The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

[FOüNI AMONO THE PAPERS OF THE LATE DIEDEICH KNICKEREOCKER.I In tho bosorn of ono of thoee spacious coves which indent tho eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansión of the river dcnominated by the anciont Dutch navigators the Tappaan Zee, and where they alvvays prudently shortened sail and implorad the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburg, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town. This name ■was givcn it, we are bold, in former days, by the good housowives of the adjacent country, froni the invetérate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on uiarket days. Be that as it may, I do not vouch for the f act, but rnerely advert to it for the sake of being precise and authentic. Not far from thia village, perhaps about three miles, there is a little valley, or rather lap of land, among high hills, wliich is one of the quietest places in the whole world. A Binall brook glides through it, witli just murniur enough to lull ono to repose; and the occasional whistlo of a quail or tapping of a woodpecker Í3 almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tranquillity. I reoollect tliat, when a stripling, my firrit oxploit in squirrel shooting was in a gro.o of tall wahiut trees that shades ono side of the valley. I had wandered into it at noon time when all nature is peculiarly qniet, and was startled by the roar of my own gun as it broke t!io Sabbath stillness around and was prolonged and roverberated by the angry echoes. If ever I should wish for a retreat whither I might steaj from the world and its distractions, and dream qnietly away tho remnant of a troubled lifo, I know of none more promising than this little valley. From tíio Iistles3 reposo of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen lias long been known &" tho name of Sleepy Hollow, and itt rustió lads aro called the Sleepy Hollow boys throughout all the neighboring country. A drowsy, dreamy influence scems to hang over the land and to porvade the very atmosphere. Some say that the placo was bewitched by a high Germán doctor during the early days of the settlement; others, that an oíd Indian chicf , the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there beforo the country was discovered by Master Hcndrick Hudson. C'ertain it is that the place still continuos under the sway of some witching power that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual rêverie. They are given to all kinds of marvelous beliefs; are subject to trances and visions, and frcquently sec strange sights and hear musio and voices ín the air. The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots and twilight superstitions; 6tars shoot and meteora glare of toner across the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with her -w-hole nine fold, seems to make it the favorito scène of her gambols. The dominant spirit, however, that haunts thia enchanted región and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback without a head. It is said by some to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, whose head had been carried away by a camión ball in some nameless battle during the revolutionary war, and who is ever and anon seen by the country folk, hurrying along in the gloom of tho night as if on the wings of the wind. His haunts are not confined to the valley, but extend at times to the adjacent road3, and especially to the vicinity of a church that is at no great distance. Indeed, certain of the most authentic lüstorians of those parts, who have been careful in collecting and collating the üoating facts concerning this spectre, allege that the body of the trooper, having been buried in the churchyard, the ghost rides f orth to the scène of battle in nightly quest of his head, and that the rushing speed with which he sometimos passes along the hollow, like a midnight blast, is owing to his being belated and in a hurry to get back to the churchyard beforo daybreak. Such is tho general purport of this legendary suporstition, which has furnished materiate for many a wild story in that región of shadows; and the spectre is known at all the country firesides by the name of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. It is remarcable that the visionary propensity I have mentioned is not confined to the native inhabitants of the valley but is unconsciously imbibed by every one who resides there for a time. However wide awake they may have been before they entered that pleepy región, they are sure in a little time to inhale the witching infiuence of the air and begin to grow imaginative - to dream dreams and see apparitions. I mention this peaceful Epot with all possible laud, for it ia in such little retired Dutch valleys found here and there embosomed in the great state of New York that population, manners and customs reniaiu ilxed, whilo the great torrent of migration and improvement which is making such. incessant changes in other parts of this restless country sweeps by them unobserved. They are like those little nooksof still water which border a rapid stream, where we may see the straw and bubblo tiding quietly