i IRSI1
 
 LAWRIE TODD; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE SETTLERS IN THE WOODS. 
 
 BY JOHN GALT, ESQ. 
 
 FAS., HON. LS, P., HON. NHS, M., &C. 
 
 JtUTHOR OF " THE ANNALS OF THE PARISH," 
 " THE AYRSHIRE LEGATEES," &C. 
 
 ' I ran it through, even from my boyish d.-iys, 
 Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chaiices, 
 Of moving accidents by flood and field, 
 A ud with it all my travel's history." 
 
 ft 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY, 
 8, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1830.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, 
 Doiset Street, Fleet Street.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE Public have been pleased to regard the 
 Author's endeavours to endow his imaginary 
 autobiographies with a language characteristic 
 of the supposed narrators, as among the quali- 
 ties by which he has best merited their favour. 
 In this instance, he has attempted to write as 
 a humbly-educated Scotchman, of a particular 
 temperament, who has been sometime in the 
 United States, would probably have done 
 a glossary is subjoined. 
 
 The principal portion of the first part is 
 made up from a personal narrative, and the 
 
 220S971
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 peculiarities of the narrator resemble those of 
 a singular, but worthy man. Some of his 
 original letters are given in the Appendix as 
 curiosities, and because they have been made 
 use of in this work, and treat with feeling 
 and sagacity of an impressive topic. 
 
 Travellers who have visited the Genesee 
 country, will probably recognise in Judiville 
 a shadowy and subdued outline of the history 
 and localities of Rochester. 
 
 The author having recently superintended 
 a Colonial experiment of great magnitude, it 
 may be imagined that in Judiville he has 
 described his own undertaking. This is not 
 the case ; for the narrative embraces the 
 substance of his knowledge, whether obtained 
 by inquiry, observation, or experience. The 
 subject is more important than novels com- 
 monly treat of. A description, which may be 
 considered authentic, of the rise and progress
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 of a successful American settlement, cannot but 
 be useful to the emigrant 'who is driven to 
 seek a home in the unknown wilderness of the 
 woods. The privations are not exaggerated, 
 nor is the rapidity with which they may be 
 overcome. The book, therefore, though writ- 
 ten to amuse, was not altogether undertaken 
 without a higher object. 

 
 LAWRJE TODD. 
 
 PART I.
 
 LAWRIE TODD ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE SETTLERS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Oh, say not that the mother's breast, 
 Is to her ailing child a nest. 
 When she is laid, the turf below, 
 Who then shall soothe the orphan's woe ? 
 
 I WAS born in the little village of Bonny- 
 town, so cosily situated in one of the pleasantest 
 holms of the sylvan Esk. Many a day, both 
 of cloud and sunshine, has passed over me since I 
 bade it farewell ; but the trees and hedges are 
 still evergreens in my remembrance ; and I never 
 look at " the pictures in tjie big Ha' Bible, 1 ' 
 where the saints are seen crowned with glory, 
 
 VOL. I B
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 but I think of the sanctified old church, sur- 
 rounded, in the solemnity of the churchyard, 
 with its halo of tomb-stones. 
 
 My father was a poor man, but honest and 
 industrious. With hard labour, constancy, and 
 the fear of God, he followed the trade of a nail- 
 maker. In his religious principles, he was a 
 Presbyterian of the old leaven of the Covenant ; 
 and, since I have had an opportunity of seeing 
 men, and of observing their walk and conver- 
 sations in the world, I have not met with a 
 more conscientious Christian. He was lowly 
 and meek in his dispositions, and regarded with 
 a sorrowful gentleness the faults, as well as the 
 frailties of human nature. 
 
 His constitutional piety made him see all 
 things with the eyes of benevolence, and he 
 cherished a sedate persuasion, that whatsoever 
 came to pass, though at the time it might be 
 an affliction, was yet the forerunner of good. 
 Supported by this comforting opinion, he en- 
 dured misfortunes with singular patience, even 
 whilst it was evident, that to him evils were no 
 lighter than to those who were more audible in 
 their sufferings. He enjoyed, likewise, a large
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 3 
 
 gift of common sense, which enabled him to dis- 
 cern the latent folly of many a plausible specu- 
 lation, and by this sober mother wit, he ob 
 tained greater reverence amongst his neighbours 
 than belonged to his humble station, or even to 
 the sanctity of his office, as an elder of the 
 parish. 
 
 The earliest event whereof I retain any dis- 
 tinct imagery, was the death of my mother. 
 I was then in my third year ; of herself I bear 
 no recollection, but the death-bed spectacle is 
 still vivid. I yet see the family weeping around 
 her, and I hear a fearful sound : my father 
 gives her drink from a small white porringer 
 which, long afterwards, as it stood untouched in 
 the cupboard, I regarded with awe and sorrow, 
 I knew not wherefore He softly withdraws his 
 arm from behind her he rises from the bed-side, 
 the sound is gone, and she moves no more. 
 
 My father, as I have said, was poor, but he 
 was very kind, and his straitened means gave 
 him only a small command over the serviceable. 
 The woman whom he hired to keep his house 
 was negligent, and had but little sympathy for 
 her helpless trust. By her carelessness I, being 
 B 2
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 weakly and needful of cherishing lost the use 
 of ray limbs, and fell into a dwindling condition, 
 insomuch, that when I was upwards of ten 
 years old, a five year bairn was in comparison 
 a Sampson. 
 
 During this period I learned something of 
 the mysteries of human nature, as I lay playing 
 like an ashy-pet on the hearth. Those around 
 regarding me as a heedless, harmless baby, 
 said and did many things in my presence, pre- 
 suming I knew not their meaning or intent : 
 many a droll scene, and favours, secret, sweet, 
 and precious have I witnessed among the lads 
 and lasses who used of a night to assemble at 
 our house, in the winter evenings, when my 
 father, he being an elder, was at the Session, 
 anent the crying consequences of siclike kittling 
 in corners. 
 
 But even in that state of neglect and mis- 
 fortune, by which I was marred in my growth 
 and made a lamiter for life, as it was then 
 thought, I can yet see, as in all my other 
 troubles, that present evil is the husk in which 
 Providence has enclosed the germ of prosperity. 
 If my decrepid limbs would not let me be a
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 5 
 
 partaker in the bounding blessedness of the 
 Saturday afternoon, they caused me to sit on 
 the stool of observation, and to read with 
 though tfulness the daily page of passing time. 
 It is true, that the treatise of our homestead 
 was of small matters, but in riper years, when 
 far abroad in the world, I often wondered that 
 the wise and the learned and the business of 
 great cities, were so little different from the 
 carls and the cares of our own lown and lowly 
 village. 
 
 Thus it came to pass, that the neighbours 
 thought me, while I was yet but a perfect laddie, 
 something by ordinar, and the minister once 
 said to my father before me, who was lament- 
 ing my weakly condition, that if I was a dwarf 
 in body I had surely a giant's head. 
 
 " I hope no', reverend Sir," said I, " for I 
 never heard that giants were remarkable for 
 sagacity ; but the wee fairies, ye ken, are masters 
 of men in understanding." 
 
 It was not only in that way that my infirmity 
 proved profitable : it became, when 1 had re- 
 covered my health, a spur in the side of my 
 ambition, and led me to ettle at butts far be-
 
 6 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 yond the scope of the spring that was thought 
 to be in my bow, or in the strength of my arm. 
 Though less than the commonalty of man- 
 kind, (my stature, at this day, scarcely exceeds 
 four feet and a half, and at no period have I 
 weighed more than ninety-eight pounds three 
 ounces and a half) Providence yet so turned 
 my consciousness of inferiority, that instead of 
 repining at being abridged in my natural rights, 
 I, when sent to school, burned with emulation 
 to surpass my schoolfellows, and to show the 
 bigger boys that the sleights of skill are more 
 powerful than the strokes of vigour. This 
 feeling has lived with me through life, causing 
 my heart to overflow with thankfulness, that 
 Heaven has been pleased to work out of the 
 defects with which in its mysteries, I may say, 
 it gifted me, an indemnification, in the enjoy- 
 ment of earnest endeavour, far more satisfactory 
 than the flatteries and temptations which fawn 
 on the skirts of bodily beauty. But the cour- 
 teous reader and I are as yet too slightly ac- 
 quainted for him to enter with a right sympa- 
 thy into the sentiments with which, in my
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 nightly thanksgivings, I bow the head of gra- 
 titude, because I am what I am. The recovery 
 of my health is, however, a passage in my 
 history that should not be a passover. It was 
 accounted an almost miraculous dispensation, 
 and was in effect as wonderful on the mind 
 itself as on its rickety tabernacle.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 She knew the herb, 
 Where it grew best, and when it should be gather'd. 
 
 IT would be wearisome to descant at any 
 greater length on my weakliness and deformity, 
 or of how the neighbours lamented that such 
 a spunk o' geni, as they spoke of me in their 
 cracks, should remain an object for life. Some 
 proposed one kind of infallible, and some ano- 
 ther ; and the minister's wife was every summer 
 vehement in her prescriptions of the salt-water 
 at Fisherraw. But season after season came 
 and passed ; the bud biggent and the blossom 
 bloomed ; the summer-nymph with her gowan 
 een, walked away in the sunshine of the moun- 
 tains ; blithesome harvest laid down her apron- 
 ful of sheaves at the barn-door, and the gaber-
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 9 
 
 loony winter arose from the chumly-lug, and 
 hirpled o'er the hill, but still no change came 
 to me. 
 
 At last, one morning, a gang of tinklers, with 
 smiddy bellows, and other implements for mak- 
 ing horn-spoons, came to the town; and there 
 was among them a decent, gausy, conversible 
 carlin, that could turn coats and shape guma- 
 shins, for which faculty she was feed to do 
 a day's darg in my father's house. In this, 
 which came out of a necessity on his part, there 
 was a visible manifestation of Providence to- 
 wards me. For Lucky A'things, as she was 
 called, happened to cast a pityful eye on me, 
 as I was sitting by the fire-side, making a 
 whistle of a willow-wand, and she began to 
 discourse with my father concerning my com- 
 plaints. 
 
 Well may I remember what she said, for 
 she spoke with great rationality, and in a man- 
 ner that was more like a graduate than a 
 granny. I had not, indeed, until that time, 
 heard or seen any sort of womankind pos- 
 sessed of such insight. It is true, that among 
 the old women of the clachen, there were not 
 B 5
 
 10 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 wanting two or three who had gleaned in their 
 time a few ears of experience. 
 
 Mrs. Musket, the widow of a serjeant who 
 was slain at her side in the battle of Minden, 
 was one of those, and it was allowed that her skill 
 in bruises, visible hurts, and the cutted fingers 
 of the shearers, would have made the fortune 
 of an Edinbro' doctor. But she could not dis- 
 cern the sources of natural disease, and I had 
 no benefit at her hands ; moreover, my father, 
 who was a pious and sincere man, did not like 
 to see her about the house and among his young 
 family, for she cursed like a drum-major, and 
 when in her cups, which was too often, her 
 nieve was said to be worse than a battering-ram. 
 
 This Mrs. Musket was of the West coun- 
 try, and her maiden name had been Barbara 
 Buchanan. Some time, shortly after my re- 
 covery, she began now and then, when her means 
 were low, to hint to the lasses that she had a 
 gift, and could read tea-cups and cut the matri- 
 monial cards, whereby she wiled from the 
 simpletons many a siller penny and black baw- 
 bee. But notwithstanding her necromancy, old
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 11 
 
 age and its decrepitude came upon her, and 
 by the rhuematics in her feet she was rendered 
 incapable of spinning ; indeed, to say the truth, 
 it was reported to her disparagement that she 
 nevei was good at the trade, and that if another 
 turn could be got, her wheel might stand still. 
 This, poor creature ! led on in time to beggary; 
 being, however, a Buchanan, as there is society 
 for folk of that name in Glasgow, it came to 
 pass that she applied in her auld days for a re- 
 commendation to get her put upon the box ; 
 and our minister being a conscientious man 
 with a feeling heart, wrote in her behalf, but he 
 could not commend her just so strongly as he 
 could have wished, nor could he conceal' her 
 fault, so that in his letter to the managers he 
 was obligated to say, that for her moral cha- 
 racter he had but little to advocate, farther 
 than she was a soldier's widow, and a professor 
 of judicial astrology, or, what was vulgarly 
 called, a spaewife. However, it got her put 
 upon the list, and sometime after, when she 
 quitted this world, her departal was more 
 lamented among us than would been that of
 
 12 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 many another of more worth. She was really, 
 though at times a camp randy, a pawkie and 
 droll carlin. 
 
 Widow Forceps, the midwife, was another of 
 our college of physicians, but although Mrs. 
 Musket, who could speak French, acknowledg- 
 ed she was " a bunge sage fum," it was gene- 
 rally thought that, excepting in teethings and 
 kinkhost, her discernment in the bodily afflic- 
 tions was but moderate : she likewise could do 
 nothing with mine. 
 
 And Mrs. Hyssop, the minister's wife, as I 
 have already hinted, had also taken out a di- 
 ploma, and was great, in weakly cases, on sea- 
 bathing. For what she called an obstacle in 
 the stomach she had castor oil ; and for sore eyes, 
 a salve made of bread and water boiled with a 
 drug in a skillet that had been scoured with 
 smiddy auze ; yet for all that her faculty was 
 not overly reverenced, and my father could 
 not abide her coming to the house, for she 
 would ask questions, and examine about every 
 thing that was in chest or drawer, and some- 
 times alleged that in our meal of potatoes and 
 salt there was an evidence of wastry ; but nl>t-
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 13 
 
 withstanding this meddling turn, which, poor 
 Leddy, she could not help, for in her it was 
 nature and instinct, whenever she did look in 
 upon me, my father always treated her with 
 the greatest respect, on account of his venera- 
 tion for her husband the minister. 
 
 But to return to Lucky-A'things, the gipsy- 
 wife; no sooner did she begin to speak anent 
 my ailments, than it was manifest to my hear- 
 ing that she knew wherein lay the cause. For 
 she remarked to my father, that instead of 
 letting me sit all day, croining and dwining, 
 peaking and pining, at the fire-side, I should 
 be taken to the hill-top to breathe the good- 
 will of the westlin winds. This was surely 
 sensible; for sometimes, when sitting in my 
 chair at the door-cheek, on the shady side 
 of the house, in a summer-day, I have had 
 a pleasant experience of a freshness in my 
 blood, that gave me an inkling of what health 
 might be. 
 
 Lucky-A'things, then told him of a cure 
 she had heard of in a case like mine, and ad- 
 vised him to try it. This remedy was to take 
 the patient for the summer to the south-side
 
 14 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 of some high hill, where certain little, striped, 
 and painted shell-snails, which she described, 
 are found. Of these, the patient, with his 
 own hands, was to collect every afternoon about 
 half a mutchkin, which, in the morning, after 
 they had been seethed in new milk, he was 
 to eat when nearly cold, with oatmeal, for his 
 breakfast. And she gave reasons why it was 
 a course of medicine that could not but do 
 good ; inasmuch as fresh air, and very moderate 
 exercise, were indispensable to the regimen. My 
 father was persuaded to follow her counsels, 
 and accordingly I was sent to board in a farm- 
 house on the hill, where the Romans, in ancient 
 times, had an encampment. That hill abounded 
 in the snails, and in collecting them, I was de- 
 lighted with the beauty of their shells, and hunt- 
 ed for them amidst the thymy pasturage with an 
 avidity that forced me to exercise my limbs. 
 At first, indeed, I could only crawl, but as the 
 summer warmed, I gradually grew stronger 
 and stronger, insomuch that one sabbath-after- 
 noon, when my father came to see me, I was 
 able to run to meet him, which so filled him 
 with thankfulness, that he offered the incense
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 15 
 
 of gratitude on the spot, extolling the goodness 
 which had given such a signal of deliverance. 
 
 Never can I forget that hour and incident ; we 
 were alone, like Abraham and Isaac, in the soli- 
 tude of the mountain-top together. Far into 
 the west, (the setting sun being then enthroned 
 in the midst of his evening glory,) beyond the 
 Pentlands, lay a goodly prospect of the riches 
 of the earth ; the south also, spread at our 
 feet the green fields and prosperous granges of 
 East-Lothian ; on the left lay the ocean, in 
 holy tranquillity, as if it was conscious of 
 the sanctity of the Sabbath, and behind, the 
 everlasting hills of the north lifted up their 
 foreheads in brightness I sat down on the 
 grass as my father was kneeling, and I felt, as 
 his solemn voice sounded in the still air, the 
 spirit of divine grace enter my young heart, as if 
 it had there found a nest. 
 
 From that epoch, I began to think of the 
 nature of this life, as well as of the mystery 
 which hath clothed the spirit as with a vest- 
 ment of dreams ; and I had often after, in the 
 course of the remainder of the season, stripling 
 as I then was, a wonderful experience, that the
 
 16 LA.WRIE TODD. 
 
 scope of our discernments is not confined to 
 present things ; nor is this notion phantastical, for 
 future events have clearly proved to me, that 
 the fancies of the boy are many times the fore- 
 tastes of the man's fortunes. 
 
 Sometimes, as I lay with my hands beneath my 
 head on the gowany quilt of the sunny hill-side, 
 I have had marvellous communications with fu- 
 turity, and I have seen such similitudes of un- 
 born events, that when the issues of providence 
 brought on the realities, the acquest had none 
 of its natural influence, neither moving the joy 
 nor the sorrow which it ought to have wrought. 
 I have met with unbelieving men, who regarded 
 these intimations of what shall be, as mirages 
 of enthusiasm ; but the traditions of all ages have 
 hallowed them to faith, and bound them up 
 with the apocalypses of religion.
 
 LAWRIE TOM). 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Go on, fear not, 
 
 But taking brave assurance from the past, 
 Meet calmly what shall be. 'Tis what hath been, 
 
 THOUGH small of body, and, even af^er the 
 recovery of my health and the use of my limbs, 
 a dwarf in strength as well as in stature, I yet 
 grew into the possession of a brisk and coura- 
 geous spirit : no one could disparage my capa- 
 city either in school-learning or the craft of our 
 business. My father being a nailer, I was 
 brought up to his trade, and in it equalled all, 
 and surpassed many of my workfellows, being 
 so stirred with a lively desire to excel. 
 
 This zeal of emulation animated me in every 
 undertaking. I remember an occurrence which 
 took place in my fourteenth year, and which, 
 though in itself a boyish adventure, I have often
 
 18 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 since thought was an epitome of my whole con- 
 duct in life. 
 
 The eldest son of the Duke of Buccleugh 
 had come of age, and among other gratulations 
 fire-works were to be displayed in the evening 
 in front of the palace ; and, that the people 
 in our village might join in the festivity, the 
 drummer was sent round to give notice, that 
 the gates of the park would be set open for 
 half an hour, and that all those who came in 
 time would be admitted. Something, which I 
 have forgotten, detained me too long, for just 
 as I reached the gates, the time had expired, 
 and they were shut. 
 
 I was both mortified and disappointed to be 
 so excluded, and proposed to some other lads, 
 who were in the same situation, that we should 
 scale the park wall, which was ten feet high, 
 built of stone and smoothly harled ; but none 
 would agree to this, prudently remarking, that 
 
 should they be able to attain the top, we knew 
 
 i 
 not the danger of getting down, nor the perils 
 
 which might lie in ambush on the other side, espe- 
 cially as it was known that a deep ditch was to be 
 leapt over, and that man-traps and spring guns
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 19 
 
 were set in different parts of the policy. Spring 
 guns I may here describe, for the edification of 
 those who have never seen such engines. They 
 are fixed with wires, running in such a man- 
 ner that when the wire is trod upon, the gun 
 wheels round, and shoots or wounds the in- 
 truder. 
 
 However, I was not to be daunted from my 
 purpose by the fears of my companions : I was 
 only anxious to mount upon the top of the wall, 
 regardless of all consequences. By getting 
 on the shoulders of the tallest of the party I 
 reached the height, when I began to think on 
 the dangers within ; but reflection was only 
 adding to my apprehensions ; I had, like Julius 
 Caesar, passed the Rubicon I dropped at once 
 on the other side > and as Providence ordered it, 
 I fell on a soft bed of leaves which the winds 
 had collected in the ditch. Nothing hurt, I 
 ran through the woods towards the palace, 
 guided by the lights there, and arrived safe and 
 in time to see the show, notwithstanding all the 
 traps and spring guns which lay, like snakes in 
 the grass. 
 
 When the fire-works were over, the multi-
 
 20 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 tude dispersed, but I happened to tarry, with 
 other idle boys, collecting the burnt-out rockets 
 and such like trophies of the entertainment, by 
 which negligence, on reaching the gate, I found 
 the porter rampaging with a horse-whip, roundly 
 chastising the boys as they passed out, for keep- 
 ing him so long waiting. 
 
 This was a dreadful sight, but I was helped 
 in my need with that mother wit which had 
 been vouchsafed to me, as consolation for the 
 solitary sufferings of my childhood. 
 
 I stepped back a few yards to consider by 
 what means I might escape the dragon, and 
 stepping back I observed a gentleman's ser- 
 vant with two of his master's sons, one in each 
 hand : thereupon I attached myself to one 
 of the boys and began to converse with him 
 concerning the splendour we had been witness- 
 ing. As we approached towards the rampant 
 horsemagog, I took the boy's hand as if he had 
 been ray equal, and so slipped through the 
 gate unmolested. 
 
 Many a time have I since meditated on this 
 device, and on the providence of that night, 
 when reckless of consequences, I have mounted
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 21 
 
 the wall-top of some difficult enterprise, and it 
 was then comforting to reflect how I had been 
 guided through the snares of the Duke's park, 
 and instructed to escape from the lash of yon 
 hurricane in livery.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 O'er the vine-covered hills and gay valleys of France, 
 See the day-star of liberty rise. 
 
 IN the year ninety-two, when the French 
 Revolution was lowing to the lumhead, and 
 the pulpit and the press were beating the drum 
 and sounding the trumpet to rally the cham- 
 pions and the adversaries of Reform, I, with 
 that brave confidence in myself which has been 
 so often a staff in my hand in the perils of 
 tribulation, could do no less than become one 
 of the friends of the people. 
 
 Though time and riper knowledge have 
 abated my veneration for the undertakings 
 of our society, I yet must confess, even while 
 I look back on some of them with a risible 
 eye, that there was a pleasure in the phan- 
 tasies of our sederunts which I doubt if wiser 
 parliamenting often furnishes. For my own
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 28 
 
 part, though I never either seconded the pro- 
 ject for the partition of the Duke's property, 
 or advocated the right to overthrow Kings, I 
 cannot deny that I had queer thoughts as to 
 how my small stature would look in senatorial 
 garments, especially when at every new meet- 
 ing of the society I spoke better and better, 
 and was thought by many to be in a fair way 
 of becoming a finished orator. But the hopes 
 of man are perishable ! 
 
 We had opened a connexion with the Cor- 
 responding Society of London, and a bright 
 vista of a Reformed Parliament shone before 
 us. The day, in the opinion of all, was at 
 hand when our heretofore obscure names would 
 be emblazoned on the monuments of renown, 
 with those of the ancient worthies and Solons 
 of old. But as the fulness of time drew near 
 when, as we deemed, the millennium was, 
 by our own achievement, to come to pass, I 
 was seized with occasional misgivings, and could 
 not believe it had ever been ordained that a 
 wee coomy thing of a nailer like me was to 
 shine amidst the stars of the nations. 
 
 One morning, as I was under this dismay and
 
 24 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 shadow of a cloud, I was roused by a clap 
 of thunder. Out came a warrant from Edin- 
 burgh, whereby seventeen of us were marched, 
 in two and two, and an odd one, as prisoners 
 to answer for High-treason before the Lords. 
 The consternation among us was, however, but 
 for a short season, for when we saw the dragoons 
 around us flashing their flaming swords', our 
 hearts swelled with pride. God forgivl our 
 vanity ! we thought ourselves martyrs, and 
 marched away singing fa iras of patriotism, con- 
 fident that the fraternal citizens of Edinburgh 
 would, when they saw us, rise in a mass, make 
 our cause their own, and install us in the Par- 
 liament House to work wonders. 
 
 But the vapour was soon let out of our 
 balloon-hearts : as we entered the town a crowd 
 was collected to see us, in which a loquacious 
 old Highland randy, with a tartan gown and a 
 big key in her hand, was loud in her loquacious 
 contempt at our appearance. When she beheld 
 me, hirpling among the hindmost, she gave a 
 loud shout, clapping her hands in a fool-like 
 manner, and crying, " Losh preserve 's ! but the 
 King maun be a coward if he 's frightened for
 
 LA.WRIE TODD. 9.5 
 
 sic a modi wart," and the crowd joining in her 
 obscene rhapsodies, we were humbled to the dust. 
 I wished myself a mousie and could see a hole 
 into which I might creep. I need not therefore 
 say, that when we came before the Sheriff I was 
 incapable of uttering a single word of the 
 speech I had meditated, as we came along, for 
 the occasion. 
 
 But by that contempt the favour of Providence 
 was manifested. Our proud hearts became as 
 flattened as unblown bag-pipes, and our coun- 
 tenances saddened with humiliation ; we were 
 objects of pity more than of scorn by the time 
 we reached the council chamber, where the 
 Lord Advocate with the Sheriff and the Bailies, 
 were awaiting our arrival. There was in con- 
 sequence, when we were accused of high-treason, 
 a raising of eyes and a lifting of hands, as if 
 it was impossible we could be traitors ; indeed 
 we certainly had not much in our appearance 
 to bring to mind the rampageous barons and 
 iron Johnny Armstrongs of auld Langsyne, 
 being all young lads of mechanical vocations; 
 only myself of the whole tot was accustom- 
 ed to the handling of iron, and that was 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 26 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 in the way of my trade ; it is true that two of 
 us were tailors, and a needle may be reckoned 
 a sharp weapon. 
 
 One of the bailies, a small red-faced man, 
 with a rotund belly, when he heard us charged 
 with imagining and compassing the death of 
 the king, could sit still no longer. 
 
 " My Lord Advocate," said he, " it 's no 
 possible ; it's no in the power of nature, my 
 Lord, that such poor waifes could be guilty 
 of any thing like that. That they might ha'e 
 dreamt of reforming the Government, I'll no' 
 contest for that's an itch and malady common 
 among the lower orders, and especially among 
 those of the sederunt crafts. Are not thir 
 misguided lads, for the most part, weavers? 
 and are not weavers well known to be subject 
 to philosophy, which mounts from the empty 
 stomach to the brain, and infects it as with 
 a vapour? Oh, my Lord ! look at that Duddy 
 Bogle, (that was me,) can ye for a possibility 
 think that he's an orator of the human race, 
 though in a certain sense, meaning his dress, 
 he may be like Anacharsis' Clouts." 
 
 The humbling pathos of this address, had,
 
 LAWRIE TODD 27 
 
 with the illustration of our downcast counte- 
 nances, a great effect on all present, insomuch 
 that the Lord Advocate and the Sheriff, after 
 consulting, agreed to take a small bail for our 
 appearance to stand trial when called, and 
 the bail being given by some of our friends 
 who had followed us, we were dismissed with 
 a contemptuous exhortation, which, after what 
 we had undergone, might well have been 
 spared.
 
 28 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The booming wind, the roaring sea, 
 The tolling of the untouched bell, 
 The fearful lurches to the lea, 
 And worse than all, the lubber's yell. 
 
 THE tribulation into which I. had thus 
 brought myself, gave my father a sore heart, 
 and a ship, the Providence of New York, happy 
 name ! being then lying at Leith, taking pas- 
 sengers, he, to get me and my brother out of 
 harm's way, paid for our passage by her, and 
 after arranging with our bailsmen, sent us off 
 to espouse our fortunes in America. 
 
 She was a very small vessel, and having 
 on board above a hundred persons, crew and 
 passengers, to describe all that befel us during 
 the voyage, would, without other matter, fill 
 a big book.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 29 
 
 Before this time I had never been twenty 
 miles from the house in which I was born, 
 and save the summer I spent on the hills 
 recovering my health, I had not been three 
 nights from home. Here, in my twentieth 
 year, was I, without having experienced or 
 seen aught that could be said to be of the 
 world, set as it were on my feet, close jammed 
 in a crowd, from whom there was no retreat- 
 ing, whose ends, motives, and dispositions, were 
 as various as their faces. But even in this 
 discomfort there was matter for thankfulness; 
 our situation was such, that we could not in- 
 dulge in reflection ; our attention was distracted 
 by the bustle around us ; and I saw the hills 
 of my home passing away without having time 
 to breathe a sigh towards them. 
 
 It was a maxim and a saying of my worthy 
 father, that young people ought to earn money 
 before they begin to spend ; and accordingly the 
 outfit of my brother and myself, though we were 
 well provided with necessaries, was yet, in the way 
 of money, both of us thought, rather stinted. 
 
 After laying in for us a large chest (which 
 had been an heir-loom for near a century) well
 
 30 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 filled with clothing, and a reasonable stock of 
 such provisions as the ship did not furnish to 
 steerage passengers, the old man with his part- 
 ing benediction gave us twenty shillings for 
 contingent expenses, after we might land in 
 New York, and to support us until we should 
 get into employment. 
 
 The ship, as I have already mentioned, was 
 extremely crowded. Betwixt decks she was 
 only four feet and a half in height, with two 
 tier of sleeping berths on each side of the steer- 
 age, and three persons slept in every berth. 
 
 With my brother and myself slept a large 
 Benlomond of a Highland porter, and with the 
 wonted selfishness of his countrymen, he would 
 always lie on the front of the berth without 
 regard to the tack the ship was on, so that I 
 being stowed between him and my brother, 
 was often in danger of being smothered by his 
 bulk and enormous weight. Moreover he was 
 subject to the nightmare and to talking in his 
 sleep. One stormy night he dreamt the ship 
 was sinking, and roared with all the might of 
 his tremendous voice " L'ord God Almighty !
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 31 
 
 help, help!" A large Newfoundland dog on 
 deck took the alarm, and began to bark and 
 bay with all his might and main ; I too awoke 
 with the cry, and catching the alarm roared 
 " murder, murder !" 
 
 When a light was procured, what a vision 
 was revealed ! men and women rolling out of 
 their berths, some with petticoats, some with 
 drawers, and some in a state of nature chil- 
 dren screaming women wringing their hands, 
 and commodities and utensils that are best out 
 of sight, capering and triumphing, as if they 
 had the instincts of life, like termagants in a 
 passion. 
 
 After we had been two or three days at sea, 
 and the passengers had got somewhat over the 
 customary sickness, the captain called the roll 
 of us all, and appointed every seventh man the 
 head of a mess. 
 
 The duty of the mess-man was to receive 
 from the mate provisions for a week for him- 
 self and six comrades. It fell to my lot to 
 be a mess-man, being one of the seventh numbers, 
 and in addition to receiving and serving the
 
 32 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 rations, it was my duty to keep our pots and 
 pans clean. 
 
 Among other articles we were allowed a pint 
 of molasses per day; and it happened, after 
 some days, that the mate neglected to serve out 
 the molasses, by which much grumbling arose 
 among the passengers. A meeting was held 
 between decks, and I, [observe how things are 
 brought to servitude and use] having acquired 
 some skill in the method of managing assemblies 
 in the Society of the Friends of the People, 
 was on this occasion chosen moderator, and 
 appointed to represent the grievance to the 
 captain, which I did in a creditable manner 
 next day on the quarter-detk. The mate was 
 called on for an explanation, and gave as a 
 reason the want of time, whereupon I said to 
 the captain, if he would allow the mate to give 
 me the quantity every morning I would serve 
 it out to the different messes. This suggestion 
 was adopted, and executed by me to the end 
 of our voyage. But this was not the only mutiny 
 that disturbed the orderliness of the ship. 
 
 Every person on board was allowed two 
 porter-bottles of water every morning. One
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 33 
 
 bottle was to go into the ship's boiler to make 
 our porridge ; and from this, as we got into 
 the warm latitudes, sprang the second mutiny. 
 Many of the passengers, instead of depositing 
 their allowance of water in the breakfast-kettle, 
 reserved it for drinking, but when the porridge 
 was dealing out, they also came in for their 
 share : thus it came to pass that for several morn- 
 ings there was not enough made to supply the 
 several messes. I soon found out the cause, 
 and stated the difficulty to the captain, who 
 authorised me to stand by the kettle to see 
 that none received any of the porridge, but 
 only those who had put in their bottles of water. 
 This order I faithfully executed during the 
 remainder of our passage, and finally my firm- 
 ness and equity in the trust gained me the 
 goodwill of all on board. 
 
 Among the passengers, were, of course, both 
 odd and curious characters; and as the revo- 
 lutionary fever was then raging on sea and 
 land, our ship was a type of the world ; we 
 had heads so hot, that all the waters of the 
 Atlantic could not have cooled them ; we had 
 also men of diverse religions, and of no religion ; 
 c 5
 
 34 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 and it was not uncommon when the wind was 
 fair, and the weather fine, to see an antiburgher 
 minister, one of whom was on board, holding 
 forth on the quarter-deck, and singing the old 
 version of the psalms of David, and at the same 
 time a batch of eight or ten universalists, chaunt- 
 ing the Winchester hymns on the forecastle. At 
 last their controversies grew to such a pitch, 
 that the captain was obliged to put a stop 
 to their strivings, by declaring the Presbyterian 
 religion to be the established religion of his 
 ship. 
 
 The courteous reader will see by what has 
 been related, that what with the business I 
 had in hand by day, and what with the op- 
 pression of the dreadful Celt by night, I had 
 no time to philosophise on the wonders of the 
 deep. I trust he will likewise see a better 
 thing and that is, the extraordinary manner 
 in which I was made an instrument to prevent 
 misrule and mutiny in the ship, and to minister 
 to the comfort of all on board.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 35 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 
 
 The world was'all before them where to choose 
 Their place of rest, and Providence their guide. 
 
 I HAVE now to speak of the greatest event in 
 my eventful history, being no less than of my 
 arrival in New York, and of the great things 
 which were done for me on that occasion. 
 Hitherto, saving in the small matters rehearsed 
 in the foregoing pages, I may say I had been 
 but as a bird in the nest. For nearly thirteen 
 years I had sat on my hunkers in the puddock 
 hair under the wing of a kind parent, eating 
 the worms and crumbs that Providence gave 
 him, in the wherewithal with which he fed me. 
 And though I was at last strengthened to an 
 ability that enabled me to jump out upon the
 
 36 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 household boughs and to pick and carol in com- 
 panionship, who ever thought that my wings 
 were feathered for such an eagle's flight as a 
 sweep across the wide Atlantic ? 
 
 Here were my brother and I in a new world, 
 two inexperienced young men, with scarcely a 
 crown remaining of all the pound which our 
 loving father had bestowed upon us, with the 
 tear in his eye, and his blessing. It is true, 
 like Adam and Eve, when driven out of the 
 gardens of Eden, we had Providence for our 
 guide, as that solemn sounding gong of the 
 Gospel, the mighty John Milton, bears testi- 
 mony ; but we were worse off, for they had the 
 world all before them where to choose : we had 
 no choice. 
 
 I say we scarcely had a crown remaining ; 
 we had but three shillings and sixpence, for 
 with all our frugality, and notwithstanding our 
 well-plenished ark, we had several items of 
 necessaries to buy from the ship's steward, by 
 which our pound was cast into a consumption. 
 But an encouraging spirit inspired our bosoms, 
 and in our fortunes we feared none ill. 
 
