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- 1474
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 1422
- text
- him a marvelous being, infinitely purer and greater than I was, who
could not by any possibility do wrong, or say an untruth. Yet now, how
could I credit it, that he, my own father, whom I so well remembered;
had ever sailed out of these Narrows, and sailed right through the sky
and water line, and gone to England, and France, Liverpool, and
Marseilles. It was too wonderful to believe.
Now, on the right hand side of the Narrows as you go out, the land is
quite high; and on the top of a fine cliff is a great castle or fort,
all in ruins, and with the trees growing round it. It was built by
Governor Tompkins in the time of the last war with England, but was
never used, I believe, and so they left it to decay. I had visited the
place once when we lived in New York, as long ago almost as I could
remember, with my father, and an uncle of mine, an old sea-captain,
with white hair, who used to sail to a place called Archangel in
Russia, and who used to tell me that he was with Captain Langsdorff,
when Captain Langsdorff crossed over by land from the sea of Okotsk in
Asia to St. Petersburgh, drawn by large dogs in a sled. I mention this
of my uncle, because he was the very first sea-captain I had ever seen,
and his white hair and fine handsome florid face made so strong an
impression upon me, that I have never forgotten him, though I only saw
him during this one visit of his to New York, for he was lost in the
White Sea some years after.
But I meant to speak about the fort. It was a beautiful place, as I
remembered it, and very wonderful and romantic, too, as it appeared to
me, when I went there with my uncle. On the side away from the water
was a green grove of trees, very thick and shady; and through this
grove, in a sort of twilight you came to an arch in the wall of the
fort, dark as night; and going in, you groped about in long vaults,
twisting and turning on every side, till at last you caught a peep of
green grass and sunlight, and all at once came out in an open space in
the middle of the castle. And there you would see cows quietly grazing,
or ruminating under the shade of young trees, and perhaps a calf
frisking about, and trying to catch its own tail; and sheep clambering
among the mossy ruins, and cropping the little tufts of grass sprouting
out of the sides of the embrasures for cannon. And once I saw a black
goat with a long beard, and crumpled horns, standing with his forefeet
lifted high up on the topmost parapet, and looking to sea, as if he
were watching for a ship that was bringing over his cousin. I can see
him even now, and though I have changed since then, the black goat
looks just the same as ever; and so I suppose he would, if I live to be
as old as Methusaleh, and have as great a memory as he must have had.
Yes, the fort was a beautiful, quiet, charming spot. I should like to
build a little cottage in the middle of it, and live there all my life.
It was noon-day when I was there, in the month of June, and there was
little wind to stir the trees, and every thing looked as if it was
waiting for something, and the sky overhead was blue as my mother’s
eye, and I was so glad and happy then. But I must not think of those
delightful days, before my father became a bankrupt, and died, and we
removed from the city; for when I think of those days, something rises
up in my throat and almost strangles me.
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