for three generations among the mountains. I was told the following anecdote some years ago, respecting the manner in which the property now belonging to the Crawfords was obtained from old Governor Wentworth.

The governor, who was fond of seeing human nature under every form, and in the absence of all ceremony and constraint a taste which the dignity of his station prevented from being gratified at his own house was in the habit, while he resided at Wolf borough, of making excursions, without ceremony, and often unattended, into the various parts of the State. In one of these tours, he came upon the new log-house of the Scotch squatter, and finding the good man away at his work, he endeavored to render himself very agreeable to the buxom wife at home. Ignorant of the high station of her guest, the lady stoutly opposed his proffered gallantries, and on the return of her husband from the woods, complained to him of the incivility of the stranger. Crawford, who, like his descendant of this day, was a man of great good nature, rather fancying the appearance of the governor, and tired of his long solitude among the mountains, passed off the complaint as a good joke upon an old man, and invited him to stay all night. The governor assented, and Crawford, adjusting his out-of-door's work, returned to the house, his tongue loaded with inquiries, and his heart full of glee. The governor was pleasant and facetious; the host became free-hearted and jovial;—till at last, with

a friendly and most familar salutation betwixt the guest's shoulders, and a hearty and protracted shake of the hand, the gude-man declared he was the "best fellow he had met wi' sin the days o' the bailie o' Glasgow, who was aye fou' six days out o' the seven, and ended his life at last ae drifty night amang the

snaw."

As the night passed away, the ale flowed more freely, and the song resounded from the old rafters; the governor's wit enraptured the host, and the lady even, overcoming her first dislike, grew gracious to so merryhearted a guest. Early in the morning the stranger departed; not, however, without insisting upon a visit from his kind-hearted and hospitable landlord, at his house in Wolfborough, where, under the name of "old Wentworth," he was, as he alleged, sufficiently well known. The visit in the course of time was paid, and the attendants, being apprised of the jest, had Crawford introduced, very much to his surprise and confusion, into the governor's presence. Here he was banqueted and feasted for some days, in a most princely manner, and dismissed at last with a deed of a thousand

acres of the land where he had settled.

The evening view of the scenery from Crawford's house was exceedingly fine. The afternoon had threatened rain, but as night came on, the last lingerer among the dark clouds moved off, leaving only those high masses of white vapour, which among the mountains are the surest indications of fair weather. The

pale moon rode high among them, pillowed as they were upon the deep blue of the sky, forming towers, and palaces, and islets, so changeful and fleeting that they seemed like the creations of fairy land. Some lofty pine trees near the house, in the greenness of their new foliage, sighed gently in the soft breeze that had sprung up in the west, and the uneven, dark outline of the mountains loomed out in the faint moonlight, with a mysterious depth of shadow, well suited to the solemnity and stillness of the hour. Wearied with the journey and the intense excitement we had felt all the day, our party bade each other good night, and retired to rest, assured by our host that the morning would bring us a bright sky for our projected ascent of Mount Washington.

MOUNT WASHINGTON.

"Who first beholds those everlasting clouds,
Seed time and harvest, morning, noon, and night,
Still where they were, steadfast, immovable;
Those mighty hills, so shadowy, so sublime,

As rather to belong to heaven than earth

But instantly receives into his soul

A sense, a feeling that he loses not,

A something that informs him 'tis an hour,

Whence he may date, henceforward and forever.
To me they seem the barriers of a world,
Saying, thus far no farther."

THE morning dawn was just stealing over the mountains, when the hoarse voice, and loud rapping of our friend Crawford upon the door, roused us from a delicious sleep. My first look was out of the window to discover if it was a fair day, and I had no sooner cast a single glance abroad over the landscape, than I called upon my companions to enjoy the magnificent scene with me. The veil of morning twilight was spread over the myriad-sided mountains, in the very midst of which we were, and an indistinctness of vision, as your gaze wandered slowly over their bases, gave them a hugeness, which they had not the day before.

The bald tops were red in the first rays of morning,

and stood in a strange, bold relief against the sky. Behind them long strata of clouds were tinged with gorgeous coloring, growing deeper every moment, and tints of purple and gold touched the fleecy mists, that lay in several places on the outlines and cliffs of the mountains. In the higher heavens not a cloud was to be seen, the darkness was rapidly giving place to the deep blue; and the morning star glimmered faintly directly above the sharp summit of Mount Monroe.

We had hardly enjoyed this scene for a minute, when the voice of our good-natured host again hastened us to our toilets, and very soon, equipped in the gear we had been furnished with over night, not the least important part of which was the stout cow-hide boots, selected from the mountaineer's wardrobe, we came down to breakfast. In personal graces my landlady was no mean counterpart of her gigantic husband, and in kind feeling, practical sense, and cheerful readiness, fully his equal. Her breakfast-table was spread with everything which mountains could be expected to provide, and although we were by no means inclined to the more substantial dishes before us, yet the exhortations of the guide who presided at the repast, backed by our own anticipations of the difficulties we should have to encounter, induced us to do full justice to the smoking and savory viands.

By six o'clock we were all mounted on horseback, and ready for a start. Tom, our guide, a long bony individual, whose appearance perpetually reminded me