| | 181 | Author: | Flint
Timothy
1780-1840 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | George Mason, the young backwoodsman, or, 'Don't give up the ship"  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Widow, who weepest sore in the night, and whose
tears are on thy cheeks, because thy young children are
fatherless, and the husband of thy bosom and thy youth
in the dust, dry thy tears. Remember Him, who hath
promised to be the husband of the widow, and take
courage. Orphan, who hast seen thy venerated father
taken from thee by the rude hand of death, and whose
thought is, that in the wide world, there is none to love,
pity, or protect thee, forget not the gracious Being, who
has promised to be a father to the orphan, and remember,
that thy business in life is, not to give up to weak
and enervating despondence, and waste thy strength in
sorrow and tears. Life is neither an anthem nor a
funeral hymn, but an assigned task of discipline and
struggle, and thou hast to gird thyself, and go to thy
duty in the strength of God. I write for the young,
the poor, and the desolate; and the moral and the maxim
which I wish to inculcate is, that we ought never to
despond, either in our religious or our temporal trials.
To parents I would say, inculcate the spirit, the duties,
and the hopes of religion upon your children in the
morning and the evening, in the house and by the way.
Instil decision and moral courage into their young bosoms.
Teach them incessantly the grand maxim—self-respect.
It will go farther to gain them respect, and
render them deserving of it, than the bequeathed stores
of hoarded coffers. A child, deeply imbued with self-respect,
will never disgrace his parents. The inculcation
of this single point includes, in my view, the best
scope of education. If my powers corresponded to my
wishes, I would impress these thoughts in the following
brief and unpretending story. The reader will see, if
he knows the country, where it is laid, as I do, that it
is true to nature. He will comprehend my motive for
not being more explicit on many points; and he will not
turn away with indifference from the short and simple
annals of the poor, for he will remember, that nine in
ten of our brethren of the human race are of that class.
He will not dare to despise the lowly tenants of the valley,
where the Almighty, in his wisdom, has seen fit to
place the great mass of our race. It has been for ages
the wicked, and unfeeling, and stupid habit of writers,
in selecting their scenery and their examples, to act as
if they supposed that the rich, the titled, and the distinguished,
who dwell in mansions, and fare sumptuously
every day, were the only persons, who could display
noble thinking and acting; that they were the only characters,
whose loves, hopes, fortunes, sufferings, and
deeds had any thing in them, worthy of interest, or
sympathy. Who, in reading about these favorites of
fortune, remembers that they constitute but one in ten
thousand of the species? Even those of humble name
and fortunes have finally caught the debasing and enslaving
prejudice themselves, and exult in the actions,
and shed tears of sympathy over the sorrows of the
titled and the great, which, had they been recorded of
1*
those in their own walk of life, would have been viewed
either with indifference or disgust. I well know that
the poor can act as nobly, and suffer as bitterly and
keenly as the rich. There is as much strength and
force and truth of affection in cottages as in palaces.
I am a man, and as such, am affected with the noble
actions, the joys and sorrows, the love and death of the
obscure, as much as of the great. If there be any difference,
the deeds, affections, fortunes, and sufferings of
the former have more interest; for they are unprompted
by vanity, unblazoned by fame, unobscured by affectation,
unalloyed by pride and avarice. The actings of
the heart are sincere, simple, single. God alone has
touched the pendulum with his finger, and the vibrations
are invariably true to the purpose of Him who
made the movement. If, therefore, reader, you feel
with me, you will not turn away with indifference from
this, my tale, because you are forewarned, that none of
the personages are rich or distinguished. You will believe,
that a noble heart can swell in a bosom clad in
the meanest habiliments. You will admit the truth as
well as the beauty of the poet's declaration, respecting
the gems of the sea, and the roses that “waste their
sweetness on the desert air;” and you will believe,
that incidents, full of tender and solemn interest, have
occurred in a log cabin in the forests of the Mississippi. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 182 | Author: | Flint
Timothy
1780-1840 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Shoshonee Valley | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | The Shoshonee are a numerous and powerful
tribe of Indians, who dwell in a long and narrow vale
of unparalleled wildness and beauty of scenery, between
the two last western ridges of the Rocky Mountains,
on the south side of the Oregon, or as the inhabitants
of the United States choose to call it, the Columbia.
