Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1850-10-24

The mists of the morning still hung heavily
on the moutain.top, above the village of Red
cliff. but the roads which led towards it were |
crowded with the varied population of the sur
rounding country, from far and near At Ayes-
bury the shops were closed, the hammer OF the
blacksmith laid upon its anvil not wagon OF
any description was to be seen In the street. and
even the bar of the tavern was locked, and the
key gone with its proprietor towards the Cliff,
as a token of an important era which was with
out parallel in the annals of the place. And
save here and there a solitary head booking
through broken pane in some closed-up house,
with an air of sad disappointment; or the cries
of little musings were heard, beokening that,
in the general flight, it had been left in unsEluI
hands or mayhap here and there a solitary,
ragged, and i'll natured schooboy was seen, ora
not less solitary and i-natured dog, either SEEM
ing but half appeased by the privilege of a holl-
day, granted on condition Of staying at home
the whole village exhibited picture of de-
sertion and silence which had been unknown
before.
But in proportion as you grew nearer the pom
derous cliff in the midst of which the little
town of RedcIiff was situated, you mingled
again in the thick hustle and motion of the
world, of men, and women, and boys, and
horses, and dogs, and all living, moving, and
creeping things that inhabt the wild districts OF
Pennsylvania.
The village itself was crowded to overflowlng
long before the sun had gained sufficient alti-
tude to throw It's rays upon the deep valley in
which it lay. There the bar of an inn was
crowded. and the fumes of tobacco and whiskey
the ngling of small change, and tne perpetua
clamor of the thrcng were sufficient to rack I
IN brain of common fexbilty. In the streets there
he was greeting of old and long-parted acquaint
ed ances; the bartering of horses; the settling o
m, old accounts; the buffoonery of hgf-intoxicate
aI men; the clatter of women the crying and hal
looing of children and boys and the barking am
quarreling of stranger dogs. To look upon tn
scene, to mingle with the crowd, to listen to tn
in conversation, or to survey the countenances @
Tor the assembled multitude, led to no satisfactor
solution Of the cause for which this mass of het
ut, erogeueous mass was congi egated
- Within the walls Of the old stone Jail at tn
et- foot of the mountain different scene had bee
that morning witnessed There, chained to
nes stake in the miserable dungeon, damp, an
II at scarcely Illuminated by one ray of ght,now Ia
Two the emaciated form of one whose final doc
JOY seemed near at hand. A few hours before, Ii
re- wife and little daughter had travelled hundr
lille miles to meet him once more on the threshho
lere of the grave :; they met, and from that gloon
r all vault the hymn ascended with The ascend
sun and the iallor, as he listened % the melo
Tres, Gus voices of three persons whom he look
ided upon as the most desolate and lost of all in
cor. wide world, almost doubted the evidence of
pare senses, and stood in fixed astonishment at
lter massy door. Could these be the voices o.
here murderer, and murderer's wife and children
owes This brief, and to be final interview, has pa
low ed, however; those unfortunate ones had lou
itain commended each other to the keeping tn
! the heavenly Parent, and parted he to face the
tiers sembed multitude on the scaiiod, and they,
loud they said to return by weary journeys to tn
away sorrowful home. The convict, worn out v
hur- sickness and watching, now slept