Litchfield enquirer., 1831-09-08
~rHE wrzzARp HERMIT OF VIRGINIA

'AsGOrrespondent of the New-York Observer ,vbo recently travelled through Virginia on his way ,o inc West, thus describes singular object which he met with In thc mountains of ihat state:
 r While passing in the stage through the western mountains of Virginia, and in one ot their most remote and dark defles, a singular and attractive object in human form presented himself at the side of the road-not for the purpose of being himself seen-but with the most Platonic self.pos- session and absorption, devoting himself SO entirely to his own occupation, as not to seem to notice us, or any other object. He was evidently d very old oldman-emaciate in form-his locks and beard, (both of which seemed to have been left undisturbed by any act of clipping for years, if not for life,) as white as the pufest snow-his dress, pair floose trowsers and round. about, of a species of cloth commonly cal- led duck, bleached to whiteness by long use and washing,-the tout ensemble of his per- son making out q fair representation of a ghost for the night, or saint in the dav- he presented, indeed, a most singular as- pect of the human form. For his beard and face. and head, he should have been a Catholic, and sat for his likeness, and been canonized. It would have requred no im- ag'natlon. but simply the art of the copyist. to make his appearance remarkable. And would forever have been difficult to per- suade the amateur, that the original iustif- ed the production. This singular being who, ii met by an imaginative person alone, would doubtless have been taken for a wis., itant from another world-was engaged. with the most unperturbed intentness. in an equally singular occupation--not for itself but for the manner thereof. He was obvi- ously drawing wood for his fire. The stick hc was endeavoripg to transport. in dimensions, was, should judge, ten feet long and eight inches in diameter-at the moment we passed, just in the margin of a thick forest, from the depths of which, by the marks upon it, it had probably been tug ged with great labor. The old man was endeavoring to adjust it on the axle of a small carriage, composed only of this cross piece, itself two feet long, and sustained by pair ofwheels, worked from two inch plank, in diameter about len inches. In- stead of attaching his draft string to the carriage, he had tied it to an iron wedge. driven into the butt of his timber, and thus laboriously and child-like, with little axe suspended to girdle about his Joins, was working his simple apparatus and its bur- lden down the hill to his cabin, which was near and in immediate view.
 "Who's that !" " What's that 7' sim ultaneously cried every voice in the coach to the driver-the moment our fixed and breathless gaze, and the clearing of the coach from the spell-bound atmosphere, which seemed to surround the venerable figure, unsealed our lips" Who's that ?'' l-" What's that7' "The Wizard Her. mit," replied the driver. "And what is his name? ?'' "He is reported to have been one Mir. Cooper. And the more comfort able would many of the tenants of these mountains be--if they could tell who and what he is now. He has many years in inhabited yonder cabin at the bottom of the lhiIl, without the company of any breathing