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In two days all was ready; and one calm morning,
in the merry month of June, our little party
embarked on the flood tide that set briskly up
the river, in their light canoe. A gentle southern
breeze rippled the surface of the waters, and
cooled the summer air into a balmy freshness, exquisitely
grateful to the senses. First, they
passed Coaquanock, then a little thriving village,
but since become a noble city, honoured
in its illustrious founder, and thrice honoured in
the residence of a sage whose precepts enlightened,
whose example adorned a subsequent age.
Light skimmed the pine canoe along the low
banks; fringed with tufts of water willows, that

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bent down and kissed the waves, as they approached
the little settlements of Burlington and
Bristol, where a few clear fields around a cluster
of rustic buildings, announced the commencement
of that great change in the aspect of the
country, and the destinies of its ancient inhabitants,
which is rapidly pervading the new world,
and will probably not stop, until it has passed
from the Atlantic of the East to the shores of
the Ocean of the West, with an impulse unabating
and irresistible.

The Falls, where Trenton now stands, was the
last settlement of white-men on the upper Delaware.
From thence was one wide extended forest,
through which roamed the Tirans, the Tiascons,
the Raritans, and a hundred other wandering
tribes, long since extinct, or represented
by a few degenerate beings, who seem only to
live for the purpose of proving that the red-man was
born for the shade, the white-man for the sunshine.
All these were now on good terms with their new
neighbours from Europe, and our little party
journeyed, unmolested, from the falls, through the
forest, along where the classic fanes of Princeton
now attract the youth of our country from
all quarters; where Kingston, and Brunswick,
and Woodbridge, and Rahway, now swarm with

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a little busy fry, but where at that time no trace
of cultivation was to be seen, till they came into
the vicinity of Elizabeth Town, then just settled.
Christina and the good Heer, when fatigued with
walking, or when the way was more than commonly
rough, or obstructed, were carried by
their faithful escort on a litter of boughs; and
when they came to a stream that was not fordable,
they launched their light canoe, and paddled
to the other side.

At what is called Elizabeth-Town Point,
where they were sorely annoyed by moschettoes,
our little party embarked on the tide that carried
them rapidly through the Kills. Neither the
waters nor the land on either side presented the
gay and moving scene that they do now. No
oyster boats plied their busy rakes; no fleet of
painted shallops and pettiaugers, such as are
now every moment seen gliding past each other
like the winds; no steam boats unfurled their
smoky pennons to the breeze; and the only animated
beings besides themselves, were the gulls
that skimmed the surface of the waters, and the
fish that sported beneath. Where the little villages,
the whitening spires, and thickly-strewed
farm houses, now animate the landscape on either
side, was nothing but lofty trees, on the

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dead branches of which was here and there seen
the fish-hawk, watching to pounce upon his finny
prey, and the eagle waiting his opportunity to
make him resign it. The moment the hawk had
seized his prize, and rose into the air, the lordly
eagle flew forth and pursued him till he let it
drop, when, darting with inconceivable velocity,
the regal robber seized it ere it reached the waters.

So beautiful a scene might have charmed a
heart that dwelt not upon deep objects of interest,
that swallowed up all sympathy with nature
and her enchanting pageantry. But the attention
of the good Heer and his daughter was concentrated
on one idea, and they remained unmoved
by the fair succession of objects that
passed rapidly before their eyes, until they opened
upon the delightful bay, and city, which
seemed rising from its capacious bosom. For
a moment, each was animated by a spark of
wonder and admiration; but the thought that
they were now approaching the place, and the
hour, which was to seal their fate as happy or
miserable beings in this world, speedily assumed
its ascendancy, and shut out all other thoughts
and feelings. Arriving at New-York, our little
party landed, like pilgrims in some desert

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country, or, at least, where they felt as lonely as in
the midst of the desert. Strangers to the place,
and every soul within it, they knew not whither
to seek a shelter, but wandered about the little
crooked streets and lanes, as objects of wonder,
rather than sympathy, to the busy inhabitants.

