CHAPTER XXXIX.
We receive but what we give And in our life alone does nature live.
COLERIDGE.
Mr. Armstrong was disposed to gratify his daughter, and to follow theadvice of Holden. That very morning, soon after the departure of theSolitary, he accepted an invitation from Judge Bernard, to take adrive with him to one of his farms in the afternoon. Accordingly,the one-horse chaise, which was the usual vehicle in those days,of gentlemen who drove themselves, stopped, late in the day, atArmstrong's door.
"Anne hopes," said the Judge, as they were about to start, "that inretaliation for my capture of your father, Faith, you will come andtake possession of her. For my own part, if I can bring him back witha little more color in his cheeks, I shall expect a kiss or two."
"You shall have three, dear Judge, for every smile you can win fromfather," exclaimed Faith.
The road which the gentlemen took, led, at first, after leavingthe table-land on which their houses were situated, through thethickly-settled and business part of the town, at the head of theSevern, the whole of which it traversed, and then approaching thebanks of the Wootuppocut, followed its windings in a direction towardsits source. The country through which the river flowed presented anappearance of soft and varied beauty, the view of which, while thecool breeze across the stream fanned the fevered brain of Armstrong,ought, if anything could, to have soothed his jarring nerves, andbreathed a portion of its own tranquillity into his heart. Is it nottrue what the sweet poet sings of Nature and her lover, that
"She glides Into his darker musings with a mild And gentle sympathy, that steals away Their sharpness ere he is aware?"
The river, for the greater part of the drive, flowed through a valley,which it divided into two very unequal portions, skirting occasionallywith its left bank the woods that ran quite down the sides of thehills to the water, and then winding away to the right, leavingconsiderable intervals of level land betwixt itself and the woodsabove mentioned, but, almost invariably, having still wider expansesof champaign, that gradually ascended from the stream, until it metthe forest-covered hills that bounded the valley, on the right. Insome instances, the woods extended on both sides down to the river,throwing an agreeable shade over the way-farers, and shedding abroada cool, moist freshness, that brought with itself a woodland-scent,compounded of the fragrance of sassafras, and fern, and sweet-briar,and mosses, and unknown plants. Then, again the road would run fora considerable distance through an open space, unshaded by trees, tocross, a little further on, another belt of woods, thus making theirdarkened recesses doubly grateful from the contrast of alternatinglight and shade, while all along the stream murmured a soft expressionof thanks for the lovely country it irrigated, for the blue sky, thatmirrored itself in its bosom with floating clouds, for the sunshinesparkling on its ripples, and for the overhanging woods, and birds,that sung among the branches.
The disordered spirit of Armstrong was not insensible to the charm.He gazed round, and drank in the beauty by which he was surrounded.He scented the sweetness of the woods, and it seemed to impart anagreeable exhilaration. In the pauses of the conversation, hithertocarried on almost entirely by Judge Bernard, he listened to themonotonous, yet soothing flow of the water, and it sounded like aninvitation to cast off trouble. As he listened the shooting painin his head diminished, his thoughts became less sombre, and hesurrendered himself to something like enjoyment. Very soon it seemedas if he were exerting himself to be agreeable to his companion, andto make up, by taking a more active part in the conversation, forformer silence and neglect.
"This clear river," he said, "this beautiful valley, with its quietwoods, are a blessing to me to-day. It is a pleasure to breathe theair. Has Italy bluer skies?"
"The encomiums of travellers on the skies of Italy are to be receivedby us with some qualification," answered the Judge. "They are mostlywritten by Englishmen, and the comparison is between the humid climateof England and the drier one of Italy. This being borne in mind, thepraises lavished on Italian skies are just. But as compared with ours,they can boast of little or no superiority in beauty. I have seen asgorgeous heavens in my own country as ever glorified the land of theCaesars."
"And how is it with the landscape?"
"There we must yield to Europe. We have nothing to be compared withthe grandeur of the Swiss mountains, or the combination of lovelinessand magnificence around the lake of Geneva."
"But Niagara!"
