ARRT VAL • O F TH.F. A tvT E R 1 C A IT J U M P F R 
 
#tir €ou8\m in #jxb 
 
 MAEY HOWITT. 
 
 <f our Illustrations on %ttd, 
 
 FROM ORIGINAL DESIGNS BY ANNA MARY HOWITT. 
 
 SECOND EDITION-. 
 
 LONDON : 
 A. W. BENNETT, 5 BISHOPSGATE WITHOUT. 
 
 1866. 
 
rKHto 1 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ^(o 
 
 The little book which I promised as a companion 
 volume to the Children's Year, I now present to 
 the public ; and in so doing, I would express my 
 grateful sense of the kind and flattering manner 
 in which that little work, an experiment in children's 
 books, has been received. 
 
 Here then is another book which is entirely true ; 
 and if it interests the child and satisfies the parent, 
 so much the better. 
 
 To me its compilation has been a work of pleasure 
 mingled with deep sorrow. It is the twelvemonths' 
 chronicle of the domestic life of a beloved Sister, 
 far removed by distance, and whom it has pleased a 
 good Providence, since then, to remove by death. 
 
 The days at The Cedars, made joyous by the 
 presence of that affectionate and wise mother, are 
 now over for ever. This volume contains the brief 
 record of her last Christmas on earth. 
 
 M. H. 
 
 M311678 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— Our Cousins and their Home. The Home 
 and the Garden. — Jack's Wood. — Diedrich's Wood. — Live Stock. 
 — Neighbours. — Friends. — Our Cousins themselves 1 
 
 CHAPTER II.— January. Visit of Santa Claus.— Colson 
 of Colsonville. — Louise. — Adele the black woman. — Jumping 
 Mice. — Hogs killed. — Parcel from England. — Nanny's Adven- 
 tures in the City. — Sledging. — Frost ; Storms.' — Evening Tales. 
 — Gleams of Spring. — The new Dog Timothy 13 
 
 CHAPTER III.— February. Small Duties.— Timothy's good 
 Behaviour. — Little Nelly. — Going to Athens. — Madam Leonard, 
 and her Cow, the Red Shaker. — The Red Creek. — Pop-corn.— 
 Soap and Candle-making. — Yankee Jumpers. — Squire Peachum. 
 — Sledging Party. — Fine Weather. — Flocks of migratory Pigeons. 
 — Arrival of Blue Birds. — Contest between Blue Birds and 
 Martins 32 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— March. The new Smoke-house.— Spring 
 is come. — Games in the fields. — Walk in the Spring-woods. — 
 New Vineyard.— Madam Leonard's new Cow. — Bonnet-maker. 
 — Walk into Wild-vine Wood. — Old Dr. Jack, the Negro Doctor. 
 — Swollen river ; Drift-wood, etc.— The Walk to the Cemetery. 
 — Christina ; Visit to Christina. — A Visitor. — Walk to Diedrich's 
 Wood. — New Home for Timothy 43 
 
 CHAPTER V.— April.— The Delights of Fine Weather.— A 
 painful Day for Willie.— The great country Bonfires. — Walking 
 barefoot after the ploughshare. — Buff Hen in the hollow Tree. 
 — Holiday on Good Friday. — Dr. Jack's Illness. — Wood-flowers. 
 ■ — Dr. Jack's Good Luck. — Trouble at Joiner Lotte's. — The 
 Whitewasher's Story. — Sunday. — Misfortune in the Corn-crib. 
 — Beautiful Peach-blossom. — Appearance of the Spring- woods. 
 The note of the Frog and the Tortoise. — First Brood of Chickens. 
 — A Catastrophe. — Young Indian. — Something about the Indians. 
 — Cousin Margaret and the American Robin. — Old Dr. Jack's 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 TAGE. 
 
 Death : the " Funeral " that was to be preached at his Grave. — 
 The German Cabin under the Wood ; Perplexity there. — Old Carl ; 
 his Politeness. — Work in the Garden. — Visit to Madam Leonard's. 
 — Nanny japans her Nose. — Woodpecker's Column. — First 
 Humming-bird 60 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— Mat. Adventures in the Wood.— Cat- 
 birds ; Yellow-birds ; Blue-birds ; Humming-birds, etc. — Spring 
 Sights and Spoils. — Madam Leonard's Plague of Caterpillars ; 
 Locusts. — The Buff Hen leaves her Tree. — Rainy Weather. — 
 A Snake in the Garden. — The Cat- bird. — A Tree-frog. — Mrs. 
 Jack's new Bailiff. — Willie's warlike tastes. — Dinner in Wild- 
 vine Wood. — Nanuy's Misadventure. — A Chippy-monk. — A 
 River Baptism. — Burial of the Black Snake. — Wrens in the 
 Raspberry Bush. — The Flower Chronicles. — The Children's 
 Garden. — An Arcadian Breakfast. — A Recruiting Party. — 
 Sisters of Charity. — A great Victory. — First Cherry-Gather- 
 ing. — Unsuccessful Fishing. — Tea under the Locust-trees ; a 
 Stranger joins them. — Golden Lady-birds. — The Tumble-bug ... 90 
 
 CHAPTER VII.— June. A Visitor.— Games.— Tragedy in 
 the Raspberry-bush. — German Funeral. — The new Parasol. — 
 Fanny has a little Family. — The new Parasol used. — Gardening. 
 — Out-of-doors Life and Voices. — Hornets taken. — The extra- 
 ordinary Guinea-fowl called Alexander the Great, and what 
 end he came to. — House full of Company. — Fanny in her Nest. 
 — Tumble-bugs at work. — Willie's Water-wheels. — Fire-flies. — 
 Cousin Michael's Visit. — Raspberry-gathering. — The great 
 Storm. — Hunting for a Washerwoman. — "Bob Whites." — 
 Cousin William's curious Account of the Locusts. — The Sick 
 Chicken. — Poor Blackberry's Illness ; Willie fetches the Cow- 
 doctor at night 117 
 
 CHAPTER VIII.— July. Soldiers embarking for the South. 
 — Procession of liberated Slaves. — The fourth of July. — Dicky 
 and Primrose. — A rude Dismissal. — The Chain-gang. — Willie's 
 Visit to the City. — The Emigrants of Roanoke. — Broods of 
 Guinea-chicks, aud common Chickens. — Martin Brandenburg's 
 Attack. — Father Brandenburg and his Son. — Blackberry-gather- 
 ing. — Nelly's Birth-day. — The fruitless Excursion ; return by 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Big-bluff Creek. — The first Cheese made. — Eats in the Corn- 
 crib. — The travelling Farmers and their Sick Horse. — Florence 
 takes a Journey. — Visit to a Farm ; to the Shaker Village of 
 Union. — The Shaker brother, Zephaniah Kumbal. — Blackberry- 
 selling. — An industrious Day 140 
 
 CHAPTER IX.— August. Decline of Summer.— Visit to 
 the Coloured Orphan Asylum. — Oats carried. — Florence's new- 
 Fan. — New Frock for the Orphan Elizabeth. — Nanny eats the 
 forbidden Quince. — Willie in the City. — New Bridge over Bed 
 Creek. — Covered wooden Bridges of America. — "Willie's Horse- 
 manship. — Fanny goes to a Dog-school. — Visit of a Locust ; of a 
 Catadid. — Willie goes with Eberhard to fetch Wood. — Gathering 
 and paring Peaches. — A Trip into Kentucky. — Beggars. — The 
 Irish Beggars last Summer. — Peach-leather. — Paring Peaches ; 
 a Family Group 172 
 
 CHAPTER X. — September. Peaches, peaches, peaches ! — 
 Maple-sugar. — Figs. — Martin Brandenburg enacts a Highway 
 Robber. — Scheme for reforming him. — Musquitoes. — Evening 
 Walk to Joiner Lotte's. — Musquitoes and Spiders dangerous 
 to Canary-birds. — Primrose flies away. — Bernard, the German 
 Labourer. — Primrose returns ; great joy. — Willie's early morn- 
 ing Adventures. — Remarkable incident of the Quails. — The 
 Children's Dinner. — They try to do good to Martin Brandenburg. 
 — Apple- gathering. — Large Apples and Mammoth Pumpkins. — 
 Signs of Autumn. — Willie collects Nuts in Diedrich's Wood. — 
 He helps the Old Woman to find her Cows. — Hunt for the Lost 
 Pig. — Cousin Israel Hopper, and what he saw in Louisiana. — 
 Visit into the Country. — The three Bears. — The Flowers, the 
 Fruit, and the Peacocks. — The old Quaker of Pennsylvania. — 
 Indian School.— The Boy stolen by Indians. —Anecdotes of 
 Indians. — Interesting Letter from an Indian Girl. — Useful 
 Sunday. — The new Carriage. — The Gipsy Hat and the Basket. 
 — The Lost Pig found. — Paul and Joe, two coloured Boys, call 
 at The Cedars 188 
 
 CHAPTER XL— October.— Willie and his Father go for 
 Charcoal into Stony Creek Valley. — A Family Party go there 
 next Day. — Paw-paws. — Milking ; riding Farmer. — Advancing 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Autumn. — Visit to the "Woods for Hickory-nuts. — John Solo, 
 the young Yankee Trader, and the Bargain which he and Willie 
 made. — The Beauty of the Woods. — The Sunsets. — Henrietta 
 and Frank. — Excursion to Big-bluff Creek. — The Demon Horse. 
 — The little Black Girl. — Adventures at the Fishing. — The lost 
 Shoe. — The Chronicle on the Wall. — A Day of hard Work. — 
 Reading in the Prison. — Nelly's great Journey to Athens. — 
 David Solo is forgotten in the Achievement of Hernand Solo. 
 — Willie goes to sell the Calfskin 217 
 
 CHAPTER XII.— November. They take the new Clothes 
 to the Orphan Elizabeth. — Florence's, the Mother's, and Willie's 
 Birth-days. — Indian Summer. — " Squaw-winter." — Chippy- 
 monks under the Wood. — Nanny's Accident. — Willie goes to 
 Colsonville ; his Letter thence. — Jerry at Mrs. Jack's. — Mrs. 
 Jack's Death and Burial. — The two Monuments in the Wood. 
 — The Children visit the Mammoth Pavilion, and see the great 
 Lion-tamer. — A dreadful Tragedy that happened to Dicky. — 
 The Children's Sorrow. — First Snow ; first Sledging. — Bag- 
 carpet-making. — Nanny's Birth-day, and its unexpected Sorrow; 
 after all Nanny finds occasion to be thankful 241 
 
 CHAPTER XIII.— December. First News of Famine in 
 Ireland. — Nanny's idea of it. — The Children's Sympathy, and 
 their Efforts to help. — Ella comes. — Who and what Ella was. — 
 Rain, rain, rain. — Martin Brandenburg gives hope of Amend- 
 ment. — Christmas Presents prepared. — Heinrich's great Acci- 
 dent, which might have been worse. — Willie cuts Shoe-pegs and 
 Cedar Billets. — A silly Hen. — Willie takes the joint Earnings 
 to the City for the Irish Subscription. — Christmas Presents 
 bought. — Meat in the Christmas Market, Bears, Opossums, etc. 
 — Christmas Eve. — Christmas-day Morning. — Santa Claus has 
 been. — The Children go to the City in the Wagon to a Christ- 
 mas Party. — Uncle Cornelius and Christina are found out. — 
 Fine Weather. — The Woodpecker's Column is felled. — The 
 Squirrel's Home. — Willie's new Pigeons. — The new Dog Trim. 
 — Fanny returns home. — Hide and seek among the Cedars. — 
 Trees by Moonlight. — Great Storm. — New Year's Eve. — General 
 joy and Nanny's Thanksgiving : 265 
 
THE COUSINS IN OHIO. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE COUSINS AND THEIR HOME. 
 
 I told you last year about Herbert and Meggy. Herbert 
 and Meggy had cousins who lived in America; and it 
 afforded them great pleasure *to hear, month by month, 
 what these children did for one whole year. I think that 
 you also may like to hear it, because it is very probable 
 that you may have cousins likewise in America, who may 
 resemble in some particulars Herbert's and Meggy's; 
 and, therefore, you can fancy that it is of your cousins 
 and not of theirs, that you are reading. 
 
 Of these young cousins and their home I must, how- 
 ever, in the first place, tell you something. 
 
 Their home was called " The Cedars ;" it was in the 
 State of Ohio, on the banks of that noble river which 
 gives its name to the State, and about four miles from 
 
 the fine city of . " The Cedars" lay upon a road 
 
 which went on and on, through little clusters of houses 
 and log cabins, called "towns'* and "villes/ J and by farms 
 L* b 
 
2 THE COUSINS AND THEIR HOME. 
 
 and through woods, and across valleys and creeks, to 
 nobody knows where ; at least I cannot tell you where. 
 Well, a little way out of this road lay " The Cedars/' 
 It was a large, handsome, and somewhat commanding- 
 looking place, a brick house, whitewashed, and one of 
 the oldest thereabout. It stood on the highest land 
 in the neighbourhood ; and yet it was only after as- 
 cending the mile-long hill that lay between it and the 
 river, as well as by observing that the cedar trees which 
 surrounded it and which gave to it its name were land- 
 marks to the whole district, that any one perceived how 
 high it really was. This elevation, which made it bleak 
 in winter, caused it to be breezy and particularly pleasant 
 during the fervid heats of summer. 
 
 The house, which, as I told you, was white, had green 
 Venetian outside shutters to the windows. In front there 
 was a large two-storied porch, up which grew in wild 
 luxuriance a beautiful prairie rose, which in summer hung 
 about it like garlands of flowers. On the sunny side of 
 the house, which was consequently very hot in summer, 
 there ran along its whole length a broad piazza ; which, 
 like the porch, was two-storied ; so that both the upper 
 and lower rooms opened into it. This piazza in winter 
 was the favourite play -pi ace of the children ; and as it was 
 shaded with vines and trumpet creepers, it was in warm 
 weather like a beautiful summer parlour. Here, in. summer, 
 the family frequently took their meals, and often, after 
 
THE LAWN. 3 
 
 supper, sate in the delicious moonlight evenings, till 
 bedtime. 
 
 As I told you, the house stood at a little distance from 
 tFe road. It stood surrounded by its own land and in a 
 beautiful smooth field, called " The Lawn." It was ap- 
 proached from the road by an avenue of locust-trees ; 
 and the lawn itself was scattered over and grouped with 
 cedar and catalpa trees, which grow there to a large 
 size, and which were, in fact, the remains of the primeval 
 forest. Beautiful flower-beds surrounded the house, and 
 others were cut here and there in the open lawn, which 
 was kept nicely mown to a considerable distance round 
 the house ; and, besides these, lovely flowering trees and 
 shrubs grew in clumps and thickets ; among which seats 
 were set and pleasant arbours were made. All this, 
 which was properly the pleasure-garden, was uninclosed 
 from the lawn itself by palings or fence of any kind ; 
 because, as cattle were never admitted into the field, there 
 was no occasion for it, and thus the lawn itself formed a 
 portion of the whole. 
 
 At the back of the house were the outbuildings ; on the 
 left stood rather a picturesque building, called the wood- 
 house, where the fuel was kept, and upon the gable of 
 which was perched the little bird-house ; where the blue- 
 birds, which came regularly every spring, built their nests, 
 and reared two or three broods in the course of the 
 summer. Further back was the farm-yard, where stood 
 
 TJ 9 
 
4 THE COUSINS AND THEIR HOME. 
 
 the carriage-house, the wagon-shed, the corn-crib, a hen- 
 house, and a large barn. Beyond, lay the kitchen-garden ; 
 and beyond that again, on a fine slope to the south-east, 
 was the vineyard. The orchard adjoined the vineyard, 
 and at one corner of the orchard, hidden by a little grove 
 of willows, stood a log-cabin, in which lived a German 
 farmer, named Eberhard, who managed the land at The 
 Cedars ; and with him lived his brother-in-law, Heinrich, 
 likewise employed on the farm, their wives and children, 
 and the old grandmother of the family. To reach Eber- 
 hard's it was not necessary to go through kitchen- garden, 
 orchard, and vineyard, because a pleasant little lane led 
 from the farm-yard to his cabin; and this lane was re- 
 markable for a beautiful spring of water, which, in the 
 driest seasons, came pouring like liquid crystal into a 
 picturesque water-trough, round which grew six locust- 
 trees and an immense button-wood tree. 
 
 A gentle ascent from the vineyard was occupied by 
 pasture land, called the " Far Meadows," which were 
 bounded by a wood belonging to another proprietor. This 
 was Jack's Wood ; and as in the course of this history 
 much will be said about it, I may as well introduce you to 
 it here. 
 
 Jack's Wood was one of the favourite resorts of our 
 cousins and their mother during spring and summer. It 
 was an unbroken portion of the primeval forest and be- 
 longed to an old, blind negro doctor, called Doctor Jack. 
 
JACK S WOOD. 
 
 It had been left uncleared purposely for a supply of fire- 
 wood, and from this cause its beautiful timber was fast 
 vanishing away. From time to time a noble hickory or 
 sugar-maple was felled and cut up ■ and this our friends 
 never failed to deplore, for they yet retained the English- 
 man's love of trees : and they were here continually 
 reminded of what is a very common experience in America : 
 " Never/' say the lovers of the picturesque there, " set 
 your heart upon a tree ; for as sure as you do, somebody 
 will come with an axe and cut it down." 
 
 However, notwithstanding all the demands which had 
 been made upon Jack's Wood for fuel, it was wonderful 
 what an innumerable variety of trees and flowers still 
 remained within its bounds. Its surface was broken into 
 little dingles, which, in spring-time were filled with 
 flowers. There the children found the blood-root, Solomon's 
 seal of various kinds, phlox or sweet Williams, as they are 
 called in America — the lovely lilac and white collinsia — 
 anemones — violets, white, blue, and yellow — the beautiful 
 scarlet catchfly, " noli-me-tangere/' or touch-me-not, — and 
 many others, as the year advanced. Here grew hickory, 
 maple, birch, and walnut trees — the splendid American 
 linden — the red-bud or Judas tree, by the budding of 
 which the Indian, in olden time, regulated the sowing of 
 his corn. The wild clematis, sweet-briar, and American 
 hawthorn, were among its abundant undergrowth ; and 
 here also were thickets of blackberries, which produced 
 
D THE COUSINS AND THEIR HOME. 
 
 such splendid fruit as English children can form no idea 
 of. In the autumn, hickory nuts, birch nuts, white wal- 
 nuts, or butter-nuts, attracted our cousins to its precincts ; 
 and here, nestling among the fallen leaves, they collected 
 woodland treasures, or came home laden with perfect 
 sheaves of golden-rod and various kinds of Michaelmas 
 daisy. 
 
 Besides these natural productions of Jack's "Wood, there 
 was another feature, which must be mentioned, as it gave 
 a peculiar character to the Wood. In one of its most 
 secluded and beautiful little clearings, surrounded by wild 
 flowers and noble forest-trees, lay a solitary grave, inclosed 
 with white palings, which were always kept in neat order. 
 This was the grave of a coloured man — a stranger — who 
 had come from a distance to consult old Doctor Jack, but 
 who had died in his house, and here had been buried by 
 him. There was something pleasing about this solitary 
 grave, lying thus in the seclusion of the Wood ; and, in 
 the opinion of our friends, it gave an interest to the place. 
 Their poor German neighbours, however, thought diffe- 
 rently : the black man's grave made the Wood almost 
 terrific to them, and, therefore, they seldom were seen 
 there. 
 
 Such was Jack's Wood, the southern boundary of The 
 Cedars. The northern boundary was likewise a wood — a 
 beautiful upland covered with trees — and it was called, 
 also from its proprietor who was a German, Diedrich's 
 
DIEDRICH S WOOD AND HOF. 7 
 
 AYood. It was the boundary land between The Cedars 
 and an adjoining farm, and was intersected by what, in 
 winter, might be called a little river, but which in summer 
 was so nearly dry, that, among the loose pebbles and lime- 
 stone which formed its bed, the children found various 
 fossil shells, corals, and other specimens of mineralogy. 
 Hills rose abruptly from the banks of this stream, or creek 
 as it was called, and were clothed with beech and buck-eye, 
 a species of horse-chestnut. The flowers here, like the 
 trees, were less varied than in Jack's Wood ; but in some 
 respects they were more peculiar. Here grew the tooth- 
 wort, a beautiful waxen-like flower with extremely elegant 
 leaves ; the snake- wort, and the poke- weed ; and here 
 rabbits, chippy-monks or ground-squirrels, and snakes, 
 abounded. 
 
 The house at Diedriclr's Hof, was a log-house of a very 
 picturesque appearance, with its log-stables and sheds, all 
 extremely comfortable, as such places always are in winter. 
 In summer, people, like our Cousins, who lived in more 
 commodious dwellings, wondered how anybody could live 
 in such pent-up places, with such small windows, and so 
 few of them, and with fire, and beds, and chairs, and 
 tables all in one, or at most two rooms. And yet thou- 
 sands of families in America are happy and healthy in log- 
 cabins ; and magistrates, and judges, and even senators 
 have often lived in them. 
 
 Our friends had two horses, the one called Farmer, and 
 
8 THE COUSINS AND THEIR HOME. 
 
 the other Benjamin Franklin, or, for short, Ben; two 
 milch cows, Owen and Pink, a young cow called " mother's 
 calf," or more properly, Blackberry, to say nothing of a 
 calf a few months old. They had a queer, large-limbed 
 yellow cat named Shinker ; abundance of poultry, besides 
 Guinea-fowls, and lastly two dogs, — Milo, a large mastiff, 
 and Fanny, a little spaniel, a clever sharp little dog that 
 took especial charge of the poultry, and never allowed 
 them to intrude either into house or garden, and yet never 
 injured them. 
 
 Near the gate which opened from the locust-tree avenue 
 to the road stood two log-cabins. In the one lived Lotte, 
 a German joiner, who only twelve months before left his 
 native land, and came here an emigrant with his old father 
 and mother, his wife and two children, the eldest of 
 whom, named Friedrich, was a pretty, fair-complexioned 
 boy, very well behaved, and a great favourite of our 
 cousins. The grown-up people, even before they could 
 speak one word of English, bowed, and smiled, and said 
 " guten Tag" whenever they met any of the family, which 
 everybody understood ; and as to little Friedrich, whether 
 it was German or English that he and the Squire's 
 children spoke, it was very intelligible to them. 
 
 The inhabitants of the other cabin were Germans also, 
 but very unlike the Lottes. They were old residents, and 
 their name was Brandenburg; and between their children, 
 a boy and a girl, and our cousins there was, and had 
 
BIRDS AND FRIENDS. 
 
 always been, a great feud. Martin Brandenburg, the 
 boy, threw stones at them, and called them ugly names, 
 which greatly incensed them ; and besides this, he would 
 go into their fields and shoot their singing and other birds 
 with his pistols, and his bow and arrows, which was very 
 displeasing to our cousins, because it was their father's 
 opinion that birds did a deal of good by devouring insects, 
 w^orms and grubs in the fields. For this reason, in- 
 dependently of the pleasure he took in hearing their 
 songs and watching their peculiar habits, he never allowed 
 them to be destroyed ; and therefore our cousins pulled 
 up Brandenburg's traps whenever they found them, and 
 this greatly displeased him. 
 
 Our cousins had many acquaintance. There were the 
 Munroes, who lived with Aunt Hutchinson at Mount 
 Vernon, Henry, and Eugene, and Ada ; there were Susan 
 and Kitty, and Sophia Hutchinson; Milicent Benson; 
 little Felicia Bower; and Josiah, Nathaniel and Jesse 
 Colson, of Colsonville ; besides, there was their old friend 
 and cousin, Michael, who went with them from England, 
 and who always made a holiday in the house whenever he 
 came. And lastly, there were the friends of their parents, 
 who were also their kind friends ; there was Madam 
 Leonard and Christina ; and Mr. and Mrs. David G. 
 Hutchinson, the parents of the young Hutchinsons, and 
 Mr. Hutchinson's brother Cornelius, whom the children 
 called Uncle Cornelius, and their sisters, and their vene- 
 
10 THE COUSINS AND THEIR HOME. 
 
 rable old mother, whom they all loved, and who reminded 
 them of their beloved old grandmother in England, 
 
 Such is a sketch of the house and friends of the little 
 American Cousins; as to themselves, something more 
 must be said. They were four in number; but three 
 only make much figure in our pages. Willie, the eldest, 
 was nine ; Florence between seven and eight ; and Anna, 
 or as she was called, Nanny, six. The fourth was the 
 baby — the American-born, Cornelia, or Nelly, the pet, 
 the darling of all ; but with her, as we have said, we have 
 very little to do. 
 
 Although the elder children were quite young when 
 they removed with their parents to America, they still 
 retained their ruddy English complexions ; and their free, 
 active life in the open air ensured to them good health 
 and infinite enjoyment. Like Meggy and Herbert, these 
 children were no geniuses, nor were remarkable in any 
 way ; and their mother often, when she saw the marvel- 
 lously quiet and precocious children in other families, like 
 the mother of Herbert and Meggy, wondered how other 
 people could make their children so clever, or keep them 
 in such precise order, or, as they said in America, always 
 in " holiday fix." 
 
 But if these children were not prodigies, perhaps they 
 will not be the less amusing on that account. Willie was 
 an active, bold-spirited, industrious, and affectionate boy, 
 well-grown, but slender, with a lively intelligent counte- 
 
FLORENCE AND NANNY. 11 
 
 nance, black-brown hair, and quick, dark eyes; lie bad 
 great strength of body, with much enterprise and determi- 
 nation of character. His favourite reading was natural 
 history and travels. Florence was fair-complexioned, with 
 light hair and blue eyes, and with two very pretty dimples 
 which came into her cheeks whenever she spoke or smiled, 
 and which gave a peculiar expression of mirth to her sweet 
 and otherwise gentle countenance. She was reckoned the 
 little lady of the family ; she was always remarkably clean 
 and neat, and let her do what she would, her hands and 
 clothes never looked soiled. Even in her blue cotton pin- 
 afore, and cotton sun-bonnet, she had that air of natural 
 refinement which made her very clothes look elegant. 
 She was, in disposition, gentle and affectionate, and was 
 such an ardent lover of flowers, that she treasured a rose 
 or a violet as a thing of great value ; and as long as there 
 were any flowers to be gathered, either in the garden . or 
 the woods, she always had one or more about her. 
 
 Nanny had a round, rosy, and somewhat common face, 
 but with a pair of such intelligent, merry brown eyes, as 
 fully compensated for any want of beauty in the other 
 features. She was naturally a quick, clever child, and 
 when very little, had been remarkable for her odd remarks. 
 One day, when she sate by her mother, during a storm of 
 thunder and lightning, she said, as the lightning flashed 
 vividly across the sky, " Perhaps- they are lighting a fire 
 in Heaven; perhaps so, mother!" This was in character 
 
12 THE COUSINS AND THEIR HOME. 
 
 with her calling the moon a large mushroom, and the 
 stars small ones. One day also she said, speaking of her 
 father, that " he was a poor man." The person to whom 
 she spoke corrected her expression. " No, your father is 
 rich." To which she replied, pertinaciously, " Poor he 
 must be, for I know he has had a very poor dinner to- 
 day because he said so." 
 
 In character Willie and Nanny were most alike, indeed 
 so much so, that they continually reminded their mother 
 of the swan on " sweet St. Mary's lake/' which sailed 
 double " swan and shadow ;" yet, it must by no means be 
 imagined, that it was always this peaceful image of which 
 they were the type. Their similarity of tastes and pursuits 
 made them very often, instead of running on side by side, 
 run precisely in one another's way ; and, hence it was that 
 they two occasionally quarrelled. Florence, sweet and 
 gentle as she was, stood alone, and contended with no one ; 
 and with her love of flowers and all beautiful things, looked 
 like a sweet flower herself, around which two gay humming- 
 birds were sporting, now pursuing each other in mimic 
 anger, and now alighting on the lovely flower and sipping 
 of its sweet influences. 
 
 Such were our cousins. We will now see how twelve 
 months of their life passed on. 
 
13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 January. 
 
 The Christmas which was just over, had been a very 
 merry one. Instead of roast-beef and plum-pudding, there 
 had been great roast turkeys and haunches of venison, and 
 mince pies and dough-nuts, and sausages by hundreds of 
 yards, and quails and geese, and candy and cakes, and toys 
 and books, without end. 
 
 On Christmas-eve, the children when they went to bed, 
 left their shoes and stockings under the sofa. Willie pro- 
 tested that he had ho faith in St. Nicholas coming ; but 
 as Florence and Nanny believed he would come, he thought 
 his might as well bear theirs company. In the morning 
 they got up of course long before day-break, but all was 
 empty and silent ; and the mother suggested that, perhaps, 
 it might be because the shoes were dirty. She had heard, 
 she said, a great crack in the night, which Florence imme- 
 diately thought must have been Santa Claus running away ; 
 more especially as something had scratched her nose in 
 the night. How that might be I cannot tell; but sure 
 enough Florence's dear little nose looked very red, and 
 the little table was seen by day-light standing in a very 
 mysterious manner in the window, covered with a cloth. 
 
14 JANUARY. 
 
 When their father came into breakfast, the mother 
 walked across the room, and all at once the cloth was 
 gone from the table, and there was a surprise for the 
 children. There was a large dish of cakes and candy, 
 with mottoes, which their friends in the city had sent for 
 them ; and a knife for Willie from his father, and a slate 
 and pencil; and a silk apron for Florence, from her 
 mother ; and a merry picture-book for Nanny, and many 
 other things beside. 
 
 Santa Claus had indeed been there ; nor was little 
 Nelly forgotten. The children counted their treasures 
 over and over again ; and then, finding that they had so 
 much, they took a paper full of cakes and candy to Eber- 
 hard for his two little children, and another for Friedrich 
 Lotte, and his little sister, because they wished to make 
 these poor children as happy as they were themselves. 
 
 Things happened very remarkably this year. The next 
 morning the shoes which had been left overnight, clean 
 and bright without any expectation of reward were found 
 next morning full of kisses. Willie persisted that this 
 was his mother's doing. 
 
 By New-year's day the children had prepared presents 
 for some of their little friends in the city. Among other 
 things, Florence had made a long-sleeved pinafore for Ada 
 Munro's large doll, Lydia Jane. Florence went with her 
 parents to the city, and had the pleasure of dining at 
 Mount Vernon with eighteen little children. The table 
 
15 
 
 was grandly set out with apples, and cakes, and figs, and 
 almonds, and raisins, and candles of all kinds, and heaps 
 of kisses, and in the middle stood a large iced cake more 
 than half a yard across, and at the top were perched two 
 beautiful birds made of white sugar. Florence returned 
 home with many presents, and plenty of good things for 
 her brother and sisters, which were all set out on the 
 supper-table. 
 
 Whilst they were away, Willie fed the little pigs which 
 were left in his charge. The father brought home with 
 him two haunches of venison ; and as they sat at supper, 
 Willie told how Eberhard had seen that day a wild beast 
 at the spring. It leaped over the fence with its long legs 
 the moment it saw him j and from this everybody con- 
 cluded that it must be a deer which, perhaps, pressed by 
 hunger, had been tempted by the oats which still remained 
 in the orchard. 
 
 After supper, their father read to them Robinson Crusoe, 
 one of the new books which had just been given them. 
 In the midst of the reading, Lotte, the joiner, brought 
 word that two little girls had just been burnt to death at 
 Athens ! 
 
 Now, let nobody imagine that this Athens was the 
 famous old city of that name in Greece ; nothing of the 
 kind ! Athens was a little village about half a mile from 
 The Cedars, where there were a few houses, a tavern, 
 a shop, a shoemaker's, and a blacksmith's ; Athens, there- 
 
16 JANUARY. 
 
 fore, was a place of some importance to the country 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 Jan. 5th. — Mr. and Mrs. Colson, of Colsonville, came 
 this day. They invited Willie to pay them another visit ; 
 this delighted him greatly, for he had been there in the 
 summer, and had made acquaintance with the boys, Josiah, 
 Nathaniel and Jesse. Jesse was Willie's Mend; and the 
 thought of visiting them again filled him with great joy. 
 When Willie was there, Josiah had broken his arm by a 
 fall from a pear-tree, but he was very merry for all that. 
 
 Colsonville, where they lived, stood on the banks of the 
 little Miami ; and the boys found a deal to amuse them- 
 selves with. Sometimes they watched the men fishing in 
 the creek ; sometimes they went down to the mill, and 
 saw the castor-oil press at work, and the linseed crushed 
 for oil ; and when they were tired of this, they made caves 
 in the dry gravelly banks. Colsonville was a sort of garden 
 of Hesperides to Willie's imagination. There were two 
 very large orchards there full of the finest fruit ; they had 
 forty hogs which were fatted to kill, the finest and fattest 
 that Willie had ever seen. There was no place in the 
 world, he thought, to be compared to Colsonville. He 
 had described it again and again to his sisters ; and now 
 that another visit was talked of, he recalled with double 
 delight all its attractions. 
 
 It was so bright and warm this day, that Willie did not 
 
ADELE. 17 
 
 need his cloak when he went with his father to the city ; 
 he wore a new pair of trowsers, and these and the bright 
 day, and the thoughts of Colsonville, made him verv 
 happy. He brought home word that the ice was nearly 
 gone from the Ohio; that a steamer was once more on 
 the river ; and that men were packing up ice for summer 
 use on the banks. 
 
 Jan. 6th, 7th, and 8th. — The weather changed : it be- 
 came again cold, dull, and wet. Willie amused himself 
 with cutting out little boats with his new knife. The 
 roads were very deep and muddy, and the river covered 
 with floating masses of ice. 
 
 The principal female " help " or servant at The Cedars 
 was at this time Louise, a German, and the sister of 
 Eberhard and Heinrich. Till within a few months, they 
 had a coloured woman named Adele. She had formerly 
 been a slave in Georgia ; and she told the children and 
 their mother a great deal about her sufferings. Her 
 father was a white man, a rich planter; and at six years 
 old she was sold, with other slaves, to another wealthy 
 family. She was brought up to wait on the lady, and as 
 she grew up was considered a favourite. It was part of 
 her duty in an evening, when there was no company, to 
 comb her mistress's hair, which was very beautiful. One 
 evening, however, being very weary, she dropped asleep 
 while thus employed; her mistress complained to her 
 
 c 
 
18 JANUARY. 
 
 husband, and the poor girl was so severely flogged that it 
 nearly killed her. Shortly after this the lady died, leaving 
 a little baby, which Aclele was ordered to take charge of. 
 She did so most faithfully, until the child was six years 
 old. She had herself a little son somewhat older than this 
 child, and to him she was intensely attached. The family 
 removed into Indiana, where they could not retain her in 
 slavery, because this was a free State; they therefore 
 offered her her freedom for four hundred dollars, which, 
 by incessant labour in washing and nursing, she obtained, 
 and paid to within sixty dollars. Still, though she was so 
 nearly free, her son was a slave ; and her mistress (for the 
 husband had married again) used to threaten, whenever 
 she displeased her, that she would send the boy back into 
 Georgia. In the dread of this threat being put into exe- 
 cution, she at length ran away with him. The manner of 
 her escape was this. 
 
 She hid him one very dark and rainy night in the stable, 
 where she also concealed herself; and there they lay all 
 the following day, and heard the people in search of them. 
 The next night, when all was quiet, they set off. The boy 
 was dressed in girl's clothes; and though the rain con- 
 tinued to pour like a deluge, they considered it quite a 
 mercy, because, in such weather, no soul would willingly 
 stir out. They walked all night, hid themselves in the 
 day, and next night reached the river, where they fortu- 
 nately got on board a little steamer, and the next day 
 
ADELE AND PAUL. 19 
 
 landed on the other side. They then travelled on as long 
 as their strength would sustain them, when they arrived at 
 a little country tavern. The man who kept it, by good 
 luck, was an abolitionist, and a friend, therefore, to every 
 slave, even to a runaway. 
 
 He shewed them the greatest kindness, and kept them 
 in his house a considerable time. To this good man she 
 told her story; and he engaged to keep her boy, whose 
 name was Paul, and who was a clever lad, to help in the 
 stables. Poor Adele being thus easy on account of her 
 child, came to the city near which our Cousins lived, and 
 falling in with their mother, was hired by her as a servant. 
 
 Paul once came to see her, and was allowed to remain 
 with her three weeks ; during which time he gained the 
 good will of every body. His complexion was not by any 
 means dark, and he had almost European features ; whilst 
 his abilities seemed to be quite of a high order. Adele 
 was a wonderful servant ; there was nothing that she could 
 not do ; and she saved all her wages to put her son ap- 
 prentice to the shoemaking business. The good man at 
 the tavern helped her in this laudable scheme, and 
 Paul, in process of time, was sent a hundred miles off to 
 Columbia, to the brother of the tavern-keeper, to be his ap- 
 prentice. He was a very good master ; but Paul was a long 
 way from his mother, and he loved her better than all the 
 world. It was a long time before he could settle down to 
 shoemaking — he wanted so much to see her that he 
 
 c2 
 
20 JANUARY. 
 
 actually set off, intending to walk all the way — but, fortu- 
 nately meeting with some one whom he knew, he was 
 persuaded to turn back, and after that he attended to his 
 trade, and gave great satisfaction. His mother left ser- 
 vice to be married to a well-to-do, respectable, free 
 coloured man, in the city. 
 
 Jan. 9th. — As Willie was this morning standing in the 
 kitchen just before breakfast, something came suddenly 
 plop into a bowl of water that was standing on the table. 
 It was a little mouse, one of the kind which is called in 
 America jumping mice, and which are extremely pretty 
 little creatures. It is with propriety that they are called 
 jumping mice ; for they can leap many yards at a bound. 
 They might, however, with equal justice, be called kan- 
 garoo mice, for they are formed very much like that 
 animal, with short fore legs, and very long hind ones. 
 
 These little creatures abounded both in the house and 
 barns at The Cedars ; sometimes they would leap across 
 the beds, and now and then the children caught a glimpse 
 of them in the day-time. Willie caught this little fellow 
 in his hands, and his mother after breakfast made a 
 drawing of it for him. 
 
 A gentleman told them to-day that a live buffalo had 
 been taken at the Yellow Fork on the Missouri River, 
 and was now brought to the city. The children grieved 
 much to hear that it had been killed ; but as buffalo 
 
A PARCEL FROM ENGLAND. 21 
 
 flesh was reckoned a great rarity, that was sure to he the 
 case. 
 
 Jan. 10th. — This day the fat hogs were killed, and the 
 children hoped that as they were shot, and did not squeal, 
 that they did not suffer at all. The men made a large 
 fire in the farm-yard, in which they heated great stones 
 red hot, which were put into the water to make it boiling 
 to scald the hogs. 
 
 For the next two days the whole household were em- 
 ployed in making sausages. 
 
 Willie shelled Indian corn, or corn as it is called, for the 
 cattle. This was his daily business : he shelled half-a- 
 bushel a day. 
 
 About the middle of the month the father and mother 
 went for a few days to the city, and took Nanny with them. 
 Eberhard put up a swing in the wood-house, which was a 
 great source of pleasure to the two who remained behind. 
 At length they returned. Nanny had much to tell ; but 
 before she had even begun to talk, the eyes of Willie 
 and Florence were riveted on a large parcel which the 
 father carried into the parlour, and which he said was 
 come from England. * 
 
 What a joy was this ! Now and then such a parcel 
 arrived ; and then there was a jubilee in the house ! 
 The mother stood at that little table on which the 
 Christmas presents had been laid out, and which was 
 always drawn to the fire in an evening when the mother 
 
22 JANUARY. 
 
 sat at her needlework, and the father read some pleasant 
 book. There she stood untying the parcel, and smiling 
 quietly to herself, but saying nothing ; and Nanny, who 
 already knew its contents, for it had been opened in the 
 city, danced about for joy. The other children laughed at 
 her, and said she looked like a wild Indian. 
 
 Presently the parcel was open, and out came its contents. 
 The mother dispensed the treasures, loading the children 
 with presents, and loving remembrances which had been 
 inscribed to them by beloved hands in England ! And 
 what laughter there was, and what shouts of joy, and what 
 gushes of affection filled their hearts toward, their dear 
 grandmother and their beloved aunts and uncles by whom 
 everybody had been remembered ! 
 
 Blessings on all affectionate hearts which do not forget 
 the absent and the distant, even though seas part them ! 
 
 After this great joy had somewhat subsided, Willie and 
 Florence must listen to Nanny's adventures. She had 
 eaten grey squirrel for dinner one day. Her brother and 
 sisters exclaimed against her. How could she have eaten 
 those darling little squirrels with their slender legs, which 
 they had so often admired in the woods, leaping with the 
 pretty little chippy-monks from tree to tree, and gathering 
 up hickory nuts and acorns in the autumn ! But grey 
 squirrels were reckoned a dainty : people ate them in the 
 city, and Nanny wanted to know what they tasted like ; 
 and she had found them very good. 
 
 Then, in walking along one of the streets with her 
 
FIRES IN THE CITY. 23 
 
 father they had seen a large iron cage, big enough to hold 
 a dozen bears, or a whole generation of hyenas, and Nanny 
 thought at first that it was meant for wild beasts ; but her 
 father told her that it was going to be sent to a jail in 
 Louisiana, and that human beings were to be confined in 
 it. This Nanny thought very horrible, and her brother 
 and sister were of her opinion. 
 
 After this she told how, while they were sitting in 
 meeting, the fire-bells rang, and the engines went rattling 
 past, and men and boys shouted " fire !" and people made 
 such a din with horns and trumpets, that Nanny thought 
 it must be something like the Indians with their terrible 
 war-whoop. Whilst she was in the city there were 
 actually two alarms of fire, one in the night, and this was 
 a great gaming-house, which was burnt to the ground. 
 Nanny heard people say that some of the fires were inten- 
 tional, and that there were fire-companies all over the city. 
 Willie and Florence said they dare say there were, for 
 that once when they were there, the fire-companies 
 paraded the streets, and there were thousands of these 
 firemen like a great army in beautiful uniform, and they 
 had music and garlands of flowers, and their engines were 
 drawn along, all glittering with polished brass, and painted 
 with scarlet and green and blue. No, Nanny did not 
 find any difficulty in making her auditors believe any of 
 the wonders she had to tell about the fires and the 
 firemen. 
 
24. JANUARY. 
 
 Jan. 20th. — The weather was bright and cold, the 
 ground covered with snow. Willie was delighted ; he 
 brought his beautiful sledge, or " sled" as he called it, 
 which had been given to him by cousin Michael, and 
 which was named " The Swallow's Wing ;" and in this he 
 drew his two sisters down the hill towards the vineyard. 
 This delightful sledging weather however did not last long. 
 Two days afterwards it began to rain, and the same evening 
 froze keenly. 
 
 The next morning the trees looked exactly as if cased 
 in ice, or as if they were transformed into glass, and in 
 the evening when the full moon shone upon them, they 
 had a very beautiful appearance. The children thought 
 that they were like something in a fairy tale, and could 
 not sufficiently admire them. Later in the evening, 
 another change occurred ; clouds covered the sky, and it 
 again rained in torrents. 
 
 Jan. 26th. — The weather continued stormy and wild. 
 The Ohio was swollen, not only with the rains, but with 
 the melting snows, and poured along its mass of waters 
 laden with floating ice. In the silence of the night the 
 roaring of the river, though at a mile's distance, could be 
 heard. 
 
 On one of these stormy evenings, the children sate with 
 their parents and several of their friends before the blazing 
 wood-fire, and listened to the tumult of the storm without. 
 
cncle Cornelius's story. 25 
 
 Such sounds when so seated are not unpleasing ; and on 
 this occasion, they reminded some of the party of similar 
 nights, when they themselves had been abroad. 
 
 Uncle Cornelius related that once he was on the 
 Ohio river a long way up the country, and had to land 
 from the steamboat at a lonesome point, where he ought 
 to have been met by a conveyance. The steamer was 
 some hours after its time; and it was past midnight 
 when he was landed. It was a terrific night ; the wind 
 blew in the most frightful manner : it was exceedingly 
 dark, and the rain came down in torrents. Had he 
 known that he should find no conveyance from this place, 
 he would in this weather have gone forward with the 
 steamer j but when he discovered this the steamer was a 
 long way down the river, and there was nothing now for 
 him but to do the best he could. With his carpet-bag in 
 his hand, therefore, he made his way through the mud, 
 until stopped by a high bluff or steep rock. It was long 
 before he found any way of ascending this, and when he did, 
 the wind was so strong that he could hardly stand against 
 it. Arrived at the top of this slippery height, he found, 
 by good luck, a fence, which he knew must belong to some 
 location not far off. He followed it ; and, as he expected, 
 came presently to a log-cabin. Of course the people were 
 in bed ; and after a deal of trouble he roused the husband, 
 to whom he made his case known, begging to be received 
 under his roof for the night. The man, however, told him 
 
26 JANUARY. 
 
 that they were all sick of the fever, and that he neither 
 could nor would admit him. 
 
 Uncle Cornelius made use of every means of persuasion, 
 but in vain. He was directed to another log- cabin about a 
 mile onward, and then the door was shut in his face. There 
 was nothing for him therefore but to proceed, and in course 
 of time he reached this second cabin, so tired and wet and 
 spent, that it seemed impossible for him to go a step further. 
 Again the people were roused, and again the husband pre- 
 sented himself; and in answer to his request, which was 
 now almost a demand for shelter, the man again began a 
 long history of his own troubles. His wife and children 
 also were sick of fever, and he himself had a ghost-like 
 emaciated look; yet spite of all this, he was willing to do 
 the best he could. He took the benighted stranger into 
 his cabin, made up the fire, and spreading some clothes on 
 the floor, took his children out of their bed, and bade him 
 lie down upon it. The cabin consisted but of one room, 
 and the poor wife lay in the other corner. However, he 
 was too much tired to be very particular, and thus passed 
 a comfortable night. 
 
 In the morning the good man set out the breakfast with 
 such poor viands as the house contained ; and these were 
 so coarse and uninviting in appearance, that, hungry as he 
 was, the guest felt disinclined for them. The poor man, 
 however, uttered a fervent thanksgiving, and before he ate 
 himself prepared of this wretched food for the invalids. 
 
27 
 
 Uncle Cornelius felt reproved for his dainty appetite, and, 
 sitting down at the board thus hospitably spread, appeared 
 to partake willingly. Nor did the man's kindness end 
 here : when his guest was ready to depart, he saddled his 
 horse, which he insisted on lending him, and after all 
 refused any remuneration. " No," said he, " I have done 
 no more than any Christian man ought to do in such a 
 case," and he would not take payment. 
 
 It was, however, in this case, something like having 
 " entertained an angel unawares." Uncle Cornelius, after 
 this time, never lost sight of the man till he saw him and 
 his family restored to health and in good circumstances ; 
 and now at this time, this man is one of the most 
 nourishing farmers of that district. 
 
 Another visitor, an old " ministering Friend/' as he was 
 called, that is, a Quaker preacher, told them that he had 
 been convinced of the religious opinions of the Friends, 
 in rather a singular manner, whilst yet a youth and a 
 soldier lying in garrison. The Ohio, now the great aquatic 
 highway to the West, was then but rarely crossed by white 
 people, and all those now populous regions were wilderness, 
 inhabited by Indians and a few scattered settlers. He, the 
 narrator, was then, as he said, a soldier under twenty, and 
 was lying in garrison on the frontiers ; when, one day, an 
 old Quaker preacher, one Thomas Bales, then eighty years 
 of age, and who had devoted himself for vears to visiting 
 these solitary dwellers, and to civilising the Indians, was 
 
28 JANUARY. 
 
 taken prisoner by a party of soldiers, and brought to the 
 fort on suspicion of being a spy. He was ordered up 
 before the whole garrison to be tried, and declared himself 
 to be no spy, but a man of peace and a preacher of the 
 gospel. To prove whether his words were true, he was 
 ordered at once, to preach a sermon. He made no objection, 
 and after a short time of solemn silence addressed them. If 
 he had been the Apostle Paul himself, he could not have 
 preached much more effectively. When his sermon was 
 ended, the officers invited him to dine with them; but he 
 declined their offer. They were convinced that he was in- 
 deed a minister of the gospel, and after many excuses and 
 apologies, on their part, allowed him to go his way. 
 
