gazing, and finally betakes himself to feeding + again. A solitary butterfly flitting to and fro, blown slightly on its + course by a cool September wind,—the coolness of which begins to be + tempered by a bright, glittering sun. There is dew on the grass. In front, + beyond the lower spread of forest, Saddle Mountain rises, and the valleys + and long, swelling hills sweep away. But the impression of this clearing + is solitude, as of a forgotten land. + </p> + <p> + It is customary here to toll the bell at the death of a person, at the + hour of his death, whether A. M. or P. M. Not, however, I suppose, if it + happen in deep night. + </p> + <p> + "There are three times in a man's life when he is talked about,—when + he is born, when he is married, and when he dies." "Yes," said Orrin S———, + "and only one of the times has he to pay anything for it out of his own + pocket." (In reference to a claim by the guests of the bar-room on the man + Amasa Richardson for a treat.) + </p> + <p> + A wood-chopper, travelling the country in search of jobs at chopping. His + baggage a bundle, a handkerchief, and a pair of coarse boots. His + implement an axe, most keenly ground and sharpened, which I had noticed + standing in a corner, and thought it would almost serve as a razor. I saw + another wood-chopper sitting down on the ascent of Bald Mountain, with his + axe on one side and a jug and provisions on the other, on the way to his + day's toil. + </p> + <p> + The Revolutionary pensioners come out into the sunshine to make oath that + they are still above ground. One, whom Mr. S——— saluted + as "Uncle John," went into the bar-room, walking pretty stoutly by the aid + of a long, oaken staff,—with an old, creased, broken and ashen + bell-crowned hat on his head, and wearing a brown old-fashioned suit of + clothes. Pretty portly, fleshy in the face, and with somewhat of a paunch, + cheerful, and his senses, bodily and mental, in no very bad order, though + he is now in his ninetieth year. "An old man's withered and wilted apple," + quoth Uncle John, "keeps a good while." Mr. S——— says + his grandfather lived to be a hundred, and that his legs became covered + with moss, like the trunk of an old tree. Uncle John would smile and + cackle at a little jest, and what life there was in him seemed a + good-natured and comfortable one enough. He can walk two or three miles, + he says, "taking it moderate." I suppose his state is that of a drowsy man + but partly conscious of life,—walking as through a dim dream, but + brighter at some seasons than at others. By and by he will fall quite + asleep, without any trouble. Mr. S———, unbidden, gave + him a glass of gin, which the old man imbibed by the warm fireside, and + grew the younger for it. + </p> + <p> + September 4th.—This day an exhibition of animals in the vicinity of + the village, under a pavilion of sail-cloth,—the floor being the + natural grass, with here and there a rock partially protruding. A + pleasant, mild shade; a strip of sunshine or a spot of glimmering + brightness in some parts. Crowded,—row above row of women, on an + amphitheatre of seats, on one side. In an inner pavilion an exhibition of + anacondas,—four,—which the showman took, one by one, from a + large box, under some blankets, and hung round his shoulders. They seemed + almost torpid when first taken out, but gradually began to assume life, to + stretch, to contract, twine and writhe about his neck and person, + thrusting out their tongues and erecting their heads. Their weight was as + much as he could bear, and they hung down almost to the ground when not + contorted,—as big round as a thigh, almost,—spotted and richly + variegated. Then he put them into the box again, their heads emerging and + writhing forth, which the showman thrust back again. He gave a descriptive + and historical account of them, and a fanciful and poetical one also. A + man put his arm and head into the lion's mouth,—all the spectators + looking on so attentively that a breath could not be heard. That was + impressive,—its effect on a thousand persons,—more so than the + thing itself. + </p> + <p> + In the evening the caravan people were at the tavern, talking of their + troubles in coming over the mountain,—the overturn of a cage + containing two leopards and a hyena. They are a rough, ignorant set of + men, apparently incapable of taking any particular enjoyment from the life + of variety and adventure which they lead. There was the man who put his + head into the lion's mouth, and, I suppose, the man about whom the + anacondas twined, talking about their suppers, and blustering for hot + meat, and calling for something to drink, without anything of the wild + dignity of men familiar with the nobility of nature. + </p> + <p> + A character of a desperate young man, who employs high courage and strong + faculties in this sort of dangers, and wastes his talents in wild riot, + addressing the audience as a snake-man,—keeping the ring while the + monkey rides the pony,—singing negro and other songs. + </p> + <p> + The country boors were continually getting within the barriers, and + venturing too near the cages. The great lion lay with his fore paws + extended, and a calm, majestic, but awful countenance. He looked on the + people as if he had seen many such concourses. The hyena was the most ugly + and dangerous looking beast, full of spite, and on ill terms with all + nature, looking a good deal like a hog with the devil in him, the ridge of + hair along his back bristling. He was in the cage with a leopard and a + panther, and the latter seemed continually on the point of laying his paw + on the hyena, who snarled, and showed his teeth. It is strange, though, to + see how these wild beasts acknowledge and practise a degree of mutual + forbearance, and of obedience to man, with their wild nature yet in them. + The great white bear seemed in distress from the heat, moving his head and + body in a peculiar, fantastic way, and eagerly drinking water when given + it. He was thin and lank. + </p> + <p> + The caravan men were so sleepy, Orrin S——— says, that he + could hardly wake them in the morning. They turned over on their faces to + show him. + </p> + <p> + Coming out of the caravansary, there were the mountains, in the quiet + sunset, and many men drunk, swearing, and fighting. Shanties with liquor + for sale. + </p> + <p> + The elephant lodged in the barn. + </p> + <p> + September 5th.