Every dwelling of the infant town had commenced giving
up its tenants, from the moment when the head of the
detachment was seen traversing the drawbridge; so that,
by the time it reached the highway, and took its direction
to the left, the whole population of Detroit were already
assembled in groups, and giving expression to their
several conjectures, with a vivacity of language and
energy of gesticulation that would not have disgraced
the parent land itself. As the troops drew nearer, however,
they all sank at once into a silence, as much the result
of certain unacknowledged and undefined fears, as of the
respect the English had ever been accustomed to exact.
The men removed their short dingy clay pipes from their
mouths with one hand, and uncovered themselves with the
other, while the women made their hasty reverence with
the air of people who seek to propitiate by an act of
civility; even the very children scraped and bowed, as
if they feared the omission might be fatal to them, and,
clinging to the hands and dress of their parents, looked
up occasionally to their countenances to discover whether
the apprehensions of their own fluttering and timid hearts
were likely to be realised.
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