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- <PT8>RUBICON PUBLISHER<QL8PT>
- SAMPLE NO. 3<QZ>
- <AB><PT24>R<PT18>IP <PT24>V<PT18><K8>AN <PT24>W<PT18>INKLE<XB><PT10><QC>
- <END>
- <PT8><AI>[block paragraphs]<XI><PT10><QC>
- <IP><QZ>
-
- In that same village, there lived many years since, a simple
- good-natured fellow, of the name of Rip Van Winkle. He was a simple
- good-hearted man; he was, moreover, a kind neighbor, and an obedient
- henpecked husband. Certain it is, that he was a great favorite among
- all the good-wives of the village. The children of the village, too,
- would shout with joy whenever he approached. The great error in Rip's
- composition was an aversion to all kinds of profitable labor. In a word
- Rip was ready to attend to anybody's business but his own; but as to
- doing family duty, and to keeping his farm in order, he found it
- impossible.
-
- Rip's sole domestic adherent was his dog Wolf, who was as much henpecked
- as his master; for Dame Van Winkle regarded them as companions in
- idleness, and even looked upon Wolf with an evil eye, as the cause of
- his master's going so often astray.
-
- <PT8><AI>[indented paragraphs]<XI><PT10><QC>
- <IB3EM><QZ>
-
- Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony
- rolled on. For a long while he used to console himself, when driven
- from home, by frequenting a kind of perpetual club of the idle
- personages of the village which held its sessions on a bench before a
- small inn. From even this stronghold the unlucky Rip was at length
- routed by his termagant wife. His only alternative was to take gun in
- hand and stroll away into the woods.
-
- In a long ramble of the kind on a fine autumnal day, Rip had
- unconsciously scrambled to one of the highest parts of the Kaatskill
- Mountains. From an opening between the trees he could overlook all the
- lower country for many a mile of rich woodland. For some time Rip lay
- musing on this scene; evening was gradually advancing; and he heaved a
- heavy sigh when he thought of encountering the terrors of Dame Van
- Winkle.
-
- As he was about to descend, he heard a voice from a distance, hallooing,
- ``Rip Van Winkle! Rip Van Winkle!'' He looked anxiously in the same
- direction, and perceived a strange figure slowly toiling up the rocks,
- and bending under the weight of something he carried on his back. On
- nearer approach he was still more surprised at the singularity of the
- stranger's appearance. He was a short square-built old fellow, with
- thick bushy hair, and a grizzled beard. He bore on his shoulder a stout
- keg, that seemed full of liquor, and made signs of Rip to approach and
- assist him with the load. Rip complied with his usual alacrity; and
- mutually relieving one another, they clambered up a narrow gully,
- apparently the dry bed of a mountain torrent. Passing through a ravine,
- they came to a hollow, like a small amphitheatre.
-
- <PT8><AI>[hanging paragraphs]<XI><PT10><QC>
- <IB><IH3EM><QZ>
-
- On entering the amphitheatre, new objects of wonder presented
- themselves. On a level spot in the centre was a company of odd-looking
- personages playing at nine-pins. As Rip and his companion approached
- them, they suddenly desisted from their play, and stared at him with
- such fixed statue-like gaze, and such strange, uncouth, lack-lustre
- countenances, that his heart turned within him, and his knees smote
- together. His companion now emptied the contents of the keg into large
- flagons, and made signs to him to wait upon the company.
-
- By degrees Rip's awe and apprehension subsided. He even ventured, when
- no eye was fixed upon him, to taste the beverage. One taste provoked
- another, and he reiterated his visits to the flagon so often that at
- length his senses were overpowered, his eyes swam in his head, his head
- gradually declined, and he fell into a deep sleep.
-
- <PT8><AI>[standard paragraphs]<XI><PT10><QC>
- <IH><IP3EM><QZ>
-
- On waking, he found himself on the green knoll whence he had first seen
- the old man of the glen. He looked round for his gun, but in place of
- the clean well-oiled fowling-piece, he found an old firelock lying by
- him, the barrel encrusted with rust, the lock falling off, and the stock
- worm-eaten. Wolf, too, had disappeared, but he might have strayed away
- after a squirrel or partridge.
-
- He determined to revisit the scene of the last evening's gambol, to
- demand his dog and gun. At length he reached to where the ravine had
- opened through the cliffs to the amphitheatre, but no traces of such
- opening remained. He shook his head, shouldered the rusty firelock, and
- with a heart full of trouble and anxiety, turned his steps homeward.
-
- As he approached the village he met a number of people, but none whom he
- knew, which somewhat surprised him. Their dress, too was of a different
- fashion from that to which he was accustomed. They all stared at him
- with equal marks of surprise, and whenever they cast their eyes upon
- him, invariably stroked their chins. The constant recurrence of this
- gesture induced Rip, involuntarily, to do the same, when, to his
- astonishment, he found his beard had grown a foot long!
-
- <M-><AI>Washington Irving<XI><QR>
-