m
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 v 
 
 m
 
 *n 5o 
 
 ' 

 
 THE HORTONS: 
 
 OB 
 
 merican Jife at 10 me. 
 
 BY 
 
 DAVIS B. CASSEDAY. 
 
 FOR SALE BY ^ 
 
 JAMES S. CLAXTON, PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 D. APPLETON A Co., NEW YORK: LEE & SHEPPARD, BOSTON": 
 
 B. W. CARROLL & Co., CINCINNATI: S. C. GRIGGS & Co., CHICAGO: 
 
 TRUBNER A Co., LONDON. 
 
 1866.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by 
 
 DAVIS B. CASSEDAY, 
 
 In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Eastern 
 District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 STKKKOTTPED AND PRINTED BY ALFRED MAUTIEN.
 
 PS 
 
 /JU 
 
 cm*. 
 
 TO 
 
 ARTHUR W. MITCHELL, 
 
 MARYLAND, 
 
 THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. 
 
 1661488
 
 BflltltlS, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Bad News by the Telegraph Father and Daughter 5 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Breakfast-room at Belair The Merchant in his Counting- 
 house An Old Clerk 11 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A Commercial "Panic" Bartimeus Scroggs, and other creditors 21 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 l^Tlower-faucies 29 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Autumn days, and the Family at Belair A Ctfvalier encountered at 
 Farmer Gregg's 33 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Y "Women in town and country contrasted Caroline Mellen 43 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 y A Birthday Party at Belair, and what was said and done thereat.... 47 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Some account of the Crosbys, and of a poor neighbor of theirs...)^... 60 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Storm at Sea, and a Calm Ashore Bradley Horton 67 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Spirits iii Clement Horton's Counting-house 73 
 
 V
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Bradley Horton at The Cedars Lydia Bardl'eigh The Sick- 
 chamber 88 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Bloker and Ball The Captain's Widow 100 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A small Dinner-party at Belair, including two representatives of 
 Commerce 107 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 How the Anniversary of the Battle of Hickory Hollow was cele 
 brated at Slumptown 115 
 
 i^ CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A Moonlight Excursion on the water Doctor Pledget tells the 
 Story of a Nervous Patient, and becomes acquainted with an 
 Astronomer 128 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Warned to Move 145 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A.t The Cedars Rail- shooting 149 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 .L. A Farm-house at evening Two Lovers talk reasonably in the 
 
 moonlight 157 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Clinkers and Charity 1C2 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ^"~ A Woman's Letter Christinas at Belair without Grog, and what the 
 
 guests thought of it 174 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Too much Whiskey-punch, together with a queer Experience of Mr. 
 Broon's 185 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 fr Winter in the Country, Sleighing and Courtship, and a Lover called 
 
 to answer 196
 
 CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Judge Bardleigh talks Ghost in the twilight 205 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 A Notable Couple How Bartimeus Scroggs failed to go to Congress, 
 and how Orator Puffin went 210 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Father and Daughter again 216 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Brentlands Scenery and Humor of the Country Max Heyhurst 
 A Talk about Poetry, and Political Morals 219 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Brentlands A day's duck-shooting 229 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Brentlands Bradley Horton as a Farmer Field, "Wood, and Gar 
 den Tom Hance Mr. Potteril of New Paradise, and his man, 
 Simon Horseradish 234 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 At The Cedars The Lovers Uncle Steve Trencher 248 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 
 
 Lydia Bardleigh at Aunt Dinah's death-bed 259 
 
 CHAPfER XXXI. 
 
 Jane "Warner Sewing for Bread Little Lame Frank An Accident 
 and an Old Acquaintance 262 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 Jane Warner Jacob Bloker The Private Mad-Houso 274 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Tare and Tret out at Grass Little Frank Henry Davenport seeks 
 for information 282 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 Bloker's Benevolence 292 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 How a Christian woman can die 297
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 I/ At the Old Clerk's A Discovery 304 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 A party in a city mansion, at which there is conversation both 
 grave and gay: together with some account of Doctor Peter 
 Mellen, and how a dispute concerning Hydrophobia was settled... 308 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 A Conference concerning Jane Warner 321 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 / / A Search for Jane Warner, and a Habeas Corpus 327 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 / /Borne pleasant rides behind an old cab-horse Friends part 333 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 A Funeral at The Cedars Bradley Horton at Brentlands Hail 
 The old saddle sorrel 337 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 New York Bradley Horton becomes an "Able Editor" 342 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 Washington Patriots, vulpine and vulturine The Great Horse Fair 
 at Hepzida'm Bloker reaps the Field of Blood 345 
 
 CHAPTER XClV. 
 
 Bartimeus Scroggs is loyal to the Administration, and makes a 
 Name in History 349 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 Paul Mervine 353 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. . 
 
 ^/A Death, and a Marriage '. 353 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 A Few Last Words.... 361
 
 THE HORTONS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth, 
 
 The better part of my affections would 
 
 Be with my hopes abroad. * * 
 
 And every object that might make me fear 
 
 Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt, 
 
 "Would make me sad. MERCHANT OP VENICE. 
 
 HE slow, soft breeze of a July night, 
 odorous with the exhalations of the 
 landscape, sported capriciously along 
 the elm-bordered terrace, and bore its 
 benison through the open windows 
 of the drawing-room at Belair. Cle 
 ment Horton sat gazing at shadows 
 of foliage, traced by the moonlight, 
 that trembled on the pallid marble 
 of an opposite pedestal. Without, 
 between the droning trees, were vistas and uncertain 
 reaches of amber-tinted prospect, where growing corn 
 and oat-fields sentinelled with shocks merged in the 
 indistinguishable meadows that margin the Tarnell. 
 
 O O 
 
 The clank of a closing gate aroused the watcher. 
 Rising, with alert step he passed to the terrace. A 
 sound of hoofs upon a wooden bridge, which fell harsh 
 1*
 
 6 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 and heavy upon his heart, then a duller thud approach 
 ing on the gravelled avenue, and a horseman emerged 
 from a clump of shrubbery. 
 
 "Is it you, Walsh? The steamer's in, then?" 
 
 "Yes, sir; and here is the dispatch." 
 
 "You will find your room ready. Goodnight." And 
 Mr. Horton reentered the house and retired to his 
 chamber. 
 
 Warm as was the night he shut the jalousie with 
 scrupulous care, and drew the curtains close, as if he 
 would stifle in the pent-up air from all the world the 
 impressions of impending disaster which oppressed him. 
 Eagerly, but with unsteady hands, he broke the en 
 velope of the dispatch. For a moment its contents 
 seemed blurred; then, at a glance, he comprehended 
 all. His fears were more than realized. A heavy fall 
 in the value of sugars in the British markets, in a 
 measure indicated by previous advices, which involved 
 the sacrifice of large shipments that he had made, and 
 the failure of the old and extensive house of Price, 
 Irving & Co., custodians of his affairs abroad, was an 
 nounced. The magnitude of his misfortune was sharply 
 defined in the mind of Clement Horton. 'Hope offered 
 no illusion to break the force of the blow, which was 
 bankruptcy. 
 
 Very curious are the alternations of feeling occasioned 
 by calamity in men of rugged fibre. The countenance 
 of the merchant to him who had surveyed it then would 
 Lave betrayed little indication of care or struggle of 
 passion. Nor was it the face of one stunned to insensi 
 bility. The tension of suspense was loosed, and for the
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 7 
 
 moment the conflict of hope and apprehension was 
 allayed. A conflict, ah! how agonizing to a man who 
 beholds in his fears the belief of others in him, the 
 result of laborious years and fidelity to honorable 
 courses, passing into suspicion and censure. Allayed 
 for the moment; fleeting and fallacious relief I Dis 
 quiet returned strengthened, like the evil spirit to its 
 swept and garnished house. It is scarcely extrava 
 gance of language to declare that Clement Horton 
 groaned in his anguish out of a body of death. As he 
 contemplated the wreck of his fortune, too fragmented 
 to float him over the gulf the sudden shutting of the 
 grooves of his career, his soul sank within him, and, 
 casting himself upon the floor of his chamber, the 
 stricken man wrestled and moaned away the sultry 
 summer night. 
 
 Mr. Horton was a widower. Imbued with an abiding 
 regard for the memory of his wife, although at the 
 meridian of life and possessed of an ample fortune, 
 in seven years he had not again married. While it 
 was a sterling, Clement Ilorton's was not altogether an 
 attractive character. With a disposition to confide, 
 justly checked by knowledge of the world and habits 
 of self-reliance, his manners were not prepossessing. 
 His temper was somewhat rigorous. While he con 
 scientiously cherished the larger virtues, and was aware, 
 as one is when educated by books and travel, of the 
 conventionalism of society, he bestowed an insufficient 
 cultivation upon the smaller, those benevolences that 
 are called the amenities of life. Truthful, punctual, 
 inflexibly honest, unostentatiously generous as an alms-
 
 8 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 giver, scorning sneakingness in all its shapes, he was 
 respected and trusted ; unbending, taciturn, occasionally 
 severe, he restrained in others germs of regard from 
 ripening to ardent friendship. 
 
 Mr. Horton's surviving children were a son and 
 daughter. The abounding life of nineteen flowed 
 rejoicingly in the veins of Emily Horton. Far above 
 the level of that womanhood where millinery ecstacies 
 blend with platitudes of affected simplicity and lacka 
 daisical complaints, the lineaments of her character 
 displayed in well-harmonized proportions delicacy and 
 strength; for, as it sexually should, delicacy predomi 
 nated. A rare union of qualities, which in a better 
 social organization will be more frequent, when deter 
 mination and sentiment shall not, as now, expend 
 themselves in distinct and often conflicting courses. 
 Bodily exercise in full measure had made her robust, 
 though not ungraceful. Dumb-bells alternated with 
 French, and she tripped lightly and eagerly from the 
 music-stool to the saddle. Carefully taught, at her 
 father's requirement, the matr6nly duties of the house 
 hold, the art, seldom possessed, of investing coarse, 
 common-place labors with seemliness, dignified her 
 industry. A healthy constitution of mind was made 
 fruitful by culture. Tall and symmetrical in figure, 
 her carriage was buoyant with athletic animation. Of 
 fair complexion, her countenance, tranquilized by the 
 play of eyes which were tender in repose, derived an 
 air of archness from a nose slightly retrousse. Luxu 
 riant tresses of light brown hair depended from a 
 simple coiffure. Here was not the lithe loveliness of
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 9 
 
 oriental beauty, fashioned in the fervor which purples 
 the clusters of the lilac, and paints with Persian noons 
 the voluptuous cheek of the peach a faultless mould 
 about a shrivelled core of soul, but the sound and 
 spiritualized result of a lusty Christian civilization. 
 
 The moral character of a true woman, in which the 
 virtues stand thick, may seem easy of analysis. Sere 
 nity, earnestness, self-sacrifice, endurance, and benevo 
 lence quicken and ennoble life. But unexpected 
 developments of excellence constantly occur, and 
 suggest in turn latent and indefinite possibilities. 
 Besides, there is abatement for alloy. He who has 
 felt the influence of such a character most, knows how 
 hard it is to adequately express it; like light, it is 
 a diffused beneficence pure, pervading, and subtle. 
 Enough, to remember the presence of a spiritual 
 woman as that of one, like Spenser's Una, whose 
 
 " angel's face, 
 
 As the great eye of heaven, shined bright, 
 And made a sunshine in the shady place." 
 
 Yet there are wretched beings among men, lagos 
 and Stenos of society, whose souls are shut to this 
 refreshing; who sneer with the incredulity of the pit 
 at every portraiture of female purity, and value it by 
 the attributed standard of the coulisse. So infernal 
 frogs know only the ooze of Acheron. Even Satan, in 
 the presence of Eve, 
 
 " abstracted stood, 
 
 From his own evil." 
 
 But the virtues and graces are not necessarily asso-
 
 10 THE IIORTONS; OR 
 
 elated. Often the most dangerous thing in bad women 
 is their fascinating self-possession; while goodness is 
 of plain case and uncourtly. Correggio, instinctively 
 truthful, has depicted the Furies not old, withered, and 
 deformed, the awful Memories of ^Eschylus in shapes 
 of hideous sisterhood, but as women, comely with the 
 rounded freshness of youth, a solitary serpent filletting 
 each head, but faces faces infernally implacable with 
 perverted passions. 
 
 Emily Horton's nature was not ductile. Her virtues 
 and defects tended to the positive. Hence she shunned 
 shams, and was without prudery. Some caprices she 
 showed, being a woman, but claimed no prerogative to 
 cherish them; and in matters of moment, she was not 
 uncertain. Least of all was there varying in the stead 
 fastness of her love, which did not cling with the wan 
 tonness of whim, but clave with the directness and 
 strength of passion. She strove to inspire her actions 
 with a pure regard for wisdom and goodness; to live 
 in the exercise of charity, which is the method of a 
 comprehensive righteousness. Self-appreciation some 
 times disported on the level of a spiritualized pride, 
 which was not Pharisaism. Excess was apt to be the 
 measure of her antipathies. The contemplation of 
 wrong and meanness swelled her resentment to hatred, 
 or sank it to contempt. Her nature, sensitive in its 
 strength, capable alike of love and loathing, was rich 
 in solace for sore occasions.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT liOME. 
 
 11 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 MEN are as so many emmets, busy, busy still, going to and fro, in and out, 
 and crossing one another's projects, as the lines of several sea-cards 
 cut each other in a globe or map. Now light and merry, but by-and- 
 by sorrowful and heavy; now hoping, then distrusting; now patient, 
 to-morrow crying out. ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY. 
 
 GRISTING-, attended by the warm 
 South, was trailing her pall, glit 
 tering with dew, upon wood and 
 field. From the bay-window of 
 the breakfast-room a parterre of 
 verbenas violet-hued and crimson, 
 orange-suited jonquils, and roses 
 of imperial aspect though garbed 
 in saintly white, stretched pic 
 turesquely irregular until it was 
 lost behind a copse of shrubbery. Gravelled avenues 
 exhaling coolness in the shadow of overarching trees, 
 alleys meandering through sunny spaces of turf, a 
 jubilant choir of robins fresh from the morning feast 
 of cherries, the sober and familiar wren, the oriole, a 
 gleam of gold and jet, cleaving the tresses of the 
 willow, the bugles of bees faintly blowing in the 
 jessamine- scented air, contributed their several de 
 lights to the enchanting summer morning scene.
 
 12 THE HORTONS; OE 
 
 It was not until twice summoned that Mr. Ilorton, 
 but little refreshed by daylight dozes, appeared. If 
 this unusual breach of punctuality excited the atten 
 tion of his daughter, his haggard look, despite an 
 assumption of briskness as little like healthy animation 
 as the restlessness of fever, aroused her solicitude. 
 It was new to her, that look of one whose "heart 
 taketh not rest in the night." 
 
 "Breakfast has been ready this half-hour, father; 
 you are late, and seern ill." 
 
 " The hot night and wakefulness, Emily. I confess 
 to being out of sorts, and I don't feel hungry now 
 I'm here." 
 
 The repast proceeded in an uneasy silence. 
 
 " Really you should not call that a breakfast, man 
 pere a bit of meat no bigger than a lozenge! Try 
 this pigeon." 
 
 "No, child; nature is clogged. After all, I believe 
 a cup of strong coffee is the best crutch for an ailing 
 man." 
 
 "Don't the doctors forbid it?" 
 
 "Yes and drink it. In India, I knew captains of 
 the country ships who lived almost on curry and 
 coffee. One shrivelled, sallow-skinned old fellow took 
 a score of cups a day, was eighty when I met him, 
 and perfectly clear-headed, but, it must be owned, 
 much like a palsy in a bundle of parchment." 
 
 Reserved as was Mr. Horton in his intercourse with 
 the world, with his daughter he was easy and unre 
 strained; still this bizarre sprightliiiess was unusual,
 
 AMERICAN. LIFE AT HOME. 13 
 
 and set awkwardly upon him. A servant announced 
 the carriage, and Mr. Horton rose. 
 
 "Be quiet to-day, father, and keep from the sun. 
 I think I shall be in the city for some dresses. If we 
 go to Newport next month I must get ready. A note 
 from Caroline Mellen tells me that she will be at my 
 service, and you know ladies hate solitary shopping. 
 Did you like the pearl-colored silk I showed you?" 
 
 " Yes, Emily, I thought it pretty, but your taste is 
 better taught than mine." 
 
 Newport ! The word to the merchant was a pang. 
 But the carriage wheels had not ceased to crunch the 
 gravel of his grounds when weightier cares thronged 
 his mind. Much of his paper was daily falling due, 
 and large payments would be demanded within the 
 week. He could still go on for some days, perhaps 
 several weeks, at the price of further involvement. 
 To this as an upright man he would not consent. 
 Yet hardly was he resolved to stop at once, when a 
 more sanguine mood controlled him. He could yet 
 contrive to get through his difficulties without the 
 humiliation of proclaimed failure; it only, needed 
 management and nerve, and both were his. He would 
 accomplish all by a masterly adroitness; there should 
 be no equivocal finesse. The unsullied credit and 
 large concerns of his house, the fair growth of a 
 quarter of a century, should not thus topple in an 
 hour. Brief beguilement. Behind it, an enduring 
 background, was necessity, stark and stringent, and 
 importunate as an avenging shade. 
 
 Along the dusky highway; cityward. The plodding 
 2
 
 14 THE HOKTONS; OR 
 
 teamster swerves with call and crack of lash his 
 sinewy leader, and thinks the smart equipage which 
 hurries by, the very shrine of happiness. A misan 
 thropic butcher's boy, driving a herd of beeves, con 
 torts his tallow-hued expanse of face to a scowl of 
 envy, curses in shamble-seasoned adjectives his scurvy 
 fortune, and poles the nearest ox. A pedler in the 
 hedge, biting his frugal crust, catches a glimpse of 
 cosy cushions and a portly gentleman in spruce attire, 
 and thinks of the burden of the long, sweaty day. A 
 brace of fast young gentlemen ogle languidly the car 
 riage and its occupants, and bandy sententious com 
 ments. "Old Horton rich as a Jew 'mazing pretty 
 daughter, Bob: Old f'ler himself 'cidedly slow 
 s'prisin how them 'fernal slow men wear!" Across 
 converging railroad tracks; by brick-yards, patches of 
 truck, and grimy factories ; by suburban taverns redo 
 lent of bitters, with their groups of morning idlers, and 
 hostlers doing stable sleights with chunks of sponge 
 and empty buckets ; by limbo-looking spaces cumbered 
 with refuse lumber, car-wheels, and grindstones, and 
 superannuated coaches, warped, blistered, bare, and 
 dismal, doing righteous penance for the hypocrisy of 
 their running days when they were never full; by 
 cemeteries, where falsehood suns itself in stone atop, 
 while underneath reality takes refuge in dead night 
 and the wormy corpse-stuffed mould; then on the 
 street, among the currents of existence that set toward 
 the greedy vortex of the town. 
 
 The counting-house of Clement Horton was entered 
 from a narrow lane which skirted the river. You
 
 AMERICAN MFE AT HOME. 15 
 
 reached it along an entry dimly lighted by a single 
 cobwebbed window, and a flight of well-worn steps. 
 Over a stone archway, through which heavy drays 
 laden with bales and tierces from the adjacent wharves 
 rumbled all day long, scraping the damp granite sides, 
 and rats scudded stealthily in the black mud, it gar 
 nered year by yp.ar its inky fruit in iron chests, be 
 tween ponderous lids of tawny leather, and upon stems 
 of wire that cropped along the walls. Its prospect was 
 a lean slice of water scenery sandwiched in a brick per 
 spective; ships at their moorings discharging cargo, or 
 sweltering lazily in the caulker's reek of pitch, and 
 passing steamboats that left legacies of smoke athwart 
 the view. The region and its dwellers wore a dingy, 
 not to say Stygian aspect. The huge warehouses rose 
 sullenly above the life which surged beside them and 
 took nothing of its impress; a sense of separateness 
 like that of coffins from the funeral concourse striking 
 the beholder, who as he passed the open doors and got 
 glimpses of porters laboring far back in the cavernous 
 gloom thought they seemed rummaging a sepulchre. 
 From the coopers' shops came the knocking of busy 
 adzes, and an odor of freshly whittled oak. Weighmas- 
 ters and their men bustled among bales and bags, and 
 stevedores shoved with slow labor grating casks. 
 Massive anchors and coils of rust-eaten chain, stowed 
 in sideway recesses, mocked humanity with their grim 
 impassiveness. For the habitable buildings, they were 
 groggeries and junk-shops, where thieves sold their 
 plunder, sailor boarding-houses, and brothels of the 
 baser sort pustules into which run the peccant humors
 
 16 THE HORTONS; OK 
 
 of urban civilization. The inhabitants were chiefly 
 remarkable for an avoidance of cleanliness, a tendency 
 to blear-eyes, and the consumption of clams. The 
 musty air was toned with an exhaustless smell of 
 onions. Such was the hallowed ground where Mam 
 mon owned his altars. 
 
 Seated in his private office, Mr. Horton engaged with 
 accustomed regularity in the perusal of the day's cor 
 respondence. He was interrupted while making some 
 memoranda concerning it by the entrance of his confi 
 dential clerk, who, having received the instruction 
 which he sought, was retiring, iHien the merchant with 
 an effort detained him. 
 
 "Mr. Davenport, please wait a moment: I have 
 something to say." 
 
 The pause which followed, and the steady and 
 serious gaze of the speaker disconcerted his subordi 
 nate. 
 
 "Henry, I am a broken man; (twitching of the 
 mouth) I must stop." 
 
 "You are joking, sir," faltered Davenport, "trying 
 me?" 
 
 "Would to God I were!" 
 
 Then a new notion possessed the clerk his em 
 ployer's mind was unbalanced. If Henry Davenport 
 had faith in anything, not properly the object of devo 
 tion, it was the stability of the house of Horton. Iden 
 tified with it by a service of nearly twenty years, no 
 waking thought or nightmare of mercantile disaster 
 had ever disturbed him. As soon would he have con 
 fessed the rcits could demolish the old granite archway.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 17 
 
 Often had he counted Mr. Ilorton's estate; a quarter of 
 a million at low valuation not a dollar less. It was 
 growing yearly, too, with improved vicinity and growth 
 of revenue. He knew -of losses, indeed, in excess of 
 the customary business per centage; but compared with 
 the capital which was pitted against them they might 
 justly seem insignificant; as well question a ship's 
 staunchness for the barnacles upon its, bottom and 
 failed? Lunacy, clearly lunacy; dulness itself might 
 see it. And so, his mind a tumult of incredulity, 
 Davenport gazed upon his principal, who was refold 
 ing mechanically the morning's letters. Presently the 
 merchant broke the silence. 
 
 "There is minous news from Europe, where I have 
 large consignments. I operated silently, looking for a 
 happy stroke of fortune, and mortgaged my property 
 to make payments. My sagacity has been at fault, and 
 I have lost. In the present tightness of money I see it 
 is impossible for me to go on ; and that only do I see 
 plainly. I must consult my friends. My farms at 
 Brentlands will be attached, of course, and I desire 
 some special debts to have priority, and that may pre 
 vent an arrangement with all my creditors, which I 
 hope for, but hardly expect. It is a shocking business, 
 but I will hold nothing back; they shall impute to me 
 no dishonesty. I have extended indulgence to others 
 in distress; heaven knows whether I shall receive it!'' 
 
 The old clerk blew his nose with energy, and replied 
 in a husky voice: 
 
 "If it be so bad as you think, sir, still it cannot 
 be desperate. The house of Clement Horton has a 
 2*
 
 18 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 character which must command terms. No creditor 
 however churlish, dare brave public opinion by re 
 fusing them. After so many years, this is a rough 
 turn of affairs for me, sir. But," he quickly added, 
 with an attempt at cheerfulness which, despite the 
 jaunty flourishing of his bandana, was sorry assurance, 
 "it will all come right, and end a balance in our favor." 
 "God bless you for your sympathy, my friend! I 
 hope 1 shall meet the worst firmly, as becomes an up 
 right man," responded the merchant. 
 
 The law of the old clerk's life was method, stronger 
 than the utmost spite of fortune, and he trod his round 
 of duties with the same systematic steps, but his heart 
 reeled beneath the burden of a noble sorrow. The 
 young men over whom he presided observed that his 
 characteristic equanimity, happily tempered with deci 
 sion, had given place to a restless and querulous de 
 meanor. Aroused from moodily brooding over his 
 accounts, he would respond to the occasion with 
 splenetic activity. 
 
 "By George, Wilson!" whispered Snively seven 
 teen, with a faint down on his upper lip "old Dav's 
 bagged at last. Now I know the meaning of the flashy 
 r est he sported Sunday. Reg'lar loud pattern saw 
 ne of the Yigee boys as Dav passed her house look as 
 if he'd like to garote him for it Twig?" 
 
 The interrogated, sucking the tip of his pen-holder 
 the while, regarded his superior with an air of senti 
 mental interest, lapsed into a despairing sigh, and, under 
 cover of his desk-lid, whistled sotto voce a bar of " Un 
 happy Jeremiah."
 
 AMERICAN -LIFE AT HOME. 19 
 
 Fancy not, O brother, who art travelling through 
 "this vale," that our afflictions, thine and mine, will be 
 read aright; or understood, educe tearful responses 
 from Stokes, or Gibbs, or Thompson, fellow-creatures 
 altogether lovely though they be, and parcel of the 
 general caravan. The rue we cherish may not exhale 
 their favorite odor, nor possess for them an inspiring 
 'tint. Leave them without upbraiding to the flora of 
 their choice. Their orange blossoms, roses, poppies, 
 will seem even to us, for all our present drapery of 
 woe, a twelve-month hence less vapid. Let drollery 
 thfin do on, and laugh, if it will, behind its hand, with 
 dear, delightful Elia, at a funeral. 
 
 Mr. Horton confided his difficulties to two business 
 and personal intimates. Relieved by the hearty offor 
 of their services, and the relinquishment of part of his 
 burden its shearing in our meaning-full Saxon tongue 
 he was about to go home, when Davenport entered 
 and handed him a package. 
 
 " There is something, sir, I will thank you to use for 
 me." 
 
 "Use I What is it? Stop, Henry!" 
 
 "Well, if I must, certificates of stock. I have 
 invested about nine thousand dollars. Half of it is 
 devoted to the support of my mother, should I dia 
 before her; with her frugal habits, and a small annuity 
 of her own, it will be enough. For myself, I cannot 
 live without employment. Besides, just in my prime 
 lustier than half the sickly spawn of twenty, now-a- 
 days. Whatever happens, I shall tick on till I run 
 down. Eh! don't smile, sir; a little bald, but it runs
 
 20 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 in the family sign of a strong constitution, they say, 
 and convenient for shower-baths." 
 
 "I thank you with all my heart, but I cannot ." 
 
 "Nor can I," exclaimed the ardent Davenport with 
 brisk determination, as he disappeared. 
 
 "What is the matter with old Dav, Snively?" asked 
 Wilson that night in a convivial lull at the weekly 
 union of the " Musical Owls," Juddle, of the wholesale 
 provision line, famous for his stunning solo of the 
 "Blue-tailed Fly" to a jews-harp accompaniment, in the 
 chair. "Hang me, sir, if I didn't see him this after 
 noon, when you'd all gone, before the glass tieing 
 fancy knots in his cravat, and looking a perfect Romeo. 
 Well, when he turned quick and caught me spotting 
 him, and some astonished I was I rather think, he 
 laughed, took his hat, gave me a parting punch in the 
 ribs with a volume of McCullough, and sloped." 
 
 "Hit by the little archer, my boy! Wooman; lovely 
 woo-man!" and the experienced youth thrust the 
 suction-tube, with scientific precision, through the 
 centre of a slice of lemon in his cobbler.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 How now, Shylock? what news among the merchants? 
 
 MERCHANT OP VENICE. 
 
 ,HAT splendid sunsets we have, 
 father," remarked Emily. They 
 were lingering over their tea. 
 
 "Yes? I confess inattention. 
 Perhaps I appreciate sunset more 
 as a relief -this hot weather than 
 a show." 
 
 "Look! I think of Italian 
 skies, and Bradley. Are 'blue 
 Friuli's mountains' laved by a 
 more imperial flood ? I fancy it is an efflux of para 
 dise, where sainted shadows, untouched by gross influ 
 ences, may lean and listen to our clamor, and find their 
 happiness increased." Perhaps she was invoking good 
 angels for the absent, and so came to think it, for she 
 immediately added, "I wonder brother Bradley has 
 not written in so long a time; it is more than a month." 
 There had been no such pressure in the money mar 
 ket as now prevailed, since the memorable crisis inau 
 gurated by the "smash," as it was emphatically called, 
 of the famous firm of Splinter & Splurge. That, it will 
 be recollected, brought down half the banks of the
 
 22 THE HOKTONS; OR 
 
 country by the run. Splinter was thought to have 
 made a rather good thing of the failure, being "smart." 
 Certain it is that he lived in pious opulence ever after 
 on the income of a bankrupt, was particular about his 
 wines, sold his billiard table, built a private chapel, 
 and entertained the bishop with holy hospitality. It is 
 also consolatory to know, as showing that secular merit 
 is, at least, rewarded in this calumniated world, that 
 Splurge was subsequently elected secretary of the 
 Epirus and Bungville Bailroad, "realized" a snug sum 
 by an over-issue of its bonds, and died, in an afflu 
 ence of bequests, proprietor of a Cuban sugar estate 
 and two hundred tattooed and musculous Bozales. 
 The pressure was growing daily, too. Stout gentle 
 men, with double chins and claret-colored counte 
 nances, discussed with lean and bilious gentlemen at 
 the insurance offices whether it would become a panic, 
 delivering, as they swung their watch-seals, portentous 
 periods in a big, infallible tone, to which the bilious 
 men croaked confirmatory tremendous prophecies of 
 woe. There was the same unflagging buzz of voice* 
 on 'Change, the droning worship of Plutus, till the 
 janitor came and rang it out, when it stagnated on the 
 steps, and eddied in the passages, and flowed into the 
 convenient refectory to mix with the ring of glasses 
 and the tinkle of pounded ice. The same buzz of 
 voices, but there were inflections now culminations 
 of sound when groups got fresh intelligence of disaster, 
 and short, sharp expressions of surprise in features and 
 movement; bubbles, so to speak, above .the foundered 
 firms. Many a rich argosy escaped shipwreck in the
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 23 
 
 shelter of the Barbary Coast of three per cent, a month, 
 and sailed a long voyage afterward with its signal of 
 distress, a usurer's heart sprouting vultures' claws. 
 The pinched "drags" bodies pea-green, and wheels 
 daintily picked in red and brimstone of horsey-look 
 ing men who dealt in dry-goods were not seen of after 
 noons upon the road. Elderly citizens, uxorious no 
 longer, rebuked testily Madame's propensity to gad 
 when she proposed the sea-side or Saratoga, declared 
 these were contrivances for the encouragement of heat, 
 racket, dust, dysentery, and mosquitoes, and that, con- 
 trarily, the city was an elysium of freshness and ease. 
 Poor women, nurses, seamstresses, and schoolmistresses, 
 with their little all hoarded in stocks, bore anxious 
 hearts, in which every rumor roused a pang. The 
 blind and bed-ridden annuitants full of years, stripped 
 of their small support let us trust that heaven made 
 of their adversity a blessing, and sanctified their crust 
 and cruse as were never Splinter's sapid viands by 
 grace episcopal, uttered in the bishop's most mellifluent 
 manner, and bodied with turtle and Green Seal. 
 
 Among others, Mr. Horton's failure had been an 
 nounced, and had occasioned a little stir in the great 
 world of traffic. His property was hastily attached. 
 Brentlands, near Wilton, was seized. The village law 
 yers were busy and blithesome, and the sheriff was a 
 happy man in view of fees. There came, however, a 
 lifting of the clouds. 
 
 Brentlands was a productive estate of fifteen hun 
 dred acres. Under the skilful management of Mr. 
 Horton it had furnished a yearly revenue equal to the
 
 24 THE HOKTONS; OR 
 
 interest of more than twice its market value, and even 
 that value, because of the financial distress, perhaps for 
 a long period would be depreciated. These considera 
 tions tended to abate the eagerness of a few who were 
 sordid, and who stood for a speedy sale of the lands 
 and chattels, and prepared the way for an arrangement. 
 A call, to effect this, appeared in the Commercial 
 Register for a meeting of the creditors of Clement Hor- 
 , ton at the offices of Lytell Jowl, Esquire, Attorney at 
 Law and Solicitor in Chancery. 
 
 Many phases of character were presented to amuse 
 the spectator pleased with variant views of human 
 nature in the assembly at Jowl's. There was the ven 
 erable Bliggs who contradicted nobody, whose lips dis 
 tilled honey of Hybla, while his head was a perpetual 
 ambush for the unwary; Glump, whose moral nature 
 oozed in rigorous sentiments of piety, and at whose 
 approach his children feared and trembled; the manly 
 Duncan; Jacob Bloker, of the firm of Bloker and Ball; 
 the fair-minded Lamed ; and Eapin, extensive " ope 
 rator'' in salt fish, who knew by heart the British 
 peerage, and wore a moustache of such unparalleled 
 ierocity that it suggested gunpowder rations and train 
 ings before Sebastopol. There, too, luminous " emongst 
 the lesser lights," beamed Bartimeus Scroggs. 
 
 The vanity of Scroggs would have scouted less than 
 a separate and especial paragraph. A solitary feat of 
 his babyhood was preserved by tradition, the habit 
 of closing his fist upon a coveted object with a singular 
 obstinacy of grasp. The builder of his own fortune, he 
 oegan and continued life with a purpose the acquisi-
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 25 
 
 tion of wealth ; and he was successful, for his energy 
 cropped from a rich sub-soil of self-esteem. Assidu 
 ously he prosecuted his aim, holding crooked courses 
 to be rather unsightly, but necessary to the aptitudes 
 of business. He deposited, perhaps sometimes with 
 disrelish, his eggs of contrivance in any carcass, satis 
 fied if they returned plump and early maggots. Un 
 profitable in the end, if Scroggs but knew of any other 
 world than that of tare and tret. And it has been well 
 said that "he who destroys confidence murders the 
 generations." By others, Scroggs was styled an infidel ; 
 he called himself a spiritualist, and talked glibly of an 
 inevitable disembodied progression, an assured devel 
 opment and exaltation of the soul hereafter; of which, 
 averred the scoffers, that of Bartimeus would stand in 
 urgent need. The heaven into which he looked to 
 enter was a mixture of Mahomet's paradise and the 
 elysium of classic paganism. Such being his creed, it 
 cannot surprise that his cherished maxim was, to live 
 entirely in and for this world; while he contemplated 
 the next as he would a Chinese puzzle, with curiosity 
 but without concern. With inordinate ambition, 
 wealth, and a consciousness of its power, and with 
 out any spiritualizing faith, there was to be found 
 no check in this man's life higher than the opinion of 
 the mart to assure it just. In politics he was a fierce 
 Republican, not from the impulses of a benevolent 
 nature, but from jealousy of the educated and arrogant 
 aristocracy of the South, whose pretensions, seldom 
 temperate and sometimes thrasonical, offended his 
 enormous vanity. Yet he had some sense of equity 
 3
 
 26 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 in the abstract as Alexander Carlyle's carousing and 
 wenching Scotch lairds had of religion which sup 
 plied him with a basis of semi-sincerity. It was his 
 vanity which kept him steadfast during the weakness 
 and unpopularity of his party, and impelled him to 
 aspire when it had acquired strength and power to 
 offices and honors for which he was unfitted either by 
 nature or cultivation. To secure place and its profits, 
 although generosity was not the method of his blood, 
 he opened his purse to infirm newspapers, and kept 
 in pay a crew of pothouse politicians. Even in this 
 selfish bounty he recompensed himself by a more 
 selfish provision, and while claiming full credit for a 
 gift, exacted a promissory note. "When Wriggle of 
 the Bugle, who coaxed from able writers of the party 
 editorials in charity, and ostentatiously claimed them 
 for his own, was unprosperous, he offered inky incense 
 at the shrine of Scroggs, and settled his weekly bills. 
 One two-column biography, intensely seasoned, of 
 which ten thousand extra copies were forthwith scat 
 tered broadcast, Scroggs in areas and doorways, until 
 the town, as with an Egyptian plague, was Scroggs- 
 infested, supplied the Bugle with wind enough for 
 several months of tooting. Perfect temperance in 
 drinking, and toleration of the shortcomings of others 
 provided neither his prejudice nor interest was .in 
 vaded, were among his sources of strength. Yet 
 with all his advantages Bartimeus was not Machiavel, 
 and was sometimes surpassed by abler and shrewder 
 men. In person he was robust "alimentiveness 
 large," said the phrenologists his hair was red, and
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 27 
 
 his gray eyes, from which diverged busy wrinkles, 
 would have been hard but for a tendency to moisture 
 scarcely emotional. For his occupation, he was a 
 heavy dealer in brass. 
 
 It was the last of several meetings to discuss Mr. 
 Horton's affairs, Jowl presiding, and looking, with a 
 stretch of fancy, as if he had plunged into all the 
 commentators and was present to be wrung. 
 
 "Any of our friends gone up to-day, Mr. Glump?" 
 asked Bliggs: 
 
 "Not that I have heard." 
 
 "Wait till the first of the month," said Rapin: 
 " Houses will go like a row of bricks on edge when 
 the end one tumbles. Never knew such deuced kite 
 flying. Paper on the street is as hard to move as lead 
 gilt-edged and short at that." 
 
 "Things will settle, perhaps, after that," observed 
 Glump. 
 
 "Dunno. Is this Hulger's fourth or fifth stop, 
 Lamed?" , 
 
 " Uhm I forget. He fails as regularly as a Dutch 
 almanac in its predictions of the weather. Ninety 
 thousand this time, I'm told ; but he'll be right again 
 in a month. Can't afford to lose him on 'change; he 
 makes more business than any three men there." 
 
 " He's living fast, though drinks hard, and will go 
 off yet with a Frenchman. I saw Mrs. H. on the 
 street to-day, not sombre and sorrowful, but fresh as 
 Aurora and beautiful as Aphrodite," said Eapin. 
 
 "Not his wife not married 1" exclaimed Glump.
 
 28 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 "I never asked to see the certificate," responded 
 Rapin. 
 
 Duncan laughed, and thought he had heard that 
 Hulger had left it at Cyprus in his travels. 
 
 "Nothing can exceed the thoughtlessness of our 
 young men in these trying times," reflected Bliggs. 
 'There's Sherrard Timmins breadstuff Timmius's son 
 who, I'm told, has actually taken to writing poetry ; 
 and I saw him myself carrying a switch cane in busi 
 ness hours. Ah 1" 
 
 Just then there was some cross talk about a sale of 
 building lots on the line of the proposed Slowcut rail 
 way, and Scroggs, who had been sitting with closed 
 eyes in a highly developed state of fat smile, it was 
 supposed communing with spirits, relapsed to mor 
 tality with this sententious offering to the general 
 fund, 
 
 "Wouldn't give it there's no money in 'em at that 
 price 1" 
 
 Finally, the conclave rose, the attorney rung in his 
 man Scipio with a bundle of cigars, and Rapin soli 
 cited subscriptions to procure a silver spanner for the 
 Phoenix.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Thanks to the human heart by which we live, 
 Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears, 
 
 To me the meanest flower that blows can give 
 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. 
 
 WORDSWORTH. 
 
 invalid with a sprained ancle, Mr. 
 Horton was stretched upon a cane 
 settee in his piazza at Belair. In 
 reaching to thrust aside a bough 
 which overshadowed the dial, he had 
 slipped upon the gravel walk. In 
 this little, though painful accident, 
 what embryo vastness of casualty. 
 "A simple sprain!" quoth the reader; 
 "anything short of a luxation is a 
 personal affront, and a heroic nature would have given 
 us a compound fracture." Alas, that the conscientious 
 historian cannot make events at pleasure, like tha 
 writer of mere fiction, and rise superior to flannel and' 
 opodeldoc. 
 
 Quiet rested upon the merchant. Afflictions spirit 
 ualize virtuous men ; and there was nothing obsequious 
 in the now subdued bearing of Mr. Horton in his inter 
 course with the world; he walked invested with the 
 dignity of gentleness. The old roughnesses were 
 3*
 
 30 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 rasped down, and the old bluntness was swallowed in a 
 new benevolence. 
 
 Emily, seated beside her father, was plying her 
 needle. Since she knew of his difficulties she first 
 heard them from his lips under the elms in the serenity 
 of a bright Sabbath her attendance upon him had 
 been tinctured with those nameless graces and subtle 
 amenities which make much of the charm and even 
 strength of domestic life so blossoming trailers make 
 fast the rifted crag the delicate Corinthian combined 
 with the chaste, fixed Doric in the family structure 
 when Cultivation and Love are the builders. Besting, 
 she picked from her work-basket a rose, and surveyed 
 it musingly. 
 
 It was surpassingly beautiful. Its petals where they 
 started, from a stem dark with excess of green blood, 
 were in color alabaster faintly incarnadined, which 
 gradually deepened to a glow of gorgeous crimson 
 spread below pollen-laden stamens of blush-tinted am 
 ber. Emily embraced its splendor and inhaled its 
 fragrance with sensuous delight. 
 
 "All the poetry it has occasioned, from the smooth 
 lines of Waller to the exquisite conceptions of Eliza 
 f beth Browning, is not worth five minutes communion 
 with this September flower," she said. 
 
 " 'Sultana of the nightingale.' 
 
 And a right queenly look it has." 
 " Fit, father, to have inspired the memory of the 
 blind. Aunt Dinah, by the mill, will talk to you all 
 the hour of her old-time garden treasures, with, What
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 31 
 
 a season that was for dahlias ! recalling their various 
 colors, exhaled a score of years, and painting now 
 more poetry perhaps the plumage of rare birds, or 
 Brazilian butterflies, or strange shapes of tropical 
 bloom; and famous double hollyhocks, that ran out at 
 last, and tantalize her in dreams." 
 
 "So, my dear, our great poet regrets, in that pathetic 
 apostrophe to Light which has moved many hearts, that 
 to him returned not the 
 
 'Sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose.' 
 
 If there be aught spiritual in us, we find our surest and 
 purest satisfaction, under God, in contemplating nature. 
 It is then toil is thankful in its strength, and pleasure 
 penitent." 
 
 " Often in delirium," said Emily, " the mind wanders 
 in mazes of flowers; and sometimes to the dying they 
 color the dawn of the great change. Nature's fashion 
 ing of these glowing, graceful shapes from the common 
 clod and the impalpable gases is a daily miracle which 
 warrants the belief in a higher transfiguration. Can 
 such impressions be glimpses of arcana ccelestia?" 
 
 "Are like appearances produced by narcotics? I 
 forget, and De Quincey sleeps to no earthly awaken- 
 ing." 
 
 "He could have told perhaps he has," said Emily. 
 " My recollection of the ' Confessions' is like that of a 
 dream a rigid countenance ghastly in the play of 
 laudanum lightnings from dark, cavernous eyes a 
 gleam of candles falling upon a decanter and revealing 
 its ruby contents, which, distilled through a singularly
 
 32 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 subtle brain take spectral similitudes of faces terrible 
 or grotesque, fear-stricken fugitives from disaster, 
 majestic processions, wreak and wretchedness, and all 
 the pageantry of triumph. Never poppies arnid the 
 friendly corn outglowed his pages." 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 "Every manifestation of the beautiful," urged Emily 
 with enthusiasm, "which is a blessing here, may be 
 such intensified hereafter; and the meek violet acquire 
 to our heightened sensibility a supernal effulgence 
 infinitely surpassing the glory which we now acknow 
 ledge in the august lily of Surinam. And who shall 
 say that color there, where there is 'no night,' is not an 
 exquisite musical expression."
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 33 
 
 CHAPTEE Y. 
 
 As some men gaze with admiration at the colors of a tulip, or the wings 
 of a butterfly, so I was by nature an admirer of happy human faces. 
 
 VICAR OP WAKEFIELD. 
 
 ERY enjoyable were the soft, dreamy- 
 autumn days at Belair. September 
 would yet a space recline upon his 
 stubble and listen to the low fretting 
 of the crisp corn blades, the black 
 bird's call, and the whirr of the 
 startled partridge, or saunter with 
 his lazy zephyrs in the groves; then 
 give place to lustier October clad in 
 russet, who brings no wrinkles to the 
 year, but is fragrant with the mow, full of bread, and 
 jolly with cider. The orchards were heavy with their 
 pride of spheres, golden and garnet-freaked; and from 
 wall and trellis drooped the clusters of the vine, a 
 repose of sunny purple, such as pretended by the old 
 Greek on his canvas drew the festal clamor of the 
 birds. More enjoyable to Emily that she had much 
 of the society of her father, who for a time could only 
 move in a chair on castors, and then with stick and 
 crutch. Besides, Caroline Mellen was spending several 
 weeks at Belair. 
 4
 
 34 THE HOETONS; OR 
 
 Time owed no spite to the wholesome lasses. 
 rode, drove, angled, trespassed upon the domain of tlit 
 old Scotch gardener to his undissembled disgust, 
 gathered fruit and made bouquets for their friends in 
 town, laughed over their schoolday frolics and re 
 counted and conjectured the fortunes of their former 
 mates, stringing on the thread of memory which they 
 held in common, as it happened, beads black and white. 
 Among the odors of the boudoir could be recognized 
 the aroma of new books, and scattered paper-knives 
 might have been collected in piazzas, arbors, and other 
 retreats. In the evenings they played the last music 
 for Mr. Horton's pleasure as he reclined on a sofa; or a 
 social gathering was made happy by the exuberant 
 gaiety of Mellen. 
 
 Sometimes they drove to the city, and mixed with 
 the blithe throng of the world. But their regard was 
 not exhausted by the sprightly and modish. On one 
 of these occasions Emily called on her mother's friend, 
 Mrs. Allen, aad carried her some pears. Everything 
 about the modest house was neat and well kept, but 
 the decayed fortune of the family was to be seen else 
 where than in the faded widow's weeds of the lady. 
 Mr. Allen had been a merchant of worth and standing 
 it was the old story of bankruptcy, unvaried by impres 
 sive incidents, but not therefore the less pathetic; a 
 syllable of that solemn monotone of our busy Ameri 
 can life. The thoughtful face of the widow was still 
 delicate, despite the wear of more than fifty years. It 
 was a Christian's countenance calm, resigned, and 
 sweetly benevolent. They found her in her little
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 35 
 
 garden with a neighbor, who was lifting fron? its spot 
 of soil a luxuriant shrub. Her husband had planted, 
 and for many years she had nurtured it. She turned 
 to greet them, with tearful eyes and a constrained 
 smile, but their presence jarred the chords of associa 
 tion, already tense, and her speech faltered. "It was 
 his," she said, " but I cannot keep it ; there is no yard 
 where I shall move." And bowing her head in a burst 
 of grief, she passed with them into the house. 
 
 Emily's birth-day occurred in Indian-summer, the 
 vintage-time of Solitude, when, robed in a tranquil 
 glory of sun-sublimated haze, she quaffs her wine 
 among the hills and is glad. Mr. Horton insisted, so a 
 small party was arranged for the occasion. 
 
 There was cream to be got for freezing at Farmer 
 Gregg's. This worthy agriculturist toiled and worried 
 through the seasons on his fruitful acres, such cham 
 paign as the tiller loves, which skirted a bend of the 
 Tarnell. Andrew, the gardener, cheerfully consented 
 to row the ladies. The fresh morning lay upon fields 
 of grass, and stubble, and shocked cornstalks, where . 
 beads of dew trembled like quicksilver in the cobwebs. 
 A '"Tis a pleasant lift the day. Miss Cawroline, gie 
 me your hand, and step light upon the gunwaul." 
 
 The oars thumped in the row-locks and the boat 
 sprang forward, with Emily at the tiller. 
 
 "Luff! luff a-lee, Emily, or you'll shipwreck us on 
 that sand-bar, and consecrate it forever to the elegiac 
 muse. Think of our becoming newspaper naiads in 
 one of Max Heyhurst's effusions! There goes my
 
 36 THE HOETONS; OR 
 
 umbrella!" and the lively "Cawroline" reached over 
 board. 
 
 The boat dipped sideways quick and deep, releasing 
 Andrew's port oar as he was bending to the stroke, and 
 sprawling him on his back. With the bound of an 
 athlete the old gardener was again upright. He con 
 templated the vivacious Mellen with a look of solemn 
 wrath. His sense of decorum had been outraged in its 
 entirety. Slowly he spake: "Seat you, Miss, anent 
 Miss Emily, and hold your freeskyness, or it will be a 
 far cry to Belair!" 
 
 The culprit answered nothing, and sat an edifying 
 spectacle of contrition. Presently she burst into song, 
 and the ploughman paused afield to listen to "Ettrick 
 banks." 
 
 "Aweel, weel," murmured Andrew; "'tis a bonnie 
 sang," and for a moment he beheld the smoke curling 
 above the heath-thatched shielins. 
 
 They found Farmer Gregg in tribulation concerning 
 a dead horse. Quite a group the farmer and his men, 
 with two or three sympathizing neighbors surrounded 
 the defunct quadruped. The doctor also was present, 
 a practitioner without a coat, in a broad-brimmed white 
 hat, gingham cravat, and an undue proportion of sus 
 penders. His thoughtful style of sucking a straw, as 
 he contemplated the bearings of the case, was a triumph 
 of art, and hinted at illimitable hoards of veterinary 
 wisdom. All seemed duly impressed with this appear 
 ance of profundity, except the horse; so lately most 
 interested, but now a breathless bulk of muscle.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 37 
 
 "Jeemes!" said the farmer, "take off his shoes. 1 
 know'd it war'nt no use." 
 
 "He'd be a live hoss now if I'd been fetched in 
 time," remarked the doctor, with decision. 
 
 "Think 'twas the kolery?" asked a hand. 
 
 "Too much fever," replied the doctor; "it was a 
 disease of the wital innards." * 
 
 "Bots, mebbe?'{ pursued a speculative neighbor. 
 
 The farmer scouted the idea. 
 
 "It was all along of the shootin' of the fish-hawk 
 down in the river-field," he declared, and there was 
 unshakable conviction in his tone. 
 
 "What had its nest in the old hickory?" asked the 
 speculative neighbor, brightening with new light. 
 
 " Yes, Billy. There was some strange men gunning 
 there a week ago, and I haint seen it since. It kind 
 o' worried me to miss it; and when Mike was taken 
 with a gripin' like, I knowed it warnt no use: it allus 
 happens." 
 
 Aunt Becky, as Mrs. Gregg was commonly called, 
 was in the act of a family baking. A brisk lass was 
 raking the coals from the ample oven, and puffed 
 batches of dough, pies knobby where slices of apple 
 bulged the crust, inchoate rusks, pippins, and ginger 
 bread sweating molasses at every pore, were ready to 
 be shoved to its hot inclosure. Then there was a 
 churning in the background twelve or fourteen 
 pounds, Aunt Becky said, as she nudged the handle 
 of the well-scoured barrel. After that, and dinner, 
 and the moving work, our housewife would put on her 
 heavy silver spectacles and ply her needle on the 
 4
 
 38 THE HORTONS; OK 
 
 "men folks" clothes, inspect and feed her poultry, 
 and look up in the almanac the changes of the moon, 
 or copy with slow labor from the county newspaper, 
 prudently anticipatory of the afflictions, a speedy cure 
 for cancer, and a remedy for the bite of a mad dog, 
 which was never known to fail when rubbed in well. 
 Aunt Becky was hugely pleased to see her favorite, 
 Emily, and in the exuberance of hfer spirits poured 
 forth such a multitude of orders and expostulations 
 that the bewildered "help" looked wild in the eyes 
 and showed symptoms of derangement. She would 
 have them with her to the dairy to see the goodly 
 files of bright milk basins that dripped coolness and 
 showed a thick, unctuous surface of contents, so differ 
 ent from the pellicle which mantles the lacteal supplies 
 of city cellars. Then, to survey her cheeses, a tawny 
 store of curd; the hives and their busy architects; 
 the sleek young calves with their blundering heads, 
 clear, full eyes, and bright nozzles; and her fatting 
 turkeys, glossy and plump with a plethora of mush, 
 and happily ignorant of Christmas. 
 
 While they were seated in the rustic porch listen 
 ing to Aunt Becky's large discourse, a horseman came 
 racking up the lane. At the runlet midway, in the 
 shadow of a beech, he drew bridle that his beast might 
 drink. The horse, a stalwart sorrel, shone like satin 
 with good grooming, and as it stood at ease with fora 
 limbs flexed and stooped neck, quaffing the stream, 
 it was a study fit for Rosa Bonheur. The rider was 
 stout, full-bearded, seemed faultlessly attired, and sat 
 well in the saddle.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 39 
 
 ""Who on earth/' pondered Aunt Becky aloud after 
 a prolonged survey, "can that be? Law sakes! if it 
 aint Mr. Bloker." 
 
 "Who lately bought the Smise farm?" inquired 
 Emily. 
 
 "Yes, darling, a rich merchant in the city, with 
 ships that trades to the Ingies; and they do say," 
 continued the old lady impressively, but with some 
 reservation in her tone implying doubt, "that he owns 
 an indigo mine." 
 
 "He is an acquaintance of father's," remarked Emily 
 to her friend, "at whose request I have invited him to 
 my birth- day." 
 
 In a little time the visitor, having finished- his 
 business, sauntered to the house. The disconsolate 
 Gregg, plucking his wristband diffidently, performed 
 the introduction 
 
 "Mr. Bloker, mother and ladies." 
 
 "Your servant, madame," responded Bloker, raising 
 his hat, "Miss Horton's, and her friend's," pausing 
 interrogatively. 
 
 "Miss Mellen, sir," said Emily. 
 
 "I had the honor, Miss Horton, to receive your 
 invitation through Mrs. Klett, and I shall surely not 
 forget it." 
 
 Deportment composed, tones bland. His unrumpled 
 dress was an agreeable result of cultivated taste. 
 Linen purely white, uncreased patent leather boots of 
 a refulgent jet, a brown silk cravat tied neglige, a vest 
 of unblemished marseilles, ample trowsers of light 
 cassimere, and an olive-colored frock, constituted it
 
 40 TITE IIORTOXS; OR 
 
 a costume which was well displayed on a musculai 
 figure. 
 
 "The builders at my bachelor's quarters deny me 
 possession, and I am at present on the bounty of Mrs. 
 Klett." 
 
 " I suppose, sir, you intend great improvements." 
 
 "I mean to make the place snug, if I can a sort 
 of box, you know, with comforts." 
 
 "Folks all about is talking of your water- works," 
 remarked the old lady. "I think it will be a grand 
 thing on wash-days in a drowth, when you have to 
 haul, and lose half on't by jolting in the ox-cart." 
 
 "Mrs. Gregg alludes to a fountain I am contriving," 
 lie explained with comical serenity. 
 
 "Of course you will christen your new property 
 what may we learn to call it ?" 
 
 "Eeally, Miss Horton, I shall be fortunate if you 
 make me your debtor for its christening." An un 
 pleasant gleam about his mouth. 
 
 "It is impossible, sir, from my slender resources 
 to oblige you suitably; Miss Mellen," laughing and 
 gesturing toward her friend, "has a quicker genius." 
 
 "Now I call that a cowardly shifting of respon 
 sibility. I dare say Mr. Bloker would gladly empty 
 his bottles over a failure in izzard from you. But 
 stop 'tis wise to withhold. You confess to being a 
 bachelor, sir, and for aught I know you have all the 
 faculty of fancy and satirical temper of Bachelor 
 Benedick, and can do better a dozen times than our 
 best, which would only whet your sarcasms. I grow 
 quite afraid ; you shall have no naming from me."
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 41 
 
 Hospitable rites were not forgotten by the kind 
 hostess. Upon the little spider-legged table in her 
 parlor she spread a spotless cloth, and placed regale 
 ment of currant wine, rusks, and honey. 
 
 "Aunt Becky, I will turn beggar for one of your 
 nice baked apples and a bowl of milk," said Emily. 
 
 "Bring a plate of 'em, mother," said the farmer, 
 "mebbe the other folks would like. They ought to eat 
 greedy for they've got a road before them." 
 
 " Seems to me there's no apples nowadays will bake 
 as they used to when I was a girl," observed Aunt 
 Becky, as she placed the dish before her guests. "I 
 mind a tree on father's place, that bore the fullest; a 
 goodish-sized, reddish-streaked apple, that come out of 
 the pan coated with a thick, rich jelly, sweet as sugar. 
 1 often think things don't grow as they used to, owing 
 tu the seasons I suppose; and I'm sure people was a 
 deal honester in old times, as I told Jed'diah only 
 yesterday, when that swindlin' peddler took me in with 
 the vail." 
 
 "How did he cheat you, Aunt Becky?" asked Emily. 
 
 "Why, he offered it so cheap, considering it was real 
 lace, that I thought I'd buy it for Sairey Ann. He 
 said he got a lot of 'em in some damaged goods from a 
 fire by mistake, at auction in the city, and it cost five 
 dollars apiece to import them, and he'd let me have one 
 for two dollars and a quarter, and warrant it. So I 
 took it, and after he'd gone we was examining it, and 
 Sairey Ann found a big hole in one corner gummed 
 over with blotting-paper where the ticket was. I 
 called out to Jed'diah, who'd just come in, to follow on 
 4*
 
 42 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 at once to the river and make the man take it back ; 
 but all the horses was out ploughing, and when Jed'diah 
 got to the ferry it was too late." 
 
 " Well, mother, no such doings can come to a good 
 end," remarked the farmer, consolingly. 
 
 The guests partook with heartiness, though Mr. 
 Bicker's face was thought to gloorn as he sipped the 
 wine, which might have wanted the relish of Verzenay 
 Perhaps it was only an intrusion of the indigo mine. 
 
 "One sprightly and clever; the one, charminglj ^hy," 
 thought Jacob Bloker, as he rode away. 
 
 " Freezingly formal," summed up Caroline. 
 
 "Something more disagreeable ihau that ^ tf <-nk/' 
 said Emily.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 like the elements, 
 
 That know not what, nor why, yet do effect 
 
 Rare issues by their operance, our souls 
 
 Did so to one another; what she liked, 
 
 Was then of me approved ; what not condemned, 
 
 No more arraignment; the flower that I would pluck, 
 
 And put between my breasts, Oh she would long 
 
 Till she had such another, and commit it 
 
 To the like innocent cradle, where phoenix-like 
 
 They died in perfume. THE Two NOBLE KINSMEN. 
 
 , T is happiness to contemplate the attach 
 ment of two pure and lovely women. 
 The friendship of women who live in 
 what is called "society" is seldom so 
 sincere and enduring as is that of those 
 who have been reared and are resident 
 among the scenes of nature. In cities 
 are jealousy and fret, the growth of a 
 forced rivalry of beauty, manners, wealth 
 and position. Nor is it possible for even 
 persons of exalted culture, unless they are vitalized by 
 religion, to rise entirely above the influences of a highly 
 artificial condition of life, in which "envy and deceit 
 glare through the flimsy mask of complaisance, and 
 strengthen in the buzz of vanity and hate." The early 
 education of country girls is pursued at home, and in
 
 44 THE HOETON'S; OB 
 
 comparative seclusion. They are morally and physi 
 cally strengthened by innocent zests and employments. 
 Less exposed to rancorous strife for ephemeral distinc 
 tion, they are as far exempt from the pangs of rivalry, 
 and untempted to entertain its spites and practise its 
 subterfuges. The country girl does not regard her 
 companions as obstructions to her shining, but as 
 enliveners of her quiet and regular existence. Her 
 healthy impulses are not sacrificed to the tyranny of 
 etiquette, nor is her personality lost in the pageantry 
 of fashion. Her sound body is a spring of cheerful 
 ness; and her mind, though happily ignorant of paste 
 board pomps, is not uninformed of life's loftier purposes. 
 The girlish joys, disappointments, and movements of 
 country life have been in common the children have 
 learned and played together at the school-house in the 
 grove, and the maidens have slept and risen together 
 under the farm-house roof. The gay world is a stir of 
 strangers in which events lie thick, and those separate 
 impressions are choked before they strengthen to dura 
 bility which in their sum constitute friendship. While, 
 then, the pleasures of intellectual intercourse are fullest 
 and freshest in the metropolis, the affections find kind 
 liest nurture among fields and woods. The civic best 
 of social bloom and fruitage is fed by country roots. 
 The staminal collapse of cities is constantly counter 
 acted by an infusion from God's wide domain, and the 
 mothers of the belles who languish in concert rooms 
 and blanch at midnight routs, were cheered at their 
 labors by the sunrise choir of robins and challenged in 
 their cheeks the orchard's bloom.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 45 
 
 Emily and Caroline had been trained companionably, 
 like kindred shoots, from childhood; though the nature 
 of each had taken its proper shape of development. 
 Their lives had been nourished generously by the same 
 scenes and sympathies they had read the same books, 
 felt an ownership in each other's household surround 
 ings, enjoyed together the same natural prospects, 
 hummed together the same new airs. 
 
 Caroline was the daughter of a physician whose for 
 tune permitted him to decline practice and devote 
 himself to scientific investigation ; one of that honora 
 ble class who " live laborious days," giving time and 
 sacrificing pleasure to the pursuit of physical truth 
 by which the world is profited so much, and which it 
 thanks so little. The imagination of Dante would 
 have made of her an etherial vision. She possessed, 
 rarities it has been said among American women, a 
 classical bust and well-rounded arms. Her head 
 reigned exultant above the luxuriant loveliness of 
 throat and thorax. The black tresses which were shed 
 from her brow timidly returned to dally with the 
 flexure of her white neck. Her eyes were not wells 
 of tenderness as they should have been to satisfy an 
 orthodox rapture but as the humor was, sparkled 
 with mirth, or flashed with scorn in glances that 
 trooped forth beneath an ample arch of forehead, which 
 rose from the shaft of a Grecian nose. The eyelashes 
 were flickering filamentous shadow. The contour of 
 her cheeks was best displayed when the heart showed 
 emotionally in their soft carnation, and the chin, fairer
 
 46 THE HOETONS; OR 
 
 than a turning in ivory, just trembled responsive to 
 their emergent flush and the compression of her coral 
 line lips. In her unusual strains, the joyfulness which 
 dimpled round her mouth was more jubilant than vic 
 torious trumpets.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Capulet. Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone: 
 
 We have a trifling foolish banquet towards. 
 