 The effect of his sermon was not soon effaced from 
 the minds of many, and among the rest, he who now 
 related this circumstance soon afterwards obtained his 
 discharge, joined the Society of Friends, and became him- 
 self a celebrated preacher amongst them. 
 
 The old preacher, Thomas Bales, nothing daunted by what 
 had happened, continued to wander about preaching as 
 before, and a few years afterwards fell sick and died on one 
 of his remote journeys. There were in the place when he 
 died no sawn planks of which to make a coffin ; the trunk 
 of a white walnut tree was, therefore, hollowed out by fire, 
 and in this his body was laid, and he was interred in the 
 depths of the forest, where, for the purposes of his grave, 
 the white man's spade then first turned up the sod. 
 
29 
 
 During this storm, they had also a visit from a little, old, 
 hard-featured lady, who now lived in independence and 
 comfort, although in the beginning she had been poor 
 enough. She amused everybody with the history of her 
 " beginnings," which she had great pleasure in telling. 
 She said that, when she was married, her possessions were 
 her clothes of her own spinning, weaving, and making up 
 — a feather bed, also of her own making ; and a cow, a 
 calf, and three sheep, which her father gave her as her 
 dowry. Her husband had a little land, but then he was 
 three pounds in debt. 
 
 She married into Carolina, and the first horse that they 
 possessed was obtained in barter from a stranger travelling 
 from Kentucky, who offered them " a crittur" wild from 
 the woods, and four years old, in exchange for a new 
 saddle, as much woollen cloth of her own spinning and 
 weaving as would make a great coat, and twelve yards of 
 shirting-linen, like a pattern which she shewed to him. 
 The bargain was a good one on both sides. The man was 
 to bring the horse in a fortnight's time, when their articles 
 were to be ready. The great-coat piece she had already by 
 her, and the linen was in the loom and just begun ; but 
 they had to work night and day to finish — the husband 
 the saddle, and she her weaving. However, by the end 
 of the fortnight all was done ; and, punctually to his 
 time, the man came with the " crittur, as fine and black 
 and slick as could be. ;; All parties were pleased; but the 
 
30 JANUARY. 
 
 horse was yet unbroken, and therefore, for a consideration 
 of two extra yards of shirting, the man stopped and trained 
 the horse either for the saddle or the team. 
 
 After a few years they left Carolina, with two thousand 
 dollars of their own earning, and came to the western 
 country, where a still greater prosperity awaited them. 
 
 Before the end of the month, the weather again became 
 mild and pleasant, and the children had great happiness in 
 once more being able to run on the turf and to feel the 
 bright warm sun and the soft balmy air, which already 
 breathed of spring. To be sure nobody expected that 
 winter was quite gone ; but the first vernal influences are 
 always hailed with delight. 
 
 The children helped their mother to transplant rose- 
 bushes. The father was busy pruning the fruit-trees ; and 
 Willie and Nanny afterwards carried away the lopped-off 
 branches, which were stored away for pea-sticks. They 
 thought at first that it was a very unpleasant job; but 
 they had their reward in a way that they did not expect. 
 
 They had to carry the sticks into the yard, and thus to 
 pass through the lane, where they saw a little short-legged 
 white dog, with black ears and queer bluish spots on his 
 body. He was a perfect stranger to every one, even to 
 Eberhard and Heinrich. At first they tried to drive him 
 away; yet he would not go, but looked so pitifully in 
 their faces that they took compassion on him, and fed 
 
TIMOTHY. 31 
 
 him, and thus he staved the whole day. He seemed in- 
 deed to have made up his mind to stay with them alto- 
 gether, for he was there next morning, and he looked at 
 them again with eyes that seemed full of tears ; and if any 
 body said, "Poor thing," he wagged his tail with such joy, 
 that the hinder half of his body wagged too. The children 
 could not find in their hearts to part with him, and it 
 made them exceedingly happy to be permitted to keep 
 him. 
 
 They had now a great consultation as to what he should 
 be called. They could not find a name to which he would 
 answer; therefore they determined to call him Timothy, 
 because that was the name of Jack's dog in " Jack of the 
 Mill," which was one of the new books that their uncle 
 had sent them from England. 
 
32 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 February. 
 
 Willie chopped small wood for kindling the fires ; and 
 when this was done, and lessons said, he and his sisters 
 played in the hay-loft. This hay-loft was a large place, 
 where they could run, and jump, and shout, and do just 
 what they liked. 
 
 Three or four times in a day they looked for eggs ; and 
 sometimes had the pleasure of discovering quite new nests 
 in new places, and sometimes there would be many eggs 
 in them. They thought that there was something un- 
 commonly beautiful in the look of eggs in a nest. 
 
 They made a terrible discovery on the first day of this 
 month in the hen-house. A poor hen, sadly torn, lay 
 mangled and bloody on her nest, where she had just laid 
 an egg. There was a great consultation as to the cause of 
 her death, but nothing very satisfactory could be made 
 out ; it was supposed to be the work of a hawk. 
 
 The father was now from home, and Willie had again 
 certain out-of-doors tasks to do during his absence ; he 
 had to give the pigs their allotted portion of corn-cobs ; 
 to let the cows out to water ; to give the calf hay, and to 
 feed the poultry. 
 
THE NEW DOG. 33 
 
 On the day when his father returned, "Willie went in the 
 carriage to meet him in the city. On their drive home 
 they twice stuck fast in the mud, and it was all that 
 Farmer could do to pull them out. The cause of this was 
 that the wooden bridge over the creek was damaged by 
 the floods, and they were obliged to go by another road, 
 which was broken up, and deep in mud. 
 
 Little Timothy, the new dog, showed no inclination to 
 leave them. He looked very mildly and submissively into 
 every body's face, as if he would say, " Do, please to let 
 me stop with you ; I will be very good ; I will not come 
 into the house with wet and dirty feet, nor do anything 
 to displease you : only do not send me away, for I love 
 you all very much." Milo and Fanny, the dogs of the 
 house, walked in and out in their usually bold and care- 
 less way, as if it were their right, and as if they knew 
 themselves to be so much at home that they were not on 
 their good behaviour, and that nobody would think of 
 sending them away; but poor little Tim, he just peeped 
 in at the open door, and if nobody encouraged him to 
 enter, he would, after waiting a minute or so, walk quietly 
 and meekly away again. He never came in uninvited ; but 
 if he were invited he was very grateful. This touched 
 the hearts of the children ; they became very fond of him, 
 and Willie one day beat Fanny for quarrelling with Tim. 
 
 Feb. 7th. — The weather was now very delightful. The 
 
 D 
 
34 FEBRUARY. 
 
 children helped their father and mother in gardening. 
 The father was busied in pruning the vines, and in 
 digging about them and the young apple-trees. A new 
 vineyard was to be laid down and planted this year. 
 
 Little Nelly, the baby, like the early year, grew more 
 lovely and more full of promise every day. Her cheeks 
 were the colour of roses ; her hair long, silken and curling, 
 and her eyes like two diamonds, and yet so soft and loving 
 that the children called her " DoveVeye." 
 
 Feb. 9th. — The weather still beautiful. Florence this 
 day had a large wash. She washed all her doll's clothes 
 and bedding. She put up little lines in the garden, and 
 dried everything in the sunshine. 
 
 Willie planted a little vineyard for himself. When this 
 was done, he and Nanny went together to Athens to take 
 some shoes to be mended. 
 
 The children liked going to Athens very much ; and 
 one reason was that they passed Madam Leonard's. 
 
 Madam Leonard was, as I have said, one of the friends 
 of the family. She lived at a very nice place near Athens. 
 She had a fine garden and orchard, and often sent early 
 vegetables, and beautiful flowers up to The Cedars, and 
 in return the children carried others down to her. She 
 had also a cat-bird in one cage and a red-bird in another, 
 and three or four canary-birds. She had the finest horse 
 in the country, called Barnaby, on which she herself rode, 
 
MADAM LEONARD AND RED SHAKER. 35 
 
 and a very remarkable cow, called Red Shaker. This cow 
 Madam Leonard always declared to be of the Shaker 
 persuasion. It was calved and brought up at the Shaker 
 settlement of Union Village, and had consequently 
 imbibed some of their peculiar notions : for instance, 
 it was not partial to women and children ; the latter it 
 disliked. 
 
 Our cousins perfectly believed this ; for the cow inva- 
 riably made towards the fence when she saw them, and 
 looked as if she would toss them upon her great horns. 
 She was a very famous milker, and cost forty dollars; 
 but Willie always persisted, that their cow Pink, which at 
 first only cost sixteen, was the better of the two. Willie 
 and Madam Leonard had often stout contests on this 
 subject. 
 
 Madam Leonard "raised" turkeys, and grafted trees, 
 and was as happy in her country occupations as a queen. 
 Unlike the Red Shaker, she was very fond of the children 
 from The Cedars, and loaded them with good things 
 whenever they came. Her house was a very pretty one ; 
 it was white, with a broad piazza on the sunny side, and 
 green Venetian outside-shutters. Roses grew round her 
 windows ; and one end of her house was entirely covered 
 by a luxuriant fig-tree, which bore abundantly. 
 
 This time the children brought back with them each a 
 live guinea-fowl, and a basket of apples for Florence. 
 
 Nanny thought that she and their family had so many 
 
 d 2 
 
36 FEBRUARY. 
 
 friends that they ought to be thankful. This sentiment of 
 thankfulness was one which Nanny often expressed. 
 
 Feb. 12th. — Willie went with his mother to the city. 
 They walked ; the roads were now quite dry, and they 
 found it extremely pleasant. When they reached the river 
 bank, they saw a large steamer which was being hauled on 
 shore for repair, Forty horses were fastened, four abreast, 
 to drag it out. Between each four horses the axle and 
 wheels of a wagon were fixed ; and when the vessel left 
 the water it was heaved upon huge rollers. It was quite a 
 thrilling sight, Willie thought, when at the words " Go-a- 
 head V all the forty horses gave one great pull altogether, 
 and the large steamer, which looked like a mountain on 
 land, was pulled on a few yards' distance. 
 
 Willie had often seen frame houses and barns making 
 slow journeys in this way, but never one of these large 
 steamers before. 
 
 The wooden bridge over Red Creek was now repaired. 
 This was but a temporary bridge, the great stone bridge 
 having been swept away during the former summer in a 
 thunderstorm ; and this was now the third that our friends 
 had seen over Red Creek since they came into the country. 
 When first they came, it was crossed by an old covered 
 wooden bridge; and this was burned down one night by a 
 man whose horse's feet had stuck fast in a hole of the plank- 
 ing, which made him so angry that he vowed never again 
 
THE MAKKATAWA AND POP-CORN. 37 
 
 to be stopped there by the same cause, and, therefore, he 
 set fire to the bridge before he left the place. 
 
 This Red Creek, or Makkatawa River, as it is called 
 in the Indian language, is a small, tributary of the 
 Ohio. It is a very beautiful stream and its serpentine 
 course could be traced at The Cedars, although its waters 
 were unseen, by the white trunks and branches of the 
 button-wood trees which grew upon its banks. It was 
 famous in Indian tradition ; and the children often sang 
 to themselves, in a low chanting strain, one of its legends, 
 which an American poet had beautifully sung in modern 
 verse. 
 
 The weather again changed ; and a week of such con- 
 stant storms of snow and sleet, with such bitingly cold 
 winds and intense frost, succeeded, that the children were 
 prisoners to the house. During this time several books 
 were read, and none with more interest by Willie than 
 Captain Fremont's narrative of his Journey to the Rocky 
 Mountains and the Oregon. Willie was indeed wholly 
 absorbed by it, and when the book was finished, made long 
 extracts to send to his cousins in England. 
 
 During a short interval in this stormy week, the children 
 were sent to Madam Leonard's to fetch some pop-corn. 
 This was prepared for eating on a hot fire-shovel, and was 
 a great dainty. The children thought it the prettiest sight 
 that could be to see it popping about on the fire-shovel 
 like pretty little white lilies. Some was eaten in this 
 
38 FEBRUARY. 
 
 state, the rest was converted into pop-corn-candy, that is, 
 cakes made by pouring boiling toffy upon the pop-corn, 
 which thus resembled English almond-rock. 
 
 Another day Willie went round the fields in his sledge. 
 If Milo had been with him he would have caught some 
 rabbits which he saw everywhere running about in the 
 snow ; the birds, too, had become so tame by the extreme 
 cold, that they seemed almost to have lost the fear of man. 
 Spite of the cold, however, he saw the first pair of blue- 
 birds this season : they were, no doubt, one of the pairs 
 that would build in one of their bird-houses. 
 
 The catalpa trees looked extremely beautiful with their 
 long pods covered with a coating of ice. Willie compared 
 them to little swords in glass sheaths. 
 
 Feb. 21st. — There was a great home-manufacture of 
 soap and candles going on at this time. The family prided 
 themselves on having these articles well made ; and Willie 
 and his sisters took great interest in the process, which 
 they carefully watched. 
 
 The days became warm and bright, although the nights 
 were still cold and frosty. These are called "sugar-days," 
 and people who had sugar-camps, or woods of sugar maple, 
 were now busied night and day in the manufacture of the 
 delicious maple-sugar. Unfortunately our friends had no 
 extensive growth of sugar-maple on their farm ; and this 
 Willie constantly deplored. 
 
A VISIT FROM SQUIRE PEACHAM. 39 
 
 During the late storm, the children were one day greatly 
 amused by seeing two men drive up to The Cedars in one 
 of those primitive sledges called Yankee Jumpers. It was 
 made of two long branches of hickory, bent upwards to 
 form the slides ; on the body of the sledge a large log was 
 fixed, on which they sate, and behind them rose a tall 
 pole, on the top of which waved a long, black, horse-tail, 
 like a pennon. In this comical old-fashioned affair they 
 came driving up, with a wild sort of half-furious horse, 
 with its mane and tail streaming, and which occasioned 
 quite an excitement. The Yankee Jumper drew up at the 
 door ; and the next moment Squire Peacham, a magistrate, 
 who lived a little way up the country, entered the house. 
 He was well known to the children's father, and was 
 come on business about buying and selling hogs. As the 
 Squire's appearance was quite in character with his vehicle, 
 he must be described. He was a tall, fat, pale-faced man, 
 whose long dark hair hung in straight- cut masses round his 
 head ; he wore a weather-beaten slouched hat, tied on 
 with a large red silk handkerchief; a home-spun and 
 home-made dark great coat, which was any thing but a 
 good fit, and green baize leggings tied over his knees with 
 white tape. He was a regular country farmer ; had been 
 a shoemaker formerly, but, having made money, bought 
 land and became a magistrate. Spite of his odd appear- 
 ance, he was a very agreeable and well-informed man, and 
 he and his companion stopped dinner with the family. 
 Scarcely had the Squire driven off again in his Yankee 
 
40 FEBRUARY. 
 
 Jumper, when the merry sound of sleigh-bells announced 
 a second arrival ; and three handsome sledges, lined with 
 skins, and beautifully painted, drove up, bringing a large 
 unexpected party, all the Hutchinsons and the Munroes, 
 who, anxious to enjoy the fine sledging, were come to tea, 
 and then off again in the splendid moonlight. This was 
 an occasion of great pleasure to everybody. 
 
 Feb. 24th. — The warm sun had by this time melted the 
 snow, and caused it to run in torrents down every little 
 water-course and ravine. The children now looked on the 
 wasting remains of the snow with something like that 
 regretful affection which is felt for the last flowers of 
 autumn at that season. This was, in all probability, the 
 last snow they would see this spring : there was an end of 
 all their digging in it, and piling it up into mountains and 
 castles for many months. 
 
 Feb. 26th. — Large flocks of pigeons began to appear, 
 flying northward. These increased for some days. The 
 report of guns was heard on every hand : everybody, even 
 our friends, were shooting ; and so incessant was the firing 
 that Willie thought the very air must smell of gunpowder. 
 
 For several days the pigeons came with a steady flight 
 from the south, and steered their course northward ; after 
 that time, to the surprise of the children, they seemed to 
 be flying directly back again to the south. Their father 
 explained this to them by saying that in all probability, 
 
PIGEONS ! 41 
 
 although the weather was still mild with them, yet that 
 the pigeons had found cold weather to the north, and very- 
 likely they themselves would have another " severe spell " 
 yet. And sure enough the very next day the frost re- 
 turned with bitter, cutting winds, and everybody again 
 betook themselves to their cast-off winter garments, and 
 sat "croodling" by the fire-side. 
 
 These pigeons were a never-ceasing subject of specu- 
 lation and wonder. Where were they gone back to ? 
 Had they returned to their old homes? — and where were 
 those homes ? Or were they gone only into the warm 
 woods of Kentucky, whence they would very soon again 
 take flight for the north ? 
 
 If the children had not been constantly reminded of the 
 pigeons by seeing their immense flocks in the air, and by 
 hearing the incessant rushing of their wings, it was impos- 
 sible that they could have forgotten them, for nothing but 
 pigeons were now to be seen. The markets were full of 
 pigeons ; the larders were full of pigeons ; pigeons were 
 on everybody's table; people breakfasted, dined, and supped 
 on pigeons. Milo and Fanny, and even poor little 
 Timothy, were all the better for these wonderful pigeons. 
 
 The blue-birds were now really come, and with them 
 came the contentious martins. At The Cedars, however, 
 the favourite blue-birds got quiet possession of their house : 
 not so at a neighbour's where Willie went one day. There 
 the blue-birds had obtained possession of the boxes, one 
 pair in each, and were very busy building when the martins 
 
42 FEBRUARY. 
 
 arrived ; and very soon a loud and angry chattering was 
 heard amongst them. The martins were trying to turn 
 out the blue-birds ; and the blue-birds were as resolutely 
 defending their possessions. The martins, after a while, 
 being repulsed, seated themselves on the roof opposite, 
 and there they sat for hours watching for an opportunity 
 of getting inside if the others came out ; but, contrary to 
 their practice, and though they were busy building, they 
 never once put a beak outside. The next day the martins 
 made another and more desperate attack, and a regular 
 battle ensued, the blue-birds being still left in possession. 
 On the third day, however, the poor blue-birds, perhaps 
 feeling themselves unequal to a prolonged contest, and 
 perhaps utterly disgusted with a place which would now be 
 infested with such bad neighbours, quietly disappeared, 
 leaving their houses empty for their obstinate invaders, 
 who immediately took possession, and commenced building 
 with great alacrity and plenty of noise. 
 
 The children were full of indignation at this history. 
 They, for their part, would have defended the blue-birds, 
 and driven away the unprincipled intrusive martins by 
 force ; they would have done they hardly knew what, and 
 they could none of them understand the apathy of the 
 neighbour who said, in reply to Willie's outburst of 
 sympathy and anger, " I thought it best to let the birds 
 fight out their own quarrel, and look after their own busi- 
 ness. It was no affair of mine ; and of course they 
 understood it better than I did." 
 
43 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 March. 
 
 Nothing was now talked of but Spring. 
 
 During the first week in this month everybody was inte- 
 rested in the erection of a smoke-house, in which the hams 
 and other meat were to be cured by wood smoke. The 
 house was prepared beforehand by Joiner Lotte, and had 
 been waiting some time for the first seasonable weather 
 in which the foundation could be dug. All this was now 
 done, and the frame brought to the spot and put together, 
 just as children would put together a dissected map, or 
 would build up a toy-house, where every part fitted to 
 another. All this was now done : it was set into the ground 
 just as a tree would be planted ; the earth was rammed 
 firmly to its foundation, as the gardener's foot* treads the 
 soil firmly to the root of the tree, and the little frame- 
 house stood erect among its kindred outbuildings. The 
 next thing was to nail on the outside boards and the 
 shingle roof. It was then completed ; and the children 
 clapped their hands and rejoiced, singing in chorus, 
 that " a house is now standing where house never stood 
 before." 
 
 The next day the hams and other joints were hung 
 
44 MARCH. 
 
 up in it, and the first fire made of green hickory boughs, 
 the smoke of which is considered most suitable for this 
 purpose. 
 
 Within eight days of the commencement of the month, 
 the spring was indeed come ; " the winter over and gone/' 
 The children sat on the grass, and little Nelly tumbled 
 about on a carpet which was spread for her, and pulled 
 at the winter bleached bents with infinite delight. In the 
 evening they sate under the piazza, in the moonlight, 
 singing hymns until bed-time. This was a great change 
 from little more than a fortnight ago, when the icy wind 
 blew and the ground was covered with snow a foot deep. 
 Spring was now established, and the children and the birds, 
 and the little woodland creatures — nay, indeed, the whole 
 of nature, of which these were the outward voices — was 
 filled with a great rejoicing. 
 
 March 9th. — The father and mother were busy gar- 
 dening. Bberhard ploughed up the new land for the new 
 vineyard; and Willie chopped down a young locust-tree 
 with his new hatchet. 
 
 The children spent the afternoon in the field engaged in 
 a new play. They played at driving a herd of three 
 thousand hogs to California. Florence sold them to 
 Willie, and he had to hunt them up out of the woods. 
 Nanny was the settler to whom they were to be taken. 
 With the first drove they pretended that Willie had very 
 
PLANTING. 45 
 
 bad luck ; part were lost by straying in the woods, and 
 by the ravages of the wolves on the Rocky Mountains. 
 On his second journey, therefore, he took his two trusty 
 dogs, Fanny and Timothy, with him ; and these hunted 
 up the droves and kept them together, and he thus man- 
 aged very cleverly till he arrived at the end of his journey, 
 when the settler paid him six thousand dollars. 
 
 Whilst Eberhard was ploughing up the ground for the 
 new vineyard, the father, to the great joy of the children, 
 planted out ornamental shrubs. Among these were the 
 shumach, some oleanders, arid the weeping-willow. The 
 weeping- willow grows in this part of the country to a size 
 of which we have no idea in England; it is one of the 
 most beautiful trees that they cultivate ; its long pendant 
 branches, owing to their large size, produce a very fine 
 effect; their motion in the wind is quite majestic; and 
 besides this, as it is the first tree which becomes green in 
 Spring, and the last which casts its leaves in autumn, it is 
 a universal favourite. 
 
 March 11th. — The children accompanied their mother 
 about two miles into the country. The sun shone bright 
 and warm, the birds filled the air with their joyous notes, 
 and their mother told them of the delicious singing of the 
 skylarks in England, which always seemed to fill the air 
 with a gush of music, in mornings such as these. Not 
 even Willie had any remembrance of the lark's song, but 
 
46 MARCH. 
 
 as their mother described it to them, and repeated many 
 a beautiful poem which the English poets have written on 
 the subject, they wished they could hear it, and were 
 willing to believe that there was no bird in America to 
 compare to an English skylark. However there was no 
 use in regretting anything j and on a morning like this 
 no heart could long be dissatisfied. Every thing was 
 delightful and beautiful beneath this warm sky and these 
 already early-blossoming trees, even without the lark's 
 song. Our friends felt it so, and they were happy. 
 
 On their way they had fine views of the wooded hills by 
 the river, and down into wild and steep glens, where they 
 had spent many a pleasant day in the former summer, and 
 would do so again in the summer before them. 
 
 Their errand was to a house where the first vineyard in 
 those parts was planted, and from which many thousand 
 gallons of wine were now made every season. Near this 
 house was a little grove of golden willows, the beauty of 
 which greatly struck the children. They had the appear- 
 ance of trees made of rods and wire of gold. 
 
 March 12th. — Three men were employed in the new 
 vineyard. They were now planting vines. They made 
 deep long holes like little graves, and in each of these they 
 laid a plant which, as it grew, was to be trained to a pole 
 and frame. Willie helped to fill up these, and worked 
 very hard. Four hundred plants were set this day. 
 
BONNET-MAKER. 47 
 
 March 13th and 14th. — The men still continued plant- 
 ing vines. Willie helped for about the half of each day. 
 
 One afternoon he and Florence and Nanny went an 
 errand to Madam Leonard's. Just as they reached the 
 door they saw her walking toward the house, with her 
 bonnet on and a cane in her hand; she told them that 
 she had bought a young cow to keep the Red Shaker 
 company, and that this new cow was called Bonnet- maker. 
 It was the queerest name that anybody had ever heard for 
 a cow; the children laughed at it, and so did Madam 
 Leonard, and when they asked her why she called it so, 
 she said, very mysteriously, that she had her reasons. 
 Willie did not press for her reasons; but as she had a 
 cane in her hand, he took it for granted that the Red 
 Shaker was not more friendly to her than she was to 
 themselves ; and on this he founded a new argument in 
 favour of their own cow Pink. Madam Leonard laughed, 
 and shook the cane over his head. 
 
 She sent home for their mother the seed of a calabash, 
 which produced fruit that held two quarts. 
 
 The following day the children again took a long walk 
 with their mother. They had to go some miles to a farm- 
 house at the edge of a great wood, and on their way they 
 passed a little frame school-house, which had been built by a 
 lady for her niece to teach school in. Presently afterwards 
 they came to the house of the lady herself, when Milo, 
 who was with them, rushed into her garden, and under the 
 
48 MARCH. 
 
 piazza of her house, which was clean as hands could make 
 it. Milo had been dabbling in a little water-course just 
 before, and his feet must have been rather wet and dirty, 
 for the next moment the lady herself came out of the 
 house, drove out the dog, and scolded the children's 
 mother, because he had taken so great a liberty as to soil 
 her piazza with his wet feet. The children from this con- 
 cluded that she must be an ill-tempered lady, and they 
 hoped that the niece who taught the school was not like 
 her. 
 
 On they went, and came at length to the thick woods 
 which bordered the Creek. These woods were extremely 
 beautiful, although there was not a leaf on the trees. The 
 dry brown leaves rustled under their feet, and the children, 
 and even their mother, forgot everything to be once more 
 in the beautiful forest, which it was now so many months 
 since they had enjoyed. Huge grape vines climbed up the 
 tall forest trees, with stems as thick as a man's leg, and 
 looked as they twisted round the immense tree-boles like 
 monstrous serpents. These picturesque images of sylvan 
 terror greatly interested the children. They called this 
 Wild-vine Wood, and determined to come with their 
 mother and spend a long summer's day in it. 
 
 Willie was pilot all the way, for he was the only one who 
 had been there before. Florence took charge of all the 
 plants they found, and Nanny, half in fun, and half in 
 real wishfulness to be of assistance to her mother, held out 
 
DOCTOR JACK. 49 
 
 her little hand at every difficult or muddy place,, saying 
 " Let me help dear mother over/' 
 
 It was a happy ramble. Whether the mother or the 
 children enjoyed it most would be hard to say. They 
 reached home just in time to escape a violent thunder- 
 storm, which was accompanied by deluging torrents of 
 rain. 
 
 March 20th. — This day the children went to Jack's 
 Wood for sweet briar and wild clematis plants for their 
 mother. This wood, as we have before mentioned, belonged 
 to an old blind Negro, a hundred years old, called Doctor 
 Jack, who lived hard by. The children always had a kind 
 interest about this old man, and one day they went with 
 their parents to pay him a visit. They found him in a 
 very weak and feeble state lying on a bed ; his only atten- 
 dant being his wife, an old woman of seventy-four, although 
 comparatively active. 
 
 The history of Doctor Jack was by no means peculiar. 
 It was one which had thousands of parallels in America. 
 He had been a slave in the Southern States for the greater 
 part of his long life, and his children had all been taken 
 from him and sold to various masters in different States. 
 About five and twenty years ago he married his present 
 wife, and managed by very hard labour to purchase the 
 freedom of both. For himself he paid two hundred and 
 fifty dollars, and for his wife three hundred and fifty, she 
 
50 MAllCH. 
 
 being so much younger than he. They then came, as free 
 negroes, into the State of Ohio, and settled down in the 
 neighbourhood of the city, where he practised as a Negro 
 doctor. He was in great reputation, and saved in process 
 of time, sufficient money to purchase a little farm ad- 
 joining The Cedars, and to which belonged that little 
 wood, which from him bore the name of Jack's wood; 
 and here, as the old woman said, they had never known 
 want. 
 
 These people, however, were much to be pitied, because, 
 as they were black, they could get nobody to do anything 
 for them, and now that the old man was unable to cultivate 
 his land himself, it lay waste, and it was to be feared that 
 the time when they would know want was not far distant. 
 The lower class who lived in the neighbourhood were 
 mostly German settlers, and they had, it was very difficult 
 to say why, almost a stronger prejudice against people of 
 colour than the Americans themselves, and they were 
 treated by them with great indignity and unkindness. For 
 instance, the Germans had, during the preceding winter, 
 fitted up an old barn as a theatre, which was all very well 
 in itself and as a means of their own innocent amusement ; 
 but, unfortunately, it was made the means of exciting 
 ridicule and persecution against the poor oppressed blacks ; 
 for here they were made the especial objects of vulgar 
 derision and abuse. 
 
 Old Doctor Jack, excited, as was but natural, to fear 
 
A FLOOD. 51 
 
 and anger by their abuse and insults, took various means 
 of defending himself: among the rest was that of keeping 
 a number of fierce dogs, which were chained near his door 
 as a defence, and with the intention of keeping rude men 
 and boys at a distance. These dogs always filled our 
 cousins with great terror ; and as their loud savage barking 
 could be heard plainly at The Cedars, Doctor Jack and his 
 dogs were kept in their daily remembrance. 
 
 Spite of the dogs, however, the children, who knew how 
 much the old people were to be pitied, had a kindly 
 sympathy for them ; and they now with pleasure heard 
 their father say, that they must occasionally visit the old 
 people, and see that they did not want. They gathered 
 this day the first early spring flowers. 
 
 March 23rd. — For the last two days there was incessant 
 rain. This, and the melting of the snows on the mountains, 
 swelled the Creek and the Ohio, till they looked quite 
 magnificent. The large river was covered with drift-wood. 
 Large logs and trees, and huge pieces of timber, the re- 
 mains of barns and houses, were swept down the current 
 by the violence of the stream, and men were out in boats 
 fishing up this drift-wood, which they thus collected in 
 large quantities. 
 
 One day during this flood, a small frame-house, with all 
 its inmates, came sailing down. It contained a man, a 
 woman, and two children, who made many signals of dis- 
 
 e 2 
 
52 MARCH. 
 
 tress as they went along. But it was not easy to save 
 them, although boats were put off on all sides, and every 
 effort was made, and the women on the banks encouraged 
 the men, and some of them even cried for very sympathy 
 and excitement. At length, however, they were safely 
 landed at a small town in Kentucky, on the opposite side 
 of the Ohio. 
 
 A gentleman who called, said that he saw a hay-stack 
 with about a dozen fowls upon it carried down. The 
 cock was perched on the top just like a weathercock, and 
 either from joy or fear, nobody could tell which, he went 
 crowing and clapping his wings as he sailed along. The 
 same gentleman, also, on a former flood, saw a whole ware- 
 house filled with whisky and flour which had been carried 
 off from the shore, at a place called Wheeling, come sail- 
 ing gallantly down the Ohio like a magnificent vessel of 
 a very novel construction. The current at length brought 
 it to the shore, and a crowd of people immediately entered 
 it, and began to land its contents. Here was a great 
 booty, but not having been able to secure it sufficiently, 
 as soon as it was somewhat lightened it set off again, and 
 this time with several people, and so continued its adven- 
 turous voyage several miles farther down the Ohio. 
 
 When the rain was over the children went with Felicia 
 Bower, who was on a visit with them, to a large Catholic 
 Cemetery, which they could see from their lawn. In 
 doing this, they had to pass by Doctor Jack's house; and 
 
A CEMETERY, AND THE FIRST FROG. 53 
 
 after a good deal of alarm from the dogs, which sprang at 
 them to the extent of their chains, they got past in safety. 
 The footpath led them through his orchard, along a deeply 
 wooded dell beyond, and then across some pleasant fields. 
 One half of this burial-place belonged to the Irish and the 
 other to the Germans. The Irish portion was kept very 
 neatly, with all the graves marked by well-cut head-stones, 
 and crosses and pretty monuments, producing altogether 
 very much the effect of an English church-yard. The 
 German graves were mostly marked by rude red wooden 
 crosses ; occasionally there was an enclosure, with flowers 
 and shrubs; but, upon the whole, there was a somewhat 
 forlorn appearance about it. There were in the cemetery 
 two dead-houses, as they were called — that is, houses in 
 which the dead were deposited in winter. The coffins 
 were ranged side by side in these buildings from the com- 
 mencement of the frost until its breaking up, when the 
 graves could easily be dug ; and then the friends of the 
 deceased went privately and buried them. 
 
 On their return, the children were struck with admira- 
 tion and wonder of the great triple thorns, five or six 
 inches in length, which hung on the stems of the prickly 
 or horny locust. These thorns had a very curious appear- 
 ance, being suspended from the trunk by strong threads. 
 When they were not far from home, and in their own 
 fields, they saw a large frog, that had just come forth 
 from its winter habitation. Poor old creature ! it seemed 
 
54< MARCH. 
 
 to be taking a mouthful of the sweet spring air, and it 
 hopped staggeringly along like a tipsy man : its eyes were 
 evidently dazzled by the strong light, and it seemed as if 
 it had not yet collected its senses. The children con- 
 gratulated it upon the pleasant spring that was before it, 
 and, recommending it to hop off into the shade as soon as 
 it could, they left it to enjoy its renewed animation. 
 
 About a mile from The Cedars, upon a fine slope over- 
 looking the river, stood a beautiful white house, surrounded 
 with sugar-maples. There, with an old relation, lived 
 Christina, a beautiful young lady, one of the friends of the 
 family, and at the same time the beloved of the children. 
 Many were the anecdotes which they and many another 
 could tell of her goodness. She was waited on by a 
 coloured girl named Julia, whom she herself had bought 
 out of slavery ; and this girl loved her as much as her own 
 life, and she loved also every body whom Christina loved ; 
 and this made her do all she possibly could to please her 
 friends. When the children, therefore, went to Christina's, 
 Julia always did something to add to their enjoyment, 
 mostly she swung them in a large swing which was hung 
 among the sugar-maples. 
 
 Somebody told the children that Christina wished for a 
 trumpet creeper to run up one of the sugar-maples. This 
 was good news, because Florence had one of her own 
 which she could give her ; and, therefore, one day as soon 
 as their lessons were done, and various little commissions 
 
CHRISTINA S HOME. 55 
 
 of in-door and out-of-door industry executed, they set off 
 with Felicia to take it. Christina's house was approached 
 from a small beautifully picturesque lodge, by an ascent 
 so steep that the garden which occupied it was laid out in 
 terraces ; spite, however, of the steepness, an easy winding 
 road, bordered by pyrus japonica, now in full bloom, led 
 to the house. The sunny side of the house had a two- 
 storied piazza, into the upper story of which the drawing- 
 room and the best bed-rooms opened; from hence was 
 a beautiful view — to the right the distant city and its 
 populous suburbs — and to the left, farms and villages 
 that extended to the mouth of the little Miami. The 
 piazzas were wreathed and clustered about with roses 
 and jessamines — here called Washington's bower — 
 and other beautiful creepers; and in the garden there 
 was a large marble basin and fountain, and a conser- 
 vatory full of beautiful flowers. Among other flowering 
 shrubs that grew near the house was a laburnum, which 
 had been brought from England, and which was the only 
 one in that part of the country. 
 
 Christina was delighted with the new creeper. She took 
 the children into her drawing-room, and shewed them some 
 beautiful prints and books which had just been sent to her 
 from Philadelphia; and then she took them into her garden, 
 and shewed them where the trumpet creeper would grow ; 
 and when they returned to the house, there was a delicious 
 tea ready for them, and nice cakes and hot bread ; and as 
 
56 MARCH. 
 
 they sate talking with her the full moon rose over the 
 garden, and shed down a golden sort of light almost like 
 sunshine. It was much later than the children ought to 
 have stopped ; but Christina said that she and her maid 
 Julia would walk part of the way home with them ; and 
 before they set out, Julia gave them a very pretty doll 
 which she herself had dressed, and now sent as a present 
 to little Nelly. 
 
 Just as they were going out of Christina's garden who 
 should meet them but uncle Cornelius; he was come up 
 this beautiful evening, he said, to enquire after Christina's 
 old relation, and they two now accompanied the children, 
 and Julia went back again. It was a very remarkable 
 thing, they thought, that no sooner had Christina and 
 Uncle Cornelius left them than all sorts of misadventures 
 befell them. First, they met a drunken man, who fright- 
 ened them sadly. Felicia declared that he was crazy, 
 because he talked to the pigs. He wished to be on very 
 friendly terms with the children ; and to Willie's great 
 astonishment addressed him by his proper name. In the 
 next place, as they stopped at the spring in the little lane 
 above Eberhard's house, Florence stood upon a stone, from 
 which she slipped into the water. They were frightened 
 at the moment, although there was, in reality, no danger, 
 and Willie and Felicia soon pulled her out. They then 
 ran home as fast as they could, and, excepting that she 
 was wet up to her waist, she was no worse. 
 
HURRAH FOR MILICENT ! 57 
 
 March 26th. — Florence returned home with Felicia. A 
 birthday was going to be celebrated at her house, and 
 Florence was invited to be of the party. They went in 
 the market wagon, and a very shakiDg and merry journey 
 they had. In the evening, when the wagon returned, 
 Willie and Nanny, having nothing else particular to do, 
 were on the look-out for it, and great was their surprise, 
 as it came in sight, to behold their father sitting in it, and 
 a little head peeping out. What head could this be ? At 
 first they thought it must be Florence returned ; but that 
 was not very likely. They guessed one and another of 
 their acquaintance ; and then when the wagon stopped, 
 and the little head had hid itself for fun, a merry laugh 
 from the bottom of the wagon revealed their cousin 
 Milicent Benson. 
 
 They were right glad to see her, for she could tell merry 
 stories without end; and she was as fond of rambling about 
 the woods and fields as they were. Hurrah for Milicent ! 
 
 March 27th. — The children were up betimes in the 
 morning, and as soon as breakfast was over, they and 
 Milicent, taking little Nelly with them, with many injunc- 
 tions from their mother to take great care of her, set off 
 to Diedriclr's Wood, where they had heard that the spring- 
 beauty was in flower. 
 
 Before they came to the wood they met a dog running 
 with all its might, and looking very wild and much fright- 
 
58 MARCH. 
 
 ened. They thought at first that it was mad, and, snatch- 
 ing up sticks, and putting Nanny and little Nelly in the 
 rear, Willie and Milicent stood on the defensive, and faced 
 the danger; but the dog, seeing this formidable array, 
 wheeled aside, and rushed past them. Scarcely was he 
 gone than up came a wild-looking German woman, with 
 her black hair turned back under a little white quilted 
 cap, with a large truncheon in her hand, which she waved 
 about, and in her broken English she bade them not bring 
 their dogs near her house — they had Fanny and Timothy 
 with them — or her cow would toss them. At first they 
 were frightened, and thought that the woman, who looked 
 as if she were in a great passion, would beat them as they 
 now supposed she had been beating the poor terrified dog 
 which they had just met. 
 
 They called, therefore, the two dogs to their side, and 
 speaking very civilly, and saying " Yes, ma'am," and " No, 
 ma'am/' which they thought would please her, she too 
 grew mild and civil in her turn. They then asked her 
 permission to go into the wood if they left their dogs 
 behind them ; for they now saw that she was old Mrs. 
 Schmidt, the new tenant, who was come to Diedrich's 
 Hof : to which she very good humouredly replied, " O ja ! 
 O ja ! und die Hilndle konnen auch mit gehen — gewiss I" 
 O yes ! O yes ! and the little dogs may go with you also 
 — certainly ! So they and the dogs went, and had no 
 further molestation. 
 
GOOD BYE, TIMOTHY ! 59 
 
 March 28th. — It was a very sorrowful, but undeniable 
 fact, that little Timothy, as he grew familiar in his new 
 home, grew also troublesome. He had some incorrigibly 
 mischievous tricks; one of which was scratching great 
 holes in the flower-borders. It was no use speaking to 
 him, and of as little use beating him. He would whine 
 and cry, and look very much ashamed and very sorry, and 
 as if he promised never to do so any more ; and then the 
 very next day he would again scratch one as big as ever. 
 Troublesome as this propensity made him, the children 
 were very fond of him. The father said that he must go ; 
 and they, not venturing to oppose him, determined to find 
 him a good home. 
 
 Milicent was the kindest creature in the world to 
 animals. She said she knew that poor Timothy would be 
 welcome at their house, because they wanted just such a 
 dog, and there he could do no mischief; and, therefore, 
 when Milicent left The Cedars poor little Timothy left 
 also. 
 
 The children lussed him at parting, and gave him good 
 advice ; and he, in return, licked their hands, wagged his 
 tail, and looked in their faces with eyes full of tears. They 
 felt sure that he understood all about it ; more especially 
 as he went and licked Fanny's face, and looked very 
 lovingly at her, as if he would say, " Farewell, Fanny dear ; 
 we have had a pleasant time together, and now we must 
 part ; but don't quite forget me when Fm gone !" 
 
60 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 APRIL. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the beauty of the first of this month. 
 It seemed as if April wished to shew them all how beau- 
 tiful Spring was. 
 
 As soon as breakfast was over, the children and their 
 mother, who carried little Nelly in her arms, walked to 
 Jack's wood, where they soon gathered a handful of beau- 
 tiful flowers. Among these was the spring-beauty, a lovely 
 flower which is unknown in England ; it has five petals 
 veined with pink ; the anthers of its five stamens are also 
 pink. The flowers grow in a cluster, and it has long grass- 
 like leaves. Here too they found the earliest flowers of 
 the blood-root; they looked for dog-tooth violets, but 
 they were not yet out. 
 
 The happy little party sate down on the dry grass among 
 the flowers and the brown leaves of the former autumn? 
 and looked around with delight on the woods and hills 
 and hollows, and even on the trees that lay on the verdant 
 turf around them. The warm sunshine and the song of 
 the birds filled them all with gladness. Little Nelly 
 clapped her tiny hands and shouted for joy; and then 
 began warbling to herself a little song of delight. 
 
WILLIE S NEW BOW. 61 
 
 The mother said in the fulness of her heart, " Oh, how 
 good God is to make the earth so beautiful \" 
 
 To which Nanny replied, with her eyes full of tears, 
 " Yes, indeed ; we ought to be thankful." 
 
 They returned home by the woodpecker's column, a tall, 
 bare, barkless and branchless trunk of a great button-wood 
 tree, in the far meadow, where the red-headed wood- 
 peckers built in summer, and where also numbers of the 
 lesser species congregated. 
 
 In the afternoon of this pleasant day, the children were 
 sent by their father to a neighbouring farm, to tell the 
 people that they might fetch the apple-trees which had 
 been promised them. The farmer, who was very glad to 
 hear this, sent off his coloured man, Washington, imme- 
 diately, with the cart to fetch them, and thus the children 
 rode home. On passing the cabin of Joiner Lotte, little 
 Friedrich rushed out with a nice new hickory bow which 
 his father had made for Willie. It was a large well-made 
 bow, taller than Willie, and would shoot to a great distance; 
 and along with the bow were half-a-dozen arrows. Willie 
 wanted to pay him, but he would not take any money • 
 and on consulting with his mother, she said, that it was 
 much better to let Friedrich and his father have the plea- 
 sure of making Willie this nice present, and that some 
 day they would give the boy a book, but not just yet, 
 else it would seem as if they wanted to get rid of the obli- 
 gation. 
 
62 APRIL. 
 
 April 2nd. — This was an anxious day to Willie, and had 
 been anticipated for some time with dread. It was neces- 
 sary for him to go to the dentist's to have some awkwardly 
 growing teeth removed. Both his father and mother went 
 with him : it was a very troublesome operation, and he 
 suffered greatly. The pain indeed affected his eyes so 
 much that for several days he could not read nor do any 
 lessons, nor indeed bear a strong light. Every body was 
 sorry for him, and very kind. 
 
 April 5th. — Joiner Lotte came this morning to put up 
 a new trellis against the back-porch for the vines.* The 
 posts were made of cedar- wood, which had a very fragrant 
 smell. 
 
 Willie' s eyes were better. He wore a green shade, and 
 it amused him much to see Lotte at work, and even to 
 help him. The new trellis extended many yards, and 
 would look very beautiful in summer when the vines and 
 the trumpet-creepers had grown up it. 
 
 In the evening Willie went in the wagon with his father 
 to fetch boards from the timber-yard. 
 
 April 6th. — The children went to see the pretty little 
 foal, which Eberhard's mare had foaled two days before. 
 It squealed like a little baby, when its mother was taken 
 from it this morning to help in the ploughing. Eberhard 
 had ploughed up the orchard which was now going to be 
 
BONFIRES — THE FLOWER-BORDERS. 63 
 
 laid down in grass. This gave the children a great deal 
 of pleasure. They had always wished for a grassy orchard, 
 that they might play in it and enjoy the gathering of the 
 fruit, which they had not hitherto been able to do, because 
 corn and potatoes were grown in it ; now, however, they 
 had beautiful visions of being able to lie on the grass and 
 look up into the fruit-laden boughs of the trees. 
 
 Enormous bonfires were made with the great weeds and 
 old corn stalks, and all the rubbish produced by this 
 luxuriant soil and climate. Not only at The Cedars, but 
 through the neighbourhood, were these great fires made ; 
 and the horizon at night was often illumined by them. 
 These caused a great delight to the children, who were 
 always particularly anxious to have the bonfires piled up 
 as the dusk came on. 
 
 Willie' s eyes were now nearly recovered. He husked 
 and shelled a bushel of corn a-day. He often, it is true, 
 grew sadly tired of the job; more especially as, since the 
 men had been so busy on the land, it had fallen all the 
 more heavily on him ; and he wished that the cows were 
 at grass, when they would not need so much boiled corn. 
 
 Owen had now a calf, to which the name of Rose was 
 given. 
 
 The flower-borders looked gay with hyacinths, primroses, 
 periwinkles and daffodils, and while Willie was husking 
 the corn, his sisters often helped their mother to weed and 
 tie up the flowers. 
 
64 APRIL. 
 
 When all their tasks were done, they had this day a 
 deal of fun in following Eberhard at plough, and walking 
 barefoot in the new-turned-up furrows. They assured 
 their mother that it was quite delicious to set their bare 
 feet on the smooth cool earth, fresh from the plough-share. 
 It might be so; their mother could not contradict them, 
 because she had never tried it. 
 
 In the evening, Friedrich Lotte brought up his little 
 sister Sophia. She could not speak one word of English ; 
 but she was a very beautiful little creature, and so full of 
 fun that she amused everybody. The children were de- 
 lighted with her; and she was so well pleased herself 
 that she would not go home, and therefore stayed and 
 played on the lawn till it was dark. 
 
 April 7th. — The morning was spent in lessons; and 
 then the children went out to play. They played at bring- 
 ing timber on rafts down the Ohio. Willie's was a cargo 
 of cedar logs ; and Nanny's, of pine. These were the 
 pieces of wood that remained from the new trellis. After- 
 wards they made little garden-seats in their gardens, which 
 were so very pretty, and so strong, that their mother, who 
 went to see them, thought they would last all the summer. 
 
 In the evening, they went to the lower end of the lawn 
 to get the large, bursting buds of the buck-eye, a species 
 of horse-chestnut. Amongst the living trees was one which 
 had been over-run and killed by a wild poison-vine, and 
 
A BUFF-HEN S NEST. 65 
 
 into this Willie climbed, helping himself up by the wild- 
 vine stems which were wreathed round and round it. In 
 summer it was all one beautiful mass of verdure, which 
 completely covered and festooned the ruin below. In 
 descending, Willie was just going to set his foot on what 
 he supposed to be a large stone in the hollow of the trunk, 
 but at that very moment he thought he saw it move, and, 
 drawing his foot instantly back, he leaped softly to the 
 ground, and then examined it. And what should it be 
 but a large buff-coloured hen, crouched down upon her 
 nest ! The nest was the snuggest and best contrived that 
 could possibly be imagined ; and the hen glancing at them 
 with her black eye, seemed very unwilling to be disturbed. 
 Disturbing her was the last thing the children thought of; 
 so, after they had looked at her for some time in perfect 
 astonishment, they ran home with the news. 
 