They are a tall, finely formed, and comparatively
fair haired race, more mild in manners, more
polished and advanced in civilization, and more conversant
with the arts of municipal life, than the contiguous
northern tribes. Vague accounts of them by
wandering savages, hunters, and coureurs du bois, have
been the sources, most probably, whence have been
formed the western fables, touching the existence of
a nation in this region, descended from the Welsh.
In fact many of the females, unexposed by their condition
to the sun and inclemencies of the seasons, are
almost as fair, as the whites. The contributions,
which the nation has often levied from their neighbors
the Spaniards, have introduced money and factitious
wants, and a consequent impulse to build after the
fashions, to dress in the clothes, and to live after the
modes of civilized people, among them. From them
they have obtained either by barter or war, cattle,
horses, mules, and the other domestic animals, in abundance.
Maize, squashes, melons and beans they supposed
they had received as direct gifts from the Wah-condah,
or Master of Life. The cultivation of these,
and their various exotic exuberant vegetables, they
had acquired from surveying the modes of Spanish
industry and subsistence. Other approximations to
civilization they had unconsciously adopted from numerous
Spanish captives, residing among them, in a
relation peculiar to the red people, and intermediate
between citizenship and slavery. But the creole
Spanish, from whom they had these incipient
germs of civilized life, were themselves a simple and
pastoral people, a century behind the Anglo Americans
in modern advancement. The Shoshonee were,
therefore, in a most interesting stage of existence, just
emerging from their own comparative advancements
to a new condition, modelled to the fashion of their
Spanish neighbors. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 183 | Author: | Foster
Hannah Webster
1759-1840 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The coquette, or, The history of Eliza Wharton : a novel, founded on fact | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | An unusual sensation possesses my
breast; a sensation, which I once thought
could never pervade it on any occasion whatever.
It is pleasure; pleasure, my dear Lucy,
on leaving my paternal roof! Could you have
believed that the darling child of an indulgent
and dearly beloved mother would feel a gleam
of joy at leaving her? but so it is. The melancholy,
the gloom, the condolence, which surrounded
me for a month after the death of
Mr. Haly, had depressed my spirits, and palled
every enjoyment of life. Mr. Haly was a man
of worth; a man of real and substantial merit.
He is therefore deeply, and justly regreted by
his friends; he was chosen to be a future guardian,
and companion for me, and was, therefore,
beloved by mine. As their choice; as a good
man, and a faithful friend, I esteemed him. But
no one acquainted with the disparity of our
tempers and dispositions, our views and designs,
can suppose my heart much engaged in
the alliance. Both nature and education had
instilled into my mind an implicit obedience to
the will and desires of my parents. To them,
of course, I sacrificed my fancy in this affair;
determined that my reason should coucur with
theirs; and on that to risk my future happiness.
I was the more encouraged, as I saw, from our
first acquaintance, his declining health; and
expected, that the event would prove as it has.
Think not, however, that I rejoice in his death.
No; far be it from me; for though I believe
that I never felt the passion of love for Mr.
Haly; yet a habit of conversing with him,
of hearing daily the most virtuous, tender,
and affectionate sentiments from his lips, inspired
emotions of the sincerest friendship, and
esteem. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 184 | Author: | Hale
Sarah Josepha Buell
1788-1879 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Keeping house and house keeping | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “My dear,” said Mrs. Harley to her husband
one morning, “I have been thinking we
had better make a change in our domestic department.
Nancy, I find, is getting quite impertinent;
she wants to go out one afternoon
every week, and that, in addition to her nightly
meetings, is quite too much. Shall I settle
with her to-day and dismiss her?” “My dear William—Your earthly treasures
(that is, little John and myself) are running
wild in these Elysian fields. Escaped
from the din and tumult of the ctiy, it is so reviving
to breathe the pure air of this healthful
region, that the principal part of my conversation
is to tell all the kind people whom I see
here how delighted I am with the change, and
how happy they must be who enjoy it all the
time; to which Aunt Ruth generally replies,
`Those who make the change are the people
who are alive to its benefits; while those who
always live amid such beauty become indifferent
spectators.' “Dear Husband—When I last wrote, the
full tide of happiness seemed flowing in upon
me on every side; but alas! the change. Johnny,
the day after I wrote you, was taken ill,
and has continued so ever since. His disease
the doctor pronounces to be the scarlet fever.
