172 



^l)c JTaiincr's iUoutl)li3 Visitor- 



formal terms of iVieiKlshili. When oiu-bani and 

 ill! the ro<klcr was huriit some ten years since, at 

 the hefrinnin'T of whiler, he came the next day 

 und toUl my father that he had ploity of liay for 

 both, and shonhl feel it unkind if he did not 

 send and f>et it, as we had occasion to use it 

 for our catth'. And when the frame was ready 

 for another barn, he came witli Ids man, and as- 

 sisted the whole day, and when the bottle was 

 tinown from the ridge-pole, was as loud as the 

 loudest in the three hearty cheers that follovvcd. 

 He oifered too his horse: " Robert," said he, 

 " money will work cheaper than credit. This 

 has been an accident that could not be foreseen, 

 jukI if you lack any cash for the occasion, 1 will 

 Jet yon"have it, for'l have just about enough by 

 njefor such an object." This was not wanted ; 

 but the hay we accepted, and the only pay Uncle 

 Jacob woiild receive, was what he terujpd an 

 anchor to the wind" anl: when his barn should 

 burn down he should come and help himself 

 for what he had lent. 



With his other brother he had held no inler- 

 course. On my nude Jacob's return tiom tlic 

 west, I have heard my lather say Ite was for a 

 time in a sort of melancholy slate lor a year or 

 so, when he took up the little firm where he 

 now resides; that he never heard him speak of 

 his brother William in any way ; and that no 

 soi-t of intercourse was kno^vn to exist between 

 them. lie supposed what the cause was, but it 

 had no l)reall) fiom my uncle Jacob. 



Things were no" coming right, and a social 

 intercourse about to be established, to be inter- 

 rupted only bv the lapse of time, which makes 

 and breaks ail compacts, and the influence was 

 diffused all round. 



Among the beneficial influences of our New 

 England"hahits, social visits may be enumerated. 

 If we spend an afternoon with our neighbor — 

 observe every thing in order, his fields clean 

 liom wced.s, his crops promising, his cattle neat, 

 and good contrivances li>r saving labor and ma- 

 nure, do we not go home benefitted, to say notli- 

 ing of the information derived from llie practical 

 lesspns of conversation r 



We go to work and adopt the im|iri)veiiients 

 we have seen, double our diligence, that, as my 

 uncle Jacob says, we shall not be outdone by 

 our neighbors, and derive the furllier a<lvantagc 

 of beuehtling ©nrselves. This of out door af- 

 fiiirs is but a cloudy day, perfect iniliflereuce to 

 the efJect.s in doors. The paiuls are scrubbed, 

 the tins scoured, the fuiniture rubbed, and the 

 windows wasiied, and the floors, too, get an ab- 

 luiiou of water, soft soap and sand, just as likely 

 on a cold raw easterly day a.-i any other time, 

 says my uncle. Thus it i.s, one acts upon an- 

 other, and the whole community feels the im- 

 pulse ; and may we not attribute the improved, 

 beauliful and improving condiiion of New Kng- 

 land in no small degree to ihe effects ol' our so- 

 cial habus ? 



•' I begin to grow nervous about this meeting 

 of ours," said my Uncle Jacob one ffiie nioon- 

 liirht evening in October, as he drew his chair 

 to'vvards llie fire which sent its genial rays upon 

 the wall. "Tiie aftiiir is new lo me, I have 

 lived so lorn; apart fnun all these things." 



■' Why, uncle, I live upon it ; I think that we 

 .■^hall have a verv hapi'V lime." 



'• Every thing will be ready, I think," remarked 

 he: "I never saw fouls feed beitei- than ihcty 

 do. 1 have given them the laal year's corn and 

 oats, and am trying tlie experiment of charcoal ; 

 but I do not perceive that ihcy eat much or any 

 of it." 



" Do vou think the old grain best ?" 

 "Beyond a doubt, poultry will lay eggs belter 

 and bcuer, fatleued. as indeed will all animals, 

 on well kept grain that has age. 1 have loiuz 

 known and practised this," saiii my uncle, "and 

 if my corn crop had failed this year I should 

 have had enough ; and two years of scarcity 

 have never followerl each oilier." 



" Of all the festivals," said my uncle, as he re- 

 curred to that in whiidi he now felt so much in- 

 terest, " none that 1 have ever heard or read of 

 is so appropriate as our thanksgiving; and there 

 is not to be luiinil on the face of the eartli, and 

 never lias lieen, a people who had so much cause 

 for gratel'iil emotions as the American liiriner.-. 

