[figure description] Page 179.[end figure description]

Miriam was now alone in the wilderness; and like
Logan, there was not a drop of kindred blood flowing
in the veins of any human being breathing in the New
World. She was without any stay but the tempered
energies of her own mind, strengthened by a firm reliance
on the protection of Heaven. The benevolent
shepherd of the little flock to whose care she had been
recommended by her dying parent, assisted her with
his advice, and consoled her with his sympathy. On
the settlement of her affairs, she found herself in a
situation not only to supply all her own wants, but to
administer to the necessities of others, when occasion
required. It was not often, indeed; for beggary was
not then in fashion, and it was thought much better
to labor for support, than to derive it from the labors
of others. There was but one pauper in the community,
and she was a stranger.

When the silent grief of a deeply-wounded spirit,

[figure description] Page 180.[end figure description]

had begun to feel the balmy influence of the old greybeard
comforter, Time, Miriam, though she might not
be called happy, was far from being miserable. Her
recollections of the past were unaccompanied by
remorse; her present situation was surrounded by the
simple comforts which money could command in that
remote region; and the future was brightened by a
hope beyond the grave. Her habits of industry were
now a never-failing resource; she never felt the pressure
of unoccupied time, that deadly nightmare which
poisons the existence of those favored mortals, the
envy of their fellow-creatures, who undergo ten times
more labor in search of pleasure, than the poor man
does in search of bread; and find harder work in killing
time than others do in employing it usefully. In
her hours of contemplation, she was never alone, for
her thoughts dwelt on objects, which though not
always present, yet ever and anon, returned in the
semblance of departed friends, who dead to the world,
seemed to live for her alone. She became at length so
familiarized to these contemplations, that instead of
paining, they soothed her heart, and she would not
have exchanged them for joy and gladness. Their
shadows ever appeared with approving smiles, not
frowning scowls, as if reproaching her with some past
offence; and when this is the case, the memory of the
past, though it may be peopled with lost friends, brings
with it a soothing, gentle pleasure, that may well compare
with the delusive dreams of hope. Wretched,

[figure description] Page 181.[end figure description]

indeed, are those who dare not look backwards, for the
future can afford them little consolation for the past.

Thus months passed away with little incident, and
less variety. But this calm was at length ruffled by
an event of passing interest to the Pilgrim band. The
faithful shepherd, who had led his flock into the lonely
wilderness, and watched and prayed for their welfare;
whose advice had directed, and whose example guided
them in all the vicissitudes of their course, was suddenly
and without warning called away by the great
accountant, who sooner or later brings all mankind to
a reckoning. To some he gives a short credit of a few
hours, or months; to others he allows a longer period;
and to a few, some fourscore years, or upwards. But
they must pay at last; and when they think he has
forgotten, or rubbed out the score, appears on a sudden
like some pale officer, and lodges them in that narrow
cell, wherein no air can blow. One Sabbath morning,
just as the good man was giving his blessing to his
flock, he fell back in his pulpit, and word spake
nevermore. His last breath was spent in prayer, and
his last word was a benediction. His death threw a
gloom over all around, for he never discouraged innocent
mirth, delighted in seeing smiling faces, and did
not believe it necessary to live in the perpetual gloom
of present night, in order to enjoy the brightness of
the future day.

Here was the last staff broken, and poor Miriam
had no earthly prop to lean upon, but an aged woman,
kind and affectionate indeed, from long habit; but

[figure description] Page 182.[end figure description]

possessing a narrow mind, incapable of sympathizing
with hers. It was at this period, too, that she
began to be again pestered with the visits of Tobias
Harpsfield, who, notwithstanding his former rebuff,
still continued to calculate that she would be an excellent
speculation. He had taken great pains to ascertain
precisely what she was worth, and watched with
the patience of a beast of prey to see how, one by one,
all those who would protect or defend his victim, were
called away from her. He had a high opinion of perseverance,
and was accustomed to say, that he who
held out to the last would always win. Accordingly,
having waited “a decent time,” as he expressed it—
for decency was his moral creed—he recommenced his
devoirs, by calling on a visit of condolence, of all visits
the most irksome to the receiver, when paid by one
who feels no sympathy.

“Ah,” quoth Tobias, casting up his greygoose eyes,
“ah! he was a good man—an excellent man—a tender
husband, an affectionate parent, a kind neighbor,
and a pious believer. Such a loss can never be repaired;
it is worse than that of your excellent mother.
You will never get such another father. But though
left alone in the world without a friend or relation, you
should not despair, for there are thousands and tens of
thousands in this world a great deal worse off than
you, who have wherewithal to support yourself handsomely
and ride in your own carriage, with two horses,
if you choose.”