To-day he is a little better; and while he is
sleeping, I have taken my writing-desk to his
bedside, that I may be ready to note any alteration. “Afternoon “Dear Aunt—You very good-naturedly
ask me how I like the change from my former
mode of living. I will frankly tell you, that it
scarcely admits a comparison. I blush to recall
my former imbecility, and often wonder
at the long suffering of my friends, and of
William in particular—that he should chide so
little when he felt so much! | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 185 | Author: | Hale
Sarah Josepha Buell
1788-1879 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | "Boarding out" | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “What ails you, my dear?” inquired Robert
Barclay of his wife, as she sat thoughtfully,
twirling her tea-cup. “You seem, of late, very
uninterested in my conversation. Has any
thing gone wrong with you to-day?” “Our plans are all arranged. Little did I
think, when we conversed together upon the
subject of my giving up housekeeping, I should
so soon carry into effect your plan. I call it
yours, for you first suggested to me the expedient
of ridding myself of domestic trials. Mr.
Barclay was at first wholly averse to hearing
a word about it; but, dear Fanny, I talked
hours, yes! days, until he yielded! Was he
not a kind husband? I never suggested to him
that you were prime mover, lest in future time,
if things should not turn out well, you might
be reproached. But, cousin, I am wholly unacquainted
with the process of `breaking up
housekeeping.' I thought we should never get
furnished when we moved here; and now I
feel as if we never should get things in order
for the sale, unless you come immediately and
help me. You will therefore stand by me for
at least three or four weeks; help me look out
a boarding-house, &c. Come in the four o'clock
omnibus this afternoon. Truly, “I was just at my writing-desk, dictating a
note to be sent to you, as your kind one arrived.
Do not think me, Cousin Hepsy, a
maniac, ranting in an untrue style, when I tell
you I had accepted an invitation to stand as
bridemaid to Madam Shortt the very day the
announcement of her marriage was made to
you! My partner (for I will tell the whole)
is Rev. Mr. Milnor, our former clergyman, now
of your city, who knew Colonel Bumblefoot
many years in England, and many since in
America; and, at his urgent request, has consented
to stand nearest him during the ceremony!
But your exclamations are not over
yet. I suppose, at no very distant day, your
cousin, Fanny Jones, may sign her name as
`Fanny Milnor!' You will please communicate
this to your good husband; and if I can
be of any service to you again in a chase for
a boarding-house, you are welcome to my services. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 186 | Author: | Hall
James
1793-1868 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The wilderness and the war path | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | Wiley and Putnam's library of American books | wiley and putnams library of american books | | | | Description: | The life of the American Indian is not so destitute of the interest
created by variety of incident, as might be supposed by a
casual observation of the habits of this singular race. It is true
that the simple structure of their communities, and the sameness
of their occupations, limit the Savage within a narrow sphere of
thought and action. Without commerce, agriculture, learning, or
the arts, and confined to the employments of war and hunting,
the general tenour of his life must be monotonous. His journies
through the unpeopled wilderness, furnish him with no information
as to the modes of existence of other nations, nor any subjects
for reflection, but those which nature supplies, and with
which he has been familiar from childhood. Beyond his own
tribe, his intercourse extends only to savages as ignorant as himself,
and to traders but little elevated above his own moral standard. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 187 | Author: | Herbert
Henry William
1807-1858 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Dermot O'brien; Or, the Taking of Tredagh | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | The bright, warm sunshine of a July morning was pouring
its full stream of vivifying lustre over a wide expanse of wild,
open country, in one of the south-eastern counties of Ireland.
