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diff --git a/old/amnt110.txt b/old/amnt110.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e6f951 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/amnt110.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6177 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Passages From The American Notebooks, V1 +by Nathaniel Hawthorne +#23 in our series by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +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 on February 7, 2007] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN NOTEBOOKS, V1 *** + + + + +Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger + + + + +PASSAGES FROM THE AMERICAN NOTE-BOOKS + +OF + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE + + +VOL. I. + + + +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. + +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! + +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. + + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Cannon transformed to church-bells. + +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. + +In an old house, a mysterious knocking might be beard on the wall, where +had formerly been a doorway, now bricked up. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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! + +Some treasure or other thing to be buried, and a tree planted directly +over the spot, so as to embrace it with its roots. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +A scold and a blockhead,--brimstone and wood,--a good match. + +To make one's own reflection in a mirror the subject of a story. + +In a dream to wander to some place where may be heard the complaints of +all the miserable on earth. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +Four precepts: To break off customs; to shake off spirits ill-disposed; +to meditate on youth; to do nothing against one's genius. + + +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. + + +September.--The elm-trees have golden branches intermingled with their +green already, and so they had on the first of the month. + +To picture the predicament of worldly people, if admitted to paradise. + +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. + +"Though we speak nonsense, God will pick out the meaning of it,"--an +extempore prayer by a New England divine. + +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. + +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. + +The elephant is not particularly sagacious in the wild state, but becomes +so when tamed. The fox directly the contrary, and likewise the wolf. + +A modern Jewish adage,--"Let a man clothe himself beneath his ability, +his children according to his ability, and his wife above his ability." + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +In this dismal chamber FAME was won. (Salem, Union Street.) + +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. + +A council of the passengers in a street: called by somebody to decide +upon some points important to him. + +Every individual has a place to fill in the world, and is important in +some respects, whether he chooses to be so or not. + +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. + +Merry, in "merry England," does not mean mirthful; but is corrupted from +an old Teutonic word signifying famous or renowned. + +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. + +We sometimes congratulate ourselves at the moment of waking from a +troubled dream: it may be so the moment after death. + +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. + +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. + +A singular fact, that, when man is a brute, he is the most sensual and +loathsome of all brutes. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +A Fancy Ball, in which the prominent American writers should appear, +dressed in character. + +A lament for life's wasted sunshine. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +A recluse, like myself, or a prisoner, to measure time by the progress of +sunshine through his chamber. + +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? + +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. + +No fountain so small but that Heaven may be imaged in its bosom. + +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. + +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. + +Nobody will use other people's experience, nor has any of his own till it +is too late to use it. + +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. + +Comfort for childless people. A married couple with ten children have +been the means of bringing about ten funerals. + +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. + +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. + +The blind man's walk. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +The Abyssinians, after dressing their hair, sleep with their heads in a +forked stick, in order not to discompose it. + +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? + +Stephen Gowans supposed that the bodies of Adam and Eve were clothed in +robes of light, which vanished after their sin. + +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. + +A missionary to the heathen in a great city, to describe his labors in +the manner of a foreign mission. + +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. + +After the siege of Antwerp, the children played marbles in the streets +with grape and cannon shot. + +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. + +A French artillery-man being buried in his military cloak on the +ramparts, a shell exploded, and unburied him. + +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. + +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. + +Anciently, when long-buried bodies were found undecayed in the grave, a +species of sanctity was attributed to them. + +Some chimneys of ancient halls used to be swept by having a culverin +fired up them. + +At Leith, in 1711, a glass bottle was blown of the capacity of two +English bushels. + +The buff and blue of the Union were adopted by Fox and the Whig party in +England. The Prince of Wales wore them. + +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. + +A town clerk arranges the publishments that are given in, according to +his own judgment. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Our body to be possessed by two different spirits; so that half of the +visage shall express one mood, and the other half another. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +An article on fire, on smoke. Diseases of the mind and soul,--even more +common than bodily diseases. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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------. + + +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,-- + +"Do you want to see her?" + +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,-- + +"Is she your daughter?" + +"Why, a little nearer than that, I calkilate," said the poor devil. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + + +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. + +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. + + +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! + +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. + + +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! + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Schooner ahoy!" say we. "Halloo! Have you seen Boston Light this +morning?" + +"Yes; it bears north-northwest, two miles distant." + +"Very much obliged to you," cries our captain. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The journal of a human heart for a single day in ordinary circumstances. +The lights and shadows that flit across it; its internal vicissitudes. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + + +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. + +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. + +[The corroboration of the truth of this, see Lord Bacon, Century IV. of +his Sylva Sylvarum, or Natural History, in Ten Centuries, paragraph 400.] + +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------. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +A whirlwind, whirling the dried leaves round in a circle, not very +violently. + +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. + +The aromatic odor of peat-smoke in the sunny autumnal air is very +pleasant. + + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +An article to be made of telling the stories of the tiles of an +old-fashioned chimney-piece to a child. + +A person conscious that he was soon to die, the humor in which he would +pay his last visit to familiar persons and things. + +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. + +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. + +A person to spend all his life and splendid talents in trying to achieve +something naturally impossible,--as to make a conquest over Nature. + +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. + + +December 6th.