Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1828-01-02
JESSY OF KIBE'S FARM.
BY MISS MILFORD.

About the centre OF a deep winding
and woody lane, in the secluded village
of Aberleigh, stands an old farmhouse,
whose stables, out buildings, and ample
yard, have a peculiarly forlorn and de-
serted appearance; they can, in fact,
scarcely be said to be occupied, the per-
son who rents the land prelerring to live
at a large farm about a mile distant, leav-
ing this lonely house to the care Of a la
bourer and his wife, who reside IN one
end, and have the charge of a few colts
and heifers that run in the orchard and
and an adjoining meadow, whilst the va
cant rooms are tenanted by a widow in
humble circumstances, and her young
family.
The house is beautifully situated; deep,
as l have said, in a narrow woody lane,
which winds between high banks, now
feathered with hazels, now thickly stud
ded With pollards and forest trees, until,
opposite Kibe's Farm, it widens sufic-
iently to admit a large clear pond, round
which the hedge, closely and regularly
set with a row of tall elms, sweeps in a
graceful curve, forming for that bright
mirror a rich leafy frame. A little way
farther on the lane again widens, and
makes an %abrupter winding as it is cross
ed by a broad, shallow stream, a branch
of the Loddon, which comes meandering
along from a chain ofbeautiful meadows;
then turns in a narrow channel by the
side of the road, and finally spreads it.
self into a large piece of water, almost q
laEelet, amidst the rushes and willows OF
Hartly Moor A foot-bridge is flung
I've the stream, where it crosses the
lane, which, with a giant oak growing
on the bank, and throwing its broad
branches far on the opposite side, forms
in every season a pretty rural picture.
Kibe's Farm is as picturesque as its
it situation: very old, very irregular, with
gable ends, clustered chimnies, case
ment windows, a large porch, and a sort
Of square wing jutting out even with the
porch, and covered with a luxuriant vine,
which has quite the effect, especially
wnen seen by moonlight, of an ivy-man-
tied tower. On one side extend the am
pie but disused farm buildings; on the
other, the old orchard, whose trees are
so wild, so hoary, and so huge, as to con-
vey the idea of a fruit forest. Behind
the house is an ample kitchen-garden,
and before a neat flower court, the ex-
elusive demesne Of Mrs. Lucas and her
family, to whom, indeed, the labourer,
John Miles, and his good wife Dinah,
served in some sort as domestics.
Me- nee, hoJ Loo,,n e.. Lzsto. H..
Her husband had been an officer, and
dicd fighting bravely in one Of the last
battles of the PENINSULA war, leaving her
with three children, one lovely boy, and
two delicate girls, to struggle through
the world as best she might. She was
an accomplished woman, and at first set
tied in a great town, and e~ndeavoured
to improve her small income by teaching
music and languages. But she was coun-
try bred; her children, too, had been
born in the country, amidst the sweetest
recesses Of the New Forest, and pining
herself for liberty, and solitude, and
green fields, and fresh air, she sosn be-
gan % fancy that her children were Wis
IDLY detericrating in health and appear
ance, and pining for them also; and
finding that her old servant, Dinah Miles,
was settled with her husband in this de-
serted farmhouse, she applied to his mas
ter to rent for a few months the unten-
anted apartments, came to Aberleigh,
and fixed there apparently for life.
We lived in different parishes, and she
declined company; so that / seldom met
Mrs. Lucas, and had lost sight other for
some years, retaining merely a general
recollection Of the mild, placid, elegant,
mother, surrounded by three rosy, romp-'