at anchor, or slowly revolving in their mimio liarbor, ■undisturbed by the rush of the passing current. Though many years havo elapsed Binco I trod the drowsy shades of Sleepy Hollow, yet I question whether I should not 8Ü11 find the samo trees and the same families vegeiaiing in its shcltered boeom. In this by place of nature there abode in a reinóte period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of tho name of Ichabod Crane, wliosojourned, or as ho expressed it, "tarried" in Sleepy Hollow, for the purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity. He was a native of Connecticut, a state wliich supplies the Union ■with picneora for the nund as well as for tho forest, and senda forth ycarly its legions of fronticr woodmen and country senoohnasters. The cognomen of Crane was not inapplicablo to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow Bhoulders, long arms and legs, liands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his wliol3 frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, largo green, glassy eyes r.nd a long snipe nose, so that it looked like a weathercock perched upon his ppindle neck to teil which way the wind blew. To see him striding along the proüle of a ïiill on a vriruly day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one inight have mistaken hirn for the genius oí fatnine deseen d i ng upon the earth, or somescarecrow eloped from a cornfield. His school house was a low building of one large room, rudely conairucted of logs; the windows partly glazed and partly patched with Icavesof copy books. It was most ingeniously secured at vacant hours by a withe twisted in the handlo of the door, and stakes set against the window shutters; so that though a thief might get in with perfect case, he would find sorne embarrassment in getting out - an idea most probably borrowed by the architect, Yost Van Kouten, from the mystery of an eel pot. The school house stood in a rather lonely, but pleasant situation, just at the foot of a woody hill, with a brook running close by, and a formidable birch tree growing at one end of it. From henee the low munnur of his pupils' voices, conning over their lessons, rnight bc hoard of a drowsy summer's day, like the hum of a beehive, interrupted now and then by the authoritativo voice of the master, in the tone of menace or command, or, peradventure, by the appalling sound of the birch as ho urged eome tardy loiterer along the Üowery path of knowledge. Truth to eay , he was a conscicntious man, that ever bore in mind the golden maxim, "Spare the rod and ktjü the chüd." Ichabod Crane's schola:.. eertainly were not 6poiled. I would not Iiave it imagined, however, that ho was one of those cruel potentates of the school, who joy in the smart of their subiects; on tho contrary, ho administered justice with discrimination rather than soverity; taking tho burthen off the backs of the weak, and laying it on those of the strong. Your mere puny stripling that winced at the least flourish of the rod, was passed by with indulgence; but the claims cf justice were satisiied by inflicting a doublé portion on somo littlc, tough, wTong headed, broad skirted Dutch urchin, who sulked and swelled and grew dogged and sullen beneath the birch. All this he called "doing his duty by their parents;" and he never inflicted a chastisement without following it by the assurance, so consolatory to the smarting urchin that "he would remember it and thank lúm for it the longest day he had to livc." When school hours were over he was even the companion and playmato of the larger boys; and on hollday ai'ternoons would convoy some of the smaller ones homo, who happened to havo pretty sisters or good housewives for mothers, noted for tho comforts of the cupboard. Indeed, it behooved fíim to keep on good ternas with his pupils. Tho revenuo arising f rom his school was small, and would have been scarcely sufficient to furnish him wiíh daily bread, for he was a huge feeder, and though lank, had the dilatmg powers of an anaconda; but to help out hÍ3 maintenance, he was, according to country custom in those parts, boarded and lodged at the housea of the farmers, whose children he instructed. With these ho lived successively, a week at a time, thus going the rounds of the neighborhood, with all his worldly effects tied up in a cotton handkerchief . That all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his rustic patrons, who are apt to consider the costs of sehooling a grievous burden, and schoolmasters as mere drones, he had various ways of rendering himself both usef ui and agreeable. He assisted the farmers occasionally in the lighter labors of their farms, helped to make hay, mended the fenoes, took the horses to water, drove the cows f rom pasture and cut wood for the winter fire. He laid asido, too, all the dominant dignity and absolute sway with which he lorded it in his little empire, the school, and lecaine wonderfully gentle and ingratiating. He f ound favor in the eyes of the mothers by petting the children, particularly the youngest; and like the lion bold, which whüom 6O magnanimously tho lamb did hold, he would sit with a child on ono knee, and rock a