The sea lions; or, the lost sealers
Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851
• V (f « ' r,* tt. kT V Va ^o • » • -0* xD A. iJw4;* ^ c®^ “ji^*. "*<> ** 4?’^ •<■'•• Q^ » %> "^oC* ^ • 4 ^ •fTs: THE CHOICE WOMS OF COOPER. KEVISED AND CORRECTED SERIES. WITH NEW INTRODUCTIONS, NOTES, ETd VOL. XX. THE SEA LIONS. HE SEA LIONS; THE LOST SEALERS. J.'^ENIMORE COOPER. Daughter of Faith, awake, arise, illume The dread unknown, the chaos of the tomb ; Melt, and dispel, ye spectre doubts that roll Cimmerian darkness o’er the parting soul 1 Campbell. COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. WITH THE LATEST REVISION AND CORRECTIONS OF THE AUTHOR. NEW YORK: STRINGER & TOWNSEND 1 85 6. TZ3 . C tsl ‘Djl. r Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by STEINGER & TOWNSEND, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. '• r R. C. Valentine, Storeotyper. John F. Trow, Printer. PREFACE. If any thing connected with the hardness of the human heart could surprise us, it surely would be the indifference with which men live on, engrossed by their worldly objects, amid the sublime natural phenomena that so eloquently and unceasingly speak to their imagi- nations, affections, and judgments. So completely is the existence of the individual concentrated in self, and so regardless does he get to be of all without that con- tracted circle, that it does not probably happen to one man in ten that his thoughts are drawn aside from this intense study of his own immediate wants, wishes, and plans, even once in the twenty-four hours, to contemplate the majesty, mercy, truth, and justice, of the Divine Being that has set him, as an atom, amid the myriads of the hosts of heaven and earth. The physical marvels of the universe produce little more reflection than the profoundest moral truths. A million of eyes shall pass over the firmament on a cloudless night, and not a hundred minds shall be filled with a proper sense of the power of the dread Being that created all that is there — not a hundred hearts glow with the adoration that such an appeal to the senses and understanding ought naturally to produce. This indif- ference, in a great measure, comes of familiarity ; the things that we so constantly have before us becoming as a part of the air we breathe, and as little regarded. 6 PREFACE. One of the consequences of this disposition to disre- gard the Almighty Hand, as it is so plainly visible in all around us, is that of substituting our own powers in its stead. In this period of the world, in enlightened countries, and in the absence of direct idolatry, few men are so hardy as to deny the existence and might of a Supreme Being ; but, this fact admitted, how few really feel that profound reverence for him that the nature of our relations justly demands ! It is the want of a due sense of humility, and a sad misconception of what we are, and for what we were created, that misleads us in the due estimate of our own insignificance, as compared with the majesty of God. Yery few men attain enough of human knowledge to be fully aware how much remains to be learned, and of that which they never can hope to acquire. We hear a great deal of god-like minds, and of the far-reaching faculties we possess ; and it may all be worthy of our eulogiums, until we compare ourselves in these, as in other particulars, with Him who produced them. Then, indeed, the utter insignificance of our means becomes too apparent to admit of a cavil. We know that we are born, and that we die ; science has been able to grapple with all the phenomena of these two great physical facts, with the exception of the most material of all — those which should tell us what is life, and what is death. Something that we cannot comprehend lies at the root of every distinct division of natural phenomena. Thus far shalt thou go and no farther, seems to be imprinted on every great fact of creation. There is a point at- tained in each and all of our acquisitions, where a mystery that no human mind can scan takes the place of demonstration and conjectime. This point may lie PREFACE. 7 more remote with some intellects than with others ; but it exists for all, arrests the inductions of all, conceals all. We are aware that the more learned among those who disbelieve in the divinity of Christ suppose them- selves to be sustained by written authority, contending for errors of translation, mistakes and misapprehensions in the ancient texts. Nevertheless, we are inclined to think that nine-tenths of those who refuse the old and accept the new opinion, do so for a motive no better than a disinclination to believe that which they cannot comprehend. This pride of reason is one of the most insinuating of our foibles, and is to be watched as a most potent enemy. How completely and philosophically does the vener- able Christian creed embrace and modify all these work- ings of the heart ! We say