than "that he might possibly see him | hand. Ay, ay, you may sing. You had again soon, and in a flash of fire." rather sing than work, I believe. Upon Hamlet's taking up the skull, he cried out,, "Well! it is strange to see how fearless some men are: I never could bring myself to touch anything belonging to a dead man on any account. He seemed frightened enough, too, at the ghost, I thought.' 66 Partridge sat in fearful expectation of this; and now, when the ghost made his next appearance, Partridge cried out, There, sir, now; what say you now; is he frightened now or no? As much frightened as you think me, and to be sure nobody can help some fears; I would not be in so bad a condition aswhat's his name?-Squire Hamlet is there, for all the world. Bless me! what's become of the spirit? As I am a living soul, I thought I saw him sink into the earth.' "Indeed, you saw right,' answered Jones. Well, well," cries Partridge, "I know it's only a play; and besides, if there was anything in all this, Madame Miller would not laugh so; for as to you, sir, you would not be afraid, I believe, if the devil was here in person. There, there; ay, no wonder you are in such a passion; shake the vile, wicked wretch to pieces. If she was my own mother, I should serve her so. To be sure, all duty to a mother is forfeited by such wicked doings. Ay, go about your business; I hate the sight of you. Our critic was now pretty silent till the play which Hamlet introduces before the king. This he did not at first understand, till Jones explained it to him; but he no sooner entered into the spirit of it, than he began to bless himself that he had never committed murder. Then turning to Mrs. Miller, he asked her, "If she did not imagine the king looked as if he was touched; though he is," said he, a good actor, and doth all he can to hide it. Well, I would not have so much to answer for as that wicked man there hath, to sit upon a much higher chair than he sits upon. No wonder he ran away; for your sake I'll never trust an innocent face again. 66 The grave-digging scene next engaged the attention of Partridge, who expressed much surprise at the number of skulls thrown upon the stage. To which Jones answered, "That it was one of the most famous burial-places about town. "No wonder, then," cries Partridge, "that the place is haunted. But I never saw in my life a worse grave-digger. I had a sexton when I was clerk that should have dug three graves while he is digging one. The fellow handles a spade as if it was the first time he had ever had one in his Little more worth remembering occurred during the play, at the end of which Jones asked him, "Which of the players he had liked best?" To this he answered, with some appearance of indignation at the question, The king, without doubt.""Indeed, Mr. Partridge," says Mrs. Miller, "you are not of the same opinion with the town; for they are all agreed that Hamlet is acted by the best player who ever was on the stage.' "He the best player!" cries Partridge, with a contemptuous sneer; “Why, I could act as well as he myself. I am sure if I had seen a ghost, I should have looked in the very same manner, and done just as he did. And then, to be sure, in that scene, as you called it, between him and his mother, where you told me he acted so fine, why, any man, that is any good man, that had such a mother, would have done exactly the same. I know you are only joking with me; but, indeed, madame, though I was never at a play in London, yet I have seen acting before in the country; and the king for my money; he speaks all his words distinctly, half as loud again as the other. Anybody may see he is an actor." ON PIGS. Az the white roze wakens into buty, so duz the white pig cum tew gladden uz. His earz are like the lilac leaf, played upon bi the young zepharz at eventide, hiz silkiness iz the wool of buty, and hiz figger iz the outline ov lovlaness. His food iz white nectar, drawn from the full fountain of affecshun. He waxes fatter and more silky evra da, and hangs from the buzzum of hiz muther like an image ov alabastur. He laffeth at forms and curleth his tale still cluser, az his feast goeth on, then he rizeth with gladness, and wandreth with his kindred beside the still waters. His brothers and sisters are az like him az the flakes ov snow, and all the day long, amung the red klover and beneath the white thorn, he maketh hiz joy and leadeth a life arkadian. His words are low musik, and his language the untutored freshness of natur. His pastime iz the histery ov innersence, and his lezzure is eleganse. He walketh whare the grase leadeth, and gam-blews tew the dalfianse ov dewy fragranse. He gathreth straws in hiz mouth, and hasteth awa on errant of gladness. He listeneth tew the reproof of his parent; his ackshuns are the laws of perliteness, and his logick is the power ov instinkt. Hiz datime iz pease, and his evening gentle forgitfulness. Az he taketh on years he loveth cool plases, and delveth in liquids, and stirreth the arth tew a fatness, and painteth hisself in dark cullers a reffuge from flize and the torments ov life. He forgeteth hiz parent and bekumeth hiz own master, and larneth the mistery of food, and groweth hugely. Men gaze at hiz porkyness, and kount his valu bi pounds, and la in wate for him and sacrifise him, and give hiz flesh salt for safety. This is pig life. appear patient and rather indifferent amid the general restiveness of her aids, and would occasionally affect extreme merriment; but her shrewd attendants charged her with being fidgety, and rather more uneasy than she wanted folks to believe. 