The Rangers

l their fair l

oral darkness.

ssions rose, an

r revel; until

t the rest the su

to the woods, in such a manner as to preclude the idea that they could have been planted under any thing like the present arrangements of the farm and its buildings. Near these old relics of former orchards may likewise generally be perceived some levelled spot, remains of old chimneys, traces of cellars, or other marks of dwellings long since removed, or fallen to decay. These, with many other peculiarities, give to the whole town an aspect nowhere else to be seen in Vermont, nor even, perhaps, in any part of New England. And if the traveller be of a fanciful turn, he will associate the place with the idea of some deserted co

blic was soon, in a good degree, forfeited; and that, too, by the very means, it would seem, which had been taken to make it flourish and increase. It had been one of the conditions of the charter that every grantee should become an actual settler, and, within five years, clear and cultivate five acres of land, for every fifty purchased. And in accordance with this cunning policy for insuring the actual and rapid settlement of the place, the township had been laid out in fifty and one hundred acre lots, except the governor's right of five hundred acres, which his excellency of New Hampshire, in granting Vermont lands, never forgot to reserve for his own use, in every township, but which the proprietors generally contrived, as in this instance, to have set off on the highest mountain in town, considering it but respectful and fitting, as they used waggishly to observe, that so elevated a personage should be honored with the most elevated location. And the effect of this policy, together with the low prices at which the lands were put, and other inducements held out to draw in settlers, soon became visible in the rapid increase of the population, and consequent improvement of the town. So unexampled in these new settlements was its progress, indeed, in both the particulars we have just named, that within twenty years from the time when the sound of the axe was first heard in its woody limits, the inhabitants were found to number nearly three thousand; while fields were every where opened in the wilderness, and buildings raised in such neighborly contiguity, that the whole town presented the appearance of a continuous village. It is not very surprising, therefore, that, through such an influx of settlers, coming from all parts of the country, and including many interested and active partisans of the York jurisdiction, a majority should soon be obtained, who were induced to depart from the views of the first settlers respecting the independence of thei

nd the like, soon lay piled promiscuously together. Having thus driven the terrified and distressed woman from the comfortable abode which had formerly cost her and her deceased husband so many years of toil to erect and furnish, and having, to add to the wrong, either injured or destroyed the greater part of her little stock of goods, by the wanton or careless manner in which they had been removed, this brutal officer next proceeded to the barn, and by virtue of his copias for costs, seized the cow and oxen, the last remaining property of the wronged and ruined young man, which, after intrusting the present keeping and defence of the premises to two of his band, he drove away to another part of the town, to be sold at the post, as soon as the forms of the law, respecting notice of the sale, could be complied with. The poor widow, half distracted at being thus suddenly bereft of house and home, spent the remainder of the day in vainly endeavoring to procure some tenement into which she could remove with her furniture, or with so much of it as might yet be saved. On the next day, however, as a last resort, she obtained and accepted the present use of the deserted cabin we have described, situated but a short distance from the house from which she had been ejected. And into this comfortless place, after several days of incessant toil and exposure, she succeeded in getting her damaged furniture, but not till her exertions, combined with her anxieties and grief, had given rise to a malady which, though not at first very threatening, became, each subsequent day, more and more alarmingly developed in her overtasked system. In this situation she was

ed head from the pillow, and seem to listen to catch the sounds of expected footsteps, and her languid eye would turn anxiously towards the door; when, after thus exerting her senses in vain a few moments, she would sink back upon her bed, with

dim eyes to meet the face of the other. "It seemed as

; but I've had a time on't in getti

ected trouble on my account," meekly observ

ed me home here till I got business, or for yours, who let me be. Though to be stopped and bothered, when one

stop you, knowi

o Squire Ashcrafts, and there had to be questioned a long while before he would give me any pass at all. And then again, when I got to the doctor's, he said he wanted a pass, too; for he darsent go to see a whig woman without one, which I must go and get him from Squire Evans, another commi

cannot always remain; for, though God may chastise us a while fo

he tories were all used up; but I find 'em down here thicker than ever now, and as sarcy and spiteful as a nest of yell

your enemies. Evil wishes, towards those

nderstand,

mies, we obtain a reward which often outbalances the evil they inflict on us, or, at least, enables us the better to bear it; while, on the contrary, when we hate those w

that way, sometimes; but I

rising that you should not; so I will drop the subject, and a

n't see nobody tha

s now been gone two long, long

he's met with considerable bother to get the money, or somethin. He

r heard. Harry felt so bitter about the affair, that I thought I would not disturb his feelings by making any allusions to the subjec