philosophically, for it were not possible for mind to give a juster analysis of the whole subject than St. Paul’s most comprehensive but brief definition of Faith. It is this Faith which forms the mighty feature of the church on earth. It equali- zes capacities, conditions, means, and ends, holding out the same encouragement and hope to the least, as to the most gifted of the race ; counting gifts in their ordinary and more secular points of view. It is when health, or the usual means of success aban- don us, that we are made to feel how totally we are insufficient for the achievement of even our own pur- poses, much less to qualify us to reason on the deep mysteries that conceal the beginning and the end. It has often been said that the most successful leaders of their fellow-men have had the clearest views of their own insufficiency to attain their own objects. If Na- poleon ever said, as has been attributed to him, Je 8 PREFACE. prc^ose et je dispose^'^^ it must have been in one of those fleeting moments in which success blinded him to the fact of his own insufiiciency. No man had a deeper reliance on fortune, cast the result of great events on the decrees of fate, or more anxiously watched the rising and setting of what he called his “ star.” This was a faith that could lead to no good ; but it clearly denoted how far the boldest designs, the most ample means, and the most vaulting ambition, fall short of giving that sublime consciousness of power and its fruits that dis- tinguish the reign of Omnipotence. In this book the design has been to portray man on a novel fleld of action, and to exhibit his dependence on the hand that does not suffer a sparrow to fall un- heeded. The recent attempts of science, which employed the seamen of the four greatest maritime states of Christendom, made discoveries that have rendered the polar circles much more familiar to this age than to any that has preceded it, so far as existing records show. We say “existing records;” for there is much reason for believing that the ancients had a knowledge of our hemisphere, though less for supposing that they ever braved the dangers of the high latitudes. Many are, just at this moment, much disposed to believe that “ Ophir” was on this continent ; though for a reason no better than the circumstance of the recent discoveries of much gold. Such savans should remember that “peacocks” came from ancient Ophir. If this be in truth that land, the adventurers of Israel caused it to be denuded of that bird of beautiful plumage. Such names as those of Parry, Sabine, Ross, Frank- lin, Wilkes, Hudson, Ringgold, &c., &c., with those of divers gallant Frenchmen and Russians, command our preface. 9 most profound respect ; for no battles or victories can redound more to the credit of seamen than the dangers they all encountered, and the conquests they have all achieved. One of those named, a resolute and expe- rienced seaman, it is thought must, at this moment, be locked in the frosts of the arctic circle, after having passed half a life in the endeavor to push his discover- ies into those remote and frozen regions. He bears the name of the most distinguished of the philosophers of this country ; and nature has stamped on his features — by one of those secret laws which just as much baffle our means of comprehension, as the greatest of all our mysteries, the incarnation of the Son of God — a resem- blance that, of itself, would go to show that they are of the same race. Any one who has ever seen this im- prisoned navigator, and who is familiar with the coun- tenances of the men of the same name who are to be found in numbers amongst ourselves, must be struck with a likeness that lies as much beyond the grasp of that reason of which we are so proud, as the sublimest facts taught by induction, science, or revelation. Parties are, at this moment, out in search of him and his fol- lowers; and it is to be hoped that the Providence which has so singularly attempered the different circles and zones of our globe, placing this under a burning sun, and that beneath enduring frosts, will have inclu- ded in its divine forethought a sufflcient cfwe for these bold wanderera to restore them, unharmed, to their friends and country. In a contrary event, their names must be transmitted to posterity as the victims to a laudable desire to enlarge the circle of human knowl- edge, and with it, we trust, to increase the glory due to God. 1^ , a A 1 ^ f ■' T:. .: .. ,■ :■ ■ - : .; •: . , :- ' ■■ VO"'-': ■■' ' :; „■ ;ir : : :;■■ , . ' .; '• :""•: V. .