Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1855-06-16
MISCELLANY.
OLD FATHER MORRIS.
by MRS II. BEEoHrH srvvs.

OF all the maryels that astonishcd my child
hood, there is none remember TO this day with
so much interest as the old man whose name
forms my caption. When | knew him he was
an aged clergyman, settled over an obscure vii
lage in New England. He had enjoyed the
advantages of liberal education. had a strong
original power of thought, an omnipotent i'm
aginalion, and much general information bat
so early and so deeply had the habits and asso-
Citations of the plow, the farm, and country life
wrought themselves into his mind, that his af-
ter requirements could only mingle with them,
forming an unexampled amalgam like unto
nothing but itself
He was an ingram New Englander, and
whatever might have been the source of his in
formation, il came out in Yankee form, with
the strong provincaty of Yankee dialect.
1t is in vain TO attempt to give full picture
of such genuine unique, but some slight and
imperfect dashes may help the Imagination to a
faint idea of what none can fully conceive but
those who have heard and seen old Father Nor
ris.
Suppose yourself one Of half dozen chill
dren, and yon hear the cry, Father Morris is
coming I" You run to the window or door, and
you see a tail, bulky old mau, with pair of
saddle-bags on one arm, hiiching his old horse
with fumbling carelessness, and then delbeI-
ately stumping towards the house. You notice
his tranquil, lorid, full-moon face, enlightened
by a pair Of round blue eyes that roll with
dreamy inattentiveness on all the objects around;
and as he takes of his hat, you see the white
curling wig that sets of his round head. He
Js .,
with all the children around he deliberately
puts his great hand on your head, and, with a
deep, rumbling voice, inquiries
"IIow dye do, my darleri is your daddy al
home l'' "My darter" usually makes OF as fast
as possible IN an unconquerable giggle. Faith.
er Morris goes into the house, and we watch
him at every turn, as, with the most liberia
simplicity, he makes himself at home, takes Of
his wig, wipes down his great face with {
checked handkerchief, helps himself hither anC
thilher to whatever he wants, and asks for sucl
things as he cannot lay his hands on, with al
the comfortable easiness of childhood
remember this day how we used to peeI
through the crack Of the door, OF hold it hal
ajar and peep in, to watch his motions an,
how nightly diverted we were with his deep
slow manner of speaking, his heavy, cumbrou
walk, but, above all, the wonderful faculty o
"hemmiag" which he possessed.
His deep, laundering, prolracted, "A-hem
EN-, was like nothing else that ever heard
and when once, as he was in the midst of on,
Of these performances, the parlor door sudden
ly happened TO swing open, heard one of M
roguish brothers calling in suppressed tone
"Charles Charles Father Morris has hepone
the door open !'--and then followed the sign
of long and desperate litter, in which sin
eerely sympathized
But the morrow is Sunday The old maj
rises in the pulpit. He is not now in his owl
humble little parish, preaching simply to th
hoers Of corn and the planters of potatoes, bu
there sits Governor D., and there is Judge r..
and Counsellor p, and Judge G.. In short h
is before refined and literary audience. Bu
Father Morris rises he thinks nothing of this
be cares nothing; he knows nothing, as h
himself would say, but 'Jesus Christ, and hir