 ROMEO AND JULIET. 
 
 HE tenth of November came to teem 
 with placid merriment. Away be 
 Meditation and her sober lessons 
 when Beauty celebrates birthday or 
 bridal stay for a happy space the 
 hours that wear us out, and make 
 them rich with lights, and glad with 
 garlands, and sounding with har 
 mony! 
 
 A gay company was assembled at 
 Bel air. Gentlemen long and lean, gallants short and 
 solid, tesselated the group with ladies of equally vari 
 ous appearance, though not so common-place; Mr. 
 Brown was simply fat and perspired, but Miss Julia's 
 rotundity was embonpoint, and "A fan, sir ? it deserves 
 my best curtsey; I protest spirits are contagious here, 
 and put one in quite a glow." 
 
 "'Through Coron's lattices the lamps are bright, 
 For Seyd the Pacha makes a feast to-night.' 
 
 How. are you, Dolman?" 
 "Shark- hungry, Max."
 
 48 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 '"Sirrah! go hire me twenty cunning cooks,'" ex 
 claimed Max Heyhurst, with an affectation of generous 
 earnestness, as he half-turned toward an astonished ser 
 vant. " Ah !" he continued, "you should try the vir 
 tues of your 'true Sherris', which means at Belair, 
 Horton's. It is liquid amber infused with the sublima 
 tion of all delicate pungencies, 'pon my taste!" 
 
 " Can't ; it would plague me next morning." 
 
 "A sad case, truly I feel for you. Headachey 
 myself after milk-punch." 
 
 "Milk-punch is it you're discussing?" 
 
 "Imputatively, doctor." 
 
 "Incalculable amount of sustenance in milk-punch. 
 Heard of a sailor who was marooned on a desolate 
 island with a tame goat. Captain relented at the last 
 moment so far as to ask if he could do anything for 
 Crusoe at parting. Got a request for a puncheon of 
 Santa Cruz out of the cargo, to be charged against 
 wages for the round voyage. Skipper acceded. Limes 
 were indigenous, and Crusoe got sugar from sweet 
 grapes. There passed two years of rum, milk, and 
 meditation of choicer draughts than the Amalthean 
 that nourished the infant god on Ida. Then, goat 
 tumbled from a cliff into the sea and was drowned. 
 The hermit thrown upon Santa Cruz neat, went off in 
 delirium tremens. Before he died, however, mission 
 ary ship arrived. Last words were, 'More punch!' " 
 
 "If that unfortunate seaman had but lived, with 
 grizzled hair and glittering eye!" ejaculated Max; and, 
 as he wiped a damp optic, he murmured, with reflec 
 tive pathos,
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 49 
 
 'It is an ancient mariner, 
 And he stoppeth one of three .' " 
 
 "You enlarge upon sherry with, so much gust, Max, 
 that I am almost persuaded you are descended from 
 one of the critics whom Cervantes tells of," said Dol 
 man. 
 
 "Which one?" inquired Max, gravely. 
 
 " Well, there were two, called to pronounce upon the 
 contents of a butt of celebrated Xeres. One connois 
 seur lingered at the brim of the glass, and immerged 
 his mind in the liquor at every sip. The quiet by 
 standers watched the process, and glanced from the 
 taster to each other admiringly. But when it was 
 announced, with emphasis, that instead of the true 
 vinous aroma there was a tang of iron, they thrust 
 their tongues into their cheeks and shrugged in deri 
 sion. The other judge, put to his mettle, deliberated 
 long, while the juice with pleasant titillation lapped 
 the edges of his tongue, or he marked with upraised 
 eye its transparency. The spectators looked expect 
 ant, as they would say Now for an opinion which 
 will make the reputation of the vintage! It came. 
 'Yes, I am dead sure,' blurted number two, 'the flavor 
 is of leather, if there be a side in Cordova.' Everybody 
 now laughed outright, and one or two tapped their 
 heads as intimating lunacy, and winked aside. But 
 when they pumped the wine from the cask they found 
 a thong looped in a rusty key." 
 
 "That sherris sack, at least, had a 'two-fold qual 
 ity,' " commented Max. 
 5
 
 50 THE HOETONS; Oil 
 
 "The veterans are gone," said the doctor, as he 
 mopped his purplish visage ; "you rarely meet even a 
 two-bottle man now-a-days. The present generation 
 drinks negus, and thinks itself heroic; the next, I 
 suppose, will stagger under the nutmeg-grater." 
 
 "I admit your wit, doctor, but I object to the sneer," 
 said George Dolman. "'I like good wine well enough, 
 short of being brought to grief, but I hold that so far 
 as the age is more temperate, it is not only more virtu 
 ous and happy, but it has more humor, mirth, and 
 genuine gaiety; for the larger part of your vaunted 
 maudlin humor is downright profanity, or grotesque 
 conceits, lacquered often with bawdy. I know well 
 that English literary history is full of tavern life; and I 
 grant that the wit which everywhere scintillates about 
 the Mermaids and the Mitres, the Apollos, Will's, 
 and Button's, attaches a fascination to the localities 
 themselves. And it is the consecrated associations of 
 letters which prejudice so many educated men against 
 modern temperance which, as it is preached, is some 
 times intemperate enough but the wit of 'Rare Ben' 
 and his compotators never grew from the Canaries or 
 gin; the drawee, never brought it from the cellar; it 
 was only too strong for the malt and juniper, and as 
 the asp-wreathed arm of Cleopatra was still a limb of 
 beauty was wit in spite of them. By-the-by, a little 
 less brandy -and- water would take nothing from the 
 flavor of some of the most genial and humanizing of 
 our modern fiction, which has no need to hiccough its 
 way to posterity.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 51 
 
 ' the lore 
 
 Of mighty minds doth hallow in the core 
 Of human hearts the ruin of a wall 
 Where dwelt the wise and wondrous ' 
 
 So those old taverns are open still. , "While we listen 
 to the talk of Templars at the Grecian, or of Garrick 
 and Foote at the Bedford, we cannot hear the 'bar 
 barous dissonance' of the common carouse, and it is 
 impertinent to ask us to sign the pledge. Yet, valua 
 ble as they were, appointed though erring almoners, 
 the world could have better spared the tipsy poets and 
 the tipsy Persons than the fair imaginations and capa 
 cious intellects which they have blighted. Pagan soci 
 ety fabled the drunken inspiration of Silenus, and pro 
 duced the temperate philosophy of Socrates. I believe, 
 sir, to ring a change on a famous saying, that hell it; 
 nebulous with empty bottles." 
 
 "Newfangled notions crop so thick in these latter 
 days' that I dare say we are on the verge of the millen 
 nium," declared the doctor, testily. "Even our poets 
 have got a mythology with Ganymede abolished. 
 There was a kindly thirst in friendship before the old 
 serpent wriggled all his iniquity into the cork-screw;" 
 and, playing with his glass ribbon, he sauntered to 
 amuse with conversational whimseys another knot of 
 talkers. 
 
 Caroline was looking over some plates of Audubon, 
 Imperial in vigor and fidelity were these representations 
 of the beautiful in nature, bird-pictures gathered from 
 a thousand miles of wilderness to delight, amid the 
 appointments of luxury, fair women clothed in fine
 
 52 THE HOETOXS; OR 
 
 textures and such is a single aspect of civilization. 
 Conscious of a presence, Caroline raised her eyes. It 
 was Bloker. 
 
 "Now, there's a duck, Miss Mellen, to gladden a 
 cook's heart. With green peas, say, of tender age, and 
 an apricot tart?" 
 
 "Yes a cook's. I fancied it nestling its glossy 
 breast in the desert waters of Labrador. You are 
 right, sir, an irreproachable bird for larding, and deli 
 cious with olives." 
 
 " Better worth is a voyage from Europe to know it 
 by the palate," and Bloker passed his hand with uncon 
 scious complacency along his expanse of waistcoat, 
 "than a voyage thither to know the Rhine and its 
 scenery, the marvels of Rome, which I am told is a 
 tumble-down place, or the bepraised pictures and skies 
 of Florence." 
 
 A beetle which had been buzzing about the sconces 
 plumped upon Caroline's neck. The young lady beside 
 her recoiled, with a little scream she was at the Lalla 
 Rookh period of maidenhood, and sighed for Bende- 
 meer bowers and nightingales and Bloker, with 
 praiseworthy promptitude, sought his pocket-hand 
 kerchief. Caroline calmly grasped and withdrew the 
 insect, its 'barbed feet vexing her white flesh to a 
 ruddy blotch, and dropped it in a vase, which sho 
 covered with some sheets of music. 
 
 "Lay you there in sepulture, and dream of old 
 Egypt. Is that your chivalry, Mr. Bloker, to a damsel 
 in distress!" 
 
 "Really, you are unjust."
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 53 
 
 "Urgent, you mean. Were you merely thinking of 
 a vinaigrette for Miss Grayson?" 
 
 "You don't seem to stagnate here. I hope, Mr. 
 Bloker, you find these ladies entertaining/' said Emily, 
 who joined them. 
 
 "Charming." 
 
 "You hear that, bella donna? 
 
 'How dangerous is it, that this man goes loose!' " 
 
 Bloker coughed, 
 
 "I think Mr. Bloker's sincerity needs no vindication 
 when he compliments Caroline Mellen and her friend." 
 
 Miss Grayson's pleasure perched very prettily upon 
 her lips. 
 
 " Exquisite, Emily ; but I will disappoint you ; you 
 shall have no delicious little speeches in return, how 
 ever much you may. deserve them we will burn you 
 no incense,'' replied Caroline. 
 
 "It would be but just homage," said Bloker, ardently. 
 Then, suddenly recovering himself, he added, "if 
 homage were possible among peers." 
 
 '' My dear Miss Horton" it was brisk little Doctor 
 Pledget "take the word of a patriarch, who has no 
 account in flattering when he declares you to be as 
 blooming as Hygeia, and is ready to meet in mortal 
 combat any recreant knight who disputes it with a 
 thumb lancet," and the doctor put himself ludicrously 
 atilt. 
 
 "I am proud, doctor, to have such a formidable 
 champion it completes my happiness," replied Emily. 
 
 "If he were less like still Champagne to-night; I 
 6*
 
 54 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 don't question the bouquet, but we miss the efferves 
 cence," urged the mocking Caroline. 
 
 "Miss Mellen will impute my gravity to a sermon I 
 was forced to listen to this morning as a director of a 
 charity, and which was not in the manner of Jeremy 
 Taylor ; and to too much roast beef at dinner to satisfy 
 exhausted nature after the effort of attention. Melan 
 choly meat, if we believe Galen." 
 
 "For a contrite countenance, now and then, I would 
 pension you liberally with dull sermons." 
 
 "Abandon the intention, my dear Miss Mellen, and 
 I will never transgress to levity again. But there is 
 enough in contrast here to make an old fellow like me 
 a little sad. The exultant teens, and the crowning 
 triumph of twenty," inclining toward Emily, "and 
 sounding life before, like a majestic march of heralds. 
 Even the hurried flow of my shrunk veins reminds me 
 or spent forces by the feebleness of the wave. I am a 
 long link between knee-breeches and the electric tele 
 graph. Like a quaint old coin slipped from a bank 
 rupt collector, I show odd among the bravery of the 
 new mintage, but I have lost fixed rate, and they 
 higgle about my value at the shops. My 'babes of 
 memory' are now children of the wood, and each year 
 adds to their covering of dead leaves. But what last- 
 will-and-testament stuff is this ! Fill my snuff-box and 
 shut me up with the beetle, fair gaoler, for I believe I 
 am only fit to sneeze away my remnant of life." 
 
 "I thought, doctor, when I saw you the other day 
 at the steamboat pier with a lady, that you might be
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 55 
 
 looking to matrimony as a refuge from your 'sea of 
 troubles/ " observed Bloker. 
 
 "Steamboat pier? old lady, with two bandboxes?" 
 
 "When the pedler nearly jostled you into the river." 
 
 " By the libeled Cupid ! spinster aunt Israelite, who 
 wanted me to buy a watch made her debut before the 
 last war with Great Britain, in the time of turret head 
 dresses, and part of the beauty Packenham threatened 
 at New Orleans." 
 
 "A striking group for an artist," said Caroline. 
 "How should you name it, now?" 
 
 " 'The Finding of Moses,' I suppose. Am I so very 
 gray, Miss Mellen?" 
 
 "Just white enough in your beard to sanction your 
 role of the venerable and, doctor, permit me to say it 
 is a beard worthy of a Bedouin. I fancy you a sheik, 
 scouring the desert on a fiery barb, and followed by a 
 band in burnoozes." 
 
 "Perish every hair if I must be conjured to such an 
 unseemly shape. No : patriotism forbid ; to say noth 
 ing of religion." 
 
 "Apropos of beards. What becomes of the trade- 
 fallen barbers, doctor?" 
 
 "I hardly know. They don't take to suicide, and 
 cut their own throats: though I have noticed a ten 
 dency among them to go mad, and open wide ways 
 with their razors for the lives of other people. Perhaps 
 they emigrate; or get prudently run over and go into 
 hospitals; or, as a last resource of garrulous destitution, 
 edit the Sunday newspapers. Ah! Mr. Davenport, I
 
 56 THE IIORTOXS; OB 
 
 am glad to see you. Well out of your ailments; I 
 hope v ?" 
 
 "Why, no, doctor; there's still a sinking here;" and 
 the old clerk placed his hand upon his stomach. 
 
 "An excellent symptom, my dear sir, if you sink 
 enough there," responded Pledget. 
 
 "You don't think it pulmonary? Ours is a cancer 
 family." 
 
 "No, my dear fellow; no bellows to mend," and the 
 doctor, with a nicer regard to anatomy, tapped Daven 
 port above the bulge of his buff waistcoat. 
 
 "Perhaps, doctor, Mr. Davenport's disease is of the 
 type of inward bruises apt to afflict middle-agod 
 bachelors," suggested Mr. Horton. 
 
 "Eh, love?" 
 
 "The lady is'nt invoiced yet," sententiously averred 
 the patient. 
 
 "So, so, when the article is wanted we will order a 
 Creole beauty to be forwarded, with a cargo of sugar, 
 from Porto Rico or Barbadoes," said Caroline. 
 
 "I have known two or three of those expensive 
 exotics, Miss Mellen; who were proud as Lucifer, 
 capricious, and pretty enough to the turn of twenty- 
 five, when they ran to gamboge complexions and 
 ear-rings, and delighted in monkeys and macawc." 
 
 "It's odd how likings differ," philosophized Daven 
 port. "I knew a bookkeeper of a romantic turn of 
 mind, in the China trade we called him Nankeen 
 Fortescue, because in warm weather he always wore 
 trowsers of that stuff, and pumps who would get 
 quite hot asserting the charms of the female portraits
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 57 
 
 on the tea-caddies. I saw him the very day he died, 
 of an apoplexy, opening some cases of crapes in 
 August, the windows shut to keep out the dust," 
 continued the old clerk, with a touch of pathos in 
 his tone. 
 
 "Talking of love, doctor; how will you define it?" 
 asked Mr. Horton. 
 
 " One may spend a great deal of fine talk in trying, 
 and know less of it at the end than his cook and 
 coachman. It is in the mind, and, free of all other 
 control, is servant to its own conception, which it 
 holds precious beyond all other values. It is, when 
 at its purest, the highest placidity below that of 
 heaven diffused about an imperial image, which 
 creates, and in which is concentred, hope and happi 
 ness. It is a pervading something which is electrical, 
 exploits, and explodes." 
 
 "And, like lightning, never strikes the same people 
 twice the sanr, day?" demurely questioned Caroline 
 Mellen. 
 
 The doctor continued. 
 
 "Love working in the blood may be a spell of tame- 
 ness, or of turbulence. The same passion which made 
 Max Piccolomini, in Schiller's play, long to exchange 
 the crimson laurel for the first March violet plucked 
 in familiar fields, when distorted to jealousy, has 
 pointed many a stiletto. You remember Gibbon's 
 description of his Lausanne flame, the excellent .Made- 
 moiselle Curchod afterwards Keeker's wife and the 
 mother of De Stael it is in the same stately strain 
 which he employs when depicting the Antonines
 
 58 THE IIORTOXS; OR 
 
 and how his love was 'the union of desire, friendship, 
 and tenderness, inspired by a single female;' yet its 
 disappointment does not seem to have at all disturbed 
 the evenness of his after life. If Coleridge's love was 
 up to the measure in 'Genevieve,' what a long reach 
 was it above that of the historian! Indeed, the poet 
 sings his own rapture; 
 
 'You stood before me like a thought, 
 A dream rerhember'd in a dream. 
 But when those meek eyes first did seem 
 To tell me, Love within you wrought 
 Greta, dear domestic stream !' " 
 
 " The sudden transition in the last line is natural 
 and pleasing," said Caroline. 
 
 " An instinctive criticism," observed Mr. Horton, 
 bnnteringly. 
 
 The doctor smiled, and continued. 
 
 " So, with women the climate of love may vary. 
 
 'They are but beggars that can count their worth,' 
 
 exclaims the impassioned Juliet. There have been, 
 I dare say, ladies less ardent. The black-eyed of 
 Andalusia and the blue-eyed of the Elbe woo and 
 are won with a difference. Perhaps it is this diversity 
 of its manifestation which tempers and restrains the 
 passion. Emigration and conquest merge nationalities, 
 correct the redundant characteristic of one people by 
 an infusion of its converse from another, and preserve 
 a general balance." 
 
 "Beyond doubt," said Mr. Horton, "the love of the 
 sexes is the perfection of mere human bliss; that love 
 which when wedded is pure, and sanctified before
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOJTS. 59 
 
 God and angels; upon the happy bed of which the 
 sword of the Spirit severs from all lust, and the 
 bower in Paradise 'showered roses.'" 
 
 "You called love electrical, doctor, and you mean, 
 I suppose, love at first sight. If it be, heaven hinder 
 a multitude of modern marriages!" 
 
 " Yea, and amen. I don't profess to know more of 
 the human heart than did Shakespeare. The ill- 
 starred pair of 'Fair Verona,' and Ferdinand and 
 Miranda surrendered to each other at the instant, and 
 neither of the ladies stipulated for pin-money." 
 
 "But Beatrice, while inspiring with angelic visions 
 the great poet of Italy, did not surrender to him," 
 rejoined Caroline. 
 
 ' I believe Beatrice to have been a lusus naturae 
 she was, at least, an Italian blonde," said the doctor, 
 laughing. 
 
 " / cry out with Eosalind, ' O how full of briers is 
 this working-day world!'" jested Caroline. 
 
 "Love in the heart, though profound and hidden, 
 is all graceful inflexions, like the wash of the lower 
 sea in the windings of a shell." The speaker was 
 Emily, who had paused to listen in passing. 
 
 " Splendid image 1" attested Bloker, with sentimental 
 fervor. 
 
 "Or, not to stray from the shell, love is like a coal 
 of fire on the back of a tortoise," said Caroline. 
 
 " Or like quicksilver, which eludes the grasp of the 
 living and will rest in a dead man's hand," added 
 Doctor Pledget, tapping his snuff-box.
 
 60 
 
 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " what do ye call the place? 
 
 A plague upon't it is in Gloucestershire." 
 
 HENRY IV. 
 
 -BOUT thirty miles from Belair was 
 the residence of Mr. Crosby, who was 
 well known through all the country 
 side. A considerable estate, which 
 had descended to him through seve 
 ral generations of Crosbys, was care 
 lessly cultivated, as the broken 
 fences, grass-grown middles, and 
 rusty tools abundantly declared. In 
 reality, the daughter of the proprie 
 tor, Adelaide, was both master and mistress of the 
 premises. She bought the necessaries, household and 
 farming, settled the accounts, cut the garments, and 
 mixed the physic of the working people, did the busi 
 ness correspondence, overlooked the condition of the 
 cattle as well as of the pantry, and gave the overseer 
 such general instructions as he received. And she 
 exercised this authority because Mr. Crosby was so 
 eccentric as to be a little mad, and his helpmeet was a 
 hippish invalid. 
 
 Walter Crosby when a young man was celebrated
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 61 
 
 for strength and comeliness; which, inasmuch as he 
 was the inheritor of many acres, made him a favorite 
 theme of speculation with matrons possessed of mar 
 riageable daughters. His understanding was fair, and 
 it was cultivated to the respectable standard of collegi 
 ate requirements, perhaps beyond, for he was fond of 
 books. A year or two of European travel enlarged 
 his views, and invested him with gracefulness of 
 deportment. He married, and entered prosperously 
 and hopefully upon life. "With health, possessions, an 
 inquisitive disposition, and the invigorating employ 
 ments and exercises of the field, nothing seemed want 
 ing to promote his happiness. But man's mind refuses 
 to conform to fortune; and perhaps a portion of adver 
 sity would have kept his in ballast. When Mr. Crosby 
 cast loose from rational habits, he persisted in his fox 
 hunting. A change of manners, made by a new class 
 of population, had left among remembered things the 
 meet of gentry, of whom some were dead and some 
 were old ; and a few small farmers and country idlers 
 had succeeded to the sport. To join these, when he 
 was in the mood, implied no hospitality to be received 
 or returned. Abandoning the society of his family 
 and his neighbors, renouncing the world and books, he 
 lived separately with his hounds, and lavished upon 
 them and a couple of favorite hunters the whole sum 
 of his attentions. A hale, grizzled man, of slovenly 
 appearance, stagnant except in physical vigor, he 
 reigned the monarch of a kennel. 
 
 To the left of the avenue which approached the 
 mansion was an old brick chapel, very homely, nes- 
 6
 
 62 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 tied in a grove of buttonwoods; the Crosbys had been 
 Catholics since colony times. It was a quiet spot for a 
 dreamer on a calm autumn day, where he might blow 
 at ease bubbles of fancy, or, reclined, watch through 
 the rifts of the half leafless trees the fleecy cumulus shift 
 ing in the blue cope above, and listen to the cattle 
 audibly feeding around. 
 
 The grounds were well shaded, and there was a 
 garden, which exhibited traces of former taste and care, 
 despite crumbling terrace and ragged espalier. Still 
 there were efforts at amendment, sincere and satirical, 
 where a piece of ladder, masked in whitewash, closed a 
 gap in the fence, or a decayed trellis leaned helplessly 
 on the rough-hewn support of a rail. Even in the 
 vegetable garden, the weediness of the spaces and rank- 
 ness of the thistles, and beyond all the tardy locomotion 
 of Ned, the guardian of the spot, an aged negro who 
 might have been inoculated with rheumatism in his 
 sable infancy and have never recovered, he was so 
 cramped and gnarled, suggested slender asparagus and 
 early peas at midsummer. The mouldering roof of the 
 ice-house, upon which perched a peacock, was patched 
 with a thatching of cornstalks; and its door, which 
 hung by a solitary strap, was kept in place by props 
 The weather-beaten martin-box, conspicuously aloft, 
 from which the birds were gone for the season, looked 
 ripe for the Limbo of outworn things. Nothing was 
 needed to make this dreariness a charm but a tough- 
 constitutioned October rain. A half-grown cadet of 
 the family and a ragged cub of a companion were pry 
 ing for rats in the foundation of an old chimney,
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 63 
 
 assisted by a truculent terrier, which they alternately 
 cursed and encouraged by the name of Brandy. 
 Through the centre of the house ran a hall wide 
 enough for the passage of a wagon, on each side of 
 which the ample rooms, deep wainscoted, subsided in 
 capacious recesses of chimneys, where had blazed 
 many a hospitable fire. But the paint was. very dingy, 
 and the cracked panes were unseemly with an eruption 
 of putty. The occupants expelled, ghosts might have 
 revelled there of gusty nights to the clatter of the 
 broken lightning-rods it was just the building for 
 town boys to play in and remember all their lives. At 
 this weather-tinted mansion Emily and Caroline, on a 
 visit to Adelaide Crosby, were now arrived. 
 
 An old negro, hight Jake, shambled from the region 
 of the offices, and with, ceremonious scraping proceeded 
 to distribute his attentions between the horses, the 
 guests, and his individual legs. He was much molested 
 by fleas upon a tender cuticle, which he entrapped with 
 twine ligatured about his trowsers, dexterously secur 
 ing them at the barriers. 
 
 As no one appeared to receive the ladies, Jacob was 
 questioned. It was useless to ask for Mr. or Mrs. 
 Crosby, so, Where was Miss Adelaide? 
 
 "Young Missus' gwon to Mr. Steve Loyd him child 
 dead." 
 
 "Is there nobody at home but Mrs. Crosby?'' 
 
 "Missuses aunt's yer." 
 
 "Well, let her know some friends are come," said 
 Emily, alighting. 
 
 "Tell Susan jemediate, Missus," and, with an obei 
 sance, Jacob was off.
 
 64 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 Susan shortly presented herself and ushere'd the vis 
 itors into the house, and was followed in due season by 
 "Missuses aunt," a shrivelled old lady in black, wear 
 ing a cap which glowed with a profusion of ribbon, 
 and which was set in the exigence of the occasion 
 slightly awry. The dame made a stately bow, which 
 the visitors appropriately returned. 
 
 " We are sorry, ma'am, not to find Adelaide at home, 
 but suppose, from what the servant said, that she will 
 soon return." 
 
 " 'Nan ?" responded the old lady, with a hand to her 
 ear. 
 
 Emily repeated the substance of her remark. f 
 
 " 'Na an ?" again, with a tremor of excitement. 
 
 Evidently an auricular defect. Emily, in despair, 
 urged her friend to an essay. With a preliminary 
 inflation of the lungs, Caroline enunciated this striking 
 observation 
 
 "Delightful weather to-day, ma'am." 
 
 "Yes; I've heerd of several cases I hope it isn't 
 ketching," replied the old lady, with briskness. 
 
 . " I hope not," exclaimed Caroline, seized with a sud 
 den freak which she knew she could indulge in unde 
 tected. 
 
 " So the doctors say," returned the matron, with the 
 promptness of an answering battery, " but I don't put 
 much dependence in them. 1 ' Her look of lofty incre 
 dulity was sufficient to crush the whole college of phy 
 sicians. 
 
 The arrival of Adelaide Crosby terminated this ludi 
 crous practise with cross-purposes.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 65 
 
 "I have been," she said, "to see the wife of a labor 
 ing man who lives near, and whose child, an infant, 
 died yesterday. I promised to go again this afternoon, 
 but I will send and excuse myself." 
 
 "Certainly not; on the contrary, if you will allow 
 us, we will go with you." 
 
 " I am to take some necessaries. I must get ice, and 
 we have none have suffered provokingly all summer 
 for want of it." 
 
 "Yet, if I recollect, last winter was very cold/' re 
 marked Emily. 
 
 "Yes; our pond was frozen, but it was infested with 
 muskrats, and the darn having been neglected they 
 gnawed through it and let out the water, when the ice 
 fell into the mud and was lost." 
 
 Loyd's house was in the skirts of a wood, and was a 
 comfortable cabin of moderate size, which derived from, 
 the sylvan surroundings an air of picturesqueness. 
 Upon the rough stone chimney which buttressed the 
 house were hung some calabashes above a slab bench, 
 the stand of a piggin and kitchen utensils. The well, 
 with its low wooden curb and long sweep of pole, was 
 near at hand. A stone's throw off the cow was ruminating 
 in an open byre. By the door-sill a dog lay blinking 
 in the sun, heedless of the efforts of a flaxen-haired 
 little girl to rouse him to a sportive humor. 
 
 In a contiguous lot belonging to Loyd was an an 
 cient burial ground, which had been used, perhaps, in 
 the early days of the settlement by some family now 
 scattered or extinct. It occupied a knoll which was 
 topped by a wide- spreading walnut tree, and the heaped
 
 66 THE HOKTONS; OB 
 
 turf of the old graves, still marked in places by unpre 
 tending lichen-covered stones, had subsided below the 
 general level into shallow cavities where the grass grew 
 ranker and greener. -Here, with mattock and spade, 
 Stephen Loyd was sternly at work. Upon a swelling 
 of root sat his eldest son, a lad of thirteen, with his 
 thoughtful face rested on his hands. The Loyds were 
 poor. 
 
 That night, while the mother of the buried babe lay 
 wrestling with her grief, the schoolmates blithely lived 
 again the past. After next day's dinner, at which was 
 served a Brahmapootra brought by "Missuses aunt'' 
 to stock with exclusive poultry the Crosby domain, 
 and which had been slain in the general inattention by 
 a blundering scullion, like any dunghill fowl, the 
 Belair ladies departed. 
 
 In a wooded dell on the grounds of Mr. Horton there 
 gushed a hill-side spring, cool and limpid, which was 
 bordered with rustic seats. It was a place where 
 Retirement might nestle and pensively muse away 
 the hours, sobered by the hue of evergreens, and 
 startled only by the rustling of the leaves, the little 
 stir of rabbit or squirrel, and the crackle of the bird- 
 molested brambles. One morning the ladies were 
 seated there after a ramble, and occupied with theii 
 respective fancies, when Caroline exclaimed, " Here is 
 Bradley!" 
 
 Emily raised her eyes, beheld him descending the 
 slippery path, and started quickly to welcome him.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 67 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 'Twas twilight, for the sunless day went down 
 
 Over the waste of waters; like a veil, 
 
 "Which, if withdrawn, would but disclose the frown 
 
 Of one whose hate is masked but to assail; 
 
 Thus to their hopeless eyes the night'was shown 
 
 And grimly darkled o'er their faces pale 
 
 And the dim desolate deep twelve days had .Fear 
 
 Been their familiar, and now Death was here. DON JPAW. 
 
 KADLEY HOKTCXN" had not apprised 
 the family at Belair of his intention to 
 return from his travels. The omission 
 to write was a caprice, and a happy 
 one which prevented much painful 
 suspense. The Icaria, in which he 
 sailed from Europe, never reached its 
 American port. 
 
 Sometimes in the calms of after life 
 did Bradley mentally recall the inci 
 dents and impressions of those days at sea the joyous 
 company flushed with anticipations of affection, busi 
 ness, and pleasure; the lapse of placid hours; the grate 
 ful stimulus of new and various acquaintanceship ; the 
 serenity of sky and ocean; the discipline of unac 
 customed movement aboard; the spouting of distant 
 whales; flocks of flying-fish scudding before the raven-
 
 68 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 ous bonito; and the impetuous charge of porpoises 
 across the bows, black and furious legions, leaping and 
 plunging, now sunk then seen, beating a long track of 
 foam against the wind in the gray waste; the lazy 
 regularity of meals; the dreamy satisfaction of the 
 after-dinner cigar; music by moonlight, and books and 
 cards in the snug saloon; and then the sudden fury 
 of the storm! 
 
 And then, eventful days and nights of fearful peril. 
 How the brave ship struggled and shuddered in the 
 turmoil, and still went on with " solemn face" against 
 the angry waters! How would have sunk the din of 
 hostile navies in that great symphony of wind and 
 wave! The blast, misty with spray, swept upon the 
 leaning ship. The billows, gathered in swells of 
 hundreds of feet in breadth, bore it upon their undula 
 tions buoyantly as a cork, or broke along the bulwarks, 
 sending a throb through every timber, and jarring to 
 its iron heart, which still beat on in slow pulsations. 
 Then there was a lull. 
 
 "Wild weather," said the captain cheerily, "but it 
 has blown its worst look to the ladies." 
 
 Anxious faces lightened; faces before serious over 
 open Bibles retained no vestige of the text in their new 
 assurance. Some of the most timid ventured pleasant 
 ries, and talked of hunger; and waiters stumbled about 
 with trays of biscuits and cold meat. 
 
 The pause in the gale was short. Again the blasts 
 burst appallingly, and goaded anew the watery onset. 
 A rumor spread muttered, but more distinctly heard 
 than the shrill cordage- of a discovered leak. The few
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 69 
 
 passengers who cowered and clung on deck searched for 
 evidence of disaster in the captain's unimpassioned face, 
 and searched in vain. Soon apprehension became cer 
 tainty; mattresses and blankets for the breach were 
 passed below. The pumps were worked to their 
 utmost capacity. Still the water gained. Tubs were 
 rigged, and the tackle manned by passengers and crew. 
 Gangs, relieving each other, worked day and night 
 unceasingly. Still the water gained. It rose upon the 
 furnaces and hissed among the fires. The force of the 
 engine ebbed like the breath of a dying mastodon; 
 then, with a shiver, the strong limbs were still. The 
 ship, but half owning her helm, wavered and pitched 
 ominously. Men were hurled overboard with the 
 wrecked spars which they strove to clear. As if 
 envious of the elements, disease came, swift and fell, to 
 its banquet. The unshrouded victims of cholera, with 
 no funeral service but the clamor of the storm half a 
 score a day were buried in the sea. Steadily with 
 hopeful Christian steadiness, a few awaited death; 
 others were stoically dumb. Some were drunk with 
 fear, wildly appealing to heaven to bridle the ruthless 
 winds, or silent and blanched as the dead. 
 
 Once more the gale subsided; but it was plain the 
 ship would soon go down. At daylight on the sixth 
 morning preparation was made to launch the boats. 
 There was still discipline, which was due to the firm 
 ness of the commander, but the moment of final test 
 was come, and vehemence and distrust swelled threaten 
 ingly, when arose an eager cry "A sail!" and within 
 the same hour another "Sail ho!" The vessel which
 
 70 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 was first seen bore down upon them, and proved to be 
 a barque. 
 
 "We are sinking will you stand by us?" 
 
 "Aye, aye! while I can float Men! give them three 
 cheers." 
 
 And the brave shouts, heard above the sullen tumult 
 of the sea, thrilled sturdy hearts with hope and thank 
 fulness, as suddenly turned from its ebb the tide of 
 life; and some shouted in return, and some sobbed out 
 right. Now God bless all true sailor men ! 
 
 That evening, at Belair, before a cheerful blaze the 
 weather had changed and rain came down in gusts 
 there was gathered a united family. The manner of 
 Mr. Horton was unwontedly serene and tender; Emily 
 was earnest and fond ; and the gaiety of Caroline was 
 subdued to a sober and silent satisfaction, for " there is 
 a joy in which the stranger intermeddleth not." 
 
 Bradley talked of his perils on the ocean, while the 
 wind wrestled with the trees and shook the casements. 
 Jt was observed that he dwelt with enthusiasm upou. 
 the heroic demeanor of a Miss Bardleigh. When the 
 others had retired, Emily still lingered with her brother. 
 Leaning upon his chair-back she listened rapt, or ques 
 tioned to provoke talk. The clock in the hall had 
 struck midnight, in familiar tones which the traveller 
 joyfully heard once more, when they separated. 
 
 Andrew, the gardener, had much horticultural his 
 tory to relate to Bradley, of hopes realized, or disap 
 pointed by slug, curculio and fungus; of failures in 
 flowering and favorable frutescence. "These be clips, 
 sir, from your father's choice vine, the Nawth Cawr-
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HUME. 71 
 
 liney, which that feckless chiel Barney cut down to 
 sling the weights for the hayrick with." 
 
 " What has become of the humorous fellow?" 
 
 " O sir, on his leaving here- he hired with Farmer 
 Gregg, and spered so anent this and thot he nearly 
 drove the auld mon daft. One day they were empty 
 ing the pig-yard, and Barney wrought hard with the 
 spade atop of a well loose filled, which settling sudden, 
 took the noble descendant of the O'Keefes toward 
 Auld Nick and brimstane rations afore his time. The 
 mistress bro't the clothes line, and they lugged him up 
 the matter of fifteen feet. He went off straight, and 
 clean disappeared." 
 
 "That ending of his career, Andrew, suited well its 
 beginning." 
 
 "^ic a steer! It was the red-faced major's wig, 
 which he left in the swath while he tried a turn with 
 the scythe, and which Barney found, misconceivin' it 
 for a strange bur-urd's nest." 
 
 "A fine fuchsia." 
 
 "One I set by. I suppose, sir, you hae seen unco 
 grand gardens abroad." 
 
 "Many. The loveliest I saw, though ragged from 
 neglect, were in Italy; delightful without being trim, 
 with flowers and flowering vines, the rich green of the 
 orange and myrtle, and cool retreats fenced with shrub - 
 bery and shaded by poplars and pines, where brooks 
 meandered among fallen statues and by broken foun 
 tains." 
 
 " And did you meet in your travels in Italee a Sandy 
 Gillivray?"
 
 72 THE HOBTONS; OB 
 
 "No, Andrew." 
 
 " He was my mother's sister's son ; a pawky lad, wha 
 became what they call a coorier. It is forty year since 
 we played thegither, and dwelt anear by the burn. I 
 mind the time as yesterday when Deacon Deans took 
 him by the lug at kirk, in the first psalm, for jobbin 
 me wi' a preen. There's a new terrace, sir, raised since 
 you left. The magnolias, foreby, did bad this year. 
 "Weel, weel, each must gang his gait!" 
 
 While in Europe, Bradley Horton chose his occupa 
 tion. He determined to be an engineer. He was now 
 twenty-two, and old according to the notion of many 
 stirring and superficial Americans to be a learner. A 
 natural fondness for mathematics and mechanics which 
 he possessed had been stimulated by association with 
 men of science, and by the contemplation abroad of 
 massive roads, tunnels, aqueducts, and bridges, that 
 combine a portion of the old Eoman strength and 
 durability in stone we build less massively than they 
 who laid foundations for the ages with the lightness 
 and grace of modern civilization, whose talisman, as 
 was that of the rude Gothic days, is Iron.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 73 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 It was managed with proper spirit on both sides: he asserted that I 
 was heterodox, I retorted the charge; he replied and I rejoined. 
 
 VICAR OF WAKEFIEIJ). 
 
 If you can look into the seeds of time, 
 And say which grain will grow, and which will not, 
 Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear 
 Your favors, nor your hate. MACBETH. 
 
 N" a winter's afternoon unemployed 
 IT business acquaintance would visit 
 Clement Horton's counting-room for 
 familiar conversation. Assembled 
 around the stove are Scroggs, Bliggs, 
 Glump, and a stout gentleman of lei 
 surely appearance, who has been in 
 troduced by Bliggs as Mr. Blumen- 
 bach. The stranger's accent is Ger 
 man, and his talk indicates him to be a man of culture. 
 His sense of propriety seems outraged by the closeness 
 of Scroggs' unbooted foot, which emits an unsavory 
 steam as it toasts at the fire, the dingy stocking being 
 stroked the while with its owner's usual complacency. 
 It is always the left foot which Bartimeus comforts, 
 having lost two of the toes proper to it by a trap in 
 his marauding boyhood; and it was this calamity 
 which -brought him his little limp. There is a quick 
 7
 
 74 THE HOKTONS; OR 
 
 play of thought and sensibility in the German's face, 
 as he listens and replies to Mr. Horton, so different 
 from the show of narrow and oily cunning in that of 
 the venerable Bliggs, that it is clear the association 
 of the two men is not of affinity, but of accident. 
 Glump's solemn visage is over the market report of the 
 Evening Popgun. 
 
 "Now, do you think, Mr. Scroggs, this is a ginuine 
 communication from Julius Caesar?" asked Bliggs, 
 incredulously, as he finished the perusal of a crabbed 
 piece of penmanship on a soiled and crumpled scrap of 
 paper. 
 
 "Every word on't; look at the internal evidence," 
 responded Scroggs, with calm emphasis. 
 
 The querist bent his gaze again upon the paper, 
 but failing to find the proof referred to, slowly folded 
 and surrendered it to Scroggs, who put it deferentially 
 in a little pocket-book, with an air of triumph. 
 
 ""Well," pursued Bliggs, after a pause, "I don't 
 profess, Mr. Scroggs, to be a philosopher, but if I'm 
 right informed Caesar lived in the world before the 
 English language was spoke, I may say invented, 
 yet you nor me could have writ that document 
 plainer." 
 
 " Ah ! there it is the work of spiritual progression. 
 He learnt it in the Speers," replied Scroggs, benignly. 
 
 "Would you make a time purchase on such advices, 
 Frijnd Scroggs?" asked Glump over the Popgun. 
 
 " Would you take the ghost's word for a thousand 
 pound ?" asked Bradley. 
 
 "No; the communication might be a counterfeit.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 75 
 
 There's lieing spirits. There is no money in them. 
 Besides, bargaining 's for our common sense, not our 
 higher nature," replied Scroggs. 
 
 " Mebbe this one was bogus," suggested Bliggs. 
 
 " How then could he have known John Bunyan, and 
 be able to tell all about him when he was in this state 
 of existence, living, as they did, so many hundred 
 years apart?" responded the unperplexed Scroggs. 
 
 " Well, it is a little curious," admitted Bliggs. 
 
 "More credible, Mr. Bliggs, than some of the won 
 ders of the Bible in which you believe. I dare say 
 you never doubted the Jewish passage of the Bed Sea ?" 
 said Scroggs. 
 
 " Which you disbelieve ?" asked Mr. Horton. 
 
 "It is all a fable, sir," answered Scroggs. 
 
 "Yet you contend that tables and chairs can be 
 lifted by supernatural forces, and held in mid-air. 
 If the law of gravitation can be suspended for such 
 trifling, why could it not have been for a momentous 
 purpose ?" urged Mr. Horton. 
 
 " Spiritualism as a human faith is new, and we don't 
 know yet its capacities. I won't undertake to limit 
 them. A spiritual army, for instance, divested of the 
 incumbrance of flesh and bone, which is so much 
 dead weight to be overcome here, might do amazing 
 things." 
 
 "' so soft 
 
 And uncompounded is their essence pure; 
 Not tied or manacled with joint or limb, 
 Nor founded on the brittle strength of bonea, 
 Like cumbrous flesh ' 
 
 Thus runs the epic measure," said Bradley.
 
 76 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 "Exactly: Epic was a spiritualist," responded 
 Scroggs. 
 
 " I must deny, however, the novelty of spiritualism," 
 continued Bradley. "It was believed in Pagan times. 
 a score of centuries ago, about as it is now, Spheres 
 and all. If you want easily consulted evidence, I 
 shall be glad to lend you, Mr. Scroggs, Old Burton, 
 mine Author. And was it not also the reservoir 
 whence Simon of Samaria, and Elymas of Paphos, 
 and the soothsaying damsel of Philippi drew their 
 inspiration?" 
 
 " That rather s'prises me ; I didn't think it dated 
 so far back," pondered Bliggs. "The Carthagenians 
 was Pagan, as well as the Philistines; I expect we 
 Americans ought to be more enlightened than them." 
 
 " It is nothing but the wiles of the Enemy," re 
 marked Glump, with decision. 
 
 "We liberal people are prepared to encounter the 
 prejudices of education," blandly observed Scroggs. 
 
 "Mr. Glump has certainly warrant for that 'prejudice' 
 in the Gospel and the epistles to the primitive church," 
 remarked Mr. Horton. "Perhaps he was thinking 
 of Paul's warning against 'seducing spirits and doc 
 trines of devils,' which he foretold. But, apart from 
 that, what evidence have you I mean proof, in the 
 rigorous sense of the word to establish the authorship 
 of these communications and manifestations, granting 
 that they are not produced by earthly agencies, in 
 the disembodied spirits of men. How do you know 
 they are not utterances from Jupiter, say ; of superior 
 intelligences, if you please, to ourselves? If this sup-
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 77 
 
 position is sufficient to account for them, how will 
 you prove that it does not?" 
 
 " Jis as like as not of Hushel," said Bliggs, con- v 
 tributing his quota of astronomy. 
 
 "Extremely improbable," insisted Glump with some 
 asperity, as scorning an abandonment of the dia 
 bolism hypothesis. Scroggs made no response, but 
 lapsed into his fat smile of serene compassion. Un 
 friendly cavillers contended that in these fits of 
 abstraction, which seemed to radiate placidity and 
 innocence to such an extent that his very eyes were 
 misty, Bartimeus planned doubtful schemes of profit. 
 But others, who knew him to give respectably of 
 his substance to projects of philanthropy when they 
 were not evangelic for they had seen his donations 
 conspicuously set forth in the newspapers disbelieved 
 the imputation, as they surely ought. 
 
 "But grant," continued Clement Horton, "that 
 these tapping propagandists are the disembodied spirits 
 of men; what kind of spirits are they which are so 
 affectionately familiar with the worldly and wicked? 
 Goodness does not thus easily mingle with evil the 
 spice-laden ships do not steer for the icebergs, be the 
 treacherous sea about them never so inviting." 
 
 "The spiritual bodies of men have been seen by 
 the endowed in the process of formation," said Blu- 
 menbach. 
 
 "Thomas Jefferson Spriggens, the seer," added 
 
 Scroggs, impressively, " saw the spirit of G- , the 
 
 distinguished scholar who was executed, form. It 
 was awakened in the Speer by soft music. And 
 7*
 
 78 THE HOBTONS; OR 
 
 what corroborates him is, G was very fond of just 
 
 such music in this life." 
 
 "Was Spriggens, Friend Scroggs, the seer who saw 
 .so many people without souls in Boston?" asked 
 Glump, scomngly. 
 
 "Seven hundred and thirty-two he counted; many 
 of them highly respectable," was the tranquil reply of 
 Scroggs. 
 
 "Now, though I'm no philosopher, I expect spiritu 
 alism is only the national genius on a new shoot that 
 it is being smart in a new shape, which pays by 
 making people stare and spend. If that seer could 
 have invented an improved steam-engine I reckon he 
 wouldn't have seen spirits," said Bliggs. 
 
 "There's clearly a spark of 'the main chance' in the 
 new ' religion.' " said Clement Horton. "The thauma- 
 turgists who receive regular mails from Hades, take 
 care, I am told, to collect the postage in advance of 
 delivery ; and the great American miracle-monger, who 
 puzzled the kings and councillors of Europe, married a 
 princess, or somebody of the sort, the other day. Much 
 I fear that the bland bishops who dispense the stira 
 bout of spiritualism for gospel meat are given to filthy 
 'ucre." 
 
 * "As to spirits, Mr. Bliggs, the mejeums see 'em con 
 stantly, walking up and down, and sometimes can't 
 distinguish them from us," said Scroggs. 
 
 "Then it's the kingdom of Beelzebub displayed 
 What's the use of seeing them ?" growled Glump. 
 
 "The elevation of human nature," replied Scroggs, 
 with an air of contempt.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 79 
 
 "I don't perceive that; nor how a perpetual motion 
 of ghost-traps is to lift it a peg," said Glump. 
 
 "Because you're a supralapsarian, sir," retorted Bar- 
 timeus Scroggs, with lofty commiseration. 
 
 "Mebbe: But the straightest Calvinism is something 
 more than a mixture of sorcery and twattle," said 
 Glump. 
 
 "Dr. Pledget, sir," remarked Bradley, by way of a 
 diversion, addressing his father, "objects to spiritu 
 alism on conservative ground. A ghost used to be 
 an event something creditable to have in a family. 
 It stuck to the pedigree, and gave it a smack of mys 
 terious importance. This is over since the unpolite 
 Smiths and Joneses have taken to walking out of their 
 winding-sheets." 
 
 "We are certainly entitled to ask, what's the use of 
 hearing the spirits, when we consider that^vhich they 
 are declared to utter. It is melancholy to reflect how 
 the intellects of Erasmus and President Edwards have 
 dwindled, and what a Miss Nancy's warble the muse of 
 Milton is become in 'the music of the spheres;' nay, 
 even Satan himself is shrivelled, and no longer stands 
 
 ' Like Teneriffe or Atlas unremov'd,' " 
 
 said Mr. Horton. 
 
 " Sir, you say true," assented Blumenbach, with en 
 ergy. "Yery much of the inspiration is miserable, 
 what you will call atrocious, abominable such as the 
 schoolgirl may despise. Most people have little brains 
 in this world, why should they have more in the next? 
 The pretence of such cheap intercourse with the spirits
 
 80 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 of great thinkers and scholars is one humbug. The phi- 
 losophers do not much know the mountebanks here, 
 when they are together; why should they seek com 
 munion when they get out of their company ? Fudge ! 
 Yet the grand subject of spiritualism is sure and not 
 fabricated." 
 
 Scroggs referred to his watch, as he rose to leave. 
 
 "As well doubt that there is mon morals she's 
 stopped: the work of some mischievous spirit/' he 
 said. 
 
 "Permit me?" asked Mr. Horton, reaching his hand. 
 He held the watch a minute in his warm grasp, gave it 
 a vigorous shake, and returned it ticking. 
 
 " The work of Jack Frost rather ; the oil in the move 
 ments was congealed," he said, smiling. 
 
 "Though I don't profess to be a philosopher, I 
 shouldn't wonder," acquiesced Bliggs. 
 
 "To believe such doctrine evinces a low order of 
 intellect," said Glump, when Scroggs had departed. 
 
 "Spiritualism has converts who are much desired 
 for wit," replied the German, curtly. 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Horton, " poets, and persons of ima 
 ginative power. To them the soothing revelation of- 
 Madame, 'who died o' Wednesday,' to her surviving 
 spouse, seems no more inappropriate than the con sola 
 tion which Creusa gave to ^neas; and they do not 
 care to inquire too curiously if it be simulated. Yet 
 Shakespeare makes Hamlet, who is one of them, doubt 
 if the Devil in the shape of the spirit be not abusing 
 him through his melancholy. They can frame from the
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 81 
 
 commonplaces of the creed the architecture of a 
 sensuous and intellectual paradise but how unsatis- 
 fying!" 
 
 "Why say you so?" asked Blumenbach. 
 
 " Because man's moral nature is far above his intel 
 lect, and the highest development of^hat nature impels 
 to self-denial, which produces a purer and more ex 
 quisite happiness than sensuousness." 
 
 " Not alone poets, but philosophers, from Socrates to 
 Swedenborg, have believed in the spiritual existences," 
 asserted Blumenbach. 
 
 "Surely you cannot claim that the Greek and the 
 Swede were in any wise identified with the spiritism of 
 to-day. Granted the 'infernal' theory of Mr. Glump, 
 and the old partnership of the Witch of Endor and the 
 Devil renewed, with an extended connection, would be 
 more in point," said Mr. Horton, pleasantly. 
 
 " You cannot so suppress the strange story of Saul, 
 grand and wayward man, from whose nature every ele 
 ment in that of your Shakespeare's Othello might have 
 been drawn courage, credulity, jealousy, fiery pas 
 sion with a sneer. Spiritualism is the belief in here 
 after, and cherished knowledge of the wise few of the 
 ages, aggregated at last into a religious system ; just as 
 the Church is the complement of Christianity : and the 
 great, queer Athenian is its Paul," asserted Blumen 
 bach. 
 
 "Concerning the 'daemon' of Socrates, his 'prophetic 
 voice,' of which he talked familiarly, it is enough to 
 say that he believed it, that to him it was a revelation, 
 whether true or false, which originated beyond himself
 
 82 THE HORTONS; OK 
 
 and the operations of his intellect. That such a faith 
 should have been professed by the first of the heathen 
 sages, a faith which was a virtual confession of his own 
 insufficiency, is the sharpest satire upon empty carpers 
 at the element of revelation in Christianity, and an 
 argument by implication against the ablest objectors. 
 Of the belief of the pure-minded Swede we are fully 
 informed. He held, that on their separation from the 
 body the good become angels, and the unregenerate 
 spirits; their conditions respectively being celestial, 
 and infernal; and unchangeably fixed. He declared, 
 that both good spirits and evil spirits are attendant 
 upon every man. That the former live in the good 
 affections, or the internal and spiritual man ; and that 
 the latter live in the evil affections, or the external and 
 natural man. But the internal spiritual man may be 
 and continue so closed as to admit of no communica 
 tion with heaven; which is a kingdom established in 
 the hearts of living men, as well as a disembodied con 
 dition; and which is only attainable by prayer through 
 the Lord Christ, who is the fulness of the Divinity. 
 Your spirits give lessons in good morals, you say 
 'teach the morals of Jesus,' I believe is the phrase yet 
 all the time they deny his divine competency, by which 
 those 'morals' in their great 'results are recommended 
 to men; they pretend to accept the doctrine while they 
 degrade the authority. 'Satan himself/ says St. Paul, 
 'is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is 
 no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as 
 the ministers of righteousness.' It is simply tempta 
 tion in the garb of virtue the wasp in the peach.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 83 
 
 Accept Swedenborg, and modern spiritualism would 
 indeed seem to be the invisible Satanic en rapport with 
 unregenerate natures in this world." 
 
 "In such sort, I can conceive your credulous man 
 mistake dyspepsia for temptation from his evil spirits : 
 the devil is fond of the liver, and hates calomel worse 
 than holy water," said Blumenbach. 
 
 " Well, not accepting for an argument that which is 
 only a sarcasm, compare the practical results of Chris 
 tianity with those of spiritism in this world," urged Mr. 
 Horton. 
 
 "You will!" exclaimed the German. "War, despot 
 ism envassaling the mind of Europe, Paris barricades 
 and Naples dungeons, Frenchmen roasting Arabs and 
 Englishmen mangling Hindoos?" 
 
 "It is true that the French Eevolutionists who be 
 headed Louis were infidels, but the English Puritans 
 who doomed Charles fought their battles between a 
 prayer and a psalm; and while the end in the one 
 instance is a self- perpetuating military despotism, in the 
 other it is constitutional liberty, vital with possibilities 
 , ( of beneficent development. And as to war, hateful as it 
 is, Hobbes had the countenance of history, at least, 
 when he declared it to be the natural state of man. 
 You can verify Hobbes in the next street. Go watch 
 unsanctified human tendency in the riotous rancor 
 of boys at a stone -fight, or see Hogarth justified by a 
 crew of young ruffians cruelly hunting to death a harm 
 less cur. It was always pleasant to destroy, and noth 
 ing but the Christian Church, corrupted as it was, 
 curbed the impulse short of a resulting anarchy a
 
 84 THE HOETONS; OR 
 
 European Jacquerie in the rude ages of social oppres 
 sion ; and preserved, even advanced, the civilization of 
 the world." 
 
 " The one germ in all human tendency is order you 
 will behold it in a street mob," interposed Blumenbach. 
 
 "Certainly; there is an order of infernal force. Hell 
 is organized; and the damned of that 'dark monarchy' 
 tempt men nay, limitedly, perhaps each other with 
 systematic subtilty. In new societies, where there are 
 no established laws, assassins and gamblers will com 
 bine to hang a burglar. There is nothing in your 
 spiritualism which stimulates to virtuous actions here; 
 for if a man is convinced that he will be virtually the 
 same hereafter, a shadowy duplicate of himself, or pro 
 bably better, he will be apt to be better at his leisure: 
 and still more unconcerned will he be if he believes in 
 a certainty of amendment; for then he will surrender 
 his sense of responsibility to the law of development. 
 I cannot think that the aspirations of a creature who 
 may possess the heart of David united to the brain of 
 Shakespeare will end, if you will pardon me the phrase, 
 in this horse-heaven business. Wisely may atheism 
 crave its annihilation if the innate longings of man, the 
 tribulations of the race, are to terminate only in the 
 unsubstantial projection of the present, and a mounte 
 bank ghost." 
 
 "Could we make what is, from an ideal pattern, 
 everybody would prove a master-workman. By specu 
 lative perfections you will not change the universal 
 humanity," observed the German. 
 
 "Now, that's very true," said Bliggs. "Human
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 85 
 
 * 
 
 nature is a strange thing ; though I don't profess to be 
 a philosopher, if I could afford to quit business, I've 
 often thought, I would turn my attention to the study 
 of human nature." 
 
 "You refuse all moral truth and beauty which 
 spiritualism can render. The painter who sees angels, 
 can put them on his canvas; the man of meditation can 
 bless his soul with a glory from the vast and perfect 
 spiritual order; the composer will hear unearthly 
 melodies, ravishing, and utter them for earthly ears. 
 Spiritualism opens our obstructions here; therefore it 
 is knowledge wisdom, if we will, and joy," said 
 Blumenbach. 
 
 "It is not in spiritism that this capacity of enjoy 
 ment exists, but in the painter, the meditative man, 
 and the melodist; that is, in the imaginative faculty of 
 each under stimulation. Let us be exact. That which 
 in the pagan hind of Greece of Italy was a debasing 
 superstition, in the pagan poet is an alluring allegory. 
 The purer and higher happiness of Christianity is the 
 boon of the humble and the dull," insisted Mr. Horton. 
 
 The German replied with a shrug. 
 
 "I will tell you a case," he said, "which I can 
 avouch the fact. It is of a friend, very near, the expe 
 rience observable. He was a composer, and had got 
 much esteem for his works. He gave all his earnest 
 nature, a strong love, to his subjects. He was produc 
 ing an oratorio, and inspired himself with the grand 
 Hebrew prophets, and thought his music day and 
 night it was always, always in his mind. The brain 
 was made sick, and for two weeks life was one weak 
 8
 
 86 THE HOKTONS; OB 
 
 light behind your hand in the wind. Again he roso 
 from his bed ; but with memory no more. He could 
 not even read. It was very sad, the strong man, in 
 mind grown feeble as a babe; sitting still and alone in 
 his chamber day after day, dumb between his cry ings. 
 At a time when thus drooping, on a calm, sunny morn 
 ing, he fell asleep. Then he saw saw grand specta 
 cles, . which told would cause smiles and be called 
 dreams. I shall not tell them only this: He lay 
 tranquilly looking at the light which flowed through 
 the colored windows of an old cathedral. An atmos 
 phere of subtle poison subdued all his being but con 
 sciousness a pleasing poison which it was bliss to 
 breathe. The Titian-like figures of dusky pictures 
 brightened gradually into exquisite shapes of beauty, 
 and faded again into indistinguishable cobweb grey. 
 Then the pent air shook with the vibrations of the 
 organ, and his own lost music was reproduced. The 
 organ ceased, and for a space he was unconscious. 
 Then it was midnight in the cathedral, and he lay in a 
 coffin, and the moonlight streamed through the painted 
 panes upon his shroud. Out of the darkness of a dis 
 tant aisle was raised a pedestal crowned by a wreathed 
 bust in pure white stone, which rested on a scroll. As 
 if drawn with phosphorus, shone characters upon the 
 scroll, and, behold a resurrection of his own brain 
 child the score of the oratorio, traced by a luminous 
 finger !" 
 
 "Though I don't believe in ghosts, there does seem 
 sumfin supernatural about that," said Bliggs. 
 
 "No doubt the phenomenon was the result of brain
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 87 
 
 fever, and the recovery a good providence: when the 
 impressions were received the disease had spent its 
 force, and the mind was reassuming its wonted clear 
 ness and harmony," remarked Mr. Horton. 
 
 "Did your friend go on with business afterwards, 
 or had he made enough to give it up?" asked Bliggs, 
 with sudden vivacity. 
 
 "He came not to want, sir," replied the German.
 
 88 
 
 THE HOETONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 Having often received an invitation from my friend Sir Roger de 
 Coverley to pass away a month with him in the country, I last week 
 accompanied him thither, and am settled with him for some time at 
 his country-house, where I intend to form several of my ensuing 
 speculations. SPECTATOR. 
 
 KADLEY HOKTON'S shipboard ac 
 quaintance with Miss Bardleigh was 
 continued, and he became a familiar 
 visitor at The Cedars, her father's seat. 
 Judge Bardleigh was a jovial gentle 
 man, with a big waist, a big heart, and 
 a face which glowed in laughter purple 
 as his wines. In the line of paternity 
 the Judge had a well supplied quiver; 
 and he so abounded with geniality and 
 benevolence that he might have set up creditably as a 
 stepfather besides. And a very pleasant place was The 
 Cedars, the broad, fat acres of which bred no anchore- 
 tic tendencies. You could read savory plenty in the 
 sleek red flanks of the straight-backed Devons, as they 
 browsed with slow content the juicy herbage. Better 
 mutton never sheltered under fleece than was killed 
 and dressed at The Cedars. The ducklings there illus 
 trated the peas ; and the peas, ravished from their pods 
 in the adolescence of early marrowfats, were creditable
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 89 
 
 to the ducklings. The good cheer was appreciated 
 throughout the country side, and as the judge, who 
 was at once a hospitable host and a hearty talker, had 
 beneath his roof- tree a rout of frolicsome boys and 
 sprightly girls, there were frequent merry-meetings at 
 The Cedars. 
 
 On a warm, sullen day in early June, Bradley Hor- 
 ton and Lydia Bardleigh were pacing a shady walk 
 which skirted the garden at this rendezvous of good 
 fellowship. A few large drops of rain which pelted 
 through the leaves overhead drove them to shelter. 
 In the earnestness of their conversation they failed to 
 observe the close of the shower. A peal of laughter 
 drew their attention, and looking forth from the cool 
 retreat down a lane of sun-glistened shrubbery, they 
 beheld, at an old well nestled beneath a noble English 
 elm, a couple in playful altercation. 
 
 "Your brother Charley," said Bradley. 
 
 "And Kose Stuvesant," added Lydia. 
 
 "Pshaw! sir; you can never catch it; let me try," 
 said the young lady at the well. 
 
 "Look out now, Eosel Like as not the little beast 
 will jump your way," expostulated the youth, as he 
 made sudden dashes with the tincup into the well- 
 bucket. 
 
 " What monster have you got?" called Lydia. 
 
 "A little fellow in Lincoln green, and more ftian a 
 match for us," returned the young lady. 
 
 "Yes; jolly green to get himself in this fix," ex 
 claimed Charley, as with a jerk he brought up a frog 
 by one of its convulsed hind legs. 
 8*
 
 90 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 "You began your gipsying to-day in other company, 
 Rose," said Lydia, as that young lady and her escort 
 entered the arbor. 
 
 " O yes Luke Bardleigh. He was stupid enough to 
 get a fish-hook in his finger ; so, when he went about 
 cutting it out, I left." 
 
 "Now would you think, Lyd," said Master Charles, 
 " that I've been betting against you ? Beg pardon, Mr. 
 Horton, I didn't notice your foot." 
 
 " But I do your head, sir, and will take the liberty 
 to remove your hat;" which Rose proceeded to do, 
 regardless of an appealing look from Lydia. 
 
 "Quite right," exclaimed Bradley, flushing; "I de 
 clare I was so absent that I forgot " 
 
 "The presence of ladies. Well, your forgetfulness 
 is atoned for there," tapping smartly with a willow 
 switch the placed hat. 
 
 Bradley amusedly assented, with a penitent bow. 
 
