service to him. He was now the owner, in consequence, of sixteen sheep. By a long process of inquiry he came to the knowledge that he could purchase, for their value in the market, a pair of two year old steers, which he might support in the summer in the woods free of cost, and by hiring raise to full grown oxen in a couple of years, when his sheep fund would be doubled. The money to be realized would help to support him in college. On this agricultural basis he began his preparations; diligently hunting mink and muskrat, the skins of which were saleable. He worked out with an old blacksmith the cost of a set of steel traps, and with the proceeds made the purchase of that rare book in Vermont at the time, Pike's large arithmetic, also a Latin grammar, lexicon, and Virgil. He was now in difficulty with the pronunciation of the latter, but he secured that from a graduate of Dartmouth, who had settled as a lawyer in a village growing up in his neighborhood, paying him, per contract, thirtyseven and a-half cents for three lessons in the language, which, with his own exertions, carried him through the grammar. Released by his father from his labor on the farm-an important consideration in that place and time-and having disposed of his cattle for seventy five dollars and a thick old-fashioned bull's-eye watch, which he thought might be of service to him in marking the hours in his contemplated school-keeping; and being fitted by his mother with an equipment of homespun wardrobe, he turned his steps one morning of September, 1815, to the house of a clergyman thirty miles off, who kept one or two pupils at a time in preparation for college. He here made such good use of his opportunities that in twelve weeks he had read the whole of Virgil; the winter he employed in studying human nature and adding to his means while boarding round as the schoolmaster of one of the wild districts of the country. A good preparation, he subsequently found it, for novel writing. A short time at a classical academy in the north-west of the state for his own studies, more school-keeping, with an interval of conscientious help rendered to his father in the severe toil of the farm, and he presented himself at Middlebury College. He passed the examination for the Sophomore class, studied hard and read extensively with close attention to English composition, and took his degree in the summer of 1820.

Through the friendship of Professor Keith of Alexandria, D. C., he now obtained an eligible private tutorship in a family in Virginia, in the vicinity of the mansions of the old Ex-Presidents, and so far profited by his opportunities as to procure an admission as attorney and counsellor of the inferior and superior courts of the state. After three or four years of this pleasant life he returned home and opened a law-office in Montpelier. He soon got the appointment of Register of Probate, was elected clerk of the legislature, which he held for three years, when he passed a year, on the appointment of the Governor, in compiling a volume of the statute laws. He has been since Judge of Probate of the county, County Clerk of the county and Supreme Court, and in 1853 he was elected Secretary of State.

Mr. Thompson's active pursuit of literature was somewhat accidental. He had from his college

DJ Thompson

years contributed to periodicals tales and essays, but had written nothing of length till in 1835, upon noticing an offer for a prize tale by the New England Galaxy, published at Boston, he wrote his story of May Martin, or the Money Diggers; which, having gained the prize, proved so successful, that when he published it in a volume he was not able to hold the copyright from rival booksellers, who printed it with impunity, from the unprotected pages of the newspaper. This well told story was founded on incidents of actual occurrence in his neighborhood, with which he had become acquainted in the course of his professional business.

In 1840 Mr. Thompson published at Montpelier, The Green Mountain Boys, "intended to embody and illustrate a portion of the more romantic incidents which actually occurred in the early settlements of Vermont, with the use of but little more of fiction than was deemed sufficient to weave them together, and impart to the tissue a connected interest.' Locke Amsden, or the Schoolmaster, followed in 1847. This work, the design of which is to illustrate the art of intellectual selfculture, and to serve the interests of popular education, involves no inconsiderable part of the author's autobiography, and is drawn largely from his personal observation. It is an interesting picture of a time already ancient-so rapidly has the cause of education developed itself in what was not many years since a scanty wild settlement.

The Rangers, or the Tory's Daughter, a counterpart to the Green Mountain Boys, was published in 1850. It is illustrative of the Revolutionary history of Vermont, and the northern campaigns of 1777; and is the result of a careful study of the time to which the author has made fiction subservient. The style in this, as in the preceding, is full and minute, the writer knowing the art of the story-teller, who must leave nothing for the mind of the listener outside of the narrative, but must engross the whole interest for himself and his tale.

This concludes the list of the author's works. They form a series which has attained high popularity in his state, and which has travelled far beyond it. The tales have been republished in England, where they have doubtless been read with

interest as pictures of American history and society. The manly career of the author, resulting in his honorable success in life, and the interest of his books, have secured him a sterling popularity at home. He married in 1831 a daughter of E. K. Robinson of Chester, Vermont, and is surrounded by a family of children.

A SCHOOL COMMITTEE-MAN AND A LAWSUIT.

[Locke Amsden is in pursuit of a country engagement as a school teacher.]

The little knowledge he had gained,

Was all from simple nature drained.-GAY.

