The mysterious event caused much speculation at the church on the following Sunday. Knots of gazers and gossips were collected in the churchyard, at the bridge, and at the spot where the hat and pumpkin had been found. The stories of Brouwer, of Bones, and a whole 5 budget of others, were called to mind; and when they had diligently considered them all, and compared them with the symptoms of the present case, they shook their heads, and came to the conclusion, that Ichabod had been carried off by the galloping Hessian. As he was a bachelor, and 10 in nobody's debt, nobody troubled his head any more about him; the school was removed to a different quarter of the Hollow, and another pedagogue reigned in his stead.

It is true, an old farmer, who had been down to New 15 York on a visit several years after, and from whom this account of the ghostly adventure was received, brought home the intelligence that Ichabod Crane was still alive; that he had left the neighborhood partly through fear of the goblin and Hans Van Ripper, and partly in mortifi- 20 cation at having been suddenly dismissed by the heiress; that he had changed his quarters to a distant part of the country; had kept school and studied law at the same time; had been admitted to the bar; turned politician; electioneered; written for the newspapers; and finally, had been 25 made a Justice of the Ten Pound Court. Brom Bones, too, who shortly after his rival's disappearance, conducted the blooming Katrina in triumph to the altar, was observed to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related, and always burst into a hearty laugh 30 at the mention of the pumpkin; which led some to suspect that he knew more about the matter than he chose to tell.

The old country wives, however, who are the best judges of these matters, maintain to this day, that Ichabod was

spirited away by supernatural means; and it is a favorite story often told about the neighborhood round the winter evening fire. The bridge became more than ever an object of superstitious awe; and that may be the reason why 5 the road has been altered of late years, so as to approach the church by the border of the mill-pond. The schoolhouse being deserted, soon fell to decay, and was reported to be haunted by the ghost of the unfortunate pedagogue; and the plow-boy, loitering homeward of a still summer. 10 evening, has often fancied his voice at a distance, chanting a melancholy psalm tune among the tranquil solitudes of Sleepy Hollow.

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POSTSCRIPT

FOUND IN THE HANDWRITING OF MR. KNICKERBOCKER

THE preceding Tale is given, almost in the precise words in which I heard it related at a Corporation meeting of the ancient city of the Manhattoes, at which were present many of its sagest and most illustrious burghers. The narrator was a pleasant, shabby, gentlemanly old 20 fellow in pepper-and-salt clothes, with a sadly humorous face; and one whom I strongly suspected of being poor,he made such efforts to be entertaining. When his story was concluded there was much laughter and approbation, particularly from two or three deputy aldermen, who had 25 been asleep the greater part of the time. There was, however, one tall, dry-looking old gentleman, with beetling eyebrows, who maintained a grave and rather severe face throughout; now and then folding his arms, inclining his head, and looking down upon the floor, as if turning 30 a doubt over in his mind. He was one of your wary men, who never laugh but upon good grounds—when they have reason and the law on their side. When the mirth of the

rest of the company had subsided, and silence was restored, he leaned one arm on the elbow of his chair, and sticking the other akimbo, demanded, with a slight but exceedingly sage motion of the head, and contraction of the brow, what was the moral of the story, and what it went to prove. 5 The story-teller, who was just putting a glass of wine to his lips, as a refreshment after his toils, paused for a moment, looked at his inquirer with an air of infinite deference, and lowering the glass slowly to the table, observed that the story was intended most logically to prove:- 10 "That there is no situation in life but has its advantages and pleasures-provided we will but take a joke as we find it:

"That, therefore, he that runs races with goblin troopers, is likely to have rough riding of it:

"Ergo, for a country schoolmaster to be refused the hand of a Dutch heiress, is a certain step to high preferment in the state."

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The cautious old gentleman knit his brows tenfold closer after this explanation, being sorely puzzled by the 20 ratiocination of the syllogism; while, methought, the one in pepper-and-salt eyed him with something of a triumphant leer. At length he observed, that all this was very well, but still he thought the story a little on the extravagant-there were one or two points on which he had his 25 doubts:

"Faith, sir," replied the story-teller, "as to that matter, I don't believe one-half of it myself."

D. K.

OBJECT:

EXERCISE II

RIP VAN WINKLE

By WASHINGTON IRVING

To determine which is the most important element in the story; action, character, or setting.

MATERIAL:

The story itself, Life and Letters, as in Exercise I; a map of the country; pictures of the scenery; and the results of the previous exercise, namely, that Irving was "a pupil of a school of essayists," who, sometimes at least, made his story "a mere whimsical band to connect descriptions of scenery, customs, manners, etc.'

DIRECTIONS:

As we read the story, we shall note that we have much, the same kind of material as in "The Legend." We may then follow directions (1) and (2) in Exercise I to gain a tentative start, and then go on with the following questions:

(1) What was the origin of the action? Note the legend mentioned at the end. Can this have been the origin? If so, what changes were made, and what seem to have been the reasons for them? (See Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 21 0. s.) Can we find any other origin?

(2) What was the origin of the chief character? Note that the Ne'er-do-weel is rather a conventional type: indeed Irving presents him more elaborately and under very different circumstances in "Master Simon" in Brace

bridge Hall. This, however, cannot be sufficiently explanatory of the character of Rip Van Winkle, for we must see in the character one of the few creations of literature of its time or indeed of after years.

Just what does the name Rip Van Winkle suggest nowadays?

(3) What was the origin of the setting?

What did Irving know of the Catskills? He had at the time of writing the story, no actual knowledge of the mountains, save so far as they can be seen from the river. Later, in the year 1832, he made a visit to the mountains of which there is a very interesting note in the Life, Vol. 3, pp. 27, 53.

There are places in the Catskills which are connected with the name of Rip Van Winkle. But if we study the details of the story with a view to the topography we shall find that it is hard to think of any realizations of the descriptions. Such a combination of places as the author describes would be hard to find on Catskill Mountain, north or south. The point of such study is to show that Irving in "Rip Van Winkle" could not give the truly realistic and beautiful descriptions of the "Legend," because he did not have the material for such descriptions in mind. It would seem then that the matter of setting was of less importance.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER WORK:

(1) Although the topography is not correct, why did Irving select such a spot in which to have Rip go to sleep?

(2) Note with what other pieces Rip Van Winkle appeared in the Sketch Book. (The Sketch Book appeared in sections.) What piece is best remembered in that section? Why do you think Irving wrote that one more successfully than the rest?