Literary cadet, and Saturday evening bulletin. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1826-1827, 1826-11-11

tinued the old man, (which il may be
worth your while to hear, and if you will
please to be seated on this rock, l will :
tell it,"
There was something in the old mans
conversation which denoted degree OF
intelligence and education superior TO
what expected from his appearance.
was curious TO know what sort OF story
would follow such an introduction ; ] sat
down, therefore, by his side, on the edge
of the rock, and he went OH as follows:
"It is story that heard from my
grand mother, good old Dutch lady,
belonging to a family of the first settlers
of the place. The Dutch from the
Norih River, and the Yankees from the
Connecticut, came into the valley about
the same time, and settled upon these
rich meadows. Which were the first
comers, am unable to tell; have
heard different accounts Of the matter,
but the traditions Of the Dutch families
give the priority to their own ancestors,
and am inclined to think them in the
right for, although it was not uncom.
mon in those days, for the restless Yam
KEGS to settle in the neighborhood OF
Dutchmen, yet il was rare thing for
the quiet Hollander voluntarily to plant
himselfin the midst of bustling Yankee
settlement. However this may be, il is
certain, that about nine y years ago,
little ncighborhood had been formed Of
the descendants of both the emigrants
from Holland and those from New En-.
gland. At first, the different races look
ed sourly upon each other, but the daily
sight of each others faces, and the need
of each others kindness and assistance
soon brought them to live upon friendly
terms. The Dutchman began to salute
his neighbor in bad English, and the
Yankee began to make advances towards
driving bargain, in worse Dutch.
Jacob, or, as he was commonly called,
Yok Suydam, was one of these early
Dutch planters, and Jedidiah Williams,
his neighbor, one Of the first Yankees
| who sat down on the banks of this river.
Williams was man of hard counte-
nance, and severe manners, who had
been deacon of the Church in the pa.
rish which he had left, and who did not,
as have known some people do, forget
his religion when it ceased to be ANY
service to him in his worldly concerns.
He was as grave in his demeanor, as
guarded in his speech, and as constant
in his devotions as ever, notwithstanding
that these qualities in his character were
less priced in his new situation than they
had been in Connecticut. TIE place
had as yet no minister; but Williams
contrived to collect, every Sunday,
few of the neighbors at his house to
perform the weekly worship. On
still summer morning you might hear
him doing out portion of the Scrip
lures, or reading sermon ofsome godly
divine Of the day, in a sort of nasal re-
citation, which could be distinguished,
swelling over the noises of his pigs and
poultry, at the distance of a quarter
of mile from his dwelling. Ho.
nest Yok read his Bible too, but he read
it in Dutch, and excused himself from att
tending the meetings at Williams house,
on account Of his ignorance of the Ian
guage in which the exercises were held.
Instead, however, of confining himself to
the house during The whole Sunday, like
Williams, he would sometimes stray out
into his fields, TO look at his cattle and
his crops, and was known once or twice
to lie down on the grass under tree, in
the corner Of one Of his Enclosures,
where the rustling of the Indian corn,
and the hum of the bees among the
pumpkin blossoms, would put HIM to
sleep. The rest of the day, when the
weather was fine, he passed in smoking
his pipe under rude kind of piazza in
front of his house, looking out over the
rich meadows which he had lately clear
ed Of their wood, or listening TO a chap
ter ofthe New Testament, read to him
by one of his daughters. He was also
less guarded in bis language than suited
the precise notions Of Williams the
words "duyvel" or "donner," or some
such unnecessary exclamation, would of.
ten slip out Of his mouth, in the haste Of
conversation. But there was another
practice Of Yok's, which was still less to