 "You see, Mr. Horton," said Charley, "I've been 
 improving Rose in the practice of the saddle, till ] 
 think I can count on her against our brag horsewoman 
 in these parts, Miss Lyddy, here. Rose says she's nof 
 afraid to try, on my Cricket. Come, don't back out, 
 Lyddy!" 
 
 " I can't think of humoring your nonsense, and risk 
 ing your cousin's neck," replied Lydia, laughing. 
 
 ' ' What charming consideration !" mocked Rose Stu- 
 vesant. 
 
 "That won't do, Lyddy; Rose is not a baby, you 
 know, to be nursed. You can't escape that way 
 challenge still open!" said Charley.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 91 
 
 "Well, Charley, perhaps I wouldn't refuse Rose a 
 chance for victory and applause, but this is her last 
 day at The Cedars," said his sister. 
 
 " Then what is to hinder the trial coming off this 
 afternoon in our ride to Cranberry Beach? You know 
 we are all to go," urged Charley. 
 
 Cranberry Beach margined a bold curve of the bay, 
 some six miles from The Cedars. It was a road, which 
 gradually shelved sideways, of compacted sand with 
 here and there a little shingle, where at the height of 
 the tide several horsemen could ride comfortably 
 abreast a long reach, with the beasts of the inner at 
 times fetlock deep in the yeast of the encroaching 
 waves. In the ample cove, at the season, fishermen 
 cast their seine; and their squat, weather-beaten cabins, 
 deserted now, seemed very lonely and desolate as one 
 listened to the melancholy plaint the water, in slower 
 or quicker measure, beat upon the shore. Under a 
 rude shed were some empty barrels, a few scattered 
 float-corks, and a broken pitch kettle. The skeleton 
 of a boat lay just beyond the tide-line, where the wash 
 had left its edge of scum chips, weeds, dead crabs, 
 and the dart-like remains of the gar. The wheatfields 
 and groves of the remote opposite highlands Jiow 
 looked gusty in shadow, and then the spreading sun 
 shine swept away the frown, and gaily chased it over 
 the water, where a flaw of wind wasted itself in a feeble 
 show of white-caps and shivered in the slanted sail of 
 the shallop, from which the creak of the jibing boom 
 came to the ear with sharp distinctness. 
 
 They had turned their bridles homeward and ridden
 
 92 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 together a few hundred yards, a party of four gay 
 ladies and their cavaliers, when Rose Stuvesant, twirl 
 ing her riding-whip defiantly, cried, "Now, Lydia, for 
 a gallop !" 
 
 Their horses were nearly neck to neck when they 
 started gallantly from their companions, who, catching 
 the enthusiasm, spurred after them. 
 
 A young and gentle woman in a jaunty, feather- 
 festooned hat, which scarce half conceals her waves of 
 hair; in trailing drapery of skirt which depends from a 
 petite mould of creaseless bodice, upon a horse of 
 mettle, is a pretty picture, though a common. The 
 charms that belong to it are heightened by rapid 
 motion. The doe which, startled from its lair, clears 
 at a bound the crackling branchlets, nor pauses till it 
 gains the neighboring crest, and then turns its faultless 
 neck and looks behind with pleading eyes, is a type of 
 Beauty in action, which spells you to compassion. A 
 ship before the trade- wind, ploughing a phosphorescent 
 sea on a soft tropical night, her full sails straining, 
 while her leeward bulwarks lean and dip as she glides 
 swiftly through the long swells that heave to meet her 
 her full sails straining, still steadily straining toward 
 Tahiti asleep beneath a purple sky, is Beauty in an 
 other shape <>{" movement, which lulls you like a deli 
 cious dream. Your lady in the saddle, Sir Knight, 
 sans helmet, with her bridle free, her flexible body, 
 forward face, aaid glowing cheek, surpasses mountain 
 deer and trimmest yacht that ever wooed the gale is a 
 display of loveliness at once graceful, tender, and 
 impetuous.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 93 
 
 A cloud of dust and a clatter of hoofs. An easy 
 going countryman who is jogging in his dearborn be 
 hind " Betz." the sleek old mare bushy with wild indigo 
 to keep off flies, hears in a doze the approaching caval 
 cade, cranes out his neck to reconnoitre, and draws up 
 to the fence. Eustics in the fields lean upon their 
 plough-handles and gaze stolidly. Dogs at the infre 
 quent farmhouses bark, and housewives pause at wash- 
 tub labors in the shade to look. Colts at pasture catch 
 the congenial spirit of the scene arid frisk at speed the 
 length of their enclosures. Even the stage is civil and 
 makes room, though it carries the mail and runs on its 
 official dignity. Lydia and Eose are before; Charley 
 Bardleigh and Bradley are close after, gallantly curb 
 ing their horses. 
 
 As they were passing a cornfield in which were scare 
 crows, Eose Stuvesant's horse shied. Perceiving the 
 start, Lydia made a quick movbinent to seize the bridle 
 of the frightened animal. In her anxiety for her cousin 
 she lost her own seat, failed to recover it, and was flung 
 violently to the ground. A shriek from Eose an 
 nounced the accident. The men were quickly dis 
 mounted, and beside the fallen lady. She was caje- 
 fully lifted by them, found to be insensible, and carried 
 to the roadside. From a wound in her head, where it 
 had struck upon a jagged stone, blood freely flowed. 
 At Bradley's desire, Charley Bardleigh, half frantic 
 with excitement, rode off to summon the doctor to The 
 Cedars. Other members of the party procured near by 
 a mattress and a country wagon. 
 
 Judge Bardleigh sat in his piazza, smoking and chat-
 
 94 THE HOBTONS; OR 
 
 ting with a neighbor, when the party with his injured 
 daughter approached. Instinctively he divined disaster 
 in the array, which he started down the avenue to meet. 
 Shocked and solicitous, he insisted on removing his 
 child in his own arms to her chamber. Nor were his 
 restless attentions diminished until the arrival of the 
 doctor, who calmly examined the case, and after due, 
 and, it seemed to the judge, tedious deliberation, said, 
 in a tone where matter-of-fact and sympathy were 
 oddly commingled, "Badly hurt, sir, but not fatally, 
 I believe I have known worse damage got over." 
 And then, from an alarm in which he regarded the 
 speedy death of his child as probable, the mind of the 
 father was incongruously moved to an earnest concern 
 at the ascertained seriousness of her injury,. The 
 doctor kindly undertook the organization of the sick 
 room, and prevented Eose, in her inexperience and 
 perturbation, spreading a mustard poultice on her lace- 
 edged handkerchief. 
 
 For a week the situation of Lydia Bardleigh seemed 
 critical indeed, and scarcely to warrant the not unfavor 
 able prognostication of the physician. That excellent 
 man was placid and assiduous; welcome alike at bed 
 side and board; for, strictly professional duties done, 
 and well done, his acute and informed conversation, 
 cheerful conceits and pleasant gossip, dispelled for a 
 time the household gloom, and imparted to the judge a 
 breadth of satisfaction which he would sometimes 
 acknowledge by an. approach to his customary inclu 
 sive laugh. 
 
 Doctor Grow was a stout, wide-chested gentleman
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 95 
 
 with a stoop in his figure, the wear of over sixty years, 
 a bronzed complexion, and a full white beard. In 
 creed he was a devout presbyterian. His innate vigor 
 had fruited variously. He had invented and modified 
 surgical instruments, produced a seedling strawberrj 
 of rare merit, performed a successful amputation of the 
 hip-joint, and published an ingenious essay on the civil 
 polity of Moses. At much trouble and cost he had 
 contrived to import a pair of Peruvian llamas, and he 
 eloquently urged their adoption by the agricultural 
 interest ; but the sturdy farmers stuck to their Morgans. 
 Ancient females were terrified by the exotics, associat 
 ing them mentally with jungles and an escape from a 
 menagerie, and horses were incited by them to run 
 away upon the road ; whereat a feeling of public injury 
 was aroused which culminated in a suit at law, when 
 the doctor gloomily gave up his patriotic undertaking. 
 By the rude poor his science was reverentially extolled; 
 it was generally confessed that he knew more than the 
 celebrated Indian who practised with herbs ; and, upon 
 the whole, that he exceeded in a knowledge of remedies 
 old Black Baltic, who was infallible in the treatment of 
 worms and famous in the line of fits. By the culti 
 vated, he was cherished as much for his feeling and 
 manly nature as for his acquaintance with the pharma 
 copoeia. Scores of men sit in cabinets and senates, even 
 among those who have not attained conspicuity by low 
 artifices, or have not been thrust upward on a little dis 
 tended rhetoric, with far less of the intellectual fertility, 
 promptitude, energy, patience and courage which are
 
 96 THE HOETONS; OB 
 
 sometimes possessed by the unpretending country phy 
 sician. 
 
 At the request of Judge Bardleigh, Bradley remained 
 at The Cedars, and made himself serviceable as a relief 
 to his host. For some days, except a few moments 
 once or twice, the rigorous proprieties of the sick room 
 forbade his presence there ; and these glimpses of a 
 pale, unobserving, half- conscious face, which he had so 
 lately seen aglow with health and vivacity, inexpressi 
 bly saddened him. At hours when callers were not 
 expected for he represented the master of the man 
 sion, whose unavoidable employment and vigils com 
 pelled him to sleep much of days Bradley would 
 saunter alone in field or wood, and partake of that 
 peculiar enjoyment which characterizes the brief re 
 spites of the watcher who is gloomed in the presence 
 of sickness and of care. For such occasions blow 
 fresher zephyrs then added incense rises from the 
 landscape; the little stir of man and his events sub 
 sides in the confident calm of nature, which seems to 
 say, "Cling to me; /am steadfast, and remain!" 
 
 It was a warm and quiet summer afternoon. En 
 veloped in a light role de charribre, the fair invalid 
 reclined in an extension chair wheeled to present her 
 wan face to the shadow.of the room. At a jalousie, 
 vainly wooing a breeze, Bradley Horton was seated, 
 book in hand. Upon a servant rustling at the door, 
 he rose softly and received a plate of ice. When he 
 turned toward his companion he saw that her eyes 
 were shut, and that she seemed to doze. He stood 
 for a moment and gazed upon her, and felt that there
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. ' 97 
 
 was an expression of tranquil rapture in her face very 
 exalted and lovely. Then lie musingly resumed his 
 seat and book, glancing through the blinds occasionally 
 into the effusive sunlight without, where a humming 
 bird at the casement balanced with a musical flutter, 
 or a load of hay drawn by panting oxen straining 
 on their yokes went up the dusty lane. Then the 
 midsummer stillness was enthroned again in the arid 
 air. Awhile, and a brisk patter of approaching 
 footsteps was followed by the joyous exclamation of 
 a child, as she burst into the room regardless of 
 Bradley's monitory gesture. 
 
 "O, see here what nice Mr. Cole made for me 
 Fanny Spot. He calls it, 'Pet Asleep.' I must show 
 it to Aunt Lyddy, and its just like her." 
 
 "What is, Kate?" asked the lady. 
 
 "Make haste and look at it, sir, and let me take 
 it," said little Kate, impatiently reaching for the 
 Bristol board. 
 
 It was a pencil sketch of a kitten sprawled on a 
 kitchen floor, sleep-overtaken in the act of playing 
 with the strings of an apron. It laid on its side, its 
 ears perked forward, its face turned half upward, and 
 its upper legs still flexed as in the final pat. 
 
 " Aunt Martha thinks it's beau-ti-ful," said Kate, 
 "and I wanted Mr. Cole to make the old cat too; and 
 Mr. Cole said, I must catch and hold it, then; and I 
 found it in the wash-house, and it tried to scratch 
 me it's very vicious, and I don't like it a bit." 
 
 The child seated herself on a stool at Lydia's feet 
 while the picture was examined and commended. The 
 9
 
 98 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 lady passed her thin white fingers through the golden 
 ringlets that fell upon her robe. Sobered by the tone 
 of the place, the child sat long quiet. The picture lay 
 unregarded beside her as she watched a radiant concern 
 m the thoughtful eyes of her aunt. "Suffer little 
 children," the lady gently repeated. After a pause, 
 she turned her head toward Bradley and addressed 
 him. 
 
 "A poet, I suppose by the blue and gold of the 
 binding?" 
 
 "It is Tennyson; and I hav.e been reading that 
 gusty lamentation, 'Locksley Hall!'" 
 
 "I remember it a story of disappointed love, told 
 in a strain of keen distress?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Do you think there are many such griefs, Mr. 
 Horton?" 
 
 "Many; of which the world is mostly ignorant. 
 The anguish of unrequited love is not an affliction to be 
 hawked in the market-place. Perhaps its history will 
 end undivulged before a battery, and be buried in a 
 trench perhaps it will be buried in a mad-house. 
 It is an English malady. Miss Edith's Roman nose is 
 inherited from a Norman pirate, so she is constrained 
 to be a social purist. 
 
 'She was sprang of English nobles, I was born of English peasants; 
 What was /that I should love her save for feeling of the pain?'" 
 
 " The prescriptive sundering of natures which were 
 created to approach, and which are worthy of each 
 other, is a cruelty of British caste as abhorrent, I
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 99 
 
 think, to reason, &s is any assumption of Braminism," 
 said Lydia. 
 
 " The English Bramins hedge their lives with arro 
 gated social sanctities to the very threshold of eternity 
 and nakedness; and hoard poor butterfly dust as 
 though it were gold of heaven's own minting, seven 
 times refined cherish their narrow conventionalism to 
 the last punctilio, to make grim merriment for waiting 
 ghosts, that laugh at the fools whom they welcome," 
 said Bradley.
 
 100 
 
 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Overreach. I am of a solid temper, and steer on a constant course. 
 
 A NEW WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS. 
 
 HE house of Bloker and Ball was one 
 of the most substantial in the city. 
 It had survived a half dozen "panics," 
 and had not been known to ask for 
 even an extension. Ball, indeed, was 
 >' no longer in the flesh: a gaunt, ambi 
 dextrous quaker, he had gone out 
 of the firm years before, and disap 
 peared with the fashion of small 
 clothes, to which, including buckled 
 shoes, he tad adhered staunchly to the end of his 
 earthly career. Jacob Bloker's was the brain and 
 bank-account of the house of Bloker and Ball. 
 
 The counting-rooms of Bloker and Ball were light, 
 airy apartments, aristocratically aloof from the region 
 of warehouses, in a solid and ugly brown-stone building 
 of the bastard Egyptian style, which they shared with 
 a popular insurance company the Diddlum Mutual, 
 with ample assets in wild lands and the notes of kin 
 dred corporations a bill engraver, two or three bro 
 kers, and a stationer. Bloker and Ball's clerks never
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 101 
 
 presented themselves to the public gaze hurrying in 
 inked jackets, but were notable for club-house move 
 ment, spotless linen, the neatest of neckties and boots, 
 "nobby" hats, and in general a pick-the-teeth air of 
 deliberation. They could put one up to a move or two 
 in billiards, give all the fine points, operatical and 
 occult, of that magnificent creature, Calypso Tuberose, 
 and talk "dog" acceptably to the veterans at the 
 "Sportsman's Bag." Yet the affairs of the house were 
 administered with system and courtesy, and even 
 bilious people were known to have declared it a plea 
 sure of existence to do business with Bloker and 
 Ball. 
 
 "Of course, Mr. Cripps, you have brought home 
 Captain Warner's effects I wish you would let his 
 wife know of his death, if she has not already seen it 
 announced in the marine intelligence; I hate scenes," 
 said Jacob Bloker. 
 
 "Well, I won't skulk a dead man's message, and I 
 am charged with one; but I'd sooner face a pampero," 
 said the first officer of the merchant's ship Swan. 
 
 "Good weather and run from Bio?" asked Bloker, 
 examining some papers. 
 
 "First-rate, sir, till we got in the stream, except 
 squall off Pernambuco." 
 
 "How long was Captain Warner sick with the 
 fever?" 
 
 "Ten days in hospital, and they took him ashore the 
 second day." 
 
 "It kept you back with cargo nearly a week, it 
 9*
 
 102 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 seems. Um! bad; but it can't be helped," said 
 Bloker. 
 
 "It went liard -with Warner to go on account of his 
 helpless family, he said." 
 
 "Helpless? yes I believe so," said Bloker, slowly, 
 while making a memorandum on the back of an in 
 voice. "He always kept close drawn." 
 
 " He had been in your employment fifteen years, I 
 think he told me," said Cripps. 
 
 " About that time. A careful man, and wide enough 
 awake seldom lost a spar. How many vessels were 
 waiting in port when you left?" 
 
 "Eight Americans, and more North of Europe craft 
 than I ever saw at once at Eio," answered the mate. 
 
 " Freights will rule low, then. Captain Warner got 
 three dozen fowls at Marseilles, I see; yet I believe he 
 took out four pigs," remarked Bloker. 
 
 " We had a passenger from Marseilles.' 
 
 "So yes: well, the accounts, on the whole, seem 
 unobjectionable. I'm glad you are here at last, for cof 
 fee has taken quite a jump, and I don't think it will 
 stay up," said the chief of Bloker and Ball as he gath 
 ered the papers for his bookkeeper. 
 
 The following day Jacob Bicker's private office was 
 he scene of another conversation. A sorrowful woman, 
 of middle age, addressed the merchant. 
 
 "He was a tender husband, sir. I had something 
 heavy on my mind, but I was not prepared for such a 
 blow." 
 
 " My dear madame, it is only a question of time with 
 us all," said Bloker.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 103 
 
 "True, sir; but that consideration lessens little the 
 bitterness of our loss," replied the lady. "Our poor 
 Frank is worse again with his spine, and he is expect 
 ing his father daily; I have not dared to break the 
 news to him, though I think he guesses that some 
 thing is wrong my poor, patient child!" and the 
 mother wept. 
 
 " Pie has been an invalid for several years? I remem 
 ber to have met you two or three summers since cross 
 ing him on the ferry-boats for the air. Does nothing 
 help him?" asked the merchant, civilly. 
 
 "It is but too likely that nothing ever will the doc 
 tors give no hope," said Mrs. Warner. 
 
 " That is discouraging. Perhaps, Mrs. Warner, this 
 is hardly the time for the formality of a settlement, but 
 I have by me the balance of your husband 1 s account, 
 and will give you a check at once. At the time of his 
 death there was one hundred and sixty-one dollars due 
 him. There were some expenses, which I will not 
 mention. I will make the check two hundred dollars, 
 and ask you to accept it," said Jacob Bloker, in a tone 
 large with generosity. 
 
 It is not probable that the widow had thought of a 
 gratuity just then, but as it was offered thirty-nine 
 dollars to represent the appreciation of fifteen years of 
 faithful service in a responsible station and in a man 
 ner which said plainly, "This is final,'' she was bereft 
 of all power of utterance. 
 
 "But, stop!" exclaimed the merchant, arresting him 
 self in the act of handing the check to Mrs. Warner, 
 and summoning a clerk, "how thoughtless I am; I will
 
 104 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 have it drawn for you, madame Charles, get gold for 
 this." 
 
 When the widow recovered from her surprise at 
 Bloker's offer she flashed with indignation; but she 
 was a mother ; she thought of her bereaved and depen 
 dent family; of her stricken, helpless boy; and she 
 stifled her anger. In anguish of heart she dropped the 
 yellow pieces into her purse, and went to her desolate 
 home. 
 
 Yet not altogether desolate. The God of the widow 
 is bountiful of compensations. Poor, patient Frank, 
 though a cause of solicitude, was also a source of com 
 fort. Thin and wasted, his pale, meek face seemed to 
 have, taken on a fore-look of spiritual glory. It was 
 surpassingly pleasant to mark the electric glances of 
 affection which passed between mother and child. 
 They were a language in themselves the voiceless 
 communing of sympathetic souls. Week after week, 
 all day, the lad laid propped with pillows on a lounge, 
 reading his story books, watching and listening to his 
 canary, or, his couch wheeled to the window-seat, clean 
 ing his few pot plants of insects. A feeble, misshapen 
 child, but dear to the family heart, and precious in the 
 sight of angels; with the town's tumultuous tide sweep 
 ing about him the fortunes, strifes, and crimes of men, 
 quiet, thankful, and heedless of its roar. Two other 
 steady boys received scant wages in places where they 
 looked for advancement ; and Jane, the eldest daughter, 
 taught at a rural seminary. 
 
 Upon hearing of her father's death, Jane Warner 
 came home to mingle her grief with her mother's.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 105 
 
 When told of Bicker's gift, she kindled at once to a 
 decision: 
 
 "The thirty-nine dollars must be returned to this 
 man, mamma; my father's memory shall not be thus 
 insulted I will send the sum out of my savings." 
 
 Shortly afterward, among the merchant's correspond 
 ence was a letter which contained a remittance of seven 
 five-dollar bills, and four gold dollars glued to the 
 sheet. Its written contents were concise and conclu 
 sive. 
 
 MR. JACOB BLOKER, Shipowner. 
 
 SIR: You will receive, here inclosed, the benefac 
 tion which you graciously bestowed on my mother. 
 In a condition of mental uncertainty, produced by 
 sudden and deep distress, it was mechanically accepted 
 by her ; reflection, which has occasioned a proper sense 
 of self-respect in the living and a just regard for the 
 memory of the dead, has determined her to return it. 
 
 The probity, carefulness, and energy in a responsible 
 station^ which you have freely confessed characterized 
 the services rendered to you by my father during many 
 years, can hardly, in the most stringent estimation, be 
 requited by the inconsequential sum of thirty-nine 
 dollars. If you should urge that the current wages 
 received from you by the deceased were adequate pay 
 ment for his exertions in your interest, there is no room 
 in equity for a gift. In neither case ought the money 
 to be retained. 
 
 Your humble servant, 
 
 JANE WARNER.
 
 106 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 Perhaps while Bloker was angrily pouching his 
 rejected bounty, a person, as the world goes, with a 
 very different . social stamp, was cheerfully surrender 
 ing his little fortune ,in acknowledgment of an unre 
 corded favor; for the abstraction of five-and-twenty 
 dollars relieved a rare turgidity in the purse of Terence 
 O'Eourke. 
 
 " And this is how it was, ma'am," explained Terence 
 to Mrs. Warner; "I'd wrought for the captain God 
 rist him years ago at stavadoring, when he kept from 
 saa bad cess to it and he know'd me for an honest, 
 hard-working, industhrious mon ; when one shudderin' 
 winter there was no thrade, and not even odd jobs, and 
 Biddy and the childer wanting the bit to ate. It was 
 then the good captain rist his soul gave me the 
 manes to live; saying, 'Terence, whin you get foremist 
 the wur-uld with the loike of this sum, I will recave it; 
 if you niver do, it don't matther use it with aconomy.' 
 And, ma'am, it was the good that money did me that 
 can't be tould! But, somehow, I could niver make it 
 convenient to return it, till racently a society of which 
 I was a member, the Hoibernia Bineficial, broke and 
 di voided the funds; and Father McGuire says, 'Terence, 
 as you don't requoire that sum for the present nades of 
 your family, is there no old obligation on your mind 
 you would wish to attind to?' And thin, ma'am, I 
 thought for the first of the captain's ginerosity, though, 
 in troth, I hadn't forgot it."
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 10Y 
 
 CHAPTBE XIII. 
 
 Saint Cupid, then ! and, soldiers, to the field ! 
 
 LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. 
 
 SMALL party surrounded the ma 
 hogany at Belair, drinking claret 
 and eating the September peaches. 
 
 "This melocoton, Mr. Horton, is 
 easier to take than was Sevastopol," 
 observed Jacob Bloker, essaying a 
 harmless joke. 
 
 "You must thank Mr. Davenport 
 then, whp budded the tree." 
 
 "I like them best in dumplings, 
 with the right sort of dip," said the old clerk, modestly 
 avoiding the arborary sponsorship. "Fortescue 
 Nankeen Fortescue we called him in the India trade, 
 a very sensible man who died of apoplexy, always 
 stood up for cherry pie in preference, with good farm 
 house milk, but I never agreed with him." 
 
 "You will have choice fruit, Mr. Bloker, in a year 
 or two. Bradley tells me that some of your Van 
 Mons pears are rare in Belgium. I should be glad to 
 exchange grafts with you," said the host. 
 
 " Of course when you please. By-the-by, Horton, 
 that gray colt which I was about to sell, and you
 
 THE HOETONS; OK 
 
 thought of as a saddle horse for Miss Hortou, wants 
 exercising he's perfectly broke, and I'll send him 
 over," said Bloker. 
 
 "You didn't fix on a price, I believe." 
 
 "No: try him awhile, and you can judge better of 
 his value. There may be some defect unknown to me 
 we won't close the matter just now." 
 
 Presently they joined the ladies, Emily Horton and 
 Caroline Mellen, and sauntered about the grounds to 
 enjoy the beauty and freshness of the approaching 
 sunset. 
 
 "You shall take charge of me, Mr. Davenport, and 
 teach me botany," said Caroline. 
 
 "Should be glad to, but I'm not well advised on 
 the subject. -Yet my family has, I may say, a 
 botanical genius. My mother is counted very skilful 
 in sickness to make herb teas, and I recollect my grand 
 mother would talk by the hour of plants, and could 
 describe a half dozen sorts of snakeroot alone. The 
 old lady had a drawer in her bureau full of valuable 
 receipts for almost every complaint, which she left to 
 mother. She had been all her life collecting and 
 writing them out, but, as they were mixed together and 
 she was a slow reader, it would sometimes take nearly 
 a day to find a particular one, which was inconvenient 
 when a neighbor was taken sudden." 
 "I suppose bachelors are fond of flowers, for I find, 
 when they don't smoke, that they carry in their clothes 
 a smell of lavender," said Caroline. 
 
 " I like them when they are bright-colored, such as 
 roses and sunflowers. And I like to watch the bees
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 109 
 
 about them. When I was a youngster, next to our 
 warehouse yard there was a drug-mill, the owner of 
 which, a low-spirited man, kept a hive, and in the 
 season I bought bouquets of the market-women that I 
 might draw the bees and see their pleased and busy 
 movements. More than once, thus occupied, I have 
 fallen asleep on a packing-case at the open window, 
 and done my letter copying at night," said the old 
 clerk. 
 
 As they went leisurely down the walk they heard 
 shouts before them, and upon looking in that direction 
 they perceived a violent ripple in a growth of shrub 
 bery, and then a heifer in headlong rush toward them, 
 with Andrew the gardener and a bawling lad hard 
 after. There was a summer-house close by, and, gal 
 lantly seizing Caroline, Davenport made for the conve 
 nient refuge. Having thrust her in, the old clerk was 
 entering with elastic step, when his hat struck the 
 lintel and rolled away on the gravel walk. While he 
 turned to recover it, the cow charged upon him. The 
 situation had been suddenly sprung, the brute was 
 unfamiliar, and Henry Davenport had heard of hydro 
 phobia in rampant cattle. He ran; and coursing fleetly 
 down a side path only halted when he reached a tree 
 with an accessible fork, nor then until he was sheltered 
 in it. As he mopped his face in this place of safety, 
 he was pleased to behold the incensed gardener punch 
 the head of the boy, whose carelessness he accused as 
 the cause of the mischief to his horticulture. 
 
 "You wullin!" exclaimed Andrew, "will you mind 
 the heck next time?" 
 10
 
 110 THE HOETONS; OB 
 
 Then, turning to Davenport, "Hoot, mon, come 
 doon!" 
 
 "Certainly;" said the fugitive, as he dropped with 
 difficulty to the ground, "I was just going to. If only 
 I had my fowling-piece! A cow did you say! By 
 Saint George! I took it to be a bull." 
 
 "Disobedience and heedlessness, lad," said Andrew, 
 in a strain of moral reproof, "is foreby the deil; and if 
 ye nae mend, you'll howl and greet worse than thot. 
 Gin it was nae for patience, which is the wale of a' 
 virtues there's the head of yon Ageeptian lily bit clean 
 off!" and at this fresh provocation the gardener made a 
 threatening movement toward the culprit, by whose 
 superior agility it was eluded. 
 
 Caroline welcomed Davenport from the window of the 
 summer-house with seasonable banter. 
 
 "I don't believe, sir, a more masterly retreat could 
 have been executed but, what's the matter with your 
 hat?"* 
 
 "I accidentally put my foot on it." 
 
 "Had your head been in it, it had been the better 
 for your hat, Mr. Davenport." 
 
 " You may laugh, Miss Caroline, and I like to hear 
 you, though it is at my expense; but he would be a 
 desperate man who would stand before an infuriated 
 animal with horns, without even an umbrella for de 
 fence. I've known cattle to go through plate-glass 
 windows, and in hot weather the hospitals take in a 
 number of tossed people. Many years ago, an ac 
 quaintance of mine Tarbox, salt provisions was his 
 line was shook up awful."
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. Ill 
 
 " You did quite right to run away, Mr. Davenport ; 
 I should have done the same," said Caroline. 
 
 "Tarbox," continued the old clerk, musingly, 
 " didn't recover short of an operation, and then it was 
 a tedious-case." 
 
 "'Twas only a woman's raillery, Mr. Davenport; I 
 don't think you a bit nervous." 
 
 "Yet if I wasn't, I would have spoken my mind 
 about some things long since," replied Davenport, with 
 confused briskness. 
 
 Seeing that her companion regarded her appealingly, 
 as if to emphasize his remark, Caroline responded to 
 the look with respectful attention. 
 
 "It must be a hard thing which staggers your 
 frankness, Mr. Davenport." 
 
 The simple reply of the lovely woman, half sympa 
 thy and half compliment, touched the old clerk sensi 
 bly, and emboldened him to proceed. 
 
 "It is a hard thing for me, and I can't keep it longer 
 Miss Caroline, I am your devoted admirer !" 
 
 She flushed and started ; but in a moment, when she 
 had conquered her surprise, she answered with affected 
 misconception, 
 
 "And I am your admiring friend, Mr. Davenport; I 
 hope we shall always feel for each other, even if chance 
 should permanently part us, a cordial esteem." 
 
 When Caroline began to speak in her kind accents, 
 Henry Davenport's face mantled with eagerness; when 
 she finished, he drew a long breath and was silent. 
 
 "Night will catch us playing truant if we stay 
 longer; the frogs in Cattail Marsh have been prac-
 
 112 TITE ITORTONS; OR 
 
 tising this half-hour, and there's the first lightning- 
 bug," said Caroline, pleasantly. 
 
 Bloker and Emily Horton are standing where the 
 ground is mossy by the poplars. 
 
 "So you know Mrs. "Warner? A very worthy lady; 
 though, I am bound to say, a little imprudent that is 
 with expensive tastes," said Bloker. 
 
 "Because she refuses proffered bounty?" replied 
 Emily, with a tone of sarcasm. 
 
 "Ah! I see you have been told a certain circum 
 stance, and that, doubtless, in 'the telling I have been 
 treated without mercy. I suppose my slight gift was 
 represented as final a closing of the account?" 
 
 "As you urge me I believe it was so regarded." 
 
 "Now see the mischief of misconception. I assure 
 you that it was only an instalment of what I intended 
 to bestow. It was my desire to serve Mrs. Warner in 
 the amount, who, to be plain, has no just notion of the 
 value of money. The captain's ample salary was 
 always needed when it was due." 
 
 "With some chances for observation, I have not 
 noticed extravagance in Mrs. Warner's housekeeping. 
 There were a half-dozen children to rear, and some of 
 them sickly." 
 
 " The last is the most distressing feature in the situa 
 tion of the family," said Bloker, with an attempt at 
 commiseration. "The condition of that poor boy 
 touches me deeply. I spoke to Dr. Conium, who 
 stands at the head of our faculty, about him, and 
 requested his attention to him." 
 
 "Yes; they told me the doctor sent. Poor Mrs.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 113 
 
 Warner is so weak as to"have an unconquerable aver 
 sion to clinics; fearing the effect upon her long se 
 cluded child of three or four hundred inquisitive, noisy 
 students." 
 
 " You surprise me. That proceeding is Conium's, 
 and I am not to be held answerable for it. Love of 
 science, amounting to a passion, I suppose explains it," 
 responded Bloker. 
 
 "Perhaps, sir; good manners don't, in the light of 
 your statement." 
 
 "I hear Miss Jane Warner is praised for a fine 
 understanding," said Bloker. 
 
 "And justly." 
 
 " When I saw her, several years since, I thought her 
 rather pretty." 
 
 "About that opinions may vary; she is certainly 
 not the reverse," said Emily, with womanly noncom- 
 mittalism. 
 
 "One of my clerks tells me that she was a belle at 
 Leasowes, last summer very amiable and gay," said 
 Bloker, dubiously smiling, though not obtrusively. 
 "Garth was rapturous about her; I overheard him 
 depicting in the counting-room the happiness of late 
 dances and moonlight drives. But Garth, I believe, is 
 fresh at watering-places, and like, enough mistook 
 the young lady's toleration for favor." 
 
 "Her friends consider her discreet." 
 
 "0, I dare say she is. No one who knows the world 
 will regard the rattle of a smitten and prating boy. I 
 hope that she will make a good marriage." 
 
 The deshabille conversation of the Belair ladies, 
 10*
 
 114 THE HOETO*NS; OR 
 
 while they were arranging their hair for the night, 
 among other topics, touched upon Jacob Bloker. 
 
 "I can't think so ill, Emily, of our fastidious bache 
 lor as you do. I grant that he might be thawed to 
 advantage, but predominating duplicity I don't dis 
 cern." 
 
 "That "Warner business?" asked Emily. 
 
 "Shabby, if you reject his explanation, but not that 
 I see deceitful." ^ 
 
 "Well, Carrie, I can't translate tone and manner into 
 words, but to me they are reasons; and if I had no 
 reasons, I have an instinctive dislike to him." 
 
 "Life's a battle, in which such instincts are some 
 times conquered," said Caroline, merrily, as she took 
 her candle and bade her friend Good-night.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 115 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Snug. Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if it be, give it 
 me, for I am slow of study. 
 
 Quince. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring. 
 
 Bottom. Let me play the lion too. I will roar, that I will do any 
 man's heart-good to hear me: I will roar, that I will make the duke say, 
 Let him roar again: let him roar again. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 
 
 his Sittings to and from The Cedars, 
 Bradley Horton passed through the 
 flourishing village of Slumptown. It 
 was an ancient place impelled by a rail 
 road to suburban issues of wooden archi 
 tecture. There were churches with 
 Gothic fronts of stuccoed pine, in the 
 well-known style of the middle ages, 
 and a square weather-stained court-house 
 of brick, which 'was margined with 
 maple trees and flanked by its attendant jail. Slump- 
 town had its lawyers, who preyed on the politics of 
 the region, or passed their vulturine lives in scenting 
 for lean retainers in assault-and-battery cases, and, with 
 rapacious wrangle, in gorging their maws from the car 
 casses 01 encumbered estates. Of course Slumptown 
 was blessed with rival editors, who maintained a state 
 of chronic hostility ; and it was an exquisite display of
 
 116 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 reciprocal unconsciousness when the Palladium passed 
 the Spirit of Jefferson upon the street. 'There was an 
 opulence of " store goods" on Court-house square, the 
 trading and professional centre of the town ; an open 
 air arrangement about doors and porches of hay -rakes, 
 pitch-forks and scythes, brooms, rolls of carpet, 
 crockery, horse-collars, and straw hats; and at a heavy 
 dealer's, perhaps, there was placed an empty sugar 
 hogshead conspicuously in the way; while two or 
 three "Cheap Johns," with city- made slops, kept the 
 native tailors at their wits ends and half-starved. 
 There was a bank at Slumptown, which held mortgages 
 on half of the county farms, and which occasioned in the 
 minds of very distant people a lively interest in the 
 geography of the place, for its bills, illustrated by a 
 couchant dog before a prodigious iron chest suggestive 
 of bullion in every knob, stuffed the wallets of drovers 
 on Illinois prairies and were carried by lumbermen into 
 the forests of the Atlantic slope. At the lyceum, in 
 weekly debates, Young Slumptown shaped that elo 
 quence which was to rouse from the rostrum and capti 
 vate the senate. Nor was Slumptown unknown to 
 literature. One or two of its parsons had written 
 books which were printed, and it boasted of a sweet 
 poetess who invoked a sappy muse over three initials 
 and an asterisk. 
 
 But the reputation of this prosperous borough was 
 subordinate to that of a neighboring locality. Figura 
 tively, the glorious eagle of our country still screamed 
 in triumph over the battle-field of Hickory Hollow. 
 Eighty years of peaceful tillage had, indeed, obliterated
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 117 
 
 every trace of conflict; the rural historians who had 
 repulsed, in willing narratives over their cider on 
 winter nights, the English grenadiers, slept with their 
 fathers; but the surrounding population sometimes 
 assembled among "the embattled corn" to sustain their 
 patriotism with the reminiscences of a martial anni- 
 ver<ary. On such occasions in the olden time, a citizen 
 reac? the immortal Declaration," and an orator, usually 
 a fledgling of the law, anatomized the British lion; 
 whereupon the people gravitated in content to roast ox 
 and rum and water. But at length these celebrations 
 became the outcries of political parties against each 
 other, either of which, in turn, was the orthodox 
 exponent of the temper of the purer days of the 
 Republic, and its opponent hostile to every moral and 
 material interest of the country. 
 
 And so it was, that as Bradley Horton and the anni 
 versary of the battle of Hickory Hollow came together, 
 they found Slumptown in a political ferment. The 
 fences were eloquent with posters that had exhausted 
 in their production the typographical resources of the 
 Palladium, invoking the "Men of the Old Guard" to 
 assemble 
 
 " Like the winds in their hurricane wrath," 
 
 and ratify the nomination for Congress of "that incor 
 ruptible patriot and zealous champion of the people," 
 Adoniram Slossom. Long before noon the village bar 
 rooms were thronged with sovereign citizens who 
 devoted themselves impartially to cocktails and con 
 troversy; and the streets and stable yards had grown 
 populous with groups of disputants, that ' suddenly
 
 118 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 scattered, from time to time, in the very crisis of argu 
 merit, when the thick coming vehicles laden with fresh 
 patriots rattled bravely up, or a couple of inebriated 
 wranglers passed from polemics to pugilism. There 
 came, in disciplined array, the Slumptown Invincibles, 
 and the Slossom Irrepressibles, with their bands. Then 
 followed the Carthage Cadets, and the New-Egypt 
 Look-Arounds, with their bands. There was marching 
 and counter-marching; huzzaing and flag-flaunting; 
 and a showering from female Slumptown of wreaths 
 and bouquets. A traveling menagerie, adroitly ar 
 ranged for, excited to a higher pitch the interest of the* 
 populace. 
 
 There was to be a "mass meeting," a presentation, 
 and a barbecue during the day, and at night a torch 
 light procession. A platform in an adjacent grove, 
 decorated with banners, upon which were inscribed 
 inspiriting watchwords and appeals, was surrounded, in 
 due course, by the multitude, which was rigorously 
 excluded from an inclosure containing hastily con 
 structed tables of rough deal, destined to receive great 
 lumps of beef and pork cut from the spitted carcasses. 
 A corpulent gentleman with a moist and red face, at 
 the appointed time, elbowed forward among magnates 
 of the day, newspaper reporters, and a swarm of 
 political fry, who were upon the stage, and proposed 
 an organization: 
 
 "I nominate, fellow-citizens, for president of this 
 meeting, Algernon Sidney Briggs, esquire. Those 
 who are in favor, will say, ' Aye.' " 
 
 There was a general affirmance; whereupon the
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 119 
 
 names of sixty-four vice-presidents and thirty-two 
 secretaries were similarly submitted. Then, Alger 
 non Sidney Briggs, esquire, introduced Expectation 
 Biles, esquire, to read the resolutions, which were very 
 full, and very fierce. 
 
 Expectation Biles, esquire, was to one of his auditors 
 a new appearance of an old acquaintance. Bradley 
 had met him on the Paris boulevards and in the cafes, 
 usually with profuse Americans, whom Biles contrived 
 to know, and, perhaps, to serve, for the gains that 
 flowed from their generosity ; the nature of Biles being 
 parasitic but not prodigal. And here he was again on 
 the Slumptown boards, as self-important and bustling 
 as ever. In the many parts played by Expectation, 
 one consistent result was always held in view Biles. 
 And thus it was that opinions and there are people 
 of leisure who will form opinions of anybody differed 
 concerning him ; one observer designating him a blus 
 terer, and another insisting that he was a sycophant 
 and a sneak. Biles was possessed of a passion to 
 write for the ephemeral press, and for its sort of scrib 
 ble his was the best of styles, florid and floaty, which 
 never took the reader's breath below the surface. His 
 translations, conspicuously claimed in the head-lines, 
 of French tales for the Sunday newspapers, were among 
 his happiest efforts, and gave harmless satisfaction 
 to the milliners' apprentices. As a Secretary of the 
 Central Kepublican Concatenation, pitying the inca 
 pacity of his associates, and fearing for the national 
 welfare, he appropriated the correspondence list, and 
 magnified the cause by means of this patriotic larceny
 
 120 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 in an epistolary profusion over his own proper signa 
 ture. In the enumeration of his "literary distinctions/' 
 to employ the language of his friend "Wriggle of the 
 Bugle, his famous Keports of the decision in the great 
 Split Pea case, (Podde vs. Pulz,) and on the interdiction 
 of the East-Manse Review by the Anchorsmiths' Athe- 
 neum, must not be omitted. As an inventor, too, he 
 was conceded a reputation for having given to the culi 
 nary world an improved gridiron, and to the agricul 
 tural a patented double-action dog churn. He had 
 been a conservative, but was become, since it was 
 likely the political tangle would untwist that way, a 
 high-seasoned Republican, with his own little reel to 
 make fast to the public skein ; though he held also the 
 "popular-sovereignty" knot while there was any doubt. 
 He believed, on moral principle, in empty treasuries 
 for parties out of power, as preventive of corruption; 
 so his nummary contributions to the Concatenation 
 were small and infrequent. Articles of utility, indeed, 
 he held to be innocent gifts, and he presented to the 
 club a new coal-scuttle of galvanized iron on the day 
 after the party carried the State election by a large 
 majority. Expectation Biles, esquire, read the reso 
 lutions. 
 
 Several distinguished "speakers" from abroad ad 
 dressed the assemblage, among whom were the " War 1 - 
 horse of the West," and the celebrated "Converted 
 Blacksmith." The latter, having renounced the errors 
 of Democracy, was on a mission for the propagation of 
 the true faith, and he made a horse-shoe with imposing 
 exactness at a forge beside the stage to authenticate his
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 121 
 
 vulcanian pretensions Expectation Biles, esquire, offi 
 ciating spasmodically at the bellows. 
 
 But the most interesting event of the day was the 
 presentation to Senator Sparhawk of an exhumed 
 cannon-ball, which, after having lain imbedded for 
 three-quarters of a century in the memorable soil of 
 Hickory Hollow, had been produced by a curious well- 
 digger to serve as a public testimony of that eminent 
 statesman's efforts in the cause of compromise and con 
 ciliation. The ceremony, though simple, was im 
 pressive. Mr. Mordeoai Dabster, aglow with inspira 
 tion and "Bourbon," made the presentation speech. 
 He was elegantly attired in a blue coat, scarlet waist 
 coat, and trousers of a delicate shade of sorrel, made 
 somewhat scanty to display a crural symmetry, since 
 Tully himself would have been nothing without legs. 
 At either side of him, mounted upon candle-boxes, 
 were his friend Biles and the editor of the Palladium, 
 upholding at much personal inconvenience the national 
 flag in the most classic canopy style. Close by, and 
 facing him, stood the Senator, practising with little 
 success an appearance of meek indifference. At the 
 critical moment, when the silence of expectancy was 
 most profound, Dabster began. 
 
 "Venerable Man! When I behold this surging sea of 
 upturned faces; in each eye the fire of moral dignity 
 and civil freedom; when I contemplate the memories 
 summoned by this consecrated place; when I see, in 
 limey, trooping ghosts of heroes clad in the battle 
 panoply of other days ; or behold Liberty herself, divine 
 goddess, lingering fondly to inhale these Hickory Hoi- 
 11
 
 122 THE HOKTONS; OR 
 
 low breezes, I find it difficult to realize fully the sub 
 limity of the scene; and in this dilemma I expect I am 
 not solitary and alone. 
 
 Sir: What shifting spectacles are presented in the 
 panorama of our history! First, the aboriginal red 
 man of the forest, with his bow, his wampum, and his 
 bark canoe. The startled deer flies no more before his 
 unerring arrow; his withering whoop rouses no more 
 the echoes of the swamp ; his picturesque prow has long 
 since ceased to glide over the glassy bosom of the lake. 
 In the beautiful language of your fair SI amp town bard, 
 in her poem of the ' Disconcerted Tomahawk,' 
 
 Like a girdled tree in the arms of the blast, 
 Wainpanocussit has shrieked his last !' 
 
 Suddenly the kaleidoscope changes. Serried ranks 
 of marshalled veterans appear. The mercenary min 
 ions of despotism these, and above them floats the red 
 cross of Saint George. From our rock-bound, ocean- 
 lashed shore our country's eagle descried the approach 
 ing host, and screamed defiance. Then, from valley, 
 and mountain, and the gloomy recesses of the wilder 
 ness, our forefathers rushed to the tented field, to the 
 inspiriting strains of 'Yankee Doodle.' Senator! this 
 ball was shot from a British gun ; and is a trophy of that 
 perilous and immortal time. (Sensation.) Cherish it 
 in your heart of hearts ! Bequeath it unimpaired to 
 your remotest posterity I 
 
 Time^rolled on, and there came another tussle with 
 the presumptions tyrant of the seas. History will 
 tell you, sir, how it eventuated. In defeat; after the
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 123 
 
 smoke and carnage of battle; by flood and field; 
 England lowered her haughty crest, crowned with a 
 thousand triumphs, to the Young Giant of the West, 
 aching with his strength. But, if we are a great and 
 glorious, we are a modest people, and will not exult. 
 Though we can be cantankerous, thanks to our enlignt- 
 ened institutions, we are not conceited. 3STor, although. 
 a military, are we a rileable people. Terrible in our 
 anger, and full of poison as a mad bull of the prairie 
 innoculated with rattlesnake bites, we are slow to 
 wrath. 
 
 But it is also the triumphs of peace which we are 
 assembled this day to celebrate. We are here to 
 rejoice that our boasted heritage is to be rescued from 
 the debauched, demoralized, diabolical, and rapacious 
 party to which we are opposed. That miserable 
 conglomeration, too long permitted to prey upon a 
 confiding people, is destined to simmer out before the 
 irresistible onslaught of the great Eepublican host. 
 The craven who contents himself with skulking now, 
 instead of breathing the air of God's blue welkin, 
 might manage to exist, and to fish out of the miasma 
 of his own degradation a disgusting subsidy, like the 
 rag-pickers who filch a livelihood from the alleys and 
 sidewalks of life, but he will go down to posterity 
 iinmourne.d and unsung. 
 
 Fellow Citizens! The bugles of our advance are 
 sounding to-day in Slumptown! Our slogan rouses 
 to-day the echoes of a continent! Hickory Hollow 
 shouts to the great lakes, and from their joyful bosoms 
 bounds the patriotic thunder to the absolute and
 
 121 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 applauding sea! Europe, benighted Europe, hears it 
 in her Tuileries and Saint James's Park. The hour is 
 come where is the man? (cries of 'Sparhawk!' 
 'There he stands, old hoss!' and tremendous cheers.) 
 For the auspicious result which awaits us, no one, 
 Senator! has labored more efficaciously than yourself. 
 A nation honors you; a nation too long betrayed, 
 but never dismayed. When it has rid itself of the 
 foul faction which oppresses it, in the day of its 
 supremacy it will remember and reward its Spar- 
 hawk!" 
 
 The eloquence of Dabster stirred the pulses of the 
 multitude, and when it culminated in the peroration 
 the applause was uproarious. The bands played "Hail 
 to the Chief!" and the Senator responded. The popular 
 estimate of the distinguished gentleman's oratory was 
 not flattering; in comparison of the brilliant rhetoric 
 which had preceded it, it appeared very tame and 
 common-place, and hardly superior to the talk of an 
 educated and sensible person. There was in it no im 
 passioned invective, mellifluent portrayal, nor apposite 
 imagery, like Dabster's. This man who sits in a curule 
 chair and is oracular in the Capitol, follows Dabster's 
 pinions on these poor pin-feathers! 
 
 As Bradley was passing to his room in the Slossorn 
 House, a human head, cautiously protruded into the 
 hall from a half-opened door, attracted his attention. 
 At a glance he recognized the globous summit of 
 Scroggs, and saluted him. 
 
 "You here!" 
 
 "The very man 1 wanted come in," said Bartimeus
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 125 
 
 " I didn't see you at the meeting." 
 
 " No : the fact is, -I'm not expected till the night train, 
 when they have arranged to serenade me, so I keep 
 close." 
 
 "And very judicious of you not to draw off the 
 enthusiasm prematurely," assented Bradley. 
 
 "I'm preparing a speech for the occasion, and I can't 
 make it suit me. Lord Brougham, I am told, recom 
 mends writing out your speeches beforehand. A deal 
 of trouble to take, but its a duty, even if there is no 
 money in it. How did Dabster come off was he 
 pathetic?" 
 
 "There was more of the sentimental than the tender 
 in his harangue, I think," said Bradley. 
 
 " If you can spare the time to look over this rough 
 copy, and touch it up a little, you will greatly oblige 
 me. Supply any flourishes that strike you you 
 know. I prefer a plain, fundamental style, without 
 many big words; though you may put as much fire in 
 it as you please," said Scroggs. 
 
 "Some of the Demosthenian .vehemence?" asked 
 Bradley, laughing. 
 
 "I dunno," replied Scroggs, dubiously. "Demos 
 thenes might say what he chose; there was no scrub 
 reporters to make fun by telegraph in the morning 
 newspapers." 
 
 "I'll take it and do what I can, willingly," said 
 Bradley. 
 
 "Half a minute!" cried Scroggs into the passage. 
 "Couldn't you contrive a slight touch of the pathetic?" 
 
 11*
 
 126 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTEE XY. 
 
 The harbor-bay was clear as glass, 
 So smoothly it was strewn ! 
 And on the bay the moonlight laj, 
 And the shadow of the moon. 
 
 THE ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 \T was one of the last of the night excui 
 sions by water in the season, and upon 
 the ample deck of the Arrow there was 
 assembled a polite company. The brac 
 ing temperature of early autumn, moon 
 light and music, produced an exhilara 
 tion which manifested itself in the mer 
 riment of the promenaders, and the 
 sprightly measures of the dance. The 
 dusky waiters in white jackets, emerging 
 from darker back -grounds with trays of ices, grinned 
 their enjoyment over their gelid offerings. Even the 
 oouderous man, who flung himself upon the chain-box 
 ^n emergencies to give the boat a list, and who passed 
 a life of meditation and shirt-sleeves, relaxed to a taci 
 turn approval, and looked on. 
 
 "Yes, the ripple's gleam is pretty, to be sure," said 
 Doctor Pledget; repeating sotto voce, 
 
 " 'And on the bay the moonlight lay, 
 And the shadow of the moon.'
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 127 
 
 Had we only the Mellen here to help Miss Horton 
 outsparkle it! I owe neuralgia a special spite, and 
 shall take care to accumulate the aconite in the very 
 next case." 
 
 "We must be content, doctor, to take our bliss as 
 the Fates allot it; and I confess it comes in pleasant 
 parcels," said Bloker, glancing at Emily Horton. 
 
 "I venerate wisdom, for it was my grandam's dear 
 old lady! there was something a little foxish in her 
 knack at undervaluing a grapy altitude for the rest, I 
 think, if it's not immoral, that water Mellens are sea 
 sonable," replied the doctor. 
 
 "How fresh a smell of the soil the breeze brings," 
 said Emily. 
 
 "I believe few climates have weather which sur 
 passes that of our first two fall months. You have got 
 past the summer's glare and languor, which make you 
 think too much of your bodies, the air is a tonic, and 
 you are pervaded by a sans souci feeling," remarked 
 Mr. Horton. 
 
 "Apropos of that," said the doctor, "I got a letter 
 to-day, from a friend in England, which contained a 
 request for a box of our October leaves. I sent her 
 some last year, and she thought them painted. I wrote 
 her that the artist was a Pre-Eaphaelite, and that the 
 coloring was laid on in oxygen." 
 
 "They will make pretty head-dresses," said Emily. 
 
 "O yes; Bull will drop from his short-horns to 
 patronize the glory of our Indian Summer in all its 
 bright diversities as seen by London gaslight," grum 
 bled the doctor.
 
 128 THE HOETONS; OR 
 
 "Your barren leaves, like barren lives, will don a 
 gay wardrobe but 'tis a stale moral," said Emily. 
 
 "Do you see! there's somebody overboard," ex 
 claimed the doctor, who sat next to the rail. 
 
 There was a wild cry on the forward deck of, "Stop 
 the boat!" and general confusion. The pilot's bell 
 tinkled peremptorily, and the engines ceased their 
 , motion. The headway of the vessel, however, could 
 not be instantly checked, and some time was consumed 
 in lowering a boat. In the track of moonlight astern a 
 swimmer could be plainly seen, seemingly hampered 
 by a burden, but bearing bravely up. It was calm, 
 and the tardy rescue was in time, and just in time. A 
 black waiter had saved the boy of the black cook. 
 That was all; and the engineer, having expressed him 
 self with an oath, started the wheels again. The cap 
 tain did not swear, but he was very peppery at the out 
 rage. 
 
 " A pretty piece of presumption, I admit, in a fellow 
 who is only a vulgar fraction of the curse of Ham; 
 yet, after all, the rascal plunged for the drowning lad 
 something like a white man," observed Pledget to the 
 incensed skipper. 
 
 "I don't mean to say here isn't a worthy fellow, but 
 a New-Foundland dog would have done it," said 
 Bloker. 
 
 "The better for the dog, then. Perhaps, though, the 
 dog practises an instinct without estimating values or 
 chances. The dog will go overboard as soon for a 
 duck as for Dives, and we wouldn't, you know, my 
 dear sir. The ethnologists who trace our resemblances
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 129 
 
 in ebony to an improved gorilla with an exceptional 
 brain-knob, don't ascribe to them aquatic tendencies, 
 that I hear while they justly insist on the whole heel, 
 and even insinuate the plantigrade, they do not warrant 
 webbed toes." 
 
 "0! a very creditable act," said Bloker, observing 
 the ladies to be much interested; "Nature sounds us 
 all with the same plummet, and it will dip deep in 
 the dark. It would be quite right for somebody to 
 start a subscription." 
 
 " Let Doctor Pledget tell us a merry story to calm 
 our nerves after this horrid fright, and then, Mr. 
 Bloker, you can collect a purse." 
 
 "Yes, yes; give us a composing draught for our 
 nerves a draught on your imagination, doctor a 
 story I" was the cry in concert. 
 
 "Story, my beautiful and beloved, I have none to 
 tell. If a little authentic biography would suffice ." 
 
 "That would be rare, indeed!" they exclaimed. 
 
 " Then you shall have a narrative of the sufferings of 
 
 MY NERVOUS PATIENT. 
 
 "My friend and patient, Mr. Jeptha Bullwrinkle, 
 was a bachelor. Whether he had ever solicited or 
 been sought, I know not; I am too incurious to pry 
 in the private cabinets of my acquaintance for stray 
 arrows from the quiver of the beetle-headed son of the 
 Paphian. After this confession I need hardly ass are 
 you that I am regarded as a bungling charlatan by the 
 ladies of our Dorcas society. When I first saw my 
 friend Bullwrinkle I had been hastily summoned to
 
 130 THE HOKTOXS; OR 
 
 visit him at midnight in my professional character he 
 was a mild-mannered person, on the hither side of fifty, 
 with a large bald spot on the crown of his head, 
 restrained leg-of-mutton whiskers of a faded sanguine 
 hue, and an aquiline /nose ; acd he was a bachelor. It 
 was in the cholera time. He felt uneasy, and judi 
 ciously dreaded spasms. I prescribed with appropriate 
 promptitude. At my next visit he informed me that 
 he had detected the odor of asafcetida in the physic. 
 Had he not recovered, this narration would be impos 
 sible. 
 
 My friend Bullwrinkle hated noise and novelty. His 
 grandfather, by the maternal side, had been blown up 
 in the explosion of a powder mill, and had involuntarily 
 introduced a new sensation into the family. There was 
 also a tradition that a near collateral relative, an 
 Arkansas gentleman of some property, had lost with 
 chivalric resignation an ear by the teeth of a fellow- 
 citizen for declining to vote the Democratic ticket. 
 Whatever influence these incidents may have exerted 
 upon the characters of the Bull wrinkles, it was com 
 monly observed that they were either all lion or all 
 hare, and that there was nothing hybrid about them. 
 So, there was an aeronautic Bullwrinkle, oftener com 
 plimented for courage than veracity; and a marine 
 Bullwrinkle, who for moral and physical toughness 
 might have competed with Captain Kyd on his own 
 quarter-deck, 
 
 ' when he sailed.' 
 
 The reticent and retiring members of the family were 
 best described by negatives. They were never pro-
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 131 
 
 claimed " public-spirited citizens" in the blare of news 
 paper trumpeting; they never were among the "dis 
 tinguished gentlemen" who consented to address 
 political meetings; they did not affect the militia. 
 
 "Within a year after my nocturnal introduction to my 
 patient, his estimable uncle, Hezekiah Bullwrinkle, 
 died at the Italian town of Avellino of a slow fever, 
 which was aggravated, it was thought, by unpleasant 
 telluric rumblings and a sudden eruption of ashes from 
 Mount Vesuvius. He bequeathed to his nephew Jeptha, 
 in the testamentary language, "because of the strong 
 sense which he exhibited when a youth in accompany 
 ing me to fish in the country on the occasion of the 
 
 arrival at of General Jackson and Black-Hawk, in 
 
 their fussy tour of 1833," his spacious mansion in our 
 pleasant city, its library, pictures, and furniture. 
 
 When I next visited my patient he was installed in 
 his newly-acquired domicile. I found him in dressing- 
 gown and slippers superintending the placing of some 
 padded double-doors. He seemed in good spirits, and 
 cheerfully observed that there was a case of concussion 
 of the brain near by, and that they had laid the street 
 with tan the previous day. Eemarking that he was 
 glad to notice in the tables of mortality an absence of 
 contagious diseases, but that it was early yet for small 
 pox, he invited me to partake of luncheon. When I 
 had regaled on cold tongue and a temperate glass of 
 Madeira, and was whisking with the napkin the crumbs 
 from my waistcoat, chatting the while in a contented 
 tone, he interrupted me with a request that I would 
 tell him, after auscultation, if I thought his heart a
 
 132 THE HORTON3; OR 
 
 little wrong; and gravely appealed to my candor. I 
 solemnly assured him that his cardiac mechanism 
 worked well, and recommended him to the country for 
 a taste of the fine autumn weather. 
 
 It was in February that I was again summoned to 
 see him. He was bedridden with catarrh, and quite ill. 
 When I asked him for the history of his sickness, and 
 he replied with indignant energy, "desdeeple." I 
 thought him a little delirious. As, however, he in 
 sisted on an architectural origin for his ailment, I 
 requested an explanation. The congregation of the 
 church of Mount Zoar, it seemed, had quarreled about 
 the qualifications and orthodoxy of a new pastor, whom 
 a majority of the magnates had called to its pulpit. 
 The contention was of that unappeasable kind character 
 istic of differences in the same communion. After two 
 injunctions had been obtained from the courts, and all 
 the iniquities of the deacons who took sides in the con 
 troversy had been made to appear, the flock separated. 
 The seceders, intent on the erection of a new church, 
 hit upon a lot of ground opposite to my friend Bull- 
 wrinkle's, and bought it. Now, here was a carpenter's 
 shop, which, as a precautionary measure against racket 
 and fire, my patient rented. It chanced that the good 
 people of the Mount Zoar exodus had riveted their 
 purchase before he got wind of their preference. His 
 chagrin thereat w*,s great, but unavailing; all that 
 remained to him was barren invective, and a view of 
 the progress of the enemy. There was at first a hope, 
 which sprang from the emptiness of the seceders' 
 treasury, but it was illusive; the society set up a plea
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 133 
 
 of persecution, and the mites, offerings, and subscrip 
 tions increased amain. Then, there was an obstinate 
 irruption of water, which flooded the cellarage and 
 threatened the foundation; but the offshot Zoarites got 
 a patent pump, and dug below the sponge. A stuccoed 
 structure rose, in brown and speckled ugliness, like some 
 huge fossil toad of the Pre- Adamite world. There 
 were minor disputes concerning a clock and the color 
 of the interior, and there was a strong party against an 
 organ, 'but all disagreement ceased at the steeple. It 
 was unanimously determined that it should illustrate 
 superior doctrinal soundness, and exceed in altitude 
 that of the parent church full twenty feet. It was of 
 fragile construction, and put up rapidly. As it 
 ascended by daily jumps, toward the sailing birds, 
 apprehension entered into the mind of my friend. 
 The spire, at length, was finished, and it swerved 
 from the perpendicular! My patient's perturbation 
 gushed into protest. He introduced the matter to the 
 notice of the grand-jury, by which sagacious body it 
 was overlooked. He wrote alarms to the newspapers 
 concerning it, and was answered by counter-communi 
 cations of blended denial and sarcasm. When storms 
 howled and tempests blew, the steeple shook. My 
 friend Bullwrinkle expected to be indecorously buried, 
 on some windy night, in its ruins. It was while out- 
 watching, in thin apparel at an open window, the con 
 stellations, and trembling at every blast from the un 
 ruly West, that he became a subject for deliberation 
 and drugs. 
 
 Jeptha Bullwrinkle let his city residence to a flour- 
 12
 
 134 THE HOBTONS; OR 
 
 ishing biscuit-baker, who had sprung, with the agility 
 of an Egyptian frog, out of the kneading-trough, 
 and whose three unmarried daughters in ringlets 
 were possessed with cravings for fashionable society. 
 Gathering his penates, he retreated to a lonely dis 
 trict of country on the Chesapeake, the chief produc 
 tions of which were intermittent fever and canvas-back 
 ducks, and where he owned a sterile property. Here 
 he wooed retirement, and dallied with its charms. But 
 fate was stronger than the rural fascination. As he sat, 
 one day, on the stump of a hill-side chestnut, and sur 
 veyed in a meditative mood the expanse of cattail in 
 the marsh below, a stranger approached and accosted 
 him. 
 
