He wore a
suit of coarse brown cloth, cut in rather a Quaker fashion; and he had a
large nose, and his face expressed enthusiasm and honor,--a sort of smile
and twinkle of the eye, with wildness. He is excellent at a bargain; and
if, in the midst of his ghostly exhortation, the talk were turned on
cattle, he eagerly seized the topic and expatiated on it.
While this fellow was enumerating the Universalists in neighboring towns
who had turned from their errors on their death-beds, some one exclaimed,
"John Hodges! why, he isn't dead,--he's alive and well." Whereat there
was a roar of laughter. While holding an argument at table, I heard him
mutter to himself at something that his adversary said; and though I
could not distinguish what it was, the tone did more to convince me of
some degree of earnestness than aught beside. This character might be
wrought into a strange portrait of something sad, terrific, and
laughable.
The Sabbath wore away lazily, and therefore wickedly. The heavy
caravan-man inquired for some book of light reading, and, having obtained
an old volume of a literary paper, betook himself to the seat of his
wagon, to read.
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