CHAP. III.

"Here, where the pine so lately rear'd its head,
And gnarled oaks their ancient branches spread,
A village has usurp'd the forest-ground,

Teeming with life, with spires and turrets crown'd."

THE village of Rockville, which, by the bye, is delightfully situated, and of which we intend, at our first leisure, to introduce a regular and elegant description, was founded, near thirty years before the period at which our history opens, by Paul Hughes, the father, and Hugh Hughes, the uncle of the young gentleman whose arrival we have just commemorated.— "What private griefs they had that made them do it"-or whether motives of restlessness, or prospects of mere pecuniary benefit, induced them to migrate to what was then a pathless forest, we have not the proper means of informing the curious,

and

pre

and must therefore refer them for the sent to the forthcoming history of the village, preparing for publication by our esteemed and learned friend, the reverend Adam Swallowwell. It is enough for our purpose to be able to state, that these two enterprising young men, one fine day, came and took possession of a tract of several thousand acres of land, the title to which, we must take for granted, they had fairly acquired, consisting of the site of the now village and the environs; the soil, trees, rocks, streams, wolves, bears, otters, and other appurtenances. They brought with them settlers-men, women, and children, and all the necessary preparations for their enterprise, except, as we have heard, that the first year there was an awful dearth of tobacco. Otherwise, their privations were not greater than those to which all new settlers are subject. There was, to be sure, some repining among the female part of the colony; but as the brothers had been cunning

enough

enough to lay in a good stock of bohea, souchong, and some other refreshments which came under the head of drink, for their particular and private accommodation, no overt act of mutiny occurred in that quarter, and the population of the new settlement, both by natural increase and immigration, made the most astonishing progress. In the third or fourth year it was made the county town; property rose beyond all precedent, and Rockville became every day more beautiful and flourishing.

When the founders saw their fortunes were made, they ceased to project new speculations, and began to think of enjoying the fruits of their enterprise. But the elder Hughes and his wife, an amiable lady, and beloved by all who knew her, were destined to a higher repose than this world could afford. They both fell sick at nearly the same time, and died, leaving their only child (who, we have just seen, has become a man), at the age

of

of three years, to the care of his uncle, and the three sisters whom we are now about to present to you, as they are, or rather were, at the opening of this eventful history.

Miss Hughes, that is, Miss Agatha, the eldest, was an old maid of fifty-fiveso was Miss Leonora an old maid, but she had the advantage of being one year and nine months younger than her somewhat antiquated sister. The youngest of the sisters of the family was Miss Rose Hughes, who well deserved her name; for though passed into her forty-fifth year, she still retained her bloom, and looked as young and fresh as many fashionable ladies we remember to have seen, who would not acknowledge themselves to be even thirty-five!

Agatha was a saint, as her namesake of old was before her; but she was never guilty of any such peccadilloes as the famous St. Agatha was accused of, although, on the other hand, it is true that our modern St. Agatha had not performed any such miracles

racles as the other did undoubtedly perform. But our St. Agatha was a regular devotee, who pretended to very direct communications with the Spirit. She prayed, on her bended knees, thrice aday in her closet, and sometimes in presence of the family, when she had influence enough to persuade them to listen to her. She occasionally succeeded in inducing them to go through the genuflections; but whether she was equally successful in making them "join in prayer," as she termed it, "why, we leave that to Heaven." As to herself, she was truly devout; and when she was not praying, she was very fond of preaching to those about her. In short, one of the ungodly would have found nothing redeeming in her character, although she held herself to be one of the redeemed. She had for many years declared herself to belong to the other world, in all her feelings and aspirations; and, with the exception of strong tea and an occasional dish of

scandal,