—I took a walk of three miles from the village, which + brought me into Vermont. The line runs athwart a bridge,—a rude + bridge, which crosses a mountain stream. The stream runs deep at the + bottom of a gorge, plashing downward, with rapids and pools, and bestrewn + with large rocks, deep and shady, not to be reached by the sun except in + its meridian, as well on account of the depth of the gorge as of the arch + of wilderness trees above it. There was a stumpy clearing beyond the + bridge, where some men were building a house. I went to them, and inquired + if I were in Massachusetts or Vermont, and asked for some water. Whereupon + they showed great hospitality, and the master-workman went to the spring, + and brought delicious water in a tin basin, and produced another jug + containing "new rum, and very good; and rum does nobody any harm if they + make a good use of it," quoth he. I invited them to call on me at the + hotel, if they should cone to the village within two or three days. Then I + took my way back through the forest, for this is a by-road, and is, much + of its course, a sequestrated and wild one, with an unseen torrent roaring + at an unseen depth, along the roadside. + </p> + <p> + My walk forth had been an almost continued ascent, and, returning, I had + an excellent view of Graylock and the adjacent mountains, at such a + distance that they were all brought into one group, and comprehended at + one view, as belonging to the same company,—all mighty, with a + mightier chief. As I drew nearer home, they separated, and the unity of + effect was lost. The more distant then disappeared behind the nearer ones, + and finally Graylock itself was lost behind the hill which immediately + shuts in the village. There was a warm, autumnal haze, which, I think, + seemed to throw the mountains farther off, and both to enlarge and soften + them. + </p> + <p> + To imagine the gorges and deep hollows in among the group of mountains,— + their huge shoulders and protrusions. + </p> + <p> + "They were just beginning to pitch over the mountains, as I came along," + —stage-driver's expression about the caravan. + </p> + <p> + A fantastic figure of a village coxcomb, striding through the bar-room, + and standing with folded arms to survey the caravan men. There is much + exaggeration and rattle-brain about this fellow. + </p> + <p> + A mad girl leaped from the top of a tremendous precipice in Pownall, + hundreds of feet high, if the tale be true, and, being buoyed up by her + clothes, came safely to the bottom. + </p> + <p> + Inquiries about the coming of the caravan, and whether the elephant had + got to town, and reports that he had. + </p> + <p> + A smart, plump, crimson-faced gentleman, with a travelling-portmanteau of + peculiar neatness and convenience. He criticises the road over the + mountain, having come in the Greenfield stage; perhaps an engineer. + </p> + <p> + Bears still inhabit Saddleback and the neighboring mountains and forests. + Six were taken in Pownall last year, and two hundred foxes. Sometimes they + appear on the hills, in close proximity to this village. + </p> + <p> + September 7th.—Mr. Leach and I took a walk by moonlight last + evening, on the road that leads over the mountain. Remote from houses, far + up on the hillside, we found a lime-kiln, burning near the road; and, + approaching it, a watcher started from the ground, where he had been lying + at his length. There are several of these lime-kilns in this vicinity. + They are circular, built with stones, like a round tower, eighteen or + twenty feet high, having a hillock heaped around in a great portion of + their circumference, so that the marble may be brought and thrown in by + cart-loads at the top. At the bottom there is a doorway, large enough to + admit a man in a stooping posture. Thus an edifice of great solidity is + constructed, which will endure for centuries, unless needless pains are + taken to tear it down. There is one on the hillside, close to the village, + wherein weeds grow at the bottom, and grass and shrubs too are rooted in + the interstices of the stones, and its low doorway has a dungeon-like + aspect, and we look down from the top as into a roofless tower. It + apparently has not been used for many years, and the lime and + weather-stained fragments of marble are scattered about. + </p> + <p> + But in the one we saw last night a hard-wood fire was burning merrily, + beneath the superincumbent marble,—the kiln being heaped full; and + shortly after we came, the man (a dark, black-bearded figure, in + shirt-sleeves) opened the iron door, through the chinks of which the fire + was gleaming, and thrust in huge logs of wood, and stirred the immense + coals with a long pole, and showed us the glowing limestone,—the + lower layer of it. The heat of the fire was powerful, at the distance of + several yards from the open door. He talked very sensibly with us, being + doubtless glad to have two visitors to vary his solitary night-watch; for + it would not do for him to fall asleep, since the fire should be refreshed + as often as every twenty minutes. We ascended the hillock to the top of + the kiln, and the marble was red-hot, and burning with a bluish, lambent + flame, quivering up, sometimes nearly a yard high, and resembling the + flame of anthracite coal, only, the marble being in large fragments, the + flame was higher. The kiln was perhaps six or eight feet across. Four + hundred bushels of marble were then in a state of combustion. The expense + of converting this quantity into lime is about fifty dollars, and it sells + for twenty-five cents per bushel at the kiln. We asked the man whether he + would run across the top of the intensely burning kiln, barefooted, for a + thousand dollars; and he said he would for ten. He told us that the lime + had been burning forty-eight hours, and would be finished in thirty-six + more. He liked the business of watching it better by night than by day; + because the days were often hot, but such a mild and beautiful night as + the last was just right. Here a poet might make verses with moonlight in + them, and a gleam of fierce firelight flickering through. It is a shame to + use this brilliant, white, almost transparent marble in this way. A man + said of it, the other day, that into some pieces of it, when polished, one + could see a good distance; and he instanced a certain gravestone. + </p> + <p> + Visited the cave. A large portion of it, where water trickles and falls, + is perfectly white. The walls present a specimen of how Nature packs the + stone, crowding huge masses, as it were, into chinks and fissures, and + here we see it in the perpendicular or horizontal layers, as Nature laid + it. + </p> + <p> + September 9th.—A walk yesterday forenoon through the Notch, formed + between Saddle Mountain and another adjacent one. This Notch is otherwise + called the Bellowspipe, being a long and narrow valley, with a steep wall + on either side. The walls are very high, and the fallen timbers lie + strewed adown the precipitous descent. The valley gradually descends from + the narrowest part of the Notch, and a stream of water flows through the + midst of it, which, farther onward in its course, turns a mill. The valley + is cultivated, there being two or three farm-houses towards the northern + end, and extensive fields of grass beyond, where stand the hay-mows of + last year, with the hay cut away regularly around their bases. All the + more distant portion of the valley is lonesome in the extreme; and on the + hither side of the narrowest part the land is uncultivated, partly + overgrown with forest, partly used as sheep-pastures, for which purpose it + is not nearly so barren as sheep-pastures usually are. On the right, + facing southward, rises Graylock, all beshagged with forest, and with + headlong precipices of rock appearing among the black pines. Southward + there is a most extensive view of the valley, in which Saddleback and its + companion mountains are crouched,—wide and far,—a broad, misty + valley, fenced in by a mountain wall, and with villages scattered along + it, and miles of forest, which appear but as patches scattered here and + there upon the landscape. The descent from the Notch southward is much + more abrupt than on the other side. A stream flows down through it; and + along much of its course it has washed away all the earth from a ledge of + rock, and then formed a descending pavement, smooth and regular, which the + scanty flow of water scarcely suffices to moisten at this period, though a + heavy rain, probably, would send down a torrent, raging, roaring, and + foaming. I descended along the course