Elinor Wyllys, vol 2 | Page 4

brought the wanderers
back again, to the neighbourhood where we first made their
acquaintance. Shortly after Jane's marriage, the whole party broke up;
Jane and her husband went to New-Orleans, where Tallman Taylor was
established as partner in a commercial house connected with his father.
Hazlehurst passed several years in Mexico and South-America: an old
friend of his father's, a distinguished political man, received the
appointment of Envoy to Mexico, and offered Harry the post of
Secretary of Legation. Hazlehurst had long felt a strong desire to see
the southern countries of the continent, and was very glad of so

pleasant an arrangement; he left his friend Ellsworth to practise law
alone, and accompanied Mr. Henley, the Minister, to Mexico; and from
thence removed, after a time, to Brazil. Charlie had been studying his
profession in France and Italy, during the same period. Even Elinor was
absent from home much more than usual; Miss Wyllys had been out of
health for the last year or two; and, on her account, they passed their
summers in travelling, and a winter in the West-Indies. At length,
however, the party met again on the old ground; and we shall take up
the thread of our narrative, during the summer in which the circle was
re-united. It is to be hoped that this break in the movement of our tale
will be forgiven, when we declare, that the plot is about to thicken;
perplexities, troubles, and misfortunes are gathering about our
Longbridge friends; a piece of intelligence which will probably cheer
the reader's spirits. We have it on the authority of a philosopher, that
there is something gratifying to human nature in the calamities of our
friends; an axiom which seems true, at least, of all acquaintances made
on paper.
"{Minister" = a diplomatic rank below that of Ambassador--a Minister
heads a Legation, an Ambassador an Embassy; prior to the Civil War,
the United States was not considered an important enough country to
send or receive Ambassadors. "Secretary of Legation" = a diplomat
serving under a Minister. "A philosopher" = Francois, Duc de la
Rochefoucauld (1618-1680), French author famous for his maxims or
epigraphs: "Dans l'adversite de nos meilleurs amis, nous trouvons
quelque chose qui ne nous deplait pas" = In the misfortune of our best
friends, we find something which is not displeasing to us. Maxim No.
99, later suppressed. By the 1840s, a well known expression}
We hear daily that life is short; and, surely, Time flies with fearful
rapidity if we measure his course by years: three-score-and-ten, the
allotted span of man, are soon numbered. But events, thoughts, feelings,
hopes, cares, are better marks for the dial of life, than hours and
minutes. In this view, the path of life is a long road, full of meaning and
of movement at every step; and in this sense only is time justly
appreciated; each day loses its insignificance, and every yearly
revolution of the earth becomes a point in eternity.
The occurrences of the three years during which we have lost sight of
the Longbridge circle will speak for themselves, as our tale is gradually

unfolded. It is evident, however, at the first glance, on returning to the
old ground, that the village itself has undergone some alterations.
Though belonging to a part of the country occasionally accused of
being "unenterprising," it had not proved insensible to the general
movement felt throughout the republic, in those halcyon days of
brilliant speculation, which commenced with the promise of good
fortune to all, and ended by bringing poverty to many, and disgrace to
others. A rail-road now runs through the principal street, and the new
depot, a large, uncouth building, stands conspicuous at its termination,
looking commercial prosperity, and internal improvement. Several new
stores have been opened, half-a-dozen "tasty mansions"--chiefly
imitations of Mr. Hubbard's--have been built, another large tavern has
been commenced, and two additional steamboats may be seen lying at
the wharf. The value of property in the village itself, is said to have
doubled, at least; new streets are laid out, and branch rail-roads are
talked of; and many people flatter themselves that Longbridge will
figure in the next census as a flourishing city, with the full honours of a
Corporation, Mayor, and Aldermen. In the population, corresponding
changes are also perceptible; many new faces are seen in the streets,
new names are observed on the signs; others again are missed from
their old haunts, for there is scarcely a family in the place, which has
not sent its representation westward.
{"those halcyon days" = i.e., before the economic Panic of 1837, and
the seven-year depression that followed}
Most of our old acquaintances, however, still remain on the spot, this
pleasant afternoon in June, 183-. There stands Mr. Joseph Hubbard,
talking to Judge Bernard.