■ „ d .'; ■..d.d ■"' - ’dVr; r;hc-,drt- vdisi #1" ^ •V'''v;o,7 !;.c ^ “ndaia THE SEA LIONS CHAPTER I. “ When that’s gone, He shall drink naught but brine.” Tempest. While there is less of that high polish in America that is obtained by long intercourse with the great world, than is to be found in nearly every European country, there is much less positive rusticity also. There, the extremes of society are widely separated, repelling rather than attracting each other ; while among ourselves, the tendency is to gravitate towards a common centre. Thus it is, that all things in America be- come subject to a mean law that is productive of a mediocrity which is probably much above the average of that of most nations ; possibly of all, England excepted ; but which is only a mediocrity after all. In this way, excellence in nothing is justly appreciated, nor is it often recognized ; and the suffrages of the nation are pretty uniformly bestowed on qualities of a secondary class. Numbers have sway, and it is as impossible to resist them in deciding on merit, as it is to deny their power in the ballot-boxes ; time alone, with its great curative in- fluence, supplying the remedy that is to restore the public mind to a healthful state, and give equally to the pretender and to him who is worthy of renown, his proper place in the pages of history. The activity of American life, the rapidity and cheapness of intercourse, and the migratory habits both have induced, 12 THE SEA LIONS. leave little of rusticity and local character in any particular sections of the country. Distinctions, that an acute observer may detect, do certainly exist between the eastern and the western man, between the northerner and the southerner, the Yankee and middle states’ man ; the Bostonian, Manhattanese, and Philadelphian ; the Tuckahoe and the Cracker ; the Buck- eye or Wolverine, and the Jersey Blue. Nevertheless, the world cannot probably produce another instance of a people who are derived from so many different races, and who occupy so large an extent of country, who are so homogeneous in appearance, characters, and opinions. There is no question that the insti- tutions have had a material influence in producing this uni- formity, while they have unquestionably lowered the standard to which opinion is submitted, by referring the decisions to the many, instead of making the appeal to the few, as is else- where done. Still, the direction is onward, and though it may take time to carve on the social column of America that grace- ful and ornamental capital which it forms the just boast of Europe to possess, when the task shall be achieved, the work will stand on a base so broad as to secure its upright attitude for ages. Notwithstanding the general character of identity and ho- mogeneity that so strongly marks the picture of American society, exceptions are to be met with, in particular districts, that are not only distinct and incontrovertible, but which are so peculiar as to be worthy of more than a passing remark in our delineations of national customs. Our present purpose leads us into one of these secluded districts, and it may be well to com- mence the narrative of certain deeply-interesting incidents that it is our intention to attempt to portray, by first referring to the place and people where and from whom the principal actors in our legend had their origin. Every one at all familiar with the map of America knows the position and general form of the two islands that shelter the well-known harbor of the great emporium of the commerce THE SEA LIONS. 13 of the country. These islands obtained their names from the Dutch, who called them Nassau and Staten ; but the English, with little respect for the ancient house whence the first of these appellations is derived, and consulting only the homely taste which leads them to a practical rather than to a poetical nomenclature in all things, have since virtually dropped the name of Nassau, altogether substituting that of Long Island in its stead. Long Island, or the island of Nassau, extends from the mouth of the Hudson to the eastern line of Connecticut ; forming a sort of sea-wall to protect the whole coast of the lat- ter little territory against the waves of the broad Atlantic. Three of the oldest New York counties, as their names would imply. Kings, Queens, and Suffolk, are on this island. Kings was originally peopled by the Dutch, and still possesses as many names derived from Holland as from England, if its towns, which are of recent origin, be taken from the account. Queens is more of a mixture, having been early invaded and occupied by adventurers from the other side of the Sound ; but Suffolk, which contains nearly, if not quite, two-thirds of the surface of the whole island, is and ever has been in pos- session of a people derived originally from the puritans of New England. Of these three counties. Kings is much the smallest, though, next to New York itself, the most populous county in the State ; a circumstance that is owing to the fact that two suburban offsets of the great emporium, Brooklyn and Wil- liamsburg, happen to stand within its limits, on the waters of what is improperly called the East River ; an arm of the sea that has obtained this appellation