The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1843-12-05
From the Democratic Review.
New England SHpernaturaIism.
a POETS ACCOUNT OF WITCHES, SC.
BY ]. G WHITTIER.

confined IN penal chains and darkness?
HdRnd. So he snid
Aud so your sacrcd books infer. What smith
Your prophe(-What the Prince of Uzl
Tam. shudder
Lest some dark minister bc near us now.
HADAp
In conversing with friend, recently, who is a
most decided unbeever in the supernatural, he men
toned fact Of his own experience. Awaking one
night from sleep, he saw distinctly before him, look
ing through the thick wall OF darkness an eye, intense
ly bright, large luminous, and with an expression of
terrible malignry. lie up in his bed, and being
a man Of firm nerves looked calmly at the singular
aPPariton seemed slowly 10 approach him, until
it rested just at the foot Of lis bed where its demon
glare gradually faded into the darkness-Ilad my
friend lived Two centuries ago. instead of regarding
an optical illusion, he would have called in tho
priest to disodge the evil spirit.
Old women in this region yet tell marvellous sio.
res OF Gen. NJ Of Hampton, ~ Y, of his engue
with the devil, who used to visit him occasionally in
shape Of a small man in leahern dress. The gen
erals house was once burned in revenge, as il is
said, by the Fiend, whom the other had outwied
He had agreed ii see'us to furnish The general with
bootiull Of gold and silver, poured annually down
the chimney. The Shrewd Yankee cut or, on one
OCCASION the foot Of the boot and the devil kept pour
ing down the coin from the ohimney's top, in a vain
attempt TO I'll it, until the room was literally packed
with precious metal. When the general died, he
was laid out, anil put in his coffin as usual, but on
the day of the funeral on opening the lid his body
was not to be seen, and the neighbors came to the
charitable conclu sion that the Enemy had got his own
at last.
Haunted houses getting scarce in New England.
Formerly vii bna ,c
these favored tcuements I have nevertheless, seen
several Of most unchristian reputation in this re-
speet-old, black and unseemy with shingles and
clOPboOrds hanging loose and ragged, like the cloak
of Otway's witch. A new coat of paint, in almost
all cases, proves eilectual cxorcsm. a former
ueghbor of mine--a simple, honest northumberland
to onuse us by his reiterated complaints Of tie dia
bolicp rsves oe certain evil spirits which had chosen
his garrett for their ball room. All night long he
could hear dance going above him by some in
lerna melody -lie had no doubt whatever orthe
supernatural character of the annoyance and treated
with contempt the suggestion OF his neshbors, that ar
ter all, it might be nothing than the among
the corn.
Whoever has seen Great Pond in the east parish
of HaverlI has seen one OF the loveliest Of the
thousand little lakes of New England. With its
soft slopes Of greenes verdure, its white and spark
ling sand rim-,s southern hem Of pine and maple,
mrrorcd, with spray and leaf, in the CLASSY water
its graceful hillsentinels round about, white with the
orchard bloom Of spring, tasseed with the Of
autumn, its long sweep Of blue waters broke here
ind there by picturesque isIand5--it would seem
spot OF all others, where the spirits of evil would
shrink rebuked and abashed, from the presence Of
the Beautiful Yet here too, has the shadow Of the
supernatural fallen. A lady Of my acquaintance,
staid, unimaginatve church MEMBER states that a
few years ago she standing in the angle formed
by two roads, one which traversed the pond Shore
the other leading the hill which rises abruptly
from the water. 1t was warm summer evening"
just at sunset. She startled by the appearance
of horse and or tho kind used century ago |
in New England ,'driving rapidly down the steep hill
side, and crossing the wall few yards before her,
without noise, of the dlsplacing of stone The dri
vers sat sterny erect with fierce countenance, grasp
ing the rens tightly, and looking neither to the right
10 the left Behind the cart, and apparently lash
ed to it, n woman of gigantic size, her counten-
unco convused with blended expression of rage and
agony, writing and struggling, like LAGOON in the
folds of the serpent Her head neck, feet and arms
were naked wild locks ofgrey hair sroamed back
from temples corrugated and darkened. The horrl-
BILE cavalcade swept by the street, and disap.
peared at the margin of the pond
have heard many similar stories; but the forego-
ing may serve a sample Of all. When we con-
slider what the popular belief of New England was no
longer than century and half ago, it is by no
means surprising that something of the superstitious
still fingers among Our puritan ancestors were,
in their own view of the matter, sort of advance
guard and fororn hope Of chrsendom, in its contest
with the Bad Angel The world, into which
they had valianlly pushed the ouipo,ts of the
church militant, was to them, not Gods world, but
the DEVILS They stood there their little patch
of sacrificed territory, like the gamekeeper of Der
Frieschutz in the charmed circle-withn were prayer
and fasting, unnelodiouS psalmody, and solemn hew
ing Of heretcs before the Lord in Ggn' without
were dogs and sorcerers,' red children ofpcrdon,
Powahs Wizards, and the 'foul Gend In their grand
old wilderness, broken by fair broad rivers, and dot
ted with lovcliest lakes, hanging with esoons of leaf
and vine, and flower, the steep sides Of mountains,
whose naked tops the surrounding yerdure
Ia, 80,