'Hello, Floyd!" shouted old Captain Peablossom, out of doors, to his copperastrowsered son, who was entertaining the young beaux of the neighborhood with feats of agility in jumping with weights -"Floyd, throw down them rocks, and put the bridle on old Snip, and ride down the road, and see if you can't see Parson Gympsey, and tell him hurry along, we are all waiting for him. He must think weddings are like his meetings, that can be put off to the 'Sunday after the fourth Saturday in next month,' after the crowd's all gathered and ready to hear the preaching. If you don't meet him, go clean to his house. I 'spect he's heard that Bushy Creek Ned's here with his fiddle, and taken a scare. As the night was wearing on, and no parson had come yet to unite the destinies of George Washington Hodgkins and "the amiable and accomplished" Miss Polly Peablossom, the former individual intimated to his intended the propriety of passing off the time by having a dance. Polly asked her Ma, and her Ma, after arguing that it was not the fashion in her time, in North Ca'lina, to dance before the ceremony, at last consented. The artist from Bushy Creek was called in, and after much tuning and spitting on the screws, he struck up" Money Musk;" and away went the country-dance, Polly Peablossom at the head, with Thomas Jefferson Hodgkins as her partner, and George Washington Hodgkins next, with Polly's sister Luvisa, for his partner. Polly danced to every gentleman, and Thomas Jefferson danced to every lady; then up and down in the middle, and hands all round. Next came George Washington and his partner, who underwent the same process; and so on through the whole, as Daboll's Arithmetic says. The yard was lit up by three or four large light-wood fires, which gave a picturesque appearance to the groups outside. On one side of the house was Daniel Newnan Peablossom and a bevy of youngsters, who either could not nor did not desire to get into the dance-probably the former-and who amused themselves 66 pen by jumping and wrestling. On the other | side, a group of matrons sat under the trees, in chairs, and discoursed of the mysteries of making butter, curing chickens of the pip and children of the croup, besides lamenting the misfortunes of some neighbor, or the indiscretion of some neighbor's daughter, who had run away and married a circus-rider. A few sive couples, eschewing the giddy dance," promenaded the yard and admired the moon, or "wondered if all them little stars were worlds like this." Perhaps they may have sighed sentimentally at the folly of the mosquitoes and bugs, which were attracted round the fires to get their pretty little wings scorched and lose their precious lives; or they may have talked true love," and plighted their vows, for aught we know. of Old Captain Peablossom and his pipe, during the while, were the centre of a circle in front of the house who had gathered around the old man's arm-chair to listen to his "twice-told tales" of "hairbreadth 'scapes," of "the battles and sieges he had passed for you must know the captain was no 'summer soldier and sunshine patriot; he had burned gunpowder in defence of his beloved country. At the especial request of Squire Tompkins, the captain narrated the perilous adventures of Newnan's little band among the Seminoles. How "bold Newnan and his men lived on alligator flesh and parched corn, and marched barefooted through saw-palmetto; how they met Bowlegs and his warriors near Paine's Prairie, and what fighting was there. The amusing incident of Bill Cone and the terrapin shell, raised shouts of laughter among the young brood, who had flocked around to hear of the wars. Bill (the "Camden Bard," peace to his ashes), as the captain familiarly called him, was sitting one day against the logs of the breastwork, drinking soup out of a terrapin shell, when a random shot from the enemy broke the shell and spilt his soup, whereupon he raised his head over the breastwork and sung out, "Oh, you villain, you couldn't do that again if you tried forty times." Then the captain, after repeated importunities, laid down his pipe, cleared his throat and sung "We marched on to our next station, They shot and killed Bold Newnan's nigger, And two other white men by his side." The remainder of the epic