Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-11-02

enough for him to reach out his hand for the
week-old newspaper which came from the far
off city.
These papers were Dayid's wine of life,
fresher to him in their crumpled antiquity,
thnn is the latest issue to most people, just
from the ncwsboy's hands nor is it in the
power of that new delight to mpart any
deeper sense of satisfaction than that which
David derived from the contents of his twine-
tied roll There was some little effort required
to master the printed page but that only af
fordcd time for him to bring his imagination
TO bear, well aud squarely, upon each para
graph in turn. The full account of IL murder
was meagre compared with what his fancy
made Of it, The great contagration with loss
of life, and skillfully effected bank robbery
with no clew to the perpetrators, the execu-
tion of some notorious criminal whose dying
confession, less elegant than Cranmer's recan-
tation was not, perhaps, less moving, all
passed in review, with the vividness of actual
vision, and were pond,red for hours together
rs David sat at work making calt-nets for the
fishermen in the village.
These sheets were never exhausted, any
more than are the volumes in library of law,
or medicine, or theology. They were kept
for reference. folded smooth in their original
creNses, and piled together, under an iron
weight, in one corner Of David's bedroom.
Whenever he replaced the weight, he recalled
the fact that he could not swim, without re-
membering the probable futility of that exer-
ton should one of these frail records chance
to be whisked out Of the window, beyond his
reach.
There was food for mcditative self-gratula-
ton. even while the horrors were being de-
vclopcd. upon his own immunity from such
dangers rs beset people less securely located
than in lighthouse, with water on every
side and seven miles from land
Not that his life was wholly free from some
1dyoring element of conscious peril, either.
| There was something treacheruus David con-
| ceived, about that smooth surface forever
glittering in the sunlight now receding, now
advancing; cnwling upward, stealthily. on
the green and Shiny piles beneath his home,
until the ugly crust of barnacles extending
half their height was quite concealed. 1t
was always threatening mischief which it
dared not quite achieve. he fancied IF the
wind should ever take n notion to help it in
! downright vicious earnest he used sometimes
to mutter to himself "small 'ud be my chance,
| with nothn' but II atween me and my neigh
bors."
He half suspected that it owed him a grudge
for lighting up the beacon overhead every
evening 80 regular and cheating it ont q
some Of its tricks"
Here's the channel, cap'n. " he used to cx-
claim, as the broad glare fell upon the water,
addressing, in sohloquy. any commander
whom destiny might ut that moment be di-
recting towards his dwelling. Here's the
deep water, close to the right If you should
chance to go down hcrc you may as well tele-
graph your friends to look for your body on
the other side o the world; for it's my belief
there's no bottom to this part. That's why
they built the light-us here. To mark the
channel, says they. That's why I'm KEEP
here to light it, That's the side for porpusses
and shirks, though they don't allus keep to it.
Many's the time | seen them porpusses. atween
this and shore. a-pufiin' and BLOWN and
when you see n pOrpus the shirk amt far
away As fur swimmin', l wouldn't trust my
self in that ere water, no, not fur m0hty."
But, despite his literary inclination, ii was
not to be denied that life Mt the lighthouse
,rds monotonous 1t became more so than
ever, after some years of seclusion. Still, il
was not without patient scrutiny OF all pos
sible contingencies that he finally decided tC
introduce n permanent resident within these
walls, in the person of wife. He remem
bered that his quarters were very narrow il
case they couldn't agree there would be nC
escaping from each others presence. II,
was conscious that it would go against him Il
be crossed He had it all his OWE way now
Everything stayed where he put it ; he couldn'
be sure that it would be so if there was wo
man about. The perfect stiffness. no sounC
but the faint stroke of the wayelets agains
the piles, became priced posse ssion no
lightly to be resigned when he recalled tn
clatter Of the village fsh-wives, , enough {,
drive a man to jump overheard. though h
couldn't swim, and to make him forfeit tn
chance of being buried on dry land respecta
ble-like," if he had to be shut up in n light
us with it, and no distance to put atween bu
only the length o the pier"
There was no uupStiou that the LIGHT hons
was cosy and comfortable as could be tw
rooms below, fitted up with every convenience
, overhead, the beacon; beneath. the broad
. flat pier running out to the channel as mucl
. room, in the opinion of its occupant, las an
man ought TO wish for but women were AZ
. TO be unreasonable Ten to one, a wife woul
clamor for double the space she could oc
cupy"
BY such meditations was David Scarboroug
deferred from carrying out his decision. eve
after it fully formed and another yea
OF so went on while he cautiously sought hi
Griselda. He found her in the midst of tn
e noisy fish-wives. She had grown up anon
those whose garTuity had imposed upon he
the silence of a perpetual listener. and who's
u constant quarrels had disposed her TO he q
: little dsputatious as David could desir,
: Round-faced and large-armed, placid and r,
sy she disturbed nothing in his domcle, bI
A smile and nod We're as agreeable an al
{ swer rs n man could wish in response to proI
!, ostions which required no demonstration
II aud Mrs. Scarborough throwed into these
I fullness of assent which words very rarel
II convey.
> Meantime her husband had never heard {
II Griselda hence he called his wife what h,
parents had always called her. ''Meena
! Perhaps it was Just rs well for her that
II | a. nlGn iouprnpt of n
y tests to which that patient lady is said to hay
=, been subjected, so prolonged was the peric
II of his skepticism concerning his escape fro
y the evils he had previously dreaded.
" Yet he need not have doubted the succe
y of his search. 1t is not rare for n man to o.
\, tain II desired object in all the plentitude
IA perfect completeness, and to miss nothing b
= the satisfaction which was to have accompa
u led its possession. There is a want of ftne
u !, between perfect gifts and imperfect natur
- which removes improbability from the cham
y of such attainment.
Z David Scarborough could not ''abide eros
=, in, " and there was no crossing to be born
u The result was that while Meena went throul
~ every step of the refining process of self-a
~ negation, and came out no less pure thf
~ shining from the final ordeal, her husband I
~ ~ manned as at the beginning, with all his be
VI ter nature locked up in the yet unroasted OF
;, He had his way in all things, even in Il
a' naming of their little girl. Call her Kathern
- ~ he said. "Katherns good Christian nam
Z and it's easy TO speak. Call her Kathern."
q So one fair spring morning the skif W
9rv lowered, and Mr., and Mrs. Scarboroug
= dressed in their best Clothes descended t
,e lighthouse steps with the infant and to-
- their places in il, in order to make the journ
which was to confirm this decision by givi
a. the little girl right to her name.
an It was too early in the season for the SUI
Sc mer residences down the beach to have
er ceived their inmates and SO it was not aw
ld ward to enter the church a little before I