eradle with his f oot for whole hours together. In addition to his other vocations, he was the singing master of the neighborhood, and picked up many bright ehillings by instructing the young folks in psalmody. It was a matter of no little vanity to him on Sundays, to take liia station in front of the church gallery, with a band of chosen singers, where, in his own inind, he completely carried away the palm from the parson. Certain it is, his voico resounded far above all the rest of tho congregation, and there are peculiar qua vers still to be heard in that church, and wliich may even be heard half a mile off, quite to the opposite side of the mili pond, on a still Sunday morning, which are Baid to be legitimately descended from the nose of Icnabod Crane. Thus, by divers littlo makesliifts, in that ingenious way wliich is commonly denominated "by iiook and by crook," the worthy pedagogue got on tolerably enough, and was thought, by all who understood nothing of the labor of head work, to have a wonderful easy Ufe of it. The schoolmaster is generally a man of some importanco in the female circle of a rural neighborhood, being considered a kind of idle gentleman like personage, of vastly superior taste and accomplishments to the rough country swains, and, indeed, inferior in learning only to the parson. His appearance, therefore, is apt to occasion some little stir at the tea table of u farm house, and the addition of a supernumerary dish of cakes or sweetmeats, or, peradventure, the parade of a silver tea pot. Our man of letters therefore was peculiarly happy in the sniiles of all the country damsels. How he would figure among them in tho churchyard between services on Simdays, gathering grapes for them from the wild vines that overrun the surrounding trees; reciting for their amusement all the epitaphs on the tombstones, or sauntering with a wholo bevy of them along tho banks of the adjacent mili pond, while the more bashful country bumpkins hung ishly back, envying his superior clrgance aml address. Froin his half itinerant life, also, he was a kind of traveling gazettc, carvying the whole budget of local gossip f rom house to house, so that his appearance was always greeted with satiafaction. He was, moreover, esteemcd by the women as a man of gveat erudition, for he had read several books quito through, and was a perfect master of Cotton lUather's "History of New England Witclicraft," in which, by the way, he most iirrnly and potontly believed. He was, in f act, an odd mixturo of small shrewdness and simple credulity. His appetite for the marvelous and hu powers of digesting it were equallV extraordinarv, and both had been increased by his residence in this spellbound región. No tale was too gross or monstrous for I1Í3 capacious swallow. It was often his dclight, after his school was dismissed in the afternoon, to stretch hknself on the rich bed of clover, bordering the littlo brook that whimpercd by his school house, and there con over oíd Mather's direful tales, until the gathcring dusk of evening made the printcd page a mere mist before his cyes. Then, as ho wended his way , by swamp and stream and awf ui woodland, to the farm house where he happened to be quartered, evcry sound of nature, at that witching hour, fluttered his excitcd imagination; the mean of tho whip-poor-will f rom the hiD side; the boding cry of the tree toad, that harbinger of storm; the dreary hooting of the screech owl; or the sudden rustling ín the thicket of birds frightened f rom their roost. The lire flies, too, which sparkled most vividly in tho darkest places, now and then startlcd him, as one of uncommon brightness would 3tream across his path; and if, by chance, a huge blockhcad of a bcetle carne winging his blundering flight against liim, the poor varlct wa3 ready to give up tho ghost, with the idea that he was struck with a witch' token. HÍ3 only resource on such occasions, either to drown thought or drive away evil spirits was to sing psalm tunes and the good people of Slecpy IIollow, as they eat by their doors of an evening wero often iilled with awo at hearing hl nasal mclody, "in linked sweetncsslong drawn out," floating froin the distan hill or along tho dusty road. Anot'ier of his sources of fearful pleasure was, to pass long winter evening with the old Dutch wives, as they sa spinning by tho íire, with a row of apple roasting and sputtering along the hearth and listen to their marvelous tales o ghosts, and goblins, and haunted fields and haunted brooks, and haunted bridges and haunted houses, and particularly of the headless horseman, or galloping Hes sian of the Hollow, as they eometimes called him. He would delight them equally by his anecdotes of witchcraft and of the direful omens and portentou: sights and sounds in the air, which pre vailed in the earlier times of Connecticut and would frighten them wofully with speculations upon comets and shooting stars, and with the alarming tact that th( world did absolutely turn round, an that they wero half the time topsy turvy ! But if there was a pleasure in all this, wliilo snugly cuddling in tho chimney corner of a chamber that was all of a ruddy glow f rom the crackling wood