a inward warning voice, which tells us we too have a destiny to fulfil, a work to accomplish, in comparison with which all our plans, and hopes of personal aggrandizement, in this world, are as the dust of the balance. The summer of 1838 we all remember to have been one of intense heat. Every watering place, far and near, was crowded to overflowing. The Branch had a benefit it had not known for years. Many a one who occupied the fifth of a small room, would gladly have ran a back to the city, but for the doleful tidings brought down daily by the papers, and which was the daily subject of conversation and congratulation among the visitors, such as : « The thermometer stood this morning, in the shade, at M'Allister's, in Chesnut-street, at nine o'clock, at 90°; at twelve, 94°; and at three in the afternoon, at 980!' Never thinking, for one moment, of the numerous professional and mercantile friends, among the working classes, who were obliged to weather dust and heat, in the hottest of cities, while we, happy fellows ! were taking our ease, cigar in mouth, in the piazza, or under the bower, inhaling the bracing salt breeze from the ocean. The society last season, at Robinson's, was as usual almost exclusively Philadelphians, and amongthem were some beautiful women, and some bred and born gentlemen, too, with whom it was a pleasure to associate ; but despite of good society, books, bathing, riding, etc., we could hardly prevent some heavy hours accumulating upon our hands. Various were the endeavors made to get up amusements, of some kind; for be it known, there are none at the Branch. Cards are forbidden; no billiard tables ; nothing but two nine-pin alleys, which require some skill and force to roll the balls off, so much are they warped into gutters by the sun. This, as I learned, was brought about to enable the ladies to trundle the balls ; and many is the delightful game, in former years, I have had with sundry fair belles, into whose delicate hands I have banded the balls, who now are married, and pass me in the streets of Philadelphia with a formal nod of recognition, forgetting the many bowls of black-berries and whortleberries I have picked for them, or the baskets of harvest-apples and peaches I have bought from the bare-footed, tow-headed little urchins, who throng around the bower and portico, to earn a few cents during the watering season ! The Branch has fallen from its high estate. Time was, and in my memory, too, when the esplanade in front of Sears' presented the gay scene of a tournament. Knights (carpet) curvetted and charged, in ranks and squadrons, and right forms of war. The long balconies. were filled with bright eyes and fair forms; and well do I remember the Queen of Love and Beauty upon that occasion, one of Virginia's fairest daughters, placing the wreath of victory on the brows of one who, although now a married, sober citizen, with some half dozen heirs to his honors, cannot fail to entertain a vivid recollection of the tournament at Long Branch. She, the queen of that day, is no more! She died, beloved and lamented, in a foreign land; and many, too, who were there, in all the pride of life, now sleep beneath the clods of the valley; and the tourney is only recurred to, when, around the table, the subject of converse turns upon the palmy days of the Branch, and the elderly ladies endeavor to excite in the few youth who follow their lady loves to this retreat, the emulation of devising some new amusement, to kill that time which is so fast killing us, in the long days of summer. I was but a stripling when the tourney was given; and my blood tingled in my veins, when the gay bugle rang clear, over land and sea, the summons to the charge. The scene, at this distance, is indelibly fixed in my memory; and never did youthful knight or page of the chivalric Henry pant more for the charge, in the Vale of Ardres, or the Field of the Cloth of Gold, so celebrated in story, than did I to be permitted to enter the lists, on that memorable occasion. 