Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

snap as if from the tread of some animal. The blood rushed to my forehead with a bound that made my skin burn; but I felt a strange relief that I had to contend with things of earthly and not spiritual mould. My energies returned. The moon shōne through the opening by which I had entered the forest, and, considering this the best direction for escape, I shot toward it like an

arrow.

5. The opening was hardly a hundred yards distant, and the swallow could not have skimmed them more swiftly; yet, as I turned my eyes to the shore, I could see two dark objects dashing through the underbrush at a pace nearly double that of my own. By their great speed, and the short yells which they gave, I knew* at once that they were of the much-dreaded species known as the gray wolf. The untamable fierceness and untiring strength of this animal,

"With its long gallop, that can tire

The hound's deep hate, the hunter's fire,"

render it an object of dread to benighted travellers. The bushes that skirted the shore now seemed to rush by me with the velocity of light, as I dashed on in my flight.

6. The outlet was nearly gained; one second more, and I would be comparatively safe; but my pursuers suddenly appeared on the bank directly above me, which rose to the height of some ten feet. There was no time for thought; I bent my head and darted wildly forward. The wolves sprang, but, miscalculating my speed, sprang behind, while their intended prey glided out upon the river. Instinct turned me toward home. How my skates made the light icy mist spin from the glassy surface! The fierce howl of my pursuers again rang in my ears. I did not look back; I thought of the dear ones awaiting my return, and I put in play every faculty of mind and body for my escape. I was perfectly at home on the ice; and many were the days I had spent on my skates.

7. Every half-minute an alternate yelp from my pursuers told me they were close at my heels. Nearer and nearer they came; I could hear them pant. I strained every muscle in my frame to quicken my speed. Still I could hear close behind me the pattering of feet, when an involuntary motion on my part turned me out of my course. The wolves, unable to stop and as unable to turn, slipped and fell, sliding on far ahead, their tongues lolling out, their white tushes gleaming from their red mouths, their dark, shaggy breasts freckled with foam; and, as they slid on, they howled with redoubled rage.

8. The thought occurred to me, that by thus turning aside

whenever they came too near, I could avoid them; for, from the peculiar formation of their feet, they cannot run on ice except in a right line. I immediately acted on this plan. The wolves, having regained their feet, sprang directly towards me.

The race

was renewed for twenty yards up the stream; they were already close on my back, when I glided round and dashed past them. A fierce howl greeted my evolution, and the wolves slipped upon their haunches, and again slid onward, presenting a perfect picture of baffled, blood-thirsty rage.

9. Thus I gained, at each turning, nearly a hundred yards. This was repeated two or three times, the wolves getting more excited every moment, until, coming opposite the house, a couple of stag-hounds, aroused by the noise, bayed furiously from their kennels. Quickly taking the hint, the wolves stopped in their mad career, turned skulkingly, and fled. I watched them till their dusky forms disappeared over a neighboring hill. Then, taking off my skates, I wended my way to the house, grateful to Providence for my escape, and determined never to trust myself again, if I could help it, within the reach of a gray wolf.

LII.- THE PARTICULAR LADY.

1. I AM far from being opposed theoretically to habits of neatness and order; but we sometimes see a good propensity carried so far as to interfere with the comfort of others. Did you ever live with a particular lady? one possessed not simply with the spirit, but the demon of tidiness, who will give you a two hours 141 lecture upon the sin of an untied shoe-string, and raise a hurricane about your ears on the enormity of a fractured glove? who will be struck speechless at the sight of a pin instead of a string, or set a whole house in an uproar, on finding a book on the table instead of in the book-case? Those who have had the nuisfortune to meet with such a person will know how to sympathize with me. I have passed two whole months with a particular

lady.

2. I had often received very pressing invitations to visit an old school-fellow, who is settled in a snug parsonage, about fifty miles from town; but something or other was continually occurring to prevent me from availing myself of them. But, on the 17th of June (I shall never forget it, if I live to the age of old Parr), having a few spare weeks at my disposal, I set out for my chum's residence. He received me with his wonted cordiality; but I fancied that he looked a little more care-worn than

a man of thirty might be expected to look, married as he is to the woman of his choice, and in the possession of an easy fortune.

3. Poor fellow! I did not know that his wife was a precisian. The first hint I received of the fact was from Mr. S., who, removing my hat from the first peg in the hall to the fourth, observed, "My wife is a little particular in these matters; the first peg is for my hat, the second for William's, the third for Tom's, and you can reserve the fourth, if you please, for your own: ladies, you know, do not like to have their arrangements interfered with."

4. I promised to do my best to recollect the order of precedence with respect to the hats, and walked up stairs, impressed with an awful veneration for a lady who had contrived to impose so rigid a discipline on a man formerly the most disorderly of mortals. I mentally resolved to obtain her favor by the most studious observance of her wishes.

5. I might as well have determined to be Emperor of China! Before the week was at an end, I was a lost man. I always reckon myself tolerably tidy never leaving more than half my clothes on the floor of my dressing-room, nor more than a dozen books about any apartment I may happen to occupy for an hour. I do not lose more than a dozen handkerchiefs in a month; nor have more than a quarter of an hour's hunt for my hat or gloves, whenever I am going out in a hurry.