Passing, at length, by the door of a comfortable
looking mansion, the ears of the good
Heer and his daughter were saluted with some
lines of an old ballad, which was familiar to
their recollection, chanted by a voice that seemed
like one they had heard somewhere before.

“Bless me!” exclaimed the Heer, involuntarily;
“if it was not quite impossible, I should
think I heard our old neighbour, Wolvert Spangler,
singing one of his ditties.”

The exclamation was overheard by the singer,
who came straight to the door, exhibiting
the little, chubby, round, jolly face of the identical
ballad-singing cobbler of Elsingburgh.
The moment honest Wolvert saw the old man
and his daughter, he recognised them, and ran
and took the hands of the Heer, and shook them
cordially, with tears of joyful welcome.

“My old master,” cried he, at last, “it makes
my heart glad to see thee. And thou, too, my
little mistress, wilt let a humble old

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acquaintance, who hath often taken measure of thy little
foot, welcome thee to this good city.”

“In good sooth, Wolvert,” quoth the Heer,
“thy welcome is well timed, and grateful to our
hearts as our necessities. We are here as strangers,
without house, or home, or friends—”

“Sayest thou so,” interrupted Wolvert, “I
am glad of it—I am heartily glad of it, for then
thou wilt, perhaps, accept of me as a friend, and
my house as thy home. Never wilt thou enter a
threshold, where thou shalt be more welcome,
or meet with hearts more glad to administer to
thy happiness. Come forth, dame,” cried he;
“thou hast not forgot the kindness of my benefactress,
to me and mine, when I had neither
house nor home. I have often told thee of it.”

At this call there came forth, with active alacrity,
a comely dame, neatly and comfortably
apparelled, and, with courtesy and smiling look,
besought them to enter and make themselves at
home. “We will accept thine offers frankly,”
said the Heer, “not only because we know not
whither else to go, but most especially, that thy
welcome seems to be truly and sincerely tendered.”

“Else may one of the heaviest of Dominie
Kanttwell's judgments befall me and mine—my

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house and all within it,” quoth honest Wolvert,
as he showed the father and daughter into his
comfortable little parlour, the floor of which was
sprinkled with sand from the sea shore, as white
as the driven snow. After partaking of some
refreshments, which were pressed upon them with
genuine, honest earnestness, the Heer, whose
heart was scarce ever so shut up but that good
cheer warmed and expanded it into something
like honest jollity, addressed his host as follows:

“Neighbour Spangler, I am glad, for thy sake
as well as my own, that thou seemest so comfortably
settled, and seemingly, therewithal, so
well to do in the world. Thou hast been industrious
and saving, I dare swear for thee, hey?
for, if I recollect right, when thou badest farewell
to Elsingburgh, in sober sadness, thou
didst not over and above abound in the good
things of this life, hey? Tell us thy peregrinations.”

“That is soon done,” replied the other: “after
leaving Elsingburgh, I found my way to the
Hoarkill, where I had a brother a skipper, who
owned a small vessel, with which he plied along
the coast, to and again. I got a passage with
him to New-York, where I went forth into the
streets to seek my fortune. Providence, I

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humbly hope, in spite of the judgments of Dominie
Kanttwell, conducted me to the owner of this
house, then a worthy and thriving shoemaker,
who, luckily, wanted a journeyman, and took
me on the recommendation of my face. This
was not the only good turn my face did me, for,
in about a year, my master died, leaving his widow
all his possessions. The good dame was
fond of music, and in good time my ballads
made an impression on her heart. To cut short
a long story, and a tolerably long courtship, I
married an excellent wife, who made me quite
independent of the world, and to whom, I trust, I
have been, and always shall be, a good husband.
Not only this, Heer, but Governor Lovelace has
lately made me one of his five Aldermen, and
consults me on all great occasions of state, because,
as he is pleased to observe, I always agree
with him in opinion, which is a proof of my
being a person of sound discretion. So you see,
my worthy old master, my old friends, the ballads,
have been the making of me, after all.”

The Heer pondered a few moments on this
piece of biography, and then addressed himself
to Alderman Spangler, in an anxious tone, and
with a hesitating manner, as if afraid of hearing
a reply to his questions.

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