It was late in the season when our hero returned home; and having inadvertently omitted to apprise his friends of his intention to engage himself as a teacher of some of the winter schools in the vicinity of his father's residence, he found, on his arrival, every situation to which his undoubted qualifications should prompt him to aspire, already occupied by others. He was therefore compelled, unless he relinquished his purpose, to listen to the less eligible offers which came from such smaller and more backward districts or societies as had not engaged their instructors for the winter. One of these he was on the point of deciding to accept, when he received information of a district where the master, from some cause or other, had been dismissed during the first week of his engagement, and where the committee were now in search of another to supply his place. The district from which this information came, was situated in one of the mountain towns about a dozen miles distant, and the particular neighborhood of its location was known in the vicinity, to a considerable extent, by the name of the Horn of the Moon; an appellation generally understood to be derived from a peculiar curvature of a mountain that partially enclosed the place. Knowing nothing of the causes which had here led to the recent dismissal of the teacher, nor indeed of the particular character of the school, further than that it was a large one, and one, probably, which, though in rather a new part of the country, would yet furnish something like an adequate remuneration to a good instructor, Locke had no hesitation in deciding to make an immediate application for the situation. Accordingly, the next morning he mounted a horse, and set out for the place in question.

It was a mild December's day; the ground had not yet assumed its winter covering, and the route taken by our hero becoming soon bordered on either side by wild and picturesque mountain scenery, upon which he had ever delighted

To look from nature up to nature's God, the excursion in going was a pleasant one. And occupied by the reflections thus occasioned, together with anticipations of happy results from his expected engagement, he arrived after a ride of a few hours, at the borders of the romantic looking place of which he was in quest.

At this point in his journey, he overtook a man on foot, of whom, after discovering him to belong somewhere in the neighborhood, he proceeded to make some inquiries relative to the situation of the school.

"Why," replied the man, "as I live out there in the tip of the Horn, which is, of course, at the outer edge of the district, I know but little about the school affairs; but one thing is certain, they have shipped the master, and want to get as other, I suppose.'

"For what cause was the master dismissed? For lack of qualifications?"

"Yes, lack of qualifications for our district. The fellow, however, had learning enough, as all agreed, but no spunk; and the young Bunkers, and some

others of the big boys, mistrusting this, and being a little riled at some things he had said to them, took it into their heads to train him a little, which they did; when he, instead of showing any grit on the occasion, got frightened and cleared out."

"Why, sir, did his scholars offer him personal violence?"

"O no-not violence. They took him up quite carefully, bound him on to a plank, as I understood, and carried him on their shoulders, in a sort of procession, three times around the schoolhouse, and then, unloosing him, told him to go at his business again."

"And was all this suffered to take place without any interference from your committee?"

66

Yes, our committee-man would not interfere in such a case. A master must fight his own way in our district."

Who is your committee, sir?"

"Captain Bill Bunker is now. They had a meeting after the fracas, and chose a new one."

"Is he a man who is capable of ascertaining for himself the qualifications of a teacher?"

"O yes-at least I had as lief have Bill Bunker's judgment of a man who applied for the school as any other in the district; and yet he is the only man in the whole district but what can read and write, I believe."

"Your school committee not able to read and write?"

"Not a word, and still he does more business than any man in this neighborhood. Why, sir, he keeps a sort of store, sells to A, B, and C, and charges on book in a fashion of his own; and I would as soon trust to his book as that of any regular merchant in the country; though, to be sure, he has got into a jumble, I hear, about some charges against a man at t'other end of the Horn, and they are having a court about it to-day at Bunker's house, I understand." "Where does he live?"

66

Right on the road, about a mile ahead. You will see his name chalked on a sort of a shop-looking building, which he uses for a store."

The man here turned off from the road, leaving our hero so much surprised and staggered at what he had just heard, not only of the general character of the school of which he had come to propose himself as a teacher, but of the man who now had the control of it, that he drew up the reins, stopped his horse in the road, and sat hesitating some moments whether he would go back or forward. It occurring to him, however, that he could do as he liked about accepting any offer of the place which might be made him, and feeling, moreover, some curiosity to see how a man who could neither read nor write would manage in capacity of an examining school committee, he resolved to go forward, and present himself as a candidate for the school. Accordingly, he rode on, and soon reached a rough built, but substantial-looking farm-house, with sundry out-buildings, on one of which he read, as he had been told he might, the name of the singular occupant. In the last-named building, he at once perceived that there was a gathering of quite a number of individuals, the nature of which was explained to him by the hint he hal received from his informant on the road. tying his horse, he joined several who were going in, and soon found himself in the midst of the company assembled in the low, unfinished room which constituted the interior, as parties, witnesses, and spectators of a justice's court, the ceremonies of which were about to be commenced. There were no counters, counting-room, or desk; and a few broad shelves, clumsily put up on one side, afforded the only indication, observable in the interior arrangement of the

