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CURIOUS EPITAPH

TO REGALE THE READER..

Free from the stormy gusts of human life,

Free from the squalls of passion and of strife,
Her lies R C- anchored-who stood the sea

Of ebbing life and flowing misery,

He luff'd and bore away to please mankind,
Yet duty urged him still to head the wind,
Though dandy-rigged, his prudent eye foresaw,
He took a reef at fortunes quickest flaw,
Rheumatic gusts at length his mast destroyed,
But jury-health awhile he still enjoyed.
Worn out with age and shattered head,
At last he struck and grounded on his bed -
There in distress careening thus he lay,
His final bilge expecting every day —

Heaven took his ballast from his dreary hold,

And left his body wrecked destitute of soul.

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RC alluded to in the epitaph kept a wind-mill at Nantucket. His brother - President of a bank there-wrote and placed it upon his tomb-stone. The family had it removed awhile since, as it was a subject of merriment among the visiters of the burying ground.

MONADNOCK ONCE MORE.

Simplicity and cupidity. A little scandal.

LEFT Fitzwilliam at about 9 o'clock, A. M. and returned at 4 1-2 P. M. Rode eight miles-ascended in 1 3-4 hours

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- descended in 1 1-2 hours.

The ascent two miles generally quite easy-from Marlboro'. Counted thirty ponds could distinctly see Keene, Troy, Fitzwilliam,Jaffrey, Dublin and the monument on Wachusett. Forests, hills, pastures, waters, and villages lay out-spread with their various beauties before the eye a clear rich sunlight thrown over all. Here and there lands, enclosed and cultivated, attracted the attention. The roofs of the farm-houses that spotted the landscape glistened as if newly shingled. It was a rare day and all nature wore a smiling face. Old Monadnock, clad in an impenetrable panoply of solid rock, lifts his head proudly towards the heavens. The decaying trunks of a mighty forest rest upon his bosom in mingled confusion, and excite the astonishment of the beholder.

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166

A LITTLE SCANDAL,

among the rocks and took the 'responsibility of rewoving the deposits.' I was much amused with the simplicity and honest heartedness of the fellowtravellers into whose company I was thrown by accident. They were a tailor, a chair-maker, and a country store-keeper. The first asked me on the summit of the mountain if rattle-snakes stung or bit. The second was inordinately eager for the tinkling brass discovered under the rocks, and scratched up the mud like a dog after a wood-chuck. He overturned nearly every loose rock from the summit to the base. The last told me pleasant stories about the clergymen of a neighboring village, such as that the Orthodox minister was the greatest black-guard in the place,' and 'nobody could hold a row with him,' that he was clear as a whistle,' &c.-That the Unitarian minister owned the best horse in town, but kept him the poorest.' When he feeds his horse,' said he, he will give him half a hundred of hay and not feed him again for a week,' and such a driver there is not in the village.' We all returned to the public house at the foot of the hill, and drank lemonade together out of the same glass, (an enormous one by the by) and then set off for town in our several vehicles — having had a most pleasant excursion.

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PASSAGE OF THE SACO.

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On my way to the Notch of the White Hills. There had been in the vicinity heavy rains. The Saco had overflowed its banks and carried away the bridge, I think,not far from Conway. The only alternative was to cross the swollen river where there was the least danger. Our party set off in two vehicles. Some in a double-horse wagon with a driver - One gentleman and myself in a single-horse wagon. As my companion was older than myself and we had taken no experienced driver, he took upon him the chief management. We followed in the track of the others. Where we attempted to cross there was a sharp pitch from the bank to the shore. Here our horse - a high-spirited animal — began to curvet and conduct suspiciously. However it was no time to indulge fears. We persuaded him into the water and urged him on as far as the channel of the stream. There the current was rapid and deep - the wagon seeming to rest upon the surface of the waters as it without wheels. Our high-mettled steed, either terrified by the new situation in which he found himself, or glad of a good chance for sport, and perhaps determined to get us into a bad box, stopped progress and began to leap and plunge. Said I to my friend, 'Give him a loose rein and I'll give him a blow. He will carry us beyond danger at a few springs.' Our experiment did

not succeed. He grew more antic and unmanage

168

PASSAGE OF THE SACO.

able. My friend, thinking there was no hope, or rather in a paroxysm of uncontrollable fright, threw the reins into the stream, then leaped in himself. Falling somewhat horizontally he altogether disappeared under the water. However he soon came to the surface and struggled for the shore. It was a struggle for the water was as high as his breast and swept along so furiously that he could hardly keep his footing. He at length reached terra firma and stood there pale, drenched, and drippinga laughable sight even to myself, though in peril. Perhaps, reader, you would like to know the mode of my rescue. As you may well suppose, I was in no very enviable situation in the middle of a rushing torrent with an ungovernable horse and without reins. What to do I did not know. How it would end was a question. The first step to be taken for security was over the seat into the back part of the wagon. This was necessary in order to escape the wagon in case it should be upset. Luckily it was for after a few more curvets and plunges the horse fell and sunk, leaving nothing of himself to be seen but his nostrils and the lower part of his head. I felt comparatively at ease, though still uncertain of the result. It was not long before our friends who were in advance looked back to reconnoitre us. They were not a little astonished to see the predicament we were in. My friend, apparently escaped from a watery grave and myself in the midst of the raging waters standing upright in our

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