6 Sea tempora mutant, et nos mutantur con illis.' The last season, too, had its diversions; and as a flickering luminary, as it draws near and nearer to its close, emits a more brilliant light, so the Branch exceeded in splendor all former years. There was that beautiful conception of modern days, the Tableaux Vivant,' in which were portrayed to the life scenes of the elder time. There was Rebecca and Ivanhoe, Pyramus and Thisbe, Jessica and a host of others, all to a most striking perfection; for seldom was there united a more brilliant collection of beauty, than last summer beheld at Long Branch. But it is not what it was. Tourneys, too, there were, but of a far different character from those I remember; and 'low' as it may appear, I will give a brief outline of one I beheld in August last. It is a bright afternoon; the sun is sinking in the western heavens ; the air from the ocean comes in fresh and cool; the billows, with their silvery crests, chase one another, like the hopes of life, to break and vanish on the sands of time. Even the porpoises seem to feel the exhilarating influence of the bright atmosphere, and leap and gambol in the dark blue waves. The sun is warm, and over land and sea all is life and joy. The distant argosies, far away on the main, as they plough their way to the neighboring port, reflect the evening rays from their snowy wings. Jersey and fish wagons, and vehicles of every description, raising clouds of dust, are seen approaching from the north and south. Women and children, too, are toddling along toward the scene of the tourney; for far and near it has been given out, that the young gentlemen of the different houses would on this day divert their lady loves with a chassé au cochon,' anglice, a 'pigchase!' It Nothing could be finer than the locale selected for the display. was the square field which occupies the space between Robinson's and Lane's houses, enclosed with a board fence, and completely commanded by the southern balcony of the former. The ground is level, and carpeted with a soft turf. Along the fence, and upon seats erected for the occasion, were the spectators, ranged closely side by side, eagerly awaiting the signal for the sport to begin; while within the enclosure were seen the couriers, who, for a quid pro quo, were to enter the lists for the prize, viz., a pig and a purse of gold; numbering among them some fleet-footed Jersey lads, and sturdy fishermen, but in far too great a proportion to the prize. The balcony was crowded with beauty; such as in any other field would have inspired even age itself to have periled life and limb, to win a glance of approbation from some bright eyes I saw there. And now the stewards give the signal to 'let go the pig;' and a large, lank animal, evidently selected by competent judges of speed and bottom, trots into the area, bis exterior well covered with ingredients of a slippery nature, which his interior had never known. He trots around the field, occasionally trying the fence, as if bent upon escape. And now a shout rends the air. His pursuers are upon him! He turns and makes play; they follow him close, while cheers from the crowd animate the knights. Although 'a rum'un to look at, he 's a good 'un to go!' He becomes infuriate; pitches against some, overturning them in his route ; and between the legs of others, who attempt to head him in.' The sport is at the highest ; the 'game is blown,' and cannot hold out much longer. And now, as on a former occasion, of which we read in ancient story, at the tournament in the days of King John, at Ashby de la Zouche, their suddenly appears in the lists a new champion ; a black knight, of gigantic figure, and no less a personage than the leader of the menials at Robinson's. Fresh and powerful, he outstrips all competitors ; and the poor 'blown' porker falls an easy prey. The champions of the day could not endure this. To have the game carried off by one who had taken no part in the chase, and he a black, was quite too much. High words rapidly follow one another; the crowd press in ; the lists are broken down; the whole number of blacks stand round their leader; a furious row ensues, and the stewards press on, to restore order. Women have been termed the silken bonds of society, which bind it together in peace and harmony. This, however, could not be said of them in the present instance. The young Philadelphia bloods, conceiving their honor at stake, in such a termination of the day, soon left the sides of their fair ones, nothing loth, and plunged into the crowd, which was weltering and rolling below, like the billows of the sea. The champions of the chase, who now began to understand that they were brought from far and near to afford amusement to the ladies and their beaux, disappointed at their ill luck, and indignant at the inteference of the negroes, turned lustily upon the silken-hose gentry, and one after another, stewards, young doctors, and lawyers, measured their length upon the turf. What was sport a few minutes before, was now sad earnest. Shrieks and cries were heard from the balcony, which was suddenly vacated. Fair forms were borne away in fainting fits; restoratives of all kinds were in request; chambermaids were seen running, half wild with affright, along the galleries, and children were