 "Don't know me, it seems? A Bull wrinkle your 
 cousin Ignivomous, author of ' Satanhoof : A Story of 
 the Dark Ages.' " 
 
 "Of course; how dull I am. Yet you are changed, 
 and I did not dream of seeing you a pleasure alto 
 gether unexpected." 
 
 "I have run down here with an object; to be frank, 
 I want to make a sensation. I have a new book in. 
 press, 'The Cadet of Carthagena, or the Terror of tho 
 Spanish Main,' and I am on a mysterious disappear 
 ance." 
 
 "A what?" 
 
 "You don't see it, eh! It will be in all the journals 
 of the country to-morrow telegraphed everywhere. 
 'An inscrutable mystery! Foul play suspected! That 
 accomplished gentleman and popular author, Igni 
 vomous Bullwrinkle, esq., has been unaccountably
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 135 
 
 missing since ' and so on. The mayor will probably 
 offer a reward, and all the detectives will be apprised, 
 and furnished with a description of my appearance. I 
 was shot at only three months ago you might have 
 chanced upon the item, for it was widely copied." 
 
 "Shot at! Bless me, how was that?" 
 
 " It was the result of a business arrangement with 
 Scurfee Lake, the artist. I gave his 'Descent of Pluto 
 with Proserpine' a column puff, and in return he put a 
 bullet through my hat at a lonely place among the 
 rocks, and then testified to the occurrence as a naked 
 fact apart from the pistoler's personality. Confirms 
 public suspicion twig ?" 
 
 My friend Bullwrinkle went to bed that night a 
 panic-stricken man. His penetralia were no longer 
 sacred ; his prospect, lately so serene, was clouded with 
 terrors. His guest would be advertised tracked, and 
 detectives would swarm upon him. He himself would 
 be published for complicity; perhaps arrested. Mount 
 Zoar would be jubilant. He would be deposed from 
 his position of vice-president of the Numismatic So 
 ciety. His days became spiritless, his nights restless, 
 and his meals insipid. Even autorial readings of 
 "Satanhoof" failed to refresh him. Finally, at break 
 of day,,, when Mr. Ignivomous Bullwrinkle was in a 
 Salubrious slumber, he left a hastily written note, and 
 fled the country. 
 
 He fled the country for such security as might 
 still be found in a city street. He took comfortable 
 apartments remote from his old neighborhood. For 
 awhile the current of his life was placid in its flow ;
 
 136 THE HOHTONS; OR 
 
 there was nothing more serious than a brief- fit of 
 neuralgia, or a slight decline in stocks, to disturb his 
 composure. But evil days were at hand. His landlord 
 was a politician, whose time was generously given to 
 the affairs of the nation and the municipality. These, 
 under the stimulation of oft-repeated "nips," and ward- 
 house and kerbstone polemics, he contributed to settle. 
 There was wanted an open-handed candidate to com 
 plete the ticket for the common-council, and Jeptha 
 Bullwrinkle was inveigled into an acceptance of the 
 nomination; which was easily "engineered," with a 
 profusion of whiskey, in the back-room of Mr. Terence 
 O'Flaherty. Then came the annoyance of a canvass; 
 a daily depletion of the purse, unseasonable conferences 
 with free-and-easy "roughs," plotting and counter-plot 
 ting, and an importunate mob one night at his street 
 door, who, to his speechless terror, demanded an har 
 angue, and were only diverted from their purpose by 
 a liberal banquet hastily supplied in the parlors. The 
 day of election arrived, and he proceeded, in a state of 
 tremulous dignity, to the precinct poll to deposit his 
 ballot. He took his place in the queue, and was 
 replying blandly to a short-haired, thick-necked citi 
 zen in a red flannel shirt, who with beery fervor 
 solicited him to "vote straight along and go in for 
 constertootional liberty," when a cur, which was hard- 
 pressed by a pursuing crowd, suddenly turned the 
 corner upon him, and with a vindictive snap at his 
 obstructing- legs, glided away through the scattered 
 throng. 
 
 They said the dog was mad. They profanely
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 137 
 
 bawled his rabidness, and attested it by his capture 
 and execution. I was absent at a country consulta 
 tion, and my friend's summons did not at once reach 
 me. When I returned, I found him in agony of mind, 
 surrounded by sympathizing acquaintances with the 
 woe and resignation of distinct and several funerals in 
 their faces. Water he abhorred ; they had even taken 
 away the suggestive washstand and foot-bath. There 
 was no lack of advice regarding the treatment of the 
 case, though the majority agreed that recovery was 
 impossible. One believed in lobelia and steaming; 
 and another in homoeopathy and two tumblers; and a 
 persistent old lady, with more than Roman firmness in 
 her aspect, insisted on giving a bark. I dismissed the 
 company with brief ceremony, and was defied by a 
 parting look from the Roman of such "grim appear 
 ance" that it might have lineally descended from that 
 of Coriolanus when he met Aufidius at Antium. A 
 scrutiny of my patient's condition satisfied me that it 
 was not hydrophobia with which I had to deal, but 
 rather .an approach to hysteria. After some prelimi 
 nary soothing, I dexterously recalled to his memory 
 the salutary potion which I had exhibited to him in 
 the cholera time. It struck his vein, and he declared 
 that he thought it the saving remedy. Immediately 
 I ordered it to be prepared by a neighboring apothe 
 cary, and waited to administer it; keeping my patient's 
 mind the while free from fancies by a continued strain 
 of discourse. He took the drink at a gulp, without 
 the faintest quiver of a spasm; and I left him, having 
 much diminished his solicitude for the result. He was 
 12*
 
 138 THE HOETONS; OR 
 
 out again in time to receive condolements on the 
 election of his competitor to the common-council, and 
 to pay the price of a surprise-serenade, kindly arranged 
 by his landlord, which was never performed, for the 
 celebration of his own. 
 
 "The man recovered of the bite; 
 The dog it was that died." 
 
 Nevertheless, his sympathizing acquaintances re 
 solved that he was far from being safe. Appearances, 
 they said, as they shook their heads ominously at each 
 other, were deceptive. The poison virus they de 
 lighted to term it they declared would lie latent in 
 the human system for years, to be unexpectedly 
 developed to the fatal fit. They were curious to know, 
 if my patient felt, at times, an itching in the suspected 
 part ; if he was troubled with crawling sensations on a 
 ferry-boat; or recoiled at the sudden showing of a 
 horse's teeth. Those possessed of delicacy of feeling 
 would habitually inquire when they met him, in a 
 sepulchral voice, whether he was getting over it? 
 were there any symptoms? Others said that he would 
 have to wait for assurance seven years, when, for 
 better or for worse, his constitution would undergo a 
 crisis. A few pestered him with congratulations. To 
 travel was the only way left to escape this inquisitional 
 and compassionate persecution, and my patient deter 
 mined to visit Europe. 
 
 The procuring of his passage- ticket was succeeded 
 by a period of irresolution. He had too lightly con 
 sidered the perils of the deep, and, inopportunely, a
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 139 
 
 steamer had just gone to pieces in a Newfoundland fog. 
 While he was reconsidering his purpose, an official 
 missive was handed him. He cut the envelope and 
 extracted a fresh -minted commission which designated 
 him a brigadier-general. He came at once to a 
 decision, and sailed the following day. He grasped 
 my hand at parting, as we stumbled among a chaos 
 of luggage upon the steamer's deck. 'My dear 
 friend,' he said, 'I shall remember you. We shall 
 ramble together, though apart; the quaint old streets 
 of the Flemish towns, and behold together Mont Blanc 
 rise out of his 'silent sea of pines' with a morning 
 greeting to his sovereign the sun. No I I shall never 
 forget your kindness and your skill; and you do not 
 think that possibly the dog was mad?' 
 
 When I last heard of Jeptha Bull wrinkle, he was 
 drinking still champagne and studying the pictures at 
 Florence." 
 
 The dance went blithely on. Bloker and Emily 
 Horton sat apart, he beating time with his fingers to 
 the music and making occasionally a sterile remark 
 on the saltatory scene, which she acknowledged in a 
 monosyllable, withdrawing for the moment her gaze 
 from the vivid and frequent flashes of lightning which 
 played along a bank of cloud risen in the west. 
 
 "Do you know that lady with the rosebud in her 
 fine black hair ?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "They call her Julia. I noticed her earnestly con 
 gratulating our hero of the night. The generous
 
 140 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 emotions show fittingly in a fair woman. Without 
 compassion, for instance, I think a woman's nature 
 is incomplete." 
 
 "The sensibilities, I suppose, were intended for 
 human nature, irrespective of sex," said Emily. 
 
 "To us, the rough requirements of our artificial life 
 well nigh prohibit them. And there is less fine feeling 
 than there seems. The world is full of spurious 
 philanthropy, put on to jockey the world. There's 
 our friend Pledget, now, who isn't a hypocrite, because 
 he is a satirist." 
 
 "If a man's heart is not calloused by covetousness, I 
 think his rougher and wider experience must daily 
 educate it in benevolence, even if it loses in suscepti 
 bility. 
 
 'He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain.' 
 
 A man knows more of the uncertainties of life, the 
 strength of temptations, and the fallibility of opinions." 
 
 "It is a melancholy admission, but I fear the com 
 merce of the world inevitably makes us selfish," said 
 Bloker. 
 
 "It is not strange that weakness and want, which are 
 needy and apprehensive, should be selfish; but self- 
 reliance, which is full and fearless, should be liberal." 
 
 "Some people with no conscience to speak of, are 
 yet too proud to be stingy," said Bloker. 
 
 "I suppose that in bad men of capacity, penurious- 
 ness is sometimes overcome by self-esteem, or by a 
 more refined selfishness which would escape the 
 miserly cares." 
 
 "Yes, there is a, luxury in doing good!" exclaimed
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 141 
 
 Bloker, with sudden enthusiasm. "Perhaps it isn't 
 modest, but as a bit of experience, I may say that now 
 and then I try an open hand at disinterestedness, after 
 business hours that sort of thing comes in the way of 
 every man of the world, you know and, at the least, I 
 fancy I find afterwards better claret, and more cheerful 
 company at the club." 
 
 Bloker's tone of composure and impersonality, as if 
 he were stating a curious discovery in natural science, 
 was a triumph of audacity. And what was the mean 
 ing of his deference for Emily Horton ? Was it any 
 thing akin to love, or was it even a strong liking, 
 which prompted him to prepare his way to the position 
 of a suitor? Conjecture might have ventured in seve 
 ral directions. With good management, Mr. Horton's 
 estate, heavily encumbered as it was, could be freed^ 
 and would then become of great value. There was a 
 love of domination in the man, and a capability of a 
 keen enjoyment of conquest after repulses. Perhaps, 
 sordidly shrewd, he would not disdain to employ a 
 virtuous and accomplished wife as a shield for his own 
 shortcomings. Who can tell? He assailed the lady 
 of his desire perseveringly, and yet not with over- 
 boldness. He invested alike in his approaches, her 
 moral convictions, her filial affection, and her personal 
 tastes. His dissembling was various; sometimes trans 
 parent, but generally managed with tact. He was not 
 so clumsy as to pretend to be severely virtuous, and, 
 thereby reaching too high, to overreach himself. His 
 heart, as he displayed it, was a well-arranged organ of
 
 142 TTTE HOKTONS; OR 
 
 the conventional consistence a respectable hollow 
 muscle not extra pulpy. 
 
 The suppressed rumbling of thunder, which for the 
 last half-hour had proclaimed the approach of a storm, 
 was succeeded by a startling crash directly overhead. 
 Then came a sudden burst of wind, which forced the 
 steamer to heel. When that was spent, there was a 
 minute or two of calm, during which the only sounds 
 were the straining of the machinery and the plunging 
 of the boat through the ruffled water. A few large 
 drops of rain, shot pattering upon the deck and hissing 
 into the tide, followed. Another great explosion, 
 lengthened in reverberations then others in shorten 
 ing intervals and all the tones of the gathered gust 
 pealed in exultant diapason along the gleaming vault 
 of heaven. 
 
 The storm had settled to a steady rain when the 
 Arrow reached her pier. 
 
 ""Cab! carriage, sir?" 
 
 There was a small supply of vehicles for the com 
 pany, and Doctor Pledget, who lingered, was cut off 
 from his companions by the interposition of a stout 
 lady terrified from a rival chaise." 
 
 "0 no, the old lady needn't git out by no means. 
 Let the gent in, too; don't you see he's standin' in the 
 rain. There's precious little danger, as they ain't oats, 
 of their being run away with!" from a sarcastic cha 
 rioteer. 
 
 2 Keep the place, ma'am, and I'll find another some 
 where," said the doctor, in reply to an offer to vacate it. 
 
 But the carriages that remained were all filled to the
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 143 
 
 boxes, and literally and figuratively there was a dull 
 prospect. Just then a trap clattered around the corner 
 gaslight down the street. 
 
 "In time to take you home, sir!" exclaimed the 
 driver, in a rather patronizing tone, seeing an umbrel- 
 laless old gentleman with a west-end look alone on the 
 wharf at midnight. 
 
 "But, my friend, you have a fare already," said the 
 doctor, looking into the coach. 
 
 "Plenty of room, sir; it's only a gentleman with a 
 telescope." 
 
 "A what?" asked the doctor, in some perturbation. 
 He knew he smelled whiskey, and thought he saw a 
 carbine. 
 
 "Mr. Smithers, who I took up at the 'Salutation;' 
 the gent what shows the heavenly bodies," explained 
 the cabman. 
 
 The short colloquy aroused the astronomer from his 
 slumber, and he demanded peremptorily the cause of 
 the delay 
 
 "Hallo I what's broke ?" 
 
 "Ony another passenger a comia' in, Mr. Smithers," 
 soothingly. 
 
 "Is he wet? I'm not going to have a drainage on to 
 my instrument, and that's the whole of it." 
 
 Finding that the doctor was not wringing-wet, 
 thanks to the shelter of a freight shed, the contem- 
 platist of the firmament admitted him. 
 
 "I beg your pardon, sir," said the man of science 
 when he could survey his companion in the light of a
 
 144 THE HOKTONS; OB 
 
 street lamp, "for seeming bumptious, being woke up 
 sudden these hack men are monstrous aggravatin'." 
 
 "Don't mention it," replied the doctor. 
 
 Mr. Smithers, he observed, was a spare man with 
 white whiskers, a nose which outglowed the dog- 
 star, and a bird-like way of carrying his head, which 
 might have been due either to the telescope or the 
 "Salutation," or, as was most likely, to a combination 
 of the two. 
 
 " These storms, which is frequent of late, spoils busi 
 ness, sir," said Smithers. 
 
 "By shutting up the planetary system?" 
 
 "Yes, sir. It cuts into Jupiter bad, which is in 
 season, and commands quite a run." 
 
 "We had a fine moon in the early part of the night," 
 said the doctor. 
 
 " That's stock, as I may say ; but the view was good. 
 The mountaineous surface was mottled as perfect as I 
 ever seen it the regular castor-oil in coffee." 
 
 "I suppose a good many people look?" 
 
 "When there's novelties, and the common shows 
 aint a-drawing : no fool a-blowing of himself up, or 
 walking on his head on a wire. It was a hard pull 
 through for Saturn, last winter, agin the horse-drama." 
 
 "I thought you always have Saturn in the ring," 
 said the doctor. 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! capital. A real professional joke. I must 
 remember that. I stop here, and if you'll take a nip 
 with me, there's a night-cellar a few doors off I can 
 recommend. Eather not, eh! Well evening, sir."
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 145 
 
 CHAPTEE XYI. 
 
 An orphan's curse would drag to Hell 
 A spirit from on high, 
 But oh! more horrible than that 
 Is a curse in a dead man's eye ! 
 
 THE ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 JTH aspect as serene as the morn 
 ing, which sent buoyant currents 
 along the nerves of men, Jacob 
 Bloker might have been seen, 
 next day, to ascend the steps of a 
 dwelling in a well-built quarter of 
 the city. Before the house stood 
 a physician's carriage, the owner 
 of which was leaving when the 
 merchant entered. 
 "Good-morning, Doctor Conium. How is your pa 
 tient?" 
 
 "Tarries; and that's all. Running down fast can't 
 survive a month." 
 
 "Think so," said Bloker, musingly. 
 "I am certain he's in the final dropsy. Splendid 
 day. ,By-the-by, how did you like Yitalizio t'other 
 night at the Academy? A superb contralto. Prefer 
 Coutrayerva! Don't do not agree with you. Ta ta." 
 13
 
 146 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 The half-darkened chamber into which Bloker was 
 ushered was scrupulously neat, and betokened the 
 presence of the searching eye and ready hand of affec 
 tion. In an easy chair, a wasted man past middle 
 life, with the puffed, doughy countenance indicative of 
 a diseased heart, was carefully pillowed. 
 
 "I'm glad to see you looking fresher this morning, 
 Mr. Ilowell. All you want is a few weeks of country 
 air at this bracing season, new milk, and farm-house 
 quiet," said Bloker. 
 
 "You surprise me. I'm sure I couldn't stand it," 
 replied the invalid, slowly. 
 
 "You would soon feel stronger, sir. Some of the 
 doctors now recommend the sea-side and bathing at 
 this season." 
 
 "I believe I shall not want anything long." 
 
 "You really must not give way to such fancies; they 
 injure you." 
 
 . The wife, forcing a cheerful look through the tears 
 that stood in her eyes, was about to leave the room, 
 when the sick man called to her: 
 
 "Sophy, give me the medicine before you go." 
 
 Her bosom heaved with a suppressed sigh, and her 
 hand trembled as she measured the drops. Then, when 
 he had swallowed the dose, she took the spoon and 
 lingered at his chair. Looking upon him fondly, and 
 with her fingers gently brushing back a lock of hair 
 upon his forehead, she said, 
 
 "His appetite grows better, and a great deal depends 
 on that, you know, sir. He eat quite a meal of tapioca 
 this morning;" and having arranged his pillows,
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 147 
 
 she went to endure a solitary grief at her household 
 labors. 
 
 After a pause, during which the sick man's troubled 
 thoughts writhed in his face, and the merchant sat 
 decorously playing with his watch- seals and gazing 
 upon a pattern in the carpet, the former spoke: 
 
 "I have sent for you, Mr. Bloker, to take a weight 
 off my mind. The doctor encourages me, but I know 
 that I cannot last long. Our old business relations 
 embolden me to ask a favor of you. In ten days my 
 time in this house will expire. I know you expect the 
 premises, and having warned me, if you insist, I cannot 
 stay; but I must honestly tell you that we have made 
 no preparation to move. Our means are straightened, 
 and when I go," and his voice faltered, "my poor wife 
 will have to live in a more narrow way." Here he 
 quite broke down; but added directly in a hurried 
 manner, as if he lacked nerve to utter the fear which 
 oppressed him, "If we move at the time fixed, we must 
 have a sale of the furniture, and, though I hope that 
 God would sustain me, I feel it is more than Sophy 
 could bear." 
 
 There was a minute's silence in the chamber before 
 Bloker composedly replied. 
 
 "Mr. Howell," he said, "I would like much to oblige 
 you for old acquaintance sake. We have had large, 
 and I trust mutually satisfactory dealings together, 
 running through many years. To be sure, I hold your 
 due-bill for a hundred dollars, but I shall not press it 
 against your household goods. There is a small fire 
 proof of yours at my place which will cover a part
 
 148 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 of the amount, and the remainder I forgive. But in 
 this business I cannot yield to my feelings. I have 
 arranged for some alterations in the house, and the 
 builders will be ready to begin in a fortnight. I am 
 sorry that I can't that it is impossible to accede to 
 your request." 
 
 " God's will be done I" exclaimed the invalid, faintly, 
 T as he closed his eyes. 
 
 There was a flickering of compassion in Bloker's face 
 as he surveyed his old associate, but he quickly 
 rallied. 
 
 " Mr. Howell, you mustn't be despondent. If Coni- 
 um encourages, you may rely upon it he has grounds. 
 If you want my carriage when you move, command it. 
 It is a quarter of an hour of 'Change, and I must be 
 there. I hope this fine weather will improve you 
 Good-bye." 
 
 It was the daily meridian of the mercantile congress, 
 and the hall was resonant with the buzz of traffic. 
 
 "There's Bloker," remarked one admirer of moral 
 goodness to another. " He made a big outside thing, 
 yesterday, on tallow got early news, somehow, of the 
 fall of Sevastapol, and sold in time." 
 
 " He's a sharp one, is Bloker," was the reply, liquor- 
 ishly emphasized, as the speaker followed with eyes 
 brim -full of esteem the advancing and sprucely attired 
 figure of that acute hero.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 149 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 Now the cock with lively din 
 Scatters the rear of darkness thin, 
 And to the stack, or the barn-door, 
 Stoutly struts his dames before: 
 Oft Ifst'ning how the hounds and horn 
 Cheerly rouse the slumb'ring morn, 
 From the side of some hoar hill, 
 Through the high-wood echoing shrill. 
 
 L' ALLEGRO. 
 
 HE sunrise prospect at The Cedars 
 of surrounding stubble fields and 
 woods garbed in russet, with here 
 and there the dogwood's red and the 
 dark green of the hemlock, was felt 
 to be very cheerly by Judge Bard- 
 leigh and Bradley Horton, as awaiting 
 breakfast in the crisp, appetizing air,; 
 they paced the grounds and accepted 
 happy auguries from the kitchen. 
 " See you the frost, Master Bradley ? This will be a 
 glorious day to trudge for rail. You must get into 
 stouter boots, for we shall find few dry places except 
 gravelly hill sides." 
 
 'You have such a powder-and-shot reputation, 
 13*
 
 150 THE HOBTONS; OR 
 
 judge, that I am confident you will cover my short 
 comings." 
 
 "Aha! don't rely too much upon the brag of old 
 fellows. 'I've seen the day, sir at it again, by the 
 great Orion! No. The shooting exploits that I venti 
 late happened in my youth, away toward 
 
 'The good old colony times, 
 When George the Third was king * 
 
 though my teething post-dated Tarleton;" and the 
 judge threw back his head with military briskness he 
 was a brigadier-general in the militia, and had planned 
 a score of successful musters and merrily stroked his 
 full beard, in which the hazel still predominated over 
 the grey. 
 
 "Hedging, I see; but I reckon it will be well to take 
 a hamper, and a boy to pack." 
 
 The judge's eyes twinkled. 
 
 " O, for that matter," said he, "I always fire to take 
 the heads off the birds ; it saves portage." 
 
 "Here comes Steve Trencher. He steps briskly, 
 spite of his rheumatism," said Bradley. 
 
 "With that dreadful death-dealing gun-barrel of his. 
 The old fellow's timeing himself to the stimulus of 
 prospective bacon," said the judge. 
 
 "Good- morning, Uncle Steve!" 
 
 "Mornin' gents, both the top of the mornin' to 
 you; though I dessay I beat you there. A lot of them 
 plaguey circus chaps come along a spell afore day, with 
 an elephant what had gin out somewhere, and beat and 
 banged at the door, and axed for a light. I expected
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 151 
 
 to see the fence go every minute, and warned 'em 
 off, but they kept on till the old woman like to have 
 went in 'isterics. I put the end of 'Proclermation' 
 out of a corner of the window, and drew a bead, and 
 give all hands due notice, and they cleared out sudden. 
 That's solemn." 
 
 "No wonder the old lady was flustered," said the 
 judge. 
 
 "I had a leetle apple-jack in Gineral Washington, as 
 I call my bottle with the picter, and I give her a few 
 draps right of It helped her desperate. It's better 
 than camfire, which is good enough for bruises, but 
 don't warm the innards like the rael sperits." 
 
 "And had you any left for yourself, Uncle Steve?" 
 asked the judge. 
 
 " Wai a taste like ; hardly enough to keep off the 
 ager." 
 
 "We'll see, then, if there isn't a little in the side 
 board. And there's Kitty calling to breakfast come 
 along before the pot cools." 
 
 The three sat down to some substantial fare, after the 
 judge had provided Uncle Steve with the promised 
 prophylactic, when, had he not turned his back, he 
 , might have felt flattered by the dainty appreciation 
 which it manifestly aroused as it glided over the avun 
 cular palate. 
 
 " I've heern, judge, you cure your bacon with sweet- 
 enin'," remarked Uncle Steve, as he received from the 
 host a fresh supply. 
 
 "Yes; with sugar and salt, and without pickle." 
 
 " Its proper nice meat. 'Pears to me the sile makes
 
 152 THE HORTONS; OK 
 
 the pork, when yon once git the right breed, and a 
 kinder than The Cedars was never nuzzled." 
 
 "Now, if we're ready, let us tramp," said the judge, 
 when they had collected their pieces, pouches and 
 flasks, including "Proclermation," a gun which might 
 have been relied upon to circumvent any known 
 manual. " In which direction shall we go for the best 
 sport, Uncle Steve?" 
 
 "Wai, I seen pooty considerable birds about Cox's 
 Meadows, two days ago." 
 
 "I don't believe there has been as much gunning 
 there as on the creek marshes; its more out of the 
 way," said the judge. 
 
 They were travelling on the causeway, a raised road 
 straight across the marsh, which spread to a great dis 
 tance on each side of it, an expanse of rank reeds and 
 slumps of sedge overflowed periodically by the tide, 
 which was diffused from and sluiced to the serpentine 
 channel of the creek. 
 
 "Do you see that sloop in the spatter-docks?" 
 
 "That's the Muskrat, judge," said Uncle Steve. "I 
 seen the captain to town at Claxton's store, yesterday, 
 a-buying a pair of gallowses, and he told me she was 
 stuck in the mash." 
 
 "I've got a couple of bushels of prime oysters planted 
 in her, and there we'll dine, lads I've brought along 
 the knives." 
 
 Occasionally they shot with good success where a 
 rustle of stilted legs and flutter of wings in the sedge 
 showed the presence of birds. 
 
 "I never knowed but one man tame a rail," said
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 153 
 
 Uncle Steve, "and that was old Kurnal Cox but there 
 was something unyearthly about him. Folks believed 
 he'd sold himself to the divil, who had took his shadow 
 to make sure, beforehand. Leastways, nobody ever 
 seen it." 
 
 " If the colonel was always as thin as when I knew 
 him, Satan got slim security," remarked the judge. 
 
 Uncle Steve was scandalized by the judge's tone of 
 banter, which he deemed little short of irreligious 
 frivolity. 
 
 "Wai, he's often seen to walk about the homestead. 
 Kiah Crocker seen him one windy night, the winter of 
 the great sleighing, a-ridin' on a grey horse full gallop 
 over the old sanddam. It was about four o'clock in 
 the morning. Kiah had been to a dance at the Pole 
 tavern, and seen him plain. I've often heern him say 
 he was ready to take his davy on it." 
 
 "I wonder if the same birds come year after year to 
 these feeding grounds," speculated Bradley. 
 
 "Bless you, no. They bury themselves in the 
 mashes every winter and turn to frogs," replied Uncle 
 Steve, with pitying promptitude. 
 
 At a reach in the fen of the corn-land the gunners 
 came to a mud-plastered hovel fenced with a medley 
 of pickets and brush. Strings of scarlet pepper and 
 bunches of herbs dangled outside. Beside the hut was 
 a patch of hoed ground which contained straggling 
 simples and vegetables comfrey and tansy, remainder 
 beets . and broken files of cabbages. A cow, with a 
 baggy application on one leg, looked from a stalk- 
 thatched shed, and shook lorn music from a neck-bell
 
 154 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 when she nosed from her brisket the flies. An aged 
 negro, white-headed and very bent in figure, sat sun 
 ning himself before the door. There was such an 
 accordant air of primitive make-shift, and yet coarse 
 sufficiency by hook and by crook, in the parts of the 
 picture, that the tout ensemble could not be easily for 
 gotten. 
 
 "Mornin', Grandaddy Baltic!" Uncle Steve, who 
 was foremost, accosted. 
 
 "Sarvent, gentlemen," replied the old man, saluting 
 the party with one hand to his grizzled forelock, and 
 with the aid of a stick tottering to his feet. 
 
 There was a smouldering fire of green chips, the 
 smoke of which the breeze blew straight toward the 
 cabin door. 
 
 "Do you have to keep a smudge all day, my friend?" 
 asked Bradley, as he tried with tearful eyes to decipher 
 some cabalistic characters scratched about a horse- shoe 
 which was nailed to the lintel. 
 
 "Yes, young marster. Skeeter drefiel thick here; 
 wus place on the mash for him." 
 
 A not untidy woman bustled at her household occu 
 pations within the cabin, and a callow brood of brats 
 grinned from the narrow window and peeped through 
 crevices, while one adventurous wight of six years old, 
 clad in a loose, lone garment of coarse cotton, was 
 seized upon appearance by a dexterous movement of 
 the patriarch and summarily spanked. Their sleek 
 condition seemed to bid defiance alike to insects and 
 intermittent. 
 
 "Your grandchildren?" asked the judge.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 155 
 
 " Yes, sar. Ise got a lot of 'em, and bressed is dat 
 man whoms quiver's full. You Jim! clar right off, or 
 I'll guv it you. They isn't used to quality, sar." 
 
 "I suppose they all know how to eat 'possum and 
 pone, old man?" 
 
 "Yah, yah, sar; possum and ground-hog don't stand 
 no chance with dem critters." 
 
 " Grandfather, what use do you make of these herbs ?" 
 asked Bradley. 
 
 "Dem yarbs useful in many tings snake bites, 
 rheumatiz, tender hoof, biles, cancer, yaller janders, 
 bloody flux, fits, worms, colic, breakins out, poll evil, 
 straightenin' bones mose all kind sickness." 
 
 " Houndstongue, sut, and a leetle of the fat of a blind 
 puppy, make a master eyntment for runnin' sores," 
 remarked Uncle Steve. 
 
 " Yes, sar. That salve don't keep its strength tho', 
 less its mixed in de full of de moon. To fotch dem 
 shu-ah, ole man Baltic adds another ingrediem." 
 
 The patriarch's curative resources, it was understood, 
 
 were not exhausted upon legitimate ailments. He was 
 
 renowned for knowledge in the occult sciences, and 
 
 j practised a good deal of quiet diablerie for the benefit 
 
 'of a confiding connexion. 
 
 "I'm curious to know, old man, why you wear that 
 bag at your neck," said the judge. 
 
 "Dems charms, sar." 
 
 "Against Apollyon the Evil One?" 
 
 "Gin de witches, and sperits dat trouble de air. 
 Dey do heap of harm, marster, if dey're let alone, so 
 people come to Baltic to put spells on 'em. Dey dries
 
 156 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 up the cows milk, and stunts de corn, and breeds 
 snakes in the stumuk. Baltic's charm makes um show 
 umself in de shape of an owl; den, when him shot, de 
 plague's gone. Sometimes good while afore him show; 
 den Baltic has to make the charm strong agin." 
 
 " Could you let us see them ?" 
 
 "Don't do to 'spose 'em in de daytime bring mis 
 chief on eberybody." 
 
 " Aroynt ! thou arch-magician !" exclaimed the judge. 
 "This is dangerous, and we were best going. Have 
 you a dime, Bradley? Here, my girl; 'tis for the 
 spring-water you toted." 
 
 As they trudged away the hours, the reports of their 
 fowling-pieces startled the otherwise silent walks, upon 
 which the sun shone mitigated at times through a lucid 
 veil of clouds, or pouted sullen behind a denser cumu 
 lus, and then burst joyously in beaming splendor. It 
 was high and hungry noon when they reached the 
 Muskrat and got at the mollusks. The softer hands of 
 the judge and Bradley compelled them to circumspec 
 tion, but Uncle Steve's knife was swift and sure. " I 
 never lets 'em stump me, nohow," he observed, in the 
 pendulum-like pauses of deglutition; "I kin take 'em 
 out without scratching their beards." 
 
 And thus, right pleasantly, the merry day wore on to 
 
 " join the past Eternity." 
 
 The lightning-scathed poplars at The Cedars seemed 
 to gesticulate of home, as they basked in the waning 
 afternoon. The chimneys crowned with smoke intensi 
 fied the welcome; warmer, Master Shenstone, than that 
 of the best inn which ever showed a bush or bred a 
 Boniface.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 157 
 
 CHAPTBE XVIII. 
 
 Thus do they talk, till in the sky 
 The pale-eyed moon is mounted high. 
 
 BOUT a quarter of a mile from The 
 Cedars mansion was situated the 
 farm-house of the estate. Sometimes, 
 enamored of rural sights and sounds, 
 Bradley Horton and Lydia Bardleigh 
 they were much together took it 
 in their evening walk. Ere yet the 
 tints of sunset had given place to 
 slate-colored twilight, with a tossing 
 of horns and crowded trampling of 
 hoofs, the herd was seen upon the dusty road. Follow 
 ing the cattle, a flock of sheep, less frisky than in the 
 morning pastureward, was driven to the pen. Loud 
 was the importunate sty. The fowls on the branches 
 cackled like ancient human gossips serenely censorious 
 about a neighborhood scandal; while the geese, crop- 
 full and vigilant, stood sedately in the way on one leg, 
 or scattered with craned necks and shrill alarm when 
 disturbed by a trespassing horse, at whose heels the 
 gander spitefully nipped. The milkmaids shifted from 
 Briudlo to Suke, emptying the swollen bags in sharp, 
 14
 
 158 THE HOBTONS; OB 
 
 wiry spirts, that bubbled to warm froth in their lacteaa 
 lodgment. Then, the teams rattled home to the clank 
 of shaken chain-gear, and shouldered eagerly to the 
 water-trough. Anon, came the wagoner's whistle from 
 the mow, and the sound of currycombs struck on man 
 ger and stall-side. Gradually quiet succeeded in the 
 darkening scene, undisturbed except by the fluttering 
 of bat and beetle, and the house-dog's answer to the 
 barking of the distant fox ; while the moon queened it 
 over all in tranquil beauty. 
 
 " Many of your good city people, Mr. Horton, think 
 country life hum-drum," said Lydia. 
 
 "But it is a question if you know real country life 
 where there is elegant hospitality and much coming 
 and going. The madding, or gadding crowd follows 
 you, if not the ignoble strife." 
 
 "Nobody, I suppose, believes in the superiority of 
 rural life when it is cramped to the illiberal level of 
 boorishness; but the well-doing, intelligent farmer's 
 family has more and purer sources of enjoyment than 
 are open to people of the same social condition in 
 cities, where so many suffer the torments of vanity by 
 being ashamed to live within their means," said Lydia. 
 
 "Ah! the rural manners are gone. Simplicity keeps 
 from the hay-field, and the farmer bolts his front door 
 at bed-time the very bees forsake the clover for the 
 syrups of the village apothecary." 
 
 " This complaint of the decline of rural manners is 
 common to all actively civilized countries and periods. 
 It was Goldsmith's in the 'Deserted Village,' and Cow- 
 per's in the ' Task,' as it was Wordsworth's yesterday.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 159 
 
 The rustics whom Sergeant Kite recruits are different 
 from those Shakespeare painted, yet they are full as 
 good Englishmen," answered Lydia. 
 
 " When nature shows in such fascinating shapes, one 
 supposes that the sordid tendencies in man will be 
 abashed, and there will be no flunkying to the hypocri 
 sies and fopperies. I think I see some vanity, how 
 ever, in the angular, packing-box houses built on the 
 barest and highest spots, and with no inconvenient trees 
 to obscure their stateliness," said Bradley. 
 
 " The country has features for every humor, whether 
 rugged, sprightly, or subdued. You will find the con 
 trast of this autumn evening scene, stirring with animal 
 life, racy and radiant, in the unnatural silence and 
 ghastly beauty which prevail about these homes on a 
 winter's morning after a snow-storm." 
 
 "But there is no action," insisted Bradley, "in a 
 country life. You can sum it in an alliteration the 
 piazza, the plantation, and the post-office, with a horse 
 to keep up a connection. Women can adapt them 
 selves to this, unless they are mere butterflies of fashion, 
 but fancy a man with no stimulus between breakfast 
 and dinner but an essay on the last super-phosphate, or 
 a turn at higgling over fat oxen with a butcher." 
 
 "Dioclesian, I have read, forgot the purple of the 
 world in the solitude of Salona, his horticulture, the 
 free air of the Dalmatian mountains, and the prospect 
 of the island-studded Hadriatic. Then, Washington 
 was a planter, and Garibaldi loves the vines and 
 olives of his native Nice. Sailors, whose lives are ad 
 venturesome"
 
 160 TTTE TTORTONS; OR 
 
 "Change to farmers naturally, as tadpoles do to 
 frogs; and pardon me for finishing your sentence with 
 an awkward similie," said Bradley, laughing. 
 
 "I do." 
 
 " Your Garibaldis' and sailors but sleep off the weari 
 ness of action then, to battles and blown seas again. 
 The sturdy sons of England turn from her daisied turf 
 and ' alleys green,' to struggle with polar ice or start 
 tigers in Indian jungles." 
 
 "To employ a thought which I believe is another's 
 Low gales are the best winds heavenward," said 
 Lydia. 
 
 "Doubtless; but few sails are spread to them. 
 Apropos of restlessness; the 'sensation' newspapers, 
 with their licentious extravagance and mazy marvels 
 of vacuity, unsettle the brains of a great many weak 
 brethren. They excite an unprofitable curiosity to 
 know, what is said, rather than what is true. They 
 enable a multitude of silly people to while away their 
 time, pleased with a titillating relish of .empty words 
 which claim no effort of attention. It is injustice to an 
 average human intellect to read these American news 
 papers. In the language of King David, ' they go astray 
 as soon as they be born, speaking lies.' If, morally, 
 they are less hurtful than the prurient and pyrotechnic 
 novels, they are even more contemptible. Fertile in 
 big words for little things, they swing perpetually 
 between denunciation which is ofte^a the resentment 
 of baffled scheming, a covering of corruption, or a bait 
 for forbearance-money and unwholesome, unctuous
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 161 
 
 puffery, the daily stimulant for somebody's vanity," 
 said Bradley. 
 
 "You remind me of the Arabian proverb: 'They 
 went to shoe the Pasha's horse, and the beetle stretched 
 forth his hind leg,' " said Lydia. 
 
 "I say, the old women are predicting from the goose 
 bones a long, cold winter, and lots of sleighing that's 
 a gay look out, Lyddy !"' cried Charley Bardleigh. 
 
 They were flinging All- hallows-eve nuts on the 
 embers. 
 
 " You're planning to break down the carriage horses 
 again, I suppose," replied his sister. 
 
 "Never hurt them a jot. A clean sweat once a year 
 does 'em good, if it does damage a trace or two. If 
 snow comes I tell you to expect fan. Sandy Coulter's 
 tanning coon skins, and sprucing up his jumper for a 
 splurge I half believe he's sweet on Kate Stedman. 
 I mean to fetch down Rose Stuvesant, and two or 
 three of the McCalmot girls." 
 
 "In such an array, I suppose I can't be counted," 
 said Bradley. 
 
 " To be sure you can. Plenty of room, and a buffalo 
 for you. Mr. Horton may come mayn't he, Lyddy?" 
 
 14*
 
 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Yes, my dear friend ! my little fortune is pleasant to my generous heart, 
 because I can do good no man with so little a fortune ever did so 
 much generosity no person, no man person, no woman person ever 
 denies it. But we are all Got's children. 
 
 COLERIDGE'S DANE ON BOARD OP THE HAMBURG PACQXJET. 
 
 a December afternoon there sat 
 beside Clement Horton in his car 
 riage an elderly, benevolent-looking 
 man, in a suit of threadbare black, so 
 far as could be discerned under a high- 
 collared surtout of snuff color. His 
 glowing face and general freshness 
 indicated that he had just been taken 
 up from a tramp, with the wind, 
 which blew free and frosty, in his teeth. He slapped 
 his ungloved hands and rubbed his ears till they 
 blushed, as he passed salutations with the merchant in 
 ajiearty way. 
 
 "I despaired of finding you, Father Tryon," said 
 Mr. Horton. 
 
 "I stopped at the 'Sorrel Horse' till I got tired of 
 the profane bar-room nonsense, not to speak of the 
 stinking reek of liquor and tobacco, when I took to 
 God's fresh air."
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 163 
 
 "I suspect you're a famous walker, Father Tryon?" 
 
 "Yes, my dear sir; I am kept afoot from November 
 to April a great part of every day, and what is bad, 
 simply in yiew of the creature, the heaviest work 
 comes in the worst weather. I look like an anatomy, 
 hut my legs don't lack muscle. Providence is good to 
 me in the matter of strength, though I am past sixty 
 these several years, and, for the rest, I live to do my 
 Master's will." 
 
 "I thought, Father Tryon, that we could at leisure 
 look into your project, and perhaps devise means to 
 advance it. I have long considered a House of 
 Industry very much needed at Clinkers; but it will 
 require a great deal of money, and we must go about 
 the undertaking in a business-like way. I fear that 
 people just now will not care to loosen their purse- 
 strings enough for our purpose." 
 
 " If we can only get the soup department at once, it 
 will be a great step," said Father Tryon, with ardor. 
 
 Eobert Tryon began life for himself aboard a New 
 Bedford whaler. His nature was hardy, his spirit 
 adventurous, and often when morning broke upon 
 the Berkshire hills he awakened from delicious dreams 
 of going down to the deep in ships. For the lad it was 
 a battle of sea against land, which should claim him 
 for its own, and, in a dull age of peace, it was an 
 unequal contest. Had there been a wolf to kill now 
 and then, or a chance for a wrestle with a bear the 
 paternal acres might have retained him to compete in 
 straight furrows and tolerate slow-going oxen ; but the 
 slayer of the last of the ferine beasts slept in the
 
 164 THE HOETONS; OR 
 
 church-yard, a paralytic old man when he died, 
 mumbling to the end boasts of his youthful prowess, 
 and grateful recollections of bounties from the State. 
 As it was, the rural runagate picked the hayseeds from 
 his eyes, and hastened to enjoy his imagined bliss, 
 
 " Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam." 
 
 It is needless to trace here in detail eventful years 
 in the life of the young sailor. In a succession of 
 voyages, he had deserted at Madagascar, beach-combed 
 in South America, been shipwrecked on the island of 
 Saint Paul, and caught the plague at Constantinople. 
 At length the religious principle which was native to 
 his earnest nature promisingly germinated, and in 
 time grew to a fruitful development in the life of the 
 devoted city missionary. 
 
 Who shall describe that Clinkers district, which was 
 Robert Tryon's pastorate. And it was not alone a 
 field of spiritual labor, but it was also one of secular, in 
 a numerous and squalid, vice-immeshed, shiftless and 
 shifting community, living by disreputable means or 
 alms procured mainly through the missionary's appeals, 
 and which, though scanty, were not seldom for the 
 recipients all their bread, warmth, and raiment. Clin 
 kers was a confusion of foul streets, and noisome 
 alleys, and close courts, interspersed with open lots 
 heaped with coal-ashes and the rubbish of demolished 
 buildings, where swine and goats roamed for garbage, 
 and the unsightly children of sottish parents infected 
 each other with a precocious corruption. Crime and 
 lust celebrated in Clinkers subterranean orgies, and
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 165 
 
 the ear of night was vexed with the frantic gaiety of 
 despair Here burglars planned their expeditions in 
 vile cribs; and wretched women, fallen to the lowest 
 level of their sex, plied their calling, or perished by its 
 fruits. At every corner there was a liquor-store, and 
 dens of taverns, brothels, and lodging-cellars, in pesti 
 lent communication, sustained the horrible life-in -death 
 of the place. The fires of fever never went out here ; 
 and moping imbecility crouched in the same chamber 
 which rang with the fierce delirium of the dying 
 drunkard. The coroners were rich in reminiscences 
 of Clinkers; concerning burned and smothered infants, 
 and bodies found in outhouses and areas ghastly with 
 wounds from knife and bludgeon. Ghostlike, in the 
 gusty midnight, along the rows of street lamps which 
 flickered to the river's side, solitary sufferers withdrew, 
 and never more returned. 
 
 In the prevailing misery there were social distinc 
 tions still. A grimy, uncombed citizen, with a reputed 
 interest in a glue factory and a monopoly of dead ani 
 mals upon the streets, the head dog-catcher, and several 
 successful rag and bone gatherers, were, next to the 
 chief whiskey sellers and the pawnbrokers, a caste by 
 themselves, acknowledged magnates of the region. 
 Though faces in Clinkers were 'diverse in color and 
 airs of nativity, the predominating cast of countenance, 
 while it presented no puzzle for the physiognomist, 
 appealed to the feeling heart with the eloquence of 
 rebuke and entreaty. 
 
 In one respect the importance of Clinkers was indis 
 putable ; it was a most generous contributor to the bills
 
 166 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 of mortality. Within its confines small-pox festered 
 malignant, and, strengthening upon the marrow of 
 misery which it found, made in its ravenousness 
 unexpected forays into rich men's dwellings. Some 
 times an epidemic came, and fastening- on Clinkers, 
 filled the town with terror. Then the inhabitants, not 
 hurried to almshouse hospitals or pauper burial, were 
 turned in ragged wretchedness from their infected lairs, 
 shut out by barricades, and forced to find fresh burrows 
 unreduced to the sanitary rule of whitewash, which, 
 backed by policemen, as all men know is "the sove- 
 reignest remedy" on earth for any contagion which may 
 spread from the corrupted centres of society, whether 
 to undermine its morals, destroy, its peace, or decimate 
 its numbers. Here, for twenty years, except when 
 cholera or fever brought boards of health to share pos 
 session, Father Try on, wielding a moral sceptre, had 
 dispensed the counsel and exercised the control of a 
 single-minded Christian minister. He had watched 
 the awful passing of the sullen or the phrensied sinner, 
 and prayed by the pallet of the penitent till the await 
 ing angels received the liberated spirit and bore it to 
 the presence of its God ; and he had walked on errands 
 of mercy in the midnight rumble of the dead-cart, with 
 the walking pestilence. 
 
 Grateful as is the smell of hay-fields when borne by 
 a summer evening breeze to hot city streets, is the pre 
 sence of a spiritual-minded, large-hearted, and large- 
 handed man among the selfishly busy of the world. 
 Men behold the result of Christian benevolence, but 
 are ignorant of the careful thought, fervent aspirations,
 
 AMEKICAN LIFE AT HOME. 167 
 
 sorrows, and prayers that prompt and precede it; for 
 secrecy is the divine law and gauge of the highest 
 goodness. Yet it is wisely ordained that benevolence 
 shall increase when use has blunted the sensibility of 
 compassion. God's blessing of bounty comes oftener 
 through two or three gathered together than pompous 
 convocations. Blowflies are apt to haunt the open 
 shambles. To a fit observer, the bright faces of the 
 merchant and missionary would have seemed more 
 cheerful than the glow of light which surrounded them 
 in the bright, red-curtained room at Belair. Humane 
 tranquillity, tempered with firmness, was indicated in 
 the countenance of Clement Horton, as some will 
 fondly remember, who still knew it to be capable of 
 the expression of sterner emotions. The appearance of 
 the merchant was noticeable. He was full six feet in 
 stature, with a straight frame, rather heavily moulded, 
 yet instinct with nervous action. A characteristic 
 head, with a tinge of silver in the thin, black hair, was 
 carried with modest and intelligent dignity. A high, 
 well-arched forehead, Eoman nose, and calm, dark- 
 grey eyes, completed the features of a grave face, 
 which a clear complexion saved from sombreness. 
 
 "We will call on Glump, to begin he is nearest, 
 and shall be first served," said Clement Horton to 
 Father Tryon, next morning, as they approached the 
 city. 
 
 "A heavy dealer in hardware, I believe shall we 
 set fifty dollars opposite his name?" Father Tryon 
 held a list, which he scanned with interest.
 
 168 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 " Hypothetically," was the laconic reply of his com 
 panion, while a smile played about his mouth. 
 
 Aquila Glump reigned supreme in a lofty, granite- 
 fronted establishment in Phoenix-block, Commerce 
 street, and thither the canvassers repaired. The place 
 was a hive of industry, where everybody was em 
 ployed, from the chief to the junior boy. 
 " Taking our account of stock walk in." 
 " As you have no time to waste on us, we will go at 
 once to our business," prefaced Mr. Horton, as he made 
 known succinctly and persuasively the object of their 
 visit, while Glump listened with inflexible attention. 
 At length, by the missionary's help, the application 
 being squarely laid, Mr. Horton ceased, and there was 
 a provoking pause. Father Tryon looked expectant; 
 for who, thought that worthy man as he glanced 
 through the counting-house window down a long 
 storeway perspective of clerks and porters among 
 riles of merchandise, and heard subterranean noises 
 -.hat would have befitted Vulcan in a pet about his" 
 thunderbolts who with such resources can resist my 
 friend's eloquent appeal and my own illustrations. I 
 think, now, we may count on a hundred dollars. 
 Then uprose Aquila Glump, and spoke as follows : 
 "If I could collect as close as the charities do this 
 winter, I'd retire next spring satisfied. Your object, 
 gentlemen, is a good one, no doubt, but it is simply 
 impossible to answer the everyday cry of, 'Give.' 
 Rubies and sapphires wouldn't be sufficient. As to 
 monuments and memorials, there's no end to them. 
 Somebody's constantly getting burnt out. Then,
 
 AMEBICAN LIFE AT HOME. 169 
 
 there's our Dispensary; doing a heavy business and 
 wanting aid. In the last six months it has given 
 to the suffering poor three thousand prescriptions, 
 more than half of them pills, with no end of tooth- 
 pulling the most gratifying exhibit we have yet made. 
 Besides, there are other special claims which I can't 
 disregard." 
 
 "Must we go with an empty-handed dismissal, then?" 
 asked Clement Horton, urbanely. 
 
 "I must draw the line somewhere, sir. But, stop 
 may be I can help along your soup. Seven or eight 
 years ago I got a consignment of beans in payment of a 
 country bill, and there are three or four bags left. To 
 tell the truth, I had some trouble to get them off my 
 hands; buyers brought them back, and pretended they 
 wouldn't boil. Give them fire and water enough, I 
 dare say they will. I'm sure there is no mould about 
 them, for they have been next the roof, where it's dry 
 as a bone. Send for them when you please Benjamin ! 
 charge Benevolence with seven and a half bushels of 
 beans, at one dollar and eighty cents a bushel, and 
 fifteen per cent, storage, and deliver to Mr. Horton's 
 order." 
 
 Stimulated by this initial success, the canvassers 
 departed to invoke the generosity of Scroggs. They 
 found that gentleman giving audience, seriatim, to a 
 collection of individuals whose appearance attested 
 their independence of the industrial pursuits of this 
 world. They were limber and slouching, bulky and 
 nmlberry-visaged men, wearing their hats in a dissi- 
 15
 
 170 THE HORTONS; OK 
 
 pated manner, with the dull sparkle of expiring "cock 
 tails" in their eyes, and given to an adjusted expectora 
 tion of tobacco-juice. They wore waistcoats of bright 
 colors, glittering chains, and bossy seal-rings. There 
 was a promise of potatory capacity in their protuberant 
 fronts, which was often realized in bar-room arm-chairs. 
 Tied to no family plate and napkin, they played an 
 Ishmaelitish hand at boarding-houses, and ravaged at 
 tavern lunches. When moneyless, they condescended 
 to juries, but their legitimate sphere was the legislative 
 lobby and the partisan convention. They were, in 
 short, of that civic brotherhood which regulates the 
 working of our republican machinery the ward poli 
 ticians. Some expected to be delegates, and about 
 these others revolved in the relation of satellites. 
 Bartimeus Scroggs was "out" for Congress, and schem 
 ing for his party's nomination. 
 
 "Bilkser, how goes the war?" asked Scroggs, briskly, 
 of a black- whiskered patriot. 
 
 " We've got four precincts in our ward fixed. Sure 
 to flax 'em there hooks in all round. But we are 
 dead broke have used up the funds, and must have 
 fifty dollars to go on." 
 
 "More grease for the machine, eh! Yes. I sent ten 
 laborers from your neighborhood yesterday to the 
 superintendent of the park. Don't you think a few 
 more streets in the seventh might be repaired small 
 ones, you know % where there isn't too much elbow 
 room, and the poor people won't kick at cobbles about 
 their doorsteps, and a long job? If a storm would 
 only come and bust a culvert 1"
 
 AMERICAN" .LIFE AT HOME. 171 
 
 "I believe, with what's under way, the paving is 
 about cleaned up," replied Bilkser, despondently. 
 " There might be a lot of kerbstones moved in mistake, 
 and hauled away again." 
 
 "I bought in the furniture of the United Athenians 
 debating club, which was levied upon for rent, and 
 donated it to the society. That ought to tell in the 
 eleventh it's to be noticed in the newspapers as quite 
 in the manner of Pericles," remarked Scroggs. 
 
 " The Constitutional Carpenters is on a strike there. 
 Two or three X's to them, on the sly, so the bosses 
 wouldn't know, might be a big thing," suggested 
 Bilkser. 
 
 "A good idea. I've promised Chase the printing, 
 but keep Smellie hanging on. Chase is to do the 
 public opinion articles 'Many Voters,' and 'Fiat 
 Justisher.' " 
 
 As Mr. Horton and his companion were about to get 
 an interview with Scroggs, in bustled the venerable 
 Bliggs, and interposed. 
 
 "Mrs. Frizzleby's mighty bad; them passes haint 
 helped her a bit. She's troubled with a dreffle retchin', 
 and drawin' pains in the small of her back. The 
 mejeum you sent seems non-plushed, and thinks you 
 had better come round." 
 
 "I can't I'm too busy. Did he make the upward 
 passes, or the downward?" 
 
 " The motions was outard and towards the ceiling." 
 
 "That's where it is. Deuce take the blockhead! 
 he'll pump all the magnetic fluid out of the woman's 
 system. Wha-t she wants is witalizing. The passes
 
 172 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 -must be downward, and a few touches from a galvanic 
 battery wouldn't do any harm they would stop the 
 retching by easing the coats of her stomach," said 
 Scroggs. 
 
 " Well, I'll tell him ; and I hope he will relieve the 
 old lady, for she has been sending to me every half 
 hour since breakfast first cousin of Mrs. Bliggs, who 
 was a Frizzleby. If she don't get better, I reckon I 
 shall have to shut up shop. What's spelter to-day?" 
 
 "Now, gentlemen," said Scroggs, after hearing Father 
 Tryon, "though there may be no money in these things, 
 I consider it every man's duty to be charitable. Biles, 
 how are you? Disengaged in a few minutes; sit down. 
 Our higher life, as I was about to say, demands the 
 practice of charity. But no man's means is equal to 
 every call; even Good Samaritans must have their 
 speers in this world. An abatement on them potatoes? 
 We can't make it, Comly. If Green saw the rot in 
 them, what did he buy 'em for ? I confine my charities 
 to my own district, and if you were at work in it, I 
 wouldn't hold back. As it is, I don't mind are you 
 going to publish the subscriptions? Well, ten dollars. 
 Perhaps Mr. Biles will give something." 
 
 "Never was so hard up for money in my life can't 
 collect anything," observed that gentleman, with de 
 cision. 
 
 " O, they will take fixtures they are canvassing foi 
 a soup-house. It is just in your line," explained 
 Scroggs. 
 
 "If it's a deserving undertaking, I'll um say a 
 ladle and a meat-fork. I think they will be appro-
 
 AMEEICAN^ LIFE AT HOME. 173 
 
 priate; and I'll send them down when you get a 
 going." 
 
 " I asked if you 1 meant to publish the subscriptions, 
 Mr. Horton, for they put everything in the newspapers 
 nowadays. They have got my biography there I 
 don't know that you have seen it. No? I'll give you 
 a couple of Bugles, then; they may amuse you. A 
 good journal, by the by. Did you think I made out 
 a case in my letter to the Popgun on the extension of 
 the public piers?" 
 
 " It was a master-piece of enlightened reasoning ; I 
 have heard it everywhere commended," said Expecta 
 tion Biles. 
 
 15*
 
 174 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 We discussed the question whether drinking improved conversation 
 and benevolence. Sir Joshua maintained it did. JOHNSON. "No, sir: 
 before dinner men meet with great inequality of understanding ; and 
 those who are conscious of their inferiority, have the modesty not to 
 talk. When they have drunk wine, every man feels himself happy, 
 and loses that modesty, and grows impudent and vociferous : but he is 
 not improved; he is only not sensible of his defects." 
 
 * * * -x- ? 
 
 BOSWELL. "I think, sir, you once said to me, that not to drink wine 
 was a great deduction from life." JOHNSON. " It is a diminution of 
 pleasure, to be sure; but I do not say a diminution of happiness. There 
 is more happiness in being rational." 
 
 AROLINE MELLEN to Adelaide 
 Crosby. 
 
 "DEAR ADDY: We are shut in at 
 Belair Emily Horton and myself 
 to grumble at the dullest and slop 
 piest Christmas, I verily believe, in 
 the present century; and I think the 
 evergreens may be doing penance for 
 all the jollity of the past, they look so 
 melancholy. A Spanish princess of 
 one of the old dramatists was persuaded that Apollo, in 
 love or envy, would scorch off her fine hair, and so 
 kept always in the shade how I long for the sunshine 
 without the vanity of the story. It looks like snowing,
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 175 
 
 just now, which prospect might set our blood "bounding 
 again, did we not know it will avail nothing in the 
 mud. You must grant that nobody goes seriously 
 about anything at this season, and as one day sufficed 
 for the amusement to be got from the illustrated gift 
 books and the stereoscope, with attrappes and bon-bons 
 for the dawdling intervals, we are fallen on a poverty 
 of resources. To the idle comes temptation, and I have 
 yielded to it, as you will discover to your cost when 
 you receive this infliction of my tediousness. 
 
 And why should you escape? Do you remember 
 the unfailing correspondence we projected at school, 
 when we should enter upon, the promising land of the 
 future, which would surely flower with new dances, 
 new dresses, and exquisite designs of pleasure, and be 
 peopled with troubadours and other gallant gentlemen? 
 Some of us, alas! reached the mirage to find it a desert, 
 with barren and bitter growths, and perished untimely 
 
 in the desolation. Poor Virginia D ! Let that 
 
 pass. There is so little gossip, that I must emphasise 
 it. 'Tis my talent so I give thanks and make no 
 boast. 
 
 Do they toast the ladies before the clergy? I forget; 
 but I will give the cloth precedence. Our Mr. Willey, 
 (I belong to Belair you know,) of All Saints, has got an 
 interesting substitute to help him through his bronchitis, 
 which is not malignant enough to require Europe. I 
 think he is a consumptive cleric, for I noticed a hectic 
 glow in his cheek last Sunday afternoon when Mary 
 Sartain spoke to' him, and he looked, listening, into her 
 eyes. For the rest, he has light, restrained whiskers
 
 176 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 auburn, if you please, dresses in customary black, 
 neatly kept, and wears creased lavender-colored gloves. 
 There is also a clergyman here who calls himself the 
 Revivalist of America. I can't help telling you, though 
 its shockingly profane, the odd answer they say he got 
 from Ruffbolt, the blacksmith. It was about a sub 
 scription the Revivalist was soliciting. 'How is it to 
 be applied?' asked Ruffbolt: ' To keep your neighbors 
 from being damned,' replied the Revivalist: 'Then I 
 can't conscientiously give,' said Ruffbolt. 
 
 Maggie Smith, who was one of the Langham Place 
 juniors in our time you will perhaps remember her 
 prejudice against pocket-handkerchiefs is this winter 
 the admiration of the town. Past seventeen, would you 
 think her? She has an untiring chevalier in Theodore 
 
 G , fresh from the shadow of the 'dome of Brunel- 
 
 leschi,' who serves out his Italian memories very freely, 
 with 'When I was in Florence,' or, 'I observed in 
 the Tuscan capital/ a heavy pendant, I think, for a 
 
 reigning belle. Caroline K is 'brisk as a bee,' and 
 
 gathers honey from all sorts of flowers. Do the 
 surplus sweets such people hive interfuse with exist 
 ence and last through the winter of old age? They 
 
 live to be old, you know ; and Carrie K promises 
 
 to, if her peach-like cheeks and ample bust mean 
 anything but present temptation. I will venture a 
 certain disconsolate gentleman, a city merchant, thinks 
 there is a scornful lady at Belair. Not your humble 
 servant. My conquests are easily told : Dr. Pledget, 
 and Mr. Seroon, a dark gentleman from Bengal. I
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 177 
 
 pity the poor fellow, and have essayed in his behalf a 
 little good-natured remonstrance ; but, 
 
 'This cannot take her: 
 If of herself she will not love, 
 Nothing can make her.' s~\ 
 
 \^s{ i-if'S/y 1 ' ^ 
 
 Bradley Horton, humming 'Malbrook/ comes into 
 the library and says a visitor we have expected, a Mr. 
 George Dolman, is arrived; so I must close this med 
 ley. But not till I take revenge for the interruption. 
 Well, then, Master Bradley basks periodically in the 
 smiles of a Miss Lydia Bardleigh. He goes, again and 
 again, 'to shoot with the judge,' (her father,) or, 'for a 
 sail with some friends on the bay.' Do you want to 
 see some of his rapture, my dear? A German tailor 
 found it in a vest of Bradley 's which he took to repair, 
 and brought it immediately to me with a puzzled 
 countenance. 
 
 MY BEAUTIFUL WHITE EOSE. 
 
 Bride of my heart! Betrothed! look, 
 
 And love me with thy loving eyesj 
 Oh ! lay aside that idle hook, 
 
 And lift the drooping lids' disguise. 
 I know they overflow with light, 
 
 Twin stars above a tropic sea, 
 Which heaving in my raptured sight, 
 
 Makes music of the drapery ! 
 
 How wide, how warm, how sweetly wild, 
 
 The love that billows in thy breast ! 
 And yet like dimples on a child, 
 
 A sleeping child, it seems to rest. 
 So gently sways thy bosom's mask 
 
 To strangled sighs when half confest, 
 Thy quivering mouth I do not ask 
 
 To tell me I am thine, and blest!
 
 178 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 But turn to me thy loving eyes, 
 
 I'll answer with an eagle's gaze, 
 Till their mild radiance meekly dies, 
 
 Outmeasured by a kindred blaze. 
 The charms Cythera's goddess brought, 
 
 To ravish from the foaming sea, 
 Ne'er on the ancient manhood. wrought 
 
 The spells thy eyes can work on me ! 
 