"Aye, Niagara! unequalled and alone. There can be but one Niagara."
"And the Alleghany and White Mountains?"
"Fine scenery, but hills in comparison with the mountains ofSwitzerland."
"And now for the works of man. You must have been struck by thecontrast between the towns in our own country and in Europe."
"Yes, certainly, the difference is great."
"In what does it consist?"
"Principally in the newness of the one, and the oldness of the other.There, what one sees reminds him of the past; here, he beholds onlypresentiments of the future."
"There is a great difference, I am told, and read too, in the style ofbuilding."
"You may well say that. Here there is no style. Our houses are modelsof bad taste, and pretty much all alike. The time will undoubtedlycome when we shall have a domestic architecture, but it will requiresome years before we get rid of narrow cornices, innumerable smallwindows, and exclusive white paint."
"You should make allowances for us," said Armstrong, deprecatingly."Consider the poverty of a new country, and the material that povertycompels us to use."
"I am willing to allow the excuse all the weight it deserves, but Icannot understand how poverty can be an excuse for bad taste, or whybecause wood is used, a house may not be made to have an attractiveappearance. I think there are other reasons more efficacious than theplea of poverty, which can, indeed, no longer be made."
"Come, come," said Armstrong, "you do not love anything about usPuritans, and your objections, if politeness would allow you tospeak them out plainly, would be found to contain a fling at Calvin'schildren; but hearken, if I cannot find excuses to satisfy even you."
"I shall listen eagerly, but must correct you in one thing. I not onlylove some things about the Puritans, but some Puritans themselves."
"Surely, I know it. But now listen to my defence. The first settlementof the country was attended with a great many hardships. The countrywas colder than the immigrants were accustomed to; they arrived in thewinter, and the first thing to be attended to was to secure shelter.Under these circumstances you will admit that attention to theprinciples of architecture was not to be expected. They knocked uphouses as cheaply, and plainly, and rapidly as possible, content ifthey kept out wind and weather. Wood was preferred, because it wascheaper, and quicker worked. Thus lived the first generation. Thecondition of the second was somewhat improved; they had becomeaccustomed to their houses and were tolerably satisfied. The third hadnever seen anything better, and not having the means of comparison,could not make it to their own disadvantage, and finally, as man is acreature of custom and habit, and reverence, they learned to regarda style of building that had sprung out of the necessities of theirancestors, as an evidence not only of good sense, but of good taste.The immigrants, arriving from time to time, might have disabused them,but these would naturally fall into the ways and sentiments of thepeople, and were their tastes ever so ambitious, probably had not themeans to gratify them. This is the origin, and thus is to be explainedthe continuance of American architecture."
"An architecture," said the Judge, "that would have driven a Greekout of his senses. But though I will not quarrel with you aboutits origin, does not its perpetuation for so long a time affect thecharacter of our countrymen for taste?"
"It will pass away," said Armstrong, gloomily, "and with it the sternvirtues that are of more importance than a trifle like this."
"There can be no connection between an improvement in
architecture,and a deterioration of morals."
"Prosperity brings wealth, and wealth is the means to gratify thecaprices of luxury and taste. Perhaps, at some future day when stoneand marble shall have susperseded wood and brick; and magnificentGrecian and Gothic temples, resplendent in stained glass, taken theplaces of the humble, unpretentious meeting-houses, the thoughtful andjudicious will sigh for those times of primitive simplicity, when anhumble heart was more than an ostentatious offering, and God's wordwas listened to devoutly on hard seats instead of being dozed over incushioned pews."
"You are becoming gloomy, Armstrong," said the Judge. "This willnever do. Progress, man, progress I tell you is the word. The world isimproving every day. Banish these sick fancies."
Armstrong shook his head. "I envy you," he said, "your hopeful andjoyous spirit, while I know you are mistaken."