 It was not long before their mother returned with them 
 to the old tree, and there, in a sort of little tower, several 
 feet from the ground, lay six pretty white eggs ; but the 
 lady of the castle, as the children called her, was not there. 
 They again left all undisturbed as they found it ; for their 
 mother told them that as the hen was not theirs, they had 
 no right either to her or her eggs. 
 
 There was a deal of bustle in the house at this time, as 
 the whitewashers and painters were there. Three men 
 were busy at work on the outside, and very pretty and 
 bright they made it look : the green Venetian shutters 
 
66 APRIL. 
 
 were to be painted, and the white palings also ; and every- 
 body said that when the green leaves were out, and the 
 flowers all in bloom, the place would look like a paradise. 
 
 April 8th. — Good Friday. The mother said that as the 
 little children in England had this day a holiday, so should 
 Willie and his sisters; and that, to make it additionally 
 pleasant, she would take a long ramble with them into 
 the woods ; and if their father had not been very busy, he 
 too would have gone with them. 
 
 Willie was first ready, and, therefore, whilst the others 
 were preparing, he ran down to the buff-hen's castle. 
 There were seven eggs now in the nest, and all looked as 
 snug and comfortable as ever. 
 
 Everybody was now ready, and they set out. First, 
 they walked down to old Doctor Jack's to enquire how 
 he was, and to carry him a nice pie. Nanny's little heart 
 was in great trepidation all the way on account of the 
 dogs ; but as she carried the pie in a basket, she said she 
 would pacify them by saying, " Here, you dogs, I have 
 brought you a pie — a very good pie — please to take it, 
 and let us alone." 
 
 The dogs made a terrible barking as they approached ; 
 and, roused by their noise, it was not long before the old 
 woman's black face was seen peeping out of the porch. 
 When she saw who were there, she bade the dogs be 
 quiet, and then came forward to meet her visitors. 
 
DOCTOR JACK'S WIFE. 67 
 
 She was dressed in true negro costume : her blue cotton 
 gown was made of two different patterns, one much larger 
 than the other, but it was in very good repair. Her head 
 was adorned with a smart handkerchief, by way of cap, 
 and beneath this, her short curling hair appeared, and, 
 which was rather uncommon among her people, it was 
 very grey ; she had also lost her teeth ; but upon the 
 whole she was a stout, good-looking old black woman. 
 
 They found her very sorrowful, for the old man was 
 much worse. He lay still on his bed, and took no notice 
 of them. She said they could get nobody to till their 
 land for them, and therefore it must lie uncultivated ; the 
 fences were bad, and it would be all overrun and be no 
 better than a wilderness. She said, that with her old 
 man in this state, she could not leave the house for half- 
 an-hour, and that she could not take her eggs and butter 
 to market, although she wanted the money which they 
 would bring to buy meal and meat with. 
 
 "But," added she, in conclusion, "I think my old man's 
 going ; and you know all men must die." 
 
 "Yes/' said the mother; "and, for the good, death is 
 always a happy change." 
 
 " Ay, it is the end that is alone worth living for," said 
 she : " and he's been in that service for sixteen years." 
 
 By which she meant, that he had been a good religious 
 man for sixteen years ; and therefore the end to him would 
 be happy. 
 
 r 2 
 
68 APRIL. 
 
 The old woman was greatly pleased with the pie ; and 
 leaving her and her poor old husband, they followed the 
 banks of the little Creek, which ran dashing and murmur- 
 ing over its stony bed, till it flowed into Bald-face Creek, 
 the great receptacle of all the lesser streams in the neigh- 
 bourhood, which then conveyed their united waters to the 
 Ohio. 
 
 At every step they found abundance of flowers : ane- 
 mones, violets, blood-root, the spring-beauty, and whole 
 beds of dog-tooth violet leaves, though no flowers as yet. 
 At the roots of the trees, which the children called hot- 
 beds, they found the most beautifully varied groups of 
 flowers, with which they filled their baskets. The blood- 
 root is justly so-called : it is intensely red, and the juice 
 of a fine orange dye. 
 
 As they rambled about in these beautiful woods, they 
 all agreed that nobody, even in England, could have had 
 a pleasanter ramble than they ; and yet, delightful as it 
 had been, they were well pleased to see the tall chimneys 
 of the white house, as, somewhat wearied, they came home 
 to tea. 
 
 At tea they related all their adventures to their father ; 
 and as regarded poor old Doctor Jack and his wife, he 
 thought it would be as well to send and buy the old 
 woman's eggs. This was a suggestion which pleased the 
 children ; and tired as t?hey had been on their homeward 
 walk, no sooner was tea over, than, taking Louise with 
 
MRS. JACK AGATN. 69 
 
 them, they set off and brought home thirteen dozen of 
 eggs, for which, to the great joy and thankfulness of the 
 old woman, they paid her six cents a dozen. 
 
 This unexpected good luck seemed to raise her spirits, 
 and make her quite talkative ; and among other things, 
 she inquired after " the young lady " who had lived with 
 them last summer. 
 
 She meant Adele, the black woman, the mother of little 
 Paul, and of whom we have spoken : and then they told 
 her all about her being so comfortably married, and how 
 she had left them quite suddenly, nobody could tell why, 
 and gone to the city; but, that the very day after she 
 left, she came up to tell them the truth, that she was 
 going to be married in two days ; and she was in such a 
 hurry with her news, that she would not sit down, but 
 only kissed the mother's and the children's hands, and 
 invited them to go and see her. 
 
 This was great news to Mrs. Jack; her only trouble 
 was, that her poor old man was so far gone, that he could 
 not understand it if she should tell him. 
 
 The whitewashing lasted several days, and the head 
 whitewasher gave the children a couple of fine apples. 
 Apples were at this season very scarce and dear, and they 
 were much pleased with the gift, more especially as old 
 Mrs. Jack had said, the evening when they went to buy the 
 eggs, that the only thing her poor husband could relish 
 would be an apple, but that she could not get him one. 
 
70 APRIL. 
 
 Scarcely therefore were these two apples in their posses- 
 sion ; than asking leave of their mother, they set off to the 
 old sick man's honse. The dogs as usual barked furiously 
 and frightened them. A black man stood near the house 
 with Doctor Jack's old white horse in a sled, which he 
 was loading with wood. 
 
 " If you please/' said the children, speaking as civilly 
 as they could, " will you call the dogs away, or take these 
 two apples to the old man." 
 
 " Don't you see," said the coloured man, "that Fm 
 busy loading my cattle, and that I can't go." 
 
 Whilst he was saying this and the children were be- 
 ginning to fear that they should not get the apples con- 
 veyed into the house, the old woman poked her head out 
 of the porch, and, seeing them, silenced the dogs. They 
 then went to her and delivered their little present, which 
 seemed quite to surprise and fill her with joy. She said 
 that apples were the only thing the old man had a fancy 
 for ; and in return, she sent their mother some nice new- 
 laid eggs. 
 
 On their way home they gathered a beautiful nosegay 
 of wild flowers, which they sent to a sick girl in the city. 
 
 After they reached home, they saw many people running 
 to Lotte's house ; and going down to inquire the cause, 
 little Friedrich came running out of the door, crying 
 bitterly and looking sadly distressed. They asked him 
 what was the matter, and he said that his little sister Sophia 
 
THE WHITEWASHER^S STORY. 71 
 
 was dying. This seemed very strange and dreadful; but 
 it was nevertheless true. The poor little child, who was 
 so beautiful and so amusing, and whom every body loved, 
 had been suddenly taken ill, and that very night, at one 
 o'clock, she died. 
 
 April 9th. — The evening was fine and balmy; it was 
 Saturday night ; and, after the whitewasher's day's work 
 was done, he sate down with the family under the piazza. 
 He was a very pleasant man, and told them many inte- 
 resting things. Among the rest, he told them that he was 
 once at Galena, in Illinois, where he and eight others set 
 out to go into the wild government-lands in Wisconsin to 
 cut timber. He went for laths, the others for fence- wood. 
 In crossing a small river, called the Maskeonge, the ferry- 
 man, instead of having a boat, had nothing but three logs 
 bound together with wild vines. He told them to jump 
 upon this, and then he would row them across. They did 
 as he bade them, and their weight sunk the raft so much 
 that they stood mid-leg in deep water ; and in this con- 
 dition they were paddled across. 
 
 They went on many miles into the woods ; built them- 
 selves a shanty, and there broiled their bacon and baked 
 their corn-doggers, which are a coarse kind of cake made 
 of Indian corn-meal and water, in the embers of their 
 wood fire. There they lived a sort of wild sylvan life for 
 many weeks, and cut as much timber as they wanted. 
 
72 APRIL. 
 
 They then hired from the nearest settlers a yoke of oxen 
 and a sled, and conveyed it down to the river. Next they 
 cut down large trees, hewed off the branches and made a 
 raft, on which they loaded their timber and set sail. 
 Sometimes they paddled and sometimes they "bush- 
 swagged," that is, fixed a rope, which was made fast to the 
 raft, to a tree on the bank, and so pulled it forward, then 
 to another tree, and so on, from one convenient tree to 
 another. This was a slow process ; and, as they had been 
 out longer than they contemplated, their provisions grew 
 scanty, and at length they were quite finished. They were 
 in the midst of the uninhabited forest, and for two days 
 endured the misery of hunger, being all the time obliged 
 to perform this hard labour in getting their timber along. 
 On the evening of this second day they arrived, faint and 
 exhausted, at a part of the river with which the captain or 
 leader of the party was acquainted, and where he said 
 there was a cabin very near to the shore. 
 
 They secured the raft and landed j but the cabin, instead 
 of being close to the shore as they had imagined, was two 
 miles inland, through a wild and difficult piece of forest. 
 "When they reached the house, the people were in bed and 
 had to be roused up. The woman was filled with com- 
 passion when she heard of all their troubles, and began 
 to make cakes and to fry ham. The hungry men sate 
 watching her, ready to eat up everything raw, and to them 
 she seemed the slowest woman that ever made bread. At 
 
GAMES IN THE COKN-CRIB. 73 
 
 last, however, it was ready, and they ate — ate as they 
 never had clone before, nor ever before were cakes and ham 
 so excellent. At length they were satisfied, and then 
 stretching themselves on the floor, all nine of them, they 
 slept soundly till morning. 
 
 Here they stayed a day to recruit themselves, and then 
 recommenced their journey, having purchased from this 
 and another settler as much flour and ham as would suffice 
 for them; and from that time they went on merrily, 
 baking their cakes and broiling their ham every evening 
 by fires which they made in the wood. 
 
 April 10th. — Willie and Florence went with their parents 
 to meeting in the city. In the afternoon, the mother read 
 to the three children — little Nelly sitting the while on 
 her knee — the history of the crucifixion and ascension of 
 our Saviour. After this they repeated hymns, and then 
 they had the large picture-Bible to look at. 
 
 April 11th. — Heinrich sowed oats, and Willie rode on 
 Ben, while Eberhard followed with the harrows, which 
 was very delightful. The children's favourite play-place 
 was now the corn-crib or granary. At this season of the 
 year it was empty, and there was plenty of room in it for 
 all kinds of games. 
 
 This morning, however, when they went in, a little 
 misfortune befell. Milo had been shut up there all night 
 
74 APRIL. 
 
 to catch the rats, which were very numerous, and for 
 which he was famous ; and in his hurry to get out, after 
 his night's confinement, he made a spring at the door the 
 moment it was opened, and knocked down poor Florence, 
 who was standing on the steps. She was sadly hurt and 
 frightened ; and her father, hearing her cries, hastened to 
 her; and finding that Milo was the cause, beat him. 
 Florence, on this, left off crying instantly, and, rushing 
 between her father and the dog, pleaded for him, that it 
 was quite an accident; for that Milo did not know she 
 was there, and must not be punished for it ; " besides/' 
 added she, " he was so tired of being locked in the corn- 
 crib all night I" 
 
 Willie, this day, husked corn knobbings, or small refuse 
 ears ; it was more troublesome than usual, and Florence 
 helped him. 
 
 Nanny, while these two were at work, played at being 
 a slave-driver. She kept the two very hard at work in, 
 what she called, the coffee and rice grounds. Sometimes 
 she flogged them ; and sometimes she was very kind, and 
 let them have a dance. Then, all at once, without a 
 moment's warning, she turned herself into a hornet's nest ; 
 and the two went to take her, they having, just as suddenly, 
 changed themselves, the one into " fire," and the other 
 into smoke ;" but she was very fierce, and drove them 
 away every time they came near her. 
 
SPRING WOODS. 75 
 
 April 15th. — One of the Guinea-fowls began to lay; 
 she took possession of one of the hens' nests. 
 
 The children visited, as they had often done, the buff 
 hen, in the hollow tree ; no one had disturbed her, and 
 she was sitting. They took her food and water daily. 
 
 The peach-trees were in full blossom. The children 
 were greatly struck by their beauty. A single peach-tree 
 looked beautiful, contrasted with the bright green grass ; 
 but an orchard full of these trees was, indeed, a splendid 
 sight. The various kinds of peaches bore differently tinted 
 blossoms ; some were pure white ; some pale pink ; others 
 deep pink : and others, again, of a crimson rose colour. 
 
 The various other kinds of trees were also beginning to 
 be extremely beautiful in the woods; the sugar-maple, of 
 a pale yellow green, looking like gushes of sunshine amid 
 the brown and still leafless masses that surrounded it ; the 
 buck-eye, of a deep, full green, from the first unfolding of 
 its leaves, and coming into quick and shady foliage ; and, 
 here and there, the purplish pink of the red-bud, shining 
 out from the borders of the forest, or on the hill-sides. 
 The red-bud was the name given by the Indians. It was 
 also called the Judas-tree, from the circumstance that bees 
 were said to fall down dead beneath its shade, from the 
 poisonous quality of the honey. 
 
 The frogs had begun their everlasting " chirr, chirr," 
 like the turning of a great spinning-wheel ; and, at night, 
 a singular, shrill, and monotonous whistle was heard, which 
 
76 APRIL. 
 
 some people said was the note of the tortoise. Of this, 
 however, neither the children nor their mother was certain, 
 although they heard it regularly as the shades of evening 
 fell. 
 
 Milicent Benson came to see them; she brought excel- 
 lent news of little Timothy. He behaved extremely well 
 — was very meek — and always looked at people, if they 
 spoke kindly to him, with his eyes full of tears. It was a 
 way that he had of expressing his gratitude. 
 
 She told them that they had now a servant, named Sarah, 
 living with them ; that she had been a slave in the south, 
 and had mostly worked in the fields. About eighteen 
 months ago, however, she fell sick ; and her master, not 
 liking the trouble and expense of supporting her when she 
 was unable to work, brought her to the city, and left her 
 alone, and without a friend there. 
 
 Freedom from labour, and change of air, produced so 
 beneficial a change in her health, that she was quite 
 restored, and able to go into service again. Just then, 
 her master died ; but, even had he not, she had become 
 free by the laws of Ohio, which give freedom to every slave, 
 voluntarily brought by their masters within its limits, or 
 allowed to remain there a certain length of time. She 
 proved a good and tractable creature, and extremely 
 grateful for any kindness which was shewn to her. 
 
 April 23rd, Sunday. — The first brood of little chickens 
 
INDIAN YOUTHS. 77 
 
 this year. To the surprise of all, however, there were only 
 three, instead of twelve, as there ought to have been, and 
 Willie was sent into the cow-shed where the hen had sat, 
 to find out, if he could, the reason of this. He soon 
 returned with the news that a large rat was now sitting 
 among the remaining eggs, and no doubt it was his 
 appearance which had terrified the hen away from her 
 work before it was finished. The father, on hearing this, 
 fetched a tin dish, and placing in it an old silk handker- 
 chief, laid the nearly hatched eggs upon it, and put them 
 into a cool oven. 
 
 The family then went to meeting, and on their return 
 Willie found, to his inexpressible horror, that Louise, 
 forgetting all about the unhatched brood, had lit a fire 
 under the oven, and the catastrophe was what anybody 
 may imagine. This was a great disappointment and 
 sorrow to the children, especially to Willie, who meant to 
 have mystified Madam Leonard by his brood of Egyptian 
 chickens, which he meant to call so, because they had been 
 hatched in an oven. 
 
 The children were greatly interested by an Indian youth 
 of the Shawnee tribe, whom they saw this day. He had 
 been for four years living among the Friends, and then was 
 on his way to visit his brother and sister, who still 
 remained with the tribe. 
 
 Another day the family had a visit from a young Indian 
 of the Seminole tribe, who was called John Bemoe. The 
 
78 APRIL. 
 
 tribe of Seminole Indians to which he belonged had 
 suffered very much in a long struggle with the people of 
 Florida for their lands, and for the graves of their fathers, 
 which, lying in these lands, made them sacred in their 
 estimation. But the white people had, of course, over- 
 come them, and they were driven to the farther parts of 
 Arkansas, beyond the Mississippi. This made them very 
 angry with the whites, and angry also with any of their 
 people who are friendly with them. The young Indian 
 however, of whom we were speaking, had been brought up 
 at Philadelphia, and was not only friendly with the whites, 
 but had become a Christian. His heart was warm with 
 the love of God and man, and at the risk of his life he 
 determined to return to his people, and, if they would 
 listen to him, preach among them the blessed words of 
 Christ's gospel. He was at that time only twenty-one 
 years of age. 
 
 Many were the warnings which he received, not only 
 from the whites but from friendly Indians, not to trust 
 himself again among his people; but as he himself 
 declared, a voice within him seemed to say, " Go on, and 
 fear nothing." He went on in the faith of this impres- 
 sion, and instead of scowling faces, was met only by the 
 faces of friends. 
 
 It happened that, after his long journey, he arrived 
 among his own people on the day when they celebrated 
 the eating up of the old corn, and when, according to 
 
KENOBA. 79 
 
 Indian custom, all old feuds and animosities are buried 
 and forgotten for ever. 
 
 All the old animosities had been forgotten, and he shook 
 hands that night with four thousand of his tribe; " and 
 let me advise you," said he, breaking off his narrative, 
 " never to shake hands on one occasion with four thousand 
 of your friends, especially it they be Seminole Indians." 
 
 The old chief of the tribe, who was named Kenoba, 
 received the young man kindly. When the people went 
 out to shoot game, John went with them, and Kenoba, who 
 was an old and fat man, stayed at home ; but when Sunday 
 came, John, instead of going out with the other hunters, 
 stayed with the chief. 
 
 Kenoba inquired why he did not go out as on other 
 days ; to which John, who felt that the time was now come 
 when he must avow himself a Christian, began to tell him 
 of his new faith — of the institution of the Sabbath — of 
 the creation — of the fall of man 1 — and of the grand scheme 
 of redemption through Christ. 
 
 Kenoba listened to him for three hours, but did not 
 speak one word, nor did he make any remark when he had 
 done. On the following Saturday morning, however, he 
 told the young men that they must prepare food for two 
 days, for that on the morrow they must not hunt. They 
 obeyed j and on the morrow he summoned all the tribe 
 around him, and requested that John would tell them all 
 that he had told him on the preceding Sabbath day. He 
 
80 APRIL. 
 
 did so; and that was the first preaching of the Gospel 
 among the Seminoles. From that time he became their 
 regular teacher j and, old Kenoba, having adopted him as 
 his son and successor, Christianity was embraced by many 
 amongst them. 
 
 April 24th. — Cousin Margaret from Fairland came on a 
 visit. As they were one morning sitting at breakfast 
 with the window open, a fine large bird was seen hopping 
 about the branches of an arbor vitce that grew close by. It 
 was an American robin, a bird about the size of an English 
 blackbird, but with a dark brown back and wings, and a 
 fiery orange breast. Cousin Margaret said, that as she was 
 once sitting with her brother William, when they were 
 children, watching the cows, so that they might not pass 
 through the open fence, one of these robins alighted on 
 his head, and, quietly and familiarly pulling out a few 
 hairs, flew away with them to its nest on the distant fence. 
 
 Cousin Michael also came, and as he was a great rider, 
 Willie had the pleasure of accompanying him on horseback. 
 It was quite an event, for Willie had never before ridden 
 so far at one time, or so fast as they rode that day. 
 Whilst they were out, his father, mother and sisters, went 
 to inquire after poor old Doctor Jack. 
 
 They walked through the green and grassy pastures 
 and, climbing the fence, entered the little wood. They 
 did not follow the regular path; and here the wood was 
 

 D R JAC/IS DEATS 3 ED 
 
DR. JACK'S DEATH AND BURIAL. 81 
 
 all one mass of flowers, like a lovely garden. They 
 gathered large bunches of the red-bud, covered with innu- 
 merable purple-pink flowers, and handfuls of white and 
 blue, and yellow violets. On their way to the house they 
 saw a black snake, about a yard and a quarter long ; an 
 ugly creature, but, like the common English snake, per- 
 fectly harmless. 
 
 The dogs, as usual, sprang forward barking, and drove 
 little Fanny whining home with terror. The black 
 woman's head popped out at this signal ; and in answer to 
 the inquiry after her husband, she said, — " Oh ! Sir, he's 
 gone home — gone ! Paid the debt that we must all sooner 
 or later pay ! u 
 
 And as she said this, her visitors saw the basket- chairs 
 ranged in the house and in the porch, where a large 
 company had evidently been lately sitting. 
 
 The old man was not only dead but buried, and the 
 funeral company had occupied these very chairs only an 
 hour or two before. 
 
 He had been buried in his own wood, by the side of that 
 stranger's grave of which we spoke when we first de- 
 scribed this wood. And here, where he had laid the stranger 
 to rest, the old man was now himself laid in his long and 
 quiet home. 
 
 There still sate in the house an old coloured man. who 
 for the last week or two had waited upon him ; and he 
 informed our friends that there was to be " a funeral " 
 
82 APRIL. 
 
 preached at the grave-side that day month, when he would 
 take care, he said, that the family should be duly in- 
 formed, that they might be present. It was quite beyond 
 his understanding, he said, how they could have forgotten 
 to send them word of his death. However, Mr. Hudson, 
 the coloured preacher, would come in a month's time and 
 preach " the funeral," and everybody would be happy to 
 see them there. 
 
 And after " the funeral" had been preached, the man 
 went on to say, he would put up a railing round the old 
 Doctor's grave, like the other grave ; " but as to the poor 
 old lady," said he, " I know not what 's to become of her ; 
 she is lame and lonesome, and I hate to leave her. To be 
 sure, I've a family of my own in the city — but then, 
 they 're grown up, and my wife is dead ! " 
 
 As he said this, our friends remembered the old Doctor's 
 words one day, which were, that when he was dead and 
 gone " some old nigger would come and marry his old 
 lady for the sake of what he should leave her;" and this 
 man had probably already such a design in his head. 
 
 They returned home by the two graves ; and although 
 it was only a blind old despised negro who lay under the 
 newly turned-up sod, they stood a few moments beside it, 
 to reflect " on the debt which sooner or later all must 
 pay," as the poor old woman herself had said. 
 
 April 25th. — The children and their mother went to 
 
A PLEASANT RAMBLE. 83 
 
 tell an old German, who lived at a little distance and 
 who occasionally worked for them, to come on the fol- 
 lowing day. Their road led them by the chapel, and 
 down a deep and secluded valley. Five years ago all this 
 part of the neighbourhood had been covered with wood ; 
 now, log-cabins, inhabited by Germans, were everywhere 
 to be seen j the hill- sides were covered with vineyards and 
 gardens. A little stream or creek, as it was called, and 
 which in the winter season dashed over its rocky bed, 
 while in summer it was hardly more than a dry water- 
 course, leaving visible its rude rocky bed, ran meander- 
 ing along the bottom of the valley. As they advanced, 
 the hills, which were only partially cleared, seemed almost 
 at every turn to close in the little winding valley, and 
 produced a very picturesque and pretty effect. 
 
 The woods, from their sheltered situation, had already 
 burst into perfect greenness, and the children exclaimed 
 with delight at their beauty. They gathered handfuls of 
 the pretty blue scentless violet, the toothwort, and Robin- 
 run-in-the-hedge, which was dear to their mother from its 
 old English associations. Here also they found the poke- 
 weed growing abundantly. It was a favourite culinary 
 vegetable in spring ; and the children determined to 
 gather sufficient for a dish on the following day, as their 
 father was fond of it. It is boiled and eaten when 
 young, but is said to be poisonous when it attains a 
 larger growth. 
 
 g 2 
 
84 ' APRIL. 
 
 They followed the course of this little creek, skipping 
 from stone to stone along its bed ; and, at length, the tops 
 of peach and plum-trees, in full blossom, seemed to ascend 
 up before them, from a quiet little hollow on the hill-side, 
 and told that they were approaching the cabin under the 
 wood, to which they were bound. 
 
 A furious little dog rushed out to meet them as they 
 neared the house, and making a very menacing attack on 
 Nanny, Willie seized a large stick, and beat it, on which 
 it set up a yelp, and brought out a good-natured-looking 
 old German woman, who came in a hurry to see who 
 was there. 
 
 She could not speak one word of English, and, for a 
 long time, they despaired of making her comprehend 
 them. "No verstanden, no verstanden" was her only 
 answer. They were quite in despair, although Willie 
 declared that she was the wife of the very old man they 
 wanted. 
 
 Willie tried his small stock of German, but she only 
 shook her head, smiled, and repeated, " Ich verstehe 
 nicht." At last, Nanny, as if forgetting their present 
 difficulty, asked her for a glass of water ; this was, at once, 
 intelligible ; she went into the house, laughing to herself, 
 aud brought out a glass of water, saying, with evident 
 delight, " J a, ja, ich verstehe, ein Glas Wasser ; " and 
 then, as if light had, somehow or other, all at once broken 
 upon her ideas, she looked full of joy, and, pointing to 
 
ANOTHER WAY HOME. 83 
 
 the steep hill-side, where some people were at work, she 
 said, ' ' Da sind mein Mann und meine Tochter ; sie werken 
 fur uns." 
 
 They had now obtained the information they wanted ; 
 and, climbing the hill-side, found the old man Carl, and 
 his daughter and son-in-law, hoeing the ground for Indian 
 corn, the hill-side being too steep and too full of stumps 
 for the plough. 
 
 As they were leaving the old man, he inquired the way 
 they had come, and then directed them by one much 
 shorter; and, as they were somewhat tired, they were 
 glad to take it, though, by this means, they must go home 
 without the poke-weed, which they had left to be gathered 
 on their return. This new way, however, was extremely 
 pleasant ; it led them along fields on the hill-top, and 
 through another wood, where they found a fine dog-wood 
 tree, covered with its white umbels of flowers, several 
 branches of which they gathered ; here, also, the paw-paw, 
 or custard apple, was in bloom. It was a singular-looking, 
 dark-brown flower. The bush never grew large, but had 
 a handsome appearance, with its bright, shining leaves, 
 about the size and form of the common laurel. When full 
 grown, the fruit was not unlike a large kidney-potato, and 
 had a rich, luscious flavour, like custards and fruit mingled. 
 
 April 26th. — Old Carl came this morning to work, and, 
 according to the universal custom in this country, took his 
 
86 APRIL. 
 
 meals with the family ; but Louise, who had lived in one 
 of the cities, waited for her turn, until the rest had done. 
 This old German, however, was a most worthy man, and 
 endeavoured to behave with great propriety. He always 
 came to his meals nicely washed ; he spoke only a little 
 broken English, and answered with an abrupt and very 
 loud Yes and Noiv, when offered anything at table, which 
 often tempted the children to smile, though he was a great 
 favourite with them, and often said that he liked, or, to 
 use the American phrase, loved to be with them. Yet, 
 old Carl, though he neither said " Ma'am," nor "Sir," 
 " If you please," or " Thank you," was not, by any means, 
 devoid of true politeness, as they had often seen, and no 
 later than the preceding day, when he threw down his 
 hoe, and walked a long way to take down the rails, or 
 " bars," as they were called, rather than that they should 
 have the trouble of climbing over them. 
 
 Willie assisted his father in planting sweet-corn, or 
 sugar-corn, in the garden. This was a very delicious 
 vegetable for the table, boiled or eaten green — that is, in 
 its young, green state — with milk. The father made the 
 holes, about three feet apart, and Willie dropped four 
 grains into each. When this was done, he and Nanny 
 weeded the strawberries, and afterwards made a sod-seat, 
 and a very pretty one too, in Florence's garden, and then 
 sowed their flower seeds. Florence had already sown 
 hers. 
 
A MISHAP. 87 
 
 April 27th. — Madam Leonard, who made an early 
 morning call, asked Willie to go home with her to carry 
 a basket of plants. Florence and Nanny begged that they 
 might go also. Florence, who was always neat and clean, 
 and fit to go any where, obtained immediate permission ; 
 not so Door Nanny, who, some way or other, always con- 
 trived to have soiled hands and face, and a tattered frock 
 and pinafore, half-an-hour after they were clean. Her 
 mother shook her head, and Nanny must have stayed had 
 not Willie begged for her ; he himself would help to wash, 
 and dress, and mend all her ragged clothes, if his mother 
 would but say " Yes/ 3 The mother could do no less, and 
 presently down stairs came Nanny, who, with her brother's 
 help, had clean face and hands, hair smooth and bright, a 
 clean frock and sun-bonnet on, and who thus looked quite 
 the brightest of the party. 
 
 On their way they discovered that a tree, which had 
 hitherto been called a paper-mulberry, was a fine large 
 Balm of Gilead, a species of poplar, the buds of which had 
 a peculiarly strong aromatic smell, and were said to possess 
 great value in medicine. They picked up handfuls of the 
 gummy coats of the leaf-buds which had fallen off, and at 
 which Nanny must have smelled a good deal, for she came 
 home with the tip of her nose japanned with an orange 
 varnish. It seemed at first, to poor Nanny's horror, as if 
 this would remain an indelible dye, for neither soap nor 
 water would remove it. 
 
88 APRIL. 
 
 They brought home from Madam Leonard's a great 
 variety of cuttings of chrysanthemums, with which beau- 
 tiful flowers her garden was splendid in autumn. 
 
 April 28th, — Lessons being over, their mother went 
 with them a ramble into the woods, for here it mattered 
 nothing that Nanny's nose still wore its orange japan. It 
 was a sweet and balmy afternoon. They first went down 
 a pretty little green valley, but had not advanced far before 
 they were frightened by the sight of a bull, which, very 
 much like the bull in one of Bewick's tailpieces, which 
 stops the progress of an old woman, now stood on the hill 
 above them, looking over a fence which they intended to 
 climb. As, however, they were not quite so resolute as 
 Bewick's old woman, they left the bull still to meditate 
 on any mischief that might be in his mind, and made 
 their way up a steep bank in the opposite direction, where, 
 to their great joy, they soon found the purple spikes of 
 the wild larkspur in full bloom, as fine as ever grew in a 
 garden ; and, amongst other lovely flowers, the lilac and 
 white collinsia, and the small flowering hawthorn, which, 
 though not quite so pretty as the English, yet had so much 
 the appearance of it, as to make it always welcome to the 
 children's mother. 
 
 On returning from their walk, they passed the wood- 
 pecker's column, and hearing a loud knocking, they looked 
 up, and saw near the summit a red-headed woodpecker 
 
THE FIRST HUMMING BIRD OF THE SEASON. 89 
 
 tapping with it§ great black beak for insects. He felt 
 himself very safe in his elevated position, and the children 
 watched him for a long time. He is a singularly handsome 
 bird with a white body, white under the wing and tail, and 
 jet-black above, with a throat of naming crimson, and, 
 being a male bird, had a fine crest. 
 
 The first humming-bird of the season was seen this 
 afternoon at The Cedars. It flew about the garden for 
 some time, and then, to the unspeakable joy of the 
 children, came into the piazza where they were sitting, as 
 if it knew how they loved it, and as if it wished to offer 
 them a friendly salutation. 
 
90 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 May. 
 
 The first several days of this month were wet, and the 
 children were consequently much confined to the house. 
 
 On the first fine day they went by themselves to old 
 Carl's. On their way they passed the beautiful dog-wood 
 tree, and of course broke off some of the branches, which 
 they added to the bouquets of wild flowers they had 
 already gathered. 
 
 As they left the dog- wood tree, they met Martin Bran- 
 denburg, who told them that the dog-wood was rank 
 poison, and that, if they carried it in their hands, their 
 faces would swell half a yard across. Nanny, who was 
 sadly frightened at this, put down all her flowers, meaning 
 to pick the dangerous dog-wood out and take up the rest ; 
 but no sooner were they on the ground than Martin, with 
 a switch which he held in his hand, switched away her 
 flowers, dog-wood and all. This incensed Willie to such 
 a degree, that there is no knowing what he would have 
 done, if Martin, who was as nimble as he was mischievous, 
 had not sprung away, laughing with all his might. Willie 
 was strongly tempted to run after him, but his sisters 
 begged of him not to do so; and, full of anger and 
 
GERMAN BOYS AND CREEPERS. 91 
 
 vexation, they walked on. In this state of excitement 
 they must have walked very fast, for presently they were 
 overtaken by some little German boys, who came on at a 
 sort of trot, and who asked them why they went so fast, 
 and why they would not stop. 
 
 They did so ; and the others then inquired what o'clock 
 it was ? 
 
 "It was three o'clock," replied Willie, "when we left 
 home." 
 
 "Oh," returned the German boy, "your clock is too 
 hurry — too hurry a deal — like you !" 
 
 They brought home handfuls of wild larkspur; and, 
 spite of Martin Brandenburg, plenty of dog-wood. 
 
 May 10. — Willie and Florence got up very early this 
 morning, to go down to Athens before breakfast, to desire 
 Solo, the butcher, who went twice a-week round the 
 neighbourhood with meat in his wagon, to call. After 
 breakfast, Willie hoed up plantains for the pigs, which 
 Nanny carried to them. Her father was busy nailing 
 trellis-work on the summer-house. The creepers, in which 
 he took great delight, were all making amazing progress. 
 Of creepers, they had the wild clematis, the prairie-rose, 
 the trumpet-honeysuckle, common woodbine, the trumpet- 
 flower, corcorus, and various others, and daily attention 
 was requisite to train their luxuriant shoots \ the growth 
 of many of them could almost be marked hour by hour. 
 
92 MAY. 
 
 Willie had now tulips in bud in his garden ; and all the 
 flower-seeds which had been set were coming up, both in 
 his and Florence's garden. Things did not prosper so well 
 in Nanny's ; she had dug hers up, and re-arranged it no 
 less than twice since the seeds were sown. At all events, 
 Nanny's garden was as free from weeds as from flowers — 
 that was an advantage, it must be confessed. 
 
 A pair of cat -birds was now building in one of the cedar- 
 trees, and the robins had already a nest in a cherry-tree 
 in the orchard. A beautiful pair of yellow-birds had also 
 a nest somewhere ; but they were so small and shy, that 
 even the sharp eyes of the children had not been able to 
 discover the place. These lovely little birds were of about 
 as bright a yellow as the canary, but much smaller. One 
 day the children saw two of them sporting together, and 
 mistook them at first for large yellow butterflies. The 
 blue-birds, also, with their brilliant ultra-marine plumage, 
 and cinnamon-coloured breasts, had secure possession of 
 their houses. There were also several pairs of martins 
 about the place ; but they were well-behaved, and molested 
 nothing ; there were also pee-wees and wrens in abundance, 
 so that the air was full of their sweet notes, and the bushes 
 seemed all alive with them. The humming-birds came 
 incessantly to sip up the dew and honey from the bright 
 red clusters of flowers with which the trumpet-honeysuckle 
 was covered. 
 
 The children found never-ceasing delight from gathering 
 
THE WOODS IN MAY. 93 
 
 flowers in the woods. One Saturday afternoon they 
 brought home the May-apple in full flower. It is a hand- 
 some plant ; and looks very beautiful, with its large white 
 blossom, growing close to the stem, beneath the shade of 
 the broad, polished, palmated leaves of the flower-stalk, 
 and amongst the large umbrella-like leaves of the plant 
 itself. The leaf is said to be poisonous ; the root is used 
 in medicine ; and the fruit, which is eaten and much liked 
 by some, is about the size, and has somewhat the flavour, 
 of a large gooseberry. They brought home also the beau- 
 tiful white frillium, and a basketful of what is called 
 lamb-quarter, a species of wild spinach, which is a favourite 
 vegetable at this season. 
 
 In the wood, they saw two woodpeckers, very busy 
 eatiug the ants, or their eggs, on a large ant-hill. The 
 birds were so busy, that they allowed the children to go 
 within a few yards of them. 
 
 May 11th. — Willie and Nanny carried into the cellar 
 the beet-roots which had been earthed up during the 
 winter. Florence peeled the potatoes for dinner, it being 
 washing-day; and, after lessons, they went out to cut 
 grass for Farmer and little Rose, which was now old 
 enough to have the run of the barn-yard. 
 
 Their father planted water, musk, and cantiloupe 
 melons, and squashes of various kinds. The children 
 thought that they must have the same in their 
 
94 MAY. 
 
 gardens, and their father gave them the seed, which they 
 planted. 
 
 In the afternoon, they went with their mother and 
 little Nelly to Madam Leonard's. The garden and orchard 
 were looking beautiful. They found her superintending 
 her people who were hoeing the vines, and putting down 
 a stake to each plant. 
 
 Willie discovered that amazing quantities of caterpillars 
 were crawling over everything — even on the fences and 
 roads. On many of the trees, great webs were spun, 
 which swung like hammocks, and which were full of these 
 black, loathsome creatures. These caterpillars are often 
 extremely destructive ; for if once they get head in an 
 orchard, it is next to impossible to destroy them ; and, in 
 process of time (that is, in a few years), they completely 
 ruin the trees. Whole orchards, which are nourishing 
 and green one day, will, in three or four more, be as brown 
 as if a great fire had passed over them. These caterpillars 
 were always greatly dreaded, though not nearly as much 
 so as a visitation of locusts, which was said to take place 
 in many districts every seventeen years. 
 
 It was said that this very season was the true time for 
 their return ; and it was reported, that in many parts of 
 the neighbourhood, the pigs, which have a wonderful 
 instinct for discovering the buried larvae of this insect, 
 were already busy rooting them up with their snouts. But 
 spite of pigs or any thing else, it was said that many thou- 
 
NOISY LOCUSTS — THUNDER STORM. 95 
 
 sands of millions would escape, rise to tlie surface of the 
 earth, burst forth from their shell, and mount into the 
 trees with " a great hollowing noise ;" at least such was 
 the account given by a person who had had great experience 
 in locusts. 
 
 As far as the great " hollowing " noise of the locusts 
 went, Willie and his family could put some faith in the 
 report, because they themselves every summer since they 
 had been in the country had seen a few stray ones perched 
 on the trees, and had heard with astonishment the dis- 
 cordant noise which they made. At first they had supposed 
 it to be some peculiar bird, and were not certain to the 
 contrary, until one day the father laid his hand on one of 
 these stray locusts, which at once set up a cry that actually 
 startled him, and instantly removing his hand, the noisy 
 creature took wing to a neighbouring tree. 
 
 May 12th. — After lessons, Willie and his sisters went 
 down to the field to fetch a barrowload of logs to burn on 
 the kitchen hearth. Little Nelly rode in the barrow as 
 they went, full of high glee. When this was done, Willie 
 being in an industrious mood, helped his father to work in 
 the vineyard. He hoed two rows and a half, and worked 
 so well till dinner-time, that his father gave him a beau- 
 tiful vine for his own as a reward. 
 
 The morning was hot, and at noon the clouds gathered, 
 and a terrible thunder-storm came on. Willie, who knew 
 
96 MAY. 
 
 well, as did the other children, how greatly their mother 
 enjoyed any beautiful object, called her to see the fine 
 effect produced by a large locust-tree in full flower thrown 
 forward from a background of intensely black cloud. It 
 was indeed striking, thus seen in its tender and serene 
 beauty in strong relief, against that stormy and dark sky. 
 
 These beautiful locust-trees had blossomed this year 
 with unusual splendour. The young green leaves were 
 seen mingled with an extraordinary profusion of their 
 pendant clusters of snowy blossom, and the air was rich 
 with their fragrance, which was that of the orange bloom. 
 
 The hen in the hollow tree must, this morning early, 
 have led forth her fine brood of young chickens. She was 
 sitting the day before when the children had taken her 
 food ; but this morning, she and her brood were off nobody 
 knew whither ; nothing now remained but a heap of shells 
 at her castle-gate. 
 
 May 19th. — Rain, rain, rain, and again rain for a whole 
 week. It was impossible to go out, and the confinement 
 to the house was more than usually irksome. Books were 
 read over and over. Lessons were intended to be done 
 more attentively than common ; but, like all extraordinary 
 efforts of this kind, were often failures. 
 
 The children played at being kings, and queens, and 
 generals ; slave-drivers, and squatters in the woods. They 
 then had a great fit of family-life on them. Florence 
 
A LARGE SNAKE. 97 
 
 made new clothes for her own and Nanny's doll. They 
 fitted up a house for themselves ; and one old doll was called 
 Betty, the " female help ;" Willie afterwards painted her 
 face black, and she then was Dinah, the coloured woman, 
 or Mrs. Jack, as occasion required. 
 
 Spite of the rain, Willie had to attend to the calf, to 
 give it water and grass, to hunt up the eggs, and to watch 
 that the young chickens did not get into the garden ; nor 
 was any of this work so unpleasant but that Nanny con- 
 trived to go out sometimes to help him. 
 
 At length the weather cleared. Florence went to spend 
 a few days at Mount Vernon ; and Willie and Nanny, and 
 even little Nelly, could not sufficiently enjoy the sunshine 
 and the open air. 
 
 One day, the children saw a snake in the garden, a 
 tremendous fellow, which they thought must be a copper- 
 head. They ran into the house to fetch Fanny to kill it, 
 and for Willie to arm himself with a great stick, in case of 
 a desperate encounter ; and when they came back, the 
 snake, probably suspecting his clanger, was gone off, and 
 had hidden himself so securely, that neither they nor 
 Fanny could find him. 
 
 The nests of the cat-birds were by this time finished, 
 The one most accessible, was in the cedar-tree nearest to 
 the house. The male birds were, however, only visible. 
 Their song was delightful, although, in wet weather, they 
 made a dismal noise, like a kitten mewing in great distress. 
 
 H 
 
98 MAY. 
 
 The cat-bird is a species of mocking-bird, and is the 
 finest songster in this part of America. The proper 
 mocking-bird was brought from the Southern States, and 
 only seen here in cages. Felicia Bower had one which 
 hsr father had given her, but it looked sad and melancholy 
 in its handsome gilded cage ; very unlike the merry cat- 
 birds at The Cedars, which enlivened everybody all day 
 long. 
 
 Joiner Lotte made Willie a grand sap- whistle, as it is 
 called. It was made from a live stick of black walnut, 
 and was eighteen inches in length. The notes which it 
 produced were powerful, and very sweet ; and this whistle 
 made his mother think that the shepherd's pipe, of which 
 so much is said in pastoral poetry, might be something of 
 this kind. 
 
 As Willie was one day gathering some blossoms of the 
 locust-tree for his mother to draw, a tree-frog jumped 
 from a bough upon his hat, and then upon an adjoining 
 fence. He caught it ; and he and Nanny, who was with 
 him, came running in, delighted with their treasure, and 
 singing — 
 
 " Re, ra, ro, 
 
 The little tree-frog is as white as snow !" 
 
 But, behold, when they showed it to their mother, the 
 little white tree-frog, of which they had been so triumph- 
 antly singing, was as black as ink ! 
 
 It was a pretty little creature, about the size of a half- 
 
99 
 
 dollar j and upon being put back into one of the quince- 
 trees, it gradually returned to its original colour, not quite 
 snow-white, as the children said, but of a pale ash-colour, 
 bordered with brown. It hopped and crept about, and 
 delighted them with its activity. 
 
 In the evening, they, and their father, and his friend, 
 Uncle Cornelius, took a ramble into the woods, and 
 gathered flowers. They also found a snake, which they 
 killed. 
 
 On their way, they called on poor old Mrs. Jack, and 
 found, to their satisfaction, that she had at length found 
 some one who, as she said, was quite able to manage her 
 land for her. The father inquired about him, bearing in 
 his mind what the old Doctor had said of " the nigger, 
 who would come when he was gone, and marry his old 
 lady for the land's sake," and being curious to know 
 whether this was the same that they had seen sitting in 
 the house on the day of the old man's burial. But 
 no ! Mrs. Jack said she had soon done with him ; this 
 was worth a dozen of him ; this " was a middle-aged 
 gentleman, who had been a sailor for many years." 
 
 The father smiled, and wondered, if that were the case, 
 how he should understand the cultivation of land ; and, 
 certainly, if what Eberhard said of his ploughing, when 
 tne father mentioned it to him in the evening, were true, 
 he did not know much about it. Eberhard said he perhaps 
 understood ploughing the ocean better than land, for that 
 
 h 2 
 
100 MAY. 
 
 the ground looked as if twenty hogs had been grubbing in 
 it. But Eberhard, like all his countrymen, could never say 
 a good word for coloured people; and again the father 
 smiled, thinking that, let it be as it would, it was, at all 
 events, better to have it half done, than not done at all. 
 
 Old Mrs. Jack was no doubt right in her estimate of 
 the tw T o black men's abilities ; for if the farming of the 
 first was no better than his grave-digging, it must have 
 been bad indeed ; for, on their return, they saw that 
 Doctor Jack's grave had already sunk half-a-yard with the 
 rain, and had, even in this short time, a most desolate and 
 wretched appearance. It was to be hoped, that before 
 " the funeral " was preached, one or the other of the 
 coloured men would put it in decent order. 
 
 The locust-trees seem to become more beautiful every 
 day, especially since the rain, and the air was filled night 
 and day with their fragrant odour. The trees, however, 
 looked most beautiful, and the perfume was the sweetest 
 when the yellow beams of the full moon fell upon them. 
 They looked splendid in the wood, and some parts of the 
 Kentucky hills were as white with them as if they had 
 been showers of sun-lighted snow. 
 
 May 25th. — Willie went with his father and mother to 
 the city to meet Florence, on her return from Mount 
 Vernon. He had tow dimes, or two ten-cent pieces, given 
 to him, with which he went to a shop and bought a wooden 
 
WILLIE S CANNON. 101 
 
 cannon. Many were the exclamations against his pur- 
 chase when he exhibited it, but Willie, spite of his peace- 
 ful education, had a great passion for warlike weapons ; 
 and, though he knew, as a principle, that war was cruel, 
 and contrary to the spirit of Christ's teaching, yet the 
 very mention of a sword or a gun quite excited him, and 
 he would rush forward, to hear what it was all about ; and 
 in reading history it was the sieges and battles which 
 interested him most, and which would rivet him to the 
 book for hours. 
 
 In the evening it poured with rain, and was so intensely 
 dark that in driving home they could not see the horse's 
 head, and if the creature had not known his own way 
 they would have had some difficulty in guiding him. 
 
 Their friend, Susan Hutchinson, returned home with 
 them ; and the next morning, as the ground was soaked 
 and muddy from the rain, they played in the wood-house, 
 having built a fortress of logs, which was defended by 
 Willie's cannon. 
 
 May 27th. — The weather was again bright, and warm, 
 and dry, and the children went into the vineyard to weed. 
 They weeded nine rows of vines ; and then, after lessons, 
 asked permission to take their visitor a ramble with them 
 into the woods. No one had any objection : they had 
 worked hard all the morning, and now deserved their 
 wages. Sandwiches w r ere cut ; and these, with a fruit 
 
102 MAY. 
 
 pie, were put into a basket, which Willie carried. Nanny 
 took charge of a tin can for drinking out of, and Susan 
 Hutchinson, who was the eldest, promised to act as the 
 Mamma. 
 
