ene did I look upon, that bright April morning, when I
went over the river to see that all was in readiness for the boats from
below which were to bring Esther Hammond to her new home! She was to
keep her brother's house; and furniture, books, and pictures, such as I
had never dreamed of, had been sent up by the last-returning boatmen,
all of which I had helped Mr. Hammond to arrange in the little two-story
cottage which stood on the first rise of the hill behind the store.

A little plat of ground was hedged in with young Osage-orange shrubs,
and within it one of the miners, who had formerly been an under-gardener
in a great house in Scotland, had already prepared some flower-beds and
sodded carefully the little lawn, laying down the walks with
bright-colored tan, which contrasted pleasantly with the lively green
of the grass. From the gate one might look up and down the road,
bordered on one side by the trees that hung over the river, and on the
other by the miners' houses, one-story cottages, each with its small
inclosure, and showing every degree of cultivation, from the neat
vegetable-patch and whitewashed porch of the Scotch families to the
neglected waste ground and slovenly potato-patch of the Irishmen. There
were some Sandians among the hands, but they never could be made to take
one of the houses prepared for the miners. They lived back on the
creeks, generally on their own lands, raised their corn and tobacco, cut
their lumber, and hunted or rode the country, taking jobs only when they
felt so inclined, but showing themselves fully able to compete with the
best hands both in skill and in endurance, when they were willing to
work.

On the side of the hill across the creek could be seen the entrance to
the mines, and down that hill were passing constantly the cars, loaded
with earth and stone taken from the tunnel, which fell with a thundering
sound into the valley beneath. Below me was the store, gay with its
multifarious goods, which supplied all the needs of the miners and their
wives, from the garden-tools and seeds for the afternoon-work to the
gay-colored dresses for the Sunday leisure,--where, too, on Saturday
night, whiskey was to be had in exchange for the scrip in which their
wages were paid, and where, sometimes, the noise waxed fast and furious,
till Mr. Hammond would cut off the supply of liquor, as the readiest
means of stilling the tumult.

On this side the river all was changed. But as I looke