I hardly know of a man for miles around, in that charming district of country, who is more respected and beloved than Samuel Bissell. When I saw him last, he had just been elected the second time to a seat in the legislature of the State. I think he is a member of the Senate now.
I wish you could visit his place in the country, and see his fine garden and fine house. If you ever should happen that way, and should learn where he lives, you must not fail to make him a visit, and to tell him that Uncle Frank asked you to call. You will see there one of the happiest families that you ever came across in your life. Mr. Bissell sometimes amuses his children with stories about his boyhood, and they are perfectly delighted with these stories.
MR. BISSELL AND HIS CHILDREN.[ToList]
Don't forget to inquire for the good old peddler, as soon as you get into the house. "What! is he living yet?" To be sure he is, and Samuel has fitted up for him one of the pleasantest rooms in the whole house. His hair is very white, and he was very feeble when I saw him last. But his heart was as young as ever; and he laughed, and played, and frolicked with his grandchildren just as merrily as if he had been a child himself.
Another thing I must tell you, while I think of it. There is a cupola on the top of Samuel's house, and I want you should go into that, if you can get a chance. There you will see quite a number of things which are worth seeing. One of them, perhaps, when you come to know what it is, will interest you more than all the rest. It is the very telescope which used to belong to Captain Lovechild, and which made Samuel's heart throb so, when he was a child—"put a new soul" into him, to use his own language. The old gentleman, some time since, left this world, I trust for a better and a happier one. Just before he died, he made a will, in which he remembered many of his friends, and Samuel, among the rest, to whom he gave the old telescope. Mr. Bissell has more than once been heard to say, that he would not part with that telescope for a good farm.
