Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1874-01-28
Our BOyh00d Memories.
BY HENRY WARD BEEcHER.

/ Inc OLD LltCuueIl NVNSc Has btN4i ha''N
off, and revamped. Ifapalace were built when
it stood 1t would seem homely to these eyes {
mine 1t was not the material ho1se that
saw in after years. but house shining out Of
. household life that exhaled from it and forme
AN atmosphere around it, impereeptible to Othe
ewes. bur clear and full Of the tenderest beaut
, to mine That sUul-vapOr evolving thOuslu
airy shapes of sorrow, tenderness, reverence
love, fear. glaClness, will never gtiher about an
7 other structure. ss. ....s.
|, There are subtle losses to a sensitiyesoul Ma
cannot be made up, and that are out OF Ill pr
portion to the external and material value. Ssh
has pawned tue last ring for bread for her chill
dren.'' Only God knows how much that ma.
mean One by one they went--eherished thing
of yallie, each full Of ones inncrInost life, AN,
when all are gene, the soul, stripped of its sou
yenirs, is impoverished in its most graciou
memories. The burning OF tie Alex indrine Lii
brary was a piteous loss in its way; but NOR
: pangs have been felt thousand fold at the sal
OF RUG, brooch, cradle, letter, a book
thar any one ever felt for the ancient library,
There was something about the old house Il
Litchield so sensitively sacred that nevc
could tear to look back upon it in after years
when it had been re-arranged, divided, an,
fixed up generally left it in 1876, Il bouuc
ing boy to whom the whole world was an orb .
( joy and health, and never put foot across th'
threshold again. At twilight only, when the
outlines alone were revealed, and the changes
hidden, have looked AT it from Il distance.
A very boy S house. planned without plan
and full Of entries" closets, and unexpected
rooms. There vas the great kitchen. Wha
times we We had there! blind maus buff, a
night when the work was done up, What la
| bors on bitter cold mOrnings-eye, ything i'll the
| house trczen--to kinale fire OF green wood
What apple-peelings, pumpkin-olitinss, story
telling circles around the fire! What disln.
washiug-tlys! and what days Of smo"e ana
vexation when w-fiugled stoves came in fash
ion, instead OF the great, roaring old fre-pL,ces
! There Was the old settee, called "setde," its
seat filled with every conceivable tool .AtUy, VI
| gimcl1lck. The long clock that stood sGl.nInly
| licking, and would lnne seetled Ikea deacon il
Il loolish-ooking, halt-moon face that never
rose or set had hot been painted On itsftce. Out
Of the kitchen opened the candle-closet, and the
sink-roOm, which was hugr, dark wtll-roUni,
that never had ray of sunlight in ii, its only
window looking toward the north, as il search
! ing for cod The d Jors Of the Kitchen were
curiosities, and no two alike-that on the south
large and cosy, that on the north saggcd Un its
hinges and shut with harsh noise; the dining
room door shut with n cacklc, and was always
uulatghing itself; the door next to it, sell
dom used, seemed stately and arisiocraiic; the
cellar door was gloomy ami mysterious
| All, yes; down those dark cellar stairs we
have gone IA thousand times, to draw cider, to
pick over apples, to sort potatoes and turnipy,
TO boil potatoes and apples for the pigs, in Il
new-fangled kettle set! Also, down those stairs
we have gone hundred times, to play Tide
and-seek, to get latfuls of apples, to hide away
! from the folks up stairs who =" wanted |" us to
explore dark holes, with Charles behind to keep
up our courage, in the fear Of seeing great fiery
cats eyes in come bin, or behind some barrel in
some corner Of the very darkest dark! The
cellar was under the whole house, very roomy
and without windows except on thesOuth. These
we're quite large and above ground; and as the
cellar behind and the warm sun before kept them
glowing, spiders lived sumptueusly there all
summer eating flies, and all winter eating each
other, with now and then hard-shel bug us II
digestant Alas, here it was here that we fell!
Our tender mouth had often uttered bad words,
such AS gosh!'" | yum, -" COLL darn it, g /
swan and even "hy iink-fews," but had uey =
er sworn the regular and undOubred oaths, till
one day, as The sun shone warm chow we'll We
remember, and quiyer!) we put our foi-c6nger
near to a black spider, who instead Of retreat
ing, sprang forward aud bit it. My guardian
angel must have been in the other part of the
cellar, for | was left to say" -
well, it would have been "iarn il" only there
was an M in place of ther. In second would
have given worlds to recall the phr Sc ex-
pected an instant catastrophe Avague idea Of
the fate of Coran, Dathan and Abiram came over
me. rushed up stairs, and got speedily by the
side of my mother, who was a very pious woman.
and kept near her--all day, and was SO very
good as to excite in her hope that was being
awakened to religious things. never liked
black spiders before, and have never liked
them since.
Poets. scholars, and artists are often renre-
sented as living in Garrefs, and sad thing it
must be to live there But roomv parret. OK.
tending the whole breadth of the rnof is a man.
marvellous good place to NAV in, Herr tho
/ children are out Of sirht and in perfnct liberty
That must be an outrageous noise that cond
get down to the lowerfloor. Here are ali man
ner Of things TO NAV with-hoxes chests c,;n-
pied bureaus, broken fnrniture mans fire.6eng-
ers. cast-off curtains. oueer oId dresses and;
rms, screens. and hundrefs Of other tb;ngs for
vounr folks TO use in hn;lIinr tents and 5ross.
inc mn IN costume In tho o,rro, foo tho NJ, 70
are stored. hickorvnu,s buttornuts chos,nnts
hazelnuts BusheIs of nuincos oro b,,,,,j nn
throuch November woit;ng 10 ho n,door,,od T
Thronoh the Septic tho hons could 60, Tho
| forbidden nleasure of rotti1g Non H. roaf
croerino da-nr 10 ,ho ,,,,a,es s - A.
I'D gc-Ise,,dl and on az 81, s,;a 80 -
~ :. - -: m, Pe'