And

room,

of the use to which it was devoted. On these shelves were scattered, at intervals, small bunches of hoes, axes, bed-cords, and such articles as are generally purchased by those who purchase little; while casks of nails, grindstones, quintals of dried salt fish, and the like, arranged round the room on the floor, made up the rest of the owner's merchandise, an annual supply of which, it appeared, he obtained in the cities every winter in exchange for the products of his farm; ever careful, like a good political economist, that the balance of trade should not be against him. The only table and chair in the room were now occupied by the justice; the heads of casks, grindstones, or bunches of rakes, answering for seats for the rest of the company. On the left of the justice sat the defendant, whose composed look, and occasional knowing smile, seemed to indicate his confidence in the strength of his defence as well as a consciousness of possessing some secret advantage over his opponent. On the other hand sat Bunker, the plaintiff in the suit. Ascertaining from the remarks of the bystanders his identity with the committee-man he had become so curious to see, Locke fell to noting his appearance closely, and the result was, upon the whole, a highly favorable prepossession. He was a remarkably stout, hardy-looking man; and although his features were extremely rough and swarthy, they yet combined to give him an open, honest, and very intelligent countenance.

Behind

him, as backers, were standing in a group three or four of his sons, of ages varying from fifteen to twenty, and of bodily proportions promising anything but disparagement to the Herculean stock from which they originated. The parties were now called and sworn; when Bunker, there being no attorneys employed to make two-hour speeches on preliminary questions, proceeded at once to the merits of his case. He produced and spread open his account-book, and then went on to show his manner of charging, which was wholly by hieroglyphics, generally designating the debtor by picturing him out at the top of the page with some peculiarity of his person or calling. In the present case, the debtor, who was a cooper, was designated by the rude picture of a man in the act of hooping a barrel; and the article charged, there being but one item in the account, was placed immediately beneath, and represented by a shaded, circular figure, which the plaintiff said was intended for a cheese, that had been sold to the defendant some years before.

"Now, Mr. Justice," said Bunker, after explaining in a direct, off-hand manner, his peculiar method of book-keeping, now, the article here charged the man had-I will, and do swear to it; for here it is in black and white. And I having demanded my pay, and he having not only refused it, but denied ever buying the article in question, I have brought this suit to recover my just due. And now I wish to see if he will get up here in court, and deny the charge under oath. If he will, let him; but may the Lord have mercy on his soul!"

"Well, sir,” replied the defendant, promptly rising, "you shall not be kept from having your wish a minute; for I here, under oath, do swear, that I never bought or had a cheese of you in my life." "Under the oath of God you declare it, do you?" sharply asked Bunker.

"I do, sir," firmly answered the other.

Well, well!" exclaimed the former, with looks of utter astonishment, "I would not have believed that there was a man in all of the Horn of the Moon who would dare to do that."

After the parties had been indulged in the usual amount of sparring for such occasions, the justice interposed and suggested, that as the oaths of the par

ties were at complete issue, the evidence of the book itself, which he seemed to think was entitled to credit, would turn the scale in favor of the plaintiff, unless the defendant could produce some rebutting testimony. Upon this hint, the latter called up two of his neighbors, who testified in his behalf, that he himself always made a sufficient supply of cheese for his family; and they were further knowing, that, on the year of the alleged purchase, instead of buying, he actually sold a considerable quantity of the ar

ticle.

This evidence seemed to settle the question in the mind of the justice; and he now soon announced, that he felt bound to give judgment to the defendant for his costs.

66

'Judged and sworn out of the whole of it, as I am a sinner!" cried the disconcerted Bunker, after sitting a moment working his rough features in indignant surprise; "yes, fairly sworn out of it, and saddled with a bill of costs to boot! But I can pay it; so reckon it up, Mr. Justice, and we will have it all squared on the spot. And, on the whole, I am not so sure but a dollar or two is well spent, at any time, in finding out a fellow to be a scoundrel who has been passing himself off among people for an honest man," he added, pulling out his purse, and angrily dashing the required amount down upon the table.

Now, Bill Bunker," said the defendant, after very coolly pocketing his costs, "you have flung out a good deal of your stuff here, and I have bore it without getting riled a hair; for I saw, all the time, that you correct as folks ginerally think you-that you didn't know what you was about. But now it's all fixed and settled, I am going jist to convince you that I am not quite the one that has sworn to a perjury in this 'ere business."

"Well, we will see," rejoined Bunker, eyeing his opponent with a look of mingled doubt and defiance.

