Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XI., April, 1863, No. LXVI. A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics.

August day, when the tra

my eyes about to see w

abby and rickety car

" freshly painte

calculate I can take you there, after I've left this lady," respon

el Prowley's, too," said a

d the driver. "I'll just go get the bagg

as a speck which breaks the view of more interesting objects lying on the verge of the horizon. Yet her face was dimpled by those indescribable changing lines which indicate that a cessation of impul

l that they ought to be acquainted, but have nobody to introduce them, endeavor to supply th

my identity, "for the Colonel wrote me that he expected you about

h them to pieces at once and have it over. I pondered, and helped tie a bandbox on behind the vehicle, and after some time found myself in the carryall staring at the felt hat of the driver an inch or two before my nose, and Miss Hurribattle est

e I am helping the horses draw. However, it may sometimes be pleasant; for I remember paying a visit of a fortnight

?" inqu

eet, just on the bay; consequently we always drove up-hil

that the accelerated speed of a down-hill passage was agreeable,

ng up-hill one naturally leans forward,-so, of course, it couldn

disorderly and straggly appearance could have ever felt so much interest in fashionable

see a lady t

"though I do not at present re

at them earnestly; for is it not intended that woman should pursue with her whole being whatever she undertakes? The man throws his stone with a little jerk of the hand: he may be a legislator, a philanthropist,

ve that she is entitled only t

concentration upon one pursuit. You wondered just now that I could ever have cared for display, or have thought much of my appe

ed to me, and, after a few remarks expressing concurrence, I framed a question that would d

on our friend the Colonel's speciality, and give you a family-history. It is sufficient to say that a year or two ago I was led to interest myself in the Soggimarsh College as a ground unincumbered by the old incredulities of man's best inspirations which grow so thickly in what are called the highest civilizations,-incredulities, indeed, which, in the fine figure of Coleridge, are nothing but credulities after all, only seen from behind, as they bow and nod assent to the habitual and the fashionable. But I see you are wondering at the particular position in the Academy which our catalogue assigns me, and you shall have the explanation. I have for a long time been painfully impressed with the total neglect of physical education by the women of America. It seems to me that no very important moral advance can be achieved while the exquisite organism

d Robinson of my city-acquaintance. I could hardly believe that we had advanced so far to the footing of old friends, before we reached our destination. As our carryall turned into Colonel Prowley's avenue, however, a sudden recollection of the little romance the proprietor had arranged for his arriving guests came over me like a

t, like the centre of an antique breastpin, seemed to lie in the shrub called box. This ornamental vegetable stretched down each side of the gravel walk, hedged in all sorts of ugly geometrical figures that contai

y up the chin in one of the old section-of-stove-pipe stocks that buckle up from behind; there was a little embarrassment in his manner, as if he found it hard to receive with proper cordia

ogany during the days of his father and grandfather, for fourscore years into the past. However, if such reminiscences make us reflect upon the mutable character of human affairs, and send grave speculations of the "fleeting show" and "man'

he past generation, and which in rare instances yet survives in the country. Upon her right hand was placed the clergyman, Mr. Clifton, who came to dine every Monday,-

rribattle was directly at her ease, and had plenty to say; while the brother and sister were content to offer the best of everything, and did not attempt to draw me out of my silence. I perceived they were thinking what a pity it was that Miss Hurribattle and myself had not the equality of age and

in general history of the Prowley family that its p

historian on this head, "I have secured a correct copy o

Prosody was a man or an animal, returned a non-committal, "Indeed!

hter of the Reverend Jabez Pluck. Being a rigid grammarian,-a character sufficiently rare at that period,-he named his three sons Orthography, Syntax, and Prosody,-a proceeding that is understood to have offended the Reverend Jabez, who was naturally partial to the Scriptural nomenclature then in vogue.

s life would bear scanning!" said the Deacon, desir

d Miss Hurribattle, determined to repair her blund

rary testimony to his excellence in a copy of verses prefixed to his posthumous discourse entitled 'The New Snare of a Maypole, or Satan's own Trap for a Slippery Chur

her!" said Miss Prowley

d a piece of paper, put on his sp

eep: Thy tuncful

ly his Armou

ystine Scorn

-furbished was

ke of his shall

Fangles lorden

ne boil up thy

akers laugh: his

lames in verse

Pastorals witch

t, the Eve of our female minstrelsy?" interrogated Miss Hurrib

use but hear he

mn his works t

w sad it is that an actual freight of vers

But I truly regret that he left no portrait, nor even so much as an outline in black from which something might be made up by an imaginative artist. I have judges, majors

tute Saint Josselyn fo

e other day," s

follow out the lady's suggestion: but d

pon us. She began to talk to my brother, and when at last topics of conversation failed, turne

skin thrown over his shoulders: you must all have observed

g of Uncle Joshua, in white stockings, cocked hat, and c

th her eyes fixed upon the Sa

she meant the small picture below, 'a very fine po

ed effort to conceal her surprise; 'he w

ted the Colonel. 'I can remember him walking up the br

allowed! Did not the deacons turn him out?' e

was a deacon himself, and the m

his country! I should have supposed that the fear of such an exampl

'let me tell you that his excellent influence on the young was the crowning virtue of his character. He u

ly different that we will not pursue the subject. I will only say that-

these strictures upon the propriet

emark must have brough

an accident resolved the mystery, we should receive with doubt

that it was a reflection that those of his flock then present would do

ether the Doctor gave a levee to rapping spirits, or moralized over the skulls in his collection, like Hamlet

it given out of compliment

n't see how it could be much

s Hurribattle, with such perfect gravity that neither Miss Prowley nor th

ely to diminish whatever of satisfaction may be in prospect. I will, however, remark, that some of the Doctor's guests are grievously oppressed by somnolence during his scholastic expositions; as a protection against

partment, with very uneven floor and very small windows, through one of which I peered out upon the box before the house, and thought over the people whose ac

dorn a page of my diary with one of your illustrative drawings. A pair

e oak?" asked Miss Prowley, in a tone which betraye

h would be ill-mated with some giddy girl from the nursery. So ma

n which I had the honor of renewing with the lady, though it did not at all advance the whimsical project of Colonel Prowley, increased my respect for the high instincts of Nature which prompted her concern in the elevation of woman. She showed

ming every petty incident at the final result is very seldom perceptible. "Il ne faut pas voyager pour voir, mais pour ne pas voir," says the proverb; and the journey of life is included in its application. We do our rarest deeds, we take our most impo