Among the musical disciples who assembled one evening in each
week to receive his instructions in psalmody was Katrina Van
Tassel, the daughter and only child of a substantial Dutch
farmer. She was a blooming lass of fresh eighteen, plump as a
partridge, ripe and melting and rosy-cheeked as one of her
father's peaches, and universally famed, not merely for her
beauty, but her vast expectations. She was withal a little of a
coquette, as might be perceived even in her dress, which was a
mixture of ancient and modern fashions, as most suited to set off
her charms. She wore the ornaments of pure yellow gold which her
great-great-grandmother had brought over from Saardam, the
tempting stomacher of the olden time, and withal a provokingly
short petticoat to display the prettiest 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 everything was snug,
happy, and well-conditioned.
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