in contradistinction to the Hudson, which, as all Manhattanese well know, is as often called the North River, as by its proper name. In consequence of these two towns, or suburbs of New York, one of which con- tains nearly a hundred thousand souls, while the other must be drawing on towards twenty thousand. Kings county has lost all it ever had of peculiar or local character. The same is true ot 14 THE SEA LIONS. Queens, thougli in a diminished degree ; but Suffolk remains Suffolk still, and it is with Suffolk alone that our present legend requires us to deal. Of Suffolk, then, we propose to say a few words by way of preparatory explanation. Although it has actually more sea-coast than all the rest of New York united, Suffolk has but one seaport that is ever mentioned beyond the limits of the county itself. Nor is this port one of general commerce, its shipping being principally employed in the hardy and manly occupation of whaling. As a whaling town. Sag Harbor is the third or fourth port in the country, and maintains something like that rank in importance. A whaling haven is nothing without a whaling community. Without the last, it is almost hopeless to look for success. New York can, and has often fitted whalers for sea, having sought officers in the regular whaling ports ; but it has been seldom that the enterprises have been rewarded with such re- turns as to induce a second voyage by the same parties. It is as indispensable that a whaler should possess a certain esprit de corps, as that a regiment, or a ship of war, should be animated by its proper spirit. In the whaling communities, this spirit exists to an extent and in a degree that is wonderful, when one remembers the great expansion of this particular branch of trade within the last five-and-twenty years. It may be a little lessened of late, but at the time of which we are writing, or about the year 1820, there was scarcely an indi- vidual who followed this particular calling out of the port of Sag Harbor, whose general standing on board ship was not as well known to all the women and girls of the place, as it was to his shipmates. Success in taking the whale was a thing that made itself felt in every fibre of the prosperity of the town ; and it was just as natural that the single-minded popu- lation of that part of Suffolk should regard the bold and skilful harpooner or lancer with favor, as it is for the belle at a water- ing-place to bestow her smiles on one of the young heroes of Contreras or Cherubusco. His peculiar merit, whether with THE SEA LIONS. 15 the oar, lance, or harpoon, is bruited about, as well as the number of whales he may have succeeded in “making fast to,” or those which he caused to “ spout blood.” It is true, that the great extension of the trade within the last twenty years, by drawing so many from a distance into its pursuits, has in a degree lessened this local interest and local knowledge of character ; but at the time of which we are about to write, both were at their height, and Nantucket itself had not more of this “intelligence office” propensity, or more of the true whaling esprit de corps, than were to be found in the district of country that surrounded Sag Harbor. Long Island forks at its eastern end, and may be said to have two extremities. One of these, which is much the short- est of the two legs thus formed, goes by the name of Oyster Pond Point ; while the other, that stretches much farther in the direction of Blok Island, is the well-known cape called Montauk. Within the fork lies Shelter Island, so named from the snug berth it occupies. Between Shelter Island and the longest or southern prong of the fork, are the waters which compose the haven of Sag Harbor — an estuary of some extent ; while a narrow but deep arm of the sea separates this island from the northern prong, that terminates at Oyster Pond. The name of Oyster Pond Point was formerly applied to a long, low, fertile, and pleasant reach of land, that extended several miles from the point itself, westward, towards the spot where the two prongs of the fork united. It was not easy, during the first quarter of the present century, to find a more secluded spot on the whole island than Oyster Pond. Recent ♦ enterprises have since converted it into the terminus of a rail- road ; and Green Port, once called Sterling, is a name well- known to travellers between New York and Boston j but in the earlier part of the present century it. seemed just as likely that the Santa Casa of Loretto should take a new flight and descend on the point, as that the improvement that has ac- tually been made should in truth occur at that out-of-the- 16 THE SEA LIONS. way place. It required, indeed, the keen eye of a railroad projector to bring this spot in connection with any thing ; nor could it be done without having recourse to the water by which it is almost surrounded. Using the last, it is