of the stream, and sometimes on the + rocky path of it, and, turning off towards the south village, followed a + cattle-path till I came to a cottage. + </p> + <p> + A horse was standing saddled near the door, but I did not see the rider. I + knocked, and an elderly woman, of very pleasing and intelligent aspect, + came at the summons, and gave me directions how to get to the south + village through an orchard and "across lots," which would bring me into + the road near the Quaker meeting-house, with gravestones round it. While + she talked, a young woman came into the pantry from the kitchen, with a + dirty little brat, whose squalls I had heard all along; the reason of his + outcry being that his mother was washing him,—a very unusual + process, if I may judge by his looks. I asked the old lady for some water, + and she gave me, I think, the most delicious I ever tasted. These + mountaineers ought certainly to be temperance people; for their mountain + springs supply them with a liquor of which the cities and the low + countries can have no conception. Pure, fresh, almost sparkling, + exhilarating,—such water as Adam and Eve drank. + </p> + <p> + I passed the south village on a by-road, without entering it, and was + taken up by the stage from Pittsfield a mile or two this side of it. + Platt, the driver, a friend of mine, talked familiarly about many matters, + intermixing his talk with remarks on his team and addresses to the beasts + composing it, who were three mares, and a horse on the near wheel,—all + bays. The horse he pronounced "a dreadful nice horse to go; but if he + could shirk off the work upon the others, he would,"—which + unfairness Platt corrected by timely strokes of the whip whenever the + horse's traces were not tightened. One of the mares wished to go faster, + hearing another horse tramp behind her; "and nothing made her so mad," + quoth Platt, "as to be held in when she wanted to go." The near leader + started. "O the little devil," said he, "how skittish she is!" Another + stumbled, and Platt bantered her thereupon. Then he told of foundering + through snow-drifts in winter, and carrying the mail on his back—four + miles from Bennington. And thus we jogged on, and got to "mine inn" just + as the dinner-bell was ringing. + </p> + <p> + Pig-drover, with two hundred pigs. They are much more easily driven on + rainy days than on fair ones. One of his pigs, a large one, particularly + troublesome as to running off the road towards every object, and leading + the drove. Thirteen miles about a day's journey, in the course of which + the drover has to travel about thirty. + </p> + <p> + They have a dog, who runs to and fro indefatigably, barking at those who + straggle on the flanks of the line of march, then scampering to the other + side and barking there, and sometimes having quite an affair of barking + and surly grunting with some refractory pig, who has found something to + munch, and refuses to quit it. The pigs are fed on corn at their halts. + The drove has some ultimate market, and individuals are peddled out on the + march. Some die. + </p> + <p> + Merino sheep (which are much raised in Berkshire) are good for hardly + anything to eat,—a fair-sized quarter dwindling down to almost + nothing in the process of roasting. + </p> + <p> + The tavern-keeper in Stockbridge, an elderly bachelor,—a dusty, + black-dressed, antiquated figure, with a white neckcloth setting off a + dim, yellow complexion, looking like one of the old wax-figures of + ministers in a corner of the New England Museum. He did not seem old, but + like a middle-aged man, who had been preserved in some dark and cobwebby + corner for a great while. He is asthmatic. + </p> + <p> + In Connecticut, and also sometimes in Berkshire, the villages are situated + on the most elevated ground that can be found, so that they are visible + for miles around. Litchfield is a remarkable instance, occupying a high + plain, without the least shelter from the winds, and with almost as wide + an expanse of view as from a mountain-top. The streets are very wide,—two + or three hundred feet, at least,—with wide, green margins, and + sometimes there is a wide green space between two road tracks. Nothing can + be neater than the churches and houses. The graveyard is on the slope, and + at the foot of a swell, filled with old and new gravestones, some of red + freestone, some of gray granite, most of them of white marble, and one of + cast-iron with an inscription of raised letters. There was one of the date + of about 1776, on which was represented the third-length, has-relief + portrait of a gentleman in a wig and other costume of that day; and as a + framework about this portrait was wreathed a garland of vine-leaves and + heavy clusters of grapes. The deceased should have been a jolly bottleman; + but the epitaph indicated nothing of the kind. + </p> + <p> + In a remote part of the graveyard,—remote from the main body of dead + people,—I noticed a humble, mossy stone, on which I traced out "To + the memory of Julia Africa, servant of Rev." somebody. There were also the + half-obliterated traces of other graves, without any monuments, in the + vicinity of this one. Doubtless the slaves here mingled their dark clay + with the earth. + </p> + <p> + At Litchfield there is a doctor who undertakes to cure deformed people,— + and humpbacked, lame, and otherwise defective folk go there. Besides + these, there were many ladies and others boarding there, for the benefit + of the air, I suppose. + </p> + <p> + At Canaan, Connecticut, before the tavern, there is a doorstep, two or + three paces large in each of its dimensions; and on this is inscribed the + date when the builder of the house came to the town,—namely, 1731. + The house was built in 1751. Then follows the age and death of the + patriarch (at over ninety) and his wife, and the births of, I think, + eleven sons and daughters. It would seem as if they were buried + underneath; and many people take that idea. It is odd to put a family + record in a spot where it is sure to be trampled underfoot. + </p> + <p> + At Springfield, a blind man, who came in the stage,—elderly,—sitting + in the reading-room, and, as soon as seated, feeling all around him with + his cane, so as to find out his locality, and know where he may spit with + safety! The cautious and scientific air with which he measures his + distances. Then he sits still and silent a long while,—then inquires + the hour,—then says, "I should like to go to bed." Nobody of the + house being near, he receives no answer, and repeats impatiently, "I'll go + to bed." One would suppose, that, conscious of his dependent condition, he + would have learned a different sort of manner; but probably he has lived + where he could command attention. + </p> + <p> + Two travellers, eating bread and cheese of their own in the bar-room at + Stockbridge, and drinking water out of a tumbler borrowed from the + landlord. Eating immensely, and, when satisfied, putting the relics in + their trunk, and rubbing down the table. + </p> + <p> + Sample ears of various kinds of corn hanging over the looking-glass or in + the bars of taverns. Four ears on a stalk (good ones) are considered a + heavy harvest. + </p> + <p> + A withered, yellow, sodden, dead-alive looking woman,—an + opium-eater. A deaf man, with a great fancy for conversation, so that his + interlocutor is compelled to halloo and bawl over the rumbling of the + coach, amid which he hears best. The sharp tones of a woman's voice appear + to pierce his dull organs much better than a masculine voice. The + impossibility of saying anything but commonplace matters to a deaf man, of + expressing any delicacy of thought in a raised tone, of giving utterance + to fine feelings in a bawl. This man's deafness seemed to have made his + mind and feelings uncommonly coarse; for, after the opium-eater had + renewed an old acquaintance with him, almost the first question he asked, + in his raised voice, was, "Do you eat opium now?" + </p> + <p> + At Hartford, the keeper of a temperance hotel reading a Hebrew Bible in + the bar by means of a lexicon and an English version. + </p> + <p> + A negro, respectably dressed, and well-mounted on horseback, travelling on + his own hook, calling for oats, and drinking a glass of brandy-and-water + at the bar, like any other Christian. A young man from Wisconsin said, "I + wish I had a thousand such fellows in Alabama." It made a strange + impression on me,—the negro was really so human!