Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-10-28
Che family Circle.
4 Half.D0Zen Young Rascais.
BY NATHANIEL CHILDS.

1t wasn't such a long time ago: and none
of the hali-doZen young mi>chicfmakcr-
have quite icurncyed into the land of sober
ness or gained their title to respect and
reverence by gray boards or bald heads,
Every boy OF girl who may read this true
story, will know something about the scene
of it. Why, it use! to stare 1T me from
my geography; used to come mp to plague
me out of my history; the teachers used
to talk about it almost every day, ana we
scholars used TO sing about il from our
small green-covered singing books.
The picture which used to stare 1t me
always seemed like Il mean sort of family
portrait; for | could 20 to the scene itself
and my Young eyes We're prac;iceI enough
to see how bad the picture WAS. And yet
it looked enough like the Bunker Hill Mon
ument to make me feel u little proud when
| thought, Il live right side of il; and
there are lots of fellows and girls who'vc
never seen it at all" The geography used
to read, Charle>town is situated on Il pen
in,ula. Immediately north of Boston. and
is the seat Of the Navy Yard and the celc
DRAFTED Bunker Hill Monument, or some
thing like that. 4, we'll IL can remember
it for have not seen that old geography
loi over zen Years. ne Hl>lolN loli Us
about the battle which had been fought
near by, and we boys used to 20 and lie
down on the grass behind the brcl-t-work,
and shoot imaginary red coats by the mil
lion with our bows and arrows. and then
hunt for the lost arrows. Often We WUNld
iii down on the stone which bore the in
>cription. Here fell Wtrrrn.' A., IN |
compacently eat apples. unmindiul Of tn =.
>lcrcdnr>~ of the spot.
My story is about Bunker Hill Monu-
mcnI and Il hat-dpznn boys who Went to
school near hv the tall granite lntt-bov~
who play ball in the streets viii, h run along
sid~ the green grounds upon which TIN
shaft stands or played - three holes wi Ii
marbles OF trundirI hoops about TIN brown
paths. Somehow. II recess one dty, il
came out th.t one of lhe boys had a fam
liz ticket which allowed hmm To climb up
Il often Il he wished to the four windows.
which seemed to open whole world To-
our youthful minds. ~ W.. gtz..d ont to
81 OF towards hills and over cities. H.,
w.,~ easily king among IL then: for all ;!l,.
rest must pay To- 20 up. and even hall-
price for children, WIS :, heavy draw
upon our pachrt-monry. Couldn't wra j
u. cousins OF his AMI - up on li~ ticket
He wa> good ntturrI in h~ king->hip. ii. .
took three or four Of IL mp on,. day. AND
then increased thr number on ~Iccord.ML
day.. untl il became 4 r,Lu.ar Proceeding,
for some ten of II boys To- trot up Il the
TOP ut The nlon;mnrul each pleasant H. -.
>iyAt seeing 4rcW mouolnupu~. Hl!. We
mast ~ SOMETHING II hold on. interest IN
gong up. On" day druPpc imy hH o1,
t:I i sailed AWAY - grta,luMN tA1t p.Acr
h:tJ-, almost OF turir own ACCORD, to.lpWcd
mine and to'ni = q.lrt lost in tn. grass
below. until W. could run down Tie.
-tonc stairs anI regain our Ar.ti -crIr. Al
ter hat. in :; few days. went tickets. an {
to sec them spreading out to the hrr-l-
was lovely, We thought. Possibly som" on.
OF u would hNc Jumped ca. at lt-t. ii ::
:, substitute had not suggested it>cE @ our
brilliantly mi~ch.cNou- minds.
We were one whole week. Il. WORK. and
doubtless the on"-arned custodian | rcc"l-
lcct | used to wonder if ne h:tI .o~t his
arm III the Revolutionary war: llr ccrta.u-
~ looked old enough 10 m To- h.tlc bccn Il
part Of those stirring timc>) missed ON.
regular tramp through HI littl, office m /
up The stairs. Then it WAS ready. Ii Wu~
wonderfully constructed ctliyy. Tom
had furnished trousers; Joe had supple {
an old coat; BiIl had brough; Il hat: jack
r,tvr the straw to stuff ont the Great are.
and had promised Il par of >I,ltr,-tocd
boots and the back yard in which the nln
was To by constructed W.. W., r. pledged
by some fearful pledge such Is boy, lannu-
tacturc on special OCCASIONS not To- reveal
any OF our proceedings. and | WAS held
InsWcrablc for two >m III sisters VINO peer
ed Wondcringly ont from the Kitchen win
doWS IL we laborrd. The m IN WAS made.
and oh, he was = fearful SIGHT to behold
couldn't 20 to sleep from thinking of him
down there in the yard and almost hclicv-
ed H. wolld come to life and would run
and tell the monument nun what we
We're going to do.
Next day was bright and pleasant b.
fore school we whispered it about thlt there
would be fun n recess, AMI few lessons
We're we'll learned that day. Ours WAS Il
boys and rirl>' school and the girls were
given the upper hall, which looked ont
on the monument grounds. for :, plav-room
at recess. When the bell stuck which
released Us for II half-hour, the girls I'LL ran
to the hall windows, and the boys I'LL hlr-
ried to the monument grounds. The chief
conspiratorS were soon dragging the et1igv
up the green slope, and in less time than
it takes to tell it. the body Wa, over the
wire fence which bounded the monument :
base. We did not want to 90 through the
office this time, bit with u Iu>h, were
twenty steps up before the onc-armel man
could halloo to us to come back. We
couldn't think of coming back Just then
and with shouts and laughter. fastened to
carry the et1iTy to the top of the monu-
men Each moment we thought we heard
the old man calling to Us and painting up
behind us. There WAS no time to lose, and
in Il it1v after we reached the top. on, went
Il man, az it seemed, from the little square
window. Bows shouted and girls >hutidrr-
cd The BOYS knew what was sailing
through the air; but the girls really thought
one of Us had fallen out. How grandly
our man went down. What mawniti
cent crash he made us he struck the gravel
of Il walk below and spread ont his finely
shaped limbs in the most lifrlikc or lfclcSS
manner Then we rushed down again and
cave him decent burial in Il nciWhborinw
field Recess being over. we went into
school to receive five black marks each for
di>crderlv conluct, our claim that we were
only Experimenting on the law of gravity.
though upsettin~ the masters gravity. not
doing much toward alternating our punish
ment. One Girl had f,nlei away during
the scene. She thought it was Joe. She
said and she liked Joe ever SO much.
She married Joe a year OF two ago, and
| happencd to meet HIM last week, which
reminded me of this freak of Il hllf-doZen
vonnr rasc:,l~.-.G. Ni"hO!aS for -NorcDlder.
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