We Sat Awhile To Rest Us Here Upon The Brink Of The Western Bank,
Surrounded By The Glossy Leaves Of
The red variety of the
mountain laurel, just above the head of Wicasuck Island, where we
could observe some scows
Which were loading with clay from the
opposite shore, and also overlook the grounds of the farmer, of
whom I have spoken, who once hospitably entertained us for a
night. He had on his pleasant farm, besides an abundance of the
beach-plum, or _Prunus littoralis_, which grew wild, the Canada
plum under cultivation, fine Porter apples, some peaches, and
large patches of musk and water melons, which he cultivated for
the Lowell market. Elisha's apple-tree, too, bore a native
fruit, which was prized by the family. He raised the blood
peach, which, as he showed us with satisfaction, was more like
the oak in the color of its bark and in the setting of its
branches, and was less liable to break down under the weight of
the fruit, or the snow, than other varieties. It was of slower
growth, and its branches strong and tough. There, also, was his
nursery of native apple-trees, thickly set upon the bank, which
cost but little care, and which he sold to the neighboring
farmers when they were five or six years old. To see a single
peach upon its stem makes an impression of paradisaical fertility
and luxury. This reminded us even of an old Roman farm, as
described by Varro: - Caesar Vopiscus Aedilicius, when he pleaded
before the Censors, said that the grounds of Rosea were the
garden (_sumen_ the tid-bit) of Italy, in which a pole being left
would not be visible the day after, on account of the growth of
the herbage. This soil may not have been remarkably fertile,
yet at this distance we thought that this anecdote might be told
of the Tyngsborough farm.
When we passed Wicasuck Island, there was a pleasure-boat
containing a youth and a maiden on the island brook, which we
were pleased to see, since it proved that there were some
hereabouts to whom our excursion would not be wholly strange.
Before this, a canal-boatman, of whom we made some inquiries
respecting Wicasuck Island, and who told us that it was disputed
property, suspected that we had a claim upon it, and though we
assured him that all this was news to us, and explained, as well
as we could, why we had come to see it, he believed not a word of
it, and seriously offered us one hundred dollars for our title.
The only other small boats which we met with were used to pick up
driftwood. Some of the poorer class along the stream collect, in
this way, all the fuel which they require. While one of us
landed not far from this island to forage for provisions among
the farm-houses whose roofs we saw, for our supply was now
exhausted, the other, sitting in the boat, which was moored to
the shore, was left alone to his reflections.
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