 They went to Wild-Vine Wood, and here did not ad- 
 vance far before looking for a place in which to eat their 
 dinner, as it was noon when they set out. After having 
 followed the windings of a little brook for some time, they 
 came to a delightfully shady place, near which three little 
 streams met, and here they set out their dinner, which 
 they enjoyed extremely. 
 
 After dinner, they had to cross one of these streams ; 
 and to do this it was necessary to take off their stockings 
 and shoes. This wading was delicious : and Nanny, in 
 the exuberance of her joy, threw up her shoes and lost 
 them. It was a very odd thing ; but, instead of looking 
 for her shoes at the time, as any one else would have 
 done, she forgot all about them, and walked barefoot till 
 somebody said, 
 
 " Nanny, do put on your shoes \" 
 
 " Oh \" exclaimed Nanny all at once, remembering the 
 fact, " I threw my shoes away and lost them, and I don't 
 know where they are \" 
 
 " Nanny, you threw away your wits as well as your 
 shoes," said Willie, beginning to be very angry. 
 
 Florence, however, had seen Nanny throwing away her 
 shoes in her ecstacy, and she knew where to look ; so Susan 
 
A CHIPPY-MONK AND A BAPTISM. 103 
 
 and she ran back, and soon returned, bringing them safe 
 and sound. 
 
 Nanny put on her shoes, and we are happy to say that 
 this little misadventure by no means spoiled the pleasures 
 of the ramble. 
 
 They returned home after having walked several miles, 
 but so little were they tired, that after tea they set off 
 with cousin Margaret to the cemetery, where they expected 
 to find the graves gay with flowers. 
 
 On their way they saw a little chippy-monk or ground- 
 squirrel. This was a great pleasure, because it was only 
 now and then that they were able to get a glimpse of these 
 pretty little creatures under the fences or on the hill sides. 
 One day a poor little chippy-monk was killed very unin- 
 tentionally by their means. Milo chased one out of its 
 hole in an out-house under an old stove, and their cousin 
 Michael, who was with them, and whom they besought to 
 rescue it, took hold of it by its tail, when its tail came off 
 into his hand, and it died instantly. 
 
 The ground-squirrel or chippy-monk is brown with a 
 stripe of black bordered with white down its back. Its 
 tail is darker than its body, and long and bushy. 
 
 May 28th, Sunday. — As Willie returned with his parents 
 from meeting, they saw a great concourse of people by the 
 river side about to perform the rite of baptism on several 
 individuals. They stopped to see the operation. An old 
 man, in the first place, entered the river with a long staff 
 
104 MAY. 
 
 in his hand to ascertain the depth of the water ; when this 
 was satisfactorily done, the minister and the person about 
 to be baptised, a middle-aged man, advanced into the 
 river, when, just at that moment, to the great indignation 
 of Willie, and every other right-thinking person who saw 
 it, some rude fellows pushed a boy into the water exactly 
 between the minister and his disciple, which was meant to 
 make fun of the whole ceremony. The boy stri ggled out, 
 and then shook himself like a shaggy dog. Many rude 
 people on the bank laughed and shouted ; but the baptism 
 of the middle-aged man went on nevertheless. He was 
 dipped overhead into the water j but, although he seemed 
 at first a little confounded by the shock, he looked devout 
 and in earnest all the time. 
 
 After dinner, our friends took a stroll into the fields, 
 and went to call on Mrs. Jack, to see how she was going 
 on, and when "the funeral" was to be preached. 
 
 As usual, the dogs barked outrageously, and she popped 
 out of the porch. She was very grand in a new black 
 dress, although her customary coloured handkerchief was 
 bound on her head. Everybody thought her quite mag- 
 nificent. The sailor-farmer, her new bailiff, was sitting 
 in the house with her: he was reading the Bible; and 
 being now seen by our friends for the first time, was dis- 
 covered to be a handsome coloured man, not yet middle- 
 aged, very well-dressed and intelligent-looking. The "old 
 lady" seemed remarkably cheerful, and told them with 
 great glee that the man's wife and family were going to 
 
WIELTZ & NAITITY" CARRY" HOME THE BLACK SNAEE 
 
TOO LATE FOR THE "FUNERAL 1 ." 105 
 
 live with her, and that she expected to be very comfortable, 
 and to make a good living this year. 
 
 The children's father inquired about "the funeral/ 5 and 
 when it was to be preached, as they wished to hear Mr. 
 Hudson, the black preacher. As soon as this was spoken, 
 there was a perfect scream from the old woman. " The 
 funeral " had been preached that very morning, and she 
 or her man Jerry, they could not rightly understand which, 
 had forgotten to send them word ; and now she did not 
 know how to make apologies enough ; however, they should 
 know next time, that she was determined, even if "the 
 funeral '' was preached for herself. She informed them, 
 however, that " a right smart company were there," and 
 that it was, she could assure them, a very good funeral ! 
 
 May 29th. — Willie was up several hours before break- 
 fast. He discovered the body of an unusually large black 
 snake, which had just been killed, hanging upon the bough 
 of a catalpa-tree, by the road side. He fetched Nanny 
 to look at it ; and they two brought it home a la Waterton, 
 in great triumph, singing as they came, something like 
 the following dirge, as they called it : — 
 
 " The cunning black snake 
 Slid out of the brake ! 
 
 Sing heigh ho ! 
 He took a wrong track ! 
 He'll never come back ! 
 Sing heigh ho I" 
 
106 MAY. 
 
 The creature measured two yards long ; and after it had 
 been duly examined and wondered over, Willie dug a 
 grave for it in the farm yard, where he and his sisters, 
 little Nelly being of the company, buried it with great 
 ceremony, singing dolefully their little verse all the time, 
 which they called "preaching the snake's funeral.'" 
 
 After breakfast, Willie worked with his father in the 
 vineyard. 
 
 They had found, a few days before, the beautiful little 
 nest of a wren, built in a raspberry-bush, about five feet 
 from the ground, and in it, four little downy young ones. 
 The children, now and then, went to peep at it ; and the 
 old ones were so tame as only to fly to a neighbouring 
 bush, without any tokens of uneasiness, and there await 
 their pleasure with patience. The cat-birds had also young 
 broods, and the old ones were incessantly occupied in 
 feeding them ; but, unlike the wrens, when disturbed they 
 set up the most pitiful, mewing cry. In an ordinary way, 
 however, the male bird would perch on the adjoining 
 locust-trees, and sing most deliciously, particularly in the 
 morning and evening. 
 
 The roses were in full bloom in the garden ; there was 
 every variety of rose which is known in England ; but 
 many of the species grew here so much finer, that the 
 children's mother used to wish continually that her flower- 
 loving, English friends could walk in her garden with her, 
 and enjoy the beauty of the roses. They had white, blush, 
 
mother's-pleasure-trees. 107 
 
 pink, crimson, deep black, variegated, and yellow, china, 
 cabbage, and moss roses of three colours, pink, white, and 
 crimson ; besides these, and numbers of others, the sweet 
 briar, with its never-ending profusion of delicate pink 
 blossoms, although simple, was an ornament to many a 
 little nook and back border. The children had each 
 independently of their gardens, a large rose-tree of 
 their own, all of different kinds ; and now that the season 
 of flowers had commenced, their reward for remarkable 
 industry, either in lessons, or otherwise, was one of their 
 mother's beautiful flowers. 
 
 It was not, however, called a reward, because their 
 mother did not wish them to expect a reward for doing 
 merely what they knew to be right. Therefore they were 
 considered as marks of their mother's approbation ; proofs 
 of having given her pleasure, — an extra amount of pleasure, 
 which was thus chronicled, as it were, in flowers. There 
 were thus in the garden three-and-twenty different beau- 
 tiful flowering shrubs, some of which were these lovely 
 roses, which stood up in the sunshine and dew, testifying 
 every day to extra pleasure which the beloved mother had 
 obtained through her children. 
 
 Their gardens, also, were very prosperous. Willie's 
 Mexican vine was twining round a pole ; his currant-bush 
 was full of currants; his raspberry was in bloom; his 
 pop-corn had come up ; and on this day he transplanted 
 balsams, marvel of Peru, Mexican oleanders, and golden 
 
108 MAY. 
 
 willows. Florence had in her garden, in addition to what 
 Willie had, larkspurs and ragged-robin, to say nothing 
 of a young cedar tree, which was growing finely. 
 
 Not much could be said for Nanny's garden, although 
 the others had done a good deal towards getting it into 
 order, and stocking it for her. 
 
 May 30th. — This morning was so wonderfully beautiful, 
 that the mother, who had risen early, said, " To-day we 
 will breakfast in the piazza." Breakfast was therefore set 
 out in the sweet morning air, under the shade of the beau- 
 tiful vine leaves, and a cry of delight escaped the children 
 as they came down at the sight. 
 
 The mother thought food never tasted so pleasantly as 
 out-of-doors ; and breakfast was to her a favourite meal. 
 She always felt a keen sense of enjoyment and gratitude 
 as she sate down each morning to the cheerful breakfast- 
 table, and saw herself once more surrounded by the beloved 
 forms of her earthly treasures ; and now this feeling was 
 rendered twofold, from the pleasant sights and sounds 
 around them. 
 
 This particular morning seemed to her one of unusual 
 enjoyment. Every natural object appeared fuller than 
 ever of beauty. Around her, glittering with yet undried 
 dew, blossomed red and white roses; woodbines were on 
 the walls, and a large syringa, studded with its star-like, 
 orange-scented flowers, grew side by side with a sweet- 
 
A BREAKFAST VISITOR. 109 
 
 briar in full bloom, and at scarcely two paces from the 
 piazza lay a little bijou of a flower-border, carefully en- 
 circled with wicker-work, and filled with roses of all colours, 
 among and above which the humming-birds were sporting. 
 Beyond, lay the clover-field in full blossom ; and, more 
 distant still, moved the quiet form of Eberhard at plough, 
 like a figure purposely introduced to give human interest 
 to this picture of Arcadian beauty. Nor amid this pleasant, 
 home-like, and pastoral scene, were accordant sounds want- 
 ing. There were the song of birds, the tinkle of the cow- 
 bell, the lowing of more distant herds, with every now 
 and then the neighbouring sound of a breakfast-horn, 
 summoning field-labourers to that meal, and telling that 
 other households were, like themselves, about to partake 
 of the morning bounties of Providence. 
 
 Whilst they were thus sitting at breakfast, little Nelly 
 on the father's knee, he suddenly lifted his head, and, look- 
 ing towards the trellis, exclaimed, " What is that ? Is it 
 a bird, or is it a mouse ? No ; it is neither I" 
 
 " Then it is a bat/' said Willie. 
 
 " No, nor yet a bat V 
 
 It was a little tree-frog, so nearly the colour of the leaves, 
 that had it been amongst them it could not have been dis- 
 tinguished. Its back was rough and warty ; but it was a 
 pretty, agile creature, and it leapt away very nimbly, after 
 allowing itself to be well examined. 
 
 In the course of the day, the children went to the city, 
 
110 MAY. 
 
 and were much amused with seeing a recruiting party, 
 with their " star-spangled " banner, their fifes and drums, 
 their uniform of dark green and white, and waving feathers, 
 tipped with green. To the children it was a very inte- 
 resting and amusing sight; but to their father, as he 
 told them, it was a sorrowful one. He sighed, when he 
 saw the poor foolish recruits following in their train, 
 and thought of the unrighteous war, of the carnage and 
 misery, of the heat and fatigue, and various sufferings 
 which they must endure in the south, whither they would 
 be sent, for war was raging at that time in Mexico. 
 
 On their return from the city, they met the Sisters of 
 Charity, with their little orphan children, returning from 
 an excursion into the country, where they had probably 
 been spending the day. First there came a large light 
 wagon, in which were about thirty little girls, in their pink 
 dresses and sun-bonnets, and two Sisters with them ; next, 
 an open carriage with two more Sisters, who held dear 
 little babies on their knees, in long pink frocks ; and after 
 them, another light wagon, full of children, like the first. 
 It was a very pretty and interesting sight. The Sisters 
 were dressed very plainly in black stuff gowns, and wore 
 close-fitting black straw cottage bonnets. Both they and 
 the children looked very amiable and happy. 
 
 In the delicious cool of the evening, as they sate on the 
 green grass, under the shade of their own trees,, they heard 
 the firing of cannon in Kentucky, on account of the news 
 
IN THE ORCHARD. Ill 
 
 of victory obtained by General Taylor. Again their father 
 sighed ; he thought of the dead and dying by whom this 
 so-called " glorious victory " had been obtained ; and a 
 shudder ran through the younger part of the company, 
 spite of Willie's fancy for weapons of war, as he pictured 
 to them the sufferings of the wounded under that burning 
 sun, and in the unwholesome dews of a tropical night ; and 
 still more when they reflected on thousands of immortal 
 beings for whom God intended a life of beneficence and 
 love, being not only thus made torments and oppressors to 
 each other, but rushing into His presence flushed with all 
 the evil passions inherent alike on victory or defeat. 
 
 After tea, the children were summoned into the orchard 
 by their father. He bade Willie bring the step-ladder with 
 him, and Florence a basket — they were going to gather 
 the first cherries of the season. Whilst Willie was in the 
 tree, he was greatly delighted to find a bee's nest sus- 
 pended from one of the branches. The bee was of a peculiar 
 kind, it was black and white, and appeared greatly annoyed 
 by their presence, although it did not attempt to sting them. 
 
 May 31st. — Willie and Florence, who had a few cents 
 each, asked permission over-night that they might be up 
 early in the morning to go down to Athens before break- 
 fast to buy marbles, candy, and twine. Permission was 
 given; and accordingly they presented themselves at 
 breakfast with their purchases. Willie, who had bought 
 
112 MAY. 
 
 the twine for another purpose, discovered that it would 
 make him an excellent fishing line, and accordingly, as 
 soon as lessons were over, he and Nanny set out to the 
 little creek in Diedrich's Wood, on a fishing excursion. 
 He was not at all extravagant in his equipment ; he had a 
 long corn-stalk for his rod, twine for his line, a crooked 
 pin for his hook, and a piece of dried venison for baits. 
 Midway up the creek were flood-gates, which made a dam, 
 and here it was his intention to catch a dinner of fish. 
 When he reached this place, however, he found to his 
 great surprise that early as it was in the season, the 
 creek and even the dam were nearly dry, besides which, 
 having no lead on his line, the hook hardly sunk. The 
 prospect seemed very unpromising ; however, the proverb 
 says, " When need is greatest help is nearest/' and just 
 when Willie was grieving over his disappointment, up came 
 John Solo, the butcher's boy, and sold him, for one cent, 
 a shot-corn to weight his line, and a real hook, which, 
 screwed up in a paper, he brought out of his pocket. 
 Willie 3 s line was now much better equipped, and if he 
 could only find a better fishing-place there was no doubt 
 but that he would succeed; but of this there w r as no 
 chance where he now was, and as Solo told them that he 
 had just now killed two snakes in the wood, the one a 
 garter, the other a black snake, they gave up the fishing, 
 and went to look at them. 
 
 Florence all this time sate at home and sewed. She 
 
LIFE OUT OF DOOllS. 113 
 
 was making new clothes for her doll, and she worked so 
 neatly that her mother gave her a lovely blnsh-rose and 
 its bud, which she wore with great delight at dinner, and 
 then put in a little flower-glass of water for another time. 
 
 This afternoon, the family adjourned from their favourite 
 piazza to the front of the house. The upper part of the 
 lawn had been mown, and now they were going to spend 
 the whole afternoon among the fragrant hay. The father 
 read history with Willie ; Florence sate on the grass, 
 writing a copy on her slate ; and little Nelly, seated on 
 what was called te a comfort," that is a wadded and 
 quilted bed-cover, played with rose-leaves, which Nanny 
 gathered for her in great heaps, and with the wither- 
 ing and sweet-scented grass-flowers. When Nanny had 
 gathered all the falling rose-leaves, she plucked off every 
 blown rose from her own bushes, and emptied them from 
 a heaped-up basket before the little darling. Nanny called 
 them rose-balls ; and Nelly tossed them about with great 
 delight. 
 
 Tea was set out under the shade of two locust and 
 catalpa trees. The cedar-trees gave out a sweet and re- 
 freshing scent, and the air was filled with the fragrance of 
 roses and honeysuckles mingled with clover. Florence 
 bore to the tea-table with great mystery a large china 
 dish which her mother had covered with vine-leaves. 
 " Nobody must know what is here !" sang she out in a 
 clear, sweet voice ; but, just at the moment when she was 
 
 i 
 
114 MAY. 
 
 approaching the table, and when her words had drawn 
 everybody's attention upon herself, a breeze came sud- 
 denly, as if frolicking along, and carrying away with it 
 the vine-leaves, revealed a dish of crimson and juicy 
 cherries. 
 
 The table was plentifully supplied. Bread, light cakes, 
 cottage cheese (the drained curds of sour milk), new milk 
 and tea, formed the evening meal, which, taken in this 
 ample and beautiful saloon, with the accompaniment of 
 the song of birds, and an occasional visit of their friend, 
 the cat-bird, who perched over their heads, and flew in 
 and out of the neighbouring cedar, to carry flies and 
 insects to his young, was, as may be supposed, a very 
 delightful one. 
 
 Florence, with the sweet blush-rose again pinned in 
 her bosom, said, " I never enjoyed my tea so much ; every- 
 thing is so sweet, so peaceful, and so happy l" 
 
 Nanny would probably have responded with her usual 
 expression of " Yes, and I am sure we ought to be very 
 thankful \" had not her attention been suddenly attracted 
 to a figure which was advancing up the avenue, towards 
 them. He was a short, stout-built man, in a broad straw 
 hat, light blue linen coat and trousers, and black waistcoat. 
 They saw, at once, that he was a stranger, and they made 
 him welcome to join their meal. His countenance was 
 grave, earnest, and intelligent ; he told them that he was 
 a missionary, who was preaching wherever he coulgl 
 
A STRANGER. 115 
 
 gather a congregation together; he was an advocate of 
 peace and temperance, and a denouncer of all oppression, 
 and he now wished to obtain the meeting-house in the 
 city, to which the children's parents belonged, that he 
 might deliver a sermon in it. He was, he said, a native 
 of Illyria, and had been bred from his youth as a monk of 
 the Benedictine order, and ordained a priest. He had 
 studied the scriptures in the original Greek and Hebrew, 
 and being thus convinced of the errors and superstitions 
 of the Papal faith, he set sail at Trieste eight years before, 
 for a wider field of usefulness than he believed he could 
 find in the old world, and thus arrived in America, where 
 he had ever since devoted himself to preaching what he 
 believed to be the pure gospel, without money and 
 without price. 
 
 The parents were interested in his views, and while they 
 pursued their conversation, the children occupied them- 
 selves in their own way. 
 
 They found some golden lady -birds upon a young vine ; 
 and cousin Margaret, who was their oracle in such things, 
 was called to look at them, and tell their name. But she 
 had never seen the like before, not even in Pennsylvania, 
 that land of wonders and beauty, as the children believed 
 it to be. They were indeed beautiful; as bright and 
 metallic as if they had been made of polished gold ; and 
 their wings, when they were spread for flight, appeared to 
 be made of silver net-work. But, although cousin Margaret 
 
 i2 
 
116 MAY. 
 
 could not give a name to these lovely creatures, she was 
 able to enlighten them on another subject. 
 
 Nanny had brought in a curious round ball from the 
 farm-yard, about the size of a marble. It was the first 
 time that she or any of the family had seen anything like it. 
 This, their cousin told them, was formed by a little insect, 
 called the tumble-bug {Bug is a familiar word in America, 
 and not disgusting, as with us, in England, and means any 
 small insect) ; nor was it very long before they had the 
 pleasure of seeing one of these curious insects rolling 
 another of these little globes, which was six times its own 
 size, before it. They watched it with great interest ; it 
 moved it with difficulty, and apparently unwearying pa- 
 tience, about a yard up a steep rugged little hill, and then, 
 having seen it safely deposited in a little nook, under some 
 grass, seemed well satisfied. Some people said that this 
 ball contained the eggs, or grubs, of the insect j others, that 
 it was its store of winter food. Cousin Margaret could not 
 tell which ; and the children determined to consult some 
 entomologist on the subject. 
 
117 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 June. 
 
 June 1st. — A little visitor arrived, who was to spend a 
 week with theui during the absence of her mother ; and 
 Eberhard again put up the swing for their amusement. 
 
 They played also at going to meeting in their carriage. 
 The wheelbarrow was their carriage, Willie and Florence 
 the horses, and Nanny and Emma, the little visitor, the 
 two friends. They then played at §re-engines. The shout 
 of fire was raised ; there was the howling and yelling and 
 hurrying of the firemen, the rattle of the engines, the 
 bustle and commotion of the fire and its extinguishment, 
 and altogether as universal a riot as they could manage to 
 make. 
 
 This was exchanged for cherry-gathering in earnest. 
 Willie climbed into the tree after his father and gathered 
 his hat full ; with these they played at having a fruit-store 
 in the carriage-house, but in the progress of establishiug 
 it all the cherries were eaten up. During the gathering 
 of these cherries, Willie discovered what he supposed to 
 be a second bees' nest in the tree. 
 
 Sad news of the little birds in the raspberry bush. The 
 father, on passing it this morning, discovered that the 
 
118 JUNE. 
 
 nest was torn down and the young birds gone. After- 
 ward, when in the lower barnyard, he heard a loud noise 
 and chattering, and looking up, he saw a large brown bird 
 pursued by two little ones that seemed very vehement and 
 angry. These, he thought, were probably the two parent- 
 birds, that were pursuing the despoiler of the nest, which 
 might be one of the lesser kind of hawks. 
 
 To-day, Louise's niece, the little daughter of Heinrich, 
 who had died the day before, was buried. She was a nice 
 little child, and used, when she saw the children in the 
 orchard, to come trotting to meet them ; for her father 
 lived at Eberhard's. " 
 
 Cousin Margaret and Willie went to the funeral. The 
 little corpse was dressed in a white muslin gown, and wore 
 a cap with a lace border adorned with bows of blue ribbon. 
 It had a large frill round its neck, tied likewise with blue 
 ribbon ; they had scattered it over with bouquets of flowers, 
 and in its little hand it held a large bunch of artificial 
 flowers. On each side of the coffin stood a lighted candle, 
 which had been burning there all day. 
 
 The utmost had been done by the poor parents to beau- 
 tify and adorn, as they thought, their little dead child, and 
 thus to show their affection for it and their great sorrow 
 in its loss. It was, indeed, a severe grief, for they were 
 kind-hearted people, and this was the second child that 
 they had lately lost ; and now only the baby was left. 
 
 The minister came and preached in German. After 
 
VARIOUS THINGS. 119 
 
 tliis, the body was taken in the carriage, which the 
 children's father had lent for the occasion, to a Lutheran 
 chapel not far off; the parents going with it in the 
 carriage, and the rest of the company following on foot. 
 
 The little coffin was lowered into the grave ; the com- 
 pany then adjourned to the chapel, where, after singing a 
 hymn, they all dispersed. 
 
 The father gave Florence, one day during the last week, 
 a very pretty lilac and green striped parasol. She was 
 very impatient for the next Sunday, that she might have 
 the pleasure of using it for the first time as she went to 
 meeting. 
 
 To the great joy of the children, cousin Michael came 
 up in the afternoon ; and as he and Willie were going 
 through the barn-yarcl, they noticed that the mulberries 
 were black and ripe. Michael climbed into the tree and 
 shook it ; a great quantity were thus gathered, and, with 
 sugar and cream, they made a delightful addition to the 
 supper-table. 
 
 Willie was at this time deeply interested in the accounts 
 of the missionaries in India. Their labours and hardships 
 almost rivalled his favourite " Travels to the Rocky 
 Mountains." 
 
 June 2nd. — This evening a great event occurred. A 
 bed was made for Fanny in the wood-house, and, a few 
 kours afterwards, when Willie went in, he found, to his 
 
120 JUNE. 
 
 great delight, two beautiful little puppies lying in the bed 
 with her. One was of a pale buff colour, with a white 
 stripe down its back and forehead, the other black and 
 tan colour. His father also came in to look at them, and 
 ordered some warm milk for her ; and after Florence and 
 Nanny and little Nelly had been in to have a look, they 
 left her, they all agreed, as happy as a queen. 
 
 June 3rd. — A very showery day. Florence was in 
 great anxiety about the morrow, which was Sunday, lest 
 it, too, should rain, on account of her beautiful new parasol. 
 
 June 4th. — A splendid morning. They all went to the 
 city in the open carriage. Willie sat by his father, and 
 drove most of the way. The mother and the little girls 
 sat within. Florence enjoyed her parasol. Nanny carried 
 a feather fan, because Florence could not take care of both ; 
 and Nanny promised to fan her sister as well as herself. 
 
 June 5th. — The weather was glorious. All the garden- 
 ing portion of the family turned out into the garden, and 
 spent several hours in weeding, hoeing, and transplanting. 
 The father was busy with his tomato and cabbage plants, 
 the mother with her balsams, cock's-combs, portuluccas, 
 and geraniums. The children, after weeding their gardens, 
 found, or fancied, that their plants were so much dimin- 
 ished, that they begged their mother to bestow from her 
 
SOUNDS OF SUMMER LIFE. 121 
 
 abundance upon them. She was very munificent in her 
 gifts, the children thought. Willie was especially de- 
 lighted with an enormous cockVcomb, and Florence with 
 an equally fine scarlet zinnia. Willie, in addition to his 
 other flowers, had larkspurs in bloom, and was only too 
 happy to be able to give sweet scabious roots to his mother, 
 and some remarkably fine French marigolds to Madam 
 Leonard. 
 
 It was now near the maturity of summer, and there 
 was a perpetual sound of out-of-doors life. From one end 
 of the country to the other, day and night, there was 
 an incessant chirping, and whirring, and buzzing, and 
 whistling, and humming, and droning, and croaking. In 
 the early part of the season, the frogs began and kept 
 up a never-ending whirr, like the buzz of a great old 
 spinning-wheel; then, as the warmer weather came on, 
 grasshoppers, and catadids, and catadidnt's, and loud- 
 toned locusts set up their cry and clatter, like the rattling 
 of fifty pebbles in a tin can. Besides this, there was a never- 
 ceasing, clear under tone of buzzing insect-wings, and shrill 
 little clarion pipes, which, however it might be drowned 
 by the louder din, was always present to the ear, and had 
 it not been for the noisier sounds, would have been of 
 itself very audible. 
 
 Cousin Margaret discovered that the second bees' nest, 
 in the cherry tree, was nothing less than the nest of a 
 hornet. 
 
122 JUNE. 
 
 These were large and fierce, and having been seen by- 
 many of the family during the day, it was decided, at 
 supper, that the nest should be destroyed. The children 
 sat up later than usual on this account, as nothing could 
 be done until it was dark. 
 
 Willie carried a wisp of straw; Nanny, the box of 
 matches ; and the father, a shovelful of hot embers ; while 
 Fanny, and the little visitor, Emma, ran to a distance, to 
 watch the incendiary attack ; and though it was only a 
 fierce hornet's nest that was going to be destroyed, every 
 one felt a little compassion for the poor, unsuspecting 
 inhabitants that had gone to rest, never dreaming of the 
 deadly enemy that was approaching. However, the hornet 
 was cruel and destructive, and die he must ! 
 
 When they arrived at the cherry-tree, they found the 
 leafage so thick, and the place so dusk, that they could see 
 nothing, and Willie had to be dispatched for a lantern, 
 before the nest could be discovered. The girls ran away 
 with a shout of fear and joy, and then the burning wisp 
 of straw was thrust into the nest, and the poor things and 
 their dwelling were in a blaze. 
 
 June 8th. — Nanny had a Guinea-fowl, which she and 
 her brother and sister had reared themselves. It had 
 long been, the tyrant of the whole poultry-yard, and 
 was called Alexander the Great. This second Alexander 
 was quite a despot ; he pursued the hens from place to 
 
ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 123 
 
 place, till they could get no rest for him. He fought with 
 the cocks, as though he were himself a thorough -bred 
 fighting cock, and domineered over the other Guinea-fowls 
 to such a degree, that they could not settle themselves 
 down to sit, as they wanted. He had been long threatened 
 with capital punishment if he did not reform ; and at last, 
 as there seemed no chance of this, and as, on the contrary, 
 he rather grew worse than better, the father seized him, 
 and pronounced a summary doom. Nanny, who had often 
 pleaded for him before, had now not a word to say on his 
 behalf; her father promised her three Guinea-chicks, of 
 the first brood, instead of him. Poor fellow, he bit, and 
 struggled, and fought, just as if he had sense to understand 
 all that was said. 
 
 Independently of his tyrannical disposition, he was re- 
 markably cunning; like poor Timothy, one of his bad 
 habits was scratching holes in the flower-borders. He 
 must have known that he was doing wrong, because the 
 moment he was detected he ran and hid himself, and if 
 pursued, dodged about in the most cunning way. He 
 would run behind the large cedar trees, round and round, 
 always contriving to keep on the side farthest from the 
 person hunting him, so that although he was so near he 
 could not be seen : besides this, he made more noise than 
 all the rest of the poultry-yard put together. As soon as 
 he was killed, the utmost quietness fell upon the whole 
 yard, and the other pair, which had hitherto been driven 
 
124 JUNE. 
 
 as it were from pillar to post by him, busily set about 
 sitting on a large nest of eggs, in the weeds below the 
 vineyard. 
 
 One particular, however, must be mentioned about this 
 poor quarrelsome Alexander, before he passes into oblivion. 
 Whilst he was yet a chicken, he formed the most re- 
 markable friendship with a black chanticleer called Prince 
 Hamlet. They were during the winter and spring quite 
 inseparable, and often would wander away together for 
 several days at a time; and even whilst quarrelling and 
 fighting, and lording it over every other feathered 
 creature, he was mild and loving to this one bird, often 
 fighting in its quarrels, and always shewing it deference 
 and affection : latterly, however, his amity even for this 
 bird came to an end. The children often wished it were 
 possible to know what was the cause of their misunder- 
 standing — how it came about, and what the black Prince 
 Hamlet said on the subject — and whether he was very 
 melancholy — but this could never be told. All that was 
 known was, that they had quarrelled, and that Alexander 
 was as cruel and as domineering to his old friend now as 
 to any other common bird. 
 
 June 10th. — Poor Alexander was cooked, and proved 
 very good eating. He was stuffed and boiled, and ate 
 very like turkey. The children, after dinner, took a plate 
 with some nice slices of the breast, delicious green peas, 
 
A HAPPY WEEK. 125 
 
 and other good things, to Louise, who had been ill for 
 several days, and was now gone down to Eberhard's to be 
 nursed and to have rest. Willie carried the covered plate ; 
 Florence also took her some flowers, and Nanny ran before 
 to drive away Turk and Woltman, Eberhard's dogs, if 
 they came out to bark. 
 
 A happy week succeeded this time. The house was full 
 of company — there was not a bed, or anything like a bed, 
 to spare : Willie himself slept on the floor ; and somebody 
 — they never could make out who — slept on the sofa. It 
 was quite a mystery. Willie said he would get up in the 
 night to see ; but he slept too soundly for that, and next 
 morning the sleeper was always up and gone. Among 
 the rest of the visitors, were Uncle Cornelius and all the 
 Hutchinson children. They rambled about the fields and 
 woods, and found more to do each day than the four-and- 
 twenty hours would hold. 
 
 One day, the children all went to Athens to bring eggs 
 and sugar from the store. They had each of them several 
 cents to spend, and the woman at the store was very good- 
 natured : she took down from the shelf her porcelain 
 figures, which they thought very beautiful, for them to 
 look at. She asked the name of one little girl who was 
 with them ; and when she heard that it was Nelly Hutch- 
 inson, she said how odd it was, for that her own name was 
 Nelly, and she gave them a piece of candy because of it ; 
 on this, Nanny said that they too had a little sister Nelly 
 
126 JUNE. 
 
 at home, and then the woman gave them another piece of 
 candy for her. 
 
 On their return, they called at Madam Leonard's to 
 ask how she was. She was right glad to see them, and 
 made them stop to have cake and cherries, and then 
 she gave them a can of ripe mulberries to carry home for 
 themselves, and some sage for their mother. 
 
 The fire-flies, or lightning-bugs, as the people called 
 them, had now made their appearance in the evening. 
 
 The catalpa trees were covered with large spikes of 
 flowers, which looked splendidly amongst their broad green 
 leaves. Willie often wondered whether Queen Victoria 
 would like to have one of these noble trees in her garden. 
 He wished she could see them growing here like common 
 things, among locust and cedar trees. The flower of this 
 fine tree is of a milky white, and is about the size of a 
 foxglove ; the lower lip is marked with orange and purple 
 spots, and from fifty to one hundred of these lovely flowers 
 grow upon one spike, some fully expanded, others just 
 bursting the rich, brown calyx, and others again folded 
 closely in it. 
 
 The puppies had now opened their eyes, and the children 
 pronounced them the handsomest and fattest puppies 
 that ever were seen. Willie took Fanny her meals to 
 " the nest ;" yet, though she was naturally very quiet and 
 good-tempered, she would not allow any liberties to be 
 taken, either with herself or the young ones, without 
 
127 
 
 making a great commotion. Nanny, who was very fond 
 of walking barefoot, went to her one day and poked her 
 with her little uncovered foot, at which Fanny made a snap 
 and growled. This was a very decided warning; and, lest 
 Fanny should be tempted to do anything imprudent, the 
 children determined not at present to meddle with her. 
 
 June 11th. — As Willie came home from meeting with 
 his father, they walked up the hill to ease the horse, and, 
 in so doing, saw two "tumble-bugs," very busy pushing 
 up one of their curious, round balls ; one of them was on 
 each side, and they worked as adroitly as two men could 
 have done who had a great ball, five or six times as big as 
 themselves, to push before them up-hill. Once or twice 
 it seemed inclined to roll back, and then one of the little 
 creatures placed himself like a stone under a wheel, to 
 scotch it, and prevent its running backwards. The ball 
 seemed to be composed of cow-dung, as was the one they 
 had seen on a former occasion ; but what were its contents, 
 or what purpose it was to serve, neither Willie nor his 
 father yet knew. 
 
 Willie had a great rage at this time for the erection of 
 water-wheels. He made one for himself and one for each 
 of his sisters. They were entirely of his own workman- 
 ship, and were very cleverly constructed ; and, fortunately 
 for him, a few very wet days occurring, he had a good 
 opportunity of setting them to work. One was placed 
 
128 JUNE. 
 
 under the dripping water-spout, and the others in various 
 little running waters about the place. 
 
 The fire-flies, although small, and not nearly as bril- 
 liant as the fire-flies in South America, added greatly to 
 the beauty of the evenings. They were small winged 
 chaffers, which, as they rose from the ground, emitted a 
 bright light from their tails, which as quickly again ap- 
 peared to be extinguished, so that they looked like innu- 
 merable bright, transient sparks, rising out of the ground, 
 or floating in the air. As the evening advanced, they 
 ascended; and, towards ten or eleven o'clock, might be 
 seen among the branches and tops of the trees. 
 
 The oleanders were in bloom, and the trumpet-flowers 
 spread their bright scarlet corollas to the sun, and looked, 
 as each fresh flower did, when it first came out for the 
 season, more beautiful than ever. The humming-birds 
 darted about the trumpet-flowers, and sipped the honey 
 out of their elegant cups. 
 
 The prairie-rose also began to blossom ; and its long 
 pendant branches, drooping for yards from the portico, 
 were adorned with clusters of deep rose-coloured flowers. 
 
 Cousin Michael came to spend a week at The Cedars, 
 and he helped Willie to husk corn in the corn-crib. This 
 work, ordinarily so tiresome, seemed very pleasant in 
 company ; and, in order to make it still easier to the hand, 
 Michael, who was a very clever joiner, made each of them 
 a "husking-peg," by the help of which they soon husked 
 
MUCH BUSINESS. 129 
 
 five-and -twenty bushels. They strolled about the fields 
 when their work was done, and made observations on many 
 things. Among the rest, they watched the woodpeckers 
 flying to and from the great mulberry tree in the pasture, 
 with the fruit in their bills for their young. 
 
 Florence and Nanny went with their mother to gather 
 raspberries, of which they always had an abundant supply. 
 They set out bowls of raspberries and jugs of new milk 
 for supper. Before supper was eaten, however, cousin 
 Michael and Willie curried and fed Farmer for the night, 
 and Willie returned with a handful of hair, plucked from 
 his long black tail, which Florence and he began very 
 busily to plait for a fishing-line. 
 
 The fishing-line was very successful ; not only one was 
 made, but two. Two long straight elder shoots were cut 
 for rods ; and, having purchased another hook from John 
 Solo, they had, as they thought, two very respectable 
 home-made fishing-rods and lines. 
 
 Cousin Michael exercised his joinering faculty : he fixed 
 up a coffee-mill ; helped to finish the summer-house ; 
 mended garden-seats and tables ; screwed on all the loose 
 box-lids and cupboard-doors in the house; and, in fact, 
 set innumerable little things to rights. Willie enjoyed 
 above all things helping him; called himself his apprentice 
 and his journeyman; and great was the running to and 
 from Lotte's workshop and bench to get wood, and even 
 to work at his bench. 
 
 K 
 
130 JUNE. 
 
 Eberhard and Heinrich began to mow the lawn. The 
 rich scent of the clover had for a long time perfumed the 
 air, and the frequent showers and the warm sun had made 
 the crop unusually heavy. 
 
 The raspberries were this year extremely abundant, so 
 much so indeed, that it occupied the mother and children 
 an hour daily to gather them. The children took each a 
 tin can, into which they gathered the fruit, and then emptied 
 it into the large basket which stood by their mother. They 
 called their cans tributary creeks, and the basket Ohio. 
 It was pleasant work, and they enjoyed it. Nanny, who 
 was a most industrious and persevering child, whenever 
 the thing to be done was work, never tired ; and Florence, 
 when her mother commended her extraordinary industry, 
 remarked, " I don t know how it is, but I can always work 
 best when mother is working with me." 
 
 June 15th. — As they were gathering raspberries a few 
 days before, they discovered two more wrens' nests in the 
 bushes. Each had four eggs in it ; and this morning one 
 of the little broods was hatched. 
 
 As they sate at breakfast under the piazza, enjoying 
 the warm yet fresh early morning breezes, they heard a 
 distant rumble of thunder. Before the meal was concluded, 
 the thunder became much louder, and ominous dark clouds 
 rose slowly in the west. 
 
 " Run, Michael, and help Heinrich to get up the hay I" 
 
A THUNDER STORM. 131 
 
 said the father. " I, too, will go ; and Willie will help ; 
 and the rest must try if they can gather the raspberries 
 that were left last evening." 
 
 All hurried away, for the storm was advancing rapidly. 
 
 Florence and Nanny went with their mother to the 
 garden, and gathered raspberries as long as the rain would 
 let them. 
 
 The storm, which threatened so violently, appeared 
 shortly to pass away. Towards noon, however, it returned ; 
 and, after some very hot, gleaming sunshine, it came on 
 and blew a complete hurricane. The approach of .this 
 tempest was very grand. An icy wind preceded it, and 
 brought with it hail of so large a size that it pierced 
 the strongest leaves like bullets. The rain poured down 
 in torrents, and for a considerable time obscured the light 
 like a thick mist. The wind drove furiously from the 
 north-west, lifting up the strong branches of the trees, and 
 then rending away several of great size, seemed to hurl 
 them forward, as if in disdain, amid the deluging tempest. 
 At length the loftiest and most beautiful of the locust-trees 
 was snapped off in the middle, and its mighty top, itself a 
 tree, whirled, as if by a gigantic arm, to a distance. 
 
 Every thing, that only an hour before had appeared to 
 be reposing in security and conscious beauty, wore, when 
 the storm was over, a forlorn, battered look. The catalpa- 
 blossom was all gone, the trumpet-creeper torn as if to 
 ruins, the hop-poles prostrated; and great fears were 
 
 k 2 
 
132 JUNE. 
 
 entertained for the vines and the early corn, which had 
 now begun to shoot upwards and to show its beautiful 
 tassels. 
 
 The father, when the storm was over, went round to 
 examine what damage had been done by it, and to prop, 
 and tie up, and restore something like an appearance of 
 order and prosperity. He found the raspberry-bushes 
 almost bowed to the earth, and the nest, with the young 
 brood, just falling, whilst one of the young ones was hang, 
 ing out head foremost, and the old one making a doleful 
 cry in a neighbouring pear-tree. Whether the birds of 
 themselves, would have set things to right, we cannot 
 say ; but the father who was a good, kind man, did not, 
 like the neighbour, leave the birds to look after their 
 own business ; for, before he did anything towards repair- 
 ing his own property, he replaced the nest, seated the little 
 hapless fledglings comfortably in it, and then left the 
 parents to do what further was needful. 
 
 The following day, cousin Michael and Willie sallied 
 forth w T ith their axes, to cut up the poor locust-tree j and 
 when this was done, they dragged its limbs to the barn- 
 yard. 
 
 The storm put an end to the hay-making for one day, 
 but the cool succeeding night gave promise of fine weather, 
 which was fully realised. Spite of the drenching rain, the 
 grass, which had been again spread out, was, in the after- 
 noon of the next day, so dry, that Eberhard brought out 
 
WILLIE FIGHTS. 133 
 
 the large rake and the wagon, and everybody, young and 
 old, turned out to help. The children mounted upon the 
 hay to tread it down, and then rode to the barn on the 
 loaded wagon. How grand it seemed to them, to be 
 moving, as they said, "in the bird's air and sunshine," 
 elevated several yards above the earth ! 
 
 One evening, whilst at the farthest spring, Willie was 
 joined by John and David Solo, who had come into the 
 next field to cut grass for their horse. John was quarrel- 
 some, and threw stones at Willie, who returned the insult 
 with sods, and dry clods of earth, which excited his assail- 
 ant still more. Willie was struck on the head with a stone, 
 and then David Solo rushed in, and joined his brother 
 against him, so that there were now two against one, which 
 enraged Willie to such a degree, that he snatched up a 
 stick, which looked very like a club, and began to lay 
 about him furiously. By this means he put the two to 
 flight ; and John, like a coward, as he was, called Willie 
 many ill names in his retreat. 
 
 Willie was greatly elated by his victory ; but when he 
 went home, and told of it, he did not receive all the com- 
 mendation from his parents which he expected. 
 
 They told him that he had not yet arrived at the pitch 
 of courage which makes the true hero ; he could not yet 
 overcome evil with good, nor silence the brawler with 
 gentle words. 
 
 Cousin Michael stormed another hornet's nest in the 
 vines, and took the queen, a large black and yellow insect. 
 
134 JUNE. 
 
 Louise still continued ill, and unable to do her work. 
 The children, now and then, visited her; but they were 
 afraid of going too often, because the old woman was very- 
 cross. Once, indeed, she sent them away, and would not 
 let them see Louise ; she scolded them desperately, half in 
 German, and half in English, and they understood her to 
 say, that they disturbed Louise when they came, and that 
 she could not sleep, and that sleep was better for her than 
 all the things they brought her. 
 
 It was necessary, on account of Louise's continued ill- 
 ness, to find a woman who would help in the washing, 
 therefore the children and their mother set out one even- 
 ing to endeavour to find one. They went in the first place 
 to Diedriclr's Hof, because there were always so many 
 women there. As they approached, it seemed as if a little 
 fair was being held in a field near the house : many people 
 all in white and many white things were congregated to- 
 gether there. There was a man with white linen trousers 
 on, and in his shirt-sleeves, with a white horse, ploughing ; 
 two other men and two boys in the same dress hoeing ; 
 and a young woman in her white chemise-sleeves, with a 
 white cap and apron on. Their errand was to this young 
 woman; and, therefore, directing their steps towards this 
 white group, they told their business. She, however, said 
 that she was so busy she could not come. " Would her 
 mother come then, or her aunt V they enquired. " Oh 
 no/' was the reply ; " her aunt had hurt her hand and was 
 laid up, and her mother had to hoe the corn ; they wanted 
 
HUNTING A WASHER-WOMAN. 135 
 
 to hire hands themselves and couldn't ; every body was so 
 busy — except your mother would go out to oblige the lady/' 
 said she, speaking to one of the white boys. 
 
 " My mother \" returned the boy, who seemed asto- 
 nished, and who proved to be John Solo, " she can't go; 
 aud if she could she wouldn't." 
 
 After this unsuccessful attempt, which was characteristic 
 enough of common American life, they went first to one 
 and then to another, offering handsome wages if some 
 good woman would please to come and wash ; but some 
 women were too busy, and some offended at being asked 
 such a thing. 
 
 At length they met with one woman poor enough to 
 work for another ; but even she consented to do it as a 
 great favour, and with a request that it should be kept 
 secret from her husband. Singularly enough this woman, 
 although no one could doubt but that the sixty cents a 
 day which would be paid her were very acceptable, ex- 
 hausted all her stock of reasoning and eloquence to prove 
 to the children's mother that there really was no degrada- 
 tion in going out to work and to wash for other people, 
 and for a neighbour especially. "To be sure there is 
 not ;" the mother said over and over again. The poor 
 woman came and did the washing ; yet still a lingering 
 dissatisfaction with herself seemed to rest on her own 
 mind. 
 
 The mother said with a sigh, as she had often before 
 
136 JUNE. 
 
 done on such occasions, how different things were in Old 
 England, where there were only too many washerwomen 
 for the linen that had to be washed ; and she wished 
 that she could transport some of those willingly -toiling 
 women into this wonderful land, where the workers were 
 too few, and then she need not go about begging, as a 
 great favour, that " some lady would please to come and 
 wash her clothes I" Another sigh the good mother 
 heaved, and that was as the mourning Christian ; for she 
 saw in this reluctance to do daily labour the hateful effects 
 of slavery, which had made labour and degradation syno- 
 nimous words. 
 
 June 20th. — The hay-making went on rapidly : the 
 clover was all housed, most of it without a drop of rain ; 
 and now that they were cutting the Timothy-grass, the poor 
 partridges, quails, or Bob-Whites as they are called there, 
 were in great alarm, and uttered more loudly and mourn- 
 fully than ever their pitiful cry of " Bob-White," in token 
 of distress or alarm at having their nests taken. 
 
 Cousin William came from Faiiiand to take away the 
 beloved cousin Margaret, of whom the children and every 
 body else were so fond. He gave a curious account of the 
 locusts and their devastations, for they had this year visited 
 Faiiiand. They had stung the fruit-trees, as the expres- 
 sion was ; and in many cases greatly injured them, so that 
 the branches hung withered and dead. They were very 
 
A SICK CHICKEN. 137 
 
 numerous ; and their " hollowing " was quite inconceivable 
 to any who had not heard them. This noise was made at 
 the time of bursting the shell which inclosed them in the 
 chrysalis state. The people interpreted their cry to be 
 " Pharoah -" others said that they cried " Egypt." It was 
 also said, that, on their wings, the last time they made 
 their appearance, there was, as plainly as if it had been 
 printed, the letter W, which indicated war ; but that this 
 year it was a very distinct P, which meant peace, and with 
 which every body, therefore, was well pleased. 
 
 The pigs, chickens, turkeys, and all other living things 
 which would eat them, were also well pleased with the 
 locusts, and had become extremely fat with feeding upon 
 them. 
 
 June 29th. — Willie and Florence were greatly concerned 
 on behalf of a poor sick chicken. Willie carried it about 
 with him in his bosom, and gave it cold water in abundance, 
 which it may not be amiss to mention here is the best 
 possible remedy for invalid poultry. They built it a little 
 log-house on the grass, and in a short time it was so far 
 recovered as to be able to feed itself; and next morning, 
 to their great joy, it came of its own accord to peck the 
 corn-meal food with the others, and in the course of the 
 day appeared as strong and healthy as the rest. It was, 
 while ill, fed out of cups made from the trumpet-flower, 
 
138 JUNE. 
 
 and it ate in the course of the day two of these filled with 
 soaked bread. 
 