"Yes, we will see," responded the other, determinedly; "we will see if we can't make you eat your own words. But I want first to tell you where you missed it. When you dunned me, Bunker, for the pay for a cheese, and I said I never had one of you, you went off a little too quick; you called me a liar, before giving me a chance to say another word. And then, I thought I would let you take your own course, till you took that name back. If you had held on a minute, without breaking out so upon me, I should have teld you all how it was, and you would have got your pay on the spot; but

"

Pay!" fiercely interrupted Bunker, “then you admit you had the cheese, do you?"

No, sir, I admit no such thing," quickly rejoined the former; "for I still say I never had a cheese of you in the world. But I did have a small grindstone of you at the time, and at just the price you have charged for your supposed cheese; and here is your money for it, sir. Now, Bunker, what do you say to that?"

Grindstone-cheese-cheese-grindstone!" exclaimed the now evidently nonplussed and doubtful Bunker, taking a few rapid turns about the room, and occasionally stopping at the table to scrutinize anew his hieroglyphical charge; "I must think this matter over again. Grindstone-cheese-cheesegrindstone. Ah! I have it; but may God forgive me for what I have done! It was a grindstone, but I forgot to make a hole in the middle for the crank."

Upon this curious development, as will be readily imagined, the opposing parties were not long in effecting an amicable and satisfactory adjustment. And, in a short time, the company broke up and departed, all obviously as much gratified as amused at this singular but happy result of the lawsuit.

rolina. Mr. Kennedy, in the course of a journey in the western part of that region, fell in with this worthy, and afterwards turned to good account a long evening's conversation with him, by making it the groundwork of an excellent historical novel, its leading incidents being transcripts of the old man's veritable adventures.

In his next work, Rob of the Bowl, published in 1838, Mr. Kennedy went further back in American history than before, but with a similar adherence, in the main, to fact; the scene being laid in Maryland, in the days of her founder, Calvert. These three novels were reprinted in uniform volumes, with illustrations, in 1852, by G. P. Putnam.

In 1840 Mr. Kennedy published The Annals of Quodlibet, a political satire, suggested by the animated "log-cabin and hard cider" canvass preceding the election of Harrison and Tyler, in the same year.

In 1849 he published an elaborate life of his friend William Wirt, with extracts from his correspondence, forming two octavo volumes.

In addition to the works mentioned, Mr. Kennedy is the author of an Address delivered before the Baltimore Society, in 1833, an Eulogy on Wirt, in 1834, and A Discourse at the Dedication of Green Mount Cemetery, in 1839.

Mr. Kennedy writes with delightful ease and freshness. His works are evidently the natural product of his thought and observation, and are pervaded by the happy genial temperament which characterizes the man in his personal relations. We have a full reproduction in his volumes of the old Virginia life, with its old-time ideas of repose, content, and solid comfort; its hearty outdoor existence, and the "humors" which are apt, in a fixed state of society, to develop quaint features in master and dependants.

The author's books abound in delightful rural pictures and sketches of character, which, in easy style and quiet genial humor, recall the Sketch

Kennedy's Residence.

Book and Bracebridge Hall. The author has himself acknowledged the relationship in the graceful tribute to Irving which forms the dedication to the volume.

DESCRIPTION OF SWALLOW BARN,

Swallow Barn is an aristocratical old edifice, that squats, like a brooding hen, on the southern bank of the James River. It is quietly seated, with its vassal out-buildings, in a kind of shady pocket or nook, formed by a sweep of the stream, on a gentle acclivity thinly sprinkled with oaks, whose magnificent branches afford habitation and defence to an

antique colony of owls.

This time-honored mansion was the residence of the family of Hazards; but in the present generation the spells of love and mortgage conspired to translate the possession to Frank Meriwether, who having married Lucretia, the eldest daughter of my late uncle, Walter Hazard, and lifted some gentlemanlike incumbrances that had been silently brooding upon the domain along with the owls, was thus inducted into the proprietary rights. The adjacency of his own estate gave a territorial feature to this alliance, of which the fruits were no less discernible in the multiplication of negroes, cattle, and poultry, than in a flourishing clan of Meriwethers.

The buildings illustrate three epochs in the history of the family. The main structure is upwards of a century old; one story high, with thick brick walls, and a double-faced roof, resembling a ship bottom upwards; this is perforated with small dormer windows, that have some such expression as belongs to a face without eye-brows. To this is added a more modern tenement of wood, which might have had its date about the time of the Revolution: it has shrunk a little at the joints, and left some crannies, through which the winds whisper all night long. The last member of the domicile is an upstart fabric of later times, that seems to be ill at ease in this antiquated society, and awkwardly overlooks the ancestral edifice, with the air of a grenadier recruit posted behind a testy little veteran corporal. The traditions of the house ascribe the existence of this erection to a certain family divan, where say the chronicles-the salic law was set at nought, and some pungent matters of style were considered. It has an unfinished drawing-room, possessing an ambitious air of fashion, with a marble mantel, high ceilings, and large folding doors; but being yet unplastered, and without paint, it has