 It was on the 16th of June, Anno Domini
 
 LAWRIE TODD, 87 
 
 1794, about ten o'clock, a. m. that our ship 
 came to anchor opposite to the city. 
 
 In those days New York cut but a humelt* 
 appearance from the water. The only steeples 
 tall enough to be seen to any advantage, were 
 those of the Trinity church, St. George's, and 
 the new Dutch church fronting on Liberty, 
 Nassau and Cedar streets. The stores were 
 mean, temporary timber tabernacles, compared 
 with those Tower-of-Babel warehouses which 
 now surpass the warehouses of Tarshish and 
 of Tyre, and lift their lofty foreheads, in the 
 pride of prosperity, over the tributary fleets 
 that pamper them with treasures from the ut- 
 termost ends of the earth. 
 
 The anchor was scarcely cast into the water 
 when the vessel was surrounded with boats, 
 and I believe every passenger but myself went 
 on shore my brother went too, and, for fear of 
 accidents, took all that was left of our cargo of 
 specie with him. If ever I felt the chill of 
 the shadow of the clouds of fate fall upon my 
 spirit, it was at the moment when he stepped 
 over the gunwale down into the boat, and yet 
 * Want of horns.
 
 38 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 it was a sadness without dread. I feltL was on 
 the wall-top of my fortune, and that to return 
 was as dangerous as to leap the unknown side 
 moreover, there was in my imagination a 
 glimmering of bright and beautiful things 
 they may be summer couts thought I ; and the 
 fear of that was the cause of my solemnity. 
 
 In those days, a ship with passengers was a 
 rare sight ; but as New York was then full of 
 Scotchmen, I was not long of discovering among 
 the crowd that came on board to hear the news, 
 several of my countrymen, which emboldened 
 me, to address one who had come from Edin- 
 burgh about a year before. 
 
 After some talk, I inquired if he thought my 
 brother and I could get employment to make 
 nails ; but he struck my heart with a snow-ball, 
 in saying he thought not, for that a machine 
 for cutting nails out of iron hoops had been 
 recently set up, by which the Americans were 
 of opinion they would soon have the supply- 
 ing of the whole world with nails. The dis- 
 may did not last long. 
 
 While we were conversing, a passenger, who 
 had been on shore, returned, and having changed
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 39 
 
 a guinea,' he paid me a sixpence, which he owed 
 for a glass of wine to one of his children when it 
 was sick. At the time there was none but ours 
 remaining on board, all that had been provided 
 for the cabin passengers was drank out : we 
 had been then eight weeks at sea. 
 
 I should here note as a matter worthy of re- 
 mark, and creditable both to my brother and me, 
 although we could afford to bring with us but 
 one bottle of wine, we yet, by a judicious 
 economy, had the last wine in the ship. 
 
 About eleven o'clock the captain returned 
 on board, bringing a capital supply of fine fresh 
 beef and new potatoes, which he told the cook 
 to get ready for the sailors' dinner, and seeing 
 me looking very sober and somewhat down- 
 hearted, he bade me join the mess and not to 
 be discouraged, " for if there is a man on 
 board," said he, " to make a figure and a for- 
 tune, you are the man." 
 
 Being thus so cheered, my heart was lighten- 
 ed, and I went about as usual to assist the 
 cook, (he was a black man,) and being anxious 
 to taste fresh meat we proceeded to get dinner 
 ready as quickly as possible. I sat down with
 
 40 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 Cato, as he was called, square on the deck, his 
 feet against my feet, with a wooden bowl of, 
 potatoes between our legs, and began to scrape 
 off the skins. 
 
 While thus employed, a boat came alongside 
 with several visitors. One inquired for a far- 
 mer's servant, wishing to engage one ; another 
 for a housemaid ; and the third, thanks be and 
 praise ! asked if there was a nail-maker on board. 
 My greedy ear snapped the word, and looking 
 up, I answered " I am one." 
 
 " You," replied he, looking down as if I was 
 a fairy, " you, can you make nails ?" 
 
 " I '11 wager a sixpence," (all I had) was my 
 answer, " that I '11 make more nails in one day 
 than any man in America." 
 
 This reply, the manner of it, and the figure 
 of the bragger, set all present into a roar of 
 laughter, which ended by Mr. Tongs (that was 
 the stranger's name) giving me his card and 
 requesting me to call with my brother at his 
 store. 
 
 As an apology for having made so, bold a brag, 
 I may mention, that a few weeks before leaving 
 home I did, for a bet of sixpence, make in one
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 41 
 
 day, between six in the morning and nine at 
 night, three thousand two hundred and twenty 
 nails, which was more, by four hundred, than 
 ever was heard of in Britain as the work of one 
 man among the craft within the like period of 
 time. 
 
 When my brother returned on board, and 
 the vessel had been hauled to the wharf at the 
 foot of Government-lane, we went ashore to- 
 gether; but, like Noah's dove, we were timid, 
 and having no place of rest, returned back to 
 the ship for the night, where we slept with 
 more comfort than we had done since the day 
 of our departure from the pier of Leith, com- 
 muning and rejoicing together at the wonderful 
 manner in which an angel of deliverance, in 
 the shape of Mr. Tongs, had been sent, a pre- 
 sent aid, in the midst of our straits and fears.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 I thought upon that kindly hearth, 
 The hawthorn and the burn 
 
 Had I the wealth in Ryder's vaults, 
 I 'd leave it to return. 
 
 NEXT morning we sallied forth, with the im- 
 portant card in our hand, " No. 33, Maiden- 
 lane," in search of Mr. Tongs, and at the 
 head of the wharf we were stopped by a man, 
 who told us his name was Anvil. He had 
 seen us land ; and, wonderful to relate, he 
 enquired if our ship had brought any nail- 
 makers over. Here already was a competition 
 for us in the market! 
 
 We replied, we were nail-makers by trade,
 
 JLAWRIE TODD 43 
 
 and informed him that we were then going 
 to 33, Maiden-lane, where we expected to find 
 employment. 
 
 He advised us, on hearing this, to go first 
 and see his shop, which was hard by; and 
 said he would employ us, and pay a penny 
 a pound more for making nails than ever had 
 been given before, as he was much in want 
 of hands, all his men having gone to sea. 
 We accordingly went, and found in his shop 
 places for twelve men to work, but only one 
 occupied. He made us many tempting offers, 
 which we partly agreed to accept; only, as 
 we had promised to give Mr. Tongs a call, we 
 thought it would be but fair to hear his terms, 
 before coming to a definitive treaty. 
 
 I thought, however, upon consideration, 
 that as a bird in hand is better than two in a 
 bush, and especially as Mr. Anvil appeared to 
 be a reasonable and liberal man, it would be as 
 well to accept his terms, so I went back to the 
 vessel : and my brother, to make good my 
 promise, went to see how the land lay at Mr. 
 Tonga's. But when he returned and told me 
 that Mr. Tongs and his wife were Scotch folks;
 
 44 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 that we could have the shop to ourselves, as it 
 was quite empty ; that he would do all for us 
 that Anvil had promised, and that besides he 
 was not given to swearing like the other, we 
 concluded to go to him. 
 
 Experience caused us to thank Providence 
 for so directing our choice, for Mr. and Mrs. 
 Tongs were Christian people, and treated us as 
 if we had been their own children. Moreover, 
 there was an instance of even greater goodness 
 vouchsafed to us on this occasion, for having 
 the shop to ourselves, we were not exposed to 
 the corruptions of bad company. 
 
 When established in the exercise of 'our 
 vocation we engaged to board in a house which 
 is still standing, No. 8, Dutch-street. Mr. 
 Lapstone, a shoemaker, occupied the ground- 
 floor, and David Shavings, a carpenter, lived 
 up stairs ; his wife kept a few boarders, and they 
 being all Edinbro' folk, we, from natural a 
 tion, went to board there too. 
 
 About sun-down, on the 17th day of the 
 month, the afternoon being calm, with fair 
 weather and light breezes, as the ship's mate 
 used to write in his log-book, we brought
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 45 
 
 our baggage from the vessel to the house. It 
 consisted of the large chest, the ancient ark, 
 whereof I have before spoken, containing our 
 clothes, a box of books, a mattress and blankets. 
 But I suspect that we, the lords of this cargo 
 of riches, made but a sorry appearance. It 
 was quite repugnant to our Scottish notions 
 of economy to wear our Sunday's coat on a 
 week day. But however that may have been, 
 the appearance of a cart at the door with our 
 moveables drew out the wrath and body of Mr. 
 Lapstone to the street, declaring that our rub- 
 bish should not enter the house; that Mr. 
 Shavings hired the house from him, and that 
 he should not bring any of his dirty Irish 
 blackguards into his house, with a great deal of 
 other bow-wow. Had he called us lousy Scotch, 
 we might have endured it, but to be thought 
 Irish was a dose I could not swallow. How- 
 ever, after the war of words had raged for 
 some time a parley was obtained, and we were 
 permitted to convey our bedding and baggage 
 to the garret. 
 
 This reception was, no doubt, very uncour- 
 teous, but I got my revenge though it was
 
 46 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 seven years after. I then kept a grocery, and 
 one morning that rabiator, Mr. Lapstone, came 
 into the shop. He either knew me not, or 
 thought I knew not him. He asked if I would 
 give him a few articles on credit, and he looked 
 decayed and poor I gave him what he wanted 
 and treated him with kindness. As he seemed 
 thankful, I inquired if he had ever known me 
 before ; he said it was only within a few weeks 
 he had seen me : I then reminded him of the 
 rough opposition he had made to my brother 
 and me, when we went to lodge with Mr. 
 Shavings, and added, I had now had an oppor- 
 tunity of returning good for evil ; at which he 
 became much confused, and left the shop, but 
 never returned. 
 
 As I have mentioned, we deposited our lug- 
 gage in the garret, but our accommodation was 
 not comfortable. Shavings and his wife were 
 poor, and not having a spare bed, we laid our 
 mattress on the floor, and made a bed with our 
 own clothes. 
 
 The weather was hot ; the garret was alive 
 with musquitoes, domestic familiars, and other
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 47 
 
 bloody-minded beasts of prey : I could not, of 
 course, sleep. 
 
 About midnight it began to thunder, and 
 the rain rattled on the shingles of the roof 
 with a noise I had never heard before. The 
 deep and dreadful drumming of the thunder, 
 the vivid flashes of the lightning, so unlike the 
 sober and considerate thunder-claps and glances 
 I was used to at home, alarmed me greatly 
 sleep flew away in a fright from my eyelids, 
 and I tossed on the rack of restless ecstasy 
 until the morning light began to dawn. 
 
 After thanking the Lord for his preserving 
 mercies through such a night, I thought, by 
 way of passing the time until the people should 
 begin to stir, to unpack our box of books, 
 which had not been opened since it was 
 packed in our father's house : my brother and 
 three of the other boarders who lodged in the 
 same room, were fast asleep. I was feverish 
 and low spirited ; the sultriness of the air and 
 the want of rest had greatly discomposed me ; 
 I longed to be again in my father's house, and 
 I resolved, if spared, to earn as much money as
 
 48 LAWRIK TODD. 
 
 would pay my passage home. But He, in 
 whose hands are all our ways, had ordained 
 that the fond wishes of that disconsolate mo- 
 ment should not come to pass. 
 
 When I opened the box of books, the first 
 that caught my eye was a small pocket Bible. 
 It had been placed there by the hands of our 
 pious father. Without purpose I opened the 
 book my thoughts were running on our home 
 and the kind old man, and my eyes were suddenly 
 fascinated with these words " My son forget 
 not my laws," and I read on to the end of the 
 chapter the 3rd of Proverbs. 
 
 Now, reader, if thou art a believer in a par- 
 ticular Providence, I request thee to take thy 
 Bible and to read that chapter, and say if it 
 was a vain enthusiasm which made me at the 
 end, in such circumstances, look upon it as a 
 divine instruction how to shape my course. 
 It filled me with hope and comfort, and a joy- 
 ful admiration I fell on my knees, with my 
 face towards the east, where Scotland lies, the 
 land of my home. The sun was just rising it 
 was the time when my father's family assembled 
 at family worship. I knew we should not then
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 49 
 
 be forgotten in this foreign land I thought 
 I was joining in the exercise, and rejoiced that 
 as sure as the same glorious sun shone on us 
 all at the same time, so sure the eyes of the 
 same Lord were on us in every place to guide, 
 instruct, and preserve us. I took the walls to 
 witness, that if the Lord would be with me, and 
 keep me in the ways in which I ought to walk, 
 and give me meat to eat, and raiment to put on, 
 and return me again to my father's house in 
 peace, then, indeed, should the Lord be my 
 God. 
 
 I rose from my kneeling, refreshed in body 
 and mind, and went forth to earn my first 
 cent in America. 
 
 VOL. I D
 
 50 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 He saw her charming, but he saw not half 
 The charms her downcast modesty concealed. 
 
 IN the course of about six weeks after we 
 had domiciled ourselves, we changed our lodg- 
 ings, and went to board with an old American 
 lady, a widow and her daughter, who lived in a 
 wooden house, where No. 100, Liberty-street, 
 now stands. In this house we learned the 
 secret, that in whatever country Heaven is 
 pleased to cast a man's lot, if he expects to 
 live comfortably, he must live with the natives 
 of the country ; and for the same reason, if he 
 wants a wife, he should marry a woman who has 
 been brought up there. We here found the
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 51 
 
 victuals cooked as they ought to be ; but in the 
 European boarding-houses the proverb holds 
 good, that God gives meat, but the Devil sends 
 cooks. How, indeed, can a woman make a 
 pie that never saw a pumpkin ? How can she 
 make cakes who never saw buckwheat ? 
 
 The daughter of our landlady was a big, 
 masculine, single damsel, about thirty-five years 
 of age ; she, however, had a child, but where 
 she got it I know not, as I never could learn that 
 she had had a husband. This child took sick, 
 and one morning, after it had been ill some 
 four or five days, I was in the jeopardy of 
 falling into a deep pit just as I was stepping 
 in the morning out of doors. This pit had 
 been dug by the swine in the course of the 
 previous night, and when it was discovered, 
 the child was given up for lost, for the hogs are 
 regarded as ominous grave-diggers ; great la- 
 mentations and woe accordingly took place, and 
 sure enough that same evening the child was 
 removed. 
 
 It was about this time that the rage for 
 moving up-town commenced, and our good 
 landlady, at the instigation of her big daugh- 
 D 2
 
 52 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 ter, could do no less than follow the fashion 
 of the town, with a cart-load of moveables 
 driven by a Dutch carman, leaving us to seek 
 new lodgings, which we found in a house next 
 door to our workshop. 
 
 When my brother and I had hoisted our 
 large chest up-stairs, and landed it safely in the 
 attic where we were to sleep, I sat down upon 
 the lid and began to moralize. " Well," said 
 I to myself, " I guess this New York is a 
 stirring place. Here we have been little more 
 than four months, and have already lived in 
 three different families, and all by their, not 
 our, movements." 
 
 The time I Jived with the lady and her large 
 daughter was the only period of my sojourn in 
 America that I spent in boyish amusements. 
 The school for the children belonging to the 
 Society of Friends was kept in a small build- 
 ing on the spot where the meeting-house now 
 stands. Brown, afterwards General Brown, 
 who bore a conspicuous part in what was 
 termed the Northern Campaign, in 1812 or 
 1813, was at that time their teacher. The boys 
 before school- hours assembled in our nail-shop,
 
 LAWR1E TODD. 53 
 
 where they used to warm themselves, and amuse 
 away their spare time by feeding a monkey I 
 had obtained from a Portuguese vessel, and 
 kept in the shop. They always brought nuts 
 and apples enough to supply the wants of 
 Jacko and his master too. And here again I 
 beseech the courteous reader to recollect this 
 circumstance, for, as will be seen in the sequel, 
 the goodness of Providence in giving to me 
 that monkey was made most manifest. 
 
 By means of Jacko, I formed an acquaintance 
 with many of those young lads who are now 
 useful and respectable men of business in the 
 city, and who have on divers occasions proved 
 to me friends indeed. But for the present I 
 am called upon to observe, that I was soon to 
 be occupied with more important matters than 
 feeding monkeys and cracking nuts. 
 
 It has always been my custom to rise early, 
 and as the house in which I slept was on the 
 right-hand side in Liberty-street, a few rods 
 below Lumber-street, I kept on that side in 
 going and coming. I observed almost every 
 morning, just as I had crossed from Dark's 
 corner, (so called from Mr. John B. Dark, the
 
 54 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 most extensive retail hardware-dealer in all 
 New York, keeping his store on the west cor- 
 ner of Liberty-street and Broadway,) that a 
 young woman met me exactly at the same spot. 
 The h'rst few times I thought nothing of this ; 
 but the same thing continuing many days, I 
 began to wonder what the young woman could 
 be doing up so early every morning. Just as 
 the clock struck five I crossed Broadway, (this 
 was in August and September,) and she at that 
 same time turned the corner and walked towards 
 the battery. 
 
 There was nothing about her which inspired 
 me with any other sentiment than curiosity at 
 the odd circumstance of meeting her always on 
 the same spot, and at so early an hour. Some- 
 times I would stop for a moment and look 
 after her: she was tall, about five feet seven 
 inches, and her face was pale, with sometimes 
 a slight hectical tinge of red on the cheek, and 
 I thought I could read melancholy in her 
 countenance. Her carriage was very erect, and 
 she walked with a slow solemn step, like a 
 veteran meditating on his part of the scenes 
 and dangers he had passed.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 55 
 
 According to the fashion of the time, she 
 wore a small black beaver-hat, with two cords 
 on each side to turn up the brim, just enough to 
 show the ears. Her hair, which was long and 
 flaxen, was turned up in a broad fold, the 
 extreme ends being fastened under the hat, and 
 the broad fold spreading in a genteel mannerover 
 her shoulders. Her dress, otherwise, was neat 
 and plain, and denoted neither povertynor riches. 
 
 For many mornings we continued to meet 
 and pass each other at the same time and spot 
 without growing into any acquaintanceship, for 
 I satisfied myself with the conjecture that she 
 was a mantua-maker, and rose so early to walk 
 on the battery for the benefit of her health 
 before going to her seam. 
 
 One day, as I was at work in the lower part 
 of our yard, I noticed a number of people in 
 the street looking earnestly towards Broadway. 
 Curiosity led me out to inquire the cause, when 
 I saw a hearse standing at the door of the next 
 house, and was informed that there was to be 
 a burial ; not having seen such a thing in Ame, 
 rica, I stopped a few minutes to see it. 
 
 The corpse was brought out, followed by
 
 56 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 an elderly lady and this same mysterious young 
 woman. I then inquired at a neighbour who 
 they were, and was told they were the wife 
 and daughter of the deceased, and that they 
 were very poor, but greatly respected, especially 
 the daughter, who by her needle was the chief 
 support of the family. With her fair hair, 
 black hat, mourning dress, and pale counte- 
 nance, she seemed to me to resemble one of those 
 Eastern ladies, who, having offended their tyrant 
 lords, are bled to death, and just on the point of 
 sinking with their last sigh so wan, so delicate, 
 so sad, and lowly she then appeared. 
 
 Next morning at the accustomed hour we 
 again met, and continued to do so for some 
 time, still without a wish entering my mind 
 to speak to her. At this period my brother 
 and I had occasion to change our lodging, and 
 we were desirous of being accommodated near 
 the place of our business, but found some diffi- 
 culty in being suited. One day, as I was ru- 
 minating on this, and what was best to be 
 done, the burial which had taken place came 
 across my mind, and I thought with myself 
 thus :
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 57 
 
 " The widow is poor, the daughter is of age ; 
 they must have had two beds while the hus- 
 band lived now the mother and daughter 
 may sleep in one, and perhaps they may board 
 and lodge us, to assist them in getting a living." 
 
 While I was thus cogitating, a neighbour, 
 who lived in the under part of the same house, 
 came in, as he was wont of an evening, to 
 see us work at nail-making. I mentioned our 
 situation to him, and asked if he thought we 
 could be boarded up-stairs in the house where 
 he lived. After some consultation, he went 
 and made inquiry, and the report being favour- 
 able, we next day lugged our big chest to 
 the new lodgings. 
 
 My wish to board there was merely for con- 
 venience, the house being next door to our 
 workshop. I had not the most distant in- 
 clination of courting the acquaintance of Re- 
 becca, indeed my inclinations were at that time 
 far otherwise directed ; they were bent on home, 
 and I only waited until I should have earned 
 money sufficient to carry me back. 
 
 Our landlady, Mrs. Marsden, the mother of 
 Rebecca, was a sensible, obliging, motherly wo- 
 D 5
 
 58 LAWRIR TODD. 
 
 man, and Rebecca being about our own age, 
 appeared to us like a sister, and she became 
 the more interesting to us both, as we knew her 
 better, by her concern for the salvation of her 
 soul. She was, when we became boarders, a 
 regular attendant on the Methodists, and was 
 entirely ignorant on the subject of the ruin of 
 man by the fall. We, who had been instructed 
 from our infancy in the great doctrines of the 
 Scriptures, endeavoured together to point out 
 to her the only path which we believed led to 
 everlasting life. I. soon, however, perceived 
 that she preferred my company and conversa- 
 tion on these subjects to that of my brother, 
 and it made me the more industrious to repay 
 her partiality. 
 
 But before I proceed with the tender part of 
 our courtship, I should mention that my bro- 
 ther's health about this time began to decline, 
 which induced us, in order to save him from 
 the toil and smoke of the nail- shop, to hire a 
 small store. Having saved about one hundred 
 dollars, we laid it out, and fifty dollars more on 
 credit, in hardware, consisting of needles and 
 pins, and scissors and knives, &c. My brother
 
 LAWRJE TODD. 59 
 
 was to attend the store, while I was to make 
 nails to support us both. 
 
 When I began to place our stock on the 
 shelves, I found they would make a very poor 
 appearance, and as I was just beginning to 
 find out that appearances were of great effect in 
 this world, I procured a number of brick-bats 
 and round junks of wood. The wood I sawed 
 into suitable lengths, and covered it with iron- 
 monger's paper, having a shaving-box or a 
 snuff-box attached to the one end of each piece. 
 These, when laid on the shelves, occupied the 
 space of, and appeared to be six, twelve, or 
 twenty boxes, as the size of the wood served. 
 The brick-bats being covered and adorned with 
 a knife and fork outside, looked equally orna- 
 mental and opulent. By this device the shelves 
 appeared to be furnished most respectably. I also 
 procured a glass-case to stand on the counter, 
 in which I placed several articles for retail, and 
 
 as they were sold off. I procured more, so I 
 
 
 
 had no occasion to discompose my brick and 
 wood representatives. 
 
 But although it must be allowed that this 
 was a clever and innocent artifice, yet, like other
 
 60 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 dealers in the devices of cunning, I had not 
 been circumspect at all points, for by mistake 
 I happened to tie a round shaving-box on a brick 
 subterfuge, which a sly pawkie old Scotchman, 
 who sometimes stepped in for a crack, observed. 
 " Ay, man," says he, " but ye hae unco' 
 queer things here ! Wha ever saw a four-corner't 
 shaving-box?" whereupon we had a hearty 
 good laugh. " 'Od," he resumed, "but ye 're 
 an auld farrant chappy, and na doubt but 
 ye'll do weel in this country, where pawkrie 
 is no' an ill nest-egg to begin with !"" 
 
 I shall not intimate to the sagacious reader 
 what might be the matter with my brother, 
 but he tired of keeping store, and went off to 
 Philadelphia, an event which caused me to be 
 much troubled in mind. We were beginning 
 to make a bawbee by the store, and I did 
 not like to give it up; neither did I like to 
 give up the nail-making, for that was sure ; 
 so I resolved to push my courtship, calculating 
 that if I got married, I would have a store- 
 keeper of my own, but if not, to sell all off, 
 and leave the city ; for by this time I could 
 not endure the thought of seeing Rebecca the
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 61 
 
 wife of another. In the meantime, I continued 
 to keep the store and to follow my trade. 
 I rose at four o'clock in the morning and 
 made nails until eight ; I then opened the 
 store, where I remained until eight in the 
 evening, when I shut up, and went to nail- 
 making until twelve ; thus getting but a short 
 four hours' sleep in the four-and-twenty. But 
 the Lord was working with me, and lessened 
 the privation, and lightened the toil. 
 
 My nail-shop-window opened into the yard 
 of the house where I boarded and where Re- 
 becca lived; and after I came from the store 
 in the evening, she used to come like a dove 
 to the window : I helped her in, where she 
 stayed, sewing or knitting, till midnight I 
 working and courting, killing two birds with 
 one stone.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 As when some snowy mountain's heavenward brow 
 Beams with the glory of the solemn moon , 
 Her forehead shone with holiness. 
 
 THE great Dr. Mason was at this time in the 
 fulness of his power ; the vehement dresser of 
 the Lord's vineyard in Cedar-street. It was with 
 his watering-pot that my brother and I, from 
 the time of our arrival in New York, were 
 watered, and it was his pruning-hook that 
 pruned in us the tendrils of worldly affections. 
 
 By our persuasion, Rebecca went with us to 
 hear him, and having once tasted the delicious 
 clusters of his preaching, her heart, on every 
 new visit, longed for them more and more, 
 until it was accomplished that she was ordained
 
 LAWR1E TODD. 63 
 
 to be taken within the hedge and a day and 
 an hour was set, the Friday before the ap- 
 pointed occasion of the Lord's Supper, for her 
 baptism ; for as yet, like many in those days, 
 she was unsanctified by that ordinance. 
 
 As I considered myself to have been an in- 
 strument in bringing about this sacred event, 
 I was greatly lifted out of myself on the occa- 
 sion, and I resolved to be present at the solem- 
 nity. 
 
 The evening service being the time appointed, 
 I shut up my store at an early hour, and went 
 to the church, that I might choose a seat where 
 I could obtain a full view of the holy ceremony. 
 Often my eye turned towards the door, and 
 my heart fluttered because she yet tarried. At 
 last she entered, and my spirit was filled with 
 awfulness and joy. 
 
 When I beheld her tall, slender, and erect 
 form, with slow and measured steps, move up 
 the middle aisle, dressed in a white robe in 
 maidenly simplicity ; when I saw her stand se- 
 rene in the midst of a vast congregation, and 
 give the regular tokens of assent to the vows 
 which Dr. Mason, in a solemn and affecting voice
 
 64 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 laid upon her, while all the congregation seemed 
 hushed in the stillness of death ; when I saw 
 her untie the black ribbon under her chin that 
 held on her hat, whilst the minister was des- 
 cending from the pulpit to administer the ordi- 
 nance ; when I saw her hands hanging straight 
 by her sides, one holding her hat, and the other 
 a white handkerchief; when I saw her turn up 
 her face to Heaven, and calmly close her eyes as 
 the minister prepared to pour the consecrated 
 symbol of grace ; and when I saw her wipe the 
 pearly drops, I thought that her gentle counte- 
 nance shone as with a glorious transfiguration, 
 and I swore in my heart, that with the help of 
 the Lord, nothing but death should part us. 
 
 On our return home, she said in a sweet soft 
 voice, that she might thank me as the means 
 which had been employed for what had come to 
 pass that night I then told her, for the first 
 time, of the fervour that was in my bosom, and 
 added, in the words of Ruth to Naonie " En- 
 treat me not to leave thee ; where thou goest I 
 will go, where thou lodgest I will lodge, thy 
 people shall be my people, and thy God my
 
 LAWRIB TODD. 65 
 
 God !" such was the declaration, but the 
 battle was yet to be fought. 
 
 She looked with pity and sorrow in my face, 
 and turned away with a sigh. In the course 
 of a few days I learned the cause of this sigh, 
 and it awakened all my fears ; from herself I 
 learned it. 
 
 It was caused, she said, by the pain it would 
 give me, when she was obliged to let me know 
 that she had been addressed by a young man 
 for nearly two years, to whom she was all but 
 engaged. I had seen this young man twice or 
 thrice in the house, but I had no apprehension 
 he was a rival. He was, indeed, so far above 
 her in fortune, that a match between them was 
 a thing I could never have imagined. He 
 kept a rich jewellery store, had houses in 
 Broadway, and was computed to be worth at 
 least fifty thousand dollars. What a tempta- 
 tion to a poor girl and her mother, whose whole 
 property was not worth a hundred ; "and how 
 hopeless for me to contend with a man of such 
 substance ! I a stranger, a humble nailer, with- 
 out aught to win favour in woman's eye, and
 
 66 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 who with hard working could scarcely earn 
 seventy-five cents a day. But the industrious 
 are near of kin to the independent, and his wealth 
 weighed as nothing in the eyes of Rebecca com- 
 pared with the estimate of his worth ; for her 
 needle was earnest and her mind was willing. 
 But he came in the name of his God (the 
 world), making offers of settlements on her and 
 her relations. My trust was in another, in Him 
 who hath all hearts in his hand, and can turn 
 them as easily as he turns the gently flowing 
 stream. But at times the weakness of the mor- 
 tal man overcame my confidence, and I had 
 days darkened with doubts, and nights which, 
 though sleepless, were yet full of dismal dreams. 
 Sometimes I was grieved with humility, and 
 almost repined that Heaven had so abridged my 
 stature, and withheld from me a fair proportion 
 of youthful grace. Then I was moved by a 
 strange envy, questioning wherefore I was made 
 so uncomely, and doomed to be so poor, while 
 others were favoured with beauty and riches ; 
 anon a ray of blessedness would break through 
 the gloom of my spirit, and I would say, she is 
 not so sordid as to be won by wealth alone, and
 
 LAWRIE TODD 67 
 
 hath she not often acknowledged that in her 
 esteem a true heart and a virtuous mind were 
 worth more than the bloom and gallantry that 
 so easily win with the rest of her sex. But 
 another cloud would soon overcome me: all 
 her relations, with the exception of her excellent 
 mother, were against me and for my rich rival, 
 and then I would think of them beseeching her, 
 and sigh lest their entreaties should prevail. 
 
 One day as I was sitting in my little store, 
 when my thoughts were in this disconsolate un- 
 certainty, I heard as if some invisible comforter 
 whispered these words to my very heart. " He 
 will fulfil the desire of them that fear him. 
 Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give 
 thee the desire of thy heart." From that 
 moment hope came upon me again, and despon- 
 dency melted away as the morning mist, and 
 I continued my suit with an inward confidence 
 of success. 
 
 About a month after her baptism, we were 
 married in the house of a friend, with quiet 
 and sobriety befitting our circumstances ; but 
 it was an event not allowed to pass without 
 the hand of Providence being visible in it.
 
 68 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 As I was walking towards the house of Dr. 
 Mason, to bespeak him for the ceremony, and 
 to fix the time and place, being on the opposite 
 side of the street, I observed my rival standing 
 at his door. As I knew he was informed that 
 Rebecca and I were soon to be married, and 
 report said he took on like a demented man, I 
 slackened my pace, and seeing him admitted, 
 concluded to defer my visit until the next day, 
 persuaded that his business was somehow con- 
 nected with our affair; and so it appeared it 
 was, for when I did call next day, the reverend 
 Doctor told me that the young man had cried 
 like a child, and urged him to use his influence 
 to break off the match. Now in this, was there 
 not a manifest interposition ? for if it had not 
 been ordered for me to see him at Dr. Mason's 
 door, and had I been two minutes later, we 
 should have met in the house, what a catastrophe 
 might have happened ! In his frenzy he vowed 
 to shoot me; and certain it is, when he heard 
 we were married, he became quite delirious, 
 and attempted to destroy himself ; raying, had 
 she only married a gentleman he would have 
 thought nothing of it, but to refuse him and
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 69 
 
 take up with a poor, black nail-maker was more 
 than human nature could bear. His passion, 
 however, soon cooled, and he comforted himself 
 by marrying another poor girl after a few days' 
 courtship. 
 
 Being married, the courteous reader, no 
 doubt, thinks it was necessary for me to pro- 
 vide a household ; for if he has a right under- 
 standing of domestic happiness, he cannot but 
 know that a prudent pair will never abide in 
 the parent's house of either the one or of the 
 other. We accordingly went to housekeeping in 
 a small wooden building, No. 22, Nassau-street, 
 having only a ground-floor, which I partitioned 
 offinto a store, kitchen, and bed-room, which also 
 served for our parlour. It was twelve feet by 
 six in extent, and I will rehearse the catalogue 
 of our plenishing, for the benefit of other young 
 folk. 
 
 We had a bed and bedstead, good and most 
 comfortable of their kind a fine table worth no 
 less than half a dollar three Windsor chairs, 
 one for each of us, and a spare one for a friend 
 a soup-pot, a tea-kettle, likewise a tea-pot, 
 six cups and saucers, three soup-plates, which
 
 70 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 on days of fish and steaks served as well as 
 plain ones could have done three pewter tea- 
 spoons, and two soup ditto of the same mate- 
 rial ; three knives and forks, a girdle for cakes, 
 a frying-pan, and a gridiron it was enough 
 it was all we wanted, we were all the world to 
 one another. Then was, indeed, the midsummer 
 of my life ; for now that I have carpets to be 
 shaken, brasses to scour, stairs to scrub, ma- 
 hogany to polish, china to break, servants to 
 scold, and a cat that plays the devil, I often 
 say to myself, in the words of Solomon, " Va- 
 nity of vanities, all is vanity ! n
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 71 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 'Twas death in haste. 
 
 HITHERTO I may say that ray lines had 
 fallen in pleasant places especially when, in the 
 course of a few months after my marriage, my 
 brother returned from Philadelphia, and be- 
 came a clerk to one of the most respectable 
 merchants in the city. This was a pleasant re- 
 union, and all things went prosperous my 
 thrift was thriving, and the time when Re- 
 becca expected to be a mother was drawing 
 nigh. But a sentence against the city had gone 
 forth, and the angel of the pestilence was on 
 the threshold of Heaven, shaking his black 
 wings for a flight to the earth. About the 
 
 middle of July he alighted in New York, and
 
 72 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 with a phial in each hand, filled with the wrath 
 of the yellow fever, he began to pour out the 
 desolation. 
 
 On the 12th of August, a wail and lamen- 
 tation spread throughout the town Rachel 
 weeping for her children ; then there was a 
 hurrying to and fro the inhabitants flying 
 from destruction, followed by carts loaded with 
 furniture, feather-beds, and tables, a universal 
 flitting. The city was forsaken, and Silence, with 
 weeping eyes, sat in the market-place. 
 
 We having no friends in the country to fly 
 to, and not having money to support us there 
 in idleness, concluded that it was ordained for 
 a purpose, that we should remain in the midst 
 of the calamity and in this frame of mind, I 
 invited my brother and my wife's mother to 
 join us in an offering to the Lord. We assem- 
 bled in the evening ; it was the sabbath, and 
 on that day there had been no worship, for 
 the stern angel with his phials stood at the 
 church-door, and the worshippers dreaded to 
 enter. 
 
