St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-10-20
From llrartn ami II"m..
IHf HOOSifr !ScHOOi- .UUStcy'.
El EDWARD EGGI.ESTON.
CIINPrEl: ~.

Nl-flll NJ DOW llll. MAS llI
II low" said Mrs Means, IA she
stuffed the tobacco into her cob pipe
after supper ON that rrcntlul cdncsday
rvenin%, Il low they'll appint the Squir,
to GIN cut the word Tonight. They
mos always DO, You Sc, ka>c hc'> the
pcartc.t OLE man in thi, dcestrick and
low some OF the youn% irllcrs would
have To cit up and dust ct they would
keep up To linn. And hn uses sccl rc.
markal L. smart words. lie speaks 81
polite, too. But laws. don't Icmem-
her when hc was poarcr nor jobs tur-
key Twenty year are. when hc come
To these ere diy"ing-, that air Squire
Hawkins was II poor Yankee school
muster, that said pail In>tid of bucket,
and that called Il COW Il 'caow, and that
couldn't tell t. save his gizHard what we
meant 10y 'to"' AMI ,.yh smart. But hes
lIrul cur ways NOW, an hes est aS CIV
iilrd a. thr r,>t of u. You wuuld-n
know he'd ever been Il Yankee. lie
didn't stay poar lor@. Not hr. lie
j1st married Il rich girl lie . hc.''
and the cid woman grinntd at Ralph,
and then at Mirandy, and then at the
rest, until Ralph shuddcrrd Nothing
WAS - lri@hlluI to him a> 10 he tawned
On and Yrinnod at hy this old OGRE,
whose few lonesome. blacki>h teeth
81; meet ready To dc>our linn. "Ile
didn't stay pear, you bet Il hos" and
with this the coal wa~ deposited on the
pipe, ami the lips began to crack like
parchment as each pull "t smoke cscap-
cd. "llc married rich, you Scr,' and
here another significant look at the young
master, and another fond loul, ut Miriam
dy, rs She pulled away r,flrctlvcly. Ills
wife hadn't 40 book larun. Shed been
through the sprlliu-book wuIlst, and had
got 4 tu" - 'aspcrity' on ii Il second
/ time. But >hc couldn't read Il word
when she WAS married, and never could.
She wasn't overly smart Size hadn't
/ hardly cot the sense the law allows.
But schools was sklsr in them days, anl
bcsidc., boo k-larnin don't do no "ood
To wuman. Makes her stuck up.
never knowcd but one gal in my lie as
had ciphcrcd into fractions, and she was
80 dog-on stuck up that she turned ~
her nose one night at a apple-pcclin' be-
kasc | tuck Il sheet ttl the bed To splice
ont the table-clolh, which was ruthel
short. And the sheet WAS mos clean,
too. IIad-n been >lrp OH murc-n wunsi
or twicct But | was goin fer 10 say
that when Squire Hawkins married Nir,
"imny Gray he got a heap o money, ol
what's thc same thing mostly, Il heap o
GOOD and. And that's bcttcr-n book
larnin, says |. IF 4 Girl had cone clcal
through all cddlcatIon, and GOT to tn,
rule of three itself, that wouldn't buy q
icather-bcd. Squire Hawkins jest pu
cddication agin the gals farm, and trad
ed even, an cf AIRY one OF EN- got swim
died, never hcercd no complaints"
And here she looked at Ralph in tri
umph, her hard face splintcring into the
hidcrus ~cmblancc of Il smiI2. And Mi
randy cast Il bIushing, gushing, allim
pluring, and all ooniding look on Tho
young master.
Il say, ole woman," broke in ol,
Jack, Il say, wot is all this ere spUunn
about the Squire for ~ and old Jack
having bit oti' an ounce OF ''pietail" re
turned the plug TO his pocket.
As for Ralph, hc wanted TO die. III,
had a eulty feeling that this speech o
the old laly'S had someway committed
him beyord recall to Mirandy. lie di,
not see visions of fbr,acli-of-promiSe suits
But he trcmblcd at the thought CT al
avcnging biz brother.
"lIamucr, you kin come along, too, C
you've Il mind, when YOU git The dishc
washed" said Mrs. Means 10 the boun,
girl, rs she shut and latched the bacl
door. The Means family had built
: new house in front of the old one, as
sort OF advertisement Cf bcltcrrd circum
stance-, an eruption of shoddy feeling
but when the new building was complet
ed, they found themselves unable 10 oc
cupy it for anything else than Il lumber
room, and 81, except parlor whic!
i Mirandy Lad made an effort 10 iurn>l
a little Gn hope of the bi:sslul lime whel
somebody should "-,t up" with her o
evenings, the new building WAS almos
. nnoccnpicd, and the family went in am
out through the back door, which, in
deed, was the front door also, for, nc
cordlng to a curious custom, the ''tront'
OF the house was placed toward the soutI
though the ''big read" OIoosier for high
ardy) ran along the northwest side, or
rather, past the northwest corner of it.
When the old woman had spoken thu
To Hannah and had latchcd the door
She muttercd, THAT gal don't ncve
, show no gratitude fer favors;" to whic
Bud rejoined that hc didn't think sh
had no great sight TO be perliculer thank
full fer. To which Mrs. Means made IL