Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-05-23
HANS ANDERSON.

an editorship on The Yale Literary Magazine, of
which William NJ. Evarts, 81, was founder.
The article appeared in the July number of the
magazine for that year. Chauncey was then in
his junior year at Yale, and like many of his dis
tinguished contemporaries and former class
mates aspired to the literary honors of the class
an aspiration somewhat more uncommon among
college men of the present day. The class chose
the editors of the magazine by ballot
Col John Mason Brown, the distinguished law
yer of Kentucky, recently deceased, was Depew's
classmate and foremost rival In the issue of the
magazine just previous to the election the follow
ing story by Depew appeared
The class was favorably impressed. but Brown,
who possessed considerable literary ability, sue
ceeded in getting most votes.
Depew bore his defeat maufully but afterward
took revenge by defeating his former rival in a
contest for the speakership of the College Debat-
ing society
Avaunt and quit my sight, let earth hide thee
Thy bones are marrowcss, thy blood is cold
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes,
Which thou dost glare with!-Shakespeare.
Governor Tryon:
SIR-Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant in your mai
esty's service, was taken in my camp as a spy he
was tried Il spy. lie was condemned as a SPY,
be will be hanged as n spy
Respectfully your obedient servant,
ISRAEL PUTNAM.
p. S.-He is hanged
American History.
It was near the hour of sunset; one of
those autumnal sunsets which in the High
lands of the Hudson, by their peculiarly
tranquil mildness ana beauty, throw a slls-
ceptible nature into "A dreamy yet nervous
sort of trance, and which make the old hills
and hoary mountain sides seem far within
the boundary line of the dim shadow land,
that a figure in the prime of youth and
strength might have been seen leaning, as
If wearied with his days toll pensively
upon his rake, on one of those slopes which,
rolling down gradual descent for miles,
finally leave their green edges in the river
He appeared to be musing, for Hans An
derson, though he was courageous and had
done good service in the early part of the
revolutionary struggle then pending, was
still IA solitary and thoughtful man. His
countenance had none of the sharp angles
of one of your analytic minds which dwell
with intensity upon the veriest minutiR
of a subject, but the full rounded face of
one whose thoughts were his pastime, and
who, having caught the goblin like form
of an idea, however wild, shadowy or TO-
mantle, let it fit like a pleasing but unsta-
bic Ariel through his brain and give place
to another rs useless and grotesque
Perhaps he was regarding old Sol, who,
sinking behind the green yet rugged
heights of Dunderberg, gave a good night
kiss to the evening sky, which, coy and
maiden like, blushed crimson upon the
spot where the loving salute had been adj
ministered; and the color spreading over
its surface, grew almost imperceptibly
DINNER, until merged in its own deep
azure blue, yet all suffused with the soft
ened and subdued light of modest pleasure;
and thought with pride as he gazed that
the delicate tints given to the Italian sky
by the poets and travellers he had read did
not even equal this his own mountain sun
set
Or may be he was admiring the vast ey-
tent and unrivaled beauty of hill, valley,
mountain and rivers spread out before him,
and wondering as he watched the serpen-
tine course of the Hudson as it narrowed
and disappeared behind some green prom
ontory, or spread into a broad, deep,
placid bay beneath, whether the waters
would not roll more swiftly, and the rip
pies send forth gladder murmur, when
that liberty for which his countrymen were
then Struggling and of which, as was usual
with him, he had but IA vague and shadowy
ever may have been his meditations. a
change seemed to come over his thoughts
and turning quickly he gazed long and in
tently at an old oak which crowned the hill
in his rear. And well might he gaze, for
this tree marked an epoch in the life of
Hans. Upon its lower limb, then in full
view, he had assisted on "A cold, drizzly
morning i'll hanging a young, promising,
handsome British officer, who, caught n
spy III the camp had been condemned to die
without mercy by the indOmitable Putnam.
With his own hands he had frightened
the cord about the victims throat-with
his own ears he had heard the muttered,
ngonized prayer of the poor wretch-with
his own eyes witnessed the death struggle.
the writing frame, the livid corpse. As
he looked the imagination of Hans pictured
n cord and the outlines of form barely
visible. Doubling the evidences of his
senses, he rubbed his eyes, glanced again,
and beheld the officer suspended exactly as
he WAS on that eventful morning
His flesh fairly tingling with horror, he
wheeled round, shook his powerful frame
to convince himself that he was awake and
ventured another view. OH who can de-
scribe his speechless terror rs tie corpse
deliberately lifted its hands, united the
dedlH huOt anu lowered USeIf gently to the
earthf A moment il seemed uncertain
what to do, but it was only for moment;
for with an erect port and military step it
marched straight for the spot where stood,
or rather tottered, the Mortified Hans.
The very terrible and unearthly char.
acter OF the adventure appeared to fasci.
nate him, though struggling against il
with the energy of desperation. lie would
have fled, but his limbs refused to do their
office; he would have tainted, but very
fright sharpened his faculties; he would
have shouted, but an incubus of terror
weighed upon his tongue and clogged his
utterance. Narrower and narrower grew
the space which divided Hans and the
corpse. His dead, leaden eyeballs were
staring steadily at his own. He even
marked the livid veal about the neck and
the deep, black indentures on the wrists
But on, calmly, deliberately, awfully on, it
came until within few feet, and stone
wall separated them. Hans could endure
1T no longer; with one mighty effort he
cried or rather shrieked, For Gods sake,