Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-02-22
4 NARROW ESCAPE.
a True story by Elizabeth stuart
Phelps.

How long ago exactly | cannot tell-but
long enough for two little boys to have grown
into two great men. and you can judge how
long that must be rs well rs there lived in
n gentlemans family in England pretty
housemaid and an honest young coachman.
And in course of time-how much time or
how little | cannot say. for this is n matter in
which it is not so easy to judge of time--the
housemaid and the coachman fell in love. 1t
was very foolish thing to do, of course but
people do foolish things in this world occa-
sionally. even 50 foolish rs that, and don't
know any better way than for wise people,
like you and me, to look on and say, I'm so
glad it was not | :" and then walk of
The coachman's name, by the way, was
John, and the housemaid they called Susan.
So one day, when Susan was standing in
the garden door with II clean white apron on,
and n cruel pink ribbon in herhair John came
by with the silyer-handled whip in his hand.
which he was just going to polish mp. Said he,
Susan, l don't like these goings-on with the
butler, and that's the truth"
Said Susan, just turning her head so that
the unkindest bow in that merciloss little pink
ribbon shone like n star in her beautifulblack
hair, And what if do take a walk with the
butler of an evening when | like: Is il any
mans business, John Jacobs =
Il don't know AS it is, said John, reflec-
lively; it had never struck him in that light
before. lie wished it were his business with
all his heart, but he wouldn't say so and
Susan wished the same, you may be sure, but
she cOuIdat say so so he Went away to the
great coach-house with his whip, and Susan
sat down on the steps with her thoughts. And
so, pretty soon. when the honest coachman
came back, the pretty housemaid was crying
Said John, why. Susan
Said Susan, "G-g-gO away p
Said John, You don't mean rs you cdred
because | was cross to YOU
Sobbed Susan, II d-d-dont know-ow;"
Said John, Susan, will you have me-"
Said Susan, Yes, l will"
Now. | am not going to write you n love
story, because | don't believe the editor would
think that was proper but had to tell you
about John and Susan, because that was the
beginning of everything and as a love-story
always is the beginning of everything, per-
haps the editor viii excuse us this time.
The long and short of it is, that the honest
cOachman and the pretty housemaid were mar
ried.
At least, that's the short of it that gener-
ally is the short of it the long Of it comes af-
| forwards
The long of it came to John and Susan when
their children came. Two at IL time, to begin
with; twin boys; beautiful boys their
mother said; bouncing" boys, their father
| said-and their names were Titus and Tam o.
| Shanter. And before Titus and Tam were
| able 10 walk across the kitchen to the molass-
es-jug on their own feet, dear me. bless it
! there was another.
But she's girl said John, "and won't
! cost so much.
For John had just reached that desperate
| point in young mans life when he first be-
| gins to suspect that it costs five times as much
to support five people as it does TO support
| one. This is a great discovery in domestic
science, which you will observe, as you grow
older, people seldom do make till they have
five people to support
But then, you see, when the little girl q
think her name was Betty. but | cannot be
quite sure) was beginning to talk, she had a
| little sister to talk to and that was serious.
Said John, decidedly, My dear, we never
can manage it in the would. How's one
| coachman's wages to do all this ~
Said Susan, dejectedly (for the baby and
one twin had cried all night, II don't know
| john. Can't we go to America -
"And what should we do in America :" sait
John.
Live" said Susan and her tired blacl
eyes snapped.
Well, the long and short of that was they
came to Nebraska and here, perhaps my sto
! ~ hl4oAlN lIlblNiig bNbAA'
SO long ago as it takes for little boys Il
grow great men, it was not so easy to live il
Nebraska as it is now, when the great lanC
commissioner of the great railroads hangs
bufTalo's head in every depot in Boston, t,
show the world how much more delightful il
the society of buiialoes than the society o
BostOnianS.
When John, and Susan, and Titus and Tan
o Shanter, and Betty, and the new baby CANT
to Nebraska, that plucky young State was, fo
the most part, an ugly, bowling wilderness.
In the thick of the wilderness Mr.. and Mrs
John Jacobs dug out for themselves home
Literally, they dug it out with their very owl
hands. Susan was tough little woman, will
stout hands and a stout heart, and she dul
TOO. think, if the truth must be told, sh
rather enjoyed leaving Titus and Tam will
the other babies, s,-theres no guessing hoy
much care one baby will take of another til
you've tried,-an taking an AK to help he
husband fell trees and underbrush, or takinl
a hoe to hoe her row in the darling little gar
den, out of which they meant to make living
if they died for it.