The Sea Lions | Page 7

with much of the sterility that prevails around it. Plain, but
respectable dwellings, with numerous out-buildings, orchards and
fruit-trees, fences carefully preserved, a pains-taking tillage, good roads,
and here and there a "meeting-house," gave the fork an air of rural and

moral beauty that, aided by the water by which it was so nearly
surrounded, contributed greatly to relieve the monotony of so dead a
level. There were heights in view, on Shelter Island, and bluffs towards
Riverhead, which, if they would not attract much attention in
Switzerland, were by no means overlooked in Suffolk. In a word, both
the season and the place were charming, though most of the flowers
had already faded; and the apple, and the pear, and the peach, were
taking the places of the inviting cherry. Fruit abounded,
notwithstanding the close vicinity of the district to salt water, the airs
from the sea being broken, or somewhat tempered, by the land that lay
to the southward.
We have spoken of the coasters that ply between the emporium and all
the creeks and bays of the Sound, as well as of the numberless rivers
that find an outlet for their waters between Sandy Hook and Rockaway.
Wharves were constructed, at favourable points, inside the prong, and
occasionally a sloop was seen at them loading its truck, or discharging
its ashes or street manure, the latter being a very common return cargo
for a Long Island coaster. At one wharf, however, now lay a vessel of a
different mould, and one which, though of no great size, was manifastly
intended to go outside. This was a schooner that had been recently
launched, and which had advanced no farther in its first equipment than
to get in its two principal spars, the rigging of which hung suspended
over the mast-heads, in readiness to be "set up" for the first time. The
day being Sunday, work was suspended, and this so much the more,
because the owner of the vessel was a certain Deacon Pratt, who dwelt
in a house within half a mile of the wharf, and who was also the
proprietor of three several parcels of land in that neighbourhood, each
of which had its own buildings and conveniences, and was properly
enough dignified with the name of a farm. To be sure, neither of these
farms was very large, their acres united amounting to but little more
than two hundred; but, owing to their condition, the native richness of
the soil, and the mode of turning them to account, they had made
Deacon Pratt a warm man, for Suffolk.
There are two great species of deacons; for we suppose they must all be
referred to the same genera. One species belong to the priesthood, and

become priests and bishops; passing away, as priests and bishops are
apt to do, with more or less of the savour of godliness. The other
species are purely laymen, and are sui generis. They are, _ex officio,_
the most pious men in a neighbourhood, as they sometimes are, as it
would seem to us, ex officio, also the most grasping and mercenary. As
we are not in the secrets of the sects to which these lay deacons belong,
we shall not presume to pronounce whether the individual is elevated to
the deaconate because he is prosperous, in a worldly sense, or whether
the prosperity is a consequence of the deaconate; but, that the two
usually go together is quite certain: which being the cause, and which
the effect, we leave to wiser heads to determine.
Deacon Pratt was no exception to the rule. A tighter fisted sinner did
not exist in the county than this pious soul, who certainly not only wore,
but wore out the "form of godliness," while he was devoted, heart and
hand, to the daily increase of worldly gear. No one spoke disparagingly
of the deacon, notwithstanding. So completely had he got to be
interwoven with the church--'meeting,' we ought to say--in that vicinity,
that speaking disparagingly of him would have appeared like assailing
Christianity. It is true, that many an unfortunate fellow-citizen in
Suffolk had been made to feel how close was the gripe of his hand,
when he found himself in its grasp; but there is a way of practising the
most ruthless extortion, that serves not only to deceive the world, but
which would really seem to mislead the extortioner himself. Phrases
take the place of deeds, sentiments those of facts, and grimaces those of
benevolent looks, so ingeniously and so impudently, that the wronged
often fancy that they are the victims of a severe dispensation of
Providence, when the truth would have shown that they were simply
robbed.
We do not mean, however, that Deacon Pratt was a robber. He was
merely a hard man