Year: 1862

projection there-all moss-grown and


covered with creepers, and shaded by


giant elms and wiilows-was that of


Judge Thornton, in the quiet New


England town Of Rcadville 1t stood


apart from the little manufacturing


village, perhaps half mile, on the


summit OF high hill that sheltered


from the East wind the cluster of


houses that circled around the noisy


waters that went tumbling over the


dam, laughing gleefully as they fell


into the pool below, or glided with


solemn, yet swift footsteps, down thro'


the dark fume, and tumblsd headlong


on fhe great wheel, which, in its revo-


lutions, put all the machinery of fhe


broad mill in motion, and gave work


to many fair, pale faced mill girl,


whose loved friends resided in the


quiet town, and who shook their heads


al the clattering mill whose innovation


upon their primitive ways they dislik-


ed, for factories in those days were not
so common as now.


The house was a large, roomy edifice,
built just prior to the Revolution, by
a British officer; who, after serving
his country well, retired from the army
and snigrated to America, accomps-
MED by his wife, who was we'll ad-
vanced in years, as was her husband
also. Possessing a large fortune, he
bought the wide-spreading estates, and
built the mansion that was known in
Readville and all the country around
as Thornton House and Place.


For years in those primitive times it
went round that Ma or Thornton was
beautifying his place, by planting
thickly around the mansion all those
sort Of trees that flourish best in our
Northern climate and when at last
the old Major and his wife, after ar
irving at a green old age, laid down
their time-worn armor and ceased to
struggle in the great Battle of Life; ;
the trees of their own planting cast
shadows so thickly, that the golden
tipped arrows of the sun, strove in vain
to rest on the sable bier of the depart
ed, as it stood before the hall door,
holding all that was earthly of the
proud owners of the stately house, for
their friends and neighbors to take
last look, ere the iron door of theItomb
closed them out forever from the, light
of the sun. -


No child left Major Thoraton to in
herit his estates; but. after he had
gone out forever from his threshold, a
will was found, beGueathing all to a
nephew who bore his name. The
young heir had come to Thornton
House about year previous to the
death Of his uncle, and took up his
abode there, and at the age Of twenty
eight he found himself owner of the
Thornton Estates. Not long after, he
married lady Of estimable worth
but no children were granted them
and as the years passed ON, all hopes
of the much coveted boon died out,
and it seemed as if the lives of the
old Major and his wife were to be
re-enacted in his successors.


Time, with his ever-varying changes,
brought the matter Of the mansion to
forty-five. Not much change had
come to him, save that here and there
his hair was streaked with silver, and,
instead of the plain Henry Thornton.
the master of the House on the Hill
Top, was accosted as Judge Thornton
by the inhabitants OF the village.


People said he was stern-growing
stern very fast, and in few years he
would equal his uncle in that trait.
Little dirty-faced children in the vii
lage streets held their breath with awe
wien he passed by, and whispered,
one to the other There goes Judge
the great man Don't he
look as though he would like to squat
US up, right in the street.-the feels SO
grand =


One bleak November night, the
Judge and his wife were sitting BY the
blazing-wood fire in the quaint old sit
tlng-room of the mansion. Without.
the East winds were howling like lost
spirits about the house, quaking their
dismal voices round the gables and
inches, in which each would shrek
with different sound, and at times
all would join in one long, wild
shout. The trees, too, joined their un-
earthly music as they threw their long
arms about, and groaned many dismal
groans to the night winds and then,
by way of accompaniment, would
strike shutter with all their might,
it to rattle for long time af-
ter the blow, as if some mortal hand
were shaking it. From the broad bo-
som of the ocean afar, great masses
of clouds came driving in, hanging
the heavens with a sable pail, and
blotting ont the moon and stars. All
unmindful OF the voices without, the
Judge sat coming over a ponderons
law-book, storing his head with legal
lore for the next week great case
was to. be tried before him. in an ad-