 June 30th. — Poor Blackberry, the young cow, had been 
 now unwell for some days ; and this evening she came in 
 from the pasture so ill that Heinrich declared she would 
 not live till morning. He said that she must be bled that 
 evening, as that was the only means of saving her, for that 
 a colt at Diedriclr's Hof had died only a day or two before 
 of the very same complaint, which was a swelling in the 
 throat that produced an outward lump ; and that, in fact, 
 the colt had not been nearly as bad as she was. 
 
 Willie was therefore sent off in a tremendous hurry 
 down to Icles, the cow-doctor, to bid him come up in- 
 stantly to see the cow. 
 
 It was a lovely night. The sun had set, the stars were 
 visible here and there on the dark blue sky, and the young 
 moon, hardly a week old, gave a pleasant light. Willie, 
 spite of the hurry he was in, and his anxiety about the 
 cow, could not help remarking how beautiful every thing 
 looked in that soft, balmy, and dewy dusk of evening. 
 
 When he reached Icles's, the young man was out, and 
 would not be back till morning. Here was an unlooked- 
 for difficulty ! There was not another cow-doctor in the 
 neighbourhood. Old Icles, however, said that as he him- 
 self knew something about " sick critturs," although he 
 
139 
 
 never undertook to bleed, he would go back with him and 
 s ee what was best to be done. 
 
 When they were but a short distance from The Cedars, 
 old Icles started at something on the road. Willie fancied 
 that it must be a snake, and asked where it was ? 
 
 " Look there V said the old man ; " and come on as 
 fast as you can, lest it bite you \" 
 
 Willie ventured to look, and what should it be but a 
 quiet tortoise, walking across the road towards a pond 
 just by. He saw its four short legs, and its comical-look- 
 ing head peeping from under its shell, and he gave it a 
 quiet poke with a camomile stalk which he had in his hand, 
 just to let it see that he knew it. 
 
 Whilst Willie was away fetching the doctor for poor 
 Blackberry, the father, who had no great faith in the 
 bleeding, made an ointment of stramonium and lard, which 
 he had heard recommended in such cases, and having put 
 her, with the help of Heinrich, into a shed, began to rub 
 her throat with it. 
 
 Old Icles, when he came, entirely approved of what was 
 done, and said that, in his opinion, she would live through 
 the night, and, in that case, his son could see her in the 
 morning. 
 
 Heinrich sat up with her all night, and rubbed her 
 throat again ; and next morning she was so much better, 
 that she did not need bleeding ; and, in a day or two, was 
 quite well again, to the great joy of every body. 
 
140 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 July. 
 
 July 1st. — Willie and Nanny went to the city with their 
 parents. They saw a steam-boat, called the Caroline, 
 leave the shore, and steer its course westward, down the 
 Ohio, for New Orleans, with four hundred soldiers on board. 
 The cannon fired ; guns on the shore saluted them ; people 
 shouted, and waved their handkerchiefs and hats, as if it 
 were some grand and glorious mission on which they were 
 bound. To all this the men on board answered with a faint 
 shout. These poor fellows were many, if not most of them, 
 going to inevitable destruction. Pestilence and death, in 
 various forms, awaited them ; and it was probable that 
 some apprehension of this kind clouded their minds, and 
 that the embarkation, however the spectators might endea- 
 vour to give it an outward look of glory, was anything but 
 a merry one to the soldiers themselves ; for upwards of 
 one-fourth of their number had already deserted, and a 
 wagon-load of others were driven down to the steamer in 
 a state of helpless intoxication. The whole thing reminded 
 the thoughtful spectator of unwilling victims being dragged 
 to sacrifice. 
 
 Cousin Michael said that he went one day to the en- 
 campment near the city, where they lay for some time, to 
 
EMANCIPATED SLAVES. 141 
 
 see two lads with whose families he was acquainted, and 
 in conversation with them he said — " Fll tell you what, 
 boys, soldiering is not the fine thing that it is cracked off 
 as being." 
 
 To which they replied, with a melancholy sigh, " No ; 
 we have already wished hundreds of times that we had 
 never left our work to come here." 
 
 This day proved altogether an eventful one. Uncle 
 Cornelius told them about the landing of three hundred 
 and ninety-five emancipated slaves, which he had wit- 
 nessed. They arrived in the steamer at about eight o'clock 
 that morning : they were a motley company of men, 
 women, and children, old and young, but all decently 
 dressed, and bringing with them their wagons and house- 
 hold stuff, and considerable property, some people said to 
 the value of J10,000. 
 
 The history of their emancipation was interesting. It 
 had been a struggle of nine years' continuance ; but, to 
 the honour of the South, the law had decided in their 
 favour, and they were now on their way to Mercer County, 
 in the State of Ohio, which was chiefly settled by free 
 coloured people, and where a tract of land had been pur- 
 chased for them. 
 
 These poor people had been the property of one John 
 Randolph, a wealthy planter of Roanoke, in North Caro- 
 lina. During his life-time he had been one of the most 
 strenuous and violent upholders of slavery ; yet even then, 
 
142 JULY. 
 
 it was said, that his conscience often rebelled against him ; 
 and but for custom and the fear of ridicule, and perhaps 
 of persecution also, he would have liberated his slaves. 
 He did, however, all that he believed it possible for him 
 to do : he provided in his will for the liberation of all his 
 slaves after his death, and left a handsome provision for 
 their transportation to a free State, and for their mainte- 
 nance there. 
 
 But this, it is said, did not satisfy his conscience on his 
 dying bed. Being unable to speak, he called for a pencil 
 and paper, upon which he wrote the word " Remorse." 
 He felt, it is probable, in these last moments, that even 
 the act of kindness which he had prepared to do after his 
 death could not atone to the Almighty for a life-long 
 practice of oppression, against the sinfulness of which his 
 own soul had even then testified. 
 
 He died ; and, after a long nine years' struggle, the 
 slaves were freed by law ; and here they now were, on 
 their way to what they hoped would be a home of freedom 
 and peace. 
 
 Uncle Cornelius said, that the principal street of the city 
 presented a singular sight, and one which they who saw 
 would not soon forget. First came in the procession a 
 crowd of negroes, men, women, and children, all dressed 
 in coarse cotton garments, but having the appearance of 
 people who for their class were in comfortable circum- 
 stances. They were on their way from tbe river, up 
 
143 
 
 which the steamer had brought thein, to the canal, where 
 they were again to embark for their new location. Behind 
 them came their baggage wagons, which formed a very- 
 long and singular array j and altogether it was the most 
 extraordinary company of emigrants that had ever been 
 seen in those parts. Many of the women had young babies 
 in their arms ; there were also some very old people 
 amongst them ; and the one who brought up the rear was 
 a figure whom everybody was struck with. He was the 
 oldest and the noblest-looking black man that Uncle 
 Cornelius had ever seen : he walked slowly, with a long 
 cane like a staff, with something grand and patriarchal in 
 his aspect and manner. Probably he might be one of 
 those who had been brought up with his afterwards cele- 
 brated master; and, perhaps, when remorse wrung his 
 death-bed soul, he might have been remembered by him 
 as one to whom a life-long injustice had been done. 
 
 July 4th. — This was a day of universal jubilee. All 
 America rejoices on this day ; for upon it, seventy years 
 ago, their Declaration of Independence was signed ; and 
 the anniversary ever since has been kept as a day of 
 national triumph and joy. 
 
 Would that another glorious 4th might come, when 
 the nation — then truly great and noble — should break all 
 fetters within her shores, and declare every man and 
 woman born upon her soil free ! 
 
144 JULY. 
 
 The day was ushered in, as were all such occasions, by 
 the firing of guns and cannon ; and our cousins, remotely 
 as The Cedars were situated, passed a very disturbed night 
 from the firing all around them, and from the loud and in- 
 cessant barking of all the dogs in the neighbourhood, and 
 they were not few by any means ; nor were Milo and Fanny 
 at all behind -hand in contributing to the general uproar. 
 
 The day, as usual, brought company ; among the rest, 
 Uncle Cornelius, who left the crowded and noisy city, 
 to enjoy the quieter beauty of the country. Some of 
 the company brought Willie a large packet of shooting 
 crackers ; not the little feeble things which he had 
 hitherto been accustomed to, but seventy-five large red 
 rolls; each of which would make a tremendous report — 
 frap, frap, frap, bang ! — and not only help to keep all 
 the clogs barking, but thus furnish him with the means of 
 making a terrific noise on his own account, greatly to the 
 joy of himself and his sisters. Nanny said it was his 
 Declaration of Independence printed in large letters. 
 
 Their sweet friend, Christina, who was one of the 
 visitors, brought Florence also a lovely canary-bird in a 
 handsome cage, which made her exceedingly happy. 
 Nanny received also a present of a large wax-doll from 
 New York. Nanny cared nothing about dolls; a bird 
 would have pleased her much better; but she consoled 
 herself by thinking that dolls never died, as birds some- 
 times did, and therefore she " ought to be very thankful." 
 
THE CHERRY-DISAPPOINTMENT. 145 
 
 But it was not many days before Nanny was made really 
 and truly thankful in her own way ; for one of their friends 
 seeing how much delighted Florence was with her bird, 
 sent Nanny another cage containing a little mate for 
 Dicky ; and this, because of its delicate form and pale- 
 yellow plumage, was called " Primrose/' 
 
 Now there was rejoicing enough in the house. The two 
 birds were a continual source of interest. Immediately 
 after breakfast they were fed ; and Dicky, who was a fine 
 songster sang rapturously; and his little mate, whose 
 cage was hung close to his, chirped merrily in return. 
 
 Henry from Mount Vernon stayed several days with 
 them and they had a joyous holiday. 
 
 One day they went to a neighbouring farmhouse to buy 
 cherries, when the man told them he would fill their 
 baskets, and after dinner they might come again, and he 
 would give them half a bushel for nothing. This was 
 delightful news. They hurried home ; and all dinner-time 
 could talk about nothing but the unbounded good-nature 
 of the neighbour. They began to think what they would 
 give him in return ; he should have pop-corn or calabash- 
 seed, or something else which was very nice ; but now 
 they must go for the cherries, and accordingly, with a 
 basket suitable in size to the munificence of the offer, 
 they set off, thinking with joy of a delicious feast of 
 cherries for supper. But the man, all this time had been 
 thinking about his offer as well as the children, and a re- 
 
146 JULY. 
 
 volution had taken place in his mind. Perhaps the wife, 
 finding that their neighbours were so very grateful for the 
 cherries, began to think that they were valuable, even if 
 only to dry for their own use. However, of that we know 
 nothing certainly ; we only know, that, after the husband 
 had gathered for the grateful and delighted children about 
 a quart of cherries, which seemed like nothing in the 
 bottom of their big basket, he told them candidly and 
 quite abruptly, that he " was beginning to be tired of 
 their company, and so they had better clear off." 
 
 They would not have believed the man to be in earnest, 
 had he not come down from the tree, and, putting his 
 ladder to his shoulder, began to " clear off" himself. They 
 submitted patiently, therefore, though greatly astonished ; 
 and, feeling as if they were making a most ignominious 
 retreat, walked away from the farm with their almost 
 empty basket. 
 
 July 10th.— Willie and Henry walked down to the city. 
 They thought that walking was much pleasanter than 
 driving, because it was so much more independent. They 
 were up early, and were very impatient to set off. 
 
 On their way, they saw the "chain-gang'' at work 
 mending the road. These were criminals, both black and 
 white, who, for small offences, were condemned to labour, 
 exposed to public view. They wore each of them, around 
 their right ankle, a long iron chain, to which a heavy iron 
 
WALK IN THE CITY. 147 
 
 ball was attached. They worked in silence, and were not 
 allowed to hold converse with any one. An overseer, with 
 a loaded musket on his shoulder, attended them, and fol- 
 lowed the wagon which conveyed them to and from their 
 work, in a little carriage called "a buggy," with this 
 musket still on his shoulder. 
 
 Willie's parents had always spoken of this as a barbarous 
 custom, and as a disgrace to the country ; and Willie, who 
 as was natural, had imbibed their sentiments, felt nothing 
 but shame and pity for the criminals, and indignation 
 against the overseer, who seemed, to his feelings, without 
 any regard to the crimes of the others, like a personifi- 
 cation of tyranny. 
 
 They next came to a different object altogether. This 
 was a great steam-saw. They watched the saws at work 
 " ripping the boards" for some time, and then went on to 
 a rolling-mill, which, with its huge iron rollers, pressed the 
 metal from the rough pig into the thinnest bars. 
 
 They next called at a store kept by an acquaintance of 
 both families : and here they had their pockets filled with 
 almonds. They spent five cents each in a glass of soda- 
 water, and then, fancying that they needed yet farther 
 refreshment, they took a shower bath. They now felt 
 themselves as lively as when they first got up, and went 
 to perambulate the streets, and look about them. They 
 saw a variety of things, among the rest, ten horses in a 
 timber-dray take fright and run away, which occasioned a 
 
 l 2 
 
148 JULY. 
 
 great terror/ but nobody was hurt ; they saw troops of 
 soldiers at parade, toys and pictures in the shop-windows, 
 and many other equally remarkable things. 
 
 July 11th. — Uncle Cornelius came up to The Cedars, 
 and brought news of the poor emigrant blacks. He told 
 them that their former master, John Randolph, once said 
 to a gentleman who was a great advocate for the abolition 
 of slavery, that he would instantly give liberty to every 
 slave in his possession if it could be made clear to him that 
 with the existing laws and the present prejudices against 
 coloured people, they would be happier as free men than 
 as slaves. The advocate of freedom, of course, thought 
 that this could be proved instantly ; but that there was 
 some truth in his fears was now sorrowfully proved in the 
 case of these very poor people ; but still that was no 
 argument in favour of slavery; on the contrary, a very 
 strong one against it. With that, however, we have now 
 nothing to do, but merely to say, that these poor way- 
 farers, who were bound, as they hoped, for a region where 
 their colour and their position in society would give offence 
 to no man, were met, when they arrived at the landing- 
 place near their destination, by a rude and brutal mob, 
 who refused to let them proceed, or take possession of the 
 lands which had been purchased for them, or even to set 
 foot in the country. This was a dreadful termination to 
 their long and toilsome journey, but they had no resource 
 
GUINEA-FOWL BROOD. 1-19 
 
 except submission ; and turning, therefore, aside from that 
 land of Goshen which had been promised to them, they 
 formed an encampment at a distance, there to wait the 
 result ; and probably they might have to wait many 
 months, only to find themselves still farther vagabonds and 
 outcasts. 
 
 July 13th. — The guinea hen brought out her brood this 
 morning, and it was so numerous that it was at first im- 
 possible to count it. Eberhard reported it to be thirty ; 
 and the two old birds seemed so proud and pleased, that 
 everybody was delighted with them. The guinea-hen sits 
 a month, which is a week longer than the common hen ; 
 and it was the opinion at The Cedars, that the cock bird 
 sometimes took the hen's place on the eggs, but, however 
 that might be, he often sheltered the young brood under 
 his wings like the mother. But very little was seen of 
 either of them ; they seldom made their appearance, except 
 to be fed, when, with their numerous train of young at- 
 tendants, they were a very fine sight. 
 
 The broods of common chickens were so very numerous, 
 that nobody pretended to count them ; they were of all 
 ages and sizes ; and many a dinner and supper were 
 they, poor things, destined to furnish, in order that their 
 numbers might be greatly reduced before the grapes were 
 ripe, as they were very destructive in vineyards. 
 
 The children went this afternoon to gather a plant called 
 catnip, which is useful for colds. It was a very common 
 
] 50 JULY. 
 
 plant, and grew almost everywhere; but Willie, who, like 
 many other people, fancied that was best which came 
 farthest from home, went to a particular spot, at some 
 distance, to get it. Whilst busy gathering it, up came 
 Martin Brandenburg and his sister on their way from 
 school. Martin, in his usual overbearing way, demanded 
 to have some of the catnip; which, on Willie refusing, 
 lie threatened to beat him, and at once made a spring 
 forward to strike him. The sister interfered; and, to 
 Willie's surprise, took his part; whereupon Willie was not 
 nearly as angry as he otherwise would have been. He 
 spoke mildly to Brandenburg; on which he withdrew, 
 abusing his sister, and threatening to have it out with 
 Willie some other day. 
 
 The next morning, at breakfast, Willie related this 
 occurrence ; and everybody was very angry at Branden- 
 burg's quarrelsome, bad behaviour. The father said that 
 it should be put an end to, and that he would see his 
 father and have him punished for it. Shortly after this, 
 and before they had left the breakfast table, they heard a 
 loud outcry as from a boy. They all left the table and 
 hastened to the spot whence it proceeded, and soon per- 
 ceived that it was the father of Brandenburg flogging 
 his son. The boy's cries were horrible, and the father's 
 threats and angry words were equally so ; he was beating 
 the boy with a huge cowskin whip, and the blows were 
 tremendous. 
 
 All at once a complete revolution was produced in the 
 
THE BEATEN BOY. 151 
 
 minds of the children. Dislike to this bad boy now 
 changed to sympathy and pity. t( Do, father, go and save 
 him I" they cried with tears. They had entirely forgiven 
 him all his threats and insults, and they wished only to 
 have mercy shown to him. 
 
 " Oh, mother V said Nanny, " his father beats him for 
 the smallest thing, and so he gets beaten every day; and 
 that is the reason why he is so very wicked V 
 
 Nanny was right. This brutal severity of his father, 
 no doubt, explained the brutality of his own disposition. 
 Her mother said so ; and added, that most, if not all, the 
 bad boys she knew had been brought up under the lash. 
 She instanced some very wicked ones, and these, all of 
 them, had been subjected to severe floggings and chastise- 
 ment by their parents; for, an ignorant and passionate 
 parent often endeavours to make up for his defects in moral 
 training by the cow-hide whip, and by violent language 
 and threats, which only harden and inflame the poor 
 neglected child to hatred and desperation. 
 
 The children, young as they were, now longed to discover 
 some means of reclaiming this poor lad, and of persuading 
 his parents to guide him by good example and love. 
 
 July 15th. — Willie and his sisters went after breakfast 
 to weed the pumpkin bed, and when that was done, to 
 gather blackberries. 
 
 It would have been quite an amazement and a delight to 
 
152 JULY. 
 
 our little English readers to have seen how abundant and 
 how excellent was this wild fruit. They went no farther than 
 their own fences, and yet they gathered many quarts each 
 day. These blackberries were eaten with sugar and cream, 
 and made an excellent addition to dinner or supper. 
 Some were boiled into a jam or conserve, which was very 
 good for colds. 
 
 This was darling little Nelly's birthday, and she was now 
 two years old. Everybody agreed that she looked more 
 lovely and more fascinating than ever. There never was 
 such a little jewel of a baby as she was, for she was always 
 called ' ' the baby ;" and as she was remarkably small of 
 her age, it seemed more appropriate. Her face beamed 
 with gentleness and good-humour, and her sweet little 
 head was covered with soft curling, light brown hair. She 
 clapped her little rosy hands in token of joy when she saw 
 everybody around her looking happy because it was her 
 birthday, and gave the back of her tiny right hand to be 
 kissed, which was always her custom when she wished to 
 show her good-will or to be particularly gracious to any one. 
 
 At tea, the table was spread with especial care to do her 
 honour. The father's "grandmother-cups and saucers," 
 as they were called, of delicate green and gold, the like of 
 which were hardly to be seen in America, and which never 
 until now had been used for many a* long year, made the 
 table beautiful. A bowl of sugared blackberries, those 
 which the father and the elder children had gathered, and 
 
153 
 
 a large glass jug of cream, were set on the table, besides 
 curds, new biscuits and tomatoes. The little one enjoyed 
 it as much as any of the rest ; and after tea received her 
 presents from her brothers and sisters with a quiet smile 
 and the air of a little princess. Willie gave her his large 
 ivory English teetotum, and which was as good as new, 
 because it had been locked up among his best things; 
 Florence her new cup and saucer ; and Nanny, the pretty 
 doll which cousin Margaret had dressed for her two years 
 ago, when dear little Nelly was born, and which, like 
 Willie's teetotum, had been locked up ever since. 
 
 July 16th. — Louise, who was now quite recovered, 
 returned again to the family, which was a great comfort to 
 everybody. 
 
 July 17th. — Gathered the first ripe peaches and the first 
 green corn, which was a great luxury ; they had already 
 gathered bunch squash, and tomatoes; and pears and 
 apples were in abundance. Willie wrote down, as his copy 
 this day, all the vegetable-produce of the garden which he 
 could remember. It was written in a careful round-hand, 
 and was as follows : asparagus, rhubarb, salad, potatoes, 
 beans, peas, cabbages, spinach, beets, carrots, turnips, par- 
 snips ; water, musk, citron, and cantiloup melons ; squashes 
 or vegetable marrow; the purple egg-plant, sweet-corn, 
 pop-corn, gourds, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. 
 
154 JULY. 
 
 July 18th. — After dinner, the father drove the mother 
 and all the children, little Nelly included, into the country, 
 to pay a visit. Their road lay for several miles by the 
 river-bank westward, and where until now the children 
 had never been. The opposite, or Kentucky bank of the 
 river, was bordered by hills, covered with wood, which 
 now, bathed in sunshine, were beautifully reflected in the 
 clear and still water. Between these hills and the shore 
 stood here and there a farm-house, interspersed with soli- 
 tary log- cabins, which had a wild and lonesome look, and 
 which, probably, were the abode of slaves. On their own 
 side the land was much more cleared and cultivated, and 
 was studded the whole way with neat white cottages and 
 handsome villas, surrounded by beautiful gardens, filled 
 with shrubs and bright flowers, and enriched with fruit- 
 trees and orchards. The hill-sides were covered with vine- 
 yards, some of them bordered by the forest, and others 
 extending to the summits ; the low-lands, or bottoms, were 
 abundant corn-fields or melon-grounds, and the whole road 
 was enlivened with carriages, omnibuses, and empty market- 
 wagons, which afforded much amusement to the children, 
 as did also the little fishing -boats here and there upon the 
 river, or an occasional flat-boat proceeding on its weary 
 voyage, impelled only by the current, which, when the 
 river was as low as at present, and on a calm day, was slow 
 indeed. 
 
 The family for whom the visit was intended was un- 
 
AN AMERICAN LANDSCAPE. 155 
 
 fortunately from home, and they therefore returned by 
 another road, to compensate themselves for their disappoint- 
 ment by a pleasant variety. Their road now led them 
 along the banks of Bald-face Creek, where the scenery 
 was wild and picturesque. They soon came to a long and 
 steep hill; and as their father thought it too much for 
 Farmer to pull them all up, he and the children alighted 
 to walk. Nanny, however, soon grew tired, and repented 
 that she had left the easy carriage ; on which Willie made 
 her get on his back, and thus conveyed her up the hill, to 
 the great amusement of everybody. 
 
 On the hill-top they had a lovely view of woods and 
 hills to a great extent, and just at their feet lay the beauti- 
 ful valley of Bald-face Creek. The little river poured its 
 sparkling waters in the sunshine, corn-fields clothed its 
 secluded slopes, and here and there was seen a mill or a 
 log-cabin, presenting a perfect picture of Arcadian peace. 
 On the left hand of the road were the dreary-looking ruins 
 of a half-burnt log-cabin, amid the uncleared forest, and 
 on the right, a smiling and abundant vineyard. It was 
 altogether a lovely bit of varied scenery, full of the peculiar 
 features of American rural life ; and all agreed that it was 
 well worth the fatigue of the wearisome ascent. 
 
 They reached home in time to enjoy a good supper, 
 which they found set out ready under the piazza, and 
 which they ate in the beams of a remarkably splendid 
 sunset. 
 
156 JULY. 
 
 July 19th. — Florence had now the pleasure of gathering 
 daily very pretty nosegays for her mother out of her garden. 
 She had fine balsams, larkspur, marigolds, marvel of Peru, 
 blue-bottles, oleanders, and many other flowers. Willie 
 found out that his second garden, behind the smoke-house, 
 was in a bad situation ; and that the flowers, owing to its 
 western aspect, did not blossom so finely as they ought. 
 
 This morning a great event occurred — the first cheese 
 was made — and what drinking of whey there was by young 
 and old, and what delicious curds on the supper-table, and 
 what watching of the whole process, from the first putting 
 the milk into the kettle ; its coagulation and squeezing 
 into the vat ; and then, how the whole tribe of children 
 ran, little Nelly amongst them, to see it placed in the new 
 press which Joiner Lotte had been busy making for the 
 last two days, and which was now set up in the woodhouse ! 
 It was an event not only in the family but through the 
 whole neighbourhood ; for this was probably the first cheese 
 that had been made within forty miles — the famous 
 Western Reserve, the Cheshire and double Gloucester of 
 America, being made at least two hundred miles off — and 
 if this cheese-making succeeded, Madam Leonard and the 
 people at Diedrich's Hof, and all round the neighbourhood, 
 said they would make cheese too. 
 
 The Indian corn in the fields had now attained its full 
 height of eight or ten feet, and was in its utmost beauty. 
 The broad green leaves were fresh and vigorous; and 
 
157 
 
 amongst them, the light green spathe, filled with the rich 
 ear, was conspicuous, whilst the whole plant was crowned 
 with its elegant light-coloured tassel. 
 
 Eberhard began to mow the oats, and in preparation for 
 their being carried, the corn-crib was cleared out, and 
 Willie and Milo had a busy time among the rats, young 
 and old. Woltman, Eberhard's dog, was there also, and 
 the cat, Shinker, after the young ones. It was quite 
 curious to see how Woltman and Milo worked together : 
 Woltman caught the rats and held them fast, and then 
 Milo came up and killed them ; there seemed to be quite 
 an understanding between them as to what part of the 
 work each could do the best. 
 
 The guinea-fowls which had been missing for many days 
 now " turned up." The old ones and their numerous 
 brood had been living in luxury among the oats, and had 
 kept wonderfully quiet amid their abundance, and now 
 looked all the better for it. 
 
 Just before the family were going to sit down to supper 
 this evening, a man came up to the house to ask if they 
 had any spirits of turpentine which they would give or 
 sell him, as he had a horse ill on the road ; and he thought 
 it would die if he could not get this medicine for it. 
 
 The great bottle of spirits of turpentine was instantly 
 produced, and the man's wants fully supplied ; and Willie 
 and his father returned with him to see if they could render 
 him any further assistance. They found at the gate two 
 
158 JULY. 
 
 wagons with their clean white linen covers drawn up, and 
 the horses taken out. The poor sick horse was rolling in 
 agony on the grass by the road-side, and was quite a 
 grievous sight. 
 
 The men were farmers from Indiana, who had come 
 eighty miles, each with a load of wheat to sell at the city. 
 They carried their provisions for man and horse with them; 
 and now, after having administered the medicine to the 
 horse, and seen it somewhat relieved, they began to make 
 preparations for lighting their fire, boiling their kettle, and 
 broiling their meat. Instead of allowing them, however, 
 to take all that trouble, the father invited them to go up 
 to his house and take supper with the family. 
 
 They seemed greatly pleased with the invitation ; and 
 as they walked up to the house one of them said, — "Well, 
 if temporalities can secure earthly happiness, you must 
 have it in this place." 
 
 They heartily enjoyed their supper, and took leave with 
 many thanks and blessings, the horse by that time being 
 sufficiently recovered to proceed to the city, which they 
 would reach in about an hour. 
 
 This mode of travelling in covered wagons with pro- 
 visions and cooking utensils is very common in America. 
 Groups of such wayfarers were frequently seen around 
 their fire on the edge of some pleasant wood. People 
 often travelled thus to market eighty or a hundred miles, 
 or on their migration from one part of the country to 
 
u WESTWARD MOVERS." 159 
 
 another. These "movers," as they were called, were a 
 very picturesque and interesting feature in the society of 
 this western country. They avoided taverns, because the 
 keepers of these places, gaining nothing by them, often 
 denied to them the commonest civilities. The wagons in 
 these cases were laden with beds, bedding and household 
 furniture, amongst which the women and children were 
 perched or nestled, according to circumstances, and the 
 wooden cradle of the baby often swung behind, giving a 
 very pleasant domestic feature to the whole affair. The 
 men invariably walked, having to drive the team and per- 
 haps half a dozen cows beside. 
 
 Such journeys were, in all cases, wearisome and tiresome, 
 full of hardship and much privation ; but nevertheless they 
 had their pleasure and their excitement, and were not 
 without their charm. The "golden west" lay before them; 
 and they were hoping for great happiness and great success 
 at the end of the journey, which would bring them where 
 land was cheap and people few. 
 
 Such were the " westward movers." Alas for those who, 
 disappointed in their hopes, as many were, had to retrace 
 their steps eastward, with expended means, broken health, 
 and sometimes without the father of the family, who, 
 from greater exposure to the extremes of the seasons, had 
 fallen a sacrifice to the fever and ague of an unwholesome 
 climate and an unprepared country ! 
 
 Shortly after the Indiana farmers had been with their 
 
160 JULY. 
 
 sick horse, the father encountered a party of these un- 
 happy and disappointed settlers. They were encamped 
 near the city, by the road side, to the number of eighteen. 
 The sight was very interesting to him ; and the appearance 
 of the people themselves made it painfully so. All of 
 them bore outward signs of exposure to the weather, 
 hardship and sore sickness. They were, every one of them, 
 old and young, shaking fearfully with ague ; and they 
 seemed altogether to be much fitter for a hospital, than to 
 undergo the continued fatigues of a journey. 
 
 " Whither are you going V 9 inquired the father. 
 
 " Back to Kentucky/' was the reply. 
 
 " From what place have you come V 9 he asked. 
 
 "Oh! from Des Moines, in Iowa/' said they. "We went 
 out better than two years ago ; we were then four-and- 
 twenty in company. We lived in Iowa for two years. 
 We have been sick all the time ; ague — ague — ague ! 
 Six of our number died; the rest were worn out; and 
 now we are going back to our own old homes to live and 
 die there I" 
 
 The women and children sate shaking round the speaker. 
 Tears rolled down their emaciated faces at this recital of 
 their sorrows, but not one of them spoke; they seemed 
 too much worn-out and depressed to talk. 
 
 July 26th. — The weather had now for some time been 
 extremely hot : the thermometer was 98° in the shade. 
 
THE HOMELESS NEGROES Of ROANOKE. 161 
 
 On this day came thunder and rain, and then the tem- 
 perature suddenly fell to 56°. The change was terrible ; 
 everybody sate shivering, and the children took violent 
 colds, creeping to the fire, and suffering greatly. This 
 lasted for three days ; then it was as warm again as ever, 
 the thermometer mounting to 90° in the shade. 
 
 Amid all these vicissitudes of weather, drenching rain, 
 extreme cold, and then again burning heat, those poor, 
 unfortunate emigrant negroes from Roanoke, were en- 
 camped in the woods bordering the canal, and unable to 
 enter upon their new homes ; because those homes and 
 lands and provisions, for which they had paid 30,000 
 dollars, were forbidden to them by the neighbouring 
 settlers, who were resolutely determined not to have 
 them amongst them ; and thus these three hundred 
 and ninety-five human beings, men, women, and little 
 children, were living without other shelter than their 
 wagons and tents, not knowing where to flee to. They 
 had indeed no place of refuge. They were forbidden 
 to set foot in the land which their own money had 
 purchased ; nor as free negroes could they return to their 
 former homes in a Slave State. 
 
 Their unhappy fate excited much commiseration at The 
 Cedars, but there nothing could be done for them. 
 
 Florence went with her parents a journey which lasted 
 several days, and which was amusing to her, and full <of 
 incident. At one place they met with Mrs. Wells, the 
 
 M 
 
162 JULY. 
 
 wife of Thomas Wells, the Quaker Missionary among the 
 Indians ; she told them that they had succeeded in intro- 
 ducing sheep and the spinning-wheel and loom among 
 these children of the forest, and that she knew an Indian 
 woman who was so wealthy that she was possessed both 
 of horses and sheep, and when Mrs. Wells last saw her, 
 she had a fine flock, the wool of which she and other 
 Indian women spun and wove ; she was then very in- 
 quisitive about English dress, and was quite proud of her 
 own flannel gown, which was spun and woven by herself. 
 
 One night they spent with some friends of theirs who 
 lived in a spacious log-house. The place had a very 
 pleasant sylvan appearance, standing in a field scattered 
 over with sugar-maples, among which were openings that 
 showed a rich extent of distant country. The house was a 
 long, low, whitewashed building, with a rustic porch, and 
 with roses, woodbines, and sweet-briar, growing to the 
 very eaves. The walls of the chambers were only bare 
 logs whitewashed ; but the whole fittings-up of the house 
 were of beautiful black walnut, and all exquisitely neat 
 and clean ; the linen was fine and white ; and throughout 
 the house were so many marks of education and even 
 refinement, that its very simplicity looked elegant. This 
 family, which was a very numerous one, consisted of 
 many sons and daughters, with a venerable old grandfather, 
 whose cheerfulness was like sunshine, and who was re- 
 markably proud, as he had reason to be, of his descend- 
 
THE LOG-HOUSE AMONG THE SUGAR MAPLES. 163 
 
 ants. He insisted on the visitors going with him into the 
 store-room to see the sugar which they had made that 
 season. It was about two tons weight, and of very fine 
 quality, besides molasses or treacle. The family made 
 also their own soap, candles, and clothes. Before they left 
 the store-room the old man pointed to a large heap of 
 dried apples, saying, " Those I call mine, because I did 
 them all myself. I shall give you some of them, not 
 because you are poor, mind ; but because I don't want 
 you to forget me." 
 
 Florence, who had always been accustomed to see 
 great plenty on their own table, was yet surprised at the 
 supper which was spread for them as soon as they arrived, 
 and yet they were unexpected guests. There was dried 
 ham and chipped beef, poached eggs, two kind of pies ; 
 bread, sweet cakes, butter, cheese, stewed apples, pre- 
 serves, and cream, tea and coffee, and delicious hot 
 buttered crumpets. 
 
 Leaving this pleasant and hospitable home, they drove 
 through a delightful country, past cheerful-looking farm- 
 houses, and noble groves of sugar-maples, those surest 
 indications of a rich and fertile soil, until they arrived at 
 the Shaker village of Union, where they determined to 
 make a short halt, as the children's mother wished to see 
 something of this singular community. Unfortunately it 
 was Sunday, and thus but little was to be seen of the 
 every-day life of its people. 
 
 m 2 
 
164 JULY. 
 
 Union Village, which terminated the rich district of the 
 sugar-camp, struck our friends at the first moment by its 
 character of thriving industry. Its gardens, orchards, 
 fields, and even woods, had an air of neatness and 
 prosperous care, which, at the first glance, was very 
 attractive. The houses stood irregularly, and were of 
 various sizes, and designed for various purposes ; yet 
 although scrupulously clean and neat, they exhibited no 
 marks of taste — such as vine-covered verandas — or roses 
 and honeysuckles climbing up their fronts — and the want 
 of these our flower-loving friends regarded as a great 
 failing ; but the Shakers strip the outward of all embel- 
 lishment, and, therefore, give but little encouragement 
 to flowers, as being too pleasing to the corrupt nature, 
 which they wish to mortify. Some of the dwellings were 
 very large, containing from eighty to a hundred inmates,- 
 both men and women ; but it was a sort of Union Work- 
 house, where parents and children, husbands and wives, 
 were no more to each other than mere neighbours. 
 
 This Union Village is divided into Upper and Lower, 
 about half a mile apart, and a footpath of a single plank 
 connects the two, for it is not seemly for a man and 
 woman of the Shaker persuasion, although they call 
 each other brother and sister, to walk side by side; 
 everybody goes singly; nay, so far is this separation 
 carried out, that different breadths of carpet are laid 
 down in the dining-room, the one for the men and the 
 
THE SHAKER VILLAGE. 165 
 
 other for the women. As Florence and her mother 
 walked through the village, the boys and girls were just 
 coming out of school, walking two and two, in separate 
 parties, across the green to the chapel, a neat and new 
 building, not unlike a Friends' meeting-house. The 
 boys looked like little old men. They were dressed in 
 grey pantaloons and long-waisted black jackets with 
 laps like waistcoats, and broad-brimmed straw hats ; the 
 girls wore brown stuff gowns, small clear muslin hand- 
 kerchiefs pinned down in front, and a very peculiar 
 straw bonnet, called a Shaker bonnet, with a buff cotton 
 curtain, and no ribbon, excepting for strings. 
 
 When they reached the second village, Florence, who 
 was very thirsty, begged her mother to stop somewhere 
 and ask for a glass of water for her. Her mother accord- 
 ingly knocked at the door of a large pea-green house and 
 asked the favour from a little, ruddy, well-fed elderly man, 
 in grey pantaloons, long-lapped waistcoat, and red-brown, 
 large, loose, dressing gown, who, evidently not wishing to 
 receive a woman and a little girl under his roof, said, 
 "Walk in strangers; but take the left-hand door V } They 
 did so, and found there a tall, thin and elderly woman, 
 sitting at an open window, reading a Bible. On seeing 
 them, she rose and handed them chairs. Their visit 
 seemed agreeable to her; she was very communicative, 
 and told them many things about the school and their way 
 of life. She said, it certainly was the best that could 
 
166 JULY. 
 
 be thought of, for that they all lived in peace ; had all 
 that they wanted, and were removed from the temp- 
 tations of the world. Their friend s, she said, came to 
 see them sometimes at first, but they soon ceased to 
 care much about them, or to wish for much intercourse 
 with them. 
 
 She said, that there were seventy people living in that 
 house ; that they had each their separate room, besides a 
 room set apart for the purpose of devotion ; that they 
 manufactured almost all their own clothes ; and she made 
 Florence's mother try on her bonnet, which was made of 
 woven straw, pasted on pasteboard and varnished. Her 
 dress was a brown calamanca petticoat and grey cloth 
 slippers ; her chemise-sleeves reached below her elbow half- 
 way to the wrist ; and round each arm a narrow piece of 
 black ribbon was tied as a sign of mourning for a departed 
 brother, who had passed away the day before, and who had 
 been interred that morning. She wore a very neat habit 
 shirt, buttoned to the throat with a small turn-down 
 collar ; and over her shoulders a buff muslin-handkerchief, 
 pinned tight like the girls'. Her grey hair was combed 
 back from her high forehead ; and she wore a hoodlike 
 cap of clear stiff muslin, just pinned on the top of her 
 head, and with long hanging lappets. She seemed very 
 much disposed to be kind and communicative ; but there 
 was an air of melancholy about her ; and she looked thin 
 and out of condition, as did all the women ; whilst the 
 
ZEPHANIAH KUMBAL. 167 
 
 men were singularly ruddy- complexioned, with something 
 of a jolly-friar look ahout them. 
 
 On their way out of the village, the father, to his great 
 surprise, met a Shaker brother whom he had known for- 
 merly as a farmer in West Pennsylvania. His name was 
 Zephaniah Kumbal. He was strolling along, with an easy 
 comfortable air, in his loose grey pantaloons, long-lapped 
 black waistcoat, and short loose over-coat or dressing-gown, 
 of bright puce- coloured stuff, made with very wide sleeves. 
 This man, some three or four years before, finding himself 
 unsuccessful as a farmer, took his wife and children and 
 joined the Shakers at Union Village. There, as I said 
 before, as in a Union-Workhouse in England, father, 
 mother and " children, all separate at the entrance, and, 
 according to the rules, are henceforth no more to each 
 other than strangers. This did very well for Zephaniah, 
 who now got rid of the burden of wife and children. He 
 assumed the Shaker dress and grew fat and comfortable ; 
 but the wife, whose heart was full of affection, could not 
 bear it ; and not being able to take out her children, she 
 located herself in a cottage as near to them as possible, 
 where she could see them sometimes and do them good in 
 her own way. But it was a melancholy life for her, and 
 only a few months ago she had died. 
 
 The Shakers, however, as a body, were very rich. They 
 were industrious and frugal ; and their neat wagons, 
 covered with white linen, were often seen in the city 
 
168 JULY. 
 
 bringing goods and manufactured articles to be disposed 
 of. Their reputation for honesty was so great, that what- 
 ever was made or sold by a Shaker would fetch a higher 
 price. Shaker seeds, Shaker herbs, Shaker carpets, etc., 
 were all thought better than ordinary articles of the same 
 kind. 
 
 Spite of all its worldly prosperity, however, our family 
 never thought of Union Village but with somewhat of a 
 melancholy feeling ; for everything seemed to flourish 
 there excepting the women and the children. 
 
 July 27th. — Florence and Willie commenced dealing in 
 blackberries. They sold their blackberries for a cent a 
 pint to their mother. They gathered fourteen pints in two 
 days, and yet they never went beyond their own fields. 
 They intended to do great things with the money they 
 should thus earn, and already speculated much on the 
 subject. 
 
 They found to-day, in the fields, the most beautiful tree- 
 frog they had yet seen. It was of a bright green ; white 
 underneath, and on the under-side of the hind-legs of a 
 yellow colour, spotted with black. Its eyes were bright 
 and sparkling, and stood prominently from its head, making 
 its profile very singular, and giving great intelligence to 
 its countenance. 
 
 They brought it home of course, for their mother and 
 dear little Nelly to see ; and after every body had fully 
 
BATS IN THE BED-ROOM. 169 
 
 examined and admired it, they let it hop away among the 
 shrubs. It did not change colour like the others, nor had 
 it any deformity about it. 
 
 July 28th. — The two little girls were awakened very 
 early this morning, by a strange sound in their room. 
 Florence suggested that it was a robber rolling a basket 
 up and down the floor, not at all reflecting that such was 
 not a likely employment for a robber; and in her terror 
 she hid her head under the bed-clothes. Nanny, how- 
 ever, who was more courageous, got up to examine into 
 the cause, and then found, to their great amazement, 
 five bats, which had been shut in between the closed 
 windows and the outer Venetian shutters, fluttering 
 about and beating with their large wings and trying to 
 get out, and thus making a great noise. Fortunately 
 it had been a cold night, or the windows would have 
 been up, and in that case the bats would have come into 
 the room. On discovering what it was, Nanny called her 
 father, who opened the shutters and let the five bats fly 
 away, to the satisfaction of all parties. 
 
 The same evening also a bat was discovered to be flying 
 about the kitchen. Willie caught it, and thus had an 
 opportunity of carefully examining it 
 
 In one of the attics there was a nice little bee-chamber, 
 where the wild bees came and built and lived in great 
 numbers, no one molesting them ; the only fear now was 
 that they might become too numerous. 
 
170 JULY. 
 
 They gathered seven pints of blackberries this after- 
 noon ; and the little firm had now two-and-twenty cents, 
 besides what they had spent. Willie was divided in his 
 mind between a gun and a belt for his hunting-frock. 
 
 Florence thought that she should buy a new fan ; but 
 Nanny talked only of candy, there was nothing in this 
 world so good as candy. 
 
 July 29th. — An active boy of nine can do a great deal 
 if he only sincerely wishes to make himself useful. So 
 thought Willie's mother, during this day, and in the end 
 she enumerated all that he had done. 
 
 He was up at five o'clock in the morning, and before 
 breakfast went some distance to desire the seamstress to 
 come to work. He next went to Athens for groceries ; 
 came back, said his lessons, and went into the garden 
 to collect the weeds which his father had pulled up in 
 the early morning, he then dug up potatoes for dinner. 
 After dinner, he went with his sisters to gather black- 
 berries, and brought home five quarts. He then helped 
 little Frederick Lotte to carry boards for flooring the new 
 portico, and with Nanny's help cleared away a quantity of 
 rubbish. After this he made a nice little house out of an 
 old box, for the puppies, and of which they took pos- 
 session, apparently to the great delight of Fanny, who had 
 been dispossessed of " her nest," by the new cheese-press. 
 Nanny provided the hay for the bed, the softest she could 
 find j and thus all were left very comfortable. He then 
 
END OF A BUSY DAY. 171 
 
 had his supper, watched the men at work at the portico, 
 fetched up the cows, gave them their salt, blacked his 
 own shoes and brushed his clothes, the next day being 
 Sunday, and went to bed very happy, because every body 
 was well satisfied with him. 
 
172 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 August. 
 
 The delightful summer was rapidly passing on, and 
 every week brought some new token of the approaching 
 Fall. The fire-flies still continued to enliven and beautify 
 the evenings, starting up and darting about like brilliant 
 sparks, sometimes soaring in the air, and at others 
 lingering amongst the branches of the tallest trees. The 
 grasshoppers and the common locusts were come, and 
 filled the air night and day with their music ; making a 
 ceaseless stirring sound which was loudest in the stillness 
 of the night. The tree-frog mingled its cry in the general 
 chorus, and evenings and mornings, the birds still sung 
 sweetly, and the cat-birds, which had built other nests 
 in the cedar-trees, were busy feeding and tending their 
 young, for these were a second brood. All these sights 
 and sounds, pleasant as they were, told that the summer 
 had passed its maturity, and was advancing into autumn. 
 
 August 2nd. — Willie and his sisters paid a visit to the 
 Coloured Orphan Asylum — that is, to the Orphan Asylum 
 of the Negroes. It stood in a pleasant and airy part of 
 the city. The number of children was but few ; and from 
 that cause, perhaps, their visitors became more indivi- 
 
NEGRO-ORPHANS. 173 
 
 • 
 
 dually interested in them. The eldest, a girl of fourteen, 
 was a cripple, from some dreadful injury which she had 
 received in her infancy ; the youngest was a little girl of 
 four years old, called Elizabeth, a delicate and intelligent- 
 looking little child. Nanny proposed that they should 
 come again and bring her an apple. 
 
 Their mother, who accompanied them, had always taken 
 a melancholy interest in institutions of this kind. Her 
 heart seemed to attach itself to these little solitary crea- 
 tures, these children who had never known, perhaps never 
 would know, the sweet endearments of home, nor any of 
 those little indulgences and soothing tendernesses which 
 seem to belong to the remembrances of childhood, and 
 which flow so sweetly and so freely from the inexhaustible 
 fountain of a mother's love. They were fed and clothed 
 and taught in the school, and taken duly to chapel twice 
 every Sunday. Still this was but a threadbare sort of life ; 
 and in the present instance every thing wore an air of 
 poverty, because the institution was new, and had been 
 struggling onward through many difficulties, chiefly be- 
 cause it was begun and supported by the coloured people 
 themselves. 
 
 August 4th. — The oats were carried and stacked in the 
 corn- crib; on which occasion the guinea-fowls, old and 
 young, again made their appearance. The young brood 
 of thirty had somewhat diminished in number ; but they 
 
174 AUGUST. 
 
 were all active, beautiful little things, as shy and wild as 
 could be, and the old ones were very fierce. 
 
 One of the puppies was sent away to a good new home ; 
 and the other looked very demure and sad, as if it missed 
 its companion. 
 
 Florence, who had been on a visit to the city, returned, 
 bringing with her the new fan which she had, according 
 to her first intention, bought with her share of the black- 
 berry earnings. 
 
 Their little friend Felicia returned with Florence, and 
 they two, being both of them good little needle-women, 
 commenced making some clothing for the little coloured 
 orphan, Elizabeth. They were going to make her a pretty 
 cotton frock, and a long-sleeved pinafore, which the mother 
 cut out for them. 
 
 The father had given an injunction that none of the 
 children should gather quinces ; they all knew it ; Nanny 
 as well as the rest. Nanny, however, gathered one ; and 
 in consequence, her father forbade that on this day she 
 should have either apple, pear or peach. Florence, who 
 had told of her sister's fault, was afterwards so sorry for 
 having done so, that she begged to be included in the 
 punishment, which the father permitted. 
 
 August 5th. — Willie rose by five o' clock this morning, 
 because he was going to the city with Heinrich, who had 
 a wagon-load of potatoes to sell at market. The wagon 
 
COVERED WOODEN BRIDGES. 175 
 
 had been loaded the evening before ; and he had only 
 time to dress himself and take a biscuit in his hand, before 
 Heinrich's deep voice was heard impatiently summoning 
 him, in his deliberate English, for Heinrich was by no 
 means familiar with that language. 
 
