Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1866-06-15

ped wink to the girls. The girls wanted
TO laugh, but were afraid to. And then il
came out that the aunts had sold their old
hoops, tied as tight as they could tie them.
in great mass of rags They had made
fortune by the sale--I am sorry to say il
was in other rags, but the rags they got
were new instead of old-it was a real Alad-
din bargain. The new rags had blue backs
and were numbered, some as high as fifty
dollars. The rag man had been in hurry.
and had not known what made the things SO
heavy. | frowncd at the swindlc but they
said all was fair with pedlar-and | own
] was glad the things were well out of Rich
mond. But when | said thought it was a
mean trick, Lizzie and Sarah looked de-
mure, and asked whatin the world would
have them do with the old things. Did |
expect them TO walk down to the bridge
themselves with great parcels to throw into
the river, as | had done by Julia's =? OF.
course it ended, as such things always do by
my taking the work on my own shoulders.
l told them to tie up all they had in as small
parcel as they could, and bring them to
me.
Accordingly the next day, found hand
some brown paper parcel, not so very LARGE
considering, and strangely square, consider
ing, which the minXes had put together and
left on my office table They had had a
great frolic over it. They had not spared
red tape nor red wax Very official it look
ed, indeed, and on the left hand corner, in
Susie's boldest and most contorted hand.
was written, "secret service" We had
great laugh over their success. And, in
deed. | should have taken it with me the
next time | went down to the Trcdegar, but
that / happened to dine one evening with
young Norton of our gallant little navy, and
a very curious thing he told u.s.
We were talking about the disappoint-
ment of the combined land attack. did
not tell what upset poor Schails horse in
deed | do not think those navy men knew
the details of the disappointment. O'Bren
had told me in confidence, what have writ
ten down probably for the first time now.
But we were speaking, in general way, of
the disappointment. Norton finished his ci-
gar rather thoughtfuly and then said: "Wel
fellows, it is not worth while to pat it in the
newspapers, but what do you suppose upset
our grand naval attack, the day the Yankee
gunboats skittled down the river so hand
somcly p
why" said Allen, who is Norton's best
beloved friend, "they say that you ran away
from them as fast as they did from you."
"Do they ?" said Norton grmly. "Ifyou
say that, I'll break your head for you. Seri
ously, men, continued he, that was a most
extraordinary thing. You know | was on
the ram. But why she stopped when she
stopped | knew as little as this winegass
does and Calender himself knew no more
than l. We had not been hit We were all
right as trvet for all we knew, when, skree!
she began blowing Off steam, and we stop
ped dead, and began to drift down under
those batteries. Calendar had to telegraph
to the little Mosquito, or whatever Walter
called his boat, and the spunky little thing
ran down and got us out ofthe scrape. Wal
ter did it right well if he had had a Moni-
tor under him he could not have done bet
ter OF course we all rushed to the engine
room. What in thunder were they at there?
All they knew was they could get no water
into her boiler.
"Now, fellows, this is the end of theAtory.
As soon as the boilers cooled off they worked
ali right on those supply pumps. May L De
hanged if they had not sucked in, somehow,
a long string of yarn, and cloth, and, if you
will believe me- the wire of some woman S
crinoline. And that French folly of a sham
Empress cut short that day the victory of
| the Confederate navy, and old Davis himself
can't tell when we shall have such a chance
againl'
Some of the men thought Norton lied.
But | never was with him when he did not
tell the truth. | did not mention, however,
what had thrown into the water the last
time | had gone over to Manchester. And
l changed my mind about Sarahs "secret
service parcel 1t remained on my table.
That was the last dinner our old club had
at the Spotswood, | believe. The spring
came on. and the plot thickened. We did
our work in the Office as well as we could
! can speak for mine, and if other people
| but no matter for thatl The Sd of April
came and the fire, and the right wing OF
Grants army. | remember was glad then
that | had moved the office down TO the
! house. for we We're out of the way there
! Everybody had run away from the Depart
ment; and so, when the powers that be took
possession, my little sub-bureau was Llnmo-
Tested for some days. Improved those days
as well as | could-burning carefully what
was to be burned, and hiding carefully what
was to be hidden. One thing that happened
then belongs to this story. As l was at
work on the private bureau--it was really 6
bureau, as it happened, one | had made Aunt
Eunce give up when | broke my leg
came, to my horror, on neat parcel of coas
survey maps of Georgia, Alabama and Flor
ida. Now | was perfectly sure that on thai
fatal Sunday of the flight | had sent Latarg'
for these, that the President might use them
if necessary, in his escape. When founC
them, | hopped out and called for Julia, anc
: asked her if she did not remember his com
ing for them. "Certainly," she said, lit wa
the first | knew of the danger. Lafarg'
came, asked for the key of the office, tolC
me all was up, walked in, and in momen
was gone"
And here, on the file of April 3D., was La
large's line to meA
II got the secret-service parcel myself, ant
have put it in the Presidents own hands.
marked it Gulf coast as you bade me-"
. What could LafarSo have Siyon to tn
President? Not the soundngs of Hattera
bar. Not the working drawings of the frs
monitor. | had all these under my hand
Could il be-"Julia, what did we do wit
that stuff of Sarah's that she marked Secrc
Serrice?"
As live, we had sent the girls old hoop
. TO the President in his flight.
And when the next day we read hoy
/ Pritchard had arrested him, we thought
, he had only had the right parcel, he woul
+ have found the way to Florida.
That is really the end of this memoir
But | should not have written it, but fo
! something that happened just now, on tn
A piazza. You must know, some of us wreck
e are up here at the Berkeley baths, My III
Gle has place near here, Here came Il
( day, John Sisson, whom | have not see
@ since Memmnger ran and took the CLERK
, with him. Here we had before, both III
Richards brothers, the great paper men, yo
+ know, who started the Edgerly Works
t Prince Georges County, just after the wa
v began After dinner, Ssson and they mt
( on the piazza. Queerly enough, they ha
o never seen each other before, though the
If had used reams of Richards's paper in co
- resnondence with each other and the Trea