The Pioneers; Or, The Sources of the Susquehanna

by James Fenimore Cooper

  CHAPTER III

  "All that thou see'st is Natures handiwork; Those rocks that upward throw their mossy brawl Like castled pinnacles of elder times; These venerable stems, that slowly rock Their towering branches in the wintry gale; That field of frost, which glitters in the sun, Mocking the whiteness of a marble breast! Yet man can mar such works with his rude taste, Like some sad spoiler of a virgin's fame." --Duo.

  Some little while elapsed ere Marmaduke Temple was sufficientlyrecovered from his agitation to scan the person of his new companion. Henow observed that he was a youth of some two or three and twenty yearsof age, and rather above the middle height. Further observation wasprevented by the rough overcoat which was belted close to his form by aworsted sash, much like the one worn by the old hunter. The eyes of theJudge, after resting a moment on the figure of the stranger, were raisedto a scrutiny of his countenance. There had been a look of care visiblein the features of the youth, when he first entered the sleigh, that hadnot only attracted the notice of Elizabeth, but which she had been muchpuzzled to interpret. His anxiety seemed the strongest when he was enjoining his old companion to secrecy; and even when he had decided, andwas rather passively suffering himself to be conveyed to the village,the expression of his eyes by no means indicated any great degreeof self-satisfaction at the step. But the lines of an uncommonlyprepossessing countenance were gradually becoming composed; and he nowsat silent, and apparently musing. The Judge gazed at him for some timewith earnestness, and then smiling, as if at his own forgetfulness, hesaid:

  "I believe, my young friend, that terror has driven you from myrecollection; your face is very familiar, and yet, for the honor of ascore of bucks' tails in my cap, I could not tell your name."

  "I came into the country but three weeks since," returned the youthcoldly, "and I understand you have been absent twice that time."

  "It will be five to-morrow. Yet your face is one that I have seen;though it would not be strange, such has been my affright, should I seethee in thy winding-sheet walking by my bedside to-night. What say'stthou, Bess? Am I compos mentis or not? Fit to charge a grand jury, or,what is just now of more pressing necessity, able to do the honors ofChristmas eve in the hall of Templeton?"

  "More able to do either, my dear father." said a playful voice fromunder the ample inclosures of the hood, "than to kill deer with asmooth-bore." A short pause followed, and the same voice, but ina different accent, continued. "We shall have good reasons for ourthanksgiving to night, on more accounts than one."

  The horses soon reached a point where they seemed to know by instinctthat the journey was nearly ended, and, bearing on the bits as theytossed their heads, they rapidly drew the sleigh over the level landwhich lay on the top of the mountain, and soon came to the point wherethe road descended suddenly, but circuitously, into the valley.

  The Judge was roused from his reflections, when he saw the four columnsof smoke which floated above his own chimneys. As house, village, andvalley burst on his sight, he exclaimed cheerfully to his daughter:

  "See, Bess, there is thy resting-place for life! And thine too, youngman, if thou wilt consent to dwell with us."

  The eyes of his auditors involuntarily met; and, if the color thatgathered over the face of Elizabeth was contradicted by the coldexpression of her eye, the ambiguous smile that again played aboutthe lips of the stranger seemed equally to deny the probability of hisconsenting to form one of this family group. The scene was one, however,which might easily warm a heart less given to philanthropy than that ofMarmaduke Temple.