true, means have been found to place it in a line between two of the great marts of the country, and thus to put an end to all its seclusion, its simplicity, its peculiarities, and we had almost said, its happiness. It is to us ever a painful sight to see the rustic virtues rudely thrown aside by the intrusion of what are termed im- provements. A railroad is certainly a capital invention for the traveller, but it may be questioned if it is of any other benefit than that of pecuniary convenience to the places through which it passes. How many delightful hamlets, pleasant vil- lages, and even tranquil country towns, are losing their primi- tive characters for simplicity and contentment, by the passage of these fiery trains, that drag after them a sort of bastard elegance, a pretension that is destructive of peace of mind, and an uneasy desire in all who dwell by the wayside, to pry into the mysteries of the whole length and breadth of the region it traverses ! We are writing of the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nineteen. In that day, Oyster Pond was, in one of the best acceptations of the word, a rural district. It is true that its inhabitants were accustomed to the water, and to the sight of vessels, from the two-decker to the little shabby-look- ing craft that brought ashes from town, to meliorate the sandy lands of Suffolk. Only five years before, an English squadron had lain in Gardiner’s Bay, here pronounced “ Gar’ner’s,” # watching the Race, or eastern outlet of the Sound, with a \iew to cut off the trade and annoy their enemy. That game is up forever. No hostile squadron, English, French, Dutch, or all united, will ever again blockade an American port for any serious length of time — the young Hercules passing too rapidly from the gristle 'into the bone, any longer to suffer antics of THE SEA LIONS. 17 this nature to be played in front of his cradle. But such was not his condition in the war of 1812, and the good people of Oyster Pond had become familiar with the checkered sides of two-deck ships, and the venerable and beautiful ensign of Old England, as it floated above them. Nor was it only by these distant views, and by means of hostilities, that the good folk of Oyster Pond were acquainted with vessels. New York is necessary to all on the coast, both as a market and as a place to procure supplies ; and every creek, or inlet, or basin, of any sort, within a hundred leagues of it, is sure to possess one or more craft that ply between the favorite haven and the particular spot in question. Thus was it with Oyster Pond. There is scarce a better harbor on the whole American coast, than that which the narrow arm of the sea that divides the Point from Shelter Island presents ; and even in the simple times of which we are writing. Sterling had its two or three coasters, such as they were. But the true maritime character of Oyster Pond, as well as that of all Suf- folk, was derived from the whalers, and its proper nucleus was across the estuary, at Sag Harbor. Thither the youths of the whole region resorted for employment, and to advance their for- tunes, and generally with such success as is apt to attend en- terprise, industry, and daring, when exercised with energy in a pursuit of moderate gains. None became rich, in the strict signification of the term, though a few got to be in reasonably affluent circumstances ; many were placed altogether at their ease, and more were made humbly comfortable. A farm in America is well enough for the foundation of family support, but it rarely suffices for all the growing wants of these days of indulgence, and of a desire to enjoy so much of that which was formerly left to the undisputed possession of the unquestionably rich. A farm, with a few hundreds per annum^ derived from other sources, makes a good base of comfort ; and if the hun- dreds are converted into thousands, your farmer or agricul- turist becomes a man not only at his ease, but a proprietor of 18 THE SEA LIONS. some importance. The farms on Oyster Pond were neither very extensive, nor had they owners of large incomes to sup- port them ; on the contrary, most of them were made to sup- port their owners ; a thing that is possible, even in America, with industry, frugality, and judgment. In order, however, that the names of places we may have occasion to use shall be understood, it may be well to be a little more particular in our preliminary explanation. The reader knows that we are now writing of Suffolk county. Long Island, New York. He also knows that our opening scene is to be on the shorter, or most northern of the two prongs of that fork which divides the eastern end of this island, giving it what are properly two capes. The smallest territorial division that is known to the laws of New York, in rural districts, is the “ township,” as it is called. These town- ships are usually larger than the English