 No where is such a class to be Ibmid. In Eng- 

 land, France, or (jernmny, which arc the only 

 nalions that any comparison might be looked for, 



the farmers are but the laborers, not the owners 

 of the soil ; und in that manly intelligence and 

 independence which is so common that we take 

 no note of it, nothing of the kind is to be fotmd 

 amonsr them. Here we feed upon luxuries that 

 they know nothing about; and these considera- 

 tions are causes of gratitude at all times. But 

 further, il is now the close of the season ; our 

 barns, our corn cribs and our cellars are full. 

 What a fragrance meets us as we descend from 

 the fine apples laid in for a winter's evening! 

 It is all our ojvn ; and no man in scarlet or in 

 purple dares dispute our right. And what a cli- 

 mate, loo, we have at this part of the year! what 

 calmness and beauty! All who have seen both, 

 unite in the excelling grandeur and beauty of 

 our autumnal scenery. 



"Touched by the nightly frosts, the forerunner 

 of winter, the yellow, the red, the brown and 

 the green of the liiiest hill side blend together, 

 andthe crimpling leaves under our feet speak us 

 to age a lesson of beauty to the eye and moral 

 to the heart. I drink in and feel this." said my 

 uncle, "and get almost as much benefit from a 

 walk in the woods at this season as from a ser- 

 mon. As a people we are hardly sensible ofonr 

 advantages in tile most fivored country yet 

 known. 'I'he feeling of joy upon the earth's in- 

 crea.se has always existed; and it is sufficient 

 for my classical knowledge lo recollect that Ihe 

 Greeks feasted and drank in honor, as it is term- 

 eil, of Ceres and Bacchus, the gods of harvests 

 and of wine. The Romans too had their feasts; 

 and modern Fiiirope revels at Christmas and the 

 Carnival. But it was left to America, surpassing 

 them ill lakes, rivers, scenery, frcedotn, people 

 and plenty, lo onulo them here also; amino 

 prototype can be found having so much to rec- 

 onunend it as that established in deep feelings 

 of dependent gratitude. 



"This NewEugland festival is becoming, and 

 J am rejoiced to observe it, more and more an 

 American festival. It is spreading wider and 

 wider, west and south ; anil wherever a true son 

 of the north may be found, he will ob.serve it; 

 bis heart will yearn towaiils Ihe land of his pa- 

 rentage ; the home of his youth, and the scenes 

 of his childhood ; and he will remember with 

 dewy eyes, the puddings and the pies, the broth- 

 ers, sisters and cousins thai he once met on this 

 day, but which, alas, he shall meet no more." 



" I hope," said my uncle, as he knocked the 

 ashes from his pipe— the precursor for bed — 

 "that this purely American feslival will find fa- 

 vor ill every American bosom." 



"Time and the hour run through the longest 

 day." Had my uncle been in age as near twenty 

 as he is seventy, and had the evening been ap- 

 pointed for the" tying of that knot which will not, 

 I annot be undotie, he could not 1 think have 

 been more watchful, not to say impatient. 



"i believe they will answer," he said to my 

 wife four days previous, as he looked at the tur- 

 keys, chickens, and ducks, when he had hung 

 tliein up in ilic bnitciy, and in tnilli I never saw 

 finer, covered as ihey were wilh abundance of 

 white fat. 



We have one tree of the Harvey apple, which 

 he insists upon it are the best for pies, as his 

 grandfather did bclbre him: these he careliilly 

 pre[iared liir cooking, and he declared that "our 

 PegL'v" makes as good pies as any woman in 

 NcwHampshire. I uinsl say, that more palata- 

 ble crust 1 never tasted; and yourcorrespondent 

 John Smith would have been pleased with llie 

 seasoning of rose water, which we were so sea- 

 sonably reminded of last spring. All the com- 

 pany complimented the pastry. Margaret's fa- 

 llier said that he was nol aware of her being so 

 i;ood a cook. Her uncle William remarked as 

 he took the third slice, that either Ihe dinner or 

 his appetite was excellent ; and aunt Mary ac- 

 knowledged that she had never been able to 

 make such flaky crust, rich, she said, without 

 beini: fally. 



1 began to think that 1 had been most fortu- 

 nate, and when I recoliectcd that Bill Tompkins 

 tried at one time to win her, I felt my heart flut- 

 ter, and drew a short breath. 