oing any thing-or not doing any thing, may be, I shoul

t wa

ome, he couldn't fin

d become

ping, one dark night, and driv 'em off into the woods, near the top of Governor's Mountain, and then backed up hay enough to keep 'em a spell; while the company took turns, for a few days, in going a hunting over the mountain, so as to come round, once in a while, to fodder and see to the creters, for which old Bug-Horn paid in milk, on the spot. Now, mind

nd in this affair?" ask

t we thought-that is, I guess some thought-it wasn't best to say

of his last penny than do a questionable act. We shoul

r of that-getting them back again-must be right. But you needn't tell any body what I've said, mistress; for they might, perhaps, have Bill Piper and me up, and t

fact, he was but a quack, and of that most dangerous class, too, who dip into books rather to acquire learned terms than to study principles, and who, consequently,

tor, throwing off his dripping overcoat, and drawin

th, as yet, as the deeply-seated pain in the chest, which, for the last twenty-four

ended for a very professional one. "Tense-frequent-this pulse of yours, madam; showing great irritability. Your tongue, now. Ay-rubric-dry and streaked; usual prognostics of neuralgy. Pretty much made up

s that,

within the comprehension of common minds. Neuralgy madam,

us, sir," responded the pat

k so, madam. Few

e inward fever," persisted the othe

strengthen the nerves, and all will be right in a short time. I shall prescribe Radix Rhei, in small doses, assafoetida, quinine,

nflammation of the lungs, the self-satisfied doctor, swelling with his own importance, departed, leaving his patient now

a deep sigh, as she awoke from a troubled slumber, i

n in which he had been indulging, as he sat looking into the decaying fire-"don't know, exactl

yet returned!" sighed the invalid. "

sked her untutored attendant, touched at

, if you will, Barty," replied the former. "It seems to me as if this in

d, in a few moments, returned with it filled with water and several p

from which she had eagerly drained nearly a pint of the cooling beverage at a single draught. "There, now, set the pitcher on the table

asional suppressed groans of the invalid within, and the wailing of the winds and the pattering o

ng eagerly towards the door; while her pain-contracted features were, for the moment, smoothed by the smile

uttering a word, or bestowing any thing more than a casual glance towards the bed, to which he supposed his mother had just retired, as was usual with her, about this hour, and not suspecting that she was more indi

re you wor

ery sick; and O, how glad

ries relative to her disorder, and what had been done for her; and, having been informed of all that had occurred in his absence, and now appearing fully to comprehend the danger of her situation, he sat down by her be

y but been content with robbing me of my property, I could have borne it; but to be the means,

ffection in her idolized son, and anxious to soothe and divert his mind. "I shall recover, if God wills it. Let us, then, bow in resignation to his dispens

since yesterday morning, and have not been able to obtain a single dollar. So

the customary walk in had been pronounced by Woodburn, the door was gently opened

ing to-night, on account of disturbing your mother, Harry; but wishing to know whether you had got

new, I belie

uck about the

one wha

you why, hereafter. All I wanted to know to-night was, whether you had got the wher

he interest you take in my misfortunes. But I cannot redeem

natched away from him on such smuggled papers. But let that turn as it may, the subject brings to mind a certai

new court we have been appointing at Westminster holds its first s

tussle, I met a man that I could have sworn was John Peters, if I had not known the fellow was close in Northampton jail; and as it was, I could swear it was his exact shape and appearance. Well, knowing it could not

leborough yesterday, that all the prisoners at Northampton had been liberated by habeas corpus from the chief justice of New York, and were now at large. Although this was not credited, yet, if you saw Peters here last night, as I begin to fear,

eriff. [Footnote: During the period of anarchy, change, and discord, in this distracted town, each of the belligerent parties had their sheriff, or constable, and other town officers, and would yield obedience to the officers of their opponents only on compulsion, though the officers of the majority were not generally resisted, except, perhaps, in matters purely political.] A

h me, and he informed me that s

g, will be almost a match for Peters, wh

k at the Libert

old a little meeting at the Pole, after folks are to bed, to make up

st not th

be at town mee

bitterness, that I dare hardly trust myself in such a scene, lest I should do that which would cost me months of painful regr

sitting before the fire apparently inattentive to the conversation of the others, which had been carried on in a low tone, at the opposite side of the room.

o do with that, Bar

hat fashion, the first night there, at Westminster, we needn't have had to attend Fren

you?" said Piper, throwing open his greatcoat and displaying a rifle, as the two