The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-09-11

he had visited the paternal roof and be-
held the prosperity of old Baltus Van
Tassel, the father of the siren.
The stronghold of old Baltus was
situated on the banks of the river In
one of those green and sheltered hooks
| of which the old Dutch farmers were
so fond A great elm tree spread its
shade over the roof and at. the foot OF
| the tree a spring of the purest anc
softest water bubbled up in wei
made of barrel sunk in the earth
and then stole sparkling away through
the grass to a neighbortng brook that
ran below alders and dwarf willows
to empty into the river beyond With
in everything was snug. happy and
we'll conditioned.
Farmer Baltus piqued himself upon
the hearty abundance rather than the
style in which he lived. From the great
farm near the farm house the sound
of the fails came from morning to
night, and the great structure was
fairly bursting with the treasures OF
the farm. Fleets of ducks and squad
rons of geese floated upon the surface
of a neigh boring pond, while regiments
of turkeys and small armies of hens
and guinea fowl meandered about the
ba inward. Then there were fat pork
ers and everything else that can be
ina gined to make the mouth of Icha-
bod Crane water as he thought of the
possibilities of winter fare which they
set forth by their presence. AS he
cast his eyes over the meadows and
fields and orchards and saw the abund-
ance thereof, the heart of Ichabod
yearned toward the comely damsel VIII o
was to inherit all this; and he even
went so far as to calculate how these
fair possessions might be turned into
cash and invested in immense tracts of
land and single palaces in the western
wilderness.
The schoolmaster determined to win
the prize, but in this undertaking he
found that he had more real Difficult
ties to encounter than generally fell
to the lot Of knight-errant of yore.
who seldom had anything except fiery
dragons, giants, sorcerers and such like
easy adversaries to encounter and only
had to make his way through gates of
brass and walls of adamant to the
castle keep where his lady was con-
ily as a man would carve his way to
the very center of a Christmas pie.
Then the lady gave ahim her hand as
matter of course 4.
But poor Ichabod had to win his way
to the heart of coquette through a
labyrinth of whims and caprices and to
encounter a host of real flesh and
lusty farm lads of the neighborhood,
Katrinas admirers, who beset every
portal to her heart and, keeping a
Jealous and watchful eye upon each
other, were ready to fly out in com
mon cause against any new aspirant.
Among these was veritable giant to
be overcome one Abraham or "Brom"
ing. broad shouldered, double jointed
fellow with curly black hair, blue but
not unpleasing countenance overbear-
ing and ready to fight at the drop of
the hat, but good natured and waggish
withal, who was sort of leader among
the young men Of the region as were
inclined to frolic or adventure. lie
had two or three boon companions
with whom he used to scour the coun-
try, attending every scene of feud. or
merrymaking for miles around. Some
times his crew would be heard dashing
along the road past the farm house
at midnight, yelling like a band of
turned in bed, would say: There goes
Brom Bones and his gangs" His great
frame had given him the name Of
Bones" He was looked upon with
mixture of awe. admiration and good
will and when any madcap prank or