For miles and miles over which the eye extended, not a sign
of a human habitation, or of man's handiwork, was visible;
unless these were to be found in the existence of a long range
of young oak woodland, which lay to the north-east, stretching
for several miles continuously along the low horizon in that
quarter, with something that might have been either a mist-wreath,
or a column of blue smoke floating lazily in the pure
atmosphere above it. The foreground of this desolate, but
lovely landscape, was formed by a wide, brawling stream,
which almost merited the name of a river, and which here
issuing from an abrupt, rocky cleft or chasm, in the round-headed
moorland hills, spread itself out over a broader bed,
flowing rapidly in bright whirls and eddies upon a bottom of
glittering pebbles, with here and there a great boulder heaving
its dark, mossy head above the surface, and hundreds of silver-sided,
yellow-finned trouts, flashing up like meteors from
the depths, and breaking the smooth ripples in pursuit of
their insect prey. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 189 | Author: | Smith
Seba
1792-1868 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | John Smith's Letters, with 'picters' to Match | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Dear Father—I take my pen in hand to let you
know that I'm as hearty as a bear, and hope these few lines will find you, and
mother, and grandfather, and cousin Debby, and
all the children, enjoying
the same blessing. We stood our march remarkable
well, and are all alive, and safe, and
sound as a whistle. And Sargent Johnson makes
a most capital officer. He's jest sich a man as is wanted down
here—there's no skeering him, I can tell you. He'd fight against
bears, and wild-cats, and the British, and thunder and lightnin', and any
thing else, that should set out to meddle with our disputed territory. And he's
taken a master-liking
to me, too, and says if he has any hard fighting
to do, although I'm the youngest in the company,
he shall always choose me first for his right-hand
man. He says I had more pluck at the drafting than any one in the whole
company, and he should rather have me by his side in battle, than any
three of the rest of'em. But maybe you'd like to hear something about our march
down here, and so on. Dear Father—Tell mother I ain't shot yet,
though we've had one pretty considerable of a brush, and expect every day to
have some more. Colonel Jarvis has took quite a liking to our little
Smithville detachment. He says we are the
smartest troops he's got, and as long as we stick by him, it isn't Sir John
Harvey, nor all New-Brumzick, nor even Queen
Victory herself can ever drive him off of Fitzherbert's farm. Perhaps you
mayn't remember much about this Fitzherbert's
farm, where we are. It is the very place where the British nabbed our Land
Agent, Mr. McIntire, when he was abed, and asleep, and couldn't help
himself, and carried him off to Frederiction
jail. Let 'em come and try to nab us, if they dare; if they wouldn't wish
their cake was dough again, I'm mistaken. We've got up pretty considerable
of a little kind of a fort here, and we keep it manned day and
night—we don't more than half of us sleep to once, and are determined
the British shall never ketch us with both eyes shet. Dear Father—We stick by here yet, takin' care
of our disputed territory and the logs; and while we stay here the British will
have to walk as
straight as a hair, you may depend. We ain't had
much fighting to do since my last letter; and some how or other, things
seem to be getting cooler down here a little, so that I'm afraid we ain't agoing
to have the real scratch, after all, that I wanted to have. A day or two
arter we took the logging camp and brought the men and oxen off here prisoners
of war, we was setting in the fort after dinner
and talking matters over, and Sargent Johnson
was a wondering what a plague was the reason
the British didn't come up to the scratch as they talked on. He said he
guessed they wasn't sich mighty fairce fellers for war as they pretended
to be, arter all. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 191 | Author: | Fay
Theodore S.
(Theodore Sedgwick)
1807-1898 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Hoboken | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “Where are Frank and Harry?” asked Mr. Lennox, as
the family assembled at breakfast. “I haven't done anything wrong that I know of; but while
I labour under the imputation I will not accept assistance,
except it is offered because they think me incapable of a
dishonourable action. I seize this occasion to apologize for
my rudeness to Mr. Lennox, once my noble friend and benefactor;
you and all your family have my thanks and best
wishes. I respectfully thank you for your interest in me;
but don't fear, I shall get along somehow, and don't intend
to knock under yet. “Glendenning,” said White, when they were alone,
“you are in an extremely awkward position, and so am
I. I bore your message last evening to Lieutenant
Breckenbridge. He declined receiving it on the plea
that you are not a gentleman.” “Your last, most gratifying favour reached us in due
course of mail. Need I say how the spirit which inspired it
delighted me, and how much we are all charmed with the
friendship which has risen from such a strange cause? We
have left Rose Hill at last. Harry has gone to Europe, and
Mr. Lennox's business requires his presence in New-York.
