Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-11-06
About Aimanucs GENERALLY.

There are very few men who do not
remember, or cannot recall, the i'm
portance the almanac enjoyed in his
boyhood's home. | remember it used
to hang on string to the kitchen wall
and the member Of the family who
took it down for reference was re-
quired to hang it mp again when through
with it,
1t was generally medical almanac,
wilma yellow coyer-and a very bright
looking cover it was that winter but
the next winter the corners were rolled
up, or gone and there were convent
enees for telling pretty accurately how
many flies had enjoyed It's retirement.
over the leaf was a picture of
man clothed in a fantastic garb OF the
South Sea Islander. with trap door
in his abdomen, and cockroaches, and
scales, and other appliances of the
grocery business about him.
r hen there was calendar. where
the weather was handled, and where
drunken looken moons and improbable
suns, and highly impossible tides were
made to 90 through performances
that were intensely edffying to the
family
Interspored with grammatically-con-
strued letters from Hngrammatlcal peo-
pie located in the unheard-of towns in
the distant west, who had been raised
frou the grave Yy pills, or drawn
from eternity by plasters, and having
been restored to perfect health, and
having no further need of either, send
on and order ton of both. Also en-
dorsements from well-known physicians
in unknown localities, the whole set off
with recipes for making buildings that
no one should eat, and cake that no
| one would dare to- And when recipe
for either was hedged in by the details
| of a fever sore on one side, and the
| graphic particulars of homorrage on
the other, the symmetry of the whole
| was undeniable.
When l was boy I lived one winter
| with an uncle and aunt, and they did
not keep their almanac hung up. Aunt
| never cared to look at an almanac any
way, so my uncle took care of il. He
| kept it in a drawer where he did his
| shaving apparatus, and odd hinges, aud
! nails, ands screws, and weasel skins for
| cramps, and coverless novel, and two
| equally decrepit song books. That
/ drawer was a museum. 1t was the fam
/ ily drawer, and the receptacle of every
thing handy. l don't really believe
| either my uncle or aunt or the kitchen
stove had ever been in that drawer; but
| about everything else had. There was a
hank of black thread in among the con-
/ tents, or, to be more exact, the contents
/ were in among that thread, and when
/ ever anything was taken out. that thread
had to be consulted.
Sometimes the drawer would come all
/ the way out, and very unexpectedly,
and nearly bury my uncle in the con;
tents He was not profane man, and
4 SO he did not swear. He merely ob-
served that it was sealed book 10 him
! why a woman never had any system,
and then left me to pick up the things,
and continue the argument,
I He had three or four years almanacs
/ in the drawer, and when he went to con-
suit about the weather, he was just as
likely to pore over three-year-old al
rnanac as. the current number. Not that
1 it made any particular difference, only
there was always something specially
instructive to me to. see him looking
I over the wrong almanac, and deducing
4 facts that appeared to be of great com
i fort to him. -; 49,
q But then, you have had just such ex
periences yourself, and there is no neet
s. of dwelling upon them. --9he .Dd't6ttT.l
1 Noes Mans AI8aanGc.. - -, - =.