Soon after the close of the war, Alonzo received a letter from his friend, Jack Brown, dated at an interior parish in England,--in which, after pouring forth abundance of gratitude, he informed, that on returning to England he procured his discharge from the navy, sold his house, and removed into the country, where he had set up an inn with the sign of _The Grateful American_. "You have made us all happy, said he; my dear Poll blubbered like a fresh water sailor in a hurricane, when I told her of your goodness. My wife, my children, all hands upon deck are yours. We have a good run of business, and are now under full sail, for the land of prosperity." Edgar married to one of the Miss Simpsons, whose father's seat was in the vicinity of the village. The parents of Alonzo and Melissa were their frequent visitors, as were also Vincent and his lady, with many others of their acquaintance, who all rejoiced in their happy situation, after such a diversity of troubles. Alfred was generally once a year their guest, until at length he married and settled in the mercantile business in Charleston, South Carolina. To our hero and heroine, the rural charms of their secluded village were a source of ever pleasing variety. Spring, with its verdured fields, flowery meads, and vocal groves: its vernal gales, purling rills, and its evening whippoorwill: summer, with its embowering shades, reflected in the glassy lake, and the long, pensive, yet sprightly notes of the solitary strawberry-bird;[A] its lightning and its thunder; autumn with its mellow fruit, its yellow foliage and decaying verdure; winter, with its hoarse, rough blasts, its icy beard and snowy mantle, all tended to thrill with sensations of pleasing transition, the feeling bosoms of _Alonzo and Melissa_. [Footnote A: A bird which, in the New England states, makes its first appearance about the time strawberries begin to ripen. Its song is lengthy, and consists of a variety of notes, commencing sprightly, but ending plaintive and melancholy.] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Chronology Based on references to datable external events, the story covers at least ten years. The parts of the book that take place in Connecticut are filled with descriptions of changing seasons. Europe and the southern states have no climate. "two young gentlemen of Connecticut ... graduated at Yale College" "Beauman ... came regularly once in two or three months" "Beauman's visits to Melissa became more frequent" "[Beauman's] visits became more and more frequent." "It was summer, and towards evening when [Alonzo] arrived." To accommodate Beauman's repeated visits, a full year would have to pass.