 The air was fearfully warm, and our win- 
 dows were open. The setting sun shone in
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 73 
 
 upon us, and we all thought, as we prepared 
 for the prayer, that there was a yellow drow- 
 siness in his eye, as if the glory of the world 
 was smitten with mortal disease we contem- 
 plated the prodigy in silence, and when he 
 disappeared, we all fell by one thought upon 
 our knees. It was my intent to have spoken, 
 but utterance was denied to me : we folded 
 our hands and offered ourselves to the mercy 
 of Providence with the voices of our hearts. 
 After a season we arose and embraced one 
 another, and cried aloud, let the will of God 
 be done. My brother then went home to his 
 master, and sickened next day, but Rebecca's 
 mother remained with us for the night such 
 a night ! 
 
 Next morning my employer removed his 
 wife, and having laid in a stock of iron and 
 coals, desired me, as he bade me farewell, 
 to make and sell the nails; and my employ- 
 ment was making and selling nails for coffins. 
 Some days after, three young men of our ac- 
 quaintance, who assisted in sitting up and 
 attending on my brother, sickened. The fami- 
 ly where they resided had fled to the country, 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 74 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 so that none were in the houses to give them 
 a drink. I thought they had caught the fever 
 from ray brother, and I felt myself bound 
 to attend them ; which I did, going from house 
 to house by day and by night; but it was 
 not with them only that I fearlessly (trust- 
 ing in the Lord,) hazarded myself, I had many 
 patients. 
 
 In one house lay three brothers one after 
 the other died, but I had time to attend the 
 remains of the] last only to Pottersfield, and 
 it was then I felt grief for the first time. 
 They had been my school-fellows, we came 
 from Scotland in the same ship, and we had 
 all sat with our parents in the same pew in the 
 same church. 
 
 The hearse had brought five other bodies 
 for the sepulchre, but they were all unknown, 
 and I was the only mourner at that funeral. 
 I assisted the hearsemen and the sexton to 
 lower them one by one into the same grave; 
 but when the coffin of my friend, which was 
 the last, was drawn out, my limbs so shook, 
 that I could not take the cord. Lord, in thy 
 mercy spare me from the sorrow of such ano- 
 ther trial !
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 75 
 
 As I was returning home with a heavy 
 heart, I happened to observe the door of the 
 third house from my own open. All the 
 family had some days before gone into the 
 country, leaving .the house to a physician, 
 who boarded with them, and to a young man 
 his assistant. I know not what prompted me, 
 but I softly knocked at the door to inquire 
 how it was with them. No one obeyed the 
 summons, I listened I became alarmed ; I 
 knocked a little louder, but still no one answer- 
 ed I listened again ; I thought I heard the 
 groans and heavy breathing of one dying; I 
 walked up-stairs, and my eyes were withered 
 with a sight that no pen can describe. 
 
 On a cot in the middle of the room lay the 
 physician ; his eyes, already glazed with the 
 varnish of death, were fixed and without spe- 
 culation, and his bosom was heaving with the 
 last struggles of reluctant nature. I spoke 
 he took no notice. I called aloud for help, 
 but there was no help. On a side-board stood 
 a bottle with some wine, and beside it lay a 
 table-spoon. I poured out a few drops, 
 and applied the spoon to his lips : when it
 
 76 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 entered his mouth, he seized it so suddenly 
 and with such force between his teeth, that 
 it rung through the solemn room it was the 
 knell of death, for in the same moment he 
 expired. 
 
 For the space of several minutes I stood 
 immovable, overwhelmed with horror; but the 
 flies settling in clusters on the dead man's face, 
 recalled me to myself, and I took a bunch of 
 weeping willows, which was lying on the floor, 
 and brushed them away. I then drew the 
 sheet over the corpse, and kneeling down, 
 prayed that the reception of his soul might 
 be happy. 
 
 The woes, however, of that terrible pesti- 
 lence were not confined to the guilty race of 
 man : the sufferings of the lower animals were 
 manifest and affecting. In the numerous de- 
 serted houses the poor cats were left unpro- 
 vided, and they became wild with hunger. 
 Their cries were a grief to hear, as they went 
 about in bands wailing for food. I gave them 
 what I could spare, but to relieve them all 
 was beyond my power ; they died by hundreds 
 in the street. And here, could I speak of it in
 
 LA.WRIE TODD. 77 
 
 adequate terms of commendation, I would record 
 the kind-heartedness of two Long Island Irish 
 milkmen, who for several weeks daily left a quart 
 of milk at my door in charity to the starving 
 cats ; and at the corner of John and Cliff-street 
 lived a large, blithe-looking Black woman, who 
 was seen every morning in the street before her 
 door, dividing the offals which she had collected 
 from the market among forty or fifty cats. 
 Truly the sight of these catastrophes were suffi- 
 cient to cause the pitiful eyes of gentle hu- 
 manity to overflow. 
 
 But there were compunctionless men amongst 
 us whom nothing at that feast of death could 
 daunt from their orgies. One beautiful moon- 
 light evening, towards the end of September, 
 I walked up Broadway, mourning for the de- 
 solation around. I stopped near the spot in 
 Chamber-street where the man in other times 
 used to fix his telescope to look at the moon : 
 I felt as if I then stood on the line between the 
 living and the dead. Below was the stillness of 
 death, only interrupted now and then by the 
 groans of the sick and the dying, and the 
 rattling of the slow-comins hearse. Above was
 
 78 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 the usual bustle of street-walkers ; and the wind 
 blowing gently from the north, I could plainly 
 distinguish the blasphemous mirth of a crowd 
 at the door of the circus, whose interior was 
 filled with citizens who had but lately fled from 
 death. The sound was to my ear as rottenness 
 to the smell ; it was as the neighings of Go- 
 morrah.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 79 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 O sing unto my roundelay, 
 
 O drop a briny tear with me ; 
 Dance no more on holiday : 
 Like a running river be ; 
 For she is dead, 
 Gone to her death-bed, 
 All under the willow-tree. 
 
 As I have already intimated, the fulness of 
 my wife's time was coming on, but the dreadful 
 work of the pestilence saddened the hope which 
 my Rebecca and I cherished. Our neighbours 
 were falling around us ; the reaper was busy, 
 and his arms were filled with the sheaf, and few- 
 were to bind or to record the number. I was 
 so engaged in my attendance on those of our 
 acquaintance who were ill, going, as I have said, 
 from house to house, both by day and by night, 
 that I have often wondered since by what secret
 
 80 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 miracle my poor strength was enabled to un- 
 dergo the fatigue and the grief, which day 
 after day brought to me, in the removal from 
 the earth of some kind or some early friend. 
 
 Rebecca's mother sometimes chided me for 
 the risks I ran, but Rebecca, like myself, hav- 
 ing: committed our lives into His hands who 
 
 O 
 
 gave them, were without dread ; but as the old 
 lady's acquaintance were one by one carried 
 away, her fears increased, until her alarm grew 
 to such a pitch, that, poor as we were, we ad- 
 vised her to go into the country ; and it was a 
 sad sight to see that mother and that daughter 
 rive themselves asunder. Rebecca was calm, 
 for her anchor was on high ; but her mother 
 lacked in religious confidence, and her heart 
 being torn between a wish to remain with her 
 daughter in her interesting situation, and a 
 dread of the angel of destruction, she wept bit- 
 terly, and complained of her frail fortitude. 
 
 But her departure proved less of a misfortune 
 than we at first thought it would be ; for I 
 providentially fell in with an elderly, sensible 
 woman, whom I engaged to live with us and to 
 take care of my wife. She slept with Rebecca,
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 81 
 
 and I established my bed in the garret above. 
 Often, after we had parted for the night, have I 
 sat listening on my bed-stock till I ascertained 
 they were asleep ; when I have taken off my 
 shoes and gone out softly and visited my pa- 
 tients. The time was awful and melancholy : 
 some of my patients, it is true, recovered, and 
 among them my brother ; but the sign of the 
 passover had been streaked on few doors, and 
 many were taken away. Such was the time 
 and such the circumstances in which our first- 
 born was delivered into the world. 
 
 But the courteous reader, after the things I 
 have told, may well spare the recital of my own 
 sorrows. In the birth of that child my happiness 
 was complete ; the cup of earthly felicity was 
 full to the brim. I drank it off; I drained it with 
 a greedy joy. I forgot that the angel of death 
 was in the street, and in rejoicing in the greatest 
 blessing bestowed upon me, I forgot Him to 
 whom thankfulness was due. I esteemed the 
 gift that had been given as the greatest I had 
 ever received, saving the love of Rebecca, and 
 yet I returned that day no thanks. But He soon 
 reminded me of the ingratitude ; yet in his dis- 
 E 5
 
 82 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 pleasure there was great goodness, and in his 
 justice much mercy. 
 
 In the natural course of time Rebecca re- 
 covered ; the pestilence was assuaged ; men re- 
 turned to their wonted vocations; families re- 
 assembled, and Silence, startled from her sorrow 
 in the market-place, returned to the church-yard, 
 and resumed her ancient seat on the tomb- 
 stone. 
 
 The winter which followed that dreadful 
 season was bright and clear ; the air was nimble 
 and bracing, and the spirit of man glowed as if 
 a new effusion of the element of health had 
 issued from the gates of Heaven, when the 
 angel returned to account to Providence for the 
 awful hest he had performed. But pure, deli- 
 cious, and invigorating as it came, freshening to 
 all the pulses of nature, it entered not my dwell- 
 ing. Before the blossoms of the spring had 
 bloomed, a fatal rose was supplanting the 
 lovely lily of Rebecca's cheek ; I watched its 
 growth, oh, with what tenderness ! and I 
 thought, when I beheld her gentle eyes kindling 
 with the flame that consumed her, it was as if
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 83 
 
 her blameless soul was already incorporated with 
 the glory and the holiness of Heaven. 
 
 From the first symptoms, the physician, with 
 a judicious humanity, told me there was no hope ; 
 and as the spring advanced, she, the fairest of 
 all flowers, gave no sign that its genial gales 
 were for her. 
 
 On her death-bed she was often visited by 
 the elders and other pious members of our 
 church, and often she told me how full of gra- 
 titude she was to Heaven for having made her 
 acquainted with me, who was the means of in- 
 troducing her into such society, by whom the 
 couch of disease was sweetened with a holiness 
 passing all that was precious in the myrrh and 
 frankincense of this world. 
 
 On the morning of her death, the sun rose 
 with unusual splendour ; I had watched all night 
 by her bed-side, and as his beams entered the 
 room, they fell upon her mild countenance, as if 
 mercy had tempered their light. I looked upon 
 her for a short time, as she lay pale as the mo- 
 numental alabaster ; but who can express what 
 the faithful and loving heart feels at such a 
 time ; I then rose to drop the curtain, fearing the
 
 84 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 light would molest her beautiful eyes, but she 
 softly forbade me ; "I am already," said she, 
 " entering the brighter precincts of a brighter 
 sun;" and turning her face to the wall, her 
 gentle spirit departed in peace.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 PART II.
 
 PART II. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 He placed his chin upon his staff, 
 And thus began. 
 
 IF a man marry once for love, he is a fool 
 to expect he may do so twice it cannot be : 
 therefore, I say, in the choice of a second 
 wife, one scruple of prudence is worth a pound 
 of passion. I do not assert that he should have 
 an eye to dowry ; for unless it is a great sum, 
 such as will keep all the family in gentility, 
 I think a small fortune one of the greatest 
 faults a young woman can have ; not that I 
 object to the money on its own account, but
 
 88 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 only to its effects in the airs and vanities it 
 begets in the silly maiden, especially if her 
 husband profits by it. 
 
 For this reason I did not choose my second 
 wife from the instincts of fondness, nor for 
 her parentage, nor for her fortune ; neither was 
 I deluded by fair looks. I had, as I have said, 
 my first-born needing tendance ; and my means 
 were small, while my cares were great. I ac- 
 cordingly looked about for a sagacious woman 
 one that not only knew the use of needles 
 and shears, but that the skirt of an old green 
 coat might, for lack of other stuff, be a clout 
 to the knees of blue trowsers and such a one 
 I found in the niece of my friend and neigh- 
 bour, Mr. Zerobabel L. Hoskins, a most respect- 
 able farmer, from Vermont, who had come to 
 New York about a cod-fish adventure that he 
 had sent to the Mediterranean, and was waiting 
 with his wife and niece the returns from Sicily. 
 
 This old Mr. Hoskins was, in his way, 
 something of a Yankey oddity. He was tall, 
 thin, and of an anatomical figure, with a long 
 chin, ears like trenchers, lengthy jaws, and a 
 nose like a schooner's cut-water. His hair was
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 89 
 
 lank and oily, the tie of his cravat was always 
 dislocated, and he wore an old white beaver 
 hat, turned up behind. His long bottle-green 
 surtout, among other defects, lacked a button 
 on the left promontory of his hinder parts, and 
 in the house he always tramped in slippers. 
 
 Having from my youth upward been much 
 addicted to the society of remarkable persons, 
 soon after the translation of my Rebecca, I 
 happened to fall in with this gentleman, and 
 without thinking of any serious purpose, I 
 sometimes, of a sabbath-evening, called at the , 
 house where he boarded with his family, and 
 there I soon discovered, in the household talents 
 of Miss Judith his niece just the sort of woman 
 that was wanted to heed the bringing up of 
 my little boy. This discovery, however, to 
 tell the truth quietly, was first made by her 
 uncle. 
 
 " I guess, Squire Lawrie," said he, one even- 
 ing, " the Squire has considerable muddy time 
 on 't since his old woman went to pot." 
 
 Ah, Rebecca ! she was but twenty-one 
 
 " Now, Squire, you see," continued Mr. Ze- 
 robabel L. Hoskins, " that ere being the cir-
 
 90 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 cumstance, you should be a-making your calcu- 
 lations for another spec;" and he took his cigar 
 out of his mouth, and trimming it on the edge 
 of the snuffer-tray, added, " Well, if so be 
 
 as you're agoing to do so, don't you go to 
 
 
 stand like a pump, with your arm up, as if 
 
 you would give the sun a black-eye,* but do 
 it right away." 
 
 I told him it was a thing I could not yet 
 think of; that my wound was too fresh, my 
 loss too recent. 
 
 " If that ben't particular," replied he, 
 " Squire Lawrie, I 'm a pumpkin, and the pigs 
 may do their damnedst with me. But I ain't 
 a pumpkin, the Squire he knows that." 
 
 I assured him, without very deeply dunkling 
 the truth, that I had met with few men in 
 America who better knew how many blue 
 beans it takes to make five. 
 
 " I reckon, Squire Lawrie," said he, " is a 
 puffing of a parley voo, but I sells no wooden 
 nutmegs. Now look ye 1 here, Squire. There be 
 you, spinning your thumbs with a small child 
 that haVt got no mother ; so I calculate, if you 
 * " An eclipse," thought I.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 91 
 
 make Jerusalem fine-nails, I guess you can't 
 a hippen such a small child for no man's money 
 which is tarnation bad." 
 
 I could not but acknowledge the good sense 
 of his remark. 
 
 He drew his chair close in front of me, and 
 taking the cigar out of his mouth, and beating 
 off the ashes on his left thumb nail, replaced it. 
 Having then given a puff, he raised his right-hand 
 aloft, and laying it emphatically down on his knee, 
 said in his wonted, slow, and phlegmatic tone. 
 
 " Well, I guess that 'ere young woman, my 
 niece she be'nt five-and-twenty she'll make 
 a heavenly splice ! I have known that 'ere 
 young woman 'liver the milk of our thirteen 
 cows afore eight a morning, and then fetch 
 Crumple and her calf from the Bush Dang that 
 'ere Crumple ! we never had no such heifer afore 
 she and her calf cleared out every night, and 
 wouldn't come home on no account, no never, 
 'till Judy fetch 'd her right away, when done 
 milking t' other thirteen." 
 
 " No doubt, Mr. Hoskins," said I, " Miss 
 Judith will make a capital farmer's wife in the
 
 92 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 country, but I have no cows to milk all my 
 live stock is a sucking bairn" 
 
 " By the Gods of Jacob's father-in law ! she's 
 just the cut for that. But the Squire knows 
 I ain't agoing to trade her. If she suits 
 Squire Lawrie good, says I I shan't ask no 
 nothing for her ; but I can tell the Squire as 
 how Benjamin S. Thuds what is blacksmith 
 in our village offered me two hundred and 
 fifty dollars gospel, by the living jingo ! in 
 my hand right away ; but you see, as how, he 
 was an almighty boozer, though for blacksmith- 
 ing a prime hammer, I said no, no, and there 
 she is still to be had and I reckon Squire 
 Lawrie may go the whole hog with her, and 
 make a good operation.' 1 
 
 Discovering by this plain speaking of Mr. 
 Hoskins how the cat jumped to use one of 
 his own terms we entered more into the mar- 
 row of the business, till it came to pass, that I 
 made a proposal for Miss Judith, and soon 
 after a paction was settled between me and her, 
 that when the Fair American arrived from Pa- 
 lermo, we should be married ; for she had a
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 93 
 
 share in the codfish venture by that bark, and 
 we counted that the profit might prove a nest- 
 egg ; and it did so, to the blithsome tune of four 
 hundred and thirty-three dollars, which the old 
 gentleman counted out to me in the hard on 
 the wedding-day.
 
 94 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 He that begins with needles and pins, 
 May end with horned knout. 
 
 A SHORT time before my second marriage, 
 which took place within the twelve months after 
 the death of my sanctified Rebecca, the intro- 
 duction of the cut nails began to cut me off 
 from earning a living by my hammer, and the 
 business of -my hardware store being of itself 
 insufficient for the maintenance of a family, I 
 bethought me of invading the borders of the 
 grocery line. I ought not, however, to say 
 that I did so of my own conceit, and reflection, 
 for I was led into it by one of those wonderful 
 providential suggestions, of which I have had 
 such a large experience.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 95 
 
 One day, as I was standing in the store, wiping 
 and blowing the dust and stoor from the knives 
 and shaving-boxes that made the brick-bats 
 and wooden blocks shine on my shelves, a sailor 
 from the West Indies came to the door with a 
 bag of coffee-beans on his back. There might 
 be the better part of two whole hundred weight, 
 but though he offered them at a cheap rate, I 
 had not money enough to make a bargain with 
 him. After some confabulation, however, into 
 which I threw a spice of my natural jocosity, 
 we began to come to an understanding; and 
 from less to more, I proposed that we might 
 trade, if not for the whole, at least for a portion. 
 This, as he was going back to New Providence, 
 where he had bought the coffee from a wrecker, 
 was not out of his way, especially when I 
 showed him how he might sell the razors, and 
 knives and forks at a great profit in Nassau, 
 the chief port and place of business in the 
 Bahama islands, whereof New Providence is the 
 principal. 
 
 Accordingly he in the end consented to leave 
 the bag of coffee with me, and to come back in 
 the afternoon, when the part of the price that
 
 96 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 was to be paid in money would be ready for 
 him, and the cargo of hardware with the invoice 
 made up. 
 
 This was not arranged without forethought, 
 it being necessary that I should have the store 
 to myself, while unpacking the articles from the 
 parcels to which they were fastened ; moreover, 
 the money promised was six dollars more than 
 I had then at command, and I was in conse- 
 quence obliged to borrow, which was a thing 
 requiring time and dexterity. 
 
 Having taken from the shelves divers of the 
 apparent packages of my hardwares, I made up 
 those things that were on the outsides in a 
 small box, and I placed the brick-bats and blocks 
 of wood from which they had been taken under 
 the counter, to serve for another occasion, 
 leaving their places vacant on the shelves. I 
 then went home and took what money I had 
 out of the big chest ; afterwards I proceeded 
 to Mr. Parcels, a member of our congregation, 
 who kept a store for notions at the corner of 
 Maiden-lane and Pearl-street, to see if he 
 would oblige me with the loan of six dollars, to 
 enable me to make^ up the sum required.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 97 
 
 Though the amount required was not heavy, 
 yet I own it was not without a sort of trepida- 
 tion I went to borrow. I had, it is true, obtain- 
 ed wares on credit to the extent of more than 
 fifty dollars all at one time ; but I was sensible 
 of a wide difference between asking credit in 
 the way of business, and begging the help of 
 actual money. But in this negotiation I was 
 surprisingly assisted. 
 
 Mr. Parcels had that very day made a capital 
 spec of brushes and baskets, and when I called 
 he was in great felicity with himself and all 
 mankind. He told me of his good luck, and 
 showed me the articles, which I, of course, com- 
 mended and complimented to his satisfaction. 
 I then told him, that I, too, had not been with- 
 out a benefaction from Fortune, for that I had 
 made a speculation in coffee-beans, by which I 
 would, even by wholesale, turn the heels over 
 the head of what it cost me. 
 
 " But," continued I, " the want of money, 
 Mr. Parcels, is the root of all evil in trade. 
 Did I possess a command of capital like you, 
 there is no saying what I might not do ; for I 
 may tell you in confidence, that although, in a 
 
 VOL. i. F
 
 98 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 sense, my small dabblings in the hardware-line 
 are not barren of return, yet I have for some 
 time discerned that few retail traders pay so 
 well as those which deal in articles of a brisk 
 consumption. He was of the same opinion, 
 and we continued discoursing sagaciously and 
 leisurely in this way, like two political econo- 
 mists, or chancellors of the English Exchequer, 
 for a considerable space of time ; at last I heard 
 the clock strike an hour, at which, taking the 
 dollar-notes out of my pocket, I said, in an off- 
 hand, manner " I'll be obliged to you, Mr. Par- 
 cels, for the loan of ten or twelve dollars till the 
 morn, as I have to settle for my coffee spec, 
 and may be short." 
 
 " With great pleasure," replied he. " But 
 do not be hampered, I have some twenty -or 
 thirty in the drawer much at your service;" 
 so pulling out the drawer, he lifted the bundle 
 and handed it over to me. Thus came I, in 
 a most extraordinary manner, to be not only 
 in a condition to pay the sailor, but to have an 
 overplus. And here I should say, let no man 
 
 j 
 
 regard this as an incident of blind chance ; for
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 99 
 
 when I returned to my store, the sailor was 
 standing at the door with another lad, who had 
 a cigar-box full of indigo to sell, and who was 
 willing to trade for it, half cash, and half in 
 pewter tea-spoons. As the value he set on his 
 indigo was reasonable, we soon came to a con- 
 clusion : for although I had not just so many 
 spoons as he wanted, I yet got him persuaded 
 to take two pair of scissars, and paid him the 
 remainder in money. 
 
 Having thus acquired a valuable stock of 
 coffee and indigo, I then began to devise with 
 myself, how it might best be realised. I was 
 naturally inclined to sell in the small way for 
 the profits of the retail trade are pretty consi- 
 derable on such merchandise ; but that required 
 ttme, and to keep my credit with friend Parcels, 
 it was necessary I should have a quick return. 
 
 The upshot of these reflections accordingly led 
 me to shut the store a little earlier than usual, 
 and to take a turn in Broadway before going 
 home. In the course of that walk, I was 
 directed into a large grocery, kept by Mr. 
 William Raisins ; to whom, on going in, I said 
 F 2
 
 100 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 that I had that morning, in the way of trade, 
 taken some coffee and indigo, which being 
 articles not in my way, I would be glad to 
 sell. He was a cute man, and brisk at a bar- 
 gain, so the nail was soon driven. I brought 
 him the articles; they were weighed before 
 me, and he paid the money down; by which 
 I was enabled, next day, to repay Mr. Parcels, 
 and to sack a reasonable profit. 
 
 The event was great in another way, for it 
 emboldened me to make the proposal for Miss 
 Judith Hoskins, by the help of whose fortune 
 I enlarged the borders of my dealings, gra- 
 dually entering more and more into the West 
 India trade with the sailors, until I fairly 
 found myself a grocer in a very prosperous 
 way of well doing. 
 
 And here it is fit I should make, as the 
 ministers sometimes say, an improvement on 
 what has been said. The courteous reader 
 must have discerned how little in all that 
 stroke of good fortune was owing to any wis- 
 dom of mine. In the bargain for the coffee, 
 I had evidently mounted the wall-top: I had 
 placed myself in a predicament of danger,
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 101 
 
 and had there not been a providential gather- 
 ing of leaves in the luck which Mr. Parcels 
 had that day met with, who can tell if I 
 might not have come a cripple from the ad- 
 venture.
 
 102 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " Thrift, thrift, Horatio !" 
 
 BUT the sunshine is not always, neither 
 is it good for man that prosperity should 
 endure for ever. Hitherto it had been well 
 with me; for, save in the loss of Rebecca 
 and somehow I never could account her re- 
 moval a loss, but only as a change by which 
 she was a great gainer I had not tasted of 
 the bitterness of life: not that my cup was 
 uniformly sweet and overflowing, but all things 
 had a growth and progress with me. Care- 
 fulness sat on the doorstep of my threshold, 
 and frugality blithened my dwelling. 
 
 No man ever thrives without nettling the 
 malice or the envy of some of his neighbours : 
 and accordingly, persons were not wanting,
 
 JLAWRIE TODD. 103 
 
 who regarded the custom of my grocery-store 
 with eyes askew. Among these were two ca- 
 binet-makers, on the opposite side of the street, 
 carrying on a respectable business, and having 
 in their* employ ten or twelve journeymen and 
 'prentices. They reckoned the number of my 
 customers, they counted the casks of sugar I 
 took in, and the chests of tea that were brought 
 to me, and having laid their heads together, 
 they concluded it was a fine thing to be a 
 grocer. 
 
 Accordingly, with the temptation of a great 
 rent, they hired the house at the corner of 
 Broadway, three doors above mine, over the 
 head of a decent old Dutchman, who was well- 
 known as the sexton of the Dutch church ; 
 gave up their own business, and fitting up the 
 house in an elegant style, commenced the gro- 
 cery business. 
 
 Their store having the advantage of being at 
 the corner, and opening upon Broadway, at- 
 tracted away many of my customers : besides, 
 they were men of substance, and they could 
 afford to lay in a better assortment of goods 
 than it was in my power to do; so they car-
 
 104 LAWR1E TODD. 
 
 ried all before them. This, assuredly, was a 
 great misfortune, and troubled me severely ; for 
 although it did not come in all its weight at 
 once, the consequences were yet plain to be 
 seen, and day after day my scales had less and 
 less occupation. 
 
 It was some time, however, before I became 
 seriously alarmed ; for I flattered myself that 
 the unsteadiness in the character of my rivals 
 would soon prompt them to try some other con- 
 cern ; but the business proved better even than 
 they had expected, and begot a perseverance in 
 them which I could not but applaud, though 
 it prospered at my cost. 
 
 My goods thus began to hang heavily on 
 my hands ; the boxes of raisins and the frails 
 of figs in the window became dry and fushion- 
 less. There was a great in-drink in my teas, 
 occasioned by the boxes being long open, and 
 the outgoings in my house were more than the 
 incomings of the store. Still, I was not cast 
 down, for although I beheld poverty creep- 
 ing towards me, like the barren sands of the 
 desert, which travellers say are gradually over-
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 105 
 
 spreading the corn-fields of the Egyptians, I 
 had an encouraging hope which defied adversi- 
 ty nor was it long until proof was granted, 
 that in trusting to Providence, my leaning was 
 not on a broken reed. 
 
 The ladies of New York were, about this 
 time, beginning, among other elegancies of taste, 
 to cultivate flowers in their parlours, and the 
 grocery stores commonly supplied them with 
 pots. It happened that I was one day asked 
 by a very fine and gentle maiden of the higher 
 order, if I could not procure for her two or 
 three pots of a handsomer figure, and more or- 
 namental than those in use. This, after she 
 had left the store, set me a thinking, when all 
 at once it came into my head to paint some of 
 my flower-pots with green varnish, persuaded 
 that this would please the ladies better than the 
 common brick-bat colour. 
 
 Accordingly, I painted two pair, and exposed 
 them in the window, when they soon drew at- 
 tention, and were sold. I then painted six 
 pair, and they presently went the same way. 
 Being thus encouraged, I centinued painting 
 F 5
 
 106 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 and selling to good advantage, and thereby 
 gained something to help the decay of my gro- 
 cery profits. 
 
 One day, in the course of the following 
 spring, I observed a man, for the first time, 
 selling flower-plants in the Fly-market. As I 
 carelessly passed by I plucked a leaf, and rub- 
 bing it between my finger and thumb, inquired 
 the name of it. He answered, a geranium. 
 This, to the best of my recollection, was the first 
 time I had ever heard that there was a gera- 
 nium in the world. Before that morning, I 
 had no taste for flowers, though I certainly 
 could tell a red-cabbage from a moss-rose. 
 
 I examined the plant, thought it had a plea- 
 sant smell, and that it would look well if re- 
 moved into one of my green flower-pots. I 
 then bought it of the man but observe not 
 with the intention of selling it again, but only 
 to adorn my counter, and to let people see how 
 handsomely the pots looked when a plant was 
 in them. Next day a customer fancied and pur- 
 chased the plant and pot, at so enticing a price, 
 that I went, wherv the market was nearly over, 
 judging the man would sell cheaper, rather than
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 107 
 
 have the trouble of carrying his plants across 
 the river, for he lived at Brocklyne, and in 
 those days there was neither steam nor horse- 
 boats, and I purchased two other geraniums, 
 which I also placed in two green pots, and soon 
 after sold to good advantage. 
 
 This led me to think that something might 
 be done for my family in this way ; and thus it 
 came to pass that I continued to go at the close 
 of the market, and bargain for the unsold 
 plants ; and the man, finding me a beneficial cus- 
 tomer, would assist me to carry them home, and 
 he showed me how to shift the plants, and to 
 put them into my green pots, if customers 
 wished it. 
 
 I soon discovered that the gardener, George 
 Briars, was a Scotchman, and being a coun- 
 tryman, we worked into one another's hands. 
 Thus, in the course of a short time, from 
 having one plant on my counter, I had fifty, all 
 beautifully blooming, and shedding a delightful 
 fragrance that sweetened the air of the street 
 far beyond the door. Nothing of the kind had 
 ever before been seen in New York ; and peo- 
 ple, in taking their country friends to see the
 
 108 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 curiosities of the city, would step in as they 
 passed, marvelling at the sight of my balsams 
 and geraniums. 
 
 In these visits, the strangers would some- 
 times express a wish to have a plant, but hav- 
 ing far to go, could not carry them. Then 
 they would ask if I had no flower-seeds ; others 
 again would inquire for cabbage, turnip, or 
 radish seed, Sec. until, from less to more, these 
 frequent inquiries set me a thinking, that if I 
 could get seeds, I should be able to sell them. 
 But no one sold seed in New York ; none of 
 the farmers or gardeners saved more than they 
 wanted for their own use. George Briars, how- 
 ever, told me, that he was then raising seeds, 
 with the intention of selling them with his 
 plants in the Fly-market next spring. Out of 
 this grew a partnership between us, by which 
 it was covenanted, that I should buy his seeds, 
 and that he should stay at home and raise 
 plants and seeds for me. I accordingly pur- 
 chased his stock for fifteen dollars. 
 
 I then advertised garden-seeds for sale in 
 the newspapers, and my stock was soon sold oft' 
 at a consolatory profit, which made me regret
 
 LAWRJE TODD. 109 
 
 that I could not replace it. But the darkest 
 hour is the nearest to the dawn. At this junc- 
 ture a neighbour came into the store with a 
 stranger, whom he introduced to me as just 
 arrived from London, with a small venture of 
 seeds, which he was willing to dispose of at a 
 moderate advance on the invoice. A bargain 
 was soon struck, for his venture consisted of the 
 very sorts for which I was daily applied to, 
 and knew not where to obtain. 
 
 Next day, on opening one of the casks, I 
 found a catalogue of seeds for sale, by Wil- 
 liam Spades and Co. of London. This was a 
 prize indeed : and it had marginal notes, sta- 
 ting the best time of sowing; valuable informa- 
 tion, of which I was, till then, totally ignorant. 
 
 After this I published a catalogue of my own, 
 and with the assistance of George Briars, adapted 
 the time to suit the seasons of our climate ; so 
 that now, when my customers inquired when such 
 and such seeds should be sown, I was able to 
 give them the fullest information. 
 
 In the fall of the following year, I remitted a 
 sum of money to Messrs. Spades and Co. with 
 an order, which they honestly executed ; and the
 
 110 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 seeds arriving in good season, enabled me, with 
 those which George Briars raised at Brocklyne, 
 to take the field with great courage. My busi- 
 ness increased apace, in so much that the gro- 
 cery became secondary to it, so I began to let 
 it gradually run out. 
 
 But although I had much reason for thank- 
 fulness, both for the manner in which I had been 
 guided into the seed business, and for the issue 
 thereof, it was like all other human concerns, 
 liable to vexations. The gardeners seeing my 
 advertisements, and hearing how I was topping 
 in the trade, raised seeds to sell to me ; and I 
 having as yet but little skill in the quality, was 
 often deceived by the knaves ; the which molest- 
 ed me the more, as it made my customers dis- 
 satisfied. However, experience was daily in- 
 structing me, and my footing growing more 
 steadfast I had a goodly prospect of a prosperous 
 fortune. Alas ! short-sighted mortals, we know 
 not what a day may bring forth.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. Ill 
 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 > t'i'fh.zitiisi'* '**$, >fit, iy*trfakib&mi ji .. 
 
 " Ring the alarm-bell." 
 
 IT is only remarkable men who are privi- 
 leged to write their own histories ; no doubt 
 there are conceited persons who take upon them 
 to do the same thing, but the world has little 
 respect for such vanity. For my part, it would 
 have been far from my heart to have thought 
 of inditing this book, had I not discerned in 
 the accidents of my life something that will be 
 accounted extraordinary, to say nothing of the 
 manner in which I have been guided ; itself a 
 demonstration that Providence had a purpose 
 for me whether in the way of example, or as 
 an agent, is not for me to determine. This 
 much, however, I may affirm, that from the 
 first hour I had a right notion of the condition
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 of man, I felt myself to be a something that 
 was deemed deserving of special care and pre- 
 servation, and what I have now to relate bears 
 witness to the fact. 
 
 Close behind my house and store stood a 
 large soap and candle manufactory, at which 
 I never looked without receiving an intimation 
 that it was ordained to be consumed by fire. 
 This remarkable presentiment became at last 
 so assured to me of fulfilment, that I spoke of 
 it as I would do of any intent or business which 
 must be performed. For months before the 
 catastrophe came to pass, when the fire company, 
 on the first Monday of every month, came to 
 wash and clean their engine, at the pump near 
 the corner of Liberty and Nassau-street, I 
 often jocosely told them how I wished they 
 would act when the candle-box, as I called the 
 soapery, should take fire; and so persuaded 
 was I of the sentence that had been passed 
 upon it, that I insured my property. I had 
 at the time a large stock on hand of early 
 cabbage-seed lying open in the store : it had 
 been imported; but the long embargo being 
 then laid on, rendered it doubtful when, if any
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 113 
 
 accident happened, I should be able to get 
 another supply. 
 
 One day, while sitting at dinner with my 
 wife, reflecting on this circumstance, I told her 
 that in the afternoon I intended to pack up my 
 most valuable seeds in flour barrels, in order 
 that they might be quickly and safely removed 
 at the breaking out of the fire next door. 
 
 This packing detained me later than usual, 
 and when I returned up-stairs, finding my wife 
 much fatigued with nursing one of the children 
 who was sick, I advised her to lie down, saying, 
 I would look to the child until she got a sleep. 
 This was between nine and ten o'clock ; she 
 lay down accordingly, and I watched the 
 cradle. 
 
