Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[graphic][merged small][merged small]

DEVOTED TO POLITE LITERATURE, SUCH AS MORAL AND SENTIMENTAL TALES, ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELING SKETCHES, AMUSING MISCELLANY, HUMOROUS AND HISTORICAL ANECDOTES, POETRY, &c.

VOL. XIV.-[v. NEW SERIES.]

SELECT TALES.

HUDSON, N. Y. SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1837.

NO. 1.

as if in wild glee at its escape from the em- pioneer, still standing in the back-ground brace of its parent waters, leaps at once, surrounded by weeds and briars, had here from a state of the most unruffled tranquillity, given place to a new framed house of one May Martin, or the Money Diggers. over a ledgy barrier, and, with noisy rever-story, which, together with the appearance of

Prize Tale-From the New-England Galaxy:

A GREEN MOUNTAIN TALE,

BY D. P. THOMPSON OF MONTPELIER, VT.

immoveable sides, and arrest and receive on
their own unscathed heads the shafts of the
lightning descending for its victims to the
valley below, while they cheerily bandy from
side to side the voicy echoes of the thunder
peal with their mighty brethren of the oppo-
site rampart.

berations, goes bounding along from cliff to the out buildings and the well cultivated cliff, in a series of romantic cascades, down grounds adjoining, betokened a considerable In one of those rough and secluded towns, a deep ravine, till the lessening echoes are degree of thrift and comfort in the circumsituated in the heart of the Green Mountains, lost in the sinuosities of the outlet of the val- stances of the owner. is a picturesque little valley, containing, per- ley. From the western shore of this sheet Towards night on a beautiful summer's haps, something over two thousand acres of of water the land rises in gentle undula- day, at the time we have chosen for the openland, formerly known in that section of the tions, and with a gradual ascent, back to ing of our tale, a young man and maiden country by the appellation of The Harwood the foot of the mountains, which here, as might have been seen leaving the door of the Settlement, so called from the name of the on every side, rear their ever-green sum- cottage we have described, and leisurely takoriginal proprietor of the valley. As if form-mits to the clouds, standing around this ing their way across the pasture, in a direced by some giant hand, literally scooping vast fortress of nature as huge sentinels post- tion to intersect the main road at the terminout the solid mountain and moulding it into ing the lofty outworks to battle with the ca- ation of the clearing on the south. The first shape and proportion, the whole valley pre-reering hurricanes that burst in fury on their named of this couple, apparently of the age sents the exact resemblance of an oval basin of about twenty-five was in the full bloom of whose sides are composed of a continuous vigorous manhood. His hardy, robust, and ridge of lofty hills bordering it around, and well formed frame was graced with an open, broken only by two narrow outlets at its frank and highly intelligent countenance, innortherly and southerly extremities. The dicative at once of an ingenuous disposition, eastern part of this valley is covered by one a light heart, and the conscientiousness of a of those transparent ponds, which are so strong hand, with mental capacity to govern beautifully characteristic of Vermont scene- Nor is the beauty of the minor features of and render it available-exhibiting in his perry, lying in the form of a crescent, and ex- the landscape surpassed by the bold grand-son a fine sample of the early emigrant settending along beneath the closely encircling eur of the main outlines. The interior of the tlers of Vermont, who were almost univermountains on the east nearly the whole length valley, for miles in extent, uniformly sloping sally men of uncommon physical powers, of the interior landscape, forever mirroring to the eastward, is checkered with beautiful and generally of moral qualities which quailup from its darkly bright surface, faintly and alternations of town and woodland, forever ed at no ordinary obstacles-a fact attributavividly, as cloud or sunshine may prevail, the richly clothed in their season with the wavy ble, probably, neither to chance, nor the motley groups of the somber forest, where the and lighter verdure of the cultivated field, or invigorating effects of their climate, but to more slender and softer tinted beech and the deep-tinted and exuberant foliage of the the natural operation of these very powers maple seem struggling for a place among the forest. While a thousand gushing rills come and qualities themselves, which only could rough and shaggy forms of the sturdy hem-dancing down from the surrounding heights incite them to forsake the ease and comfort lock, peering head over head, up the steeply to meet the morning sun, and glitter in his of an old settlement, with the certainty of enascending cliffs of the woody precipice, while first smile, as he looks in over the castern tering upon hardships in a new one and endurhere and there, at distant intervals, towering barrier on his return from his diurnal circuit. ing trials from which men of common mould high over all, stands the princely pine, waving At the period of which we are about to would shrink with dismay. His fair companits majestic head in solitary grandeur, a strik-write, the rude dwellings of the small band of ing but melancholy type of the aboriginal In- settlers, who then inhabited the valley, were dian, still occasionally found lingering among scattered at different intervals along the road, us, the only remaining representative of a which, entering from the south, wound round once powerful race, which have receded be- the westerly margin of the pond and passed fore the march of civilized men, now destin-off through the interlapping mountains toed no more to flourish the lords of the plain wards Canada. Of these dwellings the larand the mountain. This pond discharges its surplus waters at its southern extremity in a pure stream of considerable size, which here,

gest, and most respectable in appearance,
was the one situated in the most southerly
part of the valley.-The old log house of the

ו'

ion was evidently quite youthful. Her person was rather slightly formed, but of closely knit and beautifully rounded proportions, which were indebted for their almost faultless symmetry to none of the crippling arts of fashion, but solely to the hand of unrestrained nature, giving a free and graceful motion, and a step as light and agile as that of the young fawn of the mountains among which she was reared. The complexion of her face,

however, was rather two dark to be delicate,

[ocr errors]

