Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-07-04
Ohe family CireIe.
How the Boys Woke Him.
BY CHARLES STUART PRATT.

Up the valley, through the misty tw
light stiffness. float whistled notes. NOV
the light shifting breeze sweeps Their
aside, and again bears them up the rivel
way, each moment clearer, until daI
Coiumbia's " martial strains ring braVel
out The very night-calm thrills ant
quivers. .n
Gwin Halstead's soul, Just now, is in tina
whistle.
Hark-another! Yes-Bob. No on
else could send Yankee Doodle" dancing
singing down the bills in that way
Again-and again-down the valley
past the mill, and from over the east hill
the old war songs come throbblng iron
boyish throats.
Feet keep step to music, and
"Tramp, tramp, tramp
The boys come marching"
on, on, across the fields, up the hillside
and all toward the old pine tree.
And hear the blending of voices AM
whistled notes-how they touch and weav
and swell in strange mixed chorus o
patriotism -boyish patriotism.
That pine tree on the hillside, wher
solos always end in chorus, is bosom
friend of the boys. Not one in all the re
zion but bears the stamp of its turpentint
seal. There are massive oaks. broad ant
branching, on either hand, but no boy
confides in them. Perhaps its singular
wide. limbed growth, so unlike the tall
pinnacled pines of the region, has enticet
the boys to fill its open arms with rude
platforms of seats. Perhaps the eterna
twilight of its dense foliage meets, in SOM
mystic way, that tinge of exquisite 70
nance in the boyish heart.
But be that as it may, the summer twi
lights there have always echoed witt
songs and laughter and glad voices, OIL
hushed ut the silence of whispered secrets
and sometimes, as know, shivered a
the bold dark fancies of these same boys.
But on this eve of the one great day o
the American year, they clasp fralerna
hands at the end of the chorus, and cheer
the brave flag that Bob is just flinging free
from the upper greenness.
Come up" he shouts. up to the sky
parlorm .
AYE, aye" answered the boys, and with
various flying springs they seize the lower
limbs and swing themselves lightly tc
their airy perches.
And the pow-wow begins.
Got your crackers and rockets, GwinP
Long ago; and after six weeks teas
ing I've got that big horse-pistol Of Grif
and horn of powder. Just have some
cotton handy, boys, for double charge is
ear-splitting, tell you"
"And Toot's trumpet-did you get the
colossus madeP"
"Yes (confound the Linman! but moth
ing less than the blacksmith's bellows
could ever blow itn'
"See here, tell YOU" says Bob, with a
little yell, we might fit it to the steam
whistle at the mill = 'twould wake every
sleeper in the valley, sure"
"And how the brass band shriekerS
would tear their hairm
A chorus-yell of laughter greets this
prospect.
" Capital! The very thing! Bob and III
look after that. Wen let her shrek at
twelve o'clock, to second!'
yes" says Bob, land send a stream Of
sound down the valley bigger than Sandy
River in spring freshet."
Then various other Fourth of July fcs-
tivities are planned-the tar-barrel bonfire
on the east HILL boat race, and the swim
ming match ut the Blue Ledge on the
Sandy
" And now about the BELLS" says Tom
" you'll be at church on time, Gwin?"
That depends. What do you call on
time'?"
Why, midnight, of course"
"Wcll, don't know" says Gwin, care
lessly, dropping his lids none too soon
over the dancing brown orbs.
He is met by a perfect clamor-" Don't
know" Why not?"
"Well, dOntsee the good of a fellows
getting up at midnight, and pulling a con-
founded bcll-rope till sunrise! I'd rather
sleep" The boys surge and clamor the
more at this. Anyone else would be Kissed
as traitor, and tumbled down from the par
lor to the basement. But Gwin is a lead
er. and no one dares pick up the gauntlet
And after II little the pow-wow breaks up,
10 the stirring strains of "Hold the Fort"
At the foot of the hill OWNS path led
away from the others, and the moment he
had turned the corner down sat those BOYS
in solemn consultation over his strange
freak. The end was a vow, to be fulfilled
before the next dawn.
Gwin sauntered home with a queer
smile curling his lips, and sparkle of
mischief in his brown ewes.
They'll be here, of course. should,
myself"
Before going in, he walked round under
The window of his room, and made GER
tain final mysterious arrangements and
The swaying vines heard something about
= prodigious joke" g.
When he reached his room he tumbled
On the lounge, and had another little talk
with himself.
" Rather neatly managed, that's fact.
Didn't know What to think of Won, did
hey, Gwin HalsteadP Well, Just wait a Bit
md we'll enlighten them, won't we, old
fellowP" and Gwin chuckled and shook
with suppressed mirth.
well, they won't be here till after
should be sure to hear
hat old fog horn-that and the bells would
wake the very scare-crows! So s'pose
elbow may as well turn in for q few
hours" saying which he kicked his boots
III and across the room, squirmed out of
lis clothes, and in two minutes slept like
he night-hush of the valley.
y, the calm of that still darknessl The
'ery trees slept, and the breezes held their
breath. Once only did mother bird chirn
md trill low dream-song. The moon
vaned silently into the west, and faded
way in the shadow of the horizon pines
Sudden, crashing through the night.
aim, come the church-bell's heavy tones
md up from the mill, like lightning for
heir thunder hurtles the long drawn
shrek of the giant horn. Hark
o the quick rattle of guns. the roll OIL
runs, the blending in tumultuous swell
The breezes wake, the winds hold noisv
evel, and for an hour sweep the tempest
langor over the valley and echoino on
mong the hills. Yes, it is Indenendsnoa
morning this minute. 0''''
Again the night-hush flows back over
he valley. wv
Gwin' sound asleep, sprang up startled
t the first sound, and then, laughing At
himself fell back among the pillows, and
ulvered and shook agoin at the thoucbt If
he boys pulling and Juggling at the old he'll.
ope, and yet again at the prosnect of Lie
rodigious joke, '' Vi N'S
by and by, when he knew the first act