‘The story of Rip Van Winkle may seem incredible to many, but nevertheless I give it my full belief, for I know the vicinity of our old Dutch settlements to have been very subject to marvellous events and appearances. Indeed I have heard many stranger stories than this, in the villages along the Hudson; all of which were too well authenticated to admit of a doubt. I have even talked with Rip Van Winkle myself, who when last I saw him was a very venerable old man and so perfectly rational and consistent on every other point, that I think no conscientious person could refuse to take this into the bargain – nay I have seen a certificate on the subject taken before a country justice and signed with a cross in the justice’s own hand writing. The story therefore is beyond the possibility of doubt. D.K.’
POSTSCRIPT
The following are travelling notes from a memorandum book of Mr Knickerbocker.
The Kaatsberg or Catskill mountains have always been a region full of fable. The Indians considered them the abode of spirits who influenced the weather, spreading sunshine or clouds over the landscape and sending good or bad hunting seasons. They were ruled by an old squaw spirit, said to be their mother. She dwelt on the highest peak of the Catskills and had charge of the doors of day and night to open and shut them at the proper hour. She hung up the new moons in the skies and cut up the old ones into stars. In times of drought, if properly propitiated, she would spin light summer clouds out of cobwebs and morning dew, and send them off, from the crest of the mountain, flake after flake, like flakes of carded cotton to float in the air: until, dissolved by the heat of the sun, they would fall in gentle showers, causing the grass to spring, the fruits to ripen and the corn to grow an inch an hour. If displeased, however, she would brew up clouds black as ink, sitting in the midst of them like a bottle bellied spider in the midst of its web; and when these clouds broke – woe betide the valleys!
In old times say the Indian traditions, there was a kind of Manitou or Spirit, who kept about the wildest recesses of the Catskill mountains, and took a mischievous pleasure in wreaking all kinds of evils and vexations upon the red men. Sometimes he would assume the form of a bear a panther or a deer, lead the bewildered hunter a weary chase through tangled forests and among rugged rocks; and then spring off with a loud ho! ho! leaving him aghast on the brink of a beetling precipice or raging torrent.
The favorite abode of this Manitou is still shewn. It is a great rock or cliff in the loneliest part of the mountains, and, from the flowering vines which clamber about it, and the wild flowers which abound in its neighborhood, is known by the name of the Garden Rock. Near the foot of it is a small lake the haunt of the solitary bittern, with water snakes basking in the sun on the leaves of the pond lillies which lie on the surface. This place was held in great awe by the Indians, insomuch that the boldest hunter would not pursue his game within its precincts. Once upon a time, however, a hunter who had lost his way, penetrated to the garden rock where he beheld a number of gourds placed in the crotches of trees. One of these he seized and made off with it, but in the hurry of his retreat he let it fall among the rocks, when a great stream gushed forth which washed him away and swept him down precipices where he was dashed to pieces, and the stream made its way to the Hudson and continues to flow to the present day; being the identical stream known by the name of the Kaaters-kill.
The Wife
The treasures of the deep are not so precious
As are the conceal’d comforts of a man
Lock’d up in woman’s love. I scent the air
Of blessings, when I come but near the house.
What a delicious breath marriage sends forth,
The violet bed’s not sweeter!
MIDDLETON.
I have often had occasion to remark the fortitude with which women sustain the most overwhelming reverses of fortune. Those disasters which break down the spirits of a man, and prostrate him in the dust, seem to call forth all the energies of the softer sex, and give such intrepidity and elevation to their character, that at times it approaches to sublimity. Nothing can be more touching than to behold a soft and tender female, who had been all weakness and dependence, and alive to every trivial roughness while treading the prosperous paths of life, suddenly rising in mental force, to be the comforter and supporter of her husband under misfortune, and abiding, with unshrinking firmness, the bitterest blasts of adversity.
