Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1876-01-21
by NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE


by NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
We can be but partially acquainted with
the events which actually influence our
course through life aud our final destiny.
There are innnmerablo other events-if
such they may be called-which come close
upon us, yet pass away without actual re-
suits, or even betraying their near approach
by the reflection Of any light or shadow
across our minds. Could we know all the
vicissitudes Of our fortunes, life would be
too full of hope and fear, exultation or dis
appointment, 10 afford us a single hour of
true serenity. This idea may be illustrat-
ed by page from the secret history Of Da-
vid Swan.
We have nothing 10 do with David until
we find him, at the age of twenty, on the
high-road from his native place TO the city
OF Boston, where his uncle, small dealer
in the grocery line, was to take him behind
the counter. BE it enough to say, that lie
was native of New Hampshire, born OF
respectable parents, and had received an
ordinary school education, with a classic
finish by year at Gilmanton Academy.
hllGl JUL Oh lOOb
nearly noon of Summers day, his weari-
ness and the increasing heat determined
him TO sit down in the first convenient
shade, and wait the coming up OF the Stage
coach. As If planted on purpose for him,
there soon appeared a little tuft Of naples,
with delightful recess in the midst, and
such fresh buhbling spring, that it SEEM
ed never to have sparkled for any wayfarer
but David Swan. Virgin or not. he kissed
it with his thirsty lips, and then hung him
self along the brink, pillowing his head up
on some shirts and a pair OF pantaloons,
tied mp in a striped cotton handkerchief
The sunbeams could not reach him the
dust did not yet rise from the road, amer
the heavy rain of yesterday and his grassy
lair suited the young man better than .
bed OF down. The spring murmured
drowsily beside him the branches waved
dreamily across the blue sky overhead (;
and deep sleep, perchnnce hiding dreams
within its depths, fell upon David Swan.
But we are TO relate events he did not
dream of.
While he lay sound asleep in the shade,
other people were wide awake, and passed
to and fro, afoot, on horseback, and in all
sorts OF vehicles, along the sunny road by
his bedchamber. Some looked neither to
the right hand nor to the len, and knew
not that he was there; some merely glanced
that way, without admitting the slumberer
among their busy thoughts; some laughed
to see how soundly he slept; and several,
whose hearts were brimming full of scorn,
elected their venomous supeTfiuiiy ON Da-
vid Swan. A middle aged widow, when
nobody else W as near, thrust her head lit
tie way into the recess, and vowed that the
young fellow looked charming in his sleep.
A temperance lecturer saw him, and
wrought poor David into the texture Of his
evenings discourse, as an awful instance
of dead drunkenness 10y the roadside But
censure, praise, merriment, scorn and in-
| difference were all one, or rather all moth
ing to David Swan.
lie had slept only few moments, when
brown carriage, drawn by handsome
pair OF horses, bowled easily along, and
was brought to a stand-still nearly in front
of David's resting-place. A linchpin had
fallen out, and permitted one of the wheels
occasioned merely momentary alarm to
an elderly merchant and his wife, who
were returning TO Boston in the carriage
While the coachman and a servant were re-
placing the wheel, the lady and gentleman
sheltered themselves beneath the maple
trees, and there espied the bubbling fOun-
tain, and David Swan asleep beside it. Im-
pressed with the awe the humblest sleeper
sheds around, the merchant lrod as lightly
as the gout would allow and his spouse
took good heed not to rustic her silk gown,
lest David should start up all of a sudden.
"How soundly he sleepsr' whispered
the old gentleman. "From what a depth
he draws that easy breath Such sleep as
that, brought on without opiate, would be
worth more 10 me than half my income /;
for it would suppose health aud an untroub-
led mind"
"And youth BESIDES" said the lady.
"Healthy and quiet age does not sleep thus.
Our slumber is no more like his than our
wakefulness."
The longer they looked, the more did
this elderly couple feel interested in this
unknown youth, to whom the wayside and
the maple shade were us a secret chamber,
with the rich gloom of damask curtains
brooding over him. Perceiving that a
stray sunbeam glimmered down upon his
face, the lady contrived TO twist a branch
aside so as TO intercept II. And having
done this little act of kindness, she began
to feel like a mother to him.
providence seems to have laid him
here" whispered she TO her husband, land
to have brought US hlther 10 1ud him after
J our disappointment In our cousins son.