St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1869-12-24
urS. BUlfOH'S = .Up0f.

Mrs. Burton was not exactly poor
neither was she as rich as Crnsus. bu
She continued to preserve the happv me
: dunn lot nothing too much" bv dint q
, frugal ways and industrious habits. Con
Sequently, mlnce-pies were not an ever,
day affair i'll the house it took an occa
sion aS great as Christmas or ThankSriy
, ln@ to call them into existence. But a
times were a trifc harder with her thai
usual, Us one of her sources of incom
HAD fallen short, 1t was put to the family
vote: ''.>hHH we have mnce-pies fol
Christmas :! OF course there was no dis
Senent voice, but Il unanimous '.Yea. >
Nan declared for them, Ellie clapped fol
them, Tim exploded into '.IIunkvdori -
30 the mincc-pies became fixed fact.
Hen began such counting of cost. such
a scamperlng upon errand>, such q
weighing out OF cinnamon, allspice, nut
meg, and cloves" such consultation
with Miss Leslie and Miss Beecher -
lhen f-Iic sat up after bedtime to stone
the raisins, and | have faith to believe
] that lin did not neglect the oppor-
tunlty. Then the household fell to chop
ping Mrs. Burton chopped the suct.
Betty chopped the meat, Ellie chopped
the apples, Tim came near having his
fingers chopped. Nan shaved the citron.
INerybody was interested and excited ;
and Inn went 50 tar as to exchange a
promise 10 pay i'll turnUverS for Jews
harp with one of his crOnicS. Altogether
there hadn't been such sensation since
the Fourth ot July, when the cat Tapped
up the cream, and Tim broke the cggS.
and the grCcn-groccr had sold all the lem
ons that were to have been turned into
icc-crcan tor the family deectation
But Mrs. Burton designed Il portion of
her mIncc-picS "a the widows mite to-
ward other Christmas dinners beside her
own. There was Mrs. Murphy, the
washcr-woman, with Il family on her
haud5---a family that ate crustS and leav-
ing. and thought they had Jared gener-
Ou>ly-;t family where the rent was al
ways overdue, the fire always low. and
the flour tiuctuatIng; where butter was
an accldrmt Ut the day. and where >u.ar
WAS >eldolu at home: a family pcrpetu
ally out at the toe and down at the heel.
She meant that this distressed portion ot
humanity >huuId share i'm h.r t'hri.tr.,-
daintic-. ;rS we'll as OLD AIi,, Brooks. who
was bcdrid In and lived on an annuity OF
so Il year, nobody knew and few i'll
CURED now then there w,- tn IN. .
turnover for little jack. who uiI.I IN 1,..
wintcr>'> wood and made the paths: and
another for the cI.imucv-,wccp. 50. ven
see. Mrs. burton, p,c, had small cl1nrr
OF coir- a-bc.ninr. 1hnu,b there w,re M
nav like Tim, at L.,u,.
But rnhnIv could ip.,Iv r.ti,nata ,h,.
pleasure winch the ronc1c,ion of mi.
r,n,u.unI oavc ,n rho b,r..h,LJ ..,,,-
ratrIv and coliccti,elv one mioht aImo,,
th, cost and ,rnubI,. invo,,r5 Tim ,.,I.
cul,.,..i to :, mathem.tic:,l certainty Tho.
nuIaarr ui bic, that could be nuJ,. from
a ut>eu uuautitv at mincr-uc;lt. how ma
mE >iN,i'- ri the -.sinc wvuld be likely I.
tail 10 his share while Nan confessed
that she always tc!t a. il the t3hing ut
n.iucc-p,c> gavc AN nlor of rc>pcct4bllitv
to the premises, AirS, burton listened
10 their non>cn>c, and 2rntly limited that
Ii her income continued to decrease there
might come a time when pics would Lc
III the voratlve. In the meanwhile Tim
received a icrulin- for uuruIy conduct at
school. ElIe tore her Gown on a nail, and
Nam tell I" the loot "t h-r class alto-
gctiirr. "ne might say that the prospect
ot minneapolis wis drmoraiiliug.
Il think, SAID Mrs. Burton to her
self, II. drop line to Cousin Jane. and
ask her to come down 10 Christmas; H.
years since we ate 4 mouthtul together.
And here ale the pes.
Aud 80 Christmas drew near, with
clear Lretzy skies and a cracking OF ial-
len snow. he town was divided on the
"Iincr question Farmers ratified INTO
market with loads ol poultry and apples
r92H were worth their weight IN gold
provision stores were ic>tUoned with
chickens, with punches OF celery, and
WIeaths OF onions Little bcggar-glriS,
wrapped III rag itIsted their eyes on the
spectacle, and ShlNcrcd with lonGng.-
livery body was carrying home turkey;
pantneS were oHeriiown? with Savory
morSeis. Even cid Mt brewer Whose
wlic co"idn move Il iInSer Tor rheuma-
ism, had baked "a cranberry tart all by
himself, land had roasted very lean chick
eli before going oil TO his days work for
tomorrow was a holiday, IN which he
could wheel Mrs Brewer out upon the
street ior Il breath OF fresh air, the best
Christmas she could have, poor soul.
Mrs. burton brought out her mincc-