We all thought and talked of you yesterday, and drank
health and happiness to you, at Mr. Lennox's suggestion, in
Champagne. I added water to mine, but it did not diminish
the ardour of my wishes for your continued prosperity,
or of my prayers that you will receive strength from above
to follow to the end the noble path of reformation you have
adopted. You will have long since learned that all the reasonings
and inferences which seem to militate against the
truth of religion are erroneous, and, though they may tend
to excite doubts, are not sufficient to create unbelief. “Circumstances not necessary to be explained render me
apprehensive that the affair which took place between you
and myself has not been quite properly arranged. The
meeting must be renewed. When acquainted with my
opinion, I feel certain you will require no other inducement
to afford me the satisfaction I have not yet received, and to
name a friend who will immediately make the necessary arrangements. “Circumstances have obliged me to put off the dinner
to-day; I shall not, therefore, have the pleasure of seeing
you. “Come home and share our sorrows. Come home and
lessen our unhappiness—” “Your beloved mother will have informed you of the fine
doings we have had here, or, at least, of some of them. But
don't mind; we'll manage matters yet, only now I must depend
a little more on you. As I have no doubt these
agreeable epistles will bring you home double quick time, I
shall not enter into any particulars, especially as my doctor
pretends that I must yet be careful of my eyes. Keep up
your spirits, and let us see you here when you can conveniently
manage it. We are beginning to feel your absence,
really. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 192 | Author: | Flint
Timothy
1780-1840 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The life and adventures of Arthur Clenning, in two volumes | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Here would be the place to transcribe some of
the incidents of that period, well known by the
cant but significant name, “honey-moon.” Theocritus
must lend his pastoral pencil, and St. Pierre
his unrivalled powers of singing the rural life of
love in the shades of such a retirement, to do ordinary
justice to the history of their enjoyments. In
days of enjoyment like theirs, the youthful imagination
peoples all that surrounds them, with beings
who sympathize with them in their felicity. It is
true, though they were in the midst of a nature no
less pleasant than formerly, they saw it not with
the same eyes; for they were more intently occupied
with each other. The want of the society of
others of their kind was hardly perceived by them,
who possessed in each other
Whatever fancy forms of good and fair,
Or lavish hearts could wish.
The poor birds fluttered, shook their wings, and
sung, and croaked with the joy of welcome, when
they came forth, as formerly. But their fair mistress,
though she saw them fed, as formerly, had
almost forgotten to caress them. The lessons of
Rescue came to a dead pause for a while, though
she showed great shrewdness and penetration, using
her eyes and senses to the utmost advantage. She
often surprised them with proofs of her native
sagacity, and self-taught proficiency. She saw
the two happy beings, with whom she lived, at first,
it may be, with some natural sensations of envy.
But she never failed to evince, that from the first,
she had felt all the ties and obligations of gratitude.
Daily conversant with two beings, as amiable as
they were happy, she soon added the ties of daily
intercourse and affection to her first obligations.
She appeared to love them with the earnest and
simple affection of a child. Their will was a law,
and their thoughts the measure of what was right.
She saw them obliging, kind, and affectionate, in
every word, look, and action; and this view will
more readily inspire homage in the bosom of a
person in a condition like hers, than to see the
parties possessing and exercising the power of life
and death. Each day brought to each of the
three a new succession of pleasures. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 193 | Author: | Foster
Hannah Webster
1759-1840 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The boarding school, or, Lessons of a preceptress to her pupils ; consisting of information, instruction, and advice, calculated to improve the manners, and form the character of young ladies ; to which is added, a collection of letters, written by the pupils, to their instructor, their friends, and each other | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 194 | Author: | Hale
Sarah Josepha Buell
1788-1879 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Sketches of American character | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Travellers, who have made the tour of
Europe, always dwell with peculiar delight on
the sunny skies of Italy; and a host of domestic
writers, never, perhaps, in the whole course
of their existence, beyond that seeming boundary
where their eyes first beheld the horizon
apparently closing around them, join their
voices in the chorus of the sunny skies of
Italy! | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 197 | Author: | Hall
Baynard Rush
1798-1863 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The new purchase, or, Seven and a half years in the far West | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “A knowledge of your character, derived from mutual
friends, from the opinion of all your acquaintances, and also
from a somewhat intimate personal acquaintance, induces
me to believe that such a lady would fill the vacancy in my
domestic establishment most perfectly and delightfully:—
although I am not vain enough to suppose Miss Smythe
will necessarily feel herself flattered by such a preference
on the part of the writer. As, however, Miss S. on better
acquaintance, might become interested in him—more so at
least than he fears she is at present—he very respectfully,
yet most carnestly, craves permission to pay his addresses
in person. “In a playful conversation on a subject so common when
unmarried persons meet, your daughter, Miss Brown, in a
jesting manner, remarked, that she always referred gentlemen
to her father—as his choice would always be hers.