As the vine which has long twined its graceful foliage about the oak, and been lifted by it into sunshine, will, when the hardy plant is rifted by the thunderbolt, cling round it with its caressing tendrils and bind up its shattered boughs; so is it beautifully ordered by providence, that woman, who is the mere dependent and ornament of man in his happier hours, should be his stay and solace when smitten with sudden calamity, winding herself into the rugged recesses of his nature; tenderly supporting the drooping head, and binding up the broken heart.
I was once congratulating a friend, who had around him a blooming family knit together in the strongest affection. ‘I can wish you no better lot,’ said he, with enthusiasm, ‘than to have a wife and children. If you are prosperous, there they are to share your prosperity; and if otherwise, there they are to comfort you. –’ And indeed I have observed that a married man falling into misfortune, is more apt to retrieve his situation in the world than a single one; partly because he is more stimulated to exertion by the necessities of the helpless and beloved beings who depend upon him for subsistence; but chiefly because his spirits are soothed and relieved by domestic endearments, and his self respect kept alive by finding, that though all abroad is darkness and humiliation, yet there is still a little world of love at home, of which he is the monarch. Whereas a single man is apt to run to waste and self neglect; to fancy himself lonely and abandoned, and his heart to fall to ruin like some deserted mansion for want of an inhabitant.
These observations call to mind a little domestic story, of which I was once a witness. My intimate friend Leslie had married a beautiful and accomplished girl, who had been brought up in the midst of fashionable life. She had, it is true, no fortune, but that of my friend was ample and he delighted in the anticipation of indulging her in every elegant pursuit; and administering to those delicate tastes and fancies, that spread a kind of witchery about the sex – ‘her life,’ said he, ‘shall be like a fairy tale.’
The very difference in their characters produced an harmonious combination. He was of a romantic and somewhat serious cast; she was all life and gladness. I have often noticed the mute rapture with which he would gaze upon her in company, of which her sprightly powers made her the delight; and how in the midst of applause, her eye would still turn to him, as if there alone she sought favour and acceptance. When leaning on his arm her slender form contrasted finely with his tall, manly person. The fond confiding air with which she looked up to him, seemed to call forth a flush of triumphant pride and cherishing tenderness; as if he doted on his lovely burthen, for its very helplessness. – Never did a couple set forward on the flowery path of early and well suited marriage, with a fairer prospect of felicity.
It was the misfortune of my friend, however, to have embarked his property in large speculations, and he had not been married many months, when, by a succession of sudden disasters, it was swept from him, and he found himself reduced almost to penury. For a time he kept his situation to himself and went about with a haggard countenance and a breaking heart. His life was but a protracted agony, and what rendered it more insupportable was the necessity of keeping up a smile in the presence of his wife; for he could not bring himself to overwhelm her with the news. She saw, however, with the quick eyes of affection, that all was not well with him. She marked his altered looks and stifled sighs, and was not to be deceived by his sickly and vapid attempts at cheerfulness. She tasked all her sprightly powers and tender blandishments to win him back to happiness; but she only drove the arrow deeper into his soul – the more he saw cause to love her the more torturing was the thought that he was soon to make her
wretched. A little while, thought he, and the smile will vanish from that cheek – the song will die away from those lips – the lustre of those eyes will be quenched with sorrow; and the happy heart which now beats lightly in that bosom, will be weighed down like mine by the cares and miseries of the world.
At length he came to me, one day, and related his whole situation in a tone of the deepest despair. When I had heard him through I enquired, ‘Does your wife know all this?’ – at the question he burst into an agony of tears – ‘For God’s sake!’ cried he, ‘if you have any pity on me don’t mention my wife – it is the thought of her that drives me almost to madness!’
‘And why not?’ said I, ‘she must know it sooner or later: you cannot keep it long from her, and the intelligence may break upon her in a more startling manner than if imparted by yourself; for the accents of those we love soften the harshest tidings. Besides you are depriving yourself of the comforts of her sympathy and not merely that, but also endangering the only bond that can keep hearts together, an unreserved community of thought and feeling. She will soon perceive that something is secretly preying upon your mind, and true love will not brook reserve: it feels undervalued and outraged when even the sorrows of those it loves are concealed from it.’
