Home as Found, James Fenimore Cooper [bookreader txt] 📗

our heroine so strong a consciousness

of happiness, as she had experienced that very morning.

 

"Foreigner, Miss Effingham!--And why a foreigner?"

 

"Nay, you know your own pretended cosmopolitism; and ought not the

cousin of Captain Ducie to be an Englishman?"

 

"I shall not answer for the _ought_, the simple fact being a

sufficient reply to the question. The cousin of Captain Ducie is

_not_ an Englishman; nor, as I see you suspect, has he ever served a

day in the British navy, or in any other navy than that of his native

land."

 

"This is indeed taking us by surprise, and that most agreeably,"

returned Eve, looking up at him with undisguised pleasure, while a

bright glow crimsoned her face. "We could not but feel an interest in

one who had so effectually served us; and both my father and Mr. John

Effingham----"

 

"Cousin Jack--" interrupted the smiling Paul.

 

"Cousin Jack, then, if you dislike the formality I used; both my

father and cousin Jack examined the American navy registers for your

name, without success, as I understood, and the inference that

followed was fair enough, I believe you will admit."

 

"Had they looked at a register of a few years' date, they would have

met with better luck. I have quitted the service, and am a sailor

only in recollections. For the last few years, like yourselves, I

have been a traveller by land as well as by water."

 

Eve said no more, though every syllable that the young man uttered

was received by attentive ears, and retained with a scrupulous

fidelity of memory. They walked some distance in silence, until they

reached the grounds of a house that was beautifully placed on the

side of the mountain, near a lovely wood of pines. Crossing these

grounds, until they reached a terrace in front of the dwelling, the

village of Templeton lay directly in their front, perhaps a hundred

feet beneath them, and yet so near, as to render the minutest object

distinct. Here they all stopped to take a more distinct view of a

place that had so much interest with most of the party.

 

"I hope you are sufficiently acquainted with the localities to act as

cicerone," said Mr. Effingham to Paul. "In a visit of a week to this

village, you have scarcely overlooked the Wigwam."

 

"Perhaps I ought to hesitate, or rather ought to blush to own it,"

answered the young man, discharging the latter obligation by

colouring to his temples; "but curiosity has proved so much stronger

than manners, that I have been induced to trespass so far on the

politeness of this gentleman, as to gain an admission to your

dwelling, in and about which more of my time has been passed than has

probably proved agreeable to its inmates."

 

"I hope the gentleman will not speak of it," said Aristabulus. "In

this country, we live pretty much in common, and with me it is a

rule, when a gentleman drops in, whether stranger or neighbour, to

show him the civility to ask him to take off his hat."

 

"It appears to me," said Eve, willing to change the conversation,

"that Templeton has an unusual number of steeples; for what purpose

can so small a place possibly require so many buildings of that

nature?"

 

"All in behalf of orthodoxy, Miss Eve," returned Aristabulus, who

conceived himself to be the proper person to answer such

interrogatories. "There is a shade of opinion beneath every one of

those steeples."

 

"Do you mean, sir, that there are as many shades of faith in

Templeton, as I now see buildings that have the appearance of being

devoted to religious purposes?"

 

"Double the number, Miss, and some to spare, in the bargain; for you

see but five meeting-houses, and the county-buildings, and we reckon

seven regular hostile denominations in the village, besides the

diversities of sentiment on trifles. This edifice that you perceive

here, in a line with the chimneys of the first house, is New St.

Paul's, Mr. Grant's old church, as orthodox a house, in its way, as

there is in the diocese, as you may see by the windows. This is a

gaining concern, though there has been some falling off of late, in

consequence of the clergyman's having caught a bad cold, which has

made him a little hoarse; but I dare say he will get over it, and the

church ought not to be abandoned on that account, serious as the

matter undoubtedly is, for the moment. A few of us are determined to

back up New St. Paul's in this crisis, and I make it a point to go

there myself, quite half the time."

 

"I am glad we have so much of your company," said Mr. Effingham "for

that is our own church, and in it my daughter was baptized. But, do

you divide your religious opinions in halves, Mr. Bragg?"

 

"In as many parts, Mr. Effingham, as there are denominations in the

neighbourhood, giving a decided preference to New St. Paul's,

notwithstanding, under the peculiar circumstances, particularly to

the windows. The dark, gloomy-looking building, Miss, off in the

distance, yonder, is the Methodist affair, of which not much need be

said; Methodism flourishing but little among us since the

introduction of the New Lights, who have fairly managed to out-excite

them, on every plan they can invent. I believe, however, they stick

pretty much to the old doctrine, which, no doubt, is one great reason

of their present apathetic state; for the people do love novelties."

 

"Pray, sir, what building is this nearly in a line with New St.

Paul's, and which resembles it a little, in colour and form?"

 

"Windows excepted; it has two rows of regular square-topped windows,

Miss, as you may observe. That is the First Presbyterian, or the old

standard; a very good house, and a pretty good faith, too, as times

I make it a point to attend there, at least once every fortnight;

for change is agreeable to the nature of man. I will say, Miss, that

my preference, so far as I have any, however, is for New St. Paul's,

and I have experienced considerable regrets, that these Presbyterians

have gained a material advantage over us, in a very essential point,

lately."

 

"I am sorry to hear this, Mr. Bragg; for, being an Episcopalian

myself, and having great reliance on the antiquity and purity of my

church, I should be sorry to find it put in the wrong by any other."

 

"I fear we must give that point up, notwithstanding, for these

Presbyterians have entirely outwitted the church people in that

matter."