fire, and where, of course, no specter dare to show its face, it was dcarly purchased by tho terrors of his subsequent walk homewards. What fearful shapes and shadows beset his path, amidst the dim and ghastly glare of a snowy nightl With what wistful look did he eye every trembling ray of light streaming across the waste fields from sonio distant windowl How often was he appalled by some shrub covered with snow, which like a sheeted specter beset his very path! How often did he shrink with curdling awe at the sound of his own steps on the frosty crust beneath his feet, and dread to look over liis shoulder, lest ho should behold some uncouth being tramping close behind him! And how of ten was he thrown into complete dismay by some rushing blast, howling among the trees, in the idea that it was the galloping Hessian on one of bis nightly scourmgs! All these, however, were more terrors of the night, phantoms of the mind, that walk in darkness; and though he had seen many specters in his time, and been more than once beset by Satan in divers shapes, in his lonely perambulations, vet daylight put an end to all these evils; and he would have passed a pleasant lifo of it, in despite of the devil and all his works, if his path had not been crossed by a being that causes more perplexity to mortal man, than ghosts, goblins and the whole race of witches put together; and that was - a woman. Among tho musical disciples who assembled one evening in each week to receive his instructiona in psalmody was Van Tassel, the daughter and only child of a substantial Dutch farmer. She was a blooming lass of fresh 18; plump as a partridge; ripe and melting and rosy cheeked as one of her father'a peaches, and universally famed, not merely for her beauty, but her vast expectations. She was withal a little of a. coquette, as might be perceived even in her dres?, whaeh waa a mixturo of ancient and modern fashions, as most suited to set off her charms. She woro the ornamenta of pure yellow gold, which her great great grandmother had brought over from Saardam; the tompting stomacher of the olden time, and withal a provokingly short petticoat, to display the prettiest foot and ankle in the country round. Ichabod Ci-ane had a soft and foolish heart toward the sex; and it is not to be wondered at, that 60 tempting a morsel soon found favor in his eyes, more espocially after he had visitAl her in her paternal mansion. Old Baltus Van ïassel was a perfect pieture of a thriving, contented, liberal hearted farmer. Ho Beldom, it is truo, sent either his eyea or his thoughts beyond the boundaries of his own farm; but witliin theüc, every thing was snug, happy, and wcll conditioned. He was satisfied with liis wealth, but not proudof.it; and piqued himself upon the hearty abundance, rather than the style in which he lived. His stronghold waa situated on the banks of the Hudson, in one of those green, sheltered, fertile nooks in which the Dutch farmers are so fond of uestling. A great emi tree spread its broad branches over it, at the foot of which bubbled up a spring of the softest and sweetest water, in a littlo well, forraod of a barrel, and then stolo sparkling awuy through tho graas to a neighboring brook, that babbled along among alders and dwarf willows. Hard by the farmliouse was a vast barn, that might have served lor a church, every window and crevice of which seemed bursting forth with the treasures of the farm; the flail was busily resounding within it morning to night; swallows and martins skimmed twitteriijg about the caves, and The whip-poor-will is a bird which is only he.inl at nipbt. It receives its namo from lts Dotes, which is thought to resembïe those words. rows o' pigeons, some with one eye turned np a; ii' watching the weather, somo with their heads under their wings, or buried in their bosoms, and others, Bwelling, and cooing and bowing about their dames, were enjoying the sunsliiiie on the roof. Steek, unwieldy porkers were grunting in the repose and abundance of their pens, from whence sallied forih, now and then, troops of sucking pigs, a3 if to snuff the air. A stately squadron of snowy geese were riding in an adjoining pond, convoying whole fleets of ducks; regiment3 of turkeys were gobbling through the farm yard and guinea fowS fretting about it like ill tempered housewives, with their peevish, discontented cry. Before the barn door strutted the gallant cock, that pattern of a husband, a warrior and a line gentleman, clapping his burnished wings and crowing in the pride and gladness of his lieart - sometimes tearing up tho earth with his feet, and then generously calling his ever hungi-y famüy of wives and children to enjoy the rich morsel wliich he liad disco vered. The pedagoguo's mouth watered, as he looked upon tïlis sumptuous promiso of luxuriou.