Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1871-08-04
The Leisure Hour.



Inevcr think of the geography of Bos-
ton without being reminded of village to
which | was once directed by planter
whom met by the roadside in the back
woods of Georgia. "Go stret on he said,
"till We come to a shingled house, black
smith shop, and tobacco-barn, standin'
right round puddle of water-thet's the
village" Boston, to he sure, is something
more than a shingled house, blacksmith
shop, and tobacco-barn; it is, in fact,
town several times larger than the Georgia
village; but for all that il stands Fright
round" a puddle beg pardon, a pool-of
water. This pool is known in history as
the Frog Pond, and it probably derived its
name from a family of frogs who once had
there a summer residence; but why it re-
tains that appelation is difficult to conject-
ure, since all the Boston croakers now
spend their summers at Newport or Ma
hant, and their winters in much drier, if
not more wholesome quarters.
But pool of wit has already been shed
on this pool of wat er, and ii is not my in
tention to swell small pond into an ocean.
Adler pens than mine have tried to do that
So shall content myself with emptying
my inkstand upon a little old woman, who,
in rain or shine, week in and week out, for
many long year, keptan applc-stand near
the margin of that famous puddle of wa
ter.
She was little, and she was old, and do
think about as ugly as any woman who
has lived since the birth of Eve-that first
of apple women but she loved and served
her country, and so, in spite of her ugli-
ness, | feel bound TO give her "half dozen
pages of general history"
At first she served it by vending green
apples and striped sticks Of stomach-ache
to the hungry lawyers and ragged urchins
who congregate about Court square; and
at this time was sole mistress of a peripa-
tetic shop-a huge willow basket going a.
bout on two legs and open at the top, ex-
cept in rainy weather, when it was rooted
in by big cotton umbrella.
She was a meagre anatomy, with sharp
nose, "A sunken chin, and hatchet face,
covered all over by a shriveled skin of the
precise complexion of a peeled potato. In
winter she wore faded hood, blanket
shawl, and Il woolen gown-short enough
to show pair of corrugated stockings, far
whittier than the snow in the streets of Bos-
ton. In summer she was clad in a dimity
cap, a calico frock, and cotton bandanna,
pinned closely over her bosom but sum
mer and winter, she was always elongated
by pair of brogans, with thick heels and
~. I'll
| to be impervious to all the moisture that
human feet are heir to. But they were not
imperViOus to the rheumatism. That, one
day, got into the legs of the old woman's
| apple basket and forced her to shut up her
| peripatetic shop, and to open one Of a less
| rowing character.
Then she pitched her tent upon the Com
| three-legged stool, the big umbrella, and a
| rough pine table, heaped high with russets,
| pippns and gilly-flowers, which she was
ready to dispense TO all customers, at the
| rate of one cent for one, and half dime
for half dozcn-so several piacards, float
| ing like flags of truce from Is many gold.
en- pippins, told all and singular who fire.
| quented the Common.
Business here throve with the old wo-
man for, in pleasant weather, the Com
mon is great resort for young people who
bill and COO under the spreading elms, OF
on the rOn-clad benches and billing and
cooling is Il decided sharpener of the appe'
tte, as is proved by the lamentable case o
the young maiden who died of love ant
green apples.
There is no telling the quantity of stom-
ach-ache and cholera morbus that the ole
woman daily dispensed to hungry lovers
but it must have been large, since it was
often noticed that however high her tabl,
was heaped in the morning II was alwayi
low down at night, when, with her baske
ON her arm, she ambled homeward.
one evening a gentleman passing tha
way just at dark found the table almost un
touched, and the old woman in a great dea
of trouble. II had rained all day, and few
lovers had come upon the Common; 81
with apples and clothes weeping in sympa
thy with her sorrow, she sat there with n
one to help her home with her basket.
1t is said that evil loves the dark but
is quite as true that many good thing
avoid the daylight. Others eyes are the
open, and the fear of what "men say OF
ten sends us sncaking by on the other sid,
like the priest and the Leyite in the para
, be. But now II was dark, so the gentle
man shouldercd the apple basket and wer
. home with the old apple-woman. She lin
b ed in a small room, ON the top floor of a
old rickcty house at the North End, and 9
he went up the stairs, the gentleman WI
in mortal fear of their tumbling down, AN
| spilling both him and the apples. AT las
however, he reached the room, and setlln
down the basket, sat himself down to re
his tired legs and shoulders. 1t was MAJ
row, mean apartment, and so low thi
when he stood upright his head almost h
the ceiling. Two young children, bo