Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1882-07-10
The Fourth Of July.

a holiday, instead of taking it easy,
why, you just work a little harder;
one would suppose you liked to
work.
Like to work? / never thought
much about it, but ] suppose we do,
said Cleveland, barring his brawny
arm and looking rather contemptu-
ously at the slight figure of his city
cousin encased in it's fine broadcloth
and immaculate linen. ''Men are
made to work, and there's plenty of
work in the world to be done; so
what's the use of thinking whether
you like it or not:?'
eyes, there's plenty of work to be
done; but then there's plenty of
common men to do it. | shall have
~ey enough to live on without
work, and l should think you would
have too. / know Uncle Abner's s
rich; | shouldn't think he'd let you
work at all. / don't mean to.
This remark, made as the city Wis
istor stood in the open doorway of
the great barn, rather astonished the
country boys, who were putting the
last touches to the hay-cart, which
they had been converting into a
pleasure car in honor of the Fourth of
July. Temporary seats had been ar
ranged along the side, covered with
pieces of carpet, while the bottom
was filled full of sweet, fragrant new
hay. Above, supported on poles,
which were ingeniously fastened to
the upper rail, was a white awning,
festooned with wreaths of syringas
and late roses and decorated at in
tervals with little American flags.
Green boughs were interlaced in the
sides, and the whole looked pretty
enough for one of the festive Bac-
chanalian cars, about which Gerald
learned in his Greek mythology
Everything around told of happy,
successful labor. The oxen were
not ploughing to-day; but long,
rich. black furrows showed the results
of yesterdays toll; broad swaths of
cut grass lay along the meadows,
which two of the hired men, with I'm
Gle Abner's aid, were hurrying to get
under cover lest a Fourth of July
shower should ruin it while they were
all away. The well-weeded garden
was the result of labor; the we'll
kept fences and farm buildings told
of the thrift and industry which, in
country language, makes a man
s'forehanded :" and Gerald knew that
his uncle's large bank deposits and
stock investments were the results of
his own hard work. Even the chick
ems in the barn-yard were Industrious
ly working for living, as they step
ped about in lofty way, diving fol
grain of corn now and then, the
cluck of the hens denoting when il
some hidden corner they had conde-
scended to lay an egg the wheat an6
barley and rye were ripening in the
sunshine just as fast as they could
and the young fruit, drinking VI
juices from the earth, kept putting
out its cheeks like those of a piper
Randolph, the other country cousin
? some two years older than Gerald
now spoke, looking up from the TEN
porary steps he had just been fitting
to the triumphal-car.
Il don't know as / want to worl
on farm all my life. I'd like to g
to college and study to be a lawyer
or q doctor, or a minister, perhaps ;
[ statesman there's so much for edu
' catad men to do in the world. II
give a good deal for your chance o
going to school, Gerry"
"Oh, schools a bore; of cours
one don't like to appear Ounce: s.
e | have to study little, but not an,
t too much, you'd better believe me
and I'm only longing for school-tim
to be over"
I, "What are you going to do then?
"Oh, nothing much. Father ism
very rich, not as rich as Uncle Alb
ner, guess; but he's only got me
e and | shall have grandma's money
+" 1 can get along, and you won't cate
S me working for living"
Just then the back-doOr of th
q house opened, and out came Aur
h Eunice and the girls, surrounded b
l. the big baskets and pals, in whic
|, were packed the edibles for th
u Fourth of July picnic. The ''won
:" on folks" had been up since day
a light making meat-pies and cherry
e pies, boiling hams and roasting chicl
It ems, baking sponge cake and Wasl
h ington cake and jumbles, and fryin
i doughnuts and crullers. The famil
:, shared the work with the ''hire
ID girls" and all were so busy that thel
% was hardly time to put on the prett
g muslins and ribbons and the jaunt
e. sun hats when the oxen were ''pl
~ to- the hay-cart, and all hands we
- called to s'tumble in"
IN We cannot tell how pleasant W:
N the slow drive along the shady roat
<; among the sunny farms, how beaut
ne full the grand old woods looked, ligh
u u ened up here and there by the g
a groups of people who had come the
as Uncle Abner and his family ha
to ''keep Fourth of july" The
"a was rustic stand erected under
eg- trees, from which the minister, la