Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1858-05-14

o wild mountain side, and was right glad
e near the rough murmur of tongues, and foo
{ steps OF what seemed pretty numero,
party, stumbling over the stones and rus
d ling through the under-brush. soon n,
e poarcd the whole lazy regiment that wa
G wont to invest the village tavern. comnro
g hending three or four individuals who ba
k drank Hip beside the bar-room fire tbrour
d all the winters. and smoked their pipes be
c meath the stoop through all the summers
e since Ethan Brands departure. Laughin
| b'sterously, and mingling all their voice
: together IN unceremonious talk, they no,
. burst INTO the moonshine and narrow streak
e OF fire light that Illuminated the open spac
| before the limc-kiln. Bertram set the doc
, alar again, flooding the spot with light, tha
, inc inc whole company might get a fair view o
Ethan Brand, and he of them
There, among other old acquaintanccs wa
once ubiquitous man, now almost extinct
put whom we were formerly sure to encount
cr at the hotel of every thriving village
throughout the country. 1t was the stage
agent. The present specimen of the geniu.
was wiltcd and smoke dried man, wrinkled
and red nosed, in smartly cut brown bob.
tailed coat, with brass buttons, who, for a
length OF time unknown, had kept his desk
ana corner in the bar-room, and was still
puinng what seemed to be the same cigar
that he had lighted twenty years ago lie
had great ftme as IL dry,jokcr, though, per-
maps, less ON account of any intrinsic hunier,
than from certain flavor of brandy toddy
and tobacco smoke which impregnated all his
ideas and expressions, as well as his person.
Another well remembered, though strange
~ altered face was that of Lawyer Giles, as
people still called him in courtesy-an elder
ly ragamufhn, i'll his soiled shirt sleeves and
tow-linen trowers. The poor fellow had
peen an attorney once in his day-a sharp
practitioner, and in great vogue among the
village litigants but fip, and sling, and tod
dy, and cocktail imbibed at all hours
morning, noon and night-had caused him to
slide from the various kinds and degrees of
bodily labor, till at last, to adopt his own
phrase, ne slid into soap vat. In other
words, GILES was now a soap-boiler in a small
way. lie had come to be but the fragment
oi human being-a part of on foot chop
ped OF by an AK, and an entire hand torn
away by the devilish grip of steam m-engine.
Yet though the corporeal hand was gone. a
| spiritual member remained for stretch
ing forth the stump, Giles steadfastly avcrred
that he ielt an invisible thumb and finger
with us vivid sensation as before the real
one was amputated. A manned and misera
ple wretch he was; but one nevertheless
whom the world could not trample, and had
no right to scorn, either in this or any pre-
vious stage of his misfortunes, since he had
still kept up the courage and spirit ofa man.
asked nothing in charity, and with his one
hand-and that the left one-fought in stern
battle against want and hostile circumstan
ceS.
Among the throng, too, came another per-
sonage, who with certain points of similarity
To Lawyer Giles, had many more of differ
encc' 1t was the village doctor, a man of
some fifty years, whom, at an early period OF
his life, we should have introduced as paving
a professional visit to Ethan Brand during
the latter supposed insanity. lie was now
purpled-visaged, rude and brutal, yet half
gcntlemanly figure, with something wild,
ruined and desperate in his talk, and in ali
the details Of his gesture and manners.
Brandy possessed this man like an evil spirit,
and made him as surly and savage as Il wild
b. ast, and as miserable as a lost soul but
therC was supposed to be in him such won
deriul skill, such native gifts of healing, be-
yond any which medical science could impart
that society caught hold of him, and would
not let him sink out of its reach. So, sway
ing to and fro on his horse, and grumbling
thick accents at the bedside, he visited all
the sick chambers for miles about among the
the mountain towns, and sometimes raised a
dying man, as it were by miracle, or quite
as often, no doubt, sent his patient to the
grave that was dug many years too soon.
The doctor had an everlasting pipe in his
mouth and as somebody said, in alluson to
ms habit OF swearing. it was always alight
with hell fire.
These three worthless pressed forward, and
greeted Ethan Brand each after his own FASH
ion. earnestly inviting him to partake of the
contents OF IA certain black bottle, in which,
as they averred, he would find something
far better worth seeking for than the Unpar-
donable Sin. No mind which has wrought
itself, by intense and solitary meditation into
high state Of enthusiasm, can endure this
kind of contact with low and vulgar modes
of thought and feeling, to which Ethan
Brand was now subjected. 1t made him
doubt, and strange to say, it was painful
doubt, whether he had indeed found the
objectionable Sin, and found it within him
sell. The whole question on which he OK
hausted life, and more than life, looked lik
a delusion.
"Leave me, he said bitterly, ye brute
beasts, that have made yourselves so by
shrivelling up your souls with fiery liquors!
| have done with you. Years and years ago
groped into your hearts and found nothing
there for my purpose Get ye gone! -
'Why, you uncivil scoundrel," cried the
fierce doctor, sis that the way you respond
to the kindness of youi best friends? Then
let me tell you the truth. You have no
more found the objectionable Sin than yon-
der boy Joe has. You are but crazy fellow
told you so twenty years ago neither bet
ter nor worse than crazy fellow, and the
fit companion for old Humphrey here
Hn tod tAa IL Il. . l.
with long white hair, thin visage and un-
steady eyes. For some years past this aged
person had been wandering about among the
hills, inquring of all travellers whom he met
for his daughter. The girl. it seems had
gone off with company of circus perfor-
mers, and occasionally tidings of her came
to the village, and fine stories were told of
her glittering appearance as she rode on
horse back in the ring or performed marvel
lous feats on the tight-rope.
The white-haired father now approached
Ethan Brand, and gazed unsteadily into his
face.
"They tell me you have been all over the
earth said he, wringing his hands with ear
nestness "You must have seen my daugh-
ter, for she makes great figure in the world,
and every body goes to see her. Did she
send any word to her old father, or say when
she is coming back?"
Ethan Brands eyes qualed beneath the old
mans. That daug hter, from whom he 50
earnestly desired a word of greeting, Ethan
Brand had made the subject Of psychological
experiment, and wasted, perhaps annihilated,
her soul in the process.
Yes murmured he, turning away from the
hoary wanderer, " it is no delusion. There
is an objectionable Sin !"
While these things were passing, merry
scene was going forward in the area of a
cheerful light, beside the spring, and before
the door Of the hut