St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-06-09
The Cooper and the Currier.
LtClJS VI. SARGENT.
A Temperance Story.

"Wehher and Bairey,r began P,rsou
Wheatley, "were still young men. tho
strongly marked with every ordinary
token of intemperance. They abseute,l
themselves from meeting, and studious-
~ avoided me upon all occasions. In
short, they were to all common ohser-
walton, lrreclaimablc, when the TEN
perance reform began to he ii topic of
interest III our village. But you shall
see with Your own eyes, Mr. Merrick
ana hear with your own ears. They
nave entirely rttolm med and with their
children, constitute one of the most
united and pious families in NV parish. -
1T Will he needful for me to start at an
early hour, replied Mr.. Merrick land.
fear, before it would be convenient to
pay them il visit" "If Won are up be
fore the cooper and currier," said Par
son Wheatley, 'you will he up long
before the sun"
The next day, AT an early hour. the.
TWO clergy men rode forth together 1t
was fine September morning. They
had proceeded about Il mile and three
quarters on their way. STOP" said
Parson Wheatley, as they approached
the opening of il hickory wood, do
You hear that sound p ..What is il 2"
said his companion. "Why it is Just as
told You; that ruG a due dub is the
coopel'> rereiiie; he is driving Il hoop.
and the sun Is but just risen. Let us
move slowly toward the cottage Iou
see the busy housewives Signal-the
smoke is curling from the chimney top ::
and dare say, the ,johnnNcakes are al
ready at the fire. There. Mr. Merrick.
look ut that white cottage, with green
blinds, and pretty garden fence before
1t. 1t Is provided. us YOU see by the
double doors. for two families. This
Is the residence of the cooper and the
currieI. Three Years ago. it was Il per
feet hovcl, whose fallen fences. and
broken windows. proclaimed its occu-
pant to be il drunkard. He waS 81.
1t was the property of old Bill Cleverlv.
VIII" died. cm sing the temperance folks
with his latest breath. The cliaiSe drew
up i'll front "f the cooper'S shop. Good
morning. Mr.. Webhcr," said Parson
Wheatley, "Ah. bless me. parson''-
rub dub dub. '.you ale out early. 8"
d"b. d"b a d"b going t" >hutfieton,
s'poSe. with Mr.. Merlick" "-rub dub.
dHb. No. we have come to pay Won
and Mr.. Bailey II short visit. Mr. Web
ber. Every much obliged to We paI-
son. rHb Il dub dub rnb q dub dub.
There | h'li"vc that hoop'll stick.
Come, walk III. Peggy II he rci"red t."
have We take breakfast with us -sorrv
brother Bailey aud his wife have, gone.
to the city went of bN dawn - daN."
The clergy men endeavorod tn eNcIIS,.
I,..,, Il,
Peggy WAS importunate. and the cooper
assured them, that the boy. Eli. had
caught some fine pickerel. on the pre-
ctdInG Saturday afternoon. aud that
they were, at that moment, in the spi-
der. They. accordingly, were prevail
ed on To partake of the c"opcI'S repaSt
Nebher then produced the family Bible
and read IL chapter: and PalSuu Wheat
ley made II prayer. When he had cor
cludrd. he resumed his seat. and in
quired of his host, if he We're 81 much
ut leisure. that morning. that he could
conveniently give them Il small part of
1t. "With all my heart ParSon Wheat
lN. said he. IF can bc useful for |
can drive the job have in hand, Il lit
tie further into the evening" '.Mr.
Wehh-r.' said Palson Whcatly. Il have
been giving my brother Mrlick. some
account "t the happy effects of the tenn
pcI;tnce reform III our village. we'll
know how openly YOU and Your brother
Bailey, are in the habit of exhibiting
N"ur own conversion. a> an indurrment
to others and. if NoI; will do me the
favor tn give Nh. Mcrrick some account
OF it. | >hall lie much obliged To Nom.
4
beneficial clScw here"
"WhN gentlemen." said the cooper.
with Il grave expression upon his t..;i-
lures. Il shall bless the day when the
reformation came into Eddingt"n. and
:" will Peggy" Peggy Wchher had
removed the breakfast table To one side
of the apartment. and. with Il baby in
her arms had drawn her chair into the
circle. ''Brother Bailey and have of
ten said, continued the cooper. "that
if We hadn't turned about Just as we
did, We should have been, as like as
not. III the drunkard'S grave 10y tins
time. We used to have terrible quar-
rcls, and all about nothing. Rum WAS
at the bottom of them all. don't
really think We should have had ANY
bickeIing, if it hadn't been for rum
The first time We fell ont. We were tud-
died, both of us !; and We went ON from
bad tn woIse, till there was no kind of
i'll turn that Bailey wouldn't do me,
and | wasn't behind him in any sort of
mischief. Our wives were separated
from each other, and there was Il com
plete family. Baiiey'S wife and he had
:, terrible time of it; she took liquor.
aud he handled her rough enough.
That poor woman," said he pointing to
his wife, ''had Il hard time of it, too:
but she never took ii drop of the vile
poison. She never gave me an unkind
word in her life and. if | ever lifted
my finger against her. in anger, il must
have been when | WAS crazy with
liquor" lyon never did, George" said
Peggy Webber. "Well. am grateful"
continued her husband, that have
not that sin against me. However. it !
poor. and got to he very cross. When
was ill-natured, Peggy used to cry
and. when | was only melancholy. she
used to come and sit down by me. and
say all sorts of things; and, whenever
she thought il would do, she would urge
me not to drink any more spirit. lost
all my custom, aud we parted with the
part of our furniture. Our
house was full enough of misery, if it |
was emptied of everything else. |
couldn't pay my rent any longer. and
our Landlord began to talk pretty
rough, and threatened to turn us ont.
heard there were good chances for
coopers at New Orleans. and asked Peg
w if she was willing to 90. She said
yes, if | thought il the best course, but
hat she didn't see why we mightn't get
on here as we used to. told her We
could stay here and live on bread and
water. She replied. that she should |