There was a small covered cup of tin; a
wooden box; a sort of plate, or platter, made also of wood; and a
common tumbler, of a very inferior, greenish glass. In the year
1812, there was not a pane, nor a vessel, of clear, transparent
glass, made in all America! Now, some of the most beautiful
manufactures of that sort, known to civilization, are abundantly
produced among us, in common with a thousand other articles that are
used in domestic economy. The tumbler of Ben Buzz, however, was his
countryman in more senses than one. It was not only American, but it
came from the part of Pennsylvania of which he was himself a native.
Blurred, and of a greenish hue, the glass was the best that
Pittsburg could then fabricate, and Ben had bought it only the year
before, on the very spot where it had been made.
An oak, of more size than usual, had stood a little remote from its
fellows, or more within the open ground of the glade than the rest
of the "orchard." Lightning had struck this tree that very summer,
twisting off its trunk at a height of about four feet from the
ground. Several fragments of the body and branches lay near, and on
these the spectators now took their seats, watching attentively the
movements of the bee-hunter.
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