ebbins
has not always been a schoolmaster; and the pedagogue of a border
settlement is not necessarily, expected to be a model of morality. Even
if it were so, this lord of the hickory-switch is comparatively a
stranger in Swampville; and, perhaps, only the best side of his
character has been exhibited to the parents and guardians of the
settlement. This is of the saintly order; and, as if to strengthen the
illusion, a dress of clerical cut has been assumed, as also a white
cravat and black boat-brimmed hat. The coat, waistcoat, and trousers
are of broad-cloth--though not of the finest quality. It is just such a
costume as might be worn by one of the humbler class of Methodist border
Ministers, or by a Catholic priest--a somewhat rarer bird in the
backwoods.

Joshua Stebbins is neither one nor the other; although, as will shortly
appear, his assumption of the ecclesiastical style is not altogether
confined to his dress. Of late he has also affected the clerical
calling. The _ci-devant_ attorney's clerk--whilom the schoolmaster of
Swampville--is now an "apostle" of the "Latter-day Saints." The
character is new--the faith itself is not very old--for the events we
are relating occurred during the first decade of the Mormon revelation.
Even Holt himself has not yet been made aware of the change: as would
appear from a certain air of astonishment, with which at first sight he
regards the clerical habiliments of his visitor.

It would be difficult to imagine a greater contrast than that presented
in the appearance of these two men. Were we to select two parallel
types from the animal world, they would be the sly fox and the grizzly
bear--the latter represented by the squatter himself. In Hickman Holt
we behold a personage of unwonted aspect: a man of gigantic stature,
with a beard reaching to the second button of his coat, and a face not
to be looked upon without a sensation of terror--a countenance
expressive of determined courage, but at the same time of fierceness,
untempered by any trace of a softer emotion. A shaggy sand-coloured
beard, slightly grizzled; eyebrows like a _chevaux de frise_ of hogs'
bristles; eyes of a greenish-grey, and a broad livid scar across the
left cheek--are component parts in producing this aspect; while a red
cotton kerchief, wound turban-like around the head, and pulled low down
in front, renders its expression more palpable and pronounced.

A loose surtout of thick green blanket-c