‘Oh but my friend! to think what a blow I am to give to all her future prospects – how I am to strike her very soul to the earth, by telling her that her husband is a beggar! – That she is to forego all the elegancies of life – all the pleasures of society – to shrink with me into indigence and obscurity! – To tell her that I have dragged her down from the sphere in which she might have continued to move in constant brightness – the light of every eye – the admiration of every heart!——How can she bear poverty! – she has been brought up in all the refinements of opulence. – How can she bear neglect! – she has been the idol of society – oh, it will break her heart! – it will break her heart! –’
I saw his grief was eloquent and I let it have its flow, for sorrow relieves itself by words. When his paroxysm had subsided and he had relapsed into moody silence, I resumed the subject gently, and urged him to break his situation at once to his wife. He shook his head mournfully, but positively.
‘But how are you to keep it from her? It is necessary she should know it, that you may take the steps proper to the alteration of your circumstances. You must change your style of living——nay,’ observing a pang to pass across his countenance – ‘don’t let that afflict you. I am sure you have never placed your happiness in outward shew – you have yet friends, warm friends, who will not think the worse of you for being less splendidly lodged; – and surely it does not require a palace to be happy with Mary –’
‘I could be happy with her,’ cried he convulsively, ‘in a hovel! – I could go down with her into poverty and the dust! – I could – I could——God bless her! – God bless her! –’ cried he, bursting into a transport of grief and tenderness.
‘And believe me my friend,’ said I stepping up and grasping him warmly by the hand – ‘believe me, she can be the same with you. Aye, more – it will be a source of pride and triumph to her – it will call forth all the latent energies and fervent sympathies of her nature; for she will rejoice to prove that she loves you for yourself. There is in every true woman’s heart a spark of heavenly fire which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. No man knows what the wife of his bosom is – no man knows what a ministering angel she is – until he has gone with her through the fiery trials of this world.’
There was something in the earnestness of my manner, and the figurative style of my language that caught the excited imagination of Leslie. I knew the auditor I had to deal with; and following up the impression I had made, I finished by persuading him to go home and unburthen his sad heart to his wife.
I must confess, notwithstanding all I had said, I felt some little solicitude for the result. Who can calculate on the fortitude of one whose whole life has been a round of pleasures? – Her gay spirits might revolt at the dark downward path of low humility suddenly pointed out before her, and might cling to the sunny regions in which they had hitherto revelled. Besides, ruin in fashionable life is accompanied by so many galling mortifications to which in other ranks it is a stranger – in short, I could not meet Leslie the next morning without trepidation. He had made the disclosure.
– ‘And how did she bear it?’
‘Like an angel! It seemed rather to be a relief to her mind, for she threw her arms round my neck, and asked if this was all that had lately made me unhappy – but, poor girl,’ – added he, ‘she cannot realize the change we must undergo. She has no idea of poverty but in the abstract – she has only read of it in poetry, where it is allied to love. She feels as yet no privation – she suffers no loss of accustomed conveniences nor elegancies. When we come practically to experience its sordid cares, its paltry wants, its petty humiliations – then will be the real trial.’
‘But,’ said I, ‘now that you have got over the severest task, that of breaking it to her, the sooner you let the world into the secret the better. The disclosure may be mortifying, but then it is a single misery and soon over, whereas you otherwise suffer it in anticipation, every hour in the day. It is not poverty so much as pretence, that harrasses a ruined man. The struggle between a proud mind and an empty purse – the keeping up a hollow shew that must soon come to an end. Have the courage to appear poor and you disarm poverty of its sharpest sting.’ – On this point I found Leslie perfectly prepared. He had no false pride himself, and as to his wife she was only anxious to conform to their altered fortunes.
