Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Sketch Book, Vol. 1: Rip Van Winkle; Rural Life in England; Christmas; The Stage Coach; Christmas Eve; Christmas Day; The Christmas Dinner; Traits of Indian Character
The great error in Rip's composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labour. It could not be from the want of assiduity or perseverance; for he would sit on a wet rock, With a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar's lance, 15 and fish all day without a murmur, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble. He would carry a fowling-piece on his shoulder for hours together, trudging through woods and swamm, and up hill and down dale, to shoot a so few squirrels or wild pigeons. He would never refuse to assist a neighbour even in the roughest toil, and was a foremost man at all country fro lics for husking Indian corn, or building stone fences: the women of the Village, too, used to 25 employ him to run their errands, and do such little odd jobs as their less obliging husbands would not do for them. In a word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody's business but his own; but as to doing family duty, and keeping his farm in 80 order, he found it impossible.
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