Connecticut western news., 1874-08-07
"PUMPKINETTA.v |"

8 very dark side. Our older readers
 will see the dark side, and look grave,
 The younger ones will see the funny
 side, and perhaps will smile.
 That was what we children always
 called her-Pumpkinetta (Punkinetta.
 we pronounced it, and sometimes Pun.
 k1net, for shorty. But her name was
 Henrietta; and from this fine, oueenlv
 christening came the Etta, no doubt.
 The "Punkin" part is not quite so easily accounted for. Some laid it to her peculiar complexion, which was not greatly unlike fresh, crisp pumpkin,
 when nrst cut open. Others credited 1t to her untidy old fathers habit of keeping his farnyard piled with huge heaps of pumpkins all through the fall. Naturally passers-by, seeing the pump klns and noticing the saffron-tinted daughter, would make jocose applica- ton of the coincidence by some charac- teristic nickname.
 What made Punkinet so ssyaller'' was quite an unsolved problem with us. Older persons said that the child looked just as her father did when he was 8 young man but her father, as we young people knew him, was very stout and red-faced-the reason thereof was pretty generally understood among his nelghbors. He owned a cider-mill- and patronized it thimself, too, quite too much. More than that, Farmer B. was an insatiate smoker and chewer of tobabco. 8, .41e a- "
 Little Punkinet's complexion was not the only queer thing about her, It was remembered by the old ladies of the nelghporhood that soon after her birth. her mother had taken 8 sudden and violent dislike to her: she would neither look at the infant nor have it near her. It seemed mere whim, but no reasoning or coaxing was of any avail. Finally, it was said, the coarse and cidery father declared he woald do as he did when his sheen would not own their lambs-6ri,a0 ia, the dog and he actually dld so, hold ing the brute by the collar and making him bark and growl till the frightened woman's mother-instinct seemed to re- turn. Whether the father, who could take such savage means to mend mat ters, was not, after all, more to blame than the mother for the sorry welcome given to the poor baby, must be judged = S>SN
 In cider-making time all the boys and girls of the neighborhood used to gather at the old mill some brineine apples, some to keep the old horse go- ing round and round to grind them, others to tend the hopper, and still others to press the pomace. But as is usual, the largest number came to see the fun, throw "apple-chank" and drink of the sweet cider. On one of these many occasions, when Punkinetta was eight or nine years old, our atten- tlon was suddenly called to the fact that the strange child had drank "more'n 9 quart O cider and wanted
 It appeared that she had been drink ing with one of the little boys, to see which could drink the most: and Punkinetta had not only out-swallswed him, but had shown such abnormal ca paclty as to quite scandalize the little fellow. So, with wide-open eyes. he had reported the wonder to us in the words above quoted.
 The rest thus appealed to began to gather round and inquire into it. Little Benny declared that she had drank the pewter tumbler fve times fuU;; and Punkinetta, with her gown front soaked and dripping, and her eyes very big and watery, did not deny it. Indeed, the little boQy was already An urchin standinS near gave her the tumbler filled again. Punkinet, with grin on her silly little face, drank it all without once taking breath. This feat raised a juvenile shout, and somebody handed her an- other tumblerful.
 Three times did the strange little creature drain the tumbler after Benny had called. our attention to her; and these three drinks, according to his story, made eight tumblerfuls
 Some were for giving her more, Pun klnetta being not at all unwilling, just to try how much she would drink, but others, older, interfered, and made her desist. ..,-.. r.....
 All this time she had stood stock still on one spot; and we now discovered that she could scarcely take 8 step. The child was actually intoxicated: The maudlin good-humor natural to such condition made her gushingly affectionate to everybody, and if any of the girls, or of the boSs, even, went near her, she would try to kiss them. Our whole crowd gathered about her, laughing and staring = Punkinetta smiling back at us with @ leer of su- preme, silly happiness, but never offer. ing to say a word. The whole affair was pitifu enough, but I only remem- Der what a quaint little spectacle the child was.
 After we had all sufficiently wondered over her and laughed at her, some of the girls led her home. -. .-..
 But the circumstance was talked about and then it came out that the child had always been possessed, :" to quote her nsther's expression, to drink cider. or anything Alam that had sseroi~{k's