Year: 1872

Just outside a queer, yagakond-looking
settlement in Southern New York, which
strapgles along a primitive valley, with
great shouldcred, green robed hills tower
ing above il on every side, was gray old
stone house, so moss-covered and ivy
grown that it might have been coeval with
the hill-sid upon which it had taken root
At the time my story begins igh; heart
ed old gentleman was living in it who had
slept in the cradle under the caves seventy
years before. In his boyhood he had frol-
icked among the branches of gnarly oak
and graceful dropping elm which stood
on either side of the house, and which, in n
landscape of strongly marked features, had
even then acquired broadened and SYM
metrical character and reputation; and yet
the two trees are there to-day-hoary old
sentinels, as watchful as ever over the best
in terests of the household.


There also lived the old mans daughter
the young widow Danby-and Allie and
Nab, her six-year-old twin girls. The
mother was still as beautiful as she had
| cen at sweet sixteen, when she married a
man twice her own age She seemed as
gay and merry as her children, or as the
genial old man in his second childhood /;
but then she was only twenty-three, and
had been widow more than five years al
ready. No wonder, then, that she had gone
back TO the happiness of girlhood here in
the old girlhood's home. AS little wonder
that pretty Mrs. Dandy was courted now
as much as any young lady, and good
deal more than is ever desirable for any
woman, young or old. She was not at all
silly, but very agreeable and engaging, liv-
ing so thoroughly in the enjoyment of the
present that little six-year-old Allie often
seemed TO be the most thoughtful and care
taking member of the household. The
happy mother was unconsciously taking
fresh compensation for her earlier, detraud-
ed girlhood. She and her children bab-
bled from morning till night TO initiate the
brook which came down the hillside past
their door, and grandpapa kept up pleas
ant refrain which was like an echo, often
sent out far and wide by one old gray hill
with its tassels of green overhanging bare,
Jagged rocks, on the other side of the val
ley.


Widowers and bachelors, from far and
near, and of all ages between twenty and
sixty, were continually finding out what an
extremely happy home this was and were
always dropping in to chat at all hours of
the day and evening. over and over again
the beautiful young widow was forced to
say !" but she said it so gently and re-
luctantly that nobody was greatly displeas-
ed, and they continued to receive as much
neighborly attention as before. Mrs. Dan
by was entirely sincere in all this. She
half worshiped her pair of little girls and
her, ragged father, and was as nearly content
with the present as it is in the nature of
things ior any woman to be under con-
tinual proyOcation TO become unsettled.
So she continued to be immensely popular,
not only with all ages, but even with both
sexes; for women saw and felt that under
all this oilervescence she really had heart
Of very tender and generous sympathies.


But sharp criticism was not wanting here
MS elsewhere in carping world. Words of
bitter censure had fallen upon the ears of
little Allie, and sunk deeply into her heart.
The child-loye rose up Indignantly; but
from that day she came TO regard herself as
the champion and guardian not only of her
mother, but Of the whole household and
amidst all the echild-heartedness of a happy
life the little one was often weighed down
with premature but wholly unspoken care.
The two children seemed to be growing up
active, vigorous, and full Of robust enjoy
ment-in harmony with the rural tone OF
the picturesque landscape in the midst OF
which Providence had planted tho family
cottage.


Scenery is as contagious in its influence
as every thing else. The Scot is Highland
er in characters and Mynheer Of Holland
may boast an even tone of mental develop
ment which most nations might try in vain
to emulate. Every local centre has its spe-
clal influence. One may often find, search
ing for colored leaves in the autumn, some
notable patch Of magnetic soil where doz-
en- varieties of plants are all blushing to-
gether In common warmth of coloring,
The whole small communiiy-oak, maple,
dog-wood, cat-brier, geranium-are. all a