Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1867-11-01

earth shuddcrcd at the spot where inno-
cent blood had been shed. Some fearful
deed. it was said, had doubtless been done
there. 1t was thought by some, that Il
child had been strangled and thrown into |
the quagmire by its unnatural -'nother
and by others, that a traveller had been
murdered there. for the sake Of his money !
Nobody cared. after dark, to travel the !
road, which formerly wound about the base
of this hhk and thu kept longer beside
the eagc OF the fen than it does now. ii
remember being dawn once or twice by
curiosity to visit the place. in company
with another lad Of my age. We stole in
silence along the o!d logs, spc; king to each
other in whispers. and our hair stood oD
end at the sight Of the white bones lying
about. They were the bones Of cattle,
who had sunk into the mire, and cou d not
be dragged out, or had pcrished before they
we've found. There is q stary about that
spot" continued the old man, (which ii
may be worth your while to hear, and if
YOU will please 10 be seated on this rock, !
will tell it,
There was something in the old mans
conversation which denoted degree of
intelligence and education superior to what
| expected from his appearance. l was
curi0ns to know what sort of story would
follow such an introduction sat down,
therefore. by his side, ON the edge Of the
rock, and he went on as follows;
1T is a story that heard from my
grandmother, a good old Dutch lady. be-
longing to family Of the first settlers of
the place. The Dutch from the North
River, and the Yankees from the Connec.
ticut came into the valley about the same
time. and settled upon these rich meadows.
Which were tic first corners. am unable
to tell l have heard different accounts Of
the matter. but the traditieas of the utch
families give the priority to their own an
cestors, and am inclined to think them in
the right: for, although it was not nncom
mon, in those days, for the restless Yankee
to settle in nelgkborhood OF Dutchmcn,
yet it was rare thing for the quiet HOl-
lander voluntarily to plant himself in the
midst Of a bustling Yankee sst:lement.-
However this may be. it is certain, that,
about ninety years ago, a little neighbor-
hood had been formed of the descendants
of both the emigrants from Holland and
those from England. At first. the differ
cut Iatts ioohcu souiiv uPou tdCh otHei '
but the daily sight of each others kind
ness and assistance soon brought them to
live upon friendly terms. The Dutchman
learned to salute his neighhor in bad En-
glish, and the Yankee began to make ad
yances toward driving q bargain in worse
Dutch.
Jacob, or, as he was commonly called.
YOk SuydaIn, was one Of these early Dutch
planters, and Jcdidiah Williams. his neigh.
Dor. one of the first Yankees whG sat down
| or the banks Of this river. Williams was
a man of a hard conntcnancc and severe
manners, who had been DEACON Of the
church in the parish he had left, and who
did not as have known some people do,
forget his religion when it ceased to be OF
any service to hiu in his worldly concerns.
He was as graye in his demeanor, as guard
ed in his speech, and as constapt in, his de-
votions. as ever, Notwithstanding that
these qualities in his character were less
priced in his new situation than they had
been in Connecticut The place had ss yet
no minister; but Williams contrived to
collect every SuIIay few of the neigh
bors at his house to pcrfurm the weekly
worship. On a still summer morning you
might hear him doling out portion of
the Scriptures, or reading a sermon of some
godly divine of the day, in sortof nasal
recitation. WHICH could be distinguished
swelling over the noises of lis pigs and
poultry, at the distance of quarter of
mile from his dwelling, Honest Yok read
his Bible too. hut he read it ia Dutch. and
excused himself from attending the meet
ings at Williams house. on account of his
ignorance of the language in which the ex
crcises were held. Instead, however, of
c0nGning himself to the house during the
whole Sunday like Williams, he would
sometimes stray out iIt2 his fields. to look
at his cattle and his crops, ani was known
once or twice to lie down on the grcss un-
der tree, in the corner of one oil his en-
closures, where the rustling of his Indian
corn. and the hum of the bees among the
pumpkin blossoms, would put hinisto sleep.
The rest of the day, when the weather was
fine. be passed IN smoking his pipe under
rude kind of piazza in front of his house,
looking out over the rich meadows which
he had lately cleared Of their wood, or lis
teninS to ! chapter of the New Testament,
read to him by one Of his daughters. He
was also less guarded in his language
than tui.ed the precise IL tons OF Wilt
ans; the words .duyvel' or ''donner,"
or some such unnecessary exclamation;
would siten slip out of his mouth in the
haste of conve saton. But there was
another practice of Yok's, which was still
less to the taste of his neighbor. As was
the case With most of the Dutch plante. s
at that time, his house swarmea with negro
domcstics, and among the merry, sleek
faced blacks, that jabbered Dutch and ate
sour crout in his kitchen, there was one
who could play tolerably on the fiddle
Yok did no. suffer tl.is talent to lie use
less. On every New Years eve, and not
on that alone, but on many long and
bright winter evening that followed it.,
when the snow looked whittier than ever in
the moonlight, and you could see tho little
wedges of frost floating and glisteaing in
the air, the immense fireplace in the long
kitchen was piled with dry hickory, the
negro Orpheus was mounted on a high
bench. and the brawny youths and ruddy
girls Of the place danced to the music till
the cocks crew. Yok's own daughters,
the pretticst maidens that ever ran in the
woods of new settlement, were allowed
to acquit themselves exceedingly well en-
these occasions; but the performances of
Yok himself extorted universal admira-
ton. Old as te was, and he did pot lack
many winters of sixty, whenever he came
on the floor. which was generally just be-
fore the breaking up of the revel, the
youngest and most ACTIVE Of his guests &C
knoWledged themselves outdone. He exc
euted the double shuttle with incredible
Il a-t a. l. 81. ~