The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1876-02-15
Thanksgiving Beggars,

Lnr, your Thanksgiving beggars ain t
nothing new. We used to rig ourselves
up ip old rags when I was G gurl, and
maDy's the good time wo'9c had when
some 0! ihe neigbhore were took 10 by us,
and filled Our baskets with Thanksgiving
fare. Your spelling malcbe, siat moth.
ing new neither W. used 10 hev em
out to Pixies Clearing, jest for recreation
like; cold winter evenings they warmed
you up bit, and begot many heart
burning III warrant. Ii the summer
time, you STE, We could hev igger in
the barn, il Ben he'd his violin mended I;
but winters there want nothing we could
Do bat jest get together and cultivate our
minds with the spelling book, for We
couldn't dance in the school house on as.
count Of the seats. Seems to me l can
see Sibyl Jones now waiting on the sit.
tee for to be chose on one side or t'other /;
for, you see, Jack Rhett. Square Rhett's
sou used to come and join US while be
was studying with Parson Paul to keep
up with his class at Yale the year he
was rustlcated and the way it was he
always led ono side Of the spelling match
and Matthew Morris, Farmer Morris
Matt, led the other, and there sat Sibyl
a. still ns mouse, only her hands work.
ing together under her shawl-tor the
school house want always as warm as
loye-and her two soft eyes a glittering
gltteripg, and p'r'aps it wouldn't be till
there wasn't nobody else left to choose
that Young Rhctt would say, saucy
enough.
Well uow Iii take Miss Siby
Jones.
" List, but not least" Matt Morris
would call out. For the truth was Mat,
would hov chose her iurst himself bu
be knew ihet she wouldn't do anything 6
spelling against Jack Rhett. and tbs
she'd sooner be last with Jack than frs
with anybody else. That's what | csl
self denial, or else never come across
the thing. But you rec, Jack was
playing sort of fast and Loose with Sibyl
be hankered after her pretty face ant
pretty manners, but he couldn't quit,
bring himself to overlook the distance be
tween Square Rhett's sou and Farme
Jones' daughter, especially rs Fsrme
jones was oe'er 30 we'll. aud loved hi
own cider barrel tetter'n all the res
Of mankind
Now with Matthew Mofrs /. WAS dill
: iefeut, as everybody knows. He love-
2 Sibyl jest for herself and il didu't max
I 10 odds TO him who or what her isthe
was, 50 long "a she was nobody but her
+ self But, then, he was only farmer
son himself aud p'r'aps he didn't kno,
no better. Well, We kept up the spelliD
matches pretty much all winter. an
sometimes Rhett would choose Sibyl th
! very furst, and then again he'd contriv
not to choose her at all, and she'd b
that cut up by it-for Sibyl never he
It much proper spirit-that she'd be th
furst to miss on words that baby coul
f., spell, and Rhett would be sure to laug
and ohaff her till the tears were jest read
Il to gush out of her two eyes, for the rogu
r knew it was all his work. Heaven onl
klows why she cared soumsrkee for tb
;, young sauce box, He wasn't as han
some as Matt Morris. but he had h
Hall and the square behind him to |
sure, and he wore store clothes, and ha
- such airs as women folks take to. Yo
see, he'd carry your shawl and hold you
(, uni Ierell and quote pretty verses to 20
,. if you were young and pretty yourself
:. and he he'd a mustache that sort {
y dropped at the ends and gave him ga
look, which was quite contrary TO b
feelings. I've always noticed that CUR
: take to lnustachs as a duck takes
water. He was full Of mischief. too, 90
"a y that's what gurls don't object to in Il
. lsastsst; the kind that gets rustioats