ng
southward, broke against the island, dividing its broad current into
two nearly equal streams. He admired the meadow slopes of Belpre, on
the Ohio side, and the more dimly seen bluffs of Wood County, on the
Virginia border. The tourist of to-day, standing where the gardener
stood on Blennerhassett Island a hundred years ago, sees in the
northern distance the iron framework of the Parkersburg bridge
spanning the river, so far away as to show like a fairy web in the
air. Beyond, as if issuing from the heart of the hills, the river
blends with the purple mist.

Having "bent the quiet of a loving eye" upon the river and its
delightful valley, the Englishman turned his ruddy face toward the
chief building on the island, a frame structure of odd appearance,
painted in dazzling white save the window shutters, which were vivid
green. The mansion consisted of a main edifice fifty feet square and
two stories high, with a peculiar portico in front, projected not in
straight lines, but forming a semicircle, embracing within the
curvature of its outstretching arms a favored area of dooryard. The
proprietor of the estate had chosen the site and designed the plan of
this his residence with the double purpose of indulging a fancy for
architectural novelty and of providing against disaster by lightning
and earthquake. Never did it occur to him that fire and flood were the
elements he had most reason to fear: each of these ruinous agents was
destined, in turn, to devastate the island.

In the rear of the fantastic dwelling, and not far from it, stood a
row of log cabins for the negroes who served on the place, and a
cluster of barns and stables abundantly stocked. All the houses were
new, and the adjacent cultivated land showed many signs that it had
not long been tilled, or even cleared. The rank soil retained its
quick fertility, as could be seen in the thrifty growth of peas,
beets, radishes, and early potatoes, flourishing in the "truck-patch."
The plum and the peach trees had cast their bloom; the cherry blossoms
were falling like snow; the flowers of the apple loaded the air with
fragrance; the red-buds were beginning to fade; the maples and oaks,
just starting into leaf, hung full of light green tassels.

The vegetable close had irresistible attractions for the gardener, and
this drew his laggard steps from their idle excursion, back to the
freshly spaded spot enriched by leaf mould, and carefully picketed
against the incur