St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-06-13
The News-Room at Northford
BY MRS. ANNIE A. PRESTON.

n OObh AllluOU lcDC me,
papa )" and the lad, with his brown,
curly head resting in his hands, and his
elbows with book between them, on
the Unreliable, went on with his
reading.
"You seem very much interested.
should like to look at that book mo-
ment, my son." said Mr.. Bennett, pres
emily, looking up again from his news
paper.
The youth, with just a shade of i'm
patience gathering on bis fair, wide
brow, rather reluctantly passed the
highly illuminated covered pamphlet
over to his father.
81 can take it only for one hour this
evening, papa" he said anxiously after
few minutes, in which Mr.. Bennett
had slowly turned over the rough and
badly printed leaves of the letter press,
and looked critically at the execrable
wOOdcuts. Jack wants me to read the
beginning of the continued story" went
on Walter, after another moments 81
lence; che said after l once began it /
should lay awake nights wondering how
it was coming out. It's awfully excit-
ing, know. Mr.. Hyde the news agent,
lent the book to Jack, and he says if he
can get dozen subscribers he will send
for them every month and Jack says
that every body that has read the story
has put his name down. We take the
books at ten cents apiece each month,
you know"
Walter was getting quite impatient
by this time, and kept tapping his feet
on the carpet and drumming on the ta-
ble with his fingers until his pleasant
sweet-faced little mother begged him
to be quiet.
'!Ha there is Jack now," cried Wal
ter, peevishly, as the bell tinkled at the
side-door entrance, land / have only
read one Of the two chapters"
''Come in, Jack, come right in," said
Mr.. Bennett pleasantly, going to the
door and ushering in a bright-faced
well-dressed boy. 81 am glad to see
you, Jack. We are going to have some
pop corn by and by. You must help
Walter about it boys always have a
lively time popping corn, because the
corn has such lively time, suppose
have just been looking over this
book" the gentleman said, resuming
his seat at the table, "and must admit
that am myself a good deal excited
over the adventures of The Haunted
Huntsman of the Mighty Missouri; or.
The Bold Boy Avenger of the South
west The next time l go West, l
think should like to follow the Mis-
souri, river up into Washington Terri
tory = 1t must have a nice time of it
getting across the Rocky mountains"
Walter looked in puzzled way at
his father, but said quickly, 81 never
knew before that the Missouri went
away up through there so far" Jack
laughed, and observed, ~ noticed that
blunder, sir, and thought it might mis-
lead some boy. OF course the story is
all made up, but it's very exciting, and
the last part of the last chapter in this
first book fairly makes your hair stand
on end"
"There is some exciting grammar,
tOo," said Mr.. Bennett. 81 was getting
very much wrought up as you rang,
trying to hunt up the antecedants of
several prOnouns. Have you been long
in the habit of indulging in this kind OF
literature, Jack ?"
''NO sir" said Jack, honestly, with
an abashed air that made Mr.. Bennett
quite sorry that he had asked the uues-
tion. "We have always had il nice
magazine or two, and my mother used
TO have Il religious paper with some
very nice stories for boys and girls, so
that we became very fond of reading.
But this year my father said the times
were so hard we must economize in some
things, so he didn't renew any of our
subscriptions. Sometimes he buys an
evening daily for himself, and mother
says we read it all to rags. MY sister
and L have weekly allowance for
paper, ink, and pencils, and such things.
and we save all we can of it and put it
together to buy reading matter. But
there is never enough for the magazine
we used to take, and we never see it at
the news office, and mother saws she
never can find at the news stands in
the city any weekly boys and girls
paper that she likes. But Mr. Hyde
told us about these cheap books and
the boys papers he keeps on hand
where you get more reading for your
mOney-lOng continued Indian stories.
and stories about life in London and
New York. My sisters believe them
every word, but don't, though like
to read them; and we boys lend our
i
have read good many, SIR
"How do you find so much time for
reading when you are in school Pn
swell, siI, number of us have left
off our grammar and United States his
tory this term. MI. Hyde says they
are branches that one acquires by gen
eral reading better than by study. He
reads good deal, and is always pleas
ant and willing to tell us what are the
most exciting and amusing stories.n
Mr. Bennett rolled up the thin book
he still held in his hand, and putting it
in his pocket, said, with a comical air
that made all his listeners laugh heart
lily, 81 should like to borrow this book
for an hour, Jack. don't think il will
make the least difference with Won
Walter, for the space of an hour, at
least, whether or not that highly i'm
aginative Haunted Huntsman, astride
that high headed horse, overtakes that
bewilderingly beautiful Indian maiden
who is so marvellOusly overcoming time
and space through the enchanted valley
on the back of her milk-white reindeer
In Missouri. Now, my boys" he
continued seriously, "'there is no read
ing SO good as history for a youthful
mind craving deeds of heroism and self
sacrifice. My library is at your service.
After you have finished the lives of
Washington and his Generals, the his
tory of our Revolutionary War and the
War of the Rebellion-if you want
something to make your hair stand ON
end until you are quite sated with
horrible scenes, you can take up NV
Medieval history yonder. After Won
are through with that, come to me and
| will set You upon a new track.n