In
the centre of this swelling and nearly interminable outline of woods, was
a valley that spread between three low mountains. Over the bottom-land,
for the distance of several miles, all the signs of a settlement in a
state of rapid and prosperous improvement were visible. The devious course
of a deep and swift brook, that in the other hemisphere would have been
termed a river, was to be traced through the meadows by its borders of
willow and sumach. At a point near the centre of the valley, the waters
had been arrested by a small dam; and a mill, whose wheel at that early
hour was without motion, stood on the artificial mound. Near it was the
site of a New-England hamlet.
The number of dwellings in the village might have been forty. They were,
as usual, constructed of a firm frame-work, neatly covered with sidings of
boards. There was a surprising air of equality in the general aspect of
the houses; and, if there were question of any country but our own, it
might be added there was an unusual appearance of comfort and abundance in
even the humblest of them all.
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