, tied under his chin with
a ribbon. His face was like that of an Indian, with broad cheek-bones
and small shifting eyes.

Eagle was French, and professed to be a refugee, a person of interest to
foreign monarchs. On the inner wrapping of his pack was written large,
"Vive le Napoleon! Vive la France! Vive!" He had little hesitation about
speaking of himself, though always with stilted courtesy, and always
furtively.

He made a study of astronomy, and every night would ask his hostess,
with much apology but firm insistence, for a pitcher of water, and for
the privilege that he might retire early to his room, open the window
and view the stars. Strange to say, in this he was not merely eccentric;
for his reading was of the latest books on the science, and he exchanged
with Akin Hall Library a Young's Astronomy for a Newcomb's, in 1898. He
accompanied the presentation of the later book, in which was the
author's name inscribed with a note to Mr. Eagle, with a demonstration
of a theory of the Aurora Borealis.

Eagle never tried to sell his goods on the Hill, and indeed it is
doubtful if he carried them for any other purpose than to conceal his
real commodities, which were watches. Of these he carried a good
selection of the better and of the cheaper sorts, all concealed in the
center of his pack, among impossible dry goods and varied fancy wares.

An attempt was made to rob him, or at least to annoy him, by some young
men; and he shot one of his assailants. For this offence he was, after
trial, sent to the Asylum for the Criminal Insane.

His earlier journeys over the Hill found him a welcome guest at the
Quaker homes. But the substitution of boarding for the ancient
hospitality made the peddler unwelcome; and he passed through without
stopping in his later years.

The Quarterly Meeting of the Society of Friends was the annual
culmination of the hospitality of the Hill population. Coming in August,
"after haying," it was for a century and a half the great assembly of
the people of the Hill, and of their kindred and friends; and until the
Orthodox Meeting ceased to meet, in 1905, there was Quarterly Meeting in
the smaller Meeting House. The old hospitality was never diminished by
the Quakers as long as their meetings continued. Even though the same
house were filled with paying boarders, the family retreated to the
attic, the best rooms were devoted to the "Friends travelling on truth's
account;" and the same house sa