 The noise in the streets began gradually to 
 subside, till only single sounds at intervals were 
 heard. The poor baby breathed heavily, and 
 the ticking of the clock grew more and more 
 audible, but I heard nothing else. 
 
 Exactly as the clock struck twelve, my wife 
 awakened, resumed her vigil, and I took her 
 place in the bed. Being very tired, I soon 
 fell asleep, but could not have slept many
 
 114 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 minutes, for next day, when I found the clock 
 in the neighbouring church, into which it had 
 been hastily carried, the hands stood exactly 
 at a quarter past twelve. 
 
 Being roused by a startling scream from my 
 wife, I sprang on the floor before my eyes 
 were well open. " What is the matter ?" cried I. 
 
 " We are all on fire !" was her wild answer. 
 
 I rushed to the back-window which looked 
 to the candle-works, and beheld them at last 
 burning. 
 
 Having for many months previous resolved 
 in my own mind how I would act when the 
 event should take place, I was prepared and 
 composed. My wife being dressed, I bade her 
 carry the sick child to a place of safety, saying, 
 that I would wake up and take care of the 
 other children and servants. In the mean 
 time I calmly but quickly dressed myself, and 
 with considerate presence of mind I put on a 
 pair of old double-soled boots, lest in the con- 
 fusion I should tread on a rusty nail in some 
 of the boards that might be pulled down : I 
 then wetted my night-cap and put it on to 
 preserve my hair from being singed, and having
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 115 
 
 sent off the children and servants, I went down 
 into my store, and secured my valuable papers 
 and money, pinning them in my jacket pocket. 
 
 As the engines came up, I directed them to 
 the places where their service could be most 
 effectual, reminding the firemen of what I had 
 foretold. I then ran from place to place, 
 snatching what property I could from the de- 
 struction; and here I have to record a most 
 wonderful preservation. 
 
 The house in which the fire originated stood 
 on the south side of my premises, and my back 
 store, a wooden building, was often covered 
 with the flames ; but the wind, which was 
 then blowing strong from the south, carried 
 with it such showers of ashes, that they pro- 
 tected the building as much it was thought as 
 the water of the engines. The damage it sus- 
 tained was indeed so trifling, that ten dollars 
 put it in as good repair as it was before the 
 fire began, but the heat within had been 
 dreadful. 
 
 The forenoon previous I had been painting 
 flower-pots with green varnish. The shelf, on 
 which the painted pots stood, was on the side
 
 116 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 nearest the manufactory, and beside them were 
 several other pots and a pitcher, containing 
 rosin, varnish, and spirits of turpentine. The 
 fire burned through the boards directly op- 
 posite to where these inflammable articles were 
 standing. The end of the shelf was actually so 
 scorched that it dropped from its niche, and 
 falling about a foot, rested on the floor. When 
 the fire was mastered, the pots and pitcher were 
 found glued fast to the shelf, the heat having 
 caused the paint to melt, which running down 
 the sides, fixed them in that manner. Had 
 these combustibles taken fire, the whole of my 
 premises must have perished. 
 
 Among many who came in the morning to 
 see the ruins, was my friend Mr. Hoskins, who 
 was then in the city, superintending another 
 spec of cod-fish and flour, which he was ship- 
 ping off to Lisbon, where the British were then 
 fighting, and were thought to be in great want 
 of provisions. When he beheld the combust- 
 ible pots and pitcher, he could not believe they 
 had stood where they were, amidst the ashes 
 and embers, during the conflagration. I told
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 117 
 
 him, however, to lift them, and he tried to 
 do so. 
 
 " Well," said he, " I guess this is pretty 
 particular. By the furnace of Babylon, it beats 
 Shedry and Abendy to immortal smash."
 
 118 LA.WRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 j. 
 
 BUT though this fire was a most calamitous 
 event to my neighbours, there was in it a mercy 
 towards me as great even as the marvellous pre- 
 servation of my property. 
 
 Mr. Hoskins, as I have mentioned, was in 
 New York, seeing a cargo made up for Lisbon, 
 and once or twice, before the fire broke out, he 
 had proposed to me to send a venture by the 
 same ship, or to go on shares with him. To 
 acknowledge the truth, I was coming round to 
 be so inclined, saying to myself, " faint heart 
 never won fair lady." 
 
 The chief cause of my hesitation was owing 
 to a doubt I had of the propriety of stepping 
 out of the line of my own business for it was 
 one of the solid advices of my father, never to
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 119 
 
 leave a trade so long as it would bide with me. 
 The confusion caused by the fire settled the 
 question ; for although I could not complain of 
 any loss, the insurance company having at once 
 made good my damage, I'was yet for several 
 days in a state of great confusion, and could 
 think of nothing but of my missing articles, and 
 how I should get my store again in order. 
 Sooth to say, I was disturbed and fykie, and 
 could lay my mind to no sort of consideration. 
 
 " I guess," said Mr. Hoskins, one evening, 
 when he came to drink tea with us ; "I guess 
 the Squire haVt a got livered of 'at ere fire 
 fright." 
 
 In the way of jocularity I did not object to 
 being called squire by him, for it was his way ; 
 but the fire was connected in my mind with so 
 many awful things, that I could not endure to 
 hear it lightly spoken of, so I replied : 
 
 " You know, Mr. Hoskins, that I have no 
 right to be called squire, and, therefore, it would 
 oblige me if ye would not use to me such a 
 decoration." 
 
 " Well, if that ben't Solomon, I a'nt no- 
 body ; for to speak the truth right-away to Mr.
 
 120 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 Todd, I have myself obstinacious objections a 
 considerable some against 'em ere parley voos ; 
 for though I be a major of militia, and a judge 
 in our county, State of Vermont, I ain't special 
 *bout pedigrees ; but my wife, she *s as the gen- 
 tleman knows an almighty ambitious woman, 
 and will have her kitchen as clean as her parlour 
 she won't have nobody call me but squire ; 
 for myself, Zerobabel L. Hoskins, I ain't so au- 
 dacious, and yet, when I judgefies at sessions, 
 there isn't such a Belzeebub to knaves in all the 
 Union. They sha'n't speak to me then but as I 
 let's em. But giving such gabbing the go by, 
 Squire, Marlin spikes and Cucumbers ! I have a 
 compulsion to call you squire, are you screwed 
 up not to make a shipment ?" 
 
 " As dourly as a door-nail, Mr. Hoskins," 
 was my answer ; and then I expatiated on my 
 reasons for declining the advantages which he 
 promised himself from the spec ; adding, among 
 other things, that may be, before the ship could 
 reach Lisbon, Wellington might be obliged to 
 take his knapsack on his back and go home. 
 
 " And if so be, I calculate, that ain't nothing
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 121 
 
 to make nobody afeared, for we have got dou- 
 ble papers for the ship." 
 
 Poor man ! but he was strong in worldly wis- 
 dom, little thinking that where he thought him- 
 self so well-fenced would be found his weakest 
 part. The ship soon after sailed, and was not 
 well clear of Sandy Hook, when a British frigate 
 laid hold of her by the cuff of the neck, and 
 hauled her, by the lug and the horn, away to 
 Bermuda, where she was detained, on account of 
 the two sets of papers, so long, that the codfish 
 began to spoil and quicken to such a degree, 
 that they spoilt the flour, and the whole cargo 
 became a dead loss. Was it not a capital escape 
 my having nothing to do with it 1 though in the 
 end, I, with others, came in for a share of the con- 
 sequences, by the embargo and the war with Eng- 
 land that soon after followed. For you see, when 
 Mr. Hoskins heard of what had happened to 
 the ship, he fell into a terrible passion, and went 
 about kindling the people to revenge his cause, 
 until there was not a patriotic heart in the 
 Union, but thought the island of Great Britain 
 ought to be tarred and feathered. 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 One night, as Mr. Hoskins was enlarging on 
 this text, and saying it would be a Devil blessed 
 thing if the King were skinned alive and cram- 
 med up to the neck in a cask with a salt and 
 vitriol pickle, I tried to counsel him to mode- 
 ration, but the more I reasoned he grew the 
 madder ; and when I but hinted in a far off way, 
 that his misfortune might be altogether owing to 
 the dissimilation of the ship's papers, he was 
 touched to the quick, asserting that the ship of 
 every free country had a right to carry what 
 goods or papers her owners chose to send by her. 
 This sort of unsound doctrine, as I at the time 
 maintained it was, infected the heads of every 
 body that heard of Mr. Hoskins and his un- 
 lucky and unsavoury venture, till at last the 
 Government saw no other way of pacifying the 
 people but by declaring war against England. 
 
 As a Christian, I deplored this violent step ; 
 and as a Scotchman, I was distressed to think 
 x of the detriment that might be done to my 
 native land, though I never went the length of 
 those who thought the United States would 
 scuttle the island. 
 
 " To a moral certainty," said Mr. Hoskins,
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 123 
 
 " we 'ill do it, and inflict considerable damage;" 
 for really he was beside himself, and talked 
 even down nonsense about the freedom of the 
 seas, until there was no arguing with him. 
 So to bring the matter to a conclusion, I may 
 here at once say, that his vehemence caused a 
 rent in our friendship, the which I had long 
 reason to regret ; for though, in his way, a parti- 
 cular character, he had yet in concerns of busi- 
 ness a sharp eye to the main chance. No man 
 could give better advice in a difficulty ; nor if 
 money would do, was any readier to help his 
 neighbour. I pay him this compliment with 
 great sincerity, for I am well sure, that had we 
 been on our wonted familiar footing when the 
 embargo and non-intercourse acts prevented 
 me from importing seeds, that, with the assist- 
 ance of Providence, he would have saved me 
 from the ruinous effects of what then came to 
 pass. 
 
 G 2
 
 124 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 -f^ :>d-* otoi pia jfooJ 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " We '11 take a cup of kindness yet, 
 
 For auld lang syne." 
 
 oj wqiseoqint rsw Ji 
 
 WHEN I had got the damage repaired, and 
 my goods and furniture placed in order again 
 in the house and store, I continued to attend 
 with my wonted carefulness to the business ; 
 but it is just and right, in this unvarnished 
 narrative, to confess that I sometimes, as the 
 moon of fortune was waxing, felt myself grow- 
 ing inclined to try my hand, like my neigh- 
 bours, at a spec. However, I wrestled against 
 the hazardous inclination with surprising for- 
 titude, considering how I was tempted, until an 
 event came to pass, which by its issues, as will 
 appear in jthe sequel, was plainly ordained to 
 be a trial. The matter arose thus. 
 
 At the time I was in the Bonnytown school,
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 125 
 
 a boy was there by name Alek Preston, a spi- 
 rited, clever, venturesome creature, as gleg as 
 a trout, and souple as an eel : nothing would do 
 for him but going to sea, which he did in a 
 vessel from Leith, about the time my father 
 took me into the smiddy to be a nailer : we had 
 been great companions and sworn brethren in 
 many a funny prank and harmless frolic. Indeed, 
 he had such a natural instinct for mirth, that 
 it was impossible to be half an hour in his 
 company without being diverted, or to become 
 acquainted with him without liking him for 
 life, and yet he was the most thoughtless thing 
 that man could put trust in. That part of his 
 character I had, however, forgotten ; I recol- 
 lected only his lightheartedness and ever gam- 
 bolling gaiety. 
 
 One day, as I was walking on some purpose 
 anent seeds along Greenwich-street, I fell in 
 with a sick sailor sitting on a door-step, in a 
 very disconsolate condition. 
 
 He was barefooted ; his trousers, which had 
 been of superfine navy blue, though full of 
 unsewed rents and holes, had never been mend- 
 ed ; his jacket, too, was of the best stufE, with
 
 126 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 many small brass buttons, men-of-war's fashion, 
 but in no better plight, and he wore a slouched 
 canvass hat that was either pitched or black 
 painted. Yet, though all these symptoms of a 
 spendthrift were so visible about him, something 
 in his appearance won my attention, and I 
 stopped to inquire what ailed him, with the 
 intent of giving a trifle. Judge of my asto- 
 nishment when, on his looking up with the tail 
 of his eye, I discovered in him my old marrow 
 in nests and mischief, Alek Preston. 
 
 He did not so quickly recognise me, for he 
 was sickly, and his eyes were languid and in- 
 attentive ; but when I had spoken to him a few 
 sentences, his countenance brightened, and he 
 took me freely by the hand. Alas ! I was con- 
 strained to snatch mine from the touch, dread- 
 ing contagion, for his was fearfully hot. 
 
 I said to him " Man Alek, you are very ill, 
 and it 's no right for one in such a condition to 
 be sitting in the street" 
 
 " Sit ! I can't stand," replied he, as if he 
 would have made a joke, but his head drooped 
 suddenly on his bosom. 
 
 I thought him dying, and called aloud to a
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 127 
 
 porter who was passing by to help me : with his 
 assistance and that of another man, having 
 moved poor Alek into a neighbouring boarding- 
 house, I went for a doctor that lived hard by, 
 who presently took blood from him, and we put 
 him to bed very ill. I then went home and 
 told my wife, and we agreed, both for humanity 
 and auld lang syne, that Alek Preston should 
 want for nothing in our power to procure or 
 to spare. 
 
 After suffering several days of great distress 
 and a suspension of understanding, during 
 which he raved in such a comical way, that 
 although it was feared he was dying, no one 
 could hear him with a composed countenance ; 
 he at last fell into a deep sleep, out of which 
 he awoke free from the fever, and with his 
 reason, which had been laid on its beam-ends, 
 fairly again righted. He continued, however, 
 for some time after very weakly, and but for 
 our care and comforts, it might still have gone 
 hard with him. 
 
 When he had in a measure recovered from 
 his distemper, he came often to our house in 
 the evening, and we had great pleasure in dis-
 
 128 L,AWRIE X TODD. 
 
 coursing of former days. This led on to a 
 rehearsal of his adventures, and my heart, for 
 auld acquaintance, having a warm side towards 
 him, and my circumstances being then green and 
 prosperous, I began to think of some way to 
 serve him. I could not, however, of my own 
 mind, devise a right method, but I told him, if 
 he could point out a way wherein I could be 
 useful, he might count upon my friendship. 
 
 A short time after this conversation I. am 
 disposed on recollection to think it was the very 
 morrow following Alek came to me, and said 
 that he had fallen in with several old shipmates 
 willing to embark with him a privateering, if 
 they could get a man of capital to hire with 
 them a fast-sailing, pilot-boat schooner. 
 
 As privateering was in my opinion not a 
 very reputable trade, to say nothing of British 
 tars becoming enemies to their native land, I 
 remonstrated strongly against the project, and 
 point-blank, in a sense, refused to have any thing 
 to do with it. However, without being well 
 able to tell how it came to pass, Alek Preston, 
 by little and little, so overcame my scruples,
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 129 
 
 that at last I consented to take a very small 
 share just to oblige him. 
 
 But when the outfit was completed, a diffi- 
 culty arose which had not been thought of. 
 We could not get letters of reprisal, unless the 
 captain and a certain number of the crew were 
 American citizens. This had well nigh knocked 
 the whole scheme on the head. Alek Preston, 
 however, swore a boatswain's oath that he would 
 not be stopped by such laws : accordingly, he 
 went away, and I saw nothing of him for seve- 
 ral days ; at the end of which he came to inform 
 me that all was cleared, and that lie intended 
 to set sail on his cruise that very evening. 
 
 For some time I tried without success to 
 discover how he had overcome the difficulty 
 which I thought insurmountable, but he made 
 me no wiser. However, as it behoved us to 
 take a glass of punch on the occasion, it came 
 out in the drinking that he had got himself 
 certified to be an American citizen, by an old 
 woman swearing that she had known him from 
 the cradle, in which she had herself rocked 
 him. 
 
 G5
 
 130 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 This was true ; for, man as he was, he had 
 mounted into a child's cradle, and the old 
 woman certainly did rock him. This, to my 
 shame I must acknowledge, was a device which, 
 without approving, caused me to laugh so heart- 
 ily, that I could not very indignantly condemn 
 it. But as he was proceeding to rehearse the 
 story with great glee, I had a pang of con- 
 science, and I started from my seat in a vehe- 
 ment passion, declaring I would have nothing 
 to do with such forgeries. Alek Preston rose 
 at the same time, and before I had given vent 
 to the half of my indignation, he left the house, 
 went straight to the schooner, and was off and 
 away on his cruise before daylight. 
 
 I hope the courteous reader discerns in the 
 part I had in this privateering affair, that I 
 was altogether actuated by my regard for an 
 old school comrade ; and I hope, too, he has a 
 better opinion of me than to think I would 
 ever have been consenting to such deceit and 
 profanity. The like things, it was said, were 
 common in those days among what were called 
 the picked- up-along-shore English sailors, but 
 I never heard of a decent American that did
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 131 
 
 not condemn the practice; and what honest 
 man, be he Turk or Pagan, could approve it ? 
 
 I need not say, after this preface, that the 
 venture came to no profit. Alek Preston being 
 captain, instead of cruising where he was likely 
 to meet prizes, went down to the southward, 
 and ran races with his schooner against other 
 craft, by which in less than two months he 
 perished the pack, and left the vessel at Charles- 
 town by moonlight. I never heard of him 
 more, but I had long reason to rue the trust 
 I had placed in him. 

 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 aril bfec ,/jMn grrflroj; Jai?J&3 ici ^q 
 
 311 pv a' )f(ii 2 
 
 js;. 
 -UiM'.-iio^ inc.* 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 I showed him all the secrets of the isle." 
 
 THE venture with Alek Preston was the first 
 in which I too lightly considered the hallowed 
 maxims of my father, and by it I received the 
 first admonishment that the issues of fortune 
 are ruled by another kind of wisdom than the 
 cunning of man. I had, in a theoretical manner, 
 a just conception of this truth, but it was a 
 theory unsanctioned by experience a plausible 
 supposition which made no part of the sentiment 
 nor of the reasoning which influenced my con- 
 duct. In short, though the thoughtlessness of 
 that poor young man caused a great loss to me, 
 I yet saw not in what had been done the extent 
 of my own folly, but pacified my conscience, then
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 133 
 
 too easily appeased, with the strong argument of 
 pity for a gallant young man, and the obliga- 
 tions which early friendship fastens upon young 
 hearts. Thus it came to pass that my inclina- 
 tion for specs was not restrained by that unto- 
 ward concern. 
 
 Indeed, about this time, I could not help being 
 brought into other troubles, owing to the same 
 kind-heartedness. I was becoming by the suc- 
 cess of my business, better and better known in 
 the city; and many emigrants, after they had 
 been landed a time, came claiming acquaintance 
 with me, some on a far off remembrance of my- 
 self when I was a boy, others because they had 
 heard of my father, and a third crew of cravers, 
 for reasons never properly explained, though no 
 doubt well known to themselves. Thus I had 
 a host of ingenious young men every day at the 
 door of the store, telling how fortunes could be 
 made, though their ragged elbows and thread- 
 bare vestments were but poor seconders of sucli 
 opulent suggestions. 
 
 However, as in the case of Alek Preston, I 
 was beguiled sometimes to give more heeding to 
 these Eldorados than I ought to have done, and
 
 134 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 in consequence, although I never risked in any 
 one adventure so much as the loss of the whole 
 of it would overwhelm me, yet I found myself 
 growing poorer and more hampered in my own 
 available assets. In short, I was going down 
 the hill, while every body thought I was tri- 
 umphing victoriously. 
 
 But I was not so far left to myself as to per- 
 severe in that course ; after losing, I shall not 
 say how many hundred dollars, it may have 
 been thousands, I resolved to make a halt, and 
 with great earnestness and tears of contrition, I 
 implored help and fortitude to moderate my 
 ambition. 
 
 That happened on a Sabbath night, and on 
 the Monday morning, I went down into the 
 store with my purpose well knit. 
 
 I had scarcely taken my place behind the 
 counter, when a young man from Aberdeen 
 came in with a great bravery of Glasgow prints 
 and muslins to sell. That they were cheap, I 
 could not deny, and beautiful was evident, but 
 I was preserved above temptation. 
 
 " No, my friend, 1 ' said I, " we cannot deal. 
 It '* true, that I have now and then meddled
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 135 
 
 with an odd or an end, but as it only served to 
 wile me from my own steady business, I have 
 given up the trade." I then exhorted him to 
 stick to one line, and recounted how I had gone 
 to leeward, from the time of the privateering 
 with Alek Preston ; for I was never slack of 
 giving good advice when a fitting opportunity 
 came in the way, always considering it a duty 
 incumbent to benefit the rest of the world with 
 the fruits of my experience. 
 
 This conversation begat an acquaintance be- 
 tween me and Mr. Finhorn, so the gentleman 
 was called ; and sometimes after he would look 
 in to take my advice, for he was cautious and 
 methodical, picking his steps, one by one, very 
 unlike the ordinary splash and dash ways of 
 young men in a hurry to be rich. In short, I was 
 greatly pleased with the respect he had for my 
 opinion, and by little and little, I let him into the 
 secret history of my own rise and progress, with 
 many events of which he was greatly diverted, 
 laughing very heartily at them. 
 
 The history of the business led me at times 
 t<f speak of the business itself, and to recount 
 what articles I had found the most profitable ;
 
 136 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 and we both marvelled how, with so little pre- 
 vious knowledge, I was guided to gain so much 
 insight of the nature of seeds, the soils which the 
 several kinds best suited, as well as the seasons 
 for their cultivation. 
 
 Sometimes I thought he was a little overly 
 particular in his questions, but as he was in the 
 dry good line, I saw in that nothing to take 
 amiss, especially as he entirely coincided in opi- 
 nion with me, that a man who expects to thrive 
 in business, must not go a wandering after 
 strange gods. Judge, however, of my conster- 
 nation, when, in the course of the following 
 spring, I heard he had imported a great cargo 
 of all the best seeds that I used to import to 
 the most advantage, and had opened a store for 
 the sale of them in Water-street. Surely no 
 man could be guilty of greater treachery. 
 Thus was I, in the fulness of my kind wishes to 
 serve him, unbuttoning my bosom and showing 
 him all the profitable secrets I had learnt in 
 business, while he, with cunning ears and sinister 
 intents, was devising how he might circumvent 
 me. Verily, there are few pangs like the dis- 
 covery of perfidy in a friend.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 137 
 
 In the affair of Alek Preston, though, besides 
 considerable positive loss, I had to endure some 
 self-upbraidings for having trusted one who had 
 been from his youth upwards remarkable for 
 heedlessness, I was yet thankful he had not 
 turned a pirate with the schooner we had hired, 
 and, moreover, I had put no more faith in him 
 than was necessary for his own part of the busi- 
 ness as master of the vessel. But with that 
 smooth and deep pool of deceitfulness, Mr. Fin- 
 horn, I had acted as if he had been worthy of 
 sincerity, and was diffident of himself from 
 natural modesty. 
 
 My conduct with respect to both of these 
 young men, I have often since thought was an 
 omen of a change in my own condition. It was in 
 both cases, though springing from the best of mo- 
 tives, manifestly imprudent. Had it been cri- 
 ticised by the discernment of others, I fear it 
 would have been seen that a like rashness and 
 uncalled for confidence in strangers, was visible 
 at that time more or less in all my undertakings, 
 proving that the outward fortune and the inner 
 man partake of the same influences, waxing and 
 waning together. Not that I recollect any
 
 138 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 other equal examples of my indiscretion, but I 
 have a general persuasion it was the case. Mr. 
 Finhorn, however, had not long cause to exult in 
 the success of his cunning. The store he had 
 hired in Water-street was two steps below the sur- 
 face, and most unfit for seeds. In a short time, 
 all he had must have perished, had not an acci- 
 dent signalized the punishment of his perfidy 
 more openly. 
 
 One night, while yet the people were talking 
 all over the city how he had got the weather- 
 gauge of me, a dreadful thunder-storm came 
 on, attended with deluges of rain, such as none 
 remembered the like Water-street was truly a 
 running river, and a branch of the torrent pour- 
 ed into Mr. Finhorn's store, among his barrels 
 and paper parcels, to such a degree, that when 
 he was roused in the morning to examine the 
 damage, he saw himself a ruined man ; and for 
 his comfort and consolation, a lad that was a 
 helper in my store, being among the onlookers, 
 told him he had only met with his reward. 
 What became of him afterwards was not known, 
 for the following night he cleared out, and was 
 never more heard of in New York.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 139 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " Can't to-day, not convenient, call again." 
 
 IT is an ancient and a true saying, that 
 wealth makes wit waver. From the time of 
 the fire, as the sagacious reader must have 
 discerned in what has been related, I grew 
 overly well pleased with myself. It was, there- 
 fore, needful I should receive a chastisement, 
 but I never thought I had deserved it till it 
 was inflicted. 
 
 Falling into the folly of thinking every thing- 
 was ordained to go prosperously with me, I 
 thought, when I had withdrawn myself from 
 accidental speculating, that every thing in my 
 own business must thrive. To sell seeds, and 
 to raise seeds to be sold, I thought two parts of
 
 140 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 one thing ; and accordingly, about the time the 
 non-intercourse acts took place, I began to con- 
 sider of this seriously, and that I might make 
 myself independent of importations from Eng- 
 land. The design, however, was not carried 
 into effect without all seeming due considera- 
 tion. No one could be more circumspect than 
 I fancied myself to be. I was long before I 
 could find a lot of land convenient to my pur- 
 pose ; and when I did at last warily make a 
 purchase, I read and considered the title-deeds 
 as if I had the eyes of three lawyers, and cer- 
 tainly, as it was said, no deeds could be made 
 better. This land was to be cultivated under 
 my own directions, the directions of one who 
 did not know clay from gravel: of course, it 
 soon came to a bearing ; I do not mean the 
 ground, for that never bore any thing to the 
 purpose, but the speculation. The soil, na- 
 turally poor, was exhausted ; it produced not 
 enough to pay the labour, while it greedily 
 swallowed, as with a hungry appetite, all the 
 profits and savings of my business; yea, even 
 the capital likewise stock, lock, and barrel, all 
 
 went,
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 141 
 
 I yet often marvel how I was so hoodwinked 
 about that farm which I bought in Jersey ; 
 every thing concerning it was delusion. My 
 wife, having learnt the craft and mystery of the 
 farm-yard at her uncle's in Vermont, was, if 
 possible, more lifted out of the body about it 
 than even I was, and gave such flattering 
 accounts of what she would do with cows, pigs, 
 and poultry, that I was almost persuaded the 
 seed business would become but a secondary 
 affair. My eyes, however, were soon opened ; 
 it was surprising how quickly I laid out money, 
 none came back ; we saw the spec was to be 
 ruinous ; that a blight had fallen upon us ; that 
 our hopes had all failed. I was out of my 
 element ; the elder children having been brought 
 up in a town, had no right notion of rural 
 matters : we lived in the midst of scolding and 
 confusion;, never did an unfortunate man find 
 himself, when too late, farther astray. At last, 
 all my money being drained off, I began to 
 think of giving up the ghost in the way of 
 trade ; but it was necessary to make some pre- 
 vious preparation : accordingly, sapless and 
 leafless, heartless and pennyless, I went one
 
 LAWRIF- TODD. 
 
 day over to New York to borrow two or three 
 hundred dollar^ ""to meet a need, and to arrange 
 for parting witfo my farming stock and the farm. 
 First I went to one acquaintance, and then 
 to another ; but the war and the stagnation of 
 trade had sealed up every heart, and all were 
 either poor or fearful. Some had nothing to 
 spare, others gave a plain refusal, and a third 
 party recounted their manifold losses. My 
 heart was breaking ; when suddenly recollecting 
 that Mr. Hoskins was again in the city on 
 some privateering job, I wonder what the 
 douce Scotch farmers would think of cargoes 
 of codfish and privateers ! however that may 
 be, the recollection of Mr. Hoskins being then 
 in the city, brought hope with it, and I resolved 
 to call on him right away. 
 
 There had been, as I have already related, 
 divers causes and controversies which had led 
 to a non-intercourse between us, but we had 
 not actually quarrelled ; and therefore, as I knew 
 that, with a cold look, he had a warm heart, I 
 made sure of being accommodated ; so I pro- 
 ceeded to the house where he usually lodged. 
 I found the old gentleman in his own bed
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 143 
 
 chamber, and he received me in his odd cool 
 and collected manner, as if no difference had 
 ever been between us. He inquired first for 
 my wife, and then for my children, one by one, 
 adding, " But I reckon Mr. Lawrie Todd haVt 
 o 1 late been progressing so top-gallant-sail 
 proud." 
 
 I acknowledged it was true; and then told 
 him how my circumstances were altered, and 
 that I had come to consult him as to what 
 should be done in such extremity. 
 
 " Well, I guess," said he, " the gentleman 
 can't be particular: you must cut and run." 
 
 " Cut and run, Mr. Hoskins !" 
 
 " Yes; clear out!" 
 
 " How could you think I would do that ? I 
 have been always an honest man !" 
 
 " Well, that 's noteable : but is Mr. Lawrie 
 Todd agoing to pay a hundred cents to the 
 dollar ?" 
 
 What could I answer to this ? I shook my 
 head, and heaved a sorrowful sigh. 
 
 " I was a 'specting this," said he, " and ha' 
 been a making my calculations 'bout it ; for, 
 I guess, the Squire has been erronous consi-
 
 144 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 derable: when I sees a man erronous in his 
 calculations, by G d ! it makes me sick." 
 
 From this, it was plain that me and my 
 affairs were causeway talk, and that it would 
 not add to the repute of my prudence, if I went 
 on struggling with such a powerful enemy as 
 a farm of a barren and ungrateful soil. Before 
 I had time, however, to make any answer, Mr. 
 Hoskins resumed : 
 
 " I guess, and if so be you can't clear out 
 bekase of honesty, you should sell off your 
 notions and the farm ; and when you have paid 
 all, or compounded, go into the bush a chop- 
 ping." 
 
 ** Then," said I, with a heart greatly daunt- 
 ed, " you will not lend me two or three hundred 
 dollars 'till I get things settled ?" 
 
 " Not a stiver ! that 's plump ; for Mr. 
 Lawrie Todd would squash it all on that ere 
 tarnation farm what's in Jersey state. That 
 ere farm, I have heard for gospel, Squire, haVt 
 never no capacity no more to raise garden-seeds, 
 than the sole of the Devil's foot to grow water- 
 cresses."
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 145 
 
 " I 'm a ruined man !" was all I could eja- 
 culate. 
 
 " Well, I guess you be ; and the sooner the 
 gentleman goes on t'other tack the sooner he '11 
 come to land, or I 'm a Pagan, called Me-hal-a- 
 leel-hash-bash, and not Zerobabel L. Hoskins, 
 what was christened so on mother's lap when 
 father kept tavern at Lebanon." 
 
 " Then there is no hope of any help from 
 you ?" was the only answer I could make to this, 
 as it seemed, unfeeling speech and ill-timed 
 jocosity. 
 
 " Squire," said he, " I ben't a thing to bray 
 in a mortar, so thinks I myself; but I would 
 be damneder than seven fools and a philosopher, 
 seeing as how the team's smashed in a mud- 
 hole, if I lent a hand to right it, when I knows 
 it ain't worth nothing at all of nobody's money. 
 Let the gentleman go right away, and tumble 
 his gear into cash ; pay off, and then we can 
 make our calculations for another spec. But I 
 reckons, Squire, it be raising garden-seeds on 
 a tarnation farm, in Jersey State, to talk 'bout 
 help, when the business, by God! is necessitous 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 look ye, and help could do no more good than 
 any thing that can't." 
 
 Seeing I could make no better of it, I lifted 
 my hat, and bade him good-day, wishing him 
 better luck in his undertakings than I had 
 met with in mine. 
 
 " Well, that should be, Squire," said he, as 
 he shook hands with me ; " for I a'n't so glo- 
 rious of myself, as not to take no man's 'pinion 
 but my own. 'Somesever, as the Squire's cap- 
 sized, I pity's the gentleman, and mayhap have 
 a friend's heart were the tide turned." 
 
 When I left the house, I could not but think 
 Mr. Hoskins was a man of a forbidding man- 
 ner ; but the more I came to reflect soberly on 
 what he had said, I discerned both prudence 
 and good advice in his counsel. I thought, 
 however, it would have been but civil, consi- 
 dering my humiliation, had he restrained the 
 taunt at my self-sufficiency, the punishment of 
 which was then as manifest as the contrition 
 I felt, for it was deep and sincere. ;
 
 LAWRIE TODD 147 
 
 fce fc &**** tjfeit %* 
 
 l.filW ti 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 iDU.ii; 
 
 " Man was made to mourn." 
 
 I RETURNED homeward very sad and griev- 
 ously cast down, yet it was not a reasonable 
 grief with which I was affected. 
 
 My situation had been long daily becoming 
 worse, and there was not a chance within the 
 scope of any probability that by perseverance the 
 difficulties might be overcome. The advice of 
 Mr. Hoskins pointed out the only way by which 
 I could hope to escape from my unutterable 
 anxieties, and I was determined to follow that 
 advice " right away." Still, I could not shake 
 off the sense of calamity, which, as it were, 
 gnawed my heart. 
 
 What I felt is ever in my remembrance ter- 
 H 2
 
 148 LAWRIR TODD, 
 
 rible. It was a palsy of the mind; the 
 black jaundice of despondency ; I could exert 
 no firmness, and dreadful suggestions trans- 
 fixed me, as it were, with the pangs and cruel- 
 ties of disease. But I might beggar the dic- 
 tionary, and yet be poor in words to describe 
 what I suffered ; still, I was not actually touched 
 with despair, for I had so often in trouble seen 
 the shining hand of Providence suddenly stretch- 
 ed out of the cloud to help me, and I hoped it 
 would yet be so again. Nevertheless, I was in 
 spirit as one driven to the door of hell, and strug- 
 gling with Fate on the threshold ; nor was the 
 measure of my affliction complete. 
 
 It was late in the evening before I reached 
 the village in the neighbourhood of which my 
 little farm was situated. A faint streak of the 
 twilight still served to show the outline of the 
 houses between me and the western sky, and 
 here and there a light twinkled in a window. 
 The voice of the river came to me as if many 
 spirits were murmuring about man: it was a 
 solemn time. 
 
 As I drew near to my own house, I saw the 
 window-shutters were closed, but I discerned
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 149 
 
 with surprise and a throbbing bosom, that more 
 than the wonted candles were burning within. 
 With a trembling hand I opened the door, at 
 which I was met by Phemy, our old servant. 
 She came towards me softly on her tiptoes, and 
 raising her spread hands close to her cheeks, 
 said, " Hush, hush !" 
 
 The gloomy, worldly fancies which had hover- 
 ed like ravens about me all the way from the 
 landing at the ferry, were instantly dispersed. 
 
 " In the name of Heaven, Phemy, what's the 
 matter ?" 
 
 She said nothing, but beckoned me to follow 
 her, and she conducted me straight into the 
 parlour, which was in the back part of the house, 
 looking into the garden. There sat my Avife in 
 the midst of our children ; seeing me enter, she 
 looked up ; instead, however, of speaking, she 
 only moved her hand in a way that at once be- 
 spoke silence, and told of the presence of sor- 
 row ; a second glance at the group informed me 
 that one of the children was not there. " What 
 is this ! and where is Sarah ?" said I, scarcely 
 able to articulate. 
 