This was about the sum total of the consolations of

[figure description] Page 183.[end figure description]

philosophy, according to the creed of Tobias, who was
one of that very numerous class who think money not
only a great blessing, but one equivalent to the absence
of all others. Miriam received and listened to him with
loathing. With the sure instinct of woman she saw
into his heart, the sole animating principle of which
was a grovelling selfishness, not merely confined to a
preference of his own gratification above that of all
others, but to the exclusion of the rest of the world.
Still, the alleged kindness, of his motive for this visit
forbade her treating him with downright incivility,
and Tobias departed quite satisfied that he had broken
the ice very successfully, though if he had read her
countenance he would have groaned in spirit, and
gnashed his teeth. But the truth is, he was so completely
absorbed by his own selfish purposes, that he
forgot everything besides. He studied only in his own
book, and never looked into the pages of others. Following
up this auspicious commencement, Tobias
repeated his visits, gradually shortening the intervals
between them, until his persecution became almost
intolerable. There was no getting rid of him; for in
these matter-of-fact days, the last thing thought of
would have been to instruct a servant in the art of
lying, by denying the master or mistress when actually
at home. The upright, punctilious Mildred would
have scorned such a mission.

Nor was this all. Miriam could not take a walk,
morning, noon, or evening, without what Tobias
called a chance meeting; and if she staid at home,

[figure description] Page 184.[end figure description]

he had ever some clumsy excuse for calling. He
watched her going to church, or waylaid her in returning;
accompanied her home; and in short, so managed
matters, that at length the neighbors began to compliment
Miriam on her conquest in a sly way, and
ask her “when it was to be.” This tickled Tobias
mightily, for he thought there must be something in
it, as everybody seemed to be of the same opinion. He
was a cunning, but not a wise man. Perseverance
will carry the day at last, thought he, as he was proceeding
on his daily visit with a full resolution to try
his fortune once more.

Now it so happened, that on that very morning
Miriam had been for the second time complimented
by a knowing old dame, a near neighbor, who took
particular cognizance of other people's affairs—on her
approaching wedding. Heavens! how her heart swelled
with indignant sorrow at the idea of such a suecessor
to Langley. It was not to be borne; and though
the discreet Tobias had as yet never repeated his proposal,
or given her a fair opportunity for discarding
him, she at once resolved to take it without it being
given, though it was rather an awkward business to
nonsuit one who had not actually commenced his suit.

She was in the height of her indignation, when
Tobias walked in without knocking—for he affected
to be very intimate—and full of his purpose to try his
fortune a second time. He had wrought himself up
to the crisis—he had cleared his throat by a vigorous
“hem,” and warmed his icy soul by a vision of her

[figure description] Page 185.[end figure description]

dower, when Miriam anticipated his purpose, by meeting
him considerably more than half way. She began
by referring to her peculiar situation, as a single
woman, without father or mother, and living almost
alone; to the delicate proprieties such a situation
imposed; to his frequent visits, and constant intrusion
everywhere; and finally, with a flushed cheek and
flashing eye, bespeaking mingled modesty and loathing,
she alluded to the reports which his conduct had
produced.

Tobias sat with open ears, eyes, and mouth, anticipating
a prosecution for breach of promise, after the
fashion of New England spinsters, if he did not forthwith
offer her his hand. What then was his astonishment
and dismay, when he was saluted with a peremptory
request, which sounded very much like a demand,
that he would at once, and forever, discontinue his
visits; forbear all further attentions, and consider himself
a perfect stranger in future. The revulsion of his
feelings was terribly bitter. He was taken by surprise;
replied not a word; and departed without
taking leave, filled with anger, malice, and revenge.

While the disastrous courtship of Master Tobias
Harpsfield had been progressing backwards, various
changes highly important to the destinies of our little
community occurred. New accessions of settlers had
come; various improvements had been made or suggested
by certain troublesome and mischievous busybodies,
called “public-spirited citizens;” and the body
politic, inflated with its self-importance, began to

[figure description] Page 186.[end figure description]

aspire to the dignity of an incorporation. This notion
was fostered, if not originally engendered, by certain
leading men, who thought they had undoubted claim
to official distinction. The whole project was, however,
knocked on the head for the present by a shrewd
old deacon, who warned the good people that a charter
was only a cunning device to enable the corporation
to run in debt without paying, and plunder the
community under color of law. A new judge had
been appointed, who, coming direct from the oldest but
one town in the State, was looked up to with sinful
reverence; and to crown all, a new pastor had been
called from the midst of the witches, who began about
this time again to play their diabolical pranks at
Naumkeag, and elsewhere. He was accompanied by
a number of disciples, enamored of his doctrines and
preaching. These innovations and innovators brought
with them the seeds of much after disturbance, and
caused a deal of mischief, as well as misery.