"Well, well, my friend, I wish I could give you a portion of it. Butto come back to where we started from. After finding so much fault, itis time to praise. However we may ridicule the ugliness of our houses,this much must be admitted in favor of our villages and country towns,that in cleanliness and an appearance of substantial comfort, theyinfinitely surpass their rivals in Europe. I do not except thevillages in England. Who can walk through one of our New Englandcountry towns, where majestic elms throw their shadows over spaciousstreets, and the white rose clambers over the front doors of the neat,white painted houses, standing back a rod or two from the street withgardens stretching behind, while Peace and Plenty bless the whole, andnot be grateful for a scene so fair, for a land so fortunate!"
They had now arrived in sight of the Judge's farm-house, which stoodat some distance from the main road, from which a lane planted on bothsides with maples, led to it. As they drove along the Judge pointedout the changes he had made since he became the owner.
"When I purchased the property," he said, "the house looked verydifferently. It was stuck full of little insignificant windows thataffected me like staring eyes; its two or three inches of cornicestole timidly out, as if ashamed of itself, over the side, and thewhole wore an awkward and sheepish air. It made me uncomfortable everytime I looked at it, and I resolved upon an alteration. So I shut uphalf the windows, and increased the size where I could, and threwout a cornice, which, besides the merit of beauty, has the practicaladvantage (that is the national word, I believe) of acting as anumbrella to protect the sides against the mid-day heat of the sun insummer, and the storms in winter. Besides, I added the veranda, whichruns nearly the whole length of the front."
"I confess it is an improvement upon the ancestral style," saidArmstrong.
"I expected the acknowledgment from your natural taste, which isexcellent," said the Judge laughing, "except when corrupted bytraditional prejudices. I must take care of my horse myself, Isuspect," he added, as they drove up to the door: "the men areprobably all in the fields. He will stand, however, well enough underthis shed." So saying, and after Armstrong had alighted at the door,he drove the horse under a shed, near the barn, and fastened him; thenjoining Armstrong, the two entered the house.
"La, Judge!" said Mrs. Perkins, the farmer's wife who received them,smoothing down her check apron, "you take us by surprise to-day. Wedidn't expect you, and the men-folks is all in the lot. Didn't youfind your ride very warm?"
"Not very; and if it had been, the pleasure of seeing you, Mrs.Perkins, would more than compensate for any annoyance from the heat."
"You are so polite, Judge," replied Mrs. Perkins, simpering. "Ideclare you are equal to a Frenchman."
With all his French education, this was a remark the Judge would havebeen willing to dispense with; however on the French principle ofconsidering that as a compliment, the meaning of which is equivocal,he bowed and introduced Mr. Armstrong.
Mrs. Perkins courtesied. "She'd heard," she said, "of Mr. Armstrong,and that he had the handsomest daughter, in the town of Hillsdale."
"It is your turn now," whispered the Judge. "Let me see how you willacquit yourself."
But Armstrong was not a man for compliments.
"Faith looks as well as young ladies generally I believe," he said.
Mrs. Perkins did not like to have her pretty speech received with somuch indifference, so she answered,
"I was, perhaps, too much in a hurry when I called Squire Armstrong'sdaughter, the handsomest: I forgot Anne, and she's a right to be,sence she's got her father's good looks."
"Dear Mrs Perkins, you overwhelm me!" exclaimed the Judge, bowingstill lower than before. "I think higher than ever of your taste."
"Ah! You're poking fun at me, me now," said Mrs. Perkins, hardlyknowing how to receive the acknowledgment. "But wouldn't you like totake something after your ride?"
Those were not the days of temperance societies, and it would havebeen quite _secundum regulas_, had the gentlemen accepted the offeras intended by their hostess. The Judge looked at Armstrong, whodeclined, and then turning to Mrs. Perkins said,
"The strawberry season is not over, I believe"--
"Oh! I can give you strawberries and cream," interrupted thehospitable Mrs. Perkins.
"And would you be so kind as to give them to us in the veranda? Thesun does not shine in, and it will be pleasanter in the open air."
"Sartainly. Eliza Jane!" she cried, elevating her voice and speakingthrough an open door to one of her little daughters, with a bloomingmultitude of whom Providence had blessed her,
"Eliza Jane, fetch two cheers into the piazza. That piazza, Judge, isone of the grandest things that ever was. The old man and me and thechildren, take ever so much comfort in it."
