24 



i wikat ' Mii gga^ 



^l)C laxmtx's iHontl)lri bisitor. 



notwithstanding slic slolo the. hcarl;* nf all the young men 

 in the neighborhnm!. 'i'ltcre was fanniething ^o aireclinh- 

 ale about her ; eht sn twined herself around every ones 

 niilme that she \v:is I'crlcctl) irrcaislible. So bewilchinjj. 

 BO t'qfcinntin?, I ust -J to think of the rattlesnake when I 

 Bnwhereye fixed on a victim. Vcs, alie made victims j 

 every man whom she comincrtd mii;ht have said in the 

 words of Willis, h^iii they been written then, 



»' she hrokc my heart 



As kindly, a^ ihi- fisher hooks the worm— 

 I'iiying nu- rlie w liile.*' 



A wicked creature was Isabel — t wicked coquette — and 

 rIic deserved her late. 



This girl wnn the heart of my uncle Zephyrus. She 

 came across hit; path one bright sunny niorning when wr 

 two were strollm;:^ il"Wn our pasture lane, her jetty curls 

 floating on thn wind, her gipsy hat swinging on her arm, 

 (ind her briplil cheek g!owinL{ w'llh animation, and with 

 the gracefulness of .1 young lawn hounded up to us. and 

 bestowing on me a happy smile, turned on my cumpanioTi 

 her mischicv'jus eyes. Alas fur Ichabod ! 'I'he very men- 

 tion of her name after that, wnulil call the mantling lilood 

 into his cheek and brow. She lan;,'hcd with him — she 

 bUng — she danced — »hc talked ol :-entunent and svnipalliy 

 — she sent him fhiwtrs and walked with him in the roman- 

 tic groves (if our ohl liomeslend, till she made hiiii be- 

 lieve she lovnd him as her very i^oul, and so shoultl we all 

 have believed, had we not known 



*' hi)W nfi bffure 



•Chat sweet viiiro had deceived." 



Uncle was really in love. How often in the ttmrse of 

 his life, by blue eyes and black eyes, grey eyes and hazel 

 eyes. 1 know r;nt."bm now he was in a ilelirium. It mii^ht 

 have been expected ihat an end would come tn this — and 

 nn end did come. 



The young people of nur village, though not literary, 

 were scnsiblp and iiigonious, and nniong the various in- 

 ventions to pass the time agreeably at the "apple-bees" 

 and quitting parties, some ol' the gills had iii\ented what 

 they termed " devices." These wese hieroglyphical cards, 

 with an accompanying mntlo which frerjiicnlly showed 

 considerable skill and taste. Tliey were for awhile very 

 popular among us and created no little merriment at the 

 evening circles. At Fome parly in the autumn, Isabel 

 (Jrey put one in circulation, representing a youth < lad m 

 Ktudent-like garments, wearing n drooping straw hat trim- 

 med with a pale green ribbon, with a qiiil! liistened in the 

 button-holes of one sidt: of his coat and sprigs of hearl's- 

 casffin the other, literary essays visible from his pocket, 

 a guitar attached to liia neck by a bine ritjl)0n, and a little 

 lap-dog waffging beliind. Any one who saw this image 

 must have reco^jnned my uncle, even if the face, which 

 was an admirable Idleness, had not shown fur whom it was 

 intended. 



When I first saw it. I felt wonderfully disposed lo put 

 in motion about tlio fair face and neck of the perpetrator, 

 the whole niachineiy of small pine and needles so suc- 

 cessfully Uficd in the days of the Salem witchcrall. It 

 would have been childibli 'lis true, but 1 was a cliild ihen. 

 I forbore and let li.e mischievous belle enjoy her triumph. 

 It was her last Iriumph. Beautiful 'Bel Grey! Ah! 

 Uncle Zepli and I h ivc had our revenge. 



This atfair created quite n laugh among the heartless 

 beings present, but from that night, the coquette's lovers 

 one by one drnp[icd away, perhaps, from fear of meeting a 

 similar late. She gaihed some credit for l.cr wit, but her 

 sensible acquaintances despised her for having ritliculed 

 one 80 attentive and generous .is my uncle. 