 Isn't it dreadful? 'I pray you, mar no more trees 
 with writing love-songs in their barks.' 
 
 The favorite bonnet this winter is velvet, trimmed 
 with satin ribbon and rolled feathers, turned well off 
 from the side-face and worn back. Eibbon and narrow 
 blonde inside; with hair in full bandeau. There are 
 some new styles of fluted mantle, very charming. I 
 showed you once an antique garment of silk and 
 worsted stuff, a fine vermillion in color, which was 
 worn by my great-grandmother on grand occasions, 
 such as riding to the city on a pillion and being chased 
 by panthers ; and which I think of converting to a 
 Balmoral. I must break short off. Adieu. 
 
 C. M. 
 
 P. S. I forgot to tell you that I have not succeeded 
 in sampling the silk, but I will try again. Also, that 
 there is an angel in the house at Shellbank." 
 
 Besides the merchant, Bradley, and the two ladies, 
 Messrs. Dolman and Bloker partook of Belair turkey 
 and cranberry, which was followed by the inevitable 
 mince-pie, and a delicate tapioca pudding, made by 
 Emily, which compelled their approval. 
 
 "You see I have resolved to keep my guests sober," 
 said Mr. Horton, quietly.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 179 
 
 " And you are right. ~If a man can't do with^-at his 
 bottle, let him find a tavern," returned Dolman. 
 
 "Only think, Mr. Bloker, of the bins being sealed 
 up, and snapdragon prohibited. An I am forced to 
 emigrate, I shall go to Scheidam," said Caroline. 
 
 " I have banished the decanters from a sense of duty, 
 without any desire to prescribe morals imperiously for 
 others. Doubtless a conscience-restrained man may 
 drink wine moderately without evil. Still I do not 
 feel justified in longer promoting by my compliance an 
 indulgence which is too commonly abused and which, 
 at the best, to a rational being is a superfluity. Every 
 man's example is worth something for good or evil to 
 a weaker brother." 
 
 "But what is to become of the wits of dull people if 
 you take away their wine ; and where are we to find 
 that dear, delightful, romantic jollity 
 
 ' Dance and Provencal song and sunburnt mirth ?'" 
 
 asked Caroline. 
 
 "Then, consider the advice to Timothy," added 
 Dolman, continuing the banter. 
 
 "Some men think champagning customers profitable 
 in business. I hardly know if it is, in the end. It 
 sells as many goods as it pays for," observed Bloker. 
 
 "John Barleycorn has not been helped by the scien 
 tific nonsense of Liebig and the 'alcohol is food' 
 chemists. And he is not to be disposed of by 'mass- 
 meeting.' Every man, under God, must play the 
 David for himself, and sling his own stone; with a 
 hearty, brotherly rescue from the whole field for the
 
 180 THE HOETONS; OE 
 
 poor fellows who go down in the conflict," said Dol 
 man. 
 
 ""While it is true/' observed the merchant, "that no 
 man can reform another, let us not depreciate the value 
 of concerted effort. When you improve the poor 
 man's dwelling, and give him room, and abundance of 
 light, air, and water; cheap and reasonable amuse 
 ments; gardens, parks, picture-galleries, and free 
 music; schools for his children, and a well sustained 
 industry for himself, (the province of statesmanship,) 
 by which he may support them; and above all, to 
 sanctify all, the gospel of Jesus, the poor man's gospel, 
 calmly, fervently, and affectionately preached by a 
 pure and cultivated priesthood, you strike heavy blows 
 at intemperance." 
 
 " It is amazing that the falsehood which asserts the 
 temperance of the inhabitants of wine-producing coun 
 tries continues to be received. In Paris, where drunken 
 men are kept from the streets, there are wine shops at 
 which, in certain hours daily, you may find a hundred 
 topers at a time sleeping off the fumes of intoxication; 
 and on a smaller scale it is so throughout France. In 
 Belgium it is worse," said Bradley. 
 
 "The only force of the cheap wine argument as a 
 remedy for the whiskey abuse, is this: It will take 
 more of the former to produce drunkenness than of the 
 latter, and the excess may not be taken. I must beg 
 pardon for making of no account the poetry, which is 
 blissful with festive Falernian and sparkling Catawba. 
 It is the difference of breaking a man's neck outright,
 
 AMERICAN IJFE AT HOME. 181 
 
 and of his being done for by a succession of minor frac 
 tures," remarked Dolman. 
 
 "One might suppose, Mr. Dolman, that you were 
 fresh from walking the hospitals, but for your hostility 
 to punch," said Caroline. 
 
 "To us the individual tiisery inflicted by the 
 immoderate use of whiskey and wine is apparent; 
 the infrangible mischief which is grafted into the race 
 the aggregate of propagable vice and woe can only 
 be estimated by angels," said Mr. Horton. 
 
 "May not the world outgrow tobacco, sometime?" 
 asked Dolman. 
 
 "It seems stretching speculation to suppose so. As 
 an obstruction to spiritual development, it may be 
 found by individuals the ofl'ending eye which is to be 
 plucked out. It will never be abandoned simply 
 because it is injurious to mental and bodily health, 
 except by hesitating dyspeptics," responded Mr. Hor 
 ton. 
 
 "Tobacco is a cherished impostor, as despotic as a 
 Tartar Lama, and which looks grave, owns castles in 
 Spain, and pretends to wisdom," said Caroline. 
 
 " The daily practice of alternating a stimulant and a 
 sedative, is odd enough to be told by a traveller of 
 some newly-discovered tribe. Yet, with brandy and 
 tobacco, we have such a see-saw in civilized life," said 
 Emily Horton. 
 
 "How can you presume, Emily, to criticise the 
 reaches of the masculine understanding? Mind your 
 crochet work." 
 
 "Ah! Don Cigarro and Mynheer Meerschaum are 
 16
 
 182 THE HOKTONS; OB 
 
 not beloved of ladies. This it is to be rivalled," rallied 
 Dolman. 
 
 "To be sure 'Ur-rur-venge!' as .they say in tra 
 gedy. Can we help pining in thought for the beaux 
 who carry our bliss to the smoking-rooms?" said Caro 
 line. 
 
 " I knew a man," said Bradley, " of cultivation and 
 veracity, who told me that he once shut himself up a 
 winter to write a book, and by the immoderate use of 
 tobacco induced the De Quincey condition, in which he 
 saw multitudes of faces and figures. In all other 
 respects his mind was clear. 'When I went to bed at 
 night after blowing a particularly heavy cloud, it was 
 either confusedly oppressive without terror that I 
 never felt, though I was annoyed by wakefulness or 
 grand,' he said. When I knew him he had quit his 
 pipe." 
 
 At tea Bradley and George Dolman were absent. 
 The former had been invited by Andrew to a sympo 
 sium at the gardener's lodge, and had carried his friend 
 with him. Mr. Horton soon retired to the library to 
 look over accounts, and Caroline, regarding her pres 
 ence as superfluous, or actuated by a caprice of sportive 
 malice, found occasion to leave Bloker and Emily alone 
 together. 
 
 Jacob Bloker's manner in his intercourse with Miss 
 Horton, though intent, was that of a wary man, endur 
 ing but unencroached upon by sentiment. Plainly, he 
 was not the person to take to charcoal fumes. There 
 would be no sadness, and little fancy in his love. His 
 passion, if such it might be called, was of the nature of
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 183 
 
 an aposteme, gradually going forward and slow to 
 point; which breaks and leaves the system without 
 damage. Yet Emily Horton was the object of his am 
 bition. Whoever stood in the way of his success was 
 an enemy, to be* visited, if possible, with his vengeance. 
 Scruples were aliens to his bosom. The rebuke 
 administered to him by Jane Warner had offended him 
 less than the exposure of his narrowness. That, he 
 felt, had impeded him in the prosecution of his suit, 
 despite his own plausible explanation ; and his rancor, 
 though cunningly cloaked, rose to a measure corres 
 ponding with the force of his desire. 
 
 "I have taken the liberty, Miss Horton, to bring you 
 'Antonina,' which you extolled at the Forleys;" and 
 Bloker in drawing the book from his pocket brought 
 with it a daguereotype. He opened the case with an 
 expression of surprise, and then handed it gaily to his 
 companion. 
 
 "Since it is so unexpectedly introduced, I must let 
 you see it, and tell you its history. The lady is too 
 pretty to be given the go-by. I found it on the floor 
 of my room, just after one of my clerks, Garth, had 
 left me. I put it in my pocket, meaning to give it him, 
 and forgot." 
 
 Emily instantly recognized the picture of Jane 
 Warner. 
 
 "You know who it is?" she asked. 
 
 "I think' I do. It struck me that it might be a 
 reminiscence of Leasowes; which place, I believe, I 
 have incidentally referred to before. A mere conjec 
 ture, however I know nothing."
 
 184 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 "Shall I consider it a waif, and return it to the 
 lady?" 
 
 "You do not perceive that would be likely to com 
 promise me. No doubt, Garth knows where he 
 dropped it; such things are under the eyes of the 
 happy possessors a score of times a day. I am as 
 much the subject of misconstruction in that quarter 
 already as I care to be. Besides, I understand that 
 Miss "Warner is at her school." 
 
 Emily resigned the picture to Bloker, who received 
 her steady gaze with composure.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 185 
 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 Willie brewed a peck of malt, 
 And Rob and Allan came to see. 
 
 HE temperance convictions of the 
 worthy master of Belair were not 
 shared by old Andrew and his guests 
 at the lodge. Three jovial Caledo 
 nians a Murray, a Brown, and a 
 Carstairs had come from town to 
 . pledge the season and each other, and 
 the rest of mankind living and dead 
 north of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the 
 potent brew of "a brither Scot.'' 
 The two great levellers that make all Scotchmen equal 
 are whiskey-punch and death; and, as might be 
 suspected, the punch has precedence. Its empire, like 
 that of history, embraces both the finished and the 
 faulty. 
 
 Brown, who insisted on being called Broon, was a 
 character deserving of a separate paragraph. The 
 broad, brawny proportions of the man indicated a 
 tough and lasting vitality, an overmatch for any ordi 
 nary number of tankards steaming bacchanal incense to 
 the small hours in subterranean places. There was less 
 alacrity of perception indicated in his massive features,
 
 186 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 rugged to the hither boundary of corrugation though 
 here Lavater was belied than abounding good-nature. 
 This, perhaps, mantled at his seventh potation, when he 
 had clean got past the hatred of Doctor Johnson which 
 was inspired by his fourth. It was then that the old 
 Jacobite glories rose fresh to his view. A joke once 
 got was kept by him for ever, as another man would 
 keep a demonstration in mathematics. His talk, sensi 
 ble and ingenious, brisk enough without dazzling, and 
 penetrated by a vein of grotesque humor, was just the 
 staple for a company moderately volatile and a comfort 
 able evening; for he rarely ran his share too far below 
 the farrows of other people, and the punch did the rest. 
 He dealt in old editions and tall copies, and catered for 
 the book-hunters. In a narrow shop, five minutes 
 walk from the law courts, he accumulated musty 
 treasures, perchance alas! the parting from hard- 
 pinched scholars, of black-letter, Elzevers, and broad 
 margins, rank and file a dingy and battered array, 
 which he would review as he walked off his morning 
 heaviness, always short of headache, and declaimed 
 Greek to the rickety shelves, unconscious of the weight 
 of superincumbent dignity. He had been known to 
 pay a whole month's board at once, to the bewilderment 
 of his landlady, out of the profit of a Seneca; and to 
 replenish his wardrobe, usually somewhat seedy, with 
 the proceeds of a bundle of old ballads. But these 
 were rare occurrences, infrequent as a stray Nashe, or 
 a Petrarch with an Elizabethan autograph, upon his 
 counter, and his finances as a rule were at the ebb. 
 "Take a weed," said Bradley, proffering his cigar-
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 187 
 
 case to Dolman, "for Andrew's tobacco is outlandish, 
 and a pipe he is sure to offer you." 
 
 Bradley and Dolman were seated by their host in 
 rush-bottomed chairs high and straight in the backs 
 and running unexpectedly to bulbs. There was a blaze 
 of crackling hickory which flashed a Christmas wel 
 come along a hospitable extent of chimney coast. At 
 one corner of the ingle the gardener's dog was stretched, 
 hunting in his sleep; and at the other a kettle, just 
 taken from the crane, steamed lazily. Upon a bright 
 cherry table, drawn within the compass of the fire, were 
 glasses, lemons, and a canister, the contents of which 
 were gradually disappearing in smoke and satisfaction. 
 
 "Pit some o' this into ye it's gude as if it was 
 illecit," said Andrew, producing a flat stone bottle. 
 
 Bradley complied, and Dolman swallowed a thimblo- 
 full. 
 
 "Ye'll alloo me to recommend it for presairvin' the 
 constitution, tecklin' the fog out o' the throat, and pre 
 venting the destruction of tissue," said Carstairs. 
 
 "It'll mak the bluid run into your bones," added 
 Murray. 
 
 " The good wishes of the season !" Bradley offered, 
 nodding from the host to the company. 
 
 " The same frae oorsels," responded Andrew over a 
 companion tumbler. 
 
 "Gin ye'd pin it in with a pipe, it would do ye mair 
 good than gowd. Cigars are weel enough wi' cauld 
 drinks and licht, like wines," said Carstairs, who had 
 been in his time a small stock farmer in Australia, and 
 had smoked his well browned dudeen, silver set at
 
 188 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 Sydney, after tea and damper in many a savage spot of 
 bush. 
 
 "I wad wish nae mair o' a winter's nicht," reflected 
 Andrew aloud, while he pared a lemon with his prun- 
 ing-knife, "than a flame which pits a smile on the auld 
 beams overhead, and brings to a mon's heart a thoucht 
 o' luve as it glints frae the eyes of his tyke ; thot, an' a 
 dwam or sae to uncrinkle him, an' he may lean his bock 
 in a beguilin' cloud o' smoke and defy the winds to 
 blaw. Buiks some folk prefer, but it's a clever chiel 
 of them a' that's nae a wee bit daft. They e'en took to 
 gawrdenin'," with a profound contempt in his accent 
 worthy of a fellow craftsman of Adam, "wi' their 
 Cyclopedias, and sic clavers!" 
 
 " Was there ever such a brooding old bird of a Zim 
 merman. Wouldn't you call in the neebors? Mur 
 ray ! give us a sang to enliven our Ancient of Tulips at 
 the concocting of the punch," said Brown. 
 
 "After you." . 
 
 "He declines; and at your amorous ditties he can 
 out warble Anacreon or a man-milliner. Ah! 
 
 'How sweet a singer is in Murray lost.' " 
 
 "Nae hauding offj Brown, but come forrit," insisted 
 Carstairs. 
 
 "I've an incipient quinsy I couldn't turn a tune." 
 
 'Gie 'Willie Wastle,' Jamie," requested the host. 
 
 ' Ye'll sair repent before I'm through," said Carstairs, 
 as he pitched his voice to sing the wabster's spouse of 
 Linkumdodie. They all joined in when it came to the 
 chorus, and -
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 189 
 
 "Sic a wife as Willie had, 
 I wad nae gie a button for her!" 
 
 was accomplished in a contemptuous roar, Carstairs, as 
 the Corypheus, snapping his fingers as he disposed of 
 the dame in an effective variety of styles. Then 
 Andrew sang something so very Scotch and very old, 
 that Brown opened his ears and asked him if he had 
 ever seen it in print. Bradley was pressed and con- 
 s^ :ited on the express condition that Dolman should be 
 excused as totally incompetent to the task. Finally. 
 Murray, insisting that Brown should succeed him with 
 a story, and making a stipulation to that effect with the 
 recalcitrant bibliopole, gave a rustic strain of moorland 
 humor. 
 
 "Now, Brown, your story!" was urged around. 
 
 AN EXPERIENCE OF MR. BROON. 
 
 "I had lived in the city which is honored by my pre 
 sent abode but few months, and being of temperate and 
 secluded habits could not i,n an emergency a cas"e of 
 mistaken identity you understand, no other is supposa- 
 .ble have referred a police magistrate to many resident 
 acquaintances, when Christmas eve found me alone, 
 about eleven o'clock, in my own quiet shanty and 
 riddled horse-hair covered arm-chair, cogitating con 
 cerning myself with benevolent composure. It was 
 an out of the way neighborhood where I lived which 
 got little of the general racket and jollity when it 
 was at its highest, and the festively exuberant noises 
 of the night had subsided to the rumble of an occa 
 sional cab, the shrillness of a few sixpenny whistles,
 
 190 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 and a tipsy chorus, now and then, which died away 
 in some distant cross street. In this state of serenity 
 I had been sitting a fall hour undisturbed, since the 
 recovery of my wheelbarrow from a crew of drunken 
 rogues who were trundling it into the illuminated 
 window of the confectioner at the corner when the 
 outer door, the shutter of which was not yet up, was 
 slowly opened." 
 
 Here the narrator paused, looked solemn, and 
 seemed to lapse into thought. From this abstraction 
 he recovered, with an effort, when Murray handed him 
 a tumbler of punch. He continued. 
 
 "The door was opened, and a little man muffled 
 about the throat in a travelling shawl, with a hat worn 
 at a rakish angle and preposterously tall like the neck 
 of a hock bottle, and with a gait which I thought 
 totty but that might have been due to the uncertain 
 light approached and saluted me. When he was 
 seated there was a restless silence of a minute or two, 
 during which I had time to try at an inward estimate 
 of my unexpected guest. He had removed his hat, 
 and I perceived it was clubbed behind with crape, but 
 so negligently that it might have been put on by an 
 undertaker in a maudlin state at a dissipated funeral, 
 after a rather cheerful view of the coffin. He wore 
 large buckskin gloves, and his clothes generally had 
 an appearance of bagginess. What could the man 
 be? 
 
 There was a flavor of horses about him, but he lacked 
 the true stable personality, which will show itself, 
 even on a hearse-box. I had seen similar people about
 
 AMERICAN. LIFE AT HOME. 191 
 
 theatres, who posted the bills, helped the carpenters, 
 and played second or third ruffian, at a pinch, in 
 murder scenes; but my companion's ways were not 
 dramatic. Then, again, he resembled some curmud 
 geons I had known in the usury line. Perhaps he was 
 one of the brotherhood of Shylock mollified by the 
 genial influences of the season to minister of his 
 money to struggling virtue. Something like these 
 reflections, half serious and half humorous, sped 
 through my mind while I regarded my visitor; and 
 yet there was an undercurrent of cogitation. The 
 clothes. I had surely seen them investing another 
 individual. Yes, that cerulean coat instinctively I 
 knew it to be blue, though in my shop light I could 
 distinguish at the distance nothing more subdued than 
 brimstone with its queer skirt and buttons of brass, 
 had been part of my holiday leisure and parcel of my 
 Sunday walks. 
 
 At length the little man addressed me in a tone 
 dashed, I thought, with a shake of grief. 
 
 ' Peleg's pegged out at last.' 
 
 'The deuce, you say!' I replied; though I had not 
 the least idea who Peleg was. 'Where has he gone?' 
 
 'I can't tell He's dead,' responded the little man. 
 
 'Who's Peleg dead?' I demanded with some as 
 perity. 
 
 ' Why, Stokes ; as was your porter.' 
 
 I had only known him by his last name. Occasion 
 ally he had been employed by me to wheel home my 
 purchases from the book auctions I dealt in miscel 
 laneous trash in those days. I got to know him well,
 
 192 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 for he lived near my shop, and I often saw him about, 
 chiefly in his working-day aspect. I had heard of his 
 sickness. Report said it was fever, and a bad case, 
 caught from the ships. 
 
 'He was a good industrious critter,' continued the 
 little man, 'as pinched along the best he know'd how, 
 and allus managed to keep his head above water till 
 the time come for him to go down.' 
 
 'I can bear you out there He was a steady, honest, 
 person,' I said. 
 
 'He was my friend. His loss touches me, but I 
 conker my feelings. I think of the claims of the 
 living, and it calms me to once,' observed the little 
 man, with an air of resignation. 
 
 'He left no family?' I said. 
 
 'There's where it is neither chick nor child, and no 
 relations whatsumever/ replied the littfe man. Then 
 he repeated with odd deliberation and emphasis, 
 ' When I think of the claims of the living, it calms me 
 to once.' 
 
 There was a pause, which I did not happen to 
 impearl with any observation, and during which the 
 little man rectified the crape upon his hat. My queer 
 visitor was first to break the silence. 
 
 'There's an unkimmon lot of curous things, as you 
 wouldn't think on, in the human system, what the doc 
 tors has to learn before they can cure their feller 
 critters.' 
 
 This, though I thought it rather a bizarre remark, 
 was plain enough to be assented to without demur.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 193 
 
 ' And yet, they tell me, they're allus a discoverin' of 
 something new about diseases, and sich like.' 
 
 ' I believe so,' I said, as I considered if here was not 
 a chance to sell an odd volume of Good's Study of 
 Medicine. 
 
 ' Tears to me we can't put too high a vally on sci 
 ence. Some folks don't like the way the doctors cut 
 the bodies to find out things, but my motter is, science 
 before feelins.' 
 
 I considered this a sensible view, and said as much ; 
 while I thought of Jeremy Bentham, and smiled at 
 once at the agreement and the contrast suggested by 
 my companion. There was another pause. Again the 
 little man led the conversation. 
 
 'Peleg's as pretty a corpse as I most ever seen 
 Science orter have it.' 
 
 'What are you at, man?' I exclaimed fiercely. 
 
 'Strivin' for society,' he replied, unabashed. 'I'm a 
 kind of exeketer of Peleg's, I may say his survivin' 
 friend. Peleg said to me as he was a going off 
 Abner! Hoopes he used to call me when he was well 
 and hearty Abner! said he, you have been a friend 
 in need, which, as the rhyme said on the horn handle 
 of a knife I owned when I was a boy, is a friend in 
 deed ; I want you to take my Sunday clothes to remem 
 ber me. It was affecting, and I took them. As soon 
 as I closed my friend's eyes I put them or. this 
 blessed night. This coat, and west, and trowsers was 
 his.' 
 
 Here was a revelation. The scoundrel, just from a 
 fatal case of ship-fever, and habited in the dead man*s 
 17
 
 194 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 infected garments, was trying to inveigle me by artful 
 approaches into a collusion to sell the body to the sur 
 geons! In my wrath I clutched a quarto Dutch dic 
 tionary heavily bound and clasped. Had I thrown it 
 with the force and precision of which I was capable, 
 besides making costal fractures under the swallow- 
 tailed coat and a case for the hospital, I would have car 
 ried the canting little villain clean off his chair on to my 
 truckle bed the last place in the world where I wanted 
 him, bundled about as he was with contagion. So, I 
 turned to the window behind me, threw up the sash 
 for air, and in another moment rushed into the street, 
 determined to hand the science-promoting Abner into 
 custody. Watchmen were few in those days, and being 
 usually aged and of plethoric habits, when not crying 
 the hour, or in chase of mocking boys around the mar 
 ket stalls, they were to be found asleep in their boxes. 
 I made at speed for the nearest of these, and as I passed 
 the neighboring bowling-alley, the door of which was 
 ajar, I heard, 'Five minutes of twelve one game more 
 set 'em up !' I found the civic functionary in two 
 overcoats, hugging a sheet-iron stove, and nodding 
 over the precipice of drowsiness. When I roused him 
 he inquired, 'Where was the fire?' Finally, I got him 
 to comprehend my purpose. But when we reached the 
 shop Abner had gone perhaps to weep in secret nor 
 have I seen him since. For several years after I took 
 an interest in the necrological record of persons who 
 passed out of the world according to law, but my re 
 searches were inconclusive. To return I shut the 
 place next day, tied a badge of mourning to the door-
 
 AMEEICAN LIFE AT HOME. 195 
 
 knob, and wafered above it for the information of the 
 literary world a written announcement of, ' A death in 
 the family.' Then I had it thoroughly scoured, and 
 fumigated through the back, before I ventured in my 
 bachelor blankets and the society of Plato and the 
 rats." 
 
 " That was a queer start," remarked the New Hol 
 lander. 
 
 " Bather," said Bradley, as he tossed away the stump 
 of his second cigar and waked Dolman. 
 
 "Verawzetee, next to sobrietee," observed Andrew, 
 essaying to rise in a style of supernatural steadiness 
 that he might brew another jorum of punch, "is the 
 wale o' a' virtues." 
 
 In an hour after Bradley and Dolman had departed, 
 the dog was the most rational member of the party, for 
 he could stand upon his legs, although he knew no 
 Greek, and was less of a sentimentalist than his master, 
 or some of our modern novelists. So true is it, as 
 Charles Reade has somewhere said with his wonted 
 pithiness, that wherever there is drinking, there is de 
 gradation.
 
 <r 
 196 
 
 THE HOKTONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 When icicles hang by the wall, 
 
 And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, 
 And Tom bears logs into the hall, 
 
 And milk comes frozen home in pail, 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 When all aloud the wind doth blow, 
 
 And coughing drowns the parson's saw, 
 And birds sit brooding in the snow, 
 
 And Marian's nose looks red and raw 
 
 LOVE'S LABOR'S Los 
 
 Bam. The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold. 
 Hor. It is a nipping, and an eager air. 
 
 O the willing gleaner winter is not the 
 famine of the year. For him, Nature 
 drops her mask of austerity, and, like 
 the reapers of Boaz, lets fall some 
 handfuls of purpose. There is a blue 
 in the sky of a winter noon, which, 
 when the winds are still and the elas 
 tic air is full of the sun's light with 
 out his fervor, is a blessing of sere 
 nity while at night the stars shower 
 down through the frigid quiet. These are beams from 
 red Arcturus, sovereign of unseen worlds; and these, 
 that glitter on the miser's tombstone, are from prodigal 
 Capella. 
 
 Clear and calm was the February day on which
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 197 
 
 Bradley Horton rode, muffled and alone, toward The 
 Cedars. A dazzling vestment 'of snow was spread 
 upon the fields, and the forest trees shivered in lean 
 shadows. The sound of the chopper's axe was soft 
 ened by distance to a drowsy monotone. The seal of 
 the season was half lifted from the farm-houses, though 
 its stillness was around them, that they might breathe 
 the balmy air. Where the warmer South streamed 
 along the line of sheltering stacks stood patient cattle 
 feeding at the rack of rails, or half-leg deep in ripples 
 of fresh forked straw. In the long reaches between 
 the homes of men, where faint and far away was heard 
 the house-dog's bark, the only life, perhaps, would be a 
 rabbit scudding toward the skirt of a woods, a brace of 
 crows keeping by successive flights in the road before, 
 an owl blinking through bare branches at the snow, or 
 a pinched partridge in the fence. 
 
 Up and down a long, bleak hill bleak when the 
 north-west blows, but basking now and on the mill- 
 pond, to the left, men are gathering ice. On the mar 
 gin of an opening, where the water shows treacherously 
 smooth, some cut the limpid blocks. Others guide 
 them afloat with hook-tipped poles to a secure landing, 
 when they are shoved swiftly over the frozen surface 
 of the pond to wagons at the shore, the track being* 
 shifted when the water oozes to a slop. The faces of 
 the men are aglow, and they fetch their breath quick, 
 as they run, or stand in the intervals of labor and slap 
 their numb hands with a will on shoulder and side. 
 The very horses that draw the laden wagons scarce 
 need the crack of the driver '9 whip, so eagerly do they
 
 198 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 stretch to the work. Sometimes a careless wight slips 
 into the canal, and is drawn out jeered and dripping; 
 or an axe drops to the bottom beyond recovery. It is 
 a scene to-day of human industry to-morrow, the 
 rabbit and bunting may return to the wood-belted 
 banks, and the muskrat take his "constitutional" un 
 disturbed ; and find nothing new but wheel-tracks and 
 the pellicle of last night's freezing. 
 
 The wind is rising. There is a chill in the roseate 
 sunset. And now the moon is up, and the glow in the 
 west grows dimmer and distant. "Where the road dips 
 into shadow, Bradley starts at the sudden scraping of a 
 riddle to meet a* bumpkin going to a country dance. 
 Here is the stone bridge with a ghostly coping, and 
 the skeleton willows below complaining in the blast. 
 Yonder bulges Prospect Hill, with its lone warder of a 
 poplar, which can be seen thirty miles out on the bay. 
 The Cedars hospitality is a league before, but the liga 
 ments of his steed are toughened by livery usage, ana 
 the sharpened instinct of the veteran snuffeth the man 
 ger afar off. At length the lights of the mansion twin 
 kle palely. It is the avenue, though, what with bare 
 branches, and evergreens half snow half sombreness, 
 it has suffered a weird and unfamiliar change. The 
 gates are propped wide open in a hearty carelessness 
 of trespass. With a burst, the dogs come out and 
 bark. The wheels stop, and ostler Sam slouches for 
 ward, and keeps the pack at bay. Then, there is light, 
 and warmth, and welcome; fragrant Mocha and savory 
 rashers for man, and an unaccustomed extravagance of 
 straw and oats for beast; aad sleep for both, with
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 199 
 
 beatific visions sliding into the soul of Bradley, and a 
 horrid nightmare of the Slumptown stables for the raw- 
 boned steed. 
 
 The ample, fur-lined sleigh was before The Cedars 
 piazza, and the horses were flinging their necks impa 
 tiently. 
 
 "Charley, go hurry your sister and Mr. Horton 
 what keeps them? My nose is freezing how provok 
 ing." 
 
 "I'll polish it for you, Rose." 
 
 " Away, sir ! Take that for your roughness ! Here 
 they are, at last." 
 
 "Now, Sam, give me the leather, and take off their 
 jackets still still! tuck them about my feet 
 G'lang! and shake out your ringlets," says Mr. Charles 
 Bardleigh ; and with a nimble show of hoofs that send 
 the snow shooting behind, they are off. 
 
 What wonder, when the stars came out and the 
 night wind lifted up its surly voice, that the blood con 
 gealed more and more in the pretty face of Rose Stuve- 
 sant. What wonder, too, that Master Bardleigh in his 
 solicitude for her comfort brought a salutary glow to 
 her cheek ; or that the warm blood sallied in force to 
 occupy the outposts of his own, challenged by the play 
 of his cousin's eyelashes. Who among us, when we 
 summon the frolicsome days of our youth to give up 
 their dead, do not welcome a resurrection of merry 
 ghosts? Ah! the current of our lives is cold and 
 sluggish now, but something of the old torpedo thrill 
 will answer to the touch of memory yet. 
 
 Less ebullient, perhaps, were the feelings which
 
 200 THE HOETONS; OR 
 
 cloistered in the bosoms of Bradley and Lydia for it 
 is a delusion of the enamored train, that their sensibil 
 ity is hidden from the world. Alas! enough of the 
 rapture will escape to betray its presence. Delightful 
 infatuation! 'Twas a divine spark which kindled these 
 unquenchable fires of love. Adam and Eve rejoice 
 alone in their Eden, unconscious of another garden. 
 
 "This visible nature, and this common world, 
 Is all too narrow." 
 
 The dream of the boy was a poor prelude to this 
 regality of the man, when the heart of the woman 
 assents with passion. Now 'tis a kingdom! Conceal 
 ment, the dragon, which stands between other lives, is 
 stricken down for them by the good angel Choice. 
 
 Johnson was right when he classed rapid motion 
 among the keenest relishes of existence ; albeit it may 
 be suspected that his conception of a sleigh-ride was 
 not so well defined as his notion of dinners and dispu 
 tations at the Mitre. What approbation he would have 
 growled could he have sped twent} r miles in the nip 
 ping air to the mingled music of bells and grating run 
 ners. And this, though the blinking "Roman" might 
 not see a vision vouchsafed to many a cooing couple 
 
 "Flying between the cold moon and the earth, 
 Cupid all arm'd" 
 
 A gay time had been concerted, and as they drove 
 from mansion to mansion repeated accessions kept the 
 friskiness a decorous jollity at a high mark. Some 
 times the approach of a crew of wild fellows was an 
 nounced afar off by the vigorous blowing of a horn 
 sometimes a convivial stave was raised, with a tremen-
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 201 
 
 dous chorus; or a party, oblivious of the hour, and 
 gone in their cups clean into the next day, shouted 
 inharmoniously together, 
 
 "Behold how brightly breaks the morning!" 
 
 Then, an upset group was passed, scrambling in a 
 snow-drift, or a youthful cavalcade, masquerading as 
 pioneers in grotesque habiliments, brandished the 
 stumps of brooms as they sat or slipped on bare 
 backed mules, and bandied bacchanal jokes of a 
 punchy flavor. 
 
 Mirth beamed from the ladies' eyes and music 
 tripped from their tongues, ere they got to their 
 destination, Woodlawn, the old-fashioned seat of Gen 
 eral Cleaver, a hale and venerable hero, who, like 
 Caesar, gave the world his commentaries, and, like 
 Coriolanus, objected to showing it his scars. The 
 general, however, knew the merits of a well adminis 
 tered commissariat, and his granddaughter, on whom 
 he doted, sprightly Norah McManus, presided at his 
 luxurious board. 
 
 There was a dance, of course, and plenty of the 
 general's choicest flip, duly heated with a polished 
 poker kept for the purpose hearty talk, and raillery 
 without malice games, and romping. The general 
 had been on the turf, in his day, and bragged to the 
 men of his racers. He deplored, with befitting com 
 mendation, the untimely fate of a favorite jockey, who 
 went off triumphant, declining to break his neck short 
 of the winning post. While distributing his fine, old- 
 school cornpliirents among the ladies, he recalled, in a
 
 202 .THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 glow of pathetic admiration, the glorious beauties in 
 whose sunshine he had basked "In my prime, sir 
 when women were appreciated." There was a supper 
 which the shade of Lucullus need not have disdained, 
 so urging was the terrapin, and so savory the canvas- 
 backs, while the roasted oysters were done to a turn 
 of the singeing of their beards. Woodlawn, in short, 
 was redolent of feasting, and gay with an unstinted 
 measure of fun; and when the rearward of the merry 
 makers departed, cocks were greeting sleepily the 
 last watch of the night. Out upon your Typees, 
 whether civilized or savage, and though they be never 
 so exquisitely painted from a master's palette, and 
 allot us still, O open-handed nature, the generous 
 roughness of our northern clime ! 
 
 In the homeward drive the lovers conversed in a 
 tone subdued just below the jingle of the sleigh-bells. 
 Rose was sleepy, and Charley Bardleigh had enough 
 to do in the dark to watch the fences and drifts. 
 
 " This has been a night to remember, Lydia." 
 
 "I have been very happy and I have been merry, 
 too." 
 
 "You put the mirth last?" 
 
 "Yes; for I felt above it." 
 
 "Darling, I understand you!" said Bradley, gently 
 encircling her waist with his arm. 
 
 For some time they spake in soul-talk-pressures 
 breathings a common consciousness. 
 
 "Bradley! I am proud because I do not belong to 
 myself." 
 
 "My noble love, I live only for you!"
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 203 
 
 "Thank God, for this holy trust in each other!" said 
 Lydia. 
 
 " It comes from heaven," said Bradley. 
 
 " It gushes from heaven. The very stars reflect our 
 joy, Bradley!" 
 
 "Then let them shine, there is enough in my heart 
 for all the constellations." 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 " It may be, our happiness is too precious to last," 
 reflected Lydia, pensively. 
 
 " My dear, do not cloud the future with doubts." 
 
 "I will not. It is ingratitude ; and yet " 
 
 "I beseech you, blast not our roses Not another 
 gloomy word," and Bradley placed his hand tenderly 
 upon her mouth. 
 
 Putting it aside, she said, in accents of pleasure, 
 "May I not speak, then, dear?" 
 
 "Yes, and make my ears your slaves; but not to 
 torture them." 
 
 Judge Bardleigh, while perceiving the attachment 
 of Bradley and his daughter, had been content to 
 perceive it in silence he felt sure there could be no 
 ''Jessica at The Cedars. At dinner next day, a quiet 
 family repast, he proposed to his visitor an hour or 
 two of skating on the fish-pond. The ladies determined 
 to go along. While they were preparing, the judge 
 took Bradley, who had requested an interview, aside to 
 his "den," as he styled a room specially appropriated 
 to himself, which contained a jumble of furniture and 
 lumber. The pretext, was a search for straps. 
 
 "Sit down, sir," said the judge, who was looking 
 grave.
 
 204 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 Bradley started and flushed, but managed to phrase 
 intelligibly, if not aptly, his petition. 
 
 "I am satisfied of the earnestness of youi feelings, 
 and that they are returned," said the judge. 
 
 "I assure you, sir, 'earnestness' is a weak word to 
 describe them." 
 
 The judge smiled, and continued. 
 
 "So be it. I would not have you say, 
 
 ' comes in her father, 
 
 Arid, like the tyrannous breathing of the north, 
 Shakes all our buds from growing.' 
 
 But there are prudential considerations; so let us be 
 explicit. I do not stipulate, in this matter, for wealth, 
 but a plain sufficiency for a man's breath is in his 
 nostrils. I suspect you will have it, but I am not sure. 
 I tell you frankly, that I am not so rich as I seem ; for 
 I have lived generously. While I am writing a letter, 
 take this sheet and put down a short statement of your 
 expectations and leave margin enough for the lady." 
 
 Bradley was confounded. A moment's reflection, 
 however, showed him the justness of the demand. It 
 was prompted by no sordid solicitude, but by the affec 
 tionate anxiety of a parent. He finished the memo 
 randum while the judge was yet employed, and sat 
 watching him with a new and strange interest. The 
 stream of this man's blood, he thought, would mingle 
 with his own. He saw a tiny hand upon the sceptre 
 given him by that one beloved woman, and he wel 
 comed the rival to the throne. 
 
 "It contents me," said the judge, after an examina 
 tion of the paper. "Let us return to the ladies."
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 205 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 I do well remember there was a ghost in the narrative, my lord. 
 
 OLD PLAT. 
 
 HEY were talking of ghosts. It was 
 twilight, and the flickering fire made 
 appropriate shadows on the wall un- 
 coerced, it observes no other com- 
 P act illustrative of the topic. 
 
 "And do you really believe in 
 them, uncle now, tell us?" asked 
 Rose. 
 
 "Well, seeing is believing, I sup 
 pose," said the judge. 
 "So you've seen a ghost, sir?" said Kose, in a dainty 
 little flutter. 
 
 "I saw an apparition whist!" 
 
 "How absurd. We are impatient to hear all about 
 it." 
 
 "Because you ladies won't keep secrets, you will 
 have TIB to blab. No, no." 
 
 "Now, no more nonsense, uncle." 
 "It was the ghost of a government contractor." 
 "What's that?" asked Rose, innocently. 
 "A fellow who snakes lots of money out of the 
 treasury (after bribing congressmen or a chief clerk) 
 18
 
 206 THE HORTONS; OK 
 
 for pretending to do something; and always has an un 
 settled claim, Miss Stupid," struck in Charley Bard- 
 leigh. 
 
 "There was no smell of brimstone," said the judge. 
 
 " Pshaw ! what a proser you are, uncle Bardleigh." 
 
 "It was at the junction of the A railroad, where 
 
 I stopped overnight that I might take an early morn 
 ing train. The tavern stands quite alone, and a 
 more dismal, dissocial hostlery was never dubbed an 
 inn." 
 
 "Delicious!" said Eose. "Was there any owls?" 
 
 " The night was too gusty for me to hear them, if 
 there was. A spectral cat came down the chimney about 
 two o'clock in the morning, when the gale was piping 
 ts loudest. The door would not latch, for the settling 
 of the frame; and I had to stop several broken panes 
 with my less voluminous garments. There was a sus 
 picious shed just under tne window, which made me a 
 little anxious, and I secured the sash as well as I could 
 with my pocket-knife." 
 
 "Wasn't that the place where the drover was mur 
 dered?" asked Charley, glancing at Rose. 
 
 "I don't know; it looked like a candidate for a 
 murder to drop the sense of the Latin primitive." 
 
 "Had you not a light all this time?" asked Rose. 
 
 "I had a tallow dip; which burned dim. I forgot 
 to mention the branch of an old tree, which made 
 oiysterious noises on the outside wall, except when it 
 seemed to groan " 
 
 "Like a person in distress?" asked Rose. 
 
 "Very like. I had got under the blankets, and was
 
 AMEKICAN LIFE AT HOME. 207 
 
 speculating on the felicity afforded by fire-arms in such 
 a situation, and wishing for even my grandfather's 
 hanger, which he took . from one of Burgoyne's men, 
 when I heard a crash and voices in altercation. I got 
 out of bed, and, shading the candle with my hat, passed 
 into the entry. The draft was too strong for the feeble 
 light, and out it went." 
 
 "What an exciting situation. Did it not send a 
 shiver over you, uncle?" 
 
 "Yes, my dear; as I was in thin apparel. Just as 
 my light went out, a ghastly figure, with another taper, 
 turned an angle of the passage. It came toward me, 
 paused, and spoke " 
 
 "Aloud?" 
 
 "Yes, aloud; though in a cavernous voice." 
 
 "What did it say?" 
 
 "'Judge Bardleigh as I'm a sinner 1' and it trem 
 bled, visibly." 
 
 "How odd! but that wasn't all?" 
 
 " The voice I recognized ; I should never have known 
 the appearance. It was and here the confidence 
 comes in who, years before, after squandering his 
 fortune, had slipped his bail and fled the country to 
 escape the consequence of a forgery he had committed. 
 He was thought to have died abroad. Worn out in 
 body; timid in movement; care-stricken in aspect; he 
 stood before me a suppliant for silence. He had tra 
 velled, in a restless and profitless career, through many 
 lands, and here, at last, near the graves of his ancestors, 
 he was hiding, yet afraid to linger, and almost penni 
 less. I spared him what aid I could, and we parted."
 
 208 THE HORTONS; OE 
 
 "And there was no ghost, after all." 
 
 " Only the ghost of the man's former self. Arabs on 
 the plain, my Pekuah ! are more dreadful than all the 
 Pharaohs in the pyramid." 
 
 " If you want my opinion, uncle Bardleigh, the story 
 is not in the least interesting." 
 
 "Judge! you're a great scholard, and knows fluxions 
 as I've heern say, but I reckon a rael sperit would top- 
 sawyer you." 
 
 They all started at the utterance of this unexpected 
 impeachment. 
 
 "O ! it's you, Uncle Steve How did you come?" 
 
 "Wai, judge," explained the oracular Trencher, "I 
 stopped to tell you I found that pointer pup you lost, 
 out in the woods, pesky bad with the 'stemper, and I 
 was showed to the door, but, your folks being a argyin 
 like, you didn't hear me knock, so I opened the door, 
 walked in and sot down, thinkin' I'd wait a spell till 
 you got through." 
 
 "If the pup's as much obliged to you as I am, Uncle 
 Steve, he's a grateful dog. I'll send for him to-mor 
 row." 
 
 "There was high doins down our way last night. 
 They unhung nearly all the gates, and carried some of 
 them clean off. Old marm Fougeroy found Brady's 
 tied to her cow this morning, and that's more'n two 
 miles off. Brady had just got it as I come along, and 
 was a drivin' spikes over the hinges. He was 'tarnal 
 mad says they stole the latch, and if he can find out 
 who it was he'll have them up before the grand jury." 
 
 "Good people, I hope your hands are innocent of this
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 209 
 
 grave offence My folks, you see, were on a frolic last 
 night, Uncle Steve," said the judge. 
 
 " Went nary gate but our own, which was a right 
 eous one," answered Charley. 
 
 " I guess it was some of them rapscallions from Bull 
 frog. They don't stop at nothing ornery. Last winter 
 they bored a hole clean through the weather-boarding 
 at Gabriel Wamblebees, and drawed off all the apple 
 jack in his barrel. Wai, I guess I must be a goin'. 
 Its desp'rate cold to-night." 
 
 " I'll see you out, Uncle Steve," said the judge, mirth 
 fully, in view of the parting intimation. 
 
 That winter's week at The Cedars, alas ! was too soon 
 spent, and Bradley bade the family good-bye. He left, 
 not as a lover trembling with uncertainty, but with 
 store of hope, and just enough melancholy to make it 
 piquant. The judge mounted his horse to look at his 
 cattle, some of the favorite Devons he was feeding into 
 prodigies of tallow, and rode with his guest a few fields 
 length. 
 
 " Show your grit, my boy and God bless you I" was 
 his benediction. 
 
 18*
 
 210 
 
 THE HOKTONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIY. 
 
 This is a notable couple and have met 
 But for some secret knavery. OLD PLAT. 
 
 HE Great Eepublic has produced en 
 gineers whose works in magnitude 
 and magnificence have not been any 
 where surpassed in modern times; 
 and it is in no spirit of unfairness 
 toward other Americans, of perhaps 
 equal merit, that the names and 
 achievements of Serrell, Ellet, La- 
 trobe, and Meigs, are cited to estab 
 lish the assertion. 
 Bradley Horton was proud to be a fellow-laborer of 
 these. There was certainly no fame to be got out of 
 the Tecumseh bridge, his initial undertaking. The 
 Tecumseh Tomahawk, indeed, while it was yet only a 
 plan, promised that it should prove "a stately struc 
 ture, unostentatiously graceful, and far more useful 
 than Cleopatra's Needle," and that it would "rise like 
 an exhalation;" but so wide is the world, even the 
 plunges of the Tomahawk scarcely left a shiver on tho 
 surface of human affairs. 
 
 Tecumseh was delightfully situated among breezy 
 hills, and was a lovely place to be lazy in on a long
 
 AMERICAN" LIFE AT HOME. 211 
 
 summer's day; for, billiards left behind, you might 
 smoke on some cool lawn with cultivated men, or eat 
 raspberries and ice-cream in a honey-suckled piazza 
 with charming women in white, who could gallant fans 
 with the love-inspiring brunettes of Castile. A crowd 
 was never known in the place except during court 
 week, and at the agricultural fair. The nearest ap 
 proach to it was upon the arrival of the evening train, 
 when a group of worthy burghers might be found 
 assembled at each of the two hotels, awaiting the news 
 and commenting upon current affairs. Nobody had 
 been hanged at Tecumseh in a score of years, and 
 included among its notable inhabitants was the tallest 
 man in the county. But its press was the glory of the 
 town. This consisted of two weekly newspapers, the 
 Tomahawk and the Torch, the first of which was Re 
 publican and the last Democratic, and they were edited 
 respectively by Mr. Joab Slunk and Doctor Scammony. 
 Joab Slunk was a semi- educated writer and roaring 
 politician, in a state of perpetual incandescence, who 
 strove to be venomous, and usually succeeded in being 
 vulgar. Yet he had once or twice achieved the expen 
 sive dignity of libel. He was a square, hollow-chested 
 man, who walked with a shuffling stoop, characteristic 
 of his moral conduct. There was something insalubri 
 ous in his whole aspect, especially in his complexion, 
 which was the color of inferior putty. Yet no god of 
 all who ruled the middle air from high Olympus, when 
 the quaking sphere answered his nod, could have sur 
 passed in self-esteem the cadaverous editor of the Toma 
 hawk.
 
 212 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 It was opposite the office of the Tomahawk that 
 Bradley one day met Bartimeus Scroggs and Mordeoai 
 Dabster, who walked with him to the bridge. 
 
 "Ah! 'tis a bridge of size, I see," said Dabster, 
 nudging Scroggs at the idiotic emphasis, who gravely 
 asked him what he wanted. 
 
 "I've just bought the mosquito meadows, and I 
 mean to have them drained to promote the health of 
 the town," remarked Scroggs. 
 
 "It is a most benevolent project, and will justly 
 entitle you to be considered a public benefactor," re 
 plied Bradley. 
 
 " Why, yes, I expect to add some reputation of that 
 kind to the undeserved stock I have already acquired." 
 
 " And it is a stock in trade you always have a mar 
 ket for," remarked Dabster. 
 
 "I will not deny that I have sometimes found money 
 in it, my friends, but I desire only the recompense in 
 my own bosom, and the approbation of the spirit 
 world," said Scroggs. 
 
 " The draining you propose is the more meritorious 
 that it will be a costly labor," observed Bradley. 
 
 "O, I only mean to pay my share of the expense. 
 We will employ I will make it worth your while to 
 consider this confidential a little innocent artifice to 
 excite the public spirit of the place." 
 
 "Spotted fever with black tongue twig, my ace of 
 spades?" added Dabster. 
 
 Bradley confessed himself unable to comprehend the 
 explanation. 
 
 "We shall take the liberty," continued Scroggs, "to
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 213 
 
 demonstrate the extreme unhealthiness of the meadows 
 by examples of an epidemic. We have several cases 
 of bilious-remittent, and an African just recovering of 
 small-pox. The latter is horribly speckled, and was 
 procured with some trouble by Dabster, who is about 
 to operate more largely in our vineyard of philanthro 
 pic politics. These will be attacked at the same time, 
 and with great violence. We have also a subject in. 
 molasses, who was drowned and is much swollen, for a 
 post-mortem. The unfortunate deceased was one of 
 your laborers, just arrived when taken with a conges 
 tive chill, and Doctor Scammony will examine the 
 body. Slunk and Scammony are both with us, and 
 will sound an alarm, terrify the people, and secure an 
 appropriation for our project from the town commis 
 sioners. They had the disease at Sparta, only twelve 
 miles off, you know, a few weeks since. Fraud, my 
 dear sir, is pious when it promotes the welfare of our 
 fellow-creatures; and as to them sickly meadows, they 
 are running down fast to cattails, and the croak of the 
 very frogs is agueish." 
 
 Bartimeus Scroggs failed aforetime to get the nomi 
 nation for Congress which he sought ; and thus it was. 
 After many ballottings in the convention he lacked but 
 two votes of a majority over his two competitors. 
 One of these retired and carried his support to the 
 other, Orator Puffin. Three of his voters, however, 
 held off. To catch these patriots, Scroggs east baited 
 hooks. The night of final trial arrived, and might 
 have brought triumph to Bartimeus but for an unfore 
 seen occurrence. There was a famous medium in
 
 214 THE HOKTONS; OB 
 
 town, who pretended to heal the halt, withered, and 
 infirm. This medium was originally influenced by 
 the spirit of the celebrated Fordyce, and took to the 
 line of fevers. In course of time (speaking humanly, 
 and not in the language of the "spheres") Fordyce 
 introduced him to a college of departed surgeons, 
 willing to give their skill sublunary airings on 
 demand. Their manipulations through the medium 
 required an assistant in the flesh, and Scroggs volun- 
 teere<^ to act the part. On the night which was to 
 establish or disappoint his personal aspirations, assured 
 that the clinical business would be speedily over, he 
 smiled benignly from a platform the fattest of his 
 smiles upon the assembled crutchees, some of whom he 
 expected to be his constituents. Now, the healing 
 medium/ made merry with choice spirits of the earth, 
 failed to appear at the appointed hour. As time 
 lapsed, the assistant grew fidgetty and the patients 
 mutinous. Messengers were in vain. So were as- 
 suasive explanations; the cripples had come to be 
 healed, and found no benefit in the words of Barti- 
 meus. One, with a wooden leg, considered them 
 "gammon." The time for the meeting of the conven 
 tion was already past, there was but one way of exit, 
 and Scroggs charged upon the cripples. Desperate, 
 they formed to repel him. The most determined cour 
 age was useless against such an array. Then the 
 cripples charged to the last crutch, and beat him back. 
 Unavailingly he pleaded the importance of his engage 
 ment. The man with the wooden leg, who had been 
 constituted leader, was an unnaturalized citizen, and
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 215 
 
 scorned the appeal. While Scroggs was thus im 
 prisoned, Puffin insidiously circulated a report that he 
 had thrown up the contest. The three withholdexB 
 became alarmed. In another half hour they were 
 jpen to conviction; and fifteen minutes afterward, in 
 the conscientious discharge of their duty, they voted 
 for the Orator. 
 
 And Bartimeus Scroggs did not go to Congress 
 to its detriment. But the public anguish at his defeat 
 was assuaged by the selection of Puffin, Tsrho was 
 altogether as radical, and who could emit a great deal 
 of facile and ferocious rhetoric at short notice. Ho 
 was a fine accountant, and could tell blindfolded how 
 many eggs any department nest contained, and, with 
 prophetic discernment, what they would hatch, whether 
 old blunderbusses, or the mounting of a cavalry regi 
 ment; and he probably smelt their interiors. Not 
 that Puffin was corrupt. On the contrary he was 
 incorruptible. All his constituents were incorruptible. 
 Also his clients when they paid. His legislative 
 career was brilliant; at least, the newspapsr corres 
 pondents telegraphed and wrote as much, and he told 
 them so. Ah! very pleasant are our recollections of 
 Puffin flitting from camp to camp to inspirit the de 
 jected soldiers with his furious eloquence. Perh&pg 
 it was this peripatetic patriotism which induced some 
 to describe him as a frothy demagogue. But these 
 were his envious enemies. Could they have made 
 speeches equal to Puffin's, they would have made them 
 at the cannon's mouth.
 
 216 
 
 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 The evening darkness gathers round 
 
 By virtue's holiest powers attended. WOHDSWOHTH. 
 
 event now occurred which was to 
 affect the relations of the family 
 whose fortunes constitute the staple 
 of this chronicle. Clement Horton 
 was stricken with paralysis, and de 
 prived of the use of his lower limbs. 
 In this condition it was apparent that 
 he would long remain, if, indeed, he 
 survived. In a few weeks it was 
 determined that Davenport should be 
 entrusted to accomplish the gradual settlement of the 
 city business, which was become narrowed of late, and 
 that Bradley should take charge of affairs at Brent- 
 lands. The year's falling leaves, the sudden death of 
 a young bridegroom, or the fruit of hope ashes on the 
 lips of the fever-stricken, do not moralize you better of 
 the vanity of earthly things than the evolation from the 
 world of a great business house. Poor Davenport had 
 a melancholy time of it dissecting his own nervea. 
 
 As a nebula is resolved by a telescope into lights in 
 the firmament, so do the holy affections of woman, 
 which thitherto showed only in the milder guise of
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 217 
 
 grace and gentleness, appear at the summons of suffer 
 ing. No wounds are too ghastly, no effluvium is too 
 noisome, no vigils are too exacting, no offices are too 
 humble. Full of supernal love, she bares a chaste 
 breast in holy bounty ! To such a ministress the foul 
 breath of the hospital is more salubrious than are odors 
 of the conservatory to the soulless votary of fashion. 
 From such, sweet influences of speech and smile are 
 shed, and a fragrance is diffused throughout human 
 lives, and seed, perchance, sown to blossom in eternity. 
 It is ihus woman sympathizes with the languishing 
 stranger by ten thousand pallets. How various is her 
 sway! She conquers by beautiful simplicity on the 
 threshing-floor of Boaz, and by slaughter in Shushan 
 the palace; the poet of Olney sings at her bidding, and 
 the triumvir of Philippi softens at her wiles; and many 
 a shattered soldier has been summoned by the Great 
 Commander from a blessed vision of alleviation here, to 
 make her a fame in heaven. But this is a digression. 
 
 Emily was now become the light of Clement Horton's 
 little orbit. The nursing daughter was queenly with 
 patience. There was no vulgar bustle in her alacrity 
 her voice, like Cordelia's, 
 
 was ever soft, 
 
 Gentle and low an excellent thing in woman. 
 
 Her smile was ever sweetest when she was truest to her 
 task. Her manner dignified the meanest occupation; 
 it was the motion of music without the sound. And 
 you did not feel it extravagant to think that here was 
 some of the same devotion by which in the Roman 
 dungeon Nature triumphed in the reverse of her decree. 
 19
 
 218 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 Good Father Tryon often brought his cheerful con 
 solations. In truth, they were quaint parcels ; a scrap 
 of news with a moral, a flash of gallantry, a rare 
 thought from Baxter, a reminiscence of adventure, a 
 familiar but unblunted similitude from the " prince of 
 dreamers," or something tougher fashioned on the anvil 
 of a puritan divine, who was intolerant of the shapings 
 of strange theological hammermen. At these visits not 
 a few projects fraught with good for others were con 
 ceived; for Christian virtue purgeth sickness of its 
 selfishness. Davenport sometimes chanced to encounter 
 the worthy missionary, whom he regarded with jealous 
 aversion as an intruder in the house of Horton, and he 
 came at last flatly to designate him a Jesuit.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 219 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVI. 
 
 To be a husbandman is but a retreat from the city; to be a philosopher, 
 from the world; or rather, a retreat from the world as it is man's, into 
 the world as it is God's. But since nature denies to most men the 
 capacity or appetite, and fortune allows but to a very few the oppor 
 tunities or possibility of applying themselves wholly to philosophy, 
 the best mixture of human affairs that we can make are the employ 
 ments of a country life. COWLEY. 
 
 Brentlands Bradley donned a suit 
 of homespun, and entered with, ala 
 crity upon his newly devolved duties. 
 He rose before day, and when its 
 work was ended made up his ac 
 counts by candlelight, read, smoked 
 his cob pipe, and went to bed at nine. 
 There was husking of corn, and put 
 ting in of wheat between one and 
 two hundred acres of each and the 
 gathering of an abundant crop of potatoes; besides the 
 hauling, feeding, repairing, and numerous other labors 
 incident to the conduct of a large landed property. He 
 placed the operations, great and small, upon the basis 
 of system. He rated his laborers, by a vigilant inspec 
 tion, at their just value, and discharged the idle and 
 worthless. No implement was allowed to be left in the 
 field when the occasion for it was past. If a team was
 
 220 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 wanted, no horse lacked a shoe nor wagon-wheel 
 required a tightening of its tire. The cattle were pro 
 perly groomed, and the stables kept clean, light, and 
 comfortable. Broken fences were restored, and drains 
 cleared of obstruction. Receptacles were made for the 
 fertilizing ooze of stall and stock-yard. He read the 
 best agricultural books, and strove to keep fully up 
 with his work, setting his crops seasonably. Thus for 
 ward, he began the year on a level with his under 
 taking, and resolved that no grass should grow in his 
 middles. The old farmers among his neighbors, who. 
 plodded in the routine of their grandfathers, soon 
 ceased to laugh, though they continued to criticise, 
 reluctantly admitted him to be a man with a purpose, 
 and, when their prophecies of crop failures to his dis 
 comfiture were falsified, accounted for the results by 
 attributing them to happy accidents. 
 
 The labors, various and shifting as the aspects of the 
 seasons, rarely irksome, were often exhilarating in the 
 fresh air and beneath the free sky. The bronzed indus 
 try of the fields which is familiar with the elements, 
 when short of "drudgery," imparts a sense of lightness 
 and freedom; though the overworked rustic may be 
 as lumpish as the clod he turns. Orchard, garden, 
 nursery, plantation, meadow, and tillage, exacting 
 timely thought and skill, crowned the year with de 
 lights. Fresh from the spray might be plucked at their 
 periods, 
 
 " The blushing apricot, and woolly peach," 
 
 a luscious fruitage between the sprightly cherry and 
 the pear of mild and tender flesh. Nor was the ear
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 221 
 
 unsatisfied where the mocking-bird trilled its changeful 
 notes, the partridge, frighted by the trespasser's foot, 
 rose from its grassy nest with sudden whirring, or the 
 pheasant drummed in the wood. 
 
 George Dolman and Max Heyhurst came down, to 
 encourage Bradley and have some shooting. Doctor 
 Pledget was to have accompanied them, but, at the last 
 moment, he consulted his barometer, predicted snow, 
 and staid at home. Heyhurst was an artist, and painted 
 the game which he shot. They were genial fellows, 
 electric with good feeling, who honored the hearty 
 welcome which was given them. 
 
 The doctor missed of it when he foretold the weather 
 in white, and after a couple of days of rain and half a 
 gale of wind, a clear-shining sun gladdened the land 
 scape. The nice and appreciating eye of Max Hey 
 hurst was delighted by the rural picture. The sky 
 was in color a hazy silver at the horizon, which gradu 
 ally deepened to a soft blue overhead. The sunrises 
 were fine, but in the more advanced morning the 
 charms of the prospect culminated. Brentlands was 
 high ground, and the surrounding country for miles 
 lay in gentle slopes below it a mosaic of green wheat 
 fields, and brown squares with their long files of maize 
 shocks in symmetrical array, the succession being pic 
 turesquely broken by belts of nearly naked timber. 
 Looking toward the east, the shadows of distant cattle 
 showed on the slanting umber-tinted pastures, as they 
 grazed. A mill-pond, near to, responded to every 
 breeze with sparkling fluctuations. Half hid in clumps 
 of evergreens, or standing boldly out on eminences, the 
 19*
 
 222 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 mansions and farm-houses gave a human interest to the 
 scenery; here and there a column of smoke from their 
 chimnies rising vertical and sluggish. A faint mist 
 hung over the course of the remote river, and settled in 
 a purple film upon its further highlands. At sunset, 
 above the cold and crimsoned west, the evening star, 
 brighter than the goddess risen from her yeast of 
 waves, swam up the heaven to meet the Night; oldest 
 of all not voiceless now as when she knew 
 
 the secrets of the worlds unmade." 
 
 Bradley and Dolman stood chatting, while Max 
 sketched a cornfield scene in November. There were 
 the nearest huskers pegging away among the rustling 
 stalks that almost rustled on the sheet and tossing 
 the liberated ears into the convenient heap of maize. 
 Further on, a group paused at their labor to watch the 
 chase of a rabbit, which a frisking dog had started from 
 its lair. Slow oxen drew crib ward the loaded carts. A 
 flock of birds flitted low for forage from a background 
 of brambles. 
 
 A red- whiskered man, in a slouched hat and dirty 
 drab overcoat, drove up in a sulky, and contemplated 
 'he party with considerable interest. 
 
 "Surveyin'?" 
 
 "Yes, sir the landscape." 
 
 "What mought that be?" 
 
 "Field and wood." 
 
 The red- whiskered man scratched his head in unre 
 lieved perplexity. 
 
 ft Taking the bearins' like, I s'pose ; though I never
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 223 
 
 seen it done this way before. Must be a new how of 
 cipherin' it out. Mr. Horton, I summons you to appear 
 at Squire Flicker's office, at Jericho, next Saturday 
 afternoon." 
 
 Having delivered himself of the latter clause with 
 official promptitude, the constable imparted briefly the 
 particulars of the suit, dispensed a general valediction, 
 and drove away. 
 
