The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1852-04-22
Original 5ketfbts.
.a For the Literary Echo.
rH SKETCHES OF
AND ITS DENIZENS
BY L'INCo6NITA.

No. IL. f 10. .l
When Gripe's affairs were settled, and
the enormous demands of his creditors
satisfied, the only vestige of his former
greatness, which remained to him were
a single solitary hundred in his pocket,
and the ruinous, unthrifty, dilapidated
village of Pinchdale, where, throughout
the mill, machinery, houses, and
+" hands," the most beautiful and COM
plete system of disorder reigned This
was the most inconsiderable of all the
factories which he had formerly owned,
and the one which he would least have
cared to retain, yet since it was his all
he resolved to make the most of it; and
he found it was not too small to exhibit
the evil effects of the course which he
had formerly followed, of leaving his
business to be done by others, and never
attending to it himself.
On reviewing the premises he found
everything in the most ruinous condi-
tion-the rickety old wooden mill,
through whose shingleless roof the winds
and rains coursed with unrestrained
freedom-the dirt-besmeared, oil-be-
daubed, Gathering machinery, half Of
which would not 20 at all-the slovenly
looks and careless manners of the
" help"-the squalid appearance of the
houses - the unwashed bands and faces,
and ragged clothes of the children who
played and quarreled around them-all
spoke loudly of the sore neglect and op-
preston of their former manager and
Grippe now set himself about the task Of
improving the condition Of the village,
not indeed, for the sake of its poor un-
fortunate inhabitants, but for his own
emolument.
Years rolled on and with them came
improvements, not the least of which
was the abolition of the name of Pinch
dale, and the adoption of the more ap-
propriate and euphoneous title of GRIPPE
vile. Mr.. Gripe prospcred wondcrously
with regard to the contents of his purse,
and with each new acquisition came
some new improvement in his establish
ment. The scare-crow factory was torn
away ard large commodious stone one
erected on its former site a new grist-
mill-the opposition" to Miss Chari-
ty's-was planted on the spot where
once stood the ruins of an antiquated
saw-mill, which had not been in opera
ton within the memory of the oldest in
habitant )" old houses were repaired,
and new ones built; two handsome
bridges supplied the place of the old
WORKOUT ones sidewalks and rows of
graceful elms adorn d the streets that
bordered "the Square )" in short, the
whole village were such a thrifty and
prosperous appearance that no one who
had seen it twenty years before, would
have imagined that the metamcrphosed
Gripcriile was in reality the same place
which bore the opprobrious title of
Pinchdale!
Hitherto we have said nothing with
regard to the personal appearance and
Of our noble hero, Giipe, but
we will no longer leave our readers in
doubt with regard to that most import
ant part Of his description, and, begging
pardon of that worthy parsonage for
such gross neglect, we forthwith proceed
10 these momentous delineations. In
stature, he was somewhat above the
medium height, in form, graceful and
commanding; jetty whiskers aud dark
glossy waving hair, cut and trimmed
after the "latest fashion," adorned a
ace which, with its piercing black eyes,
white teeth and. fair complexion, would
nave been pronounced fascinating.