Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1841-11-08
For the Waterman and Journal.
10 GREEN, OR AUNT BETTY'S BANK.
mo

10. Green knew more than he proclaimed. He
WINS faciturn in his habits, but sound in his judg
ment. With him brevity was the soul of wit,
hut circumlocuon evidence OF a muddy mind
! His communications were yea, yea-nay, nay
He could never patiently lend his to the lips
Of takers" or his time in watching the progress
of a wordy warfare between his boys. What they
called logical reasoning he denominated wranglingl
and qIiarreling, and on occasion the last word OF
discussion has been lost in the stamp of the old
mans foot upon the kitchen floor, which the boys
always understood to spell-sitpnce All such wor-
dy windy, grandiloquent out-pourings OF empty
heads as generally did, and always hould,produce
an empty Kitchen he charged to the account OF
Buncombe and barney. His mind 'eaped over
processes to grusp at results. He always preferred
the performance to the promise, the nut 10 the
shell, the substance 10 the shadow. Such were
some OF the quaint but practical notions of Jo
Green. lie knew we'll as any could tell him.
that all the collections OF his sister Elizabeth were
of his own money and of right appertained to
and belonged to him; that all Der vapoLrng about
educating future generations of Foreigners o. fell
citizens, OF white or black, red or Mixed OF
wise or ignorant, rich or poor was all but 'leaher
or prunella." 1t was but CROCHET in the other
wise empty head Of his sister. He knew that it
were better, that she expend the entire of her mo-
ney aud time to advance present good, than to de-
fer the opportunity for an occasion, which might
never happen. In short, that her kindly and be-
her funds exhausted in educating specimens OF
humanity nearly allied to herself and his own
family, and whose opportunity for Improvement
were US far in the OF those, for whose use
her fund was designed, as the number OF years
which would intervene between them. Besides
he rightly judged, that the surest way to secure
the educating of future generations IS to educate
the present. Still, as it was not the habit OF 10
Green 10 communicate to every one the result oil
his own deliberations, he permitted his sister to
go on in her own way in the management OF her
fund.- being all the while determined to lay his
hand upon it, at any time, when he saw that
things were going nmiss or should he find 1t ioi
his interest to apply the fund to another purpose
In the mean time 10 Green purposed to build
him an house. His log cabin had been his shelter
in the days of his penury and in the time OF his
prosperity. His family had become numerous
and his circumstances easy. He owed no man
any thing, and aunt Bettys bank, whatever i
might be- his. He had purchased paid for
aud cleared up his farm. lie recalled to mind tn,
privations he had sustained in his early days, hi
conflicts to sustain the title to his land, and in i'm
aginaton "fought his battles DER again" III
contrasted his past history with that OF his neigh
bors, also his and their present condition of hi
and their homes and family establishments, ant
the rank and style sustained by his children ant
the children Of Others his equals. Aud now h
noticed for the first time with some feelings o.
notification that the dwellings OF his neighbour
had improved in elegance and style ill his hum
BILE cabin was cast far into the shade. lie wa
independent the best of them and he deter
mined TO he satisfied with no ordinary structur,
for dwelling; in short, he would vault at once
from log cabin 10 a stone palace. This amben
swelling pride of 10 Green surprised his family
aunt Betty became alarmed for this fund. [Th!
fund The boys had by this time agreed to cal
'duh Betty's bank. y Still none demonstrated
with him. All knew that his resolution, once la
ken, was as fixed as the ''laws OF the Modes unt
PersIans." And now every thing about the FAM
y aud farm gave note OF preparation tor building
A young architect presented the old man will
the picture of an house, which took his attention
amazingly. lis form, porch, pillars, proportions
dome, with the front yard, fences, all, all are jus
the very thing il filled the old mans beau idea
exactly, and such an house he would have, tho
il reduced him to bankruptcy. Near by the oil
farm house cabin was an unsightly ledge q
rocks occupying in stern defiance the precis
:, spot where of all others the old man would hav
placed his stone palace. He would for seaso
have wished a power sufficient at once to hav
sundered the frowning hill by u horizontal line
and hence scattered the superalnbent mass far be
: yond the utmost range of the longest wind
ed comet, that so place, the very place, @
all others, might be prepared at once 10 recev
the palace, which already existed in drawing an
were not more rapid in their creations, than thos
of 10 Green at this time. But though he coul
, "cal spirits from the Vastly Deep he could nc
enforce their attendance: still 10 always practice
, by the maxim, that where there was vii
there was n way" and he used frequently TO re
1 peat, though some doubted whether he under
stood the meaning of the quotation, g. 4d inv
: MAN riaa, aut (dcidm." PLINY.
. r. be continued