  The side of the mountain on which our travellers were journeying, thoughnot absolutely perpendicular, was so steep as to render great carenecessary in descending the rude and narrow path which, in that earlyday, wound along the precipices. The negro reined in his impatientsteeds, and time was given Elizabeth to dwell on a scene which was sorapidly altering under the hands of man, that it only resembled in itsoutlines the picture she had so often studied with delight in childhood.Immediately beneath them lay a seeming plain, glittering withoutin equality, and buried in mountains. The latter were precipitous,especially on the side of the plain, and chiefly in forest. Here andthere the hills fell away in long, low points, and broke the samenessof the outline, or setting to the long and wide field of snow, which,without house, tree, fence, or any other fixture, resembled so muchspot less cloud settled to the earth. A few dark and moving spots were,however, visible on the even surface, which the eye of Elizabeth knew tobe so many sleighs going their several ways to or from the village. Onthe western border of the plain, the mountains, though equally high,were less precipitous, and as they receded opened into irregular valleysand glens, or were formed into terraces and hollows that admitted ofcultivation. Although the evergreens still held dominion over manyof the hills that rose on this side of the valley, yet the undulatingoutlines of the distant mountains, covered with forests of beech andmaple, gave a relief to the eye, and the promise of a kinder soil.Occasionally spots of white were discoverable amidst the forests of theopposite hills, which announced, by the smoke that curled over thetops of the trees, the habitations of man and the commencement ofagriculture. These spots were sometimes, by the aid of united labor,enlarged into what were called settlements, but more frequentlywere small and insulated; though so rapid were the changes, and sopersevering the labors of those who had cast their fortunes on thesuccess of the enterprise, that it was not difficult for the imaginationof Elizabeth to conceive they were enlarging under her eye while she wasgazing, in mute wonder, at the alterations that a few short years hadmade in the aspect of the country. The points on the western side ofthis remarkable plain, on which no plant had taken root, were bothlarger and more numerous than those on its eastern, and one inparticular thrust itself forward in such a manner as to form beautifullycurved bays of snow on either side. On its extreme end an oak stretchedforward, as if to overshadow with its branches a spot which its rootswere forbidden to enter. It had released itself from the thraldom thata growth of centuries had imposed on the branches of the surroundingforest trees, and threw its gnarled and fantastic arms abroad, inthe wildness of liberty. A dark spot of a few acres in extent at thesouthern extremity of this beautiful flat, and immediately under thefeet of our travellers, alone showed by its rippling surface, and thevapors which exhaled from it, that what at first might seem a plainwas one of the mountain lakes, locked in the frosts of winter. A narrowcurrent rushed impetuously from its bosom at the open place we havementioned, and was to be traced for miles, as it wound its way towardthe south through the real valley, by its borders of hemlock and pine,and by the vapor which arose from its warmer surface into the chillatmosphere of the hills. The banks of this lovely basin, at its outlet,or southern end, were steep, but not high; and in that direction theland continued, far as the eye could reach, a narrow but gracefulvalley, along which the settlers had scattered their humble habitations,with a profusion that bespoke the quality of the soil and thecomparative facilities of intercourse, Immediately on the bank of thelake and at its foot, stood the village of Templeton. It consisted ofsome fifty buildings, including those of every description, chieflybuilt of wood, and which, in their architecture, bore no great marksof taste, but which also, by the unfinished appearance of most of thedwellings, indicated the hasty manner of their construction, To the eye,they presented a variety of colors. A few were white in both front andrear, but more bore that expensive color on their fronts only, whiletheir economical but ambitious owners had covered the remaining sidesof the edifices with a dingy red. One or two were slowly assuming therusset of age; while the uncovered beams that were to be seen throughthe broken windows of their second stories showed that either the tasteor the vanity of their proprietors had led them to undertake a taskwhich they were unable to accomplish. The whole were grouped in a mannerthat aped the streets of a city, and were evidently so arranged by thedirections of one who looked to the wants of posterity rather than tothe convenience of th
e present incumbents. Some three or four of thebetter sort of buildings, in addition to the uniformity of their color,were fitted with green blinds, which, at that season at least, wererather strangely contrasted to the chill aspect of the lake, themountains, the forests, and the wide fields of snow. Before the doorsof these pretending dwellings were placed a few saplings, either withoutbranches or possessing only the feeble shoots of one or two summers'growth, that looked not unlike tall grenadiers on post near thethreshold of princes. In truth, the occupants of these favoredhabitations were the nobles of Templeton, as Marmaduke was its king.They were the dwellings of two young men who were cunning in the law; anequal number of that class who chaffered to the wants of the communityunder the title of storekeepers; and a disciple of Aesculapius, who, fora novelty, brought more subjects into the world than he sent out of it.In the midst of this incongruous group of dwellings rose the mansion ofthe Judge, towering above all its neighbors. It stood in the centre ofan inclosure of several acres, which was covered with fruit-trees. Someof the latter had been left by the Indians, and began already to assumethe moss and inclination of age, therein forming a very marked contrastto the infant plantations that peered over most of the picketed fencesof the village. In addition to this show of cultivation were two rowsof young Lombardy poplars, a tree but lately introduced into America,formally lining either side of a pathway which led from a gate thatopened on the principal street to the front door of the building. Thehouse itself had been built entirely under the superintendence of acertain Mr. Richard Jones, whom we have already mentioned, and who, fromhis cleverness in small matters, and an entire willingness to exert histalents, added to the circumstance of their being sisters' children,ordinarily superintended all the minor concerns of Marmaduke Temple.Richard was fond of saying that this child of invention consisted ofnothing more nor less than what should form the groundwork of everyclergyman's discourse, viz., a firstly and a lastly. He had commencedhis labors, in the first year of their residence, by erecting a tall,gaunt edifice of wood, with its gable toward the highway. In thisshelter for it was little more, the family resided three years. By theend of that period, Richard had completed his design. He had availedhimself, in this heavy undertaking, of the experience of a certainwandering eastern mechanic, who, by exhibiting a few soiled plates ofEnglish architecture, and talking learnedly of friezes, entablatures,and particularly of the composite order, had obtained a very undueinfluence over Richard's taste in everything that pertained to thatbranch of the fine arts. Not that Mr. Jones did not affect to considerHiram Doolittle a perfect empiric in his profession, being in theconstant habit of listening to his treatises on architecture with akind of indulgent smile; yet, either from an inability to oppose themby anything plausible from his own stores of learning or from secretadmiration, Richard generally submitted to the arguments of hisco-adjutor. Together, they had not only erected a dwelling forMarmaduke, but they had given a fashion to the architecture of the wholecounty. The composite order, Mr. Doolittle would contend, was an ordercomposed of many others, and was intended to be the most useful of all,for it admitted into its construction such alterations as convenienceor circumstances might require. To this proposition Richard usuallyassented; and when rival geniuses who monopolize not only all thereputation but most of the money of a neighborhood, are of a mind, itis not uncommon to see them lead the fashion, even in graver matters.In the present instance, as we have already hinted, the castle, asJudge Templeton's dwelling was termed in common parlance, came to bethe model, in some one or other of its numerous excellences, for everyaspiring edifice within twenty miles of it.