 My wife without speaking rose, and lifting
 
 150 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 one of the candles, for two a most unusual 
 thing were on the table, and walked before me 
 to a small bedchamber, which opened from the 
 parlour, " There I" said she, pushing open the 
 door, bursting at the same time into vehement 
 weeping. 
 
 I lifted the curtain aside, and there, indeed, 
 lay our sweet and beautiful child a disfigured 
 corpse; I staggered back into a chair, and 
 covering my face with my hands, prayed in- 
 wardly that I might be forgiven for having 
 thought so bitterly of the loss of worldly sub- 
 stance. 
 
 The lovely child had gone out with two of 
 her brothers in the cart, and in coming back 
 something had startled the horses, by which she 
 was thrown out, and a wheel went over her. 
 
 It was not possible that any impartial parent 
 could more dearly love a child than I did that 
 sweet bud ; but verily we are wonderfully made, 
 fashioned in darkness and living in mystery. 
 The sight of her corpse lightened my heart ; I 
 felt, and surely it was not sinful so to feel, as if, in 
 the accident, there was an admonishment to me, 
 to consider the blessings still spared to me in
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 151 
 
 the young olive-plants by which my table was 
 surrounded. 
 
 I rose from the chair into which I had sunk 
 down, and leading my wife back into the par- 
 lour, took a seat beside her : strange, that in 
 such a time I should experience, instead of an 
 augmentation of grief and care, a holy tranquil- 
 lity diffused within my bosom, and a resigna- 
 tion to the will of Heaven, that could have come 
 from no resolution of mine. 
 
 In the morning, it was needful to think of the 
 funeral, and I gave all the necessary directions 
 without once reflecting that I had not the means 
 of defraying the expenses. This extraordinary 
 forgetfulness was no doubt granted for a conso- 
 lation ; but when it is considered how my very 
 dreams were in that season dunned with sordid 
 apprehensions, it was surely an amazing dis- 
 pensation, one of those rare instances of the 
 marvellous manner in which Providence is often 
 graciously pleased to mitigate adversity, to 
 temper the wind to the shorn lamb. 
 
 In the evening, after the burial, when I had 
 composed my family with worship, and the chil- 
 dren were laid to sleep, I walked forth alone, for
 
 152 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 the cares of the world were again coming back 
 upon me, and adversity was saddening the ear 
 of reason with the bodements of her heavy taie. 
 My experience that night, though of a calmer 
 kind than the anxiety of the other, was still 
 gloomy and oppressive. A moral sultriness af- 
 fected my spirit and weighed upon my thoughts, 
 and I began to distrust the continuance of that 
 goodness which had so often done for me so 
 much, when expectation had sickened and rea- 
 son was deserted by hope. 
 
 In this melancholy mood I took the path 
 leading to the creek, and on approaching the 
 ford I perceived a man on horseback coming 
 across towards me. I was about to turn and 
 go home, when he called on me by name, and 
 alighting, on reaching the bank, he came lead- 
 ing his horse by the bridle : inquiring kindly 
 for all my family, he shook my hand in a friend- 
 ly manner. 
 
 " I have heard," said he, " what has befallen 
 you, as well as how it has of late gone with 
 your business ; and thinking a little cash might 
 be of service, I have come to pay you a debt 
 that has been too long due."
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 153 
 
 This proved to be, for at first I did not re- 
 collect him, a young man with whom, when I 
 was moving my family over to Jersey State, 
 we happened to fall in with on the road, going 
 home to his friends ill of the ague. We took 
 him to our house, and nursed him with cordials 
 and comfort, until he was able to resume his 
 journey. In going away, he bought from me 
 on credit eleven dollars' worth of different kinds 
 of seeds, but we never heard nor saw aught of 
 him again till that night. For this, however, 
 as he showed to me, he was but little to blame ; 
 having, on reaching home, been again taken ill, 
 and for several weeks rendered incapable of at- 
 tending to any business ; at last he was pur- 
 suaded to try a sea voyage, and accordingly went 
 a trip in a privateer, by which he recovered his 
 health and got a power of prize-money. 
 
 I need not say that the payment of this honest 
 lad's debt was as water from the rock. It en- 
 abled me to set at once about the sale of the farm 
 and stock in trade, from the proceeds of which I 
 paid cent, by cent, all my creditors ; with which 
 they were so content, though I could not satisfy 
 my own desires, that they voluntarily gave me 
 H 5
 
 154 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 a receipt in full of all demands. I then went 
 back to New York to begin the world penny- 
 less, really worse by a sixpence than when I 
 landed nineteen years before, a young man 
 having only himself to provide for : I had now 
 a wife and five children in my knapsack. 
 
 -
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 155 
 
 sMKtirjh (: 
 
 srfr'-rtilg&f tfj >fcT Vj$4 bt 
 
 j!Wjq*tr. rd 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Close not the eye ; the lip hath not yet lost 
 The radiant ripeness of its living beauty ; 
 And see, is it not so ? upon the glass 
 The breathing spirit hath a token given 
 That it still lingers." 
 
 WHEN the mind has been shaken up from 
 the bottom as mine was, a long time must elapse 
 after the cause of the agitation has subsided, 
 before a calm comes again ; I felt it so. The 
 tempest within me was past, and the winter over 
 and gone, when I returned with my family to 
 New York ; but the dark billows of unsettled 
 thought still rolled heavily, and reason, like the 
 helm of the mariner in the swell which follows 
 the storm, proved often ineffectual to guide me 
 in the course I was desirous to steer. 
 
 My intention, as I have intimated, was to re-
 
 156 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 sume my seed-store in the old place ; but the 
 house had been hired for auction-rooms, and was 
 not to be had. After looking about for a whole 
 day, I returned, wearied and dejected, to my 
 family in the evening, without having seen any 
 one place that would suit ; a day at this time 
 was precious to my light and lank purse, and it 
 was with unspeakable sadness of heart I was 
 obliged to tell my patient wife how fruitless my 
 search had been. 
 
 She was at no time one of those women who 
 are obtrusive of their counsels, nor ever a Job's 
 comforter to point out how matters might have 
 been better, had her husband turned to the left 
 hand instead of the right ; but a quiet, earnest 
 practitioner of household thrift, doing her in- 
 door part to the best of her ability. On this 
 occasion, however, she came out of her usual 
 habitude, and seeing me so greatly downcast, 
 remonstrated with me. 
 
 While she was speaking, her uncle, my old 
 friend Zerobabel L. Hoskins, came most unex- 
 pectedly to see us. I have told the courteous 
 reader how coldly and bluntly he had rebuffed 
 my application for the small loan ; I need hardly
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 157 
 
 say he was in consequence one whom I was not 
 likely soon to have solicited again, 
 iofr- Well," said he, looking around him as he 
 sat down unbidden, " I guess this 'ere house is 
 considerable small for you ; but the Squire he 
 knows, when folks be in the bush, they shouldn't 
 'spect the springs to run cherry bounce. 'Somes- 
 ever, Judy, my niece that was, afore you was 
 harnished with the Squire, I han't a come to 
 talk nothing at all bekase, says I, their store 
 a'n't a-going yet so I made my calculations, 
 and says I to myself, says I, there is in my box 
 there it was in the corner, snug behind the 
 door there lays, says I, five hundred dollars in 
 that 'ere box, not worth a cent as they lays 
 there, or I'm a male cow ; and they ha'e been 
 a-laying there dead as mummies ever since that 
 night the Squire couldn't start the two hun- 
 dred. Well, you see, I looks at that 'ere box, 
 what's in the corner behind the door, and up I 
 gets and goes right away and takes out 'em dol- 
 lars ; and so here they be, and the Squire may 
 buy fiddlesticks, if he can't trade 'em for no 
 better." 
 
 We were astonished ; we had not words to
 
 158 LAWRIK TODD. 
 
 express what we felt at such unlocked for libe- 
 rality, such a God-send but the worthy old 
 man did not stop long to hear our thankful- 
 ness, for as soon as he had placed the bag in my 
 wife's lap, he rose and walked out of the room as 
 negligently as he entered ; perhaps there might 
 be a little more haste in his exit. 
 
 But I have now to rehearse a very strange 
 thing, a sad demonstration of the caprice and 
 waywardness of the human heart. This rich 
 gift, instead of giving me at the time confi- 
 dence in Providence, whose continued bounty I 
 had so largely shared, overwhelmed me with dis- 
 consolate ruminations. 
 
 As my wife was putting up the children in 
 their cribs for the night, I moved my chair to 
 the table at the window, and sat with my cheek 
 upon my hand, looking out to the stars, and re- 
 calling to mind all that had happened to me 
 since I left my father's house. 
 
 " Why is it," said I to myself, " that my 
 soul is thus cast down, and the tokens of provi- 
 dential care yeild me no delight ? Hath the toil 
 of a vexed spirit worn me out, that I droop like 
 a plant which hath lost its steadfastness in the
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 159 
 
 ground, and sinks beneath the gracious rain 
 which should restore its vigour ?" 
 
 While I was thus silently indulging in sad 
 thoughts, the tears of the spirit, my wife again 
 came to me, and laying her hand gently on my, 
 shoulder, tenderly inquired how, after so great 
 a testimony as we had that night received, I 
 should still distrust our future fortunes. 
 
 " I distrust them not," was my solemn reply ; 
 " but I can discern nothing in myself that gives 
 me encouragement to be joyful. This, which 
 makes me rich again, is fraught with reproach ;" 
 and so on from less to more did I express my 
 inward sense of humiliation, that my poor wife 
 began to weep, sayings, in seeing me so down- 
 hearted, I had convinced her we were indeed 
 unfortunate. To console her, I made several 
 endeavours to shake off the despondency which 
 had fallen upon me, but they were all ineffec 
 tual; I prayed with anguish of heart that the 
 load might be removed, and my spirit lighten- 
 ed ; but it was of no avail, my bed that night 
 was as the gridiron on which the Papist say 
 St. Lawrence suffered martyrdom, and scorpions 
 crawled upon my pillow.
 
 160 LAWRJE TODD. 
 
 My wife sat beside me the whole night, but 
 neither with her gentle nursing, nor by soli- 
 citation, could sleep be won to approach me. 
 Towards the break of day my head began to 
 throb with intolerable pain, and long before my 
 poor children were stirring, a fever raged in my 
 boiling; veins : a doctor was sent for soon after 
 
 O 
 
 breakfast, but could do no good ; all the wonted 
 secrets of his art were tried in vain for three 
 days ; and ill as I was, I could discern that, 
 though he afterwards continued his prescrip- 
 tions, he had himself no faith in their efficacy. 
 I began to consider myself as a dying man. In 
 the crisis of the fifth day I fell into the trance of 
 a catalepsy, and it was, verily thought I was 
 dead. 
 
 But although the body was immovable, and 
 all the powers of corporeal life stood still, my 
 mind was vividly awake ; I heard every thing 
 that passed in the chamber the deep, low, com- 
 posed sorrow of my wife, and the wilder grief of 
 our helpless children I saw the matron who 
 was sent for to assist in laying out the body be- 
 gin the preparations for her task, and I had a
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 161 
 
 horror that my condition was death, and that I 
 was to remain to the end of time as conscious as I 
 was then. Interment seemed inevitable. Little 
 did I think that I should survive to indite this 
 book ; but the means by which great things are 
 brought to pass beggar the conjectures of man. 
 
 My brother, after my apparent decease he 
 was not present when the trance came upon me 
 was sent for to assist the old woman in adorn- 
 ing me for the worms. In that business it was 
 necessary to move me from the position in which, 
 as it was supposed, I had departed ; so he pulled 
 me up by the shoulders : although I was but a 
 small subject, yet, when Mrs. Morts was mov- 
 ing my feet, something happened which caused 
 my brother to lose his balance, and swung me 
 out of bed, by which my right, temple was 
 severely cut on the corner of a chair, while my 
 feet dashed the poor woman's head against the 
 wall. 
 
 The shock broke the spell that was upon 
 me ; and my brother and all present, when they 
 stooped to lift me up, were seized with conster- 
 nation in beholding the blood begin to drop from
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 the wound, and flow at last in a copious stream ; 
 the stiffness of my limbs relaxed, and my bosom 
 heaved with the inspirations of returning life. 
 
 In the course of less than half an hour I was 
 entirely restored to all my faculties, the fever 
 had left me, and I was in every thing, but for 
 the weakness, as cool, sensible, and collected, as 
 I had ever been in mv life.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 163 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness, 
 Some boundless contiguity of shade." 
 
 MY recovery was very slow the dregs of the 
 fever remained long about me, and it was at one 
 time thought I was tainted with the subtle ma- 
 lice of consumption, and could never hope to be 
 myself again, such was the fears of my friends 
 and the opinion of the doctor. But from the 
 time I was disenchanted from the catalepsy, a 
 more hopeful sentiment kindled within myself. 
 The gloom that preceded the fever was dissi- 
 pated, I was again on the bright south side of 
 things, and enjoyed the sunshine of blue and 
 breezy skies. 
 
 The only molestation that gave me any un- 
 easiness, was my inability to return to business ;
 
 164 LAWRIE TODD, 
 
 my limbs were as feeble as a baby's, and my 
 head was liable at times to be light and vapoury, 
 unfit for any sort of application. I was also 
 now and then vexed, when I reflected that it 
 had not yet been in my power to put the li- 
 berality of Mr. Hoskins to thrift, and that it 
 was diminishing and dwindling, though hoarded 
 and nursed with the utmost care : but disease is 
 a strong master, and malady will have its will, 
 so what could I do but submit. 
 
 After I had been some two or three weeks 
 afoot, and gradually, though tardily, getting 
 better, I was advised to try the effects of a sail 
 to Albany in one of the steam-boats. The sug- 
 gestion was certainly in itself reasonable, but to 
 spend money in such gallanting was a thing I 
 had never thought of. However, as at this pe- 
 riod I sometimes took a glass of wine for medi- 
 cine, which I never tasted at any other time ; in 
 like manner I considered the voyage as a nos- 
 trum of pharmacy, and change of air a dose 
 that might do me good. 
 
 Accordingly, it was determined, that on the 
 first fine day I should embark for Albany, and 
 come back by the same steamer on her return,
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 165 
 
 by which I should not be obliged to change my 
 bed more than once, for strange beds are to be 
 eschewed by ill health. My wife on this occa- 
 sion was anxious to go likewise, in order that 
 she might see me properly heeded ; but our 
 means did not allow of pleasuring, and I thought 
 that for so short a time I was able to take care 
 of myself. 
 
 Having embarked, and the vessel underway, 
 I began to inhale the blithe fresh air of the 
 Hudson, and to feel, as it were, the breath of 
 life blowing up the embers of health in my 
 wasted frame. Every thing was new around 
 me ; the precipices that overlook the river, the 
 Katskyll Mountains ; all I saw were new ; and 
 the steamer herself, waddling and paddling up 
 against the stream, was most vastly entertain- 
 ing. I forgot care, sorrow, and disease, and 
 went about from one place of the vessel to an- 
 other, seeing all her ins and outs, and acknow- 
 ledging that surely Mr. Fulton was a more in- 
 genious boat-builder than Noah. 
 
 Being, however, as yet not able to undergo a 
 great deal of fatigue, I was obliged often, in the 
 course of my inspection, to take a rest, and it
 
 166 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 happened on one of those occasions that I sat 
 down beside a decent-looking elderly woman, 
 having the charge of two children, evidently too 
 young to be her own. 
 
 As it has ever been with me both an instinct 
 and a habit to glean knowledge where it may 
 be gathered, I entered into conversation with 
 Mrs. Micklethrift, whom I soon found was a 
 countrywoman of my own, and one well de- 
 serving of having her acquaintance cultivated. 
 The children were her son's, who, with his wife 
 and two older boys, were already in the Genesee 
 country as settlers, where they had raised a 
 house, and made, by all accounts, as she said, 
 a brave clearing in the woods, having seven 
 acres chopped, and three of them under crop. 
 Her son and his wife, with the two boys, had 
 come out from Ruglen the year before, and 
 seeing they were all likely to do well, had sent 
 for her and the two little ones. 
 
 Although I had been now many years in 
 America, yet, as my perambulations were never 
 above eight or nine miles from New York, I 
 was really at this time entirely ignorant of every 
 thing a settler has to do and endure. I am not
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 sure if I had then seen a tree older than myself 
 felled ; in short, I knew as little of bush-work 
 as any other store-keeper or mechanic, or even 
 a director of a land company. Nor was Mrs. 
 Micklethrift, from her own experience, very well 
 qualified to instruct me ; but she had heard 
 something ; for her son was particular in his let- 
 ters to let her know what she had to expect, 
 and in conversation she was in consequence not 
 only full of matter new to me, but wonderfully 
 edifying. 
 
 After we had discussed all about her son, and 
 what difficulties he had met and overcome, and 
 of the great fault that inexperienced emigrants 
 commit in bringing chests of drawers, eight-day 
 docks, and bread au'mo'ries with them from the 
 old country, to say nothing of Carron grates, we 
 then discoursed of trade, which at that time she 
 said was in a poor way about Glasgow, and was 
 the cause of their coming to America. 
 
 " What will be the upshot," said I, " of all 
 this breaking of banks and revalling of manu- 
 facturers, that every other year bring both the 
 old and new world almost to an end," for at that 
 time trade was suffering greatly in New York.
 
 168 LAWR1E TODD. 
 
 " 'Deed !" replied Mrs. Micklethrift, " there 
 never will be any other sort of upshot than what 
 we have seen in by-gone times. Trade's just 
 like the farming, sometimes a good and some- 
 times a bad harvest ; and so it will to the conclu- 
 sion. There's no steadiness in trade more than 
 in the seasons. It was this persuasion that 
 made my son loup off the treadles and go into 
 the woods, where, if he now and then meet with 
 a bad crop, he's still as certain of making a 
 living ; and as men increase and multiply, the 
 value of his land will rise in the natural way, 
 and without the artifice of speculation." 
 
 I thought this sagacious mother wit, and be- 
 gan to reflect, that prosperous as I had been in 
 the seed-line, maybe, had I gone into the bush 
 and become a settler, it might have been better 
 with me : for I was convinced it was true what 
 Lucky Micklethrift said, better times may come 
 round again, but it will only be as a better 
 harvest ; some other year, another short-coming 
 will be followed with its disappointment. 
 
 Thus the accident of meeting with that sa- 
 gacious carlin, I must, from this conversation, 
 ever regard as one of the most important that had
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 169 
 
 hitherto befallen me. . It opened my eyes to a 
 new light, by which I saw that trade, in the 
 generality, is likely ever to be fluctuating. Ac- 
 cording to statesmen and orators, it may be only 
 a little higher or a little lower one year with an- 
 other ; but among the individuals who toil and 
 moil in stores and factories, there will always 
 be some driven to the door ; whereas, the settler 
 in the woods, when he has cleared enough to 
 maintain his family, and does not let his wants 
 outgrow his means, rises, of necessity, with the 
 progress of the community, in comparative safe- 
 ty and steadiness. 
 
 When I had pondered these things well, 
 which I did during my stay in Albany, and all 
 the passage down the river, I began to be of 
 opinion it was a good thing for me that I had 
 not, according to my wishes, found a convenient 
 store to resume the seed business, more especially 
 when I reflected on my increasing family ; for 
 somehow it happened, that in the course of 
 a month or two, we were to look for an in- 
 crease ; in short, I resolved to give up all idea 
 of entering again into trade in New York, and 
 came to the resolution before I got home, to 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 170 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 retire with my wife and children to the back 
 woods, with the remainder of the five hundred 
 dollars, convinced by what I had gathered 
 from Mrs. Micklethrift, that it would be an 
 abundant sufficiency for the purpose. This 
 scheme, however, required some dexterity in the 
 handling ; we owed the money to the friendship 
 of Mr. Hoskins, and it was hard to say if he 
 would .approve it. To go against his opinion 
 would look like ingratitude, and to reckon on 
 his consent, was more than could be expected, 
 seeing how much he himself preferred trading 
 and speculations, to the regular business of his 
 farm. But in this I was as greatly mistaken 
 in his character as on the former occasion, for 
 when I took an opportunity soon after in a 
 far-off way to sound him on the subject, much 
 to my surprise he launched out in praise of 
 the certainty that awaited the hopes of a settler 
 in the bush. 
 
 " I calculate," said he, " the making of the 
 bush into corn-fields is the right American 
 manufacture ; and if a man can never grow 
 no richer at that, he's sure to be roasted like
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 171 
 
 a quail on the devil's prongs at every thing else. 
 'Somsever, that ere chopping, I reckon, is tarna- 
 tion hard work; and if the location bean't a 
 'dicious one, the swamp fever will hop off with 
 the Squire like nothing in a fortnight." 
 
 I 2

 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 PART III.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 175 
 
 PART III. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Spread the sail, spread the sail, 
 We are bound o'er the sea ; 
 
 Our lot lies in a foreign land, 
 But merry we shall be. 
 
 MY trip to Albany did me much good. I 
 returned reinvigorated both in body and mind. 
 The doubt which had still hung about me as 
 to the prudence of resuming my old business 
 was dissipated : I had discovered a new field, 
 and was eager to enter on the cultivation. 
 
 No time was lost in making the necessary 
 arrangements for the removal of my family 
 to the western part of the State, the Genesee 
 country, which at that period, as I have already
 
 176 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 hinted, was fast filling with settlers emigrants 
 from Europe, and swarms from Pensylvania 
 and New England. 
 
 Peace having been restored a short time 
 before, the number of passengers from London 
 and Liverpool, all bound for the new settle- 
 ments, was extraordinary. They came by the 
 earliest ships in the spring, and brought great 
 accounts of the multitudes who were to follow 
 in the autumn. The prospects, in consequence, 
 of the land-jobbers, as well as of the settlers, 
 were cheering; insomuch that Mr. Hoskins, 
 who took a deep interest in my proceedings, 
 talked vastly of the prosperity I should see 
 come to pass ; he even hinted that I need be 
 none surprised if he sold off his land and bet- 
 terments in Vermont, gave up all speculations, 
 and operated with his capital within the tract 
 where I proposed to settle. Our exodus from 
 New York thus commenced under the happiest 
 auspices. 
 
 I had reflected on what Mrs. Micklethrift 
 had said about the inconvenience of lugging 
 and hauling furniture so far to the back of 
 beyond ; and accordingly, after due consultation
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 177 
 
 with my wife, it was agreed between us, that, 
 saving the ark, whereof mention has so often 
 been made, and some three or four boxes with 
 necessaries, we should set out as light-handed 
 as possible; and our purse, as the courteous 
 reader is well aware, not being one of the 
 weightiest, we made our calculations, that it 
 would be cheaper to take passage in one of the 
 Albany schooners than by the steam-boat. This 
 I accordingly did, and made an agreement with 
 the skipper of the Van Egmond, of Troy, a 
 Dutchman, for less than a third of the money. 
 
 My family consisted at this time, besides 
 the old cock and hen, of five chickens ; Robin 
 was fifteen, and Charley twelve ; the other 
 three were girls of something more than eighteen 
 months between the two eldest ; but though so 
 young, none of them were without hands. Susy, 
 the eldest, could do all kind of household work 
 and spin, as well as bake bread. Mary was 
 a perfect nonpareil at knitting-stockings, and 
 had sewed a sampler with the Lord's Prayer in 
 the middle, surrounded by the initials of all our 
 names, in different stitches, that was, by com- 
 petent judges, much thought of, at least they 
 15
 
 178 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 said so. Becky, the youngest, so called after 
 my beloved Rebecca, was the new bairn. 
 
 Having placed the ark and boxes on a cart, 
 we went down in a body, following it to the 
 wharf, at six o'clock in the morning of the 19th 
 of April, 1815, when we embarked on board 
 the Van Egmond, happy with ourselves, and 
 pleased with the hopes which, like the buds of 
 the season, were beginning to kithe in green 
 before us. 
 
 We were not, however, the only passengers 
 in the schooner. A family of six, from the 
 neighbourhood of Paisley, was already on 
 board, and had fitted themselves in the best 
 berths. 
 
 The gude-man, James Pirns by name, and 
 by trade a weaver, was a douce discreet bodie ; 
 something of the reforming order, and, as I 
 found out in the course of the voyage, not 
 overly orthodox in some of his religious opi- 
 nions. His wife had been bred to the tambour- 
 ing, and was neither so sensible, nor so orderly 
 with her children, as she might have been. In 
 short, it was evident, that although the poor 
 man was constrained by the hard times to come
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 179 
 
 to our new Canaan, the want of " meconorny," 
 as he called it, in his helpmate, was probably 
 the chief cause. Their four children being all 
 young, one of them a baby, attracted no par- 
 ticular notice, farther than that they were im- 
 pudent, and had an instinctive dislike to soap 
 and water : altogether, James Pirns had a heavy 
 handful in his wife and her uncouth and un- 
 combed brats. 
 
 He was, however, a man of some substance. 
 Not having had the good fortune, like me, to 
 fall in with a woman of sagacity, like Mrs. 
 Micklethrift, he had brought with him, in the 
 vessel from Europe, all his gear and chattels, 
 not forgetting his wife's tambouring apparatus 
 a spinning-wheel would have been more to the 
 purpose in America. They had hampers with 
 delf tea-cups and saucers, black bottles, ricketty 
 chairs, paralytic tables ; every thing, in short, 
 that a plain mechanical family requires, even 
 to a bairn's chair with a hole in the bottom, and 
 its appurtenance in wood. 
 
 While we were on-board the schooner, but 
 little inconvenience was suffered from that cargo 
 of garret lumber, nor in the voyage from the
 
 180 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 Clyde to New York, had it occasioned any 
 great degree of molestation to James ; but as 
 we were sailing up the Hudson, I heard him 
 several times complaining to his wife of the 
 cost it had put him to, in bringing it only from 
 the East River across the town, and expressing 
 his fears of the expense to which he would 
 still be subjected before they reached Oswego, 
 towards which they were bound. 
 
 When we reached Albany, which was on the 
 morning of the third day after leaving New 
 York, I leapt on shore, and carts being ready 
 waiting on the wharf, in less than no time and 
 a jiffy, I got our chest and boxes out of the 
 vessel, and on a cart, and having placed my 
 wife and the girls on it beside them, we were 
 on our way, rejoicing, towards Scennectady, 
 before James Pirns had half concluded a bar- 
 gain for the transportation of his trumpery. 
 
 That same night we reached Scennectady, 
 where we stopped to sleep. Next morning we 
 embarked in a boat on the Mohawk, which 
 carried us to Little Falls, where we came on 
 shore, and hired a waggon to bring us on to 
 Utica. My wife, tired with being out all night
 
 LAWR1E TODD. 181 
 
 on the river, and finding herself and the younger 
 children discommoded in the boat, which was 
 crank and unsatisfactory, moreover, being afraid 
 to go up the rapids, persuaded me to take this 
 step. What a change has come to pass in those 
 parts since ! and what a blessing it would have 
 been to James Pirns, had the Erie Canal then 
 been open. He might in that case have brought 
 on every thing he had in safety and without 
 trouble. But the economical discernment of 
 Mrs. Micklethrift would not have deserved the 
 respect with which it inspired me, when I heard 
 some time following how the poor man, after 
 getting his tables lamed, and the legs of his 
 chairs dislocated, besides having a smashery 
 among his crockery-ware and black bottles, was 
 obliged to sell the wreck and the main part of 
 his furniture, at Scennectady. 
 
 As we came along, I made it a point where 
 ever we had occasion to stop, to inquire par- 
 ticularly as to the opinion of the country folks 
 concerning the different settlements then form- 
 ing ; but I was surprised to find that both 
 Mrs. Micklethrift and James Pirns, though but 
 newly come to America, were much better
 
 182 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 acquainted with every thing about them, than 
 those tavern-keepers and others, to whom I 
 applied. This was owing, as I learnt after- 
 wards, to the friends who had come before 
 them, and who had written every particular 
 necessary to be known. 
 
 At Utica we halted two days, chiefly that 
 I might inform myself as to the state of the 
 Western country ; for I was averse to go too 
 far into the wilderness, lest I should pass the 
 reach of education, and expose my children to 
 the hazards of ignorance a matter of the deep- 
 est concernment to those who think of settling 
 in the bush. 
 
 After weighing well the knowledge I col- 
 lected at Utica, it was determined that we 
 should proceed to Babelmandel, a newly located 
 town, about a hundred miles to the westward, 
 and that somewhere in the neighbourhood I 
 should choose my land. I was also advised 
 not to take my family at once upon the land, 
 but to leave my wife and the girls in the nearest 
 village, until I had raised a house to receive 
 them ; many of the misfortunes which befall 
 new settlers being caused by risking their health
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 183 
 
 on new ground and ague beds, without suffi- 
 cient caution. But I shall not descant on these 
 things here ; neither shall I describe the roads 
 we travelled, nor the anguish we endured from 
 the corduroy crossways, made of trunks of 
 trees, which we were obliged in many places 
 to pass over for miles together, before we 
 reached Olympus, the village within fifteen 
 miles of Babelmandel, where it was arranged 
 my wife and the girls should make their sojourn. 
 
 /iitfur viii 
 
 - 
 
 -
 
 184 L\WRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 , ,." .'*,J5Xi.b Ofl 
 
 - " To live in those dark woods, 
 And with the ponderous trunks of ancient trees- 
 To stretch on withered leaves our weary limbs, 
 We go." 
 
 '.:* .-.:.> > S oirfJ 
 OLYMPUS was a new town, only about three 
 
 years old, and, but for being injudiciously lo- 
 cated in a deep swampy hollow, rapid as it had 
 been in growth, it would have, even in so short a 
 time, been a much more considerable place. As 
 it was, it consisted of upwards of twenty houses, 
 a place of worship, a school, and two taverns. 
 It was, however, the opinion of the inhabitants, 
 that it would not succeed, for no fresh inquiries 
 were made for lots by new settlers ; indeed, the 
 unhealthy situation was one of the causes which 
 led to the formation of the new settlement at 
 Babelmandel, towards which the tide of emigra- 
 tion was at this time flowing.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 Besides arranging a sojourn for the mistress 
 and her three girls, until I should have deter- 
 mined our location, and raised a house for them, 
 it was necessary to stop a day or two at Olym- 
 pus, to settle with the land-agent of the Ba- 
 bel mandel settlement, who held his office at 
 that time there. But in both concerns I found 
 no difficulty. In one of the taverns we were 
 creditably accommodated on terms that could 
 not be complained of, and the agent was a most 
 civil gentleman, doing all in his power to make 
 things easy, and giving me a deal of good and 
 profitable advice. 
 
 Among other things, he remarked, that 
 he thought, considering my stature and light 
 weight, I should find it more to my advantage 
 to try if the overseer of the roads^ which were 
 then opening through the settlement, could give 
 me employment as a Boss, or foreman to look 
 over a gang of the roadmakers ; and, in that 
 case, to contract with an experienced wood's- 
 man to do the chopping on my land, in which 
 Avork the two boys would be found serviceable, 
 either in collecting the brush or in burning off 
 the logs. " For," said he, " I can see you are
 
 186 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 one of those sort of settlers, whose heads are 
 worth four of their hands." 
 
 Having selected on the diagram of the Babel- 
 mandel township a lot of fifty acres, near the 
 forks of two considerable creeks, within about 
 half a mile of the new village, I prepared a few 
 necessaries for the boys and myself, and on the 
 third day after our arrival at Olympus, we set 
 out, with packs on our backs, to take possession, 
 accompanied by one of the inhabitants, who un- 
 dertook for a dollar to show the land. It may 
 be thought, in buying the lot before I had seen 
 it, I was buying a pig in a poke ; but it was not 
 exactly so, for I reserved to myself the privi- 
 lege of changing it for another if not satisfied. 
 
 The road from Olympus to Babelnqandel, i 
 after quitting the cleared land, was desperate^/ 
 bad. It was then but the mere blazed line of 
 what was to be a road ; stumps and cradle 
 heaps, mud-holes and miry swails, succeeded 
 one another, like the big and little beads of 
 perdition on a papistical paternoster. But the 
 fatigue and toil of travelling it was as nothing, 
 compared with the disheartening task as it then 
 seemed of finding the land-marks. Certain I
 
 LAWRIB TODD. 187 
 
 am, that only an eye long practised in the busi- 
 ness, could ever find the posts, placed as they 
 are in the very heart of the bushes of a wilder- 
 ness, where no airt can be traced, save by the 
 moss on the northern side of the trunks of the 
 trees. 
 
 Before we had accomplished half our journey* 
 though it was but fifteen miles, I resolved we 
 should go straight on to the village for the 
 night, and take a fresh day to examine the land. 
 Had we not done so, I am persuaded the boys 
 and I would have sunk with fatigue; our guide 
 being used to the woods, suffered comparatively 
 little. Accordingly we proceeded straight on, 
 and at last reached the road, which was being 
 opened from the town, and the clearings in the 
 vicinity. 
 
 Of all the sights in this world the most likely 
 to daunt a stout heart, and to infect a resolute 
 spirit with despondency, that of a newly-chop- 
 ped tract of the forest certainly bears away 
 the bell. Hundreds on hundreds of vast and 
 ponderous trees covering the ground for acres, 
 like the mighty slain in a field of battle, all to 
 be removed, yea, obliterated, before the solitary
 
 188 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 settler can raise a meal of potatoes, seemingly 
 offer the most hopeless task which the industry 
 of man can struggle with. My heart withered 
 as I contemplated the scene, and my two little 
 boys came close to me, and inquired with the 
 low accents of anxiety and dread, if the moving 
 of these enormous things was to be our work. 
 Fortunately, before I had time to answer their 
 question, a sudden turn of the road brought 
 us in sight of the village, where the settlers in 
 all directions were busy logging and burning. 
 The liveliness of this spectacle, the blazing of 
 the timber, and the rapid destruction of the 
 trees, rendered, indeed, any answer unnecessary. 
 They beheld at once, that so far from the work 
 being hopeless, the ground was laid open for 
 tillage even as it were while we were looking at 
 it, and we entered Babelmandel reassured in all 
 our hopes. 
 
 The village as yet consisted but of shanties and 
 log-houses. The former is a hut or wigwam, 
 made of bark laid upon the skeleton of a rude 
 roof, and is open commonly on the one side, 
 nigh to which, during the night, the inmates 
 who sleep within, raise a great fire to keep
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 themselves warm ; some say to protect them 
 from wolves and other wild beasts. Notwith- 
 standing the rough appearance of the shanty, it 
 yet affords a shelter with which weary axemen 
 are well content. I never, however, had a right 
 solid sound sleep in one, for, as they are open, 
 I had a constant fear of snakes crawling in upon 
 me ; nor was it imaginary, for that very night, 
 the first we passed in Babelmandel, the boys 
 and I being obliged to make our bed on hem- 
 lock boughs in a shanty, had not well composed 
 ourselves to rest, when Charley, the youngest, 
 felt something like a man's finger wimbling in 
 under his neck, and starting up, beheld a large 
 garter-snake twisting and twining where he had 
 made his pillow. We were pacified in our 
 alarm, by an assurance that it was of a harm- 
 less kind, but truly it will be a long time be- 
 fore I am satisfied that any serpent can ever be 
 a commendable bed-fellow. 
 
 Saving that molestation, we passed, however, 
 a comfortable night ; at first, it was proposed, 
 on account of the snakes, that we should 
 alternately keep watch ; but when I had the 
 watch myself, a drowsiness fell upon me, and
 
 190 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 shut up ray eyes in sleep, till the sun was more 
 than an hour high, and every one at work. 
 