"I am glad you like it. But we will spare your daughter the trouble oftaking out the chairs, and carry them ourselves."
"Not for the world, Judge, for I think it's best to make childrenuseful."
Accordingly Eliza Jane brought the chairs, and the mother retiringwith her, soon returned with the little girl, bearing in her handsa tray containing the strawberries and cream. The Judge kissed thechild, and gave her a half dollar to buy a ribbon for her bonnet.
"I do declare Judge!" cried the mother, whose gratified lookscontradicted the language, "you'll spoil Eliza Jane."
"A child of yours cannot be spoiled, Mrs. Perkins," said the Judge,"as long as she is under your eye. With your example before her, sheis sure to grow up a good and useful woman."
"Well, I try to do my duty by her," said Mrs. Perkins, "and I don'tmean it shall be any fault of mine, if she ain't."
It was nearly sunset by the time the gentlemen had finished, when theJudge proposed to visit a piece of wood he was clearing at no greatdistance from the house. Armstrong acquiesced, and they started off,Mrs. Perkins saying, she should expect them to stop to tea.
Their route lay through some woods and in the direction of theWootuppocut, on whose banks the clearing was being made. As theyapproached, they could hear, more and more distinctly, the measuredstrokes of an axe, followed soon by the crash of a falling tree. Then,as they came still nearer, a rustling could be distinguished among theleaves and the sound of the cutting off of limbs. And now they heardthe bark of a dog, and a man's voice ordering him to stop his noise.
"Keep still, Tige!" said the voice. "What's the use of making such aracket? I can't hear myself think. I say stop your noise! shut up!"
"It is Tom Gladding, whom Perkins hired to make the clearing, oneof the best wood-choppers in the country. It is wonderful with whatdexterity he wields an axe."
As the Judge uttered these words, the two gentlemen emerged from thewood into the open space, denuded of its sylvan honors, by the laborsof Gladding.
The clearing (as it is technically termed), was perhaps a couple ofacres in extent, in the form of a circle, and surrounded on all sidesby trees, only a narrow strip of them, however, being left on themargin of the river, glimpses of which were caught under the branchesand the thin undergrowth. A brook which came out of the wood, ran,glistening in the beams of the setting sun, and singing on its wayacross th
e opening to fall into the Wootuppocut. The felled trees hadbeen mostly cut into pieces of from two to four feet in length, andcollected into piles which looked like so many altars scattered overthe ground. Here it was intended they should remain to dry, during thesummer, to be ready for a market in the fall.
"So it's you, Judge and Mr. Armstrong," exclaimed Gladding as the twocame up. "I guessed as much, that somebody was coming, when I heardTige bark. He makes a different sort of a noise when he gits on thescent of a rabbit or squirrel."
"I dare say, Tiger knows a great deal more than we fancy," said theJudge. "Why, Gladding you come on bravely. I had no idea you had madesuch destruction."
"When I once put my hand to the work," said Tom, laughing, "down theymust come, in short metre, if they're bigger than Goliah. Me and myaxe are old friends, and we've got the hang of one another prettywell. All I have to do, is to say, 'go it,' and every tree's a goner."
After this little bit of vanity, Tom, as if to prove his ability tomake good his boast by deeds, with a few well-directed blows, thatseemed to be made without effort, lopped off an enormous limb from thetree he had just cut down.
"I've heard tell," said Tom, continuing his employment of cutting offthe limbs, "that the Britishers and the Mounseers don't use no suchaxes as ourn. You've been across the Big Pond, and can tell a fellowall about it."
"It is true, they do not. The European axe is somewhat differentlyshaped from your effective weapon."