  The house itself, or the "lastly," was of stone: large, square, and farfrom uncomfortable. These were four requisites, on which Marmadukehad insisted with a little more than his ordinary pertinacity. Buteverything else was peaceably assigned to Richard and his associate.These worthies found the material a little too solid for the tools oftheir workmen, which, in General, were employed on a substance no harderthan the white pine of the adjacent mountains, a wood so proverbiallysoft that it is commonly chosen by the hunters for pillows. But for thisawkward dilemma, it is probable that the ambitious tastes of our twoarchitects would have left us much more to do in the way of description.Driven from the faces of the house by the obduracy of the material, theytook refuge in the porch and on the roof. The former, it was decided,should be severely classical, and the latter a rare specimen of themerits of the Composite order.

  A roof, Richard contended, was a part of the edifice that the ancientsalways endeavored to conceal, it being an excrescence in architecturethat was only to be tolerated on account of its usefulness. Besides, ashe wittily added, a chief merit in a dwelling was to present a front onwhichever side it might happen to be seen; for, as it was exposed toall eyes in all weathers, there should be no weak flank for envy orunneighborly criticism to assail. It was therefore decided that theroof should be flat, and with four faces. To this arrangement, Marmadukeobjected the heavy snows that lay for months, frequently covering theearth to a depth of three or four feet. Happily the facilities of thecomposite order presented themselves to effect a compromise, and therafters were lengthened, so as to give a descent that should carryoff the frozen element. But, unluckily, some mistake was made in theadmeasurement of these material parts of the fabric; and, as one of thegreatest recommendations of Hiram was his ability to work by the "squarerule," no opportunity was found of discovering the effect until themassive timbers were raised on the four walls of the building. Then,indeed, it was soon seen that, in defiance of all rule, the roof wasby far the most conspicuous part of the whole edifice. Richard and hisassociate consoled themselves with the relief that the covering wouldaid in concealing this unnatural elevation; but every shingle that waslaid only multiplied objects to look at. Richard essayed to remedythe evil with paint, and four different colors were laid on by his ownhands. The first was a sky-blue, in the vain expectation that the eyemight be cheated into the belief it was the heavens themselves that hungso imposingly over Marmaduke's dwelling; the second was what he calleda "cloud-color," being nothing more nor less than an imitation of smoke;the third was what Richard termed an invisible green, an experiment thatdid not succeed against a background of sky. Abandoning the attempt toconceal, our architects drew upon their invention for means to ornamentthe offensive shingles.