Some days afterwards he called upon me in the evening. He had disposed of his dwelling house and taken a small cottage in the country, a few miles from town. He had been busied all day in sending out furniture. The new establishment required few articles, and those of the simplest kind. All the splendid furniture of his late residence had been sold excepting his wife’s Harp. That, he said, was too closely associated with the idea of herself – it belonged to the little story of their loves – for some of the sweetest moments of their courtship were those when he had leant over that instrument and listened to the melting tones of her voice. – I could not but smile at this instance of romantic gallantry in a doting husband.
He was now going out to the cottage, where his wife had been all day, superintending its arrangement. My feelings had become strongly interested in the progress of this family story and as it was a fine evening I offered to accompany him.
He was wearied with the fatigues of the day, and as we walked out, fell into a fit of gloomy musing.
‘Poor Mary!’ at length broke with a heavy sigh from his lips.
‘And what of her,’ asked I, ‘has any thing happened to her?’
‘What,’ said he, darting an impatient glance, ‘is it nothing to be reduced to this paltry situation – to be caged in a miserable cottage – to be obliged to toil almost in the menial concerns of her wretched habitation?’
‘Has she then repined at the change?’
‘Repined! – she has been nothing but sweetness and good humour. Indeed she seems in better spirits than I have ever known her – she has been to me all love and tenderness and comfort!’
‘Admirable girl!’ exclaimed I. ‘You call yourself poor my friend; you never were so rich – you never knew the boundless treasures of excellence you possessed in that woman.’
‘Oh, but my friend – if this first meeting at the cottage were over – I think I could then be comfortable. But this is her first day of real experience. She has been introduced into our humble dwelling. She has been employed all day in arranging its miserable equipments. She has for the first time known the fatigues of domestic employment – She has for the first time looked around her on a home destitute of every thing elegant, – almost of every thing convenient, and may now be sitting down exhausted and spiritless, brooding over a prospect o
f future poverty.’
There was a degree of probability in this picture that I could not gainsay – so we walked on in silence.
After turning from the main road up a narrow lane so thickly shaded by forest trees as to give it a complete air of seclusion, we came in sight of the cottage. It was humble enough in its appearance for the most pastoral poet; and yet it had a pleasing rural look. A wild vine had over run one end with a profusion of foliage – a few trees threw their branches gracefully over it, and I observed several pots of flowers tastefully disposed about the door and on the grass plot in front. A small wicket gate opened upon a foot path that wound through some shrubbery to the door. Just as we approached we heard the sound of music. – Leslie grasped my arm – we paused and listened. It was Mary’s voice singing, in a style of the most touching simplicity, a little air of which her husband was peculiarly fond.
I felt Leslie’s hand tremble on my arm. He stepped forward to hear more distinctly – His step made a noise on the gravel walk – a bright beautiful face glanced out at the window and vanished – a light footstep was heard, and Mary came tripping forth to meet us. She was in a pretty, rural dress of white; a few wild flowers were twisted in her fine hair; a fresh bloom was on her cheek; her whole countenance beamed with smiles – I had never seen her look so lovely.
‘My dear George,’ cried she, ‘I am so glad you are come – I’ve been watching and watching for you; and running down the lane, and looking out for you. I’ve set out a table under a beautiful tree behind the cottage – and I’ve been gathering some of the most delicious strawberries, for I know you are fond of them – and we have such excellent cream – and every thing is so sweet and still here – Oh!’ said she, putting her arm within his, and looking up brightly in his face – ‘oh, we shall be so happy!’
Poor Leslie was overcome – He caught her to his bosom – he folded his arms round her – he kissed her again and again – he could not speak, but the tears gushed into his eyes – And he has often assured me that though the world has since gone prosperously with him, and his life has, indeed, been a happy one; yet never has he experienced a moment of more exquisite felicity.
Rip Van Winkle Page 3
