Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1851-04-03
A Lener from wa.hI.s,sn Irving.

PCluSdi Ol letleE T6Cculiy WIlttc
by Washington Irving TO his ol
friend Jesse Merwin, of this town
the veritable "Ichabod Crane" who's
name has been immortalized in "Th
, Legend Of the Sleep Hollow
Having been kindly permitted
, transfer this communication to ou
columns, we cheerfully do SO. unwi
t ling that our readers should be de
prived of the qualification which W
have derived from its perusal. w
trust that weSshall not incur the dis
pleasure of the distinguished write
in thus bringing him before the pub
lie, nor be considered as trespassins
upon the precincts of unreservet
private epistolary intercourse. Al
for the old "Admiral of the Lake." o
opiscatory memory, the redoubtable
"John Moore" we have no fears to
entertain for the mention made o.
him, he having long since "shuffied
off this mortal COIL" and his scep:re
having passed into other hands:
SUNNY SIDE, Feb. IL, 1851.
You must excuse me, my good
friend Merwin, for suffering your
letter to remain so long unanswered.
You can have no idea how many
letters | have TO answer, besides fag-
ging with my pen all my own literary
tasks, so that it is impossible for me
TO avoid being behind hand in my
correspondence. Your letter was
indeed most welcome-calling up as
it did the recollection of pleasant
scenes and pleasant days passed to-
gether in times long since at Judge
Van Ness's, in Undertook. Your
mention Of the death OF good old
Dominic Van Ness, recalls the apos-
toIic zeal with which he took our
little sinful community in hands,
when he put up for a day or two at
the Judges; and the wholesome cas-
tigation he gave us all one Sunday,
beginning with the two country
bellies who came fiuttering into the
schoolhouse during the sermon, deck
ed out in their city finery, and ending
with the Judge himself, in the strong
hold of his own mansion. How
soundly he gave it to US! how he
peeled offevery rag Of self-righteous-
ness with which we tried to cover
and laid the rod on the
bare backs of our consciences! The
good, pIain-spoken, honest old mani
How ] honored him for his simple,
straightforward ar nestness; his
homely sincerityl He Ger tainly
handled US without mittens; but |
trust we are all the better for it,
How different he was from the brisk,
dapper, self-sufficient little apostle
who cantered up TO the Judges door
a day or two after; who was SO full
Of himself that he had no thought TO
bestow on our religious delinquen-
cies; who did nothing but boast of
his public trials of skill in argument
with rival preachers Of other denom-
nations, and how he had driven
them off the field and crowed over
them. You must remember the
bustling, sell-confdent little man,
with tin trumpet in the handle of
his riding-whip, with which | pre-
sumo he blew the trumpet in Zion.
Do you remember our fishing ex-
pedition in company with Congress
man Van Allen to the little lake
few miles from Undertook; and
John Moore, the vagabond admiral
Of the lake, who sat crouched in a
heap in the middle of his canoe in
the centre OF the lake, with fishing
rods stretching out in every direction
like the long legs of spider? And
do you remember our piratical prank,
when we made up for our bad luck
in fishing by plundering his canoe Of
Of its fish when we found it adrift?
And do you remember how John
Moore came splashing along the
marsh on the opposite border Of the
lake, roaring at US, and how we fin
ished our frolic by driving off and
leaving the Congressman to John
Moore's mercy, tickling ourselves
with-the idea of his being scalped at
leastl
Ah, well-a-day, friend Merwin,
these were the days of our youth
and folly. l trust we have grown
wiser and better since then; we cer-
tainly have grown older. don't
think we could rob John Moore's
fishing canoe now. By the way,
that same John Moore, and the an
ecdotes you told of him, gave me
the idea of vagabond character,
Dirck Schuyler, in my Knickerbock-
or history OF New York, which ]
was then writing.
You tell me the old schoolhouse is
tern down and new one built in its
place. | am sorry for it. I should
have liked TO see the old schoolhouse
once more, where, after my morn
lngs' literary task was over, used
a" G.