 It was a remarkably bright and pleasant morning, and 
 Willie arrived at the house of Uncle Cornelius, where he 
 was to spend the day, before his breakfast hour. 
 
 While Heinrich was selling his potatoes, Willie went 
 with Uncle Cornelius to see the hull of a fine steamer, 
 which had been burnt on the river the evening before ; 
 and after this, to examine the foundations of Red-Creek 
 bridge, which, at last, was going to be rebuilt. This was 
 to be one of the curious covered wooden bridges which 
 are peculiar to America, and of which kind very large ones 
 cross the Monongahela, Susquehanna, and other conside- 
 rable rivers. They are composed of immense timbers, cross- 
 ing and counter-crossing one another, like a gigantic 
 net-work, and which rests upon arches springing from the 
 butments, and extending to the roof, like the ribs of the 
 whole structure. There are always on these bridges two 
 roads, one for going, the other for returning. Within, the 
 whole of its extraordinary construction is seen : without, 
 they are shingled and weather-boarded, and have an ugly 
 appearance. It was a bridge of this kind which was now 
 being erected over Red Creek; and Willie might well 
 be interested in it. 
 
1 76 AUGUST. 
 
 August 7th. — The father was from home, and Willie 
 had several duties left for his daily performance : he had, 
 for instance, to exercise Farmer every day ; to give the 
 cows their daily portion of salt ; to weed in the garden, 
 and carefully to gather the peaches as they ripened. 
 
 None of these offices were arduous or unpleasant, and 
 one was exceedingly to his taste ; this was riding Farmer. 
 The first day he was so impatient, that he and Heinrich 
 quarrelled about the horse being saddled, Willie wanted 
 it done the moment he was at liberty, but Heinrich was 
 busy ; Willie urged him till he was out of humour, and 
 then he set off without doing it at all ; and Willie was 
 obliged to wait till Eberhard came in to his dinner, as his 
 father had forbidden him to saddle the horse himself. 
 
 At last Eberhard came. The horse was brought out 
 ready saddled, and Willie mounted triumphantly, impa- 
 tient to exhibit his horsemanship to his mother and sisters, 
 who were out to see him. But some fancy was in the 
 horse, for no sooner was Willie on his back, than he began 
 to caper about, and when he was checked by the rein, he 
 stood stock still, or went the very opposite way that Willie 
 wanted. Florence cried out, " Give Willie the fishing- 
 rod, for Farmer wants a good beating \" 
 
 The mother stood at the window and smiled, for Willie, 
 who prided himself so much on his horsemanship, did not 
 now make any great figure. Louise and Eberhard stood 
 at the door laughing with all their might ; and Willie 
 
WILLIE ON HORSEBACK. 177 
 
 called out in angry dismay, " What's amiss with the horse ? 
 what can be come to the horse ! Can anybody tell what 
 he means V 
 
 Nanny, however, who was not pleased with the 
 laughter occasioned by Willie's horsemanship, kept gravely 
 saying, to the astonishment of everybody, " How well 
 Willie rides ! Doesn't Willie ride nicely ? I wish I might 
 ride too I" 
 
 But Willie finished much better than he began ; for 
 Farmer, finding that there was somebody on his back who 
 meant to be his master, quietly submitted, and before long, 
 everybody, even Louise and Eberhard, agreed with Nanny 
 that Willie rode exceedingly well. 
 
 Felicia, who regularly went to school in the city, was 
 very useful to her friends, who hitherto had only been 
 taught at home and by their mother. They now all 
 formed a little class, as Felicia said they did at school, and 
 said their lessons, and answered questions. The lessons in 
 this way went on very cheerfully ; and while the little girls 
 sewed at poor Elizabeth's clothes, Willie worked indus- 
 triously at his writing and arithmetic. While Felicia was 
 with them there was a great rage for needle-work ; they 
 refitted the dolls' wardrobes, and Willie, who had always 
 been clever in sewing on buttons and mending the rents 
 in his own jacket or trousers, made neat little bags to hold 
 seeds. 
 
178 AUGUST. 
 
 The blackberry gathering went on as industriously as 
 ever. 
 
 One day cousin Michael made his appearance on a 
 queer little piebald pony named Johnny, on which he of 
 late had taken to ride. He was come to beg for Fanny's 
 company for a few months, and after much persuasion and 
 many promises to treat her well, he was allowed to have 
 her. Fanny was, odd as it may sound, going to a dog- 
 school to be instructed in rat-catching, by the most famous 
 rat-catching dog in the whole country, and after that she 
 was to return home^ where, she could very usefully practise 
 her accomplishment. 
 
 After Fanny was gone, there only remained the little 
 black puppy, which was called Wasp, and the great dog 
 Milo. 
 
 August 10th. — The children were this morning much 
 pleased to find a real locust adhering to the wall under the 
 piazza. It had been for some days, an invisible mystery 
 to everybody, sending forth its loud cry in tree and bush, 
 but never before to be seen. Now it was, however, in 
 full day-light, sitting still as if it had come to be looked 
 at. It had a large black and green body, plump and 
 round like a great beetle ; its eyes were black and pro- 
 minent, and its wings, which expanded considerably beyond 
 its body, were transparent, horny and strongly veined. In 
 length it was about two inches. 
 
WILLIE FETCHES HOME WOOD. 179 
 
 It was placed under a glass-shade, so that everybody 
 might have an opportunity of satisfying their curiosity ; 
 and when this was done, it was allowed to fly away, and 
 the whole afternoon, it kept up its continual chirring in 
 an apple-tree, as if it were rejoicing in its regained 
 freedom. 
 
 This was a day of insect-visits, for hardly was the locust 
 gone, when a handsome catadid made its appearance at the 
 house. It was a long slender insect of a bright green 
 colour, much more elegant in form than the locust, and 
 not by any means so great a rarity. The catadidn't, the 
 female of the same species, is a roundish green insect, 
 about half an inch long, while the male is from one and a 
 half to two inches in length. They utter their loud con- 
 tradictory cry in calm warm evenings, and seem particu- 
 larly to rejoice in moonlight. 
 
 It was a splendid afternoon, and as Eberhard had to fetch 
 wood, Willie used great diligence in his lessons and other 
 tasks, and obtained leave to go with him. Both Farmer 
 and Ben were put in the wagon, and they trotted on 
 briskly, Willie sitting on the empty wagon-front with 
 Eberhard. They went down into the deep hollows and 
 loaded the wagon ; the woods looked very green and 
 pleasant — the grasshoppers chirped — the birds flew about 
 — and every now and then little squirrels ran amongst the 
 grass or jumped from tree to tree. Everything looked 
 pleasant, as it always did in the green woods, and they 
 
 n 2 
 
180 AUGUST. 
 
 returned home with their wagon-load of wood just as the 
 father, mother, and sisters were seating themselves to 
 supper under the walnut-tree near the piazza. 
 
 August 11th. — The mother now, like all good American 
 housewives, had wadded bed-covers and petticoats quilted, 
 in preparation for winter. Florence was anxious to have 
 " a comfort," or wadded bed-cover for her doll, and 
 Willie made her a little quilting-frame for this purpose. 
 
 August 12th. — Florence's quilting went on admirably. 
 
 In the evening everybody turned out to gather peaches, 
 which Eberhard was to take the next morning to market. 
 When they were gathered, Willie helped his father to 
 pack them in large baskets with sweet new hay. Little 
 Nelly took great interest in this business, and stood with 
 a mouth ever ready for a bite from any remarkably fine 
 juicy peach which Willie or her sisters had kept in reserve 
 for her. 
 
 August 14th. — The whole family busy paring peaches for 
 drying. There was a great pleasure in the thought that 
 perhaps the dear grandmother in England, or the aunts 
 and cousins there, might eat some of them, as there was 
 now a scheme greatly talked of, for sending a small 
 portion of the abundant treasure of this bountiful land to 
 those beloved and distant relatives. 
 
WILLIE GOES INTO KENTUCKY. 181 
 
 August 15th. — Willie went with his parents to pay a 
 visit at a short distance in Kentucky. They first drove up 
 B-ecl-Creek Valley, in order to make a call there. The 
 scenery was extremely pretty ; hills partially covered with 
 wood skirted this beautiful stream, leaving a broad fertile 
 flat cultivated to the highest degree as gardens and 
 nursery-grounds, and thickly studded with pleasant houses. 
 The Miami Canal, which was carried along the bottom of 
 the valley, gave an air of commercial prosperity to it, with 
 its ever-passing trading-boats, its warehouses and its 
 bridges. They dined in the city with Uncle Cornelius. 
 
 After dinner they drove down to the river, and crossed 
 in the ferry-boat. This boat was worked by steam, and 
 was very large and powerful. Besides their own, there 
 were other carriages, as well as empty market carts, re- 
 turning home, which all crossed at the same time. After 
 landing on the other side, they drove to a small garrison 
 town. In the fields outside, tents were pitched, where a 
 large number of volunteers were then encamped. The 
 tents were ranged in lines, and looked very white and 
 picturesque ; the men in their gay uniform, were walking 
 about, or sitting or standing together in groups, so that 
 the whole effect was very novel and animated. It was not, 
 however, found to be so attractive when more nearly ob- 
 served, for, to gratify Willie's passion for anything martial, 
 his parents looked into some of the tents with him, and 
 found, somewhat to their astonishment, that the men had 
 
182 AUGUST. 
 
 but very wretched accommodation ; a little clean straw 
 appearing to be all the tent-furniture. 
 
 From this encampment, they drove along the banks of 
 the Luking, a river, which at a short distance emptied 
 itself into the Ohio, and whose steep banks, bordered with 
 old button-wood trees, proved its full claim to the cha- 
 racter of beauty which it possessed. Steam -boats here lay 
 idle : and the half-finished buttresses of a fine bridge 
 which had never been completed, with the slovenly, untidy 
 look of many of the houses, among which stood an un- 
 finished chapel, and other signs of neglect, would have 
 characterized at once a Slave State, had they not seen 
 little curly-headed negro children running familiarly about 
 large handsome houses, the born-thralls of whose pro- 
 prietors they were. 
 
 August 16th. — It was a very rare thing for a beggar to 
 be seen by our cousins. Perhaps once a month or so one 
 might present himself; and in consequence, a beggar was 
 an object of great compassion, and was treated with much 
 kindness, often receiving silver as an alms, and always 
 being invited to rest, and to partake of the next meal, let 
 it be what it would. 
 
 Two beggars only had been seen this summer, and 
 these had turned out by no means satisfactorily. 
 
 This day, just as they were rising from dinner, a very 
 decent-looking German came to the house, and asked for 
 
BEGGARS. 183 
 
 work, and something to eat. He could not speak a word 
 of English, and Louise interpreted for him. Of course a 
 good and plentiful dinner was in the first place given to 
 hint, after which the father set him to chop wood, at which 
 work he could give him employment for several days, and 
 at the rate that wages were in America, this would be a 
 very good thing for him. After he had been at work about 
 an hour, Willie went to look how he was getting on, and 
 found him, instead of working, sitting on what Louise 
 called the ' ' saw-horse " the frame on which the blocks of 
 wood were laid to be sawn. On this he was seated, making, 
 as Willie reported on his return, very queer faces, and 
 drinking at intervals from an old wicker- cased pocket- 
 bottle which he said smelt horridly of rum. This was a bad 
 beginning, and presently Willie was sent back to report 
 further : he found the man fast asleep on the ground. 
 There was now an end of chopping wood; the man slept, 
 and slept and slept; and when night came, they were 
 obliged to wake him, to get him clear off the premises ; but 
 he was so dead-drunk that they could do nothing with him 
 but lay him under a shed in the yard, where no harm 
 could happen to him, and the next morning when they 
 got up he was gone. 
 
 On the other occasion, early in the day, a poor miserable- 
 looking fellow came and begged for some breakfast, and 
 he too was a German. They gave him an ample meal ; 
 and then, as he asked for work, although the father was 
 
184 AUGUST. 
 
 from home, they set him to dig, or, as he called it, graben 
 the ground under the quince trees. It was easy work ; 
 and after a while the mother and children went to see 
 how he got on. But though he had represented himself 
 as a good husbandman, it was quite ridiculous to see him 
 handle the spade : he held it as if he were afraid of touch- 
 ing it, and dug so awkwardly, that they were sure he knew 
 nothing about it ; and then Nanny, who was very quick 
 with her eyes and her thoughts, recognised him as a 
 good-for-nothing fellow whom they had seen before. 
 
 " Don't you know," said she in a whisper, " who you 
 have got at work there ? It is the drunken man who last 
 Sunday knocked off the top of the shumach with his great 
 knotty stick, because Milo barked at him 1" 
 
 Nanny was right; his great knotty stick _was reared out 
 of sight behind one of the locust trees ; and then they all 
 remembered and recognised the old rusty black coat and 
 hat. They said nothing, however, of the discovery, and 
 he went on pottering with his spade under the quince 
 trees till evening, when having had three very ample meals 
 and thirty cents, he went his way and they saw no more 
 of him. 
 
 But neither of these cases were so bad as what had 
 happened during the former summer, when one Sunday 
 morning two very, very poor old men came begging, the one 
 with a long beard, and the other blind. They were clothed 
 in wretched rags, which was a very unusual circumstance 
 
OTHER BEGGAKS. 185 
 
 in that country, and the one that could see carried a bag 
 on his back. Their appearance was so miserable as to 
 excite unusual compassion ; the most comfortable breakfast 
 possible was set out before them, and the mother received 
 from them a sad history of their sorrows. They said they 
 were emigrants from the south of Ireland, who had come 
 with some little money to New Orleans, where they had 
 suffered a great deal by fever and the death of their friends. 
 It was a melancholy story which they told, and the father 
 gave them each two ten cent pieces to help them on their 
 way to Pittsburg, where, according to their account, they 
 had friends. Everybody compassionated these "poor 
 Irish," and everything, therefore, was done for them that 
 could be, and which the children thought was not half 
 enough. 
 
 The men ate and drank, and then set off, the kind- 
 hearted children running on before them to the gate, 
 which they opened, and thus sped them on their way. 
 
 When they had been gone about an hour, the family 
 set off to their place of worship in the city ; and how great 
 was their surprise may be imagined, when in a shady nook 
 on the grass, by the roadside, they saw the man who had 
 formerly been blind, but who now had evidently recovered 
 his sight, stitching away at some decent article of clothing, 
 and the other, who had now lost his long beard, and was a 
 strong middle-aged man, dressed in a good suit of blue 
 cloth clothes, busy thrusting his old tatters into the bag 
 
186 AUGUST. 
 
 which had formerly, no doubt, held those he now wore. 
 The children's first question was, what would they do with 
 the bag of old clothes now they were dressed up for fine 
 gentlemen ? They could not tell, unless they might hide it 
 among the bushes by the road side. 
 
 Their father felt very angry at first, and drew up the 
 carriage at the place where they were ; but then thinking 
 that he would have no brawl with them on the Sunday 
 morning, he merely said in a calm but stern tone of voice, 
 that they had a great deal better never let him see their 
 faces again, and then drove on. 
 
 August 28th. — For the greater part of the last week 
 everybody had been busily employed in paring peaches for 
 what was called "peach leather," and also for drying. 
 The children were very fond of the employment. The 
 fruit when pared was cut into slices, and either laid on tins 
 to dry in the oven, or in the hot sunshine ; but if intended 
 for peach leather, they were first boiled to a fine smooth 
 pulp, and then spread out to dry. The pulp became by 
 this means very tough, whence the name of leather, and it 
 would keep any length of time. When needed for use, it 
 was soaked, and again dissolved by boiling to a pulp, 
 sweetened, and made into pies which were very delicious 
 in winter. 
 
 During the latter-days of the month therefore, the 
 family-group might be seen sitting under the piazza, or in 
 
PEACH-PARING. 187 
 
 the shade of one of the fine trees on the lawn, among the 
 flower-borders, peeling peaches which were heaped up in 
 baskets all round them. There was a deal of laughter and 
 merriment all the time, and so long did it last, that Madam 
 Leonard joined them twice, having run away, she said, 
 from the peach-paring at her own house, only to find them 
 busy at it here. The sweet Christina came also one day 
 while it lasted ; and scarcely had they had time to welcome 
 her, when Uncle Cornelius was seen riding up the avenue, 
 and before long they two were sitting together over a great 
 basket by themselves. 
 
 The day that Christina came, more peaches were peeled 
 than on any one day before ; but the children could not 
 help remarking that Christina and Uncle Cornelius did 
 not peel a dozen peaches, and those that he peeled, he in- 
 variably gave to her, so that no great praise was due to 
 their industry. 
 
188 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 September. 
 
 For the last two days of the preceding month, it had been 
 as we have just said, peaches, peaches, nothing but peaches ! 
 It seemed quite like a repetition of the pigeons in February. 
 The children's mother often said, that while there was 
 always in this bountiful land more than enough to eat, yet 
 that every now and then plenty set in like a springtide, 
 and then there was really such a superabundance of some 
 one thing, that the only difficulty .was to know what to do 
 with it. As an instance of this, it may be told that one of 
 the poorest women they knew, and, in fact, " the lady *' 
 who condescended to wash for them, was once complaining 
 bitterly of her poverty, and of the hardship she had to 
 endure, which she proved by saying, that during the 
 preceding week, which was the time of pig-killing, she had 
 been unable to get any variety of food, and that for four 
 days running she had been obliged to eat pig's head for 
 dinner ! 
 
 This then was the flood-tide of peaches; and it was 
 particularly observable this year, because the crop was 
 unusually large. They had made whole skins of peach - 
 leather ; they had dried them ; preserved them as jam and 
 
MAPLE-SUGAR. 189 
 
 marmalade ; they had converted them into cider, and made 
 pies of them till they were quite tired; they had given 
 them away, and sold them at market, and fed the pigs with 
 them, and yet they were not ended ; and it seemed as if 
 they never would end. 
 
 A large bag of maple-sugar was sent to them as a 
 present, from the happy farmer's family, who lived in the 
 log-house among the sugar-maples, on this side Union 
 Village. Maple-sugar was, like everything else, remark- 
 ably plentiful this year, and was sold at seven cents the 
 pound. It was a pleasure to our friends to think as they 
 made use of this sugar, that no overseer's whip had com- 
 pelled its production, and that no down-trodden negro 
 slave had toiled over it ; but that it had, on the contrary, 
 been made by the happy independent American farmer, 
 beneath a genial sky, and amid beautiful woodland scenery, 
 with many a merry laugh and joke, and cheerful song, at 
 the little temporary settlement in the maple woods. 
 
 Madam Leonard also sent a basketful of her fresh, 
 ripe figs, with which her beautiful fig-tree was now laden. 
 They were deliciously ripe, and had an indescribable 
 flavour of sunshine in them. 
 
 September 2nd. — The children went to carry a basket 
 of plums as a present to Christina. On their way, they 
 met Martin Brandenburg, who rudely asked them what 
 they had in their basket. They had scarcely seen this 
 
190 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 unhappy lad since the flogging which his father had given 
 him, and they were therefore full of compassion and good- 
 will towards him. They lifted the cover from the basket, 
 and let him see the plums, saying at the same time that 
 they were carrying them as a present to Christina. 
 
 Martin, on seeing the beautiful downy-purple plums, 
 asked for some ; they refused to give him any, saying that 
 their father had carefully gathered them for Christina, 
 and they dared not give him a single one, but that if he 
 would come up to The Cedars, when they got back they 
 would ask for some for him. They spoke very civilly and 
 mildly to him, which made him probably think that they 
 were afraid ; therefore he fiercely said that he would have 
 some of those very plums, and that he would take them, 
 or else he would fight for them, and with that he put him- 
 self in a fighting attitude. 
 
 Willie's face was scarlet with anger, and he would have 
 fought to save the plums, had not Florence, who held the 
 basket, snatched out a handful, which she gave him, while 
 Nanny, as indignant as her brother, exclaimed, " You 
 naughty boy ! We would have told your father of you 
 long ago, only we did not want to get you beaten ; but we 
 will tell now, whether you are beaten or not !" 
 
 Martin, however, did not hear this, for, satisfied with 
 the plums which Florence had given him, he ran away 
 laughing. 
 
 Christina was delighted with the plums. She took the 
 
WICKED MARTIN BRANDENBURG. 191 
 
 children round her garden, and gathered for them as many 
 beautiful dahlias as Willie could carry, and then gave them 
 some delicious cakes to eat, after which they set out to 
 return. When they reached the place where, in going, 
 they had met Brandenburg, there again he stood like a 
 wicked highway robber, as if to see of what booty he could 
 this time despoil them. 
 
 They had nothing but the dahlias, and dahlias, as 
 Nanny said, he could not eat ; but for all that, he insisted 
 on having part of their flowers. There was another 
 scramble for them, and then with only about half their 
 original bouquet, they came home crying with grief and 
 indignation. 
 
 The children and their mother had a long talk about 
 Martin and his wickedness ; they thought that if their 
 mother would send for him, and talk to him in her mild 
 and persuasive way, she could make him good. They did 
 not wish that his father should be told, because he would 
 only flog him, and that would make him revengeful, and 
 still more wicked ; but they were very anxious to try if 
 he could not be reformed. Their mother promised that 
 she would do what she could. 
 
 In the evening, the musquitoes were so troublesome, 
 that it was necessary to put up musquito curtains to the 
 children's beds. The bar to Willie's bed was broken, and 
 he and his mother went in the calm, moonlight evening to 
 joiner Lotte's to borrow his auger, that the father might 
 
192 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 fix it. The evening was delightful, and Willie was greatly 
 struck by the beauty of the tall, palmy Ailanthus, or Tree 
 of Heaven, as it is called, when seen in relief against the 
 moonlit sky. The long waving branches of this lovely 
 tree mingled beautifully with the feathery leafage of the 
 locust tree, the broad expanses of the catalpas, and the 
 black-green masses of the cedars. 
 
 The children had inherited from their mother a quick 
 perception and enjoyment of beauty, let it be seen wherever 
 it might ; and thus it was that trees, and flowers, and skies, 
 nay, every varied and varying feature of Nature, let it be 
 as minute as it would, afforded them pleasure. 
 
 Great was the enjoyment of this little evening walk, 
 and most friendly was the greeting of good Mrs. Lotte, 
 who was right glad to see the mother under her roof. 
 She was busy over a small wood-fire in her husband's 
 workshop frying potato-cakes, of which she pressed them 
 most cordially to partake. After that, she shewed them her 
 store of dried apples, and all the dried peaches, and peach- 
 leather, which she had made from the peaches they had 
 given her. Whilst this was going on, the old grandfather 
 found the auger, and then was very anxious to go up to do 
 the job for them, for he too was a joiner by trade, although, 
 now that his sight was so bad, he very seldom did any 
 work. 
 
 Musquito-curtains were now fixed round all the chil- 
 dren's beds, and every night they hung the cages of their 
 
CANARY BIRDS. 193 
 
 beloved canaries under the musquito-bar to preserve them; 
 for they had been informed by a bird fancier, that the 
 musquito will bite and torment the canary sometimes even 
 to death. One of their friends told them that he had known 
 a canary also strangled by spiders, which had in one night 
 spun a web so tightly round the throat of the bird as to 
 cause its death. This information made them extremely 
 careful of their birds ; but still, careful as they were, 
 accidents would happen, as for instance one which occurred 
 just about this time. 
 
 Nanny, one morning after cleaning her bird, ran away 
 with his glass for water, forgetting that she had left the 
 cage- door unfastened, and, just as she was coming back 
 with the water, who can express her consternation at seeing 
 her beautiful bird, Primrose, fly deliberately out of the 
 cage-door, and into a locust tree just by the piazza? 
 Nanny rung her hands, and cried as if her heart would 
 break, and her cries soon brought the whole household 
 round her. Willie, on hearing her loss, ran instantly for 
 a German, named Bernard, who had been working for 
 them for some little time, and who was very good-natured 
 and so fond of birds that he never came in to his meals 
 without chirruping to the ' c Canarien- Vogel" as he called 
 them. Bernard came at the summons, and now all his 
 ingenuity and all his bird-craft were exerted to lure back 
 the little fly-away. First, he hung Dicky in his cage in 
 the tree, and placed the other cage, with the door wide 
 
194j SEPTEMBER. 
 
 open beside it. But Primrose was yet too much pleased 
 with her liberty to attend to any of these friendly sugges- 
 tions. She flew higher and higher, and at length into 
 another tree, answering Dicky's call with a loud and saucy 
 chirp. 
 
 Hours went on, and Bernard was obliged to go to his 
 work. The bird seemed quite gone. The mother stood 
 under the trees with the children, who now devised all 
 sorts of likely and unlikely schemes, and now wept in de- 
 spair, and the canary sat in the very topmost bough of a 
 distant tree ; and if she chirped at all she was quite too 
 high for them to hear her. Nanny strained her weeping 
 eyes to keep her in sight, but that seemed almost im- 
 possible. 
 
 At dinner-time Bernard returned, and observing the 
 state of affairs, removed the two cages from the tree to the 
 ridge of one of the farm-building roofs, not very far from 
 the tree in which she now sate. Dicky chirped and sung, 
 and seemed as if he really were calling her, as no doubt 
 he was • and before long, the children, who stood profoundly 
 silent, watching all that went forward, perceived, to their 
 unspeakable joy, that Primrose not only answered her com- 
 panion, but actually hopped nearer and nearer, and at 
 length flew into a tree, one bough of which extended to- 
 wards the roof. In a minute or two she alighted upon 
 Dicky's cage, and the two dear little birds seemed to be kiss- 
 ing and conversing through the wires. The children dared 
 
THE RECOVERED TREASURE. 195 
 
 hardly breathe, and Nanny now stood with her hands 
 clasped tightly together on her bosom, and just ready to 
 cry for joy. Bernard, who had watched all that went 
 on, was on the alert; he reared a ladder very gently; 
 crept softly up the roof, and placed the open door of the 
 empty cage over Primrose, and then she was once more 
 safe in her own cage, with the door firmly fastened upon 
 her. 
 
 The joy of the children knew no bounds. Nanny threw 
 her arms round the good Bernard's neck, and kissed him, 
 and then hugged the cage which contained her recovered 
 treasure in her arms ; and the poor bird, weary with its 
 wandering, and probably hungry also, seemed no less 
 pleased than herself. 
 
 September 9th. — Willie rose this morning at sunrise. 
 It was a lovely morning ; white lines of mist hung among 
 the distant woods, shewing the course of the rivers, and 
 more especially of the Ohio. The air was dry and warni, 
 and the yellow rays of the sun gilded the foliage of tree 
 and shrub, and shone bright on the feathery crowns 
 of the Indian corn in the meadows, and on the hills. 
 Willie wandered round the fields and enjoyed the pleasant 
 early morning, and treasured up in his mind every beau- 
 tiful object, as a pleasant communication to his mother at 
 the breakfast table. He knew that that meal was dear to 
 her, as the occasion when first in the day all the beloved 
 
 o 2 
 
196 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 ones met, and with grateful spirits returned thanks to the 
 Great Giver of all good, and solicited His blessing for the 
 coming day ; and after this heart-felt duty was done, each 
 one strove who should contribute most to the general 
 enjoyment. 
 
 Willie, in this early morning's ramble, heard a sudden 
 sound of rushing wings, and, looking up, saw large flocks 
 of quails on their migratory journey. They were the first 
 which he had seen this season, and they flew onward with 
 so little regard to external objects, that some of them 
 struck against the trees, and even against the roof and 
 chimneys of the house. He picked up three which were 
 thus killed by the violence of the blow. Their bodies 
 were still warm, and their little hearts had scarcely ceased 
 to beat when Willie brought them to his mother. 
 
 Florence and Nanny were by this time come down stairs, 
 and after they had fully examined and admired these poor 
 quails, it was agreed that they should have them for their 
 dinner. After breakfast, accordingly, they had a deal to 
 do in plucking them, the feathers being carefully put into 
 a paper bag, and hung up to dry, preparatory to being 
 made up into a bed for Florence's doll. 
 
 When they were trussed, and ready for the spit — and 
 by the bye, it must be remarked that they were in excel- 
 lent condition, and fit for a gourmand's table — the chil- 
 dren went to Diedrich's wood, to fetch home a quantity of 
 excellent fuller's earth, which abounded there, and which 
 
GOOD SEED SOWN. 197 
 
 was wanted for the scouring of a carpet. Besides the 
 fuller's earth, they brought home a quantity of buck- 
 eye nuts, and hickory-nuts, and walnuts, a proof of the 
 approach of autumn. 
 
 Little darling Nelly dined with the others from the 
 quails ; they had a table to themselves, which Nanny set 
 out, and Florence and Willie carved the birds without 
 anybody's help. Little Nelly called them "tails/ 1 which 
 amused everybody, and when she saw this, she was quite 
 wild with fun. The dinner of u tails " was a very memo- 
 rable one. 
 
 September 11th. — The children one day saw their 
 mother walking slowly down the fields with Martin 
 Brandenburg. She talked to him in her mild, persuasive 
 way, and endeavoured by her gentleness to reach the good 
 that was in his heart. He seemed at the time to be rather 
 sullen, or perhaps he might be at a loss how to receive 
 language so different to what he had been accustomed to. 
 The mother was at the time discouraged by his manner ; 
 but a few days afterwards, when he met the children in 
 the road, he let them pass without insult or annoyance ; 
 and from this she began to hope that her words were 
 not without their effect. This hope was only the more 
 strengthened, as when Willie and his father called to-day at 
 their house to enquire about some cider, the wife took them 
 into her parlour to show them her crocks of apple-butter, 
 
198 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 and gave a dish of it to Willie as a present to his mother ; 
 and when they said that they were not going directly 
 home, Martin, who had been apparently sullenly staring 
 out of the window, turned round and said, civilly, that he 
 would carry it up to The Cedars ; and so he did, but 
 instead of delivering it himself, gave it to Bernard, whom 
 he saw at about a dozen yards from the door, to take in. 
 
 In the evening, the family party again sat on the grass 
 to the never-ending peaches. They were now preparing 
 them to boil up with the sweet cider they had bought, to 
 make peach-butter. 
 
 While they were thus employed, a large hawk pounced 
 upon a small flock of chickens not far from them. The 
 hen set up a loud cry, and flew boldly at him, chasing him 
 away half the length of the lawn. In a little while she 
 came back with her feathers standing on end, and in a 
 state of extreme agitation, and yet with such a strutting, 
 consequential air, that though everybody admired her 
 spirit, they could not help laughing at the pride she 
 evidently took in it. She strutted round and round her 
 brood, and clucked and chuckled as if she were com- 
 mending herself before them, and then, having smoothed 
 down her feathers a little, she spread out her matronly 
 wings, and took all the brood under them. 
 
 September 12th. — The apple gathering had now com- 
 menced, and many and many a basket of fine belle-flowers, 
 
RICH FRUIT AND SPLENDID PLOWERS. 199 
 
 fall-pippins, Newtown pippins, and all that endless variety 
 of American apples, which are everywhere so famous, 
 was housed, and stored carefully in casks in the cellar, 
 for winter use. One of the fall-pippins measured fourteen 
 inches and a half one way, and thirteen the other, and 
 weighed a pound. The mention of these large apples, 
 brings to mind one of the Mammoth pumpkins which 
 grew by the orchard, below the quince-trees, and which 
 bore one pumpkin which measured five feet and a half 
 one way, and thirteen the other, yet large as this was, it 
 was nothing to one in Madam Leonard's garden, which 
 grew to the size of a large cask, and weighed one hundred 
 and thirty pounds. 
 
 There was now an autumnal character in the weather, 
 which reminded every one that summer was over. The 
 air was light and transparent, although the heat was still 
 great ; the clouds looked brilliantly white on an intensely 
 blue sky; yellow leaves came sailing down from the locust- 
 trees when agitated by the breeze, although the mass of 
 foliage still looked green. The vine had begun to lose its 
 leaves, and had ceased to be a shade at noonday ; but its 
 rich dark clusters of purple grapes gave it a new beauty. 
 The altheas were still in blossom, and were very beautiful; 
 the balsams, too, were in full flower for the second time, 
 and seemed almost to exceed their former richness; the 
 cockVconibs reared their splendid heads of rich crimson 
 velvet, many of these singular flowers being of a size very 
 
200 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 unusual in England ; there were various kinds of phlox, 
 the hibiscus, many-coloured marvel of Peru, portuluccas, 
 geraniums, petunias, marigolds and dahlias ; nor, by any 
 means, must be forgotten the beautiful cypress-vine, the 
 convolvulus, and the wild clematis. Nothing now remained 
 to blossom but the sunflowers, the chrysanthemums, 
 and the Michaelmas daisies, and these last would beau- 
 tify not alone the garden, but the woods and fences all 
 around ; and besides these, the woods would look splendid 
 with the golden-rod, and the Noli-me-tangere, or Touch- 
 me-not. 
 
 One day Willie took a strong checked bag, which he 
 had himself made for such purposes, into Diedriclr's wood, 
 to collect hickory nuts and buck-eyes. Here he was not 
 long before he saw a squirrel, which Milo tried in vain to 
 catch, the little fellow being quite too nimble for him; 
 and running up into a tree it perched upon a bough, and 
 seemed to look down and laugh at him. 
 
 Whilst Willie was gathering the nuts, the old woman 
 from the house came to look after her cows ; she asked 
 Willie, rather sharply — for all the people at Diedriclr's 
 Hof seemed short-tempered — what he was doing there, 
 when he opened his bag and shewed her the buck-eyes. 
 
 " Those are no good ; no good \" said the old woman, 
 as if she were out of patience with him, and then asked 
 him if he had seen her cows. 
 
 Willie had, and went with her to shew her where they 
 
;*/■ 
 
 
 
 THE LOST COWS 
 
THE LOST PIG. 201 
 
 were. They -were in a deep hollow ; and when he had 
 shewn them to her, he ran forward and brought them up, 
 and then she said that he might have buck-eyes or any- 
 thing, and he might have a swing, if he liked, in their 
 swing. This was a great swing which had been put up in 
 a tree near the house, and where the young men and 
 women often swung on Sundays. 
 
 September 15th. — One of the pigs had a sad trick of 
 rambling ; and Willie had many journeys after it into the 
 neighbours' potato fields and cabbage plots ; and at last, 
 the people at Diedrich's Hof grew so out of patience with 
 it, that they turned it out into the lane, whence it wandered 
 nobody knew where. Willie, therefore, had now to go 
 the round of the whole neighbourhood in search of it, but 
 it was neither to be seen nor heard of; and, as it was by 
 far the finest pig in the whole herd, and the favourite pig 
 too, they were unwilling to lose it. All this day was spent 
 by Willie in search of it, but to no purpose. 
 
 September 16th. — Cousin Israel Hopper arrived at The 
 Cedars. He had been a long journey down the Ohio and 
 the Mississippi, to the Gulf of Mexico. He gave Willie a 
 splendid cane, which he had himself cut in a " cane brake n 
 on the Mississippi. He had seen alligators and groves of 
 palmettoes, fields of cotton and coffee and sugar, and gangs 
 of slaves working in them, followed by a driver with a large 
 
202 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 cowskin whip, and wearing a hat as big as an umbrella. 
 He had eaten oranges and pine-apples, figs, and other 
 delicious fruits in the climates where they grew in perfec- 
 tion ; yet he said that he would not live in the south for 
 the finest plantations in Louisiana, because of slavery. 
 Everybody, he said, lived there in their houses as if in 
 fortresses, and as if enemies were all around them, and 
 with a sense of danger and insecurity which filled them 
 with anxiety. Very different was this state of things to 
 that in the north, from which Cousin Israel came, for 
 there, in the country district where he lived they had no 
 locks to their doors ; the windows had no other fastenings 
 than a hasp, and every place might have been left open 
 without fear of danger or molestation. 
 
 September 21st. — This morning everybody rose early 
 because they were all going, little Nelly as well as the 
 rest, to pay a visit on the other side of the city, about ten 
 miles off. 
 
 Willie was most eager for the little journey. He blacked 
 his own and Nanny's shoes, and took Farmer down to the 
 spring to drink before breakfast. This was a visit which 
 had been talked of for months, and therefore great interest 
 was felt about it. 
 
 As they drove along the river-bank, the children were 
 greatly excited by the sight of a fine black bear tied to a 
 tree near a butcher's shop. The animal paced to and fro, 
 
BEARS IN THE WOOD. 203 
 
 in that uneasy manner peculiar to wild animals when in 
 confinement ; yet it was perfectly quiet, and gladly took 
 some bread which was given to it by a boy, who stood with 
 many others looking at it with great curiosity. 
 
 The sun, which at their setting out was clouded, now 
 shone bright and warm, and all nature wore that air of 
 calm repose, which is so beautiful and so characteristic of 
 autumn. The Indian-corn was becoming brown and ripe ; 
 the yet ungathered orchard fruit made the trees look bril- 
 liant with its gold and crimson j the woods and fields were 
 still as green as ever, the sky as richly blue, and there was 
 a freshness in the air, which made it indescribably delight- 
 ful after the late fervid heats of summer. 
 
 After leaving the city another great wonder presented 
 itself. They had to drive over a hill, on which were the 
 scattered remains of the primeval forest, and, to one of its 
 old trees, two other bears were tied. Bears at this season 
 were brought to the neighbourhood of the city, and bought 
 by the butchers, by whom they were fed for the winter- 
 markets, their flesh being reckoned a great delicacy ; but 
 this was the first time that the children had happened to 
 see them. 
 
 The house to which our little family party was bound 
 was an old country dwelling, built entirely of wood, but 
 most remarkably comfortable, and beautified with flower- 
 ing shrubs and roses. A luxuriant trumpet-creeper, inter- 
 mingled with common woodbine, overgrew the rustic porch, 
 
204 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 and formed a perfect mass of bloom. On the sunny side 
 of the house, as at The Cedars, ran a piazza, shaded by a 
 passion-flower, which was just now full of blossom ; dahlias, 
 hibiscus, petunias, roses, but above all, balsams, which had 
 here grown to the size of little trees, and were covered with 
 rich double flowers of every shade and colour, spotted and 
 streaked, and flecked in the most fantastic manner, and 
 of the size of small roses, made the garden like a garden 
 of Eden. 
 
 There was an abundance of grapes now quite ripe, and 
 every other kind of fruit in the orchard ; and fine old pea- 
 cocks went strutting about and spreading their splendid 
 tails in the sun, just as if they wanted to add their brilliant 
 colouring to the scene. 
 
 The children were overjoyed. Among other treasures 
 which were given them was a sheaf of peacock's feathers, 
 all perfect, without flaw or blemish. It was altogether a 
 day of unmingled enjoyment ; and they drove home en- 
 livened by the beams of the setting sun. 
 
 In the course of the day they met with a curious anti- 
 quated and very primitive Quaker, from the remote parts 
 of Pennsylvania, who greatly amused Willie by his tirades 
 against education and every kind of refinement ; and turn- 
 ing to Willie's mother, he said, with an expression of 
 sarcastic disgust, " And with all thy good sense, I suppose 
 that thou canst read and write, and that thou knows 
 geography and grammar, and plenty of fine things be- 
 sides." 
 
LIFE WITH THE INDIANS. 205 
 
 When they arrived at home, good news awaited them. 
 Blackberry had a nice little calf, a beautiful creature, 
 milk-white, with brown- tipped ears. It was immediately 
 called " White Kose." 
 
 The children felt great interest in an occupation which 
 a good deal engaged their mother at this time ; this was 
 in assisting other ladies to prepare winter clothing for the 
 Indian children in the schools. There were about two 
 hundred children from five to fifteen years of age, to be 
 thus provided for. The Indians were a very improvident 
 race, and were consequently dependent upon the whites, 
 whilst their generosity was so great, that they would part 
 with their only garment or their last crust to another who 
 was more in want than themselves. 
 
 The children had often heard how in the early settle- 
 ment of this State, a boy named Spencer had been stolen 
 by the Indians, and trained by them in all their arts and 
 ways of life. He was very happy amongst them, was well 
 treated, and in all respects became as one of them. 
 Circumstances, however, when he came to man's estate, 
 induced him to return to civilised life. He established 
 himself in business, made a large fortune, and built himself 
 a handsome house ; but he never lost his partiality to his 
 old friends, and used to invite large parties of them to 
 visit him, and when they came, as they always did, he 
 entertained them in Indian fashion. 
 
206 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 One day the children saw an Indian chief at a store in 
 the city, where he had called to solicit assistance on his 
 journey to Washington, whither he was going to appeal to 
 Congress on behalf of his people. He was dressed in full 
 costume, and was a tall well-grown man, of a remarkably 
 proud but melancholy countenance. He was accompanied 
 by an interpreter ; and though a man of a kingly bearing, 
 had arrived in the city pennyless. 
 
 Another day their father saw about five hundred 
 Indians, men, women, and children, some of them very 
 old, and one woman upwards of a hundred, who were going 
 down to the river to embark with their horses and all their 
 possessions, two boat-loads of them. They were the 
 remnant of an enfeebled tribe, who had sold their lands in 
 the northern parts of the State, to the American govern- 
 ment, and were now on their way to join, or rather to 
 become incorporated into, the Shawnee tribe, which is con- 
 sidered one of the strongest and most respectable tribe of 
 Indians now existing. 
 
 It was in the school of the Shawnee tribe, that our 
 young friends were most interested. The following was 
 a letter from one of the Indian girls to Mrs. David 
 Hutchinson : — 
 
 6 mo. 21, 1846. 
 " Eespected Friend, — Agreeable to promise, I take my pen to 
 inform thee that we are all well at present. When Anne (the 
 
LETTER. 207 
 
 teacher) came up to read to us last night, she brought the letter 
 which thou wrote ; the children all remembered thee, and were glad 
 that thou remembered them. 
 
 " Thomas Wells bought seventeen sheep, and we washed the wool, 
 and picked it last week. Zeri and Eli painted the house ; we had 
 four carpenters at work last week ; one Indian is making laths, and 
 a white man is nailing them on. 
 
 " Angeline and I are studying arithmetic, geography and 
 grammar. 
 
 " Thomas and Hannah Wells went last week to Westport, and 
 took two of the little boys with them. 
 
 " We have twelve cows that give milk. We have a very good 
 garden this year. They expect to begin harvesting next week. 
 
 " Six new scholars came lately. I got a letter from Yirginie last 
 Fourth-day. I answered it on Seventh-day. Peter Cornstalk is 
 dead ; he was at the Council when you were here. 
 
 " Zeri and Miraim are gone to the Methodist Mission to-day. 
 Miraim has the charge of the chickens ; she says that there are 
 about a hundred. We had good swarms of bees this year— several 
 others have went off. James had his face swelled nearly all the time 
 — the bees stung him so much; We went to John Wolf's about a 
 week ago ; Ann went with us. They have a very good garden. A nn 
 looked so pale and tired, that Sally Wolf lent her a horse to ride 
 home, and two of the little girls rode with her. 
 
 " There are two Indian women here, with their babies tied on 
 boards ; they say it will make them straight. 
 
 " There have been many strawberries this year. 
 
 " Thomas Wells has been to Independence ; the Big Blue was so 
 high that the water came into the little wagon. 
 
 " Ann has bought us some very pretty new bonnets. They are 
 the same shape as Virginie's, and they cost a dollar apiece ; she 
 got one for Susan Fish, one for Angeline, and one for me. 
 
208 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 " That Indian woman is well— thou knows what Indian woman- 
 she that had a hen sitting on goose's eggs on the bed in a basket ; 
 she has a very good garden ; she has some tame cherries ripe. Ann 
 and us girls went there the other day ; we went for some tansy. 
 
 " Ann is gone to take a walk with the girls in the prairie to pick 
 flowers. We heard of you twice before you got home ; there were 
 some Indian men, came from hunting, saw you at Lexington. 
 
 " Ann and Susan and Angeline and I went down to the creek 
 to wash bed-quilts. Alfred took us in the little wagon. After we 
 had done washing, we sate down on a log waiting for Alfred to come 
 after us ; we looked behind us, and there stood a bold-looking Kaw* 
 — he stood there looking at us ; we were nearly scared out of our 
 wits ; afterwards came along a whole drove of drunken Kaws, and 
 we were scared worse and worse, and we hid ourselves behind the 
 log — we were afraid to leave the quilts, lest they might took them. 
 
 " The little girls want me to tell thee that they kuow how to pick 
 wool. Ann says they were very smart to help. Angeline sends 
 her love to thee. Miraim says she wishes to be remembered to thee. 
 All the little ones say, ' I like her.' I put it down just as they ex- 
 pressed it. Susan Fish sends her love. 
 
 " I still look forward to coming in the Fall, if my father is 
 willing. I conclude and remain thy friend, Lucia B. King. 
 
 " P.S. I should be glad to receive a letter from thee, if thou thinks 
 this worth answering : love to Mary Ann Donaldson." 
 
 The writer of the above letter was fifteen, a beautiful, 
 intelligent girl, with the fine, thoughtful countenance of 
 her people. One little incident may here be mentioned as 
 indicative of her character. Her father, about this time, 
 
 * The meaning of the word Kaw, we do not understand ; but we leave it 
 as we found it in the letter. — M. H. 
 
SUNDAY AT HOME. 209 
 
 came for her to the school, with the view of betrothing her 
 to an Indian of some standing in the tribe ; she, however, 
 refused to accompany him : she said that " she was not 
 going to marry cheap, to be sold for a bushel of corn and 
 a horse to any one who would buy her." And her father, 
 therefore, returned without her. 
 
 It was for the children of this school that the mother 
 and her two little girls were now working. 
 
 September 21st. — We have spoken of the beautiful 
 autumnal weather, which had now commenced. This day 
 was Sunday ; and the mother, and Willie, and little Nelly, 
 remained that day at home. They sate in the shade of 
 the Piazza together, the baby on the mother's knee, and 
 read in the Bible, whilst the rest of the family were gone 
 to meeting. 
 
 They were that day entirely without " a help," but 
 Willie was full of the spirit of active kindness ; he read 
 and conversed with his mother till their hearts grew warm 
 with more than ordinary affection, for the holy spirit of 
 religion is a closer bond than even that of kindred. Willie 
 was assiduous to do all he could to help his mother, and 
 prevent her exerting herself. He fetched tomatoes and musk 
 melons from the garden; he tended his little sister — fetched 
 water from the spring — lighted the fire — went to the shed 
 to look after little White Rose, and then to the pasture to 
 see that all went well with Blackberry its mother. 
 
 F 
 
210 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 Willie was happy ; the love of God and man was in his 
 
 heart, inspired by his beloved mother, who was in his eyes 
 
 like a living personification of that Providence which had 
 
 surrounded them with his mercies, and in serving her, 
 
 even in the most menial offices, he felt as if it were service 
 
 done to God ; it was in this spirit sanctified indeed to him. 
 
 During this week a great event occurred. The father 
 
 one morning set off to the city in the old carriage, and in 
 
 the evening he returned with a handsome new one. The 
 
 children had not the least idea of such a thing. 
 
 This was a surprise and a delight ! 
 
 The children had been told, without knowing why, to 
 
 run down to the road, and be sure and have the gate 
 
 ready open for their father, the moment he came in sight. 
 
 They did so ; but when he drove up in the handsome new 
 
 carriage, they hardly knew either him or Farmer, who 
 
 looked quite proud in his new harness. They shouted 
 
 and laughed, and clapped their hands, when their father 
 
 drew up, and bade them jump in, and thus they had the 
 
 pleasure of driving up to the house, where their shouts 
 
 soon brought out their mother and little Nelly to see the 
 
 wonderful sight. 
 
 Nanny walked round and round, and made a sort of 
 oration, '" What a fine horse! what a fine carriage! and 
 what a length from the back to the end of Farmer's nose ! 
 Oh, how grand ! I am sure we ought all of us to be very 
 thankful." 
 
 Willie stood by quiet and pleased ; and Florence began 
 
AN ANGRY NEIGHBOUR. 211 
 
 to calculate on all the pleasant rides she should have, 
 seated beside her mother and little Nelly. 
 