parish, coiTesponding more properly with the French canton. They vary, however, greatly in size, some containing as much as a hundred square miles, which is the largest size, while others do not contain more than a tenth of that surface. The township in which the northern prong, or point of Long Island, lies, is named Southold, and includes not only all of the long, low, narrow land that then went by the common names of Oyster Pond, Sterling, &c., but several islands also which stretch off in the Sound, as well as a broader piece of territory, near Riverhead. Oyster Pond, which is the portion of the township that lies on the “ point,” is, or vxis — for we write of a remote period in the galloping history of the State — only a part of Southold, and probably was not then a name known in the laws at all. We have a wish, also, that this name should be pronounced properly. It is not called Oyster Pond^ as the uninitiated would be very apt to get it, but Oyster Pund, the last word having a sound similar to that of the cockney’s “ pound,” in his “ two pund two.” This discrepancy between the spelling THE SEA LIONS. 19 and the pronunciation of proper names is agreeable to us, for it shows that a people are not put in leading-strings by peda- gogues, and that they make use of their own in their own way. We remember how great was our satisfaction once, on entering Holmes’ Hole, a well-known bay in this very vicinity, in our youth, to hear a boatman call the port, “Hum’ses Hull.” It is getting to be so rare to meet with an American, below the higher classes, who will consent to cast this species of veil before his school-day acquisitions, that we acknowledge it gives us pleasure to hear such good, homely, old-fashioned English as “ Gar’ner’s Island,” “ Hum’ses Hull,” and “ Oyster Phnd.” This plainness of speech was not the only proof of the sim- plicity of former days that was to be found in Suffolk, in the first quarter of the century. The eastern end of Long Island lies so much out of the track of the rest of the world, that even the new railroad cannot make much impression on its inhabit- ants, who get their pigs and poultry, butter and eggs, a little earlier to market than in the days of the stage-wagons, it is true, but they fortunately, as yet, bring little back except it be the dross that sets every thing in motion, whether it be by rail, or through the sands, in the former toilsome mode. The season, at the precise moment when we desire to take the reader with us to Oyster Pond, was in the delightful month of September, when the earlier promises of the year are fast maturing into performance. Although Suffolk, as a whole, can scarcely be deemed a productive county, being generally of a thin, light soil, and still covered with a growth of small wood, it possesses, nevertheless, spots of exceeding fertility. A con- siderable portion of the northern prong of the fork has this latter character, and Oyster Pond is a sort of garden compared with much of the sterility that prevails around it. Plain but respectable dwellings, with numerous out-buildings, orchards, and fruit-trees, fences carefully preserved, .a pains-taking til- lage, good roads, and here and there a “ meeting-house,” gave 20 THE SEA LIONS. the fork an air of rural and moral beauty that, aided by the water by which it was so nearly surrounded, contributed greatly to relieve the monotony of so dead a level. There were heights in view, on Shelter Island, and bluffs towards Riverhead, which, if they would not attract much attention in Switzerland, were by no means overlooked in Suffolk. In a word, both the season and the place were charming, though most of the flowers had already faded ; and the apple, and the pear, and the peach, were taking the places of the in- viting cherry. Fruit abounded, notwithstanding the close vicinity of the district to s^t water, the airs from the sea being broken, or somewhat tempered, by the land that lay to the southward. We have spoken of the coasters that ply between the em- porium and all the creeks and bays of the Sound, as well as of the numberless rivers that And an outlet for their waters be- tween Sandy Hook and Rockaway. Wharves were constructed, at favorable points, inside the' prong, and occasionally a sloop was seen at them loading its truck, or discharging its ashes or street manure ; the latter being a very common return cargo for a Long Island coaster. At one wharf, however, now lay a vessel of a different mould, and one which, though of no great size, was manifestly intended to go outside. This was a schooner that had been recently launched, and which had ad- vanced no farther in its flrst equipment than to get in its two principal spars, the rigging of which hung suspended over the mast-heads, in readiness to be “ set up” for the flrst time. The day being Sunday, work was suspended, and this so much the more, because the owner of the vessel was a certain Deacon Pratt, who dwelt in a house within half a mile of the wharf, and who was also the proprietor of three several parcels of land in that neighborhood, each of which had its own buildings and conveniences, and was properly enough dignified with the name of a farm. To be sure, neither of these farms was very large, their acres united amounting to but little more than two THE SEA LIONS. 