 It was a suit for an old debt, which was unknown to 
 Bradley. At the appointed time the friends made their 
 appearance at the tribunal of the squire. The temple 
 of justice was a shoemaker's shop, furnished with a few 
 waxy chairs, a hot stove, and an offensive atmosphere, 
 scented with new boots and the village's muggy muslin 
 in impartial proportions. The male adults of Jericho, 
 who occupied the counter, drawled neighborhood gos 
 sip to each other, and spat tobacco juice. Behind the 
 counter, Squire Flicker consulted the "Magistrate's 
 Guide," and delivered weighty judgments in the law 
 usually for the plaintiffs. 
 
 Several cases preceded Snap versus Horton on the 
 docket, and Max Heyhurst availed himself of the delay 
 to sketch the court-room and its inmates. This pro 
 ceeding at length attracted the notice of the squire, as 
 possibly an intentional slight upon the dignity of the 
 magistratic character. 
 
 "What's that man a doing of?" he asked the con 
 stable. 
 
 "Makin' pictures. Got you there, Squire natural 
 as life." 
 
 "What! me in open court? This must be stopped.
 
 224 THE HOKTONS; OR 
 
 Young man! who pays you for taking other people's 
 portraits?" 
 
 The question, put with stilted severity, brought 
 Max's pencil to a stand-still, and directed the curious 
 eyes of the audience upon him ; but it nowise discon 
 certed him. 
 
 " I've had, sir, a prodigality of money from the illus 
 trated journals. They rely upon my pictures to save 
 their dull pages from deserved damnation." 
 
 "Be cautious, young man!" interrupted the squire, 
 "or I shall be obliged to put the statue against profane 
 swearing in force." 
 
 "May it please the court, I was only replying to its 
 question " 
 
 "Proceed," said the squire, with dignity, waving his 
 hand. 
 
 "Latterly, then, I have been taking heads for a 
 phrenological publication was at Bedloe's Island last 
 week and got Boggs, the pirate. I am also, at present, 
 on a comic almanac." 
 
 This was too much. The squire might almost doubt 
 his hearing. He, the duly commissioned representative 
 of Justice, while holding the sovereign scales, to be 
 drawn for a comic almanac, and prejudiced in his place 
 before assembled Jericho! 
 
 "Look here, mister! I've no doubt I might hold you 
 for a constructive libel, and I advise you, in my infra- 
 judicial capacity, to put them things up in that port- 
 mantel." 
 
 Perhaps it was lucky for the delineator that, just 
 ihen, an excited individual burst into the court-room
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 225 
 
 with the announcement that, "Pete Whitecar was 
 going to run Black Duke agin the stranger's chestnut 
 for ten dollars and the whiskey, right away!" There 
 was a general scattering of the audience to see the 
 sport. The squire was curious, but the man did not 
 prevail at once over the magistrate. "If it's a horse 
 race," he remarked, detaining the reluctant constable, 
 who had laid a bet, "it's clearly against the law; but 
 if it's only a trial of. speed, I'll go and look at it." 
 And the conscientious Flicker adjourned the court and 
 the case. 
 
 Max Hey hurst had, in his time, made a happy emen 
 dation of Shakespeare, and half a tragedy on Sejanus; 
 had expanded a Greek fable into a pastoral of consider 
 able dimensions, and written impassioned lyrics for the 
 magazines, which, though the firiest stanzas would be 
 sometimes omitted in a pressure of matter, were pro 
 nounced by the newspaper critics uncommonly fine 
 specimens of the Sapphic style. 
 
 "And you read Spenser, Horton?" he said, as he dis 
 engaged a London octavo which was sandwiched be 
 tween the "Farmer's Cyclopedia" and "Youatt on the 
 Horse." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "No poem in the language contains so much gor 
 geous imagery as the 'Faerie Queene.' There is in it 
 exquisite delicacy of characterization, tenderness, vi 
 vacity, learning, imposing and ever-shifting movement. 
 It is the apotheosis of Virtue by Genius. How the 
 poet hives into his own sweet measure the fable of 
 antiquity, as in the Descent oj Night into Hell how
 
 '26 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 triumphant is Ms fancy in the enchanted Castle of 
 Busyrane, the House of Pride, and the Temple of 
 Fenus!" 
 
 "Is it not too long?" asked Bradley. 
 
 "Only, as Shakespeare is in his entirety, for the dull 
 and lazy school exercises and spouting clubs. Thank 
 Heaven ! there are some things in the world Paradise 
 Lest, Cymbeline, and the Faerie Queene that the 
 Morning Advertiser cannot make a synopsis of. Two 
 centuries and a half ago people read books." 
 
 "Do you think the 'Faerie Queene' was ever popu 
 lar reading, like the dramatic poetry of that time?" 
 
 "Why, a just discrimination is seldom exercised by 
 cotemporaries. 'Tis probable Marlowe had, in the six 
 teenth century, a higher rate than Chapman or Ford 
 that Heywood was more popular than John Fletcher. 
 But of the 'Faerie Queene.' It was written in an age 
 through which the marvels of discovery were being 
 filtered marvels of enchantment, peril, and fabulous 
 magnificence. Though there remained beneath the 
 surface of society a taint of the old savagery, the staple 
 of chivalric poetry was woven into the common talk 
 of ladies and cavaliers. A new world had been found. 
 There was a grand uncertainty to be attempted by 
 adventure, which allured alike the heroic, the avari 
 cious, and the prodigal. They who listened eagerly to 
 Baleigh's stories of wondrous wiles, and golden cities 
 embosomed in Amazonian forests, and guarded by 
 warlike women, might well hail a higher and purer 
 romance in the encounters for distressed virtue of the
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 227 
 
 Kedcrosse Knight and Prince Arthur with dragons, 
 giants, and enchanters." 
 
 "I wish the author of the 'Fall of Rome' would re 
 produce for us 'the city and the gods' of -the reign of 
 'Gloriana.' " 
 
 "A thoughtful face, delicate in its lines, and but 
 little shorter than Sir Walter's; mild, full eyes, and an 
 amiable mouth O for photographs of that grand 
 Elizabethan choir who drank of the true fountains of 
 Parnassus!" pondered Heyhurst. 
 
 " Well, time composes all things. Perhaps there was 
 one, in his day, to regard the poet, where a thousand 
 fawned upon Leicester, and he survives as the ambitious 
 villain of a romance," said Bradley. 
 
 "Yes. 
 
 ' Pour out for the Poet! 
 The Wine of the Immortals 
 Forbids him to die!' 
 
 Edmund Spenser is more interesting to me in the 
 society of Sidney at Penshurst, 
 
 'Beneath the broad beech, and the chesnut shade f 
 
 or pacing with Ealeigh the banks of Mulla, and dis 
 cussing the moral virtues, than Eobert Dudley aspiring 
 to a throne. Dryden Pope Swift Churchill." 
 
 " Why, with charlatanry and corruption abounding, 
 does not the modern muse produce satire?" 
 
 "Because," replied Max, "it takes qualities to make 
 a satirical poet which are rarely found combined a 
 keen sense of the ludicrous, much self-esteem and 
 capacity of resentment, quickness to perceive frailties
 
 228 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 of character (which may be quickened by disappoint 
 ment), thorough mastery of words, the requisite inspi 
 ration, and a liver complaint." 
 
 "Nay, after all, I think the world has mended," said 
 Bradley. 
 
 "Thousands of sewing women coining their souls 
 to save their bodies from starvation O ! Daughters of 
 Zion! they might be Marys and Joannas at the sepul 
 chre of your Lord while partisan plunderers and 
 shoddy seigniors swarm and swell from their native 
 ooze, like the filthy frogs of old Egypt and mended?" 
 
 "Take England," continued Bradley. "Bacon would 
 not have fingered bribes in Walpole's time, corrupt as 
 it was, and Walpole would not now be tolerated a 
 single day. Eead Macaulay. Behold his statesmen, 
 courtiers, and soldiers, 
 
 'Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix.' 
 
 What a church it was when men were made prelates 
 by kings' mistresses! "Where the religion of a nation 
 is surface-faith ; be sure the devil digests its politics."
 
 AHEKICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 229 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Here feel we not the penalty of Adam, 
 The seasons' difl'erence; as, the icy fang, 
 And churlish chiding of the winter's wind, 
 Which when it bites, and blows upon my body, 
 Even till I shrink with cold, I smile, and say, 
 
 This is no flattery 
 
 As You LIKE IT. 
 
 NE day remained to the visitors, and 
 they determined to enjoy it. There 
 were river coves celebrated for the 
 resort of ducks, that came to feed in 
 the sedge, and host and guests resolved 
 themselves into a fowling party. A 
 light wagon was at the door long be 
 fore day, and they were rattled off over 
 the frozen road, careless of the cold 
 which tingled in their advancing faces. Arrived at the 
 river, they found a boat, in which they ferried across it. 
 There was then a walk of some miles along the shore 
 to the shooting ground. Bradley laved his face with 
 whiskey, and poured it upon his chest, knowing its 
 freshening efficacy when thus employed. Max took 
 the comfort internally. Dolm'an carried a supply of 
 cold tea, which Hey hurst insisted was a bequest of 
 choice catnip from his grandmother. 
 20
 
 230 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 They kept on at a steady pace, losing the dogs in 
 the darkness, and then recovering them slipping into 
 a ditch, or stumbling at a log, and reached the first 
 of the feeding-grounds about daybreak. Laying perdu 
 behind a screen of brush, they awaited in the eager air 
 the approach of the birds, which were yet beyond shot. 
 At length the ducks came circling shoreward, urging 
 the water before them gracefully in dimples. The 
 almost simultaneous reports of a half dozen barrels 
 invade the quiet, and are prolonged in echoes. The 
 dogs plunge to their work and bring the game, which 
 they deposit with a shake of spray. The birds, at last. 
 are become cautious will not be toled and the sports 
 men try another cove. 
 
 Having dined at a farm-house, with less sumptuous- 
 ness than appetite, on pickled pork, sauer kraut, and 
 pumpkin pie, they reposed under the lee of a settle 
 before the fire, and while Bradley got consolation from 
 his pipe and the fumes of shredded cavendish, the 
 daintier artist soothed himself with an Havana. Dol 
 man found on the top of the tall clock case a tattered 
 volume of the Spectator, and took a stately turn in 
 Queen Anne's London with worthy Sir Roger. The 
 dogs slept on the hearth, or dodged the sputtering 
 sparks of a fresh hickory log. 
 
 " We don't do this every day, Max," said Bradley. 
 
 "For which let us be thankful. Who invented fer 
 mented cabbage, George Dolman?" 
 
 "Hang it, don't bother! the 'Flying Dutchman/ I 
 suppose." 
 
 "No, George Dolman, it was not that marine Hoi-
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME, 231 
 
 lander. No man given to bellowing nautical commands 
 through a speaking-trumpet could have invented fer 
 mented cabbage. 'Twas a rural patriarch, methinks, 
 with aspirations 'for the welfare of his species. He 
 would have made a nobby radical." 
 
 " Nice stuff to fossilise a man. I've actually been 
 reading the same page twice without Consciousness," 
 said Dolman. 
 
 "Do you claim that for an uncommon experience? I 
 find the reading of some pages once sufficient to estab 
 lish the phenomenon," said Max. 
 
 " A truce to quibbling, and let's tramp." 
 
 "Agreed: 
 
 ' My boat is on the shore, 
 
 And my bark is on the sea; 
 But, before I go, Tom Moore, 
 Here'sia double health to thee !' " 
 
 They added several to the count of birds in their 
 game bags by shooting over a long rea&h of shore. It 
 was after nightfall when they came to the boat, and 
 pitch-dark with a passing snow squall, from which the 
 flakes fell big and spiteful. 
 
 "They come down like quarter-dollars and stick 
 closer George Dolman ! scrape the slush off that seat 
 if you are a compassionate man." 
 
 They turned the boat's bow outward, and, bending 
 to the oars, sent her steadily on her blind course. 
 A.fter some minutes of rowing, Bradley's heavy boot, 
 slipping at the stroke, displaced a plug in the bottom 
 of the boat, and the water came gurgling in. They 
 groped for the plug unsuccessfully, and not until the
 
 232 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 boat was a third filled did they succeed in stopping the 
 leak with a wad of handkerchiefs. Luckily, when they 
 were about to divest themselves of their heavier gar 
 ments as an act of precaution, the sky lightened, and 
 they saw the shore before them some thirty yards dis 
 tant. Bradley, who knew the water to be shallow, 
 jumped overboard. Dolman, perceiving him wade, fol 
 lowed, in a plunge to the waist. 
 
 "Come on, Max! its only three feet, and a sandy 
 bottom," shouted Bradley. 
 
 "Deuce take the soundings! lam subject to cramp. 
 Find the painter and pull me in, and I'll share the 
 salvage." 
 
 "The chain's padlocked ashore Gopd-bye." 
 
 "Here's Dolman's teapot: I invoke the heathen, as 
 he reveres his lares, to return I" 
 
 "George, let's try to pull the old tub in." 
 
 " Reason triumphant at last over madness an d folly. 
 It always is fti novels. No Shallott business to 
 night!" 
 
 There was a shanty at the landing, with a rude fire 
 place and plenty of drift-wood, but matches and 
 fowling-pieces were alike wet, so they walked to the 
 nearest house, about a mile distant, to the unmusical 
 flapping of their soaked and stiffening garments. 
 Nor was their trouble ended here, for the family, a 
 laborer's, was absent, and the only vestige of fire was 
 a solitary coal which they disentombed in much sifting 
 from the ashes. It was a promise of flame, but an 
 illusory one. They blew it again and again, around 
 the hearth, to the tantalizing verge of ignition, but
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 233 
 
 when they ceased to puft, the dull glow retreated 
 toward the core in a very coquettish manner. Thus 
 foiled, they trudged another mile to the farm-house 
 where the wagon awaited them, shed their last shiver at 
 the blaze of the kitchen fire, and, fortified by a good 
 supper, drove to Brentlands. 
 
 20*
 
 234 
 
 THE HOKTONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTBE XXVIII. 
 
 In the morning he rose with new hope, in the evening applauded hJfc 
 own diligence, and in the night slept sound after his fatigue. He met 
 a thousand amusements which beguiled his labour, and diversified hia 
 thoughts. He discerned the various instincts of animals and proper 
 ties of plants, and found the place replete with wonders. RASSELAS. 
 
 HE large cultivator never hybernates. 
 The first two months of the year are 
 his period of preparation for the 
 vernal activity. As the true farmer 
 leads his work, and aims not so much 
 at extent of cultivation as quality, 
 being ambitious of a progressive in 
 crease of the products of his land, he 
 gets in timely readiness the imple 
 ments and appliances of a thorough 
 tillage. He knows that to deserve a large crop from his 
 field, he must generously manure it plough, harrow, 
 and roll it well. In no pursuit is system more impor 
 tant than in agriculture. The dullest tiller perceives 
 and perverts this truth when he -obstinately refuses to 
 depart from the traditions and practice of his ances 
 tors, scoffing at the lights of science as mere will o' the 
 wisps. 
 
 The January and February work at Brentlands was
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT H01O!. 235 
 
 various, and its supervision imparted to Bradley the 
 zest of a novel employment, which exacted healthy 
 exertion of mind and body. Early on the nipping 
 winter mornings he would repair to the hillside woods 
 with his gang of choppers. A sufficient space was 
 .soon scooped out of the snow, and a brisk fire built to 
 warm his unexercised blood that of his sturdy axe 
 men getting its caloric from the swinging of their 
 tools. How cheerily rang the strokes across the 
 frozen landscape, while the chips flew from the widen 
 ing notch, or the iron wedge was driven slow along 
 the resisting fibres! It was lighter work with the wind- 
 fallen limbs, which had laid long a seasoning. Some 
 of these were gone far toward mould, to feed those 
 children . of the wood, the ferns and mosses. There 
 was hidden treasure in the decay; the fragrance of the 
 arbutus, the scarlet of the pimpernel, and other "fairest 
 flowers," worthy to have sweetened the "sad grave" of 
 Fidele. Perhaps such a sapless log, half buried in the 
 soil, would be the mansion of a tortoise, or the dor 
 mitory of a luckless family of snakes. Then the slow 
 oxen, their chests frosted with their breath, drew the 
 logs to the wagon road, in awkward turnings to clear 
 the stumps, while the drivers shouted, and a con 
 vocation of critical crows screamed tantalizing allusions 
 from the distant tree-tops, and mocking echoes of the 
 imperative "haw haw I" 
 
 There was field-work in the open spells of winter 
 ploughing in the drier, loamy soil, and drain-making 
 in a piece of stiff clay, preparatory to its being broken 
 up. Bradley sunk his drains below the reach of plant
 
 236 THE HOKTOXS; OR 
 
 roots and the sub-soil level, knowing that with a good 
 tilth and favoring heavens his future wheat and clover 
 would not lack food. And there was work when 
 storms beat through the dark days, in shed and shop 
 fashioning and boring fence-posts, making gates, mend 
 ing and oiling harness, putting implements in order, 
 and baling hay. The meat-house and garden frames 
 demanded a share of attention. An important part of 
 the superintendence at this season was that directed to 
 the care of the stock the apportionment of the messes, 
 whether dry or succulent, the cleaning, bedding, and 
 exercising of the cattle. The effects of diet were to be 
 watched, and ailments doctored. Idle currycombs 
 wedged aside, masses of stunped, fermenting dung in 
 the stallways, and waste from rack and mess-box, were 
 held to be undesirable at Brentlands. 
 
 March came like a bland guest bound to a banquet. 
 On the twelfth of the month the red spurs of the rose 
 were unfolding to leaves, and Bradley turned the first 
 spadeful in his garden. A few bright, warm days fol 
 lowed, like a mellow slice of later May, and were sand 
 wiched between frosty edges. An ample border facing 
 the south was prepared, and appropriate seed put in; 
 and pulse and radishes were planted. As Bradley 
 placed the hardy legumes, he recollected how a crew 
 of bold British voyagers, wrecked in their little seven 
 teenth century ship on the strand of Baffins Bay, were 
 rescued by the green sprouts of a handful of peas, which 
 they had sown in that unfruitful soil, from slow suffering 
 and death by scurvy. He took upon himself a proxy- 
 ship of gratitude for Neptune, and covered them nightly
 
 AMERICAN" LIFE AT HOME. 237 
 
 in their bed with forkings of straw. It was pleasant, 
 ruminating labor to cut the dead wood from the garden 
 fruit trees, and trim the useless canes from the berry 
 bushes to dig in an apt compost at their roots, or to 
 spread the strawberry spaces with tan. The delved 
 earth gave its tribute of incense, for company there was 
 the westering sun, and a stray bee furnished the music. 
 
 It is a breeze! ess morning, and they are sowing 
 cloverseed. The wheat is a little winter- killed, and it 
 is intended, after sowing the grass-seed, to run a light 
 harrow upon and roll it, to promote tillering. Bradley 
 and a farmer-neighbor are together in the field, and a 
 curious fox, squat, is a safe space oft' observing them. 
 The farmer picks up an arrowhead. 
 
 "This saved pretty considerable farm-work and 
 tradin' round in the old times," he said. 
 
 "It tells as full a history, where there was little to be 
 told, as the Pyramids, or the buried coins of Greece," 
 remarked Bradley. 
 
 "It belonged to the natives. They was strange 
 critters. Didn't do much tailoring and wasn'{ liable to 
 dyspepsy, I reckon. Somehow, when I get to think 
 ing, I like to moralize on such subjects; they make 
 common things look like vanities." 
 
 "Yonder sits one of the natives." 
 
 "Rot the pesky fox! I've lost two turkies this 
 spring by them varmints. There's nateral simplicity 
 with lamb's wool in its teeth ! If I had a gun I should 
 stipelate for some of that innocence." 
 
 To ensure a future supply of the best fence-posts, a 
 plantation of the yellow locust was made. Two acres
 
 238 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 were appropriated to it. The saplings, two years old 
 from the seed, were taken from the nursery drills and 
 placed twelve feet apart each way. These were in 
 fifteen years more to become timber. Birds would 
 sing and nest in their branches, and their tressed blos 
 soms sweeten succeeding Mays. Lovers might haunt 
 them, and tender whispers undersigh the breeze. 
 Satiated passion, or meek penitence might be familiar 
 with their dim evening paths. In their noontide shade 
 Truth might bless some votary with a happier inspira 
 tion than that which sanctified the grove at old Dodona. 
 Tom Hance was the herdsman. He was loosely put 
 together, and long drawn out. It might have been a 
 disordered liver, but Tom Hance was a dismal man. 
 In the very relish of his eating, an undertaker could 
 have borrowed funereal graces from his face trans 
 formed into elegy, he would have served a generation 
 of decedents. Tom, under much provocation, displayed 
 little weaknesses of temper that required rebuke, such 
 as persuading perverse cattle with pitchforks. Other 
 wise he was not a bad-natured fellow. Yet he had but 
 a single associate and friend, a mule; and a more 
 vicious mule, perhaps, never moved hoof in a Mexican 
 pack-train. It was the practice of this diabolical quad 
 ruped to make for every one else who entered the field, 
 and, taking his chance, plant himself for the assault, 
 which was accomplished in one movement, beyond the 
 evolutions of military manuals, by dipping the head 
 and sending up the hind heels, with unexpected celerity. 
 A belief prevailed among the hands that the creature 
 was possessed. If they laid their clothes within his
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 239 
 
 reach he "would tear them, and they never ventured 
 near him Avithout a supply of stones. 
 
 Some of the cattle were breachy, and when alone 
 might not be restrained by the stoutest worm-fence. 
 As the corn land surrounded the pasture, it was neces 
 sary to overlook them all the time. Wherever Tom 
 was, and however, standing, walking, or recumbent, 
 Badger was close by. If Tom, with his back against a 
 fence-stake', smoked his pipe and watched the fleecy 
 fragments of scud in the blue sky, Badger might be 
 seen a few yards distant, still and grave, regarding him 
 with an almost human interest. Of all our domestic 
 animals, the mule loves best to tumble and roll, and 
 Badger was clumsily sportive in this habit; but he 
 would break off instantly if Tom moved, and follow 
 him. The brute would stoop his muzzle over the man 
 and fondle his face or outstretched hand. He would 
 accompany Tom to meals, leaping fences in the way, 
 and meekly as if conscious of the trespass, and crav 
 ing sufferance wait for him at the kitchen door. In 
 deed, a marked amelioration became apparent in the 
 animal's entire character. He would probably have 
 kicked an unsuspecting person still, but rather in a 
 spirit of demonstrative familiarity than of wanton 
 malice. Having thus mollified his companion, Tom 
 took a fever, and left the farm. The forsaken brute 
 fell into a melancholy then into a moroseness and 
 finally relapsed into a misanthropic ferocity. But 
 Tom Hance made very clear that there was some 
 goodness even in Badger. 
 
 This chapter is not an essay on agriculture. Yet if
 
 240 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 it were it need not be jejune. No doubt that noble 
 science will sometime be made entertaining reading for 
 lazing July weather, on the lawn beneath the syca 
 mores. Perhaps there is a modern muse for the 
 analysis of soils and the qualities of pasturage. Alas! 
 our American Maecenas is always busy in contriv 
 ing to be President. Cowper has sung the cucum 
 ber in its eventful history from the stable-heap to the 
 table. Like as not, the next Theocritus will be the 
 inventor of a steam plough. Modern amateur farmers 
 may stride monthly over more space of knowledge 
 than stretches from the Mantuan to old Jethro Tull; 
 though hypothesis outstrip demonstration in the maga 
 zines and manuals. Better this than the dulness which 
 disparages methods it cannot disprove. Better Lite- 
 printz, dibbling, in a flush of complacency better 
 Eavensduck wondering, in a sailor's husky accents, at 
 the refusal of his pistillate strawberries, as he reads his 
 lesson from the "Country Gentleman," than Farmer 
 Crustover, whose tool-shed, where the chickens roost, 
 is a museum of original models, who cherishes fond 
 memories of the sickle, disbelieves in "garden sarse," 
 goes to meeting on a blind-bridled, rat-tailed mare, 
 perpetuates gaunt and ugly swine, ploughs three 
 inches deep, and despises "book-farming." We, for 
 our parts, are simply visitors at Brentlands, this April 
 morning; not at all disposed to sit at the feet of the 
 husbandman who tills it; and who, we hope, will 
 be so judicious we venture to believe it after that 
 excellent claret as to keep his chemistry for his crops.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 241 
 
 Yonder peach orchard in blossom woos us, as it does 
 the orioles. 
 
 It is a smoky day with a south-east wind, and the 
 golden young leaves of the maples sadden for a brighter 
 sun. Bradley is devoting an hour or two, stolen from 
 the farm, to his borders. The floral department's 
 narrow some roses and other shrubbery to prune and 
 tie, some old-fashioned herbaceous perennials, and a 
 few vines to train. Here elegance and taste are over 
 ruled by utility. Nor is there time to know the charms 
 that make attractive the pursuit of a new seedling. 
 These good things are for rich and dignified leisure. 
 They are its privileges among the minor blessings it 
 can bestow. Sun and shower in the Brentlands garden 
 promote humbler uses are not woven into gay blooms, 
 but the homespun of beans, onions, and lettuce, and 
 sage for the Michaelmas goose. There are some choice 
 melon seed in these hills, under the glazed boxes, said 
 to be the true Armenian cantaleup. If Pomona is pro 
 pitious, the cool green flesh of the fruit will melt grate 
 fully in the mouth in August, when Sirius forsakes the 
 night. Set near different plants of the same genus the 
 fruit would hybridize. There is little rest for the soil, 
 and little chance for the weeds. The watering-pot is 
 sometimes needed even in this showery month, now on 
 the verge of May. The strawberries, especially, are 
 great drinkers. The cistern is a sunken cask, near 
 where that cat, wakened awhile ago from its nap on a 
 heap of litter by the note of a bird, is rubbing its nose 
 along the stem of a shrub. 
 
 Whoever voyaging home from a sojourn in the tro- 
 21
 
 242 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 pics has beheld the cornfields in June, which line either 
 of those goodly bays, the Chesapeake or Delaware, 
 without rare enjoyment, ought not to undertake a sen 
 timental journey. Against the monotonous grey of 
 the sea, still the background of sense, their verdure is 
 deepened after the barren turbulence of ocean, ap 
 pears the calmly vigorous life of earth. A human 
 interest too, belongs to them, which the sea never 
 originates. Man has no fee in it, more than in the 
 caprices of an untamed tiger it is a treacherous ene 
 my, whom he can only foil by circumspection. Though 
 a less ardent, the traveller here discerns a more liberal 
 nature than that of the clime which he has left, where 
 languid breezes shake the orange and banana, or torna 
 does shatter them. More liberal, because, still grace 
 ful in its bounty, its types are those by which men 
 strengthen in muscle and in mind. 
 
 Yes; contemplating from this knoll the outspread 
 uplands, which fastidious May regards just now with a 
 vixenly frown, we conclude, in the spirit of Captain 
 John Smith's description of Virginia, "Heaven and 
 earth never agreed better to frame a place for man's 
 habitation." There is a deal of work afoot; ploughs 
 going all around, and the wagons of laggard farmers 
 laden with drenched and dried manure from the slop 
 ing barnyards. The Brentlands men are striking out 
 their last corn field. This is the final plough work 
 upon it; the tillage will hereafter be prosecuted with 
 hoes and cultivators, the latter to be constantly run 
 until the crop is laid by. The field is fifty acres in 
 extent, and in it the crows find room to forage. Proba-
 
 AMERICAN- LIFE AT HOME. 243 
 
 bly but a small replanting will be necessary, for the 
 frosts of winter have purged the upturned furrow slices 
 of the cut- worm. There will be no weeds why should 
 there be in any arable laud, when cultivation will keep 
 them down? 
 
 But the neighborhood industry is not all devoted to 
 corn-planting. It is Mr. Potteril in the buggy, followed 
 by his man, Simon Horseradish, with a wagon load of 
 veal for the landing, who is at the gate before us. The 
 load, indeed, consists of two calves hardly in a condi 
 tion for epicures, but, with Horseradish, who is some 
 thing plumper, the lank old horses seem to think it is 
 sufficient. Mr. Potteril is of New Paradise. So his 
 great grandfather named the estate which he inherits. 
 It was fat land once, and it has fed several generations 
 of easy-going Potteril s. There is poorer gnawing now 
 upon its emaciated vitals. The buried Potterils the 
 family motto is admonitory, "In the midst of life we 
 are in death" were mostly fond of field sports, and left 
 the farming to their overseers. The present representa 
 tive is a more quiet man, whose hobby is "perpetual 
 motion." He has been twenty years perfecting a 
 mechanism which is to astonish the world, and which 
 contains at present about a barrel-full of small wheels. 
 He gets them cast to order, and the calves help to pay 
 for them. Horseradish, who is Mr. Potteril's factotum, 
 entertains a great respect for the "invention," and tells 
 exultingly how it has puzzled the lawyers. 
 
 When a prize was promised the discoverer of a bane 
 for the peach-tree borers, Mr. Potteril determined to 
 compete for it. It would probably have gone hard
 
 244 THE HOETONS; OR 
 
 with the worms could he have gone on compounding, 
 for he was daily adding to a collection of the most fetid 
 materials in nature. But just before the crisis of pro 
 jection, Mrs. Potteril, in a fit of nausea and impatience, 
 cast the preparations to the dogs, and sternly protested 
 against any further essays. 
 
 There is plenty of land at New Paradise, chiefly old 
 fields out of heart. Their principal product is a strag 
 gling growth of sassafras, though there is no lack of 
 sheep-sorrel. A curious antiquarian may yet find 
 traces of the division fences. The log stables lean so, 
 of late, the rats have grown wary. As to the barns 
 the Potterils were not a barn-building family. The 
 present Mr. Potteril can make a great deal of a decrepit 
 horse. He prefers decrepit horses, and can get them 
 cheap. He has a theory, that when the lower teeth of 
 the equine quadruped are ground away in natural use, 
 drawing a few of the longest of the- upper teeth will 
 equalize the situation. Fortunately, there is not much 
 heavy hauling at New Paradise. The belief of Mr, 
 Potteril is that lime sours land, and that guano burns 
 it; so he reserves his stock manure for his wheat, and 
 makes it go a great way. The other crops draw most 
 of their sustenance from the atmosphere, and the air of 
 New Paradise has long been famous. The Potteril 
 wheat stacks are neither numerous nor corpulent, an 
 absence of conditions favorable to speedy threshing. 
 There is a single dark looking heap, which at con 
 jecturing distance is the fodder of pulse or buckwheat, 
 but which Horseradish will tell you is hay, and he is 
 an authentic witness, having tedded it in the lot after
 
 AMERICA^ LIFE AT HOME. 245 
 
 three storms. Such as it is, it infects the Potteril cattle 
 with a chronic discontent at their winter provender of 
 corn stalks and oat straw. Bran mashes are accounted 
 medicine at New Paradise. There are some sheep, 
 which gather their tallow off the old swards. The 
 cows pasture much in the woods, where they regale the 
 flies and mosquitos, and their milk acquires a fine 
 huckleberry flavor. The young Horseradishes loiter 
 on their tra^k of summer afternoons, guided by sound 
 of bell, and drive them home in the twilight at a 
 gallop. 
 
 Simon Horseradish, as has been observed, sees to 
 things generally, and pays much attention to the 
 changes of the moon, each of which is favorable to 
 certain labors. He was once so rash as to make a fence 
 in the wrong quarter of that luminary, and it was 
 blown down by the first strong wind. There was a 
 tract of ship timber, quite valuable, but Mr. Potteril 
 stood for his price, until a change of wind when there 
 was burning brush, and Simon was away to consult the 
 almanac, set it afire and destroyed it. However, there 
 will be a growth of pine to substitute it, for the next of 
 the family. Simon often recreates himself at the vil 
 lage, where he discusses with his cronies the Potteril 
 prospects, and brags of the past. Especially has he 
 much to narrate of Colonel Tom Potteril, and hia 
 racers, and the stakes they took in their day, till Dick 
 Iloskins, the jockey, broke his neck; when Colonel 
 Tom gratefully buried him beneath a marble slab, upon 
 which was inscribed his equestrian virtues, the whole 
 tagged with some latin verses by the parson, who alsp 
 21*
 
 246 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 planted a tree at the glebe to commemorate him you 
 may see it any day towering on Hawk's-nest Hill. 
 Toward midnight, on these occasions, Simon will suffer 
 no one to question the prodigious feats he relates of 
 "Harry cane," as he insists on calling Colonel Tom's 
 favorite horse. The bones of Hurricane, nicely scraped, 
 are preserved in a glass case at New Paradise. 
 
 Mr. Potteril talks of declaring himself a candidate for 
 Congress. He is staunch in his politics, which are not 
 of the movement school. He decries all innovation, 
 which he imputes to "the infidel spirit of the age," and 
 is ready with illustrative instances from the history of 
 the great French Eevolution. Danton is his favorite 
 horror. Simon Horseradish aspires to be constable, 
 and is about to ride the canvass. Meanwhile, the grass 
 will nod approvingly through the long, bright, breezy 
 days to rusty ploughs stuck in unfinished furrows, and 
 the young Horseradishes will gather blackberries, and 
 poison themselves with sumach in the corn middles at 
 New Paradise. 
 
 The only son and heir of the house of Potteril, Slo- 
 goe Mrs. Potteril was a Slogoe, of the elder branch, 
 and a niece of Governor Slogoe, of St. Huberts went 
 into the army, and is expected some time to make a 
 great strategic movement. 
 
 But while we are gossiping, the dinner-horn sounds, 
 the dogs howl, and a boy rides in from the village with 
 yesterday's mail. The busy life of Brentlands will 
 grow busier henceforth until the harvest. The farmer, 
 indeed, should bear a grateful heart. Disappointment 
 rarely brings to him the suffering it allots to other men.
 
 AMEKICANLLIFE AT HOME. 247 
 
 His bread, at least remains. The ground on which he 
 stands passes not from under him, if there be no gripe 
 of debt upon it. Another year, the Hand may be less 
 sparing another year, a choral strain of thanks to the 
 Supreme Beneficence, who "ministereth seed to the 
 sower," may rise from all the laud for the bounty of His 
 harvest. 
 
 " Borne on Thy breath, the lap of spring 
 
 Was heaped with many a blooming flower; 
 And smiling summer joyed to bring 
 
 The sunshine and the gentle shower; 
 And autumn's rich luxuriance now, 
 
 The ripening seed, the bursting shell, 
 The golden sheaf and laden bough, 
 
 The fullness of thy bounty tell. 
 
 And here shall rise our song to Thee, 
 
 Where lengthened vale and pastures lie, 
 And streams go singing wild and free, 
 
 Beneath a blue and smiling sky : 
 Where ne'er was rear'd a mortal throne, 
 
 Where crowned oppressors never trod, 
 Here at the throne of Heaven alone, 
 
 Shall man in reverence bow to God I"
 
 248 
 
 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTBE XXIX. 
 
 She listened with a flitting blush; 
 
 With downcast eyes, and modest grace; 
 And she forgave me, that I gazed 
 
 Too fondly on her face ! 
 
 GENE VIE VE. 
 
 HE most emphatic language of Love 
 is without words. It is spoken from 
 the eye, and is lambent eloquence in 
 the repose of the mouth. By it re 
 proach is transmuted to pathos. It 
 came forth from Eden, a remainder 
 of its first felicity. It has arbitrary 
 symbols, insignificant to the general 
 eye familiar things sanctified by a 
 touch the faded petals of a rose, a 
 withered sprig of lavender, the strawberry stains on 
 that handkerchief, laid by in a drawer, years ah! she 
 knows how many years ago. Bradley Horton and 
 Lydia Bardleigh are silently communing in the shade 
 of the willows, beside a creek which, after winding 
 through meadows at The Cedars, crosses the country 
 road under a small stone bridge. 
 
 The road is above them, but it is a quiet by-road lit 
 tle travelled, and they are so low and so close to the 
 side of the bridge that they are out of sight. Nobody
 
 AMERICAN.. LIFE AT HOME. 249 
 
 has passed in a half hour but a frocked farmer's boy 
 riding bare-back a plough horse on some errand to the 
 village store. She is seated on the bole of a willow 
 which runs a comfortable distance parallel with the 
 ground before it makes its upright growth. He re 
 clines, resting upon his arm, and gazes in her face. 
 The water glides by them with a soothing murmur into 
 the deep pool it has worn at the bridge, the lair per 
 haps of a gorged pike, for the insects dart undisturbed 
 on its surface, fretting it into puny ripples. The fine 
 red rootlets of the willows reach everywhere from the 
 water-washed bank into the stream, and fluctuate with 
 its flow like ten thousand living feelers. The hospita 
 ble trees nave harbored ruder guests of late, if a broken 
 tobacco pipe and a veteran jack-of-clubs are testimony. 
 These betoken the Sunday recreation of the quarry- 
 men. Strange rural sound, there rises, by spells, the 
 shrill music of a fife. Yonder is a clump of trees on a 
 knoll, with gray rocks bulging among them, from which 
 the breeze seems to bear the notes. Perhaps an idle 
 youngster stretched on the mould at his practice. 
 
 " That grove, Bradley, would be a nice place for a 
 pic-nic." 
 
 "Excellent or to sonnetize in after Petrarch. 'The 
 air nimbly and sweetly doth recommend itself.' And 
 a fine .draught there is under this bridge. What a 
 comfort to be a fish such hot weather." 
 
 "What sort offish a gudgeon?" 
 
 "Old Sylvanus never listened to a more patriotic 
 pipe," and Bradley whistled in accompaniment, " Yan 
 kee Doodle."
 
 250 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 "I wonder, Bradley, you don't like the woods. To 
 walk in them is one of my choice pleasures." 
 
 "Well, the ladies are privileged to be romantic." 
 
 "Pshaw! it's not sentimentalism, but sensibility." 
 
 "Then you are not afraid of poison vines, ticks, and 
 snakes Did you ever tread on a snake?" 
 
 "Do you question my humanity?" 
 
 "I've seen a young lady of the finest sentiments 
 jump clean out of her raptures by such a misstep." 
 
 "That was a great while ago, I suppose, when 
 women read less philosophy than they do now, and 
 more fiction?" 
 
 " O artifice, thy name is woman ! It was a long while 
 since. There now, it won't pout ?" 
 
 " As if I care, Sir Tease. I'm only surprised that, 
 with your marvellous perception, you should con 
 descend to look at a lady jump at all." 
 
 " Siire, one may gaze at a perturbation of Venus." 
 
 There was some minutes of silence, during which 
 Bradley musingly watched the plunge of the pebbles 
 which he threw into the stream. 
 
 " Lydia, could you be a recluse ?" 
 
 *No : religious meditation, I believe, would not satisfy 
 me. It is meant to sanctify religious work, and when 
 unaccompanied by performance, it weakens the char 
 acter, and lays the heart open to temptation. Faith 
 must be sustained by charity ; and charity the charity 
 of the Apostle to the Corinthians requires the world 
 for its full exercise it is the Christian's part and 
 privilege to be in the world without being of it." 
 
 Another pause.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 251 
 
 " What progress does the young housekeeper, our 
 Annie, make, love?" 
 
 "O, she will need a full year yet of schooling. I 
 cannot leave her with father before she is capable I 
 owe him that, even at your expense, dear heart I" 
 
 "Heigho! I wish I could shorten the year. Why 
 can't housekeepers be made, as French is taught now-a- 
 days, in twenty lessons?" 
 
 " I suppose they can and will be equal to the 
 French?" 
 
 " Well, I dare not fret in the presence of such charm 
 ing patience." 
 
 " So may it continue to charm you, I shall pray." 
 
 "I think if I could cling to it it would bear me into 
 Heaven !" 
 
 She only replied by tenderly taking his hand. 
 
 Bradley, looking towards the knoll, exclaimed, 
 " There goes the music." 
 
 " It's young Blount," said Lydia. 
 
 "The quaker's son?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "Preparing for the army, I suppose. Well, a 
 soldier's .heart has beat beneath the drab before now. 
 Nay ; Mars and brave George Fox who was quite as 
 imperious in his way as the helmeted son of Jove 
 have had wrestling bouts for a whole family ; as that 
 of Barclay. The god got a colonel for Gustavus Adol- 
 phus, and a field-marshal for the czar the quaker 
 took the famous apologist, and won back the colonel." 
 
 " Would it not be an odd world all quakers ?" 
 
 " A queerish. Suppose Philadelphia should be over-
 
 252 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 whelmed, as was Pompeii, and after the same period of 
 burial be exhumed, a quaker street being first exposed, 
 what would the philosophers say ?" 
 
 "What would they?" asked Lydia, laughing. 
 
 "To begin, that here was a people who had no fine 
 arts, no musical instruments, architectural ornamenta 
 tion, pictures, nor statuary. With little fancy, it would 
 be argued, and with poverty of imagination, they were 
 probably without poetry. Clearly, they were not war 
 like, for there is no example of the rudest weapon ; and 
 they were doubtless ignorant of gunpowder. They were 
 great travellers, for their libraries consisted chiefly of 
 journeys "and journals. Their costume, emphatic as 
 toga or turban, constituted an era in the history of 
 clothes. No evidence of a drama is to be found in 
 their printed books. Their cooking utensils are too 
 numerous and complete to sanction a supposition that 
 they were used by ascetics. They seem to have put 
 their trust in real estate, and to have laid up their 
 treasure in title-deeds and mortgages the parchment 
 being all made out of a famous pair of leather 
 breeches." 
 
 " What an aggregate !" 
 
 "You dispute, then, my dead-reckoning?" 
 
 "I believe Quakerism to have been one of God's 
 best gifts to the Anglo-Saxon race, as it was an irre 
 pressible declaration for civil and religious liberty 
 when sorely needed an unfaltering protest against 
 violence, licentiousness, and the tyranny of dead 
 forms. And they surely are established in the Gos 
 pel of our blessed Lord in their testimony against
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 253 
 
 War. When the incarnate and complete Goodness 
 was repulsed by the villagers, and his disciples asked 
 him if they should invoke fire from heaven, as did 
 Elias, upon them, the conclusive reply was, 'Ye know 
 not what spirit ye are of: and they went to an 
 other village. How, then, with this example in view, 
 can a Christian justify the accomplishment of partial 
 good by violence?" said Lydia. 
 
 "It is allowable, they tell us, to an aggregation of 
 Christians a State. They are willing to be damned 
 as a prince, if they can only be saved as an arch 
 bishop." 
 
 "How many precious ministers of Jesus Christ do 
 err in this matter!" said Lydia. 
 
 "My ancestors weretof the faith a century and a half 
 ago, when there was more meat in the shell of Quaker 
 ism, and I respect the traditions. We need, here and 
 now, the protesting spirit of these ancients. Our na 
 tional lust of gold is ripe, in a harvest of mercenary 
 priests, overreaching tradesmen, corrupt judges, and 
 legislatures which are bought. Arrogance, injustice, 
 and dissension are begot in the land. Be very sure, 
 our stripes will not c.ome from a scourge of small cords. 
 So much for the preaching strain, to which you have 
 brought me, you dear little sermonizer!' said Bradley. 
 
 There had been a shower, and there was a rainbow 
 in the sky. It was late in the afternoon, and they sat 
 in the portico contemplating the beautiful birth "of 
 vapor and the sun." If you can ever feel the pulses of 
 Nature throb from her strong and bountiful heart, it is 
 22
 
 254 THE HORTOXS; OB 
 
 in the country after a summer shower. Freshness is in 
 every nerve the earth is attuned to her primal vigor 
 she is young again, and a bride she rejoices, and 
 the splendor in the sky is a fit symbol for her psalrn! 
 What Uncle Steve Trencher's thoughts were, as he 
 came toward the house dangling some woodcock, can 
 not be told. He said, indeed, after a sententiously 
 civil greeting, that it had been "a myste afternoon 
 that's solemn." Uncle Steve was as damp as the mea 
 dows where he had drudged for his game, the soil of 
 which the rain had not wholly washed from his cow- 
 skin boots. He carried "Proclermation" reversed, its 
 merciless muzzle in advance of him. The dogs recog 
 nized and came up to him, eliciting from him pithy 
 scraps of kennel wisdom. 
 
 "Fine birds, Uncle Steve very fine birds." 
 
 "Yes, Judge; they've got the right kind of bills." 
 
 "Any news your way, Uncle Steve?" 
 
 ".Wai, none to speak on. Josh Rambo, the store 
 keeper, has got his daughter Keziah a pianer; and 
 Gabriel Wamblebee is lying at the pint of death, with 
 gastretus the doctors say, though some folks do call it 
 too much apple-jack but I never knowed that in 
 moderation to hurt /any man, and it stands to reason 
 the doctors knows best. Marm Fougeroy told me they 
 give him a ball of quicksilver, and said, if it went 
 through him lively he might get well, but if it didn't 
 void there was no hope." 
 
 "He's advanced in years?" 
 
 "Nigh on to seventy, I reckon, which looks as if 
 he'd pisoned himself very gradual. One thing I've
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 255 
 
 noticed, most of these pesky people who turn up their 
 eyes at their fellow-creatures for taking a little sperits 
 when ailin' or overdone like, is always a groaning over_ 
 their dyspepsy or liver complaint. They're unthankful 
 critters that don't know the vally of their blessings. I 
 calc'late we'll have a sickly fall in these parts, for I see 
 the crows on the graveyard wall every time I pass, and 
 my old woman is troubled with a dreadful ringing in 
 her ears." 
 
 "Are these signs, Uncle Steve?" 
 
 "So people said when I was a boy, and they was a 
 heap more observing than folks now-a-days. I've 
 come, Judge, in part, to get your advice, which I 
 always set by." 
 
 " Thank you I hope you don't overvalue it." 
 
 "My old woman's brother, who lived in the city, has 
 died and left her a legacy of four hundred dollars ; and 
 we've got to go and see about it. I never was there, 
 and don't like the idee of riding in the cars but life is 
 uncertain, and we must take it, I spose, as it comes. 
 The old woman means to get a pair of new spectacles, 
 and some notions, and we don't know rightly what to 
 do with the rest of the money. I won't hear to the 
 Slumptown bank. If the choice laid between that and 
 a hollow gum, I'd vote for the tree." 
 
 "Couldn't you buy three or four acres of your 
 neighbor, to add to your lot?" 
 
 " Crimp would want double its vally, and I'd sooner 
 give to the bank than him. He has killed, off and on, 
 six of my chickens, and shot at the pigs, but missed. 
 He don't keep no sort of fences."
 
 256 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 "I can place the money on interest, and get you a 
 good mortgage to secure it." 
 
 "I'm a thousand times obleeged; that would just 
 suit." 
 
 "You can have the interest twice a year or yearly, 
 as you please. When you go to the city look out for 
 the rascals, for its a naughty place. Keep tight hold 
 of your money, or they will bring you down as sure as 
 'Proclermation' will a woodcock." 
 
 " Aint there constables?" 
 
 "Yes; but they don't always catch the rogues." 
 
 "I've heern tell, too, it's a passin' place for fires; but 
 I shant stay more'n one night." 
 
 Happy glimpses of a promised land were these visits 
 of Bradley to The Cedars. The landscape laughed in 
 tune with the gaiety of his heart, and the birds war 
 bled on a perfect chord. If such a succession of 
 domestic joys should be his! There would be no 
 temptation then to wander. Cmtra and Naples would 
 woo in vain. We will dream, in blankets made of 
 Northern fleece, of Mediterraneans laving shores, 
 
 " Where the sun with a golden mouth can blow- 
 Blue bubbles of grapes down a vineyard row." 
 
 The Northern home where cultivated goodness reigns, 
 with cattle-dotted fields, and groves, whose only orange 
 tint is autumn's gift, outspread around it though its 
 windows often frame a low and sullen sky, and its 
 dooryard trees are leafless in the winter blast, shall be 
 our Eden still 1
 
 AMERICAN- LIFE AT HOME. 257 
 
 He watched the household employments Tier hands 
 crowned them with grace. Perhaps he was a spooled 
 and stupid fellow, but if so, he was too irrational to 
 know it, and it made little difference. Something of 
 Amphion's touch, which marshalled the Theban stones, 
 was in this country house music. Pray, how much 
 better employed were the pastoral youth with their 
 oaten pipes than he? For the time, he was the good' 
 natured man. Even Annie's pet crow, a bird with a 
 propensity to larceny, failed to vex him when it con 
 cealed the candle ends under the collar of his coat, and 
 abstracted his loose property before his eyes. He was 
 fascinated in the companionship of a delicate and 
 kindly nature. And it is suitableness for companion 
 ship in a woman, which most charms a sensible man; 
 to produce which, cultivation of heart, and some culti 
 vation, at least, of intellect, are necessary. It is the 
 wretched small-talk of wives of unimproved minds 
 which populates the tavern and the club. Such women 
 may be notable for their housekeeping thrift able to 
 save a threepence in a pudding, and to higgle the 
 butcher out of the odd ounce of steak. While economy 
 is a minor virtue, and tidiness is an essential to which 
 the goddesses are not superior, your very managing 
 woman is usually an unpleasant female. She may be 
 ranked, with an ample interval, next above her sour- 
 tempered and prickly sister whose perpetual and petty 
 malice makes her the meanest of earthly annoyances. 
 And it is not that false cultivation which begets wishes 
 for political equality with man which is desirable in 
 the milder sex. All such is simply unprofitable road- 
 22*
 
 258 THE HOETONS; OB 
 
 making into dream-land. There are foolish human 
 females who would rid themselves of all gentle affec 
 tions and situations to gratify a self-conceit which 
 spurns at the divine will in the creation. Except to 
 dolts and demagogues, Miranda herself howling she- 
 politics upon the rostrum would be as disgusting as 
 Caliban. When conjoined with the Christian virtues, 
 it is home-culture which fits a woman to be her hus 
 band's helpmeet, and the almoner of angels to him.
 
 AMEKICAN- LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 259 
 
 CHAPTEE XXX. 
 
 The porch of this temple is exceeding glorious, and the gate of it ia 
 called Beautiful. EIOHARD BAXTER. 
 
 HE cabin had but one window, which 
 was without glass, and was closed 
 by a sliding shutter. There were 
 crevices enough in the walls, how 
 ever, to admit a feeble light, and in 
 pleasant weather the door could be 
 left open. Such was the habitation 
 given in charity to Dinah, an old 
 negress, who now lay upon her death 
 bed a sack of straw on the floor, 
 with a coarse sheet and some scanty covering. Lydia 
 Bardleigh, seated on a stool beside the bed, was read 
 ing from a Methodist hymn-book. 
 
 "Thank the good Master 1 I can read my title clear, 
 Miss." 
 
 After a little while she added, 
 
 "I must soon leave you, Honey; but all your kind. 
 ness to the old woman has gone to heaven, and when 
 the Lord's angels bring you, you will find it there." 
 
 " My poor old friend, let me bathe your back again 
 with the liniment," said Lydia.
 
 260 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 "Taint hardly worth, while, Honey; the stage is 
 nearly here!" 
 
 "I like to do it, Aunt Dinah." 
 
 The lovely woman bared the emaciated shoulders 
 and side of the old negress. 
 
 " The jelly and chicken you fetched the old woman 
 looks mighty nice, and too quality like, but it 'pears I 
 isn't got an appetite equal to them my ambition's 
 most clar gone. But I ^hink, my dear missis, if I had 
 a sweet potatoe, I could eat it." 
 
 "When I go home, Aunt Dinah, I will send it at 
 once." 
 
 "Many thanks, missis! The Lord is very good to 
 me." 
 
 At this time the neighboring clergyman entered the 
 hovel. He was a youngish man, very nice in his attire 
 and precise in his manners. He saluted Lydia with 
 marked courtesy, and after a few rather idle observa 
 tions on passing events, turned to the sick bed, and 
 prayed with a cold but correct emphasis. 
 
 "I can't make nothing out of that gospel, missis," 
 said the old woman when the young man had retired ; 
 "'pears to me it wasn't preached to the poor. It 
 buzzed in my ears, and didn't go with the life to my 
 heart. But I hear the angels singing now!" 
 
 After a short pause she cried in ecstacy, 
 
 " Hallelujah I Glory to God !" 
 
 Lydia perceived that she was departing. 
 
 "My dear young missis, are you feared of death?" 
 
 " No, Aunt Dinah." 
 
 " Then you, and me, and Jesus, is enough I"
 
 AMERICAN.. LIFE AT HOME. 261 
 
 A few minutes afterwards she fell into a doze, from 
 which she awaked exclaiming, 
 
 "I shall see my baby once more!" 
 
 Directly she cried exultingly, "I AM A KING'S DAUGH 
 TER 1" and her spirit ascended from her,
 
 262 
 
 THE HOKTONS; OR 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXI. 
 
 Oh, Men, with Sisters dear! 
 Oh, Men, with Mothers and Wives! 
 It is not linen you're wearing out, 
 But humau creatures' lives ! 
 
 THOMAS HOOD. 
 
 j T was another year. The cherry blossoms 
 were drifting into the chamber window 
 of Jane Warner at Lokesbur school, and 
 the birds were quietly busy in elm and 
 willow at their annual architecture. A 
 drowsy hum of recitation came from the 
 class-rooms a hive-like monotone, varied 
 by the tinkle of a teacher's bell. The 
 occupant of the chamber was hastening 
 in preparation for a journey. She had 
 just been summoned by a pressing message to the sick 
 bed of her mother, and while she packed her apparel 
 with womanly neatness still, sobbed her apprehension. 
 Then, aloud, she prayed God to avert a fatal issue If 
 it please thee, O merciful Father, for poor Frank's 
 sake! 
 
 Jane reached home in time to receive her mother's 
 blessing, and close her eyes; and that was all. The 
 funeral was plain and inexpensive, but the grief was
 
 AMERICAN_LIFE AT HOME. 263 
 
 real. The bereaved children beside the open grave 
 moved to tenderness every bosom. Frank was not 
 there. Be lay at home sick and sorrowful, thinking 
 of the past. The hands that had smoothed his pillow 
 were beneath the clay ; the tongue which had cheered 
 his despondency was hushed forever here but there 
 is God's heaven of angels, O suffering little brother, 
 and that and thy mother are with thee still! 
 
 The week after the funeral was one of family rest 
 and affectionate intercourse, subdued in tone, and sanc 
 tified by the common affliction. There were no enmi 
 ties to be forgotten, or wrongs to alienate; and the 
 injunction of the departed parent, "Love one another 1" 
 was, in all its solemn significance, the household law. 
 The solicitude felt for Frank was constantly manifested 
 in words and acts of kindness that lightened somewhat 
 the heaviness of his heart. The time seemed chastened, 
 and life went on purged of its tumult and vexations. 
 Then the days were passed, and the cares of the world 
 pressed forward for recognition. To earn money was a 
 necessity stronger than the contemplative dominion of 
 grief. The family must part. An aunt, it was ascer 
 tained, would take Frank, on his sister's promise to 
 support him. The small sum to be got by the sale of 
 the furniture it was agreed should be devoted to his 
 wants. A bitterness of sorrow measured the love in 
 the daughter's heart as she folded each familiar gar 
 ment of her mother's wardrobe. The day of sale came ; 
 and then the household separated " Only for three or 
 four short years, sis," said one of the boys, "when we
 
 264 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 shall be together again, well-off and happy ; and Frank 
 shall have a cab sometimes for an airing." 
 
 Jane returned altered to her desk at Lokesbur school. 
 The 'buoyancy of spirits and alacrity which she had 
 possessed and displayed were no longer hers; a fatal 
 istic lack of personal interest in the future, which took 
 from the present its purpose and energy, had succeeded 
 to them. The two maiden sisters who presided over 
 the select establishment of Lokesbur at the sere and 
 yellow of womanhood, the latter a bilious gamboge 
 were unimpeachably respectable and imposingly right 
 eous. They had an orthodoxy of their own, these 
 worthy ladies, knew what was correct socially, and 
 solemnly believed the outside world to be a disagreea 
 ble and'discontentejd assemblage of red republicans and 
 shoemakers. They knelt on well-dusted devotional 
 hassocks at church, and read the responses with un 
 hesitating precision out of Oxford prayer-books, extra 
 gilt. Unquestionably the Misses Trimley knew what 
 was proper and pious. They, therefore, regarded 
 the melancholy into which Jane Warner was fallen, 
 after the first fortnight, with severe disapprobation. 
 
 Her sadness demanded gentle attentions some com 
 miserating nature to relax it and the Misses Trimley 
 were too strict to be sympathetic. Without omitting 
 the duties of her situation, she performed them in a 
 spiritless and mechanical manner. This, with the good 
 sisters, was downright murmuring against Providence. 
 They added to her burden looks and expressions 
 decorously reproachful. How eagerly, when completed 
 tasks allowed, did she seek her solitary chamber! Nor
 
 AMERICAN JLIFE AT HOME. 265 
 
 yet solitary, for it was the scene of invisible solace to 
 this woman with her heart-scald of a life higher than 
 the wonted, as the better world of shadows outreaches 
 the world of substance. How impatient in her ill-in 
 formed impulses was she to mingle with it ! 
 
 The time at last came when such obduracy could be 
 no longer countenanced by the ladies of Lokesbur. 
 One evening, after prayers, they summoned to their 
 presence the delinquent teacher. With some pertinent 
 reflections on the wickedness of a complaining deport 
 ment, in a select establishment, they announced to her 
 their purpose to dispense with her services. The salary 
 due to her was paid the following day, and she de 
 parted. 
 
 She took quiet and humble lodgings in the city, 
 where she could prepare her food and live at small 
 expense. This done, she went to Frank. Old preju 
 dices, clung to with the obstinacy of ignorance and 
 age, had indisposed her aunt to cordial relations with 
 her. There was also in Miss Cluskey some leaven of 
 that envious antipathy with which uninformed persons, 
 though otherwise worthy, are apt to regard their better 
 instructed family connections. Jane's visits to her 
 aunt, therefore, had been rare. 
 
 As her niece's situation became apparent to the 
 spinster, the spirit of selfishness waxed strong within 
 her. To the prospect of losing the stipend she had 
 received on account of Frank, was added a probable 
 appeal for aid by his unemployed sister. And Jane 
 had wilfully abandoned her place; for she preferred no 
 complaint against the Misses Trimley. The spinster 
 23
 
 266 THE HOETuNS; OK 
 
 would not refer this silence to a generosity which she 
 could not understand. Indeed, had she known of her 
 niece's unhappiness, she would have esteemed it as 
 nothing but perversity, or the vapors of a woman. 
 While her indignation mounted, she hit upon an ex 
 planation of Jane's conduct incipient insanity. Miss 
 Cluskey was of a saving temper, and kept no cats. 
 
 Having made this diagnosis of her niece's case, it was 
 perhaps illogical in Miss Cluskey to censure her as an 
 offender. But pure reason is not the forte of an in 
 censed woman, with whom, when argument fails, there 
 is always a refuge in crimination. 
 
 "Well, miss, I suppose your fortune's made, since 
 you have contrived to part with your situation." 
 
 "What do you mean, aunt?" 
 
 " Just this ; that people can't live without money or 
 occupation, and as you don't seem to care for the last, 
 you should have enough of the first, either in hand or 
 prospect." 
 
 "You are unkind to say that I don't want employ 
 ment I was never idle through indolence." 
 
 " It's as bad if people don't try to please, and put on 
 airs. Beggars can't be princesses, and boarding-school 
 teachers mustn't think themselves full-blown ladies." 
 
 "If you mean, aunt," replied Jane, nettled by this 
 tirade of reproach, "that I have aimed at habits and 
 indulgences which my means will not warrant, or de 
 ported myself toward any one with affected grandeur, 
 you accuse me falsely: if you only mean that I have 
 known how to respect myself, you are right." 
 
 "Hoity-toity! so I lie. You think yourself a pretty
 
 AMERICAN JJFE AT HOME. 207 
 
 diamond, I don't doubt. I believe you're a little crazy, 
 but that don't mend the matter. I'm sorry for that sick 
 child." 
 
 "You may make yourself easy about Frank, aunt, 
 for the present. I have some money, and I shall try 
 to earn my own expenses by sewing until I get a place. 
 I shall pay you, as heretofore, while I can." 
 
 "Well, miss, I hope fair words will continue to 
 butter parsnips. You can come see your brother, of 
 course, when you please; but after what has passed I 
 don't think it's necessary you should see me. Young 
 people nowadays don't respect age bears wouldn't 
 make 'em. I dare say I'm a deal too common for your 
 society not to speak of my want of veracity and I 
 shall keep away from it when you call, if it is my own 
 house, being a meeting-going woman and a peace 
 maker," and with an odd jumble of assumed meekness 
 and spiteful pretension in her accent and carriage, Miss 
 Cluskey took herself offj satisfied that, whatever else 
 might result, she had shut up every avenue by which 
 her niece could approach her for assistance, on the ex 
 haustion of a slender purse. 
 
 When the door had closed behind the flouting 
 spinster, the sick boy broke a momentary silence with 
 a deep sigh of relief. 
 
 "I wish aunt had more self-control, sis. It is very 
 wrong and trying, though she's mostly good to me." 
 
 "Never mind, Frank; I won't let it trouble me. 
 You can't think ill of me, I'm sure." 
 
 "If I could, dear sister, I would be a wretch." 
 
 "Then let it pass. Always, Frank, treat your aunt
 
 2G8 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 with respect ; it is your duty, and will be to your ad 
 vantage. We are all frail, and must allow for each 
 other." 
 
 "It will be hard to hear you talked against, and 
 don't think I can without speaking." 
 
 "Be guarded, my dear! To know you were un 
 happy, would make me so." 
 
 "I sometimes get discontented, sis; then I think 
 mother I think I see her smiling upon me, and I cry, 
 and grow very calm." 
 
 Jane sat by her brother, holding his hand, while 
 earnest, patient eyes looked into her own, where con 
 strained cheerfulness contended with starting tears. 
 
 " I have brought you a new book of tales, Frank." 
 
 "Thank you, sis; thank you very much." 
 
 " And something you will like better a parcel of 
 figs." 
 
 "No, I like the book better; it lasts longer," replied 
 the lad, laughingly. "But I don't care for all books 
 of tales alike. I would rather follow the fortunes of 
 the poor, and find them at last comfortable and happy, 
 than read of the most splendid victories of kings and 
 soldiers even the adventures of Bruce and Wallace. 
 As a good missionary who came here once, Father 
 Tryon, said of his acquaintance when they get rich I 
 generally give them up. That was the reason, I sup 
 pose, he wore such a shabby coat." 
 