"The poor, benighted critturs!" exclaimed Tom, in a tone ofcommiseration. "I saw one of them Parleyvoos once, try to handle anaxe, and I be darned, if he didn't come nigh cutting off the great toeof his right foot. If he hadn't been as weak as Taunton water--that,folks say, can't run down hill--as all them outlandish furriners is,and had on, to boot, regular stout cowhiders, I do believe he'd neverhad the chance to have the gout in one toe, anyhow. Why, I'd as soontrust a monkey with a coal of fire, in a powder-house, as one of themchaps with an axe."
"We have the best axes, and the most skillful woodmen in the world,"said the Judge, not unwilling to humor the harmless conceit of thewood-chopper.
"It's plaguy lucky we have, seeing as how we've got so many thousandsand thousands of acres to clear up," said Tom, with a sort of confusednotion, that the skill of his countrymen was a natural faculty notpossessed by "furriners." "But, Judge," he added, "I'm astonished atyour cutting down the trees at this season of the year, and it kind o'goes agin my conscience to sling into 'em."
"I know what you mean. You think they ought not to be cut when the sapis rising. I suppose, the fire-wood is not so good?"
"Not half. Turn the thing as you choose, and you'll see you're wrong.In the first place, the wood ain't nigh as good; then, you lose thegrowth the whole summer, and, lastly, you take away a fellow frombusiness that's more profitable."
"How?" said the Judge. "Do I not give you full wages? Can you gethigher wages elsewhere?"
"No fault to find with the pay," answered Tom; "that's good enough.But, that ain't the idee. What I'm at is, that when I work, I like tosee something useful come to pass. Now, every time I strike a blow,it seems to go right to my heart; for, I says to myself, this ain't noseason for cutting wood. The Judge don't understand his own interest,and he's only paying me for injuring him."
Judge Bernard was too well-acquainted with the honest independence ofGladding to be offended at his uncomplimentary frankness. Nor, indeed,looking at it from Tom's point of view, could he avoid feeling acertain respect for that right-mindedness, which regarded not merelythe personal remuneration to be received, but, also, the generalbenefit to be produced. He laughed, therefore, as he replied--
"You do not seem to set much value on my judgment, Gladding. Perhaps,I have objects you do not see."
"It ain't to be expected," said Tom, "and it ain't rational tosuppose, that a man, who, when he was young, spent his time travellingover all creation, and then when he come home, took to the law, shouldknow much about these matters; though, I guess you know as much asmost folks, who ain't been brought up to 'em. But, as you say, it'slikely you've got reasons of your own, as plenty as feathers in a bed,and I've been talking like most folks whose tongues is too long, likea darned fool."
"You are too hard on yourself, now. But, for your consolation, we willstop to-day with this piece of work, and you shall not be pained tocut down any more trees out of season. The clearing is as large asI wish it, and we will see to the burning of the brush, when it isdrier. But, where is Mr. Armstrong?"
Armstrong, at the commencement of the conversation, had strayed awayby himself, and sat down by one of the altar-like piles of wood, nearthe margin of the brook. Here he leaned his head on his hand, andseemed lost in meditation. He was in this posture when the exclamationwas made by the Judge, who, on looking round, discovered the missingman, and immediately advanced toward him. So deep was his abstraction,that it was not until his friend's hand rested on his shoulder thathe was aware of the other's presence. He arose, and the two retracedtheir steps together. The sun, by this time, had sunk behind thehorizon, and, as they passed, Gladding threw his axe on his shoulderand joined their company.
"I'm glad," said the wood-chopper, as they stepped out of theclearing, and turned to look back upon what he had accomplished, "thatjob's done, and I can turn my hand to something else more like summerwork."
"Do you mean to proceed no further with your chopping?" inquiredArmstrong.
"Not at present. All has been done that I desired, and I ought torespect Gladding's conscientious scruples."
Armstrong looked inquiringly from one to the other, but asked noquestion.
The hospitable invitation of Mr. and Mrs. Perkins was too pressing tobe resisted, and it was not until the full moon had risen, that thegentlemen departed. The soft beauty of the delicious evening, or someother cause, exercised an influence over Armstrong, that disposedhim to silence and meditation, which his companion perceiving, theyreturned home without exchanging scarcely a dozen words.