The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-03-22
THE FARM-YARD CLUB OF
JOTHAM.
by Or. George u. Loring.

FOURTH MEETING-sUBJEoT, CATTLE.
When the business of speeding the part
ing members of the club was over, and
President Hopkins found himself quietly
and somewhat intimately sitting by his
fireside with DR.. Parker, 1t became evident
to both these gentlemen that there would
be for many minutes relief to their minds
in the drowsy business of watching the
curling smoke of their cigars. They had
not known each other wel-had not often
met. They were reserved, too-the presi-
dent, from the absorption and caution of
life of business the physician, from the
effect of his habits, his want of sympa-
thlzing companions, and the necessities of
his profession They were not of the
talkative kind, and the closing business of
the evening had been so wordy, so Indirect,
60 confusing to well-driled mind, that
the golden hues of silence seemed TO have
an unusual charm to them and so for a
short space of time the two new friends
settled down and unused.
AT last DR.. Parker turned to his compan-
ion and SAID, abruptly, "Do you like this 2"
Eyes, do, said the president, ''as far
as have gone
Why said the doctor
SWELL, replied Mr.. Hopkins, ''tor va
| riety of reasons. like the repose, to be-
gin with and so fond have become of
| the calm and quiet life of this old farm
and the village that | look back with an
| involuntary shudder upon the excitement
| and strains of my many years of toisome
and successful business. When I recall
how suspicious, and secretive, and watch
full and sleepless was, how blind to every
want and deaf to every appeal became
when the object in view was trade and only
trade, / must confess I am thankful that
the work of making my fortune is over,
and the work of using and enjoying it has
begun. Then, too, my ancestors lived here
and was born here, and | seem to have q
sort of title to this spot which have not
to my wharf and warehouses; higher and
| finer right of possession. | like the peo-
pie, moreover like the minister, like the
occupation of the place, the peculiarities
of my neghbors, the defiant way in which
they resist theory and theorst, the I'M
shakable level Of their minds, their sensi-
bic instincts, their honest impulse for what
| is right and humane in an emergency, their
queer little sclfshmess when there is moth
ing of moment at issue, their sturdy indi-
vidualty, their apparent torpor, their
| quick responsiveness, their keen under
standing, their common sense and then,
doctor, to be president of farm-yard club
ia your own town, and without fight, and
in your own house, with the gathered
landholders about you'll tell you there is
| a feeling Of satisfaction about 1t which the
ambitious who successfully walk more gid
dy heights may, possibly, feel, but don't
| believe it."
The doctor, who had lived all his life in
lothian, and had come to1ook upon each
family in the town as a pathological prob
lem, and had had no ambitions, seemed
hardly to understand all this and yet there
was something attractive about it to his
mind, and he thought it might perhaps be
well for HIM to follow President Hopkins
into this new and airy field of inyestiga-
ton. Aud suddenly remembering that
nothing binds men so firmly together as
the consciousness of having the same blood
in their veins, he said
81 believe, Mr.. Hopkins, your great
4 grandmother was Bradford
Bradford, a descendant of the old Ply
Hopkins, my great grandfather, from
whom got my name"
| DIR. Parker, who had too long turned the
cool eye of science upon his fellow beings
to be much interested in genealogy, was
pleased, however, to remember that even
before Bradford had settled in lothian,
one of his ancestors had married into that
illustrious Pilgrim family-and he instantly
discovered the cause of a certain resem-
blance in motion, tone of voice, and slight
peculiarities between Mr.. Hopkins and an
older brother of his own, who had long
been dead-a resemblance which had so at
tracted him that be had become restless to
account for it, in order to determine IN his
own mind whether the finer traits are in
| digenous to locality, or can only be pre-
served and transmitted through the chan
nels of the blood. He had also seen and
admired Mary johnson, his far-off relative,
when he was mere child, and he was
drawn still nearer TO Mr.. Hopkins, the hus-
band of so kind and lovely wife, and to
his two sons who had such charming
mother. And altogether, as he went on
and smoked, and unused, and chatted, and
remembered, he felt the currents of new
and UNUSUAL emotiong moving round his
heart, and thought, on the whole, it was
very wise in Mr.. Hopkins TO desire to end
his days in the old home.
And SO, having settled the family ques-
ton, he asked Mr.. Hopkins, with an inter
est increased by the discovery OF these an
cestral ties between them, how he proposed
to make his farming matter of business,
as he had his merchandise, and when be
expected to find out what he wanted to
know. u-r ........l r.Iu arNf -'f
Gas to the business part of the matter, =
said the president, 81 have not yet got at
it my ship isn't launched when she is, !
will engage to find voyage for her. And
as to Information, l propose to call on my
] neighbors," a.a nl i- '.a.. rs