 September 25th. — The fat and favourite pig, of which 
 we have already spoken, was gone — quite gone, — as was 
 feared ; and what was worse, the people at Diedriclr's Hoi", 
 whose cabbage-plot had been damaged by it, seemed in- 
 clined to be very quarrelsome about it, as they were about 
 most things. On the preceding day, the man set his dogs 
 at another pig, belonging to The Cedars, that had gone 
 out to seek its fortune, and had happened to stray into 
 his pasture, which had always a bad fence. The father 
 remonstrated with him ; but as he had only an imperfect 
 understanding of English, he grew very angry, and at last 
 threatened to tear to pieces every pig that set its snout 
 within his fields. This was a terrific threat; and the 
 children, who happened to hear it, came home in the 
 utmost excitement, believing every word of it, and conclud- 
 ing therefore that nothing less could be done than to shoot 
 his dogs. Willie and Nanny were vehement for this, and 
 Willie besought of his mother to let him have as much 
 money as would buy a gun. 
 
 It was somewhat difficult to convince the children at 
 this moment of the evil spirit of revenge, and that these 
 projects of theirs had their origin in the very spirit which 
 they were blaming in the man. They had first to learn a 
 lesson of forbearance and forgiveness. Besides, had not 
 
 p 2 
 
01 9 
 
 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 tlieir own little experience taught them that these new 
 comers at Diedrich's Hof were very touchy and hot- 
 tempered people, and always used threats at the outset. 
 They had had an encounter with the old woman in the 
 summer about the dogs ; and again, only a few days be- 
 fore, she seemed angry about the buck-eyes ; but w r hen 
 they spoke to her mildly, she grew civil in her turn, and 
 even offered Willie the pleasure of their great swing. 
 
 The children remembered all this, and their anger was 
 appeased. 
 
 September 26th. — Florence had acquired a habit of spell- 
 ing every word in reading with which her eye was unfamiliar. 
 The habit had become a slavish one, and it was difficult to 
 break herself of it. She tried hard, because her mother 
 wished it ; and to encourage her endeavours she was pro- 
 mised a neAV straw bonnet for her doll, which was what 
 she very much wished to have. Her mother engaged to 
 make it for her, that she might see how a straw bonnet 
 was made. Trifling as this might seem, it was very impor- 
 tant in poor Florence's eyes. She laboured hard : she had 
 done so for weeks ; and now she could read a whole page 
 of not very easy reading without needlessly stumbling over 
 every unaccustomed word. Reading had become by this 
 means much easier and pleasanter to her ; and with pride 
 she said, that she now could read like her mother. 
 
 Some very nice straw plait was therefore bought, and 
 Florence, who had wavered a long time between a cottage 
 
THE NEW HAT AND BASKET. 213 
 
 bonnet and a gipsey hat, at length decided in favour of the 
 latter ; and this her mother made for her favourite doll. 
 It was, when finished, trimmed inside and out with some 
 very pretty lilac and green gauze ribbon, which the dear 
 child had bought and hoarded up some months for this 
 purpose. It was altogether a most successful achievement. 
 The children wondered at the cleverness of their mother. 
 
 When the little hat was made, it was found that just 
 twice as much straw-plait had been bought as was needed ; 
 and it was suggested that the clever fingers of the mother 
 should make Nanny's New York doll one similar. But 
 no, Nanny cared neither for a doll nor a hat, and begged 
 instead that she might have a little tiny basket, " if dear 
 mother could make such a thing." Most certainly; for 
 what could not dear mother make ? The plait was soon 
 converted into a little basket — the sweetest little basket 
 that ever was seen. The children were grateful and happy ; 
 and the mother was happy too. She felt as if all this sun- 
 shine of childhood's pleasure was as refreshing to her spirit 
 as the freshness of spring-flowers or the songs of spring- 
 birds. 
 
 Whilst the mother and the little girls were thus employed 
 at home, Willie and his father were gone to fetch a wagon- 
 load of wood. They had to go about two miles into the 
 woods ; and it was afternoon when they set out. Before 
 they had finished, the shades of evening came on, and the 
 woods assumed a sombre aspect. Schmidt, the farmer at 
 Diedricb/s Hof, had told Willie the day before, that early 
 
214 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 in the morning lie had seen a large wolf come out of the 
 woods, and run across the pasture. Whether this were 
 true or not, nobody knew ; perhaps it was told with refe- 
 rence to the troublesome pig; but at all events, Willie, 
 as the dusk of evening gathered round the wood, could 
 think of nothing but the wolf, and kept looking fear- 
 fully into the dark nooks, and behind the old fallen decay- 
 ing trunks that lay scattered here and there, expecting to 
 see, if not the wolf, at least something horrible. 
 
 He had amused himself while sunshine enlivened the 
 wood, by gathering his hat full of ripe paw-paws from the 
 bushes. This wild fruit, the custard-apple, we have already 
 mentioned ; the bushes on which it grows form the prin- 
 cipal undergrowth of these western woods, and are not 
 found eastward of the Alleghanies. It is very ornamental, 
 and has somewhat the appearance of a rather straggling 
 laurel. Its leaves, though not evergreen, are large and 
 polished ; and the blossom which comes in the early spring 
 is, as we have already mentioned, a curious, brown, 
 mysterious-looking flower. 
 
 September 27th. — To-day, the father, whilst riding out, 
 espied the long-lost hog in a farm-yard some two miles off. 
 The farmer said they had had him three days, and had 
 kept him, not doubting but that he would be owned by 
 somebody. The father returned, and sent off Eberhard 
 for him ; and thus he was safely brought home. This was 
 a great satisfaction to everybody. He was now securely 
 
PAUL AND JOE. 215 
 
 penned up to prevent his rambling ; and to prevent, if 
 possible, any farther contention with the good people at 
 Diedricli's Hof. 
 
 Early in the day, two handsome, well-grown coloured 
 lads made their appearance at The Cedars; and to the 
 surprise of every one, the taller was recognized as Paul, 
 Adele's boy, as he was called. They might well hardly 
 know him, he was so much grown, and so well dressed. 
 He was come, he said, merely to make a call on them 
 before leaving the city, where he had been to see his 
 mother in her new home ; and his companion was Joe, a 
 friend of his. 
 
 Paul was dressed in a suit of blue. He said he had 
 come from Columbia to see his mother, and that now he 
 had seen her so comfortable, he should go back with a light 
 heart. 
 
 After Paul had told this, and exhausted all his polite 
 speeches, he asked if he might take a look round the place ; 
 for he had been telling Joe, he said, as they came along, 
 all about it, and of the adventures which he and Willie 
 used to have together. Joe was a stout-built coloured lad, 
 very demure apparently, and apparently also very much on 
 his good behaviour, although a great deal of fun was visible 
 in his jet-black eyes, and at the corners of his wide mouth. 
 
 Willie, who was thoroughly English in his feelings on 
 many subjects, had no American prejudice on the score of 
 colour, and therefore he set off very well pleased to accom- 
 panv the two black visitors. 
 
216 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 In the course of their ramble, they went to Jack's wood, 
 where they found so many hickory-nuts on the trees, that 
 Paul climbed into some and shook them down by showers. 
 They then collected them, and found that there were 
 upwards of a bushel and a half, with which they were 
 w r ell pleased. 
 
 They returned home to dinner as hungry as hunters, 
 and greatly enjoyed the pot-pies made of boiled chicken, 
 potatoes and pastry, which were set smoking hot on the 
 table as they entered, and the huge slices of pumpkin-pie 
 which came afterwards. Poor Paul was wonderfully well- 
 behaved; he attended to all the little customary proprieties 
 at table, and said, "Thank you/' and "Yes, sir, if you 
 please," or "No, I thank you, ma'am, 11 when invited to 
 take more, and ate with great quietness and decorum. 
 Willie heard him instructing Joe in good manners while 
 they were out ; and in whispers, and by elbow-jogs, he 
 reminded him of the same during dinner; and in excuse 
 for some breach of good manners in Joe, which he thought 
 must not be allowed to pass unobserved, he said, "You must 
 excuse Joe, he ain't used to eat at white people's tables." 
 
 "When they left, Willie and Nanny accompanied them 
 to the gate, and were filled with indignation and grief, to 
 see that no sooner were they on the road than a carter, 
 passing in his cart, shouted out to them, " Well, Nigger, 
 where do you come from ? " and a boy, a little farther on, 
 threw clods of dirt at them, and shouted, " Nigger ! " 
 
217 
 
 CHAPTER XT. 
 
 OCTOBER. 
 
 Although everybody hoped that the winter was yet far 
 distant, preparations were made for its arrival. Large 
 stores of wood and other fuel were laid in. 
 
 Willie, one day at the beginning of the month, rode 
 with his father some miles up the country to Stony Creek 
 Valley to see the wagon loaded with charcoal, for which 
 purpose it had been sent beforehand. 
 
 Stony Creek Valley was one of the most secluded regions 
 in the neighbourhood ; the road, which ran along the valley, 
 passed through pleasant woods, and often crossed the rocky 
 bed of the stream. The valley itself was famous for lime and 
 charcoal burning. It was but little cleared of wood, and 
 the houses, which were mostly log- cabins, were inhabited 
 by Germans, principally charcoal-burners. There was a 
 pleasant kind of poetical, out-of-the-world character about 
 the whole place, and the curling smoke, which rose up so 
 dreamily into the sunny sky from the rude charcoal and 
 lime-kilns, added greatly to its effects. 
 
 Willie and his father were bound to old Tobias Midler, 
 the principal man in the valley, and whom they found busy 
 at his trade, and as black as the charcoal itself. He was 
 
218 OCTOBER. 
 
 standing by a pit filled with wood, and which, having just 
 undergone the process of charring, was now strongly 
 recommended by the old man. It was closely covered up 
 with ashes, and was still so hot that Willie's father, spite 
 of all Tobias could say, was afraid that if the wagon was 
 loaded with it all would take fire together. They, therefore, 
 proceeded with the wagon half-a-mile higher up the valley 
 to the old man's house, where he had a great shed filled 
 with charcoal. 
 
 This little excursion up Stony Creek Valley pleased 
 Willie's father so much, that the next day he drove the 
 mother and the little girls there. 
 
 In many parts the valley was wild and uncultivated, 
 presenting perfect specimens of unbroken forest scenery ; 
 here and there also were tracts of that half-cultivated land, 
 which is so characteristic of young settlements. Cornfields 
 and pastures were studded over with tall trunks of trees, 
 which had been girdled and left to rot away ; or the 
 blackened trunks of others which had been destroyed 
 by fire, giving evidence of the first hurried processes of 
 settlement. 
 
 Having advanced a mile beyond old Tobias's, they entered 
 the uncleared wood. Here and there, however, was seen 
 a log-cabin shewing that man had taken possession, and 
 thence he would never more be expelled. 
 
 As they ascended the creek, the woods hemmed them in 
 on all sides, glowing in the warm sunshine with the first 
 
ALL GO TO STONY-CREEK VALLEY. 219 
 
 gorgeous tints of autumn. The birch mingled its gold and 
 green with the first red tinges of the sugar-maple, The 
 oak, a rare tree in these parts, shewed now and then its 
 rich purple masses, and every now and then the beautiful 
 dog-wood intermingled its bright scarlet leafage with the 
 deep greens by which it was surrounded, reminding them 
 of its other beauty in the spring, when covered with lovely 
 white flowers. 
 
 The little party drove slowly along, stopping here and 
 there to admire and to project pleasant excursions for the 
 following year, when, amid the solitudes of these hitherto 
 unknown and yet untracked woods, they would enjoy the 
 season of birds and flowers. 
 
 In passing one deep-wooded hollow, the fragrant pine- 
 apple odour of the paw-paw came so strong and rich that 
 they stopped the carriage, and Willie and his father went 
 down to gather them, and soon shouted up from below to 
 those who remained in the carriage, that there were the 
 finest, ripest, and largest paw-paws that ever were seen ! 
 At these tidings down scrambled Nanny, who had been 
 with difficulty restrained at first, and in a short time the 
 three returned laden with fruit, as they had said, so ripe 
 and rich and good that they were a delicious treat. 
 
 It ought to have been mentioned before, that little Nell- 
 made one of the party, and sate perched like a little 
 princess, on a cushion by her mother ; and now, in all this 
 paw-paw gathering, Florence remained in the carriage to 
 
220 OCTOBER. 
 
 take care of her, while her mother held the reins. Those 
 who were out, however, did not forget Florence, but 
 brought her a bouquet of autumn leaves more beautiful 
 and bright even than the flowers. 
 
 Leaving the little glen of the paw-paws, they drove on, 
 and at length, in the very depth of sylvan seclusion, 
 arrived at a little homestead, which lay like a nest amid 
 solitude and sunshine. It was a log-house of somewhat 
 larger dimensions than common, fronted by a low porch of 
 plain boards, but very neat and orderly. The house within 
 and without appeared to have been lately whitewashed, 
 even to the very wood- shed, chopping-block, and sawing- 
 frame on which the wood was sawn up in lengths for fuel. 
 The windows were whole and bright, a very unusual cir- 
 cumstance in these primitive dwellings; behind the house 
 on the steep hill-side, was a terraced vineyard, perfectly 
 free from weeds ; and in the lower part of the garden grew 
 such splendid balsams that they had the appearance of 
 flowering shrubs. 
 
 It was truly an earthly Paradise, and as our little party 
 drew up to contemplate it, they could not doubt but 
 that here dwelt domestic happiness, affection, and worldly 
 prosperity 
 
 The valley at this point was so narrow that the little 
 homestead occupied both sides, the river and the read 
 entirely filling the bottom. The opposite hill was pasture 
 land, upon which were clustered a number of log-barns 
 
THE COWS. 221 
 
 and outhouses, all as neat and tidy as hands could make 
 them. But where were the hands that had done all this ? 
 Were they young, or were they old ? To the disappoint- 
 ment of our friends, they could not answer this question. 
 No human being was to be seen about the place. All its 
 inhabitants were out, probably at work in some distant 
 field : there was not even a dog to bark. The only living 
 things they saw were a few pigeons sunning themselves on 
 the roof, and several lordly chanticleers, with their wives 
 and numerous descendants, that seemed to be ranging 
 about at their pleasure. 
 
 October 8th. — The pigeons were now on their migratory 
 journey southward. This day fifteen flocks were counted, 
 each consisting of many, many thousands. 
 
 The children brought home from Diedriclr's wood a 
 basket of wild grapes, called chicken grapes ; their growth 
 was extremely beautiful, but they were sour in flavour, 
 and required mellowing by the frost. 
 
 "Willie and Nanny, as I said before, fetched up the cows 
 every evening for milking, and afterwards they both prac- 
 tised the art of milking. Willie's cow was Pink, but 
 Nanny preferred Blackberry, who, considering she was 
 young, was remarkably quiet. They milked into their tin 
 cans, and always brought Nelly a delicious supper. Little 
 Nelly had such delight in this, that she was always ready 
 to go to the yard to see the milking ; and many times in 
 
222 OCTOBER. 
 
 the course of the day would put her little sun-bonnet on, 
 often hind before, and announce to everybody that she was 
 going to the cows. 
 
 In the afternoon, the father dug up sweet potatoes, a 
 favourite vegetable, and with right good-will did the chil- 
 dren gather them, and lay them in the sun to dry ; and 
 when a liner than ordinary presented itself, they rejoiced 
 over it as if it were a piece of plum- cake. After that 
 Willie riddled sand to lay them in, and the next day they 
 were stowed in barrels and secured from frost, which 
 otherwise would entirely spoil them. They are a southern 
 production, the bulbous root of a large convolvulus, the 
 blossom of which our flower-loving friends had often 
 wished to see, but as it did not appear to flower so far 
 north, they had hitherto been disappointed. 
 
 October 20th. — Housing roots for the winter was now the 
 
 great business of every day, as the nights had become frosty. 
 
 Florence brought the sorrowful intelligence to her 
 
 mother this morning that the last night's frost had made 
 sad havoc among the flowers. The balsams, the beautiful 
 marvel of Peru, the cypress vines, the dahlias, the gourds, 
 the melons, the beans and pumpkins, were all as black as 
 if they had been burned. The days, however, were still 
 bright and warm, and there was that soft blue haze in the 
 air which told of many beautiful weeks yet of lingering 
 autumn. 
 
JOHN SOLO, THE TRADER. 
 
 S9ft 
 
 The father was busied in digging up parsnips, carrots, 
 and beets, which the children drew to the house in the 
 little wagon. The gourds or dippers, some like great 
 ladles, and others like immense long-necked bottles, were 
 gathered, and laid by in the large garret for use. 
 
 When all this actual work was done, the children, not 
 too much tired for their own amusement, set off to 
 Diedrich's wood, to see if the boys and the squirrels had 
 left any hickory nuts. It was one of those sweet autumnal 
 afternoons, which fill the hearts of young and old with a 
 quiet gladness. The earth glowed with green, and gold, and 
 crimson, intermingled with brown and yellow; the tall 
 corn looked rich, like fretted gold — the distant landscape 
 was blue as the sky — and the atmosphere had a crystalline 
 brilliancy, warmed by a sun so bright, that it brought to 
 remembrance the glow of midsummer. 
 
 The children bounded into the woods with the activity of 
 young deer ; they gathered the pretty Michaelmas daisy, 
 and the few remaining branches of the golden-rod ; and, 
 thanks to the abundant season, spite of boys and the wild 
 creatures of the wood, they soon filled their baskets with 
 nuts, which were unusually fine. 
 
 In the wood they met the general trader, John Solo, 
 who was always scheming how he could make cents and 
 dollars. He told them that he had that season gathered 
 great quantities of nuts, which he had sold at a dollar 
 a bushel in the city. This boy, who was a thorough 
 
224 OCTOBER. 
 
 specimen of a young Yankee trader, "gathered nuts and 
 blackberries and paw-paws for sale ; lie caught young red 
 and blue birds, and sold them. He had sold Madam 
 Leonard and the beloved Christina many for their friends 
 — but, alas they never lived ! He bartered all sorts of 
 things with men, if he could, and if not with children, 
 though selling was his favourite mode of doing business. 
 If he heard of anybody wanting anything, he would 
 immediately go and offer to get it for them ; for if he had 
 it not himself, nor could himself get it, he knew somebody 
 else who could, and he always contrived to make a few 
 cents by the bargain. He had always something to offer 
 for sale, let him meet whom he would, for he seemed to 
 be in himself a travelling store : the inside of his hat was 
 stuck with fish-hooks, and pins and needles ; his pockets 
 were filled with all sorts of small convertible articles, and 
 he never walked through a wood without making it yield 
 him something ; and, now this day meeting Willie, and 
 knowing his passion for fishing-rods and tackle, he threw 
 out his bait — a capital fishing-rod which he had at home, 
 regularly jointed, in four parts, city-made, with a capital 
 line and two hooks — and for all this he wanted only half 
 a dollar, or if money were not forthcoming, he would take 
 it out in nuts. Willie was greatly tempted : through the 
 whole of the last summer had he been longing for a 
 regular fishing-rod, although he had discovered by expe- 
 rience that there was, in dry weather, no fishing in the 
 
225 
 
 Creeks. He took a little time to consider of it, and in 
 the end decided to give half a bushel of ready-gathered 
 nuts, which Solo measured with his hat into a bag he 
 had with him, and Willie was to receive on the morrow 
 this capital fishing-rod, which he had not seen. 
 
 On their way home, they met old "Miss Jack," as 
 Nanny called her. She was hobbling along, very lame, 
 but looking well upon the whole. She stopped them, and 
 spoke very kindly to them, particularly enquiring if the 
 mamma were well, and if the papa had any grapes or 
 quinces to sell, as she wanted to buy. They carefully 
 carried home her message, and all agreed from this that 
 she must be comfortably off. 
 
 They were now in the full glory of " the Fall," or the 
 American autumn. Much has already been said of the 
 gorgeous colouring of the woods ; but it is impossible, by 
 words, to give any idea of their intense beauty. Here, 
 though there was a greater sameness of forest trees than 
 in Pennsylvania, where they passed their first autumn, 
 still the woods were inconceivably splendid; and those 
 who had not seen them could hardly form an idea of 
 their beauty. There still remained almost every variety 
 of green, intermingled with every shade of yellow, orange, 
 red, brown, and occasionally deep purple. Here and 
 there, the trunks and arms of gigantic dead trees would 
 be wreathed with Virginian creepers of the most intense 
 scarlet, often starting forth from the very thickest of the 
 
 Q 
 
226 OCTOBER. 
 
 forest, like a fantastic scarlet tower. The hills, where 
 cleared of wood, were of the brightest emerald green; 
 and the river, with its now full and rapid stream (for the 
 middle of the month had been rainy) formed a scene of 
 such varied and glowing beauty, that the children's mother 
 could not but wish, almost daily, that her English friends 
 could witness it with her. 
 
 With the autumn, also, had returned the gorgeous 
 sunsets of the season, together with a peculiar appearance 
 in the horizon, which reminded the beholder of the 
 poetical expression, "rosy eve." It commenced imme- 
 diately before and continued long after sunset, giving the 
 most exquisite colouring, not only to the West, but to the 
 opposite East, and sometimes, also, extending round the 
 whole horizon. It was never seen in summer, and was 
 probably the consequence of a frosty atmosphere. 
 
 Henrietta, a little English girl, and her younger brother, 
 Frank, just arrived with^ their parents in this country, 
 came to spend a few days at The Cedars, and as Willie 
 found his newly-bartered fishing-rod to be an excellent 
 one, he begged that himself and his sisters might make a 
 little fishing excursion with their visitors to Bald-face 
 Creek. Neither father nor mother had any objection; 
 pasties, and other necessary preparations were made the 
 day before, and with sandwiches, which were cut in the 
 morning, all were put in a basket, and entrusted to 
 Henrietta, who, as the oldest, promised to be the head of 
 
THE TERRIBLE HORSE. 227 
 
 the party. Willie, besides the basket, carried his grand 
 new jointed rod in a holland case which his mother had 
 made for it ; and Nanny and Frank took the home-made 
 lines, proposing to cut paw-paw rods in the wood. Nanny, 
 also, carried shreds of dried beef for baits, and a tin can 
 to drink out of. At ten o'clock they set out, the dew by 
 that time being dry. The sun shone bright, and so warm 
 that they found the shade of Jack's wood, through which 
 they had to pass, very grateful. They did not linger, how- 
 ever, in the wood, but went onward to one of Mrs. Jack's 
 meadows, through which a tributary of the Creek ran, 
 and where they promised themselves, after the late rains, 
 that there would be good fishing. In this meadow, 
 Mrs. Jack's old white horse was very quietly feeding ; but 
 no sooner had they reached the water-side than, to their 
 great surprise and terror, the horse came running up to 
 them, not trotting, or galloping, but running with his nose 
 poked out, showing his teeth, and looking most horribly, 
 like a demon-horse, as Nanny said. They could not think 
 what was come to him ; they thought that he was surely 
 gone mad ; the girls screamed, and the boys, no little 
 frightened also, snatched up the fishing-rods, both the 
 jointed and unjointed, and managed to drive him off, and 
 send him kicking up his old heels to the other end of the 
 field. 
 
 The poor old creature meant no harm. He no doubt 
 imagined that they had brought him salt in their nice 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 OCTOBER. 
 
 little baskets ; for shortly afterwards they met the little 
 daughter of Jerry, the coloured sailor-farmer, who man- 
 aged Mrs. Jack's land, bringing him a basket of salt. 
 This little girl was about ten ; and she amused them by 
 her droll remarks. Nanny declared that she had the 
 brightest eyes and the whitest teeth in the world ; she 
 laughed and chattered, and jumped over the fences like a 
 deer, and when she left them she skipped away, saying, 
 " I'm the girl that looks after the cows \" and then 
 bounded into the wood. 
 
 After this merry little creature w r as gone, they pursued 
 their way to a wild and solitary part of Bald-face Creek 
 Valley, where the hills appeared to shut it so completely 
 in that there was only room along the bottom for the 
 rocky bed of the stream and the footpath. The hills 
 were covered with locust and walnut-trees ; and the tulip 
 tree, the willow, and the button-wood grew on the banks 
 overshadowing the stream. This was a lovelyspot, and 
 while the fishing part of the company threw their lines, 
 the rest sought, in the shallows of the rocky stream, for 
 fossil shells and corals, which abounded there. Florence 
 was here one of the fishers ; and Frank, the English boy, 
 was very assiduous in helping her. First a rod was to be 
 cut ; then her line was to be leaded ; but as the lead had 
 been forgotten, a small piece of rock was used instead 
 There were, of course, many nibbles ; everybody had 
 nearly caught such a fish ! But the end of all was, that 
 
DINNER AT BALD-FACE CREEK. 229 
 
 one little white perch only was taken ; that, however, was 
 caught by Willie's grand new rod and line, and, therefore, 
 it was carefully carried home, and had the honour of the 
 whole frying-pan to itself. 
 
 But they were not at home yet, nor had they dined. 
 Henrietta, the head of the party, selected the sylvan 
 dining room, which was a beautiful little nook, where the 
 stream, issuing through a narrow opening, formed a bend ; 
 and they were shut in by over-hanging rocks, trees, and 
 bushes. Here, upon a smooth table of blue slaty-rock, 
 their dinner was spread, and how delicious were their 
 cheese-cakes and pasties when eaten from the large leaves 
 of the button-wood, which were also twisted up to form 
 drinking-cups. How delicious was that pumpkin cheese- 
 cake, and that apple pasty ! how cool and refreshing the 
 sparkling water that rippled by them in little fairy waves ! 
 
 Henrietta had much trouble to keep her little company 
 in order; they were perfectly wild with joy; and at 
 last she gave up the attempt, and told them that there 
 was an end of her rule, and they might now be just as 
 wild as they liked. Then what shouts and laughter 
 echoed through the wood, each one trying to do something 
 crazier than the others ! They leapt and ran, and rolled 
 about till they had worked off some of their excessive 
 animal spirits, and then after resting awhile, they bent 
 down to the little rocky basins of the stream to catch, 
 with their hands, the silvery minnows which were spark- 
 ling in the sunshiny water. 
 
230 OCTOBER. 
 
 As they returned from this little excursion, they found 
 it dusty and hot, and one and all of them — the grave 
 Henrietta into the bargain — took off their stockings and 
 shoes, and walked in the pleasantly warm water of the 
 rocky stream. 
 
 When they again entered the wood, while looking for 
 ripe paw-paws, they came to a fine wild vine which had 
 grown over a broken tree, and which was laden with 
 beautiful clusters of fruit. Of these lovely and abundant 
 branches, they bore away as many as they could carry with 
 their other booty; and thus arrived at home, wreathed 
 like a party of young Bacchanals, for tea, when, with 
 vociferous joy, they related all their adventures, not for- 
 getting that Nanny, who seemed born for a regular tramp, 
 actually walked home barefoot, without the slightest detri- 
 ment to her very pretty feet, she having unfortunately 
 dropped somewhere one of her shoes. 
 
 The loss of the shoe, the mother, however, thought no 
 joke. She looked very grave about it. It was an old 
 offence of Nanny's ; and she seriously spoke of sending 
 her back to seek for it, when Willie produced the lost shoe 
 out of his pocket, he having picked it up unknown to 
 Nanny. Nanny was overjoyed; and throwing her arms 
 round his neck, exclaimed, "Oh, Willie, what a good 
 brother you are ; I am sure I ought to be thankful I" 
 
 A large slate hung up in the parlour closet, to which 
 a piece of pencil was attached with a string. On this 
 
THE RECORD ON THE SLATE. 231 
 
 slate, the mother wrote something every evening. The 
 children knew very well the nature of this writing on 
 the wall. It was a warning voice, a stimulus to good 
 endeavour. How often would Florence exclaim, in her 
 gentle tones, to Willie or Nanny, when they contended 
 together, or were perverse, " How would you like to hear 
 of that on the slate P or Willie in his turn would whisper 
 to either of his faulty sisters, " The slate \" with a kind 
 brotherly voice ; and often the warning would not be 
 unheeded. 
 
 This slate was taken down from the wall once only in 
 the week — on the Monday morning. Then, after the 
 customary family worship, the mother brought forth this 
 tablet, and read with much solemnity what was written 
 thereon to them, and to their father, who thus, as well as 
 themselves, heard it for the first time, and who had here 
 a review of the past week laid before him, and commended 
 or reproved, as the account stood. 
 
 After that, the Avriting was rubbed out, and the unin- 
 scribed slate again hung up to receive the chronicle of the 
 week. 
 
 On one Monday morning about this time, the following 
 were the details of the preceding week : — 
 
 Monday. — A day of pleasure and peace. 
 
 Tuesday. — Very obedient : very peaceable. 
 
 Wednesday. — Florence fretful about her reading. Willie 
 obstinate at his arithmetic ; some quarrelling between him 
 and Nanny. 
 
232 OCTOBER. 
 
 Thursday. — Good. The mother's heart filled with grati- 
 tude to God for the obedience of her children. They will 
 themselves remember the occasion. 
 
 Friday. — Began the day very well. Lessons interrupted 
 by visitors, who took the children out. All loving to each 
 other. Willie performed a voluntary act of service to his 
 sisters. 
 
 Saturday. — An unhappy day. Willie inclined to grum- 
 ble about everything ; very selfish and wilful with his sisters 
 about the hickory-nuts ; beat Nanny ; scolded little Nelly 
 till she cried; and was even angry with his mother. 
 Nanny very passionate with Willie. Florence unwilling 
 to obey. All improved before evening, Those who had 
 been most faulty in the morning, most obedient and affec- 
 tionate in the evening. 
 
 Sunday. — All good till evening, when Willie and Nanny 
 quarrelled. The quarrel soon over. 
 
 October 25th. — This was a day of hard work. 
 
 "Now, mother dear," said Willie, early in the day, 
 " What are we to do ? There are our great heaps of butter- 
 nuts, and hickory-nuts, and all the buck-eyes for Nelly to 
 play with, lying in the wood ; and father said at breakfast, 
 that we must do all our lessons, and all our work, before 
 we go to fetch them. We shall never fetch them to-day 
 in that case, and to-morrow is Sunday V 3 and large tears 
 were in Willie's eves. 
 
EARNING THE BUTTER-NUTS. 233 
 
 " Father has said so," returned the mother mildly • 
 " and, therefore, you must obey." 
 
 Willie sighed, and enumerated the long list of work that 
 had to be done. The mother encouraged him, and told 
 him that if they worked industriously, there would, without 
 fail, be three hours in the afternoon for the wood. 
 
 Willie took heart, and he and his sisters sat down to 
 their lessons. When these were done, he went to husk 
 corn, while the two little girls sat down to a small task of 
 sewing ; but Nanny was very slow, and did not contrive to 
 help Willie, which was a great disappointment to him. 
 He next brushed his Sunday clothes, and blacked his best 
 shoes. Florence attended to little Nelly, and walked out 
 with her in the sunshine, while Nanny and Willie picked 
 off the yet green tomatoes from the frosted and withered 
 plants for the pigs. This was a very unpleasant job, but 
 nevertheless they gathered four large basketfuls. In the 
 midst of this, poor Florence remembered that the shoes in 
 which she would have to walk that afternoon were not 
 come back from the shoemaker's at Athens. Here was a 
 misfortune ! There was nobody to send for them. Willie 
 could not leave his work to go ; so Nanny took charge of 
 little Nelly, while she contrived to help Willie, and Florence 
 went herself after her shoes. 
 
 Poor children ! They really had a morning of hard 
 work. But it was all over by dinner-time, and Florence 
 was back from Athens. After dinner they looked as bright 
 
234 OCTOBER. 
 
 and happy as if their whole lives were made up of holidays, 
 and away they went for their woodland treasures. 
 
 All were safe. The butter-nuts were quite dry and ex- 
 cellent ; the hickory-nuts just bursting their outer coats; 
 the buck-eyes, with their bright brown eyes, polished and 
 solid as if made of hard wood and varnished ; and thus 
 with bags full and baskets full, they returned home for 
 tea, wearied but happy. Willie sat down by the fire to 
 rest, and fell fast asleep before supper, without the power 
 of listening, as he usually did, to the pleasant book which 
 his father was reading. Florence also fell asleep, and did 
 not take any notice of her doll, although the evening 
 before she had made what she called a " new cravat " for 
 it, and at which she had no time to look during the morn- 
 ing. Nanny, who sat on her father's knee, although she 
 protested that she was wide awake, and heard all he was 
 reading, yet was supposed by every body else to be having 
 a comfortable doze. 
 
 October 26th. — The children and their parents went to 
 meeting in the city. The father having an engagement 
 remained there, and cousin Michael drove them home. In 
 the afternoon, their mother read to them the story of Willie 
 Ellis, and his christian conduct to Captain Stout; after 
 which they went with Louise to the grave-yard, to see the 
 grave of her little niece. While they were standing by it, 
 the old grave-digger came up to them, and began to com- 
 
THE FATHER VISITS THE UNHAPPY. 235 
 
 plain bitterly. He said " that lie should certainly starve, 
 for that he got no jobs to do ; and when he did, he was 
 paid only five-and-twenty cents for digging ( a hole/ " He 
 called the graves "holes," and he spoke of coffins as 
 " boxes ;" " while his neighbour, the Irishman, who worked 
 in the cemetery, got plenty of jobs, and two dollars for 
 every hole he dug ! And no sooner had he filled up one 
 hole, than another wanted digging. Folks seemed to die 
 on purpose to put dollars in his pocket. That they 
 did!" 
 
 When the father returned in the evening, he told them 
 that the occasion of his staying in the city was to go with 
 some good Christian men to read the Scriptures, and have 
 religious discourse with the chain-gang and other criminals. 
 He said they were locked in with about fifty prisoners, 
 some of whom were ironed and dragged about Ions: chains. 
 
 CIO O ■> 
 
 and others free. One amongst them was confined for 
 murder. At first some of the prisoners laughed and looked 
 indifferent, but that before they had ended there was not 
 one who did not seem affected, and many of them crowded 
 round the gentlemen at parting, and asked to shake hands 
 with them, and some of them wept, and one said " All ! if 
 I had been brought up under good counsel like this, I 
 should not have been what I now am, nor in this place." 
 Many of the men begged that they would soon come again ; 
 they promised that they would do so, and then left them 
 some good books and tracts to read. 
 
236 OCTOBER. 
 
 October 28th. — Willie had to go down to Athens to 
 bring his father's boots from the shoemaker's. He fitted, 
 therefore, new linch-pins to the little wagon-wheels, and 
 obtained his mother's consent to draw little Nelly down 
 with him in this her favourite carriage. Nelly was de- 
 lighted ; she sate in great state on a piece of buffalo skin, 
 with a long stick in her hand for a whip. They arrived at 
 the shoemaker's, and stowing in the new boots beside the 
 little damsel, set off back again. 
 
 Madam Leonard, who had seen them passing her house 
 on their way down, was on the look-out for them on their 
 return ; but, in passing hastily through her gate, one of 
 the wheels caught, and the new linch-pin came out. No 
 misfortune occurred ; Madam Leonard snatched out little 
 Nelly, and, taking her in her arms, kissed her, and wel- 
 comed her as if she had been the President's lady herself, 
 and then called her man, and bade him look to the little 
 wagon, and see that all the wheels were safe. While this 
 was doing, she took them into her house, feasted them 
 with apples and cakes, and then into her garden, and 
 gathered them a nosegay of chrysanthemums, which 
 Willie divided into two parts, and stuck one into each 
 boot, to the great amusement of everybody. 
 
 Once more little Nelly took her seat on the buffalo-skin, 
 with a boot full of flowers on each hand, and then, with a 
 bag of cakes beside her for Florence and Nanny, away 
 they went, and returned home, as might be expected, 
 most triumphantly. 
 
THE TWO SOLOS. 237 
 
 In the evening, Willie was again sent to Athens, and 
 this time on a melancholy errand ; it was to tell David 
 Solo, the butcher, to come next day to kill the calf. 
 
 The next day there was a very industrious reading in 
 the History of the United States ; they read one of its 
 most interesting portions, the progress of Hernand Solo 
 from the shores of the Mexican Gulf to the Upper 
 Mississippi. They read of his wanderings through the 
 unbroken wilderness, and of his contests with the Indians ; 
 of his disastrous retreat and death on the shores of the 
 mighty river which he had discovered, and in whose waters 
 he was buried. They traced his course on the map, and 
 were so intensely interested in the narrative, that several 
 hours of the morning went on ; and thus, to the joy of 
 all, the calf was killed, and they knew nothing about it. 
 
 Nanny remarked that it was very odd that they should 
 read about one Solo on purpose to forget another, and she 
 wondered whether this David were a descendant of that 
 Hernand. She determined to ask him. 
 
 Willie had now become a very good and fearless rider. 
 He trotted and galloped Farmer daily up and down the 
 avenue; and the good horse was so quiet and obedient, 
 that there was no longer any fear or anxiety on his account. 
 Nanny now and then would mount behind him, and even 
 was ambitious to ride him herself, but as yet she was not 
 trusted. 
 
238 OCTOBER. 
 
 October 30tli. — They were now all busy making apple- 
 butter. The children, and several young acquaintance of 
 the family, who came for the purpose, helped to pare the 
 apples and quinces, and when a sufficient quantity were 
 thus prepared, they were boiled in sweet cider, into which 
 a bag of spices was put, until reduced to a strong, thick 
 pulp. The making of this apple-butter was always a great 
 undertaking. The peeling of the apples alone was a 
 formidable job ; and whilst boiling, which lasted for 
 hours, it had to be carefully stirred all the time. It 
 was made in a copper, holding two gallons, over a large 
 wood tire. 
 
 Besides the apple-butter making, this was a very joyful 
 day, in consequence of the arrival of a parcel from 
 England. The children even had letters. Blessings on 
 the kind hearts at a distance., who thus remembered 
 them ! And no sooner were the letters read, than a most 
 earnest desire possessed the children to apply themselves 
 to their daily writing lessons, that they might reply to 
 their beloved relatives and friends across the Atlantic. 
 
 The next day Willie was sent to the tanner's with the 
 calf-skin, which was to be tanned into leather. It was 
 rather a long way ; and as he had to see the tanner, who 
 was quite a stranger to him, to deliver a message, and in 
 fact, to transact business, it seemed quite a formidable 
 undertaking. But Willie was not a boy to make stumbling- 
 blocks of little difficulties. 
 
 The skin was tied up in a strong cloth ; and Willie 
 
Willie's adventures. 239 
 
 having had an early dinner, and with a rosy apple in his 
 pocket, set off very manfully, carrying the bundle on his 
 shoulder, hung on a stout stick. 
 
 On his way, a horseman, who passed him, enquired if 
 he were not cold : but whether it were in derision or 
 civility, Willie could not tell ; he therefore civilly replied 
 that he was not, as indeed it was not likely he should be, 
 thanking him at the same time for his politeness j and so 
 the matter ended, the stranger riding on with a smile on 
 his face, which puzzled Willie as much as his question 
 had done. 
 
 A little farther on, as he neared the bottom of a hill, he 
 saw two big boys approaching him, who, as soon as they 
 saw him, began to talk in a very loud voice. " Here's a 
 lad coming, lefs knock him down I" said the biggest. 
 
 "No, he's only a little boy; we'll let him alone this 
 time !" said the other. 
 
 Willie felt very queer at these words ; lie was excessively 
 angry, because he thought it a shame to attack a peaceable 
 person. However, he walked on stoutly to meet them. 
 The two lads stared him in the face, and then, standing 
 still, began to laugh most outrageously, bursting into one 
 peal of laughter after another, till he felt as if it were 
 hurled after him like stones ; but he walked on, though he 
 could not help thinking it very odd and disagreeable. 
 These were the only adventures he had on his way to the 
 tanner's. 
 
210 OCTOBER. 
 
 The tanner was at home j he delivered his father's 
 message, transacted the business in a very business-like 
 manner, and then set off home again. 
 
 He had not gone far along the road, when a man over- 
 took him with an empty wood wagon, and shouted to him, 
 " Bob, will you ride ?" [Bob is the cant name for every 
 boy in America, as Sis or Tissie for every girl.] 
 
 Willie did not think that the man was making fun of 
 him, and thanking him, he accepted his offer. The man 
 had a little round to make to a farmer's about some 
 wood, and Willie did not object to go with him. He had 
 a very pleasant ride, for the man was a good fellow, by 
 trade a miller, who told him all sorts of comical stories, 
 and at parting, telling him where he lived, invited Willie 
 to go and see him, which he promised to do, if his parents 
 would give him leave. 
 
 Spite of "the lift," which Willie thus got, it was 
 nearly dark when he reached home, and many an anxious 
 look had the mother and sisters given for his return. 
 Florence had toasted him very carefully a slice of bread 
 for his milk ; his mother had laid a nice piece of cake on 
 his plate, and the tea-table was ready waiting his arrival, 
 when he made his appearance. Everybody was right glad 
 to see him ; and he amused them all by the history of his 
 adventures, and received the commendation of his father 
 as regarded the business part of the narration. 
 
241 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 November. 
 
 November 1st. — The father, mother, and Nanny went 
 again to visit the Coloured-Orphan Asylum, taking with 
 them a quantity of clothes which they had made for the 
 children, and a large bag of apples. Nanny had in her 
 own especial charge the separate bundle which was de- 
 signed for little Elizabeth. 
 
 Unfortunately, most of the children were that day out 
 of the asylum, only the younger ones being at home, but 
 of this number was Elizabeth. She was so overjoyed and 
 surprised by the new clothes, that it was quite a delight to 
 see her. Nanny was as happy as she was, when she tried 
 on the new pink frock and the blue long-sleeved pinafore. 
 The child for awhile stood stroking them down with her 
 little black hands, and then looking up into their faces, 
 she burst into the merriest laughter that ever was heard. 
 
 Willie went on an errand to Joiner Lotte's. He found 
 them in trouble. The old grandfather was just dead. 
 Lotte was making his coffin; and he brought back an 
 invitation to the mother for the funeral, which was to be 
 held on the morrow. 
 
 November was a month of birthdays. The 2nd of the 
 
 R 
 
242 NOVEMBER. 
 
 month was Florence's ; the 4th was the mother's ; the 5th, 
 Willie's j and the 25th Nanny's. These anniversaries had 
 been anticipated for six months, especially by Florence, 
 whose birthday came first in rotation. She would that 
 day be eight years old. This birthday, however, falling 
 on Sunday, the celebration of it was deferred until the 
 next day. 
 
 The family went therefore in the morning to their own 
 place of worship ; and in the afternoon the mother, Willie, 
 and Nanny, attended the funeral of grandfather Lotte. 
 
 They walked with the funeral procession down to the 
 Lutheran Chapel just below, where, besides those who had 
 gone from the house, a large company of Germans were 
 present. The coffin stood uncovered under the pulpit, 
 while the minister, in his plain black every- day dress, deli- 
 vered an apparently very affecting address; for many of the 
 people, aud even men, wept. He then prayed ; after 
 which, they sang a hymn ; and all this time the funeral 
 company remained sitting, and only rose to receive a 
 blessing at last. The coffin was then carried out, and 
 - before it was lowered into the grave, the minister threw 
 a shovelful of earth upon it, saying at the same time a few 
 words. He then again prayed, another hymn was sung, 
 and the company dispersed. 
 
 The singing was very beautiful, and even father Bran- 
 denburg, the wicked man, who beat his boy so much, 
 joined in and sang with a grand bass voice; but he wore 
 
243 
 
 enormous round-eyed spectacles, which made his eyes look 
 like saucers, and he made such strange and comical faces 
 while he sang, that it was all Nanny could do to keep from 
 laughing. 
 
 November 3rd. — The nominal birthday was now come. 
 In the morning lessons were done just as usual ; and all 
 the various little in-doors and out-of-doors duties were 
 attended to. After dinner, the mother said, " Now you 
 must be dressed as if company were coming." 
 
 Clean white frocks were put on, little silk aprons and 
 white silk mits ; their hair was beautifully bright and 
 smooth; and Florence's, which was remarkably fine, fell in 
 soft glossy curls on her shoulders. Never had they looked 
 in more exact holiday trim. A bouquet, consisting of dark 
 green cedar twigs, interspersed with scarlet berries, rich 
 branches of various-coloured leaves, the beautiful white 
 clusters of the snow-berry tree, chrysanthemums, catch- 
 fly s, the last flowers of the season, and all of Willie's 
 gathering, adorned the middle of the large tea-table, which 
 was set out in the drawing-room. 
 
 Again the green and gold china tea-service, which was 
 always locked up, was brought out with the silver tea-pot 
 and cream-jug, and set on the best tray ; and the mother 
 placed upon the table a large cake covered with sugar, on 
 which were two beautiful silver letters, the initials of 
 Florence's name. The lamps burned brightly — the father 
 
 r2 
 
244 NOVEMBER. 
 
 himself had trimmed them, and the fire blazed more cheer- 
 fully than common. 
 
 Florence blushed and smiled with pleased consciousness 
 as the first cup was handed to her, and as she felt herself 
 the object of every one's affectionate attention. The cake, 
 however, which was her own, she had the pleasure of 
 handing round, and thus helping every one before herself. 
 
 Pleasant as this tea-drinking in the green and gold china 
 was to Florence, it was no less so to little Nelly, who, 
 perched on her mother's right hand in all her holiday attire, 
 regarded her dear little self as the proper entertainer of 
 the whole company, and gave her little hand to be kissed, 
 and chattered most graciously to everybody. When tea 
 was over, and little Nelly asleep on the mother's knee, the 
 father related to the children what they had never heard 
 before, the history of himself when he was a boy, and ran 
 wild in one of the most beautiful and secluded dales of 
 Yorkshire. It was very interesting to the children to hear 
 of their father as a boy. 
 
 It was a happy evening, and one not soon to be for- 
 gotten. 
 
 November 4th. — The beloved mother, for some reason 
 of her own, never would have her birthday kept. The 
 children, however, kissed her with more than ordinary 
 affection. Willie and Florence said they would celebrate 
 it by being very obedient. Willie said he would be ten 
 
THE HAM-THIEF. 245 
 
 times better than ever; and Nanny, folding her hands 
 meekly before her, said, with a very devout expression, 
 which nevertheless was rather comic, " It is dear mother's 
 birthday ; I am sure we ought to be very thankful." 
 
 This morning, Bernard reached a ham down from the 
 smoke-house, and laid it outside the door of the summer 
 kitchen ; from which place he expected Louise to carry it. 
 When Louise, however, went to look for it, it was not 
 there. Everything was still as death ; nobody had seen 
 anybody about. There was a great mystery. Could Milo 
 have carried it away ? No, Milo never took anything that 
 did not belong to him ; and, besides, a large ham was such 
 an unlikely thing for any dog to carry off. Notwith- 
 standing this, and MnVs good character, the children were 
 sent to the potato-field, where Milo then was with Eber- 
 hard, to inquire if he had been seen with any thing 
 suspicious in his mouth. Eberhard cleared Milo at once. 
 He had been with him all the morning ; and he now looked 
 so hungry and so innocent, as he heard them talking about 
 him, that no suspicion could possibly lie against him. 
 
 They began to be afraid that some human thief had been 
 about ; and such a thing had never happened since they 
 had been in the country. An hour or two afterwards, the 
 mother was walking in the orchard, still thinking of the 
 vanished ham, when she spied, down in a hollow, Eberhard' s 
 great white bull-dog, Turk. As soon as he saw her, a 
 guilty expression came into his face, and putting his tail 
 
246 NOVEMBER. 
 
 between his legs, he trotted off towards his home. This 
 excited her suspicion, and going down into the hollow, she 
 found the unfortunate ham almost gnawed to the bone. It 
 was wonderful how the dog had managed to eat so much 
 in so short a time. 
 
 November 5th. — It was now Willie's birthday, and he 
 was ten years old. This was but a repetition of what 
 occurred on Florence's, excepting that he had two cakes on 
 his table • the one made by his mother, and the other a 
 present from Uncle Cornelius, and like all Uncle Cor- 
 nelius's presents, it was quite magnificent ; and on the 
 supper-table two large nosegays, one of which was sent by 
 Madam Leonard from her beautiful garden. 
 
