 is Brave dead? and what is the cause of Aggy's grief?«
    »Why, it's all down, Squire,« said Benjamin, pointing to a slate that lay on
the table, by the side of a mug of toddy, a short pipe, in which the tobacco was
yet burning, and a prayer-book.
    Among the other pursuits of Richard, he had a passion to keep a register of
all passing events; and his diary, which was written in the manner of a journal,
or log-book, embraced not only such circumstances as affected himself, but
observations on the weather, and all the occurrences of the family, and
frequently of the village. Since his appointment to the office of Sheriff, and
his consequent absences from home, he had employed Benjamin to make memoranda,
on a slate, of whatever might be thought worth remembering, which, on his
return, were regularly transferred to the journal, with proper notations of the
time, manner, and other little particulars. There was, to be sure, one material
objection to the clerkship of Benjamin, which the ingenuity of no one but
Richard could have overcome. The steward read nothing but his Prayer-book, and
that only in particular parts, and by the aid of a good deal of spelling, and
some misnomers; but he could not form a single letter with a pen. This would
have been an insuperable bar to journalizing, with most men; but Richard
invented a kind of hieroglyphical character, which was intended to note all the
ordinary occurrences of a day, such as how the wind blew, whether the sun shone,
or whether it rained, the hours, etc.; and for the extraordinary, after giving
certain elementary lectures on the subject, the Sheriff was obliged to trust to
the ingenuity of the Major-domo. The reader will at once perceive, that it was
to this chronicle that Benjamin pointed, instead of directly answering the
Sheriff's interrogatory.
    When Mr. Jones had drunk a glass of toddy, he brought forth, from its secret
place, his proper journal, and, seating himself by the table, he prepared to
transfer the contents of the slate to the paper, at the same time that he
appeased his curiosity. Benjamin laid one hand on the back of the Sheriff's
chair, in a familiar manner, while he kept the other at liberty, to make use of
a fore-finger, that was bent like some of his own characters, as an index to
point out his meaning.
    The first thing referred
