carried, I, who
had ridden thither on Brown Bess, and was at that instant filling the
ostensible place of bridesmaid, if it had not been for the chastening
influence of a little touch of fear. Entering the poultry-yard I had
caught sight of a certain turkey-cock, who erected that circular tail of
his, and swelled out his deep-red comb and gills after a fashion familiar
to that truculent bird, but which up to the present hour I am far from
admiring. A turkey at Christmas well roasted with bread sauce, may have
his merits; but if I meet him alive in his feathers, especially when he
swells them out and sticks up his tail, I commonly get out of his way even
now, much more sixty years ago. So I let the blacksmith carry me.

Then we went to the dairy, so fresh and cool and clean--glittering with
cleanliness! overflowing with creamy riches! and there I had the greatest
enjoyment of my whole day, the printing with my own hands a pat of butter,
and putting it up in a little basket covered with a vine leaf, to take
home for the dear mamma's tea. Then we should have gone to the kitchen,
the back kitchen, the brew-house, the wash-house, and the rest of the
bride's new territories, but this part of the domicil was literally too
hot to hold us; the cooking of the great wedding dinner was in full
activity, and the bridegroom himself was forced to retreat before his
notable mother, who had come to superintend all things for the day.

So back we drew to the hall, a large square brick apartment, with a beam
across the ceiling, a wide yawning chimney, and wooden settles with backs
to them; where many young people being assembled, and one of them
producing a fiddle, it was agreed to have a country dance until dinner
should be ready, the bride and bridegroom leading off, and I following
with the bridegroom's man.

Oh, the blunders, the confusion, the merriment of that country dance! No
two people attempted the same figure; few aimed at any figure at all; each
went his own way; many stumbled; some fell, and every body capered,
laughed, and shouted at once. My partner prudently caught me up in his
arms again, for fear of my being knocked down and danced over, which,
considering some of the exploits of some of the performers, seemed by no
means impossible, and would have been a worse catastrophe than an
onslaught of the turkey-cock.

A summons to dinner put an end to the glee. Such a dinner! The plenty of
Camacho's wedding was but a type o