A few nights alirr thie. before 1 iiad been able to ascer- 

 tain if the unfortunate lover had heard of his lady's cruel- 

 ty, our family was atisend)lcd around the hearth ol our 

 great old-fashionrd lire-place. If you wish to know how 

 our Ihmily looked, you may Ihncy a patriarchal group, 

 consisting of a dear, grey-haired grandfather, an equally 

 dear grandmother, one or two elder sons, who were con- 

 tirmed old bachelors, as many eider daughters who were 

 confirmed old muids, the youngest son, Ichabod, with 

 half-a-dozen small people -who were the children of tlie 

 married daughters and who made their home alternately 

 at the old homestead and at their own respective abodes, 

 a few rods away, 'ind our good-humored hired man who 

 assisted on the four farms that belonged to the various 

 members of the family. I felt singularly curious to know 

 if uncle Zephyrus had heard of the satire, (or despite my 

 benevolence and symjiathy, liicre was a little lurking wick- 

 edness in my heart. Without attending lo the " narrow- 

 inga"' in my knitting-work, I kept my eye on him, lor I 

 perceived all was not right. The other members of the 

 circle noUeoling such an interest, were too bu.'iily engaged 

 with their hooks and work to notice the Lighs of uncle 

 Zephyrus. Uf all the W!)rds in the Knglish language the 

 most disagreeable are these two. sigh and swoon. I cer- 

 tainly never made use of either of them before in my 

 life. A sigh has been the tlienie of many a song, but to 

 me, it conveys no [)eculiar thoughts of misery 5 a tear in 

 the eye of any one alwiiys makes me feel sad. but a sigh 

 ever brings something more of the luilicrous than melan- 

 choly. Uncle Zephyrus probably felt little inclined to 

 mirth, for uvcry moment he .sighed more deeply, and linal- 

 ly attracted the notice ol' Jonas, the hired man, who very 

 pathetically asked " What is tiie matter 7 Arc you sick ?" 



Poor ZepliyruM must have been in the land of dreams, 

 or he would not have betrayed liis emotions. 



"Did you ever have the heart-ache?" he said in the 

 most dolorous lone iniaginabh?, at the same time raising 

 hie head from the leather cushion of the arm chair where 

 it had been restiiij^. 



" Heart-ache ? JNo, i've had the head-ache and tooth- 

 ache with a vengeance, but I never heard of the heart- 

 ache before !" 



llncle perceived in n moment that (me of so coarse a 

 nature was ilchlilute of letdmg, and with a groan, lie r()se, 

 took a light from the l.d»le and left the room. iSot more 

 than ten minutes after, a pair of great bhck eyes peeped 

 in at the door of uncle Zeph't '■ sanctum. " and my bu.-y 



self, generally considered the most inqn?ilive being in. 

 the lioui^e, very tenderly inquired " What is the trouble ?'" 

 l?utmy good-natured friend was in a lowering passion 

 for the Hrsl time in his ide 5 his replies us tart as goose- 

 berries HI June, told plainly that " a change had come o'ei 

 the spirit of iiis dream.'' Kinding that my kindness and 

 symi)athy were not needed, 1 lelt him to *'chcw the cud 

 of sweet and bitter fancy." 



I suppose you will think that my uncle Zeiihyrua was 

 found llie ne.\t morning .'Suspended from a willow tree by 

 a fcilken cord, or floating on the boEom of a ([uiet hike, 

 Ophelia-like, with paiisics for " Ihoughls" and rosemary 

 for ** remenibranco" strewn over him. Hut ^pare your 

 lamentations. No .sue;) thing came to pass. Uncle said 

 little, ate less and did nothing for. *-evcral weeks. It would 

 be useless for me lo tell of his progressive relonnation 

 from a sensitive, imiginative simpleton to a wiiole-heart- 

 cd. rational man. Clooti grandfather Slicks s.iid a fi-w 

 years before his death, that never was sueh an altered iiiaii 

 as his son Ichabod. " I never had rnnch ojiinmn of frill 

 ing in love," faid the old gentleman, '• I would as lief I dl 

 into a well myself as to (all in love."' I guess the deir 

 old man had forgollen the time when he used to lonl^ 

 across the meeting hou.se at pretty INnhby Blakc, till the 

 same Naliby would turn away to hide cheeks as red as the 

 pulpit-cushirtns. "This lias done some good for once 

 llmugh." £:iid he, '• and after all, there is nothing like a 

 disajjpoinlment to lake the conceit out of a >f)uug mm." 



In fact, at this day the quondam uncle Zephyrus is- a 

 steady, industrious piough-jogger as may be found among 

 our granite hills. L'r.cle Simon, who by the by, though a 

 fine specimen of oursturdy yeomanry is in many respects 

 an original, says his brother has a few faults yet. Zcjihyr- 

 us will spend the evenings in perusing lite contents ol lii.s 

 well-stored library, and he will lake ''The i\ew-Kngland 

 Farmer," and ''The l''armer's Monthly Visitor.'" What 

 extravagance ! What absurdity I As though a farmer could 

 improve in the ancient science of husbandry. 



