Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-11-28
NO. 4S.

keepin watch, fair or foul, tell ye.n
And before Sally could speak he was gone.
leaving her heart in glow, heavy as the
! parting was.
This second year was not so hard for Sally.
and when the Clio reached Canton there was
} letter sent her that made her laugh and cry
too, for it ran in this fashion:
my deer Sally
Here we be, safe 10 Chiny, after a kind
OF dull vy'ge, never sightin' nothin' nor no.
body SOS TO hail EN-, save an except Brit
isher whereby I sent you letter, but like
enough this'll get to you first. Also we had
trouble aboard. Cap'en Green he fell down
the hatchway one mornin well l don't say
he need to, 1 dono's he did, n dono as he
did, but when a man crooks his elbow pooty
often, and afore breakfast too, why he's liza
bic to trip over cables and sech and don't
think he's morn too fit TO boss vessel
which l never told you nothing about for
fear you might get oneasy, but the end ont
is he had s'uthin on the brain or in it, an he
lay ravin an tearin' a month, and then he
up an died two weeks afore we made port,
sot I'm yours TO command-Cap'en Hazard
as sure as you live PS. You can 20 along
next vyage ef you want to. Your very luv.
ing husband JoE."
But when the letter got to Sally she knew
very well she could go no voyages with Joe
there was another future before her and one
she by no means quarreled with, but fully
meant to keep secret from him, actuated by
the same reason that had kept him from tell
ing her how incapable captain commanded
the Clio when she last sailed out of Boston.
Time went faster now early spring brought
Aunt Lyddy, eager to help and full of inter
est, and the first of July actually saw Grand
mother Jopp lighting down, as old ballads
have 1t, from the station-master's wagon at
Sally's door, in company with an obsolete
hair trunk and a big band-box much the
! worse for the wear and tear of baggage mas
ters and travel
There was much hustle and sharp stir of
preparation now in the old gray house, store
| of tiny garments huttering in the hot sun and
skillfully ironed by Aunt Lyddy after their
| due bleaching. Grandma took charge of the
| poultry and harried them to and fro till hens
/ demonstrated aud geese came to open war,
whenever her slat sunbonnet appeared out of
doors. In short, the dynasty of the Tranquil
gray house was changing, and when on the
second anniversary of Sally's wedding day
pair Of sturdy, splendid boys appeared, the
Kingdom capitulated at once, and was given
over to its double monarchy. If ever there
was happy woman in the world it was Sally
Hazard; she had not even the speck in her
JOY of Joe's absence, for she pleased herself
as she lay thinking how much anxiety his
lBhOIhnOe uhu hpdISu nlul, now delicious his
surprise would be to find such a welcome
when he came home. So she lay there and
watched her babies, worshiping them with an
undisguised fondness that scared Grandmoth-
er Jopp, but in obedience to tradition she
treated Sally with great respect and tender
ness, though it was mighty irksome to her
soul to do so.
Land o liberty, Lyddy !" she exclaimed
one morning, as she came into the kitchen
fraph frn ,1,t, II - Al.
who would eat the chickens food, and the
belligerent old rooster who would fight them
to his own destruction. I'm tired O. mixin
and mussn' : wish ter gracious Sally'd git
round agin. I've ben a goin' delicately like
that old cretur in the Bible, bout as long as
can stan it, a whishin' here, an hushin
there. and steppin' tippy-toe till my legs
ache I'd give two cents for a fre-cracker,
jest to hear somethin' pop an done with t.
I'm so tired of that everlastin swash the wa
ter keeps up, an that everlastin' hush you
keep up"
Aunt Lyddy hared up in weakly way:
why, Mother Jopp you do beat all You
know Sally must be KEEP quiet, now don't
ye?'
''well, I s'pose SO, but tell We I'm goin'
to stop till she's out door agin and pooty well
smarted up, n then I'm goin' to free my
mind to her, you'd better bleve !" with
which threat she strobe once more into the
ranks of greedy geese and sent terror and dis
pension into their souls, by means of an old
broom and ragged apron wildly beating the
air.
Poor Sally only two weeks after she sat
in the summer parlor watching her precious
babies asleep in either end of a long cradle
she had found stored away in the garret, a
relic of previous twins in the Hazard family,
when Grandma Jopp came in.
"Arnt they lovely, Grandma 2" she be-
gan Just see how soft those little arms are,
like satin arnt their heads lovely, too, so
smooth and round, and such mites of curls. /
don't believe anybody in the world ever saw
such babies"
"Saly don't be a fool" was the rapid re-
tort; there's ben heaps of babies in the
world afore, a sight harnsomer than them lit
tie puckered things n l tell you what, you're
a maxim idols on 'em you love 'em too
much, you jest worship em they'll be took
away from you awful quick you see ef they
amt !"
II don't believe it, Grandma" Sally's
eyes blazed, and her cheeks burned with ma
ternal fury. II don't believe mothers can
love their children too much if they don't
love 'em, how can they take care of them day
and night, sick or we'll tired or not? l be-
lieve the Lord gave them TO me to love. He
amt afraid I'll over love them He won't
take them away for that, 1 know. I'd bo
ashamed TO think so hard of Him y!
why, Sary Hazard aint you kinder pro-
fame Pears as if you thought you was
dredful intimate with the Lords ways"
'Well, know he is good" snapped Sally,
with an unspoken doubt in her heart as to
Grandma's own qualifications of that sort
and then Aunt Lyddy, hearing her mothers
exalted tones came in and intimated war
among the poultry, and beguiled the oficious
old lady from her post and the next day she
went back to Baxter.
But Sally did not stint her babies of love;
she took them into her heart as she did into
her arms, with close and warm folding.
Their gentle baby breath lulled her to sleep;
she woke again and again to be sure of them,
TO spread their coverings straight, to turn
them on another side for GOODNESS, to kiss
with soft passion the calm brows untraoed by
thought or care and then she slept again
like one who wakes from a happy dream and
sleeps more happily finding it is waking truth.
But she neither neglected her household nor
weakly coddled her children young girl
came TO help her when Aunt Lyddy left, and
to her Sally delegated the housework while
she took her babies out in the air, one on
either arm, in the fresh autumn days or put
them to sleep in an old hammock hung from
two small trees by the shed door. The ba-
bes grew and thrived as babies will, and by
November Sally began to make ready for Joe,
but the month went on and on without him
other vessels that had sailed since the Clio be-
gan TO come in, and in answer to Sally's
questions the owners of the vessel could only
reply that they had news of her leaving port
on the proper day, but none farther Slowly
the year fell into its latter days but brought no
more tidings. Sally was anxious but all the
shore people fiocked TO reAssure her, and her
courage did not fail. Granny Tucker, the
wise woman of the clan, had found and work
ed the key to the poor little mothers nature.
keep your heart up, Sally" the bent and
wrinkled old creature said I've come 10 see
ys good two mile jest TO say that, keep your
heart up them babies II pine away as sure
as ye don't keep 'em pleasant an you keep
'em well bitter vittles amt good for nobody,
leastast Of all for habias and them httla crit