The Irving gift Author:Washington Irving Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: pleased him, he was observed to smoke his pipe vehemently, and to send forth short, frequent, and angry puffs; but when pleased, he would inhale the smoke slowly... more » and tranquilly, and emit it in light and placid clouds ; and sometunes, taking the pipe from his mouth, and letting the fragrant vapour curl about his noso, would gravely nod his head in token of perfect approbation. From even this strong hold the unlucky Rip was at length routed by his termagent wife, who would suddenly break in upon the tranquillity of the assemblage and call the members all to nought ; nor was that august personage, Nicholas Vedder himself, sacred from the daring tongue of this terrible virago, who charged him outright with encouraging her husband in habits of idleness. Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair ; and his only alternative, to escape from the labour of the farm and clamour of his wife, was to take gun in hand and stroll away into the woods. Here he would sometimes seat himself at the foot of a tree, and share the contents of his wallet with Wolf, with whom he sympathized as a fellow-sufferer in persecution. " Poor wolf," he would say, "thy mistress leads thee a dog's life of it; but never mind, my lad, whilst I live thou shalt never ty, I all his heart. can ent A DESIRABLE MATCH. Amomg the liumcal disciples who assembled, one evening in each week, to receive his (Ichabod Crane's) instructions ir-. paalmodv, was Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and only child of a substantial Dutch farmer. She was a Moommg lass of fresh eighteen; plump as a partridge; ripe and melting and rosy cheeked as one of herfathrr 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 dr...« less