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THE KENNEBECKER. BY HENRY KNOX BAKER. ; N O . 2 0 . [ for the kennebecker.] j Hampshire. Most of them were ordinary men, To a Lady. j led to this independent mode of life from au ' The ties which bind the soul to earth 'impatience of restraint, which as frequently That longs for purer spheres, accompanies vulgar obstinacy as generous Though deemed o f more than mortal birth, | pride. But there was one master spirit among Dissolve, and turn to tears. (them, who was capable of a higher destiny than Ask not for beauty : ’t is a flower i he ever fulfilled. The consciousness o f this For this bleak world too frail; I had stamped something of proud humility on It blooms but one bright fleeting hour, Then bends before the gale. [the face of Cornelius Cam pbell; something of a haughty spirit strongly curbed hy circum­ Sigh not that riches may be thine : stances he could not control, and at which he There is no wretchedness Like bowing down at Mammon’s shrine scorned to murmur. He assumed no superi­ With hope o f happiness. ority ; but unconsciously be threw around him Trust not in love its morn is bright, the spell of intellect, and his companions felt, T oo bright, too sweet to last; they knew not why, that he was “ among them, Soon tempests lower— its heavenly light but not o f them.* His stat ire was gigantic, By clouds is overcast. and he had the bold, quick tread of one who There is no stainless, stingless joy had wandered frequently and fearlessly among T o earth-born beings given, tbe terrible hiding-places o f nature, liis voice No human bliss without alloy, was harsh, but bis whole countenance possessed Except the hope of heaven. O n e . singular capabilities for tenderness o f expres­ Otoconia's Curse, sion ; and sometimes, under the gentle influ­ BY LYDIA M. CHILD, AUTHOR OF “ HOBOMOK.” ence o f domestic excitement, his hard features The rocky county o f Strafford, New Hamp­ would be rapidly lighted up, seeming like the shire, is remarkable for its wild and broken sunshine flying over the shaded fields in an scenery. Ranges of hills towering one above April day. another, as if eager to look upon the beautiful His companion was one peculiarly calculat­ country, which afar off lies sleeping in the em­ ed to excite and 'retain the deep, strong ener­ brace of heaven ; precipices, from which the gies of manly love. She had possessed extra­ young eagles take their flight to the sun I, dells ordinary beauty; and had, in the lull maturif v rugged and tangled as the dominions of Rod­ of an excellent judgment, relinquished several erick Vich Alpine, and ravines dark and deep splendid alliances, and incurred her father’s enough for the death scene of a bandit, form displeasure, for the sake o f Cornelius Camp­ the magnificent characteristics of this pictur­ bell. Had political circumstances proved fa­ esque region. vorable, his talents and ambition would unques­ A high precipice, called Chocorua’s Cliff* is tionably have worked out a path to emolument rendered peculiarly interesting by a legend and fame ; but he had been a zealous and ac­ which tradition has scarcely saved from obliv­ tive enemy of the Stuarts, and the restoration ion. Had it been in Scotland, perhaps the of Charles the Second was the death-warrant genius of Sir Walter would have hallowed it, of his hopes. Immediate flight became neces­ and Americans would have crowded there to sary, and America was the chosen place of ref­ kindle fancy on the altar of memory. Being uge. His adherence to Cromwell’s party was in the midst of our romantic scenery, it is lit­ not occasioned by religious sympathy, but by tle known, and less visited; for the vicinity is political views, too liberal and philosophical as yet untraversed by rail-roads or canals, and for the state of the people ; therefore Corne­ no ‘ Mountain House,’ perched on these tre­ lius Campbell was no favorite with our fore­ mendous battlements, allures the traveller hith­ fathers, and being of a proud nature, he with­ er to mock the majesty of nature with the in­ drew with his family to the solitary place we sipidities of fashion. 