we have forgotten. After calling out for a chunk of fire and relighting his pipe, he dashed at once over into Alabama, in General Floyd's army, and fought the battles of Calebee and Otassee over again in detail. The artillery from Baldwin County blazed away, and made the little boys aforesaid think they could hear thunder almost, and the rifles from Putnam made their patriotic young spirits long to revenge that gallant corps. And the squire was astonished at the narrow escape his friend had of falling into the hands of Weatherford and his savages, when he was miraculously rescued by Timpoochie Barnard, the Utchee chief. At this stage of affairs, Floyd (not the general, but the ambassador) rode up, with a mysterious look on his countenance. The dancers left off in the middle of a set, and assembled around the messenger, to hear the news of the parson. The old ladies crowded up, too, and the captain and the squire were eager to hear. But Floyd felt the importance of his situation, and was in no hurry to divest himself of the momentary dignity. "Well, as I rode on down to Boggy Gut, I saw "Who cares what the devil you saw?" exclaimed the impatient captain; "tell us if the parson is coming first, and you may take all night to tell the balance, if you like, afterwards." "I saw- continued Floyd, pertina ciously. "Well, my dear, what did you see?" asked Mrs. Peablossom. "I saw that some one had tooken away some of the rails on the cross-way, or they had washed away, or somehow "Did anybody ever hear the like?" said the captain. 66 And so I got down," continued Floyd, "and hunted some more, and fixed over the boggy place Here Polly laid her hand on his arm, and requested, with a beseeching look, to know if the parson was on the way. "I'll tell you all about it presently, Polly. And when I got to the run of the creek, then-" "Oh, the devil!" ejaculated Captain Peablossom, "stalled again !" "Be still, honey, let the child tell it his own way he always would have his way, you know, since we had to humor him so when he had the measles," interposed the old lady. Daniel Newnan Peablossom, at this juncture, facetiously lay down on the ground, with the root of an old oak for his pillow, and called out, yawningly, to his pa, to wake him when brother Floyd had crossed over the run of the creek, and arrived safely at the parson's." This caused loud laughter. 66 Floyd simply noticed it by observing to his brother, Yes, you think you're mighty smart before all these folks!" and resumed his tedious route to Parson Gympsey's, with as little prospect of reaching the end of his story as ever. Mrs. Peablossom tried to coax him to "jest" say if the parson was coming or not. Polly begged him, and all the bridesmaids implored. But Floyd "went on his way rejoicing. When I came to the Piney-flats," he continued, "old Snip seed something white over in the bay-gall, and shy'd clean out o' the road, and- where he would have stopped would be hard to say, if the impatient captain had not interfered. 66 That gentleman, with a peculiar glint of the eye, remarked, "Well, there's one way I can bring him to a-showing," as he took a large horn from between the logs, and rung a wood-note wild," that set a pack of hounds to yelping. A few more notes, as loud as those that issued from "Roland's horn at Roncesvalles," was sufficient invitation to every hound, foist, and cur of low degree," that followed the guests, to join in the chorus. The captain was a man of good lungs, and "the way he did blow was the way, as Squire Tompkins afterwards very happily described it; and as there were in the canine choir some thirty voices of every key, the music may be imagined better than described. Miss Tabitha Tidwell, the first bridesmaid, put her hands to her ears and cried out, My stars we shall all git blow'd away!" The desired effect of abbreviating the messenger's story was produced, as that prolix personage in copperas pants was seen to take Polly aside and whisper something in her ear. "Oh, Floyd, you are joking; you oughtn't to serve me so. An't you joking, bud?" asked Polly, with a look that seemed to beg he would say yes. "It's true as preaching," he replied"the cake's all dough!" Polly whispered something to her mother, who threw up her hands, and exclaimed, "Oh, my!" and then whispered the secret to some other lady, and away it went. Such whispering and throwing up of hands and eyes, is rarely seen at a Quaker meeting. Consternation was in every face. Poor Polly was a very personification of "patience on a monument, smiling green and yellow melancholy." 66 The captain discovering that something was the matter, drove off the dogs, and inquired what had happened to cause such confusion. 