—and to talk + of owning a thousand like him! + </p> + <p> + Left North Adams September 11th. Reached home September 24th, 1838. + </p> + <p> + October 24th.—View from a chamber of the Tremont of the brick + edifice, opposite, on the other side of Beacon Street. At one of the lower + windows, a woman at work; at one above, a lady hemming a ruff or some such + ladylike thing. She is pretty, young, and married; for a little boy comes + to her knees, and she parts his hair, and caresses him in a motherly way. + A note on colored paper is brought her; and she reads it, and puts it in + her bosom. At another window, at some depth within the apartment, a + gentleman in a dressing-gown, reading, and rocking in an easy-chair, etc., + etc., etc. A rainy day, and people passing with umbrellas disconsolately + between the spectator and these various scenes of indoor occupation and + comfort. With this sketch might be mingled and worked up some story that + was going on within the chamber where the spectator was situated. + </p> + <p> + All the dead that had ever been drowned in a certain lake to arise. + </p> + <p> + The history of a small lake from the first, till it was drained. + </p> + <p> + An autumnal feature,—boys had swept together the fallen leaves from + the elms along the street in one huge pile, and had made a hollow, + nest-shaped, in this pile, in which three or four of them lay curled, like + young birds. + </p> + <p> + A tombstone-maker, whom Miss B——y knew, used to cut cherubs on + the top of the tombstones, and had the art of carving the cherubs' faces + in the likeness of the deceased. + </p> + <p> + A child of Rev. E. P——— was threatened with total + blindness. A week after the father had been informed of this, the child + died; and, in the mean while, his feelings had become so much the more + interested in the child, from its threatened blindness, that it was + infinitely harder to give it up. Had he not been aware of it till after + the child's death, it would probably have been a consolation. + </p> + <p> + Singular character of a gentleman (H. H———, Esq.) living + in retirement in Boston,—esteemed a man of nicest honor, and his + seclusion attributed to wounded feelings on account of the failure of his + firm in business. Yet it was discovered that this man had been the mover + of intrigues by which men in business had been ruined, and their property + absorbed, none knew how or by whom; love-affairs had been broken off, and + much other mischief done; and for years he was not in the least suspected. + He died suddenly, soon after suspicion fell upon him. Probably it was the + love of management, of having an influence on affairs, that produced these + phenomena. + </p> + <p> + Character of a man who, in himself and his external circumstances, shall + be equally and totally false: his fortune resting on baseless credit,— + his patriotism assumed,—his domestic affections, his honor and + honesty, all a sham. His own misery in the midst of it,—it making + the whole universe, heaven and earth alike, all unsubstantial mockery to + him. + </p> + <p> + Dr. Johnson's penance in Uttoxeter Market. A man who does penance in what + might appear to lookers-on the most glorious and triumphal circumstance of + his life. Each circumstance of the career of an apparently successful man + to be a penance and torture to him on account of some fundamental error in + early life. + </p> + <p> + A person to catch fire-flies, and try to kindle his household fire with + them. It would be symbolical of something. + </p> + <p> + Thanksgiving at the Worcester Lunatic Asylum. A ball and dance of the + inmates in the evening,—a furious lunatic dancing with the + principal's wife. Thanksgiving in an almshouse might make a better sketch. + </p> + <p> + The house on the eastern corner of North and Essex Streets [Salem], + supposed to have been built about 1640, had, say sixty years later, a + brick turret erected, wherein one of the ancestors of the present + occupants used to practise alchemy. He was the operative of a scientific + person in Boston, the director. There have been other alchemists of old in + this town,—one who kept his fire burning seven weeks, and then lost + the elixir by letting it go out. + </p> + <p> + An ancient wineglass (Miss Ingersol's), long-stalked, with a small, + cup-like bowl, round which is wreathed a branch of grape-vine, with a rich + cluster of grapes, and leaves spread out. There is also some kind of a + bird flying. The whole is excellently cut or engraved. + </p> + <p> + In the Duke of Buckingham's comedy "The Chances," Don Frederic says of Don + John (they are two noble Spanish gentlemen), "One bed contains us ever." + </p> + <p> + A person, while awake and in the business of life, to think highly of + another, and place perfect confidence in him, but to be troubled with + dreams in which this seeming friend appears to act the part of a most + deadly enemy. Finally it is discovered that the dream-character is the + true one. The explanation would be—the soul's instinctive + perception. + </p> + <p> + Pandora's box for a child's story. + </p> + <p> + Moonlight is sculpture; sunlight is painting. + </p> + <p> + "A person to look back on a long life ill-spent, and to picture forth a + beautiful life which he would live, if he could be permitted to begin his + life over again. Finally to discover that he had only been dreaming of old + age,—that he was really young, and could live such a life as he had + pictured." + </p> + <p> + A newspaper, purporting to be published in a family, and satirizing the + political and general world by advertisements, remarks on domestic + affairs,—advertisement of a lady's lost thimble, etc. + </p> + <p> + L. H———. She was unwilling to die, because she had no + friends to meet her in the other world. Her little son F. being very ill, + on his recovery she confessed a feeling of disappointment, having supposed + that he would have gone before, and welcomed her into heaven! + </p> + <p> + H. L. C——— heard from a French Canadian a story of a + young couple in Acadie. On their marriage day, all the men of the Province + were summoned to assemble in the church to hear a proclamation. When + assembled, they were all seized and shipped off to be distributed through + New England,— among them the new bridegroom. His bride set off in + search of him,— wandered about New England all her lifetime, and at + last, when she was old, she found her bridegroom on his deathbed. The + shock was so great that it killed her likewise. + </p> + <p> + January 4th, 1839.