21 hundred ; but, owing to their condition, the native richness of the soil, and the mode of turning them to account, they had made Deacon Pratt a warm man for Suffolk. There are two great species of deacons; for we suppose they must all be referred to the same genera. One species belong to the priesthood, and become priests and bishops ; passing 1 away, as priests and bishops are apt to do, with more or less of the savor of godliness. The other species are purely laymen, , and are sui generis. They are, ex-officio,, the most pious men in a neighborhood, as they sometimes are, as it would seem to us, ; ex-officio, also, the most grasping and mercenary. As we are not in the secrets of the sects to which these lay deacons be- long, we shall not presume to pronounce whether the indi- :i vidual is elevated to the deaconate because he is prosperous, in I a worldly sense, or whether the prosperity is a consequence of |; the deaconate ; but, that the two usually go together is quite \, certain ; which being the cause, and which the effect, we leave to wiser heads to determine. Deacon Pratt was no exception to the rule. A tighter-fisted ‘ sinner did not exist in the county than this pious soul, who certainly not only wore, but wore out the “ form of godliness,” while he was devoted, heart and hand, to the daily increase of i worldly gear. No one spoke disparagingly of the deacon, ! notwithstanding. So completely had he got to be interwoven ; with the church — “ meeting,” we ought to say — in that vicin- ity, that speaking disparagingly of him would have appeared i like assailing Christianity. It is true, that many an unfortu- nate fellow-citizen in Sufiblk had been made to feel how close was the gripe of his hand, when he found himself in its grasp ; but there is a way of practising the most ruthless extortion, \ that serves not only to deceive the world, but which would really seem to mislead the extortioner himself. Phrases take ' the place of deeds, sentiments those of facts, and grimaces : those of benevolent looks, so ingeniously and so impudently, I that the wronged often fancy that they are the victims of a 22 THE SEA LIONS. severe dispensation of Providence, when the truth would have shown that they were simply robbed. We do not mean, however, that Deacon Pratt was a robber. He was merely a hard man in the management of his affairs ; never cheating, in a direct sense, but seldom conceding a cent to generous impulses, or to the duties of kind. He was a wid- ower, and childless, circumstances that rendered his love of gain still less pardonable; for many a man who is indifferent to money on his own account, will toil and save to lay up hoards for those who are to come after him. The deacon had only a niece to inherit his effects, unless he might choose to step be- yond that degree of consanguinity, and bestow a portion of his means on cousins. The church — or, to be more literal, the “ meeting” — had an eye on his resources, however ; and it was whispered it had actually succeeded, by means known to itself, in squeezing out of his tight grasp no less a sum than one hun- dred dollars, as a donation to a certain theological college. It was conjectured by some persons that this was only the begin- ning of a religious liberality, and that the excellent and godly- minded deacon would bestow most of his property in a similar way, when the moment should come that it could be no longer of any use to himself. This opinion was much in favor with divers devout females of the deacon’s congregation, who had daughters of their own, and who seldom failed to conclude their observations on this interesting subject with some such remark as, “Well, in that case, and it seems to me that every thing points that way, Mary Pratt will get no more than any other poor man’s daughter.” Little did Mary, the only child of Israel Pratt, an elder brother of the deacon, think of all this. She had been left an orphan in her tenth year, both parents dying within a few months of each other, and had lived beneath her uncle’s roof for nearly ten more years, until use, and natural affection, and the cus- toms of the country, had made her feel absolutely at home there. A less interested, or less selfish being than Mary Pratt, THE SEA LIONS. 