 Instead of the father's history of his own boyhood, which 
 had given so much pleasure before, the mother now told 
 of her childhood in one of the sweet pastoral counties of 
 midland England. The children sate clustered round the 
 mother's knee, and looked into her beloved and affec- 
 tionate countenance, as she told of her elder sisters — and 
 of her beloved brother, her hand -in-hand companion, 
 who was cut off in the flower and beauty of his youth, in 
 this very land where they now were sojourning— and of 
 the dearly beloved grandmother, whom they remembered 
 in England, and whose presence they now only wanted, in 
 a large arm-chair by the tire, to make their earthly para- 
 dise complete. 
 
THE INDIAN SUMMER. 247 
 
 The father's narrative had been one of mirth and 
 strength, of hardy country life, with all its frolic and 
 enjoyment; the children had laughed over it, and wished 
 that they had been their father's playmates. The mother's 
 narrative was different, yet it rivetted them no less to her 
 side ; they shed tears with her, they clung to her knees 
 and kissed her hands and cheek. They loved her in- 
 tensely; they silently vowed in their young hearts never 
 to grieve her, but to make each other happy for her sake, 
 who loved them all so much. 
 
 Such were these long-thought-of birthdays, and their 
 quiet and peculiar birth-day pleasures. 
 
 It was now the time of the beautiful Indian summer, 
 as it is called. 
 
 The first cold approaches of winter, often bitterly severe, 
 and which were called Squaw-winter, had passed ; and 
 now the Indian summer was come. It was as if the 
 beautiful autumn, with all its gold and purple, its scarlet 
 and its various greens, with its rosy sunsets, and its soft 
 mists, had returned to give a farewell look at the beloved 
 earth which it had so richly adorned. The sun again 
 shone with a subdued brilliancy; the air was mild and 
 balmy, and a stillness reigned through nature, the stillness 
 of repose, which, after the heat and tumult of summer, 
 was perfectly delicious. 
 
 One day, in coming up the hill under the wood, the 
 children were greatly delighted by seeing two little chippy- 
 
248 NOVEMBER. 
 
 monks sitting side by side on a stone, and turning round 
 their pretty heads to each other, as if they were talking 
 about the beauty of the sunshine in which they sat, and 
 the good store of hickory and beech nuts with which they 
 had supplied their little larders. It was a pleasant sight, 
 and the children were overjoyed, because the little crea- 
 tures, as if they had full confidence in them, sat quietly 
 perched on their hind legs, nodding their heads, and 
 looking into each other's faces without showing the least 
 fear. They were about the size of little kittens, their fur 
 was of a bright brown, and their breasts of a delicate buff 
 colour. They looked like little fairy men in brown coats 
 and buff waistcoats. 
 
 During the beautiful Indian summer, Willie went to 
 pay the much desired visit to his friends the Colsons, of 
 Colsonville. We have already mentioned this family, and 
 the rural plenty and independence in which they lived. 
 No sooner was Willie again at Colsonville than he felt, as 
 he had done before, his whole soul possessed with the 
 beauty and extent of the place. There were vast woods 
 upon it; there was a sugar-camp, to which he was now 
 invited for next season; there was a corn-mill and a tan- 
 yard ; there were oil and saw-mills ; and the house itself 
 was grandly situated upon an eminence overlooking the 
 beautiful Miami Valley, and was diversified by woods, and 
 fields, and hills, and plains : and all this belonged to the 
 Colsons ! Willie had heard of noble English estates ; of 
 
THE COLSONS OF COLSONVILLE. 249 
 
 European dukedoms and princedoms, but he could imagine 
 nothing finer than this location. There were immense 
 orchards full of fruit ; castor-oil grounds, which produced 
 nearly two thousand gallons of oil in the year ; and fields 
 of broom-corn \ and fields of maize ; and abundant mea- 
 dows with flocks and herds. He looked, with admiring 
 wonder, even on the hogs which they raised, and the 
 turkeys, and the guinea-fowls, and the chickens. He 
 thought with almost envy, of how they made their own 
 sugar, and soap, and candles, and wished that at his father's 
 they had as much to do. But then what a family the 
 Colsons were, — sixteen sons and daughters ! And what 
 quantities of wool they might well spin at home, or send to 
 the manufactory to be prepared for the use of the family. It 
 was a pleasure to him to see the fine coloured men and 
 women, whom they had brought up from childhood, and 
 many "hired work-hands" besides, who were employed 
 at the place ; and there was such a perpetual going and 
 coming, that it seemed quite like a little town, to say 
 nothing of the visitors, old and young, who were always 
 there. Yes, as Willie wrote to his mother, there was no 
 place in the Union, if in the whole world, like Colsonville ; 
 and when he grew to be a man, he meant to have just such 
 another place for himself ! 
 
 When Willie arrived at Colsonville, he found them busy 
 in the erection of a large new frame house ; and he fre- 
 quently had the pleasure of going with the boys, his 
 
250 NOVEMBER. 
 
 particular friends, and the coloured men and the team, to 
 haul saw-logs to the mill. 
 
 Willie wrote to his mother; and I cannot do better 
 than give his letter. 
 
 Dear Mother, — I think that you will like to hear how I go on. 
 I have not much time for writing ; for there is a deal to he done 
 here. We often go to the woods for timber ; and in the woods we 
 find the sweet acorns of the pine oak, which are a great deal better 
 than hazel-nuts. There are also plenty of hickory and beech nuts 
 still ; though the hogs have been turned into the woods for many 
 weeks. Every day we see plenty of chippy-monks ; they are no 
 rarity here, and their antics are very amusing. I often wish Nanny 
 were here, as she would have a deal of fun. One day we saw a large 
 opossum, which Zimri, one of the coloured men, shot ; it was very 
 like a young pig, and was capital eating. These opossums do a deal 
 of mischief to the poultry ; and when they are attacked, they pretend 
 to be dead, that you may not think them worth the trouble of killing. 
 
 Josiah, Nathaniel, Jesse and I, often go a fishing in the river. It 
 is famous fishing here. We fish in the Miami ; and fish are so 
 plentiful, that one can catch a dish any time with a corn stalk, a 
 piece of twine, and a pin. I have caught plenty of great Jack 
 perch myself. 
 
 One day when we were out fishing, Josiah spied a large old 
 tortoise, and three little ones, basking in the sunshine on a log in 
 the water, under an old button-wood. As soon as he saw them he 
 called to us, and we threw bits of old wood at them to see what 
 they would do ; and then the old mother and two of the little 
 fellows popped into the water, or rather plunged from the end of 
 the log just as if they were going to take a bathe, but the third, 
 who was bolder than the rest of his family, stood staring at us as 
 resolutely as could be. 
 
PLEASURES AT COLSONVILLE. 251 
 
 I wanted to wade into the water, and catch him ; but the others 
 would not let me ; because they said that these tortoises have such 
 strong teeth that they could snap a hook in two, and therefore my 
 fingers would be badly off. There are plenty of tortoises in these 
 waters, and not far off there is a stream which is called " Turtle 
 Creek," and there, in an evening, you can see hundreds of them 
 running about the banks. 
 
 I have sent you a little sketch that I made at the time, of this 
 family party, in my pocket memorandum book. 
 
 You must excuse all imperfections, as I did it on my knee, and 
 in a hurry. 
 
 One afternoon, after work, the " hired hands " took their guns 
 and went into the woods, saying that they were going to shoot 
 squirrels for breakfast. We boys wanted to go with them, but 
 they would not let us ; and when we were in the orchard picking, 
 up pears and golden russets — and here I must tell you that you 
 never saw such golden russets as these — we heard the men 
 firing, and the guns going frap ! frap ! and we all thought what 
 plenty of game they had met with, and expected to see them 
 come laden home. But no such thing. Late at night they came 
 back, and had brought only one poor little squirrel ; and then it 
 came out that they had been shooting at marks. Zimri is the 
 best shot ; but he does not shoot with the hired hands, who are all 
 whites. 
 
 Late in the evenings when it is quite dark, we often play with 
 the men in the great kitchen at blind man's buff. At other times 
 we read tales by the great blazing wood fire : we have just been 
 reading such a wonderful story about Big Foot and Little Foot, 
 two famous Indian chiefs, and their encounters with Adam Poe 
 the Irish settler on the banks of the Ohio. I shall tell you all 
 about it when I come, or perhaps borrow the book for sisters to 
 read. My love to father and sisters. Florence and Nanny are 
 
252 NOVEMBER. 
 
 invited to come here next Spring. I write in haste, which please 
 excuse, and hoping you are all well, I am, dear mother, 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 Willie. 
 
 Josiah, Nathaniel, and Jesse, were thoroughly country 
 Americans; they attended school in the winter, and in 
 summer worked on the farm. They wore clothes made of 
 grey Kentucky jean, of an easy, old-fashioned cut, and 
 which were all made at home. They greatly admired 
 Willie's dress, which was city-made, and which therefore, 
 beside theirs, looked very smart ; but, spite of their old- 
 fashioned clothes, Willie thought that their life, with all 
 its rural wealth and ever-varying occupation, a most 
 desirable one, and he would gladly have exchanged his 
 city-made dress and experience, for Kentucky jean and 
 the busy life of Colsonville. 
 
 It ought to have been mentioned before now, that the 
 black sailor who had the management of old Mrs. Jack's 
 land turned out a much better farmer than had been 
 expected. He was now settled down in the place with his 
 wife and child, as the old woman's steward, and everything 
 looked comfortable. 
 
 The dogs were not nearly as ferociously noisy as for- 
 merly ; but, instead of that, three or four parrots, in great 
 cages, the property of the new comers, made noise enough 
 with their screaming and chattering to silence the dogs. 
 Mrs. Jack sate in her porch as formerly, in her large and 
 
"madam jack is dead!" 253 
 
 diversely patterned gown, but was very rarely seen out-of- 
 doors. 
 
 During one of the beautiful days in Willie's absence, 
 the mother and the little girls were walking on the road 
 towards the city, when just as they had passed the road- 
 side boundary of Jack's wood, a neat little carriage, of the 
 kind which is called a Harrison wagon, drove up. It was 
 square, with upright posts at each corner, supporting a 
 roof, and was enclosed at the sides with black leather 
 curtains, which were rolled up in fine weather, and 
 strapped tightly down in cold weather or rain. This 
 particular carriage was well-built, neatly panelled and 
 painted black, and was drawn by a stout, handsome horse. 
 To the surprise of our friends, Jerry and his black wife 
 were seated in it, and as he came up he greeted them with 
 a nod and smile ; and then, as if an idea had suddenly 
 struck him, he pulled up the horse with a jerk, and 
 shouted, " Madam Jack is dead \" 
 
 This was a very great surprise : nobody had heard that 
 she was even ill. Both the mother's and the children's 
 countenances expressed their astonishment. 
 
 " Oh yes," Jerry said, "she was dead, sure enough. She 
 had been ill only a week ; but they were going to bury 
 her that very morning beside the old man in the wood." 
 
 Again there was no possibility of being at the funeral — 
 that was a pity ! the children and their mother said so. 
 
 Childless and friendless, the old people were now laid 
 
254 NOVEMBER. 
 
 side by side in the wood. Their little property had passed 
 into the hands of a white man, a lawyer who transacted 
 their business, and to whom, it was said, the old lady had 
 made a deed of gift during her last illness. Shortly after- 
 wards, in going down to the wood to look at the grave of 
 the old woman, our friends found, to their great surprise, 
 two white marble head-stones on the graves, which were 
 now neatly and firmly sodded. On the one was inscribed : 
 "To the memory of John Christopher, who departed' this 
 life, April, 1846, aged upwards of one hundred years." 
 On the other, " To the memory of Jane Christopher, wife 
 of the said John Christopher, who departed this life in 
 November of the same year." 
 
 Our friends thought it spoke well for the character of 
 the new possessor, that he had thus paid respect to the 
 grave of his humble benefactors. Jerry was also continued 
 in the farm. 
 
 November 21st. — The children had a great treat : Uncle 
 Cornelius invited them to his house, that they might see a 
 o-reat collection of wild beasts, to which he had just taken 
 his nephews and nieces the Hutchinsons. 
 
 After dinner, Uncle Cornelius took them to the " Mam- 
 moth Pavilion," which employed sixty men and ninety 
 horses, and in which the famous Herr Driesbach, the great 
 lion- tamer, exhibited his wonderful feats. 
 
 There were two enormous elephants, one called Han- 
 
THE MAGICIAN AND HIS BEASTS. 255 
 
 nibal, the other Columbus, which did wonderful things. 
 There were lions, and panthers, and zebras, and tigers, and 
 monkeys, and all sorts of beasts ; and while they were look- 
 ing at these, a drum was beaten, and a loud voice exclaimed 
 " Take your seats/ ' on which everybody sat down. 
 
 When they were seated, the wonderful Herr Driesbach, 
 dressed like an Eastern magician, came forth, riding in a 
 grand golden car, to which a pair of lions were harnessed. 
 He went round and round j and it was quite grand to see 
 in what a stately way the lions slowly lifted up and set 
 down their great paws, and nodded their huge heads, and 
 silently waved their tails. The children could not help 
 fancying, that some way or other they were " enchanted 
 beasts," and not real lions. After he had done with the 
 lions, the magician brought out his " tiger-pets ;" and 
 they must have been enchanted too ; for as he reclined on 
 scarlet cushions, great full-grown tigers and tigresses came 
 and played about him like kittens ; and when he waved 
 his wand over them, they crouched down before him, and 
 lay as if they were quite dead. Then he took a great boa- 
 constrictor, and twisted it round his arms and neck ; and 
 in this way, boa-constrictor and all, he jumped between 
 the elephant's tusks, where he sat as if in an armed chair, 
 and the elephant seemed to look down at him, with his 
 little eyes, in the queerest way possible ; and then all at 
 once he seemed to enchant himself, head over heels, upon 
 the elephant's head. The children could not be persuaded 
 
256 NOVEMBER. 
 
 but that he was a real magician ; for all these terrible 
 animals seemed to be his slaves, or his assistants, and 
 cowered before him, and crouched down and licked his 
 feet, and seemed to transform their very natures at his 
 will. 
 
 This show lasted a long time, and then their kind friends 
 insisted on their staying all night j and Uncle Cornelius 
 said he would take them home himself the next day, for 
 it so happened that he was going to spend the Sunday 
 with Christina's old relation. On this all the young 
 Hutchinsons laughed, and said there had been a great 
 secret about Christina and Uncle Cornelius ; but it was 
 now a secret no longer, for Uncle Cornelius was going to 
 be married to Christina, and everybody was very glad. 
 The children had heard their father and mother talking 
 of this one day, they said, and they were very glad too ; 
 and everybody was glad, which was just as it ought to be. 
 
 Next day, according to appointment, Uncle Cornelius 
 was ready; and Aunt Hutchinson sent them home, with a 
 large packet of all sorts of candy, cream-candy, and rock- 
 candy, and lemon-candy, and nuts and almonds for little 
 Nelly, whom it was impossible for anybody to forget. 
 
 " Every white must have its black, and every sweet its 
 sour." This was a proverb which the children had often 
 heard from their father ; and on the very evening of their 
 joyful return they found the truth of it. 
 
 The black and sour counterbalance of these white and 
 
A GREAT MISFORTUNE. 257 
 
 sweet pleasures, had reference to Florence's beloved 
 canary-bird, Dicky, her pride and delight. 
 
 Florence, who had been absent from home a night, flew 
 almost the first moment of her return to look at the bird, 
 and to decorate his cage, as was her daily custom with 
 flowers, as long as one was to be found in the garden. 
 The bird was well and happy, and sang joyfully in reply to 
 her caressing words. This cage hung in the piazza, and 
 as Uncle Cornelius was on his way to Christina, poor 
 Florence determined that he should see the bird which dear 
 Christina had given her, and also carry with him the news 
 of its well-being. But as Uncle Cornelius was sitting 
 talking with their mother in the parlour, Florence fetched 
 a step-ladder, took down the cage from its hook, and 
 carried it into the room. Uncle Cornelius saw and 
 admired the bird, and promised to carry the good news of 
 it to Christina. This done, Florence returned with the 
 cage, and hung it up, forgetting, however, to remove the 
 step-ladder. 
 
 In the evening the father brought in the two cages, and 
 hung them for the night in their accustomed places without 
 paying any attention to them. Next morning, as usual, 
 Florence ran to her bird — but to her horror the cage was 
 empty, and the door loose ! Her father could give no 
 information ; for, as I said, he had not noticed it the 
 evening before. The bird, however, was gone, and her 
 lamentations roused the whole house. Her mother folded 
 
258 NOVEMBER. 
 
 her in her arms, and tried to console her. But Florence 
 was not to be consoled. She rushed to the piazza, to see 
 if anything could be discovered, and at the foot of the 
 vine, which ran up the trellis, lay some of his bright 
 yellow feathers; these she carefully collected, shedding 
 abundance of tears over them ; they were the only relics 
 of her favourite ; and they told that his fate had been a 
 melancholy one. Shinker, the large yellow cat, had 
 assuredly done the mischief; he had, in all probabilitj', 
 mounted the step-ladder in the dusk, after the father 
 brought in the cage, and by some means loosening the 
 door, had caught the bird. This suspicion was made 
 almost certainty, because Shinker absented himself for 
 two whole days, and skulked about like a detected thief 
 when he again made his appearance. 
 
 Poor Primrose looked very sad and disconsolate for 
 several days, and sat mournfully on her perch. She had 
 soon noticed that there was no answer to her chirp. The 
 pleasant little dialogues which had formerly been held 
 between them were now at an end, and for a few days it 
 was feared that she would mope herself to death ; but she 
 recovered her spirits, and Florence began to tend her as 
 she had done her own, although she declared that she 
 should never love another bird as she had loved her Dicky. 
 
 The pleasant Indian summer was broken in upon by a 
 most energetic visitation of winter. First came rain, then 
 snow, with cold biting winds, and afterwards deep snow. 
 
A RAG-CARPET. 259 
 
 When the ground became white with snow, the children 
 jumped for joy at the thought of the fine sledging they 
 had in prospect. They gathered handfuls of snow and ate 
 it, and extolled its agreeable qualities. The handsome 
 little sledge, called Swallow's Wing, was brought out of 
 the wood-house to be ready for the early morning. But 
 the early morning ushered in so cold and stormy a day, 
 that after two or three ineffectual attempts they gave it up. 
 
 It was again a part of Willie's daily work to husk and 
 shell corn. Nanny usually helped him ; and as soon as 
 breakfast was over, and the poultry fed, they sate down to 
 this work by the stove in the kitchen. It was an employ- 
 ment which neither of them liked. 
 
 In the evenings they assisted just now at a great piece 
 of work, which was no other than the making of a rag- 
 carpet. In England nobody understands what rag-carpets 
 are ; but in every part of America they are more or less 
 used. The wealthy use them for their kitchens, and some- 
 times dining-rooms; the farmers for their chambers; and 
 often every room in the house will be covered with them. 
 
 The " imported carpets," as the various kinds used in 
 England are called, are, in the remoter parts of the 
 country, very uncommon luxuries ; and these rag-carpets 
 are the substitute, and a very comfortable one too. Our 
 friends, therefore, were at this time making a rag-carpet 
 for their common sitting-room ; and the manner of its 
 making was this : — 
 
 s 2 
 
260 NOVEMBER. 
 
 Every conceivable kind of woollen cloth was cut into 
 little shreds about half an inch wide, and an inch long. 
 These were all joined together lengthwise, and then wound 
 in balls. The children's employment was to help in 
 sewing the shreds together, and thus to make hundreds 
 and thousands of yards of woollen bands. This was after- 
 wards woven into a coarse kind of carpet, and produced a 
 mottle of all colours, not at all un pleasing to the eye. 
 Occasionally such carpets would be dyed all of one colour ; 
 sometimes they were woven into a regular pattern, stripe 
 or plaid ; but this which was making at the Cedars, was to 
 be a mottled one ; and their young friends the Munroes, 
 Henry, Eugene, and Ada, were invited for a few days to 
 help in this homely but curious work ; during which, how- 
 ever, some amusing book was read, and thus the time 
 passed pleasantly. 
 
 November 25th. — Nanny's birth-day. Nanny was now 
 seven. She made, as we said, no great figure as a 
 scholar ; but she had great knowledge in hickory nuts, 
 apples, pears, and peaches. She would chop wood for 
 small fuel, fetch in logs, milk Blackberry, ride Farmer, 
 and, when occasion needed it, climb into the loft, and push 
 hay into his rack. 
 
 If any of the family wanted anything, no matter what, 
 Nanny was the one to fetch it ; not only because she* was 
 extremely nimble, but because she had an intuitive know- 
 
nanny's birthday. 261 
 
 ledge where everything was to be found, from a book 
 which she could not read, to a gimlet which she could use 
 very well. Nanny loved work ; real, hard, hand-work was 
 never difficult to her ; but as for sewing and reading and 
 writing, and all sorts of elegant acquirements, Nanny had 
 no turn for them, at least at present. 
 
 Well, it was Nanny's birth-day — a day for which she 
 thought she ought to be thankful. Bright, active, happy 
 Nanny ! and yet it was destined to be a gloomy, melan- 
 choly day. The only unhappy birth-day of the whole 
 year. That was very hard. But there come shadows as 
 well as lights in the moral character of days, as well as in 
 their outward skies, and one of these dark shadows fell 
 over this evening. 
 
 Something had put poor Willie out of temper. And just 
 before the happy tea-time, when the lamps and the fire 
 burned so brightly, and the gold and green china was 
 again brought out, and all looked so festive and cheerful, 
 Willie spoke rudely and disrespectfully to his mother. 
 
 This was a great offence in his father's eyes, and one 
 which he would never pass over. He required Willie 
 instantly to acknowledge his fault. Poor Willie ! He 
 loved his mother as his life : actual disrespect to her was 
 what he was incapable of, however much his temper might 
 have misled his tongue; but at this unhappy moment 
 pride rose up between himself and the confession of his 
 fault. He refused to make it, and was sent out of the 
 room. 
 
262 NOVEMBER. 
 
 Silence and constraint fell over the little party ; the tea 
 went on tardily and gloomily; everybody hoped, each 
 time the door opened, that it was Willie come to ask that 
 forgiveness which would so joyfully have been given him. 
 The beautiful cake was cut and taken in silence, but 
 neither Florence nor Nanny could eat any ; and one after 
 the other went out to hide their tears, and to beg of Willie 
 to come in and just say the little word, which he ought 
 to say, and which would make all so happy. But no ! 
 Willie was obdurate. Pride and obstinacy were the faults 
 of his character. They had formerly given his parents 
 anxiety ; but latterly, he apparently, had overcome them in 
 great measure. This was a moment of weakness, and the 
 enemy had got the upper hand. But Willie was unhappy 
 all the time ; he had been twice or three times at the door 
 ready to throw himself at his mother's feet, and bathe 
 them with his tears, but he had not done it; and now, 
 though his heart was full almost to bursting, and his 
 sisters with their entreaties and reproaches again gave 
 strength to the evil one. If they had not come bothering 
 him, he said to himself, he would have gone in — he was 
 just going to do so; but now he should not ! He laughed 
 a hard and strange laugh, and tried to look indifferent. 
 
 The melancholy tea was over : they would rather have 
 had it in tin cans or brown mugs, with the customary mirth 
 and love, than in the green and gold china with their 
 constrained and sorrowful hearts. Nanny thought that 
 she should never like birth -days again. 
 
THE YOUNG PENITENT. 263 
 
 Willie did not come in the whole evening. The father 
 and mother sate silently and mournfully by the fire ; ana 
 little Nelly, as if infected by the spirit of the evening, was 
 fretful and hard to please. Nanny heaved great sighs, and 
 at length voluntarily proposed to go to bed. 
 
 Nobody saw Willie again that evening ; for he too went 
 to bed without bidding good night to any one. 
 
 When all were in bed, the father and mother sate to- 
 gether talking sorrowfully over the perverse conduct of 
 their beloved son. The father was angry aiui disturbed : 
 he thought only of breaking the obstinate spirit of the boy, 
 and enforcing submission. The mother, who trusted to 
 the force of affection, which she knew dwelt within his 
 heart, hoped that love would conquer ; but, when this sad 
 conference was ended, her heavy heart, as it had ever 
 before done in moments of difficulty and depression, com- 
 mended her beloved child to his Father and hers, and 
 prayed that His divine grace might reach his heart, and 
 incline him to choose the paths of virtue and goodness, 
 rather than those of selfish passion. Such prayer as this 
 had, before now, brought a blessing ; and it could not at 
 this time be in vain. 
 
 In the morning she awoke with an undefined feeling of 
 distress, as if some great sorrow hung over the family ; but 
 at the door of her chamber stood the young penitent — he 
 too had awoke to the same feeling — how unlike his com- 
 mon waking! And now, humbled and ashamed, he 
 
264 NOVEMBER. 
 
 waited for forgiveness, or for whatever punishment she 
 saw meet to impose. 
 
 The mother's prayer had been heard. And now with a 
 thanksgiving in every heart, and tears and smiles of renewed 
 affection on every countenance, the re-united family sate 
 down to breakfast. 
 
 Willie was desirous to atone for the anxiety and sorrow 
 which he had occasioned. How vigilant he now was to 
 fulfil all his little duties, and to show affection and respect 
 to his beloved mother ! 
 
 He husked and shelled his daily task of corn without 
 help, in the corn-crib ; he voluntarily sifted sand to cover 
 up the sweet potatoes ; he did the same for his mother's 
 dahlias and Mexican vines. It was now a joy to him to do 
 anything, even the most menial offices, for her. He drew 
 little Nelly in his sled, mended the fires, read, wrote, did 
 all his lessons, without giving trouble; ran errands, and 
 almost, as it were, multiplied his hands and feet for her 
 sake. 
 
 The mother rejoiced in this ready fulfilment of duty ; 
 and he read her joy in her eyes, and was happy. His 
 father, who was a man of the strictest justice, again com- 
 mended him ; and poor Nanny, forgetting the sorrows of 
 her birthday, thought that they had reason to be thankful 
 after all. 
 
265 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 December. 
 
 It was in the commencement of this month, when, amidst 
 all the plenty which surrounded them, the children first 
 heard of the famine and awful suffering which prevailed in 
 Ireland. Every one was speaking of it ; the bright beaming 
 countenance of Uncle Cornelius was clouded by it; 
 Christina shed tears, and the father and mother were often 
 heard in sorrowful discourse on the melancholy topic. 
 In this way it came to the children's ears ; but it was hard 
 for them, who only saw the earth bring forth abundantly, 
 and every barn and store-house full to overflowing, at first 
 to realise what was meant. Nanny, for instance, who 
 heard so much of this " horrible famine " in Ireland, which 
 destroyed thousands of men, women, and children, pictured 
 to herself a huge monster, like an ancient dragon, which 
 swallowed up whole provinces at a mouthful ; and it was a 
 long time before she could get this idea out of her head. 
 At length, however, she, as well as the rest, were made 
 perfectly to understand what this new and strange misery 
 meant, and then their sympathy for the poor starving 
 people was unspeakable. If they sate down to a remark- 
 ably good and plentiful dinner, they wished that the 
 children of poor Ireland could do the same, or partake with 
 them. If any of them were dissatisfied with what was set 
 
266 DECEMBER. 
 
 before them, the others would gravely lecture on the sinful- 
 ness of ingratitude when such thousands were wanting bread. 
 
 After the great talk of the famine, came the great talk 
 of what America should do to relieve the sufferings of 
 their distant kinspeople in Ireland; and subscription on 
 subscription was set on foot to purchase provisions and 
 other things for their relief. The children's purses at this 
 time were empty enough. "Willie now wished that he had 
 not bought his beautiful jointed fishing-rod, and Florence 
 her new fan. However, they were resolved to save anew, 
 and to get all they could, that they too might have some- 
 thing to send. 
 
 Willie heard of a neighbour who wanted a guinea-hen 
 It was the fickle-minded neighbour who had offered to 
 give them cherries, and then who bade them " clear off." 
 To him, therefore, "Willie now went with one of his guinea- 
 hens, for his father had given him seven. He happily sold 
 it for thirty cents, and this was the first money he put 
 into his Irish purse. Besides this he had an English 
 shilling, which, much as he prized it, he put in likewise. 
 Florence and Nanny resolved not to be behind-hand with 
 him. Florence asked her mother to pay her for extra 
 needle-work, which she gladly promised to do. She made, 
 therefore, as a beginning, two pillow-cases ; and for these 
 she received ten cents. Poor Nanny could not sew well 
 enough to be paid for it. She said, therefore, that she 
 would do all sorts of " odd jobs ;" and she begged five cents 
 from her father in advance. Here were at once five-and- 
 
MAKING MONEY FOR IRELAND. 267 
 
 forty cents ; and this their father said would supply four 
 poor Irish children with one meal. 
 
 The shoes worn in that part of America by the country- 
 people had wooden soles, and were put together with small 
 wooden pegs. One evening, Willie saw the German 
 Bernard occupying himself by cutting these small wooden 
 pegs, and mending his old shoes; and now that Willie's 
 thoughts were so much turned upon money-getting, it 
 occurred to him that he too could make these wooden 
 pegs ; for in his frequent visits to the shoemaker at 
 Athens, he had seen the bundles which the shoemaker 
 bought for his own use. He thought, therefore, he would 
 make them, and sell them to this man, and give the money 
 thus gained to the poor Irish. 
 
 Neither his father nor mother objected; and Willie 
 looked out some logs of the sugar-maple wood, which is 
 used for this purpose, from among the firewood, split it 
 up, and then cut it into pegs with a sharp knife. These 
 pegs were like short thick nails without heads. He 
 worked and whittled at this business till his hands were 
 very sore. This was an occurrence which he had not 
 calculated upon, and he was obliged to pause for a few 
 days. However he made many hundreds of pegs ; and 
 these the shoemaker willingly bought. Willie calculated, 
 that by the middle of January he should be able thus to 
 earn a dollar and a half. 
 
 A young lady, named Ella, was now come to live at 
 The Cedars. She was to have, in part, the oversight of 
 
268 DECEMBER. 
 
 the children, and to teach them. She was very cheerful 
 and good-natured ; and while she had full authority over 
 them, and they never thought of disobeying her, she was 
 neither too old nor too grave to sit cracking nuts on the 
 steps with them, or under the hay-stack, reading delight- 
 ful stories and verses, which they thought additionally 
 delightful, because she had a beautiful voice, and read ex- 
 tremely well. 
 
 December 7th. — The weather was now very wet. This 
 day was Sunday ; but the rain was so drenching, that only 
 the father, and mother, and Willie went to meeting. The 
 roads were in a sad state, full of deep muddy holes, which 
 made the carriage jolt terribly, and the horses were mid- 
 leg deep in mud and water. As they went along in this 
 miserable weather, they met two little boys carrying a large 
 wooden red cross, on which some name was painted in white 
 letters. They were on their way to the Catholic burial- 
 ground, to erect it, perhaps, over their father or mother. 
 Thus thought our friends, and looked kindly on the two 
 children, as they passed them. 
 
 Red Creek was overflowed like a large river, and the 
 Ohio rolled on its heavy waters, turbid and swollen, and 
 covered, as was always the case, with logs of drift-wood, 
 which men in little boats were everywhere taking in. 
 
 December 8th and 9th. — Unceasing rain. Everybody 
 foretold great floods and impassable roads. The children 
 
MARTIN BRANDENBURG AGAIN ! 269 
 
 worked hard with Ella at their lessons and pieced carpet- 
 rags during the day ; and in the evenings, seated at a 
 table, and with a lamp to themselves, set each other words 
 to spell from loose letters. Ella puzzled everybody, and 
 even their mother, with the word, Upstairs. 
 
 December 10th. — Still rain. The fireside occupations 
 went on briskly — reading — Willie cutting pegs — and 
 Florence and Nanny sewing carpet-rags. 
 
 In the afternoon, the rain abated, and Willie went down 
 to Athens with Nanny's shoes to be mended, and to sell 
 what pegs he had now ready. On his return, he went into 
 the meadow where Eberhard was at work; and whilst 
 there, Martin Brandenburg came with a large stick to 
 frighten the snow-birds out of the cedar- trees, that he 
 might catch them to sell. Willie told him not to do so, at 
 which Martin laughed ; but Willie went on talking mildly 
 to him, and trying to awaken a good spirit in him, when 
 Martin said, " I think you are all good sort of people, so I 
 will let your birds alone ; " for which Willie thanked him, 
 and returned home much pleased. 
 
 December 11th. — Thanksgiving day. — This was a day 
 annually ordered by several of the States, for a general 
 thanksgiving for the blessings of the past year, and to 
 crave a continuance of them through the succeeding one ; 
 and this was the day chosen by the State of Ohio for the 
 purpose. It was, our friends felt, a good thing to be thus 
 
270 DECEMBER. 
 
 reminded of their many, many blessings ; and to acknow- 
 ledge all their obligations to the bounteous Giver of all good. 
 Nanny, whose life seemed to be one joyous thanksgiving, 
 enumerated all those causes which she thought demanded 
 her own special thankfulness, and found the number to be 
 so great, that she said, " A day will not be long enough for 
 my thanksgiving; I shall therefore take a whole year to it." 
 Her mother said that she was right, and that they would 
 all try to follow her example. 
 
 December 12th. — Ella helped the children to prepare 
 little Christmas presents. As their money was to go to 
 Ireland this year, they would have but very little to give 
 away in presents. Florence, therefore, with Ella's help, 
 made pincushions, needle-books, kettle-holders, spectacle- 
 wipers, and even iron-holders ; for all these cost nothing. 
 
 December 15th. — The weather was again fine, and the 
 children were once more able to play out-of-doors. 
 
 Willie also helped Eberhard to bring in the Indian corn 
 which was standing in the field, and which was then housed 
 in the barn, to be husked at leisure. 
 
 A great consternation was occasioned this afternoon by 
 the return of Heinrich, who had been sent out that 
 morning with the wagon and the pair of horses, and who 
 now returned, looking very wild and frightened, without 
 the wagon, and with the horses covered with mud to the 
 very tips of their ears, and poor Benjamin Eranklin very 
 
THE UNTIMELY CHICKENS. 271 
 
 lame. His story was this; — The wagon had been over- 
 turned on the hill, where it still lay, sadly broken ; and he 
 had to go and fetch a man, who fortunately was at work 
 near, to bring an axe, and to chop the wheel in two, before 
 he could get poor Ben's leg at liberty; for, somehow or 
 other, it had got trapped in the wheel. 
 
 Here was a terrible job ! Eberhard helped Heinrich to 
 get the poor horses washed from ear to hoof; and then the 
 father examined Ben's leg, and bathed it with a strong 
 mixture of his never-failing hot vinegar and saltpetre ; and 
 in three days he was so much better, that he was pro- 
 nounced again capable of work. 
 
 The making of Christmas presents went on industriously. 
 Florence was very successful: not so poor Nanny, who always 
 grew so tired when she took up a needle, that she was forced 
 to run away, and do some hard work to refresh herself. 
 
 Willie laid aside his shoe-peg cutting, to make some 
 very nice little billets of scented cedar- wood, as his presents 
 to all his friends. He tied them up in bundles of fifties and 
 hundreds, with coloured ribbon; and his mother encouraged 
 him with the assurance, that Madam Leonard, Christina, 
 and the Hutchinsons would all be pleased with them. 
 
 December 22nd. — Nanny found a hen in the loft with a 
 considerable brood of very young chickens. What was to 
 become of them nobody knew, for certainly some morning 
 at this inclement season they would all be found frozen to 
 death. Eberhard brought word that his little pigs had 
 
272 DECEMBER. 
 
 nearly perished by the severity of the last night : and that 
 it was with the utmost difficulty that they were revived. 
 
 Willie went with his father and mother to the city. He 
 carried with him a dollar, the joint earnings of himself and 
 his sisters, together with his favourite English shilling, 
 which was paid in towards the subscription for the suffer- 
 ing Irish. His mother also took with her warm, quilted 
 bedcovers, and petticoats, and many comfortable garments, 
 which she had had made for these poor people. A great 
 many ladies in the city did the same ; for all hearts were 
 filled with sympathy and compassion. 
 
 After this Willie had still a little money left — very little 
 though ; and he wanted to buy presents for his sisters and 
 Ella. For Ella, he bought some pretty winders ; a Queen 
 Victoria, nursing the Prince of Wales, for Florence ; a 
 curious little windmill, which, when wound up, would work 
 of itself, for Nanny ; and a trumpet for Nelly. These he 
 bought when both father and mother were with him ; he 
 made, however, one other little purchase, when he was 
 alone, from a little private hoard, advanced to him by his 
 father, and this was a lovely plaster of Paris dove, which 
 had greatly taken his fancy, and which he wanted as a 
 present to his mother. 
 
 These presents, of course, all remained private : but 
 W T illie brought home an invitation from the Hutchinsons, 
 which was made public before he jumped out of the carriage, 
 for himself and his sisters to spend Christmas Day with 
 them. 
 
CHRISTMAS EVE. 273 
 
 Willie went again to the city. This time in the wagon 
 with Bernard, to bring home an Arnott stove for the 
 dining-room. They walked into the market and saw four 
 bears which had been killed, and were there hanging up. 
 They looked very strange, having their huge black paws 
 and black muzzles still left on ; otherwise the flesh did not 
 look unlike veal ; there were also venison, opossums, squir- 
 rels, wild turkeys, etc. etc. 
 
 December 24th. — Many a little present had this day to 
 be completed; and even Nanny did wonders with her 
 needle. Louise, the Lottes, Eberhard's people, and 
 Bernard, were all remembered in some little gift or other. 
 
 As the dusk of evening came on, the report of guns and 
 pistols, which were fired far and near, announced that the 
 celebration of the Christmas Eve had begun. Dogs barked 
 incessantly, and the children wished, as they sate round 
 the cheerful Christmas fire, that somebody would come 
 and shoot at their door. Nor did they wish long in vain : 
 Uncle Cornelius came, and Cousin Michael, two most wel- 
 come guests, and fired such a salute as brought everybody 
 out. 
 
 Late in the evening their mother sate with the children, 
 and talked to them of the glorious music which the 
 Shepherds heard on the plains of Bethlehem, nearly 
 eighteen centuries and a half ago, and of the beautiful 
 array of angels which sang the divinest song which ever 
 
 T 
 
274 DECEMBER. 
 
 saluted human ears, and of the journey of the wondering 
 men to behold that marvellous child whose birth-place 
 was indicated by a heavenly star. The children listened to 
 the words of their mother, and wished that they too could 
 have heard the angelic anthem ; and then they sang — 
 " When shepherds watched their flocks by night, 
 
 All seated on the ground, 
 
 The angel of the Lord came down, 
 
 And glory shone around." 
 
 But their conversation did not end with the Saviour's 
 birth merely : the mother spoke of his life, and how he 
 laid his divine hands on the heads of little children and 
 blessed them. She spoke of his death, and of the part 
 which we all have in redemption through Him ; and the 
 children's hearts, like those of the disciples on their way 
 to Emmaus, kindled as she spoke. Little Nelly even, who 
 lay with her sweet head nestled on her mother's bosom, 
 and looking with her dovelike eyes into her face, felt the 
 effect of her holy words ; and when, shortly afterwards, 
 the beloved mother laid her in her little bed, she clasped 
 her hands together, and exclaimed with a beaming coun- 
 tenance, " Good Jesus, bless little Nelly V 
 
 The next morning all were up early. The Germans — 
 Bernard, Eberhard, Heinrich, and their wives and children 
 — were going to spend the day in the city. They were to 
 go in the large covered wagon, and the children from The 
 Cedars were to go with them, and to be brought back by 
 them at night. 
 
SANTA CLAUS. 275 
 
 Willie was up by five o'clock, and Florence and Nanny 
 were not long after him. The shoes on the hearth, the 
 best shoes for the day's visiting, were found filled with 
 presents. Queen Victoria and the Prince, and the won- 
 derful windmill, and the trumpet, were there, and so many 
 other things that the shoes would not hold them. Besides 
 the brimful shoes, the little table near the hearth was 
 covered with presents, of which nobody had any idea — none 
 of the little folks at least. There were new dresses for 
 them all — new silk-aprons for the little girls, even for 
 Nelly — new winter-bonnets — new fur tippets and muffs, 
 and all sorts of things. Santa Claus must have been busy 
 the night before ! And now they saw very well what Uncle 
 Cornelius and Cousin Michael had brought with them in 
 that great box, which dear mother was so mysterious about. 
 " Mysteries/' Willie said, with a knowing nod of his chin, 
 "always clear themselves up sooner or later." 
 
 Among the other shoes stood also the best shoes of the 
 beloved mother. That was really a surprise to her ; and 
 in one of them sate W r illie , s snow-white dove ! How happy 
 it made him to see that she was greatly pleased. She put 
 it on the chimney-piece of her own room ; and it was the 
 prettiest ornament there. 
 
 The wonderful presents had diverted everybody's thought 
 from the weather, about which there was some anxiety, as 
 the evening before was very wet. And, now, did it rain ? 
 No : it was windy — -there was no fear of wet ; and accord- 
 ingly as they sate at breakfast, the sun began to shine, and 
 
276 DECEMBER. 
 
 looked in upon them through the leafless branches of the 
 catalpa and locust trees. 
 
 Those leafless trees looked beautiful, in the soft light of 
 this lovely Christmas morning; but still more so, the 
 grand evergreen cedars. Beautiful was the soft, still 
 verdant turf, beautiful the surrounding woods and the blue 
 hills in the distance. 
 
 All was now bustle and excitement. The children had 
 long been ready attired in their handsome new Christmas 
 clothes, which were found, to everybody's surprise, to fit 
 remarkably well, although they had never been tried on. 
 
 At nine o'clock, off they went in the great covered wagon, 
 seated among the German women and children ; and each 
 with a little present in their hand, for their friends in the 
 city. 
 
 They were the only guests invited to dinner, but scarcely 
 was this meal over, when other company began to arrive, 
 and they kept arriving, and arriving, and arriving until 
 there were between thirty and forty. The furniture had 
 all been removed from one large room; and here they 
 played at all imaginable games — blind man's buff, turn the 
 trencher, forfeits, and the rest, — and then supper was an- 
 nounced, and each little boy, taking a little girl by the 
 hand, led her to the supper-table. And what a supper 
 there was ! Tea and cakes, and fruit and sweetmeats, and 
 pies of every possible kind, and cheesecakes and candies, 
 and heaped-up plates of sugar-kisses wrapped in bright 
 coloured paper with mottoes ; and huge cakes covered with 
 
A WONDERFUL DAY REVIEWED. 277 
 
 sugar ; and there they sate eating and talking, and laugh- 
 ing, and the grown-up people waiting on them, and laugh- 
 ing, and as merry as anybody. 
 
 As soon as supper was over, it was announced to our 
 cousins that Eberhard was waiting at the door with the 
 wagon, and afterwards he had to call for the women and 
 the children, so Willie and his sisters took their leave, and 
 having called for the German women, they all drove off 
 amid the most glorious Christmas moonlight, the Germans 
 singing beautiful hymns as they drove along. 
 
 That was a charming day, and the next morning nothing 
 was talked of but this visit. They had so much to tell 
 their mother: there were all the funny blunders that 
 the little ones made when they were blinded ; there were 
 the difficult and comical things that they had to do to 
 redeem their forfeits ; the fright the girls were in when 
 Henry Munro threw a cracker among them ; and how two 
 coloured women were kept busily employed cracking nuts 
 and bringing in and carrying out ; and how the grown-up 
 people played with them, and were so full of fun and joke ; 
 and how Uncle Cornelius and Christina were lost, and 
 nobody could find them; and at last, one little girl peeped 
 behind a window curtain and there they both were, and 
 they said they were only looking out at the moon, at which 
 everybody laughed. O it was a wonderful day ! 
 
 The little brood of late chickens, as everybody had fore- 
 told, were now dead : the last of them died this night. 
 
278 DECEMBER. 
 
 December 29th. — The weather was remarkably mild 
 and beautiful ; it was like April in England. The children 
 made new little gardens, and spent part of the morning in 
 paving the little walks with pebbles. 
 
 The old bleached tree at the end of the pasture, and 
 which was called the Woodpecker's Column, was felled 
 this day. Willie took his hatchet and went with Bernard 
 to cut it up. When it was split it was found to be perfectly 
 sound, excepting here and there a small hole. In one part 
 there was a hole somewhat larger than the rest ; and this 
 proved to be the winter abode of a squirrel. The poor 
 little creature of course had made his escape ; he had been 
 turned unexpectedly and violently out of his house and 
 harbour, like one whose dwelling is destroyed by an earth- 
 quake. He had left behind him his nice little bed of dry 
 grass, and, at what might be called the bed's head, his 
 little store of hickory nuts. The children were ready to 
 cry when they thought what must have been his trouble 
 and dismay on account of the overturning of his house. A 
 real revolution, which had brought him nothing but sorrow, 
 had taken place in his little kingdom. Nanny argued 
 stoutly with her father on the morality of disturbing even 
 a squirrel's nest. She said that "if she had fields and 
 trees of her own, and thus robbed hard-working creatures 
 of their food, and turned them out of doors, she should 
 think herself a thief \" 
 
 Mr. David Hutchinson sent Willie three pairs of remark- 
 ably fine pigeons. Willie's father helped him to fit up 
 
HIDE AND SEEK AMONG THE CEDARS. 279 
 
 boxes for them in the space between the hen-house and 
 the wagon- shed. Here they were shut up in confinement 
 for several days and carefully fed, to accustom them to 
 their new home. 
 
 The same day also Cousin Michael brought up a beau- 
 tiful black spaniel puppy. Fanny also came back, to the 
 great joy of everybody, and apparently of herself. There 
 was a long discussion about the new little dog's name. 
 It was called at present " Colonel/' but nobody liked that 
 name. The father proposed " Trim/' the mother " Bijou/ 1 
 Nanny proposed " Peach-Kernels." That was a very 
 queer name. Nobody had ever heard of such a name, and 
 they asked her reasons. 
 
 " Peach-kernels/' replied Nanny, " are small things, but 
 very good ; the puppy is small and very good ; I think, 
 therefore, that is the best name." 
 
 Nobody was of Nanny's way of thinking, and the little 
 dog was called Trim. 
 
 Willie enumerated up his live stock thus : " Six guinea 
 fowls, one hen, six pigeons, two dogs, and as many rats 
 and mice as I please." 
 
 The moon was at the full, and the evenings delicious. 
 The mother went out with the children by moonlight, and 
 played with them at hide and seek among the cedars. 
 Milo, Fanny, and little Trim were of the party, and seemed 
 to enter into all the fun. They were of great use in track- 
 ing the hiders ; they hunted them out, and then barked 
 and wagged their tails when they found them. 
 
280 DECEMBER. 
 
 December 30th. — Hide and seek had been so pleasant 
 the evening before, that the children played at it before 
 breakfast, and again in the evening. Ella and Willie had 
 one particular cedar, under which they crept, and of which 
 they made a great mystery ; they sent the sound of their 
 voices in some strange indistinct way, as if out of the 
 ground, so that Florence and Nanny were quite bewildered, 
 nor would they have found them at all but for Fanny. 
 
 December 31st. — A great change now took place in the 
 weather. It was a day of tremendous storms ; and Ella read, 
 and read, and read all day long in Robinson Crusoe. 
 
 Willie cut shoe-pegs, and Florence sewed; they were 
 again bent on earning another dollar for the Irish. 
 
 In the evening, spite of the storm, which still continued, 
 a large parcel of New Year's gifts came up from the city. 
 Books, and pictures, and toys — books both English and 
 American. 
 
 Thanks to good friends ! The children were unspeakably 
 happy ; and Nanny, as she folded her hands on her breast, 
 and lifted up her large brown eyes, said, with the solemnity 
 of true feeling, 
 
 w For these, and all our other good gifts, we ought to be 
 truly thankful I" 
 
 So ended the Old Year at The Cedars. 
 
 LONDON : 
 BICHABD BARBETT, PBLNTEB, MASK LANE. 
 
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