screaming. The young sons of Æsculapius, who should have been in attendance, were patients themselves, lying battered and bruised on the green field; not of victory, for they got by far the worst of the fray. Night closed the scene; but the honorable scars of the participators of the memorable seventeenth of August, long bore evidence of the part they sustained in that eventful day. This once delightful resort is going down bill. The ocean is making yearly inroads upon the bank; and where the road ran, when , I was first a visitor at Sear's, the moaving sea now breaks, and sandsnipe chase the receding waves for sand-flies. The Branch is essen-, tially a Philadelphia watering place; and an old baronial German residence in the Bergstrasse was not more completely exclusive, so far as strangers were concerned, than was the centre building at Long Branch. But Time, who stamps his impress upon every thing earthly, has left it visibly apparent in the society which now resorts yearly to this ocean retreat. Most of the old families have dropped off, one by one; and new faces, and aspirants to fashion, now resort there, with but few of the old patrons. It has latterly, too, I am told, a reputation for scandal; and 't is said other business than mere recreation is arranged and planned there. But be that as it may; the air and the water are the same, though ever changing; and in both, to the few who can rightly appreciate them, will be found society and health. Philadelphia, July, 1839. L. S. N. ONCE in thy bosom sang the wild bird sweet, Laughing to scorn their elemental aim, And boldly daring Time's destroying stroke, While with each morn thy form to mightier strength awoke. Thou link of the illimitable chain! Part of the beauty of the glorious past, Though thus thou liest, to life thou l't spring again, Shall from thy mouldering form unnumbered forms renew. IN THREE CHAPTERS: BEING THE RELATION OF CIRCUMSTANCES WELL KNOWN TO MANY LIVING AND CREDIBLE PERSONS TO HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN THE PRESENT CENTURY, AND THEREFORE NOT ENTITLED TO THB DISTINCTION OF BEING CALLED A TALE. WILL INTRODUCE THE READER TO THE MANSION OF THE VAN BUSTERS, AND ALSO TO THE PRIN CIPAL PERSONAGES OF TRIS HISTORY. It has justly been observed, by a very great philosopher, that. Time levels all things ;' but there is nothing to which the old destroyer pays less respect, than a wooden house. Time, however, is a conservative, compared with those destructive gentlemen who compose the common council of this famous city. No sooner do they take their oaths of office, than they begin to pass laws for the demolition of a thousand or two houses, in different parts of the town, without the smallest regard to the remonstrances of their occupants; and if there should chance to be such a thing as a green hill within their jurisdiction, they proceed to level it without delay. This they facetiously term 'making improvements. The consequences attendant upon this system of house-demolishing, must, of necessity, in some instances, be picturesque in the highest degree, and in almost all cases, very melancholy. The disastrous consequences of one of these improvements' will form the subject of these chapters. In one of the long, strait avenues which beautify the upper part of this tumultuous metropolis, stretching its flagged walks far beyond the vision of an ordinary eye, stood the wooden mansion of the Van Buster family. It was perched at a fearful height from the surrounding pavement, on ground barely sufficient to bear its weight; and being propped up by numerous slender poles, and long pieces of scantling, it bore no small resemblance to one of those entomological specimens, to which Nature, in her bounty, appears to have given legs sufficient for half its species. But I doubt if the Van Buster house would have kept its airy position with one prop or one inch of ground less ; indeed, the only wonder was, how it kept together at all. Time and the elements had done their worst, and reduced it to as ricketty and worthless a condition as the most inveterate lover of ruin could have desired. The little urchins in the neighborhood no longer tried their skill in archery, by shooting at its windows; for there was not a glazed pane left in the whole building, and the quilted petticoats which supplied the place of glass, were not so easily demolished ; they were left undisturbed to bleach in the sun and rain. The gableend which looked into the newly-opened avenue, bore, in curiously shaped iron figures, the date of its birth, *1779;' and no one would have guessed that it had sprang into existence a year later. 32 6 VOL. XIV. |
