Page:Peterson's Magazine 1842, Volume I.pdf/330

. DISTINGUISHED STRANGERS.

A VERMONT SKETCH.

BY GERTRUDE GARLAND.

" I THOUGHT I would just come in and tell you the news ! Mrs. Branch," said the good-natured Mrs. Thomas, the buxom landlady of " The Lion," as she entered the apartment of one of her boarders- her cheeks glowing like the embers, from which, ten minutes before, she had taken the smoking beef-steak- her eyes brighter than her own radiant brittania coffee-pot, and her tongue ready to be as social as the chatty sausages she had been preparing for the table, " I thought I would just drop in and tell you the news !"

"News ! news ! Mrs. Thomas, indeed, and what is it ?" was the quick response of her friend. Now news was a great treat to Mrs. Branch, in common with all the inhabitants of Laurelville. Enclosed on all sides by the Green Mountains-hill rising above hill, with their gently rounded top or rock-capped head, some highly cultivated to their very summit, and others beautiful with wooded sides, and gushing springs, which glancing and dancing in the sunbeams, as they passed over their pebbly beds, gave richness and fertility to their borders, and vied with the songsters ofthe forest in the sweetness of their music, and adorned with a coronet of brilliants, each spray and bending leaf their waters refreshed-this little town lay almost hidden from the world, and buried in its solitude. The stage-coach passed through it twice a week, its ingress and egress announced by the vigorous and rapid repetition of the first ten notes of " Auld Lang Syne," in as loud and harmonious tones as an excellent tin trumpet could produce, in conjunction with strong lungs, good wind, and a willing mind. It was seldom the conveyance of a passenger who was to remain, but always brought a huge leathern bag, containing a few newspapers, and sometimes a letter-always made wonderfully secure with its cumbersome lock and chains. The arrival of this stage and mail was the event of every day on which it occurred, for this, and an occasional journey of some of its inhabitants, were all their means of communication with the great world. Yet here lived a community of several hundred men, women and children who possessed the means of living among themselves and rejoiced in their inherited fields, and while they labored gave thanks for their freedom and their liberty. A district school for children, who under the guidance of Miss. Prim, shot their first ideas- and an Academy, the preceptorship of which had descended from Deacon Jones to his son, each in their turn made pedagogue by their own wants, and the sovereign will of the people, were the meansof giving them a good substantial education, and a taste for reading. This taste was satisfied, but not satiated by a travelling circulating library-the privileges of which were shared equally with all the neighboring villages. It consisted of a huge vehicle, painted bright red, with yellow adornments- a door behind, and a comical shaped sky-light on its top- and might, at first sight, have been mistaken for the pleasure carriage of some mighty beast of the forest, who tired of

" Treading his native wilds and filling vast solitudes with awe!"

had commenced the grand tour of the world, bought his earriage, hired his guide, and was now leisurely taking note of men and manners ; much did " the library" resemble the fancy coaches generally appropriated to the accommodation of their visitors. Two little white horses that evidently had ribs, and were as pale and intellectual looking as the poets of our days- were kept in motion by a long, lank, bony man, with an immense whip, which he used sparingly and with gentleness, preferring to incite them to fresh zeal and energy by continual “ haws and gees," and drawings up of his stiff, unshaven lips to an unsightly and laughable pucker, and smacking out, what if it had touched a fair damsel's rosy cheek, would have been a tremendously sonorous kiss. The internal arrangement of this establishment consisted of queer little dark cup-boards and crannies, for the bestowal of novels, romances, and the nicer sort of books, of alcoves and arches for the substantialities of literature, and of shelves and sliding panels for magazines and periodicals, all systematically arranged on the " multum in parvo" principle. To the treasures there concealed each family in Laurelville could have access, and before it had completed its monthly perambulations, have made themselves masters of the knowledge it dropped at their doors ; then restoring that to its place with which they had become familiar, dip again into the fount and take fresh draughts from this well of knowledge. With these advantages the people of this little town were well informed, somewhat familiar with other nations and countries- intelligent and substantially educated. They knew more of daily domestic duties than of fashions- more of farming than of high life. Generally satisfied with their regular course of labor and enjoyment, with their home comforts and fire-side enjoyments ; had they not yet had a modest inquisitiveness concerning, and an innate fondness for, what they knew so little of, they could hardly as Americans have claimed kindred with us. A piece of news was to them more precious than gold, though that they did not despise-it was the " open sesame" to all ears and hearts, and its possessor had, for the time, a talisman which made him a welcome visitor to all circles, and gave him an honored place at every fire-side. Mrs. Thomas' news was no less than that the English family had arrived, and, that until their house was ready, they