y mother! What a life-time of wretchedness
was compressed for thee into a few short years!

I walked on, noting, here and there, changes even more marked than
appeared about the residence of Mr. Harrison. Judge Lyman's beautiful
place showed utter neglect; and so did one or two others that, on my
first visit to Cedarville, charmed me with their order, neatness, and
cultivation. In every instance, I learned, on inquiring, that the
owners of these, or some members of their families, were, or had been,
visitors at the "Sickle and Sheaf"; and that the ruin, in progress or
completed, began after the establishment of that point of attraction in
the village.

Something of a morbid curiosity, excited by what I saw, led me on to
take a closer view of the residence of Judge Hammond than I had
obtained on the day before. The first thing that I noticed, on
approaching the old, decaying mansion, were handbills, posted on the
gate, the front-door, and on one of the windows. A nearer inspection
revealed their import. The property had been seized, and was now
offered at sheriff's sale!

Ten years before, Judge Hammond was known as the richest man in
Cedarville; and now, the homestead which he had once so loved to
beautify--where all that was dearest to him in life once
gathered--worn, disfigured, and in ruins, was about to be wrested from
him. I paused at the gate, and leaning over it, looked in with saddened
feelings upon the dreary waste within. No sign of life was visible. The
door was shut--the windows closed--not the faintest wreath of smoke was
seen above the blackened chimney-tops. How vividly did imagination
restore the life, and beauty, and happiness, that made their home there
only a few years before,--the mother and her noble boy, one looking
with trembling hope, the other with joyous confidence, into the
future,--the father, proud of his household treasures, but not their
wise and jealous guardian.

Ah! that his hands should have unbarred the door, and thrown it wide,
for the wolf to enter that precious fold! I saw them all in their sunny
life before me; yet, even as I looked upon them, their sky began to
darken. I heard the distant mutterings of the storm, and soon the
desolating tempest swept down fearfully upon them. I shuddered as it
passed away, to look upon the wrecks left scattered around. What a
change!

"And all this," said I, "that one man, tired of being useful, and eager
to get gain, might gather in accur