lt along the sides for summer
use; and a great spinning-wheel at one end and a churn at the other
showed the various uses to which this important porch might be devoted.
From this piazza the wonderful Ichabod entered the hall, which formed
the center of the mansion, and the place of usual residence. Here,
rows of resplendent pewter, ranged on a long dresser, dazzled his eyes.
In one corner stood a huge bag of wool, ready to be spun; in another, a
quantity of linsey-woolsey just from the loom; ears of Indian corn and
strings of dried apples and peaches hung in gay festoons along the
walls, mingled with the gaud of red peppers; and a door left ajar gave
him a peep into the best parlor, where the claw-footed chairs, and dark
mahogany tables, shone like mirrors; andirons, with their accompanying
shovel and tongs, glistened from their covert of asparagus tops;
mock-oranges and conch shells decorated the mantel-piece; strings of
various colored birds' eggs were suspended above it; a great ostrich
egg was hung from the center of the room, and a corner cupboard,
knowingly left open, displayed immense treasures of old silver and
well-mended china.

From the moment Ichabod laid his eyes upon these regions of delight,
the peace of his mind was at an end, and his only study was how to gain
the affections of the peerless daughter of Van Tassel. In this
enterprise, however, he had more real difficulties than generally fell
to the lot of a knight-errant of yore, who seldom had anything but
giants, enchanters, fiery dragons, and such like easily conquered
adversaries, to contend with; and had to make his way merely through
gates of iron and brass and walls of adamant to the castle-keep, where
the lady of his heart was confined; all which he achieved as easily as
a man would carve his way to the center of a Christmas pie, and then
the lady gave him her hand as a matter of course. Ichabod, on the
contrary, had to win his way to the heart of a country coquette, beset
with a labyrinth of whims and caprices, which were forever presenting
new difficulties and impediments, and he had to encounter a host of
fearful adversaries of real flesh and blood, the numerous rustic
admirers who beset every portal to her heart; keeping a watchful and
angry eye upon each other, but ready to fly out in the common cause
against any new competitor.

Among these, the most formidable was a burly, roaring, roistering
blade, of the name of Abraham, or, accor