The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-12-24
(wru ruu cnnoxotrrn, by II. BILLINGS. ]

to tell her story2 Why, she would say
there was no story to tell.
say "dear little Janet T. For all
that, she is a woman grown now /; aud
the last time | saw her there was great
bouncing Douald ia her lap. For a that,
and for a that, she will always be "little
Janet" to the.
There never was q child who showed
so fully what the woman was to prove.
The first time [ ever saw her was one
day when her father had fallen in with
me on cross-road ia tho Pi,cataquis
vaIc5 : That is far away, forty miles a.
bove Bangor in M>ine He was on his
hay.cart l was sitting on log. We
nodded to each other and he, seeing
my kpapsack and stick, asked if [ would
not mount with him, which L did; aud
50, before long, we came up to his cheer
tul, rambling, great shingle-palace OF
house, where had already promised to
pass The night with him. We brought
up ia front of the barn, from which we
had already heard shouts of'Coop! Coop
Who should appear at little three-cor-
nered window in the gable but lit:le Jam
ct, faxen curs flying wild about her
head. "Hurrah !" said Miss Janet "
"llurrah," said her father Jump, bir-
pie !" aud, before poor cockney | well
understood the order. the child flew out
of the window, down iuto his arms aud
they both rolled over aud over in the hay
have seen many jump into hay.
nay, have made my share but | new
er saw such flight as that. And even
then it was not the distance which seem.
ed most surprising 1t was tho absolute
promptness. so perfectly fearless
oilers not to make reply,
Hers not to question why"
He said Jump !" and she jumped not
because she calculated the height, or had
done it before. but because he told her
to, aud she loved and trusted him. Tha,
was little Janet all over.
Now, steaLi less like It a. I'd readine
like that breed steadiness aud readiness
| Sc IN, queer to me that | had never
seen Janet before, | have seen her SC
much aud SO often siuce had not seen
her long, before | found that | trusted
her as implicitly as she did me: indeed
there vas not man who worked on the
farm who had hot absolute confidence in
the child, or was not sure Of her prompt.
ness, punctuality, aud affection Nor wa.
it meu aud women alone who felt so. The
horses and the COWS -uay, the pigs aud
the he Sail knew her cheerful voic.
aud her ready atten1ance and her steady
maud. Joham said she could collar and
harness that cross brute, Mad March"
that she would climb into the manger and
: nut the wretch's collar on, and put the
bit in mis- mouth, because sic was such 8
lady. know she could do it; and o.
course Mad March let her do it, for h,
could have eaten her, had he been car
nivorous. and hardly know he had tasted
food. But it was MT because she was ,
lady, but because her easy confidence. a
: [ say, created the same confidence in all
= Do you remember Miss Yonge's pret
t ty story OF Miss Keble ? The little wren
trusted her so entirely :hae they came t.
pick the red berries which were printed
l ~ her muslin dress and. when the'
ound they coull not get any Of them of
y hey aeS down aud crept up under tn
,kirt, thinking they should get ut the Der
ries on the other side have seen tn
!, little birds do that with anct,-not sue
wrens as those, because there are none i
G Maine. hut some little witches not S
much bigger than an English wren, who's
= naune do not know. Wren or no wrer
:. they knew Janet, even il she did nc
u know their name. nor they hers
y , The p city picture Mr.. Billings ha
made of her just represents both side
II mean she trusted the birds. and tn
l' birds trusted her. In tho picture 20
!, zee Just how it was. This little whistl,
s. mas fascinated her,aud she has fascnate
MIN. He knows she will not hurt hin.
!, and it almost seems as it she were lister
ing to him, and learning from him. as
B. he "Arabian Nights" aud in the Germa
fairy.tales,the girls Of the real blue bloc
:" I. understand the language of caterpila
II cricket grasshopper, toad. frog. wease
" pussy-cat. tom-iit. ostrich, cameleopar,
IL md all other veriebrat& OF invertebrate
Dear little Janet, she is as good fail
IS the best Of them.
After the haymow blight, when she WI
as big girl as Mr.. Billings has mac
\. her, We had many tramp together u
On brook, through moose-wood and ov
monntiin. l have seen her pass fro
rock to rock, on one of the ridges
IN Ktaaln, with 10 thought Of taking
staff, with no kind OF uneasincss. thou.
II. she were just on the sheer edge Of tn
precipice which you remember perha
on the southern face Of Ktaadn. ha
seen it fifty miles away. Yes; and
have seen the child's father fell pi
>. tree hundred and fifty years old, tn
we might walk dry-shod across the streu
md the moment it fell little Janet W
the first to swing herself upon the truu
to run acro-s as lightly as one OF her o'
little birds would, and in ten seconds W
heckoning and waving her hand fro
the rocks on the other shore. We cou
not hear a word she said for the rush
the rapids in the gorge below. Her
'her. who worshipped her,-as well
may,-used to tell story ofan expe
:. ence Of theirs in sort of outlying 81
=, lion h had, half shanty and hall lumh
5 camp, just on the edge of the woods NJ
Trevor had gone up with him ana Jal
H. aud the children; and they we're to ha
a sort Of picnic-fIolic for three or fC
days. But one of the little boys not We
so their mother had taken them all hon
one one leaving Janet to cook for her father, "
had something in hand. Poor fello
red In the middle Of the second morning,
'"'a he pried up heavy sill from its resii
7 place. the ground gave way under h
his bar slipped and he and the log n
lon' ID down together in the hole
/. had made, - poor Trevor undernea