Whittiers Complete Poems, vol 5

Project Gutenberg EBook, Tales and Sketches, by Whittier, Complete Volume V., The Works of Whittier: Tales and Sketches?#35 in our series by John Greenleaf Whittier
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Title: Tales and Sketches, Complete
Volume V., The Works of Whittier: Tales and Sketches
Author: John Greenleaf Whittier
Release Date: December 2005 [EBook #9590]?[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]?[This file was first posted on October 18, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
? START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, TALES AND SKETCHES ***
This eBook was produced by David Widger [[email protected] ]
MARGARET SMITH'S JOURNAL TALES AND SKETCHES
BY
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER
The intelligent reader of the following record cannot fail to notice occasional inaccuracies in respect to persons, places, and dates; and, as a matter of course, will make due allowance for the prevailing prejudices and errors of the period to which it relates. That there are passages indicative of a comparatively recent origin, and calculated to cast a shade of doubt over the entire narrative, the Editor would be the last to deny, notwithstanding its general accordance with historical verities and probabilities. Its merit consists mainly in the fact that it presents a tolerably lifelike picture of the Past, and introduces us familiarly to the hearths and homes of New England in the seventeenth century.
A full and accurate account of Secretary Rawson and his family is about to be published by his descendants, to which the reader is referred who wishes to know more of the personages who figure prominently in this Journal.
1866.
MARGARET SMITH'S JOURNAL IN THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY, 1678-9
TALES AND SKETCHES
MY SUMMER WITH DR. SINGLETARY: A FRAGMENT
THE LITTLE IRON SOLDIER?PASSACONAWAY?THE OPIUM EATER?THE PROSELYTES?DAVID MATSON?THE FISH I DID N'T CATCH?YANKEE GYPSIES?THE TRAINING?THE CITY OF A DAY?PATUCKET FALLS?FIRST DAY IN LOWELL?THE LIGHTING UP?TAKING COMFORT?CHARMS AND FAIRY FAITH?MAGICIANS AND WITCH FOLK?THE BEAUTIFUL?THE WORLD'S END?THE HEROINE OF LONG POINT
MARGARET SMITH'S JOURNAL
IN THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY
1678-9.
BOSTON, May 8, 1678.
I remember I did promise my kind Cousin Oliver (whom I pray God to have always in his keeping), when I parted with him nigh unto three months ago, at mine Uncle Grindall's, that, on coming to this new country, I would, for his sake and perusal, keep a little journal of whatsoever did happen both unto myself and unto those with whom I might sojourn; as also, some account of the country and its marvels, and mine own cogitations thereon. So I this day make a beginning of the same; albeit, as my cousin well knoweth, not from any vanity of authorship, or because of any undue confiding in my poor ability to edify one justly held in repute among the learned, but because my heart tells me that what I write, be it ever so faulty, will be read by the partial eye of my kinsman, and not with the critical observance of the scholar, and that his love will not find it difficult to excuse what offends his clerkly judgment. And, to embolden me withal, I will never forget that I am writing for mine old playmate at hide-and-seek in the farm-house at Hilton,--the same who used to hunt after flowers for me in the spring, and who did fill my apron with hazel-nuts in the autumn, and who was then, I fear, little wiser than his still foolish cousin, who, if she hath not since learned so many new things as himself, hath perhaps remembered more of the old. Therefore, without other preface, I will begin my record.
Of my voyage out I need not write, as I have spoken of it in my letters already, and it greatly irks me to think of it. Oh, a very long, dismal time of sickness and great discomforts, and many sad thoughts of all I had left behind, and fears of all I was going to meet in the New England! I can liken it only to an ugly dream. When we got at last to Boston, the sight of the land and trees, albeit they were exceeding bleak and bare (it being a late