I suppose your people are all proud of
Delaware."
"Yes," said the old man; "being such a little adventurer, a mere
foundling in the band of states, our people have the pride of their
independence. The laws are administered, some more farms are opened in
the forest every year, blossoms come, and old men die and are buried on
their farms, and their bones respected a few years. Our history is so
pastoral that we must show some temper when it is assailed, or we might
let out our ignorance of it."
They rode in silence some hours through an older settled and more open
country, with some large mill-ponds and a better class of farm
improvements, and the sense of some large water near at hand was
mystically felt.
The Judge followed the old man's eyes at one place, seeing that they
were raised with an expression of tranquil satisfaction, like aged
piety, and a beautiful landscape of soft green marsh lay under their
gaze from a slight elevation they had reached, showing cattle and sheep
roving in it, tall groves where cows and horses found midday shade, and
winding creeks, carrying sails of hidden boats, as if in a magical
cruise upon the velvet verdure. Haystacks and farm settlements stood out
in the long levels, and sailing birds speckled the air. In the far
distance lay something like more marsh, yet also like the clouds.
"It is the Delaware Bay," the Chancellor said.
They soon entered a well-built little town on a navigable creek, with a
large mill-pond, sawmills, several vessels building on the stocks, and
an air of superior vitality to anything Judge Custis had seen in
Delaware.
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