 

"And what is the point in which we have been so signally worsted?"

 

"Why, Miss, their new bell weighs quite a hundred more than that of

New St. Paul's, and has altogether the best sound. I know very well

that this advantage will not avail them any thing to boast of, in the

last great account; but it makes a surprising difference in the state

of probation. You see the yellowish looking building across the

valley, with a heavy wall around it, and a belfry? That, in its

regular character, is the county court-house, and gaol; but, in the

way of religion, it is used pretty much miscellaneously."

 

"Do you mean, really, sir, that divine service is ever actually

performed in it, or that persons of all denominations are

occasionally tried there?"

 

"It would be truer to say that all denominations occasionally try the

court-house," said Aristabulus, simpering; "for I believe it has been

used in this way by every shade of religion short of the Jews. The

Gothic tower in wood, is the building of the Universalists; and the

Grecian edifice, that is not yet painted, the Baptists. The Quakers,

I believe, worship chiefly at home, and the different shades of the

Presbyterians meet, in different rooms, in private houses, about the

place."

 

"Are there then shades of difference in the denominations, as well as

all these denominations?" asked Eve, in unfeigned surprise; "and

this, too, in a population so small?"

 

"This is a free county, Miss Eve, and freedom loves variety. 'Many

men, many minds.'"

 

"Quite true, sir," said Paul; "but here are many minds among few men.

Nor is this all; agreeably to your own account, some of these men do

not exactly know their own minds. But, can you explain to us what

essential points are involved in all these shades of opinion?"

 

"It would require a life, sir, to understand the half of them. Some

say that excitement is religion, and others, that it is contentment.

One set cries up practice, and another cries out against it. This man

maintains that he will be saved if he does good, and that man affirms

that if he only does good, he will be damned; a little evil is

necessary to salvation, with one shade of opinion, while another

thinks a man is never so near conversion as when he is deepest in

sin."

 

"Subdivision is the order of the day," added John Effingham; "every

county is to be subdivided that there may be more county towns, and

county offices; every religion decimated, that there may be a greater

variety and a better quality of saints."

 

Aristabulus nodded his head, and he would have winked, could he have

presumed to take such a liberty with a man he held as much in

habitual awe, as John Effingham.

 

"_Monsieur_," inquired Mademoiselle Viefville, "is there no _eglise_,

no _veritable eglise_, in Templeton?"

 

"Oh, yes, Madame, several," returned Aristabulus, who would as soon

think of admitting that he did not understand the meaning of

_veritable eglise_, as one of the sects he had been describing would

think of admitting that it was not infallible in its interpretation

of Christianity--"several; but they are not be seen from this

particular spot."

 

"How much more picturesque would it be, and even christian-like in

appearance, at least," said Paul, could these good people consent to

unite in worshipping God!--and how much does it bring into strong

relief, the feebleness and ignorance of man, when you see him

splitting hairs about doctrines, under which he has been told, in

terms as plain as language can make it, that he is simply required to

believe in the goodness and power of a Being whose nature and

agencies exceed his comprehension."

 

"All very true," cried John Effingham, "but what would become of

liberty of conscience in such a case? Most men, now-a-days,

understand by faith, a firm reliance on their own opinions!"

 

"In that case, too," put in Aristabulus, "we should want this

handsome display of churches to adorn our village. There is good

comes of it; for any man would be more likely to invest in a place

that has five churches, than in a place with but one. As it is,

Templeton has as beautiful a set of churches as any village I know."

 

"Say, rather, sir, a set of castors; for a stronger resemblance to

vinegar-cruets and mustard-pots, than is borne by these architectural

prodigies, eye never beheld."

 

"It is, nevertheless, a beautiful thing, to see the high pointed roof

of the house of God, crowning an assemblage of houses, as one finds

it in other countries," said Eve, "instead of a pile of tavern, as is

too much the case in this dear home of ours."

 

When this remark was uttered, they descended the step that led from

the terrace, and proceeded towards the village. On reaching the gate

of the Wigwam, the whole party stood confronted with that offspring

of John Effingham's taste; for so great had been his improvements on

the original production of Hiram Doolittle, that externally, at

least, that distinguished architect could no longer have recognized

the fruits of his own talents.

 

"This is carrying out to the full, John, the conceits of the

composite order," observed Mr. Effingham, drily.

 

"I shall be sorry, Ned, if you dislike your house, as it is amended

and corrected."

 

"Dear cousin Jack," cried Eve, "it is an odd jumble of the Grecian

and Gothic. One would like to know your authorities for such a

liberty."

 

"What do you think of the _facade_ of the cathedral of Milan, Miss,"

laying emphasis on the last words, in imitation of the manner of Mr.

Bragg. "Is it such a novelty to see the two styles blended; or is

architecture so pure in America, that you think I have committed the

unpardonable sin."

 

"Nay, nothing that is out of rule ought to strike one, in a country

where imitation governs in all things immaterial, and originality

unsettles all things sacred and dear."

 

"By way of punishment for that bold speech, I wish I had left the old

rookery in the state I found it, that its beauties might have greeted

your eyes, instead of this uncouth pile, which seems so much to

offend them. Mademoiselle Viefville, permit me to ask how you like

that house?"

 

"_Mais, c'est un petit chateau_"

 

"_Un chateau, Effinghamise,_" said Eve, laughing.

 

"_Effinghamise si vous voulez, ma chere; pourtant c'est un chateau_."

 

"The general opinion in this part of the country is," said

Aristabulus, "that Mr. John Effingham has altered the building