The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-11-01


went away from home with his gun, and
never has been heard of since,-his dog
came home without him; but whether he
shot himself, or was carried away by the
Indians, nobody can tell was then but q
little girl.'
Rip had but one question more to ask
but he put it with a faltering voice:
Where's your mother?''
ooh, she too had died but a short time
since; she broke a bloodvessel in fit OF
passion at a New England pedler."
There was drop of comfort, at least, in
this intelligence. The honest man could
contain himself no longer. He caught his
daughter and her child in his arms. 81
am your father?" cried he" Young Rip
Van Wrinkle once-old Rip Van Wrinkle
now Does nobody know poor Rip Van
Winklee''
All stood amazed, until an old woman,
tottering out from among the crowd, put
her hand to her brow, and peering under
it in his face for a moment, exclaimed,
"Sure enough it is Rip Van Winkle-it
is himself! Welcome home again, old
neighbor. Why, where have you been
these twenty long years ~
Rips story was soon told, for the whole
twenty years had been to him but as one
night. The neighbors stared when they
heard it; some were seen to wink at each
other, and put their tongues in their cheeks:
and the self-impoltant nan in the cooked
hat, who, when the alarm was over, had
returned to the field, screwed down the
corners of his mouth, and shook his head
upon which there was general shaking
of the head throughout the assemblage.
1t was determined, however, to take the
opinion of old Peter Vanderdonk, who was
seen slowly advancing up the road. He
was descendant of the historian of that
name, who wrote one of the earliest ac-
counts of the province. Peter was the
most ancient inhabitant of the village, and
well versed in all the wonderful events and
traditions of the neighborhosd. He recol-
lected Rip at once, and corroborated his
story in the most satisfactory manner. He
assured the company that it was a fact,
handed down from his ancestor the histor-
ian, that the Kaatskill mountains had
always been haunted by strange beings
That it was affirmed that the great Hen
drick Hudson, the first discoverer of the
river and country, kept kind of vigil
there every twenty years, with his crew Of
the Halfmoon; being permitted in this
way to revisit the scenes of his enterprise,
and keep guardian eye upon the river
and the great city called by his name.
That his father had once seen them in
their old Dutch dresses playing at nine
pins in hollow OF the mountain; and that
he himself had heard, one summer after
noon, the sound of their balls, like distant
peals of thunder.
To make long story short, the company
broke up and returned to the more import
ant concerns of the election. Rips daugh-
ter took him home to live with her; she
had a snug, well-furnisbed house. and a
stout, CHEEKY farmer for a husband, whom
Rip recollected for one of the urchins that
used to climb upon his back. AS to Rips
son and heir, who was the ditto Of himself,
seen leaning against the tree, he was en-
ployed to work on the farm; but evinced
hereditary disposition to attend to any
thing else but his business.
Rip now resumed his old walks and hab-
its; he soon found many of his former
cronies, though all rather the worse for the
wear and tear of time; and preferred max
ing friends among the rising generation,
with whom he soon grew into great favor.
Having nothing to do at home, and being
arrived at that happy age when man can
can be idle with impunity, he took his
place once more on the bench at the inn
door, and was reverenced as one of the
patriachs of the village, and chronicle of
the old times "before the war;" 1t was
some time before he could get into the reg
ular track of gossip, or could be made to
comprehend the strange events that had
taken place during his torpor. How that
there had been revolutionary war,-that
England, and that, instead of being a
subject of his Majesty George the Third,
he was now free citizen Of the United
States Rip, in fact, was no politician; the
changes of states and empires made but
little impression on him; but there was one
species of despotism under which he had
long groaned, and that was-petticoat gov
eminent. Happily that was at an end; he
had got his neck out of the yoke of matri-
mony, and could 60 in and out whenever
he pleased, without dreading the tyranny
of Dame Van Wrinkle. Whenever her
name was mentioned, however, he shook
his head, shrugged his shoulders, and cast
up his eyes; which might pass either for
an expression of resignation to his fate, or
Joy at his deliverance.
He used to tell his story to every stranger
that arrived at Mr.. Doolittle's hotel. He
was observed, at first, to vary on some
points every time he told it, which was,
doubtless, owing to his having SO recently
awaked. 1t at last settled down precisely
to the tale l have related, and not man,
woman, or child in the neighborhood but
knew it by heart. Some always pretended
to doubt the reality of it, and insisted that
Rip had been out of his head, and that
this was one point on which he always
remained Tightly. The old Dutch innabit-
ants, however, almost universally gave it
full credit. Even to this day they never
hear a thunder storm of summer after
noon about the Kaatskill, but they say
Hendrick Hudson and his crew are at their
game of ninepins; and it is a common wish
of all hen pecked husbands in the neigh
borhood, when life hangs heavy on their
hands, that they might have a quoting
draught out of Rip Van Wrinkles tlagon.
SETTLING IN KANsAs.-Thomas Pulli-
man, La Grange, Oldham county, Ken
lucky, writes to the Neu York Times: 81
expect to start next Spring for Kansas
with two German families, industrious but
poor Where am l to go Tor good land,
water, and timber? And where can
locate a homestead on Government land
Can get homestead, put a family on it,
mt nm a house. and hold the land in nv