But 1 am so (dated that I find myself ahead of 

 my story, and before the company or day has ar- 

 rived, 1 am finishing off the dinner, which was 

 .sufficiently good to satisfy the most llislidious— 

 to fulfil the utmost wishes of my uncle Jacob— 

 to excite mv vauitv, and make my wife feel that 



she had laken a stand respectable and respected 

 in New England society. 



The other day my tincle said, as he held up 

 his coal by Ihe collar hetiire pniling it on, " This 

 is not quite Ihe thing. Bob, and 1 must have a 

 new one : it has served as my go-to-meeting coat 

 lor twenty-three years, and has neither a patch 

 upon il; but the threads appear upon the cuffs 

 and elbows; and, Peggy, what color shall 1 se- 

 lect ?" 



" None better than a brown." 

 "And yon must go to Concord with me, for I 

 am but a poor judge in these matters; and i 

 must also have a new hat, and both of American 

 growth and manufacture, too. Those who btjy 

 my corn shall iiave my money, or rather 1 will 

 return il to theni for their labor," said my uncle- 

 "This money and currency that we talk so tnuch 

 about is but the measure of value, the universal 

 yard-stick, and is worth tittle else than lo ascer- 

 tain the worth of what we eat, drink and wear." 

 The new clothes were finished to an excellen t 

 fit, and the wearer became them so well thtU 

 some of his acquaintances scarcely knew him. 

 And when the anthem was being sung that fol- 

 lowed a most appropriate sermon, my uncle 

 stootl up, and turned round to face ihe choir : 

 there was not a better looking man of his age ii» 

 the whole assembly. 



Presently on onr return home, where my wife 

 had remained lo see to the dinner, my father and 

 five younger brothers and sisters arrived ; next, 

 Margaret's parents and six children ; then cousin 

 Mary and her husband— all of whom my uncle 

 received at the door, and gave cousin Mary a 

 kiss lo top off the welcome. Rut he was evi- 

 dently uneasy, and sat his chair where he could 

 see lo the end of the lans where it joins the 

 main road. A carriage turned in, and Mary 

 going to the window said it was her "father anrf 

 mother. My uncle was embarrassed. I hatJ 

 never seen him so much so- They were at the 

 door ; his brother alighted— tliey shook hands, 

 looked each other in the face, but if they spoke, 

 1 did not catch the word. For forty years and 

 more they had not met. My aunt Mary was 

 handing out her children, some six or seven fine 

 boys and girls all grown or nearly so. As she 

 descended wilh hers she met bis extended hand, 

 and said, "Jacob I am pleased to see yon." He 

 looked in her face like one who doubts; bespoke 

 not. 1 saw his hand press hers, and then he 

 led her to a seat by the fire-side. 



All the nephews and nieces came one after 

 another and shook hands when their names were 

 meniioned. To each of his nieces triy imele 

 paid some complintent of fine eyes or fine hair, 

 or rosy cheeks; and then he placed himself be- 

 side his first, his only object of early attachment. 

 They eyed each other, and every moment ap- 

 peared to become belter acquainted, while the 

 whole company fell inlo conversation. 



Pe^gy opened the door and said, " dinner is 

 ready." 



All dinner scenes in New England are similar: 

 they are the places where diffidence is worn off; 

 strangers become acquainted ; and towards the 

 close, all are apt to become officiously polite. 



1 have already sufficiently anticipated and en- 

 larged upon Ihe scene, where description must 

 fiiil. The younger part of the company follow- 

 ed, and passed the best encomium upon the 

 plum puddings, whith were reconnnended by a 

 sauce in uliicii the rose water was found. 



'J'lie sun had gone down before dinner was 

 over; the brothers and sisters, who wei-e the 

 seniors, passed ihe evening in ralional conversa- 

 lion. My uncle Jacob was attentive, but rather 

 a listener than a speaker, and only smiled when 

 his nieces of different ages came to put a kiss 

 upon his cheek in redemption of u pawn, from 

 the large room. 



Here indeed, as it should be, was innocent 

 uiirlli and iolity. Some of the aequainlances of 

 my grown cousins had come in, and dancing, 

 blind man's buff", robin's alive, and pawns, fol- 

 lowed each other, dispelling avvkward diffidence, 

 unfolding character, and bringing Iheni better 

 acquainted wilh each other. 'J'hese are the so- 

 cial enjoyments of childhood, of approaching 

 manhood, and of matured year.s, and no son or 

 (laiigliler of New England, go where he may, 

 under whaiever sky his enterprise or fortunes 

 may place him, but recurs with a beating bosom 