-. winter fare. In his derouring mind's cyo ho pictured to himself every roasting pig running about, with a pudding in ita belly and an apple in its rnouth; the pigeons were snugly put to bed in a comfortable pie, and tueked in with a coverlet of crust; the geese were swiinming in thcir own gravy, and the ducks pairing corily in diishes. like snug inarried couples, with a decent competency of onion sauce. In the porkers he saw carved out the future sleek side of bacon and juicy rclishing harn; not a turkey, but lie beheld daintily trusscd up, with its gizzard under its wing, and, peradventure, a necklace of savory sausages; and even bright chanticleer hiiusclf lay sprawling on his back in a side dish, with upliftcd claws, as if craving that quarter wm'ch his chivalrous spirit disdained to ask whilo living. As the enraptured Ichabod fancied all this, and as ho rolled his groat green eyes over the fat meadow lands, tho rich fields of wheat, of rye, of buekwheat and Indian corn, and tho orchards burthened with ruddy fruit, which eurrounded the warm tenement of Van Tassel, lus heart yearned alter tho damsel who was to inherit these domains, and his imagination expanded with the idea, how thcy might be readily turned into cash and the money invested in immense tracts of wild land and shingle palaces in the wilderness. Nay, his busy fancy abeady realized his hopes, and presented to him the blooming Katrina, with a wholo family of children, rnounted on the top of a wagon loaded with household trumpery, with pots and kettles dangling beneath; and he beheld himself bestriding a pacing maro, with a colt at her lieels, setting out lor Kentucky, Tennessee - or the Lord knows wheref When ho entered the house, the conquest of liis heart was complete. It was one of thoso spacious farm houses, with high ridged, but lowly sloping ïoofs, built in the style handed down from the first Dutch settlers. The Iow projecting eaves forming a piazza along the front, capable of being closed up in bad weather. Under this were hung ilails, harness, various utensila of husbandry, and nets for fishing in tho neighboring .river. Benches were built along the sides for summer use; and a great spinning wheel at one end, and a ehurn at tho other, showed the various uses to which this important porch might bo devoted. From this piazza the wonderful Ichabod entered the liall, which formed the center of the mansión, and the place of usual residence. Here rows of resplendent pewter, ranged on a long drcsser, dazzled Iiis eyes. In one corner stood a hugo bag of wool, ready to bo spun; in another, a quantity of linsey wolsey, just from the loom; ears of Indian corn, and strings of dried applo3 and peaches, hung in gay festoona along the walls, mingled with the gaud of red peppers; and a door left ajar, gave hún a peep into tho best parlor, where the claw footed chaira and dark mahogany tables shone liko mirrors; andirons, with their accompanying shovel and tongs, glistened from their covert of asparagus tops; mock oranges and conch shells decorated the mantelpiece; strings of various colored birds' eggs wero suspended abo ve it; a great ostrich egg was hung from tho center of the room, and a corner cupboard, knowingly left open, displayed immense treasures of old silver and well mended china. From tho moment Ichabod laid hia eyes upon these regions of delight the peace of his mind was at an end, and his only study was how to gain tho aflections of the peerless daughter of Van Tassell. In tliis enterprise, however, he had moro real difficulties tlian generally feil to the lot of a knight errant of yore, who Beldom liad anythmg but giants, enchanters, fiery dragons and such like easily conquered adversaries, to contend with; and had to mak e hia way merely through gates of iron and brass, and walls of adamant to the castle keep, where tho lady of his heart wa3 confLned; all of which he achieved as easily as a man would carve hia way to the center of a Christmas pie, and then the lady gave him her hand as a matter of course. Ichabod, on tho contrary, had to win his way to tho heart of a country coquetto beset with a labyrinth of whinis and caprices, which were forever presentïng new difficulties and impeaiments, and he had to encounter a host of fearful adversaries of real flesh and blood, the numerous rustic admirers, who beset every portal to her heart; keeping a watchful and angry eye upon each other, but ready to ny out in the coininon cause against any new compctitor. Among these the most formidable was a burly, roaring, roystering blade of the name of Abraham, or, according to the Dutch abbreviation, Brom Van Brunt, the hero of the country round, which rung with his f eats of strength and hardihood. Ho was broad shouldered and doublé jointed, with short curly black aair, and a bluff but not unpleasant countenance, having a mingled air of fun and arrogance. From his Herculean frame and great powers of limb, he had received the nickname of Brom Bones, 3y which he was universally known. He was famed for great knowledge and skill in liorsemanship, being as dexterous on liorscback as a Tartur. Ho was 'oremost at all races and cook fights, and with tlie ascendancy which bodily strength always acquires in rustic life, was tho umpire in all disputes, setting lis hat on one side and giving his deci6ions with an air and tone tliat admitted of no gainsay or appeal. He was always ready for either a fight or a frolic; had more miscliief than ïll will in his comwsition; and with all his overbearing roughness thero was a strong dash of vaggish good humor at