church on the following Sunday. Knots of gazers and gossips were collected in the churchyard, at the bridge, and at the spot where the hat and pumpkin had been found. The stories of Brouwer, of Bones, and a whole budget of 5 others, were called to mind, and when they had diligently considered them all, and compared them with the symptoms of the present case, they shook their heads, and came to the conclusion that Ichabod had been carried off by the galloping Hessian. As he was a bachelor, and in nobody's 10 debt, nobody troubled his head any more about him; the school was removed to a different quarter of the Hollow, and another pedagogue reigned in his stead.

It is true, an old farmer who had been down to New York on a visit several years after, and from whom this account 15 of the ghostly adventure was received, brought home the intelligence that Ichabod Crane was still alive; that he had left the neighborhood partly through fear of the goblin and Hans Van Ripper, and partly in mortification at having been suddenly dismissed by the heiress; that he 20 had changed his quarters to a distant part of the country; had kept school and studied law at the same time; had been admitted to the bar; turned politician; electioneered; written for the newspapers; and finally, had been made a justice of the Ten Pound Court. Brom Bones, too, who, 25 shortly after his rival's disappearance, conducted the blooming Katrina in triumph to the altar, was observed to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related, and always burst into a hearty laugh at the mention of the pumpkin; which led some to suspect that he 30 knew more about the matter than he chose to tell.

The old country wives, however, who are the best judges of these matters, maintain to this day, that Ichabod was spirited away by supernatural means; and it is a favorite story often told about the neighborhood round the winter 35 evening fire. The bridge became more than ever an object

of superstitious awe; and that may be the reason why the road has been altered of late years, so as to approach the church by the border of the mill-pond. The school-house, being deserted, soon fell to decay, and was reported to be 5 haunted by the ghost of the unfortunate pedagogue; and the ploughboy, loitering homeward of a still summer evening, has often fancied his voice at a distance, chanting a melancholy psalm tune among the tranquil solitudes of Sleepy Hollow.

POSTSCRIPT

10

FOUND IN THE HANDWRITING OF MR. KNICKERBOCKER

The preceding tale is given almost in the precise words in which I heard it related at a Corporation meeting of the ancient city of the Manhattoes, at which were present many of its sagest and most illustrious burghers. The narrator was a pleasant, shabby, gentlemanly old fellow 15 in pepper-and-salt clothes, with a sadly humorous face; and one whom I strongly suspected of being poor-he made such efforts to be entertaining. When his story was concluded there was much laughter and approbation, particularly from two or three deputy aldermen, who had 20 been asleep the greater part of the time. There was, however, one tall, dry-looking old gentleman, with beetling eyebrows, who maintained a grave and rather severe face throughout; now and then folding his arms, inclining his head, and looking down upon the floor; as if turning a 25 doubt over in his mind. He was one of your wary men,

who never laugh but upon good grounds when they have reason and the law on their side. When the mirth of the rest of the company had subsided, and silence was restored, he leaned one arm on the elbow of his chair, and 30 sticking the other a-kimbo, demanded, with a slight but

exceedingly sage motion of the head and contraction of the brow, what was the moral of the story, and what it went to prove.

The story-teller, who was just putting a glass of wine 5 to his lips, as a refreshment after his toils, paused for a moment, looked at his inquirer with an air of infinite deference, and lowering the glass slowly to the table, observed that the story was intended most logically to prove:

"That there is no situation in life but has its advantages 10 and pleasures — provided we will but take a joke as we find it:

"That, therefore, he that runs races with goblin troopers, is likely to have rough riding of it:

"Ergo, for a country schoolmaster to be refused the hand 15 of a Dutch heiress, is a certain step to high preferment in the state."

The cautious old gentleman knit his brows tenfold closer after this explanation, being sorely puzzled by the ratiocination of the syllogism; while, methought, the one in pepper20 and-salt eyed him with something of a triumphant leer. At length he observed, that all this was very well, but still he thought the story a little on the extravagant - there were one or two points on which he had his doubts:

"Faith, sir,” replied the story-teller, "as to that matter, 25 I don't believe one-half of it myself."

HELPS FOR STUDY

D. K.

What is a legend?

Was there really such a person as Diedrich Knickerbocker?
What is the English word for "Zee"?

Why did the Dutch navigators implore the protection of St. Nicholas?

In reading Irving's description of Sleepy Hollow, do you think the name an appropriate one?

Who was Hendrick Hudson?

To what does "Hessian trooper" refer?

In what State was Sleepy Hollow situated?

At about what time did the events in the story take place? Explain "cognomen of Crane." Why does Irving say it was not inapplicable to his person?

Why is the birch tree spoken of as “formidable"?

Explain "urged some tardy loiterer along the flowery path of knowledge."

What does the maxim, "Spare the rod and spoil the child," mean? What are "porkers"?

Explain "knight-errant of yore."

Where does the story proper in this sketch begin?

What effect did the invitation to the "quilting frolic" have upon the school-master and his school?

Explain "true style of a cavalier" and "choleric old Dutchman." Who was Major André?

What time of night is meant by "the very witching time"?

Give an account of Ichabod's race with the goblin.

Why was he anxious to cross the bridge?

Are any of the allusions in this story familiar to you? What are the unfamiliar ones?

Look up all the unusual words and phrases.

Select the word pictures.

Write from memory a description of the following characters: Ichabod Crane, Katrina Van Tassel, Baltus Van Tassel, "Brom Bones," and Hans Van Ripper.

NOTES

76:8 Lion bold. In the old "New England Primer," there was an illuminated alphabet, in which the letter L is represented by a lion, one of whose paws rests on a reclining lamb, accompanied by the couplet:

"The Lion bold
The Lamb doth hold."

77: 18 Cotton Mather's. Cotton Mather, born in 1663, was a celebrated preacher and writer in the early days of Boston, Mass., and one of the chief instruments in the persecution of the witches. He died in 1728.

78:14 "In linked sweetness, etc. From "L'Allegro," by John Milton.

93: 19 St. Vitus. The patron of dancers, and of the countries of Saxony, Bohemia and Sicily. According to legend, he was the son of a noble Sicilian, who imprisoned him to induce him to renounce

Christianity, but who, on looking through the keyhole of the dungeon, saw his son dancing with seven beautiful angels.

94: 5 Cow-boys. A band of plunderers who infested the neutral ground between the British and American lines during the Revolutionary War.

104:24 Ten Pound Court. A court whose jurisdiction did not extend beyond cases involving the sum of ten pounds.

(The above may all be obtained in the Educational Publishing Company's Fifteen Cent Classic Edition. Selections marked *, together with "A Legend of Sleepy Hollow," are from "The Sketch Book." Those marked † are from "The Alhambra.")