ith the other.

Instead of the short cut of the night before, the Doctor chose the
more circuitous route through the village; if a cluster of dilapidated
houses might be dignified by that name. Dr. DeWolf's old brown
residence, situated on a high hill, with its piazza stretching across
the front, was the most imposing edifice to be seen. The remaining
comfortless dwellings, mostly log cabins, and board shanties, with
their broken windows and ragged inmates, who flocked out to gaze at
the strangers, presented an appearance desolate in the extreme. Even
the shadow cast by old Chimney Rock, after which the place was named,
added a darker aspect to the scene. Chinmey Rock was an irregular old
bluff, standing like a grim old castle by the riverside, its
chimney-like summit, rocky and bare, the most conspicuous object in
the landscape.

"What a God-forsaken place," exclaimed the doctor, involuntarily.

"'Tis so, this ere is a broke-down, one-horse concern, and that ain't
the wust on't, nuther," said his companion; who was almost bursting
with communicativeness.

"Well, what is the worst of it?" inquired the Doctor, as much to
gratify the old man's weakness, as to satisfy his own curiosity.

"Why, Doctor, 'tween you an' me, there's awful doin's here. Ye see,
sence that saloon was sot up in one end of the old brewery, all the
men here have got to drinking, and 'tis astonishing how men will act,
when they git soaked in liquor. I've heered temperance lecturers tell
stories that would make your har stand on ind; that was when I was
young, and there was a great excitement on the subject. I signed the
pledge then, and I never broke my word on no account, or I expect I
should be as bad as the rest of them here. I've had to stand out agin
hard persuasions. They've tried to git me to take a glass of lager;
sez they, 'lager won't hurt nobody;' sez I, 'it's hurt you.' You see,
it don't require no argument, I can pint 'em to facts. Now, there's
Prime Hawley; when he come here to live, he was a fine, stiddy young
man; his wife was as pretty as a rose, and as happy as a lark.
Somehow, Prime got to going to that saloon. Well, I gin him fair
waning. Sez I, 'Prime, they'll get the halter on ye, if ye go there;'
sez he 'I guess not, a glass of lager won't hurt nobody;' but now,
sure as fate, he's the worst of 'em all. He's whipped and frightened
his putty wife most to death, and she's got sickly now. Some say he's
even jined Bloody Jim's