Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-05-22

: oIten enough. ms was bad. We over
f looked it, remembering that Mrs. B.'s
e health was delicate, really so, and hard
? manual labor was what she was not used
to- But this was not all. Everybody has
relations, and the BaskiDs had theirs
, Among them was broad faced young man
who came and settled himself, and had the
measles. Then we all had the measles.
This was bad, but we put up with it as
well as we could, because MIR. Baskins
was cheerful and obhgng, plOughed all
day and did the milking at night and upon
the whole things went on quite smoothly
for while. 1t Is true, the milk decreased
very much, but it was q bad time O. year
for COWS, and milk will diminish at times,
any how.
Had the case been very much worse, we
would not have despaired. Ny aunt was
woman of extraordinary intellect and Of
unconquerable energy. Having read all
Of the Richmond papers attentively, she
was prepared for the new order OF things,
and knew exactly how to adapt herself
and the farm to them. She brought with
her wagon load Of stoves, to begin with.
/ | grleye to say that the stoves, with the
exception Of the cooking stove, proved
/ failures, and we often sighed for the big
wood fires Of the good old time. Indeed,
| had one. | was Obliged to have an open
wood fire to read politics by Tney-at
least the southern side Of them-can be
read Alright BY no other light whatsoever.
+ But my aunt had other strings to her
I bow besides stoves The farm was to be
a grass farm. That was settled, albeit the
4 best farmers in the county still cluDg to
wheat. To grass she would add straw
/ berries, dwarf pears, and she even
contemplated grapes. Had not the northern
/ people raspeG US for years because Of our
failure to diversity our Industry ?" and
did not the Richmond papers TEEN with
accounts of fortunes made in a wear OF
two out OF peas, berries and peanuts ?
Was not the whole State rushing into
grapes There was money in sumac
leaves-tbat was certain. Negroes were
selling broom sedgc roots for a good
price. There was a mine of wealth. we
doubted not, in artchokes, if we would
only utilize them. Good heavens the i
fond expectations that were raised In the
minds OF the people Of Virginia after the
war-th- trust IL roots. the confidence in
t4srries, the repose in pcrslmmon seed for
example the blind faith IN what they had
never tried and what they knew nothing
about, raised by the newspapers mainly
Is something to make a man tear his hair |
As If the experience of two hundred years
was worth nothing As If the course ofI
Nature was to be wholly changed because |
a million or two Of negroes had been |
liberated For my part Wisdom incar-
rf.lf 10 I H..
| saw a tortlue-no, | swear l did not
think II was fortune but a competency, |
ln village newspaper My soul , what .
fool
The experiment was fairly, manfuny |
and womauiGlly tried All went 10 work /
with viii, except me | read. The
grass was s0wn, the Strawberries set out.
the dwarf pears set out, the orchard "a
good one, apparently carefully trimmed,
the garden a>slduously cultivated, corn
planted and with the expanding year
our hopes sprang back on The corn and
b.0s-omed faster than the Strawberries.
The boys, my aunts sons educated gentle
men, turned out with BAskins into the
burning sunshine and worked bravely.
WHAT the house servants could not or
would not do, my aunt did Heroic old
lady. Strong with the strength OF 4 better
age, when ofeminated ladies had not been
invented, and when nerves and dyspepsia
we're yet TO be deve oped by selt-lndul-
geuce, treated with drugs instead Of the {
cowhIde, she was up long before the dawn, ;
az worH everywhere and doing everything
for every worthless female negro on the j
premises Ia this she was nobly Sec t
onded by Miss Smith, who inherited the {
intrepid spirit. but not the superb |
constitution Of her mother. All the house
was stirring before the crack Of day. All {
but me. lay in bed, brooding over the
past the ID Yankees, the inferna ness
Of free negroes and the prospectus of my {
country newspaper. But | did admire from
the very bottom Of my heart the energy S
and industry displayed BY my betters, aud 5
| am bound in conscience to say that il my I
cousins, the boys, worked we'll, their 3
mother and sister outworked them immeas- :
ura5Iy. Ia fact there was no compar- '
lson. And this, believe, holds true Of all Y
the women in Virginia, the thOrouehbreds, L
[ mean. They so far outwork the men c
that there is simply no use in talking
about it. For myself, it is but Just to add v
that 10 that dolelul interval between the I
morning fire making aud the bisstul first 5
nap, can and do admire these women I
with a slow, steady, solid disinterestedness a
which might easily be mistaken for sort q
Of Dutch energy. | am not lazy-at least l
not so easy. f
Well, what came of all this labor and S
energy, accompanied, too, by a reasonable t
degree Of thrift l cannot give you a de- |
.alled account. for the reason that [ did not a
remain to see. The blessed newspaper was f
set going at last. and kept me fully {
But | did stay long enough to b
see the cherries ripen. And what Of that j
\ great deal, as you shall at once perceive. /
The country road describes a rude I
as 1t passes Boscobel Farm, and I
ilong that road, for the distance Of a mile, a
be huts of the freedmen are scattered at in
ervals of twenty or thirty yards Many u
# these huts are within sings throw of Fl
3oscobel house-not one Of them is more Il
han half mile off in direct line. The Il
lumber of negro children Of all ages in |;
hese huts may be roughly estimated at one 0
hundred and fifty. There were other chill 0
ren The railroad crosses the country G
DAD at right angles, and along the latter
he houses of the white section hands are C
hickly strewn. Say there were thirty z
7hte children, in all one hundred and \
nd there, on Boscobel Farm, were the a
berry trees-a great many Of them. They 81
ore profuseIy, and they bore every year il
hey never failed. Dried cherries COM b
nand a ready sale in every market. Will II