Troubles! and not tell me, May-you|| O no, no, no!' interrupted the girl with

True, Mr. Ashley, true, if you take the interest in me which you profess-to you certainly if to any one would I confide them. And indeed should any thing happen to me in your absence in consequence of their existence, I should wish perhaps I had apprised you of the difficulties which beset me—'

[ocr errors]

or to give full effect to the rich brown tres-surprise and disturb me already-to whom ses that encircled her high forehead and fell should you confide them, if not to me?' profusely in natural ringlets down her finely arched neck. And her features also, though regular, were remarkable only for the wonderful vivacity of their expression; though now, as she and her companion pursued their way from the house some rods in silence, her mind seemed absent, or absorbed by some care, her looks were quiescent and unmeaning, and her dark blue eye seemed sleeping in abstraction-but now her lover spoke, and a thousand variant emotions came flitting over her countenance-a smile of peculiar sweetness played on her lips, her cheeks were wreathed in dimples, and her eyes fairly sparkled with a light of the soul that seemed at that instant to have taken perch within them.

[ocr errors][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

· O tell me, tell me, May.'

returning vivacity, and with that playful tact, which woman so well knows how to quell the storm she has raised in the less versatile bosom of man. O no, no, don't swear at me—I have enough of that at home.'

The lovers, having now arrived at the end of their walk, seated themselves amidst a cluster of low evergreens on the brink of a high bank, to indulge a while before the final adieu, in that luxury of love, the interchange I will-You already know that Mr. and of the mutual pledges of affection on the eve Mrs. Martin, with whom I have lived from a of separation. The scenery of the spot was small child, are not my father and mother by well calculated to enhance the mutual interest relationship, and I am sorry to say they are of the moment, and hallow it to their feelnot more by their treatment; often, too of-ings. Some twenty or thirty feet below, and ten, have they made me to feel that I am the child of other parents.'

Why surely you never even hinted such a thing before, and I never suspected any thing May,' said he, May my girl, do you of the kind. They certainly have appeared know that I have invited you out for this lit-sufficiently kind to you in my presence.' tle walk only to bid you adieu, and that too for a considerable season?'

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

O yes, in your presence; and even when you are in the neighborhood they are more cautious in their cruelty, but as soon as you are fairly out of the settlement for any considerable absence, I soon am made aware of it by other means than the void in my feelings at the loss of your society. You have been told of a pedlar who undertook to be my suitor the year before you came here. That was their work; and I never shall forget their meanness in trying to unite me to that vagabond, to get me out of the country, as I

And how soon will you return?' Perhaps I may be absent nearly two have often thought.' months.'

'So very long?'

Most probably-my business is such as may lead to delays-but why so concerned, May ? this one more absence and then-'

But what reason can they have for such a treatment, and in what manner is it usually exercised?'

'I am not sensible of ever having given them any cause, and I cannot guess at the

'Yes, yes, I know what you would say, but reason. As regards the manner, it is no why is even this absence necessary?'

[ocr errors]

It is but right that you should know, May, and I will tell you-It is now nearly a year since I contracted for the land on which I made a pitch in this settlement. The Time for a payment when I am to receive a title has nearly arrived; and I am going to gather up the little pittance of property which I earned with my own hands, and left invested in my native state, when I departed for the wild woods of Vermont, and which I now need to enable me to meet this payment.'

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]

personal violence that I complain of; but is it much less painful to be insulted, despised-to|| see, know, and be made to feel that I am hated?' No, May, no. This is indeed news to me, but it must not shall not be. I will this moment return and see them, and secure you a kinder treatment, or, as sure as my name is William Ashley, their house this day ceases to be your home.'

'Oh no! not for the world! not a step. not a word-If you love me, not a word to them of what I have told you. I would not leave them at this late period, I can bear with them a few months longer, and then-and

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

almost directly under their feet, the road, just emerging from the woods, wound along on a scanty jut, or shelf of the hill-side, which immediately beyond, formed a lofty precipice terminating in the stream, that rushed in stifled murmurs swiftly down its rugged channel, deeply embowered in the overhanging forest beneath. The cool spray, stealing through the dark foliage of the lofty fir and spruce, whose roots were grasping the rocky margin of the stream a hundred feet below, and whose wavy and attenuated tops now seemed almost within the grasp of the hand, was visibly rising athwart the bright pencils of the struggling sunbeams in glittering vibrations to the heavens, and with grateful freshness came mingling on the senses with the balmy odor of the birch and gilead.-While the seemingly low encircling firmament canopied their heads with that deep and rich cerulean so peculiar to the woody glens of the Green Mountains; and all around and above them was breathing a purity, and shedding a tranquil brightness beautifully emblematical, alike of the innocent and the unalloyed affections of their gushing hearts, and their sunny anticipations of the future.

Their enjoyment of these happy moments, however, was soon to be interrupted. Their attention was now arrested by the sounds of clattering hoofs in the road below; and turning their eyes to the spot from whence the noise proceeded they beheld a single horseman urging, with cruel applications of the whip, his faltering steed up the hill towards the settlement. When nearly opposite, or rather under the spot where our lovers sat concealed from view by the boughs of their covert, the horse paused, staggered an instant and fell with his rider to the ground. The poor animal after a few convulsive flounderings, gasped feebly, and died on the spot. Damn the luck!' exclaimed the traveler, giving the dead carcass two or three spiteful kicks, damn the luck, the horse is dead! However,' he continued after a short pause occupied in taking a hasty glance up and down the road, and then over the precipice however, dead horses like

[merged small][ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinuar »