The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-11-23
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drawn over bis eyes; he was oracular. An
other, who had once represented the town
IN the general court, was never wearied
with recitiDg the personal events of the
session, and the intimacy which he formed
with the distinguished men of the Common
wealth, in whose ranks he felt that he could
be couuted; he was a bore. Another was
full of anecdotes of the old clergymen of
the county, and could give long quotations
from their occasional sermons he was con-
sidered as one of the pillars o. the church.
Another remembered the Cakes COW, and
he was especially learned in his discussion
of the various breeds of cattle, and espec-
tally tedious in his story of a calf which he
raised when boy, and whose early life
was so full of incidents, that the biographer
had never found an evening long enough to
reach that period of life when the calf
stopped and the COW began; the fact that
he had owneda COW made him tolerable.
One was authority on hogs, another on
horses, another on the domestic affairs of
the town, and another on the most highly
favored scandal of the day. No one of
them was given TO very hard labor, al
though they all had small estates in various
parts of the town, from which they pro-
cured meagre subsistence, with the help
of what they could earn by hoeing and hay-
ing, and chopping wood, and laying stone
wall They were looked upon as useful
men in their way they held a respectable
enough position in the town, had places as
signed them among the various town of
fees, were listened to in town meeting,
were considered as part of the society of
the place, and maintained such friendly and
equal relations with their more prominent
neighbors, that no feeling of dissatisfaction
or jealousy had ever entered their hearts,
and no idea of asserting their rights had
ever entered their minds. They were by
no means the dull and unntelectual por-
ton of tho community. They had a fine
opportunity to waylay The newspapers
which came to the post office, primitive
affair kept behind the grocery counter, and
they read their contents with rapidty and
eagerness before they Were distributed
among the subscribers. In fact, the old
grocery was the reading room of the town.
as well as the resort of the liveliest debat-
ing club; and while the cheerful parlcr of
Mr.. Hopkins had great charms, and the or
ganization which assembled there had great
wisdom, 1t was dingy little "store" that all
important questions were discussed; and
the sharp sayings were perhaps too freely
circulated by the independent assemblies
scattered about its dimly lighted corners,
and its dilapidated counters
"a gallon OF West Iuda molasses and
pound Of tea, said John Thomas TO the
grocer, one stormy winter evening, after he
had stamped the snow from his boots at
sembly already gathered for the usual even
ing services.
Had he been less occupied with his bu-
siness he would have noticed an awkward
stiffness among his friends as he joined
them, and little difficulty in renewing the
conversation, which was going briskly on
when he entered the room. But his stay
was short, and his molasses and tea were
soon provided for him, and he left good
word behind, and started for his bright
home and the thrifty and busy Huldah.
'''rhe devil Ia always near when your re
talking about" said Peter llsley, as John
Thomas vanished. "But what is it about
the boy, Uncle Josh? p
The oracular gentleman in the corner,
with his hat pulled over his eyes, replied
deliberately.
swell, don't know. But they used to
say and they do say now that the old man,
Johns grandslre, was pretty violent old
customer He was a captain; | just re-
member him. In the revolutionary war,
he lived through and fought through every
campaign. 1t was he who footed it home
from Valley Forge, and drove back load
of provisions which his neighbors here sent
TO the soldiers. John has got the headstall
now, which the old man made out of dam
aged knapsacks when he lost his own in the
camp. lie was tough and smart was a
good farmer. always had money, and built
the l. part of the house that John now lives
in. He had a temper like tiger, and was
as strong as a mouse. No man ever got
him down in the wrestliug-ring, town
meeting days; and there wasn't man
within hundred miles of this place whom
he could not lay on his back in a minute.
As much as seventy years ago, he had a
boy bound to him-a Purvis boy, born down
in the woods at the foot of Bald hill-a
kind of a clever boy, not very smart and
not very bad. All at once, along about the
middle of June, the boy was missed. The
last time he was seen, he was going down
into the field on the edge of the pond, with
his hoe on his shoulder; and neither boy
nor hoe was ever seen again. The old cap
tain said he guessed he had run away. anil
gone home to Bear Hill But he didn't
turn up there and then he said he must
be drowned in the pond. At last it began
to be suspected that III passion the cap
tain had struck the boy and killed him.
And stories were told for many years of an
old well in back pasture which had beea
filled up-nobody knew when and nobody
knew exactly where the well was to be
found. Two or three times the people
turned out to find it, and remember when
| was little fellow following IA crowd on
this business. This was after captain died.
They dug and dug, cut down trees, and
tore up bushes. until Johns father wbe
then Owned the farm, ordered them to quit,
and threatened 10 sue them for trespass if
they did not. No well nor any sign OF a
well was ever found no boy, and no hoe.
But somehow the old folks believed the
story and once good old Minister Hopkins
seriously asked the captain, if, in moment
of passion, he did not really strike the boy
dead. The captain looked at the minister.
looked on the ground, said nothing and
went away. And | believe everybody in
town was sure he was guilty, for nobody
had ever failed before that!time to tell Min
lister Hopkins the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, when asked. |
don't know how all this may be, but I'm
glad enough that old Captain Thomas
wasn't my grandfather
The story was not new, but il seemed tn
have new fierce, and as it came in slow and
deliberate measure from the lazy lips of the
Oracular CID man. it seemed TO produce an
unusual effect upon the audience
Rather bad blood said Peter llsley,
land they do say that what S bred in the
bone will come out at the skin. "
''Thty used to say old squire Sam.
Johns father, was no saint" added the ex-
representative And when was in the
general court used to hear about, Squire