THE DUANES. 83 



saiy works, formed a settlement in due time, spent a for- 

 tune, and disastrously ended the experiment in 1849. 



We passed through the ruins of this enterprise ; and our 

 driver told the story of the Duanes, as we rode along 

 between the miles of maples they planted by the road-side 

 and the miles of stone fence they built. He pointed out 

 the spot where the old mansion stood, — burned mysteriously 

 soon after the elder Duane died, — and we saw for ourselves 

 the deserted barns scattered through the meadows along 

 the river bottoms, the weather-beaten, abandoned houses 

 of the laborers and other subordinates, and the various 

 signs of the life and activity that must once have prevailed 

 there. And we saw a man of slouched figure, in butter- 

 nut suit, sJjOvenly and heavily bearded, carrying a scythe 

 on his arm towards the poor, barren meadow, — and he was 

 a Duane! This poor remnant of the great house of Judge 

 Duane bowed gloomily to ns as we passed and gazed curi- 

 ously at him-, and we left him behind. 



But the scene was far different — so the story went ( and 

 it was afterwards corroliorated by others ) — when the first 

 Duane came. He was dashing, rich, gay, aristocratic, 

 high blooded, and he came like a prince. His progress to 

 his forest estates was a triumphal procession. His house 

 rivalled in luxury the manor of his ancestors, the Livings- 

 tons. The work of hewing down the forest went on bravely 

 under many hands, and the wooded hills resounded Avitli 

 shout and axe-strokes and the rumble of toil. 



Then came the troops of friends and associates from the 

 east, brave men and fair women, for summer and autumn 



