The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1868-01-14

#ci to go % church aud dared To praise
God from whom all blessings aow
had won all hearts towards Der Mann
q cordial farmers wife bad spoken b
her only 70 be repellgd by TIE frouu
aad curt reply II lef lord. tan they bad
learned te pity and love AZ d distance
abiding the tibe when human love and
sympathy would be crayod and welcom
cd, IS it always is, at some time, in tho
most crnsiy llfe, Two farm hands con
stituted the rest q Mr. Wileoxs fami-
ly They had been hired from a dis
tance, and knew nothing Of their en-
ploycrs antccedents, nor any Of the poo-
pie in the village, or surrounding coun-
try They were sturdy men, With some-
what Of Mr. Wilcoxs habits and man
nere, 70 curiosity fouBd SHORT commons,
when i endeayorad % crafty its inter-
est At the lIborers expense
This year the farm had put forth such
abundance showed every where such
rich promises, that every one who pass
ed, admired cuuoutly tins lovely and
successful place Even the previous
owner began to Wliuk that farmer Viii
cox must possess magical gifts, and
went So fay as TO ask him if Intelligence
aud labor alone, was the cause Of this
wonderful change The frown and ans
wer he received only served to fasten
the idea the more firmly within his ig-
nurant mind What Mr.. Wilcox did
with his produce no one knew. 1t was
supposed that he generally sold it, for
be never gave any away and no one
dared 70 ask him for even an apple.
But this year. his fruit trees were
source OF torment to the fruit loving
boys IN the village, lwho ever knew
boy that didn't like fruit, and wouldn't
go long distance to get a JUICY bite u
and they were secretly Matching plans
to lfaye enough for once, one remark
ed, rs soon as the fruit had rpened.-
They had concealed their designs from
their parents, who would have been
horror stricken at this departure from
Scriptlral rules, and each individual
boy would have received a sound fog
ging for his impiety, unless we except
several 'hard cases found always in
every town, ever ready to lead an attack
upon orchards, hen-coops, or anything
else.
Home influence, moral and religious
scruples, had lost effect this time, with
all the boys who desired intensly 10
manifest their disapproyal Of "old Will
coxs manners and seclusion. And SO
by the time the fruit trees were in
their prime, the plans were matured,
and one evening, under ono nrqtavt or
tnotnei, dOUuu i dozen boys had man-
aged to creep away from their honsoa,
and meet in the woods not far from Mr.
Wilcoxs house, nearly all provided
with bags. Several pieces of poisoned
meat had been thrown o,er the fence,
IS they fastened by TIE house, hoping
thus to silence the dog after he had
neen let loose, which they knew always
at niae o'clock, and woe to
.he person pcowling abont the premi-
3es after that hour As they waited and
listened, the village clock tolled nine
md almost Immediately, they heard the
leep yell of JOY by which the animal
always manifested his approval Of his
lghtly freedom He bayed at the
noon for few minutes, then all was
ilent The boys waited a good half
lour, then tremblmgly and quietly
.rept one by one, out Of their covert
md filed towards Mr. 'Wilcox's orchard.
they silently scaled the fence, and some
.limed the trees and threw the fruit to
he ground, whilst others filed the bags
Sow and then they would give the limb
quick shake stopping with palpitating
learts TO listen for the dogs alert infor-
nation of their proximity. But the dog
vas silent, and the farmer sleeping,
rusting confdentially his property to
he guardianship Of bis worthy repre-
Not word, nor even a whisper did
he boys utter Silently were the bags
illed, and silently did they return over
ho fence, and make th cir way back to
he woods. Then congratulations and +
md feasting abounded, and each boy
illed his stomach and pockets to reple-
on. All were satisfied aud nothing was
eft 10 tell the story to the morrow S sun
some went home to bed and
.leepless night, others to bed and a
gcek's illness, and others to the most
dreams Of Of Nilcox's and /
bis mastif' that could be imagined
Nearly every boy found the way Of the
very hard ia some one way
i suffering
Towards sunrise, Mr Wilcox sud
lenly awoke to the consciousness, Of his T
log having been unusually quiet during
he night. Springing out of bed, he
vent to the window, and whistled Re-
,eiying no answering bark he peered
orth, and through the dusky light
,ould make out body lying upon the
ground near the gate Hastily dressing
md decending into the yard, he was
lorritied on approaching the mysteri-
)us something, TO find his splendid
satch dog lying dead at his feet With
aud suspicion depicted on
as face and in his actions, he looked
around for solution II the animals
Heath aud found it il a few pieces Of
neat scattered about With q maledic-
ion upon the authors 81 the outhrage,
lc siarotd around to inspect the prem
ses All was right at the stables. house
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