'Our distinguished artist, have mentioned. Mr. Cole, found the sunshine and the winds It seemed a hard fate for one wht) had from sleeping upon it in solitude and secrecy ; and childhood been accustomed to indulgence and his pencil has brought it before us in its stern admiration, yet Mrs. Campbell enjoyed more repose. than she had done in her days of splendor ; so In olden time, when Gofte and AVhally pass­ much deeper are the sources of happiness than ed for wizards and mountain spirits among those of gaiety. Even her face had suffered lit­ the superstitions, the vicinity of the spot.we tle from time and hardship. The bloom on her are describing was occupied by a very small cheek, which in youth had been like the sweet- colony, which, either from discontent or enter- pea blossom, that most feminine of all flowers, prize, had retired into this remote part of New had, it is true, somewhat faded ; but her rich, 154 THE KENNEBECKER. No. 20. intellectual expression, did but receive addition t<to nourish the deadly revenge he contemplated til m a je s ty fr o m y e a r s ; a n d th e e x e r c is e o f againsta Cornelius Campbell. quiet domestic love, which, where it is suffered The story of Indian animosity is always the to exist, always deepens and brightens with same.s Cornelius Campbell left his hut for the time, had given a bland and placid expression, fieldsf early one bright, balmy morning in June. which might well have atoned for the absence SStill a lover,• though ten years a husband, his of more striking beauty. To such a woman as lastI; look was turned towards his wife, answer­ Caroline Campbell, of what use would have iiing her parting smile— his last action a kiss been some modern doctrines of equality and forii each of his children. W hen he returned independence ? t<to dinner, they were dead ! all dead— and their W ith a mind sufficiently cultivated to appre- ddisfigured bodies too cruelly showed that an ciate and enjoy her husband's intellectual en- Indian’sI hand had done the work! ergies, she had a heart that could not have In such a mind, grief, like all other emotions, found another home. The bird will drop into was\ tempestuous. Home had been to him the its nest though the treasures of earth and skv ronly verdant spot in the wide desert of life.— arc open. T o have proved marriage a tyranny, 1In his wife and children he had garnered up and the cares of domestic life a thraldom, tall his heart; and now they were .torn from would have affected Caroline Campbell as lit- him,I the remembrance of their love clung to tie, as to be told that tlie pure, sweet atmos- him1 like the death-grapple of a drowning man, phere she breathed, was pressing upon her so sinkings him down, down into darkness and many pounds to^every square inch ! Over such (death. This was followed by a calm a thous­ a heart, and such a soul, external circumstan- jand times more terrible— the creeping agony ces have little power ; all worldly interest was of< despair, that brings with it no power of concentrated in her husband and babes, and!:resistance. her spirit was satisfied with that inexhaustible “ If. was as if the dead could feel fountain of joy which nature gives, and God; The icy worn mound him steal.” has blessed. I Such, for many days, was the state of Cor­ A very small settlement, in such a remote(inelius Campbell. Those who knew and rev­ place, was of course subject to" inconvenience j<erenced him, feared that the spark of reason and occasional suffering. From the Indians was forever extinguished. But it rekindled they received neither injury nor insult. No again, and with it came a wild, demoniac spirit cause of quarrel had ever arisen ; and, although of revenge. The death-groan of Chocorua their frequent visits were sometimes trouble­ would make him smile in his dreams; and some, they never had given indications ofjeal-: [when he waked, death seemed too pitiful aven- ousy or malice. Chocorua was a prophet j|geance for the anguish that was eating into among them, and as such an object of peculiar his very soul. respect. He had a mind which education and Chocorua’s brethren were absent on a hunt­ motive would have nerved with giant strength ; ing expedition at the time he committed the but growing up in savage freedom, it wasted it­ murder; and those who watched his move­ self in dark, fierce, ungovernable passions.— ments observed that he frequently climbed the There was something fearful in the quiet haught­ high precipice which afterwards took his name, iness of his lip— it seemed so like slumbering probably looking out for indications of their power, too proud to be lightly roused, and too re tu rn . implacable to sleep again. In his small, black, Here Cornelius Campbell resolved to effect fiery eye, expression lay coiled up like a beau­ his deadly purpose. A party was formed un­ tiful snake. The white people knew that his der his guidance, to cut off all chance of re­ hatred would bo terrible; but they never had treat, and the dark-minded prophet was to be provoked it, and even the children became too hunted like a wild beast to his lair.

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