 "The robe of Christ, my dear, is ever new. You 
 don't let the spiders spin along your bookshelf, Frank." 
 
 "No, indeed. It's a nice little library isn't it? 
 Those three books at the left are the first real books I
 
 AMERICAN- UFE AT HOME. 269 
 
 ever owned, except a testament of course I don't 
 count nursery stories. 'The Glory of America/ father 
 gave me when I had pleurisy was getting well of it, I 
 mean. I liked Mad Anthony Wayne, but thought I 
 would rather be Decatur or Lawrence, and live on the 
 ocean." 
 
 "You would rather be, I guess, a nautilus on a 
 summer sea." 
 
 "What's that chap know of life? There's my 'Pil 
 grim's Progress,' pages of which I know by heart. 
 And that is 'Robinson Crusoe,' which set me drawing 
 and peopling islands, and building cities, and inventing 
 governments. Heigho! old as I am, I draw them in 
 my head sometimes now. I was making a navy for 
 one the other day, in a sort of reverie, and listening the 
 while to 'Pop goes the weasel' from an organ in the 
 street, when a monkey stole in at the window and 
 poked his red cap in my face," and a twinkle of merri 
 ment played about the youngster's mouth. 
 
 Considering the temper of her aunt, Jane deemed 
 infrequent visiting of her brother best for his comfort. 
 She left at regular periods the sum agreed upon for his 
 board, assiduously sought employment for herself, and 
 pinched on bread and butter and tea, with an occasional 
 morsel from the butcher. She sought employment, and 
 only sometimes got it coarse shirt-making; the wages 
 of which helped to supply her scanty allowance for 
 food and shelter. ' But she had not been trained to the 
 use of the needle, and was a slow sewer. There was a 
 dearth of rough seamstress work, and a competitive 
 strife for it. Once or twice, when she attempted finer 
 23*
 
 270 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 garments, she was rudely rebuked for botching them, 
 and refused compensation. Spring passed away, and 
 summer came, with a mockery for her of leaves and 
 sunshine. 
 
 As time wore on, the stitching vigils for bread, and 
 the fearful uncertainty which harassed her spirits, 
 showed more and more ghastly in her face and wasted 
 body. Her attempts at cheerfulness when with Frank 
 were unsuccessful, and -the visits made shorter now 
 brought to the boy anxiety and grief. Strange 
 thoughts began to possess her, and inklings of new and 
 dread temptations. She had lost her way of life, and 
 the longer she wandered the more she must go astray. 
 Human happiness, after all, was in nowise, as she had 
 thought it to be, dependent upon human will. Indi 
 vidual misery was an inevitable evil. There was a 
 grave for all and a sleep. Yet she still believed in 
 the goodness of the Almighty, with a fervorless con 
 viction, as in the essence of an inaccessible Being. 
 She could not curse God, but she could die! She could 
 die out of the seething and selfish crowd for the 
 pittance which would not furnish her a meal. 
 
 On her return from a clothing store with a parcel of 
 work, the fruit of several solicitations, Jane Warner 
 one gusty evening in Joine stopped beneath an awning 
 for shelter from the rain. The vehemence of the storm 
 had subsided to fitful showers from some broken rear 
 ward clouds, that were slowly following the mass of 
 lightning-riven blackness which overhung the east, 
 and which was still resonant with rapid peals of 
 receding thunder. The gas-lights flickered on the
 
 AMERICAN-. LIFE AT HOME. 271 
 
 plashy crossings, along which damp and detained way 
 farers picked their homeward course, or avoided, with 
 surly expressions of resentment, the spattering onset 
 of a cab. As she stood before a shop window and 
 contemplated the procession of umbrella-bearing pas 
 sers-by, she was suddenly conscious that an earnest 
 gaze, partly shrouded by the slouch of the hat, was 
 directed at her. Turning her head to meet the look, 
 she observed that while it was steady it was not dis 
 respectful, and concluding that the person from whom 
 it came had some motive for delay besides imper 
 tinence, she averted her face and turned to another 
 train of thought. Presently, reminded by the striking 
 clocks of the lapse of time, she hurried onward in the 
 rain. 
 
 In her speed, she slipped at a smooth grating in the 
 pavement and fell heavily upon her outstretched hand, 
 dropping the parcel which she carried. Directly she 
 was lifted and supported by a ready arm. The spot 
 was rather dark, but she recognized by his dress the 
 person who had shared with her the shelter of the 
 awning. 
 
 " Are you hurt, Miss Warner for I believe I am 
 right in thus addressing you?" 
 
 "A little stunned, sir, and my arm seems sprained." 
 
 "I see you don't know me." 
 
 "Mr. Bloker excuse me, I did not. 
 
 "Can you stand without aid?" 
 
 "Very well, thank you." 
 
 Bloker picked up the bundle and his umbrella 
 Spreading the latter above Jane, he said,
 
 272 THE HOftTONS; OR 
 
 "Lean on me, Miss Warner, and permit me to con 
 duct you safely home." 
 
 "By no means, sir; I am but little hurt." 
 
 "You are shaken by the fall, and lame in that arm; 
 I should be lost to all. civility to leave you. I have 
 known your family too long and well to think of it, 
 and it is my duty to attend you, both as a gentleman, 
 and, whatever you mav mistakenly consider me, a 
 friend." 
 
 Finding by the positive tone of her companion that 
 remonstrance would be decorously unheeded, Jane for 
 bore to urge it. 
 
 "I did not know of your being in the city Is your 
 wrist painful ?" 
 
 "More than at first." 
 
 " Let me bind it with my handkerchief I will not 
 hurt you." 
 
 Mastering by promptitude her indecision, Bloker 
 soon converted the handkerchief into a rude bandage, 
 and applied it. 
 
 " You will need a doctor, perhaps. There may be a 
 fracture ; when you are at home we can examine." 
 
 At the entrance of the street where her lodging was 
 situated, she protested against his accompanying her 
 further. He courteously said that she might be doing: 
 
 t/ O O 
 
 herself injustice, but that he was bound to respect her 
 desire. He insisted, however, that he should be allowed 
 to send on the following day to inquire concerning 
 her ; and wishing her a deferential Good-night, he left 
 her. 
 
 When she was alone in her room the pain of the
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 273 
 
 hurt increased. Casting down her eyes she beheld the 
 handkerchief. Recollections of its owner came to vex 
 her spirit, and, in a fit of indignation, she tore it from 
 the limb. She poured water from her pitcher on the 
 red and swollen part, and, relieved by the douche, was 
 swathing it with wet muslin, when the thought arose 
 in her mind I cannot work ! 
 
 That thought was a terror. But a few small coins 
 remained for her subsistence. The pawnbroker was 
 before her beyond that she dare not look. She had 
 been compelled to omit the last payment for her bro 
 ther. Sorrowfully she persuaded herself that it was 
 only an obligation postponed; and thus much she 
 meant to explain to her aunt, when she could announce 
 that she had obtained fresh employment which pro 
 mised to continue. Stretched on a rack of solicitude, 
 she went to her bed, and awaited through weary hours 
 the respite of oblivion grudged to nature she did not 
 weep alas! she did not pray.
 
 274: 
 
 THE HORTONS: OB 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Imogen. I have heard I am a strumpet, and mine ear, 
 
 Therein false struck, can take no greater wound 
 Nor tent to bottom that. CYMBELINE. 
 
 AWAKENED late the following morn- 
 ing by the cries of the hawkers, Jane 
 Warner arose and prepared a scanty 
 breakfast. Scarcely had she finished 
 it, when a slovenly girl, the child of 
 a fellow-lodger, ushered Bloker to 
 her chamber. 
 
 "My dear Miss "Warner, I could 
 not deny myself the happiness, being 
 on business in the neighborhood, of calling on you." 
 
 " Take a seat, sir," said Jane, with constrained civil 
 ity, while the blood burned in her cheek. 
 
 "I hope you are better of the injury?" he asked, 
 with an air of concern. 
 "Decidedly." 
 
 " Truly glad I thought you much hurt." 
 "O, no." 
 
 "Did the handkerchief help you?" 
 "I took it off." 
 "Permit me," he said blandly, advancing his chair
 
 AMERICAN .LIFE AT HOME. 275 
 
 and reaching to her hand. "You must know, I am 
 part of a doctor had charge of a ship's medicine chest 
 when I was a supercargo, and set a sailor's leg once, 
 on a pinch; or, rather," he continued gaily, "to be 
 precise, on the forward hatch. It mended finely with 
 castor oil." 
 
 His gaze shifted as he spoke from her wrist to her 
 eyes, while she regarded him with forced composure. 
 
 " Yet inflamed. If I might advise, keep it wet with 
 a solution of sugar of lead. A hand for a sculptor, 
 by the goddess of beauty!" and he emphasized the 
 compliment with a gentle pressure and an amatory 
 look. 
 
 "Enough, sir!" and she was withdrawing her hand, 
 when Bloker exclaimed, 
 
 "I must feel the flutter of that breast it outdoes 
 nature!" and with his disengaged arm he clasped her 
 waist with compulsory ardor. 
 
 With surprise and sudden anger she started from his 
 embrace and fled to the window. There she turned, 
 her bosom heaving and disdain in her kindled eye, 
 and cried, "Leave my room!" 
 
 "Hear reason, my dear Miss" 
 
 "Go! or I'll call help!" 
 
 Scowling vindictively upon the incensed woman, 
 Bloker departed. 
 
 A week passed ; during which Jane was unable to 
 use her needle. She thought to return the tailor's 
 work, but still hoped to complete a part of it by stitch 
 ing till the midnight chimes. Dime by dime, her purse 
 was emptying. At length, she took back the unfinished
 
 276 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 work. With misgiving she approached the counter of 
 the great slop-shop, and presented her excuses. A 
 foreman snatched from her the patterns, with an oath, 
 and bid her begone. A score of women were standing 
 by sewers like herself. Some echoed the man's de 
 preciations, others laughed, and two or three seemed to 
 sympathize with her. 
 
 On the morning of his repulse by Jane, Bloker vis 
 ited Miss Cluskey. He was known to that gentle spin 
 ster, she having previously appealed to him with some 
 success, of her own motion, in behalf of Frank. There 
 fore, when the merchant pulled the porcelain bell-knob 
 at her portal, after reconnoitring from the area, she 
 slapped the small servant with the lid of a saucepan 
 for keeping her "always in a mess when gentlemen 
 called," cast off her apron, tidied her cap, and admitted 
 him, with a serene aspect which showed superiority to 
 every carnal instigation. 
 
 "Why, Mr. Bloker, I declare! Walk in, sir who 
 would have thought it? As I was saying to our 
 Susan that's my help, sir, that I took a bound-girl 
 from the poor-house and send to Sunday-school regular 
 Susan ! I dreamed last night of a thunderstorm, 
 which is a sign that something agreeable will happen." 
 
 "I could wish my mission more pleasant than it is, 
 Miss Cluskey." 
 
 The spinster lapsed instantly to a state of suitable 
 melancholy, and gave a feeble sigh. 
 
 "Yet it is benevolent." 
 
 "I am very sure it is," responded Miss Cluskey,
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 277 
 
 brightening. Benevolence, to Miss Cluskey, was symp 
 tomatic of bank notes. 
 
 "Captain Warner was long my respected friend, and 
 I owe something to his memory." 
 
 "The rich have blessed privileges," observed the 
 spinster, with anticipatory promptitude. 
 
 "Duties may be so called, madame." 
 
 "That poor child, Frank, is completely forsaken by 
 his sister. Ah! sir, pride must have a fall." 
 
 "It is of his sister that I have come to talk I believe 
 her mind is diseased." 
 
 " I can't help it, sir, nor her either. She's been going 
 on ridiculous since her mother's death, as if she felt 
 more than everybody else in the world who has losses. 
 As Miss Trimley told her, it's a sinful repining. Then 
 she must lose her situation by her conduct! I couldn't 
 overlook it if I was the robin red-breast that covered 
 the babes in the wood." 
 
 "Last night I found her hurt on the street, where 
 'she had fallen, and attended her home. I proposed to 
 get a physician, but she would not allow me, and I 
 reluctantly left her in a great deal of pain. This morn 
 ing I called to learn her condition and offer my ser 
 vices, when she exclaimed violently against me for 
 insulting her, threw a tumbler, and threatened me with 
 an outcry. I saw, with sorrow, her state, and came 
 straight to perform this painful duty." 
 
 " Well, sir, I really can't say what's to be done. She 
 has quit coming here. / have no money to spend. I 
 suppose she ought to be taken care of by somebody." 
 
 "I believe, Miss Cluskey, your means are limited ' 
 24
 
 278 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 " You may well say that, sir." 
 
 "And insufficient to bear the charge of properly 
 caring for your niece. Perhaps the money can be 
 elsewhere supplied. But it would still be necessary fur 
 you, her nearest adult relative, to appear in her bo- 
 half." 
 
 "Kegarding her state of mind?" 
 
 " Yes. I may be imposing on myself a heavy obli 
 gation, but her father served me well, and I will ven 
 ture it. I will pay the expense of skilful nursing I 
 think it will soon cure her. There is a pleasant and 
 secluded asylum, of which I know something, though 
 it costs high." 
 
 "I hardly see how far I can testify Do you think, 
 sir, a few weeks would restore her ?" 
 
 "So I hope. You will not be rigorously questioned. 
 You must state what you know of the particulars of her 
 melancholy to a physician there's the celebrated Doc 
 tor Conium, a pleasant-tongued gentleman, I can intro 
 duce to you who will make a personal examination 
 of the patiefrt and give a certificate." 
 
 " They treat the patients kind, I suppose." 
 
 "Their treatment is altogether mild and considerate, 
 madame. They have the best-tempered nurses, music, 
 books, games, conversation, and shady, spacious 
 grounds for exercise and recreation." 
 
 "I am sure I am willing to do all I can for the poor 
 thing." 
 
 "I am thinking how we shall contrive an opportu 
 nity for the doctor, without duly exciting her. I have 
 itl send for her here. Doctor Conium can call, as if by
 
 AMERICAN" LIFE AT HOME. 279 
 
 chance, or for an assumed purpose, and converse with 
 her. An attendant can be in an adjoining room, and a 
 coach in readiness. If the doctor should give a certifi 
 cate, it will be easy for you to persuade her to take a 
 drive. It will save tumult." 
 
 " I shouldn't like to take such a step, sir, if I didn't 
 think it for her good. If it will only cure her of that 
 dreadful downness! She isn't really fit for anything 
 now. Yes, there's no doubt her mind's affected." 
 
 " She may need suitable clothing, and here is thirty 
 dollars to supply it. She will be in the society of 
 ladies.* Prompt action on our part may save her from 
 suicide." 
 
 Doctor Conium called at the Cluskey abode by ap 
 pointment, and Jane was inveigled into engaging in a 
 few minutes conversation with him. He was on his 
 way to dinner after his professional rounds, and was to 
 hold a college clinique at three; therefore he came 
 briskly around the corner to his awaiting carriage and 
 Bloker. 
 
 " It's hardly pronounced insanity," he said, " though 
 the girl may be a little shaken at top. Tried the 
 Shakesperian test, and found her gambol some from 
 the matter of our talk it might, indeed, have been 
 natural confusion Moody, eh? "Would like to look 
 further into the case, but I am overwhelmed, literally 
 obstructed with labor. Her aunt's story, coupled with 
 her wildness toward you strange freak of expostula 
 tion! I hope there was no method in it must satisfy 
 me. Take her to Norey's? I don't know much about 
 the place; I nearly always send to the regular institu-
 
 280 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 tions ; I suppose it's all right. I'll give you the paper ;" 
 and Conium wrote it on the carriage cushion, pocketed 
 his fee, and drove away. In another hour the doctor 
 was reestablishing his energies with Madeira, and Jane 
 Warner was in Norey's Eetreat. 
 
 Norey was a Scotchman, with a stony calmness of 
 bearing, features that might have been molten, so im 
 movable were they in repose, and a methodic gracious- 
 ness which started in the recipient of it a doubt of its 
 sincerity. He had been educated to his business in an 
 English asylum conducted in accordance with the old 
 mad-house system, and where a commitment was*some- 
 times as effectual as the Bourbon lettre to restrain an 
 obnoxious and constrain an unwilling person. With 
 such a training, he held in little favor the milder 
 modern hospital administration, although he affected 
 to acquiesce in it, and, compelled by the prevalence 
 of popular assent, in some respects adopted it. Though 
 the ancient privacy and profits no longer prevailed, 
 separation from society for the friendless or the solitary 
 was still possible ; there was still gold to be paid to a 
 discreet jailer, unrecognized, but tolerated by the law; 
 so a large stone country mansion, remote from the 
 high-road, was purchased and painted by Norey, dark 
 cells and shower-baths introduced, the rooms furnished 
 with double doors, the windows stoutly wired, a lofty 
 wall of light-colored, cheerful bricks built around the 
 grounds, and all together constituted the "Eetreat." 
 For, said Norey in his adroitly suggestive circular 
 "Insanity often, perhaps most frequently, exhibits 
 itself in an aversion to the nearest relati ves and kind-
 
 AMERICAN MFE AT HOME. 281 
 
 est friends; and this should - dictate temporary seclu 
 sion." 
 
 Norey was not originally a physician. He began 
 his career as an under-keeper became a keeper an 
 apothecary's assistant apothecary attended a course 
 or two of lectures at Edinburg, and from superintend 
 ent rose to be proprietor of an asylum. His first officer 
 at the Eetreat was a gaunt, sinewy Englishman, blind 
 in one eye, who was close, sombre, and watchful with 
 the hard grey eye which remained, and who professed 
 the faith Of a Covenanter. Indeed, his religion such 
 as it was to him was the only topic upon which he 
 was not habitually reserved, inasmuch, it seemed, that 
 there was unusual acerbity and discomfort in it. He 
 was not, in his silent grimness, a pleasant man for a 
 nerve-shaken patient to behold. The matron was fat 
 and florid, passably polite, and of a positive fibre just 
 the kind of woman, in short, to be reckoned upon as 
 unconscious of irregularities in the management. 
 
 Perhaps it was to adapt Jane to her new situation, 
 perhaps it was by a suggestion of the humane Bloke.r, 
 that she was aroused every half hour the first three 
 nights to receive medicine, administered with uniform 
 suavity, and was not permitted to sleep during the day. 
 Her protests were disregarded, and her indignation at 
 its height answered in dumb show. Two stout women 
 were summoned, who led her along a hall to a window- 
 less, gas-lighted bath-room arranged for showering, the 
 walls of which were garnished with a collection of 
 stout straps. 
 24*
 
 282 
 
 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIII. 
 
 Nay, you shall see mine orchard; where, in an arbor, we will eat a 
 last year's pippin of my own graffing, with a dish of carraways, and so 
 forth. HENRY IV. 
 
 ENEY DAYENPOET was as much 
 lost to accustomed uses as a displaced 
 brick or a dispossessed abbot upon the 
 dissolution of the house of Horton. 
 As the gradual settlement of the busi 
 ness invested him with more and more 
 leisure, time went wearily with him. 
 He grew dyspeptic, took an interest in 
 the adulteration of food, and was ob 
 served to look truculent when he 
 passed the corner grocery. In extreme fits of indiges 
 tion he publicly proclaimed his purpose to join a fire 
 company, or talked wildly of a whaling voyage for the 
 recovery of his health. He procured a carpenter's 
 chest of tools, and undertook the construction of a 
 labor-saving washing machine "after an original model 
 crowning his yard fences in the resting spaces of 
 graver toil and cogitation with intricate paling, cun 
 ningly devised for the exclusion of vagrant cats 
 Finally he bought a farm. 
 
 It was a small property of forty acres, situated in tin
 
 AMEKICAN -LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 Eclair neighborhood, and near to Farmer Gregg's. 
 Upon receiving the deed, the old clerk obtained a 
 bull-dog of game reputation and despatched him to his 
 rural purchase. Next, he transmitted for the stocking 
 of his new domain a coop of hens, which he took on 
 the averment that they were prime double-yolked lay 
 ers of the true capon breed; and a pair of veteran cab 
 horses, that had not smelt a fresh furrow since their 
 colthood. He got also, a lot of seeds from an insolvent 
 herb doctor, which, though they were somewhat old 
 and musty, were had a bargain. As for agricultural 
 implements, except those immediately necessary, he 
 resolved to pick them up as they offered at country 
 vendues. At the time of harvest, with a just sense of 
 his importance as, a proprietor of the soil, accompanied 
 by his mother, he went down and entered on posses 
 sion. 
 
 Thither Emily Horton repaired, shortly after the 
 investiture, to pass a few days beneath the roof of her 
 father's friend. She was soon at home with his excel 
 lent housekeeper. Mrs. Davenport was a gracious, 
 motherly body, who rejoiced in occasions to comfort 
 her ailing fellow-creatures with the proper physic. 
 She wore spruce caps with inlayings of black ribbon at 
 the borders, and was, dexterous with her knitting- 
 needles. She was not friendly to innovation, and, 
 among other singularities, insisted on counting winter 
 to the twelfth of March inclusive; "The good old 
 style," she observed, "which her mother kept before 
 her; and which was altered by the Pope of Rome, and 
 she would like to know what business he had to meddle
 
 284 THE HORTOtfS; OB 
 
 with it." Good Mrs. Davenport who had already con 
 tracted a friendly alliance with Aunt Becky Gregg 
 through a commendation of her butter had griev 
 ances, and rehearsed them, ranging in the scale from 
 the pump down to the pismires, and declared it as her 
 well-matured opinion that the country would be endu 
 rable if it were paved and cleared of wasps. Her son, 
 on the contrary, was constantly contriving new possi 
 bilities of enjoyment. He set a weir in the river and 
 visited it daily for fish, bringing sometimes two or 
 three perch with appropriate exultation. He weeded, 
 mulched, and trained in the garden, pursuing the plant 
 bugs with unrelenting animosity. He learned to talk 
 glibly of fallow and ley; took studies in the anatomy 
 of the plough; and began to experiment on patches 
 with rival fertilizers. He affected cattle medicine, and 
 kept the cab-horses up to their provender with 
 drenches. By patient observation of Farmer Gregg, 
 he mastered the mysteries of harness. Not that this 
 exuberance of knowledge was acquired suddenly; it 
 came to fructify like seasonable showers. 
 
 Bridget McFadden served the Davenports in the 
 capacity of woman of all work. She was a decent 
 body with warm sympathies, who strove in her hum 
 ble but honest way to cultivate good gifts and live 
 in hope. She had worked for Miss Cluskey in 
 the felon and fever stages of Susan's kitchen career, 
 and at general house-cleanings; and as it was her 
 judicious practise to improve such connections, she 
 called occasionally for gossip and the rare chance of a 
 dole of fragments. Thus she became a favorite and
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 285 
 
 semi-confidant of Frank, for jvhom she acquired a 
 fondness, which she showed by considerately regarding 
 his little requests for attendance, cheering him with 
 her good-humor, and amusing him with her quaint 
 Irish fancies. On her last visit at the spinster's she 
 found the lad very low in spirits and tormented with 
 apprehension by the prolonged absence of his sister. 
 So much did 'Frank's dejection interest Bridget, that 
 she made inquiry at the lodgings lately occupied by 
 Jane. She could only learn of her sudden departure; 
 when her clothing, being all that belonged to her on 
 the premises that were hired furnished had been 
 sent for, and the rent paid to the month's end. The 
 one additional scrap of information which she procured 
 was from an acquaintance near by, whose son, a fish 
 hawker, had seen the young woman out airing in a 
 carriage, on the day of her disappearance. This was 
 just enough intelligence to whet, without in the least 
 satisfying Bridget's curiosity ; and there was no help, 
 for if the hawker could tell more he was at the time 
 on his business rounds in the suburbs. Still she 
 deemed what she had heard sufficient to alarm Miss 
 Cluskey, and incite her to an instant search for her 
 niece. Her surprise was great when her disclosure was 
 received by that lady with unconcern, and her zeal 
 rewarded with a rebuff; all further communication 
 with Frank being denied her. 
 
 The more the disappearance with its circumstances 
 of haste and mystery was revolved in the McFadden 
 cerebrum, the more inexplicable it seemed; for Brid 
 get's ingenuous bosom harbored no sinister suspicion
 
 286 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 concerning the conduct of the missing girl. In her 
 perplexity she made the subject a theme of discourse, 
 and as she colored it with the hues of her imagination 
 to a gloomy and even horrible extent, she at length 
 withdrew her mistress from a diligent quest of a recipe 
 for the colic, with which complaint the stable boy 
 had been afflicted the day before, and persuaded that 
 matron to give ear to her narrative; which, in turn, 
 was imparted to Emily, who was at once interested 
 by it. 
 
 The event was discussed in a family conference, and 
 Emily easily induced the old clerk to aid her in an 
 attempt to explain it. They went for this purpose 
 together to the city and waited on Miss Cluskey, who 
 received them with stinted civility. Emily could not 
 induce her to engage in a public inquiry. " No, miss ; 
 it is in vain to urge it; I'm not such a fool. If you 
 could prove to me this wonder is not another of the 
 girl's strange fancies, there might be some room for 
 hysterics; though then it would be as well perhaps 
 if they were kept in the family not that I mean 
 reflections. To make a Judy of myself in print, blind 
 folded, is what I don't mean to do I'm obliged to you, 
 all the same." The spinster permitted Emily to have 
 an interview with Frank. 
 
 "Hoping, miss, you won't put anything into the 
 child's head to frighten him, for he's trouble enough 
 now." 
 
 The sick boy's face beamed with a welcome fit for a 
 good angel; for though he had seldom seen Emily, he 
 had heard his lost sister speak of her with all the
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 287 
 
 warmth of esteem. His solicitude for his sister found 
 speedy utterance. Emily could not remove, but strove 
 to allay it by ingenious suggestions. But, hopeful as 
 they were, they produced little effect. She assured 
 him no endeavor should be spared to discover Jane. 
 Her whereabout, indeed, since she had left her lodging 
 had been reported ; and although the clue might result 
 in nothing at present, all would surely be clear in time. 
 It was not impossible that, allured by some unusual 
 advantage, she had left hurriedly ; and that her letters 
 had miscarried. Feeble consolations, scarcely less like 
 December in the young invalid's heart than its own 
 forebodings. 
 
 As Emily sat by the settee holding Frank's white 
 and wasted hand while they conversed, a thought arose 
 in her mind. 
 
 "Frank! wouldn't you like to be in the country at 
 this pleasant season?" 
 
 "Ah, Miss Emily, a poor cripple like me must be 
 content. I can think of the country, you know; see 
 brooks in the cool woods, sunshine on the birds' backs, 
 and almost hear the rustle of leaves." 
 
 " Can you hear the birds and eat the fresh fruit in 
 your dreams?" 
 
 "Yes; and behold flowers of gorgeous colors too, 
 that sometimes mingle with each other while I look ; 
 and the other night I awaked trying to wipe the stain 
 of mulberries off my mouth. Ha, ha! the berries dis 
 solved with the dream." 
 
 "I see you are a pet of queen Mab. Seriously, 
 Frank, if you choose, with your aunt's consent you
 
 288 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 shall go for a few weeks to a quiet farm-house. A 
 friend of mine is a good-natured gentleman, and 1 
 know he will take you to please me." 
 
 "It would be delicious, Miss Emily!" 
 
 "We will see, then. I think you will be allowed to 
 go, but I must persuade your aunt." 
 
 .Upon hearing Emily's proposition, which Davenport 
 seconded with enthusiasm, Miss Cluskey assumed to 
 hesitate, but it was plain that, for so self-willed a lady, 
 her objections would yield to gentle assaults. She was 
 to be relieved of all expense of the boy's maintenance 
 during his absence, and that charge she asserted, with 
 some appearance of truth despite the neighborhood 
 whispers of considerable savings shrewdly invested, 
 was a burden disproportioned to her ability. The 
 attendance upon her nephew she declared to be at once 
 a duty and a pleasure, and, in justice to her, so long as 
 the weekly stipend was paid it had so appeared ; but 
 the demand of late upon her purse had altered her 
 demeanor, and kindliness was being daily throttled in 
 the stronger grasp of avarice. Miss Cluskey probably 
 had not wronged posterity in remaining single. It was 
 arranged that Frank should be called for the first 
 bright morning of the ensuing week. 
 
 Henry Davenport, having set down Emily at Doctor 
 Mellen's, proceeded to prosecute according to direction 
 a search for the hawker of fish. That itinerant of 
 traffic had just left the parental abode, and was sup 
 posed by a coatless and bare-footed cadet of the house, 
 to be producible in an adjacent street. Under the 
 stimulus of a dime, which he deposited in his mouth
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 289 
 
 by an exact fling, the urchin led off briskly, and pre 
 sently announced, "our Zack jist ahead, a giving of it 
 woice;" which the stentorian cry of, "Yer-ers your 
 fresh pogees! only three cents a pound," abundantly 
 confirmed. 
 
 "My friend!" commenced the old clerk, "can I say a 
 few words to you?" 
 
 " You oughter know best, sir." 
 
 "I see you are a wag, and none the worse for that 
 I'm something of a wag, myself." 
 
 "I say, none of that gammon, uncle. You can't have 
 them fish no less than three cents if you take the lot 
 nary red. Figsey!" to an associate, "sound your 
 melodeon a bit, drive up the cart and stop at the 
 corner." 
 
 "I don't want to buy, but to question you about a 
 matter which interests me." 
 
 "Figsey! you needn't exert yourself uncommon 
 while I transact some private business with this gent, 
 but keep an eye to the purceeds, and don't take none 
 but bankable money Now, sir !" 
 
 "You remember Miss Jane Warner." 
 
 "The sewing girl what lived near us? Yes. Well?" 
 
 " You saw her about the time of her disappearance, I 
 think, in company with others." 
 
 "I say, uncle, what's the reward?" 
 
 "The reward!" 
 
 "Any information concerning the party will be 
 liberally re-money-rated, you know, as they puts in 
 the newspapers when they advertise for people sup 
 posed to be drownded or they want to nab Is it stiff?" 
 25
 
 290 THE HOETONS; OR 
 
 "O! there's nothing of the kind, my friend. There 
 is nothing to come of finding the girl in the shape of 
 profit to any one; and there is not a suspicion against 
 her. She has a few friends who are anxious; that's all. 
 The search is purely humane." 
 "That squares it so I seen her." 
 "Where, and with whom?" 
 
 "A taking an airing on the river road in a kerridge, 
 with a man and a woman." 
 
 "What was your impression of her companions?" 
 "That's what the lawyers call an opinion aint it, 
 when they requests the party to pint?" 
 
 "Something of the sort what you thought, now," 
 explained Davenport suasively, slipping a half-dollar 
 into the hawker's hand. 
 
 "Well, then," proceeded the latter, in an oracular 
 tone, "I considered the turn-out tip-top, and the lady 
 sad gent as was with her prime for fortygraphs, and 
 remarkable nobby and fire-proof." 
 
 Whether the last attributed quality figured an ap 
 pearance of secrecy, or was a flowery manner of ex 
 pressing pecuniary responsibility, Davenport could not 
 determine; and it seemed, indeed, the only feature of 
 the account which admitted of speculation. 
 
 Pillowed in Davenport's dearborn, the brickyards 
 T-'ft behind, and the real country before and around 
 him, Frank was a happier mortal than the Egyptian 
 queen when she floated down the Cydnus. Tho 
 orchards; the grouped cattle, standing or recumbent 
 beneath some wide-spreading tree; the yellow wheat 
 stacks; the restless corn, fretting with its blades at
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 291 
 
 ( 
 
 every breeze; crows winging their way from field to 
 wood; the scarlet tomatoes in the gardens; were brave 
 sights the very dust was parcel of a new nature, as it 
 rolled lazily beside the wagon in the sunshine. And 
 when, after cheerful welcomes and ministrations by 
 Mrs. Davenport and Emily, dinner came, the vegetables 
 were tasteful, beyond example, and for the lamb age 
 could not have made it mutton, while the juicy peaches 
 blushed from the table at their praises. Soon the boy 
 became a centre of interest to the Davenport household, 
 and a favorite also of Farmer Gregg, who persisted in 
 regarding his state as one of the deplorable results of a 
 city training.
 
 292 
 
 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIV. 
 
 I vow he is a lovely man and such bravery of speech ! 
 
 OLD PLAY. 
 
 iHILB Emily remained at Daven 
 port's, Bloker availed himself of a 
 general invitation which he had 
 received from the hospitable old 
 clerk and drove over behind his 
 trotting team, one horse of which 
 was milk white with a spacious 
 chest, and the other a chestnut 
 bay, in new, silver-mounted har 
 ness. His arrival flustered Mrs. 
 Davenport, who was employed in the preparation of a 
 valuable salve, quite out of her self-possession. Henry 
 was open and hearty, and looked after the horses; 
 keeping a prudent distance however, upon the stable 
 boy's pointing out, "a cloud in the near "un's face, 
 which was a nugly sign." Frank, reclined in an easy 
 chair in the hall, breathed the cool breeze which came 
 from the western landscape, and luxuriated among tin: 
 pictured pages wondering voluptuary! of a volume 
 of the Penny Magazine. Jacob Bloker accosted the lad 
 in a sympathetic tone which indicated yearnings under
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 293 
 
 his fawn-colored waistcoat. The venerable matron dis 
 covered at once the tender locality. " My word for it," 
 she subsequently said, "my word for it, Emily, that 
 man possesses a noble nature 1" 
 
 After tea Bloker presented his arm to Emily and 
 begged the honor of her company for a twilight walk. 
 He was in smooth spirits, comprehensively benevolent, 
 and of mild conversation. A cat, startled by their 
 approach and stopped by a wicket, plunged into a 
 sunken cask half-full of water, which served as a pro 
 vision for the garden, and for the propagation of mos- 
 quitos. Bicker's sensibility was aroused, and discard 
 ing his coat he hurried to puss's rescue. 
 
 "Suffering, Miss Horton," he said, "in every shape 
 distresses me. Whenever I see a dog ill treated I 
 think of that fine line of the poet, 
 
 ' Even as it fawned he struck the poor dumb tyke.' 
 
 I started a petition lately to prevent the cruel tying of 
 calves in the market carts." 
 
 "We would be glad, .sir, to have your help in a 
 search for a missing lady: Jane Warner has disap 
 peared and cannot be heard of." 
 
 "It is singular How long has she*been gone?" 
 
 "Since the middle of June." 
 
 "And there are no traces of her, you say?" 
 
 "None." 
 
 "Why, then, it looks serious. There was no despair 
 in the case, you think?" 
 
 "We cannot tell. I believe, however, that she pos 
 sessed enough moral vigor to resist it. The people 
 25*
 
 294 THE HORTOISTS; OR 
 
 where she lodged say that, though melancholy, she wag 
 right in her mind to the time of her departure. That 
 is all we can learn, except that she was quite poor, and 
 was last seen in a carriage with two companions." 
 
 "The little information you have got will at least 
 sanction the supposition of an unsettled mind; and the 
 shades of insanity, the doctors say, are often so nice as 
 to elude common observation. But what was she doing 
 alone in a city lodging?" 
 
 "It appears her lowness of spirits after her mother's 
 death displeased the school-teachers who employed her, 
 and she lost her place. I did not know of her condi- 
 tion^or I would have gone to her." 
 
 "That, again, points to a disturbed intellect; made 
 worse, perhaps, by the trials of unaccustomed poverty. 
 I wish I could think otherwise. She may have wan 
 dered to some remote spot, and be still alive. If so, 
 she will have been cared for, and can be found. There 
 is another and a sadder conclusion. She has an aunt, I 
 believe, in the city^what does she propose ?" 
 
 "Nothing." 
 
 "Nothing!" 
 
 "She pretends to think that Jane has gone away in 
 c ome caprice, and refuses to search for her." 
 
 "You astonish me. She cannot prevent our search 
 ing: such cases are the common property of the 
 humane, among whom Miss Warner hitherto has not 
 been inclined to number me. But I bear no resent 
 ment to forgive such enmities is as much the interest 
 of the philosopher, as the duty of the Christian ; and I, 
 at least, wish the equanimity of the one, if 1 cannot
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 295 
 
 claim the added happiness of the other. If the lady 
 had been prosperous I would have kept aloof from her 
 affairs ; but now I am anxious to show that I have been 
 misunderstood. It is possible though, that her aunt's 
 conjecture is right I don't think so, still it is possible; 
 in which case a public inquiry would tend to frustrate 
 .its purpose; for the young lady might seek a more 
 secluded place of concealment. I think the search had 
 best be private, and I will undertake to employ a de 
 tective upon it." 
 
 "I did not hope for so much zeal when I asked your 
 aid. Accept my poor thanks, and be sure of the richer 
 gratitude of her brother." 
 
 "I wish I could promote his comfort. When you 
 think I can, command my purse;" and he felicitated 
 himself that an obstacle to his desires was timeously 
 and securely removed. Norey's had not come to his 
 relief a day too soon. 
 
 As they sat together that summer evening in the 
 porch and chatted, while the moonlight crept stealthily 
 upon them, Bloker felt that he occupied a higher plane 
 in the regard of Emily Horton. They chatted of 
 flowers, affections, pleasant people, and the comet; and 
 it was as refreshing as would have been a zephyr 
 tempered by the pole, that measured recitation by 
 Jacob Bloker of some nervous lines of old Chap 
 man: 
 
 " Innocence, the sacred amulet 
 
 'Gainst all the poisons of infirmity, 
 Of all misfortune, injury, and death: 
 That makes a man in tune still in himself;
 
 296 THE HOETONS; OB 
 
 Free from the hell to be his own accuser; 
 Ever in quiet, endless joy enjoying, 
 No strife nor no sedition in his powers." 
 
 It was surely Marcus Antoninus set to music among 
 lilies beneath the fawn-colored waistcoat.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 297 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXY. 
 
 Behold I see the haven nigh at hand, 
 
 To which I meane my wearie course to bend; 
 
 Vere the maine shete, and beare up with the land, 
 
 The which afore is-fayrly to be kend, 
 
 And seemeth safe from storms that may offend : 
 
 There this fayre Virgin wearie of her way 
 
 Must landed bee, now at her lourneyes end 
 
 FAERIE QUEENE. 
 
 HERB are experiences in life which 
 put an enduring impress upon the 
 individual, and yet cannot afterward 
 be adequately described in detail. 
 The traces that remain are but sep 
 arated memories emitted from the 
 depths of our consciousness ; as bub 
 bles sluggishly rise to the surface of 
 a lake when the storm is over. A 
 stroke of affliction was suddenly laid 
 upon Bradley. Seemingly in the full vigor of health 
 when Spring came with bloom and brightness, Lydia 
 Bardleigh was now dying of a cancer in the neck. 
 She had been told all the knife would not avail ; and 
 she had calmly replied, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." 
 
 Bradley was often at The Cedars now, a worn, 
 subdued man, waiting to part with his betrothed in
 
 298 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 the ante-chamber of Death. A sepulchral tranquillity 
 seemed to rest upon the old mansion and its surround 
 ings a sepulchral tranquillity open to the garish day, 
 and dressed in a poor pomp of sunshine. The hospi 
 table fires were quenched. Carriage wheels still grated 
 on the approach, but the challenge of welcome was 
 hushed ; there was no gay sally and answering laughter 
 under the sheltering elms, nor gambols to make cheer 
 ful the shadows of the hemlocks. The flutter of mid 
 night merriment had risen to these hoary rafters ; but 
 now the lights were out. 
 
 Our illusions overmaster us, and men tread among 
 latent shapes of mortality as if their feet were eternal 
 on flint. So the eye sees not in the beautiful flowers 
 of the aconite a lurking poison which can paralyse the 
 heart. Perception itself is hoodwinked by hope, and 
 bidden to contemplate the possibilities of Providence 
 and prayer without resignation invokes a miracle to 
 stay dissolving nature. Hence the bedside trust of 
 friends in a final effort of skill, some potent remedy to 
 rally the sinking powers ammonia, phosphorus, be 
 it what it may even while the sick man's features 
 sharpen into the last fleeting fashion of the mortal 
 mask. But where the fate rankles in the corrupting 
 flesh where the ulcer day by day spreads corrosive, 
 searching toward the sources of vitality, and naught 
 can stop it, even the mercy of deception is denied. 
 Then fails the heart which loves. Yet solicitude, like a 
 shadow, attends on certainty it is David still stretched 
 fasting upon the earth for the sick child after the 
 prophecy of Nathan. This sense of dependence is
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 299 
 
 established for the subordination of the creature. For 
 relief from his heaviness, Bradley tried to read, but 
 there was no spell in eloquence and fancy now. He 
 sought consolation in remembrances of the past the 
 past with her, which he had thought consecrated for 
 ever to happiness; but it was no longer joyous it 
 answered him with hollow echoes, as do solitary mid 
 night streets the tread of the wayfarer. Better there 
 had never been a dawn, since there was to be no day. 
 Philosophy presented motionless lips your only stoic 
 without a heart like the Sphinx in stone, where dwelt 
 neither complaint nor comfort. He knew not the love 
 of "the First begotten of the dead, and the Prince of 
 the kings of the earth." He sought in the world of 
 Shakespeare, who of uninspired men he reverenced 
 most, instances of heroic resignation to calamity, that 
 he might lesson himself withal. There the troubled 
 resolution of Brutus was able to bear the death of 
 Portia, 
 
 " With meditating that she must die once." 
 
 But the buds of young love never yet unfolded be 
 neath the Eoman's cold and lowering sky. What, 
 he urged, were the tears which the scarcely lingering 
 Lear for sorrow dignifies like wine, and hesitates at 
 no comparison what were the tears that that " great 
 decay" shed over the dead Cordelia, to this slow dis 
 tress; to the pangs when are riven affianced hearts. 
 Even the wisdom and pathos of the greatest of poets 
 were thus measured by Bradley with a glance of the 
 mind. A sickening horror sat upon him, and he shud-
 
 800 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 dered in spirit as at an apocalypse of terror issuing 
 from the bosom of an Indian summer noon. 
 
 No portion of his suffering escaped the vigilant ten 
 derness of Lydia. As a woman in spirit a wife, she 
 accepted it as a testimony of his affection, and from 
 the amplitude of her love could have returned a keener 
 pain for every pain of his. But she beheld in it also 
 a dangerous growth of discontent tending toward a 
 defiant reprehension of the Supreme Wisdom. One 
 morning, a fair September morning, warm and still, 
 and fragrant with the sun-pressed odor of grapes, she 
 called him to her side. 
 
 "Dear heart!" she said, "let us never lose sight of 
 the Divine intention, that we should grow strong by 
 suffering." 
 
 " It has been often said." 
 
 "And often proved, dear Bradley, to salvation. 'As 
 many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.' To be so 
 chastened is to be cherished by the Spirit, and our sick 
 souls, when they humbly long for the Love and the 
 Power, are watched and ministered to by angels, as our 
 blessed Saviour was comforted from heaven after the 
 temptations of hell in the wilderness." 
 
 "I do not find the comfort, Lydia; so let us pass it, 
 and I shall endure as best I can." 
 
 "That, Bradley, is a confession of darkness; and 'If 
 the light which is in thee be darkness how great is that 
 darkness.' " 
 
 " It is true ; there is no day in me." 
 
 "Then join me in prayer, dear Bradley, that a ray
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 801 
 
 of the Divine brightness which proceedeth from Jesus 
 Christ may shine into our hearts." 
 
 "I have no power of prayer." 
 
 "Our blessed Saviour has invited us to ask; and we 
 can, if we approach Him in a spirit of penitent meek 
 ness, forgiving all men, as we desire to be forgiven and 
 favored. As we grow to be poor in heart, we grow to 
 be prayerful. 'Come unto me, all ye that labor, and 
 are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my 
 yoke upon you and learn of me ; for I am meek and 
 lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your 
 souls.' " 
 
 "If affliction like this be good, why does nature 
 agonize?" 
 
 "It is the earthy nature. These ties of time while 
 we live together here, are for a holy purpose in God's 
 economy; but in heaven our affections will probably 
 not be limited. It is a fine thought of Eichard Bax 
 ter's 'The enjoyment of His kingdom is, as the light 
 of the sun, each have the whole, and the rest never the 
 less.' And the sanctified heart, even here, should re 
 joice at the prospect of a love rising to the Highest and 
 boundless as the universe. The purified, who are con 
 genial here, will find an unspeakable rapture in that 
 emulation which embraces heaven. That we are soon 
 to be parted," and her voice trembled, "is perhaps 
 because we are assigned for higher purposes hereafter. 
 God, in his infinite and bountiful compassion, grant 
 it!" 
 
 "We should accustom ourselves, then, to meditate 
 011 the loss of of " 
 26
 
 802 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 ' The beloved wlio are ready to depart, dear Brad- 
 ley." 
 
 " With, composure nay, exultation. I know it is 
 the Christian's consolation. To me it is only a solemn 
 abstract solace, which sheds no relief. We want them 
 here we need their benign influence more than do the 
 saints above." 
 
 "That, Bradley, is a presumptuous reflection! Each 
 earnest wish, I grant, will find an argument, but the 
 strongest argument is weakness when arrayed against 
 the possibilities of life. 'How little should God hear 
 from us if we had what we would have!' Believe that 
 I feel it when I say again that, His purposes are not 
 bounded by the narrow limits of time; beyond them 
 His heavens are full of days. Our Father's providence, 
 which has numbered the very hairs of our heads, is suf 
 ficient. Remember, 'That which thou sowest is not 
 quickened except it die: So also is the resurrection of 
 the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in in- 
 corruption: It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in 
 glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power." 
 And that power implies uses; as yet concealed behind 
 the vail, but we know them to be the uses of Benefi 
 cence." 
 
 Charley Bardleigh came home from college. He was 
 really distressed, but nineteen and a Freshman. He 
 brought studious intentions and several text-books, 
 which were usually shelved together, giving place to a 
 novel or the last magazine. Most of the time he was 
 out-doors, looking after the education of a pair of
 
 AMERICAN LITE AT HOME. 303 
 
 young dogs, or taking apart, polishing and oiling his 
 guns, in a quiet way. Yet Charley Bardleigh was 
 really distressed; kept from social gatherings, and 
 even declined to pull a trigger on the game which 
 abounded alluringly. Now and then, the judge's 
 wonted hilarity would show itself for a moment, like a 
 spark in tinder, and go out in the sombreness that pre 
 vailed. There was a cast of womanly gentleness in his 
 bearing. 
 
 The time was come for Bradley to depart. She had 
 fallen into a slumber with her hand clasped on his. 
 The wings seemed folded up within her. He would 
 have gently disengaged her hand without awaking her. 
 Conscious of the attempt, she, smiling, opened her 
 eyes. 
 
 So serenely lay The Cedars landscape around him as 
 he rode away, so peaceful was it in a world of clamor 
 and care, that his heart grew passionless and reveren 
 tial, and he paused to contemplate it. The high ground 
 rose in terraces, planted with fruit trees, from a broad 
 margin of smooth-rolled meadow which stretched along 
 a creek, the further boundary of which was a sloping 
 hill-side heavily wooded. An array of trees that would 
 have gladdened the critical eye of Evelyn flanked the 
 mansion, among which some noble weeping willows, 
 their tresses tinged with yello.w, were conspicuous. 
 All was repose; only a few sheep were to be seen nib 
 bling in the nearer pasture. The afternoon sun cast 
 the shadows of the orchard forward on the upland, and 
 each growth seemed bending to reach its unreal coun 
 terpart in silent eagerness.
 
 304 
 
 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXVI. 
 
 With these drugs will I, this very day, compound the true orvietan, 
 that noble medicine which is so seldom found genuine and effective 
 within these realms of Europe. KENILWORTH. 
 
 >ARMER GREGG had, as lie styled it, 
 "an attack of the bilious." Driving in 
 his ox-cart to a schooner which was 
 receiving grain and moored a quarter 
 of a cable's length from the shore, by a 
 freak or fright of the cattle he was shot 
 into the river. Farmer Gregg had been 
 taking calomel, and was lifted out of his 
 involuntary bath an alarmed man, for 
 he cherished a belief in the damao-inw 
 
 o o 
 
 result of cold upon the use of that remedy. His case, 
 however, might not be hopeless, and the fame of Mrs. 
 Davenport's curative skill had reached him. Accord 
 ingly he put on his "bettermost" suit, including a well- 
 preserved bell-crown hat of great antiquity, mounted 
 his sleek mare Dolly, and fared forth to consult the 
 oracle of healing. Thither let us accompany him, and 
 keep the worthy matron's pharmacopeia at a salutary 
 distance. 
 
 The old clerk is leaning on a fence and considering 
 his melons in a rapture of admiration. Farmer Gregg's,
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 305 
 
 "How d' do, neighbor?" as he ambles up on the grass, 
 startles him as would a congreve rocket, and after 
 looking foolish a moment he coughs with dignity and 
 returns the address somewhat as if it were an accusa 
 tion. 
 
 "Reether a fine lot, neighbor I've seen 'em grow 
 bigger though, in the shade of tater vines." 
 
 "/never saw larger in the city markets." 
 
 "Haint? Well, that beats! Why, I've tuk 'em 
 there nearly twice the size. But I'll own that was an 
 uncommon season. Sut's good on the young vines to 
 keep off the bugs. I feel dreadful strange, internal." 
 
 "Sick at the stomach?" 
 
 "No; I reether think its in my bones." 
 
 "Appears to me you need something searching I 
 dare say mother can tell." 
 
 " Why, that's jist what I'm after. Beckey, she tried 
 to persuade me not, but to take some hot barm tea 
 instead; but I reckon there aint much grip in that. 
 Your mother, neighbor, is getting among folks an 
 awful reputation for doctorin'." 
 
 Frank accosted the farmer cheerfully, as the latter 
 deposited his diseased bones in a melancholy manner 
 on an end of the settee. 
 
 "Tired, Uncle Gregg?" 
 
 "No, little one; I don't feel bright like I haint 
 worked off enough bile, I expect." 
 
 This was a subterfuge; the ailing agriculturist had 
 
 determined to unbosom himself only to his medical 
 
 adviser. Mrs. Davenport shortly came in from her 
 
 clear-starching. She produced an adequate remedy 
 
 26*
 
 806 THE nonToisrs; OB 
 
 from the receipt of a celebrated German woman, whose 
 two immediate male ancestors were physicians of great 
 repute, the elder having been the seventh son of a 
 seventh son, and imprisoned in a castle as a wizard. 
 The farmer received it with gratitude, and the respect 
 due to a medicine so assured, without caring to inquire 
 whether it was counteractive or preventive. As he 
 rose to leave, he suddenly bethought himself of a pur 
 pose, and plunging his hand into the pocket of his 
 coat drew forth a cucumber which was oddly curled 
 upon itself. 
 
 "It's a cur'osity for you, Frank. I've watched it 
 grow a purpose it's as perfect as a twist in a pig's 
 tail. Sich are the wonders of nature ! And that puts 
 me in mind of something curious I found the other 
 day, and meant to show Miss Emily." 
 
 "She is in the city now, but we expect her here the 
 last of the week Mr. Horton insists she shall come for 
 her health," remarked Davenport. 
 
 " Wife thinks it may turn out kind of supernatural, 
 but I say it was the wind." 
 
 "What was it/ neighbor Gregg?" inquired the old 
 lady. 
 
 " O ! I haint told. Well, I took my corn to a new 
 mill to get ground for to my mind, neighbor, Job 
 Smelt is a raising this year a leetle too much pork. It 
 was a good stretch further, but I wagoned quite a jag. 
 Coming back, in the road by the hospital for crazy 
 folks, I seen what I took to be a letter, and 'lighted 
 and picked it up. Then I seen it was only a letter
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 307 
 
 cover; but I read the hand- write, and it was Miss 
 Emily's name in full. So I kept it, and here it is." 
 
 "That's almost as strange as a circumstance which 
 happened to aunt Betsy Harper's daughter, only in 
 stead of thinking it supernatural, she called it roman 
 tic; and so it turned out. Let me see was it the 
 great strawberry year, or not that was in thirty-five, 
 warn't it, neighbor ? No matter. Aunt Betsy " 
 
 And here the old lady's reminiscence was interrupted 
 by an exclamation of surprise from Frank, to whom 
 in turn Davenport had handed the envelope: 
 
 "It is Jane's writing I know it welll"
 
 308 
 
 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXVII. 
 
 You have a nimble wit: I think 'twas made of Atalanta's heels. Will 
 you .sit down with me? and we two will rail against our mistress the 
 world, aud all our misery. JAQUES. 
 
 ITH the locomotive rapidity of 
 thought, we pass from the rural 
 hearthstone to a city mansion. 
 Standing in the centre of spacious 
 parlors flooded with light from 
 chandelier and candelabrum, Doc 
 tor Mellen and his fair daughter 
 are receiving their guests. Among 
 these are Bloker and Max Hey- 
 hurst. Doctor Pledget, witty and 
 debonair, would perhaps be present but for the shadow 
 of a dead dog which separates him from his scientific 
 brother. 
 
 It was a butcher's terrier suspected of being mad, 
 which Mellen had bought to vindicate his theory of 
 the harmlessness of rabies. His servants, who, in con 
 sideration of high wages, had put up with a great deal 
 in the way of snakes, fled in dismay; but the doctor in 
 spite of the exodus persevered with unruffled temper 
 toward the conversion or confutation of Pledget. It
 
 AMERICAN" LIFE AT HOME. 309 
 
 was at the very height of a hot dispute for and against 
 the existence of hydrophobia, between the two gentle 
 men, that the terrier, which had been fastened with 
 unphilosophic carelessness to a rope, escaped from its 
 tether and burst into the apartment where the con 
 troversy was proceeding. Doctor Pledget grasped a 
 poker and skirmished with the intruder, while Doctor 
 Mellen called loudly upon him to desist. But, at 
 length pressed into an angle of the room where further 
 retreat was impossible, in sheer desperation -with one 
 blow he fairly finished the dog and the experiment 
 together; and at the same unlucky moment the friend 
 ship of the disputants terminated. 
 
 The philosophical occupations of Doctor Mellen kept 
 him much apart from his family. He made minute 
 and wonderful experiments on the hairs of various 
 animals, dividing and sub-dividing them, and pressing 
 them to the utmost verge of microscopic scrutiny. 
 When he had digested his labors and discoveries in 
 this important department of natural science into a 
 fat quarto, and printed it, he turned his attention to 
 hides. He dissected them he macerated them he 
 tested them with acids. On a supply of biscuits and 
 hard boiled eggs in his laboratory he would convert 
 the integument of a crocodile, as hard as the heart of 
 Pharaoh, into a p^ltaceous analysis. Even the skin of 
 the armadillo defied in vain his researches. Outside 
 of his peculiar province he was an urbane and unas 
 suming man; but in it he thundered his tenets in the 
 journals of learned societies and ponderous pamphlets. 
 These were answered by other Mellcns, in other parts
 
 310 THE HOKTONS; OR 
 
 of the world, with dogmatical speculations on the other 
 side; which the doctor, in turn, derided in sinewy 
 English as very vagaries of fancy. He had been 
 scathed by the explosion of retorts, and rescued in a 
 state of suspended animation from unwholesome gases 
 but he was in harness still, patiently investigating, and 
 as good as ever for his part in the clash of controversy. 
 
 The ladies rustle -and trail their graceful finery in 
 the promenade. The talk is humorous; a little censo 
 rious, perhaps, if the frequent breaks of answering 
 laughter which sometimes seem derisory are its index. 
 It rises and falls with the performance and cessation of 
 the opera airs. By-and-by, when night and morning 
 are at meeting, there will be a supper creditable to 
 gastronomic art ; nothing lean and tough disguised in 
 condiments, you may believe, but veritable oysters, 
 quails, pate de foi gras, ices, and fruit. When the 
 blithe milkmaids are out in the grey morning with 
 their pails, these gentle bosoms will be fluctuating, to 
 the time of sounds more or less melodious, toward the 
 half way of their rest. 
 
 "So you think, Miss Emily Horton, the German was 
 right who said, 'American women resemble tulips, in 
 whom only the head delights?'" asked Caroline. 
 
 "No; but not altogether wrong. You must allow, 
 too, for the point of the simile." 
 
 "And you, Mr. Hey hurst as an artist?" 
 
 "A beer-guzzling libeller, on my conviction as an 
 artist and a man." 
 
 "Talking of heads Hey hurst! I .wish you would 
 borrow those Peruvian skulls you spoke of; I want
 
 AMEKICAN LIFE AT HOME. 311 
 
 their angles for a paper in confutation of Occiput's 
 March-hare theory. The traveller's offence is, I sus 
 pect, that he declares that our ladies are running down 
 in a regular muscular atrophy," said Doctor Mellen. 
 
 "It may be safely averred that, of American women 
 not obliged to labor not two in ten take the bodily 
 exercise which nature requires," persisted Emily. 
 
 " I don't know, Miss Horton : Nature is an indulgent 
 parent," observed Max. 
 
 "She seems to be; but disobeyed, presses a little 
 here and a little there, and punishes in generations. A 
 woman in the cultivation of her powers, physical as 
 well as moral, should consider that she is, like the old 
 Greek, planting for posterity. Do we walk ?" 
 
 "No; but glide, like goddesses," responded Max, 
 gravely. 
 
 "Fantastic compliments apart, Mr. Heyhurst, you 
 know how many of our countrywomen languish into 
 pale, expressionless beings, with chests that court con 
 sumption. The influence of the father who should be 
 in all vital matters the household's head, accountable to 
 his Head in heaven is too little felt in the education 
 of his daughters; and in a Christian this neglect is a 
 delinquency. To take a more restricted view, there is 
 too much work which may be called by a general title 
 time- waste, done by young women who are just well 
 enough off to live without labor, and who pass their 
 spiritless lives, when employed, chiefly in knitting cot 
 ton thread for glove-money. This frifling business, 
 when not pursued for a livelihood, while it stimulates 
 vanity, ensures a neglect of the cultivation of the heart,
 
 312 THE HORTOtfS; OB 
 
 the head, and the body. The home industry, that 
 tasteful tidiness so necessary to the comfort of a civil 
 ized family, is slighted, because the young ladies have 
 orders for thread collars from the shops. The confu 
 sion of the house is never mended, nor is it possible to 
 shut all' the dirt out of sight, and spiders spin blissfully 
 on the very looking-glasses. Besides, this idle occupa 
 tion is a wrong to the poor who must work for bread, 
 and the virtuous and incapable destitute the children 
 of our common Father who have a claim upon the 
 hand-charity of their sisters that are blessed with 
 leisure." 
 
 "Tilt your needles against every other woman's 'tis 
 your vocation, coz! Work moral uglinesses into their 
 absurd embroidery, and exigences into their edging. 
 I am of Rosalind's uncle's mind touching the evils to 
 be laid to the charge of women: 'There were none 
 principal : they were all like one another, as half-pence 
 are; every one fault seeming monstrous, till his fellow- 
 fault came to match it.' Nay, never talk to me; I am 
 all tears!" 
 
 " ' Well, this is the forest of Arden' in that vein at 
 least." 
 
 "Will you recommend punching the dummy, Emily, 
 to our suffering sex ? You never saw a lady punch the 
 dummy, Mr. Bloker?" 
 
 "Never had that felicity." 
 
 "I was born a dummy, if any dear creature wants 
 exercise," said Max. 
 
 "It belongs to a calisthenics of our own. The 
 dummy is a canvaa case stuffed with straw, and sus-
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 313 
 
 pended from a beam in a clear space. The operators 
 are Emily and I, who stand opposite to each other, and 
 use our arms with a purpose upon the swinging sack." 
 
 "A pilfering from the prize ring, and a movable of 
 Mr. Benjamin Caunt's!" exclaimed Hey hurst. 
 
 "Do you know it is actually thought vulgar in many 
 neighborhoods for ladies to walk by the mile? And I 
 have seen American women, pretending to cultivation 
 and rich in luxurious surroundings, who considered it 
 gross and unrefined to confess a good appetite," said 
 Emily. 
 
 "What do the delicate darlings feed on macaroons 
 moistened in maraschino?" asked Caroline. 
 
 " When I write a romance I shall make the heroine 
 eat apple-dumplings, even if I am compelled in the end 
 to use poison and finish her with an Italianized straw 
 berry," said Max. 
 
 " To change the subject Mr. Heyhurst, have you 
 seen Crome Green's famous picture?" asked Doctor 
 Mellen. 
 
 "Yes; my eyes have partaken of the general glad 
 ness." 
 
 "What is it?" inquired Bloker. 
 
 "Ah! there you pose me. He calls it, 'The Coming 
 Man.' I suppose it is." 
 
 "Coming from where?" asked Bloker. 
 
 "And for what?" added Caroline. 
 
 " The Man of the Future, seen through the Mist of 
 the Present." 
 
 "It can hardly be a fog worth speaking of which 
 permits him to be seen," said Bloker. 
 27
 
 814 THE HOETONS; OR 
 
 "He is pot distinctly visible, which, if it hurts the 
 prophecy, hejps the imaginative spectator to suppose a 
 grand conception. For my part, it looked so like one 
 of my late landlords, who did me the honor to die my 
 creditor, that I half suspected his ghost inspired the* 
 design." 
 
 "And you didn't feel reproved?" asked Caroline. 
 
 "In the very mild effects of the ideal I saw no re 
 proach; of course it would have been superfluous 
 politeness in me to reproach myself. If the picture is 
 at all typical of the time to come, we may expect the 
 abolition of duns." 
 
 "I object to the anatomy of the figure," remarked 
 Doctor Mellon. 
 
 "I object to the mist," said Max: Who can paint a 
 mist?" 
 
 "He who aspires to, had better try his 'prentice 
 hand' at a dew drop on a rose leaf. Mist, itself, is a 
 painter to the man of fancy," said Emily. 
 
 "It is; not understanding by the term your dirty 
 English fog. The true creative mist is not city- 
 begotten, neither does it canopy the level landscape, 
 but it dwells in the pure air of the mountains." 
 
 " Then you have seen some of its finest works," said 
 Emily. 
 
