Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1848-05-25
THE OLD ARM CHAIR.
BY ALFRED CRoWQUILL

My worthy companions" said an old
STRAIGHTFORWARD armchair, which stood close
at my elbow, and confess, rather startled
me by the suddeness of its address," NV
good friends, the respectable weapon that
spoke last, own has amused me, as dare
say he has you all, by his deeds of battle.
love, and retribution, but still he has been
doomed, like many other noisy fellow, to
become the tool of others, and to carry
death wherever he is used.
"Now my fate has been far different, and
| consider more to be envied, for it has been
to carry nothing but llfe-and such life i
the beautiful, the young, the beloved. But
Of that more anon. | will begin from
the beginning, that you may know what style
of thing addresses you.
Know, then, that am descendent of
noble oak that once spread its gigantic arms
and reared its kingly head over an immense
space of earth, and far over all other less
aristocratic trees in its neighborhood. We
bore in our arms the acorn, to show that
we were truly part, parcel, and branches of
the great stem or progenitor, whose first
taking possession of the land which he there
occupied, was beyond the memory of man,
consequently our responsibility was I'M
doubted
AS centuries rolled on, our parent stem,
although he supplied us literally with leaves,
began to show symptoms Of decay. Our
strong attachment to him made us tremble
for ourselves as well as for him for, if he
were TO fall, heaven only knew what would
become of the numerous branches of that
noble family then all perfectly dependent
on him for support. The vigor daily left
his gigantic trunk, and his means sometimes
were very unpleasant to listen to he tot
: tered very much when there was anything of
a storm, for his feet were very much swollen
and distorted. From his high connections
we called it govt, but govt or no govt, it
materially aided in his rapid decay; and
one stormy night q shall never forget it,
the wind howled around us, the lightning
flashed, the thunder rolled, and, in fact, all
the elements seemed combined for the de-
struction of the family. In the midst of
the deafening hubbub crash-oh, horrible
found us all struggling in one gigantic
ruin. Fallen fallen fallen The fall of
} the great brings the self-same tribe of the
ungrateful, be the fallen men or trees. The
next morning, at daylight, swarms of de-
spoilers, men that we had sheltered from the
storm, women and children that we had
sheltered from the MONDAY sun, all came
bent upon our destruction. Need | say,
that all the branches of our noble family
were very much cut up We were torn
from each other; and we never met again
| have heard that some of the biggist of us
were sent to sea, whilst others were forced
into all manner of situations degrading and
: incompatible with their birth.
, But it is of my own fortune am bound
to speak. was of very respectable size
having been living on my parent for some
years, who was very much attached to me
e and had always thought me too green to be
sent away in the world. / considered my
self ornamental, and therefore was in nc
" hurry to be useful, so stuck to the old gen
y tleman, with the other equally lazy branch
o es and j have heard it said that our con
b tinual drag upon him brought him and our
o selves to premature ruin. But this i lool
upon as merely the consciousness of al
ill-judging world, and treat it with the con
tempt 1t deserves.
| was dragged away through the dust ant
the mire to an obscure shed, where som,
low-born ruflians set upon me and stripped
me of my clothing. There lay, make,
IS and helpless, bordering upon what woul,
e be my future fate, since it appeared to begil
n so scurvily.
| was left there for some length of time
' when one morning quiet old man cam
e and measured me with rule, and markin!
, me off into quantities, soon set to work L
" divide and shave me in the most bruta
manner.
" After tortures innumerabe found my
self in my present shape, and all my cothe
is in their newest gloss. confess to you tina
r | felt proud. rested my arms upon m
W knees, and stretching out my four legs, look
ed down with considerable compacenc
j. upon the rich velvet apron that covered IN
s. lap.