—When scattered clouds are resting on the bosoms + of hills, it seems as if one might climb into the heavenly region, earth + being so intermixed, with sky, and gradually transformed into it. + </p> + <p> + A stranger, dying, is buried; and after many years two strangers come in + search of his grave, and open it. + </p> + <p> + The strange sensation of a person who feels himself an object of deep + interest, and close observation, and various construction of all his + actions, by another person. + </p> + <p> + Letters in the shape of figures of men, etc. At a distance, the words + composed by the letters are alone distinguishable. Close at hand, the + figures alone are seen, and not distinguished as letters. Thus things may + have a positive, a relative, and a composite meaning, according to the + point of view. + </p> + <p> + "Passing along the street, all muddy with puddles, and suddenly seeing the + sky reflected in these puddles in such a way as quite to conceal the + foulness of the street." + </p> + <p> + A young man in search of happiness,—to be personified by a figure + whom he expects to meet in a crowd, and is to be recognized by certain + signs. All these signs are given by a figure in various garbs and actions, + but he does not recognize that this is the sought-for person till too + late. + </p> + <p> + If cities were built by the sound of music, then some edifices would + appear to be constructed by grave, solemn tones,—others to have + danced forth to light, fantastic airs. + </p> + <p> + Familiar spirits, according to Lilly, used to be worn in rings, watches, + sword-hilts. Thumb-rings were set with jewels of extraordinary size. + </p> + <p> + A very fanciful person, when dead, to have his burial in a cloud. + </p> + <p> + "A story there passeth of an Indian king that sent unto Alexander a fair + woman, fed with aconite and other poisons, with this intent complexionally + to destroy him!"—Sir T. Browne. + </p> + <p> + Dialogues of the unborn, like dialogues of the dead,—or between two + young children. + </p> + <p> + A mortal symptom for a person being to lose his own aspect and to take the + family lineaments, which were hidden deep in the healthful visage. Perhaps + a seeker might thus recognize the man he had sought, after long + intercourse with him unknowingly. + </p> + <p> + Some moderns to build a fire on Ararat with the remnants of the ark. + </p> + <p> + Two little boats of cork, with a magnet in one and steel in the other. + </p> + <p> + To have ice in one's blood. + </p> + <p> + To make a story of all strange and impossible things,—as the + Salamander, the Phoenix. + </p> + <p> + The semblance of a human face to be formed on the side of a mountain, or + in the fracture of a small stone, by a lusus naturae. The face is an + object of curiosity for years or centuries, and by and by a boy is born, + whose features gradually assume the aspect of that portrait. At some + critical juncture, the resemblance is found to be perfect. A prophecy may + be connected. + </p> + <p> + A person to be the death of his beloved in trying to raise her to more + than mortal perfection; yet this should be a comfort to him for having + aimed so highly and holily. + </p> + <p> + 1840.—A man, unknown, conscious of temptation to secret crimes, puts + up a note in church, desiring the prayers of the congregation for one so + tempted. + </p> + <p> + Some most secret thing, valued and honored between lovers, to be hung up + in public places, and made the subject of remark by the city,—remarks, + sneers, and laughter. + </p> + <p> + To make a story out of a scarecrow, giving it odd attributes. From + different points of view, it should appear to change,—now an old + man, now an old woman,—a gunner, a farmer, or the Old Nick. + </p> + <p> + A ground-sparrow's nest in the slope of a bank, brought to view by mowing + the grass, but still sheltered and comfortably hidden by a blackberry-vine + trailing over it. At first, four brown-speckled eggs,— then two + little bare young ones, which, on the slightest noise, lift their heads, + and open wide mouths for food,—immediately dropping their heads, + after a broad gape. The action looks as if they were making a most + earnest, agonized petition. In another egg, as in a coffin, I could + discern the quiet, death-like form of the little bird. The whole thing had + something awful and mysterious in it. + </p> + <p> + A coroner's inquest on a murdered man,—the gathering of the jury to + be described, and the characters of the members,—some with secret + guilt upon their souls. + </p> + <p> + To represent a man as spending life and the intensest labor in the + accomplishment of some mechanical trifle,—as in making a miniature + coach to be drawn by fleas, or a dinner-service to be put into a + cherry-stone. + </p> + <p> + A bonfire to be made of the gallows and of all symbols of evil. + </p> + <p> + The love of posterity is a consequence of the necessity of death. If a man + were sure of living forever here, he would not care about his offspring. + </p> + <p> + The device of a sun-dial for a monument over a grave, with some suitable + motto. + </p> + <p> + A man with the right perception of things,—a feeling within him of + what is true and what is false. It might be symbolized by the talisman + with which, in fairy tales, an adventurer was enabled to distinguish + enchantments from realities. + </p> + <p> + A phantom of the old royal governors, or some such shadowy pageant, on the + night of the evacuation of Boston by the British. + </p> + <p> + ——— taking my likeness, I said that such changes would + come over my face that she would not know me when we met again in heaven. + "See if I do not!" said she, smiling. There was the most peculiar and + beautiful humor in the point itself, and in her manner, that can be + imagined. + </p> + <p> + Little F. H——— used to look into E——'s mouth + to see where her smiles came from. + </p> + <p> + "There is no Measure for Measure to my affections. If the earth fails me, + I can die, and go to GOD," said ———. + </p> + <p> + Selfishness is one of the qualities apt to inspire love. This might be + thought out at great length. + </p> + <p> + Boston, July 3d, 1839.—I do not mean to imply that I am unhappy or + discontented, for this is not the case. My life only is a burden in the + same way that it is to every toilsome man; and mine is a healthy + weariness, such as needs only a night's sleep to remove it. But from + henceforth forever I shall be entitled to call the sons of toil my + brethren, and shall know how to sympathize with them, seeing that I + likewise have risen at the dawn, and borne the fervor of the midday sun, + nor turned my heavy footsteps homeward till eventide. Years hence, + perhaps, the experience that my heart is acquiring now will flow out in + truth and wisdom. + </p> + <p> + August 27th.—I have been stationed all day at the end of Long Wharf, + and I rather think that I had the most eligible situation of anybody in + Boston. I was aware that it must be intensely hot in the midst of the + city; but there was only a short space of uncomfortable heat in my region, + half-way towards the centre of the harbor; and almost all the time there + was a pure and delightful breeze, fluttering and palpitating, sometimes + shyly kissing my brow, then dying away, and then rushing upon me in + livelier sport, so that I was fain to settle my straw hat more tightly + upon my head. Late in the afternoon, there was a sunny shower, which came + down so like a benediction that it seemed ungrateful to take shelter in + the cabin or to put up an umbrella. Then there was a rainbow, or a large + segment of one, so exceedingly brilliant and of such long endurance that I + almost fancied it was stained into the sky, and would continue there + permanently. And there were clouds floating all about,— great clouds + and small, of all glorious and lovely hues (save that imperial crimson + which was revealed to our united gaze),—so glorious indeed, and so + lovely, that I had a fantasy of heaven's being broken into fleecy + fragments and dispersed through space, with its blest inhabitants dwelling + blissfully upon those scattered islands. + </p> + <p> + February 7th, 1840.