Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-03-26

did not greatly care how much l muddied
my skirts among these poor villagers, be
cause | learned to laugh and weep with them.
Uncared for and forgotten by the world, they
seem to have but one earthly hope, America,
and one dread, hunger The village pos
sesses no post office there is no magistrate
within many miles: and the priest, two
leagues distant, serves numerous villages as
forlorn as this, and people are born and die
without any official note Many suppose that
the parish priest is the most powerful man in
the kingdom: and it was a subject of supreme
surprise and commiseration when informed
them that the Queen was a widow. On Sun
days the inhabitants of the village appear
washed and shaven into a ghastly paloR, in
the single street that leads up from the sea,
and remain all day gossiping and fighting,
through sunshine and rain, as if these
achievements formed part Of their religious
duties. Now and then the spoils of a wreck
are washed to their shores and when the
coast-guards dispute with them what they
consider the bounty of the sea, fierce encoun-
t,rs take place, in one of which, not long be-
fore my arrival a poor yillager lad been
killed.
There was scarcely a well-thatched cabin
in the village the floors Of most of them
were rs muddy as the roads and dotted with
little pools Of water, which seemed refresh
ing feature to the ducks that came in in quest
of food. The most sheltered corner of the
cabin is devoted to the pig, and the chickens
seize upon every coin of vantage for d roost.
Nets hang from the rafters, and the equip
mcnts of the boat are disposed in whatever
dry hooks the hab;ation boasts of. The
warmest spot on the hearth is usurped by the
cat. cherished with great care as the protec.
tor against their terrible enemies the rats
and beside it an old woman, who did not
seem to have changed her clothes since her
youth coddled the latest born of the house
hold. The village was pervadtd with so
strong an odor of fish and tar that less agree
able emanatiOns were unnOticed. The dung
heap was zealously guarded by the door,
have seen il, indeed, in the very living room
OF the occupants-as the riches that were to
prosper their next years potato c:op; and
every morning the pig was sent out to walk
with n solicitude for his health not bestowed
upon the other members of the family. These
people spent three e-fourths of their time in
idling and gossiping, | saw poor haggard
old women at the doors of their cabins, or by
the village WELL who had to crouch like apes
to make their rags cover them, mad for
gossip that they forgot their hunger and the
rain that soaked them and day after day old
men gathered on the sheltered side of a wall
and talked with as much interest and grayi-
ty as If they had never seen each other be-
fore, and every recital was an unheard-of
marvel Troops of halfclo and half
starved children sprawled in the mud, fought
among themselves, or with loud yells crowd
ed about some poor ass, inhicting all the tor
ments that their untutored imaginatons could
suggest, while their mothers, can in hand
whispered, with amazement written on their
faces, of all they had heard or seen or dream
ed of since yesterday in village dependent
entirely upon itself for its topics of interest
Hither, / learned. the priest came once a
year to hear the confession of the inhabitants
They repair to one of the cabins where,
while the pig, chickens, ducks and geese are
kept in allegiance by the Jealous host and
hostess, the rite is celebrated. Among these
people, whose only extravaganza seems to be
on the score of their religion, he is entertain
ed and requted in a manner quite out of pro
portion to the means of his entertainers and
when departing, after the manner of the fond
mother in the story book, who whipped her
children and put them to bed, he gives them
all a sound rating upon their idleness and re-
missness in their religious obseryances, and
receives in return, Long life to your rever-
ence," and "Godspeed,' from his humble
fock.-J, l.. Cloud IN Harpel's MdgagiHe
for 1prH