Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-12-24
rom BURTONS CHRISTMAS

This is what Il little friend of mine would
call "a truly story Some OF the names are
twisted a little to head of any attempt to get
up a testimonial to the hero but if he should
ever read it, he would say,-he couldn't help
saying, by jimminy - (for l am sorry to
say that he sometimes INDUCES in this vulgar
expletive) by jimminy that means me !"
And so it does
Tom Burton and Mary his wife were mar
ried in Old England about thirty years ago,
and came to New England the very next day
after the marriage ceremony, which was very
simple indeed, consisting of walk to Parson
Coles and back to the old homestead with a
few solemn words between the going and re-
turning. The ocean voyage on which they
started the next day wasn't bridal tour
no; by any means. 1t was a bold and not
merry setting. out to find a new home in u
new world. Still Tom and Mary had such
perfect confidence in each other that it seem
ed that nothing could 60 very wrong; and
Toms confidence was not at all misplaced,
and Mary's not altogether, as we shall see.
They settled down in Hubton, which thirty
years ago was not the city of to-day, but new
ertheless was very thriving place. Tom
had been u woOd-turner and saver in the old
country, and found place in Hubton after
his own heart and it is quite possible that
everything would have gone very smoothly,
II lltGt uhuu bttu Ollc kItht ihth III AuN
modest home which Mary kept as neat and
trim as Tom could wish But the one lack
was tremendous. There were no children in
the house. Never one,
"out Of the everywhere into here"
came dancing down the moonbeams into
Mary's anxious heart and yearning arms 1t
was a great sorrow TO both man and wife
and when, upon the street, Mary would See
mothers with their children in their arms, or
toddling along beside them, she would some
times feel so sick and faint that she would
suddenly lay hold of her husbands arm in a
way that at first surprised him very much.
But afterward he got so that he could put
things together, and knew the meaning of
that convulsive grip on his strong arm.
What troubled Mary most wasn't the lone
illness of the days when Tom was off about
his work though this was bad enough, but
it was that Tom was a changed man. At first
he always spent his evenings at home with
Mary, tinkering about the house, and reading
from few old books they had brought with
them, of which Toms favorite was Blair 5
| Sermons" and Mary's was THE Children of
the Abbey" Then Tom got into the way of
going out a little in the evening, occasionally
at first, and then every evening; aud soon he
| took to staying away the whole evening, and
sometimes when he came home there was an
| odOr of the dram-shop about him. And at
| last, one dreadful night, he came reeling and
tumbling into the tidy sitting-room, and it
seemed TO Mary that her heart would break
| for grief and shame. Then, TO make things
worse, Toms eye and hand became less
steady, and he lost his place in the turning
shop, and couldn't get another such and SC
took up with a position as drayman where
the work was very hard and the wages were
correspondingly small.
Matters were going on in this way in the
fall of 1854 Tom had his fits Of repentance
but oftener his fits of drunkenness. There
were no home comforts any longer; only the
barest necessaries Christmas drew nigh
| The afternoon before the blessed day, as Mary
was hurrying home with a few dollars she
had earned with her needle, she saw grouI
of little children gathered about toy-manI
window. They were making various excla
nations of delight and the merriest of thu
company was a little two-year-old, who hat
the most advantageous position, being perch
ed in the arms of a soft-featured woman wh'
seemed to have the little flock in charge
Mary recognized the group as belonging tt
Auntie Glinn's "Orphan Family and School,
which had its local habtation only little dis
tanoe from her own meagre home. Suddenly
an idea which had been dimly shaping itsel
in her mind for some months became
thought, purpose, a resolve. There shoulC
be ''child in the midst :" and it should b.
the child in Miss Blenkinsop's arms. Sh
would go and beg for him that very night. l
| she could get him, she felt sure that Ton
would be different man.
She had got tired of begging Tom not to g
out in the evening. So it didn't seem strang
to him that she let him go out this Christina
Eve without one word of expostulation. IL
didn't even notice that she was clearing OF
the tea-things in an unusual hurry, and tina
the house was looking unusually neat an
bright Tom had hardly left the house be
fore Mary was on her way to Auntie Glinn'f
She told her story. Auntie Glinn's heart wa
as big as a hogshead, but the rule of tn
Home was that children should not be give