St. Mary's beacon., 1854-04-20

the Wslu Grape vines that twisted thel
Gods and tendriAs from tree to tree, an.
/ spread kind Of net work in his path.
ii length he reached TO where the m
/ Vine had opposed through the clifEs to tIs.
amphitheatre, but no traces of such O
pening remained The ro-ks presented
. high impenitrable wall, over which
the torrent came tumbling in sheet o.
teathery foam, and fell into broad deer
basin, black from the shadows of The
surrounding forest. Here, then, pool
Rip was brought to stand. He again
called and whistl,.d after his ssog-he
was answered BY the cawing of flock
of idle cfows. sporting high in the mir =
bout dry tree that overhung q sum
nYprecipice; and who, secure in their II.
ovation. seemed Il, look down and scoI
at the poor mans perplexitses. What
was to be dones The morning was pass
ing away. and Rip felt famished for llse
want of his breakfast. He grieved lo
give up his dog and gun--he dreaded ID
meet his wife-but ii would not do to
starve among the mountains He shook
his head, shouldcred bss frelock, and,
with a heart full Of anxiety, turned his
steps homeward.
As he approached the village he met
. number of people, but none whom he
knew, which somewhat surprised him.
eiagEsr ee oi isefiRgh .sh g
too, was Of different fashion froin thai ID
which he was accustomed. They Ill
stared at him with equal marks Of SIR
prise, and W. encver they cast their eyes
upon him, invariably stroked their chins.
The constant recurrence of this gesture
induced Rip, Involuntarily. TO do the
same thing, when, to his establishment,
he found his beard bad grown foot
long. ....
He had now entered the skirts Of the
village. A troop Of strange children
ran at his heels, hooting after him, and
pointing at his gray beard. The dogs,
too, not one of which he recognized for an
old acquaintance, barked at HIM as he
passed. The village was altered-it was
larger and more populous. There were
rows of houses which he had never seen
before, and those which had been his ia
miliarhaunts had disappeared. Strange
names were over the doors-strange
faces at the windows-every thing was
strange. His mind now misgave him
he began TO doubt whether both he
and the world around him were not be-
witched. Surely this was his native
village which he had left the day before.
There stood the Kaatskill mountains
there ran the silver Hudson at a dis
was every hill and dale
precisely as il had always been-Rip
was sorely perplexed. "Ghat Aagon
last night" thought he, "addled my
poor head sadly
It was with some difficulty that he
found his way to his own house, which
he approached with silent awe, expecting
every moment to hear the shrill voice of
Dame Van Wrinkle. He found the house
gone to decay, the roof fallen in, the
windows shattered, and the doors off the
hinges. A half-starved dog that looked
like Wolf was skulking about it. Rip
called him by name. but the cur snarled,
showed his teeth, and passed on. This
was an unkind cut, indeed. my very
dog" sighed poor RIP, has forgotten
mel" He entere d the house, which, to
tell the truth, Dame Van Wrinkle had
always kept in neat order. 1t was emp
w, forlorn, and apparently abandoned -
This desolateness overcame all his con-
nubial fears-he called loudly for his
wife and children-the lonely chambers
rang for moment with his voice, and
then all again was silence. He now
hurried forth, and fastened to his old
resort, the village inn; but it too was
gone. A large rickety wooden building
stood in its place, with great gaping
windows, some of them broken and
menaed with old hats and pettlcoats, and
and over the door was painted "The u
MON Hotel, by Jonathan Doolittle " In
stead of the great tree that used to shell
ter the quiet little Dutch inn of yore,
there now was reared tall naked pole,
on which was singular assemblage OF
stars and stripes. All this was strange
and incomprehensible. He recognized
ON the sign, however. the ruoy face OF
King George, under which he had smok-
ed so many a peaceful pipe but even
this was singularly metamorphosed -
The red coat was changed to one of blue
and buff, sword was held in the hand
instead of sceptre, the head was deco
rated with a cooked hat, and underneath
was painted in large characters, "GEoRcI
| WASHiNGToN.
There was, as usual, crowd OF folk
about the door, but none that Rip recol
lected. The very character Of the PEG
ple seemed changed. There was
busy busting. disputatious tone about il
instead of the accustomed phlegm IN
; drowsy tranquility. He looked in val
for the sage Nicholas Vedder, with b
j broad face, double chin, and fair lon
pipe, uttering clouds OF tobacco smok
instead of idle speeches: or Van Rumme
the schoolmaster, Goling forth the cor
tents Of an ancient newspaper. Inplac
Of these a lean, billious-looking fellow
with his pockets full of handbills, va
haranguing veEemently about rights