—What beautiful weather this is!—beautiful, + at least, so far as sun, sky, and atmosphere are concerned, though a poor, + wingless biped is sometimes constrained to wish that he could raise + himself a little above the earth. How much mud and mire, how many pools of + unclean water, how many slippery footsteps, and perchance heavy tumbles, + might be avoided, if we could tread but six inches above the crust of this + world. Physically we cannot do this; our bodies cannot; but it seems to me + that our hearts and minds may keep themselves above moral mud-puddles and + other discomforts of the soul's pathway. + </p> + <p> + February 11th.—I have been measuring coal all day, on board of a + black little British schooner, in a dismal dock at the north end of the + city. Most of the time I paced the deck to keep myself warm; for the wind + (northeast, I believe) blew up through the dock, as if it had been the + pipe of a pair of bellows. The vessel lying deep between two wharfs, there + was no more delightful prospect, on the right hand and on the left, than + the posts and timbers, half immersed in the water, and covered with ice, + which the rising and falling of successive tides had left upon them, so + that they looked like immense icicles. Across the water, however, not more + than half a mile off, appeared the Bunker Hill Monument; and what + interested me considerably more, a church-steeple, with the dial of a + clock upon it, whereby I was enabled to measure the march of the weary + hours. Sometimes I descended into the dirty little cabin of the schooner, + and warmed myself by a red-hot stove, among biscuit-barrels, pots and + kettles, sea-chests, and innumerable lumber of all sorts,—my + olfactories, meanwhile, being greatly refreshed by the odor of a pipe, + which the captain, or some one of his crew, was smoking. But at last came + the sunset, with delicate clouds, and a purple light upon the islands; and + I blessed it, because it was the signal of my release. + </p> + <p> + February 12th.—All day long again have I been engaged in a very + black business,—as black as a coal; and, though my face and hands + have undergone a thorough purification, I feel not altogether fit to hold + communion with doves. Methinks my profession is somewhat akin to that of a + chimney-sweeper; but the latter has the advantage over me, because, after + climbing up through the darksome flue of the chimney, he emerges into the + midst of the golden air, and sings out his melodies far over the heads of + the whole tribe of weary earth-plodders. My toil to-day has been cold and + dull enough; nevertheless, I was neither cold nor dull. + </p> + <p> + March 15th.—I pray that in one year more I may find some way of + escaping from this unblest Custom-House; for it is a very grievous + thraldom. I do detest all offices,—all, at least, that are held on a + political tenure. And I want nothing to do with politicians. Their hearts + wither away, and die out of their bodies. Their consciences are turned to + india-rubber, or to some substance as black as that, and which will + stretch as much. One thing, if no more, I have gained by my custom-house + experience,—to know a politician. It is a knowledge which no + previous thought or power of sympathy could have taught me, because the + animal, or the machine rather, is not in nature. + </p> + <p> + March 23d.—I do think that it is the doom laid upon me, of murdering + so many of the brightest hours of the day at the Custom-House, that makes + such havoc with my wits, for here I am again trying to write worthily, . . + . . yet with a sense as if all the noblest part of man had been left out + of my composition, or had decayed out of it since my nature was given to + my own keeping. . . . Never comes any bird of Paradise into that dismal + region. A salt or even a coal ship is ten million times preferable; for + there the sky is above me, and the fresh breeze around me, and my + thoughts, having hardly anything to do with my occupation, are as free as + air. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, you are not to fancy that the above paragraph gives a + correct idea of my mental and spiritual state. . . . It is only once in a + while that the image and desire of a better and happier life makes me feel + the iron of my chain; for, after all, a human spirit may find no + insufficiency of food fit for it, even in the Custom-House. And, with such + materials as these, I do think and feel and learn things that are worth + knowing, and which I should not know unless I had learned them there, so + that the present portion of my life shall not be quite left out of the sum + of my real existence. . . . It is good for me, on many accounts, that my + life has had this passage in it. I know much more than I did a year ago. I + have a stronger sense of power to act as a man among men. I have gained + worldly wisdom, and wisdom also that is not altogether of this world. And, + when I quit this earthly cavern where I am now buried, nothing will cling + to me that ought to be left behind. Men will not perceive, I trust, by my + look, or the tenor of my thoughts and feelings, that I have been a + custom-house officer. + </p> + <p> + April 7th.—It appears to me to have been the most uncomfortable day + that ever was inflicted on poor mortals. . . . Besides the bleak, unkindly + air, I have been plagued by two sets of coal-shovellers at the same time, + and have been obliged to keep two separate tallies simultaneously. But I + was conscious that all this was merely a vision and a fantasy, and that, + in reality, I was not half frozen by the bitter blast, nor tormented by + those grimy coal-beavers, but that I was basking quietly in the sunshine + of eternity. . . . Any sort of bodily and earthly torment may serve to + make us sensible that we have a soul that is not within the jurisdiction + of such shadowy demons,—it separates the immortal within us from the + mortal. But the wind has blown my brains into such confusion that I cannot + philosophize now. + </p> + <p> + April 19th.—. . . . What a beautiful day was yesterday! My spirit + rebelled against being confined in my darksome dungeon at the + Custom-House. It seemed a sin,—a murder of the joyful young day,—a + quenching of the sunshine. Nevertheless, there I was kept a prisoner till + it was too late to fling myself on a gentle wind, and be blown away into + the country. . . . When I shall be again free, I will enjoy all things + with the fresh simplicity of a child of five years old. I shall grow young + again, made all over anew. I will go forth and stand in a summer shower, + and all the worldly dust that has collected on me shall be washed away at + once, and my heart will be like a bank of fresh flowers for the weary to + rest upon. . . . + </p> + <p> + 6 P. M.