The new arrivals, judge, pastor and flock, were,
without exception, devout believers in witchcraft,
coming as they did from the very focus of witchendom.
Such a delusion might seem strange, had it
not been cherished in every age and nation of the
world. It has been ridiculed as an error of superstition
and ignorance; but to this day, so far as we
know, it has never been philosophically treated, nor
has any attempt been made to demonstrate its incompatibility
with nature, reason, philosophy and science.
At this moment there exists among a large portion of

[figure description] Page 187.[end figure description]

mankind, the latent seeds of that same delusion,
which, in the age of which we are speaking, produced
such deplorable examples of the weakness of reason,
the strength and ferocity of fear. Happily, though
tolerated by the pulpit, in compliment to the Witch
of Endor, it is repudiated by the law, and its punishment
is now founded not in its reality, but its nonexistence.

The course of our story leads to a revival of these
times, and the reference is made with no view to reflect
on a race of men whose integrity, piety, and
heroism were amply sufficient to atone for all their
faults and weaknesses. The records of past ages are
equally useful, as affording examples to imitate or
avoid; and it cannot be denied, that in the present
age, the credulity of science is quite equal to that of
ignorance in days of yore. The reign of superstition,
if we do not err, if it has ever gone by, is about to be
revived; and witchcraft and necromancy seem destined
to assume the dignity of sciences. It is well for
the professors of mesmerism they did not practice their
impositions some two centuries ago, for they would
assuredly have been brought to the stake or the
gallows.

Though unhappily at that time recognized as genuine,
by men whose piety and learning were equal to
any of their cotemporaries, it was a species of witchcraft
of the most vulgar species, and had in it nothing of
the vague sublimity of the invisible world. It consisted
entirely in physical inflictions, or practical jokes

[figure description] Page 188.[end figure description]

carried to extremes, such as sticking pins, throwing
stones, playing pranks with furniture, and other
petty annoyances, altogether beneath the dignity of
supernatural agency. It was in fact the sublime of
the ridiculous, and would have been the broadest of
farces, had it not ended in the deepest of tragedies.
The gambols of superstition are like the festivals of
the savages, where human victims are offered up to
flames and torture. Like the fabled Ogre, its gigantic
deformity would excite only contempt and scorn,
did it not prey on human flesh, and banquet on human
blood.

It was not long after the arrival of the new reinforcement
to the settlement, before it began to be
whispered that witchcraft was abroad among them.
Many strange things happened, or were said to happen,
which could not be accounted for in a natural way.
Invisible hands perpetrated invisible outrages, such as
pelting honest people with stones at night; setting the
frying pans to ringing profane and diabolical tunes;
upsetting milk pans; bewitching the tongs, so that it
opened when it ought to have shut, and shut when it
should have opened; together with various other mischievous
devices, such as witches practice as it were
without any other object than the gratification of a
perverse, malignant spirit. In cases of this kind, there
can be little doubt, that the love of mischief incites
many persons to perpetrate various pranks, or that
others wreak their secret spite under the cover of the
prevailing delusion.

[figure description] Page 189.[end figure description]

Tobias Harpsfield was among the early victims of
fiendish malignity. He now first began to luxuriate
in the conception of a plot which time will develope;
and it behooved him to spread the infection of witchcraft
by every means in his power. Accordingly,
there was not a night passed that, if you would believe
him, he was not grievously assaulted or persecuted,
by one or more of these invisible demons. Sometimes
he would be aroused by a box on the ear; sometimes
while sitting at a window, it would come slamming
down on his head; at one time his hat was blown off,
though there was not a breath of air stirring; at
others he heard horrible bursts of laughter close to his
ear while saying his prayers; and more than once he
was waked up at night by the sticking of pins, though
as yet he could find none in his flesh, nor detect any
mark of the infliction. People began to stare and
wonder at Tobias; he had become a subject of supernatural
agency, and partook in the awful and mysterious
dignity of his persecutors. Thus he continued for
a time to feed the growing panic, until a few recent
examples of perverse action in this matter caused him
to apprehend that he might, by some strange process of
reasoning, be converted from a victim into an accomplice,
and from this time his persecutions miraculously
ceased.

p316-419

Previous section

Next section