ΕΙ

6. I found all this was but as dust in the balance. The first35 time I sat down to dinner, I made a horrible blunder; for, in my haste to help my friend to some asparagus, I pulled a dish a little out of its place, thereby deranging the exact hexag'onal order in which the said dishes were arranged. I discovered my mishap on hearing Mr. S. sharply rebuked for a similar offence.

7. Secondly, I sat, the whole evening, with the cushion a full finger's length beyond the cane-work of my chair; and, what is worse, I do not know that I should have been aware of my delinquency, if the agony of the lady's feelings had not overpowered every consideration, and at last compelled her to burst forth, "Excuse me, Mr.. ,* but do, pray, put your cushion straight: it annoys me beyond measure to see it otherwise!"

EI

8. My third offence was displacing the snuffer-stand from its central position between the candlesticks; my fourth, leaving at pamphlet I had been perusing on the pianoforte; its proper place being a table in the middle of the room, on which all books

ΕΙ

In reading aloud, the word Blank may be sometimes substituted (as in this instance) for a mark of Ellipsis. See ¶ 147, Part I.

m present use were ordered to repose; my fifth— but, in short, I should never have done, were I to enumerate every separate enormity of which I was guilty. My friend S.'s drawing-room has as good a right to exhibit a placard of "steel traps and spring guns" as any park I am acquainted with.

9. Even those chartered libertines,” the children and dogs, were taught to be as demure and hypocritical as the matronly tabby-cat herself, who sat with her two fore-feet together and her tail curled round her, as exactly as if she had been worked in an urn-rug, instead of being a living mouser. It was the utmost stretch of my friend's măr'ital authority to get his favorite spaniel admitted to the honor of the parlor ; and even this privilege is only granted in his master's presence. If Carlo happens to pop his unlucky brown nose into the room when S. is from home, he retreats directly, with as much consciousness in his ears and tail as if he had been convicted of larceny in the kitchen, and anticipated the application of the broomstick.

.EI

10. As to the children, I believe that they look forward to their evening visit to the drawing-room with much the same sort of feeling. Not that Mrs. S. is an unkind mother, or, I should rather say, not that she means to be so; but she has taken it into her head that, as young people have sometimes short memories, it is necessary to put them verbally in mind of their duties, “from morn till dewy3 eve."

11. So it is with her servants. If one of them leaves a broom or a duster out of its place for a second, she hears of it for a month afterwards. I wonder how they endure it! I have sometimes thought that, from long practice, they do not heed it, as a friend of mine who lives in a bustling street in the city tells me he does not hear the noise of the coaches and carts in front of his house, nor even of a brazier who hammers away in his near neighborhood from morning till night.

12. The worst of it is, that while Mrs. S. never allows a moment's peace to her husband, children or servants, she thinks herself a jewel of a wife; but such jewels are too costly for everyday wear. I am sure poor S. thinks so in his heart, and would be content to exchange half-a-dozen of his wife's tormenting good qualities, for the sake of being allowed a little commonplace

repose.

13. I never shall forget the delight I felt on entering my own house, after enduring her thraldom for two months. I absolutely revelled in disorder. I tossed my hat one way, my gloves another; pushed all the chairs into the middle of the room, and narrowly escaped cuffing my faithful Christopher, for offering to put it "in order" again, . "straightening," as they call it in

Cheshire.

That awful" "spirit of order!"

EI

For my own part, 1 do so execrate the phrase, that if I were a member of the House of Commons, and the "order "EL of the day were called for, I should make it a "rule" to walk out.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

1. O JOYFUL hour when to our longing home

The long-expected wheels at length drew nigh!

When the first sound went forth, "They come, they come!'
And hope's impatience quickened every eye.

"Never had man whom Heaven would heap with bliss
More glad return, more happy hour, than this."

2. Aloft on yonder bench, with arms dispread,

My boy stood, shouting there his father's name,
Waving his hat around his happy head;

And there, a younger group,39 his sisters came;
Smiling they stood with looks of pleased surprise,
While tears of joy were seen in elder eyes.

3. Soon each and all came crowding round to share
The cordial greeting, the beloved31 sight;
What welcomings of hand and lip were there!
And when those overflowings of delight
Subsided to a sense of quiet bliss,

Life hath no purer, deeper happiness.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

For rich as Eastern merchants we return!
Behold the black Beguine, the Sister gray,

EI

The Friars whose heads with sober motion turn;
The Ark well-filled, with all its numerous hives,
Noäh, and Shem, and Ja'phet, and their wives;-

5. The tumbler, loose of limb; the wrestlers twain;
And many a toy beside of quainte device,
Which, when his fleecy troops no more can gain
Their pasture on the mountains hōar with ice,
The German shepherd carves with curious knife,
Earning in easy toil the food of frugal life.

3. It was a group which Richter, had he viewed,
Might have deemed worthy of his perfect skill;
The keen impatience of the younger brood,
Their eager eyes, and fingers never still;
The hope, the wonder, and the restless joy
Of those glad girls and that vociferous boy

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »