Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-05-27
Che family Circle.
Bubbles.

1t is so long since it happened, my dears,
that whenever | think about it, the young
est of my acquaintance fade quite out of
sight; dear middle-aged faces grow rosy
and youthful; Mary, my grave little wife,
suddenly goes dancing down the garden
path with n skipping rope; our WORKOUT
old Dobbin becomes a frisky colt; the
tumbled-dOwn affair yOnder, behind the
pile of brush, straightens itself into Il trim,
wood-shed; and-well the
long and short Of it is this: the memory of
that day always carries me back to the
time when | was 4 little bit of "A boy.
You see, | sat on the porch blowing
soap-bubbles. | remember it Just as well
as if it were yesterday. The roses were
out and the wheelbarrow had broken
LEG; the water in the well was low, and
if you tried to climb up on the curb to look
down into it you'd have some one scrccch-
ing to you to 8 come away from there"
But You could do what YOU pleased on the
porch. 1t was so warm and sunny that
mother let me leave off my shoes as a mat
ter of course. 1t seems to me that | can
remember Just how the hot boards felt to
the soles of my tiny, bare feet. Certainly
| can recall how Ponto looked exactly Che
has been dead these dozen years, poor fell
lowD The lather must have been pre-
cisely right. for | know it worked beauti
fully. Such bubbles as | blew that morn
ing! What colors they displayed! How
lightly they sailed up into the clear air.
Sometimes little one with Il bead at the
end-a failure-would fall upon Ponto's
nose and burst so quickly that | couldn't
tell whether its bursting made him blink
or his blinking made it burst. Sometimes
a bic one would float off in the sunlight
and slowly settle upon the soft grass, where
it would rock for an instant, then snap
silently out of sight. leaving only Il glisten-
ing drop behind. And sometimes But
here | must begin afresh.
The little Girl who lived next door very
soon came and leaned her bright head out
of the window. \ bubble had Just started
at the end of my pipe, | did MT look up ;
but | knew she was watching me, and SO
| blew and blew Just as gently and steadily
as | could and the bubble grew bigger,
bigger, bigger, until ut last it almost
touched my nose Looking down upon it
[ first saw the blue sky, then perfect little
apple tree branches. with every speck of
leaf complete, then | saw the house, then
the window, with the sash lifted, and then
| saw the little girl!
This made me shout with JOY. l looked
up but the little girl was gone Probably
she had bobbed her head back into the
ROOM 1t was Just like little girls, to dc
so, you know Then | blew others, and
knew she was watching ME again; and
all of a sudden, mother called me.
lis that all? Did MT theslittle girl fall
out of the window, or nothing?'
Heart alive. What ever put such n
thought into your heads?
Fall out of the window. indeed.
| can't remember much more about that
summer 1t seems to me that there were
peaches, and that Ponto learned to draw a
wagon; but I'm not sure whether that
happened Just then OF year or two after
ward.
The next thing comes up is school
room. l must have been big boy by that
time, for | remember having my pockets
full of marbles, also 1 remember having 4
black eye on account of a fellow named
Townley. (Townley is in the cigar bust
ness now Besides, l was in fractions
and. though l did MT care much for study
| didn't want her to think was stupid
Who? Didn't l tell you? Why, a little
girl who went to the same school-a little
girl in a pink calico dress and white sun
bonnet She had a way of dropping her
books on her way home from school, re-
member, and we fellows used to grab fol
them so as to have the fun of handing them
to her Well, the way | used to try to get
up head in the classes when she was there
was astonishing. The other fellows tried
to show off in the same way, too; but
knew by the way that she did mt ever no
tice ME unless | spoke to her that she
thought my bubble the biggest. You see
it was only blowing bubbles again, after
all.
Well, time flew along, and at last wal
came. | was a fine. stout fellow then
mother said l could go-bless her brave
heart and | went. All, children! such
sights as | saw. Such scenes us we passed
through. But we won't talk of them now
It's enough to say, that though | felt pa
triotic and all that, | wanted to distinguish
myself well, | do MT mind telling YOU in
confdence-so that Somebody with brown
laughing eyes and a gentle voice, would be
almost as proud as mother to see me com
ing back with honors.
Blowing bubbles again, you'll observe.
| Once more time flew along. Why not
And again l found myself trying thi.
time to make money. The day, as [ look
back, is so close that the old faces put or
their own look again, and the young ac
quaintances come to light once more, ant
Mary, my wife, no longer skipping dowr
the garden path. sits at her little work
table sewing Well, as l remarked. thi:
time l am trying to make money. Their,
is great excitement in Wall street. Mer
are being made rich or poor in an hour
l have good. steady clerkship, but {
chance for blowing great big, big bubble
comes to me. l can see a happy face al
ready looking up at me from its golden
surface.
She shall be rich now
l blow and blow. and the bubble bursts
! All gone-gone in flash-the savings 0
wears. Ruined! ruined!
hurry home-though it is but the mid
die of the day. No one there. sit dow
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