 Betimes, after taking some breakfast, at which 
 we had hemlock-tea, a pleasant and salutary 
 drink, though not in much repute at Bridals, 
 we buckled on our knapsacks, and proceeded 
 with our guide in quest of the lot I had bar- 
 gained for, and which we easily found, as it 
 answered very correctly to the description re- 
 ceived from the agent. It was a pleasant situa- 
 tion, looking up the forks of the two rivers. I 
 decided at once on being content with it, and 
 forthwith we began to seek for a suitable 
 place to raise a house on. This was not diffi- 
 cult to find, and I made choice of a rising 
 ground near a pretty spring, as the site of our 
 future home. But as it was necessary in the 
 mean time to provide a place of temporary 
 shelter, we went nearer to the village with our 
 shanty, and for divers reasons ; first a lone man, 
 neither a giant nor a Samson, with two little 
 boys, I thought too weak a garrison against 
 wolves and bears ; second, by the kind recom- 
 mendation of the agent, I was to be made a 
 boss on the road ; and third, as the boys were to
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 191 
 
 work with the guide with whom I contracted to 
 clear five acres for me, I wished to be with 
 them at night, which could not have been ac- 
 complished, had we sat down at once upon my 
 own land ; so we raised our shanty within the 
 boundaries marked out for the town plot, on a 
 rising bank, overlooking the main river, and 
 near to a large shanty, which about a score of 
 the axemen and carpenters had constructed for 
 themselves. Our shanty was completed in good 
 time before the evening, so that when we dress- 
 ed our supper at the fire before the door, I 
 could not but acknowledge with thankfulness, 
 that we had reached the Mount Pisgah of our 
 pilgrimage. The wall top was surmounted ; I 
 thought myself safe among the leaves on the 
 other side, and at a fitting time, the boys being 
 already in the arms of Morpheus, I stretched 
 myself beside them and courted sleep. 
 
 But the sleep that came was not like the 
 downy comforter of the preceding night. It 
 was uneasy and ominous. I dreamt of serpents, 
 and fancied that I saw wolves looking over the 
 fire at us as we lay in the shanty on the ground ; 
 while ever and anon, I heard, or thought I
 
 192 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 heard, a voice warning me to vigilance alto- 
 gether, it was a comfortless time, and the wind 
 having changed, blew the smoke of the fire so 
 in upon us, that I was obliged to get up and 
 go to the ou tside. Here my condition was but 
 little improved, for the skies were overcast with 
 thick black clouds, and a screech-owl in a 
 neighbouring tree was making the night hide- 
 ous with her evil prophecies.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 193 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 : - *-.?; 
 
 " The waters, the big waters 
 Are coming, see they come." 
 
 ABOUT day-break it began to rain, and con- 
 tinued to pour with increasing violence all the 
 morning ; no one thought of stirring abroad 
 who could keep within shelter. My boys and I 
 had for task only to keep the fire at the door of 
 the shanty brisk and blazing, and to notice that 
 the pools, which began to form around us, did 
 not become too large ; for sometimes, besides 
 the accumulation of the rain, little streams 
 would suddenly break out, and rushing towards 
 us, would have extinguished our fire, had we 
 not been vigilant. 
 
 The site I had chosen for the shanty, was 
 near to a little brook on the top of the main 
 
 VOL. i. K
 
 194 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 river's bank. In fine weather, no situation could 
 be more beautiful ; the brook was clear as 
 crystal, and fell in a small cascade into the 
 river, which, broad and deep, ran beneath the 
 bank with a swift but smooth current. 
 
 The forest up the river had not been explored 
 above a mile or two : all beyond was the un- 
 known wilderness. Some vague rumours of 
 small lakes and beaver dams were circulated in 
 the village, but no importance was attached to 
 the information, our shanty being placed on a 
 bold and rocky bank ; save but for the occa- 
 sional little torrents with which the rain some- 
 times hastily threatened to extinguish the fires, 
 we had no cause to dread inundation. 
 
 The rain still continued to fall incessantly; 
 the pools it formed in the hollows of the ground 
 began, towards noon, to overflow their banks, 
 and to become united. By and by something 
 like a slight current was observed passing from 
 one to another, but thinking only of preserving 
 our fire, we no farther noticed this, than by 
 occasionally running out of the shanty into the 
 shower, and scraping a channel to let the water 
 run off into the brook or the river.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 195 
 
 It was hoped that about noon the rain would 
 slacken, but in this we were disappointed. It 
 continued to increase, and the ground began to 
 be so flooded, while the brook swelled to a river, 
 that we thought it might become necessary to 
 shift our tent to a higher part of the bank. To 
 do this we were, however, reluctant, for it was 
 impossible to encounter the deluge without being 
 almost instantly soaked to the skin ; and we had 
 put the shanty up with more care and pains 
 than usual, intending it should serve us for a 
 home until our house was comfortably finished. 
 
 About three o'clock the skies were dreadfully 
 darkened and overcast. I had never seen such 
 darkness while the sun was above the horizon, 
 and still the rain continued to descend in cata- 
 racts, but at fits and intervals. No man, who 
 hath not seen the like, would credit the descrip- 
 tion. 
 
 Suddenly a sharp flash of lightning, followed 
 by an instantaneous thunder-peal, lightened up 
 all the forest ; and almost in the same moment 
 the rain came lavishing along as if the windows 
 of heaven were opened ; anon another flash, 
 K 2
 
 196 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 and a louder peal burst upon us, as if the whole 
 forest was rending over and around us. 
 
 I drew my helpless and poor trembling little 
 boys under the skirts of my great coat. 
 
 Then there was another frantic flash, and the 
 roar of the thunder was augmented by the riven 
 trees, that fell cloven on all sides in a whirlwind 
 of splinters. But though the lightning was more 
 terrible than scimitars, and the thunder roared 
 as if the vaults of heaven were shaken to pieces 
 and tumbling in, the irresistible rain was still 
 more appalling than either. I have said it was 
 as if the windows of heaven were opened. About 
 sunset, the ground floods were as if the foun- 
 tains of the great deep were breaking up. 
 
 I pressed my shivering children to my bosom, 
 but I could not speak. At the common shanty, 
 where there had been for some time an affecta- 
 tion of mirth and ribaldry, there was now si- 
 lence ; at last, as if with one accord, all the in- 
 habitants rushed from below their miserable 
 shed, tore it into pieces, and ran with the frag 
 raents to a higher ground, crying wildly, " The 
 river is rising!" ; mi/j 
 rbinV eovfiw lo aismte IuftbB9iL szodi lo fat-
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 197 
 
 I had seen it swelling for some time, but our 
 shanty stood so far above the stream, that I had 
 no fear it would reach us. Scarcely, however, 
 had the axemen escaped from theirs, and planted 
 themselves on the crown of a rising ground 
 nearer to us, where they were hastily construct- 
 ing another shed, when a tremendous crash and 
 roar was heard at some distance in the woods, 
 higher up the stream. It was so awful, I had 
 almost said so omnipotent, in the sound, that 
 I started on my feet, and shook my treasures 
 from me. For a moment the Niagara of the 
 river seemed almost to pause it was but for a 
 moment, for instantly after, the noise of the 
 rending of mighty trees, the crashing and the 
 tearing of the unrooted forest, rose around. 
 The waters of the river, troubled and raging, 
 came hurling with the wreck of the woods, 
 sweeping with inconceivable fury every thing 
 that stood within its scope a lake had burst its 
 banks. 
 
 The sudden rise of the water soon, however, 
 subsided ; I saw it ebbing fast, and comforted 
 my terrified boys. The rain also began to abate. 
 Instead of those dreadful sheets of waves which
 
 198 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 fell upon us, as if some vast ocean behind 
 the forest was heaving over its spray, a thick 
 continued small rain came on, and about an 
 hour after sunset, streaks and breaks in the 
 clouds gave some token that the worst was over 
 it was not, however, so ; for about the same 
 time a stream appeared in the hollow between the 
 rising ground to which the axemen had retired, 
 and the little knoll on which our shanty stood ; 
 at the same time the waters in the river began 
 to swell again. There was on this occasion no 
 abrupt and bursting noise, but the night was 
 fast closing upon us, and a hoarse muttering 
 and angry sound of many waters grew louder 
 and louder on all sides. 
 
 The darkness, and the increasing rage of the ri- 
 ver, which there was just twilight enough to show 
 was rising above the brim of the bank, smote 
 me with inexpressible terror. I snatched my 
 children by the hand, and rushed forward to 
 join the axemen, but the torrent between us 
 rolled so violently, that to pass was impossible, 
 and the waters still continued to rise. 
 
 I called aloud to the axemen for assistance ; 
 and when they heard my desperate cries, they
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 199 
 
 came out of the shed, some with burning brands, 
 and others with their axes glittering in the 
 flames ; but they could render no help : at last, 
 one man, a fearless backs-woodman, happened 
 to observe by the fire-light, a tree on the bank 
 of the torrent, which it in some degree overhung, 
 and he called for others to join him in making 
 a bridge. In the course of a few minutes the 
 tree was laid across the stream, and we scram- 
 bled over, just as the river extinguished our 
 fire, and swept our shanty away. 
 
 This rescue was in itself so wonderful, and 
 the scene had been so terrible, that it was some 
 time after we were safe, before I could rouse 
 myself to believe I was not in the "fangs of the 
 nightmare. My poor boys clung to me as if 
 still not assured of their security, and I wept 
 upon their necks in the ecstasy of an unspeak- 
 able passion of anguish and joy. 
 
 About this time the misling rain began to 
 fall softer; the dawn of the moon appeared 
 through the upper branches of the forest, and 
 here and there the stars looked out from their 
 windows in the clouds. The storm was gone, 
 and the deluge assuaged ; the floods all around
 
 200 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 us gradually ebbed away, and the insolent and 
 unknown waters which had so swelled the river 
 shrunk within their banks, and long before the 
 morning had retired from the scene. 
 
 Need I say that anthems of deliverance were 
 heard in our camp that night ? O surely no ! 
 The woods answered to our psalms, and waved 
 their mighty arms; the green leaves clapped 
 their hands, and the blessed moon, lifting the 
 veil from her forehead, and looking down upon 
 us through the boughs, gladdened our solemn 
 rejoicing.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 201 
 
 ?: s<l . Va^tS * 
 
 fryjf t- - f 1^3 Oi Iw. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 |rfi gntffli- ,oobor b^*jld s^ fca l ?itejl tfwfe 
 
 rt His household Gods were all removed, his hearth 
 Extinguished, and his home made desolate !" 
 
 THE restoration of the shanty was but the 
 work of a few hours, and was performed by 
 Amidab Peters, the guide, and the two boys ; 
 for being eager to be doing something, I en- 
 tered next day on my office as Boss on the road,- 
 to gang number five. For several days nothing 
 particular occurred, but the weather was un- 
 settled, and less work was obtained from the 
 labourers than usual at that season of the year, 
 which made the agent peevish ; as the specula- 
 tors for whom he acted, often grumbled most 
 when they ought to have been best pleased; not 
 that any party who have to pay for out-of-door 
 K 5
 
 202 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 work are ever otherwise than dissatisfied with 
 bad weather. 
 
 But the rainy, do-nothing days, which in- 
 creased the agent's bills, were holidays to the 
 settlers. On those occasions, they were wont to 
 assemble in the large shed to tell stories and 
 sing songs for pastime, the rain having forbid- 
 den every kind of active sport. This, as the 
 season was uncommonly wet, came round so 
 often, that the songs and tales at last began to 
 grow stale, and we had recourse to different 
 devices to raise fresh supplies. It was to me 
 they were indebted for the suggestion, that 
 every one should tell a story either of himself 
 or some adventure that had taken place within 
 his own knowledge; and as encouragement to 
 begin, I opened the ball, by a full, true, and par- 
 ticular account of some of the adventures here- 
 in related. This led on others, till at last the 
 turn came to an old man, who for his mild and 
 genteel manners, was jocularly known in the 
 settlement as Mr. Gentleman ; nobody, however, 
 ventured to address him so familiarly. 
 
 I had frequently noticed him with curiosity,
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 203 
 
 but somehow was restrained without knowing 
 wherefore, from making his acquaintance. 
 
 I saw him first in the woods alone ; he was 
 sitting on the trunk of a tree which he had 
 newly felled, caressing a little dog ; his axe 
 rested against the stump; at a short distance 
 on the ground lay his coat and straw hat, and 
 near them a dead snake recently killed. Some- 
 thing in his air and appearance bespoke my 
 compassion, and the fairness of his hands show- 
 ed that to him the toil of the chopper was a 
 new trade; moreover, he was evidently aged, 
 three-score at least, for his hair was quite white, 
 and besides the deep furrows of thoughtfulness, 
 his countenance was impressed with those other 
 dry and withered wrinkles, which age as well 
 as anxiety is necessary to produce. 
 
 After some hesitation he began : 
 
 " It is of no importance to tell you who I am, 
 nor would the disclosure of my real name increase 
 the interest of my little story. You see me 
 here alone, unknown to you all ; some of you 
 deem me proud because I shun your occasional 
 amusements, but whatever motives lead me to
 
 204 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 keep myself sequestered, they may have their 
 own source in deeper feelings than any emo- 
 tion in the power of present circumstances to 
 excite. 
 
 " To begin, then, you see, in the strictest sense 
 of the term, a forlorn man : all of you have 
 some friend, kinsman, or acquaintances here, or 
 you have previously heard something of some 
 amongst you : it is not so with me, I stand soli- 
 tary in a circle which excludes every affection 
 from without, none can pass the interdicted 
 bound, and all within seems eradicated. I am, 
 as respects my former individuality, dead to 
 the world. It is believed by those to whom 
 I was formerly known, that I exist no longer. 
 My story belongs to necrology. The void 
 which my departure left in society, has long, 
 ere this, been filled up ; or if I am yet remem- 
 bered by some kinder heart than another, it is 
 with wondering whence I came, and into what 
 obscurity I have returned doubtless the com- 
 mon opinion is, into the dust. 
 
 " You see before you one of those unfortunate 
 men who, without fortune or influential connec- 
 tions, yet, owing to something in address or
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 205 
 
 character, attract a larger share of attention than 
 befits their humble circumstances. From my 
 childhood I was one of whom high expectations 
 were cherished ; my youth was countenanced by 
 many in superior stations. It was thought that 
 I possessed the endowment of more than ordi- 
 nary talent, and I was esteemed because I dili- 
 gently cultivated the supposed gift. My small 
 paternal inheritance was just enough to raise 
 me above the necessity of a patron, too little to 
 secure me a friend among those whose tastes 
 and inclinations accorded with my own. I say not 
 this in satire, but some equality, even in sordid 
 circumstances, is essential to friendship ; with- 
 out it, however closely two young hearts may 
 have been cemented, the mutations of fortune 
 will, sooner or later, shake them asunder never 
 to be reunited again. 
 
 " I was made sensible of this truth at an early 
 age. Just as I was entering upon the threshold 
 of life, a false step, or rather a miscalculation, 
 suddenly taught me to know my helplessness. 
 I needed assistance, and could obtain none ; nor 
 did I solicit any. I was confident in myself; 
 I persevered against the effects of the accident ;
 
 206 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 I ultimately overcame them, and went forward 
 with a higher and brighter career. But I saw 
 that in my difficulties I was avoided by those 
 whom, in the flattery of youth, I counted 
 my dearest friends : I could not disguise from 
 myself the fact of that disaster. Nor could I 
 refrain from comparing my condition with theirs 
 all had some relation or connection, bound by 
 other than moral sentiments to their fortunes and 
 reputation, and to whom their success was an 
 object of solicitude. Some of them had thus ties 
 or claims on persons superior to their rank and 
 circumstances ; but all my connections, without 
 one exception, though not poor for their station, 
 were yet unable to assist me ; this, and the in- 
 nate emulation of my disposition, placed me at 
 all times on the verge of a precipice. My means 
 were ever put to their utmost ; the slightest 
 shock was sufficient, at any time, to disarrange 
 my operations. 
 
 " Still, however, I worked onward ; I was ena- 
 bled to keep the course I had chosen, and the 
 sphere in which I moved was enlarged and ex- 
 alted ; at last, as my hair began to grow grey, 
 the goal to which I had pressed forward with so
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 207 
 
 much constancy and vigour appeared in view. 
 I redoubled my efforts, and soon it placed in my 
 power all I desired, presenting the means of an 
 honourable repose for my old age I succeeded 
 a few years of energy and endeavour only 
 were necessary, to secure the fruits of my long 
 unwearied cheerful industry, and my exertions 
 were not unworthy of the object. All I un- 
 dertook prospered ; nothing that I did could 
 I have wished undone. I was in an eminent 
 public trust, honours were proposed for me, my 
 couch was spread, and though in the enjoyment 
 of a green old age, I prepared myself for the 
 embraces of repose. Alas ! how fugitive are the 
 fortunes of men. 
 
 "In that crisis, the blight which has fallen 
 upon the universal industry of the world, in- 
 fected the concerns and interests of my trust ; 
 and thus, at the age of three score, was I cast 
 adrift, and in poverty. The original scope of 
 my line of business prevented me from ever 
 being in a situation to become rich ; a respectable 
 income was the maximum it ever offered. I was 
 then too old to begin the world again ; moreover, 
 the world itself was no longer the same, so that
 
 208 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 even if I could have commanded the means 
 to commence a new career, I could discover no 
 path into which, with any chance of success, 
 I could strike ; and a disappointed heart, be- 
 neath the load of three score years, hath but 
 ineffectual energies. 
 
 *' In this state of hopelessness, being then 
 at the sea-side, I went out one day with two 
 fishermen in their boat ; we had not been long 
 on the fishing-ground, when the wind began to 
 blow strongly from the land, and the appear- 
 ance of the heavens indicated an approaching 
 tempest. The fishermen became alarmed, and 
 made for the shore : for me, I felt no fear, I 
 saw no danger, but in living too long. An 
 abrupt heave of the sea upset the boat ; the 
 two fishermen were drowned : I was, however, 
 saved as by a miracle, being somehow enabled 
 to mount upon the bottom of the boat, where 
 I remained upwards of three hours at the mercy 
 of the waves, and drifting from the shore be- 
 fore the wind. Indebted to instinct rather than 
 resolution for the preservation of my life : what 
 was there to me in life to make it worth pre- 
 serving?
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 209 
 
 " At last, a vessel from the French coast came 
 in sight ; and the squall having by that time 
 abated, she discovered me, and bore down to 
 my assistance in time to save me before the 
 dashing waves and the cold had quite extin- 
 guished the embers of life. 
 
 " The captain, with the urbanity of his nation, 
 contributed every thing on board which could 
 minister to my restoration ; but more than two 
 days elapsed before I was in a condition to 
 express my gratitude, and they had no cordial 
 for a broken heart. 
 
 no %*CL~TW oJ ' jU-infj .1 i : 
 
 " My reflections in the mean time were inex- 
 pressibly painful. It could not but be thought 
 by my friends that I had perished with the 
 fishermen. What friends ? 
 
 " The ship being bound to New York, I was 
 carried thither, where, soon after my arrival, by 
 the good offices of the captain, I found em- 
 ployment as a clerk ; and with the little earn- 
 ings of that station, I have been enabled to 
 come here, where I hope to spend the cheer- 
 less evening of my days in unmolested tran- 
 quillity." 
 
 His tale was told with simplicity, and
 
 210 LAWR1E TODD. 
 
 produced a sorrowful sympathy for him : 
 no observation was made on it; we looked 
 only at one another; and the rain having 
 then passed off, we rose singly, and went 
 away.
 
 LAWRIE TODD 211 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " Go to, proud fool, count not on Fortune's favour, 
 Her gifts are gleams on water." 
 
 IN the meantime, Amidab Peters, who was 
 our guide from Olympus, with the two boys, 
 was busy chopping down the trees on my farm, 
 and preparing logs for a house, while I, as a 
 Boss on the roads, was receiving what would 
 have been thought great wages in a town even 
 in America. But the hard fare to which my 
 duty subjected me, and the frequent instances 
 in which I saw men pulled down with the 
 hatchet in their hands by the ague, made the 
 employment so unsatisfactory, that I resolved to 
 retire from it, and give my whole attention to
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 my own land, notwithstanding the infirm con- 
 struction of my frame for the toil of clearing. 
 
 Moreover, by this time I had learnt some- 
 thing of the expedients of settlers, and was con- 
 vinced that girdling the trees is a quicker and 
 better way for the first operations of new be- 
 ginners, especially such as have had no expe- 
 rience of the woods, nor have been practised 
 with the axe, than the laborious undertaking of 
 hewing down each particular huge tree by it- 
 self. To girdle is to cut a ring round the 
 bark of the trunk into the timber, which causes 
 the tree to die ; in the course of two or three 
 years it falls, and being then well dried, is 
 easily burnt off; as this work does not require 
 a powerful arm, it suited me exactly. 
 
 As soon as a sufficient number of proper logs 
 for my house had been prepared, and brought 
 to the place by a team of oxen hired for the 
 purpose, I made a bee ; that is, I collected as 
 many of the most expert and able-bodied of the 
 settlers to assist at the raising, by which I got 
 the walls of a most excellent house up in the 
 course of a single day, without peril of life or 
 limb among the workmen ; a rare blessing, and
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 213 
 
 as I accepted it, a pleasant omen of happiness 
 to those who were destined to be the inmates of 
 the dwelling. 
 
 In finishing my house, I took more pains 
 than common, for I had reflected on what is 
 often said, that new settlers are too apt to ex- 
 pose their health indiscreetly, when by care and 
 consideration they might be more comfortably 
 lodged for little more trouble or expense. It 
 is a fault with them to make their first work 
 serve, and to leave many things to be done in the 
 winter, when they cannot work in the woods, 
 that were better executed in warm and dry 
 weather. 
 
 In summer, the unseasoned timber shrinks, 
 and the chinks between the logs then are wider 
 than in the moist weather of the fall. It there- 
 fore consists with common sense that the summer 
 is the time for filling up the chinks ; but there 
 was another reason which had great weight with 
 me for doing it at once ; in hot weather, my 
 bosom friends the snakes are nimbler than at 
 any other time, and will slip in and out the 
 smallest holes like evil spirits. To keep them 
 out, was, therefore, a main point with me,
 
 214 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 for in the autumn, when the evenings become 
 chilly, they sometimes contrive to get into the 
 houses, and coil themselves up in corners for 
 the winter. But my chief reason for being so 
 overly particular at the beginning, as some of 
 the other settlers thought, was a dread of the 
 autumnal rains and the cold piercing winds of 
 the frozen season. Health and strength are the 
 gold and silver of the woods, and I was anxious 
 to have my treasure well protected. 
 
 Having prepared a few articles of furniture 
 of such cabinet work as the axe could fashion, 
 among which were two or three cuts of trees 
 for stools, and a table, with legs that for girth 
 and solidity might have been pillars in a parish 
 kirk, I went out to Olympus to bring my wife 
 and the three girls to Babelmandel, leaving the 
 two boys to keep the house. At Olympus I 
 hired a' ox-team to carry the ark and the boxes ; 
 it served also as a caravan for my live stock. 
 
 On the first Saturday of September we set 
 out for our new home ; light were our hearts, 
 as, in the grey of the dewy morning, we entered 
 the road path in the wood which led to Babel-
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 215 
 
 mandel. Through the windfalls and the open- 
 ings of the settlement, the rising sun was be- 
 ginning to silver the leaves, and to glitter on 
 the rills, sprinkling the floor of the forest-aisles 
 with glaiks and gleams, a visible melody which 
 broke the monotony of the gloom, like the song 
 of early birds : it was the first time that the 
 silence of the woods had not affected me with 
 sadness ; but we were 'happy and hopeful, and 
 all around looked gay. 
 
 The afternoon was far advanced before we 
 reached our new habitation, for though the dis- 
 tance was but fifteen miles, we were upwards 
 of ten hours in travelling it ; the mirth of many 
 a joint-dislocking jolt, and almost headlong 
 whamle, shortened, however, the road, and 
 smoothed its roughness. On our arrival, we 
 found the boys anxiously waiting with a savoury 
 stew, which they had of their own accord pre- 
 pared to welcome their mother and sisters, and 
 to show their proficiency in the art of living in 
 the bush. 
 
 This unexpected feast added to our delight ; 
 we felt in our hearts that we had at last come to
 
 216 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 home, and thought of former disasters as of the 
 holes and the snags which we had surmounted 
 in the way. 
 
 After partaking of the boys' stew, I proposed 
 to celebrate our arrival by uniting in worship 
 as we were wont to do in Jersey and New 
 York; and as the day had been exceedingly 
 warm, I ordered the door to be left open to 
 admit the cool evening air. 
 
 While we were engaged in that holy service, 
 a sharp shrill shriek, wild and piercing, came 
 from the village ; imputing it to some frolic 
 among the younger settlers, I heeded it not; 
 it disturbed not the earnestness of our devo- 
 tion. In less than a minute after, a similar 
 cry was repeated, and caused me to pause in 
 prayer. This was followed by a terrible hissing, 
 hurrying, and crackling noise, something like 
 the rushing sound of many sky-rockets, but 
 immeasurably greater, followed, by a hundred 
 vehement voices, screaming " fire !" Starting 
 from my kneeling, I ran to the door in alarm, 
 scarce conceiving what the cry of fire in the 
 wilderness could portend. 
 
 The woods were on fire ! The scene of
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 217 
 
 horror was at some distance behind the house, 
 but the remorseless element was rising and 
 wreathing in smoke and flame on all sides. The 
 progress was as a furious whirlwind ; to arrest, 
 or to extinguish, seemed equally impossible. 
 
 The unfortunate settlers were flying in all 
 directions with their moveables ; but the fallen 
 leaves, kindled by the fiery flakes that fell 
 showering around, intercepted their flight, and 
 obliged many to abandon their burdens; for, 
 as with the Egyptian hail, fire ran along the 
 ground : sometimes the flames ascended with 
 a spiral sweep at once from the roots to the 
 topmost boughs of the loftiest trees ; at others 
 they burst out in the highest branches at a 
 distance from the general burning, as if some 
 invisible incendiary was propagating the de- 
 struction. Aged trunks of hollow elms and 
 oaks took fire within, and blazed out like 
 fountains of flame ; and all around the sound 
 like the rage of a hurricane and the roaring of 
 seas upon a shallow shore, grew louder and 
 louder. 
 
 After the first alarm, the settlers gathered 
 themselves together and looked on, wondering 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 218 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 to one another what would be the conclusion ; 
 for the fire was spreading before the wind, 
 leaving behind only the black and burning 
 skeletons of the large trees. To most of us, 
 though the sight was awful, the ravages of the 
 flames were not disheartening ; they effected a 
 wide clearing at small cost, and I got rid of 
 many of my girdled trees, so that we began to 
 joke and make merry with those who were so 
 lucky as to be within the scope of the destruc- 
 tion. But the mirth was of short duration in 
 my family : Providence was pleased to interpose 
 in a signal manner to quench the conflagration, 
 by changing the wind, and causing it to blow 
 with great violence in the opposite direction, 
 by which the flames being driven back on the 
 devastation, soon spent their fury ; and a heavy 
 rain following, it was amazing to see how 
 quickly the danger disappeared. 
 
 But though it is an ill wind which blows 
 nobody good, the good that came by that 
 change was yet not extended to me or mine. 
 It was a gusty and turbulent wind, which came 
 in whirling blasts, sweeping along the smoke, 
 the ashes, and the embers, and involving every
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 219 
 
 thing on our side of the settlement to such a 
 degree in thick smoke, and suffocating dust and 
 steam, that we could not see a yard before us. 
 Being driven by it to seek shelter, we returned 
 towards home, which we had left at the distance 
 of some two or three hundred yards to join the 
 other settlers. It was by this time almost dark, 
 and the squally night, after the disaster we had 
 witnessed, filled my wife with such anxieties, 
 that she repined at having consented to come 
 so far into the wilderness. 
 
 This was the first time she had ever expressed 
 any thing like dissatisfaction, and I chided her 
 a little for being so cast down, hurrying her at 
 the same time, with our youngest child in her 
 arms, towards the house; but who can tell 
 what I suffered when, on approaching the door, 
 which was still open as it had been left, we 
 beheld the roof on fire in several places ? There 
 was no time for talk ; I called her to place the 
 child on the ground, and to assist me to get 
 out the ark and boxes : this we effected before 
 the boys came to us, but nothing could save 
 the house. In the course of a few minutes it 
 was all on fire ; our expense and toil, our care
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 and consideration, all perished. Thus, instead 
 of the snug and comfortable habitation to which 
 we had looked forward so eagerly, we were cast 
 out on the forest, and obliged to call in our 
 neighbours to assist, amidst the darkness and 
 squalls, to raise a shanty for the night. Never- 
 theless, I was none dismayed ; but, on the con- 
 trary, my courage rose, and my wife, regretting 
 the discontent she had unwittingly expressed, 
 was thankful when we took possession of the 
 sorry shed, that she had met with so little to 
 complain of. 
 
 Such were the signs and tokens under which 
 we took up our abode at Babelmandel.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 221 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 *' The gentle moon looked pale at the sad sight." 
 
 NEXT day was the Sabbath, the oldest of 
 blessings, the poor man's day. By me it has 
 ever been regarded with delight, for I have 
 enjoyment in the solemnity wherewith we are 
 commanded to observe it. The day of rest, 
 the property of individual man ; no master may 
 exact labour from his servant on that day, nor 
 may the willing slave exert his sinews in toil 
 without sinning against himself; for his own 
 frame, after six days' labour, is needful of rest, 
 and hath been enjoined to receive it by a hal- 
 lowed and everlasting ordinance. Yet, though 
 thus profoundly impressed with reverence for 
 the sabbath, the sun, at his rising, beheld me
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 busy amidst the fallen trees which had been 
 spared from the burning, selecting logs for the 
 construction of a new habitation. 
 
 The season was far advanced ; it was already 
 September, and unless I could provide a house 
 before the rairis set in, it would be necessary to 
 move my family back to Olympus. The ex- 
 pense I could ill afford ; for the payment of the 
 first instalment on my land I promised to pay 
 by equal annual instalments in seven years and 
 the cost of bringing us from New York, together 
 with various necessaries we stood in need of for 
 the winter, had grievously lightened my purse ; 
 moreover, the baby was taken ill during the 
 night, and it was heart-breaking to look upon 
 her lying on the ground, and to reflect on the 
 miserable tabernacle of sticks and bark raised 
 in the storm, which was all our dwelling : but 
 whether I offended by yielding to the suggestions 
 of those temporal griefs, is a question remitted 
 to a higher tribunal than the judgment even of 
 Christian men. 
 
 In the course of the day I picked out a suffi- 
 cient number of logs, contracted for bringing 
 them to the spot, and for help to kuotch them
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 for joining. Thus, by day-break, on Monday, 
 ray new house was progressing, and it was well 
 I had been so alert ; for many of our neighbours 1 
 houses having been destroyed by the fire, the 
 hire of teams, and the rate of carpenters' wages 
 were, in the course of a few days," much increased. 
 
 Had it not been for the sickness of the child, 
 I was not disposed to contemplate our misfortune 
 as of a very dark hue. The weather was clear 
 and fair, the work went on thrivingly, and an 
 unwonted hilarity sparkled in my bosom. But 
 the poor thing daily grew worse, and at last her 
 mother became seriously alarmed. 
 
 There was then no doctor at Babelmandel, a 
 sad omission, and deplorable to humanity ; for 
 no one thing is so necessary in a new settlement, 
 where accidents occur so often, and sickness is 
 so rife ; so that, seeing the evident decay of the 
 poor child, I resolved to go to Olympus to con- 
 sult the medical man there, and to bring him 
 out with me, if, upon considering the case, he 
 should think it was requisite to see her. Ac- 
 cordingly, with my second son, Charles, I set 
 out on the Friday morning, in order that we 
 might be back in the course of Saturday. I
 
 224 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 took him with me for companionship, and be- 
 cause it is not wise to travel alone in the wild 
 woods. 
 
 The doctor, by my description, did not seem 
 to think there was cause to apprehend imme- 
 diate danger ; but he gave me a small packet of 
 medicines, and a drug in a phial, and said, as so 
 many of the settlers had been unhoused by the 
 fire, he would visit us in the course of the fol- 
 lowing week, it being probable, from their ex- 
 posure, some might take ague, and need assist- 
 ance. 
 
 Being at Olympus, I availed myself of the 
 opportunity to buy a few articles for the new- 
 house at the stores ; not, however, such a load, 
 as to be a burden in the carrying even to me ; 
 and after passing the night there, we returned 
 homeward at an early hour in the morning. 
 Light, however, as I had thought the bundle, it 
 was soon found to be heavy enough, for the day 
 proved remarkably warm ; and although Charles 
 and I took spell and spell about with it, we were 
 glad often to rest. This threw it far into the 
 night before we reached the skirts of Babei- 
 mandel.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 25 
 
 Our journey, but for the burden, had been 
 easy and pleasant, particularly in the afternoon, 
 which was beautifully cloudless and calm, and 
 the air in the evening was refreshed with a gentle 
 breeze, only sufficient to stir the leaves softly, 
 and to give the coolness circulation. The moon 
 was up before we arrived at the cleared land near 
 the town, and shed through the openings and 
 glades of the forest long streams of her serene 
 light, the effect of which, as they fell on the 
 scattered skeletons of the burnt trees, filled the 
 imagination with superstitious phantasies, and 
 begat a dread in despite of reason. 
 
 As we approached the shanty, I discovered a 
 light, which did not surprise, but it grieved 
 me, for I augured from it that the child's suf- 
 ferings had not been mitigated. As we, how- 
 ever, drew near, I saw it was at a short distance 
 from the shanty, under a large elm, which then 
 stood near the spot where the rivulet falls into 
 the river, and that there was no one in the 
 shanty but Robin, with his arm under his head, 
 asleep; to which, poor lad, he had, no doubt, 
 been soundly invited by his day's hard labour. 
 
 The candle was burning in a niche, scooped 
 L 5
 
 226 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 for the purpose, in the trunk of the elm, and 
 between us and it I discerned a small rude 
 shed, covered with bark, forming a canopy over 
 a little bed covered with a white towel. My 
 child was dead, and her mother, with the other 
 two sorrowful girls, were sitting in the shadow 
 of the tree, watching the corpse, and wearying 
 for my return. 
 
 As I came close up to them, two men, armed 
 with guns, came from behind the tree. Ami- 
 dad Peters was one, and a settler, whom I did 
 not know, the other. After speaking a few 
 words of condolence to my wife, I expressed my 
 surprise to Amidab at seeing him there at that 
 time of night and armed, thanking both him 
 and his companion for their attention, and say- 
 ing, I would watch the remainder of the night 
 myself. 
 
 " But one," said Amidab, " is not sufficient ; 
 it will require two, for we have already been 
 twice scared. 11 
 
 " Scared I 11 cried I, " by what ? who have 
 we to fear ?" 
 
 " The wolves," replied the stranger, " they 
 scent the dead afar off. We had not been here
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 227 
 
 more than ten minutes, when one looked at us 
 from the other side of the rivulet ; we saw him 
 plainly in the moonshine, and scarcely had we 
 frightened him off, when we heard another 
 howling from the opposite bank of the river. 
 
