St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-03-01

Pyne basket of fresh eggs, for eggs
were Miss Nancy's speciality. Imagine
Jim's secret joy and Mrs. Pyne's noisy
surprise. ..-..
"Sent me them eggs? Land O. Goshen!
she amt weak in her mind, is she, Jim
Must be leetle touched or else be /;
| guess she's good cretur, after all.
dOno what on airth has allied us two to
be alters fghtin', and now she's begun
it, l guess | kin be as neighbOrly as
other folks. Don't ye go by here to-
morrow without getting pocket full O.
apples for Nancy Vance, Jim. Let's
see. T'll put 'em in the basket" But
thesecond supply of apples never reach
ed Miss Nancy. Jim had queer sense
of justice, and squirrels love for nuts
and fruit. He had done good work
with the other apples, and lost them, as
faI as his own delectation was concerned; !;
these others he would keep for his own
eating; and his very simpleness made
-ua for wisdom, for second supply of
fruit would certainly have led to awk-
ward explanations, while as it was,
when the two ladies met on the church
steps next Sunday smiling and beam
ing, to make their mutual acknowledge
ments, there were no questions to ask
or answer, and they parted in friend
liest fashion, to remain firm allies there
after.
Not far from the Ellery farm there
lived hadtempered, grained old
fellow, John Dekin by name, who had
driven his boys away from home long
ago by dint of being everything a father
ought not to be; and whose wife staid
with him simply because she was his
wife fact which is of some virtue to
good woman. Now this man was a
great stickler for his rights; he had IA
right to do as he liked in his own house,
no doubt and the neighbOrs agreed
that they had an equal right to keep
away from it All but good Mrs. Ell
lery, whose great kind heart could not
see a woman suffer as she knew Mrs
Dekin must, and not try to alleviate
her sutferings. She would go there per-
sistently, though she trembled before
the big dog, and quivered at the sound
of his masters voice; for it was one of
John Dekin's rights to keep the
tiercest dog and the crossest bull any
where about Sawyer. Jericho Jim vol
unteered to go with Mrs. Ellery when
she paid her visits to the Dekin farm,
and as there never was Il dog who could
withstand Jim's way with the brute
creation, he and Tige soon became the
best of friends.
''Hullo !" said the farmer one day as
he came suddenly round the corner of
the house, and found Jim, who had just
escorted Mrs. Ellery to the door, sitting
on the step and fondling the great bull
dog, who, with watery eyes and slOb
bering jaws, rested his muzzle on Jim's
knee. and looked up into the thin, kind
face above him. ''Hullo, you feller !!
look out for that crittur; he'll be into
We nd chaw We up fore you can wink"
Il guess not" said Jim, with one of
his half silly, gentle smiles. "He knows
real well dom want to hurt him none !;
SO he dom keer to hurt me /; no more he
vill; will ye, Tige Rn-----. ..,--------------
The dogs stump of n tail wagged af-
fectiOnate answers.
swell, mebbe it'll do with dogs you
seem to kinder get round that one but
it amt fOlkses ways" growled the far
mer.
"Ain't it ?" said jim, looking up in
nocently, "why | thought folks knew
more'n dogs"
There was no answer to this John
Dekin walked away and there ran
through his mind, oddly enough, a scrap
of text he had heard somewhere /;
perhaps his mother read it to him may
be he had heard it at meeting, though
he generally went to sleep there "Is
thy servant Il dog, that he should do
this thing 7" 1t ciung to him with that
curious persistence peculiar to texts,
which deties philosophical explanation f.;
and more than once thereafter modified
some currish act, or silenced some grOwl
before he fully recognized the invisible
restraint upon him. Not long after,
that violent bull of Mr.. Dekin's broke
into Deacon Ellery's lot of winter wheat,
just about two inches high, and made a
general mess of the whole field, already
soaked by wet autumn. Jim discOv
cred the creature in full tide of devasta-
ton, browsing on the tallest spires, and
trampling down the rest into undis-
tinguishable mud. He sat down mo-
ment and considered then filled his
pockets with potatoes, left in the next
lot after digging as too small to save,
and carefully tossed one over the fence
just before the old bulls nose; the bait
was too tempting, the creature nipped
it up at once, another fell about foot
in front of him, then another still further
off, and following the fence, which tend
ed toward the barn-yard, Master Taurus
before he really understood the snare
was beguiled into his own quarters, and
the gate shut fast behind him. Then
Jim hunted up the farmer.
| SISoU Mr DaEin hoI ,o, .,,o4 .,
lives keep that are splendid ole bull o
yOur'n in the barn Il spell, till git oul
fOlkses fence sot up ?n
"Why, what harms he ben dom
Hain't l right to keep bull in my
own lot, | want to know ?"
"Sartinly, sartinly! but ye see the
poor cretur wanted fresh bite, an he
kinder pushed down the fence like, and
got into some winter wheat so | guess
ed Fd git him out ont fust-n
"HOw in thunder did ye git him out
that's the pint"
"Well, | cOaxed him leetle sortel
tolled him along with a mess o. raw po
tatOes t'other side the stun wall. | Sc,
he hankered after fresh victuals, so tt
speak IN | dono's l blame him.
John Dekin could not help laugh
but Jim went on quietly :
$50 eff you'd jest as lives keep him il
a spell, Pll hurry up an fix the fence
and then he can go out to pastur agin
leastways while there is pastur 'twon'
last no great now, that's fact"
Now the fence between the lots wal
Dekin's, as he very well knew and h,
could have been made to pay well fo
the damage his beast had done; but h,
also knew Deacon Ellery was laid VI
with an attack of rheumatism, and jim
had all the work to do; if the fence wa