The girl had nearly as fair a complexion as our own beauties , and a brighter one than most of them ; the lightness of her figure , which seemed calculated to traverse the whole world without weariness , suited well with the glowing cheerfulness of her face , and her gay attire , combining the rainbow hues of crimson , green and a deep orange , was as proper to her lightsome aspect as if she had been born in it . This gay stranger was appropriately burdened with that mirth-inspiring instrument the fiddle , which her companion took from her hands , and shortly began the process of tuning . Neither of us the previous company of the wagon needed to inquire their trade , for this could be no mystery to frequenters of brigade-musters , ordinations , cattle-shows , commencements , and other festal meetings in our sober land ; and there is a dear friend of mine who will smile when this page recalls to his memory a chivalrous deed performed by us in rescuing the show-box of such a couple from a mob of great double-fisted countrymen . `` Come , '' said I to the damsel of gay attire ; `` shall we visit all the wonders of the world together ? '' She understood the metaphor at once , though , indeed , it would not much have troubled me if she had assented to the literal meaning of my words . The mahogany box was placed in a proper position , and I peeped in through its small round magnifying-window while the girl sat by my side and gave short descriptive sketches as one after another the pictures were unfolded to my view . We visited together -- at least , our imaginations did -- full many a famous city in the streets of which I had long yearned to tread . Once , I remember , we were in the harbor of Barcelona , gazing townward ; next , she bore me through the air to Sicily and bade me look up at blazing Ætna ; then we took wing to Venice and sat in a gondola beneath the arch of the Rialto , and anon she set me down among the thronged spectators at the coronation of Napoleon . But there was one scene -- its locality she could not tell -- which charmed my attention longer than all those gorgeous palaces and churches , because the fancy haunted me that I myself the preceding summer had beheld just such a humble meeting-house , in just such a pine-surrounded nook , among our own green mountains . All these pictures were tolerably executed , though far inferior to the girl 's touches of description ; nor was it easy to comprehend how in so few sentences , and these , as I supposed , in a language foreign to her , she contrived to present an airy copy of each varied scene . When we had travelled through the vast extent of the mahogany box , I looked into my guide 's face . '' ` Where are you going , my pretty maid ? ' '' inquired I , in the words of an old song . `` Ah ! '' said the gay damsel ; `` you might as well ask where the summer wind is going . We are wanderers here and there and everywhere . Wherever there is mirth our merry hearts are drawn to it . To-day , indeed , the people have told us of a great frolic and festival in these parts ; so perhaps we may be needed at what you call the camp-meeting at Stamford . '' Then , in my happy youth , and while her pleasant voice yet sounded in my ears , I sighed ; for none but myself , I thought , should have been her companion in a life which seemed to realize my own wild fancies cherished all through visionary boyhood to that hour . To these two strangers the world was in its Golden Age -- not that , indeed , it was less dark and sad than ever , but because its weariness and sorrow had no community with their ethereal nature .
Wherever they might appear in their pilgrimage of bliss , Youth would echo back their gladness , care-stricken Maturity would rest a moment from its toil , and Age , tottering among the graves , would smile in withered joy XXXXX their sakes .
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