  After much deliberation and two or three essays by moonlight, Richardended the affair by boldly covering the whole beneath a color that hechristened "sunshine," a cheap way, as he assured his cousin the Judge,of always keeping fair weather over his head. The platform, as well asthe caves of the house, were surmounted by gaudily painted railings, andthe genius of Hiram was exerted in the fabrication of divers urns andmouldings, that were scattered profusely around this part of theirlabors. Richard had originally a cunning expedient, by which thechimneys were intended to be so low, and so situated, as to resembleornaments on the balustrades; but comfort required that the chimneysshould rise with the roof, in order that the smoke might be carried off,and they thus became four extremely conspicuous objects in the view.

  As this roof was much the most important architectural undertaking inwhich Mr. Jones was ever engaged, his failure produced a correspondentdegree of mortification At first, he whispered among his acquaintancesthat it proceeded from ignorance of the square rule on the part ofHiram; but, as his eye became gradually accustomed to the object, hegrew better satisfied with his labors, and instead of apologizing forthe defects, he commenced praising the beauties of the mansion-house;he soon found hearers, and, as wealth and comfort are at all timesattractive, it was, as has been said, made a model for imitation ona small scale. In less than two years from its erection, he had thepleasure of standing on the elevated platform, and of looking down onthree humble imitators of its beauty. Thus it is ever with fashion,which even renders the faults of the great subjects of admiration.

  Marmaduke bore this deformity in his dwelling with great good-nature,and soon contrived, by his own
improvements, to give an air ofrespectability and comfort to his place of residence. Still, there wasmuch of in congruity, even immediately about the mansion-house. Althoughpoplars had been brought from Europe to ornament the grounds, andwillows and other trees were gradually springing up nigh the dwelling,yet many a pile of snow betrayed the presence of the stump of a pine;and even, in one or two instances, unsightly remnants of trees that hadbeen partly destroyed by fire were seen rearing their black, glisteningcolumns twenty or thirty feet above the pure white of the snow, These,which in the language of the country are termed stubs, abounded in theopen fields adjacent to the village, and were accompanied, occasionally,by the ruin of a pine or a hemlock that had been stripped of its bark,and which waved in melancholy grandeur its naked limbs to the blast,a skeleton of its former glory. But these and many other unpleasantadditions to the view were unseen by the delighted Elizabeth, who, asthe horses moved down the side of the mountain, saw only in gross thecluster of houses that lay like a map at her feet; the fifty smokes thatwere curling from the valley to the clouds; the frozen lake as it layimbedded in mountains of evergreen, with the long shadows of the pineson its white surface, lengthening in the setting sun; the dark ribbonof water that gushed from the outlet and was winding its way toward thedistant Chesapeake--the altered, though still remembered, scenes of herchild hood.

  Five years had wrought greater changes than a century would produce incountries where time and labor have given permanency to the works ofman. To our young hunter and the Judge the scene had less novelty;though none ever emerge from the dark forests of that mountain, andwitness the glorious scenery of that beauteous valley, as it burstsunexpectedly upon them, without a feeling of delight. The former castone admiring glance from north to south, and sank his face again beneaththe folds of his coat; while the latter contemplated, with philanthropicpleasure, the prospect of affluence and comfort that was expandingaround him; the result of his own enterprise, and much of it the fruitsof his own industry.

  The cheerful sound of sleigh-bells, however, attracted the attention ofthe whole party, as they came jingling up the sides of the mountain,at a rate that announced a powerful team and a hard driver. The busheswhich lined the highway interrupted the view, and the two sleighs wereclose upon each other before either was seen.