Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-03-01
NLCHOL1s H1RROrR,.s WORK.

so far as l can learn, only one mt ever
took place at kerr's Ford 1t happened years
ago, but it is the gossip of the village to this
day You hear dark illusions TO il at tea-par-
ties or the church sewing circles rs to n legend
belonging to the far. outlying regions of in
iquity Mt the drug-shops or about the stove
at the post Office, however, 1t is openly talked
of, when the magnates of the village are as
sembled and with lily concealed pride. New
York and Washington may have their muir
ders and gigantic frauds but kerr's Ford.
also has had her mystery. her sensation
which with headlines. filled a column of the
county newspaper.
The whole story hinges on the appearance
of stmnger Colonel Caldwell, with the
Judge. and Phipps the undertaken, claim to
have first seen this man he was coming up
the street as they were sitting in front of
Bryce's store smoking their cigars after din
ner one October afternoon.
Il noticed the man. the Colonel is wont to
say. The Judge, he had just asked me
about my pigs. Caldwell he says, how's
pork with you: and 1 says, Pretty fair, con-
siderin the scarcity of chestnut mast'-(chest-
nuts failed entire that year)-when | noticed
this man. Coming direct to us, crossin by
Hobbes's grist.mill. Here's a tramp, / says.
Not that tramps or strangers was any novelty
ut kerr's Ford. I'd seen three go through the
town that very week, comm up from Coal
port. It's n regular sink of iniquity-that
town But I've a keen eye for character, and
| seen at glance this man was different from
anything that even Coalport could produce in
the way of rascalty. 'Twan't his clothes,
though they might have been his sleepin APP
parel in the gutter; an 'twan't his lean, shak-
in hands. Lots of men in our own town is
no better off till they've driven nail in their
coflins in the mornin' and 'twan't that his
cheek was yellow and sunk like n corpse's
neyther Twas his eye, sir As soon as
seen that fellows eye, l says to Phipps,
Here's a Llan would cut your throat for a
quarter dollar, | can see through human ma
ture bettern most men. if | do say II.
The man, Just as the Colonel pronounced
this verdict on him, stopped by the curb
| stone
There seems to be some kind of public
excitement in your town" he said. with a
hint of amusement in his tone: What is
| itE'
"A church fair, said Bryce always civil to
possible patron of the barrel of whiskey
| kept on tap ut the back of the store.
Church fair = staring at the little, very
new, very Gothic stone house at the foot of
the hill. Religious community here, reck-
on? Pays a humping salary Good fat
| ground for young preacher to settle down
in, hch:"
! Yes" said Bryce Pretty fair salary
| Though our clergyman don't need it. He has
a good income of his own"
'Oh! A good income = the man repeated
with the same peculiar smile. "A rich man
| preaching the gospel for big salary. Yes.
The Judge turned sternly ON him. Some
| thing in his voice and manner made the men
| forget his squalid clothes and treat him rs an
equal. He breaches the gospel, sir, because
| he was called of the Lord To do it. Money
would be no temptation to him. He belongs,
| believe, to one of the wealthiest families in
Western New York-the Harbours."
Harbour" with sudden stride, which
brought his eager, lean face close to Bryces.
nicholas Harbour
YES, his name is Nicholas. Here he comes,
| by the way You'd better come III and take some
thing" said Bryce unoasily The clergyman
was the embodiment in his eyes of gentility
as well as godliness, and he had no mind to
be seen by him in company with his new COM
panion.
Clergyman. ehY Good income 7" mutter-
ed the fellow, watching the slight black
| coated figure as it came alertly up the shaded
street. mo, I'll not go in; | want nothing
to drink. I've drunk too much already
The men laughed as lie skunk quickly away,
going down an alley Il offered guess,
the Colonel used to say, when telling the cir
cumstance, las to how much liquor he had
put out of sight in the year. and told 'em he
would cut any mans throat for leyenpence.
But if ia foreseen that he'd have upturned
Kerrs Ford as he did-took out the under
pinnings from the foundations, as one
might say-me and Phipps, being burgesses
would have made short work of him that very
day"
The young clergyman came up the street
with quick, buoyant step. The wind wa
bracing; the sky arched higher to-day oyel
this hill and river than he had ever seen it be
fore the distance was a vivid, sunny blue
The village lay on rising ground and stretches
of autumn woods and rich, peaceful farms
sloped down from it on every side. Hi
church was new, and finished according to hit
own taste, even to the crimson cushions
(The Judge had wanted dark blue.) His con
gregation believed that every word in his ser
mons glowed with holy fire even the carnal
minded of the village men, like Bryce ant
Phipps, treated him with profound respect
Mr.. Harbour did not precisely describe his po
sition in Kerr's Ford as good, fat ground OF
which to camp" but he certainly did thinl
of it with complRcency. 1t seemed to him a
direct recognition of his virtuous life by
Providence; though, being a genuine younl
fellow at bottom, he did not put this idea int
words.
His father had been noted banker, in New