Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist | Page 3

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MEMOIRS OF CARWIN THE BILOQUIST [A fragment]
Charles Brockden Brown
[1803-1805]

Chapter I.
I was the second son of a farmer, whose place of residence was a
western district of Pennsylvania. My eldest brother seemed fitted by
nature for the employment to which he was destined. His wishes never
led him astray from the hay-stack and the furrow. His ideas never
ranged beyond the sphere of his vision, or suggested the possibility that
to-morrow could differ from to-day. He could read and write, because
he had no alternative between learning the lesson prescribed to him,
and punishment. He was diligent, as long as fear urged him forward,
but his exertions ceased with the cessation of this motive. The limits of
his acquirements consisted in signing his name, and spelling out a
chapter in the bible.
My character was the reverse of his. My thirst of knowledge was
augmented in proportion as it was supplied with gratification. The more
I heard or read, the more restless and unconquerable my curiosity
became. My senses were perpetually alive to novelty, my fancy teemed
with visions of the future, and my attention fastened upon every thing
mysterious or unknown.
My father intended that my knowledge should keep pace with that of
my brother, but conceived that all beyond the mere capacity to write
and read was useless or pernicious. He took as much pains to keep me

within these limits, as to make the acquisitions of my brother come up
to them, but his efforts were not equally successful in both cases. The
most vigilant and jealous scrutiny was exerted in vain: Reproaches and
blows, painful privations and ignominious penances had no power to
slacken my zeal and abate my perseverance. He might enjoin upon me
the most laborious tasks, set the envy of my brother to watch me during
the performance, make the most diligent search after my books, and
destroy them without mercy, when they were found; but he could not
outroot my darling propensity. I exerted all my powers to elude his
watchfulness. Censures and stripes were sufficiently unpleasing to
make me strive to avoid them. To effect this desirable end, I was
incessantly employed in the invention of stratagems and the execution
of expedients.
My passion was surely not deserving of blame, and I have frequently
lamented the hardships to which it subjected me; yet, perhaps, the
claims which were made upon my ingenuity and fortitude were not
without beneficial effects upon my character.
This contention lasted from the sixth to the fourteenth year of my age.
My father's opposition to my schemes was incited by a sincere though
unenlightened desire for my happiness. That all his efforts were
secretly eluded or obstinately repelled, was a source of the bitterest
regret. He has often lamented, with tears, what he called my
incorrigible depravity, and encouraged himself to perseverance by the
notion of the ruin that would inevitably overtake me if I were allowed
to persist in my present career. Perhaps the sufferings which arose to
him from the disappointment, were equal to those which he inflicted on
me.
In my fourteenth year, events happened which ascertained my future
destiny. One evening I had been sent to bring cows from a meadow,
some miles distant from my father's mansion. My time was limited, and
I was menaced with severe chastisement if, according to my custom, I
should stay beyond the period assigned.
For some time these menaces rung in my ears, and I went on my way
with speed. I arrived at the meadow, but the cattle had broken the fence

and escaped. It was my duty to carry home the earliest tidings of this
accident, but the first suggestion was to examine the cause and manner
of this escape. The field was bounded by cedar railing. Five of these
rails were laid horizontally from post to post. The upper one had been
broken in the middle, but the rest had merely been drawn out of the
holes on one side, and rested with their ends on the ground. The means
which had been used for this end, the reason why one only was broken,
and that one the uppermost, how a pair of horns could be so managed
as to effect