--A fairy tale about chasing Echo to her hiding-place. Echo +is the voice of a reflection in a mirror. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +A company of men, none of whom have anything worth hoping for on earth, +yet who do not look forward to anything beyond earth! + +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. + +A story to show how we are all wronged and wrongers, and avenge one +another. + +To personify winds of various characters. + +A man living a wicked life, in one place, and simultaneously a virtuous +and religious one in another. + +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. + +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. + +A company of persons to drink a certain medicinal preparation, which +would prove a poison, or the contrary, according to their different +characters. + +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. + +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. + +To poison a person or a party of persons with the sacramental wine. + +A cloud in the shape of an old woman kneeling, with arms extended towards +the moon. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +A woman to sympathize with all emotions, but to have none of her own. + +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. + +Men of cold passions have quick eyes. + +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. + +A letter, written a century or more ago, but which has never yet been +unsealed. + +A partially insane man to believe himself the Provincial Governor or +other great official of Massachusetts. The scene might be the Province +House. + +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. + +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. + +The influence of a peculiar mind, in close communion with another, to +drive the latter to insanity. + +To look at a beautiful girl, and picture all the lovers, in different +situations, whose hearts are centred upon her. + + +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. + + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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------. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +Punishment of a miser,--to pay the drafts of his heir in his tomb. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The doctors walk about the village with their saddle-bags on their arms, +one always with a pipe in his mouth. + +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. + + +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. + +Every new aspect of the mountains, or view from a different position, +creates a surprise in the mind. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +People washing themselves at a common basin in the bar-room! and using +the common hair-brushes! perhaps with a consciousness of praiseworthy +neatness! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I passed a doctor high up the road in a sulky, with his black leather +saddle-bags. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +A tendency to obesity is more common in this part of the country than I +have noticed it elsewhere. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +There was a Methodist quarterly meeting here, and a love-feast. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +In parts, trees have fallen across the fissure,--trees with large trunks. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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." + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +"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.) + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The elephant lodged in the barn. + + +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. + +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. + +To imagine the gorges and deep hollows in among the group of mountains,-- +their huge shoulders and protrusions. + +"They were just beginning to pitch over the mountains, as I came along," +--stage-driver's expression about the caravan. + +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. + +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. + +Inquiries about the coming of the caravan, and whether the elephant had +got to town, and reports that he had. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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?" + +At Hartford, the keeper of a temperance hotel reading a Hebrew Bible in +the bar by means of a lexicon and an English version. + +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! + +Left North Adams September 11th. Reached home September 24th, 1838. + + +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. + +All the dead that had ever been drowned in a certain lake to arise. + +The history of a small lake from the first, till it was drained. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +A person to catch fire-flies, and try to kindle his household fire with +them. It would be symbolical of something. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +Pandora's box for a child's story. + +Moonlight is sculpture; sunlight is painting. + +"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." + +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. + +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! + +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. + + +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. + +A stranger, dying, is buried; and after many years two strangers come in +search of his grave, and open it. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +Familiar spirits, according to Lilly, used to be worn in rings, watches, +sword-hilts. Thumb-rings were set with jewels of extraordinary size. + +A very fanciful person, when dead, to have his burial in a cloud. + +"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. + +Dialogues of the unborn, like dialogues of the dead,--or between two +young children. + +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. + +Some moderns to build a fire on Ararat with the remnants of the ark. + +Two little boats of cork, with a magnet in one and steel in the other. + +To have ice in one's blood. + +To make a story of all strange and impossible things,--as the Salamander, +the Phoenix. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +A bonfire to be made of the gallows and of all symbols of evil. + +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. + +The device of a sun-dial for a monument over a grave, with some suitable +motto. + +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. + +A phantom of the old royal governors, or some such shadowy pageant, on +the night of the evacuation of Boston by the British. + +------ 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. + +Little F. H------ used to look into E----'s mouth to see where her smiles +came from. + +"There is no Measure for Measure to my affections. If the earth fails +me, I can die, and go to GOD," said ------. + +Selfishness is one of the qualities apt to inspire love. This might be +thought out at great length. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + +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. + + +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. + + +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. . . . + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + +What a misty disquisition I have scribbled! I would not read it over for +sixpence. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + +. . . . 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. + +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. + + +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. + + +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. . . . + +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. . . . + +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. . . . + +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. + + +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. . . . + +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. + +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. + +Is not this a beautiful morning? The sun shines into my soul. + + +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. . . . + +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. + + +END OF VOL. I + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Passages From The American Notebooks +by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Volume 1 + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN NOTEBOOKS, V1 *** + +This file should be named amnt110.txt or amnt110.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, amnt111.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, amnt110a.txt + +Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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