St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-05-08
Weighed in the Balance.

Cyrus Ferriston and his mother were
all that remained of the family. They
lived together in IL snug farmhouse in
a district so rural that it hadn't so much
us ii name; it had only number
Township Number one. People below,
Ill the adjoining farming villages. spoke
OF 1t and its ncigiIhor> us The Numbers.
1t might have been supposed IL he the
outskirts of civiiiZdtion-it> frontier :
for the nearest ueighhor w;iS five miles
away, the only religious exercises were
held i'll Deacon Crockct's kitchen. thee
miles further off. while there were ten
miles between them and the doctor.
Cyrus was an energetic felhw. whu
tarmed i'll summer and logged in the
winter. that is. he usually took con-
tract to bring the drive of logs down
from the woods therefore he had been
i'll the habit of borrowing farmer Hut
tons daughter Jane to keep his mother
company and help her about the house.
for "A small consideration. Sometimes.
/ too. Jane staid on through the summer,
or returned for the harvesting when it
| was heavy: and ut such times CYRUS
/ always observed that his butter and
cheese found Il more ready market that
| lHc ilOti>c NdS moro tIttllul ana better
| kcpt-tor old Mrs. Ferriston was one of
the slack kind; that provisions went
further and rclished better But for all
this he felt Hu inclination tn marry
Jane. us folks at Wheatiicld had pre-
dictcd when she first went up to The
Numbers. Jane wa> called plain and
tI rus had Il preposSeSsion that his wife
should he rosy and dark ed, with the
smile that c"nqueI> men. Jane halted
in her gait the least lit in the world
ms wife should have the step of IL palI-
ther. She always dressed soberly, like
Il brown leaf. as if she would like to
melt into the landscape wife should
carry her fascination into the knot of
ribbon at her throat, or the slipper on
her foot. Therefore it was utterly out
of the question, If we put any faith in
logic, that Jane should become the wife
of Cyrus.
But, alas. as it often happens. she
had not wintered and summercd mt The
Numbers for naught. When the neigh
bors had hectored her as she was about
to leave home for the first season, and
prophesied. ''Well. Jane, dare say it
won't be long before you'll he changing
your name to FerIiSton." Jane had
laughed at the notion, and had reckon
ed that Cyrus hadn't enough schooling
to please her, and had thought that she
could never he rcconciled to spending
her days in The Numbers.
Folks as held their heads as high as
Won, miss. hev he'd ter come ter it,"
they answered her. But when she be-
came acquainted with Cyrus in his
every y-day life and thought, she found
that he knew more than she had
dreamed. He had little library of
books Oh a swinging shelf that he had
made with his own hands, and had
carved with deer's heads and oak leaves /;
he could talk with her about the heroes
of Plutarch and the empires of the Old
World, about election and free will, and
seemed to enjoy it. Jane had taste
for those things; and so it happened
that as she saw Cyrus in his daily COM
ings and gOings, stripped of disguises.
in his genial tireside humor, he grew in
her favor unawares: in short, his man
ly attributes, his kindliness and good
temper, and his handsome face won her
heart without an effort on either side.
He had so grown into her affections
that one day when she overheard Dea-
con Smiley joking him about Agnes
Price, her prophetic soul stirred in her
with a mighty throe. Every thing
seemed to revolve before her eyes-the
churn- -dasher, the tins on the kitchen
wall, and the andirOns on the hearth !;
she was obliged to sit down ON her way
to the dairy and recover herself, with
tray of butter in her hands.
sit is too heavy for you," said Cyrus,
coming to her relief, with his ready