—I went out to walk about an hour ago, and found it very + pleasant, though there was a somewhat cool wind. I went round and across + the Common, and stood on the highest point of it, where I could see miles + and miles into the country. Blessed be God for this green tract, and the + view which it affords, whereby we poor citizens may be put in mind, + sometimes, that all his earth is not composed of blocks of brick houses, + and of stone or wooden pavements. Blessed be God for the sky too, though + the smoke of the city may somewhat change its aspect,—but still it + is better than if each street were covered over with a roof. There were a + good many people walking on the mall,—mechanics apparently, and + shopkeepers' clerks, with their wives; and boys were rolling on the grass, + and I would have liked to lie down and roll too. + </p> + <p> + April 30th.—. . . . I arose this morning feeling more elastic than I + have throughout the winter; for the breathing of the ocean air has wrought + a very beneficial effect. . . . What a beautiful, most beautiful afternoon + this has been! It was a real happiness to live. If I had been merely a + vegetable,—a hawthorn-bush, for instance,— I must have been + happy in such an air and sunshine; but, having a mind and a soul, . . . . + I enjoyed somewhat more than mere vegetable happiness. . . . The footsteps + of May can be traced upon the islands in the harbor, and I have been + watching the tints of green upon them gradually deepening, till now they + are almost as beautiful as they ever can be. + </p> + <p> + May 19th.—. . . . Lights and shadows are continually flitting across + my inward sky, and I know neither whence they come nor whither they go; + nor do I inquire too closely into them. It is dangerous to look too + minutely into such phenomena. It is apt to create a substance where at + first there was a mere shadow. . . . If at any time there should seem to + be an expression unintelligible from one soul to another, it is best not + to strive to interpret it in earthly language, but wait for the soul to + make itself understood; and, were we to wait a thousand years, we need + deem it no more time than we can spare. . . . It is not that I have any + love of mystery, but because I abhor it, and because I have often felt + that words may be a thick and darksome veil of mystery between the soul + and the truth which it seeks. Wretched were we, indeed, if we had no + better means of communicating ourselves, no fairer garb in which to array + our essential being, than these poor rags and tatters of Babel. Yet words + are not without their use even for purposes of explanation,—but + merely for explaining outward acts and all sorts of external things, + leaving the soul's life and action to explain itself in its own way. + </p> + <p> + What a misty disquisition I have scribbled! I would not read it over for + sixpence. + </p> + <p> + May 29th.—Rejoice with me, for I am free from a load of coal which + has been pressing upon my shoulders throughout all the hot weather. I am + convinced that Christian's burden consisted of coal; and no wonder he felt + so much relieved, when it fell off and rolled into the sepulchre. His + load, however, at the utmost, could not have been more than a few bushels, + whereas mine was exactly one hundred and thirty-five chaldrons and seven + tubs. + </p> + <p> + May 30th.—. . . . On board my salt-vessels and colliers there are + many things happening, many pictures which, in future years, when I am + again busy at the loom of fiction, I could weave in; but my fancy is + rendered so torpid by my ungenial way of life that I cannot sketch off the + scenes and portraits that interest me, and I am forced to trust them to my + memory, with the hope of recalling them at some more favorable period. For + these three or four days I have been observing a little Mediterranean boy + from Malaga, not more than ten or eleven years old, but who is already a + citizen of the world, and seems to be just as gay and contented on the + deck of a Yankee coal-vessel as he could be while playing beside his + mother's door. It is really touching to see how free and happy he is,—how + the little fellow takes the whole wide world for his home, and all mankind + for his family. He talks Spanish,—at least that is his native + tongue; but he is also very intelligible in English, and perhaps he + likewise has smatterings of the speech of other countries, whither the + winds may have wafted this little sea-bird. He is a Catholic; and + yesterday being Friday he caught some fish and fried them for his dinner + in sweet-oil, and really they looked so delicate that I almost wished he + would invite me to partake. Every once in a while he undresses himself and + leaps overboard, plunging down beneath the waves as if the sea were as + native to him as the earth. Then he runs up the rigging of the vessel as + if he meant to fly away through the air. I must remember this little boy, + and perhaps I may make something more beautiful of him than these rough + and imperfect touches would promise. + </p> + <p> + June 11th.—. . . . I could wish that the east-wind would blow every + day from ten o'clock till five; for there is great refreshment in it to us + poor mortals that toil beneath the sun. We must not think too unkindly + even of the east-wind. It is not, perhaps, a wind to be loved, even in its + benignest moods; but there are seasons when I delight to feel its breath + upon my cheek, though it be never advisable to throw open my bosom and + take it into my heart, as I would its gentle sisters of the south and + west. To-day, if I had been on the wharves, the slight chill of an + east-wind would have been a blessing, like the chill of death to a + world-weary man. + </p> + <p> + . . . . But this has been one of the idlest days that I ever spent in + Boston. . . . In the morning, soon after breakfast, I went to the + Athenaeum gallery, and, during the hour or two that I stayed, not a single + visitor came in. Some people were putting up paintings in one division of + the room; but I had the other all to myself. There are two pictures there + by our friend Sarah Clarke,—scenes in Kentucky. + </p> + <p> + From the picture-gallery I went to the reading-rooms of the Athenaeum, and + there read the magazines till nearly twelve; thence to the Custom-House, + and soon afterwards to dinner with Colonel Hall; then back to the + Custom-House, but only for a little while. There was nothing in the world + to do, and so at two o'clock I cane home and lay down, with the Faerie + Queene in my hand. + </p> + <p> + August 21st.