Uncle .Simon is one of those individuals who thihk their 

 own judgment and knowledge better than that of any oth- 

 er person. He will use the same old plough which with 

 divers patchings and repairs, has served the family, for 

 aught i know, ever t^ince its companion was l;ft in Ihe 

 lurrow by Israel Putnam, when he started to fight the 

 British, lie is as firm in Itis own 0|iinion as the ever- 

 lasting hill-:, and will not be persuaded that Ihere arc bet- 

 ter tools in Ihe world than those his father left him. or 

 better ways of performing the labor of a farm than those 

 men knew fifty years ago. It wfuld do you good to go 

 into Ins corn-field, and sec the piles of earth " hilled up" 

 round the slalks, reminding one of the tumuli of llic (ire- 

 cian heroes, a mode of work probably invented by the 

 "Pilgrim Fathers." « ho doubtless found the outer mounds 

 very convenient posts h r sentinels when Indians were 

 lurking near. 



Uncle Zephyrus has a very neat corn-barn elevated on 

 four stone posts, through the slats nf which the golden 

 ears filling two cribs on the opposite sides, may be dis- 

 tinctly seen. But uncle .Simon has a very good substitute 

 lie thinks. Instead of the rack made oi spruce poles in 

 a c(.riier of the orchard, which he used before moving into 

 his new house, he anmially in the harvest season, spreads 

 Ins hundred and fifty bushels on the garret floor, which is 

 the gram! parade ground of an army of rals, that nightly 

 muster abou* the " witching hour," and perform vjirious 

 evoluti()iis, to the no small disturbance ui ihe inmates 

 three stories below. Uncle Simon says c(trn-barns aie 

 iiew-fa.>liioned buildings which only biing expense without 

 convenience. i 



111 his opinion it is very absurd for a man to try lo be a 

 " book farmer ;'' above all, to take those "agricultural pa- 

 pers ;" he will not believe that the valnahic communict- 

 tions in their columns or even the articles of their tah^rit- 

 ed editors can add one single jot tu his sleek of knuw- 

 Icdge. 



Uncle Zephyrus is very obstinate in one particular with 

 which I am not exactly pleased. He spent his early years 

 in dreaminii of woman's love ; he is determined to ^^liow■ 

 to the W(>rld a living exam|'de of man's constancy. So, 

 in spite ol the glances whii;h have been turned on him 

 for fifteen years by sundry spinsters and widows, who 

 while gazing at his comely person, have doubtless thought 

 of his well-filled purse and eighty acre lots, he is still an 

 old bachelor. 



,\nd what has become of Isabel Crey ? 



" VA'hen I would paint thee as ihou art, 

 'Dien all ihoii ircrt conies o'ur hiy heart ■' 



'T18 a revengeful feeling, I know, but 1 sometimes fool 

 a kind of malicious satisfaction when I see her vinegar 

 visage and withered form, and know that ajter having tri- 

 fled with twenty faithful hearts, she married at tfiirly-five 

 a man old as her fathtr, to save herself IVom dying an old 

 maid. 



When you come to Blandville. I will introduce lo you 

 a tall, slender man whoso form at Ihe age of forty lelains 

 Its youlhfnl elegance not even concealed bv a striped frock, 

 and on whose forehead are seen traces of intellectual en- 

 ergy, wliich has strenL-thened as his early follies have fad- 

 ed away, 'i'his worthy gentleman, w hos(r mild blue eye 

 just raised from a copy of Dr. Jackson's (Ic'dogica! Ke- 

 port, whMe he clowly said 



" Mnvt I their ravel oiit 

 My vvraved Tip fullies.'" 



assures me he will forgive his niece for having exposed 

 faults \vhich may be for the benefit of ntliois, ifi univer- 

 sally known among our townsmen as Mr. Ichabod Slicks. 



(JJAKI>K^ vs. FiiM.T) Heans.—Ii \u\^ hvon (oiind 

 out of latp, tlirit fjurdcii Iieniis rcqiiii(! niurli li-ss 

 pork to njve (miimiI Uni]y of flnvor to llit'tii llinii 

 is n<;rc'ds;iry with tin: fu-id .Ii»'aii. Jl has hnn 

 found on nnalysirt that tlir kitlin;y hctn ronitiins 

 U'M jitT renr uf ii-iuinin, alluiiiicn, ^:c., uhilc 



tliH flc'ltl l>ean cotiiaiiis lujt 1 1.7 per cimu. Iiniay 

 l)e added, that oil .?^-o»g- soifs the kiiiney htian ia 



ffpially wliulfdOMie, and nmcli more prolifa* than 

 llif lield bean.— .^»i. .^i;-.* 



Salt for Fruit Trees. - A writer in iho 

 OaiiU'iHjr'^ Ciironirlo pays: — '* I \n\\*i a hiviir 



hand.-onip Kij;arr(*aii cherry tree, wliirli l)l()s;*ot(j- 

 ed and fruited, and llnin droo[ie<i. I ml from the 

 turf, a trian;;itlar six inch (reiifh ri>iind it, six 

 Ibel front iIk; tninU, half tilled it with salt, and pnt 

 the Inrf on again. I liave had iiolile rrnps evt-r 

 sinoe, (apven years,] liut it maki s liiih' nr no wood. 