bottom. He had hree or four boon companions of his own stamp, who regarded him as their iiodel, and at the head of whom he coured tho country, attending every scène of fcud or r.nerriment for miles round. In cold weather he was distinguished by a fur cap, eurmounted with a flaunting fox's tail; and whcn the f olks at a country gathering descricd this well known crest at a distance, wliisking about among a squad of hard riders, they always stood by for a squall. Sometimes his crew would be heard dashing along past the farm houses at rnidnight, with whoop and halloo, like a troop of Don Cossaeks, and the old dames, startled out of their sleep, would listen for a moment till the hurry scurry had clattered by, and then exclaim: "Ay, thcre goes Brom Bones and his gang!" The neighbors looked upon him with a mixture of awe, admiration and good will; and when any madcap prank or rustic brawl occurred in the vicinity, always shook their heads, and warranted Brom Bones was at the bottom of it. This rantipole hero had for somo time singled out the blooming Katrina for tho object of his uncouth gallantries, and though his amorous toyinga were something like the gentïe caresses and endearments of a bear, yet it was whispcred that sho did not altogether discourage his hopes. Certain it is, his advances were signuls for rival candidatos to retire, who feit no inclination to cross a lion in his amours; insomuch, that when his horse was aeen tied to Van Tasscl's paling, on a Sunday night, a sure sign that his mastcr was courting, or, as it is termed, "sparking," within, all other suitors passed by in despair, and carried the war into other quarters. Such was the formidable rival with whom Ichabod Crane had to contend, and considcring all things a stouter man than he would have shrank fvom the competition, and a wiser man would have despaired. He had, however, a happy mixture of pliability and perseverance in his nature; he was in f orna and spirit like a supple jack - yielding, but tough; though he bent, he never broke; and though he bowed beneath the slightest pressure, yet tho moment it was away - jerk! - he was erect. and carried hia head as high as ever. To have taken the field openly against his rival would have been madness; for he was not a man to be thwarted in his amours any more than that stormy lover Achules. Ichabod, therefore, made his advances in a quiet and gently insinuating manner. Únder cover of his charactcr of singing master he made frequent visits at the farm house; not that he had anything to apprehend from the meddlesome interference of parents, which is so often a stumbling block in the path of lovers. Balt Van Tassel was an easy, indulgent soul; he loved his daughter botter even than his pipe, and, like a reasonable man and an excellent father, let her have her way in everything. His notable little wife, too, had enough to do to attend to her housekeeping and manage the poultry; for, as she eagely obsei-ved, ducks and geeso are fooüsh things and must be looked after, but girls can take care of themselves. Thus, wliile tho busy dame bustled about the home or plied her spinning wheel at one end of the piazza honest Balt would sit smoking his evening pipe at the other, watching the achievements of a little wooden warrior, who, armed with a sword in each hand, was valiantly fighting the wind on the pinnacle of the bain. In tho mean time Ichabod would carry on his suit with the daughter by the side of the spring under the great clm or sauntering along in the twilight, that hour bo favorable to the lover's eloquence. I profesa not to know how women's hearts are wooed and won. To me they have always been matters of riddle and admiration. Some seem to havo but one vulnerable point, or door of access; while others have a thousand avenues, and may bo captured in a thousand ferent ways. It is a great tiiumph of skill to gain tho former, but still a greater proof of generalship to maintain possession of the latter, for a man must battle for his fortress at every door and window. Ho that wins a thousand common liearts is thereforo entitled to some renown; but ho who keeps undisjputed sway over the heart of a coquette ia indeed a liero. Certain it is, this was not the caso with the redoubtablo Brom Bones; and f rom the moment Ichabod Crane made his advances, tho interests of the former evidently declined; his horse was no longer Been tied at the palings on Sunday nights, and a deddly feud gradually arose between him and the preceptor of Sleepy Hollow. Brom, who had a degree of rough chivalry in his nature, would fain have carried matters to open warfare, and settled their pretensionB to the lady according to the mode of those most conciso and simple reasoners, the knights errant of yore - by single combat; but Ichrbodwastooconsciousof the superior might of his adversary to enter tho lists against him; he had overheard the boast of Bones that ho would "doublé the schoolmaster up and put him on a shelf ;" and he was too wary to give him an opportunity. There was something extremely provoking in this obstinately paciiic eystem; it left Brom no alternative but to draw upon the f unds of rustic waggery in his disposition, and to play off