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

4
The appearances Of Rip, with bis lon
grizzled beard, bis rusty fowIing-piece
his uncouth dress, and the army Of wo
men and children that had gathered !
lis heels, soon attracted the attention q
the tavern politicians. They crowde.
round, eyeing him from head to foot vii
l greet - The crater busted up d
him, and drawing him partly aside in
qaired "On which side he vpsed :" RI
stared IN vacant stupidity. Another shof
but busy little fellow pulled him o. Ii
arm, and, rising on tiptoe, inluired Ii b
ear !. " neither he was FedesAl c. Demo
Graf Zip vas equally ala loss L
comprehend the question:; whe.S = know.
ms seIfeimporfaat clsl gentlersarl, in !
sharp Cooked -. nade his way through
80 eEQe8 patging Them 70 the sight AMI
- elbows Is he passed. and
! himself before Zip Var 1Finkle,
ln skinbo, the other resl;na
90 his keen eyes and SHARP =
penelra = II we're. III
seazS. demanded ii IN ass<f
hrou8.s hisn 20 the ii
Il b. 0nlder, aid
and lle her e meant
fiht III TIE x1lIaees1 Alas -
cried Rip, somewhat disn1arekl
poor quiet man, native of
and . layal subject OF the
bless him.
Here genes shout oIrsf :
bysiandess - TORI -. 5
ilsf6Itanf man in the cocked-hs
ed order, and, having assumed q
austerity Of brow, demanded agsinl6Tz
unknown culprit what he came there for
and whom he was seeking. The poor
man humbly assured him that he meant
no harm, but merely came there in search
of some of his neighbors who used to
keep about the tavern.
'ssYell, who are they:-name them"
Up bethought himself for a moment,
and inquired, "Where's Nicholas We'd
der:"
There was silence for little whiIea
when an old man replied, in piping
voice
Nicholas Vedder s-why. he is dad
and gone these eighteen years! Thee
was a-wooden tombstone in the church,
yard that used to tell all about hmm, but
that's rotten and gone too
where's Brom butcher :"
"Oh he went off to the army in the
beginning of the war; some say he was
killed at the storming of Stony Point
others say that he was drowned in squat
at the foot OF Antony's Nose. ] don't
know; he never came back again.
Where's Van Bummel, the school,
master 20
ale went to the wars, too, was great
militia general, and is now in Congress-
Rips heart died away at hearing of
these sad changes in his home and friends,
and finding himself thus alone in the
world. Every answer puzzled him, too,
by treating of such enormous lapses Of
time, and of matters which he could not
understand; war, Congress. Stony Point;
fren aG but cried out % an n Despair Boes
any body here know Rip Van Winkle?
..Oh! Rip Van Wrinkle - exclaimed two
or three of the men. "oh! to De sure
that's Rip Van Wrinkle, yonder, leaning
against the tree"
Rip looked, and beheld precise coun-
terpart of himself as he went up the
mountain; apparently as lazy, and cer-
tainly as ragged The poor fellow was
now completely COMPOUNDED. He doubted
his own identity, and whether he was
himself or another man. In the midst OF
his bewilderment, the man in the cooked
hat demanded who he was, and what was
his name:
"God knows!" exclaimed he at his
wits end, aim not myself-Fm some
body else-that's me yonder-no, that's
somebody else got into my shoes-l was
myself last night, but fell asleep on the
mounta n, and they've changed my gun,
and everything's changed. and I'm chasag-
ed, and can't tell what's nay name, or
who am y
The bystanders began now to look at
each other, nod. wink significantly and
tap their fingers against their iorehe ads.
There was a whisper, also, about secur-
ing the gun and keeping the old fsisov
from doing mischie.s, at the very suggss-
ton of which the self-important man u
the cooked hat retired with some preelns
itation. At this critical moment lfesll
comely woman pressed Through the
throng to get peep at the grey-beardec
man. She had . chubby child in be-
aims, which, frightened at bis looks. be.
gan - cry. 'Ifush, Rip" she cried
s.hush you little fool; the old man won
hurt you.'' The name Of the child, th'
air Of the mother, Tie tone of her voice
at awakened train Of recollectious i
his mind. What Is your name, m.
| good .woma asked he.
| ssyudith asaer.s :
80 your II her's manner"
/ poor nien, his name was -
i Van ssihkle izBstwenty years since b
went away from home with - gnnssan
never has been heard Of sinee--his ID
came home without hin; but whether I
shot himself or was carried OF - Ind