tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">70

XII. Strange Gentleman, 81 XIII. Captain Bottom, the Whale-Killer, 88 XIV. The Coming Winter and a Merry-Making, 100 XV. Mrs. Chapman and the Upper Circles, 109 XVI. A Night Expedition, 113 XVII. Mr. Gusher is introduced to Mattie, 123 XVIII. Rounding Cape Horn, 135 XIX. Making a Fortune, 143 [Transcriber's note: Chapter XX is missing in book.] XXI. Coming Events cast their Shadows, 158 XXII. The Chapmans move into the City, 166 XXIII. Mrs. Chapman gives a Ball, 176 XXIV. Very Perplexing, 186 XXV. An Unlucky Voyage, 196 XXVI. Dunman's Cave, 204 XXVII. Old Dunman and the Pirate's Treasure, 213 XXVIII. Mr. Gusher sustains his Character, 225 XXIX. Changed Circumstances, 230 XXX. A Terrible Calamity overtakes the Family, 237 XXXI. A Very Perplexing Situation, 247 XXXII. Harvest-Sunday, 251 XXXIII. Returned Home, 260 XXXIV. He brings Joy into the House, 273 XXXV. How He got away from the Island, 277 XXXVI. An Interesting Ceremony, 282

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THE VON TOODLEBURGS,

OR THE

History of a very Distinguished Family.

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CHAPTER I.

ANCIENT HEADS OF THE FAMILY.

Not more than a mile from the brisk little town of Nyack, on the Hudson river, and near where the road makes a sharp turn and winds up into the mountain, there lived, in the year 1803, an honest old farmer of the name of Hanz Toodleburg. Hanz was held in high esteem by his neighbors, many of whom persisted in pronouncing his name Toodlebug, and also electing him hog-reef every year, an honor he would invariably decline. He did this, he said, out of respect to the rights of the man last married in the neighborhood. It mattered not to Hanz how his name was pronounced; nor did it ever occur to him that some of his more ambitious descendants might be called on in a court of law to explain the circumstances under which their name was changed. I speak now of things as they were when the old settlers around Nyack were honest and unsuspecting, before Fulton had astonished them with his steamboat, or those extravagant New Yorkers had invaded the town, building castles overlooking the Tappan Zee, and school-houses where the heads of honest Dutch children were filled with wicked thoughts.

Hanz Toodleburg was short and stout of figure, had a full, round face, a large blunt nose, and a small gray eye. Indeed, there was no mistaking his ancestors, in whose language he spoke whenever the Dominie paid him a visit, which he did quite often, for Hanz had always good cheer in the house; and a bed for a stranger. In short, it was a boast of Hanz that no traveller ever passed his house hungry, if he knew it. And it increased his importance with his neighbors that he raised more bushels to the acre than any of them, and sent better vegetables to the New York market. More than that, he would tell all the big folks in the village, with a nod