—Last night I slept like a child of five years old, and + had no dreams at all,—unless just before it was time to rise, and I + have forgotten what those dreams were. After I was fairly awake this + morning, I felt very bright and airy, and was glad that I had been + compelled to snatch two additional hours of existence from annihilation. + The sun's disk was but half above the ocean's verge when I ascended the + ship's side. These early morning hours are very lightsome and quiet. + Almost the whole day I have been in the shade, reclining on a pile of + sails, so that the life and spirit are not entirely worn out of me. . . . + The wind has been east this afternoon,—perhaps in the forenoon, too,—and + I could not help feeling refreshed, when the gentle chill of its breath + stole over my cheek. I would fain abominate the east-wind, . . . . but it + persists in doing me kindly offices now and then. What a perverse wind it + is! Its refreshment is but another mode of torment. + </p> + <p> + Salem, Oct. 4th. Union Street [Family Mansion]—. . . . Here I sit in + my old accustomed chamber, where I used to sit in days gone by. . . . Here + I have written many tales, many that have been burned to ashes, many that + doubtless deserved the same fate. This claims to be called a haunted + chamber, for thousands upon thousands of visions have appeared to me in + it; and some few of them have become visible to the world. If ever I + should have a biographer, he ought to make great mention of this chamber + in my memoirs, because so much of my lonely youth was wasted here, and + here my mind and character were formed; and here I have been glad and + hopeful, and here I have been despondent. And here I sat a long, long + time, waiting patiently for the world to know me, and sometimes wondering + why it did not know me sooner, or whether it would ever know me at all,— + at least, till I were in my grave. And sometimes it seemed as if I were + already in the grave, with only life enough to be chilled and benumbed. + But oftener I was happy,—at least, as happy as I then knew how to + be, or was aware of the possibility of being. By and by, the world found + me out in my lonely chamber, and called me forth,—not, indeed, with + a loud roar of acclamation, but rather with a still, small voice,—and + forth I went, but found nothing in the world that I thought preferable to + my old solitude till now. . . . And now I begin to understand why I was + imprisoned so many years in this lonely chamber, and why I could never + break through the viewless bolts and bars; for if I had sooner made my + escape into the world, I should have grown hard and rough, and been + covered with earthly dust, and my heart might have become callous by rude + encounters with the multitude. . . . But living in solitude till the + fulness of time was come, I still kept the dew of my youth and the + freshness of my heart. . . . I used to think I could imagine all passions, + all feelings, and states of the heart and mind; but how little did I know! + . . . . Indeed, we are but shadows; we are not endowed with real life, and + all that seems most real about us is but the thinnest substance of a + dream,—till the heart be touched. That touch creates us,—then + we begin to be,—thereby we are beings of reality and inheritors of + eternity. . . . + </p> + <p> + When we shall be endowed with our spiritual bodies, I think that they will + be so constituted that we may send thoughts and feelings any distance in + no time at all, and transfuse them warm and fresh into the consciousness + of those whom we love. . . . But, after all, perhaps it is not wise to + intermix fantastic ideas with the reality of affection. Let us content + ourselves to be earthly creatures, and hold communion of spirit in such + modes as are ordained to us. . . . + </p> + <p> + I was not at the end of Long Wharf to-day, but in a distant region,—my + authority having been put in requisition to quell a rebellion of the + captain and "gang" of shovellers aboard a coal-vessel. I would you could + have beheld the awful sternness of my visage and demeanor in the execution + of this momentous duty. Well,—I have conquered the rebels, and + proclaimed an amnesty; so to-morrow I shall return to that paradise of + measurers, the end of Long Wharf,—not to my former salt-ship, she + being now discharged, but to another, which will probably employ me + well-nigh a fortnight longer. . . . Salt is white and pure,—there is + something holy in salt. . . . + </p> + <p> + I have observed that butterflies—very broad-winged and magnificent + butterflies—frequently come on board of the salt-ship, where I am at + work. What have these bright strangers to do on Long Wharf, where there + are no flowers nor any green thing,—nothing but brick storehouses, + stone piers, black ships, and the bustle of toilsome men, who neither look + up to the blue sky, nor take note of these wandering gems of the air? I + cannot account for them, unless they are the lovely fantasies of the mind. + </p> + <p> + November.—. . . . How delightfully long the evenings are now! I do + not get intolerably tired any longer; and my thoughts sometimes wander + back to literature, and I have momentary impulses to write stories. But + this will not be at present. The utmost that I can hope to do will be to + portray some of the characteristics of the life which I am now living, and + of the people with whom I am brought into contact, for future use. . . . + The days are cold now, the air eager and nipping, yet it suits my health + amazingly. I feel as if I could run a hundred miles at a stretch, and jump + over all the houses that happen to be in my way. . . . + </p> + <p> + I have never had the good luck to profit much, or indeed any, by attending + lectures, so that I think the ticket had better be bestowed on somebody + who can listen to Mr. ——— more worthily. My evenings are + very precious to me, and some of them are unavoidably thrown away in + paying or receiving visits, or in writing letters of business, and + therefore I prize the rest as if the sands of the hour-glass were gold or + diamond dust. + </p> + <p> + I was invited to dine at Mr. Baucroft's yesterday with Miss Margaret + Fuller; but Providence had given me some business to do, for which I was + very thankful. + </p> + <p> + Is not this a beautiful morning? The sun shines into my soul. + </p> + <p> + April, 1841.—. . . . I have been busy all day, from early + breakfast-time till late in the afternoon; and old Father Time has gone + onward somewhat less heavily than is his wont when I am imprisoned within + the walls of the Custom-House. It has been a brisk, breezy day, an + effervescent atmosphere, and I have enjoyed it in all its freshness,—breathing + air which had not been breathed in advance by the hundred thousand pairs + of lungs which have common and indivisible property in the atmosphere of + this great city. My breath had never belonged to anybody but me. It came + fresh from the wilderness of ocean. . . . It was exhilarating to see the + vessels, how they bounded over the waves, while a sheet of foam broke out + around them. I found a good deal of enjoyment, too, in the busy scene + around me; for several vessels were disgorging themselves (what an + unseemly figure is this,—"disgorge," quotha, as if the vessels were + sick) on the wharf, and everybody seemed to be working with might and + main. It pleased me to think that I also had a part to act in the material + and tangible business of this life, and that a portion of all this + industry could not have gone on without my presence. Nevertheless, I must + not pride myself too much on my activity and utilitarianism. I shall, + doubtless, soon bewail myself at being compelled to earn my bread by + taking some little share in the toils of mortal men. . . . + </p> + <p> + Articulate words are a harsh clamor and dissonance. When man arrives at + his highest perfection, he will again be dumb! for I suppose he was dumb + at the Creation, and must go round an entire circle in order to return to + that blessed state. + </p> + <h3> + END OF VOL. I + </h3> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Passages From The American Notebooks, +Volume 1, by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PASSAGES *** + +***** This file should be named 8088-h.htm or 8088-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/0/8/8088/ + +Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger + +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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