'What the devil's the matter now?" he said. You all look as down in the mouth as we did on the Santafee (St. Fe), when the quarter-master said the provisions had all give out. What's the matter-won't somebody tell me? Old 'oman, has the dogs got into the kitchen and eat up all the supper, or what else has come to pass? out with it! Ah, old man, bad news!" said the wife, with a sigh. "Well, what is it? you are all getting as bad as Floyd, 'terryfying' a fellow to death." "Parson Gympsey was digging a new horse trough and cut his leg to the bone with the foot-adze, and can't come -Oh, dear!" "I wish he had taken a fancy to a done it a week ago, so we 'mout' a got another parson, or, as long as no other time would suit but to-day, I wish he had cut his derned eternal head off!" "Oh, my! husband!" exclaimed Mrs. Peablossom. Bushy Creek Ned, standing in the piazza with his fiddle, struck up the old tune of We'll dance all night, 'till broad daylight, And go home with the gals in the inorning. Ned's hint caused a movement toward the dancing room, among the young people, when the captain, as if waking from a revery, exclaimed, in a loud voice, “Oh, the devil! what are we all thinking of? Why, here's Squire Tompkins, he can perform the ceremony. If a man can't marry folks, what's the use of being squire at all?" Manna did not come in better time to the children of Israel in the wilderness, | against the wall; and the fourth had a curiously devised something cut out of wood with a pocket-knife. For want of a further supply of candlesticks, the male attendants held naked candles in their hands. Polly was dressed in white, and wore a bay flower with its green leaves in her hair, and the whisper went round"Now don't she look pretty?" George Washington Hodgkins rejoiced in a white satin stock, and a vest and pantaloons of orange color; the vest was straight collared, like a continental officer's in the Revolution, and had eagle buttons on it. They were a fine looking couple. When everything was ready, a pause ensued, and all eyes were turned on the squire, who seemed to be undergoing a mental agony, such as Fourth of July orators feel when they forget their speeches, or a boy at an exhibition, when he has to be prompted from behind the scenes. The truth was, Squire Tompkins was a man of forms, but had always taken them from form-books, and never trusted his memory. On this occasion, he had no "Georgia Justice,' or any other book from which to read the marriage ceremony, and was at a loss how to proceed. He thought over everything he had ever learned "by heart," even to Mrs. Peablossom insinuated to her husband, that in her day the "quality," or better sort of people in North Ca'lina, had a prejudice "agin" being married by a magistrate; to which the old gentleman replied, "None of your nonsense, old lady; none of your Duplin County aristocracy about here now. The better sort of people, I think you say! Now, you know North Ca'lina ain't the best State in the Union, nohow, and Duplin's the poorest county in the State. Better sort of people, is it? Quality, eh? Who the devil's better than we are? An't we honest? An't we raised our children decent, and learned them how to read, write and cipher? An't I fou't under Newnan and Floyd for the country? Why, darn it! we are the very best sort of people. Stuff! nonsense! The wed-Thirty days hath the month of September, ding shall go on; Polly shall have a hus- The same may be said of June, April, Noband." Mrs. P.'s eyes lit up-her cheek vember, flashed as she heard "the old North State" spoken of so disparagingly; but she was a woman of good sense, and reserved the castigation for a future curtain lecture. Things were soon arranged for the wedding; and as the old wooden clock on the mantel-piece struck one, the bridal party were duly arranged on the floor, and the crowd gathered round, eager to observe every twinkle of the bridegroom's eye, and every blush of the blooming bride. The bridesmaids and their male attendants were arranged in couples, as in a cotillon, to form a hollow square, in the centre of which were the squire and betrothing parties. Each of the attendants bore a candle; Miss Tabitha held hers in a long brass candlestick, which had belonged to Polly's grandmother, in shape and length somewhat resembling "Cleopatra's needle; Miss Luvisa bore a flat tin one; the third attendant bore such an article as is usually suspended on a nail but all in vain; he could recollect nothing that suited such an occasion. A suppressed titter all over the room admonished him that he must proceed with something, and in the agony of desperation, he began, 66 Know all men by these presents that I-" here he paused and looked up to the ceiling, while an audible voice in a corner of the room was heard to say, He's drawing up a deed to a tract of land," and they all laughed. In the name of God, Amen!" he began a second time, only to hear another voice, in a loud whisper, say-"He's making his will, now. I thought he couldn't live long, he looks so powerful bad." "Now I lay me down to sleep, was the next essay, when some erudite gentleman remarked, "He is not dead, but sleepeth." |