s the first of the young author's works
to win favor on the other side. This was followed by
"Bracebridge Hall" and "Tales of a Traveler." Irving then
went to Spain, and in the course of the several years that
he spent there he wrote "A Life of Columbus," the "Conquest
of Granada," and "The Alhambra." Subsequently he wrote his
two most celebrated biographical works--"The Life of
Washington" and "The Life of Goldsmith."

Irving was noted principally for his quaint humor and
graceful literary expression. The following story, "The
Devil and Tom Walker," is taken from "The Tales of a
Traveler."

A few miles from Boston, in Massachusetts, there is a deep inlet winding
several miles into the interior of the country from Charles Bay, and
terminating in a thickly wooded swamp, or morass. On one side of this
inlet is a beautiful dark grove; on the opposite side the land rises
abruptly from the water's edge, into a high ridge on which grow a few
scattered oaks of great age and immense size.

It was under one of these gigantic trees, according to old stories, that
Kidd the pirate buried his treasure. The inlet allowed a facility to bring
the money in a boat secretly and at night to the very foot of the hill.
The elevation of the place permitted a good lookout to be kept that no one
was at hand, while the remarkable trees formed good landmarks by which the
place might easily be found again.

The old stories add, moreover, that the devil presided at the hiding of
the money, and took it under his guardianship; but this, it is well
known, he always does with buried treasure, particularly when it has been
ill gotten. Be that as it may, Kidd never returned to recover his wealth,
being shortly after seized at Boston, sent out to England, and there
hanged for a pirate.

About the year 1727, just at the time when earthquakes were prevalent in
New England, and shook many tall sinners down upon their knees, there
lived near this place a meager, miserly fellow of the name of Tom Walker.
He had a wife as miserly as himself; they were so miserly that they even
conspired to cheat each other. Whatever the woman could lay hands on she
hid away; a hen could not cackle but she was on the alert to secure the
new-laid egg. Her husband was continually prying about to detect her
secret hoards, and many and fierce were the conflicts that took place
about what ought to have been common property.

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