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 spring 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
farmhouse 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 to 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, unwieldy 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.
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