One man in the bar-room observed that it must be enchanted; and spoke of
a tinker, during the Revolutionary War, who met with a somewhat similar
instance. Roaming along the Hudson River, he came to a precipice which
had some bunches of singular appearance embossed upon it. He knocked off
one of the hunches, and carrying it home, or to a camp, or wherever he
lived, he put it on the fire, and incited it down into clear lead. He
sought for the spot again and again, but could never find it.
Mr. Leach's brother is a student at Shelburne Falls. He is about
thirty-five years old, and married; and at this mature age he is studying
for the ministry, and will not finish his course for two or three years.
He was bred a farmer, but has sold his farm, and invested the money, and
supports himself and wife by dentistry during his studies. Many of the
academy students are men grown, and some, they say, well towards forty
years old. Methinks this is characteristic of American life,--these
rough, weather-beaten, hard-handed, farmer-bred students. In nine cases
out of ten they are incapable of any effectual cultivation; for men of
ripe years, if they have any pith in them, will have long ago got beyond
academy or even college instruction.
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