VILLAGE ALE-HOUSE. 89 



leaves the door open, so we can look into the kitchen, where 

 a smart old woman is ironing by a bright coal fire. Two 

 little children venture before us. I have just succeeded in 

 coaxing the girl on to my knee, as C. mentions that we are 

 Americans. The old woman lays down her iron and puts on 

 her spectacles to look at us. The stout man who had risen 

 to take an observation of the weather, seats himself again and 

 calls for another mug and twist. The landlord (a tall thin 

 man, unfortunately) looks in and asks how times go where 

 we come from. Plenty of questions follow that show alike 

 the interest and the ignorance of our companions about 

 America, it being confused apparently in their minds with 

 Ireland, Guinea, and the poetical Indies. After a little straight- 

 ening out, and explanation of the distance to it, its climate 

 and civilized condition, they ask about the present crops, the 

 price of wheat, about rents, tithes, and taxes. In return, we 

 get only grumbling. &quot;The country is ruined;&quot; &quot;things 

 weren t so when they were young as they be now,&quot; and so 

 on, just as a company of our tavern-lounging farmers would 

 talk, except that every complaint ends with blaming Free- 

 Trade. &quot; Free-Trade hoye sirs, free-trade be killing the 

 varmers.&quot; 



We left them as soon as the shower slackened, but stopped 

 again immediately to look at the yew through the churchyard 

 gate. It was a very old and decrepit* tree, with dark and 

 funereal foliage the stiff trunk and branches of our red-cedar, 

 with the leaf of the hemlock, but much more dark and glossy 

 than either. The walls of the church are low, but higher in 

 one part than another. The roof, which is slated, is high amf 

 steep. The tower is square, with buttresses on the corners, 

 on the tops of which are quaint lions rampant. It is sur 

 mounted by a tall, symmetrical spire solid stone to the 

 ball, over which, as I am the son of a Puritan, is a weather- 



