`` We knew that a shower was hanging over us , '' said he , `` and consulted whether it were best to enter the house on the top of yonder hill , but seeing your wagon in the road -- '' `` We agreed to come hither , '' interrupted the girl , with a smile , `` because we should be more at home in a wandering house like this . '' I , meanwhile , with many a wild and undetermined fantasy , was narrowly inspecting these two doves that had flown into our ark . The young man , tall , agile , and athletic , wore a mass of black shining curls clustering round a dark and vivacious countenance , which , if it had not greater expression , was at least more active , and attracted readier notice , than the quiet faces of our countrymen . At his first appearance , he had been laden with a neat mahogany box , of about two feet square , but very light in proportion to its size , which he had immediately unstrapped from his shoulders and deposited on the floor of the wagon . 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 townwards ; next , she bore me through the air to Sicily , and bade me look up at blazing AEtna ; then we took wing to Venice , and sat in a gondola beneath the arch of the Rialto ; and anon she sat 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 hammed 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 XXXXX a life which seemed to realize my own wild fancies , cherished all through visionary boyhood to that hour .
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