St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-10-13

TO convey TO the dismayed soul of the
you"g teacher the frightful intelligence
that he was loved by the richest, the
uglicst, the silliest, the coarscst, and the
most entirely contemplate girl in Fiat
Creek district
Ralph sat by the fire the next morn
ing trying to read few minutes before
schaol-time, while the boys were doing
the chores, and the bound girl was milk
ing the cows, with no one in the room
but the old woman. She was generally
as silent as Bud, but now she seemed for
some unaccountablc reason disposed to
talk. She had sat down on the broad
hearth TO have her usual morning smoke ;
the poplar table, adorned by no cloth,
sat in the floor; the unwa he'd blue tea
cups sat in the unwashed blue saucers :;
the unwashed blue plates kept company
with the begrimed blue pitcher. The
dirty skillcts by the fire were kept in
cOuntenance by the dirtier pots, and the
asllc. were dritted and strewn over the
hearih-st"neS in most picturesque
way.
"You see," said The old woman,
knocking the residunm from her cob pipe,
and chatting some dry leaves between her
wlthcrti hands preparatory 10 filling it
again, ''you see Mr.. Ilartsook, my old
mans purity well along in the world.
Hes got right smart lot of this worlds
plunder, one way and another" And
while she stuffed the tobacco in her pipe
Ralph wondered why she should mention
it to him "You see we moved in here
nigh upon twenty-five year ago. Twas
when my Jack, him as died aiore Bud
WAS born, was Il baby. Bud'l he twen
ty-onc the fifth of next June"
Here Mrs. Means stopped TO rake IL
live coal ont Of the fire with her skinny
finger, and then to carry it in her skinny
palm TO the bowl-or to the h2Le-of her
cob pipe. When she got the smoke a"o-
lag she proceeded:
''lou SEE this ere bottom land was
all Congress land in them there days,
and it sold for dollar and quarter,
and | says to my ole man, Jack says
|, Jack, do You cit 4 plenty while you're
Il gittin Git Il plenty while you're
glttin,' says ], fer 'twOn't never be no
chcapcr'n lis now, and it haint been,
| knowcd 'twouldn't," and Mrs. Means
took the pipe from her mouth to Indulge
in good chuclle at the tl,ou.ht of her
financial slrewlneSS. "'G,t plenty
whilt you're IA gittin, say l. | could
see, iou know, they WIS il powerful
sight Of money i'll Congress land That's
what made me say, Cat IA plenty while
you're IA sittin.' And Jack, he, wuIh
los and gobs of money, all made out OF
| Congress ltnd. Jack didn't pet rich by
hard work. Bless you, no! Not him.
That amt his way. Hard work ant,
you know. Twas that air six hundred
dollars hc got along Of me, all salted
down into Flat Crick bottoms at dol
lar and a quarter a acre, and twas my
sayin Git IL plenty while you're eittin'
is done it" Aud here the old ogre
lauahcd, or grinncd horribly, at Ralph,
showing her few Struggling, discolorcd
teeth
Then she got up and knocked the ash
c5 ont of her pipe, and laid the pipe
away and walked round in front of
Ralph. After adjusting the ''chunks'
50 that the fire would burn, she turned
her yellow face toward Ralph, and scan
nng him closely came out with the eli
max Of her speech in the remark You
see as how, Mr.. lIartsook, the man what
gifts my Mrandy II do well Flat Crick
lands worth nigh upon hundred
acre"
This Gentle hint came near knocking
Ralph down Had Flat Creek land
been worth Il hundred dollars an acre,
and had he owned five hundred times
Means five hundred acres, lie would Civ
eli it all Just ut that moment to have an
initiated the whole tribe of Means. Ex-
cept Bud. lie thought he would except
Bud from the general destruction. As
for the rest, he mentally pictured 10 him.
self the pleasure of attending their funer-
ais. There was one thought, however,
between him and despair. He felt con-
iident that the cordality, the intensity,
and the persi,tcncy Of his dislike of Sis
Means were such that he should never
inherit IL foot of the Flat Creek bottoms.
But what about Bud What if he
joined the conspiracy to marry him to
this wcak-eyed, weak headed wood
nymph, or back-woods nymph!
If Ralph felt it Il misfortune to be low
cd by Mrandy Means, he found himself
almost equally unfortunate in having in
CURED the hatred of the mcancst boy in
school. Hank Banta, low browed, |
smirky, and crafty, was the first sufferer
by Ralph's determination to Use corpor
al punishment, and 50 Henry Banta
who was Il compound oi deceit and re-
sentiment, never lost an opportunity to
annoy the young school master, who was
obliged to live perpetually on his guard
against llenry's tricks.
One morning, as Ralph walked to-
ward the schooi-house, he met little
Shocky. What the boys first name or
last name was the teacher did not know
lie had given his name as Shockey, and
all the teacher knew was that he was
commonly called Shocky, that he was
an orphan, that he lived with family |
named Pearson over in Rocky Hollow,
and that he was the most faithful and |
atfectiOnate child in the school On |
this morning that speak of, Ralph had
walked toward the school early 10 avoid
the company Of Mirandy. But not car
ing TO sustain his dignity longer than
was necessary, he loitered along the road,
admiring the trunks of the NAPLES, and
picking up Il beech nut now and then.
Just rs he was about to 90 on toward |