 The courteous reader must be a parent, and 
 find feelings in his own heart, to enable him to 
 judge of mine at hearing this. I could make 
 no reply ; a hoop, as it were, of burning iron, 
 was passed round my temples; my knees so 
 trembled, that I almost fell to the ground, and 
 I was not seated many minutes beside the fright- 
 ened and afflicted mother, when a fiery anguish 
 was kindled in my back, and inexpressible pains 
 in my limbs ; in less than half an hour, the 
 symptoms increasing, I was seized, and shaking 
 with a terrible fit of the cruel and indiscrimi- 
 nating ague.
 
 228 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " Old and grey-hair'd, a humbled, weary man ; 
 What other task bents these trembling limbs ?" 
 
 AFTER the ague fit had gone off, I obtained 
 some refreshing sleep, and awoke in the morn- 
 ing with no other consciousness of malady than 
 a slight degree of languor : it amounted to no- 
 thing more. In the course of the day my dear 
 child was buried, and we spent the afternoon in 
 worship and resignation. On Monday we again 
 rose early to our labour, and our work pro- 
 ceeded cheerily ; but for upwards of a fortnight 
 I had a return every third day of the nauseous 
 and depressing ague, which so impaired my 
 strength, that I began to lose my relish of life. 
 My arms, which were never strong, became
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 229 
 
 almost powerless, and I often wept from weak- 
 ness. 
 
 At last our new house was finished ; less com- 
 pletely so than the first temple, but still it was 
 a place of refuge, it was home ; and, as soon 
 as we were fairly in possession, we cast about 
 us, and began to make it so indeed. My health, 
 about the same time, improved, so that towards 
 the end of October, when the public works of 
 the settlement were suspended for the season, 
 we were in some condition to encounter the 
 winter without dread. 
 
 The long nights and the wet weather, in 
 which no man could work, set me to reflect 
 on the melancholy want we were in of a school- 
 master. I had thought of it often before, but 
 it pressed stronger and stronger for considera- 
 tion, when I saw my two industrious sons 
 hanging listlessly on the wet days over the fire, 
 and the evenings wasted in unprofitable conver- 
 sations. Sometimes I thought of addressing 
 the Agent with a petition on the subject, signed 
 by the generality of the inhabitants, begging 
 his mediation with the speculators for some help 
 to pay one ; at others, I proposed to call a public
 
 230 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 meeting, to see what could be done among our- 
 selves in the way of subscription. 
 
 One Sabbath morning, as I was ruminating in 
 my walk on this great and grave concern, it came 
 into my head, that if Mr. Herbert, the solitary 
 man, could be induced to take up a school, he 
 was the very sort of person we stood in need 
 of. For mildness of manners he was not to be 
 surpassed, and he had a superiority in his ap- 
 pearance which could not but secure to him 
 the awe and affection of his scholars, to say no- 
 thing of the reverence of their parents, which, 
 among such an omnium gatherum as the inha- 
 bitants of a new settlement, is essential, and 
 not to be obtained without steadiness of con- 
 duct, as well as intelligence and abilities. 
 
 That same day I sought out his little hut, 
 and, the door being open, I freely entered. He 
 was sitting forlorn, in a rude arm-chair of his 
 own construction, with a Prayer-book of the 
 Church of England in his hand ; he seemed 
 to be much pleased to see me, and thanked me 
 with a gentlemanly cordiality for favouring him 
 with a visit.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 231 
 
 I then began to lament to him the state of 
 the settlement, in respect to education, and to 
 express my own great anxiety lest my children 
 should be doomed to the ignorance of the Back- 
 woodsmen, whose offspring, in the course of the 
 third generation, are scarcely equal to the savage 
 Indians in knowledge, and far below them in 
 morality ; finally, I inquired if he thought it 
 would suit him, instead of the hard toil of 
 a chopper, which, at his time of life, was really 
 beyond his strength, to undertake the manage- 
 ment of a school. 
 
 His answer was delivered with a modest dig- 
 nity, as I had expected it would be. 
 
 " In respect to the qualification," said he, " as 
 far as all the learning which I may be called to 
 teach, and perhaps even to something more, 
 I think the undertaking not beyond my power 
 to compass : but every business has its peculiar 
 methods ; and being a bachelor, I have had no 
 experience in the character of children : I will, 
 however, be candid with you ; more than once 
 the idea of keeping school has occurred to my- 
 self, for I am too old for the woodman's toil,
 
 232 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 and, in the course of nature, not many years, 
 nay, months, can pass, until I shall be incapa- 
 ble of using the hatchet." 
 
 I was rejoiced to hear this, and we immedi- 
 ately began to consider of the means of bring- 
 ing the speculation to bear. It was agreed that 
 I should in the morning go with him among 
 the settlers, and after we had ascertained what 
 number of children were likely to be sent to 
 school, that I should then canvass three or 
 four of the most sedate and sagacious of the 
 fathers for a council, to arrange the terms, and 
 to take what other steps might seem to be ne- 
 cessary to bring the undertaking to a proper 
 head. In proposing this method, I was moved 
 by two reasons first, I discerned, from what 
 came out in conversation, that the chief cause 
 of his diffidence, was some delicacy as to the 
 remuneration ; and therefore, to spare him from 
 any bargaining with individuals, I proposed 
 that it should be left to the council to fix the 
 rate ; and second, I thought the council would 
 be a fence to him in the exercise of his just 
 prerogatives ; for in all stations of life, weak
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 233 
 
 and fond parents are to be found, who think it 
 tenderness to be sparing of the rod with their 
 obstreperous children. The reader will, no 
 doubt, discern in this some of the leaven I 
 had brought out of the Society of the Friends 
 of the people ; be that, however, as it may, the 
 design answered to a miracle, for on the next 
 night we assembled in my house a council of 
 old, decent, bald-headed fathers, that for gra- 
 vity of countenance, and solidity of understand- 
 ing, were worthy of places in the cabinets of 
 kings, nor had one of those who met on that 
 occasion ever cause to repent the part he took 
 in what was then deliberated. We fixed the 
 rate of wages at two dollars a quarter, and in 
 two days after Mr. Herbert was installed in a 
 large shanty, till a proper loghouse could be 
 raised by the community, monarch of the ABC, 
 with a rod of merciful dimensions for a sceptre, 
 and no fewer than three-and- fifty beardless 
 subjects. 
 
 This affair, which many may think has been 
 magnified overmuch, was yet of the deepest in- 
 terest to the prosperity of our children, and to 
 the reputation of the settlement. Where, in all
 
 234 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 the Union, are any such well-conducted and in- 
 telligent young men to be found as those of Ba- 
 belraandel? and where, indeed, such a teacher 
 as Mr. Herbert? Nor was it among the least 
 of my pleasures, in afterwards reflecting on the 
 part I had taken in establishing the school, that 
 I had thereby contributed to gild the evening 
 . of life to so good a man.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 235 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 
 
 " Mildly the sun upon the loftiest trees 
 Shed mellowly a sloping beam." 
 
 FOR some time after the establishment of 
 the school, I met with no particular instance of 
 good or bad fortune. The clearing on my farm, 
 as well as the girdling of the trees, had pro- 
 ceeded so well, that by the beginning of No- 
 vember, when I paid off Amidab Peters for his 
 job, four acres were in crop, and five or six 
 girdled and chopped, the whole making one of 
 the best clearings in the township, although I 
 was among the latest to begin, so that I had 
 good cause to be satisfied with my prospects, 
 and no reason to repent of having become a 
 settler at Babelmandel. 
 
 But as it would be harmful to the earth if
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 it was ever summer and sunshine, so would 
 it be prejudicial to man if fortune were ever 
 smiling. It is necessary for our contentation 
 that we should now and then be reminded by a 
 blast or a shower that all we possess is preca- 
 rious ; and therefore, although I acknowledge 
 that at this epoch the comforts of my lot were 
 meted in a large measure, the courteous reader 
 must not imagine I was spared from the wonted 
 cares and anxieties of an inhabitant of the bush, 
 for truly I had my trials. 
 
 For some days, about the middle of Novem- 
 ber, we had a delicious enjoyment of the Indian 
 summer ; it was later than usual in the season, 
 but for that it was the more delightful, espe- 
 cially as it had been preceded by cold, showery, 
 blustering weather. 
 
 Every one felt, in the temperance of the air, 
 as if a palpable tranquillity had been effused 
 abroad ; a visible softness overspread the face 
 of things, and a pleasing shadowiness filled the 
 woods. The sun, veiled with the dim haze, 
 gleamed like an opal stone, and looked down 
 with the indolent eye of a voluptuary content 
 with enjoyment.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 237 
 
 One of those calm and beautiful days hap- 
 pened to be a Sunday, and the settlement not 
 having that day been visited by a preacher of 
 any persuasion, the young men walked into the 
 woods ; among the rest, my two sons, who went 
 together. 
 
 They had not proceeded far, when Charles, 
 always brisk and alert, was allured from his 
 brother by the appearance of a deer bounding 
 by, which he pursued with his natural eagerness 
 and impetuosity. His brother, not apprehend- 
 ing the slightest danger, sauntered by himself 
 along the skirts of the village, and returned 
 home alone at our customary dinner-hour. The 
 absence of Charles did not, however, much 
 surprise us : we knew his thoughtlessness ; I 
 was only angry he should have had so little 
 respect for the Sabbath as to hunt a wild beast. 
 But towards sunset his mother's fears began 
 to rise, and I grew myself so uneasy, that we 
 thought it advisable to give the alarm in time ; 
 this was soon done, and the whole settlement 
 was presently a-foot with guns, and horns, and 
 women shouting and making a noise. 
 
 We spread ourselves in all directions, some
 
 238 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 firing the guns, some blowing the horns, and 
 some calling the poor lad by name, but no 
 sound was responded. As it became dark, my 
 anxiety grew to agony; we kindled fires, we 
 seized burning brands* from them, which we 
 waved in the air, and redoubled the noises all 
 without effect. I began to fear he had not only 
 wandered, but that some calamity had befallen 
 him ; and under this apprehension I pressed 
 forward to the van of the whole party, till I 
 could only see the glimmering of the fiery circles 
 far behind ; at last the horns and the firing 
 ceased, by which I knew the lost sheep was 
 found, and hastened back, resolved to rebuke 
 him severely for the trouble and anxiety he had 
 caused. 
 
 Gradually the lights, one by one, disappeared, 
 the sound of the voices died away, and after 
 several ineffectual endeavours to cross a small 
 cedar swamp, I found myself completely at 
 fault ; by perseverance, however, I escaped 
 from the swamp, but in what direction then to 
 choose my path was the question. The inter- 
 woven boughs over head, though leafless, ex- 
 cluded the view of the skies ; even could they
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 have been penetrated, every star was so shut up 
 in thick darkness, that the heavens afforded no 
 guide. 
 
 A strange confusion of mind and terror fell 
 upon me, my right-hand became as it were my 
 left ; I was lost I ran wildly forward till a 
 prostrate tree or cradle heap threw me down ; 
 soon after I plunged up to the middle in a 
 marsh, then I came to the bank of a stream 
 which I had not passed : its width and depth 
 were unknown. Incapable of imagining what 
 course I ought to take, worn out and throbbing 
 with alarm at the idea of passing the night 
 alone in the forest, I sat down on a rock, and 
 for some time abandoned myself to fear. 
 
 When the panic had a little subsided I rose, 
 and again walked to a considerable distance for- 
 ward, I heard, as I thought, the shouting of the 
 settlers in quest of me, I hastened towards them. 
 I had never been so far out into the wilder- 
 ness before ; I soon discovered the sound was 
 not human voices ; I could not divine what it 
 was ; I thought surely I had taken the direc- 
 tion of Olympus, and that the noise must be the 
 dam of the saw-mill in that neighbourhood.
 
 240 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 This gave something like hope, and my strength 
 and courage were revived with the thought of 
 being so near shelter. 
 
 Judge of my dismay, when on hastening on, I 
 came to what I thought an opening in the wood, 
 and found myself on the verge of a dreadful 
 chasm, into which a great river was tumbling 
 with a noise like the voice of the distant sea. I 
 stood aghast at the danger into which I had 
 run ; a few paces farther, and I had been dash- 
 ed in pieces at the bottom of the chasm. 
 
 I became more alarmed than ever ; this cata- 
 ract was not known at the village ; I was be- 
 yond all the landmarks that would have guid- 
 ed me by day. The return of the morning 
 could promise no comfort, for I knew not in 
 what direction to turn, and there was a weari- 
 ness in my limbs that made farther travelling 
 that night almost impossible; I was also so 
 startled at finding myself so abruptly on the 
 brink of destruction, that I was afraid to move 
 a step from the spot where I halted ; a bitter 
 grief gathered at my heart, and instead of pray- 
 ing to Him by whom alone aid can be given, I 
 cursed the hour of my birth. Deserted of all
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 241 
 
 fortitude, I wept and wrung my hands, I 
 thought of my young family helpless in the 
 wilderness, and of all the adversities which had 
 of late befallen me. 
 
 When this paroxysm passed off, and I could 
 more calmly consider my dangerous situation, 
 I began to reflect that the river before me could 
 be no other than the same which flowed by 
 Babelmandel, and that as my strength was ex- 
 hausted, I ought to rest where I was until day- 
 break, when I should follow down the course of 
 the current, convinced that the falls were higher 
 up the stream than the town. It is wonderful 
 the effect this rational reflection had in calming 
 my perturbation ; I sat down on the ground, and 
 leaning back against a tree, soon fell asleep, 
 without once thinking of wolves. I did not, 
 however, forget the snakes ; but I thought they 
 were then coiled up and snug in their winter 
 quarters. 
 
 But the mildness of the weather had a pre- 
 ternatural influence upon them, and I was awoke 
 about day-break with an unaccountable weight 
 on my bosom, which caused me to start and 
 jump up, when lo ! a monstrous garter-snake, 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 between three and four feet long fell from me; 
 It was, however, so stiff, for the morning air was 
 raw and cold, that I soon fulfilled the words 
 of Scripture on it, by bruising its head flat 
 with my heel. 
 
 The rest, such as it was, had so well re- 
 freshed me, that I proceeded, as I had deter- 
 mined, to follow the course of the river ; but 
 I had not walked far, when the guns and 
 horns were heard approaching, and presently 
 some of the Settlers hove in view. They had 
 been out in quest of me all night, to the num- 
 ber of more than seven hundred persons, and 
 were beginning to fear I was lost for ever. It 
 may, therefore, be easily supposed what a joy 
 and revelry my re-appearance occasioned, and 
 with what triumphing and shouting they con- 
 ducted me home.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 243 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " It fortuned, out of the thickest wood, 
 A ramping lion rushed suddenly, 
 Hunting full greedy after savage blood." 
 
 SHORTLY after my adventure, I was agree- 
 ably surprised by a visit from our old friend 
 and uncle, Mr. Hoskins. It was not altogether 
 unexpected, but it had conie to pass a little 
 earlier than we reckoned upon ; the room in- 
 tended for him not being then quite finished. 
 However, we were all happy at the meeting, and 
 as he had himself been a rough settler in the 
 woods of Vermont, he was easily accommodated, 
 and looked upon apologies as superfluities. 
 
 Although he said nothing himself on the sub- 
 ject, yet I soon perceived that his visit to Babel- 
 mandel was not dictated altogether by affection 
 M 2
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 for his niece, my wife, and that in the journey 
 he had an eye awake to number one. His latter 
 specs had not proved such beneficial operations 
 as some of his earlier, and he had improved his 
 farm in Vermont quite as much as it was worth 
 while to do, considering the limited market in 
 his neighbourhood ; in a word, he was inclined 
 to sell his betterments there, and embark in a 
 new trade. He had, indeed, hinted as much to 
 me when I originally proposed to come into the 
 Genesee country, so that the purpose of his visit 
 was with a view to both or either of these ob- 
 jects. 
 
 The first afternoon we spent in jocose tempe- 
 rance. I rehearsed to him all the adventures 
 of our voyage and journey from New York, the 
 tribulations we had suffered in the woods, and 
 the prospect beginning to dawn around us, with 
 all which he was well pleased ; but when I pro- 
 posed to accompany him next morning over the 
 settlement, he said 
 
 " No : .1 guess Squire Laurie talks too much 
 when a man's a-making calculations his compa- 
 ny ain't parti kler precious, and flashing in the
 
 LAWRIE TODD, 245 
 
 pan scares ducks. The gentleman will 'scuse 
 me." 
 
 I certainly did not think this was very civi- 
 lized, but he was in all things a plain spoken 
 man, and had proved the sincerity of his friend- 
 ship by five hundred excellent reasons, so I did 
 not answer him just so tartly as my inclination 
 at the time prompted. 
 
 Next morning he rose at an early hour, and 
 went out by himself, and when he had returned 
 and had taken breakfast, he remained a conside- 
 rable space of time, ruminating and smoking in 
 silence. Having finished one cigar, and taken 
 out another, he drew his chair close to mine, as 
 he twisted off the end of it, and said 
 
 " Well, I ain't a-going to be 'quivocal, but to 
 speak sheer to the point. When Squire Lawrie 
 shall have made all tight, right, and clear on his 
 location, will he then turn cordwainer and make 
 trampers ?" 
 
 " My dear Sir, 1 ' exclaimed I, " what puts 
 such a thing in your head? I never bored a hole 
 with an elsin in my life." 
 
 By this time he had lighted his cigar, and
 
 246 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 giving a puff, he coolly inquired, without 
 noticing my reply, " will the gentleman make 
 coatees and straw hats ?" 
 
 " Gude guide us, Mr. Hoskins! what do you 
 mean ?" 
 
 " Will he keep tavern ?" 
 " Me keep a public, Mr. Hoskins ?" 
 " Then if you don't," said he, giving a cool 
 methodical puff, " the devil may spit brimstone 
 on you by the gallon, if you ain't as flat as 
 the walls of Jerico, either as a dead or a ruined 
 duck, before thunder sours my wife's beer in 
 June after next. Look ye, Squire, this here 
 land of yours ain't a farm in Jersey State I 
 allow that but this Belmandel town ha'n't got 
 nothing for trade." 
 
 " Well," replied I, eagerly discerning some- 
 thing of his meaning ; " well, what then ?" 
 " Cockles and crabfish ! shaVt you starve ?" 
 " But I 'm no feart," was my answer, in a 
 light manner, "for I have been making my 
 calculations too." 
 
 I then expounded to him that I was sensible 
 the land I had taken was not enough to bring 
 up a family upon, but that I had seen from the
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 247 
 
 beginning I could revive my seed business to 
 great advantage; for the country around was 
 fast settling, and seeds would be in request, so 
 that with them, and implements of agriculture, 
 I reckoned my chance pretty fair. Moreover, 
 I intended to send one of the boys to learn store- 
 keeping, and the other to be a mill-wright. 
 
 While I was thus explaining to him my 
 views and intentions, he looked all the time 
 very steadily at me with the tail of his eye ; 
 and at the conclusion, without taking the cigar 
 from his lips, he said 
 
 " Well, I have heard more folly ;" and put- 
 ting his hand on my knee, and looking up in 
 my face, he added, " I guess the Squire will do 
 yet, for I 'gin to reckon his head in't a pump- 
 kin ; and now that I see how the cat jumps, I 
 won't be a sitting on the fence no longer." 
 
 By this I could perceive he had some inten- 
 tion of making me a proposal of business, inas- 
 much as sitting on the fence means looking on 
 in neutrality from a rail at others fighting. 
 
 Just as we were in this conjuncture of our 
 discourse, a great shout arose out of doors, which 
 caused us to rise hastily to see what was the
 
 248 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 matter, thinking from the noise, both of men 
 and dogs, that probably a deer had shown itself 
 in the village, and was trying to regain the 
 woods. But scarcely had we looked out, when, 
 lo I a most tremendous he-bear hove in sight, 
 rushing straight towards us, with eyes like 
 burning coals, and its white tusks terrible to 
 see. I ran for an axe, the boys for the guns, 
 and Mr. Hoskins armed himself with a great 
 balk, that was to be a rafter in the addition we 
 were making to the house, the dreadful crea- 
 ture still coining furiously on, grumbling as 
 hoarsely as an earthquake, the settlers pursuing 
 him with axes, and bludgeons, and muskets. 
 
 We placed ourselves behind the corner of 
 the house as he came raging along ; the boys 
 fired at the same time, but did no execu- 
 tion. Mr. Hoskins, with the rafter, struck 
 him such a vehement blow, that it ought to 
 have broken his back, but it only served to 
 make him fiercer. He turned on the old man, 
 hugged him in his paws, another similar em- 
 brace, and he had squeezed the soul out of his 
 body. Luckily, however, I had the axe, with 
 which I houghed the brute at one stroke, as if
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 249 
 
 it had been an Irish cow, and laid him down 
 on his side sprawling, leaving Mr. Hoskins free. 
 By this time the pursuers had come up, and 
 they having finished the work, were preparing 
 to carry off the carcase to skin it ; but the old 
 man recovering from his alarm, though he was 
 still writhing on the ground, called to them 
 to desist, for the skin of right belonged to him ; 
 and turning to me, he added, " Well, I guess 
 'at ere creetre was the powerful'st thing ever 
 had hold of me : it was ridiculous strong." 
 
 M 5
 
 250 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " He '11 sell for a pack horse, 
 What can he else ? Adversity is with him." 
 
 FROM the time Mr. Hoskins came to Babel- 
 mandel the weather had been very bad, even 
 for the season ; scarcely a day passed without 
 violent storms of wind and rain ; the hugest 
 trees were thrown down, and the roads so flood- 
 ed, that travelling was, in a manner, suspended. 
 He was in consequence obliged to stay with 
 us much longer than he had originally intended; 
 indeed this must have been the case had the 
 weather been ever so fine, for he suffered so 
 severely from the grasps of the he-bear, that I 
 was apprehensive he had sustained some deadly 
 inward injury. It proved, however, not so, 
 though he was much hurt : for by the time the
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 251 
 
 snow began to appear, he was able to walk 
 about, and he spoke of returning to Vermont. 
 
 In the mean time we had pretty well assorted 
 our ideas about a joint concern in a small seed 
 and notion store. He was to advance five hun- 
 dred dollars to enable me to furnish it, and a 
 prospect soon opened of doing so with great ad- 
 vantage, as I shall presently relate. 
 
 I have already informed the courteous reader 
 that Olympus was injudiciously located in a 
 swampy hollow and that for some time before 
 my arrival there it had ceased, as the settlers 
 said, to progress. No new inhabitants came, 
 and many of those who had been enticed to it 
 at the commencement of the settlement, were 
 then talking of changing. In fact it was plainly 
 ordained to be soon a wastage ; for the houses 
 received no repair ; few windows, if any in the 
 town, had a whole pane in them. It was a 
 puzzle to imagine where the old hats were all 
 found that served as substitutes for glass. 
 
 Among others of the Olympians who had de- 
 termined to leave the place in the spring, with 
 the intention of returning to Utica, was one 
 Ezra Quincey Nackets, who kept both store and
 
 252 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 tavern. He had all the summer and autumn 
 been afflicted with the ague, and was much out 
 of heart with every worldly thing. 
 
 One day while conversing with Mr. Hoskins 
 on the ensuing abandonment of Olympus town, 
 I happened to mention that I thought if 
 we went warily and betimes about the work, 
 we might make a good operation with Mr. 
 Nackets, who was in no spirit to stand the 
 controversies of business, and, I doubted not, 
 would be willing to swap the goods in his store 
 on easy terms. This led us to sift the con- 
 dition of his circumstances, and it was agreed 
 we should try to obtain an inkling of his views 
 and expectations, jf 
 
 In this affair it was determined that before 
 leaving us, Mr. Hoskins should go to Olympus, 
 and hold some discourse, in a quiet way, with 
 neighbour Nackets on the subject : but the 
 aches and ails which he still suffered from the 
 fraternal squeeze of citizen Bruin, rendered the 
 undertaking rather incommodious, so that, after 
 waiting a week, and holding some farther coun- 
 selling, it was finally arranged that I should go 
 to Olympus and heave the lead.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 253 
 
 Accordingly, taking advantage of the first 
 fine day, I set out in Mr. Hoskins's waggon, 
 with his span of horses, omnipotent creatures, 
 as he called them, which he had brought with 
 him to sell, if he could. Considering the state 
 of the roads at that period of the year, it might 
 have been thought I would have gone on horse- 
 back ; but I was as to riding like the Irish 
 gentleman, who doubted if he could play on 
 the fiddle, never having tried it. But, if it 
 had not been for the brag of saying I had tra- 
 velled in a waggon, I might as well have gone 
 on shanks naigie, for we had two capsizes 
 before we got to the end of our day's journey, 
 and when I did at last reach Olympus, my 
 hips and knees were both black and blue, and I 
 could scarcely lift a limb. The he-bear had not 
 made uncle Hoskins sorer. , 
 
 I put up at Nacket's tavern for the conve- 
 nience of falling into conversation with him, 
 when an opportunity might offer in the course 
 of the evening ; but after I had warmed myself 
 at the Bar-room fire, and had taken some re- 
 freshment, I felt myself so tired and battered 
 that I was obliged to forego my intent, and re-
 
 254 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 tire for the night. Luckily it was I did so, for 
 the hand of Providence was soon made manifest 
 in assisting me. 
 
 The chamber into which I was shown for 
 the night, was a large room in the upper part 
 of the house, a mason-lodge, adorned with the 
 emblems and ensigns of the craft. It contained 
 twelve beds, six along each side, with but small 
 spaces between, and was altogether an uncom- 
 fortable-looking dormitory, especially to a man 
 who had been used to the privacy of his own 
 house. 
 
 As there was apparently no other guest that 
 night in the tavern, I had my choice of the 
 beds, and I selected one in a snug corner be- 
 hind the door, across the foot of which I made 
 a screen with my clothes, on a winter dykes, 
 so tfjat I was in a sense almost as much apart 
 from the general commonage of the chamber, as 
 if I had been in a separate room. 
 
 I had not been long under the blankets, when 
 I fell asleep ; how long I remained in that state 
 were hard to tell ; it must, however, have been 
 some considerable time, for when I awoke two 
 persons were conversing near me. They occu-
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 255 
 
 pied two of the beds opposite to the foot of 
 mine, and were earnestly discussing a matter of 
 business, which I soon discovered was near akin 
 to that which had brought myself there. 
 
 As I was placed in a position to hear them 
 without any seeking or curiosity of mine, I 
 would not but harken to what they were saying, 
 and I gathered from it, that Mr. Nackets was 
 straitened, as they had some reason to believe, 
 for ready money, and would be likely to sell 
 his store-goods cheap, rather than swap or trade 
 them. This news, though interesting, was yet 
 not very pleasant, for it was part of my busi- 
 ness to negociate a swap of Mr. Hoskins omni- 
 potent horses for some of the goods, and he va- 
 lued them at one hundred and eighty dollars. 
 
 Having heard in this providential manner 
 how Mr. Nackets was situated, as well as of 
 divers other matters useful to my purposes, I 
 resolved to rise early in the morning, and to 
 try what hand I could make of him before the 
 two strangers were stirring. This I accordingly 
 did, and found him dejectedly swinging on his 
 chair at the door-cheek, just as the sun was peep- 
 ing through the top boughs of the woods. I did
 
 256 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 not, however, go sheer at him no, catch me 
 at that I had been too long in Yankee-land 
 not to keep to windward steering a moderate 
 and methodical middle course. 
 
 I told him honestly, that having heard he 
 was about to quit Olympus, and was willing 
 to dispose of his goods on easy terms, I was 
 half-minded to deal with him, but was not over- 
 ly abundant in cash. He thereupon began to 
 complain of Olympus, wishing he had never 
 seen it ; and with the disheartened spirit of 
 an invalid as he was, the thought of carrying 
 his goods back to Utica, was a load above the 
 burden on his mind. I then gently hinted at 
 the fine horses which Mr. Hoskins had con- 
 signed to me for sale, and how convenient they 
 would be with the light waggon to carry him 
 and his family to Utica, where, it could not be 
 doubted, he might sell them to great advan- 
 tage and so we proceeded gradually, nearer 
 and nearer at every turn of our talk, until we 
 were fairly at close quarters. For I saw the 
 poor man was dismayed with apprehensions, 
 and I made it my endeavour to cheer him, 
 in which I so happily succeeded, that in the
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 257 
 
 end, he was convinced he could not do better 
 than take the span of horses at two hundred 
 and ten dollars valuation, and the waggon at 
 seventy-five, as part payment for five hundred 
 dollars' worth of dry goods, axes, and agricul- 
 tural implements. And to make a clean job, 
 we settled that he should come with me to Ba- 
 belmandel, with a waggon-load of the articles, 
 and there receive the balance of the money. 
 
 This operation, when I explained to Mr. 
 Hoskins the particulars, was in all points so 
 satisfactory to the old gentleman, that he com- 
 mended my dexterity in the management, as 
 something extraordinary and beyond his expec- 
 tations.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Life hath its changes like the weather too, 
 Cares match cold days as storms do controversies." 
 
 MR. HOSKINS, after the purchase I had 
 made from Mr. Nackets, became less anxious 
 to return home. He saw, as he often said, 
 " the settlement was a-going to do," and his in- 
 tention of moving to it from Vermont when he 
 could get his farm there sold, was every time 
 we conversed on the subject more and more 
 strengthened. We agreed, however, not to 
 open store regularly before the Spring, when 
 we should have a proper place constructed, and 
 a right assortment of goods laid in ; at the 
 same time we thought it would be as well, not 
 absolutely to abstain from supplying the set- 
 tlers who could pay ready money for such ar-
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 259 
 
 tides as we then had. Thus it came to pass, 
 that he stayed with us till the snow fell^ith the 
 first of which he set out in a sleigh to bring Mrs. 
 
 
 
 Hoskins, and to dispose of his land and better- 
 ments. He had no children, and about this 
 time he began to speak of leaving the bulk of 
 his property to my family, if they should hap- 
 pen to survive himself and wife. 
 
 He had not, however, left us above three or 
 four days, when symptoms of a change began to 
 appear in the settlement so long as the public 
 works, roads, clearings, &c. undertaken by the 
 speculators had continued to give employment 
 and wages to the settlers, every thing went on 
 prosperously, and even for some time after the 
 seasonable suspension, no visible diminution of 
 their contentment and industry was discernible. 
 But the savings of their wages were at last 
 exhausted ; the severity of the winter caused a 
 greater outlay among them for clothes than the 
 most provident were prepared for, and so ge- 
 neral was the distress in consequence, that the 
 Agent grew seriously alarmed, lest the settle- 
 ment should be broken up. 
 
 In this crisis, one day when he came to see
 
 260 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 how we were getting on, he entered my house, 
 and familiarly taking a stool by the fire, spoke 
 to me of his anxieties, pointing out how detri- 
 mental any considerable desertion would be 
 to the speculation, especially following so close 
 upon the heels of the failure at Olympus. 
 
 I sympathised with him, but I was naturally- 
 more affected by the description he gave me of 
 the condition of several poor families he had just 
 visited, lamenting his inability to afford them 
 adequate assistance. Here, thought I, is an end 
 of the golden dreams that I and Mr. Hos- 
 kins have been dreaming. I said nothing, how- 
 ever, of my fears to him, but continued to dis- 
 cuss with him the means of remedying the present 
 evil. He was deeply perplexed, and saw great 
 difficulties in every suggestion. In short, the 
 occasion was above his management, and he as 
 much as confessed it was so. 
 
 At last, I happened to observe, that if he 
 would send in a supply of provisions to the vil- 
 lage, there would be less cause for anxiety as to 
 other necessaries, and these might be distributed 
 and charged on account against those who re- 
 ceived them, till they had time to wipe off the
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 261 
 
 debt by their labour in the summer. This notion 
 consorted with his own, and before he left the 
 village, it was agreed that I should take charge 
 of the distribution when the provisions arrived. 
 I have been the more particular in mention- 
 ing this trifling casualty, as it may seem, be- 
 cause out of it, mustard seed, as it may well 
 be likened to, sprung the great tree of my 
 subsequent prosperity. For in the distribution 
 I acquitted myself so much to the purpose, 
 giving all satisfaction, both to the settlers and 
 the agent, that it came to pass, as will in due 
 time be mentioned in the sequel, I received from 
 him a permanent trust which redounded both 
 to my credit and profit. It was a business, 
 nevertheless, not to be coveted by the pityful 
 and humane ; for many of the settlers had 
 numerous families of little children, and it was 
 plain to see that it would be long before they 
 could pay their debts : it was indeed a heart- 
 breaking thing to send away in a bitter cold 
 morning, small weeping and shivering bairns, 
 with the bags empty that they had brought, 
 poor things, to get a modicum of flour for their 
 breakfasts.
 
 262 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 A grievance of another kind, a spiritual 
 hunger, fell upon us about the same time. 
 While the roads were bad, we saw but seldom 
 either priest or preacher ; but when the sleigh- 
 ing began, we had one every Sunday, and some- 
 times two. I cannot say that I thought much 
 either of their doctrine or their orthodoxy, con- 
 sidering, however, that we were like Elijah in 
 the wilderness, it behoved us to be thankful for 
 the food the ravens brought to us ; at least, it 
 would have been far from me to have com- 
 plained, for I regarded the occasional visit of 
 a clergyman as having a salutary influence on 
 the minds of the people, estranged as we were 
 from the jurisdiction of laws and magistrates. 
 
 But it was not so among the settlers in ge- 
 neral ; they began to have their favourites, and 
 schisms arose among them, and controversies 
 grew to such a pitch, that among other calami- 
 ties we were weekly threatened with a holy war : 
 all this gave the agent and the better order of 
 settlers much molestation, and they were pleas- 
 ed to say, had it not been for my temperate 
 handling, they did not know what the upshot 
 of such an unruly spirit might have been.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 263 
 
 111 that business I had, however, but small 
 merit ; all I did was to speak quietly to the 
 wives when they came for their provisions, ad- 
 vising them to smooth the birsses of their hus- 
 bands, when they saw them rising in argument 
 about points of doctrine, assuring them that in 
 due season we should have a church of our 
 own, and a proper and well-educated divine to 
 comfort us. But although this served to miti- 
 gate the contentions, it did not entirely quench 
 them ; some of the men spoke as if they had been 
 brought up at the footstool of Gamaliel, and 
 were fain to have it laid down as a law, that 
 when our church was built we should have a 
 preacher who would please every body. Alto- 
 gether, that first winter, what with the distress, 
 the discomforts of our houses, and these religi- 
 ous carpings, the fruit of idleness, was verily a 
 season of tribulation. Nor was it so in gene- 
 ralities only, but likewise in particulars, and 
 I and my house had our full share of the dis- 
 pensation.
 
 264 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " He was a man, take him for all in all, 
 I ne'er shall look upon his like again." 
 
 DURING the working season, the settlers ap- 
 peared singularly alike in character. I could 
 observe nothing in those upon the road to whom 
 I acted as boss, by which one man could be 
 distinguished from another, save a little more 
 alacrity and good-humour in some than in 
 others ; buf as the season advanced, peculiari- 
 ties became more evident, and several who had 
 attracted no attention while employed, proved 
 in their leisure quite a different sort of people 
 to what I had set them down for. One man in 
 particular, whom I thought a well-disposed, 
 industrious creature, grew a perfect pest. It 
 is not in the power of tongue or pen to de- 
 scribe the trouble that man, John Waft, gave
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 265 
 
 me; not that there was any evil inclination 
 about him, for, to speak the plain truth, he was 
 an honest, well-meaning bodie ; but he neither 
 could see, nor do any thing whatever, without 
 breaking in upon my time to summer and winter 
 about it. 
 
