Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-05-23

tonight, and that turkey there, which Dame
DOLLAR is pucking, would have been qui-
city roOsting on his perch"
"Guess yer shootin with the long bow,
now," said the Yankee peddler, with II
sneer playing on his satfron-hued counte-
nance.
My name is Watts" went on the little
man, needless of the interruption, and
lwirling about the little leaden globes in
the palm of one hand with the forelinger
of the other, pausng now and then in the
course of his narrative, rs though the per-
lecily spherical and patent shot, which
looked less regular in. their shape, were
semi-c0lons and commas, to say nothing
of the improved article now and then elc-
iting notes of admiration" my name Is
Watts, and SO was my fathers and my
grandfather's before him, and OF course
my grandmother name was Watts also.
Here two of the patent shot formed them
selves into colon, and brief pause en-
sued. Tho young sportsman interrupted
it by eXclaiming:
" Watts-Watts! why that name was on
tile bag in which Seth Sprowl got me the
shot, some Of which you have in your
hands. If do not mistake, William
Watts was the stamped patentee."
"Quite right, sir; you have quick
eye, l see. Well, then, it was William
Watts wife, my grandmother, who dream
ed how perfectly round gun-shot were to
be made; and by so doing made her hus-
bands fortune"
Il wish to mercy my old woman would
90 to dreaming in that way" observed one
of the listeners.
But" continued the old man, it ru-
ined him in the end, for all that"
"Ilow SOP" asked half-a-dozen voices,
and the halfdozen heads to which those
voices severally belonged were stretched
eagerly in the direction Of the story-teller's
corner.
"You shall hear" he said. "As have
intimated, Mr.. William Watts was my ia
ther's father never saw him, for he
died long before | was born; but | can
form pretty clear idea of him from the
descriptions, and portrait which used TO
hang in our parlor at home. He was
II short, plump, parsonage, with cum
ming gray eyes, and like all the other keen
Bristol merchants it used to be said OF him
that he always slept with one of them
open. But the wisest of us sometimes
make mistakes in the long run, and so ii
happened in his case.
MY grandfather was plumber and
shoemaker, and it was the latter branch
of his business which was the most profit
able. At that time, however, shot making
was but very partially developed art,
and consisted in merely letting drops of
melted lead fall into a large vessel of wa
ter from Il hight of two or three feet, which
caused them suddenly to cool, and retain
II rounded shape But as the metal did not
thoroughly solidify before it reached the
water, the sudden contact with the latter
caused little indentation on the surface
of every shot exactly at the point where it
first touched the liquid. Now, gentlemen,
if you will examine the contents of your
pouches, you will observe the depression
upon every shot; but in these patent ones
the sphere is perfect and unblemished." D."
Here another shot rolled itself into q
period, and during its continuance in this
form, Mr.. Watts paid his respects to the
pitcher.
But what has all this to do with the
dream?"
"Wait Il little, and you will see that it
has everything TO do with it, for if there
had been no dream in the case you might
have had unreliable shot until this day
Now my grandfather was himself sports
man enough to know that with the shot he
manufactured no certainty OF aim could be
securcd but for the life Of him he could
not tell the reason. He rackcd his brain
day and night for some means of improv-
| inc the article he made, but TO no purposes
and ut length repeated disappointments
caused him to become so disCOntented and
morose, that his wife had but poor time
of it with him, and sometimes almost
wished herself shot--if even with the very
inferior article her husband made.
Nov it fortunately happened that my
grandmother, who was remarkably quiet
woman, had more philosophy in her little
finger than her husband had in his whole
composition, and she took it into her head
that, rs for almost every i'll there was II
cure, so there might be Il remedy for bad
shot. This idea having taken possession
of her mind, there it remained; and you
all know, gentleman, that if Il woman once
sets her will upon accomplishing anything,
old Nick himself cannot prevent her. So
it was with my anCGstrcss. Like u Snsi-
bic woman, She determined to use her wits
as well us her eye; and to that end, day
after day, watched the process of shot
making, as she sat by the water tank,
knitting busily away rs if for dear life.
Her husband noticed, too, that she never
knitted with such wonderful rapidity as
when she was watching the shining globes
of lead us they dropped from the straincr-
like square iron pan into the water. But
she seldom spoke II word, though her eyes,
her brain and her fingers were not mo-
ment unemployed, SO matters went on
for many months, and as Mr.. Watts busi-
ness began to fall off poverty stared him
in the face Rather than make imperfect
shot he cared not TO make any, and he soon
must have gone to ruin had it not been
for his wilcs dream"
d" Now, then for it, sneered the com.
pany.
Zone night my grandfather was sud
denly reused from comfortable slumber by
Il vigorous shake of his shoulder, and the
twitching of his nightcap. Rubbing his
eyes and God blessing himself he sal
bolt upright in bed, and perceived with
great surprise, for the moon was shining
brightly into the chamber, that his usually
quiet wife was frantically dancing about
the room with n tinder-bo in one hand
and his working day breechcs in the 9th.
er and exclaiming, vehemently, not 'Eu.
reka,' us did Archimedes Of old, but, I've
hit it! pve struck the nail on the head! Get
up man alive, before forget it, and III
make your fortune.''
Hit what? What nail have you struck
on the head?n questioned the bewildered
Mr.. Watts, who sat with his chin on his
knees, and his eyes staring out of their
sockets with amazement.
90 I've dreamed how to make shot
without any mark on EN- shouted Mrs.
Watts, us she converted Mr.. Watts
breeches into nightcap, greatly TO the
Indignation of that gentleman, who swore
wildly, and fancying his wife's freak would
soon be over, laid down and prepared for
another snooze.
But Mrs. Watts had no idea of that
sort of thing, and the clothes were drag
god off the bed in no time, light was
struck, and half an hour afterward, the
astonished husband being more thorough.
ly awakened, was Jold the particulars ol
his wile's wonderful dream.
- Well, it seems reasonable enough