New-York tribune., 1881-12-25
RECOLLECTIONs OF CURIOUS CHARACTERS AND
PLEASANT PLACES. Ey CHARLES LASNNN. $40.
TIiUhurpu. David UulHltH

RECOLLECTIONs or CURIOUS CHAEAC1ERs AND
PLEASANT PLACES. ~ ChAEits IAN'N s'o'
PIP. 3jl. Edinburgh: David Douglas
Mr.. Charles Lanmau, who has some reputation
not only as a careful writer but fisherman,
shows in these pleasant papers the contcnplatiye
dir position the loving eye Tor nature and the gentle
good will of the true angler. In, style is not the
less agreeable that il old-fashioned. and if ha-
not the humoI OF lrvng5 school it h4s something
Of its delicate neatness and simplicity.
Mr.. Lamman knows by heart the woodland ways,
the smell or the pine, the note OF the blue.ir, the
moonlight on the snowy spaces Of the Maine forest
the gloom of the Southern lagoon. lie says OF the
cypress in the Florida swamp
1t delights to wrap itself IN ths heavy and hoary
robes of flowing moss which seem 10 vic with the
cypress in growth the one stretching aspriugly up
and the other mOurnIully do WI Is If finding sOIcc
IN the companlonslip "i the giant trees II II he
true that many of them have been growing t0T a
Thousand years or mure their grandeur as some
traveller has asserted, bccou es a dcmouIac power
In the deeper waters which slu-gshly wind about
these swamps. IN "widcrlng mazcs lost among
the OverhangHg palmetto ana juniper thIckcts the
alligator eats and sleeps his horrld life away: the
water-mOccasn and the mammoth fatllcsnakc
crawl up and coil themselves upon the fallen and
decGyIng trees while upon the cOur-snIpcd
suckers of the cypress, which rise ont of tine water
to the height of from To ten feet the heron and
crane and other aquatic birds sit aud watch for
their shy or reptile prey So closely matted is the
foliage the horizontal limbs far above that there
sun IS brightly shlning ana as you pass along IN a
rude canoe, you may a vine biz as the cable of a
ship sweeping mp like serpent into the top OF a
great cypress as If to take its lie. while another
Kill dart across from limb TO limb If pursuing
phantom bird, aud others will come gracefully
bending down TO within your reach, as if tempting
you to make leap and SWING yourself TO slocp. AZ
times a mOuldy and oppressive OdOr, born of the
routing trees and the rank green which cover
Them pervades the entire atmosphere; but near by
you find cluster Of magnolia trees IN full bloom,
aud as you ap?ro1ch you Will bc quite ovcrpOwercd
by their intense fragrance. placed there u may be,
by the kindly hand of nature rs an antidotc to the
OOrs inst inhaled. But the deepest Impressions are
those of grandeur and gloon; and when you gaze
upon the maryellously beautiful flowers winch hang
in lestOOns on every side, they have Kind OF spec
trail hue, and seem 10 lmplOrc you to carry them
away from the surrounding dcsolaton.
Mr.. Lanman's essays Oh men aud affairs are less
successful than his forest sketches, but scattered
here and there are rccollections interesting i'm
matter if not in manner. In paper ou the Amcri-
can Straford he recalls of the romantic stories
OF Corrccticut:
At the mcrcemert OF the present century
young man made hl- appearance III the village and
spent few weeks at the tavern which then existed
TO afford shelter 10 staEecOaCh travellers. Whence
he came and what his business none could gurs5
Directly opposite the tavern stood the small cottage
and the forge of q blacksmith named Folsom. He
had daughter who was the beauty Of the village
and il her fortune 10 Captiyatr the heart of the
young stranger. lie told his love- said that hr was
from Scotland, that be was travelling mc0g, but IN
confidence gave her his real name, claiming that he
was heir to a large fOrtuge. She returned his love
and they were married. few weeks thereafter the
stranger told his wife that he must visit New
Orleans he did So and tie gpssIps OF the town
made the young wife unhappy by their disagree
able hints and iceIs. In few months the husband
returned, but before a week had elapsed be re-
ceved large budget Of letters and told his wife
that lie must al once return to England, aud must
90 alone lie took his departure, and the gO,sips
had another glorious opportunity to make a conlid-
ing woman wretched. 10 all but herself it was
clear case of desertiOn; the wife became mother,
and for two years lived on in silence and in hope.
At the end OF shat time letter received by the
StratlOd beauty from her husband, directing her
TO 60 at once TO NewYork with her child, taking
nothing with her but the clothes she wore and
embark in n ship for her home in England. On her
arrival IN NewYork she found ship spendidly
furnished with every convenience and luxury for
her comfort, and two servants ready TO obey every
wish that she might express The ship lnly arrived
in England, and the StIatord girl became the mis-
tress of n superb mansion, and, as the wife of a
barOneL was known as Lady Stirling Of Gorat
On the death of her husband many wears ago, the