^ p.' 









COiNCOKIl, N. H . FKBRUARV 28. Ifrlo. 



From the Editor of the Visitor nbroad. 



Cincinunti. Ohw, Feb. 5, 1815. 



Willi 111! tlio iiiloniintioii (ilit.iiiicd (roiii rericliii;; 

 and uitli ull llie iiiforiri.-itiiiii ilcriveil IVom tiavel- 

 \ein aijil i<(j()iini(-is a.s liir ivest as ilji.s pdint, lliere 

 i.s iniii'li that <'aii l)i' reali/.cd uiiiy l)y a pcr.soiial 

 vi.-it tu tliis c-niiiitn ; and tveii then uiioii a sin- 

 gle lii|i we see imly lliat part of llio I'rnad ex- 

 panse fVoni norlli to soiilii coveii<l by a siiiglo 

 iiair-liiie. 



PrevioMs to Tuesday last, 1 hm] never travelled 

 in tliis direction beyond tiie line of llie district 

 of Coliinibia. Having tariied at Wasliington 

 lljrec vvcpl<s, and Lifiiintiing to perceive signs' of 

 tlie crowd and ('unfiisioM to lie endured i!itre lie- 

 Iween the tnifldle of Feliniary and tlic 4th of 

 March, allliougli at an interesting [loint of time 

 in tlie discussion of tlie most interesting sulijecis 

 liefore Congress, I gladly left the Fi'deral eliy on 

 the 28th of .(annary, at si.\ o'clock, anil the no.xl 

 morning fonnd myself nt 13ro\vnvilleat the high- 

 est point navig.alile by sleamhoals of the Ohio 

 river, on the Virginia or lAIonongahil.i hraiich, 

 I'oing a distance of about three hnndred miles. 

 In this rapid ride by railroad and inomilain ride 

 by stage, shut out from the light, T had the oppor- 

 tunity of enijiiiriiig for and discerning many 

 things, in the desirripiinn of which, if I conlil 

 impart on paper any considerable part of the im- 

 pressions made upon my own sen.ses, 1 would 

 consider myself ibrtnnate in nnking the at- 

 teni|'t. 



The conrsc of ibis journey was M|ion the Bal- 

 timore and \V;ishington rain'oad homeward to- 

 wards the north about tuenty-eiglit miles, to the 

 relay house npon the Petapso river, about ten 

 tniles ont of IJaltimore. Here we take ihe Ral- 

 limorc and Ohio railroad, which .-ifter more than 

 twenty years has been completed about two bim- 

 dred miles towards the western cotintry, tn the 

 villiige of Cinnberland silnalcd on the riorlhcrly 

 main branch of ihe Potomac far up in the iiiomi- 

 tains near its sonrce.*. 



This great miderlaking of a railroad was com- 

 menced tinder the aiu-]iices ol' the i!ity of !?alli- 

 more aided by the credit and resomces of the 

 State of IMaryland itsellj at a lime when the con- 

 sfrnction of the same raib'ii.-.d vv-ih greatly irilu- 

 rior ficililies, would cost probably four times as 

 iiiiich as the work would now cost, in view of 

 the milliner in «hicli ihe lirsl part of the Kalti- 

 niore and Ohio railroad w;is eonstrncted and tlio 

 country through which it was made, our siirpri.sc 

 is that those engagi'd in the imdcrtakiiig could 

 fiirifish the means of doing what was done. Mil- 

 lions were e.xpinded for excavation and embank- 

 niein between lialiimore ami Klicolt's mills, ^im- 

 ply to maki' ihe points of depression and eleva- 

 tion a few feel le.s.s, from the inipiession that no 

 railroad conid l>e tenable that was not nearly 

 level. It was not ihen believeil thai steam en- 

 gines could hi; conslrnvti'd of snllicienl power lo 

 encounter sixty, sivenly-tive, and en en ninety feet 

 rise to the mile, wiih an imiiieiiKe weight of cara 

 and mercbandi?.!! allai'heil. 



'J'he (litticiillies of creating a great thorough- 

 fare towards the west from the ftloniinienlal city, 

 the nearest seaport upon ihe Atlantic waters, 

 were aggravated by the rival elfoit of other parts 

 of Vi"giiiia and IMary land, and (specially of tho.-e 

 interested to liiiild up Ihe three (rnjes at the seat 

 of the Federal goveriimenl,lo iiiaUe ii canal along 



