10 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
brought over from Saardam; the tempting stomacher of the olden time; and withal a provokingly short petticoat, to display the pretti-
est foot and ankle in the country round.
Ichabod Crane had a soft and foolish heart towards the sex; and it is not to be wondered at that so tempting a morsel soon found
favor in his eyes; more especially after he had ..visited her in her paternal mansion. Old Baltus Van Tassel was a perfect picture of a
thriving, contented, liberal-hearted farmer. He seldom, it is true, sent either his eyes or his thoughts beyond the boundaries of his own
farm ; but within those every thing was snug, happy, and well-conditioned. He was satisfied with his wealth, but not proud of it; and
piqued himself upon the hearty abundance rather than the style in which he lived. His stronghold was situated on the banks of the Hudson, in one of those green, sheltered, fertile nooks in which the Dutch farmers are so fond of nestling. A great elm-tree spread its broad branches over it; at the foot of which bubbled up a stream of
the softest and sweetest water, in a little well, formed of a barrel; and then stole sparkling away through the grass, to a neighboring
brook, that bubbled along among alders and dwarf willows. Hard by the farm-house was a vast barn, that might have served for a
church; every window and crevice of which seemed bursting forth with the treasures of the farm ; the flail was busily resounding within it from morning till night; swallows and martins skimmed twittering about the eaves ; and rows of pigeons, some with one eye turned up(
as if watching the weather, some with their heads under their wings, or buried in their bosoms, and others swelling, and cooing, and bowing about their dames, were enjoying the sunshine on the roof.
Sleek unwieldly porkers were grunting in the repose and abundance of their pens ; whence sallied forth, now and then, troops of sucking pigs, as if to snuff the air. A stately squadron of snowy geese were
riding in an adjoining pond, convoying whole fleets of ducks; regiments of turkeys were gobbling through the farm-yard, and guinea-
fowls fretting about it, like ill-tempered housewives, with their peev-
