Greycourt Inn
page 2
Though William Bull had emigrated thousands of miles from the scenes of his youth, and had apparently buried himself in the heart of a vast wilderness, it must not be supposed that he had turned savage like the wild beasts and Indians by whom he was surrounded. His young and susceptible heart began to feel the promptings of the tender sentiment; and fortunately for him, Providence had provided a trim and comely lass who was to reciprocate his passion.
William Bull had emigrated thousands of miles from the scenes of his youth, and had apparently buried himself in the heart of a vast wilderness, it must not be supposed that he had turned savage like the wild beasts and Indians by whom he was surrounded. His young and susceptible heart began to feel the promptings of the tender sentiment; and fortunately for him, Providence had provided a trim and comely lass who was to reciprocate his passion. The youthful and imaginative reader has doubtless already pictured the long and sentimental walks of these lovers under the sombre shadows of the forest by moonlight; or the more cozy and confidential talks seated on the slab bench before the roaring fire-place after the old folks had retired, while the wolves howled without, and the panther screamed from the lonely glen; and has fancied the friends of the lady at first objecting to the match, but finally, one and all, brought over in favor of the Irishman. And so the story would read, if it were the work of fiction; but the stern logic of facts compels the statement that there were no friends to conciliate, and no old folks to propitiate, for the bride was as friendless and portionless as the groom himself.
Like her future liege lord, Sarah Wells, by the stern and exacting laws of the period, had been reduced to involuntary servitude to a landed proprietor of Long Island. By the vicissitudes of fortune her master had lost his property, and Sarah had made her way by the assistance of some friendly Indians to the neighborhood of Goshen. Here her dusky friends had built her a log hut, and supplied her for a time with venison, until chance threw her in the way of William Bull.
Sarah Wells, by the stern and exacting laws of the period, had been reduced to involuntary servitude to a landed proprietor of Long Island. By the vicissitudes of fortune her master had lost his property, and Sarah had made her way by the assistance of some friendly Indians to the neighborhood of Goshen. Here her dusky friends had built her a log hut, and supplied her for a time with venison, until chance threw her in the way of William Bull. The marriage ceremony took place in the Cromline log palace, a local magistrate officiating. Bull was an Episcopalian; his creed required the publication of the bans three times, but this formulary was looked upon with disfavor, inasmuch as its observance would defer the wedding-day. The magistrate was equal to the emergency-he could both satisfy the scruples of William and promptly tie the nuptial knot at the same time.
So the magistrate went to the rear door of the Cromline mansion and proclaimed aloud to the trees of the forest-If anyone has any objection to the marriage of William Bull and Sarah Wells, let him now make it known, or forever keep silent;” and having so proclaimed, shut the door and passed to the front of the house. This he did this three times. The forest trees offering no objection, he commanded the high contracting parties to stand up before him; and then and there was performed the first wedding ceremony, according to the usages of civilized society, in the town of Goshen.
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