San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1889-01-03

Tor their amusement ull the cnltapnb on
tho tombstones, or sauntering with a
whole bevy of them along tho banks of
the adjacent mill pond, while tho moro
bashfm country pumpkins lung sheep
lshly back, cnvyiag his superior elegance
and address.
From his half itinerant life, also, he
was a kind Of travelling gazette, carrying
the whole budget Of local gossip from
house to house, so that his appearance
was always greeted with satisfaction. He
was, moreover, esteemed by the women
as man of great erudition, for he had
read several books quito through, and
was a perfect master Of Cotton Mather's
History of New England Witchcraft,"
in which, by tho way, he most firmly and
potently believed.
He was, in fact, an odd mixture Of
small shrewdness and simple credulity.
His appetite for the marvellous
and his powers Of digesting 1t
were equally extraordinary, and both
had been increased by his residence In
this spellbound region. No tale was too
gross or monstrous for his capacious
swallow. II was often his delight, after
his school was dismissed In the after
noon, to stretch himself on the rich bed
of clover, bordering the little brook TINT
whimpered by his school house, and
there con over old Mathcr's direful tales,
until the gathering dusk Of evening
made the printed page q mere mist be-
fore his eyes. Then, rs he wended his
way, by swamp and stream and awful
woodland. to the farm house where he
happened to be quartered, every sound
of nature, at that witching hour, flut-
tered his excited imagination; the moan
of tho whip-poor-will* from the hill side;
the boding cry of the tree toad, that har-
binger of storm; the dreary hooting OF
the ucreech owl; or the sudden rustling
in tho thicket of birds frightened from
their roost The fire flies, too, which
sparkled most vividly in the darkest
places, now and then startled him, as
one Of uncommon brightness would
stream across his path; and II, by
chance, huge blockhead Of beetle
came winging his laundering flight
against him, the poor varlet was ready
to give up the ghost, with the idea
that he was struck with witch's
token. His only resource on such occa-
sions, either to drown thought or drive
away evil spirits was to sing psalm tunes,
and tho good people Of Sleepy Hollow, us
they sat by their doors Of an evening,
were often filled with awe ut hearing his
nasal melody, ''in linked sweetness long
drawn out" floating from the distant
hill or along tho dusty road.
Another Of his sources OF fearful pleas
urc was, to pass long winter evenings
with tho old Dutch wives, as they sat
spinning by tho fire, with row of apples
roasting and sputtcring along the hearth,
and listen to their marvellous tales Of
ghosts, and goblins, and haunted fields
and haunted brooks, and haunted bridges
and haunted houses, and particularly of
the headless horseman, or galloping Hes
sian of the Hollow, as they sometimes
called him. He would delight them
equally by his anecdotes Of witchcraft,
and Of the dircful omens and portentous
sights and sounds In the air, which pre-
vailed in the earlier times of Connecticut;
and would frighten them wofully with
speculations upon comets and shooting
stars, and with the alarming fact that the
world did absolutely turn round, and
that they were half the time topsy turvy!
But if there was pleasure In all this,
while snugly cuddling In the chimney
corner of chamber that was oil OF q
ruddy glow from the cracking wood fire,
and where, of course, no specter dared
to show its face, 1t was dearly purchased
by the terrors of his subsequent walk
homewards. What fearful shapes and
shadows besct his path, amidst the dim
and ghastly glaro Of snowy night
With what wistful look did he eye every
trembling rny of light streaming across
tho waste fields from sonc distant win
dow How often was ho appalled, by
some shrub covered with snow, which
like sheeted spccter beset his very path!
How often did lie shrink with curdling
awe at the sound of his own steps on the
frosty crust beneath his foet, and dread
to look over his shoulder, lest he should
behold some uncouth being tramping
close behind himl And how often was
he thrown into complete dismay by some
rushing blast, bowling among the trees,
in tho idea that 1t was the gulloping Hes
sian on ono of his nightly scourings!
All these, however, were mere tcrrors
of the night, phantoms of tho mind, that
walk iii darkness; and though no had
scen many specters In his time. and been
moro than once beset by Satan In divers
shapes, in his lonely perambulations, set
daylight put an end to al these evils:
and he would have passed pleas
ant life Of 1t, in despite OF
the devil and all his works,
il his path had not been crossed by be-
ing that causes more pcrplexity to mortal
man. than ghosts, goblins and the whole
race of witches put together; and that
was-a woman.
Among tho musical disciples who as
semblcd one evening in each week to re-
ceivo his instructions In psalmody was
w.. rnoanl f1.e Ia.n1,far mud
only child OF substantial Dutch farmer.
Sho was a blooming lass Of fresh 10;
plump as n partridge; ripe and melting
and ROSY checked rs ono ef her fathers
peaches, and universally famed. not
merely for her beauty, but her vast cx-
pectations. She was withal little OF
coquette, as might be perceived even In
her dress, which was a mixture Of
ancient and modern fashions, as most
suited to set OF her charms. She wore
the ornaments Of pure yellow gold,
which her great great grandmother had
brought over from SaardaIn: the tempt
ing stoInacher of the olden time. and
withal n provokingly short petticoas, TO
display the pecttiest foot and ankle In
the country round.
Ichabod Crane had a soft and foolish
heart toward the sex: and IL Is not Co be
wondered at, that 80 tempting a morsel
soon found favor In his eyes. more espe-
cially after he had visited her In her pater-
nal mansion- Old Baltus Van 1ascl
was a perfect picture of thriving. con-
tented. liberal hearted farmer. lie sch
dom, IL IL true. sent either his eyes OF his
thoughts beyOnd the boundaries of his
own farm: but within thee. everything
v.as euu- Iarrv. and vel onndifinue-d
Re was safisfie,1 with his wealth. but no8
proud q 81; and piquci himself upon the
hearty abundance, rafl,er than the style
in which be- lived His s1rongbold WAS
situated On the lanks q tie Hudson. IN
one of tboso green. sheltered. fertile
nnol-s u which the Dufch farmers are -
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