Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1860-07-27
From the Ladies Repository.
DEACON PALMER'S FAMILY.

Tue UOliOMsg anu tbC CNbOEC dhAObE AhC !
hills caught them up and tossed them
back and forth through the forest, and
they ran in long silvery eddies up the
turnpike and over the meadows, and
across the orchards, till they reached the
ears and stirred the hearts of the quiet
little village of Woodstock, whose farm
houses sat in the valley, at the foot of a
long chain of bills, like company Of
pilgrims gathered to worship at the shrine
of vast temple. 1t was just at sunset,
and somehow, those long, mournful minor
tones seemed the fitting close of the days
service-that autumn day which had
arisen on the mountains in garments of
sunshine, and marched through the hours
in beauty and rejoicing, living Glory
to God" the creator of its good and
perfect gift.
But it was day fraught with dread
and foreboding to thousands of homes
and hearts in the land, for the voice of
war was abroad 10 the earth, and moth
ers had strained their brave sons for the
last time to their bosoms, and seen them
90 forth to the battle, and husbands and
fathers had laid aside the plow and the
scythe, and shouldered their muskets, and
taken their lives in their bands for the
sake Of freedom, and in the name of the
God Of battles.
So deep shadows lay on the quiet coun-
try thresholds of almost every home in
New England that autumn day, and al
most every hearthstone was an altar
where anxious, loving hearts sent up a
cry to God for their beloved. Mrs.
Palmer, wife of deacon John Palmer, of
Woodstock, stood in the wide, old-fash-
ioned kitchen of the dingy, yellow farm
house, which she brought her husband on
her marriage morning. She was an am
pie, motherly, pleasant-faced looking
woman, whose whole physiognomy cor
responded with the room. Strings Of
red peppers, and rows of dried apples
were festooned along the ceiling, while a
swinging-board, fastened to the beam
which divided the hall overhead, was bur.
dened with herbs and berries, hams, dried
beans, seeds, and a motley variety of do.
mestic wares.
Mrs. Palmer's life had slipped over
its fftieth summer, and her black hail
was thickly sifted with gray, and ther,
were lines about her forehead, and tht
smile in her faded eyes had something
sorrowful about it, for Mrs. Palmer hac
walked with grief many times; and o
the ten fair boys and girls who had beer
gathered to her maternal heart, only tw'
remained to her old age. 1t was small
family under the roof of the old gra,
homestead on earth, but larger one il
that golden upper homestead whose bles
sed threshold is never darked by tn
shadow of death.
Mrs. Palmer paused as she caught tn
faint, sweet echoes of the stage-horn, an
she deposited half dozen freshly-boile
1oughnuts in the pan on the table. mul
muring to herself 'Now, for all tn
world, if that isn't the mail coming in
Who knows but what there may b
news from Reuben!' All if you ha
heard how her voice fingered over ii
name. you would have known she VIZ
his mother.
i wonder if that boy'll take any so
O care of HIMSELF continued the for
mother, dextrously convolving sever
strips of dough, and placing them in II
large iron kettle which hung over Il
FIRE, filled with boiling fat, which indi
nantly snapped and sputtered at the
intrusion.
If there was fray, he'd be sure
be foremost, for he always was pokil
his head into all sorts of danger, al
never seemed to feel quite so content
when there was chance o getting
neck off his shoulders
L never could exactly see where
got his harum-scarum turn, for his faith
was aPays a sober-minded man; but
was amazin' how he'd be sartin to COZ
out straight. never had an easy he
for the first ten years Of his life, for fl
he'd be brought home with broken lin
but arter he'd gone through with wi
would killed dozen ordinary childr
kind o gave up. concluded be be
charmed life.
Bless his heart! my brave, handso
boy never gave his mother cross W,
in the world and / saw the tears
shinin' under his lashes that morn
when he kissed me goodbye, afore
started for the army, though he tall
90 bold ard CHEEKY about bis coming b.