. A gallop among American scenery; or, Sketches of American scenes and military adventure . As we walked the short half mile between the cottageand the church, the stars shone in beauty amid the still rosytints of the west; the night-hawk stooped towards us, as hewheeled in his airy circles ; the whip-poor-will in the adjoin-ing meadows sounded his mournful note, and the crickets,with the chirping frogs in the neighboring ponds, sustaineda ceaseless chorus. Arrived at the churchyard, we pickedour way among the old brown tombstones, their quaint de-vices contrasted here and there with others of
. A gallop among American scenery; or, Sketches of American scenes and military adventure . As we walked the short half mile between the cottageand the church, the stars shone in beauty amid the still rosytints of the west; the night-hawk stooped towards us, as hewheeled in his airy circles ; the whip-poor-will in the adjoin-ing meadows sounded his mournful note, and the crickets,with the chirping frogs in the neighboring ponds, sustaineda ceaseless chorus. Arrived at the churchyard, we pickedour way among the old brown tombstones, their quaint de-vices contrasted here and there with others of more mod-ern pretensions in white marble, and entering the churchtook our seats in silence. We were early ; but, as the 8 THE COUNTRY PASTOR church gradually filled, it was interesting to watch groupafter group, as it noiselessly measured the aisles, and sunkquietly upon the cushioned seats. Now and then a pair ofbright eyes would glance curiously around from beneath agay bonnet, and a stray tress be thrown hastily aside; but,alas ! those clad in the habiliments of woe, too, too often. moved, phantom-like, to their places ; the lights, as theythrew a momentary glare on their pale and care-worn faces,making more dark the badges which affection has assumedas a tame index of inward grief. The slow toll of the bellceased ; the silence became more deep; an occasionalcough, the rustling of a dress, the turn of a leaf, alonebreaking the perfect stillness. The low tones of the organ rose gently and sweetly, and THE COUNTRY PASTOR g the voluntar) floated softly and mist-like over the assembly,rising, falling- and undulating, with like dreamy harmony,as if the ^olian harp were answering, with the passing airsplaying among its strings, the ocean laving his pebblyshores, till, gradually rising and increasing in depth, itgrandly and solemnly ascended upwards, thrown back, re-verberated from the walls of the circular dome above us, indeep and distant thunders. All became again silent. Theve
Size: 1824px × 1370px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectatlanti, bookyear1881