boorish practical jokes upon his rival. Ichabod became the object of whimsical persecution to Bones and his gang of rough riders. They harried his hitherto peaceful domains; smoked out his singmg school by stopping up the cbimney; broke into the school house at night, in spite of his formidable fastenuigs of witho and window stakes, and turned everything topsy turvy; 6O that the poor Bchoohnaster began to think all the witches in the country held their meetings there. But what was still inore annoying, Brom took all opportunities of turning hini into ridicule in presence of his mistress, and had a scoundrel dog whom he taught to whino in tho most ludicrous nianner and introduced as a rival of Ichabod's, to instruct her in psalm ody. In this way matters went on for some time, without producing any material effect on the relativo situations of the contending powers. On a fine autumnal afternoon, Ichabod, in pensive mood, eat entlironed on the lof ty stool f rom whence he usually watched all tho concerns of his little literary realm. In lus hand he swayed a ferule, that scepter of despotic power; the birch of justice reposed on three nails, behind the throne, a constant terror to evil doere; while on the desk before him might be Been sundry contraband articles and prohibited weapons, detected upon the persons of idle urcbins; Buch as half munched apples, popguns, whirligigs, fly cages, and whole legions of rampant little paper gamecocks. Apparently there had Deen sorne appalling act of justico recently inflicted, for hia scholars ware all busily Intent upon tlieir books, or slyly wliispering behind them with one eye kept upon the master; and a kind of buzzing stillness reigned throughout the school room. It was suddenly interrupted by t!e appearance of a negro in tow cloth jacket and trousers, a round crowned fragment of a hat, libe the cap of Mercury, and mounted on tho back of a ragged, wild, half braken colt, which ho managed with a rope by way of ha'.ícr. He carne clattering up to the echool door with au invitation to Ichabod to attend a merrymaking, or "quilting frolic," to be held that evening at Mynheer Van Taesel's; and having delivered his message .. ith that air of importance and effort at fine language which a negro ia apt to display on petty embassies of the kind, he dashed over the brook, and was Been scainpering away up the hollow, full of. the importance and hurry of his mission AH was now bustle and hubbub in the late quiet school room, The schoïars were hurrlcd through their lessons with out stopping at trilies; those who werf nimble skipped over half with impunity, and those who were tardy liad a smart application now and then in the rear, to quicken their speed or help them over a tail word. Books were flung aside without bcing put away on tho shelves, ink stands were overturned, benchos thrown down and the wholo school was turned loóse na hour before tho tho usual time; bursting forth like a, logion of young mips, yelping and racketing about the green in ioy at thcir early emancipation. Thegallant Ichabod now spentaf least an extra half hour at his toilet, brushing and furbishing up hia best and indeed only suit of rusty black, and arranging his locks by a bit of broken looking glas? that hung up in the school house. That he niight mnke his appeamiee before his mistress in the true Btyle? a, cavalier, he borrowed a horse f rom vhe farmer with whom he was domii..;ied.racholericold Dutchman of the r.aiue of Hans Van Rip ■ per, and tlms gr.ilantly mounted, issued forth like a knigjit errant in quest of adventures. But ït is meet I should, in the true spirit of romantic story, givo Eome account of tho looLs and equipments of my hero r.nd his steed. The animal he bestrode wr.s a. broken down plow horse that had outlived alniost every thing but his viciousness. He was gaunt and shaggy, with a ewe neck r ida head like a hammer; his rusty manu and tail were tangled and knotted with burrs; one eye had lost its pupil, and was glaring and spectral, but the other had the gleam of a genuine devil in it. St UI he must have had fire and niettle in his day, if wemay judge f rom his name, which was Gunpowder. He had, in f act, been a favorito steed of his master's, the cholerío Van Ripper, who was a f urious rider, and had infused, very probably, some of his own spirit into the animal; for, old and broken down aa he looked, thero was more of the lurking devil in him than in any young filly in the country. Ichabod waa a euitable figuro for such a steed. He rode with short stirrups, which brought hia knees nearly up to the pommel of the saddle; his sharp elbows stuck out like grasshoppers'; he carried 1Ú3 whip perpendicularly in his hand, like a scepter, and as the norse jogged on the motion of his arms was not unlike the flapping of a pair of wings. A small wool bat rested on the top of his nose, for so his scauty strip of forehead might be called, and the skirts of his black coat fluttered out ahnost to tho horse's tail. Such was the appearance of Ichabod and his steed as Ihey shambled out of the gate of Hans Van Ripper, and it waa altogether such an apparition as is seldom to bc met with in broad daylight. lcOSTINUED. ]