23 never existed. In this respect she was the very antipodes of her uncle, who often stealthily rebuked her for her charities and acts of neighborly kindness, which he was wont to term waste. But Mary kept the even tenor of her way, seemingly not hearing such remarks, and doing her duty quietly, and in all humility. Suffolk was settled originally by emigrants from New Eng- land, and the character of its people is, to this hour, of modified New England habits and notions. Now, one of the marked pe- culiarities of Connecticut is an indisposition to part with any thing without a quid pro quo. Those little services, offerings, and conveniences that are elsewhere parted with without a thought of remuneration, go regularly upon the day-book, and often reappear on a “settlement,” years after they have been forgotten by those who received the favors. Even the man who keeps a carriage, will let it out for hire ; and the manner in which money is accepted, and even asked for, by persons in easy circumstances, and for things that would be gratuitous in the Middle States, often causes disappointment, and sometimes disgust. In this particular, Scottish and Swiss thrift, both no- torious, and the latter particularly so, are nearly equalled by New England thrift ; more especially in the close estimate of the value of services rendered. So marked, indeed, is this prac- tice of looking for requitals, that even the language is infected with it. Thus, should a person pass a few months by invitation with a friend, his visit is termed “ boarding it being regarded as a matter of course that he pays his way. It would scarcely be safe, indeed, without the precaution of “ passing receipts” on quitting, for one to stay any time in a New England dwelling, unless prepared to pay for his board. The free and frank habits that prevail among relatives and friends elsewhere, are nearly unknown there, every service having its price. These customs are exceedingly repugnant to all who have been educated in different notions; yet are they not without their redeeming qualities, that might be pointed out to advantage, though our limits will not permit us, at this moment, so to do. 24 THE SEA LIONS. Little did Mary Pratt suspect the truth ; but habit, or covet- ousness, or some vague expectation that the girl might yet con- tract a marriage that would enable him to claim all his ad- vances, had induced the deacon never to bestow a cent on her education, or dress, or pleasures of any sort, that the money was not regularly charged against her, in that nefarious work that he called his “ day-book.” As for the self-respect, and the feelings of caste, which prevent a gentleman from practising any of these tradesmen’s tricks, the deacon knew nothing of them. He would have set the man down as a fool who deferred to any notions so unprofitable. With him, not only every man^ but every thing “had its price,” and usually it was a good price, too. At the very moment when our tale opens, there stood charged in his hook, against his unsuspecting and aifectionate niece, items in the way of schooling, dress, board, and pocket- money, that amounted to the considerable sum of one thousand dollars, money fairly expended. The deacon was only intensely mean and avaricious, while he was as honest as the day. Hot a cent was overcharged ; and to own the truth, Mary was so great a favorite with him, that most of his charges against her were rather of a reasonable rate than otherwise. THE SEA LIONS. 25 CHAPTER II. “ Marry, I saw your neice do more favors To the count’s serving-man, than ever she bestowed Upon me ; I saw it i’the orchard.” Twelfth Night. On the Sunday in question, Deacon Pratt went to meeting as usual, the building in which divine service was held that day, standing less than two miles from his residence ; but, in- stead of remaining for the afternoon’s preaching, as was his wont, he got into his one-horse chaise, the vehicle 'then in uni- versal use among the middle classes, though now so seldom seen, and skirred away homeward as fast as an active, well-fed, and powerful switch-tailed mare could draw him ; the animal being accompanied in her rapid progress by a colt of some three months’ existence. The residence of the deacon was unusually inviting for a man of his narrow habits. It stood on the edge of a fine apple-orchard, having a door-yard of nearly two acres in its front. This door-yard, which had been twice mown that summer, was prettily embellished with flowers, and was shaded by four rows of noble cherry-trees. The house itself was of wood, as is almost uniformly the case in Suffolk, where little I stone is to be found, and where brick constructions are apt to I be thought damp ; but, it was a respectable edifice, with five i- windows in front, and of two stories. The siding was of un- j painted cedar-shingles ; and, although the house had been I erected long previously to the Revolution, the siding had been renewed but once, about ten years before the opening of our tale, and the whole building was in a perfect state of repair. : The thrift of the deacon rendered him careful, and he was 2 20 THE SEA LIONS. 