ページの画像
PDF
ePub

but with much zeal and apparent interest to all the parties. Even Mohegan seldom came to the Mansion-house, and Natty, never; but Edwards sought every leisure moment to visit his former abode, from which he would often return in the gloomy hours of night, through the snow, or, if detained beyond the time at which the family retired to rest, with the morning sun. These visits certainly excited much speculation in those to whom they were known, but no comments were made, excepting occasionally, in whispers from Richard, who would

say

"It is not at all remarkable ;- -a half-breed can never be weaned from the savage ways, any more than a full-blooded Indian."

END OF VOL. 1.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Southern District of New-York, ss.

BE it remembered, that on the seventeenth day of October, in the forty seventh year of the Independence of the United States of America, Charles Wiley, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit:

"The Pioneers, or the Sources of the Susquehanna; a Descriptive Tale By the Author of "Precaution."

'Extremes of habits, manners, time, and space,

Brought close together, here stood face to face,
And gave at once a contrast to the view,

That other lands and ages never knew.'-Paulding."

In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled, " An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned ;" and also to an Act, entitled, "An Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled, An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."

JAMES DILL,

Clerk of the Southern District of New-York

[blocks in formation]

As the spring gradually approached, the immense piles of snow, that by alternate thaws and frosts, and repeated storms, had obtained a firmness that threatened a tiresome durability, began to yield to the influence of milder breezes and a warmer sun. The gates of Heaven at times seemed to open, and a bland air diffused itself over the earth, when animate and inanimate nature would awaken, and for a few hours, the gayety of spring shone in every eye, and smiled on every field. But the shivering blasts from the north would carry their chill influence over the scene again, and the dark and gloomy clouds that intercepted the rays of the sun were not more cold and dreary than the reaction which crossed the creation. These struggles between the seasons became, daily, more frequent, while the earth, like a victim to conten

tion, slowly lost the animated brilliancy of winter, without obtaining the decided aspect of spring.

Several weeks were consumed in this cheerless manner, during which the inhabitants of the country gradually changed their pursuits from the social and bustling movements of the time of snow, to the laborious and domestic engagements of the coming season. The village was no longer thronged with visiters; the trade, that had enlivened the shops for several months, began to disappear; the highways lost their shining coats of beaten snow in impassable sloughs, and were deserted by the gay and noisy travellers who, in sleighs, had, during the winter, glided along their windings; and, in short, every thing seemed indicative of a mighty change, not only in the earth itself, but in those also, who derived their sources of comfort and happiness from her bosom.

The younger members of the family in the Mansion-house, of which Louisa Grant was now habitually one, were by no means indifferent observers of these fluctuating and tardy changes. While the snow rendered the roads passable, they had partaken largely in the amusements of the winter, which included not only daily rides over the mountains, and through every valley within twenty miles of them, but divers ingenious and varied sources of pleasure, on the bosom of their frozen lake. There had been rides in the equipage of Richard, when, with his four horses, he had outstripped the winds with its speed, as it flew over the glassy ice which invariably succeeded a thaw. Then the exciting and dangerous" whirligig" would be suffered to possess its moment of notice. ters, drawn by a single horse, and hand-sleds, impelled by the gentlemen, on skates, would each in their turn be used; and, in short, every source of

Cut

« 前へ次へ »