[figure description] Advertisement.[end figure description]

The idea of the following tale was conceived on
reading, many years ago, “The Memoirs of an
American Lady,” by Mrs. Grant, of Laggan; and
the work partly finished about that time. The
reader acquainted with the book referred to will,
perhaps, wonder at the indiscretion of the author
of the Dutchman's Fireside in thus, as it were, provoking
a comparison with one of the finest sketches
of early American manners ever drawn.

April, 1831.

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