What was jest with her, with me would have become very
solemn earnest, had I had then to offer any thing beyond
my hand and my heart, to induce such a girl to leave such
a home. Happily, circumstances are now favourably altered;
and willingly now would I ask that father for his
daughter could I flatter myself the daughter could be induced
to gladden and adorn a hearth, which, however
warm in one sense, must be yet cold and cheerless without
the love of a bosom friend. And such a friend would Miss
Brown prove:—and, dear sir, if you think such a match
suitable for your lovely daughter, I sincerely entreat the
communication of your favourable opinion to her in my behalf—hoping
that the daughter's choice then may be as the
father's. “The other morning I went out a hunting with father's
duck-gun what he brung out from Kentucky; but as I
had no luck, I allowed I might as well put off for home;
and so I turn about and goes towards home. As I come to
the edge of our clearin, what should I see away off on the
top of a dead walnut, but a black crow! And so I makes
up my mind to try and hit him. The critter was more nor
three hundred yards from me; but I insinuates myself along
as near as two hundred yards to the feller; when he begins
a showing signs of flittin: and so I trees where I was in a
minute. Well, I determines to try him there, although
'twas near as good as desperut to try a black crow that
distance with a shot-gun; although father's duck-gun's
the most powerful shot-gun in the Purchis. Howsomdever,
I wanted the load out; and I thought I might as
well fire that a way as any other—and so up I draws the
piece very careful, and begins a takin aim, thinking all the
while I shouldn't hit him: still I tuk the most exactest aim,
as if I should; when just then he hops about two foot
nearer my way, as if to get a look round my tree, where he
smelt powder—and then, thinking all the time, as I said, I
shouldn't hit him, as the distance was so most powerful
fur, I blazed away!—and sure enough, as I'm alive—I
didn't hit him!” * * * * * * and the inclosed
from my daughter, to whom was handed your late communication,
contains, I presume, the most satisfactory answer,
* * * * and * * * “I honour you for honesty, as I am satisfied you assign
true reasons for not taking one to share your home; although
the reasons themselves can never seem satisfactory where
one was willing to share another's heart. For, like most
girls in their days of romance, that one cared to find only a
heart when she married. As my own home is sufficiently
comfortable, there can be no inducement to wish another,
however comfortable, in the New Purchase; and where its
owner seems to think `altered circumstances' are important
in winning a woman's love. But to show that kindness is
estimated that would spare my delicacy, by leading my dear
father to think all our conversation had been sportive, I do
hereby most cordially—(here John looked! oh! I tell you
what!)—invite you to our Christmas festivities, when the
writer changes her name from Mary Brown to Mary Burleigh.” | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 198 | Author: | Hall
Baynard Rush
1798-1863 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Something for every body | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Dear Charles,—You insist that I am an incorrigible
skeptic, and seem inclined to deliver me over to the secular
arm. “What!” say you, “shall we disbelieve the evidence
of the senses, and the testimony of reputable citizens?”
“What,” you triumphantly ask, “can be more satisfactory
than experiments, such as the citizens of Somewhersburg
have lately witnessed?—men, and even young women (!) rendered
incapable of speaking! and a very mercurial dancing
master arrested at the mere will of the mesmerist, and
made to stand as if petrified, in the act of cutting a pigeon-wing!” | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 199 | Author: | Hall
James
1793-1868 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Harpe's head | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | At the close of a pleasant day, in the spring of the year
17—, a solitary horseman might have been seen slowly
winding his way along a narrow road, in that part of
Virginia which is now called the Valley. It was nearly
forty years ago, and the district lying between the Blue
Ridge and the Allegheny mountains was but thinly populated,
while the country lying to the west, embracing an
immense Alpine region, was a savage wilderness, which
extended to the new and distant settlements of Kentucky.