 He was a queer, odd-looking, west-country 
 Scotchman, past the middle of life, a little, I 
 should say, declined into the vale of years. In 
 his general appearance, as to dress, he was 
 somewhat more respectable than the condition 
 of his means, poor man, altogether justified; 
 but it was a token of the consideration in which 
 he had been held among his neighbours at 
 home, and evinced a desire to be well thought 
 of by his new acquaintance. 
 
 It could not be said he was a very sensible 
 man ; indeed, the cause of my taking notice of 
 him here was his want of sense : he proved such 
 a thorn in my side ! But he had a way of 
 looking up from beneath his brows, and the 
 brim of his hat, and came so whisperingly 
 about his purposes, that, until he was found 
 out by experience, most people imagined he 
 possessed a creditable depth of judgment: they 
 VOL. I. N
 
 266 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 often, however, afterwards wondered what had 
 become of it. 
 
 The first time I had a taste of his character 
 was shortly after Mr. Hoskins had left us, some 
 three or four days it might be. He came in 
 the twilight, in a jocose, familiar way, and gra- 
 dually, as we were discoursing of this and that 
 together, drew his seat nearer and nearer to 
 mine. 
 
 " Mr. Todd," said he, patting me gently on 
 the arm, as he bent forward so as to occupy my 
 ear, though only my wife and our two daugh- 
 ters were present, and busy with their house- 
 hold thrift ; <l Mr. Todd, I would fain have a 
 solid crack with you concerning a something 
 that has been long on my mind, for I look 
 upon you as a wiselike man, and of a capacity 
 to give advice in a case of jeopardy." 
 
 I replied, it was pleasant to hear he had so 
 good an opinion of me, and that I was inclined 
 at all times to serve and assist my neighbours 
 to the best of any small ability I possessed 
 either of head or hand. 
 
 " Then, what would ye think of ray taking 
 !p a wee bit shoppie no, a store with a world
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 267 
 
 of a' things, like what I hear you and Mr. 
 Hoskins have pactioned to open in the spring, 
 but just a convenience in a corner, as a bodie 
 may ?" 
 
 This, it must be allowed, was a trial of my 
 candour ; and really, to confess the truth, I was 
 disposed to have peppered rny answer. How- 
 ever, a soft word is best when it can be given ; 
 so I honestly told him, that I did think a small 
 store of the kind he proposed might be service- 
 able both to himself and the settlement, ma- 
 naged with prudence and discernment. 
 
 " I 'm sure," said he, " ye lay me under a 
 great obligation for the hint, and I '11 certainly 
 follow your advice." 
 
 " Nay, nay, Mr. Waft," cried I, in a terror, 
 " ye '11 no' make me responsible in the matter ; 
 I gave you no hint, and as to advising you to 
 enter into a business that may hurt my own, 
 I 'm not so destitute of discretion." 
 
 " It's a misunderstanding, Mr. Todd, it's a 
 misunderstanding," said he, " and I 'm concernt 
 for't; but don't be alarmed, for how could I 
 think of rivalling a man of your abilities, even 
 had I the means, as I have not ? The world, 
 N 2
 
 268 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 however, is wide enough for us both, and 
 neither will get more in it than our ordained 
 fortunes.' 1 
 
 T >\ 
 
 This was so like a moderate and sensible ob- 
 servation, that I was vexed with myself for 
 having been so tart with him, which caused me 
 to soften and become more condescending. We 
 then conversed for some time on general topics, 
 and especially on the prospects of the set- 
 tlement. 
 
 " Ay," said he ; " talking of that, if I may 
 be so bold as to inquire in the way of cordiality 
 and friendship, what do you think, Mr. Todd, 
 would be the most advantageous assortment of 
 goods for me to lay in for my proposed bit 
 shoppie ?" 
 
 " I would be thankful to know that myself," 
 replied I ; " and to be plain with you, if I did, 
 I would not tell you." 
 
 " To be sure, you are under no obligation," 
 was his answer ; " but I did not mean any thing 
 for a store, I was only going to inquire if you 
 would advise a judicious selection of spiders 
 and frying-pans." 
 
 " I would advise a judicious selection of
 
 .aaof, X!*w&a- -, 
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 269 
 
 every thing," was all I could say, my temper 
 beginning to be a little crisp, for spiders and 
 frying-pans formed no inconsiderable portion of 
 the spec I had made with neighbour Nackets, 
 at Olympus. 
 
 " It 's really most encouraging, 1 ' said he, 
 " to be so countenanced by a man of your 
 experience and discernment, Mr. Todd ; but 
 don't you think I might venture on a dozen 
 or two of shovels and spades, and as many 
 axes?" 
 
 Was ever such impudence heard of? It 
 almost took away my breath, for, saving six 
 casks of nails, a few locks and hinges, together 
 with two bales of blankets, and a crate of crock- 
 ery ware, these were the very articles I had 
 bought from Mr. Nackets, and upon which I 
 considered the penny was likeliest to be 
 soonest and easiest turned. But he was not 
 yet done. 
 
 " What would you think," he added, " of 
 my ordering a bale of blankets, a cask or two 
 of nails, and a few locks and hinges ? No house, 
 ye ken, can be made habitable without them." 
 
 At this turn of the conversation, I chanced
 
 270 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 to recollect how I had been trepanned, and my 
 brains stolen, by Mr. Finhorn, the Aberdonian 
 haddock, as I should call him ; and I could no 
 longer endure such meddling. The senseless 
 body, however, crowned all, by saying 
 
 " I see, Mr. Todd, ye 're no in a disposition 
 the night to be cordial. I 'm sure all thought 
 of offence was far from me, but I was curious 
 to hear what sort of articles ye had bought from 
 Mr. Nackets, and having now a good guess of 
 what they are, I '11 trouble you no farther for 
 the present. Ye need not, however, be afraid ; 
 I have no intention of setting up an opposition 
 store ; I just propounded the project that I 
 might expiscate some kind of satisfaction to my 
 curiosity." 
 
 Was there ever such a bodie ! To be all the 
 time making a fool of me, and I never to 
 suspect him, which shows the danger of talking 
 with persons who have not common sense. I 
 never could think of him afterwards and keep 
 my temper, and yet it was permitted that he 
 should afflict me many days, as I shall have 
 often enough cause to relate.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 271 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " These honours 
 Lose half their worth by being shared with him." 
 
 BEFORE the rigour of the winter began to 
 relent, and the snow to slip away at the gentle 
 coming of the spring, I had many opportuni- 
 ties of observing the character and disposition 
 of the settlers, among whom my lot was cast, 
 and it was often the cause of heavy thoughts 
 to me, in the meditations of my solitary walks, 
 to see how the habits of orderliness which many 
 had brought with them, were daily slackening. 
 
 In Mr. Herbert, who was prospering in his 
 school to the fullest extent of every reasonable 
 expectation, we had obtained a great blessing ; 
 but the gracious influences of his calm and ex- 
 cellent methods reached not beyond the chil-
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 dren : we still required a voice of authority 
 among the parents ; not that flagrant offences 
 prevailed, but every one did too much accord- 
 ing to the pleasure of his own will. The men 
 were growing more coarse and familiar in their 
 language than consisted with decorum ; and the 
 women took less heed, both of their appearance 
 and apparel, than betokened a wholesome sense 
 of propriety. 
 
 This falling off, so visible in the do-well- 
 enough expedients of the slatternly days of 
 winter, either was not visible, or had not been 
 heeded during the fine weather ; but before 
 the frost broke up, it was too plain that the 
 corrosion which roughens the inhabitants of 
 the backwoods, was beginning to show itself 
 amongst us. 
 
 For some time, I thought it was owing to 
 the lack of magistrates, and stirred with the 
 agent of the settlement to get a justice of the 
 peace appointed ; but a difficulty arose which I 
 had not foreseen, never having, till this period, 
 meddled in political matters. I had imagined, 
 that by the help of a good recommendation, 
 and a fair character, no objection would be
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 273 
 
 made, in such a needful case as ours, to an ap- 
 pointment of me, or some other sober character ; 
 but it turned out, that justices of the peace 
 could only be made through the instrumenta- 
 lity of the supervisors of the towns, and judges 
 of the county courts ; so that at this time, no 
 supervisor having been appointed for Babelman- 
 del, and as the agent and the majority of the 
 judges were pulling opposite ends of the politi- 
 cal rope, in the presidential question, my stir- 
 ring was of no avail. 
 
 I then proposed, that the settlers themselves 
 should elect one or two discreet members of 
 our own community to act as magistrates, till 
 the lawful time should come round for the elec- 
 tion of a supervisor ; and, after a good deal of 
 practising in the old way on such occasions, I 
 and that bodie John Waft were chosen. Little 
 did I think, while I was so zealously exerting 
 myself pro bono publko, that I was building a 
 pedestal for the exaltation of him: I have never 
 felt such a wet blanket before or since syne, 
 as was thrown upon my pride, when I heard 
 who had been elected my colleague. I was 
 really half determined not to act with him ; and 
 N 5
 
 274 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 it may be guessed what I had to expect during 
 our co-magistracy, by what took place the very 
 first night. 
 
 In the evening, as I was sitting with my fa- 
 mily around the fire, hearing the children re- 
 peat their lessons, there came a canny knuckle 
 knocking at the door, so gentle, that it was not 
 at first noticed. Being, however, repeated, 
 one of the girls opened the door, and who 
 should look in, with his two little twinkling 
 eyes glimmering in the glimpse of the light 
 from under his brows and the brim of his hat, 
 but neighbour Waft ? 
 
 " May I come in ?" said he ; for by this time 
 he began to suspect that 1 had not just such a 
 high opinion of him as he was fain I should en- 
 tertain. 
 
 " Just as ye like, Mr. Waft," was my dry 
 answer; so he came forward slouchingly, yet 
 queerly smiling, and turning round, he warily 
 shut the door, for it was a cold night. He 
 began, taking at the same time a seat 
 
 " Weel, Mr. Todd, this is a dreadful story 
 they have gotten up concerning you and me." 
 
 4< And who's they P" said I.
 
 LAWRTE TODD. 275 
 
 *' The whole town," quoth he. 
 
 " Ay ! and what 's the story ?" 
 
 " Ye '11 may be no' like to hear V 
 
 " To be sure, it 's no' pleasant to hear the ill 
 that 's said of us behind our backs ; but what 
 is't?" 
 
 " It 's thought, you know, that you and me 
 are not on such good terms as we ought to 
 be." 
 
 " Not possible ! I have always thought we 
 were on better." 
 
 " Ah, that's the cause o't: ye will hae your 
 jokes, come what come may yes, ye 're a funny 
 man oh, but ye are a very funny, Mr. Todd." 
 
 Was it not dreadful to hear, and be obliged 
 to endure, such provocative language ? But, to 
 turn the course of his impertinence, I said some- 
 what tartly, " Well, but what is this story ?" 
 
 " For my part," replied the teasing plague, 
 " I just laughed at it; and I hope, Mr. Todd, 
 ye '11 have command of temper enough to be able 
 to do the same, with the help of an endeavour, 
 for really it 's not worth while to be vexed about. 
 There are just two things a man should never 
 be angry at what he can help, and what he
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 cannot help : now neither you nor me can help 
 what the world chooses to say of us." 
 
 It was hardly possible to endure this before 
 my family ; but the worst of it was, that al- 
 though it made me as quick as a gunpowder 
 cracker, it tickled my wife to such a degree, 
 that she began to smile, for she was naturally 
 of a sedate, New-England quietude of disposi- 
 tion, and it was not a little that moved her to 
 merriment. 
 
 " Well, well,"" said I peevishly, " we 're not 
 all philosophers like you, Mr. Waft : but what 
 is this tale of trash ?" 
 
 Upon which he threw a cunning wink at my 
 wife, and putting his head close to mine, with- 
 out looking at me, save out of the corner of his 
 queer e'e, he said, as it were in a whisper, but 
 loud enough for every one in the house to hear, 
 
 ** They say I have been elected for fun, to 
 keep you in hot water. What do you think of 
 that?" giving me at the same time such a 
 whack on the back as almost took my breath 
 away, and set both my wife and all my children 
 a laughing. However, I so restrained myself
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 277 
 
 as to say, with a kind of jocularity, "I would 
 have liked it better had it been a little softer." 
 
 After this specimen of my colleague's sense 
 and manners, it was not to be expected we should 
 work very happily together. But I was not to 
 be driven from a useful purpose because of the 
 ill choice of the settlers; for whether he was 
 elected by accident or in derision, could not 
 change the causes which had moved me to set 
 the election on foot. So, although I was a good 
 deal chagrined by his familiarity, I yet put the 
 best face I could on it, and joined in the 
 laugh, but it was with a husky throat. 
 
 tff! t^ > r ;<
 
 278 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 " Want you a man 
 
 Experienced in the world and its affairs ? 
 Here he is for your purpose." 
 
 IN the course of a few days after the elec- 
 tion, Mr. Hoskins and his wife, with a great 
 cargo of wares and other notions in their wag- 
 gons, arrived from Vermont. They had been 
 upwards of three weeks on the road, and the 
 old lady had suffered greatly from the joltings of 
 the crossways in the journey ; nor had her hus- 
 band endured less, but, being a man of few 
 words, we heard less of it. I saw, however, 
 that he moved with anguish, and was not for 
 some days even disposed to enter into conver- 
 sation, but went crippling about the door with
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 879 
 
 his hand on his hip, uttering every now and 
 then a sharp and peevish " Ah !" 
 
 At last, he said one morning, " This will not 
 serve, we must set to work ;" and then he told 
 me what he had brought for the store, having 
 sold his farm and betterments to good advan- 
 tage. Accordingly, the first thing to be done, 
 was to get the town lot, which we had previous- 
 ly chosen in the area allotted for the market- 
 place of the village, cleared, and to contract 
 for the erection of a building suitable for a 
 store all this was soon done. In the course 
 of less than a fortnight we were in possession, 
 and furnishing ourselves with a goodly display 
 of real articles, very different from the brick- 
 bats and knobs of wood with which my first 
 store in New York was so creditably adorned ; 
 for Mr. Hoskins, as the reader already knows, 
 was a man of true substance,' and brought with 
 him more than three thousand dollars' worth 
 of excellent goods, selected with sagacity. 
 
 From the beginning of time, there had not 
 been such a store as our's opened for many a 
 mile around in the country, of which Babel- 
 mandel was the centre ; nor was it long till we
 
 LAWRIfi TODD. 
 
 felt the profitable effects of keeping back the 
 merchandise, purchased at Olympus, for by so 
 doing it caused the settlers to talk concerning 
 us and our plans, and restrained many amongst 
 them from sending for supplies elsewhere, and 
 to hold off from buying until they should see 
 what our general assortments were likely to be. 
 In short, it was soon evident that a bright 
 morning had opened on me and mine, and that 
 the difficulties I had met with in New York on 
 my return from the farm in Jersey, were among 
 the means which Providence had appointed to 
 repair my condition, and to double the pros- 
 perity of my latter days, like as was done to 
 the patient Patriarch of old. But unless the 
 reader is an amateur of buying and selling, it 
 would afford him but small pleasure to speak 
 of the details of our proceedings across the 
 counter ; let it then suffice, that he knows I 
 was content with my prospects, and if we were 
 not making money like slate-stones, as the auld 
 Scotch wife said, we were turning the penny. 
 
 It must have been observed, in the course of 
 reading the foregoing pages, that I was what 
 may be said, both in shifts and discernments,
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 281 
 
 more of a town-man than a pastoral rustic. 
 I was bred mechanical ; my natural defects and 
 infirmities gave me no capacity for superiority 
 in controversies of strength. The arm of flesh 
 was not mine, nor the vigour of comeliness in 
 my looks, like as in those of Samson ; but I 
 was favoured, as many thought, with a discern- 
 ing spirit, and thereby possessed an urbane wis- 
 dom of great efficacy in managing men ac- 
 cording to their own interests. Thus it came 
 to pass, that as the business in the store con- 
 tinued to thrive, I took less and less heed of 
 my farm of fifty acres : but I did not altoge- 
 ther neglect it ; on the contrary, before the 
 year was done, I began to look forward to it as 
 a policy and pleasure, for the recreation of my 
 leisure. 
 
 In this acknowledgement, the intelligent 
 reader has received a hint that I was likely to 
 take a part in the municipal proceedings of Ba- 
 belmandel as we would have said in other days, 
 in the society of the friends of the people 
 which was the plain fact. The store became 
 the rendezvous of the inhabitants ; and, if states- 
 men could have overheard how affairs of
 
 282 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 governments and nations were handled there, 
 many of them would have had but pale opi- 
 nions of their own wisdom. 
 
 Being thus by accident, and without seeking 
 of my own, placed in the centre, and made the 
 oracle of the inhabitants, and moreover, having 
 a sort of positive authority by my temporary 
 magistracy, symptoms began to kithe that I 
 was ordained for greater trusts : at last I 
 thought so myself, and considered it necessary 
 to keep aloof from the cabals and factions of 
 the place ; for I need not say, that in America, 
 as well as elsewhere, no place is so small a ca- 
 bal cannot be bred in, nor a head so inexpe- 
 rienced as not to be able to give a great deal of 
 trouble. 
 
 One afternoon, during which there had been 
 a contentious conversation in the store among 
 some of the settlers, chiefly Americans, as to 
 whether Great Britain or the United States was 
 the most refined nation ; I thought with myself, 
 in walking home in the evening, what a wastrie 
 of time was caused by the inconsiderate talk of 
 uninformed men ; and it was on that occasion I 
 first had a glimpse of the real and pecuniary
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 283 
 
 benefit that was conferred on the world by lead- 
 ing men's minds from profitless topics to higher 
 concerns. Accordingly, seeing how I had failed 
 in my endeavours about the magistracy, I re- 
 solved to try my hand with the clergy, for hi- 
 therto the settlement had been only now and 
 then visited by strolling Methodists, and those 
 sort of coble-texts who, being independent 
 themselves of learning and solid knowledge, 
 naturally take upon them to instruct the igno- 
 rant in what may be called the religion of the 
 Independents a sect I could never respect, in 
 as much as practical religion is what they can- 
 not understand, for practical religion was in my 
 father's house held to be the best proof of a 
 right theology, and, indeed, without religion be 
 practical, what is it but a shackle and a fetter 
 grinding unto the flesh. 
 
 Thus do little things beget great ones. My 
 reflections that night, though not for some time 
 carried into effect, yet led me to determine on 
 using the means to bring to the settlement a 
 true orthodox, and salutary preacher. Before, 
 however, so great an achievement was accom- 
 plished, several accidents befell me, which,
 
 284 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 without changing the current of my ordained 
 destiny, troubled the waters, and made me feel 
 the uncertainty which attends the life of man, 
 and sensible to the slightness of the filmy thread 
 on which his happiness and prosperity depend. 
 
 T.fi 
 
 I* 2.^' ^ : - : y
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 285 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 . " Here 's a weapon now, 
 
 Shall shake a conquering general in his tent, 
 A monarch on his throne, or reach a prelate, 
 However holy be his offices, 
 E'en while he serves the altar." 
 
 THAT Mr. Hoskins, my wife's uncle, was a 
 stirring and adventurous old Yankey, shrewd 
 in observation, and sagacious in foresight, has 
 been already seen. Having settled with me 
 about the store, our goods being assorted, and 
 my eldest son Charles appointed to be my as- 
 sistant, he began to be occupied with some 
 speculation which more nearly concerned him- 
 self ; but he said nothing to me concerning it ; 
 indeed, he was but little with us, being all day 
 abroad, and in the evening, greatly tired, he 
 went early to bed.
 
 286 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 In the morning he rose with the sun, and 
 sometimes, before going abroad, put an aliment 
 of victual in his pocket, on which occasions he 
 seldom returned before night. He was evident- 
 ly making his calculations, but for what purpose 
 I could not divine, only I remarked that he had 
 ceased to speak of raising his house, and more 
 than once he expressed some doubt if the 
 town had been so judiciously located as it might 
 have been, by which I was led to fear he 
 would not remain long with us. 
 
 By and by I discovered that his solitary 
 rambles were chiefly along the banks of the 
 main river, and that he had been several times 
 at the falls, over which I had so narrowly es- 
 caped from tumbling on that memorable night 
 when I lost myself in the woods. " What 
 can the old gentleman be seeking T I often said 
 to Mrs. Hoskins and my wife ; and, to acknow- 
 ledge the truth, I began to grow not overly 
 well pleased that he should treat me with so 
 little confidence. " Can he be looking for a 
 gold mine ?" and upon this we built many a 
 device for a hearty laugh, intending to search
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 287 
 
 his purpose with jocularity when he returned. 
 But all jocularity was hushed when he came, 
 for his countenance was thoughtful, and his 
 speech costive ; he became a mystery and per- 
 plexity to us all. 
 
 In the mean time, I was not without other 
 anxieties ; my wife, notwithstanding all the 
 pains I had taken to make our house snug and 
 weather- tight, had suffered severely from the 
 piercing winds of the dry frosty weather, and, 
 as the spring came forward, instead of recovery 
 from the chilliness they had sown in her blood, 
 she felt symptoms of positive disease, and her 
 spirits sank to a low ebb, so that nothing cheered 
 her but the interest she took in making her 
 hearth comfortable, and that was more in the 
 way of household thrift, than by cheerful 
 talk, or those glimpses of motherly merriment 
 which blithen the fire-side. 
 
 One day, about the end of April, she had 
 been more dejected than I had ever seen her 
 before, insomuch that Mrs. Hoskins herself, a 
 sedate and discreet woman, spoke to me of her 
 condition with concern, saying, that she thought
 
 288 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 we ought to try a change of air and scene, and 
 persuade her to move more about, and to forego 
 for a time the cares of her householdry. 
 
 While we were thus conversing, the old gen- 
 tleman, who had been absent all day, came in, 
 sorely worn out with fatigue. He had been far 
 down the bank of the river, and obliged to toil 
 through a cedar swamp for several hours, by 
 which his strength was exhausted. 
 
 After he had rested himself, and had par- 
 taken of some refreshment, he told us where he 
 had been, and said he would have a scow con- 
 structed to take him farther down the river, 
 for his curiosity was not yet satisfied. This led 
 Mrs. Hoskins to tell him of what we had been 
 speaking, and to suggest that he should make 
 the scow big enough to take us all with him 
 for a diversion to my wife. 
 
 It surprised me not a little to see the alacrity 
 with which he met this proposal ; for he was a 
 man that took but small pleasure in pastimes, 
 being of a singularly abstemious nature, and 
 eager only after the one thing needful in its 
 worldly sense. He even went far beyond his 
 wife, proposing that we should explore the river
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 downward till we came to an obstacle or a set- 
 tlement, where we could obtain accommodation 
 for the night. 
 
 In the morning, with his wonted, right-away 
 activity, he set about getting a scow built for 
 our voyage of discovery, and before night it 
 was half finished. In the course of the follow- 
 ing day it was completed, and the ladies having 
 in the mean time made an adequate provision 
 of provender, we assembled by break of day 
 with our cloaks and baskets, at the place where 
 the scow lay in the river, fastened by a rope to 
 a tree. 
 
 It was not intended that we should have 
 taken any of the children with us, but Mr. 
 Hoskins called for Charles, just as we were em- 
 barking, saying, " Well, I guess, that 'ere boy 
 may be commodious in a puzzle, if please God 
 we are misfortunate ; so, mister, come aboard 
 plump." 
 
 His brother and two sisters were standing 
 on the bank, looking wistfully and rueful as 
 Charles was untying the painter; but I saw 
 it would never do to take more of them, for 
 though Charles might be useful in a trouble, or 
 
 VOL. I. o
 
 290 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 a shipwreck, they would only, in such acci- 
 dents, be a weight upon our hands ; and it was 
 fortunate and wise that I repressed by that ar- 
 gument the importunity of the women to ha've 
 the whole family in the ploy, as will be seen in 
 the sequel. 
 
 At last, all was clear for our departure. 
 Charles had untied the rope, and was coining 
 to us with the end of it in his hand, coiling it 
 up as he came along, when who should keek 
 from behind a tree, but that vexatious Bailie 
 Waft, as he was by this time generally called ? 
 What he could be doing afoot at such an early 
 hour, and how he came to be hovering on our 
 skirts, like an ominous augury or other uncanny 
 thing, we had no time to consider, for he cried 
 out, 
 
 " Where away ? where away ? Really you're 
 early at your gallanting, Mr. Todd." 
 
 I was much nettled at this ; it clean overset 
 my composity, and I did not deign to reply ; 
 but called to Charles to make haste, pointing 
 out to my wife at the same time, as the scow 
 swung round in the current, a cheerful vista 
 down the river, along which the young leaves
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 291 
 
 were spreading their hands from their homes in 
 the bud, to catch the rays of the psing sun ; 
 for it was a beautiful spring morning, and 
 every thing shone bright and gay, assuring us 
 of delight. But he was not to be daunted from 
 his intent by an averted eye. 
 
 " Mr. Todd, Mr. Todd !" he cried, follow- 
 ing us down the bank, as the scow, now feeling 
 the current, began to slide along. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Waft, what is 't ye want ?" cried 
 I, grinding my teeth with anger. 
 
 " Take care of yourself, 11 replied he; "I beg 
 you'll take good care of yourself, for I have 
 had a dream " 
 
 Just at that moment the scow swirled away 
 towards the opposite bank, and before I could 
 make any reply, we were beyond his hearing : 
 but certainly a more ill-timed salutation was 
 never given to a man setting out on a party of 
 pleasure. It made me, in a sense, desperate, 
 for what had I to do with his dreams, and 
 what business had he to come on such an er- 
 rand ? It took away from me the power of en- 
 joyment. Though the day was as lovely as 
 the first Saturday, and our sail was as if we had
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 been sailing on the rivers of paradise, yet my 
 heartiness Tyent from me, and a cloud overcame 
 my spirit, all because that meddling body said 
 he had a dream.
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 293 
 
 fjsi tor '^il-BTBq ' 
 
 (ftTC^ 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " Alarm'd, he sees the stream 
 That rippling murmured chang'd to flowing glass, 
 O'er whose smooth silence slides the roughest wind : 
 Louder and louder nears the roaring fall." 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the howlet warning of 
 that envious and spiteful body John Waft, as 
 
 I had such good reason to 4Mfe him, we con- 
 
 _ 
 tinued to sail down the rippling stream ; jocund 
 
 among ourselves, and joyous with the pleasant 
 aspect which all things around us had put 
 on. It was one of the few holidays of my 
 ripened years, and every Jbreeze, and bough, 
 and blossom recommended itself into our gen- 
 tle senses with the influence of a spell com- 
 pounded of sweetness and charity, delight and 
 love. I thought of the beautiful spring de 
 08
 
 294. LAWR1E TODD. 
 
 scribed in the canticles of Solomon ; and as I 
 leant on the shoulder of my wife, with my 
 r ey* es half shut, and my fancy floating in reverie, 
 ifrjfr^ something like a ^palpable^' enjoyment of 
 mildness and quiet fondling about my heart. 
 
 But in the midst of that innocent sensuality, 
 the screech of the Paisley omen, " I have had a 
 dream," dismayed my spirit, and darkened the 
 beauties of the Heavens and the earth. The 
 deep smooth pools of the crystalline river be- 
 came black and sepulchral, and the sparkling 
 hurry of the brisk and gladdening rapids grew 
 into ravenous whirlpools, as remorseless as the 
 salt-sea waves : who could have thought that 
 
 the most felicitous day of a harmless life, could 
 
 '/"IS 
 have been so oVeSeast by the dormant vapour 
 
 in the stomach of an ill-fed and fantastical old 
 weaver ? 
 
 But so it was; I could not shake off the 
 bodement ; it clung upon me like a cold waxen 
 winding-sheet, until I could see nothing but 
 dangers in our sailing, and heard not a sound 
 that told not of peril. I was miserable; I 
 would have given the King's dominions, and all 
 the United States, with the incomparable city
 
 7 
 LAWRIE TODD, 
 
 of New York to the bargain, had they been 
 mine, not to have been in that scow on that 
 river on that day. 
 
 " I have had a dream." The devil dream 
 you ! thought I: what was it about ? and then 
 I began to wish we had not been in such haste 
 to shove off ; for that, perhaps, this dream was, 
 after all, but a mist of the mind : why should 
 it have had such an effect on me ? Ay, why 
 should it ? 
 
 \ 
 
 Just at the very moment I said so, the 
 scow took a swirl in a narrow part of the river, 
 and whirling round and round as it rushed 
 down a strong rapid, dashed my head with such 
 a bir against the branch of a prostrate tree, that 
 
 ?A 
 
 I was for a space of time, aj^Mr. Hoskins said, 
 as douced as a Tory cannon-ball in the ground 
 at Bunker's Hill. 
 
 However, I recovered from that contusion, 
 and having cleared the contumacious tree, we 
 steered into a snug cove, a little farther down, 
 and fastening the scow to the bushes, opened 
 our baskets and began to eat. Whether it 
 was the dint on the head that knocked " I 
 have had a dream. 1 ' out of it, or that appetite, 
 sharpened by the morning air, would not take 
 
 -
 
 296 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 cognizance of any thing unsubstantial, may be 
 made matter for a metaphysical question ; but 
 assuredly I thought not of it while we were 
 chuckling and churming over our chickens ; and 
 when we loosened the rope, and launched again 
 into the mid current, I was the primest of the 
 party for an hilarious freedom of speech, till we 
 came to a rough and rude, steep and vehement 
 passage of the river, a roaring rapid, almost a 
 cataract. 
 
 To shoot it, seemed impossible ; to reach the 
 land, was every moment becoming more and more 
 impracticable. " I have had a dream," flared 
 across my mind ; there it is to be fulfilled, thought 
 I. On we were going; down to the bottom 
 seemed inevitable. . Mr. Hoskins, in the crisis of 
 jeopardy, saw us nearing upon a rock. He flung 
 out his two hands like a Hercules, pushed the 
 scow with such force from the rock, that before 
 the most composed among us could say Jack 
 Robinson, I was clinging to the overhanging 
 branch of tree, and the scow, with the ladies and 
 Mr. Hoskins, was safe in a little bay scooped 
 out of the river's bank, crying to tae to hold 
 on. 
 
 How it was that I had so caught the branch,
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 297 
 
 no one could ever explain; but the incontro- 
 vertible fact was, the scow had descended a fall 
 of more than five feet, and that in the descent 
 under the tree I had grasped the stooping 
 branch, and was lifted out, as a child is some- 
 times lifted from out its cradle, by clinging to 
 its nurse. 
 
 Though my situation was perilous, I was not 
 long in danger ; by a little exertion, being light 
 of body and lither of limb, I got upon the 
 tree, and clambered along until I could drop 
 upon the ground. Had I not cause for thank- 
 fulness on this occasion that I had been formed 
 with such legerity ? 
 
 By this time the day was pretty far advanced: 
 to navigate the scow back up the stream was 
 out of the question ; to sail farther no one could 
 tell what might happen. The river was wide 
 and deep ; the woods around were wild and un- 
 known ; we were all in a bad way, and " I 
 have had a dream" rung as the death-bell in my 
 ears. Mr. Hoskins alone was composed ; in 
 the whole course of the voyage he said little, 
 but his quick eye was glancing and glimmering 
 on all sides. At this particular spot, where we 
 had been so nearly shipwrecked, he looked stu-
 
 298 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 diously around, and said, pursing his mouth, 
 " This may do but, but, it ain't a particular." 
 
 Having again embarked, we found the river 
 broader and calmer. It had mastered, I would 
 say, the drift wood and the fallen timber, and 
 was holding on its unimpeded course, a power- 
 ful and majestic stream. 
 
 " Well, I guess," said the old man, " there 
 is tarnation more drowning in this here al- 
 mighty moderation, than in all them there whisks 
 and whirls we have passed. 1 ' 
 
 " I have had a dream," said the oracular 
 monitor in my bosom ; and I added aloud, 
 *' Let us keep near the shore." 
 
 Just at that moment, " Hush ! hark !" cried 
 the old man ; and we listened, and we heard a 
 sound as of many waves breaking on a sandy 
 shore, or of the wind sweeping through the 
 forest. 
 
 " I guess," said he, " we 're a coming to 
 great falls; they are sucking us down." Mrs. 
 Hoskins grew mad and wild, and blamed us all 
 for being the cause of her destruction ; my 
 poor patient wife held me by the hand and said 
 nothing. I could only repeat to myself, " I 
 have had a dream." Mr. Hoskins alone re-
 
 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 mained calm, cool as a cucumber, but his eyes 
 glimpsed about like the eyes of a spirit in jeo- 
 pardy. 
 
 Louder and louder rose the thunder of the 
 cataract ; swifter and swifter our devoted vessel 
 shot along, the trees flying past like the sha- 
 dows of a magic lantern. The spray of the 
 falls rose in a cloud before us we saw the 
 wide bason into which they fell, spreading vaster 
 and deeper we discerned a small house far in 
 the bottom beyond the foaming turbulence, and 
 a number of people running towards the brink 
 with terrified gestures, appalled at our seeming 
 inevitable doom. 
 
 Nothing, indeed, appeared in view capable of 
 rendering us any assistance ; nothing was within 
 our reach to grasp at ; all around was confu- 
 sion, and waves, and foam, and before us chaos 
 and thunder. We sat silent, looking at one 
 another, when in an instant Mr. Hoskins caught 
 hold of a bough of a tree which had been un- 
 rooted, and lay in the river unmoved, and cried 
 to me also to lay hold. I did so ; it was un- 
 wieldy and aground : it was our only hope and 
 anchor, we held to it with the grasps of grim 
 death. But the strong current began to move
 
 300 LAWRIE TODD. 
 
 it ; still we held on : at last it floated and slide d 
 slowly, and, as it were reluctantly ; but still 
 we held on ; our passage towards the brink of 
 the fall was quickening. Dragged backward, as 
 it were, by the tree, or at least retarded, there 
 still appeared no chance of escape, when sud- 
 denly another tree, within a few yards of the 
 edge of the fall, suddenly fell down headlong, 
 unrooted in the water. " Let go," cried Mr. 
 Hoskins, and, quitting our hold of the sunken 
 tree, we were in a few seconds alongside of that 
 which had so newly fallen : we caught hold ; 
 we clambered upon it with the wildness of 
 despair, and reached the land in safety. In 
 another moment the tree was torn away by 
 the furious waters, and, with the scow, carried 
 over the falls. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 ION DON : 
 
 PRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, 
 Dorset Street, Fleet Street.
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed.
 
 A 000056803 o
 
 Wl 
 
 m 
 
 it 
 
 m 
 
 f { 
 
 1m 
 
 1' 
 
 1 
 
 ;ftii nh? 
 
 .ffinipPlW 
 
 wmfii> 
 
 pfoiy 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 1 P 
 
 T Cf.f*Ll s \t : . i *flil.f. 
 
 /# L iV?M'i4C jfil7. i ' 
 
 Unr 
 
 Iwllllf 1 E 
 1