St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-11-03
From the Youths Companion.
The Hired Boys Story.

A few days ago, as l was coming
away from home on the morning train
fell into conversation with my friend
Edward Bartlett, who, though young
is already a successful lawyer.
After we had exchanged a few words
on the crops and the weather, he re-
marked that he was on his way into
the country to look up a steer case up
on which he was engaged.
"a steer case !" said |, laughing.
"What do you know about farming,
Ned ?"
"Well, ought to know something
about it." said he. "For more than
three years from the time | was four
teen, | worked OH a farm from dawn
| till dark, and then got only nine dol
lars a month in money. My family were
poor, and there were five or six of us
boys. AS soon as we were big enough
father used to hire us out by the sea-
son.
~ worked on a farm three seasons
and begun upon my fourth but | lost
my place by getting into trouble with
Il yoke of steers"
THAT was a steer case,' them" |
said.
eyes, and it went against me. If it
had not been for those steers, | should
no doubt have continued to work on a
farm and perhaps made a farmer"
"But how did it happen ?' l asked.
Bartlett laughed, and then went on
to tell me.
"Father hired me out in March that
spring." he said, "with farmer living
four or five miles from us named Bean.
The people were nearly all Beans OF
BaItletts i'll our town. There were two
of these Beans, brothers, living on ad-
joining farms, and the neighbOrs had
nicknamed them 'Blue-Pod' and 'Yel-
lOw-Eye.'
81 worked for Blue-Pod. He was a
man of thirty-eight or forty, thick-set,
with full face, but no beard and his
face always had a blue, india-inkisl
look. That was one reason why they
called him Blue-POd. He probably did
| have Il soul, but it was a very small
one, | assure you. Snug his neigh
hOrs called him, and that was in Il re-
gion where they were used to snug
men, too.
ellis wife was called 'Ann SATIRE,
with the accent on the fire. and that
was where it belonged in her case, for
her name, | suppose, was Ann Sophia.
| BluePOd as | have said was snug, but
his wife was snugger. She was about
the sourest and most snappish little
woman that ever set Il mean table.
"They never put on half enough to
eat. In the morning they had little
mess of boiled potatoes, two or three
scraps of pork in "A blue-edged plate
with all the fat turned off and water
put in place of it; some few slices OF
sour brown bread, and about once a
fortnight Il mess of yellow saleratuS
biscuits.
"At noon the most frequent dish was
what they used to call soup two oi
three quarts of water boiled in pot
with perhaps bare bacon bone at the
bottom, and three or four thin slices OF
potato floating on top. For supper
they almost always had pOrridge, and
sometimes IA thin dried-apple pie cut in
eight pieces.
"But soon found that | wasn't ex-
pected to take pie. The pie was 70.
Blue-POd and Ann Satire. When she
passed it to him, she would Just give
it a little swing round toward me and
then set it close to her own plate, out
of my reach. | took a piece once Oh
twice, but she scOwled so severely thai
| gave it up.
''In the morning she used to make
what she called coffee, of peas, for her.
self and Bean, but always set on vel
low mug of water for me. At the ta'
bic there was hardly ever a word spok-
en-; and Ann Satire would sit anC
watch every mouthful took, as if sh,
grudged it to me, as I've no doubt sh,
did.
~ was half-starved all the time, an(
actually felt more hungry on getting
up from the table than when | sa
down. Yet on such food as this wa
expected to work hard from four in til,
morning till dark. But | used to q
home Sunday fOrenOons, after the
chores were done, and get one goo,
meal there. If it had not been for thi
weekly dinner, | never could hav,
lived and worked as | did.
''In the evenings this loving cOupl,
would sit in the dark and scOld eacl
other about wasting a mess of pOtat'
: peelings, or breaking an egg; or els
) they would dispute for an hour or tw,
rs to when they had bought the las
gallon of molasses; generally it hat
lasted so long that they could neithe
of them remember when they bough
it; and they had good memories TO
such things, too"
"Aren't you drawing this a littl
strong, Ned 2" said |.
Not at all It's the truth | am on
ly stating facts, and | could not posi-
bly, make you comprehend the pinched
. stingy air and famished aspect of every
thing about that house.
"There are always, in every farmin
town, few of those close listed, small
souled men who will hire boy, max
him grind early and late, put him t
work at every hard job, and keep hir
on the very smallest quantity of poo
food. They almost always hire bO!
because a man will not endure the
meanness. But country boy of foul
teen or fifteen is often very bashfu
It and can be scOwled or eyed out of ea
l. ing half an allowance. He had rath,
go hungry than say a word, or tOuc
the pie-plate, if they watch it sharpl.
every morning long before dawi
- Blue-POd would rap long and loud O
/