Country life -- Fiction; Farm life -- Fiction; Outdoor life -- Fiction; Rural conditions -- Fiction
Going on two miles farther, we come to Mr. Waldron's, and find him
nestled quietly under a hill in his double log-house, with a view of
the lake on the west, and with comforts all around him. We find Aunt
Polly too, and she lays down her distaff, welcomes us in, tells us a
story of the backwoods, and gives us a taste of her new metheglin.
Then we come to Uncle Walter Mowry's, and hear he is off on a hunt in
the woods, while Aunt Huldah excuses the soap and sand on her hands,
and welcomes us in with joy.
Then we give Teezle a visit; then we see Wilson, and enter the shop on
the stream, where he makes chairs, shoes, and carpenter-work on a rainy
day; and he reminds us of the bear hunt. Then we see Flaxman, and hear
him and Phoebe sing the same old nasal song, and observe their thrift
and comfort. Then we visit Colwell, and the wives and children of all
greet us with kindness, and a frank good-will in all their words and
looks. Upon every heart among them, excepting the heart of Troffater,
fraternity, courage and hope, luxuriate in harvests as rank and rich,
as the woods and fields around; and through their clear eyes, we can
see the honest thoughts of their free and guileless souls, as we see
the shells and pebbles through the waters of the lake.
We find it a goodly settlement, and you can picture in your mind the
happiness Fabens enjoys, as he brings each new acre to the harrow, and
reaps the rewards of his manly toils. You remain a whole month in his
hospitable home.
You miss many comforts and luxuries, found in country and town, at the
present day. You remark the absence of all outward polish and
ornament, which get names for refinement in established society. There
are no capacious parlors, or splendid lamps to attract you; no sofas
but moss-cushioned logs in the woods; no ottomans unless a green bank
of wood-grass will serve you, and neither harp nor piano but the
distaff and wheel. All is simple; all is arranged for convenience and
comfort, as new homes in the backwoods ever are found; and to you it
may seem odd enough to live so.
You may fancy how simple a lad from this region would appear as he
might pass your city streets, with his long arms and loping gait;
reading signs and staring at all the city wonders. You may fancy the
backwoods maiden would look verdant and soft in her rustic frock and
clumsy calf-skin shoes, leaning well to her way as she walked, and
seeming to devour all city sights and sounds. But think you, they have
not drank great spirit and beautiful sense from the breasts of Nature?
Is it nothing that the backwoods boy lies down in clover meadows, and
rambles in maple woods, and hears the bobolink and swamp robin sing;
starts at the sound of Logan's cuckoo, and imitates her lay?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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