occasion, however, did matters proceed so far that the veteran had been
induced to take his post in this warlike attic; where, there is little
doubt, had occasion further offered for his services, he would have made a
suitable display of his knowledge in the science of gunnery. But the
simple history of the Wish-Ton-Wish had furnished another evidence of a
political truth, which cannot be too often presented to the attention of
our countrymen; we mean that the best preservative of peace is preparation
for war. In the case before us, the hostile attitude assumed by old Mark
and his dependants had effected all that was desirable, without proceeding
to the extremity of shedding blood. Such peaceful triumphs were far more
in accordance with the present principles of the Puritan, than it would
have been with the reckless temper which had governed his youth. In the
quaint and fanatical humor of the times, he had held a family thanksgiving
around the instrument of their security, and from that moment the room
itself became a favorite resorting-place for the old soldier. Thither he
often mounted, even in the hours of deep night, to indulge in those secret
spiritual exercises which formed the chiefest solace, and seemingly,
indeed, the great employment of his life. In consequence of this habit,
the attic of the block-house came in time to be considered sacred to the
uses of the master of the valley. The care and thought of Content had
gradually supplied it with many conveniences that might contribute to the
personal comfort of his father, while the spirit was engaged in these
mental Conflicts. At length, the old man was known to use the mattress,
that among other things it now contained, and to pass the time between the
setting Of the sun in its solitude. The aperture originally cut for the
exhibition of the grasshopper had been glazed; and no article of comfort,
which was once caused to mount the difficult ladder that led to the
chamber, was ever seen to descend.

There was something in the austere sanctity of old Mark Heathcote, that