At the end of the village, and at the foot of the opposite hills, they encountered a group of young people of both sexes, whose bursts of merriment were suddenly restrained as they emerged unexpectedly into sight. The girls had been sitting upon the grassy mead, with the young men before them; but they started to their feet at the sound of strange steps, and the look of strange faces. Charlemont, it must be remembered, was not in the thoroughfare of common travel. If visited at all by strangers, it was most usually by those only who came with a single purpose. Nothing, therefore could have been more calculated to surprise a community so insulated, than that they should attract, but not arrest the traveller. The natural surprise which the young people felt, when unexpectedly encountered in their rustic sports, was naturally increased by this unusual circumstance, and they looked after the departing forms of the wayfarers with a wonder and curiosity that kept them for some time silent. The elder of the two, meanwhile--one of whose habits of mind was always to give instantaneous utterance to the feeling which was upper-most--dilated, without heeding the sneers of his nephew, upon the apparent happiness which they witnessed. “Here, you see, Warham, is a pleasure which the great city never knows:--the free intercourse of the sexes in all those natural exercises which give health to the body, grace to the movement, and vivacity to the manners.” “The health will do well enough,” replied the skeptic, “but save me from the grace of Hob and Hinney; and as for their manners--did I hear you correctly, uncle, when you spoke of their manners?” “Surely, you did. I have always regarded the natural manners which belong to the life of the forester, as being infinitely more noble, as well as more graceful, than those of the citizen. Where did you ever see a tradesman whose bearing was not mean compared with that of the hunter?” “Ay, but these are no hunters, and scarcely foresters. I see not a single Nimrod among the lads; and as for the lasses, even your eyes, indulgent as they usually are, will scarcely venture to insist that I shall behold one nymph among them worthy to tie the shoe-latchets of Diana. The manners of the hunter are those of an elastic savage; but these lads shear sheep, raise hogs for the slaughter-pen, and seldom perform a nobler feat than felling a bullock. They have none of the elasticity which, coupled with strength, makes the grace of the man; and they walk as if perpetually in the faith that their corn-rows and potatoe-hills were between their legs.” “Did you note the young woman in the crimson body Warham? Was she not majestically made?” “It struck me she would weigh against any two of the company.” “She is rather heavy, I grant you, but her carriage, Warham!” “Would carry weight--nothing more.” “There was one little girl, just rising into womanhood:--you must admit that she had a very lovely face, and her form--”