 "I have; in a "Californian winter. Sometimes, at 
 night, I would steal apart from the glare and noises of 
 the camp, and, climbing an overhanging hill, listen to 
 the surging of the troubled water that rolled beneath, a 
 solitary sound deepening the silence, and gaze upon the 
 shifting imagery of mist, that rose and sunk along the
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 315 
 
 mountain sides. Rose and sunk in shapes fair and fan 
 tastic alternating contrasting mingling; the grace 
 ful curves of classic sculpture; domes richly robust; 
 the fretted spire, lifting itself in air; arch; temple; 
 tower; cataracts, converted in their fall to stony immo 
 bility , art-created forms of past and present ; nature's 
 wildest aspects; grey, all grey and ghastly, in the 
 vapor-filtered moonlight." 
 
 " To turn from the palette to the lyre they say that 
 Funeman's last volume has taken," said Emily. 
 
 "So! Is Funeman among the poets?" inquired Max, 
 in a tone of solicitude. 
 
 "It is the muse's livery, I believe," replied Emily, as 
 she handed Heyhurst a book from the table beside her, 
 as gaudy as a Dutch tulip. 
 
 "Urn a portrait. Funeman risible Thalia couch 
 ing at his mouth. Hear this 'The Catfish Crier's 
 Complaint.' " 
 
 "Sorry to object, but don't read it!" exclaimed 
 Doctor Mellen, alarmed by a preparatory gurgle in 
 Max's throat. 
 
 "I will not; I wouldn't distress anybody. Benevo 
 lence was my foster-brother." 
 
 " To ascend from Funeman to the gods When shall 
 we have a song that will leap to the national heart, and 
 make it throb applause in the spirit of a higher than a 
 bloodletting heroism. A martyred missionary is. far 
 more deserving of song than was Sir John Moore. In 
 this matter, poets lackey to the brutal adulation of the 
 mob, and the partiality of Laura Matilda for a uni-
 
 316 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 form. It is not the immortal in them which sings" 
 said Emily. 
 
 "Is not Campbell's 'Mariners of England' potent tc 
 excite the circulation ?" asked Max. 
 
 "Yes, as a bottle of brandy is, unhealthily. Every 
 drunken Englishman is a sea-king, and fights Trafalgar 
 over again. Campbell was a true poet, and wrote 
 better than that. The Farewell to Kemble, though the 
 theme was not high, is much better poetry." 
 
 "Campbell is certainly compact, polished, and a 
 poet. So you are a non-resistant, Miss Horton?" said 
 Max. 
 
 "The more christianized a man becomes, the nearer 
 he approaches the posture of non-resistance. Non- 
 resistance is the spirit of the gospel of our Lord. All 
 men recognize this when they are revolted at preacher- 
 fighters. Everybody feels that a bellicose bishop is not 
 a servant of Jesus Christ. Yet why should a layman 
 not be as perfect as a bishop, according to his measure 
 of light? Now, all divine light is in its nature the 
 same, whether it be in a blacksmith or a bishop. We 
 are commanded, in the Gospel, to be perfect, even as 
 our Father in heaven is perfect. What, then, are the 
 perfections of War? Cupidity, revenge, bad-faith, out 
 rages upon the person, spoliation of industry, ravage of 
 nature, desecration of sanctities, destruction of life, 
 maimings, political corruption, private malice, fraud in 
 business, impurity of thought, forgetfulness of Goa, 
 pauperism, intemperance, and arrogance." 
 
 "I believe that one man may rightfully slay another 
 ill strict self-defence when driven to the last wall, or for
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 817 
 
 the protection of the virtue of a woman," said Hey- 
 hurst. 
 
 "I read the 'Corsai'r' when I was a supercargo, and I 
 thought it very good," observed Bloker. 
 
 "What did Byron want with that 'young earth 
 quake' in his Alpine thunder-storm by night; and 
 what is a 'young earthquake,' since one full grown 
 only lives a few seconds? But I'm no poet," said 
 Doctor Mellen. 
 
 "It is a patch on the face of beauty. The poet who 
 could make the hues of an Italian sunset instil the 
 deep-dyed Brenta with 
 
 'The odorous purple of a new-born rose;' 
 
 who could show us the tide-tossed hand of Selim 
 menacing the shrieking sea-birds; was rich -enough in 
 imagery to disdain even fresh-littered convulsions of 
 nature," said iley hurst. 
 
 "As there are shallows in the sea, so the greatest 
 poet will sometimes shoal upon a rigorous criticism," 
 said Emily. 
 
 "Indisputable: and a lax criticism too. With what 
 avidity Shakespeare in his noble flights swoops some 
 poor quibble. Laertes, after the pathetic and pic 
 turesque description by the queen of the drowning 01 , 
 Ophelia, forbids his tears because his sister has , too 
 much water Juliet, just after the vehement soliloquy 
 in which she adjures the night, misled by the nurse's 
 ambiguous reference to Tybalt and thinking Romeo 
 slain, plays fantastic variations on the letter I," said 
 Hey hurst. 
 27*
 
 318 THE HOETONS; OB 
 
 "A little poetry in long intervals, like mushrooms 
 once or twice a year, is well enough; but what, after 
 all, does it for us?" asked Bloker. 
 
 "Does it for us!" replied Heyhurst; "it makes pro 
 gress in society possible, by inspiring us with an ambi 
 tion to reach in life the ideal excellence which it pre 
 sents. The spirit of poetry enters into patriotism it 
 is the source of exalted actions and characters. Bene 
 volence is full of the afflatus. In poetry the common 
 is forgotten by the highest poetry the sensual is 
 depressed. It ennobles the pursuits and objects of 
 every-day life, by investing them with the attrac 
 tions of fancy and the refinement of taste*. It height 
 ens pleasure, and diminishes pain. It connects the 
 ages, and makes the heroism of the past tribu 
 tary to that of yesterday. Florence Nightingale is 
 a nobler object of rational Christian contemplation 
 than 
 
 'Divine Scamander purpled yet with blood.' 
 
 It is the expression of the natural piety of the human 
 heart from the dawn of history. It is Magnanimity 
 and Devotion love of man, and praise to God. The 
 Christian Poet is a new man who lays his ear close to 
 the heart of nature, and hears in its rhythm the voice 
 of the Almighty. And the pagan conqueror who 
 ravened an empire from Darius, respected the house 
 of Pindar." 
 
 "Some of our best prose has been written by our 
 best poets," said Emily. 
 
 "It has. Milton's controversies and Dry den's pre-
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 319 
 
 faces are models of English, and Cowper is never more 
 graceful and tender than in his Letters." 
 
 "Speaking of letters" said Doctor Mellen, address 
 ing Max, "I received one the other day from Professor 
 Berzelius Eetort, in which he undertakes to controvert 
 my theory of metallic bases. I am getting up a reply, 
 which I shall publish. Some afternoon, when you 
 have leisure and inclination, I will allow you to read 
 both." 
 
 A dozen talking and laughing groups have been 
 formed and dissolved, and Bloker and Emily Horton 
 are together in the conservatory. At the further end 
 a lady with the folds of her fragile dress caught in a 
 lemon tree i being extricated by her gallant. These 
 pass out, and the former are left alone. 
 
 "And you hear nothing of Jane Warner?" 
 
 "Not a syllable. I have prosecuted a diligent search 
 in all probable quarters hereabout, including the insane 
 asylums, public and private. To the latter I have been 
 in person;" and Bloker enumerated them. 
 
 "Then we are baffled still What do you pro 
 pose?" 
 
 "To search on. My heart is in the inquiry may I 
 not say sympathetically and hopefully with another's?" 
 Bloker looked his meaning at Emily, and found her 
 regarding him with a countenance which showed no 
 displeasure. 
 
 "I wish, my dear Miss Horton, you could understand 
 my entire willingness to walk the world at your com 
 mand with benefactions 1"
 
 320 THE HOETONS; OR 
 
 % 
 
 "O, of course, I can't understand it," replied Emily, 
 pleasantly and in some confusion. 
 
 "You are not above learning to, I hope say you 
 are not averse to learn!" 
 
 "Sure, good instructions are alms-deeds They are 
 coming here from the supper-room; let us walk."
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 321 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 
 
 I sometimes wonder at the incredulity of good people when they hear 
 of unusual outrages for gain; for if they would but consult their own 
 experience they would perceive gold to be the most persuasive of ora 
 tors. 
 
 PON the return of Emily to Daven 
 port's she was shown the envelope 
 which was found by Farmer Gregg, 
 and made acquainted with its his 
 tory. Of oourse it occasioned much 
 speculation. The superscription had 
 been confidently identified by Frank 
 as the writing of his sister. He was 
 a sharp observer, accustomecLto her 
 penmanship, and not accustomed to 
 that of other people. This, in Farmer Gregg's view, 
 was not conclusive as to the correctness of the lad's 
 opinion; for, he observed, he had "known droviers 
 recollect a beast's make a year with only seeing it 
 once, and dealing all the time, when its owner couldn't 
 have picked it out of "a lot." Concerning the intended 
 destination of the letter, however, there could be no 
 question ; the address was plain enough. 
 
 While the perplexity was being discussed, Bradley 
 and George Dolman drove up. Dolman was a lawyer,
 
 322 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 and the matter was at once submitted to him as a per 
 son trained to scrutinize. The particulars of the 
 inquiry Bloker had directed were told, and the worthy 
 Gregg assumed his wisest look, satisfied that in the 
 flood of light expected all objections to his cher 
 ished hypothesis of the wind must disappear. 
 
 "If we grant the writing to be identified as this 
 lady's, whence came it where it was found? Now, 
 there is no blemish nor inaccuracy in the superscrip 
 tion itself to account for its rejection by the writer: 
 that is the first and a slight consideration. Was the 
 envelope discarded by the writer, that she (supposing 
 the sex) might add an afterthought to the letter? I 
 think not ; for, notice how cleanly it has been cut ; yet 
 the postage stamp is still upon it is it likely a person, 
 with a knife at hand, j^o careful in the one respect, 
 would have been careless in the other? The enve 
 lope has not gone through the post-office, for it is 
 without mark. But see, here is something which has 
 escaped your attention, or to which you have attached 
 no importance some apothecary's characters in pencil. 
 It seems to be a hasty calculation f3vi==3ii ss=m 
 67-4841. 
 
 "The numerals don't quite multiply to the result. 
 Perhaps the double s makes it what does it stand 
 for?" said Bradley. 
 
 " I don't know an abbreviation, I suppose solution 
 of scorpions, may be and it don't matter for the rea 
 soning. This pencilling was not the person's who wrote 
 the address; nor was it done before the address was 
 written, for a part of it is under the cut. Again, it is
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 323 
 
 probable it was not done remote from the spot where 
 the envelope was found, for that is fresh and clean, and 
 as the country has been wet of late it could not have 
 been blown far xinsoiled. Nor, for the same reason, 
 can it have been long exposed to the weather." 
 
 The complacency in the visage of Farmer Gregg 
 abated to a dead calm. 
 
 "Apothecaries are not numerous in the country," 
 continued Dolman, "and, doubtless, drugs are com 
 pounded at the asyluln near which this envelope was 
 found. There was no evidence of the missing girl's 
 insanity, you tell me, up to the time of her disappear 
 ance. All that follows, then, is supposition, based on 
 her melancholy. Her relatives are poor, and unable 
 to pay the charges of a private asylum ?" 
 
 "Yes," said Emily. 
 
 "She had no prospective interest in property?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "And there is no reason to suppose that she has 
 been spirited away for a sinister purpose by an ac 
 quaintance? I believe you spoke of her appearance 
 as being sprightly and pleasing." 
 
 "Not that I know. And I feel very sure that she 
 will not be found at this place, for I recollect Mr. 
 Bloker mentioned Norey's as one of the asylums he 
 had visited in person, fruitlessly." 
 
 "How long since?" 
 
 "Within a fortnight." 
 
 "That fact furnishes a presumption against my 
 inference. Still, she may have been confined there
 
 824 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 since his visit; removed, we will say, from some other 
 place assuming that she is restrained." 
 
 "You seem to think it's not certain she's shut up 
 somewhere, sir," remarked Mrs. Davenport, a little 
 disappointed. 
 
 " The evidence of it is circumstantial, and not at all 
 conclusive." 
 
 "Well do I remember, when a girl, being at cousin 
 Debby Shute's in harvest, and Paul Gurney, who had 
 been chained mad in the county-house eighteen years, 
 breaking out. He got into the woods, and they didn't 
 capture him for nearly a week. They said he had an 
 axe, and we women folks was dreadful scared, and 
 even the men went to bed with their scythes. It was 
 the year of Mungo Brown's prophecy of the end of 
 the world. One of the Boyles drowned herself in a 
 well the day he set, which was the sixteenth of 
 August, and a terrible thunder-storm," said the old 
 lady. She was about to proceed with her reminis 
 cences, when, turning her head, she perceived Frank's 
 distress, and paused to comfort him aside. 
 
 "Can Miss "Warner have been in possession of a 
 secret which would criminate some one?" speculated 
 Dolman. 
 
 "Are people smuggled into mad-houses for that 
 reason is such an atrocity possible?" asked the old 
 clerk, with vehemence. 
 
 "Possible, sir! Yes; and of not unfrequent occur 
 rence. It is only a rarer shape of the advantage which 
 the gold of vice gets over honest, unfriended poverty.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 325 
 
 Some have been kept so imprisoned with the means 
 of which they had been previously defrauded." 
 
 "Why is it not made impossible?" urged Davenport. 
 
 "It will be when our legislators are chiefly virtuous 
 men, and vigilant not this alone, but a score of equal 
 evils. But there is no bribe in this sort of legislation," 
 replied Dolman. 
 
 "It were best to consult with Mr. Bloker." said 
 Emily. 
 
 "I confess I never had any liking for Bloker," said 
 Bradley; "to my thinking, the man has ambiguous 
 ways. Once, at least, he was not this lady's friend, and 
 I do not entirely credit his sudden conversion." 
 
 "That was long ago," replied Emily; "and I have 
 reason to believe the letter which irritated him was 
 unnecessarily caustic. But upon this inquiry I know 
 he has entered zealously, and prosecuted it with not a 
 little expenditure of money. And what ground have 
 you for intimating that he is unprincipled?" 
 
 "In part, your own distrust of him heretofore, which 
 seems to have departed. 
 
 " So there was a letter about what ?" asked Dolman. 
 
 The incident of the rejection of Bloker's gratuity 
 after the death of Captain Warner was recounted, 
 together with circumstances that indicated his anger 
 thereat; and Dolman continued: 
 
 " This may, or may not justify us in arraigning Mr. 
 Bloker's integrity; I know too little of the man's prin 
 ciples and temper $o determine. But it is a maxim of 
 games to take the trick if you doubt. This gentleman, 
 1 think, should be left out in the initial proceedings; in 
 28
 
 326 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 short, until we can see further if Miss Horton will 
 pardon a seeming want of gallantry in a lawyer's sug 
 gestion." 
 
 "I agree with you. What is your plan of action?" 
 asked Bradley. 
 
 "I propose to associate Heyhurst with us; we will 
 then go together to the asylum, and in a confident 
 manner request an interview with Miss Warner. This 
 certainly will not be granted, but we may learn some 
 thing by the character of the reply and our own obser 
 vation. We will then set a watch on the premises if 
 you consent, Heyhurst and yourself while Mr. Gregg, 
 Frank, and I go before one of the judges and procure a 
 habeas corpus." 
 
 "I approve of the arrangement, for I think a bold 
 push with precaution better than tedious strategy. 
 Will it suit your convenience, Mr. Gregg?" 
 
 "There's nothing to hinder that can't be put off 
 and I'm not sorry it has turned out sort of supernatu 
 ral, but I won't let on to mother." 
 
 "Well, to-morrow, then, we will proceed," said Dol 
 man.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 327 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXIX. 
 
 "It is no affair of ours!" is a common colloquial disclaimer with two 
 very different classes of people the selfishly bad, and the timidly good. 
 Every wanton injury to the soul, the mind, or the body of a fellow-being, 
 no matter how mean is his estate, is the "affair" of the virtuous, whe 
 ther they be considered as men, as Christians, or as citizens. 
 
 HE morning and George Dolman were 
 recognized together by Max Hey- 
 hurst, who was awaked by the en 
 trance of the latter. 
 "Hallo! What's up? 
 
 'What misadventure is so early up, 
 That calls our person from our morning rest?'" 
 
 "Come! off of Shakespeare's stilts 
 and out of bed; for you are to play 
 the knight-errant this day in the res 
 cue of an imprisoned lady." 
 
 "Then you must lend me a clean shirt. The lajin- 
 dress don't bring my wash till this afternoon, and I 
 thought meantime to keep in the cage, and give a little 
 tone to the head of Darius the Persian." 
 "If you don't joke, Max, I'll send for one." 
 "Joke! You must suppose me lavish of linen a 
 very Dives. I have been to two evening crushes this 
 week, and have nothing presentable but a paper dicky.
 
 328 THE HOPvTOXS; Oft 
 
 I cannot consent to sally forth for the benefit of dis 
 tressed beauty in a paper dicky Don Quixote 
 wouldn't have done it." 
 
 They took up Bradley, and drove to Henry Daven 
 port's. At the appearance of Farmer Gregg, armed 
 with a stout, warty stick, and with his unique beaver 
 worn back in a resolute way, Max inquired of Dolman 
 in a whisper, "If that was his idea of the Bayards and 
 the Herberts, or whether his friend was a head-keeper 
 out of employment?" Mrs. Davenport had Frank 
 dressed and brushed, and displayed in her movements 
 a sense of unusual responsibility. Emily was ready to 
 cooperate, but not expectant of success. Soon the four 
 explorers were off, and in due time they arrived at 
 Norey's. 
 
 The summons of the party at the portal was answer 
 ed by the Covenanter. 
 
 "We have called to see Miss Jane Warner," began 
 Dolman, with matter-of-fact deliberation. 
 
 The man brought his hard grey eye steadily to bear 
 on the inquirer for nearly a minute, and then re 
 sponded, 
 
 "Well, do you see her?" 
 
 If Dolman had been looking into a telescope for a 
 particular star, his tight-tied answerer could not have 
 exhibited less personal feeling. 
 
 "O, that won't succeed! we know she's here," per 
 sisted Dolman. 
 
 "Give me leave!" said a person broad-set in figure 
 and with a face of inflexible composure, as he advanced 
 and elbowed aside the official. " I have remarked your
 
 AMERICAN" LIFE AT HOME. 329 
 
 communication, sir Have you anything more to im 
 part?" 
 
 "That as it may be when I see the lady," replied 
 Dolman, decisively. 
 
 "If lam so fortunate as to understand your reply, it 
 is tantamount to a negative. Mr. Angus Norey, there 
 fore, has the honor to wish you a good-morning!" and 
 bowing, he shut the gate. 
 
 Upon this repulse, Max and Bradley were posted to 
 watch the house, and the others repaired to the old 
 clerk's for Frank, with whom they proceeded to the 
 city. They found the judge at chambers, and Dolman 
 made application in form for a habeas corpus, which 
 was granted, and made returnable the following day. 
 Mr. Angus Norey then appeared, and declared under 
 oath that he had control of the person of Jane Warner ; 
 that she had been regularly committed to his care by 
 her nearest adult relative, after an examination certified 
 by Doctor Conium ; and that her present condition was 
 such it would be hazardous to produce her. In these 
 cases the oath is based upon the professional opinion of 
 the private mad-house doctor, and if the professional 
 opinion of a conscientious physician does not usually 
 belong to pure mathematics, it may be supposed to 
 possess a great scope of flexibility. So Norey put in a 
 medical affidavit in attestation of his account. 
 
 Next to the clerical, medicine, though men ungrate 
 fully grudge its practitioners both their gold and their 
 applause, is the mosi humane and honorable of the pro 
 fessions. There need be no falsehood in it. It has 
 given philanthropy to suffering, genius to literature, 
 28*
 
 THE HOUTONS: OR 
 
 and progress to science. If benefactions ennoble, then 
 are its ministers, from Saint Luke to Jenner, the heroes 
 of history. It has let the light of God's day into the 
 poor man's habitation, and driven pestilence from the 
 mansions of the rich ; every ship which sails the ocean 
 carries its benignity ; it has hushed the shrieks of the 
 operating-table; it has lengthened human life in cities, 
 and made it worth the lengthening; it has taught that 
 a physical education is necessary for the future parents 
 of the race; it daily sets ten thousand noble examples 
 of disinterested patience in the performance of duty; 
 its offices are often made subservient to the cure of 
 souls, cooperatively with the sacred ministrations of 
 Christ's priesthood; while it strengthens endurance 
 with sympathy, it scatters broadcast the amenities ; it 
 turns from its beaten ways to laugh with Eabelais, to 
 listen to the muse of Schiller, and rejoice in the genial 
 pleasantry of Holmes. But, notwithstanding, if an 
 accomplished, dissembling, replete and quintessential 
 villain be required, physic can produce him! 
 
 To old Justice Fumbleback, Norey's return to the 
 writ, fortified as it was, would have been satisfactory, 
 and the attempt to liberate Jane Warner defeated. 
 According to the rotation of the court Fumbleback 
 would have heard the case, but he was gouty, and 
 opportunely subjected to a course of colchicum and 
 confinement. Ironbeak represented him, a wakeful 
 magistrate, who was crustier than the old port which 
 he liked, because it was drank by the Templars. Two 
 characteristics of Justice Ironbeak were favorable fbi 
 the applicants ; there was a touch of Timon under his
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 331 
 
 ermine which made him habitually suspicious of arti 
 fice, and he was very sensible to the appeals of dis 
 tressed childhood. The solicitous, imploring look of the 
 young invalid, aroused in him a personal interest in the 
 proceedings. So he took the trail of the obdurate 
 Norey and kept it with a bloodhound's pertinacity, 
 until, after questions and cross-questions, he ventured 
 to conclude that the woman's infirmities of neither 
 mind nor body would be aggravated by her appearance 
 before him, which he imperatively directed. 
 
 And on the following day she was produced, when 
 Mr. Angus Norey declared, that he had been instructed 
 to no longer prefer a claim to her custody. It is pro 
 bable they who stood behind him, Bloker in chief, con 
 sidered that the hunt was growing too loud; and, 
 doubtless, Doctor Conium desired no conspicuity in the 
 matter. That Norey himself wanted assurance to brow 
 beat the acutest scrutiny, or to face a tumult of indig 
 nation, will not be supposed by any one acquainted 
 with the small but pestilent class to which he be 
 longed. 
 
 It is useless to enlarge on the extravagant joy of 
 Frank as he rode back to Henry Davenport's with his 
 flister beside him, free. Mrs. Davenport, when she 
 heard of the release of Jane, and had welcomed her, not 
 indeed, as she expected to, in a straight-jacket, was in 
 high spirits. The hospitable matron abandoned her 
 self to short-cakes, and even forgot her hoarded wisdom, 
 a frailty of memory the more wonderful, that deaths in 
 the family had failed to produce it. Serene satisfac 
 tion sat enthroned in the face of Henry Davenport.
 
 332 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 Aunt Becky Gregg was present; having come ex 
 pressly, fortified by a dream of the skeleton of a mur 
 dered peddler discovered directly under her churn in 
 the milk cellar, which well-scoured butter-barrel the 
 ghost had used, to her consternation and disgust, as a 
 drum having come expressly to triumph with the tri 
 umphant supernatural.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 333 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 "\Vell.Moses," cried I, "we shall soon, my boy, have a wedding in 
 the family; what is your opinion of matters and things in general?" 
 
 VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. 
 
 BNEY DAYENPORT was warm for a 
 suit against the parties concerned in 
 Jane's imprisonment, of whom all now 
 suspected Bloker to be the principal. 
 Dolman discountenanced the design. 
 In the widely conflicting views, he 
 said, of the boundaries of insanity, with 
 the hebetude of conservative Fumble- 
 backs on the bench, Conium's certifi 
 cate, which he would be compelled to 
 justify, and the legal adroitness which could be pur 
 chased with Bloker's gold, there was ample room for 
 their escape. To illustrate the uncertain solution of 
 such questions, he cited the instance of a gentleman 
 who was held to be crazy on the ground that he recited 
 gibberish, fancying the while that he was speaking in 
 unknown tongues, and carried weights about the house; 
 the truth being, that the man was acquiring a pronun 
 ciation of the Hebrew proper names of the Bible and 
 exercising his muscles at the same time, in his daily 
 ambulations.
 
 334 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 In the quiet of the farm-house, where there was just 
 enough movement to please a convalescent person tired 
 of watching the shadows of the trees as they crept 
 noonward on the sward, the poultry, and the blinking 
 dog beside the porch, Jane Warner recovered her 
 serenity. Now and then, indeed, when she gazed on 
 Frank and thought of his and her own future, a cloud 
 of anxiety would overcome her; but worthy Mrs. 
 Davenport on such occasions, divining the gloomy 
 tenor of her thoughts, cleared her mind with cheerful 
 words or diverting employment, imparting to her 
 cherished mysteries of housekeeping, in the prepara 
 tion of pickles, preserves, and savory messes. Once, 
 when Jane was unusually dejected, the friendly matron 
 was at the point of exhilarating her by the production 
 of two or three choice prescriptions of the German 
 wizard; but she recoiled in time, and put her benevo 
 lence on the footing of a promised legacy. 
 
 One of the cab horses having died, Davenport had 
 bought a pair of lusty mules, and released the survivor 
 from the drudgery of the field. Oats, leisure, and pro 
 motion seemed to endow the quadruped with new life, 
 and he was sometimes observed to switch his tail in a 
 dissolute manner, as if recollections of an obstreperous 
 colthood were upon him. Crockett was his name, and 
 he knew the country roads as well as the Davenports, 
 or Jane, or Frank, who so often rode behind him. Of 
 his own volition he crossed the bridges at a walk, and 
 kept to the right as the law directed; he would have 
 scorned to bilk a turnpike. The old clerk habitually 
 moistened his hay to keep off the heaves. Poor
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 335 
 
 Crockett! these were his sunny days. He lived to help 
 fill one of Clanalpin's famous contracts, and to endure 
 a purgatory of rations after the third sub-letting. He 
 never snuffed the battle, but succumbed to seven 
 pounds of provender a day. Eest to his mouldering 
 hoofs I 
 
 On a quiet country Sabbath they wouM go together 
 to the old tree-encircled church. There was a tran- 
 quilizing shadiness about the house of worship, but 
 plenty of sunshine among the tombstones in the grassy 
 graveyard allegorical, perhaps, of the light of heaven 
 after the shadows of earth. Sometimes the birds would 
 flit into the very aisle, and chirp in unison with the 
 worshippers. If ever human face was benign, it was 
 that Presbyterian parson's. Surely his altitudes were 
 spiritual Pisgahs! There was no grand music, and 
 there were few grand words hardly ever anything 
 that sounded like Greek to the rural auditors. But 
 the grieved heart was comforted, and the seeking spirit 
 satisfied in that old tree-encircled church. 'Tis likely 
 the parson's place is another's now, for he was shaken 
 with labors in his Master's vineyard. His cough was 
 ominous. Death to him, come when he might, would 
 be a messenger of Love. Doubtless, still 
 
 "They chant their artless notes in simple guise; 
 They tune their hearts, by far the noblest aim ; 
 Perhaps Dundee's wild warbling measures rise, 
 Or plaintive Martyrs, worthy of the name; 
 Or noble Elgin beats the heavenward flame, 
 The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays: 
 Compared with these, Italian trills are tame; 
 The tickled ears no heartfelt raptures raise; 
 Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise."
 
 336 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 A fortnight after the deliverance of Jane, Emily 
 Horton and Bloker met at Doctor Mellen's. She bowed 
 coldly in reply to his salutation, but repelled the bland 
 advance with which he would have followed it. He 
 started, and an angry flush showed in his face. 
 
 " May I ask " he began. 
 
 "No, sir!" she quickly replied, and turned from him. 
 There was no scene. He saw that a vehement tide was 
 against him that his designs were as a sum rubbed out. 
 
 It was evening twilight, pensive hour sacred to old 
 memories, in Caroline Mellen's chamber, and thus 
 ended an earnest conversation. 
 
 "You insist, then, on continuing his acquaintance. 
 I cannot subject myself to the unpleasantness of meet 
 ing him again," said Emily. 
 
 " You need not, that I see," replied Caroline. 
 
 "It will be always possible if he and I come here." 
 
 " This, then, follows : that I must surrender my free 
 will and have my acquaintanceships hereafter depend 
 on the license of a censor. I regard the revelation of 
 that sewing girl as the purest vagary of fancy. I 
 believe there was a reason for her being in the asylum, 
 and that you did her no good when you took her out." 
 
 " There we differ but I do not mean to debate the 
 question. I think that the true dignity of our sex, 
 which is purity, hangs as much on the virtue of a sew 
 ing girl as upon that of a princess. The women are 
 only separated by the poor trappings of life, and are 
 equal before God. I am sorry that events have 
 brought us to this night." 
 
 And so they parted.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 337 
 
 CHAPTEE XLI. 
 
 If we could, from one of the battlements of heaven, espy how many 
 men and women at this time lie fainting and dying for want of bread; 
 how many young men are hewn down by the sword of war; how many 
 poor orphans are now weeping over the graves of their father, by whose 
 life they were enabled to eat; if we could but hear how mariners and 
 passengers are at this present in a storm, and shriek out because their 
 keel dashes against a rock or bulges under them ; how many people 
 there are that weep with want, and are mad with oppression, or are 
 desperate by too quick a sense of constant infelicity; in all reason we 
 should be glad to be out of the noise and participation of so many evils. 
 This is a place of sorrows and tears, of so great evils and a constant 
 calamity: let us remove from hence, at least, in affections and prepara 
 tion of mind. JEREMY TAYLOR. 
 
 , HILE we understand Heaven to be 
 the happiness of a spiritual con 
 dition which the good foretaste 
 here, we localize it in thought, 
 and conjecture that it has its 
 appropriate scenery. The insub 
 stantial and sublimated duplicates 
 of all that is beautiful in nature, 
 nay, pleasing in art, may contri 
 bute to make it brighter beams, 
 
 rarer flowers, bluer skies, and a celestial architecture. 
 
 Ainid these delightful surroundings the perfected spirits 
 29
 
 338 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 
 
 of the just may exist, glorifying God in love and 
 purity. 
 
 Once more the violets looked meekly up to catch 
 the smiles of their froward mistress, April, or hung 
 pensive heads beneath her frowns; while the unfilial 
 pyrus flaunted in scarlet, careless of either. At The 
 Cedars, under the trees, which seemed almost sentient 
 with the swell of vernal life, they bore a coffin into the 
 old mansion. Up stairs in Lydia Bardleigh's chamber 
 there was a stark similitude and twilight out of time. 
 The uses and disorder of occupancy no longer charac 
 terized the room. The watch which had ticked upon 
 the bureau was put aside; the medicines, trays, and 
 napkins were removed. A Bible had been left, but 
 even it was clasped. Silently they came and went; 
 acknowledging that she was with them still and yet 
 alone. Across the threshold with measured steps 
 where the robins will not come to-day to seek the 
 generous crumbs then a short, dull, sliding sound, 
 and the slow wheels go on a space, and pause. 
 
 Bradley returned to Brentlands a sterner man 
 Though an exacting employer, as became an accurate 
 and active man of affairs, he was governed by au 
 innate love of justice. This not only restrained him 
 from unfairly imposing labor, but it induced a humane 
 attention to the bodily wants of his workmen, both in 
 health and sickness; sound and various food, clean, 
 spacious and ventilated lodgings, and a well-ordered 
 hospital, were provided by him. He recoiled from 
 thrusting a disabled servant naked upon the world.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 339 
 
 Now his rebukes were become keener, and his bearing 
 was grown austere. For himself, regardless of the 
 weather, he wrought on in his laborer's garb. He was 
 in the fields, in the smithy, among the stalls, or at the 
 desk, as heretofore, but a harsh and silent man. His 
 prospect was as dreary as the South Atlantic, where, 
 a dark and desert waste of tormented water, it is 
 scourged by Winter against the scowling cliffs of 
 Patagonia. 
 
 At length he resolved to seek in the bustle of a great 
 city diversion and tranquillity; to exchange the un 
 eventful quiet of nature for the pursuit of pleasure, 
 the tumult of controversy, and the charms of intellect, 
 where all the sounds and shows of population prevail. 
 In such a whirl of various occupations, he thought that 
 the recollections of the past which distressed him could 
 be cast off; in the vigor of youth, and stung by dis 
 appointment, he knew, at least, he would find allure 
 ments, if he failed of happiness. It was his purpose, 
 therefore, at the completion of the ensuing harvest to 
 relinquish the management of Brentlands. 
 
 And so the days went by, bringing sun, and shower, 
 and promises of ripeness. Wide reaches of clean 
 brown loam were arrayed with the green and sturdy 
 maize, some five weeks up; the heavy-headed wheat 
 fluctuated in yellow billows; rank oats declared the 
 fertile slopes that nourished them. It was the morning 
 of the twenty-fifth of June, when, by one crushing 
 stroke, all was blasted. Just before the dawn of day, 
 Bradley was awakened by a strong, cold wind which 
 blew upon him through the open blinds of his chamber.
 
 340 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 A sharp, rattling crash of thunder pealed upon the 
 stillness of the night, and then, in sudden tempest, 
 came the hail! 
 
 Sunrise smiled from a cloudless sky, which, like the 
 smooth ocean pressing upon the wrecks of yesterday, 
 bore no trace of treachery smiled upon a desolation. 
 The mangled bosom of the green earth, the trampled 
 and shattered grain, the orchards ravished of their fruit 
 and foliage, and the despoiled nurseries, attested the 
 pitiless smiting of the storm. The birds flitted in con 
 fusion and bewailed their riven habitations, and theirs 
 was the only voice of mourning. The world measures 
 calamities by their dignity, and has no attention for 
 private griefs; but the population of a war-scourged 
 province or a burned city is an aggregation of single 
 sufferers. 
 
 One of Bradley's last acts at Brentlands was to bury 
 a favorite horse of his father's. "Bock," twenty-seven 
 years old at the time of his death, was a tough-con stitu- 
 tioned saddle sorrel. Like some well-preserved men 
 who can look backward to the psalmist's figures, he 
 had acquired the art of living with the minimum wear 
 and tear of life. For some years he had done nothing 
 but graze upon an ample range in summer and stand 
 or lie in his well-littered winter stall, where the rack 
 was never empty; except when his master had made 
 infrequent visits to the place, when he was sometimes 
 bridled for his service. The merchant declared that 
 his record was without a stumble. The fall before, 
 " Rock" had got a wound, an ugly gash eight or ten 
 inches in length, luckily where there was a fair pro-
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 841 
 
 tection of muscles. This it was thought would prove 
 fatal, but upon being stitched it healed, and the old 
 horse was soon again in ballast, his mane and tail 
 prickly with the fresh-gathered sandburs. He passed 
 the winter well, and, though his eye was a little dull, 
 and his ribs could be counted in the sunshine, it seemed 
 that you might notch thirty on his manger and safely 
 call it a prophecy. It was on a dismal October after 
 noon, when, with a sort of human impulse, he came from 
 the field to die. There was no evidence that he was in 
 pain, nor of any ailment except the years. He died in 
 the night, while the rain pattering on the roof made a 
 soothing monotone in the great hollow of the barn. 
 Next day, when the storm had ceased, Bradley had a 
 pit dug in the orchard dug deep, to balk the hounds. 
 "Kock" was brought on wheels that much was due 
 him and put beneath the clay. The spieading pear- 
 main, which will lie light in summer shadows above 
 him, will be the greener for his grave. 
 
 29*
 
 842 
 
 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 CHAPTEE XLII. 
 
 Nor is it well, nor can it come to good, 
 That, through profane and infidel contempt 
 Of holy writ, she has presum'd t' annul 
 And abrogate, as roundly as she may, 
 The total ordinance and will of God; 
 Advancing fashion to the post of truth, 
 And cent'ring all authority iif modes 
 And customs of her own, till sabbath ritea 
 Have dwindled into unrespected forms, 
 And knees and hassocs are well nigh divorc'd. 
 
 THE TASK. 
 
 PRESIDENT is to be elected. Eu 
 rope listens to the tumult of a 
 heterodox politics, and even John 
 Bull, paragon of animals, wipes the 
 beer from his sprightly visage, and 
 condescends to bellow contempt. 
 
 Bradley Horton was now become a 
 citizen of New York, into which he 
 entered a stranger. He found it a 
 metropolis where life presented many phases, as it was 
 variously devoted to traffic, knowledge, art, ambition, 
 ostentation, and folly. He found some who were 
 occupied with their own devices, and others with the 
 devices and destiny of the world at large, arid not a
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 343 
 
 few who were torn of devils. He beheld Commerce 
 fluttering about his altars, and Pleasure garlanding her 
 cup: now he communed with some rare ancient, per 
 haps an Elizabethan whom Elia loved, at the Astor; 
 and then, in the saloon at midnight, noted how hope 
 deluded folly still from the bottom of a faro-box. 
 He heard the dirty and disreputable Funk inton 
 ing on his perch allurements to pinchbeck, and the 
 cadences, suasive and silvery, of the priest in spot 
 less linen. In the same hour he passed from the 
 elegant tranquillity of a breakfast at Delmonico's to the 
 hum and movement of the Exchange at Whitehall 
 from pacing the cool morning flags of the stately 
 avenue, or the solitary labyrinth of the breezy park, to 
 the wheel-clashing ways where the chimes of Trinity 
 buffet, like strong swimmers of the upper air, the sea 
 of uproar which billows from the town ; only less loud 
 than the noisy anarchy of Chaos which smote the ear 
 of the exploring fiend at pause on the brink of hell. 
 
 After a period of sight-seeing' and idleness, Bradley 
 was engaged to write up the "Keynote" it was so 
 settled with Cochin Neal, the publisher, over ante 
 meridian hock at the Blue Wing. He was expected to 
 produce quantity, sound, and coarse pungency, to 
 gether with humor in a set of dictionary words, rather 
 than elaboration. These are the characteristics, for the 
 most part, of first-rate American newspaper editorials. 
 With perhaps a score of exceptions, our able editors are 
 high-reaching polemics, superficially "smart," outlaws 
 from syntax, without scholarly exactness and literary 
 elegance, whose matter is spumous, and whose looms
 
 344 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 produce only gunny when they mean to weave velvet. 
 But this is a young country, and they will probably 
 improve. 
 
 . The editor of the " Keynote" had many opportunities 
 to admire the Radical worthies who vie with each other 
 to promote their country's good. They rented halls, 
 and bought coal oil for illuminations by the barrel 
 with the assessments of the party. They went about to 
 circumvent the adversary with documents and declama 
 tion. Some invested their capital in the canvass, as 
 they would have invested it in corn, hoping for a pro 
 fitable return in offices and contracts. No alchemy 
 could assimilate these to neither badge nor shibboleth 
 would indentify them with many wise, earnest, and 
 conscientious men who acted with them. For months 
 the "Keynote" was prolonged in a strain of appeals and 
 animadversions, like the creak of an ungreased axle. 
 If voters were not converted it was their misfortune, 
 for Bradley never allowed a topic to wither for want 
 of "copy." He was as 'sweet as Hybla for his friends, 
 and as bitter as Marah for the enemy. Alas! the lost 
 books of Livy are not less accessible than is the " Key 
 note" now. The last number which its editor saw, and 
 which contained his strongest article in behalf of civil 
 liberty, was beneath the spectacles of his laundress, who 
 was laboriously spelling over its contents. It had in 
 vested the foul linen of a censorious fellow-citizen who 
 was restrained in Fort Rochambeau, till he should 
 
 * rebate and blunt his natural edge."
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 345 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 The rogues were very merry on the booty. They said a thousand 
 things that showed the wickedness of their morals. GIL BLAS. 
 
 HE rebellion came begotten child of 
 Mammon, 
 
 " the least erected spirit that fell 
 
 From heaven." 
 
 Behind the awful aspects of the war 
 there was a greedier scramble, a baser 
 grovelling for gold than in the less 
 profitable days of peace. Clanalpin 
 was in power, and Expectation Biles 
 was his Chief Armorer. It will be seen that Biles had 
 risen. Tumultuous eras are the opportunities of great 
 ness, and Thomas Carlyle's "French Revolution" may 
 be had of all respectable booksellers. Great, like other 
 men, must have beginnings. Even Clanalpin was not 
 always a councillor of the earth. So Biles had ripened 
 to Chief Armorer; and there was a Camp Biles, and 
 there was a gunboat christened Expectation Biles. 
 
 What countless pruning-hooks were beaten into 
 spears to fill the contracts that were lavished by Cla 
 nalpin! There was a premium on shoddy. Ancient 
 hangers, that had been last drawn at the command of
 
 346 THE HOKTONSj OR 
 
 Mad Anthony, were hunted from their hiding-places. 
 Prodigious orders were given for castor oil and linen 
 pantaloons. How delightful were those Washington 
 nights in "The King," where the smell of villainous 
 gunpowder was unknown, while the ear was soothed 
 by the rustling of. treasury notes and the trickling of 
 perennial punch! Placid hours! coffers not coffins 
 received your fruits. That "Ring"! 
 
 " When the treasury failed and the people storm'd, 
 
 They bore the brunt 
 
 And the only cry which their grave lips form'd 
 Was ' blunt' still 'blunt!'" 
 
 Last of all the expressions of that period to be for 
 gotten, was the great horse-fair at Hepzidam. To say 
 that it was never " equalled, is feeble description ; it 
 never was approached! At Hepzidam the Clanalpin 
 influence was predominant. There were many rogues 
 at Hepzidam, who carried sweat-cloths in their carpet 
 bags; and the honest part of the people dealt, when 
 times were dull, in counterfeit quarter- dollars. Horse 
 contracts were likewise currency at Hepzidam. 
 
 If it had been meant to establish a veterinary hospi 
 tal, instead of to furnish forth the dragoons and artil 
 lery, there could not have been completer success. 
 There were trembling knees and capped hocks ; broken 
 wind and botts; tumors and ulcers; spavin, consump 
 tion, and staggers; and a dreadful concert of roaring 
 and wheezing. There were horses that balked, and 
 horses that bit. Some were decrepit, others blind; 
 some were wall-eyed, others had lost their tails. The 
 external appearance of most of the animals was of a
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 847 
 
 piece with their sanitary state, nor was either much 
 improved by deficient provender. The vermiparous 
 condition which was apparent might reasonably have 
 been excused, it was so little premature. The atmos 
 phere was surcharged with asafoetida, and drenches of 
 black pepper and whiskey were in constant readiness 
 fox sudden gripes. The most distressing part of the 
 spectacle was the fresh arrivals of misery. They came 
 from the four quarters and were accompanied by needy 
 politicians, subordinates of the more fortunate contract- 
 holders postmasters, village editors, tax-collectors, 
 township constables, decayed good fellows. Mingled 
 with these were prosperous farmers, wide awake to 
 their opportunities and sound on the "anaconda." Mr. 
 Potteril of New Paradise was also present with an 
 ancient gelding, adapted by his favorite process to the 
 short-ration system which prevailed. 
 
 Clanalpin had come down by an express train and 
 moved briskly about, the admired of all beholders; 
 inciting with his gold-headed cane a friend's sluggish 
 nag, now and then, to the moderate amount of move 
 ment required by the inspection. He was attended by 
 the Chief Armorer. It was a study for high horse art, 
 the Chief Armorer a tiptoe, looking a cyclopaedia of 
 farriery in his countenance looking through his spec 
 tacles into the mouth of a new arrival ! Bradley unex 
 pectedly met Doctor Pledget, who seemed desirous to 
 elude observation, and appeared to be dejected. He 
 was in search of a valuable gray which had been stolen 
 from him. He deeply regretted, he said, the inconsid- 
 erateness which had brought him with a hue and cry
 
 848 THE HOKTONS; OB 
 
 to Ilepzidam. He regarded the journey as the sever 
 est stroke of satire to which he had ever been sub 
 jected. 
 
 Jacob Bicker's star was now above the horizon. 
 Bloker owned ships and steamboats, in whole or in 
 part, some of them mere sieves plugged to float, and the 
 Administration paid him for the use of them the reve 
 nue of an Asiatic prince. With this great income he 
 bought farms and factories, and speculated in gold. 
 Jacob Bloker was become an irreproachable patriot, 
 somewhat indifferent, perhaps, to the welfare of the 
 sewing-women whom he employed, in the execution of 
 his contracts, at thirty cents a day, but an irreproach 
 able patriot still, who believed in Fort Rochambeau, 
 pyrotechnics on the Fourth of July, and a censorship 
 for disputant newspapers.
 
 AMEKICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 349 
 
 CHAPTEE XLIV. 
 
 I am now in the nineteenth book of the Iliad, and on the point of dis 
 playing such feats of heroism performed by Achilles, as make all other 
 achievements trivial. COWPEK'S LETTERS. 
 
 jQUILA GLUMP -was meditating in 
 his counting-room in Phoenix-block, 
 Commerce-street. It was a drizzly 
 night, and the clock had just struck 
 nine. The Evening Popgun lay out 
 spread upon his knees, and the jar 
 of a passing omnibus as it tinkled 
 from tier to tier of the hollow hard 
 ware mingled with his reveries. " It 
 is the very thing !" thought Aquila Glump, nodding his 
 head with sage emphasis as he contemplated the dim 
 outlines of the pots and kettles by which he was sur 
 rounded; "a currency of iron is the remedy for the 
 distress and extravagance of the times with brass for 
 high values. It would prevent speculation; it would 
 keep out luxuries, and punish John Bull and the 
 French ; it would foster frugality and patriotism ; and 
 it would promote human health by compelling your 
 nice feeders to adopt a more simple and natural diet;" 
 30
 
 350 THE HOBTONS; OR 
 
 and he particularized this point in his reflections with 
 a ghastly grin, for Aquila Glump was dyspeptic, and 
 dined sometimes off a Digby herring, which he pre 
 ceded with a mixture of magnesia and charcoal. " The 
 soldiers wouldn't have it?" he continued interroga 
 tively in his cogitation: "Shoot 'em for mutiny, and 
 make another draft ! But there is a precedent the 
 Spartan soldiers took it ; and Broil and Blacking, of 
 the War Office, two of the most remarkable men of this 
 or any other country, can fix it in an opinion or general 
 orders. The statesmen can have their cast iron heads, 
 labelled, to transmit to the latest posterity. As a 
 sharp-sighted patriot, I'll sell the Treasury my stock 
 in trade at ten per cent, less than retail prices, for " 
 he had nearly thought "cash," but jerked his mind at 
 the inconsistency, and at the same time looking toward 
 the door he perceived beyond it the figure of a man 
 like unto Bartimeus Scroggs. 
 
 The figure indeed was Scroggs, but the habiliments 
 were martial ; a six-shooter was in his belt, a trenchant 
 sabre hung at his side, and the military shape had been 
 given to his unassuming whiskers. But the day before 
 Scroggs had taken Phoanix-block en route for Wash 
 ington, and was this his brow again, lowering like the 
 front of battle, beneath a corded hat ? 
 
 " 'Tis he ! how came he thence ? what does he here ?" 
 
 Not with the strides of Tarquin not with the rush 
 of spear-launching Achilles when through the imper 
 fect armor he transfixed the ueck of Hector, nor yet
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 351 
 
 with feline spring, advanced Bartimeus upon Aquila 
 Glump; but with a steady, deliberate, and majestical 
 limp ; while thus he spake. 
 
 "I had rather see no money in an army contract 
 than be here to-night." 
 
 "Mad! poor man, the spirits have turned his head/' 
 muttered Glump, as he retreated behind a desk and 
 furtively seized a ruler. 
 
 "But feelings for softer times! Friend Glump! I 
 arrest you for misprision of treason, and I hope, as a 
 reasonable citizen, you will submit without a murmur." 
 
 "Stand back, Scroggs, or I'll prostrate you! It's a 
 trick you are imposed on, I say !" 
 
 "I got the warrant at Washington, and it's regular; 
 based on the depositions of two detectives." 
 
 "I'm a loyal man, and invest in Government sevens 
 I read all the war articles in the Popgun my 
 patriotism, sir, is indisputable !" 
 
 "I hope so, but I must do my duty. You can write 
 to the Administration from Fort Rochambeau; perad- 
 venture it will correct the mistake." 
 
 "Ill stay in Phoenix-block and save it the trouble, 
 being free-born and of lawful age in short, an Ameri 
 can citizen." 
 
 And now it was that the wranglers grappled each 
 other in fierce contention, till the heightening clamor 
 appalled the rats and was answered by a deep-moiithed 
 ball-dog from the vault. Glump dealt with the ruler 
 rapid and resounding blows upon the corpus of 
 Scroggs, while that Rowland was prevented drawing 
 his lethal weapon for the extirpation of his adversary,
 
 352 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 who had promptly grasped the scabbard and held it 
 with the hilt jammed into its owner's abdomen. Un 
 able to assume the offensive with his virgin blade, he 
 seized a pattern pot-lid which was luckily at hand, 
 interposed it as a shield between his person and the 
 strokes of his antagonist, and under its cover, dexter 
 ously putting his body into the position of an antique 
 military engine, butted with such irresistible impulsion 
 as to carry the enemy clean off his legs. And so the 
 issue of the struggle seemed declared. But the Cloud- 
 compeller, beholding, sent an Olympian to the rescue 
 business worthy of a god ! A package of flat-irons was 
 timeouly jostled from a shelf above upon the sinewy 
 buttock of the victor as he stooped with fell intent. 
 Seized with agony and amazement, he fled amain. 
 
 The excitement of that eventful night was fatal to 
 Bartimeus Scroggs. At twenty-seven minutes past 
 twelve he died in a fit. He had just been appointed 
 Commissioner to the Bey of Biscay, and his credentials 
 with the official creases undisturbed were found in the 
 lining of his hat. Myrtles grow at Biscay, and orange 
 trees blossom all the year round. The summer sol 
 stice at Biscay is one siesta, and little birds sing ditties 
 to their innocent mates. Yet had the patriot who has 
 left us chosen, even against this Eden he would have 
 voted for the storied grave, where, wrapped in the star- 
 spangled banner of his country, he sleeps in peace.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 853 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 I would have thee know, 
 He does not breathe this air, 
 Whose love I cherish, and whose soul I lore, 
 
 More than Mounchensey's. 
 
 OLD PLAT. 
 
 Thou art Arthur, of the golden crown ! 
 
 'VIL likings, as hatreds often do, distil in 
 darkness drop by drop, and harden like 
 stalactites. With music and merriment, 
 amused by fancy, charmed by animal 
 pleasures, and impelled by sensual de 
 sire, Bradley Horton glided into a whirl 
 of excesses. There was mad gaiety in 
 brandy, and he sought it oblivion, and 
 it was welcome. His intellect flashed 
 to the blaze which was consuming it. 
 He could see the sparkling of its reflection in the eyes 
 of his boon companions, and he beheld it with exulting 
 vanity. He became "as a city broken down, and 
 without walls." His daily life was a tide of excitement 
 which swelled into the turbulence of midnight. 
 
 Against this continued and unsparing assault, the 
 efforts of nature to maintain her integrity were arrayed 
 in vain. Delirium came, with its attendant horrors, 
 30*
 
 354 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 to seize the empire which Beason had abdicated. In 
 describable are the mockeries, the infernal insultations, 
 the overpowering dreads, the agonizing suspenses, the 
 loathsome shapes, the countless tortures exquisite 
 beyond human contriving, and the voices of accusa 
 tion and doom voices to which cloven tongues of 
 fire would add no terror, that arise from that hell of 
 the cup! 
 
 Under God, he owed his life to the devotion of one 
 true heart. Paul Mervine was a Southerner the Good 
 Samaritan belongs no more to geography than an 
 angel. In this noble friend a woman's tenderness and 
 refinement were united to lofty courage. The well- 
 tempered masculineness was seen to gleam like the 
 limbs of Adam among the flowers of Eve. There was 
 a dignity in his nature which, to common observers, 
 seemed but a large measure of amiability; and a tone 
 which, though it pleased them, was above their com 
 prehension. His prejudices were those of a man who 
 despised duplicity and all meanness. Every moment 
 which he could spare from an exacting business was 
 spent in attending to Bradley. He soothed him with 
 kind words; he suggested, gently considerate, many 
 comforts, and provided them; he bore him in his 
 strong arms. On a sofa, beside the sufferer's bed, 
 sleeping fitfully at best, with the solicitude of a young 
 bride, he watched through many nights. And when 
 amendment came, the gladness of his good heart leaped 
 to his lips in smiles. 
 
 Paul Mervine's kindnesses may not be recorded here. 
 Rich jewels are lessened to strange eyes: to such, even
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 355 
 
 goodness of mark is like water locked in diamonds, the 
 flash of which they see above the common light and 
 cannot count its value. It is better to live well in the 
 meanest human heart by its memories of the timely oil 
 and wine, than to be able to weigh the satellites of 
 Jupiter ! 
 
 Paul Mervine was fond of birds, and kept them ; he 
 was the gentlest of gaolers. Gradually he accustomed 
 them to enlargement, and the more docile knew the 
 cage only as the shelter of their choice. When a boy, 
 the martins never left the village boxes but he knew 
 beforehand they were packing up ; and, sure, the trou 
 bles of moving would have been lightened had the ebon 
 emigrants understood how fully they were shared. 
 Bradley passed many of the calm hours of convales 
 cence with his friend's family, and at these times Paul 
 would steal apart from his occupations to taste the 
 tranquil scene. So they were together one morning, 
 when a person of threatening aspect entered at the. 
 open door, trailing a musket. 
 
 "Paul! this thing cannot go on longer it is inexpi 
 able it must stop here !" exclaimed the intruder. 
 
 At one startled look Bradley knew that he had seen 
 the face before. It was Blumenbach of the old count 
 ing-house days in the city. 
 
 Paul's composure disconcerted his purpose, if pur 
 pose he had. He was, it seemed, one of Paul's utm- 
 vailables j and, in truth, they were a queer lot. Spirit 
 ism had desolated his fine intellect, never robust, 
 perhaps, but once attuned to the choicest chords of 
 harmony. He was become an idle, meaningless man,
 
 356 THE HORTONS; OR 
 
 who heard voices in the air and wrestled with spirits in 
 the night the surges of the pit had passed over him. 
 The wretched stir of the invisible-infernal was to him 
 the mysterious music of the spheres! Incapable of 
 continuous attention to any pursuit, he would yet talk 
 with pleasing intelligence if the theme was foreign to 
 the engrossing subject of his thoughts. Once there, 
 chaos came again. Confidence and suspicion possessed 
 his mind successively, as his impressions varied; and 
 its delicate organization aggravated the torment. Pro 
 bably his dog was the only creature which he did not 
 distrust, until he conceived some metaphysical absurd 
 ity of transmigration that brought the poor animal to 
 disgrace. 
 
 Paul Mervine was unmarried, though his presence 
 was as goodly as that of Absalom. Perhaps he was 
 deficient in small-talk; or it was his modesty that but 
 we know that the heart of woman turns instinctively to 
 unobtrusive worth in men. Witness the consecrated 
 union yesterday of Burnish, the banker octogenarian 
 Burnish, with that dove of dulcet cooing, the promising 
 child whom you fondled, friend and fellow-militiaman, 
 when your whiskers began to bud! Or, and like 
 enough, Paul had never willed it otherwise. Such was 
 the flow of thought in the mind of Bradley as he sat in 
 the bird-room over a newspaper. At the height of it, 
 his eye fell upon this paragraph. 
 
 
 A FASHIONABLE WEDDING. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 22d inst., in the presence of a large 
 and brilliant assemblage, at Saint Simons, by the Rev.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 357 
 
 Ilildebrand Mildman, assisted by the Eev. Sharon 
 Gawseloome, Jacob Bloker, esquire, to Caroline, daugh 
 ter of Doctor Peter Mellen. 
 
 In a paroxysm of surprise, Bradley dropped the 
 newspaper. There was a sudden chirp. It came from 
 a bright-breasted canary, which, with its head on one 
 side, was gazing in dreamy rapture at a snake in a 
 bottle of spirits, whose golden scales gleamed in the 
 sunlight.
 
 358 
 
 THE HOKTONS; OK 
 
 CHAPTEE XLYI. 
 
 The course of a rapid river is the justest of all emblems to express the 
 variableness of our scene below. Shakespeare says, none ever bathed 
 himself twice in the same stream, and it is equally true, that the world, 
 upon which we close our eyes at night, is never the same with that on 
 which we open them in the morning. COWPER'S LETTERS. 
 
 HE grey autumn morning looks upon 
 a death-bed with mourners beside it, 
 in a city chamber. Clement Horton 
 is calmly approaching the Unseen. 
 The tender words have been spoken, 
 and offered the silent prayers, and his 
 pure and peaceful soul passes at the 
 summons. 
 
 The noises of the awakened town 
 swell in the streets, but they are no 
 longer heeded by the dull ear of one who loved the stir 
 of busy life. Henceforth, action for him shall have a 
 better voice. There is a repose in his face, as he lays 
 gasping, which tells of more than an enforced submis 
 sion. The heart is surely in that look! Though it 
 cannot allay their present grief, the bereaved will 
 remember it and rejoice. They will keep his picture 
 with sacred care, but they will carry within them a 
 more cherished image of a departed father and friend. 
 With heaviness for the virtue earth and we are losing,
 
 AMEEICAN LIFE AT HOME. 359 
 
 and thanks to God that it was given, we turn sorrow 
 fully away. 
 
 "I have news for you, sis!" exclaimed Frank War 
 ner as Jane Davenport entered the sitting-room; "Miss 
 Emily is coming here." 
 
 "Yes, Frank; you must keep as cheerful as a 
 cricket." 
 
 "It is crying nice news, and my sick mocking-bird 
 begins to sing again 1" 
 
 The marriage of Henry Davenport and Jane "Warner 
 scandalized the decayed virgins. They went about 
 with noses full of snuff and hearts full of malice, and 
 croaked confusion to the match "Fifty, if he's a day! 
 Seraphina Blessing caught him a pulling out the grey 
 hairs with tweezers and, my dear, the bride is a few 
 years younger than I, a mere chit!" Eegardless of 
 the dismal old ravens, Henry Davenport walked with a 
 step as springy as when he tied fancy knots in his cra 
 vat and punched Wilson's ribs with McCullough-at the 
 counting-house in the city long ago; and looked, in 
 deed, as if he might. live to be a contented cotemporary 
 with his grandchildren. Jane changed naturally and 
 gracefully into a matron, and was in all respects, 'Hen 
 ry's venerable mother declared, like herself at that 
 period of existence. 
 
 That good-hearted veteran persisted in accumulating 
 receipts for posterity, and accomplished fresh cures, 
 that brought her increase of reputation, with an origi 
 nal eye- water made of the last spring snow in a fluid
 
 360 THE HORTONS; OB 
 
 state, and strengthened by undivulged combinations. 
 When there was a severe pressure for salve she some 
 times took Frank so far into her confidence as to 
 permit him to watch the boiling; during which she 
 recounted for his instruction the various instances of 
 healing which had resulted from the use of the remedy. 
 But, despite the excellence of her system of teaching, 
 she discovered in him little genius for medicine, and 
 was not encouraged. 
 
 When the expectation of the year had past, and the 
 door-yard trees stood bare and gaunt beneath the win 
 ter sky, it was still June at the unpretending hearth of 
 Henry Davenport. Thither came good angels with 
 healing in their wings. The faith which lives within 
 us, works without us, and Heaven is radiated from a 
 cheerfully virtuous family wherein is set up an altar to 
 the Lord ! The number of Frank's pets was increased 
 by a quail and a squirrel, the gifts of Farmer Gregg, 
 and a parrot from the Spanish Main, which escaped 
 soon after its arrival to the farmer's house and 
 alarmed his good wife in the middle of the night by 
 shrill cries in choice Castilian. Farmer Gregg often 
 brought a pocket-full of nuts for " Bonny," and after 
 feeding him would sit and watch the rapid gyration of 
 the cage with child-like simplicity of interest ; or tell 
 the boy legends and experiences. What the princess 
 of Abyssinia failed to find in the land of Egypt, was 
 here a happy household, thankful for humble plea 
 sures, and superior for the main to the littlenesses and 
 vanities of life.
 
 AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 361 
 
 CHAPTER XLYII. 
 
 They were simple bubbles, blown hither and thither according to the 
 child's fancy, yet they caught something of the sky, and something of 
 the human face. 
 
 9 
 
 HE Horton experience is approaching 
 an end. It has not been diffusely 
 told. As a veracious history, it has 
 not half the ' tragic spice which a 
 cultivated taste in fiction demands. 
 There is not a bandit in the book, 
 and neither battle nor murder. Only 
 the illustrious Scroggs comes to sud 
 den death. It is true, one or two of 
 the characters should have perished 
 for their offences, but they did not. It must be consid 
 ered that most pilgrimages survive the simoom. 
 
 Jacob Bloker, probably, has no other twinges thai? 
 those of gout. That disease of late has thrown ou* 
 skirmishing pains toward his stomach. This is unplea 
 ,sant, both as a declaration against good dinners and as 
 investing with doubt the continuance of the tenure by 
 which he has his ships and merchandize, his patriotism, 
 houses and lands. Perhaps he is not certain that ha 
 shall thrive so well in another life. Meantime, Caroline 
 Bloker is a queen in Shoddy, dispensing much fine 
 31
 
 362 THE HORTONS; OE, AMERICAN LIFE AT HOME. 
 
 action and "brilliant conversation, to the annoyance of 
 rival sovereigns who lack her parts and polish. What 
 ever else there may be, there is no gout, sure, in her 
 world. 
 
 That, at least, is the opinion of Max Heyhurst, whom 
 she has ceased to know. Max has sometimes seen the 
 outside of her carriage at a crossing on opera nights, as 
 it was driven before him. He is preparing for the 
 ministry. He was converted at a prayer-meeting, and 
 has deserted his pictures. His vivacity is subdued, but 
 there is enough of it left, and he will probably never 
 be an austere Christian. He is at Princeton. 
 
 Bradley Horton and Paul Mervine are in Brazil, con 
 templating, perhaps, from Tijuca the beautiful bay, and 
 the city of St. Sebastion beside it flashing in tropical 
 sunlight amid its emerald hills; or wandering in the 
 Serra dos Orgoes, where the cascade gleams forever on 
 the cliff, where nature is most bountiful and gorgeous 
 in flowers, fruit, and foliage, and pictured prospects of 
 sky and sea, and all the sumptuousness of summer.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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