Our traveller's route led along the foot of the mountains,
sometimes crossing the spurs, or lateral ridges, which
push out their huge promontories from the great chain;
and at others winding through deep ravines, or skirting
along broad valleys. The Ancient Dominion was never
celebrated for the goodness of its highways, and the one
whose mazes he was now endeavoring to unravel, was
among the worst, being a mere path, worn by the feet
of horses, and marked by faint traces of wheels, which
showed that the experiment of driving a carriage over
its uneven surface had been successfully tried, but not
generally practised. The country was fertile, though
wild and broken. The season was that in which the
foliage is most luxuriant and splendid to the eye, the
leaves being fully expanded, while the rich blossoms
decked the scene with a variety of brilliant hues; and
our traveller, as he passed ridge after ridge, paused in
delight on their elevated summits, to gaze at the beautiful
glens that lay between them, and the gorgeous vegetation
that climbed even to the tops of the steepest acclivities.
The day, however, which had been unusually sultry for
the season, was drawing to a close, and both horse and
rider began to feel the effects of hunger and fatigue; the
former, though strong and spirited, drooped his head,
and the latter became wearied with these lonesome
though picturesque scenes. During the whole day he
had not seen the dwelling of a human being; the clattering
of his horse's hoofs upon the rock, the singing of
the birds, so numerous in this region, the roaring of the
mountain stream, or the crash of timber occasioned by
the fall of some great tree, were the only sounds that
had met his ear. He was glad, therefore, to find his
path descending, at last, into a broad valley, interspersed
with farms. He seemed to have surmounted the last
hill, and before him was a rich continuous forest, resembling,
as he overlooked it from the high ground, a solid
plane of verdure. The transition from rocky steeps and
precipices, to the smooth soil and sloping surface of the
valley, was refreshing; and not less so were the coolness
and fragrance of the air, and the deep and varied hues
of the forest, occasioned by the rank luxuriance of its
vegetation. “My father was a native of England, who came to
Virginia when he was quite a young man. He was of
a good family, and well educated; if my mother be
considered a competent witness in such a case, he was
even more,—highly accomplished, and remarkably interesting
in person and manners. He brought letters of
introduction, and was well received; and as soon as it
was understood that his extreme indigence was such as
to render it necessary that he should embark in some
employment, to earn a support, he was readily received
as private tutor in the family of a gentleman, residing
not far from Mr. Heyward, the father of the late Major
Heyward, whose melancholy death I have described to
you. Mr. Heyward also employed him to give lessons
in drawing, and the French language, to his only
daughter, then a girl of about sixteen. A mutual
attachment ensued between my father and this young
lady, which was carefully concealed, because the Heywards,
though generous and hospitable, were proud and
aspiring. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 200 | Author: | Hall
James
1793-1868 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The soldier's bride and other tales | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | A few years ago, that part of the state of New
York which lies along the main route from the
Hudson to the western lakes, presented an agreeable,
but eccentric, diversity of scenic beauty,
combining the wildest traits of nature with the
cheerful indications of enlightened civility and rural
comfort. The desert smiled—but it smiled in its
native beauty. The foot of science had not yet
wandered thither; nor had the ample coffers of a
state been opened, to diffuse, with unexampled
munificence, over a widely spread domain the
blessings of industry and commerce. The beautiful
villages scattered throughout this extensive region,
exhibited a neatness, taste, and order, which would
have been honourable to older communities. Between
these little towns lay extensive tracts of
wilderness, still tenanted by the deer, and enlivened
by the notes of the feathered tribes. Farms, newly
opened, were thinly dispersed at convenient distances.
The traveller, as he held his solitary way
among the shadows of the forest, acknowledged the
sovereignty of the sylvan deities, whose sway seemed
undisputed; but from these silent shades he emerged
at once into the light and life of civilised society.
Such were the effects produced by an industrious
and somewhat refined population, thrown among
the romantic lakes, the fertile vallies, and the boundless
forests of the West. “That agreeable woman, Mrs. B. who has paid
us so many kind attentions, has just sent for me.
She is very ill, and fancies that no one can nurse
her so well as myself. Of course, I can not refuse,
and only regret, that I must part with my dear
Charles for a few hours. Good night. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
|
