Page:George Weston--The apple-tree girl.djvu/16

 the side of the river, which is worth going many a mile to see. History tells us that Lafayette once walked beneath those elms and talked with Washington. Five years before that Nathan Hale walked under them, too, in the winter when he taught the school at Marlin Mills. Yes, and many a beau and many a belle enjoyed their shade in the days when gentlemen powdered their hair and wore lace cuffs, and the ladies dressed themselves in panniers and danced the minuet.

Perhaps at night, when the mists arise from the river and wreathe themselves among the elms, these couples walk again, re-living hours so happy that they wish to make them immortal. For myself, I know if I were a ghost I would like nothing better than to walk under the old Marlin elms with the spirit of one I had loved, and where the moon shone through the trees to give my partner a stately bow and dance the minuet.